Coming from and having traveled to other countries, I have not yet seen a country that was founded on such strong biblical principles. It is very obvious that the blessings and favor that Americans have enjoyed, was due to the fact that America was covered with prayer and the Word of God. Yet today, Americans are pushing God out of every facet of life and then wondering why things are going the way they are, pointing fingers in every direction, except inwards.

As a young kid growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo (a.k.a Zaire), I remember the time when things got difficult.  The economy was collapsing, politically, things were not looking good either, there was high inflation, and a shortage of almost everything – food, medical supplies, fuel, etc. Those were not easy times. Some people I knew, could afford only one meal a day, if that.  As a family of 13 siblings including cousins, I cannot even imagine what my parents were going through, trying to feed this mass population! What kept my family going was a farm- a great source of provision, but more importantly, it was the faith in a loving, omnipotent God. The Democratic Republic of Congo was not founded upon Christian principles, but my parents were committed followers of Christ. This heritage that I received from them has helped me throughout my adult life. It taught me not to focus on the bad situations that may appear to overwhelm us, but to keep my trust and my faith in God.

It is evident that things are not looking good here, in America. Gas prices are rising rapidly and basic necessities like food and shelter are costing more, while incomes are declining. Under these trying circumstances, it is normal for people to be stressed out. But all I can say is, that like most African people, having lived through worse situations, I see hope only in the American people returning to the God who had blessed them in the first place.

In December, 1860, James Buchanan, the then President of the United States of America, signed a proclamation which stated: “Numerous appeals have been made to me by pious and patriotic associations and citizens, in view of the present distracted and dangerous condition of our country, to recommend that a day be set apart for Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer throughout the Union. In compliance with their request and my own sense of duty, I designate Friday, the 4th of January 1861, for this purpose, and recommend that the People assemble on that day, according to their several forms of worship, to keep it as a solemn Fast.”

I believe we are re-living such times. In 1860, when things were not going well, the people turned to the leaders asking to them to return to God for answer and direction.  Yet today, people are trying to figure it out on their own. I would, therefore, like to remind all Christians, to find encouragement in the knowledge that we serve a great God, and, instead of getting caught up in how bad things may appear, we should keep our eyes on God.  I believe it is time for America to, once again, return to God and bless Him.  I pray that the people of this great nation will make a commitment to returning to and keeping their Godly heritage.

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To me that is the very essence of humility.  How many of us, if we had the power, might and authority to bring people to their knees, would be willing to take a beating, let alone die on a cross for anybody who dared to say anything against us?  I daresay, we would immediately use our power and authority to silence them and let them have what they deserved.  Yet, in the Scriptures we find that Christ, who was God Himself, who had all the power and authority to destroy those who dared to confront Him, chose instead to humble Himself, not claiming any authority or right to anything, and became a sacrifice for those who scorned and mocked Him.  Not only did He die on the cross, but asked God’s forgiveness for them.

In this picture of Christ’s death on the cross, we see humility exemplified through grace and love.  Humility was not demonstrated by a show of self-righteousness, by way of a condescending attitude of false humility.  It was because of God’s love for us, that He sacrificed His Son, and it was love and grace by which the Son was obedient to the Father’s will, before Whom He humbled Himself for our sake.  True humility is displayed in acts of genuine love and grace where we do not act out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in true humility consider others better than ourselves.  Such humility comes only when we realize the greatness of God, and we see ourselves as nothing before Him, and in gratitude for His grace and love towards us, we cannot but do the same for others.  We then begin to see that we are not that much better than the others, but that we all struggle with our own sinful nature.  Once we can recognize that about ourselves, we are better equipped to remain truly humble and be able to demonstrate that by truly caring for and loving another, who is struggling.

Humility is displayed in our love for our neighbors, and conversely, we cannot love and be gracious to others unless we are humble.  May we therefore, follow Paul’s exhortation, to imitate Christ’s humility. It does not mean we become doormats, but it does mean that we choose to humble ourselves in obedience to God’s precepts.  We humble ourselves before God, who is Almighty, and in so doing, we are able to act humbly towards our neighbor, demonstrating love, grace and mercy, in a way that it pleases God alone, and becomes a blessing to others.  Our humility comes from doing what is right in God’s eyes, not in pleasing man.  God Bless.

