About

My name is Otoma and I was born in Malawi, Africa, in 1971.

In the first fifty years of my life, I have been fortunate enough to live on four different continents. One thing I have learned, and something that should be obvious to all, is that no matter the country, no matter the ethnicity, no matter the tribe or race, we’re all humans. In my estimation, God communicates this truth much better; he says that all of us are made in HIS IMAGE! What an honor. What a privilege. What a responsibility.

Like most African Americans, I am very aware of how our society ascribes different values to people. But it was not until 2019, after a lot of soul-searching and a lot of reading, that I became more attuned to the depth of the sins that one group can inflict on another.

It was during this time that I devoured a number of books. Here is a list of some of the books that influenced me in the last few years: The New Jim Crow, The Color of Law, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, The Color of Compromise, The Myth of a Christian Nation, Escaping the Beast, Crossing the Line, Caste, American Apartheid, Medical Apartheid, Slavery’s Long Shadow, God’s Law & Order, The Very Good Gospel, Jesus for President, Stamped from the Beginning, Subversive Witness, Christian America and the Kingdom of God, Believe Me, Jesus and John Wayne, Rediscipling the White Church, White Too Long, The Myth of Equality, and Unsettling Truths.

These books helped both inform and crystalize my thinking on what I felt I could contribute to the conversation. It was also  during this time that Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd  were murdered. Although the manifestations of slavery are in our back mirror, their shadow still haunts us.

From reading The New Jim Crow, I learned that if we do not start to see everyone as of equal worth and fully human, then the criminal justice system will continue to disproportionately criminalize Black and Brown people. If changes are not made in how we view and value one another (Phil. 2, James 2), then the system will “shape-shift” and find another way to oppress. And from reading Escaping the Beast, Michael Burns helped explain the meaning and importance of being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Michael also shared that as image bearers, we have a responsibility to take care of each other and creation. By being image bearers, Christians are meant to give the world “a taste of the Kingdom.”

Combining these two insights - if we are to tackle issues of injustice we need to see everyone as fully human, and that we are all made in the image of God and have a responsibility to each other - led me to see how I could play a role.

I decided that I could use my voice to show that we are all equal and have a responsibility to each other. This led me to use my YouTube channel (https:youtube.com/c/OtomaEdje) to engage in conversations with thought-leaders who could teach me and my audience about how we can be image bearers.. More importantly, I grew increasingly convinced of the importance of my personal example and how I could serve as an advocate to those facing discrimination.

My journey also led me to see how partriarchy has resulted in the oppression of women. Books like The Great Sex Rescue, Malestrom, and The Making of Biblical Womanhood helped me better understand how women have been mistreated and devalued.

As I continued to read and learn, I increasingly realized that although the answers have been in the Bible, many have missed the main thrust of the scriptures.

As I continued my quest, I learned that Christians are more influenced by society than the Bible. Christians who hold Republican ideologies are more influenced by what they ingest in the news. The same goes for Christians who hold Democratic ideologies. This should not be.

The main thing I would like to accomplish is to help all of us learn how we can honor God and better represent his Kingdom by being image bearers.

Maybe we need to learn how to read the Bible all over again. And I want to be first in line to learn and see how I can live out the Sermon on the Mount in our day.

Along with the information noted above, I also love to share good news about the great things that God is doing around the world.

Take care.