Chapter 1
Does God Really Exist?
“… belief in God is a choice.’’
(Daily Encounter @ www.actsweb.org March. 5, 2012)
During the course of a workshop, I attended preparatory to the writing of my project for the Chattered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria, the very first and most fundamental question that our then Guest Lecturer, posed to our class was: ‘Does God exist?’.
Our chorused answer was overwhelmingly ‘Yes’. That we answered in the affirmative was understandable – majority of participants were either Christians or Muslims.
To convince our lecturer that we understood what we were saying, we justified our answers by citing many visible and wondrous things God had done in our lives and practically all the works of creation which can only be accomplished by a God.
At the end of our assertions, he simply concluded that, our experiences notwithstanding, it is a matter of opinion because God cannot be subjected to a scientific proof. Even though we held on to our views, we could not but agree with our Professor that it is truly a matter of opinion!
However, even though, we cannot prove God’s existence using empirical science, take it or leave it, He exists. Indeed He will not be God if we are able to subject Him to scientific proof using man-made instruments. The Almighty God is bigger than ALL scientific or natural laws because He made the laws to which we want to subject His existence. This accounts for why He alone can reverse the operations of the laws themselves – meaning He alone can reverse the irreversible. So in your own interest, dear readers of this book, we must draw the curtain on any form of (blind) argument and accept His existence by faith.
Chapter 2
The Bible
Only fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.” Ps. 53:1
We can now safely begin where we should begin – The Holy Bible. If we begin from any other premise, all we will say in this book will amount to nothing but what William Shakespeare in his drama book “Macbeth” (Act.5, Scene 5) tagged “a story told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
What does the Bible say about God’s existence? In the book of Psalm 53:1 says, “The fool says in his heart that there’s no God”. Furthermore, Prov.1:7 says, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom but fools despise it...”
We are depending upon the Bible which is the Word of God, because it is the foundation of all knowledge, wisdom and understanding Prov. 2:6, 9:10)! It predates all other books in this world. It is the most authoritative of all books ever written and all other good books draw their foundation from it. Therefore, the Holy Bible is the word of God. It is the most unquestionable, most authoritative and most dependable book of precedents that has ever been and will ever be written! So please base your belief in the existence of God on it. Read it, meditate upon it and begin from now to endeavor to do according to all its provisions. Josh. 1:8-10.
Chapter 2
Must I Know Him?
The Story of Five Dreamers
This is a true life story of five friends, four boys, one girl. They came from three different ethnic groups in different geographical areas of an African country. They started their struggles together in a popular city in Africa. They all had a dream of a great future and they were prepared to do all they could to attain that which they desired.
Out of the five, only one came from a fairly wealthy background and was fortunate to read up to a Secondary School education. The rest were born without silver spoons in their mouths. They had only primary school certificate. The five of them met at a local study centre.
Two of them were born-again Christians. The five of them were academically brilliant and diligent. The connecting point for them all was their expectations of a blissful old age – to retire from work happy, become wealthy and have all their desires in life fulfilled These were mere dreams towards which they channeled their efforts to attain but alas, the outcome was far below their expectations as only one of them managed to achieve a modest taste of blissfulness at the end of his career!
However, not quite long, they all passed their examinations and were able to gain employment in good organisations where they were well paid and were doing well in life. Soon, they got married and had children. Out of the five, two continued to improve themselves academically and professionally even as they continued to work and catered for their families. The rest of them were not so academically inclined but they were business-minded. However they lacked financial capital to establish businesses of their own so early in life.
A review of their lives after 30 working years, revealed that the three of them had lost their jobs due to the challenges their various organizations were facing. Amongst this three was the one that was highly enterprising but lacked the skills and exposures required to properly manage his dream ventures. He however invested the little he had and was able to manage a small business that kept him busy. The fourth one who was a born again and highly religious but unserious about improving his academic and professional skills also lost his job but was able to secure another one but in lower capacity and with almost zero potential to grow.
So among the five friends who started the race of life together hoping for good success, only one, through hard work and faith in God realize a significant part of their dreams.
This is to say that it is not by power, not by might but by the combination of the spirit (faith in God), with hard work that people succeed in life. Success is therefore attained by grace for the book Rom. 12:11 says “Never be lazy but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically” (NLT). Secondly, it is instructive to note that our lives are in our own hands to shape them the way we wish them to be. But it must be done with the fear of the Lord. Psalm. 119:109 has says, ‘My life is constantly hangs in the balance but I will not stop obeying Your instructions’. This means that unless we know God and depend upon Him we may end up gaining nothing from all our labours! Therefore we should not be ‘slothful in business, but fervent in prayers to God’.
The above real-live story answers the question ‘Must I Know Him?’ in the affirmative. Anyone who does not know Him, is in utter darkness and it is not good for them to remain there for the rest of their lives. (Please if you don’t know Him yet, take the most important decision of your life today by knowing Him. Only He can shed light into and make your life meaningful.
Secondly, if we do not know Him, we will depend upon our own wisdom. Of course, human wisdom is foolishness before God (Prov.1:7) and with only one mistake on his part, a fool is swept off his feet! Therefore, only God is wise and only He can guide everything about us.
Thirdly, whether we believe it or not, there’s a life after life for John 14:2 , says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” So there’s a place in heaven already prepared for you and me by Jesus Christ where we are expected to spend your eternity. I am sure you won’t want to miss it. I don’t want to miss it too. If we do, there’s an alternative place made ready as well by Satan our arch enemy whose main purposes are to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10) those who fall his prey. (John 10:10) That place is called ‘hell’. We will not fall his prey in the mighty name of Jesus.
God may spare your life to spend up to 150 years in this world. If He does, you good luck to you but I am sure you won’t like it because I am sure you would want your children to bury you and therefore would like to go much much earlier. But the reality is this, 150years on earth compared to eternity in heaven or hell cannot be placed on the same scale. 150 years will be insignificant to eternity. Therefore no matter how long you live in this world, compared to eternity, it will be short. Consider where you will spend your eternity and the only one recommendation I have for you is to choose to spend it in heaven with your Creator. So it is essential that you know Him.
Chapter 3
What are My Benefits
if I know Him?
‘Good’ luck is an opportunity met with preparation’
Pastor Sam Adeyemi
First, we need to realise that life has no meaning by itself. All our labours are vanity. When we come to this world, all we engage in are the pursuit of education, career (to acquire, material things and to feed, clothe build houses, buy cars, etc).
