THE DAY OF THE LORD IS FAST APPROACHING!!!!

“That day of the Lord will come unexpectedly like a thief in the night” 1 Thessalonians 5.2

The day of the Lord is looming. This is not a doomsday prophecy about the destruction of the world or the time of rapture when Christ is coming to take the believers home. No! This is a time (moment) of revival that is fast approaching. A spiritual experience of awesome magnitude of His Glory upon the earth to both His children and the world. It is a divine visitation that that will leave an experience such as described in the scriptures

“Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape you, beloved that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day” 2 Peter3.8. Amplified Bible

Concerning this mighty work of mercy, the Holy Spirit is already speaking to those who will take time to discern this and get themselves in to a state of spiritual red alert. This revelation came to me recently during my time of fellowship and I kept it to myself to see what was going on. Then within two weeks, the confirmation came through three people. Different locations and unknown to each other. Then I realised that I must be a watchman to my brethren especially as I have a ministry to the Body of Christ and my responsibility to inform them.

This move of God will change lives in a quantum leap experience. An encounter that all our faith works will not be sufficient to give any qualification. It’s purely an ACT OF MERCY! It will also bring in an exodus of unbelievers into the kingdom. It is a deed of love and mercy upon mankind. Like an earthquake, this wave of Glory will break off the shackles that have limited His people to release them into their destinies.

As always, God will give a foreknowledge of what He will do while keeping the time and details to Himself yet just enough to get those that will believe ready in their hearts. The choice to go with His flow is ours to make. However, let us not be caught off guard like the people in Noah’s time and missed out on God’s plans and mercy.

“For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” Mathew 24.38-39.NKJV

God does not want anyone to be caught unaware of His plans. That is often the mind of men. So be prepared in the spirit to ride this awesome wave of Glory into a life changing and renewed spiritual experience. It’s an- out- of this- world type. God’s objective is both for His Church and unbelievers.

We are HIS LIGHT upon the earth and our spiritual wellbeing is of concern to Him as seen from these scriptures.

“...And the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” Isaiah 60.2-3.NKJV(emphasis mine)

And Ezekiel also spoke of this

“Therefore prophesy and say to them, “ Thus says the Lord GOD, “ Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel” 37.12. NKJV (emphasis mine)

The Church is not exactly reflecting HIS LIGHT as we should and because of this, darkness is making inroads in very subtle ways into our lives compounding the matter. We need help desperately and God is coming to make some huge changes. He will break us out of those grave experiences that have left us with a dry bones effect. Look around the world, the practice of Christianity is getting confusing in doctrine for a believer and more complex for an unbeliever.

 It is laughable if not that it is a serious issue to see us bicker over denominational differences all the time. Or whose Pastor, Bishop or spiritual authority is better and yet we leave our flanks open to the devil. This adversary that God warned us to be sober and vigilant to his deceptive ways.

In addition to these, some Christians are bent on accommodating terrible, sinful and worldly acts as Christian doctrines. How can a Church that claims it serves Christ allow its leader to accept homosexuality as a doctrine and acceptable lifestyle and then go ahead to ordain one in the highest office? No! These kinds of abomination will not continue in our midst. I am glad the Nigerian affiliate broke away. We must not allow spiritual slavery for it will destroy souls.

Ponder on this truth. The Holy Spirit speaks in unity with the Godhead yet  God’s people speak with a cacophony of voices.  Discordant tunes with each man beating and dancing to his own beats oblivious to the fact that the Glory of God has departed. It seems to me a lot of us are not hearing God but strange voices. For our God is not an author of confusion and God forbid that anyone will give that impression and succeed (1Corinthians 14.33).

God is coming to break these strongholds in each person (Yes! all of us and no exceptions) to give us a much needed PUSH into the true experience of Jesus. We all need a leg up even at whatever level we are presently. It is the wonderful experience the lame man from birth had when he received a miracle. He went from being incapable, vulnerable, dependent to” walking, leaping and praising God” Acts 3.8NKJV

But there are two conditions and that is the state of your heart and belief. Your heart must yearn for His righteousness daily in all things and continually walk with God to grow in His righteousness because He makes that demand of us in all things each day. A little change here and there, a correction and instruction even in some cases some firm discipline. They are all the ways of God. Don’t run away from either or pick some. It is one package. God is not mocked! He is coming for the prepared not the unprepared. The meek and humble not the hardened and arrogant. Oh! You say I am ready. Ok, what is your obedience level in small and inconvenient things not the big and comfortable?

