Coping With a Rebellious Child

Coping With a Rebellious Child PREACHED 0n SUNDAY, 29TH MARCH, 2009 by the SON OF MAN (APOSTLE PETER ODOEMENA) AT THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD ONITSHA

I am He, The Great King above all gods, The Eternal Truth, The Divinity, The Gracious and Great One. Believe it if you can… —The Son of Man
An Igbo adage says, “A child that will be a perpetual debtor is known in his early life.” Whoever gives birth to a hooligan and says he did not discover it early enough, be it known to you that such a person is telling lies. Parents should discover early enough that they have produced a “hooligan.” Parents should discover early enough that they have produced a “prostitute.” It is noticed from the very beginning. When it “breaks loose,” it is no longer a surprise if people can speak the truth.
–Son of MAN
(CATCH THEM YOUNG)

Coping With a Rebellious Child by the SON OF MAN (APOSTLE PETER ODOEMENA)

Part One
ADVICE

GODLY ADVICE

Bro Vin, what is wrong with you there? Ever learning and never coming to perfection. How many years will you learn things?
2. What is making this noise? I do not believe it is fan. It is not fan. Switch off whatever that is making this unnecessary noise. Better correct it. Bro Vin I am making a tape. I do not know what is happening there, as if we purchased a new set of gadgets.
3. For your own good I decided that I will not announce it that I am making a tape, lest over anxiety will spoil you. What is special in that thing that you have not mastered for over ten years now?
4. Always touching and touching, and setting and setting. The thing is not talking; even right now, it is not talking. The essence of using this gadget is to avoid straining our voices. It will make things easier for us.
5. From all indications, we are yet to realize the purpose of mounting them. Yet that is the best anybody can hope of here.
6. I intend to make a tape even if it is for ten minutes. Once you get it in order, you off your hands from there. It is when you begin to play with it that you spoil all you have set. It is not a handset.
7. Watch people that carry their handsets every minute, their handsets are constantly faulty. If they are not watching films with their handsets, they are programming one thing or the other. That is not the purpose of the handsets.
8. Handset is nothing but a telephone. The essence of a telephone is to send out and receive messages, anything outside that is devilish. Send out your messages either by calling or by sending text messages. Receive your calls or read your text messages.
9. Hold your handset, do not use it as stereo, and do not use it as a television. Some even use it as calculator. Some use it as diaries. These things are there quite all right but they were installed to enable you spoil your handset with your hands.
10. Because, if you can use it for the purpose it was constructed, one handset can last for 30 years provided it does not fall down accidentally or it doesn’t drop into a pool of water.
11. Calling and receiving calls will keep your handset alive for 100 years to come. You will only be changing your batteries.
12. However, when you form the habit of pressing it every minute, sometimes you use it as mirror and you will be complaining every day.
13. What is the best handset? It is the handset that will make calls and receive calls. What is the best wristwatch? It is the wristwatch that keeps the correct time. Whether it is purchased at N5 it will keep the same time a wrist watch of N1 million will keep.
14. Sometimes those expensive gadgets can hardly serve. They are expensive because of other programmes that are built in there, not for the purpose which the inventor invented it. Amen.

GOD IS LOOKING FOR THE PRECIOUS JEWELS OF THE EARTH
Between last Sunday and today, too many people passed on; and no right-thinking person has even been given a choice to make and he chooses death. Nobody is ever given condition to choose and he chooses sickness. For there is nothing good in these two things.
2. If you know anything good in death tell me? There is nothing good in death. At least, I have a privilege to taste of it many times. I am testifying that there is nothing good in death.
3. I mean the recent testimony from my father is an eloquent testimony also to all of you. For all of you are aware that he died and then came back to life again.
4. Since the world began, no doctor can ever testify that somebody had been in coma — no food, no water, not urinating, not passing faeces for one month and three weeks, until his body peeled off in the bed. But today, he is full of life, bubbling, testifying of the goodness of the Lord.
5. In addition, his testimony is strengthening many around him. For the first word that proceeded out of his mouth, the first word he spoke after a month and three weeks was, “GOD IS GREAT.”
6. Then he began to tell us what he met over there. That helped Me to believe that, there is no place better than where you are. Where are you? You are sitting in heavenly places with Christ and your life is secured eternally.
7. The sufferings of this present time are nothing to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed if we will endure till the end. If there is no problem, Jesus would not have said it that: “Whoever that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.”
8. If there is no problem, there is nothing to endure. So, He knew that there must be problems.
9. The road to this Paradise is very rough—very narrow, only few courageous ones can walk on it. Majority must go the broad way; and you can see the broad way now.
10. The whole world is moving on one side. Catholics have gone Pentecostal. Anglicans have gone Pentecostal. Cherubim are now Pentecostal. Sabbath has gone Pentecostal. UCC has gone Pentecostal. Native doctors have joined in shouting, “Holy Ghost fire!”
11. You do not call them native doctors anymore. They now preach sermons even in the vehicles, preach sermons in the radio after which they will advertise their products. But to the blind foolish virgins, they said it is Holy Ghost that is poured upon all flesh. You see the interpretation. They are blind and they know it not. But to the wise virgins whose lamps are still burning, who are carrying extra oil—Hallelujah!
12. You know, one that is walking on the highway, a long distance with a lamp stand, if he is intelligent, if he wants to make the best out of the trip, he must carry extra oil so that when others are fainting, when their lamps are going down, he will pour extra oil. It should be like morning to him.
13. That is what Jesus saw and proclaimed that: “The first shall be the last and the last shall be the first.”
14. We are carrying extra oil. Go round the globe, this revival will not be found anywhere. They have all ended it in one group. The enmity that existed between the Orthodox Churches and the Pentecostals, the enmity is no longer there.
15. Catholics now organise crusades. They are now calling upon the name of Jesus: “In the name Jesus! Jesus Igwe!!!”
16. The Pentecostals will think that the hand of God is there. They think they have repented. What will you promise a Roman Catholic for him to repent? He is still holding on to his tradition.
17. Every denomination is still holding on to their tradition. Nobody is ready to shift. But they are united in “Jesus Igwe, Holy Ghost fire!” Satan noticed that nonsense and joined them, blinded them more and more.
18. God is looking for the precious JEWELS OF THE EARTH.
19. What is my joy everyday? I AM ONE OF THEM. That is what gives Me joy.
20. When I consider my life, examine myself very well from the Scriptures, from the natural point of view, from everything around the world, I see myself standing on where I should stand—immovable and unshakeable in Christ, my conviction sure and settled. I begin to glorify the Name of the Lord that I am not deceived.
21. Because God said that in this last days, Satan will come so low and perform great signs and wonders, and will even call fire to come from heaven such that if it is possible, that the ELECT will be deceived.
22. In other words, it is impossible. It is impossible for the Elect to be deceived.
23. The conclusion of the whole matter is this: in the last days, every other human being must be deceived except the Elect. You are numbered among God’s own Elect according to His foreknowledge. We are the Elect of God according to His foreknowledge. For he predestinated us even before the world began that we shall be sons and daughters of God.
24. That is why we are sounding different. You ask me why I am happy; I will tell you I am happy because of one thing: I am numbered among those that are saved by God’s Grace.
25. Are you in that number saved by Grace? I am in that number saved by Grace. I contributed nothing to my salvation. There is nothing I can contribute—nothing, absolutely nothing.
26. By my power I achieved nothing. By my works, I only attained self-righteousness which cometh by obedience to rules and regulations—self-righteousness! Nevertheless, it could not take Me anywhere.
27. But when faith appeared, my soul anchored in it. That which was impossible became possible. For all those things, which I could not obey, all those rules and regulations, God brushed them aside and justified Me by my faith in Christ. Finish!
28. I owed a great debt I could not pay, but Christ paid the debt for Me. And asked Me to go, declared Me not guilty, declared Me discharged and acquitted. What a wonderful privilege like that! That is why I am happy always. Nothing upsets Me.
29. You see, what you think is upsetting Me is strengthening my faith. Yes, all those persecutions, cruel mockery, ridicules, scandals; they all strengthened Saint Paul in his day.
30. Until you are buffeted about for the sake of Christ, the glory of God will not rest on you, but to them that speak evil of us, the wrath of God abideth in them.
31. It is either the glory of God is resting on you or the wrath of God is abiding on you. You cannot have the two at the same time. You are either standing justified or standing condemned. My faith in Christ has already justified Me. No more, no less.
32. I do not struggle to earn my own righteousness, which comes by observing the Laws of Moses. Those things I have counted useless.
33. Recognise where you are standing and then begin to praise God. Amen.

