ChangeIsCostant:
A man who hails from Abagana in Anambra state has begun a search for his father.

The Nigerian man identified as Marquise Mkpuechina who is based in New Jersey, USA, is looking for his father known as Daniel U. Mkpuechina, with the hope of reuniting with him.

According to him, his mother refused telling him who his father is as a kid and even as he's finally grown, she won't still tell him where or how to locate his father.

Marquise who said the issue has made him depressed and sad - wants to return home and trace his father. He wants to see his dad either dead or alive.

See more; https://www.nationalhelm.co/2019/02/marquise-mkpuechina-looking-for-his-father-daniel-u-mkpuechina.html

I am from Abagana and also know Mkpuechina family from Umudunu village very well.

So is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:21 NASB

The verse above is the end of the parable of the Lord Jesus about the rich fool. I have quoted it to highlight the concept of being rich towards God. As one can easily understand by reading the whole parable, it does not fare well with those who are not rich towards God. For not being rich towards God the rich man died suddenly without having the opportunity to enjoy the wealth he had just gained. It is therefore good for every Christian to check his life so as to ensure that he is indeed rich towards God.

Contemporary Christian teaching and practice cause me to be burdened in this area. Faulty teaching is the source of wrong beliefs, and wrong beliefs in turn underlie wrong practices. It is a fact that in today’s Christianity many people give to God mostly in an idolatrous fashion. They are not truly rich toward God.

I do not wish to give a long teaching here on the issue of money; I have done that in many books and sermons (see list below*). What I wish to do in brief while sounding a note of caution to Christians is to help each one do a private assessment of his or her richness toward God. I will use several terms to describe this same concept of being rich towards God including, being a giver of faith, being a cheerful giver and true generosity.

Don’t forget that God looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7) and no matter what we do, if the heart is not right we get no reward from Him (Jer 17:10), and sometimes even though the outward work may be good, we may just be doing iniquity (Eccl 5:1). You can only judge your heart by prayerfully examining your thoughts and your actions in the light of the word of God.

Here are my warning points; they are to help each one of us examine our own selves:

1. If you expect God’s blessings because of your gifts, you are not generous. NB: A Christian can only expect things because of God’s love, mercy and the grace of Christ.

2. If you recall your gifts and offerings to mind when praying and overtly or subtly mention them to the Lord, expecting favour as a result, you are not rich towards God.

3. If you tie your offerings to your needs, that is, giving so as to have those needs met, you definitely are not a cheerful giver.

4. If you are offended because someone you helped yesterday did not show you favour later, then you are not serving God in your giving life.

5. If you give to people because ‘you never know tomorrow,’ you are not giving to God.

6. If you think that where you are now is because of your giving of yesterday, then you are not a giver of faith or cheerful giver. (The truth is that you are what you are by the grace of God).

7. If you are wondering why you have not yet prospered plenty despite the fact that you have given much, then you are not rich toward God.

8. If you do not give regularly and voluntarily towards the preaching and propagation of the word of God; you are not showing the Word respect and are not in that rich toward God.

9. If the man that has been a blessing towards you in the preaching of the word never drinks water from your resources, you are violating the word of God and are not rich towards God.

10. If you give mainly to your church/ministry, a man of God and such places, but hardly ever to those in need; most likely you still have a lot of idolatry in your system; your giving is not fully faith-giving and you have not yet discerned where God can be found. You still think God is to be found in churches alone but not around you every day. (The truth is that God often shows up as a needy insignificant person who carries no ministerial anointing. Prov 19:17; Matt 25:42-45.)

11. In this same light, if the only person that can testify to your generosity is your pastor and church elders, you are not serving God. If the poor does not bless you as much as your pastor does, you have a problem.

12. If you do not pay those who work for you when it is due even though you can, but you never fail to pay your tithes and give first fruits or offerings on time, you are not rich towards God. It is self-righteousness and you will not be prospered by it. (Mal 3:5; James 5:1)

13. If you are afraid to ‘steal from God’ but do not mind stealing from man; if you do not pay your personal debts to individuals and businesses while never missing giving offerings, redeeming your vows and even paying tithes, you are not rich towards God; you are still an idolater and you are still a thief before God. Fulfil your obligations to both God and man; one cannot be done without the other. Be wise with your financial planning. ‘Giving to God’ does not excuse you from giving to man (1 John 4:20)

14. The difference between a good man and a bad man is what makes each happy. If you are happy when you get and are not as happy when your brother or neighbour gets, you are not a generous man.

Think about these things and the God of peace will be with you.
God’s blessings.

----------------
*The books include Grace to Prosper, How to Work for God, and So Who Will Pay for This?. Among the audio sermons available are the following series: Your Money, Seven Biblical Keys of Financial prosperity, Biblical Financial Management, etc.


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Many times I see people who tell me they had or have Typhoid fever. I laugh most of the times and tell the people simply, “you don’t have Typhoid, and believe me, you don’t want to have Typhoid.” What the persons have most of the time which they call Typhoid fever is nothing more than an improperly treated attack of malaria or simply, a flu. A lot of times the people have nothing more than fatigue disturbing them. Their so-called Typhoid was diagnosed by poorly done tests, which even if properly done does not diagnose the disease. I am yet to see one person among these whose typhoid was properly diagnosed by the correct test. It is all ignorance. (I know the disease exists, and I have seen many, but most people are not so afflicted who think so in this part of the world).

Please I am not now talking Medicine, but I wish to say it is the same principle that I see when it comes to curses. Many Christians go about complaining that they have a curse working in their lives; when you asked them why they think so, they tell you about their numerous problems, as if problems are only found with accursed people. When I hear the problems I laugh. A man told me his things have been getting missing. Many would tell you that the last three ladies they proposed to turned them down. Yet others feel like the repeated failures in their lives is due to an ancestral curse. While I admit that curses do exist (and I have seen truly cursed people), the truth is that I am yet to see any of these complaining people show me what is happening to them that blessed people have not experienced. Please read the following portion of the Bible and take a lesson.

“Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.” 1 Cor 10:13 TEV

Hey, even blessed people have had those disappointments! Read the story of one of them here.

“23 They say they serve Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in jail more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the Jews gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled many weary miles. I have faced danger from flooded rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the stormy seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be Christians but are not. 27 I HAVE LIVED WITH WEARINESS AND PAIN AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. OFTEN I HAVE BEEN HUNGRY AND THIRSTY AND HAVE GONE WITHOUT FOOD. Often I have shivered with cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.” 2 Cor 11:23-27 NLT

Talk about difficulty! This guy must have been cursed and must have been serious a sinner! Oh no; this was Paul the great apostle, and he was describing why he said boldly that he was a more determined servant of God than many other people. His problems were a sign of his apostleship.
Wao!

Hey, what do I see here? Blessed people and those who are serving God may have problems. It is not necessarily the sign of a curse.

Look, life is hard and we must overcome it. Life is not hard only for the man who is cursed. The fact that life can be hard is the reason why Jesus promises His reward only to the overcomer. Why should He talk about overcomers if things will not be tough?

The promises of God for your life are real, but there are many obstacles and adversaries on the way to your receiving them.

“…the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize — a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].” Matt 11:12 AMP

Problems are not a sign of a curse for the believer in Christ; they are signs that we have work to do in overcoming.

This curse matter has become a cheap excuse for many people’s laziness and walk in ignorance. They lack skill, are lazy, practise poor accounting and cannot control their appetites. Worse, they are unfaithful and undependable. When they fail in their businesses and their ministries, they blame witches and curses. Only a sinner is under a curse and not the person who believes in Jesus.

Come out from under these cheap excuses and face life and succeed.

Peter Daniels is an extremely wealthy Christian man today; he is in his 70s. After he gave his life to Christ as a young man, the first three or so businesses he started went bankrupt. No, he did not interpret it as a curse, not a near-miss or almost-there syndrome; he saw those things as learning processes and a reflection of the fact that he was yet to discover the place of his strength. He found that place in Real Estate business and from there he moved into diverse things. Even his children now are millionaires. Many of us would rather start a process of deliverance, praying all night and sowing seeds that are supposed to break the yoke. Ignorance!

A Christian can have challenges; it is not a sign of a curse!

There are 3 sources of 'problems' in the life of the believer.
1. Ignorance. This can be as it affects any of the parts of the word of God (promises, precepts, commandments, etc).
2. The just recompense of reward for disobedience (breaking of divine order and commandments)
3. The trial of faith.
(for more on this sources of 'problems' in the life of the believer, listen to the message “We have overcome – 4. What the devil wants in your life”)

The devil does not have the power over your life that you think he has. He is a defeated foe. Apart from tempting you to walk in sin and to continue your self-deception of thinking you are cursed, there is little else he can do.

Get up and face your challenges in life; if you will arise, you will discover that His grace is sufficient. The fact that you failed many times in the past is in keeping with righteousness. Proverbs 24:16 says, “…a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.”

Who is a righteous person?

It is the one who has believed in Christ Jesus. It is that faith that moves you into the righteousness of God. Your sins, as a believer, have been washed by the blood of Jesus.

Are you are a believer in Christ?

Then get up and go; you are not cursed!

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God indeed has a will. His will is not limited to only the ‘big’ things of life. He has a will concerning everything that concerns you. Many people think that God is only concerned about who they marry or which ministry to be involved in. No, it is not so.

God has a will concerning the kind of food you eat (believe me!)

He has a will concerning how you spend your money (even after you have removed the tithe which you think is His own portion of it)

He has a will concerning where you work, where you live, who you hire and who you fire.

He has a will about everything.

What is God’s will?

It is not just what appears good. Rather, it is that which is pleasing in the sight of God.

The will of God is not defined by how it feels to our bodies; it is not decided by the popularity of the decision. It is not even validated by the success of the endeavour. The will of God is defined by one simple question answered: is God pleased or is He not?

If we want to know the will of God in the big things of life, we must start by learning how to please in the very little things of life. These things are already revealed in the written will of God, which is the word of God. Paul said it this way.

“”3 For this is the will of God , your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.”” 1 Thess 4:3-7 NASB

When we walk in a manner pleasing to God on a daily basis, walking into the will of God in the big things is automatic and easy. The Lord takes it upon Himself to guide the person who does this into His perfect will.

“Who is the man who fears the LORD?
“He will instruct him in the way he should choose,” Ps 25:12 NASB

If you focus on pleasing the Lord in the little things of life, He will take it upon Himself to ensure that know His will.

People often practise how to ‘hear God.’ That is a very absurd process to engage it. God knows how you will hear Him, and if indeed He wants to tell you something, He will use that method. He kept on calling Samuel until he knew it was the Lord (1 Sam 3). He attracted Moses with the burning bush and spoke audibly to him (Ex 3). He spoke to Joseph (Mary’s husband) in a dream. He shocked Paul into repentance because He saw it was simple ignorance in a righteous and zealous man. The issue is not whether we have learnt the method of hearing God, but whether He wants to tell us something.

The Lord is not always in a hurry to tell something new. Most of what we are asking to hear Him on He does want to talk about. Why? Because if we had been following His will in everyday things, we would have naturally have found ourselves in the right place—the centre of His will. Many of those prayers claiming to be seeking the will of God are nothing but our seeking shortcuts after refusing to travel the right road for a long time.

The will of God is not just a decision; it is a continual lifestyle. We do not seek God just when we need to make a decision; we seek Him everyday.

So we see that though He has a will about everything, we do not need to be praying to know His will concerning the food we are to eat. We simply live a life that wants to please Him, a life that obeys the things that are known and revealed, a life of righteousness and holiness. In doing this we become the will of God in our very lives, and the actual Will of God comes out of us naturally.

The message today is that we should seek to please God daily in those things that are revealed, and the ‘big’ things will take care of themselves.

God bless you.


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“…the world through its wisdom did not come to know God.” 1 Cor 1:21

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God”. 1 Cor 3:19

My message is to admonish believers to beware of the wisdom of the world. There is indeed a wisdom of the world.

First, what is wisdom? Wisdom, borrowing from the Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, is the ability to judge correctly and to follow the best course of action, based on knowledge and understanding. I particularly like this definition because of the focus on knowledge and understanding. Notice from this definition that wisdom is practical; it is the outward expression of the inner attribute of knowledge and understanding. Wisdom is shown in how we decide our course of action and how we make choices. When we say there is a wisdom of the world, we are saying there is a way the world says things should be done and this is based on its faith, or rather the lack of true faith, and on the expectations people have of the things.

I need to point out that the wisdom of the world actually appears very wise to the average person. It is reasonable, in keeping with obvious facts and seems to have an explainable way by which the results being sought can be gotten. It is a fact that the wisdom of the world will not seem foolish at all, that is until you go into the presence of God and see the opinion of the Lord. It is only when you see through the eyes of the Lord that you discover the foolishness in what the world calls wisdom. Now, the fact that the way of the world often seems reasonable is the trap for the people of God.

Let me just quickly add that the life of faith requires us to take our bearing from the word of God. We must be careful not to lean on common sense understanding. The counsel of the Lord must be our guide. For example, if the Lord says not to worry about tomorrow, it is because there is no need about it. He knows the future, He knows where the control of the future is, and for that reason He knows that worrying is useless. The world may send people to university to learn how to worry about tomorrow; they return with lots of knowledge about how to take steps in worrying, and these steps will appear quite good to the eyes; however, the long degrees and the experiences in the things of the world cannot make anyone wiser than the Ancient of Days.

