I often wonder, as my mind always seem to do overtime...
Why do we go to church & give testimonies?
Why do we say, "I want to testify to the GOODNESS of the Lord"?
What don't our churches encourage us to give "BAD" testimonies?
We get sacked.
We get robbed.
We're denied visas...
We lose family members & friends.
We lose business deals.
We lose money in bad investments.
But I have never heard anyone come to testify about these things in church.
It's like church folks are trying too hard to convince people that "God is good" & He is, "all the time"...
😊
TESTIMONY TIME
(Habakkuk 3:17-18)
It was a glorious time of worship.
The 24 elders were singing, “Thou art worthy to take the book, & to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain & hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred & tongue & people & nation...
& hast made us unto our God kings & priests; & we shall reign on the earth…”
As they were done singing, the multitudes of angels raised their voices in unison, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, & riches, & wisdom, & strength, & honour, & glory, & blessing.”...
Then the entire congregation lifted up their voices & sang, “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, & to the Lamb”.
The anointing was very thick in the air.
I wondered why this service was so different from all the ones I had ever attended. Which Church is this?...
It must be the largest congregation ever assembled.
Trying to guess the size was enough to give anyone a headache. Angels were flying around in the air, the music was blaring everywhere, but I could not see any loudspeakers. The hall was limitless, the floor was made of gold...
The walls were like glass, translucent. The air was fresh & crisp. I stopped wondering where I was & enjoyed the ambience of the place…
Suddenly, the music stopped. The worship ceased. Everyone was silent. It seemed they were all taking their cue from some unseen source...
After a few minutes of silence, I heard a trumpet blast. Everyone bowed down. I bowed too, not wanting to be different. Who knows what punishment was marked out for the offender? A song broke out, & I joined in: “Thou art worthy o God, to receive glory honour & power...
for thou hast created all things & for thy pleasure they are, & were created”
As we were done singing, I suddenly saw Him.
He was clothed in majesty, riding a white horse.
His eyes were like fire, on His head was a glorious crown.
He stopped.
Then He called out:
“Stephen!”
A man walked up to him & everywhere was quiet again. Stephen looked around & started talking. “I was the first martyr for my Lord. I was stoned to death for holding unto my faith in my Lord Jesus Christ”. A loud round of applause was heard after Stephen’s short speech...
He called out again: “James!”
Another man walked up to the stage.
Everyone was quiet again.
“I was one of the 12 disciples of my Lord. We all forsook everything to follow Him. I was the first of the twelve to be killed for my faith in Him”. Another round of applause...
“Job!”
Job came out. I remembered his story: God wanted to prove to the devil Job was not serving Him for the blessings he was enjoying, so He allowed the devil to take away everything he had. He lost his business, lost his children & became physically sick…
“Paul!”
A small, bald man walked out. He told us how he had been beaten, shipwrecked, hungry, tired & imprisoned for the sake of the gospel.
“Peter!”
He came out, with a smile on his face. I whispered to the man standing next to me, “please, what’s going on?”
He turned...
“What is going on? Are you new here? It’s Testimony Time!”
Wow.
Testimony Time ke? 🤔
No wonder this congregation was so different from what I was used to.
You see, I came from a background where people come to testify of the good things they experienced...
🙄
These folks seem to come testify about the bad things that happened to them! We would testify about the blessings, the open doors, the breakthroughs.
These folks testify about death & sickness.
It was a bit confusing for me.
Just then, a man walked up to me...
He put his hand on my shoulder & said, “Hello, mate! My name is Habakkuk. Ever heard of me?” he had a twinkle in his eye. Of course, I had! So, this is what Habakkuk looks like, I thought.
“Son, the true sign of discipleship is not when the barn is full, but when it is empty...
What you do when things are not working out as planned is the true proof of your faith”.
in that moment, Job joined us. “Remember when my missus asked me to curse God & die? I told her we must learn to accept both good & evil...
As we testify about the good, we should testify about the evil also. All things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to His purpose.”
In that moment, I woke up. It was all a dream…
😇
Habakkuk 3:17-19
Romans 8:28
Job 2:9-10
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In the last few years, there's been a constant trend in the Country:
Young folks are ANGRY & they ALWAYS look for a way to vent their ANGER.
In the recent past, we had the #EndSars Protests.
Then we had #RevolutionNow.
We also had #BuhariMustGo.
