An Incurable Stupidity Among Christians.

Amazing Grace in a Hopeless Situation.

Last Wednesday, some convicted drug dealers were executed by the Indonesian government. As the guys were led to the stakes, they broke into a song:

“Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
was blind, but now I see…”

 

 

This is a highly spiritual song that gives comfort and solace to those in distress. Who would have expected the condemned men to rely on the same song for succor in such a most hopeless situation? And so, as the volley of hot bullets tore into their bodies, one could only wonder what was going on with their individual souls.

Now, if condemned men could deem it fit to express hope while in the process of a painful transition from the physical to the astral realm, how morally wretched can we claim to be (in the land of the living) to allow mere mundane issues to render us hopeless?

Pictured above are the men executed by the Indonesian government.

 

Yes, I am Blessed!

This is my most favorite book of Psalms, my daily affirmation, spiritual sustenance and song of victory. To God be the glory.

When it’s Time to Embrace Fortitude.

"It’s not the life that matters but the courage we bring to it.

Blessed be all sorrow, hardships

and endurance that demand courage.

Blessed be these things: for of these things

cometh the making of a man." - Hugh Walpole in "Fortitude".

In line with the law of nature, whoever is destined to be great will definitely go through some trials and tribulations. The Holy Scriptures are replete with stories of how great individuals such as Jesus Christ, Muhammad, King David, King Solomon, Queen Esther and a host of others were subjected to harsh trials and tribulations. In a bid to strengthen them, God employed fate to throw similar tribulations onto the paths of great leaders like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Obafemi Awolowo, Mahatma Gandhi, Kwame Nkruma, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, Mother Theresa and many others across the world.

All of these people were taken through the same pain and anguish to which a piece of metal is subjected at the hands of a gold-smith. In this process, an ordinary piece of metal is plunged into a fiery furnace. Afterward, it gets struck upon several times with a sledge hammer and then dropped into some cold water. Soon, the hitherto piece of ordinary metal becomes a precious ornament.

As mere mortals, it is only natural that we react negatively initially to trials and tribulations that fate throws at us. But over time, we get to know and appreciate the necessity of those trials. All we need while the trials last are a strong faith, fortitude and hope until the  eventual manifestation of God’s objectives in our lives.

 

 

Disappointed in God?

When my mother passed away, the sad event was so sudden and emotionally devastating that my immediate reaction was to lapse into an utter shock. Two questions kept nagging at my mind. The first was a simple-sounding word, “Why?” And the second was the whereabouts of God when that tragedy crept into our family?

My mother was a very religious woman, a good Christian filled with a very strong faith in God. Ironically, as the woman suffered a massive stroke and began to slip into coma on that fateful day, she was screaming and gesticulating with her hands out-stretched, for God to save her life.  But death still took her away. As far as I was concerned, God must have shrugged his shoulders in total nonchalance at a time the woman needed him most.

And so, for many years afterwards, I cut off all relationship with God!

There were some individuals, families, friends and colleagues, who tried to reconcile us but I rejected the idea each time. They must have considered me obstinate.

I know there are individuals out there who must be feeling the same way right now. Theirs could be loss of jobs, repossessed cars, loss of homes or some other issues. But what could ever be worse than the loss of a loved one as it was in my case? Whatever the case might be though, it is better to allow the affected individuals to reconcile and make peace with God at their own time. That was how it happened in my case. And I learned a lot of great lessons in the process.



In the first place, God gave me the grace to know that even though I no longer reckoned with him all that time, he continued to bless, adore and abide with me. The manifestations were glaring, much to my embarrassments. Secondly, God gave me the grace to “walk with him” and during the encounter, in retrospect, I began to ask for his forgiveness. I also decided to thank him profusely for my mother’s life. Within the short period of her life, the woman positively touched so many lives (one way or the other) that had she lived up to ninety, she couldn’t have done any better.  Her memory is fresh and alive in the hearts of many people she touched in her lifetime. Thirdly, I realized that my mother could have woken from the coma only to become a “vegetable”. And God knew very well that we (the kids) and our father were in no financial or emotional condition to be saddled with such a huge responsibility.

