Preached on Sunday, 7th September 2008.by The Son of Man (Apostle Peter Odoemena) At THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD ONITSHA
Behold, your Father — the Son of Man — has all knowledge. He that is teaching you has all knowledge, and you will have all knowledge if only you will believe and obey. -Son of Man
The choice you make beginning from your childhood will determine what you will be. Children are blessings to the families if we spend time and train them, but they will turn out to be a curse if we don’t train them well. Take heed to know the state of your flock, take heed to nurture the fig tree for in due time you will reap the fruit thereof.
-Son of Man
PRAYER
Our heavenly Father, we give You all the praise and glory. We bow down before You. We worship You. Lord, we thank you greatly on behalf of our Brethren whom You delivered from the hands of death. If you had not intervened, today would have become a sorrowful day to us.
2. Your love projected, not by our own merit but simply because you wanted to. You stepped in and saved our Sister Chika from the shackles of death. You stepped in oh Lord and saved Bishop Moses from the cruel hands of death also.
3. If You had allowed death to take them away, I wonder what their families would have looked like. We would have been adversely affected. Lord, you said no to them.
4. We say, may all honours, all praises, all adorations be ascribed unto You alone through Christ our Lord.
5. You are the only miracle working God we know, the only prayer-answering God. We hand them over to your care. This very hour, miraculously touch them oh God in their sick beds, especially Bishop Moses, who is no longer a kid.
6. Father Divine, touch that bone, touch the nerves and the arteries and touch the open wounds. Let all and sundry round about him witness your miraculous hand in that wound.
7. Lord, we are making a decree that all the enemies that stand by the side waiting for his casket to come out, will that day see him walking on two feet. All that are tensed up against that structure, that building; all that are diabolic; all that are envious; all that are working against the construction of that house, may they never die; may they live and see our Brother and his family pack into that house alive, enjoying that house because it is the fruit of their labour.
8. Lord, we are solidly behind the erection of that building by day and by night. Throw your weight behind it.
9. The same way, we pray for other Brethren that are embarking on one project or the other, they are doing it at your command for we cannot afford to be slaves in our own homeland. Back them up oh God in all their efforts. Do not allow anything to frustrate any project your children have already started even the ones they are yet to start; the ones they have in their minds. Lord, support all of them.
10. With time, may we begin to see good things around your children so that their joy in serving you might be full. Those that have started already, insulate all their projects against financial impediment. May we reap the reward of our labour. Do not allow our enemies to laugh at us.
11. Father, with the same mouth they blasphemed, may they use the same mouth and say, “The Lord liveth forever.”
12. This very day oh God, we incline our ears unto you and we are praying oh God that you speak to our hearts through our ears that we may live and not die; that we may become prosperous in this life. Take all the glory while You use the person You appointed today as a channel of blessing to every soul that is hearing the Message not only here; but everywhere your Name is being mentioned.
13. Thank You Lord for your answer through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.
You don’t know what you possess until you go on your knees. NO matter how you teach your children, educate them all round, if you don’t kneel down and pray for your children, they are bound to be useless. God said, “Do not complain but pray.” Have you tried to change your situation? Have you tried to correct the errors of your children? Have you tried to correct the errors of your wife or husband and you have not seen any reasonable sign that they are changing for the better? Have you tried prayer? TRY PRAYER. Prayer is very, very essential.
-Son of Man.
From the Message: THE SEVEN STEPS TO REALIZING THE PROMISES OF GOD.
Chapter 1
APPEALS
Remain blessed Brethren. We have come back again to the Fellowship to worship the Lord. The day has started in His Presence. We give God the praise. If it had not been the Lord, maybe, we would have gathered here sorrowfully.
God Is Mightier Than the Agent of Death
Yesterday, we received a report that Sister Chika was admitted at the hospital. Nsukka Brethren did the best they could; took all the necessary precautions to rescue her. She had an asthmatic attack.
3. Life has no duplicate and there is nothing good in the grave. If you are suffering from any sickness and the sickness is of the type that will make you avoid certain foods, please, obey for your own good. Life has no duplicate.
4 The same way, I advise parents, especially mothers; if you have to raise children that have such cases, please watch over them very diligently until the age they can carefully take care of themselves. If you do not do that, maybe because of laziness, by willful commission or omission, you may live to regret it.
5. This is because you are bound to lose your child at a time you least expected. So please, take all precautionary measures to save your life and the lives of all the members of your family.
6. The same yesterday night, we received another report on how God in His mercy and love stepped in and saved the life of our Bishop, Brother Moses at Nsukka also. All the Brethren that heard about the ugly incident passed the night with him at the hospital even till this morning.
7. He was undertaking some repairs in his building when the ladder that supported him collapsed and he fell down accidentally, badly wounded; with the right leg broken; but this morning, it was confirmed that after proper examinations, it was discovered that the bone was not broken. Rather, the bone pulled out together with the flesh. The arteries and the veins were equally involved and he bled for hours in the hospital.
8. At about 10:30 pm, he was referred to the Orthopaedic Hospital Enugu; but it was too late. Nevertheless, God stepped in.
9. Brethren changed their mind and went to another hospital — a native one this time where the doctor works in company of some nurses. They finally saved the situation.
