WHO IS A CHRISTIAN?

Is it not being baptized either as a baby or even by immersion?

  • Is it not how much you can quote the bible or know a lot of verses by heart?
  • Is it not your winning a lot of trophies for your youth body each time you go out for debate?
  • Is it not having a famous pastor as your spiritual father or mother?
  • Is it not getting a degree in theology or going further?
  • Is it not teaching a Sunday school or getting a job as a Christian religion teacher?
  • It is not being a church leader?
  • Is it not being close to the pastor?
  •  And have received a lot of awards from the board of deacon?
  • Surely it is keeping the house of God cleaned always for worship?
  • Being a good and regular thither for the past decades?
  • Having their highest monitory contribution each time, there is a need arising in the church
  • Bought a car gift for your pastor during his 50th birthday
  •   Appointed head of elders to build a huge orphanage as part of the church ministry?
  • Donated a parcel of land to the church?
  • Sponsor the pastor’s television ministry through your organization as part of the church vision to reach the world?
  • Gave a scholarship to some deserving students in the church.
  • All the above is no.
  • THIS IS THE ANSWER :
  • Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
  • Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
  • MARANATHA!

ACTION FAITH FOR 2023

 Matthew 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. (all quotation is from James Version]

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

 How do you persuade God to take back what he has pronounced? After all, he has told us what comes out of his mouth shall not return until it has accomplished its mission and purpose. [life or death]. Let us read Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it’.

There is only one way to move God God to renege what he has ordered. To do that, put a smile on his face and a nod of approval from his Holiness [God too has emotion; God can be pleased or made angry see Genesis 6:6 “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart”.

Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. These passages show emotion.
God sent a man, a prophet to tell a certain nation and all it inhabitant that their time was up except they repent. The prophet went but, in his style of delivery, did not leave any room for repentance; He came to tell them about judgment-day, telling them when the city will be damned. Jonah 3:4-7; ; And Jonah entered into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water. Take note, it was the king who knew what to do. Prophet Jonah never told them, wonderful king. The proclamation of fasting here was to humble them. God always open His ears to those who are humble, the proud is far from GOd.

A man believe it is only Jesus who can bring solace to his aching heart concerning his dying servant, he went only to meet a stern rebuke, or so we think, from Jesus. Mathew8:1-9.

A prophet was sent to deliver the doomsday message to the house of Hezekiah that he, the head, should put his household in order for his death was already sealed.

Stepping over to NT, [New testament of the bible] we look at a classical case of how to get your way from the God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipotent. He who made the entire world, the only one who is alive forever , the everlasting father. A woman wanted a fix for her dying daughter, a rebuke, from the hovering hand of the devil to kill her.
She made haste to the only one that fear fears and obey his command. She brought this pathetic case to him, but his answer was the least encouraginging! But at the end she had her request met. In the above scenarios, they all had their ways. Let us use the case of the last person, the woman of Canaan, a foreigner, that has nothing to do with the Jews people, but she knew Jesus has the answer to her problem. It is human nature to look for solution to plaguing problems, the challenges that life tosses our way, and the mountains that impede our progress. We go all out for solution wherever and whenever one is available, undermining the source. That is one reason false prophets,, magicians and witch doctors are still thriving and will continue to thrive. While we look for solutions, it behooves us to know the right part like this woman:

Matthew 15:22-28 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.Six facts to note:

  1.  God always responds to faith action from anybody, whether you are in the lowest step on the ladder of degeneration and disgrace, or from the highest pinnacle of your relative success.[
  2. The environment or society we live might not encourage the application of our faith. The disciples wanted Jesus to tell the Canaanite to go away; [perhaps that may give them the boldness to push her away. [When we live in a country that does not practice or outrightly deny our faith,faith, the ground becomes harder and the atmosphere necessary for miracle is absent.
  3. Lack of response should not stop us from persistent prayers, supplications, and asking.
  4. In this year, 2023, event or circumstance may work against our faith, but we should not be moved by what we see or hear. Often the Devil uses what we see to attack our faith- base by transmitting a negative picture into our heart via our sight. The men sent out to spy the land saw, and it crumpled their faith in God. the people in the camp heard and it crumples their faith, too. We must see from the eye of faith and hear from the word of God. Jesus answered her not and the only time he answers it was a devastating one.
  5. Those who refuse to be offended, who will remain focus, will always win the battles of life. Know what you want, remain humble. Remain focus and persistent in faith.
  6. Worship: she worshiped the only being who is worthy of worship. Not material things, not men., but you might say, how do you men? Well, there is a place in our heart that is reserved only for the creator, the place of worship. ‘Then said Jesus unto him get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, thou shall worship the lord thy God and him only shall thou serve.’ Mathew4:10.

