WE HAVE A PODCAST!!!

So me and my tribe; Grace Community have launched a new podcsst. It's titled The GC Podcast. For now it includes me and my brother having discussions around pop culture, life and how it intersects with our faith. This is basically a peek into thee conversations and fellowship that makes us Grace Community.

The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud and Podbean. So please search for it. We kick off on Monday,
the 1st of October



Links to the intro are below




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I BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF

¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

Many of us who were brought up in the Charismatic and Pentecostal stream of things have been taught a Christianity with an overtly unhealthy fixation on our faith. In the midst of all the good that came with believing that God actually still worked miracles; he still healed, he stilled provided financially and he still casts out demons, a little error crept in. We placed too much emphasis on how strong the individual’s belief is.  We are constantly reminded to be strong in faith. That we should not waver in our belief that this miracle or healing will happen. If it doesn’t happen, it simply means there is something wrong with us.

To me, this has built an unhealthy fixation on faith amongst Christians. We are more concerned with how much faith we display than in the goodness of God. It is a subtle reversal to the works mentality that is prevalent in most human religion and we allowed it to creep it in because we all love to boast about what we have done to earn the blessing. In this case, we have believed properly and unwaveringly.

Don’t get me wrong, I do agree that the belief and assent of the believer is key to living and enjoying the relationship with God. But I believe that Faith is a natural response to the goodness of God. We are not saved by Faith, we are saved by Grace. Faith is what happens when we find out what God has done for us. it is the hallelujah we scream when we think of the goodness of God to us through his Son. It is the smile on people’s faces, the feeling of relief and joy that I see in people when they dare to believe that God is actually better than they think.

Nevertheless, there is an ebb and flow with regards to our faith. Sometimes we believe strongly, other times the circumstances are so overwhelming, we forget that God is bigger than the challenge and he is actually on our side. When the rubber meets the road, there are times when we forget who we are; beloved children of the most high God.

This is where the beauty of the Gospel lies. It was never dependent on our faith. Our faith did not save us and it does not sustain us. Even in times when we are unsure and full of doubt, Jesus has no doubt. Consider the passage above, the man believed in Jesus enough to bring his son to Jesus for healing, but even then, he still had doubts. That did not stop Jesus from doing what he wanted to do. Because he is a healer, he is Love. The cry of the man for Jesus to help his unbelief is the cry of humanity. It is apt because that is exactly part of what Jesus does for us in his vicarious humanity. He takes our feeble attempts at faith, repentance, and worship and presents it alongside his perfect representation of these things before the Father. At the end of the day we are all people screaming “I believe, help my unbelief”

The result of this is simple, we do not need to examine the level of our faith (the epistles advise us to examine if we are still in the Faith and not to examine how strong our faith is) but to continually trust in the one who can perfect our faith, however big or small. We are also to trust that he is always on our side, even when we seem unsure, he will always help our unbelief. When you do that, your focus goes back to him and God sees you in your faith

Thinking Communally

A few things have changed the course of my life forever and affected the way I think and live. The first is that God is Love. I have always known this; people preach it all the time. Mostly to berate us for not loving enough. But I’ve come to take this statement very seriously and to actually believe that God is all Love (not God is love and…. Or God is love, but…) everything about God stems from this nature of Love. Therefore, God does not engage in nor endorse actions that are not of love.

The second thing I learnt is that God is a community. This blew my mind. I did not know this before I got introduced to Trinitarian Theology. God is Father, Son and Spirit. Before anything was made, before space, before time, there existed a community in the Godhead. That community whose very constitution and nature is love decided to create a world in order to have a community of folks they can share this love with. They enjoyed each other so much that the idea came to them; “let’s make people that can enjoy this too”

This realization led me to only one conclusion. This Universe is built for Love and community. The God who is community can only design a world of community. Sin is the thing that pushes us to be more and more insular and self-centered. This is why the Church is a community, not a group of individuals that meet every week to learn how to better their personal lives. As much as it is important for us to know God personally and to realize that we house the Holy Spirit in our bodies, we cannot discount the need for brothers and sisters who we love and love us, and who can share their experiences and revelation in order to help us grow in our walk with God and for whom we do the same too. Our faith is very personal, no doubt, but it is also very communal. We cannot have one without the other.

It also means that people are more important than institutions and empires. Building a Trinitarian community involves a totally different set of dynamics from building a business or a religious institution. This is a community based on love and equality of all. It is based on people laying down their lives for each other as opposed to a power struggle. God’s vision is for a world filled with people who Love each other like that, from whole communities down to the family structure. We are not enemies of each other, or competitors in a game of money and resources, we are supposed to be partners in building the Kingdom of God

This, to me, is one of the major reasons for the inequalities, wars and degradation of the earth. We are not living according to the design of the universe; Love and Community. Hence, the results we see. When people, families and whole nations choose to ignore this way of life, it only leads to chaos and lopsidedness. This is a call for us all. Let’s follow the Holy Spirit as he leads us to live with this truth in mind. Let these truths influence your interactions and lead us to making the world a better place and a Godly life. To do otherwise is to swim against the tide of the Universe and to experience the pain that comes along with that.

