PreachedSUNDAY, 2ND SEPTEMBER, 2007. By The Son of Man(Apostle Peter Odoemena) At THE HOUSEHOLD OF GODONITSHA
I am not the attraction like Jesus Christ was not the attraction in His day. My Message is not a pleasant one that can attract the world. I only came for my own – My people. Believe it if you can.
-Son Of Man
Who do you want to be like? What is your dream? Who is your mentor? I have come to realize that I have reserved powers to make things move the way I want them. I am to be courageous enough to tell myself what I need and what I want to be. You have to personalize this Message to yourself.
-Son of Man
PRAYER
Our Heavenly Father, we come to You this day with our hearts filled with joy, thanksgiving and appreciation for Your goodness and mercy to us, not only in Onitsha, but everywhere Your Name is mentioned and worshipped.
2. Lord, we recognize You as the Almighty God that ruleth in the affairs of men. We recognize You as the all and all in our lives; the ever merciful
God, the ever compassionate; ever forgiving iniquity; ever loving; ever protecting; ever caring.
3. In You oh Lord, we have found solace to our souls. We give You glory, honour and praise mostly for making it possible for our mother, Mama Ikebude, who sojourned in London for nine months, to come back safely and join us in this holy gathering again.
4. Father, we give You all the praise for the protection, for the healing and for the peace she enjoyed in London with her children. We equally pray that you bless her children over there who took it upon themselves to serve and honour their mother at this old age. Reward them according to the magnitude of their love toward their mother.
5. The same way, we pray for mothers here that they emulate the qualities of Mama Ikebude by raising their children to enviable heights so that they will get better husbands that will take good care of them.
6. Father, we praise You for this shining example we have witnessed and we look forward to seeing more of such examples.
7. This day oh Lord, we have come here just as we are to worship You, to honour You and to adore You because You are worthy of our praise and our worship. Spread forth Your arms of love and receive all of us that have gathered in Your Name this morning not only in Onitsha but also everywhere Your Name is mentioned. Surround Your children all over the globe with Your love and glory. Touch them with the touch of love. Let every one of them feel the touch and the impact of the Almighty God in their various lives.
8. Today, oh Lord of Hosts, make the weather very conducive for us. Let Thy Presence be felt here. Move mysteriously in our midst that at the end of today’s service, everyone of us will go home rejoicing.
9. Touch our lives positively. May we never go home the same after today’s service. May we add something to our experiences with You.
10. In any way the enemy will try to destabilize us or destabilize our minds from focusing on your Word, Lord we pray to resist such intrusions of the enemy. Do not allow such spirits to operate among us. Veil yourself oh Lord in a vessel You will use today to be a blessing not only to Your children but also to all mankind.
11. As we surrender to You fully, exercise authority and control over us for we are Thy children, the offspring of Thy pasture. Do unto us as a loving father will do unto his children, that in everything Lord, your Name alone will be glorified.
12. In everything we say, may Your perfect Will be done in this Local Assembly, in the Bride of Christ Ministry worldwide, in our individual lives that You alone will take the glory thereof through Christ our Lord we pray.
STRIVE TO BE A STAR by The Son of Man (Apostle Peter Odoemena)
CHAPTER 1
BE POSITIVE PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY
Today is a new day only if a new thing is added to your life. If after today’s worship, nothing happens in your life, no experiences added, well, you just carried yesterday over. You are still continuing with the experiences of yesterday.
2. That is why, when you wake up from your bed and you look at your calendar, you will notice that you have added a day to your age. The same way, you should add something to your experiences. Every new day has a new experience.
3. A day is not new until you have a new and better experience and that is the reason when we wake up in the morning, we kneel down before God to enquire about that new day pertaining to what it holds for us so that we do not idle it away. Remember that time waits for no one but one waits for time.
4. So, when we gather in the Fellowship, my aim is to praise and worship God so that He will unfold the future. If God does not unfold your future, you can never make any headway. If God does not unfold your future—for you to see a little of the contents—you can never progress in this life.
5. Some are gambling through this life, but God did not make this life to be a gamble. Life has a “master plan.” If God does not reveal the plan to you, you are doomed. We praise God so that we will win His favour.
6. Brighten yourselves in the Fellowship right now. Many did not brighten themselves before coming to Fellowship. Some might have nagged before coming. Some woke up looking very gloomy, maybe because of the sad experiences of yesterday. Some even quarrelled, fumed, grumbled and murmured and carried everything down to the Fellowship. God is saying no to it.
7. If you want to benefit from God’s blessings, cheer up immediately. Forget yesterday; forget even few minutes ago. The secret behind success lies in putting the past behind, for that is where it belongs; success lies in putting the past behind and pressing on towards the future.
8. Your life is not dependent on your past but on your future. No man’s life is dependent on the past but every man’s life is dependent on the future. Understand these facts about life so that any day you wake up from your bed, you will be the happiest man or woman on earth because you know that once there is hope and life, tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow is going to be better.
9. Someone named his child “Nkiruka,” meaning: tomorrow will be better. You know tomorrow will be better only if you remain alive. That is why I advised my family members: “In everything you are doing, do it to stay alive, for if you do not stay alive, you have no future.
10. If you are working, work to stay alive. If you are drinking, drink to stay alive. If you are eating, eat to stay alive. If you are doing business, do it to stay alive. By staying alive, I mean physically and spiritually.
11. If you are spiritually dead, you are dead completely. Once somebody is spiritually dead, everything in him is completely dead. Once you are spiritually alert, you are physically alert. Maybe you do not know that every sickness is spiritual. Every sickness that attacks a human being is spiritual. There is no physical sickness. You must be sick within for you to be sick without. Go and think about it.
12. Nobody falls sick physically without first falling sick spiritually. The same way, if you are not spiritually sound, there is no need talking about character. Character is a formation of the spirit. Even success and failure are both spiritual. When you fail spiritually, you must fail physically. You better think about it and begin to reposition yourselves immediately.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE
I really thank God for what He is doing in the Bridal Faith. If I keep you standing for two hours, it is for your own good. You stayed many hours in your beds. Some stayed many hours in their parlours. You should stand up in the Fellowship; even little children.
14. Everybody, stand up! I say stand up there! I do not care who it is. Mama, stand up there! You are no longer in London. You came back with overweight; you do not know that it is death that is knocking on your door.
15. I thank God that you have come back. At this old age, you should not be fat. Are you getting me? Once you clock sixty years, you shouldn’t grow fat anymore. You should be moderate. You begin to reduce the fats; the cholesterol in your system so that you live longer.
16. By nature, fat people do not live long. A little thing can kill a fat person. Little things kill fat people. That is why we lay emphasis on physical exercise so as to burn-off the excess fats. And this is where—in the Fellowship—we come to exercise ourselves before God.
17. You know, over there in London and other countries like that, because of the security and better cost of living they are enjoying there, people easily become overweight. They eat good food, enjoy good weather, and watch their televisions and things like that. In addition, they do not visit anybody unless it is necessary. They stay in their homes, drink, eat, make merriments and then you see people increase in weight.
18. The highest exercise is to see people walk about in the garden and then come back to the parlour and begin to watch their televisions and read periodicals. That is why you see them very fat; few years later, they die. Those that live long there are technicians and sportsmen who do hard work. They are the ones that live longer there.
19. Nevertheless, watch office workers that stay there to drink tea ten times a day before they go home from work; they hardly live long because of overweight. Watch people that develop diabetes, they are mostly found amongst the office workers, mainly government officials that have that freedom to stay in their offices and drink tea, eat bread and snacks anyhow.
20. The same thing applies to bank officials. Before you know it, they develop a very dangerous habit. At the age of fifty, sixty, diabetes will come immediately to parcel them home. This is because there is no physical activity; nothing is being wasted from the blood; everything is packed there.
21. How I wish the Fellowship hall was okay for me. It is a school but it lacks some facilities. I would have exposed all of you one day by causing you to run round the field; including all the mothers and fathers. I will just take you to the field for you all to run round it three times and then come back for us all to worship the Lord.
22. This thing I am saying, you cannot buy it with money, yet it will improve your health. If you have a vehicle, you are blessed quite alright, but do not allow your car to destroy you. If you have a motorcycle, you are blessed, but do not allow it to destroy you. From time to time, park the vehicle and do some trekking. You can trek from Omagba to the Main Market. Use that early morning strength to trek so that in the evening you board a vehicle home.
