Child Witches

There is a problem when the Bible is misinterpreted by Pentecostal miracle performers.

There is a problem when the Word of God is twisted so badly that children are now becoming the victims of the hungry societies.

Across the globe, many children have been and are still being accused of being witches or possessed by demoniac spirits. Notably in South America countries, in some Africa nations such as Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Tanzania, Malawi, and even in some European countries.

According to scholarly references, the accusations often start from within the family. While this could have been dealt with at the homes, many of the cases are brought to the pastors for additional confirmation. It is important to clarify here that NOT all Pentecostal churches or leaders accuse children of witchcraft.

Many do. Majority of these so-called pastors-turned-prophets are often the owners of roadside Pentecostal churches. Although some megachurches have been caught labelling children as witches.

Why are children targeted? The simplest response is because they are vulnerable! Children cannot defend themselves in many instances. Some of them are children with disabilities, those with Albinism, orphans, those with stubborn characters, stepchildren and of course, those fostered.

How does these families detect a child is a witch or evil possessed? There is no clear answer to this. However, majority of these accusations have been borne out of the need to get rid of the child. Socioeconomic fallout cause many people to designate a culprit of their misfortunes. In addition, the money-seeking Pentecostal pastors or so-called prophets aid in fuelling the accusation by confirming the child is possessed and calling for exorcism, which is NOT free.

May God help us!

When To Say Goodbye

The word ‘family’, resonated throughout my childhood. I was taught to eat together in the same bowl with my five siblings. I was dressed us in uniformed attires with my siblings. We went to church as one. We did practically all of those things family members do. This was a way to create an atmosphere of oneness.

However, doing things together does not imply have a united relationship. It was easier to maintain happy surroundings when the children were young. But it becomes more of an uncomfortable and uncontrollable dilemma when they are adults.

Having a large family comes with lots of disadvantages than advantages. Joseph (Genesis 37:4) and David (1 Samuel 16:11) are vivid examples of this. This is by no means to dissuade anyone from growing his or her family as desired.

The point is, what constitutes a safe family relationship? Do you have to live together forever in order to make things work? Sometimes, many people have to turn their backs on their family members (or perhaps friends) before they came have a lifetime breakthroughs (Genesis 12:1, Ruth 1:16-17).

Whosoever does not make you strong will literally makes you weak. It is not as if your family members are bad or perhaps this may be the case for some people. Oftentimes , there has to be a wide gap for your wellbeing and spiritual development. Abraham might have well stayed in Haran. Ruth had the choice to return to her family. Although his own history was unsettled from the onset, Joseph was taken away to be protected from his hostile environment.

You must leave when God says you have to. You cannot decide otherwise unless you want to remain at the cruise level. The journey to success comes with lots of lessons, some of them are not comfortable. God does not move you away from among others without a perfect plan elsewhere waiting for you.

James and John would have missed been part of the chosen twelve disciples had they preferred their fishing business. Instead, these sons of thunder (Mark 3:17) opted for a better position knowing that they have to suffer for the sake of Gospel of Christ.

Did all these people regret?

May God help us!

The Lost Gospel

I grew up with the a gospel that is the reverse of what it is today. It was different back then. Strong emphasis was on converting souls for Jesus Christ. There were discussions about sin, hell and heaven. The virtual imageries of hell are literal. The ugly devil with bloody horns, it’s burning flames were so frightening that, no one pray to die and end up there. We enjoyed dry fasting that could live for three to seven days. We got pleasure in group house meetings. Many hit the roads to preach from house to house, and streets to streets.

Time slips away and things are no longer the same. That gospel seems to have been pushed behind the curtains. No more hell. No more heaven. Some ministers are now preaching that heaven is here on earth.

People are desperate now. Some of us are perpetually hungry. Some sick. More or less in search of genuine love and acceptance. Per event, many of the 21st century pastors and preachers are more or less taking advantage of this to fill their own pockets. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has been twisted so badly to fit modern-day satisfaction (Mark 11:17).

What happened to the days of the true gospel? Positive changes can bring this back, but is this possible within the Christian communities where denominations are not in oneness?

Many go to church, not with the honest intentions to fellowship, simply seek to God for solutions to their issues. While the church leadership must do everything desperately to keep them coming(1 Timothy 6:10). After all, how do you continue maintaining a megachurch without the members’ money? How does one buy the fuels for the pastors’ private jets?

Dear God, help us(John 17:9-12)!

Talk To God

I met a beautiful lady last year during a five-day conference on disability at a Methodist church in Raleigh. We got on right from the start! Ours was a friendship like biological sisters, except of course, it was brief.

One day, I was discussing something personal with her when she cut me short and said, “Talk to God.” Have you ever talked to God? She added. It hit me! First I thought she meant praying to God.

“No,” she explained. “You don’t raise your hands towards the heaven, close your eyes and start saying, “Holy Father in heaven I thank you, I blessed you and all that stuffs.” That’s too formal!”

When she was through with me, I realised God desires a friendship with us and not a rigid approach from us. Many of us are too fixed on the conventional platform of prayer that we do not create the atmosphere of informal relationship with the Almighty.

Do you have a boyfriend, girlfriend, father, mother, child(ren), wife, husband, closed colleague, mentor(s), or many more? How do you communicate with them? The way you interact with your family members and friends is not the exact way you will with your boss or customers. This is because you do not know them 100% or share your personal life with them.

