CHECKPOINT EXPLAINED

CHECKPOINT EXPLAINED Preached From 9^th March to 16^th March, 2008. By The Son of Man (Apostle Peter Odoemena) At THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD ONITSHA

If I say Almighty God will not slaughter me, who is the Almighty to begin with? If I am afraid that God will slaughter me, which God will slaughter me?

Let me tell you, I am the only Being that can lay down His life and pick it. Believe it if you can…

— The Son of Man

If your pride is not your family, your pride is useless. Your pride today is not your certificate, your pride today is not the mansion you have erected; your pride today is not the cerebrated office you occupy in government office or in the society; your pride today remains your enviable family. The greatest success a man or a woman can attain in this life is family success. Also, the greatest failure is family failure.

-Son of Man

PRAYER

We are living witnesses and partakers of this wonderful worship today, having been inspired by children, even to take up, Father, the responsibility due to their parents. We are really very grateful to you and we pray, oh Lord that you grant that they will grow in this spirit and may they never depart from it.

2. Cause our parents, oh Lord, to recognize their responsibility towards their children by bringing them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

3. Today, as we have gathered, Lord, we yield ourselves unto thee as living vessels.

4. We pray that your word will cleanse us from every unbelief, doubt and hypocrisy. Let the entrance of your word into our hearts refine us; that we may become better sons and daughters to you.

5. Be with all that are still on their way to this place. Be with all our local assemblies as they gather to worship and praise You this day.

6. Father divine, may all that may come under Your umbrella today, feel the touch of your love and the warmth of Your presence. Heal all that are sick among us.

7. Bless us mightily and in everything, let Your Name be glorified. In any way the enemy may try to distract our attention today, from you Lord, we pray that we resist all.

8. Do not give any room for any opposing spirit to operate against us. Have your way as we listen to your word, through Christ our Lord we pray. AMEN.

PROLOGUE

Be seated everybody. Those coming in, do not disturb the Fellowship. If you want to come in, come in; if you don’t want to come in, stay outside. Even Elders are coming to Fellowship late.

2. If you know you were the one that commanded these children to open the Fellowship, show by raising your hand. Be sincere to yourself, man and woman.

3. I enquired from our Pastor there, whether he was the one that commanded them to open the Fellowship and he said no.

4. Little children, I mean the three that opened the Fellowship, stand up let me see you. Can you please, tell me who commanded you to open the Fellowship? Nobody. Did you discuss it among yourselves before doing it?

5. You mean you agreed here to open the Fellowship? I think that is Agabus; “Fear God.” You took the decision here or now? Shall we put our hands together for them! Be seated. “Keep it up!”

6. May the Lord magnify this Ministry! The difference is clear! I enjoyed the opening of their Fellowship more than what Brother Shed used to do here. I really thank God that I am a partaker today.

7. Get out! Somebody should take that thing immediately. Give me that thing. This is the problem we were discussing in my house yesterday. Bro. Kelechi, sit down there. My friend—Bro Chizoba—come Here.

8. You can hear but you cannot speak; is it not stupidity? There is no human being that cannot speak his language fluently. There is no Yoruba man that cannot speak his language fluently. Only here. You can talk from morning till night and jest with your fellow okada riders, but when it comes to interpreting simple English, your ears are stucked. You are not talking to the crowd you are talking to yourself. I know your voice. I hear you make a hell of noise in your yard. Amen.

PART ONE

THE INTRODUCTION

THE HOUSE OF GOD IS THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP

I decided to stay outside with Brother Kelechi to allow you some time to continue making a hell of noise inside. Our Message said that this place is a place of worship. If you want to chat, go outside.

2. The moment you step into this house called by His Name, you reverence it; your attitude must change.

3. In the days of St. Paul, he warned Timothy; he strictly warned the members that they should know how to conduct themselves in the House of God, which is the Church of God, the Ground and Pillar of Truth.

4. Before he gave the warning, he must have perceived danger or he must have witnessed some people walking disorderly, misbehaving themselves in the House of God. The House of God is the House of Prayer. It is not the house of chatting.

5. William Branham said, “If you have the Holy Spirit in you, you should be in the Fellowship thirty minutes before the time. Once you step into the House of God, bend down there, kneel down there or stand up there, pray; be sure that you prayed through so that you will be a part of the Fellowship.”

6. But many of you will just come here with bunches of flesh and be “talking” like parrot; the talking you started at home, you will complete it here. I wonder what we teach our children. I don’t know what they are learning from us. I am telling you God’s truth!

7. I never wanted to be here; but these children inspired me to be here. Truly speaking, it is not on my mind to be here; but when I enquired from the Pastor, I became certain. I never held any discussion with my children relating to the opening of the Fellowship or anything like that. My wife equally had no time to discuss with them in that respect.

8. I began to wonder who must have commanded them. I believe that they were “expressing their dissatisfaction” over your attitudes in the Temple, in this House of God. Many of us came here on time, while some came late. Even adults were sitting down expecting Bro. Shedrack to come and open the Fellowship, even if it takes him arriving at 12 O’clock, no problem.

9. Some were expecting Pastor Dan, maybe, to rush from Imo State to the pulpit. I believe that the children “over-waited” and they didn’t like what was going on and they decided to disgrace you by reminding you of your responsibilities.

THE MISPLACED LOVE

Little children, I am encouraging you: Henceforth, when you come in here, open the Fellowship; pray, and if possible, handle teachings. Begin to teach your parents what you believe –things that formed your Faith.

11. I believe that some of them (children) are very much conversant with our doctrines more than their parents.

12. Yesterday, in my house, I brought out a copy of the Living Bible and I picked a topic there: “Making the Right Choice.” I read and then summoned my children one by one, starting from Wisdom. I said, “My friend, come closer; read it!” He read it loudly, the whole passage.

13. Then I asked: “Can you tell me what you understood in the whole passage and then read the accompanying questions?” I now turned to him and said, “Can you tell me what you understood from the whole passage?’ He said, “Daddy, of a truth, TV game is an abomination and television is an abomination.”

14. When I called Chukwudi, it was the same thing. I called Obinna, the same thing. Pastor Thomas was there; Bro. Okey Ibeh was also there.

15. Can you see? This is the Bible. I am not the writer of the Bible. What happened? It was of a story between a man and his son. The man thought he was wealthy, he thought he loved his family very well. He thought of what would give his family the desired comfort; he had only but one son. He didn’t want to offend the boy. He wanted the boy to be everything that life entails.

16. So, he went and purchased a TV game and placed it in the house. This boy mastered the TV game. In their Church fellowship, at the end of every teaching, their Sunday school teacher normally gives them “memory verses” which they will write in their quiet-time-jotters, and at home, their parents will continue from where their teachers stopped in the Church.

17. Moreover, the boy was performing very well until his father brought in the TV game. In his class assignment, nobody ever reminds him of his homework. He was up and doing, working without supervision and was maintaining a very nice result in the school, until his father brought in the TV game.

18. So, the boy got himself glued to the TV game every minute of the day. It even disturbed him from eating — he could avoid eating.

19. Yes, because people learn evil faster than good. Even adults, they emulate evil more readily than good things. If you like, believe it; if you like, throw it away.

20. This man watched the performance of his child and he was no longer pleased because the boy has occupied himself with the TV game. One day, he walked into the boy’s room, collected his quiet-time-jotter, opened it and discovered that the boy never answered any of the questions for many, many months.

21. Then, he went for his school bag, checked his books, only to discover that the boy has refused to do his assignments. His result was getting poorer and poorer everyday. The man shook his head. He walked out and started thinking of how to get rid of that TV game.

22. At another time, he walked into the boy’s room, the boy was very busy rescuing the princess and shooting down aeroplanes. The father stood there for over ten minutes and called on his son, “Jimmy! Jimmy!” The boy didn’t hear the father. He (the boy) continued shouting: “I have gunned it down, eee! This aeroplane, I have rescued the princess. Let me pursue, let me pursue, pursue, pursue,” and the father was watching, while the boy was busy with that thing.

23. The man reached out for the monitor and switched it off. Immediately, the boy was shocked. He jumped up from the seat thinking that the power has been interrupted. He looked round and saw his father, he was sweating, really sweating, wasting productive hours. And the man said, “My son, so you never recognized my presence because of this TV game? I switched off the monitor.”

24. The boy shouted on the father: “What is wrong with the monitor? What is wrong with the thing? I like it.”

25. His father said, “My friend listen, this thing that is your delight, this thing that offers recreation to you, may be harmful to you. I don’t blame you. I blame myself for I am the one that imported this evil into my family, thinking I love you. I never knew that I am the greatest enemy; pardon me! But from today, there won’t be anything like TV or TV game in this house again.” The man destroyed all, and then saved the life of the child.

26. Your child might be walking about, yet he is dead. It is the same way with an adult. You may be walking about talking, yet you are dead. Amen.

PART TWO

CHECKPOINT AMPLIFIED

INTRODUCTION

You see, these children have inspired me this morning. I want to read something here.

2.If you have “THE FAMILY MENU volume 2,” bring out your copy. “FAMILY MENU volume 2,” go to section two, it is titled: “CHECKPOINT”. I will like to see all the adults with their copies. I told you that if you are an adult here, also teach your children that same way.

3. You must have a Fellowship bag. Your Fellowship bag must contain all the sermon books; you call them your study books. We are in a college. If we spent money to produce these Messages in book form, the same way, we must devote time enough to go through them, otherwise we wasted our money.

4. FAMILY MENU volume two – all adults; there are no exemptions because I believe you had your copies.

5. Chioma, even if everybody will come with theirs, I know you won’t come with yours. Have you ever come here with a sermon book before? Chibuzor where is yours? You don’t have it? You don’t have a copy? Where is it? You left it at home, so that you will come here and watch television. We are not performing drama here. We are here for a purpose.

6. Father divine, may all that may come under Your umbrella today, feel the touch of your love and the warmth of Your presence. Heal all that are sick among us.

7. Bless us mightily and in everything, let Your Name be glorified. In any way the enemy may try to distract our attention today, from you Lord, we pray that we resist all.

8. Do not give any room for any opposing spirit to operate against us. Have your way as we listen to your word, through Christ our Lord we pray. AMEN.

PROLOGUE

Be seated everybody. Those coming in, do not disturb the Fellowship. If you want to come in, come in; if you don’t want to come in, stay outside. Even Elders are coming to Fellowship late.

2. If you know you were the one that commanded these children to open the Fellowship, show by raising your hand. Be sincere to yourself, man and woman.

3. I enquired from our Pastor there, whether he was the one that commanded them to open the Fellowship and he said no.

5. You mean you agreed here to open the Fellowship? I think that is Agabus; “Fear God.” You took the decision here or now? Shall we put our hands together for them! Be seated. “Keep it up!”

6. May the Lord magnify this Ministry! The difference is clear! I enjoyed the opening of their Fellowship more than what Brother Shed used to do here. I really thank God that I am a partaker today.

PART ONE

THE INTRODUCTION

2. The moment you step into this house called by His Name, you reverence it; your attitude must change.

6. But many of you will just come here with bundles of flesh and be “talking” like parrot; the talking you started at home, you will complete it here. I wonder what we teach our children. I don’t know what they are learning from us. I am telling you God’s truth!

THE MISPLACED LOVE

11. I believe that some of them (children) are very much conversant with our doctrines more than their parents.

14. When I called Chukwudi, it was the same thing. I called Obinna, the same thing. Pastor Thomas was there; Bro. Okey Ibeh was also there.

18. So, the boy got himself glued to the TV game every minute of the day. It even disturbed him from eating — he could avoid eating.

19. Yes, because people learn evil faster than good. Even adults, they emulate evil more readily than good things. If you like, believe it; if you like, throw it away.

24. The boy shouted on the father: “What is wrong with the monitor? What is wrong with the thing? I like it.”

26. Your child might be walking about, yet he is dead. It is the same way with an adult. You may be walking about talking, yet you are dead. Amen.

PART TWO

CHECKPOINT AMPLIFIED

INTRODUCTION

You see, these children have inspired me this morning. I want to read something here.

4. FAMILY MENU volume two – all adults; there are no exemptions because I believe you had your copies.

6. I will not preach, I will read and I will pause where it is necessary for me to pause. Amen.

Chapter One

CHECKPOINT” chapter one, I want to start with the INTRODUCTION: “What is a check point? It is a place, especially on a border, where official persons, either police officers or law enforcement agents examine vehicles or people. Mostly, they check for faults; they want to know if you are breaking the law.”

2. That’s what a “checkpoint” is all about. In this Faith, the “checkpoint” we have is not the minister who will take it upon himself to monitor you from house to house, No! The minister that is assigned to you is nothing but the Message; the doctrines you have received and echoed “amen” to.

3. These doctrines are the law enforcement agents assigned to check your behaviour, to check your character; even to check the thoughts of your heart, peradventure you have in one way or the other infracted, deflected or deviated completely from the Faith of the Saints.

