In the last century, particularly in the in the 1980’s and 90’s the subject of spiritual gifts was hotly debated. John Wimber (1934-1997) was then the leader of an offshoot of the charismatic movement, known as "The third Wave of the Holy Spirit", also known as the “Signs and Wonders movement”. The term “Third Wave” was coined by Peter Wagner (1930-2016), professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary. He became a leading proponent of Third Wave methodology, which then in turn gave rise to the New Apostolic Reformation movement (NAR). According to Wagner, 'The first wave wa ..read more

  Satan is like a roaring lion  (1 Peter 5:8)  (Picture: Namibian desert lion- please don't kill them!) As we speak, the world’s attention has been drawn away from the war against the invisible Covid virus to the current Russian war against her cousins – the Ukrainians.   Our world is always at war in one form or the other. There have been at least 250 wars [1] since the end of WW II in 1945.  Why are there so many wars? The answer is complex at one level, but essentially the answer   to this question is not very difficult.  The fall ..read more

  How  are churches to be governed?  This question  has occupied  a good deal of  the church's  energy  over the 2 millenia  of  her existence. Here is a brief  summary of  the development  of  various forms of church government.   Some time ago I have written  an article on this blog site  entitled, "Why I am a Congregationalist"  [ https://jrieck.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-i-am-congregational-reformed.html ]    which will help the reader to understand my own position  in this regard ..read more

  This subject  continues to occupy  the mind of the church. The LGBT+ agenda is forceful  and  demands  the church's  attention. The Namibian government is under a lot of pressure by international and national LGBTQ lobby groups. Big nations attach  conditions  to their donor giving  and these include  that our country needs to   embrace  the LGBT+  agenda. The   Christian church in Namibia is becoming increasingly divided over this issue. We need a clear statement on which the Bible has to sa ..read more

Early days  Carl Hugo Hahn was born on the 18th October 1818 in Riga, Livonia province in Russia.  His father, Carl Peter Hahn (1774-1863) was a farmer. His mother was Anna Hahn (1794- 1838). They had four children, of whom CHH was the second child. Carl Hugo Hahn attended grammar school in Riga. In 1834 he wanted to enlist with the Russian Imperial engineering corps in St. Petersburg. While waiting for acceptance before entering the service of the Russian army, he was converted and decided to become a missionary. He applied to the Rhenish Missionary Society (a mixture of Refo ..read more

  “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed’, says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them!’”  [Revelation 14:14 ESV] Colin and Linda Gibb came to Namibia in the course of 2001, having been seconded here by the Standard Bank. Very soon they visited our church were united with the Eastside Baptist Church in membership on the 2nd December 2001. Eastside Baptist Church had gone through some very challenging years, and God knew that we needed a man of Colin’s statu ..read more

I do not know  about you, but prayer - from  my perspective of  being a 63 year old (and  43 years a Christian) - has  been a life long challenge for me.  I have reason to believe  that  there are many  that have  a  similar struggle, and if you are among us, then I want to offer the following insight and wisdom  from the pen of the apostle   Paul in Romans  8:26,27 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too ..read more

An (almost)  daily log of   Marcelle (M)  and  my (J)  journey with the Covid Delta variant.  Surnames  have been abreviated to  protect the identity of individuals Many people have not been mentioned. You know who you are, and we give thanks to God for you. Thursday, 24th  June 2021 Day 1(J) Dear church family and friends, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12) Having just been diagnosed  with  Covid 19 today, after  starting to feel unwell on Monday evening, 21st June,   ..read more

The word  “eschatology" is  composed  of the  Greek  words 'eschatos' and 'logos' - literally translated  as  "the word about the last things".  Eschatology   is the doctrine or the word about the last things, or if you like, the doctrine of the future.  Everybody has a view about the future, even if it is vague or not thoroughly thought through. Atheists or Agnostics believe that there is no God.  If this is what you believe, then it is also likely that you will believe that after you die, you will simply will vanish into a ..read more

The ultimate reason we should be against abortion is because we need to fear God. This is not a crusade against abortionists. It is not an expression of contempt for those that advocate such a practice. I am not engaging in a harsh censure against any woman that has had an abortion. On the contrary, I have a deep compassion for those who suffer as a result of having made such a choice.  And I will labour to help such as are heavily burdened to find peace with God (Matthew 11:28-30).  You see, I am not the offended one. God, the infinite, holy and righteous God, the Creator of t ..read more