The Portrait – Da’ T.R.U.T.H.’s Hip Hop Apologetic

Let me introduce you to a 2min 50sec song by one of my favorite Christian rappers - Da’ T.R.U.T.H. aka Emanuel Lee Lambert (Get more info on Da’ T.R.U.T.H. at rapzilla.com and NewReleaseTuesday.com). Also get information on his upcoming album Love Hope War to be officially released on January 29th, 2013 here. He is greatly associated with CMR (Cross Movement Records) as his record label. If you know that song “The Jesus Anthem” where he collaboed with guys from Cross Movement, you know what I am talking about...

He has several albums to his name but I will just pick out one song from an album done in 2005 - The Portrait from the album “The Faith”.

Here are the lyrics to the song;

The Portrait

By Da’ T.R.U.T.H.

Album: The Faith [2005]

Verse 1:
Was Christ really buried

Is there a chance that He really married Mary and fled over to France?
Did they really find His bones with a fine tooth comb or did He walk out of His tomb to His throne?
Was He God was He not, was He alive when they dropped Him in a tomb?

Did he swoon was He moved
Was He removed by delusional dudes that refused to believe in the truth were they fools?
Were the disciples hallucinating, was the truth evaded, ‘cause they wanted to boost His ratings
Did the Catholic church from the Vatican work at keeping the bag of dirt under the rug
(Was He God from above if He was do you blink, do you shrug, do you hate do you love?) x2
Hook:
Christ on the poster
Christ of the culture
Christ on the stain glass
Christ of the future
Christ on the video
Christ on the radio
The Christ of Da Vinci
What does he really know
Christ on award shows
Chris that Lord knows
Christ that's sure to come back in His war clothes
In which Christ do you believe?
You gotta know before you leave
Verse 2:
Yes he did arrive, yes He was alive
No-He wasn't married never had any wives
Yes-He did rise, days after He died
What can I say - yes He is God!
From the womb to the tomb to His throne nobody in Rome could hold on to His bones
'Cause there were no bones to be held though His bones were beheld
Who would have known it was Jehov on the DL,

Providing forgiveness, our lives are offensive, He dies to put you and I in a friendship

With himself pain is felt when the glorious gospel is exchanged for wealth
Forget about how the spades were dealt
And think about how you measure up when weighed on the scale
One Lord One faith I plug
One Lord, One Christ, one judge

Hook:
Christ on the poster
Christ of the culture
Christ on the stain glass
Christ of the future
Christ on the video
Christ on the radio
The Christ of Da Vinci
What does he really know?
Christ on award shows
Chris that Lord knows
Christ that's sure to come back in His war clothes
In which Christ do you believe?
You gotta know before you leave

Da’ T.R.U.T.H. delivers a powerful apologetic (a defense of what he believes in) in the song above. He does it unashamedly. The question is: do you (and I) have your (my) own apologetic of Christ? Can we defend what we believe in with all readiness and fervency, or we don’t even know or are not even sure of what we believe in?

Christ wants us to believe in Him and be ready to say so for all to hear. He wants us never to be ashamed to tell people that the portrait Da Vinci Code (or in that matter the secular world) paints of Him is something else and not what He really is.

Dr. Ravi Zacharias (www.rzim.org) insists on every Christian being able to give an explanation [or defense] of what he/she believes in… He insists that every Christian is called to be an apologist (one who argues - read debates - to defend a faith) [WordWeb Dictionary] as written by the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3:15-16 [NIV]: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander…”

There is no excuse as to why you can’t use whatever tool you have at your disposal to make Jesus known unless you are a hypocrite hiding your real self behind the pious mask of Christianity.

Strive to become one who defends your faith in Jesus because He expects you to be one.

Know what you believe in and why; and above all, be ready to stand for it – show people around you that it matters that much to believe in what you believe in…

Lyrics courtesy of http://www.lyricsmania.com

Bonface Morris.

The "Aki Woishee" Mentality

We live in an era and a world filled with colossal exposures.

In such a world, we have the freedom to see and judge as we please. We have the freedom to use our eyes and overblown antics to look around, smirk (if we are excused to), run wild with disgust over what we have seen (in others) and maybe, sometimes, talk about it.

We also have the freedom to like and dislike – especially the behaviour of the different people we meet daily. We can have different opinions of people as we interact with them – it is the nature of man – and may become over judgmental of their misdemeanours, their handling of life and their reaction to different seasons in life. So, with time, we get used to it and it (in one way or another) becomes our daily bread. It becomes stamped into our character – analyzing people on the basis of our varied observations.

I don’t excuse people who observe and judge others (including myself) especially in matters involving behaviour and personality, especially if they do it positively; I just think we have the right to do so – considering that there is always someone else doing the same to us. But we don’t justify our hawking and kiting abilities because others are likely to be doing the same of/to us. We do so because every society needs people like us (allow me to justify myself here) who make observations - even the most stupid ones – and help (but never force) others to see things the way they do...