We also engage ourselves dutifully in socials such as, marriage ceremonies, birthday celebrations funerals, clubbing activities etc). And at the end of the whole exercise, we die and our children take over the same cycle! There’s nothing wrong with all these but they all end up in vanity! Nobody will do these things more than King Solomon did. But he summed them all up as “vanity” which truly they are. Please take time out to read the entire book of Ecclesiastes. But one thing is needful: fear the Lord with whom we will spend our eternity!
All other things are temporal and ordinary. The real purposes of God for our lives are: to glorify Him, be of good service to fellow humanity and to spend eternity with Him in heaven.
No one of these is mutually exclusive of one another. If you miss one, you miss all. For instance, we can’t glorify the name of the God we don’t recognise. Our good services to humanity alone will not take us to heaven. Neither will our dutiful fellowship and spiritual fervency combined with your good works alone take us there. Rather, all of us need the ‘grace’ of God to make it. This is because, according to Rom 3:23, “all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God”. What is grace? It is an unmerited favour – receiving freely, what we cannot lay claim upon by right. For instance, Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ was not chosen simply because she was a virgin. No, virginity is only but a plus to God’s grace upon her life. Virginity translated to the fact that she feared God by ensuring that she kept herself undefiled, therefore she was prepared for the grace that was billed to come upon her life. So amongst the virgins of her time, God decided to apply His grace to choose her to be the mother of our Saviour. Rahab, the harlot who saved the Israelites from impeding destruction received her own grace (or favour) likewise because she feared God by keeping His children safe. Through that, she got saved. So like these women, we too need to be prepared to receive God’s grace by not only recognising God but by fearing and serving Him. These are what we need to do to make heaven. I pray for you that you and I will not miss heaven in Jesus name. Amen
Chapter 4
Which Way To Him
Amidst these Multitude of Religions?
Religious Confusions
The subject and avenue through which man can express his belief in God and serve Him is called Religion. Reasonably, one would expect that there will be a single universally accepted religion through which we can all express our relationship with Him. Unfortunately, this is not so. There are just too many of them, all claiming superiority and originality or worse still acceptability by God. So the basic principle that has sprung up from this is ‘Take ours only and make it to heaven’ or ‘Take ours and end up in hell’. And there’re aggressive marketing strategies all everywhere!
These religions spring up according to how their founders convictions or were called. So rather than help, they end up confusing us. As a result, three things happen to a religious-innocent soul: some people give up the idea of serving God altogether and tagged themselves ‘the free-thinkers’. Some settle down for only one of the religions not because they were sure of its rightness while others decided to combine some of the religions together thereby not belonging exclusively to one.
One of the reasons you may have been sceptical about serving God up till now can be because you are confused. This book is out to make the issue of religion very plain to you so that you will be serving God out of conviction not out of guess work.
We are out to show you why out of the many religions we have, only one, not even two or more can lead you to heaven. You want to know which one? Please, do exercise some patience. We will tell you will full explanations as to how we arrived at our conclusion, using this writer’s research work as a basis.
You are free to carry out your own research, but without bias. Also if you are so rigid and want to defend the original religious setting into which you were born to with the whole of your might, you may miss the point. So we will advise you to be open minded when carrying out such research so as to arrive at something that will fetch you salvation.
You should honour and respect your parents but your allegiance should belong to God who is greater than them. You are also accountable to God, not to your parents for your decision.
It is suffice to say at this juncture to admit that there is a gross proliferation of religions. There are myriads of them world-wide but only one (we’ll soon let you know) will lead you to heaven. But we must add that even the only one also have many fake versions. What happened is that many of these fakes do whatever aspect of the doctrines that suit their purposes and establish worship centres around them. For instance, whether you belong to Islamic faith or Christianity, there are some basic doctrines that both religions hold to be true.
Let’s quickly consider two of such i.e. marriage and alcohol. Both religions hold that their adherents should abstain from polygamy Matt. 19:5 says, “for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh”. Let our brethren in Islam who openly profess that Islamic faith permits more than one wife go back and study the Quran and the Haddith very well they will discover that they are wrong. I was privileged to offer Islamic studies at the University where my erudite Islamic Lecturer Professor, Iysa Bello, laid bare to me (and I strongly believe him) the true doctrines or tenets of Islam.
On alcohol the Bible is very clear in Prov. 23:29-35 which say, “Who has woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling?, who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go seek mixed wine. Look thou upon the wine, when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes, shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, though shall be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shall thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when I shall awake I will seek it yet again.”
Of course, many churches know that both the Old and the New Testaments forbid responsible people e.g. workers, ministers of God aspiring to become Pastors, Bishops, etc, from taking strong alcohol, but many Pastors, as if they were sick as Timothy who was admonished by Paul to take some wine because of his ill-health, go on a drinking spree. Do I hear you say, a little alcohol is not bad because what the bible says is “he who tarry long at the wine...”? Correct! One may argue that tasting a little wine is not sinful, but we must be quick to admit that bad habits starts small and grows big. A little wine today, a little tomorrow, gradually increases until the drinker habitually develops appetite for higher doses.
So, the target of a responsible Christian should be to totally refrain himself or herself from strong alcohol. I don’t know if you still indulge in drinking strong alcohol, I urge you, to prayerfully discourage this habit by dropping your cup of wine and get drunk with a better alcohol – the Holy Spirit. (Act 2:4 says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” ) There’s no other alcohol stronger than the Holy Spirit. You don’t need dry-gin, ogogoro, hemp, cocaine, heroine, or any form of intoxicant made by man to keep yourself alert and perform well in your career. They will injure you in the end. The only alcohol that will leave you better than it met you and make you more positively productive is the Holy Spirit.
When inspired by the Holy spirit, I find myself incapable of writing all the books that I am inspired to write so I select the ones that time has permitted me to do. Whereas when I was engaging in drinking all forms of alcoholic drinks, I ran dry of these inspirations! Let me give one example. The Holy Spirit has inspired to write more than 10 books on Gen. 1:28 alone. I have only accomplished three so I still have a long way to go to write the remaining 7!
Dropping your cup of alcoholic wines will not happen like a bang. Start by reducing the volume you take and begin to cultivate the habit of praying simple prayers for your deliverance until you are able to set a definite time you will stop depending upon man-made alcohol.
As you are doing that, begin to read your Bible. The more you read it, the more the Holy Spirit steps into your life and get you possessed. And by the time you have stopped taking strong alcohol entirely, the Holy Spirit would have remoulded you, body soul and spirit that you will be more inclined to Him and never to alcohol again.