The Lord is the very seat of wisdom; He graciously gives us a word of His wisdom. It is just a word, not an explanation. Maybe this is why people do not often feel comfortable with it. The Lord doesn’t tell you how it will work out, unlike the wisdom of the world which gives details and systematic presentations of its logic. The Lord just says, ‘don’t worry; I am handling that.’ The world wants us to ask Him how He will handle it, but that is something He rarely obliges. He demands we trust Him and not worry about it. We only discover how after He has done what He promised to do. It is always a case of ‘…that it might be fulfilled what which was spoken by the Lord…’

There was a man who not only refused to believe, but dared to make mockery of the word of God from the mouth of His prophet Elisha; the result was that the man died just after witnessing the way of the deliverance of the Lord (2 Kgs 7). No, the Lord doesn’t like people who believe only after they have understood how He would do what He promised to do. He rather delights in those who say simply, ‘He said it, I believe it, and that settles it.’

One important issue I like to point out is that many of the prescriptions of the world, which it calls wisdom, are derived so as to solve a problem that was created in the first place by its godlessness. When people reject the counsel of God, they create a set of problems, and then they begin to invent a way to solve it. The solution they invent may seem good, but we must never forget where the problem began from. Let us take examples from the AIDS epidemic, and one from of the leading cancers of women, that of the cervix.

It is a medical fact that HIV/AIDS and this cancer are problems of sexual godlessness in a society. Both of them result from the fact that the world rejected the teachings of the Lord about human sexuality. The result is that there is now corruption in the world (which is what diseases are), so much that even those who didn’t sin directly, so as to be blamed, are affected by it. Babies are born with HIV/AIDS disease. The source of all these problems is very simple – the world refused the counsel of God and went after its own lusts.

So what is the solution the world found? Oh no, repentance is out of it, the world rather prefers to solve it by teaching safe sex. What is safe sex? Making condoms available easily to teenagers and having sex clinics in every corner. The words fornication and adultery are out of the window. Billions of dollars is spent trying to get young girls vaccinated against HPV (the causative virus for cancer of the cervix) and to develop vaccines against HIV (which has proven almost impossible). They fight the Pope and the Catholic Church for not advocating the use of condoms as if the Church is saying we are to go ahead and get STDs and unwanted pregnancies. They refuse to acknowledge that if the Pope and the Catholic Church were to be listened to in all they say about sexuality, there would be no need for these things. After all the Church’s statement on sex is not limited to the matter of condoms but is also about fornication and adultery; it only sees the condom as an accessory after the fact of iniquity and a barrier in a godly relationship, and for these reasons refuses to promote it. You may argue with it but that is basically the logic of the Catholic Church and I think it far better than that of the world. Instead of seeing this point, the world would rather say sexual integrity is not normal or practical; they expectedly refuse to accept that if for just two generations we all observe sexual purity, these diseases will all but totally vanish. The word of God says, ‘keep the standard up there and let people look at it until they conform to it,’ but a godless generation says, ‘no no, don’t touch our sex; it is a sign of liberation.’

Liberation from what? From God. Sexual freedom is a major sign of loss of godliness. It is not possible to maintain morality apart from godliness. Only God can help us keep our desires from turning to lusts that control us.

I am preaching this time to Christians to be beware of the wisdom of the world. We often buy it and live by it thinking we are doing right.

I like to use a simple verse of scripture to show how subtly we Christians get carried away by the world. I will first present an adulterated version, which I call Today's Worldly Version, of the verse, and then we will see the true word of God afterwards.

Please read this:

"Children are a burden from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is extra load to carry. Happy are the people who have a small quiver so it fills up with just one or two. That way they can give this burden the Lord placed upon them the best in life, like foreign education and holidays in various parts of the globe. They can quickly get done with it and have the joy of having relieved themselves of the burden. The fewer the arrows in the quiver of a warrior, the better for him." Ps 127:3-5, Today's Worldly Version.

Let’s face it, it is the usual thing these days for ‘enlightened’ people to speak as if a small nuclear family is better, and you hear this kind of talk even among Christians. You are looked at like you came from Mars or more like out of West Africa 1000AD if you say you love many children. Someone actually said something like this in my hearing: “what would one want to do with them? You want to sell them?” I replied to this end: “No, it is a joy to love them.” Unfortunately, the world has taught us either directly or by keeping us occupied with the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust for the vanities of the world, that a thing that the Lord categorically said is good, is bad. Please don’t even think about what my personal likes or dislikes may be; this is about the word of God. I am using this to show how the world has led us away from divine counsel.

Now let us see what the word of God says on this matter.

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.
“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.
“How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
“They shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate.” Ps 127:3-5 NASB

This is the true word of God, nothing added. Instead of us arguing about whether we all have the same size of quiver, let us realize that in the context of the scripture here, abundance was the focus and not the size of individual quivers. It is clear, if we are not trying to justify the opinions of the world, that it was likened to a man in battle having an abundance of ammunition. The man with a small quiver is definitely not a person to envy.

Let us quickly see another genuine version.

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a real blessing.
“The sons a man has when he is young are like arrows in a soldier's hand.
“Happy is the man who has many such arrows.” GNT

One would have thought it so clear but the world has so filled the thoughts of Christians.

Woe to the world! They have rejected the word of God and have invented their own ideas. And the church is following them in the blindness occasioned by their hatred of God. Now, that is real carnality.

Please I am not at all here preaching on whether you should have a large family or not; I am just trying to say to Christians to beware of the leaven of the world. Take the word of God as it is lest you partake in the woes of the world. Let the word of God teach you what is good and what is bad. Woe to those who overturn the word of God (Is 5:20 KJV)

“How terrible it will be for people who call good things bad and bad things good,
“who think darkness is light and light is darkness,
“who think sour is sweet and sweet is sour.” Isa 5:20 NCV

We are either Christians or we are not. When people want to advocate for you that a small family is good, all they ever tell you are worldly things, and of course they never forget to tell you that El-Shaddai has gone on leave and so He is not aware of the cost of education and clothing. We are told to worry about what the children will eat, and what they will drink and with what will they be clothed. Poor Jesus was not aware of what perilous times we will have to live in when He was speaking. People forget that we are people of faith who are to invoke the will of God unto the earth. It is to us according to our faith, remember.

Let me get back to the matter of the wisdom of the world.

The world emphasizes how we must save up for retirement (and this is part of the reason why they say that a large family is bad since it reduces your ability to save). The world says to lay up our treasures on the earth even though we see the moths destroy things again and again (one appropriate word for moth and rust in our modern day financial system would be inflation).

“Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.” Matt 6:19-21 GNT

We are encouraged to ignore these words of the Lord Jesus even though we see thieves in the name of big banks and financial institutions wizards breaking in to steal again and again as they collapse with depositors’ moneys. The world teaches us how to worry and have anxiety about tomorrow. And Christians follow them. It appears like our faith is for Sundays alone.

Now, remember what I explained earlier about how they look for a solution to problems they caused by disobeying divine order. All this ‘wisdom’ is how to live when the family structure of God has been broken down. (Again that is part of the problem we Christians often have; we do not realize that we have to create a fully encompassing life of faith, and not jettison the word when we don’t like it and then expect it to work for us in certain areas when we need it).

The world liberated children from families and created families without structure. Single parents are all over the place. This is because of sexual ‘liberation.’ People live in isolation here and there with no extended families or brotherhoods of love. In this kind of system you have to make preparation for your life by yourself. You need health insurance, disability insurance, old-age insurance, etc. You have to save up in a decaying and unreliable world in case things go south, like Americans would say.

I just thought about a godly system being in place.

A man and a woman have a large family and raise their children in true godliness (Js 1:27). They don’t need a pension plan if they are investing so much in their children. Even if they don’t have abundance of wealth to last them into old age, their children are commanded by God to be there for them (Ex 20:12, Pr 19:6, Mk 7:11, 1 Tim 5:. How blessed will they be, and the children too, if they indeed have a quiver full of them. I thank God for my mum; she worked as a school teacher for decades and retired. She has a pension, but what I and my siblings do for her far exceeds what any pension will ever do. We are young, and it is our turn; not a big deal. I know that many reading this understand this from personal experience. It is a joyful thing to do. Some called it African culture but that is so so untrue. It is the culture of God for any human society. It vanishes only as people modernize away from godliness, when they start calling evil what the Lord called good and calling good what the Lord called evil. In a godly society, with children that the Lord blessed, who needs old people’s homes? The home of the old people is to be provided by their quiver of children. How blessed are they if that quiver is full.

The system of God says the more we are the better. Thank God for large families in Christ where we are careful to bear one another’s burdens. We are automatically insured and have no fear of tomorrow. It was so good at a time that the apostles had to put in measures to prevent abuse. So Paul said, ‘let the one who will not work not eat.’ It had to be commanded because the brethren would have ensured that there was food for such. The purpose of work, Paul also explained, is to have something to contribute to help the lives of others (Eph 4:28).

In summary, please don’t let the world teach us its wisdom when we have the word of God as the source of eternal wisdom with us. Let us never reason away the word of God but work hard to obey it and prophesy it until it produces results for us. If we are indeed people of faith, we shouldn’t be the ones explaining away the word of God. We must stick with it, look up to it, and desire the hidden wisdom in it; that is what it means to be a believer. We are to put the word of God up there and look up to it attentively, be absorbed by it and contemplate it until we become like it in our thoughts, and then the experiences of blessing will follow.

Oh, by the way, the El-Shaddai is not on leave; we are the ones that have been on leave from making demands on His power while we commit iniquity with the wisdom of the world.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” 2 Chron 16:9 NKJV



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ARE WE ALL EQUAL BEFORE GOD?


The answer to this question is right there in the scriptures. Follow me closely and you will see what I discovered!

You see, potentially we are all equal before Him; after all, we are all made in His image, after His likeness. You know that the scripture says that God is no respecter of persons. But, you see, in practice, we are as different as the Amaranthus and the Iroko tree are different, like the cat and the lion, like a motorbike and an S –class Benz.

This is why.

Once, God said “even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people” (Jer.15). This shows to me that Moses and Samuel were not average people, that was why He said “even though …” It is like you saying, “even though you offer me one million Naira, I am not coming with you”. That shows the listener that there are different amounts of money, and that differing amounts will have differing persuasive powers. That is how men are with God!

Again in another place when God was threatening fire and brimstone on some bad sons of His, He remarked that “even if these men-Noah, Daniel and Job- were in it, they could only save themselves.” I think this shows that these men were not on the same level as everyone else. That is why God dealt with them in a different fashion. Let us look at the case of Moses a bit. There was a time that Miriam and Aaron criticized him for something he had done that was wrong in their opinion. Without going into details about what he did, let us see God’s response. Num 12,6.

“If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make myself known to him in a vision… in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses… with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses.”

Notice that God was saying that “even among my prophets, among my many servants Moses stands out different! You should therefore treat him as different”. Remember that Miriam was a prophetess, and Aaron a priest, yet they were supposed to treat Moses as special.

So you see, in practice, we definitely are not equal before God.

I mentioned earlier that potentially we are equal and that God is not a respecter of persons. If this be so, how did we arrive at being so different?

The truth is that each person determines by himself his stature before God and anybody can attain any size. Yes, though all fingers may not be equal, in your relationship with God, you determine the size that you attain. God does not just pick people like Daniel, Moses, Samuel, Job, and make them favourably unequal to other men. No! They pick the kind of live they want to lead and that determines their stature with God.

In this light all can be equal before God. He said, “there is no difference… for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him”. Rom. 1012

It is how you walk with God that determines your level with Him. It was said of Enoch that he walked with God. Note that God did not walk with Enoch; it was Enoch that walked with God. This means that the degree of intimacy between God and Enoch was essentially determined by Enoch, not God.

God is available for all. Are you taking hold of Him?

Look at Daniel, he was big before God, God put a mark on him, he was different. Why was that? It was his lifestyle, the decisions he made for God. We read:

“Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself…” 18

“(his enemies) could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.” 64

“I was found innocent before Him and also toward you O king, I have committed no crime.” 622
”… because he had trusted in His God”

No wonder the angel testified to Daniel that before God “you are highly esteemed!”

Do you want God to highly esteem you? Then follow the example of Daniel.

Look at Job. God bragged about Him. He was big before God. God testified concerning him that “...there is no one like him on the earth...”

Why was that? It was because Job was “blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil” (Job 1).

We can therefore say concerning Daniel that he walked with God, or that Job walked with God. God was not the one who walked with these men.

This is the lesson: You also can walk with God. You also can get to a high place with God such that He will favour you so much that it will appear as if He is partial in your favour.

That is how to escape marginalisation before God.

You know it was said concerning Jotham that he became great because he ordered his steps before the Lord his God. 2Chr.276

That is the equality God has given every man – to walk with Him and so ride into high places, so that when calamity wants to come, He will first say to the angel “ mark this one, he must not die with the rest” (Ez 9:4,; so that He will, like Job, surround you with a hedge and prosper you abundantly. It is up to you.

You are asking, “How can I walk with God?”

He has said “Two cannot walk together except they are agreed. Since God cannot change, then it is up to you to agree with Him.

You want to walk with God? Then agree with Him!

“He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

It is as simple as that. Agree with Him and know for sure that you can never loose out by following Him.