We must receive mercy in order to be on the alert. Also we must believe His word for it comes from the most unusual people. I know they are Christians whose belief comes only from the words of their Pastors and General Overseers. Beware, you may just be left behind (But I pray you repent of that idolatry) Remember, God spoke through an ass to hardened Balaam, His prophet when he refused to heed His warnings to him directly( 2 Peter 2.15-16). Don’t put God in the limitations of your mind. All He says to us is to test the spirit behind all things to see which is of God or not.

“If you believe, all things are possible to him who believes” Mark 9.23NKJV

Noah is an example to us on how to act.

“Noah was another who trusted God. When he heard God’s warning about the future, Noah believed him even though there was then no sign of a flood and wasting no time he built the ark and saved his family. Noah’s belief in God was in direct contrast to the sin and disbelief of the rest of the world- which refused to obey and because of his faith he became one of those whom God accepted” Hebrews 11.7. Living Bible

God is a asking us to build an ark in our hearts, not a physical one as He instructed Noah. The flood of Glory is coming, not to destroy but to rebuild our lives. Get ready and don’t be a doubting Thomas waiting for signs. The signs are already in the spirit. Ask God to make it clearer to you. Please take note that religious and church activities will not qualify anyone even though these are good works. But this is a heart issue not personal motives and accomplishments.

The second plan is the exodus of unbelievers into the Kingdom. Take a good look at what is going on in our world today and you will realise that there is a complete breakdown of structures of governance whether of a democratic or dictatorial form. People are tired of the hypocrisy and lies that abound. From the developed to the developing; from America to Somalia, the consequences are now the same – disorder from man’s insistence on leaving God out of his affairs. Whether it is Occupy Wall Street or Broad Street, it is the same. Humanism has failed us.

And yet in the midst of all this, God hears the cries of people who though ignorant need help. It is a work of mercy or who will qualify? Jesus looked down from the Cross and asked the Father to forgive us for we’re ignorant of the things that make for our wellbeing. That is exactly what is going on here. Like the salvation of Cornelius the centurion, He is about to bring salvation into the land. We must pray for the hearts of these people to be prepared to receive Christ in this coming visitation.

God in mercy prepared an opportunity for Cornelius to receive salvation. He also got Peter ready to bring him to Christ because of his wrong religious mindsets. That is how loving God is for one soul. So we have our work cut out – both for us and the world.

How do we get ready? You must ask God daily for the grace to keep alert to His plans and be thankful for what He is about to do. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you build the ark of righteousness (His altar in your heart). It is a walk of obedience. Be discerning about God’s ways in your life and pray for the Body of Christ to be in a state of preparedness.

The final word is this scripture to encourage and convict.

“But you, brethren are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober “1 Thessalonians 5.4-.NKJV

Just like Noah, Peter and Cornelius, God has a plan for each person. Allow the Holy Spirit to bring you into the daily knowledge of it so that in the end, you will have the joyful outcome that God intended for you in that Awesome Plan.

UNDERSTANDING THE MIND OF CHRIST: PART TWO

The first part of this message explained the principle of the mind of Christ and its experience in an individual. It also explained the concept of intellectualism and humanism. Finally, it concludes by revealing God’s creation of man to be an extension of His presence which purpose is undermined when we live by our senses rather than by His Spirit. In the concluding part more of the mind of Christ as a liberating experience as well as dealing with misconceptions about the place of the intellect will be addressed. 

The mind of Christ is the exercise of our kingship role on the earth. God is not interested in the physical rulership (as the Jews clamoured after in Jesus time) for that does not bear much fruit but to bring “His kingdom” into our hearts. When the Holy Spirit reigns in a heart, the influence of God impacts the world to bring fruitful and extraordinary results. This has always been God’s unchangeable plan even though the process has changed with the entrance of sin.

