Fundamentals of Faith

Hatred is the trademark of witchcraft
Always pay attention to your state of mind
When you hear something about someone, 
how do you feel?
When you read something on social media, 
what emotion is stirred in you?
Why do you say the things you say? 
Are your words full of wisdom or
a pointer to a mind riddled with 
foolishness
Archbishop Benson Idahosa spoke 
ten languages he never learned or 
heard before
He went to minister at a place
The interpreter didn't interpret his 
messages accurately
Arch Bishop opened his mouth and 
started speaking the local dialect
After the sermon, he miraculously 
retained the ability to speak the language
This happened to him several times 
in the course of his ministry
It was a miracle
The first time i heard about this 
miracle, a friend of mine was talking 
about it
I was an undergraduate at the time, he
was an unbeliever and Reinhard Bonnke 
was coming to the old airport very close
to Sango, in Ibadan
It was too close to us to ignore, plus
the programme had taken over the
airwaves for weeks and it was the only
advert airing on television and radio 
stations in the state
Some of us wanted to go to the crusade 
just for the fun of it
This guy was hell-bent on dissuading us 
from going
He started talking about stampedes and 
fake miracles and then he started talking 
about Archbishop Benson Idahosa 
claiming to be able to speak languages 
supernaturally
He was mocked and scoffed at the man 
of God
Calling him a drug baron, a gun runner
a shoemaker, a shoe salesman, an
illiterate, a 419 and all sorts
It was as if he had a personal score
to settle with the man
We were sharing a flat at Mobil Bus Stop 
after Agbowo at the time
We were all in the University of Ibadan
Later that evening some of us went to 
the crusade
We left him in the room
He was watching Fast and Furious 
DVD on our hi-tech three loader 
system
When we returned at about 11 pm
He had suffered from a stroke
He was twenty-four years old
A handsome, healthy and vibrant 
fine boy
He was too young to suffer from a
stroke
It was crazy and puzzling
Of course, people called it a spiritual 
attack
They said it was witchcraft from
their village
He was taken to UCH and later 
discharged to recover from home
He never recovered
He was taken to churches, spiritualists,
herbalists and so on
His parents were agnostics and
most of what he said that day
were what he heard from his Father
His father forgot about his agnosticism
when trouble came
He carried his son everywhere hoping
for a remedy
Of course his heart was not in it
He only did everything to prove that
those who were praying for his son
didn't really have any power
He would say "We have taken him to
Obadare, you people will claim that
blind man can heal the sick.
Why didn't he heal my son?
They were faking it!
This was a real case that couldn't
be faked and the great prophet
couldn't do anything about it"
For him, his son's sickness was
more of an experiment to prove
if the anointing works or not
He was a lecturer who studied in
Russia and had bought into the
atheism idealogy of USSR
The sickness of our friend drained
that family of every coin
It was so bad that his immediate
younger sister couldn't proceed to
the university until three years
later due to financial constraints
At the time i was not a born again 
Christian but i couldn't shake the 
coincidence of his derogatory words 
and the stroke all on the same day
I had grown up in CAC and heard
several stories of people who
blasphemed against God and got
a knock on the head
(I do not claim to know if the claims
are true or false but the claims did
a big number on my heart.
I do not say flippant stuff about
men and women of God.
Keeping quiet has preserved more
lives that the prattle of a fool
How do you know a fool?
One who puts his mouth in issues
that are not his or business is in
this category
If a pastor is sleeping with your
wife, you have a right to drag him
anywhere
If a prophet swindles you, you
have a right to hang him out to
dry
But if you see a prophet being
hanged for his evil deeds and you
pick up a stone despite not being
his victim you will be like Sheba
Son of Bicri in the Bible
Absalom tried to dethrone David
The struggle raised dust everywhere
Barzillai the Gileadite stood up and
supported the king
He was 80 years old and his conduct
won a seat for his family at the king's
table after the dust settled
Shimei Son of Gera, a relative of Saul
saw it as an opportunity to mock
the King and call him names out of 
loyalty to Saul and His family
(He had a reason to be aggrieved
because Saul used to be King, so 
David spared his life although
Solomon later killed him for breaking
the terms of their agreement) but
Sheba, son of Bicri had no dog in
the fight but decided to be a loud
mouth
David told Joab to go and bring
him Sheba's head!