Yes it is that simple, yet it will have serious consequences; for example when you start agreeing with God, you will start disagreeing with men. Oh! That has been the major problem with many people. They want to agree with men. Jesus said, “how can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God.” Some Pharisees who would have believed in Jesus couldn’t because they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. Jn 1243

Do you want to be great before God? You will have to hold on to God’s opinion and disregard what men will think of you.

They may call you foolish, they will think you crazy. These things are necessary to prove to God that you really want to walk with him.

Faith is holding unto God’s word because it is the truth and your life depends on it.

Enoch walked with God and the record is that in doing so he pleased God. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 116).

You walk with God by faith in His word. That is what marks you out.

Know of a truth that His word can never fail; it will never fail you.

Men will say, “you’re dead without money”. You will say “Beware of covetousness, a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses”.

Men will say “there is no future for young people is this country.”

You will say “I shall be like a tree firmly planted by the waters, I bring forth fruit in my season.”

Men will say “You must be ‘sharp’ to make it.”

You will say “Do not fret because of evildoers, trust in the Lord, do good, cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Men will say “enjoy yourself, party, have fun, have sex, you are a young man!”

You will say “know of a truth, that God will bring you to judgement for all these things”.

Friend, do you know what you are doing? You are agreeing with God.

That is how to walk with God.

“The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil”

Never call an evil thing O.K even if you don’t practice it. “Woe to him that calls evil good”

Agree with God in your speech, in your ways and in your expectation.

Note one thing. For sure when God might have approved of you, men will see it! It will not just be a religious satisfaction and peace inside you.

It will in reality be something that the eye can see. That is why it is written that, “He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgement (or reward) as the noonday.”

Men will see it and testify that of a truth you did the wise thing. You chose the wise way.

When everyone was running to Egypt and Isaac stayed in the land of famine because he agreed with God (Gen.28), the result was that he reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him and he became rich and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy (vs 12,13).

When Hannah agreed with God she became a joyful mother of a total of six children. She had been barren.

When God highly esteems you, He does not leave you on the ground, He lifts you up to show that righteousness pays. That is what David observed when he said “I have been young, now I am old. I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children beg for food.”

He raises the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap. He makes them sit with nobles.

He keeps the feet of His godly ones.

The wicked ones are silenced in darkness.

The Lord will lift you up; He will not allow your feet to be moved.

He will keep your going out and your coming in.

Declaration:
If you are ready to be outstanding with God, pray:
“Lord, I am ready to agree with you, help me by your Spirit. Open my ears and my heart to hear and to receive your word. In Jesus’ name.”

If you are not personally related to God through His Son Jesus Christ, let me let you know that the promises of God are only confirmed in Jesus. He is the one that God has given the power to forgive you and to renew your life. He was dead, was raised and is alive today.

Talk to Him in prayer today, asking Him to become your master who you will obey and to wash away your sins.


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GOD CANNOT FAIL
‘Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’

The issue of faith has been extensively examined in the church of Christ, but I’ll love us to at this time correctly examine that quote from Heb.11.1. Specifically, let us first talk about the word ‘hope.’

Hope, as used is the scriptures, literally means a firm expectation.

Now, I quite realise that that is not the common English usage in which it is used to refer to something we desire and would love to happen but we can’t be certain of. For example, a man buys a gift for his wife and says ‘I hope she likes it’. He has just expressed his desire. This has confused the church extensively in the understanding of the scriptural hope.

Scriptural hope does not mean a wish or a desire but rather an expectation based on a sound evidence. It is sure. As far as that evidence goes, it is reliable.

Hope is the product of the trust you have in the evidence. For example, if I promise my wife a gold ring for her next birthday, she will look forward to wearing a new gold ring on her next birthday. In short, she has a hope of a new gold ring. Not a desire or a wish but an expectation. Why? Her loving, does-not-promise-and-fail husband has promised. Her evidence is my word.

Have you noticed that she’s holding on to that word? That is faith.

Her faith (in my word) is the assurance of the gold ring she’s expecting and the conviction of the gift that she cannot yet see!

God is the husband and you are the wife. His promise will fill you with an expectation because you are trusting His word. That is what the Bible calls faith. So you see, it is the promise first, then faith in your heart, these two unite and produce an expectation, a hope.

As an example, if you are Abraham, 99 years old, with Mrs. Sarah Abraham being 89 years old, and you call yourself a father of many nations though not having an offspring yet (which is hope), your only assurance is the fact that you consider Him faithful who has promised (that is faith). The promise you believed produced the hope.

So we see that hope is certain. It is as firm as its foundation. The foundation is the word of God. It cannot disappoint.

‘ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him”.’

‘For thou art my hope, O Lord God, thou art my confidence from my youth’

‘…(There is) a hope laid up for you…of which you have heard in the word of truth, the gospel’

Do you have a hope, an expectation? On what is it based? Remember that your hope is only as good as what it is based on.

You expect to be healthy. Good. Because there is no hereditary sickness known in your family? Oh no. You could be the first. It happens.

You expect to be happily married. Good. Because the guy is so nice and caring? Oh no! People change!

The only hope that cannot disappoint is that placed in God, an expectation that is based upon the word of God. Why? Because God cannot fail.

Has He promised you anything? Then rest assured that it will definitely come to be. I want to introduce you today to the reason why you can rest, why you can go to sleep. (By the way if you’ve not been sleeping, remember that the Bible says there are things that God only gives when you are sleeping).

I want to tell you about God, the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ that does not fail. The Bible tells me that in Him there is no variableness or shadow of turning. This means that He does not change, neither do circumstances change Him. Let me explain.

If I promised you N10,000.00, collectable next week; (bear in mind I’m a honest, nice, rich man). Next week comes and I’m flat broke, bankrupt and in deep debt, you definitely can kiss the promise goodbye.

What has happened is that I have been changed by circumstances. That is called shadow of turning.

Or next week comes and I’m dead, very dead, six-feet-under-interred. You don’t need a wise Solomon to tell you to forget the 10K.

What has happened? I have changed. It is called variableness. The Bible says neither of these happens with my God. The whole earth can die, it doesn’t matter, if He promised He will perform. He has said ‘I act, who can hinder it’ and ‘as for my outstretched hand, who can turn it back?’

He said ‘I am the Lord, God of all flesh, is there anything too difficult for me?’

What has He promised you?

The scripture says He has made us partakers of great and precious promises which are better than the ones Moses downloaded on mount Sinai.

He said ‘I am the Lord that healeth thee’

I will take sickness away from you.
You shall be above only and not beneath.
There shall none be barren in your midst, I make women dwell in the house as joyful mothers of children.
Blessed shall you be in the field, blessed shall be the fruit of your body.
You shall not want. All the good things of life shall be added unto you.
I don’t care how poor your background is. I am your new background. I am your foreground; I carry you into a new future. Have you believed in Jesus? That is a new heritage. The country you live in cannot change Me. In Me there is no variableness or shadow of turning.
I heal you of all kinds of diseases-hereditary, acquired, epidemic, endemic, nervous, or whatever.
Their name is not higher than the name of Jesus.

‘Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made an open show of them.’

You are delivered. No devil can worry you. You are a child of God.

Listen, whatever God has promised will come to pass because it is written, ‘it is impossible for God to lie.’
Now, he wasn’t saying God is not dishonest. Every idiot knows that. Lying has more in it than dishonesty. There is also the factor of inability. For example, the weather forecaster may tell you it will be a bright and sunny day tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and it is cloudy and rainy. What has happened is that the man has lied, though a honest man. The weather was not in his control.

God cannot lie means there is nothing outside His control. He can cause prosperity to flow towards you like a river and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream.

He can raise a dead Lazarus thereby telling everyone that there is no sickness, not even death that He cannot reverse. It was told to Mary that ‘with God nothing shall be impossible’ or literally, ‘no word of God shall be void of power’.

That means that if God says something, within that word is all the power and equipment and accessories and plans and devices and people required to bring it to pass.
Mary says ‘Pregnant? I did not sleep with a man’. Gabriel says ‘Forget it. God says “now are you pregnant”. That word is all the “man” you need; it is all the womb you need. The word is fully equipped’.

You want to marry? No, you do not need money. All you need is for God to say ‘go’. You don’t need a big car, old age or a big house. You need God’s word.

This God does not fail. If necessary He will roll back a sea, dry up a river, remove a nation’s ruler, stop the rotation of the earth, rejuvenate a 90 year old woman, do whatever great thing necessary to make His word come to pass.

Guess what? He is itching for a fight just to show Himself in your life. It is written, “the eye of the Lord runs to and fro the surface of the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully His".

He said, “I watch over My word to perform it”. This is why it has been written that “those who hopefully wait for Him will not be put to shame.” This is my God.

He is my hope. I trust Him. I rely fully on Him. What about you?
Let me tell you one of the reasons why I absolutely trust Him. I discovered that He loves me more than I love myself. This means He wants to bless me more than I want to be blessed. And He knows me more than I know myself. So I relax.

I have come to know that God is love.

Do you know all He’s asking for? He says ‘just trust me, I know what I’m doing”.

If I keep you, you will never fall.
If I help you, you will never fail.
If I lead you, you will not miss the way.

He says, ‘trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path’.
How He longs for one who will trust Him. That is what is called faith, to trust God. It gladdens His heart. That was what Abraham did that made God begin to swear to bless him. It was not the sacrifice; it was the faith. The Bible says that Abraham agreed to sacrifice Isaac because he had received a promise that from this Isaac will his descendants come. He realized that God would raise him up from the dead.

God saw this unprecedented level of faith and began to swear to bless him.
I invite you today to make a commitment to trust Him. He does not fail.

If you do not have a personal relationship with God through His son Jesus Christ, then that is your first step.

Say this prayer aloud:

“Father God, I come to you today.
“I ask for your mercy and forgiveness.
“I want to trust you.
“I believe that Jesus is alive, and I accept Him as Lord over my life.
“From today I make a commitment to trust your word. Teach it to me Lord.
“In Jesus’ name I pray.”
God bless you.

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PASTORBANKIE

If you are sick and need healing, read this. If you are called barren don’t worry, just read. If you have a loved one that is afflicted, take this news to them:

Every sickness has a cause; every sickness has a cure. A medical doctor knows very little. No matter how confident he seems, he is but a man. God has said ‘stop regarding man, one whose breath is in his nostrils.’ God in heaven has spoken concerning sickness. He said “I am the Lord, God of all flesh, there is nothing too difficult for me!”

Listen to me, every sickness has a name; the one worrying you now has a name (whether you know the name or not).

Again hear what God has said: “at the mention of the name of Jesus, every knee must bow.”

Listen to me; any sickness of whatever kind, any kind of affliction is a sign of the presence of the power of the devil. I have another news for you: “for this reason did the Son of God come, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1Jn3v8

There is nothing that afflicts mankind today that Jesus did not come to destroy. At the end of it, He said “all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He now has all power and all authority over all kinds of infirmity of your body. He can, yes He can and He will deliver you.

Another thing, God loves you more than you can imagine. The Bible says that Jesus is touched with our feelings, when we feel our problems. That cancer pains Him too. You may not believe it but it is true. It really grieves His heart when you suffer. God really loves you; He is sad over all your sufferings. He wants desperately to heal you.

“If what you say is true, then why am I still sick?” you may ask.

Because God does not take what is not given to Him. As long as you carry it and mourn over it He can do nothing. All the power He released in Jesus cannot touch you except you give your problems to Him.

“He that comes to God must believe that He is and a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Do you want God’s touch? Then you need to come to Him in faith.

What is faith?

It means “God I’ve come. It is you alone.”
You cannot come to God to try. No, God is not that human doctor that you change when he doesn’t please you. God is God. You must come to Him like Jacob. “I will not leave you unless you bless me.”

Was God concerned about Hannah in the Bible (1st Samuel 1)? He was! Yet we know that Hannah was barren for years until one day that she decided to take hold of God, then God answered her.

God is not to be ‘tried;’ He is to be believed. To believe, or to have faith in, means to rely on, trust in, and to be totally devoted to. All you have been doing is ‘trying’ God. That is why He hasn’t touched you with His power. Listen to this:

“He that trusts in Him will not be put to shame.” Is 49v23

God cannot fail. You haven’t come to Him yet; that is why you think He failed. God cannot fail. He said ‘I, by Myself created the heavens and the earth.’ Now, why can He not recreate your body?

Another thing, God wants to heal you inside out. Notice I said ‘inside out.’ Many have presented only their bodies for healing, yet their hearts are in their sins and iniquities. What do think God is? He is not a fool. If it were you, would you listen to their prayers? The Bible says:

“The Lords hands are not so short that He cannot deliver, but your sins have prevented Him from delivering you.”

Listen, God is itching to come into your life, to save your body, but you must prepare a way for Him.

“Make straight a way for the Lord… then His glory will be revealed.” Is 40. You need that.

Did you know that John the Baptist came preaching a gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sin before Jesus could come with a gospel of healing? Well, if you didn’t, then know it now. God wants to forgive your sins, not just heal your body.

He will do both. He will, He will; I know what I’m saying.

You see, a lot of diseases are caused by sin. There was a time Jesus healed a man, after which He told him ‘go and sin no more so that a worse thing does not come upon you.’ That shows that sin can bring sickness. Also, before Jesus healed the paralysed man in Mark chapter 2, He first forgave him of his sins.

So you see, you need forgiveness of sins; you do. Thank God Jesus is forever ready to forgive. That was why He died; that was why He shed His blood. Let no one tell you that you are beyond forgiveness. In fact the Bible says that the amount of grace God releases depends on the amount of sin present. So you need not worry, His mercies never come to an end.