23. Do it for one week and watch your strength; no typhoid, no malaria, no pains, you sleep very well because your blood will circulate fine. You will be livelier. Not all the time, you are either boarding a motorcycle or a bus. No! You are killing yourself. There is no medicine greater than physical exercise.
24. Let me tell you: Do you know that Abraham Lincoln of America had a physical trainer; a physiotherapist that was attached to his office; even Roosevelt, all the heads of state? I love this present president of Nigeria(Yaradu’a) so much. This is not only because of his condition but also because he has a physical trainer in his office who subjects him to physical training every morning and evening so that he can cope with the rigours of his office.
25. I have proved many things now. I am stronger now than when I was in the office. This is because I am more exposed to strenuous jobs now than when I was sitting down in the office—sleeping for hours to collect salary at the end of the month to kill myself. I eat bananas; eat groundnuts and every other thing that passes by. No! This was because I was idle.
26. When you are busy, you hardly realize whether you have eaten or not until you have returned. You have no time for eating banana and so on. Your system will be neat. Watch your strength, you will be bubbling every minute of the day.
27. Hear me very well: If you indulge in physical training, you will never be old. You will remain young. Watch sportsmen and women that take delight in doing physical exercises, retired civil servants and people like that, watch their physique; they are always strong even at old age. They do not complain of arthritis, cramps or rheumatism.
28. What is rheumatism? What is arthritis? These things are nothing but accumulated bad water in the blood. This is because the bad water could not go out through the pores due to inactivity. What will happen is that fats will collect at the joints and then will seize the ligaments; the entire joint will be blocked with fats making the movement of the hands and the legs almost impossible. Before you know it, everywhere becomes stiff.
29. But when you do physical activities, all the oils in your joints will lubricate the joints. A human being is a working machine. Man has enough oil in his body that is capable of oiling all the joints. Why do we go for the lubrication of the vehicle? We grease the bolt joints; we grease everywhere: the tie rods, even the doors for free movement. If you do not grease your vehicle, it will rust and become stiff. From time to time, grease your vehicle.
30. Some of you are like parked vehicles. When you park a vehicle without driving it about, you are causing more damage to that vehicle. So, it is with your life.
31. If you park yourself—no activity—you are like a parked vehicle whose engine must knock any day it is started. Some will stay and their tyres will flatten. Nobody in Onitsha Fellowship is up to eighty years of age except Papa Nzegbu. Mama Ikebude is still very young.
32. Recently, I presented a paper to my wife to see a place that is known for one thing: women at eighty, still get pregnant and have children. Men at hundred and twenty are still impregnating women and raising children—I gave her the paper. What was the secret? Physical activities. It is a tradition of the people of that place.
33. When you wake up in the morning, you trek for about five miles and then get back. What do you think is the secret behind the physical fitness of soldiers or mobile police officers? You can hardly see a fat police officer. All fat police officers are found amongst those that collect bribes on the street and stay in the office. They are always fat with big tummies.
34. Watch the mobile police officers, watch the soldiers; it is a routine that they must trek five miles every morning: walking across the country, chanting their songs and burning off excess flesh. You see them looking very agile and vibrant; but when you come to Fellowship, “Stand up and let us praise the Lord,” within three minutes, some are already groping for their seats with their hands.
35. This is the number one sign that mama has come back home; experiences of London: bye-bye. Within two weeks, you will come back to normal shape that will make us enjoy you and you will live longer for us.
36. If you know that your legs are paining you, raise your hand there? Nobody. Everybody is now sweating after dancing. The garris, beans, plantains, cucumbers, carrots and all those non-senses in your systems need to be gotten rid of.
37. Don’t you know that food can be poisonous to your health? Why do you suffer from indigestion? It is because you do not exercise yourself; few minutes, you go to your bed and lie down. When you go to the toilet, you will live there and then cause a blockade to the toilet system.
38. Everyday, tenants will be complaining that the toilet is filled—completely blocked. It is you that filled the place with your faeces.
39. You see, everybody is looking bright now. There is no better place to stay than in the Presence of God. The anointing breaks every yoke. I don’t care what that sickness is, The Word of God will send it packing if only you will believe.
40. Today, I am being led to talk to you. I want to lay a foundational Message where I will stand and make my proclamation. Amen.
A better thing is on the scene. A new and better idea that is more successful, more progressive, more energetic, more demanding is on the scene. Keep your eyes on the sparrow; do not have a short vision. Have a long-range vision. A sparrow does not hover; it stays on top of a tree and sees another tree afar… remember I have told you that failure is never a setback. Failure is a step backward to enable you gather power for a higher jump. Failure never drags you back; it is nothing but a step back.
-Son of Man
CHAPTER 2
BE DILLIGENT TO STUDY THE WORLD OF GOD ALWAYS
I am going to talk to you here, not on something you do not know but on something you know very well. This is because we cannot talk about success without first of all removing all the hindrances to success.
2. I have touched on your family relationships. I said, “Take your time and examine your family relationship because behind every successful man, there must be a very intelligent, understanding, friendly, loving and well-organized wife.”
3. She should not be an ordinary wife. She should be intelligent, wise and understanding. She should be capable enough to manage the affairs of the home, and must be in harmony with herself first.
44. Please, pay strict attention! Why are all of you looking at that woman? “Na mi invite her. Madam, you are welcome o! I troway salute. Ehen, Mr. Rumain, na now you dey complete for that seat. Wey your mother?’ She should be here. Her seat is vacant. Praise God!
5. I thank God for what He is doing. People that love the Truth must be in the Bridal Faith. People that hate the Bridal Faith are haters of the Truth. But, if you love the Truth, you must be acquainted with the Bridal Faith.
45. I do not have executive Pastors. I repeat: I do not have executive Pastors or Apostles.
6. So, I am saying that you should be fitting somewhere. If you are a Pastor in the sense that you monitor your Fellowship and can arrest a situation without the preacher calling your name, you should know what to do when certain situations arise.
7. Hence, I never prepared executive seats like the Pentecostals where the pastors and ministers will ceremoniously sit down even when the word is not flowing well, maybe due to poor ministration or poor interpretation or poor reception.
8. I want to speak to you, but before then, I have a newspaper publication I want to reveal its contents.
9. Take note. You are all educated. Young men, henceforth, I will be exposing you to know whether you paid your school fees as you were directed to, or you embezzled your school fees. So, the Fellowship is the best place where you can come and convince us that your parents are not wasting the money they paid as your school fees.
10. It is not all the time that you expect Pastor Dan to be in the pulpit when I call for somebody to do some reading. It has stopped from now. Henceforth, I will be calling those I want to call.
11. When you are performing very well, you are encouraging your parents to train you. If you cannot read a common newspaper publication, you should better be sent to “Ogbe” Marine (Marine Quarters) where you will be loading sand, for that is the only thing you can do well.
12. If you are not intelligent academically, you can never do well in trading; this is the mistake parents make. If their children perform poorly in schools and colleges, they bundle them to the market. They will become worst there.
13. If you do not have the brain to study, you can never have the brain to coordinate a nice business. Watch the man that is doing a business very well, he is doing it because he hadn’t the opportunity to be educated academically. If he had been given the opportunity, he would have done very well.
14. The same thing is applicable to craftsmen. If you are not intelligent, you must perform poorly in crafts. You can be in your apprenticeship for twenty years without perfecting the trade. This is because your brain is poor.
15. Where is John Chukwunonso? Who saw him last week? Who knows his number? Pastor, go and call him. Use your mobile phone. Call him before I excommunicate him.
16. I sent my wife to go and see to the welfare of his wife in the hospital and that was on last Thursday. She (my wife) bought some items and went there with the intention to see her only to realize that she has been discharged from the hospital.
17. Throughout last week, John never appeared in the Fellowship. He could not pass any message across to us. So, my wife wasted her time and her money. Wasted the materials she bought, although we used them; but we did not mean to buy them for ourselves. It is not a good report. Amen.
Anything a man attains in life is a matter of the mind. Since the mind is the central controller of everything, make sure you protect it wisely by making sure no wrong information ever registers there; make sure it does not process any deceitful information such as gossip, envy, jealousy, malice, anger, hatred, evil speaking, slander, indolence, poverty and other things like that.
-Son of Man
CHAPTER 3
RELIGION THE CREATOR OF EVIL
I want to handle the Sunday school in my own way and it is going to be a combined class. You are welcome into the Fellowship in the Name of the Lord.
2. From the extract of Saturday Vanguard of September 1, 2007, it is clear that we are not fooling your ears. Some people somewhere shared the same view with us that the number of Churches in Nigeria does not justify the rate of crime in Nigeria. We made comparisons between yesteryears and today.