4. What is Faith? Faith is nothing but what you believe and what you believe will determine what your character will look like, for no man behaves above his belief.

5. Your behaviour is directed by the teachings you receive. That is why, once you reject a teaching in this Faith, it reflects in your character. You may preach it; you may tell others about it, you may explain it very well, but deep in you, the Message is not in there. You may have a head-knowledge of the Faith, of the Doctrines, but in-depth heart-knowledge, which will transform your life, is completely void. That is why we are experiencing difficulties with some individuals, with many families.

6. If you are uncontrollable today by your husband or anybody, it is a sure sign that you have deflected or infracted from the Messages completely. The essence of the “checkpoint” is to remind you that you are not without a guide. For a life to be worthy, it must be brought to check. Anybody whose activities cannot be brought to check must end it all in disaster.

7. That is why I have told you time without number here that any human being on earth that does not have one he could fear and respect must live a useless life.

14. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise the counsel of God. Some have even concluded in their hearts, according to Scriptures, that there is no God: “Of what use is my obedience to something that doesn’t exist?’”

8. Well, if that is your own philosophy, keep it up. The end will tell you how foolish you are.

9. “CHECKPOINT,” verse 2 through 3: “Through such checks, law enforcement agents have been able to discover so many incriminating things. They have, in fact, rescued so many lives from the hands of hoodlums and kidnappers. They have also checked many contrabands. Contrabands are goods that are illegally imported into a country.”

10. Traders in this Faith, take note of prohibited items that are illegally imported. I don’t know the reasons you may give that will justify you. You may have your reasons why that might be your business, keep it to yourself, don’t propagate it. He that supports a criminal in criminal activities is also a criminal.

11. You won’t know the extent you have derailed from this Faith until the day the law enforcement agents will arrest you. You will know that the law is against it.

12. Verse 3: “These agents could arrest anyone carrying such illegal or smuggled goods.

13. There cannot be a checkpoint without a law prohibiting certain things. There is a law regulating our driving system; speed limits, road- worthiness of our vehicles and even the number of passengers carried by vehicles is regulated. You could be arrested for dangerous loading, worn-out tires etc.

14. Many things can constitute traffic offence. Right inside your vehicle, your particulars must be okay. If your particulars are not okay, you could be arrested because there is a law against it. What you carry in your vehicle must also agree with the laws of the land.

15. So, any prohibited item discovered in your vehicle would cause the law enforcement agents to arrest you, impound your vehicle and seize your goods. You will forfeit the money you used in purchasing the goods; you will forfeit your vehicle and you run the risk of being imprisoned, even for life for carrying contrabands.

16. With the understanding of this little analysis you will be in a better position to understand where I am heading.’”

17. Am I referring to vehicles we drive about?

18. Let’s continue. Verse 8: “There are many things prohibited in God’s true faith. God delivered His people from the laws of the Bible and handed them over to the laws of the Son of Man, who is the true Guide, Leader and Instructor. So, we are not permitted to behave the way we like.”

19. The essence of the doctrines of God is to regulate human beings’ behaviour. If you are left without a guide, disaster awaits you. Many of you behave as if we are no longer under check; as if we are free to do whatever we like. If you go to the Message: “THE GREAT SERMON,” it is stated clearly there that: “Surely, the law has been abolished.” You will see it clearly written there.

20. Even the Scriptures said, “Because the law has been abolished, does it mean that we are free to behave the way we like?” It said, “God forbid, God forbid.”

21. How many know that the Message of Grace is higher than the Message of Law? How many know that? I know many don’t know that. They are just behaving anyhow they like and that is what they call Grace. But does the Grace of God permits us to behave anyhow, talk anyhow and even think anyhow? I say God forbid.

FREEDOM HAS LIMIT

Let’s continue. Verse 9 through 10: “Though we live in a democratic era, it does not mean: ‘behave the way you like,’ for there is no total freedom anywhere in the world. Freedom has limits. Nobody is given absolute freedom.

23. No matter how one practices his or her democracy there is a limit to everything; there are certain areas one dares not cross.’”

24. Is it not true? If freedom of movement is not restricted, why do people commit trespass? Why are people arrested from time to time for trespassing? There are certain zones that are strictly forbidden. You dare not cross, otherwise you die. Amen.

25. No matter how one practices his or her democracy, there is limit to everything.

26. Let’s continue. Verse 11: “No matter your freedom of expression – even as guaranteed by the U.N Charter, listen to me very well – “It still has a limit. You could be arrested, arraigned before a court and imprisoned for what you utter.”

27. Is it not true? You have freedom of expression, but it has a limit. There are certain comments you will make, you will be imprisoned for life. There are certain statements you will make, you will be seen no more. Even the press suffer it too, yet there is freedom of expression.

28. Freedom has limits. That is exactly what I am trying to express here. Thus, no matter how you enjoy your freedom in Christ, your freedom has limits. Many are overstepping their bounds all in the name of “freedom in Christ;” it is all “grace,” “grace,” “grace!”

29. What do you understand by “grace?” “Unmerited favour.”

30. I go further. Verse 11: “Even newspaper editors could be in trouble for publishing what you utter and their companies closed down!”

31. Too many newspaper organizations have been shut down by government and their editors imprisoned for malicious publications, dangerous publications, yet there is “freedom of expression;” sometimes, they even say freedom of the press. The press has no freedom anywhere in the world; yet, we are in a democratic society. I don’t know whether I am making sense?

32. Grace of God which gives you freedom, freedom in Christ, does it permit you to use your tongue anyhow? So, you cannot use your tongue anyhow. You cannot move anyhow. Your life activities are under strict check. This Message is in line with the one we read last time titled: “YOU MUST REAP WHAT YOU SOW.”

33. Let’s continue. Verse 12: “Democracy guarantees freedom of association but it still has a limit. If you indulge in cultism, the government will arrest you.”

34. They will arraign you before an appropriate court of competent jurisdiction and imprison you accordingly; yet, it is an association. You see, the choice is yours.

35. What if you belong to a secret cult and you just kill a human being, and the government imprisons you? Amen.

You see, there is no “total freedom” anywhere in the world. God has not given us total freedom. He has given us freedom with some checks. Amen.

Children, when you learn to accept your challenges from childhood, you develop it within yourself as a habit – no situation embarrasses you, no condition is insurmountable. There is nothing that will come your way that will make you declare it “the end of life;” you are ever pushing on, because you have developed it over the years as a habit.

-Son of Man

Chapter Two

In the Message entitled: “LIFE WORTH LIVING,” the Message said, “There is something in a human being, which if not properly checked, properly scrutinized or investigated may turn out to be very disastrous. Will make this life a regrettable ordeal and therefore that life is not worth living.”

2. A life without check is not “worth living” whether man or woman. We can check our little children, but who checks us? It is the Almighty God. How? He does so through His Messages.

3. Without the Word of God, every man is a beast; every woman is a beast. Do you believe that? That is why when you see somebody who says that he is in this Faith, that she is in this Faith, but does not live by the concept of the Faith, it reflects in the person’s character.

4. The person becomes a semblance of a beast: in utterance, in behaviour, in dressing, in eating, in drinking and in every other aspect of life. He reflects that beast’s nature because what could transform his nature has been rejected and that is the Word of God – The only thing that is capable of transforming your life is the Word of God.

5. Let’s continue. Verse 13: “God gives you freedom to be a free moral agent, but you are not given that freedom to do whatever you want. No! Your life must be regulated.”

6. Your life must be regulated by the Messages you have received. Anybody that cannot submit his or her life to be regulated by the Message, can we call that person a child of God? No, it is a sign of rejection of the truth. If you cannot be controlled by the Word of God, you are not a seed of God, for the Word you are hearing, they are spirit and they are life. The Message you are hearing is life itself.

7. The Bible said that Christ was in the world and He Himself is the Message. Therefore, when you reject the Message, you have rejected Christ, for Christ is the Message, which we preach.

8. In addition, remember what Christ is all about – Christ is the Messiah, Christ is the Saviour, Christ is the Anointed One.

9. Let’s continue. Verse 14 to 17: “Is it strange for He that could regulate even the atmosphere to regulate human activities? He placed the night and the day; He did not mix the two. In the same way, He regulates our activities. Therefore, you have freedom in God, but not freedom to do whatever you like. Let us therefore consider some prohibited items in God’s faith or ministry, which we belong.

10. Check your car boot; check the articles in your supermarket, may be you have contraband goods. Because there is a lot of gain in contraband that is why people indulge in carrying contrabands. Once any item is prohibited, it will encourage black marketing and smuggling, and then you will have to buy that item at any price.

11. Follow me spiritually. Please, take your eyes and minds off from shoes, shirts, and other items. Consider the items that make up God’s true Faith.’”

12. I am not in a haste in this Sunday school and I don’t want to be in haste. You must have been reading this Message “CHECKPOINT” for many years, may be many times a day, but this expository will make a difference. I believe that.

13. Let’s continue. verse 18: “There are things God has prohibited us from doing in this faith, or has He allowed everybody to have access to everything at all times? Is there no restriction about certain things? Is that the Faith? Was that the Message we received?’”

14. Has God given us the permission to have access to everything at all times? Never, never.

15. Let’s continue. Verse 19: “Your life must be guided and regulated by the Message you hear. What then is the essence of the Message if it is not to regulate human behaviours?

16. What then is the essence of the Word of God if itis not to regulate your behaviour and my behaviour? If you still go to Church, carry the Bible, preach the Message and live anyhow, it is a sure sign that you have not embraced Christ for one day.

17. Once a man embraces the truth, his life no longer remains the same. His vision changes, his philosophy of life changes. He becomes a totally different person within. Outwardly, he looks the same but inwardly, a remarkable change has taken place. Am I making sense?

18. In second Corinthians 5 verse 17, it was written clearly there that: “If any man be in Christ, that he is a new individual. Old things are past away, behold, all things have become new.’” Living Bible says: “He becomes an entirely new individual within’.

19. You don’t continue with your old way of thinking, your old way of talking. You don’t even continue with your old association. The newness of life will usher you into a new association. You will have the same vision for yourselves because birds of the same feather flock together. This is where I query many for the Word of God calls for total separation from unbelief.

20. If you say you are in Christ, you have embraced the truth and you still continue to roll on, roll on, and roll on with your old association, in short, your testimony must be queried; your testimony is questionable, for there is no way you can have that change within and your old association will accommodate you. They will say “bye” to you.

21. It is either they will repent and come to you or you will compromise with them. Check it; one must surely take place.

22. Let’s continue. verse 20: “Every Message from God is aimed at regulating the habit of man’” – underline the word “REGULATING,” – “We come to God to be educated and to be enlightened by Him, so that we will behave rightly. It is only in that way that we can be useful to ourselves, to the society and to God.”

23. If you come to God and refuse His education, you are a useless fellow. You can never be useful to yourself, your society and to God. In other words, you are good for nothing. Remember what God said in His Word: “My people mingle with heathens and have learnt their wicked ways. For that reason, they have become unprofitable like half-baked bread.”

24. When you mingle with heathens and associate with them, you have crossed the boundary line. You are walking as if nobody is checking and regulating you. Definitely, you must learn their way of life, their way of talking, their way of dressing, their way of doing everything. In the end, you must become useless, good for nothing; half-baked bread.

25. Have you ever tasted half-baked bread? Nothing is as useless as half-baked bread. It is not worthy to be thrown away, it is not worthy for consumption. There is nothing you can do to renew it or make it edible. It is useless. It looks like bread outside but inside it, it is poison. We have such people here, cosmetic flowers, synthetic materials; I mean synthetic materials like the ones you use to decorate your house.

26. If you want it to have something like a fragrance, you perfume it – that is artificial. How long will the perfume last? Only God knows. I don’t care how expensive the perfume might be, as long as the wind is blowing, the weather will act on it and within one hour, the fragrance will fizzle out; so it is with many of you in this Faith.

27. You are sitting in the Fellowship looking angelic and the Message is being poured on you as a sweet perfume. If you do not have the nature of God, the Message is just purely a cosmetic perfume, which will last only for today. Tomorrow, the trouble continues.

28. However, if you are a seed of God, the entrance of the Word of God in your heart will rekindle the right attitude in you; will rekindle even the latent powers in you, the hidden gifts will be ignited immediately and those precious memories will come back. You begin to think and meditate on how wonderful and glorious this Message has been sounding from the very beginning.

29. If you have departed, you begin to weep like the Psalmist saying, “How are the mighty fallen, tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of the heathens; lest, the uncircumcised rejoice.”

30. How are the mighty fallen? You come back to your senses and then regroup. David said, “The Almighty God said that He will forgive me and set me free from this iniquity. Surely, I will teach sinners your way and they will come back to you.

31. Let’s continue. Verse 21: “However, it is wrong for you to receive the Message, go home, misinterpret it, behave anyhow and call it freedom in God.”