Part Two
PRESERVE YOUR YOUTH AND ACHIEVE YOUR DREAM (EVANGELICAL BACKGROUND)
PRESERVE YOUR YOUTH AND ACHIEVE YOUR DREAM
We thank God for the testimonies especially the testimony of the Word of God. The entrance of the Word of God in the heart of man gives life. When you reject the Word of God, you separate yourself from Him because God is nothing but His word. The same way a. man is nothing but his word. Life without the Word of God or fear of God is vanity.
. This is the time for us to hold our proposed “Youth Forum” and I am pleading with all and sundry here today, to give me their undivided attention. The importance of the youths in the development of the society cannot be overemphasized.
3. The role of the youth in nation building is so paramount that the Federal and State Governments carved out a Ministry for Youth Development and empowerment. The youths of course are regarded a future leaders. It is against this backdrop that I plead with the youths here to give me real rapt attention.
4. You are a father or mother here, you undoubtedly passed. through this stage of life. The most delicate stage of life is the youthful stage. It is the most destructive stage of life. It is the stage where too many things attract the attention of the youth and most of the things they delight themselves in are those things that would destroy them ignorantly.
5. It Is at this stage that a good number of them desire violence and experiment every kind of rough: life. Some of them think that evil is pleasurable while some just indulge in these notorious life styles just for the fun of it.
6. If you watch the society today, a good number of our youths like to enlist in the force not to serve the nation but to terrorise and intimidate their fellow men. Some desire task forces such as witnessed in Onitsha, Anambra State under the guise of Road Decongestion or Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) before they we disbanded.
7. I mean that the youths desire the use of force more than peaceful approach to issues and that is why they are always the brains behind all violent and destructive activities in the Society especially in their misguided estate.
8. They love violence more than peace because they are read to die anywhere at any given time. It is a very dangerous stage of life where they ignorantly experiment with death daily. Nothing disturbs the peace of the society more than unguided youths.
9. Watch all that are misfits in their families, interview them very well and you will notice that they were victims of misguided folly. If parents refuse to guide their youths in the fear of God, they are bound to forfeit them to the winds of time.
10. No matter how godly or religious parents may be, if they do not strictly monitor the development of their youths very well, scrutinize their conducts, and investigate the type of friends or company they keep, they are liable to forfeit them to the fowls of the air.
11. Noble ambitions of some youths in the society today have been thrown to the fowls of the air as a result of wrong influence. The youths are easily influenced wrongly by their friends, this is so because you cannot be a friend to a leper and avoid his handshake.
12. It has therefore become very imperative for us to counsel our youths very well so as to preserve their lives and protect their future.
13. I liken the youths to yam plumule. Any way the farmer twists it to the stake is the way it is going to climb the stake either to the right or to the left. All of us passed through this stage of life. So we know all that we suffered in our youth.
14. Any youth that escapes imprisonment or premature death; .I mean, anybody that escapes imprisonment or premature death in his or her youth, should sacrifice a cow to God!
15. About ninety percentage of our youths in the society commit heinous crimes everyday, but the eyes of the law enforcement agents catch only but a few. For that reason, the fortunate ones among them think that they are innocent but their consciences testify against them privately.
16. The person in the prison yard is not worse than the one that is moving freely about the streets. He is moving about freely because he has not been caught while the one in the prison is there because of his own misfortune.
17. But whether you are in the prison yard or outside, it is all but one if you are not properly instructed. Gone are the days when prison yards were reformatory homes. The aim of imprisoning somebody is not to kill him but to get his character reformed and to serve as a deterrent to others. This service is no longer obtainable in the prison yards of today.
18. People go to prison today and become worse, because there, they meet hardened and unrepentant criminals who lecture them on scientific criminal acts that even beat the law enforcement agents hollow. It is there that they acquire the knowledge of trado-medical bullet proof.
19. This is why from time to time, we hear stories of people that survived years of imprisonment due to criminal acts, instead of praising God by changing their minds, they will commit even worse crimes and be re-arrested by the law enforcement agents again.
20. A sure sign that they never learnt anything good from the previous imprisonment. Some are sometimes, given very long jail terms so as to weaken them through old age so as to restrain them from evil anytime they are freed.
21. Any youth that suffers this setback due to his unguided behaviour has shattered his future with his hands. Do not forget the fact that some prison inmates die there due to ill-health and horrible conditions of life they may be subjected to while some are imprisoned for life, all as a result of unguided behaviours.
22. Please, take note. It is at this youthful stage of life that many die mysteriously because they are over ambitious to make money by all means. Some of them enlist themselves in secret societies that involve even human- rituals or even their own lives in order to make money at tender ages due to improper counselling and bad influence.
23. They capitalise on the weakness of the society that believes that the end justifies the means. This ideology or philosophy is from the devil and not from God. It increases the criminal propensities of the youths without measure arid must be curbed by the parents.
24. Some silly parents are also guilty of mounting undue pressure on their youths comparing their financial standings with that of their compatriots irrespective of how they made the money. A wise youth should not succumb to that type of devilish pressure or competition for wealth. Wealth is good only if it is acquired honestly in the fear of God. I shall talk to you on wealth and dishonesty some other time if God permits.
25. These over ambitious youths will like to catch wind by becoming millionaires sometimes without any visible and viable means, as a proof to their parents and colleagues that they have arrived. Such youths can indulge in unimaginable and abominable profligacy to the hurt of their fellow men to achieve their dastardly objectives.
26. To these categories of youths, they prefer money to life and nothing obstructs their ways without being crushed in their bid to make the money. These people do not know the value of money. The only thing they know is to boast of building estates, ridding the best aeroplane, the best jeep, sleeping with every kind of lady or women in exotic hotels and to take chieftaincy titles at young aged. Is this a sign of development?
27. A nation can grow without developing in the same manner a man can grow without developing. A human being can grow in stature but is mentally retarded. These youths who die for money are mentally retarded.
28. At this stage of life, the ladies parade the streets half naked with their handbags, flickering their eyes side-ways and twisting their waists so as to catch the attention of such stupid persons like them. They have unbridled desire for men for the sake of money; hence they collect the money and HIV/AIDS In return. Watch the rate at which they are dying in the hospitals and trado-medical homes.
29. Visit any Voluntary Counselling and testing (VCT) unit in any in any approved hospital and you will be amazed at the calibre of youths that have been ravaged by the dreaded HIV/AIDS scourge due to promiscuity, prostitution and other unguided behaviours. Many die while committing abortion secretly.
30. At this youthful stage, some ladies become of ritual murder with their private parts chopped off from their bodies. Why? They love to take free car Lifts with people they know not and also love to sleep with men whose motives they know not for money-making sake or for the fun of it.
31. At this stage, they pay every kind of visit to their friends, attend night parties and keep the worst type of company without the knowledge of their parents. This can be destructive if left unchecked. Some die in motor accidents during such travels to places unknown to their parents.
32. Some claim to know their relations more than their parents hence every man is an uncle or brother or cousin while the counterpart is a sister or aunty. Be careful youths. All that glitter is not gold. Preserve your youth and achieve your dreams.
33. At this youthful stage of life, they indulge in smoking Indian hemp, have their fill of all kinds of alcoholic drinks, and take illegal or forbidden hard drugs that often make them run mad. These thing they do without any good reasons only that they want to be dreaded by all as “bad guys”. it is at this stage that they become political thugs. A thug is one that is paid to commit suicide!
34. Some like to be touts even in motor parks while some indulge in other notorious activities without restraint. Violent stealing is very much prevalent among this age bracket because they want quick money, which they will lavish on women and drinks.
35. I am trying to highlight some of the problems the youths pose to the society or families if they are not properly guided and empowered so that all and sundry will appreciate the necessity for proper upbringing of our youths to enable them achieve their dreams. The development of any society or family is determined by the quality of the youths that make up that family or society.
36. Due to lack of proper counselling, these youths often drop out from schools and colleges and even the Universities thereby constituting a great nuisance to the society. Some run away from all forms of apprenticeship and become hooligans in the streets.
37. There is no age that has produced more mad youths that parade the streets and markets than our age. This is so because our youths find it very difficult to listen to and obey good advice even from their parents. If you that call yourselves children of God misbehave yourselves after hearing this godly counsel from God, whom will you blame?
38. I have always told you here that your destiny to a large extent lies in your hands because life is nothing but what you want to make it. Your heaven or hell starts here on earth before the imaginary one that follows in the world beyond. As a result of wrong habits the youths inculcate during their youthful days, they can hardly make good husbands and wives, hence they run broken homes with mischievous children that cause them sorrow and pain during old age. Remember that ignorance is a deliberate misfortune.
39. Recognising all these facts, I now deem it necessary to address you before your parents today in this our Holiday Youth Forum.
40. The quality and not the quantity of the youths in the society or family will determine the extent the society or family will develop. There can be youths without quality. This is a hard saying and it is true knowledge is power if it is after a godly sort Academic knowledge without this Wisdom from God is useless. This is why we have too many educated fools in the society and even in the citadel of learning, I mean the university.
41. A university Don that collects money from students, or gives the female ones sexual conditions for passing his paper is an educated fool and there are too many of such people in our universities. Do not succumb to their advances especially the female youths. They are spoilers that must be avoided.
42. Please, report such obnoxious requests to the University Senate for appropriate actions. Mostly, be serious with your studies. If you are not serious with your studies, you are not sure of your success and you create room for such an unholy advances.
43. On this note, I wish to read before, you the little piece I documented for this Youth Forum for posterity. Thank you.

