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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Facts<br />
Some Quick Facts<br />
About the Bible<br />
By IRVINE LUMUMBA,<br />
Form 4, Alliance High School<br />
10<br />
1<strong>The</strong> Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New<br />
Testament was originally in Greek<br />
<strong>The</strong> Old Testament was translated to Greek by 70<br />
2 Greek scholars, <strong>The</strong> Septuaginta – In 285 BC, what<br />
is today called the Septuagint<br />
<strong>The</strong>n followed the Peshito or Literal for the Syrian<br />
3 churches<br />
4In 400 AD, Jerome translated the entire Bible from<br />
Greek to Latin for the common people<br />
It was then translated to German by Martin Luther,<br />
5 a German scholar<br />
William Tyndale then translated the Bible to English<br />
to come up with the Authorized Version, <strong>The</strong><br />
6<br />
King James Version<br />
Dr. Johann Ludwig Krapf translated the Bible<br />
7 to Swahili<br />
<strong>The</strong> Holy Scriptures were divided<br />
8 into chapters by Cardinal Hugo de<br />
Sancto Caro in 1250 AD<br />
It was versified in 1550 by Robert<br />
9 Stevens<br />
Publication of the 1st versified<br />
New Testament in English<br />
was in 1557, and the entire Bible<br />
in 1560<br />
<strong>The</strong> Bible has 1189 chapters, 929<br />
11 in the Old Testament and 260 in the<br />
New Testament<br />
<strong>The</strong> middle chapter, Psalms 117, is the 595th<br />
12 chapter; having 594 chapters before and after<br />
it. It is also the shortest chapter, with 2 verses, 33<br />
words, 33 letters<br />
<strong>The</strong> longest chapter is Psalms 119, with 176<br />
13 verses, 2445 words, 1<strong>01</strong>46 letters<br />
Two almost similar chapters of the Bible: 2nd<br />
14<br />
Kings 19 and Isaiah 37. 2nd Kings 19 has 37<br />
verses, Isaiah 37 has 38 verses<br />
8 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Fountain</strong> | <strong>August</strong> 2<strong>01</strong>3<br />
15. <strong>The</strong><br />
Bible was the<br />
1st book to be<br />
printed...<br />
“Unceasing PRAYER is the unbroken union<br />
of the soul with God, so that life from God<br />
flows into our life; and from our life, purity<br />
and holiness flow back to God.”<br />
~ Steps to Christ, ch. 11, p. 98, Ellen G. White<br />
SUCCESS<br />
By LOICE MOKAYA,<br />
Form 2W, Alliance Girls High School<br />
<strong>The</strong> world defines success<br />
by how much money you<br />
make, how big your house<br />
is, how nice your car is and<br />
what type of job you have.<br />
God however does not care<br />
much about these things. When<br />
He looks down to this planet,<br />
what he notices is not the shiny<br />
cars, big houses and hundred dollar<br />
bills. No, the creation that catch His<br />
eyes are His children on earth. He delights in<br />
the cleanness of the heart, the fragrance of a<br />
life well lived and purity of a Christ like personality.<br />
He values us so much and works day and night<br />
for our salvation.<br />
Who Will Read<br />
My Eulogy?<br />
Every now and then I wonder<br />
what those who will be present<br />
when I meet my day will<br />
say concerning my decedent self.<br />
If I were to know anyone who will<br />
be present at that funeral, I would<br />
tell them that it should not be<br />
long. If someone accepts to stand<br />
on that day to read my eulogy, I<br />
would wish that they not talk long.<br />
I would like somebody to mention<br />
that day, that Rosana JR,<br />
did try to feed the hungry and<br />
drop some coins into the beggars’<br />
dishes by the roadside and<br />
street corners. I would like it to be<br />
said that I visited those in prison,<br />
offered warmly a mug of cold<br />
water to a sojourner heavy with<br />
the fatigue of travel, clothed those<br />
who were naked, prayed with the<br />
sick and stayed up late with the<br />
bereaved. I want someone to say<br />
that I cracked jokes with my pals<br />
and shares insights and fun moments<br />
with my friends, that I occasionally<br />
billed out cash strapped<br />
colleagues, that I illuminated my<br />
