LifeWay Magazine (September - October Issue)

VOL 8 NO 4 SEPTEMBER  OCTOBER 2008

ISSN 1595-5400

SECRETS OF

N500 GHC5.00 C5.00 £3.00 US $5.00

THE CHRISTIAN VOICE

SUCCESSFUL

MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKERS PLUS: What critics are saying

EXCLUSIVE!

BUSINESSLIFE

MINISTERS' MANNA

More shocking How to win - and Fellow Ministers, revelations about keep - customers we have a p26 'phone number problem p53 prophets' p17

THE SPIRITFILLED CHRISTIAN LIFE

The Vision: LifeWay is a general consumer magazine set up to proclaim the knowledge of Jesus Christ through the power of the printed word in a professional, uncomplicated and readerfriendly format that will appeal to both the believer and unbeliever.

The Mission: LifeWay is founded under the Divine inspiration and mandate to provide through the medium of mass communication, quality spiritual food that will empower Christians in their daily walk and service, reflect God at work in our lives and society and reach out to the non believer through evangelical articles presented in a context familiar to the reader.

2008

ISSN 1595-5400

VOICE THE CHRISTIAN

SECRETS OF

US $5.00

LifeWay Media International Limited Corporate Office 21, Ladipo Oluwole Street, off Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja. P. O. Box 5541, Surulere, Lagos Website: www.lifewaymag.com E-mail: mail@lifewaymage.com.

Phone: +234 1 8523729, 0802 3265116 Ghana: +233 248 824431, 239 175629 LifeWay is a publication of of LifeWay Media International Limited.

Advertising in LifeWay does not necessarily imply editorial endorsement.

How to Reach Us: Letters to LifeWay should be typed double-spaced and kept short and precise.

They should be addressed to: Mail Matters, LifeWay P. O. Box 5541 Surulere or mail@lifewaymag.com Letters may be edited to fit into available space or conform to our editorial style.

Publication of readers’ letters does not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine or its staff.

ER  OCTOBER VOL 8 NO 4 SEPTEMB

N500 GHC5.00 £3.00

Publisher and Editor Jackson Ekwugum Associate Publisher Yinka Jackson (Mrs) Correspondent Leonard Ackon (Ghana) Columnists Sam Adeyemi, Anselm Madubuko, Dag Heward-Mills, Sam Amaga, Deola Ojo, John Paul Okwok, Omokorede Fashoro, Jane Pela, Imo-Abasi Jacob Art Direction Ogbenyi Egbe Advisory Board Elder Segun Olusanya (Chair), Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo, Chiadi Ndu, James Okwara, Ebele Nduka-Irabor, Violet Onyemenam, Austen Ukachi, Richard Olubameru Editorial Committee Rev. David Ahove (Chair), Rev. Yinka Ojo, Evang. Elishamma Ideh, Pastor Imo-Abasi Jacob, Pastor Godman Akinlabi, Chido Nwakanma

in this issue... l e A D S T o R Y

34 The Phenomenon of Motivational Speaking

SUCCESSFUL

The good, the bad and the ugly

L SPEAKERS MOTIVATIONA critics are saying PLUS: What

F e A T u R e S

26 Business Life

How to Win – and Retain – Customers

48 Single & Married

Single, Sassy and Sanctified

By John Akachi Ahamzie

54 Ministers’ Manna

Fellow Ministers, We Have a Problem

By Yinka Ojo

NA MINI STER S' MAN

rs, BUSI NESS Fellow Ministe How to win - and we have a More shockingut keep - customers problem p53 p26 revelations abo 'phone number prophets' p17 EXCL USIV E!

LIFE

c o l u M N S

24 The Outpouring

6 First Word

With Sam Amaga

8 Success Power

With Imo Abasi-Jacob

By Jackson Ekwugum

With Sam Adeyemi

10 Classic Christianity With Dag Heward-Mills

12 The Revival

With Anselm Madubuko

14 Apples of Gold With Jane Pela

27 Faith @ Work

42 School of Power

With John Paul Okwok

45 Singles Platform With Deola Ojo

46 Ask Aunt Korede

With Omokorede Fashoro

58 Last Word

By Yinka Jackson

OUR CONTRIBUTORS • DR. JohN AkAchi AhAMZie is the Senior Pastor of Holy Fire Overflow Ministries in Ogba, Lagos. He has authored books on marriage and relationships, and is the radio host of “What’s All this Noise About Sex.” He writes with disarming wit and humour on the imperative of sexual purity among the youth.

You can reach him on

p.48

akachi@lifeintheoverflow.org • ReV. YiNkA oJo is a pastor, teacher, and author. He oversees Grace Family Church in Oregun area of Lagos. He contributes a thought provoking article in our M i n i s te r s’ Manna section that is

P e o P l e & e V e N T S 16 Former Nollywood Star embraces Christ 17 Fleecing the Flock: More shocking revelations about ‘phone number’ prophecies 18 Youths explode for Christ in Ghana 20 Video cast of Global Leadership Summit to air in three cities in Nigeria 21 Christian School Owners gear up for the task of world evangelisation 22 Why a Ghanaian pastor prefers ‘old time religion’.

p.54

a must read for any preacher of the gospel who wants to be on the cutting edge of God’s end time agenda. Rev. Ojo will be hosting a MINISTERS AND LEADERS SUMMIT on September 25 and 26, 2008 in Lagos.

You can get more information on www. gfconline.org or email him on yinkadeolaojo@ yahoo.com

MA I L

MAT T E R S

Your July-August edition was a blast, especially with the focus on false prophets. I was in a church in the United Kingdom where cell phone numbers were being called out and the very sour part of it was that the people whose numbers were called were to cough out anything between 500 and 1,000 pounds.

PROPHETS OR MAGICIANS? I think if more people read their Bibles and have pastors who tell the truth, not just what the people want to hear, these false prophets will be out of business. But I wonder if that’s possible, as this enterprise is driven by poverty, greed and covetousness which have become grand stakeholders in the lives of very many Christians.

VOL 8 NO 3 JULY  AUGUST 2008

ISSN 1595-5400

N500 GHC5.00 £3.00 US $5.00

THE CHRISTIAN VOICE

ISSUES IN THE CHURCH

Decoding the Prosperity Gospel p25

SINGLE & MARRIED

What to do if your partner is the jealous type p34

VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIVING

The Warfare of Dreams p40

MINISTERS' MANNA

Seven Secrets to the anointing p48

t Phone number prophecies rock the church t The Ghana connection t Bishop Charles Agyin-Asare speaks out

Adebowale Adenuga, Lagos

Thank you

I just couldn’t drop my copy of the July/August edition until I had read it from cover to cover. Thank you for your courage and boldness in confronting this hydra headed monster and ill-wind that is threatening to sweep many off their feet. It is high time we all spoke out.

Rev. Tony Akinyemi, Lagos

Stop the Disgrace

I was sad and highly embarrassed to read the court case between Winners Chapel International and Winners Chapel Ghana in your July/august edition. It is regrettable and very painful that both churches would choose to drag the name of Christ into disrepute by their actions. A church building anywhere doesn’t belong to an individual/organisation or group of individuals but God alone. In terms of nominal ownership, all the church members, old and young, rich and poor, own the building because they contributed towards the construction.

Take for the purpose of argument that the Nigerian church owns it. Is it morally right to drive the people out of the building? Couldn’t the Nigerian church out of faith in God forgo it? Couldn’t they as faith people imitate Abraham who sacrificed his wealth to Lot believing that God who promised will give him something greater? Couldn’t the Nigerian church learn a lesson in the way David treated King Saul by sparing his life twice? Do not these leaders know that there is greatness in humility, forbearance and forgiveness? Do they not know that it takes real faith to be compassionate? That in fact it takes more faith to show compassion than to move mountains?

My humble position is that the actions of both parties are a classic case of carnality and worldliness that have become the bane of the Charismatic church (see 1 Cor 3:3 ). I plead with the warring parties to please stop the disgrace.

D.C. Isimoya, Lagos

4

We are all guilty

Frank, accurate, balanced, insightful, deep, timely, and corrective. That is how I describe the article, “Decoding the Prosperity Gospel” by Pastor Ladi Thompson in the July/August issue. We are all guilty. It should be published in journals, church bulletins, magazines and newspapers to be read by all leaders and loving seekers. At least someone dared to remind us to be balanced.

Pastor Charles Abu, Lagos

Ready to take up the cross?

I was happy reading through your May-June issue. It has been the best I have read in a long time; all the stories came down to one thing - carrying the cross. But here lies my question; are today’s “Christians” really ready to take up the cross? It is like the popular saying, ‘every one wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die’. Dying in this matter is like Apostle Anselm Madubuko said that immorality is taking the place of morality while Pastor Jane Pela talked about our dress sense. These are things we have to make sure die in us before we can actually take up the cross. Remember the rich young man? He was not ready to sell off his goods as demanded by Jesus and fled because he wasn’t ready to carry the cross. Many people claiming to be Pentecostals are actually ‘Penterascals’. Until we grab the bull by the horns (like you guys are doing in LifeWay) by preaching the truth, these works of the flesh will remain with us. God bless and keep you. This magazine will be a medium of change for the better in our generation. Keep the fire burning!

Pastor Victor Owo, RCCG, Next Level Assembly, Eket Mega Area, Akwa Ibom Province 2, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

A new creature

Kudos to the management and staff of LifeWay. Praise be to God for laying it in your heart to pioneer a magazine like this. From what I can see, this is not just a business endeavour to earn a living but to advance the cause of Christ. I am not usually given to making comments in magazines or newspapers but I am compelled to write to you because of what

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

I strongly feel is a misrepresentation of the gospel and those who read us ultimately become what they read. In your Feb/March edition, I read the article by Apostle Anselm Madubuko titled, “Of Satanic Altars and Ancestral Covenants.”

I have high regard for the man of God but please permit me to comment as follows: 1. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was meant to redeem us from sin and THE CONSEQUENCES thereof (Gal 3:13, 14).

2. This sacrifice confers on all who believe in Jesus the blessing of Abraham, so I cannot understand why we talk more about curses from ancestors. Who are the ancestors? A Christian is a new creature, and as such has lost his natural parentage identity because on the cross Jesus took upon Himself our sins (2nd Cor 5:21). The new creature only existed when he got born again and does not have any ancestor in the first place, and at resurrection we became Him. 3. Jesus`s suffering and death on the cross took away all curses from Adam (Rom 5:12, 14, 17, 18).

4. Can we refer to any scripture in the New Testament where the Apostles went to Ephesus or Galatia to cast out ancestral curses?

5. If Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross didn’t take away the curses then He died in vain. What we need is not breaking of curses but the revelation of the FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST on the CROSS. Kenny Ola, Lagos

Not Mega Enough?

Please permit me to comment on what I consider an anomaly in the church today, i.e., the lack of social responsibility and compassion for the community.

Churches are springing up in virtually all the nook and crannies of the country but the impact is still not as profound as it should be. Rather than blessing the people, especially the millions whose salvation and faith are being threatened by hunger, with the enormous resources at their disposal, they are all busy trying to outwit one another on whose church is mega or not.

Now the latest is that a mega church without a private university to his name is not MEGA enough. Yet hundreds die monthly on the Lagos - Ibadan express way. One would think these churches should consider it necessary to build a well equipped hospital on that express road to treat accident victims.

I am using the platform of your well respected magazine to call the church’s attention to this important social function. You and I will remember that the socalled protestant values of the Judeo-Christian tradition are what revolutionised Europe. The nation looks unto us Christians as agents of social-economic change encapsulated in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ademola Obanise, Lagos.

Your magazine is quite inspirational in the area of ministry and Christian growth.

Dr. White Ejedimu lagos

Bishop Charles Agyin Asare interacting with the younger generation at the National Youth Explosion in Accra, Ghana. Story on page 18

POEM

To Lee Grady at 50 Dear Lee, Who could have imagined that on that fateful day in 2001 when we met at the Sheraton Lagos Hotel and Towers That God was giving me the brother that I never had?

As a brother, you have shown me love, respect and

conďŹ dence and positive relationships.

As a professional,, you have been an inspiration to me by your courage and incisive articles.

As a spiritual mentor,, you have taught me the power of faith and devotion.

As you turn 50, silver and gold I do not have but such as I have give I unto you.

I LOVE YOU.

aection.

As a friend, you have taught me the values of trust,

- JACKSON EKWUGUM

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

5

Wouldn’t it be a great feeling when LifeWay becomes the voice of Christianity in Africa and you know you were a big part of that vision?

A

s you must have noticed, LifeWay, the magazine of choice for discerning readers has gone international. With the entrance into Ghana, our dream of publishing a truly continental Christian magazine is coming to fruition. In fact, for some years now, we have been receiving invitations, especially from Nigerian pastors in Ghana, South Africa and other African countries, to spread the magazine beyond Nigeria. As grateful as I was about those invitations, I did not really sense it was the right timing until my chance meeting with Bishop Dag Heward-Mills at House of Grace Church in Lagos, pastored by my dear friends, Omar and Jane Pela. A very charismatic figure and no-nonsense preacher, I was irresistibly drawn to him and soon we set up an interview appointment for Accra in May this year.

The visit to Accra was as remarkable as it was enlightening for me, and the subsequent cover on Heward-Mills was a surprising success. Since that time, I have spent more than three weeks in a space of two months in Ghana during which I was invited to the National Youth Explosion Summit by the easy going and unassuming Bishop Charles Agyin Asare. All of us at LifeWay are excited by this move and the prospects it holds for publishing the word across borders. When the vision was laid in my heart to publish this magazine in April 1994, the Lord subsequently impressed it upon me that LifeWay would be a pan African magazine. In that regard, it is meant to report on the moves of the Holy Spirit around the continent, chronicle the great moves of God in the different countries and report on the people who are on the cutting edge of God’s end time agenda. Consistent with our editorial policy thrust, the magazine would seek to set agenda for change, speak as a prophetic voice to and for the church, and inspire growth and maturity in Christ through well informed, well researched and well written articles. As in the secular world, the church in

6

Africa is grossly under reported in the mainly evangelical media of the west. We trust that God will use LifeWay to fill that gap.

It is a Herculean task no doubt. In July I met with Rev. Steve Mensah, Chairman of Ghana’s National Association of Charismatic Churches in Accra and shared my vision with him. He reiterated the point that it was a big assignment – and therefore no mean task - to publish a gospel magazine for the continent. I could not agree more but I left on a high after he warmly and graciously offered me his hand of fellowship. Publishing LifeWay across Africa may be an arduous task but it also promises to be exciting. For instance, my time in Accra has showed me how much we have in common as Africans; I think we have more things that unite than divide us. Any Nigerian Christian of Pentecostal/Charismatic extraction can

The Big Picture

first word

BY JACK SON EK W UGUM

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

easily fit into the Ghanaian church. The praise is very vibrant, the worship inspiring and exhilarating, and the people are just so full of joy in the presence of the Lord. If there were any differences I observed it is that Ghanaian churches seem to place more emphasis on mass evangelism. Virtually all the ministries I visited have strong evangelism focus. And by this I don’t mean occasional outreaches, but regular mass evangelism crusades in towns and villages, Jesus style. They put their money where their mouth is. I do think we could learn a thing or two from that.

As excited as we are about the African project, I want you to know we cannot do it without you. We need help. Our presence in Ghana is the first leg of the African project.

Even as I write, we are receiving invitations from pastors in the United Kingdom and the USA. The financial implication is huge.

We need finances to acquire the necessary infrastructure (regional offices, printing press, etc), increase our print run, recruit staff and generally run our operations for this ministry to be successful. Those familiar with publishing know this is a very capital intensive venture. As a professional well acquainted with these facts, it was one of the reasons I was playing hide and seek with God in 2000 when he was asking me to quit my job in the bank and start this work. God had to literally put a hook to my jaw and pull me off from my comfort zone. As a subscriber or advertiser reading this, or you just bought the magazine off the shelf, I implore you to pray and ask God how you can be of help to us.

Wouldn’t it be a great feeling when LifeWay becomes the voice of Christianity in Africa and you know you were a big part of that vision? We are also exploring the prospects of partnering with existing publications outside Nigeria to actualise this heavenly mandate.

For “the Lord gave the word; Great was the COMPANY OF THOSE who proclaimed it” (Psalm 68:11).

You can reach me on lifewaymag@gmail.com or + 234 (0) 802 949 0605, + 233 248 824 431

The greatest need in our country today is leadership.

I

n a few weeks time, our country will celebrate the 48th year of independence from colonial rule. I think it is appropriate that we begin this article with a prayer for our country.

LORD, we thank you for the freedom and independence, which we celebrate in our country today. We thank you for the blessing of democracy.

We thank you for revival in our nation. And now we pray, bless our President. Give him wisdom.

Give him courage. Give him the ability to lead this nation into prosperity. Give him advisers who have your fear in their hearts.

We pray for governors, legislators at the national and state levels and office holders in the local councils. We ask that you guide them. We ask that you give them the grace to rise above the temptation of political office. And also that you give them the heart to serve to the best of their abilities. Help them to be good examples to the younger generation.

We pray for a breakthrough in our economy.

And we ask for a revival in our land. That you will pour out your spirit on us and draw the hearts of the young and old and men and women to yourself. That ethnic violence and armed robbery will be a thing of the past. We pray that there will be food on tables. That business will thrive.

I pray for my dear readers, for the courage to stand up for what is right. Give them the grace to be an agent of change. Give them the willingness to pay the price to make our nation great.

We thank you for answering these prayers in Jesus name. Amen.

Everything rises and falls on leadership. The greatest need in our country today is leadership. The ultimate test of leadership is change.

Nothing is as permanent as change. Nothing is as constant as change. And where progress is desired, change is inevitable. However when it comes to change, people fall into different categories. There are people who watch things happen. There are people who let things happen. There are people who ask what happened. And there are people who make things happen. Today we need men and women who

8

will not just stand and watch things happen.

We need those who will initiate change. Those who will make things happen. Not all change is improvement. But without change there will not be any improvement. Dear friend, it is challenging, but not impossible. This country can become the greatest nation on earth.

Decide today that you will not be a spectator.