Part Three
COPING WITH A REBELLIOUS CHILD

PROLOGUE
This morning, I want to handle the Sunday school class, not for adult only, but for everybody. I believe the young shall grow.
2. If you are a father today, you were a child sometime ago. So, if you are a child today, if God will grant you long life, you must metamorphose into a father sometime in the future.
3. My friend you were here last Sunday and you are here again. I hope you are not changing your mind concerning Nsukka? You were placed at Nsukka all along. Why have you found it necessary to be fellowshipping at Onitsha? Did they authorize you to come? They authorized you to come. Be seated.
4. Any way, anywhere you find yourself is your comfortable home provided God has chosen that place to place His Name.
5. So, little children, please, give Me your attention; the youths in particular, teenagers, especially, from 13 to 20 years, both male and female.
6. You are all welcome in the Name of the Lord. I am going to use the Bible in this Message. For I cannot speak to you on the matter that is at stake without taking you back to the instructions of the old.
7. Pastor Dan, please, go back to your seat because you need the message also. Where is Johnson Ikeagwu? He was going out before and I dragged him back. He passed through this stage. He is now blessed with children; he has a son and daughters. If he feels unconcerned about the Message, no problem.
8. This is not the time we beg you to obey. If you obey, it is for your own good. You decide to disobey; you are the one that will suffer the repercussion.
9. Do we have a copy of CATCH THEM YOUNG—in this Fellowship? Who has a copy? I think I have it there CATCH THEM YOUNG. Do you have one? So, nobody is in this Fellowship came with a copy even the little children’s teacher? Thank you.
10. I know I gave free copies to our children. Today would have marked the end of anything children’s class.
11. I gave you free copies and you should be encouraging your children to be coming with their free copies. Nobody paid a kobo to collect it. I gave it free of charge. Amen.

CHAPTER 1
THE TEENAGE AGE GROUP—THE MOST DELICATE AGE GROUP

The most disturbing age group all over the world, the age group that is upsetting families, upsetting the peace of God, the age group that is recklessly turning renegades to various age groups is 13 and 20 years.
2. Please, take note. This is the age group that takes delight in wearing Military uniform—if they are not in the Police or Army, they are in the Customs and Excise or in the Civil Defence or Drug Law Enforcement Agents—the age group that derives pleasure in carrying arms and ammunitions.
3. Where they are not co-opted into these legal organizations, they will form their own: The Boys’ Scout Movement, The Boys’ Brigade, the Catholic Guard, the Catholic Mobile Force and every kind of Security groups, the Vigilante Service, the Security Service, all for the purposes of carrying arms and ammunitions; not to serve the interest of God, but to intimidate, harass and terrorize their fellow human beings.
4. A delicate age group, the worst age group. An age group that is not in the government programme. The teenager—13 to 20 years—a poisonous age group, a violent age group. The age group that does not know God, they do not have the fear of God. They have no respect for their parents, no respect for their elders, no respect for the laws of the land. A delicate age group!
5. The youths, take note of this Message. By the youths, I mean anybody that is within the productive age.
6. If you are within the productive age that is from the age of 13 to 50 years, you are a youth, you are within your productive age. But you are not a teenager. You have passed from the teenage group to the age of adolescence.
7. But when we say “productive age,” we embrace the teenagers because they can be productive if they have the fear God in them. The young shall grow. But when you want to talk about the infants or little children, we mean those between the age of one day to 12 years, they fall within the children age brackets.
8. I believe all of us are covered in this Faith. If you are not an adult, you are a youth or a child. These three categories are involved, but the worst category is the teenage category. They form the greatest number in the society.
9. Parents are really suffering in their lands. Some are dearly suppressing their feelings just to save their faces from shame, while some are dying in silence. The worst age group
10. What is more, as long as we live, everybody must pass through it. If you have not passed through this delicate age group, get ready, you are on the way to jamming it. All parents in this Faith passed through it. Few escaped the trouble there. Many fell victim but God saved them by His Grace.
11. The worst age group! The age group that delights itself in smoking everything smoke-able. The age group that is filled with drug addicts! The worst age group!
12. The age group that wants to catch up with the wind. The age that is desiring to become millionaire without any meaningful job. The age group that wants to build skyscrapers in the air. The age group that can never listen to the voice of reasoning. A delicate age group!
13. What do we do to save our children at this age? Only one thing is necessary: That we shall believe and practice this Message. It may be brief, but may God help you and help Me to understand it; and be courageous enough to put it into practice so that we will save ourselves from the blame, the reproach, the pain and the anguish that are associated with different disappointments.

