Spiritual help for Kenyans is on the way. From West Los Angeles to Moreno Valley and from Baker's Field to San Dirgo men and women are meeting together to address these very important family issues. How are we going to bring up our children in a America? How are we going to sustain our family relationship. How are going to tame our ran-away teenagers? How do we deal with the world economic crisis? and finally How can we succeed to live lives that are pleasing to God who is our hope and sustainer in a time when nothing else do'nt seem to hold for a moment
Basically becoming a member of the Church lead by men called and anointed by our Lord Jesus Christ, is the most profitable investment one can make in life. It is the most dependable way of receiveing spiritual help we all need and helping other people become spiritually secure, at a time when the world religious institutions we have depended on are failing us.
Many of you are perceptive enough to sense that something is terribly wrong out there in our churches.You are one of millions believers with a growing sense of unease about these Churches as it is now.These institutions we have always trusted are now giving you a queasy feeling. They have many spiritual and moral problems. They are a spiritually barren and yet a financial burden.
Spiritual help for Kenyans is on the way. From West Los Angeles to Moreno Valley and from Baker's Field to San Dirgo men and women are meeting together to address this very important family issue. How are we going to bring up our children in a America? How are we going to sustain our family relationship. How are going to tame our ran-away teenagers? How do we deal with the world economic crisis?
Each of you who takes the Lord's advice will create a dependable pocket of stability and emotional security which will help you to be in good standing in the hard times a head. It will "panic-proof" your life. We have been told that every family which has its debt cancelled or under control, investments which will beat the inflationary spiral, and all of the things that will make for social, economic and stability, will make the world safer and more stable for families. churches and communities. This has not worked or proven to be true.
Believers need to challenge the conventional wisdom in planting Churches that don't deliver. The self-righteous leadership and personalized finacial planning that has lead to the Church mess. We don't need those sacred cows called "The great Men of God" the anointed onces who are in reality business men wearing church collars. Their families are in a total mess. Their children don't believe in God. Some are resbians, because they have lead you and me into spiritual bondage. But," when the son of God sets you free,(pay all your debts of sin) you are free in deed". You dare believe Matthew 19:29-30 "And every one that has forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father; or mother, or wife or children for my sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life" The investment principle here is this; If you invest or give to God your $100, worth of your quality time, love, humility, and finance, your investment return will be one hundred times. That is $10,000 for every $100 invested. This is the only investment that will "panic proof your life.
In the last few months the cry for more and better teaching has increased by more than three hundred percent. We are calling God for more and better teachings. Churches that will minister to the whole family needs. The leadership that reflect God's wisdom and power that will helped families come out of bondage. Identifying with the leaders spiritually opens many ways to make a difference. God wants us to be generous and spiritually mature to make the kingdom of God our first priority. It takes dedication and love to help God's people who ask for our help. And just like good marriage relationships, bonding with God, meaning leadership development can be a huge responsibility and a great challenge. It involves the formation of a life-long passion for the people or the generation you are called to reach for transformation.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
रेफ. लीडरशिप TRANSFORMATION
You come to learn a lot about a person by the friends he selects and uses as his reutenants. And nothing proves more deadly and evil than the choice of companions, the hand - picked objects of intimacy ODM party head picked. Talk of change some of these generals and youths have no fear of God in their lifestyles in their mouth and in their brains. If some of these generals ask why, someone would be expossing himself to condemnation by the God fearers who would be more than happy to give infallable proofs how some of them recked churches even before joined their party. It is a lifelong goal and desire for one or two to burn and to destroy churches. It is not the first time a Kenyan politician now serving as cabinet minister ordered a church to be destroyed. I am speaking from a knowledge point of view. I am also a clergy serving God in Kenya, educated enough to know what I am talking about.
For an ODM politician and criminal to be the spokesman for a party and to take the position of the adviser is to dig the ODM party's graveyard. Those who know the history of pentagon generals shrink and feel insulted because these kind of men should be in jail and not Kivuitu. The worst crime commited in Kenya is for politicians to inpire, fund, and plan how to make others responsible for their choices. The poor youths in police custodies allowed themselves to be manipulated by their generals and went about killing innocent citizens. They all made choices. Purchased by money, not freely given, but a choice nonetheless. They all gave their time to their generals out of their own free will.
The youth could be tempted to tell their generals, "You made us kill" The generals acted manipulatively, but the youth could never be manipulated without their permission. Killing innocent citizens was simply their choice. How dare you turn around and blame Kivuitu for your high voltage manipuration. Kivuitu never killed anybody and kivuitu has one thing that he does well. He amuses people with his humor. That is not something to take Kivuitu to jail. This is invariably the fruit of passive-agressive ODM generals. These kind of people resist demands by indirect tactics. They will not take responsibilty for their own choices; instead, they turned around and let the youth be blamed for making them kill. It is the same way for abuse. We cannot stop someone from being abusive but we can stop expossing ourselves or our youth from being abused. Thereefore to convict the youths to life sentense or death while those who manipulated them are free will leave poor and hopelessly broken families breeding in endless pain. Any judge who will sit in court to give the vedict must think twice before destroying the lives of these manipulated youths. They are innocent in the manner I have explained that they are the victims of high voltage manipulation. It is a thing the Pentagon planned communicated and implemented before our own eyes. They appeared on the Media as they gave threats and intimidation from Kisumu, Nairobi, and worst of all the Rift Valley. Kenyans let us not waste time and money with commission after commission. They did it in the open. They were generals commanding their subject
However that is not the route I would want us to follow. Let us go by God's word and examples found in the bible.The selection of persons God selected as His companions and those of some parties have some similarities. God picked people like Abraham who pimped for his wife, Jacob who cheated his brother, Moses who murdered the Egyptian. King David who murdered Uriah and took his wife,Saul of Tarsus who murdered and persecuted the church. Yet all of these ended up on God’s list of favorites. In like manner, the selected group of men and women of the Pentagon cannot claim to be perfect by any means. There are also major differences between the two groups. At one time in their life, they all realised the need to chose God to be on their team and they developed a great desire to change. They repented of their sins and agressively wrestled with God to be the coatch and the captain of their lives. God had mercy to transform and reconcilled them unto himself. Jacob got his new name Israel (God-struggler) after an all-night wrestling match with God, and ever since the name for God’s people have harked back to the contest. God’s people are literally, the children of struggle.
In the same way the ODM generals and the youths should be frank to Kenyans and confess that they were the mastermind of the killing that took place. The people who actually killed did it on behave of their generals. It is a good time for the generals to admit of their evil doing, repent, turn away from their wicked ways and embrace God as their coach from now on and we as Kenyans will be touched by God to forgive them since they are children of the same nation Kenya. We can't afford to have another lot killed. It will be a big loss for Kenya.
The company that God keeps always determine victory and not failure. God has the ability to transform his choice of companions. He knows that they will be developed and transformed, into great men and women of God. They will all graduate with the ability to deliver and to transform others irrespective of their historical background. This is the reason we decided to spend our lives discipling, equipping training and transforming others. This is the kind of change all Kenyans should pray for and expect God to hear and answer to heal Kenya.
Jesus knew that Saul, though a murderer and church persecuter was the most suited student of the kingdom lacking training and empowerment. St Paul graduated as the most powerful and effective leaders and transformer of all times.
Who knows if these generals and the youth given a chance to be transformed can develop to become the most suited defender of justice and transformer of corruption and insecurity in the near future. Jesus the teacher developed a passion for communicating the gospel, the power of God.The effective teacher always teaches from the overflow of a full life.The law of the teacher simply stated is this: If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow. Neither beauty, personality wealth nor methodology can subtitute for this principle. You cannot communicate out of a vacuum. You can not impart what you do not possess. If you don't know it-truly know it-you can't give it. The reality of teaching is that all teachers primarily are learners, and students among students perpetuating the learning process; They are still en route. And by becoming students again, theyseek to develop and improve the education process through a radically new and uniquely personal set of eyes. They must keep growing and changing. The word of God of course, does not change; but their understanding of it does change, because every one is developing individual.
For an ODM politician and criminal to be the spokesman for a party and to take the position of the adviser is to dig the ODM party's graveyard. Those who know the history of pentagon generals shrink and feel insulted because these kind of men should be in jail and not Kivuitu. The worst crime commited in Kenya is for politicians to inpire, fund, and plan how to make others responsible for their choices. The poor youths in police custodies allowed themselves to be manipulated by their generals and went about killing innocent citizens. They all made choices. Purchased by money, not freely given, but a choice nonetheless. They all gave their time to their generals out of their own free will.