3. In Nigeria, for example, when we had few Churches, namely, the two prominent ones: Catholic and Anglican, after which came the evangelical ones like Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah’s Witnesses and so on—the crime rate was low. That was before the Biafran War.
4. Then, there was nothing like Pentecostal religion. Nigeria was limited to two Evangelical Churches. I have named them: The Church of Christ in Nigeria, the ECWA (Evangelical Church of West Africa), Presbyterian Church, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Methodist, Baptist, period.
5. At that time, there was a little group that was called The Faith Tabernacle or you call them the Sabbath; their members do not believe in taking drugs at all. When we had these few Churches, Nigeria enjoyed perfect peace. The crime rate was very low.
6. But today, see what we are witnessing everywhere, just like the writer in that Vanguard newspaper publication rightly said. Almost every warehouse is occupied by a Church. Every classroom block is occupied by a Church. Every parlour is a prayer house, healing or deliverance centre; crusades everywhere; vigils here and there; ministry, ministry, ministry until we have arrived at personal ministries.
7. You ask somebody: “My friend, where do you attend your Church?” He will reply: “No, it is not a Church, it is a Ministry.” It will jump from ministry to “calling” until women now have their callings also: “I have a ‘calling’ from the Lord.” She will establish something and people will start rushing there.
8. In spite of the anointing of the Holy Spirit everywhere; “It’s all over me; it’s pushing me around,” speaking in tongues and all the “Holy Ghost Fire,” the Holy Ghost could not fire armed robbers and the Devil.
9. I am saying that in spite of all these non-senses, watch the rate of crime. The more Churches are increasing, the more crimes are increasing.
10. Hence, if crimes are increasing with the growing number of Churches, who then is behind the crimes? The Church? Thou sayest. The Son of Man no talk am o. Na you talk am. Abi e no be true? Na Church dey manufacture crime.
11. Please, I want to stand there and make a point. The Holy Ghost made us to understand that one of the manifestations of lazy habits is robbery. This is because when you are industrious, you can never think of robbing somebody, knowing very well that you are an able-bodied human being: your hands are okay; your brain is okay. Nobody has a brain sharper than that of an armed robber. Are you getting me?
12. Thus, if you are smart and clever, we say: “As smart and clever as an armed robber.” This is because every armed robber is a tactical mathematician—the brain is flash. If he does not plan well, he will pay with his life.
13. Now, you see the way he has employed that talent? He has employed that talent negatively. If he can use that talent rightly, he will be a star in a good thing. If we can employ half of the talents we employ in negative activities in positive activities, I tell you, we all must be stars; personalities that will be reckoned with in this country.
14. The Holy Ghost went on to say that robbery is a sign of moral depravity. When somebody is morally bankrupt, he goes about robbing others. In other words, he is a living dead. I say living dead because, once character is lost, every other thing is lost.
15. The personality of a man, the worth of any man, the integrity of anybody, is nothing but the person’s character.
16. This is why I blame many people. Once you are all out to make money by all means, you must become morally bankrupt. You must be a reproach to your people, yourself and even to the society. This is because a robber is a reproach to himself, to his people and to the society.
17. For you to prosper materially, first, develop yourself spiritually. Develop a very high moral standard where your conscience cannot permit you to do indecent things without restraint. Develop yourself to such a height where your conscience will begin to resist some negative forces; negative impulses and emotions that will lead you to negative actions.
18. Watch all these people that are morally bankrupt, even when they make that money, they do not know how to use that money because they do not have the “will power” to convert the money into meaningful usage. That is why the Holy Ghost said that any money given to a fool is wasted.
19. Do not equip a fool with money; rather, develop a fool to become a full-fledged human being that has a living conscience that will not permit some negative thoughts to fly in.
20. Watch the world we are living in; watch the Churches; their attentions are always placed on material possession; material well-being, and the whole essence of their gatherings have become defeated, because there is no truth in what they are claiming to possess.
21. I do not know how many lies one will tell before becoming a liar. From time to time, they run round Onitsha and other places with their vehicles making a hell of noise: “Holy Ghost gathering; Holy Ghost crusade; Jesus meeting you in person face-to-face; bring the blind; bring the deaf; bring the lame. If your business has collapsed, come; if you are looking for a husband or a wife, come; if you are suffering from one thing or the other, come. One prayer a man of God will make, a miracle will happen.” They are all liars.
22. Innocent people will carry their relations that are bewildered with sicknesses to them. They will collect their money from them by way of sowing seeds of faith or offerings to the Lord for special prayers. At the end of the whole crusade, the lame will go back lame; the blind will go back blind; the deaf will go back deafer; the barren woman’s condition will become worse—nothing will happen!
23. When they feel that they are losing influence, they will import one Whiteman from Germany. Whether he is white or black, they are all members of the same gang. He is a syndicate. It is like 419 (Advance Fee Fraud).
24. A member of 419 in Onitsha can have connection around the entire world. It is a network. So, he can be here in the name of Grace of God Mission and connect Reinhard Bonke in Germany; connect Oral Roberts of America. Hence, he will connect people everywhere. It is a network.
25. When they come, they will share the proceeds. Whatever that is realized, they will climb up one storey building there, Nweke will take, Nwafor will take, Okonkwo will take, Bonke will carry his—piaa back to Germany: “To hell with those that attended the crusade.” They have made their money, which was their aim of organizing the crusade.
26. I do not care the group. They are but one. Even if what they are saying could be taken serious, as many of us as have read the Bible over and over know very well that the Apostles never laid such hopeless foundation. Jesus never made such an advertisement. Nobody ever made such an advertisement in the Name of God. The whole thing is a business advertisement. Who doesn’t know that?
27. If up to this moment you do not know that the whole thing is a business advertisement, you are mentally deranged like they are. We had better face the stark realities of life. Even the same material welfare they seek in those Churches, the only way they feel they can get it is by duping their members. Many have lost their wealth in the hands of their Church members.
28. If there is anybody you should be afraid of, it is somebody that comes to you with the Bible in Jesus name. Once you see somebody with the Bible claiming to be holy, “Brother, God bless you; remain blessed; bless you, bless you; in Jesus name, Jesus, Jesus,” run away from that person; a person worse than an armed robber has come to you. Once he collects your money, his eyes will bulge out, and before you can say a word, he is already gone.
29. But how can we escape from all these non-senses if we are not prepared to adjust ourselves spiritually? Because all these things are matters of the spirit.
30. I want to speak to you by way of laying a foundation for a Message. Be very careful about pseudo-psychological religious promises; false psychological religious promises that can never come to pass even till eternity, and there are reasons why these things cannot come to pass. God is not behind those promises:
31. “My God is going to prosper you; he shall surely prosper you; shout hallelujah!” na lie. God is not shaking him. It is all abracadabra. If a masquerade does not flog people, women will get accustomed to pulling its straps. If the so-called man of God does not shake his head, speak with such a hoarse and thunderous voice and proclaim the name of Jesus, will anybody ever believe that Jesus is behind such a thing? They are all “Holy-Ghost” inspired so as to dupe people.
32. These are learned gambits from Bible schools. There, they are taught how one can twist his mouth in order to siphon something out of somebody; how you can command somebody and you will collect all he has on him. It is a criminal activity that they learn there.
33. But in this Faith, we do not practice that nonsense. We are not Christians and we can never be Christians. We were Christians before but not now anymore. We are REALISTS. We follow those things that are real. We do not follow those useless stories in this Faith. I can say we have a SCIENTIFIC FAITH.
34.A “scientific faith” is a Faith that is based on substance. A “religious faith” is a Faith that is not based on substance.The Biblesaid that to have faith is to believe something you cannot see; but ours is a “scientific faith.” We believe that which we can see. It is scientific because we can prove it using our everyday experiences.
35. If a woman is pregnant and she claims she does not know, is she pregnant? She does not need to go for a laboratory test. Just have patience, before seven months, it will be published. That is our Faith. I cannot tell you to believe that you are pregnant and immediately you become pregnant. No! I will tell you that I don’t know the Holy Ghost that will “overshadow” you in the night if not your husband. That is the Holy Ghost. Are you getting me?
36. Consequently, if there is anything wrong with the Holy Ghost, I will tell Holy Ghost, “You are not well; you need deliverance.” If something is wrong with Mary, I will also tell Mary, “You are not well; you need deliverance.” That is what our Faith is all about. From what eyes can see, we will begin to imagine what tomorrow will look like. Amen.
