You should know that man has been here on earth for 4 ½ million years. Some people think there is a difference between the Bible and Science, but I don’t think so. The Bible was summarising a long process. So, when they say, Creation is not necessarily in conflict with science, which says man became homo sapien sapien out of other creatures, there is no contradiction. This one was like a summary. Now we are here observing teachings by the Christian religion. There are other religions. I don’t know very well what they say, but you must have heard of them. The Hindus, they are very many; you have heard of Muslims; you have heard of the Jews. The Jews still have their own religion which is not Christianity. It is called Judaism. We also had our traditional religions before the Christian religion came here because remember we have been here for 4 ½ million years and the Christian religion came here for the first time in 1877. So, what were we doing before that? Even before the coming of Christianity, people had moral teachings; teaching you how to be a good human being. Islam came here in 1841; but before that, we had very strict moral code because abantu abahuriire(sensible people) do not do this or do not do that. Omuntu ow’omutima-a wise person does that. Of course their life was mainly around what they knew, which was cows and crops. If you are a man, what you must do, omushaija muzima(how you must conduct yourself) and omukazi w’omutima(a wise woman).
So, as you grow up, you have to know the two sides: the side of being good and the side of being bad. When the Christian religion was introduced, the two sides were now understood as what God wants and what Satan wants.
It is the same idea of the two sides. The good side is God’s side and the bad side is Satan’s side. It is not very different from the traditional teaching because the traditional teaching was saying ekifa-mutimaon one side and ohuriire on the other side (the wise and the unwise); whatever you were, because there were two sides. You were to choose; whether you go in the wrong way or in the right way. In every aspect of life, there is what God wants and there is what Satan (Sitane) wants and because the Christian religion were writing, they helped us and concretized the things. First of all, science will tell you that you are different from other creatures; you are different from cows and you are different from goats. Even the chimpanzees, which look like human beings but they are different from them, you are superior to them.
Remember the scientific word is Homo sapien sapien. Homo means Man and Sapien means wise (wise man).
So, science will tell you that man evolved into a superior creature about 4 ½ million years ago. The Bible says the same thing but in a different way. In the book of Genesis, it says that in the beginning, God created heaven and earth. That was creation. Science will tell you that the universe was created 13 billion years ago. Genesis Chapter 1 talks about the process of creation and how God created the earth and then He created the water and separated it from the land and He created the seas and the continents and the creatures therein. The Bible says it was done in 5 days. This book of Genesis was written by Moses. He is the one who wrote the first five books. So, he was trying to simplify the long process so that people understand and even for his own understanding. But really, it is the same story of creation.
What is important for you is to know that you belong to a superior group of creatures called Homo sapien sapien (a wise man). There is even this scientific designation they call homo sapien sapien. Science says that you are superior and God says that you are superior. Where is the material difference, difference in substance? Both authorities (God and Science) call you so; I don’t know if, in your studies, you have come upon other experiments of human beings who did not succeed. For instance, there are those called Homo-Erectus. The only human beings who could stand upright at that time. Human beings are different. They are the only creatures which are fully bipedal – bipedalism (walking with legs). Other animals are quadri-pedal–(quadri-pedalism).
They walk with four legs. Some fly and others crawl, like snakes. So, the only bipedal, fully bipedal, is man. The first human beings were all homo-erectus. The ones who could stand up.
In the Book of Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26-29, it says:
26 “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness, so that they may have dominion over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground’’.
27So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish in the sea and birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.
29Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food’’
So, God created Man, which includes all the people whom I have here. All of you here are homo-sapien sapien. You can check this word on the internet. It is sapien sapien. It is double. It is not single-sapien. Look for it and see what it means and its origin. When God created them, He gave this man two assignments. Assignments are jobs. Some people use the word Mandate. It means ‘to tell somebody what he should do’’.So, God gave this homo sapien sapien two jobs: multiply and fill the earth; that is how I have got so many Musevenis here. This is a small army. If anybody starts a war here, we can do some work. We are almost a section here and the other people are not here. Secondly, however, there is the additional mandate which is to “Establish dominion over nature”; this means: ‘Control those creatures which I have put on earth, control them and use them’’.Lower down, verse 29, it says, “I have given you trees for your food”. I have also given you the beasts for your food”.