32. Why not underline it in your heart? It is absolutely wrong for anybody to receive a Message from God, go home, misinterpret it, misplace it, behave anyhow and call it “freedom in God,” “freedom in Christ.” What absurdity we are experiencing!

33. Let’s continue. verse 22: “Check your car boot, check your supermarket and find out if you have been displaying, selling, importing, exporting or distributing prohibited materials or contrabands or things that are strongly against the faith of God.”

34. Chai! Have we ever meditated on this Message at all? Find out for yourself all these years whether you have been displaying, through your character, importing and exporting prohibited materials. You are not only importing, you are also distributing and spreading everything. Amen.

Experience has proved to me that all the Messages we have received require courage for one to put them into practice. No matter how little you think that Message might be, courage is needed to put it into practice. Let me tell you something: without courage, it is impossible for one to take a strict decision.

-Son of Man

Chapter Three

You know, character is influential; every evil character is contagious; every good character is also contagious. Do you believe that? That is why I believe that my life is influencing somebody either to do bad or to do good. Amen.

2. Let’s continue. Verse 23: “Life entails checks and balances. Anyone living his life without checks and balances will end it all at nothing.”

3. It is advisable that from time to time, you take a proper look at yourself; think seriously about the things you do and the way you do them. Advise yourself. I believe nobody is a goat. Even if it is a kid that misbehaves, there is every tendency that, one day he will wake up and say, “Enough is enough.”

4. Ah! Ah! That one’s teeth are decaying is due to laziness. Nobody brushes his teeth with water and toothpaste without getting them clean. Ah! Ah! What is all this? Worshipping God entails godly sincerity, addressing the truth in it’s entirety in your heart.

5. Is there anybody here that is a goat? Is there anyone that eats through the nose? Does anybody tell you to give way for an on coming vehicle are you blind? I believe that nobody tastes a juicy morsel and spits it out. Even if he is not hungry, he must at least lick his tongue.

6. There is nothing wrong with our Message. If there is anything wrong, it is found in us. We should not blame God; we should blame ourselves. For everything we are passing through, check, it can be traced back to us.

7. Let’s continue. Verse 24: “From time to time, call yourself to order’.”

8. Was this Message written this morning? From time to time, what? Call yourself to order. Did it say allow the Pastor to call you to order? This is why we are not a denomination. In denominations, they set up “policemen” that will go from house to house to know how people are living. But here, we give you the Word, and we allow you to go. If the Word cannot regulate your life, you are not a seed of God.

9. Let me repeat verse 24: “From time to time, call yourself to order, take full inventory of your life and ask yourself how you have faired all this while.”

10. Yes sir! I believe it. Take full inventory of your life activities. What is your life like? Do you derive joy from it? From time to time, call yourself to order, take full inventory of your family life: How are your children coming up in your presence? What type of impression are they creating before you from the type of life they live? Where do you think the force following them is leading them to?

11. Remember that it does not just end at giving birth to children. If you give birth to children and you do not train them, will you claim that you have brought forth children? Even mad people give birth to children also.So, what makes you a father or a mother is not because you have children, no.So, there is nothing special in having children or that you are pregnant.

12. Go to Ochanja Market, there is one mad woman there carrying a very big belly now. In the next few months, she will deliver. All of them are mothers.

13. Verse 24: “Take full inventory of your life and ask yourself how you have faired all this while.”

14. mDid it say the Son of Man ask them? You ask yourself how you have faired so far. How have I faired all these years?

15. Verse 24 through 25: “Are you going forward or backward? What can you say concerning your life? What can you say is responsible for your present state?

16. Truly speaking, if you are sincere, by the time you are through with checking yourself, you will see many things that are against you, which you imported to harm yourself. So, there is need for check point.”

17. This is just the INTRODUCTION. Follow me to Chapter two. Little children, remember I said I did not want to come to the pulpit, but because of what happened this morning, I was inspired to. So, give me your attention also. Amen.

PART THREE

THE BEDROCK EXPLAINED

Chapter One

CHECKPOINT,” chapter two, “The Bedrock-Child Training:” “I shall begin at the bedrock,’”—yes, it is very, very essential, for there cannot be a structure or building without foundation. Amen.

2. Listen to me; if a lawyer marries a policewoman, surely you know what their children will be. If a doctor marries a nurse, their children will automatically become their first patients. Are you getting the Message? What if a policeman marries a warder? Their children must be prisoners.

3. Please, listen to me. There is something in “bedrock.” We are going to talk about family. This is “THE FAMILY MENU vol. 2.’”

4. Last Wednesday, we heard it from the mouth of God that before you go into marriage, you must be very careful. You must scrutinize your own family very well; scrutinize the family where you want to pick your wife from. If you do not do that, you are running on moral rails. Your life is in danger.

5. Assuming that in your family, the criminal tendencies there are very high among your people; if you have escaped, you only escaped when you embraced Christ. Are you getting me?

6. Now, you have known the truth, you want to pick a wife and you notice that your wife comes from a family where the criminal tendency is also high; without proper investigation, you marry your wife. A man from a criminal family married a woman from a criminal family, what would they produce? They will produce “cannon fodder.” They will produce what? You know what canon fodderis? They will produce people the police, the army and the vigilante groups will use to experiment the power of their equipment.

7. When Bakassi came, they used human beings to experiment. Little children, are you getting what I am saying? If you indulge in criminal activities, police will use you to test the power that is in the gun. The vigilante groups will use you to test the power that is in the machete, and of course, you know what will follow.

8. If Bakassi happens to come in your day, they will heap tyres on you and then use matches to test whether a human being can be set aflame. The best fuel I know is the human being. How many know that a human being is fuel? Okay, when you get home from here today, lie down, tell your wife to put tyre on you and then use matches and try it. Do not run with the tyre, just stay there. We go back to the Message brethren.

9. Let’s continue. verse 1: “I shall begin at the bedrock. Which mother will like to have grown up daughters that will remain at home with her quarrelling over domestic issues, instead of getting married like her and raise their own families? Would any mother be happy to have such daughters here?’”

10. Who is a mother here that will be happy to have grownup daughters that will remain in their father’s house quarrelling with them in their kitchen everyday? Who will cherish such a thing?

11. Let’s go further. Verse 2: “Let me explain what I mean. How would you feel as a mother if you have grown up daughters who are supposed to be married and be in their husbands homes, yet remain with you in your home, unmarried and keep quarrelling with you in your kitchen, morning, afternoon and night, day after day? No one!”

12. Is there any mother that will like to witness her son being butchered as a result of criminal activities? Any mother? Any father? Hear me very well, whether you are saying yes or no, if you are not careful and diligent in training your children, what you “say no” to will come to you. Amen.

13. Let us go further. Verse 3 to 4: “If at the end of reading this Message you grumble in your heart against the Message, then know that you want such daughters. It is high time those who went into the bush in search of the thing that kills the fowls came back, for that thing is in the house not in the bush.”

14. I am not even sure that we read this Message at all. I think it is because we have a lot of Messages coming out in book form, that’s why these ones have been put aside. Yet, what is killing us continues killing us. Looking at your faces, it looks as if this is an entirely new Message.

15. Come out from the bush, what you are looking for is not there. Are you getting me? Charity begins at home. You cannot be a rat in the house and a lizard outside, can you?

16. Let’s go further. Verse 5: “Charity begins at home. You know that when the stone goes up, fear grips the clay pot. Make sure you do not say in your heart that he who did not eat stinky food does not sniff his hands.”

17. In other words, do not say, “It is none of your business;” you are involved. I do not care about your age, if you are a mother here, are you older than Mama Ikebude?If you look at her face, you will see fingernail scratches all over her face. I noticed this on Wednesday when she came here. It is her grown up daughter that gave her those scratches when they were fighting.

18. Just imagine mama fighting with her rickety legs and arms. Can you just imagine mama clenching her fists to fight Ngozi, the “man-mountain,” and also a mother for that matter? Ngozi is a grandmother; mama is a great grandmother.

19. Well, I don’t need to talk. I must stand to be vindicated in this age. This is sign of ungodliness; a sign of irresponsibility, but who should be blamed, Ngozi or mama? Mama should be blamed. Do you know that? “Any seed a man soweth that he must reap.” Mama sowed the seed in her youth and mama is now reaping the fruit in her old age. Do you believe that?

20. Mama was a politician. Mama was called “Margaret Thatcher,” – Iron Lady – in her day. Today, she has repented; she has now become a daughter of Christ; will that exclude her from reaping the fruit? So, mama does not deserve sympathy. You must reap what you sow.

21. So, whatever you sowed in your youth, awaits you in your old age. You see why God came down and said that the only children we can place our hope on are those we produced in this Faith with “purified blood.” Life is in the blood. I said Life is in the blood. Blood cannot tell lies, can it?

22. Can you see them this morning taking up the responsibility of their parents by opening up the Fellowship? But watch those we had before we came into this Faith, not even one had the inspiration to go there. Their minds are still somewhere. They are managing to stay here, peradventure, their lives will be better tomorrow.

23. We are just praying for God to help them because we know the type of blood with which we bore them. We knew the way we were in the world before we gave birth to them. When the type of life we lived in time past begins to bear fruits, will it be a surprise to us? Amen.

24. Let us go further. Verse 5: “See yourself as one that has eaten that stinky food; start sniffing your hands now, for what is found in a white man’s toilet is also found in a black man’s toilet.”

25. Is it a lie? If you go to a Whiteman’s place of convenience, what do you see there? If you equally go to a Blackman’s place of convenience, what do you see there? Is any of them good for food? Whether you call it a Whiteman’s faeces or a Blackman’s faeces, they both smell.

26. Thus, do not say it is not your business. It is not a laughing matter. You see, you may be saying, “Glory be to God my children are still coming up.” Do you know what tomorrow will be? Begin to see ten years from now. Begin to see fifteen years from now. Then you begin to appreciate what God is doing now.

27. Do you know what prompted the Message titled: “THE DANGERS OF OVER PAMPERING CHILDREN?” Many names were called there and I heard my own there too. “THE DANGERS OF OVER PAMPERING CHILDREN” was dedicated to our former brother, Bishop Umezulike. Do you believe that?

28. Many were here that time and that was where God attacked Brother Mike Emmanuel and the family for the dangerous way they were bringing up their children like the man who imported the TV game for his child not knowing that he had imported poison that will exterminate his family. Amen.

Most of the things you are passing through today are the crops you are harvesting which your father planted the seed, not knowing that the trees will not survive until their children will also come up. The same way, the good things that are happening to you today might be as a “good will” of your father or your mother or your own, which you sowed ignorantly or consciously, sometime, somewhere. -Son of Man

Chapter Two

In the Message: “THE DANGERS OF OVER PAMPERING CHILDREN,” I made it clear that you will have rest at old age if only you train your children very well. You will have rest in your old age if only you strive to train your children in a godly way, very well. But if you do not train your children very well and bring them up in the fear of the Lord, that is, bringing them up to a point where they can respect you as their father, as their mother, you will never have rest.

2. Experience is the best teacher. Even if you have not experienced it, have you not heard about it? Have you not witnessed it in so many families? I mean, in godless families. Families where there could be money, there could be everything, yet there is no rest. Why? The parents refused to train their children in a godly way.

3. There is no reformatory in Nigeria or anywhere in the world today, that can reform anybody. The greatest reformatory I know is the Word of God; that is the only purifier. Obedience to the Word of God refines an individual. This is why you must cause your children to obey the Word of God.

4. God said to Abraham, “I know Abraham. He is my friend; he is able to command his children to obey me.” Can you be a friend of God? Can you win such compliments from God today? Can you command your entire family, your children to obey God? If the answer is no, you have failed woefully.

5. The first responsibility God gave to parents is to command the entire household to obey the Lord. In that family-devotional book of mine, I showed them what the writer wrote there said, “You will be a blessed child if you will make the Word of God your first priority in life. If you will desire the righteousness of God by living right in His Presence, you will be a blessed child.”

6. They then asked me a question, “Daddy, what is priority?” I said, “The first thing in your life.”

7. Furthermore, remember the Message God gave us some years ago in the beginning. In that Message, the Holy Ghost inspired me to tell you that whatsoever have the first place in your life is your God. Whatsoever that takes the first position in your heart is your God. After all, wherever a man’s treasure is, there his heart will be.

8. I do not know where your treasure is; whether your treasure is stored in your children or in your bank account; whether your treasure is stored in your children or in your business sack.

9. Remember that the Lord reserved a saying here and I quote: “The greatest investment a family will make is the training of their children for that is where their hope lies.” If you are embarking your hope outside there, your hope is already dashed.

10. Please follow me gradually. Remember that the only way you can have rest as parents is to train your children in the fear of the Lord.

11. Let’s go further. Verse 7: “You must bring them to a point where they must see your word as the word of their creator, because without you there will be no one to be your sons and daughters. You are the blacksmith that made them.’”

