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My life alongside God's word, volume 3. Prayer section. Christmas is usually a time of joy and special celebration for Christians. The incarnate God, God clothed with human skin in order to be seen, was born as the tiny baby Jesus, in a humble animal shed, to a poor Jewish couple. First Elizabeth and the unborn John, next Mary, then the angels, the shepherds, and later the wise men, were full of joy and praise to God around His birth, see Luke 1:44, 47, 2:10, 2:20; Matthew 2:10. Joy characterised the early Christians. Luke records this in Samaria, in Pisidian Antioch, in Lystra and Derbe, and in Philippi, Acts 8:8, 13:52, 14:17, 16:34. Paul wrote about it, see Romans 14:17; 2 Corinthians 1:24, 7:4, 8:2; Galatians 5:22; Philippians 1:4, 1:25-26, 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 2:19-20; among others. To one church he wrote: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. He did himself what he told others to do, Philippians 1:3-4. Christians in Thessalonica (modern day Greece, capital of Macedonia region) were going through a lot of suffering. You can trace this theme through Paul’s letter, where he also uses some of his own troubles to encourage these new believers to stand firm. See “endurance inspired by hope”, “in spite of severe suffering”, “we had previously suffered and been insulted”, “in spite of strong opposition”, “our toil and hardship”, “you suffered from your own countrymen the same thing those churches suffered from the Jews”, “so that no one would be unsettled by these trials”, “we kept telling you we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way”, “in all our distress and persecution”, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 1:6, 2:2, 2:9, 2:15, 3:3-4, 7. Yet it was this same church, these people under non-stop trials, that Paul urged to be joyful, prayerful and thankful. Christians are to be heavenly-minded earthlings. How can this be? We must think carefully about the answer because it is a challenge to us all. We Christians are not to be only earthlings, people who live on this earth. We are to “heavenlings” – a word I have just made up to express what I mean! Christians are to be heavenly-minded earthlings. Paul writes about this idea to the believers in Philippi and Colosse. Some people are “enemies of the cross .. whose god is their stomach .. their mind is on earthly things”. Now notice the change. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ”, Philippians 3:19-20. “Holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse .. set your minds on things above, not on earthly things”, Colossians 1:1, 3:2. Our spiritual resources are so great, earthly things cannot disturb our inwardly happy and peacefully content feelings. We can live with songs in our hearts and on our lips. I have travelled around villages, displaced camps, and resettlement townships in Sudan, and I remember happy singing congregations. I have photos and videos of children and adults singing God’s praises at the tops of their voices. This is such a challenge to me now. I have lived for the last eight years with no voice box. My gracious heavenly Father allowed cancer to remove my ability to sing and to hum tunes. I am not able to breathe quickly enough to join in the singing at church gatherings. But, Holy Spirit filled and led, I can still “sing and make music in (my) heart to the Lord”, Ephesians 5:19. It seems that the Thessalonian Christians “thought more of their Lord than their difficulties, more of their spiritual riches in Christ than of their poverty on earth, more of the glorious future when their Lord should come again than of their unhappy past”. Paul had been their teacher, along with Silas (Silvanus) and Timothy. Once, just before he preached the gospel in Thessalonica, he was imprisoned with Silas in Philippi. “About midnight they were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them”, Acts 16:25. These teachers had first lived out what they were now telling this young church to do. They were living examples. When Christmas comes try to take these words into your heart and life: Pray as you breathe, without thinking about it – automatically just do it, 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Thank God for every circumstance you face as coming from the hand of God. This way you will be able to accept it, whatever it is, verse 18. Rejoice, be glad, delight in everything, for every day you live, verse 16. This does not mean you have to like your troubles and trials. But you do have to look at them in the right way. Always view them through the heavenly salvation your Lord Jesus Christ is definitely bringing you to. This is the “heavenlings’” perspective. Perhaps as we reflect on this over Christmas, we can also look ahead into the new year, if our Lord Jesus waits. Verse 18 ends with a phrase I have not yet written about: “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. What is God’s will for you in the coming year? Amongst other things it is clearly to “Be joyful always; pray continually;” and “give thanks in all circumstances”, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

My life alongside God's word volume 3. Prayer section. When God’s answer is not what you wanted - Habakkuk Our Lord Jesus was not the Messiah many of His people wanted or expected, but He is the Saviour everyone needs, if they like it or if they don’t. One way we know we are maturing in our Christian discipleship is when: we face a lot of hard problems in a difficult life we pray regularly, talking and listening with God about them God answers us saying, “Watch, things are going to get even worse” perhaps after a time, we accept God’s answer, and from the middle of our troubles, we praise God for who He is! Habakkuk was a musician as well as one who spoke God’s words to the people, Habakkuk 3:19b. The name means “to wrestle, to embrace”. The last three verses of the book show the strength of his faith in God. He saw no visible blessings from God, but said he would still “wait patiently” and “rejoice joyfully in God my Saviour”, 3:16b-19. It needs a well-developed, strong and healthy faith in God to behave like this. God tells His man the ultimate purpose for everything “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”, 2:14. Habakkuk finds this unbelievable as he reviews his everyday life. Where is the glory of God in his everyday struggles? So he wrestles with God in prayer, complaining about what he regularly sees: forceful damage, unfairness, the allowing of poor moral behaviour to go unpunished, laying of buildings and land to ruin, fighting, angry disagreements that often have led to uncontrolled mob rule,1:2-4. I wonder if these remind you of anything in parts of Sudan and South Sudan? God does not discipline Habakkuk for asking Him truthful questions Questions are an honest part of our Christian living. They are, “God’s gift to a believer”. “God, how long before you listen?”, 1:2. “God, why do you allow people to do things I know you do not like?”, 1:3. In effect he is saying, “God, look at all this happening, and take me seriously”. God’s answer is, “Turn a minute, Habakkuk, and look at Me” He always wants to have His people understanding more of who He is, and then grasp what He is doing in the much bigger picture, 1:5-6. In effect He is saying, “I am God. I am in ultimate control. Stand back and watch in surprise and awe”. I am sure you, like me, are praying for the violence to stop between the various factions in East Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, Unity State, Upper Nile, the Juba camps or elsewhere. We must note this very carefully: God’s answer to Habakkuk was, ‘things are going to get worse, not better’! God was about to give the corrupt king and country over to the hands of a people even more carelessly willing to hurt others in order to get what they wanted. The Babylonians were fast moving destroyers of anything and everyone who was in their way, 1:5-11. But notice verses 5-6 tell us, it was God who was about to raise and use them! Habakkuk speaks to God again In 1:12-2:1 Habakkuk reminds himself of his awe and reverence for God, 1:12. Then come his questions again, put slightly differently this time: “God, why do you accept their evil way of life?” and “God, why do you use those who are morally wrong and cannot be trusted?”, 1:13. A last question is in 1:17, I paraphrase, “Are these evil folk going to plunder and destroy forever?” With the history of wars and other fighting in Sudan and South Sudan we may well ask ourselves and God, “Will there ever be any end to this?” Habakkuk is a good example for us in his next move. He decides to positively wait and look to God for God’s answer, 2:1. And reading 2:2-20 we see Habakkuk gets it, but he doesn’t like it! God shares that the Babylonians will gradually destroy themselves It is happening from within. Their evil ways will be their undoing. God will make sure of this. It will happen at the time God plans – not before and not after, 2:3. Five “Woes” in 2:6,9,12,15, and 19, introduce bad things God holds the Babylonians responsible for, and for which He will judge them. “Woe” is a word that is not a curse but is a lament for justice, meaning, “alas, how terrible for them”. Our God Who raised up and used the Babylonians was about to bring disaster upon them He was never, ever, approving of their evil. In ‘the principle of double intent’ God’s purpose was quite different to that of His agent. “God was using the Babylonians as a judgement on the wickedness of His people, but the Babylonians were pursuing their own ends. The motives with which the Babylonians were acting were the ones for which God would call them to account”. (Youssouf Dembele in Africa Bible Commentary). Habakkuk also heard it was “the Lord Almighty” Who always decided what happened, and that “the Lord’s right hand” would ultimately bring judgement upon all evil, 2:13,16. Like all of God’s people he knew the naked ability of God described by this anthropomorphic phrase, Exodus 15:6; Psalm 17:7, 20:6, 44:3, etc. Today we have to try and believe We must understand and hold on to the truth that our Sovereign God, who rules over everything with His absolute knowledge of everything, and with His total ability to do what He pleases, is somehow using the terrible tragedies and heartaches of our past, present and foreseeable future lives. Judgement will fall. God’s patience will (appear to) end. God is always good, no matter what is happening. But there is no ‘salvation’ for us, yet. When you cannot look forward, look back and then up. Our Saviour Jesus defeated death by dying. He pointed His followers ahead, to the life beyond this one, John 14:1-6. Habakkuk prays a prayer that shows his own enduring faith in difficult times It comes in chapter three, after “The righteous will live by his faith”, 2:4, perhaps the most well-known verse in this book. It is quoted in Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. The strumming prophet showed his faith by what he did, as we all must do. Talk alone is not real faith. If we do not show faith, perhaps it is because we have not got any genuine faith to put into practice? Read carefully Hebrews 10:35-39; James 2:14-26. Bad times are under God’s control At the start of this prayer Habakkuk reminds himself of God’s longstanding reputation. He says, “I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work”, 3:2 (NRSV – italics mine). He has realised that God is at His work in and through the awful trials and tribulations he, the people and the land are experiencing. Suddenly the bad times are not simply the bad times! They have become ‘the bad times that are under the control of and for the purposes of the Holy, Almighty, Creator and Keeper, God’. Of course, they were controlled all of the time, but Habakkuk has only just come to understand this. He immediately asks God for something. “In wrath remember mercy”, 3:2. “Wrath” is the holy and righteous legal judgement and punishment God is executing on the Babylonians. We might say, “the wages of sin when there is no Saviour”, Romans 3:21-26. Habakkuk asks God not to forget those in the severe troubles who “live by (their) faith”, Habakkuk 2:4. “Mercy” is “the act of treating someone in a kind way when you could have punished them”. We do not deserve God’s kindness, God’s forgiveness, and a God-given new spiritual life. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”, Romans 5:8. Amen. Hallelujah! In my Bible, which I have had for ten years, I have circled with my pen in 3:3-7 every time the words, “God”, “the Holy One”, “His”, “Him”, and “He” appear (it is the NIV translation). In 3:8-15 I have circled every time, “You” and “Your” appears, when referring to God. Reviewing them altogether we read Habakkuk describing his learned memories of God’s glory on earth. Describing the Creator-Warrior’s presence from history he recalls how, “Earth, water and fire in the sky acknowledged the Creator and acted for His delivering purposes”. What a marvellous, awe-inspiring God we love and serve. We must never forget this. Our Lord Jesus went through huge trouble on the cross for our salvation. Incomprehensibly God the Son was forsaken by God the Father, Matthew 27:46. It was a holy and just act of God, by God, on God, and actually for God as well. “Now to Him Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen”, Ephesians 3:20-21. History is under God’s control History is following God’s sovereign plan History is fulfilling God’s purposes History will work out for God’s glory. One day God will do again what He did then. Good will triumph and be seen to do so. After what seems to describe a panic or an anxiety attack Habakkuk said, “I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us”, 3:16. In his weakness he continued, “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go to the heights”, 3:19. Habakkuk is a great example for us to follow His God is our God. 3:17-18 become a test of the developed maturity of our individual Christian faith. When there are no visible blessings can you still rejoice in your Saviour and your God? I ask myself, can I? I know from living with the results of my voice-box cancer since 2006 that it can be tough along the way. Our Bible records many people who followed God faithfully and received great blessings as a result. We enjoy hearing sermons about them, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Solomon and David, etc. However we must remember that the Bible also has a lot to teach us from others who suffered badly, Job (at first), Jeremiah (for his faithful service), Paul (on his missionary travels), those “the world was not worthy of” in Hebrews 11:36-40, those James wrote to, James 1:2-3, 12; those Peter wrote to, 1 Peter 1:6-10, 4:12-19; among others. “In spite of his fear of the impending invasion, 3:16-17, the book of Habakkuk ends on a very positive note: “I will rejoice”, 3:18. The prophet places his entire confidence in the Lord and draws his strength from Him. He recognises that God is the source of salvation, 3:18-19. What an encouragement for us in Africa! In the midst of wars, famine and social injustice, we can still rejoice on the basis of our trust in the sovereign God. God is doing great works in our continent. He is looking for men and women who will build up the wall and stand before Him in the gap on behalf of the continent so that he will not have to destroy it, Ezekiel 22:30”. (Youssouf Dembele , Africa Bible Commentary).

My life alongside God's word volume 3. Prayer section. Most of our Muslim friends will be fasting during Ramadan. Because it follows the Lunar Calendar it moves dates every year. It was from 18th June until 17th July in 2015, challenging where I live in England because it is daylight from about 4.30am until 10.30pm! In Arabic this fasting is called Sawm, one of the Five Pillars of Islamic belief and behaviour. Muslims (with a few exceptions) are allowed to eat only from sunset to sunrise during Ramadan. The Qur’an sura II verses 183-187 say Muslims should fast to “learn self-restraint”. Muslims believe it was during Ramadan that the Qur’an was sent down from heaven “as a guide to mankind”. This makes it a holy month for them. Christian fasting/Gospel fasting is very different from this. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught about it in the Bible’s Matthew 6:16-18 and 9:14-17. Before His public ministry began, and knowing He would be in special conflict with Satan, He practised an unusually long fast Himself, Matthew 4:1-3. The disciples also fasted before taking major decisions. They listened for God’s voice by fasting, and they tested their conclusions as well , Acts 9:9, 13:1-3, 14:21-23. Jesus’ teaching about fasting comes in a section which is all about being seen privately by God, and not being seen publicly by other people, Matthew6:1, 4, 6, 8. Christian fasting is between an individual, or sometimes a small group, and their God. A friend of mine says, “It is private and personal”. The emphasis of Christian fasting is on communion with God in a special way, for a specific purpose. There is certainly no rushing home around sunset to ‘break the fast’! Brenda and I thankfully survived this for the years I was pastoring Khartoum International Church. Matthew 6 also talks about fasting for heavenly reward rather than earthly benefit. Reward here means that in His heavenly home God will give praise to the person whom He has known closely by their fasting down here on earth, see verses 4, 6, 18. In Matthew 9:14-17 John the Baptist’s followers questioned why Jesus’ disciples did not fast as they and the Pharisees did. The Pharisees fasted voluntarily twice per week, usually Mondays and Thursdays, see Luke 18:12. The non-Bible Didache 8:1 (a late first early/ second century document claiming to be the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) suggests Christians fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. Jesus said, “My followers will fast” Speculation over which days is not helpful. However, we must see that our Lord Jesus did say, “then they will fast”, Matthew 9:15, (italics mine). As with many other aspects of personal worship and devotion, our Lord Jesus put a new spirit in and around an old form. He used two examples, putting new patches on old clothes, and pouring new wine into new wine skins not old ones, verses 16-17. While Jesus was on earth His disciples could speak to Him any time they saw Him. When He had ascended into heaven Jesus wanted them to know that they could still chat or converse with Him, this time using the vehicle of prayer and fasting. It is very sad that many Muslims fast in order to help earn their own salvation. They believe their good and bad deeds will be counterbalanced on Judgement Day. We Christians are different here too. Christians realise we are sinners in the sight of the Most Holy Creator God. We know there is nothing that we can do to make ourselves good enough for God to accept into heaven. So we commit ourselves to THE Saviour, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. The weight of His goodness and glory more than matches our great need. We privately fast as we follow Him in this life. The more we experience life with Him, the more we want to know Him better. Other New Testament examples of fasting An 84 year old lady named Anna worshipped God by fasting and praying in the Jerusalem temple. When Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the temple Anna recognised Him as the Saviour she longed for. So fasting helps us to recognise Who Jesus is! Luke 2:36-38. On his conversion Saul (later called Paul) went without food and water for three whole days while he waited for the Lord Jesus to tell him what was next in his life, Acts 9:9. His blindness also helped him concentrate on what God was saying to him. The church leaders of Antioch, including two black men, one royal and one ex-violent persecutor, worshipped the Lord and fasted because they wanted to be in close touch with God. God spoke to them, giving a challenge for them to commission two of their best men for mission service away. Over time they tested this message through some more prayer and fasting, before they acted on their conclusion, Acts 13:1-3. This was a small group who fasted together, not individually. Paul and Barnabas fasted and prayed before setting apart elders to lead churches which started following their gospel preaching in Cyprus, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, Acts 14:23. They had already warned the pastors of many hardships to come. The Lord Jesus would bring them through these challenges. Every one of these examples points us towards my working definition of fasting, “to go without (food) in order to have a specific encounter with God”. Fasting people turn God-wards. The focus is not on what we are going without; it is very specifically on our Holy Creator Sovereign Father God Himself. Watch for where God may lead A Muslim website shares this about Ramadan, “For some, fasting is primarily to bring one closer to God. Qur’an 2:183 says, ‘in order that you become more conscious of God’. It quotes a tradition where Mohammed was asked, “Which is the best good deed?” He replied, “Fasting, for there is nothing equal to it””. I believe that some, perhaps many, Moslems genuinely seek to know God during their fast – so please may we pray that those seeking will find salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember how God brought the seeking Cornelius together with the apostle Peter, Acts 10:1-48. Peter was hungry when God gave him a very important vision, verse 10. Other Bible references to godly fasting Exodus 34:28 Moses fasted while receiving the Ten Commandments from God. Deuteronomy 9:18 Moses fasted in confession of the Israelite’s sin before God. Judges 20:26 the Israelites fasted after a humiliating defeat before a decisive battle. 1 Samuel 31:13 valiant men fasted after burying King Saul and his sons. 2 Samuel 12:16-17 David fasted for the life of his child conceived illegitimately. Ezra, 8:21-23, proclaimed a fast to humble the people before God. Ezra, 10:6, fasted from food and water mourning over the unfaithfulness of exiles. Nehemiah, 1:4, fasted when he heard of the disaster in and around Jerusalem. Esther, 4:16, asked others to fast before she made a request to the king. Psalm 35:13 David humbled himself fasting for his enemies. Psalm 69:10 David’s fasting brought him scorn and ridicule. Isaiah 58:6 God redefines fasting for His believing people, (see verses1-9). Daniel, 9:3, fasted while confessing the sin of his people. Daniel, 10:3, fasted from ‘luxuries’ and received a prophetic message from the Lord. Joel 2:15 calls the hard-hearted people to “declare a holy fast and call a sacred assembly”. Come close to God’s heart We can learn from the above that fasting is a way of drawing closer to the heart of God. We must not drop out of the world and everyday life, but rather seek strength to live Christianly within our world situation, influencing it for good and for God. Fasting seems to show God we are serious about dealing with Him. It helps us discern God’s will, giving us sharper spiritual vision. We dare not ‘blackmail’ God by our fasting, but we do dare to come as close to Him as we can possibly be. Whether it is you on your own or you and group of others, be careful not to make a big song and dance about your fasting. Fasting should be before God Who sees secretly done things and directs rewards as He sovereignly chooses. Note on Matthew 17:21 and Mark 9:29. These verses indicate in some older Bibles that some evil spirits can only be cast out by prayer and fasting. Newer Bibles, which use older manuscripts (that is closer to the originals in time), put these in as footnotes or leave them out completely. I believe that genuine ministry in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for these spiritual encounters. Fasting will make no difference to an evil spirit. However, fasting may help us be better prepared to discern what is happening.

