Olabode Ososami's Blog, page 77

Will Debtors go to Heaven?

Even in a nation like the United Kingdom where interest rates are said to be on the decline it was recently reported that at least 50% of the population still struggle with debt and many are shunning its toxin. The Archbishop of Canterbury wades into the sea of sharks to rescue its members as he calls for WONGA – a popular loan provider offering  a new emerging brand of “no questions asked” lending at crippling costs – to come under closer regulatory scrutiny.

Why is the Church suddenly waking up to the curse of being a borrower?   The reflection we see  from the mirror of scriptures on debt troubles those who care to look at it … like the overweight damsel who must fit into a svelte evening gown.  But more seriously we ask … will debtors go to heaven?

Deu_28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

Pro_22:7  The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Someone had asked if Moses was declaring a blessed consequence of obeying God or was God giving a command that must be obeyed…and what is wrong in serving a lender if we must serve someone.  The old time preacher  who declares on the pulpit that no debtor will see the Lord is admittedly going extinct.  If we consider what motivates  50% of Britons struggling with debt one is likely to discover greed, wanting to keep up with the joneses, vanity and addictions to that which is not needful – topping the list. Banks know as most of their advertising show that the best target for consumer lending is not the simple living plebian but the “wannabe” middle class… or the doting granny that must help her adorable son.

It is of course always possible to save for what you must have but that is a longer tedious  process requiring self-control and which forces you to downscale your consumption.  Not borrowing is synonymous with a boring life. Waiting until you have saved enough for a new car model is not endurable. Encouraging more equity-type financing rather than debt requires more care, more loyalty and commitment on all sides and the tougher effort of finding the right partner.  The mirror seems to make it worse by declaring …

2Co_6:14   Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Is the borrower yoked to providers of funds that he does not know or cannot predict? If providers of funds have to withdraw significant funds from their banks will rates not rise … hurting the borrower. If borrowers are blessed will it increase their appetite for larger loans, thus blessing the lender? The extent to which the “Bible-belt” West yoked to China and oil rich Saudis is not completely understood.

Every one living in a glitzy apartment will extol the virtues of mortgage …but there are far less media photographs of the young couple thrown out of a repossessed home penniless when values suddenly shrink to shocking lows and banks put on the less familiar mask of a foe.

If the Church Christ is coming for is going to be without spot or wrinkle … will respectable vices like subtle greed and seeking luxuries to create impressions through “affordable” debt be placed on the same scale as other more obvious sins. Is the Holy Spirit warning us through the angry Archbishop to reexamine our financial habits and align with the word and not the world –  even as the Archbishop is embarrassed that the Church has invested in WONGA – gaining incomes from its perceived excesses.  The only way to benefit from the word of God is to immediately adjust while the reflection is still in sight… or would we just simply disregard the mirror?

The blog author has written a book “Wealth out of Ashes” on Christian Principles of Wealth.

The Hidden Terrorists

As the spate of evil rage continues in the country, one is tempted to become numb and increasingly less sensitive to acts of terrorism … as consciences harden even as children are killed and we are exhausted of being admonished to forgive. Hearts are weary and can only offer a lingering suspicion of news of cease-fire.  Our gratitude is for self-preservation and our faith seems to distance us from the sufferings of the afflicted.  The terrorist has chosen the right target… “Not Me”.

But there are other elements of terror I want to concern myself with … the concealed types spoiling the body of Christ. I am not referring to the zealous preacher whose fiery words may have caused explosions of doubt, sorrow and fear … or the one who enters the temple chasing off trouble makers in a somewhat similar fashion to when Christ drove off the money changers. This terror is more complex and calculating.

Ahithophel the Gilonite, is father to Eliam (2  Sam. 23:34) …Eliam, who also happens to have been one of David’s mighty men (listed in 2 Samuel 23) and father to a beautiful damsel called Bathsheba, married to Uriah the Hittite.  A good story until David’s idle and wandering eyes, even without binoculars, catches the nudity of this irresistible beauty bathing in broad daylight. The rest of this drama is well documented in scripture.