12. To the children, God made it clear that the first visible god around them remains their parent; either their mother or their father.Who believes this? Who believes that the blacksmiths that moulded the children are the parents?

13. Little children, can you see the position your parents occupy in your life? If you know you could have come into this world without your parents, show by raising your hand. So, you now believe that without your parents, you couldn’t have come into this world?

14. In other words, whatever you are enjoying as life today, the credit must go to your creator and your creator remain your parents. If you believe it, say “amen.”

15. Now, it is our responsibility to bring up our children until they attain this knowledge. If you have not done this, do not rejoice yet. The tendency is there for your child to wake up tomorrow and slap you or resist your word. Before you know it, he will disgrace you publicly because he does not see you as his creator, his maker, his all and all.

16. Remember the Voice: “Anybody that does not have one he or she fears and respects must live a useless life.”

17. You see why God enjoins our children to obey their parents in the Lord, so that it might be well with them; so that they will live long in the land the Lord has apportioned to them? Watch children that do not obey their parents, do they live long on earth? Do they prosper?

18. Therefore, when you obey your parents, you live long on earth. You disobey, you die quick.

19. “Madam, get out of here. If you cannot control that little one now, do not worry, tomorrow will tell you what I am teaching now.’” Amen.

THE SECRET OF CHILD TRAINING

Let’s go further. Verse 8: “No one encounters problems and difficulties until he neglects the word of God and His instructions.” It is well underlined there.

21. You cannot encounter problems and difficulties, even in raising of your children, in your daily activities until you have completely neglected the Word of God and His instructions.

22. Let’s go further. Verse 8: “There is no aspect of this life on which we have not received instructions from God. We have received instructions on how to face challenges but oftentimes, we throw them aside, thinking we can get along well or better without God.’”

23. No matter your ideology, no matter how sharp and clever you think you might be, you can never get along better without God; there is nothing you can do better without God. Tell me that thing you know you can do better without God? If you know what that thing looks like, please, tell me?

24. Let’s go further. Verse 9: “The reason many people are what they are today is because God came their way, gathered them from market places, high ways, mechanic workshops etc and brought them into His Household, brushed them up and gave them a new, ethical re-orientation, repositioning them for a brighter tomorrow.”

25. You see, this Message was even here and we did not know it, “REPOSITIONING OURSELVES FOR A BETTER TOMORROW.”

26. Let’s go further. Verse 10: “Many people would have been useless because their parents neglected to teach them the right way of life. They did not see their training as something very vital. They only paid attention to feeding them and paying their school fees. That was all.’”

27. Duty! Duty!—Feeding the children, paying their school fees, clothing them – “I have done my duty!” But is that all? If that is where you have stopped, you have done nothing. You have paid the school fees, you have equipped the child, you have clothed the child, you have fed the child with the best food and then that is your duty as parents? To begin with, you have never gone beyond the level of a mad fellow in the market, for a mad fellow does more than that.

28. Let’s go further. Verse 11 through 12: “But concerning proper up bringing in the right way which should give one a sense of belonging in the world, and a sound perspective of life, they never did that. Yet, that is the most important thing both to a man and to a woman.

29. We rejoice each time a baby is born. This is good and proper in the sight of both God and man, but that is not all. Your joy is incomplete until you train that child. If you do not spend time to train your child, that blessing will turn out to be a curse and it will be in the later days; the later part of your life when correction is almost impossible.’”

30. Please, take note. God loves us. I wonder whether we do go through these Messages at all. If parents can go through these Messages, they will never import anything into their houses that can destabilize and disorganize something they have been struggling to erect all these years.

31. Sometimes, we say no to these things; but indirectly, we sponsor them. Just like in the case of Sister Egbuna. I have spoken to her in diverse ways. You see her son here; she claims to have ownership of Chuka even more than the father. She hates evil, but indirectly she is bringing up her only son in the worse way of life.

32. The same thing is applicable to Brother Onyema Cotonou. If there is somebody here whose eyes should be red in training the children, knowing the repercussions or consequences of your life in your youth, you are the one. If you will permit your children to make the same mistakes you made, their own will even be worse. Theirs may even be more disastrous than yours.

33. There is a lifestyle you can introduce to your child, that child becomes very useless. In our Message: “CHILD TRAINING,” God said, “Do not ever tell your child that he will never suffer as long as you are alive.” If you tell your child that he will never suffer while you are alive, you have spoilt that child. Your child must suffer in his own way, but he will not suffer what you suffered. Will he suffer? The answer is “yes.

34. In addition, do not ever give your child the impression that life is a bed of roses where he can get everything he wants just for the asking. Even if the money is flowing like a river, restrict it from the child. But some foolish mothers can never do that. In the Message: “CHILD TRAINING,” God said and Iquote: “One of the ways parents lure their children into evil habits is by keeping their money within the reach of their children.’”

35. Is it not true? It said, “You may say, ‘I know my child, I know my children, they can never touch my money.’” The Message went ahead to say, “Don’t worry, one day you will raise a criminal. It will start with N10 unnoticeable to N20 unnoticeable. It will progress from N20 to N50. Once it gets to N100, it becomes noticeable. By then you will know that a criminal is a habitual liar.’”

36. Even if you catch a criminal red-handed, he will deny. At the point of death, he will deny. You will accuse everybody in the house but a criminal is still holding it because it is a spirit that has been acquired over a long period of time. T

37. hat is why God said to children: “Don’t steal. If you are stealing your parents’ money and you think it doesn’t mean anything, you are not better than a big criminal, for you are acquiring a criminal spirit which can never be crushed when it develops. Once it develops in a child, it can never be crushed because nothing is as enjoyable as stealing. Nothing is as enjoyable as evil habits.”

38. Watch people that stay long in evil habits, they take pleasure in it. Some even brag with it: “Do you know who we are? If we hear one more word from you, we deal with you.” You see, such comments are too rampant in the society and they are mostly heard from among our youths and some reckless parents that can never give up crime in their lives. Amen.

Let me tell you, if you are strictly connected to the Son of Man, death cannot gamble with your life. Your life is higher than the agent he is sending to come and arrest you—your life is higher than that; why? Greater is He that is in you than he that is in them. More so, the Kingdom of God lives in you. The totality of God, the Deity lives in you. And because He lives, you can face tomorrow.

-Son of Man

Chapter Three

Let’s go further. Verse 13: “In the Message earlier mentioned, I made it unequivocally clear that a child should be corrected when there is still hope” — please, take note.

2. The Bible said, “Train your child when there is hope for a time cometh when you cannot correct him anymore.’”

3. Do you learn how to use your left hand in old age? Train your children when there is still hope; when they have not hardened up in their evil tendencies. Do you know more than God? Surely, you don’t know more than Him for He knows the end from the beginning. Train your child when there is hope.

4. Let’s go further. Verse 13: “For a time shall come when there will be no more hope of correcting that child, attempting to correct that child will be a wasted effort.”

5. Wasted effort, a mere dissipation of energy. And once that happens to a family, the hope, the confidence, everything that they have invested on that child is completely wasted. Hear me very well, the greatest heartbreak parents will have is a useless child; a child that will constantly bring shame, disgrace and reproach to the family, that is the greatest heartbreak any family can have.

6. You see why we are shouting; why we are weeping; why we are struggling; why we flog; why we slap; why we rebuke; why we do everything to make sure we catch them young.

7. The Bible said, “You should train up the child the way he should go so that when he grows up, in adolescent, he won’t depart from it. Be sure that your child is not merely following you to Fellowship. Make sure your child is a part of the Fellowship.

8. Hear me very well; parents that are careless may not know when their children are merely following them to Fellowship. I mean nominally following you to Fellowship. How do you notice it? As he continues to come of age, one day his language will change: “I am tired of this nonsense; I don’t want to go anywhere again.”You ask him, “My friend, what are you saying?” He will reply, “Please don’t disturb me; I want to have my rest!”

9. Who will like to hear such language from his child? Whether you like it or not, somebody must hear it; whether you like it or not, I say somebody must hear it but why should it be me?

10. It is a disastrous language; a sure sign that you never brought up that child in the fear and admonition of the Lord. You did not bring up that child to the point where worshipping of God will be a revelation to him, personally. You never allowed the child to get convinced why it is necessary to serve the Lord. You just allowed the child to “nominally” follow you to Fellowship; it becomes a routine affair. It is a disaster.

11. So please, monitor your children when there is hope. Find out what they are manifesting. If you are not being encouraged by what they are manifesting, they are showing traits of evil, settle down and curtail their wings immediately. Are you getting what I am saying? I say settle down immediately and curtail their wings. Cut off their tails if it is possible.

12. I remember those days when we were in school. You were not yet a student until your tail has been cut by the senior students. Until then, you are regarded as a tadpole.

13. You know what a tadpole is? I don’t forget it. In my first year at St. Peter Clever Seminary, they were calling me “onyo, onyo.’” I did not know what “onyo’” meant until I was made to understand that it meant tadpole. I said, “Ehn! Why call me a tadpole?” They said I had a very long tail that has to be cut.

14. On the day they cut our tails, we saw hell. They kept everything secret from us. The beans we were eating for over two weeks, they kept piling up the water in too many drums until that day. We were told to dress in our best uniform. We lined up. The senior students, hefty boys, gathered. One by one, we were appearing.

15. Then we were dancing with the long tails because they asked us to tie our wrappers crossed in between our laps. Then your fellow students would hold you on the tail, the other would hold also until a chain of tadpoles was formed, and our leader just marched as we all followed to the drum.

16. So, they lifted us one by one inside that pool –“Igbuuoo.” The flies in the whole world were on us. In short, it was a very nice experience. All that passed through it never insulted their senior students.

17. Once somebody is senior to you by a class, you worship him as your god or else, one; he has the right to stop you from coming to the refectory for eating. He can banish you from your house because he is your senior student. He will tell you that it takes three hundred and sixty five days to secure promotion into a new class – three hundred and sixty five days.

18. He will tell you plain, and if you report to the chaplain, the chaplain will tell you: “Wait for your turn.” That next term or next session, some people are coming and then you will cut their tails.

22. So, what am I saying? If you see some dangerous signs in your children, indicating that they are growing wild, settle down and cut their tails.

20. Let me use Brother Ojiakor for example. He is an Apostle in this Faith, a medical doctor. I know his likes and dislikes. At a time, his first son, Ngosike, started having some bad influence from some friends in the yard. He began to watch television with them; began to dodge his civic responsibilities in the family and the parents were over worried. They flogged him, rebuked him, corrected him, but this boy became intransigent.

21. I said, “Brother you caused it. You have not done what you are supposed to do. Now go home, strip him of his rights as the first son. Call him before other children, strip him of his rights and place him in the position of a slave. Deploy him to the kitchen. He will be fetching water; he will be joining in the cooking, in the washing of plates, in everything in the house. If you do it, you will regain your child.”

23. He went home immediately and reasoned with his wife, employed it.

24. I said, “If your wife will be against it, slap the hell out of her.” I gave him the authority: “I did not say spare your wife if she tries to resist, I said slap hell out of her because if the boy spoils, you will be blamed. He will damage your reputation as a man of God and as a medical doctor.”

25. Our children must be exemplary. Remember my message long, long time ago that the family of a servant of God must be exemplary in all things. That is why I don’t take any evil report concerning my children light, no matter how inconsequential it might be, I don’t care. You may call it a light thing, to me, it is not light. I don’t have any light evil.

26. So, if you will be courageous to indulge in that evil character, be courageous enough to bear my punishment. He immediately employed my advice; stopped buying everything for the son; stripped him of his good clothes. He was wearing slippers up and down. He subjected him to the rigors of family life. The brain of the boy calmed down. What was the result? He made 8 alpha’s in G.C.E. Today, he is vying for a position as a medical doctor also.

27. What if he had ignored my advice, the boy would have grown wild. He would have missed it all. Many ways we corrupt our children and turn round to blame it on the society. What is society other than you?

28. Let me tell you, the first society your child knows is you. The relationship between you and your wife is the first society. Your conversation with your wife influences your children. Your dressing, your relationship, everything; even the type of friends you are keeping in your house. Amen.

29. The same way, I warned Bishop Moses when his own son Emmanuel wanted to grow wild. He brought the matter to me. I said, “This is a confession of weakness. You are confessing your ineptitude before me. What a shameful thing from a Bishop. You want me to tell you what youshould do to Emmanuel?’”

30. He told me measures he had already taken. I said, “No, it’s not enough’.” I then equipped him the more. He went back to Nsukka and displayed all and Emmanuel calmed down. Today, he has regained his son.

31. When you are all out to put your family the way it should be and bring up your children in the fear of the Lord, let there be no obstacle at all. Whoever tries to constitute a stumbling block, regard that person as a part of your problem and then deal with that problem treacherously without looking back because there is no excuse for failure. Is there any? There is no reasonable excuse for failure. If you have failed, you have failed. It starts from infancy.