Man’s ability to interact with other people effectively and in a well built and conscious social standing heightens in their teen age. By the time we are in our teen years, we realize that we need friends around us (maybe people to rely on or a people that may need our reliability) and we therefore start building our character basis. Our friends influence above 60% of our personality range. Side note: Spare me the need to quote any references, anthropological evidence and literature review here mun! This is a blog, and not a research website... But I may do it one day if need be...

So as we advance in age, there is a tendency to incline our behaviour towards one direction, and as I have mentioned above, towards and somewhere between what our social and relational standing depicts. Our environment invades the privacy of our behaviour and our reaction towards those near us. We then start seeing a lot in people and in their myriad of personalities somehow – just somehow- we begin formulating within our minds ways of interacting with them. This is because we are social beings and we just can’t avoid meeting and living with people. We can’t avoid the reality of impeding companionship and/or loneliness while in this world. Truth be told, and loud enough, we need people around us... people we will always have one or two things to say about them...

It is this view of the natural social relations we have with others that makes me conclude that there is a group of people called “the ‘aki woishee’ people”. You don’t have to get the outright translation of what that really means but according to me, what defines these kinds of people is vast.

The way the ‘aki woishee’ people see the world around them astonishes me. They see the world in bits of what other people can do [for them] rather than what they can do for the people around them. I tend to think they grow up relying on relief and philanthropy. They happen to do nothing on their own and accomplish it. They are niggards and empty braggarts... Maybe to help you get their view of life and mentality (and remember that they don’t have to use the phrase ‘aki woishee’ to claim for anything from you for them to qualify to fit in this group), I list below the symptoms of such a detestable personality;

1.       If they were (or are) one of your friends in high school, they;

o   Will always beg for pens, erasers, books, assignment help and stuff from you but will never have any to lend you – always

o   Will give you excuses when they are visited at school as to why they couldn’t give you any of the goods they were brought by their parents – always

o   Will ask for your hand in getting them money for fare back home and never remember to give it back to you – always

o   Will copy your homework but you may never copy theirs because they will always submit it before all others - even you – always… and the list is endless…

2.       If they were (or are) your friends at campus, they will;

o   Come to your cube (or the place you stay), spoil themselves with all your stuff – from cologne, to movies, TV and music, to food, to your clothing line… and brag about it to your immediate buddies but – yeah, but – you may never visit their place – always

o    Never care when you miss class, but will always be like, “Aki woishee Morris, kwa nini hukunicall uniambie kuna class!” Gheeeeest!

o   Always submit assignments ahead of you and pretend they are not through with them. Ukijiweka kwao, wololo! Shauri yako! Utakunywa soups kiasi kupita pipa!

o   Always be broke, as in, broooooooooooke the whole semester. That simply means that they’ll be avoiding supporting you in any way financially.

3.      If they are your friends in the real world;

o   They will always borrow mkwanja from you and never pay back because they have this mentality that you own a bank or that your dad is a tycoon who lends air to some town dwellers somewhere

o   They will (if they are religious) con you in the name of Jesus. Petty people with petty business these ones – and they will forever think that the blood of Jesus somehow prevents you from realizing their conniving ways thus  misusing its value

o   They will only flash, beep and text you but still never finish conversations they begun after you call them. They will beep you for you to call so that they may just say, “Hi!”

o   Woe to you if they become your visitors. They will;

-   Never assist in paying the monthly bills they help to escalate

-   Ask you for credit and petty things like “transport to go to town” and when you won’t be giving them in the name of “I don’t have money for now”, they will give you a silence treatment for a week or so…

-   Do nothing but expect everything to be done for them,

-   Complain and demand to be treated like you treat your family or someone close to you

And lastly…

4.      If they are your boyfriend/girlfriend, fiancé/fiancée, you will be in big trouble, because they will;

o   Demand that you buy them a heaven, but never even appreciate it even after you have struggled to give them one

o   Feed on your sacrificing power, exploit your kindness and smile away at your endless perspiration to meet their emotional, social (and maybe financial) needs

o   Assume that you are a god of some kind and therefore refuse to support you and show you affection, thus leaving you drained and exhausted as you struggle to make them feel safe and good.

o   Lie to you and can become unfaithful and dishonest. Their reaction to your protests against their bad behavior will always be a dense cloud of silence or a blame game. Pathetic people these ones.

o   They refuse to grow up and move the relationship into the next level while blaming it on you as the unprogressive one.