Note! The truth is that in many churches where leaders engage in the habit of drinking alcohol, they will be reluctant to preach concerning it or be very soft if at all they preach about it.
In Islam, my Islamic Lecturer, also taught me that there were three changes that occurred as regards alcohol consumption: the permissive periods when Muslims were allowed to consume alcohol as they wished, when they were permitted to drink little. The third and current stage is that Islam forbids genuine Muslims from alcohol consumption.
Back to the subject proliferation of religions, let me make two categorical statements here: all religions (except perhaps few traditional religions which engage in barbaric practices), agree on morality, good works love for neighbours, etc., but as far as going to heaven is concerned, morality and good works alone will not avail us.
Secondly, and without being judgmental, I say that all religions, except one, are man-induced and devoid of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Therefore they are unlikely to lead their adherents to heaven.
You may wish to know the basis of my conclusions. To do this, please proceed to the next chapter.
Chapter 5
Religious Proliferations
(A Case Study)
Once upon a time in my life, I got so confused about the subject of proliferation of religions. In my state of confusion, I did not know which way to follow. Then I decided to carry out a modest research and my findings led me to take a decision as to which religion to adopt and which group should I belong to within the religion I finally chose.
I am devoting this chapter to a report on the research work if only it can help you to carry out your own research too. Now let’s proceed.
On God’s Existence
As I grew up, I queried every axiom of life. Religion was one particular area where I went into extensive research to convince me of the need or necessity to recognize and serve God in the first place
Without wasting time concerning His existence, I confirmed that God exists, I found Him too awesome, big and complex to be subjected to human scientific or logical proof. So I had to draw the curtains on my research in order not to present myself as either faithless or agnostic.” I therefore settled for the existence of a single God, Who is Almighty.
The next thing I did was to research into the world of religions so as to know which one would guarantee my salvation. This is because there are too many of them, all claiming to lead their converts to salvation. They tended to confuse rather than help me. As a result I tried all I could to identify the various religions of the world and researched some of them. I also studied some para-religious bodies such as the mystics. I reproduce below my findings concerning all the religions and para-religions I specifically researched into and below are my findings:
The Various Religions
Traditional Religions
The belief of our animist ancestors is that truly, there’s one God which Yoruba people called “Olodumare” and the Ibos called “Chineke”. But the two cultures believe that there are other lesser gods and that you need to pass through them to reach out to the biggest one. (Islam however narrowed down an average Hausa man’s belief to only one God called “Allah”.) So the Yoruba and Ibo people invented many lesser gods and worship them so they can carry their requests to their overall head – The Almighty God. These gods range from wood, iron, fellow human beings and animals, to the star, the moon, the sun, and so on. This belief tended to be supported by Christianity which often refer to the Almighty God as the “LORD of lords”. But these lesser “lords” in Christianity do not refer to man-made gods. Rather it refers to human beings e.g. to kings and other fellow human being who are lords over themselves and the eco-system made by the most superior God – The Almighty God. For instance a husband is a ‘lord’ to the wife as Sarah did call Abraham her Lord.
But my view is that if the contents of our history books, which were very explicit about the origins of most of our traditional religions, were anything to rely upon, my conclusion about all traditional religions is that they are man-made, which cannot be practised at the exalted level or presence of the Almighty, Omni-potent, Omniscience, Omni-present and Awesome Jehovah Who is the invisible God - the creator of the heavens, the seas and the earth, and more”
There are (Contrary) Spirits
Once upon a time, someone dear to me had a challenge that required spiritual intervention beyond simple prayers. Through this, fate unavoidably brought me into contact with the activities of a local religion which combined Ifa oracle with spiritism. I used the words “fate” and “unavoidably” from the onset because I had necessary precautions before going and had been convinced beyond reasonable doubts by our companion that we were visiting a true prophet of God rather than an Ifa Priest. Prior to this time I had not taken seriously the existence of “principalities and powers” even though the Bible made ample references to them. Honestly I had never taken deliverance ministry so seriously for I doubted the existence of demons.
However, judging from the level of its accuracy, what I saw with my eyes and heard with my own ears were astounding especially when compared to earlier orthodox medical and pastoral findings concerning the matter. This extent of scientific precision on the part of Ifa oracle made me marvel and it confirms the Bible's postulations about their existence.” After this experience, my belief about existence of demonic powers changed. I now believe they are real and exist. However, they are evil, therefore, I am not and cannot be attracted to their ways. God Almighty remains my one and only God.
Para-Religious Bodies
Mysticism
Mysticism is not particularly a religion but from the practice of it is made to look like one. That is why mystic organizations always say you can retain your existing religion side-by-side membership of their bodies.
“For a very short while, I went outside religion. I did not join them but I read some literature on the Rosicrucian Order and I had the distinct feeling that ultimately, Rosicrucian is antithetical to Christianity and that they are mutually exclusive.
Like others I have reviewed earlier, the AMORC is not a religion, a fact they themselves acknowledge but a parody of Christian beliefs anchored on human intellectualism. They are more concerned with developing leadership traits rather than the salvation of souls. Therefore they discuss Christ, as well as Mohammed only as great leaders (which no doubt they were) with certain admirable qualities but they do not truly analyse the salvation aspects of their leadership. Christianity is a sufficient way of life but AMORC has no enduring spiritual platform to uplift the human spirit for ever more as Christianity does. Having seen these signals, I left AMORC’s literatures alone.
Still not satisfied, I saw an advertisement placed in one of the newspapers for the membership of a body called the “MYSPOTEM”. This time around, I did not waste time in joining their Neophyte Membership category. Their first two literature offerings did not contradict the Bible in any way. But from the 3rd to the 7th, they contained practices, which sharply contradict biblical doctrines of the New Testament. We used candles, lavenders and white handkerchief to perform what was called “ablutions” during our quiet times usually in the quiet period of the nights, which contradict the Pentecostal approach to Christianity. The more I advanced in their teachings the more the irreconcilable contradictions.
Personally, I would not, simply because I disagree with their practices, daub AMORC or MYSPOTEM as secret societies. A particular Christian group has claimed this against AMORC in the past and they were taken to court and the court ruled against the former. However, I consider all the benefits in their practices as something like “bodily exercise” which Apostle Paul rightly opined in the Holy Bible “profiteth little” (1 Tim. 4:8). Christianity offers us the completeness we are looking for both to have a good success in this planet and to enter into the Kingdom of God we all seek after.
