Monday, May 20, 2013

HAVE THE CHURCH FAILED?

Every day, new church buildings are being erected; more members are being won over to the side of the Lord Jesus Christ. The small auditoriums are expanded to accommodate the growing number of worshipers, who troop in on weekly basis to worship. As new members of the church are growing, so are the numbers of the churches that are being commissioned. They are jointly on the increase.

What one would expect from the scenario above is a society where the people live in the fear and holiness of God. We would have loved to see a society where the love for God is practiced religiously and behaviorally. But is it actually so?

When we critically scrutinize this situation, the reverse is seen to be the case. Our society today cannot guarantee peace, justice, love for one another, equity, unity and other attributes that are supposed to be found in the lives of children of God. In Philippians 2:5, the Bible say, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”. In Galatians chapter five, the Bible refers to these traits as ‘fruits of the spirit’. What this means is that these characters are evidence that a man is born again. And our church halls are brim over with these so-called ‘born-again’ Christians. Imagine a society dominated by people who possess these fruits of the spirit. What you would expect is a society next to a Utopia. But is the physical result on ground proof that there are born-again Christians in our society? If there were, I don’t think there would be any necessity for this write-up. As the Bibles says, “By their fruits, you shall know them”. What we see in the society today is the type of fruits possessed by its inhabitants. And these inhabitants are by major proportion Christians. What is happening in the Church?

A society with millions of worshippers cannot boast of thousands with the mind of God. Does this sound provocative? Well, permit me to remind you that there are more religious (Christians) in Nigeria than those we called ‘pagans’. We are going to analyze these issues together – starting from the home – the basic unit of any society to the public office holder to the higher institutions of learning, the streets up to those who claim to be our leaders and finally we will make a stop at the pulpit. At the end of the day, perhaps you will be able to give a convincing answer to this awesome but vital question that has kept not only me awake for so many nights. Yes, you can ask that question again – HAVE THE CHURCH FAILED?

Let us start from ‘Dress code’. Every Sundays, all roads lead to the usual place of worship – the church. Inside the Church building, you will see that all or rather most of the worshippers are gorgeously and well-dressed. There is a sense of responsibility that can be felt from the way most members are dressed. Though there are some church denominations whose doctrine don’t permit certain kind of dress-code for a particular gender or makes a particular dress-code mandatory for a set of people in the church. For example, in some denominations, women are not allowed to wear trousers while some preach that what one wears does not matter in the house of God. Compare this with what the Apostle of old said in 1Corinthians 11:13-15 in the Holy Bible. Also, in some denominations, the wearing or covering of the head is made compulsory for the female folks, while some allow their female worshiper to come as they like. Is this not confusing to some extend as we claim to get our doctrines from the same best-selling book of all time – The Holy Bible? Or is it that the Bible is contradicting itself? Or is it the interpreters that are not doing it rightly? The question remains to be answered.

Well, that is just by the way. Our concern here is what transpires after the Sunday Services. After going to the house of God in the most adorable and respectable attires on Sunday, what happens to us after the Church services? The funny but most worrisome part of this is that on Monday morning, you would hardly recognize that same worshiper of just yesterday! That would seem fare, but even on the same Sunday, after returning from the church service: many would just put off their clothes which seem to me as ‘Church-Dress’ and put on another more ‘fashionable’ ones.

Yes, they call them ‘fashions’ – Clothes that makes sure more sensitive parts of our body are exposed for the pubic to take good view. I am sure you know what I am saying. It is versatile mostly among the younger ones of both sexes. No! even some adults now indulge in this habit. Each time I come across them on the road, I feel sorry, very sorry for them. I have read where many celebrities, when confronted about indecent exposure of their bodies, say that they wear whatever pleases them. Imagine! Whatever pleases you! If you have read the Bible a bit, you would remember that Eve, wife of Adam, ate the forbidden fruit because ‘it was pleasing to her eyes’. Hope you know what happens each time man decides to do what pleases him rather than what pleases God. (Gen 3:6,7,16,17,18,19).

Now, the question is, ‘are decent clothes made only to be worn to church services’? Are we supposed to show our holiness only when standing in the house of God? These children who do practice these acts of body exposure in the name of modern fashion have parents; and surprisingly, their parents are likewise members of a Church, that is if they are not going to the same denomination. Do their parents not see them before leaving their homes? Or is it that their parents are ignorant of the truth? Or is it that they just decide to neglect the words of the preachers? Or is it that the truth has not been preached to them in their respective places of worship? If the last question is in the affirmative, does it then mean that the preachers are not doing the work they have been called to do?

