MAN IN THE MIRROR The GROWJOURNAL January - April 2012. Editor: David Dungji Chinke Contributors: Stephanie Downs Lami Chinke ISSN: 2141 - 9507 Published in Nigeria © 2011 by Engraved in Gold Media Enterprises +2348065721408, daviddunji@yahoo.com Jos, Plateau State Nigeria " EDITORIAL : 2012 The year 2011 was an interesting one, with many ups and downs for us at GROW. It was the year that we consolidated on a rather weak start to actually put the magazine on its footing, being constrained by funding; we could not achieve the spread we had desired. But thankfully we are constantly reminded by God that His work through us stands as more of a witness even in its small beginnings! We have crossed into the New Year with the rest of you with mixed feelings as is where! I personally do not feel as much nostalgia as in previous years; the only things that steer us in the face are the political and socio-political crises that have greeted the beginning of this year! Apart from that, it appears that the prophetic drama of 2011 seems to have left 2012 a bit bereft of expectation, although in the movie world (of course) a movie with the title 2012 seems to say that the world may indeed end in the year 2012 (NA FILM OH NOBI PROPHECY)! Just in case a prophecy nut is reading this article! Strangely enough, the preceding year 2011, has been marked or even marred by failed prophecies of an apocalyptic end. I personally know of two notable preachers who spoke of an end or rapture in 2011. Being one who has a little experience with the prophetic ministry, I off course, swallowed it with a pinch of salt! And of course attracted a little controversy of my own! Beyond controversies though, we feel it is incumbent on us to add a voice of caution on the application of prophecy in this time! Giving the fact that the bible does say that no prophecy is of personal interpretation, we are clearly perturbed by the level of indiscretion exhibited by some pastors who attempt to prophecy! On more than one occasion I have come across people who make Uzzah look good just by the extents to which they go in order to make sure their supposed prophecies come to pass! These people even create crises so that they can come in a helicopter style to rescue the situation. Some go as far as to destroy marriages so that they can be relevant. This is dangerous for the church, especially when certain elements in the world are calling for the abrogation of the theological discipline. As a witness in this generation, we cannot say we have not warned on such issues! Our introductory issue of the GROW Journal “Ministry Madness; in a Mentoring and discipleship Mangle” speaks extensively on this. Those involved in Gods present move to reform his church can bear us witness that God is moving us into a fresh biblical revelation of the contents of prophetic ministry! We cannot shirk from the responsibility of imparting this to the church, that: the church cannot continue in the patterns it has hitherto been used to and perceived as innocent while in actuality it has been involved in a misnomer! Infact claiming that those who are a bit skeptical about such practices are indeed children! 1st Corinthians 13:11 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. But such have clearly read the bible out of context because in the verse that follows it clear says: 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. Therefore instead of we all claiming to be prophets we must be humble and submit to the diverse ministries God has given us in his infinite wisdom (even if such do not attract much attention as in the prophetic ministry). Having said this we do acknowledge that this also implies that the church is not perfect, and we are prone to mistakes but also believe that God has done enough to lead us to the path of escape, and we need to be more committed towards this path! As the next verse says:“ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Though there still exists the ever potent danger that some have misinterpreted this love to mean Eros and not Agape! Hence we insist that: The church must take the path of accountability not just to men as we have been used to but to God himself, accountability to the pure gospel of Jesus, his ministry of Agape, sacrifice and responsibility! We must also pursue rigorously the consummation of this ministry by being faithful to the processes laid down for us through the example of the apostolic witness! On this we cannot renege as “expert builders”, because our work is being tested daily by the apostasy of this age! Indeed it will also be tested on the last day on the coming of our Lord! This edition of the GROW Journal aims to focus on the ministry of each individual man and woman to submit himself /herself to the ministry of the Word and the Holy Spirit in purity of heart and purpose! James 1:23 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does. " COVER : MAN IN THE MIRROR;A look at Prophetic Ministry Today By David Dungji Chinke James 1:23 says: “23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror”. The mystery behind the value of the otherwise ordinary black and white prints of the pages of the Biblical cannon is one that has not yet been fully understood! And yet from the pages of this same book have arisen many controversies, some not very palatable. The existence of a spirit realm and other mystic religions seem to obscure the adequacy and relevance of Biblical scripture! They claim: what God has done through the Bible, we