Decide that you will do something in your own little way. In your own lifetime and mine, I believe that this nation will become one of the greatest in the world. Prepare, plan and initiate change. You must not leave this world the way you met it.

It is certainly very difficult to initiate change because the leader has for enemies all those who have profited under the old condition of disorder. And the leader may have only

The True Test of Leadership

success power W ITH SA M ADEY EMI

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

lukewarm followers in those who see that they may do well under the new order. Resistance to change is universal. It affects all culture and seeks to stop the forward movement of every generation. There are even educated people who after being confronted with the truth have refused to change their minds. Several leaders in science, technology, the Arts and even religion have had to sacrifice their lives for attempting to change people’s ways of thinking. Men like Galileo, Marconi, Martin Luther and our LORD Jesus Christ. People resist change when they are satisfied with the way things are, or because of the fear of the unknown, or because the purpose for change is uncertain or because the followers lack respect for the leader. However threatening change may be, we need change- positive change, now more than ever before! And I challenge you to be a change agent for this generation. Be willing to stand up for what is right. Sitting down does not make footprints on the sands of time.

And you can begin right where you are.

An old sage once said, “I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was: LORD, give me the energy to change the world. As I approached middle age and realised that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to, LORD, give me the grace to change all who come into contact with me, just my family and I will be satisfied.” He continued: “Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is ‘LORD, give me the grace to change myself.’ If I had prayed for this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life.” The lesson in that story is that when you and I change our families will change. And this nation will change for the better. Let this change begin with you today.

You will succeed.

Rev. Sam Adeyemi, the Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre in Lagos, is also the President, Success Power International. He can be reached at successpowerng@ hotmail.com

Do not allow rejection to kill your vision for leadership.

S

urvival is a central theme in life and ministry. God did not promise us an easy road when we chose to serve Him. We are in a battle with a real enemy. Satan is the god of this world and in a sense we are on his turf. Every Christian, therefore, must develop an overcoming mentality.

We must outlive the storms, remain alive after the challenges of life, recover and live to fight again. If you cannot survive, you cannot be a leader because leadership involves surviving. …and having done all, to stand.

EPHESIANS 6:13 SiX ThiNgS eVeRY leADeR MuST SuRViVe Persecution I have been strongly persecuted for my beliefs and for starting a church. I have been ridiculed for starting a ministerial association. I have survived these hateful persecutions by the grace of God. Don’t be discouraged because of persecutions you are going through.

Rejec tion I have survived rejection as a minister of the gospel. When I was getting married, there was no external minister I could trust to officiate at my wedding. I invited many pastors in the city where I live but no one turned up. I was completely rejected.

However, I have survived and many who rejected me then, show respect to me today. Do not allow rejection to kill your vision for leadership. Leadership includes surviving everything that is thrown at you.

Bad stories A leader must develop the capacity to survive rumours and bad stories. Some described the disciples of Jesus as grave looters who had stolen the body of Jesus (Matthew 28:12-15). In other words, they claimed Jesus did not really rise from the dead. But the gospel has survived this story. All true leaders or ministers of the gospel will have to survive unbelievable stories that go on about them.

For instance, many people have the impression that pastors are charlatans who manipulate their members for personal gain. What can we do about it? We can only survive! To survive means to outlive and outlast every storm. To survive, you need determination and a whole lot of faith. You need to believe in yourself and you need to believe that what you are doing is the right thing. You need to believe that God will help you.

Crisis

10

A true leader survives every crisis. You’ve got to hold on in the midst of your crisis. I know we all want peace and perfect harmony. That is the way it should be, but life has its twists and turns.

When Jesus announced that He was anointed and had a healing ministry, many people rejected Him outright.

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way, LUKE 4: 28-30 Jesus survived and so will you! A leader cannot please everyone; he has to do what God has told him to do!

Env y, jealousy, disloyalt y and betrayal A leader must survive the envy and jealousies of

More than Conquerors

classic christianity W I T H DAG H E WA R D - M I L L S

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

those around him as he goes higher in life. Joseph obtained favour and attracted the hatred of his own brothers.

And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

GENESIS 37:4 Joseph survived the test of slavery, the lies of Potiphar’s wife, and imprisonment. His ability to lead Egypt through crisis was partly because he survived the envy and jealousy of everyone around him. Sometimes people want you to apologise for being blessed. How can that be? Do not be intimidated by the hatred of those around you. The Bible says that Saul eyed David after his victory over Goliath (1 Samuel 18:7-9). All leaders can be sure of some disloyalty within the ranks of their followers.

Jesus’ ministry survived betrayal by Judas. Betrayal is part of life. No matter what type of leadership you have, you will experience betrayal. Keep disloyalty to a minimum and survive the rebellion that comes against your leadership.

Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

PSALM 41:9 The betrayal of one friend cut me like a knife through the heart. I became ill for two weeks as I endured the lies and slander of an old friend. But I survived! Be determined, dear friend, to be a survivor. You will live through whatever storm you are experiencing!

Pressure Real leaders often come under extreme and varied pressures because they are out there in the front line receiving all the blows. If you cannot stand pressure, then you cannot be a leader. Develop a hard forehead. Do not go crazy. God told Ezekiel not to be afraid of the people’s faces. You have to be harder than everything that comes against you.

Confess boldly, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am able, more than able to prevail and to win this battle. Though a thousand fall at my side and ten thousand at my left hand, I shall survive. I am a survivor in the name of Jesus. God will strengthen and keep me in all my ways!”

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills is a healing evangelist, best selling author and international conference speaker. He founded Lighthouse Chapel International in Accra, Ghana, a fast growing denomination with over 800 churches in five continents.

You can reach him at evangelist@daghewardmills.org.

The situation you are facing now is part of the process of growth and maturity.

I

t grieves my heart anytime I see people who are reluctant to praise and worship God just because their expectations have not been met. No situation should be bad enough to make us lose our fellowship with our Lord and Redeemer.

Consider for a moment people who are lying sick in the hospitals with all kinds of gadgets connected to their system to keep them alive.

Some cannot excrete, urinate or even breathe on their own. Some have their hands and legs hanging and are in pain. Some are about to be amputated while some cannot turn their necks and are supported by machines. In their conditions they would be too glad to do anything for God if only they can have their members back. You are complete and yet you are still murmuring, grumbling and complaining. That you are still alive is an indication that your expectations, your dreams can still be made manifest. All you need to do is praise and worship God – and release your faith in Him! In the book of Genesis we read the story of Joseph. Joseph had a dream that did not come to pass until some terrible things happened to him. Instead of the dreams coming to pass he saw himself in a pit. As if that was not enough, he was sold into slavery. Despite being a faithful man in his job as a slave, his master’s wife lied against him. God did not defend him and Joseph found himself in prison. To the natural mind it may have looked like his world had come to an end. But God was working behind the scene. When the time came for his manifestation it took less than twenty four hours for things to turn around. When Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha was on the sick bed, they sent for Jesus Christ to come and prevent him from dying. Jesus disappointed them. He sat back and waited for him to die before showing up. Some things must die for them to manifest in a bigger dimension. ‘Except a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone…’ Lazarus died and people were wondering and making comments, but they

12

did not know that God had a bigger plan. We just need to trust and obey Him. There was a time in my life when I was going through some serious issues that weighed me down so much. Nothing had ever affected me physically and spiritually like that. I fasted, prayed and cried to God yet nothing happened. This went on for a long time. However, I did not let it affect my fellowship and service to God. One Sunday morning, I was going to preach somewhere outside London and I asked: “God what is going on?” The answer I heard in my spirit was: “When Paul said, be strong in the Lord and in the powers of His might he did not suggest it comes by laying on of hands.” It is pain that God uses to enlarge us

Don't Give Up

the revival W ITH A NSELM M A DU BU KO

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

on the inside. And He said to me: “I am trying to enlarge you on the inside.” I said, “This is too much for me. I am praying and the situation is getting worse.” The Lord did not say another word after that but this song rose up in my spirit.

God is working / He is still working / God is working even now / Though we often don’t know just how / God is working / He is still working / God is working even now Hallelujah, He is working even now…

Friends, the situation you are facing now is part of the process of growth and maturity.

When it looks like nothing is happening, that is when to expect the miracle. When Rhema comes into your spirit it brings light. After that short experience my countenance changed. I knew that God was working. Three days later, my deliverance came as I began to experience a complete turn-around. Think about now. Look at your life now. Look at your business now.

Look at your children now. Many times it does not look like God is with you. But whether you feel like it or not, whether you understand it or not, the fact is: God is working. Think about Joseph expecting something from the king. He did not know it will take two years for the answer to come. And as he sat in the prison cell he could have thought his dreams did not come from God. But when the time for the manifestation came, twelve years of waiting was turned around in one day.

Consider King David fasting for his son from Bathsheba not to die. After the child died, David cleaned himself up and ate dinner.

When you have tried your best and you get to the point when you feel like it is not working, relax. God is watching. It might look like everything is caving in on you right now but it is the lie of the devil. God knows what He is doing. He is the master planner. Let Him do it His way.

Apostle Madubuko is the General Overseer of Revival Assembly Church in Ogba, Lagos. You can reach him on anselm_madubuko@yahoo.com

12

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

13

Change is not so interesting especially when it is painful.

A

fter the stream of visitors begins to dwindle and comforting words become less frequent, the calls reduce, what is next? In those solemn, lonely moments, in the dead of the night when memories of good and bad times scream in your heart, what do you do? You wish for the sun to stop shining if just for a moment to reflect the heaviness you feel inside but it doesn’t happen. Life goes on. You ask why? You never give voice to it but your heart keeps echoing the question. There seems to be no reason, no seeming explanation for the loss of your loved one.

Grief can be a very terrible thing. Some people react to it by withdrawing into their shells, build walls around themselves, and hide within those walls. No new relationships, no new children and no new friends. Things must remain as they have been. They retain the memory of their loved ones, items and even perfumes just the way they were before the loss. These items become “shrines” that they often visit when the pressure becomes too strong. Some others, trying to dull the pain, become pretty “jumpy” acting as if nothing happened. Others get angry, and get grumpy at the slightest provocation. Every aggravation takes their minds back. Others become suspicious of people. When you are nice to them, they think you want to get something from them, and when you are distant they feel you have forsaken them. What about eating disorders? Some stay away from food while others eat and eat. Some lose focus, drop out of school, and stop taking care of themselves.

These reactions are varied because we are wired differently and our reaction often showcases our different temperaments. Our feelings are a part of our make-up. We are not told to never feel but we are told not to allow our feelings to rule us and be the only basis for our actions. If you feel lonely or depressed because of a failed expectation, and then you decide to smoke a cigarette or guzzle down alcohol, or even visit an “old” girlfriend or boyfriend, what have you done? You have simply opened up a door so wide, and roomy enough for the enemy to have you in his hold. So what

14

must you do? Firstly, avoid “pity-party.” Lay it down. Thank God for friends and relatives who are there encouraging you in one way or the other. But don’t stay there expecting them to call you or help you because the truth is, they will not always be there. Self pity drags you into depression but real pity or compassion will make you reach out to someone else.

Have you noticed that sometimes people heal faster when they reach out to other people experiencing the same trauma? This is true compassion.

To overcome this pain, you must stop blaming yourself. The devil accuses but God justifies. Avoid negativity. Reject the spirit of fear. Don’t cage yourself in, don’t get suspicious, and don’t pray for the person to appear in your dream to tell you why he or she died.

Triumphing over Pain

apples of gold W ITH JA NE PEL A

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

People have received visitations from demonic spirits in this way. It is appointed once for man to die, says the Bible. Make a choice to see the brighter side of things. It is your choice to become bitter or better. It is your choice to use the enemy’s attack as an opportunity to win more people for Christ. It’s your choice!

It is also good for you to know that change is a part of growing up in life. Change is not so interesting especially when it is painful. David had to ask himself a vital question. He noticed the trend of his thoughts; he knew he was walking down the wrong road, so he advised his soul. “Why art thou cast down oh my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 43:5 KJV). So lift up your eyes, and your head. Yes, you don’t know everything about tomorrow but you have a God who knows tomorrow and guess what? He has pre-determined your days before you were born. So He is the compass for your tomorrow. Trust Him now more than ever, even when it doesn’t make sense.

Am I saying you will never feel the loss?

No, I haven’t said that. But when people that have touched you, loved you, and added to your life leave this side of eternity, they are not lost. They just changed addresses and gained eternal bodies. They remain in our hearts forever and we may never forget them. But don’t keep longing for the past when the past is no more. Be real, wake up, dust yourself, strengthen your heart and put your hands in the Hands of the Creator. He will beautify you again and again. No matter what happened, you have two options: to give in and quit or to keep going. Trying times are learning times.

Hold on to every hope of the word of God, value family and friends and healthy relationships that God brings into your life. Never be afraid to make new commitments; the fearful never soar. You are like an eagle, born to soar, born to ride on the wings of the word and fly higher. Let hope fill your heart today. Love ya!

Pastor Jane, a renowned worship leader, is co-pastor of House of Grace Church in Navy Town, Lagos. You can reach her on pj.applesofgold@gmail.com

P E OPLE AND E V ENTS

Former Nollywood Star now a Missionary • Says Christian actors/actresses need to grow up

H

e was once one of the glamour boys of Nollywood, the world’s next big thing after Hollywood and Bollywood. He certainly made a name for himself with star roles in such films as “Freedom,” “Glamour Boyz,” “Scout,” and “Prime Suspect.” But today Jayke Aernan is a missionary in Accra, Ghana where he serves as an ordained pastor with Christian Action Faith Ministries under Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams. His new found love with Christ is the culmination of a spiritual journey which, according to Aernan, began in 1998 when he decided to turn his back on flourishing Nollywood. Claiming that he had always been a “church pickin” and had felt the burden to preach, he went to Ghana in the early part of 2001 to fulfill a contract with Silver line Production.

In September of that same year, Aernan had become a committed member of Christ Victory Church and simultaneously enrolled in a Bible school to pursue his ministerial calling.

Pastor Aernan’s overriding desire now is to use the platform of the movie world to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world. “The whole Bible is one complete drama of salvation in words,” he told LifeWay recently. “The pulpit, stage, TV, radio, magazines, and internet are just vehicles for propagating the word. In our time we must take advantage of every medium.”

Mindful that many aspiring actors/actresses are lured by the bait of fame and fortune, he stresses that “young people must not see acting as a means to stardom, but as a vehicle to preach the gospel. We must all remember that we will give account of whatever we do.”

He challenged his fellow Christian actors/ actresses in the movie industry to mature in their faith, adding that it is the antidote to winning over temptation. He frowned at born again people in the industry who compromise their faith by playing roles – like sex scenes – inconsistent with their faith in Christ. “Most of our actors and actresses have weak faith,” he lamented. “I was there before so I understand but they need to move up to strong faith and higher life in Christ.

There are better ways of dramatising a story.

There is something in drama called suggestive.

They should ask, what would Jesus do in my situation?” As an actor Aernan was first noticed in 1990 when he featured as Leke the blind boy

16

in a television drama series, “Dreams” a network programme of the Nigerian Television Authority.

Although now comfortably settled in Ghana and preaching the gospel, his decision to pursue his ministerial calling had been a journey of trials and triumphs. After several failed attempts to attend a Bible school in the United States of America, he came to Ghana with his Toyota car and 50 Gp (less than a dollar).

The car ran out of fuel at Aflao border and he did not have enough • Jayke money to refuel. He was bailed out of his predicament by a compassionate policeman who gave him money to buy some fuel. In Accra, life was a living hell for Aernan as all his efforts to make ends meet in the Ghanaian movie industry failed. He even temporarily had for a home an uncompleted house with no running water and electricity at Teshie-Nungua, a suburb of Accra.

The turning point for Aernan came when he featured in the movies “God Loves Prostitutes” and “Blood Fight.” Through these movies, he was able to raise some money to enroll at the Dominion Theological Seminary of Action Chapel in 2003. That same year, he got married to his heartthrob, Nina, a fine Christian lady he met at his former church, Christ Victory Church. After his Bible school, he coordinated Action Chapel’s Sunday school and Drama departments, and currently serves as a pastor in the church’s mission department. Born on 6th November 1967 in Lagos, Nigeria to Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Aernan, Jayke believes he was born to preach the gospel. He grew up as a catholic who was always close to the Priests.

As a young catholic, his name was changed from Yakubu to Jacob to suit his identity as a Christian which he later changed to Jayke.

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

In 1986, after his Senior High School (SHS) education, Jayke was positively influenced by his late auntie, Kasev Aernan who unfortunately died during a violent clash between Muslims and Christians. He later became a member of the Boy’s Brigade and won a number of Bible quizzes as a young boy in the Catholic Church.

To this end, he was among those selected to meet the late Pope John Paul II when he visited Nigeria in 1981. Jayke continued his education at Benue State Polytechnic where he read Mechanical engineering. Whilst at the polytechnic, his desire for acting which he had nurtured since childhood grew very strong. His quest for the word of God also developed and that made him to visit many churches looking for fulfillment although he was still rooted in the catholic faith. In May 1993, one of his closest friends in Lagos, Marti Acka invited him to the Redeemed Christian Church of God at Vori close, Acme road, Ogba Ikeja. It was there he gave his life to Christ. Pastor Aernan told LifeWay he is immensely grateful to Acka, Rev. Chris Okotie, and Archbishop Williams and leaders of Action Chapel in Accra for helping to establish him in the faith.

- By Leonard Ackon in Accra, Ghana.

VOL 8 NO 3 JULY

Fraud of the Highest Order

SIN GL E

M

ISSN 15955400

& MA

What to RR IED partner isdothif your e jealous typ e p34

• More shocking revelations about ‘phone number’ prophecies ore facts have emerged as to how most of the ‘phone number’ prophecies currently rocking the church, as reported in our July/August Edition, originated. Investigations by LifeWay revealed that the prophets who engage in this infamous act have perfected two major strategies to obtain information about individual members of churches with a view to giving them personal ‘prophecies’.

The first and one of the commonest strategies they use is to send an advance party to infiltrate any church where they are invited to minister.

