In Isaiah’s prophecy about the birth of the Messiah (Isaiah 9:6-7), he used a number of phrases to tell his readers who and what the Messiah would be to the world. He preceded the listing of these phrases with the statement “… and his name shall be called”:

1. Wonderful Counselor: This refers to the wisdom evident in the counsel Jesus gives.
2. Mighty God: This is in reference to the deity of Jesus Christ. The “birth of God” was prophesied by Isaiah and Jesus lived, died and resurrected to fulfil this prophecy.
3. Everlasting Father: This refers to the fact that Jesus is the eternal father. Simply put, Jesus is God. 
4. Prince of Peace: This is in reference to the peace evident in his reign and it also reveals to us his ranking in the spiritual and physical realm. 

The prophet tells us that “of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end”. Meaning Jesus’ rulership is everlasting and ever-increasing and so is the peace he gives. His reign is characterized by an outpouring of peace and his tank will never run out of the peace he dispenses to all who call on him. It is my sincere hope and prayer that anybody going through a turbulent season in their lives will come to the saving knowledge of the government of the Prince of Peace. I pray that nations that are in a state of constant warfare will hear the good news of the Saviour who dispenses peace in abundance. After hearing the good news, you must believe in him to have access to the peace he gives. But as Paul asked in Romans 10:14, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him, of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”. Christians must carry out the great commission and preach the good news to all creation. But before we go about telling people who he is, what does “Prince of Peace” really mean?

Let’s begin with the word “prince” and its usage in the bible. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, the Old Testament contains different words mostly rendered as “prince” or “princes” in the English Versions of the Bible. One of them is “sar”. 

This word occurs quite frequently in our English Bible, mostly in the Old Testament. While it is never used to denote royal parentage (compare 1 Chron 29:24), it often indicates actual royal or ruling power, together with royal dignity and authority. As a rule, the name is given to human beings; in a few instances it is applied to God and Christ, the angels and the devil. (from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

In the book of Daniel, the word is used in reference to angelic beings and demonic forces as well. Below are a few sightings of the word in Daniel:

• Daniel 8:25:  “the Prince of princes” refers to God Himself
• Daniel 10:21: “Michael your prince” refers to Michael as the guardian angel of Israel. Also in Daniel 12:1, the word “prince” is used again to refer to Michael as the angel in charge of Israel. He is referred to as the “great Prince”.
• Daniel 10:13 & 20: In these 2 verses, we are told of the “Prince of Persia” and the “Prince of Greece”. These two are demonic forces in charge of the nations of Persia and Greece respectfully. They are also referred to as principalities. Similarly, in Ephesians 2:2, Paul refers to Satan as the “prince of the power of the air”.

The word “sar” is always used to denote a ruler or leader and never to refer to an actual prince who is the son of a King. As stated earlier, the word is sometimes used in reference to human authority. For example, when Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 10:16, “woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning”. The word “princes” used in this verse does not refer to the son of a king but rather human rulers and leaders. The Amplified Bible actually translates that word in this verse as “officials”. 

“Principality” is another word used in the English bible in reference to a powerful ruler, usually in the spiritual realm just like “prince”. The two words are similar but not the same, especially because according to the english dictionary, “principality” also refers to the reign or the territory this powerful ruler presides over. In the bible, the word is often used in the plural form in reference to all manner of spiritual authorities and human rulers.

The word (often found in the plural) may refer to human rulers (Titus 3:1, KJV), demonic spirits (Rom 8:38; Eph 6:12; Col 2:15), angels and demons in general (Eph 3:10; Col 1:16), or (especially when used in the singular) any type of ruler other than God Himself (Eph 1:21; Col 2:10). While Christians must often wrestle against evil principalities (Eph 6:12), they can be victorious because Christ defeated all wicked spirits (Col 2:15). (from Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

Michael was described in the book of Daniel as the Prince of Israel. We are also told of the operations of the Prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece: demonic forces in charge of specific geographical locations and territories. Principalities are territorial spirits. Therefore, if peace was a geographical location, Jesus Christ would have been the Prince in charge of it. He would have been the ruling authority presiding over the territory called “peace”. Peace is his principality. The bible makes us understand that it is in him we live and move and have our being; we are in Christ. If this is the case then the “peace of God which surpasses all understanding” should be abundant in the life of every believer. We should access it on a daily basis and never panic or be thrown into a state of turmoil and chaos because of the issues of this life. The peace of God is only operational in Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace (read Philipians 4:7). Outside him, nobody can access the peace of God. His peace is not like the peace the world gives (John 14:27). His Spirit lives in us to produce this peace in the face of adversity and all manner of chaotic situations. That is why peace is listed in the fruit of the spirit. It is produced in you as a result of the operation of the Holy Spirit in your life. This peace comes to guide our hearts and our minds for specific reasons. It guides our hearts lest we are thrown into a state of emotional turmoil and fall into deception, and our minds, lest we are affected mentally by the issues of this life and give in to the wiles of the enemy. 

Storms are a good representation of chaos; similar to what human beings go through in life. How Jesus dispenses peace to us when we are in a turbulent season is best depicted by his relationship with storms. In Matthew 14, the remarkable story of Jesus walking on water is recorded. When the disciples saw him walking on the storm, upon Peter’s request, the Lord asked him to walk on the water too. The very water that Jesus walked on, was the very water on which Peter walked until he turned his attention to the waves and began to sink. Peter panicked and that’s why he sank. The waves were already raging before and during Peter’s walk on the water, so it wasn’t the “waves of the water” that caused him to sink. It was the raging storms of fear and doubt in his heart that caused him to sink. 

In Matthew 8, Jesus was in a boat with his disciples, and while there was a storm, he was fast asleep. They had to wake him up to the reality of the storm. His immediate response was to rebuke them for their lack of faith, then he proceeded to rebuke the storm too. He exercised authority over the disciples and the storm. 

Here are the observations I made from these two stories: the Prince of peace is either strolling “on” the storm, telling it to shut up or sleeping in the midst of it. The first two observations depict Jesus’ authority over turbulence and the last one shows us how much he is unaffected by it. He was so much at peace that while his disciples were struggling to keep the boat floating on the water in the storm, he was fast asleep. He had to be woken up. In my sleep, sometimes I am startled by the vibration of my phone and usually it jolts me into consciousness. The Prince of peace was in a boat that was being tossed to and fro by the waves  yet he was asleep. If he could sleep in the storm, then he can grant us sleep in the turbulent seasons of our lives too. So long as the struggles of this world give some people sleepless nights, we have to understand that sleep can never be underrated in the assessment of the amount of peace we have. The Psalmist did say in Psalm 127:2 that the LORD gives sleep to his beloved.

The Prince of peace is the head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10). The Prince of peace disarmed every principality there is in hell, defeated them and made a public show of their defeat (Colossians 2:15). This means, there is no evil principality in existence that hasn’t been stripped of its power to harm those who are in Christ. Beloved, it is my sincere prayer for you that no matter how chaotic and turbulent the season of life you are in may be, remember who your savior is. He is the Prince of peace, he gives peace – perfect peace. Just as the disciples called on him to restore peace in the midst of the storm, you too can have peace when you call on him. It takes one statement from him, “peace, be still!”, to restore peace in the tempest. It won’t take more from him to restore peace in your life. Call on him now. 

