The Tef

God creates. I imitate him. My wife helps me do it. Our children enjoy the ride.

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

To Beautiful Eulogy, purveyors of passion, truth, excellence and coffee, we raise our glass.

https://t.co/CD5zyUDHmH

@BryanBraille @CourtlandUrbano @thomasjterry

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

For us murder is once for all forbidden; so even the child in the womb... is not lawful for us to destroy. To forbid birth is only quicker murder... the fruit is always present in the seed.
– Tertullian

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

Where would you be if God took away all your Christian work? Too often it is our Christian work that is worshipped and not God.
– Oswald Chambers

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

@JoelBeeke Congratulations, sir!

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

@thisisfoster May the Lord be close to you all, sir. He is near to the brokenhearted.

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

God always gives his very best to those who leave the choice with him.
– James Hudson Taylor

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

Believe to the end, even if all men go astray and you are left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness.
– Fyodor Dostoyevsk

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

As in paradise, God walks in the Holy Scriptures, seeking man.
– Ambrose

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

The Bible shows how the world progresses. It begins with a garden, but it ends with a holy city.
– Phillip Brooks

[HeartCry Missionary @HeartCryMission]

“My name is Joe Shoko. I was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and raised in a middle-class family. My dad was a staunch African Traditional religion follower, whilst on the other hand, my mother was a Seventh-day Adventist. Growing up, there were many contrasting views in the household. Therefore, it was inevitable that the children were bound to be unstable in terms of what to believe and who to follow.

Tragically, in 2002, my mother passed away. This was probably the most painful occurrence in my life to date.  In 2003, after progressing from primary school, I began my journey as an adolescent at high school. I found myself hanging out with the wrong crowd. I developed a habit of drinking and sometimes smoked marijuana to try and get rid of the depression. This went on for a few years and it soon became a lifestyle. After I finished high school, I constantly felt the urge to quit partying and drinking.

In 2011, a friend of mine invited me to a church meeting. I felt a sense of weariness from all that was going on in my life, so I began attending for approximately seven months. One day the pastor was preaching from Luke 9:23-27. He spoke about how many people cannot follow Christ because they have burdens and sins that they do not want to forsake.  He further emphasized that God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, as an atoning sacrifice to be battered, bruised, and humiliated, so that we can stand justified by God the Father and be ultimately reconciled to Him! I had never heard such great news in my life! I repented of my sins and put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and 6 months later I was baptized into the church after intense baptismal classes and discipleship.

After I got saved, I gradually developed an insatiable thirst for the Word of God. I was so convicted to die to self, pick up my cross daily, and follow Jesus.  I began serving at our local church, working with the youth and feeding the poor. In essence, preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the lost is what I desire most because I too was once lost but was sought after with the gospel. As I think back on my life, I thank the Lord with a tear in my eye for saving me, such a wretched sinner, in order to preach the gospel to His people! Amazing grace!”

Joe currently serves as the pastor of Berean Reformed Baptist Church in Zimbabwe. He received his ministerial training through the Theological College of Zimbabwe and through a year-long internship at Kabwata Baptist Church. Berean Reformed Baptist Church began in 2019, and God has steadily grown the church. Joe began partnering with HeartCry in 2019—the same year he and his wife, Tinotenda, were married.

Please pray for Joe and the work of the gospel in Zimbabwe. Pray for strength, wisdom, joy, and faithfulness for Joe and the believers at Berean Reformed Baptist Church.

[Philip Hunt 🇿🇲 @zambiahunt]

In recent months, our brothers and sisters in Rwanda have entered a season of deep trial, one that calls the entire Body of Christ to prayer, solidarity, and biblical hope.
https://t.co/OPEVcp8CIk

[Answers in Genesis @AiG]

Do women actually have the right to choose an abortion?

Those who argue for abortion tell us it’s a woman’s choice whether to have a baby. They argue that it is her body and her choice. After all, it is her body . . . right? We know that an appendix or kidney is part of your body and has no separate consciousness. When someone has an emergency appendectomy or a kidney transplant, there are no moral questions about the life of the appendix or the kidney. An embryo is completely different—in fact, an embryo is a child in an early stage of development.

Embryology textbooks note how in the placenta, the syncytiotrophoblast controls nutrient flow between the mom and the fetus. It also acts as a barrier between the maternal immune system and the baby’s, both of which would otherwise react to the other as foreign objects. Clearly, the health of each would be compromised were not the immune systems of both mother and fetus kept from attacking each other. Biologically, the baby’s body is not the mother’s body! Also, about half the time, the baby is a boy, with male-specific genetics and developing body parts. Does the mother suddenly have a Y chromosome? If the baby is part of the mother’s body, that’s the logical outcome!