Then #AllEyesOnTheJudiciary...
We also had #JusticeForMobad.
Now, it's #FreeDeleFarotimi...
Truth be told there things are not new: we also had #AliMustGo in 1978.
Dr Tai Solarin led the SAP Protest in 1989 when it was rumoured that Babangida's wife was cited as the richest black women by Ebony Magazine...
My point is, young folks have been restless in Nigeria from time immemorial.
And the reason is simple: YOUNG NIGERIANS DON'T TRUST THEIR GOVERNMENT.
They believe those in Government are NOT looking out for them, they're just in Office to feather their own nests, nothing else...
Some years ago, a friend called me from Lagos.
"Harry, I'll be coming to Abuja for a project I will be supervising (he's a Building Engineer). I'll be around for about 6 months. Can I stay with you, please?"
I was living alone in a 3 bedroom flat, it wasn't a problem for me...
So I agreed.
He came over a few days later & I gave him a room to stay.
He'd leave the house early in the morning to the site & return around 8pm.
After a month, he told me his wife would want to come over for a weekend.
Is it ok?
No problem, Bro: she's welcome to visit you...
She flew over on a Friday to return to Lagos Monday morning.
I had never met her before, so the husband introduced us when she landed.
She took over the kitchen & made us dinner that Friday evening.
She dished my meal in a plate & dished hers & her husband's together.
This reminds me of a situation some years ago.
After Service, some folks wanted to see the Pastor for counselling.
He then asked a few of them to see me so the load on him would reduce.
So, I became an "Emergency Counsellor" that Sunday morning.
When he was done, I told him: "your problem is not a big deal, Sir. I'll give you a simple solution..."
He sat up, eager to hear the solution.
I told him, "Go read the Book of Galatians & let's talk on Wednesday!"
He was MIFFED!
"The WHOLE Book?"
"Yes, Sir (the Book of Galatians is just 6 Chapters)."
"Ha! Can't you just PRAY for me?"
"No, Sir. It's not a PRAYER problem: it's a KNOWLEDGE problem..."
He got up & walked away to join the queue of those to see the Pastor.
And one Saturday morning, he tells you, "Babe, I want to go watch Arsenal play Chelsea by 4pm in my friend's house".
What will you do?
She replied, "I will be VERY ANGRY with him!"
I asked why.
Why should ANGER be an option?
He just voiced a desire: why should that bring ANGER?
She said, "I wouldn't want him to go: I'll want him to stay home and we enjoy each others company!"
Fine.
So, rather than get ANGRY, why don't you voice your own desire too?
Why not say, "Babe, please don't go: stay home with me!"
"Imagine all Nigerians relocate to the US & all Americans relocate to Nigeria... What do you think will happen in 10 years?"
Rev'd Sam Adeyemi @sam_adeyemi asked this rhetorical question in Church, @DaystarNG over 20 years ago.
There were several responses to the question...
And all agree on ONE thing:
In 10 years, Nigeria would have become a much better place where things work, America would have become a worse place where things don't work anymore.
Rev'd Sam then said: "that tells you that THE MAN MAKES THE PLACE, THE PLACE DOESN'T MAKE THE MAN!"
He went on to explain:
Your EXTERNAL atmosphere will ALWAYS be at the level of your INTERNAL atmosphere.
You will ALWAYS raise or reduce your EXTERNAL atmosphere to the level of your INTERNAL atmosphere.
To BETTER or DESTROY your environment depends on your INTERNAL ATMOSPHERE!
Social Media is a funny place.
It exposes the GULLIBILITY of the average Nigerian.
Anyone could invent a story, post it on Social Media & people would simply BELIEVE it!
No EVIDENCE.
No PROOF.
NO DATA!
Just mere WORDS.
And people (who you'd deem INTELLIGENT) would BELIEVE...
I remember when I was in the University, a classmate had a knack for telling us stories about happenings in the AFRC (Armed Forces Ruling Council, for the younger generation) Meetings.
He'd tell us, "As Babangida enter the Meeting, Abacha ask am, "Where you go yesterday?"...
Aikhomu con vex, ask Abacha why he no greet am fes? "Babangida no be your mate ooo! Na your Oga, you suppose respect am!"
Na dat day Abacha decide say he go do coup, comot Babangida!"
When he told us these tales, we'd bombard him with QUESTIONS!
"How you KNOW? You dey there?!"