Author: Schulter Etyang

Don’t Take It from Me: Reasons You Should Not Marry an Unbeliever by Kathy Keller

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3 min read This is a short post by Kathy Keller, the wife to Timothy Keller, founders of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York.  Kathy writes a straight to the point poignant post about the challenges faced by two people of different faiths. In this case, Christian single people seriously considering getting married to a non-Christian.  If you are a Christian single man or woman, you should really consider the valuable wisdom Kathy Keller shares in her post. You could be saved from a lifetime of misery and heartache. She writes, Marriage is HARD ENOUGH (emphasis mine) when you have two believers who are completely in harmony spiritually. I ask, what about two people who don’t share the same faith? A million times harder.  Check it out.

9th lesson learned​ in our 8th year of marriage.

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6 min read Last year, as Jenny and I celebrated our 7th year anniversary, I wrote on the 8 lessons we’d learned in our marriage. These are tough humbling lessons we’ve learned by observation and experience. You can read last year’s post here. In keeping with this tradition, this is what we’ve learned in our 8th year of marriage. YOU CAN BE BOTH RIGHT AT THE SAME TIME.  Time and time again in our 8 short years of marriage, Jenny and I have had to make decisions, be they simple or complex ones, and both of us were right, at the same time. Let me share two examples.

Sleep is your superpower | Matt Walker

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5 min read. 20 min video. One of my earliest blog posts was on sleep. The heading was/is, Grace and the beauty of sleep. You can read it here. I had stumbled on this truth about sleep—that within the Christian scriptures, God spoke to people in their sleep. God, very few times spoke to people who were wide awake. The message of the post was to encourage us to relax a bit. Take it easy. Go to sleep and let God do the night shift. Sleep is a fundamental gospel truth, and this truth is a thread that runs throughout the Christian scriptures. In my earlier post, I highlighted instances of sleep and the results. For example, in the garden, when God wanted to give Adam a wife, he put him to sleep. When God wanted to give his son, Jesus, a new wife, he put him to sleep. Jesus’ last act was sleep—death—and in his sleep, the new creation (bride) was born and fully became operational when the Holy Spirit descended on the bride …

The poor blind guy

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6 min read Mark and Luke wrote this fascinating narrative about three men who came to Jesus and the different responses Jesus gave to each one of them. These writers, through these real-life stories, share with us who gets to experience God’s grace—God’s unconditional love.   In two previous posts, here and here, I wrote about the good guy and the Christian guy. Jesus had contrasting responses to these two.  This post is about the third guy in the narrative—the poor blind guy. Who was he? What did he do that made heaven ground to a halt? And what do we need to do as good moral people or as Christian people to get heaven to act on our behalf, especially when we are in need? Let’s find out. Who is this guy? Mark, names him. His name, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. As Jesus and his entourage near Jericho, fresh from meeting the good moral guy, they meet Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus sat by the road. He was blind and poor. As Jesus passed by, Bartimaeus heard …

The Christian​ guy

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5 minutes read My last post titled the good guy, the Christian guy, and the poor guy was about the good guy who came to Jesus and fronted his CV. laden with moralistic achievements, and how Jesus added some more to-do things on his list. The added weight crushed him and brought him to the end of himself. I explained this is what Jesus sets out to do to good moral people. He makes us come to the end of ourselves and encounter grace. Now let’s focus on the Christian guy. Immediately after the conversation with Jesus and the good moral guy had ended, Peter, one with the loudest mouth in the group spoke up and said this, “We’ve left our homes to follow you.” Jesus replied with one word, “Yes,” Here I can imagine Jesus looking at Peter with his eyebrows raised and giving him the “like soooo? Really, Peter? Really? Not you as well.”

Joshua Harris and the sexual prosperity gospel

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8 min read In April 2018, I wrote a post titled, On Dating and being a Virgin. Check out the post here. Basically, the premise of the post was this—most, if not all teaching in the church on chastity is reduced to this idea—if you are chaste and pure, preferably a virgin, God will bless you with a Christian spouse, mind-blowing sex, and marital bliss forever. This is what Christian singles constantly hear from the pulpits and from well-meaning couples married for many years. I received comments for and against my post that made me realize this was a hot button issue among Christian singles. I argued in that post that 1) It is unscriptural to teach or preach that, 2) It is unlivable and unrealistic because we live in a fallen world, 3) Chastity is no guarantee that you will succeed or fail in marriage, and 4) Even if you were a failure sexually, God can still bless your marriage. That God works with failures for his glory. I came across this post, recently, from Katelyn Beaty …

The good guy, the Christian guy, and the poor guy

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8 min read This will be a three-part post. In these posts, I examine three guys and Jesus’ response to them. All three encountered Jesus, all three had questions, and all three received different responses to their questions.  So here we go.  First, the good guy. The good guy A young impressionable bourgeois and a good guy came to Jesus with a smirk on his face said this, “Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus slightly irritated tersely replied, “Why do you call me good?” “Only God is truly good.” But to your question, Jesus continued, “You know the commandments: You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.” The good guy replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” (Matthew 19:16–30, Mark 10:17–31, Luke 18:18–30) This unnamed good guy (unnamed so you can insert your name) represents all good moral people, who mostly are in the middle and upper-class stratum of society. These are good ethical people. …

Stop Pastoral Self-Appointments by Conrad Mbewe – My response

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8 min read The esteemed Rev. Conrad Mbewe pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church and a council member of The Gospel Coalition Africa penned a blog post in which he called for regulating the ministers of the Church. You can read the blog here.  There is a huge ongoing debate and wrangling in some parts of Africa namely Kenya, Zambia and South Africa about regulating religion but to a greater degree the regulating the Christian faith. This is because of ongoing abuses within the church. This is very rampant and apparent, especially within the charismatic movement. It is then obvious that such measures regarding regulation and screening should happen. Or so we think. On a casual reading of his piece, you will agree wholeheartedly with his positions. I would. They make sense. They are practical and would safeguard the Church from abuse. Again, on surface reading that would be so. On a deeper reading, however, it may not be as easy as he advocates. 

Who is your Center?

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1 min read Whoever or whatever is your CENTER will master and enslave you. And when you fail they will crush you, and when you succeed, it will never be enough. In all worldviews except the Christian Gospel, there is one center. Human beings or the general term “Man” is the center. Consider these ideas Fundamentalism, Man is the center. Cultural Christianity, Man is the center. Spirituality, Man is the center. Psychology, Man is the center.

The lies our culture tells us about what matters…​ and a better way to live by David Brooks

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15 min watch This is a talk David Brooks, the New York Times Columnist and television pundit gave at TED. I watched the video and heard faint echoes of the gospel. The gospel? Yes, the gospel. And especially how the gospel critiques and offers alternatives to our modern culture. I hope you hear those echoes, too. That’s what grace looks like.    Image: David Brooks delivers a TED Talk in 2019. Video screenshot