Before the fall, Adam didn’t need the Holy Spirit for he was sinless and had a perfect fellowship with God. But the consequence of the fall was a spiritual disconnection which can only be restored IN CHRIST through the Holy Spirit. He brings the experience of the mind of Christ to us.

“And you have made them a kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign (as kings) over the earth! Revelation 5.10 Amplified.

Our power and authority IN CHRIST is a spiritual form not known to subduing people to submission. But it is influential as LIGHT to bring them into the true knowledge and experience of GOD IN CHRIST for spiritual blindness is a terrible affliction that affects both the rich and poor. This was the philosophy of Jesus and we must sustain it.

Another growing misconception which has subtle deception and perpetuated by those who want to denigrate Christianity is that the spiritual mind is a mindless, weak and unintelligent experience. They separate an articulate mind from the spiritual. But that is blatant falsehood because God gave us a mind to relate with Him. God is intelligent and creative and man is the evidence of some of His creative ability. The Holy Spirit is an intelligent being and Jesus is the Word by which all creation came about. Wherein is the basis for such theory? No one who reads of Paul, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus can make such an assertion and neither that of our brethren today. But I agree that oftentimes the conduct of some Christians in ignorance does give a cause for concern but that cannot be accepted as the Christian life. A genuine product can never be accepted as fake just because it has its counterfeit.

 Rather, it is the order of protocol that God advocates not a choice of either. The mind in order for it to fulfil the purpose and plan of God in righteousness must be subjected to God. A mind that is not subject to God is open to various motives that are not always right but founded on self righteousness. The world is affected by such motives that are often contradictory and the effects are devastating. In Rwanda, the genocide would have been prevented and the killings minimised if the UN had listened to several reports before it but they didn’t act because the United States vetoed the action because of the tragedy it suffered in Somalia. By the time, the Americans changed their mind and the UN acted, it was too late. Such is the type of reasoning that God wants to change by giving us the mind of Christ.

The mind of Christ is a liberating experience. To bring home this truth is to think of any moment in your life where you were so thirsty and hot (those crazy sunny days) where you will give anything for a very cold drink.....then you took hold of it and the experience was out of this world. That parched throat was healed with such a happy feeling.

 Such is the jubilation of an innocent man who has been wrongly incarcerated for many years despite all attempts at seeking justice for his case. Suddenly, new evidence exonerates him and he is set free. The expression on their faces when that verdict comes in is priceless – the joy of liberty. I have watched these incidents many times on a true life documentary “Dallas DNA” and it is a wonderful sight to behold. That is just an illustration of what spiritual liberty does for a person – freedom from limiting attitudes and consequences. 

“Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom”)2Corinthians3.17. Amplified Bible

And described in Isaiah 61.1-2 as

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.....to proclaim liberty to the (physical and spiritual) captives...” Amplified Bible

Often, we do not realise that our background influences (social. culture, education and relationships) have prepared us for a sense led life. It is imperative to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal these areas of errors and ignorance (ideally at the point of salvation) which has built itself into strongholds in our hearts and formed unconscious patterns of behaviours. These play a significant role in our thoughts, words and actions and defeating the plans and purposes of God for us.

Regardless of our spiritual beliefs in God but without dealing with these faulty foundations, we will continue to experience a carnally minded life that plays out in many frustrating and perplexing consequences. The type of life that Paul spoke about while addressing our brethren at Corinth:

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal as to babes in Christ..... for you are still carnal. For where there is strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men” 1 Corinthians 3.1,3. NKJV (emphasis mine

Such was my own experience. I have always had a love for knowledge from a young (and still getting younger) age, a voracious reader and very inquisitive- seeking to know beyond the borders of my background. Nothing wrong with that but when I accepted Christ, I didn’t know that I had to bring that intellectual quest in subjection to His guidance in order to be led correctly and redefine my priorities and experiences.

Thus even IN CHRIST, I ignorantly continued in my wisdom in defining my plans without proper spiritual guidance and lacking true understanding. This scripture aptly describes me.

