Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis released

It's important I share this also with my readers. Kim has been released from prison after spending six days in jail. The same "U.S. district court judge who found her in contempt said he was satisfied licenses were being issued in accordance with a U.S. Supreme Court decision".

The order is that she "shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples."

This is a great news. Let's continue to pray for her and her family. Please pray for revival of faith among Christians. Pray for the persecuted church. God bless.

A Letter to Christian Men

I find this Letter by the wife of Tim Challis very encouraging and timely. My belief is that it is possible to fight sexual sins and win. It is possible to live in victory. Read and be blessed.

My Wife's Plea to Christian Men

Over the weekend I could see that Aileen had something on her mind. We spoke and she told me about reading the news, about seeing more Christian men fall into scandal, and, in the face of it all, her confusion, her despair, the crumbling of her hope. I asked if she would write about it. Here is what she said. —Tim Challies

How long ago was it now? Was it ten years? Twelve? How long has it been since I faced it for the first time? It was a whispered rumor here, a shaded suggestion there. Then it was the devastated wife weeping in my basement as I tried desperately to draw on some wisdom, some biblical truth, that would help her. Little did I know, all those years ago, that this was simply the tip of the iceberg. But I had hope.

Six years ago, Tim wrote Sexual Detox, and I followed up with False Messages. The number of letters we received shocked us—heart-breaking, soul-crushing emails from guilty men and women married to unfaithful husbands. I wrestled and fought to understand it all from a biblical perspective. Why do so many men, and even so many Christian men, have such weakness when it comes to sexual sin? But even then I still had hope, hope in the truth of the gospel, hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the years since, I have listened to more stories of more Christian men falling, wept with more women, and prayed a whole lot. I have tried to explain to women how their husbands think about sex: Your husband doesn’t just want it, he wantsyou. I’ve tried to tell them that sex is a good gift that God gives as a means of grace in marriage, a means of bonding a husband and wife together. I have counseled single young women to pursue purity. I have been teaching all the right stuff. And I have believed it all. I had hope.

Then came Ashley Madison and the suggestion that hundreds of pastors would have to resign after being caught with accounts on this website that glorifies adultery. And it’s not just pastors—hundreds of other Christian men, both single and married, have been caught up in the scandal. Now there are more broken homes, more devastated churches, more weeping wives, more mocking of God. And I have to tell you, this week, today, I am struggling to find hope.

I have fought to understand the struggle men face. I have fought to have compassion. I have encouraged wives to extend forgiveness, to willingly and joyfully give themselves to their husbands. But you know what? I just don’t know how I can keep doing it. Not when so many husbands are deceptively defiling the marriage bed. Not when so many young, single men are recklessly defiling the future marriage bed. Not when so many men seem just plain unwilling to change.

Men, you are supposed to be modeling holiness before the world (Titus 2:6-8). You are supposed to be cherishing your wives as Christ cherishes his church (Ephesians 5:25). You are supposed to be abstaining from all sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3). You are supposed to be fleeing youthful passions (2 Timothy 2:22). Why are so many of you failing at these basic tasks? Is it really that difficult? You would almost think that this one sin is beyond the power of the Holy Spirit.

You who keep choosing to sin, you who keep visiting those websites, you who have secret lives you keep hidden from your friends and your wives: Why won’t you stop? You know that God loves to give victory over every sin. You know that God calls you to pursue sanctification. You know that the Holy Spirit equips you to succeed. God has given you everything you need in the gospel. So why do you keep failing? The only conclusion I can come to is that you are so consumed with self-gratification that you are not willing to fight, and I mean really willing to fight, this sin. If it’s not that you can’t, it must be that you won’t.

I plead with you. I plead with you on behalf of your wives, on behalf of your future wives, on behalf of Christian women everywhere: Stop. Just stop.

Stop believing that this is a special sin that women just can’t understand—we do understand sin. This isn’t a special sin, it is just sin: God-belittling, Christ-mocking, Spirit-despising sin. Stop pretending like there are no future consequences to your actions. Stop putting your selfish desires first. Stop engaging in activities that bring shame on the gospel. Stop doing things that leave us picking up the pieces of your devastated wife. Stop indulging in your sin, and start thinking and acting like a God-honoring, Christ-praising, Spirit-glorifying man. For the love of God and his church, stop.

