Where is mahali pema peponi (eternal peace?)

Friends,

Personally I feel we are too harsh to those who use these statements;

1.May God rest his or her soul in eternal peace (mahali pema peponi). Any one knows where that place is? How do people get there?

To me I feel this statement is not wrong and it has its merits. First we ought to look at the statement semantically and understand that it is prayer to God that God may rest the departed person in eternal peace. The key words here are May which is a subjunctive, it denotes that  it depends on God to grant or not to grant this plea. No one is forcing God to take the dead person to heaven. Pastor Birai I expected you to help the flock in understanding matters of eschatology because the Kiswahili translation here does not bring out the English rendering of eternal peace. What religious people here mean is that when a person departs from this life, he/she rests from the troubles of this world. In a sense this is a valid belief because even without Christianity, we knew that people go to another life somewhere beyond where our eyes can see.

Looking at the Kiswahili Mungu aiweke roho yake mahali pema peponi we know that our national Language is an African language and hence the understanding that since we now know that there is a God who owns the heaven and earth, we plead with Him to keep the soul of the departed in a good place where spirits dwell. The word peponi here may mean heaven and if you want to know where this place is, I will take you to Genesis 1

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be ^[e]an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷ God made the ^[f]expanse, and separated the waters which were below the ^[g]expanse from the waters which were above the ^[h]expanse; and it was so. ⁸ God called the ^[i]expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.  ⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good

In Kiswahili this place is rendered as Anga- Mungu akaliita anga hili Mbingu. Wherever the dead go, we who are still living pray that God may keep their souls in a good place and this does not mean we are bluffing the hearers. It is God who is the ultimate Judge of the living and the dead and our prayers can never change the destination of the dead.There is nothing wrong using this statement, the only problem would be if the speaker says that this makes the soul to detour.

2.God decided to take him or her? Really? Where do people get that from?

Now Pastor you're asking good questions here, don't you think that all these come from the Bible? look at this in Job 1: 21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

the Lord Gives, the Lord Takes Away. “...the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away...” (Job 1:21) It was Job who said these words. He  said because it was God's prerogative to create a life and also bring it to an end. It is only God who can terminate a life and when he does it, it is good that is why Job says Blessed be the name of the LORD. When David was pleading with God to spare the son he had got with Bathsheba, he knew fully well that the baby was being taken by God 2 Samuel 12

²¹ Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? ^[j]While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” ²² He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the LORD may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ ²³ But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

So I also do not see anything wrong with this statement.

3.He or she has now become an angel and is looking down on us? Are you serious?

This last statement is new to me but nevertheless it still can be seen that there is some resemblance to a verse in the bible in Hebrews12:1-2   “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The cloud of witnesses here as many Christian bible expositors teach, is made up of our beloved ones who went to be with the Lord. Because the Previous chapter gives the names of such faithfuls.

In conclusion, I would like to ask my fellow labourers in the Lord's vineyard, to size the opportunity and preach the Kerygma ( κήρυγμα, kérugma) when such an opportunity arises so long as it is called today. We should not trivialize issues and start living like civilians-using St.Pauls' analogy in 2Tim.2

 ¹ You therefore, my ^[a]son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ² The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. ³ Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. ⁵ Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he ^[b]does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶ The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. ⁷ Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

 ⁸ Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, ^{9 [c]}for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. ¹⁰ For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. ¹¹ It is a trustworthy statement:

   For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
¹² If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we ^[d]deny Him, He also will deny us;
¹³ If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

We should be ready to explain the word of God clearly to those who ask us why we believe. God bless us.

Let us not be Judgemental

I appreciate the fact that many of us are concerned about the things of God and where Christians may be going wrong in regards to matters of faith. As we do this, let us be watchful that we should not be judgmental because that makes us equally to be sinning. I would like to state the following: First none of us knows how the Holy Spirit transforms a sinner into a child of God this is because it is a subtle intrinsic spiritual irreversable chemistry that happens only once for all. When one becomes a Christian he or she dies a Christian because our God is loving and His promises remain forever. He never takes chances He has no doubts and He saves those He has predestined to save. If one says he/she is Christian but real change never occurred inwardly, that remains a non-believer. Jesus said  Mathew 7:21

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

What doing the will of God here means is actually giving your life to Jesus and living day to day with Him.

Many Christians in Kenya think that if one drinks alcohol, or uses drugs, or smokes cigarettes then that person ceases to be a christian. The alcohol free life is the ideal for all Christians but if there is any Christian who takes a beer or two and goes to sleep, and fellowships and does what the bible says, is just a Christian like the rest of  us who do not drink. I am not saying this so that Christians who are craving for the bottle to have a license of  drinking. What I am saying here is,  there are very many good Christians who have been taken captive by drugs and alcohol but still, God knows them and loves them. At the end of day they will be in heaven.

When in Funerals, we are called upon to speak words that encourage not those that break. We are called to console not to judge because we can not change the destiny of the deceased. All that we say will have no bearing on the departed but it can have a lasting impact on the living.

