Category Archives: Family

Christmas: Are you sure it is for the Christians?

Posted by Dec 31, 2015 Holy Word, Church, Family, Gospel Evangelism, Podcast Leave a Comment
Christmas: Are you sure it is for the Christians?

Christmas day has always been an annual festival celebrated by Christians across the world. Christmas season is characterized with the fun of various music, new attractive clothes and shoes, fireworks, decorations, feasting, exchange of gifts and so on.

But, I became uneasy when I read through the Bible without locating any verse that points to the Christmas festival. No verse in the Bible mentioned the birthday of Jesus to be 25th December. No verse in the Bible instructs Christians to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.

I had noticed a lot of ‘mixed-up’ in the Christendom and promised myself not to be a ‘zombie’. I don’t want to be carried away by the popular doctrines or practices in the church, but to be secured by the Word of God in the Bible.
I was shocked when I discovered the origin of Christmas!

What is Christmas?

Christmas is a word created by the Roman Catholic. It means ‘mass on Christ’s day’. History explained that the gospel of the Roman Catholic is completely different from the gospel of Jesus.

Roman Catholic gospel echoes more of Virgin Mary and idolatry practices. Everyone who watches Pope Francis during the Christmas Eve mass will agree with me that catholic embraces idolatry worship. Pope kissed a statue of Baby Jesus to kick off the mass in st Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican City.

 

Exodus chapter 20 verse 4 and 5 says: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.”

Origin of Christmas

In the 4th century CE, the Roman Catholic Church had the intention to win the souls of large populace of the pagans. So, the church leaders decided to Christianize the famous pagan party called the Saturnalia festival.

 

Saturnalia festival is a pagan celebration for the birthday of ‘Unconquered Sun’.
This celebration involves wild parties, exchange of gifts and feasting in the temples of the ancient Rome.

The leaders of the church welcomed the pagans and their festival into the Christendom. And the population of the church rose, but the leaders could not stop the pagan festival. So they named the last day of the one week Saturnalia festival – December 25th as the birthday of Jesus Christ.

You may care to know that the first Christmas day was celebrated in the pagan style of singing naked in the streets (this had been refined to modern caroling), drinking, sexual indulgence and all other forms of unclean practices. The Christmas trees, mistletoe, Christmas presents and Santa Claus are modern ways of representing the ancient pagan rituals.

Ancient records show that Christmas has no origin from God or Jesus Christ. I would love to quote a part from the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition: “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church… Pagan customs centering round the January Calends gravitated to Christmas”.

According to Britannica.com, “December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus’ birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221. And one widespread explanation of the origin of this date is that December 25 was the Christianizing of the “day of the birth of the unconquered sun”.

Celebration of Christmas

Our parents, various organizations, and the government always play a big role in the joyful celebration of the Christmas festival. So, we never thought of checking the Bible, if the Lord had asked us to celebrate His birthday.

I am sure that the writers of the Bible wouldn’t have skipped the birthday of Jesus if it was celebrated. If you are a Bible-believing Christian, I implore you to search through the scriptures and find out if the genuine children of God should partake in the celebration of Christmas.

The celebration of Christmas has no honor to Jesus, because it was the tradition of men. Matthew chapter 15 verse 9 says: “And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

I am not comfortable with the Roman Catholic church who refused to take away idols from their church. And the obedience to human law that established Christmas festival was obeyed to the letter.

Jesus says in Mark chapter 7 verse 7 and 8: “And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men–the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

You might say: “oh! I love the fun of Christmas, but I don’t take part in the pagan practices”. Well, I want you to understand the truth that the origin of the Christmas festival is not from God but the sun-worshipers.

This practice of Christmas is synonymous to a particular generation of the Israelite who thought their idolatry lifestyle is normal. But when the Book of the Law was read to remind them about the righteous way of the LORD, they wept and amend their ways. You can read the details in Nehemiah chapter 8.

I want us to trace our steps backward to confirm from the Bible if we are doing what is right by celebrating Christmas.
Christmas festival appears to glitter like gold, but is it truly gold?

Is Sabbath Day Compulsory for Christians?

Posted by Dec 10, 2015 Holy Word, Church, Family, Podcast , , Leave a Comment
Is Sabbath Day Compulsory for Christians?

Sabbath day is the first holiday on earth. And God the creator of all creations declared the seventh day to be free from work. The observance of Sabbath day had become a controversial issue across the world.

I became interested in the significance of Sabbath day when the doctor told me that my terrible body weakness was as a result of inadequate rest. The little findings I did showed that the people who rest on the Sabbath day had less occurrence of body ailments when compared to people that don’t rest.

 

What Day is the Sabbath?