Happy new year!

LET GOD BE YOUR GREAT FORTRESS 2

Exodus 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? [KJV]

This question that Moses poised to God was a sad reality in the lives of the people that Jehovah was about to send him; a people who have lost thier true identity,a people full of despair, neither knowing thier history nor having a desire to know it. This added to thier misery and hopelessness. If only they know they would not indeed have reacted like Moses knew they would, asking about a so-called god and his name, for thier God was the only true God who was omnipotent, omniscience and omnipresent, it was because of these powerful attribute that this God was sending Moses on a mission to have them delivered so that they would come to know him and serve Him. Many today, goes to church, have a big bible, sing gleefully in the church, but do not know the God they serve. When temptation comes, they run back to the world to fetish and to thier former ways. thier coming to church seems like a modern thing to do, a king of social gathering what with the scintillating music and the atmosphere with men and women dressed up to thier nines. It is a disservice for anyone to go to church and not learn something new about a wonderful and omnipresent God of love and forgiveness. It is a shame if we do not know his will concerning our lives nor what the Lord has rout for us when he went to the cross.Let us read from the Bible, Exodus 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove to them whether they will walk in my law, not. I always take my text from the king James. Here in this text, God almighty, the ever bearing God, the great provider came once more to the rescue of the children of Israel who always find it difficult to know the ways of this God or his immense power. They were prisoners of thier limited knowledge of who Jehovah is to them. The various gods Egypt had developed thier concept of God in the land they were slaves. As Christians, our hope and faith is built on Jesus, our lord and saviour; he is our strong foundation. See 1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He can protect, provide, promote and prosper us. T grow a healthy faith that will remain unshakable during temptation. It behooves the believer to seek a church of the” WORD”, not the so-called miracle church. There, you can grow your faith from day to day. It is your faith in God that gives you victory on a daily basis. We are called as Christians to live by faith daily. See Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. I have deliberately taken from the old and the new testament so that you may know the importance of faith in God. As you come to know this God you will stop jumping from pillar to post. When you are troubled, you will become still and know that He is God indeed.

MARANATHA!

Story about a pastor bathing members.

Following viral reports of a pastor bathing church members in a basin to cleanse them of evil spirits and welcome them into the new year in order to prosper, I researched more about the so-called pastor.

My findings

I found out that the man seen in the viral video is known as Mark Mensah, CEO of Phens Multimedia, a media organization based in Ghana. He is popularly called Pastor Blinks. I also found out that the man is not even a pastor but a skit-maker who deliberately make videos mocking pastors and the Christian faith. The videos are edited and published as if it happened in real life with no hint to viewers that it’s a skit. Many people watch the videos, curse pastors, believing that what they watched actually happened.

In fact, he had in the past shared a video claiming to be a pastor and touching the private part of his members. There is also a video of him giving his so-called church members a drink from the water he used to bathe. He has also appeared in a video posing as a pastor and praying for a woman’s underwear.

Sometime ago, Prophet Osei Kumchaha called on the police to arrest Mensah for ridiculing Christianity and putting out offensive contents about pastors as if it happened in real life without providing information to viewers that it was all acted. The prophet said Mensah profits by making offensive video while portraying himself as a man of God, then post the videos on his YouTube handle (hitzGH tv) for people to click, argue and make offensive comments about Christianity while he makes cool money.

I stumbled on his YouTube page where I saw him asking people if they think the video was real or acted. He then went ahead to show how he made the video. Note, this is after he had posted an edited version of the video on Facebook and raked in millions of views from people who had thought the video was real.

Conclusion

There is nothing wrong in making skits about pastors, however there should be at least a disclaimer to warn people that such sensitive videos are not real. Making such videos to ridicule, mock, and misinform people about Christianity at a time they are celebrating Christmas is an evil act.

The videos misinform people, rile them against Christianity, make them question their religion, subject their faith to ridicule and incite the public against their beliefs.

investigation by Alexander Thandi Ubani.

my Addidum:

Thanks to Brother Ubani, indeed, there are many people out there trying to stop or put evil slant on the gospel, but the gathering at the gates will always fail, for the victory over evil has been won even before it was fought. The founder of the church has predicted Matthew 16:18b I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

many on social media choose to put forward controversies that do not talk about the Works of christ and the significance of his death and resurrection and the power of the Holy spirit in the life of a true believer.

I concur like Sant paul in 2 Thessalonians 3:2, And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

MARANATHA!

N.E.W. Y.E.A.R

If you miss the podcast, here is the writeup.