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In the first post of this series, I spoke against the idea that one doesn’t need to observe any safety protocols amidst the COVID-19 pandemic if they have faith in God. In this post, we will be looking at how a public health crisis was dealt with in ancient times according to the instructions God gave his people. Ultimately, we all believe God is a mighty healer and is more than able to restore health supernaturally. Nevertheless, it is abundantly evident in scripture that there were times when he instructed his people to implement some physical measures to prevent infections, the spread of diseases, and to cure them. This will be the focus of this part of the series.

The coronavirus has shaken up the whole world, affecting not only human lives but industries, big corporations, and nations. According to WHO safety protocols, two major ways to prevent the spread of the virus are:

1. Humans everywhere wearing face masks in public
2. People practicing social distancing in public spaces. 

This invariably means there is a virus on the loose; it could be hanging loosely in the air you breathe.  Adhering to these safety protocols makes sense because the virus is spread through human contact. Other measures such as quarantine, lockdowns and vaccinations have been carried out all over the world to curtail the spread of the virus too. 

Christianity is a religion steeped in the supernatural. The power of God is evident in the pages of scripture. To us, the miraculous is not just a special feature of Christian ministry, it is a command from Jesus. Two times in the book of Luke, Jesus sent out his disciples and he instructed them to preach the gospel of the kingdom and heal the sick (Luke 9:2 & Luke 10:9). In Mathew 10:8 it is recorded as such:

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. 

Therefore, how do we reconcile the idea that Christians can operate in the supernatural healing power of God with the idea that we have to adhere to safety protocols during this pandemic? That is exactly what this post is about, so journey with me as we arrive at the answer. 

In both the Old and New Testaments, it is clear that leprosy was a disease that was regarded as a public health crisis because of its infectious nature. According to WHO, leprosy “also known as Hansen’s disease, is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract and the eyes”. Its infectious nature poses danger to people who come into contact with lepers. Hence, in the Old Testament God gave ample instructions as to how to deal with the disease and diseased people. In Leviticus 13 and 14, God outlines a number of health safety protocols to be implemented by the people in their dealings with lepers. The instructions, or laws as they were called in Leviticus, were so exhaustive that they covered procedures from disease detection through a series of examinations to the prevention of the spread of the disease. Moses received these instructions and gave them to the Priests who were appointed by God to be the “medical officers” working to detect whether or not an individual had the disease. God outlined a number of symptoms they were to look out for before declaring the individual unclean or leprous. These symptoms include:

1.  A swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white and when there is raw flesh in the swelling, it is leprosy. Leviticus 13:10
2. A breakout of the disease on the person from head to toe that has turned white. The Priest shall declare the person clean. Most probably because at that stage, the disease is no longer infectious. Leviticus 13:12-13

It may interest you to know that God also instructed the priests to quarantine people suspected to be leprous for a period of 7 days (Leviticus 13: 21:22). This is the same God who wrought mighty miracles before and during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. How is it that he is the one outlining disease control measures the people should adhere to to curtail the spread of a disease he could zap away in seconds? Disease Control is defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as “the reduction of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity or mortality to a locally acceptable level as a result of deliberate efforts…”. There is no doubt, this was exactly what God instructed the Israelites to do and so they did throughout their generations.

Here are a few more Disease Control measures God instructed the Priests to carry out to prevent the spread of the disease: 

1. Objects and surfaces that diseased people have had contact with are regarded as unclean or infectious. Therefore, they should be burnt.

And he shall burn the garment, or the warp or the woof, the wool or the linen, or any article made of skin that is diseased, for it is a persistent leprous disease. It shall be burned in the fire. Leviticus 13:52

2. Leprous people are to announce their presence in public by shouting “unclean, unclean” lest they infect others. They are to be responsible for not infecting others with the disease.

“The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip[a] and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. Leviticus 13:46

Both in the Old and New Testaments, we see lepers ostracized in the Jewish society. At least in two different verses of scripture, we are told they were stationed at the gate of the city. One of such verses is 2 Kings 7:3, where it is said that there were 4 lepers at the entrance of the city gate. Also, in Luke 10:11-12, Jesus was met by 10 lepers as he entered a village. They stood at a distance and called out to him. This means they, too, were stationed outside the village – most probably a distance from the entrance of the village. Jesus healed them by commanding them to go and show themselves to the High Priest, which was the approved procedure one had to go through to be either declared clean or unclean. On their way to see him, they realized they were cleansed. These lepers were already following the disease control protocols God outlined in the Old Testament by socially distancing themselves from everybody to prevent the spread of the disease. Yet one encounter with Christ changed their story instantly. The point I seek to make here is that God is sovereign, wise, omnipotent and many more divine attributes can be used to describe him. Even though He has given us power to heal all diseases including infectious ones such as leprosy, he has also laid down certain principles in scripture that we can follow to prevent our getting infected and spreading diseases. These two realities are not mutually exclusive. The same bible that  teaches us to lay hands on the sick and they will recover, also points out to us that we can use medically approved methods to prevent the spread of diseases and cure diseases. [I have addressed this idea more extensively in my blog on healing where I cite the example of Isaiah prescribing the use of cake of figs to heal the boils on Hezekiah’s skin. Do check it out by clicking here].

To those who insist that Christians ought not follow safety protocols during this pandemic, although I may understand where you are coming from, I beg to differ. Should we apply this same understanding of faith to all other issues of safety and wellness? Wouldn’t that mean Christians ought not lock their doors at night because the bible says “… he who watches over Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers.” (Psalm 121:4)? Again, the bible says if the Lord doesn’t watch over a city, the watchman watches in vain (Psalm 127:1). Therefore, are we saying every Christian who has a security guard at post in his/her home isn’t walking by faith?

Even if it was a matter of “faith”, we should understand that different people have different “sizes” of faith. Faith in God varies from person to person usually because of their level of maturity and intimacy with God. When Jesus descended from the mount of transfiguration in Matthew 17, he referred to the faith of his disciples as ‘little faith’ because they couldn’t cast out a devil from a little boy. Therefore, I vehemently oppose this idea that is being pushed by some men of God and specific denominations based on the assumption that everybody operates at the same level of faith. I believe faith and prudence can co-exist. I can have faith in God to do the impossible and still be safety and health conscious. It isn’t a game of choosing either to have faith and act recklessly or choose to be safety and health conscious. The point is to know what God’s word says and to do accordingly. Once we have established the fact that it is a biblical truth for us as children of God to adhere to safety precautions lest we get infected by diseases, then I believe there shouldn’t be any snide comments or mockery coming from anybody (especially Christians) towards believers who want to keep safe in this pandemic.

Out of the 70, there was the “12”. In Luke 6:12-16, we are told that Jesus spent all night praying before he selected the 12 out of the 70. They are the most popular disciples of Jesus because the New Testament makes mention of their names and tells us stories about their ministries. Even some New Testament books were written by some of them, about the details of some events of their ministries and even named after them. They were the ones to whom the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit was made and they waited for it together with other believers in the upper room. These ones walked more closely with Jesus. Anytime he would speak a parable to the people, he would explain it to them privately. It was to these 12 that Jesus said he would no longer call ‘servants’ but ‘friends’ (John 15:15).

Out of the 12, there was “the 3”: Peter, James, and John who seemed to be closer to Jesus than the rest. He often separated these 3 from the 12 for special assignments. For instance, when he went up the mount of transfiguration, he took these 3 along and charged them not to share the events of that day with anyone else. In Gethsemane too, he told the rest of the disciples to wait for him while he went further with Peter, James, and John. Then he went further ahead to pray alone.