Today, minds like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and too many of them are great minds. What can you say about them? Why can’t you be one of them? You may not go to school yet you can develop your mind and become one of the registered great minds. If your mind is not functioning well, your mindset is not only faulty but dead, and should be replaced.
-Son of Man
CHAPTER 4
LEARN TO RESPECT GOD FIRST
I want to speak from the Throne of Grace. Follow me spiritually. Our aim of gathering, hearing the Word of God is centred on one pivot, one revolving point: We all in the Faith want to be successful in life. Nobody wants to be a failure. I remember that I told you in this Faith that your spiritual liberation is incomplete if you are not financially liberated. The two must work together. But first, you must be spiritually liberated for you to know the right way to be liberated financially.
2. In other words, it is still in consonance with what we read in the Bible: “Seek yea first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and every other thing shall be added unto you.” In other words, put God first.
3. Remember the Message: THE MAKING OF A CHOICE. The first choice you must make in life is the choice of the god you must worship which is a spiritual choice. You do not have total freedom if you are only enjoying spiritual freedom; also, you can hardly say “amen” with all your heart towards what is being said.
4. If you are living from hand to mouth and you see some minor problems that need your attention and you cannot handle them, and somebody comes to you and says: “God lives forever; God lives forever,” you will chorus along with him, but not with all your heart. Something in you will still tell you: “My friend, you have a problem that needs to be solved.”
5. That is why the Bible said in the book of 1st John, “I wish that you will prosper, even as your soul prospers in Christ.” The prophets even spoke thus and I quote in the book of Isaiah saying: “Come unto me and I will show you how to profit.”
6. So, it is the Lord that teacheth thee how to profit. While you are growing spiritually, you must also grow physically. When I say physically, I mean, materially, so that there will be a balance.
7. Let me tell you what I mean. You can demonstrate it in your homes. For a chair or a stool to carry you, the three legs must be there firmly footed. If you remove one of the legs of the stool and then sit on it, you can never relax. The stool will wobble until you fall from it. No matter what anybody might be saying, your whole consciousness will be centred on protecting yourself from falling off the stool and disgracing yourself in the process. You are just dancing on it.
8. However, if the stool is supported with three legs, you can sit down and fold your legs. Am I making any sense at all? That is what life entails.
9. By nature, God made a man in such a wonderful way that he should sit and fold his legs and then praise God. Am I making sense there? That is why an angry man can never fulfill God’s righteousness. Moreover, a hungry man is an angry man.
10. Therefore, once you are hungry, you can hardly fulfill God’s righteousness. If anybody should come to you and talk nonsense, he must first of all feed you, that is, if he wants you to pay attention. Otherwise, he constitutes a disturbance. Praise the Lord!
WITHOUT GOD, YOU CAN DO NOTHING
Please, follow me strictly. Before I will talk to you on investment again, I will like to touch strictly on the obstacles to progress. As children of God, we have to strive to remove all these obstacles and then we brighten our ways. Then, you come and see what the Lord will do on your way to success.
12. You see, God has placed me on a tripod stool. One, I was a civil servant; two, I was a workman; today, I am a trader. What is left now? I have tried the three areas. So, I believe that I am competent enough to share my experiences with you, spiritually and otherwise.
13. Take note. Great men that have appeared here on earth attributed their greatness to the fear of God; check A to Z. Even those that ruled nations, they attributed their successes to the Almighty God. It buttresses the fact that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. You must learn to respect God first. Honour God first as your Creator. Your life is hanging on Him. That thing which you want to do tomorrow is hanging on Him.
14. Let me tell you what God is. Assemble your vehicle together; let your engine and everything be okay, without the tyres, you are parked in one place. Even to push the vehicle will not be possible without the tyres.
15. Go to school, learn the work, learn the business, you have done a very nice thing; muster the money, no problem; it takes the Lord to make the business move; to make the certificate useful; to make the craft useful.
16. It is in the power of man to clear the ground, plant his seed and any other thing he wants to cultivate there. If the God of harvest does not visit that farm, the farmer has laboured in vain. It is the Lord that maketh the increase. So, no farmer can attribute his success to his labour. No! He will rather give glory to God of harvest who gave him the increase.
17. It is upon this backdrop that our parents used to set a day aside to thank the God of harvest with the proceeds of the land, who made their crops yield bumper harvest. Am I making sense? I am going back to something. Amen.
As long as you are alive, every new day imposes on you a new challenge, a new or additional responsibility. So, do not accept to be contented with what you have. Every disappointment cannot be a blessing; some disappointments are real disappointments while some are blessings. However, every disappointment is God’s opportunity. Whether it is real disappointment or blessing, learn how to change the circumstance. It is in the power of your hands to convert a disappointment to a blessing or to a curse-it is all in your hands.
-Son of Man
CHAPTER 4
HINDRANCES TO BECOMING A STAR IN YOUR FIELD (1)
1. COMPLAINING
The topic for my little exhortation is: HINDRANCES TO BECOMING A STAR IN YOUR FIELD. It has come to my notice that some people bite against their lips in the attempt to keep feelings under control. It then means you are not spiritually fit; you are not emotionally fit. Some always complain.
2. Complaining leads to fear. Fear is a destroyer. In addition, most of the things you are afraid of do not exist. Once you develop this complaining spirit; grumbling spirit; murmuring spirit, you are suspicious of your environment. If you see powder on your feet, you will say witches and wizards visited you and then pressed you on that leg.
3. Once you develop the spirit of complaining, you lose completely the sight of natural occurrences that are common among human beings; everything pertaining to you becomes a spectacular problem. Because you are no longer in your right mind, you now take delight in murmuring, grumbling and complaining.
4. The moment you start complaining, your creative abilities are impaired. You are no longer innovative; every creative idea will be dampened. A complainant does not welcome a useful suggestion unless it agrees with what he has in his mind. This is a very dangerous obstacle.
5. Let me tell you what I have noticed in this life: Life turns a man ups and downs, but whether up or down, there is always a lesson to learn. Are you getting me?
6. Why should you complain? Why should you murmur? Why should you grumble? Why should you bite off your lips in order to keep your feelings under control? What is the matter with you? Why do you think the matter is only peculiar to you?
GOD RULETH IN ALL THE AFFAIRS OF MEN
Let me tell you something there. I believe in this sunshine. It is a very good thing. The sunshine illuminates the environment. It makes everywhere bright. I feel good when the sun shines. The light illuminates the day.
8. Hear me very well, the light illuminates the day, but there is something in the light; it can never change you. It can never change your disposition. There is only one thing from the sun that will change your disposition; it is the heat emanating from it. The heat must force you to readjust. I don’t know whether I am going ahead of you?
9. The heat emanating from the sun must force you to reposition your body. Do you tell a sensible human being to go away from the sun? Sometimes, God permits some difficulties to befall you as the only thing that can bring about the real change in your life. If the Messages you are hearing do not change you, situations must surely change you; an adverse condition must bend a crayfish. I do not know whether somebody is fully getting what I am saying?
10. What I am saying in essence is this: that condition in which you have found yourself, which is causing you to murmur and grumble, going about complaining, do you think that God does not know about it? Who do you think placed you there? He placed you there. It might be for good or for evil. You might be there as a result of your past misdeeds, for that is the only way He can set you free. This is because, from the three IMMUTABLE LAWS OF GOD, we believe that God ruleth in all the affairs of men.
THE THREE IMMUTABLE LAWS OF GOD—EXPLAINED
IMMUTABLE LAWS OF GOD, Number one is, “The Law of Gravity;” number two is, “The Law of Reciprocal Action,” number three is, “The Law of Pairing,” that is, you must move with people like you; I mean animals of the same species must move together.
12. Whatever goes up must come down. Any seed a man soweth, that he must reap—either yesterday, today or in the future. “The Law of Gravity” says that a heavier object must sink inside a lighter object. If you pour honey into olive oil, they are all oil, but honey will settle at the bottom because its density is higher than that of olive oil.
13. If you pour water into petrol, water will settle at the bottom of the tank while the petrol will float on top. This is because water is heavier than petrol. Why not say amen! The heavier you are laden with sin, I mean, wickedness, the more you draw closer to your grave. You are sinking. You keep on sinking until you dash into oblivion. You won’t have any genealogy; your lineage will be wiped off. You debase yourself so much that by your next generation, what you will look like will marvel the world.