So, he has given them to you not only to eat them but to control them. That is what ‘Dominion over nature’means. You are a special creature. Therefore, you must have the capacity to, first of all, use your wisdom, your superior knowledge to control nature. Don’t stand there and say: ‘I am suffering from jiggers. They have entered my feet, therefore, I have nothing to do’. No! Make sure you don’t have jiggers in your feet. Don’t say: ‘I am here, I am cold because I have no blanket’. No! You must have the capacity to either buy or make a blanket. You are not like a cow. The cow will sleep in the cold. Unless you build a house for it, it has no capacity. But for you, you can make a blanket or buy one. You can stop the rain. It may be raining, but you can build a shelter and the rain does not affect you. When there is no water during a dry season, you have the capacity to pump water.
You can bring it from where it is and you bring it to where it is not. That is why you were created. You were created to establish dominion over nature.
We can even have dominion over this virus which is attacking us. There were other diseases which were killing people in the past. For example, small pox had no medicine, malaria had no medicine, all these had no medicine; but because of the homo sapien sapien - the wise man – they researched until they got medicine for all those diseases. This virus is there just because it is new; but the wise man will look for a solution to this challenge.
Therefore, number one; when I have these homo sapien sapiens here, I must tell you that one of your jobs is to establish dominion over nature. But you cannot establish dominion over nature unless you study it and understand it. You cannot control the microbes unless you study them.
You cannot know the virus like this one unless you study it. So, your first job is to study. Study! Study! Study! Studying is given to you by God. It is an assignment given to you by God. If you don’t study and you are there just enjoying and you are lazy, you are not doing what God told you to do. You can see puppies playing in the compound chasing one another because for them, God gave them the assignment of smelling where food is. But for you, He gave you the assignment of understanding nature and using it to solve your problems and other people’s problems. This is number one and it is very serious.
The Bible is a big book. Genesis is the beginning and there are many other stories. The children of Israel went through a lot of problems. They were not good people and God would punish them; but then he would forgive them.
There is a Runyankore song we were singing. It says that God loves me even if I am a sinner.
It is a long story until Jesus came after very many years of all this. From the time of Moses to the time of Jesus, it is like 2,000 years. All the stories are here in the Bible.
But man continues doing bad things. You remember the two sides; the good side and the bad side, the side of God and the side of evil. So, these Israelites and other human beings were fond of being on the side of evil.
That is how God sent Jesus to deliver us out of evil and to tell us about resurrection because that point was not clear. People thought that if they die, that would be the end. So, Jesus came to clarify that. That is the most important point about Christianity-resurrection. If you die, there will be resurrection. Actually, that was what was new to us here in Africa. The idea of resurrection was what was not very clear. But all these other issues of good and bad were there. Traditionally, people were teaching about good and bad. A greedy person and an enfura. Enfurais the one who is not greedy. It is very detailed in some of the groups about how to be a good person but the idea of resurrection was clarified by Jesus and then Christians brought it here.
Jesus was a great teacher. Whether you believe that He was a son of God or not, but at least it is very clear that He was a great teacher.
You remember when Moses was taking the children of Israel out of Egypt, he was given 10 Commandments: by God on the mountain. You must have heard of that story. You know the 10 Commandments: You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, etc. They are 10 of them. I know them in Runyankore, but I don’t know them so well in English. Jesus was a great teacher because He knew how to simplify.
In the Book of Matthew Chapter 22 Verse 33, (This is a whole Bible from Genesis where I started, where God gave mandate/assignment). After 2,000 years, Jesus has come and He is now teaching. In the book of Matthew, Chapter 22 Verse 33. It says:
33“And when the multitudes had heard this”, (he had said other things before)“they were astonished at his teaching”.
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees gathered together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’’
This one was testing to see whether Jesus knew what He was doing or not, but also to make him make mistakes so that He is blamed. Remember, He was teaching things because this religion of Moses, had started going down. People were doing religion as a ceremony. That is why Jesus used to call the Pharisees hypocrites. The traditional religion which he found there, were not dealing with substance. They were dealing with appearance. That is why sometimes, you don’t see me appearing so much in religious functions. I concentrate on substance/content/value but not just rituals. They were hostile to Jesus because He was teaching value while for them they were teaching rituals; sit down, stand up, walk like this, walk like that etc.
So, this fellow wanted to challenge Jesus when he said: “Teacher, which one is the greatest law, tell us. Which law is the greatest?’’ 37Jesus replied: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the first and the greatest commandment.