Finally, Kim Davis is jailed because she refused to issue marriage license to gay couples.

At last, as anticipated, Kim Davis is jailed.

In as much as I do not want to be embroiled in the arguments making rounds on whether she was supposed to obey the court ruling and issue licenses to gays or resign or retire if the order was against her faith and conscience, it is worthy to note that this is part of the spiritual decline within the American system, even the worldly system for that matter, which I do not think has any hope of recovery again. It will only worsen as we draw closer to the end of the age.

When we posted here that we should pray for Kim, we did not expect that she would not go to jail. Instead we encouraged us to pray for her resolve, so that she would stand strong in her conviction till the end. What played out looks strange to some of us because as pastors and teachers, we do not takeout time to teach church history in our churches today. We rarely mention them in our preaching. But make no mistake about it, Christians were persecuted, killed and burnt at stake based on the framework of the 'laws' that were available in those days. Most of the stance Christians took in those days were 'unconstitutional', 'nonsensical', and 'unpopular'. This is because human reason and intelligence are often flawed in matters of faith. Standing for conscience and conviction is what we need today. Unfortunately most of us as Christian leaders do not even live by any conviction at all. 

Most Christian leaders are silent today because they do not want to injure their reputation and some are afraid of the backlash they may receive. Many are even confused. Some have blamed her for insisting on her personal convictions while occupying a public office. Others dig into her past life of failed marriages, children outside wedlock etc. My answer to all these is that, her terrible past proves to us the enormous power of God's grace. Was the supreme court decision correct in the first place? Was it correct not to create a leeway for those who may have a different definition of marriage other than what they have defined  to equally be free to exercise their own right? Or do they have a ploy to get rid of all Christians in the public service who hold fast to their convictions? Like I earlier said, I do not want to bother myself with all the arguments. She has shown virtue and all we can do is to stand by her and not to blame her.  All her staff have caved in except her son for now. Persecution of Christians does not start with the despondent extreme attacks, it all starts like this and then degenerates. 

I want to conclude this post by quoting Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), a prominent Protestant pastor who spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps:

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

Source: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392

Keep this post in your mind because the situation is not going to get better for genuine Christians any where in the world. We must prepare our minds for the on coming persecution which will come upon the church all over the world where it has not started yet. We will be called bigots, extremists etc. Let's learn how to stand together and encourage one another.

Please keep praying for her and other Christians. May her resolve be a challenge to all of us to begin to stand fast in our convictions and begin to have something we are living for.

Update on Kim Davis.

Thank God she has remained strong. Her case reminds me of the apostles when they were brought before the Sanhedrin.

"Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!"" Acts 5:29-30 NIV.

What the authority was requesting from them was simple "stop teaching in this name". But they refused. We discuss their faith as examples in our churches. Today, Kim is faced with the same opportunity to make that choice "Just agree and start signing marriage registers for gays, no matter what your personal beliefs are". However, in the same way obeying the Sanhedrin meant disobeying God for the apostles, obeying the Supreme Court order means disobeying God for Kim and most of us Christians who holds to the clear teachings of the Bible very dearly.

Please continue to pray for her. May her response be like that of the apostles, "...His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ." Acts 5:40-42 NIV.

Instead of wallowing in self pity, they rejoiced.

Pray for Kim Davis

This woman and two other Rowan County Clerks in Kentucky have refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because of her Christian belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. The USA is a land of freedom as long as the freedom is against the freedom of Christians. All rights must be protected and defended except the rights of practicing Christians. The Supreme Court has ordered her to issue the licenses against her free conscience.

The prayer support is for her and the others to be strong and to stand firm in their conviction and be willing to suffer the persecution that is about to come. As the wind continues to blow in the USA, many genuine Christians might lose their jobs while others may lose money because of court cases, businesses owned by genuine Christians might close down,  etc. Pray that believers will remain faithful to their Lord till the end.

EHYAWHE du groupe Gael by Alain Moloto

May God bless you all as you enjoy this wonderful song.

Rev. Yat Michael and Rev. Peter Yein Reith have been released.