My life alongside God's word volume 3. Theology of the Lord Jesus and our salvation. Bible readings John 1:1-18 & John 20:19-23. I wonder what you think God is like? Have you ever looked in a dictionary to find the meaning of the word, “God”? “god”, with a small “g”, is “A supernatural being, who is worshipped as the controller of some part of the universe or some aspect of life in the world, or is the personification of some force”. “God”, with a capital “G”, is “the sole Supreme Being, eternal, spiritual and transcendent, Who is the Creator and Ruler of all and is infinite in all His attributes, the object of worship in monotheistic religions”. “God” is also defined as “an oath or exclamation used to indicate surprise, annoyance, etc. (and in such expressions as “My God” or “God Almighty”)”. Christians believe Jesus Christ was God in human history living among human beings. “The Word (the expression of God, Who was actually God) became flesh and made His dwelling among us, …”, John 1:14, (brackets mine). John, the author, continues to write a witness testimony: “… We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”, John 1:14. Matthew and Isaiah describe the Son born of a virgin as “Immanuel” meaning “God with us”, Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14. “God” being the sole, Supreme Being over all. “Us” being the human race. God came here! He truly did! His birth was at least three things: 1. It was supernatural; there was no human father 2. It was a sign; it pointed to something unique happening 3. It was God the Son, the Son of God, on earth as a man baby – in some ways a stranger even to His family and His closest friends. God called Mary to deliver a baby boy into the world so that one day the people of the world, including Mary herself, would be delivered from sinful rebellion against God by this very same Son! The theological term is “the Incarnation” (with capital “I”), meaning the in-fleshing of God. “God, without ceasing to be God, was made man”. The Bible does not investigate the metaphysical and speculative questions on the mode of the Incarnation – the how? the what? etc. It is content to clearly argue the evangelical issues of personal salvation through this Jesus. John remembering Jesus’ words: “No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, Who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known”, John 1:18. “If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him. Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us”. Jesus answered, “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe (and here is the Incarnation defined) that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just My own. Rather, it is the Father living in Me, Who is doing His work”, John 14:7-10. Why would God be in-fleshed? Because “… God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”, John 3:16. Only flesh could save flesh. Man does not have flesh, man is flesh. Sin’s penalty is death. Only flesh can die! A second Adam came from God to remedy the tragic disaster of humanity’s sinful rebellion against God, caused by the first Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; Romans 5:12,15, 19. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all men …”, 1 Timothy 2:5-6. John’s gospel gives us the understanding of the events described in Matthew and in Luke. Why did the angel visit Joseph and Mary?Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:26-28. Why all the travelling to enrol for taxation? Luke 2:1-5. Why the miraculous conception? Why the virgin birth? Matthew 1:21. Why the heavenly crowd of angels raising the eyes of common shepherds towards the skies? Luke 2:13-14. Why the shepherds running to see the sign of the baby Lamb of God in a manger? Luke 2:15-17. Why did Simeon praise God with the baby Jesus in his arms saying to God “... my eyes have seen your salvation”? Luke 2:28-32. Why did Anna explain all about the eight day old baby to the Temple crowd? Luke 2:36-38. Why did the wise men journey with gifts to worship the omniscient child Jesus in His house in Bethlehem? Matthew 2:1-2, 11. Why all this? The answer is in John 1:14. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us”. Jesus is the only person Who ever came from the Father in this sense. He was gloriously graceful and truthful. He was God himself. Once and for all God became flesh and blood so as to be able to bleed for humankind. We will now see five facts about Jesus, all from John’s gospel. We need to learn and to live with these five facts. Just about the first words from Jesus to the assembled disciples after His death, burial and resurrection were John 20:21: “Peace be with you” (that’s “salaam allekum” in the Arab world and in Sudan today). “As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you”. We learn these five facts about Jesus’ incarnation today because we Christians are sent into the world today to be the living Body of Christ where He has placed us. We are to live lives that shout the fame of Jesus! Five facts about Jesus in John: one eleven word sentence that reminds me – and should remind every Christian – of why I live today: “The Son was sent to show, to save and to send”. May be you can use the four fingers and one thumb on your right hand to remind you of these five key words? 1. the Son 2. was sent 3. to show 4. to save 5. and to send. 1. Jesus is the Son. Jesus frequently called God, “Father”. At twelve years old in the Jerusalem temple on pilgrimage with his earthly mother and his apparent human father, Jesus was separated from Mary and Joseph. He remained in the temple while they journeyed home. Perhaps they assumed he was with friends elsewhere among the travellers? When he was discovered later he told his anxious guardians, “Didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s house?”, Luke 2:49. Years later as an adult Jesus was in the temple courts. He drove out all of the buyers, sellers and money-changers saying: “How dare you turn My Father’s house into a market?”, John 2:16. According to John, Jesus is God’s single gene (Greek: mongenes) “only” Son. He is the “One and only Son” (NIV), “the only begotten Son” (KJV). “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”, John 1:14 “No one has ever seen God, but God the one and only Who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known”, John 1:18. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”, John 3:16. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”, John 3:18. As this unique Son, Jesus knew God with Him and He knew God using His human life: “If I do judge, My decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father Who sent Me”, John 8:16. “… (I) speak just what the Father has taught Me. The One who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him”, John 8:28-29. “…The miracles I do in My Father’s name speak for Me”, John 10:25. “My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand”, John 10:29. “I and the Father are One”, John 10:30. “In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you”, John 14:2. Jesus answered, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”, John 14:6. Jesus answered, “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”, John14:9. “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just My own. Rather, it is the Father living in Me, Who is doing His work”, John 14:10. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the Gardener”, John 15:1. “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love”, John 15:9. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name”, John 15:16. “All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you”, John 16:15. “I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father”, John 16:28. “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for My Father is with Me”, John 16:32. Jesus always followed His Father’s initiative – never His own. He lived to glorify His Father (John 17:1,4). He did this by doing simply and only His Father’s will (John 4:34; 5:30; 8:28). He came in His Father’s name, as His Father’s representative (John 5:43). He perfectly showed His Father to all who would see (John 14:7). Jesus never did anything, or went anywhere, He could not be Himself – that is, He could not be the God He really was. Fact one: Jesus is the Son. And we Christians are born again as children of God too. It is a good idea to make these words of the Son of God our motto in life: “… I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me”, John 5:30. 2. Jesus was sent by His Father. Forty-two times this phrase or something similar to it occurs in John’s gospel – God the Father sent God the Son for a purpose. This is the reason “the Word became flesh”, John 1:14. In Jesus’ own words,: “My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to finish His work”, John 4:34. “He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him”, John 5:23. “Whoever hears my words and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life”, John 5:24. “I seek not to please Myself, but Him Who sent Me”, John 5:30. “The very work that the Father has given Me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent Me”, John 5:36. “The Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me”, John 5:37. “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent”, John 6:29. “I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent me”, John 6:38. “And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given Me”, John 6:39. “No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws Him”, John 6:44. “Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of Me”, John 6:57. These are ten of many examples! See also John 7:33, 8:16, 8:18, 8:26, 8:29, 8:42, 16:5, 17:3, 17:8, 17:21, 17:23, etc. Towards the end of His life Jesus declared: “I have brought You glory on earth (Father) by completing the work You gave Me to do”, John 17:4. From the cross He cried out in victory: “It is finished”, John 19:30. You can only finish a job when it is clear precisely what you have to do! Jesus the Son was sent. I have a problem with many “so-called” Christians today who live purposeless lives. They are bored! They say they have no purpose. “What shall I do this evening?” “What can I do with my holiday?”. Followers of Jesus have the same purpose as Jesus Himself had! Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, Jesus was “sent” (the Greek is usually, though not exclusively, apostello). He was sent to save the world – and so are we! As an older man John wrote: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world”, 1 John 4:14. We cannot die like Jesus did to save the world, but we can live like He did with that one goal in mind. Anything we cannot do while seeking to witness to and win the lost, we should not be doing. By their lifestyle disciples of Jesus are different to everybody else. We are sent into the world to be different from the world. “As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you”, John 20:21. 3. Jesus was to show off God in all His greatness. Around Christmas time plenty of people decorate their homes with special lights or streamers. Perhaps there is holly, Father Christmas, bells, signs that shine “Merry Xmas” (I often think that “X = the unknown factor, as in mathematics!). My 2004 Christmas TV Guide (in England) had 154 pages in it. On page 15 there was a quarter of a page of programmes generally titled, “The Spirit of Christmas”. That pathetic percentage of 0.25% illustrates that my nation – the United Kingdom – has little clue about life as God intends it to be! Real life is centred on Jesus, it does not relegate Him to a hidden corner! We Christians must remember that societies’ darkness is our chance to shine brightly. I need to be the best I can be in the place where God has put me – and so do you. The older John wrote: “God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life”, 1 John 5:11-12. As a young fisherman John saw the glory of God in Jesus from Nazareth. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared (the Incarnation); we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and has appeared to us”, 1 John 1:1-2. John the apostle knew that because Jesus was sent he was sent as well. Consequently he wrote what he knew, so that anyone could read it. Like John we are also sent as Jesus was sent, to show God in all His greatness. In John 14 Jesus says that God the Father and God the Son are one God, experienced together, both introduced by Jesus. Jesus was total God-ness in one complete and perfect Man. Jesus was God as He had never been seen before. Jesus was infinity captured. Jesus was the Almighty constrained. Jesus was omniscience on occasion blissfully ignorant. Jesus was omnipotence significantly dependent on others. One of the earliest Christian attempts at explaining this is found in Philippians 2:7-8. God the Son “made Himself nothing”, “emptied Himself”, was “found in appearance as a Man”. John’s gospel reads: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”, John 1:14. Does your life advertise God well? Do people want Jesus because of what they see of Him in you? Are you like Jesus in your character? Is Jesus obvious in everything you do? Are you different to the world around you because you are a disciple of Jesus Christ? “As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you”, John 20:21. 5. Jesus came to save. According to John Jesus was light shining in the darkness, John 1:5, 1:9. Jesus was unrecognised by the gloomy world. His own creation rejected him – the created and the chosen turned their backs on the One to whom they owed everything, John 1:10-11. God’s love was expressed by His huge donation to the world, John 3:16. God gave Himself in human form – God the Son, given not to bring condemnation and judgement to people, but to save the world through Him, John 3:17. The word “save” (Greek sozo) means to preserve. Some people recognised this. The Samaritan townsfolk said, “This man really is the Saviour of the world”, John 4:42. Martha said, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, Who was to come into the world”, John 11:27. The Jerusalem crowd shouted – and some really meant it, “Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”, John 12:13. At Jesus’ trial Pilate – seeming to recognise Jesus was from out of this world – asked: “Where do You come from?”, John 19:9. After Jesus’ resurrection Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God”, John 20:28. And John wrote his gospel “… that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name”, John 20:31. Who is Jesus to you? There is only one link, one corridor, one agent between earth and heaven, and He is Jesus! Jesus is God the Son, identified with God as the pre-existent Word, yet distinguishable from God as the son of Mary.14 Many Christians have too small a view of Jesus! In John 17:2 Jesus is granted authority over all people so that He may give eternal life to every person His Father has given to Him. Christianity does not depend so much on what you think of Jesus. It depends on what He thinks of you. Be aware of any undue emphasis on “me” in salvation. The “Master” is everything. When Jesus prayed “Father the time has come. Glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You”, John 17:1, it was a prayer for the salvation of people through His saving act of substitutionary death. “The very event by which the Son was being ‘lifted up’ in horrible ignominy and shame (on a cross) was that (one) for which He would be praised around the world (throughout subsequent history) by men and women whose sins He had borne”. (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John). To glorify can mean “to clothe in splendour”. The self-emptying necessary for His Incarnation is reversed, as Jesus – God the Son – post Calvary – is restored to His pre-world creation glory within the Godhead. The Son was sent to show to save, and, lastly … 6. Jesus came to send He was to send His disciples to spread the news of His salvation. Christians know what we have to do with the rest of our lives. “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”, John 20:21. If you know Jesus, show Jesus everywhere every day. Since He died for you, live for Him. The world is in a mess and we have the message it needs. Like Jesus, we will be rejected by most, but some will receive what we say. Death is not the end. It is what follows death that is worth living for. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us”, John 1:14. And this Word, Jesus, says to you and to me: ”As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”, John 20:21. When you return to work after this year’s Christmas celebration, and colleagues say to you, “Did you have a good Christmas?”, you could respond: "Yes. And I resolved this New Year to help Jesus do what He came for. Do you know what that is?” God will bring others to faith through disciples of Jesus who are dynamically different from those around them. The Son was sent to show, and to save, and to send. So let’s go! Original message 25th December 2004; this one revised 30th June 2007. Part of a series: “Who Jesus really is”. See this website Contents page.

My life alongside God's word, vol. 3. Theology of the Lord Jesus and our salvation section. Christians believe our Lord Jesus Christ died in our place on Calvary’s cross. The already alive Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, was born a baby boy. He did not stop being God. He has always been and will always be God. In Mary’s womb He took on full human nature. The incarnation, when He was born in Bethlehem, enables human beings to recognisably view, “the image of the invisible God”, Colossians 1:15. During the legal hearing before governor Pilate, Jesus was said to be innocent by the political leader of Judea four times: · “I find no basis for a charge against this man”, Luke 23:4 · “I have found no basis for your charges against him”, verse 14 · “Neither has Herod … he has done nothing to deserve death”, verse15 · “I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty”, verse 22 Preaching much later in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch Paul summarised this, “Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed”, Acts 13:28. When our Lord Jesus was dying on the cross one criminal being crucified beside Him observed, “This man has done nothing wrong”, Luke 23:41. A Roman centurion guarding the execution, as soon as he watched Jesus die concluded, “Surely this was a righteous man”, verse 47. This theme of ‘holy, right and pure' was carried on by the first Christians as they witnessed to our Lord’s resurrection: · “You (Jews) disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this”, Acts 3:14-15 · “Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him”, Acts 7:52 As an innocent person Jesus was not guilty of a crime, or of anything bad. Because our Lord Jesus was totally innocent there was no need for His human life to ever end. Death is ultimately due to sin and Jesus never, ever sinned. His nature was holy and pure. He was (and is) the only person – man or woman – who lived perfectly in the sight of God His Father in heaven. His human life and death gave God pleasure, made Him feel happy and satisfied: · At His baptism, “A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased””, Matthew 3:17. · On the mount of transfiguration, “a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him”, Matthew 17:5. So, why did our Lord Jesus die? The clues are given to us in Luke 24, the chapter after Jesus’ trial by Pilate, His crucifixion, death and resurrection. By then the risen Lord Jesus had already done what He came to earth to do. He joined two disciples walking the 7 miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They did not understand the significance of Jesus’ crucifixion, nor were they sure that He had risen from death. He asked them a question to make the truth dawn in their minds as they answered it: · “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”, Luke 24:26-27. At the meal table, as if a blindfold was removed from their eyes, they recognised their guest was Jesus. Immediately, truth revolutionised their lives. They possibly ran the 7 miles back to the city! They found the assembly of disciples, and shared with everybody their personal belief in the risen Saviour. Everyone was surprised and not a little frightened when Jesus suddenly appeared standing among them! He showed them His scarred and bloodied hands and feet. They all knew this was the same Jesus as before. · “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.””, Luke 24:45-47 To repent means to sorrowfully change your mind about something very serious, and then resolve to live differently as a result. Nobody else but Jesus is innocent before the one Holy God. Yet Jesus’ death in our place means none of us has to face on our own the wrath of God against the personal sin we all have. Jesus’ substitution for us means He can legally become our Saviour. He has taken our guilt and will exchange it for God’s grace and forgiveness in our lives, when we repent in His presence. Thank God every day for our substitute Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ!