CHAPTER 2
A BAD CHILD IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE CHILD
If you were in the Fellowship the day this Message was handled, show by raising up your hand? Okay, hands down! If you know you have strictly complied to these words according to injunction of God show by raising your hand? Tell yourself the truth.
2. If you know you have strictly complied to the words of this Message—your age not withstanding—show by raising your hands. Be courageous! Blessed be the Name of the Lord forever.
3. Now, to our youths, if you know you are guilty of what you have heard, show by raising your hand? We are in the House of God, the House of Judgment. No lie is of the Truth.
4. I want us to re-examine our habit in line with the Message we have received so far. I want to speak to all and sundry on a very short exhortation having been inspired from the Messages: PRESERVE YOUR YOUTH AND ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS.
5. CATCH THEM YOUNG, page 60, verse 1 through 6: “University education is not meant for every kind of character. If you notice in your child some signs of stubbornness, lack of humility, insincerity and pride, please, do not sponsor him or her in any university because that child is over-expensive and you are sponsoring your child into an American world, which I call ‘Holly Wood Gang.’
6. To the youths who are still aspiring to be graduates; is what you are seeing in them encouraging you to sponsor them? Are they humble enough? Are they obedient enough? Are they respectful enough? Have they manifested at least some elements of godliness that can make you courageous in backing them up in their university careers? Or are you seeing signs in them that this University may be the end of their lives; may be disastrous to the family?
7. You have to watch the males, watch the females because in the university, you see a lot of characters there and whatever your child is in your presence will determine what he is going to be there.
8. If he is accustomed to keeping bad company, there he will perfect it because in the university, every kind of character is there.
9. What if you do not catch them young by creating enmity in their hearts against evil conduct and they get there? I wonder if you can even sponsor them because a bad child is the most expensive child in the world.”
10. “A bad child is the most expensive individual in the world. You may not know what I am saying because your children are still too young. But I thank God who is still training them in their youth so that they can face the challenges of time.
11. Go to G.R.A and you will see rich men that have money, that have raised adults, some of them have turned to be hooligans. Go and enquire from them how much they are spending on those children, just begging them to calm down their hooliganism to no avail.”
12. Parents, have you seen this advice? Many have forgotten it. Your children that are clamouring to go university or to higher institutions, name it whatever you want to name it; are they worthy of your confidence?
13. Are they dependable? Are they reliable enough? Do you have your trust and confidence in them that you are not sponsoring people that will come out and murder you? Are you sure that they have become godly enough so as to avoid bad influences where they are heading to—where it is believed that all that are there are adults, matured enough to have control of their emotions, control of their tempers, impulses and so on?
14. Are they humble enough, respectful enough, obedient enough so as to warrant you mortgaging your life to make sure they are trained? Or are they manifesting signs of stubbornness even in your presence, signs of violence in your house? If the answer is yes, sponsoring such a person to such a height may be the greatest disaster you are incurring for yourself.
15. To begin with, believe it if you can, that a bad child whether—a male or a female—is the most expensive child in the world. An ingrate, somebody that is never grateful to God, somebody that can never appreciate any good thing from the parents, but instead, will be thinking on how to wreck havoc, break the heart of the parents, even cause them to die prematurely; a dangerous person in the house.
16. Thus, I want to speak to you on a delicate topic that is very pertinent. I want to title it: COPING WITH A REBELLIOUS CHILD. Amen.


CHAPTER 3
A REBEL

Coping with a rebellious child! Is there any rebel in your house? It is very easy to identify a rebel outside but very difficult to call one a rebel inside.
2. In the military parlance, a rebel is one that is always plotting coup against the government, coup against leadership, coup against peaceful order. Anybody that is not working for peace is working for trouble. You are either working towards bringing about peace or working towards bringing about trouble.
3. A troublemaker, a discordant person, an incontinent personality, an insatiable human being—a human being that is never satisfied, an ingrate—one that can never appreciate a good thing, that is a rebel.
4. Do you have such a person in your house? Parents, it is a good question. There is hope for you. That is why I want to come out.
5. For the fact that almost 99% of the people that are in the Fellowship this day testified that they were guilty and they are still guilty of the Message: PRESERVE YOUR YOUTH AND ACHIEVE YOUR DREAM, is it not an indication that our families are filled with rebels? It is an indication that our families are flooded, over-flooded with rebels.

FAMILY DISAPPOINTMENT—THE GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN LIFE
People that are disrespectful to parents, disloyal, disobedient, haughty, arrogant, violent, foolish and unreasonable; is it not a sure sign that we are heading towards having the greatest disappointment on earth?
7. For the Lord said and I quote, in the Message EXAMINE YOUR FAMILY LIFE that: “The greatest disappointment in life is not business disappointment, the greatest disappointment in life is family disappointment.”
8. By family disappointment, God means children’s disappointment. In business disappointment, somebody can help you up. In any type of disappointment, there can be a remedy. But in family disappointment, no “nmekwatarism,” no remedy, it is like a broken plate.
9. That is why God said and I quote, “That a family is a very fragile organism that has no spare parts”. Any part that is broken down is broken down. You cannot purchase it from anywhere, rather, you will be managing it. Managing means enduring.
10. To what extent are you going to manage it especially, when the vehicle spoiled at the start of the journey? I will liken your children to that vehicle. How old is that rebellious child? How long is he going to live on earth? How old is that child that is giving you headache?

SELF-DISAPPOINTMENT—THE MOST PAINFU
You boy, how old are you? You girl, how old are you? How old are your parents—I mean your father and your mother? You must know the age of your father; you must know the age of your mother, then calculate the difference between your age and your father’s age.
12. With the type of life you are living, are you sure you can reach the age of your father before you die? Can the type of life you are living guarantee you longevity—I mean reach the age of your mother before you die?
13. Sin is pleasure to anybody that is destitute of truth. Sin is pleasure to anybody that does not have the fear of God. If you do not have the fear of God in your heart, evil becomes pleasure to you.
14. As many as were in this Faith when the Message PRESERVE YOUR YOUTH AND ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS was preached, the Lord said, “Now you have heard the counsel from God, you have heard instructions from God, if by tomorrow or in the near future, you start misbehaving yourself contrary to what you have heard, who will you blame?”
15. Will you blame your misbehaviour on your parents’ inability to talk to you or on the weakness of the Message or your voluntary decision never to obey godly advice? When you have decided that even if your case is taken to the president; in other words, “Report to God if you can! Let the heavens fall.” It then means you have drawn a line that nothing in this life or in the life to come will ever make you to become a reasonable human being.
16. You have taken a decision against yourself and against your future. You have shattered your future with your own hands.
17. What am I saying? No disappointment is as painful as self-disappointment, and self-disappointment is only recognized when it is too late. When you are working towards disappointing yourself by making your parents sad, making your parents lose confidence in you, by the time you will realize your foolishness, it has become too late. The sorrow you will share with nobody, the pain will remain there till eternity.
18. A child that has his parents alive can hardly know the values of parents. If your parents are alive and healthy, you do not know their value. Did you get the Message?
19. Nobody knows the value of a waste paper basket until the time for carrying refuse comes. When the time comes for lifting up the refuse, you look around; no other equipment in the house is adequate to be used except the waste paper basket. Then you begin to realize the importance of having it in your house; so it is between children and their parents.
20. I want to say at this point, if you are a rebellious child, I want to help you this morning.
21. You can be a rebellious mother expecting to have angels as children; can that happen? Can it work? No. I do not want to talk about that one.