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Pastor Erick Kalenga said, “We want to open a new discussion in Culpeper. We will discuss where we have fallen short in bringing racial unity to Culpeper and develop a road map to change course to become one church in our words and deeds”.

Round table panelists are as follows: Pastor Baker Riggs Church on the Rise, Pastor G W Dameron City on the Hill, Pastor Lanny Morton Beulah Baptist Church,Reverend Harry-Luis Rivera Anointed by God Ministry, Pastor Habacuc Diaz-Lopez Primera Iglesia Bautista De Piedras Negras, A.R. Culpeper Resident Jon Russell will serve as Master of Ceremony.

“The town of Culpeper is a very diverse community with approximately 40% of its residence being racial minorities according to the 2010 census. While our residents are racially tolerant, very little is being done to bring us all together in a way that models genuine love and service to one another. This is the first step on a long and rewarding road,” said Jon Russell MC for the event.

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Recently I have found myself asking this question – What is wisdom? According to Webster’s dictionary wisdom is defined as accumulated philosophic or scientific learning which also means knowledge. Wisdom can also be defined as ability to discern in qualities and relationships which can also be defined as insight. Wisdom can also be defined as good sense, judgment. We also see that the general accepted believe and the teaching of the ancient wise men was also considered as wisdom. In the context of the word of God I find that the word wisdom was used 234 times in 222 different passages of scripture in the King James Bible. This is to say that wisdom is very important to God and as believers we need to learn and understand it. If you read the word of God you will discover that, in most cases wisdom was followed by the word understanding. That means the word understanding is rather important as well. Let’s define the word understanding. Understanding means in one sense a mental grasp which can be defined as comprehension. It is also the power of comprehending, especially the capacity to  apprehend general relations of particulars, the power to make experience intelligible by applying concepts.

Let me take you to the word of God where we discover the two words wisdom and understanding are coupled together. 1kings 4:29: And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore.

As you can see from this scripture verse, that wisdom is coupled with understanding, and these two go together hand-in-hand. It’s not just enough to have wisdom it is extremely important to also have understanding or comprehension, because without understanding, it becomes impossible for wisdom to be used more effectively. In the garden of Eden God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And He did not say the tree will make one wise. Wisdom, I should say it’s not knowing good and evil. Wisdom is knowing good and applying the good that you know. There are so many people who walk around with a tremendous amount of head knowledge, “wisdom” but yet failed to have understanding which is the ability to comprehend the situation and apply the knowledge that they have already acquired more appropriately. It is not just enough to have the facts of the Bible or memorizing Bible verses without learning to apply them. The Bible talks about God being all wise and God in His infinite wisdom created the Heaven and the Earth. The bible also tells that if we lack wisdom, we can ask of him. While you are asking for wisdom be sure to ask for understanding and most importantly to ask for a great big heart. In closing let me share a poem that my baby sister Gloria Kalenga wrote on wisdom and this summarizes it all.

“Wisdom is the voice of the Lord whispering in our ear, telling us the truths about ourselves that we’d rather never hear.

Wisdom is the eye that sees the shadow of death behind our multitude of grandiose schemes and plans made by the blind.

Wisdom is the hesitation we sometimes feel right before we talk, and the instinct that tells us it’s often better simply to get up and walk.

Wisdom is the light within that illuminates our road ahead, and shows us the twists and turns of fate, and signs that we misread.

Wisdom is the common sense that crisis can bring on into play, convincing us in no uncertain terms to live only for this day.

Wisdom O dear, wisdom that we seek, is the word of God”

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Looking at what motivated the young man, as law enforcement, psychologists and pastors are in the process of digging into his past, it is clear that for somebody to commit such an act of violence he has to a degree, a disturbed heart and also therefore the mind. One can only speculate, but based upon repeated incidents in various societies, this type of behavior is usually associated with a broken family structure.  That brokenness of family relations has a great potential of causing one to harbor bitterness, resentment, anger and so on and so forth.  The bottom line is a lack of love results in such negative behavior.  So now, who is to blame?  It is not the guns or gun regulation that is the bigger issue.  In reality, a sick and disturbed person, who has fallen into the depth of this spiritual dark hole,  and has developed a disturbed heart and mind, can use any method or any device to perpetrate any crime.   The gun is only a tool wrongly used. The issue is the evil in peoples’ hearts that causes them to act in such a way.

