THE GHETTO WORLD;Persistence vs Faith
The GROWJOURNALJanuary - April 2013.
Editor:
David Dungji Chinke
Contributors:
Yilkat Gopye
Lami Chinke
ISSN: 2141 - 9507
Published in Nigeria
© 2013 by Engraved in Gold Media Enterprises
+2348065721408, dungji@engravedingold.com, daviddunji@yahoo.com
Jos, Plateau State Nigeria
" EDITORIAL : WANNA JOIN THE HOOD?
When I was in secondary school, there was this neighbourhood we were scared of, why were we scared of this neighbourhood? The neighbourhood was notorious for its gangs. Once in a while these gangs would have a fight and anybody caught in the vicinity would have serious questions to answer. Once in a while some of the most feared leaders of the gangs would even set up a blockade on the street for wimpy secondary school students like us and embark in what was popularly known as “obtaining”. “Obtaining” was nothing short of small scale armed robbery. For no good reason we would be forced to give up any prized possessions in our custody, things like watches, skin belts, or little change. Some of these neighbourhood gangs emanated from university campuses, but developed into a lethal faction of gangsterism that even feared and fought the campus cults. At the rise of the humanist move in Nigeria, many within the teaching profession rose to tackle this menace, starting from the abrogation of corporal punishment among students – thus relativising seniority – and then moving on through the law enforcement to tackle campus cults and street gangsterism as armed robbery gangs. Within the lifetime and popularity of these gangs and cults it was a thing many young people admired and though we did not have the “guts” nor the parental backing to embark in such things as they were seen as evil results of delinquency. But the idea in general was attractive to us and we patronized some of the cultures that came with that system; cultures like hiphop music and rap, the hip hop dress code; jeans, big T-shirts or tight ones, large crosses or symbols hung around the neck, barrettes etc. These cultures included a hatred for rules and a click mentality. Clicks governed certain areas and forms of school lifestyle, members of clicks protected each other, clicks survived within the hard academic environment. The click I belonged to was one that chose to be in the middle, we refused to indulge smoking, drinking or sexual habits. In fact we left it till the end of our SS 3 or final year to try a little alcohol, and some of us started entertaining the idea of keeping a girl friend, though most never got round to it. We broke school rules when we felt it was absolutely necessary and copied assignments and exams when it was impossible. But at the end, most of us got out the better for it; I remember that at the very end of our stay in school I decided to attend my first and last FCS (Fellowship of Christian Students) meeting in that secondary school – I had made a commitment to Christ. One thing we never got round to was getting involved in violent gangs who sustained the “obtaining” culture. It is clear that the culture is a war time strategy to fight famine when in segregation. But at that time it was used to bully, and even sometimes to destroy lives by drug addicts and those obsessed with power. This culture unknown to many of us was still alive in the larger world and we were to encounter it in many forms including theology. In this edition of the Grow Journal, we will look at the concepts of Faith as compared with the sometimes unrestrained desire to persist, weather in good or wrong doing.
" COVER : PERSISTENCE VS FAITH
By
David Dungji Chinke
The frequency of paranormal occurrences in our world are not very easily recognizable thus hard to quantify and authenticate. This is what makes the idea of faith very difficult to analyze. Thus there are many different faiths and religions in the world. Recently there has been this clamor for the unification of faiths, not only that; there have been even allusions to the seeming existence already of a unified “kingdom of heaven” which accommodates and unites the two forces of good and evil. That while good is the stabilizer of society, evil exists to unbalance the balance in case of punishment. This argument has gone very far in many respects even in the process endorsing the concept of the hip hop god aka “dogsinatas”. Christianity has had to struggle with these concepts over the ages that while biblically describing the God of heaven there is that aspect of Him which remains unfathomable, that aspect that describes him as terrible, a God of vengeance, a God that sometimes allows evil and even sometimes commands it. Gods omnipotence thus provides the final arbitration, in that God owns both angels and demons, even the being called Satan. It is thus that even in the Christian experience it is hard to fully describe and thus delineate adherence, this is more so as the office of apostleship is no longer a very functional office within the church. It suffices to say that this has opened the door for invasion and imposters which we talked about some editions ago in this journal. In that case certain fatalistic doctrines infiltrate the church, not only that, doctrines of power that negate faith in any form. Faith is thus being mistaken with persistence, that when a believer persists enough he/she will ensure salvation or procure Gods favour and blessing. Such persistence often comes to play when one claims a promise of God or acts on Gods command to claim a blessing. The scenario comes to play when Jesus sends his disciples to untie a donkey and its colt and when asked what they were doing he instructed them to just say; “the Lord needs them”. When they did this, they where given the donkey (Matthew 21:1-4). This one story as narrated in the bible is open to many possibilities: 1. Jesus had already made arrangements given the fact that from other scriptures he had warned the disciples not to be gullible in thinking he did not have other sheep (Luke 9:49-50, Luke 7:1-10). 