The Offloaded Burden

• Dear Elderly Brother, 

  
  

  Thanks for your kind words and advice cum suggestions.

  
  

  I'm comforted to know that you are not opposed to the content of my message to Bro Isaiah, except for the few additions and subtractions you have suggested. I hope you would not be offended to know that I have already presented the paper to him. I did so yesterday after service. The circumstances surrounding the day made it imperative for me to do so. Please, sir, bear with me a little as I relate it in the following lines.

  
  

  I received text message on Saturday evening from Bro Solomon Obi directing me to prepare for Sunday School lesson. It's titled, "A Blessed Hope In Facing Death". It is in the Volume 45 No 4 October, November and December 2013 edition of the Bible Lesson. We have been using it as our Sunday School manual. The present series is on Job. We treat it sequentially. Bro Solomon is the Sunday School superintendent. I was added to the crew of teachers by the pastor about two years ago. The other teachers include Brothers Timothy Isaac, Onyeka Isaac, Goodluck Omozeze, and Ifeanyichukwueze Caleb. The topic I was to treat is dated 'November 10th, 2013' on the Bible Lesson. During my preparation, I was thrilled in my spirit to see the lesson so fitting to Bro Francis' case, which the Benin elders and Bro Linus Okorie have christened 'chastening for sin'. The Comments and Application session of the next lesson dated 'November 17th', which is titled 'Despise Not the Chastening of the Almighty' also answers Bro Isaiah's belief that there is no chastening without sin. With the help of God I treated these things fearlessly, in the presence of Bro Ogbo Okike, who had come to Benin for a visit. I emphasized the teaching on the need for individuals to know Christ personally, without the mediation of a prophet. I also touched the issue of soul sleep, the state of the dead and the blessed hope of Christians which makes them unruffled by threats of physical death by any mortal man. At the end of the teaching, I observed that Bro Solomon did not come up as usual to summarize the lesson and ask questions, etc. Instead, it was an angry Bro Isaiah that came out to counter the Lesson by citing Lamentation 3:33, Eze 33:11 and Heb 12:10 to show us that God does not afflict willing, but only chastises believers because of sin. He also stated that anyone who fights against the doctrine ofEternal Security will find themselves fighting with God "because all the Corinthians would be saved through chastening of sickness or death if they didn't obey". He made some unsavoury innuendos, which drove me into meditative prayers, disconnecting from the negative flow. I was comforted in the Spirit. But I could still feel the intensity of his dominance over the congregation. I felt that time of the essence. I had to let him know the things I had in my mind. Right now I'm so sorry that I could not wait to make the adjustment you desire. 

  
  

  Their teachings are not always consistent. With one breath, they'll deny the existence of personal beings called devil and evil spirits; with another, the pastor would accuse some of having familiar spirits, etc, especially his enemies. On the denial of Satan, they quote Rev 12 verse 9, showing that he is just symbolical of Pagan Rome. They believe it is God that does everything both good and evil; that He has set everything in an uninterruptible order. What we call Satan is what they call a retributive force or phenomenon put in place by God to correct disorder in the universe.

  
  

  Their inconsistency is also seen in their teaching of chastening for sin. Refuting the thought that a Christian could experience the trial of Job, Bro Isaiah argues that Christ promised that "there shall not an hair of your head perish" Luke 21:18; and that the "son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son" Eze.18:20. Therefore, he concludes that a son cannot die for his father's sins. (In my lesson yesterday, I accused Word of Faith pastors like Chris Oyakhilome of teaching such things; and I asked the congregation whether the disciples to whom Christ directed the promise in Luke 21:18 did not suffer physical harm, which they affirmed. I also showed them from the first few verses of John chapter 9 that the Lord taught His disciples that it wasn't the sin of  either parent of the man born blind that caused his condition). Since Bro Isaiah claims God will not kill a son for the Father's sin, why does he now insist that Bro Ifeanyi Egwu's death is a chastening from God for his parents' sins of rebellion against him? O consistency, thou art a jewel!

  
  

  Thanks for your tender care and prayers, brother. We are up against a behemoth here.
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