For Practicing Catholic Christians & Deserving Descendants Of Jacob

By Isaiah Aleck Sanyangore Sibindi

Writer encounters life threatening incidents from childhood through adulthood and wonders how he survives until he discovers its only through the Lord Jesus Christ's mercy. He later gets inspired to write a dedication to the Lord about His mercy, and trying to convince non believers that Jesus Christ is the true Lord and Saviour.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aleck Jason Sibindi Sanyangore
• Release date: Feb 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370985555

Book preview

For Practising Catholic Christians And Deserving Descendants Of Jacob.

Isaiah Aleck Sanyangore Sibindi.

ISBN9781370985555

2017 EDITION

ISBN97811370985555

www.smashwords.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may by any means be reproduced, stored or manipulated in any retrieval system, or transmmitted in any mechanical, electronic form or any other means without the permission of the author.

Any unauthorised action of any kind concerning part or whole of this publication shall immediately be liable to civic and ciminal damage claims.

COPYRIGHT © ISAIAH ALECK SANYANGORE SIBINDI 2016

Contents Page

Title Chapter

Acknowledgements -

Disclaimer -

The Author’s word -

Who is a Christian? I

Who is a Catholic? II The way Catholics Worship III

Observing Easter IV

The Law of God V

The Kingdom of God VI

Daniel’s Prophecy VII

Who is Jesus Christ? VIII

Nature of God’s Mercy IX

Show unwavering trust for the Lord Jesus Christ. X

Jesus is My Saviour for Today and Tomorrow. XI

The Lord saves me once and twice more XII

Streams of Water Flowing From the Temple XIII

Life and Death XIV

Other Books

25. ‘At that time Jesus said, ‘Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned. 26 Yes, Father, this was how you wanted it to happen. 27. My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28. "Come to me, all of you who are tired of carrying heavy loads and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. 30. ‘For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light.’ Matthew Chapter 12.

19. ‘So Jesus answered them and said, ‘I am telling you the truth: the Son can do nothing on his own; he does only what he sees his Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does. 25. ‘I am telling you the truth: the time is coming - the time has already come - when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will come to life. 26. Just, as the Father is himself the source of life in the same way he has made his Son to be the source of life. 27 And, he has given the Son the right to judge, because he is the Son of Man. 28. Do not be surprised at this; the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice 29 and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned.’

37 ‘And the Father who sent me also testifies on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his face, 38 and you do not keep his message in your hearts, for you do not believe in the one whom he sent. 39 You study the Scriptures because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very Scriptures speak about me! 40 Yet you are not willing to come to me in order to have life.’ John Chapter 5.

When Jesus approached Jerusalem He wept over it saying: 42 ‘If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it! 43 Time will come when your enemies will surround you with barricades, blockade you, and close in on you from every side. They will completely destroy you and the people within your walls; not a single stone will they leave on its place, because you did not recognise the time when God came to save you!’ Luke Chapter 19.

14. ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness; even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15. That: whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John Chapter 3.

Isaiah Aleck Sanyangore Sibindi.

Acknowledgements:

I want to thank so dearly all the following people for making this dream come true: my maternal granny Fazo Emma Nleya and her mom Nyekile Nhliziyo for introducing me to Christianity and exposing me to a Christian life in my early childhood.

My mom Anna Annie Sibindi for providing my first contact with the Jewish Race through the Jewish family that she worked for and also for introducing me to Catholicism in the late 1980s.

As from 1963 the year that my mom was expectant of me she worked for a Jewish family up to the year 1979. Her employers and their three children were very friendly to her, my two sisters and I and especially to me particularly because I had been born while she was already working for them. I was later to learn that they were Jews and my love for them and all other Jews in general was to increase when I learnt that Christ had been born into a Jewish family - and that it was originally for the Jews that He had come to the world. Since then I have loved to learn more about the history, culture and Religion of the Jews.

By God’s plan when I came to South Africa from Zimbabwe for the first time I was accommodated in a Jewish house for more than a month and God has given me the opportunity to work for a Jewish family, which I count as a blessing and also a fulfilment of God’s purpose. I feel that through God’s will I have been brought nearer to God’s first chosen people so that through them I may understand their religion and similarly through me they may also get to understand Christianity which also is supposed to be their religion.

Back then in 1963 still in her pregnancy stages, my mom was taken on vacation with her employers from what was then Rhodesia and present day Zimbabwe, to Cape Town. There she had an opportunity to swim in the sea waters by the beach. On her return to her home country her friends had told her to terminate the pregnancy as rumours were rife that, ‘any expectant woman who swims in sea water will have a still birth.’

She decided not to influence my death through abortion but to wait for fate to come on its own. She may still be waiting for my death to come as a result of her swimming at sea almost half a century later. Thanks mom for taking a wise decision, may your soul rest in eternal peace.