Members of this advance team then mingle with the congregation over a period of time during which they get acquainted with the people becoming very familiar with their personal details, which must include their phone numbers and the issues such persons are grappling with. The second strategy they employ is that when these ‘prophets’ come as guest ministers in a church for say two or three days, they are in the habit of giving a brief exhortation on the first day and telling the congregation something like this: “Today is just the beginning and we are not doing much. Tomorrow, the meeting starts proper and God will visit you in a supernatural way. I just want you to stand up and greet somebody you have not met before. Let’s get to know one another and make sure you exchange complimentary cards’. Before that time, the pastor’s allies would have quietly sneaked into the church and during the pleasantries they get a handful of cards which would serve as ‘word of knowledge’ for the visiting ‘prophet’ the next day.

A pastor of a growing congregation told LifeWay of his recent experience with one of these 'prophets' who is from a polytechnic town in the Midwestern part of Nigeria. The ‘prophet’ had been invited to minister for two days during the church’s anniversary convention. Although the pastor admitted that he had not met the ‘prophet’ before the programme, he was persuaded to invite him by a close friend especially after he saw that the same man had been preaching for very prominent Pentecostal ministries.

“A week before the programme, he called me to say, ‘man of God I cannot preach on the first day of the programme,” the pastor recalled. “Let me start on Day 2. I told him that was not possible, that the convention was just one week away. But he insisted and I was pissed by his attitude on the phone. Then he suggested that if I insist he preaches on the first

IN TH E CH UR

CH Decodin Prosperitgythe Gospel p25

 AUGUST 2008

£3.00 US $5.00

ISS UE S

N VOICE

N500 GHC5.00

THE CHRI STIA

VIC TO RIO US CH RIS TIA N LIV ING

The Warfare of Dreams p4 0 MI NIS TER

Seven Secr day he will send his assistant. That got me he said, adding ets to PROPHETS the anointin g p48 O R angry and I almost felt like cancelling the that even his M AGICIANS t Phone nu ? the churchmber prophecies roc whole thing. But to avoid controversy, senior pastor gave k t The Ghan a connectio n t Bishop Ch so that people would not say I used his out information speaks outarles Agyin-Asare name on the publicity materials just to about church attract people, I reluctantly consented. members to the So instead of giving us two days, he visiting ‘prophets’. was actually giving us one day. Anyway, the assistant “Also when they get came and preached the first day. He (the ‘prophet’) on TV for their programmes, people are was to start the morning of the second day and encouraged to call. What the people don’t know is continue in the evening. After the first morning that as they call, their phone numbers are written session, I felt a bit uneasy about some of the personal down and of course during the phone call you have prophecies. I told my wife when we got home that ‘I told them all your problems. They will make a point smell a rat’ but I could not really tell what it was. of telling you that you must make sure you attend “I just felt that whatever it was God would reveal the programme that day or whenever it is to get it to me. He ministered in the evening and there your deliverance. were also personal prophecies for some members of “By the time you come they will call out the church. I still found the whole thing fishy until your problem and your phone number during my eyes strayed to the brochure for the anniversary ‘ministration’. And when you come out, they will when we got home. That was when it hit me. Over ask you: ‘Have I met you before? Do I know you?’

90% of those he gave personal prophecies were Of course, the person will say no, not knowing that in that brochure because they are all part of our the information he or she supplied during the TV leadership team. I told my wife ‘this is it’! It was programme was the basis for the ‘prophecy’. So too much of a coincidence because he was calling by the time they tell you to sow a seed of N200, them out by their names. When his assistant came 000.00, you will borrow even if you don’t have to give to them because you think the knowledge was supernatural. That is how they do it apart from the LIFE WAY INVESTIGATION fact that like my former pastor they also wash their he was given all the materials for the convention. I eyes.” now know he used the information contained there Many of these ‘prophets’ have been known to to make those prophecies.” Jolted by that discovery, be sexual predators, according to our investigations. this pastor told LifeWay he had become very wary The spiritual landscape is now littered with victims of these ‘prophets’ and added that he had just been of the sexual escapades of these very bad men. informed by a fellow minister who knew that he LifeWay learnt of many cases where these ‘prophets’ hosted this ‘prophet’ that this set of ministers belong manipulated their victims, especially women who to a clique that usually attach the name ‘Omega’ were seeking the fruit of the womb, into having to the names of their ministries. “He told me that sex with them. A Television producer told of a whenever they move to a city or new location, they woman whose marriage was in tatters as a result of get 2,000 members within one year.” an incident with one of these ‘prophets’. She called One particular ‘prophet’ had the habit of in to ask for prayer during his TV programme after requesting to be left alone in the protocol car which the ‘prophet’ invited her to his hotel for more whenever he arrived at a church ostensibly to have prayer and counselling. Convinced he was genuine some ‘quiet time’ before the service begins. What and desperate for help, the unsuspecting woman members of the church did not know was that he went there where the ‘prophet’ forcibly had sex with spent that time copying the car plate numbers of her as a ‘guarantee’ for child bearing. Devastated, the cars parked in the church. A pastor, who recently the hapless woman confessed to the TV producer defected from one of these churches in the Airport who advised her to confess to her husband so that area of Lagos that is a good hunting ground for these there could be healing. Unfortunately, her husband 'prophets,' also confirmed to LifeWay that he was a did not take it lightly and threw her out of their witness to the great deception that was going on in the matrimonial home although efforts are being made church. “Those things were cleverly manipulated,” to reconcile them.

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

S' MA NN A

17

P E OPLE AND E V ENTS

Youth Explosion Draws Thousands, Ends with a Flourish • It’s time for ‘trans-generational thinking’, say church leaders in Ghana

A

ccra Trade Fair site in Accra was immersed in an outpouring of the Holy Spirit as the third annual Youth Explosion programme drew to a close on Saturday July 12, 2008. Thousands of youths who thronged Pavilion A of the centre could hardly contain themselves when the awe inspiring presence of God descended on that venue as Bishop Charles Agyin Asare ministered under a very strong prophetic unction. Many in the audience could hardly stand and lay prostrate on the floor; there were intermittent outbursts of spontaneous praise and worship as the people danced, jumped and ran for joy. The scene was a partial reenactment of the dedication of Solomon’s temple where the Bible reported that the priests could not stand to officiate in the ceremony because of the palpable presence of the Lord. In the course of the ministration and impartation, the Bishop gave several specific prophetic words that resulted in healings, deliverances and salvation. It was a befitting climax to the four day event that featured incisive teachings, prophetic insights and apostolic impartation.

LifeWay gives you a blow by blow account of the conference.

DAY 1 Bishop Tackey Yarboi of Victory Life Bible Church in Accra canvassed for trans-generational thinking in the church because “the flow of spiritual progression or digression is from one generation to another.” He was of the view that the coming generation should surpass the achievements of the older generation. According to him, “a son is supposed to receive double portion of whatever the father received, and it is received by association, not by organisation. Employees are paid to do something; sons are brought up to become something.” Bishop Yarboi harped on the point that if the present move of God in Africa is to be sustained and improved upon, then the church must promote the right father/son relationship.

He enjoined fathers to give their sons in the faith identity, purpose, vision, inheritance and blessings, adding that fathers must “circumcise, affirm and provide garment for their children.”

Sons, he charged the audience, must learn to submit to the dealings of their fathers especially when they need to be circumcised. “People run from fathering because circumcision is painful,” he asserted. “You either learn from your father or

18

• Bishop Agyin Asare ministering under the unction

you learn from pigs (ala the prodigal son).” He encouraged youths to walk in “loving obedience” to God and their spiritual fathers because they have to “carry the work to another generation.”

Finally, the bishop taught that sons “express their father’s image” and urged today’s Christians to embrace the concept of “sacrificial suffering.”

According to him, “they (sufferings) open you up for exploits in the kingdom; suffering reveals your heart.”

During the night session, Dr. Kyle Searcy from Montgomery, Alabama, admonished the youth to follow the path of wisdom outlined in scriptures because “wisdom helps overcome the storms of life.” He listed five wisdom keys which are right attitude, right thinking, faith confession, persistence and sexual purity.

DAY 2 Rev. (Dr.) Kofi Ampiah challenged the audience to break the power of apathy. “People become apathetic when they feel they have been badly treated,” he said. He exhorted them to be ready for increase and enlargement because “whenever God raises a man, He is looking to raise a generation through that man. That is why we talk of the Moses generation and the Joshua generation. We need inspirational leaders like Nehemiah who inspired the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.” Mr. Kofi Addison, one of Ghana’s rising motivational speakers, identified five things the youth must do to succeed in L i f e W a y

their careers. They are: 1).Know God and know yourself. 2).Know your career area. 3). Know your career future. 4). Know your career challenges. 5) Know your career marketplace.

During the evening session, Bishop E.A.T. Sackey of Lighthouse Chapel International roused the audience with his message. It was a defining moment in the conference as virtually all present were on their feet as this lawyer-turned-preacher dared them to be bold, righteous and radical for Christ. His message was simply this: Christians should not be shy to talk about their faith and take a stand for Christ in the office, shop, taxi or wherever they find themselves especially when unbelievers are bold about their sinful acts. He masterfully wove his message around his compelling personal testimony of salvation and rags –to-riches story that struck a deep chord with the young and old.

Speaking on the issue of choosing the right marriage partner, Bishop Asare first let the youth know that being single was not a curse. “You are complete in Christ,” he noted. “Jesus, Jeremiah, Paul and Barnabas were single but successful in life and ministry. If you are single and you can’t serve the Lord, when you are married you will be in trouble.” On the qualities to look for in a future spouse, the amiable bishop said singles must first consider spiritual qualities. “The first and most important consideration in choosing a partner,” he said, “is to confirm if the person is

• Dr. Mensah Otabil

• Bishop Yarboi

God’s perfect will.”

DAY 3 Bishop Asare challenged the audience to “arise to God” as a way of breaking the power of apathy in their lives. “It is either you are serving God or you are serving the devil,” he declared. “Arise to God means everyday you will be dedicated enough to have your quiet time, Bible study, prayer and being of use in the church. If your Christianity is in your heart let it show on the outside. If people are going to see God, you are the greatest epistle they will read.” The conference

• Dr. Kwofi Ampiah

convener then urged the people to “arise to good character.” Claiming that “every conflict or breakdown in life can be traced to a character flaw,” he said godly character demands that your private life would be clean.” In the evening session, Dr. Mensah Otabil admonished Christians to use their God-given gifts and talents for the benefit of mankind. “Not using our gifts is a demonstration of wickedness to the world,” he declared. He lamented the near absence of scholarship among the young generation and instructed them “to grow up quickly” by “reading more serious stuff

• Rev. Steve Mensah

and developing an appetite for thinking.”

DAY 4 The last day of the conference featured intercessory prayers for the nation led by Rev. (Dr.) Steve Mensah, the chairman of National Association of Charismatic Churches. A prayer warrior, Dr. Mensah led thousands of Ghanaian youths to pray for the rebuilding of Ghana’s political, economic and family walls.

- By Jackson Ekwugum in Accra, Ghana.

NEXT EDITION: Exclusive interview with Bishop Charles AgyimAsare.

• Ghanaian youths interceeding for their country

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

19

P E OPLE AND E V ENTS

Ministry in Search of ‘Risk Takers’ to transform all levels of Society • Over 7,000 persons to participate in exclusive video cast of Global Leadership Summit this October in Lagos, Abuja and Jos

L

ast year, Vision International Christian Ministries put together an exclusive video cast of the annual Global Leadership Summit which held in America and Europe. The video cast took place at Daystar Christian Centre and attracted 2,600 leaders from all walks of life. Buoyed by the success of that first edition and the excitement generated by the leadership concepts espoused in the teachings, the ministry is holding the second edition of the programme in October this year. This time the video cast, expected to draw over 7,000 persons, will hold at five different centres viz, Daystar (Oregun, Lagos, October 17 & 18), House of Grace Church (Navy Town, Lagos, October 17 & 18), Fountain of Life Church (Ilupeju, Lagos, October 14 & 15), Family Worship Centre (Wuse District, Abuja, October 17 & 18) and the University of Jos. It will feature “the most dynamic and relevant sessions from the 2008 Leadership Summit Faculty,” according to a statement from VICM. Rev. Francis Olubambi, president of VICM, told LifeWay that the aim of the programme titled, Lead Where You Are is “to give our people the opportunity to be a part of what is happening outside our world.” Asserting that the “old” leadership pattern of “command and control has failed us,” he declared that “there is a real need for leadership training that transforms lives and changes perspectives.” There will be eight sessions over a two-day period in this year’s video cast that features eight prominent Christian leaders including Bishop T.D Jakes, Bill Hybels, Chuck Colson, Jim Collins and Bill George. Participants are expected to learn about strategic decision making, especially decisions made under pressure; how leaders can get it and keep it; and the courage to effect change in a hostile environment.

“It is not the video cast itself but the contents of the teachings that are very important,” Olubambi affirmed. “In our country and all over the world the need for capacity building is on the increase.

In Nigeria, for instance, we talk about corruption and its detrimental effects on our society. Despite all the talk, people still engage in bribery and corruption. It seems people know what is right but are simply bound by the fear of the unknown.

But we need to risk our lives for God; when we do

20

we would discover it is a risk worth taking.” He debunked fears that the teachings might not be very relevant to Nigeria’s socio-cultural milieu since all the speakers are Americans.

“Though all the speakers are from the USA, they teach Biblical principles which are universal,” he pointed out. “Principles will work anywhere in the world and Africa is no exception. What we advocate is for people to come to the conference, listen to the teachings and customise them.

“It is time to do things differently; it is time to ask ourselves what works. It is amazing that the developed countries most people are running to are filled with many ungodly people, yet their society works. Why? It is because of these principles. Biblical • Rev. Olubambi: "Evangelism is not necessarily the biggest need in Nigeria" principles are the foundation me or the people voted me into power in order to of their social, economic and political structures; such principles as giving back make me a channel of blessing and a change agent in to the society, honesty, integrity, and hard work. the society. I must find the purpose and fulfill it.’”

Olubambi's passion to “affect the society at Evangelism is not necessarily the biggest need in Nigeria. The biggest need is good and godly the personal, institutional and national levels” was fuelled by circumstances leading to his leaving his leadership.”

VICM represents major leadership training denomination where he had served for many years organisations such as Willow Creek, John Maxwell’s as a pastor. He told LifeWay he was concerned by Equip, The Purpose Driven Church and Walk the many leaders in the church who were “ignorant, through the Bible. It began in 2000 with the immature, traditionalist, and saw church as a mandate to “serve the church by training, equipping personal empire. I saw all these as an anomaly which and discipling its leaders.” The ministry currently ought not to be, and I began to sense the need for has over twenty training sites spread out all over a paradigm shift in leadership. So I prayed to God the country with over 5,000 pastors undergoing about it, and God allowed some circumstances leadership development training. Two years ago, in my life at the time that led to my exit from VICM redefined its mission and refocused its my denomination. He then told me to use my strategy “to include every other person of influence experience as a platform to teach people and change at any level of leadership.” Olubambi stressed that the status quo. We believe that God helping us, and “we are fully persuaded that Nigeria will not remain with the acceptance we have enjoyed, our ministry the same as we met it. It may or may not be in our will be the servant of the church and the servant of lifetime but the old way of doing things is over. The the leaders. Our goal is to make available concepts old way says ‘I am in leadership for myself and my that will help transform leaders and by proxy their family’. The new way says ‘it is either God allowed immediate environment or communities.”

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

No More Games • Christian Educators appraise their role in national transformation

O

ver 200 Christian educators and owners of Christian schools from West Africa and the USA rose from their West Africa Roundtable Conference in May this year with a charge to faith based educational institutions to live up to their name and calling. Under the banner of Association of Christian Schools International the members were united in their belief that only a strong educational system backed with spiritual insight could save Africa from its current state of underdevelopment. ASCI International Director, Mike Epp, spoke the mind of the delegates when he declared in his message, “Essentials of Christian Schooling” that a Christian school was more than nomenclatures or ownership structure but all about making Biblical impact and breeding people who can stand for Christ in a depraved world.

“It is not about being a church-based school or a school that bears Christian name,” he explained. “It is not about touting our Christian background but getting down to the heart of the business, which is saving souls and helping them to make a commitment to Christ.” Christian schools, he asserted, should set the standard in moral excellence and quality education. Products of such schools, he charged, should be people who “do not join the multitudes to do evil or encourage any fraud in the system. They represent the best of Christ-like decorum, only waiting for their records and achievements to speak for them before the whole world.”

Epp canvassed for Christian schools to be run by godly men with strong Christian conviction that is “enthusiastically shared” by the teachers and students. “It is leadership that defines the essentiality of Christian schools,” he dec;ared. “Everything starts and stops there. If the leadership is visionary and committed to Christ, the entire school community will catch the fire and even spread it to the society. That way, the whole continent will be transformed.” ACSI Africa Director, Mr. Samson Makhado, agreed.

According to him, “the problem of Africa is not poverty or HIV/ AIDS but lack of confidence, utter dependence on foreign aid and low selfesteem.” All of these, he pointed out, were traceable to defective educational systems.

Majority of Africa’s educational institutions, he claimed, were still running on colonial

• Some of the participants at the ACSI Roundtable

curricula, which he said engendered isolation, low productivity, dependence on foreign assistance and penchant for increasingly elusive white collar jobs as against self-reliance and actualisation. To keep Africans perpetually subservient, he insisted that the colonial masters crafted school teachings that induced poverty mentality and powerless citizens; a development he said had remained decades after white men left the shores of Africa.

Mr. Makhado blamed the church for abandoning the business of education to government and private individuals. “The church has left the issue of mind development to the governments and rich powerful men,” he lamented. “This is why we cannot influence the world because the moment people leave churches on Sundays, they return to a system that tells them to do contrary to whatever the church is teaching them. He said the deplorable situation could be reversed by the establishment of more Christian schools to train young minds with Biblical truths and values for personal and national transformation. Mind education, he stated, was too fundamental and serious to be left to men without strong Christian backgrounds.

“If Christian schools do what they should do,” Makhado asserted, “they will change Africa.” On what Christian schools can do, Gavin Brettenny of Harvest Institute of Higher Education, South Africa, said they need to “place Biblical truths into the subjects that we teach.”