Out of the 3, there was John. John in his own epistle called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. In John 13:25, it was said that he leaned back against Jesus or rested his head on his chest. That’s how close he was to the Messiah. It is not surprising at all that he was the only one amongst the disciples of Christ who was present at the foot of the cross of Jesus. Also, when Jesus resurrected from the grave, he wanted to have a private word with Peter so he asked Peter to follow him. Peter noticed that John was coming along too and he expected Jesus to disallow John from following them. On the contrary, Jesus didn’t, he actually went on to ask Peter that “if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me” (John 21:22). 

What greatly intrigues me here is that all (but one) of Jesus’ disciples abandoned him at some point in their walk with him. Once, Jesus taught about the communion and mentioned that unless the people eat of his flesh and drink of his blood, they didn’t have life. This was a hard message for some of his disciples to receive and so that was the day they left him and only the “12 disciples” remained. But even 11 out of the 12 disciples were not present at the foot of the cross. 

1. Judas had already committed suicide because of the guilt he felt after betraying Jesus. 
2. The remaining 10 had gone into hiding, leaving only John at the foot of the cross with the women. Jesus turned to him while he was on the cross and committed Mary, his mother, to his care. 

Let us never forget that Jesus had a lot of people around him, however, they left him when things got hard. When his message was too hard for them to accept, they left. When he was arrested, they left. He even said that “have I not chosen 12 of you and one of you is the devil?” in reference to Judas (John 6:70). Out of the 12 apostles Jesus prayed and hand-picked, he was betrayed by 2, Peter and Judas. This is a simple message to us: people will disappoint you and betray you, even people who came into your life by some divine orchestration. If it happened to Jesus, then we must understand that it can happen to us as well. But when Jesus resurrected, he appeared to the very people who had left his side during the hardest moment of his life here on earth. He came after them. Which means he had forgiven them even before they could have the opportunity to ask him for it. 

Let us also learn to segment our relationships just like Jesus did. There were things he told the 3, that the 12 didn’t know about. There was something he told John(as stated above) that he never told any of the other apostles. This is the kind of wisdom we must apply in organizing our relationships and segmenting our friends as well. Let us put people in circles, ranging from the smallest and closest circle to the biggest and farthest circle. Know where to put who.  With prayerful consideration, let us segment the people in our lives while knowing that we can still be hurt by such people no matter which circle they are in. And when that happens, let us do what Jesus did, forgive them.

There is the tendency for believers to think that once a prophetic word goes forth then it is reason enough to go to sleep or literally sit and wait for the word to come to pass. However, a careful study of this chapter (1Kings 18) and other passages in the bible would reveal that a prophetic word is actually ‘a prayer topic’ or a prayer guide. As Paul told his spiritual son Timothy in 1st Timothy 1:18:

 “ This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare’’. 

The phrase ‘good warfare’ in the verse quoted above almost implies that without the prophetic word released on Timothy’s life, he was going to wage a bad warfare in prayer. A ‘bad warfare’ could also mean a warfare that lacks direction, probably not in the will of God and therefore would yield minimal or zero results. But when a prophetic word is pronounced over one’s life, this person is empowered with divine insight concerning future matters to know what to pray for and what to pray against because he/she has received a prophecy that indicates what to expect in the near or distant future. 

In the chapter under discussion, the word of the LORD came to Elijah saying: “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth’’. This prophecy can be divided into two parts: the first one is the responsibility that Elijah was given by God and the second is God’s responsibility towards fulfilling the word. The instruction God gave Elijah was for him to go and present himself to Ahab. The assumption is that once Elijah has carried out his responsibility then what is left is for God to move and send rain on the earth. But that wasn’t exactly what happened.

Later in the same chapter, after Elijah had proven to the people that the LORD was more powerful than Baal, this is what he told King Ahab, “go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain” (1 Kings 18:41). The prophet was simply telling the king to go and make merry or celebrate the fact that there was rain coming. His exact words were ‘… for there is the sound of abundance of rain’. Prophets are known to be people specially gifted with heightened spiritual senses. Hence, if Elijah said there was the sound of abundance of rain, then maybe he could hear this sound with his ears (spiritually). This was enough proof that the rain was surely coming and that he had every right to probably join the king to eat and drink in anticipation of the end of the drought. But no, that wasn’t what happened.  

After Ahab left the presence of Elijah, the prophet travailed in prayer in such a posture that it appeared he was petitioning God to do that which the LORD hadn’t intended to do. The bible describes Elijah as bowing to the ground and putting his head in between his knees. That is a very uncomfortable position to be in. However, this was the prophet’s prayer posture. He sent his servant 7 times to check if the rain had started. This indicates wrestling in prayer; it indicates determination and persistence in prayer until the desired result manifests. This should be our attitude towards praying about prophecies we receive. It is not the time to go to sleep. It is time to wage a good warfare. I hope you noticed that the prophet told the king to go and eat and drink in wait of the fulfilment of the prophecy but he didn’t join in the merry making. This was because the primary recipient of the prophetic word was the prophet and it was his responsibility to wage a good warfare until the prophecy came to pass. 

Earlier, I mentioned that Elijah proved to the people that God was more powerful than Baal. This is how he did it. Elijah threw a challenge to 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah on Mount Carmel. The challenge was for them to slaughter a bull and call on their gods (he would do the same) and whichever ‘god’ responded by sending down fire to consume the ‘sacrifice’ was to be regarded as the true God. He called for this challenge because the people had become divided on the issue of which god to follow. Elijah posed this question to the people, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21, NKJV). I found the ESV’s translation of this verse to be more interesting. It said “how long will you go limping between two different opinions?”. This paints a perfect picture of lukewarmness. It suggests that these people were neither here nor there by deceiving themselves that they were both here and there at the same time. By not choosing one position, they had chosen both positions at the same time, which is no position at all. Because of this, Elijah had to prove to them that God is greater than Baal so that they could make up their minds. 

The prophets of Baal, prepared their bull and called on the name of Baal from morning till noon and there was no response. They limped around the altar on which the bull was laid in a bid to get the attention of Baal, also to no avail. Elijah began mocking them. He asked them to shout louder for Baal was probably meditating, busy, on a journey or asleep. The part where Elijah states that Baal might have been busy doing something else is translated differently by some versions of the bible. Some actually quote Elijah as saying that Baal was probably relieving himself at the time his prophets were trying to call on him. If it is so, then, it appears Elijah resorted to crude joking and sarcasm just to make the point that Baal was no god at all. 

When it was his turn, Elijah prepared the bull and put it on his altar. His altar was made up of 12 stones: each representing one of the 12 tribes of Israel. He dug a trench around the altar as well. He asked the people to fill four jars with water and pour it on the altar 3 times. At this point the bull was probably soaking wet and according to the account the water filled the trench he had dug around the altar. After all this, then Elijah said a very short prayer. In comparison to what the prophets of Baal did, it seems Elijah spent more time preparing the ‘sacrifice’ than he spent praying and calling on the LORD. The words he said in the middle of this prayer are of great interest to me and of grave importance to the topic under discussion. He said, “let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word”. This implies that every single thing Elijah did in this contest he heard it from the LORD. The confidence he exuded while taunting the prophets of Baal was because he had received a sure word from the LORD that indicated that he was going to win the contest. Therefore, the procedure he followed in preparing the altar for the bull and even the water that was poured on it were all prophetic instructions from the LORD. Despite this fact, he still prayed before the fire came down. 

Receiving prophetic instructions from God and carrying them out alone didn’t produce the desired results. Elijah still had to pray for fire to come down after obeying the word of the LORD that came to him. 