2Sa 11:3  And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

Many years have passed … the old sage Ahithophel is now David’s trusted Counsellor … Absalom – the charismatic prince who has no son (maybe he has daughters) but has stolen the hearts of Israel and has vowed to be great …proactively erecting for himself (2 Sam 18:18) an impressive monument.  Soon the hearts of two terrorists melt together in a perfect conspiracy that sends David scampering off like a weeping weakling.

2Sa 18:18  Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s place

We do not know completely the nature of the bitterness and unresolved injustices that festered in the hearts of Ahithophel and Absalom – or how long…but the Bible leaves some tips … possibly it was an unaddressed hunger for gain and power raging for years… or the humiliation of seeing his widowed granddaughter forced into David’s boudoir … or for the handsome Absalom, was it his barrenness of a heir …or a lust for a blessing from his father that never came.  Bitterness is the primary element that defines all terrorists…some unresolved injustice allowed to simmer over the years.  These are the devil’s suicide bombers … targeted without fail to destroy everything in their path …most especially itself.  Both Ahithophel and Absalom ended horribly …Absalom’s body is thrown into a pit, instead of the grand memorial he planned. Ahithophel, who with a little patience may have lived to see his great grandson Solomon crowned as King after David… hangs himself. God eventually terminates all his wise traps.

I do not pray for the demise of any, but warn that long suffering, patience, humility and contentment will defend the broken from being recruited into a mischievous destiny. Be wary of a sense of entitlement and subtle feelings of superiority that creep in immediately you perceive and coronate yourself to be irreplaceable regency instead of mere sand. When you begin to think people are lucky to have met you or you become attached to titles, encomiums and honors, soon a root of unresolved entitlement germinates. Pray that God sends enough experiences to toss you into a wilderness of nothingness or to give you a thorn if that is the only way you will be preserved to an unblemished end.

External foes and terrorists are not my worry.  God soon arises as He always does to scatter His enemies when our obedience is complete.  Rather, the pain of watching hidden terrors long incubating in brethren bringing to self-destruction and causing much havoc to others, is much more traumatic. Have you seen the memorials to men that litter the spiritual landscape as celebrity preaching becomes the norm?  Impotent Absaloms with no true sons … destined for termination.

There is a solution … do not hang yourself pursuing evil industry…instead, pray that God gives all a sweet and pure heart that forgives and forgets all that it must – including and especially many past injustices that have made you obsessed with your peculiar definition of success  which is only a creation of your unresolved past hurts and social poverty.  Pray that God will give you a new uncommonly enlarged heart of flesh in a New Revival experience … the heart of a worshipper who cares more about God’s plans than anything or anyone else …. seeking the old paths of waiting on God, obedience, humility and pure service.

2Sa 15:25   And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation: 26  But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.

Lord, preserve us from the spoilage and traps of the physical and spiritual terrorist. Lord give us grace that our ways truly delight you as you arise to put an end to the rage of terrorism in the land. May we all keep moving forward.  May God guide our elders, rulers and government at times like this.  God give us sons …youth that are like David who truly know thee.  Deliver us from selfishness.  Amen

A Great Deliverance

Songs of Joseph (click to buy)

Joseph explains that his brothers only facilitated a great deliverance. The brothers did not know that the famine was to last five more years, and without Joseph they would all have died of hunger. What lessons emerge from the text in today’s devotional?  Let us meditate on only three.

Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. 7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Joseph explains that his brothers only facilitated a great deliverance. The brothers did not know that the famine was to last five more years, and without Joseph they would all have died of hunger. What lessons emerge from the text in today’s devotional?  Let us meditate on only three.

1.  Life and death is in the hands of God. Indeed many would have perished during this seven year famine. The years of plenty and harvest were all decreed and controlled by God.

2. God will preserve His own – one way or another.  None that ever puts His trust in Him will ever regret or suffer a lack of divine provision.