N never you look back at the failures, setback of the previous year, you can not be in the past and the present; that is why you do not have eyes on the back of your head. Ahead, forward looking, no-matter what, is the way to win the game of life.

E energies for the now. You are in the present; how you handle it will determine your tomorrow. Stop daydreaming and wild goose-chase.

W winning mentality is a must if you want to leave the rut. Have the mindset, walk it and see it before you.

Y yield, here comes your spirituality. , you can not do without reliance on the leading of the Holy spirit. The more you yield, the more you He leads you in the way of peace of mind with contentment without resorting to strife or competing with anyone..

E exercise your body regularly. A fit body is a must if you must go far with your plans. A sick body can not guarantee a tomorrow like a fit one. You do not have to be muscular, but just strain every fibre to strengthen them.

A avoid a situation that can put your plans and plots in a spin. Do not get into a situation that can put you in a loop without a way out for a long time.

R revisit,reseve and renew. Look back at how well yo are working your plans and how well it works out. Reserve your virtues. Do not spend all energy, or strength or finance on any project. Renew your strength by taking time off before the year runs out. Go on vacation. It helps a lot, learn to appreciate your God in your secret place, meditate.

NO ROOM FOR HIM?

Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Merry chrismas to you. This is a message of love and best wishes. It is a time to send best wishes to loved one and acquaintances and a time good enough to forgive those who have erred against us as we, too, have developed the humility to ask forgiveness from those we may have offended. This is so because the season is about love express in giving: the giving of time to children, to our old mothers we have not seen since the beginning of this year the giving of gifts to loved ones and the sending of best wishes to others. God the father, the personification of love, started this when he sent Hiis only son to the sinful for a sin solution. John 3:16 ,For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. As we go about showing love in different forms, i want to tell us that the best gift we can gift today is to us. Yes, to ourself; me, i and myself. When Jesus came, he was God walking amongst us, healing, forgiving, and delivering those oppressed. He showed compassion to the downtrodden. We call Him EMMANUEL [GOD WITH US] But after post Resurrection, Jesus desires to come even closer to humankind, He wants to live within us! Hear Him in the book of Revelation 3:20, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. This is the core of the message of Christianity; accepting the coming in of the lord to live in us and we in him. A divine experience that is difficult to explain in lay terms. There are visitors and there are visitors. There are those we recieve into our inner chambers even tell them to sit beside us in our bedroom!, and there are those we only recieve at the gate, yet both are termed visitors. Mady Christians only have Jesus at the gate; there have not allowed Him to come in at all. Today, as we celebrate, let us allowed him in, let us open up our heart and let Jesus come in and sup with us like he said.

MEERY XMAS.

CAN A CHRISTIAN BE UNDER A CURSE?

To do justice to this topic, we should define who a Christian is and what he possesses or enjoys. A Christian is a person who enjoys some spiritual benefit and has a new spiritual identity, a newness of life and a renewed mind. Most of these are invisible to the ordinary person except when some fruits manifest and his new views become obvious to friends and family members. No wonder the bible says ‘if any man is in Christ he is a new creature’.

What is a curse? A curse is any words, incantation or invocation with a negative effect, issued from any person. It works because it carries with it the potency to achieve its effect. A curse has mobility without borders. Hence, a curse can affect somebody in Cincinnati in America, even if it is from far away cape or Cairo.

Curses don’t just affect anybody, there are reasons that can happen. Some curses are relative, while others go from one generation to the next in a family. To make easily understood i will make use the power of some diseases; take example, if you have a simple headache it only require a pain killer and a little rest on your part; that is simple and headache is not contagious. but if you are an acquired deficiency syndrome, AIDS , patient that could be transferred to your innocent wife. There is a warning in the bible of some acts leading to a generational curse! beware some sin do not end when the perpetrator end; instead the deadly consequent just remain as a sentinel to unleash at interval, the result of those evil acts or practice. The first example is seen in the life of Rueben, the first son of Jacob. Genesis 49:2-4 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. A curse has power and mobility, but there is a doorway before a curse can act. The above passage the father reminded Reuben of what act he did. The bible says curse causeless shall not come; child of God do not open a door for a curse for your lineage. Reuben was the first he had the mandate to carry on the spiritual legacy of that family, but he brought reproach for all and sundry to mock the family. This was a generational curse because it affected his lineage.

