So like that you also want to write?

Here are some advises that I usually do not follow but i know if i can follow them more often it would improve the quality of my writings. It had come to my attention that some friends of mine are writing their own books too. I thought i should share with them few tips that i have tried to follow in the process of proof-reading mine few months ago. Maybe it would help you make less mistakes than i have made. If you keep in my those simple rules below, you shouldn't have such a hard time reviewing your manuscript at completion. I certainly will follow this guideline for my future writings.

'StyleWriter' Editing Checklist

Edit for Content and Organization

· Is your aim clear?

· Have you thought about your readers?

· Have you given enough information?

· Have you repeated yourself or included unnecessary details?

· Have you used examples or illustrations to explain difficult points?

· Is your organization logical and easy to follow?

· Does your text flow, with smooth transitions between sections?

· Is there a strong opening and a strong ending?

Edit for Style and Tone

· Is your writing clear and simple to understand?

· Have you kept your average sentence length low?

· Have you avoided passive verbs?

· Have you avoided jargon, abbreviations and unfamiliar terms?

· Have you avoided clichés and other stale expressions?

· Have you made every word count?

· Have you confused or misused words?

· Are your grammar, spelling, and punctuation correct?

· Have you used an appropriate tone - is it too impersonal or formal?

Edit for Layout and Presentation

· Does the appearance encourage your readers to read?

· Is there plenty of white space?

· Are your paragraphs short?

· Could you use headings and sub-headings to help your readers?

Edit for Effectiveness

· Does your message get through?

· Does your writing reflect your readers' needs?

· Will it hold your readers' attention?

· Would you want to read this if you were the reader?

· Does your writing achieve your aim?

Be sure you have that in mind during the whole writing process, and you'll do just fine if not better.

Have a nice week in Jesus name!

P.S: this checklist is not limited to book writing. Try use it for your essays at schools or at work.

The Danger of Blind Tolerance

I was reading Maximus post on God vs Men where he take charge against atheism and strident secularization. In the process of doing that he made a rather interesting case for Islam. Of course it has no theological value but has a rather powerful cultural significance. Since he chose Rwanda as a case study for the positive impact of Islam he was able to pull it off rather well. If he had chosen Islam as lived and experienced in Middle East and the former soviet countries during the Bosnia tumult, his case would have been rather unattractive and crushed down. Nevertheless his point and comments about Rwanda is rather interesting. I am sure you'll find it relevant given our recent debates with the Islamic leaders in Kigali 6 months ago.   
      

Islam…was a small faith in the country of Rwanda at the time of the genocide, almost non-existent. It is rising now faster then ever, mosques overflowing, and playing a part in healing wounds and bringing forgiveness to that country. Why is Islam growing in Rwanda? In their own words:

During the genocide, Muslims were among the few Rwandans who protected both neighbors and strangers. Elsewhere, many Hutus hunted down or betrayed their Tutsi neighbors and strangers suspected of belonging to the minority.

But the militiamen and soldiers didn’t dare go after Tutsis in Muslim neighborhoods like Biryogo, said Yvette Sarambuye, a 29-year-old convert. ”If a Hutu Muslim tried to kill someone hidden in our neighborhoods, he would first be asked to take the holy Quran and tear it apart to renounce his faith,” said Sarambuye, a Tutsi widowed mother of three who survived the slaughter by hiding with Muslims. “No Muslim dared to violate the holy book, and that saved a lot of us.”

For many Hutu extremists, Muslims were regarded as a group apart, not to be targeted in the genocide.

Muslims take God and the Quran VERY seriously. They don’t have faith or belief…they KNOW God exists and that his word came down to man through the holy prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

You will note that while Muslim Hutus did partake in the slaughter, but when they were confronted by their own religious community and asked to leave Islam because it forbids the killing of innocents, they put down their machetes, at least in Muslim neighborhoods. Islam saved lives…by the Koran alone. In contrast to the Christian majority that the country is now moving away from, the Bible did not save anyone as a holy book:

Although the Christian clergy in many communities struggled to protect Tutsis and often died with them, more than 20 Roman Catholic and Protestant priests, nuns and pastors are facing charges related to the killings. Rwandan courts already have convicted two Catholic priests and sentenced them to death.

… the message of the Koran and the small Muslim community spared countless lives that would otherwise have been lost as there was no sanity to be found anywhere during that black time in Rwanda’s history…except if you found yourself in a Muslim village.

Isn't it fascinating if the story are completely true? When I first read this at Vox Day blog, I was interested in his diagnostic given the fact that it isn't the first time he gives it:

"The Rwandan church failed in much the same way that the Christian church in the West has failed. We tolerate the unrepentant sinners in our midst rather than doing what is explicitly commanded in the Bible, confronting them, demanding repentance, and expelling them from the church community if they will not do so. And in both cases, the resulting consequence is that people walk away from a faith that is not true to itself. The church that will not confront the adulterer, the thief, the homosexual, the liar, or the gossip is one that will not confront the murderer either when he appears at their door, demanding the blood of the innocent."