can do also. More than ever in this century, the bible faces the greatest threat to its existence, threats to its claim to be that one and only standard by which humanity can acquire the most valued resource of moral cleansing. Beyond Moral issues, the mind of God for the future of his beloved creation is well sort after! But along with this comes another problem; over the centuries after Christ a dark shadow has been cast on the prophetic ministry, many have begun to doubt again the efficacy of the Christian prophetic ministry! To mark the Christmas season last year as always, FRCN held their annual Christmas carol, this time in conjunction with von and the NTA. I always yearn for an opportunity to listen to Monsignor Mathew Kokah – of which I thank NTA for once more giving me an opportunity to do so again! He is one Nigerian that does not open his mouth in order to breathe fowl air nor just to utter anything in vain! In his capacity as a well respected orator and spiritual leader, he is one who could easily and correctly be described as an ORACLE of our time! One that could be consulted for advice if our leaders were to need any! But his sermon that night seemed to suggest something to the contrary as concerns seeking the omen of oracles! He ominously suggests that we must not submit to the trend of overdependence on leaders outside the authorized constitutional provision! None the less Juju Priests and sorcerers of our time! Rather we must begin to trust more in process! The ballot box being one we must resort to! It would not take a genius to know that our beloved country is plagued by crises that cuts into its very soul. At this time, the heart of African beliefs are being challenged by the emergence of elements propagating science and a shift into western systems! Of course being pushed by the most obvious destabilizing factors such as: boko haram, the Niger delta crises etc. that threaten the very existence of this nation. listening to Kukah, one could not help but agree with him on the issues at stake, it suffices to say that the bane of our nation today is the overdependence on such prophets, juju priests and so called oracles, who have been consulted as personal priests by various politicians and cultic families and used to terrorize the rest of us with prophecies of both doom and boom. Some of us have often called to question the efficacy of such men of God while alluding to the human weakness of bias and prejudice which most often rules human systems! Some of these are known to go out of their ways to make sure that they are perceived to have some form of efficacy by creating artificial crises or otherwise just to ensure their prophecies come true!! Nevertheless as men who are bound by belief as opposed to atheism which still has many weaknesses, we are often forced to ask the question: does the omnipotent God approve of this shift as Monsignor Mathew Kukah suggests? I am not too conversant with all the other religions but what does Christ offer us? We are clear at least that Christ was not only the Son of God but also a most efficacious prophet. Many prophets and miracle workers abounded in the New Testament church after Christ! But another thing we must be clear about is that the Bible itself applies some level of skepticism to the words of prophets and soothsayers – because it is clear that false prophets do exist! Even when a true prophet appears, there is a question as to his/her area of specialization and how his/her words are obeyed e.g. the story of the old and young prophet, Ballam, and Paul’s reaction to the prophecies about him tell us a lot. Agabus and the elders felt he should not go down to Jerusalem, Paul insisted on going! This to me means that the scripture allows personal investigation (at least) of any prophecy. Thus we as Christians must not be “afraid” as it were of shifting towards more science! Of course we of the theological school insist that this must begin with the proper training of such gifted men/women; Weather in the psychological and physiological sciences or in the raw theology! It is worrisome to see brothers and sisters being held to ransom by tales of woe and claims based on pacts made relying on such mystic systems! Why in Nigeria today should; my choice to study medicine affect someone’s desire to be a juju priest, architect, engineer or pilot? Only in Nigeria do these things cause national pandemonium. One must ask if our leaders have indeed swallowed the proverbial forbidden fruit of the dreaded high priestess of Nigeria. If that is indeed so, even we who have the theological bias must retreat towards agreeing with elders like Mathew Kukah (which we have) although we still advocate a balance, in difference to certain developmental issues! But of course we still fear the links that our present crises have with these mystic systems, while doubting that such systems still bear the needed unbiased efficacy!! Theology is a discipline like Medicine, engineering, etc. and thus must be systematized and tested if we are to move forward. Even the testing of these theological systems are open to criticism as we observe with great sadness the unwarranted callousness’ with which certain so called leaders have toyed with human life while claiming to test such systems. It is clear that the discipline of theology and other related disciplines suffer the threat of abrogation if these methods continue! And thus it is clear that as we shift towards the merger of science and theology in the distant