I am grateful to my teachers at Siganda Primary School for teaching me how to read and write and also for the Scripture lessons. Even if some of you may be dead by now I owe it to you. God bless and preserve your souls.

Thank you to Our Lady Queen of Peace Entumbane Parish for the Catechism lessons and my baptism in the early 1990s. I pay tribute to St Peter and Paul in Hwange for my confirmation in 2001. I am equally grateful to all the Parishes through which I have gone and all the Christian brothers and sisters for helping me to grow in faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Your reward awaits you all from your Father who is in heaven. Let me not spoil it by thanking you.

For this work I want to thank the following: The Publishers of the Good News Bible Today’s English Version with Deutero Canonical Books and also the publishers of the Polyglot Bible Ancient English Version. Both these Bibles have been heavily quoted in this book and are the main source of most of the material in it. I also thank the publishers of any other material quoted in this book.

Special thanks go to all the people whose names I have used in this book. I have however altered the names of the people whose consent to publish them I was not able to get. Only the names of my close relatives and the people who granted me permission to publish their names appear unaltered in the book.

My thanks also go to the most generous doctor Dr Clive Evian and his equally generous wife Sara. Besides being an inspiration through his involvement in book writing Dr Evian encouraged me to read extensively and also together with his wife Sara supplied me with a lot of reading material. This Jewish couple also gave me access to their computer especially for printing the manuscripts. Dr Evian also provided professional assistance as a renowned author himself.

I would be ungenerous if I failed to acknowledge Dr Evian’s mom the late Mrs Sonia Evian. I knew her only for a month but my short lived experience with her taught me a lot of things about the love for everyone regardless of race, colour or creed.

She was the kind of lady who would make a stranger feel most welcome and wanted. Her radiant love would make me feel as if I was one of her sons. When she passed on her son Dr Clive gave me some of her personal possessions, one of which turned out to be the ‘Polyglot Christian Bible,’ which I have used extensively in the preparation and presentation of this work.

Even if Mrs Evian was not openly a Christian, something tells me that she believed in Christ and was looking forward to His coming in Great Glory.

Dr Evian’s father in law Mr A. I. Yachad, affectionately known to the Jewish Community both local and abroad as ‘Uncle Mitzi,’ happens to be my employer. Mr Yachad Sir. My zeida Sir, thank you for allowing me to steal your time during working hours in order to do The Lord’s work. Your encouragement and that of your daughters and grand children made this work possible to complete.

I pray that the light of your Holy God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that of His Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ always grace you, your descendants and the Jewish Race.

Nadine Slotow Meyerowitz my friend and sister through Hashem, your interest in this book and your quest in having it published gave me all the momentum to see it to its logical conclusion. I wish enjoy reading it.

Special thanks to my friend Mr Jules Chipata a Congolese national. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless and protect you, your family and your country for the work you have done for Him. You are a tool in His hand. Thank you for providing the computer which typed the manuscripts and also for teaching me how to operate it. You came right at the time when the Lord wanted His work done.

To Amandalyn Sibanda from Zimbabwe my sister in Christ who taught me some valuable tricks in computer handling, I say God bless you.

Grace Thokozani Msipha my dear friend. You know that from beginning to end God used you for His purpose which is the assembling and production of this book. He will duly reward you for doing all that you had to do.

Abraham Sikhanyiso Sibindi my son, I promised that your name would be in the acknowledgements page. You typed the first couple of pages of the book during the April May holidays. God has a purpose for you, eGodonga.

Special thanks also go to my friend and brother in Christ Mr Mirino Roberto. I had intended to have the book published by the end of the Soccer World Cup 2010 but that was not to be because the computer which I had originally used was out dated. I could neither print nor transfer the manuscripts into modern computers.

Having met Mirino in the Perpetual Adoration Chapel where we always exchanged duty at 7 am every Sunday between 2009 and 2010 we became friends and I told him of my problem. He willingly offered to help and within a short time managed to open the manuscripts and convert them into Microsoft Word.

Mr Harrison Sgidi Ndlovu, for the cover and graphic design, and also for introducing me to Smashwords thank you very much. Last but not least I want to pay tribute to my two elder sisters Mrs Molly Gwasunda and Janet Sibindi who have been great inspirations in my life, and also to Nomsa Shamie Gwasunda my lovely niece and publications manager.

The publishers and distributors of this book namely Smashwords Inc also receive my special thanks.

I love you all.

Isaiah Aleck Sanyangore Sibindi 15 January 2011.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this book although based on the teachings of the Church and the writings in the Bible are of the writer’s personal understanding. The Church of God may not be held responsible or accountable for whatever views may be taken as offensive to some individuals or groupings. The publishers of this book and of any other material quoted within may not be held responsible either. All blame rests on the writer of the book herein named as Isaiah Aleck Sanyangore Sibindi.

The author’s word:

For: my father, mother, brothers, sisters as well as my sons and daughters. For, anyone who believes in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour and does the will of God the Father is my father, mother, sister, as well as my son and daughter.