The youth could be tempted to tell their generals, "You made us kill" The generals acted manipulatively, but the youth could never be manipulated without their permission. Killing innocent citizens was simply their choice. How dare you turn around and blame Kivuitu for your high voltage manipuration. Kivuitu never killed anybody and kivuitu has one thing that he does well. He amuses people with his humor. That is not something to take Kivuitu to jail. This is invariably the fruit of passive-agressive ODM generals. These kind of people resist demands by indirect tactics. They will not take responsibilty for their own choices; instead, they turned around and let the youth be blamed for making them kill. It is the same way for abuse. We cannot stop someone from being abusive but we can stop expossing ourselves or our youth from being abused. Thereefore to convict the youths to life sentense or death while those who manipulated them are free will leave poor and hopelessly broken families breeding in endless pain. Any judge who will sit in court to give the vedict must think twice before destroying the lives of these manipulated youths. They are innocent in the manner I have explained that they are the victims of high voltage manipulation. It is a thing the Pentagon planned communicated and implemented before our own eyes. They appeared on the Media as they gave threats and intimidation from Kisumu, Nairobi, and worst of all the Rift Valley. Kenyans let us not waste time and money with commission after commission. They did it in the open. They were generals commanding their subject
However that is not the route I would want us to follow. Let us go by God's word and examples found in the bible.The selection of persons God selected as His companions and those of some parties have some similarities. God picked people like Abraham who pimped for his wife, Jacob who cheated his brother, Moses who murdered the Egyptian. King David who murdered Uriah and took his wife,Saul of Tarsus who murdered and persecuted the church. Yet all of these ended up on God’s list of favorites. In like manner, the selected group of men and women of the Pentagon cannot claim to be perfect by any means. There are also major differences between the two groups. At one time in their life, they all realised the need to chose God to be on their team and they developed a great desire to change. They repented of their sins and agressively wrestled with God to be the coatch and the captain of their lives. God had mercy to transform and reconcilled them unto himself. Jacob got his new name Israel (God-struggler) after an all-night wrestling match with God, and ever since the name for God’s people have harked back to the contest. God’s people are literally, the children of struggle.
In the same way the ODM generals and the youths should be frank to Kenyans and confess that they were the mastermind of the killing that took place. The people who actually killed did it on behave of their generals. It is a good time for the generals to admit of their evil doing, repent, turn away from their wicked ways and embrace God as their coach from now on and we as Kenyans will be touched by God to forgive them since they are children of the same nation Kenya. We can't afford to have another lot killed. It will be a big loss for Kenya.
The company that God keeps always determine victory and not failure. God has the ability to transform his choice of companions. He knows that they will be developed and transformed, into great men and women of God. They will all graduate with the ability to deliver and to transform others irrespective of their historical background. This is the reason we decided to spend our lives discipling, equipping training and transforming others. This is the kind of change all Kenyans should pray for and expect God to hear and answer to heal Kenya.
Jesus knew that Saul, though a murderer and church persecuter was the most suited student of the kingdom lacking training and empowerment. St Paul graduated as the most powerful and effective leaders and transformer of all times.
Who knows if these generals and the youth given a chance to be transformed can develop to become the most suited defender of justice and transformer of corruption and insecurity in the near future. Jesus the teacher developed a passion for communicating the gospel, the power of God.The effective teacher always teaches from the overflow of a full life.The law of the teacher simply stated is this: If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow. Neither beauty, personality wealth nor methodology can subtitute for this principle. You cannot communicate out of a vacuum. You can not impart what you do not possess. If you don't know it-truly know it-you can't give it. The reality of teaching is that all teachers primarily are learners, and students among students perpetuating the learning process; They are still en route. And by becoming students again, theyseek to develop and improve the education process through a radically new and uniquely personal set of eyes. They must keep growing and changing. The word of God of course, does not change; but their understanding of it does change, because every one is developing individual.
चर्च RESTORATION
RESTORING THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH
THE DISCIPLINE OF CHARISMATIC REVIVAL
P O Box 312 La Mirada CA 90637
Dear Partners and Friends
I would have loved to be a servant of the Ethiopian Eunuch and to have sat beside him and heard him reading the book of prophet Isaiah till Philip came up and said to him, Do you understand what you are reading? "How can I except someone guides me?" And he desired that Philip would sit with him. And Philip opened his mouth and began at the 53rd of Isaiah, and preached unto him Jesus Christ.
Suppose you sat beside a foreiner who was struggling with one of our Swahili guide-books and was evidently missing the sense, till he was starting off in a wrong direction; it would be no intrusion or impertinence if you came to him and said to him something like this: I fear our Swahili tongue is not easily mastered by foreiners, but it is my native language, and I may be able to be of some help to you in it" How can I ,? said the humble-minded eunuch, except some man shuold guide me?
Now, we all think, because we know the letters of it and are familiar with the sounds of it , that we understand the Bible. But we never made a more fatal mistake. There is no book in the world that is so difficult to read, and to understand, and to love as the Bible. And not having to understand it some of you may turn upon me and tell me that even little child can understand it. And you are perfectly right. However the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. But over and above the apostles, all the deacons of intellect and experience were drawn on to expound the scriptures, first to the learned Council in Jerusalem, then to the skeptical men of Samaria and then to the Ethiopian neophyte in his royah chariot. We grow spiritually because of the revelations that we get from the Holy Spirit through the word.
Charismatic Revival is God's open door to all who desire to enter into deeper life in the spirit and into spiritual discovery. Yet it is the most fearful discipline not within the reach of many pastors.To many and especially ministers, revival is a moment of shame and intimidation because revival comes to raise a high and unachievable standard. They feel inadequate to accept or to believe in revival, leave alone holding a revival. This is the good news; I am going to shake this nation. I promised to shake America. The Lord's promised shaking must begin with his body the Church and it is unlike anything we have experienced before.
Many in moods which they allow too often look upon circumstances in life as barriers to attainments. But in our moments of truer perception, we discern that the imagined prison bars are in reality true direction to open doors of opportunity. Our circumstances only look like barriers because the inward eye by which we recognize spiritual values is diseased.
. " A greater door and effectual is opened unto me, and there many adversaries" I Corithians 16:9. There are open doors in every life; doors to higher achievement, doors to greater and wider usefulness, and doors to deeper love and personal relationship with the master.
There are no open doors without opposition. There is an opportunity in every difficulty and a diffuculty in every opportunity.That is why so many blessings are missed, so many heights left unscaled, so many fine chapters of service left unwritten. Some of the finest missionaries are those who never went. They heard the call, they felt the urge, they were keen to go, they saw the open door and would have gone through; but there were adversaries, obstacles, discouragements; there was hesitation; the vision faded; and the grand vacation was never fulfilled. " A greater door and effectual is opened unto me, and there many adversaries" I Corithians 16:9.
THE MAN AND WOMAN THAT GOD USES IN REVIVAL,
The man that God uses or has ever used in shaking and reviving movement has been of outstanding importance. His importance been seen both in the religious reformation which he must bring to pass. He must be outstanding in three major areas; his character,his ministry and his significance. In his character three qualities are especially conspicusus, courage,faith, and zeal.
The courage will keep him focused on the work of the Lord without fearing the powers that be. He knows that his master is in control. The fire of Jehovah wil fall to show who is behind him and working through him. His faith is the power base of his courage. Such a faith full of courage will give courage like a lion. Faith in God and the courage to declare victory over the work of the devil.
The fulfillment of these decrees of prayer is sure proof that this is supernatural intervention. Such intervention the servanct of God prayed for, and he believed, that God would certainly answer, is sure proof that the supernatural shaking is for the sake of vindicating the truth in Israel. He must be of outstanding zeal. A visible expression of the over mastering passion of his being very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. He may be untutored child of the most despiced backgrounds but he will display a jealous for the divine honor, burning indignation at religious comprise, and of passionate loyalty to the Apostolic doctrine and the word of God.
See him away yonder, among the intercessors with troubled look and appealing prayer to God to reveal the hidden dark works of the Clergy, the state rulers and the believers. Peoples desctruction of the Holy altars and royal priests, the installation of peoples strange gods with their hideous forms of worship, and the shameful apostacy of the people at large. He can forbear no more these strange gods and their altar must be destroyed. There must be a transformation of these shameful apostasy in the land. The honor of Jehovah is at stake! He must publicly begin his ministry as the prophet of fire, and of deeds with a burning intensity about his godliness. The liquid fire running in his veins might course through, our oven, as we see the unholy religious tolerations of the day and generation.
His ministry is out standing with exploits. And think briefly of his ministry. There are two sorts of prophets; the prophets of deeds, and the prophetsof words. Prophet Isaiah is doubtless the greatest prophet of words. Of Elijah, there has not been among men a greater than Elijah. He wrote nothing and this does not surprise us. Most of the most passionate and energetic reformers have been all together ungifted as writters. They were men of action rather that dction. They were dynamic rather that academic.They handed on not books, but history of abiding results of the exploits which they brought for the betterment of their fellow men.They are men of prompt action, of strong measures and explosure deeds and there is always a need for such men; expecially needed in our day.
His ministry is outstanding with miracles. At every meeting, at every turn of the story, miracles meet us. He has the spirit of Elijah. Some will say indeed Elijah has come to restore all things. He must be of outstanding understanding in visions, dreams, and spiritual insights. His witness in connection with the Lord's transfiguration, the ressureaction, the ascersion, the second coming and the wrath about to come. His faith speaks to this end, God always has his man for the hour, ready to meet the extraordinary situation by some corresponding measure. God never leaves himself without a witness and that God has prepared, in sovereign wisdom, against all contigencies of the future. Remember that for those who dishonor God and practise injustice, the writing is on the wall.
Please let us not forget to support this wonderful ministry so that many more people who are sick in their beds with cancers and strokes can be reached with the inspiring healing word. Millions are crossing into the dark beyond without Christ and without hope. Please continue to pray for this teaching ministry because we can stop this trend by reaching them when it is yet early.
Bishop Peter Mukangu
THE DISCIPLINE OF CHARISMATIC REVIVAL
P O Box 312 La Mirada CA 90637
Dear Partners and Friends
I would have loved to be a servant of the Ethiopian Eunuch and to have sat beside him and heard him reading the book of prophet Isaiah till Philip came up and said to him, Do you understand what you are reading? "How can I except someone guides me?" And he desired that Philip would sit with him. And Philip opened his mouth and began at the 53rd of Isaiah, and preached unto him Jesus Christ.