Vox is spot on. Authenticity is what is required of the disciples of Jesus by Jesus himself. He expressly called his followers - his disciples - light of the world and salt of the world. Lacking to walk in light - read integrity and authenticity - as sons of light we loose our value and relevant just like a salt that would loose its saltiness. Uselessness becomes then their label. Tolerating people like that in our midst is dangerous for our reputation.

I also read a comment made by Kajeneri Christian in his Facebook wall:

"Christianity is not failing because of the evil doings done by Born-again Christians, but rather the fact that we have abandoned our regular customs, nowadays neglected by many: morning & evening devotion, fulfillment of vows, grateful hearts, Bible reading, Meditation of the Word of God, bearing fruits which is a result of Intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit, Love/ brotherhood Love, Winning souls for Christ, etc. The lack of all these basics principles/customs are the one killing Christianity today. God help us!"

What he was trying to say wasn't to exonerate the evil done by the 'Born-again' but rather to bring to light the fact that those evil acts are symptomatic. They proceed from a deeper problem, the lack of genuine faith on the part of some 'born again' Christian folks.

In few weeks we will be celebrating the first coming of our Lord Jesus through the traditional Christmas event. And the Catholic church has called his members to take the call of season called the 'Advent' seriously. This season is one of the season in the catholic church that calls the members to practice their faith through acts of kindness to the poor and so on. Christmas is good season to reminds us about our mission as Church and the purpose of Christ coming. However a religious season of holiness is not enough to really change people's hearts. A genuine encounter with Jesus is the key to a man's heart change.

The human heart need more. It needs a rather complete makeover to even start valuing things that are sacred - such as life. I remember reading a book written from a Rwandan Catholic priest who survived the genocide. He tells the story of man coming to him with a bleeding machete, and at the sight of it he regretfully informed the slaughterer: "I regret to have baptized you without converting you." This statement coming from a priest is really revealing. It reminds me a catholic movement of apologists coming from New Zealand that had/has for motto: "Evangelizing the Baptized." It has become clear to many over the years now that we have baptized people who aren't even Christians in the first place. That which seemed restricted often in Catholicism in the past is now as present as ever in protestant churches and ministries. We have dangerous people in high profile ministry seats and we allow them to be there at our own perils. We have gifted men but they have no authenticity and that is what is killing us. I wish at time I could just be Jesus' hand so that he could use me handling some whip and drive the merchant away from the Temple once again. They just bring a lot of confusion and darken the purpose of Christ through the Church which is Love.


I'll end with this last admonishment - do not compromise the faith by allowing tolerance of what is prohibited in the scripture. If you ignore the warning, you might just live long enough to witness the consequences of your unwise tolerance.

Check My Book here or more here.

Fasting: There is a reward!

In the book of Mathew chapter 6, Jesus spoke of three spiritual practices for His followers, and one of them is fasting. He pointed two things that should be in one's mind when fasting. Number one, that there is a right attitude to have, and second that there is a reward to be obtained!

Mathew 6:17-18 - "when you fastest, anoint your head, and wash your face; That you appear not unto men to fast, but unto your Father which is in secret: and your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly."

Yes, there is a reward! And Jesus want us to know that. We sometime feel strangely weird to expect God to reward us as we diligently look for Him, we abhor that idea as being a non spiritual attitude. But why? Jesus never saw that connection of rewarding someone for spiritual travail as something bad. Nor did the author of Hebrew. If you believe; You will see. If you don't see, you may confidently revisit the basis of your particular belief; because something is certainly not working properly somewhere. I suspect the reason i have no difficulty with the reward thing, it is because i look at Christianity as a religion that makes promises and which in turn give a way to verify those promises through results.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Hebrew 11:6

This is even one of the reason, i believe, why Jesus insisted that people who fast may not do that so that they may impress men. 0ne of the possible reason is because men will not reward your fasting or answer your prayers. It is Him, the father, who is in the secret who will do that. Hence, He is the person you may want to impress (please) in your fast and prayers, not men! And faith is the way that i know that you may impress (please) God. For as the verse above says, "without faith it is impossible to please him". And what does faith do? It expects an answer. It trust that the one your are looking for through this diligent spiritual practices such as fasting will listen and reward your quest.

In 2002, when i started to relearn how to fast biblically (mainly through the tutoring of Derek Prince), I learned that there were things among others that i should expect as I fasted. So I used to ask God to honor His word by rewarding me with the blessings found in the great chapter of fasting found in Isaiah chapter 58. I used to claim these blessings: early breakthrough; prompt health; expressive righteousness; the glory of God in my life; frequent and prompt answered prayers; to be a blessing to many generations; to be a restorer; and be a light to those around me. So i took the habit to claim them when i ended my regular fasting day.

What i usually did, i still do that with lesser intensity now (i guess by writing this i am getting more encouraged to go back to that old blessed productive habit), I used to close my fasting day with my Bible opened at that Chapter 58 of Isaiah and pray while reading it. And when that ingenious objection rose up in my mind, telling me that it was a blessing to those of the old testament only, I would turn my Bible pages to 2 Corinthians 1:20 and read that out-loud to myself "For ALL the promises of God in him (Jesus) are yes, and in him [Jesus, it is also] Amen, unto the glory of God by (through) us." 0nce i dealt with that regular mental objection, i kept reminding God of his promises to those who fasted according to His Holy Spirit leadership, and by faith i kept believing that in the name of Jesus, my prayers would be favorably answered. Favorably they were!