While it is my general wish for this book to be easily available to all peoples of the world i.e. followers of Christ and followers of all other religions alike at minimal or no cost at all, my greatest wish is for it not to be missed by the Jewish Community throughout the world. That includes the Chief Rabbis, Rabbis, elders in Synagogues, adults and young Jewish children.

I think the Jewish community might find something of interest in the book especially regarding Jesus Christ whom Christians regard as God’s chosen Messiah, whilst on the other hand the Jews do not necessarily think so.

May everyone enjoy reading the book and find no offence in it but the peace and love that God Almighty extends through His Son Jesus Christ. In this book I never seek to portray myself as a holy man or one who does the will of God. If anything I am the worst of all sinners who only wishes that by the Grace of God will one day become a doer of God’s will.

I have only been blessed by the same grace and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ who has revealed to me who He is and what His followers need to do in order to have eternal life. I have lived a sinful life but for all the bad things I have done I thank God because He has never adequately punished me for them. But as a loving Father He has allowed me to live on through His tenderly love and has always caused me to look back at my past mistakes with regret.

As a practising catholic I have always drawn comfort in confessing my sins and those of my fellow humans to God in private. Realising that as an individual I am a sinner and also taking account of the sins that we as humans are collectively guilty of, I always pray to God to forgive us all for the sins. I have also drawn farther comfort in confessing my sins to God through His servants the Priests.

I dislike having to fall into the same sin and also having to confess over and over again. I only hope that it will come to pass that when I am truly sorry for my sins I confess and never have to commit the same again.

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ always tells us that ‘our sins are forgiven’ and urges us never to sin again. In the same token when we fall into sin and confess God forgives us. But we are never ashamed or afraid of confessing the same sin if we fall into it once more.

Christ advises us to forgive our brothers and sisters seventy times seven times. That’s if they trespass against us and ask for our forgiveness. God will forgive us in more times than that because He is our Father, and when we confess these sins we do it from deep within our hearts and are really sorry for having committed them.

Personally I regret all the sins that I have committed right from my childhood up to my adulthood. When I take stock of them I come up with the conclusion that I do not deserve the long life that I have lived. I also conclude that I live because of Jesus Christ’s mercy, His suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection, all for my sake and for all humanity.

Growing up in the rural areas in the late sixties and throughout the seventies I was exposed to so many dangerous situations through which I can never explain how I survived, besides the only explanation that it was through the power of God Almighty and His Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In the nineteen eighties up to the nineteen nineties I had similar other incidents which include being hit by a car in Bulawayo’s 15th Avenue in 1979 and taking a poisoned sweet bought outside the school gates at Sobukhazi Secondary School also in the same year. I also drank poisoned tea served by my parents’ tenant in 1980 at Entumbane a suburb in Bulawayo.

In 1983 I ate poisoned food in a meal I shared with colleagues at Tobwe Primary School in Binga district where I started teaching.

In 1988 I survived yet another poisoning. My beer was laced with poison at a Shebeen also at Entumbane Suburb. My friend Andreas and I had gone out on a drinking spree in celebration of college graduation. We had started off drinking at Exchange Bar in the city centre round about 11 am. Exchange Bar was a favourite drinking spot for teachers and it ended up being nick named, ‘The Staff Room.’

Later on that day after sunset we decided to go and drink closer home. We then went to a Shebeen where my friend was well known. I was not known at that particular Shebeen because I did not like drinking at those spots. My friend and I were dressed in blue jeans and black leather jackets a typical CID dress code for Zimbabwe those days.

As I had already taken too much alcohol I might have wanted to be mistaken for a CID or a CIO operative and to aid that aspiration I had started addressing the Shebeen Queen in Shona, unaware that I was possibly endangering my life.

We were quickly served with full glasses of beer which we had not even ordered. The glasses had been filled in one of the rooms and brought to us ready for drinking, with one particularly aimed at me. We had seen neither how the beer bottles had been opened nor what other ingredients had been added particularly to my glass.

In a feat of greed I was quick in taking a fast sip of the cold beer but as soon as I put down the still three quarter full glass I felt like vomiting. I hastily signalled my friend out and we left without bidding farewell.

Andreas had still not taken a sip from his glass.

Once outside I told him that I had nearly died at the Shebeen. He seemed to be aware of what had transpired but had not been able to forewarn me before I drank. He thanked me for hastily moving out. When I got home I vomited terribly and was sick for almost a week.

All the incidents were not reported or documented in any way but they were only known to my parents and close family members. They are only being made public for the first time now.

The only other food poisoning that almost got documented was in the year 2004. I will not disclose all details but only hint that I did go to consult a doctor for it. I consulted Dr Sururu at 12th Avenue in Bulawayo. I got some medication for it but again the hand of God saved me.

On 15 June 1995 a bus in which I was travelling overturned and