Suppose you sat beside a foreiner who was struggling with one of our Swahili guide-books and was evidently missing the sense, till he was starting off in a wrong direction; it would be no intrusion or impertinence if you came to him and said to him something like this: I fear our Swahili tongue is not easily mastered by foreiners, but it is my native language, and I may be able to be of some help to you in it" How can I ,? said the humble-minded eunuch, except some man shuold guide me?
Now, we all think, because we know the letters of it and are familiar with the sounds of it , that we understand the Bible. But we never made a more fatal mistake. There is no book in the world that is so difficult to read, and to understand, and to love as the Bible. And not having to understand it some of you may turn upon me and tell me that even little child can understand it. And you are perfectly right. However the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. But over and above the apostles, all the deacons of intellect and experience were drawn on to expound the scriptures, first to the learned Council in Jerusalem, then to the skeptical men of Samaria and then to the Ethiopian neophyte in his royah chariot. We grow spiritually because of the revelations that we get from the Holy Spirit through the word.
Charismatic Revival is God's open door to all who desire to enter into deeper life in the spirit and into spiritual discovery. Yet it is the most fearful discipline not within the reach of many pastors.To many and especially ministers, revival is a moment of shame and intimidation because revival comes to raise a high and unachievable standard. They feel inadequate to accept or to believe in revival, leave alone holding a revival. This is the good news; I am going to shake this nation. I promised to shake America. The Lord's promised shaking must begin with his body the Church and it is unlike anything we have experienced before.
Many in moods which they allow too often look upon circumstances in life as barriers to attainments. But in our moments of truer perception, we discern that the imagined prison bars are in reality true direction to open doors of opportunity. Our circumstances only look like barriers because the inward eye by which we recognize spiritual values is diseased.
. " A greater door and effectual is opened unto me, and there many adversaries" I Corithians 16:9. There are open doors in every life; doors to higher achievement, doors to greater and wider usefulness, and doors to deeper love and personal relationship with the master.
There are no open doors without opposition. There is an opportunity in every difficulty and a diffuculty in every opportunity.That is why so many blessings are missed, so many heights left unscaled, so many fine chapters of service left unwritten. Some of the finest missionaries are those who never went. They heard the call, they felt the urge, they were keen to go, they saw the open door and would have gone through; but there were adversaries, obstacles, discouragements; there was hesitation; the vision faded; and the grand vacation was never fulfilled. " A greater door and effectual is opened unto me, and there many adversaries" I Corithians 16:9.
THE MAN AND WOMAN THAT GOD USES IN REVIVAL,
The man that God uses or has ever used in shaking and reviving movement has been of outstanding importance. His importance been seen both in the religious reformation which he must bring to pass. He must be outstanding in three major areas; his character,his ministry and his significance. In his character three qualities are especially conspicusus, courage,faith, and zeal.
The courage will keep him focused on the work of the Lord without fearing the powers that be. He knows that his master is in control. The fire of Jehovah wil fall to show who is behind him and working through him. His faith is the power base of his courage. Such a faith full of courage will give courage like a lion. Faith in God and the courage to declare victory over the work of the devil.
The fulfillment of these decrees of prayer is sure proof that this is supernatural intervention. Such intervention the servanct of God prayed for, and he believed, that God would certainly answer, is sure proof that the supernatural shaking is for the sake of vindicating the truth in Israel. He must be of outstanding zeal. A visible expression of the over mastering passion of his being very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. He may be untutored child of the most despiced backgrounds but he will display a jealous for the divine honor, burning indignation at religious comprise, and of passionate loyalty to the Apostolic doctrine and the word of God.
See him away yonder, among the intercessors with troubled look and appealing prayer to God to reveal the hidden dark works of the Clergy, the state rulers and the believers. Peoples desctruction of the Holy altars and royal priests, the installation of peoples strange gods with their hideous forms of worship, and the shameful apostacy of the people at large. He can forbear no more these strange gods and their altar must be destroyed. There must be a transformation of these shameful apostasy in the land. The honor of Jehovah is at stake! He must publicly begin his ministry as the prophet of fire, and of deeds with a burning intensity about his godliness. The liquid fire running in his veins might course through, our oven, as we see the unholy religious tolerations of the day and generation.
His ministry is out standing with exploits. And think briefly of his ministry. There are two sorts of prophets; the prophets of deeds, and the prophetsof words. Prophet Isaiah is doubtless the greatest prophet of words. Of Elijah, there has not been among men a greater than Elijah. He wrote nothing and this does not surprise us. Most of the most passionate and energetic reformers have been all together ungifted as writters. They were men of action rather that dction. They were dynamic rather that academic.They handed on not books, but history of abiding results of the exploits which they brought for the betterment of their fellow men.They are men of prompt action, of strong measures and explosure deeds and there is always a need for such men; expecially needed in our day.
His ministry is outstanding with miracles. At every meeting, at every turn of the story, miracles meet us. He has the spirit of Elijah. Some will say indeed Elijah has come to restore all things. He must be of outstanding understanding in visions, dreams, and spiritual insights. His witness in connection with the Lord's transfiguration, the ressureaction, the ascersion, the second coming and the wrath about to come. His faith speaks to this end, God always has his man for the hour, ready to meet the extraordinary situation by some corresponding measure. God never leaves himself without a witness and that God has prepared, in sovereign wisdom, against all contigencies of the future. Remember that for those who dishonor God and practise injustice, the writing is on the wall.
Please let us not forget to support this wonderful ministry so that many more people who are sick in their beds with cancers and strokes can be reached with the inspiring healing word. Millions are crossing into the dark beyond without Christ and without hope. Please continue to pray for this teaching ministry because we can stop this trend by reaching them when it is yet early.
Bishop Peter Mukangu
Thursday, February 26, 2009
ओउर GROWTH
KENYA WILL HOST THE 8TH ANNUAL AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT (AGOA)
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) were enacted by the United States Congress in May 2000 as a component of the Trade and Development Act. The Act seeks to enhance trade and investment between
AGOA expands the list of products which eligible sub Saharan African countries may export to the
The textile sector has particularly benefited from the AGOA initiative with exports to the
The African Growth and Opportunity Act has helped to promote growth, create jobs and bolster reforms in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), especially in the apparel sector. However unrestrained competition following the elimination of Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) quotas on January 1, 2005 and the anticipated expiry of safeguard for
These challenges notwithstanding, there exists huge potential for Kenya to increase the volume and value of exports to the US market through the AGOA initiative through aggressive diversification in order to tap into the huge market especially for products such as plastics and value added agricultural products. Other products with huge potential in the
Further in October 2007 APHIS approved the issuance of import permits for peeled baby carrots and husked, silk-free baby corn from
The
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
चनगे इन KENYA
You come to learn a lot about a person by the friends he selects and uses as his reutenants. And nothing proves more deadly and evil than the choice of companions, the hand - picked objects of intimacy ODM party head picked. Talk of change some of these generals and youths have no fear of God in their lifestyles in their mouth and in their brains. If some of these generals ask why, someone would be expossing himself to condemnation by the God fearers who would be more than happy to give infallable proofs how some of them recked churches even before joined their party. It is a lifelong goal and desire for one or two to burn and to destroy churches. It is not the first time a Kenyan politician now serving as cabinet minister ordered a church to be destroyed. I am speaking from a knowledge point of view. I am also a clergy serving God in Kenya, educated enough to know what I am talking about.
For an ODM politician and criminal to be the spokesman for a party and to take the position of the adviser is to dig the ODM party's graveyard. Those who know the history of pentagon generals shrink and feel insulted because these kind of men should be in jail and not Kivuitu. The worst crime commited in Kenya is for politicians to inpire, fund, and plan how to make others responsible for their choices. The poor youths in police custodies allowed themselves to be manipulated by their generals and went about killing innocent citizens. They all made choices. Purchased by money, not freely given, but a choice nonetheless. They all gave their time to their generals out of their own free will.
The youth could be tempted to tell their generals, "You made us kill" The generals acted manipulatively, but the youth could never be manipulated without their permission. Killing innocent citizens was simply their choice. How dare you turn around and blame Kivuitu for your high voltage manipuration. Kivuitu never killed anybody and kivuitu has one thing that he does well. He amuses people with his humor. That is not something to take Kivuitu to jail. This is invariably the fruit of passive-agressive ODM generals. These kind of people resist demands by indirect tactics. They will not take responsibilty for their own choices; instead, they turned around and let the youth be blamed for making them kill. It is the same way for abuse. We cannot stop someone from being abusive but we can stop expossing ourselves or our youth from being abused. Thereefore to convict the youths to life sentense or death while those who manipulated them are free will leave poor and hopelessly broken families breeding in endless pain. Any judge who will sit in court to give the vedict must think twice before destroying the lives of these manipulated youths. They are innocent in the manner I have explained that they are the victims of high voltage manipulation. It is a thing the Pentagon planned communicated and implemented before our own eyes. They appeared on the Media as they gave threats and intimidation from Kisumu, Nairobi, and worst of all the Rift Valley. Kenyans let us not waste time and money with commission after commission. They did it in the open. They were generals commanding their subject
However that is not the route I would want us to follow. Let us go by God's word and examples found in the bible.The selection of persons God selected as His companions and those of some parties have some similarities. God picked people like Abraham who pimped for his wife, Jacob who cheated his brother, Moses who murdered the Egyptian. King David who murdered Uriah and took his wife,Saul of Tarsus who murdered and persecuted the church. Yet all of these ended up on God’s list of favorites. In like manner, the selected group of men and women of the Pentagon cannot claim to be perfect by any means. There are also major differences between the two groups. At one time in their life, they all realised the need to chose God to be on their team and they developed a great desire to change. They repented of their sins and agressively wrestled with God to be the coatch and the captain of their lives. God had mercy to transform and reconcilled them unto himself. Jacob got his new name Israel (God-struggler) after an all-night wrestling match with God, and ever since the name for God’s people have harked back to the contest. God’s people are literally, the children of struggle.