Today, as i look back to my fairly recent history, i can just smile as i realize that to many extents i have seen the Lord honor His promises and my prayers by rewarding me quite openly at time of those very things that i have been claiming as my divinely gracious rights. And as i now rejoice for his extravagant grace and feel humbled to have lived the things that i had lived and became what i now am, i am encouraged to look for even, more of those blessed rewarding realities that He, the Father, graciously bestows to us as we approach Him by faith in Jesus' name. I hope you do likewise, if you don't do that already, as you remember that there is a reward attached to the right search of God by faith.

ISAIAH 58: 8 - 12:

"Isaiah 58: 8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.

Isa 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

Isa 58:10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:

Isa 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

Isa 58:12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."

May God bless your walk with Him in the light of His word, by the Leadership of His Holy Spirit in the name of our blessed savior - namely Jesus, who made God's provision to us available by His obedience to God.

The Value of Fasting

"I was ashamed to ask the King for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, `The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to Him …'. So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer." - EZRA

Fasting and Praying

When we read the book of Matthew on chapter six, we can't help noticing Jesus expectation on his followers. He spoke about 3 things that his disciples should be doing:

1. Give to the needy, 2. Pray and 3. Fast.

The author Derek Prince points out that each of these recommendation is preceded by the word WHEN not IF. In Matthew 6:2 it is said "So WHEN you give to the needy" not "IF you give to the needy". The same is found for the other two items of this first part of the chapter. Mathew 6:5 "And WHEN you pray …" or Matthew 6:16 "WHEN you fast" and not "IF you fast". This shows that, according to Derek Prince analysis, that these three items in a disciple life are necessities and should be expected. The discipline of fasting is not optional.

In chapter 9 of Matthew we are told of an incident where it was asked of Jesus why His disciples where not fasting when all the others representative religious communities of time were fasting. Here is Jesus answer: "… The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; THEN THEY WILL FAST". Sure enough, after Jesus ascension we are told that disciples had at least one time of fasting in Acts 13 "In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers … while they were worshiping the Lord and FASTING, the Holy Spirit said …". In 2 Corinthians 11, St. Paul talked about his many sufferings and privations and in verse 27, he said that he has known hunger and thirst and have OFTEN gone without food. In the French version this last part says he has been subjected to multiple fasting. This could possibly also mean that he willingly did that for the advancement of Christ kingdom.

All I am trying to establish here is that, FASTING is a normal practice for those who walk with God. Some situation according to the bible can not be undone unless prayer is coupled with fasting. The early church was fasting apparently to look for God's direction and it is in that circumstance that Paul and Barnabas received their apostleship for the first time. Before that they were numbered among the teachers and the prophets. This could also serve as directives to some of us who are longing for more of God's revelation of his specific will for our own lives. In the Old Testament we see people fasting for different reason. Queen Esther on the corridor of power in ancient Persian kingdom decided to fast for three days in order to save her people from genocide. Here is someone who understands political power but also knows the limits of that power, so she referred to fasting as the ultimate option. This also can also show that fasting for spiritual reason can be done by everyone, even by Beauty pageant.

Daniels who was also used to political power in ancient Babylonia, referred to mild fasting and prayers on behalf of his people. Here we have a tragic story. God has promised to set the Israelites free of bondage after 70 years of captivity according to the prophecy of Jeremiah. However the time of freedom were passing without any divine intervention. So Daniel had two options, either he could question the legitimacy of the prophecy of Jeremiah (which I guess I would have done, given my theological background that insist that if God says something He will just do it) or he could talk to God in a fasting mode about that, because something was terribly going wrong especially if a trusted prophet like Jeremiah gave a prophecy that was apparently starting to fail. In all these examples, fasting has been a turning point of people and nations destiny. People of old have understood the value of praying and Fasting. The Old Testament even has a whole chapter on fasting and its benefits (Isaiah 58).

There is one in particular that I love so much and I repeat it as often as I can when I fast: "you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins, and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings". I find it an attractive blessing, one that give purpose to the one performing it" (Isaiah 58)

Derek Prince were fasting once a week for his whole life, Martin Luther the protestant reformer were fasting sometime more than once a week. Many stories of those who came before us and who impacted their generations, were people who not only understood the word of God but also were people committed to a life of prayer and fasting.

Have a nice weekend in Jesus' name.

Thanksgiving still continues for me ...

I didn't ask for prayer last time but I know that some of you prayed for me since I kept hearing from more than one, that i am kept in people's prayer. Thank You so much for that! I am grateful to the Lord for inspiring you to support me in your prayers.

Last weekend I had the grace and privilege to speak to two different congregation. I spoke at the English service of the Eglise Vivante Church on Sunday morning. My good lady friend that I'll keep anonymous extended to me yet again another invitation to her church.

