DROWNING IN ALCOHOL

KENYA STRUGGLES WITH RISING ALCOHOLISM!  (IPS INTER PRESS SERVICE).
According to the Report - circa March 2015 - Sales of Alcohol rose by 67% in Spirits.   And the middle teenage (16) were becoming an age group that was rising comparably.    Certainly in Schools across the Country Alcoholism is becoming an increasing threat to learning, with children as young as 12 being targeted even with hard spirits.    This is usually imported from home or duka. Sometimes it is stolen from home, where the parents have the stuff on display for their own consumption, and at other times the money is stolen to buy it from an adjacent duka.   There also those who might 'peddle' the stuff right up to the school gates! To combat this School Administrations have to become more and more vigilant, putting extra pressure and stress on teaching staff as well.     We are not addressing other substances and drugs here, just Alcohol!!    BEER or Pombe is also increasing in consumption both among adults and teenagers.     The Government has consistently increased tax and sales price of Beer, and even Spirits, and although this HAS diminished Sales it has not reduced the incidence of drunkenness and Rape.    Why can't we shut down the Breweries?    Because the Government needs the taxation it gains from them!!    
The photo at the top was taken in Nyeri Town and is obviously of a man drunk and mentally deranged by some alcoholic substance.     He is probably also a victim of unemployment.      The more scary problem threatens us from the Teenage society, which forms the basis for our future intelligentsia and who are already becoming addicted to one of the most popular destructive elements in our world.   By the time our students leave University they are already drunkards, and continue to be so after Graduation, providing us with an unreliable and often 'unqualified' professional who is unable to give of his / her best in society.
The IPS Report also comments and says - 'The Alcoholic Drinks Control Act was substantially weakened in 2013 with the introduction of 'devolved government'.  This system of 'home rule' means  that each county government must ratify the Act - an uphill battle because some county leaders are also the owners of bars and breweries.'    Not an encouraging picture for the future.   And this is in fact a World Wide attack upon our society and especially upon our young people.     The IPS Report also comments on availability of help to those Addicts who may wish to Reform.     Stating that the the age-group currently the highest and most affected are 'between 15 and 29' years old, the Report continues, and adds - 'Alcoholics wanting to end their addictions have little recourse (according to Dr. William Sinkele, Executive Director of Support for Addictions Prevention and Treatment in Africa (SAPTA).   While Kenya has over 70 in patient treatment centres only three are government run. The rest are privately owned.   Whilst it is good we have these centres, most are concentrated around the Nairobi area.  We do not have many centres outside Nairobi.  The average Kenyan with an Alcohol or drug problem CANNOT afford the Treatment, he said.'

Brenda Mkwesha writing in the Blog ' IOGT International Temperance says " The odds seems to be against us, but we have, here, driven teams that will not just stand by while we flush our lives down the toilet.   Here's to a Life Set Free!'

IF Jesus is with them they have HOPE!

'Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging;

and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise

Proverbs 20v1 - The Bible, Old Testament

We are being told here, that wine laughs at us.  and strong drink turns us into raging, uncontrolled, animals.   Look also at Proverbs 23v31-32      'Look not thou at the wine when it is red.

when it giveth his colour in the cup

when it moveth of itself aright.

AT THE LAST it biteth like a serpent

and stingeth like an adder"

Alcohol can be attractive, and liberating, but at the last it will turn upon you.    'Who has woe?  Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining?  Who has woulds without cause?  Who has redness and dimness of eyes?    THOSE who spend a lot of time with the wine;  those who go to seek and try mixed drinks (Alcoholic).

Those who habitually take in alcohol become, to a lesser or greater degree, acquainted with the results listed above; and they become also to a lesser or greater degree, debauchees (habitually careless and loose in their moral life - having suppressed the LIKENESS of their original design and purpose; their likeness to God Who created them to be like Himself.  Their Conscience, normally restraining them, having been paralysed and drugged  into silence.   (Ephesians 5v18 in the Bible - New Testament).

MANY will resist this reasoning, and may even accuse the BIBLE of recommending a little alcohol when one is sick - or to make one merry / happy.     What harm in that?     NONE,  if that is where it might stop, but alas it can take a hold of us until not only our 'sickness' is assuaged,  but also until all knowledge of it is abandoned to dreams in which we are no longer in charge of our self.     ALCOHOL deceives us.     It makes us believe a lie.    It turns off our human perception and awareness of the truth relative to what we are doing, thinking and so on.  Alcohol makes a joke of our humanity, and makes us LESS than the One Who made us.   It also makes a joke of - it MOCKS, GOD ALMIGHTY as well, by rendering what He made to be admired, honoured and seen as a Child of His, as nothing more than junk.

Just a LITTLE alcohol can take us on to drunkenness; a state in which we no longer have control over our mind or body.   We become out of control, and our life can then be quite messed up with 'Trouble, Strife, Wounds, Eye Problems and Hallucinations, Immoral Behaviour, Mental Confusion, Physical Unsteadiness.   It is a picture of RUINATION; of a spoiled, degraded and unrecognisable human being.     

If YOU are a regular partaker of alcohol, you probably will feel I am very ill informed.     BUT honestly, as one who once was such a partaker, I feel able to testify of the TRUTH of what I have written, and to uphold the TRUTH of the Bible as the Word of God.

Look at The Bible again in Isaiah 5v11 and see a picture of those whose addiction to alcohol has taken complete hold of them so that they pursue it day and night.     And also in the Bible in Habakkuk 2v15 we find those who encourage others to drink until all moral reservation is removed and the nakedness of each other is revealed so that sexual intercourse and other misbehaviour can be achieved.

It is a work, pursuit and enterprise of DARKNESS and ignorance.

St. PAUL said that HE would rather NEVER drink wine or strong drink if that would help him not to hurt or destroy, or lead another human being astray - Romans 14v21 and 1.Corinthians 8v13.

ABSTINENCE  in not a bad way to keep oneself CLEAN and HEALTHY.       Some can boast of being able to 'Take their drink' and all that - yet they give a ruinous example to their family, their friends and colleagues - and all the time what they put into themselves wreaks havoc with their vital organs, to the eventual hurt and even destruction of their body.