Therefore, I will advise those who are feeling disappointed in God over one thing or the other, to spare a moment to “walk with God”. The walk simply entails giving God the opportunity to “explain his own side of the story”.



 

 

The Best Routes to Wisdom.

“There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.” – Confucius.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Inevitability of Disappointment.

“Disappointment is inevitable. But to become discouraged, there's a choice I make. God would never discourage me. He would always point me to himself to trust him. Therefore, my discouragement is from Satan. As you go through the emotions that we have, hostility is not from God, bitterness, unforgiveness, all of these are attacks from Satan.” - Charles Stanley.

 

 

The World is Beautiful.

We are in a world where evil thrives.

This sad fact however does not remove the existence of the other fact (this time, a positive kind) that we are in a beautiful world. It’s the only the sheer preponderance of evil that casts a huge shadow over the beauty of the world we live in. There is beauty everywhere--in individuals, animals, insects, plants, flowers, geographical landscape and in other things and places.

It’s therefore the responsibility of every lover of the school of positive thought to keep an open mind and eyes in a bid to see, behold and appreciate the hidden massive beauty that abounds in our world.

 

When Pastors Get Personal in Their Sermons.

There is a big moral danger in the manners by which some pastors, especially those in "Pentecostal" or new generation churches make it their business to get personal in what they say on the pulpits. These pastors personalized their "interpretations” of the Holy Bible to suit their vain, selfish purposes.                                                                                                                  Their usual excuse is to “blame” it all on “divine inspirations”.  By so doing however, these “men of God” inadvertently leave several doors open for lazy, negative speculations within the ranks and files of their congregants. Among the consequences of these speculations is the avalanche of gossips that sooner or later consume the entire church. The worst aspect of it all is the resort of the same church members to link every subject of sermons to certain individuals and their private affairs.

As we do on Earth, so They do in Heaven!

It was amazing and indeed funny to read from the popular UberFacts that "Americans spend about $100 million on astrology every year!" I was just about to digest that information when I also saw that women, according to a stariq.com survey, made up 75% of the population of astrology readers. And I felt like declaring that "as we do on earth, so they do in heaven!" I always thought Americans never cared about issues of "the unknown".  
In Africa, especially among Nigerians, people will not venture into anything...schools, careers, marriages, starting a family, building or purchasing homes and practically every life's endeavor without first "checking it out" spiritually. Most of us take these sensitive esoterics steps by paying visits to our individual pastors, alfas, prophets, herbalists, astrologers and other sundry spiritualists.

Acting as intercessors, these individuals we run to consult will then do the spiritual checking through prayers, divination, visions and other means. The result of the esoteric trips will then be presented and analyzed for the seekers. The subsequent stages will involve the seekers being counseled to avoid certain things or to embark on some fasting and prayer sessions. In some other cases, special courses of actions are prescribed or certain rules with "dos and don'ts" are imposed. The over-all objectives of all these actions are to avoid future problems and to appreciate some expected benefits.

And where Africans daily pursue esoteric and spiritual consultations in regard to their individual endeavors, the Asians will often go beyond the individual stuff to also invoke spiritual influences upon their business ventures. This therefore explains their penchant for engaging the services of Bhuddist monks in performing spiritual cleansing of new establishments such as banks, insurance and other corporate outfits. 

Ironically, there are a few Africans who, by virtue of their religious believes, consider these spiritual practices as evil and superstitious. These individual Africans go further to refer their people to Americans who they consider as too "civilized" to indulge in spiritual pursuits such as astrology, divination and other esoteric considerations. I hope such Africans could see or read the UberFacts report. And I do wish they will travel to Asia to go see the spiritual endeavors of the Asians.