Given the topic of the Church, i managed to speak about the Patriarch's of the old testament. I shared about their inward fights as represented by the life of Salomon and the children of Israel's life lesson in the book of Judges. Afterward, i received a positive feedback from some members of the audience and i was pleased. :)

Later on the same day, I was invited to share some leadership values to a class of S.P college members. It is not a religious organization, but a secular one that has among its goals to help people live their lives successfully out of debts and so on based on workable principles. It was a privilege to have had been invited as a keynote speaker at their class. In brief i ended my day a bit tired but pleased by what the Lord in His mercy had wrought for me. I am expecting even more from Him in the next future as per His graces and everlasting compassion.

Finally as a last point, yesterday at Living Word I had the privilege to be part in an educative forum about what may be entitled in many ways: "SPIRITUAL FIGHT", "SPIRITUAL COMBAT" or "SPIRITUAL WAR". It was just great. We had a nice sharing under the leadership of Pitou. Those who haven't experience Pitou in a Forum, then I don't know how to explain his style to you. Il faut le vivre LIVE pour le comprendre. ;) .. I also happened to have had the privilege to share a word or two at the end of the event as per the request of the Forum emcee - Pitou. Again the response was positive - and this makes me want to give thanks to God for that today, even if thanksgiving day is already past.

So thank you again all of you, my silent prayer partners. May the Lord bless you abundantly for all your doings in Jesus' name!

Leadership: Who Is With You?

Recently as i have been thinking more about the role of leadership and as I prepare for the long overdue Leadership post series here on J.C as i promised, it came to my attention as I re-read the '21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership' book of John Maxwell that support the idea that effective leadership is really conditioned. It is conditioned by the team surrounding the leader.

In his 1998 movie 'Armageddons' Bruce Willis, the heroic character who saved the world from a dangerous asteroid threatening to cause extinction of all human life on earth, refused to work with the best agents from NASA after being solicited by the government officials. He explained why, "I am the best in what i do because i work with the best." With that he required his non- NASA team members to join him for the earth saving mission. And they beautifully succeeded in their mission.

What the Bruce Willis character was saying should make leaders really think long and hard. In the 11th Law of Leadership, Maxwell based the whole chapter on this rule: "A leader's Potential is Determined by Those Closest to Him". He go on telling the story when he was offered the job of leading a Wesleyan Church that had had a great history but couldn't grow. He said himself that after he was retained after the interview for the position of senior pastor at Skyline (the church's name), 'The task that laid ahead of me was clear. I needed to remove the weak leaders I possessed and bring in better ones. That was the only way i would be able to turn the situation around.' So he proceed changing existing leaders and bringing in the best people he could find even from outside the Church. By the end of the three years he had completely 'cleaned house', leaving only two on staff out of the original group. I know it sounds heartless for a christian to do that, but it isn't.

Leadership expert Jim Collin said, a leader should be rigorous but not ruthless. As a result, the inner circle of Skyline leadership had gone to a new level, the organization was able to go to a new level with an almost noticeable change. The Church started growing again after years of growth stagnancy. In less than ten years the Church had triple in size and the annual budget of $800,000 had grew more than $5 million a year.

In Maxwell chapter of the Law of Intuition, He tells the amazing story of Apple Computer. In brief, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started the company at Jobs's father's garage. The year was 1976. Just four years along the way the company went public and turned its forty employees and investors millionaires overnight.
However there was a dark side to story. In 1985, Jobs left Apple having been pushed out in a battle with CEO John Sculley, the former Pepsi president whom Jobs had recruited in 1983. By 1997, sales were depressed and the company was dying. That was when Apple looked again to the leadership of its original
founder, Steve Jobs, for help. They needed to be saved or less they'd perish into oblivion since Microsoft was the great vampire sucking financial life out of everybody. When Jobs came back on board, he reviewed the situation and immediately took action. As Maxwell put it, 'He knew that improvement was impossible without a change in leadership, so he quickly dismissed all but two of the previous board members and installed new ones ... Jobs wanted to get back to the basis of what Apple had always done best: use its individuality to create products that made a difference. Jobs said, "We've reviewed the road map of new products and axed more than 70% of the projects, keeping the 30% that were gems. Plus we're adding new ones that are a whole new paradigm of looking at Computer."'

That is when Apple started turning around, with the first fiscal quarter of 1998 year, within one year of Jobs return, the company registered a net profit of $47 million. 'Prior to Jobs' return,' Maxwell said, 'the company had posted net quarterly losses the previous year totaling more than $ 1 billion.' And you want me to think that leadership is useless? This guy with his new team turn the life of a whole bankrupting company almost in a year! What i am really trying to bring to your attention is the knowledge of how crucial leadership is for the success of a company, an institution or else. And a leader strength is in its surrounding. The Leader needs to be strong himself, and have a clear vision and then attracted quality people, effective leaders as strong as him/herself to get the job done! As i recently said to friends of mine here and there, when it comes to leadership we do not aim for good people. We aim for strong leaders who are good people. There is no compromise if we search for excellence! Mark my words on that!