future we must move for proper legislation against such cultic practices which indulge in illegal trespassing and invasion of the privacy of other unsuspecting citizens! This is confirmed by the story carried by radio Nigeria on the 11th of September 2011, where one Mr. Ajayi’s bedroom was invaded by a flying invisible woman. She suddenly dropped into his room completely naked. Such stories are not strange to we Nigerians! This woman was caught, and the law was powerless to meta out any punishment! If she could be caught, why couldn’t she be punished? One could not help but ask: is trespassing not an offence in Nigeria? The world is built on a balance and even the free spiritual airspace must indeed have “no fly zones”! In most of our traditional cultures there are laws governing spiritual practice, there is always the good magician who checkmates the bad witch or wizard! But fortunately or unfortunately for us re-enacting such a system has shown itself unstable as seen in the dissolution of the erstwhile Bakasi boys! In that case, we might truly want to revisit scientific systematization and hence accountability by adequate legislation and reformation of the army and police force! It is thus clear that as long as we live on this side of existence we might never know all, but it is also clear that God does desire us to study and advance in knowledge in addition to worshiping him. But he is a God of accountability who detests sorcery, mediums and witchcraft! A God that says that anything that claims to be good must be done in the light! I have in my possession, an ointment or balm – made in Nigeria – that cures tooth pain, head ache, rashes, eye and ear pain, sickle cell, stomach pain and snake bite! If such an ointment can be made in Nigeria, why is our health sector still in turmoil? The only answer can be seen on the label of the balm itself, it has no dosage (at least for sickle cell and snake bite it should) no ingredients, no expiry date, no registration number etc. No accountability! We live in a Nigeria where; when you buy a piece of land, the next day you might find a heap of refuse dumped at the boundaries; for what purpose? You might not know except you belong to the specific cult group that practices such superstition! Such a system negates the Christian foundation of love, a system of power alone no matter the consequences! A system that decides a Childs fate in life by the shape of his/her head, color of his/her eye, level of birth pains, weather single or twin! Such children were and often still are (though not openly) denied the privilege of tapping into common knowledge and referred to as Abiku, Obanje, Maye or Kapwan or children of extraterrestrial beings as the case may be! Science on the other hand aims to reveal, this is seen as a taboo! Of course the revealer of secrets is often seen as a betrayer! But on the other hand, the one that keeps all power to himself is also prone to misuse it and some may even die without passing on the knowledge! Science aims to decipher the hidden codes, so that we all can benefit from its dividends. Is that such a bad thing? How many of us today do not desire to fly in an airplane as opposed to flying in the night – invisible as it were? Courtesy the Wright brothers who risked life and limb to provide us with this most useful technology. It seems ominous that those who believe and practice such unscripted crafts are the very people who today claim to be weak and who fight the rest of us ordinary human beings for the right to take a “jolly ride” on an airplane! To ride the most flashy jeeps! Indeed they have discovered the secret of using such powers to secure the one most valued resource, this side of eternity! It is this knowledge that pushes our leaders to seek out oracles from God! In that case, we must as a nation listen to our parents in people like Monsignor Mathew Kukah who advocate a more disciplined theological approach to discussing national issues if at all we must consult oracles! We cannot help but emulate the dear Monsignor and thus ask the question: what are we afraid of? Then we quickly remember the story of a man who was long ago hung on a cross and jeered at by a mob not for carrying a sword or gun to shoot and kill people but for liberating the poor! Why so afraid? Why would a mob fear one man so much even to release an armed robber in his stead? One cannot help but get the feeling of the ancient Roman Arena were Christians were thrown in with dangerous beasts to the amusement of the mob! The more we shift towards those unaccountable systems the more we experience such threats to life, threat to reason and threats to our existence as a nation! I would like to end this write up with an interesting story of my childhood – we had a few sheep when I was about seven years of age, they were about 7, my elder brother and I were in charge of shepherding those sheep! God blessed our work and we grew their number from 7 to about 20. We were living at the outskirts of town then, but gradually development caught up with us and the highway near our house became a busy road. If you understand how sheep behave, they always follow the head sheep who acts as the matriarch. At that material time a little lamb we had named “Jumpy, Jumpy” rose to the position of Matriarch or head sheep! We often crossed the highway into the Maza hills to graze the sheep or release them during the dry season to graze on their own. During the headship of Jumpy Jumpy, she would suddenly start running back