Joab did so without thinking twice
Sheba ran into a walled city
One woman in that city delivered
Sheba's head to Joab
Those with stakes in the matter
were allowed to run the course of
the matter but the one without any
stake who decided to put mouth in
the matter lost his head
Your excuse cannot be that you
were bored
It is more profitable to get on the
street and start packing all the
plastics clogging gutters and littering
roads
That way you will be of use to the
community and environment and God
will bless you
It is more profitable than putting your 
mouth in matters that are clearly 
not your business
Years later, after i had become a 
born again Christian, i went to a friend's
house in Akobo to spend some time
The friend's mother was returning 
home from Ireland and her sons had 
to go pick her to the international 
airport in Lagos
I found myself alone in their house
that Friday night
At around 9pm, there was a power 
outage
I could hear the generator of a church
and some activities 
I knew the church was preparing to
hold a vigil
i decided to attend rather than stay
alone in the dark
I got to the church around 10 pm
The vigil started at 11 pm
The Invited Pastor was from Togo
He was preaching in French
The interpreter was good too
I was enjoying the flow, he was
a very entertaining preacher
and he was talking about so many
miracles God has been doing 
through him and his ministry
I was skeptical of the testimonies
but I was nodding and finding
his delivery entertaining
Suddenly the pastor looked at
me and said he has a message for
me from the Holy Spirit.
 Then in my grandfather's voice he
said "Alayede, B'eniyan ba sooto
fun o to pe niro, b'eniyan ba si 
pa'ro fun o to pe looto! Ko yin 
nkankan pada! 
Yi o ri fun olukaluku gege bi
Igbagabo re ni!"
The interpreter couldn't interpret
it.
Some people in the church who
understood Yoruba were shocked!
What! Alayede was the name my
grandfather calls me and I can boast
that i am the only one bearing the 
name in the whole world!
The pastor said (Alayede, if someone
told you the truth and you call it a
lie and if someone told you a lie and 
you believe it to be true. It doesn't
change anything. It will be to each
according to his faith)
I was shaken to my core
My grandfather died in May 1999
He was the only one ever, who could
talk like that to me
I later discovered that the pastor
couldn't speak Yoruba at all and
he couldn't still speak Yoruba
after the sermon
But, it proves one thing! It is not
impossible for someone to speak
a language he or she had never
heard or spoken before during
a ministration powered by the 
Holy Spirit.