It is interesting to notice that even in the Biblical world, the belief that a strong team was key to success. Moses asked Joshua to choose warriors before the fight with the Amalekites "And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek:" (Exodus17:9). Gedeons also had to reduce his army from 32000 soldiers to a humble number of 300 soldiers before his fight because he learned from the Lord that victory are won not necessarily by the number of the Army as much as by the quality of the army (Judges 7). Similar stories are found in the Bible, where it is clearly shown that leadership can only go so far and get limited by the quality of people chosen for any given task. Even the Gospel which is said to be the power of God or possessing life and immortality could not go and spread around the world with the wrong quality of people,

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." (2Timothy 2:2)

With this note I wish you all a great weekend under the Leadership of the Holy Spirit.

End 2011: It Is Time To Celebrate!!!!!

We are getting closer to the end of the year. Which means it is PARTY TIME! Right? The partying season has just started. Here are just some of those interesting events that fill this season: Halloween, Thanks-Giving Day (for the reasonable traditionalists), Turkey Day (for the unreasonable modernists), Christmas, New Year Eve, New Year After Party, Weddings, Birthday parties, imaginary birthday parties, School Holidays Parties, anniversaries of all sorts and ETC. With all these, you may feel at one point that your pockets and
your bank accounts will have holes - i don't mean little nails type of holes. I mean end of the world - ARMAGEDDONS Holes' type!!! But be assured, the fault ain't from your banks nor from your pocket design. The reason will be as always - YOU!! You'll have to bare the responsibility of your financial status by the end of this festive season.

You'll have to take ownership of your finances through the mastering of your desires and the ever increasing self-gratifying desire that shoot off on these festive season. What I can assure though, we can't avoid doing some fiesta time to time, especially if you are part of the 21st century youth. It is in our DNA to find excuses to party! The good news though, you can choose where to party, when to party, with who to party and how to party and most importantly how MUCH you'll party! That's the great blessing of free will. You can choose - hence don't be enslaved by peer-pressure. Don't even be a slave of your own emotions because if you are then the 2nd January 2012 - you'll be utterly, irrevocably and totally bankrupt! That's my prediction and it is as good as anything you can take to the bank! :)

When i was still in South Africa, i remember liquor advisement ending with note of caution: "Drink Responsibly". Well, that was so nice of them to say but they never showed nor even hinted how on earth are people supposed to 'Drink Responsibly' strong liquors! So i also feel like letting some of you down since
you just know within you without a shadow of a doubt that whatever i say and whatever you decide, you'll just end up the year with an empty bank account! You don't want that but you just know that this is inevitable. Not even EXORCISM can help you. Laying of hands will just leave you bald but sheer frequency of hands use on you as the weeks rolls down to the new year after parties!

It is at time like this that i will recommend you to re-read the Leadership posts i sent during this November month 2011 in the "ToDay with E.G series". I particularly recommend the use of the Table of priorities in my First Things First post. Make a draft of that table and as honestly as you can fill in the 4 quadrants:

Q1: Important/Urgent; Q2: Important/Not-Urgent
Q3: Not-Important/Urgent; Q3: Not-Important/Not-Urgent

Based on the availability of your funds, fill in the events and celebrations you want to attend. Correction, where did I have my head!? of course you WANT to attend all! Let me say it this way rather, start filling in the events and celebrations You NEED, You SHOULD and You HAVE TO attend as priorities!

In the rare case you happen to not know those priorities, and even by the end of re-reading the first 5 posts on Leadership you can't still figure out the priorities during this festive season and you still look at all the invitations for fiesta from friends, family, workplaces and the Media (News paper, e-News,TV and Radio) as events you NEED and HAVE TO attend - then my dear friend, YOU ARE TOASTED ... Completely!!!

Have a nice weekend in Jesus' name.

P.S: I feel good - Christmas is upon US! Don't U feel that ....  Euphoria ?

Artists for Christ!!!

Few weekend back, I was in a conversation with two friends of mine, Maurice (Momo) and Matchu, about the use of artistry to convey the Gospel or at least information that are supportive of the Gospel as we understand it. After my dear friend Lyzette brought to my attention the new released Christian movie "Courageous", i guess i stumbled to the realization that here in Rwanda the Christian Church have been able to produce good music that i suspect can compete internationally (even though that wasn't the purpose), however I wandered and still wander what about the other art- oriented projects? Why can't we produce excellent movies, Novels, Books, Cartoons, stand up comedies and so on that could bless (read add grace to) the people of the world and the Church simultaneously?

I watched a youtube slideshow displaying most of the Living Word and Full Gospel Business Men Fellowship International youth members and friends pictures here in Rwanda. It was nice especially under Maurice' harmonious song. You can check this by clicking here.

That gave me ideas and i was asking myself if those of us who have some kind of talents or gifting - what can we do? We may pray and ask God to intensify those talents expressions and that He may pour over us more of His Spirit so that we can use them successfully. For most of us we always think of ecclesiastical activities when we hear about "being filled with the Spirit" but when we read the scripture we realize that the first time that the expression "being filled with the Spirit of God" was used in the Bible, it was used for people who were ordinary laypersons. In this text below, the expression was used for artists:

"See, I (The Lord) have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship." Exodus 31:2-5 - KJV

As we get closer to Christmas, let's remember that the Lord has gifted us with different natural talents and let us pray so that the Spirit of the Lord may fill us over and over so that we can produce admirable works, genuine works or artistry and more so that our Lord could be glorify where we live or where our gifting and talents will reach.