Again, my candid opinion is that it is not possible practically for one to belong to those societies and still remain a true disciple of Christ. Surely, there are fundamental conflicts in teachings that cannot be reconciled without rationalizing one's faith.
No doubt the net-working, the inspirational books, the observation of quiet times at regular intervals can help their members to excel in creative thinking and develop their competence. The fact that many of their members are already financially successful people can lead to direct assistance to their members, yet I found the Bible offering a fuller and complete package compared to their goodies which they offer their adherents. So I left them alone.
The main purpose of revealing this much information on my religious conviction is to enable readers to realize that their experiences and situations are not unique or novel, because I have been a co-traveller in the bewildering experiences of human existence. It will let them realize that even as a Minister of God, I have, like them, gone through and am still going through, some, if not all of what are agitating their minds today. By seeing how I resolved such life's conflicts, it will aid them also to shape their lives for the better.
I also want to enable them appreciate the realities of the dilemma of man in spiritual issues as I similarly questioned everything about life before I chose to be what I have become. I have played out the inquisitiveness of man's nature!
Eckankar
According to their leadership Eckankar is a religion of light. Like the Christians, they now have worship centres all over the place and they conduct their services on Sundays. However, the few materials I read about them did not fascinate me at all. It’s like dancing round some aspects (particularly singling out the ‘light’ aspect of God). But God has many attributes which ought to be taken together.
Hare Krishna,
I read quite a number of Hare Krishna magazines. The more I knew of them and compared them with Christianity, the clearer it became to me that their religion departs from the teachings of the Bible. They haven't the originality and depth of Christianity. They are based on ordinary human aspirations and emotions. For instance, one Hare Krishna literature quotes Exod. 20:13 which says, 'Thou Shall Not Kill” (MKJV) to mean “thou shall not kill animals for food” to justify that all beings should be vegetarians! Reviewing the Hare Krishna assertion, there is nothing wrong with being vegetarians but its practice has no religious connotation but has only excellent medical justification.
Being vegetarians from youth is a healthy practice. More importantly, those above 40 years upwards may live far longer if they remove flesh in the form of red meat which we consume regularly, and which add less value to our health and eat much of assorted vegetables. It is common knowledge that vegetarians hardly suffer from common illnesses as indigestion or constipation because their digestive systems are not over-burdened and therefore function better. Practitioners could also avoid such animal diseases as the 'mad cow' disease that rocked Britain a few years ago. It is a sure way for shaping for the better, the health aspect of our lives tomorrow. But, even then, if vegetarianism were a complete way for longevity, most human beings would since have adopted it as the most acceptable way of feeding!
Islam
When I was in the University, I purposely added Islamic Studies to my course content. I went into it as part of my research into religions and I was very keen to know the basis of the Islamic Religion.
The Central Figures in Islam are God called “Allah”, Prophet Mohammed and his followers. Islam through Prophet Mohammed did so much to correct the moral decadence of the people of his time, particularly when God has stopped speaking to the then Christians. Islam like Christians believes in life after life i.e. there’s a God to whom we shall all return. They also believe in Heaven (Al-janna) a place of everlasting rejoicing and Hell a place of eternal torment. The greatest controversy is in the channel through which people will inherit this heaven - Mohammed or Jesus?
On morality, my discovery from such studies is that contrary to what quite a number of our so-called Muslims are practising, Islam, like Christianity, actually preaches peace, love, monogamy (not polygamy), total abstinence from alcohol (not drink a little alcohol), absolute morality, and so on. But is Islam the way to Heaven? Let’s not jump into conclusion until we have compared as many religions as possible or better still until we have thoroughly compared Islam and her counterpart, Christianity very well. We will do that after we have examined the latter.
Christianity
The Faith, The Books and The Churches
The central figures in Christianity are God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I subjected (Christianity) to thorough investigation. I went back to the various versions of the Bible (The King James Version, New International Version, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Version, The New King James Version, The Living Bible, Good News Bible) and as many more of other versions as possible. …! I read a considerable part of them, especially their introductions and the teachings of Jesus Christ himself.
I researched thoroughly into their origins. I was very much interested in the extent of their completeness or otherwise. I discovered the nature of man through the Bibles and also the number of innocent lives that were lost in the process of trying to make the Bible available to everyone as we have it today. I understood the meaning of the word “Authorised” appended to the King James' Version and all the troubles concerning its origin, the life that was lost who made the moving statement “if only God would open the King's eyes”, - uttered by the man being executed for his daring to make the Bible available to the society at large! I discovered the fact that there were some other books containing the works and miracles performed by some Kings, Prophets, and even Jesus Christ that were not contained in the Bible. I also gathered ample information on how the books of the Bible were authenticated before including them and why other books were rejected. I got to discover that the Seven Books of Moses is not a book that a book that a heaven-bound Christian should possess talkless of using as a base for his faith.
Chapter 6
(The Catholic and the Protestants)
The Catholic Church
It is a known fact that the Catholic Church is the very first church. Every other church is outside her is Protestant. In other words, they broke away from the Catholic Church in to ‘protest’ some doctrinal beliefs and policy thrusts they did not share with the church. Also the Pentecostals are breakaways from both the Catholic and the other orthodox Protestants. They broke away principally because they disagreed with some practices or doctrines in the orthodox churches.
The history of the church actually reveals that, apart from the Catholic, all other churches were established according the convictions of their founders. So wherever you worship you either belong to the Catholic or the Protestant.
I attended the Catholic Church, and its school. My observations while there were that in order to ensure that pupils were conscious of God, they made Bible Studies a compulsory subject. If you failed in it and passed in all other subjects, all the same, you will not be promoted to the next class. So we were bound to do all we could to pass that subject whose main aim for us was to move to the next class and not for purposes of spiritual development as the Church intends! And that practice did not particularly build my spiritual consciousness.
What did not help me then was that the mode of worship in Catholic churches was too dull for my young mind, to become particularly spiritually sensitized. Young minds are energetic, inquisitive, and they believe in something that triggers them off. But the Catholic approach was rather too easy-going that I saw it as mere formalities. They also did not make enough conscious efforts to let the children, now that we needed to do extra Bible reading beyond what we were taught to pass our examinations than to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ which should be the ultimate goal.
As a result, I considered church attendance more important than Bible reading whereas both ought to be taken together. The Bible is about salvation, not passing promotional exams to higher classes!
