Following Hard After God - Book Review by George A. Lane

Many thanks to Andy Lane for this review of my book - Following Hard After God - Discover how to make the pursuit of God your life time affair. Have a nice read.

Having a close personal and ever increasing relationship with God is the most essential need for believers.  All other aspects of our faith walk as Christians depend on the spiritual growth and grooming that results from this relationship with our Heavenly Father.  In Following Hard After God, Chris Ekwedam provides a view of how we must adjust our desires and actions in order to become Seekers of God.  This is a view that will not be found in the rituals and dogmas of religion.  While it is ever so important to repent “from” sin, an even more important aspect of repentance that is often not adequately emphasized is “Turning Toward” God to truly seek His will for our lives.  Here in this book, Ekwedam takes the other approach to illustrate the importance of turning toward and following after God, and so the necessity of turning away from our selves, worldly influences, and sin becomes obvious in comparison.

In each chapter, the reader is challenged to consider the many distractions, both from worldly influences as well as our own human natures, which draw our attention away from this relationship that we most desire and need.  Perhaps the most important challenge is to put away the many various inadequate images of who God is that we are trained to imagine by religion and social conventions: images that limit our faith and access to God as the source and supply for all our needs.  Realizing that this is a process, a lifelong journey, to learn who God truly is and who we truly are to God, Ekwedam admits, “My aim is not to give you the A, B, C, on how to quench the thirst of your soul and satisfy this great desire that you have; my intention is to help you kick start the journey.”

Following Hard After God is certainly among the most clear-cut and direct discussions of this topic that I have ever read.  It makes an excellent text for the introduction to any curriculum of Biblical / ministry studies.  I refer to this as an introductory text because it is much better to begin the Journey with this understanding in hand than to correct bad study, worship, and Seeking habits once they have been formed.  And likewise, it is a great book to give as a gift or to recommend to those we are inevitably in a position to assist and encourage on their journey with God.

George A. Lane

Chairman, Advisory Board - Vision Bible College Support Society

Project Manager, Vision Bible College Campus Development Project

Going beyond the Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes as a Panacea for abandoned Children

There are Orphanages that are doing a great job in giving care to abandoned children especially children born under uncertain circumstances. There are other 'orphanages' run as an enterprise where the owners are there, not because they have any burden for abandoned children, but just to enrich themselves. Most of them are not registered and operate without authorized license. They are the ones that engage in the so-called baby industry racket. Individuals and groups visit them and donate money, food and sanitary items only for the items to be diverted for their personal use.

Now, is anybody asking where the children that grow up in some Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes around us end up? Where do they end up when they turn ten-eleven years old? Most of them end up in the streets while the Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes continue to bring in more babies and continue their activities. I read a piece by Sarah Zylstra on Why Christians Are Abandoning the Orphanage, and I found it interesting how a ministry was able to evaluate their activities and change their approach. The purpose of this discourse is to make a case for Adoption; it should be the end goal for Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes especially as it concerns the little children below the teenage age who do not have any real families to call their own.

The best environment for a child to grow and develop is in a family home. One of the greatest gifts the family gives to a child is IDENTITY. The Orphanage and Motherless Babies Homes cannot give this gift to a child. A child that has no identity enters into crisis early in his/her teens. Only very few come out of this crisis without developing hatred, anger, and resentment against the society and established authorities.

Another gift the family gives to the child is the opportunity to receive TRAINING both as per education, values and morals. Most of the parents seeking to adopt babies belong to the middle class. They can give the child minimum education. Cultural ethics and morals are taught the child in the family which prepares him for the life ahead.

The next gift the family gives is that of LOVE AND SUPPORT. The chances of a child who did not receive parental love to become aggressive and violent later in life are very high. These are the fabrics that hold the society together to ensure the continued survival and existence of our specie. 

We live in a country where scarce data is kept. Most research works are bogus and not addressing real problems. We are not able to plan and forecast. We are just reacting to life’s immediate situations; hence we are not able to appreciate these societal problems and their consequences both mid-term and long-term.

The point is that as the light of the world, Christians have to do things that work; things that bring real transformation to both lives and the society.  It is good to run Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes, but it has to be only a holding point. Efforts should be made to put every child from an Orphanage or Motherless Babies Home into a family home. We may not be able to put every child into a family home, especially grown up ones, but we can reduce this number and pray that those that remain in Orphanage Homes receive God's touch.

Why should many Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes be filled with little children when many couples are looking for children to adopt? Why should a couple seeking to adopt a child pay through their nose when actually they are not just adopting to meet a need in their lives but also helping to build the society by giving the child a future? Many questions, right? But it is only in answering them sincerely can we have a paradigm shift that we need. God bless you.

Abandoned Street Children - The Church’s Response

Our cities are littered with children who are abandoned by their parents and care-givers. Most of them live in Motor Parks, uncompleted buildings and under the Bridges. Others street-hawk or are used by their supposed-to-be guardians to service their own families and are abandoned later when their services are no longer required. But how did they come to that point?