3. A great deliverance counters a great famine – both ordained of God. There is no problem too vast for which a matching deliverance has not already been put in place ahead.  The Almighty does not work in time.  He can start the work of deliverance decades ahead of any sign of trouble.

Why is this called a great deliverance? It is great in its concealment … no one could ever discover this deliverance.  It is great in its magnitude. God translates a tribe of hungry wandering tent dwellers who were an abomination to Egypt into people who bask in the best of royal provisions and stores/barns of a wealthy civilization that abhorred their very existence. It is great in its authorship.  It was all the work of a great and mighty God.  We need to appreciate the great deliverances of the Almighty to see how puny our thinking can be.  How can we ever do anything but worship a God that can begin a work of protection over ten years before we even perceive the need for deliverance.   God is truly awesome – even Joseph does not know the plan until he sees his brothers in need of provisions at a time of great death. Jehovah is not an ordinary deliverer.  He is a great deliverer – an awesome deliverer.

Now compare your challenges of today to what God did in this text and observe that your issues are elementary, way too easy for God to deal with and bring the required restoration.  He can store the food, supplies in hidden places waiting for you.  Israel and his clan did not labor a single day for the provisions they enjoyed … provisions Egypt gathered and stored for seven years. Perhaps you only need to wait a few more years for what you will enjoy to be fully stored up by those that cannot even stand your presence.  God is awesome.

Song  

My God is awesome, He can move the mountains, Keep me in the valley, hide me from the rain,

My God is awesome, heals me when I’m broken, Strength where I’ve been weakened

Forever He will reign

My God is awesome, Savior of the whole world, Giver of salvation, by His stripes I am healed

My God is awesome, today I’m forgiven – His grace is why I’m living

Praise His Holy Name.

Prayer: Great Deliverer – Be my strength, my shield and my helper. Amen

The High Impact Life …What is it?

The knowledge of God gives you the strongest position in any circumstance and whatever must be accomplished can be done but only if we are in agreement with God. There must be the urgent realization that we are indeed products with a purpose.  God never intended that we should be here to wander without direction. Our purpose relates to peculiar problems God needs to be solved by each.  Even the most identical twins did not come to address the same problems.  Not only did we come to solve a problem, but the problem is also geographically predefined.  It is sad that many seek to redefine the geography of their purpose.  If God wanted me to be an American then I would be an American. God already gave me the best option – I am a Nigerian.  You cannot be an individual with impact until you solve the problem God sent you to solve.

The Bible is the blueprint to all of life’s problems … the foremost constitution that lays the fundamentals and the basis of which the nation state and citizens are organized …that which determines how all actors should relate.  The answers to life’s situation can be found therein.

As a youth, I did not understand many things and wanted to fix many things … I did not understand inequality, underperformance and the reasons for squalor and dilapidation … and saw many wrongs in need of solution.  Impact is suggestive of influence …how influential have we been for God.  How do we make Christianity influential again?  How do we shun mediocrity again?  We are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  We lose the profoundness of that injunction found in Matthew 5.

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

 

It sounds so pedestrian, but the Christian reads this and moves on … still God expects us to live out this basic demand for accountability.  To keep us in focus, there are Bible protagonists we can learn from … actors in the word of God who responded properly to the challenges, perils and contradictions … and in these can be found principles that can be applied to a billion other cases.  I understand that the word of God is so powerful – sharper than any two-edged sword…let us look first at Abraham.

Abraham taught that nothing anyone can give us compares to what God can. The carnal Lot made a choice for the greenery bordering Sodom. Abraham rejected the goods of Sodom …not even a thread lest thou should say that thou hast made Abraham rich. There is a choice all must make – are we following God or mammon?  This tension still continues. Many Christians have corrupted the high impact life by whose gift they took. A few chapters later we see the destruction of Sodom. Gifts can come in any form … we cannot be light if we are bowing at the altar of corruption. God want us to live the prayer that we pray.  Corruption has made Africa the most underperforming of continents despite all its endowments. Haggai said consider your ways … Nigeria is waiting for the Christians who should be the light to become the light. Isaiah captured it well “In the last days the mountain of the Lords house will be established and men will flow into it from all nations … for out of Zion shall go forth the law …”  The Church will decree and have influence in government … we are meant to be Legislators.