2. Gods omnipotent power acted to dull the men involved such as they instantly responded to God’s command through some sort of hypnoses. (highly unlikely in the case of Jesus ) 3. Jesus being a man of authority who commands his servants; there is the possibility of angels taking human form to act as owners of the animal (Luke 7:8). But my whole point here is that this scripture is not sufficient in building any claims theology, one must study the bible in completion. Claims as part of faith is not specifically mentioned as a doctrine in the Christian bible but is treated in form of stories of persistence and in the psalms through assurance of love, protection and blessing from God, let us look at this a little more: The bible and the claims theology Many biblical figures felt they could somehow claim what God had already given. Thus because God had said you will get a blessing of a particular nature, of course you go ahead and choose the time and probably the nature of the blessing. Rebekah and Jacob chose that Jacobs blessing must come through Isaacs’s prayer and laying of hands for the first born rights (thus claiming Esau’s right in the process). Esau himself due to his lack of character went ahead to sell the birth right half heartedly to a Jacob who obviously had his eyes on it for a long time (Genesis 25:27-34; 27:1-46). Sarah chose to protect her fragile faith by claiming Hagar’s womb as hers. What were the results; when the time was right Jacob got his blessing from God on a one to one basis. Needlessly, he had to run from fear of his brother who at the end still inherited a large part of his father’s property. When the time was right Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to Isaac not withstanding Hager’s son Ishmael (Genesis 21:1-21). Let’s now look at some instances of claims by other men of God in the bible. Jacob himself is another example of this God given faith and thus persistence. After receiving Gods promise while asleep on his way to Laban’s house, Jacobs faith in God was strengthened (Gen 28:10-22) but due to the fact that this blessing was not complete until Jacob restituted for his wrong, he suffered for years under suppression from Laban. But when he returned home, to meet his brother, God again visited him in the night, Jacob while being beaten down by a strange man insisted and held him until he blessed him – thus having knowledge that this was no ordinary man, he insisted – seizing a divine opportunity and claimed his promise (note that Jacob did not go looking for trouble, he was attacked by the man while asleep in the night – Genesis 32:22-32). This harsh process was ensured by God so that Jacobs’s name of “supplanter” was changed to Israel – father of many nations - This is an example of a good claim. Jacob by making peace with his brother insisted on securing his own original unique position with God instead of usurping Esau’s birthright. Notice that this was his main motive for meeting with Esau, he did not even want to live with or too close to Esau because of their difference in faith. David claimed responsibility for building Gods house; and since he was punished once before through the death of Uzah when touching the ark of God, he learnt his lesson and first enquired of God’s prophet if God would allow him to build a temple instead of the terbanacle or tent that existed. Gods answer is of value here, though the prophet of God had given a go ahead from his own human perspective, God intervened and told the prophet to tell David to leave that work for his son who would take over from him (2nd Samuel 7:1-29). David though excited and eager to do this work for God knowing it carried with it Gods favour and blessing accepted Gods verdict and instead of going ahead with the work, he obeyed God who clearly stipulated what blessings he would give David not the one that was meant for Solomon. We will note that this was the difference between David and Saul, Saul while knowing God did not approve of him taking over priestly duties went ahead in impatience, he also disobeyed many times when God commanded him on certain issues of his kingly duties. Now David’s claim to build God a House was a good claim but God told him to wait and leave it for his son. Another example of claims in the bible was that of Job and the two sons of Zebedee. Now Job was a man that feared God and he was wealthy. Job had children who would throw parties from house to house. Being a sensitive man concerning God’s feelings was afraid that his children were sinning against God while they feasted. Job would make sacrifices to God just in case. This was an attempt by Job to claim God’s forgiveness for his children. At the end of the whole story of Job, those children died from satanic attack but Job after much suffering to test his faith and persistence was restored with other children. His attempt under Old Testament requirements to secure prosperity for them on earth failed but he secured for Himself. Likewise the sons of Zebedee who wanted leadership in Christ’s kingdom, one to sit on the right and another on the left of Jesus. Jesus reply was simple: that could they pay the price that was required for those who would hold that position? And also that that decision was for His father to make. The bible does not tell us weather they achieved those positions at last but we do know that both men paid a very heavy price (Mark 10:35-45). It is clear that not all godly claims are properly achievable, since claims are based on God’s legal provisions and unction i.e. Prophetic Instructions from God directly or through a prophet sent by God and validated by his witness. Take note that one must never confuse desire or lust with unction. Also, we must not confuse neutrality with unction; something looks easily achievable and so we assume it is authoritative or something looks very natural and so we assume it is authoritative. Because the thing looks natural or easily achievable we desire it and believe God has spoken to us. Desire may or may not be approved or granted by God. But prophetic unction is a prerogative of God to carry out for His own name sake and glory. Here we will not go into the details of conditional prophecies but we are limiting ourselves to the general idea or aspect of faith and persistence. We can now look closely at the scenario of king Ahab of Israel who desired Naboth’s vine yard. His desire was very natural due to the proximity of Naboth’s vineyard to his palace; he thought “he must have this vineyard”. When his desire was not granted him, he lost confidence in his gods and began to sulk all day; until his evil wife thought of a plan to enforce his desires (1st Kings 21:1-27). Do not get me wrong, there does exist a positive idea of persistence in the bible; as in the example of Jacob wrestling with the divine being. This comes to play in the area of prayer, perseverance and patience. That when one seeks God sincerely one day he/she will find God and that when one cries to God he expects an answer. But the bible is clear that, that answer may come in the form of yes, no, or wait as we have seen through Jacob, David and Job. But these power doctrines are adamant on ensuring that individual or community desires are met by coercion, and or deception. Thus relying on such doctrines faithlessness infiltrates the church community and individual liberties to enforce such desires. Hence persistence – years ago I was held up by a choice I had to make, either to persist or to have faith. In this decision I learnt some principles: 1. My insistence and persistence does not ensure God’s agreement 2. Societal circumstances are not adequate in determining God’s insistence nor persistence. 