By Nneka Okumazie
For any genuine Christian, it is probably difficult to be convinced to worship the Lord, or thank the Lord, in the aftermath of a devastating failure, disappointment, loss or tragedy. It is may be possible to do so, convinced by the Holy Spirit, or with experience following the Lord, but being told by others, may be a recommendation – with minor might.
Why? Because it is an antithesis of how the psyche works and because God is All-Powerful so He should have helped.
Just as worshipping the Lord or thanking Him at such times may be a stretch, praying too can be difficult, because it may seem like since Faith is crushed, why try?
Happiness and sadness are neurologic states that can be induced or inhibited. There is temptation for people who know of the Lord [genuine Christians or not], to take out their anger on the Lord when things are bad, or to spite Him – as a way to get back to Him, or as rebellion that He did not help.
But God cannot be boxed by any individual. It is true He cares. It is true He has plans and He can help but if He does not seem to help, or act, or save – in the ways people measure – it changes nothing.
The scriptures offer references to tens of situations where God seemed to not help. In some cases, the motives were later understood. In some other cases, like martyrs in the Epistles and Revelation, answers were unknown.
God understands everything. He knows the total picture. Christ said people may be troubled in this world, but to be of good cheer. The world is super imperfect. No one can connect the dots on why all problems happen. There seems to be more things out of the control of an individual than things under one’s control.
There are so many questions that psychology hasn’t answered, or neuroscience, or medicine, or physics, or technology, or mathematics. Life is more of nature, albeit nurture plays a great role too. There are aberrations in many situations no matter the firewalls. Life is super mysterious.
Christianity is a chosen faith. It is independent of education, status, geography, health, gender, race, condition, or situation. It is God’s love – inspiring existential reciprocity.
Obedience, holiness and righteousness are important to God. The Almighty God is not hungry. Christ has expectations of His followers – to build, grow, move and maintain His mission on earth, doing what they can as a team. Genuine repentance and salvation are far more important than any giving or service in church.
God wants worshippers, in spirit and in truth, not just any kind. To understand this will answer against many of the criticisms levelled at the church of God in Nigeria, by Daddy Freeze and his followers.
The rush towards Daddy Freeze at his rock bottom is odd. Daddy Freeze doesn’t encourage people to be better version of themselves. He does not contribute anything invaluable to knowledge, or to enlightenment. He has no idea on how Nigeria can get better or how things can improve. He would repeat the same arguments or worse. He would react to anything and everything for his own publicity. He would copy, paste, market food, and stir up hatred.
There are certain kinds of people others often want around: people that encourage, people who help others see the silver lining in situations, people who say don’t give up, people who try to inspire to do better, people who try to give a chance, people who understand human imperfections and fallibilities, people who are understanding, people who are respectful and selfless, etc.
Daddy Freeze is none of these. It is church is bad, or pastor that: church – the biggest place for faith, love and hope in God; church – the home of Joy in the presence of God; church – a family, outside the family.
Daddy Freeze would encourage freedom to do anything. He would choose what sin is, or is not. He would say watch pornography, or drink alcohol all you want. PȮrnography, something some people watched once, just once, and got hooked for more than five years. Same as other seemingly addictive acts, sometimes just a try has led to ruin for some.
Do whatever you like because the pastors are bad, is his central message. So what’s his alternative, himself? Social media, or what? Nigeria has abundant power outages, some street lights are powered by generators – conspicuous by the road side, sometimes billboards too, no solutions or useful work for solutions, but it is church or tithe that is the agitation of losers.
Across Nigeria, there are large amounts of un-useful – student and scholarship – projects, in spite of several problem areas needing solution directions. There is no need to do anything right, within anyone’s power or possibility; it is to blame pastor for poverty, as if church controls income, prices and conditions of living.
It is almost impossible to be a true fan of Daddy Freeze and be truly smart, because it is mostly foolishness and stupid talk – worse than most illiterates. He compared an old picture of a Bishop with his wife, and a recent one, mocking them that tithe works. Even as a lowlife, that was really obtuse of daddy freeze.
Obedience is more important than any giving – or service in church – to God. Giving to God is not a kind of mea culpa philanthropy where people give back to the society as a means of penance. Giving to God, in support of His work, is part of Faith, far easier than worshipping God – say – after a failure.
Christ mentioned tithes, a few times. But He often mentioned giving, and often asked His followers to go into the world and preach, but how? If not through as much support as possible from believers. He said in Revelation 2:19, “I have knowledge of your works, and your love and faith and help and strength in trouble, and that your last works are more than the first.”
Paying of tithe, by genuine Christians will be rewarded, however the Messiah chooses. It is not a scam, and it is voluntary.
Failure or success, Christ wants His people to use their situation to benefit His mission. Yes, it may be difficult to worship or give thanks, or pray after a failure, but in that situation, sticking with Jesus is a way to disdain the enemy that everything may go, but the genuine Christian belongs to Jesus – and Christ, the Redeemer liveth.
Genuine Christians also need massive doses of the word of God and His presence, to avoid getting carried away by the sorrows of this world. Everyone knows what they do or call in private when things get rough. Jesus is the way for true Christians, not lust, or pride, not drinking, or smoking, not possessions, or shortcut religions.
Christ also said, Revelation 2:13, “I know where you live—a place where Satan sits enthroned. [Yet] you are clinging to and holding fast My name, and you did not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed (martyred) in your midst—where Satan dwells.”
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