CHARACTER FORMATION STARTS FROM THE FAMILY
Go to FAMILY MENU volume one, volume two and EXAMINE YOUR FAMILY LIFE; read those Messages.
23. Character formation starts from the family. There can never be godly children from a family where the wife finds it difficult to obey the words of her husband. The moment the woman does not take the word of her husband serious, nothing in this life nor in the life to come will ever make the children to take the words of their father serious. For they must take side with their mother.
24. That is why God said, a woman that is disrespecting the voice of her husband, quarrelling with her husband, calling her husband names in the presence of her children, should understand that the young shall grow, that she is laying a very bad example that will be very hard to destroy.
25. If you are fond of calling your husband names, abusing your husband, insulting your husband, even saying it vocally to the hearing of your children, sometimes poisoning their hearts against their father, telling them that their father hates them, get ready; you are sowing a seed which you will reap in the nearest future. Why? The young must surely grow.
26. This is why God said that any woman that forms the habit of disrespecting her husband in the presence of her growing children is indirectly preparing her grave and the graves of her children.
27. Finally, the Message said, “If you succeed in winning the hearts of your children and in using your children to fight your husband, your children must reap the whirlwind.”
28. In other words, all your children must turn hooligans. Children love somebody that gives them security even when they are in error; and the only person that has been proved guilty of offering such false security to their children has remained their mother.
29. Even in FAMILY MENU volumes one and two, God said and I quote that: “the nearest teacher, the first teacher that teaches the children remains their mother.”
30. Just like Timothy’s grandmother was his first teacher. “That the same person vested with the authority to mould the character of the children because she is the one closest to them, she is the same person that is responsible for spoiling them.”

EVERY REBELLION HAS A SPONSOR
God said, using one adage, “If when the kite comes and takes one,” He said, “the kite has taken one that knows. After taking all that know and believe, the kite will take those that did not know and did not believe.”
32. The Message said, now you are sponsoring your children against their father, after succeeding in intimidating their father, harassing their father, suppressing their father to the point where he can no longer talk to them, they will now face you. By the time they will face you, your own will be worse than that of your husband.
33. In other words, any woman that is plotting coup against her husband is plotting coup against herself. When you are sponsoring your children to ridicule your husband, to make his word of non-effect because you are not at peace with your husband, you are indirectly also sponsoring coup against yourself, for those your children must surely turn against you. They will never spare you.
34. Do you have a rebel in your house? For there can never be a rebellion without a sponsor. There can never be a rebellion without people sponsoring it.
35. Do you have a rebel in your house? Do you have rebels because sometime you may have rebels? Rebels, both male and female. Who do you think is sponsoring that rebellion?

EVERY REBELLION IS DIRECTED TO THE HEAD
Every action that is geared towards upsetting the head of the family is a rebellious action. Did you get the Message?
37. There is no family without a head. Just like the Church has Christ as the Head. What is the essence of the head?
38. See yourself as a human being. Why did God place a head on you? You will notice one thing with the head; the head is the head-quarter of the house. It is the head that contains the brain, the eyes, the nose, the ears, the mouth—everything that keeps the body alive is in the brain.
39. For that reason, when you cut off the head, the entire body will be standing still. No more movement. Am I making sense?
40. That I am walking about is the head. Somebody is not catching this Message.
41. Take away the driver from the steering, the motor will stand still. Everybody will be making noise, unless another driver comes but the family is not like that. There can never be a vehicle with many drivers at the same time. It must be one driver.
42. In your family, who is the head? Failure starts from one point: the inability to recognize the authority of the headship. The moment you neglect or feign ignorance, claiming that you do not know, you cannot recognize headship, you cannot accept authority from the headship, you have started plotting a coup. You are a rebel in the house.
43. Please, understand Me. Every youth is a product of a family. These youths we are referring to; did they drop down from the sky? Are they not products of families? Some came from my family, some came from your family, everybody came from a family—we all make up the society. The society is made up of human beings drawn from families whether the society is good or bad.
44. When you are sponsoring a coup against the headship and think you are doing a right thing, can you move forward without the head? You know, a woman that has her husband around her does not know the sufferings of a widow.

EVERY FAMILY NEEDS A HEAD
I never knew that my mother could weep because my father fell sick. I was praying for my father to die instead of suffering in that bed. My mother said that I should not pray in that way. That I should pray that he should remain alive even if he does not get up from the bed. That she will like to be seeing him every morning. That she would not like to stay alone without somebody to discuss with. That my father fills a very important gap.
46. I said, “Aah! Do you mean it—when he is not providing for you, he does not give you a kobo? “Please, I want him to stay alive,” my mother replied.
47. Immediately, she changed her location. From her room she packed into my father’s parlour; and she is sleeping there with him. I said, “Can this happen?”
48. Even, my father is praying that the sickness will prolong. I am telling you that since I was born till now; I have never seen this type of thing. I said, “Ooh! This man has value in this house.

YOU CANNOT APPRECIATE YOUR PARENTS UNTIL YOU ARE MARRIED
Yes! I have told you I do not mince words. You know about it, you have even discovered it. I never committed crime against my mother, I Love her. My only crime has always been that I normally take side with my father. Thus, she hated me for that. No more, no less! But I think she is beginning to appreciate it now.
50. Now, listen to Me youths. Pay attention to Me rebellious youths. I want to share my personal experience with you. If you are a youth, I am still a youth in one way or the other. I am alive and active.
51. If you are a teenager, I passed through your group. Whatever helped Me can help somebody. Do not exempt yourself from what I am saying. You cannot appreciate your parents’ love for you until you get married and have your own children. If you are not married and you do not have your own child, you cannot appreciate the love your parents showed you.
52. Sometimes we think that we just came out and became adults like that. We can hardly understand the troubles, the rigours, the pains our parents passed through in order to raise us up.
53. That sometimes they passed sleepless night. Sometimes we fell terribly sick even near unto death, and our parents had to trek many miles to take us to the hospital—slept in the hospital with us.
54. Sometimes, they borrowed money even from their enemies to make sure we survived. Sometimes they went without food to make sure we ate. They did everything to make sure we survived; a sure sign that they really loved us. You will not know the extent your parents loved you until you raise a child. Did you get the Message?