10. Early hours of this morning, I monitored the development; the man carefully fixed the bone back, while the nurses stitched all the open wounds and the bleeding stopped.
11. Right now, he is in the hospital bed. I am trusting God that he will receive a miraculous recovery.
12. You see, there was a Message we received the other time that we should rejoice always, at least, for one thing; that God whom we serve is by far mightier than the agent the enemy is sending to come and arrest us. God is mightier than that agent; otherwise, the story would have been a different thing.
13. To God be the glory.
14. We don’t blame anybody; rather, we give praise to God. Assuming that never happened, who knows the next thing that would have taken place. The Bishop has been shuttling on the highways for the past three weeks because of the pension exercise the Ministry of Education embanked on.
15. Since he is the one co-ordinating all these things, it kept him running about and, the journey will still continue. In short, he breezed in during the weekend to know the condition of the family when this accident took place.
16. To God be the glory.
Be Diligent In Studying the Messages
Before I go to my little teaching this morning — it is not a new teaching anyway — I just want to refresh the minds of our children because by tomorrow, some of them will be going back to their schools and colleges, especially those in the private schools.
18. You listen to this announcement; we have few copies of some Messages for individuals who need them, not for the individuals who do not need them.
19. I was discussing with Pastor Thomas yesterday and we were of the opinion that what characterized this Fellowship hall when we were giving our Publication to every Tom Dick and Harry free of charge has completely vanished.
20. It was noticed here in Onitsha in particular, that after Fellowship day — either on Sunday or Wednesday — by the time we would close the gate, we noticed many copies of the Messages littering here and there simply because the individuals never cared; after all, it cost them nothing.
21. You know, when you give a fool a gift, he can never value it. We started making comparisons. Sometimes, we spend as much as one thousand naira, eight hundred naira, five hundred naira or there about to purchase novels that contain absolutely nothing; novels we will read and drop. Sometimes, we buy textbooks one thousand, two thousand and above, that will fade with the fading times; something we cannot even hand over to our children.
22. But if we are sincere to ourselves, surely we must testify that the Messages we are having in book forms are worthy of transfer to future generations. We are having Messages that can never fade away; Messages that will withstand the test of time; Messages that cut across age barriers, dispensational barriers. Why should we play with them?
23. Now, we noticed that from the time we started demanding little stipends from the individuals that are willing to afford those books, the idea of littering this hall with the books has become a thing of the past.
24. In other words, it will take a stupid fellow to invest money on something he will never make use of, and since we have noticed this to be true, it will be foolhardy for me to give you expensive Messages free like that. For that reason, you must continue to give us the production cost if you want to get a copy.
25. Remember that the first reason that informed collecting this money was to enable us meet up with the demands of the Publication Ministry. Seeing that all the Local Assemblies are no longer responding to the needs of this Publication Ministry. They only send in lists of books they need without sending a kobo and it has to be two or three individuals that help us from time to time financially, the rest will seat down and relax only to wait for new, new Publications.
26. There is no miracle that we will perform to printout these Messages. So, we require money to operate.
Support the Ministry
Another reason is that the gadgets that we are using are all man-made and can develop faults from time to time. Again, they are very expensive to maintain. Right now, I am working towards setting up a back up in that department because of the experiences we had sometime ago. We now need a backup.
28. So, virus or no virus, we will not be badly affected anymore. It demands money. That is the reason why banks are using computers. Without backups, all the banks will run into difficulties. Just overnight, all information that are stored in the hard disc could be wiped off or hidden into unknown files that can never be traced even till eternity.
29. This backup we want to embark on, is going to cost us money. How do we get that money, seeing that Brethren are not responding? So please, help us if you can. If you know that the ministry is a blessing to you, you must do something about it. I mean that Publication Department is a ministry just like the P. A. system is a ministry.
30. The electrical section is a ministry also. Take away the electrical section, we will run into problems. That was why you saw what happened the other day — the generator was giving us lots and lots of problems.
31. I went to the pulpit to remind you of the need to change it. While I was talking, the generator caught fire. It was the Almighty God that set that generator ablaze. While I was talking in the pulpit, we saw flames up there from the same generator that I was passing judgment against.
32. If God didn’t set it ablaze, we wouldn’t have provided a better one immediately. Since that day, we are no longer having problem of the generating set.
33. This issue of wire, wire, wire, I think we have too many electricians here, why the noise everywhere? At least, we have two electrical contractors that are registered here.
34. We have SHARKS — the biggest fish in the ocean. We equally have MAKERS. MAKERS, what are you making? MAKERS, make out something. We have a very good team; I mean in Sabrod Construction — these two names make a great noise.
35. When you mention MAKERS, it is a household name; you mention SHARKS, it is a household name; but where we are, we have not felt your impact. Why? Shall we be in the ocean and complain of soap lather entering our eyes?
36. It is a shameful thing that you make noise everywhere about your expertise in the supply of electricity and yet in your home — the Family of God — there is complete blackout. If we are to say where there should be uninterrupted electricity supply, it is in the Fellowship.
37. In short, we are not supposed to use a generating set in the Fellowship. We supposed not to make use of a generator in the Fellowship because MAKERS and SHARKS are both here.
