Do Christians REALLY believe that the BIBLE is the Word of God?

I know many Christians say they believe the Bible. They believe what the Bible says about itself. They claim that they believe it IS the word of God.

What I have found out though, is that most have never read it completely. Most do not read it everyday. Most do not try to remember it, unless it says something they really like.

Pastors and teachers, who claim to have been called by this same GOD, are usually no different. Most have never read the whole Bible. A while lot do not read it everyday, and many make excuses for why they are not obeying it.

Here is the question: If it really is the Word and Will of the Supreme Being, why do those who claim to be Christians fail to treat it as such? Many will read their favorite authors three times before they read their Bible.

If there was a place where God Himself showed up everyday like clockwork, would you know make every effort to show up too? Wouldn't you want to know all there is to know about Him? Would you let other people tell you about Him and what he said? I seriously doubt it!

Well, there is, and He does.  It's in the Good Book. Read it, meditate on it, live it.

Church Leadership: 20th century style

Leadership.  Everybody wants to be a leader.  This is not a bad thing at all.  Church members want to be leaders, church leaders want to lead more people and larger empires. The more buzz words we can throw around, the better. So, we buy the books, watch the videos, and  attend the seminars. We compare our leadership programs with one another.  We want more, more, and more. 

The problem with this scenario is that these are people who are leading or seeking to lead a flock of Jesus Christ. We have the Bible. We claim that it is the Word of the Supreme Being. All knowing. All Powerful. The Only Wise God. yet we go in search of the wisdom of men! That is a contradiction in lifestyle. 

We are not running companies. Even if we were, there are enough Biblical principles to help with that. We must return to God's Word for every need in our lives and our churches. If the Word of God is insufficient, we should stop serving Him. 

When Jesus left the earth, He gave us the Holy Spirit, to teach and remind us of all things. The Bible says He has given us all that pertains to life and Godliness. Do we truly believe these things? Do we serve Him with our mouths, but all the time struggle really hard to be like the world? 

Do we realize that He says. love not the world nor the things that are in the world?

The church is the church of Jesus Christ. He leads, we follow.  Matt. 28:18, Matt. 23:10, Eph. 4:15,  John 10:11,14,16. He is the Shepherd. We are the sheep. When a sheep stops following the shepherd, it gets lost. It goes astray. 

The world is different from the Church. In fact, they are diametrically opposed to each other. Yet it is difficult to tell the difference today. The world is not trying to be like the Church. Rather, it is the Church that is trying very hard to close the gap. We have Church leaders who take their cues from other "bigger" church leaders. church members who worship at the feet of their leaders. The words of Jesus, the One who died for the Church, are left within the covers of the Book. Is the Bible the Word of the Almighty or is it not? If it is, we must begin to look to it for guidance. if we think it is not, we must get out of the pulpit.

There are enough leaders in the Bible to learn from:

Moses: Education, humility, delegation.

Joseph: Foresight, Frugality/savings

Daniel: Forthrightness, Conviction

David: Welfare, Boldness, 

Solomon: Wisdom, project management

I am sure smarter people than me can come up with more.

Do you want to know what Jesus, the Christ, The Creator, in whom lies all the knowledge, the Alpha, the Omega, the Good Shepherd, the Living Word, The Wonderful Counselor,has to say about leadership? It is SIMPLE:

"Whoever wants 2 become great among u must be ur servant, & whoever wants 2 be 1st must be ur slave— just as d Son of Man did not come to be served, but 2 serve, & to give his life as a ransom for many."

And He said, by the holy Spirit in I Peter 5: 2-4:

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

The problem is that many of us want our accolades here. We want the praise and honor here. We want the rewards here.  Brethren, to be a minister is to be a servant. As many of us as teach God's Word must recognize that it is a PRIVILEGE to be used by the Almighty. It is not an opportunity to lord it over people and use them, and fleece them. 

You want to be a leader? Serve.  Serve with joy, gladness, and be happy that He has found a place for you in His Kingdom. Stop "beating/fleecing the sheep."

And if you go to a church where the pastor does not have a servant's heart, prayerfully seek another.

Return to the Word.

