10 Theses on Creation

  1. The Triune God is the creator of everything in the universe. 

In the beginning (Gn. 1:1), God made “the earth and all that is in it” (Neh. 9:6). He made his creation perfect, “good” (1Tm. 4:4), “very good” (Gn. 1:31), and “everything beautiful in its time” (Ecc. 3:11). “Good” precludes anything evil in creation before the Fall. The living God created the world ex nihilo, out of nothing (Gn. 1:1), without any pre-existing materials (Gn. 3:21). 

He did so by a “word” (Hb. 11:3). He “spoke and it came to be” (Ps. 33:9); he “commanded” and the world was created (Ps. 148:5). The creation of the world was immediate, similar to the way Jesus instantly turned water into wine (Jn. 2:1-11) and fed the five thousand (Mt. 14:13-21). God also created the world with maturation, such as fully grown trees and Adam and Eve with the appearance of age. 

Continue reading

Kenya’s Eco-Tax Revolt: A Christian Response

–– Mark Christopher

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Over the course of recent weeks, a violent anti-tax protest erupted in Kenya beginning in the capital of Nairobi before spreading to other municipalities. At the time this article was written, protestors stormed the parliament building and set it ablaze. All of the Kenyan parliamentarians safely escaped through an evacuation tunnel. It has been reported that police have opened fire with live rounds. So far, 39 people have been reported killed, while dozens were injured. It has also been reported that some 50 people are missing and are thought to have been abducted by Kenyan police. The president of Kenya, William Ruto, has sought to ease tensions and bring some measure of calm to the uprising. 

Continue reading

A Survey of Slavery and Salvation

–– Gideon Mpeni

Audio version of this article available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Africa is a beautiful continent. Yet, beneath the edges of this amazing tapestry are dark threads of various evils. From Cape to Cairo, we hear various cries of desperation and one of those African cries is heard from the closed doors in Oman from a woman as she suffers the trauma of severe burns inflicted by her so-called bosses. Her name is Blessing, she was among those women lured with offers of domestic work, only to be trapped in a cycle of exploitation, and thrown into the dungeon of despair. 

Continue reading

Carbon Credit or Carbon Con?

–– Mark Christopher

Listen and subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

As I write this piece, the COP28 Climate-Change Conference is underway in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai. Every year for the last 28 years, at this time of the year, the United Nations hosts the COP meetings with up to 70,000 people flying in from all over the world for the two-week extravaganza. The goal of COP and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change is to meet to discuss ways to limit CO2 emissions.

But what does COP28 have to do with Africa? One of the topics of discussion at this year’s COP28 conference concerns negotiations by wealthy oil barons, in the UAE, buying up land rights in Africa to plant trees on protected land to serve as carbon offsets for wealthy polluters in the West and Middle East. Carbon offsets are purchased by those who can afford them to offset the carbon footprint of jetsetters by planting CO2-absorbing trees. So, rather than curbing their own activities, the wealthy continue to live their extravagant lifestyles and purchase what amounts to pollution permits in other parts of the world — like Africa — where trees are planted as CO2 compensation.

Continue reading

TARIF: Sudanese Strife and the Climate Change Conundrum

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Tuesday, July 18th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Mark Christopher and presented by Yamikani Katunga

Strife in Sudan

On April 15, 2023 fighting erupted in Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum. The fighting quickly spilled over into other regions of the troubled nation. After the overthrow of long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir in October 2021 there has been a power vacuum that has sparked growing tensions between the Sudanese Army and the rival para-military faction known as Rapid Support Forces (RSF). 

The carnage of Sudan’s war is beginning to mount and take its toll on the general population. There are the usual tragic reports of hunger, rape, disease, broken supply chains, and causalities with over 3000 deaths being recorded in the last few weeks alone. In recent days, there was a total communications blackout in Khartoum and the surrounding areas with residents forced to flee because of aerial bombings and tanks and soldiers fighting in the streets while rampant looting took place. It is estimated that 2.4 million Sudanese people have been displaced so far with refugees pouring into surrounding border countries like South Sudan, which has its own civil war uprising. 

Continue reading