OF THE PROPHETS, FEAR AND LOSS OF FEAR

 OF THE PROPHETS, FEAR AND LOSS OF FEAR

Mammito's skit that seemingly imitates Prophet Owuor was not only courageous and fearless but seemed very defamatory on the leader and faithfuls of his Holiness and repentance ministry. Doning similar to the Prophet's white outfit and with similar long beards, the comedian uses words in congruence to utterances of the prophet in past events. The daring comedian's skit has raised heated debate in social circles and invited the wrath of Owuor's congregants, some of whom have gone ahead to issues ultimatums to her to pull down the skit from her social media pages. She has also been threatened with court proceedings and I stand to see what happens to her hereafter or whether she will yield to the threats to apologize or pull down the videos. The story forces me to reflect or notice how preachers over the years have been imitated by comedians endlessly. Preachers seem to only come second to politicians as source of content for imitation by comedians and you ask yourself why? A politician can say all sort of outrageous things especially promises and insults to competitors in an attempt to woo voters to support them. On the other hand, a small bunch of preachers seem to also say outrageous things without being questioned or doubted especially by their followers. I stay on the side of not doubting anything that any preacher says because if one says they spoke to God directly or shared whatapp chat with God, who am I to doubt? If I have no way of proving it, then I let it be like the sayer said. The bottomline is that anyone can talk to God directly without going through the prophets or preaches and the holy bible has clear instructions from God and is where we can learn God's ways or prove it true or false, what the preachers say. Many strange things have been said by preachers on pulpits and it seems like those who proclaim strangest of things receive the greater number of followers. That is how the 310 preacher still enjoys great following and media coverage until today. Whatever the case, we need to be wary of false prophets as warned by Jesus in Matthew 24:11,24. One reason I choose to stay on the fear side away from mocking or pointing fingers at men of God regardless of what they do is the story of Elisha in 2 Kings 2:23-24. It tells of Elisha being mocked by youths who yelled, "Go up, you baldhead!" Elisha cursed them in the name of the Lord, after which two bears emerged from the woods and mauled 42 of them. Whether a similar thing happens to Mammito or not, I stay on a wait and see. Whether if nothing happens proves someone as a false prophet is also not for me to judge.

@Stephen Mungai

DAILY COURTESY

 DAILY COURTESY

Daily life for everyone involves interaction with the people someone knows and also those unknown to us. A rare breed of people are people identified by all who encounter them as one of behaviour and character. Some people are sufferers of Multiple personality disorder and are known to different groups of people differently. Everytime that I noticed myself to be having more than one characters to different people, I always tried hard to reconcile my 2 or more selves into one so that am the same person to all people. Have you ever tried to heap praises to a person somewhere and someone stood on a point of correction to give you their negative experience about that person? Like saying how honest and trustworthy a person is, then someone tells you how that very person refused to pay back what is owed to them? It shocks you at first before you discover that your person was after all not that honest. The gospel of christ is a tool for total transformation of a person's character and way of life. Even so works out other religions and the dictates of good humanity. That is why it feels good to visit families whose kids are trained on simple courtesy of welcome, thank you, sorry and how can I be of help? Training our kids in our ways of brash brutal and trumping upon all who sit on our way is a destruction of our future generations. More so should we always check on our behaviour to improve on where we are not doing very well. And just to re-teach ourselves. Say thank you when something good is done for you...whether you are paying for it or not. Keep your word to the best of your ability and excuse yourself incase you fall short of it. Keep your end of bargain in contracts including gentleman agreements. Say sorry when you have wronged someone. It is uncouth just to go mute knowing well that you wronged that person. Give someone way on the road even when in a hurry. Don't be like brother Njenga, a friend of mine who used to give me lift and would go abusing other road users, justifying inapropriate language and rushing to make it for mid-week fellowship. It is so easy to hold the door for someone coming behind you or pulling the seat for the other person in a restaurant. Let us not be too transactional so that you don't care because you think you may not meet or need that person again. Let every interaction be relational so you have no issue meeting that person again or their referals. I guess it may be much profitable for business people. The golden rule, Matthew 7:12 guides well, 'do unto others what you would have them do to you, Titus 3:2 tells us to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone. Please choose to be courteous everyday. Won't we?

