THE GREAT CAMPAIGN

A man who had lived well on earth happened to die. He was taken up to the Heaven's gate and was met by St. Peter. 'Welcome!' St. Peter said to the man. 'Where am I?' asked the man. St. Peter told him that he was at heavens gate. 'O great! this is heaven? It's beautiful!' St. Peter told him that while he was there he was free to go any where he wanted.

The man got in to heaven and there were great choirs singing for God beautiful people and even the surrounding. He enjoyed endless music and dancing to God all night. The following morning he went back to St.Peter and said to him, 'Sir, all the while while I was on earth I heard that hell was a horrible place, could have a look at it?' 'You can go and have a look.' St. Peter replied. 'Do you mean it? Will I be admitted back to heaven?' the man asked. 'Yes, you can come back, you have my word'

The man went to hell. Surprisingly he found many people, Merry making and enjoying themselves very much. They were eating, drinking and doing all sorts of things people would say they are 'enjoying' or so he thought. He asked who was the devil and he was shown a very beautiful creature that shone like light. And again he was surprised because that is not how the devil was depicted while he was on earth. Later the evening he went back to heaven and St. Peter asked him about his experience.'Heaven is good, but hell seems to be much better' he replied. On the following weekend the man asked for permission to go to hell and he was granted. He found hell exciting has ever. and he stayed there for three days and went back to heaven again.

The third time this man went to St. Peter again to ask for permission to visit hell again. St. Peter said to him, 'friend, you have enjoyed yourself since you came. God is a God of free will, now you have to make a choice. What ever place you choose now, that's where you will live eternally. Make your choice well, but if I were you I would choose heaven, eternal life.' The man remembered ll the care free life in hell and thought he'd be better in hell and so hell he chose.

Upon arriving hell, he was surprised, all the good things he had seen were no longer there. The place was filthy dirty and stinking, the fire in hell was so hot than any oven on earth yet no one died and nothing cooled one and there was no way to get used to the heat. Puzzled, the man asked the devil, 'wasn't I here last weekend? and it looked so nice and lots of merry?' the devil told him that that was a campaign and that that was the real hell. 'That was just a campaign, this is the real hell, I could I suffer alone!?! hahahaha!'

As we live, let's remember sin looks so beautiful and Satan looks like an angel of light at times. Beware, of Satan's campaign and little compromises. You have a choice between life and death, choose LIFE!

Only Jesus!









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The LIVING Prayer

A friend of mine found it ridiculous when she heard someone say that she would rather pray than watch Soap Operas. In my discussion with her, I told her that that was great other than get addicted. Then She responded and said that there is time for everything, time to pray and time to watch Soap operas.But after some time I thought thoroughly, and then I told her that I do believe that Prayer is a lifestyle, it is not a one time thing. People become captives and slaves of soap operas. I have seen mothers have their food burn because they can't leave the screen. That is addiction. If you live a life of prayer, you can win over many things.

One does not need to be in church the whole day, say novenas every hour, fast 3 times a week, live in a monastery?

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against these things, No! But in this busy world a lay person may not be able to do so many things. May be attend mass everyday, rosary, and other personal prayers and may be retreat once or twice a year, is all one might do, but what is required of us is more than this. We are to live the prayer.

To illustrate this I will give you a story of two boys who loved the Lord so much and wanted to do his will. One day after attending morning mass as usual before going to school they noticed that time had run and that they were already running late for school because the mass was longer than usual. One of the boys said to his friend, 'let us kneel down and pray so that we may not be late for school.' His friend quickly answered him in a humble but firm manner, 'No. the Lord is not just in this building,we will run to school and offer it as a prayer while in the silence of the heart we say our thanks giving prayer.'

This does not mean that verbal prayer is to be avoided. This does not mean we do not need to spend time with Jesus. This just means that everyday is a time with Jesus, every hour, minute and second. We are to say prayers on the stairs instead of taking the lift, the so called javelin prayers, after all it is healthy.