Alas, but Christians legislate for gains i.e. cars, homes and substance of things possessed.  The lowest vision focuses on the belly and this is sadly where most reside today. An inferior belly vision obscures true purpose and obstructs a high-impact life.  Solomon had unmatched wealth and called it all vanity or a vexation of spirit.  Many have turned purpose to a low vision of acquisition … May we be Christians with character …

Nehemiah, a man who while others were in Babylon as slaves, was in a privileged position but who got a message that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and unlike other Governors,  Nehemiah refused the perquisites of office but faced the task of rebuilding the walls. What broken-down wall really matters to you now?  Is it the wall of your bank account or your need for another car or do you observe the spoilage in your community …are you burdened for the corruptions and dilapidations around you?  What have you been sent to and made a determination to solve?

How about Daniel who said … no way to partake in the delicacies of the palace… How about Esther who could have said I am no longer Jewish now I am the bride of the King. Instead, she understood destiny matters and said “If I perish I perish…”  Daniel said even assuming God does not save us … so let it be.

The set time to favor our nation has come, but God is waiting for the remnant to make it happen.  Will God continue to be a Sunday plus midday fix or will you see yourself as a solution and ask God to send you as an arrow – a weapon to use in rebuilding a waste place somewhere …to solve a problem in your sphere of influence.  God will redeem this land or will have to apologize to many other nations given all the blessings …we are so blessed and beloved but like Ephraim we can squander it … God forbid.

Edited from a message given at The Redeemed Christian Church of God Apapa Family Excel Program by Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili

Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili is a chartered accountant. She was a co-founder of Transparency International,serving as one of the pioneer Directors of the global anti-corruption body based in Berlin, Germany. She served as Federal Minister of Solid Minerals and then as Federal Minister of Education during the second term presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. She also served as the Vice President of the World Bank’s Africa division. She presently consults to many nations all over the world in highest level government advisory roles.   Glory be to God

Sin’s Ravage by Gbile Akanni.

The burden and cry for revival and for restoration becomes so acute when you know what God has done in the past. The prayer burden in this Psalm is revival and how I need to hold God’s hands for my life and for all that God has started to do with me and in me.

Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. Psalms 80:12-16

The question “Why has thou then broken down her hedges? Why will you allow all they which pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood does come to waste this vine and the wild beast of the field does devour it… Why will God who took this vine out of Egypt and prepared a room for it to take a deep root also allow it to be so destroyed? This is what sin in the heart can do. Sin destroys and reduces a man to a piece of bread. Sin breaks down the hedges and makes a man vulnerable to the passers by. Sin in the heart exposes a man to the danger of the boar and the wild beast of the field. Sin takes away the canopy of grace from over a man’s head and exposes him to the scotching heat of the sun and the striking of the moon by night. Sin turns the eyes of The Lord away from a man, no matter the divine investment God has made in his life. Sin is one thing I must dread and not play around with.

Sin will pluck a man from its deep roots and cause him to wither in a short time. Sin ridicules a man who has been in honor with God’s covering. Sin most importantly cuts a man off from God and isolates him for slaughter. It throws him out in the open for any beast of the field to devour him and trample upon him as salt that has lost its savor. O Lord, this is the dread of my heart today. Sin will bring any man down no matter the height he has climbed with God. Sin reduces him to a piece of bread, a mere shadow of his past and a piece of exhibit of defeat. Those who pass by will then begin to say “This vine used to be so blessed, see how dry it has become now”

As I look at this Psalm of prayer again, I can see the issue and the crux of every decay. It has always been the departure of a man from his own source of life. It is the withdrawal of the presence of God from a man. It is the gradual loss of communion with God that culminates into this kind of dryness. The only way out is to return to The Lord and for God to turn His eyes again to this vine of His. All the boars of the wood and the wild beasts of the field only take the advantage of divine withdrawal to inflict their own damage. ‘If God be for us and if God be with us, who can be against us and succeed?’ but the converse is very true and more sobering. “If God be against us, where shall we find refuge? Who can be for us as a succor from His fierce wrath? If God looks away from us, whose countenance will bring us warmth of life? If the way of a man displeases The Lord, He will cause all his enemies to be in conflict and in battle with him” This is the more fearful aspect of letting anything come between me and my Lord.

Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;

This is the cry and this is the solution to the matter of this spiritual decay. It is not first a combat with the boars of the woods and the wild beasts of the field that came to devour… it is to beseech The Lord of hosts to return and to look down from heaven and cast His loving eyes again upon this vine. It is His visitation that will bring the restoration. Visit this vine is my cry. Your visitation is what I need every time. If you visit this your vine, it will blossom again and sprout and bud and bring forth fruits to the praise of your glory.

The bane of a man’s life is when God looks away from him. A work withers immediately as soon as God turns His face away. The challenge is not the devil, he only comes to exploit a bad situation of a broken communion with God. My walk with God must be kept in top form and I will be assured of His eye upon me and all the work I am involved in.

(Article by Brother Gbile Akanni and  originally published in livingseed.org)

Look for the Anointing and Grace of God upon a Man by Zac Poonen

Zac Poonen

In 1 Chronicles, Chapter 12, we read of those who stood by David when Saul was persecuting him. It was easy to join David after he had become king. But here we read of people who joined him at a time when he was rejected and being hunted for his life. It’s easy to live totally for the Lord in heaven but quite another matter to follow Him totally here on earth where He is rejected and despised. In the same way, it is easy to join a church after it has become famous and popular, but quite another thing to join it when it is despised, because you see that the anointing is there.

The men who became David’s army generals later were those who followed him at a time when he was being persecuted by Saul and rejected by Israel. In our day also we see something similar. God raises up a man to do a work for Him in a particular place, but very few have eyes to recognize God’s anointing on him and on his ministry. These few join him and don’t care what ‘Saul’ or anybody else says about him. Thus they accomplish an eternal work for the Lord in their generation. We need to train our senses to recognize where the anointing of God is today.

A true servant of God will never be popular, even as his Master was unpopular. Jesus said, “Woe unto you when everyone speaks well of you, because they spoke thus about the false prophets. But blessed are you when all men speak evil of you, because that’s how they treated all the true prophets.” (Lk.6:22, 26) Very few people have understood this fact. A true prophet is almost never fully recognised or valued in his lifetime.

The history of the church shows that even the true apostles were rejected and despised by others in their lifetime. Paul was rejected by the believers in Corinth. He said in 2Tim.1:15, “All those in Asia have forsaken me.” Paul was true to God until the end of his life, but most of his fellow-believers forsook him. Jesus was true to His father and most people left Him too. Some of the sons of Benjamin came to David when he was in a cave (12:16). David met them and told them, “If you have come peacefully, my heart will be with you. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies – my conscience is clear – may God punish you.” We have to be careful, because even today there are people who can come to us pretending to be our friends. But if our conscience is clear, God will deal with them.

But look at the wonderful example of Amasai (12:18): “The Spirit of God came upon Amasai, who was the chief of the thirty valiant men, and he said, ‘We are yours, O David. We are with you, son of Jesse. Peace to you and peace to him who helps you. Your God helps you.’ Then David received them and made them captains of his band.” People like Amasai recognised God’s anointing upon David, despite David’s outward circumstances, because the Holy Spirit was upon them.