Before I continue, let me remind the innumerable men of God of today that majority of them do not know their duties to God, Christ and the Church, which is Christ’s body.

Towards the end of Christ’s earthly ministry, he repeatedly called Peter to remind him of his duties to His body – the Church after his Heavenly rapture. In John 21:15-17, he pleaded with Peter to ‘feed his sheep’ and to ‘take care of his lambs’. How many of our men of God of today even know how to feed the body of Christ with the undiluted word of God? This is supposed to be your number one duty as a man of God – feeding and taking care of the flock left under your care, by updating it regularly with the crisp and inspirational word of God. Sorry, the truth is that you can hardly even hear such powerful word of God nowadays. Tell me, how would change come when majority members of our churches are not truly in Christ? The Bible describes to us that “if a man be in Christ, he is a new creation… (II Cor 5:17). Are all the so-called Christians truly in Christ? If not, what are the men of God doing in repositioning them in the proper place, in which they are supposed to be in Christ?

Now, to the outside world: Jesus made us understand that we Christians are to show good examples to the rest of the world. In Matthew 5:16, he said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven”. In other worlds, what Jesus was teaching on that day was that for those of you that claim to be my follower; let other unbelievers learn God’s gift to man through you. And how does this work? Simple: by exhibiting the characters of anyone who believes and follow Christ. That was what the people of Antioch saw in the disciples of Christ that they couldn’t think of any other better name to call them than ‘Christ-like’, which in other words means ‘those that behaves like Christ’. Now, as a Christian, how many unbelievers would confirm that you are a true Christian by what you do, say or practice: whether in your neighborhood, working environment or anywhere in your world. If you call yourself a Christian and there is no testimony from those around you that you are indeed a Christian, then something isn’t right. There is supposed to be testimony about the life you live. And your life must showcase the attributes of a true Christian as illustrated in the book of Galatians 5:22.

In our higher institutions of learning, the situation is not different. There are countless news on a daily basis about some social vices like cultism, armed robbery, kidnapping, assault on fellow students, rape, prostitution and so on and so forth. These acts are been perpetrated by the students of the various institutions involved. And these students, being members of the society are from a particular household or the other. To crown it all, these students are members of various Church denominations in our society. Is it that these young men and girls in our higher schools of learning are not ready to listen to the advice of their parents and preaching of the Church? Or is it that they have never been told of the physical and spiritual repercussions of continuing to carry out such acts? The Church is supposed to assist the families in the upbringing of these children that are turning our supposedly schools of learning into something else. Read II Tim 2:22.

As leaders of tomorrow, the youths are supposed to showcase what our society will look like in the future. When you look at the state of the behaviors of our youths presently, there is cause for alarm! A lecturer once said to a class of students, “If the good generations are raising bad generations, imagine what the generations raise by the bad ones would look like”. The stance of yours sincerely is that some things are not faring well and nobody is saying or doing anything about them. The most disturbing part of it all now is that there are still many of them out there that need talking to. Instead of the Church to devote a substantial part of their time and resources to bringing this crop of individuals closer to God, many of them are busy erecting new auditoriums, acquiring more sophisticated automobiles, and other material stuffs for the comfort of the leaders of the Church. Little or no attention is paid to the spiritual welfare of the upcoming generations, both those within the walls of the Church and those outside. Mind you, yours sincerely is not against anybody’s comfort while working for the Lord. But there are necessities and excesses. Always check the spiritual progress of your church members, within and outside the church auditoriums. This is because even many of these boys and girls attending Sunday schools, youth programs, Sunday services, etc. do not exhibit the characters of Christians. When you see them outside the church, you can hardly differentiate them from unbelievers because of their behaviors.

These issues raised above bring me to ask once again, Is it that the church has lost its power to nurture, mold and inculcate good characters into its members? What is wrong? Has the church failed in these areas? The most important topic in most churches nowadays is ‘Money’, ‘prosperity’, ‘money’, prosperity’. Righteousness is relegated to the background. Holiness is seen as unnecessary part of the life of a Christian. Compare this with what the Bible says in Heb.12:14.

Have the Church failed? This question keeps popping in my head each time I hear the way our government’s public service and parastatals are being run. There are countless cases of financial misappropriation, embezzlement, money laundering and other abuses of public privileges accorded these office holders. You may ask, ‘is it your concern’? But remember and I urge all men of God, pastoring or harboring people of this class to read the warning of Jehovah God to his servant Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3:17-18.