The pastors,  Rev. Yat Michael and Rev. Peter Yein Reith, were arrested by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in December 2014 and January 2015 respectively. Rev. Yat Michael preached in the Evangelical Church in Bahri after which he was arrested. Rev. Peter Yein Reith was arrested after he submitted a letter of concern from leaders of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, inquiring about the whereabouts of the Rev. Yat. The brethren were brought to trial several times being charged with multiple spurious allegations.

Thank God they have been released.

However, we will continue to pray for the church in Sudan to remain strong and multiplying in the face of oppression and persecution.

See more here.

Special request: Please pray for the Nigerian church. May case of the Nigerian church not be like that of the Laodecian church (Rev.3). They saw themselves as rich, wealthy and lacked nothing but in the eyes of God, they were wretched, pitiful, poor and naked.

Praise God for Asia Bibi - her death sentence has been suspended

Asia Bibi, a Christian mother who has been on death row for blasphemy since 2009, has got her sentence suspended. We have shared her story here in Evergreen Website.  The Voice of Martyrs reports that on July 22nd a panel of judges suspended her death sentence.

The case against this long-suffering follower of Jesus will be thoroughly reviewed by the country's Supreme Court before a final ruling is made. In light of the recent hearing, a VOM worker in Pakistan wrote, "By the grace of God, this is a big achievement. This is an answer to the prayers of people around the world."

Please continue to pray that she may be acquitted completely soon because it is not yet over. Also, continue to remember other  believers who are still in the prison in Pakistan for God's intervention.


For more information, go to Voice of Martyrs site here.

Does the Bible Condone Premarital Sex? - by Bob Russell

Occasionally church leaders email me, asking for my opinion on various personal or church problems. This spring, I received a note from a church leader in another city. The location isn’t important, because the situation he outlined is common across the nation.

He wrote of how a number of members ages 25 to 35 had reached the conclusion that premarital sex is “OK.” Some even play on the praise team, teach in the children’s program, or film videos for weekly announcements.

“The problem is that some of them will tell me that they cannot find anything in scripture that says that what they are doing, having sex with someone, is wrong,” he said. “I have taught on the subject, but they do not see a direct statement against premarital sex.”

Dealing with sin.

He asked for other scriptures he can use, as well as about the church’s stance.

Should it allow them to continue leading ministries or bring them before the congregation and—as the Bible says—have nothing to do with them in hopes it will help them see their sin and return to Christ?

“I know that Satan wants to get in and cause problems in the church, but I also know the need to accept them and love them,” he concluded. “But we also have to deal with sin, or Satan wins.”

In my response, I pointed out that the Bible repeatedly instructs God’s people to “flee fornication.” For 2,000 years, the word translated “fornication” in Scripture has been understood to include the prohibition of sex prior to marriage. Webster’s dictionary definition is clear: “consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other.”

A privileged experience.

God designed the physical union of a man and a woman as a privileged experience within the bounds of marriage. The Lord intended marriage as a secure environment for raising children and a uniquely meaningful union that symbolizes God’s committed relationship to us (Ephesians 5:32).

If there was nothing wrong with premarital sex, then why was Joseph determined to divorce Mary when he discovered she was expecting a child prior to marriage?

If there is nothing wrong with premarital sex, then one could conclude there is nothing wrong with having children out of wedlock.

Read the full write up here.

Every Church leader needs to take a decision and stand on premarital sex and be ready to encourage the up coming generation to live a holy life. We have to show them by our exemplary lives that it is possible to obey the Lord. Church discipline must be practiced in cases of flagrant known sins, especially where it involves leaders. Except we do this, the next generation may come to the point whereby sex before marriage will be accepted as a way of life for Church members.

The burden of knowledge

The burden of knowledge

I had wanted to title this piece “The perils of knowledge”. But because I do not want many to misunderstand the title at first glance, taken out of context, I have decided to title it “The burden of knowledge”. I strongly encourage people to pursue God and strive to know Him personally. However, when God begins to open Himself to us and starts to give us the revelation of His ways, we have to be careful the way we deal with the “ignorant” men around us who presumably do not know what we know. If we are not aware of the burden we have to bear because of what we now know, we can destroy those around us and even destroy ourselves. 1 Cor. 8:11 says that our knowledge can destroy a weak brother if we are not careful.