LIVING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

One of the mistakes I make most frequently is forget that i'm living in the presence of God. As a matter of fact, I have filled my phone wallpapers with icons of the Christian faith to remind myself of this fact all the time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work.

We tend to live life in a dualistic fashion; God is up there in the sky, sometimes interfering in the affairs of men, but essentially absent. Meanwhile I’m down here living my life, doing the "mundane" things; gong to work, eating, drinking, and occasionally loving those around me. The only times that these two realms intersect is when we are in the mode of worship or prayer, when we feel a presence or heightened emotions.

In actual fact, we serve a God who fills all things and encompasses all things. We learn that Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word and all things exist in him (Colossians). We are perpetually swimming in the ocean of the divine, we are drowning in the presence of God.  There is a scene in Erik Guzman's beautiful book "The Seed" where the Man is dying of thirst and hunger, while surrounded by clear beautiful water flowing from the root of the Christ figure. But his mind has been so warped by the distortion of Sin that he doesn't see this water, All he sees is this black soot. So while the woman is scooping the water and literally drinking in the Holy Spirit, the man is disgusted and cannot bring himself to drink the water/soot. That is the predicament of the Human race. Even we who believe are not always aware of the presence of God. We are too weighed down by the darkness, too invested in our self dependent life that we have forgotten to refresh ourselves in the waters of the Holy Spirit. We have even forgotten that the Holy Spirit is present, that we are in Jesus and he is in us and that we belong to the Father. In actual fact, as much as we would like sometimes, nobody can escape from the presence of God; not even the dead

“if I were to climb up to the highest heavens, you would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there” Psalm 139:8

.   And why would God be absent? He is the one who provides us with our emotions, gifts and the activities we like.  We like the things we like because he first liked them. We enjoy the company of our friends because he enjoys the company of friends. This is the beauty I try to remind myself of at all times. That in all activities, he is there with me. I don’t have to beg and scrape for him to come down. I don’t have to drum up spiritual energy on my own in order to do the work of God. Neither do I have to perform some rain dance or debase myself in a fashion that impresses him enough to come down and give me his blessing. He is always present, always blessing and always supplying everything we need for every challenge and every endeavor.

JESUS, JESSE AND THE DONKEY

Recently, popular  Evangelist Jesse Duplantis released a video stating that God wanted him to believe him for a new high end private jet. He then proceeded to request that his followers donate towards the purchase of said jet. Much has been said about the propriety or otherwise of a minister of the Gospel flying in private jets; and much more has been said about the idea of Jesse requesting for donations to buy the jet. As a result, I have no interest in getting into that debate. Suffice it to say that there is no such thing as the prosperity Gospel or the poverty Gospel; they are both false misrepresentations of the Gospel

What I do want to address is Jesse Duplantis’ remark that if Jesus had been around in modern times, he would not have been riding around on a Donkey.  This is true, a Donkey is not an appropriate of efficient way of going from one place to another in the modern day and there is no reason why he would choose to ride on such. But Jesse’s statement seems to suggest that if Jesus were around now, he’d be flying in a private jet. He seems to suggest that a donkey in the first century is the equivalent of a private jet. This is a common line of thought among many modern preachers that lean towards the prosperity gospel. They tend to suggest that Jesus was extremely wealthy and lived a glamorous life. I believe I have heard this Donkey-Jet analogy before too.

I can only surmise that Minister Jesse is either speaking out of ignorance or he was being mischievous. I favour the former. By no stretch of the imagination was a donkey seen as a luxury means of transportation in the first century, of course it beats walking to your destination, but it was not a means of transportation for the rich and powerful. As a matter of fact, the whole point of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a Donkey was to be in contrast to how the powerful rulers of his day would ride into town. The Kings of the world would ride on Horses, accompanied by a parade of chariots and carriages. Jesus, the King of Israel (the Universe) rode into the city on the back of a donkey, surrounded by the lowly people. It was a sign of his humility and the upside-down nature of the Kingdom of God. It’s the equivalent of a nation's president driving himself to a state function, in an old-model Volkswagen Beetle no less. While I can neither affirm nor deny that Jesus would have been flying to and fro in the latest Gulf Stream jet (remember I said that the poverty theology is as much a farce as a “prosperity Gospel”) I can say that Jesus did not and does not represent a Kingdom that tries to keep up appearances with the kingdoms of this world, neither is he a King that needs to set himself higher than his subjects.

So my response to evangelist Jesse Duplantis is this; Yes, Jesus would not have been riding a donkey in 2018, but no, that does not mean he would be riding in a private jet either. Most especially if he wanted to enact his triumphant entry.  

WHY I'VE BEEN SAD

Lately I’ve been saddened by something going on around me. It’s not new, in fact it’s been going on for decades. But the sadness came because I’ve concerned myself with things I stopped concerning myself with a long time ago i.e the matters of the modern Churches in Nigeria. I stopped worrying about these things a long time ago because it brings so much sadness, but once in a while I can’t escape it.

