Let The Lord Prove Himself

Let The Lord Prove Himself.

Some years ago I was eating at a fast food restaurant in Lagos, Nigeria. A lady recognised me, came over and asked me to speak to her ‘fiance’ who was with her. She was about to get married to him and wanted to know what I thought about him.

I sat with the guy at his table and spoke with him about different things; his job, the church he attended, business, etc. As I was speaking to him about those things, I was listening to what the Lord had to tell me about him. When I was done talking with him, I told the lady: “this man doesn’t want to marry you.”
Lady: “how do you know? Did he tell you he didn’t want to marry me?”
Me: “No, he didn’t.”
Lady: “Then how do you know that he doesn’t want to marry me?”
Me: “The Holy Spirit revealed it to me.”

Love is Everything.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. 1Corinthians 13:8.

Love is more important than speaking in tongues.
Love is more important than powerful prophetic gifts.
Love is more important than deep revelations.
Love is more important than giving to the poor and the church.

We have all been deceived to think there are matters more important than walking in love.
There are none.
Nothing else matters.
Love is everything.

TB Joshua And The Practice Of Paganism.

TB Joshua And The Practice Of Paganism.

When TB Joshua was alive, he was the enemy of all Nigerian pentecostal pastors. He was demonized, called an impostor in the kingdom, called a scam artist and was a pariah in the Christian community in Nigeria. They did not agree with his beliefs and practices. Many people came out openly to attack him, but to his credit he never fought back.

When he passed, some mega pastors stood on their pulpits and rejoiced that their enemy was dead. That their God had ‘killed him,’ as if God puts out contracts to take out his children. 

‘who saved us, and called with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, that was given to us in Christ Jesus, before the times of the ages,’ 

2 Timothy 1:9.

We all are products of grace. We all are standing by grace. There is no person who is better than TB Joshua. Our works are like filthy rags before Christ. If we all are standing by grace, what makes us think we are in any way better than TB Joshua?

In Matthew 5:44, Jesus said: ‘Love your enemies.’

Not hate them,

Not demonise them,

Not rejoice at their problems,

Not celebrate their deaths,

Not tell your ignorant followers that your deity killed them.

God is not in the business of killing people. God is in the business of saving souls, restoring lives, securing great destinies.

But pastors celebrated and rejoiced at the passing of TB Joshua, rejoicing that their enemy was dead.

This makes me so sad.

This is not the practice of Christianity.

It is paganism.

We Cannot Make This Journey Alone.

We cannot make this journey on our own. As much as we would like to think that we can make it on our own we should realise that Christ never intended for any of us to go on this journey on our own. He had twelve disciples for a reason: mutual support and encouragement.

Some people with strong ‘Type A’ personalities, like me, sometimes think we are strong enough, wise enough, prayerful enough, spiritual enough, brilliant enough, well connected to the Holy Spirit enough, know the word enough, are experienced enough, rich enough, even educated enough to make it on our own, by ourselves, without any input from other members of the body of Christ, but that is pride, self deception and it eventually leads to disaster.

Why Are Some Pastors So WICKED?

Some of the meanest, wicked, most heartless people I have met in my over five decades on this planet have been pastors and ministers of the gospel.

Before you start cursing me, let me finish.
Read Ezekiel 8:5-18, where Ezeliel found great wickedness and sin inside the temple being practiced by the elders of Israel.


Let me tell you a SAD story.
Several years ago, a friend of mine worked with a mega pastor in Lagos for about five years. When he was about to leave, the mega pastor took back his car, ejected him from his apartment with EXTREME PREJUDICE! It was like they were ENEMIES.

The mega pastor lived like an emperor in the best part of town, he owned many luxury cars, had several real estate investments in the city, but he could not allow this young pastor to exit the ministry and start his own ministry in peace.

I have seen some pastors come on the pulpit and lay curses on their associates who wanted to start their own ministry. They would say all kinds of malicious things against them just because they decided to take their destiny into their own hands and step out in faith.

All these pastors who are very good at laying curses also left some other ministries and started their own, why should it be different fot the people who served with them? why should they make life difficult for people who have invested a large portion of their lives growing their ministries?

Why is the heart of man so full of wickedness?
Why can’t you wish another person well and pray for them to rise and fulfill their calling, assignment and purpose?
Why do you lay curses on men and women who served you faithfully for many years?

This is NOT the nature and character of Christ.

Making Love Work

Hello everyone,

Here are some keys to making love work.