THERE IS NO SHORT-CUT IN RAISING CHILDREN
I cannot forget my experience when I had my first child. Every night I was more or less a watchman, making sure that my wife will not drop my baby on the ground because of sleep; I was always by her side.
56. I remembered one night the bed was shaking violently, I jumped up. What was happening? Her hands were shaking. I asked, “Aah! Darling, what is happening?” “I am preparing baby’s food! I am preparing baby’s food,” she replied.
57. Do you prepare baby’s food in the dream?
58. To show you the importance she attached to her baby, she prepared baby’s food in her dream.
59. At another time, our baby became convulsive. That day, I recognized that the night was more than 24 hours. We were praying for the day to break, no way. Nobody to help! We prayed and prayed, we waited and waited; to us, it was as if God abandoned us.
60. What am I trying to say? There is no shortcut in raising a child. At every stage of child’s development, somebody cared, somebody sacrificed. If you know what you are passing through now as a father, remember you are on the way to raising a youth in your house. You are still at the kindergarten level and as you continue, you will be experiencing difficulty from one stage to another stage.
61. Now, you are a father, cast your mind back. That was exactly what your parents passed through in raising you up. That is why the Scripture says, “It is an act of wickedness for anybody to neglect to take care of his parents at old age.”
62. If you cannot take care of your parents at old age, the Scripture says that you are worse than an infidel. You are worse than Lucifer.
63. He that is upsetting his parents in his youth, has he any good programme for the parents at old age? I want to drive this Message home so that you know what is in your house.

WHATEVER YOU ARE TODAY IS THE SWEAT OF YOUR OF PARENTS
You want to take a title. You want to make history. You want your names to be written in the newspapers as the killer of the father, killer of the mother, destroyer of the parents? Good news! I wish you luck! That is the reward you have for your parents for raising you to adolescence.
65. You do not remember oh youth that whatever you are today is the sweat of your parents. Whatever you think you are enjoying today, whatever might be your stature, you might be taller than your father, bigger than your mother, that is the life of your parents.
66. They spent their life under rain, sunshine, under horrible conditions to make you what you think you are and the reward they are getting is threatening their life, upsetting their peace. You are incurring everlasting curse, everlasting disaster.
67. If I do not talk to you from the throne of God’s mercy, you will not know the consequences of your actions, the consequences of your plans.
68. Sometimes, some useless youths behave as if they were here even before their parents were born.
69. If you are a human being today, somebody carried you in her womb, somebody impregnated your mother; people took care of you. What if they killed you that time? What if they handled you carelessly and you wounded yourself to the point of becoming incapacitated?
70. If you know you have now become a man, you are no longer a boy, you can fend for yourself, hire a house and live, marry if you have the money; instead, the reward, the gratitude you are paying your parents is treating them with contempt, ridicule, contumely and even threatening to put them into their graves before their time. That child stands condemned till eternity.
71. The Scripture says, “Do not neglect your parents in their old age. Take good care of them for that is their reward from you, for all their labour in bringing you up.”
72. The president was born by parents. Do you believe that? All the governors today, don’t they have parents?

TAKING CARE OF YOUR AGED PARENTS IS A PRIVILEGE
Now, I want to share with you why I am over-joyed, that my parents are still alive. I have recognized them as my parents’ right from infancy.
74. I have an enviable record that I have never troubled my parents for one day, and I do not intend to trouble them even now. Not because I left them when I was too tender, even if I had stayed with them that time, I would not have troubled them. For I adopted a habit, a culture that can never be broken or influenced away from Me. Never-never!
75. Now that my parents are alive, in my father’s sick condition, even at the point of death, I still remained appreciative. I deemed it as a wonderful privilege God has given to Me to pay them back a little for their love for Me.
76. For that reason, I was shuttling home every week, with what I have to take care of them in sickness. I do it not as a duty but as a wonderful privilege God has given to Me. Privilege in the sense that some of my mates did not see their parents. Some of them, their parents died before they got money. I mean their parents died of poverty. Some died of hunger and starvation, because they had nothing.
77. Eventually, their sons and daughters got blessed by God. Sorrows now filled their hearts; that now God has given them money, and this was money that caused their parents to die for there was nobody to help.
78. Though they are enjoying the wealth, they do not have full happiness. They are praying that if it will be possible that the dead will resurrect for their parents to come up for them to pay them a little for their love.
79. Now, there are some that were born and they did not see their parents. Their parents just died like that, some were born and they died and their parents remained alive. But for Me, I am alive. My parents nurtured Me to age and are still alive.
80. I was born at a time my parents were indigent and they sold Me to slavery because of poverty. There was no money to pay for my primary school fees; for that reason, they dashed Me to a millionaire, as at that time—all the way from Imo State to Anambra State. They did it with honest intention even to save my life.
81. What am I saying? Taking good care of them at this age, to Me, it is a wonderful privilege. I do not even merit it. It is not a duty to me. If it is a duty, it will be a big burden. I will be complaining, I will be murmuring, a little while I will be tired. But seeing it as a wonderful privilege, as long as they live and God liveth, God continues to bless Me; I must continue to shower them with blessings.
82. Another thing I remembered was this: I said, “Well, to Me, there was a time I was 100% dependent on my parents.” There is no human being who was not dependent on his parents at one time or the other. 100% for shelter, for feeding, for clothing, for school fees, for everything—100%.
83. Now, if at this very old age, my parents depend on Me hundred percent, is it a crime? I should be grateful. They were happy that time when I was depending on them. I should be happy also that they are depending on Me.
84. At another point, they said, “How can this man be here passing faeces and urine?” I said to myself, “It means nothing. There was a time I was passing urine and faeces; they were carrying them. My own was not a different one. That one and this one are all but one.”
85. If you have this mind that is in Me, you will never walk in a way that will upset your parents in life. Your preoccupation will be that God will bless you that you might begin to reward your parents for their love, for their goodness, for their kindness towards you. For without them:
(i). You would not have appeared on earth
(ii) Nobody would have nurtured you to this height.
86. Whatever height you think you are today—you have attained in everything—must be traced to your parents. Believe it if you can. Then, the worst crime is this: Somebody does a good thing for you and you pay him back with evil. You have committed an unpardonable sin, a grievous iniquity. Amen.

CHAPTER 4
A BAD CHILD

Do you have rebels in your house? Any rebellious person? There is hope. I say there is hope.
2. There is no age a man or a woman will attain and be permitted to rebel against his parents. There is no age a woman will attain in her marital life and begin to disregard the words of her husband. Marriage entails that the older the marriage the sweeter the union.
3. Marriage is not enjoyed until the parents have succeeded in training all their children and are now at home receiving pensions from them.
4. How will you feel if one morning your sons or daughters will drive to your township residence and say, “Daddy and mummy, enough of this township residence, you have stayed in the township enough; all of you are going home”—you think they are joking, they pack all your luggage, pack you and your wife down home, place you in a comfortable apartment, promise you that whatever you need is their concern, that you should not borrow from anybody, “Do not complain,” give you somebody that will serve you at home—how will you feel if you have that privilege?
5. Who is not aiming at this towards the parents? If you are not aiming at making your parents comfortable at the old age, you are a wicked child. You are a prodigal child; you are not worthy to live.
6. If your aim is not to establish your parents comfortably at old age, take good care of them, prolong their days here on Earth in good health, I say you are a prodigal child. The money used to take care of you during the first few months of your post-natal period is a great loss.
7. It is what you are planning or thinking about your parents that will determine what your attitude will be towards their words.
8. You cannot tell Me that you will live a life of disobedience today, quarrelling with your parents because you have the strength as a young man, then when they are old enough you start obeying them—is that possible?
9. Number one; your parents will never be old because the trouble you are giving them will cause them hypertension. Worry will kill them. You will become the killer of your mother and the killer of your father. The blood of your parents will be on your head, the head of your children and children’s children from generation to generation.
10. Anybody that is toying or playing with the instructions of the parents—whether male or female—is toying and playing with his life. Nobody loves you, nobody thinks good of you more than your parents. Nobody has good intention towards you more than your parents. So, your best adviser remains your parents.
11. Why are they labouringly? Why are they suffering—is it not to make you to become a responsible fellow? How are you responding to their good overtures towards you? Their good intentions, towards you, how are you responding?
12. Some of you in this Faith, your parents have the intention of even raising you up to university level if you are willing to read. But are you willing to read? Are you cooperating with them? Are you not a spoiler that even spoiled the thing they could have used in training you?
13. A child that steals his parents money, does he encourage his parents to train him? When you are wasting the resources of your parents, destroying everything in the house, are you encouraging them to train you?
14. The money that was used to buy and replace what you destroyed, is it still in your parents’ bag again? It is no longer there. A foolish person thinks that he is doing his parents a favour by going to school; but a wise person is grateful to his parents for giving him the privilege to go to school.
15. Where do you find yourself in this Message? Are you that rebellious fellow in the house? Are you that rebel, oh man, oh woman, oh young man, oh young woman?