home from the grazing field not minding our shouts for her to stop. Right across the highway and back home into the pen. Once in a while she did so when a vehicle was approaching on high speed. Once in a while between 1-3 sheep would be killed by the vehicle! The sheep quickly dwindled from 20 to about 10, after that experience we never really achieved that number again. Jesus in John 10:27 tells us about sheep: 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 The Moral here is simple: we cannot get adequate prophetic direction, except we refuse to be like “”Jumpy Jumpy” and listen to the voice of the shepherd. And James 1:23 tells us clearly that: 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does. Therefore as we move into this new year of our Lord 2012, we implore all who share in the heritage given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to embrace anew his message. That we must return to looking intently at ourselves again and again in his perfect mirror not in the selfish motive of carnal human beautification but to see indeed that reflection of what he wants us to be! Then we can consciously with the help of the Holy Spirit work toward that perfect reflection that he wants for us. We must do so even being conscious of the fact that there is a need to take a second look at our approach to the ministry of the WORD, so that the world will not role on its back laughing at us and telling us like the popular Michael Jackson did : “Take a look at yourself and make a change”. He said it clearly “I’m talking to the Man in the Mirror, I’m asking him to make a change”! Michael Jackson wasn’t the perfect example himself, but at least he didn’t claim to be and he may have indeed been referring to the governments of the world! But who is it that constantly looks in the mirror? Ask yourself that question today! David Dungji CHINKE is a graduate of Bachelor of Arts in Theology (Missions and Evangelism) from Jos ECWA Theological Seminary (JETS). He was once a vibrant member of NIFES after which He has been involved in various youth programs as a youth leader which include the Grace Communion International (GCI) YEP program, From his experiences with a formally non evangelical background, and a subsequent powerful experience with evangelical Christianity, he has written 4 life changing books which will greatly enrich your spiritual life and library. The GROW Journal is a recent part of these efforts. If you want to contribute to the GROW Journal please email him at daviddunji@yahoo.com!! " MAN IN THE MIRROR; All About Endings By Stephanie Downs Pop icon Michael Jackson had a famous song called “Man in the Mirror. I think the lyrics summarize this quarter’s issue of The GROW Journal very well. He said: “I'm starting with the man in the mirror I'm asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you wanna make the world a better place Take a look at yourself and then make a change” To me this song says, if you want to end well and end strong, you must examine what you are doing and consider making some changes!!! I remember growing up and watching late night cool old movies with my Dad. I'd be totally drawn in for about 2 hours, and finally, the fancy writing would come up and say "The End". The music plays, we have a tear in our eye, the movie is over. It usually goes like this: the movie begins, the story builds, the star solves a problem (this is the climax/main event/what I call the "middle"), and finally there would be a nice wrap up and the bow on top is that fancy "the end" with the mushy music. What if they would have just stopped after the star resolved the issue, and we never found out who rode off into the sunset with whom?" I find myself frequently talking and teaching people about what I call "the beginning, middle, and end". Everything we do has all three parts. I find that, rarely are people good at "the end". Here is what I know: a good "ending" is often the most important part! I urge people to think through: "how am I doing on the wrap up?" Did I close out that conversation today well? Did the person I was speaking to understand my message? Did we debrief the day after that big event? How do we end a relationship? Dismiss someone from employment? Did I return the item I borrowed from my neighbor? Whoa, I hate to think of what if God wouldn't have "ended" his stuff well? Creation: what if he'd stopped after day 5="uh oh...no people"! Or stopped after day 6="NO REST? Can you imagine"? He didn’t stop until it was ALL “good”. Or what if the New Testament stopped after Jesus death? The "Good News" wouldn't be quite so good!! My point is: We must "end" well. The key to a good "end" is always taking time to "reflect", when we reflect, we do it with our head and our heart, sometimes we do this alone, and sometimes with someone or a group of folks, sometimes we need to do both, reflect alone and with people. Your life, your company's business and all that you do will work out better and you will grow if you incorporate "reflection time" into your entire life!!! Take the time to think through, "How did I do today? Did I close well?, Did I wrap up and pay attention to how I/we ended things?" Did I preserve what I could? Learn what I should? By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. - Confucius In James 1:23, the referral is made to the man looking in the mirror then walking away and forgetting what he looks like. It is a metaphor for hearing the word of God, getting fired up about it, and then