If you have been deceived to see no danger in being a user of alcohol then you are not WISE.     You lack WISDOM.    You will suffer for it.

When I was a young man my Pastor, then quite elderly, attended a Reception to which a certain young man had been also invited. Drinks were being handed round (Champagne) and the young man wondered what he should do; should he also have some, or abstain. He thought, I will watch what Pastor will do - he will know best.   He looked and found the Pastor, and already in his hand was a glass of champagne..      The young man took, one.   He liked it and took another, and another.........

Twenty years later the Pastor was called to a famous Prison just for murderers in London.    When he arrived the Prison Governor said a man who was sentenced to Death, and waiting to be hung for murder later in the week, had asked to see him.       The Pastor did not know the name, but agreed to see the prisoner.      He was shown, by a guard, to the cell.

He found a man of about 40. standing inside.   He was let in, and the two, Pastor and prisoner shook hands.     "Do you remember me?" asked the prisoner.     The pastor shook his head, wondering what would be said next.     " I called you here, said the prisoner. because you are the cause of me being here.     When I needed direction I looked to you for help, and you led me to accept alcohol into my life.     I became hooked on it.     And it eventually led me to kill my wife and son in a drunken rage.      I wanted you to know!"      He shouted then for the guard and told the Pastor to get out of his cell.        The Pastor was crushed.    He was elderly then, and he told me how truly terrible it was to be faced with such a fact.    He remembered the Reception.    He was a Methodist preacher, and had made up his mind NEVER to drink alcohol, but at that Wedding Reception - his first, he hesitated from causing offence by NOT accepting the champagne as it was offered.   He took just the one glass - but never drank it.    He had just carried it around with him, and later on managed to put it, un-drunk, back on to a passing tray.   The Prisoner was duly hung by the neck until he was dead.   HOW CAREFUL all of us have to in HOW we live.     

My Faith in God SAVED me from drink.      I have a son of my own now, in his thirties who drinks.     He is so far not interested in God, and is struggling to put his life together.    It is HARD.   Pray for me, and for him.     I am hurting because of his hurt. and he is hurting because he is hurting others.    The Answer of course for him and for me is JESUS.     One cry to HIM from my son, and we shall both rejoice in the Love of God that is able to RESCUE us out of all and ANY of our troubles.

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CRAZY FOR SEX

'MOTHERS PUT THEIR TEENS ON BIRTH CONTROL'  

This is one of the Headlines in to-day's Daily Nation here in Kenya. 'Some parents' the article continues ' are secretly putting rebellious daughters on contraceptives...

girls are being duped into getting contraceptive injections, disguised as cervical cancer vaccines,

while boys re being encouraged to carry condoms.'

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?    Well look around you!   The whole world society is 'hooked'  on SEX, even more than Heroin!     Television is practically ALL sex, more or less as graphic as it comes. You can't sell a tooth-brush or a computer without some sexual allusion - more or less explicit.   Books, films, fashions, music, are all geared to sex together with the road hoardings and advertising in general.   There are no 'childrens' programmes or other material that can be said to be without sex.    From six years children are dressed up, made, up, and encouraged to act like adults - including the idea of falling in love with each other. IS IT SURPRISING that more and more pregnancies are occurring among children from 13 upwards, and sometimes even younger?   Little proper advice, information, or even education on these matters is given at home OR inj school..     And when council is given 'when you talk about these things with teenagers they just dismiss you as being ignorant or outdated, says one mother.'   AND the 2014 Family Planning 2020 Report shows that   'in sub-Saharan African countries, more than 15 percent of girls have their first sexual experience before their 15th Birthday.   As they grow into their late teens and early 20s, their sexual relations become more and more spur of the moment, unprotected. slapdash affairs'

Parents are more and more anxious about their children; anxious enough to take steps to try to prevent them from unwanted pregnancies.

BUT such action does not always lead to success, but to even worse conclusions.    For example 'Gemma' a girl of 15 was secretly tricked into taking the Pill.    After a short time (two weeks) she suffered a stroke, which the doctor attributed to having taken the Pill.    Two years later, at 17, she suffered a second stroke leaving her unable to walk or talk.   Her mother wrote 'I thought the Pill was harmless, but now my daughter is in hospital, unable to walk or talk.    Her whole life and future blighted - at 17!

IN THE BIBLE - In the Old Testament Book of Leviticus chapter 19v29 it is written -

'Do not profane (make unholy/unclean/impure/contemptible) your daughters by causing her to be a harlot,
(by encouraging her to indulge in pre marrital sex)

lest the land fall into harlotry, and become 

full of wickedness.'

Interesting verse isn't it, and I suppose some might immediately say YES, that is why we have to act for our daughters the way we do; that is why we have to get them on the Pill, and our sons the Condoms!      Well it IS one way of looking at it.......ANOTHER way would be to say that such action only encourages, and precipitates 'the whole land falling into harlotry and wickedness.'     Hmmm.

Some years ago now, in the 90s, some overseas donor offered to put Dispensers of Free Condoms in every University - as a precaution against HIV /AIDS!     This under the Governments concern to promote 'SAFE' sex,      I confronted our local Medical Officer of Health on the issue, and asked him if it was true that even Condoms of ANY kind were NOT Faith safe.     A bit like 'Russian Roulet'.   Additionally the condom, still a risk, actually encourages the majority into MORE sexual relationships increasing an immoral attitude in our sexual relationships nation wide.    Was it WORTH it?       The Physician sat at his desk looking a little disconcerted, and could not reply, except to say that the condoms being supplied were not the best, and that it was merely an attempt to calm any unrest being brought about by the AIDS scare.  I am sure he was relieved to see me go.

HUMANITY KNOWS THE RISKS in life, even warns about them, but usually does little to effectively prevent the inevitable from happening.     And usually MONEY or 'Filthy Lucre' as the Bible calls it, is at the bottom of everything - the ROOT of every evil.      Thus our governments who are supposed to protect and improve us, will often say little in order to reap a profit somewhere, as with the sale of Beer, and  Cigarettes.   The greatest merchandise is made from Humanity itself; from you and me, and our children and grandchildren.

