"Pls sir, my names are XY, i came across ur post online n felt i cud confide in u to ask u this question, it goes this way,i attended
a sabbath church not long ago in search of spiritual help for my problems,
the prophet demanded for money which i paid, mean while he told me that my
problem was from background, and other stuffs he told me about my family n my
personal self which i believed to be true,so he fixed a day for my prayer n
sacrifice. I have not done dis before in my life so it sound so strange n
unGodly to me though I never knew there would be such protocol until the
assigned day, on that night i came into his prayer chamber where a white
circle was drawn n i was asked to sit on it n we prayed using a white n a
black candle, he made use of the name yashua, though was my first time
hearin such name, it scared me cus i dnt want to worship any strange god,
so after the prayer we left for outside where a hole was dug n i was asked
to go into it naked with just a condemned cloth of mine wrapped on my waist,
he asked me to start praying while in the hole, he also wrapped me with a
palm frond which he spoke lose it, then he brought the goat and asked me to nod
it 7 times which i did before he slit the troat n threw it into d hole
which am inside with d palm frond too asking me to make sure i trample on
all of them, then he later brought a black piece of cloth and covered my face
saying few words before he took it off, then he now brought a boiled egg
which he asked me to take off its shell eating the egg n disposing the shell in the hole. then he now brought water on a herb mixed water with a native
black soap n asked me to bath with it right inside the hole, after that he
asked me to give him my hand n he spoke n drew me out the hole, also in
that hole was the sand from my home town wrapped in a black nylon cus he
told me i was to be separated from marine spirit and the spirit fighting me
from my hometown. so plss can u tell me if there is any such thing cus i ve
bin so worried since then ?? thanks , hoping to get ur reply soon"
- XY


I replaced the real names of the writer of this message to me with "XY" because I do not have permission to attach his full names to this, now that I've quoted him verbatim on my blog. I do have his permission however to reproduce his message here, my intention being to share with you, as well as with him, my take on his submission for the benefit of all and sundry. Subsequent interventions however, will be private between him and me via email, through which he contacted me in the first place, possibly after reading posts I've made in the past, about my Jewish and Sabbatarian origin, and of course my familiarity with the kind of things he spoke about in his email to me. Note that this response to him is from a personal point of view, and my understanding of what Messianic Judaism means to me, backed by scripture. If you want a background to "Sabbatarianism", Judaism & Messianic Judaism in Nigeria, do refer to my earlier writeup on the subject here ➡ https://madukovich./2014/02/02/nigerias-sabbatarians/, for some understanding of the matter, as highlighted by me sometime back. For those who still doubt the presence of Jews in Nigeria, I'll refer them to the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu who is standing trial for treason amongst others, and has been asked by High Court Judge Binta Nyako to provide, as one of his bail conditions, a Jewish religious leader of high reckoning, since he claims to be Jewish.


Let me now address XY's situation. From what I gleaned from his message, the Sabbath church (in this case including mostly White Garment wearing sabbath churches and some arm of messianic Judaism, while excluding the Christian ones like The 7th Day Adventists, and Orthodox Judaism sects) he attended have as doctrines, the underlisted:
1. The crux of evangelism being miracles and the church, a tower where any kind of problem is and can be solved.
2. The prophet/pastor/founder of the church probably charges some form of consultation fee before attending to people who come to his church seeking succor, besides other charges for procurement of materials to be used for healings, prayers, sacrifices and the likes. Maybe a stated fee after the job is done if the clients cannot be trusted to give a freewill offering in appreciation of a job well done in the end.
3. With the prevalent school of thought being that, what could ail men and women seeking solutions to their problems are mostly familial, with one's relatives especially at the root of their woes, and unpleasant situations. Just as with this case, where familiar and harmless stories, as with growing up amongst family just about anywhere in the world, is related by the "prophet" to the client (which s/he acquiesces to) but interpreted to mean something diabolic.
4. Once the client as with XY have become convinced somewhat, of the "veracity" of the prophecy, regardless of the vagueness and non-specificity of same, it isn't unusual that the solution seeker finds him/herself following orders, irrespective of the level of debasement (such as narrated above), as long as one wants to be rid of evil men from the "home front" or "background" (as stated by XY)
5. The variant of the Sabbath church the narrator visited, must be one of those who believe in sacrifice, and the ritual he must've undergone must be such in which so called "death" hovering over him is diverted/transferred unto the scape goat.
6. Yahshua is what the saviour was called while he was on earth, and is widely used by Messianic Jews (not orthodox Jews, who do not believe that the savior had come and died for the sins of man), and a few Christians who opt for the Holy Names, over and above more popular titles that have been adopted by much of Christendom, like Jesus.