32. Bro Victor Ugwu, I hope you are paying attention? Victor Ugwu, are you paying attention? I don’t know whether you study this Message. If you really paid attention, nobody will tell you what your family will look like. You must catch them young. Go and erect a family altar in your house. You have enough to offer to your children, at least using your own experience. Are you hearing me?

33. Whatever we were, were as a result of what we collected from our parents, but whatever we are today is as a result of what we have made ourselves. Whatever we shall be tomorrow will be what we make ourselves today.

34. It is not good for you to stop at condemning your parents. After condemning your parents, maybe for their injustice towards you, what steps have you taken to correct it? I say what steps have you taken to correct it? If you do not take bold steps to correct it, you may be worse than your parents; you may live a legacy worse than that of your parents. Amen.

I have always told you that things like washing of gutter, spreading of cloth, fetching of water from the pump should not cause trouble between you and your neighbour. Every character exhibited by somebody has a spirit that influenced it. Do not say because of what somebody did, that you will follow the person hastily. Allow him sometime, proof the person; because there is a way you will follow the person, in the end you would not know what to do, shame will cover your face—you are now exposed. So, let everybody follow his neighbour with wisdom.

-Son of Man

Chapter Four

In the Message: “THE DANGERS OF OVER PAMPERING CHILDREN,” God said, “No child is a kid; no child is a kid even from day one.”

2. I saw Bro Chime’s baby this morning looking sad, looking very, very angry. When I called him, the boy immediately switched off and went into voicemail. You know it is a dangerous thing for one to go into voicemail. Is it possible? Yes, you can go into voicemail. “Makua,” Makuachi, went into voicemail with his eyes red. I knew he was angry. He couldn’t talk but he was demonstrating.

3. I am saying that even the baby you are breastfeeding can demonstrate against you. Sometimes, he will start biting your breast in demonstration of his angry resentment. Sometimes, you bring food nearer, he will use leg to kick the plate, yet he is not walking. You want to give the baby food when he is angry, he will use all the hands together to beat the spoon and everything down, and you want to tell me that the person is a kid.

4. I don’t know whether parents actually take. Do you really take notice of all these things? Now, if those toddlers can behave that way, what can you say about these minors, I mean these teenagers. They know more than that, sometimes they suppress their feelings and vent them outside. Are you getting me?

5. Please, be very careful to watch over your family; but, begin by watching over your own life, your own conversation before your children must be guided by the Message. There are two many statements parents dare not make before their children. There are certain discussions you do not even hold before your children. Are you getting me?

6. Let me tell you, it is stupidity for parents to quarrel in front of their children. If you want to quarrel, quarrel inside your bedroom so that when you come into the parlor you pretend that all is well, lest your children will understand what is happening.

7. Are you getting what I am saying? Your children are watching you. Parents are role models. Is it not our Message? I will read it here.

8. You are role models. The first life that influences our children is the life they are witnessing in the family. The family is between their father and their mother – that is the first life before them.

9. So, don’t blame the children, blame yourselves. You are the ones equipping your children to misbehave and then you turn round to blame everything either on the society they have found themselves in, or on God or on the weakness of the Faith. The Faith is not weak. How can the Faith be weak? If the Faith is weak, Christ is weak. Do you know what I am saying?

10. It is your inordinate desire that renders the Word of God ineffective. I don’t know whether somebody is getting what I am saying? Your incorrigible lifestyle is what nullifies the effect of the Word. When you obey the Word, you will see the power at work. Until you obey, the power will not come out. Amen.

11. Let go further. Verse 13: “In the Message earlier mentioned, I made it unequivocally clear that a child should be corrected when there is still hope, for a time shall come when there will be no more hope for correcting that child. Attempting to correct that will be a wasted effort. Do you begin to learn how to use your left hand at an old age? I also pointed out in that Message that whoever wants to catch a bird must learn how to set an early morning trap.’”

12. You must set the trap early in the morning when the birds are still feeling cold. If you set the trap when the sun has risen up in the sky; when the birds must have acquired enough energy to fly about, do you think you will catch any bird? Do you understand what I am saying?

13. When a male child comes to a level where he feels he must have known everything his father knows and the female child also comes to a point where she now knows what her mother knows, there won’t be the need to talk anymore. Once the male child knows what his father knows, he becomes his father’s age mate; ditto for the female child.

14. Then if he or she is not given proper training, the greatest disaster has befallen the family. Going to the university will not solve the problem.

15. Bro Nwobu in Jos is now crying over his son who is a graduate in Computer Science for he has brought sorrow to his family because of his unguided behaviour. What caused it? He refused to be in the faith of his parents. With his university degree, he is a beast and his beast nature has now brought humiliation to him and his parents.

16. A child that is left to be on his own must bring shame and dishonour to his parents. Who do we blame? We blame Brother Nwobu because he never brought up his children in the fear of God.

17. God made it clear that as long as your child is under your control and tutorship

18. I mean you are paying the fees, you are clothing the child, you are doing everything for the child, that child is strictly under your supreme authority. Note the word, “supreme authority.” “Supreme” means all and all— final. Amen.

If an unrighteousness person or a fool talks to you, answer him not in the foolish way, else you yourself become a fool. If somebody asks you a foolish question and you answer the person back in a foolish way, you yourself become foolish. So, if somebody asks you a question in foolishness, answer him back in wisdom; answer him back in love. Bombard your enemies with love. Use love and bombard them, sincere love that is from the depth of the heart that is without bitterness in it. -Son of Man

Chapter Five

Let’s go further. Verse 14:“I have had a lot of experiences and interactions with many families and have come to discover one thing. You see so many well dressed, handsome and beautiful people walking on the street or working in the offices and you think all is well with them, but they do not have a single rest in their homes.”

2. Do you doubt me? I mean handsome men, beautiful women, riding pouch cars, own establishments, employers of labour. Some of them might be directors in their offices. When you look at the way they pull their cars around, how gorgeously dressed they are, how they spread money about, you think all is well with them, but you do not know that they don’t have rest in their homes. Why? Their children are not trained. Their children are hooligans.

3. Nothing troubles parents more than raising hooligans at the end of life. And hooligans do not manifest easily. They normally manifest at the time when the man and the woman have become tired; when they are completely exhausted – that’s the time hooligans will manifest.

4. Let me use myself for example. Assuming I am a hooligan and I am troubling my parents, when my dad is almost 86-years this year, my mother 72, what do you think they will do to correct me at my age? Anything?

5. Brethren, we had better pray hard. God really loves us. I say, God really loves us. Does it mean that they escaped it? You know my brothers; you know my relations. My parents have not escaped it. If I don’t trouble them, what about the others? That you don’t trouble your parents does it mean that others are not troubling them? What do you think is responsible for that? Improper training when they were young.

6. What if you are in this Faith and you dodge the training of your children or shift the responsibility to your wife alone or to your husband alone or you feign complete ignorance of the need, what type of fruit are you expected to harvest?

7. Hear me very well; the earliest fruits we harvest are our children or the earliest fruits we harvest in life all come from our children. Refuse to bring up your children in the fear of God now, I bet you, in the next ten years, you will begin to harvest the fruits thereof and the fruits actually are going to be wonderful.

8. Do you know one funny thing with a human being? If you plant tomatoes, you are certain you are going to harvest tomatoes. But it is not so with human beings. You can hardly predict accurately the type of fruit you will collect from an unguided child. I don’t know whether somebody is catching the Message?

9. When you are going to farm to pluck coconut, you are certain that you planted coconut and you will harvest nothing but coconut. But in the case of human beings, it is different.

10. When you deliver your children, for the fact that you refused to instruct them in a godly way, the fruits they will bear are highly unpredictable. You cannot accurately predict what you will get from your child, but when you give your child godly training and he grows up in the fear of the Lord and abides in the fear of the Lord, you are certain of the fruits.

11. You can even place your bet on him or your banker on him, just like the pool stakers; the “try-your-luck” people. They have some numbers they call “sure bankers.” But unfortunately, at the end of the week, you see, the way they will look at the blackboard will show you that “the bankers” had become “fraudulent bankers.” He will look at the number 10 over ten times. He may even ask somebody by the side, “Please, is that number ten?” Disappointed expectation, I say disappointed expectation.

12. When you are training your child the way you are training him, the way you are training her, what do you have in mind your child will be tomorrow? Is the kind of training you are giving to your child going to help your desire for the child come to accomplishment? Or do you have one thing in mind and give out the reverse in training?

13. Yes, our Message here on Wednesday made it clear that sometimes, our actions are in direct conflict with our volitions. You do not want your child to be a criminal, yet you keep dishing out money to him indiscriminately. You have indirectly trained a criminal. You do not want your daughter to be a prostitute, you do not want your son to be a drunkard or a never-do-well in your home, yet you expose him or her to a costly way of living; a life far higher than what is meant for people of his or her age, may be as your way of showing love. Is that love?

14. Love means nothing but making and causing your child to live a life in consonance with his age, finish! Not when you see all the fashionable styles in the market made for loose families, families that know nothing; families that don’t know where to spend the money, you rush and get them for your children. They think that the best material is the expensive type. They think that love means flooding their wealth on the children without restriction. That is not love.

15. I know one who loved his son that way even to the point of buying a jeep for that child when he was in the secondary school. What happened? The child disappointed him. Why? The father had already disappointed himself before the child disappointed him. He gave the boy a false impression of what the world is all about; he gave him the impression that the world is nothing but living the life of pleasure; living a pleasurable life. That means enjoyment. That is what life is all about.

16. You buy a mobile phone for a schoolchild, you buy radio, you buy this, you buy that, you are equipping your child to destroy himself and destroy you.

17. Hear me very well, are you a father? I am a father myself. Do you go about observing what is obtainable in some families? I do the same.

18. What I have realized in recent times is that so many wealthy men are now tired of their wealth because of the kind of trouble their children give them. For this reason, some decided to send their children overseas, yet it could not solve the problem; the thing even worsened when they got back to Nigeria.

19. There is nothing you can do to correct this anomaly which you caused by trying to show the child what you call love or that he cannot lack anything. If you feel you have money and you want to lavish it on your child, use it to prepare him for the future. Do not use what is meant to make you tall to shorten yourself.

20. When you are cautioned on how you lavish money on the child, you will say it is nobody’s business; after all, it is your money. Do not worry, one day, you will become like a mad man who set his house ablaze and went about rejoicing that there was light everywhere. A mad man sets his house ablaze and went about rejoicing: “Heee! Heee! Everywhere is now clear!” But a little while, the rain started; the sun came in a very hot way and the mad man started looking for a shelter and began to quarrel over the house he destroyed with his hands.

21. When you are doing whatever you are doing today as parents, please, remember your old age. I say remember your old age. There was a day I was chatting with a man who told me that he thanked God that his first son is not the only son he has. If he had been the only son, newspapers would have carried news items of how he (the man) jumped into River Niger so as to get drowned and leave this earth.

22. He said, “Odoemena, you see, people often do not know what God has done for them when He gives them reasonable children. The day you will realize that money is useless, is when you give birth to useless children. You will then realize that the money spent on the woman when she was pregnant, the running about, money spent on the out-dooring of the child etc., are all useless non-sense.”

23. Who will like to have such experience? We learn from the mistakes of others, but a foolish man will like evil to befall him before he learns his lessons.

24. Let me repeat verse 14 through 15: “I have had a lot of experiences and interactions with many families and have come to discover one thing. You see so many well-dressed, handsome and beautiful people walking on the streets, or working in offices and you think all is well with them, but they do not have single rest in their homes.

25. Each time they hear that the government has approved one form of vigilante service or the other, their hearts faint. Why? They know that their children are likely to be victims. They fear vigilante groups because they have corrupt children?.”

26. Whenever anybody that has a criminal at home hears that the Bakassi vigilante group has arrived, what does he do? I remember when Bakassi came to Onitsha some years ago; we had emergency born-agains. Almost all the criminals ran into all the Pentecostal Churches carrying Bible to escape from Bakassi. Immediately Bakassi was disbanded, they dropped the Bible and went out.

27. Now, everywhere is uncomfortable for them. Some have migrated to other States while some are still carrying on in the Church, changing styles; nevertheless, how long will it last? Thou knowest.

28. Let’s go further. Verse 16 through 17: “Parents who have grown up children and have trained them in the fear of the Lord, children who listen to words of instruction and are very obedient to their course, will have no need to fear if vigilante group operates in their neighbourhood.

29. Many people go to Fellowship suppressing their feelings. They go there because it is the place they can have a little peace, but when they go back home, there is no peace in their homes.”

30. Even their pastors, apostles, evangelists, archbishops, deacons, archdeacons, no exceptions. There are too many of them like that. Can you imagine a situation where a man will go to Church with his wife, the rest of their children will go for a jamboree in a pub, gathering in one place or the other? You go to a place called Markins along Enugu Road or one place along New America; a very hot point there, Chalton. Go there and see.