The PILL is a humanly devised convenience which has been more and more used to make sure we do not have to pay for our inexcusable behaviour toward and with one another.     It kills the the 'implant' but does not interrupt our fun, enjoyment, or the depreciation of Life itself.   I mean, that by freeing ourselves to indulge in sexual pursuits outside of the marriage bed, we selfishly and dishonorable use the Seed of Life itself to just please ourselves.

To give the Pill to children of 13 or under is totally irresponsible and dangerous.( Again some years ago a Kenyan Minister of Health, no longer in government, advised ALL mothers to make sure their 12 (TWELVE) year old girls went to School with the Pill in their handbag/purse/whatever).  AGAIN a very imperfect, if not almost totally useless way, of keeping my child safe.      My wife and I have brought up two daughters of our own, and countless others in a family averaging 70 members over 28 years,  30% being girls, and in our time saw only TWO become involved sexually with any boy, either within the Children's Home, School, or the neighbourhood.     We thought it was not a bad result.     We only had the ONE Home then, and now we have FOUR.     Out of the three or more hundred children, boys and girls, that have passed through, and about 140 that are still passing through,  this incidence has risen, but not enormously.    We do not hand out condoms or the PILL.        But of course we confront our children with those topics and human temptations that can get them into trouble, or harm the, and for the most part they listen and take notice.   We teach them about GOD, and His Commandments for life.

Naturally we are in no way trying undervalue the use of sexual relationships in life.    God Himself introduced the idea of SEX   BUT we are not encouraging the idea that it is a 'Plaything' or some casual, risky entertainment; only pointing our that it needs to be better presented than it it has been, and in such a way that People might understand the inadvisability of treating it with disrespect and careless ignorance.      It is meant FIRST for those who have come together in Marriage, and who then intend to produce children between themselves in that marriage.

ALL true wisdom come from above - from GOD alone.
Our world is increasingly dismantling the very idea of God. Respect for His Word, and Regard for his Law and Justice is rife - to say nothing of His Love and Mercy.      We are a world society that is less and less aware of God, and what pleases Him.  We do not appreciate His ability to intervene and interact with mankind.     We run not to HIM, but more and more to ourselves in order to work out our salvation the best we we can.       BUT GOD has told us to work out, solve, our salvation with FEAR and TREMBLING in case we get it wrong - and the only we to get it RIGHT is to give attention to HIS Word found in the BIBLE.

And God says 'BRING UP your child in the Way it should go.'   This is something every parent OUGHT to do, and it has to DO it KNOWING THE RIGHT WAY.        A child needs to know God's WAY, needs to KNOW about Jesus, and the PARENT is the one who has to know first, so that he or she can show the child.     It is a RESPONSIBILITY  many fail to take up, and thus  we find an increasing increment of Lawlessness, and Disregard for all that is Godly and RIGHT.      When we have managed to throw God, His Word, and His Way out of the 'window' we shall indeed live in total darkness and ignorance.
SO we should repent of this turn about, and come back to GOD, and God's way in our lives, for the sake of the next generation, the generation of our Children and grandchildren.    WE should read and give attention to what God is saying about it.    We should think carefully what He is saying in the Book of Deuteronomy chapter 8 in the Old Testament of the Bible, verses 1-15.    These are the verses that exhort us to TEACH our children about GOD - all the time from when they can understand between right and wrong - when you are sitting down in your house,when are out walking with them, and when you prepare for bed at night, AND when you get up in the morning.        IT IS THE ONLY WAY to instill into the mind and heart of any child a Way of Life he will ever remember and regard, till he or she dies.   And to do this well you need yourself to KNOW and LOVE God, and to be able to share you own personal stories about God from your own experience of Him!!     You should be doing this from the word GO, for the longer you leave it the less you will be regarded - the Way of the World around you will have led your child astray, kidnapping him, and preventing him from listening to you.

WALK IN THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

with your children; tell the truth

TEACH them the Truth of God's Word and Commandments.

Each one of us holds the NEXT Generation in our hands.

What it will be like is up to each one of us.

TRAINED TO KILL AND TO DESTROY

WHAT ARE WE PUTTING IN OUR CHILDREN'S HANDS?    This little girl is holding a GUN in hers!    No joke either, and she represents a whole lot of children in our world who are being taught how to USE weapons of destruction; brought up on violence without any conscience or sense of what is right or wrong.    And, for the most part, the WORLD is not doing much about it.     ISIS, the Islamic State, as it is called, actively encourages it in fact, together with many terrorist organisations and Freedom Fighters the world over.     Are YOU happy about this?   What is YOUR heart and mind saying to you about this?
BELOW is another little girl with a Book in her hand.   The Noble Koran.
Some of those reading may think the Gun could agree with the Book!   But this would not be true, because the Koran itself is not VIOLENT unless those reading it interpret it to be so.   Even the Christians could, and might still, find verses within the text of the Bible to encourage violence, and cruelty which, if taken out of their right context, might insight extreme and excessive behaviour.      There is more MERCY, and COMPASSION in both Books than can be found in the Gun.   GOD has revealed that He cares about Man, and has no pleasure in the death of any.     Those who may, in error, argue the opposite about HIM, are totally astray and without the Truth.

THERE ARE SOME, that may shrug off the whole subject, and who believe it has nothing to do with them.     But the Cartoon to the left is right - the gun is bigger than the child.    He may be able to carry, and even know how to FIRE it, but he does not have the the inner strength to deal with the outcome.     He may fancy himself, in his imagination and thought, to be a 'RAMBO', but he is but a child.
In our Testimony School here in Eldoret, Kenya, we have had children of 10 to 12 years old enter the School having been child soldiers in Uganda and Sudan.    They were deeply disturbed children, filled with vivid and disturbing memories of their past actions.     It took a great deal of patient counselling and patience to help them put that past behind them.     Little men still growing up, having never seen life as a child sees it.     Little men, still with a child's heart, all mixed up with implanted hatred and violence, together with tears of emotional need for their own selves, as well as for those they had killed.