14. All these people you see roaming about the streets, well, I won’t talk about them now. Let me finish with my little exhortation. You may be like such people in your next generation. You may be like Jimmy Carter of America in your next generation. It all depends on the extent to which you have built yourself today. Let me just drive it home.
15. Can you compare somebody whose father bequeathed a storey building with one whose father died without even erecting a single-room apartment? Before the latter is through with laying the foundation of a building, the former will have built an estate. Is it a lie? Do you really understand what I have just said?
16. Some of you are striving to achieve something since your fathers left you nothing. You do not want to be like your fathers. You want to be greater than your fathers. Wherever you get to, that is where your children will continue from.
17. Moreover, wherever your children get to, that is where their own children will continue from. If you trace it, it is still your father that is on the journey. Did you understand what I have just said?
18. Some of you may not attain your target until the next or even tenth generation depending on the way you manage yourself in this present world.
AVOID NEGATIVE CONFESSIONS AND ACTIONS
HINDRANCES TO BECOMING A STAR IN YOUR FIELD. If you are always complaining about your business, I tell you, you will never do well there. If you are complaining about Nigeria when you are a Nigerian, Nigeria will not bless you. Talk good about Nigeria because you have no other country you come from but Nigeria.
20. If Nigeria is bad, it is because you are bad. This is because it is human beings that make up what you call “Nigeria.” Think of how you can better your lot. Let me think of how I can better my lot. Let Brother Tony think of how he can better his lot, then Nigeria will become a better Nigeria.
21. If I am thinking of how to dupe Brother Mike and Brother Mike in turn is thinking of how to kill Brother Peter, can Nigeria be a habitable place? I will use everyday examples to drive my Message home.
22. It is very, very bad for one to go about complaining and murmuring; grumbling, grudging, biting your fingers—your eyes all red. It is an advertisement of foolishness. Do everything; do all things without murmuring and complaining as sons and daughters of God, who should be without rebuke; who are living in this crooked and perverse world where you are expected to shine as beacon lights; as stars in their various fields.
23. In my own field, I am aiming to become a star there. In my village, I want to be a star. In my compound, I want to set a record that never existed so that it will be credited to me. I WANT TO BE A STAR. YOU WANT TO BE A STAR. YOUR CHILDREN WILL LIKE TO BE STARS. Oh no!
24. You see, once you start complaining, you hinder yourself from moving forward. Your achievement is finished. Before you know it, you begin to blame people for your woes. On the road to success, nobody should be blamed for any failure except you. On the way to success, no other person should be blamed for my mishap except myself, for every miscalculation must bounce back to me. I repeat: every miscalculation must bounce back to me.
25. A lesson to learn: “I failed my arithmetic; I failed my prediction; I miscalculated.” What is expected of me? Re-work; correction. When a child fails in a subject in the school, it does not mean the end of the child’s career provided the determination is there to do correction.
BE PATIENT
I miscalculated is a sign that I have not mastered it fully. But many of you in the Faith try something for three months and you expect wonders to happen. You expect a miracle to happen. If you do not see the miracle, “Eheee! Brother James has deceived you; Brother Peter has deceived you.” “Eheee! He said that if I come to Main Market, many people coming from Taiwan; from China will patronize me.” And you do not know that Brother James had been there for years and that wonder had not happened.
27. A complainant is impatient; but God said that you have need of patience like a farmer that goes to the farm and plants his crops there. He goes home and remains patient until the harvest time. He can never go there to harvest when it is not yet the harvest time. That type of patience is needed from us.
28. BE MORE PATIENT THAN A PATIENT.
29. Do you know why a sick person that is taken to the hospital is called a patient? We are not talking about the wife of Pastor Dan ooo! (that is, those bearing “Patience”). Even if it is the wife of Pastor Dan, she needs patience. This is because without patience, she may become a complainant. Anybody can be a complainant—man or woman.
30. What you need is not complaint. What you need is to settle down and then bring all your virtues to bear; all your experiences to bear. Then develop the right attitude. Evolve a solution to that problem instead of complaining, for complaining does not solve any problem, and envy is not an achievement. Are you getting me?
31. “Brother James is doing well in that one and he deliberately asked me to do this one. He wants my money to finish.” You are envious and you cannot achieve anything.
32. Watch people that complain always, you must trace envy in that complaint. So, do not complain about your children, your condition etc. What is that thing your children are doing? Is there no remedy? Is there no way out? Do you think that complaining about it will solve the problem?
33. If you know any problem that has been solved through complaining, come and make it known to me. Rather, people have aggravated their problems through complaining. Through much complaining, many have rolled into wrong hands that offered destructive advices.
34. So, what am I saying? Do not murmur; do not grumble.
AVOID DISPUTING AND UNNECESSARY QUESTIONING
Another thing you have to conquer is unnecessary disputing; unnecessary argument; unnecessary questioning. Do everything without complaining and disputing as children of God, who should live above rebuke; who should shine as stars in this crooked and perverse generation.
36. We have reviewed the condition of Nigeria; the condition of the world despite the proliferation of Churches; how crimes are still on the increase. What if we are part of that crime? Have we lived a shining example? For us to condemn them, we must live above them. This is because kettle cannot call pot black. We must escape from the perverseness and crookedness of this present world and be sure that when the Lord, the God of all flesh shall call the whole world to question, we shall be free. We will not stand condemned as partakers in the evils that are prevalent in our day.
37. How do we do that? By developing ourselves spiritually, obeying the “Laws of Nature;” making sure that we are guided strictly by the Word of God, and by the voice of our consciences. This is because, oftentimes, our consciences condemn us. We think we can outsmart our consciences; we make things even worse.
38. You cannot be wrong and right at the same time. Your smartness and cleverness can never save you if God is against you. God is against the wicked and you must conquer the spirit. What is disputing? Disagreement; unnecessary disagreement.
39. “I do not agree with Brother; I do not agree with Sister. I cannot agree with my husband; I cannot agree with my wife.” When you disagree with each other either in the Fellowship or at home, you are disputing.
40. How do you know a disputing person? The mouth is always filled with unnecessary questions and you can never satisfy him, no matter the answer you supply. For every answer you supply, there is another question. Answer one question, he comes up with another. This is because there is strife in the heart. How can there be success there? You cannot shine as a star because once your mind is not free with one another; your mind is not free with God. If God is not there, somebody is there. If God is not there, the enemy of God is there. God and His enemy cannot live in one house.
41. Who is dwelling in your heart? Who is prompting all those unnecessary questions? Who is wrecking up all those unnecessary accusations that now lead to disputing? That area where you are asked to shine as a star, is it your occupation or field of endeavour? Is that where you should shine or rise to an enviable height?
42. It is unfortunate to say that the way many are progressing, in no distant time, they will arrive at the peak; the topmost part of disputing so that we will envy them; envy their positions in disputing and use them as examples.
43. When a man wants to correct his wife, you will hear another voice saying: “Am I committing crime? What about Brother X and the wife? What about the other Brother and the wife?” So, you have become a star in bad works; you have become a star in evil; a star in evil reports.
44. “Let the Son of Man say whatever He wants to say, I will do whatever I have planned to do.” Hence, you can do it. You have become a star there; a “notable figure” in quarrelling and disputing; in complaining and murmuring.
45. Watch, within that period in your life, there is nothing meaningful that emanates from your brain anymore. Your heart is charged over evil. Then, how can you progress? How can you reason intelligently? How can you meditate on the Word of God? You are without a Guide. Nobody is guiding you anymore. What a pitiable condition?
46. Thus, if you are striving to be a star in your profession, in your field of endeavour, regard disputing and quarrelling as your enemies, for you must agree before you can move together. In addition, wherever there is no agreement, there is no advancement.
47. I know that God said we should avoid some people. Yes. He said, “If you notice somebody who is going about manifesting evil character, which is even evident in complaining and murmuring; quarrelling and disputing, avoid such a person because you can emulate that bad character from the person.” Amen.
If you are not prepared to change, you are not going to make any advancement in life. For anybody to succeed in life, he must have a period of capacity building. Do not write yourself off because that is very fatalistic; there are many potentials and capabilities in you which you may not know how to build up simply because you don’t want to or you have not recognized the necessity to do so.
-Son of Man
CHAPTER 6
HINDRANCE TO BECOMING A STAR IN YOUR FIELD (2)
I want to hammer on one area. I am aware that there are some people who really want to become hermits (one who lives in solitude). You are doing yourself more harm than good. You cannot exist alone. It is not so even in the monasteries. Even if you build a monastery where you will live, one day, whether you like it or not, you must fellowship with workers in the monastery. People must build that monastery for you. You must pay them. So, you must discuss with them whether you like it or not, even if it is for just one day. You must visit them at work.