"Breaking the Yoke of Singleness"

There's this thing where preachers ask singles to come for prayers to "break d yoke of singleness", is that even Biblical? Is singleness a curse? Was Jesus not single? Was Paul not single? Did God not deliver Israel by Miriam whose marital status was irrelevant? Do they not understand I Cor. 7? Those evenings that Jesus spent visiting Lazarus his friend, surely, He could have spent one of them casting out the demon of "singleness" from Mary and Martha, two grown women living with their brother! There's no stigma to a child of God, single or married.

When will God's people recognize the freedom that Jesus paid so dearly to give us? When will we realize that Kingdom living frees us from our cultural bondage, fears and our caste system?

As in other things, singles must trust God, stay busy, & stay away from fearmongers who look for enemies where there are none. If God brings you a mate, praise Him. If not, don't spend whatever time He's given you chasing after another human being. Marriage is not the Pearl of Great Price. Jesus is.

He just might surprise you.

The Traditional Marriage Among Nigerian Christians

Before the British colonized nigeria, we had our own way of getting married. Regardless of the little details, it usually involved both families coming together, exchanging gifts, a bride price, and handing the bride over, amid great festivities, dancing eating and drinking.

Then the British came. The introduced the civil marriage, while recognizing our traditional marriages. They called it marriage by native law and custom.  Here's the wrinkle: People started converting to Christianity, and also wanted to get married "in the church" with all the attendant pomp and pageantry.

The traditional marriage was treated differently by different cultures. The Yorubas started calling it the "engagement".  They would meet as families, exchange gifts,  and hand over the bride to the the groom's family.  Some families stop here, get the marriage license at the Registry, and move right along with their married life.   In some case, after the festivities, the bride would go back to her parents' house, usually to wait for the church wedding before becoming Mrs. So and So.  Depending on how far away from the actual wedding this takes place, they could still break up, unless they have been married in the civil fashion. In that case, they need a divorce.

It is different among the Igbos. The traditional marriage is iron clad. It is taken very seriously. It is almost as binding as the old Jewish tradition which required a divorce for you to break up with your betrothed.  They still get the civil marriage license and often do the church wedding.

Here is the issue. When are you married? It is not so much a problem among the Yorubas who, for the most part, now treat their traditional marriage as a family get together. Among the Igbos, which one takes precedence?

What used to happen among the brethren when I was in the university is that they did the traditional marriage, but stayed apart until the wedding. The marriage would be consummated after the church event.

This is what seems to be happening now. The people get married the traditional way. They consummate.  Some start living together. Then they fix a church wedding date. They send out invitations inviting people to a wedding.

Some churches are saying, "no". You are already married. You can come for a blessing, but not a wedding. Some folks don't like that.

Can you get married twice without having divorced? If the first one was the marriage, what is the second one? If you are going to have a church wedding, should you consummate?  What do you think? Talk to me.

Violence at the Workplace

"Have you ever been slapped, kicked, shoved, or bitten by a patient? Have you had your hair, earring, or clothing pulled? Has a patient ever thrown something at you, knocked something out of your hands, or spit in your face? Has a relative used abusive language, sworn at you, or threatened you if you tried to enforce a hospital policy or did not comply with a demand?
If the answer to all of these questions is "no," consider yourself one of the lucky few nurses to have escaped verbal and physical abuse at the hands of patients, family members, or visitors in the course of your duties."

I know the article was discussing violence in the healthcare environment, but I also know that violence occurs in many other workplace environments.

Have you ever been assaulted at work?

Have you witnessed someone else been assaulted on the job?

Does your supervisor/employer have the right to verbally or physically abuse you?

Have you assaulted someone at work?

 Is there ever any justification for it?

Someone said to me, "Sometimes these employees are so dense, you need to yell at them to keep them moving."

I don't agree.  Do you?

Debut?

I was going to call this my debut. But it really isn't. I've had a few attempts at blogging, but always ended up taking them down. This blog title is actually a revived old one.

Why now? Because people asked me to. I know, I know, I sound like a politician..."my constituents asked me to run". It's nothing like that. One relative, one friend, and someone I haven't even met, all independently asked me to start a blog. So, here I am.

I am not sure about what I;ll say, but I think my children will be happy to hear that I have a place to put all those thoughts I bother them with.

It always starts with, "I was thinking...." and they know they're going to hear it whether or not they want to. I guess it means that now, you get to hear it too.

Even though this expresses my point of view, I want to hear yours too. In fact, I'd love to hear yours whether you agree or not. Just be civil.

Bola Awosika Oyeleye