Touched By The Finger......

Well unless you aren't Kenyan or live under a rock somewhere, you may be aware of the fire that is raging on the internets and on people's lips about. I'll save myself some keystrokes and post a video from K24 down here about the whole Esther Arunga and the Finger of God church. The story is on its own level, it could be made into a movie! You have the powers of good and evil, human sacrifice, human traffickers, a cult, accusations of brainwashing and other things. I'll let you watch the video to get the back story then I'll give my opinion.

So now we are all caught up on the gist of what went down. The plot only thickened when Esther Arunga decided to give a no holds barred interview with former CNN reporter Jeff Koinange. If you havent watched the series, I have linked to part 1 below.

Now come my series of hard questions and thoughts regarding this whole issue.

1. KTN Resignation - Maybe I missed it, but Esther didn't give a good reason why she left her job at KTN. I have known of people who have left promising jobs and careers in the name of the "ministry" only for many of these ministries to crash and burn and for them to be left with destroyed careers, burnt bridges and whole years of their lives wasted. I know a lawyer who did this and nowadays he is one of the most cynical and bitter people you can come across. If you read the Bible you will note many examples of God working through people in whatever professions they are in. Yes I agree that you can get the call to go into ministry but not everyone gets that call or is cut out for it.

2. Benny Hinn Spiritual Father - So in the news conference Joseph Hellon went ahead and claimed that Benny Hinn was his spiritual father and had been sending him tapes and sermon. There is only one spiritual father someone should have, God; nobody else! Other accounts had him saying that when he preaches it is Benny Hinn speaking, I have a name for that term; it's called channeling which in itself is not the most christian practices by any means. Then of course comes to most glaring thing, it seems all the "prophecies" he was getting were via e-mail which proved to be fake when Benny Hinn's ministries disowned him. So my question is, you call someone your spiritual father and have never spoken to him on phone or met him in the 7 years your relationship has existed?! That's either blind faith or stupidity? Why do I think that Quincy or someone else set up bennyhinn@hotmail.com and was emailing Hellon alongside ordering tapes and materials for him online?

3. Freemason this, Freemason that - Well as we saw via the K-24 interview Esther claims that Freemasons are out for her neck. It seems she is in possession of some hot information. She claims her ex-fiancee is one of them and a human traffiker to boot. Well my question is would a member of a secretive and illicit organisation leave information in the open for anyone to discover so easily? Also after a failed attempt on your life would a member from that organisation contact you and tell you they were trying to eliminate you? I'm not saying that Freemasons don't exist and they dont have gray area regarding what they do but on the other hand they won't make unearthing things about them very easy, after all they are several hundred years old. At the end of the day it just seems that Esther and co are just rustling the wrong feathers.

4. Cry for Help? - Is it me or did Esther several times during the interview on K24 seem to be hinting to Jeff to get her a job with the tv station? She recently quit your job with one tv station, I think the only reason she would be dropping such hints is somehow she now realizes the gravity of the decision she made by leaving her old job. Sadly I doubt she had anyone round her to sound off that decision with and ended up jumping before looking. Plus did anyone notice how riddled with contradictions her story is, did she leave her ex-fiancee because he was trying to get other women in church, or because he was a freemason. Also why would he want to "sacrifice" her if they were to get married? The sad thing though is that when someone is in a questionable church, it's like dealing with a drug addict, unless they can admit they have a problem they wont accept any help at all.

5. President Hellon? - If the announcement of a Presidential bid isn't a joke, then I don't know what is. From the Bible that I read, I dont know if Hellon reads the same one; but mine has a verse that says God is a God of order. I'm sorry but you aren't going to come in as a dark horse and run off with the Presidential election, I think he needs to aim low like counselor or something like that and then work his way up.

Okay all those organised questions aside, why the hell don't people read their bibles?! We wouldn't have half of these cult problems if people read their bibles, you would be shocked at how many people that call themselves Christians that don't read their bibles, I once quoted a verse from one of the smaller books in the bible, I think it was Habakkuk and this chic wanted to argue with me about not only the verse but the very existence of the book of Habakkuk. You should have seen the expression on her face when I showed her the book and the verse. Im not a Bible guru by any means but if you are a Christian then its your responsibility to strive to know the book backwards so that some schyster wont be in your face telling you how its God's will for you to give him all that you own and let him have sex with your wife.

While I'm putting people on blast, what is this hullabaloo about the fact that people in Hellon's church drink wine? There is nothing in the bible about not drinking, it's being drunk that's the problem. But what do holy rollers do? They rail against all alcohol, well if we are going to go against alcohol since it can make you get drunk, I suggest no eating. Why? Eating can lead to gluttony. I propose the same for sex too, no sex for Christians since it can lead to lust. It's this lack of control that lead to wonderful songs like the one below, that help you keep your Christian life on the straight and narrow.

With all that being said, do I approve of the arrest of Joseph Hellon and Esther Arunga? If it's for breaking the law ie being members of an unlawful society (as they were charged), all well and good; but if its for talking too much and shaking the wrong bushes? Not at all because funny enough people stop talking if you dont draw attention to what they are saying. Anyway I do plan to keep my eyes and ears open for other developments. Also to my Christian brethren, I've got love for most of you; just that some of you drive me up the wall!

Cock Blocking, Cheating, and other stories

First and foremost, I have to share the funniest thing I have watched in a long time. Welcome to the Cock Blocking series!

I have never laughed like this in a while I must say. Youtube really has some jewels once you sift through the chaff. I do recall posting a long time back about this chic pal of mine whom I used to hang out with that used to always introduce me to dudes but never ever to the chics she knew, talk about subtle cock blocking.