49. What am I trying to say? “Well, I have decided to fold my arms. I won’t have any dealing with any human being again.” Let me explain to you what that means. You want to lose contact with everybody: “Don’t touch me; I won’t like to touch you.” It is a good principle. If you like, develop it, but I will tell you something there.
50. Once you lose contact, you must lose impact. I repeat: The moment you lose contact with people, you must lose impact of the people. You can never make any impact in the society anymore. If it is in the family, you are sitting there passively. You are good for nothing. You make no impact, for no human being can make any impact without making contact.
51. Instead of complaining and disputing, see it as an opportunity to improve. My failure offers me the opportunity for improvement. Anybody that wants to become a star always loves to create opportunities for others to shine.
52. Hear me very well, watch all that want to become stars; they normally create opportunities for others. By so doing, they will shine. If you do not create opportunities for others to shine, you will not shine.
53. Maybe you do not know that the moon draws its light from the sun. Without the sun, the moon is dark. The moon is just a “reflector.” Without the light that is beaming on the reflector, the reflector is useless.
54. You know what a reflector is? Sometimes, we place it behind our vehicles as a recommendation of the Road Safety Officials, so as to notify any driver that is coming from behind, of the presence of a moving vehicle in front.Once the headlight of a vehicle flashes on it, it simply reflects the light. Before the reflector can do any such thing, light must first beam on it.
55. Look at what I mean: If you bring a mirror into your room when it is dark, will the mirror reflect any light? But with your standing mirror, you can fill your whole house with light. All you have to do is to place it erect and beam your torchlight on it; the whole rays of the light will strike on that big mirror and that mirror will send the light back into the room with over one million rays. The whole room will be illuminated by light with a little beam from the torch that beamed the mirror.
56. Demonstrate it at your various homes. Anytime NEPA interrupts power supply, do not bother yourself. Put your standing mirror there. Place your torch there. With it, you can do your writing in the house.
57. Please pay attention to what I am saying.
58. Create opportunities for yourselves. Create enabling environments for yourselves that will make you achieve your target—shining like a star. In that business of yours; in that field of yours, you have to create an enabling environment. Environment does not create itself. Human beings create the enabling environments.
59. It is just like the students: if you want your teachers to quieten your co-students before you study, you will never study. If you are a student, desirous of becoming a star, it is in your power to create your own study environment where no noise will ever disturb you. Create enabling environment that is completely insulated from every noise; and of course, when a student is reading with concentration, his ears do not hear any noise.
60. If you are studying and you are disturbed by noise, you are not studying but reading. Noise will only disturb your reading. It can never disturb your studying.
61. Reading is not studying. When you are studying, your whole life is concentrated on the book. You are like a businessman that is counting his gains in the shop. He does not know whether Main Market is being engulfed by fire. He does not even know whether a vehicle is climbing on him. He will be busy counting his gains. In short, no noise disturbs him.
62. So, Brethren, what am I trying to say? What is that thing you are disputing against? What is that thing that is generating the unnecessary questions, which will lead to unnecessary arguments? Do you think there is no way out? Do you think that there is no other thing you can do than that which you intended doing? Do you think that which you intended doing is helpful? Will it advance your course? Of course, it will not. The answer is never, never.
63. As a result, what you are supposed to do is not to continue reiterating it as a monologue. No! You don’t make any sense there. Set it aside; pace on. See anything that will distract you from your target as a distraction you are not prepared for. Then you march forward. Amen.
I can make my condition favourable or unfavourable. This Message is as clear as the day. Do not read it as mere fiction, literature, mere story, give it a practical approach; narrow it down to your condition and then allow your mind to capture something that it will process all through.
-Son of Man
CHAPTER 7
RESTORE, RETAIN, AND REJOICE IN HOPE
You see, sometimes I feel bad when I discern that 90% of people in the Faith had already made up their minds to just take my Message as mere acquisition of knowledge, but my Message is useless until it is practiced. The rich benefits cannot be tapped until you put them into practice.
65. So, do not just end in the acquisition of knowledge; also, be pragmatic in your approach. Be purely practical for God does not take delight in hearers but in doers of the Word.
66. Let me tell you what I believe in: when we read the parable of the talents—the three young men that were given the talents—they were not given equal talents. Watch what happened there: one collected ten talents and on the day of accounting, he made extra ten talents which is 100% profit.
67. Another one collected five talents. On the day of accounting, he presented ten talents; 100% profit. Is that not true?
68. The last one collected three talents and went about complaining, murmuring, questioning and ended it all not doing anything. He even forgot to bank it so that it will attract little interest for the owner.
56. What happened on that day? The first person came with 100% profit. The second also came with 100% profit, while the third person came and opened his mouth to give reasons why he failed—reasons why he did nothing. Was he justified?
69. You may have your reasons why the Message of the Son of Man cannot work in your business; why it cannot work in your family. Are you getting me? You may have your reasons, but keep them to yourself. Let it be known to you that there is a day of accounting and this Message will not be left behind. We must give account of all the Messages we have received, A to Z.
70. That is why it is better we have not embraced this Truth than for us to play with it after having embraced it. “On that day,” you will remember all that I have been telling you. You will mention the Messages with your own mouth, confirming them and finally blaming yourself.
71. Do everything without murmuring that you may shine as a star in your own field. Do not dispute; do not ask unnecessary questions. Be diligent, be sober, be creative; think of things that you can develop by yourself to move your family to enviable height. Think of things you will do to raise your children to enviable heights.
72. Children, think of the way you will pursue your studies; things you will do to rise up to recognizable positions; to rise above poverty level; to command respect before God and man.
73. Remember, to a very large extent, our destinies lie in our hands. To a large extent, life is nothing but what we make it. If we make it miserable, well, we will suffer the sorrows and agonies that are associated with miserable life. We make it enjoyable, we will enjoy it.
73. Thus, my sorrow is mine. My joy is also mine. The last thing you have to conquer also or something you have to covet, I call them the three “Rs.”
74. When you despise disputing, quarrelling, questioning and accusing, then you come back to the three “Rs:” RESTORE, RETAIN AND REJOICE IN HOPE.
75. A certain man said that whenever he remembers how he will look like when he reincarnates, he starts laughing. This is because he has already concluded that whatever happens to him in this life will not happen to him again in his next life.
76. Anybody that allows what happened to him in this life to happen to him again in the next life has suffered the greatest of all atrocities.
77. Some have, with their own mouths, declared that the parents that gave birth to them in this life will dare not give birth to them again in their next life. I hope our children will not tell us so?
78. You see, what do you think caused such a nasty statement? It is failure in life; disappointments. When parents disappoint their children in life, they (children) are bound to make such statements.
79. You see, when a man disappoints the wife, the wife may start making similar statements: “Let us finish with this marriage this time around; if there will be another, I will dare not marry from this place; nobody will marry me from this place and this man will be my greatest enemy!”
80. The man will also say his: “In short, I made a great mistake in this generation, if God will permit me to come again, I will never see eye-to-eye with this woman; and anybody who will go to their town to marry a wife, let his jar of wine break on the way.”
81. What do you think caused these statements? It is disappointment. Parents can also say such a thing to their children: “I do not know how you managed to get into my womb. In short, the day you got into my womb is a cursed day.” Parents can say such a thing due to disappointments.
82. Nevertheless, be careful before you make such nasty statement(s). Do not speak anyhow. Rejoice always. Whatever that disappointment may be, do not say it is peculiar to you. It is common among all men. Anybody can pass through it. Do not curse God. Do not accuse God. Do not accuse the day you came into contact with your husband or your wife, or the day the baby entered your womb.
83. There is nothing wrong with both of you. If there is anything wrong, that thing is wrong with you, but you did not notice it. I can be the best husband if only I desire to be the best. I can be the worst if I desire to be the worst. So, anybody can be the best. Anybody can also be the worst depending on what you want to be.
84. Why not say “amen.”
SITUATIONS REVEAL WHO YOU ARE
Situations cannot make me what I am, but situations will tell you who I am; the stuff I am made up of. This is because no man can remain hiding forever. Situations must reveal who you are.
86. I am saying that in every situation, apply the wisdom of James in the Bible. He said, “Even calamities and difficulties befall mankind as mere natural occurrences that happen to all men.”