“For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth” Romans 10.2-4 KJV (emphasis mine)

Yes! I was full of the ‘hot air’ of self righteousness founded on intellectual wisdom and more of the mental spiritual assent than experiential wisdom. In other words, I was spiritually malnourished. It was like hitting my head against the wall and not realising that I and not the wall will have to make an adjustment. Many times, God really tried to get my attention “Be patient and let me teach you” but I wasn’t listening.

 No! I was a woman in a hurry to achieve my well laid out plans and completely deaf to divine instructions while raising up structures of my own. I could have died both spiritually and physically for I came close. So, God left me alone in my own world until like a drowning man exhausted with thrashing about, I finally gave up and said in effect “I am ready to learn”. Then the true lessons of life began under the influence of the Holy Spirit. That is when I discovered the joys of a SPIRIT LED LIFE as a daily experience not a random one. It also led to the unfolding of my divine purpose.... whoa! Who would have believed this many years back?

I look back not too long ago on my many years of foolishness and I am shocked. It seems like another personality (yes, the carnally minded one). Each day, I have new experiences of a transforming life. It is a task that involves a lot of patience and work (of faith) but it is a beautiful experience to behold the before and after events of my life in all aspects. Oh! I do feel the pain of being broken and sometimes I want to let go for it is not a pleasurable experience but the grace gives me strength and the outcome makes it very worthwhile.

The mind of Christ is growing in obedience in a progressive manner. Yes, you will take faltering steps at first even make more mistakes, but hang in there until you begin to see your walk becoming more steady and confident. Then the experience of the Word sets like the Rock. That is my life’s journey and the reason I realised that I am the WEALTHIEST WOMAN ALIVE! (I have the best life there is IN CHRIST) and it is priceless and I would not TRADE IT EVER FOR ANY OTHER. 

I don’t have it all figured out (and you know what? God doesn’t expect me either only to listen and obey) I see my past and where I am each day, taking back lost territories from satan and gaining new ones. Guess who is laughing last each day? ME! ME! AND ME! There is no day I am not overwhelmed in thanksgiving about God’s redeeming love over my life. Oh! The glories of a renewed spirit led life. I urge you to get into the experience of the mind of Christ for this is our inheritance. Don’t just come to drink occasionally but continually in all aspects of your life

How can we apply ourselves to the working of this mind in all things?  We must put God first above all things and that means we accept that His Word and guidance is our ONLY OPTION and not an alternative when it is suitable.  Jesus said “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you” Mathew 6.63NKJV

Next, be willing to obey because that is the first seed towards growth and a desired harvest. When Isaac made a decision to go to Egypt and God corrected him, he obeyed. “So Isaac dwelt in Gerar” Genesis 26.5. The reason obedience is key to victory is that God sees all aspects of an issue while we have only a limited point of view. Which is better, crumbs or whole bread? Many are running after the morsels of life when a banquet has been prepared for us by God in the place of obedience. Funny how people want the fruits of obedience in disobedience.

I always emphasise that it was obedience that gave me a miraculous experience when I had to have surgery 10years ago. I am very certain that if I didn’t follow through, I will be dead. From the choice of hospital to the extraordinary healing process for a major surgery. I lost a friend because out of fear, he made the wrong choices and fell into the hands of a greedy and incompetent doctor.

Over the years, I have tracked my life and seen the times I obeyed and didn’t. The consequences for disobedience are unpleasant and that is why I pray daily for a teachable heart that is always amenable to instruction and I have followed through on it while amending myself where necessary. There is no other path of life than OBEDIENCE! OBEDIENCE! OBEDIENCE!

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. “ Hebrews 12.28NKJV

Also, the state of your heart is important for it must be devoid of an ill intent towards anyone nor a half-hearted approach to His Word. You can’t receive the thoughts of God in an unyielding heart that is not amenable to correction. Lots of times, we want to experience God in our comfort areas, a tendency towards the easy way or the well worn familiar paths. But most times God comes to bring new ways and experiences. Therefore having a teachable heart is one that will easily discern His mind. Jesus’ heart was yielded to God always; His words and deeds were from His Father- Our Father and so must ours too.