38. So please, do something!
39. Another humble appeal I want to make, though I have been making it from time to time, is to individuals — man or woman. Why not take it as your ministry; why not take it as a challenge to help in this Publication Ministry? When you lift up a copy of the Messages in book form, how do you feel? When you lift up a copy of the Message: AS I THOUGHT ON MY WAY (volume three), how do you feel? This is a new production that is coming out today. See it for yourselves.
40. When you lift up a copy of the Message, how do you feel? There is none of our Production so far that does not meet the international standards; but how do you feel about it? What type of miracle do you think took place? It was somebody like you that sat down and transcribed the Message from the cassette to longhand; and from longhand to typesetting.
41. The first process in the production of these books starts by bringing the Messages out from the cassettes, which you know is not an easy task. The greatest task I know in this Publication Ministry is sitting down using your tape recorder to bring out a Message from voice to print. Do you think it is easy?
42. Sometimes, the electricity may disturb you; sometimes your domestic activities may disturb you; moreover, there is no fortnight we do not receive fresh Publications in the Faith.
43. Why not be a part of this Ministry by volunteering that even if you have no other contribution to make, you will be helping from now onward in bringing out these Messages from the cassettes, and from cassettes to print form or longhand. By longhand, I mean using your pen to write before we can send it for typesetting.
44. Somebody is doing it; some group of people took council together to alleviate this particular area where we are having problems. What is your concern? What is your contribution? You are not helping us in bringing out the Messages; you are not helping us in any form.
45. Now, what do you think about these Messages that are coming out weekly? Who is assisting us in gathering them together; in folding; in binding and in laminating? You lift up the books and you notice that all of them are laminated. Who are behind these things? Who and who are helping us?
46. There are too many people in this Fellowship, even ministers that have not for one day visited the Publication Department. All the ministers in the Fellowship, stand up. If you know you are a minister of the Word of God in this Faith, I say stand up; even if you are from other Local Assemblies.
47. You see, the Message we handled last Sunday and other Messages — even the one we handled on Wednesday — made it clear to everybody that every Brother is a minister; that every Sister is a minister. Did we hear such a thing? We equally read it out from the Messages.
48. So these are the ministers? What then are the rest? Well, you have told us what you are. You are passive members; inanimate members. Now, of all these people that are standing up in the Fellowship, acknowledging themselves to be ministers in this Faith, if you know that you have one day visited the Publication Department at least to know what is happening there, sit down.
49. You see, very few. I don’t mean going there to work. I mean going there to assess the place to know what is really happening there. Sit down everybody. It is not fair; it is very, very unfair. It is a sign of unfaithfulness. Many do not care. For you to know what is happening there, you have to be there. For you to be appreciative, you have to be there.
50. You have to go to Main Market and find out how much it takes to purchase a cassette. I thank God for Brother Thomas and Brother Onyema this year. You can go to them and find out how much it takes to purchase a cassette. You get all the Messages with coloured covers. Find out how much it takes to purchase inks.
51. Of course, you know that we do not go to the street printers, we use our own printers to print all these Messages. These Messages are all computer prints. To facilitate the printing, I had to install two strong laser jet printers, and the toners we use in producing these print-outs, we do not manufacture them. We use money to buy them.
52. How do we get that money? How do we finance this department? Since everybody is feigning ignorance: “It doesn’t concern me; I don’t care.” And we know it is our life-wire; the Publication Department and the P.A system remain the live-wire of this Faith, for without these two areas functioning, to store information will be very difficult. Your memory cannot be more magnetic than the tape recorder, can it?
53. If you are asked to put the Brethren in remembrance of what they have heard, how do you start if you do not have any reference point? Do we dump the idea of publication and begin to use our personal jotters? Do we think our personal jotters can serve the purpose very effectively? The answer is no. I think we had better address this truth.
54. If you cannot help physically, why not help financially? Financially, you are not helping; physically, you are not helping; prayerfully, you are not helping. Even to encourage the Brethren God is using, is a problem. They are human beings that have their own occupations, yet they spend a greater part of their time in the Publication Department. How do you encourage them? Everybody is involved.
55. If the Publication is a blessing to you and your family, how do you appreciate it? I thank God that we are not a denomination.
56. In the denominations, they normally levy their members, do the Publications and equally launch the Publications at exorbitant prices, and even impose the prices on their members whether they like it or not. At the end of it all, the proceeds will be used in one project or the other that have nothing to do with the spiritual uplift of the members.
57. But in the Bridal Faith, every kobo we get —both voluntarily and otherwise — are invested on further Publications.
Always “Eat” the Word of God
Who can stand up and tell me the number of Publications we have so far? Who can attempt it? From the library or from your own personal library, who can tell us the number of Publications we have?
59. Apostle Kelechi, you are the most up-to-date Brother, yes, can you tell us? Sisters, you can equally tell us.
60. Do you know that there are some Sisters in the Faith that cannot boast of having up to three books? They can go to the market and buy wrappers at N1, 500; Nigerian block or Nigerian Wax; N800. Ankara and every Okrika along Old Market Road belong to them. They know Mondays and Thursdays when the second-hand clothe sellers open the bales of what they call Okrika .They will buy so many things that are worthless.
61. Take for instance, handbags that will serve them no useful purpose, that even expire sooner than later; sometimes, they go for shoes with their upper parts twisted in a ludicrous way; some with their soles worn out. What I am telling you is the truth.