87. Therefore, do not see yours as extra-ordinary or peculiar to you alone as if it is devised for you alone; but in all situations, there is always a way out. I don’t care what the temptation is. There is always a way out.
88. What is temptation? Temptation is your inability to control your emotions; your inability to control your negative thoughts that lead you to negative actions. That is temptation.
89. When a man is being tempted, it means he is being drawn away by his desire. When you are drawn away by your desire, then you agree to move away. That is temptation. You have become a victim, but before then, you allowed it.
90. I cannot follow you because of what you are saying, but I will follow you because I want to follow you. So, I have nobody to complain to and nobody to blame for my disappointment but myself.
91. When I follow a wrong suggestion, a wrong desire, will I blame anybody? No! I decided to follow the wrong desire. I yielded myself to wrong appetite and I should be prepared to bear the consequences alone instead of going about syndicating my sorrows. I won’t syndicate my sorrow. I won’t make people become objects of my condition, making them victims of my uncherished condition. No! Develop the courage to bear it alone.
92. I cannot allow my mood to affect you. No! I should be cheerful. Even St. Paul encouraged his followers to be cheerful always; rejoice always. I say, rejoice. And in everything, give God the glory. Do not curse God. Do not ask God why. This is because questioning God may lead to rebellion. Questioning God means doubting God.
93. Some, because of the situations they found themselves in, oftentimes question His existence; question His Being; question His claims; question His promises. You cannot benefit from those things anymore because you are in doubt. You are not doing the right thing. At that point, all you are supposed to do is to put yourself together, find out whether you have fully obeyed or you are hypocritical.
94. If you are holding the Word of God hypocritically, you receive nothing but a curse from God. You are a reproach and not a star.
DESTINY IS A MATTER OF DECISION
Hear me very well; you are either a STAR or a REPROACH. In every field of life, you are either a VICTIM or a VICTOR; a STAR or a REPROACH. Whether you want to be a star or a reproach is all in your hands. It is a matter of decision.
96. Remember the Message that said that the “difference” between a rich man and a poor man is “decision.” The difference between a clever person and a stupid one is also decision. The path a man decides to go is where he will go. But where he says “no,” no Jupiter will move him to the contrary.
97. Even the man they call Satan; if you allow him to operate, surely, he will operate; but if you don’t, he stays calm.
98. If you provoke me to a fight and I refuse, shall we fight? But if you provoke me to a fight and I yield, surely we will fight.
99. So, what am I saying Brethren? RESTORE, RETAIN, AND REJOICE. Restore. Do not allow the joy of your salvation to fizzle out of your heart.
100. God said, “In all situations, try to leave abundant joy in your heart that will see you through in times of trials and difficulties.”
101. Why do people suffer from hypertension from time to time? It is because the joys in their hearts have been exhausted. Why do people quarrel and complain? It is because the joys in their hearts have completely vanished. Why do people develop sickness every day? It is because there is no more joy in their hearts.
102. But at least, every day, if you sit down quietly, you will see reasons why you must rejoice, at least for God keeping you alive. Always have this fact registered in your minds: that whatever has a beginning also has an end; that there is time for everything. If sorrow comes today, after the rain cometh the sunshine; that trial does not mark the end of your life; after the trial comes the victory, for where there is no difficulty, there is no testimony. Are you getting me?
103. A man that is not praying for difficulty is not praying for success. If you are afraid of failure then you are afraid of success, for there cannot be success without failure. A child can never walk upright without falling many times.
FAILURE AND SUCCESS ARE TWINS
Hence, there are too many trials in life. The way it comes to A differs from the way it comes to B. In all, they are obstacles, which we must surmount. They are difficulties that must come upon human beings, not upon goats. Are you getting what I am saying?
105. In all, develop enough courage. Say to yourself: “I am not the odd man out. It must come to an end one day. I don’t care how long it has taken. As long as there is life, there is hope.” Furthermore, this “rejoicing in hope” of what tomorrow will hold for you will always sustain you.
106. When I look at tomorrow, I say bye-bye to yesterday. I am alive today and tomorrow will be brighter. With the eyes of faith, I can see a victorious tomorrow. If you have no difficulties, you have no testimonies.
107. Nothing is more enjoyable than husband and wife sitting down at very old age and being taken care of by their children, and they begin to testify of all they passed through in life in their attempt to raise their children to enviable heights.
108. You know, we normally see people when they are enjoying life. We can hardly see people when they are suffering; when everything appears to be against them. We can hardly see that one. What we normally notice: “Eheee! Mama has come back from London! Mama is looking good! Eheee! The children have done mama well. Mama is enjoying life in London.” Fine!
109. How many can cast their minds back to about 30 years ago when mama and her husband were struggling to train their children, living from hand to mouth to make sure they train their children?
110. Mama is having testimony today because she joyfully out-lived all the troubles and trials. She never allowed her troubles, her trials to cause her to open her mouth to place a curse on her children or to accuse God.
GOD PERMITS DIFFICULTIES SO THAT WE MAY IMPROVE FROM THEM
Do not question God. Something that is greater than you is behind you; but you must pass through the condition you are passing through for that is the only way you can be set free. Without it, you must remain under God’s condemnation.
112. Blessed are you when you are judged now through the things you suffer in this flesh that you may be glorified on the “judgement day.”
113. Now, why do we strive to become stars? “So that on the day Christ will be revealed fully, we will rejoice that we never suffered in vain or laboured in vain;” so said Paul to his disciples.
114. But today, Christ has been revealed. We are no more talking about end time or no end time. That is why we are talking about relationships; progresses; advancements, and God Himself is pinpointing the obstacles you must remove.
115. It is just like people looking for the fruits of the womb. You cannot get it unless you are in agreement with your husband or wife. If you are not, forget it. As long as your minds are not working together—one is going to the left and the other is going to the right—forget about it. You will never get it.
116. God has permitted that trouble there to see whether that trouble will make you change. God, from time to time permits difficulties to befall human beings; different trials to befall different set of human beings, for that is the only thing that will cause them to change: change their visions; change their characters.
117. Take for instance, a man who through recklessness contracts a dreaded disease; after treating it, if he is intelligent, he must change his habit. This could be a habit he has been trying to drop for many years but no way. God has permitted this trouble to come to him so that through the trouble, he can talk to himself.
118. Am I making sense there? What am I trying to say?
119. The wind will never tell you to buy an umbrella, but the blue sky will. The wind will never tell you to buy an umbrella, for the wind is against the umbrella. Nothing spoils the umbrella more than the wind. Do not doubt me. Try it when it is about to rain. If it starts raining, mount a motorcycle with your umbrella. Let the wind act on the umbrella, you will see that the wind is the greatest enemy to the umbrella.
120. So, when you see the wind, you do not need an umbrella; but when you noticed that the sky has turned blue, what do you do? You change your disposition; you reposition yourself to face the rain.
121. The same way, when the heat from the sun; the intensity of the heat begins to scorch your body, you must carry your seat and look for a shade. Am I making any sense?
122. This is one of the reasons why God permits difficulties to befall you. Sometimes, God can use sickness to bring the man and the wife together. A problem that has been existing for years between the two, it could be lack of understanding or intolerance, could be solved by God afflicting either of the parties with a sickness and then use it to create love between the two; I mean wed them again.
123. Let me use one living example in the Faith. See our Brother Tony Egbuna; there was a time he nearly died at Awka. He was rushed to a village nearby. His wife run to the place, carried him back to Onitsha and started cuddling him like a baby. Within that period, they became born-agains.
124. I do not know whether you are catching the joke?
125. I was looking at the wife that time, It was a good opportunity for her to say: “Ifeoma, bye-bye. Please, leave my husband alone. I do not want anything to happen to Ifeka in this ailment; in fact, Ifeka shall be in Jesus’ Name.”
126. You see, she became born-again. God has used that sickness. God can use any situation to quieten a man to bring the man back to his senses.
127. At the same time, if you are barren, you are childless and you are still within the age where you are still fruitful, do not trouble yourself too much. Maybe God loves you and wants you to recognize your condition; he wants you to talk to yourself.
128. Maybe you have misused opportunities and God wants you to recognize who you are. He sits you down where you can see others raising children and you will desire to have yours, and He asks you a question: “Do you have the capacity to raise a family? Do you have the wherewithal to run a family? Why did you waste your precious time? Why did you behave in this way or that way?” You will be seeing many, many things you did, all staring at you. This is because any seed a man soweth, that he must reap. It is one of the unbroken natural laws. You cannot run away from it.