family and brightened my career,<br />
and that I spoke an inspiring word<br />
to souls in despair and shared in<br />
the delight of rejoicing hearts.<br />
I would like somebody not to forget<br />
to mention that day, that I did<br />
try to reach those I could with the<br />
message of the everlasting gospel.<br />
I want it said that in deed I tried<br />
to love and serve.<br />
In the process I have cogitatively<br />
imagined and solemnly ruminated<br />
as to whose story I would like<br />
mine to be commonest to. I have<br />
desired a genuinely ennobling<br />
prodigy, full of qualities that excite<br />
admiration, yet devoid of the pungent<br />
spices and irritant twists of<br />
mortal flesh. In this I have sought<br />
by Joe R Rosana<br />
after a life that is rich in simplicity,<br />
simple in propriety of manners and<br />
conduct, and conducted in coherent<br />
veracity. No superstardom…<br />
no antics…just plain sincerity and<br />
richly evident commitment in the<br />
heavenly course, without losing the<br />
modesty of near anonymity.<br />
After a measured and wholesome<br />
comparison,<br />
one man came<br />
to the fore of my<br />
list: the cupbearer<br />
turned master<br />
builder. Nehemiah<br />
is his name. And<br />
the magnanimous<br />
duty of putting up<br />
Jerusalem’s fallen<br />
walls fell on the<br />
little known servant<br />
of the Most High<br />
God.<br />
I would like<br />
somebody not to<br />
forget to mention<br />
that day, that I<br />
did try to reach<br />
those I could<br />
with the message<br />
of the everlasting<br />
gospel.<br />
Adjectives might<br />
be insufficient in<br />
describing this enviable<br />
personality:<br />
faithful in service, meek in prayer,<br />
conscientious in duty, shrewd in<br />
leadership, cunning in strategy,<br />
meticulous in recording, studious<br />
in the law, gracious in victory and<br />
inundated in gratitude.<br />
A courtesy visit by fellow Jews to<br />
this high official of the Persian<br />
Kingdom at Susa the citadel (during<br />
the reign of King Artaxerxes<br />
Longimanus) sparked off the magnificent<br />
call to duty. <strong>The</strong> sternly just<br />
and inherently ingenuous governor<br />
steadily guided the hurried task of<br />
rebuilding the walls. In spite of the<br />
rocky opposition from without and<br />
the evident disquiet from within,<br />
the task was completed in 52<br />
days; a feat that even Israel’s enemies<br />
attributed to God’s enabling.<br />
Yet in contrast, the task of reviving<br />
and reforming the people of God<br />
within the rebuilt walls demanded<br />
years of Nehemiah’s godly life and<br />
leadership. And these accounts<br />
are punctuated by several fortifying<br />
prayers and end famously with<br />
the words: “Remember me, O my<br />
God, for good.”<br />
I therefore hope that<br />
when that day comes,<br />
when next fresh red<br />
soil I shall lie, that not<br />
only men will speak of<br />
memories fond and<br />
dear. I certainly hope,<br />
that on that day<br />
when darkness I shall<br />
not distinguish from<br />
light and from rain I<br />
shall not run to shelter,<br />
that an even longer<br />
eulogy my guardian<br />
angel shall present.<br />
And yes I hope, that<br />
while the grass will<br />
grow, the heavenly<br />
promise given to Daniel<br />
the Patriarch, will be graciously<br />
extended to me as well: “But go<br />
thou thy way till the end be : for<br />
thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot<br />
at the end of the days.” ~Daniel<br />
12:13.<br />
Yet which is more…I hope that<br />
that day will not be an end in itself,<br />
but the end of this beginning.<br />
Yes, I hope that when the trumpet<br />
of the archangel will sound, I too<br />
will rise again. When the glory of<br />
the Lord shall be revealed, may I<br />
be there too. When the victory of<br />
the faithful shall be revealed, and<br />
the corruption of the mortal flesh<br />
shall be no more, I shall be there<br />
with the chosen of God. I shall<br />
stand again. And Jesus Himself will<br />
be there.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Fountain</strong> | <strong>August</strong> 2<strong>01</strong>3 9