This responsibility to live in the mind of Christ is first to Christians and the world. No one must assume the experience for it is a practical daily living and not mere mental assent. In the end, the choice is always yours to make. But the scripture lets us know God’s perspective on the ‘carnal mind’ given to living by the senses devoid of the Spirit of God

“For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God (Himself) has shown it to them. Forever since the creation of the world, His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So (men) are without excuse (altogether without any defence or justification.

Because when they know and recognised Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking (with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning and stupid speculations) and their senseless minds were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools (professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves)” Romans 1.19 – 22. Amplified Bible

I believe this word is sufficient to correct, instruct and transform you into the experience of Jesus. I commit you to God through this prayer

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do His will working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13.20 -21. Amplified Bible

UNDERSTANDING THE MIND OF CHRIST: PART ONE

The mind of Christ is a truth and philosophy that undergirds our Christian

faith and understanding is critical to our being the last man standing in the spiritual warfare that we are engaged in daily.

“But the spiritual man has insight into everything and that bothers and baffles the man of the world, who can’t understand him at all. How could he? For certainly he has never been one to know the Lord’s thoughts, or to discuss them with him, or to move the hands of God by prayer. But strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ” 1 Corinthians 2.15 – 16. Living Bible (emphasis mine)

IN CHRIST, we have been given unlimited access to that manifold wisdom of God but it is only through the mind of Christ that we can experience it. This mind is a position of submission to God – to be led by the Holy Spirit and therefore producing an all rounded extraordinary life. It is a mind beyond that is beyond the realm of intellect and it is what makes us distinct from others who are relying on their wisdom.

The best of man without the Spirit of God is ordinary and devoid of divine manifestation: the unexplainable. Jesus spoke of this

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I don’t speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. “John 14.10 NKJV

A mind that is obedient to hear our Father and act on His will and thereby producing an – out- of- this world result. A mind that is courageous, bold, fearless doing the impossible and subject to the authority of the Holy Spirit  through whom the influence of God is brought to bear on any situation. It is the mind that is of the spiritual and not the carnal – living a sense led life. Jesus said of this mind.

“It is the Spirit who gives life (He is the Life giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life” John 6.63. Amplified Bible.

Again, this was emphasized by Paul when he described the mind of Christ

“Following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace, but following after the old nature leads to death, because the old nature within us is against God. It never did obey God’s laws and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their old sinfulselves, bent on following their old evil desires, can never please God.” Romans 8.6-8. Living Bible

The mind of reason- the carnally minded can never understand the ways of God. Recently, I was listening to Piers Morgan in his interview of Joel Osteen of the Lakewood Church, Texas. Piers asked Joel Osteen if he was ready to change his position about homosexuality as a sin because of five states in America have legalized it. In his opinion, Christianity should be brought kicking and screaming into the twenty first century. In other words, he believed that the Word of God was outdated. Pastor Osteen affirmed that he wasn’t against people but the practice of homosexuality and his position will never change because it is based on the Word of God.

Now, you can see the way the ‘intellectual’ man reasons. I don’t know Piers’ spiritual leaning but it is clear he doesn’t know and understand that God’s Word is unchangeable and not shifting like the belief systems of the world. This is the mind that does not subject itself to the Holy Spirit but seeks its own ways.

To get a broader picture of this divinely inspired mind, let’s go back to creation and seek to understand the purpose of God for man.

“Then God said “Let us make a man – someone like ourselves, to be the master of all life upon the earth and in skies and in the seas”. So God made man like his Maker. Like God did God make man: men and maid did he make them” Genesis 1.26 – 28. Living Bible.

Man is created in the likeness and image of God. So how can creation contradict itself by acting out of the character of God? For God does not live by the senses but the by the Spirit that reveals his astounding, creative and intelligent works that we see on the earth and experience in our lives. God gave us five sensory organs for use in alignment with and not exclusive of Him. He wanted a representation of Him (another spirit being) in a physical form on the earth – a synergy type of relationship: an extension of His ruler ship. Man wasn’t filled with the life of God in order to live as a natural being.