God created seven days, and He made the seventh day for a special purpose to rest. Sabbath day is the day you rest from your work. Genesis chapter 2 verses 1 to 3 says: “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

The LORD is never tired but HE wants us to follow His model on how to spend the seventh day. We should work for six days and rest on the seventh day.
I read about many arguments about the issue of Sabbath day. But no one had disputed the seventh day to be Saturday.

Some theologians complicated the Sabbath day by differentiating Saturday as the Jewish Sabbath and Sunday as the Christian Sabbath. There is no scriptural reference to support this discrimination. The LORD sanctified the seventh day as Sabbath from the beginning of the world.

 

Is Sabbath a Jewish Law?

Sabbath day is not a Jewish law. It was only emphasised during the presentation of the Ten Commandments to the Israelite. The motive of God for creating the seventh day is for all humans to rest from all the works we do from Sunday to Friday.

 

God reminded the Israelite in Exodus chapter 20 verses 8 to 11: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.
In it you shall do no work: you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or your stranger who is within your gates.
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

The phrase “Remember the Sabbath day…” in the above Bible passage shows that the Sabbath day had been in existence since the beginning of creation.

God chose to include Sabbath in the Ten Commandments, so that the Israelite could always remember to enjoy the rest. He made it clear in the book of Isaiah that Sabbath should be acknowledged by the Gentiles as well.

Isaiah chapter 56 verse 6 and 7 says: “Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants-Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant- Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer…”

Thus, your rest on the Sabbath day has nothing to do with the Jewish law. The LORD blessed the Sabbath day for you to rest. He wants you to rest “… Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work”… (Genesis 2:3)
Don’t be deceived by those who want you to work for seven days. It is against the six days stipulated by God in the beginning of the creation.

Did Jesus asked us to quit rest on the seventh day when He said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath? The context of His statement was meant to correct the selfish Pharisees who had turned the intention of Sabbath into something else. (Mark 2:23-28)

Paul revealed that he was faithful to the Jewish commandments (including the Sabbath day) when he appealed to Caesar in Act chapter 25 verse 7 & 8. Paul has no authority to break the holy sabbath, thus don’t be confused by his statements.

But he condemned the hypocrite Jewish way of presenting the Sabbath to the new Gentile converts. Colossians chapter 2 verses 16 say: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths ….” The context of his instruction was to stop the Gentiles from obeying the man-made Sabbath laws of the wicked Pharisees.

The Sabbath day created by God does not deserve argument if the six days for work were not disputed. Thus, I want you to understand this issue from the point of view that God created the seventh day for your body to rest. It has nothing to do with any religion.
God knew the strength in your body. So, He designed your body to work for six days and to rest on the seventh day. And there are many benefits to derive from resting on the Sabbath day.

 

Benefits of the Sabbath day

• Bye to incessant body sickness
If you relax your body on the Sabbath day, then you will have less cause to visit the doctor. Doctors confirmed that inadequate rest of our body increases the stress hormones. And it can lead to stress induced ailment such as; hypertension, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiac arrest, migraine, etc.

 

• Refreshment
You’ll become refreshed if you give your body a 24 hours rest. This will boost your performance for the next six working days. I tried it and it works! Exodus chapter 31 and verse 17 say: “…for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”

 

• Opportunity to help the poor
You can learn from the lifestyle of Jesus, who helps the needy that comes His way on the Sabbath day.

 

• More time to worship the LORD

“A work-free day is a praise-full day.” You’ll have enough time to read the Bible without rush. A good time for fellowship with the LORD.

• Gives long life
One of the reasons for the short life expectancy in our generation is due to the neglect of the Sabbath day. Anyone with a lifestyle of working for seven days will never live a long life, because it is against the plan of God for humanity.

 

Will you love to enjoy the rest of the Sabbath day?

Bible study: 7 Reasons to Personally Study the Bible

Posted by Nov 24, 2015 Holy Word, Church, Family, Gospel Evangelism, Podcast Leave a Comment
Bible study: 7 Reasons to Personally Study the Bible

Bible study is the act of digesting the word of God in your heart for a healthy spiritual growth. It is unfortunate that the Christians across the world could not tackle the rise in abominable acts in the societies. Why? The significance of personal Bible Study got diminished!! We need to promote private Bible Studies.

The 2012 online survey of Life-Way Research shows that only 19% of churchgoers personally (not as part of a church worship service) read the Bible every day.
But the shocking statistics for 2014 conducted by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture says only 9% of Americans read the Bible daily.

According to the Canadian Bible Engagement study (May 2014), 55% of Canadians never read the Bible, 28% seldom read the Bible and 11% read it once a week or more frequently.

The British Bible Society released a study showing many British citizens cannot identify certain Bible stories; 43% of children have never heard the story of the crucifixion.