All in all there many types of prayers but one that we should never let go is the prayer of our life time, making each moment sacred, doing every little thing for Christ, - every word, thought and action should reflect Christ. Action is a more powerful prayer which complements the verbal one.
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 Live a Living Prayer.

Only Jesus!

DECOLONISE!

We are living in colonisation. We are free. We are imprisoned. We are the bosses. All these would be statements by different people in view of today’s humanity.

As I look at the times we are living in, I am excited. These are exciting days. I cannot live with my eyes, ears and mouth shut. The threat is great. There is a coloniser who is with us and working very hard, holding people captives and prisoners especially through media and technology. The threat is so big in the families and the devil is getting happier when he see’s families break up. We are here to destroy his plan and claim God’s original plan for the families.

In 1964 in Ghana, West Africa, some people who were on the look out to protect their country noticed that the imperialists were using theatre to colonise Ghana. The theatre fraternity in Ghana sat down and decided to use the same method – theatre, to decolonise the country.

A lot of media today propagates the wrong notion about marriage and family. Popularising sin and calling it names that attract the ear. Abortion is called flashing, it’s like what you carry in your womb something while the truth is, that is a human being. You womb is no toilet to flash. Adultery is simply called killing boredom, experience. Saying reproduction instead of procreation, when did we ever become machines to just reproduce? You can tell me more. I can’t even believe my ears.

But there is much hope every time I see families becoming stronger and setting standards that are Christ like to everyone. A community like Couples for Christ has brought a reawakening and a revival bringing families back to Christ. The Spirit of living Christ in the family practically.

In the same spirit we have to be pro active and use the same platform the devil is using to colonise the family to decolonise it. Let us decolonise the family from the rule of Satan, through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Free families from the captivity of Satan. This is the mission Christ is calling us to. Christians let’s set the standards.

May God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit help you as you live out to be a true witness.

Only Jesus

THE CHRSTIAN ON THE TRIAL

‘I am a Christian and Roman Catholic for that matter.’ I have heard many people say that, including me. I have also heard people say, ‘I am 100% Catholic, baptised, confirmed, receive the holy communion, I go for mass regularly  – some everyday -  every Sunday and all holidays of obligation, I tithe regularly...’

Is this true Christianity? They could be elements of Christianity but I don’t think the above constitutes to the definition of a Christian. Together let’s examine ourselves and see what really true Christianity would mean.

One Sunday, January 9^th, 2011, during the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, I went to the Church with the question above and even more other questions like, ‘What am I to be as a Christian? What makes me different from others?’I may not paraphrase the whole homily by Fr. William Owire, SVD, but I will recount a story he gave and we can use that to examine ourselves.

In a certain country called Kusadikika (which would literally mean s ‘to be believed’) at a particular time                 was ruled by a king who never wanted to hear anything concerning religion, Christian or God. Most of the citizens were Christians. The king made a declaration that whoever who would be found practicing is faith or professing it publicly would be killed. This declaration made many places of religious prayers and worship deserted. Some were converted in to markets, casinos, discotheques, museums, while others were left to age with big padlocks characterising the doors.

In the midst of this all there was a certain couple Mr. & Mrs. Vuguvugu  (meaning ‘lukewarm’) who completely refused to forsake their religion. They would be seen outside their old parish which was now a museum kneeling down in front of the crucifix, make sign of the cross and mumble a prayer. They would openly talk about Jesus Christ, whom the Kingdom had forbidden anyone from mentioning his name, being his follower and such.

The couple irritated the elder of their village who also sat in the king’s council. He believed that the behaviour of the couple would affect his influence to the king negatively. No one wanted the residents of his village be seen as being disloyal to the King. What he did not know is that the king had already heard of this couple so in one of the council meetings the king asked the elder what he was doing about the matter. He replied that he was giving them a chance to see if they would change. The king ordered that they be brought to a trial. Despite the fact that the king was a dictator, he wanted to look democratic; he would listen to their argument.

The couple was arrested and a hearing date was set. The family and friends tried to convince the couple to deny that they were Christians and to stop public practice of their religion, the couple would hear none of that, they said even if it meant dying for the sake of Christ they would gladly do that. For the love of the couple the friends and family hired the most expensive, competent and revered lawyer in the kingdom to defend them. They knew that it would make no difference since the king was the judge and the probability was that he would find nothing innocent about them.