1. Seek to serve, improve and help your partner become better.

2. Celebrate and encourage your partner’s success.

The Gift, Part 8. Short Story.

 

Shade saw murder in Soleye’s eyes. With what she had seen tonight in his home, Soleye would not let her walk out of his home alive. She glanced at Uche and Agnes standing by the car. If she didn’t do something Uche would die and she would be responsible for her death.
‘Get out of the car,’ Soleye ordered.
The events that brought her to this moment played in her head like a movie. She had been driven by her greed and accepted a gift from Soleye. She thought it was harmless but apparently it wasn’t. If she had told her fiancée about the gift he could have saved her from all this trouble. Now she had put herself in danger and also brought her best friend into a trap. She had to make things right even if it cost her life.
‘What are you doing?’ Soleye barked. ‘I said you should get out of the car.’
Shade shut her eyes and uttered a prayer. ‘Lord, forgive me for what I did.’ When she opened her eyes, she turned to Soleye with a determination that made the cultist take a step backward.
She pressed the ignition button. ‘I am done being scared of you. I am leaving your house and I am taking my friends along with me.’
Rage spread on the deacon’s face like an ugly rash. ‘How dare you talk to me like that?’ He turned the gun on Uche and Agnes. ‘Shade, you will do as I say or you will watch your friends die before you.’

There was a loud bang on the gate. ‘Open this gate,’ someone shouted. Soleye and the security guard turned away from the women to see what was happening at the gate. Shade saw Uche reach behind her back and pull out the knife she took from the scene of the ritual. The security guard never saw it coming. The knife struck him from behind. He gasped in pain, fell to his knees and hit the paved ground with his head. Uche threw the case containing the money coming at Soleye. The case hit him on the waist. As he fell down he dropped the gun, it went off and a bullet hit the car.
‘Open this gate,’ the person at the gate shouted louder.
Soleye stood up, took one look at the guard on the ground and fled inside the house.

‘Shade, are you okay?’ Uche asked as she came around to the driver’s side.
‘I will be fine,’ Shade said. ‘That could be Kola at the gate. You should open it.’ Uche put the case in the trunk of the car. She turned to Agnes. ‘Find out who is at the gate. Open it if it is Kola.’ Agnes nodded.
Uche looked in the direction that Soleye fled.
‘Uche, don’t go into the house,’ Shade warned.
‘Are you coming with me or not?’ Uche asked.
Shade got out of the car. Uche picked up the gun, brought out the magazine, checked it and put it back in the gun. Shade regarded her friend with suspicion. Apparently there were many things she didn’t know about the intercessor. Uche kept the gun in the glove compartment of Shade’s car.

As she followed Uche into the building Shade couldn’t resist the urge. She had to know. ‘Uche, have you ever used a gun?’ Shade asked the former prostitute.
Uche took a breath. ‘Shade, there are things I have done that I am not proud of, things I didn’t want to share with you because they would not edify you. This is not the time or place to talk about such things. I promise you that when we get out of this situation I will tell you whatever you wish to know about my past. We should go after that man before he escapes.’ Uche entered the house. Shade stayed at a safe distance behind her. They entered the kitchen and found the back door to the kitchen open. ‘It looks like he ran to the servant quarters at the back.’
Suddenly Shade buckled at the knees and fell against the door.
‘Are you okay?’ Uche asked.
Shade touched her right thigh and her fingers returned smeared with blood.
‘You are hurt,’ Uche examined the wound. ‘This is a bullet wound.’ Blood flowed down the right side of her dress and dripped on the white kitchen tiles.
Shade gritted her teeth and pushed away from the wall. ‘I will be fine,’ she said in agony.
‘Shade, you have to take care of this wound. You don’t have to come with me. I can handle that dwarf on my own.’
Shade shook her head and looked at her friend in the eye. ‘No, I have to do this. It began with me. I must end it.’
Uche put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. ‘You don’t have to prove anything to me. This could be dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt.’
‘I want to do this,’ Shade insisted.
Uche moved towards the back door, paused and turned to Shade. ‘To answer your question: yes, I have used a gun before.’
‘You have used a gun?’ Shade shook her head in disbelief. ‘What kind of life did you live?’ Shade wondered.
‘The dangerous kind,’ Uche forced a smile.
There was a sound above them. Both women looked up.
‘He is upstairs,’ Uche said.