YES, the little girl in the top left photo may almost certainly grow up with a gun still in her hands!
She may indeed graduate to be a Soldier in some 'Movement' or other, and actually coldly become used to killing other human beings.     How old would you put this little man opposite?  Maybe 7 or 8?  And now HE is in uniform as well as having his gun at the ready! His parents have dressed him up to please him!   Can you imagine him facing the Enemy perhaps a whole Battalion of rebels - can you imagine him being shot to pieces by them, and left as garbage for the birds and wild animals to finish off?
WELL if he lives he will continue to grow.   There are many others older than him, and they don't even have uniforms - only the guns.   The two to the left, in their middle, upper teenage, are examples of the average 'child soldier', their rough and ready life fortified by Bhangi, and Changaa, until their minds barely know what they are doing or even why.   Many of them BEGAN as very young children.  AND if you think this is only a picture of Africa or South America, how about this photo from the Affluent West?
HERE WE HAVE MUMMY showing her young daughter how to fire an automatic pistol.   Is it for fun or self defence, and what will the outcome be, I wonder.   How many cases do we hear of, where some guy has burst into a school or church and let of his Guns in a killing spree - all because of something that happened, or he was taught, in his past.    YES the whole world lives on the brink, or in the very midst of violence and the sound of the gun, plus the slash of a knife.       And for the most part EVERYONE just accepts it, and says nothing. 
EVERY DAY I read in the Daily Mail, and other British National Newspapers, of the Killing that is going on the Middle East, in Syria, Iraq and Iran, to name a few.     In many cases the graphic evidence is appalling, and too terrible to even want to look at.     Just recently we were exposed to a photo of a young boy of 12 cutting the throat of an adult prisoner of war.     It has to be of the devil when adults force children to do their dirty work for them.   It has nothing to do with Religion or God.    It has to be the fruit of an anti God and anti human spirit.     If we all say nothing, and wink at it all, then one day we shall be overwhelmed by it.       What should we then do?    We must speak against it, and if necessary take measures to prevent such a code of conduct from continuing unchecked.         
The little girl top right of this blog was holding a Koran.       We want to believe that she had been taught that God was good, merciful and forgiving, rather than the butcher much of Islam demonstrates Him to be.       I hope the picture demonstrates the Way of Peace with God and Man.
I hope it can be an emblem of Hope for the Future.   I hope that Christians will also turn to the Bible, their own Holy Book, and teach their children about the LOVE of God for ALL mankind, including their enemies.   After all God Loves ALL mankind, regardless of colour, race, politics or religion.    He CREATED them all, and has no pleasure in the death of ANY.     If HE lives in us in any way or degree, then WE should become LIKE him, and work for the Salvation and Forgiveness of every soul.       AWAY with guns, and knives, together with hate, malice and bitterness.     LET US put into our children's hands and lives a BETTER way, a more God intentioned Way.   A Way of Love for all men, and desire to do them good.    
Above right is a Family doing the right thing.
They are encouraging their children to know GOD as they themselves do.      Here is the only REAL hope for the future.

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ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES 'JACK' A DULL BOY!?

TUESDAY'S DAILY NATION sported an Article by one Mr. Kennedy Buhere, a Communications Officer in the Ministry of EDUCATION, Science and Technology.     He writes :-  'The Ministry of Education BANNED mock examinations in September 2001 following recommendations in the report of the Task Forum on Student Discipline and Unrest in Secondary School.'
TODAY Kenya is still experiencing incidents of 'student unrest' and even in the last few days yet another Boys Boarding School had its dormitories set on fire by its own students at night, with two deaths and many casualties.      It is interesting to also observe that in my own area Schools are still taking part in Mock Examinations - one finished just last week - in Secondary Schools, and that there has in fact been an increase in extra tuition and setting of SET, SAT, and CAT tests throughout the year.     My own grandson, having just now concluded his Mock KCSE and hoping for just a few days holiday will return to School  to sit yet another internal examination.
EXAMINATIONS and TESTS seem to take up the main part of a teacher's time.    One wonders if he or she is able to give enough serious attention to actually teaching the Syllabus.

I have always believed that any child or young person needs 'time out' from serious 'learning';   that there should always be opportunity to recover from the pressure of the day, the week, the Term. Time to just BE a child, a teenager, a son, a daughter, rather than just a means for teachers and parents to achieve some kind of 'reflected glory' in seeing the student do well.      In my own School days, admittedly a long time back in the 40's 50's and early 60's I never felt under pressure educationally. My teachers always covered their syllabus within the time allotted, achieving good results in examinations, and within reasonable learning hours - say 8a.m. to 4p.m. maximum.   All of us students loved our holidays, and enjoyed their freedom to the full - and we still managed to keep up in the Class; even me, an average student.      We did not 'grow' up too quickly either, and that was in fact a good thing, and helped the Classroom to be more manageable at all levels.    AND we still had the CANE in those days.    Could the Bible, God's living WORD actually be right when it tells us 'Spare the rod, and spoil the child', at least from the point of view of it being in itself a deterrent?
Perhaps because of this, on starting a School here in Kenya, and for the first ten years or so years of administering it, I have always been against EXTRA tuition, and also the proliferation of Tests and Examinations  compared to the time given for straightLEARNING I also confess to never having had the good will of Teachers OR Parents on either matter, so that even today both factors remain, in my opinion deterrents to progress, and to calm and orderly behaviour in our schools.

Returning to the matter of the Ministry's 2001 BAN as cited above    This Ban has just recently been reinforced and confirmed by the current Minister, Professor Kaimenyi.  Presumably this BAN is meant to be 'nation wide';  why then are some County Education Departments not willing, or able to implement this directive from Central Government?

Mr. Buhere, in his article, continues by saying:-
'Too much testing of students takes away the time meant for effective teaching and learning.'
'The 2001 Task Force on Student Discipline and Unrest, did not confine itself to administration of mock examinations to candidates preparing the KCSE;   IT ALSO made an observation to the effect that the number of tests done in the entire school system as part of continuous assessment were excessive and causes stress to the entire student body,and unnecessary expenditure by parents.'

FINALLY, Mr. Buhere says - 

'We would make the children of this country proud of all of us - all stakeholders in education -

if we adhered to the renewed ban on mock examinations, and holiday tuition,

both of which have created an inhospitable teaching and learning environment

 for the conscientious teacher, as well as for the average student

who needs a learning environment with less pressure than prevails in the current situation we have foisted upon him/her.

