Thread by @GbengaWemimo

He met a brother once
The brother was staunch and focused!
The brother got born again and attended only one denomination since his conversion! He grew in this church and became transformed
The brother lived a “Holy” life
But he had spiritual kwashiorkor
This was very obvious

His pastor was a well known spirit filled man but the brand of denominational doctrine the pastor was teaching had placed this brother at a disadvantage!
By natural gift, the bro was a fine artist! He was well trained in this craft and he had the potential of using his talent to

Make a living but the church was vehemently opposed to fine art as a doctrine especially bronze work and sculpture which was the specialization of this Brother. For this reason this brother left his career and became an administrator in the church! Instead of making money and

Being of benefit to the church, he became a liability
His salary was meager and as a result he couldn’t live life to its full expression
By the time they met the bro was forty and he was still single because he wasn’t making enough to cater for his own need not to talk of another

He was praying for financial breakthrough and had gone to mountains and valleys to pray over the years
Somehow his elderly aunt convinced him to talk to someone
He only agreed when he was told the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt doesn’t have a church and is not looking for members!

They met and talked for over four hours
The brother had experienced the power of God in every area of his life except in his finances
He felt God was deliberately withholding financial blessings from him to train him and prepare him for a life assignment
He believed this with all

His heart
But he had no idea what the assignment was and had not heard anything or seen a vision regarding it, he was operating on plain assumption
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt listened to him and also prayed with him
The Holy Spirit said “Ask him about his natural gift”

The brother in Jeans and T-shirt asked him and another story began
He talked about the gift he had from childhood as how his father noticed the gift and nurtured it until he graduated from technical college and proceeded to study under the best at one of the Universities in the

East.
He spoke about his rise in the art world, about galleries and exhibitions, about journeys out of the country and invitations from many institutes!
He spoke about his contemporaries and what they have achieved in life
He spoke with a glint in his eyes
He spoke with a passion

He also told the story of how he found the Lord Jesus and became born again
He spoke about graven images and idolatry
He spoke about the teachings of the church and how he was convicted that His gift was of the devil
He spoke about his father’s tears and pain as he turned his

Back on a thriving career for the sake of Christ
He spoke of heaven and dropping everything just to “make heaven”
He was determined to give anything so that he will not miss it
What does it benefit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul
Oh! How he was making a sacrifice

Just so that God will see his intention and determination to serve and please him!
He spoke with a passion too, but this time it was the passion of a misguided fanatic
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt listened to him and prayed silently that the Holy Spirit will set the brother

Free!
The brother was in a religious bondage and he had no idea
The peoblem with religious bondage was how powerful a stronghold it was. If you speak against it directly, the victim will assume you want to take heaven away from him and see you as the enemy
Heaven was not a prize

to be earned by good works!
Such a doctrine and teaching negates the finished works of Jesus Christ on the cross
Just as a son cannot miss his father’s house, a believer cannot miss heaven
Man came from dust and will return to dust
A believer came from above, like Christ, and

will return above
Jesus demonstrated this when He ascended in the sight of many witnesses!
He said “I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am you may be also”
Where is he? In heaven
Where will you go as a believer? Heaven
Why the “I have to earn it mindset?”
Who has

deceived you o foolish Galatians?
Can you earn salvation by the spirit and keep it by dead works?
That was Apostle Paul’s lamentation!
But indoctrination is a conscious and deliberate brainwashing
It is easier to convince a camel to carry its load through the eye of the needle

than to convince an indoctrinated person to see the scriptures as simply written and believe it as such!
As Andrew Womack would say, we need help to misunderstand the gospel and people get this help everyday!
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt looked at the Brother after al the

story and said “Do you see Music as a form of art?”
The brother said “Yes”
Are there songs that glorify God?
The brother said “Yes”
Are there songs composed to glorify the devil and the flesh?
The Brother said “Yes”
Should we then stop singing to worship God?
The brother said in

His church only a type of song is allowed
The brother in Jeans and T-shirt said “It the church allows only a type of song, then it should allow only a type of “sculpture” too
The motive and inspiration of the artist is the key
The Holy Spirit cannot inspire you to make idols sir!

The brother got it!
He kept nodding his head in silence
When he got home he got to work in secret
He started putting honing his gift and within six months he had made beautiful works that were bought immediately
His church frowned at it but he told the pastor he was inspired by

the Holy Spirit
Of course it led to a lot of arguments, he eventually left the denomination
He joined another denomination as a member and continued his work
He prospered and got commissioned works from some institutions
His new church embraced him and he became a minister

He found joy and gladness in the expression of the gift within!
The Bible says “The gift of a man makes way for him”
God told Moses about artists and craftsmen whom He had given the inspiration to build divinely inspired designs!
Jesus came to set us free from religious bondage!

It’s been three years!
My brother is married with a child!
Today is his wedding anniversary!
I am saluting you sir, on this very public platform!
Thank you for allowing the Word and the Holy Spirit take precedence over the petty control an vain imagination of men!
Congratulations