Come to Him today asking for the forgiveness of your sins and committing your body to Him for healing.

With God nothing shall be impossible.

Hypertension, Diabetes, AIDS, and cancer are all curable with God. Let no doctor deceive you.

God has given women who had no womb babies. God has raised the dead. Listen, Lazarus was dead for four days. There is nothing too difficult for Him.

If you will cry out to Him today, you will definitely be healed.

Look, the devil is the author of all sickness. Yes, he is but Jesus came to deliver you out of His hands.

This Jesus has sent this paper to you today; He has sent me to tell you that you will be healed. You don’t have to die. Your children need you; you wife needs you; your husband needs you. He does not enjoy hearing them cry; that is why He will heal you today if you will just reach out to Him.

Again, if you think that people are responsible for your sickness, know that Jesus said that all power is with Him. It is He that opens doors that men have shut, and when He has opened a door, no man can shut it. I am talking about Jesus, who has defeated all devils. No man is strong enough to stand when He walks into your situation.

Where is the power of this great Jesus?

Right next to you. In your hands right now; in your heart as you read this, and in your mouth as we go on to pray.

You don’t have to go far. God has been waiting for this moment when you will turn to Him to help you, when you will cry out to Him for that child of yours. He waited for this moment when you will cooperate with Him so that together you can tell both doctor and devil that sickle cell anaemia has a cure, and the name of the cure is Jesus. He has been waiting for this opportunity to flex His muscles over you.

O that you will dare to trust Him today. Your problem is too small for Him, your heart is His only problem (of course, I do not mean the physical heart in your chest; He can easily touch that too).
Shout to Him, ‘Lord you can have my heart; you can have my soul; I will hear and obey your will!’

If you are set, then I think it is time to pray.

Are you ready? Then say the following aloud:

“Heavenly Father, I come to you today. Thank you for sending this word to me. I believe in your love, I believe in your mercy.

“I recognise that Jesus has come to set me free. I claim my freedom today. In Jesus’ name.”

(Now address the sickness)

“You spirit of infirmity causing me this problem (name it), I command you in the name of Jesus to leave my body. Now!

“In the name of Jesus, I have been set free. You have no power over me. Jesus set me free by dying for me, by defeating you. Right now, therefore, I command you to loose your hold. In Jesus’ name.”

(Let’s address your body)

“My body, in the name of Jesus, I command you to receive life. I command you to receive health; I command you to receive the ability to function. I command you to be fruitful, in the name of Jesus!”

(Speak specifically to the areas of your body that is afflicted, as follows. Please feel free to use your own words)

‘My leg, be healed! Begin to walk!’
‘My brain, function well. Stroke, be gone!’
‘My heart, beat properly!’
‘Womb, be opened in the name of Jesus!’

(Declare this loudly)

‘I am healed in the name of Jesus.’
‘It is well with me; I shall not die.’
‘I am not diabetic; I am healthy.’
‘I am not hypertensive; Jesus took away my tension.’
‘Concerning me my Father has said “I am the Lord that heals you.”’
‘The spirit of life in Christ has set me free from sin and death.’
‘In the name of Jesus, I am healed.’

Now you have activated the healing power of God in your body. Know of a truth that your body is being healed right now. Yes it is.
Now, while the process is on, you must maintain this positive confession of the word of God as you have repeated above. The words are like medicine, you may need to take them daily and regularly until your healing is fully manifested.

“…they are life unto those who find them, and medicine to their whole body.” Prov 4v22

Keep your eyes focused on these words and meditate continually on the result that God said they will produce, which is your health. That way you are putting pressure on the Evil One; you have overcome and your victory will definitely be manifested.

Listen to me, the health is yours, you are not begging for it; you are just taking back what is yours. Walk around boldly therefore, declaring boldly and confidently that you have overcome.


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Oftentimes we hear the expression ‘eternal life’ and we immediately begin to think about living forever. Well, I think I should let you know at this time that spiritual things do not only have a length but also a depth and a height. Thinking of eternal life in terms of living forever is looking only at the length of it. There is the depth of it, which I believe refers to the varieties of issues covered, and there is the height, which, I also believe, has to do with the intensity with which each issue is covered.

Let us take a little background look in this study.

In the beginning when God made man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, He warned the man that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would bring death into his life.

“…for in the day that you shall eat from it you shall surely die.”

He specifically instructed the man not to eat of this fruit. Well, the man ate of it and you know the rest of the story.

Now, the question is this: Did the man surely die that day, as was the word of God? The answer is, “Most assuredly, yes!”

You see, God’s word cannot fail. If He said the man would die, then dying he would die. The problem we have had is that we did not understand what dying meant. Dying is much more than physical expiration and passing away; that is the culmination of the whole thing. Death is a spiritual force that affects everything it comes in contact with and produces differing levels of dysfunction. The effect of death is expressed depending on the normal function of the thing in question. When God said that the man would die, He was saying that in that day, he, the man, would become subject to death in all aspects of life.

Let us take a few examples of the effects of death.

When it touched the earth, it took away its productivity.

“It will produce weeds and thorns…you will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything…”

Apart from taking away the productivity of the earth, it also produces natural disasters.

“The earth became polluted and vomited up its inhabitants.” Lev 18.

When death touches a human body, it produces sickness, diseases, barrenness, mental illnesses and ultimately, death.

When it touches a man’s business, it begins to loose money; it collapses.

In a marriage, death produces disharmony and divorce.

These are a few examples of the manifestations of death.

Now God saw this and it displeased Him, His love nature caused Him to produce a deliverance from death for human beings.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

Before God brought His solution the position of mankind was pathetic.

“From the time of Adam, death reigned…”

The reign of death is what is responsible for all the negative things of this life such as children dying in infancy, all forms of diseases, wars, famines, and many forms of the so called natural disasters and acts of God. The Bible calls all these effects of the reign of death ‘the agonies of death’.

As I explained earlier, death is a spiritual force which was introduced into the earth by sin and which produces varying effects depending on the aspect of life it touches.

“Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned.”

When a person is subject to this reign of death, he or she is said to be dead in scriptural terms. See Ephesians 2,5:

“…we were DEAD in our trespasses…”

This was what the Lord wanted to spare Adam from when He warned him against eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, when He warned him against disobedience. This was what the Lord saw when He sent his Son so that whosoever believes in Him might pass from death into life!

Now, that takes us back to our main topic of discussion.

Life, or eternal life, is that spiritual diametrically opposite force to death that is far greater than death, which reverses everything that death produces, and which turns around the agonies of death.

You see, the Jews knew of the existence of this life, and they also knew that it was obtainable. That was why they frequently came to Jesus asking Him what they had to do to gain it. They knew it would be the end to all their problems in life. They had examples of those who tasted different measures of this life and the effects it had in their lives and environment. They knew that this is the life that David carried to battle and no one could ever defeat him. They understood that when the earth experienced a dose of this life for Isaac’s sake, a land of famine produced a hundred fold.

That life produced Isaac in the womb of a woman that was 90 years of age. In the eyes of Moses, there was never any dimness, which means Moses would never have needed medicated eyeglasses. They had read of Caleb who advancing in years did not abate in strength.

“…I am eighty-five years today…as my strength was forty-five years ago, so is my strength now, for war and for going out and coming in.”

You understand that any sane person will desire such a life. So, many thirsted after it and so came to meet Jesus to ask him the mechanism for obtaining it.

As for you, Child of God, read these:

“He that hath the Son hath life”

“…whosoever believes in Him…(will) have eternal life”.

“…He loved us… (and) made us alive together with Christ…”

This is the summary from Jesus Himself:

“…he who hears my word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life…and has passed out of death into life.” Jn 5v24

What I am getting at is that you, Child of God, have life. Eternal life dwells in you as you read this. God imparted it to you as soon as you believed in Jesus. What the Jews were asking for is now yours in Christ Jesus. Can you see the implications of this from what we discussed above?

This life is a spiritual substance that can permeate every area of life that you allow it into. It will give life to your body so that no sickness can dwell there. Like Caleb you will be fit, agile and productive in your old age. All these thinning of hair and falling off of teeth that have become integral parts of aging are among the agonies of death; the life that is in Jesus, which now resides in you, forbids that.

Let nobody deceive you, you do not have any predisposition or hereditary tendency to develop any disease; maybe your natural self did, but the life you have in Christ has overcome any natural thing. It is called the height and the depth of eternal life.

Let me explain something about the believer and medical science. You see, faith is not saying that medical knowledge does not exist; it is only saying that it only applies to the natural being and that life can take over, and indeed has taken over, my physical flesh. I have no choice but to believe what God says. I cannot believe the report of the doctor against the report of God.

Eternal life is not a matter of theological exercise but a real and tangible spiritual entity that does affect physical things. For you that have this life, your health is not adversely affected by your age. No, you advance in years and remain in perfect health.

“…He satisfies my mouth with good things, my youth is renewed as an eagle’s.”

Let us see another effect of this life.

“You are salt of the earth…”

Now, being the salt of the earth does not mean you are the one that settles all the quarrels in your office or the marital disharmonies of your neighbours. Yes, these are good things but do not imply you are being the salt of the earth. Remember that I mentioned earlier that death touched the physical earth; in the same manner but with contrary results the life in you touches the earth upon which you live and prevents it from decay, keeping it from the agonies of death. That is what ‘salt of the earth’ means. It is not necessarily a conscious attempt on the part of the child of God, but an automatic effect of the presence of the one who possesses the life of God.

To illustrate, we can see the example of Isaac in Genesis 26. Here Isaac can be called the salt of that land, seeing that the land was blessed for his sake. Also, if the Lord had found ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorah and had spared the land for their sakes, the ten could have been referred to as the salt of Sodom and Gomorah. What I am saying is that your environment, your family, the country in which you live, the company in which you work, all of these are touched by the life in you.

When you have life, your family will prosper, your company will prosper. Remember that Laban was blessed by the life in Jacob and Portiphar was blessed by that which was in Joseph. Eternal life is contagious in its effects! Your country needs your presence if things are going to go well; your family needs that life that is in you. You should not abandon any of these in search of personal satisfaction; let God bring out something good from within you as their salvation.

Now, this leads me to another effect of this life.

“In Him was life, and that life is the light of men…”

Light has to do with illumination, with spiritual and intellectual development. Light gives the ability to make good judgement.

The life that is in Christ gives you the ability to tap into sound wisdom, it gives you the inspiration that brings to birth, in your area of vocation, new ideas, so that you will not be an average man in you profession. It is this kind of wisdom that lifted Joseph to the post of Prime Minister in Egypt. Such things still happen today. That is the source of scientific discoveries. I am saying that the life in you makes you have superior intelligence.

What I’ve tried to bring to your consciousness is that Jesus did not come to leave you on the same level He met you. He came to give you life abundantly and this life really has practical effects that can be noticed by people around you. It affects your body, your children, your land, your job, and whatever else can be called yours.

Why are most believers not experiencing the effect of this life, if indeed they really have it as Jesus said?

You see, God’s gift can lie dormant in a man if it isn’t stirred up. It appears that you really need to demand what is yours spiritually before it can be released to you, just like the Israelites had to fight for the land that God had given to them.

The first step is that you must know what God says that you have. Lack of knowledge is the problem that kills most believers today.

“They know not, neither will they understand, so they walk on is darkness…”

“My people perish for lack of knowledge.”

Thank God for the much we have been able to expose in this little space we have at this time, but you need to cultivate a studious lifestyle so as to continually discover what God has said concerning you.

After you have discovered a truth about what God has given you, you need to make up your mind to accept that revelation as superior to all other evidence; this means that you believe that word. One sure evidence of what you believe is that which you speak with your mouth.

“…we believe, therefore we speak.”

Declare it boldly: “I have eternal life in Christ; this life makes me whole, immune to all manner of diseases. I do not weaken by reason of age; I retain the beauty of my youth. I have superior abilities and insight on my profession; I am not an average man. The life in me blesses my environment. In Jesus I have life.”

Whatever you discover concerning this life must be declared boldly; those words will activate the life that in present inside you.

Remember to disregard any contrary evidence. Let nobody tell you that you will die. Your present circumstances are only temporary; they have stayed this long because you had not all this while activated the life that you have in Jesus. The life in Jesus always prevails!

For those who are reading this but are not yet related to God through Jesus, let me tell you that ONLY Jesus has life and gives life. The masters of all the religions of this earth died, were buried and their bodies decayed; Jesus, however, lives forevermore and still gives life to all those who will believe in Him. This is why you need to give your life to Jesus Christ today. If you are ready, say this prayer with me:

“Lord Jesus, I come to you today; I believe you are alive and I ask of you today to give me your life.
“I give my old life up and I accept to live for you and obey you from today.
“Thank you for accepting me.”

If you said that prayer sincerely, then you are now born again.


Many other books by Pastor Bankie can be downloaded free as PDF from kwm.com.ng

-Pastorbankie

Let me take this time to answer a question you may have been asking for a long time.

‘Born again – what does it really mean?’

You see, life is basically lived as a reward, i.e. what you are experiencing as a middle aged or older man are basically products of choices you made or did not make when you were young.

Are you a young man? Then read this:

“Rejoice young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of your young manhood. And follow the impulse of your heart and the desires of your eyes, yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things.” Eccl 11: 9.