31. Today being Sunday, almost all the youths in the New America quarters are converged there. Go to Agbakoba Park and see what is happening there. While the parents are in Church, their children are in the eating and drinking houses; places of iniquities. At the end of it all, what do you expect it to be?

32. Do you think these parents have rest when they get home? When you keep your money, your child steals it. When you see a man hiding his money from one corner to the other, you may think that he is running from armed robbers. The armed robber is his child. You keep hiding things because of your child.

33. Before you know it, he holds you by the tie, trying to strangle you and say, “Man, I am going back to school tomorrow, you hear me? Ah! Ah! Ah! Mummy, mummy, no, no, no; there is money in the house? I can’t hear that mummy. Mummy just fifty T, just fifty T.”

34. Yes, he knows that you are above fifty T, just fifty T, “chicken change.” “Mummy, you have more than that. Mummy, so after next week, mummy you will make it seventy-five T.”

35. Yes, gradually, gradually, he keeps on increasing it until the day he will murder you. Before your very eyes, a young man who was a hooligan went to America, came back and killed his mother in a cold-blooded murder at Awka; a commissioner for Women Affairs here in Awka in Anambra State. It should be last year, 2006. Didn’t you hear it? It happened here.

36. Was he not a graduate? Then he carried the mother’s jeep and ran away. Because of common jeep, Naira and Kobo, he murdered his mother in cold-blood and you say, “Hei! Hei! Hei!”

37. The bedrock, the foundation of all these things, is where I am touching now. You don’t keep on looking for mystery, mystery, mystery all the time. If you know all the mysteries in the whole world and lose your family, it profits you nothing. Gain everything you want to gain; become whatever you want to become and lose possession of your children, you have wasted your time here on earth.

38. Some are just walking about; they have children, but they are not sure of who will bury them. Sometimes, you see people who are full-fledged adults living in the city, may be in a place like Lagos, sometimes staying up to 10 or even 20 years without asking after those at home, especially their parents.

39. They can hardly send a penny home. Nobody dies and they show any concern – a human being. What caused it? Poor training, poor exposure. It is applicable to both men and women.

40. Any seed a man soweth that he must reap. You must reap what you sow. When you leave your children untrained and unguided, get ready to harvest unpredictable fruits. Remember that the training of children remains a joint responsibility. Husband, you are involved; wife, you are involved, and this is where the world has missed it all.

41. Let’s go further. Verse 17: “Many people go to Fellowship suppressing their feelings. They go there because it is the only place they can have a little peace, but when they go back home, there is no peace in their homes. Why? Their children are giving them headaches. The children are already showing signs of rebellion even at tender ages, while some of them who are in the secondary schools have grown above the parent’s control. Yet, the parents watch helplessly.”

42. Parents watch the development helplessly. Woe onto such parents that will helplessly watch their children grow wild, turn renegades to every family order. I say woe unto such children and woe onto such parents that will not do anything to arrest the situation.

43. Little children are you getting with me? Are you reading with me at all? I mean little children here. I want to hear your response. Are you following at all? How many will like to be a hooligan here? How many will like to be a headache to his parents?

44. I know in the Fellowship you will say no, but when you get home, your character will prove that you have already grown wild.

45. Let’s go further. Verse 18 through 20: “Then the question arises: when and where will this evil habit end, if you watch your children grow up in that wild manner? What does the future hold for such children?

46. You hear people say, ‘Anyone of my children that is killed, his own is gone.’ Is that a good thing to say? If you console yourself with such silly statement, is that a good consolation?

47. In that same Message on the danger of over pampering children, I made it clear to all a sundry that no matter how a girl grows she can not grow or out grow her mother. No matter how a boy grows, he can never out grow his father. Can the okra tree grow or surpass its owner? Oftentimes, parents shy away from their responsibilities only to turn round and say that their children are above their control.”

48. You abandon your duty towards your children and keep walking about bothering yourself with material things, clothes and the rest. You then begin to make a lot of noise when your children grow wings, lamenting that they have grown out of control: “You see, we are trying ourbest, but this child seems to be greater than us. Please, help us.”

49. Who do you want to help you? The only help I know I can give you is to provide you with a knife so that you chop his head off. Yes, because a popular dictum stipulates that: “An ear that does not listen to advice often goes down with the head.” No be me go kill am, na you go kill am. Amen.

You can never live a life higher than your thought. Whatever you think in your heart, that’s how your life is. Does your life bring shame? What are people saying about you? What are people saying about your family? What are they saying about your children? You have to answer these questions yourself. -Son of Man

CHAPTER SIX

Let’s go further. Verse 21: “Do not direct this Message to anybody; direct it to yourself and to your entire household before you direct it to someone else. It is said that when the she-goat chews the cud, her little ones learn from her.”

2. Do not direct this Message to another person, it is meant for you; it is also meant for me. It is our families that are being talked about. Our lives are being talked about. Keep your home in order before you start poking your finger at another person’s home. Train your children. Before you preach this Message to others, first and foremost, preach it to your family members and be sure that they are convinced. Just saying it orally is not enough.

3. Let’s go further. Verse 22: “I also pointed out in that Message that the worst and most shameful thing that would befall a mother is to be alive while her daughter puts on trousers in her presence.’”

4. What about a woman that puts it on before her children? What about a woman who is desirous of such clothings? What about a woman who always loves to polish up her nails with nail polish amidst heavy make-ups all over her face? If her daughter decides to do the same thing tomorrow, does she have any say there?

5. If you always delight in putting on clothes with too many openings almost to the extent of going naked in the name of fashion and somebody decides to give clothes that are large enough to cover your daughter’s nakedness and she declines saying, “I will like to put on the type of clothes mummy wears,” will you be surprised?

6. Yes, who did she learn it from? She learnt it from her mother. Keep checking these things because God said we spoil our ways and turn round to blame it on God. The same way, we spoil our children, spoil our families only to turn round and blame it on the society.

7. There is nothing wrong with the society, but something is wrong with you and your family. The first society I know is my family; the second is your family. What do I mean? It is a collection of families that form a society. The society is not made up of goats and rats, it is made up of individuals and individuals come from families.

8. So, the first society is my family, the second is your family. If there is anything you are doing at home and you think your children do not know, you are deceiving yourself. Nothing influences the children more than what they see with their eyes and what they hear with their ears.

9. That thing which you are doing, your children are seeing it. That which you say and you think it means nothing to them, they are hearing it. These things influence their character. Whether you like it or not, parents still remain role models.

10. Let’s go further. Verse 22: “I also pointed out in that Message that the worst and the most shameful thing that would befall a mother is to be alive while her daughter puts on trousers in her presence or have a daughter that comes home with protruding belly to present pregnancy as a gift to her parents.”

11. For those who constantly pressurize their children to bring something home when coming back, I believe that pregnancy is a very nice gift to be brought home. When the daughter finally brings back such “nice gift” home, the mother begins to make unnecessary noise. After some time you, may hear: “Is it an abomination that my daughter got pregnant? Is she the first to have done such a thing?” No shame.

12. Yes, when you are bragging, you don’t even know how people are seeing you. Your children can drag your reputation to the mud. The character of your children will either exalt your family or debase your family. Righteousness exalts a family, but sin, iniquity and reckless living debase a family.

13. That is why God warned us seriously that as parents, we should be careful about what we say and how we behave, for if we are not careful; all we are trying to build in our children all these years may be destroyed by one single misbehaviour in their presence.

14. A single misbehaviour in the presence of your children can do great havoc by destroying all the virtues you have struggled to inculcate in them all these years. One single misbehaviour nullifies all, renders them ineffective and then opens your reputation before them to question.

15. Therefore, parents should be very careful. I told you a story of a family. This family was blessed with a baby girl and while the baby was coming up in life, pregnancy was delayed. Her mother couldn’t conceive until about 4 years later, but within that period, that woman never saw peace with her husband. They were constantly quarrelling. The father was so hot-tempered that he never spared beating the woman everyday; even in the presence of the little girl.

16. So, one Sunday evening, the man came back with some of his friends and he was in a happy mood. The daughter just rushed forward because the man was carrying a loaf of bread in his hand. This little girl embraced the father: “Daddy, you are welcome. Good evening sir,” she referred to the father’s friend who was accompanying him.

17. Very close to entering their parlour, the girl collected the bread from the father and then rejoiced, ran into the house and came back: “Daddy, daddy, will you beat mummy again today?” He said, “Ehn! Shut up!” “No daddy, will you beat mummy again today?” the girl said again.” Daddy, please don’t beat mummy again.”

18. Then the friend was shocked. He turned to his friend and said, “My dear, any problem in your house?” “Don’t mind this stupid girl. That is one of the dangers of sending them to nursery school. I don’t know whether I will withdraw this child. She talks too much,” the man said.

19. The friend replied, “But she is talking sense; she is talking sense.” A little while, the woman came out from the house with bulged eyes and the man enquired: “Woman, ah! Ah! Ah! You are looking so weak and sad, what happened to your eyes?” “I mistakenly jammed my eyes on the door while entering the kitchen.” Immediately she said this, the little girl heard it; she ran and shouted: “No! Daddy beat mummy in the eye.” So, the man went after the girl.

20. It can happen anywhere; it can happen anywhere. What am I saying? This single girl that is still alone and is being exposed to this type of lifestyle starting from her family, what do you think the future holds for her? If she turns out to be renegade tomorrow, who will be blamed? The baby or the parents? You see why it is very, very bad for parents to lay bad examples before their children.

21. Most of the mistakes our children are making today are as a result of what they are seeing in our lives; If not now, previously. What if you are of the type that loves taking your children to the public places? Anywhere you want to go, you will like your son or your daughter to follow you there, exposing the child to rough, rough places.

22. If you are a businessman, you place order for goods. When the consignment arrives, I do not believe that you express any surprise at the type of goods you are given because those must have been exactly what you ordered for.

23. Mrs. Awudu, the general secretary of SEC, was sharing her experiences in her book. This woman has investments both in Nigeria and abroad; she raised an enviable family. In one of her trips, one of the sons stipulated all the items the mother must purchase for him in London for she attended the London stock exchange seminar.

24. The woman got there and phoned the son to tell him that those items were not in London market. The boy changed his mind and mentioned other items. The woman wondered how the boy managed to know the existence of those costly items and then while she was coming back, she made a stopover in Lagos and purchased all the “tokunbos”— fairly used— in Alaba: second-hand clothes, second-hand shoes, all contrary to the boy’s request.

25. When she got home, the boy was fuming with rage. The mother said, “My dear, don’t be offended. I bought all that you requested. You wanted so, so and so, but look at what you needed. So, I am here with all that you need. I cannot provide what you want but I can provide what you need.”

26. Can we learn something from there? What do you provide for your children as parents? Do you provide what they want or what they need? Mothers, fathers, everyone must answer this question. What do you provide for your children? For whatever provision you are making for your children must influence them rightly or wrongly.

27. There is a way I will cloth my son now, he will begin to look down on all of you. Do you believe that? Can you imagine a little boy who is still under aged wearing a costly shoe of about N7, 000, N6, 000, trousers worth N11, 000, N10, 000? If he becomes an adult, the father will sell a plot of land to meet his needs. That is what it means. He cannot ride 504 or these cars here. The father must kidnap somebody, sell a human being. This is true.

28. What am I saying? Flamboyant life leads to every kind of evil. There is a particular level where you will keep your child and he will know nothing but himself—filled with ego. From time to time, he examines his watch, his suit, his tie and he will only go to places that match with his class because you have now given him class; you have promoted him to another class and every class has its own associated evil. I do not know whether you do really understand me?

29. If I place my children in the class of children of money magnates, they will surely start behaving like them. This is because any class you find yourself calls for a defence. If the person is a lady the same thing.

30. This is the reason why, if you watch a lady that rides a car when she is not married, her marriage is delayed. Moreover, at the end of it all, she must marry a hooligan, somebody who will come to her because of that car or her bank account. That is why intelligent ladies do not buy cars until they get married. It is widely believed that a lady living on her own and rides a car is a prostitute; not ordinary prostitute, but an international one and is above staying under the rulership of a man. I believe that that ideology is right. Are you getting me? It’s applicable to a boy.

31. Know the type of training you are giving your children. Know the class where you are placing your child. Are sure you can bear the associated burden? These needs not be over emphasized.

32. What am I saying here? Parents, be careful. CHECKPOINT. CHECKPOINT means recognize where you have erred and make a necessary correction. Recognise where you have strayed away from the Faith. Recognise where you have lowered the standard. Recognise what is responsible for the troubles you are passing through in your family. What do you think is responsible for the misbehaviour of your children?

33. For I believe that God has given us a very powerful equipment with which to bring up our children as models in our day, present ourselves also as models in our day. There is no group, in short, we have no rival as far as “sound teaching” is concerned. We have no rival and we have no excuse if we fail.