How do we respond?  It is evident and obvious that where there is a spiritual decline, evil increases. Our country is already on a fast track to spiritual and moral decline.  So how do we address this?  It is our responsibility, I believe, as a church to lead in this effort of reconciliation to God, heart to mind, and with each other. Unfortunately, we are at the place where the church itself is in conflict within it.  This conflict within the church, I believe, is an issue of deep seated pride.  C.S. Lewis calls it the great sin.  Therefore, for the church to be a true catalyst in this movement of spiritual uplift, we have to truly humble ourselves before God, and one another.  The Scriptures tell us “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself”.  If each of us truly strives to look at others’ interest more than our own, we have a chance of overcoming such acts of evil.  If we don’t go to the root cause, which is the lack of God’s love and humility in our hearts,  we are bound to see such incidents increasing.

It is the essence of divine love that fills our hearts to serve others that makes us truly humble.  It is that love that was manifest in the life and death of Christ, Who by divine providence, was born only to live and die for us. Who being God, humbled Himself to die on the cross, so that we could be reconciled to God and to one another. He also gave us the ministry of reconciliation.  As we prepare to celebrate His birth, let us take a moment to ponder upon His humility. God bless.

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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in the latest annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report,  reports that one in five American adults suffered from mental illness within the past year, with one in 20 serious mental illness that resulted in “functional impairment”.  That being the case, it begs the question of why mental health care in various communities has been undergoing cuts and experiencing less support from the government. Currently, the largest mental health facilities are for inmates at the Los Angeles County Jail in California, Cook County Jail in Illinois and Rikers Island in New York.

With focus increasing on mental illness, perhaps we should stop and consider what is means and what causes it. One definition of “Mental” reads “relating to spirit or idea as opposed to matter” and “Mental disorder” is defined as “mental or bodily condition marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, and emotions to seriously impair the normal psychological functioning of the individual—called also mental illness”.

Barring physiological reasons for mental disability, I believe the root cause may lie with a lack of spiritual maturity.  I believe if we start putting a lot more focus on getting healthy spiritually, we will start seeing a decline in mental health issues, because the truth is, that we are spiritual beings, whether we choose to believe it or not.  As human beings it is very important that we get in tune with our Creator and address the issues that we have to deal with spiritually.  Man was created in God’s image and was equipped with all that he needed to be in a perfect relationship with God, Who had provided man with all the needed to live.  All man had to do was to trust and believe in Him – trusting and believing being the basis of any meaningful relationship.  But man chose not to trust God, and as a result, separated himself and the whole human race from God.  He chose to believe the lies of Satan, instead.  It is because of that poor choice that Satan got an entry into the heart and mind of man, wreaks havoc, and we, descendants of the first couple, are born by default so to say, to condemnation.  However, God being the all powerful God that He is, full of love, mercy and grace, has provided an option to each and every individual born, to reverse this fallen situation, and make his or her own choice, to either be reconciled with Him and return to “Eden” and have everlasting life, OR to continue to live believing in the lies of Satan as the first father did, and live and die condemned.  God, in His infinite mercy, love and grace has provided us a Savior, His own Son whom He sent to us, so that all who believe in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life, as was offered to Adam and Eve in the beginning.   We are offered the same choice, to believe in Him and trust His Word, or believe the lies of Satan.  Christ came to open eyes that were blind, heal the sick, raise up the dead to live again and heal those disturbed in the heart and mind – mentally tortured by demons and legions – a bondage resulting in behaviors like that of Adam Lanza.