All the things you are doing today or have done in your past have awaiting you consequences. It does not matter whether they are good or evil, hidden or open. The Bible says that “God will bring EVERY act to judgement, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

Many of those things you thought you got away with because nobody saw you have affected your life seriously, it is just that you will not discover the consequences for the next 10-15 years. Unfortunately, you probably would have forgotten the cause of your troubles then.

You see, a lot of times people blame God for the troubles around them, not realizing that every single trouble of man is caused by man.

At other times, people ask why God is not doing anything. The issue is this: why should He? You have forgotten that the world is man’s business. If you want God’s help you have to ask for it. Why should you talk as if He is the cause of your problems? He is not your problem. He is your solution.

The next problem is that men often think God should follow their own ideas of a solution. They forget that they know next to nothing. God knows all. He has provided the needed solution but men are ignoring it.

Men are ignoring the solution to their problems! Funny? Yes, funny but true. Let me tell you a small story to illustrate this point. General Naaman of Syria had what the doctors call Hansen’s disease, commonly called leprosy. He was referred to the consultant miracle worker, Rev. Elisha. As he approached, he was met by the prophet’s P. A who told him that the prescription was ‘go jump into the Jordan river seven times.’ What did Naaman do? He did just what I am complaining about. He felt the Reverend should have followed his own idea, he Naaman.

‘Behold, I thought “He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure me.” ’

You see, the prescription was simple but it did not agree with his opinion. Thank God that in this case his servants could persuade him to obey the Reverend gentleman’s orders. The result is that he was perfectly made whole. (The story is in 2nd kings).

What is God’s prescription to solve man’s problems?

Relax. I’ll tell you in a moment. Let’s go back to this issue of consequences.

Whether you like it or not, it is true that what controls life does not respect your opinion and is more than easily meets the eye. It is quite unfortunate that it appears that more evil consequences are awaiting people than good ones. Life seems to tend to follow that negative line. There are many reasons for this. Here are a few:

‘The heart of man is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick.’

‘Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.’
Another reason is that evil tends to weigh a lot more than good. Jesus said ‘A little leaven leavens the whole lump.’

James said ‘A small spark sets a great forest on fire.’

Solomon said ‘One sinner destroys much good.’

You are quite aware that it is much easier to wreck a car than to build one. A city takes decades to build but can be destroyed in a day. Yes, it doesn’t sound nice but this is the fact of life.

Another fact of life is that the consequence of one man’s sin often does affect the generations after him. You know, one man does something, he dies and is buried, yet his sons suffer the consequences. Very much like the saying that the fathers ate sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

‘Ah! This is totally unfair! Why is it so?’

Well, don’t worry about that. It is so, it is so. Don’t let’s spend our mental energy on what will not profit, let us invest it in looking for the solution. And by the way, don’t blame God (most people seem to love doing that whenever there in something they have no control over), if you must blame anybody, blame the fathers who ate the grapes.

Let me state this fact: There are spiritual laws and there is a spiritual realm. These spiritual things absolutely control every event on this earth. Space will not allow me show that to you, but please let no ignoramus who thinks he is wise tell you otherwise. There is more to life than meets the eye. In this life there are no accidents, happenstances or mere coincidences; every significant event had a spiritual antecedent. You better believe it.

I, writing this, have studied science to a level far beyond average. I understand in depth the scientific explanations of the causes of disease. Yet, I make bold to tell you that only a foolish scientist makes you think there are no spiritual things. Listen to me, the theory of evolution as opposed to creation was the idea of a thinker, not a researcher and he never really believed it. The science world only propagated it because it wanted to reject the only alternative –creation!

Do you have any idea what is waiting for you around the next corner?

Well, I’m not trying to judge you nor am I even trying to scare you. I have brought you good news!

Enter, the God of the universe!

He does not want any to perish or suffer but that they may enjoy good life. Jesus said I have come that you may have life and have it in an abundant measure.

God is saying ‘I can engineer things so that those negative things will never come to you. Oh yes, with your cooperation. I can wipe away all the things that are written against you. I can make your life new.’

‘Oh yes, you were a prostitute, but I can make life become for you like that of a virgin.’

‘Yes, you have been a thief; I can make an honest successful businessman out of you.’

‘I know your father sold you into bondage to one god which has made you an outcast, yet I can be a new father to you, bring you into liberty in my house and make your community look up to you.’

‘I am well aware that your reproductive organs were irreparably damaged because of that abortion in your sixteenth year of age, but please let me introduce myself to you: I am the God who makes barren women dwell in the house as joyful mothers of children.’

‘I am the Lord God of all flesh, there is nothing too difficult for me.’

This is God’s prescription: ‘If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord over your life and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved!’

This is God’s solution: The redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Oh, friends. That is God. Do you see what salvation is now?

‘So what happened to all my evil deeds?’ You may ask. ‘I thought you said that God will surely bring it all to judgement.’

You see, my friend, Jesus paid it all.

‘He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was laid upon him. Because of His wounds, we are healed.
‘The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’

That is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!

That is the meaning of the blood of Jesus!

That is God’s solution!

Do you now see what it means to be born again? It does not mean I now go to church. It means my old life has been forgiven, washed clean. I have started an entirely new life, this new life I do not live for or by myself but by faith in Jesus i.e. I follow His words and believe everything He says. It means I am now a child of God, related to Him through Jesus.

Do you see it?

If so, then it is time to make your commitment to Him. Pray with me:

‘Heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. Forgive me my sins, wash away my past.
‘I accept Jesus as my Lord, I believe He is alive.
‘I make a commitment today to follow your ways. Let old things be gone from my life, I will always love and obey Jesus.
‘Thank you for your love and sacrifice. Amen.

Now you now one of them, BORN AGAIN.

-Pastorbankie

Many other books by Pastor Bankie can be downloaded free as PDF from kwm.com.ng

This message is about righteous principles as it relates to democracy for the average citizen. It is particularly important for Nigerians at this time.

The elections are close in Nigeria, and so the campaign is on.
How should a Christian react?
Below a few points outlined to help.

1. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING (1 Tim 5:17).

Prayer is powerful; the Bible says that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16). People of God can make changes in government and in the society by their prayers. The problem is that the generally do not pay the proper attention to this ministry or they ruin the power in their prayers by grumblings, faithlessness, lack of patience, and other behaviours of children of God that ruin spiritual power.

Whether it is democracy or any other form of government, the fact remains that God still rules in the affairs of men, and He is still that one that ultimately determines who will rule. Our votes are just the method that He uses under the scheme of democracy. Space will not allow me now to give testimonies upon testimonies that illustrate this biblical principle. I remember one brother who came to see me once; he told of how he won an election when he was not at all well-known among the political powers or even properly funded. He followed the instructions given Him in a dream by the Lord. Later when he had become very well-known he sought another elective office, the same Lord told him in another dream that no matter what he does he wouldn’t win. At the end of the day, the votes were counted and he seemed to have won, then for certain reasons the elections were annulled. God just showed him that He was the one in power and not the masses by their votes or the men who seem to be in power.

We must approach prayer knowing that it is God who makes rulers. He appoints kings as it is written,

“So then, let all people everywhere know that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses — even to the least important of men.” Dan 4:17 TEV

So, in the time of elections, we pray for the Lord to choose the leaders that will do His will in the season. Pray that He will thwart the plans of the wicked ones who want to destabilize things for their own benefit. Pray that He will grant peace during the whole process.

It is important that you confess the sins of the land and ask Him for mercy. God will never appoint good leaders for a people that continue to walk in iniquity unless certain righteous ones therein specifically ask Him for mercy. Those that can thus ask for and receive His mercy are called the salt of the land. The salt must do its work of praying.

2. DO NOT CONDEMN OR CRITICIZE THE GOVERNMENT.

Condemning (wishing evil upon people) or criticizing the government are some of those habits of Christians that kill the power of their prayers and erode faith. Refusal to do these things does not mean you agree with or are pleased with everything the government is doing; it just means you are focused on God as the true source of blessing in your life and that you realize that the power still belongs to God even in the minute details. It also means you understand what you have been called to do as a child of God.

We are not called to criticize; we are called to pray.

“ You may not say evil of the judges, or put a curse on the ruler of your people” Ex 22:28 BBE

“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” 1 Tim 2:1-4 NASB

Everyone in life has his God-ordained assignment, and that of the Christian is to pray for the government. Criticizing the government is the job of the opposition party and the numerous critics that we have in the society (many of whom are not at all better than the people than are criticizing). If you have a wise counsel for someone in power, do what you can to send them a word if possible, otherwise specifically pray about the thing that you believe is wise to do; you will be amazed at what the Lord will do. Criticizing, raving, ranting, judging and such activities do not change things; they only create an atmosphere of chaos in the realm of the spirit. Let your anger and frustrations motivate you to pray.

3. IT IS LAWFUL TO CAMPAIGN

Sometimes because we say that God actually rules in the affairs of men, some think it is therefore wrong to participate in the political processes, but that is an extreme and wrong opinion. The sovereignty of God does not excuse us from working according to what is right within the context of the current form of administration in the society. We must continue to do our physical duties.
Spiritually, it is lawful for those involved in the political process to campaign for any candidate or party of their choice, even if it is the opposition party to the current government. That is different from just criticizing the government. If you are involved, be constructive in your campaign even as you point out where your party or candidate may be better than the opponent, even if they opponent is the current one in power. Christians are to set the example in civility.

3. PLAN TO VOTE

Again, the knowledge of the rulership of God among men in choosing who will rule doesn’t mean we should not vote. I have heard people say things like ‘I vote for God,‘ or for Jesus Christ. These divine persons do not have a ballot box or space on the voting sheet. You can only vote for God in prayer and in your personal life.
Voting is a civic duty, so please do it. Don’t worry about the possibility of rigging; if you do not vote God will find it rather tight to judge the riggers. Your vote is a spiritual indictment for the riggers; it will provoke the judgment of God on those who do so.

4. VOTE BASED ON RIGHTEOUS CONVICTIONS

As you plan to vote, remember that your vote is a statement concerning your morals, so be careful as you make your statements before God. He is watching you. Your vote is also a statement about what you really desire. Do not vote based on tribal sentiments and such thought processes; vote for the person who you believe is the best of the available candidates and who is closest to what you are praying for God to do in the society.

I remember a room-mate of mine while I was a university student. He came back one day raving about the extreme incompetence of one of the candidates for the just concluded elections into the leadership of the student body in his faculty (he was a law student). He spent quite some time describing how the fellow in question was not fit for the office he vied for and how occupying the office would bring no good to the association. He really tore the fellow to shreds (apparently the fellow won the election, I think as president of the association). Then he concluded the tirade by informing us his roommates that he voted for the fellow.
Shock, shock!
“Why would you do such a thing? You just described how unfit the chap is for the office!”
His answer was, “because he is my brother.” (‘Brother’ here meant they share the same geographical area of origin.)
What??!!
I was flummoxed, but thinking about it now helps me to understand why God doesn’t often find it fit to appoint for us good leaders. God cannot appoint good leaders for us if we continue to tell Him that we are not concerned about it. That fellow just said to the Lord by his vote that, “I am OK with an incompetent leader as long as he is from my village.” That is the real prayer of people like him; the words they use when they pray are negated by their voting pattern. These are some of the things we do as Christians that kill the power of our prayers. It is called double-mindedness.

“For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:7-8 NASB

Remember, the way you vote is making a spiritual statement, therefore consider your ways.

5. WHAT IF HE LOSES?

Please note that no matter how prophetic, holy and righteous you are in your choices and votes during the elections; the candidates you voted for may end up losing. God may choose some other persons apart from the ones you want, and you may not know the reasons He did that. Remember that your vote is a statement while the Lord is the chooser of who wins. You just make the right statement and keep moving. No matter the outcome, be thankful in everything.

6. LAST POINT IS - DO NOT STOP PRAYING

Prayer is the main weapon we have, and it is potent. Continue to prophesy good upon the land. Speak positive words. Rebuke the spirit of chaos, violence and such negative things. Continually wage war in the realm of the spirit with your words.

It is well with this country, in Jesus’ name.

-Pastorbankie
http://pastorbankie.org/

I have written many times about the will of God (including books on the subject*), and I have preached dozens of sermons on the subject, but today I feel impressed upon to emphasize something again about the will of God.

Most Christians view the will of God as a decision at a critical moment. They ask questions like “which course should I study in the university,” “who do I marry,” which offer of employment should I accept,” etc. To most of us the will of God is the choice of God in these situations. Well, that is only a small part of the truth. Of course, it is very true that God a specific choice in these matters which He desires each person to follow, however when the bible talks about the will of God, it is not first about specific choices when we are faced with important decisions.

The will of God is actually a thinking process and the order of our lives. The most important way I can describe the will of God at this point is that it is our life. It is a process of living. The will of God is actually something you are supposed to understand.

“So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Eph 5:17 NASB

The will of God is the way I think. The will of God is more of the way I make choices than it is the choices I made. This is why Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about the will of God. Note that he said this is.

“For this is the will of God, that you should be consecrated (separated and set apart for pure and holy living): that you should abstain and shrink from all sexual vice,
“That each one of you should know how to possess (control, manage) his own body in consecration (purity, separated from things profane) and honor,
“Not [to be used] in the passion of lust like the heathen, who are ignorant of the true God and have no knowledge of His will,
“That no man transgress and overreach his brother and defraud him in this matter or defraud his brother in business.” 1 Thess 4:3-6 AMP

Notice that the will of God is just one thing – consecration (or sanctification, according to other versions of the Bible). The will of God for the Christian is to be separated from the world into a life of purity and holiness. There is no other will of God for your life apart from these things really. If you do this will of God, every other thing that you will need to obey as the plan of God in your life will come to you easily. You will be guided into them without much effort on your part.

