The stolen SIM card Week 17, 2015

“I should not have been in prison now if I had someone to bail me from the Special Anti Robbery Squad” he said. “In fact initially I was not sleeping in the cell. Every night my IPO would bring me out to sleep. Every day he fed me with locust bean meal (Okpa) and water. ‘Why won’t your people come to bail you?’ he said. ‘You are not a criminal.’ I had a sister but she was in Niger state. Even though she was contacted she did not come. That is why he took my hand set eventually for he said he spent about N3, 000 on me.

It was a SIM card that I picked from the road that caused it all. I used to pick SIM cards and if there was some credit left in them I would use them and then throw them away, but this one I retained after wiping it. I had a dual SIM phone and they were full so I retained this one for use. I worked in Nsukka and my wife and children were in the village. I would earn money and send maybe N2, 500 or N3, 000 to them. One day I got a call on that SIM in which a female called me by another name. I told her I am not who she thinks. She claimed I had helped her once in Enugu and she wanted to thank me. I remembered working as a driver in Enugu for some time but could not remember her. I had since stopped driving in deference to my mother. When I talked about it my friend suggested it may be a way fortune was coming to me, so in subsequent discussions with her I agreed to meet her. She came one day and called me on the SIM. When we met she said it had been long we met in response to my telling her I am not who she thinks. She offered to take me out and I insisted on sitting opposite her, and then two men sprang on me and arrested me. The owner of the SIM I picked had been robbed of his golf car some time back. The robbers took the car and his handset by the way at Nsukka. It was through the SIM the police came and arrested me. When I am released and someone offers me a handset so much as just to call my brother whilst standing by him I will refuse!

My case just came up for mention once in 2013 when eventually I was assigned a lawyer. After my plea a lawyer said she was hot and uncomfortable, that is how my case was adjourned for a year. I have been to court in 2013 and 2014. But I now believe it was to know God I was brought to the prison. Before then I wasn’t going to church or reading the bible. I had no use for such. In this Enugu prison I heard the word of God preached and eventually in 2014 I came to give my life to Jesus Christ. I tell inmates to listen when preaching is going on but some of them would rather go into the toilet to smoke goof.

I enjoyed reading my bible but now I cannot see very well again. I can read what is on the top of this paper but the rest are blurred. Two days ago I prayed and said to God, ‘Is it now that I have come to know you that I will not be able to see again? Everything is in your hands. ’ ” Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart. Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law. It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. Ps 119:67, 69-71 (NIV)                                      

Njom is an inmate in Enugu Prisons

Numbers too few Week 16, 2015

You seem discouraged and dejected. What is the matter? Is someone ill?

“Not at all. It is not physical illness, but to be honest with you I am getting discouraged and somewhat frustrated.”

Goodness! Share with me; what is discouraging you?

“Take a look at the empty pews in the building; our numbers are too few. Hardly anyone comes. And I know the message God gave us is relevant to so many Christians. How can it be just one or two people I will be ministering to week after week? Others have large congregations but I know the quality of what we offer.”

Oh my brother remember what John the Baptist answered his disciples when they complained Jesus was attracting many more followers. John replied, "No one can receive anything unless it has been given to them from heaven Jn 3:27(ISV). Let God build your congregation to the size ordained for you.

“Isn’t having more people to minister to a mark of your worth as a man of God?”

See, you must recognize God gives you according to the grace released to you: The man knew what each servant could do. So he handed five thousand coins to the first servant, two thousand to the second, and one thousand to the third. Then he left the country Mat 25:15(CEV).  Can you take the other issues coming from a large congregation? Be happy with the work He has assigned you. Or are you worried about people to meet your financial and other obligations? Jonathan said to his armor bearer, "Let's go to the military post of these uncircumcised people. Maybe the LORD will act on our behalf. The LORD can win a victory with a few men as well as with many." 1Sam 14:6(GW)  Be careful beloved. God will seek an accounting based on what He has given you to do not what He has not; or will you go and manufacture attendees? You know people go into compromise and water down their message just to get it when God has not released many people to them?

“But what good is all this unction that is poured out on just a person? How does it help in God’s kingdom?”