walking away and not putting it into practice. How do you assure you put into practice a new revelation from God’s word? DEAR FRIENDS, LET’S ALL BE ABOUT ENDING WELL AND ENDING STRONG! ______________________________________________ If you would like to respond to the author of this article, please email yeafaith@aol.com Stephanie Downs MEd, USA " A WOMAN:Second All Her Life? By Lami Chinke Have you ever felt like you will always be second to someone all your life? It is an innate desire of every human being to have his/her moment of glory. A time when everyone would look up to you and think the very best of you! A time when you, and only you get to call the shots and for once give the orders, as a child you were always used to getting instructions from parents, uncles and aunties or older siblings. You always relished the time when you could also sit in a place of authority and issue directives! Often this issue might look very trivial and inconsequential but is the source of many conflicts in the home and the larger society. Akeela Anderson stumbles on Diland Chew and his Father having a Tete-A- tete. This is Akeela’s first national appearance in the all important national spelling contest and here she was running neck and neck with this nerdish Chinese boy who had been in the finals three consecutive times and had come second twice! His father was furious, a no -nonsense man who had won nothing all his life and was determined that Diland will go home with the first prize this time around! He scolded Diland using Chinese superstition “if you don’t win this year, you will remain second all your life”! Akeela could relate to that; being the third born of her parents and the only girl among them, she felt rather inconspicuous around her brothers. Since her father died her mother was always out trying to fend for the family and hardly had any time for her! As if it wasn’t enough being in a truly male dominated society, she would always have to look around her shoulder to make a head way in life! Now standing there and listening to Diland’s father scold him made quite an impression on her, this was her first go at the national prize, naive as she was, she made up her mind; she would let Diland win so he wouldn’t remain second all his life! If you have watched that movie (Akeela and the Bee) you would know that at the end Diland himself was not satisfied with a walkover and he insisted that Akeela do her best and they literally went hand in hand to wear the crown together! Two things struck me with that movie : first is Akeela’s empathy to put herself in Dilands shoes and throw the towel just so that he would not remain second all his life, she sees him as equally important as herself and his needs to be esteemed. That is one characteristic many of our men and women folk lack, to gladly lay down things that are important to them just to see that others get a fighting chance! The second is Diland’s own resilience, there he was being handed the first prize on a platter of gold, one he had failed to win twice and this was his third trial, when I put myself in that position, I know I would be so full of eagerness and frustration that I would have quickly grasped the opportunity that this first timer was giving me! What might easily pass off as male ego to some, in Diland was rather; integrity and a love for personal merit! Diland was not concerned about being second to a woman, or even being second all his life! He was more concerned that God should use his ability to give him what he deserved and also give Akeela what she deserved even if it meant him loosing and she winning! One cannot help relate that scenario to the marriage arena, it is possible for the woman to feel she is second because of her role as help meet and being submissive to her husband ,there is an innate desire to want to be the initiator of major activities in the home, being key in decision making and so on. Many women would rather use whatever means possible to cow the man so that she can be the head and not the tail! Being pushed by the fear of remaining second all their lives. Likewise many times men force their wives to let go who they are and what they want to become in life so that the man can appear to be the leader! While in actuality, what they should be doing is holding the women up so that they can achieve and aspire! In a male dominated society. Marriage is a partnership, if one partner achieves in an area, the glory goes to both and vice versa. It is a give and take affair. Both should be like Akeela saying;’’ for the sake of our family and our love why can’t I let go some privileges! Most importantly, as a human being, created in the image of the almighty, there is no first or second, we are all equal with our uniqueness and having different roles and responsibility. We need each other to achieve our goals in marriage. God does desire that the man and the woman walk together, hand in hand, to the doors of eternity, bringing up godly children and on the whole a better society! Lami Grace CHINKE, is a Nurse Midwife with the Plateau State Specialist Hospital presently on deployment to the National Blood Transfusion Service. She has been a vibrant youth leader both in school and in her local church, and is presently supporting her husband in his work at GROW. She has two lovely children and loves singing and doing her work. When you meet her, the first few words you might hear are: safe blood saves lives. She can be contacted at bakolami@yahoo.com! <<  <<   >>