My life alongside God's word. Theology of our Lord Jesus Christ and salvation. “God made Him Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God”, 2 Corinthians 5:21. Damnation is the righteous condemnation by God on the sinner who has not been redeemed by faith in the sacrifice of Christ. It lasts forever. Every human being, except One, is a sinner, Standing In Need before the Holy Creator God, because we do not do what we were made for. One future day God will hold everyone individually to account for this. The cross of Christ is the usual sign around which Christians meet. This is rather strange when we remember that the cross was (and sadly is) a method of execution. It seems an odd point of focus, until we realise what was going on. When Jesus of Nazareth died by crucifixion nearly 2,000 years ago He was doing something almost unbelievable. It is credible only because Jesus was, and is, God in human form. In His body of flesh and bones He carried a huge, yet invisible, burden. He died as substitute for the total world population. The stated punishment deserved by the sin of the whole world was placed upon Him. Yours and my sin was ‘on the Saviour on the cross’. The death Jesus died under the wrath of God was God’s holiness rejecting human sin, and justly buying salvation for those who commit to believing. The moral and spiritual perfection of the Lord Jesus is transferred to the lives of all people who trust Jesus to stand and say aloud on Judgement Day, “This person is mine”! Notice, “so that in Him we might become” in the text above, 2 Corinthians 5:21. The slang English swearword ‘damn’ terribly empties damnation of its awfully serious, eternal consequences. Where I live people get used to hearing it in trivial contexts. This makes us forget the ‘grave fate waiting beyond the grave’ for those who die without repenting of their personal sinfulness and trusting in God’s provided Saviour, Jesus Christ. The One, single, triune God, Who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, truly damned Himself while offering the choice, to everyone He had ever created, of being saved forever. God has made sinners right with Himself while still satisfying His own justice. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in (through) Jesus Christ our Lord”, Romans 6:23. “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”, Isaiah 53:6. Crosses act like signposts, pointing away from themselves and to the Saviour!

My life alongside God's word volume 3. Theology of our Lord Jesus and salvation section. An invitation to enjoy the Kingdom of God The United Kingdom, where I live, is a green land of rolling hills, agricultural grassland and trees – richly fruitful and surrounded by seas. It has a population of 63 million of whom I am one! The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where my foster daughter lived, is a very hot and dry desert region, irrigated to blossom in places where water can be made to reach. It has a population of 29 million. Both kingdoms have their rulers’ palaces and historical succession within their royal family. The Kingdom of God is unlike earthly kingdoms When the Roman governor, Pilate, asked our Lord Jesus Christ, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Matthew 27:11; Mark 15:2; Luke 23:3; John 18:33, our Saviour replied, “My kingdom is not of this world”, John 18:36. Since Jesus’ kingdom is not “of this world” in which we all live, it must be of somewhere else – of another world. It is different from the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia or any other human kingdom. Read the Lord’s full reply found only in John 18:36-37: “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me’”. Five key points 1. The Lord Jesus owns His kingdom: “My kingdom” and “You are right in saying I am a King”. The Prisoner, Jesus, was about to be executed, but He still possessed His special kingdom. 2. His kingdom is clearly different: “not of this world” and “from another place.” It has no geographical boundaries but it does have a King and His subjects. 3. The kingdom is not to be physically fought over: “If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews.” Guns and bombs cannot defend or extend this kingdom. 4. The kingdom was the purpose of His incarnation: “... for this reason I was born, and for this I came into this world.” Our Lord Jesus came to bear witness to this special kingdom. He said it was “near” and urged all people to “repent”, Matthew 4:17, because discovering the kingdom would mean adopting a complete change of understanding. 5. The Lord Jesus’ kingdom is the true kingdom: “I came ... to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me”, John 18:37. Facts are facts even if people don’t want to believe them. The kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God are both real, but the kingdom of our Lord Jesus must always have the top place in the life of the believer. Taking on the focus of our Lord The third and fourth phrases of the Lord’s Prayer focus on this kingdom of God, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, Matthew 6:10. Older translations conclude with “for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”, Matthew 6:13, a footnote in the NIV. The Lord taught that we are to live in the character of His kingdom now: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well”, Matthew 6:33. Life for the Christian is much more than food and clothing, necessary as they are. Christians must pay more attention to our Lord’s kingdom than to anything else. To recognise the kingdom, promote it and witness of it must be top priorities for us, just as they were for Jesus Christ. “The Kingdom of God” — What does it mean? The kingdom of God is the active rule of God over His creation. He establishes, redeems, judges and blesses. He works for and through His people, but all for His glory. Consider several points: God’s kingdom is partly a present reality on earth and a greater, future hope in heaven. God’s kingdom is a spiritual experience, available to anyone God calls into the body of Jesus Christ. This body is the true Church on earth, seen and known by its visible actions. God’s kingdom embraces individual people rather than organised churches. They will have one clear understanding about Jesus Christ, His saving person and atoning work. God’s kingdom may be seen as subversive by human governments. They may feel threatened by watching the lives of true, pure and holy Christians. Daily Christlikeness has an influence! God’s kingdom includes Christian living that challenges and transforms local cultures by believers doing what God wants His people to do. This applies from the most remote tribal village to the most dangerous notorious prison. Where does all this end? Eventually God will be seen by everyone to rule heaven and earth. John offers us a glimpse of this, “Grace and peace to you ... from Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth”, Revelation 1:4-5. We whose sins have been dealt with by the blood of Jesus Christ, bought from every tribe, language, people and nation, are “a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and ... will reign on the earth”, Revelation 5:9-10. The majority of people today cannot choose the country where they live. Yet God gives everyone the opportunity to enter into His kingdom. Our Lord Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again ... I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit”, John 3:3-5. Several very important questions Here are a few vital questions I want to ask you: 1. Have you entered the kingdom of God? 2. Are you born again? 3. As a disciple, are you learning and able to discern God’s growing kingdom here and now? 4. Are your actions telling others that you are ‘of His kingdom’ – a Christian? My passport says I am a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and it is valid for five more years. If God calls me home to heaven before then, I know from the inner witness of God the Holy Spirit that I will be welcomed into an “inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you (and me!) since the creation of the world”, Matthew 25:34. I sincerely pray I will see you there. First published in Grace & Truth Magazine, March 2015.

My life alongside God's word volume three. 21st century issues section. - by Matta Mubarak D. Komi I live in Nuba Mountains, the area to which I belong, the most neglected region in Sudan and in Africa, where there are no government institutions, public services or infrastructure. Its people have faced all kinds of evil persecutions, oppression, social injustice and discrimination, and have been denied all of their dignity down to the right to live, let alone to enjoy life. Their very own Sudanese brothers have treated them so mercilessly. In fact no human beings of the twenty first century have ever faced what the Nuba people have experienced. Why do I make this claim? Since I have found that there are no other people all over the 21st century earth who live in caves and are totally cut off from the world, which elsewhere has become a small village as a result of social stability and the valuing of human life. Even in their caves the Nuba are frightened day and night by lethal bombardments. Also, while we find some things are very cheap to buy in other places in the world, we find in Nuba Mountains and other places in Sudan, people go without them. For example no one in the world today is lacking salt, but in Nuba Mountains, some people eat food without salt for more than a week before they struggle to find it. While we find in other parts of the world there are mountains of clothes and shoes people do not know what to do with, most people in Nuba Mountains go without clothes and shoes. The situation is very hard to describe. Yet people still claim that there is a country called Sudan coping well with current global technology and globalisation. Anyhow, being Sudanese and a pastor has allowed me to travel to different parts of my country and interact with most of the Sudanese people groups. If we honestly take a look into the long suffering and miserable lives of most of Sudanese folk today, we will find that the real cause behind this suffering and miserable existence, is living life without ethics, with no principles people can use to determine what is the right way to live and what is the wrong way to live. Many people in top positions, who control most of the country’s resources in both public and private institutions, who have more opportunities than others and enjoy most of the privileges and resources of this land, do not possess the single ethical sense of responsibility to maintain everyone’s human dignity. So I argue that the most destructive thing today in Sudanese communities is the life of many people, with ill attitudes and wicked motives, which has led to life generally being without ethics and having a severe lack of moral values. These people are earning their living at the expense of others, victimising many and making their lives very miserable. Today in Sudan life itself is not precious any longer. There is no respect for life at all, no dignity and right for others to live. People forget about others and their right to eat and get water or shelter to cover themselves. In the headlines of the Sudanese news everyday there are two things: Firstly the raping of women and secondly the killing of people. These have become daily events that have made life very tasteless for many Sudanese people. There is no set of ethical standards and moral values to govern the life of our nation and to provide protection for people’s lives. Even if there are such things written down in law somewhere, they are not applied into life at all. Otherwise, why has life become so hard and miserable? Why has no action been taken to stop the wicked practices of beastly behaviour by cruel people? God has blessed many Sudanese people with different gifts, expecting them to bless others. But instead of doing so they have brought curses on to the lives of others by using those gifts to live unethical lives. Though most of the Sudanese national and spiritual songs speak about being one people, with no hatred, North or South, Arab or African, Muslim or Christian, listening to political addresses and to some preaching on the media in big gatherings, everything sung or said is just empty and meaningless words. “We are the army of God and of our land, We shall never fail when called to sacrifice. Whether braving death, hardship or pain, We give our lives as the price of glory. May this Our land, Sudan, live long, Showing all nations the way. Sons of the Sudan, summoned now to serve, Shoulder the task of preserving our country”. Sudanese national anthem, adopted in 1956. Words by Sayed Ahmad Muhammad Salih. Translated from Arabic. Having a top position, without moral values Many Sudanese leaders are men who were heroes in battle, and sadly in fighting against other Sudanese during civil wars, etc. But they are not heroes in daily life because they lack ethical power. Conflicts and the fighting between one another for leadership and to gain positions in Sudan, and tribal conflicts on the other side, all these troubles have made life very miserable and have cost many others the most precious thing, life itself. So the question I ask is: What is the use of being in leadership’s top position without godly ethical values? I think the most important weapon needed today to tackle Sudan’s problems is not a physical weapon like tanks or guns aiming to destroy others, or to be seen stronger than others, or to be feared as the most powerful tribe, or to be on top of any institution ruling or dominating others. No! The most needed thing is being armed with first class ethical values, showing good moral behaviour always, in order to save the lives of many potential victims: “I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded. The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good”, Ecclesiastes 9:13-18. What is the prime motivation for seeking position? Human beings are created by God and are so valuable to God whatever their tribal background, or in spite of the way they differ from other tribes: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning —the sixth day”, Genesis 1:31. Every Sudanese tribe is very important to us and is valued. Our actions and behaviour towards others must show that all people are important to us. The ways we treat others show if we value them or not. All the Sudanese tribes are valuable and useful in God’s eyes, and so we must value them too. God does not value any tribe because of their wealth, or the position or the power they have, or due to their skin colour. In Sudan people judge and favour others by their appearance, but the unseen inside of many people is full of wicked things. What matters most must surely be the character of a person, not what he has or has not. The true value of any human being is not on the outside appearance, but it is inside. An undisciplined life deforms a human being by the ugliness of corruption. Healthy self-esteem is very important for every individual, because some over estimate themselves and think too little of others. Many are working very hard to earn their living and to be on top of the institutions and become famous. But reputation is better than all: “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold”, Proverbs 22:1. Physical bodies, power, riches and everything else will perish, but a reputation for good moral character will not. Being well-educated without moral values Yes, we need a high level of education and we need well-educated leaders, there is no problem with this. But my question here is, what is the use of being well educated without living a good moral life, possessing, displaying and submitting to first class ethical values? Being well educated, getting several high degrees and gaining a lot of knowledge without ethical values is likely to cause suffering rather than being of help to others, because those who have good degrees are preferred for position and favoured for promotion and are put on top of institutions. But they are not the best ethically. They are only better educationally. They may use their positions to oppress and belittle others, to exploit weak people (especially women) and to corrupt life in general. Many are using their knowledge to cover up their own unethical actions and practices. For example, deliberate misinterpretation of some words to justify certain actions and to make something not crime when they do it, but it remains a crime when others do it! Knowledge without obeying accepted moral law and godly ethical values is useless. Knowledge without an exemplary ethical life is useless. And without moral values our knowledge becomes useless. Being professional or skilful in certain areas without quality ethical and moral values is useless. Working with a great organisation, or being on top of a large Institution, without godly ethics leading one to please God in all of life’s values, is worthless. What is mostly needed today is moral instruction. We need to read again the two Bible books of the Wisdom of Solomon (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes) to get practical guidelines for life. The most needed thing today is to live to a higher moral standard, not in higher positions or being in the top job to dominate others or to have titles and show how important we are! Some people depend on education and act as though education and high degrees have made humanity and put women and men on this planet. It is attitudes that count more than knowledge or performance. No teaching is more precious than the teaching of good Christian moral values. We need to accept the direction of moral law to guide our lives, not the teachings of false and wicked men. Today more than at any time in the history of Sudan we need to reread the teaching of Christian moral values and apply it to our life and society. Apart from a God-honouring moral life, there will be no healing and no social stability in our society. We can arm ourselves with different teachings, weapons to protect ourselves from other ethnicities, but that does not change people’s hearts towards other people. Only well applied moral teaching will do that. All educated people and leaders who are without solid and upright ethical values are like clouds that appear in the sky promising heavy rains, but people wait for it in vain: “But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, revelling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity— for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” (Possibly Peter quotes this line from Romans 6:16, editor). If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud””, 2 Peter 2:12-22. God created us and gave us life that has great significance and value, but living with no ethics makes life insignificant and without its God-given value. We become like bodies with no skeletons; there is nothing to hold us upright. The neglecting and ignoring of God’s teaching is the cause of all wicked, shameful and destructive behaviour. “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children”, Hosea 4:6. We should not take wealth and other gifts allied with them then use them against God, the giver of all blessings. It is well known in Sudan that there are two powers controlling most of the intelligent and mighty men: firstly, adultery and secondly, alcohol. What is your attitude towards the other sex? Do you see the opposite sex as just an object for your sexual satisfaction? When God is our Master, money and material things serve us, but if money and other things are our masters we become their slaves. Who or what controls you? Being rich without possessing ethical values It is well known in Sudan that when someone is given a position and is on top or has become a leader, he does not want to be seen or be considered as someone who is lacking money, cattle, and food in order to feed his extended family and relatives, or is not able to employ relatives in the same institution. In such a situation, and in our culture, what then will happen? Most of the Sudanese leaders when they come to the top of any institution, the first thing they think to do is make sure to gain lot of things from that institution, even if they do it at the expense of others or even causing the end of the institution. This is to be able to offer to give something to his relatives. Others have resources and are rich but they are using them to exploit others and corrupt them. They are making life very miserable instead of bringing happiness into the life of others. Many people value physical things more than they value human beings This is clearly seen in the way lots of people are killed during cattle stealing, in order that some get rich with others paying the cost. My question here is: What is the use of being rich materially, or possessing lots of things, while being so poor ethically and morally? Being rich or possessing lots of things does not make anyone better than the others, ethically speaking: “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them”, Ecclesiastes 9:11-12. Valuing animals above human life is common in Sudan. There are many people with enough cattle but they do not send their children to school. They do not even clothe them properly or give them the proper assistance in life by providing for their basic needs. A human being is not measured in the sight of God by the physical things he has but by the character that he possesses. Moral values are what count, not the mountains of things that a person has gathered. What we want to have is not important, but why we want to have it is very important. Living for only things and objects has cost many their lives. The only thing that counts is the ethical value behind our pursuit. Evil motives and the desire to possess more than others is the cause of all hatred and fighting in vain: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double- minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up”, James 4:1-7. Though religious things may be used as a cover, the real desire in some people is for personal or tribal advancement. It will not bring any genuine success. Some people may try and think they can contain God or control Him as they do with pagan gods, but that will not happen with the true and living God. Being religious without ethical values The religious life of many people and the way they behave towards others is making God to be seen very badly – they make God look bad. In Sudan no one wants to be seen as an unreligious person or infidel. Everyone claims to be a believer (mainly Muslims with a significant minority of Christians) and no one publicly denies God or claims to be an atheist. But my question is, what is the use of having religion or being religious without living before the eyes of God using the ethical values He desires? Religion without life-changing ethics does not differ from the religions of Satan; in fact it is described in the Bible as a satanic and devilish religion: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder”, James 2:14-19. Because of spiritual blindness and lack of moral values, some people in Sudan are not able to see the difference between good religion and bad. They realise that being many tribes in Sudan reflects the greatness of the Creator and the way He wants life to be in Sudan. Instead of praising God for the diversity we have in Sudan, celebrating it and rejoicing in it, many people groups are trying their best to eliminate other people groups from the face of this land. They see people different to themselves as hindering their own enjoyment of life. The destructive wars and erupting tribal conflicts show this force at work. Some are proud of their people who have obtained high levels of education, degrees and are proud