What really worries me is the amount of opulence, sophistication and excellence they display in the face of the extreme poverty and squalor we see every day. It worries me that while they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars buying planes, booking five-star hotels and acquiring the latest LED lights and stages, there are millions of people in their churches and in the country jobless and almost hopeless. Most of these people only need a little skills acquisition training and start up money; All for less than a Hundred dollars. We have people dying of malaria and other easily curable diseases that could be helped with less than 10 dollars. Even if these Pastors and the congregants who support them financially do not want to abandon the structures they put up. If they feel like they want to hold worship services with all the trappings of a Daft Punk Coachella concert (after all, it’s their money and they can do whatever they want with it), why can’t they think of helping these people alongside their plans to build monuments and empires? Its very worrisome.  How can they be so comfortable living large and driving past these same poor people in their Rolls Royce, Lamborghinis and Benzes? What’s more? These Churches actually believe they’re doing the right thing. They actually believe that they are propagating the Gospel and “making the Kingdom attractive” by taking care of themselves and their business empires.

But God has a way of balancing things out, he began to show me two things that led to a radical conclusion. The first thing he showed me was that not all “Mega-Churches” are like this. There are many Churches around the world doing great things for the poor and downtrodden; Clothing them, providing food, shelter, medical services and education. Some of them publicise it, others don’t, but they do exist. In Nigeria, there are a few "big" Churches that do this work very commendably, and many “smaller” assemblies that do it as well.

The second thing that I found out is that there are so many organizations and individuals who have taken it upon themselves to render help. Of course it’s not enough; these are issues that can only be eradicated by governmental structures and real economic stability and growth (not those numbers the Central Bank of Nigeria and their cronies put out that mean nothing to regular people). But these organisations exist and they are doing the best they can.  They are people from all works of life and faiths; Christians, Muslims, African religion adherents, atheists and agnostics etc. all doing their bit to help their fellow man and love their neighbors.

This brought me to this sobering conclusion, the Lord is not sitting around waiting for the Church to establish his Kingdom. He is moving right along, working with as many as are willing to work with him to make this world a better place. There’s something Dr C. Baxter Kruger says that has stuck with me; when we see people moved with compassion towards the poor, the ecosystem, or the sick; when we are moved with love for our spouses and our children; when we find ourselves enjoying play or music or art. All those feelings emanate from Christ. He is the one who fills the ecologist with a passion for preserving the earth. He is the one who inspires the philanthropist and the doctors to have a deep sadness when they see pain and suffering, he is the source of my desire to see minds transformed and souls find healing from their brokenness. None of these things originate from us. Jesus is filling us with his compassion. Whether they be Muslims, atheists, agnostics and so on, any good we display is of God and is for the propagation of his Kingdom.

So, while I still feel sad about these Churches with clearly misplaced priorities(in my opinion), I am quite confident that the Father, Son and Spirit are constantly working in all humanity to bring Peace and Justice to the World and I look forward to the full and final renewal of all things. 

The Ministry of Reconciliation

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall see God”

I believe there is a basic philosophy that underlies the faith of everyone who confesses to be a believer in Jesus (at least it should). It is a thought that derives itself from the person and work of Jesus himself. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul tells us that the Cross is Gods way of causing reconciliation between humanity and himself. It is his way of removing every roadblock and mindsets that caused us to see God as our enemy. He then goes further to state that we have been given the message of reconciliation; to plead to the world that they be reconciled to God.  What that means is that we tell the world, God has no grudges against us and he has put to death the obstacles of fellowship with him on the Cross. Now it’s up to us to live in this reality and come to terms with this truth

But I believe there is more to our ministry of reconciliation than just the mended relationship between God and Man. The Cross also brings to an end enmity between men. Ephesians states it succinctly, he has taken down the wall of division; We are now one new man in Christ (Ephesians 2: 13-14). We are no longer enemies of each other and so as children of the Kingdom, it is our prerogative to seek reconciliation and peace in all circumstances. That means we seek the way of peace, reconciliation and forgiveness in all aspects of our lives. That includes in the work place while practicing our vocation and in our personal relationships.

This is obviously easier said than done. Take me for instance, I am a lawyer by profession, it’s not exactly a profession that thrives on peace and reconciliation.  As a matter of fact, our Court system is called the adversarial system. On the surface, it might seem like a tall order to seek reconciliation when a dispute has reached the stage of going to Court. But I’ve come to discover that the Gospel has so affected me that I always seek avenues to resolve issues out of court; thereby avoiding the name calling and casting of aspersions that usually accompany a matter taken to trial. Even when my client is not particularly keen on it, I try to persuade and convince them that it would be more beneficial for them to tow the line of peace.

Thankfully, every time I get a settlement done, things have worked out pretty well. Even when it doesn’t seem so at first, sticking to the path of peace has mostly paid off. Of course, there are times when peace cannot be sought, then I do what I do to represent my client and ensure they get their rights up held. 