Personally, till date, I still continue to wonder what values the burning of incense and candles or the sprinkling of water during services by Catholic churches are adding to the salvation of the souls of their followers who do not value Bible reading. To me I see these practices as a continuation of Old Testament practices or a carry-over of Jewish practices than the New Testament approach, which is fashioned after both Christ and the formalities of the early Apostles who fought to carry on His methods and teachings. Adults, particularly the uneducated ones, may enjoy these practices, but the young ones who are anxious to gain deep knowledge of the word of God may find it particularly boring. For me, it did not fascinate me at all.
Because of the above considerations, I did not feel like continuing my faith under the Catholic system.
The Anglican Church
I was born into the Anglican setting and my very early days were spent in primary school and they were the first church to teach me Bible stories. The greatest instrument in their hands then which ensures that every pupil in their school was evangelized was that they made Christian Religious Studies compulsory . A failure in it was a failure in all therefore no promotion to the next class. Our Bible studies were not beyond the preparations we made towards passing those examinations. The most important aspect of the study which would have been to make us study the Bible in our private capacities so we can grow spiritually was not emphasized. Even though passing CRS was made compulsory, church attendance was not. So majority of us did not value the importance of attending church services, except perhaps on Sundays and when we attended, we did not go for there because we thirsted for Christ. Again, the approach to service whenever we attended church services is not as involving and sensitizing as you have in the Pentecostal churches of today.
Our situation spiritual situation was particularly worsened particularly too as our majority of our parents were not themselves spiritually sound and did not help to inculcate in us the habit of studying the Bible on our own.
Now am an adult and can assess better. I can see that the leadership of Anglican churches are introducing some measures (especially prayer patterns) that will help move young minds towards salvation but so much still needed to be done on their part to ensure that the lukewarmness on the part of the youths in responding to these changes is tackled. They need to emphasise to the youths from time to time the need study and meditate constantly upon the Bible.
The Other Orthodox churches
Except for the Methodist church whose primary school I attended at Idanre in the 60’s, and whose religious practices I participated in as a pupil, I am not that too familiar with the practices of the Baptist and other orthodox protestants. As for the Methodist, their practices are far from those of the Catholics but akin to those of the Anglicans. So I rate them all the way I rate the Anglicans.
The Missing Gap
To be candid, no church will influence the spiritual life of a child better than his parents. Parents ought to tame their children spiritually at home and then the job will become easier for the churches. So my realisation as a parent and a pastor is that the missing gap is the fact that parents leave their children’s spiritual lives in the hands of churches. Churches are to give guidelines on how a Christian life should be spent. Parents are to police and enforce the doctrines of the churches in the lives of their children. So long as this gap still remains, society will continue to suffer moral decadence.
Chapter 7
The Protestants Churches
(The Pentecostals)
The Pentecostal are churches like Christ Apostolic Church, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Deeper Christian Life Bible Church, Winners, The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, Mountain of Fire, to mention but a few.
These churches share two main things in common relentless prayerfulness and Bible studies. However, some of them over-emphasized miracles such that their adherents tended to depend upon it rather than take their jobs and lives seriously in order to prosper. The correct Bible teaching in the book of Rom. 12:11 is that Christians should not be “slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”. If we all practice these provisions, Christians will be more fruitful spiritually and in their places of work than they currently are. Over dependence upon miracles has rendered many lazy. Ignorance therefore still reigns in the lives of many converts.
Another topical issue that is of great concern is young Christians who should take their careers as seriously as they take their spiritual endeavours rushing to become over-night full-time pastors.
However, I personally feel that, yes, there is need for pragmatism, but some of them have developed to the point of being grating and deceitful as to capitalize upon the low station in use of their converts and exploit their ignorance and poverty. If you asked me, I would say we have got to a point where those who seemingly lead the fight to 'kill the unseen enemies have themselves become their own foes. They neglected to do the obvious practical things that will keep believers' minds or attention focused on the productive ways of existence, which will lift them beyond the poverty level and prepare their souls for salvation. Rather, futile harangues in a loud bombastic declamation are often expressed with strong emotions!
I did make specific findings concerning a few of them. My findings are as follows:
The Cherubim and Seraphim Church
My mother took me to the Cherubim and the Seraphim Church for some time. I attended the Gospel Faith Mission, The Christ Gospel Church and, during the most part of my bachelorhood, I was an active devotee of Christ Apostolic Church where I was of the Choir. I studied their doctrines. As for the Cherubim & the Seraphim Churches, most of my candid observation (without necessarily being judgmental please) is that some of their converts especially the youths - definitely live at cross-purposes, wherefore they see the church more as a social fraternity than a place to progressively get involved in propagating the word. They need more exposure to living the word. The idea of their leaders having more than one wife and yet remaining in leadership positions clearly runs contrary to what the Bible says in 1Ti 3:2 thus, “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach.” How would a leader who himself is married to more than one wife tell his followers that that practice is unbiblical? My suggestion is that they need a corrective dose of re-orientation in the word of God!
Christ Apostolic Church
Perhaps because of the educational background of some of our preachers then, some of the Christ Apostolic Church sermons were far below the level of God's standard for me intellectually. Or what does one make of my Pastor (then) who saw me reading Chinua Achebe's “Things Fall Apart” in preparation for my GCE examination and he exclaimed, “Brother John, what are you doing with a worldly book instead of reading the Bible alone?” Honestly that statement ran me cold. How did he expect me to read only the Bible for my non-religious exams? It was obvious that my spiritual father missed the point and I could not abide with such company and religious misleading! (Many young fellows had fallen victims of such teachings in the past and many unwary students will still follow suit!).
At the CAC, we exerted too much energy praying without planning and we left what needed to be done (hard work) undone! We were inundated with so much sermons about the 'enemies', the spiritual forces, to the point of confusion for a young mind like mine. At a stage, I wondered whether we should not concentrate more on praying and working for positive things rather than making enemies of every human being that came our way. It was in the CAC that I felt so holy within myself that I regarded every other person as a sinner. Even at a particular stage, I became a reject because I had nobody to relate with anymore! As we were intolerant of people, so we were with the other religions, especially Islam.
The Deeper Life Ministry.
When the Deeper Life Ministry started sometime in the 1970s, members of our CAC Church got so excited at their Bible teachings that we all virtually trooped to her Gbagada Study Centre. It was then a purely inter-denominational Bible Study Centre, not a Church in the real sense as it is today.
