God's Wrath was Satisfied

God's Wrath was Satisfied
Preach the Word!!

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Stop watching that Movie

One day I sat to watch a movie called fireproof. As a young man like many young people, I had a different view of marriage.  Nevertheless, this movie helped me greatly in that it brought to reality the journey of a biblical marriage. While some movies are aimed at helping people to be trained in a particular area others are meant to entertain. However, I believe movies that tell Bible narratives in as much as they would be entertaining must give only biblical information and nothing more. Failure to do so will result in stricter judgment for the producers and all those who promote them.

Let me explain this a little more.  James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” In Galatians 1:8 it says, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”  How does this relate to movies of Bible stories?  A movie can inform and teach. Just like I was able to be taught and informed by fireproof. The Bible narratives like the story of Joseph and that of Samson teach us many things about God and how he related with the people at that time. It is from some of these that we know God’s character, God’s will, God’s attributes and so on and so forth.

So then if movies can teach and inform then they should teach or speak nothing else apart from what the Bible has revealed. For example nowhere in the Bible does it indicate that Joseph kissed Portiphars wife before he left his coat in her arms. So a movie that will show such a scene will be “teaching another gospel.” It will actually be adding to the Bible information that is not there. And I am sure you know what Revelation 22:18 says about people who do such.


How then will it bring stricter judgment? It will bring stricter judgment because the one who teaches will be judged with stricter judgment and that is what Bible narratives do, they teach. So God will have stricter judgment the producers of the movie and the ones who promote that movie.

Thursday 3 April 2014

Marry her the right way: Part 2

In the first blog I was arguing that the groom should at least be able to find the bride waiting for him and not the other way round and I got some helpful responses. One of them was that the waiting being referred to as we wait for Christ is different from the waiting in the hall when the groom is waiting for the bride. The other comment was that the passage in the Bible where Christ is being referred to as the groom is just an illustration. There were also comments that the waiting on the man’s side is closely related to how Adam got Eve. It was God who brought Eve to Adam and not the other way round. Adam had to wait for God to bring Eve so that is why the man waits for the bride. When you look at all the responses, they have meaning. One person gave a reason that while marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church the wedding ceremony is not.

My response then would be that if we are only considering Adam and not Christ then Adam’s argument stands. However, if we are considering Christ as well then we have some things to think about. If a couple is going to wed and have the picture of Christ and Church in mind, I believe it would be good for them to depict the pattern of the marriage supper of the lamb where Christ comes to take his bride away. The two should at least meet in the middle just as Christ will meet the Church in the sky. "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and the with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord"(1 Thes 4:16-17). This should be done in order to show the world what our marriages as Christians point to. I believe every genuine Christian wedding must point to Christ and the Church which many already do. This is for obvious reasons.

It’s true that the wedding ceremony is not marriage but I believe it is a step into marriage. Meeting the Lord in the sky is a step into the marriage supper of the Lamb just like engagement/courtship is not marriage but it is a step into marriage. I believe we as a church are in the engagement period. So we cannot say why do we have to meet the Lord in the sky? The answer is because that’s what the Bible says and you cannot change it. You will have to make that step before you get to the marriage. Same way we should not say why do we have to depict the image of Christ and Church? Is it really necessary? The answer is obvious. It’s because it’s a Christian wedding and that’s what Christian weddings should do. We also cannot say why did the Lord have to betroth us and not take us into the marriage supper directly? It is obvious isn’t it? So meeting the Lord in the sky is a step into the great marriage. If it’s a step into the marriage and its going to happen then our weddings must portray that. If the man and woman are going to wed and decide to follow this pattern then it must be done the right way. By the way it does not mean if you decide not to then you will not go to heaven or you will be sinning or your marriage will fail. This is not what gets us to heaven or what makes successful marriages. It’s about showing one of the steps into the marriage the same way Christ and the Church will make one of the steps into the great marriage by meeting in the sky. And if Christ will meet us in the air then we must also represent that in the wedding by having the bride and the groom meet somewhere in the middle. The groom takes the bride from the bride's Father and off they go to into marriage. The groom must not just stand like a statue waiting for the bride to come. At least this is not what Christ will do. He will come from somewhere and we will see him and then he will wait for us. If we think this act is less significant then we also shouldn't consider courtship and engagements to be important because they are only steps into marriage. In as much as they are significant steps into marriage they are not marriage. And if you do consider them to be less important then you may as well consider your “engagement” to Christ to be less important. We also shouldn't worry if courtships and engagements are not there since what is important is the marriage. We should just go straight into the marriage. I rest my case.

Tuesday 1 April 2014

Marry her the right way

Weddings are one of the most celebrated events in Churches and families. It is obvious because they are beautiful events. When you walk into a wedding ceremony, especially in the Christian context, you notice the groom, his best man and the other men on one side waiting for
the bride and the bridesmaids. This is usually beautiful. They all come in their beautiful attires while lovely music is playing. If you are in Zambia you even hear what we call utupundu coming from especially older women. It’s just lovely.

However, in almost all the weddings I have attended I have noticed one act which has raised a question. Maybe it’s my lack of understanding or appreciating the way things have been done or maybe it is just a preference I have. However, when you look at it from a biblical point of view, I think I have a point which every Christian wedding must consider putting into practice.

If you look into the Bible carefully you will notice that we are told that Christ is the bridegroom while we the Church are his bride. Before I pose my question let me give you some Scripture references. In Philippians 3:20 it says, "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” In 1 John 3:2 we are told, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” You notice that in both verses and even in many other passages which I have not quoted, there is anticipation for the coming of Christ.  There is a sense of longing for the groom to come and get his bride. In Philippians 3:20 the phrase that suggests this is “we await a Saviour,” while in 1 John 3:2 it is the phrase “when he appears.” It is clear then that the Church eagerly awaits the coming of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

My question, then, is that why does the bridegroom in our weddings have to wait for the bride to come and not the other way round?



This is not to say that she cannot come into the ceremony alone. She can do that but not for the groom to be the one waiting for her. I believe for us to give a proper biblical picture the bride must wait for the groom to appear. She can come in alone and let all the people stand to welcome her and the like but the groom must not be there while she arrives. He must find her waiting for him. Maybe my thinking is wrong. I stand to be corrected.