Presently, despite the level of awareness it has become so easy to confuse Christians than to convince them. The exploitation in Christendom strives because many Christians are gullible.
Fr. Daniel Evbotokhai
Everything in life should not be limited to spiritual manipulations. It’s high time, this generation is awaken from the entire spiritual catastrophe that is trending by the day. Many crimes against humanity are being committed in the body of Christ today. Yet many men of God; including validly ordained priests, have extreme spiritual views that intrinsically destroy the faith. One of the spiritual works of Mercy is to “instruct the ignorant”. Rather than instructing them, we celebrate their ignorance and use it as a bedrock for fame, power and wealth. Consequently, we degenerate in our capacity to comprehend biblical and doctrinal matters and express them.
When a single lady reaches her 30s, she begins to experience anxiety over not being married. And frequently, many young ladies are judged as having spiritual husbands by these so-called men of God. Do spirits marry? Just so you know it, Spirits don’t marry. In life, not everyone will get married. Unmarried people have been prevalent throughout history. They made the most of their lives. There are people who want to be married, but they might not be able to find partners. There are others who have a large number of suitors lined up, but they have no interest in getting married. For a fact, marriage is not for everyone and there is nothing wrong with that. (Cf. Matt.19:12).
Many apostles and prophets today are turning every issue on their desk or pulpit to spiritual attack. A nine-year-old girl was recently brought to me for deliverance, but after a thorough assessment, I realized she required guidance, love and instructions. But to my utmost horror, she was taken to a minister for prayers. Eventually, the pastor declared her demonized and ordered her to fast and pray in the church for seven days. She dined on the altar bread she discovered on the first day due to hunger. However, the young girl’s guardian believed her spiritual monster was at work and employed a more severe approach until the little girl ran away from her. We labour too much in prayers over issues that common sense or critical thinking can handle.
Sometimes you just have to clean the cobwebs in your room to reduce the level of cobwebs covering your head in your dream. Your pastors may not tell you this but will rather engage you with 30 days of fasting and prayers. I am not downplaying the effectiveness of fasting and prayers but calling for an assessment of our mentality. More so, sometimes you just have to change your old pillows or wash your dirty pillowcases to reduce the level of attacks in your dreams. You just have to brush your teeth before going to bed to stop eating food in your dreams. Sometimes, you just have to reduce your level of sexual fantasies to stop having sex in the dream. Dreams could be revelatory; but not all dreams have spiritual undertone. You may just need to change your mindset to reduce your unusual prayer points and fasting. Christianity is not a burden; some problems are social, societal or cultural in nature. Others could be as a result of poor decisions or bad character.
At a time like this, the necessary doubt of Thomas also known as Didymus becomes a model for modern Christians (Cf.John 20:24-29). Modern day Christians are gullible and vulnerable. We must insist by way of reason and inquiry to understand our faith. Thomas insisted on touching the holes. Today we need such necessary doubt rather than believing every dick and harry.
In fact, we need to be clear on how we understand Thomas. The well-liked interpretation puts him in a bad light, as “doubting Thomas”. With the level of religious and spiritual anomalies in the Church today, the method of Thomas has to be deployed. Necessary doubt often produces great faith. Thus, he was the first to declare the Lordship and Divinity of Jesus Christ – He says “My Lord and my God” (Cf. John 20:28). Thomas insisted that before he could believe in Jesus’ resurrection he must see the holes the nails made in his hands; put his finger into the holes and his hand into the great wound made by the centurion’s lance. Thomas’ doubt was a necessary doubt. Necessary doubt saves us from gullibility. His doubt was, faith seeking understanding.
Faith does not stop you from seeking understanding. In fact, “faith seeking understanding” written in Latin as “fides quaerens intellectum” is considered one of the classical definitions of Theology. It was championed by St. Augustine and St. Anselm. It means that faith in God revealed in Jesus Christ prompts a questioning search for deeper understanding. However, for Augustine, it is “Crede ut intelligas, or “believe that you may understand.” Let us get this right, Augustine believed that knowledge of God comes before faith in Him, but faith in God brings with it a constant desire for deeper understanding. For example in Acts 8:30-38, Philip was led by the spirit to join the chariot of an Ethiopian Eunuch. Who came from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to worship but on his way back he had spiritual desire to know God better and so he picked the Scriptures to study. In the course of study, Philip intervened and he was sanctified and satisfied.
Presently, despite the level of awareness it has become so easy to confuse Christians than to convince them. The exploitation in Christendom strives because many Christians are gullible. They crave for manifestations not knowledge of God. For example; many Christians and even Catholics run after all kinds of oil. Pastors are selling oil the same way ‘babalawos’ are selling soap. You hear visa oil, pregnancy oil, spouse oil, interview oil and the likes. If you marry someone with oil; how many litres of that oil will you need to sustain that marriage? The Church is not a refinery; be careful! The Goya Extra Virgin Olive Oil firm was established in America in 1936 by the Spanish-born Prudencio Unanue. Funny enough, some Westerners keep the oil in their kitchens for meals; while some Africans keep it under their pillows and on their altars for prayers. Worse still, pastors including priests further increase these practices -“our mumu no too much?” I am not condemning articles of faith but I am against the absolutist view of them.
Do not be gullible. In gullibility a man is so open-minded that his brain falls out. Open your mind; but use your brain. Even the bible does not ask you to believe everything; 1John 4:1 says; “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1Thess.5:21 adds “… examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good”. Therefore, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are greedy wolves” (Cf.Matt 7:15).
At funeral masses, we are reminded that the Bible is our rule and guide, yet we seldom ever make use of it ourselves. Earthly life is filled with distractions. We need knowledge of God’s Word to live in the world. In this messed age, the Message must not be messed up. Seek to know God better, go for knowledge. Prov. 19:2 says; it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge; and in Dan.11:32, the Bible says “…they who know their God shall do exploit.” This suggests that if you don’t know your God, you’ll be exploited. Many people have been exploited spiritually, materially, emotionally, and financially. Go for knowledge, be critically minded and do not be credulous.
