MONEY TALKS

Someone said money makes the whole world go around. Does it? Well much of what we own, places we go, basic necessities of life such as food are bought by these papers and coins. Money is it a necessary evil? Every waking dawn, majority of the kenyan adults walk, commute to work to earn a living which may come end of month or day. Question is, Can one get fulfillment from work without necessarily having money involved? Think about it. The worldview is we work to earn a living in Africa, for the west, maybe leisure can be incorporated. A story is told of a young man who experimented whether he can swim to the deep end of a pool without a floater. By chance, he instead began drowning, luckily Peter, a lifeguard who was on holiday at the hotel was around. Crowds of people were gathered as some passed a stick to the boy to hold onto it to be rescued. Peter instantly dived into the water and helped the boy out. Astonished, some of the women offered him cash but Peter declined saying its his vocation. Some of the men went away murmuring of a chance they wish they had.
Yes one can do whatever work he/she loves without being paid for it. Think of it this way, If Martin Luther King Junior during the church’s reformation would have been paid by the Catholic bishops to keep still and not champion for his reformation cause would protestant churches exist today? Would we be talking about salvation? The bible acknowledges the love of money as root of all evil and has scenarios where even disciples fell to the love of money such as Judas Iscariot. Today much of churches are mushrooming all over with the urge upon the sheep to support the work of God, Man of God. A Credible leading Christian Station I listen to this week aired on the drive show (4pm-7pm) urging parents who have candidates either in Class 8 or Form 4 to rush to the Christian bookshops and buy anointing oil. After buying it, they would then take it to the pastor who would pray for it and then the candidate’s properties such as books, pens and face be anointed. Something in mind went…What? Isn’t that now being a cult where certain rituals must be done? Am not saying that Christians or the church don’t need money but when its put first before the word of God then we have lost the direction completely.
Similarly, a true believer who works primarily for the paycheck does not just face frustrations but will most likely not be in work force for that long. Believers should work hard and succeed having put their trust in the name of the Lord. The Lord provides and all silver and gold are His. He owns cattle on a thousand hills. We are so money minded that even the 10% we are REQUIRED as instructed in Malachi is painful for our wallets! Dr Myles Munroe says that he can tell your life story from your check book-It shows what your priorities are in life.
As the common saying goes
God made man, Man made money, Money made man mad.

-Anonymous-

MONEY TALKS

Someone said money makes the whole world go around. Does it? Well much of what we own, places we go, basic necessities of life such as food are bought by these papers and coins. Money is it a necessary evil? Every waking dawn, majority of the kenyan adults walk, commute to work to earn a living which may come end of month or day. Question is, Can one get fulfillment from work without necessarily having money involved? Think about it. The worldview is we work to earn a living in Africa, for the west, maybe leisure can be incorporated. A story is told of a young man who experimented whether he can swim to the deep end of a pool without a floater. By chance, he instead began drowning, luckily Peter, a lifeguard who was on holiday at the hotel was around. Crowds of people were gathered as some passed a stick to the boy to hold onto it to be rescued. Peter instantly dived into the water and helped the boy out. Astonished, some of the women offered him cash but Peter declined saying its his vocation. Some of the men went away murmuring of a chance they wish they had.
Yes one can do whatever work he/she loves without being paid for it. Think of it this way, If Martin Luther King Junior during the church’s reformation would have been paid by the Catholic bishops to keep still and not champion for his reformation cause would protestant churches exist today? Would we be talking about salvation? The bible acknowledges the love of money as root of all evil and has scenarios where even disciples fell to the love of money such as Judas Iscariot. Today much of churches are mushrooming all over with the urge upon the sheep to support the work of God, Man of God. A Credible leading Christian Station I listen to this week aired on the drive show (4pm-7pm) urging parents who have candidates


either in Class 8 or Form 4 to rush to the Christian bookshops and buy anointing oil. After buying it, they would then take it to the pastor who would pray for it and then the candidate’s properties such as books, pens and face be anointed. Something in mind went…What? Isn’t that now being a cult where certain rituals must be done? Am not saying that Christians or the church don’t need money but when its put first before the word of God then we have lost the direction completely.
Similarly, a true believer who works primarily for the paycheck does not just face frustrations but will most likely not be in work force for that long. Believers should work hard and succeed having put their trust in the name of the Lord. The Lord provides and all silver and gold are His. He owns cattle on a thousand hills. We are so money minded that even the 10% we are REQUIRED as instructed in Malachi is painful for our wallets! Dr Myles Munroe says that he can tell your life story from your check book-It shows what your priorities are in life.
As the common saying goes
God made man, Man made money, Money made man mad.
-Anonymous-

WALKING IN TRUTH

This is the semester’s theme as stated by the chaplaincy during the first Tuesday chapel of the semester last month. As I listened carefully to the quotation of verses from the scripture my mind wondered, What truth? Whose truth? Surely such a word put in today’s contemporary world has lost meaning! Don’t get me wrong. The media reflects the society thus much of the content transmitted in our airwaves no matter how ‘dirty’ and outright lies is received as simply put ‘bearable’. Truth to me has ceased meaning. Sadly, today’s generation especially teens from 13-19 years have grown up in ‘MTV generation’ learning their values, attitudes from the same media. Walt Mueller in his book, Understanding Today’s Youth Culture says ‘The greatest power of the mass media is the power to define reality and therefore shape who our kids become’.