62. Some even purchased what they call tight and I keep wondering what they seem to “tight” with that thing. After all the “tightening,” the body parts still keep shaking. Even over-sized brassieres, they go for them. All these things are bought and kept at home; but there is no single book having our Message at home.
63. Some equally waste their money on unnecessary foodstuff. When a cucumber seller passes by: “Hey, cucumber, come this way! Garlic, come this way!” The same thing for apple and groundnut: “We want to remain fresh everyday, we want to remain younger.”
64. Let me tell you, nothing keeps you younger more than the entrance of the Word of God. If you want to look younger than you really are, be faithful to the Word of God. The Word of God illuminates your heart. It illuminates your brain and recreates you. You become a new individual within and without.
65. If you do not have the Word of God in you, you can never be happy. To be happy means to be alive. Does someone who is sick know happiness? The greatest multi-vitamin I know is the Word of God.
You Are Involved
So please, go home today and query yourself the more: “In what area am I contributing to the furtherance of this Most Holy Faith that is enriching me spiritually and physically; that is enriching my family, equipping us? Where do I make my own contribution?”
67. I told you from the onset that no contribution is very little; no contribution is very big. No matter how small, we appreciate it. You may not give us money. Why not buy A4 paper or ink for us. We will appreciate it.
68. Now we need a hard disc not less than 40Gb to enable us copy all our Messages. We need CD roms because we have started copying, for that is the only way we can run away from the virus nonsense.
69. Unless you go there, you may not know our needs. If you can give us a set of computer, praise God on your behalf. If you can give us a nice printer ranging from 1500 to 3000, praise be the Name of God. If you can sit down, collect the Messages from Brother Amankem, go home and use your own tape recorder to bring out those Messages in longhand and help us to typeset them, we will be very, very happy with you. After all, it is your fellow Brethren that are responsible for what you have been enjoying so far.
70. Let me tell you, eating the food prepared by somebody else makes you feel ashamed sometimes. When you start enjoying the fruit of somebody else’s labour it makes you feel ashamed sometimes. If you are not ashamed of the fact that you do not contribute anything in this Ministry, keep it up.
71. Some come to Onitsha for fellowship and ask for books as if the books fell out of the blues. Do these books fall out of the blues? Many of you in the Faith are educated. Civil servants in the Faith are innumerable. If it comes to verbal assault, you speak sophisticated English; sometimes, French, Swahili or Latin, but when you are called upon to transcribe any of our Messages, everybody becomes illiterate.
72. I thank God for Bishop Nnachor because of the letter he wrote on our behalf. The letter is very catchy and touchy. In fact, it made me believe what Socrates said. He said, “Only fools see themselves in places of authority, but wise people can hardly be there.”
73. People that have the wherewithal and advancement in education do not receive support but majority of fools receive massive support. That is why they occupy the thrones of authority. If people like Bishop Nnachor will be sponsored or had been sponsored, he would have been numbered among the people that will help move this nation forward.
74. I wonder whether Bishop Nnachor has ever worked in any administrative office. Have you, sir? You have not? Glory be to God.
75. Where is Brother Victor Nnachor? I will like you to go through that letter your father wrote on our behalf. It is challenging. I do not know any graduate that can write in such manner, unless that person is talented by nature. Most of the people you call professors present materials that do not justify their professorship.
76. I have read some of the write-ups and letters they normally write to me and I sometimes wonder whether they really attended any university at all.
77. There was a textbook I picked the other day, looked at the name of the author and dropped it after going through the preface. This was because I started noticing some grammatical blunders. I said, “Well, if the opening passage could not attract me, there was no need going further.” So, I set it aside.
78. Please Brethren, help where you can. Do not just be dormant in an active Ministry. But where you wish to be dormant like a volcano, it is all up to you. As for Me, I have resolved within Myself to remain active in the Ministry and in all that have been committed into My hand from the beginning to the end.
What Type of Star Are You Striving To Be?
Let me work like late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Obafemi Awolowo, Akintola Williams and the rest of them who never relented for one day. You heard about Ade Bayero who worked until the day he died. Great minds all went that way. Look at Diate Spiph of blessed memories, from Police to civil life; he worked until the day he gave up the ghost; Tai Solarin and the rest of them.
80. In the Message: STRIVE TO BE A STAR; in what area do you really want to be a star? Do you want to be a star in lying; a star in laziness; a star in idle life; a star in cheating; a star in criminal activities; a star in fraudulent habits; a star in deceit; a star in lateness to duty; a star in unfaithfulness? You must be a star in one thing or the other. Where do you want to be a star? The choice is yours.
81. Do you know that you can be a star in fighting? You can be a star in quarrelling, nagging, stubbornness: “Do you know who I am? Is it because this Faith has calmed me down? If you do not know much about me, make enquires. Who are you? In short, if it had been in those good old days, I would have dealt seriously with you!” A star in teaching others lessons.
82. Where do you want to be a star? Where do you want to make your own contributions?
No Contribution Is Little
When we were in the Baptist Church, from time to time, there will be a seminar in which we were told about the experiences of those in the Mission Field; the Nigerian Mission Field; the West African Mission Field; the Foreign Mission Week of Prayer and things like that.