to be called professors, doctors, and, His Excellency so and so. Some are proud because of their colour and the geographical location they belong to, etc. But Sudan is sinking into a deep well of corruption and misery-producing situations in all spheres of life. Those with high level degrees try to deliver our Sudan from sinking into the well of misery and suffering where we lack basic human things. “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness”, James 3:13-18. Someone with a sound attitude and true human sensitivity cannot continue to believe that there is any godly ethical sense left in Sudan after they visit and see what is happening in some areas. Raping women, the killing of innocent people, senseless burning of crops, collaterally damaging bombing, hypocrisy, beastly practices and so on. The only conclusion that can be drawn is there are no God-honouring ethical values in the leadership of our country. Demonic and devilish teaching is prevailing, dominating most Sudanese societies. True and genuine religion is being kind with others and keeping oneself from being corrupted by the things of the corrupted system around us: “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”, James 1:26-27. The religion of human beings encourages its followers to be full of themselves, while the true religion that comes from the true and living God, encourages us to empty ourselves for others and serve for the benefit of others. Believing in the wrong religion plays a big role in delivering wicked values into society. There are even some religious leaders who oppress others just because they do not belong to their own tribes. We know such religion and its leaders are not from God because the religion that was created by human beings hates other people. What is your attitude towards other tribes? What is your attitude towards other people groups? Our Christian society needs to maintain a lifestyle that shows and reflects faith in the true and living moral God: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you”, Romans 12:1-3. We should take what God’s moral law of the Holy Spirit directs to us, not what the corrupted society we live in tells us. Our Christian moral teaching should be the basis for our beliefs. Those Christians who use tribal and other sources to inform their minds and mould their thinking cannot help to bring about peace and development for our community. We must let the Bible shape our thinking and then our living. Tribal gods The Bible says that any behaviour is a reflection of the kind of god that people follow when they worship and obey its teachings: “But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them”, Psalm 115:4-8. “They rejected His decrees and the covenant He had made with their ancestors and the statutes He had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do””, 2 Kings 17:15. It is well known in Sudan that there are many tribal gods. There are gods that encourage their followers to kill people of another race, of different tribes, colour, or ethnicity, and even to kill those of different faith. Still there are other gods that encourage their followers to steal other people’s possession. More gods encourage corruption, seen in the ceremonial practices that the followers of those gods do before taking part in any of the mentioned acts. For example, there are some people who consult this type of god before they go to steal cattle from other tribes, some seek help from those gods to help them win over others for promotion in their job despite their qualifications or abilities to do the job. There are gods that the people consult when they want to go and seek women, the wives of other husbands, to be protected from being discovered by others. So at least part of the sufferings and miserable life of many Sudanese people is a result of the actions of tribal gods, or perhaps we should say, the actions of the followers of these gods. These human made gods hate fellow humans and destroy the good things in life, replacing human beings with miserable lifestyles. These gods cannot bring justice in community, neither peace nor development. The followers of these tribal gods when they commit crimes, they run to those gods to gain power and to blind the justice laws so that they will not be judged. Such gods cannot offer help to any community. How can such gods, which are thought to help their followers to promotion even if he or she is not qualified for that job, bring development? How can such gods bring peace if they offer help for criminals? And hinder the implementation of the laws of justice? They cannot. Such gods cannot give freedom to any human being because these gods dehumanise people. For example, when someone goes to consult the witch doctor he\she will be given a tree stick to hear from it. This is a kind of insult to human dignity, and certainly devalues people. Tribal gods dehumanise human beings and insult the preciousness of life by encouraging their followers to easily kill one another. Because these gods did not create life they do not know the value of just one human being. That is why believing in those gods makes their followers so very wicked, stubborn and beastly against human life. This is why life is no longer precious in Sudan today. Many are following the strange, wrong beliefs of those humanly invented, traditional but false gods. Today Sudan is bombarded by attitudes and wicked beliefs that are totally opposed to sound moral teachings. Most of these teachings are empty of moral and ethical values, and we know that life without ethics is only self-serving. Such a life has no place for others. That is why the followers of tribal gods cannot think of other people as fellow human beings, and they deny their right to live or to enjoy life. The teaching of tribal or human made gods makes the hearts of their followers very hard and stubborn, empty of any human values, and unable to submit to any solid and upright moral laws. They are not sensitive towards others ‘conscience’, no matter how much they are hurt or offended, they do not care. Because there is no moral law to maintain, the right and dignity of others has no place or value. Followers of false gods do not have any understanding of what the true and living God values; and this brings suffering into other peoples’ lives. So the followers of tribal gods manipulate others and deceive them to serve wrong things that do not benefit them here or in the life to come. The teaching of tribal gods or human made gods allows their followers to live in ethically irresponsible ways, that lead to the suffering of many people. Some tribes in Sudan are fighting others “to get free from the control of others” they claim. But they are enslaving themselves into evil desires, which will eventually destroy them. “These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted —twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever”, Jude 1:12-13. Much destruction, simply because of people lack, or have very poor, moral principles. What is the God/god of your tribe? The true and living Creator God? Or the god that your tribe has inherited from one of the older tribal chiefs? To Whom are you accountable? Lacking life skills Lacking life skills is also a part contributor to our suffering and miserable lives as Nuba folk. Because of the lack of life skills many women and children are exploited, easily deceived by undisciplined people. Some people with enough wealth exploit those who are in need. For example there are some men who are rich. When needy women go to them seeking help they ask them to have sex with them first to earn their living. Some exploit orphanages using child orphans as labourers for the whole day and giving them very little for their work, as there is nobody to defend them. What is expected from human beings? When you stand on the high place near to the Nile river in Khartoum and see the White Nile running from South Sudan to North Sudan, it seems as if it is smiling and being happy to water the land of North. The Blue Nile joyfully joins in coming from Ethiopia. Roads from different parts of our country come to Khartoum, with people bringing crops, forest materials, animals and even other people from rural areas of the country. But Khartoum takes and receives without ever giving back anything to those areas at its margins. This is what has made life very miserable. No one was created and put on this planet just to consume resources, eat, drink and take up space, or to dominate others or to cause destructive things by his\her behaviour. Rather God created and put everyone here in Sudan to make their contribution into life by living and behaving in a morally correct way so that others will not suffer from his\her ill-disciplined and unethical behaviour. With right attitudes and good motives in life everyone can be happy. Those who have understood this great mission are living and working very hard to contribute something into life and make it an even better place for all human beings despite their race, religion, colour, culture or background, to tastefully enjoy. “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet". “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven”, Matthew 5:13-16. But those who do not understand this are living to distort the ideal picture, and even to destroy it instead. Emptying their lives of all human ethical values is causing a lot of sufferings for many Sudanese men, women and children, both emotionally and physically. Today, in different villages of Sudan and at homes or in refugee camps many people are suffering emotionally much more than the suffering caused by hunger, disease and warfare. Their suffering is as a result of the wicked behaviour of some people who are living life without following even basic guiding ethics. For example there are some men who have conducted their marriages in the local churches and have made promises with their wives to live faithfully for them and with them alone, without marrying any other women. Yet many have mocked what they promised before God and His people, and have abandoned those covenants and married more wives. Others have deceived their sisters by saying to them that they will marry them, but they have fallen as victims of such irresponsible behaviour and ill-disciplined lives. This lack of right and proper ethics everywhere is sinking the nation into deep problems and bringing disgrace: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people”, Proverbs 14:34. This verse talks about the nation’s life that does not consider positive ethical principles and describes what happens when people live without them. Our community leaders and our spiritual leaders all need to surrender their personal and professional lives to godly Christian ethical values in order to be able to bring healing to Sudan and put an end of the suffering in the corporate life of this our people: “Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning! Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness”, Ecclesiastes 10:16-17. Our leaders need moral and spiritual strength to maintain their authority. Authority figures lacking moral backbone are leading our nation into more and more serious troubles, and Sudan has suffered enough. Evil motives and the desire in some for positions and wealth have cost many lives. This means mocking God’s creation standards and denying His right over our (His?) nation. Though, as explained above, some are using religion for their personal gain. What makes a human being different from other creatures? We all know that animals have desires such as the desire to eat, drink, sleep, to stay together, to live and escape death, and even to be protected, to reproduce and protect the new born. So what makes humans different from animals? Applying moral teaching in our living is what sets us apart from animals. Two things occur here and both set human beings apart from animals: Firstly, discerning what is right and wrong. Secondly, avoiding doing evil things. How would you describe those men who come, seven or more together, to rape one woman? Where is human sense of responsibility in this case? When the motives are from Satan people become full of bitterness, jealousy against other ethnicities, tribes, and colours, and then society is full of disorder and evil practices. Jealousy dominates instead of loving peace and unity. No consideration is given to others who share with us. Satanic actions are destructive. True learning can be measured by a person’s character. Lack of self-discipline leads to disorder, but self-discipline leads to peace and goodness. Most of the ethical disorder in our Sudanese societies comes from the lack of setting high goals for our society. This void gives people the chance to be led by cheap desires: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others”, Philippians 2:3-4. Many are earning their living at the expense of others. The cure for all suffering and ethical disorder is to allow the teachings of God-honouring, life-changing, solid and upright moral values to find a way deep into our thinking, and then to live them out. Though we do not need to worry about justice being done One Day, we are to speak out against corruption and warn others now. There is a big need to address the moral and ethical issues more than any other issues today. We must try to stop raping and killing, the destroying of the precious lives of Sudanese people. We must remove all forms of corruption, and adjust the mind of society. The main cause of our disorder is the cruel seeking by some people who want to live in Sudan without others. Some tribal leaders in Sudan have spoken this. Even if others are to live within Sudan they are to live without dignity and without their full rights as human beings, regardless of being Sudanese citizens! This is why Sudan does not enjoy social and political and economic stability. “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that He jealously longs for the Spirit He has caused to dwell in us? But He gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up”, James 4:1-10. A new system is needed to set high moral values to protect every life in Sudan. The role of Christians In the midst of all these wicked practices, our miserable situation and terrible ethical disorder, the unavoidable question is: Where are Christians? What do Christians have to offer as a remedy for this situation? Didn’t the Bible say Christians are the ‘Salt of the Earth’? I must be frankly honest in this case, that the main hindrance for the extension of the gospel today is the lack of transformation in Christians themselves: “You who boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you”, Romans 2:23-24. This describes those who claim to be Christians but who are not changed in their everyday lives. They are not transformed (made different) as per Romans 12:1-3. They are churchgoers and nominal Christians only. They are distorting Christianity and making it look very bad by their behaviour and ill-disciplined life. Being Christians without living by high quality Christian ethics in God’s sight totally contradicts biblical teachings and dishonours our Lord Jesus Christ. Please make sure your life is a wonderful example of true Christian living, from the inside out, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. I will try and do the same.

My life alongside God's word volume 3. 21st century issues section. by Alex Bolek Abuk I had wanted the title of this article to be “A powerful politician in confrontation with the all powerful God”. As you will see this clear ‘confrontation’ between an earthly king (Ahab), and the heavenly king (God) is the background story upon which the article is based. But to make it more relevant to us and to our context, especially in Juba, I decided to go for the title of “Land Grabbing”. It was the main issue then, the real cause of the crisis between God and King Ahab. It is a big issue for us in the here and now. From time immemorial, human beings have aroused God’s anger and gone into crises of some kind with their Creator. Let me give you a little sample. In the Garden of Eden, Adam the head of creation fell into crisis with God when he and his wife Eve ate from the forbidden tree, Genesis 3. Cain, the first child of the human race, was in trouble with God when he murdered his brother Abel, Genesis 4. King David was in crisis with God when he took Uriah’s wife and killed him to deepen the sin, 2 Samuel 12. King Saul was at loggerheads with God when he disobeyed Him and did not carry out His orders precisely, 1 Samuel 15. The great prophet Moses, who led the people of Israel out of Egypt, was in trouble with God when he hit the rock to produce water instead of speaking to it as God told him to, Numbers 20. We could go on; the list is endless. All of us have got into problems with God, our loving Creator, from time to time in one way or another. The prophet Isaiah has his popular saying: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way”, Isaiah 53:6. The “all” who have moved away from the correct path include ordinary citizens, kings and prophets! All have messed up their lives with wrong decisions and choices that have angered God. For example, king Ahab of Israel angered God when he grabbed Naboth’s piece of land and had him killed. Ahab is described as someone who had, “sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord”, 1 Kings 21:20. Before we delve into the story, let us start with this small background to bring the picture of what happened closer to our minds. Imagine that you are neighbour to a powerful king. The divine providence has brought you to live close to the royal family. Your piece of land and humble house are situated adjacent to the king’s palace in the heart of the city! Would it be a curse on you and your family or a privilege and a blessing? The answer to this question depends on both you and the king. What type of person are you and what type of person is the king? Neighbourhood relationship depends on the two neighbours and not on one of them. It also doesn’t matter whether one is a king and the other is an ordinary citizen. The Bible mentions only ‘a neighbour’ without mentioning things like his/her socio-economic status, educational level or personality trait. These are not important when it comes to neighbourhood relationships. “Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father, and do not go to your brother’s house when disaster strikes you — better a neighbour nearby than a brother far away”, Proverbs 27:10. According to this scripture, a close neighbour is better than a distant brother when you are in trouble. The best example of who a true neighbour is is the popular story of the Good Samaritan, told by the Lord Jesus in the gospel of Luke chapter 10. Anyone who comes close to help you out of trouble is your neighbour, not necessarily one that has his house next to yours. This author is blessed with good and kind-hearted neighbours and can testify that this scripture is true. My near neighbours have stood with me in tough times of trials more than my brothers who were far away. I can testify that my neighbours, because they are nearby, have always arrived first at the scene of my trouble. They help me before my brothers arrive. My neighbours in many instances became my brothers. King Solomon is right when he said that some friends or neighbours never abandon you when you are in crisis but stick to you closer than brothers. “There is a friend (neighbour) who sticks closer than a brother, Proverbs 18:24. The Lord Jesus is the true friend who loves us eternally and never leaves or forsakes us in times of hardship, see John 10: 11,12. If God and the Bible place such a great importance on neighbours, how should we relate to our neighbours? I see people quarrelling and fighting neighbours. To me that is like committing suicide! Please don’t do that! That neighbour is your brother who will help you in your time of need. Be also a good neighbour yourself. Be readily available to help your neighbours in their needs. “A friend in need is a friend indeed” the English saying goes. Many times we want our neighbours first to be good neighbours to us, but are we ourselves being good neighbours to them? The principle we need to understand is that we reap what we sow, Galatians 6:7. If we want to be treated well by our neighbours, we must first appreciate them and treat them well. Knowing the value and importance of neighbours, the Arabs say “Al jar qabul al dar”, which is literally translated as “a good neighbour before a house”. This means before you occupy and live in a house, first find out who your neighbour(s) will be. Do a little research. If the neighbours to that house you want to rent are said to be ‘good people’ go ahead and occupy that house and enjoy your neighbours! But this is not always practical, especially in urban settings. Many times circumstances compel us to live in any house we find regardless of who our neighbours will be. For instance, when you are looking for a house to rent, and you happen to find one after a long time of searching, the priority at such a time is to have a roof over your children. The type of your neighbours becomes a secondary consideration. Plots allotment by the Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities also happens at random. The Ministry of Housing will not ask you who you want to be your neighbours. You get a piece of land without knowing whom your neighbours will be. In this case the choice of neighbours is not in your hand. In any case, as already said, we must first decide to be good neighbours for others to the best of our ability, Romans 12:18, and then leave the rest to God. Let us come back to the point and let me start with you in the neighbourhood relationship if you were neighbour to a king. The Bible says if you were a decent and respectful citizen, therefore a good neighbour, the king would love you and be your friend! “He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend”, Proverbs 22:11.[1] Likewise, if the king and the royal family are good people, you and your family are blessed! It would therefore be a big privilege and blessing to you if the king and his family members (queen, princes and princesses) were good people. You would even be able to boast and say: “Who is like me, a king’s neighbour?”. King’s neighbours enjoy a lot of privileges. Even if the king and his family do not directly give you services, your humble family would reap other general indirect services and privileges from being neighbours of a royal family. If I speak from our Juba perspective, services like security (that residential area is a restricted security area, inaccessible by robbers and criminals), constant city power and water supply, clean, quiet and well-maintained section of the city etc., would all be enjoyed by you and your family. In terms of security again as we are in Juba, one citizen some time back told me, “Our residential area is relatively calm and peaceful, no armed robberies and no murders at night because we have a lot of high ranking military officers in the area and the criminals are afraid of them!”