The Fountain Magazine Issue 01, August 2013
The first issue of the flagship magazine of Fountain of Christ Ministry, Kenya. Find out more more about us on www.focministry.org.
The first issue of the flagship magazine of Fountain of Christ Ministry, Kenya.
Find out more more about us on www.focministry.org.
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Bible Quiz<br />
ACROSS:<br />
1. And he kneeled down,<br />
and cried with a loud voice,<br />
Lord, lay not this sin to their<br />
charge. And when he had<br />
said this, he fell asleep.<br />
2. I have heard of thee by<br />
the hearing of the ear: but<br />
now mine eye seeth thee.<br />
Wherefore I abhor myself<br />
, and repent in dust and<br />
ashes.<br />
3. And said, O my God, I<br />
am ashamed and blush to<br />
lift up my face to thee, my<br />
God: for our iniquities are<br />
increased over our head,<br />
and our trespass is grown<br />
up unto the heavens.<br />
4. Let the LORD, the God<br />
of the spirits of all flesh,<br />
set a man over the congregation,<br />
Which may go out<br />
before them, and which<br />
may go in before them, and<br />
which may lead them out,<br />
and which may bring them<br />
in; that the congregation of<br />
the LORD be not as sheep<br />
which have no shepherd.<br />
5. Oh that thou wouldest<br />
bless me indeed, and enlarge<br />
my coast, and that<br />
thine hand might be with<br />
me, and that thou wouldest<br />
keep me from evil,<br />
that it may not grieve me!<br />
And God granted him that<br />
which he requested.<br />
6. O LORD, I have heard<br />
thy speech, and was afraid:<br />
O LORD, revive thy work<br />
in the midst of the years,<br />
in the midst of the years<br />
make known; in wrath remember<br />
mercy.<br />
7. And I prayed unto the<br />
LORD my God, and made<br />
my confession, and said, O<br />
Lord, the great and dreadful<br />
God, keeping the covenant<br />
and mercy to them that<br />
love him, and to them that<br />
keep his commandments;<br />
We have sinned, and have<br />
committed iniquity, and<br />
have done wickedly, and<br />
have rebelled, even by departing<br />
from thy precepts<br />
and from thy judgments.<br />
8. O my Lord, let the man of<br />
God which thou didst send<br />
come again unto us, and<br />
teach us what we shall do<br />
unto the child that shall be<br />
born.<br />
9. LORD, it is nothing with<br />
thee to help, whether with<br />
many, or with them that<br />
have no power: help us,<br />
O LORD our God; for we<br />
rest on thee, and in thy<br />
name we go against this<br />
Crossword Puzzle:<br />
Fill in the names of the person who said the prayer<br />
multitude.<br />
O LORD,<br />
thou art our<br />
God; let not<br />
man prevail<br />
against<br />
thee.<br />
10. .... and<br />
said, LORD<br />
God of<br />
Abraham,<br />
Isaac, and<br />
of Israel, let<br />
it be known<br />
this day<br />
that thou<br />
art God in<br />
Israel, and<br />
that I am<br />
thy servant,<br />
and that I<br />
have done<br />
all these<br />
things at<br />
thy word.<br />
Hear me,<br />
O LORD,<br />
hear me,<br />
that this<br />
people may<br />
know that<br />
thou art the<br />
LORD God,<br />
and that thou hast turned<br />
their heart back again.<br />
11..... My soul doth magnify<br />
the Lord, And my spirit<br />
hath rejoiced in God my<br />
Savior. For he hath regarded<br />
the low estate of his<br />
handmaiden: for, behold,<br />
from henceforth all generations<br />
shall call me blessed.<br />
For he that is mighty hath<br />
done to me great things;<br />
and holy is his name. And<br />
his mercy is on them that<br />
fear him from generation<br />
to generation.<br />
DOWN:<br />
1. But will God indeed dwell<br />
on the earth? behold, the<br />
heaven and heaven of<br />
heavens cannot contain<br />
thee; ...... Yet have thou respect<br />
unto the prayer of thy<br />
servant, and to his supplication,<br />
O LORD my God, to<br />
hearken unto the cry and<br />