My plea to you if you are one of their many friends is simple: help them learn about life the hard way. Refuse to be too good to them. Refuse to be taken for granted. Refuse to be their puppet. Refuse to follow their governmental orders. Refuse to do things their way. Yeah, help them learn the way of life the hard way. You will be helping their next victim. Refuse to be empathetic. Refuse to give them a second chance. Refuse to give them favors. I know you may be a Christian and wanting to be extremely good and sympathetic, but let no one take your kindness and meekness for granted or as a weakness. Refuse to compromise your joy, peace and happiness. Refuse to be the devil in the relationship. Refuse to be the lesser part of the deal. Refuse it all. Help them learn about life the hard way by denying them the undeserved pleasures of life. Of course you must be gracious and merciful, loving and kind, but give people limits as to where they should step – and always in a civilized way. It may just help them switch away from their agonizing mentality…

Bonface Morris.

He Walks on Water

He Walks on Water

Yeah, He walks on water

They fear His body’s wreathe

And stare in amazement

On how they can’t and won’t gulp His stature

And I, fixing my eyes on Him unlike the waters,

Can’t and won’t sink…

Yeah, with Him, we walk on waters…

Yeah, He stills the winds

Whenceforth they move from unknown yonder to another

With a deep want to blow my embers away

With a want to disguise my way

There He stands in their cruel midst to resist their move

And I, joined to His unmoving ground beneath,

Can’t and won’t be moved…

Yeah, with Him, we still the winds…

Yeah, he moves the mountains

Those naturals that stand above my knowings and my might

Yet with a whisper of His voice, with a still thunder,

He melts them down… He pulls them down

And I, with Him stare at what He created closely and assuredly

Then with a swoosh…

We sway all of them… ALL of the mountains…

So I can’t and won’t be overwhelmed…

Yeah, because I am with Him, we move the mountains…

Yeah, He knows my name

And He hideth not His knowledge of me

Verily, He whispers it to me all day and all night long

Of how He has affectionately loved me

Of how He has endlessly, passionately, caringly,

Gloriously and generously loved me

I so fall for Him – for His Love…

So I can’t and won’t doubt it at all…

Yeah, because I know His Name…

Yeah, He draws to you

I wish You could see Him now

How He stretches His hands, His heart and His Love to you

So that you may know that He is in Love with you too

He has done everything… He will do anything…

Even die for you… even abide with you…

So that you may know that He loves you too

Do you love Him so? And can you boldly say,

“ I can’t,  and I won’t look behind me anymore,

I will draw to Him… and Love him so…!?”

Yeah, He has eternally drawn to us…

His Name is Jesus.


Song: "Walk on Water" by Mali Music 


 

Bonface Morris.

Embracing 2013

So the New Year is here and you don’t know what to do with it, right? Okay, I’m gonna help you with that… just a lil bit…

Oh! Happy New Year! by the way!

Right from the end of 2012 to this time and maybe into the depths of January, there has been (and there still will be) many people showing us their expertise on how to handle new things – new things like a new year, a new job, a new relationship... bla bla bla… I love them – new things - but about these experts… nope. I don’t love experts. I don’t love them just in the same way I don’t love people who talk about money as if it is grown somewhere like carrots in a field – a field they have no idea of the price at which it goes, and carrots they have never planted…

And many of these so-called experts have been telling you (or are going to tell you) things about this year and the previous one that you will end up wishing you had not known or heard of. In short, they are going to nurture your levels of anxiety to heightened altitudes –and maybe, just maybe – break you from the auditorium, through the proscenia to the theatre itself. That is really impressive, right? Being the actor instead of the audience, huh? Okay wait…

I won’t mention their titles. Not even their names. That will be offensive. Being offensive on the second day of a good year like 2013 is not fair. I choose to make them remain incognito as far as I am concerned. But although they may remain incognito for the time being, they have been doing the same things they have done to you to me – the so-called experts of new things – so we all know them. They have been telling me things about how I should drawn the Year 2013 in a bucket full of hope, while kicking out the other pail full of the miseries that I picked up in the Year 2012. I have wanted (while at the same time not wanted) to believe in them, leave alone do (or not do) whatever they have been urging me to do, and in the end, I have somehow managed to ignore their good advice…

Just look at what they have been convincing me about: that I should dream about things that are yet to come – which is a good thing because I do that often (even the Bible wants us to do so) – but they have altogether insisted on me pretending that what happened in 2012 did not happen at all. They have reiterated that in order to succeed, I should say I am not Bonface Morris anymore, but wear another garment of a profile, and become another person – a somehow new person – maybe made new by their ‘good’ philosophy. Good confessions, huh?

They have refused to tell me that if I have spent all the monies I had during the festive season in December, I will;

-          Be too emotional by January 2^nd

-          Be moneyless by January 5^th

-          Be anxious by January 10^th

-          Be foodless by January 15^th

-          Live by wishful thinking by January 18^th and;

-          Have perfected and amply fueled my disappearance skills by January 22^nd

They have somehow twisted that around and called it “normal of an average man”. I have tried to want to believe them, but I have failed.