If you read the history of the church you will find that the truly godly men who stood against the established religious system in Christendom were always persecuted. You have heard of how Martin Luther was persecuted by the Roman Catholic system. Perhaps you have heard of John Calvin too. But there was another group of wholehearted believers at that time called the Anabaptists, who were persecuted not only by the Roman Catholics but also by the followers of Martin Luther and John Calvin!! These Anabaptists were godly people who sought to live godly lives, totally separated from the spirit of this world – and they were persecuted severely for their stand. They met in the forests and many of their leaders were killed. Church history may not have written much about them. But one day when Jesus returns, we will discover that these people were the men who stood wholeheartedly for God in their day. And this is true in our day too.

Look for the anointing of God upon a man – not for supernatural gifts (even Satan has supernatural gifts) but for the anointing and the grace of God – those are the proofs that God is with a man. And if God approves of a man, we better approve of him too! Amasai had that much sense!

Notice another characteristic of David (in 13:1): “David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader.” A true man of God works in fellowship with others. One reason why David got such tremendous support from the people was because he discussed things with them. His attitude was, “I am a weak brother and I need your opinion. What do you think about this?” He sat down and discussed things with people who were junior to him and together came to a decision along with the other men. And then we read in verse 4, “All the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.”

Excel 2013 – A Rally never to be Forgotten with Pastor E.A. Adeboye

The annual Rally of the RCCG Apapa Family tagged Excel is here once again … to take place at the Tafawa Balewa Square , Lagos with Saturday 1st June at 7.30 am. being the grand finale – ministering is the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God – Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

It promises to be a memorable and incomparably inspiring crusade. Over 50,000 will be fed with free nourishing meals … even as we hear from God on the prophetic theme “Be The Change”.  Leading Christian music worship artistes will feature as prayers, messages and other items are anchored in the Spirit of excellence  and ably led by the Family Head Pastor I.D. Iluyomade –  supported by the brilliant team of leaders from the United Kingdom, United States, Europe etc. and Provincial Pastors … Pastor Sola Balogun, Pastor Deola Mensah, Pastor Remi Morgan, Pastor Ben Akabueze and many other highly distinguished leaders and ministers of the gospel.

For the few who still may not know Pastor E.A. Adeboye well,   please do read the link “Who is Pastor E.A. Adeboye”

Come expectant to hear truth that sets free.   A thought leader opined recently that if we do not adjust how we think and humble ourselves to accept fundamental change imperatives – not just for others, but for self …then we can only expect a deplorable status quo to continue.

We thank God that in all that must change in us – we have hope  …  JESUS, the same, yesterday, today and forever.  Something tells me this is going to be different and the nation will never be the same.  Come and be blessed – expecting your situation to change for good.

Do not go off Facebook

I have found many coming to the conclusion that it is best for serious Christians to go off Facebook and to create safer and more controlled and targeted enclaves on the social media for them.  This is like running back again to the safety of our church while called to be relevant within and outside church walls. Many also have retreated from media,  having regretted the things they posted or have changed their minds or have directly or indirectly felt the unseen blows of unkind  less forgiving critics … or having  found themselves talking much more than they initially intended … only to earn a badge of foolishness. Others like Prophet Jeremiah are nicknamed the crazy weird alarmists always with bad news.  The good thing from all this is that many are warned to be extra-cautious so as not to hurt the very interest they seek to support.  Granted. blogging on spiritual insight is not the same as writing about new cookery recipes. Take some time to get it right.  Have a break if you must.

On the other hand, the world view is anything but cautious … much more forgiving if not desirous of verbal garbage and so very aggressive and even bolder by the day.  No one is spared its scathing sword and no leader is immune from global lashes that will come immediately to any that refuses to conform to its behavior dictates. The Social media phenomenon has shaped, faster than any other development, a single global village thinking alike – than any other phenomenon.  You may disagree with me but your fashion, music, mode of worship and sets of thinking are more and more being molded by the iron casts of world-wise inventors.  Just visit your local big church event and observe all the new rituals, music groups and impeccable stage craft and you may find spiritual regimens like hymn singing, long prayer, depth of bible study on the wane (so ministers do not fall asleep) while a kaleidoscope of purple, yellow and red colors matched with studio spot lights and sound and vocal excellence combine to produce an anointing that draws gaping transfixed audiences.  There  is of course much to exploit from technology to spread the gospel, but the world view is a spirit – not satisfied to merely make your meetings exciting, shape your skirt length, t-shirt logo, stage style, music beat or hairdo …it has come with alternative gospels.