@Stephen Mungai

IT'S EQUAL TO SELFISHNESS

 IT'S EQUAL TO SELFISHNESS

A good number of articles that have gone up this wall relate to relationships or family for the truth is, many of the problems of our people begin in love relationships. Those articles never claimed to have all the answers but are based on the idea that a problem shared is half solved. This reflections, the feedback or the think-through about the issues discussed do somehow become helpful to someone and even with one person getting needed help is worth the bother. For that reason, let's just do another one and from onset say that the unresolved conflicts we find in our lives can be summarized with one word, selfishness. To be unresolved, a conflict requires just one of the 2 parties to be selfish. There are times when both parties are selfish and that makes it even harder. For a moment, let's unveil the true face of selfishness and to begin we ask, who among you is the provider in that relationship? If both of you are working and unless agreed, a woman cannot say like some do, 'your money is our money but my money is my money' that is simply selfish. Save for those women is a growing number of men being provided for by women. These men are given including pocket money by their wives or girlfriends. They just sit in the house to watch movies or are out with friends as their wives stay put on daily grind. Sometimes, these men's women spend huge sums of money to start businesses for their men and the story goes.....they can't maintain business because of laziness. They are used to handouts and when they keep the business, they bring no cent home to support their partners. These growing crop of men are too selfish for life. They want comfort at the expense of a hustling woman. It is uncouth that only one partner foots the bills consistently without help from the other regardless of who earns more. Everyone must contribute something. Of course there are agreed arrangements where one partner stays home for kids and house chores. That is a perfect arrangement if all parties are comfortable. Finances are a big source of conflicts in homes but underlying is usually an aspect of selfishness. Other sources of conflicts like infidelity don't escape selfishness because it's in pursuit to fulfilment of personal desires. While it is naive to assume that your relationship is fireproof and will last forever, it maybe necessary to make arrangements that protect you from the exceses of a selfish creature before they destroy your body and soul. Just point out the selfishneas when you see it and indicate your limits of such acts. James 4:1-2 states that fights and quarrels arise from selfish desires and passions waging war within people.

@Stephen Mungai

OF TALK...WHOLESOME OR NOT

 OF TALK...WHOLESOME OR NOT

Kenya is a democratic state unlike many States worldwide especially in connection to freedom of speech and expression. That is something to be proud of as Kenyans more so when it seems that the dark days of forced abductions and murder of state critics seem to be behind us. That said, it is also worth noting that the right in Article 33 of Kenyan 2010 constitution has some limitations to it and as expressly stated, 'This right is not absolute and does not extend to propaganda for war, incitement to violence, or hate speech." We are getting close to the general elections next year and in such a period, the right to freedom of speech will be enjoyed to greater length. The right seemed to have been enjoyed a few days ago by the President himself when he accused his former deputy of impregnating and killing a college girl. This was in response to the former deputy's remark that the President was having sleepless nights and so emaciated that his ears had propped higher. Thinking of the 2 'insults' critically tempts me to think that the Presidents accusation could be true because, I expected the accused to sue the president considering the gravity of that accusation but so far, he has taken no action. What is more curious is that the family of the deceased girl is yet to take action and seek justice for their kin after new evidence from the statement by the head of state. The words by the President also raises a serious moral question making him as guilty as the person who did the crime because, if he was a good person, he would not have waited until now to expose a criminal. It reminds me of a Kikuyu saying, 'Gūtirī mūici na mūcūthīthīria' which loosely translates to, 'if you watch a thief stealing but do nothing, then you are also a thief'. Politicians and their words is a game at a dirty level where most of us wish not to play but how do we look at ourselves as regards how we speek? Maybe to ask you...have you ever said words more so about a person or to a person and later regretted saying them or just wishing it was possible to swallow them back? Am the type that is careful with words but recently, I was so worked up about a person and said 3 words about them that made a friend of mine angry and for sure, I should not have said that. It was just unnecessay. James 3:5-6 says that the tongue is a small spark that can set a massive forest on fire. With the tongue, jobs have been lost, marriages broken and hatred created in families. You must not say it especially when angry. It is better to pull aside until the anger calms down. Let's just close by saying that we should avoid slander, lies, and "unwholesome talk" in favor of words that build others up, bring peace, and reflect wisdom (Ephesians 4:29, Proverbs 15:1)

Or shouldn't we?