We are all familiar with the passage, “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” Hos.4:6, however, not many are aware of this other side of knowledge, that it can hinder you; can limit you and puff you up and even kill you. The Bible says that “knowledge puffs up” (1 Cor.8:1) and makes you feel important and can set you up in a position where God Himself will work to resist you. Doesn’t that catch your attention? It indeed catches mine.

This is why I am sharing these 5 burdens of knowledge:

1. Exercise of knowledge must have some controls. Knowledge lifts you from where you are to a different mental estate. Knowledge expands your understanding and capacity to reason. Knowledge makes you different. What you know can make you think differently, analyze issues differently, respond to situations differently and even live differently. In fact knowledge can change you.

Having said that, it is important to note that even though the knowledge you just gained has changed you, your environment and the people around you have not changed with you. Why? It is simple; they do not know what you know. It will take you time to let them know what you know, let them understand what you mean, and bring them to the level where you are, precept upon precept, line upon line, a little here, a little there until they come to the same plane where you are. Hence, in manifesting your knowledge, you must control yourself depending on the gap between you and your environment and also depending on the gap between you and the people around you. Control does not mean that you compromise your core or the content of what you know, it all means that you exercise patience and wisdom in manifesting your knowledge and the revelation of God that you have. Even in the Scriptures, God’s dealing with us is in progressive revelation. We can deal with our fellow humans the way God deals with us. Knowledge on its own is not tangible. What people can touch is how you go about your knowledge; the things you do with what you know and how you manifest what you know. For knowledge to be profitable, we must add self-control to it. 2 Pet.1:6.

2. Knowledge needs to be balanced with other attributes, virtues and character in order to positively impart others around us. My emphasis is not on the earthly knowledge and wisdom which sometimes we may have to completely set aside if we must operate in faith; what I mean here is the spiritual knowledge which makes us claim to have known the Lord better than others. I mean the knowledge that changes the way people look at us and makes them to hold us at a high esteem spiritually. This knowledge must be balanced with other areas of our lives. The level of spiritual knowledge we claim we possess must produce virtue and godly character. If it does not produce righteousness, then there is a question mark on your spiritual knowledge regardless of what you say. It amazes me when men claim spiritual knowledge and still remain naughty, rebellious and immoral. These things do not add up.

3. Increase in knowledge must go with increase in humility if it is going to produce spiritual results. One of the reasons why knowledge can become a snare is that it can raise your shoulders up and make you become a Pharisee. The Pharisees are critics who do not offer alternative solutions. They do not believe that God can also use somebody else apart from themselves. They run others down and despise their level of knowledge but expect the same people to recognize and respect their own knowledge and insight. I do not want to be distracted here into discussing the Pharisees, but suffice it to say that the Pharisees burden others with their knowledge and keep them perpetually dependents and ignorant. No effort is made to liberate others from ignorance.

Spiritual knowledge must be dispensed with great humility if we expect it to change men. We encounter oppositions and the ego of men because the people feel our pride and “holier than thou” attitude as we share what we know. They hear our counsels and revelation but feel our pride and ego. They hear our words but see our high handedness. We must apply the things we learn from our Bible Studies with great humility especially when others are involved. You know, it is easier to pride ourselves around with claims of knowledge and demand respect and recognition than to humble ourselves and look for the best ways to impart the lives of others with what we know. For me, the content of the message is as important as the vehicle or means through which the message is delivered and the way it is delivered.

4. Responsibility must increase with Knowledge. We have seen it play out in relationships and in our attitudes and response to issues. For example, it is the person who knows that he has to pursue peace by all means possible that will humble himself, deny himself, and even often give up his right for the sake of peace. What he knows makes him to be the first to initiate peace moves in spite of his personal ego and the insensitivity of the other person involved. He accepts to be defrauded if it will bring peace because of his knowledge. Why? This is because that is the dictate of the Scriptures that he knows. It is the person that knows that bears the responsibility in making sure that the situation they are in produces spiritual result. Not the ignorant, even though at the end of the day, his ignorance does exonerate him before God.