This sharp drop in Bible studies is a signal of end time tribulation. The faith of the young ones in Jesus Christ is becoming irrelevant. Jesus predicted this faith scarcity recorded in the book of Luke chapter 18 verses 8: “… Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

The seven reasons for a personal Bible Study include:

1. God’s Identity Card

Bible study is the easiest way to identify God. The reason for the high number of lukewarm Christians is due to the failure to know the profile of the Lord Jesus Christ they accepted as Savior.

It is impossible to enjoy a good relationship with someone you can’t identify. And you will find it easy to know the identity of the Lord when you always study the word of God in the Bible.

For instance, you might not know the name of the Lord if you have never read a passage such as Exodus chapter 3 verse 14: “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

2. Authentic Road Map

This generation is filled with false Pastors and Prophets. If you obey their teachings without studying the Bible, then you will miss the right track to heaven. The Bible is the only perfect Book that describes how to live in holiness, love and peace.

The journey to heaven requires bible study. This is synonymous to your map readings, and obedience to traffic rules when driving on the highway.

If you don’t study the word of God regularly, then it is impossible to know the right lifestyles acceptable to the Lord. Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 and 17 says: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

3. Bible Study yields Miracle

The study of God’s word in the Bible can ease your heart from heavy burden. It restores hope, strengthens faith and can heal your broken heart. I had never regretted studying the Bible every day.

In the past, I suffered memory loss. But, when I gave my life to Jesus and read the Bible daily, I noticed a great improvement. I’m no more suffering from memory loss! Hallelujah!!

4. Bible is God’s Amplifier

God is not dumb and He won’t hesitate to speak, if you are ready to hear from Him. Your regular Bible study will give answers to questions bothering your heart.

For instance, I noticed my heart always becomes troubled when I play jokes. And my pastor did the same to make us laugh during the church service. So, no one told me it was wrong to be a clown! I prayed to God to explain the misery of my troubled heart.

I didn’t hear from God until I stumbled on Ephesians chapter 5 during my personal bible study at home… “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”

Bible study will save you from a lot of mess in the Christendom today.

5. Understand God’s cultural views

The careful study of the Bible shows that God is so much interested in the cultural practices of His beloved children. He warned the Israelite not to follow the culture of the Amorites and others, because such cultural practices are bunch of abominations. (Exodus 23:23-25)

In a scenario where the culture of your land contradicts God’s view, it is wise for you to engross yourself in an uninterrupted bible study. For instance, America and some countries had legalized the practice of homosexuals which is against God’s will.

Leviticus chapter 20 verses 13 say: “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”

Everyone in this generation requires an intensive personal bible study, this will give us the understanding of God’s view on the right culture to practice.

6. Bible Study Exposes Devil’s secret

You will know more of devil’s devices if you study your bible every day. And you will also find it easy to scrutinise the false teachings of the antichrists in the Christendom.

Devil knows that a lot of ‘lazy Christians’ find it difficult to read the Bible, so he is recruiting a lot of brilliant Pastors. Their job is to deceive the people with ungodly doctrines.

The bible study I did in the book of second Peter opened my eyes to see many sugar-coated deceits in our midst. “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.” (2 Peter 2:1)

7. You will overcome temptation and sin

Jesus Christ did intensive Bible study when He was young and it helped Him in the desert where there was no Bible to read. He overcame Satan’s temptations through the word of God. Listen! ‘You can’t give what you don’t have!’

The Devil is not happy about God’s salvation for your life. So, he will whisper many temptations to your heart, because he does not want you to be free from sins. But, Jesus Christ will wash your sins away if you give your total life to Him. 

Read your Bible Daily and you will overcome all the temptations of devil.

Forgiveness: How to Forgive and Forget

Posted by Nov 8, 2015 Holy Word, Church, Family, Podcast, Youths Leave a Comment
Forgiveness: How to Forgive and Forget

Forgiveness is the ability to heal a wounded heart. To forgive and forget an offense involves an emotional process, and it is not an instant event.

Doctor Saima Noreen and his team at the University of St Andrews carried out a related research and their outcome suggests that forgiveness facilitates forgetting. The research found that individuals are more effective at suppressing items of information associated with memories for offenses they have already forgiven.

Fred Luskin, a psychologist reported that in careful scientific studies, forgiveness training has been shown to reduce depression, increase hopefulness, decrease anger, improve spiritual connection and increase emotional self-confidence.

Research also shows that people who are more forgiving report fewer health and mental problems, and fewer physical symptoms of stress.

There are various offenses such as cheat in the marriage/office, fraud, lies and so on. These offenses might not have the same hurtful size, but God wants you to forgive every offender.

Everyone had once offended the Lord, but He forgives us and forgot our past sins. The forgiveness of the Lord made us Christians today! So, the Lord made forgiveness a mandatory trend for every one of us.