Back to Facebook.  I probably would never have gone near social media if I had not been an author.  A friend I still have never met wrote me to thank me for writing “ Perfect Fall Wedding” a book that blessed her and brings to fore the almost forgotten eschatological dimensions of the word – based on the metaphor of marriage.  She wanted permission to make many copies of the book available as gifts for her own wedding guests … to the glory of the Lord.   I now begin to see the point of my publisher who insisted I humble myself and learn to use these tools to get the word around.    But I have discovered we can also use or not use Facebook in different ways (this is only a preference and not a prescription) … for example I never chat or expose my online presence, nor will I use some applications which some have said make identity theft easier. I also de-friend actively when I sense the leadings to do so.  I just do it quickly.

As the world view spread s with viral speed, I am surprised many are shy to share only a few bible verses occasionally.  Media dictate to us what to believe  – that is why our youths sing, dance, think and talk as they do.  Someone drew up a shirt or skirt design on a piece of paper decades ago and soon everyone wants to put it on.  These may not be sins …but the ultimate direction of the world-view is to shape the culture against God … we can pretend that they are not succeeding.

Ahasuerus on the death of the wicked Haman turned to Esther ..even as Haman had penned several scrolls of corrupted documentation that will shape the future of the empire …hurting the Jews…

Est 8:4  Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king,  8:5  And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king’s provinces:  8:6  For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?  8:7  Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews.   8:8  Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring: for the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse.

It is not enough to disagree and reverse evil media content that hurts Kingdom interests … we are to write as it pleases God, also for the pilgrims.  When we write for pilgrims, you will be amazed at how different the content of our scrolls must necessarily be and how much  in opposition to the world-view. Write … we must.

Be The Change

The Christian Elders Forum of Northern States (NOSCEF) recently issued a communique at the end of their annual conference held at the National Christian Center Abuja on 17th April 2013. One of its resolutions is on neglect of victims of Boko Haram onslaught and Christians targeted and attacked under the guise of political unrest in the last elections.

“…We are amazed that the Federal Government has kept quiet about the plight of Boko Haram victims. Over 400 churches have been destroyed or closed down.  Christians are now individually targeted and eliminated.  Thousands of Christian businesses ruined, over 1500 Christian innocent lives and families marred.  Government is not saying much about compensation to be paid to victims …How could you be begging the offender to accept amnesty and welfare packages while saying nothing about their victims … there should be no discussions of Amnesty to Boko Haram until all the victims have been adequately compensated”

Another elderly Christian based in the North opined in a discussion …”how many Christian leaders in the South of the country can go to the North and preach the message of God’s love without risk of being lynched by the poor hurting masses because their silence screams louder than their sermons?  Even worse, how many are in silent alliance with Jihadists … endorsing by their guarded silence the decimation of brethren while they carve their own safe church niches and nurse selfish ambitions.”

All who claimed to be close to God should show compassion and feel the biting hurt of others … but like in the story of the good Samaritan, it is often the sinner that shows love and compassion to the many who have become jobless, homeless, widows and orphans.

Some lucky Northern Christians have migrated to and found solace with friends in the South … where there are many prodigals squandering the Father’s substance … “sitting ducks” to be preyed upon.  Others in the South appease their consciences by giving out a mere pittance from the much more that they have earned, saved or pillaged.  Few will stand up at personal risk to protest the poor treatment and conditions of victims of evil persecutions. Few speak up for change. Brethren, will we not change?

Be at the crusade rally of RCCG Apapa Family Excel 2013  themed “ Be the Change” … at Tafawa Balewa square on Sunday June 2nd …7.30 am  ministering Pastor E.A. Adeboye.  Over 50,000 will be fed with free meals. Something tells me this is going to be different and nations will never be the same.  Come and be blessed. Be the Change. This time God is focusing on you. God has ordained a change. Souls will be saved and God will be glorified. God bless you. Amen.