May the Lord bless you all in Jesus' name.

THANKSGIVING - THE GENESIS

Today is Thanksgiving Day. This American celebration of life has started to also interest some Rwandan folks like myself. I have been celebrating it for the past four years. On this season of financial hardship for many around the world, i believe that there are still things in our life that we are grateful for and I hope that our pain and dissatisfaction whatever great they maybe doesn't cloud our vision in recognizing the good things that we still have. As the legendary saying goes, 'learn to count your blessings'. Today is an appropriate time to do so. This reminds me last year thanksgiving comment I read at Voxpopoli:

Even in the present difficulties, even given the way the American nation has moved away from God and abandoned its historical liberties, we still have much for which to be thankful today. It is better to thank God for the abundance of what we have than to bemoan that which has been lost. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. And I encourage you to be grateful. It may be a long time before humanity again knows such a period of relative wealth and ease. - Vox Day

Life has been rather tough on me this year. Nevertheless among my many trials I'd like to at least to be thankful to the Lord Jesus for allowing me to publish my book this year - Help Me Understand Jesus. Yesterday I spoke with one of my friends, I noticed that he wasn't conversant with the genesis of this celebration. I suspect some folks here may also wonder about the origin of this celebration called Thanksgiving. I hence decided to post the official wordings that begot this day known as THANKSGIVING.

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Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and  supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
- George Washington

THE FILLING WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHY THEY NEEDED IT THEN AND WHY WE NEED IT NOW

A/ Why Do God Give His Spirit?

God give of his Spirit so that people who are recipient of his power may serve him. In the Old Testament God gave of his Spirit to a limited number of people because only a limited number of them had responsibilities.

Before that Israel was led by human monarchs God gave of His Spirit to prophets, Priests and Judges and when the monarchy was introduced the Holy Spirit was given to prophets, priests and kings. And during the construction of the Tabernacle some artists were filled with the Holy Spirit in order to be able to do beautiful artistic design and all kinds of crafts (Exodus 31).

Here is how John Eldredge in his best-selling book ‘Wild at Heart’ puts it:

You remember that wild man, Samson? He’s got pretty impressive masculine resume: killed a lion with his bare hands, pummeled and stripped thirty Philistines when they used his wife against him, and finally, after they burned her to death, he killed a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey. Not a guy to mess with. But did you notice? All those events happened when ‘the Spirit of the LORD came upon him’ (Judges 15:14).

If one just has an overview of the Old Testament, he will notice that the coming of the Holy Spirit was often correlated with dynamic activities. So it is with the New Testament. At Jesus baptism by John the Baptist we are told that He was filled with the Holy Spirit and being LED by the Spirit in the desert to confront his enemy for 40 days and came back from that confrontation with the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:1,14). That is when his miraculous activities begun in ancient Israel. Even in the Acts of the Apostle, the word Holy Spirit is correlated with works in the lives of the apostles and other disciples. Jim Cimbala in his book “Fresh wind, Fresh Power” makes the same remarks about the action of the first disciples. When the Spirit came, some people converted, other people got angry, and others were healed while other fell into dramatic judgments. To speak of the activity of the Holy Spirit without anything happening is an oxymoron. It is a contradiction of term. The Holy Spirit is a spirit and the only way we know of his presence is when He manifest himself, if He does not manifest himself we can only believe that He is present by we can not know that for a fact. So when the Holy Spirit fills a disciple/Christian something MUST happen in that disciple’s life. Thus, when I hear people saying that they are filled with the Holy Spirit while nothing unusual in their lives is happening I find it incredible to the point of being ‘miraculous’ by itself.

B/ The Meaning of Acts 1:8

Among the Last words of Jesus we read this: “But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NIV). Just as in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was given to some selected folks in order to represent God in their divine mission on earth so it is in the New Testament. The difference being that ALL disciples are being called to exercise a particular divine responsibility, which is why ALL of Christ’s disciples/Christians need to receive God’s power. Even though our calling is different from each others just like the difference between Prophets and Judges in the Old Testament, we do have a unified mission. In the epistle of 2 Corinthians 5: 18,20 , we are told that we are all Christ Ambassadors and as such we need power in order to effectively serve him and represent him effectively in this age while waiting for his return.

The international bible teacher Derek Prince in his book ‘Foundations for Righteous Living’ says that the Greek word for power found in Acts 1:8 is ‘dynamo’ and Professor Wayne Grudem in his volume of "Systematic Theology: An introduction to Biblical Doctrine", give the same translation of the word as ‘dynamis’ which in both case are the root term of our English word dynamic and dynamite.

Why is it important? For the reason I said above. No one can say to have received the ‘dynamo’ and still be inactive and unproductive. For a matter of fact, that empowerment is what makes a difference in God’s followers. When Goliath was insulting the God of Israel, I’m sure all those Israelite soldiers were in indignation but no one dared to confront him. However David who had no formal military training went into the fighting field because the anointing he had received prior to that event from Samuel was dynamically moving him to do exploit in the name of the Lord even in front of impossible challenges.