Love God!Love God! Love God! You remember the two sides; the good side and the bad side. Wherever you go, the two sides are there. The side of God is there and the side of Satan is there. Jesus here is repeating the same thing. Love God with all your heart and all your mind. Love God. This is the first law according to Jesus. It is the first and greatest Commandment.
39And the second is like it. Love your neighbour as you love yourself. 40. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Love God! love good against evil but also love your fellow men as you love yourself. What you don’t like people to do to you, don’t do to others. What you want for yourself, also wish it for others. In other words, fight selfishness. Don’t be selfish. This is the second point I wanted to bring out to you people.
Remember Number 1, you are special creatures- homo sapien sapien who were given the mandate to establish dominion over nature but you cannot establish dominion over nature if you don’t study and know the laws of God, the law of gravity etc. How does gravity work? How does electricity work? That is nature. It was not created by scientists. Lightning is always there in the sky. That is electricity but people did not know how to use it until they discovered how to use it. All these gases, hydrogen and many others are there. You, the wise man, you can use them for your benefit and for the benefit of others. But you cannot use them if you don’t understand them. You must study and understand Science, Agriculture, Medicine, etc.
We shall now go to the final point. You cannot study everything because creation is so big. In the book of Genesis, it talks about snakes, creeping things, the flying ones etc. You cannot study all those.
The last point of today is Matthew 25: Verse 14
For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and he delivered his goods to them. And to one, he gave 5 talents and to another, 2 and to another, one. To each according to his capability. And immediately, he went on a journey. Then he who had received the 5 talents went and traded with them and made another 5 talents and likewise, the one who had got two, gained two more also. But he who had received one, went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord’s money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received 5 talents came and brought 5 other talents and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me 5 talents. Look, I have gained 5 more talents besides them’. His Lord said to him, ‘Well done good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord’. The one who had received 2 talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents, I have gained 2 more talents besides them’. His Lord said to him, ‘Well done. Good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord’. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed and I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look here, there you have what is yours’. But his Lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance but from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away. And curse and push the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When the son of man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides sheep from the goats’’.
So, this is the final point I wanted us to share today because you remember God gave us assignments to establish dominion over nature but also, at the right time, multiply and fill the earth and you have seen how I have multiplied myself through that group over there. Then also establish dominion over nature; understand nature and use its laws to improve your life. Don’t sit there and think: ‘I am sick, I have nothing to do’. We are clever people we should know what to do with sickness. We already know how to deal with many sicknesses, even the new ones we shall learn how to deal with them.
Secondly, in life, what are the most important laws? Love God with all your heart and all your mind because God represents the good side and Satan represents the bad side. Also love your neighbour as you love yourself ─ defeat selfishness.
Finally, when you are learning, the mandate /assignment number one, you cannot learn everything, but there are talents/gifts which God gives you. God gives you some gifts. That is what they mean by talents.
Talent means capabilitiesand we have different capabilities. Some people can sing, others can make drawings, others are poets, others can understand science, others can understand mathematics, yet others can understand agriculture. When God gives you a talent, sometimes he gives you a passion also; a capability and a liking.
The story of the talent means that you should multiply your gifts to improve things. But you cannot use your gifts if you do not get discipline. That is why these days, people get into problems. If you start drinking alcohol, like young people, how will you use your talents fully? Because you are drunk. Most of the time you are drunk and you don’t know what is happening. If you take drugs, they make you drowsy. How will you use your talents? How will you use your gifts fully? If you are lazy and you don’t study, how will you use the gifts which God gave you? If you grow up and become maraya, have you heard of marayas? Then how will you use your gifts fully? You remember one time there is something I told you when we were up there which I don’t want to repeat here – padlock – padlocking. That one, we shall clarify later. If you don’t do that and you get all sorts of problems; you get AIDS and how will you use your talents when you are sick?
I am now 75 years old. How would I have done so many things, if I had become a sick man or if I had become a drunkard? I have no time for alcohol. I have no time to be drunk. I have no budget for drinking and I have no budgeted time for drinking. When you drink, you don’t know what is happening in the world. If God comes to mark me, He will say: “This man uses all his time on the job I gave him’’. I cannot be drunk, then they wake me and I ask: “Is it morning’’?
You don’t know the time because you are drunk. So you cannot use your talents fully if you are not disciplined.
So, for today, Happy Easter. Remember our 3 points:
1. Establish Dominion over nature, the mandate over the creations;
2. The two greatest Laws of God as put out by Jesus;
3. How to use your talents fully.
Thank you very much.