If Huston was saved at any point of her life, then she was a Christian and she is now with the Lord as it is written

John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

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John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
So the Christians who spoke at Houston's funeral including Bishop TD Jake's, relied on her own testimony that she indeed knew the Lord. And the Bible continues to say in John 6³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹ This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Therefore it does not depend on the theology one has, but on what the Bible says about all those who become Christians. In Jesus there is Eternal Life, not temporary. Jesus gives real life and that is why I believe even Harry Mumia is a Christian if he ever confessed that Jesus is Lord and invited Him into His life. God does not depend on whether we are serious or whether we mean it from deep down our hearts because He knows us ans He fathoms our minds from a far. Before a word is on tongue He knows it well. ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED all other teachings that do not agree with this Biblical standpoint has its origin in man and not the bible.

May be even Mother Theresa may not be in Heaven as we think who knows?

What should we Kenyans do?

I was reading this passage this morning and my mind started a tour of our country and I thought about myself as a christian and a leader and also those in leadership. I now send it to you and ask you to reflect on it and ask yourself if it applies to you. Ephesians 4:25-32

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

I do not know how many of us would stand and say that indeed we have off falsehood and that we speak the truthfully to our neighbours. Speaking truthfully to our neighbours goes beyond the casual dialogues we hold with our colleagues to all that we write in this forum. Do we write from the abundance of truth in our hearts or we just write irrespective of whether it is true or not? We should never forget as Kenyans of all walks of life we need each other. Write this because I followed the spat between two of our leaders in parliament who argued about praying for the Ocampo four or the IDPS. My question to us is this: are this prayers rooted in truth? Are we telling the people who come to these prayer rallies the truth? These questions go to my fellow church leaders and Christians.

In the following verse 26

"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
God in His sovereignty guards us and indeed in His own image He created us. Therefore He understands and knows that we can get angry. Being angry is not a sin, in one medical website

anger is described as  a natural emotion that every human and many non-human animals experience. Mild forms of human anger may include displeasure, irritation or dislike. When we react to frustration, criticism or a threat, we may become angry - and usually this is a healthy response. It is therefore not a sin to get angry and the bible supports this notion. It is what we do in anger that becomes sin. How? by brooding on anger and keeping grudges in our hearts, by responding to any written or spoken criticism while still angry and reacting to anything without thinking. The bible asks us to get rid of anger before it breeds sin. How do we do that? It is to preach about people getting rid of anger but forgetting to say how we should go about it. The bible says in Colosians 3:13 that we should bear with one another. It should be noted here that the exhortation to bear is not a subjunctive but an expected requirement of every Christian and that is why it is in the present participle describing our expected nature as Christians;Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgiveMany of us still have grudges we never forgive those who trespass against us. Jesus taught us how to pray, and in one of the lines in What we call the Lord's prayer we pray forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. I am not sure about this but I was once told that a Jesuit priest advised one person who often got angry to pray the Lord's prayer 20 times before he/she responded to what may have made him/her angry. There is wisdom in this.

On the the same medical website it is further said that anger may be a secondary response to feeling sad, lonely or frightened. When anger becomes a full-blown rage our judgment and thinking can become impaired and we are more likely to do and say unreasonable and irrational things. This is what the bible calls sin because the unreasonable and irrational things that we may say may hurt others and that is why the bible in the passage in Ephesians 4: 28 says

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. My question to all of us on this forum is; Does what we write here befit our stature? Because at the end of the day we shall be brought to account for our actions.

Another thing to note here is that anger does not just damage those who listen to us or read our posts but it also destroys us. Medical news today says thatAnger is not just a mental state of mind. It triggers an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Anger has survival benefits, and forms part of our fight or flight brain response to a perceived threat or harm.(http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/162035.php)James 3:1-12 James warns us leaders in the following words not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ...

28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. 

In the verse above, we are admonished by Paul to work and earn. We should never steal. Pastor Birai recently asked us a very vital Question if we have ever been robbers. In our leadership positions wherever we are and wherever we have been have we taken someones land, property, money, or anything. Have we taken or grabbed land fro the orphans or from the poor by giving them money that is not equivalent to their land? Who among our leaders is clean of this?

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

The key to leading a peaceful life is in the words above. We should grieve the Holy Spirit. What sins grieves the Holy Spirit?  bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.All these are put into one   Rebellion. Rebellion is a sin that grieves God. Take us Parents for example, if our children steal, we correct them by punishing and God does that to us too but when they rebel, we are left grief because a rebellious son or daughter does things which embarrass a parent and brings disrepute to the parents. When we engage in the sins above we grieve the Holy Spirit who indwells us from the time we became God's Children when we believed. Do you think there is Being kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you"  between William Ruto and Raila Odinga? Among our leaders? Among the Kenyan Communities? What should you do as a Kenyan Christian?

Remember in Genesis after Cain had been seized with anger? God showed him the way out of sin, and that was recorded in the following 

  ⁴ Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; ⁵ but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. ⁶ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do well, ^[e]will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” ⁸ Cain ^[f]told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Cain did not only disobey God but also rebelled against Him and Anger mastered him culminating in the first murder recorded in History. It is this anger that made us Kenyans take weapons against our own brothers and sisters without caring that God was seeing all these. We ought to repent and seek God's face. Prayer rallies that are just for publicity and campaign against anyone makes our situation worse before God because we are taking Him For granted. 

May God bless us all.