I believe this is the call of everyone who confesses Christ as King. He is the Prince of Peace afterall

The Most Resistant to the idea of a better God

Do you know which set of people are the hardest to convince that God is actually good and much better than they think? No, it’s not the consummate “sinners” who have spent their lives in debauchery; doing whatever feels right to them; it’s not the prostitute, who has sold her (or his) body over and over again, neither is it the Tax Collectors of this world; people who sold their souls out to be used by the rich and powerful to be instruments of abuse.

In my experience I find the most difficult people to convince of the goodness of God and thus, the least likely people to experience repentance are the self-righteous. The reason is simple, they are not aware that anything is wrong with their way of life. They have it all figured out, they don’t need saving or they have already been saved and now it’s their turn to play their part in the maintenance of their salvation. That is exactly what the passage above is talking about. The pharisees were quite content with their spiritual prowess; they were obsessively obedient to the law, they fasted quite regularly and they prayed fervently. They were also well versed in the Hebrew scripture. They were confident in their ability to obey God and they were damn sure that They were doing just fine. Theirs was the path to take. As a result, they had painted God in their image (as we all do); God was stern, unmoving and definitely unforgiving of certain things. He caused, or at least allowed sickness, poverty and death to fall upon those who were disobedient to his commands. And this was not a problem for them, because they had it figured out. They obeyed the rules, they were exempt from punishment, unlike the prostitutes and sinners that Jesus was constantly hanging around

This was the main problem the pharisees had with Jesus; he represented a God they couldn’t accept. 

A God that loved everybody and embraced them regardless of their deeds or misdeeds. A God that enjoined people to love their enemies and pray for their oppressors. It was impossible, this would shatter the whole basis of their existence, it would require a major shift in the thing they believed in the most; themselves. Hence Jesus’ remark in John 9: 39-41

"39.Jesus said,^a “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."

They could not admit that they were blind, they thought they saw most clearly. They did not need Jesus to enlighten them because they were the most enlightened. They did not need the riches of Christ, they were spiritually rich. With people like these, you can only love them and pray that one day God opens their eyes. There is no amount of demonstration or preaching that can convince them. It is too jarring, too world changing for them to accept.  Because it means that their efforts don’t move God. It would mean that people will “get off” with their sins and thy don’t get to gloat at those putrid sinners as they are roasted over the fires of hell.

On the other hand, ragamuffins (to borrow a term from Brennan Manning) rejoice at the news of God’s unconditional love, we rejoice at the prospect of someone else; God in the person of Jesus, stepping in to rescue us from our bondage to sex, money and power. The prospect that Jesus will actually come into our hearts and live his life out through us is quite acceptable and in fact relieving to us. You see we too, like the pharisees, have a very flawed view of God. Most times, it is identical to that of the pharisees. The only difference is, unlike the self-righteous, we lack the will power to live by the rules. Some of us are constantly trying and failing at obeying all the rules, while the vast majority have just given up on it. We had resigned to the fact that we were going to hell, or that Gods favour would not be on us as much as the super spiritual, hardworking and diligent guys. Hence, we are keenly aware of our blindness, of our bankruptcy and of our need for a savior (at least subconsciously). So when we are informed of the good news of a compassionate, loving, heart transforming sacrificial and self-giving God, we rejoice and accept this wholeheartedly. This is why Jesus says the prostitutes and the tax collectors rushed into the Kingdom of God while the Pharisees stood by and criticized.

However, the scariest part of it is this, we all are self-righteous in some way or the other. We all have aspects of our lives that we are so good at, we have forgotten that it is a gift from God. We all have areas where we are so self-confident, we don’t think we need God or he is at best an addendum to our general awesomeness. Watch out for those areas, glorify God and always remember that it is Christ who works in you, to do and will his good pleasure. Don’t be a pharisee.

THE SEED A TRUE MYTH BY ERIK GUZMAN

The story of the Bible and the Gospel can be summarized this way:. God creates all things and it is good, man believes a lie and seperates himself from God plunging himself along with all of creation into utter darkness; and God becomes man in order to rescues him and all of creation from the darkness.

In “The Seed-the True Myth” Erik Guzman uses that backdrop and creates a story of eternal love and the triumph of Love over every darkness. The book portrays how in our brokenness and helplessness, we see the hand of God extended to us in Love with suspicion and fear. We are so lost that we saw the light of God’s love and viewed it as utter darkness. While we worshipped Satan and his principle of self-centeredness and fleshly indulgence. In the book he portrays how we view God as the taskmaster who expects us to work to the bone and who is never satisfied. He also portrays how many of us are so willing to serve this god and our feeble attempts at pleasing this god, in spite of the constant voice in our heads telling us we are not doing enough. We build bigger and bigger temples, doing more and more acts of service, offer bigger and bigger sacrifices and pray longer and longer but it is never enough. In reality, this “god” is Satan, using the madness we fell into at the fall to superimpose himself as God. In other words, he is filling the vacuum of the false impressions we have about God and gaining great power from it. Satan is the first and ultimate being that fell into the madness of flesh, and by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we joined him in his madness

But it’s not all gloomy, because Erik also shows how God who is Love came and shattered the power of Satan in a way he never expected or even understood, because it was through Love and Divine sacrifice and self-giving; A way Satan had abandoned eons ago. And God calls us to join him in that way again, his Holy Spirit is like a river flowing over the whole world beckoning on all mankind to drink of him and fill themselves with the light of his love. Halleluiah

This is a wonderful novel that wraps the Gospel in a beautiful fantasy story, much like C.S Lewis and portrays its beauty so wonderfully. I don’t agree with a few ideas in the book, but so what, he doesn’t agree with me too. In the grand scheme of things, the story is compelling and can be enjoyed just as a novel. But it is also a great portrayal of the Gospel.