The date of the case hearing came so fast. On the particular day people started flowing in early, mixed expectations on their minds and lips.  The king did not take long; he did not keep his citizens waiting. As soon as the palace grounds were filled with people, the king walked in. The elder in-charge of the proceeding s read out the charges. The couple’s lawyer walked forward, looked at the King – judge then the people, without a hurry and then cleared his throat. ‘To you my king I give my respect, to my fellow citizens, greetings. This day I stand here with all confidence to prove to you that this couple brought forth before the king are not Christians at all.’ He paused to study the faces looking at him – most of them looked at him quizzically, they knew the couple to openly proclaim the name of Jesus everywhere, they openly declared to be followers of Christ and Christians for that matter, they were seen praying openly infront of long locked churches and places of worship. – The lawyer continued, ‘It is true in deed that this people are truly not Christians. Yes, they may have done things that seemed to be Christian but that does not make them Christian’s’ at this point even he couple were taken aback because they were the most Christ like people, in their own eyes. ‘I have a few questions, these questions came about as I was reading the Bible, the book they claim to be their manual. Did anyone ever see them practically live according to the beatitudes (Mt 5: 1 - 11)? Did anyone ever see them give a drink to a thirsty person? Did anyone ever see them feed the hungry? Did anyone ever see them visit prisoners, or clothe the naked?(Mt 25: 31 – 46) I ask you?’ He got no response.  ‘These are the fundamentals of Christianity, faith that is accompanied by actions, if they did none of these things there is no drop of Christianity in them. I rest my case’ He looked around and walked off to sit.

The King stood and looked at the people and made his greetings. He quickly went on to give his verdict. ‘I listened to the people who brought forth the charges and the charges were so grave. But now listening to this lawyer I find Mr. & Mrs. Vuguvugu to be mere hecklers. I look at them now and I am so disgusted that they would use Christian name to be their own. And now that I realise they are truly hecklers may they be taken away from me, I have no time for fakes.’

Are you a true Christian or a fake? Is the devil afraid of you because of who you carry around or are you just a scare crow?

You know it and you can be better. May Christ take his rightful place in your life.

Only Jesus!

Start Somewhere

Hello! It has been my desire since the beginning of the year to start a blog that could inspire and make some sense, make one laugh, cringe, cry,.... just be in touch with people share my reflections and thoughts... But all these remained in my mind. I said I will do it tomorrow. Procrastination. It can grow to laziness, sloth. I had to start somewhere and keep away from any excuse. Today I take the step. The first step.

Why am I writing this? There are so many things undone in our lives. Dreams we had has children, Dreams we at times think they were childish as we grow. Ideals ad values that were inculcated to us and we believed in them now we look at them and say it's impossible, too big, can't reach those heights... and many things. What happened to those dreams? How came we dream no more? What happened to 'I believe I can' and 'I will give it a try, it's too early to give up'? Are those dreams gone forever? Is that the reason why some of us just say things like 'the system is corrupt, what difference can i make alone', 'I thought too big as a child, the reality is; I can't reach that' and succumb to mediocrity and give up on ever being excellent?

It doesn't have to be that way. Yes, we can do better than that. You have the power, I have the power, We have the power. We can change things to be better and even best. We can reclaim those childhood dreams. Yes, time might have gone but now start somewhere. Can I ever change my circumstances? The past is history, all we can do is learn from it, but today is present, a gift from God with so many possibilities and opportunities. We can change this opportunities in to blessings. Believe and ask God to help you and you wont regret a thing.

Just take that action, it's scary, it's tough, it's... blah, blah, blur, but all that will be gone, therefore start somewhere and I recommend you start again. Take the first step. Start where you left. I have and you can too. We all help each other on this journey as sojourners. Do not walk alone, do not be afraid.

May God bless you as you reclaim your dreams, hopes, aspirations, resolutions....

Only Jesus!