Unshackled

When you walk with certain believers who are sin-conscious, you will see how clouded the truth becomes in the face of guilt and wrongdoing

A sister walked up to me talking about how terrible things became after she and her boyfriend started having sex

She was weeping inconsolably, claiming she had ruined his life and businesses because of those moments of indiscretion

She threw herself under the bus in such a way that one had no option but to feel empathy for her and her situation

She genuinely felt God sabotaged the guy’s life and business and also afflicted her for that action

She wanted to call off the relationship and go on penance so that God could forgive them and release the brother from certain punishment and destruction

To make matters worse, the brother didn’t see things the way she did

He disagreed with her vehemently on the issue of sin and God’s wrath

While she saw danger ahead, the brother saw only a glorious future

So I called the brother involved for a meeting

I didn’t want the brother to think she came to tell me anything

I was determined to do James Bond until the brother told me what went down with his mouth

The Brother came beaming with confidence

He said his business was thriving and his life had never been better

“I kept making my declarations and things are working together for my good always

Thank you so much, Brother Gbenga”

I was like ????

Then he said, “I brought my new car for you to bless, I just got it yesterday”

Hmmm!

I went to bless the car

When we got back to my office I asked him about his relationship

He said he was dating a particular sister (The sister that came to me crying)

I asked him how the relationship was going

He gave me good reviews, told me his plan to be married to her within six months

I asked him if they were having sex

He said, Yes!

I asked if he didn’think that would color things a bit?

He smiled and said, “My mum asked me the same question when I told her

Nigerian believers are hypocrites and I find that funny

I grew up in The Bronx (His father raised him and his younger brother in the US, they became born again Christians early and he only returned to Nigeria in 2020 during the Covid pandemic to set up a Medical Supplies business)

He said, “Sex is nothing to go to hell for; if I don’t want to marry her I won’t even if we had a basket load of sex and if I want to marry her I will even if we don’t have sex. How is sex anything special that you guys are all hung up on it?

Then he said, “She always says she doesn’t want it, and I would say okay, then she will come asking for it and then cry and get moody afterwards (either I give in or not)…If I say no, she will say I am rejecting her and I have lost interest in the relationship. If I agree she will enjoy it and then start crying afterward as if we had done something worthy of being stoned to death for. The cycle is unending. It is funny to me

What sort of programming is that?

Fighting yourself all the time over something so silly, I don’t get it!”

I understood the brother perfectly, many of my readers here also understand it perfectly

Ironically, it is what it is and we have all come to accept it as the way of the Nigerian Pentecostal Christian reality

Catholics, Anglicans, African Church, and Methodist denominations handle things more realistically but hypocrisy won’t allow others to adjust

It is well

I didn’t grow up in America but I am educated enough to know that the Nigerian Christian is something else when it comes to religion

Most of them don’t even understand what salvation is and what it means to have eternal life

I neither condoned the brother nor dissuaded him

He is 34 years old and the lady is 30

They are not children by any means

They are happily married now and we can all pretend what happened isn’t happening all over Christendom till now

Sin consciousness blurs your ability to see clearly and make the right judgment, it makes you fearful, expectant of evil and constantly mindful of your shortcomings

God is not pleased with sin consciousness

God delights in Christ consciousness, this is the mindset and consciousness of every born again Christian after they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour

Your life is no longer your own, for you to live now is Christ

Salvation has made you the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, your fruits are fruits of the tree of righteousness and your life is hid in Christ

With this mindset, you can never imagine evil of God and turn your own life upside down in anticipation of God’s wrath and punishment.

-GSW-