I will now visit the issues so raised in like manner:
1. Most so called Sabbath churches have become known as "solution" centers, it's difficult to find majority of members of such places, that can be described as staunch. This means that once most of these "members" find a solution to their problems, they simply return to their "church" even religion "of origin". So you'd find in Sabbath churches, relatively young "elders", especially wealthy ones, which the church may find indispensable, and even those until such a time they find the shenanigans in such Sabbath churches boring, or after they might have come to some form of illumination, leave.
2. The Pastor/Cohen/Founder/Elect/Head/Prophet/Bishop that charge fees for consultations, mostly on non-sabbath days, from worshippers/members who have been referred from visions and prophesies during sabbath services or weekly programs, feel they are entitled to these. Many of them who do, depend on the money made from such as their means of livelihood, also living on sales of candles, sacrificial animals and other sundry just like it was in the temple at Jerusalem in Yahshua's day, for which by righteous anger, he overthrew tables set up for sales by merchants in the temple.
3. There's an industry heavily steeped, soaked and boiled in Fear Mongering amongst Sabbath churches. Misfortunes are hardly ever placed at the doorstep of the ineffectual person or natural circumstances, and happenstances that routinely occur in the lives of many a man. The first weapon at the disposal of the purveyors of these prophetic untruths is death, with victims mainly people who are afraid of death and dying, even if and when death is the gateway to heaven, should they be saintly holy. Once such prophets have managed to sell fear to their clients, they then go ahead to name relatives of the latter as culprits, and thereafter listing "elements" required for the cleansing of such a one from so called ancestral curses and the likes, deploying animal sacrifices (amongst others) for instance, to cancel so called "weapons fashioned against" their clients. Once I had a discussion with a prophetess, on the propriety of still doing things sacrificial (while the Jews in Israel and elsewhere who passed these things to us, no longer indulge in such ceremonies and rituals, besides the fact that as Messianics, Yahshua is meant to have done away with sacrifices for whatsoever reason), with so called "elements", candles and all, while all we needed to do was simply pray and our prayers will be answered (of which "NO" can also be a divine response to a humble prayerful plea). She responded that, what they do is what people want, and those activities bring more converts (even if the converts leave afterwards), as people aren't impressed with just prayers, which is for me, reminiscent of what Yahshua said of the people of this generation, who seek only signs and wonders.
4. These prophets (see also ➡ https://madukovich./2015/08/09/of-prophets-and-charlatans/) have gone on to make captives of unsuspecting members of the public who approached them for help. Some women who approached prophets seeking husbands, ended up becoming sex slaves under spells, or went on to suffer abuse and neglect by same husbands they got in their desperation, once the spell placed on him was lifted. Some prophets haven't found anything wrong in breaking families (in issuing prophecies accusing relatives of causing the downturn in the life of their clients), or in members couriering drugs, engaging in armed robbery and corruption, as long as clients are willing to pay, and undergo requisite "cleansing/washing" or sacrificial ceremony-laden prayers at some "angel field" with a sword struck into a mound, or a hole or even stream where some bathing takes place in the dead of night, all in the name of DELIVERANCE. Just about anything can be asked of them, just as about anything can be prophesied to satiate and entice the next human ATM in Yahshua's name, if the Sabbath church in question allows the use and mention of the Holy Names amongst its fold.
5. As we would all die, we all do have a debt of death to pay. In fact, it will seem as we are born, and indeed live to die. The one who understands that death is but a beginning, will not fall cheap prey to the fear mongers parading as pastors/prophets/prophetesses/apostles, and the likes in today's Christian churches, Sabbath missions, Messianic Jewish Assemblies etc. Now, I'm not saying there aren't wicked men and women in the world. I'm not also saying there aren't powers diabolical, but as believers we often fail to harness the power of prayers, and we belittle YAHWEH by resorting to the many things we find in Sabbath or so called spiritual churches today. The rise of churches and pastors in Nigeria today, may not be unconnected with the fact that many have refused to have personal relationships with the Creator, and owner of all lives, who knows the end from the beginning. In the end, after dabbling into things, some of which cannot be penned because of the goriness, the individual though might feel satisfied in the particular area he or she had sought succor, then begins to suffer in other areas of life, as a direct or indirect result of dabbling, many times unintentionally into the occult and occultism, as many of these prophets have roots in such (like one I encountered a while back, who honed his skills from his herbalist grandfather, and imported same practices into the Sabbath church he heads), only masquerading as people of light in the House of Yahweh.
6. Apparently, XY encountered the name Yahshua for the first time during his search for solution at a Sabbath church, and it isn't unusual that that is so. Many are aware that the name of the creator is YAHWEH, but only a few know that his son's name isn't Jesus, rather Yahshua, sharing "YAH" with his father as we do with surnames. A true believer will seek to have a personal relationship with the Heavenly Father and His Son, and not seek human mediators whose sole interest is their pockets, and an assurance of constant whetting of their insatiable appetites, and ostentatious lifestyles, at the expense of members of their church, which doubles as their business ventures.


I am aware that I've written a lengthy missive in response to what should ordinarily be a simple response to a complex series of event experienced by someone who, in his search for solution, encountered more than what he bargained for. What XY must do now is to understand that problems and challenges are part of living, as we overcome one (by any means), we shall encounter others. No one alive escapes challenges. When these challenges come, spiritual, physical, or otherwise, we are to face them with the best of our abilities. Spiritual guidance should be one that should encourage one to seek the face of The Almighty directly, and not hide behind an emissary who is out for his own gains. I would also like for us to understand that the answer to a prayer isn't "YES" always, Bible scholars will agree with me, that even though Yahshua pleaded with his father to "remove the cup" before him but he didn't get an answer in the affirmative, rather he drank that cup to it's full and unfortunate detail. Many people have become estranged from family and their ancestral homes because of the activities of false prophets that have found their way into Sabbath Churches and this ought not to be so. I will implore readers of this post to seek a personal relationship with YAHWEH first, and while attending Sabbath isn't bad at all, it is where we go to do it that's the crux of the matter Mr. XY. May YAHWEH direct our steps. Selah!


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://www.cknnigeria.com


A SABBATH CHURCH ENCOUNTER | https://madukovich./2017/04/28/a-sabbath-church-encounter/

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