“And the LORD GOD formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being Genesis 2.7NKJV

It is this breath of life that gives us the true fellowship with God, otherwise we are disconnected. From the scriptures, you can deduce that God’s plan for man was partnership and fellowship – working together to show forth His glory. That plan hasn’t changed but it is the choices that man makes that is the issue. You must understand that a mind created to be influenced by God will suffer various consequences if it chooses to walk independently of its creator.

 Similarly, a manufacturer has the right instructions for the correct use of its product and not the consumer. It is really a surprise how we are so careful to follow the instructions of products we buy and yet choose to act independently of God’s laws. In such flagrant abuse lie the errors, deceptions and dangers that create unpleasant consequences for us. In one way or the other, we are affected by the decisions of “carnally minded” men whether Christians or not.

A man living by his senses is very limited in scope, depth, ability and is easily affected by wrong influences that we feel their consequences today. Ponder on this truth – if the wisdom of this world was right, we would not be experiencing the economic, social, political and spiritual challenges existing today. Consider these facts. America is on an economic meltdown and loosing political influence while struggling spiritually.

 Her western partners – the European Union is in crisis. The Middle East is raging and Asia is not any better despite a few countries like China, Singapore still surviving. Africa as always in its usual form is a continent of a never ending tale of woes and bad leadership. All of these happening at a time of increased intellectualism and humanism as a philosophy of life (the latter belief is enshrined in the mind as a deity devoid of genuine spiritual experience)

For without the mind of Christ, even the best intentions can get bogged down in controversies and failure. Why didn’t Daniel with his growing influence in Babylon and with the king seek to sever his relationship with God? No! He continued to seek refuge with God, always obedient to His call, humbling himself before His maker and acknowledging the Creator of all things. That is what made him a remarkable wise man that had outstanding results in his life.

It seems as though the more we acquire knowledge we, seem to think that they is no place for God in our lives. A good example of this is seen in American policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. No one can find fault with the fact that the war on terrorism is a good intention but events in these two countries have shown that the process was flawed and devoid of true wisdom – God’s wisdom and that led to one result – FAILURE.

Ten years after Americans invaded Afghanistan and also Iraq, both countries are more dangerously radicalised in their beliefs. In both countries, the structure of government is weak and so is the economy. Rather suicide bombs have become the order of the day as in Pakistan and yet they are no closer to dislodging the Taliban.

What is the effect of this decision? A decade of a wasted 2-4 TRILLION dollars without achieving even the objective. As they set to leave in 2014, you ask why they came in the first place? A flawed decision making devoid of the intelligence of God. The American economy has taken a big hit because of the cost of these two wars. Its citizens have taken to the streets in protest just like the Greeks. A new image of a nation that seem so impossible some years back.

How did they get to this breaking point? Not rocket science – clearly a complete dependence on the intellectual wisdom without the genuine spiritual guidance (for there are many false beliefs). A good intention gone bad, the consequences of a nation that was once built on Christian principles turning its back on God and vehemently choosing to uphold the separation of God and state policy. It is no longer in God they trust but in self they act.

I listened to a documentary on the 9/11 decade with a focus on American policies in Islamic nations. I was shocked to hear from former top level CIA employees that America was actually drawn into Afghanistan through a deliberate and well executed plan of Osama Bin Laden to humiliate America for what he considered her unfair treatment of Muslims. In the end, Osama succeeded where the Americans with all their intellectual wisdom failed. Not because he was right but because he was able to deceive the Americans into coming to his territorial area which enhanced his plan.

Consider our spiritual ancestors and how they lived with a mind that was committed to God. The Bible reveals the exploits of Joseph, Abraham, Daniel, Paul, Moses, Deborah, Gideon, Samuel. They walked with God and achieved great things. I cannot forget the twosome power force – Elijah and Elisha whose actions caused kings to cower. (There is a funny commentary on them from my school days when I took a class in Christian religious knowledge. I often had their names and deeds mixed up – back then I was not spiritually inclined only interested in cramming to pass Waec)

Their testimonies should stir up our faith to not ever give in to subduing our ‘creative form’ in the likeness and image of God to intellectualism and new age fallacies as humanism ( in whatever attractive form and anyone that it is taught). Beware, so that your soul – the core of life; the breath of God is not extinguished by these attractive errors clothed as ‘wisdom’.