Causes of abandonment of children include:

1. Unwanted pregnancies by young adults who cannot carter for their children when they are born. Our African societies do not have much sympathy for any girl that makes the mistake of getting pregnant before marriage. They do not put any serious responsibility on the shoulders of the man who impregnated the girl. As a result, some of the girls, especially those living alone in cities, will hide the pregnancy from their parents and relatives but throw away the baby once they are born. Others will live with the baby for some time but when they grow up, they are abandoned by their mother who is not able to care for them properly by sending them to school. Some of the women who have the fear of God or are advised properly consult with some Christian Hospitals or Social Welfare, early enough, to take the babies for adoption after birth. Absence of social security systems in the country only worsens the situation.

2. Poverty of parents who give birth to high number of children which they do not have enough resources to take care of. This makes them to either send the children out as early as at seven years old to learn a trade or to be a house-maid to some families or give them out in early marriage. More often than not, these children end up in the streets, as these actions of their parents are not to their best interests.

3. Pregnancies by lunatics, female beggars and disabled people who give birth to children around our society. Most of them will not allow anybody to take their babies from them, thus the children grow only to walk away to fetch for themselves once they are above seven years old. Social work by churches and religious bodies is not robust in our societies.

4. Religio-culturally motivated abandonment is a problem that is widely spread in the Northern Nigeria. These abandoned children are popularly called 'Almajiris'. It is true that the religio-cultural system has a way of attempting to care for these children; however, statistics have shown that most of the children end up in the streets because they are not equipped with the education that can carry them on through life. In fact, the reason Boko Haram is having enough available recruits every now and then even after each time they are decimated may not be far from this fact that there are a lot of abandoned grown up children who are within reach.

5. Exploitative and ignorant "Motherless babies homes". These also help to throw children into our streets. How? When the children grow up to eight – ten years old, they tend to become uncontrollable. The only thing the Orphanage will do is to push them out; hence they go out with that frustration and become dangerous in the society.

The church can take up the issue of abandoned street children as an opportunity for evangelism. We can build Orphanages to take these grown up children out of the streets. We can develop social support projects in our churches. What are the practical ways your church is impacting their communities? Does your church have schools for their communities? Are they mission schools or just business establishments? Does your church have skill acquisition projects? Do you have any program for the street children? 

If you have met any of them during evangelism, you will agree that the Gospel they understand must deal with both their spiritual and immediate physical situations. Let us do our part because these souls matter too.

Please pray for these kidnapped Missionaries

Gloria Argoti, a Columbian Nun who is in her 60s, was kidnapped on February 7th when assailants broke into her convent in Karangasso, southern Mali. 

Ken Elliott, was kidnapped in January 2016, along with his wife Jocelyn, from the town of Djibo in northern Burkina Faso, near the border with Mali. Jocelyn was released a month later but her husband is still in captivity.

Beatrice Stockl, a Swiss, was  kidnapped on January 15th by al-Qaeda's Ansar al-Dine terrorist group from her home in Timbuktu, Mali. This is the second time in four years that Beatrice has been kidnapped by militants. After the group seized control of Timbuktu, she was accused of proselytizing Christianity, held for ten days, and warned that she would be executed if she tried to return to Timbuktu. Despite the threat, Beatrice returned to Timbuktu in 2013 after French troops liberated the city. In January 2016.

Jeff Woodke, an American Missionary working with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). He was abducted by unknown assailants late in the evening of October 14th from the town of Abalak in northern Niger. So far, little is known about Jeff's condition or whereabouts, other than news that his captors were tracked to neighbouring Mali by Nigerien authorities. On July 11th, a video was released by Els Woodke, expressing her despair, as well as her desire to be in touch with her husband's kidnappers.

Pray for the comfort of the Holy Spirit on these brethren no matter what they go through. May God help them to remain faithful. Pray that God may touch the hearts of their captors so that they will release them unconditionally to their families. May the ministry of the Holy Spirit also console the families and friends of the missionaries, reminding them of God's promise to be a "very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). In addition, please pray for the protection of the country's other foreign mission workers so that needed humanitarian aid can continue assisting the suffering people of Mali.

More information on these and the persecuted Christians around the world can be obtained here. Make sure you say some words of prayer no matter how busy you may be. Encourage your church to pray for the persecuted.

All roads do not lead to the same eternal destiny

When I was a freshman in high school, I tried out for the varsity basketball team. On the first day of tryouts, the coach ran a scrimmage, periodically sending players into the game to see how they played. When my turn came, I intercepted a pass on the very first play. Then I took the ball the length of the court, skyed over every other player and made the prettiest layup you ever saw.

The coach instantly blew the whistle, stopped the game and called me over to the bench. I was walking 10 feet off the ground. I just knew my shot was so good that he had to stop the game just to tell me. I envisioned that ESPN had called and wanted the footage, and that Sports Illustrated had every intention of running a photo of me on the next cover. The shoe deal with Nike was only a matter of time. So I walked – actually, strutted – to the sideline.

My coach said, "White, that was a great shot. Your form was great; your intensity was great. Only thing is, you went to the wrong basket – but it was a great shot!"