When did “you” become “you”? Is this a scientific question or a theological one? Ultimately, the Bible tells us that God created each of us as unique beings from our mothers’ wombs. The Bible, because it is true, will not disagree with genuine science. Furthermore, the Bible is the only valid and consistent basis for making moral judgments because it comes from the Creator of the whole world and all the people in it. The answer starts in Genesis.

God said that he made man in his own image in Genesis 1:26. So when is each human being made? At fertilization! Unborn life is not worth less than life that has been born. Murder is murder regardless of the age or level of development of the victim. All life is precious because each human being is made in God’s image and skillfully wrought together by him (Psalm 139:13–16). Life does not begin after a baby emerges from the protection of his or her mother’s womb; life begins at fertilization and should be protected from that moment.

This means we actually shouldn’t be talking about what mom can choose to do with her body. We should be talking about the life and body of someone else: an unborn child. A sad statistic is that at least 50% of all “patients” who go into an abortion clinic die.

Think of it this way. A woman gives birth and soon realizes her baby is a lot of work. She’s overwhelmed. Would that justify killing her newborn? No! But what if that baby were 24-hours younger and were still in the womb? Is it okay then? No! Murder is wrong, whether the child is born or unborn, because it’s taking the life of someone made in God’s image.

[ConradMbewe @ConradMbewe]

One week ago, Voddie Baucham Jr breathed his last and was no more because God took him away from us. That was how my life’s journey with Dr Voddie screeched to a halt. In this rather long blog post I gratefully recount this journey and share it with you.

https://t.co/tbLDs1Tb4P

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

The impact this family has had at and beyond @ACUZambia is testament to the reality of the Great Commission being fulfilled. Thank you for sending them.

[Paterson @shawnpaterson]

Two years ago this month, Isaac and Faith Madsen, along with their children, arrived in Lusaka, Zambia, as missionaries sent by @KingsCross_Kirk. To mark this anniversary, this morning I would like us to consider why we send missionaries.

As our nation faces a growing need for the gospel alongside a movement of political nationalism that rightly urges us to prioritize our own people, some in the broader church have begun to question whether we should really be sending missionaries abroad when our own country is in need. This is actually a timeless question, and one that has been answered through the years by great men like William Carey, R.L. Dabney, John G. Paton, and Jim Elliot.

The short answer is this: Jesus has purchased with His precious blood a Bride for Himself from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation (Rev. 5:9). And He is therefore worthy to be worshiped and magnified by all nations, not just our own.

After our Lord suffered and died, He rose again to tell His disciples exactly what it meant and what to do next. He had received all authority in heaven and on earth, and His command was and still is to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Triune Name and teaching them to obey all that He has commanded (Mt. 28:18–20).

Therefore, it pleases God to stir up the hearts of some to go. To cross borders and cultures, to leave the comforts of home and bring their God-given gifts, and most importantly, the gospel, to a people in need, that the cause of Christ would be advanced through their labor and suffering. And then God calls the church back home—He calls us—to raise up, equip, send, and support those with this good desire, recognizing that doing so does not conflict with reaching our own people as well (3 Jn. 5–8). In fact, it is good for the church in America to send and support missionaries, as it is an act of obedience to Christ’s command and therefore a sign of spiritual health.

And so the exhortation this morning is that as we long and pray for God’s name to be great among all nations, we must continue to be a church that gladly raises up and supports missionaries toward that glorious end. We must be a church with a missionary spirit, willing to endure all things for the sake of the elect, both here in Moscow and abroad (2 Tim. 2:10).

@ACUZambia

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

The lie that Christianity must be relegated to the fringes of life, to the upper storey of values vs. the lower storey of facts, must be combated with cheerful and unmoving conviction that all of Christ rules all of life.

[Lennox Kalifungwa @LennoxKal]

I had the privilege of attending Charlie Kirk’s memorial today.

Something significant is afoot. Christianity is no longer being apologized for or pushed to the fringes. It is at the forefront of current discourse.

Praise God. What a moment!

[Lennox Kalifungwa @LennoxKal]

I had the privilege of attending Charlie Kirk’s memorial today.

Something significant is afoot. Christianity is no longer being apologized for or pushed to the fringes. It is at the forefront of current discourse.

Praise God. What a moment!

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

If Kirk’s murderer casts himself upon Christ before facing the swift execution that true justice demands, he too will walk into heaven.

And there, side by side with his victim, he will behold the Lamb—alone worthy to open the scroll of history.

(End)

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

Last night, a man was murdered. His name was Charlie Kirk.

He was not killed for his conservative political stance, robust though it was.
He was not killed for being an annoyance to the liberal establishment.
He was killed for living a full-blooded, ordinary Christian life.

[The Tef @TiisaChiwele]

He can do this and remain righteous, for he sent his Son to live the life Adam’s race never lived, and to suffer the death Adam’s race deserves.