On the same note, look at what they have done to you: they refuse to accept that your marriage or relationship will not mend itself come 2013. They [pretentiously] deny that you will still be having (or that you still have) a broken marriage or relationship this year – unless you miraculously worked on it on December 31^st; or that you need to forgive someone; or yet still that you can’t prosper through saying, “It is the year of Jubilee!”…

Yeah, most things in our lives don’t change overnight – they just don’t jump into a new world when a new year comes in. Only dates DO change maybe; but people, status, conditions, governance… and so on… can never be changed by just declaring, “This is the year of Jubilee!” Never!

The so-called experts forget that most of us are still savoring hatred and animosity in our souls against people who wronged us in the previous year, they want us to wish that away. No way. It does not work that way. They forget that some of us did not even accomplish one of the many resolutions we had made in the previous year. That we failed - or that some people very close to us failed us. They just want to tell us how we can become better without looking at how bad we already are doing as we enter the New Year. They want us to hide the truth and flatter it with hopefulness. They don’t want to teach us on how to DEAL with our failed goals in the previous year. Most of us still have those burdens – burdens that have somehow managed to overcome these experts’ well-meant oracles. Burdens that have just refused to go away. These burdens my friend, are still here. These burdens are continuously demanding us to speak to them in truth and not out of wishful imaginations. These burdens: the lack of money, the dwindling of health, the failing families, retrenchment, lack of school fees, addictions and obsessions, bad behaviors…are realities someone can’t just do away with on December 31^st! Unless God had been working on them for a while until then… or unless a miracle just happened…

You don’t wish or pray away a mosquito, no matter how tiny it may be. The clumsy thing will keep on being a nuisance until you kill it in real state. You have to kill it – by use of your palms, insecticide or something – it needs action and not your “jubilee” words…Or to be fair – it needs your “jubilee” words joined with action…

That is why I hate these so-called experts of new things... I’d rather talk about you and me… and the New Year…Because that, to me, makes more sense…

I know that we are all familiar with new things. We know how to handle new dresses, new shoes, new gifts, new this and new that… because newness always comes with its share of excitement. And with a new year already up our sleeves, we want to feel that excitement that comes with newness, right? My take on this is that we really don’t have to feel excited about a New Year. We don’t have to be excited at all – maybe just a little bit for the sake of it…

I’d rather we felt excited about improving ourselves than the change of dates and years. Our one and major resolution for this year should be to become better in everything we do. Everything. That is the only thing we can handle alongside the obvious. I am of the conviction that If we can’t become better [in anything], then we can’t do better [in anything]…Doing anything new (or better) needs a will that has already known and dealt with its weaknesses and nurtured its strengths – and that is what becoming better is all about.

So, I am neither going to tell you on how to make resolutions nor on how to keep in track with any. That is not my work. My work is not to give you tips on how to make so-called New Year resolutions, nope. I know my work, and part of it is to enable you to know if you can (or are in position) to make any resolutions at all. I am here to point you towards what you can or you can’t do. And you have to see it yourself without me convincing you on various possibilities…The rest I leave it to the so-called experts. I am no expert.

So let’s just do this…Here is the aid;

1. Talk to God about you and your past - deal with it first. Talk to those you offended and/or those who offended you - deal with that too. Talk to yourself about you – deal with your past and all those failures or success stories. Clear all those life bumps. This will help you be at peace with yourself and your environment. Great and workable resolutions only mature in a safe environment.
2. Be old enough to know what a resolution is. You don’t make any [resolution] unless you know what it is and are ready to wind it into your path of success
3. Plan your life. God needs you that way. People around you need you that way too. You are in a better place when you can plan your life than when you are making resolutions. A well planned life is more likely to keep in touch with what is in its schedule than a confused one
4. Be sure that you have fully mastered the art of consistency in anything you do. It matters a lot as a pointer towards your maturity and your ability to make it or make it
5. Be faithful and fair to yourself first before expecting fairness and faithfulness from others (including God). A failing man is that one who thinks that perfection is harnessed in one day.
6. Dream, but not too much – literally, you may just die in your sleep. Speaking about what you aspire to become helps but it never keeps the dream(s) alive. Dreams make more sense when they are worked upon. Dreams fade away and die when they remain in your ‘sleep’.
7. Find a brotherhood. We always become better by learning from others and through working alongside others. This helps us understand how to create, live in, maintain and mend relationships.

Don’t make any resolutions until you are ready to fuel them – until you have dealt with whatever failed in the past year and are ready to move on. Maybe then you can gladly embrace 2013 – even if it may be at the end of it, you would have embraced it!

Bonface Morris.