When you receive a prophecy, you have received divine insight to assist you in waging a good warfare. When you receive prophetic instructions, it doesn’t always mean you will receive your heart’s desires right after you carry them out. You need to pray, give thanks to God, and ask him to do that which he has promised to do. The idea that receiving a prophetic word means it is time to go to sleep while the word automatically comes to pass is not consistent with scripture. In the Bible, people prayed earnestly for prophecies to come to pass and we should learn to do the same.

Credit: Feature image by @frankfmx on Instagram

• Bread from heaven (Exodus 16:4)
• Grain of heaven (Psalm 78:24)
• Bread of the angels (Psalm 78:25)

These are a few terms used to describe Manna. But what is it? The word ‘manna’ actually means ‘what is it?’. On a lighter note, the children of Israel woke up one day and saw manna littered all over their camp and exclaimed, ‘what is it?!!’. Hence, they named it so. You can tell it was something that was otherworldly hence the numerous terms used to describe it. It is divine food that has no earthly equivalence so it is ok if we are unable to understand what it was fully.

The Nature of Manna

How did it look like? It is described in the bible as a “fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground” (Exodus 16: 14). In Numbers 11:7, the bible says manna was like coriander seed and it looked like bdellium. The whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron saying that they’d have preferred dying in Egypt to dying of hunger in the wilderness. These were the same group of people who were delivered from slavery in Egypt. On their way to the land God had promised their forefathers, their hunger caused them to express this level of ungratefulness to God. God rained down manna on the camp and when they woke up, they saw this fine, flake-like thing that could be eaten. In Exodus 16:31, we are told that manna tasted like ‘wafers made with honey’. Physically, this is the nature of manna given to us in scripture. Because of the numerous descriptions given to it, I can boldly say there is no food on earth that can be likened to it. Maybe bread and cakes may come close, but the point I want to make is that we need to see it as the heavenly meal that it is; the divine provision of God that it is. It is nothing no human being can replicate. You cannot find it in any recipe book. Nobody can teach you how to make manna in the most advanced culinary arts school. 

God’s Provision of Subsistence for his Children

The first time I heard the word ‘subsistence’ was in Agricultural Science class in Junior High School. The word means “the action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself, especially at a minimal level.”. That is exactly what manna is. It is a miraculous provision of God that is not luxurious hence can lose its value in the sight of men. Again, it is the provision of God that is not expected to sustain you for a long time. Even in the camp of the Israelites, the manna God rained down on the camp had a very interesting expiry date. The lifespan of the manna and the quantity to be gathered by each person was dictated by God. Firstly, let us look at the quantity of manna per person. This is what God told them: 

… ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent. Exodus 16:16

Every person was supposed to gather an omer each, according to the number of people in his tent. We know the Israelites and how susceptible they were to disobedience. Therefore, some gathered more while others gathered less. In verse 18, they measured what each person had gathered with an omer and realized that those who gathered more didn’t have enough manna left but those who gathered little had no lack. One of the most profound lessons you can learn about manna is this particular one. Manna operates under the direct laws of God. It shrinks or increases at his will. Hence, those who were greedy enough to gather more than they needed actually ended up with little. Those who obeyed God and were very moderate in their gathering ended up being filled with how much they gathered. 

So we are clear, manna is supposed to be gathered moderately. Secondly, the lifespan of manna is one day. Moses told the children of Israel not to leave any of it till morning. Again, classic Israelites, they disobeyed. They left some of the manna overnight until the morning. It bred worms and it began to stink in the camp. So let us get this straight, manna must be gathered moderately and none should be left till the following morning. Simply because God was going to rain new manna in the camp the following morning. So there was no need trusting in yesterday’s manna when God was going to rain new manna today. Cool. 

Here is the plot twist.  On the sixth day, the Israelites were expected to gather enough manna to last them two days. Since the 7th day was the Sabbath, God would not rain any manna. The question is, why didn’t the manna gathered on the sixth-day stink or breed worms? 

God gave another command to Moses:

… Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ – Exodus 16:32 ESV

An omer of manna was to be kept throughout the generations of Israel. The manna was kept in a golden urn in the Ark of the Covenant throughout the generations of Israel (Hebrews 9:4). Did we not just establish the fact that manna lasts only for one day? Yes, we did. From the scriptures we read earlier it is clear that manna is perishable, but there is a higher truth. Let me put it this way, manna is both perishable and imperishable depending on who is in control. At God’s command, manna can last for generations. Against his will, man will store manna in vain. 

Manna for me is anything that the Lord has provided for me that doesn’t seem enough for me. There are a lot of such things in my life. They are there, I know God sent them my way, but I feel he could have done better; maybe, given me more. This is the most painful thing about depending on manna: the fact that you know it is God who sent it your way. Jehovah Jireh who can provide all our needs according to his riches in glory can sometimes provide merely for our subsistence. He can provide for us and expect it to sort of ‘get us by’. It will hurt. You will be frustrated. Probably, it’s even worse because you can identify God’s hand in all of it. 

Why Manna?

There are a number of reasons why God rained down manna from heaven on the camp of Israel in the wilderness. First of all, they were in the wilderness on their way to the promised land hence whatever provision God gave them was an interim measure. It being an interim measure doesn’t mean it was purposeless. Even I dare say, the interim measure was intended by God to either qualify or disqualify the Israelites from entering into Canaan. 

In the bible, there are 3 explanations given as reasons why God provided manna. They are listed below: 

• It is a test: In Exodus 16:4 God told Moses that he was providing manna for the Israelites as a way of testing them to see if they would walk in his laws or not. God’s provision of subsistence is a test of our patience and faith. Will you curse your God and die because of the lack of abundance? Or you will still hold on to his word that indicates that he is sending you to a land flowing with milk and honey. 
• Humility: It is stated categorically in Deuteronomy 8:16 that God gave the Israelites manna to humble them. Abundance has a way of shifting our attention from the giver to the gift. Once your eyes are away from God you don’t feel grateful to him for what he has done and this is when pride begins to enter your heart. Therefore, God gives us manna to humble us. Those little things that God gives that appear not to be enough for you are supposed to work out humility in you. Trust the process. 
• Manna demands your creativity: The monotony of manna could be a thing that would wear the meekest person out. Imagine, eating the same food for 40 years. But that wasn’t really the case with manna. According to scripture, the Israelites ground it and beat it in a mortar to bake cakes and the cakes tasted like fresh oil (Numbers 11:8). This means the manna God gives is not expected to be consumed only as it is but in some instances it requires your creativity. You have to be innovative about it and enjoy it as you please. Note, manna tasted like wafers baked with honey but when ground and cakes are baked with it, they taste like fresh oil. When God gives you manna he expects you to add some value to it for your own good. This concept is similar to the parable of the talents. When the man came back after a long time, he expected all his servants whom he had given talents to come and make an account of what they had done with it. He wanted to find out how creative they had been in increasing the number of talents he gave them. So it is with manna. No matter how insufficient it may be, God expects us to be creative with it and produce either much more or a variety of things. 

Manna as I understand it is a metaphor for God’s provision in our lives that may come across as monotonous and insufficient. It is God who is at work in our lives and whatever he provides for us is a contributing factor to the work he is doing. He is not a genie who is here to grant us wishes but he is working in us to present us to himself. He gives Grace to the humble and if manna will work humility in us then so be it. Abundance clouds judgment sometimes. Despite all of this, what gives me utmost joy is that God has never predestined anybody to eat manna forever. Manna is for a period of time. The children of Israel were on their way into the promised land: a land flowing with milk and honey. According to Joshua 5:12, the manna ceased when they entered into Canaan. Manna had served its purpose and now the Israelites were at liberty to enjoy the goodness of the land. Very soon, manna will cease in our lives and we will enter into the promise of God. 