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, we need to stop and reflect on the fact that Christ did not come so that we can get or give presents.  He came to save the lost, who are condemned already, so that those who accept Him will have eternal life and will be set free from the bondage of Satan who perpetrates all the evil that exists in this world.  God bless and A Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

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As I was reading this transcript from the Baptist Press, I found myself trying to answer the question “should anybody be offended by this?”  Then the thought came to my mind that if I look closely to what was said, it is very clear that several people groups could find an implied offensive view in it, such as those opposed to making business an evangelistic tool, people who are divorced or come from broken homes, the atheists, people of other faith, and the list can go on and on.

As I probed further on the issues raised in the mainstream media regarding the same sex controversy, I found an article in the Washington Times Communities which stated that “the Huffington Post (owned by America Online) which was among the first to insert the terms same-sex marriage which had theretofore not been mentioned!”.  As a result of that report, the mainstream media picked up on it and blew it out of proportion including terms such as anti-gay, discriminatory, etc. to where government officials such as in Boston and Chicago were refusing the franchise from opening in their jurisdictions.  In fact I quote speaker Christine Quinn of New York City Council, as reported in New York Times who said in her letter on Council Stationery addressed to the President of the New York University to “sever your relationship with Chik-Fil-A eatery on campus.  Let me be clear” she said, ”I do not want establishments in my city that hold such discriminatory views”.  Now my question is, what is discrimination?  According to Webster “the act of discriminating is the process by which two stimuli differing in some aspect are responded to differently.”   So who is discriminating who?  As I see it, there are always going to be different opinions, views, principles and way of living life.  But discrimination by definition as stated above, it is the ACT of responding differently to another stimulus. So once again, who is being discriminated against.  On my part, I see no active response on part of Mr. Cathy.  He simply made some statements based upon his beliefs and questions posed to him.  As I read the entire transcript, I did not encounter any statements he made that were hateful towards any people group.

In light of this sad outcome during these tough times we are living in, I would like to encourage each and every one of us to focus on learning to live with mutual respect with whatever belief or principles of belief, one holds.   We have to make a decision to love them regardless.  This country is known for freedom which also includes the freedom of speech.  Let’s exercise that freedom respectfully without ending in a mob spirit.  Personally, there is one statement that Mr. Cathy mentioned, that is of great importance to me -  “We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families.”  Without the strength of a family we do not have a community, which translates into a social, economic and spiritual decline.  God Bless.

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Rick Warren said in his book the purpose driven life that, “You are not an accident! Even before the universe was created God had you in mind, and He planned you for His purposes. These purposes will extend far beyond the few years you will spend on earth.”

I certainly believe that teenagers need to be guided while they are searching for their purpose in life. I believe that parents play a major role in helping their teenage children discover what they were meant to do in life by pointing them to God the creator.

Discovering your purpose is one of the steps that one takes in life. But the challenge is in pursuing your purpose. I believe that we can draw a parallel between a life of purpose and a seed’s life. I remember going to the farm with my family during corn season. After preparing the ground we would dig small holes and place the corn seed in it. As time goes we would see a small plant breaking through the dirt and later on bear fruit. In order for the corn seed to develop into a plant, it will go through the process of dying and then later bring new life. While this new fragile life is been formed, it will then have to break through the dirt. This little plant will enter in the process of maturity and later produce fruits.

As we see in the life of the corn seed, the seed had to die after being buried in the ground. In order for our teens to pursuit their purpose, they will need to die to self and let God’s purpose be manifested from the inside out. Your will read in the word of God that Christ himself had to died in order to fulfill his purpose. After dying to self you need to press on through life. As you know, the little fragile corn plant will break through the dirt that was placed on top of it. We need to encourage this young generation to press on through life while pursuing God’s purpose for their life.

Today’s generation is living in a time wherein their lives are driven by peer pressure or various other influences. I believe today’s church has a responsibility to help our teens live a life of purpose because there is nothing more important in life than knowing what God’s plan is for your life. Rick Warren said, “Knowing God gives meaning to your life, knowing your purpose simplifies your life, knowing your purpose focuses your life, knowing your purpose motivates your life, knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity.”       It took David a long time before his purpose came to pass although he knew about it since he was a young boy. It doesn’t matter if people are against you if God says it, it will come to past. Remember don’t do anything that will abort God’s purpose for your life. like Jeremiah 29:11 says: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV) God Bless

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