In the same way the ODM generals and the youths should be frank to Kenyans and confess that they were the mastermind of the killing that took place. The people who actually killed did it on behave of their generals. It is a good time for the generals to admit of their evil doing, repent, turn away from their wicked ways and embrace God as their coach from now on and we as Kenyans will be touched by God to forgive them since they are children of the same nation Kenya. We can't afford to have another lot killed. It will be a big loss for Kenya.
The company that God keeps always determine victory and not failure. God has the ability to transform his choice of companions. He knows that they will be developed and transformed, into great men and women of God. They will all graduate with the ability to deliver and to transform others irrespective of their historical background. This is the reason we decided to spend our lives discipling, equipping training and transforming others. This is the kind of change all Kenyans should pray for and expect God to hear and answer to heal Kenya.
Jesus knew that Saul, though a murderer and church persecuter was the most suited student of the kingdom lacking training and empowerment. St Paul graduated as the most powerful and effective leaders and transformer of all times.
Who knows if these generals and the youth given a chance to be transformed can develop to become the most suited defender of justice and transformer of corruption and insecurity in the near future. Jesus the teacher developed a passion for communicating the gospel, the power of God.The effective teacher always teaches from the overflow of a full life.The law of the teacher simply stated is this: If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow. Neither beauty, personality wealth nor methodology can subtitute for this principle. You cannot communicate out of a vacuum. You can not impart what you do not possess. If you don't know it-truly know it-you can't give it. The reality of teaching is that all teachers primarily are learners, and students among students perpetuating the learning process; They are still en route. And by becoming students again, theyseek to develop and improve the education process through a radically new and uniquely personal set of eyes. They must keep growing and changing. The word of God of course, does not change; but their understanding of it does change, because every one is developing individual.
For an ODM politician and criminal to be the spokesman for a party and to take the position of the adviser is to dig the ODM party's graveyard. Those who know the history of pentagon generals shrink and feel insulted because these kind of men should be in jail and not Kivuitu. The worst crime commited in Kenya is for politicians to inpire, fund, and plan how to make others responsible for their choices. The poor youths in police custodies allowed themselves to be manipulated by their generals and went about killing innocent citizens. They all made choices. Purchased by money, not freely given, but a choice nonetheless. They all gave their time to their generals out of their own free will.
The youth could be tempted to tell their generals, "You made us kill" The generals acted manipulatively, but the youth could never be manipulated without their permission. Killing innocent citizens was simply their choice. How dare you turn around and blame Kivuitu for your high voltage manipuration. Kivuitu never killed anybody and kivuitu has one thing that he does well. He amuses people with his humor. That is not something to take Kivuitu to jail. This is invariably the fruit of passive-agressive ODM generals. These kind of people resist demands by indirect tactics. They will not take responsibilty for their own choices; instead, they turned around and let the youth be blamed for making them kill. It is the same way for abuse. We cannot stop someone from being abusive but we can stop expossing ourselves or our youth from being abused. Thereefore to convict the youths to life sentense or death while those who manipulated them are free will leave poor and hopelessly broken families breeding in endless pain. Any judge who will sit in court to give the vedict must think twice before destroying the lives of these manipulated youths. They are innocent in the manner I have explained that they are the victims of high voltage manipulation. It is a thing the Pentagon planned communicated and implemented before our own eyes. They appeared on the Media as they gave threats and intimidation from Kisumu, Nairobi, and worst of all the Rift Valley. Kenyans let us not waste time and money with commission after commission. They did it in the open. They were generals commanding their subject
However that is not the route I would want us to follow. Let us go by God's word and examples found in the bible.The selection of persons God selected as His companions and those of some parties have some similarities. God picked people like Abraham who pimped for his wife, Jacob who cheated his brother, Moses who murdered the Egyptian. King David who murdered Uriah and took his wife,Saul of Tarsus who murdered and persecuted the church. Yet all of these ended up on God’s list of favorites. In like manner, the selected group of men and women of the Pentagon cannot claim to be perfect by any means. There are also major differences between the two groups. At one time in their life, they all realised the need to chose God to be on their team and they developed a great desire to change. They repented of their sins and agressively wrestled with God to be the coatch and the captain of their lives. God had mercy to transform and reconcilled them unto himself. Jacob got his new name Israel (God-struggler) after an all-night wrestling match with God, and ever since the name for God’s people have harked back to the contest. God’s people are literally, the children of struggle.
In the same way the ODM generals and the youths should be frank to Kenyans and confess that they were the mastermind of the killing that took place. The people who actually killed did it on behave of their generals. It is a good time for the generals to admit of their evil doing, repent, turn away from their wicked ways and embrace God as their coach from now on and we as Kenyans will be touched by God to forgive them since they are children of the same nation Kenya. We can't afford to have another lot killed. It will be a big loss for Kenya.
The company that God keeps always determine victory and not failure. God has the ability to transform his choice of companions. He knows that they will be developed and transformed, into great men and women of God. They will all graduate with the ability to deliver and to transform others irrespective of their historical background. This is the reason we decided to spend our lives discipling, equipping training and transforming others. This is the kind of change all Kenyans should pray for and expect God to hear and answer to heal Kenya.
Jesus knew that Saul, though a murderer and church persecuter was the most suited student of the kingdom lacking training and empowerment. St Paul graduated as the most powerful and effective leaders and transformer of all times.
Who knows if these generals and the youth given a chance to be transformed can develop to become the most suited defender of justice and transformer of corruption and insecurity in the near future. Jesus the teacher developed a passion for communicating the gospel, the power of God.The effective teacher always teaches from the overflow of a full life.The law of the teacher simply stated is this: If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow. Neither beauty, personality wealth nor methodology can subtitute for this principle. You cannot communicate out of a vacuum. You can not impart what you do not possess. If you don't know it-truly know it-you can't give it. The reality of teaching is that all teachers primarily are learners, and students among students perpetuating the learning process; They are still en route. And by becoming students again, theyseek to develop and improve the education process through a radically new and uniquely personal set of eyes. They must keep growing and changing. The word of God of course, does not change; but their understanding of it does change, because every one is developing individual.
TRANSFORMATION
Dear Rev.Liliana McDermott, I thank God for his love and goodness he demonstrated when He allowed us to know each other. I believe it is for a divine purposes. I feel that one of the purposes is to exchange notes meaning the deep understanding of His word.
I was inspired by the Holy Spirit to share my Transformation expeience and how God has imparted my life as I walk in obedience, the path that He called me to walk.
Today let us begin with the subject of TRANSFORMATION
Transformation is the experience of knowing that at some point in life God is touching us and making us a different person. Transformation is the experience of finding emptiness replaced with fullness and vitality.
Transformation involves the discovery of “something else” in a life already built on a strong faith. The process of transformation is experienced through important turning points or moments of transformations in spiritual life. On each of these transformations we experience something new in our relationship with God
My first transforming moment came to me through reading a book called Deeper Life in the Spirit.
The reading of this book was a turning point for me. But the reading of this book called me to a life of holy living. I was moved in heart, mind, and spirit to commit my life to God at an early life in a way I never imagined possible.
My second transforming moment came at a prayer meeting where I was new and so very unwilling. But it was the place where I experienced encounter with God, filled with the Holy Spirit, never to be the same.
I experienced a new relationship with God while listening to someone teaching on the book of Romans chapter seven.
“For I do not understand my own actions- I am buffed, bewildered. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe (which my moral instinct condemns)” Though I was frustrated, defeated, and cowed down, though I was not able to do what I knew was right and acceptable to God, though I found himself doing the things I knew were sinful, yet my life was transformed when I was filled with the Holy Spirit and power.
The Holy Spirit enabled me to control my life. I did what I knew was right. I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt a trust, and an assurance was given to me that Christ had taken away my sins and weaknesses. I began to pray with all my might for those who were going through the same experience and frustrations. God is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
My third transforming moment came when I began to preach the Gospel enabled by the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders, where many were healing, and others gave their life to Christ.
This transformation required me to change my belief that one is able to change and live a life pleasing to God without being filled with the Holy Spirit. But the scripture says
“Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the rusts of the flesh.
When I accepted this task and agreed to change my thinking, I discovered that I had developed a genuine compassion and love for my desperate listeners.
The energy of the new experience has carried me through decades of remarkable work on behalf of the World’s spiritually and destitute people.