The Scriptures you know places demand upon you to obey them and be different even when people around you think otherwise. This is one of the reasons the devil does not want God’s people to study the Bible. He lures them away from their Bibles with all kinds of human philosophies and empty fables. The reason is simple, when you know and do not obey, guilt can easily be stirred up in you quicker than somebody who is completely ignorant and does not care. Hence repentance is possible where there is knowledge.

Having said that, my challenge is that I see men that claim that they know, but at the same time they live in a blatant disregard to their claim and yet bear no guilt about it. This indeed is a paradox.

5. Knowledge raises expectations. When we claim that we know, we raise people’s expectations from us. It is not only that God looks upon us, depending on His investment in us, men around us also expect to see what we claim we know in our own personal lives. The tragedy of our time is that we have a generation that claim they know God and His word but fight anybody who places a demand upon their lives because of what they claim they know. At best they explain it away. For me, it is a high level of irresponsibility to make a claim and refuse people placing a demand upon such a claim. If we claim we know, we must bear the burden of that knowledge. Knowledge must bear responsibility.

We must pay attention to these issues because God has called us to impart lives and to equip them for Him. This must be our focus in all that we do in the Body of Christ.

At the end of the day, knowledge shall pass away. What shall remain as substance is how we treated and made allowance for other brethren; how we esteemed others above ourselves; how we humbled ourselves for Christ to be exalted; how we showed love to others, especially those who cannot pay us back. Love is what builds the body. 1 Cor. 8:1.

God bless you!

Bishop Isaac Orama – Never deceived by titles and regalia.

Bishop Isaac Orama – Never deceived by titles and regalia.

It was Thomas Carlyle in On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, who said that the “society is founded on Hero-worship”. He argues that “society everywhere is some representation … of a graduated worship of Heroes – reverence and obedience done to men really great and wise”. This has led many generations into paganism and idolatry of all sorts. However it is not just that man has that innate sense of “loyalty, submissive admiration” for whatever he considers truly great, he equally revels in the glory when he has the opportunity to be adored in such a manner.

The latter is the reason why every leader, whether spiritual or secular, is always faced with this great temptation – do I accept this submissive admiration of worship from men who follow me or do I point them to my Savior, who is greater than myself, and sincerely bend down so that they can see Him alone? Broken men, humble servants of God have found out that that is the only way to escape the trap of hero-worship. Not that they can eliminate that which is innate in man – the desire to worship, but they save themselves from the consequent deception by adopting the attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ who “took upon himself the form of a servant”.

This attitude is what I saw in Bishop Isaac Orama, the late Bishop of the Diocese of Uyo, while he was alive. The last time I physically listened to him was about two years ago when he preached on “Arise and Shine”. One of the things he said in that meeting that has never left me is, I will paraphrase it, “I jealous some of you who are volunteer workers in the church, who though you have your own professions, yet you are committed to God in His service. It makes me to work harder than just being a pastor. You know what, many of us ordained ministers will get to heaven only to discover to our shock that we arrived empty-handed. Why? Because we did just what we were employed to do as pastors and got paid by the church for it, hence there will be nothing else to reward us for in heaven. I work harder so as to get reward in heaven”. That struck me and left a very big impression on my life and ministry since then. It stuck. Watching his life, I can say that that was exactly how he lived his life.

Climbing up the ladder in his denomination, from one title to another, his regalia changed several times. However, those changes did not change Bishop Isaac Orama. He remained just a brother. He did not put up the kind of cult-leader attitude we see most Christian leaders carry today. He continued to be jovial, smiling and will always call you his brother each time you meet. Most leaders claim that they are approachable but they allow those around them to create this deceptive atmosphere of awe around them and their office. They bask in the resultant reverence and yet claim that their office and position has not changed them. But Isaac Orama did not allow those things to influence him. He never became a stranger to his old friends. They remained his brethren. When he came to speak on that “Arise and Shine” programme, he opted to stay in a Guest House of an old friend so as to reduce the financial burden of accommodation on the host church.