84. We were often told about those in Borokiri, Buguma and we would be asked to impersonate the ministers there; but at the end of it all, on Sunday when everything will be concluded, there must be:
a. A call for those that would like to be missionaries, who would like to go over to the areas where the gospel has not been preached to suffer for Christ.
b. A call for support.
85. The theme has always been: “If you cannot go, let your money go; if your money cannot go, let your prayer go.” Can your prayer go? Yes. Prayer is the only instrument I know that can go where planes, ships and every other means of transportation cannot reach. Prayer can penetrate every cell and every prison. All no-go-areas can be penetrated by prayers. How many believe that?
86. So, I believe that if you pray for us, the Lord will hear your prayers if your motive is right and that may be your contribution. You pray for the success of these departments, the Lord will also hearken unto you. Even if you pray for God to touch the Brethren to contribute their widow’s mite for the advancement of this Publication Ministry, the Lord will hearken unto you. It is also a ministry.
87. The Scriptures say that the prayers of a righteous man availeth much. If you are righteous, your prayers can work wonders.
88. Like I said earlier on, we have few copies of the Message: THE AWFUL IMPLICATIONS OF INSTALLING TELEVISION IN YOUR HOMES. The price remains as our little brother fixed it that day.
89. The first person we selected was a kid. The lot fell on him and he purchased a copy for N500 and then fixed it at that price. I will never change it. It has remained like that till now and I vow before you that no Local Assembly will get a free copy; no individual will get a free copy, except our sponsors and those that are supporting in one way or another other than financially.
90. Number two, there are few copies of the Message: STRIVE TO BE A STAR. Many wanted to buy this last Sunday but we exhausted the little we had. We now have few copies. You collect it on request. The price remains unchanged. The production cost is N300.
91. Too many people were volunteering to purchase: LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS. We now have few copies of volumes 2 and 3. The price has remained unchanged N300 production cost.
92. You give us N600 and collect both volumes. AS I THOUGHT ON MY WAYS (volumes 2 and 3), a few copies for a few individuals; the same production cost, N300 for individuals and Local Assemblies. If you need them, when we dismiss, you come forward and collect your copies. This will be the last copies. I will not reproduce them anymore. I have other Messages; I mean new, new packages that are on line for production. Pray for us while we pray for you. Amen.
You have to prepare your children to the point that nobody can deceive them again. No teacher in any secondary school, or any moral instructor can make them to deny the Faith and plant confusion in their hearts. When you train your children very well at home, you are not afraid of any amazement — you just send them out. Send them out, let them go and practice what they have been taught. You don’t panic even if they are living in the dormitory. Whether they are day students, whether they are attending Catholic schools or not, it wouldn’t be your headache. Because you have taken your time to prepare them in a godly way, and they have taken your word seriously. -Son of Man.
From the Message: THE DANGERS OF OVER PAMPERING CHILDREN.
Chapter 2
THE HIGHER YOU GO, THE HARDER IT BECOMES
We thank God for our children and even for our parents. The holidays have come and gone and any moment from now, you will be going back to your schools.
2. Whatever has a beginning also has an end. Your holidays as students have come to an end. We are giving God the glory that He never allowed us to tell a bad story on any of you, both mothers and fathers.
3. We heard how the flood swept off too many buildings; how the flood carried too many souls, even children that are doing hawking on the highways. In all these calamities, the Lord insulated our children.
4. As from tomorrow, when they will be going back to their schools and colleges, we will notice that not all that enjoyed the holidays will be going back to school alive. Some have passed on already; but, our own children are safe and secured. I think it is a thing of joy.
5. Too many parents were carried away by the flood. Some died on the highways; some died as a result of sicknesses. This is because what is happening in my area is happening everywhere.
6. There is no nook and cranny you will go in Onitsha and beyond without seeing posters that are frightening. People do not die at old age anymore. They die at the ages of 30, 40, 50, 60. Are they not human beings like us? Yet the Lord has been preserving our lives free of charge.
7. We really thank God.
8. Now to you little children, I want you to give Me your undivided attention. You are all going over to new classes. I am sure that all of you passed; all of you secured promotions to new classes. I hope I am right?
9. Who is repeating a class here? Who is going to repeat a class here? If you know you are going to repeat a class here, stand up. I want to talk to you, show by raising up your hand. If you know that you failed in your class and you want to repeat raise your hand. I want to talk to you.
10. Praise God.
11. In other words, all our children secured admission. Shall we give a clap offering to them!
12. Thank you very much.
13. Now, you are going back to school, going over to new classes; you are going to meet harder, harder challenges because the higher you move, the harder it becomes. Is it true? The higher you move, the harder it becomes.
14. Once one is born here on earth, the person is born. There is no going back. It is forward ever until you meet death or until you retire in death.
15. Besides, you notice that life entails that the higher you move, the harder life becomes; the more difficulties you are likely to meet; the more the responsibilities. You must know these truths, little children. You must understand what I am saying.
16. If you are moving from primary two to primary three, what you are going to face there is greater; what you are going to face in primary three is harder than that of primary two. The same thing is applicable to those of you that will move from JSS one to JSS two; the higher you go, the harder it becomes.
17. However, you have to be emotionally, psychologically and mentally balanced for you to sail through. You have to talk to yourself. What do I mean by talking to yourself? Tell yourself that you are more than able to read that class; you are able; you are qualified and if others are there, you must be there. Do not underrate yourself at all. See it as another opportunity.