to the prayer, which thy servant<br />
prayeth before thee<br />
today.<br />
2. For this cause I bow<br />
my knees unto the Father<br />
of our Lord Jesus Christ,<br />
Of whom the whole family<br />
in heaven and earth<br />
is named, That he would<br />
grant you, according to the<br />
riches of his glory, to be<br />
strengthened with might<br />
by his Spirit in the inner<br />
man; That Christ may dwell<br />
in your hearts by faith.<br />
3. O Lord, I beseech thee,<br />
let now thine ear be attentive<br />
to the prayer of thy servant,<br />
and to the prayer of<br />
thy servants, who desire to<br />
fear thy name: and prosper,<br />
I pray thee, thy servant this<br />
day, and grant him mercy.<br />
4. And he prayed unto the<br />
LORD, and said, I pray thee,<br />
O LORD, was not this my<br />
saying, when I was yet in<br />
my country? ....for I knew<br />
that thou art a gracious<br />
God, and merciful, slow to<br />
anger, and of great kindness,<br />
and repentest thee of<br />
the evil.<br />
5. O LORD, though our iniquities<br />
testify against us,<br />
do thou it for thy name’s<br />
sake: for our backslidings<br />
are many; we have sinned<br />
against thee.<br />
6. <strong>The</strong>n he turned his face<br />
to the wall, and prayed<br />
unto the LORD, saying, I<br />
beseech thee, O LORD, remember<br />
now how I have<br />
walked before thee in truth<br />
and with a perfect heart,<br />
and have done that which<br />
is good in thy sight.<br />
7. O Lord, open thou my<br />
lips; and my mouth shall<br />
show forth thy praise. For<br />
thou desirest not sacrifice;<br />
else would I give it: thou<br />
delightest not in burnt offering.<br />
<strong>The</strong> sacrifices of<br />
God are a broken spirit:<br />
a broken and a contrite<br />
heart, O God, thou wilt not<br />
despise.<br />
8. Father, forgive them; for<br />
they know not what they<br />
do.<br />
9....prayed, and said, LORD,<br />
I pray thee; open his eyes<br />
that he may see. And the<br />
LORD opened the eyes<br />
of the young man; and<br />
he saw: and, behold, the<br />
mountain was full of horses<br />
and chariots of fire.<br />
Find the answers at the<br />
back cover<br />
Till very recently, Rev. Diang’a<br />
genuinely liked me. In a<br />
congregation where young<br />
people were a rarity of sorts, my<br />
regular attendance must have<br />
scored highly with the Reverend.<br />
A combination of factors had<br />
played out neatly to ensure that I<br />
was an ever present congregant<br />
on the second last bench close<br />
to the door.<br />
You see, if your grandmother is<br />
one of the Women Leaders in<br />
I Used To Go<br />
To Church<br />
on Sunday<br />
by Maxwell Ngala<br />
the Assembly (not to be confused<br />
with the political units,<br />
these were simply regions in the<br />
Voice of Salvation and Healing<br />
Church) you have few choices<br />
to make in life. Also, because<br />
tithe was low and those days<br />
people were beginning to send<br />
their children to academies all<br />
over, the church had not built the<br />
Reverend a house in the church<br />
compound from where he could<br />
execute his mandate, in popular<br />
parlance. This invariably meant<br />
that the Reverend would from<br />
time to time be hosted at home.<br />
So, to avoid the spectre of being<br />
called a bad egg, I would faithfully<br />
carry his black leather bag<br />
full of his Sunday paraphernalia<br />
to church and tuck myself neatly<br />
by the door and wait for a long<br />
call or the end of the service -<br />
whichever came first - to liberate<br />
me.<br />
In some of those late evening<br />
prayers, grandma would at times<br />
charge me with preaching or<br />
teaching after quoting a verse<br />
from Corinthians or Timothy<br />
about spiritual gifts or youth<br />
empowerment.<br />
With the Reverend and his two<br />
associate pastors in attendace,<br />