Matthew chapter 6 verses 14 & 15 says: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

3 Rules of Forgiveness for Reconciliation

Forgiveness is not an action you do in haste or under pressure. You must find out the details of the offense, and the intention of the offender.

Jesus gave the rule of forgiveness in the book of Luke chapter 17 verse 3 & 4 says: “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

1. Criticize your Offender
It’s sinful to keep malice with your offender. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 31 say: “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice”.

So, the first step towards forgiveness is to call the offender, and criticize the offense through the word of God. Read the Bible passage that condemns such offense to the offender.
You might be going through a serious pain, but you must be strong to explain the scriptural implication of the offense to the offender.

2. Confirm Offender’s Repentance
The offender that deserves forgiveness and reconciliation must feel bad for committing such offense.

For instance, a rude son offended his dad by joining bad boys to steal on the street. The action of this boy brought a public shame to his father. Having rebuked the boy, the confirmation of his repentance was to renounce his bad gangs, and join the group of God-fearing boys.

3. Forgive your Offender
Forgiveness might not be easy in some heart-breaking offenses, but it is safer for you to forgive the (repented) offender.
Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 says: “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.”

Forgiveness that deserves reconciliation is a two-way process which involves; repentance on the side of the offender and to forgive on the side of the offended person.

There are some occasions where the offender will not be remorseful for the offense committed. It would be impossible to reconcile with such offender. Don’t allow the bitterness to stay in your heart forever. The best options are forgiveness and prayers for the stubborn offender (who might be your enemy).

How to Handle Forgiveness without Reconciliation

Jesus explained the scenario in Mathew chapter 18 verses 16 &17:

• “But if he (offender) will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established’.

• And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector”.

Benefits of Forgiveness

• It restores hope for the offender.

• Forgiveness relieves the heart of the offended person.

• To forgive and forget offenses will give you a healthy heart that is free from bitterness, anger, stress and hypertension.

• The more you forgive, the lesser your risk of losing heaven…

Angry: How to Control Anger

Posted by Aug 24, 2015 Family, Holy Word, Podcast, Word of Faith 14 Comments
Angry: How to Control Anger

God created anger as one of the emotions in us for positive usage. Unfortunately, a lot of people get angry always, because they could not control their anger. I heard a true life story of a couple in Nigeria few weeks before the March presidential election. The husband supported the ruling party while the wife was a supporter of the major opposition party. After a hot political argument between the couple, the wife was angry and she went to the kitchen for one of her sharp knives. She stabbed her husband to death. The wife committed this murderous act because she allowed anger to control her sense of judgment.
Anger is like a two sided coin. There are two dimensions to anger which I called; holy anger and unholy anger.

Is Holy Anger a Sin?

Holy anger is a harmless emotional expression which is meant to correct wrong situation. For instance, a judge got angry to a thief and sentenced him to six months imprisonment for rehabilitation. The holy anger of the judge is to help the thief to change from his bad lifestyle to a good one.
The expression of your holy anger is acceptable by God when you act against unholy circumstances. Jesus got angry when He discovered that the temple of God had been rented to some business men for trading. Every action He took when he was angry was meant to restore the primary purpose of the temple.

Luke chapter 19 verse 45 to 47 says: “Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” And He was teaching daily in the temple…”
You are not a sinner when you get angry to a wrong situation. But make sure your holy anger contributes to the positive change of the improper circumstances. Holy anger is not a regular character of God, but He gets angry when disobedient people compromise the laid down rules of living a good life.

The book of Judges chapter 2 verses 20 to 22 says: “Then the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, “I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, “so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the LORD, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.”
Few Pastors preach on the altar with holy anger, because they dislike the choice of people who act against the will of God in the Bible. For instance, I recently watched Pastor John Hagee on the television, and I was impressed with the way he preached with holy anger against homosexual. Same-sex marriage was recently legalized by the supreme court of the United States. Holy anger is always expressed with love, but unholy anger is disastrous!

How Disastrous is Unholy Anger?

Unholy anger is a destructive emotion with unproductive outcomes. Sometimes it emanates from a heart filled with jealousy. Unholy anger is impatient and has no solution to offer…
Unholy anger in our society had caused unpleasant crises such as:
 • Divorce
• Drug abuse
• Domestic violence
• Division in some churches
• Death as a result of racism and non-racism issues.
You have to be careful with the way you react to any unpleasant issue that comes your way. For instance, the first murderer in the Bible, Cain, found himself in the mess because of his unholy anger to Abel whose offering was respected by the Lord. “…And Cain was very angry,…Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him…” (Genesis 4:3-12)
Anger in its broad sense is not a comfortable mood for you, so the following steps will help you control anger:
1. Always forgive the offender
2. Express yourself in Agape love
3. Pray for the initiator of the anger
4. In case of cheat; do not revenge but let God be the Judge
5. Always allow the Holy Spirit in you to control your actions when you are angry.