The Burden of My Heart

The Burden of My Heart

• May 16, 2014 

  How's the church and the labors for the kingdom there in Port Harcourt. I'm sorry I couldn't call because of lack of credit. I decided this medium could be a better means of communication. I express my heart better in writing than in speaking. And there is so much to talk about. If I'm unable to complete it today, I'll continue tomorrow, by God's grace.

  My burden is the condition of the Benin ministry. In summary, there's a growing discontent in my spirit from the observations. In the fear of God, I have to pen down the anomalies which is shielded from the probing minds of a visitor or a newcomer to the congregation. I'm trying to harmonize my thoughts under various captions so as to maintain certain degree of logical coherence.

  Stigmatization of Questioning the Speaker

  At first glance, it might seem to be a harmless practice and a good strategy to maintain certain orderliness and avoid the unruliness observed elsewhere. However, a deeper examination will reveal the setting up of a stumbling block for the sincere inquirer whose differing view is overtly or covertly suppressed by this predominant design to maintain order in the gathering. The sincere inquirer becomes a silent sufferer. Although he is given an option of a private appointment with the speaker, experience will prove the insufficiency of that option where the understanding of the speaker and the inquirer are incommensurate. The sufferer is then left with the other alternative of airing his view in such platform which might be branded as tale bearing or divisive behavior, thereby adding a feeling of guilt to his probing mind whose interrogation has not been attended. He is caught in a catch-22 situation. If he questions the speaker publicly he would seem to be detracting the speech. If he questions him privately, the issue might not be addressed satisfactorily and the whole congregation might be denied the benefit accruing from such an enlightening inquiry. If he discusses the bothering question with a fellow member, his intention might be misjudged as dissenting against leadership. 

  Wrong Interpretations of Scriptures

  This makes them adverse to most pioneer doctrines of the church. I appreciate the fact that they have academic inadequacies. This would not have been a major challenge if they are humble about this point and seek assistance from more informed brethren. I also understand that their earlier venture into the truth was fraught with the difficulty of finding the true agents of the truth. With the various groups claiming to be the true church of God, it takes the grace of God to identify the real church, especially when one does not have the right standard for assessment. Hence, the contact they made with Brother Emerson Wilson of the Gospel Trumpeter, Church of God at God's Acres in Newark, Ohio, has had great influence on them. The root variance of this group with rest of the church of God is the “one cleansing teaching”, which contradicts the “two works of grace” backed by Brother D.S. Warner. I found out that however convincingly an explanation of the “two works” may be presented to them, they will always fall back to seventh verse in the first book of John: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

   Another Issue is

  Their interpretation of this verse is that the blood of Jesus Christ (which they consider to be the word of God) is the cleansing agent that cleanses us whenever we have physical fellowship together in the congregation. This interpretation has been a great bother to my young mind that I lately endeavored to study the whole chapter with the help of God and also with the aid of some Bible Commentaries. To my utmost surprise, I found out that all the while, I have allowed myself to be fooled by a poor interpretation of God’s word brought about by taking the clause “we have fellowship one with another” out of the context of the whole chapter. The grand subject of the fellowship as seen in the third and six verses is God, who is light and in whom is no darkness at all. Whereas, according to verse six, those who claim to have fellowship with Him while still living in sin, are liars; this becomes obvious because, anyone who walks in the light of truth and righteousness, has God as a companion. God walks in the light as well, and He has fellowship with all who do so. This fellowship involves the imparting and the partaking of His divine nature. When this fellowship truly exists between a man and God, the fountain in which flows the all-cleansing blood of Christ Jesus, His beloved son, is certain to keep the man’s soul cleansed from all sins. It is sad that Christians would allow the devil to obscure the truth of this verse with a false interpretation, which does not only lack support from but also conflicts with other verses of the Bible.

  Another false teaching is the thought that Christ commanded the disciples to take the gospel to only the good men in any city. They claim that if the “goodman of the house” turns down the gospel message, the evangelist should dust his feet against the city; forbidding them from going into the streets and lanes of the city, to bring in the girls, women, beggarly, the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind. The teaching goes with a warning to be mindful of the kind of converts we bring into the church. I almost thought this was actually the Lord’s command, having read something like that in the Bible. However, after a proper search, I discovered that the word “goodman” is actually absent from instructions in Matthew chapter ten and Luke chapters nine and ten.

  These and many other instances are examples of how men have turned away their ears from the truth, and are being turned unto fables. They place the emphasis on material stability, as if that is the whole reason Christ has established the church. The fruit of the doctrines abounds in the disinterest in the children in the activities of the church. Late coming to church and showing indifference to spirituality is taking an upward trend in the gathering.

  My family and I, as well as few sincere soul who love the truth, need your love, prayers, care, and spiritual shepherding or overseeing here in Benin.

  Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
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