What baffles me most is that if you look into the CVs of these corrupt-minded individuals, they refer to themselves as Christians. Are they truly Christians or just Christians in the saying? Or is it that they lack the knowledge and truth in the word of God? However, they are members of some church denominations scattered across the country. They pay tithes, donations, special offerings and other dues to help prosper the church and its leaders, out of the money they stole from the government coffers and at the end of the service, the minister ask them to kneel down and he blesses them, even when he knows that the money they have donated to the church wasn’t gotten from a clean source. Should this be allowed to continue, when the end-time is here? If you fail to teach your members the truth about Heaven and Hell, God will ask you on the day of reckoning. Be sure of that!

“You are the light of the world…”, so said the founder of Christianity (Matt 5:14). Who was he talking about? His followers, of course. And since we have decided to be in Him, as he is in his father; are we not obligated to show the rest of the world ‘good examples’ to portray that we are a new creation different from all others that does not know the word of God?

Yours sincerely boldly argues here that the filthy practices in our society today are as a result of lack of godliness in the very heart of the people. Yes, the society needs to change for the better when it comes to human behaviors – this span from the youngest to the oldest in the society. For that change to be possible, the people need to hear the truth from genuine men of God. And these men of God must be prepared to dish out this truth no matter what it will cost them. That is what makes you REAL!

Yes, it is your duty and mine to speak the truth of the word of God to everyone that God has placed under your fold. Let righteousness and holiness be brought back to the sermons and make the congregation know that Heaven is the ultimate goal of every genuine Christian. Teach the father and mother (or guardian) to teach their wards the truth of the Word of God. (Proverbs 22:6).

Today, there are wars, killings, disasters, riots, kidnappings and so many other human disturbances almost in all parts of the earth. But these crises almost start from just one point – the family. If every family member is filled with the Spirit of God, we will have a society filled with people of God, devoid of any evil. Though we know there can’t be a society without one crises or the other, it would be drastically reduced. So, the church should refocus its lenses on building every family under its fold on a strong, unshakeable foundation of the true word of God. This will go a long way in helping to restore the society to what God initially planned it to look like in Genesis. I know many of us long for such a society, don’t we?

Conclusively, this is from me to every family in the world, whether Christian or non-Christian: There is only one way to peace in the world and that way is Jesus. Therefore, “believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved – you and your household” (Acts 16:31).


Lawson Balogun
Benin City, Nigeria
lawson.balos@gmail.com

The efficacies of creative thinking

Great ideas are products of critical thinking. All famous inventors and initiators of sound and famous policies and theories were people who never do without intense creative thinking. The noisy nature of today’s city-life coupled with the ignorance or negligence on the part of many, have compounded the problems of creative reasoning.
Therefore, many people, today, hardly think over a matter before taking decisions. You introduce a business opportunity to somebody for the first time and in less than a minute, he says, `I think it is a good venture; or `I don't think I can do that'. But the question is: `Did he actually think about it critically before giving that answer?'
The reason why many of us find it very difficult to achieve our dreams and/or settle down in our chosen careers is that we did not or hardly know the other side of what we are doing. This results from our lack of thinking abilities. Therefore, before you take that next decision, do what I call `Critical Thinking' because ideas rules this present world and great ideas can only be generated from intense creative reasoning.
Think rationally: in the morning, create a moment when you will be alone by yourself and make sure the place is free from any form of noise, be it music, ticking of the clock or ringing of alarm. Concentrate on a particular area you want answers. Let your entire being channel its entirety into that area and breathe deeply into it and draw out the hidden aspects of the human mind.
Think from both side of the situation: don’t be quick to give answers to a problem. When problems are presented before you; tell the person you need to think about it. Then in your quiet time, scrutinize the situation from various angles and dimensions before arriving at a conclusion.
Think before you speak: always let your mind do the processing before the mouth do the presentation. Many of us today hardly think before we speak leading to misunderstanding and confusion. When someone speaks, don’t just reply based on the words used; consider also the tone used, the expression, the language, the stress and importance attached to it. These will enable you to decipher the true meaning of the statement.
I have come to see that people who think before taking decisions hardly make mistakes. Remember you have to be a good listener for you to be a good speaker. And without the ability to think and very fast about the language and meaning of your partner, you will hardly be a good listener, thus, a bad speaker you will be. So, make critical thinking part of your daily life and people will come to respect you as well as your views. They will also see you as somebody who does things based on the best available options.

Lawson Balogun Jr. (Speaker & Writer)
Benin City, Edo State,
Nigeria.
lawson.balogun@yahoo.com