I have always wondered what the second part of the title of the song meant, ‘song of ascent’. I wondered what it meant but I never bothered to research to find out until I chanced on it recently. I read Psalms 127 a few weeks ago and the sub-heading of the chapter in the ESV Bible was ‘a song of ascents of Solomon’. I checked what songs of ascents were on Wikipedia and learnt that they are 15 chapters in the book of Psalms, from Psalms 120 – 134. The songs were sung possibly by Hebrew pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem or while ascending mount Zion or by the Levite singers while ascending the 15 steps of the temple in Jerusalem to minister. These are the 3 possible scenarios in which songs of ascents were sung by ancient Jews. So my aim for writing this piece is to justify why Hillsong’s Highlands is my song of ascents. 

The song opens with the following lines: 

O how high would I climb mountains

If the mountains were where You hide

O how far I’d scale the valleys

If You graced the other side

These lines are filled with promises man makes to God. Promises about how we would pursue him and run after him. If we were told God had tabernacled on mountain Afadjato, all our Christian life would be characterized by mountain climbing, – of course, to find God. If we were told God had graced the other side of the mountain with his presence, we would scale the valley to find him. Because he is precious to us. 

The second stanza depicts the scenario of a person looking for God from a distance. The songwriter mentions how long he has chased rivers, “from lowly seas to where they rise / against the rush of Grace descending / from the source of its supply”. I can almost see a person running along the river banks, searching for its source. Only to discover that the source of the river, which in this case is Grace, is at the summit of a mountain. Such a beautiful sight it is to see Grace literally descending from the mountain. Now, this is a major theme throughout the song and it is the opposite of what we see in the first stanza. In the first stanza, we see man’s effort to find God. Then in the second, and throughout the entire song, we see God rather descending to find us or extending his grace to us from the mountain. (Please, bear this in mind as you read because I will make several references to it later). I watched this video in which Benjamin Hasting and Joel Houston explained the writing process and shed more light on the lyrics of the song. When it got to this theme, Benjamin said that it was like a ‘reverse pilgrim’ or I would call it a reverse pilgrimage. We all know a pilgrimage is a journey embarked on by a religious person to experience a holy place central to their faith. It is only in Christianity that we can see the theme of a ‘reverse pilgrim’ where instead of God setting himself on high and asking us to work our way there, he rather condescends to our level and comes to find us. It is so beautiful. 

In the following paragraphs, I will be dealing with specific themes and imageries that stand out for me in the song. 

The Valley

The next thing I would like to address is the euphemistic language the writer employs while talking about valleys. The word ‘valley’ is used a couple of times in the song. Which is expected because I am almost sure you cannot talk about highlands or mountains and not make a single reference to the valleys. However, the songwriter refers to valleys differently on some occasions. The first of this is seen in the following lines, “In the highlands and the heartache”. The opposite of highlands is not ‘heartache’, it is valleys. But why does the songwriter say this in the first place? I believe it is so because human beings see the heights they want to attain as what they are and associate their low moments with how they feel about them. So we see the summit of the mountain we are climbing to as what it is without often associating it with the emotions getting there evokes. But the valley we are in is not seen as the landform that it is, but we associate it with how we feel about it – in this case heartache. Secondly, the songwriter makes reference to the valley in the following lines “So I will praise You on the mountain / And I will praise You when the mountain’s in my way”. The last line paints the picture of someone stuck in a valley who wants to get to the other side. The mountain is in his way.

This is just something that I noticed in the lyrics, the language and diction the songwriter employed in talking about the valleys.

The Omnipresent God

This is also a major theme in the song; the fact that God is present both on the highlands and in the valleys. Human beings can be extremists in our understanding of God sometimes. Some people are of the view that the proof of God’s presence with his children is the abundance of good things – this is one extreme. The other extreme has reduced God to a ruthless taskmaster who takes his children perpetually through tough times. And so people who hold to this “theology” are of the view that if you are not going through a tough time, then God is not with you. Or God is only present in the tough times. This is why the manner in which the songwriter handled this theme was so comforting for me. He said, ‘in the highlands and the heartache/ you are neither more or less inclined’. Then he also said in the chorus:

So I will praise You on the mountain

And I will praise You when the mountain’s in my way

You’re the summit where my feet are

So I will praise You in the valleys all the same

God is neither more or less inclined in both the highlands and the valleys. Which means God is not more present on the top of the mountain than he is in the valley and vice versa. I find this to be so comforting. Then in the chorus, he mentions that God is the summit where his feet are. If only this could be my thinking, I believe more than half of my problems in this life would be solved. This implies that wherever you find yourself (whether in a valley or at the mountain top), God is the summit where your feet are. Therefore, so far as God is with me, a valley is a summit and a summit is still a summit. God is everywhere. He was on the throne with David and he was with him in the wilderness. He was with Joseph in Potiphar’s house and in the prison with Joseph. He was with Daniel in the king’s court and in the lion’s den. The settings may change in our lives, but our God remains the same and ever-present. Little wonder the songwriter goes on to mention that “No less God within the shadows / No less faithful when the night leads me astray / You’re the heaven where my heart is / In the highlands and the heartache all the same”. 

Reverse Pilgrim

I did mention that this was a major theme in the song earlier in this post. The 3rd stanza communicates this theme profoundly. It opens with the following lines ‘O how far beneath Your glory / Does Your kindness extend the path’. The kindness of God is seen in the way he extends a path reaching very far beneath his glory. Why? Because that is where you and I are. We have sinned and fallen short of his glory. And the chasm our sins created between God and us is too wide for good deeds to diminish. Hence, he being the kind God that he is, extended a path that reaches way beneath his glory to where we are.

The next stanza talks about how God would run so fast if it was even just so he could shadow us through the night. The language here is heavy with paradox. For who would need to be shadowed through the night? The night is dark and cold hence no sane person would need shade in the night. Therefore, this line indicates that we need God, even more, when physical conditions convince us that we don’t. And it is good news that the song paints the picture of God being even more eager than we are to have him shadow us through the night. We serve a God who pursues. A father who upon seeing his prodigal son approaching would leave everything he is doing and run to embrace him. This is who our God is. 

Ascension

This theme is also very evident throughout the song, especially in the 6th stanza and the last one. In the 6th stanza the songwriter says: 

For who could dare ascend that mountain

The valleyed hill called Calvary

But for the One I call Good Shepherd

Who like a lamb was slain for me

This is in reference to Psalms 24 where David asks a similar question. Seeking somebody who is worthy, somebody who has clean hands and a pure heart to ascend the mountain of the Lord. If we could remember the message in the first stanza of the song, we would know that no human is qualified to ascend the holy mountain of God. Because the requirement has been stated here by David. The person must have clean hands and a pure heart. Thank God we didn’t have to do that on our own. Thank God Jesus descended from heaven just to ascend the holy mountain of God for us. The songwriter refers to that holy mountain as Calvary. The 6th stanza ends with a very interesting irony: the good shepherd who was slain like a lamb. It is not surprising at all that the shepherd was killed like one of his sheep because he laid down his life for his sheep. This is how the bible defines a good shepherd. Children of God, we have a good shepherd in Jesus. 