Many times Christians spend time trying to hear God so as to know His will. They learn how to go on long fasts so that God may reveal His will to them, but actually the will of God is not like that. Please don’t get me wrong; I am not saying there is no part for seeking the face of God in alone-ness and prayer, but I am saying that when we want to know the will of God, we are not to start with specific decisions but to seek to learn the life of consecration in that aspect of life.

Consecration (or sanctification) is the thing called the will of God.

Let me explain practically. If a man comes to me and asks, “What is the will of God concerning marriage for me?” I will tell him simply, “shun pre-marital sex.” It may be just that simple. The will of God is not “should I marry Angela or Mary?” No, No, No! The will of God about your marriage is much simpler than that! It simply is that you do not desire to go to bed with either Angela or Mary or any other person until you have married them. It implies you understand why anyone should marry at all. Instead of trying to make the decision on who to marry, use your prayer and fasting to kill the lusts in your flesh and understand why you should marry. Get the mind of God concerning what marriage is supposed to be and remove the idea dictated by human traditions from your mind. Remember, the will of God is sanctification, simple.

Please let me talk more about this sanctification or consecration matter still using marriage as our example. Sanctification starts from your thought processes. That is why we are told in Rom 12 not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed through the renewing of our minds. Our minds refer to our value system, the importance we put to things and the way things affect us. These are the things that determine what we do in life. A sanctified Christian thinks differently; he or she doesn’t hold on to the value systems of the world. Money, to him, is not what it is to the world. She understands that marriage is not for the rich or settled man. She doesn’t judge whether a man is ready to marry primarily by what material possessions he has acquired. Marriage to her is not a way out of poverty but a matter of a phase of life and a way of better fulfilling the plan of God for her life. The sanctified man sees marriage differently from the men of the world. He is willing to become one flesh with a woman. ‘He (or she) is not from my village or race or ethnic group’ is totally out of their minds; a true Christian understands that we are all one body in Christ Jesus, and that in Him there is no white or black, Ibo or Hausa, rich or poor. People who think like this are consecrated or sanctified and are already in the will of God concerning marriage. Marrying the right person will come to them extremely easily.

I told a humorous story in my book ‘Should I Say Yes?’ A brother asked me whether God said anything to me about the wife I should marry. I replied in the affirmative. When he asked how, I told him that the officiating minister said ‘I pronounce you man and wife.’ I told him that was the voice of God as far as I was concerned. Did I marry the right person? I trust God I did. It was not whether I heard voices or had visions that mattered; it was the kind of heart and the kind of life I had before I married that determines that. In that book I titled the chapter ‘I married the girl I liked.’ I solved all the conflicts in my heart with the word of God. I was careful not to conspire against the Lord in my thoughts and in my words. I just wanted to please God in my ideas. Read the book and that chapter and you will discover the points I deciphered from the word of God concerning what my wife should be. In that book, I sought to describe to people what marriage is supposed to be. Once you sanctify your heart and your flesh as I described in that book, I make bold to say to you that you CANNOT miss the plan of God for the right mate.

A lot of people are not walking in the will of God, as I have already explained, but they want to marry the right person. Very funny indeed. Such people will end up deceived, and there is nothing they can do about it. A man is sleeping with some women in the church and is praying that God should show him the right woman to marry. This is an insult to the Almighty God. He is already walking outside the will of God and the prayer is a plain contradiction. God will give him supernatural directions to the woman that will ruin his life. You cannot use visions to reap what you did not sow. You cannot sow to the flesh by your lifestyle and wrong beliefs which oppose divine truth, and expect to reap from the spirit a good spouse. No way! Any spouse you will get is the fruit of the seeds you sowed; visions from God don’t overturn that principle.

Some think that you discover the will of God in visions and dreams or by prophetic utterances. Well, that is just deception manifesting. The fact that you see a vision or dreamt a dream doesn’t mean you have discovered the will of God. Dreams do not at all prove you are in the will of God when you obey them. I must emphasize that the fact that God told you by a supernatural means what to do is not what makes the thing the will of God. God can give you a vision or lead you by a dream and you are still out of His will. The reason is that the will of God is a lifestyle, not a decision. The vision or dream only helps you to decide according to what you have made your life before that time.

Let us look at Israel at a particular point in their history as an example. Saul was directly chosen by God for Israel as king through the credible prophet Samuel. There is no doubt that it was God who made the choice for them; but what were the circumstances around the choice? Let us see.

“And the Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day — in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods — so they are doing to you also.” 1 Sam 8:7-9 NASB

They were in status quo God-rejected. Ha! The people were walking in the rejection of God and His counsel for their lives, so what God gave them was the fruit of their rejection. It seemed like the will of God because it was by visions and revelations; but it was not. Let me emphasize it again: the prophetic words and the visions of God in the choice of Saul as king for Israel was the fruit of rejecting God; it was not a sign of spirituality in the nation. It was the best plan the Lord could come up with for people who had rejected Him. Don’t be carried away by visions; they don’t necessarily tell you if you are the will of God.

What would have been the will of God for Israel? They should have come to Samuel to learn how to react to the situations they were in. They should have asked him to inquire of the Lord for His precepts and plan for them at that time. That would have been a sign that they still accepted God as their ruler. That would have been the will of God – God remaining their ruler.

As I have just explained, many genuine dreams and visions from God do not reflect His perfect plan. The truth is that His perfect plan can only be discovered while we are in His will. With this uncertainty even with genuine dreams and visions, there is an added complication derived from the fact that most visions and dreams that people have are not even of God; they are products of a combination of a multitude of thoughts, desires, idleness, hunger (Is 29:, overfeeding, etc, and even the influence of Satan on human spirits. In summary we should not even look towards dreams and visions; we should simply reach for the true will of God.

“For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God.”Eccl 5:7 NASB

Oftentimes Christians think they miss the plan of God because they have not learnt how to listen to their spirits. They want to tune their spiritual ears to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. That is nothing but a misapplication of what is true. The primary voice of your spirit, or inward witness, like we often call it, that a Christian has is that which speaks from imbibed truth. It is not a special communication from heaven. The way to train your spirit is by purging your heart of all forms of defilement; this purging is done with the water of the word of God (Eph 5:26) and repentance from dead works. Hearts thus purged speak up with truth to guide us in choice making. Remember that one of the primary duties of the Holy Spirit is to remind you of truth that you had heard (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit helps us to understand the word of God.

Many people who are seeking the will of God about their careers and choice of location have also misunderstood what the will of God is. Many who are asking for God’s will in making a choice in these things have not yet sanctified their hearts concerning money and life. Contrary to the words of the Lord Jesus in Luke 12:15, they still think that a man’s life consists in the abundance of things that he possesses. They are seeking God’s will concerning how to have enough. They do not yet understand that a career choice isn’t about making money but about demonstrating faithfulness and righteousness, and fulfilling the reason why we were born. Many are still afraid of tomorrow and so are trying to make a choice that would supposedly secure their futures. Their whole thought processes do not understand God as El-Shaddai and His hold over tomorrow. Indeed they have not yet discovered the will of God.

Remember that the will of God is sanctification. Your ideas about money and life must be renewed and sanctified; that is the will of God concerning your career. The will of God is that your thoughts are sanctified; I am not saying you will discover the will of God when your thoughts and ideas are sanctified; I am saying to you that sanctification is the very will of God. Once you have sanctified your thoughts and beliefs; then you are walking in the will of God and the plan of God will form itself in your life without much effort on your part.

I recollect the young man who used to listen to me on radio as I would teach “The Way of Success.” One of those days he heard me teach that blessings in life are spiritual, and that God commands the blessings from above. He realized by those words that his life was not limited by his circumstances. He suddenly understood that promotion is indeed from above. He said to me in many words that he went into his closet and began to invoke the blessing of God from above. Shortly after this, his uncle called him and asked him what he wanted to do. The young man was undecided as he did not have enough information about life and the possibilities. Then the uncle offered him a scholarship to become a pilot, and paid for him to go to a school in North America. This was beyond what he had imagined. See, the will of God was when he sanctified his thoughts concerning the source of blessings. The result was that he walked into the plan of God for promotion for him.

So you see, the will of God for Joseph was not the throne in Egypt even though that was revealed with time as His plan. The will of God for Joseph was sanctification, that he abstained from sexual lusts and reject the advances of Mrs Portiphar. The will of God can be learnt and discerned. It is recorded in the scriptures and is more general than we realize. What I often refer to as the specific will of God is more like the plan of God for each person’s life and it is rather automatic. It is not possible to get outside of God’s plan unless you are first outside His will. The will is a spiritual state of your heart. God doesn’t expect us to beat our heads hard trying to discover His plan; He will reveal the plans to us when the time comes. It is His duty to reveal the plan to us. Most times He doesn’t actually reveal them; we just find ourselves walking in the plans. Joseph did not have the opportunity to choose the direction of his life at any time more than when he had to make the choice to walk in sanctification. Every other thing that happened to him was imposed upon him. He never chose Egypt or the house of Portiphar. Sale into slavery took him to those places. He also never chose to become a ruler in Egypt. God lifted him in the due season. Do not worry yourself at all about knowing the plan of God; He will let you know it if it is necessary to have the knowledge ahead of the time of fulfilment. Just sanctify your heart as the will of God for you all the time.

As a minister of the gospel, many times people have to decide the kind of ministry to pursue. My experience is that most people miss it when they are not sanctified in their motives, their love for the word of God and their understanding of righteousness. Many are still trying to do what they call the work of God and the whole thing is based upon a wrong premise of the pathway of righteousness. They are trying to gain God’s approval and attain to righteousness by working for Him. Please read my book ‘How to Word for God’ and learn details about this. Many people have started churches so they can collect tithes and offerings. Many of them claim it is the work of God they need the money for; they claim by having a base that brings in tithes and offerings they can now reach the whole world out there with the gospel. Again my experience is that such people never do. They end up being bugged down with church administration, planting of branches and maintaining the loyalty of workers and members (eventually they become Bishops); they never go into the world as they planned. They miss the plan of God because their hearts were wrong. You cannot start a church for the money it will bring it, no matter how noble your intention for spending the money may be. Every preacher needs to follow the example of Paul as written below and do only what can be declared openly as their intentions.

“But (we) have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Cor 4:2 KJV

You know, years ago I heard the report of two senior brethren in the faith, Derek Prince and Lester Sumrall, both of them preachers, and they independently reported that they had not been out of the will of God in decades, not even for once. When I heard it I marvelled, but later I realized that it was not superfluous at all. I realized that once we realize what the will of God actually is, walking in His plan all of the times is not as hard as it seems. This is because He will do the leading.

“He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.” Ps 23:3

How many people today are walking out of the will of God and then asking to know God’s will for their lives. We are not allowed to do that; we are only allowed to seek that spiritual state called the will of God, strive to enter therein, and the plan or specific will of God will easily unfold as we live every day before Him.



*What Is God’s Will Here? and many other books by Pastor Bankie can be downloaded free as PDF from kwm.com.ng

-Pastorbankie

In recent months in Nigeria, there have been these videos going around in which some women supposedly went to hell after dying, on a kind of guided tour of the place, and I guess also of heaven. After some time they were revived and they reported their encounters. Their report has had a lot of people scared and many are changing their ways.

Now, I believe there is a hell and also a lake of fire of eternal damnation (I am not at this time making a distinction between the two); God prepared this place(s) for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41). From the context of the passage in Matthew’s gospel, we know that God not only sends the devil and demons there but also anyone who rejects His will in his or her lives. For this reason it is necessary to fear lest one finds himself or herself thrust into such a place. It has to be a fearful place. Whether the fire is literal or figurative is secondary to the fact that it is an established place of torment, and it is to be feared.

Some have argued that a good God will never send people to hell; that argument is very faulty since we know that a good judge on the earth has to send criminals to prison. The question is whether people deserve it or not, not at all about the goodness of God. For what the devil and both his spiritual and human follows have done, they will be sent to hell, and it is right. The goodness of God does not mean He should shy away from applying punishment when necessary; He must still do that which is right and just. His goodness only means He shows a righteous form of compassion.

Compassion is what makes God warn people about these things and to provide the remedy so that all who desire it may be delivered from the judgment to come.

“And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.” 2 Chron 36:15-17 NASB*

God will send you to hell if you qualify; He won’t feel good about it but, trust me, He will do it.

Having established the above I wish to comment on the videos making the rounds and the response of people to them. I have not seen any of the videos (I don’t even know how many they are), I am therefore only commenting on what I hear people say about them, and what changes I have heard people make as a result of watching the video.

I wish these videos had been generating the true fear of God in people, but unfortunately they have not. All I have seen is confusion created in the lives of many.

I heard it said that one of the hell visitors also went to heaven and in heaven found very few women; when she wondered why, she was told that it was because of the make-up (cosmetics) most women apply to their faces, the wearing of jewellery, together with the use of artificial additions to their hair (attachments, weave-on’s) and such things. For this reason many women, upon watching these videos, have discarded the use of all these things so they can ‘make’ heaven. My wife told me of a woman she knows, who when she saw recently was hard to recognize for her. The young woman had transformed and now went without any adornment of any sort. Her clothes had increased markedly in length. All her adornments, jewellery and all, had been set on fire, all so as to make heaven. I also heard of a woman who burnt her entire set of hair dressing equipment (she was hitherto a hair-dresser) so as to avoid hell fire.

