“…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”—Colossians 1:20 (ESV) Over the weekend, a friend asked me what my best hymn is. I responded by ‘singing’ (or mumbling) what I think is one of the best stanzas ever written in the history of Christendom. When Isaac Watts penned the Good Friday hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, he had the scandal of the gospel in mind and the blood of foolishness running through his veins. He knew something that we mostly take for granted: the foolishness of the cross. This ..read more

This is a sermon I preached for my Cultural Exegesis for Preaching Class. Jesus Christ comes in a body to be the eternal sacrifice for the purification of his people according to the will of his Father. In doing so, he fills the spiritual void we all carry through this life. Sermon Text is Hebrews 10:1-10 Enjoy. The post [Sermon] The End of your Spiritual Longing appeared first on The Rebel Priest ..read more

Some time at the start of the final decade of the last millennium, in a Peninsular town on the northern shoreline of Lake Nyanza, a 28-year old woman walked to the altar with her six-month-old baby. “Give this child a name.” Those were the words that came out of the mouth of the neatly robed priest who was officiating the baptism that morning in 1991. Her response would change everything, and I mean everything. That woman was my mother, and that six-month-old baby was me. Lake Nyanza is the traditional name of what is now called Lake Victoria. My mother decided that I would be called ‘Daniel E ..read more

Last week I was called out by someone on Facebook for what he called “being emotional.” He told me that I could not hold a logical discussion because I was emotional. In fact, he called my emotional appeal—during the debate we were having—’logically inconsistent’ and promised that he would use my ‘style’ of argumentation to show his 9-12-year-old students what logical fallacies look like. He also promised that I would become a ‘star’ after him using me as a case study. What happened with my friend is something anthropologists would quickly put a finger on. While we both sought to have ‘logical ..read more

Dear Kanyaganyago, I hope you have been well. Since you came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, we have not been able to catch up and talk. The global pandemic has also not helped the situation. But I promise to send you an occasional letter to address some of your concerns as a new believer. Before I talk to you about what Christians call the ‘Sabbath’, allow me to tell you how I have been lately. For the last two months, I have been studying Biblical Greek or Koine Greek. This has been an intensive class where courses that generally take three months are covered in four weeks. As a slo ..read more

A false prophet? Maybe. But, a heretic? Not a chance. One of the greatest minds of the previous century, G. K. Chesterton once wrote: “The word “heresy” not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous.” My Professor, Justin Holcomb, in his book Know the Heretics notes that the sense of the word “heresy” has been lost. He adds “To some people today, a heretic suggests a rebel – someone with courage, the kind of person who can think for himself and stand up to the institutional church.” In the early church, heretics were those guys who came up with ne ..read more

A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done he went to the old minister, and said, “What do you think of my sermon?” “A very poor sermon indeed,” said he. “A poor sermon?” said the young man, “it took me a long time to study it.” “Ay, no doubt of it.” “Why, did you not think my explanation of the text a very good one?” “Oh, yes,” said the old preacher, “very good indeed.” “Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Didn’t you think the metaphors were appropriate and the arguments conclusive?” “Yes, they were very good as far as that goes, b ..read more

Everyone goes to church. Irrespective of what our different religious inclinations are, all of us dress up for Sunday morning worship. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to walk around the town of Amesbury, Massachusetts, the neighbourhood of All Saints Anglican Cathedral, the church I attend. While at it, I was struck by the number of people who were out and about on the streets at eleven in the morning. On my left, a local bar was packed that you could not see the bartender behind the counter. On my right, a local boutique was booming with business. Before me, the wooden benches in the t ..read more

Today, in our weekly discipleship hour as African Scholars, we looked at Matthew 9:27-34. The passage basically is about Jesus giving a blind man sight who then goes around to broadcast his healing even when Jesus had explicitly commanded him shut up about it. What struck me was Jesus’ question to the guy after he asks Jesus to heal him: 27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” 28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they ..read more