Needless to say I am in total agreement with him.   Though I am not hopeful our opinion will do a great deal to change the zeal of teachers and parents alike, in running our children into psychological disorders and rebellion against learning altogether.

Of course teachers want their children to produce good results in public examinations; it tends to lift up the name of the School they teach in, and also, of course, their own standing and reputation in the process.    Not a sin in itself - 

Also Parents will naturally hope and encourage their children to do well in School, in order to be more acceptable to the more lustrous Colleges and Universities, and perhaps also in the hope that their children might also outshine their neighbour's.      If the child seems slow, backward, or in some other way challenged why not increase his learning hours  they say.    Some arrive in School at 7a.m. or even earlier, and do not leave before 6p,m - and even then there are Special Tuition lessons in the evening in addition to the Homework given by their own day time teachers..      Even Holidays are not allowed to be holidays, but are seen as opportunities for a child to get, and keep, 'in front'!!    A Treadmill of misery  and often despair for the majority - just for the sake of the self aggrandisement of their elders.   This has been Kenya for the last forty years .......must it continue to be so?

Teachers, to some extent, can be controlled by good and responsible Management, but parents...?

Parents are often busier than they used to be, ALL the year long.     Both parents are often working, and sometimes even away from home.    This produces problems when children are at home.   At times, in some situations, children are actually felt to be an encumbrance to be palmed of on Day Care Centres, Boarding Schools and so on.   Sometimes no family life exists where a child can find affection, time for sharing, and appreciating the valued attributes of just being a family.     Often there is NO home to run to from the Hurley-burly, often stressful life of school; no home to find peace and freedom to be able to 'wind down' and relax.     These days such a home or family is hard to find.    Instead our children are being hounded by over anxious, over zealous parents.

'The point is not, of course, that parents or teachers should stop putting pressure on children to achieve.   The point is that we are out of balance.   Achievement has, in many cases, become the chief goal of child raising - and this intense focus threatens to make children both less happy and less moral.   The point is also that parents, schools, and communities, all have vital roles to play in curbing destructive forms of achievement pressure, and in cultivating HEALTHY notions of achievement. 

......CHILDREN  with "very high perfectionist strivings - those who see achievement failures as personal failures" are more at risk, as are children whose parents value their accomplishments more than aspects of  their character.   Ironically, this pressure is not even likely to achieve what it's intended to achieve.     Research suggests that children who are subjected to intense achievement pressure by their parents don't outperform other students.   (Assoc.for Supervision & Curriculum Development).

Generally we are seeing children growing up too fast; so fast that they are not even aware of the joys of being a child.     Indeed childhood has become a Learning Chore, more and more thrust upon the child, as if there is nothing else in life.   There is no rest from it.    What kind of men and women will many of our children become?   Will they be able to know how to bring up their own children?   Will they know how to assure their own children of their intrinsic value, regardless of their academic achievement?   Will they know how to enjoy,  and be happy with their children?     Or will they only be able to communicate the 'dullness' they themselves have achieved through their own exposure to a treadmill existence based on false promises and concepts?     Parenting and Parenthood will soon be abilities totally forgotten, unknown, and unrelated to our future society.   BUT the Bible tells us that it is the PARENT that is to bring up the child, to nurture it, and direct its thoughts; first by being taught about GOD, then by learning His Will, by reading His Word, and then by living it.     Deuteronomy 6v7 / Isaiah 28v9..
How we bring up our children - the Way we teach them at home. How much time WE, as parents, give them in friendship, company, encouragement, and family interaction conveying how much we care, and value them, matters more than ANY education.    We should not shrug off this responsibility;  we should not give it way to any School, and we should not let any school come between us and our child, to his/her detriment.      BUT the universal drift is away from this view.
Even the BASIC idea and concept of Marriage and Family is found in danger of becoming not only rare, but soon perhaps to face extinction. What then?    Anarchy?

Let us be careful not to drive our children to boredom and despair.     Remember King Solomon the Wise wrote -

'in the making of many books there is no end -

and much STUDY wearies the body.'

BEING HARD OF HEARING

DURING THIS LAST WEEK there has been much speaking, and our latest Motivational Speaker has encouraged Kenyans, and indeed all citizens of Africa TO SPEAK UP, AND MAKE THEMSELVES HEARD.
Nothing wrong with that.   Freedom of speech and even thought is the basic ingredient of a sound Democracy.      But it does not always bring agreement, and indeed not everyone or everything propounded in a National Forum has to be right.


PRESIDENT OBAMA seems to want everyone to agree with him - or at least to take good notice of what he says, not just as the President of the U.S.A but as a 'son of Kenya' - as if he knows better than any other what we should do, and how we should behave.      I do not wish to belittle all that he has said, but he said it without reference to God, and therefore perhaps lacked the Wisdom of God in many places.   I can agree wholeheartedly with his hatred of 'discrimination' in any form.    He has, as he rightly stated, fair experience of the damage and hurt discrimination can produce - just from living in America!    But to a degree, on this visit, Mr. Obama seemed to be some kind of 'ambassador' for the Gay Fraternity, and once or twice made powerful representation towards a change of heart in Kenya's current attitude to Homosexuality in any form.    
We have seen in the press how our Vice President, Mr. William Ruto, expressed himself toward the U.S.A when he is reported as saying - 'We have heard in the U.S. that they have allowed homosexuality and other dirty things...'    This was a very frank statement of how he feels, himself, about such things, and perhaps even about the government that gives support to such activity.
Mr.Obama has said that he believes everyone should be treated and respected equally - including when it comes to those of a different sexual orientation (including gays, lesbians and transgender people.    He said 'no African state should discriminate over sexuality.'
But what does he mean by 'discrimination'?