What good do you think it seemed when Luke wrote 2 volumes for one man Theophillus? I, too, have carefully investigated everything from the beginning and have decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus Lk 1:3(ISV).  Paul wrote four letters to individuals and 3^rd John was also written to an individual. Seven of 27 books of the New Testament is more than a quarter you know. These messages were later a blessing to the whole body of Christ. What would have happened if these writers did not do it because only one or two persons were to receive the work? Researching and compiling Acts of the Apostles and Luke must have been quite a task. Yet Luke did it for just one. In the human body of the many nerves coming from the brain that serve so many organs and glands there is one nerve dedicated by God to only one structure – one of the muscles that moves the eye.

Can I trust you Week 15, 2015

My children are very tender. Can I trust you to care for them?

Will you put their welfare above yours? Will your drive for lawful money, wealth and fame result in their neglect? Do you love Me more than the miracles, more than the food I so richly give you? When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."Jn 21:15(ESV) 

When you are hungry will you feed from them or feed on them? They are living stones to be built up, not bread to be eaten and passed out.  I have put a shepherd in charge of my flock, but he does not help the sheep that are threatened by destruction; nor does he look for the lost, or heal those that are hurt, or feed the healthy. Instead, he eats the meat of the fattest sheep and tears off their hoofs Zec 11:16(GNB).

When they come to you in weakness needing strength; when they share their struggles and indecisions and ask for the counsel of heaven, will you lead them to me or astray? True teachings were in his mouth, and falsehood was not found on his lips. He walked with me peacefully and righteously, and he turned many from sin. For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he's the messenger of the LORD… Mal 2:6-7(ISV) 

When they are weak and wounded, wallowing in repeated mistakes and errors, will you prey on them and finish them off, or will you heal them? A crushed reed he will not break, and a fading candle he won't snuff out. He'll bring forth justice for the truth Is 42:3(ISV). When they open up to you the graves of their lives, and the smell of death and decay comes through as you see them bound to wrong behavior, will you turn your nose in disgust? Or will you speak life to them? So the stone was moved away from the entrance of the tomb. Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you for hearing me. After Jesus had said this, he shouted as loudly as he could, "Lazarus, come out!"Jn 11:41, 43(GW)

O there’s something you need to know about speaking the word to them: will you be the example for them to follow? In your secret as well as observed life?  Don't be rulers over the people entrusted to you, but be examples for the flock to follow 1Pt 5:3(GW). Speaking the word and living differently is very dangerous. It drives their ears from hearing me. Among the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a horrible thing, for they commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of those who do evil, so that no one repents of his evil Jer 23:14(ISV). Your life is so important to me: they need to see me through it. It comes before all your preaching and teaching. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching. Persevere in these things, because if you do so, you will save both yourself and those who listen to you. 1Tm 4:16(ISV)  

Can I trust you my beloved?

Victory through defeat Week 14, 2015

“Surely you mean victory in defeat, not through defeat...”

Well consider the circumstances. Never in this country has a sitting President organised an election he also contested and lost.

“What’s the big deal? People must win or lose in elections.”

Don’t you get? Even before the final count was announced he congratulated his opponent, openly accepting defeat.

“So where is his victory? Is he not the one being caricatured as being crucified on a cross with the caption “it is finished” on social media? Where is the victory?”

The victory is twofold. Loosing is regarded as defeat, and accepting even congratulating the rival is seen as weakness by many. “Why not challenge the process or keep mute and allow your supporters speak?” Many might say in black Africa. But by conceding defeat his status has transformed to a statesman. So many people are praising him, including his rivals. By being the first to do that in modern Nigeria he has carved a niche for himself and set the standard for others to follow. The other victory is ours. So many people feared bloodshed whatever the outcome of the election, but this singular action has doused tension and saved God knows how many lives. It is an Easter experience.

“You have come again. What concerns this with Easter other than the coincidence of it happening about the Holy Week?”

Coincidence you say? You brought it up. When Jesus meekly submitted to death he was praised. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"Matt 27:54 (NIV). His death was looked upon as a defeat, but that was the pathway to victory. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Heb2:9, 14-15(NIV). His submission to death means life for us all, and his being raised to life assures our justification: whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Rom 4:24-25 (NIV)

“Are you saying the man is a type of Christ? Watch what you say o.”

Not at all, fear not. It is just that the happenings around him at this time are a compelling typology.

 “Big theological terms! So what is the lesson?”

The principle works in all spheres of life. Do the right thing always. Even when you lose, in handling it with grace you actually win, and help so many others– like Jesus.