The other day I had a chat with some friends and some would say that Truth is relative. Okay. So I probed one of them further and he went on to give his experience where he sought for advice from his parents who replied with ‘don’t they teach you things in school?’. From it I gathered that indeed we are suffering from a generational crisis. We live in so busy caught up world that our Christian values have been blurred. Frankly speaking if we were living in some of the asian countries where Christian persecution is still there(though not publicly declared),how many of us would confess to the truth of the gospel? Very few I guess.
The back of all events, situations and dilemmas we find ourselves in today’s cosmopolitan 21st century lifestyle lies in the word of God-The Bible, ‘a book according to some has lost touch with time.’

I challenged myself and hope that other congregants were too on the need to walk the talk-in truth. Its easy for us to look at our work colleagues, students, faculty, staff and even management and see ‘less honesty’ but at the end of the day its about us as individuals to stand for the truth. Paul says in his letter to Timothy i.e. 2nd Timothy 2:15‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to
be

TODAY IS MY LAST DAY

TODAY IS MY LAST DAY

The very mention of the five-lettered word, DEATH brings chills to many. To some, it’s a curse, a bad omen. Life is a journey, we are all travelers, once a mourner told a group of us who were afraid of going into the morgue to view the body of a loved one. I agree. Sometimes we are so busy caught up in our busy lives planning for tomorrow that we lose significance of today. Death is a painful experience that no one would love to cherish. However, we get comfort knowing that we will one day rise up and reunite with Christ. Perhaps the biggest questions lingering on my mind even as I ponder on this issue is Will I have achieved my purpose? What will people remember of me when am gone? The legacy that I want to leave behind is having utilized my talents to impact the world for Christ. That my character and personality was able to influence young people to change their lost lifestyles.
In the light of today being the last day, friends are gathered at my home giving
their condolences and the eulogy is being read by a close friend, Steve.
WHAT IF?
Friends, as we gather here today to bid farewell to a brother, a son, a father whose treasure we will never find. This day is not ordinary but a celebration of a life well lived. Born from a humble home, Charles surmounted numerous childhood challenges including a near-death experience with Toilet disinfectant disguised as Juice. I met with him during our elementary school days and was fortunate to go through high school and campus with him. In those times, he striked me as a humble, honest and God-fearing person. I remember in the Muslim high school, though bible studies and fellowships weren’t allowed, we would secretly meet with other friends and read the bible. He was a determined young man and friendly to staff and students alike. Even when angry, he would walk away then moments later we would laugh as though nothing happened. Upon coming to campus, we joined the missions and evangelism team. We toured many places including Rwanda. In fact, when we were in Kigali, we went to Orphans home and he witnessed to kids (who understood a bit of Swahili).During the mission, several souls came to Christ.
Knowing that he loved media, Charles joined Daystar radio, Shine FM where he did several live programs on Radio notably Daybreak, that aired from 5am.I must say he did a lot of activities and impacted the students through the clubs and media where he served. I even hold one of his inspirational articles he wrote on Involvement. Though we are all tears today, Charles fought the good fight and finished the race.

~Henry Van Dyke~

Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.

THE LOST BROTHER

The world is looking for answers everywhere-scientists, doctors, and diviners’. In this big puzzle where can the church fit? Aren’t we supposed to be the light of the world? If we are not, then what went wrong? Materialism and infiltration of popular culture hit the church and Christians big time. William Romanowski in his book, Eyes Wide Open notes that sadly many Christians have embraced popular culture in music, arts and conformed to the patterns of the world. This is not supposed to be the case! The mentality of doing
good so that you may get the ‘rightful reward’ in form of health, wealth has led many to disappointments. Think of it this way, If God sent His son, Jesus Christ to pay the full penalty of our sins and ‘demanded’ that we repay Him. Would we be able? I bet not.
We should not be giving so that we get a reward but give as an act of love towards one another.
Like the lost brother, we the flock (believers) need to come back to the first love. The father may have the portion of land that we own (or we think we rightfully deserve) and given the other to the wayward/lost son, but think of it this way, the ultimate investment be made to the lost. Money accrued from churches should be used for the expansion of God’s kingdom through outreaches such as establishing rehabilitation centres, feeding the poor etc. I mean, how else are we going to show that we are Christians if not for our actions? I loved the fact that in class the other day, we were challenged to prove that we are guilty of being Christians. The impact of the church shall never be felt if we closed ourselves into the ‘buildings’ and ‘sanctuaries’ and Praise worship then get back home to our businesses.


