Utterly Ignorant Preacher
There is nothing that I utterly loath like ignorant, know-it-all preachers; who have converted their ignorance to numerous sermons enough to keep them going for 200 Sundays.
Mr. Preacher, if you do not know something and you have no one to ask; Google it. You know, google, the famous search engine; that will lead you to where to find the answer to what time of the night you dream! Some preacher at JKUAT, during a Sunday service not a discussion session; said ‘did you know you that dreams normally come at 3a.m.?’ and he went on to explain that if you dream that you are eating it mean this and if you dream you are falling it means that and if you dream you are flying it means the other and a lot of other nonsense…oh yah, ati you dreams come at 3a.m. because that is the time when devil worshippers are praying. So what you are saying is that God gives us sleep, the devil worshippers control the dreams. That’s a bit twisted.
Joseph in the bible had dreams and they had meaning. His 11 brothers and father and mother had dreams as well and they had no meaning. All the prisoners in the jail where Joseph was had dreams and they had no meaning: all except 2 of them.
Stages of Sleep
First of all, I wish you were preaching to medical students, they would all burst out laughing. Sleep has 5 stages:
N1(5-10mins)
The body is still quite alert; in fact its not uncommon for someone to claim that they were not sleeping if you wake them up at this stage. This is where we experience hypnagogic hallucinations; where you hear something like someone calling you, or you suddenly jerk like you are falling…happens a lot to students in class.
N2 (20mins)
Consciousness decreases. This stage occupys 45-55% of adult sleep.
N3 (30mins)
This is deep sleep where night terror, sleep walking, nocturnal enuresis (urinating in bed), parasomnias (sleeping disorders) would occur.
REM (Rapid Eye Movement)
And this is where dreams occur. This is the Atonia stage: the stage where the voluntary body muscles are paralysed to protect from self damage. The REM stage is first short, but increase in length to up to 1hr as the sleep cycle is repeated.
Sleep: N1-N2-N3-N2-REM (This cycle is repeated up to 5 times in a night)
We get to REM approximately 90min after we sleep.
CU at JKUAT
So Mr. Extremely Ignorant Preacher the only way we can always dream at 3am is if we always sleep at 1:30a.m. As I was saying before if you do not know it Google it…if you don’t know what that is, then DO NOT preach about it. I don’t know why we allow such nonsense on our pulpit. Who are the CU leaders of JKUAT? Please vet those who are preaching before they preach. Apart from getting annoyed I probably wouldn’t mind some ignorant entertainment on a Sunday morning…but some people are led astray, some people believe what the preacher is saying and even stick it on their wall.
I hate it when preachers come up with their own theories of something and preach it as gospel truth misleading so many. I have seen such a book; the meaning of dreams. Fine; people can write whatever they want but should not base it on Christianity if there is no basis in the bible.
Christians Are Not Bold Enough
Even in our churches; I go to NPC, the doctrine is very sound, I must say but there are sometimes when a preacher makes a comment that is not in line with the bible. No one corrects him, he just moves on. I hear in the Mosque, if the Sheikh makes a mistake he is corrected. I don’t know if that is true. But in our church, a pastor makes wrong statement and no-one not even a fellow pastor corrects him…he just keeps on and on explaining that statement. Is it that Christians are not bold enough? I think one day when I get to boiling point I will raise my hand and as respectfully as possible say ‘could you please support what you are saying with the word of God? Coz I think you are wrong’
Dr. Oduor’s Church
I was having an argument the other day with a lady who goes to Dr Oduor’s church who says that all oil in the bible represents the Holy Spirit… and she said that in the story of the 5 virgins whose oil ran out when the bride arrived; it means that the Holy Spirit ran out and the fact that they were looking for a place to buy oil means that they were looking to buy the Holy Spirit…WHAT? Assuming that I had heard wrongly, I asked ‘you actually mean that they were looking to purchase the Holy Spirit with money?’ ‘Yes’ she said. And that’s why anointing oil is sold, it means that you need money to purchase the Holy Spirit. WHAT! If that is what Dr Oduor preaches then that has discredited everything that he says. Also about how hip-hop is demonic etc.
Nonsense!
You will find 10 churches along a distance of 1 km. Either all are scams or all except one. God can’t be that disorganized to call 10 pastors to start churches and put them all in one location to share a congregation of 500 people.
I Prayed for His Church to Backfire
There was an ambitious preacher who started a church near our neighbourhood. He used to pray late into the night and early in the morning…LOUDLY. He was so annoying. As though that was not enough he got a PA system. That church had no more than 50 people. What would you need a PA system for? Then he started doing Keshas (all night of praying). My neighbour had a baby who kept crying because of the noise. Surely was that man called by God? We complained to our landlord. I remember praying many times that his church will shut down…not move to another place…but shut down; because clearly he was an insensitive, selfish man; just thinking about himself and his church above his neighbours. He was not ignorant of what he did; I remember hearing him one night praying on his mic ‘Na wale wananiskiza naomba Mungu uwabariki’ (may God bless those who are listening to me). And God did bless us; his church shut down in less than a month. Finally we could get sleep. We learned later that he was the caretaker of the next houses; I don’t know what he was trying. Oh ya, he used to make his son or some boy and a lady sing with him. At least I don’t think the boy would want to be there at that time of the night or morning. They sang terribly. My God, it was terrible...and they sang with the mics in full volume. I couldn’t sleep. Anyway, thankfully his church backfired.
Do You Pray for Others to Hear?
Which reminds me; I don’t like my neighbours playing loud music. I love my peace. But how different am I if I would have a fellowship of 20 people and sing or pray loudly with the same noise level. I don’t remember anywhere in the bible where Jesus or his disciples would pray and make noise for the neighbours. It was never a problem they had to deal with. In fact Jesus liked looking for secluded places to pray. The disciples prayed in the upper room or went to the synagogue. The only reason the Babylonians had a problem with Daniel is that he prayed to another god (God). Not that he made noise: he opened his window and prayed facing Jerusalem 3 times a day. Just to be clear, I have no problem with noise/volume levels as long as you are still loving your neighbour as you do it. If they ask you to tone it down, please do: if they have no problem go ahead and praise God in whatever way you want.
In fact, I have remembered a story the Sadducee and the other guy. God had a problem with the Sadducee, not necessarily because he was praying loudly but because he was praying for others to hear. When we are praying loudly is it for yourself and for God e.g. an emotional outburst, a style that you have learnt etc? If so then there is no problem. But if it’s so that others may hear; like the caretaker preacher, then it’s wrong because the prayer is no longer directed to God but to others.