“It was primarily pressure from existing churches which led Pastor Kumuyi to start Sunday worship for Deeper Life members thus forming a new Church, rather than remaining as an interdenominational ministry…”
At best it can be said that the founding of the church was not based on a direct but implied call by God. And it is thriving today.
Their initial doctrinal beliefs on cardinal issues like marriage and technology, though were more logical in reasoning and legalistic in practice than spiritual. For instance they forbade, and legalistically too, marriage and the use of technological devices such as the Television. On marriage, the Bible made marriage optional, while on technology, it requires moderation and positive usage. Understandably there have been modifications to these views today to reflect what they should be.
But these conflicting signals in the Deeper Life, however kept me in the CAC before I finally found myself in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), not by mine but by God’s own design! It was only later I found out the difference between TREM and RCCG. Both are ok. But God wants me to be in RCCG instead.
The Gospel Faith Mission
The Gospel Faith Mission. The approach was similar to that of CAC, then highly laden with emotion and I did not waste my time there at all.
Christian Science
I have also read some materials in the Christian Science. Such materials did not convince me that they are towing the path of the Bible 100%. I withdrew from them.
The Seventh Day Adventist
The Seventh Day Adventist Church is an Orthodox church. The sharpest difference between them and other churches is that they retain Saturdays as their own ‘rest’/worship days as was at the very beginning but other churches observe theirs on Sundays, the day Jesus Christ rose from the grave. I read a particular book by a topmost leader of the church which tried to explain that the ‘fruit’ Eve ate is not fruit as in the fruit of a tree but sexual intercourse. My belief is that if this is what is held to be the truth, it can mislead people. Throughout the Bible, a spade is called a spade. So, I have my reservations about that assertion..
The Redeemed Christian Church of God
It was easier for me to investigate RCCG in more details because I worship with them but I kept my mind open to the possibility of calling it quit if I discovered anything that can impede my making heaven at the end of my Christian race. As a result of this, I painstakingly made thorough investigations about the Church through its own literature and from discussions with friends. Good enough, they had ample materials revealing so much about the founder, the doctrines and the incumbent General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye. The more questions I asked, the more answers I found. I became fascinated.
During mid-week and Sunday services, I flowed very well with everything done.
First, I discovered there was a balanced preaching of salvation and the need and how to succeed here on earth. Their presentation aligned with my concept of Christianity! My concept of Christianity is that it is an avenue to enjoy all-round prosperity on earth and make heaven when we die.
Secondly, RCCG, as a church, caters absolutely for the souls of everyone irrespective of whether you are holy, semi-holy or unholy. RCCG has the passion to win ALL souls to its fold.
Thirdly, RCCG receives you the way you are. You are then indoctrinated with the Word of God through such channels as its Believer's Class, the Sunday School, The School of Disciples and other Biblical trainings until you come to self-realisation and acquire the sound ability to make mature choices!
The Church elevates you to appreciate holiness and righteousness, which informs the choice of names, such as Model and Classical, given to parishes. If the parish is classical, they are likely governed with much do's and don'ts in the pattern of the CAC, brooking no compromise at all. If you can't stand such toughness, you may belong to the Model parishes, which predominate in the Church. They contain the trendy ones, mostly the youth and females who invariably prefer to sport trouser suits, flaunt the airs of the generally fashionable and the educated diction exudes class!
My understanding of the church leadership's philosophy is for one to serve God with one's heart through the full exposure to the Word of God, by which one should operate at one's individual capacity to please God. I share this view very much. It differs from the outlook of the previous places (except Powerline Bible Church which shares the same approach with RCCG) where I have worshipped before joining the RCCG..
The policy of establishing branches within five minutes of walking (or for car owners, five minutes of driving) distance to worshipers' residence is laudable and visionary. It is admirable. It challenges those who are zealous for God to become leaders quickly and has reduced leadership tussles in the Church to the barest minimum by the ready opportunities available to the ambitiously restless. It answers Christ's statement that the harvest is plenty but that the labourers are few!
One other thing I cherish in RCCG is the inculcation of the spirit of hard work and intellectual development through continuing education. Much of the preaching is decidedly educative and a constant reminder to the student adherents in particular to buckle up always and not relent in their studies. So mediocrity has no foothold in the congregation.
Above all, salvation of every member is the ultimate goal in RCCG. Holiness and righteousness are her emphasis and a lot of biblical training opportunities for adherents to know how to attain the much desired salvation. No doubt a lot of miracles happen during preachings, which only evidences the fact that God still performs the wonders of old today. If any member wants to really understand this policy of the church clearly, it is important for him or her to join the School of Disciples. The practical aspect of RCCG is manifest there! RCCG is rooted on holiness, rightgeousness and salvation.
RCCG also believes that good Christians are needed in all facets of leadership (including politics) to run the affairs of any nation well.
These two goals for a man to live an accomplished and balanced life to inherit the kingdom of God tally with my own understanding of God's purposes for our lives.
However, the administrative process of managing so many parishes everywhere creates a big financial challenge for members generally and the leaders especially the Parish Pastors.
The Controversies about RCCG
In every organisation, there will always be grey areas. The one that seems to have brought controversies in RCCG, as far as my research revealed, centred on the aspect allegation that members cannot leave the church even if they are called by God to establish their own churches and that if they did, such churches shall not prosper.
During the General Council meeting led by The General Overseer in the 2012 Convention, I was privileged to hear directly from Daddy Adeboye on this subject, He said that people can leave RCCG if they so wished. If they do so, the doors of the church are still left open for them to return within one year if they so wished. However, after one year, they will no longer be considered members of the church.
Therefore, this declaration by Daddy did not support the rumour making the rounds then that one cannot leave RCCG. Indeed those who were present who wished to leave RCCG were given the opportunity to do so right their and then before those willing to stay entered into a fresh covenant with the General Overseer as to their decision to remain in RCCG.
The Jehovah Witnesses
I have read quite a number of The Jehovah Witness' literatures (the Awake in particular). On any article they set out to write, I discovered that they always begin very beautifully well relying on the Bible. However, half-way through, they degenerate into ordinary intellectual write-ups based on human reasoning to the end.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (The Mormons)
By all standards, this church looks like any other Bible believing churches. Their religious practices and ways of life are akin to the normal Pentecostal churches setting. They dress well and observe good moral code of conduct. They are very dedicated to the service of God in their own way. They hardly have more than one church in any town or village but the churches are well equipped and tastefully furnished. They also have sporting facilities for their members. You will love everything about them. They produce a lot of wonderful literature materials for their members.