@Stephen Mungai

THE BOYCHILD'S AWAY WALK

 THE BOYCHILD'S AWAY WALK

We talked of GBV two weeks ago and the statistics were crazy that 4 out of 10 adult women have experienced violence in their adulthood. One reader though urged us to also look at the flipside of the coin and according to her, she thought that "the sad part is ,when it is a man violated ,we do not take it seriously, but when it's a lady,we even demonstrate ". Her advice to ladies was that, " If you cannot love them as it should or forgive them, please let them go in peace.The same society that will judge you for walking away is the same society that will talk when you die of depression. Always choose you, self-love first." I found the ideas expressed here very reasonable especially in defence to the boy child, who finds himself forgotten, so many times. If the trends continue as it is, then the statistics could tilt against the men so that more men as compared to women may end up as victims of GBV. This is so true because as women have become stronger over the years as a result of affirmative action campaigns, men have become weaker and not being able to stand against more powerful women. The evidence is all around us. Just to mention, a storyline has been doing rounds that women are filling nightclubs and men increasingly becoming a no-show in the entertaiment spots once ruled by men. In the past, men left their wives at home for fun-nights but now, it looks like tables have turned because, wives are leaving husbands home for the night-outs. Reasons are many but mainly, women are increasingly developing deeper pockets than men. They can afford it. They are doing better in business and a look at the corporate world tells you that women are more in the driving seats of successful businesses today, more as in the past. Physically also, women seem to be getting the guts to stand up to many physical threats from men. Ofcourse, when a man loses the financial muscle, he also tends to lose the physical muscle as well. I draw my attention to a recent case in Nairobi where a woman stood infront of a Matatu to run a confrontational argument with the driver. When temperatures reached boiling point, she took a huge stone and smashed the Matatu's wind screen. It is not very clear what caused the confrontation but the power she displayed amazed me big. If this is how powerful women have become, then every boychild needs a self assessment of their relationships and if he is continuously pressed to a corner with no voice and with occassions of physical violence, then the boychild should just walk away....... just as they dissappeared from the Nightclubs. Maybe that is the only way to make peace and be a child of God just as Matthew 5:9 says, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.' 

@Stephen Mungai

DAVID’S COME BACK PLAN

 

DAVID’S COME BACK PLAN

Tabitha came over to David‘s Kahawa Sukari apartment on a Friday evening. Getting into the house gave her an immediate feeling that something was not okay with her brother. She had always known David as the organized type of men that are a rare species in the ever-high world of Human Male Machoism, chauvinism and bigotry. She sometimes found his brother too organized for life and that amused her many times. She had never forgotten a story when they were growing up when she had borrowed an HB pencil from him. The brother told her to pick from his bag. As usual David’s bag contained well organized books and a geometrical set sitting well placed above the topmost book. The books were all covered double. A brown cover with a clear plastic paper cover on top. David’s books never really got old. On the day, she opened the bag, picked up the Geometrical set, opened it and removed the HB Pencil. She used it for an hour and returned it. When David later opened the set, he was angry at her because she had returned the Pencil on the opposite side of the right position, the other end of the set where she had removed it. Tabitha apologized but the incident remained in her memory years later. That is how organized David was. So, this Friday, Tabitha found a heap of clothes on his 3-seater Sofa. David was sitting on a one-seater sofa. Bob Marlley’s, ‘No woman No cry’ reggae hit was playing loud from the music system that sat on a corner table on one end of the living room near the TV stand. In this period of distress, he had listened to this song repeatedly. He was hoping that Sarah had the backbone to carry on and wished that he had enough strength himself to tell her so. Unfortunately, he himself was also not in a very good place. He called Sarah once every day or every two days, only managing to tell her not to worry that all will be well. Sarah felt though, that David’s voice was not that convincing. She felt the gap. She felt the distance. She perceived the now clear aperture that was leaking the love that had existed between her and David. How this vent could be covered is the answer that Sarah found a little too hard to come by. Tabitha embraced David, sat on the seat’s arm next to David looking deeply into his eyes with great concern. ‘So, what is the matter with you bro?’ She asked. David leaned forward, buried his face into his hands and said nothing. ‘Talk to me Bro. What’s up with you?’ Tabitha asked again. This time she placed her hand on top of David’s head pushing him to sit up. David sat up and while rubbing his eyes with his right hand he said, ‘Siz, am devastated. I have no idea what to do. Imagine Sarah is Pregnant!!’ ‘What!!!??’, Tabitha asked, her eyes wide open and fist on her wide-open mouth. ‘But how?’ She asks further. ‘Had you not told me that she was using Copper T birth control?’ She asks again looking at her brother, whose eyes were beginning to appear watery. David said nothing and again fell face to his hands. They sat in dead silence for a few minutes before David straightened up and said, ‘Yes. We had control in place but whatever happened, I have no idea’ Tabitha lifts her brother’s hand to stand him up then gives him a warm hug and says, ‘It is okay bro. We must accept things as they are because we cannot change them. I’ll help you plan on how to alter your earlier plans so you could take care of Sarah and the baby because this is the time that Sarah needs you most.’ Tabitha helped to bring David’s house to order, and they talked late into the night about how to handle things going forward. After all considerations, David felt a big relief because he finally had a plan on how to move forward with life.