OBEY YOUR PARENTS IN THE LORD
If you are a young man in this Faith, listen to Me. If you go to the book of Jeremiah, there was a family God delighted in and that family is Rechabites’ family.
17. Mr. and Mrs. Rechabites brought up there children in the fear of the Lord. Their children volunteered individually never to joke or to play or to set aside any instruction they received from their parents. They vowed their individual vows that while they lived and God lived, that the words of their parents must have pre-eminence over them in all things.
18. God noticed their strict obedience and compliance to the words of their parents. God wanted to talk to the people of Israel, sent prophet Jeremiah to that family. Before then, Mr. and Mrs. Rechabites died and left instructions to their children, warning them to avoid drinking anything wine: “Anything called ‘wine,’ do not drink it both in public and private places; for that is the easiest way people poison their fellow human beings.”
19. Really, even till today, the easiest way people poison their fellow human beings is through much drinking.
20. So, what happened? These children took note of this warning and vowed never to drink anything called wine. God sent Prophet Jeremiah to that family. God said, “When you get there, proclaim ‘thus says the Lord, Drink in the name of the Lord for that is the desire of the Lord God Almighty.’” That family feareth the Lord.
21. Jeremiah entered there, summoned the children together. Remember their father had died many, many years ago together with their mother. Yet, that instruction remained in their hearts.
22. Jeremiah asked them to bring a basin. They brought the basin he (Jeremiah) poured vine into it. The wine filled the basin. He placed a cup there and said, “Oh you sons and daughters of Rechabites, thus sayeth the Lord, ‘Drink to your satisfaction in the Presence of the Lord, make merriment and rejoice for that is the desire of the Almighty God towards you.’” Jeremiah watched them, not knowing why God said he should do it.
23. The first son of the family stood up and said, “Prophet of God, praise God! We have heard the Voice of God. Now, go back and tell God that we received instructions from our parents, which we can never flout. Neither we nor our children or our children’s children in all generations, should drink anything wine. No matter where the prophets are coming from or a seer to compel us to drink, that we should not drink. Now, oh prophet, let it be known to you that we can never disobey the words and instructions of our parents on this matter. Go and tell God.”
24. Immediately Jeremiah turned, the Voice of the Lord came back to Jeremiah saying, “Oh Prophet Jeremiah, can you see how these children born in this family took into their hearts the instructions of their parents though they died many years ago. These instructions remained fresh. Yet, my own people I purchased, Israel, Israel of all Israel can never take to heart my Word.” He used a family to condemn a nation.
25. What am I saying? Is God not your Father? Is God not our Father? Is God not speaking to us even till today? If the Rechabites under the old arrangement could obey even to the point of resisting “thus says the Lord,” why can’t we obey? Why can’t we take the Word of God serious? What makes us sons and daughters of God if we live in disobedience?
26. If you are disobedient to God’s word, God’s instruction, what makes you a child of God? If the Word of God says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is proper in the sight of God that you may live long in the land where God has allotted to you,” who are you to say no? Nobody disobeys the words of his parents and lives long on Earth.

WHO IS YOUR MENTOR—EXAMPLE?
A fly that has no counsellor follows the corpse to the grave. When a young girl starts growing, she thinks she will be bigger than her mother. A young man that is growing feels he will grow taller than his father.
67. The youthful stage is a useless stage. Yet, I have seen youths that preserved their youths and achieved their dreams.
68. Look at the young boy Timothy. The Scripture recorded that the young boy Timothy was taught by the Word of God in his infancy, in his childhood. If you are a youth, Timothy was also a youth.
69. Look at Titus Paul called, “My son in the Lord, go with the instruction to ordain Elders in all the Churches, rebuke those that offend making sure that nobody will look down on your youth.”
70. Titus was a youth zealous of good works, zealous of serving the Lord, a missionary, encouraging people to serve the Lord everywhere, making sure nobody looks down on his youth. He maintained a good record before the Lord.
71. If you are a youth, Titus was a youth. What, can you say about Sylvanus? A youth!
72. If I should take you back to the Old Testament, what can you say about those that ruled Israel at the age of sixteen? Some ruled Israel at the age of eighteen and maintained good records before the Almighty God. Were they not youths? Who is your example? Are you borrowing your example from Ahab’s family or from Samuel?
73. Samuel was too tender when he was dedicated to God’s service. In the house of Eli, Samuel was there. Although the two sons of Eli were rebels, Samuel received a training, a culture, a habit that could not be influenced away by the evil behaviours of the two sons of Eli: Hophni and Phinehas.
74. Remember it was in the same house where these rebels (Hophni and Phinehas) maintained bad records that Samuel served and maintained good records.
75. Who is your example? The same society that is labelled a crooked and corrupt society, it is the same society where Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego sprang up and served the Lord acceptably. The same land of Babylon where others compromised, that was where they maintained their good records.
76. So, I am saying that any person that is influenced away from what he knows is right and proper in the sight of the Lord, that person is not a child of God. That person has no link with God. He has no covenant with God.

A REBEL HAS NO COVENANT WITH GOD
Yes! I want to say it without mincing words that no rebel has a covenant with God. No rebellious person has any covenant with God; rather, a rebellious person is one that has covenant with death. All that proceed out of his mouth is, “We shall kill, we shall kill, they will die, they will die,” because he has covenant with death.
78. However, he that is a seed of God has covenant with God. All a seed of God says is what will give life because whatever that will give life comes from God.
79. A thief comes to kill, steal and destroy. Christ comes so that we may have life and have it more abundantly.
80. Are you a thief that comes to kill your mother and your father? Are you a thief that comes to steal and destroy the resources and wealth of your parents? Or are you Christ that comes so that your mother and your father will have long life and have it more abundantly?
81. “The Killer of His Mother (of Your Town),” “The Killer of His Father,” “The Killer of His Brethren,” is this a very good title you will take?
82. Brethren, this is not a laughing matter. Nothing brings heartbreak more than children’s disappointment. The eyes of all the parents are on their children for greatness. I have never seen parents that are wishing their children evil.
83. Parents have honest and good intentions toward their children. They pray for them to succeed. Unfortunately, their children are infidels. Children of Belial who are constantly working towards the destruction of their parents; who are always causing their parents to cry, to weep, to sorrow.