A number of people have come to me to ask questions as a result of seeing both the videos themselves and the effect in the lives of people as narrated above. As a matter of fact, I initially didn’t feel this thing was worthy of my comments, but since people keep asking I decided to give a simple answer from the Bible.

THE BASIS OF DOCTRINE IS THE WRITTEN WORD

First of all let me say this: Doctrines are never to be built on personal experiences. No matter the vision or the person, doctrine must be built on the word of God. Paul said ‘all scripture… is profitable for doctrine’ (2 Tim 3:16). The following verses of Paul are also instructions to bear in mind.

“But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” Gal 1:8-9

“Don't be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don't believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us.” 2 Thess 2:2-3 NLT

Visions can only confirm what is written in the word of God. Anyone may have a vision, but it must align with the written word of God for us to even consider acting upon it. At least, it should not disagree with the word of God. I don’t care who the people are; in fact the Lord Jesus told us that it is not really necessary to send messengers from heaven or hell to people on the earth because there are enough preachers and scriptures around to help people believe if they are willing to believe (Luk 16:31). What I hear of these recent accounts of visits to hell disagree with the word of God.

WHEN JUDGING, GOD LOOKS HERE

Next I wish to show how God judges people.

Whenever God wants to judge, He looks at the heart.

“…for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Sam 16:7-8

“But I, God, search the heart, and examine the mind.

“I get to the heart of the human.

“I get to the root of things.

“I treat them as they really are,

“not as they pretend to be.” Jer 17:10 THE MESSAGE

If anyone tells you that God judges and sends people to hell because of their clothes, jewellery and make-up, then the fellow is not talking about the God of the Bible, the Father of our Lord Jesus. Listen, God will NEVER send any person, man or woman, to hell because of their outward appearance. God judges people for having a heart of disobedience toward Him and for the heart of wickedness in relating with their fellow human beings.

You will not find even one place in the whole Bible, especially in the words of Jesus, where people were sent into damnation because of what they wore or the jewellery they used. Anointing of faces (creams and make-up) is not a new thing; it was practiced in the days of Jesus, Paul and Peter and they NEVER said it is a reason why God sends anyone into damnation. When Peter spoke in 1 Pet 3, he was saying true Christian beauty is not about external appearance but the inward quality of a godly heart; it was not a ban on dressing of hair.

Christians are supposed to dress decently and modestly. We are to look good but not ‘sexy’ or expose parts of our body so as to seduce people (some parts of the body are called private for good reasons). The Bible talked about the attire of a harlot (Prov 7:10) and a good Christian woman will avoid such. Once you don’t have ‘sexy’ in your heart, trying to show us your body or vainly displaying your wealth, then augmenting your face, using jewellery are not at all against modest dressing (Ez 16:10-14). The virtuous woman was described as being very well dressed (Prov 31:22). Again let me state – the most important dressing for a woman, and anyone for that matter, is a fine character (Prov 31:30). I am emphasizing however that it is not against the will of God for a woman to be adorned externally. Decency and modesty are the watch words of Christians. God never said women should not wear jewellery and therefore will not send them to hell for it. Whoever said God told her He sent people to hell for wearing weave-on or jewellery saw a God that is not the one of the Bible.

What many people now practice is a form of self-righteousness; they are trying to get a feeling of righteousness by punishing themselves in a manner not commanded by the Lord. But Paul warns thus:

“Don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial… saying they have had visions about these things.” Col 2:18 NLT

Before getting to the real substance, let us briefly see things that are stated clearly as reasons God may send someone into eternal damnation.

"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Rev 21:8

Please notice that no one was put in there for the kind of clothes and jewellery they wore or the kind of hairstyles they had. The sins are sins of the heart which manifests in evil deeds. I noticed that those people who are claiming they went to hell did not identify these kinds of people listed in the verse above there but were seeing mundane things like clothing and cosmetics. Recollect the young lady my wife told me about which I mentioned earlier; I told my wife to tell her that it is okay to change her looks the way she did (it’s a free world, isn’t it?), but that she should realize that she will go to hell faster if she harbours any evil thoughts about anyone, borrows without repaying, is envious of anyone or goes to bed with a man she is not married to. Those are the ‘weightier matters of the law!’



THE BIG DEAL

Now let us get down to the main thing in all these.

The most important reason anyone will be cast into eternal damnation is simply because his or her name is not found in the lamb’s book of life.

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Rev 20:18

This is the safety that we have in life – to be in Christ Jesus. That is how your name will get written in the book of life. God will NEVER send into eternal damnation anyone whose name is found in the book of life. All true Christians have their names in the lamb’s book of life and so no true Christian, none, is going to hell or will be cast into the lake of fire.

“HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM IS NOT JUDGED; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.” John 3:18-20

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and DOES NOT COME INTO JUDGMENT, but has passed out of death into life.” John 5:24

Faith in Jesus and attachment to Him (Jn 8:31) is what gets your name written into the Lamb’s book of life. Once you are a true disciple of Jesus, weave-on or no weave-on, your name is written is God’s book of life.

Faith in Jesus is the security. All the deeds of those who do not believe are only reflections of the fact that they do not believe. The real thing that God judges is refusal to accept His forgiveness.

Truly, forgiveness is in the name of Jesus and not in our own works. By our own labour we cannot please God or walk above sin. That is why God brought forgiveness in His blood.

“…the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Col 1:12-14 NKJV

God, in Christ, is the one keeping us, and will never let us go into eternal damnation once we hold on to the faith that we have in Him.

CAN A CHRISTIAN EVER GO INTO ETERNAL DAMNATION?

Can a Christian ever lose his salvation and be cast into the lake of fire?

That a Christian’s name can be erased from the book of life is clear from the following verse.

“He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I WILL NOT ERASE HIS NAME FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.” Rev 3:5

This implies that the possibility exists. Also see this!

“Some people once had God's light. They experienced the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit. They experienced the goodness of God's word and the powers of the world to come. Yet, THEY HAVE DESERTED CHRIST. They are crucifying the Son of God again and publicly disgracing him. Therefore, they cannot be led a second time to God.” Heb 6:4-6 GOD'S WORD Translation.

“For how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again? They were once in God's light; they tasted heaven's gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit; they knew from experience that God's word is good, and they had felt the powers of the coming age. And THEN THEY ABANDONED THEIR FAITH!...” Heb 6:4-6 TEV

So we see clearly that it is possible for a Christian to walk away from his or her faith. That is what is called apostasy – a Christian who denies the Lordship of Jesus and begins to walk in sin as if he never knew the Lord Jesus. That person loses his safety in Christ and yes, that kind of person will go into eternal damnation. Otherwise, a true Christian is not going to hell!

We are not going to heaven because of our own works but because of the work of Jesus which we receive by faith. Our lives of righteousness are just manifestations of true faith.

What if a Christian sins one way or the other but hasn’t denied the faith or the Lord Jesus?

If a Christian sins but has the faith of Jesus still in his or her heart, such a person should confess his sin and forgiveness is guaranteed.

“But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light… the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:7-9

A single act of sin is not what God uses to send people to hell, but a life that is basically one of disobedience. If God sends people to hell because of every little thing that is done wrong, then NOBODY, apart from the Lord Jesus, will ever get to heaven.

“If you kept a record of our sins, who could escape being condemned? But you forgive us, so that we should stand in awe of you.” Ps 130:3-4 TEV

This is not to say a Christian should make sinning a habit because God forgives. Anyone who is like that, who thinks that because God forgives he or she can go on sinning, such a one is NOT a true Christian. Such a person is condemned already!

“What shall we say, then? Should we continue to live in sin so that God's grace will increase? Certainly not! We have died to sin — how then can we go on living in it?” Rom 6:1-3 TEV

A true Christian does not enjoy sin; it is a problem to him. He hates doing it and may only fall into temptation. Falling into temptation is not the same as being a sinner. A sinner has sin as a habit because deep inside his or her heart there is no love for Christ. He may be born with good behaviour but basically in his heart Christ is absent. A Christian on the other hand loves God and is always trying to live a life of righteousness before God.

WHO IS A TRUE CHRISTIAN?

The fact today is that many who call themselves Christians are not so in reality. Christianity has become a social identity. Going to church is a popular thing these days in most parts of Africa, and for this reason many go. Many come to church for all kinds of needs in their lives to be met – they want husbands, children, prosperity, etc. – and they never really gave their lives to Christ. Interestingly, many of them are serious church members and may even become leaders. God may help them but He doesn’t own them.

It is possible to be in church or working in ministry and not be a true Christian. If we take the followers of Jesus in the days of His flesh as Christians (without splitting hairs over whether there were Christian before His death and resurrection); then we can confidently say Judas was never a Christian. He was one of the close associates – one of the twelve, used to also go out to preach and must have been involved in the working of miracles. Yet he was never a Christian in the sense of how the others were. I know because Jesus said as much.

“Jesus answered them, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot…” John 6:70-71

The Lord also warned about false Christians and disciples.

"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Matt 7:22-23

Please notice that they couldn’t have been attempting to lie to Him on that day when they claimed to have done things in His name. They actually thought that they were safe because they were doing some work for God, but it is clear that being in ministry doesn’t even make someone a Christian—the Lord never knew them.

So, who is a true Christian?

A true Christian is not one who was born into a Christian or good family. A Christian is not a man who obeys laws, even the laws of Moses given by God. No! A Christian is one who has deliberately given his or life to Christ. It is someone who has repented of his former life and has said to Jesus, “take my life and work in it.” He is one who heard the gospel preached, believed it intelligently and made a personal commitment to faith in Jesus. Being baptized as a child or being dedicated in church as a child does not make you a Christian; it may only prove that your parents were Christians when you were born. That is all!

The life of a true Christian is characterised by love for the word of God. A true believer wants his or her life to conform to the word of God.

“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 NLT

A true Christian is not trying to get from God or following Him for the miracles promised. Rather a true Christian is one who follows God because he or she wants to become like Christ. The true Christian is following after righteousness.

A true believer in Christ is the one who the blood of Jesus has washed, and continues to wash. His righteousness is by faith, and is a gift of God.

Are you are true Christian? Have you indeed made a commitment to live every day for Jesus and not yourself?

If your answer is ‘Yes,’ then believe me; you will NOT go to hell. You can’t because you do not belong there.

Make-up, trousers, hair attachment, jewellery, and such things do not send anybody to hell; disregard any vision or dream that says otherwise since such cannot be of God!

-Pastorbankie
http://pastorbankie.org/

And I still wonder why people never refer their great players to CR7 but MESSI...

Peter Obi

GlorifiedTunde:




QUESTION 1:

ACPN - 5 marks
ANN - 3 marks
APC - 7 marks
PDP - 6 marks
YPP - 5 marks

QUESTION 2:

YPP - 4
PDP - 6
APC - 8
ANN - 4
ACPN - 5


QUESTION 3:

ACPN - 5
ANN - 3
APC - 7
PDP - 6
YPP - 4


QUESTION 4:

YPP - 5
PDP - 7
APC - 7
ANN - 2
ACPN - 3


QUESTION 5:

PDP - 7
APC - 8
ANN - 4
ACPN - 2
YPP - 5


QUESTION 6:

APC - 8
ANN - 3
ACPN - 3
YPP - 5
PDP - 7


QUESTION 7:

ANN - 2
ACPN - 3
YPP - 3
PDP - 5
APC - 7


QUESTION 8:

ANN - 2
ACPN - 3
YPP - 4
PDP - 4
APC - 7



FINAL STATEMENT:

ACPN - 4
ANN - 5
APC - 7
PDP - 7
YPP - 8

Stop deceiving your self bro.. We know where you belong.

nonsobaba:
Honestly, Peter Obi's mental health is suspect. When the moderator asked him how he would manage any conflict that may arise between him and his boss if he is voted into office, he boasted that will never happen as he never quarrelled with anyone when he was in government. This is a man that fought and demonized his predecessor bitterly throughout his tenure and is now fighting with his successor for 4 years and counting.

It shows the hatred clearly... You opinion doesn't matter ok.

Stalwert:
Obi said The National Bureau of Statistics revealed that as at the third quarter of 2017, Nigeria had about 2M motor vehicles in the country, But the Bureau said 11,547,236 why doesn’t he use real facts? #2019DEBATE #2019Election

We know where you belong ok..

dokie:


The bolded is the issue.

Having absolute boycott of elections or any other form of civil disobedience is totally impossible under the present circumstance. At least 50% of igbos living within and outside the south east will not engage in civil disobedience. Why? Because some of them do not want to secede and the others do not believe that the process will yield any result in the crude Nigerian system of today where the government does not give a damn if it's citizens live or die for as long as they keep their positions and the oil money is flowing. And if Civil disobedience is not consistently absolute it cannot achieve its purpose.

Nnamdi Kanu is jumping the gun. He seems to have forgotten that the Biafra struggle started before he was born and does not necessarily need to be actualized in his lifetime. If he did, he would have realized that one needs to be more strategic in approach, take it the extent he can, and another person takes it from there.

The initial steps NK took to garner support and large followership was great and should have been consolidated upon for the next ideal level which was to take over south east political leadership. And don't say votes don't count it's not true. IPOB has the capacity to win 80% of the electoral seats in igboland. You cannot be rigged out in a place where you have overwhelming support, it cannot happen. But unfortunately he went to declare election boycott which was a penalty to throwing kinda thing.

