news from zambia
KAZEMBE
Presumably Christadelphians world-wide have felt dumbfounded at the brutal murder of Brother Faris of Afghasnistan (Marc/April 04 GN). What a cruel world and what a big loss! He just chose the right path that could lead him to eternal life, but someone has cut his life short. “Blessed are the dead who died in the Lord from now on” (Rev. 14:13). Anyway, I am conveying sympathy to the bereaved family of Bro. Faris who, at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, will be with us rejoicing and performing angelic songs. Brothers and Sisters world-wide, the best prize that life offers is the opportunity to work hard on the Divine word and by proclaiming it. Have no fear of anything, it’s a go, go forward. Death is referred to as a sleep, or rest, both for the righteous and the wicked, but the reward of the righteous will be at the resurrection to eternal life at the coming of Christ. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, that’s why the world hates you. Remember, no servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sins…They hated me without reason” (John 15:18-25). Those are friends of the world, for the Bible says, “You want things, but you cannot have them, so you are ready to kill” (James 4:2). “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray…In fact, a time is coming when any one who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me” (John 16:1-3). This is no different to the death of Bro. Volodya (May/June 2001 GN) who was shot with a low impact bullet 19 times and finally beheaded. And why? Because of man’s jealousy and hatred; lovers of money had fulfilled their desires.
Bro. James Mwanda Kambobe
LUSAKA
It was really sad to hear of the loss of our Brother Faris of Afghanistan. Anyway, Gospel News is really encouraging; I find the articles really interesting, therefore may God bless the work and all who contribute to it. May His name be praised for, in His mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish.
Sis Esther Muntete
LIGHT IS SWEET
Light is sweet and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all. God has given us a great light to walk in towards His Kingdom. He has given us His word to guide us so that we do not stumble.. We should always read the word of God, which is our daily bread, which gives us light and strength, as it is written, “How sweet are your words to my taste. Sweeter than honey to my mouth”. Therefore, since the word of God is sweet, it is the only thing we can depend on, for it is the lamp to our feet and the light for our path (Ps. 119:103-105). We should prepare our minds for action, be self controlled and set our hope fully on the grace to be given when Jesus Christ is revealed. As controlled and set our hope fully on the grace to be given when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires we had when we lived in ignorance, but just as he who called us is holy, so we should be holy in all we do, for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. Since we call on a Father, who judges each man’s work impartially, we should live our lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
Let us fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man (Ecc. 12:13). Now that we have purified ourselves by obeying the truth, we should love one another deeply from the heart, for we are like living stones which are being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, therefore we should live lives which are pleasing to God and meditate on His words (1 Peter 1:22; 2:4-9).
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You, too, be patient and stand firm, depend on God’s word, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door(James ch5).
Sis. Esther Muntete
MUFULIRA
God gave Adam and Eve everything they could wish for in the garden of Eden – plenty of food, no fear. They had total freedom. The serpent said to Eve, You shall surely not die. You shall be like God knowing good and bad, and she ate of the forbidden fruit; she was the first to think of doing wrong. Let’s compare this with the temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He had thoughts running in his mind tempting him to prove that he was the Son of God and given the power to turn stones into bread etc.
Eve had the thinking: ‘Why has God forbidden us to eat of that tree? Maybe He is hiding something from us. Maybe that is the source of His power and we shall be like God, knowing good and bad if we eat of it, as the serpent said.’ It was up to Eve what she did and it is up to us to choose what we do: in Adam all die, but in Jesus we can have eternal life. If we continue sinning we shall die – it is the same spiritually as naturally. There is a physical lion that we see and fear and there is a spiritual lion. Daniel was saved from the physical lion through the power of God and Jesus has defeated the spiritual lion. We can be deceived by our thinking, but it is up to every individual to choose; we need to pray without ceasing for God to protect us. Just as we move away from vehicles which could kill us, so we have to be alert to spiritual danger.
Bro. Kingfred Sikazwe
As Brothers and Sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose name is above all other names, we have to keep our hopes alive; we have to acknowledge the Lord. One thing we have to ask from the Lord: it is that we may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives, to behold the pleasantness of the Lord and look with appreciation upon his love.
Bro. Sakala William
I am glad to tell you that this year the Lord has blessed us with a very good harvest. I went to the farm where I joined my parents. We did the farm work for at least five days; I came back to the Saturday to prepare myself for the fraternal at Kitwe. This was another wonderful day, as we met beloved Brothers and Sisters from other parts of the Copperbelt province. The Sunday School at Mufulira is doing fine. We are receiving new faces of children whose parents are yet to be of our Christadelphian ‘family’, but they permit their children to attend the classes. We also conduct youth meetings every Sunday after service, but due to lack of materials most of the youths find it boring to attend; we do pray that one day we shall be able to get some. Sometimes three attend, sometimes 4-8. We start our meetings with a prayer and songs and hymns, followed by general discussion, then health matters and end with a Bible quiz. I find this very interesting myself and really do encourage my fellow youths to meet with us. We believe the Lord will answer our prayers.
Bro. Silas K. Chishimba