RETRACE YOUR STEP
What type of youth are you? What type of youth do you want to be? If you are a mother and you can trace that this rebellion is coming from your end, it is not late. The responsibility still lies on you to correct it:
(i) Open up. Call your children you spoiled together and tender unreserved apology to them. (ii) Tell them that all these years you manifested stubbornness before them by attacking their father until they all assumed that nature thinking you were right. That you are now regretting your foolishness.
(iii) Blame yourself for influencing them wrongly
(iv) Then lead them to their father to tender unreserved apology with a vow never to trouble him again.
85. Be number one to lead in this restoration move—restoration to proper harmonious and peaceful life. You will lead in this procession.
86. Sit your children down. Find out their problems one by one and bring their problems to their father. That is your role as a mother. Any other role is devilish; for the mother remains “the link” between the children and their father. She is the one closest to them. She is the one that knows their problems and their needs. She is the one that is better placed to make a case for them before their father.
87. I do not know any child that has a problem and channels the problem through the mother to the father and ever gets disappointed. Even if it is not solved immediately, it must be solved with time. Even if it is a personal need, it may not be granted immediately, but it must be granted. Why? It is rooted through the appropriate channel.
88. But what if the wife is that rebel? A rebel can never carry another rebel to me to begin to talk of anything—to help sponsor rebellion. For every help you render to a rebel is arming him against yourself.
89. If you buy a nice shoe for him, he will use it to hit you. You buy anything good for him; he will use it against you. Even if you buy wine, he will drink and use the anger on you. Amen.


CHAPTER 5
DO NOT NEGLECT GODLY COUNSEL

If you neglect counsel, you will die prematurely. There is something in counselling. Proverbs chapter 15 verse 22, both living bible, Amplified, King James versions. Proverb 15:22.
2. “Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.” (KJV).
3. Without proper counselling purposes are destroyed. So, if you neglect counsel, you can never achieve your dreams. Neglect proper counselling, you can never achieve your purpose in life.
4. For that reason, if you are a young man or a young woman, the best counsellor you have remains your parents. For nobody loves you more than your parents; for nobody thinks good of you more than your parents. Therefore, neglecting their instructions or counsels, means death.
5. Proverbs chapter 11 verse 14: “Where no counsel is , the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” (KJV).
6. If there is no wise counsellor around you, surely you must make shipwreck in life. Tell Me why you should neglect your father’s instruction? Tell Me why you should neglect your mother’s instruction? Were you in the world before they were born? Or were they in the world before you were born?
7. What is the direct source of your existence today? Can you trace it? Your advent on earth must be traced on somebody. Who is that person? Your parents! Why are you negligent to their instructions? It then means you want to be poor. You want poverty to strike you.

AWFUL IMPLICATIONS OF FIGHTING OR INSULTING YOUR PARENTS
8. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 5: “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.” (KJV).
9. Proverbs chapter 15 verse 5: “A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.” (KJV)
10. “A fool despises his father’s instruction and correction, but he who regards reproof acquires prudence.” (AMP).
11. He that regards reproof, correction, acquires wisdom. Are you a fool? You can be a fool without knowing you are a fool. If I call you a fool, you will be offended, man or woman in this Faith. Who will be happy to answer a fool?
12. Even if nobody calls you a fool, from that point you disregard your father’s instruction, you have become a fool in the sight of God. God is calling you a fool. For despising, for neglecting, for disregarding your father’s instruction, you make yourself a fool.
13. Then, how does it look like for a young man in his youth to slap his father or mother? You stretch forth your hand and slap your father? How does it look like? I say the worst abomination on Earth! It then means you have opened up the land against yourself until you make it right; and I do not know what you will use to make it right because your father may give you a condition that may be horrible.
14. If the villagers will hear it, you are doomed till eternity. For a child to lift up his hand, slap his father, slap his mother—the worst abomination on Earth!
15. Can you imagine how the sight will look like? Somebody who said he is a reasonable human being, a youth struggling with his father over an item. The father will be pulling and dragging, he will be dragging, the mother will be asking him to leave that thing for his father and He said, “Over my dead body! The world will hear us!” That person is not worthy to live. Abomination of all abominations. An abominable act worthy of death.
16. Do you know that under the Old Testament, the person will be stoned to death on the spot? The whole community will gather, use stone and kill him on the spot for insulting his father. This is part of the abuses of Grace.
17. Grace of God does not permit you to insult your parents, to abuse them, to neglect their words. You do not know the consequences of your action. Wait until you marry and have children.
18. Pray that you will not marry or you will marry and will not have your own children. Then you will know the extent of the havoc you have caused yourself because you think you are the only youth in the world.
19. If your father killed his parents, you will be justified. But if he did not kill his parents, you will remain condemned forever.
20. Proverbs chapter 1 verse 8: “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.” (KJV).
21. “My son, hear the instruction of your father; reject not nor forsake the teaching of your mother.” (AMP).
22. If your mother is a godly mother, she can never give you a teaching against your father. There is no good mother that will indoctrinate her son or her daughter against their father.
23. Any woman that is fond of indoctrinating her children against their father is not a mother. That person is not a mother. She is not even worthy to be called a wife. If you have such a woman as your mother, the devil is your mother, not a human being even.


YOUR PARENTS ARE YOUR “FIRST GOD”
24. Proverbs chapter 13 verse 18: “Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.” (KJV).
25. “Poverty and shame come to him who refuses instruction and correction, but he who heeds reproof is honoured.” (Amp).
26. If you refuse instructions, wise counsels, get ready to meet poverty and shame. Yes! Nobody receives blessing unless he is blessed by his parents. If your parents proclaim blessings upon you, you are blessed. If they proclaim curse upon you, you are cursed. For the voice of your parents on you remains the Voice of God. For the first god you met on Earth remains your parents.
27. Thus, you cannot disrespect your parents and come into our midst and say you are honouring God. How can you honour God and dishonour your parents? Can it happen? You are a liar!

CHAPTER 6
DISCIPLINE

Finally, we have been talking about discipline. What is discipline? Discipline is nothing but a training that corrects. A training that does what? Corrects.
2. If you are training your children in a manner that will correct their dangerous life styles, you are infusing discipline in them.
3. So, any training that is not aimed at correcting the indiscriminate behaviour of your children, that training can never inculcate discipline in them and you must reap a whirlwind. For any seed a man soweth that he must reap.
4. Do you have a rebel in your house? Let whosoever that is sponsoring rebellion off his or her hands today. Let the rebellious child begin to appreciate the consequences of rebellion.
5. Even in the ordinary life, if anybody is involved in rebellion against an authority, once he is arrested, what follows it? Summary discipline, the correction will lead to death. You will be dealt with summarily. Government will not give you a second chance.
6. So, if you are a rebellious person in your parents’ house, if you are a rebellious person in your house because you think you have the authority to behave anyhow, fight your husband, fight your wife even in the presence of your children; please, check those rebellious instincts today.
7. Your family can be at peace if only you are working towards peace. But when you are working in a way that will shatter the peace in your home, when that trouble comes, keep quiet. I say keep quiet!
8. On this note, I have to say a big thank you to all of you, both young and old.
9. I plead with all of you, little ones, if you must emulate anything, emulate a good thing. Emulate a good character. Emulate people that behave very well. Draw your example from those that behave very well in the Bible and in the society. Do not follow bad examples.
10. On this note, I say thank you and remain blessed in Him eternally