However, they go beyond the Bible as base for their faith. They have a book which they considered as being equal to the Bible. It is called the book of Mormons, another book which, like the Bible, according to them, was inspired or revealed by God to their Founder. These book, and other materials are on the internet for free. You may just Google “the book of mormons” and it will be brought out in a matter of seconds!
The Bible is the only book authentic book that a real Christian should depend upon as a basis of his faith. All doctrines must necessarily emanate from it, no other sources! The inclusion of the book of mormons as a doctrinal base makes that church unattractive to me, because the Bible forbids such. You can neither add to nor subtract from the contents of the Bible!
The Grail Message
I read a few materials about this religious body too. I also listen to some of their postulations and beliefs as aired over the radio or the television from time to time. I am not at all convinced that they are the way to salvation of souls. So I wasted no time in dropping them.
Chapter 8
A Brief Comparative Analysis
of Islam & Christianity and Churches v. Churches
Christianity v. Islam
The most fundamental difference between Islam and Christianity is the issue of the path to eternity - Jesus or Mohammed?
After personally comparing the antecedents of these two men, Mohammed and Jesus Christ, I am more persuaded and have preferred to remain with Jesus because there is something more supernatural about him and which goes deeper to the foundation of the world.
His latter-day counterpart, Mohammed and Islam, I noted, actually began on or around the period when men had lost connection with God about 400 years after the second century of Christian dispersal through persecution. Therefore Christianity pre-dates Islam. I also compared the circumstances of the birth, the works and the death of the two men and got more convinced that Jesus Christ was unique in the manner of His death at Calvary and its good portent. The fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, which his brother, Mohammed did not, tells me that there is something more celestially unique about the former than the latter. His ascension to the heavens before the very eyes of those who were alive then, his walking upon water, his raising of the dead, his asserted super-natural powers, all endeared me to him the more.
When I also compared the depth of authority with which Jesus Christ spoke and acted during his ministry and the promises made from Abraham through to their exact fulfillment in the New Testament of the Bible, I had more confidence remaining a Christian than being a Muslim.
Christianity v. Christianity
The Orthodox v. Pentecostals
The Orthodox churches are the Catholic, the Anglican, the Methodist, the Baptist, The Seventh Day Adventist, the Presbyterians, and so on. While the Pentecostals are the vibrant Holy-Spirit-centred churches. To me the greatest difference between the these two divides is that the former appear to be more easy-going than the latter. The Pentecostals, on the other hand, apply more zeal, or, if you like, call it passion, to everything they do: their prayer, their preaching, their counseling, their utterances and other church processes than the Orthodox churches like the Anglican and the Catholics. They tutor their adherents to read the bible inside out personally. They organize more regular and structured bible training for the laity, encourage attendance to the point that, sometimes, they live a seamless, round-the-clock work-church life. They are more focused organically, unrelentingly, as if under pressure! They try harder to live Christ-like by making the contents of the Bible to bear on their daily existence. The issue of demons and how to combat them through deliverance services take a prominent place in their worship. Conversely, most often than not, their converts narrow down their 'enemies' to those they can see physically - their immediate neighbours, co-workers, some bosses, and, in the extreme cases, their mothers, fathers, brothers and extended families! They become over-protective of themselves and leave what needs to be done to eradicate poverty from their lives and chase the shadows like the proverbial Don Quixote!
Chapter 9
I Chose to Be A Christian
As mentioned somewhere in the earlier part of this book, the aim of providing all the information above is chiefly to afford the readers of this book the opportunity to see how much efforts I invested in researching into the world of religions in order to clear the confusions I initially had. It is also to let them know the basis of the decisions I took as a result of my findings.
Having compared as many religions as I could, I was more convinced that Christianity is the best way that leads to heaven. As a result of this conviction, I decided not only to remain a Christian that I am today but invite all readers of this book to choose Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal Saviour from now on. .
However, I still have a hurdle jump. Of the myriads of Churches and Christian denominations, which church appeals to me most as a church that can truly lead man to God? Of the two main divisions in Christianity - The Catholic (the original church) and the Protestants, I was able to say that people in the Protestants (not all of them!) seem to have a stronger point than the Catholic Church if only for one thing, they seem to engage in less and less religious rituals.
Again, amongst the Protestants are the Pentecostals. I prefer to align with the Pentecostals because they more particularly don’t believe in other books other than the Bible. Secondly, they are more spiritually sensitive than the Protestant Orthordox churches. They are more fervent in spirit than their Orthodox counterparts. Almost all committed members of the Pentecostal churches read the Bible on their own and pray on their own which is not so in the Orthodox churches. They are more eager to observe the commandments of God in terms of moral code, payment of tithes, offerings, etc. They constantly develop in the spirit than an average Orthodox church member.
Of course, they have their short comings too! Many of them tend to become careless or demonstrate ‘holier than thou’ attitude. But this depends upon whom you are dealing among them. Again they tend to become lazy as they expect miracles than work. Again, this depends upon the perception of those we are dealing with amongst them. It also depends so much on the leadership direction their leaders offer them, which again depends upon the nature of the churches they attend and the practices therein.
Now coming to the churches, from the information already provided, I was able to finally settle for The Redeemed Christian Church of God as a church because I believe that she is capable of leading one to Heaven, particularly if the tempo or their doctrinal beliefs, teachings, and quality leadership are sustained.
Chapter 10
Christianity Points The Way to Heaven
The summary of this comprehensive research work on religion is that based upon the points raised in the chapter dealing with religion comparisons, I am convinced that of all the various religions in the world, I consider Christianity as the only religion that not only points the way, but unquestionably leads to heaven. That’s the basis of my remaining a Christian that I am till date.
Having also examined practically all the major churches in Christianity, I am convinced that in the orthodox churches, there are many Christians who are more concerned with their secular businesses than being spiritually fervent thereby toying with their salvation. Whereas in the Pentecostal fold, there are many Christians who are ‘fervent in the spirit’ but are careless about their secular lives thereby leading them to financial and material poverty which in turn is capable of denying them their places in heaven. The best position would have been for both groups to produce Christians that are “not lazy in business but fervent in the spirit”. It is this category of Christians, be they in the orthodox or protestant or Pentecostal churches that are more likely to make heaven than the two groups earlier mentioned.
Chapter 11
Where Do You Want to Belong?
The main object of this book is that its readers who are yet to believe in Christ should leave the unprofitable world of unbelief and become a follower of Jesus Christ. This is the only way their lives can be meaningful and fulfilling and make heaven at the end of your sojourn in this world.
