EVANGEL AFRICA

Being a good Christian also has negative connotations. That is, you begin to be concerned about the cause of Christ – how He is worshipped; how this and that should be done, especially in the house of God. Imagine yourself being part of this church community, perhaps you have been a member for as long as your mind can recall. You love this congregation with all your being; you are so connected to the point where it is unthinkable to imagine yourself somewhere else. What then should you do if you begin to see a few things (perhaps many) that you are not pleased with? And I don’t mean just what you don’t like according to your personal preference, but the point is, as you look into Scripture: how the church is supposed to be run biblically, then you see that your local church no longer aligns with that. The issues can range from minor issues like the music style to serious problems like a leadership that is walking in sin. If you are doctrinally conscious like I am, then false teaching i...

Everyone agrees that a believer must live a "holy life". But what does that even mean? Practically, and realistically, a person who is living in holiness is a person who is doing what? I know a certain so-called preacher who used to teach his followers that they were not allowed to wear makeup, earrings, short-sleeve shirts and even watching TV was forbidden. Any Christian who does these things, he said, would not enter heaven because God demands 100% holiness.  Because of such wrong teachings, many of us now shy away from the "holiness talk" because that is what we imagine Christian holiness to be. That, my friends, is not holiness —far from it. In fact, it is the purest definition of legalism. A belief that by outward observance, one can please God. "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?", asked the Apostle ( Gal 3:3 ). Believe it or not, that is the kind of "holiness" that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for. There ...

On 7 February 2013, Zambian News outlets were flooded with the report that 53 people had lost their lives after a high-speed collision between a bus and a truck in the northern part of Lusaka. Just months ago, gunmen stormed a tavern and shot dead 11 humans in Sausville, South Africa. All those lost lives were real people who had families and future plans and bank accounts and phone passwords. They vanished from this earth with one moment of brutal madness. If, perhaps, you have attended the funeral service of a similar tragic event, what questions would you have in your mind? How about, "Where was God when it happened?" If God is All-loving and All-powerful, then why doesn't He stop all this evil and suffering? We can rightly blame Satan for all these bad things, but who created him? If the Almighty knew that Lucifer would become the devil and end up deceiving millions into suffering and death, why was he made in the first place? Think of it another way: suppose you kno...

It's not a pious statement for me to say that the greatest trouble of my Christian life is sin. And the fact that “ I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing .” I am also comforted by the promise, “ if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us for our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness .” Furthermore, the Christian life is not lived alone. There is a community of other saints that you share your faith with. That brings the issue of transparency before them, or as the good Apostle says, “ You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone ” ( 2 Cor 3:2 ). Another verse that is in my mind goes like this: “ Confess your sins to one another , and pray for one another, that you may be healed... ”( Jam 5:16 ). Okay, here is the big question: how open must you be before your fellow brethren? Do they have the rig...

When you open your mouth to talk about God, how much do you care about being true? How much do you care about correctly representing that God? How much do you care about being a faithful witness to the very King you claim to speak on His behalf? I care to tell you, without a doubt, that most of the problems we are facing in the Church today are a direct consequence of careless men when dealing with Biblical truth. Men of loose tongues, who are not afraid, and certainly unmoved by the fact that most people who listen to our messages will live to hear us for the last time on this earth. Hence there is nothing in this wide world that is as serious as the delivery of God's word, in a way that God would have us deliver it, whether anybody likes it or not. If you care enough about these things, then you are moving in the right direction. Here are things that you must do in that regard…  1.) Believe the inspiration of Scripture - Fundamental to all Christian truth is that the Bible is t...

I was thinking about the idea of heaven a while ago and was just wondering why it seemed to be the least talked-about thing among us believers these days. Sometime in the past, you would go home after church, having been overwhelmed by the idea that this world is not our home; we are merely passing by because there is a place somewhere after death that has streets of gold and gates of pearl. A place where all our joys will be fulfilled and pleasures satisfied in the presence of the King of eternity. All that has slowly but surely disappeared, especially in the sermon notes of our preachers. It's no longer a thing of interest – sort of. I have observed that, as a replacement, the church has now projected itself as the problem-solving institution for people who are facing various challenges in this brief life. For example: “Here is our depressed teenager, they have come to church so that we can cure it.” “Here is this old granny having health issues, she must not leave this service ...