Anyway moving on, the U.S education system for the most part is very test/exam oriented. States each have their own mandated tests they have students take per year, its by these tests that they can tell if the education system is any good. For any principal to have your school ranked as a failing school would mean less funds, increased oversight,no annual bonus, loss of future job opportunities and if it goes on long enough termination; because after all if most of your students are failing then you have no business teaching. Some schools have been on the failing schools list for sometime, so some teachers and principals decided on a move that would make some 8-4-4 teachers proud. Staff in 74 schools got hold of the tests their students did and went ahead and changed the answers from the wrong ones to the right ones; thus ensuring passing grades for their students. Of course the teachers who take the students on the following year end up realizing there is a problem when a student who had a passing grade in english can't read for squat? So how were they busted? Well whether we like it or not, statistics never lie, you can't have a failing school do a 180 degree turn in a year or less, progress is very gradual then add to the fact that the average student may change 2-3 answers on a 40 question paper but never 27-30 as was in the case in numerous papers checked coming from the schools under investigations. There was one school where a teacher gave the answers to a student before the test. Anyway what am I going on about here, oh now I remember. This emphasis on exams/tests at the expense of learning doesn't do students much good in the long run because all you churn out is a whole bunch of trained test takers; nothing else! Here is the greatest irony, here if many of your students fail; that makes you a bad teacher while I remember in Kenya how I used to have teachers and professors who would proclaim with such glee about how many students fail their tests. Talk about irony!

Okay PSA messages aside, this video below just left me speechless.....



Btw, how did the camera man know that they would start fighting because he was taping before the fight even started! I once knew this chic who said that she gets turned on whenever two men fight over her, let's just say if we were kicking it; she would be one frigid woman.

While I'm all over the place do you know I have never ever seen a urinal like the one below in the States?



I guess part of it would be due to the culture of individuality people have going on over here, that and of course the fact that sexuality is a big thing here. Nobody wants to take the risk that the dude next to you is checking you out as you do your thing. Hilarious how everyday things take on such different significance in other cultures and places.

Anyway back to everyday life, see you next week or on twitter!

Takeover DJs Thanksgiving Fail

The Thanksgiving Holiday is a big occasion in the Kenyan diaspora in the States. Kenyans usually gather in Atlanta for the 4 days for various events usually clubbing events but of course other groups do choose to tour the city on their own. Over different years the events have been run by one or more groups ranging from Kenyaniyetu, 2kat and other now defunct groups whose names I can't recall.

Anyway this year's events were being run by the TakeoverDJs, they have been in the business for a few years now and don't limit themselves to any one state. So this year due to the recession and prior commitments, I wasn't able to attend all the events but after watching the trailer for Wamba, the screening was a must to attend.

That Saturday evening of the screening, I was on my utmost Western time. I got free parking in front of the venue and strolled into the lobby. I had paid for my ticket online so all I had to do was pick it up (and save on box office fees). The crowd that showed up was moderate in size and pretty well dressed since the venue was at a Museum. They had a photographer who was taking pictures on the "red carpet" while people milled around and mingled. At that point I then thought the movie would then start at 7 pm. Come 7pm the theater doors had not been opened and the main organizer DJ Fully Focus and the rest of his crew were pacing in and out of the theater looking a bit harried. At this point in time people were getting slightly restless but were still in good spirits even though the lobby was not meant to accommodate so many people so quite a few people had to stand, 7.30 pm arrived and the Director introduced himself and said that there were "technical problems" and they were working to rectify them. At that point quite a few people went to the box office and got their refunds and left. Those who were left waited and then at around 8.30 pm the Director and DJ Fully Focus announced that due to some snafu or other they couldn't show the movie and that people could get their refunds from the box office and those who paid online would be refunded in 24 hours time, the Director did say though that he had a director's cut of the movie that he would show.

I did stay and watch the director's cut which was not the whole movie but around 1 hour's worth. The movie is most definitely worth watching and I shall be sure to try and get hold of the finished product. But in terms of organization, Takeover DJs get a big FAIL in that area. Call me harsh but this was not an event that was done on the fly but that had been planned for months, to add insult to injury people had to wait almost 2 hours (what would have been the screening time) to be told about "technical problems". The whole issue just resulted in alot of time being wasted and loss of face for the organizers; the only silver lining is that refunds are to be issued (failing which I can dispute the charges with my credit card company).

With that being swept aside, I need to comment on Kenyan events in Atlanta. Slowly over time, the number of groups holding events has dwindled. Part of it is of course due to the recession but another reason is that Kenyans are choosing instead to go to regular clubs, bars or just hold house parties. From my observations and discussions with a few Kenyans is that part of the reason is that too many of these groups became money hungry. Case in point cover charge, when you go to any regular club out here entrance is usually free upto 11pm or midnight depending on the club but when it comes to Kenyan bashes hosted by these groups you will pay cover charge irregardless of how early you come in (I do recall one bash by 2kat sometime back where it was free before 11pm but that was the exception rather than the rule). The same also applies to how late it gets, quite a few clubs stop manning the door at around 2 am or later; this doesn't apply for the Kenyan bashes. I do know that renting a venue is expensive but what some promoters do instead of depending on the cover charge to make money is that they split the cover charge with the venue owners and instead cut a deal where they make money from the drinks sold, given the amount of liquor Kenyans drink; that is a better route. There are ways to make money in the entertainment business while at the same time charging revelers less, other groups are doing it and I think the Kenyan targeting ones should do the same or at the end of the day people will vote with their feet.

Anyway at this point in time I am waiting for the usual barbs about how I am not supporting Kenyans, or how if I can do better I should do so myself among the usual comebacks you get for criticizing your own people. As long as the issue at hand involves my hard earned money, be sure that I am going to speak. Have a nice week people!