Letter to the Vicar

The Vicar.

Our Saviour’s (Ang.) Church  Ikenne-Remo

The Venerable Foluso O. Babatunji

22nd April 2013

Dear Sir,

Our Saviour’s (Ang.) Church  Ikenne-Remo : 24th Mother’s Union Conference

I thank God for your letter of invitation dated 6th March and also for your ministry and specifically the hosting of the 24th Mother’s Union Conference to take place from Friday 26th to 28th April 2013.  I am deeply humbled at your invitation to celebrate with esteemed members and profoundly apologetic at my inability to be at the conference. I pray that the presence of God at the conference will manifest in a fresh and unique revival for all families represented and indeed the Church at large.  I have included (the following paragraphs) a very brief contribution in a few words themed “The Times are Ominous for Naomi” to encourage the depth of discussion at the proceedings and I pray it will also enhance the harvest of insights during your deliberations.

The Times are Ominous for Naomi

The times we are in now are in no way like what we expected or have ever seen.  The issues at hand have progressed in so many complicated turns it is difficult to know where to start.  The corruption of values and decay of family structures are producing strange results which are not easy to confront.  Homes have been exposed to new dangers that old traditional admonitions can no more arrest. Marriages are being ravaged by strange modern monsters even as children turn to media for direction in the absence of parental maps.   But the word of God, and Christ Jesus – the same, yesterday, today and forever must remain our light and salvation.

Naomi was a mother, who eventually woke up to correct her journey path … to return back to Bethlehem. She faces old family errors and mourns the loss of her husband and sons …she offers her daughters in law the opportunity to stay in Moab, but Ruth follows her to Bethlehem …only to find redemption, grace and favor that eventually wipes the tears from the face of Naomi and brings restoration and revival to all. Orpah remains in Moab no more to be heard of.

The Lord will wipe the tears off the face of our mothers. Where there have been old blunders, and even the men can no more be found to bring needed societal correction, God will raise mothers like “Naomi” …who will not seek to pass the blame or name their agony as part of fate but who will realize there is a need to go back to the word of God …our Bethlehem …  back to family altars and raising our homes, families and children according to the word of God.

It was famine that led the faithful to sojourn to Moab…the place of secret societies, cults, syncretism (combining God’s with other altars), worldliness, witchcraft, greed, inordinate affections, selfish ambitions, materialism, corruption and false altars.  But Moab was also the place where the men were all silenced through immorality, divorce, infidelity, unemployment, greed and in some cases even death. Remember what God said concerning Abraham. The children and household are to be commanded by fathers in the home supported by our mothers. Modern thinking will dispute this.

Gen 18:19   For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Bethlehem, representing God’s divine order, was the place where sons are restored, but only with the help of mothers … where order is returned …the place of laughing, peace, nourishment and righteousness … the place where Christian families and the family prayer altar with fathers pastoring their families are all once again revived.

Rth 4:17   And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

It was a mother, Naomi … a pained mother who God used to initiate His revival.  I pray that even in the midst of the pains that a corrupted society inflicts on motherhood in our country, there is a pained Naomi that God will use to revive families in the Church and in the land.  Naomi focused not on vague blessings but on returning first and seeking the inheritance that was rightly hers … she was eventually blessed.   Let none be like Orpah or Jezebel, mothers with no pains for the present godless state of many homes and families represented in our congregations.

God give us Christian homes

Homes where the Children are led to know

Christ in His beauty who loves them so

Homes where the altar fire burn and glow

God give us Christian homes

God give us Christian homes.

I humbly encourage our mothers at this conference as they return afresh to Christ to lead our families to know Him…seeking hard His Kingdom, righteousness, peace and joy …our heritage in Him.  I wish you a successful conference.

Bode Ososami

Books by BODE OSOSAMI (click image)