34. A Roman Catholic catechist who collected FAMILY MENU Vols. 1 & 2 from me came back to my shop on Thursday, full of appreciation. I thought he was returning my books. Rather, he said, “Son of Man, this ‘Son of Man’ nearly stumbled me, but somebody said ‘Son of Man’ doesn’t mean God. He began to show me ‘Son of Man’ in the Bible. It was then that my idea and my vision about you changed. I began to show interest in your books. While going through your books, I now discover that they are ‘indispensable materials in every home.’ So, I am here to make request for twenty copies.”

35. I said, “Sir, your request can only be granted by my own group. I cannot even provide one tomorrow.” He said, “Well, forfeit your own.” I thought the man was kidding. He engaged me in too many questions, which I cleared to his satisfaction.

36. He said, “My friend, please, do me as favour: if you cannot get twenty copies, please, get at list ten, ten. I have many, many families. I am a marriage counsellor in St. Luwaga’s Church and I have been using what I gathered in your books from that day till now and my people are pleased. But this ‘Son of Man’ nearly caused trouble!”

37. You see, there must be a stumbling block. Until he removed it, he did not yield to the Message. Immediately he removed it, his eyes opened. He became appreciative. If a Roman Catholic could acknowledge the Message to be true, to be useful and a veritable instrument in every family for child training, what is your own opinion about it?

38. To some of you, it is only good for decorating your parlours; good for equipping your hand bags; good for increasing the number of books you have in your shelves, but to the man, they are very, very important and unavoidable in every family.

39. You must have your own opinion about these Messages. Holding the books without going through them profits you nothing; rather, the contents may turn out to be your condemnation at the end. God has given us the dress. We have to dress ourselves, do you believe that?

40. The essence of the Son of Man is to give you the dress and the dress is the Word of a God. You have to clothe yourself. Do you believe that? The Bride is clothed with the Word of God and the Word of God is the righteousness of the Bride for the Word is God Himself.

41. Let’s go further. Verse 23: “The father and mother of such a girl have failed because it must take the two to make up the family and the art of training children is a joint responsibility.”

42. My wife will play her role while I also play my own role. If the thing becomes too hectic for her, she transfers it to me. There is a point the training of a child will get to, the man simply pushes the child to his wife. Is it not true? Please, be careful.

FALSE LOVE LINE

Let’s go further. Verse 24: “The man and woman must agree. They must have one mind and one purpose for the family; otherwise, the family must be divided along false love lines, false love lines.’”

44. What is false love line? Let us see, verse 25 through 26: “Here is what I mean: if a woman sincerely desires that her children must be trained in a godly way, and she spends her time checking the excesses of her children, doing her best to bring them to order, but the husband is opposed to her honest intentions; instead of cooperating with his wife to raise up the children in a godly manner, the man indoctrinates the children to believe that their mother hates them.

45. So, the children start to see their mother as the enemy and then love their father who offers them false security by providing them pleasantries, things that will make them happy. The man is dividing his family along false love line.”

46. Their mother hates them, is it possible? It has happened before my eyes. I have once witnessed where a man told his children to run away from their mum, that the woman was a witch. What made the woman a witch was that she broke the television in the parlour and discarded all the nonsense the man parked everywhere, which were sources of distractions to the kids.

47. The man just called up the children and told them to run away from their mum, for she was a witch and that she hated them. And you know that children believe such things easily.

48. Let’s go further. Verse 26: “Instead of cooperating with his wife to raise up the children in a Godly manner, the man indoctrinates the children to believe that the mother hates them, so the children start seeing their mother as the enemy and then love their father who offers them false security by providing them pleasantries, things that will make them happy. The man is dividing the family along false love lines.

49. Loving my children does not mean buying biscuits and bananas for them. It does not mean buying a TV game with joystick with which to play the game. We have to be very careful Brethren.

50. Sometimes, a man may be correcting the son, the wife just comes along, pulls the child away from the reach of the man and tells the child to run; that the father hates him; that if the father ever loved him, he should be buying him shoes, clothes etc; but, for the fact that he does not buy these things, that the man is a wizard and really hates him.

50. How can my wife be buying all these things for the child and I still go ahead to buy mine as if we are competing? Whether it is my wife that bought it or I, it is still the same thing; we both bought it. Finish.

51. How can a woman buy a piece of clothe for her child and on trying it out on the little child begins to make some lousy comments like: “Well, let me keep buying you clothes, after all, your father does not care whether you wear clothes or not. It is none of his business.”

52. Well, anyway, my wife cannot try it, for she knows what I will do if she tries it. You know, I behave somehow. I am known for that. If she tries it, for one month, nobody will eat. Any amount of money that comes into the house must go into clothes. I must go to Main Market and come back with a “Ghana-must-go bag” full of clothes and shoes; for one full month we will starve.

53. Ah!Ah! I will just gather the children and tell them that the items have arrived. I will carry the whole thing ‘”e via’.” When the time comes for food, I will say, “Well, we used the money to buy clothes.”

54. They will think I am kidding. The following morning, I will land with another basket until everybody starts shouting: “Are we going to eat clothes in this house?” I will say, “Na so mummy want am.”

55. All I am saying is this: we should be sensible concerning all these things; otherwise, we will divide our families; we create unnecessary disaffection between our children—either our wives or husbands giving that impression that you love your children more than your husband or you love your children more than your wife. It is a stupid behaviour that must be avoided with all malice.

56. It is a joint responsibility. No particular person takes the credit. If there is a disappointment, all of us are disappointed. If they succeed, all of us have succeeded. Amen.

For you to gain respect, you will first of all humble yourself down. Do not be puffed up, do not be proud; the fear of God is the counsel of righteousness. Whatever righteousness you exhibit which does not come from the fear of God, is nonsense; it is not taking you anywhere.

-Son of Man

Chapter Seven

So please, all of you should change your attitude immediately because your children are learning from you. Until you ask me to come down, I will not come down. So, if you want me to come down, tell me to come down.

2. Let’s go further. Verse 27: “Remember, human beings by nature, hate instructions that will give them life. Human beings love to tilt towards the area where they are always given pleasantries as an expression of love. Children love people who give them pleasantries more than those who rebuke them.”

3. Children, from today, change your attitude. Anybody that gives you pleasantries to win your love is your enemy; but whoever that rebukes you when you go wrong, love that person. He is the person that loves you for the love of God is corrective but the love of the Devil is a gift. Devil manifests his own love through gifts and unnecessary pleasantries, so avoid those people.

4. Let’s go further. Verse 28: “Unless you want your daughter to be dragging the kitchen with you and the boys to be dragging palm wine and every other thing with you, you will spend your time with them to bring them up in a godly manner.’”

5. If you do not want your son to break your head with a bottle while scrambling over alcoholic drinks with you, bring out enough time to train that child in a godly way. If you do not want your daughter to be running about with you in your kitchen, even after she has been married when it is not even clear whether she is married or still living in her father’s compound, spend time to train her in a godly way.

6. Let’s go further. Verse 29: “It is a sign of failure for your son to quarrel with you over land when you are still alive. As long as a man is alive, the son should buy his own land if he wants one. If his father does not give him a portion, he has no right to contend with his father over any portion of land, because the father is still alive. Can you struggle over the property of the living?”

7. It is a sign of failure for a son to quarrel with you over land when you are still alive. To start with, did he give you any property to keep for him? It is a sign of failure. If you don’t want it to happen, begin now to train your children. Teach your children these doctrines so that you re-direct their footsteps, otherwise where they are heading to may be disastrous.

8. Let’s go further. Verse 30: “In clear terms I tell you this: When you spend time to train your children well, you will reap the reward thereof ; but, when you do not bother about training them, or you refuse to train them, you will equally reap the reward thereof.”

9. You must reap what you sow. You see, this Message has been preached indirectly before now. God is confirming His Words in diverse ways. You must reap what you sow; will you deny this? I am saying that retributive justice is here also and it is very much explained as it relates to our children.

10. Let’s go further. Verse 31: “Consider a situation where a man takes refuge in the house of his neighbours because his first son is after him. Is that not a shameful situation? Who will like to have such a son? What do you think caused it?’

11. A terribly shameful situation. You may begin to wonder whether this can happen. It is happening. I mean the first son of a man chasing his father out of the house using a cutlass while his father runs for his dear life and seeks refuge at his maternal home or in neighbour’s apartment. Who is he running away from? His first son.

12. I told you a story of what happened where I was living some years ago. A young man who was very stubborn and arrogant—although his father was equally stubborn in his youth and continued in it in old age. One day, there was a quarrel between the father and his son. So, we were just passing and we saw what looked like a play. Before we rushed to the scene, the boy had already lifted his father up and floored him on the ground. After he floored the man on the ground, he was screaming and screaming, crying and weeping. His hands were very loose. He couldn’t punch his father.

13. We never knew that the boy was dying. We were pleading with the father to have mercy on the young man and the man said, “No, no, no I am holding him in a ‘bad junction.’ Leave me; let me teach him a lesson.”

14. The father gripped his testicles tight and was squeezing them with his hands. Saliva was just dripping out of the son’s mouth. The person I am referring to is the father of Brother James. He is right here. I mean Brother James. He is not too far from me. It is his real father not his grandfather, for he was a very stubborn man, very stubborn.

15. Anywhere he attended their “Egwu Ozo,” he must fight. He will be number one to pick up his stick and hit somebody. After fighting, he will jump into his 504 and drive home. So, he taught that boy a lesson he never forgot. He never made the mistake of insulting his father till he died. What I am trying to bring out is the level of humiliation there—a son fighting his father publicly not in secret. What caused it? Poor training.

16. The man used the time he could have devoted training his children for something that wasn’t meaningful at all.

17. What are you doing in your day today? Where are you spending your time? Where do you spend the time you could have used to sit down with your wife in the family to look after your children? Is it at the Main Market or Ochanga Market or in your mechanic workshop or in your offices?

18. These questions are pertinent because whatever a man esteems higher than his family is what will destroy the family. Anything you esteem higher than your family; that thing which is more important to you than your family, take note of it; it is what will destroy your family. If it is your academic pursuit, surely it must destroy your family. If it is your office, if you are not careful, it will destroy your family.

19. I am saying that in everything; create enough time to sit with your family so as to see to their welfare. At the end of your toils in this life, the only thing that will be your comfort is that your children are doing well: “I have raised well-behaved children that are successful.” Finish. If not, you have wasted your own time.

20. You see, we are blessed here. That’s why we can hardly appreciate a teaching like this. You won’t understand what I am saying until you have gone out and met with families that are really on the ground looking for a way out, yet there is no way. Every hope is lost— not in one, not in two—but in all.

21. I came into contact with a family. The head of the family was a multi millionaire. He had everything; had estates in America. He even raised his children in America. They all came back here and became drug addicts both men and women till today. All of them have become beasts and the man has reclined to stay at home waiting for death to strike. It is a shameful thing. Who will like this kind of situation to befall him? In short, we need to be pitied.

22. Let’s go further. Verse 34: “That which gives you sleepless nights, that which you esteem higher than staying at home as a mother or as a father after the day’s toils, to look into the state of your home and how your children are faring. That thing which gives you pleasure outside your home and keeps you away from your home, be it your work or any other thing; know that the same thing will spoil your family.’

23. Let’s go further. Verse 35: “Show me a child that performs very well within and without his or her home and I will show you parents that stay around that child. Any child that is allowed to have his or her way must bring shame and dishonour to the parents at last.”

24. If you believe it, say “amen.”

PART FOUR

MOTHER’S ROLE EXPLAINED

THE FAMILY MENU vol. two, page 62 (mother’s role): “Men must also check the excesses of their wives. No one trains the child more than the mother, and no one spoils the child more than the mother. That same person responsible for training the children is the same person responsible for the spoiling of the children.’

2. Please, take note of the statement: “men must.” Then the question arises: Do our wives have some of their excesses? Do we notice some excesses in the behaviour and utterances of our wives? If you don’t notice them, how can you check them? “I love my wife,” “I love my wife,” yes! And that “love” will compel me to check some of her excesses.

3. There are certain things that are my own exclusive preserve, which I will never allow her to encroach into. The same way, there are certain areas in family life that are her exclusive preserve. I dare not encroach into them. Are you getting me?

4. The same thing applies to mine. Any attempt by my wife to encroach into those areas must be resisted. That is what it means to check the excesses of our wives. This is because by nature, every woman will like to be in control.

5. A woman can only be in control of her kitchen not the parlour. You can’t control the kitchen and control parlour too, but the control of the bedroom is our joint control. This is because the parlour is the resting place of the king. Do you believe that? The resting place of the queen is the kitchen. This is hard to believe.