YOU MUST REAP WHAT YOU SOW
A Brother was testifying to me concerning a family where the father of that family misbehaved himself so badly and was extremely wicked and his wives were enjoying the fruits of his wickedness with the children. Later, the man died. Today, all his children have become hooligans; the wives also are hooligans. One of them even fell sick; the one that enjoyed that wickedness most, sometimes could pass faeces and eat it.
130. To another one, the whole family was wiped off. What can you say about this? It is God’s Law fulfilling. You cannot eat your cake and have it.
131. So, in everything, instead of complaining and murmuring, restore and retain and rejoice in hope. Always say to yourself: “Tomorrow will be better; I know that I am passing through trials, by God’s Grace, tomorrow will be better.”
132. Through the words that are coming out of your mouth, the Lord will build up the words around you. Before you know it, the words will begin to produce definite forms that will shoot you higher and higher. Before long, good things will begin to happen, confirming the spoken word.
133. WHEN THE WORD GOES OUT, IT DOES NOT COME BACK VOID. IT MUST PRODUCE THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH IT IS SPOKEN.
REJOICE ALWAYS
When you are rejoicing always; you see your Brother, you are happy with him; you see your Sister, you are happy with her; you are happy with your husband; you are happy with your children, you are happy with your work, you are happy with your business; whether the business is flourishing or not, at least, you are happy that you are there doing something. If it does not move today, it will move tomorrow. After all, the movement is determined by:
i. your level of commitment to the business,
ii. the vision you have concerning the business and,
iii. your input.
135. These are the three things that foster a business. They must be there.
136.When you want to succeed in your business, just remain there, whether customers are coming or not. God knows that you are there. And you have no other hope than that thing. He must do something there. I say, He must do something there. God can never help a man that folds his arms and expects miracle from the blues.
137. Be happy always. When you are rejoicing always, you reduce the tendency of falling sick to the barest minimum. A happy heart, a happy mind in a happy environment ensures sound health.
138. MEN AND WOMEN, JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES: ANYTIME YOU ARE OVER WORRIED, WHAT NORMALLY FOLLOWS IT? IF IT IS NOT MALARIA, IT IS TYPHOID OR HEART ATTACK OR WAIST PAIN OR CHEST PAIN. IN ALL, YOU ARE NOT SUFFERING FROM ANYTHING; YOU ARE SIMPLY SUFFERING FROM THE CONTENTS OF YOUR HEARTS.
DO NOT SOW SEED OF DISCORD
This is why God said that you should be very careful you do not listen to evil talks or reports; bad conversations; evil communications. Do not associate yourself with them, lest they register in your heart.
140. If somebody comes to you and begins to castigate his wife or her husband, a brother or a sister, or tell stories of disappointments and woes here and there and you know that they are not edifying, don’t ever give in to such stories. Tell the person to come next time. Tell him that you are busy or to look for a better place where he or she can advertise his or her products.
141. How I wish we can develop ourselves to a point where we can boldly tell people that such items are not permissible in our warehouses; that we need better goods in our warehouses than what he or she is distributing.
142. If you are distributing goods, distribute goods that will add value to human life and not goods that will demoralize people or shatter their dreams, or make their hearts to be hot against one another.
143. Do not sow seeds of discord among the Brethren. If you do it, you are no longer in agreement with the Body—the Bridal Faith. You cannot benefit anything from the Body anymore.
144. Watch a woman that is not in agreement with the husband; she can never enjoy any good thing from the man; but if the woman is in agreement with her husband, people will say that she is using charm on the man.
145. Hear me very well; THE MOST EFFICACIOUS CHARM A WOMAN CAN USE ON THE HUSBAND IS LOVE, UNDERSTANDING, TOLERANCE, AND ACCOMMODATION.
146. You know what I mean by accommodation; always accommodating the man in his foolish. Overlook all those minor, minor flaws; all those negligible flaws in human life, for there is no human being without a fault just as there is no room without a cockroach.
147. Watch your house, if it is searched very well, you must see, at least, a tiny cockroach hiding inside a booklet. Whether you like it or not, it is a cockroach and it is in your house. Then why try to destroy one another? Do not destroy him; do not destroy her; rather, help him to overcome his weaknesses; help her to overcome her weaknesses so that you will enjoy her tomorrow.
PATIENCE—A GREAT VIRTUE WE MUST EMBRACE
TODAY DOES NOT MAKE YOU WHAT YOU ARE BUT TOMORROW. WHATEVER YOU ARE TODAY, LOOK ONTO TOMORROW. IF YOU KILL YOURSELF BECAUSE OF TODAY, YOU WILL MISS ALL THE PLEASURES OF TOMORROW. IF YOU REMAIN PATIENT, YOU MUST SMILE ONE DAY.
149. If you kill yourself because of a beautiful woman, let me tell you, the beautiful ones are not yet born. If you decide to kill yourself because of fashion today, then you exclude yourself from greater wears that will appear tomorrow. If you kill yourself because of a baby today, you may exclude yourself from the chances of getting one tomorrow.
150. What if God destined you to have triplets? Has it happened before? You may be looking for one but you may not know that God wants to give you three-in-one. In one second, God will bridge the gap. You will be looking for people that will help you carry babies. God can do it if He wants to do it.
151. Then why should I kill myself? Look at our Sister—Sister Onyema Cotonou. For 14 years, she had no issue. After fourteen years, the Lord decided to give her, not only one but two babies so that she will not come troubling me again. She said, “Daddy, just one daughter; just a daughter.” I then asked, “If God gives you two, will you discard them? Do you not know that God may give you two tomorrow so that you do not come disturbing Him anymore?”
152. Before our very eyes, she became pregnant. Ultrasound told us that it was one; the doctor said that it was one, but on the day of delivery, two were delivered.
153. Yes! The agonies and sorrows of fourteen years, God removed in one day. So, what am I saying?
154. Let there be no situation that will befall you and you begin to think that all is finished or write yourself off, no! I do not care what it is. Always rejoice that God has permitted it to come to you and there is a purpose.
155. What will keep you afloat is the lesson you will learn from it. However, where you learn no lesson, you suffer in vain. You are bound to fall into it again. Amen.
Do not discountenance this Message; put it in practice and you will have a testimony. This is food for thought. I have given you mental food; I have given you spiritual food. I have fed your mind with the right information now; let your brain supply the right answer, for I cannot give you a wife and buy mat for you; that will be expecting too much from me. Your failure lies in your hands; your success lies in your hands also.
–Son of Man
CHAPTER 8
FINAL WORD OF ADVICE
Please, note the three obstacles that will hinder you from attaining lofty heights; conquer them. TRY TO FIGHT AND CONQUER COMPLAINING, MURMURING AND GRUMBLING. DESPISE DISPUTING. RESTORE, RETAIN AND REJOICE IN HOPE.
157. When you look at your children, what does the future speak to you? When you consider your business, what does the future speak to you? When you consider the Faith you are in spiritually, what does the future speak to you?
158. We know that if life is guaranteed, the young shall grow. He who treads slowly does not get hurt. Watch people that want to catch the wind; they normally die not catching the wind. But watch people that walk step-by-step, slow and steady; they normally win the race.
159. Slow and steady is accident-free and that is what God wants us to do. Do not attempt catching the wind. You will not succeed. Unite forces together and then collectively decide to raise stars as children; children that will be stars in their various fields. In addition, you aim at becoming a star. You can be a star even at the age of 50 or 40, or 70 or 60.
160. Being a star means being a genius in your own field. If you are a carpenter, be a star there. If you are a bricklayer, be a star there. You are a civil servant, be a star there; a domestic housewife, be a star; a model to reckon with.
161. In any aspect of life where you found yourself, be a star there. Shine as a light in the midst of darkness. Desire it. Be committed to it. Dedicate your whole life to it. You must achieve it. Walking step-by-step; little-by-little, you must see yourself at the top.
167. Soon, we will go back to our Message on INVESTMENT. We shall see the necessity for us to save money so as to carry out real investment.
168. Soon, I will be rounding off my Message on savings; saving for tomorrow; saving for the rainy days and then saving for investment.
169. Some put money in the bank as savings. Well, you are putting that money in the bank for your fellow man to use. Your money is not working for you. You are working for your money.
170. Soon, I will come up with a Message separating all of them before I begin to show you the different forms of investment, both the short term and long term; investment for poor people and investment for rich people; investment for average people; investment for even housewives; investment for school children.
171. All hands must be on deck because we want to become stars both spiritually and physically.
172. On this note, I say remain blessed in Him eternally.