Disclosure of Material Connection:

Now I have to say this (seriously, I do): I received this book free of charge from the publisher and writer via the Speakeasy network, I'm not under any obligation to write a positive review and the views I have expressed are entirely my own. I'm writing this disclosure in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

THE NEW HUMANITY IN CHRIST

"For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision,
but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in
Christ Jesus, the Messiah]." Galatians 5:6

courtesy of thehumanityproject.com

I love the Epistle to the Galatians. It Is a very inspiring book. One of the major points that Paul tries to point out in this letter is the believers freedom from the need to appear holy outwardly through rituals and religious practices. We have been set free from the basic principles of this world. We live by a higher law, a higher power.

The Jews took great pride in being circumcised. It was the sign of their approval with God. Circumcision meant they were in. They had a covenant with the living God and every other person was a heathen who would eventually be destroyed by their God. It meant that God would send his anointed one (Messiah) to them in order to rescue them from all their troubles and establish Israel as a world power. Even though the Old Testament prophecies speak of a New World of peace for all. They interpreted it to mean a new world where they would be the ruling class This was the climate that the early Christians lived in. And many early Jewish Christians still had this idea.

Sure enough, the Messiah comes and he dies for sins and rises again as King. But instead of focusing on Israel, the apostles seem to be talking about the gentiles too. That Jesus died for both Jews and non - Jews. This was
strange.Even some of the apostles resisted this revelation as God began to show it. Enter the judaizers; "apostles" who went about the churches preaching that Jesus saved the gentiles in order to make them Jews. They couldn't shake off the pride they took in their race. This pride was symbolised in their being circumcised. They insisted that whoever wanted to have a part in the Kingdom of God had to be circumcised. In other words they had to perform the ritual that makes Jews partakers of the old covenant. To this argument, Paul screams a resounding NO!! Circumcision or Uncircumcision doesn't matter, what matters is the New Creation.
The full scope of his mission on earth was to create a new humanity in Christ. One where race, gender, or occupation were meaningless. all that matters is Jesus, he symbolises the creation of a new humanity fully in union with the living God, 

The Early Christians had people who insisted on circumcision; we have people who insist on denomination, circumcision, observance of certain Jewish practices e.t.c. We all have our isms and schisms; reasons for which certain people are disqualified from the favour of God, To all these arguments, this word still stands
"For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision,
but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in
Christ Jesus, the Messiah]."

Jesus is the Logic of God telling us we are in!!!!

Grace be with you

The Heart of the Matter

Guard your heart above all else,

for it determines the course of your life “ (Proverbs 4:23 NLT)

I like to share a brief testimony that deals with the issue of the heart. I struggled as a Christian with various habits.  I knew I was free from these things in Christ but I wasn't experiencing that freedom. Until I realised that I was allowing things into my heart that don't belong there; Messages and images that reinforced such behavioural patterns. The admonition to guard your heart is key. The bible teaches that as a man thinks in his heart so is he.

Jesus tells the parable of the sower who sows the word of the Gospel in different kinds of hearts; not heads or minds. The reason some reaped a harvest and others did not wasn't because the word isn't powerful, but because the word had no space to sink into the hearts or was choked by other things. What you allow to sink in your heart matters a lot. What you focus on will determine your life. Paul advised that we focus on the things above (Colossians 3). He also said we should only think on lovely, worthy of praise things. Guard your heart and fill it with the Gospel and you will bear it's fruit effortlessly, fill your heart with the contradictions and principles of this world and you will work the works of the flesh.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BELIEVE?

"He who gives you His Spirit and works miracles among you–does He do so on the ground of your obedience to the Law, or is it the result of    your having heard and believed"

(Galatians 3:5 Weymouth translation)

Belief is a powerful thing. To believe is not just to give mental assent to a fact. It is to have that fact be the platform from which you live your life. It is to have your heart so persuaded by this fact that it drives your life. This is what the apostles meant when they said believe.

Many people nowadays view Christianity as some academic exercise; We just know a bunch of facts in our heads so that we can go around arguing with one another based on bible verses. But that is not what it is at all. This life is much deeper. It is to come face to face with the God of the universe and to see him for who he really is. It is to realise that Jesus is the owner and supreme ruler of this Cosmos and to bend the knee and say "your will be done". It is to receive the Holy Spirit in yourself and become conscious of the fact that your body is now the home of God himself.

This means something.  This translates into a life that cannot originate from you; A life of fruit bearing; A life where the mundane and elemental principles of this world cannot hold you or rule you anymore. This is what is meant by believe. Your life cannot be the same when you believe this Gospel. This is the promise of the Holy Spirit. Right believing leads to right living.