Having said that, the next question I need to ask those of you who are already religious is:, is, where do you want to belong form now on? My candid recommendation to you is that you should belong to the Christian fold. You have read the details as to why you should do so in the previous chapter, and I believe that that chapter actually set removed all the confusions you had before reading this book. If still in doubt, I suggest you re-read it again.
The second important point I need to make is this: I want you to belong to a Bible believing church. And I want you to do that without delay, say the very next Sunday following the day you read this book. To properly introduce yourself, just go to the Pastor of such church and show him this very page of this book and that I invite you to join his church.
There are many Bible believing churches all over the place. The size of the church does not matter. If God calls them, He will back them up. How do you identify them? That’s what the next chapter of this book is devoted to answer.
Chapter 12
Identifying a
Bible Believing Church
How do you know a Bible believing church? There are some factors that will help you. Before you join any church, make detailed inquiries about the leadership of such church and the doctrinal beliefs of the church. Even though the church may have a wide variety of Christian literatures, the Holy Bible alone should be her doctrinal base. In other words, she should not have any other doctrines outside the Bible. All other literatures must simply be explanations and right interpretations of what the Bible holds as true. No matter how strong the writer of any book may be, if he contradicts the Bible, his works should be discarded. No matter how strongly inspired a writer may be, his or her postulations should never be taken as the doctrine of a Bible believing church. In other words, the only authentic book for Christian doctrines is the Holy Bible. Others may help to interpret and amplify but not to replace it or share the same level of authority or bindingness with it.
A good church must spell out her tenets for all to see. For example the RCCG has produced books, audio tapes, CD’s etc that spell out all her doctrinal beliefs.
Again, having read through the processes I adopted in my research into religions as earlier stated, I believe they provide you with adequate information about many popular churches. These information can be very helpful to you in the course of conducting your own, the ample information provided in earlier chapter about many churches will be of immense help to you but if you still need us to guide you further, please do not hesitate to contact us at The Redeemed Christian Church of God, (Achievers Mobile Centre) Tel. 08034465225.
Again, find out who is the founder? Find out if and how he was called by God, if he rebelliously broke away from a bible believing church to found his own, according to his own will, or because he hates discipline, don’t follow him. If you do, he will lead you astray. Consider what is his life-style like? If he has more than one wife, please quit that church. If he or she is a divorcee be wary for God does not cherish divorce no matter how strong is the basis for the divorce. There’s the danger that he has compromised his faith somewhere so. . If he did, quit his church. Another phenomenon is that many churches capitalize upon the ignorance of the people by centering their prayers upon ‘enemies, witches, wizards but never focus on important doctrines as pursuing, deep knowledge of the word of God and preaching the gospel, holiness, etc. Prov. 14:23 says,
Another sign by which you will identify a true bible believing church is their adherence to bible’s doctrine, particularly on how to deal with our enemies. From Genesis to revelation, God and Jesus says ‘Vengeance is God’s’. (Rom. 12:19) And we were commanded to treat our enemies well instead of trying to avenge them.
Prov. 25:21 says ‘21 If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink. Romans 12:14-21 say: ‘4 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Any church where the doctrine is based on taking vengeance by themselves rather than leaving it to God, the I beseech you leave that church. Their stock in trade are: kill the enemies, fall and die, and so on. They hardly teach people the provisions of the Bible above. They hardly direct the hearts and minds of their converts towards hard work. Rather they encourage them to migrate from one mountain to another fighting wars with their imaginary enemies, including members of their own families! They discountenance the what God says about vengeance which is His. From Genesis to Revelation wherever vengeance needed to be taken, it remained God’s prerogative. He destroyed Pharaoh Himself, the Israelites did not. He destroyed Saul Himself, not King David in spite of all the opportunities he had to do so. Instead David punished the person that brought the news of his death. He destroyed Jezebel, Ahab’s wife. 2Kings 9:30-end. He destroyed the world through flood, not through human beings. One thread that cuts across all these vengeances is that it is God Himself who determined the kinds of punishments to mete to the enemies not the people. Any church that leads you to the path of war against anybody, your friends inclusive, that church does not follow the bible. It will do you no good remaining there. Help everybody, including your enemies. Let God avenge them Himself .
“Work brings profit; but mere talk leads to poverty”. Rather than follow this important doctrine, they engage people in ceaseless prayers, excessive night vigils, ritualistic cleansing, and so on. They even make people to feel dependent upon miracles that will happen without hard work! If you find yourself in a church setting where the above are their trademarks, don’t waste your time anymore, quit the church.
If you are in a church where the leaders despise the pursuit of knowledge Hosea 4:6, quit and because knowledge is very basic to understanding and wisdom. Necessarily, your Pastor must be someone who can add value to your knowledge base spiritually and intellectually. If not, the little you know before joining him will disappear so soon so quit before that happens. If you allow it to happen, you may not recover spiritually!
Candle lighting, using fetish means to cast out demons, giving compulsory and fearful prophesies are all concrete evidences that you are in a fake church. All rituals have gone with the shedding of the blood of Jesus on the Calvary. If you are being asked to bring one object or the other or pay money to undo what the enemies have done to you in the past, refuse to do so, instead quit the church.
Does the church you identify with expose you to and encourages you to read the word of God and regularly, pray to God to find out truth about what God says concerning the issues of life yourself? If not, don’t join them or if you have joined them already, quit without delay. Do their prophesies generate fear in you than peace? If so, quit that church immediately.
Do they particularly see nothing wrong in loving luxury e.g. alcohol, committing adultery, fornicating, uncontrolled eating habit etc? Will the church advance your present spiritual and secular upliftment? If no, please quit that church!
Again, don’t be contented with joining a church alone. I want you to develop the habit of having a one-to-one relationship with your Creator. I want you to step up and become a Christian and be free indeed. If you do, a time will come in your life that God, through the Holy Spirit, will speak to you one-on-one.
I want Christianity to transform or translate your life for the better. Your life must be better than it was before you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour.
Once again, go to any bible believing church NOW as Jesus is waiting there to receive and bless you. They will tell you all the procedures you need to go through to become steady.
In conclusion, joining a church, you need to know how to balance your spiritual and your secular lives such that you become more fruitful in both. To this end, we have another book for you titled “Be A Fruitful Christian”. Ask for your copy today. It will surely help you as you grow in your Christian race.
God bless you. Amen.