My fourth transformation moment came when I became aware that what I received from the Lord Jesus was Eternal Life. A life that is completely different from any other life. It is a Divine life with very high quality, one that is eternal meaning everlasting. You can’t find it anywhere. You can’t buy it with money. It is so precious. You can only receive it by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. You can find it if you find favor from God through the forgiveness of sins. When this Eternal Life enters a person, he is healed and transformed. He is saved and cleansed by the blood of Jesus, so clean that he is considered a new creation. And just as Christ healed all those who came to him with all manner of sickness, God is transforming us and empowering us so as to heal our lives and that of our community. The Bible is our primary source for understanding Christian spirituality. The Bible describes the source of transformations and the far-reaching dimensions of the new life God wills us to have.
SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION IS BIBLICAL
Let us take a look at what the scripture says to us concerning transformation in five passages.
The Angel of God appeared to Gideon at the Winepress (Judges 6: 11-34)
Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-12)
The Vision of Isaiah in the Temple (Isaiah 6:1-8)
The Samaritan Woman at the well (John 4:1-30)
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40)
We identify that God’s role is similar in each instance.
We identify in what ways are the spiritual needs of the characters similar.
We identify the paths each of the characters decided to follow.
Consider these ideas relating to the transformation of each of these biblical persons.
We can be transformed because God is acting before we reach out for new life
God seeks us for transformation. God called Gideon to be a hero of faith at a time when Gideon was faithless, hopeless, doubtful, fearful, and frustrated. His people were impoverished, chased from their homes and hiding in caves. Gideon would not have thought that transformation was anything possible. His life was in a crisis. He entered into a new relationship with God never to be the same. He finished as a transformed hero of faith recorded in the Book of Hebrews chapter eleven. God called Moses to be a leader at a time when Moses had his mind on something else.
The glory of God was in the Temple before Isaiah arrived. Jesus was at the well before the Samaritan woman came.
The Ethiopian Eunuch was studying the words of God’s prophet Isaiah before he sought to be baptized.
(The transformation of the Ethiopian official was aided by the book Isaiah produced after his own change).
We can be transformed when we dare to venture out for new life.
At first Moses did not want to heed God’s call. Moses preferred his safe, comfortable life.
However, Moses finally called on his faith to help him trust enough to strike out into the unknown and to follow God’s Will for his lives.
Isaiah went to the Temple at a time of national calamity. Shaken to his foundation by the tragic situation his people were enduring, Isaiah saw beyond the crisis and discovered something eternal in his meeting with God in the Temple . Isaiah knew that he was to be forever in a special relationship with God.
The Samaritan woman who visited with Jesus, a Jew crossed barriers of custom, race, and gender and became a new person. After she was transformed by the new experience, she was able to bring the people of her city to Jesus.
We can be transformed when we use our ability to discover the presence and the work of God in common things.
The four persons were going about their daily life when they acknowledged that something was happening.
They attended to God’s call. They responded to God’s call. Only in attention and response can an awareness of God’s call become something useful.
Some persons, like Moses experience dramatic callings. Others experience far less impressive calls. Yet all of us have the ability to discover the presence and the work of God in common things.
Few people experience God in burning bushes or smoke-filled temples. Our meeting with God may be quieter, like that of the Ethiopian Eunuch or the woman at the well. But these un-dramatic moments of transformation are vital, valid, and significant to the person who experiences them.
We become transformed when we follow a path we have not chosen for ourselves.
Gideon, Moses, Isaiah, the Samaritan woman, and the Ethiopian Eunuch all knew that they were losing an old life in order to find a better one. These five persons realized that their life was not what they wanted it to be. These five did not expect to encounter the presence of God. But God called them. However God called them to change their life and accept the invitation to become something more.
Can such transformation as these personalities experienced come to you? Can such transformation come to me?
We can praise God that such questions can be answered with a resounding “yes”. Indeed, a book describing the transformation experiences of individuals touched by the grace of God would be filled with chapters devoted to persons just like us. Some times transformation comes in what might be called Crisis Conversion. This is a single, intense moment of awareness. Persons who experience this are often stunned by the impact of that moment. They forget that many experiences over the years have helped them prepare for such an event.
Deeply emotional responses to something perceived as a personal word from God are often part of Crisis Conversion.
In other persons change occurs in a far less dramatic, but equally genuine, fashion. Transformation may take place so quietly that the realization that there is something new in one’s life may be as surprising as the newness itself.
Attendance at a Spiritual Formation Conference coming soon at Tulare Community Church , Tulare California is a provision and an occasion from God for a change and transformation to take place. What kind of transformation does the community of Tulare need?
The Holy Spirit reveals major obstacles to transformation in our life. Some will discover that one commitment is to the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And the other is to a racial segregation as the “best way” for the people of Tulare to get along. I believe segregation commitment is your own bondage. Believe God for it to be broken during this transformation conference. A sudden, new feeling will come over you as you continually listen to God speak to you. For the first time you will face an opportunity and a need to meet that person you could not meet before. I know something new is about to happen to you all.
Jackson ’s Encounter with God
Jackson was rapidly losing his family, his friends, his business, and his life, to drugs. He was being destroyed as a person. Jack had a desperate need for transformation. I invited Jack to a Spiritual transformation retreat in the Sierra Mountains camp. Jack had a good time in the retreat. He did not talk much. He never spoke before any group as he would be an embarrassment to the group.
During the break time while we were standing in a circle outside, the Holy Spirit came upon Jack in a mighty way. He responded by playing Gospel music using a guitar. Suddenly Jack became the instrument God used to kindle the fire within us and many pleaded to have Jack visit their churches for ministry.
We drove back to Los Angeles together. As we parted with Jack his closing words to me were: “And now, thanks to you, but most of all thanks to Jesus, I am through with drugs. I am headed in a new direction.”
What happened with Jack was far-reaching in its effects and profound in its meaning. His transformation occurred because he was willing to venture out or to break away from the old mold of his life. The venturing out of Jack was quite simple on the surface. He went to a retreat to meet God and to be transformed by His power.
Consider these points about transformation experiences.
These accounts demonstrate that not all instances of transformation are outwardly spectacular.
On many occasions women and men are quietly changed into new persons. Finding out something new about a friend, helping someone, taking a walk alone, enjoying family fellowship, hearing beautiful music, or a thousand other simple experiences can be turning points for persons ready to make a change.
The Encounter illustrates that the action of God comes first before anything and everything we can do.
One of the most gracious things God does, through the Holy Spirit is to create a community where the possibilities for change are emphasized. The Holy Spirit created the caring spirit in me and others. The same spirit created a small group of men whose friendship became the focal point of change for Jack. Jack became aware of the action of God. He was sure that God’s gracious action came before even the first faint turning of any man or woman toward the new life Christ gives.
Jack regarded with absolute seriousness the words of Paul, “For by grace are you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God”( Ephesians .2:8)
The Stories are examples of persons who know that somewhere within themselves there is more to life than they are experiencing.
Some might say they were “under conviction” For Jack it was a desperate realization that his most cherished values- marriage, family, business- were about to go down the drain. But to the Tulare community it is an unsettling awareness of conflict between the undoubted white community to Christ and their rigid consignment of some of God’s people to second class citizenship.
The examples show that transformation is not something we can plan or map out. We must leave the direction to God.
Transformation is a change that is available to all God’s people. After the transforming experiences you will return to your same towns, attend your same churches, and pursue your same professional and business interests but with a difference. Jack displays a quiet evangelistic passion to share the word that brings new life to other persons as desperately troubled as he once was.
Let Us Decide
Decision-making is part of life. We face choices big and small every day. And every day the decisions we make shape our lives and the lives of those we love. We know that through our choices we make a difference. We make decisions at home-purchasing a house, moving from one home to another. We make decisions about family-whether it is children’s education, major expenditures, health care options or how we will respond to a crisis.
We make decisions in our work whatever our call-whether we are in the gospel ministry in a church-related vocation. We make decisions when we accept a position, when we are in the midst of an important work-related choice. At home and at work, we make decisions constantly and know that in these situations we need the wisdom of God and a sense of God’s direction. Let us have a vision of a new and transformed community in the valley with a greater measure of spiritual life, better fellowship, of love for one another, of justice, of drug-free neighborhood than it had before. Let us make a choice to be a better community with a far greater experience of spiritually transformed lives. Let us seek to be a transformed people who hear God as He speaks in simple common things.
TRANSFORMATION IS POSSIBLE ONLY WITH GOD’S FAVOR
Transformation is a favor from God. Favor is a gift from God. Favor is when God causes someone to desire to become a problem solver in your life. The Divine purpose of favor is to enable you to achieve your desired goal or assignment. Pursuing favor with God qualifies you to receive favor. Every success story contains the memories of God’s favor. You can not work hard enough to get everything you deserve. Any uncommon success will require uncommon favor from someone. That someone is the Holy Spirit in your life. The Favor, the infilling of the Holy Spirit is the secret of uncommon success in life and ministry. Therefore any uncommon favor should be pursued, requested and celebrated.
THE ACTIVITIES THAT BRINGS TRANSFORMATION
FAMILY WORSHIP
To worship is to acknowledge God’s worth, God’s will, and God’s way. The breath of God is the spirit of God. How does God work in our life? The Bible says God works in mysterious ways. To some God’s spirit rushes upon them like a mighty wind. To others God’s Spirit is a quiet refreshing presence. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to fulfill the ministry of Christ in us. “I came that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly.
He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 10:10b; 8:12b)
FAMILY TRANSFORMATION
Family transformations require identification with our personal feelings. In a family crisis, the person who is feeling the pain in the family relationships is in fact signaling that something is wrong in the entire family unit. That which is wrong may be that the hurting person’s own growth as a person is being held back by the family’s life.