From the gravest of all valleys

Come the pastures we call grace

A mighty river flowing upwards

From a deep but empty grave

These few lines paint the picture of a deep valley that is covered by pastures – metaphorically representing the grace of God. I believe it is normal to see pastures in valleys because rivers often flow from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley. The songwriter goes ahead to tell us there is a mighty river flowing upwards, from a deep but empty grave. The deep but empty grave is referring to the tomb Jesus resurrected from to give us grace. When he talks about ‘a mighty river flowing upwards’, a river that defies gravity, that, I didn’t know about before I heard this song. It is even more complicated when you try to understand this phrase against the backdrop of other lines in the same song. Earlier in the song, he says, ‘… the rush of grace descending’. Then in this stanza, he says there is grace (pastures) at the bottom of the valley that are being watered by a mighty river that flows upwards. All of this is to communicate to the listener of this song that, Grace is found where God is. And since we have established the fact that God is both on the mountain and in the valley at the same time, then Grace is available in both locations. 

Some of us think we need grace only in the valley. But we need grace on the summit of the mountain as well because it is easier to fall from the top of a mountain. When everything is ok for you and you have no worries or right after you receive a blessing from God, you might idolize the blessing and trivialize the essence of the God who gave it to you. Paul said ‘I have learnt to abase and abound’, meaning he has learnt to remain a faithful servant of God in luck and in plenty. We need the grace of God when things are bad as much as we need it when things are good.

‘Highlands’ is indeed a song I will forever sing as I go up the mountains of life, when I get to the summit or even when I am painfully stationed in the valleys. I will sing this song of ascents in praise of the one who is my summit wherever my feet may stand.

We have watched his career over the years and seen a drastic decline in the outward expression of his faith in JESUS. So, the news of his Sunday services and the upcoming album is, of course, good news to me. Who am I to take the praises of the LORD out of the mouth of a ‘sinner’? I wrote an article entitled ‘when sinners worship’ where I addressed this issue in more detail, do check it out. Anyway, back to the topic. People seem to be divided in their opinions and comments about Ye’s upcoming album. People have said a lot about his activities lately. Some have doubted his repentance story. Others think he is just promoting the album.

 It is true we need to be very concerned about the lifestyle of people who claim to be Christians and ministers of God. However, God is the judge and his ministers are his servants. So, who are you to judge another man’s servant (as Paul asked in Romans 14)? We are never told the repentance of a sinner is supposed to satisfy other believers. Only God gets the glory when a sinner becomes a saint, so we have no right to disqualify anybody from worshipping God because we don’t see enough fruit in their conduct YET. We are all on this journey to know God, but we are at different points on that road. Your being ahead of someone on this journey doesn’t mean they are not qualified to worship God. That is very pharisaical, and I pray those who think like that repent from it.

On the other hand, a few people have jumped to Ye’s defense in the ensuing online debate on his upcoming album. This was necessitated because of the judgmental comments, others have passed about him.  I like the fact that he has been given the opportunity to share his testimony in church. However, I believe the best gift the body of Christ globally (because he is a global icon) can offer Ye at this moment is discipleship and a loving community of believers. Let us not thrust a pulpit in his face just yet. Let us not make him a ‘Christian icon’ just yet. He needs discipleship. When people move from the world to the church, they need to be ‘discipled’. That was Jesus’ command to us in the great commission. And I know that at least people like Kirk Franklin have stated that they are doing that for Ye. I have seen people use Paul’s story to corroborate the point that we need to support Ye now that he has declared his faith more emphatically and publicly. This is true to a large extent but there is a little detail in Paul’s story that we often forget. When Paul was converted, he didn’t start his ministry immediately. Paul admitted that he didn’t become prominent in the faith overnight. By my calculation, it took at least 17 years before he became Apostle Paul as we now know him (read Galatians Chapters 1 & 2). He detailed how he returned to Damascus and stayed there for 3 years. Again, after 14 years, he went to Jerusalem to meet with the ‘senior’ apostles to discuss with them the gospel he had been preaching all that while. Those were his years of preparation and you can see he subjected himself to the authority and perhaps mentorship of the earlier apostles. This is how it is supposed to be. I believe, therefore that was why he himself said to Timothy that a bishop must not be a recent convert (in 1Tim 3:6). A recent convert should not be burdened with a ministry yet unless he has gone through discipleship and is matured. I am saying this against the backdrop that there have been times when a prominent entertainment icon converts to the faith and the church automatically makes him/her a Christian icon.

There is also the idea that God is going to use Kanye’s secular fame to reach many with the gospel. This could be true. But that decision is up to God to make not you and I. God can call someone out of prominence to use him in obscurity. He can do it the other way around too. People who are influential in a culture are as important in the propagation of the gospel as ordinary people are. God can use the ordinary person and the influential person to turn an entire city to himself. In the book of Acts, we see how Paul was influential before he came to the faith and some people may attribute his success in ministry to this. However, let us not forget the story of the adulterous woman, who had little or no influence in Samaria. Let us not forget how Jesus used her to turn the entire city upside down. Moses is also one person who came from a very prominent background (being raised in Pharaoh’s house) and God used him mightily. He was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). But let’s not forget Joseph who had a directly opposite experience with God. Ravi captured this so eloquently when he said, ‘God raised Moses in the Palace to use him in the wilderness, and he raised Joseph in the wilderness to use him in the palace’. God can use people any way he wants, no matter their background to achieve whatever goal.

Also, from Moses’ story, we can tell that God can always use what is in the hands of his children to deliver people from darkness into light. At the same time, God can ask a prominent person to forsake everything and come after him. In Moses’ story, it was his rod. In Paul’s story, it was the list of things I mentioned earlier. However, we need not be quick to conclude that without these things God couldn’t have used these people to achieve the same level of success in ministry. The point is, he put those things in their hands so he could use them. God needs nothing in addition to his children to reach people in the millions. He doesn’t need the 10 million global followership of a celebrity to get the job done. All he needs is a repentant person with a contrite heart. There have been cases where God called a person out of prominence to use them behind the scenes. So, what if God decides to use Kanye in this same light? You see, the decision is not up to you and I. Let us not act like the conversion of Ye (because of his global status) is of more importance to God than the conversion of a 15-year-old boy in secondary school. A soul is a soul and it is precious to God. So yes, Kanye does come with something in his hand, which is a global influence and a powerful music gift, but my point is God doesn’t need a person with secular global influence to use them to make a global impact for the gospel. He made a global impact with the apostles who were not amongst the elite in the cities they came from. A sinner’s soul (no matter their status) is enough. There is rejoicing in heaven over the repentance of one sinner no matter their level of wealth and influence.

So yes, let us rejoice also that a soul has been won because Paul tells us in Galatians 1 that some churches rejoiced when he was converted. Let us not judge Ye because of his past deeds but let us bear him up in prayer and ask God to keep him and grant him grace. At the same time, I believe it is too early to burden him with anything pertaining to church leadership or even a platform of influence in the body of Christ. Lastly, we cannot take the praises of God out of the mouth of anybody, no matter who they are.

Relations between the Israelites, Moabites and Midianites go back to Numbers 22. The children of Israel had just set off from Jericho and stories of their conquests in other nations had gone before them. Their number was great as well and so both the Moabites and the Midianites were terrified by them. This was when the elders of both nations sort to pay Balaam a fee to curse the children of Israel. I wouldn’t go into that story much, however, it is important for us to note that Balaam couldn’t curse the Israelites, anytime he opened his mouth he spoke blessings instead. 