Kenyan Law does not permit sexual activity between men; it is illegal and punishable with a   maximum imprisonment of 14 years.       Mr. Obama feels that individuals should  be free to choose their sexual partners and other activities.     He feels they should not be treated as criminals or abnormal.    He says they are doing no harm to anyone.      But this is very close to saying that all men and women should be free to choose and carry on their own life style without rebuke.      We are unique and have the power to choose for ourselves as if we are gods!     Does Mr. Obama have any moral parameters in which he can positively decry certain human behaviour, and even agree to measures being brought into Law that might discourage such behaviour?     For example is he willing to turn a blind eye to the habitual Rapist, thief, or drunkard?    Surely not!   Then why is he so concerned about the Gay Community?    He must be of the opinion that their lifestyle is not harmful in any way, and can be happily encouraged and accepted.  BUT this notion is not upheld by the Bible, nor by common practise.      We are told that those who practice such things hurt their own soul; they hurt their flesh by encouraging sickness, and hurt their mental and psychological well being as well. It may not be everyone's choice, but it can be put up with says Mr. Obama.
In taking this stance we have to believe that the President is ungodly!     He has no understanding of the mind or Will of God, and disregards the general Teaching of most of Religion's Holy Books, including The Bible, The Koran, and the Vedas.      To root for a change in the purpose and pattern of sexual relations, and in Matrimony as laid down and understood religiously is to divest oneself of the knowledge of GOD altogether.

LEVITICUS 18V6-27 is unpopular with homosexuals.    But the Bible upholds this teaching and the idea expressed all the way through the Old and NEW Testaments.      One Bible Commentator, a well known and respected theologian, commenting on these verses says - 'Seven abominations or wicked actions are listed here.    1.  Having sexual relations with close relatives.     2.  Committing adultery.
3.   offering children as sacrifices.    4.   Having homosexual relations, and  5.   Having sexual relations with animals.     These practices were common in pagan religions and cultures, and it is easy to see why God dealt harshly with those who began to follow them.   Such Practices lead to disease, deformity, and death.   They disrupt family life and society, and reveal a low regard for the value of oneself and others.      Society today takes some of these practices lightly, even trying to make the acceptable.   But the are still sins in God's eyes.   If you consider them acceptable, then you are not judging by God's Standards.'

Our Kenyan President, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta stated, during the week that 'Gay Rights are a No Go area, and that there are important matters to focus upon.'
On the other hand our Vice President, Mr. William Ruto has opposed Gay Rights, and has stated that 'No amount of persuasion will influence the country stand on the issue.'

When it comes to our LEADERS, it is often good to understand where their Leadership is coming from, and what it is founded upon.      One can see the distinct possibility of a world, left to continue the way it is going, will become a world without God - and world hi-jacked by Man at the instigation of the Devil.      And if this should come to be, then Man will no longer be in the image (like) God, and all his actions, appetites and ambitions will be uninspired by God.     And the horror of this is that generally there are only very few who can SEE what is happening, and what the end will be.

The argument for GAYS, as with the argument for any other ungodly act or practice, cannot be APPROVED by God.     Those who DO approve such argument, do so from a world view that is without God, unpleasing to God.     Shall we be content to be LED by those without true Wisdom and Understanding; by men and women without a God inspired Conscience?   Men and Women disabled by sin in their lives clouding their judgment and impairing their spiritual vision.     Shall WE approve them like sheep going to the slaughter?

It is easy to understand how that a Man might come upon the world scene, acclaimed, and clamoured for, as an idol, who could lead ALL the people of the world astray - not just Kenyans.
A Man like President Obama - or someone very much like him.     A Man such as the Anti-Christ, the Man of Sin, the son of perdition!

BE WATCHFUL -  BE READY TO SPEAK UP, TO WARN, TO DO ALL YOU CAN TO BE LIGHT IN DARKNESS, AND SALT IN A TASTELESS WORLD SOCIETY.     Do NOT discriminate, but do not make allowances for what is clearly WRONG around you.   EXPOSE it,  and in love and mercy seek render it harmless, taking care that you yourselves are not infected by it, to your own damage and hurt.
CONSIDER the words of Ephesians 5v1-19.    Read them through quietly to yourself, and let them speak to you, to your current life and estate.     Let them move you to action in the here and NOW.

God Bless you all.



NOTE - I must apologise in last week's edition for stating so surely that Mr. Lee had indeed given birth.    The fact is I have not been able to ascertain with certainty that did!     IF he did give birth then all I said must stand.      If he did NOT, then I thank God for His Mercy, and pray that in some way Mr. Lee might profit spiritually enough to catch sight of Jesus.   But men continue to put the matter to the test, and even now some are carrying a child in different places, pushing against the tide of nature and God's Will.

MAN OF THE YEAR

READING IN THE BIBLE'S Book of Jeremiah recently, I found myself reading chapter 30 verse 6 where God says -

'Ask now and see

whether a man can give birth to a child?

God is pointing out that it is not practical, (it is against the way Man is designed and put together, for him to give birth to a child), at least without help;   it is against Nature, and against all the proper use of a man!     Against all known social usage to the very beginning of human kind.   It might be possible good news to the Same Sex Marriage, and the Gay Fraternity in general though.

In the next verse God seems to be looking into the future and seeing men apparently looking and behaving as if they were pregnant!       The Media reported last year, 2014, that 54 men in Australia had given birth!!    The Media noted that most of them were transgender men who had kept their female equipment needed to give birth to a child..... Still sounds abnormal doesn't it?     And Mr. Lee Mingwei, at least, is NOT a transgender, but an Artist.   (photo right above).   Research and even medical proceedings started long ago in Europe in order to help men give birth.   Only NOW are we beginning to see the FACT coming into view and the practicality of it, caused by more and more relaxation of moral and ethical standards.

GOD certainly gave the impression that it was not something He or any person would expect or accept considering the general rules and principles of Biology.  And we know that the Bible reveals God's plan was  for 'One Man and One Woman'.   He did not take more than one rib from Adam, and from that one rib make more than ONE woman.      Any other arrangement or union was (and IS) to God abnormal; as abnormal as Homosexuality and as abnormal for a man or woman to change their sex.   BUT He knew the day would come when all of this would be more and more accepted and excused.   He said of it in verse 7 -

ALAS!  for that day will be great,

so that none will be like it;

it will be the time of Jacob's unequaled trouble....

but he will be saved out of it

A Time when mankind will lose interest in religion - in god - and especially in JESUS Christ.

A time when men will even question the need for God in their lives, and when, because of this, BECAUSE of not keeping God in Mind, God will give them up.    Look at Romans 1 v26 - 28 (Amplified Bible)

Because humanity will turn from God ..

God will give them over and abandon them to vile affections 

and degrading passions.