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

Echoing Makhado’s view, Brettenny said: “We need divine inputs and reasoning for training the total man. If the society goes bad, it is because Christian schools are not up and doing.” He added that Christian teachers and educators had a duty to help students understand the world from a Biblical perspective, saying they needed to enable students answer questions such as: “What is wrong? How can I understand evil? How do I change? Who am I? Is there a God and what is he like?” He suggested that Christian educators should come up with school curricula that stress the creation story, man’s fall, God’s unfolding love, the redemption plan, the establishment of the church and the coming kingdom. Asserting that “Christian education is the key to Africa’s reformation,” Brettenny opined that “curricula and methodologies that still reflect colonial mentality should be discarded” because “we need to bring divine and secular knowledge together and teach them as one thing.”

The ACSI West Africa Roundtable Conference took place at the Redemption Resort in Lagos with the theme, “God’s Redemptive Plan for Reaching the Lost and Future Generations of Africa.” Participants at the conference pledged to keep the flag of the association flying by meeting regularly for intercession, relevant social action and strategising on how to influence the educational sector for Christ.

- By Sunday Oguntola in Lagos.

21

P E OPLE AND E V ENTS

Former Aviation Expert Leads One of Ghana’s Vibrant Churches • Says ‘Old Time Religion’ is ‘Better’

S

even years ago, Rev. Dennis OseiManu was at the top of his career in the aviation industry. He was KLM, the Royal Dutch Airliner’s Grounds Operations Manager in Accra, Ghana. He was being prepared to leave for Nigeria where he was to head the entire West African operations, after which he was to proceed to South Africa.

The perks of office included chauffeur-driven cars, a fully detached house in a prime location in Lagos plus two salary accounts, one in the local currency and another in Holland in foreign currency. In recognition of his knowledge and experience as one of the first aviation people in the country, Osei-Manu was appointed to Ghana’s National Security Council to advise the government on aviation matters. But he shocked friends and colleagues when turned his back on all of that to pastor a small community church in East Cantonments, Accra that was hard pressed, had no church building, and was going through a transition as a result of the passing on of the founding pastor.

Today, Rev. Osei-Manu is thankful that he obeyed God. “I had very trying and difficult beginnings but I find more joy in doing what God has asked me to do,” he told LifeWay in his office recently. His church, Covenant Family Community Church, is peopled by mainly upwardly mobile young men and women but their special outreaches to the poor and disadvantaged helps make sure the church’s doors are open to all and sundry. Towards this end, the ministry has planted a mission base in Agbogbloshie, popularly known as Accra’s Sodom and Gommorah. Every Sunday, members of the church go on evangelism, and provide food and welfare services to this man-forsaken settlement ravaged by crushing urban poverty, prostitution and all sorts of vices. According to Osei-Manu, “the joy of transformed lives has been my major sustenance in the ministry,” and thanked God he did not succumb to the pressure from KLM to give up his vision. “For one year,” he disclosed,

22

• Osei-Manu: "The world is changing so fast that if you don’t have that background you can’t survive"

“they would not let me go. But I was more interested in fulfilling what God was calling me to do than the pleasures of what to eat and where to live and stuff like that. I was also very lucky to have a woman who loves God so much. Her only concern was ‘let the will of God be done in your life.’”

Leaving his high profile job to answer the call did not, however, come easy for Rev. Osei-Manu.

Though it was in 1999 that he sensed the stirring to “work full time in the ministry,” he did not make the move because “promotion was coming from left and right, and more responsibilities were piling on.” But by the time “I started hating the very job I had loved so much,” he knew it was time to take the risk. With the benefit of hindsight, Osei-Manu told LifeWay Satan uses the bait of job security and comfort to seduce L

i

f

e

W

a

y

otherwise well meaning believers and stop them from pursuing God’s plan for their lives. “In the corporate world, I believe God is still calling many people who could bear His testimony but the confusion is: can I leave this?” For him, “if you cannot deny yourself, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Many people have not been able to do what God wants them to do because of what they see on the outside. Every believer must learn to listen to the inner man.

You can easily be deceived by the things you see on the outside. That is why the Bible says we are to walk by faith and not by sight.”

Osei-Manu noted that the price we pay as Christians is “very insignificant” when compared to Jesus “laying down His life.” He was of the view that the “old time religion” would serve the contemporary church “better,” adding that

the “fast food” gospel is “distracting the flow of grace for Christians.” “Essentially,” he said, “we should lay more emphasis on relationship with the Lord, the sanctified life, prayer, preparing people for heaven, and subduing the kingdom of darkness. We can’t do away with these things.

The world is changing so fast that if you don’t have that background you can’t survive.”

Rev. Osei-Manu assumed leadership of CFCC in a trying time in the life of the ministry.

The founding pastor, Reverend Vincent Edwin MacCauley from Guyana, had gone to be with the Lord in 1997 and Osei-Manu who was his associate and pursuing his career in KLM at the time felt the people were like “sheep without a shepherd.” Convinced of God’s call on him to mount the saddle, he resisted frantic overtures from KLM to keep him and plunged into full time ministry. He expressed gratitude to church leaders like “Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, Steve Mensah and many others who were used of God to cause an explosion” in the ministry.

- By Jackson Ekwugum in Accra, Ghana.

• The Ark Temple

hush puppies

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

23

If your generation must give heed to you, you have to get on fire, whether as a businessman or a minister.

“And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: it was now eventide.” ACTS 4:1-3. n the early days of the New Testament Church persecution was triggered by the fresh impact of the apostles. Why? It is so they could be blessed. When the Holy Spirit enriches your life persecutions lift you. When the fire is present persecution works for the progress of the gospel. Show me a man of impact and I will show you a man tested by forces of persecution. From Jesus through the prophets, Paul, Peter and the New Testament church, every fire spitting minister has passed through the fire of persecution. They were persecuted, but God multiplied them. God is going to multiply His Church. He is setting a table before us in the presence of our enemies. ““Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the world. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Phillip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.” ACTS 8: 4 – 6.

Well, as long as there was no persecution they were comfortable being local champions in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit cannot be bottled up.

Sometimes I say when the Holy Spirit is asking you to do something and you are hesitating, circumstances can rise against you. Ask Prophet Jonah, he will share his testimony of his stay in the belly of a fish.

When the fire is present, miracles happen in evangelism “For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.”

ACTS 8:7-8.

What a presence of the Holy Ghos!. This walk will become a common feature of the church in the last days because the Holy Spirit is being given His place in the church. However,

I

24

we should be careful about excesses.

When the fire is present, falsehood is exposed by the power of God. “But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out himself as some great one: to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs

Fresh Fire for Fresh Impact (2)

the outpouring W ITH SA M A M AG A

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

which were done.” ACTS 8:9-13.

If your generation must give heed to you, you have to get on fire, whether as a business man or a minister.

When the fire is present, the enemies of God bow before God’s people “Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.” ACTS 8:19-24.

When the fire is present, there is supernatural contact by supernatural leading “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia…was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esias the prophet.

Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. ACTS 8:26-31.

Great Impact is by the Holy Spirit. Avoid frustration in life. Set your priorities right. It is not the contract you get, it is the kingdom first.

It is not how long you have been in the church; it is how available and how effective you have been in the church. Your testimonies from today should be what you have accomplished for the kingdom, not just what you have received.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” MATTHEW 6:31-33.

Amaga is the Archbishop of Foundation Faith Churches Worldwide. He regularly organises Outpouring Conferences dedicated to raising leaders, teaching them to have a close walk with the Holy Spirit. You can reach him on archbishop@samamaga.org.

buSInESSLIFE

how to get and Retain customers

A

company that does not recognise her customers as king will sooner than later face serious business challenges. This is so because customers are the ‘bread and butter’ of every business. They pay the bills that sustain and keep the business growing. Most successful businesses that have made customer service one of the major pillars of their operations and have invested heavily in technology to support such initiative have leverage over their competitors. Today, there are some organisations that pride themselves as the most customer-friendly in their sector.

Even in a monopoly, except a company provides a product or service which is a basic necessity, they are not likely to reach their full potential if their customers are treated badly. The day an alternative becomes available customer switch will be very swift, even when efforts are made to stem it, the embedded grudge developed over time will also influence their attitude.

Keeping our customers happy, ensuring that they come back in the future and encouraging them to become advocates should be the aim of every business. This may not be any easy call. But it is achievable. Starting and maintaining a good relationship with customers can be a difficult task but once you get the basics right, it can make the difference between the success and failure of your business. Always remember that once a customer has lost faith in your service, it is very difficult to restore.

Below are some tips for excellent customer service: BE HONEST. The number one rule is not to make promises to customers unless you know you can deliver on them. Often customers come through to customer service whenever they have already encountered problems with your product or service. To promise to remedy the situation within a certain period and then fail to do so will

26

leave customers angry and dissatisfied. If you can’t solve the problem immediately, say so.

Customers will tend to be more forgiving if you level with them.

BECOURTEOUS.When there is problem, deal with it first time and ensure that it is dealt with speedily and with the least amount of hassle to the customer.

Be friendly and polite in your dealings with customers. Ensure they feel valued by your business and that their complaints or views are genuinely taken into consideration.

In a telephone call, give customers a chance to air their grievances rather than talking over them.

Courtesy costs nothing and will go a long way to building up a sound and long-term relationship with your customers.

UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMERS BETTER. The primary objective of customer service is to resolve problems, answer enquiries and generally to make customer’s experience of buying from you as easy, clear and smooth as possible. Also, it is an opportunity to gain insight into the concerns and opinions of customers. The long-term goal is to satisfy customers and try to ensure that they make additional purchases by increasing their business volume with you. Know everything there is to know. Dealing with customer enquiries requires knowledge of the business, the products and services, the prices, the terms and conditions, the guarantee terms, promotions and so on. But in situations where this is not possible, the customer service contact should know the minimum details to take and who to pass the call to.

NEVER LOSE YOUR COOL. There’ is no point in getting into a heated argument with your customers where it can be avoided. Never lose your temper and always concentrate on the resolution rather than focus on the nitty gritty of the problem.

Sometimes you may need to back down in a negotiation to retain the loyalty of your customers even when you know they are wrong.

L i f e W a y

DON’T BE ELUSIVE. Make it easy for customers to get in touch with you. Multiple channels of communication and contact are very important.

Ensure there are dedicated personnel whose primary responsibility is to manage customer relationship.

BE EXPLICIT. Ensure that every written material used to communicate to your customers and prospects are explicit enough. The language and terminology used should be simple, clear and common within the captive matter. Don’t use jargon that is poorly understood, otherwise you will end up confusing them. If the customer feels he is being patronised or talked down to he will be much less likely to buy from you in the future.

UNDERSTAND THE SPECIFICS OF A COMPLAINT. Try to structure calls from customers as best as you can. Customers will often call with a grievance and they should be allowed to air it in the first instance. Once this is done, an experienced customer service representative will take the opportunity to seize control of the direction of the conversation. You should break the problem down into specific points and summarise these back to the caller to clarify and to show that you are aware of what the problems are. Finally, it is important that when a customer gets in contact with you, whether you are in customer service or not, you should report the complaint to the right department and follow through to ensure that it is properly attended to.

- Courtesy Click magazine

There has never been a great leader without a great team.

T

he scripture, “and God said, let us make man in our own image…

[Genesis 1:26], clearly shows the importance of teamwork. It would have been possible for any member of the Trinity [God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit] to get the job done without the involvement of the others for they possess enormous powers individually. But what amazes me is their recourse to team work in everything they do.

I call this the Trinitarian Management Approach and we have a lot to learn from it.

Entrepreneurs often start off solo and suddenly find out that as the scope of work grows and supervisory responsibility given to mana8gers expands, it is not going to be easy to stay up on what everyone is doing. It is at this point they begin to look for help, often ignoring the Trinitarian Management Approach. It was Stan Bentley of Diversified Systems Inc. who said, “I’d rather have an employee with half the academic credentials and twice the team spirit, because without that, you’ve got nothing.” All over the corporate world, team spirit and teamwork have become new management fads. But it has always been there in the Bible and is nothing new except for the discovery you make out of it.

We are called to work with others, whether as business leaders, shop floor foremen, housewives, or politicians. Knowing how to get the best out of people is the essence of team dynamics. There has never been a great leader without a great team.

Think about the likes of Winston Churchill, John Kennedy, and Bill Gates. What does each of these examples of human achievement have in common?

Clearly, there is a role of a certain key individual in each situation who acted as a catalyst. These individuals played significant roles in galvanising large numbers of people into cohesive, focused efforts.

But far more significant than the presence of these individuals is the fact that these achievements were the result of team efforts. No single person – no matter how talented or resourceful- could have attained these accomplishments single-handedly.

Through the process of many people working together with persistence towards a common end, extraordinary achievements were realised.

I learned the importance of teamwork from the story of how Sarah Nolan turned Amex Life Assurance around. “When Sarah Nolan was made

the president of Amex Life Assurance and faced the task of overhauling this American Express subsidiary in San Rafael, California, she was told that she couldn’t do it. Typical of the insurance industry, responsiveness to customers was slow because there was a rigid hierarchy of workers, with little communication between levels of the organisation and people doing various tasks. But Nolan had written a plan for revitalising the business and her slogan when confronted by naysayers was, “Yes, I can!”

“She concentrated on one division of the business that was doing particularly poorly and asked five managers from various parts of the business to set up an office in an unoccupied business park away from the main building. Faced with an empty office and a charge from their president, these pioneers, as they were called, leaped into task with vigour. What

Achieving Greater Results through Teamwork

faith @ work W ITH IMO A BA SI-JACOB

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

they came up with was an open office, as opposed to the rigidly divided one typically found in the insurance industry. With the use of computer on every desk and an environment in which everyone was prepared to do every task, the levels of hierarchy in the organisation were cut from ten to three. It was possible to be much more responsive to customer needs than before. In fact, the concern with customer needs has become so great that staff members leave an empty chair representing the customer at meetings. The time it took to process applications and deal with customer problems plummeted, and profits for that division of Amex Life Assurance increased by 700%. That spirit has transformed to every part of the organization.”

The key seems to be employee empowerment and teamwork. As one senior member of the original pioneer group put it, “It’s an opportunity for everyone to work together and give input, as if we were a small business. Before I came to the enterprise, I was director of customer service, under the old traditional way of running a business. I was totally isolated. I had a big office, and people came to see me by appointment. The difference now is that I’m part of the group. I get to do everything like everybody else does. I enjoy it immensely.” Another employee said, ‘We are treated like adults with respect and with the philosophy that any idea is not a bad idea. And that helps me with my self-esteem.

I feel I have something to contribute personally.”

Sarah Nolan puts it simply: It’s a staggering thing how far people will go if they own the results.”

There is at Amex Life an enormous banner hanging from the top to the bottom of the fourstory atrium in the middle of the building. It says, over and over again in large multicolour letters: YES, I CAN! And in the windows of the department that won the quality award are the words: YES, WE DID!” We can repeat such feat if we change our paradigm on how to achieve greater result. It is possible to achieve a great result but it is impossible to achieve a greater result without the synergy of teamwork. Is your corporate or personal performance stagnant? Why not try Trinitarian Team Approach? Team work is God’s master class management tool as the scriptures confirm it. .Imo Abasi-Jacob is President of Haggai Business School in Surulere, Lagos.

He also serves as a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God. You can reach him on imoabasi@yahoo.com

27

c E L E b R AT I o n

Apostle Anselm

MADubuko Turning 50 with More Grace

O

n Friday, July 25 this year, Apostle Anselm Madubuko celebrated his 50th birthday. Men and women of God from different parts of the world were on hand to celebrate with this anointed preacher who at 50 already has the world as his pulpit.

Beyond the bear hugs, back slapping and the sheer pomp and pageantry of the occasion, it afforded admirers of Madubuko to ponder on God’s miracle power to transform an individual.

For the first twenty-five years of his life Madubuko seemed the most unlikely person to preach the gospel.

Or the devil himself made it seem so. Even to him there was no way he could ever have gone close to what he is doing today. He served Satan well – albeit ignorantly - in the name of youthful exuberance and quest for power. At twenty-five he had seen it all – drugs, women and occultism.

“All my university years, nobody tried to preach to me because all the Christians of different groups on campus assumed that I was a candidate for hell,” Madubuko recalled. “I agreed with them because there was no way I could think of any other kind of lifestyle than the way I

BY ODIOBARA AIZEK was living. I remember that in my third year as I was moving to the hostel, I turned back when I was told that my room mate was a member of the Scripture Union (S.U.).

Throughout that year, I never went near that room. That was how much I hated Christians. I had women of all kinds everywhere. I was a real playboy. I was a dreaded Capone of the Pyrates Confraternity. In my second year at the university and at only 18 years old I became director for socials, beating a far older student who was in his fourth year in the election. Then I also had a programme on Radio as a DeeJay (disc jockey) and presenter. I was also a night club DJ. While on campus I had a car. Life was good. My name was everywhere in Eastern Nigeria. I was influential among my friends; my parents were comfortable so I never lacked money. I was a Master Mason in the Lodge. As was the practice, my father had initiated me being his first son. I had spiritual power or so I thought.

So, what did I need Jesus for?”

His turning point came when he turned twenty-five.

About that time he had become tired of everything.

Interestingly it seemed to him that he was going to die. One night he actually died. He saw his body with doctors looking on helplessly and suddenly he heard a voice that said, “He is healed.” And he regained consciousness. It was that same week that a young man called Misan Egbe came to his office where he was working as an architect under Tom Ikimi and was bold enough to preach the gospel to him. Madubuko did not really know what he was going into.

“I just felt I needed something new, another phase of my life and this could be it,” he said. “I just wanted to try and see what God could do for me. I knelt down, closed my eyes with my hands together in the manner of prayer. I noticed that as we were praying somebody put his hands together over my closed hands. I thought it was Misan. At the end of the prayer I opened my eyes but it was not Misan’s hands. That was when I knew something more serious had happened to me. And that was the beginning of this journey.”

From that day things began to happen.