COME, LORD JESUS

Hello folks, how has life been treating you? Good, bad or a mixture of both? If you're like me your life has ups and downs, Good stuff and bad stuff, sometimes happening simultaneously. Well, that’s the way things are. This world is fallen and that falleness manifests itself in many ways around us.

But we have a hope, a hope that one day Jesus will return in physical form. He will set up his own government and rule the world with justice and righteousness. He will set the world to rights and wipe away every tear from our eyes. That day, we will look at the universe and see how he has redeemed the pain, the hurt, the mistakes and the evil in our lives. We will realize that he wove it all into the tapestry of his grand design and made it all beautiful. He didn’t plan or wish for you to go through what you’ve been through but he’s going to make it align with his will and everything will be alright.

This kind of thinking seems like escapism to some of our brothers and sisters. For a very long time, many Christians have sat down and avoided contact with their world. Their reasoning is that the world is only going to get worse, so lets just sit down, do nothing and wait for the Lord to come and fix everything. But that is not what the bible teaches. Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are extensions, outposts if you like, of the kingdom of God and we are to express the life of the kingdom of God everywhere around us. It is unacceptable for us to sit back, fold our arms, and watch evil reign when we can do something about it.

As a result, many people have rejected this “sit down look” strategy. Some have also gone to the extreme of rejecting the whole idea of the second coming of Christ. At least they don’t want to talk about it. But I see nothing wrong with talking about it. The same Jesus that commissioned us to be his hands and feet also promised to return to us and redeem our bodies. Like Paul states, if we have no hope beyond this life we are to be pitied more than all men. All our believing would be in vain and it would have been better for us not to be Christians at all.

There are many reasons to reflect and long for the coming of Christ. But my favourite reason is this; I long to experience the tangible, unfettered reality of being in his presence;  To be able to hold him; to share a drink with him; to hear him laugh and to see the look of approval and unconditional love in his eyes. That, my friend, is priceless. Major Ian Thomas pointed out that if we can fully tap into the reality of our union with Jesus, there will be no difference between now and our death. God the Holy Spirit has made our union real. He is not holding back in anyway. But the fact of the matter is that we do not fully tap into the reality of our union. No one can say with all sincerity that they are 24/7, 365 always aware of the presence of God or are as aware of our union as we possibly can be and feel like Jesus is always with them. Well, when He comes, we will be able to. we will see him with our naked eyes and hold him in our arms. We will realize that he was never far away, that he loves us dearly. When I reflect on this, I can live my life knowing that everything is going to be alright.

#BRINGBACKOURGIRLS!!!!

Its been 31 days since a bunch of cowards invaded a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State and abducted young school girls. Your guess is as good as mine as to the fate of these children. Our nation grieves at this atrocity and I too feel grief. I feel pained, i feel hurt, I feel betrayed by our government and I feel lost and hopeless sometimes.

But I take comfort in one fact, Jesus is with us all. Even now, he is with all those wherever they may be. And he is not hopeless or lost. In his capacity as God and Lord of time; outside of time knowing the end from the beginnning, he knows just how this whole thing is going to end; in glory and redemption. But he's also in our time, living and experiencing now with us and he feels appropriately for now. He is not in the sky looking smug and wondering why we are all sad. He feels just as we feel, he is also saddened and distressed by this and many incidents such as this. He knows the pain the mothers of those girls feel, and he feels it too.

So I pray. That our Father might cause heaven and earth to move in order to bring our girls back. That the God of all comfort may comfort them with the comfort and joy unspeakable that he alone can give. That the Holy Spirit may grant us all comfort in our grief, and that we may be able to grab hold of the faith of Jesus. knowing that somehow, some way, it will all end well, if not now, at the end of this age

PRETTY HURTS

If you know me, you know I'm not one of those Christians who believe the Devil created certain types of music. I don't believe in listening to only Gospel music (as a matter of fact, many of the Gospel songs promote defeatist mentality and law based theology in my opinion).  With that said, I'm sure many of you will not be surprised by the songs that are promoted on MY blog. 

This morning I saw the video to a beautiful song by Beyonce titled "Pretty Hurts". It's such an insightful song and it addresses one of the biggest problems of our day; self image. We live in a world where everybody is insecure about something; how they look, their weight, their skin colour, the tightness of their clothes... you name it. Take a look around- Television, Radio, talk with your friends and see the pictures of celebrities- they are telling you one simple thing; "you are not good enough, you must-do better, be better, sound better, look better" 

This bombardment leads to us putting all our energies into "bettering ourselves". We take classes, we work on our accent, we do cosmetic surgery, we exercise, we lie about our achievements and so on and so forth. But like the song reveals, you cannot heal the wound of your soul with superficial fixes. No amount of surgery will stop you from feeling indequate, unlovable and ugly. It could mask it and you could bury those feelings really deep, but they will still show up either through blatant self loathing or hateful remarks at others. We fail to realise that these people who keep reminding us of our inadequacies are only projecting their feelings of inadequacy to us. They have found out that it is felt by all and are using it to their advantage; to sell products, set trends and be influential. 