The person with the pain may be signaling that all the members of the family unit, those persons upon whom his or her survival is dependent, may be suffering pain, discomfort, or trouble. The healing of a hurting individual is directly related to and dependent upon the healing of the family unit.
In similar ways our need for transformation is signaled to us by various feelings of discomfort or pain we may or may not, recognize in ourselves.
As Christians we believe that a fundamental part of the spiritual life is the experience of being changed. Spirituality or transformation is a deeper awareness of God’s touch upon our personal life. With that touch comes a hunger and thirst to act out that awareness of God’s touch in our daily living.
This transformation is positive. It increases within us the joyous hunger and thirst for that closer relationship with God. Longing for the rich experience of transformation may be prompted by various feelings in a Christian’s life.
Boredom, a deep-seated weariness of mind and spirit, and anxiety, ill-formed, vague impressions that something is wrong, may be signals of the need for transformation. Guilt that we feel without knowing why may be another such signal. Persistent Anger is surely the signal that something within us is crying out for transformation.
We do not like these feelings. We may know that they have no valid foundation. But these feelings may be the heralds of God’s will for transformation. Descriptions of God as the one who searches for His own fill the Bible. The great leaders of our faith speak often of God as one who calls them in search of someone to send to find the lost.
God is restless until his people are at rest in true and right relationship with Him. God is always the greater one; the Holy one, high and lifted up, Creator, Spirit, and the Shepherd to whom our limited human terms are ascribed
In each of these roles and in many others,
God’s call invites us into life-renewing ties with Him, the source of life, the Spring of Light, the Way and the Truth.
Because God seeks us and stirs us, we can have faith, hope, and confidence that in time each of us will experience the transformation of our life. “We all are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes the Lord who is the Spirit” (2Corinthians 3:18).
Bishop Peter Mukangu,
P O Box 312,
La Mirada CA 90637
714-732-9369
I was inspired by the Holy Spirit to share my Transformation expeience and how God has imparted my life as I walk in obedience, the path that He called me to walk.
Today let us begin with the subject of TRANSFORMATION
Transformation is the experience of knowing that at some point in life God is touching us and making us a different person. Transformation is the experience of finding emptiness replaced with fullness and vitality.
Transformation involves the discovery of “something else” in a life already built on a strong faith. The process of transformation is experienced through important turning points or moments of transformations in spiritual life. On each of these transformations we experience something new in our relationship with God
My first transforming moment came to me through reading a book called Deeper Life in the Spirit.
The reading of this book was a turning point for me. But the reading of this book called me to a life of holy living. I was moved in heart, mind, and spirit to commit my life to God at an early life in a way I never imagined possible.
My second transforming moment came at a prayer meeting where I was new and so very unwilling. But it was the place where I experienced encounter with God, filled with the Holy Spirit, never to be the same.
I experienced a new relationship with God while listening to someone teaching on the book of Romans chapter seven.
“For I do not understand my own actions- I am buffed, bewildered. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe (which my moral instinct condemns)” Though I was frustrated, defeated, and cowed down, though I was not able to do what I knew was right and acceptable to God, though I found himself doing the things I knew were sinful, yet my life was transformed when I was filled with the Holy Spirit and power.
The Holy Spirit enabled me to control my life. I did what I knew was right. I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt a trust, and an assurance was given to me that Christ had taken away my sins and weaknesses. I began to pray with all my might for those who were going through the same experience and frustrations. God is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
My third transforming moment came when I began to preach the Gospel enabled by the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders, where many were healing, and others gave their life to Christ.
This transformation required me to change my belief that one is able to change and live a life pleasing to God without being filled with the Holy Spirit. But the scripture says
“Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the rusts of the flesh.
When I accepted this task and agreed to change my thinking, I discovered that I had developed a genuine compassion and love for my desperate listeners.
The energy of the new experience has carried me through decades of remarkable work on behalf of the World’s spiritually and destitute people.
My fourth transformation moment came when I became aware that what I received from the Lord Jesus was Eternal Life. A life that is completely different from any other life. It is a Divine life with very high quality, one that is eternal meaning everlasting. You can’t find it anywhere. You can’t buy it with money. It is so precious. You can only receive it by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. You can find it if you find favor from God through the forgiveness of sins. When this Eternal Life enters a person, he is healed and transformed. He is saved and cleansed by the blood of Jesus, so clean that he is considered a new creation. And just as Christ healed all those who came to him with all manner of sickness, God is transforming us and empowering us so as to heal our lives and that of our community. The Bible is our primary source for understanding Christian spirituality. The Bible describes the source of transformations and the far-reaching dimensions of the new life God wills us to have.
SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION IS BIBLICAL
Let us take a look at what the scripture says to us concerning transformation in five passages.
The Angel of God appeared to Gideon at the Winepress (Judges 6: 11-34)
Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-12)
The Vision of Isaiah in the Temple (Isaiah 6:1-8)
The Samaritan Woman at the well (John 4:1-30)
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40)
We identify that God’s role is similar in each instance.
We identify in what ways are the spiritual needs of the characters similar.
We identify the paths each of the characters decided to follow.
Consider these ideas relating to the transformation of each of these biblical persons.
We can be transformed because God is acting before we reach out for new life
God seeks us for transformation. God called Gideon to be a hero of faith at a time when Gideon was faithless, hopeless, doubtful, fearful, and frustrated. His people were impoverished, chased from their homes and hiding in caves. Gideon would not have thought that transformation was anything possible. His life was in a crisis. He entered into a new relationship with God never to be the same. He finished as a transformed hero of faith recorded in the Book of Hebrews chapter eleven. God called Moses to be a leader at a time when Moses had his mind on something else.
The glory of God was in the Temple before Isaiah arrived. Jesus was at the well before the Samaritan woman came.
The Ethiopian Eunuch was studying the words of God’s prophet Isaiah before he sought to be baptized.
(The transformation of the Ethiopian official was aided by the book Isaiah produced after his own change).
We can be transformed when we dare to venture out for new life.
At first Moses did not want to heed God’s call. Moses preferred his safe, comfortable life.
However, Moses finally called on his faith to help him trust enough to strike out into the unknown and to follow God’s Will for his lives.
Isaiah went to the Temple at a time of national calamity. Shaken to his foundation by the tragic situation his people were enduring, Isaiah saw beyond the crisis and discovered something eternal in his meeting with God in the Temple . Isaiah knew that he was to be forever in a special relationship with God.
The Samaritan woman who visited with Jesus, a Jew crossed barriers of custom, race, and gender and became a new person. After she was transformed by the new experience, she was able to bring the people of her city to Jesus.
We can be transformed when we use our ability to discover the presence and the work of God in common things.
The four persons were going about their daily life when they acknowledged that something was happening.
They attended to God’s call. They responded to God’s call. Only in attention and response can an awareness of God’s call become something useful.
Some persons, like Moses experience dramatic callings. Others experience far less impressive calls. Yet all of us have the ability to discover the presence and the work of God in common things.
Few people experience God in burning bushes or smoke-filled temples. Our meeting with God may be quieter, like that of the Ethiopian Eunuch or the woman at the well. But these un-dramatic moments of transformation are vital, valid, and significant to the person who experiences them.
We become transformed when we follow a path we have not chosen for ourselves.
Gideon, Moses, Isaiah, the Samaritan woman, and the Ethiopian Eunuch all knew that they were losing an old life in order to find a better one. These five persons realized that their life was not what they wanted it to be. These five did not expect to encounter the presence of God. But God called them. However God called them to change their life and accept the invitation to become something more.
Can such transformation as these personalities experienced come to you? Can such transformation come to me?
We can praise God that such questions can be answered with a resounding “yes”. Indeed, a book describing the transformation experiences of individuals touched by the grace of God would be filled with chapters devoted to persons just like us. Some times transformation comes in what might be called Crisis Conversion. This is a single, intense moment of awareness. Persons who experience this are often stunned by the impact of that moment. They forget that many experiences over the years have helped them prepare for such an event.
Deeply emotional responses to something perceived as a personal word from God are often part of Crisis Conversion.
In other persons change occurs in a far less dramatic, but equally genuine, fashion. Transformation may take place so quietly that the realization that there is something new in one’s life may be as surprising as the newness itself.
Attendance at a Spiritual Formation Conference coming soon at Tulare Community Church , Tulare California is a provision and an occasion from God for a change and transformation to take place. What kind of transformation does the community of Tulare need?
The Holy Spirit reveals major obstacles to transformation in our life. Some will discover that one commitment is to the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And the other is to a racial segregation as the “best way” for the people of Tulare to get along. I believe segregation commitment is your own bondage. Believe God for it to be broken during this transformation conference. A sudden, new feeling will come over you as you continually listen to God speak to you. For the first time you will face an opportunity and a need to meet that person you could not meet before. I know something new is about to happen to you all.
Jackson ’s Encounter with God
Jackson was rapidly losing his family, his friends, his business, and his life, to drugs. He was being destroyed as a person. Jack had a desperate need for transformation. I invited Jack to a Spiritual transformation retreat in the Sierra Mountains camp. Jack had a good time in the retreat. He did not talk much. He never spoke before any group as he would be an embarrassment to the group.
During the break time while we were standing in a circle outside, the Holy Spirit came upon Jack in a mighty way. He responded by playing Gospel music using a guitar. Suddenly Jack became the instrument God used to kindle the fire within us and many pleaded to have Jack visit their churches for ministry.