If he had done that, IPOB would have had political power in 2019, and further consolidated in 2023. I don't want to go further than this regarding further steps after getting the power but know that holding the political power of the south east has limitless possibilities for the Biafran struggle. Ojukwu was able to declare Biafra simply because he was in control of the government of the eastern region.

A good example of what power can do is Catalonia where most if not the entire political class are in support of the secession. See the impact they are making. Theirs is a question of time, while ours is a question of how (under the present circumstance). .

Now, that opportunity has been lost and elections will hold and the boycott will not achieve anything because most igbos with pvc will vote, especially with the Peter Obi factor, and the hatred for Buhari.

In a nutshell 'absolute' boycott cannot be achieved. what could have been achieved (and can still be achieved but in the next election season), is a major participation to enthrone IPOB members in the seat of power, and continue the struggle from that point.

God bless you my brother. It's exactly my point.

Nnamdi kanu mismanaged his FAME and victim mentality will never get us anywhere. We need to face the reality and use what we have to our advantage.

With a selfless political leader (which NK is) and our PVC...

Do you know that we (Igbos) can determine who govern Lagos and most states in Nigeria with our bloc votes?

Election boycott won't get us anywhere but participation and a political agenda will.

RIP

Very funny...

Your son is good to go but his inlaw is not....

condralbedez:
My fellow N/lander which small scale bussines can someone start with 400k to 500k,that will grow within two to three years,please i urgently need your candid opinions,i intend to set this up within ajah axis lagos .T hanks and God bless.

It depends on your location, your interest and people NEEDS.

crazysaint:
Happy Sunday to you all..

So let know your favorite pastor/tele evangelist.. excluding your pastor.


Me:
Late Billy Graham

Archbishop Duncan Williams

Joel Osteen

TD Jakes

Christ Oyakhilome

Abel Damina

W.F.Kumuyi

Pastor Bankie
Enugu, Nigeria

VACANCY!!! VACANCY!!! VACANCY!!!
Female office assistant needed urgently at Nigerian Army Shopping Arena.
Qualifications: SSCE Minimum
Note; Applicants should be single, Intelligent, diligent, fast at learning and reside within Oshodi as this will be an added advantage.
Interested persons can submit their CV to debbychioma02@gmail.com and will be contacted.

I don't know the writer,but I found this apt and sensible, though, I have some reservations about the use of semantics and derogatory terms.
I, like many other Igbos have stood on the side lines for far too long, wishing this Biafran breeze fizzles away, but it’s now dangerously turning into a major storm that constitutes an existential threat to Igbo civilization as we know it. Those of you IPOBians, Sympathizers, Rumour Mongers, Facebook Warriors, Facebook megastars, Opinion Leaders and Propagandists escalating the already tense situation must understand that in the end, you'll all be losers, victims and at the same time in more bondage than you ever were. Not my wish anyway, but the perceptible reality. No war ever got won by emotions. Preparation and strategy does, ask any battle-tested soldier. Even the best of them get eaten. Little by little you guys are doing everything possible to attract avoidable conflict to our region hoping that the international community will intervene. You'll be in for a shocker when this meal you've cooked for so long is served up.
Understand this, I have monitored many revolutionary conflicts around the world and know this for a fact, the international community foot-drags at less than a snail pace, if at all, before attempting any interventions in internal conflicts in a sovereign nation and that includes America and Israel you're hoping on. War is a huge liability and no Country wants to meddle. The best they give these days are reliefs not military aids and that is after many must have died including those who started the fire. I watched it happen to Libyans, Yemenis, Syrians and till now they still don't have peace. Besides, you’d be stupid to believe that those countries, if ever there is any, promising to support Nnamdi Kanu are really in for it. Some of them want to use him to initiate conflict and sell their weapons to both sides and make blood dollars. War is an all-comers affair and all kinds of demonically vicious players come to the slimy field to play the hellish game of blood and death. In this case, Boko Haram that has largely been caged by the army will break free to roam with ambitions to finally establish their Caliphate across Nigeria, all because the Army now fighting on two fronts can no longer concentrate on them having become too stretched. Guess what, they’ll come with ISIS on their back. Nigerian Army will be fighting to keep Nigeria together on one front, Boko Haram (ISIS Nigerian Branch) with Caliphatist ambition on the other and Biafra with secessionist ambition on yet another front. That was how Syria got so complex till date and any war in Nigeria today will have a similar picture. Whoever gets overwhelmed will face the other. It will be a long and difficult journey and unlike the first civil war without Boko Haram in the equation, no one can predict the tortuous end. Other Jihadists from across Africa and Middle-East will join in as they always do wherever there’s instability to advance their different brands of Islam. In the end you’ll leave Nigeria and discover you’re fighting other strangers you don’t even know how they came into the picture.
The big boys (international players) like Iran will be there to get there pound of flesh from Nigeria in revenge for the Shiites, Saudi will be there to defend Nigeria, and all will play. Weapons merchants will the start smiling to the banks. Guess where the theatre of war would be, Igboland. We must not allow this! Libyans thought they were fighting Ghaddafi but after Ghaddafi, they discovered other strangers fighting them to establish their different brands of Islam. Same thing in Syria. The words of Saif Al Islam Ghaddafi (Ghaddafi’s first son) keeps ringing in my ears as he forewarned Libyans of these grim possibilities, but okuko nti ike nánu ife n’ite ofe. I never took him seriously at the time but in retrospect, I now see he knew better because it panned out just as he predicted and Libya still isn’t out of the woods. That’s the way it is these days of jihad consciousness across the world. If you ever experience war, you'll never take peace for granted. War is not a movie as some of you think. You could be the first victim. Can you stomach watching your loved ones maimed, killed, raped, tortured, starve to death under slow and painful circumstances? Those are the grim realities of war and in Africa, it is executed with luciferous savagery and psychopathic sadism. The worst of peace is still better than the best of wars.
Funny enough, most of our chest-beating IPOBians will likely die off within the first month or two of the conflict leaving those who knew nothing or are on the sidelines to defend themselves. There will be nowhere to run to as no country in West Africa will agree to accept the ocean-sized volume of refugees. When the Rwandan genocide was looming, everyone was running his mouth until the death hurricane they courted so hard swept across their country, they wailed and shouted for international community to intervene but none came. That's the way it is. Paul Kagame, their current President it was who ended it. And they vowed to “never again”. They learnt from history and have completely removed tribalism from every facet of national life and are admirably making astounding progress as one of Africa's best. My advice, agreed, Buhari hasn't treated us as well as we wanted, but wait till 2019 and make amends. I have listened to Nnamdi Kanu on several videos and my conclusion is that he is plain naive on how things roll in a conflict situation. On one occasion he bragged that it would take him only two weeks to reach Sokoto in the event of war. I don't know what weapons and extra-terrestrial strategies he has to execute that. War is an unpredictable undertaking that you'll be ignorant to estimate which direction it goes. As it is, he has no weapons just yet and is bragging. Many of you believe him and even ascribe infallibility to his words. I have lived a couple of years abroad and what some of you don't know is that many of our people there egging you on don't have immigration papers and are praying for an outbreak of hostilities in Nigeria so they can claim asylum on the back of it. We must advise ourselves on this current path of self-annihilation. Some of you think Biafra will be the end of all your problems, so South Sudan thought, as did Eritrea, but sorry it will be the beginning of new ones. Now take this to the Bank, it will even be far more difficult for any country to touch any conflict here with a long spoon than it was in the sixties. Reason? Then there was the prospect of oil but today oil is out of fashion and even as it is, Nigeria is begging for buyers and nobody's buying. Osinbajo said that much a few days back. Now, tell me, if they spend their money intervening in your conflict to save your asses, what will they get in return? The best they can do for you is to condemn what is going on, then more out-pouring of condemnations and then more unleashing of floodgates of condemnations, but NO ACTION while you die in numbers.
You often argue that a call for referendum is not a call for war. I agree completely! Very true! Referendum is a right not a privilege. Even Buhari asserted that much in favour of Palestine when he addressed the UN. However, it is plain naivety to assume that all that is enshrined in international law is enforceable. UN has no mechanism of enforcement. Countries and Dictators constantly flout it and nothing happens. Even if something were to happen you’ll all have decomposed in your graves by then. A show of bravado will not lead you anywhere Umunnem. Call me a coward if you like, but Chinua Achebe told us that we often stand in the house of a coward to point at where a brave man ONCE lived. In any case, isn’t it foolishness to challenge an army that has been stockpiling arms since 1960 when you on the other hand haven’t bought a bullet just yet? Papa Achebe puts it this way, “Only a foolish man can go after a leopard with his bare hands”. As impulsive and as tempting as it may get, tone down your rhetorics, invectives, acerbics, and cursing on social media. Cherish the peace you now have at least Igbos are not worse-off than other regions despite never being in power. While there is grinding poverty in other regions, the highest income per capita in the country is posted by Anambra and other Igbo states ain’t doing badly. Our people live well, build better houses compared to other regions and it's all a miracle given the scratch we started from after the war. Why do we want to throw all that away because of ego and start all over again? Is it a curse? The Hausas though having been in power do not even live a better quality of life than Igbos. Let's be wise and not give opportunity to destroy all we've achieved as a people.
I condemn in the strongest of terms the killing of unarmed people by Nigerian soldiers, killer herdsmen, and do not by any means say Nigeria is what we want it to be but understand Biafra wasn't Ojukwu's first choice. At Aburi his choice was a return to true federalism which he knew was a better deal for us than secession. Nigeria failed to honour that agreement and continued the killings forcing him to declare a Biafran Republic to save his people from slaughter and it's understandable. Nigeria owes us tons of apologies, I agree. But brothers, let's think again! A Biafra today will even be far less economically viable than it would have been then. Reason is because then we would have used oil money to jump-start the new country but today oil is so unsellable to the extent that Venezuela with arguably the largest reserves is grappling with severe economic problems. Kick-starting a new country from the basics would be painfully slow and may outlive our generation to even get the basic things in place. Arewa youths know that, the reason they have asked Nigerian Government to let Igbos go, only for Nnamdi Kanu to start asking for Benue and Rivers because he knows that Igboland alone isn’t viable. Asking for Benue is laughable because they were never part of Biafra and have made it clear to all, as did different Rivers groups that they don’t want Biafra. A handful of his collaborators from those regions pledging allegiance to him does not equate to an entire people. Majority of their people hate this Biafran idea and have made that much clear. Some funny IPOBians are also hoping on Asari Dokubo and FFK. What a funny bunch being used to fight other people’s fight. Why won’t they take up the gauntlet or is it only us that is suffering injustice? Don't even think corruption will suddenly disappear in a new Biafra as some naive IPOBians hope. If they give you Biafra today, your eyes will open up to new unpleasant realities many of you haven't even factored-in in your agitation but then it would have been late. I know voices like mine are often loathed and cursed by IPOBians but some of us who know the truth can no longer keep quiet while you drag us all into avoidable chaos. I owe our people the truth as I see it. Curse me all you want, it's OK. Umunnem, ka ako’n’uche na udo chianu biko! Patience solves all things, with time. Let our people think again and know what is looming. Stop your facebook and social media vituperations, cursing, grand standing and join me to educate others. De-escalate this situation and speak words of kindness to others. Even mighty America de-escalates after tensions with Russia. It’s called wisdom. North Korea provokes South Korea most times but the South always de-escalates tensions knowing that the North hasn’t got anything to lose in the event of war but beautiful South Korea will lose quite a lot. In our case, all the beautiful houses and streets in Igboland will be razed to the ground. Why should we be starting afresh all the time? It will even be more painful if we lose again as was the case in 1970. As it is, it’s not looking good!
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Shagari was in office from 1979 to 1983. They say his government looted the national treasury. Things were not so good but Nigeria did not go into an economic recession. Then Buhari came as military Head of State and was in office from 1983 to 1985. They say he did not loot. But during his time in office, Nigeria fell into a deep economic recession. Then came Babangida. They say he looted Nigeria from 1985 to 1993. Yet there was no economic recession. After Babangida came Shonekan and Abacha from 1993 to 1998. Abacha was also said to have looted the treasury. In fact, his loot stashed abroad is still being recovered till today. Yet there was still no economic recession. From 1998 to 2015, we have had Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar'Adua and Jonathan. All administrations were accused of looting the treasury. Still there was no recession. Now Buhari is back and we are once again in a recession and you say "LOOTING" of the Jonathan years is the cause? Are we okay Do u need a prophet to tell u that this pmb is a proven failure?

Shagari was in office from 1979 to 1983. They say his government looted the national treasury. Things were not so good but Nigeria did not go into an economic recession. Then Buhari came as military Head of State and was in office from 1983 to 1985. They say he did not loot. But during his time in office, Nigeria fell into a deep economic recession. Then came Babangida. They say he looted Nigeria from 1985 to 1993. Yet there was no economic recession. After Babangida came Shonekan and Abacha from 1993 to 1998. Abacha was also said to have looted the treasury. In fact, his loot stashed abroad is still being recovered till today. Yet there was still no economic recession. From 1998 to 2015, we have had Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar'Adua and Jonathan. All administrations were accused of looting the treasury. Still there was no recession. Now Buhari is back and we are once again in a recession and you say "LOOTING" of the Jonathan years is the cause? Are we okay Do u need a prophet to tell u that this pmb is a proven failure?