The Gift, Part 2, Short Story

Shade felt the warm rays of the sun caress her face and her eyes flickered open. She turned her head away from the sun and saw the picture of Kola her fiancé smiling at her. Next to that picture was the picture they took on a boat in Dubai with the Burj Khalifa in the background. She had fond memories of that weekend in Dubai. She tried to smile but was rewarded with a headache.

She sat up in bed and noticed that she was still wearing the clothes from yesterday. One thing she never did was wear her work clothes to bed. She got out of the clothes, rushed into the bathroom and took a shower. Minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, did her beauty routine and put on some new clothes.

She entered the kitchen and made herself a cup of mint tea. The heat of the brew helped to clear her head. The clock on the microwave oven read 9:23am. A frown creased her face as she looked at the time. She never slept this late on a Saturday. She was supposed to be at the gym at 7:00 am, but she had missed today’s session by two hours. She pushed aside the cup of tea as concern rose up in her mind. She remembered going to Uche’s apartment. She couldn’t remember leaving it or what happened afterwards. As hard as she tried she couldn’t remember where she had been last night.

Her phone beeped and rescued her from the agony of trying to figure out where the last eight hours of her life went. It was a text from Kola, her fiancé. He was on his way to her apartment and wanted to know if she was back from the gym. She evaded the question. Yes, she was in, she ended the conversation. He had requested for a key to her apartment but she had refused. They were not yet married and until then he had no right to barge into her apartment whenever he wanted. She needed her own space where she could think her own thoughts, process freely and do as she pleased. She felt some sadness as she looked around her apartment. She would miss this apartment when she moved into Kola’s house in Magodo after they returned from their honeymoon. She had so many fond memories, secrets locked in the walls of this house. After living here for seven years, the environment, the people, sights of Surulere had become a part of her life. She wished she could keep the apartment and return to it when she needed some alone time. But society wouldn’t allow her do that. It would be regarded as an act of rebellion for a young bride to retain her former apartment. Her mother would see it as resistance to marriage or the fear of moving into an uncertain future with her husband. She stood up and touched the leaves of the plant that grew in a pot by the window. She liked the scent of the flowers when they blossomed. There were other flowers pots on the balcony but this one was special. She even gave it a name. Cher. Its flamboyant colours reminded her of the ageless, iconic rock artist.

*******

‘Where were you last night?’ Kola asked her as he drove.
‘I was at Uche’s place then I came back home to sleep,’ Shade avoided his eyes.
Kola gave her a curious look. ‘I called your phone over ten times but it was switched off. When did you start turning off your phone? We had an agreement that our phones should always be on in case of an emergency.’
‘I must have forgotten,’ Shade said without conviction.
Suddenly Kola veered off the road and entered a gas station. He found a spot and parked the car. Shade looked at his face and feared for what was about to happen. This could very well be the end of her intended marriage to him.
Kola held the steering wheel tightly. Shade watched him.
He turned to her. ‘Shade, I am going to ask you one more time. Tell me the truth. I know you weren’t with Uche last night. I called her at 11:25pm. She said you had left her apartment and you said you were going to your mother’s place. I called your mother and she said you were not at her place.’ Kola paused and rubbed his palms together. Shade said nothing.
He continued. ‘I was tempted to call your pastor and let him know what was going on but it crossed my mind that if I brought him into the matter, there were questions I wouldn’t be able to answer. He could also tell us to call off our wedding. I didn’t want that to happen, so I didn’t call him. but if you don’t start talking to me, I will call your pastor and tell him what is going on.’
Tears came to Shade’s eyes as she listened to Kola. She saw the end of her relationship with him. She saw the wedding cancelled. She saw herself shamed out of the church. She saw herself mocked by fake and false friends who would rejoice about her break-up with Kola Owolabi. Her face would be splattered on social media platforms and people would call her mean names.

The Gift, Part 1, Short Story.

 