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

First he began to convert his friends. In fact, his wife, Connie, who was then his live-in lover, was his first convert. “I went back home and told her, ‘you have to move out of this place. I am now a born-again Christian’. It was strange to her that somebody she slept with the previous night, came back from work and said he was born-again.” She thought I was playing games; perhaps there was somebody else somewhere I wanted to replace her with. She obeyed and moved out.

After she watched me for a while and saw how I

29

ma d u b u k o @ 5 0

• Bishop Godwin Elomobor leading the congregation to pray for Apostle Madubuko on the morning of his birthday, July 25

• Congratulations, pastor!

• 'Beside every successful preacher is an anointed wife'

30

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

ma d u b u k o @ 5 0

• Archbishop Duncan Williams ministering

• The Higher Dimension Choir

• It is a day of joy and celebration

• Apostle Madubuko praying for the congregation

• With love from Power and Passion Church

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

31

MAdubuko @ 50

was praying and going to church, reading my Bible, one day she asked me to tell her what happened to me. I told her and she believed mainly because she saw the true change in me when for a long time I did not touch her. To her, my experience with God was real.”

Three months after he gave his life, he went to his Alma Mata, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus in what later turned out to be an unplanned mini-crusade. He had simply gone on a visit; his female friends had heard of his conversion and wanted to know what happened to him. On getting to the campus, he pasted four hand-written notes on the notice board asking them to meet him in a friend’s room. That evening the room was jammed.

After he preached to the students, a hundred of them, 99 of them females, gave their lives to Christ. The only male among them was then pop star Kris Okotie who later became his Pastor at Household of God, Ikeja, Lagos, where Madubuko was the head of deliverance for three and a half years. When he returned to Lagos he brought the list of his converts to his pastor, Tunde Joda, who, he said, personally wrote letters to all of them. “Amazingly,” Madubuko told this reporter, “more than eighty percent of them are still standing strong in Christ today. Some are pastors, some pastor’s wives and others are playing various key roles in the kingdom of God. Their salvation that night was real.

These were the bad girls on campus.” It was Anselm’s first major haul as a fisher of men. In the years following he was to become a fisher of men all over the world.

Connie, his wife and co-minister, described his zeal for God and the kingdom in this way. “As a servant of God, left to him, he would rather live in church than live at home. He loves God. He is passionate when it comes to the things of God. He loves the people; he loves what he is doing. His lifestyle matches the scripture that says, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and all things would be added to you. And as a born-again Christian, apart from being a servant of God, he is totally dedicated to God.” At Christ Chapel, Anselm was doing everything from Ushering to Evangelism, Intercessory etc.

He was nostalgic about the set of workers in the church at that time, which included people like John Osa-Oni, Lawrence Osagie, Taiwo and Bimbo Odukoya, and Okotie.

(Bishop Osagie and Rev. Okotie turned 50 this year while Pastor Odukoya clocked the golden age two years ago.)

“We did not see the place as Joda’s Church; we just wanted to do things, he said. “For example, it was us members that organised ourselves into departments. To us volunteering to work in God’s house was an honour.

We caught the revelation that the only way is the way of service; and all of us were like a family.” From that humble beginning of service, many of his contemporaries at Christ Chapel are great men of God today. What Anselm did not know and did not plan was that he, like the other young men, was imbibing training and grooming for ministerial calling. At that time too, some things happened which were to shape his peculiar ministry.

“All things,” the Bible says, “work together for the good of them that love God and are called according to His purpose.” For a long time after he became a Christian Anselm was in spiritual torment. His involvement in the occult was be-

32

ginning to catch up with him. He could not sleep; he could not eat; he had no peace; he was losing weight. If he tried to sleep, immediately he would begin to have terrible nightmares. Serious fear was inside of him. Confused, he went to tell his pastor that he was dying and needed help. But he was told that just by being born-again he was delivered.

His pastor did not see from his point that he was suffering and going through hell. So he began to ask questions, and it was at that time that he was told to go and see a man of God, the late Dr. Ibeneme in Ibadan. “He prayed for me; I was delivered and for the first time since the day I gave my life to Christ, I slept well. Thereafter, I said to myself: This is it.

“As a result of my experience, all the people that I knew who had spiritual problems, I began to pack them to Ibadan for deliverance. But I did not want to cause problems because Joda did not agree with deliverance, and at a point he didn’t like what I was doing so I had to stop. Soon after this, Kris Okotie was about to start his own ministry. He said to me, ‘Man, come and head my deliverance department’. I saw it as an opportunity because I prayed a prayer the night Dr. Ibeneme did deliverance for me. I said, ‘Lord, you set me free; there are many people who are bound like I was; use me to set them free. And God answered my prayer’. When Household of God started, Okotie gave me the opportunity to head the deliverance department. For

company. He would design houses for people but they would not pay him. However, Connie, his wife was there for him, and together they forged ahead. And then things began to change for the better. He moved from one room apartment in Surulere to a flat at Salvation Road, Opebi in Ikeja and then to a duplex. “By then I had passed through my wilderness experience,” he enthused. “Money had started coming in and I started settling down to enjoy my life. And that was when God called me.

The last thing I ever wanted to do was to be pastor of a church. I just wanted to be a businessman to make money and support the gospel. Well, I knew I would accept invitations to minister at programmes or organise crusades. That was the best I thought I could do.” In late 1990, while he was praying he heard the Lord say to him: “I want you to raise Me an army.” His immediate reply was, “O Lord, not me.” However, after a series of events that took him out of Household, Revival Assembly was born in December of 1990 and grew very fast. Soon, by December 1994 the church moved from its first location at 34 Oritshe Street, Ikeja, Lagos, to its permanent site at Cocoa Industries Road, Ogba.

For the first five years of its existence, Madubuko was married to Revival Assembly. In 1995, a chance invitation to America opened up preaching engagements in that country for him. In that trip he met Apostle John Ekhardt who later in 1999 invited him to minister at Apostolic Impact Network in Ethiopia. After he ministered on a Thursday night, doors of five nations opened up for him – Ukraine, Russia, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa.

By November of that year he was in Ukraine and since then invitations to minister all over the world have continued to pour in. Even now he finds it difficult to cope with engagements outside the church. As Revival Assembly grew, prophecies and confirmation of prophesies came for the man of God to take further steps. By 1997, the “New Anointing” on television was born. Since then it has

As a result of my experience, all the people that I knew who had spiritual problems, I began to pack them to Ibadan for deliverance.

three and half years, not one Saturday did I miss the deliverance service; from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. I was there praying for people and casting out devils. Deliverance was my life.

I saw lives changed – testimonies of people God touched and delivered from all manner of satanic afflictions. In those days, not many people did deliverance.”

When Madubuko gave his life to Christ he not only faced spiritual attacks, his father whom he loved so much disowned him and cut off all forms of support for him. It was a difficult period in his life, because though he was working the salary was very irregular; sometimes pay check did not come in six months. That was when he learnt to live by faith. His car was so bad he never trusted it to take him to the next destination. For seven years he lived that way. At a point he registered his own architectural design

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

ran on many TV stations across the country. Soon after, there was also the “New Anointing” on Radio. In addition, Apostle Madubuko presents “Souls, Souls, Souls and More Souls,” a fifteen-minute programme that focuses on winning souls into the Kingdom on radio and television.

A number of books have been published by him. Revival Assembly also publishes an in-house magazine called The Gospel Forerunner which replaced The Voice of Revival and The Revival Echo. In June this year, the church arm of the ministry opened a branch of Revival Assembly in Abuja after many years of Madubuko resisting pressures to open up branches. “The time has come for this,” he told me.

Odiobara Aizek is a freelance writer.

LEAd SToRy

Men who

SPEAK for a living

…and why they are the rave of the moment.

BY JACKSON EKWUGUM

F

(with Leonard Ackon in Accra, and Sunday Oguntola in Lagos)

ela Durotoye. Sam Adeyemi. Gideon Titi Ofei. Albert Ocran. Anthony Robins. Les Brown. Myles Munroe.

Leke Alder. Matthew Ashimolowo. Olumide Emmanuel.

Femi Emmanuel. Mike Murdock. Ubong Essien. Sunny Ojeagbase. Yaw Perbi. Kofi Addison. Jeff Baah. Zig Ziglar.

These men all have one thing in common. They are masters at inspiring an audience and feeding them with positive ideas, feelings and thoughts that would elicit action – actions that would place them on the path to success in life, whether academic, career, financial, family and in some cases, spiritual. They have become the toast of modern society because of their special abilities to use sermons and teachings to address practical issues of life; they are crowd pullers and can get the audience swooning with excitement with their repertoire of knowledge and adept presentations. The exploits of these men would make even the pioneers of motivational speaking such as the late Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuler green with envy. Their celebrated success has made motivational speaking one of the fastest growing industries today as new entrants emerge daily on the landscape to showcase their skills and hopefully get their share of the pie.

34

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

In Nigeria, some of the big names in the business are highly sought after by banks, multinational corporations, emerging businesses and even churches.

Some of them charge as much as N500, 000 (over 4,000 dollars) for an hour’s service. In Ghana, many people are prepared to pay any amount of money just to listen to these motivational speakers, most of whom are professing Christians, for three hours or less. They are in such high demand that no week passes without one hearing of a motivational seminar on wealth creation and personal success taking place in the capital city Accra and in other major cities of the country. The situation is the same in many other African countries, which prompts the questions: Why has motivational speaking become the rave of the moment? What are the success secrets of these motivational speakers? Are there lessons to be learned from them?

The gooD Meeting a Need: One thing everybody agrees about is that these motivational speakers are meeting a need. Mr. Chido Nwankanma, a Public Relations Consultant based in Lagos, is of the opinion that “the phenomenon of motivational speaking has grown in the last few years as a response to the excruciating circumstances of tougher social and economic conditions.” According to him, “motivational speakers provide a road map that draws on the inner person

LEAd SToRy

• Olumide Emmanuel • Sam Adeyemi • Sunny Ojeag base

• Niyi Adesanya

• Nelson Ayodele

• Jeff Baah

ti Ofei • Gideon Ti

• Kofi Addison

• Femi Emmanuel

toye • Fela Duro

• Albert Ocran

• Yaw Perbi

L

• Abiodun Olusoji

i

f

e

W

a

y

35

M o T I vAT I o n A L S P E A k E R S

and his ability to triumph.” He asserts that “success in motivational speaking comes from being able to move hearers or listeners to change their circumstance for the better. The most successful motivational speakers not only build the confidence of their audience but provide a reliable road map consisting of skills and know how as well as know why.”

Rev. Jeffrey Baah, General Overseer of Kingdom Power Glory Worldwide in Tema, Ghana and a motivational speaker, asserts that motivational speaking is “critical to the church in Africa because most Africans have low self esteem and they need to be motivated to think and achieve outside their immediate surroundings.” Rev. Obaloluwa Osuolale of New Covenant Baptist Church, Lagos concurs.

“The fact is Africans are too spiritual, so they need to be motivated to do what God will expect them to do themselves,” he points out. “We need people who will motivate students to excellence, people who will motivate graduates on good creation, people who will motivate us to prosperity.” Mr. Nelson Ayodele, a pastor and motivational speaker, says the essence of motivational speaking is to address the twin evils of “frustration and poverty,” adding that “success is

"Most Africans have low self esteem and they need to be motivated to think and achieve outside their immediate surroundings."

-Rev Jeff Baah

not all about vigils, prayers and miracles.” “There is a structured pathway to success in life and as many as are willing to embrace the principles of success, they have a good chance of changing the course of their lives.” He lists some of the principles of success as

36

“vision, passion, enthusiasm and sacrifice.”

Niche marketing: All successful motivational speakers do not just meet a need; they address a specific need for a specific group of people in a specific sector of the economy. For instance, Pastor Ayodele offers motivation talks to mainly educational institutions. He tells LifeWay that “when I got into the school system, I saw their myriads of problems ranging from poor salaries to negative attitude of the teachers.” Convinced such an atmosphere was not conducive for “my child to get the best,” he put together a Teacher’s Motivation Power Seminar where he endeavored to make the teachers see the “connection between attitude and excellence.” With the run away success of the programme, Ayodele soon began putting together similar programmes for other schools and has since added other services to his product portfolio such as Value Building Seminars (for students), Parents Motivation Seminar (for parents), Education Leadership Summit and International School Improvement Summit (for school owners).

Mr. Abiodun Olusoji, also a motivational speaker, teaches specifically on Time Management. He even wrote a book, “Take Time,” adding that “God has mandated me to teach the value of time in the church and in the corporate world.” For him, the most successful motivational speakers “such as Sam Adeyemi and Fela Durotoye” are those with a message “unique to them.” He describes Adeyemi as a man with a unique ability to teach and impart Biblical principles for success whether in business, marriage, career or ministry, while Durotoye is "an inspirational speaker."

The Power of Example: Successful motivational speakers are those who walk the talk. Olusoji says: “A motivational speaker should be a practitioner of his message. A speaker who has not internalised his message must not be taken seriously.” He stresses that teaching or preaching becomes “transformational when you must have lived them. That is when impact is made.” Ayodele agrees. “You have to look the part; people have to see the message in you.”

The two other major attributes that every successful motivational speaker possesses are Divine call and Communication skills. Olusoji says people should not dabble into motivational speaking because it is a “sacred calling.” Pastor Femi Emmanuel of Livingspring Chapel in Lagos tells LifeWay that those in the talk business must follow the example of Jesus whom he describes as “a motivator” because of His special ability to expertly communicate the word of God. The bAD Despite the positive strides that motivational speaking has made in today’s church there are problems – and a growing army of dissenting voices.

The Herd Mentality: One of the problems confronting

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

motivational speaking today is that too many people, including pastors, claim and want to be motivational speakers. According to Olusoji, many people have come to see motivational speaking as “the cheapest

"We need people who will motivate students to excellence, people who will motivate graduates on good creation, people who will motivate us to prosperity."

- Rev Osuolale

way to be visible and popular,” adding that “many pastors do not want to be left out.” Rev. Emmanuel speaks in a similar vein. “One affliction in the body of Christ, which is an extension of our national life, is the lack of original ideas. As soon as they see something that is working they troop into it.” Rev. Osuolale says the bandwagon effect is because it is easy to become a motivational speaker. “You really don’t have to be a preacher to be a motivational speaker; you only need to be talented in speaking and get exposed to books.”

TheMessage:By far the biggest criticism motivational speakers have faced is the issue of the message.

According to Elder Kenneth Nana Amoateng of the Church of Pentecost in Accra, Christians “have replaced the grace of God with motivational speaking and this is making some Christians to believe so much in their mental ability.” Ms. Asabea Abena Lartey, of the Ghana Association of Methodist Students Union (GAMSU) says today’s Christians “are more interested in motivational speaking than messages that will get them closer to God.” According to Nwakanma, “the bookshops are now full of books that emphasise motivation.” He adds: “Otherwise known as pop (for popular) psychology, motivational speaking fare is often like fast food. Fast to prepare, easy to digest. It is

M o T I vAT I o n A L S P E A k E R S

usually a dose of vitamins. For vitamin tablets to work, they must build on a foundation of healthy nutrition.

They supplement, but do not replace proper food.”

Dr. Francis Bola Akin-John of International Church Growth Ministries in Lagos claims that the church has “bought the American definition of success. There is a friend of mine into motivation who says the first principle of success is desire. That definition is wrong; the first principle of success must be God. You must serve God, get connected to Him, serve Him and obey Him.” Rev. Baah insists that there must be a “clear distinction between motivational speaking and the gospel.” For him, “motivational speaking is about one’s mental ability to inspire success while the gospel is about Jesus and what He did for mankind. I must admit that in the gospel there is a place for motivation which is the mind. But the most important thing is that motivational speaking must get

"Christians are more interested in motivational speaking than messages that will get them closer to God." -Ms Asabea Lartey

people to develop a relationship with God at the end of the day.” Rev. Emmanuel rebuffs criticisms that motivational speakers have compromised the gospel message. According to him, motivational speaking "is another dimension to reach out with the gospel to people without necessarily scaring them with the gospel." He proffers that "no two preachers are given the same keys to operate in the Kingdom.... We cannot all be the same" (see box). Rev. Emmanuel Ansah of Covenant Community Bible Church in Accra

disagrees. “Many of those in motivational speaking do not mention the role of miracles which confirm the power of the gospel,” he charges. “Whereas the genuine gospel emphasises the grace and faith in Jesus Christ, motivational speaking emphasises selfbelief. True faith preaching emphasises the need for a clear conscience and renewal of heart and mind.

Motivational speaking is mind-centered (1 Timothy 1:19). I believe Christians need to stress on word and faith-based motivation only.” Claiming that Norman Vincent Peale, one of the forerunners of motivational speaking was a “staunch occultist,” Rev. Ansah is persuaded that motivational speaking seeks to subtly undermine the power of the gospel (see box).

Balance: Closely related to the problem of message is the issue of balance. Dr. Akin-John says his grouse “with motivational speaking is that everything tends toward achievement, attainment and acquisition.”

It is his opinion that “motivation should come after discipleship. For example, motivational speakers say you can move from prison to palace, from nothing to something, but they won’t tell you there is always a time lag in between. There is a time to suffer, a time to work hard, a time to wait, and a time to persevere, and a time to do the will of God. After you have done the will of God, sometimes you have to wait to invite the promise. But most motivational speaking is on the fast lane, get rich-quick syndrome. That is why a lot of today’s Christians lack depth and spirituality. That is why there are so many churches with little impact in the society; fundamental Christianity and godly lifestyle have not increased because a lot of today’s teachings are just shallow.”

Mr. Nwakanma agrees. Asserting that there is “a key limitation to the growing culture of motivation,” he believes that “too many young people are feeding on vitamin supplements and leaving the main building blocks of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in their meal.”

“They will suffer severe malformation,” he stresses.

“Successful motivational speakers do not necessarily teach know-how but inspire listeners to know how and to know why. A highly motivated young man with no skills is more useless than a skilled craftsman who lacks motivation. The latter only needs to be motivated. The former is dangerous because he assumes wrongly that he is equipped. Attitude may lead to altitude, as the motivational speakers state, but the Wilbur brothers had to get the wings right before their plane could fly no matter how positive their attitude.”