18. If you were not performing very well, maybe you secured promotion through poor pass, find out why you were not performing well and see your new class as another opportunity to perform better. If you are not doing well in the school, you are discouraging your parents. They may be thinking that they are wasting their money, time and efforts on you. But if you are performing very well, you are encouraging them.
19. Let it be known to all the little children in this Faith that your parents will provide books for you, provide school uniform and every other material, but will never enter the class with you. They can never read those books for you. You are the one that will read; you will do the studying; you will write the examination.
20. What is the essence of the examination? It is a test. Your result each time you take any examination is only revealing to you the level of effort you have made within that period. If you are going there to play, your result will show that. If the food you carry to school causes you to sleep there, your result will reveal it to your parents.
21. As you are going over to new classes, remember two things are there: one, you are growing in age. You are also going to grow in knowledge, for every new class means addition of knowledge.
22. There are foolish behaviours that you exhibited while in primary one that are not expected of you in primary two. Is it true? If you were foolish in primary one and the foolishness continued in you in primary two and still continued in primary three, when will foolishness depart from your life? Don’t you see that something has gone wrong? Something is wrong in your life.
23. If you carry this foolishness till the end, well, when you graduate, you will become what we call “an educated fool; an educated illiterate.” You will be one that went to school and yet remained foolish. There are too many of them in the society; educated fools, they are found everywhere even in government offices. You see educated fools occupying positions they do not even merit.
24. You should be industrious. You should take your studies serious because time has changed. It is becoming harder everyday. Whatever you are having in mind to be in this life, it is a must that you must be educated before achieving it. If you are not educated, you will make no headway in life. Your parents might even be better than you.
25. The Holy Spirit had made us to know that all that our parents did in the olden days to help themselves cannot help us today. If we do them today, we will make no headway in life. What sustained our parents in their days cannot sustain us today. That is why you have to be very, very industrious.
26. You must talk to yourself. What do you want to be in this life? You cannot cut down an Iroko tree with your mouth. If you say you want to be an engineer, will you automatically become an engineer? If you are asked what you would to be, nobody will agree to be a barrow pusher or a refuse disposer.
27. Is there anybody in the Faith that will be happy to be a refuse disposer? Or a faeces carrier? Surely, nobody will like it, but what are you doing in other to escape it? How are you preparing yourself so that you will not see yourself being a carpenter or as a welder in the street? What will you do to escape it? It is through hard study.
28. Mean business with your studies. Stop playing; stop deceiving yourselves. When you are sent to school, you go there to do something else. Stop it. When books are bought for you, you pack them under the bed; but when you sense your mother is coming into your room, you open the books and begin to pretend you are reading. When she moves out, you close them. Who are you deceiving? Stop it.
29. Parents, if you have a computer in your house, you switch it off. The only time you will put it on is when your children are carrying out computer assignments given to them in school. When the child returns and does the assignment, there is nothing else he or she is supposed to do with the computer.
30. Another instance is when he wants to learn how to type. If when typing, he decides to put on music that he will be singing along the typing, discourage him from such lifestyle immediately because his concentration will not be fully focused on what he is doing. The music will be distracting his attention.
31. Be mindful of what you are being told. What we have been talking about is the problem of television and computer, and that chapter is now closed.
32. What do you want to be in life? It starts now; it starts today because you are progressing gradually, from primary one to primary two, primary two to primary three, before you know it, you have rolled into examination.
33. I want all of you to understand that the higher you go, the harder it becomes. Amen.
It is Divine to dedicate our children to God. Christ the Messiah was number one example, and the children of God did it. Christ also told us, you should not hinder little children from coming to Him, because such people belongeth to the Kingdom of God. If we don’t make ourselves like the little ones, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. If we cannot allow ourselves to be taught like little children, we will never, never live the life of Christ. -Son of Man.
From the Message: THE DANGERS OF OVER PAMPERING CHILDREN.
Chapter 3
TIME HAS CHANGED
Parents, watch the performances of your children in line with what is prevalent in other schools; do not narrow your minds and assessments to that school where your children are, otherwise you will regret.
2. When you want to know the performance of your children, do not narrow your eyes on the school where your children are. Allow your children and others from other schools to stay together to know whether your children are coping on very well.
3. If you don’t do that, your child might be one that is taking the first position among the foolish ones and you will not know it. The worst thing that will happen to a student is to come first among the foolish ones due to poor standard of the school. The school is not a standard one, the academic standard of the school is poor and your child is there taking the first position.
4. Your child will be taking the first position using your advice and the wisdom that is in this Faith; but at last, you will be wondering why your child failed to pass an external examination that he was supposed to pass since he had been taking the first position in his class. Start earlier to find out the academic performance of the school of your child. Some schools are basking on their former glories. The present glory is no longer there.
5. Take for example, gone are the days when people will just come out and say that they are the students of Dennis Memorial Grammar School and you begin to accord them respect; from C.K.C, from Q. R.C, from C. I. C, from Nike High School, from College of Immaculate Conception, from Awkunanaw, na lie, that time has past.