I have met many men of God who
had experienced this since I became
a believer
I know an elder in a renowned
mission in Lagos who preached in
fluent English for two hours despite
being a non-literate person
I was at the meeting where it 
happened
Later i would see a man on Sid Roth's
'"It's supernatural" who could speak
mandarine, Japanese and other
languages while ministering or
praying in the Holy Ghost
This brings me to the issue of
fake miracles
I saw a miracle recently in which
a woman was acting drama in
four different churches while
some men of God were ministering
The drama depicted her being
healed of a problem in her arm
It was embarrassing to say the
least
Of course, the videos went viral
Pete Cabrera Jr. Once raised the dead
He called the press to come and
cover the event and put it on
the news
The press refused but the journalist
told him he would make the news
if he killed a man
It is ironic how murder makes the
news but raising the dead is shunned
by the press all over the world as
fake news or sensationalism
Most Christians do not even know
where they stand
On one hand, they are using the
scriptures to tear down other
Christians in their self appointed role
as defenders of the faith
A faith they had never won a soul into
A faith they do not fully grasp except
for a mental acknowledgment of
their religious status when filling a
form
They forget that even nature has its
checks and balances and the church
is led by the Holy Spirit and not mere
men
Indeed there are hirelings pretending
to be shepherds and yes there are
good shepherd smeared by the antics
of the misguided
In all this, the church is not subject
to any carnal rules and regulations
The Holy Spirit cannot be made subject
to the whims and caprices of men
Finally, I met a lady at Egbeda area
of Lagos state
She was in her late thirties and was
seriously hoping to get married 
before she clocked forty
She was supposed to be a catch
She was gainfully employed, a beauty
and a very warm personality
She wanted to know what she has
to do to get a man to marry her
We talked for almost an hour
She told me many stories and 
possible reasons why she was 
still single
She mentioned an ex-boyfriend
who left her because she burnt
his certificates out of anger after
he beat her until she miscarried
a pregnancy she had for him
She mentioned her aunt, whom
she labeled a witch
She also mentioned one of her
former flings, a diabolic man, 
who she took as a sugar daddy 
out of boredom
She said the man wanted her to
be his second wife
She said no and the man told
her she would never get married
unless it was to him
She wanted the Holy Spirit to
open the door of marital settlement
unto her
I asked her if she was a "born again"
Christian and she said yes!
What!
With the lifestyle, she laid out plainly
to me?
She told me her church and when
she gave her life to Christ
She was basically a spiritual stillbirth!
She said some confessions about
accepting the Lord Jesus as her 
Lord and Saviour but it was mere 
words
The words didn't usher her into the
light-life we live in Christ
She reminded me a lot of Dinah, 
Jacob's daughter who wanted to be
like Canaanites and got raped in the
process
She claimed to be for the Lord but lived
a "feed the flesh" lifestyle
I led her to Christ again and got her
filled with the Holy Spirit
While we were praying, she began
to cry and confess of many wrong
doings
The most striking of the things she
said was about her married pastor
"lover" whom she had gotten pregnant
for five times and aborted all just
to avoid a scandal
She said she swore an oath with the
pastor never to sleep with another
guy while she was with him and
he takes care of her like a wife
Nobody in the pastor's life knew 
anything about the affair
The Pastor had told her his wife 
was dying of cancer and promised
to marry her as soon as the wife
kicked the bucket but somewhere
along the way the wife recovered
(She couldn't tell whether the wife
was really sick or not)
and she couldn't call off the
relationship because she didn't
want to go back to being lonely.
Wow!
She was always the first to abuse
any man of God and speak ill of
them on social media
Others who were not in her shoe
will copy her and be saying all sorts
not knowing the tangled web she
had found herself in
We need to be wise
I am glad to announce that she
called off the relationship, and 
began to walk in the reality of her
new life
And yes! She is happily married
now
She got married last week Thursday
somewhere in Lagos
If indeed you are from above and
your citizenship is of heaven, you
will find yourself walking in and
surrounded by miracles
You will have regard for fellow believers
and you will be humble enough to
admit that God can and might be
dealing with others in a different
way than how he is dealing with
you
You will not join anybody to mock 
the Holy Spirit or his work in his 
church
You will surf the wave of the Holy
Spirit and shed the limitations of
the flesh by immersing yourself
in the Word of God and His spirit.

PS: On Saturday, by 9am, the
Gbenga Samuel Wemimo Citizens
of Zion school will be having their
first conference
It is Themed, Fundamentals of Faith
You need to attend the meeting
It will hold online via zoom cloud
meeting app
The link is on the flier please, be
a part of it
It will be an impactful meeting
and a wonderful time of fellowship
with the Holy Spirit.

GSW's notes: There is no fake
Nigerian dollar and John the Baptist
could have kept his head if he kept
out of politics
The scriptures help us navigate our
paths in Christ
Those who are spirit taught have a
way of conducting themselves
Those who are flesh taught have
a way of conducting themselves
It cannot be faked
This is why the scriptures made it
abundantly clear that "They shall
be known by their fruits"
What are your fruits?