1)            I asked a professed, tongues speaking, Christian, Brother A., what he thinks of the unbiblical act of the General Overseer of The RCCG, Pastor E.A. Adeboye’s claim that the LORD God told him to gather leaders of all global faiths and take power from politicians of the world for failing to provide good government and ultimately “bring peace to the world.” The young man said, “I cannot judge him.” The third man in this discourse, Pastor S.O., in visibly fit of effusive rage, “How can you condemn, him? It is Father Adeboye we are discussing here!” was Pastor S.O.’s vehement contribution, in his firm and unresolved belief that I am too small to investigate Adeboye’s utterances. Is G.O. Adeboye more scripturally knowledgeable than Simon Peter, who followed Jesus for three and a half years, who also is one of the Apostolic Fathers that nurtured the nascent Church into adulthood?

                What else does S.O. believe? “The LORD God of the Bible could have given Adeboye this information;” and in conclusion of his thought, “or were you there when God told Papa Adeboye not to do so?” Another worker in RCCG told me in the distant past, “A ò lè so’pé kòrí béè; nítorí i Bàbá Adeboye r’Ólórun jù wá lo.” The literal English translation of this Yoruba submission is: “We can’t say it is not true; Father Adeboye sees (i.e. knows, meets or understands) God more than we do.” I could not hide my exasperation of, “What! Are you not God’s daughter?” Most of these men of God believe that whatever they do is God-sanctioned; their church members even see them as carrying too much anointing and therefore must never be challenged; this tends to make them feel too big.

This looks like Paul withstanding Peter in Galatians 2:11

                This great Apostle Peter was accosted by a much latter ordained Apostle Paul of Tarsus. Paul would not allow Peter’s greatness to belittle him when he caught Peter in a little bit of hypocritical act in Galatians 2:11-14. Verse eleven reads, “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.” What is this word, ‘withstood’? It is anthistemi (an-thiy’-stee-miy) which means: ‘to stand against, i.e. oppose.’ The other word ‘blame’ is kataginosko (ka-ta-ǰiy-nō’-skō): ‘to note against, i.e. find fault with.’ Verses 12-14, “For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13) And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. 14) But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?” So, who is too unlearned in Scripture to think me too small to point out Pastor Adeboye’s theological errors? Even if Adeboye is an angel, is he the infallible Jesus?

                These exhibitions of small-minded scriptural disposition of Church people disturb me all the time. We discuss scriptural issues as if the Bible, like the Quranic verses of Muhammadan teaching of Sahih al-Bukhari, Apostates Book 88, Hadith 18, can be given any toga of anyone’s whim. As aghast purported Christians’ treatment of the Scripture leaves me, I tend not to be surprised. Was Israel not in covenant relationship with God? By the time of Jesus, the official number of the Levites could be in thousands but the Christ could not get them to work in His ministry. Why? Man is not in true readiness to teach God’s Word in total obedience, faithfully and truthfully. Matthew 9:36-38 “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37) Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38) Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

                The dearth of ecclesiastical ministers is so critical it would take our fervent prayers for God to do a ‘send forth’ which in Greek is ekballō (ek-bal’-lo): ‘to cast, drive or thrust forth.’ Christianity should, therefore, not expect many pastors in the Lord’s vineyard, according to the revelation of the Author and Finisher of our Christian profession, Jesus Christ. But on the contrary, what do we have in churches today? Too many pastors; meaning what? Of the too many, only a few are duly called into the bucolic stance of the Lord’s vineyard. Did it ever happen in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles Book where a recording of Peter and James found it extremely difficult for them to agree on a Scriptural point?

                Does any of Pauline epistles run in contrast to Petrine or Johannine theological conceptualizations? It should not surprise me if any Christian should fault Pauline theological accuracy based on Peter’s “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2Peter 3:16). Peter’s view is not censorial of Pauline abstruseness, neither does it cast any sense of scriptural dubiety on Paul’s epistles. On the contrary, it assures of its Scriptural authenticity; and warns not to fall prey to censorability of Scripture: a goad of Satanism – which has totally taken over Catholicism. Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of Papal Infallibility in 1870. This infallibilism of Catholicism clearly teaches that the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, is incapable of error commitment; that he is without fault or weakness; that words, thoughts and fallacious proofs can never come from him because he is the Pope!

                Getting born again is a conscious effort on the part of an individual. Get born again. Say this sinner’s prayer.

“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!” 

(…to be continued…)

Read part 2 here

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