6. The name of a school does not write examination for you. Whether you went to a private or public school or mission school, you will all take the same examination. If you don’t take G.C.E, you will take W.A.E.C or NECO. There is no external examination that is called C.K.C, Rock Foundation, G.T.C, what you will see there is G.C.E, SSCE or NECO or JAMB.
7. Please take note little children.
41. I am talking to our little children in the Faith. I am equally talking to our parents for you to know where we are going.
8. In every school, they boast of having career counselors that cannot even counsel themselves because they have nothing to offer. The school your child is attending has something to do with his or her life and future.
9. In most of the private schools today, you will be hearing good, good results. The students will be scoring seven A’s, nine A’s, twenty A’s, but when it comes to the examination that is used to know who is who, the student will fail it because no matter where you have started, no matter where you are, the final point is entry into the university.
10. Any child that is studying and the parents are sponsoring the child very well; if your aim is not to get into the university, then you are wasting your time. It is better for you to stop training the child now because “half education” is very dangerous.
11. You have not completed your work until you have seen your child in the university, and the school attended by your child is irrelevant to the university, whether you took your examination as a private candidate or as a public candidate, it is not known to the university.
12. Keep it in your minds that in so many private schools like we have them in Onitsha and other places, they are all commercial or commercially oriented. The aim of opening such schools is to make money. Only few are opened for real academic pursuit.
13. Others are there to make money; nothing is being taught there, but when it is time for examination, money will be collected from the students for the invigilator. The invigilator will then leave the hall and others will write the examination for the students.
14. When the results are released, the school will use it as advert: “Our school is scoring nine A’s, twenty A’s,” that is an advert while the materials he raised with twenty Ass can never secure admission through competitive examination in any university in the world, even in twenty generations to come.
15. Please note. There is a place you will get to and your money will stop. There is a place you will get to, I.M will stop. It is not all the time that your money will give you admission or pass all the examinations for you. Bear it in your mind.
16. To you students that are studying, I want to help you. If your parents’ eyes are fixed on the person they will give money to write examination for you — your teacher or your invigilator — say “no” to them. This is because they are destroying your future. You will end it at nothing.
17. Towards the end of every academic session, almost all the Universities in Nigeria publish names of illegal students; students that entered the schools illegally. You will see a student that read from year one to final year that will be rejected by the university. What caused it? Money was used to “buy” admission for the student; he entered through false way and he is being rejected through the same way.
Emphasize On Job Creation
Little children, whatever you want to be, starts now. You want to be an engineer? You want to be a doctor? You want to be a notable fellow in the world? Make it known to your parents what you want to be so that you will be told the way you will get it.
19. If you want to be a famous doctor, do not expect to use Bible Knowledge, Igbo, Religious Knowledge, Food Science and Nutrition to get it. It is impossible.
20. If you are picking subjects that are very cheap, you will end it up reading a course that will give you nothing in the end. There are people that got university education, yet those that did not get any are by far better-off. I don’t know whether you understand what I am saying? One that studied music is better than the person.
21. Gone are the days when parents, after training their child in the university, allow him to be walking about the streets after graduation. The parents will continue to feed him and care for him. There is no job that he can secure, yet he had been to the university. That time is past.
22. Parents, make your child understand the fact that what is being talked about now is self-employment; job creation. You have to create a job for yourself. Whatever course you want to read in the university should be that which would help you to become independent. If you don’t get job elsewhere, you will know what to do to help yourself.
23. One commercial motorcyclist who took me to a place last time did something to which I marveled. He is from Enugu Ukwu, and while we were discussing, I noticed his command of English was impeccable and I said, “Sir, I perceive you are educated.” “Yes, I have a Masters degree in Philosophy,” he replied. Then I said, “What then are you still waiting for?” “I am just using Okada to help myself.” I asked him, “Of all the courses, why did you choose philosophy?” “Sir, what will I do?”
24. Well, you do not go to the university only to come out and say that you do not know what to do.
25. Let me tell you; I spoke to Brethren at Enugu at length.
Every Subject Is Important
Little children, never you hate any subject in the school; let there be none because, the one you hate can be the one that will see you through in life. Not only that, any subject you hate and refuse to do — by God’s grace — if you enter the university, you will do it anyhow, whether you believe it or not.
27. For example, I came in one day and I heard my child explaining: que est que c’est’ (a French word) to my wife. I said, “Ehn! Which one is ‘que est que c’est’, are you learning French?” She said, “Daddy, I am finished! Do you know that French is one of the courses we are offering in school?” I said, “Yes, you are supposed to do it in Junior Secondary up to class four.” She said, “No, I didn’t do it. I ran away from it.” I said, “Now you have met it. It is a must that you will pass it. If you fail to do it, it then means that you can never graduate.” That is by the way.
28. To you little children, some of your parents may not know what it takes to qualify as an engineer or a medical doctor. Some didn’t go to school.
29. If your parents did not go to school, they will not know any of the modalities involved. Ask those that went. They will explain to you that the subjects you do in school will determine the course you are going to read in any university.
30. How can you graduate from school tomorrow and tell me you read literature? What kind of job will you do? How do you create self-employment? Let me tell you, you will remain in your father’s house begging bread. Or will you go and learn how to become a mechanic? Perhaps, that could serve you right.