Just to be clear, I have nothing against working on your appearance or educating yourself. What I want is for you to ask yourself 

              "Is my qualification, my appearance e.t.c what I look to determine my worth, or have I      come to realise that I'm worthy, valuable, beautiful, lovely, lovable and loved regardless of            these things?" 

Because that's what the Gospel is about, the Gospel tells us of a God who saw as so worthy, so lovely that he became like us in order to save us. He chose to never be without us and made us partakers of divine nature. We don't have to perform to be valuable, we are valuable because we have been made in the image and likeness of the living God. Yes, we fell, we lost sight of that image, we fell short of the Glory of God and ended up with a distorted image of God and of ourselves. But Jesus came and he saved us and restored the image by making sure that "as he is, so are we in this world". That is the cure to the human condition, that is the assurance of our value. Jesus is our answer.

There is so much more to say about this but i'll just let you enjoy the song. I couldn't get a good copy of the video to add to this blog. But you can watch the official video by clicking on this link. God be with you

IT'S MORE THAN WHAT YOU THINK

There is this line of thought in certain theological circles that has pushed us to view Jesus’ dying on the Cross from a fresh perspective. The question is how does Jesus’ death on the cross atone for our sins? How does he wash away our sins and make us new. I would very much like to add that you read this post to the end to get my take on things. If you stop at the middle you'll get the wrong idea.

The most popular view in modern times is the Penal substitution theory; Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve upon him. It is the idea that God was angry with us and he HAD to punish and destroy us for our sins. So he sent his son and destroyed him instead. Jesus did no wrong; therefore his death is more than enough to satisfy Gods bloodlust. This might be a big exaggeration of the theory, but it reflects the general idea behind it. Penal substitution is the prevalent theory in modern western Christianity. It is certainly the theory that triggered the reformation. It is so enshrined that many believe that it is the legitimate and oldest view of the atonement. Once anyone says anything to the contrary, he is accused of heresy and unorthodoxy.

But there are several other views on the atonement, much older and much more popular among the early church fathers. These views also find credence in the New Testament and can be more easily gleaned from it. There is the Ransom theory, the Christos Victor theory, The Moral Influence theory and many others.

The flaw in extreme application of the Penal Substitution theory is that it makes God out to be some sort of monster. Most times, its proponents put God’s sense of Justice or Honour over and above his Love. But God is Love, everything he does flows from his love. He is not some sort of morality judge whose only concern is that we live perfect lives. I find it absurd that Love would have some sort of animosity towards us that he would need to appease by brutally murdering his own son. The very idea also presupposes that the Father loves humans more than he loves the Son. Think about it, if he can sacrifice his son to satisfy his own bloodlust, the unity and love that is the essence of the trinity is eroded.

Thankfully, many around the world are beginning to see the gospel for what it really is. There is a revolution of the “Grace Message” all over the world. This has led people to reexamine some of our longheld beliefs and thereby unearthing various older and more orthodox doctrines. The doctrine of the Trinity is returning to the forefront. It is beginning to shape the way we view the Bible and our various concepts; including the atonement. As a result, we are seeing a resurgence of the other theories of the atonement.

But this is also leading to some reactionary thoughts by many people. Some want to reduce the work of Christ to a psychological level. They say that he took our beating in order to identify with us and that He let us kill him to shock us into seeing his love for us. This line of thought presumes that we were the ones with the bloodlust (which we were) and God only came to satisfy it. While I can identify with the premise behind this theory-I certainly think it has some valid points- I think it is unwise to ignore the other aspects of scripture. These show us that sin was a real spiritual problem; it didn't just exist in our minds. It wasn't just an illusion or a lie we came up with in our fallen state. Something caused us to fall. It is called sin, which put us in Satan’s control and death was the end result. These aren't just psychological problems, they are strong spiritual problems too and the scripture bears witness with this. Jesus came to do much more than balance our psychology. He came to reconcile everything back to himself, he came to destroy the power of Satan and his demons, he came to destroy all rule and authority and establish his own kingdom, and yes he also came to take our place and pay the price of our sin-he died our death. And he achieved all these things and many more on the Cross. Let us not accept one aspect of his sacrifice in place of the other. Instead, let us take it all in and put each one in its proper place and balance. We shouldn't make God out to be a monster, neither should we make him out to be a sissy either. He is love but he is also a judge, therefore his judgement is true and fair. But it is not scary; his judgement was to cleanse us from our sins and bring us back to his side, psychologically and otherwise.

Below is a short video by someone who is many times more knowledgeable than I am in these matters. Dr N.T Wright discusses briefly a balanced view of the atonement. I’m sure he speaks more clearly in the few minutes than I could possibly have done in my write up. Enjoy

 

THOUGHTS ON EASTER

Hello everyone!!! Happy Easter. Hope you had a splendid time. We had a public holiday from Good Friday till today so it was pretty awesome. Got to spend time with family and friends and eat really nice food, what more can I ask for.