If Christ would come today, wouldn’t he come to find a sleeping church? That’s for you to judge. The days of MPESA gospel on our media and churches is long gone.Fine, church needs the money, so the believers need to give more through tithes and offerings and not begged to give as it is the case. After all, The Lord of Hosts says in Malachi 3:8-10, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

BEHEADED

“We are suffering from a generational crisis”, Pastor Paul Gichuhi of NPC Buruburu once said during an interview on Hope FM. He was speaking of the trend in families where many homes are fatherless-beheaded! Where did all the men go to? 21st century men retreated to the closet. Women became more vigorous coming from homes ran by their mothers. The mothers instilled the mentality that men are bad or evil. That’s one side, the other men simply became burdened by responsibilities and left it for the ladies as Dr Myles Munroe in his sermon, Dangers of Freedom noted. According to him, a man’s power comes from his position but a woman, from influence. This is true, a casual look at most corporates ranging from media to industries, many are now ran by women.-which means they not only have influence but position to top it all.
God placed authority upon man and when he mismanaged or became irresponsible, he took it away from him as stated in Genesis 3:21-24.Men have to realize this great responsibility bestowed upon them. The firm foundation on which tomorrow’s generation should be brought up is on Christ the solid rock. Yes the damage has already been done but should we as believers allow this to continue? Definitely not. Moreover, God still holds His redeeming ability to date, He can change a man whose hurt and heavy laden with responsibilities. Indeed He created Eve to become his helper and companion.
Man can never live alone as an island and sometimes swallowing up our pride and allowing ourselves to be assisted whenever need be could solve a lot of issues bedeviling families today. We need to listen to what our spouses, fiancé are saying because therein lies wisdom.
Dr Myles says a man without Christ is headless. Quite true. Here are qualities that make a real man as he said.
Works
As the bread winner, man is engineered with a vacuum with himself that urges him to work for his living. This came after the fall in the Garden of Eden where God banished them for sinning. Man was told he’ll have to sweat for his food and woman would deliver in pain. A man who doesn’t work and only sits at home to wait for the wife to bring food home would be an abomination even in the traditional African societies then.
Cultivates his wife/spouse:
A man should leave his spouse better than when they first met. He should be able to know and understand the lady very well and complement her. This varies from how she dresses to her character and personality. For example he could transform the lady from an easily tempered person to rational lady.
Protects/Security
A woman should feel safe in her home knowing that the man would do all he can to protect her and the children against attack. He should also be psychologically, emotionally, physically secure. The bond of trust would be good to avoid thoughts of cheating cases etc.
Teacher
What values will he pass to the family? What will the children learn from their father? A man who shoulders this responsibility should be bold enough to stand his ground and let it know his principles, values that the family can adopt.
“The world is filled by many males but few men”
-Dr Myles Munroe-

BEHEADED

“We are suffering from a generational crisis”, Pastor Paul Gichuhi of NPC Buruburu once said during an interview on Hope FM. He was speaking of the trend in families where many homes are fatherless-beheaded! Where did all the men go to? 21st century men retreated to the closet. Women became more vigorous coming from homes ran by their mothers. The mothers instilled the mentality that men are bad or evil. That’s one side, the other men simply became burdened by responsibilities and left it for the ladies as Dr Myles Munroe in his sermon, Dangers of Freedom noted. According to him, a man’s power comes from his position but a woman, from influence. This is true, a casual look at most corporates ranging from media to industries, many are now ran by women.-which means they not only have influence but position to top it all.
God placed authority upon man and when he mismanaged or became irresponsible, he took it away from him as stated in Genesis 3:21-24.Men have to realize this great responsibility bestowed upon them. The firm foundation on which tomorrow’s generation should be brought up is on Christ the solid rock. Yes the damage has already been done but should we as believers allow this to continue? Definitely not. Moreover, God still holds His redeeming ability to date, He can change a man whose hurt and heavy laden with responsibilities. Indeed He created Eve to become his helper and companion.
Man can never live alone as an island and sometimes swallowing up our pride and allowing ourselves to be assisted whenever need be could solve a lot of issues bedeviling families today. We need to listen to what our spouses, fiancé are saying because therein lies wisdom.
Dr Myles says a man without Christ is headless. Quite true. Here are qualities that make a real man as he said.
Works
As the bread winner, man is engineered with a vacuum with himself that urges him to work for his living. This came after the fall in the Garden of Eden where God banished them for sinning. Man was told he’ll have to sweat for his food and woman would deliver in pain. A man who doesn’t work and only sits at home to wait for the wife to bring food home would be an abomination even in the traditional African societies then.
Cultivates his wife/spouse:
A man should leave his spouse better than when they first met. He should be able to know and understand the lady very well and complement her. This varies from how she dresses to her character and personality. For example he could transform the lady from an easily tempered person to rational lady.
Protects/Security
A woman should feel safe in her home knowing that the man would do all he can to protect her and the children against attack. He should also be psychologically, emotionally, physically secure. The bond of trust would be good to avoid thoughts of cheating cases etc.
Teacher
What values will he pass to the family? What will the children learn from their father? A man who shoulders this responsibility should be bold enough to stand his ground and let it know his principles, values that the family can adopt.
“The world is filled by many males but few men”
-Dr Myles Munroe-