31. What am I trying to say? If it is possible, start early enough to look into the educational development of your children. Find out whether what your children are being offered in their schools are of the required standard. If the school is the type where certificates are purchased with money, take your child away from there immediately because he will become blinder the more.
New Admission Regulations
As we all know, today’s admission into the Universities has become extremely competitive. It is now “survival of the fittest” and the only way out is securing admission without controversy.
33. Whenever I talk to my kids, I use Brother Victor Nnachor as an exemplary fellow. Admission controversy means scoring above the cut-off mark for that department. If the cut-off is 250 and you scored 280, on that day, you just proudly carry your money and your forms down there. You go and formalize it. No bribe is required. That person cannot have the conscience to say he will not give you admission.
34. Not when the cut-off is 240 and you got 222, 190 and start telling your parents that you passed, but was refused admission.
35. There is no one that passes without being admitted. “Pass” doesn’t mean getting the cut-off; pass means getting higher than the cut off; making it impossible for the admission officer to say no. Then you get admission.
36. If you hear that when you score 200, you go for screening and you get 200; if you come to tell me that you have passed, I will say it’s a big lie. It is failure before Me.
37. Moreover, a new regulation has come out now; and the new regulation is that the NUC has directed that they should use anyone that is higher. If JAMB is higher, they will use it. If screening is higher, they will use screening.
38. For example, if you score 160 in JAMB, it is assumed that you have passed JAMB. If your school of choice says that they will accept 200, fine! You are now qualified for screening if you scored 200. However, if JAMB recommends 250 for the course you want to read, and your school says that anybody that scored 220 passed screening and you scored 240, you maybe thinking that you have been given admission; but on the contrary, when you get there, they will use JAMB recommendation and you will not be given admission with 240. What they will use to give you admission is 250 JAMB; whichever is higher, is what you are going to be admitted with.
39. Our Brother Promise is suffering it in Ibadan. He chose Ife. He passed the screening; but his JAMB cut-off was higher than screening and Ife said no admission. He went to Ibadan but because Ibadan is a mega university, Ibadan said no room for anybody using Ibadan as a second choice. And it is right.
40. There are five mega Universities which you can never use as a second choice, Ibadan is one of them; UNN, Ahmadu Bello, UNILAG and Ife. You can’t try it. It is either first choice or never. And they will give you whatever they want to give you. You can’t petition them.
41. To you little children, what effort are you making so as to become notable figures tomorrow? The way you take your studies, is it revealing to you that you can pass even Secondary School Certificate Examination without any help? It is not your father and your mother that will do it for you. It is not your friend that will do it for you.
42. Where will your friend get the “expo” he wants to give you? It is all from the textbook; every “expo” is contained in the textbook.
43. Parents, bear in mind that the “music” has changed; otherwise, your children will grow as rough boys and girls in your house. When they are supposed to be independent, they will be demanding from you. You will be raving and ranting asking them whether you did not send them to school.
44. What type of school did you send your children? Did you send him where he is a champion among the fools? You will be jumping up; but when he is mixed up with others from different schools, he hardly finds his feet.
45. As I told you before, the sum total of it all is gaining admission into the university. When you will go to take G.C.E, it is not written QRC or CKC. Your school is not important. That is where they will find out whether you are intelligent or not because they have gathered the whole world. The whole West Africa is coming to take the examination.
Effect A Change If Necessary
If the school where your children are now cannot guarantee their future, please effect a change before it becomes late.
47. Parents, I am talking to you. If you have not been monitoring the performances of schools where your children attend, you had better start today. If you do not know the changes that are in the educational system, you had better start monitoring them now; otherwise, you are going to raise useless children in your house.
48. You may say, “If it becomes critical, my child will join me in my business;” but you that are doing the business, how have you fared? That which you are doing as business, does it give you job satisfaction let alone bringing in your child?
49. A wise man will always want his child to be greater than him, but for a foolish man, even if his child becomes a mediocre, an absolute failure, it gives him no concern. A stitch in time saves nine.
50. Our people say that it is wise to go in search of a black goat in the early hours of the day because once it gets dark; the likelihood of finding the goat is greatly minimized.
51. Do not be the type that will send children to school without giving them learning materials. It is just like sending somebody to the farm without a cutlass or any other farm tool.
52. There was a song we used to sing in those days: “Education is palatable; but difficult to acquire. If only you are patient, you will surely acquire it. If only your parents have the wherewithal, you will acquire it.”
53. Education is expensive but very much rewarding; I say it is expensive but very much rewarding. If you are not educated and you do not want your children to be educated because you do not know the value of education, shame on you! If the educated ones are passing sleepless nights over the education of their children, what then is the fate of you that are not educated?
54. What should give you concern is the educational development of your children. They are not yours until you have trained them both morally and academically. Is it not our Message? Amen.
Lazy students, they are the people that join secret cults. Watch all cultists in the Universities, in the secondary schools, higher institutions, they are filled with lazy, lazy students that have refused to read and they are being rusticated. Some have been dismissed. They now gang-up and form cults where they will be intimidating other students, intimidating lecturers. A lazy student always watches his clock, even in the class. Watch all lazy students, their eyes are fixed on the clock; even when the teacher is willing to help them, you will be hearing, “time up! Time up! Time up!”
-Son of Man.
From the Message: GET RID OF LAZY HABITS.