. Have you seen that? If your family are indirectly protected when you are a neighbour to military officers, how much more would they be protected if you were neighbour to a president or king? You would enjoy that indirect security service offered to the president or the king. You become under the wings of his protection. It would be a real blessing having one’s house next to the royal palace! But all in all, true protection and security come from God and not from military commanders and kings, see Psalms 46 and 91. We do not have to depend on human beings for protection. Trust in God. On the other hand, what if the king and his family are not good people? What if the king is one who brutalises and bulldozes his citizens like King Asa, of whom the Bible says he, “brutally oppressed some of his people”, 2 Chronicles 16:10? You would not enjoy any privileges by being his neighbour. You would be terrified and in trouble all the time! You would want to move away with your family from that neighbourhood because you or any of your family members could be at risk of dying any time! Who would love to be a neighbour to leaders like Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, Pol Pot of Cambodia, Hitler of Germany, Saddam of Iraq and the long list of dangerous dictators in this world? This is exactly what happened to Naboth in the story of this article when he was a neighbour to the wicked King Ahab of Israel, 1 Kings 21. A decent and law abiding citizen called Naboth was neighbour to the wicked King Ahab of Israel. It was not a blessing or privilege but a disaster for his life and family! In fact it cost Naboth his head! Next to King Ahab’s palace in the city of Jezreel was Naboth’s piece of land, which he inherited from his parents or grandparents. But the king coveted it! The king decided to break the tenth commandment that says, “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour”, Exodus 20:17. It is deadly to break God’s laws. We will go through Naboth’s story from the Bible in this article, 1 Kings 21:1-29, quoting whole passages when commented upon. In this story we see a lot of negative acts from the king’s family exercised against Naboth and his family. Covetousness, greed, false accusation, abuse of power, murder and the grabbing of Naboth’s piece of land! It is self explanatory that Ahab and his wife Jezebel were selfish leaders who only thought of themselves, not leaders who worked to promote the welfare of their citizens. Instead of grabbing Naboth’s piece of land, Ahab and Jezebel could have given Naboth additional pieces of land to be able to support his family. They had all the power to do so. Unfortunately the opposite happened. They tried to take the only family land Naboth had! I know of political leaders who have helped promote their neighbours, or have brought services like power and water supply to the whole residential areas where they and other citizens live, and their neighbours enjoyed the privileges. Such leaders win the hearts and confidence of citizens and are re-elected when they campaign to go back into those ministerial positions or seats in the parliament because they serve the people around them. In spite of the fact that the king already had enough lands and palaces, he coveted Naboth’s family land. One time the king had an appointment to meet up with Naboth, but not to have a cup of tea and share a time of brotherly fellowship as neighbours. They were to talk about Naboth’s piece of land that was adjacent to his palace! “Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth”. But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers”, 1 Kings 21:1-3. King Ahab offers and Naboth refuses King Ahab offered Naboth two choices. Either he sells the piece of land to Ahab or he exchanges the land with another piece in a different part of town. Both choices were attractive but deceptive! Naboth turned both the king’s offers down. He refused to give up his family land. Why? Naboth had a strong and genuine reason to turn down the king’s request and offers. In Israeli tradition, an inherited piece of land is not to be sold or exchanged: “No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefathers, Numbers 36:7”. It equally follows that a king who comes to power should respectfully observe this law and not drive somebody from his inherited property. “The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people, driving them off their property. He is to give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people will be separated from his property”, Ezekiel 46:18. Naboth was a citizen who understood these two of God’s principles and precepts. Therefore he stood his ground not to give in to any allurements from the king! Naboth is a citizen I really admire and respect! How many of us today would stand before a king and say ‘no’ to anything against God’s law the king suggests to us? After all, those two suggestions (if not orders) were coming with great benefits to Naboth and his family. If the king were to buy that piece of land in the heart of the city of Jezereel, the amount would be a ‘lump sum’ amount and if it were to be exchanged with another piece of land in another part of the town, it would be a much bigger piece of land, probably a size that could be a farm! Not only that, the king would be Naboth’s friend for life and that friendship would come with lots of other privileges for Naboth to glean from the king’s hands! In today’s terms, Naboth was not wise to say no. People would say things like ‘He wants to die poor’, ‘Opportunity knocks only once and he missed it’, ‘Opportunity once lost never comes back’, etc. But God’s principles and laws should not be broken to please kings or to benefit ourselves. God must be allowed to be God and His word must be obeyed and respected. The apostle Paul wrote, “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ”, Galatians 1:10. But saying ‘no’ to kings has consequences! The Bible says “A king’s wrath is like the roar of a lion; he who angers him forfeits his life”, Proverbs 20:2. Now if saying ‘no’ to the king will arouse his hostile anger, what are the expected scenarios and consequences? They vary from ‘mild to extreme’. Imagine: · The land is not taken from you, nothing bad is done to you since it is ‘your right’ to refuse, but you would be under indirect pressures, harassment and mistreatment everywhere you go in the kingdom. You are free but black-listed because you were ‘stubborn’ to the king! Life would not be easy for you anywhere in his kingdom! This is if the king has some fear of God and mercy in his heart and allows you to live! · You are kicked out from that piece of land and the land is taken from you by force. Who are you anyway to say ‘no’ to the king who is the owner of the whole land in the nation including your piece of land; (especially if this were in Africa!). · You would be sentenced to weeks, months, or years of imprisonment for being disobedient and blasphemous to the king. · You would be beheaded or otherwise killed for despising the king! The last point in the short list above is what came upon Naboth for saying ‘no’ to the king. He was killed, “stoned to death”, 1 Kings 21:13-14. So if you are considering doing like Naboth, include death in your list of expectations. Your head might even be removed from your body! That is the extreme punishment for saying ‘no’ to the king. Naboth was killed in cold blood! Lets see how it happened. Queen Jezebel orchestrated Naboth’s murder King Ahab was a wicked king but his conscience would not allow him to take the land by force from Naboth nor do anything wicked to him after he said ‘no’ to his request. However, his wife Jezebel, who did not have any fear of God in her heart probably because of her pagan background, 1 Kings 16:31, was more wicked than he was and she planned to murder Naboth. After that meeting with Naboth and his refusal to give up the land, King Ahab returned home sullen, lay in bed all day, and refused to eat! Greed is ugly indeed. When his wife Jezebel found out that it was all because Naboth refused to give up the piece of land, she was enraged and told her husband to eat, drink and be merry because she would work out a way to get the land. Then she orchestrated Naboth’s murder. “So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?” He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, `Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, `I will not give you my vineyard.’“ Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”, 1 Kings 21:4-7. Jezebel did not want King Ahab to appear ‘weak’ as the king of the country. She wanted the king to be the kind of king who had the final word and who no ordinary citizen could stand up to or reject his request. Wives always want their husbands to be seen as powerful and strong, especially when they are in those high government positions. This is seen from her question, “Is this how you act as king over Israel?” Jezebel put Ahab aside and went ahead with her wicked plan to kill Naboth and annex his land to the royal palace. Jezebel didn’t entertain the fact that a mere citizen like Naboth could refuse her husband, King Ahab. So she worked out how to murder Naboth and prove that her husband was still strong, powerful and in control of Israel. But her decision to murder took Ahab and his kingdom into an abyss! Jezebel’s plan was 100% successful. How did she do it? The Bible tells us: “She (Jezebel) wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death”, 1 Kings 21:8-13. Jezebel was wicked by all standards. She abused Ahab’s name and seal, mobilised the elders and nobles of the city to use false witnesses against Naboth, and involved a religious element in the matter. She included blasphemy against God to speed up Naboth’s execution. All these worked out perfectly well and led to Naboth’s murderous execution. Politicians’ wives are always behind the political scene and often from the background are deeply involved in many of the decisions their husbands make. The queens and the first ladies at home might ‘cook the royal or presidential decrees’ before they come to public eyes and ears, as is evident in Naboth’s history. Jezebel planned the whole process on Ahab’s behalf to get her husband the land! Women are a blessing as men’s helpers, Genesis 2:18, but sometimes they may come to their husbands with illogical decisions or advice. For instance, Eve gave Adam the forbidden fruit and caused the fall of mankind, Genesis 3:1-7; Sarah asked Abraham to take her maidservant Hagar for a wife and that disturbed their family peace and harmony (which continues nationally today), Genesis 16:1-16; and here, Jezebel used Ahab’s name, the royal stamp, and worked-out Naboth’s killing, and that ultimately brought Ahab’s doom, 1 Kings 21:19! There are times when women come to us with the right advice. We do not ignore their ‘helper’ role as God has created woman to be man’s helper. Not all advice that comes from women is wicked! There are times we need to listen to our wives. The lesson is that we need to know when to say ‘yes’ and when to say ‘no’ to our life partners, be they wives or husbands. Nor is this generalising that ‘all’ of the decrees ‘always’ come from queens and first ladies! Kings and presidents are people who have their own competency and sense of judgment to make their own decisions. They also have competent advisors to help them in decision-making. But it is evident in Naboth’s murder that Queen Jezebel planned the whole process and poor King Ahab became a victim of sorts. Naboth was sentenced to death in the royal court of King Ahab. His crime? “He was an enemy of God and the state.” He was sentenced to death and killed in cold blood upon his own piece of land. The reason? Blasphemy against God and the king. The issue of the piece of land was not even brought up in the court hearing! Naboth did not even have a chance to defend himself before the court. Poor Naboth! Who can stand before the king and his well-trained false witnesses? Nobody! God’s judgment on Ahab and his family Actions have consequences. Naboth is dead, his file closed. Jezebel and Ahab are now ready to inherit his land. Life is good for them! As far as King Ahab and his wife Jezebel are concerned, the case was over. It was a 100% successful plan. But remember, any evil plan can be successful and considered as a gone case in human eyes, but in God’s eyes, the file of that unjust case is not closed. God is coming to act. As already said, the case was over and the files closed in Ahab’s high court, but it was still pending in heaven! Look at that! The case was over in the earthly royal court but not over with the heavenly royal court. Court files can be turned over, closed and even burned here on earth, but as far as heaven is concerned, some cases are still waiting for God’s final judgment. “If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still”, Ecclesiastes 5:8. God is the ‘highest’ official to declare whether a case is over or still pending! God was silent but not late. He surely, reliably, comes to reward or to avenge. It depends on us how we want Him to come. When there is evil, He comes to avenge! King David said, “Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages”, Psalm 50:3. Here in our case God showed up and declared His judgement on Ahab and Jezebel! The Bible tells us: “Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned and is dead.” As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.” When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: “Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. Say to him, `This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’ Then say to him, `This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood — yes, yours!’” Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. `I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel — slave or free. I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.’ “And also concerning Jezebel the Lord says: `Dogs will devour Jezebel by the plot of ground at Jezreel.’ “Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country.”, 1 Kings 21:15-24. Judgment was pronounced against Ahab and his family! The most terrible thing on earth is to fall into the hands of the almighty and angry God! The Bible says, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”, Hebrews 10:31. God sent men of God (prophets) to confront all the Bible kings who messed up. Judgement was passed on them or at least they were informed of their sin and reprimanded! There are many cases in the Bible where religious leaders sent by God confronted political figures and passed judgement on them when they messed up: · The prophet Samuel confronted King Saul when Saul did not execute God’s orders precisely as God wanted, 1 Samuel 15. · The prophet Nathan met King David when he messed up with Uriah’s wife and killed Uriah. Nathan announced God’s judgement on him, 2 Samuel 12. · Gad the prophet confronted King David when David was moved by pride to conduct an unlawful census in Israel, 2 Samuel 24. · When King Ahaziah fell from his upper room and decided to inquire of the pagan god Baal-Zebub instead of God, whether he would recover from his injury or not, God sent the prophet Elijah and passed judgement on him because he had sought a pagan god, 2 Kings 1. · The prophet Hanani was sent to rebuke King Asa when the king hired a heathen king, Ben-Hadad of Aram, to defend him while he was at war with Baasha King of Israel. He was depending on a human being for protection, instead of trusting God, 2 Chronicles 16. · Hanani’s son, the prophet Jehu was sent to pronounce God’s judgement on King Baasha who committed evil in God’s eyes and led Israel astray, 1 Kings 15:33-34, 16:1-3. · The prophet Jehu was sent to reprimand King Jehoshaphat because he allied himself in marriage with the wicked King Ahab and helped him in battles, 2 Chronicles 19. · When King Jehoram slaughtered all of his brothers and some of the princes in Israel, he received a letter from the prophet Elijah saying God was going to judge him, 2 Chronicles 21. · When King Uzziah’s pride moved him to enter the Lord’s temple and burn incense on the altar which was the priest’s responsibility not his, Azariah the high priest at the time, together with eighty courageous priests confronted him, 2 Chronicles 26. · When King Hezekiah showed the royal treasury and armoury to a Babylonian delegation that visited him while he was sick, something he clearly should have not done, the prophet Isaiah confronted him and uttered God’s judgement on him, Isaiah 39. · When King Herod took his brother Philip’s wife as his own wife, John the Baptist bravely met him and told him, ‘it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife’, Mark 6. We can see that God has no exceptions when it comes to judgement against sin in political leaders. If all these kings were rebuked, with judgement passed on them when they messed up, why should King Ahab be spared? If God spared him after grabbing Naboth’s piece of land and killing him, God would not be fair and just! If God dealt with nine kings in the same manner why should He spare the tenth? No, God must be just. He deals with all equally. He does not have a ‘special favourite king’. He treats all kings equally. God summoned his man, the prophet Elijah, to go and meet King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and tell them God’s judgement was coming upon the family! Thank you God! My brother, you will not be exempt from God’s judgement if you have taken somebody’s property by force, or committed any property crime, unless you repent and make the wrong(s) right. It is just a matter of time and God will deal with you. It is better you give all property back before God shows up. If you do, it may go well with you. I must also ask: “Are the Elijahs, Nathans, Gads, Samuels, Isaiahs, etc. still out there in the churches today? Who of the church leaders of our time will go and tell the king/president today, ‘you have done an evil thing in God’s eyes and God is going to judge you’? This is not instigating our church leadership to be against our political rulers. Elijah or any of the prophets did not just get up one morning and walk into the king’s palace to start rebuking the king without any clear reason, or seeing sin committed, or, most importantly, without clearly hearing first from the Lord and being sent by Him! All of the prophets mentioned above went to kings and reprimanded them when there was a clear sin in the king’s life. God sent them. In 1 Kings 22:17-19 Elijah was clearly sent by God to pronounce heavens’ judgment on Ahab. Men of God should walk closely with God and be able to discern His voice and to receive boldness from Him in time of special service. It equally follows that men of God should be as independent and as neutral as possible from politicians. The prophet Samuel enthroned King Saul over Israel. It was the same prophet Samuel who was sent by God to tell him that God had rejected him after he messed up. If the prophet Samuel were not independent from King Saul, he probably would not have had the boldness to tell him, ‘God has rejected you.’ It is said that, ‘If the Church goes to bed with the State, the two together oppress the people’. The Church and the State, though dependent on each other, must be like the two parallel rails that guide all of our trains. Both support each other to serve the people, but also stay at ‘arms length’ from each other, so they can keep a critical eye on everything at the same time. Now let us look at God’s judgement pronounced by the ‘independent and neutral’ man of God, Elijah, on Ahab’s house. Look or listen to this again with open eyes and ears: “This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood — yes, yours!’…because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel — slave or free. I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.’ “And also concerning Jezebel the Lord says: `Dogs will devour Jezebel by (see also 2 Kings 9:26) the plot of ground at Jezreel.’ “Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country.”, 1 Kings 21: 16-24. In this Bible passage, God pronounced on Ahab and Jezebel five bitter sentences that I call ‘curses’. If you were to open their file in the heavenly court, you would find these five inside: · Dogs will lick Ahab’s blood in the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood · Ahab’s descendants will be consumed and every last male in Israel will be cut off – slave or free · Ahab’s house will be made like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah (cursed kings – see 1 Kings 16:3) because he provoked the Lord to anger and caused Israel to sin · For Jezebel, dogs will devour Jezebel by the plot of ground at Jezereel (at the very piece of land they grabbed from Naboth!) · Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The death sentence passed on Naboth by Ahab’s earthly royal court was a short phrase: “Stone Naboth to death for blaspheming God and the king”, full stop. If we compare the two death sentences, which one is more severe? It is surely the one on Ahab and his house! What was Ahab’s reaction to this sentence from the heavenly royal court? What did he do when he heard that judgement and disaster were coming upon him and his family? The Bible tells us: “When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly”, 1 Kings 21:27. How we react to God’s judgement determines the way He will deal with us. If we react with pride and an unrepentant heart, painful judgement will be our lot. But if we respond with humility, confessing that we have sinned and been mistaken, God is compassionate, gracious and forgiving and He will forgive and pardon us. Because Ahab humbled himself, God pardoned him and postponed the discipline until the time his son would come to power after him. “Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son” 1 Kings 21:28-29. Ahab like anyone of us would say a big ‘Hallelujah’ and praise God! God has pardoned. But remember, disaster was stored up and awaiting when his son comes to power. As a father I would not enjoy seeing my children reaping the consequences of my sins after I am gone from this world. Any judgement postponed that will affect my children and nation after I am gone from this world should not make me rejoice. I would rejoice if I am forgiven and my sin would not affect my children’s and nation’s future. I don’t want to leave people behind me to reap the bad fruits of my actions. The prophet Jeremiah in his lamentations said, “Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment”, Lamentations 5:7. This is an important lesson to take to heart. Your children will reap the consequences of your sinful mistakes. Therefore avoid sinful actions by all means. Repent, and leave your children with a blessing not a curse. Ahab was pardoned and the judgement was postponed because he humbled himself before God and (perhaps) because he was not directly involved in Naboth’s murder. However for his wife, Queen Jezebel, who abused the power they had and plotted Naboth’s killing, she faced an immediate and literal judgement that came upon her. She was executed. As God said, “Dogs will devour Jezebel at the plot of ground at Jezreel” and it literally happened. God anointed and ordained another powerful king called Jehu to come and execute God’s judgement on her. Another lesson to take home here is that if you think you are all powerful, and you abuse your power to kill, God will ordain another powerful king, more powerful than you are, to execute His judgement on you. Lets see how this took place as narrated to us by the Bible: “The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets (the senior prophet sends a junior prophet like a bishop sending a pastor under him – my note) and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, `This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run; don’t delay!” So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said. “For which of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander,” he replied. Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: `I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel. You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord’s servants shed by Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel — slave or free. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no-one will bury her.’ “Then he opened the door and ran”. Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?” He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. “Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot. Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of that cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.” But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. They went back and told Jehu, who said, “This is the word of the Lord that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh. Jezebel’s body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no-one will be able to say, `This is Jezebel’”, 2 Kings 9:1-10, 31-37. According to this Bible text, Jehu’s calling and mission was to destroy Ahab’s house completely and specifically Jezebel! In our daily life, ‘Jehu’ can be anything God ordains against somebody like a Jezebel who has taken somebody’s life or greedily grabbed other people’s properties – it can be an illness, an accident, even a physical murder, etc. God can ordain anything against you. I am not saying that all these problems are always ordained by God against people, for God does not tempt with evil, James 1:13. But I am saying that God, as the Sovereign Creator, can ordain and use anything or anyone He chooses as a tool for executing His judgement. For instance, the ‘Jehu’ that God used to destroy arrogantly proud King Herod was a worm, Acts 12:23. Yes, God used a worm to destroy him! God created everything in this world so He is free, and has the right, to use them the way He wants. As the prophet Samuel was called to enthrone David as king over Israel, so Jehu was called to dethrone Ahab from kingship! God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men; He sets up kings and deposes them, Daniel 4:17, 2:21. He is able to ordain a ‘Jehu’ to come and destroy or depose any king who is wicked or who exploits and oppresses the poor. People, let me repeat this, God will ordain a ‘Jehu’ to dethrone you if you do not repent and give back whatever you grabbed by force from the poor of the land. God is the defender of the powerless as the Bible says. “Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them”, Proverbs 22:22-23. This is one thing people in power do not normally think of. But to their surprise, in a few hours or weeks they are dethroned! Think even of recent contemporary powerful presidents and kings who were disposed from their thrones in a few hours or days! I don’t have to mention their names to you–you know them! God has the power to enthrone and dethrone! After Ahab and Jezebel finished with their wickedness, God began executing His righteous judgement on Ahab’s family. The prophet Isaiah wrote that when the wicked has finished with his destruction, God causes the same thing he did to others to be done on him, by a ‘Jehu’ He sends! “Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, O traitor, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed”, Isaiah 33:1. In many instances God is silent and visibly only comes in at the end of the story, after the wicked have finished executing their wicked plans. For instance, God showed up after Cain had finished murdering his brother Abel, and after King David had done with planning and executing Uriah’s murder. Likewise, Ahab was met after killing Naboth. In human terms, God was too late, but He is never late. He is patient and sovereign and He allowed Cain, David and Ahab to carry out those murderous acts. God recorded them in our Bible to serve as examples and warnings for the coming generations. “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us”, 1 Corinthians 10:11; Romans 15:4. God knows what He is doing. Those stories today are important integral parts of the Bible for us to learn to know the extent of evil in human hearts. God’s silence should not be interpreted as His being non-existent, inattentive, nor is He ever ignorant of what is happening. People take advantage of God’s silence. The wise King Solomon’s observation is right, “Because the sentence (punishment - clarification mine) against evil is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil”, Ecclesiastes 8:11.[2] God is patient and gracious. Why is God patient and silent on evil? It is to give evildoers time and opportunity to repent and turn from their wicked ways. God takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner. Rather He is pleased when they turn from their sinful ways and evil lives, Ezekiel 18:23. If God were to react immediately and violently to every evil act committed, none of us would be alive today! We would all have been banished from this world to eternal doom. God gives us time to repent. The apostle Paul tells us, “Do you show contempt for the riches of His (God’s) kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness leads you towards repentance?”, Romans 2:4. The Psalmist agrees with Paul, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love”, Psalm 103:8. Only those who persist in their evil and refuse to repent will reap the fruits of their unrepentant hearts in the end. “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed”, Romans 2:5. The significance of this story to South Sudan 5/6/2015 The background story in the Bible (Ahab and Naboth - 1 Kings 21) upon which this article is based fits perfectly well and is comparable to what is happening in Juba these days. Juba is a city infested with a ‘land grabbing’ disease that needs to be eradicated. This is attributed, probably among other reasons, to the fact it is the converging point of all our people as the nation’s capital. Secondly, it is perhaps because people are returning home from the diaspora after two decades of civil war and everyone is in a hurry to get for themselves a place to live in. Although there are countless stories of land grabbing in Juba, I want to mention just a sample of three that I am sure of. About two years ago I was attending a church service in one of our main Juba churches. One of our Bishops (I will not mention his name or the church without permission) mentioned while preaching and talking about some of the problems in Juba, that his land in the Tongping area was grabbed by a high ranking military officer who threatened to shoot him to death if he continued coming back for that piece of land. Immediately Naboth and Ahab’s story came into my mind and I said in my heart “Will that man and his family enjoy living in that piece of land?” I remember very clearly what the Bishop said that morning: “As a Bishop and God’s servant, I will not fight that man or go to court with him, but one day he will know that he has grabbed a piece of land belonging to a man of God!”. That military officer is a South Sudanese ‘Ahab’ who is inviting God’s discipline on himself and his house! Will he, his children, or descendants enjoy living on that plot? My brother the military officer, I pray today that you come across this article, and if you read and understand it well, please go ahead and give that piece of land back to the rightful owner, the Bishop, if you have not yet given it back. Otherwise you are standing on wrong and dangerous ground. Look at what happened to Ahab and his family! Don’t invite disaster to come upon your family. Don’t misuse those stars on your shoulders and the power entrusted to you for protecting the sovereignty of this land and its people. Another similar story I came across was Professor Taban Lo Liong’s Open Letter to the SPLM leadership on the issue of land grabbing (Juba Monitor Newspaper, July 11th 2014 – page 6) that one ‘king’ in the same Tongping area in Juba grabbed his family a piece of land and started building on it! People should not joke and play with senior citizens’ properties like the Bishop’s and Prof. Taban Lo Liong’s! It is a completely wrong game. When will this end? When the Bishop mentioned that story that Sunday morning, some of our government ministers were in the service. I hope they did something about it. Did they help the Bishop to get his land back? It would be an easy thing for them in their capacity as government ministers and top officials of this country to call the Ministry of Defence or Bilpam (Military HQ in Juba) to find out who that military officer is and get the land back to the Bishop, if he has his genuine papers in his possession, which I am sure he has. In the same manner, what happened to Prof. Taban Lo Liong’s piece of land after writing that open letter? I hope and pray these issues have been dealt with properly for they are not reflecting a good image of this city and nation. What will happen if these practices spill to other cities in South Sudan? I am afraid there will be citizens who will take the law in their hands when their lands are grabbed by the powerful and they feel powerless to get them back. The last story I want to cite is a case of my colleague’s piece of land that was grabbed by another ‘king’ in town. A high-ranking government official, whose name should not come close to being mentioned in such matters, decided to grab that piece of land! My colleague fortunately went to court challenging that personality and won the case. Thank God for the just court and judges who did not judge in favour of the ‘king’ but in favour of truth. My friend got his land back! Bravo Judges! Here is what the Bible is telling you: “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for man but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. Now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery”, 2 Chronicles 19:4-7. How do we deal with and overcome the problem of land grabbing in Juba? My opinion is that both citizens and the government have roles to play to curb this epidemic. Let me start with citizens. What is our role as ordinary citizens in fighting this problem? The first thing that citizens need to do is to know the laws when dealing with ‘Ahab’ and land issues. The example of Naboth is clear. Naboth was a citizen who knew what the laws were saying about land ownership in Israel. We must know the laws, both the Bible and national laws! Know what God is saying about the subject of your discussion with the ‘king’ in front of you. It is the truth that sets free, John 8:32. It is the knowledge of God’s truth that also makes you stronger and bolder than the king in front of you. The Bible says people are taken captive and destroyed for lack of knowledge, Isaiah 5:13 and Hosea 4:6. As already mentioned, Naboth did not say “no” to the king out of ignorance. Naboth knew very clearly what God was saying about the issues of land inheritance in Israel; that ‘inherited lands should not be sold’ and that ‘any prince/king who comes to power should not drive away citizens from their inherited lands, Numbers 36:7; Ezekiel 47:13-23; 48:1-29. This is why the Bible recorded the very simple but bold response from Naboth when the king approached and asked him to give up that piece of land, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers”, full stop! Look at that reply! The Lord forbid! Simple and straight forward! Naboth did not go to fasting and prayer to know God’s will in the matter. He did not even go home to consult with his family members if it was okay to hand-over the land to the king! When we ‘consult’ others, including our family members, on issues that are already clear in the Bible and in the law, we are opening the door for disaster to come in. There will be 101 contradictory opinions on the matter to confuse you, when God’s opinion is as crystal clear as the sun. It is just a short sentence, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers”. Know also what the national laws are saying about the problem at hand. What is the law saying about land possession in South Sudan? Lawyers have a popular saying that, “The law does not protect the foolish and the ignorant”. One cannot go to the court and say ‘sorry I was ignorant about this matter’ and expect the law to stand with him/her. Whether you know it or not the law will execute what is right, either in your favour or against you. Secondly, for the citizens, one of the things when dealing with a king who wants to grab your piece of land is to make sure you have all the legal land documents in your custody! This is power on your side. People who talk without papers are powerless even if they are kings. In my colleague’s case of land mentioned above, he won the case because he had all the ‘original’ land papers at hand. I said ‘original’ meaning the ‘first’ documents because in this particular case of my friend, the ‘king’ also had ‘recent’ documents. I am glad that lawyers and judges are well trained on these issues. If I come with land papers I processed in 2011 and somebody has papers of the same piece of land from 1982, then it will not be a big deal with ‘upright’ judges to tell me that the land does not belong to me but to the other fellow, with older papers, unless there are other documents that transfer ownership. People today forge land documents to give themselves grounds to grab other people’s lands. Have all the original documents in your hand. Faithful witnesses will stand with you, but the most important witnesses are the clear documents in your hands. Thirdly, stand by your rights until the end, like Naboth, even if it means your head will be removed from your body! The most important question in this issue is: ‘How do I die on the side of truth like Naboth, so that God has the right to defend me even after I am dead?’ The answer is simple. Stick to the truth and to your rights. If it means going to court with ‘Ahab’, do like my colleague did. Go, and God will give you victory. If all citizens stand up for their rights to the end, ‘Ahabs’ will be afraid to grab more lands. I believe that when it became known to all, Naboth’s story prevented more land grabbings in Israel at that time. It served as a warning to wrongdoers. For the government, I am of the opinion that they can fight this problem in at least three ways. The first is having a clear and strong land policy in place that organises issues of land acquisition and land transfer. I believe this is already there but needs to be strengthened and disseminated to all citizens at grassroots level, for all people to know and understand. In addition to this, there must be a clear citizens’ housing and settlement plan. This will solve the problem to some extent as each citizen is given a place to own and to live in. King Solomon had such a plan. The Bible says, “Solomon rebuilt the villages that Hiram had given him, and settled Israelites in them”, 2 Chronicles 8:2-6. Such a plan will avoid unnecessary land grabbing because all citizens in their respective cities will be settled. Having a place to live in is one of the basic necessities of life. People perhaps grab lands that do not belong to them because they do not already have their own home. They have no place to live. If the government makes sure that each and every citizen in this nation has a piece of land in a legal way, I believe it will reduce this disgrace called ‘land grabbing’ in our cities. But remember, the human heart is greedy and seldom satisfied with what it has. From the few examples I gave, we know that those grabbing other people’s lands do so, not because they do not have but because they want more. ‘Oliver Twists’ who ask for more are always there, but proper planning and an organisation of land policy with citizens settlement will help to solve and curb these problems. Secondly, a strong and unbiased judiciary system that does not favour the strong over the weak is needed. This is crucial to giving justice for those who are weak and powerless to defend their lands. The only place to give them their right is ‘The Law House’. Without a strong judiciary system, those whose lands are grabbed and taken by powerful kings will not be able to get their lands back. As mentioned above, one of the factors that led to my colleague’s victory in his case was a good, strong, unbiased and uncorrupt court of law. Having God-fearing judges in place is the need of the nation, especially at this time when the nation is still in its ‘forming’ stage. Let me repeat this scripture again, to all today’s judges, “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for man but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. Now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery”, 2 Chronicles 19:6-7. Thirdly, the government needs to have a massive awareness programme to educate our citizens on various day-to-day issues including land grabbing, financial fraud, cheating, etc. Mostly this can be done by engaging the media. Bring these issues to the media. Discuss them on Radio, TV, in the newspapers, and using the Internet. Bring wrong cases to light. Expose them. Listen to the apostle Paul’s wisdom, “Everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible”, Ephesians 5:13-14. In our situation we need the media to bring these issues to light. We are a relatively new and immature nation that has not encountered issues like land grabbing before. A lot of cheating is also going on in South Sudan because our citizens are still vulnerable, like any newborn child. If you compare South Sudanese citizens to the people of nations in our region, like Kenya or Uganda, you will see that citizens in those nations are alert and mature enough to discern any sort of cheating because they have been exposed enough. We are not there yet. Our people need to be sensitised on these issues. Media is an important tool in building peoples’ awareness. Whenever there is an issue of land grabbing, or any sort of financial fraud or cheating no matter how small it is, let it come on TV, Radio and in the newspapers. Bringing those issues and discussing them openly and frankly on air will inform and enlighten citizens, while at the same time making any ‘Ahab’ aware that if they do wrong they will be exposed! May God bring healing to our city and nation. [1] New King James Version [2] New King James Version Freely download this whole book here.

My life alongside God's word, volume 3. 21st century issues section. by - Dr. Alex Bolek Abuk Well-kept archives and files are as powerful as the sun that never loses its potency and luminosity though billions of years old. Records are silent and faithful custodians of important information. This is evidenced by a story that this article takes its title from. An ancient story goes that one time a powerful politician, a King ruling over a vast territory was one night sleepless and not able to sleep. What was bothering him? The reasons for his sleeplessness are not given in the story. Perhaps his mind was occupied with affairs of his kingdom and worried and concerned about the welfare of his citizens and thinking how to better serve his people and how to keep his kingdom moving forward. Perhaps there were threats and crisis of some kind coming against his kingdom and wanted to work out strategies to overcome or avert them. These are ‘good reasons’ for a ‘good politician’ to spend a ‘good sleepless night’ on them. Medical sciences give us a long list of causes of insomnia like significant life stress, illness, emotional or physical discomfort, environmental factors like noise, Some medications, interferences in normal sleep schedule (jet lag), depression and/or anxiety, pain or discomfort at night. Was the king suffering from any of these? No! So what was the problem? From reading the story and studying it carefully, it is evident that God the Creator, Who created and controls the sleep centre in the brain, was behind that insomnia to reveal to the king something important that was hidden and forgotten for a long time in his kingdom’s files. It was around 486–465 BC and the politician was King Xerxes of the vast Persian Empire that extended from India to Cush (Sudan) with 127 provinces (Esther 1:1). The king was one night not able to sleep and was staring all night. So what did he do in that sleepless night? Here is what the Bible tells us: “That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him” Esther 6:1. What do people who cannot fall asleep including politicians normally do? In this age of modern triad of sleeping pills, satellite TV and Internet, high-ranking politicians like kings, presidents, prime ministers and ministers, speakers of parliaments, … name them…, have these in their disposal. They would take a sleeping pill to take them to bed so that they get up fresh the following morning for another long and busy day. They would put on the TV and watch some news or movies, or go online to pass the time until sleep comes! The twenty first century has been called the ‘Aspirin era’ where people use a lot of it to kill pain. In my opinion, sleeping pills need to be added to that to call this century ‘Aspirin and sleeping pills century.’ Why? This is because millions of people around the globe today use sleeping pills to enable them to sleep. The American author Norman Vincent Peale in his book The Power of Positive Thinking (page 102-capitals mine) says: “’EVERY NIGHT in these United States more than six million sleeping tablets are required to put the American People to sleep.’ This startling statement was made to me several years ago by a drug manufacturer at a convention of that industry where I was giving a speech. Though his assertion seemed incredible, I have been told by others who are in a position to know that the above estimate is now an understatement. In fact, I heard another good authority assert that the American People are using about twelve million doses of sleeping tablets per day. That is enough to put every twelfth American to sleep tonight. Statistics show that the use of sleeping tablets has risen 1000 percent in recent years. A more recent statement is even more startling. According to the vice-president of a large drug manufacturing concern approximately seven billion one-half-grain tablets are consumed yearly, which works out at about nineteen million tablets per night.” Sleep induced by pills is an artificial sleep created by pharmaceutical tablets that cannot take away anxiety and worries that keep people from falling asleep. Sleepless people in this modern age buy sleep with a pill which when its effect is gone, the same cycle of worry, anxiety, fear and sleeplessness returns! Have you read the poem titled ‘What Money Can Buy’? One of the lines in that poem says ‘Money can buy a bed but not sleep.’ Only God can give peace of mind and heart that gives us good and peaceful sleep, not sleeping pills. King Xerxes was different and unique from his generation of politicians and today’s leaders. In his time there were neither sleeping pills nor satellite TV or the Internet. Alcohol and beer – CNS (Central Nervous System) depressants that could induce sleep – were available for him to use to take him to bed. But King Xerxes chose not to take a sleep inducer; he did not take a sleeping pill to go to sleep. He instead decided to spend his sleepless night doing something productive and edifying for his kingdom. He decided to spend the sleepless night opening and looking at old files of his reign. He turned the ‘sleepless night’ into a ‘working night!’ This is a sign of maturity! An immature, young politician would spend that sleepless night drinking and enjoying himself. This is what the Bible says: “Woe to you, O land whose king is a child and whose princes feast in the morning. Blessed are you, O land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time — for strength and not for drunkenness” Ecclesiastes 10:16,17. In this scripture, we see two types of political leaders. Those that are children (immature) and love eating and drinking early in the morning (childish habit) and those that are mature and eat at the proper time for strength and not for drunkenness. King Xerxes is of the latter type. He did not get up to eat and drink at 2:00 or 3:00 am but to look at his work files. Immature politicians according to the above scripture are a curse to the land but mature politicians are a blessing to a nation. I had wanted to add a paragraph here to say something more about ‘maturity’ and ‘immaturity’ but for space sake, let me leave it for you dear reader to analyse for yourself and come up with your own definitions and characteristics list for each one of them. Who is a good or bad leader and what are his/her characteristics? King Xerxes decided that he spent time going through the pages of the Chronicles or annals of his kingdom where all the matters big and small were recorded. But why review files at night when there are eight (8) working ours of daytime? Night hours as we all know are more calm and our mind and thinking is clear and better. People get revelations, productive dreams and thoughts at night. Wicked people in this world know the importance and value of night hours very well so they carry out their wicked plans at night and execute them during daytime. The Bible tells us: “Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds (at night)! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it” Micah 2:1. If the wicked people of this world use the quality night hours to plan evil, why should the righteous and good people in this world not spend good night ours planning or reviewing files for goodness sake? When politicians in our time and part of the world have insomnia, will they have some files and issues to review like King Xerxes or will they turn on the TV, take a cup of alcohol and watch movies until sleep comes to take them back to bed? What a waste of precious night hours! The most difficult diagnosis and description God gave to leaders of His people Israel in the past repeats itself in all nations around the globe and at all times. Listen to this passage from the book of prophet Isaiah; this is not me but God speaking and describing the leaders of His people Israel that are more or less similar to many leaders today: “Israel’s watchmen (=leaders) are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep (italics mine). They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. “Come,” each one cries, “let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better” Isaiah 56:10-12. Look at that! Leaders are complacent and indulge in eating and drinking while thinking that tomorrow will be a good day like today and even far better! This is not right. If we spend this day drinking and wasting time it is already a bad day therefore tomorrow will not be far better but far worse! It is said that ‘Tomorrow’s outlook depends on how today is spent.’ The most important question about how tomorrow will look like is: “Did I do everything I could today to make tomorrow the way I want it to be?” If we spend this day, this week, this month, this year, this decade, and this century in corruption, in fighting, in laziness and sleeping, in drinking, … what do we expect to reap? I do not have to tell you the answers. You know the consequences! What man sows is exactly what he reaps (Galatians 6:7). I hope and pray the above description does not apply to our political leaders. I hope the leaders of this nation are visionary leaders who don’t waste time but use their time well to take the people of this nation to their desired haven of a better future (Psalm 107:30). A vast empire with 127 provinces (if we take South Sudan’s 10 states for provinces, it is just about 8% of that empire) was a big responsibility on King Xerxes’ shoulder! It was not therefore an easy thing for him to rule such a vast kingdom. This is why any time he gets an opportunity even from insomnia, he uses it to visit different files of his kingdom to make sure that every page and stone not left unturned in his kingdom. He was a great leader! The wise King Solomon says: “To search out a matter is the glory of kings” Proverbs 25:2. When Sudan was still one with its 1,000,000 square miles and tens of provinces, somebody joked that some parts of the country were not developed probably because they were so remote that the Republican Palace (the seat of the government) has forgotten them! Their development files remained hidden under heaps of files and unopened for decades. I believe this is one of the factors that contributed to Sudan’s problems as some regions remain for decades since independence or since the time of Adam and Eve according to Dr. John Garang De Mabior in his 'Mission from the extraordinary SPLM leader, Dr. John Garang', 2005, without any services while others (more central regions) have all the services like schools, universities, healthcare, better roads infrastructure etc. People in remote parts opened their eyes decades later to find that their regions and people are not developed. ‘Marginalised’ is now the common terminology people use in Sudan that wise leaders in both parts (North and South) should work hard to exchange with the opposite ‘attended to’ which can only be done by reaching out with services to those parts of the country that seem to be forgotten. Although King Xerxes had governors over the provinces, he kept track of what was happening in each province, he had a page on almost everything in his kingdom. I imagine that when his secretary was reading out the pages of his annals to him; the king would say to him, turn to the page on province (state) X. What are the development projects in that province? Are they completed or not? What is the timeline for completion of those projects? Look at the sub page on Roads, Bridges and Dams. From the 127 provinces, what is the province we have not opened its file recently? etc. He would go from one important page to another in his book of chronicles! He would also go to section on recorded ‘events of national importance and significance’ in his kingdom! What a beautiful night! I wish and pray our politicians are like that! King Xerxes had a book of annals of his kingdom. Kings, presidents and all government officials in our time similarly have files with records in their offices. But how many of them spent a night or at least an evening going through those files? Records ensure that important information and documents are not lost. Did the king waste his quality night hours opening files? Never! Those hours he spent opening files were the most important in his lifetime and in the history of his kingdom for they went into eternal records. What happened that night found its way into the Bible pages! If he did not sacrifice that night’s hours, we would not be enjoying reading that story today in the Bible and learning from it. God always reward anything we sacrifice including sleep hours and time! Eternal Discovery: A forgotten story and incident came to surface. What did King Xerxes discover while searching his files? When the book of the chronicles was being read out to King Xerxes, it reached a page where an important incident of ‘national importance and significance’ was recorded and a forgotten story popped up that night. Some time back, two of the king’s palace guards conspired to assassinate him but a man, a Jew called Mordecai who was working in the king’s palace at the time, exposed their plot and therefore saved the king’s life from sure death. The Book of Esther tells us: “It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes” Esther 6:2. This is an incident that happened many years back and it was almost forgotten in the files. But records are faithful in keeping stories. As already stated, records ensure that important information are not lost. Recorded national events never get rotten if kept well. They will come to surface afresh in due time. “It was found recorded…” is the phrase/clause I very much love in the above scripture. If that story was not ‘recorded’ it would have not been ‘found recorded.’ Record keeping is of utmost importance. Sometimes it is shocking to see important papers and documents getting lost in big and respectable offices just because there is no proper record and filing system. A friend told me an important paper he personally handed to one important office was nowhere to be found when he came a day or two later to follow up! Drawers and different files were searched including other offices it might have been ‘referred to’ but was not found. What a mess! Stored information is important for history and researchers. What if a researcher comes up today and asks about some information on an incident that happened years back in a respectable office. Would there be a file where information on that story could easily be located? Results of the discovered story: Mordecai’s honour and recognition. That night Mordecai’s unrecognised and forgotten heroism came to life. Mordecai who exposed the conspiracy to kill the king was not rewarded at that very moment probably because he was a Jew, a foreigner working in a palace of a Persian King. That heroic role was ignored and not recognised because of his ethnic background and nationality. No any importance was placed on that big national duty he carried out to save the king’s life. He was truly ‘marginalised’ and therefore not rewarded. But the faithful God did not forget Mordecai. That night when the story and the incident was read out to the king, the first question the king asked was whether Mordecai was honoured and recognised for that or not. “What honour and recognition (italics mine) has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked. “Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered” Esther 6:3. People forget, marginalise, minimise and put aside any good thing or role we have done but the faithful God is never unjust, He makes sure people who do good are recognised and rewarded even after a long time. It is equally true that those who do evil will also reap and receive painful justice for their evil acts if they do not repent (see Isaiah 33:1). Some heroes and heroines are recognised and honoured posthumously. People should not work hard to expect rewards from human being. True and genuine reward comes from God. If we do our duty faithfully well, God will bring our hidden files to the surface in due time and make sure we are rewarded. This is why the Bible urges us to do our normal duty as if we are serving the Lord God, and not the government, organisation, company or human being. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” Colossians 3:23. As I said in the beginning of this article, I strongly believe that God caused the king to be sleepless to bring to surface Mordecai’s story because His (God’s) timing for Mordecai’s reward has come. When King Xerxes came to know that Mordecai was not honoured and recognised, he immediately ordered that he (Mordecai) be given the reward and recognition he deserved. The king acted on that information he got. Information is for decision-making and taking action. The king acted promptly to reward Mordecai for that heroic role. King Xerxes was a leader who acted on any genuine information he received. Here is what the Bible says: “When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honour?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honour, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honour, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, `This is what is done for the man the king delights to honour!’“ “Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.” So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honour!” Esther 6:6-11. What is the relevance of this story to South Sudan? Like Mordecai who was not rewarded immediately after doing good, people of this nation had fought many battles in many fronts for over 50 years and the only reward they received so far is the acquisition of independence. However, independence without its accompanying fruits is frustrating. Our independence is now disturbed and interrupted by strife. Three years have already passed and people are still in pain, agony and misery of war, starvation, diseases, corruption, land grabbing, lack of basic services like running water, power, proper health services, housing, … name them! Is that the reward, honour and recognition they deserve after all the years of their struggle? What are the Mordecai’s-type of honour and recognition people of this nation expect from their politicians and government especially after independence? What are the files that citizens of this nation expect our leaders to spend some sleepless night on if they can sacrifice some good night hours and time? My humble opinion is that there are at least three (3) important files that the citizens of this nation expected our politicians to have revisited or expect them to review in the coming period (we pray that God causes some healthy and productive sleepless nights to come upon them): File # 1: File of basic services and development priorities: When Dr. John Garang de Mabior introduced SPLM mission (Mission from the extraordinary SPLM leader Dr. John Garang, 2005) to be accomplished, he emphasised five main areas top on the list is basic services: Secure the basic need, Eradicating Illiteracy, Liberalisation from poverty through Agriculture development, Equality - equal rights of men and women, and Child protection and care. Basic services and development are things that are on citizens’ lips all the time. Each day citizens ask: When will power and running water come to our homes? When will our roads be in better shape? When will health services improve in this nation? When will our schools and universities run regularly? When will lasting peace and security come? When will this nation be stable and peaceful? When will…? The list of citizens’ expectations is endless. Let us see for instance the file of basic services in the city of Juba that is the seat of our government as an example since we cannot refer to services in states outside the capital when the capital is going without. It is strange that the capital Juba that has two or three layers of governments (national, state and city council) has little basic services like power, running water and proper roads three years in post-independence period. Who is responsible to make Juba look like a capital city, the national or state government or both? Or is it solely a responsibility of Juba City Council that is part of the state government? Thanks to the new mayor who has started off well with roads maintenance on some of the main roads. Or it is because Juba is a temporary capital as we will soon (?) be moving to our Abuja, which is Ramciel? We cannot talk of better services in the states when the capital is not in good shape. Yei, a small town for comparison sake is enjoying 18 hours of city power while the capital Juba is in darkness, except for small pockets of city power to some privileged residential areas where VIPs live. Is it a management problem or political? Few weeks ago I read a big and bold heading on the front page of The Citizen Newspaper (November 18, 2014) that there was a ‘power blackout’ in our national parliament! This to me was a little amusing. The parliament that speaks on people’s behalf for services has power while the people they are representing go without power. During the French Revolution in 1789 when the people were revolting in the streets of Paris for lack of bread, Marie-Antoinette (Bride of France’s King Louis XVI) said “Let them eat cake”. This is because she never experienced any ‘stock-out’ or ‘blackout’ of these commodities in her life in the palace. She thought ‘cake’ is everywhere when the country was starving. Is this not what is happening? Our parliament experienced only one day of power blackout and it was making headlines! For the ordinary citizen of Juba, there has always been a constant blackout not only of electric power but of many services and it was not on any newspaper! I am writing these lines when there is acute fuel shortage in Juba and South Sudan. What is the reason for this? I repeat the question: Is it a management problem or political? Or there are hands behind the scenes playing with fuel supply for their own gain? The Bible says “People curse the man who hoards (hides) grain (to make it rare and expensive to gain from), but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell” Proverbs 11:26. Issues like ensuring of security, development projects, and basic services are common agenda that all citizens and politicians regardless of their political affiliations and umbrella should have consensus on. All political parties should have a national consensus on those basic services because if this is at the back of each politician’s mind, then whoever comes to office knows that these are expected of him/her no matter what political party or umbrella he/she is under. Opinions may differ on system of government like federalism but not on basic services and development issues although these are influenced by the system of government in place. File # 2: File of governance system: Laying a long-lasting stable political system for a newly born nation like South Sudan is one of the most important and difficult tasks politicians can ever have. Another important file that citizens of this nation expect politicians to spend a sleepless night on is the file of system of governance. This is an important stability factor; it is what determines future stability in a nation. I believe that political stability comes when there is a strong democratic system in place with peaceful power rotation among political parties. Power and wealth sharing must be clearly defined in whatever democratic system adopted. Leaders of a young nation like ours that need the right political foundation to be laid down must spend some night hours thinking, researching and opening files to be able to come up with an ideal system of governance that will benefit the coming generations. If a good and strong political foundation is laid now, it will avert crisis in future and ensure stability for generations to come. I believe the ruling party (SPLM) and all the other political parties in this nation have enough files in their shelves that contain their visions, objectives and strategies for better future of this nation. What citizens now see and experience on daily basis is unnecessary fighting (4 rebellions so far since independence!), crisis in power sharing, corruption, land grabbing (read professor Taban Lo Liyong’s open letter to SPLM leadership on the issue of land grabbing - Juba Monitor Newspaper, July 11, 2014 – page 6) and lack of basic services as already mentioned. These are not signs of a good foundation for a stable future political life of the people of this nation. Has the political compass been lost? What kind of political system was envisioned after independence? What was SPLM’s wealth distribution and power sharing strategy post independence? What kind of political system was in SPLM’s mind after independence? Life on earth is not permanent. This means great leaders like Dr. John Garang can depart to their eternity home but their vision will always remain viable to be carried forward by their brothers and sisters who are still alive. Dreams and visions never die. Leaders like Julius Nyerere of Tanzania for instance laid the right foundation for his nation before he left for eternity. Citizens of this nation expect to see the nation taking a better direction to the future. This can only happen when all political parties come to a common ground of laying the right political foundation for this nation. This can only happen when political leaders from all parties diligently spend nights opening and searching files to find out what system of government is best for our context. File # 3: File of national reconciliation. My humble opinion is that this should have been the first file opened in post-independence period or the first file to be opened in the coming period when the current civil war stops. Many atrocities have been committed in the last 50 years of civil wars in the former Sudan to this moment. Acts of brothers killing brothers, rape, and looting of citizens’ properties have been witnessed in this nation. It is important to go down to all communities at grass-root level to initiate reconciliation process. But it should not end at grass-root level. It must come up to political level to be a complete reconciliation. We are grateful to our Church leaders who have been and are working hard on this mediating between the warring parties. Christ has given and mandated the Church with that ministry of reconciliation. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” 2 Corinthians 5:18. Healing of wounds comes first. Wounded people or parties cannot share power and work together in one office to avail services unless a genuine and sincere forgiveness and reconciliation happens. I believe the December 15th crisis sparked out because old wounds and grudges among the SPLM/SPLA leadership, that have accumulated since the time of the struggle in the bush, have not been dealt with properly after independence. Wounds hidden under the mask of politics easily flare up and get infected with fatal results. A divided kingdom and a divided home cannot stand the Lord Jesus said. “Jesus said to them: ‘Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall’ ” Luke 11:17. This is why it is important to reconcile first before agreeing on power sharing and delivery of services. Rwanda is taking a new direction to a better future because its leadership and citizens have taken a firm and resolute decision to reconcile with one another after the 1994 genocide. Reconciliation is a subject that needs an article by itself. In fact many books and articles have already been written on the subject. Without going to philosophies and books, the Lord Jesus has given clear directives towards reconciliation. A simple but bold step is to go and talk to your brother/sister who has offended and wounded you and tell him/her where he/she has wounded you (frank talk with each other) including involving other parties if he/she refuses to reconcile followed by true forgiveness from heart. “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:15-18). Reconciliation begins with sincere apology, forgiveness and healing of wounds of harm caused. Some will say, “Why take us back to open files of old wounds? We got our independence and are now free why say sorry for any harm committed during a liberation process? Citizens will understand it without any apology. We instead should focus on the future and celebrate our new nation and not go back to open old painful wounds.” This reasoning is not in line with God’s mind as we have seen in the words of our Lord Jesus above. Opening wounds and old files of harm committed in love, and saying sorry to each other and to affected communities pave the way for a true national reconciliation and healing. Remember dirty and covered wounds do not heal or heal slowly while open and clean wounds heal faster. Liberation and freedom will not make sense to those communities that have been affected by the events which have taken place until a true apology is given. The ruling party as well, needs to reconcile with its self to be able to perform better in the coming period. Conclusion In conclusion, these three files when opened with good will shall bring Mordecai’s-type of reward to the people of South Sudan. The file of basic services will improve citizens’ life and health indicators. The file of stable political system of government will lay a good and strong political foundation and stability for the country and eliminate tensions and rebellions in future. The file of national reconciliation will bring peaceful coexistence to the people of this nation to jointly serve this country together in harmony as one people and as brothers and sisters. These files combined will take the nation to a new future and level of development. God bless our political leaders who spend nights thinking and opening the files of this nation for the better. (originally written in The Citizen newspaper, December 12th 2014).