‘This looks so good on you,’ Uche said admiring the necklace on her friend’s neck.
Shade smiled. ‘And it is real gold,’ she said with some pride.
Uche examined the pendant that swung from the chain. She had a concerned look on her face. ‘Shade, this looks like a mermaid. Why are you wearing it?’
Shade caressed the pendant. ‘This was a Christmas gift from deacon Soleye in church. It came with a matching bracelet.’
Uche sat back in her chair. ‘Deacon Soleye gave you a necklace and bracelet as a Christmas gift? That doesn’t sound right. Why would he give you such a gift when he knows that you are already taken by another man? What did Kola your fiancé say about this?’
Shade’s eyes fell like a child who was caught lying. ‘I didn’t tell him about this.’ She lifted her head. ‘And I will really appreciate it if you kept this between us.’
Uche regarded her friend with suspicion. ‘You mean a man gave you such an expensive gift and you didn’t tell the man you are going to marry? What is going on here?’
Shade was silent for a moment, then she turned to Uche. ‘Kola is my fiancé and not my husband. We are not yet married. Should I tell him everything that goes on in my life? Shouldn’t I have some privacy?’ she asked.
Uche’s mouth hung open as she regarded her friend in shock. ‘I don’t understand. Are you telling me that the introduction and wine carrying ceremony you did in Osogbo counted for nothing? Remember that Kola was ready to go ahead with the whole wedding formalities but you said he should wait until April. Why you did that I have no idea. That guy was ready to marry you but you said he should wait and now you are saying that you want some privacy in your life? Are you really sure you want to get married? Uche asked her friend.

‘This is not what you think it is. You are taking everything out of context,’ Shade said.
‘What context? Isn’t Kola your fiancé anymore?’
‘He is but this gift has nothing to do with our…’ Shade stopped talking mid-sentence. She tilted her head away from Uche as if she was trying hard to hear something. Uche noticed the far away look she had in her eyes.
‘Shade, are you okay?’ Uche asked her.
Shade dropped the glass of orange juice she was drinking on the table. ‘I have to leave.’ She began to look around to put her things inside her bag.
Uche gave her a look. ‘Why are you leaving? You haven’t spent thirty minutes in this house.’ Shade said nothing. She was still looking around her to make sure she took all her items with her.
Uche regarded her closely. ‘Where are you going at this hour of the night? This was supposed to be a sleep over. Is it your mother?’
Shade nodded, her eyes not really focused on anything. ‘Yes, it is my mother. She needs me now,’ she stood up. Uche got up with her and held her hand.
‘Shade,’ Uche looked into her eyes. ‘It is almost 11pm at night. You told Kola you would sleep over at my place. Why are you changing your mind? It seems so sudden.’ Uche noticed that Shade’s hand was growing cold. She dropped it and stepped back. ‘Shade, I don’t think you should go anywhere tonight. Wait until tomorrow morning and I promise you that I will go with you to go see your mother.’
‘It will be too late by then. I have to leave now.’ She reached for the door and opened it.
Uche watched her leave with trepidation.

Money: Fear and Lies.

 

Every dictator knows that the way to wield absolute power over people is to instil enough fear in them and use it to manipulate, control and enslave them.
Someone said that fear is at the core of power.
If you want to have power over people, all you have to do is make them fearful and they will do anything for you.
Unfortunately such techniques are not only used in the secular world but are also employed by some preachers who are wolves in clever disguise, pretending to be shepherds in the Church.

Fear is used by these impostors to manipulate whole congregations to obey them and do whatever crazy thing they ask them to do without thinking. Fear is used to enslave people to their organisations.
Fear is the principal tool of extortion used by these power hungry wolves to steal from the ignorant and enrich themselves.

A leader who uses fear to manipulate people to follow him does not deserve to be followed, neither does he deserve a leadership position.

Human beings are plagued by various fears. These include the fear of failure, fear of poverty, fear of ill health, fear of shame, fear of loss and the fear of death. These fears plague everyone in different degrees. What the wolves in the church do is to stir up fears in your soul then turn around to tell you that they have the solution to those fears.

Take the fear of poverty for instance.
Poverty is not a spiritual problem. It is an economic issue. You overcome poverty when you offer value to the market place. It is not a spiritual disease or condition like some preachers say. You don’t need to be spiritual in any form or manner to make money. All you need is to understand and apply some economic laws and the situation of poverty will be reversed.

It was Adolf Hitler who said ‘People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.’

Many American and African preachers have copied from Hitler’s play book on the manipulation and control of the masses and they employ his evil techniques on their gullible followers. They have come up with a lie so big that even some of the smartest people amongst us are deceived by their narrative. The lie is simple. They say if you give them money you will become rich, you will also retain the riches you already have, avoid financial disasters and generally do well in life. However if you don’t bring your money to them you will suffer and be visited with various calamities and unfathomable evil. They package success stories associated with people who apparently gave them money and became rich overnight. They conclude that if you don’t give them your money you will struggle financially.