For their women exchanged their natural function

for an unnatural and abnormal one.

And the men also turned from natural relations with women 

and were set ablaze (burning and consumed) with lust for one another.

Men committing shameful acts with men

and suffering in their own bodies and personalities

the inevitable consequences and penalties

of their wrong doing and going astray, which was

their fitting retribution.

AND SO

since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him,

or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind, to do things not proper or decent,

but loathsome.

************************ 

THERE IS NO DOUBT in my own mind that God, speaking through Jeremiah, was looking into the Latter Days, just as Jesus was, when Matthew recorded His words in the Gospel of Matthew 24, and as Luke did in his Gospel chapter 21.    Mankind has become embarked on a society akin to that of Sodom and Gomorrah so that we can surely identify that the LAST DAYS are well on the way to a conclusion, both fearsome and inevitable.       In verse 23-24 of Jeremiah chapter 30, it is written -

BEHOLD the tempest of the LORD has gone forth with wrath;

a sweeping and gathering tempest;

it shall whirl and burst upon the heads of the wicked

,

The fierce anger and indignation of the LORD

shall not turn back until He has executed and accomplished

the thoughts and intents of His mind and heart.

IN THE LATTER DAYS

you shall understand this.

DO YOU RECOGNIZE the society you live in?     YOU live in the Latter - the LAST - days; days in which only the very dregs of our moral integrity, revealed and confirmed in and through Jesus Christ, and which have influenced the Christian World and indeed all the world, for more than two thousand years, actually remain intact.     TODAY the world is turning more and more from EVERY regard for God, and His Will.

We have turned, instead,  to Humanism, making our own opinion and understanding MORE than God until we have become well on the way to forgetting What and Who we were created to be by the Creator; questioning even the existence of that Creator.        What will we have become in the NEXT fifty years?    Will we still know ourselves to be even human in mind let alone likeness to God?   Yes, and if we have eyes and intelligence we should be able to see clearly where things stand in our world society and philosophy.        Relatively a GODLESS world society without respect for God, His Principles and Rules for Life, where His Voice is unheeded, unheard, and un-recognised.

MANY are declaring that this is the Society they prefer - Free, and open with an un-prescribed lifestyle.      But the Bible and History teach us there is an ETERNAL price to pay for rejecting God's revealed LAW for man to live by.     We rebel against it at our peril.      By seeming to turn around God's Order of things in no way proves He Himself is a myth, and that his Commandments and the Nature of Things laid down can no be ignored, or changed.     By arranging for a man, who is not designed for it,  to be pregnant and to give birth to a child - the recognised expectation of a WOMAN - in no way makes it RIGHT or PROPER, and adds no weight to the argument in respect of God, or The Word of God contained in the BIBLE, and in the Life and Example of Jesus Christ.     There is no other Way and no other 'God', and no other way toward Eternal Life that can perfectly be engineered by wayward Man.      Without GOD, as manifest in His Word, and in Christ, Man will never attain the Peace of Mind he needs, or the abolition of Sin that even now controls our world.

Is that your opinion John?

Yes it is.     I am no scholar or noted theologian, just an ordinary man.    A common man feeling his way through life, and coming to terms with himself and life around him through the tuition of the Holy Spirit.    The Holy Spirit is given to EVERY human being to lead and guide him; to be his light in darkness; to be his conscience.     I may be easily disregarded, and yet I am not persuaded by myself of the Truth I seek to share.     I have not found 'The God Particle'   I have found God; that He is real and that He exists, and that His Word is Truth indeed.    Beware oh Earth, and all those who live on Earth and are willing to aquiesce with whatever Godless ideas are presented to them.    God will not always be mocked, or allow things to go uncorrected.     We should be warned, those of us who are Watching, and who are called to Watch and Pray.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

OWNING WHO WE TRULY ARE

Whatever did happen to the Queen of Sheba?

____________________________________   

SOMETIME in Febuary/March  of 2002A.D. a woman calling herself the Queen of Sheba was found to be in Nairobi, and according to the facts published in the Daily Nation of the time, she was not finally found to be what she seemed to be. The real surprise is that anyone should have thought that she was who she claimed to be.     She booked into The Grand Regency Hotel, the most prestigious hotel in Nairobi, and they seem to have been completely taken in - to the extent of letting her have Three point four million Kenyan Shillings credit facilities before finally asking her to leave!       Various photos are available of this woman, whose REAL name is Debra Amelia Kasambura nee George!     Some show her wearing a crown, and others in ordinary clothes.   She will now, a guess, be in her sixties.   One such photo is to the left.
She arrived at the doors of the Grand Regency with her encouraged and announcing herself to be Queen Shebah 111 of the Nubian Kingdom.       The Managers of the Hotel seemed to be unaware that there is no such Kingdom, therefore no such 'queen'.    But she looked rich enough for the part, and reported that she was in Kenya to negotiate a deal with the Kenyan Government involving something like Fifteen Billion Kenyan Shillings.     She was shown to the Presidential Suite, the finest in the Hotel, and she even managed to fix an appointment to see President Moi!!!
There seems no evidence that she ever shelled out a cent of the 'promise' of 15 Billions of Aid, but she managed to run up the bill (as mentioned before) of more than Three point four Million Kenya Shillings whilst staying at Grand Regency!   No doubt extended credit given on miss-placed faith!  I
found the whole incidence more than AMAZING, not that someone might actually try such a con, but that all those concerned were TAKEN IN by her.
I wonder if I could get away with it?     Probably not,      Debra Kasambura DID.   She must have been quite persuasive.     Perhaps if she had said she was Queen Jezebel they may have been a bit more suspicious.   Very curious the whole things.    After all there are not so many Queens about that one might be mistaken for one of them.    A princess..? Perhaps.     Anyway there she was bejewelled, over-painted, and enveloped in furs, announcing her royal status and financial allurements.     And so everyone just came running to role out the 'red carpet', and to offer the best they had of everything; and the Press and the Media all rushed to publicise, and in a way give credence to this Queen of Sheba, as they called her.     WOW!   And no one even asked her for an I.D., OR to actually SEE the colour of her money.     How easy for Immigration and Authority to  just accept her without seeking any proof or confirmation - just because she looked, dressed and 'seemed' inordinately RICH!

TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO the elite of Jewish society said that Jesus was an impostor.and a 'phony'     HE said that He was GOD!    The King of Jews!    How could anyone believe such a thing?
This travel stained, untidy carpenter from Nazareth, fruit of a premarital relationship - how could HE be God?    The idea was preposterous to THESE rich, well educated men.     But the POOR believed in Him.
But no. those that mattered in society rejected Him,     To them it could not be accepted.   Oh yes, He was supposed to be able to heal the sick, and raise the dead; make the blind to see and the deaf to hear - but just LOOK at Him.    What was he really - just an unemployed illegitimate carpenter.  He was surely just a Trickster, a Quack, an Illusionist....... AWAY WITH HIM.     They said of Him 'Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses, and Juda and Simon?  And are not his sisters here with us?   And they were offended at him'  Mark 6v3    But the POOR did believe in Him; those who had no reason to look to Him for wealth or material aid.     Yet it was the poor that proclaimed Him to be God, The Messiah, the Son of God.      And Jesus was not 'pretending' to be anyone or anything; He merely told the TRUTH - He had no reason to pretend about himself.   The Truth will always out (be revealed) we are told, and the Truth about Jesus, and Who He was, just came out wherever He went.      The sorry thing about it all was that those who were so quick to believe, finally followed those who did not, perhaps our of fear of their Leaders, or the Roman Government, or simply because Jesus did not become the LEADER they were looking for.   They rejected the Truth, and trampled it under foot.
In Matthew 16v15 we find Jesus ASKING the Disciples who they thought he really was.    Earlier He had asked them what people were saying about Him, and who they thought He was.  Some of the people thought he was John the Baptist back from the dear; others that he was Elijah the Prophet, and still others said he was Jeremiah.    The Disciples now are being asked who THEY thought He was, and Peter, answering on their behalf said - 'You are the Christ the Son of the Living God'    HOW did Peter get this into his head?   He knew intuitively by the Holy Spirit.      They did not need to see his credential or even to witness the miracles.    The Disciples all  'felt' the truth within themselves.   JESUS himself acknowledge this when He said - ' Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven'  - Ad it is on this spiritual conviction from the Father that I will build My Church.'

Poor old Sheba, rolling expensively into The Grand Regency,  was certainly not recognised for who SHE truly was, behind the cosmetic, and under the heair-do.   NO. there was no ritual discernment there, and she was just accepted at face value, as someone she was not!  We should also learn to look further than the outward appearance if we are not taken in or made to miss the truth about a person.
Even Samuel the Prophet was led astray in his own judgement when seeking who might be God's Choice as Israel's new King.    1.Samuel 16v1-13.    God sent him the Jesse's family of good looking, physically attractive, and well put together sons, who were all paraded in front of him.   Any one them seemed right to Samuel - but not to God   None of those paraded by Jesse was God's Chosen One.
The one forgotten and left out, the youngest, a keeper of sheep, the most UNLIKELY was the One.  It was young David, looked down upon by his elder brother who was to be the GIANT KILLER and the future King of Israel.  And the LORD said - 'The Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart'       We need to think about that. brothers and sisters.    ' Not everything that glitters is of gold.'    Perhaps that is why so few see the GOLD that there is in Jesus.   Indeed He is more precious than pure Gold in unlimited quantity    But for the most part He is passed by, noticed only for a moment like a street musician or a quack doctor offering a miracle cure.    People take a quick look and see nothing to impress, just another guru, just another freak from the busy, or madman raving about nothing at all, and turn away to what seems to give hope of more immediate gain and profit.     THEY miss the KING.   They have missed God Himself as surely as the Innkeeper slammed the Inn door in the face of Joseph and Mary seeing their poverty and inability to materially enrich him.     JESUS came to give us immortality, everlasting health, and joy.   Yet the majority finally turned away, mocking Him and His offer, depriving themselves of the GREATEST WEALTH imaginable, materially, physically and spiritually.  INSTEAD, even today, they flock to the con men and women; the Queen of Shebahs of this world, only to be ripped off and left with nothing.
Why is mankind so dumb, so easily led astray, so easily duped?   After gawping, bowing, and scraping after the good will of this 'Caribean" Queen (she was born in the West Indies), the owners of the Regency Hotel become 3.4 million shillings poorer, and made the laughing stock of all.   Another person lost another half million shillings in paying her Bail promised against her Safe Custody.  ALL LOSERS because they went after glitter and glamour, instead of listening to the Good Sense God has planted in every man and woman.        Why do people not BELIEVE IN JESUS that Man of Calvary, a common Carpenter within whom GOD lived and died for all Mankind.    HE is the King of the UNIVERSE    If you embrace HIM, if you kneel before Him, and worship Him, you will never b e ashamed, you will never find yourself the LOSER.     Beneath carpenters garment are the Robes of Celestial Majesty,   Le the King of Glory in to your lives, and shut that LIAR and con-man of the universe - SATAN, out.     ONLY those who do this will Rule with Christ with Him over all the Universe.      Do not be DECEIVED.     Take great heed to yourselves.     Let your own Conscience that God has given to us all, confirm the TRUTH to us always.

JESUS when made in the likeness of men

humbled Himself to the death f the cross;

No reputation belonged to Him then; 

emptying Himself, He esteemed it no loss.

The Name that through ages to come shall our-ring;

 Jesus the Lamb, Who for sinners was slain.

SOON to this Earth He is coming as King,

Coming in power and in glory to reign,

Far above all; far above all.

God has exalted Him, far above all.

Crown Him as LORD, at His feet humbly fall,

JESUS, Christ Jesus, is far above all.

Debra Kasambura, Queen of Shebah was finally shoved on a plane and allowed to leave the Country with out any penalty being demanded of her.      She continued to live by her questionable wits all over the world.      Is he continuing to do so? I do not know.    But by the time she left Kenya in 2002 she had denied knowing her true self, and denied knowing the only one who could deliver her from her own sin and deceipt; the ONLY ONE who could forgive her, cleanse her from all her unrighteous livining, and MAKE HER NEW.          I have prayed that she finds and BELIEVES in Jesus.

The Shroud of Turin -