6. If a man comes back from work and wants to rest, he simply goes for a mat with which he lies on the floor of the parlour. Can a woman do that? If a woman wants to sleep on the floor, she gets into the bedroom and sleeps on the bare floor. Is it a lie? The parlour is the palace of the king from where he dishes out orders: “Bring me star, bring me stout, get me fish and get me a plate of pepper soup.” That is where a man relaxes his nerves. Do you understand what I am saying?

7. But hear me very well, the topic says: “Men Must Learn To Check The Excesses Of Their Wives.”

8. I told you of a woman who was very, very strong, stronger than a man, stronger than her husband; very quarrelsome. She could leave the house anytime she wants, come back anytime she wants. The husband might be there, before his eyes, somebody will come with a car, blow the horn and she gets outside, joins the man in the vehicle and off they go; even, without asking for permission from the man.

9. Each time she comes back and the man makes any noise, the woman simply beats the hell out of him since she was very strong. Another thing was the fear that if he speaks, the woman will hire people to kill him. So, the man kept quiet until his friend began to ridicule him and cajole him up and down.

10. So, he got instruction from somewhere and then the idea of how to beat the wife came into his mind. He did something: He went and gathered “Nsukka pepper.” Do you know what we call “Nsukka pepper?” We have special pepper that is from Nsukka, which is very, very hot.

11. He grounded the pepper very well, poured little water into it and then purchased two strong canes. He placed them at the back of the door.

12. This woman went out as usual. The man waited and waited and waited. At about 11 p.m, the woman was singing on her way back and knocked on the door as usual. One of the daughters stood up and opened the door. Immediately, the man carried the little plate containing the red pepper—Nsukka pepper—and poured the whole thing into his mouth. He placed the remnant behind the door. While the children were saying, “Welcome mummy, welcome mummy,” she enquired with a masculine voice: “Where is your father? Is he not in the house? Has he not heard my voice?”

13. So, the man came out and the woman was shouting and shouting. The man pretended as if he was sorry and was coming closer and closer and closer; the lioness (the woman) was shouting and shouting, and the man just made pooo! Splashing the pepper into her eyes and all over her face.

14. She dropped her bag and was rubbing her eyes while the man looked for his cane and picked up the cane. The man lashed her mercilessly that night. So, he was lashing and pushing her until he come to the wall and knocked her head against the wall, pulling the woman down in the process, neighbours came.

15. After that incident, the woman never resort to violence, but took dialogue. Any bush that abhors baskets mustn’t grow mushrooms. Any day the weak man becomes strong, havoc must be wrecked. Are you getting me?

16. You know what it takes for a blind man to see from his father’s room. He will run round the whole world in a minute.

17. So, from that day, the man learnt the secret of how to beat the wife. Each time the wife makes any noise, he will say, “Remember that day. Another day I will handle you, it will be in another style.” Amen.

18. Those you feel do not talk, cannot keep quiet forever. They must one-day talk. Are you getting me?

19. Let’s continue— still on verse 1 — “No one trains the child more than the mother and no one spoils the child more than the mother’.”

20. Those of you children who always like to follow your mum about, take note, for the Igbos said, “A boy trained by a woman usually goes gaga.” Does it mean that you should hate your mother? No. Love your mother, respect your mother but honour your father. I repeat: Love your mother, respect your mother, but honour your father. Amen.

21. Let’s continue— still on verse 1— “That same person responsible for the training of the children is the same person responsible for spoiling the children.”

22. Is it not wonderful to know that? Was this Message written this morning? Did we write it having a particular person in mind? It is a Message from God, which was given to all of us. It’s ours. Take yours home while I also take mine home.

23. Let’s continue— still on verse 1 through 2 —“That same person that is responsible for the training of the children is the same person responsible for the spoiling of the children. When a woman spoils her children, she turns round to blame it on their father, but no man spoils his children unless he is in enmity with their mother.”

24. Whenever a man has a dispute with the wife, the children are surely in for trouble. Do you understand what I am saying? Wherever a lion fights with an elephant, who will suffer? The grass will suffer because the impact must be left there. The impact must be left behind. You can’t quarrel with your wife endlessly without leaving the impact on your family. Glory be to God.

25. Let’s continue. Verse 3: “The greatest favour and love the man can show his children as a father, is to love their mother.’”

26. If you don’t love your wife, you don’t love your children because your wife is closest to them than any other person, and can snatch them away from you. I say she can snatch them away from you. What I mean by snatching is snatching their hearts away.

27. Let’s continue. Verse 3 through 7: “Once a man hates his wife, he looks for a way to use his children against their mother. The same also is true for the woman. When a woman hates her husband she must look for a way to win the children to use them against their father.

28. Any child used by the mother to fight the father must be a hooligan. I repeat: any child that is seduced by the mother, as an instrument to fight the father must be a hooligan.

29. Look into the society; watch all you can see on the streets, highways and in the homes. You will begin to wonder whether they came from families. Trace their problems and you will find out that their mothers spoilt them. Their mothers used most of them to fight their fathers.

30. Let us now consider home ideals or home idiosyncrasies.”

31. What is your family known for? There is no family that does not have a peculiar thing for which it is known. Some families are known for too much talking; some are known for coming home late at night; some are known for rascality; some are even known for trouble making; some are known for cooking their meals late in the night whereby the woman will disturb the entire neighbourhood with the sound of mortar and pestle etc. These are the things we call home idiosyncrasies.

32. I am coming to something Brethren. Please, bear with me.

33. Let’s continue. Verse 7 through 10: “Your family must be known by something. When your family is mentioned, what crosses people’s minds? If you raise criminals-children who give your community trouble- once the name of your family is mentioned, what do people say? They will associate your home with that of hooligans and armed robbers.

34. When you cross the street, what do people say? ‘There goes the father of that armed robber that shot someone the other day.’ Please, drive this Message home. Do not direct it to someone else but yourself.

35. One thing is to have children; another thing is to train them. If you have children, it is a blessing from God. If you do not train them, it becomes a curse from God; a blessing can be a curse, if it is not properly managed. Ignorance is foolishness and it is a deliberate misfortune.”

36.Ignorance is what? Foolishness and also a deliberate misfortune.

37. “A poor man is not a man without money, but a man without wisdom.”

38. A poor woman is not a woman without one naira but a woman without wisdom.

39. Let’s continue. Verse 10 through 12: “For wisdom saves your life, but your wealth cannot save you because without wisdom, you cannot control your wealth. Wealth is controlled by wisdom, but wealth does not give wisdom—Does it?—“With wisdom you can secure your wealth.

40. As earlier mentioned, when you observe the society, you will notice many people on the streets or even in the churches, some of them are Reverends, Pastors or Archbishops, among the clergy, and highly placed men and women in the society. When you see them in their flashy cars, you think all is well with them. All is not well.

41. If you get to their homes, often times the man cannot tell the wife what to do because he is afraid of the wife. He cannot even exercise his authority in his family because he is afraid of his children”

42. Is it not possible? In some families, the man doesn’t talk, for the woman is a tigress. From time to time, you may hear something like: “Just disturb me here and I get my relatives to teach you one or two lessons.” The man may even be terribly afraid of the children: “If I hear any noise from you again, I put you into the boot.” Who is he referring to? The father (Nwobu).

43. The man will be dying in silence. The man is no more at rest. He will be troubled about the wife and the children. The life of the man is in danger. He does not know what to do so as to ensure that tomorrow gets better. What caused it? He did not spend enough time to train the children. Again, he did not check the excesses of the wife when there was hope, when there was still time.

44. I believe that there is a stage in marriage where a single misbehaviour from the wife can be corrected by one hot slap; but there is an age the man gets to, he dares not slap her unless he wants to die. The only thing he can do at that stage is to walk about displaying his angry resentment: “Somebody will die in this house one day!” The next thing he hears is: “If you know the person you are referring to, just touch him or her.”

45. The wife jostles him by the trousers with her left hand. Before the man knows it, she beats the daylight out of him amidst the shouts for help from him. This is why in your youth, put her in the right shape. Give her office, so that it becomes her way of life, finish.

46. You train a woman the same way you train children. If you train your wife well, you gain; but, if you do not train her well, just get ready; she will use you to learn boxing. If she happens to wear a tight—you know that knickers are out of fashion now—she can do too many things to you.

47. You know there are assorted tights nowadays; those made of rubber. The thing will be so tight on her skin that she doesn’t trouble herself checking whether the thing is pulling off or is loose. She will just tilt her leg at an angle and give the man a powerful kick that will get him sprawling. The man begins to look for a way out. I am telling you the truth.

48. If you ever complain that your leg or head is aching, no more. She grips you there until you wet yourself. This is true because that which you could do in your youth, you couldn’t do them anymore—since time and events weary down a man. Amen.

49. What I am telling you is clear; as clear as the day. You may not know how reduced your stamina (strength) is until the day you annoy your wife. She will just grip you by your trousers and give you one “round.”You stagger this way and sway that way: “Woman, I will deal with you!” Are you going to deal with her when the strength to do so is no more there?

CHECK THE EXCESS OF YOUR CHILDREN

So please, what I am saying? Try to check the excesses of your children. When you are checking that of your children, check that of your wife also. Unless these two agree with you, you can never see peace in your family.

51. Nevertheless, remember that it is in the hand of the woman to dictate the type of atmosphere that will be prevalent in the family at any given time. If she wants the atmosphere to be hot, it must be hot. Do you understand me? That there is peace in the house; that the air-conditioner produces cool atmosphere is only determined by the woman. If the woman decides that the air-conditioner will produce heat, it must produce heat.

52. This is why you must blend your family in such a manner that they will cooperate with you at all times, so that the purpose of erecting the family might be achieved. Let me go further before I come down.

53. Let’s continue. Verse 13 through 20: “Often times, you see the children threatening their parents, what do you think is the cause? Which parents will be happy to have daughters that will be bold and arrogant enough to stand before them and challenge their authority?

54. Imagine your own children harassing and threatening you in your own home, threatening to deal with you in your house. Threatening to show you who is who in your house. Some girls are bold enough to menacingly point a finger at their mother threatening to show her who is who.

55. Will you be happy to have such children? Who will desire such children in this life? Yet, that is the point where the world is heading, and if you do not recognize this and find out the cause, surely you will never escape it. Find out why and then escape it.

56. God blesses us with children who are growing up every day. They mix with every kind of person both in schools and colleges and since we do not have our own private colleges and private nursery or primary schools, they must go to these schools whether we like it or not.

57. Some of their teachers are from broken homes. Teachers who do not have rest in their homes, whose husbands and children trouble them. They carry their troubles to the classroom. If you cannot recognize this truth, you are going to be the next victim.

58. I observed a little girl in the Junior Secondary School whose parents I know very well. Every afternoon a young man using a flat boot Mercedes car drops her nearby my office and the girl walks the rest of the way home.

59. At mornings, she goes away in her school uniform but when coming back, she comes wearing another dress. In other words, she goes out with two different dresses.

60. Whatever explanation she gives her parents to warrant her change of clothing in school or anywhere is best known to her. You do not teach a criminal how to tell lies, for it a part of a criminal’s life.”

61. A criminal can stand up and tell one million lies in one second. He doesn’t think on how to tell lies, it is a part of life to him.

62. Let’s continue. Verse 21 and 22: “Now, if her parents are observant and wise, surely they must caution that child by interrogating her. They must find out why she changes her dresses everyday.

63. If this girl has started living this kind of life at this early stage of life, by the time she gets to Senior Secondary School, if she ever gets there, what do you think will be her condition?”

64. I thank God that this particular girl I am talking about here has stopped going to school. She didn’t go beyond J.S.S 3 and got pregnant. You see, I am vindicated. How I wish all of you know her.

65. Let’s continue. Verse 23 through 24: “I know a man whose headache is to locate where his son normally goes when he leaves home for school. Every morning he leaves home for school but will never be in school. The father has taken it upon himself several times to check the son without meeting him in school. Who then is responsible? It was because of that same habit that the father changed his school but he has become worse.

66. The parents did not give that child proper upbringing from the first day, for his problem started right from primary one; now, he is in Junior Secondary school. How can the parents attempt to correct him in Junior Secondary school? What cannot be achieved in a child as an infant cannot be achieved in him when he is an adult’.”

67. It is underlined there. Catch them young.

68. Let’s continue. Verse 25 through 26: “Let me put it this way, it will take a miracle for you to bring back your child that has tasted cigarette and liquor!

69. How do we raise our children? What do we have in mind while preparing them? Are we preparing our children so that they will remain with us forever or are we preparing them so that they will raise their own homes? If we want them to raise their own homes, what do we wish them in their own homes? For it is what you wish your child that determines the way you will bring that child up.”

70. CHECKPOINT! CHECKPOINT!! CHECKPOINT!!! Look into your family order, look into the lives of your children and look into your own personal life. If there is anywhere you have noticed you have derailed from the Message, you have failed to obey, please correct it while there is hope. Today may be too early, for a stitch in time saves nine.

71. On this note, I say remain blessed.