Can I also suggest, when things get tough and challenges seem insurmountable that is exactly where the ‘dynamo’ we have received is the most needed. We have all seen how the dynamite is used. It is not used on soft field, dynamite is used where hard rocks are founds. Jesus knew that we will meet incredible challenges as his gospel goes all over the world, therefore He gave us the Power of His Spirit so that the task given to us be effectively completed. BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE DYNAMITE OF GOD.

Before I finish I need to raise some important point otherwise my presentation will be incomplete. At the conversion, the Holy Spirit is given to the converts. He receives authority. In the gospel of John 1:12, it is said that new convert receive the right to be called child of God. That right is also his authority. The Greek word, Derek Prince says, for that is ‘exousia’, which means that the one who were under satanic authority is now translated out of it into the divine authority. This is what the Spirit do at our conversion, when we are regenerated. We are exalted in position of authority in Christ. However we should not confuse authority (exousia) with power of execution (dynamis). In human affair those who have received authority also get means that makes their authority effective. Soldier receives weapons, military commanders get battalions and presidents receive armies. And Christians receives the power of the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus who was Son of God needed power to start executing his divine mission. Even the disciples were told by Jesus himself after they had received the authority (the right) to preach the gospel that they should wait until the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon them (Luke 24:49).


We do not only need the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to do God’s work, we also need it in order to have the courage, strength and audacity to do what we know God expect of us. Even to our Christian martyrdom. In Acts 4, we read how the disciples spoke with courage (verse 13) and how they received more audacity as they asked for boldness (verse 29) in prayer. All these are connected with the word ‘Filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 4: 8, 31).

C/ Conclusion

I end this by saying that we need God’s power in order to serve him. Where the Holy Spirit is active we will always see that. One of the ways He (Holy Spirit) manifests himself it’s through one of the manifestation of the spiritual gifts (1 Corinthian 12) or powerful exercise of the ministry gifts (Ephesians 4:11-13) or (Romans 12: 6-8). All these are gifts by which the Holy Spirit manifests himself to do the impossible and the amazing works of God through Christians’ lives. We need all of them to manifest as much as possible, because if God gave them to us it is because it has the ability to impact this generation and to build the body of Christ.

God Bless you all in Jesus' name.
P.S: You can also order a copy of the author's book "Help Me Understand Jesus" here.

ToDay with E.G: Young Leaders! Part 12

When i was a teenager, i was starting to get annoyed with the continuous emphasis that the young people where the strength of the Church, the youth was the future and similar talk. Every single preacher had to find a way to  drop in that overused statement. I suspect that what really annoyed me more was that i didn't see anything of value that the young people around me, included myself, where doing. Most of the time when they were called in public seemed to be about some particular sin they did, which they needed to repent from.

Then the Lord started opening my mind slowly. It started with what i qualified as exceptions. But as exceptions accumulated i had no choice but to reform my mind on this issue. I was told that Watchman Nee wrote his huge tome 'The Spiritual Man' when he was 25 years old. I was impressed and rationalize that exploit saying, 'Watchman Nee is a genius and he was lucky'. Then it started falling on me. News after news. John Maxwell started his leadership practice in his 20's. Billy Graham started his evangelistic efforts in his 20's too. Leadership expert Jim Collins came up with his magnificent book project 'Built to last' when he was 28. In my campus, our department of Biotechnology was led by young lecturers who had their doctorates and even got tenure as professors due to their valuable contribution to science. One of my old professor of Research Methodology even had a microbial specie named after his name. He discovered that in the 70's. It is really a good feeling to walk and study under living legends. It marks you for life.

My mum' always enjoy telling us the story of her school years when she was taught by living legends in the field of Mathematics from Romany. I suspect that is what gave her the drive to never wanting to settle for something less. It is quite impressive as i read in the near past how Under/Graduate Schools that keep producing Nobel Laureates are usually the same kind of schools. It seems to me that beyond the rigidity and strictness of the scholastic endeavors of those institutions, there is also this psychological drive and recognition on the part of their students that they are the best and the elite among the world because their professors are noble laureates, award winners and so on. These students have legends in their faculties and so on, How on earth can they settle for less? The same should be with us. You and I have the greatest legend who has ever lived as a friend and big brother - the Lord Jesus Christ - how can we settle for anything less? Never!

I can say even more on that by naming people like TD Jakes, Martin Luther King Jr. etc, who started to influence the world from their youth. But those few examples above is sufficient to point out how my mind transformation on this issue started to catch up with what the old preachers where telling us. The youth is the key! At least one of the keys of change and ambitious progress.

It became clear to me through my readings that there is a specific range of age where our human innovation and contribution to this earth is high. And i'd like to remind you all of those facts. People can contribute at all ages, thank God for that, but let us remember that based on facts and evidences most of the valuable contribution that we enjoy today came from the youth. Even if we go outside the bible, that speaks of Joseph, Daniel, David, Mary or even Goliath - we find something interesting about what the youth have done in our modern life. Just because i expose that let me just make this biblical comment. It was even explained to David why Goliath was dangerous and terrorizing Israel's soldiers, "And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth." 1Samuel 17:33.  He was a man of war from his youth.