It is exactly the same family relationship or friend relationship that God wants from you. Besides, He knows you even before you were born[Psalm 139:16]!

Change how you pray throughout this New Year. Rather, practice talking to God everywhere you are. You don’t have to bother whether you’re doing it right or wrong. There’s no perfect way to communicate with Jehovah. You can choose to go crazy like Gideon [Judges 6:17] and ask Him for signs. But don’t doubt Him like Thomas [John 20:25-26]. You can choose to write poems to Him like David wrote some of the Psalms.

Talk to Him when you go out running.

Talk to Him in the gym

Talk to Him when you’re taking the children to school or taking them home.

Talk to Him in the middle of your board meetings.

Talk to Him when you get confused about your research.

Talk to Him in the shower, in your toilet, on the bus, in your kitchen, when you sad or happy, when you are meditating or among the crowd.

It does not have to be aloud. Think of Hannah [1 Samuel 1:13] and you will master the art of whispering to God. As a matter of fact, talking to the Lord should be a one-to-one affair.

Don’t stop talking to God! He loves it!

The Missing Link

Relationship can become a struggle when only one side of the party is making considerable effort while the other is not. It takes two to tangled. This means love is not present where there is no honesty.

You can take a donkey to the river to drink but, you cannot force it to drink. It will if he wants to. Likewise, you cannot force others to come in total agreement with you if they are not willing to be honest with you and the relationship you have with them.

People quarrel. Couple fight. Friends hurl at each other. Even animals can engage in physical lockout for minutes before exhaustion.

This is life. To keep grudges or refuse to let go can ruin healthy relationships. Already, any fragile friendship will not stand when one of the people in it fails to acknowledge his or her wrong.

True healing will come from genuine inward confessions and repentance.

Christ in the Boy

Our Lord, Jesus Christ deliberately came down from Heaven to meet us. He knew we cannot come to heaven anytime we want to see Him. Hence, He took it upon Himself to join us here without reservation.

The most beautiful part of His journey was to come through a woman. He was born of a woman. By doing so, He decided to understand our lives. For the Lord to intervene, He chose to be born like us, live like us, grow up in sequences of lifeline like us. In other words, He was once a baby, a toddler, a kindergartener, a primary school boy, an adolescent and eventually, a man. What else can be as delightful as knowing that God identity with us and our pains through His son, Jesus Christ who lived on earth, ate and drink, sleep and wake up, used the bathroom and toilet as we do, dressed up in our like manner.

In the above verse, here was the young Jesus Christ at the edge of His first miracle. Despite talking to His mother, He did not disobey her. He simply talked. However, He went ahead to turn water into the best of all wines at the wedding.

Who else can we identify with? Who else do you want to hand out your life for?

What a friend we have in Jesus Christ?

The Delibrate Sin

Immediate gratification only yield instant results. After that, nothing else. Money is good. I recommend it. Living a prosperous life is okay. I am happy for that.

However, when a Christian fails to understand the difference between a one-off gratification and a permanent blessing, his or her life will end up in continuous turmoil.

One African proverbial saying is that, “What a man loves much and cannot part from it, is what will ended up killing him.”

To declare being a born-again Christian and still fails to learn to say a big No, in diverse faces of temptation is detrimental to one’s relationship with God.

Lot wanted the best of the lands. He got it. In addition, he received many troubles with it. Jacobs desired his brother’s firstborn blessings. He had it BUT he added years of destructive forces into his life. David wanted a woman so badly that, for one moment in his life he forgot God, and killed a man just to have her. We all know the results. David, the man after God’s own heart, paid terribly for shedding innocent blood.

What do you want to have by all means that you know is contrary to the will of God?

Don’t Think Once!

Don’t Think Twice!!!

Think THRICE!!!

May the Holy Spirit helps you.

A Kind of Man

Many people do not understand why they are different from the others in their world. For some, it may be their disabilities. For others, it may be a sense of being uglier. For another, it could be the fear of being worthless.

Thus, they eventually develop the repeated circles of soul-searching simply to seek the best answer. Oftentimes, in these soul-searching techniques, they forget about thinking in the line connected to God and rather focus on thoughts that further bring them lots of depression, troubles and unnecessary anxiety.

Perhaps, the question here ought to be; “who is ugly or disabled or worthless in the eyes of the Almighty Jehovah?

My answer is, No one!

God created man in His Own Image [Genesis 1:27]. Therefore, the Holy Spirit does not see the ugliness or the disability or the worthless when He settles in the life of a man. Jesus Christ did not care about the disfigured face of any man when He offered His salvation. The Heads of the Trinity see only the man in us. This is the uniqueness and until you get to embrace it, trust me, you will have a long journey of issues.

John, the Baptist was a special man who loved his life as he was. He never searched for the means to modify his life. He was comfortable. And God used him that way.

No judgment. No condemnation. No rejection.

Make God First before anything

New Year, New Beginning.

New Year, beautiful plans. What would happen if God was not part of our plans? Where would that lead us? Into chaos, of course.

Either God becomes our priority and everything other things fall into place, or we are living in total illusions.

Take one more minute to think of how peaceful and assured life will be when we first of put God as the Source of our everything in this year. We then do not have to worry about everything else.

Be blessed!