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I bleed in my heart at times when I notice that some Christians know next to nothing about the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Oh, fellow church leaders! This is a challenge because if the students have not learnt, they say, the teachers have not taught.

I beg to disagree with the notion that a Christian has to attend Bible College or seminary to know the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. No, it is the duty of the church leaders to map out the programs of teaching their members. If they are empty in the fundamental knowledge of the church, then their hope or faith is in danger. There are some Christians who believe that God is the Creator of heaven and earth, but asking them to give a Biblical explanation of how the present earth came into existence is like asking a blind man to describe the man who slapped him. If you ask them what brought about the Holy Communion, and to relate it to the Passover, they have "no idea."

Ask them why tithes and offerings? "No idea." What about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, or speaking in tongues? "No idea." What are the ministry gifts of the church? What can you tell me about the rapture and the age of antichrist? "I don't understand it." Then, what is the millennium? "Sorry, I have never come across a word like that in my Bible." The trouble will get to a climax if the person is asked, "Is Christ truly coming again, and if yes, how?"

Again, it is a shame that some (if not many) Christians know next to nothing about the basic doctrines of their faith. If they are empty in the fundamental knowledge of the church, their hope is under a big question mark. To God be the glory concerning the church where I was raised, because I had not been to a Bible college before knowing how to evangelize and how to explain most of these basic doctrines. My ministerial career began in that church, and I say, God bless all my mentors who contributed in one form or another to build into me the strong foundation upon which the various Bible Colleges, Institutions, and exposures later built.

Fellow church leaders, let us wake up! Every glamorous house requires a good foundation; else, it will collapse disappointingly, irrespective of the marble structure that we may have on it. In a nutshell, and without mincing words, when we were given these lectures in the days when we were newly converted, it was always as if Christ would return that day or that night. Hallelujah!

There was a brother in those days when we were just taught about the "Rapture", he went to visit his parents who lived in another city. He returned and got a shock; all the brethren who were living around him were nowhere to be found, as they all left for a crusade at a village. Because, he could not sight a church member around, that made him to be more worried. Then, he broke down in tears thinking that the rapture had come and was left out. I believe because God wanted him and others to imagine what could happen if it really occurred, hence HE allowed the situation. But, thank God for a young lad who told the brother that he overheard the church members saying they were going to a village for a crusade. Honestly, the brother headed for the village outright, and his nerves cooled down when found us.

The Glory In Faithfulness

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (I Cor. 15:58). "But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6). From the foregoing, one can know why God often overshadows His faithful with His own glory to reveal Who God is and demonstrate His presence in their lives.

To God be the glory, I can recall my experiences in that perspective; sometime in 1982, when Morris Cerullo World Evangelism had its School of Evangelism in Nigeria (perhaps the first one). It was held at Dr. Mac Nwulu's Trinity Ministerial College, Aba, Nigeria.

During one of the occasions, while Doctors Morris Cerrullo and Alex Ness were having their rest in the hotel after the morning session, they had a visitor from Lagos in the person of Pastor George, the founder of the Gospel Faith Mission International. Since only a very few participants could know their hotel, I was called upon with just three to five other brethren to pilot Pastor George to the hotel. That was the day I met Pastor George for the first time, with his exemplary degree of humility. The man wanted to carry everybody in his car, not minding how tightly he was pressed against the door. Praise God!

When we got to the hotel, Dr. Cerullo and Dr. Ness were very happy to see Pastor George, their guest, with an "entourage." "Can you see how greatly the Holy Ghost has been treating us in this conference?" Dr. Cerullo humorously opened a chat with humble Pastor George. Dr. Cerullo just tapped my shoulder, drew me to his side, and asked his guest to see the glory of the Holy Spirit as evident on my face. Later, I pondered this. Amazing!

I was sitting in the waiting room of a man of God in New York, Apostle Brown, at the invitation of a friend who happened to be a minister under the great preacher. I got there before the Sunday service commenced, and somebody just led me to the church office to wait for my friend. Then Apostle Brown walked in, to enter his study room. He spotted me and asked, "Who is keeping this great preacher here?" In amazement, I looked around at the crowd of people who were in the waiting room with me, but the man of God smilingly looked at me, which showed to the people that he was referring to me. Praise the Lord! He was seeing me for the first time, and nobody introduced me to him because I did not tell any person whom I was. But, the Holy Spirit, God's General Minister for Information and Publicity, did the job. Hallelujah!

I was at an international conference of Papa Archbishop Benson Idahosa in 1995 as a participant and not as a preacher because nobody knew my level of preaching; even Papa himself had never seen me preaching before. The event was always a gathering in which every man of God would love to minister or possibly lobby to preach, in order to place him or her on an international acceptance level. Praise God, I never lobbied to preach there because I do not know how to gatecrash.

As I was sitting down with the other participants one morning at the conference, the chairman of the conference planning committee just walked over to me (I had never met him formally before) and asked me if I could preach the next morning prior to Papa's ministration, and I said, "All right," because ministers of various kinds would lobby for this time. The day came. Papa took everybody by surprise; not only did he arrive earlier than scheduled, he made an announcement and from there he took off into his preaching. So, no show for me. The man who had spoken to me the day before came to me and apologized, and I told him, "No problem."

The next day, the man again put me on the program with another minister, so that the two of us would preach before the Archbishop came in. Surprisingly again, Papa got the microphone as soon as the first preacher ended. The man wanted to apologize again, and I told him, "All things will always work together for our own good" (Rom. 8:28). Amazingly, I was pushed to the last night, which had the largest attendance, 50,000 people or more. In anticipation of the huge crowd, the program was held outside the sanctuary. The chairman came to me and said, "Get ready, man of God." "HE is in charge," I replied.

Beloved, sometime prior to that convention, a message was released to me by the Holy Spirit during my regular study devotion, and I did not know that He was preparing me for that occasion. So when the man said I would preach, the Holy Ghost just reminded me of his message outright. Praise God, I was the first person to preach that night after the whole place had been charged through the praises and worship songs led by a powerful choir of the church. The next preacher was the Lady Bishop whom Papa consecrated at the conference as a Bishop. She came from Michigan, United States of America. It was only the two of us who preached that night before Papa came in.

I always praise God each time I recall the way the Holy Ghost used me that night and before such a huge crowd. It was a great day in my ministerial career and a day to be remembered till Jesus comes. Immediately, after my ministration, Papa, Mama and other great men of God on the platform stood up in a very thick and thunderous ovation that rent the air. Papa ran to the pulpit, warmly hugged and embraced me. Since that day, the Lord has established my friendship with many of the bishops and pastors who were present. I overheard one of the ministers hosted at the Archbishop house with me saying, "So we have been staying with a 'fire-brand'!" The chairman and the program coordinator came to me later and said, "If we had known, we would have created a lengthier time for you." Praise the Lord, Who honors faithfulness with glory.

Contact Information:
AMEN Ministries International
(African Mission Evangelism of Nations)

Nigeria
7 Ibrahim Streeet* Also, Old Chicken-Joe Motel
(Off Lagos - Abeokuta Exp Way),
Sango, Ota, Nigeria

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