In Numbers 25 we read about how the children of Israel (specifically, the men) started whoring after the women of Moab and Midian and eventually worshipping their god, Baal of Peor. This angered God so much. Therefore when Phinehas impaled Zimri and his Midianite woman Cozbi, it pleased the Lord. In the full glare of the whole congregation, Zimri walked with his Midianite woman to present her to his family. This is quite similar to the story of Samson; here again, we see men falling for the women from their enemy’s camp. It is worthy of note that it was Balaam who advised Balak to tempt the men of Israel into committing sexual immorality with the Midianite/Moabite women which eventually caused the men of Israel to worship their gods. Again, this part of the story is similar to Solomon’s, where we see him forsake the LORD to worship the gods of his numerous wives. The Moabites and Midianites combined could not stand against the armies of Israel. However, the trap they set for them, exploiting the sinful passions of the men, worked. I love how Matthew Henry put it. He said, ‘… those are smitten with this harlots that could not be smitten with his sword’. 

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. Revelation 2:14

(this was also said in Numbers 31:16)

So God punished the chiefs of the people of Israel for the misdeeds of the men after they went into the worship of Baal of Peor. However, he also had it in mind to punish the Midianites for “putting a stumbling block” in the way of the men of Israel or by tempting them. 

In Numbers 31, the Lord asked Moses to select 12,000 men from Israel, 1000 from each tribe, to raid Midian. The men went to Midian and killed the Kings;  they also killed Balaam (for obvious reasons). The men came back with just the women and children of Midian and Moses was infuriated, especially because they kept the women alive since they were the ones who tempted the men of Israel. Hence, the men killed the women and the male children and kept only the virgins alive. Moses asked them to stay out of the camp for about a week to purify themselves. The plunder they came back with is what has been visualized in the featured image above: sheep, cattle, donkeys and persons (virgins). The Lord asked them to divide the plunder into two and give one half to the men who went to war and the other half to the entire congregation. The Lord demanded a tribute from the portion given to the men who went to war. 1 out of 500 of the sheep, cattle, donkeys and persons were to be reserved for the Lord. The portion of the plunder given to the Lord has been visualized in the bar graph below.

1 out of 50 of the booty given to the entire congregation was supposed to be given to the Levites as well. The men of war also brought an offering of gold crafted articles to the Lord, all measured at 16,750 shekels. In all of this what I find extremely fascinating is the fact that after the men came back from Midian with all the booty, the officers of the army counted all of them and realized that none of them had been killed. All 12000 of them were alive. God preserved their lives and brought them back home safely.

‘Jews’ and ‘Greeks’ are metaphorical in this post. I am in no way referring to actual Jews and Greeks. Instead, I am talking about the two major kinds of non-believers I believe exist. The Jews are often looking for a sign; they demand that you show them something to prove your claim. This is why when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the Jews at Bethany believed in him instantly. When some people witness a miracle, they tend to surrender their all right away to Christ. The truth is, there are Greeks too (people who seek after knowledge). Paul performed so many miracles, but not everybody who witnessed the miraculous in Paul’s ministry automatically converted to Christianity? Why? There are Jews and Greeks and the Jews require a sign but the Greeks seek after knowledge.

One of my favorite chapters in the bible is ACTS 17 because of the remarkable turn of events that was recorded there. The chapter begins with Paul reasoning with some Jews in a synagogue in the Greek city of Thessalonica. “Didn’t Eli say Jews require a sign?” Indeed, I did, and I was quoting scripture. Jews do require a sign but  they need to be fed with the right knowledge. Signs alone cannot keep a man grounded in Christ; he needs the word too. That is why Paul was reasoning with them in the synagogue. Some of them believed him, others didn’t. Amongst those who believed Paul were some very distinguished women in the city. The militant ones who didn’t believe Paul caused an uproar against him hence he had to flee with Silas to Berea and then to Athens. In Athens, Paul, as his custom was, debated with the Jews in the synagogue. He was later brought before Philosophers and this is what they did:

19. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?

The Greeks indeed seek after knowledge; they simply want to know. They knew Paul was preaching a doctrine contrary to theirs, but their love for knowledge compelled them to give Paul the opportunity to share this new doctrine with them. I promise you, you will meet Greeks one of these days. People who are thirsty for knowledge. They don’t believe what you believe but their greatest desire is to accumulate as much knowledge as possible. May you not be found wanting when you encounter them. Paul didn’t mince words at all. He addressed the Greeks at their level – intellectually. No wonder he said that ‘… I became all things to all men… that I might save some’. He preached a powerful sermon. He made reference to the quotes of some Greek poets in his sermon. I get chills just reading this chapter. Some of them believed him and became Christians. It might not sound like a big deal to you, but in ancient times Greece was the hub of philosophical thought, therefore it is no mean feat to present a new doctrine to the Greeks and win some of them over. I love how the bible describes Athenians:

 All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. (Acts 17:21)

That’s what they did all day: talking about and listening to the latest philosophies. And here comes a man all the way from Israel with a new philosophy: the gospel. He laid it before them and some of them believed him. It didn’t stop there, because of Paul’s ministry in Greece, Christianity gained grounds there. It is believed he established a church at Thessalonika, hence, his epistle to the Thessalonians. Ladies and Gentlemen, the gospel of Jesus Christ is far more efficacious than we make it out to be. In the marketplace of ideas, the gospel must be displayed as an undisputable commodity, though expensive, yet available for free to both the elite and the commoner.

In our world today there are so many Greeks and there are militant Jews parading the sidewalks of academia as Greeks. The militant Jews are the ones that persecuted and killed Jesus. They persecuted Paul too. But the Greeks are the ones who gave him the platform to present his idea. I am speaking of militant atheists versus the atheists who sincerely seek answers. The first group are merely out there on the internet to troll believers. They will incite you and provoke you by using crass words in reference to God, knowing that your faith restricts you from using foul language. They know atheism is a very weak stance. Because to claim you are cocksure God doesn’t exist, you would have to be omniscient. Meanwhile, you are disproving the existence of the only omniscient being there is. Therefore, it is a shot in your own foot to be atheist, because you would have to be omniscient to confidently claim there is no omniscient being. Haven’t you disproved your own existence in the process? Therefore, most of them often gravitate towards agnosticism. Which is some sort of a middle ground; a faux-neutrality. Agnostics are not quite sure if there is enough evidence out there about the existence of God or otherwise. So they choose to sit on the pointy fence – no matter how uncomfortable it is. Don’t let the vitriolic posts of the militant ones online provoke you to engage them in a fruitless back-and-forth debate which is often just a competition to show who has more knowledge. The bible is against such interactions. I have fallen for this trap over and over again. But I have resolved to ignore such posts and tweets online and rather address them in a lengthy blog post like this one.

There are 5 ministerial offices in Christianity; these are the gifts of Jesus Christ. When he ascended on high he gave some Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers. Notice how there was no mention of Apologists? Basically, it means we should all be apologists – every single one of us. Nobody has been called to be an Apologist, however, apologetics can manifest in the 5 ministerial offices mentioned above. You may say ‘well, Ravi Zacharias is an apologist’, but even he identifies himself as an Evangelist. We have all been called to defend the faith every way we can. Peter lays down the formula so brilliantly. He stated in 1 Peter 3:15 that, ‘… and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear’  

The keywords in this verse are ‘meekness’ and ‘fear’. Be humble in your submission and respect the questioner. Let it not be a contest of who is more intelligent. Just drop the answer and leave it at that.