My life alongside God's word, volume 3. 21st century issues section. – by Anthony Poggo Please read these Bible verses, inserted by the editor, before starting the article: “Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds”. And it was so”, Genesis 1:11. “Streams (or mist) came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground”, Genesis 2:6. “A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters”, Genesis 2:10. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it”, Genesis 2:15. “I (God) am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish”, Genesis 6:17. “Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set My rainbow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth …””, Genesis 9:11-13. “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit”, Leviticus 26:3-4. “However, if you do not obey the Lord your God … the sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed”, Deuteronomy 28:15, 23-24. “… Your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”, spoken by our Lord Jesus in Matthew 5:45. "After Jesus calmed the storm on the lake His disciples asked one another, “What kind of a man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”, Matthew 8:23-27. Introduction Climate changes in many parts of Africa, and especially Sudan/South Sudan, have been conspicuous and noticeable. The apparent concern over the enormous consequences of these changes that stare sub-Saharan Africa in the face must draw concerted efforts towards actions that try to redress the related challenges. Changes in seasons While growing up in Kajo-Keji, then Southern Sudan, I used to note that annual seasons were easily predictable. We had our rainy season from March/April to October/November. The dry season was from November to March. During this latter period, you would know that there would be no rains and you would also know when the rains would come so you could prepare for the crop planting season. The months of May, June and July " usually the wet months of Southern Sudan. Nowadays, this is not the case any more. This year, for example, the seasons have drastically changed. The month of July that usually experiences significant rains is yet to receive any rains. Crops continue to wilt in the dry ground. It is believed the clouds that should have caused the rains have been blown away to the east by the strong westerly winds, which has resulted in the awful monsoon floods that continue to submerge areas across Indonesia and the Philippines. Sadly, this trend has been so for several years now. Last year there were floods in most parts of Sudan and Eastern Africa. There are glaring examples of the occurrence of droughts in places that had not experienced droughts before, now recurring year on year; plus the prevalence of floods out of season and at awkward times and places; stronger westerly winds presumptively leading to drier environments and the citing of harsh weather conditions that are linked to the many plane crashes; the extinction of plant species, lower rates of photosynthesis and water level changes. All of the above have contributed in one way or another to the diminishing levels of crop yields, putting pressure on the provision of food for everyone. South Sudan’s Sudd region An important consequence of climate change in Sudan/South Sudan is the slow drying up of the sudds in central Sudan. This is a matter of grave concern caused by, among other factors, the proposed drainage of these sudds in the 1970s due to the excavation of the Jonglei Canal. This project was one of the reasons that made Southern Sudan take up arms to wage a military protest, and it should not be treated lightly. The climatic conditions in parts of the Sudan/South Sudan are worsened by the increase in animal grazing in the Sahel region, especially in the light of the influx of returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as well as other new settlers. The increase in human population is forcing mankind to encroach on this formerly unsettled land, i.e. the sudds. As communities continue to encroach into the exotic forests that usually harbour wild- animals diseases, these diseases affecting more and more people. Some of these diseases are so unique that they are thought to have been responsible for causing the prophylactic shocks that have reportedly caused the deaths of many people in the area. This is so firstly because human biochemical systems cannot yet imitate the diseases to combat with even a prototype chemical cure; and secondly because there is presently no known cure for these diseases in the ‘human’ or natural world. In this regard, the Sudanese and Egyptian governments anticipated that the solution would be the excavation of the Jonglei Canal, thus draining the waters of the swamps in the area (the sudd region). Nonetheless, Egypt is dependent on the Nile and was only too keen to increase its water supply in order to expand its agricultural production. Thus in 1959, Sudan and Egypt signed the Nile Water Agreement which allowed for the construction of the Aswan Dam. The agreement also looked at the issue of quantifying and distributing the shares of the Nile Waters. The flooding, water logging and creepy flow of the water in the sudd region have had negative consequences on farming in the area. Yongo-Bure in 'The Economic Development of Southern Sudan', suggests that there is a need to retain and store the excess water during the rainy season so as to use the same during the dry season. He further recommends excavation of many watering points by way of widening sections of the seasonal rivers and streams. Unfortunately, the plans to construct the Jonglei Canal rekindled the deeply seated distrust that Southern Sudanese have of Northern Sudan. It also brought to the fore the suspicion between the Sudan and Egypt. It was generally perceived that since Egypt is keen to increase the supply of water to meet its own needs, it may not be in its national interest to pay attention to the environmental impact of the Canal on the people of Southern Sudan. Even so, it is largely unknown if there has been any efforts made to look at an alternative to the excavation of the Canal? Is there any link between war and climatic change? In 1990, Dr. Butrous Ghali, former Secretary General of theUnited Nations, also former Foreign Minister of Egypt, reportedly said that the next war that Egypt would fight would be over the issue of the Nile, not politics. (The Daily Nation, 27th June 2008). A United Nations Development Programme report says that the main conflict in Africa during the next 25 years could be over water. An article appearing in a Kenyan daily newspaper posed a question on whether or not the wars in Sub Saharan Africa were the effect of climate change. The same query has been raised over the civil war in Darfur. "Water is Africa's lifeblood. Rainfall on its central mountains feeds Lake Victoria, the world's third largest lake. It in turn, feeds the White Nile, which flows north. Construction of the (Jonglei) canal began in the latter half of the 1970s, but it halted when the Sudanese Civil War intensified. Huge pieces of excavating machinery now lie rusting away at former construction sites. South Sudan came into being after the civil war ended. It separated from Sudan in July 2011. Today, there are mounting calls to resume construction". "It would make large-scale irrigated agriculture possible near the canal, and would make river transport more viable," said University of Juba professor and Nile researcher Abednego Akok. "The benefits for South Sudan would be considerable." South Sudan's road infrastructure was devastated by the civil war, so river transport is viewed as an essential resource for the distribution of goods. There is, therefore, a compelling economic argument for the canal's construction, while many believe completing the project would meet the interests of nations downstream such as Egypt. Even so, inhabitants along the canal's planned route are often reliant on the Sudd for their livelihoods. They catch fish that graze on aquatic plants, and on the river's sand bars in the dry season they grow crops such as corn and graze livestock. If the canal is built, the river and wetlands as they are now would shrink as the water is redirected. "Generations of my ancestors lived in the same place for hundreds of years," said 60-year-old Achiek Mayaw, from the village of Jawaing on the outskirts of Bor. "I don't know much about the canal, but the wetlands are our life source." The canal would have an immeasurable impact on the surrounding environment, so the South Sudanese government is approaching the project cautiously". Excerpt from: Tadashi Sugiyama, The Asahi Shimbun, 28th October 2012. http://www.ajw.asahi.com. The presidents of the Eastern Nile countries of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia signed the Declaration of Principles of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on March 23, 2015. Relative official and public acceptance has prevailed in Egypt. After a long historical feud over the Nile waters that Egypt considers part of its national security, Ethiopia and Egypt are trying to rebuild trust. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/03/egypt-eastern-nile-wateragreement-ethiopia-sudan.html#ixzz3Yb7sGdEu Although answering these questions may require one to provide some scientific evidence, it is worth mentioning that the visible decline in water availability and the increase of droughts and floods alone, are enough reason to link changes in the climate to their impact on the socio-economic development of sub Saharan Africa. The historic seasonal migration of Northern Sudanese nomads from their domains in the north to some parts of South Sudan can lead to war if such remains unhampered. With this fact in mind (then) Southern Sudan's President directed the authorities in the bordering areas to allow the Misseriya nomads to access grazing areas during dry seasons. Scarcity of cattle grazing lands for South Sudanese pastoralists is enough to cause inter tribal conflicts, which have the potential to escalate and degenerate into a resource-based warfare between the South and the North. Recent eruptions of fighting in Abyei indicates the fragility of the situation at hand. The Sudan civil war One of the effects of war on people is the rising attitude of disregard for the environment. During the 21 years of war in Sudan, there was wanton harvest of large forests in Southern Sudan either for sale of the timber or as a source of fuel for cooking (charcoal). Conversely, no mitigation efforts were made to plant more trees. I remember my earlier years of school when we were reminded to “cut one tree - plant two trees”. We were made to value forests as a vital part of the larger environment that must be carefully managed if they are to be sustainable. Most countries have adopted policies to promote the sustainable management of forests. Unless this is done, population increase will put too much pressure on the forests, leading to its over utilisation and eventually to deforestation. As a church/Christian response in our diocese, we have made a deliberate effort to intensify tree planting. Thus whenever we dedicate a new local church, we plant trees. In this vein and in striving to teach by example, we recently dedicated three new churches and planted at least 15 trees. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) The climate is closely linked to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The seventh MDG is about ensuring environmental sustainability. Some of the targets to meet this MDG include the need to protect the environment, to reduce by half the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, and to significantly improve the lives of slum dwellers through provision of decent and affordable housing for the world’s poor. Water is life! Several years ago an article on the MDGs in ‘Footsteps’ (a Tearfund – UK newsletter) indicated that worldwide 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation and that over 1 billion people are without access to safe drinking water. The article says over 5 million children under five years of age die every year from water borne diseases caused by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. Sudan/South Sudan have many big rivers, including the Nile, but these are scattered in different parts of the countries so that getting water from these rivers to the people who need it is practically difficult and too expensive. Even where a water source may be close by, people are unable to take advantage of it. Cities like Juba and Malakal are just by the River White Nile, yet most of the residents of these towns struggle with the problem of lack of water. In Juba, people live as if they are hundreds of miles away from the world’s longest river, yet it is just a stone’s throw away from most residential areas! Apart from the need to plant more trees in order to protect the soil and provide shade, fuel wood and windbreaks, ‘Footsteps’ recommends a number of other practical suggestions. They include the need to build hand-dug latrines and the use of more efficient cooking stoves that save fuel. For families with corrugated iron sheeted house roofs, it is recommended that they use this for collecting rainwater for drinking. If such ideas are implemented we will be taking important steps to ensuring that the 7th MDG is achieved in South Sudan. Conclusion Arguably the ongoing changes in our climate are easily linked to the acceleration of the southward encroachment of the Sahara desert. Changes in the climate have also affected the availability of water in my village, with some of the rivers that used to retain water during the rainy season no longer doing so. There is a river called “Linyakure” (literally meaning ‘finisher of thirst’) that used to remain swollen, but is now receding fast during the dry seasons, having become narrower and sand filled. What we are witnessing in my village appears to represent the general phenomenon that follows climate change in many parts of sub Saharan Africa. It is important that we do something about these and other changes in climate. Doing nothing is not an option. The churches can play a significant role in enlightening the people. The churches meet more people face to face every week and can therefore be the best avenue to bring this issue to its adherents. (First presented to the 2008 Lambeth Conference in London on 31st July. The Lambeth Conference is a once a decade conference of Anglican bishops. This presentation has been slightly amended, with updated notes here).

My life alongside God's word volume 3. 21st century issues section. – by Anthony Poggo What do we mean by the word ‘media’? The dictionary defines media as “the main way that large numbers of people receive information and entertainment, that is television, radio and newspaper”. The dictionary I was referring to was written before the age of modern methods in Information Technology advancement, like the Internet, mobile phones and social networks. Another way of looking at the word ‘media’ is to look at it in a broader sense, the means of passing a message in a specific way. In our Bibles for example: Noah used the ark, Genesis 6:14, 22; Moses used the staff, Exodus 4:17, 20; Nehemiah used the city wall, Nehemiah 2:17-18; Jesus used mud for healing the blind, John 9:6, 11; and God used the rainbow, Genesis 9:12-15; the dove, Matthew 3:16; and the cross, Luke 9:23. In our subject there is a hidden understanding that the media can corrupt one’s mind, hence the need to keep one’s mind pure. What does the word ‘pure’ mean? Two of the dictionary meanings I selected are first, “clean and not containing any harmful substances”. And second, “without evil thought or actions, especially sexual ones; morally good”. Is the media evil? I would like to make it clear right from the beginning that the media is not evil in itself. In fact I use the media a lot. We are living at a time where the media drives everything and so we cannot ignore it. Until recently I wrote a column called 'Just a Minute' in the Sudan Mirror newspaper. I did this for two years doing two articles per month – articles of around 1,000 words. I used this as a ministry opportunity where I handled current issues from a Christian perspective. For example, I did an article on ‘polygamy’ asking the question whether polygamy was the cause of any problems in Sudan? What is important is that we should always sieve or filter what we listen to, watch or read from the media. For example, a Christian who is involved in watching pornographic material is playing with fire. Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord, Ephesians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:1. Whatever you, do it for the glory of God, 1 Corinthians 10:31. If you can’t, then don’t do it. Be careful of what the media promotes! There are things that the media promotes that are in contradiction to the word of God. For example, there is a column called Soul Mates. These past weeks I saw a 35-yearold lady looking for “a God fearing and financially stable man”. I would encourage you to find your friends in a Christian fellowship – unless there was a column like this specifically for Christian believers. Even then, I personally would still be reluctant to use it. Be careful of the amount of time spent We need to watch what we spend our time on, because it is often at the expense of time invested in Bible reading and prayer. I have a habit of listening to the BBC for at least 30 minutes when I wake up in the morning. I find that I am not able to spend 30 minutes in the morning in prayer and the Bible. This is a challenge for me. Be aware of addiction You know the word addiction applies not only to drugs but also to the media. The dictionary gives one of the meanings of being addicted as “spending all your free time doing something because you are so interested in it”. What I find is that when I am in Nairobi, I cannot miss watching “Who is smarter now?” and “Stomp”. I also like watching the 9:00 evening news and on Friday nights, News Shot and Bulls Eye. How about Soap Operas? Several years ago, when I was a theological student, although time was so precious, I found time to watch ‘The Rich Also Cry’. Watch what you watch! Apart from being addictive, some of the media programmes that you listen to or watch have bad language – the F and S words are used often and just like that. Some even use the name of Jesus as a cursing swear word, see Exodus 20:7, where God clearly forbids this. Let’s concentrate for a moment on the word ‘pure’. I looked up this word in a Bible Concordance, which is a book that lists words in alphabetical order and gives all (or most) of the biblical verses that contain the said word. I therefore looked at the verses that contain the word ‘pure’. Here are some of the most important verses that suit our purpose because they impact our vital subject. They include the following: Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a pure heart, O God” This is a verse that is from the psalms that David recited as part of his confession after he fell into the sin of adultery. That sin developed from him first seeing what he should not have seen, a woman bathing, 2 Samuel 11:2. What David is saying, from his own experience, is that if our hearts are full of impure thoughts, they will lead us into further active sin. This means the kind of media material that we read, watch or listen to can contribute into impurity in our minds, which leads into sin of action. 2. Psalm 119:9 “How can a young man keep his way pure?” This is one of the most important questions in scripture. The answer is given in the second part of the verse. The answer is: “By living according to your word” – the Bible. Having a daily reading of the word of God with regular prayers is one of the ways in which we can grow spiritually. Empty spaces soon get filled with clutter and rubbish! Our minds are no exception. 3. Habakkuk 1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil” Although in this verse the prophet was referring to God and the wicked lifestyle the children of Israel and their oppressors had slipped into, it can actually refer today to TV and the Internet, and to books and magazines. Since God cannot look on evil, very bad things, surely we Christians must not when we have any choice in the matter? 4. Philippians 4: 8 “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praise worthy – think about such things” Paul is saying the influence of one’s thoughts inwardly deeply affects one’s life outwardly. Whatever a person allows to occupy the mind will sooner or later determine what they say and what they do. What Paul is saying is that when we come to think about all these good influencing things, it will result in a wholesome thought pattern, leading in turn to holy living. What is Christian media? The Lausanne documents pose these questions: Is Christian media defined by the producer being a converted Christian? http://www.lausanne.org/docs/2004forum/LOP48 Is the message consistent with biblical truth? Can Christians produce bad media? Can non-Christians produce good media with Christian values? Christians usually describe non- Christian media as “secular media”. Is there a problem naming the media this way? According to the secular Wikipedia, “Christian media can either refer to Christians who work in secular media, or media that is Christian, or refer to various aspects of mass media which are primarily targeting the Christian demographic. The conservative Christian right and fundamentalist Christians have been especially active with media ventures”. In 2004 the Lausanne Committee insightfully concluded their deliberations by writing that Christians can produce bad media and non-Christians can produce good media, as well as the other way around. Media is largely neutral itself. The key is how both the producer and the receiver use it. All Christians need to have a discerning eye to see and understand the difference between what is beneficial for them to see, listen to or read, and what is detrimental for them – therefore they should keep well clear of it. They concluded, “We call upon the Church to use media to effectively engage the culture in ways that effectively draw non-believers toward spiritual truth and to proclaim Jesus Christ in culturally relevant ways”. The words ‘pure’ and ‘holy’ The words purity and holiness can be used interchangeably. Holiness is an attribute that is expected from all Christians. In the various laws that are listed in Leviticus 19 the first law says: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy”, verse 2. In 1 Peter 1:13-21, the section begins with the word ‘therefore’. In English, when you see this word, you need to ask yourself what is this word there for! Here it is to connect the subsequent verses to the preceding information. Having praised God for salvation and the hope that we have as Christians in the Lord, Peter now lists a series of exhortations or imperatives describing what the born again believer was to do. Before doing this, the reader was to get prepared, verse 13. We used be told in athletics: ‘Get ready, steady and go’. This is why Peter says the reader was to prepare himself for action. The believer’s living hope should lead to a life of personal holiness. We are saved to live holy lives. Salvation should mean an about turn in our lives. It requires us to be obedient to our Lord Jesus. This involves being self-controlled and also setting our hope on Christ's return. As Christians, our focus should be on the return of Christ. Verse 14 assumes that the readers were already God's children. They were children who were obedient. Such children should say “no” to their previous, pre-Christian lives. Before you knew Christ, there were desires that you had. These desires must now disappear. They must go away. You and I lived such lives due to ignorance. Now we do not have to live such lives any more. We know how we should live our new Christian lives. The call to holiness is a call to life as God expects us to be. The new lifestyle should not reflect the previous life of ignorance in sin but the holy nature of our heavenly Father Who called us and gave us new birth. The call to holiness is not a call to absolute holiness, which cannot be achieved in this world. Holiness can never be obtained in an instant. We live in a world of “instant” everything - instant coffee, aspirin for instant pain relief, etc. There is no instant holiness. It is a lifelong process. All areas of our lives should become completely conformed to God's will shown in His word. This should be our ongoing prayer. Is the other media against the culture of reading? Is it true that reading for leisure is disappearing from our society? Is watching television or videos the main rival of leisure reading? Before we go any further, we need to define what ‘reading’ is. The Webster dictionary defines ‘reading’ as “getting the meaning of something from a printed form”, while the Oxford dictionary defines reading as “to look at and understand the meaning of written or printed words or symbols”. In the Bible, several passages refer to books. In Ecclesiastes 12:12 it says, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body”. The apostle Paul, who at the end of his life wrote two letters to Timothy, expressed in the second concern about his books. In 2 Timothy 4:13 Paul requested his colleague and student to, “Bring my books (scrolls), especially the parchments”. In several passages of the Bible, it talks of the names of true believers being written in the Book of Life, e.g. Revelation 21:27. These references all show that a book is an ancient medium for information storage and communication. If we agree that reading for leisure is disappearing from our society then the question is, ‘What is contributing to the decline of leisure reading?’. Is it the shortage of reading materials? Is the progress in technology making us lean toward celluloid or digital entertainment over the written word? Is the media taking this over, driving the changes? The global figures for literacy show us that in many countries illiteracy is not a problem but instead there is the problem of what we may call, ‘alliterates’, by which I mean those who can read but choose not to. It is said that in some of these countries ‘alliterates’ far outnumber illiterates. ‘Alliterate’ in this context and meaning is not yet a word in our dictionaries (2015), but it is rapidly becoming one. At the moment it means: “using words beginning with the same sound or letter”. Here we use it to mean “one who can read but doesn’t; practically illiterate”. Another category of readers is ‘dormant readers’. This refers to those who like to read and consider themselves readers but do not take the time to read. In Africa, the problem is the dearth of reading materials even if people are able and willing to read. I am reminded of what the Scripture Union International Secretary, Emmanuel Oladipo, once said on the lack of books in the third world compared to the variety and availability of literature in the developed countries. He likened this to, “Those who have the teeth do not have the maize, while those who have maize do not have the teeth”. I have also heard arguments that one problem is that we mainly read to pass examinations. Others have also argued that Africans are people of oral culture who find it easier to talk than read. We should not hide behind our culture to justify our lack of leisure reading. On a trip some time back by the bus from Nairobi to Kampala I noted that very few passengers on the bus were reading novels or other leisure reading materials (a handful of people were actually reading the daily paper). In contrast, when one travels on any coach in the United Kingdom or when using the London train known as ‘the tube’, one will see that very many people are busy reading either novels or newspapers. In spite of this it is said that only about 47 percent of the population in Britain read for leisure. What are the benefits of leisure reading? Leisure reading has several benefits. Among these are the broadening of one’s vocabulary, the increase in knowledge and the relief of stress. Leisure reading is beneficial to the mind, as reading helps the reader gain insight and knowledge about a subject previously unknown. Leisure reading can also be a time for relaxation and consequently relieves stress. Of course it can also be a gentle way of lulling a person to sleep (I have heard of people who would deliberately read a boring book when they were finding it hard to go to sleep). Reading can also be a time of fun, as a good book can be more interesting than a movie! Whenever you read, make sure the book is a good one. The mass media produce many which are not pure and holy. The church encourages Christians first to read their Bibles regularly for their own spiritual growth. In a time of renewal and revival, when Ezra and the Levites led the people, “They read from the book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read”, Nehemiah 8:8. The Psalm writer said to his God, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”, Psalm 119:11. Surely this underlines how the Bible is God’s media for keeping our minds, hearts and lives pure? Colossians 4:16 encourages the sharing around of books read and books to read. (You may even wish to do it with this book!). Our media worldwide shares and spreads much that is evil, although there is some good amongst it. As Christians may we allow others to benefit from the media that have helped us become more pure and holy. Originally given as a talk to the Youth group of St Luke’s Parish, Kenyatta, Nairobi, in All Saints Cathedral Diocese, where the writer was an attached clergy from 1996-2007, before his election as a bishop.