The best part of it is that we get to reflect on the basis of our faith again; the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. this is a pivotal aspect of our faith. Too often, I think due to the grotesque nature of his death, we pay a lot of attention to the crucifixion than every other aspect of the atonement. This is dangerous, this overemphasis leads to almost idol worship of the cross. It is Jesus we serve and worship. Not the symbol of his death for our sins.

But the Bible paints a different picture. Paul the Apostle states it thus

^“12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied”….  1 Corinthians 15:12-19

If Jesus had not risen, we have no assurance of our Justification, if he had not risen, we have no inroad into the eternal circle of relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And if he had not risen, it simply would have meant that sin was more powerful than Jesus and death had won. In short, “we are still in our sins”

But praise God that Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again. And he has ascended to the right hand of the Father and taken us right along with him.

I used to wonder, which is more important, the death, the resurrection or the birth of our Lord? I have come to the conclusion that they are all of equal importance. Each event plays a pivotal role in the being of Jesus. However, I strongly believe the resurrection is the event that requires our most rejoicing. It is the culmination of our Lords mission to planet earth. It represents the death of our old man that was condemned by Sin and our newness of life. A life where we can enjoy unbridled fellowship with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit; free from guilt, condemnation and the constant need to perform at our very best. He loves us just as we are and the resurrection enables us to embrace that love. Therefore, let’s celebrate Easter everyday of our lives, knowing that God has raised Jesus from the dead and we are not in our sins.

May the Grace of our Lord be with you

SCANDALOUS GRACE

Sometime this week, the Council of State granted pardons to several Nigerians; some were pardoned post-humously, other people who were pardoned are alive and well. One of the people pardoned is the Former Governor of Bayelsa State who was convicted on corruption charges.

This has led to serious outcry from the populace; the most prevalent view being that a Government that says it is currently fighting corruption should not go around pardoning people who have been convicted of corruption.

While I don’t intend to delve too much into the propriety of the issue (whether or not I favour this particular pardon is something I’ll keep to myself. It is irrelevant. What is done is done and the Council of State was well within its rights to do so), I do intend to draw parallels with the nature of man to the extravagant nature of God’s grace.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is the following in Romans 5:8:

“But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.”(Amp)

At first glance, this seems like a harmless sentence. But a closer investigation reveals a truth that is repulsive to our natural senses; God has forgiven the sins of every man, woman and child on planet earth. He didn’t just do this by sweeping it under the table or overlooking it. He did it by coming in the human flesh and taking the punishment for sins of the past, present and future upon himself and dying for it.

This means one simple thing; God is not punishing the sins of anybody. That is such good news to me. It frees me to be me and let God work in me to become the person he has made me to be. However, those who oppose this presentation of the Gospel oppose it on many grounds the two most prominent grounds are

1.      We are giving people a license to sin

This to me is ludicrous because nobody needs a license to sin in the first place. People sin because they want to. They don’t need anybody to tell them they can sin. At any rate, telling a person that God has forgiven all his past, present and future sins is not invariably telling them to just live anyhow. The motivation for living a Godly, Christ exalting life should not be the fear of punishment, it should be love. God is love and anything done without love is useless. God took out the fear aspect of Sin in order to insert his love into our hearts (Romans 5:5) now we love because he first loved us (1 John 4:18-19)

2.      We want people to get away with their wrongful actions

This really reflects most of the controversy trailing the recent pardon. Let’s be honest, we all have someone we think should go to hell. We all have someone that we think should not be forgiven due to the gravity of their actions. At least we can all agree that we don’t want Adolf Hitler in heaven. Yet, it seems to me that God is not concerned with all of that. He does not deal with us based on the enormity of our sin. He says though our sins be as red as scarlet, he would make us as white as snow. There is no sin too great for the blood of Jesus. There is no sin that he did not die for. No hurt that he did not redeem in order to give birth to the new creation. It is funny that most people are quick to pass judgement on others when it is not them or their friends and relatives that committed the crime, when it’s us, most of us will not hesitate to seek mercy. This is not to say that God does not appreciate the evil and destructiveness of sin. He is more aware of it than we can ever imagine; which is why he redeemed us in order to heal us

It is important to note that the Former Governor of Bayelsa State had already served his sentence. The pardon just gives him back his right to vote and be voted for and to serve in public office. In other words, it takes away all the disadvantages of being an ex-convict. The same can be said of us. The bible tells us that when Christ, all died (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). His death was our death and his resurrection our resurrection. Therefore when he took the fire of God’s judgement for our sin on our behalf, we were there with him being punished in him. He died because of our sins and rose because of our justification (Romans 4:25). Some will read this and immediately conclude that I'm saying all are saved and all will go to Heaven (so to speak). Well, I’m not. To quote Andre Rabe “romance anticipates a response”. Faith is our positive response to God’s act of love and it is faith that leads to eternal life.

God’s grace violates our sense of justice. Sometimes we can’t even accept it for ourselves. We want to receive some sort of torment for our acts in order to ease our conscience. In this season of lent, I think it is fitting for us to explore this topic of the atonement some more. May God help us to understand and bask in the indiscriminate, vulgar and extremely scandalous grace of God.