We drove back to Los Angeles together. As we parted with Jack his closing words to me were: “And now, thanks to you, but most of all thanks to Jesus, I am through with drugs. I am headed in a new direction.”
What happened with Jack was far-reaching in its effects and profound in its meaning. His transformation occurred because he was willing to venture out or to break away from the old mold of his life. The venturing out of Jack was quite simple on the surface. He went to a retreat to meet God and to be transformed by His power.
Consider these points about transformation experiences.
These accounts demonstrate that not all instances of transformation are outwardly spectacular.
On many occasions women and men are quietly changed into new persons. Finding out something new about a friend, helping someone, taking a walk alone, enjoying family fellowship, hearing beautiful music, or a thousand other simple experiences can be turning points for persons ready to make a change.
The Encounter illustrates that the action of God comes first before anything and everything we can do.
One of the most gracious things God does, through the Holy Spirit is to create a community where the possibilities for change are emphasized. The Holy Spirit created the caring spirit in me and others. The same spirit created a small group of men whose friendship became the focal point of change for Jack. Jack became aware of the action of God. He was sure that God’s gracious action came before even the first faint turning of any man or woman toward the new life Christ gives.
Jack regarded with absolute seriousness the words of Paul, “For by grace are you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God”( Ephesians .2:8)
The Stories are examples of persons who know that somewhere within themselves there is more to life than they are experiencing.
Some might say they were “under conviction” For Jack it was a desperate realization that his most cherished values- marriage, family, business- were about to go down the drain. But to the Tulare community it is an unsettling awareness of conflict between the undoubted white community to Christ and their rigid consignment of some of God’s people to second class citizenship.
The examples show that transformation is not something we can plan or map out. We must leave the direction to God.
Transformation is a change that is available to all God’s people. After the transforming experiences you will return to your same towns, attend your same churches, and pursue your same professional and business interests but with a difference. Jack displays a quiet evangelistic passion to share the word that brings new life to other persons as desperately troubled as he once was.
Let Us Decide
Decision-making is part of life. We face choices big and small every day. And every day the decisions we make shape our lives and the lives of those we love. We know that through our choices we make a difference. We make decisions at home-purchasing a house, moving from one home to another. We make decisions about family-whether it is children’s education, major expenditures, health care options or how we will respond to a crisis.
We make decisions in our work whatever our call-whether we are in the gospel ministry in a church-related vocation. We make decisions when we accept a position, when we are in the midst of an important work-related choice. At home and at work, we make decisions constantly and know that in these situations we need the wisdom of God and a sense of God’s direction. Let us have a vision of a new and transformed community in the valley with a greater measure of spiritual life, better fellowship, of love for one another, of justice, of drug-free neighborhood than it had before. Let us make a choice to be a better community with a far greater experience of spiritually transformed lives. Let us seek to be a transformed people who hear God as He speaks in simple common things.
TRANSFORMATION IS POSSIBLE ONLY WITH GOD’S FAVOR
Transformation is a favor from God. Favor is a gift from God. Favor is when God causes someone to desire to become a problem solver in your life. The Divine purpose of favor is to enable you to achieve your desired goal or assignment. Pursuing favor with God qualifies you to receive favor. Every success story contains the memories of God’s favor. You can not work hard enough to get everything you deserve. Any uncommon success will require uncommon favor from someone. That someone is the Holy Spirit in your life. The Favor, the infilling of the Holy Spirit is the secret of uncommon success in life and ministry. Therefore any uncommon favor should be pursued, requested and celebrated.
THE ACTIVITIES THAT BRINGS TRANSFORMATION
FAMILY WORSHIP
To worship is to acknowledge God’s worth, God’s will, and God’s way. The breath of God is the spirit of God. How does God work in our life? The Bible says God works in mysterious ways. To some God’s spirit rushes upon them like a mighty wind. To others God’s Spirit is a quiet refreshing presence. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to fulfill the ministry of Christ in us. “I came that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly.
He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 10:10b; 8:12b)
FAMILY TRANSFORMATION
Family transformations require identification with our personal feelings. In a family crisis, the person who is feeling the pain in the family relationships is in fact signaling that something is wrong in the entire family unit. That which is wrong may be that the hurting person’s own growth as a person is being held back by the family’s life.
The person with the pain may be signaling that all the members of the family unit, those persons upon whom his or her survival is dependent, may be suffering pain, discomfort, or trouble. The healing of a hurting individual is directly related to and dependent upon the healing of the family unit.
In similar ways our need for transformation is signaled to us by various feelings of discomfort or pain we may or may not, recognize in ourselves.
As Christians we believe that a fundamental part of the spiritual life is the experience of being changed. Spirituality or transformation is a deeper awareness of God’s touch upon our personal life. With that touch comes a hunger and thirst to act out that awareness of God’s touch in our daily living.
This transformation is positive. It increases within us the joyous hunger and thirst for that closer relationship with God. Longing for the rich experience of transformation may be prompted by various feelings in a Christian’s life.
Boredom, a deep-seated weariness of mind and spirit, and anxiety, ill-formed, vague impressions that something is wrong, may be signals of the need for transformation. Guilt that we feel without knowing why may be another such signal. Persistent Anger is surely the signal that something within us is crying out for transformation.
We do not like these feelings. We may know that they have no valid foundation. But these feelings may be the heralds of God’s will for transformation. Descriptions of God as the one who searches for His own fill the Bible. The great leaders of our faith speak often of God as one who calls them in search of someone to send to find the lost.
God is restless until his people are at rest in true and right relationship with Him. God is always the greater one; the Holy one, high and lifted up, Creator, Spirit, and the Shepherd to whom our limited human terms are ascribed
In each of these roles and in many others,
God’s call invites us into life-renewing ties with Him, the source of life, the Spring of Light, the Way and the Truth.
Because God seeks us and stirs us, we can have faith, hope, and confidence that in time each of us will experience the transformation of our life. “We all are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes the Lord who is the Spirit” (2Corinthians 3:18).
Bishop Peter Mukangu,
P O Box 312,
La Mirada CA 90637
714-732-9369
वौइस् ऑफ़ PROPHESY
Elijah is the foremost of those great leaders of religion who introduced into prophecy that species of categorical imperative which distinguishes him as well as the later prophets; that brazen inflexibility; that diamond-like hardness of character, which bids them hold fast by their moral demand even should the nation be dashed in pieces against it.
They exercised their ministry in close relation to the political circumstances of their time. They have truly been called "watchmen of the theocracy because they habitually followed with close interest the course of events whether political or religious. They regarded it as their duty to intervene in public affairs from time to time in order to bring to the remembrance of their countrymen those fundamental religious truths which the theocratic state was based: that Jehovah alone was Israel's God, that Israel was His chosen people, and that His supreme requirement was the abscence by the nation of the revealed law of righteousness. Thus they aimed at keeping Israel faithful to Jehovah as He had manifested Himself at Sinai-as a God who delighted in pure worship, in righteous dealing and in fraternal charity between man and man.
THE PROPHETS AND THE KINGS (RULERS)
In any monarch or state, the influence and example of the rulers is considered to be of paramount importance. Consequently the prophets made it their special business to control and judge the conduct of the reigning Monarchs. Their reputation and position in the State might indeed vary from time to time in accordance with the character or caprices of a particular King. Prophets were held in honor by upright Monarchs like Hezekiah and Josiah, but sooner or later their fearless denounciations of vice could scarcely fail to bring them into collision with royal self-will, or popular prejudice and fanaticism. Thus one and all they were called, each in greater or less degree, to suffer for their faith, for their boldness in rebuking sin, or for their devotion to the service of Jehovah. (Acts7:52, Luke23;30) They suffered indeed not merely as public witness for God, but also as godly men who fulfilled their mission by their lives as well as by thie preaching.
For as "Men of God,; " Servants of Jehovah; the prophets felt themselves called to a life of special intimacy with Jehovah. In deed, the title "servants of Jehovah" was in an ideal sense applicable to Israel as a people; but it also expressed the true vocation of each individual Israelite, since the fulfillment of Jehovah's purpose demanded a dispensation in which all should be prophets and all should know Jehovah.
The prophets, meanwhile, actually realised in their own persons the vocation which ideally belonged to Israel as a whole. Whether we think of the holiness of their own lives, of the closeness of their intimacy with God, or of the sorrows they were called to endure, we see that they typically represent the calling and the function of the righteous nation (Isaiah 26:2) in entierty. A list of prophets in the Bible would be a long one that included both men who spoke for God and those who were false.
The prophets who wrote books are listed in the table of contents beginning with Isaiah and ending with Malachi. Only one book in the New Testament is classified as prophecy, the book of Revelation written by the apostle John during his exile on the island of Patmos in 96 A.D. The Prophecy section of the Old Testament is divided into two subsections: the major and minor prophets. These designations refers to the size of the texts, not to their importance or validity. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (which was written by Jeremiah), Ezekiel, and Daniel are considered the major prophets. The remaining ones are the minor prophets, namely: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. These were not the only ones, though. Many others spoke the Word of God, as directed by God, and their accounts are in the Scriptures.