Pulpit controversy: Should pulpits be used to preach motivational messages on a Sunday morning? That is another question motivational speakers are being asked by their critics. Reverend Ansah believes such a practice is fraught with dangers because “people can be deceived. Let’s remember that Paul warned the Corinthians against this. “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom,

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

"A highly motivated young man with no skills is more useless than a skilled craftsman who lacks motivation."

- Chido Nwakanma

but in demonstration of the spirit and of power” (I Cor 4:2). Akin-John claims that “most churches today are glorified business schools.” According to him “if you are going to motivate or teach business principles, it should be during week days or at a special seminar.

It shouldn’t be held on a Sunday service when people should serve God and be grounded in the fundamentals of the gospel so that success will not overwhelm them because success will never leave you the way it meets you.”

Rev. Osuolale tells LifeWay that “there should be a clear cut line drawn between motivational speaking and preaching of the word.” He narrates his experience while he listened to a pastor preaching from his pulpit on television. “For the 30 minutes he preached, he did not make any reference whatsoever to any portion of the scripture. If it was in a seminar or conference, there would be no problem. But when people have the understanding that they are coming to receive God’s word but then somebody comes to motivate them, they get excited and return unconverted.” He counsels that motivational speakers should emulate John Maxwell. “When he writes books for spiritual things they are published under a different publisher.

When he writes for business, leadership and corporate affairs, he writes under a different publisher. But most people don’t draw the line.”

Readers’ comments on this story are welcome. Please send them to lifewaymag@gmail.com. Your mail matters to us.

37

cRoSSFIRE

‘Jesus is the Message, hope is the goal’ - Femi Emmanuel

M

otivation is central to the gospel of Christ. Jesus was a motivator.

His messages inspired many.

What is inspiration? People are down, people are discouraged, things are low and you want to raise their morale, and tell them it is possible. It is a message of hope, a message of lifting. And what is the message of Jesus Christ if not that? He came to heal the sick and give hope to the hopeless. So, I see it as a continuation of what Jesus came to do.

TeSTiMoNieS Nationally and internationally, it has impacted lives. I have been on Turning Point, our motivational package, on about six radio stations across the nation. And I receive e-mails, texts and calls from virtually everybody. Governors, traditional rulers, the mighty and low call to say they are impacted.

Who does not need to be motivated? Who does not feel down once in a while? Life is a practical thing and everyone, once in a while, runs into problems. Nobody is happy all the time. Mentally, financially, professionally and medically, people experience problems. Well, economic hardship in Nigeria also makes it more pronounced. But it is not just that.

People face a whole lot of problems that are not only economic or financial. Every human being needs to be assisted, motivated and inspired that all hope is not lost. Motivation is very wide. Mine cuts across every aspect of human life because man is a total being.

T h e e S S e N c e o F M o T i V AT i o N It speaks to the hearts; it lifts the heart. It makes you believe in yourself, believe in what you are doing. It fires up your courage in life.

There had been people who had wanted to commit suicide and they heard what I said and said, ‘this is God speaking to me’ and stopped. There were marriages that had almost broken down and as the appropriate and relevant words came to them, they were restored. It works wonderfully; it has the same effect that you get when you preach on the pulpit. iNFlueNce Motivation that we do cuts across all

38

religions. A lot of non-Christians have as a result become Christians even though we did not go there to preach the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. But everything we say is Bible-based. The substance is generated from the Bible and applied practically to human needs and problems. It is another dimension to reach out with the gospel to people without necessarily scaring them with the Bible. So, by the time you talk to their problems and point the way out to them, which is God, they become interested. It is a practical way of bringing people closer to Him. The shallowness or depth of Christians depends on the substance they are fed with when they come to Christ. If as a result of motivational messages people troop to church, then that pastor should now sit down and teach them the word. That is the Jesus system. Not everybody coming to church will receive the word the same way. The people can be attending the same church and one is growing while the other is not. I don’t believe that any pastor will go to the pulpit playing game and still retain the people. We believe that manifestation of the power of the word brings people while the revelation of the word establishes them. If they come and there is no word of God to establish them, they will go. So, if people come and their hopes are dashed, they will definitely go. But their hope will be met when from the word of God, you bring them the substance, get them born again and teach them the word, establish them in Christ and turn them to disciples. bANDWAgoN eFFec T There can be. In any event or setting, there certainly will be excesses by those who will stray into it. One affliction in the body of Christ, which is an extension of our national life, is the lack of original ideas. But as soon as they see something working, they troop into it. I don’t believe the message of the gospel should L

i

f

e

W

a

y

be watered down because of anything. But I agree that there should be newer, better approaches to appeal to the modern man to bring him closer to God. And don’t forget any messenger is given his own message. No two preachers are given the same keys to operate in the kingdom. We

It is another dimension to reach out with the gospel to people without necessarily scaring them with the Bible.

can’t be stereo typed. We cannot all be the same. Knowledge is increasing and discoveries are being made. Educated ministers are coming in and bringing a dimension of the gospel from a professional stand point. You can then begin to see different styles but the message should not be lost. The substance should be there. Christ is the message and hope is the goal.

- Interview by Sunday Oguntola

cRoSSFIRE

between Faith and Positive Thinking

By Emmanuel Ansah

I

believe motivational speakers seek to help people harness their hidden potential to confront the challenges of life. The phenomenon seems to be spreading fast for a number of reasons. This world is all stressed- out. In Luke 21:34 Jesus spoke about this when He spoke about the signs of the end times. He warned Christians to be careful not to be overcharged with the affairs of this life. As a result of the stress, men are seeking solace in various ways, natural and supernatural. Motivational speakers provide some form of relief for some. The whole world seems to be in competition. Motivational speakers give people a feeling of “having an edge over the competition at any cost.”

The strong desire for success, money and fame in these last days is a major incentive for people to seek the help of motivational speakers who often make them feel they can “conquer all they suffer by themselves.” Sadly, I do not think that most“so-called”motivational speakers are themselves that successful. In my view, most of them have learnt the art of communicating and analysing people’s challenges properly. Very few have tried and really tasted success. There is an apparent thin line, yet huge gap, between faith and positive thinking. Most of the pioneers of the motivational speaking did not believe in the totality of God’s word. It is public knowledge that Norman Vincent Peale who claimed to be a Christian and authored the best seller, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” was a staunch occultist. He disputed many fundamentals of the Christian faith. Not only did Peale question the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. He also claimed that JESUS was not the only way to God for salvation. In Peale’s own words, he was proud to be a 33rd Degree Freemason. He is quoted on the website of the Grand Lodge of British Colombia and Yukon in Canada. In his response to a letter asking why he was a Freemason, he boasted of his credentials as one who had been in the lodge for over sixty years, learning from his father and grandfather who were in it for fifty years each. Since it is a fact that words carry a spiritual impact, I

personally believe that repeated reading and listening to people like Peale will only transfer their kind of ungodly spirit to any one. Since the books and messages carry a spirit, people must be careful whose books they read and who speaks to them.

There are obvious dangers when motivational speaking is done from the pulpit. Since the pulpit is the sacred place for God’s word, many listeners receive the preachers wholeheartedly. Therefore, when a motivational speaker operates from the pulpit, people can be deceived. Let’s remember that Paul warned the Corinthians against this.

“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power”(I cor 4:2). Many of those in motivational speaking do not mention the role of miracles which L

i

f

e

W

a

y

It is public knowledge that Norman Vincent Peale who claimed to be a Christian and authored the best seller,“The Power of Positive Thinking,”was a staunch occultist. confirm the power of the gospel. Whereas the genuine gospel emphasises the grace of and faith in Jesus Christ, motivational speaking emphasises self-belief. True faith preaching emphasises the need for a clear conscience and renewal of heart and mind. Motivational speaking is mind-centered (1 Timothy 1:19). I believe Christians should stress on word and faith-based motivation only.

- Rev. Ansah was speaking to LifeWay

39

c o n tr o v ers y

What Freemasonry means to me - The Reverend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, 33

In the course of our interview with Rev. Emmanuel Ansah, he alleged that Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, author of the best selling book, The Power of Positive Thinking, and one a forerunner of motivational speaking was a “staunch occultist.” Shocked, we asked him to provide us with proof. He obliged us by sending us Peale’s ‘testimony’ and those of other “Christian leaders proud to claim membership in Freemasonry” which was published on the website of the Grand Lodge of British Colombia and Yukon in Canada.

They included “Rev. Charles T. Aikens, who served as President of the Lutheran Synod of Eastern Pennsylvania, Bishop James Freeman, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C., who first conceived and began construction of the National Cathedral, Bishop William F. Anderson, one of the most important leaders of the Methodist Church, Rev. Lansing Burrows, American Civil War hero and Secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention, William R. White, who served as President of Baylor University, and was Secretary of the Sunday School Board, Southern Baptist Convention, Rev. Hugh I. Evans, who served as national head of the Presbyterian Church.”

Please find below Dr. Peale’s 'testimony' for you to judge.

I

recently received a letter in which the writer asked: “Why are you a freemason?” The question caused me to think and reaffirm my feelings about Masonry. At first I thought about my own forebears.

My grandfather was a mason for 50 years, my father for 50 years, and I have been a mason for 60 years. This means that my tie with Freemasonry extends back to 1869 when my grandfather joined the masons. My feelings on my first entrance into a Masonic lodge are very clear in memory. I was a young man and it was a great thrill to kneel before the altar of the lodge to become a freemason. This must have been the same feeling my father and grandfather experienced before me. And it must also have been identical to the one that many great leaders of America and the world felt as they became masons.

Prominent among this select group are George Washington, Harry Truman, and 12 other Presidents as well as countless statesmen and benefactors of humanity. So I found myself thinking: “What does Freemasonry mean to me?” Of course masons say that Freemasonry actually begins in each individual mason’s heart. I take this to mean a response to brotherhood and the highest ideals.

I recall the story of a man who came to me once and said: “I see that you are a freemason. So am I.” As we talked, he told me of an experience he had years ago. It seems that he joined the Masonic fraternity shortly after he became 21 years old. When he was stationed in the military, he decided to attend various lodge meetings. On his first visit to a lodge in a

40

strange city, he was a bit nervous. One thought was constantly in his mind; could he pass the examination to show that he was a mason? As the committee was carefully examining his credentials, one of the members looked him squarely in the eye and said: “Obviously you know the ritual, so you can enter our lodge as a Brother Mason. But I have one more L

i

f

e

W

a

y

question. Where were you made a mason?” With that he told the young visitor to think about it because when he knew the answer the examiner would not have to hear it. He would see it in his eyes. My friend told me that after a couple of minutes a big smile came to his face and he looked at the examiner, who said: “That’s right, in your heart.” “Through Masonic

c o n tr o v ers y

teachings, good men practice love and charity. As a fraternity they spend millions of dollars.”

Freemasonry is not a religion though. In my experience, masons have predominately been religious men and, for the most part, of the Christian faith. Through Freemasonry, however, I have had opportunity to break bread with good men of other than my own Christian faith. Freemasonry does not promote any one religious creed. All masons believe in the Deity without reservation. However, Masonry makes no demands as to how a member thinks of the Great Architect of the Universe. Freemasonry is, for all its members, a supplement to good living which has enhanced the lives of millions who have entered its doors. Though it is not a religion, as such, it supplements faith in God the Creator. It is supporting of morality and virtue. Freemasonry has no dogma or theology. It offers no sacraments.

It teaches that it is important for every man to have a religion of his own choice and to be faithful to it in thought and action. As a result, men of different religions meet in fellowship and brotherhood under the fatherhood of God. I think that a good mason is made even more faithful to the tenets of his faith by his membership in the lodge.

Freemasonry is much more than a social organisation. Through Masonic teachings, good men practice love and charity. As a Fraternity they

spend millions of dollars to support hospitals, childhood language disorders clinics, and research into problems that plague man’s physical and mental being. Whenever I visit a Masonic hospital, of which there are many, my eyes fill with tears. As I see a youngster, who could not walk, now able to get from one end of the corridor to the other with the aid of an artificial leg, I am thrilled. For a young person to have the opportunity to become whole and productive is to me exciting and wonderful. And this opportunity is given at no cost to his or her family or the state.

Living is beautiful but sometimes life can be harsh and cruel. Whenever or wherever people are in need masons are there to help. From large undertakings to the smallest of needs, masons are always there, caring and serving. I have always been interested as to why masons devote so much time to their Fraternity. A good answer to this question came from a Grand Master who once told me that he enjoys his involvement because it gives him another dimension to living. The same answer is echoed by Brethren as they meet in lodge rooms from one end of our country to the other and around the world.

Many of my best friends, associates, and fellow Christians are Freemasons and good churchmen as well. In my travels at home and abroad a goodly number of Freemasons notice my Masonic ring, which I always wear. With pride they say: “I, too,

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

am a Freemason.” To me, Freemasonry is one form of dedication to God and service to humanity. I too was a Freemason in my heart and so I will remain. I am proud of my involvement. I am proud to walk in fraternal fellowship with my Brethren. Why am I a Freemason? Simply because I am proud to be a man who wants to keep the moral standards of life at high level and leave something behind so others will benefit. Only as I, personally, become better, can I help others to do the same. “I was brought up in a religious home, a son of a Rabbi with seven generations of Rabbis preceding me; and yet with this religious background, I felt I could still derive much from and give much to this Fraternity for the good and welfare of mankind.”

Rev. James C. Baker, who created my experience, has shown me that masons are for the most part religious men. I am proud to be a mason and proud to be a part of an organisation that is devoted to helping widows and orphans primarily, and also those who are in need without question or embarrassment.... I am proud to be a mason who believes in the dignity of God’s children and opposes hatred and bigotry, and stands for truth, justice, kindness, integrity and righteousness for all.

- Readers’ responses to this 'testimony' are welcome. Please send them to lifewaymag@gmail.com

41

God is doing things in our midst that the world has not witnessed in two thousand years.

H

ealing the sick was a regular and common part of Jesus’ ministry. It was both an evidence of the truth and power of the message He preached and healed as an expression of God’s love and compassion for hurting humanity. Everywhere He went, people flocked to Him, bringing the sick, the lame and the demon-possessed. One Sabbath, while visiting His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus went into the synagogue. As a “hometown boy” and visiting rabbi, He was invited to read the scripture. The scripture reading for that day, from the prophet Isaiah, expressed the very heart and soul of Jesus’ ministry.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The Spirit of God anointed Jesus to preach good news to the poor and proclaim liberty to the captives. That heavenly anointing also includes healing the brokenhearted, restoring sight to the blind, and liberating the oppressed. Jesus’ mission was to preach the Word of God and to perform signs and wonders as evidence of the truth of His message.

His final signature act was to die on the cross as the Lamb of God, the once-for-all atoning sacrifice for the sins of humanity. The same Spirit who had anointed Jesus and empowered His ministry raised Him from the dead three days later. In the light of all the wondrous things Jesus did, one of the most shocking, mind-boggling things He ever said was a promise He made to His disciples the night before His death. It is a key statement to understanding how the healing anointing relates to us today.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever

42

you ask in MY name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14).

What are the “works” and the “greater works” that Jesus spoke of here? The answer to that question has been debated for generations. How we answer it today often defines where we stand with regard to expecting the miraculous in our own generation. If we understand Jesus’ mission as involving both preaching the Word and performing signs and wonders, then it is logical and reasonable to understand that His “works” include both in the New Testament. Healing, signs, and wonders were all part of the total gospel package – the “full gospel” – that was preached not only by Jesus but also by the apostles and other first century believ-

Anointing for Greater Works

school of power W I T H JOH N PAU L OK WOK

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

ers. Indeed, Jesus’ followers did do the works that He did – the Books of Acts is ample proof of that – but how could anyone do “greater works” than Jesus Christ? When we talk about “greater” works, we must mean either greater in quantity or scope, or greater in quality. Is it possible for anyone to exceed the quality of Jesus’ works? I don’t think so.

Exceeding them in quantity and scope is another matter. Jesus’ work was limited by time and geography to a few short years and a few hundred square miles (at most); the Church has had centuries, with the entire world as its scope. Through the ages, Jesus’ followers have reached and touched more people than Jesus ever did directly. The “works” that Christ had performed through His people, including sings and wonders have by far surpassed in quantity and scope the works that Jesus Himself did during His earthly ministry.

Jesus’ promise is open-ended; the “works” and the “greater works” are for “he who believes in Me.” That includes you and I. Jesus did the works that He did because the anointing of the Spirit of God was upon Him. He has given that anointing to all His followers through the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer (Luke 10:19; Acts 1:8). The anointing of the Holy Spirit including the healing anointing – is for all of us today. The twentieth century witnessed a definite increase of signs and wonders in the Church as God released a fresh outpouring of His Spirit upon His people. Another sign of a “new era” was the rise of healing evangelists, such as Aimee Semple McPherson, Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, T. L. Osborne, Benson Idahosa and others. Today, we are living in an unprecedented age of the Church. God is doing things in our midst that the world has not witnessed in two thousand years. He has planted each of us in our particular time and place for a particular purpose. This is our generation – and our time to shine for God. Apostle Okwok is the Senior Pastor of City of Life Church in Agidingbi, Lagos. You can reach him on okwokjohn@yahoo. co.uk

The desire to leave home is never a good reason to marry.

S

ade had always hoped that her marriage will be a monogamous one. She had grown up in a polygamous home and it was an experience she did not want to relive. Her father had six wives and she was the first child of the second wife. There was never enough of anything neither was there any privacy. One of her siblings had even threatened to leave home if things did not improve but the rest of the house laughed at her. Sade would lie on the corner of the mattress that she shared with three others and secretly wish that she had a home of her own and that she was happily married with two children. She threw herself into her studies and did her best in every examination. She burned the midnight oil even though she did not know how she would get money to register for the examination. In desperation, her mother had to sell some of her clothes so that she could pay for her to sit for JAMB and WAEC examinations. Her father said he was not really interested in training a girl. She resolved to put her best knowing that if she did not pass the examination there would be no second chance.

She passed both examinations very well - the first in her family to do so - and got admission into the premiere university. Now she had another problem, which was how she would get money to register for the first school year.