@Stephen Mungai

GBV. THE SURFERER, THE SILENT AND THE RISK

 GBV. THE SURFERER, THE SILENT AND THE RISK

The story of Steve Godia, the man whose girlfriend poured boiling water on his upper body while he slept, is not only sad and sobering, but calls all of us to the table, to discuss the rising cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV). It was chilling to watch him in hospital bed with severe burns on his upper body and his head. I couldn't help myself but ask, 'is there a reason that is good enough to justify such violence? Is cheating reason enough? I am not sure. Why Godia's case needs a discussion is because some us, our friends, neigbours and family members are facing physical abuse from their partners but still remain in the abusive relationships for one reason or another. I am sure that some of us know people going through GBV but still hold on to their partners. I personally know several but most times, it comes hard to tell someone to leave their partners. Maybe we need to do a small survey because I guess that all of us are either currently in a serious relationship or have been recently there. And so we ask, are you currenty in an abusive relationship? Have you ever been beaten by your partner? Or it was just a slap? Could violence be the reason why you abandoned your relationship? Probably we won't get an answer from anyone here but sometimes, your silent answer may be a wake up call for you to do self assessment before things get worse. Among the reasons people stay is children but imagine the case of Faith Nyaga found by her child in a pool of blood, having been slaughtered by the husband who is now on the run!!  Imagine if she had stayed in an abusive relationship for children's sake....are the kids better now? I guess that the days when people were told to persevere in marriage especially with unreasonable abusive partners are long gone because the silent surferers risks their own life. Safety first. And that should come from the respect your person accords you. Someone who talks you down, uses uncensored dirty insults towards you, talks to you anyhow they feel like......There are partners who have no chills throwing punches, slaps and kicks at you. Others have side dishes or Mpango wa Kando and don't care whether you know it or not. Some dare to bring their mpangos to your very house and be like uta-do?. Some misuse their money burdening you with family expenses but when questioned, they quickly become violent. This kind of disrespect if allowed to go on spirals to dangerous violence that may land you in a coffin. Is it worth it? We need to respect ourselves enough not to allow such disrespect, children or not, provision or not. God will take care of you when you leave. It's better than leaving the relationship in a coffin. Unesco report of 02.10.2025 reported that 34% of women aged 15–49 in Kenya have experienced physical violence. Those numbers are alarming and need action to end this madness. Though skewed towards women, for sure, there are also men who are  suffering from domestic violence. My pen's ink is running out so must I sign off, better with a biblical verse. Ephesians 5:21: Encourages submitting to and respecting one another out of reverence for Christ. Let's continue once i putchase another pen.

@Stephen Mungai