Menticide

He met a brother once 
The brother was staunch and focused! 
The brother got born again and attended 
only one denomination since his 
conversion! 
He grew in this church and became 
transformed The brother lived a “Holy” life 
But he had spiritual kwashiorkor 
This was very obvious
His pastor was a well-known spirit-filled 
man but the brand of denominational 
doctrine the pastor was teaching had 
placed this brother at a disadvantage! 
By natural gift, the brother was a fine 
artist! A sculptor
He was well trained in this craft and he 
had the potential of using his talent to
make a living but the church was 
vehemently opposed to fine art as a 
doctrine especially bronze work and 
"sculpture" which was the specialization of 
this Brother. 
For this reason, this brother left his career 
and became an administrator in the church! 
Instead of making money and
Being of benefit to the church, he became 
a liability 
His salary was meager and as a result, 
he couldn’t live life to its full expression 
By the time they met the brother was forty 
and he was still single because he wasn’t 
making enough to cater for his own need 
not to talk of another
He was praying for financial breakthrough 
and had gone to mountains and valleys to 
pray over the years Somehow his elderly 
aunt convinced him to talk to someone 
He only agreed when he was told the 
Brother in Jeans and T-shirt doesn’t have 
a church and is not looking for members!
They met and talked for over four hours 
The brother had experienced the power 
of God in every area of his life except in 
his finances 
He felt God was deliberately withholding 
financial blessings from him to train him 
and prepare him for a life assignment 
He believed this with all his heart but he 
had no idea what the assignment was and 
had not heard anything or seen a vision 
regarding it, he was operating on plain 
assumption 
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt listened to 
him and also prayed with him 
The Holy Spirit said “Ask him about his 
natural gift”
The brother in Jeans and T-shirt asked 
him and another story began 
He talked about the gift he had from 
childhood as how his father noticed the 
gift and nurtured it until he graduated 
from technical college and proceeded to 
study under the best at one of the 
Universities in the East. 
He spoke about his rise in the art world, 
about galleries and exhibitions, about 
journeys out of the country and invitations 
from many institutes! He spoke about his 
contemporaries and what they have 
achieved in life He spoke with a glint in his 
eyes 
He spoke with a passion
He also told the story of how he found the 
Lord Jesus and became born again 
He spoke about graven images and idolatry 
He spoke about the teachings of the church 
and how he was convicted that his gift was 
of the devil 
He spoke about his father’s tears and pain 
as he turned his back on a thriving career 
for the sake of Christ 
He spoke of heaven and dropping everything 
just to “make heaven” 
He was determined to give anything so that 
he will not miss it 
What does it benefit a man to gain the whole 
world and lose his soul 
Oh! How he was making a sacrifice
Just so that God will see his intention and 
determination to serve and please him! 
He spoke with a passion too, but this time 
it was the passion of a misguided fanatic 
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt listened 
to him and prayed silently that the Holy Spirit 
will set the brother free! 
The brother was in religious bondage and 
he had no idea 
The problem with religious bondage was 
how powerful a stronghold it was. 
If you speak against it directly, the victim will 
assume you want to take heaven away from 
him and see you as the enemy 
Heaven was not a prize to be earned by 
good works! 
Such doctrine and teaching negates the 
finished works of Jesus Christ on the cross 
Just as a son cannot miss his father’s house, 
a believer cannot miss heaven 
Man came from dust and will return to dust 
A believer came from above, like Christ, and
will return above 
Jesus demonstrated this when He ascended 
in the sight of many witnesses! 
He said “I go to prepare a place for you so 
that where I am you may be also” 
Where is he? In heaven 
Where will you go as a believer? Heaven 
Why the “I have to earn it mindset?” 
Who has deceived you o foolish Galatians? 
Can you earn salvation by the spirit and 
keep it by dead works? 
That was Apostle Paul’s lamentation! 
But indoctrination is a conscious and 
deliberate brainwashing 
It is easier to convince a camel to carry 
its load through the eye of the needle
than to convince an indoctrinated person 
to see the scriptures as simply written 
and believe it as such! 
As Andrew Womack would say, we need 
help to misunderstand the gospel and 
people get this help every day! 
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt looked at 
the Brother after al the story and said 
“Do you see Music as a form of art?” 
The brother said “Yes” 
Are there songs that glorify God? 
The brother said “Yes” 
Are there songs composed to glorify the 
devil and the flesh? 
The Brother said “Yes” 
Should we then stop singing to worship 
God? 
The brother said in his church only a 
type of song was allowed 
The brother in Jeans and T-shirt said 
“It the church allows only a type of music, 
then it should allow only a type of 
“sculpture” too 
The motive and inspiration of the artist 
is the key 
The Holy Spirit cannot inspire you to 
make idols sir!
The brother got it! 
He kept nodding his head in silence 
When he got home he got to work in 
secret 
He started honing his gift and within six 
months he had made beautiful works that 
were bought immediately 
His church frowned at it but he told the 
pastor he was inspired by
the Holy Spirit 
Of course, it led to a lot of arguments, he 
eventually left the denomination 
He joined another denomination as a member 
and continued his work 
He prospered and got commissioned works 
from some institutions 
His new church embraced him and he became 
a minister
He found joy and gladness in the expression 
of the gift within! 
The Bible says “The gift of a man makes way 
for him” 
God told Moses about artists and craftsmen 
whom He had given the inspiration to build 
divinely inspired designs! 
Jesus came to set us free from religious 
bondage!

PS: It’s been three years! 
My brother is married with a child! 
Today is his wedding anniversary! 
I am saluting you sir, on this very public 
platform! 
Thank you for allowing the Word and the 
Holy Spirit take precedence over the petty 
control and vain imagination of men! 
Congratulations