Again, her mother came to her rescue. She went to all the relatives she could remember to ask for help so that her daughter’s dream would not die and finally found an uncle who was willing to pay for her tuition. She struggled through university but she finished near the top of her graduating class and proceeded on the mandatory national youth service. After her NYSC she got a job in a thriving company and was finally able to leave home and get an apartment for herself. Her landlord and landlady were an elderly couple who were living right there in

the same compound. They had given her the flat because they said they just wanted someone else to be in the compound. They were really nice to her and she enjoyed spending some evenings with them after she came back from work. They had three grown up children, two of whom she had never met because they lived abroad. When the old man suddenly died, the children came home for his funeral and that was when she met Stephen. If there was anything like love at first sight that was it.

After the funeral, Stephen decided to stay back so he could manage his father’s business. This gave them ample opportunity to spend time together. Soon, marriage was on the cards and Stephen was fascinated when he met Sade’s

Get Prepared for Destiny

singles platform W ITH DEOL A OJO

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

family numbering over 40.

Sade had finally prevailed over her past.

Some people like Sade are able to use whatever they did not like about their upbringing spur to them on to greater heights. She knew she wanted a peaceful home and she was willing to pay the price, i.e, to study and do well enough in life to finally have her heart’s desires. But some others seem to repeat the mistakes of their parents. The fact that someone comes from a broken home, for instance, does not mean that he or she will automatically have a broken home. Experiences, no matter how painful or difficult, do not automatically predetermine what we will become in life. It is our choice how we allow those experiences to shape us and mould us. While Sade focused on having a better life than what her parents gave her, some of her other sisters did not make such wise choices. They were all too eager to get away from home but most of them got pregnant for the first guy who showed any interest in them.

In their bid to get away from home, they got married too early to the wrong people. Some of her sisters even got married just because the men provided them alternative accommodation. They started leaving home as early as sixteen, but usually came back about five years later because their marriage had failed, or because their spouse had taken another wife, or because they were just fed up. It is easy, especially for ladies, to start relationships prematurely just because they want to escape the problems they are facing at home. A life time commitment must never be made in a hurry!

The desire to leave home is never a good reason to marry. Even if a lady finds herself to be in love at an early age, she must realise that her education comes first. Among other things, it is your guarantee for living a blissful married life.

Pastor Deola Ojo is co-pastor of Grace Family Church in Oregun, Lagos.

She is the author of several books including the popular “Give Me a Spouse or I Die.” She can be reached at pastordeegfc@yahoo.com

45

Ask Aunt korede

Dear Aunty K, I am a young man of twenty five, and graduated about two years ago. I have gotten a number of job offers, but am a bit confused as to which one of them to accept. How can I know which one is the dream job for me? B.A. Dear B.A. Congratulations on the various job offers you have received. Let me begin by telling you, that God is not the author of confusion. The Bible says in 1Cor.14:33: “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace....” In essence, God’s plan is not for you to get confused at this stage you are in.

He desires that you pursue what exactly He has ordained for you before the foundation of the world. Now, you asked the question about how to know what your dream job is? I would want to know what your dream or vision is as a person? Your dream/ vision

46

talks of the picture you have of a desirable future. It is a picture of where you are going in life, what you desire for yourself in future, where you want to be say in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years from now. The Bible says that when people do not have any vision, they cast aside every form of restraint. In order words, a person that has no clear vision of where he is going in life will live his life aimlessly and carelessly. Such a person will take any kind of job that comes his way, even if he hates it just so long as his bills are paid.

Vision helps you to set goals for your life, part of which has to do with your career.

Once you have a picture of where you are going in life, it will help you decide which job to take so long as it is in line with your vision as a person. Take the example of a graduate of say Physics that would one day love to own a school. For such a person, the wisest thing would be to take a job in the teaching profession, so that he/she can be in an environment where he can work and learn at the same time in preparation for his ultimate goal. Even if working in a school for some years will mean taking a lower pay check than say working in a Bank, he will be better fulfilled because he is on the path that will help him realise his ultimate ambition. Take a time to ask yourself some questions about what exactly you are aiming for in life. Prayerfully consider the things you love, the talents and gifts you have, and the skills you have acquired over time. What drives and motivates you as a person? All these are a pointer to the problems God has created you to solve. I hope this will help you in making a decision. God bless you.

Dear Aunt K, I am a woman that works in a multinational company here in Lagos.

Recently, my company allocated to me an official quarter as part of my entitlements.

However, my husband has refused to move into the house with me. I am very upset with him because it appears that he is not pleased with my progress as a person.

What can I do? F.A. L

i

f

e

W

a

y

Dear F.A. All you need at this stage is divine wisdom. The Bible says A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish one tears it down with her hands (Prov.) With the wisdom of God, a woman is more than able to tackle the most difficult problem. Let me begin by asking you how your relationship has been with your husband. Has it been cordial? Is the communication line still open, or has it been closed over time? Have you been consulting him before taking some steps, especially as it relates to your job? Also, is he working or out of a job? A number of things could have been responsible for his action. Perhaps you have unconsciously acted in a way that has made him feel threatened by your success as a woman. A man has been divinely created

by God to be the head of the home, to be in charge, to be the provider of the home.

The moment he is not able to fulfill this role it affects his self esteem and can make him edgy and sometimes aggressive, except of course he allows God’s Spirit to rule in his heart.

You need to humbly take time to ask him why he has taken this stand on this issue. Let him know you are ready to obey him no matter what. Should he still maintain his stand, I would suggest that for the sake of your marriage that you wisely consider some other options that might be available for you at work as it relates to the accommodation issue. For instance, do you have the option of collecting cash and using it at your discretion? If you do, you can begin to think of starting to build your own place with the money - of course, with the consent of your husband. Prayerfully consider the options available to you, with the interest of your home and marriage as top priority. Remember, a job is temporary, but your marriage and home will be for as long as you live. You must make a resolve to keep it intact.

Mrs. Fashoro is a Christian writer, speaker and counsellor. She serves with her husband in the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Lagos, where she also resides with her family. She can be reached on becounselled@aol.com.

HAGGAI COMMUNITY BANK LTD.

HAGGAI SAVINGS & LOANS LTD.

our products have minds At Haggai Savings and Loans limited, we have carefully designed products which are emotionally tailored to think about your peculiar banking needs.

So when your mind seeks solution for financing Church Property acquisitions, Land purchase & development, Mortgage Loans, Chairs and musical instruments purchase, Children Education, Tithe Management for proper accountability, Leases and other Mortgage Banking Services.

Think Haggai

FA I T H . T R U S T. C H A R A C T E R

Haggai Savings & Loans Limited

53, Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos

Tel: 8933362, 8928227, 8752487 8142334. Fax: 01-2710054

E-mail: Info@haggaibank.com

We are moving on a God-given vision

“The silver is mine the gold is mind saith the Lord of Host� (Haggai 2:8)

www.haggaibank.com

...fulfilling the promises

SInGLE & MARRIEd

Single, Sassy and

Sanctified - Learning to manage our sexuality as singles is the best guarantee we have for a truly satisfying marriage.

BY JOHN AKACHI AHAMZIE

O

ne of the biggest problems in the world as well as in the church today is the reconciliation of the apparent contradicting realities found in man.

For instance, man is man and woman, yet a man {Gen. 1:27}. Man is both flesh and spirit, yet appears to be at logger head with this reality. Being single comes with a certain free spirit that favours sexual experimentation.

But being sanctified means that you have to crucify your “sexual” nature as a single person in agreement with the word of God. The reconciliation of these obvious “contradictions” will constitute our major thrust in this message. Being single and “sexy” means that you are not married but you have the capacity and in fact occasional strong urge for sex. Your single status and your sexual nature are fundamental realities you do not have power to control but the issue of sanctification is under your direct control because it is governed by your choice. You are the one to make a choice of submission as it concerns the process of sanctification. You do not have any control about being single. There is a period in your life you are 48

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

SInGLE & MARRIEd

expected to be single. Neither do you have any control about being “sexy”. God created us as sexual beings. God knows that we are “sexy.” He knows that we do have occasional strong bonds of sexual electricity. What then is God’s “problem” about this issue? How could He create us with such high propensity for sex only to turn around to demand control?

goD oF oRDeR The reason is obvious. He is a God of order. God’s order is always perfect. It may come with restraints but it is the greatest source of freedom. If you are not careful, you may think that God’s order is against your fun, progress or liberty. His order may put you on a track-like train so that you can move. As long as a train is on its track, it can go anywhere the track goes. If the train goes off the track, it will be free to roam about, but then for how long? Soon the heavy wheels will dig into the ground. Accepting the order of God as a perfect order is the real challenge facing humanity. What is regarded today as freedom especially amongst the youth and single people actually amounts to the worst form of bondage anybody can imagine. Living is all about yokes and burdens. Those who refuse the order of God found in His word, end up with neck crushing yokes and back breaking burdens.

Real Christianity means living by the rules of Christ. Christianity therefore, remains the only authentic platform for excellent living.

The life of excellence comes with its brand of yokes and burdens. No wonder Jesus said, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. In order words, if the train says “no” to the light burden of the track, it ends up with the heavy burden of being clogged and bugged down because of soft soil. In the order of God, sex is a special issue not to be abused. It is a no-go-area for certain periods and individuals. The reason behind the bliss of sex is not a misfired concept in the hands of a wicked unthinking God; rather it is in anticipation of a time and season of ripped participation within the walled gardens of marriage.

The WAlleD gARDeN Yes! Walled gardens. Many years ago, the Holy Spirit inspired me to see marriage as a beautiful garden with very high walls. The only access into the garden is a beautiful ornamented gate painted in glittering white colour. This is the gate of marriage.

The inside of the wall is like paradise. Beautiful flowers of different colours and intoxicating fragrance mingle to create an atmosphere of bliss. Standing with electrifying elegance, right in the middle of the walled garden is a cottage. This is the cottage of sex. The Holy Spirit said to me: ‘All who are willing to go through the white gate of marriage into the garden are free to drink from the fountains of sex within the cottage’.

In my own words, marriage qualifies you for sex seven times a week, three hundred and

waiting to explode. The girls begin to sense some wet burning sensation within them yearning for some sort of satisfaction.

With rapid bodily developments, they become aware of a new inner need as the

How could He create us with such high propensity for sex only to turn around to demand control?

sixty five times a year, assuming you share in Solomon’s anointing.

NoW ThiS iS The PRobleM Many young people easily become aware of their “sexual” nature before they are fifteen years old - some even much earlier. Baring minimal exceptions, the age for marriage ranges from eighteen years to thirty for females and twenty-one years to thirty-five for males.

Within these ranges, young male adults are like wild horses looking for fences to jump, while their female counterparts are like wideopen unexplored fields with buried mines L i f e W a y

consciousness of their feminity unfolds with the delicate rhythm of a flower.

For the young male adults, every little friction with the girls even in their mind becomes an excuse for a full-blown arousal.

For many in this period, masturbation and wet dreams become inevitable. They listen to preachers shouting against fornication and masturbation and wonder why nobody cares about the plight. From x-rated movies, highly provocative fashion to lewd magazines and novels, the mind assault appears endless.

Then they become Christians thinking it is all

49

S I N G L E , S A S S Y & S A NC T I F I E D

over only to discover that it just started. They discover that they are single, sexy and now in dire need of sanctification. Is it possible for a single person with a strong sexual arousal and appetite to stay off sex for as long as it takes before marriage? Is it even needful? If yes, what is the reward?

M a k e S u r e Y o u ar e S i n g l e Are you really single? Not being married makes one single yet these days it is difficult to see people who are really single in spite of the fact that they are unmarried. Every unmarried child of God who is in hot pursuit of excellence must aim to be single. It is not a sin to be single. It is not a mark of failure and so it should not evoke any sense of shame or ill feelings. Many unmarried youths today cannot be useful to themselves, God, Church and the bigger society because they are not single. Many have missed their destinies in God because as singles, they could not really be “single.” In fact, the real challenge facing many young grown-ups in this era is the attainment of the lofty assignment of being single. If many people who are not married cannot qualify as “singles,” then who are the “singles”?

S i n g l e b u t N o t R e ady T o M i n g l e It is a great blessing to note that God could not make a demand from His children without showing the workability or practicability of such demands through the lives and experiences of special models. It is important to note, however, that many of God’s models who became notable Bible characters were not flawless.

What they share in common is a relentless pursuit of God in spite of their frailties, flaws and failures. Out in the fields, with a flock of sheep as company, David cuts a clear picture of the ideal single man. Joseph, striding proudly in the midst of his wicked brothers, clad with his coat of many colours is another example of a single young man. Pretty Rebekah, as she made her rounds to and from the well to water the flock of her family; is a near-perfect picture of the ideal single girl. Daniel, Ruth, Timothy and many others, will remain fresh in our minds as eloquent testimonies of what it really means to be single. All of these were single, sassy and sanctified. They were single but not ready to mingle. Detailed analysis of any of these favourite characters in the Bible may prove our point of what being single is

all about; but that is not our focus, because it will require volumes of writing. A while ago, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to some secrets concerning successful single living from the life of the first “single.” Follow me carefully as I do a brief analysis of Adam’s life before Eve came along and also before the fall. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Gen. 2:15-17) The summary of the above scripture is; God made His man, Adam and located him in the Garden of Eden. Secondly, He gave him the job of keeping the garden which also included the naming of animals. Thirdly, God gave him a command or instruction of what not to do, as well as the terrible consequence or repercussion of rebellion or disobedience.

For the sake of easy assimilation, let us break it down and consider the following: S i n g l e - M i nd e d P u rs u i t o f G o d ’ s Presence This is one of often overlooked but highly vital aspect of a productive “single” life. Adam started his day with God and engaged in the pursuit of God’s presence. Your single status is enhanced as you develop a single-minded hunger for the pursuit of God’s presence.

Understand the point I am trying to make here.

pursuit of God’s presence, you will most likely succeed in pursing other things, many of which may oppose the values of God, like casual sex, smoking, drinking, revellings, blue movies, bad music, drugs and crazy, decadent fashion.

My position is; you cannot be burdened with these things and claim to be single. Adam was indeed single. He did not have anyone or anything else to mingle with. He gave his full attention to God. This is the real essence of being single. Daniel was single-minded in his pursuit of God’s presence. He made up his mind not to defile himself with the king’s food and wine which had been dedicated to the gods of Babylon - a nation that roundly opposed the values of God. You are not single if your pursuit of God’s presence is not singleminded.

S i n g l e - M i nd e d P u rs u i t o f G o d ’ s Rule From our text, we see that Adam’s relationship with God was founded on obedience to God’s demand, rule or instruction. God, as part of His partnership with Adam, asked him not to eat a particular fruit in the garden. God also spelt out the grievous consequences of non-compliance with His rule. This is another essence of the single life. As you grow in God’s word, as a single individual committed to the pursuit of God’s presence, you begin to understand the burden of obedience. Constantly, you come

Many unmarried youths today cannot be useful to themselves, God, Church and the bigger society because they are not single.

There are great potentials associated with that magical season of youthfulness when you are regarded as a single person. These potentials can only be released as you go in hot pursuit of God’s presence. This includes intensive preoccupation with church activities as well as extensive search for personal revelation from the word of God. In this position, it is easy for God to assign you and instruct you. Outside this position, God cannot reach you easily.

If your pursuit of God’s presence is not single-minded, your single status is suspect.

The reason is obvious; if you fail to go in hot L i f e W a y

face to face with issues that directly confront your resolve to live by the word of God. This is the real source of protection for every single individual. The position of obedience creates the advantage of protection - protection from vice, wrong spouses, bad friends, and untimely death. Again my position here is; if you are really single, that is, alone with God, then you must shun sin and every act of disobedience to God’s word.

When Adam sinned he died spiritually and became alienated from the presence and blessings of God. Adam’s fall also connected

51

S I N G L E , S A S S Y & S A NC T I F I E D

him to curses of failure, hardship, poverty, sickness and all round barrenness. If as a young, unmarried individual, you are being trailed by all of the above, then you are not single. Being single entails a single-minded pursuit of God’s law of liberty. Joseph’s celebrated pursuit of God’s law saved him from the evil, adulterous clasp of Portipha’s wife. As the psalmist observed; “how can a young man (and woman) keep his (her) way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

The free spirit associated with being young and single is a gift from God that can degenerate into multiple curses if not appropriately handled.

We must agree with the psalmist; “I run in the path of your commands for you have set my heart free.”

Indeed, freedom is anchored on the truth the word of God. Neglecting the word of God, running off in search of false freedom or liberty, ultimately ends in painful bondage.

You cannot be as single as Adam was before the fall and be in any bondage.

S i n g l e - M i nd e d P u rs u i t o f G o d ’ s P u rp o s e The fundamental essence of life is tied around purpose. Whether single or married, purpose represents the sum total of all aspiration and endeavours of life.

Understanding the purpose of God for your life is the real genesis of wisdom. Without purpose, it is dangerous to be single. Back in the Garden of Eden, Adam had a relationship with God. God gave Adam instruction, rule or order concerning his conduct. I call that the pursuits of God’s covenant demand. With all of these in place, God now rolls out a divine assignment for Adam. This is what I call purpose. This is where many who claim to be single miss it. Part of God’s purpose for the creation of the Garden of Eden was for Adam to keep and maintain it. As Adam matured in fellowship and obedience to God’s word, his spiritual sensitivity to the will of God also increased.

S i n g l e and R e ady T o M i n g l e Spiritual sensitivity is an automatic byproduct of intimate fellowship with God. Adam was truly single. He could easily trace his

52

very existence to God. The Garden, his place of abode belonged to God. The animals he was asked to name and the plants he was asked to tend belonged to God. His total response or reaction to his immediate environment was intrinsically governed by his awareness of God’s divine ownership of his entire being. No doubt, Adam’s ultimate moments would have been those “cool of the evening” visitations of intimate relationship and fellowship with the God of the whole universe. Adam was too single to know he needed a wife. It took God to initiate marriage moves on behalf of Adam. This probably explains why a majority of today’s eligible bachelors and spinsters are still trapped in the valley of wild guesses and outright indecision. A lot of people think they need to marry because it appears every other person is doing so. One of the vital outcomes of deep, intimate relationship with God is the revelation of His intentions. Adam never told God he wanted to marry. Rather God waited until Adam was ready for marriage before passing him through the concluding process of marriage.