He accomplished a lot and imparted many lives during his life time, from the Scripture Union leadership period to his death as the Bishop of Uyo Diocese. He was involved in the revival that swept through the former Niger Delta Diocese and now Diocese of Niger Delta North, many years ago. He led a church in the heart of Port Harcourt, St. Matthews Anglican Church, started by the Venerable Isaac Tejevo, into one of the rare missionary exploits of modern history - the same church that some self-serving pastors today have demonized and made several attempts to scatter. He took over the church from Canon Somiari who himself is a called missionary. This church planted many other churches, helped to revive many dead ones in several remote villages scattered in Niger Delta and sent out missionaries. He assisted the church to develop a global missionary vision which has led to the opening of mission fields in Cameroun, Sierra Leone, Ghana etc. He was a prayer man and encouraged many people to pursue their God-given ministries and helped to raise many young men as ministers. His influence crossed denominational boundaries. Those who have heard him lead in prayer sessions will sense his burden for the church; easily broken before the Lord in tears.

A friend of mine once told me an incident that happened in St. Matthews in one of those days – He just finished rebuking the church rashly over some matters and went and sat down, only to come up again to apologize to the church for the way he talked to them. He said that God just rebuked him and warned him not to talk rashly to His children the way he did and asked him to go back to the podium and apologize. It turned out to become another solemn moment for everybody as they all began to repent and confess their sins. What a scene and what an experience for all the worshippers that Sunday. During church love feasts, he would almost eat from every person’s plate, unlike many pastors who are full of complex and pretense, who do not want to eat with their brethren because they are wearing white collar.

When we received the SMS to pray for him when he travelled to India for a medical condition, we all prayed. But it has pleased our Father to call him home in a time like this. I can only say, “My big brother, you fought well. We learnt a lot from you what you also learnt from Christ. Once again I say, “Good night””.

Watch out

"Watch out for false prophets. Matt 7:15 NIV

One of the things that will become common and rampant in these last days is the increase in deception and deceivers. The deception will be so strong that even the elect can be taken if he is not watchful. Praying alone is not enough to guard a man against falsehood, using our spiritual eyes to watch is very important.

In the passage above, the Lord asks us to watch out for false prophets. They will come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly, they are ferocious wolves. They may prophesy, drive out demons and perform miracles and yet, they work against God’s purpose and tear down God’s kingdom instead of building it. They are hirelings who do not really care for the sheep. All they care about is how to make money for themselves, and get returns from church members who have itching ears who are glad hearing what they want to hear. These church members can stay under a ‘prophet’ who prophesies lies but they will never ask questions because they are being driven by their lusts.

How can you be under a ‘prophet’ who says that God told him that something will happen within a period and it does not happen and you do not ask questions? Oftentimes people are so intimidated that they are even afraid to mention the lie their pastor has told. They think sub-consciously that their pastor can change the rules and God will accept it because he is a ‘servant of God’. How can a prophet always sees ‘pains in the lower abdomen’, ‘you dreamt and somebody was pursuing you in the dream’, ‘somebody is here who has pain on the upper part of his arm’ etc? Every time he opens his mouth, the same ‘prophecy’ all the time. Recently in a church, a visiting preacher was corrected two times because he was declaring something that was obvious to every church member that it was false. 

This is the beginning of the year and many people are having special programs in their churches and ministries. Unfortunately, this is when many leaders declare lies and claim that God has spoken to them. Many pastors deceive their members to enter into some spurious covenants which they are told they can procure with their offerings and pledges. I discussed this extensively here some years ago. What covenant can you procure with the money God gave to you that will be more efficacious and lasting than the covenant we have with Him in Christ Jesus which has granted us access to Him as our Father? We are covenant children with all the inheritance we have as sons. In the so called covenant services, they still quote from the Bible which on its own is a covenant book which contains all the terms and instructions that if a man harkens to, he will enjoy the fulfillment of God’s promises. Why are people deceiving others and why do followers allow themselves to be deceived?

I believe in prophecy but I judge every prophecy to make sure it is from God. I recently asked a couple, “how can you identify a false prophet?”, they could not answer anything. And I know that many people today are in that kind of situation. Please, do not be deceived. The Psalmist says, “Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling” psalm 2: 11. If you decide to sincerely fear God this year, eschew evil and pursue after Him, you will experience Him like never before. The Lord Jesus warns, ‘watch out for false prophets’. My dear watch! God bless you.