I would nimbly take the ‘Witness<br />
Stand’ and simply replay<br />
a sermon they had done. With<br />
gestures and facial expressions<br />
to boot.<br />
So,the Reverend liked me. I<br />
helped him remember the<br />
sermons he had preached and<br />
he must have been glad to<br />
see that someone was paying<br />
attention even as Nya Pap<br />
and her neighbour had been<br />
snoring unapologetically last<br />
Sunday.<br />
Because of my English Language<br />
teacher’s thoroughness,<br />
I soon also became the Reverend’s<br />
Spell Checker when<br />
a letter was being written to<br />
requisition some charts, flags,<br />
etc from the Head Office in<br />
Kisumu. Or when a letter was<br />
being addressed to a man who<br />
had disappeared in Nairobi and<br />
left his mother - and the Reverend<br />
- without ‘something’.<br />
Fruit of the SpiritYet the Reverend<br />
did not understand my conduct<br />
every time the Holy Spirit<br />
came down.<br />
You know, in the VOSH church<br />
then (I still think it to be so seeing<br />
as our home is even closer<br />
now to the church), there were<br />
two sermons. After the lengthy<br />
preliminaries involving the routine<br />
fundraisers and greetings<br />
from one of the ‘sons’ who had<br />
come back from Kapango, the<br />
Reverend would usher in the two<br />
young preachers at around mid<br />
day. Those days you didn’t go to<br />
church if you had Sunday afternoon<br />
plans with your girlfriend<br />
or boyfriend.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first preacher,called Owen<br />
Experience<br />
Pesa, would<br />
flip his Bible<br />
to some obscure text and begin<br />
‘building’ it. He’d do so till<br />
a streak of sweat appeared on<br />
his face. That always happened<br />
around 1 hour into his discourse.<br />
By this time, the church knew<br />
the Spirit was near... then Ken<br />
Omondi Aura would take over to<br />
quite plainly, to hit the home run.<br />
Ken did not come to ‘encourage’.<br />
He was a fiery preacher who<br />
impressed the few young souls<br />
around me simply because of<br />
his gesticulations and ‘labour<br />
intensive preaching methods’.<br />
One hour into Ken’s sermon, we<br />
were expected - at the prompting<br />
of the Spirit of course - to all<br />
fall down on the floor and begin<br />
seeking Jesus in prayer. Women<br />
would of course lead this great<br />
demonstration of Spirit Power.<br />
Older women would have lesos<br />
at the ready to quickly cover a<br />
young lady upon who the Spirit<br />
had ‘fallen’ without due regard<br />
to the young starving eyes of<br />
young boys behind her.<br />
Men, of course in typical alphamale<br />
demeanour, would ensure<br />
all women have gone down<br />
before following nimbly and<br />
seeking Obong’o Nyakalaga-<br />
-Nyasach Polo gi Piny.<br />
People would sweat, spit, cry and<br />
about 45 minutes later, silence.<br />
Someone would rise to prompt<br />
the beginning of the testimony<br />
session. We’d be told how God<br />
had sent someone a dream<br />
about a lost brother.How God<br />
had ‘chucked’ some evil spirits. I<br />
was particularly fearful of the latter<br />
because the Reverend would<br />
fix his gaze upon me and warn<br />
that during prayer time any soul<br />
not prostrating himself like the<br />
rest would have 7 such spirits<br />
visiting him when they left their<br />
captor.<br />
He would know. I never really<br />
fell when the Spirit descended.<br />
Every time the moment came, I<br />
would repair to the hindermost<br />
part of the church and quietly<br />
seek Inspiration. Beginning with<br />
Grand Ma’s intro: Nyasach<br />
Oganda Israel... Almost saying<br />
“To the Unknown God”.<br />
16 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Fountain</strong> | <strong>August</strong> 2<strong>01</strong>3 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Fountain</strong> | <strong>August</strong> 2<strong>01</strong>3 17