A Christian maybe under some kind of a generational curse no doubt, the solution is to identify the kind of curse and get deliverance; it has to be identified and deliverance conducted. Reuben belongs to a chosen race but look what happened to his generational till the great intercessor, Moses broke the curse! saying it can not happen to me is like saying a woman who has lived in sexual purity can not contact AIDS if her partner is positive. After Reuben has departed the children generation were under in achievement and success in every sphere of life; it took a priest of God to brake the curse, see Deuteronomy 33:6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.

MARANATHA!

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s Wife, debunked divorce news

Rumors, they say, are carried by haters, spread by fools ,perhaps bloggers too, and accepted by idiots. Well, I would call no one an idiot. This quote was driven home by the drama that has been making the rounds about a popular pastor, Ayo Oritsejafor, the former president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and founder of the Word of Life Bible Church, Warri in Delta state of Nigeria. The wife, mama Helen, has finally addressed the rumours.Unconfirmed reports online had it that the couple’s 25-year-old marriage had packed up.

In a statement released on Monday, Mrs. Oritsejafor stated they are not divorced, adding that she has never been unfaithful to her husband.

She wrote on her Facebook page;

”Fam, my attention has been drawn to the fake and malicious news making rounds on blogs, social media platforms and the newspapers against my character and that of my family. It’s totally unbelievable, reprehensible and unthinkable and it’s important that I make the facts clear.

I am a wife, a mother and a woman of God, and I uphold the tenets of my Christian faith and marriage. My family and home is the most important part of my life.

I therefore appeal to everyone to put our interest and that of our lovely kids, above the need to profit from this baseless endeavor. My Husband and I are not divorced, unless people get divorced on social media and I have never been unfaithful to my husband, whom I love very dearly.

These are works of the devil and his agents to dent my character and good works. Over the years, I have committed my time and resources towards reaching out to the needy, providing support to widows, and giving scholarships to orphans. I have also taught and mentored a lot of young women on the principles of building and living happily with their spouses through my various platforms, both on and offline. I cannot go against my own beliefs.

Don’t forget that live is a seed. To carry a baseless news not supported is not only malicious but punishable under the law of the land.

I plead with the general public to give my family the privacy it needs and disregard cheap attempts to dent my image.

In retrospect, to the fake news, I have briefed my lawyers and all the legal actions are being taken.

Thank you all and stay blessed.”

THREE STAGES OF LIFE

Every man born into this world goes through a tripartite experience,if he live a full circle. Apostle paul highlighted the initial stage while writing his first epistle to the christian at Corinth. Hear him: 1 Corinthians 13:11, ” When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child; I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things”.

THE FIRST STAGE: owing to the inexperience and curiosity coupled with an impressionable mind, every child thinks he can go all the way, do whatever he feel like doing,they take risk for thier brain can not understand nor comprehend what is dangerous or what death means. That was what Paul was trying to put across to the young Christians at Corinth. This stage is the stage of restricted freedom, freedom with a limit. They are told by parents, guardians, and teachers and help what they can touch, play with. They are told what to place in thier mouth, eat or what they can drink. Most times, the kid responds by sulking and throwing tantrums, but the person in charge sticks to his guns and the child gives up in exasperation. Even if this is rule resented by the child, the man in charge maintains his stance. God made it so; Adam had freedom with limit. See Genesis 1:29,” And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” Genesis 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is amid the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. A child must learn early in life that there are limits to what he can do and places he can go and the pleasure he can indulge. Failure for some to imbibe this are the relics we see in schools and deviance on our society today.

SECOND STAGE: Shows what you can be and do. Whether you will tap into the gift, that God has placed on the inside. For the talent must be tapped for it to flow outward. This was highlighted in the ancient book of Job in the bible. Let us read together: Job 32:8,” But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding”. This spirit occupies you from when you are youth till your prime age. Not that it departs when in your dotage, but strength may fail you. There is a spirit behind every good success. When it comes upon you, you are on your way to the top of that calling, profession or trade. But you have to inspire it, so that it will flow. When in the bipartite stage, the bible has this warning for us all: Ecclesiastes 12:1,” Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; Because you are now free to explore, or so you think, not knowing it is also replete with dangers in every nook and crannies. Those who want to exercise thier freedom find they so craved, find themselves being denied of thier basics freedom instead. this happens when they are behind bars, only allowed in most climes to have a stint of fresh air 2 hours a day! Others in the same quest for freedom ends up dead, or suffering.

LAST STAGE: This is the stage of experience for all. No matter how they must have led thier live all have experience. The young will do well to listen to any adult, even if he has failed woefully. In this stage you have learnt a lot about life.you can teach, advise the youth. This stage ought to be a time for spiritual renaissance for the adult. A well lived youthful stage prepares us for a glorious exit. Then you can also pass on a blessing to your offspring.

MARANATHA!