These militant atheists are quite patronizing sometimes when you interact with them. The assumption is that you are dumb for believing what you believe and they are automatically intellectually superior to you. One of the things they hate is when believers are very knowledgeable about the bible and can confidently defend their faith. When the believer is well-versed in a secular field like Philosophy, Science, History etc., that is even more salt to their injury. This is the more reason why believers need to read the bible and other resources to be fit to defend the faith.  Please, God has instructed me to tell you (myself inclusive) to read wide. Read his word daily and acquire knowledge. Such atheists will always want to point out some error or supposed contradictions in the bible. You should always be in the position to give a laudable response in meekness and fear. It is not automatic than they are more intelligent than you are because of their worldview. Maybe they are more knowledgeable about theirs than you are about yours. And if they are more knowledgeable about your faith than you are, that is a disaster.

Every Christian must be prepared at all times to defend the faith. Read the bible. Read other books. I agree with Ravi Zacharias when he said that even if you are not familiar with the area you are being questioned in, you should be in the position to point the person to some resources. For me when I am being questioned concerning the age of the earth, dinosaur fossils and stuff like that, I simply point the person to the ANSWERS IN GENESIS website. If it is concerning Morality and anything philosophical, definitely I would point the person to relevant literature by either Ravi or C.S Lewis. If it is a science related question, then Prof. John Lennox is my best bet. Let us help people find the answers they need otherwise they will never consider accepting the gospel we preach.

Churches must begin to hold open forums where congregants would be allowed to ask questions and get answers. I know some churches have mid-week teaching services and cell group meetings. That is not enough. Apologetics must be the core of present-day christian ministry. Any and every christian should be able to quote scriptures and make references to respected research works to buttress points they raise in defending the faith. It is very bad if you have been a Christian for more than two years and haven’t read the bible from cover to cover. It is not good at all. With the rising sensitivity to gender and race related issues amongst congregants, we need to be taught  from the pulpit what God says about these things. Church has to be more intellectual in our day and age. Paul didn’t always preach, he sometimes reasoned with those in the synagogue. That sounds to me like a more engaging approach to sharing the word. That is what we need in our generation.

Every Christian must be an Apologist. Each and every Christian must be a Greek and a Jew. You must be a Greek to the Greeks and a Jew to the Jews like Paul. You must be knowledgeable enough to answer questions or help people answer the questions that bother them. Also, you must be spirit-filled enough to operate in the gifts of the spirit. Let us not be like our opponents on the other side of the debate and look down on spiritual things. We must walk in the gifts of the spirit and bear the fruit thereof. Prophesy to people, heal the sick and cast out devils. Paul said it is possible for every Christian to prophesy. Moses took it a step further by stating that it is the will of God for all of us to be Prophets.  All these can only happen when you are in tune with the spirit. Always remember that a supposed contradiction in the bible doesn’t tarnish the authenticity of your testimony like when your lifestyle contradicts the bible. Preach a sermon by your character. Be an apologist through and through.

References: Numbers 11, Acts 17, 1 Corithians 1 and 9. 

Sometimes showmanship is the evidence of the absence of legitimacy

You have to understand that this happened so many years ago – maybe between 2003 and 2005. I still remember the quote because I have applied it to so many areas of life and time and time again it proves to be so true. The reality the quote discloses best describes how I feel about sex tapes. Guy, if you were having legitimate sex, there wouldn’t be a need to tape it to show it to your boys as proof of anything. It is as simple as that. There is no point to prove when it is legitimate. There is absolutely no need to impress a third party if it is legitimate. Usually, people tend to show off when what they are doing isn’t permissible. I have a few married friends and they need not send me a video tape of what they do under the sheets because I already know they do it – rightfully and ‘legally’. There have been stories of married couples taking videos of themselves while at it. It doesn’t concern anybody what married people choose to do in their bedrooms. It only becomes an issue if they carelessly let it slip into the hands of a third party. Now back to the point I was making, since society has managed to deceive many into thinking sex is a precious thing only smart guys can steal from girls, why won’t boys want to show unquestionable proof when they do achieve that ‘feat’? I have heard so many stories of guys lying to their friends that they slept with a particular girl. Since the first of such stories was found out to be a lie, the brethren sat down to develop a new strategy: a way to produce evidence that would silence all doubts. Ladies and gentlemen, that is how sex tapes came about.  

‘Sex tape’ is a genre of porn. ‘Sex tape’ is guiltless porn. ‘Sex tape’ is an amateur home-made porn. ‘Sex tape’ is porn with familiar faces. ‘Sex tape’ is unscripted-porn – so it is probably more enjoyable because you know they are not acting. Sex tapes  invoke pity – usually for the lady – therefore people think it is ok to watch it in order to express how deeply hurt they also are by the actions of the guy.

Sex tapes are worse than porn. Sex tapes are evil!

The thing about porn is, usually, the people involved signed up for it. They actually hope and fervently pray the whole world gets to see them doing whatever – for the money. With sex tapes, one party’s desire for street credibility tarnishes the image, taints the reputation and scars the other party emotionally and psychologically for life!

Well, I know there have been a few cases where the lady in the video appears very much aware the act is being taped. Not to jump to the defence of such ladies, but even if she knew, I doubt she would agree to the idea of the video going viral online. I am yet to read about a sex tape that was initiated by a girl to tarnish the image of a guy. It is always the guy. Why? Biblically, guys are held to a higher sexual purity standard than women, per my understanding of the text. (I have spoken extensively about it in this blog). Therefore until we submit to divine standards for sex and purity, we will never see the end of this.

“[M]odern science allows us to understand that the underlying nature of an addiction to pornography is chemically nearly identical to a heroin addiction.” – Dr. Jeffrey Satinover

Addiction to porn is a field of study on its own. I’m hoping God will grant me grace to talk about it sometime soon. No matter how pious a guy is, I will not be shocked if he opens up and tells me he is battling addiction to porn or has done so in the past. What would shock me is if a guy about my age, says he hasn’t ever battled porn addiction before. It is that serious. I watched a TEDx video sometime ago that changed my perception about the porn industry. The speaker defines porn as ‘visualized sex slavery/ prostitution’. He stated that most of the girls in the videos are actually doing it against their own will. There is somebody benefiting tremendously while these girls go through all the abuse in full global glare. Hence, the speaker resolved to refrain from watching porn. I certainly cannot tell how long this resolve would last, but I found his speech quite remarkable. To some extent, this information may deter somebody from watching porn for a while, because it feels like you are endorsing, encouraging and financially contributing to sex trafficking. The abusive and appalling story behind the porn flick may deter you. But what if the story isn’t that appalling? Does it mean you can watch it? This is one of the reasons why people enjoy sex tapes and actually store lots of them in folders on their PCs. The story behind most sex tapes is that of payback or revenge – which makes it ‘exciting’ to watch. Some jilted lover’s attempt at getting back at his ex he still sleeps with. Some guys actually team up to do it. Yo, it is so not cool. The internet never forgets. One day it will all come back to haunt you.

• Let’s not share the videos when they come out. The director of the sex tape, the viewer and the sharer are all voluntary promoters of this genre of porn. You are very much a part of the problem if you watch and share the videos.
• Let’s not allow ourselves to be taped no matter how deeply we think we are in love. The lady in the first sex tape that was ever made, thought she was in love too.
• There is a reason why bathroom windows are small and way up the wall. In fact, it is not love if he/she is asking for nudes and perv stuff like that.

I can’t trust the conscience of a human being. It takes a higher power and force to keep us all in check. What can end this menace? I don’t know. One thing I know is, you have no business stripping before anybody who hasn’t vowed before the Lord to live with you till death. Safety first, stay pure.