I have heard a popular Nigerian preacher tell his congregation that ‘giving makes you rich.’ He goes on to tell his listeners that it is because they don’t give to him and his church that they struggle financially. This is a wicked lie deployed from hell against the Saints. This celebrity preacher has ridden on the back of this lie for decades and is now surrounded by material things which apparently proves that his heretic theories on money are correct. But a lie is a lie no matter how many people believe it to be true. A lie still remains a lie no matter how many private jets, buildings, businesses the proponents of this lie have acquired. Millions of people who don’t subscribe to Christian values are rich by applying basic economic principles to their work and life situation. They never had to ‘give to get rich’.

Like flies breed worms so ignorance breeds fear.
Where great fear exists, great ignorance sustains it. The fear of poverty is fuelled by ignorance. It is fuelled by the ignorance of economic laws which can be applied to break its vicious cycle. It is fuelled by the ignorance of how money works. Preachers capitalise on the ignorance of their gullible listeners and infuse their minds with lies. When you have no idea what the bible says, when you don’t understand the nature of God, you will become a victim of fear. What we don’t know, we mystify and when we mystify something it scares the living day lights out of us. Dubious preachers mystify money. It is a deliberate deceit to make people associate money with mystery and spirituality. I have heard some preachers say that ‘money is spiritual.’ This is also a lie designed to mystify money and make it look like the only way to make money is to follow some ‘spiritual process,’ and that process is always somehow connected to giving money to the preacher. But money is no way spiritual. Money is as natural, as earthly as it gets. Money is simply a reward for the value we bring to the market place. It is not a reward for some spiritual activity we engage in.

People driven by fear and superstition give to a church not because they love the Lord, but because they are ignorant and think it is the surest way to overcome poverty. They give because they want to either get rich or protect what they’ve got. They give not out of love for the cause of Jesus Christ, but because they want to secure material, financial and other temporal blessings in their lives. They give because their pastors threaten that if they don’t, they will be haunted by curses, beset by evil omens, be attacked by devourers and experience bad luck.

But is this true? Is this what Jesus Christ taught? Is this scripturally correct?

Jesus did not teach this. this is not scripturally correct. It is a well conceived lie designed to steal from the ignorant, the superstitious and the gullible. It is manipulation at its most insidious form.
It is quite shameful because the leaders who preach such lies should know better.
Giving in the New Testament is done willingly by the giver, without coercion of any kind. Giving is primarily an act of worship, not a means to secure temporal blessings. There are people who don’t subscribe to Christian values, yet they are very rich. Having money is not a function of your spirituality or your giving. It is a function of bringing value to the market place. The fallacy of the ‘give to get’ narrative is clearly seen by the fact that people who don’t subscribe to Christian beliefs are the richest on the planet. If the ‘give to get’ lie were true, Christians should be the wealthiest on the planet. But we are not. The kingdom of Christ is not in meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The Church of Christ should not be motivated by fear, but by love. Jesus said: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’ John 14:15. The keeping of his commandment should be done out of love for him, not because we are afraid of something bad happening to us if we don’t comply. Love for The Lord is a more powerful motivating force than fear.
Love is the reason why we serve The Lord Jesus Christ, not fear. John says : ‘We love him because he first loved us.’ 1John 4:19.
Love is the reason why we obey him and do the things that please him.
Love is the reason why we lay down our lives for the cause of Christ and for the brethren.
It is the love of Christ that compels us, motivates us, moves us to action. Not fear.
It is the love of Christ that stirs us up to give our money, time and energy in service.
Without love being at the core of what we do, we would have wasted our lives at end of our journey. 1Corinthians 13. We shouldn’t desecrate the offerings of God turning our love gifts into bargaining tools or gambling chips by which we expect to win a jackpot. We should honour The Lord with our offerings from a heart of gratitude, knowing that there is nothing we can give to deserve God’s mercy, favour and goodness in our lives. It is when our free will offerings are given in love that they are acceptable, pleasing, received and rewarded by The Lord.

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

If you are compelled by fear to give to a church or charity, you are in bondage. Each time you give under the influence of fear you will become more enslaved by it. Fear brings great torment to your soul. This is not how God operates. He never uses coercion, manipulation, intimidation or fear as motivation for us to do His will. If you are scared that if you don’t give ‘bad things will happen to you,’ you should resist the urge to give until that feeling of fear goes away. Never give under the influence of fear.

If you serve or give your time, energy and resources to a Christian organisation, let it be out of a heart motivated by love to serve and obey The Lord Jesus Christ. Let it never be because of fear.

1Timothy 4:8 says, God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, of love and of a sound mind.

The Lord doesn’t reward offerings given in fear or motivated by covetousness. The Lord only rewards our free will offerings given in love.

Blessings.