C o n c l u d i n g P r o c e ss By putting Adam to sleep or “death” before “extracting” Eve, God was actually concluding a process that has been on-going for a while.

Adam’s total adherence to God’s intentions before now became a strong sign that God could trust him enough for more. The “death”

woman, your only hope of marrying God’s best will be for you to retain your position in God and pass the test of waiting until you are sound enough to be found. “ B o n e o f M y B o n e and F l e s h o f M y Flesh” Imagine this! Adam wakes up from the state of divine anesthesia, beholds Eve Lurking around and pronto, he recognises her as his wife and named her accordingly. With this recognition came an iron-clad identification with Eve, creating a bond so strong not even an evil apple could tear apart. Understand that the devil has made serious incursion into the church. That man seeking your hand for the altar may be just another Bible-carrying, tongue-speaking, seminar-attending Casanova who is out to milk you dry and dump you for your friend. That lady in the choir, pulling strings in your heart might be another saintlyfaced, painted sepulchre full of dead men’s bones patiently waiting to have your destiny as dinner.

Now that you are still single, refuse to identify with the reality of your sexuality.

Allow God, through His word, to begin to take you through the “death” provoking process of sanctification. This is the only way you can identify with God’s divine power and escape the corruption of divorce that is now rife even in the church. Divorce is the absence of Love. Love is the end product of walking in

Being single entails a single-minded pursuit of God’s law of liberty. Joseph’s celebrated pursuit of God’s law saved him from the evil, adulterous clasp of Portipha’s wife. was required to multiply. Jesus said, “Until a seed falls to the ground and dies, it abides by itself ” (John 12:24). Our covenant relationship with God brings with it a spiritual reality we cannot ignore. The “death” process speaks of the metamorphosis from the carnal disposition of youthfulness, to the spiritual maturity required for marital responsibility. In a way, this can be likened to a larva dying to give birth to caterpillar before changing to a butterfly.

As a single man, your wife is trapped in your “womb” of purpose waiting to be released via the spiritual process of death to self. As a single L i f e W a y

the spirit. Walking in the spirit is impossible without death to self. Until you “die,” your ability to discern your spouse is suspect and blunt. Stop asking God to give you the right spouse. You have prayed enough and God is not deaf. Now, be the right spouse! Always remember this; to be married, you must be single.

Dr Ahamzie is the Senior Pastor of Holyfire Overflow MInistries in Ogba, Lagos. He is the radio host of "What is all this Noise About Sex" and has authored books on marriage. You can reach him on akachi@lifeintheoverflow.org.

MInISTERS’ MAnnA

Fellow Ministers, We Have

A Problem • Seven pitfalls of the modern day church.

A

BY YINKA OJO

very visible minister slaps an associate in the public, out of sheer anger. Another tosses the wireless microphone he was using at the man operating the sound board because he was slow at adjusting the volume. A “Pentecostal” pastor, in the name of operating under the anointing for “prosperity” asks his audience to take the particular naira denomination they want to have more of, stand on it naked in the middle of the night, recite certain words over the money, and then go and give a beggar in the market the following morning.

Pronto, they will get rich, he promised!

Addressing the subject of inappropriate behaviour amongst the clergy of evangelical extract in our land from a Biblical perspective has been strongly laid on my heart in recent times. An insider myself, being a full time minister of the gospel for the past twenty-one years, I am frequently confronted with the unethical behaviour of fellow ministers. Though there is a myriad of maladies that have stricken the ministerial body in recent times, I believe seven of them stick out like a sore thumb.

1. P R i D e I sat dumbfounded and perplexed at the incredulous event transpiring

54

before my eyes. It was a special convention of a thriving church. The guest speaker had just been welcomed to the podium. But as soon as he took hold of the microphone, he let all who cared to listen know that he had not been ‘properly’ introduced and that he was offended. He then called up a member of his entourage who had been brought along for such emergencies.

This ‘announcer’ did a yeoman’s job.

Any professional praise singer would have been green with envy. After fifteen minutes of blowing the trumpet of his employer to the high heavens, the guest minister finally took over the L

i

f

e

W

a

y

FRoM FAMI FEAST

microphone with a smug look on his face. By this time, anyone who was spiritually sensitive could perceive that the anointing had lifted because the Holy Sprit was obviously grieved.

I left with a very heavy heart. Haven’t this set of preachers read Acts 12:21-23 where God killed Herod because he allowed himself to be praised unduly?

Brethren, we have a problem. Ministers of the gospel ought to be examples of humility. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples as a lesson for all leaders to be humble. Pride goes before a fall. I believe that the more we turn ourselves into celebrities and superstars behind the pulpit, the less our favour rating before God and our ultimate reward in eternity. Let those who have ears hear what the Spirit is saying.

2. M A M M o N This dangerous demon has entrenched itself in a sizeable part of the charismatic space for quite some time now. We have seen cases of pastors selling anointing (olive) oil, peddled by ‘Mama’ from the church office. And by the way, only the oil sold by the church has power. Mind you, the anointing in the oil ‘expires’ every month or so.

Hence worshippers must come and buy a new bottle monthly. There are different bottles of oil for different areas

of need: healing, protection, business/ financial breakthrough, life partner, fruit of the womb, and so forth. Other so-called Pentecostal ministers deal in ‘holy water’. Pure water sachets specially provided for a sum of money is blessed and peddled to gullible parisioners. This is nothing short of ‘merchandising’ the anointing. Other ministries charge a consultation fee before anyone can see the head-minister for counselling and prayers.

What ever happened to Jesus’ command of “freely you have received and freely you give?” How about Paul’s Holy Ghost inspired desire that he would make the gospel of “no charge?”

InE T o Many preachers today have abandoned Paul’s (and Jesus’) style of ministry.

They demand for money before they honour any speaking invitation. A friend of mine wanted to invite a popular lady televangelist to speak at his convention. Her office sent him a lengthy list of requirements such as a guaranteed honorarium of many, many thousands of dollars. Also, they had to pay to her aviation department 5,000 dollars per hour of time spent outside the ministry church office! Under curious circumstances which are not unconnected with mammon-issues, she divorced her husband recently. Ministries such as this are being adopted by pastors as ‘mentors’. What are we turning the ministry into? There doesn’t seem to be an end to ingenuity of charlatans in our midst. For instance, no where are we told in the New Testament that money should be paid to redeem ourselves as firstborns or first sons! This is plain heresy. Minister, if your ministry is cash strapped, say so, instead of conjuring up tricks to boost the offering.

How about a prophet who ‘flows in the spirit’ revealing personal details of people’s lives and end up prophesying money out of those people’s pockets?

Others immediately begin to raise offerings as soon as the Holy Ghost falls in a service. Maybe you are a minister

MInISTERS’ MAnnA

reading this and you are under so much financial pressure. It is time to check your ministry and cut off aspects that God did not intend you to do. Whatever God orders, He pays for. No more, no less. It is not every ministry that has been called to build a university. Don’t put your members under undue financial taxation by raising multiple offerings in a single service. A particular Pastor raised seven different offerings during a Sunday morning service (including one for the completion of the pastor’s personal house, which the said pastor was constructing). I could go on and on but what more can I say than this: we must repent of selling doves in God’s temple or Jesus is coming again to his church leaders with His whip (Mt 21:12).

3. i M M o R A l i T Y A so called prophet was ministering on television. A lady who had been trusting God for the fruit of the womb called in. The minister then invited her to his office where he forcefully slept with her. He convinced her that she would conceive after the encounter.

Needless to say, the lady is still without a child. There is no use hiding our heads in the sand like an Ostrich. We have a problem of sexual perversion and immorality in the pulpit. Ministers have

adulterers? (Heb 13:4) 4. h e R e S i e S Any truth can be overstretched.

Over flogging a Bible doctrine carelessly can ultimately produce an aberration of the real doctrine. An imbalanced over emphasis on scriptures can lead to heresies. For instance, Jesus did not ask us to wash people’s feet every week. He only gave us that illustration ONCE, in order to teach ‘Servant Leadership’. In the New Testament, we are not encouraged to KILL WITCHES or kill anybody at all. James and John wanted Jesus to command fire upon certain people who wronged Jesus.

But Jesus responded by rebuking James and John. (Lk 9:54-56). He pointed out that they were functioning under another spirit from Christ’s. Have you ever thought of the possibility that some visible ‘ministries’ may be functioning under the wrong spirit that temporarily inspired James and John?

Wrong doctrines arising in the church is not new. What is new and worrisome is the fact that other ministers are not speaking up against these venom. By standing back, folding our arms and watching, we have inadvertently become accomplices. Paul wrote a whole epistle -Galatians- in order to address the issue of false doctrine. He also spoke up against

I never thought I will see the day that ‘Pentecostal’ pastors and ministries will endorse an obvious sorcerer in our land like T.B. Joshua. But it has happened.

impregnated ladies and then had them commit abortion! Others sack their wives, only to marry a member of the choir or their secretary. It is surprising that such ‘ministers’ are not made to sit down and not preach for at least a year.

This is the right thing to do. But there seems to be a conspiracy of silence about the immorality of ministers in our midst, which is a sign that we have a big problem. Do we still believe that judgment will fall on fornicators and L

i

f

e

W

a

y

heresies from time to time in the other epistles he wrote. May the same Spirit that inspired Paul grip us and cause us to stand up for doctrinal integrity. And may I interject here: Minister, if you don’t fully understand a doctrine, DON’T TEACH IT just because other popular ministers are doing so.

5. o c c u lT i S M I never thought I will see the day that ‘Pentecostal’ pastors and ministries will endorse an obvious sorcerer in our land

55

W E H A V E A P R OB L E M

like T.B. Joshua. But it has happened. I remember years ago reading a story by the late Prophet Kenneth E. Hagin.

He narrated how certain ministers who had large healing ministries during the Healing Revival of the 1940’s and 50’s in the United States will function by the Holy Sprit on the first night, operate by a familiar demon the next night, and minister by the Holy Ghost the third night and the pattern continued during the weeklong event. In those days, I found it incredulous. But now we are seeing seen it happen right before our eyes.

Minister, having signs and wonders in your ministry is not a do or die affair. Preach the word, and let the word produce the results. Don’t try and be a ‘prophet’ such as the Old Testament prophets. The status and function of the New Testament prophet is not the same as the Old Testament prophet. You are not a shaman who gathers people for consultation. That is witchcraft and wizardry. We need to celebrate the word above every spectacular ‘supernatural’ manifestation. This will keep us on safe grounds. In addition, we need to teach our church members to discern between the real and the occultic. If we don’t, we become part of the problem.

6. R u b b i s h i n g t h e F i v e - F o l d M i n i stry G i fts I believe you have noticed how easy it is to claim the title of “pastor” these days.

It looks like ministry has become an allcomer’s affair. In certain circles, due to the overwhelming need for manpower to pastor new church plants, every “Tom, Dick, and Harry” who seems to be faithful in church activities and is upwardly mobile career-wise, is penciled down to become a pastor. It is the church’s version of chieftaincy-title allocation. But being a pastor is a calling into a ministerial office.

It is Jesus who sets these gifts of people into His body. And it takes a long time to develop a ministry gift. (Eph 4:11,12; 1 Cor 12:28) Many ministers are being called by men, not by the Head of the

56

church, Jesus Christ. Are you a minister who has been called of God or by your denomination? Did you call yourself because you needed to make ends meet and survive in a harsh economic environment such as ours? If you are not 100% sure you have a divine call to fulfill a ministerial office, I encourage you to prayerfully resign right away. You are intruding into a sacred office, and this carries very grave consequences from God Almighty.

7. H o b n o b b i n g u nd u ly w i t h t h e R i c h and Fam o u s Before the just concluded general elections in my country, some pastors got together and anointed a particular governorship candidate with oil, proclaiming him God’s choice. Of course, lots of money changed hands.

Come Election Day, this particular candidate lost scandalously. The pastors who poured oil on him were no where to be found. These Pentecostal pastorsturned-scam-practitioners cum conartists would have been stoned to death were we still operating under the Old Testament dispensation. They qualify as false prophets. Obviously, God did not send them. They were motivated by the greed and craft that surrounds electioneering campaign in my country.

into church projects, the whole affair takes a more ominous dimension. Should associating with every dignitary be a sign of “breakthrough for the ministry?” Do we ever consider God leading us the way He led Elisha and the Samaritan dignitary – Naaman?(2 Kings 5:9-11). Elisha did not even come out to see Naaman, but gave him the word of the Lord without setting eyes on him! It shows that Elisha could not be bought. May God give us hearts like this noble prophet.

I conclude on a prophetic note by saying that I believe we are in a period of transition. Ministerial batons are being exchanged in the realm of the spirit. Very soon we shall see the divine change in the physical. During a relay race, at the point of baton exchange, there is usually a flurry of activities. Initially, you don’t know who is collecting or handing over the baton. But in a short while, the difference becomes clear: a set of people slow down and stop running, while another set takes off running with full throttle. So it may seem right now that we don’t know who is who. But the sifting will soon be completed amongst the ministers of the gospel. Fellow ministers, I pray you will not be a part of the dying wave. My desire is that you will not drop off into irrelevance and oblivion. Make up your

In certain circles, due to the overwhelming need for manpower to pastor new church plants, every “Tom, Dick, and Harry” who seems to be faithful in church activities and is upwardly mobile career-wise, is penciled down to become a pastor. It is the church’s version of chieftaincy-title allocation.

More and more people have bought into the fact that the easiest way to make millions in developing countries is by hobnobbing and befriending people in the corridors of power.

While there is nothing wrong in this ordinarily, a minister begins to walk on thin ice when such relationships do not lead to deeper spirituality on the part of the political figure. Also, if the motive of friendship by the minister is so that the political figure or money bag may ‘sow’ L

i

f

e

W

a

y

mind that you will be among those who will receive the baton. Avoid these seven pitfalls and watch your life and ministry take off in a new way by the Hand of the Almighty.

Rev. Ojo is the Senior Pastor of Grace Family Church in Oregun, Lagos. He will be hosting a MINISTERS AND LEADERS SUMMIT on September 25 and 26 in Lagos. For more information please visit the church website on www.gfconline.org or email him at yinkadeolaojo@yahoo.com

Not many of our mothers’ generation can boast of being friends with their daughters.

R

aising a girl child can be one of the biggest challenges of parenting. There are two main reasons for this. First, the girl child has always been at risk, often a prey for lecherous men. Hardly will you meet a lady of my generation who did not have a brush with sexual harassment or abuse while growing up. It was why I initially disliked the idea of having a girl child. Thank God for a renewed mind in Christ and my husband who would have none of that phobia. Even now I know some Christian ladies who still despise the idea of a girl child because of what they saw or went through.

Secondly, the girl child always seems to be her mother’s first rival in the home - and thinks she knows as much as her mother.

I know because I was once a girl whose fantasies, mood swings and idiosyncrasies often put me on collision course with my sweet mother. She didn’t appear so sweet then when once she flung her amala stick at me for failing to do my domestic chores and talking back at her. The frequent motherdaughter confrontation in many homes is why it seems daughters tend to gravitate more towards their fathers in their early years. Not many of our mothers’ generation can boast of being friends with their daughters. Now that I am raising my children, including a teenage daughter, I have come to appreciate my mother more, especially now that my daughter and her older brother have concluded that “mummy is too troublesome.”

You can therefore imagine my thrill when I saw the handbill of a programme that was strictly for mothers and their daughters.

I jumped at it because I saw it as another opportunity to add to the bonding process with my 13-year old girl. Put together by Daughters of Sarah Fellowship led by Pastor (Mrs.) Aduke Obey, this annual summer programme is meant for mothers and their daughters within the ages of 9-18 years.

This year it was a poolside gathering at Ivory Health Club in Ikeja. We sat down to eat,

58

play, sing, dance and generally do fun things together. It is a programme I recommend for every mother who does not want to lose her daughter. We can win the confidence and trust of our daughters, and become their friends, if we know what to do.

Break free from the past: Pastor (Mrs.) Obey was of the view that as mothers we tend to repeat the mistakes of our parents in our parenting style. Whilst we should not compromise on Biblical standards of morality and discipline, our approach must be different. “The bond between mothers and daughters is unique when properly nurtured and only daughters have the capacity to experience all that you have experienced in life,” she said. Addressing the girls, she defended mothers and their tendency to be

Becoming Friends with our Daughters

last word

BY Y INK A JACK SON

L

i

f

e

W

a

y

tough. “It is borne out of every mother’s yearning to raise a well rounded daughter who is well equipped to become a great mother in the future.”

Cultivate Friendship: This must be pursued particularly in the teenage years when most children tend to withdraw. But for mothers this is the time not to give in and give up.

“A friend,” Mrs. Obey said, “is an associate, someone you can trust, someone you know, like, and love. A friend is a comrade, a supporter who stands by you.” Therefore every mother, she advised, must strive to be a friend to her daughter because “in friendship there is no neutrality; both parties must want the relationship and invest in it.”

Give Responsibility: Giving responsibility at home is a means of mentoring and nurturing that must be routine in the home. Mrs. Obey stressed that we must let our daughters know that mothers get blamed when things go bad as a result of wrong choices they make.

Speak The Right Words: Mothers must watch what they say to their daughters particularly about their fathers. Negative, sweeping generalisations about men must also be avoided.

“What you are doing is building blocks of hindrance in your daughter’s future relationship with men amongst other things,” Mrs. Obey pointed out.

Give Approval: Everybody craves approval; therefore both mother and daughter should give positive affirmation to each other generously. Mothers were encouraged to make efforts to touch, hug, hold, and close the space/gap.

Prepare To Let Go: There is a time to let go like the mother eagle that releases her babies to learn how to fly in the real world but is always watching nearby to catch them if they start falling. It is also necessary to give them space to define their own style, especially fashion wise, as long as it is within the bounds of decency. “Mothering is more than a job or responsibility. It is a ministry and ministry is hard work,” Pastor Obey concluded.

Mrs. Jackson is associate publisher and marketing director of LifeWay. You can reach her on lifewaymag@gmail.com