How did the people know which prophets came from God and which ones were false? "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD; if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:22). A notable false prophet is Balaam who was rebuked by a donkey. As recounted in the book of Numbers, Balaam angered God by going with messengers from the Moabite king. This ruler feared the multitude of Israelites camping along the Moabite borders and wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam didn't see the angel of the Lord blocking the path, but the donkey did. When she tried to get away, Balaam beat her. "And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?" (Numbers 22:28). Balaam confessed the sin he committed and "he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments" (Numbers 23:1b). Instead he blessed Israel -- much to the Moabite king's horror. It's worth noting that Balaam's habit was to seek "enchantments" rather than God's will.
The list of prophets in the Bible, that is, in the table of contents, begins with Isaiah. In about 931 B.C., Solomon's sons, Jereboam and Rehoboam, fought over the throne. The northern kingdom of Israel separated from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. These two became the southern kingdom. Jereboam I was the first king of the northern kingdom and Rehoboam was the first king of the southern kingdom. Like several of the other Old Testament prophets, Isaiah foretold the coming of the Messiah. He prophesied from about 740 B.C. until around 686 B.C., during the reigns of the kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. These men ruled over the southern kingdom of Judah for about one hundred years, from about 786 B.C. to 686 B.C.
Known as the "weeping prophet," Jeremiah ministered from approximately 627 B.C. to 580 B.C. His ministry began during the reign of the boy-king, Josiah, who rid the kingdom of the false gods polluting the land. Known for godly devotion, Josiah is remembered as a great king. After Josiah's death, the southern kingdom was conquered by Egypt. One of Josiah's sons became a puppet king and the brief time of spiritual well-being came to an end. The book of Lamentations, which scholars believe Jeremiah wrote, is a collection of poems that lament the conquest of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. At this time, almost all the people of Judah were taken to Babylon and the period of exile began.
Among the minor Old Testament prophets, Jonah is perhaps the best-known. Told by God to preach to the people of Ninevah, Jonah ran in the other direction. His ship was threatened by a horrific storm and Jonah insisted that the sailors throw him overboard to save themselves. The storm ended and Jonah spent the next three days in the belly of a big fish prepared by God. When Jonah was spit up on land, he went to Ninevah and the people repented of their sins. Instead of being happy about the results of God's message, Jonah pouted and had to learn a lesson in mercy. These events most likely took place during King Jereboam II's reign over the northern kingdom (793-753 B.C.).
The table of content's list of prophets in the Bible ends with Malachi, who prophesied during the postexilic period. At this time (circa 444 B.C.), Ezra and Nehemiah returned to rebuild Jerusalem. Malachi encouraged the people who were intent on restoring their spiritual commitment to God and to obeying His laws. The order of the minor prophets in the table of contents is not a chronological list, though it is close. The chronological list of the minor prophets follows: Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. After Malachi, God is silent for about four hundred years, but Malachi is not the last of the Old Testament prophets. In His perfect timing, God sent the last prophet of the old covenant, John the Baptist, to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah. The gospel writers tell about John the Baptist's ministry in the beginning of the first century A.D. and how King Herod imprisoned and beheaded him.
A comprehensive list of prophets in the Bible includes not only those listed above, but also Moses, the revered Samuel who anointed both Saul and David as kings, the brave Nathan who confronted David when he sinned with Bathsheba, and Elijah and Elisha whose lives were often endangered by the evil King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel. The Old Testament prophets include women such as Moses' sister Miriam and the judge Deborah who fought with Barak against Israel's enemies.
They exercised their ministry in close relation to the political circumstances of their time. They have truly been called "watchmen of the theocracy because they habitually followed with close interest the course of events whether political or religious. They regarded it as their duty to intervene in public affairs from time to time in order to bring to the remembrance of their countrymen those fundamental religious truths which the theocratic state was based: that Jehovah alone was Israel's God, that Israel was His chosen people, and that His supreme requirement was the abscence by the nation of the revealed law of righteousness. Thus they aimed at keeping Israel faithful to Jehovah as He had manifested Himself at Sinai-as a God who delighted in pure worship, in righteous dealing and in fraternal charity between man and man.
THE PROPHETS AND THE KINGS (RULERS)
In any monarch or state, the influence and example of the rulers is considered to be of paramount importance. Consequently the prophets made it their special business to control and judge the conduct of the reigning Monarchs. Their reputation and position in the State might indeed vary from time to time in accordance with the character or caprices of a particular King. Prophets were held in honor by upright Monarchs like Hezekiah and Josiah, but sooner or later their fearless denounciations of vice could scarcely fail to bring them into collision with royal self-will, or popular prejudice and fanaticism. Thus one and all they were called, each in greater or less degree, to suffer for their faith, for their boldness in rebuking sin, or for their devotion to the service of Jehovah. (Acts7:52, Luke23;30) They suffered indeed not merely as public witness for God, but also as godly men who fulfilled their mission by their lives as well as by thie preaching.
For as "Men of God,; " Servants of Jehovah; the prophets felt themselves called to a life of special intimacy with Jehovah. In deed, the title "servants of Jehovah" was in an ideal sense applicable to Israel as a people; but it also expressed the true vocation of each individual Israelite, since the fulfillment of Jehovah's purpose demanded a dispensation in which all should be prophets and all should know Jehovah.
The prophets, meanwhile, actually realised in their own persons the vocation which ideally belonged to Israel as a whole. Whether we think of the holiness of their own lives, of the closeness of their intimacy with God, or of the sorrows they were called to endure, we see that they typically represent the calling and the function of the righteous nation (Isaiah 26:2) in entierty. A list of prophets in the Bible would be a long one that included both men who spoke for God and those who were false.
The prophets who wrote books are listed in the table of contents beginning with Isaiah and ending with Malachi. Only one book in the New Testament is classified as prophecy, the book of Revelation written by the apostle John during his exile on the island of Patmos in 96 A.D. The Prophecy section of the Old Testament is divided into two subsections: the major and minor prophets. These designations refers to the size of the texts, not to their importance or validity. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (which was written by Jeremiah), Ezekiel, and Daniel are considered the major prophets. The remaining ones are the minor prophets, namely: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. These were not the only ones, though. Many others spoke the Word of God, as directed by God, and their accounts are in the Scriptures.
How did the people know which prophets came from God and which ones were false? "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD; if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:22). A notable false prophet is Balaam who was rebuked by a donkey. As recounted in the book of Numbers, Balaam angered God by going with messengers from the Moabite king. This ruler feared the multitude of Israelites camping along the Moabite borders and wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam didn't see the angel of the Lord blocking the path, but the donkey did. When she tried to get away, Balaam beat her. "And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?" (Numbers 22:28). Balaam confessed the sin he committed and "he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments" (Numbers 23:1b). Instead he blessed Israel -- much to the Moabite king's horror. It's worth noting that Balaam's habit was to seek "enchantments" rather than God's will.
The list of prophets in the Bible, that is, in the table of contents, begins with Isaiah. In about 931 B.C., Solomon's sons, Jereboam and Rehoboam, fought over the throne. The northern kingdom of Israel separated from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. These two became the southern kingdom. Jereboam I was the first king of the northern kingdom and Rehoboam was the first king of the southern kingdom. Like several of the other Old Testament prophets, Isaiah foretold the coming of the Messiah. He prophesied from about 740 B.C. until around 686 B.C., during the reigns of the kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. These men ruled over the southern kingdom of Judah for about one hundred years, from about 786 B.C. to 686 B.C.
Known as the "weeping prophet," Jeremiah ministered from approximately 627 B.C. to 580 B.C. His ministry began during the reign of the boy-king, Josiah, who rid the kingdom of the false gods polluting the land. Known for godly devotion, Josiah is remembered as a great king. After Josiah's death, the southern kingdom was conquered by Egypt. One of Josiah's sons became a puppet king and the brief time of spiritual well-being came to an end. The book of Lamentations, which scholars believe Jeremiah wrote, is a collection of poems that lament the conquest of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. At this time, almost all the people of Judah were taken to Babylon and the period of exile began.
Among the minor Old Testament prophets, Jonah is perhaps the best-known. Told by God to preach to the people of Ninevah, Jonah ran in the other direction. His ship was threatened by a horrific storm and Jonah insisted that the sailors throw him overboard to save themselves. The storm ended and Jonah spent the next three days in the belly of a big fish prepared by God. When Jonah was spit up on land, he went to Ninevah and the people repented of their sins. Instead of being happy about the results of God's message, Jonah pouted and had to learn a lesson in mercy. These events most likely took place during King Jereboam II's reign over the northern kingdom (793-753 B.C.).
The table of content's list of prophets in the Bible ends with Malachi, who prophesied during the postexilic period. At this time (circa 444 B.C.), Ezra and Nehemiah returned to rebuild Jerusalem. Malachi encouraged the people who were intent on restoring their spiritual commitment to God and to obeying His laws. The order of the minor prophets in the table of contents is not a chronological list, though it is close. The chronological list of the minor prophets follows: Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. After Malachi, God is silent for about four hundred years, but Malachi is not the last of the Old Testament prophets. In His perfect timing, God sent the last prophet of the old covenant, John the Baptist, to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah. The gospel writers tell about John the Baptist's ministry in the beginning of the first century A.D. and how King Herod imprisoned and beheaded him.
A comprehensive list of prophets in the Bible includes not only those listed above, but also Moses, the revered Samuel who anointed both Saul and David as kings, the brave Nathan who confronted David when he sinned with Bathsheba, and Elijah and Elisha whose lives were often endangered by the evil King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel. The Old Testament prophets include women such as Moses' sister Miriam and the judge Deborah who fought with Barak against Israel's enemies.
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