Is there a right and a wrong basket in the spiritual game? Is Christianity the only way to score with God or simply one of many ways? For today's unchurched person, this is hardly academic. The religious landscape of modern American society can be nothing less than bewildering. Religious groups, sects, cults, movements, philosophies and worldviews abound in incredible numbers and diversity.

Add to this mix one of the most pervasive, fundamental convictions of contemporary American society: All roads lead to God, and to say that one way is right and all the other ways are wrong is narrow-minded, bigoted and prejudicial. What is true for you is true for you, and what is true for me is true for me. Searching for God is like climbing a mountain. Since everyone knows there is not just one way to climb a mountain – mountains are too big for that – each person can choose from a number of paths. All the ideas about God contained in the various religions of the world are just different ways up the mountain. In fact, though different religions have different names for God, the names all refer to the same God.

Is it true that a lot of roads lead to heaven, which means we really don't have to worry about which road we're on? Is it true that no person, no religion, no group, no book has a handle on the truth? Is it true that all religions are basically the same and all religious leaders are essentially of one mind so that ultimately all spiritual pursuits lead to the same place? If so, people need not look for spiritual truth. They just need to decide on spiritual preference.

If you embrace the idea that multiple paths lead to God and you turn out to be wrong, the consequences are enormous. So let's explore the reasons why people hold to this belief:

1. There Are So Many Religions

The sheer number of faiths from which to choose convinces some people that there is more than one path to God. Religious pluralism has existed for centuries, but people have never been exposed to as many faith options as we are today. As the number of religious options increases in one's mind, the idea that one option represents ultimate spiritual truth lessens. Yet the mere presence of options has little to do with whether a particular faith might be true, nor whether ultimate spiritual truth actually exists. The simple fact is that a test may be multiple-choice, but that does not mean it has multiple answers.

2. The Belief That All Religions Are Basically the Same

The idea that all paths are legitimate is also fueled by the sentiment that all religions are basically the same. Many introductory courses in world religions on the high school and college level stress the common denominators of religion throughout time and culture. While these courses may reveal certain similarities, it is also true that they contradict each other in crucial areas. For example, Christians believe in God, while some Buddhists don't even teach that there is a God. Christians also embrace Jesus' claim that He was God in human form who came to restore our relationship with God. Muslims, on the other hand, don't believe that Jesus was God at all. Christians believe in truth and error, right and wrong, morality and immorality, while adherents to the various forms of New Age thinking contend that there are no absolutes and everything is relative.

You can say that somebody is right and somebody is wrong, or say that everyone is wrong, but you can't say that everybody believes basically the same thing. That would be intellectually dishonest in light of the facts. If God exists—unless He is some senile, confused, muddled, schizophrenic, unbalanced being who isn't sure what He stands for—there is religious truth and religious falsehood among the competing views. And the areas of disagreement among those views are not trivial in nature. The nature of God, the identity of Jesus, and how we enter into a relationship with God are of paramount importance. To return to our mountain climbing analogy in which all paths lead to the same peak, the truth is that there isn't a single peak, much less a single idea of what the peak even looks like. Instead, the mountain has many different peaks, which raises a significant question: How do you get to the highest one?

3. The Idea That Sincerity Is What Matters

"It isn't what a person believes that matters, but how he or she believes it; all that really matters is one's sincerity." Something deep inside of us knows, and I think correctly, that the nature of true spirituality is somehow connected with authenticity. But it is one thing to value sincerity and another to make sincerity the lone characteristic of spiritual truth. How you believe matters, but so does what you believe. If you say it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere, you miss a very important point: You can be sincerely wrong. If I have a headache in the middle of the night and I blindly reach into my medicine cabinet, I can sincerely believe I am taking an aspirin. But if I am really taking cyanide, my sincerity will not save me from the perils of the poison I've ingested. Sincerity matters, but it cannot be all that matters because sincerity alone cannot alter reality. Therefore, it is not simply the sincerity of our faith that matters but the object of our faith as well. Faith is very much like a rope – it matters what you tie it to.

Read the whole write up here.

The Church of England’s governing body officially accepts transgender lifestyle

The Church of England has officially accepted and affirmed the transgender lifestyle in their Synod on the 9th of July 2017. People who have embraced the lifestyle do not have any hitch anymore since their lifestyle has been considered as not being a sin against God.
The Right Reverend Paul Bayes,  the Bishop of Liverpool, during the synod debate said “As the world listens to us today, the world needs to hear us say that LGBTI orientation and identity is not a crime, not a sickness and not a sin,”.
This Synod decision is part of the downward sliding of some members of the communion in their efforts to redefine sexuality. Sexuality is no more God-given. You are what you think in yo min and feel you are.
Thank God for the efforts of GAFCON to provide spiritual oversight for Anglican members who still believe and submit themselves to the authority of the Scriptures.

Let us continue to pray for the Church. All these will culminate to a terrible persecution that will come upon professing Christians in Europe in the years to come. May He keep His faithful ones. Amen.

Read the full text here.