Vox Day in his book about Atheism made this comment: 

"Scientists come with a sel-by date . The mathematician G. H. Hardy declared that math is a young man's game, while Albert Einstein formulated the mass-energy equivalence at twenty-six and Sir Isaac Newton's famous annus mirabilis occurred when he was only twenty-three. A California researcher has estimated that the mean age of a biologist's first noteworthy contribution to science takes place when he is 29.4 years old." (Vox Day - TIA - Darwins Juda, page 135)

Dr. Stephen Meyer who won awards because of his 2009 book, "The Signature in the Cell: the evidence for Intelligence Design", had started working on this since 1986 and wrote his doctorate thesis on that in 1991. He was young!

Here is a table that can support that point of views found in TIA quoted above:

Discipline	Mean age of first contribution	Mean age of best contribution
Mathematics	27.3	38.8
Astronomy	30.5	40.6
Physics	29.7	38.2
Chemistry	30.5	38.0
Biology	29.4	40.5
Medicine	32.3	42.1
Technology	31.6	39.7
Earth sciences	30.9	42.5
Others	33.4	41.6

SOURCE:Dean K. Simonton, University of California at Davis.

It has also came to my attention that most of the developments that we have in computers mostly came from young people- look at FaceBook, Google, etc. Some of the computer genius started their work when they were young - Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft and probably others that i don't know. :)

All this just to say that, the leadership advise i gave through the 'ToDay with E.G' are not just good advise that will be needed later in life, when we are getting older, when we will be serious to start doing great things in life. Nope! These advises and posts are given to you free of charge so that you may start looking at your life, hard and long, and see that effectiveness can be achieved by all if only all knew how to do it. Those who have been focused in life and learned a thing or two in their earthly pilgrim have contributed much more than for their own lives, they also contributed in the lives of others.  A last quick example. Remember that most of our warriors who stopped the Rwandan Genocide were young people in their 20's and 30's. Some of them are dead and some of them are alive. Both of these groups have something in common - they changed the lives of millions of people beside their own and we are indebted to them all - the living and the dead.

Now it is your time! This is not a cliché statement but a statement based on evidence and organized statistics as seen on the table above. Now is your time and mine to add value to this world with our lives, intellects, finances, times, knowledge and all kind of resources the Lord has availed to us by his grace. Some have gifts others have talents - let's make use of them at the best level of our abilities. Make sure that you do not cut yourself off of this rich world history of young people. Your time - my time!

In Mathew 25:14-30, Jesus teaches us two things about the use of talents. The first one is faithfulness (a habit) and the other one is laziness (a habit). The true fight for significance and productivity hang in the balance of your habits. Choose well your habits because the habits you choose will determine how you'll be remembered at your death and for years, decades and centuries to come if Christ Jesus is not yet back! And if He is back .. then just read Mathew 25 and you'll get the picture.

Leadership is about influence. The first person you need to learn and consistently influence is yourself. Influence yourself to adopt the kind of life that are consistent with the values you have decided to adopt as per the step two of the two creations we talked about: start with the end in mind!

I'll end with the word of an other J.C Moderator - Mr. Ngabe R. In the welcoming page of Jeunnesse Chrétienne Forum he quoted this scripture: "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them";" Ecclesiastes 12:1, English Standard Version.

May the Lord in Jesus' name encourages you and inspires you for greatness in all the respective fields in which you are in.

In Memory of Theistic Scientists

                  A thought about Christians who contributed to the progress of Science.

"We see how God, like a human architect, approached the founding of the world according to order and rule and measured everything in such a manner."~ Johannes Kepler (d. 1630), improved the telescope and discovered Kepler's Laws of planetary motion, demonstrating that planetary motion was part of a universal mathematical physics system.

"Religion and science demand for their foundation faith in God. For the former (religion), God stands foremost; for the latter (science), at the end of all thought. For religion He represents a basis; for science, a crowning solution towards a world view." ~ Max Planck (d. 1947), the founder of quantum physics and one of the most important physicists of the twentieth century.

"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being." ~ Isaac Newton (d. 1727), developed calculus and described it in Principia Mathematica, from which the above quote is taken. He described universal gravitation, the three laws of motion, and developed color theory. He wrote more on theology and religion than he did on science.

 

"All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more the Truths contained in the Sacred Scriptures." ~ Sir William Herschel (d. 1822), a Fellow of the Royal Society and accomplished musician, Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, measured the height of lunar mountains and discovered infrared radiation.

 

"The book of nature which we have to read is written by the finger of God." ~ Michael Faraday (d. 1867), established the existence of the magnetic field, discovered electrolysis, diamagnetism, electromagnetic induction and benzene. He invented an early version of the electric dynamo. His work laid the foundation of the modern electrical system. By showing the inter-relation between magnetism and light, he laid the groundwork for a unified field theory.

 

"God would not have made the universe as it is unless He intended us to understand it." ~Robert Boyle (d. 1691), regarded as the first modern chemist and a founding member of the Royal Society, Boyle made contributions in numerous fields, including electricity, color, crystals, and hydrostatics. He also contributed liberally to Christian missions in the East and founded the Boyle Lectures to combat Christian infidels and heretics.