The blame game

The blame game

When God visited Adam in the Garden of Eden and wanted him to define his current situation and standing with Him, He asked Adam, “where art thou?”

Every day in the midst of situations and circumstances of life, we are confronted with this demand to tell God where we are; our location and the choices we have made. We are confronted to define our standing in our relationship with Him and the ways we have chosen to live. For Adam, God was not unaware of what Adam had done. He was only requesting for a response from him. Adam’s answer was the beginning of the blame game in this world. He acknowledged that he was naked, afraid and in hiding. He accepted the fact that he had eaten the Forbidden Fruit but shifted the responsibility for his actions to his wife and God, "The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Gen 3:12. When God asked the woman, she shifted the blame to the Serpent, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Gen 3:13. Read the story in Gen. 3.

The blame game is a game that we all instinctively play as fallen human beings. We do not want to take responsibilities for our choices and actions. We want somebody else to carry the burdens we have created. We do not want to be blamed. We want to enjoy freedom from blame. Nobody wants to be caught. The unfortunate thing is that the freedom we seek from blame actually drives us into more serious bondage and deeper into the cycle of guilt.

Now, in the family, there are some men that if they abuse their wives, the woman is the cause. If they are caught in adultery, the wife is the problem. If they are over reacting and making the atmosphere in the family uncomfortable, their wife is the cause; if they refuse to join their spouse in devotion, she is the reason because she made him angry. They never look inward to accept the fact that they are the architect of their actions and they are responsible for their choices.

It is not only men who fail to take the responsibility for their actions in the family. There are women that insult their husbands and refuse to submit to them, yet they claim their husband is the cause; if they refuse to pray with him, he is to be blamed; if they shout at him, nag and make the home a mini hell for everybody, their spouse is to be blamed.

We all shift blames not only to our spouses, we also blame our leaders, both political and spiritual. We blame our pastors and our pastors in turn blame the members of congregation. Pastors blame their bishops and General Overseers, while the bishops come back to blame the junior pastors. We blame our parents and parents in turn blame their children. We blame our friends and enemies and the system in place and the cycle continues.

The zenith of cowardice in the blame game is reached when we push the responsibility for our actions to somebody who cannot defend himself in our presence or someone who is absent or dead, just to make sure we are free from immediate blame. Worst still, when we are finally trapped by the consequences of our choices and actions, we blame Satan because we know nobody will invite him to defend himself. Hence for everything, there is something or someone to blame if we look around for one.

The truth is that in this loop and cycle of blames, there is someone who is conspicuously missing and incidentally he is the only one that needs to take responsibility for most of the blame – YOU. Freedom starts when you are able to say, I am the one. Solution and the ability to confront our situation come when we break the cycle of the blame game and take responsibility for our actions. Change can only occur in us when we quit the blame game and look at the man in the mirror and tell him, ‘you are responsible for all the choices you have made in life’. We all have the opportunity to choose our response to a provocation. Whatever we have done is what we have chosen to do and the way we have chosen to respond is totally in our control.

Sitting down playing the blame game is actually a posture and position of abject weakness. When we shift blames, we deny ourselves the opportunity to change for the better; the opportunity to receive strength and grace; the opportunity to learn and make better choices and ultimately the opportunity to really be free. At the end of the day, if you continue the blame game, one person remains in the prison of defeat and guilt and that person is you. When next you are confronted with the question, “where art thou?” will you stand up and take responsibility and say, ‘I am here. This is my current situation’? Or will you keep running from blame? At the end of the day, when we stand before God, this same question concerning our standing in our relationship with God will still confront us. Shifting the blame to anybody will not save us from the consequences of our actions. God’s response to the blame game Adam and Eve played is very instructive to us today. None of them escaped the consequences of their actions despite the fact that they shifted the blame for the bad choices they made to someone else and refused to own up.

Your life is your life, face it. Your family is your family, take responsibility. Your marriage is your marriage, defend and save it. Your career is your career, take responsibility today. Stop the blame game and take responsibility today and you will receive strength and grace and experience the change and freedom you are dearly looking for.