3. My understanding and interpretation of Gods insistence and persistence would greatly build my faith and thus persistence. 4. Understanding all these would help my application of Gods Word and thus my walk with the Holy Spirit. I always refer to this aspect of my life experience and maybe a little too much. But I really need to do it again to touch at the root of an important point of divergence between Christian and non Christian responses to Gods Word. The decision I had to make was weather to continue in a line of study or not, I had some things working for and against me! 1. My academic performance was increasing the number of years I had to spend in the school studying that program (poor). 2. I had already received a call to Christ’s ministry of the gospel while in that Endeavour. So I made a decision based on biblical principles: 1. God loves me and wants the best for me. 2. God is omnipotent and thus can help me overcome any challenges I was going through even in my academics. 3. If I earnestly prayed and suck His face, he would answer. So I bent down and studied my books, at a point even at the expense of my church activities; that semester I had knelt down and prayed to God to show me the way: there was a rule that existed; in a five year course, no student could spend more than 71/2 years in that same discipline. I had spent 4 years and I had to sit down and calculate my grade points compared to what I needed to beat that dead line. If I continued the way I was going, I would probably not make it through. And so I prayed that God would help me make better grades that semester which was the last semester I had to make up my grades. Two things happened to me, that semester was my worst semester in school and my best too. For the first time I enjoyed the course I was doing very much and I interpreted this that God showed me that he could get me through it, but ironically that very semester, I failed most of my courses. This irony got me thinking and I had to make a choice to leave that school. When I made the decision, though it was tough and I had to struggle through with my self esteem and my confidence, at the same time it was like a great weight was lifted off my shoulders. In making this decision I had to delineate between the verses in the bible that seem to say: Nothing good comes easy, and the verses that say “Gods blessings make rich and add no sorrow”. Also I had to check my Christian past; was I really under God’s direction when I made the decision to undertake that course of study? And if I was: what are the extents of the troubles God allows; even so, could I make a doctrine out of that experience? Hence I was always fund of telling my friends who were in a similar situation academically that they must work hard and make it through and that I had to make the decision I made for the sake of God’s call. The road I was walking was a lonely road and thus my answers to these questions helped me make the right decision today, no matter the persecution, nothing will make me change my mind on this: even if I doubt, after going back to God in prayer and studying His word, I come to the realization that I am the only part of this faith equation that changes - Gods Word is a constant. And if I were to talk to a non Christian, I could say that even without Gods Word or the Bible, reason and practicality – laws of nature are constant – it is only we human beings who could choose to break certain flexible laws (if possible cheat in exams). This was not an option for me and thus I chose the moral most reasonable way out, to faithfully trust in God’s direction instead of faithless persistence. In fact I discovered that many times evil forces are the most persistent beings. Not because they believe, but because they must try to make you disbelieve; for the sake of their own peace of mind and mission. I realized this when I discovered that compared to satanic ways God does not force faith on any one. Human beings may be forced to live under God’s omnipotent rule without consent to his ways but they are never forced to follow him. It is described in the parable of the treasure; a man who finds a treasure in a field and goes and sells all he has just to buy that field. Note that he does not go and tell everybody about it like the Samaritan woman this time he keeps it secret until he buys the field. Jesus in his ministry never forced obedience instead some times he would even ignore the people asking him questions. He told his disciples to shake the dust off their feet when rejected, In Hausa language, he was in fact doing “Yanga” with his Kingdom, he was saying “nobi by force, either you want or you no want – if you no like am leave am”. But Satan is the opposite; he goes too and fro in the earth like a lion seeking whom to devour. The bible says evil spirits when they are cast out of a person; they come back again and again to check if the place is left un-occupied. This is one silent difference between the Kingdom of Heaven/Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. And even though God does use Satan for the sake of punishment, he has promised his saints not to let them go through what they cannot handle. And also in his Word He has given adequate provision for situations that seem impossible. We even know that death is not an impossibility for Christians to go through because of faith. One still cannot deemphasize the need for much Spirit leading especially in these Last days, it is also important to note that Christianity is yet to properly mature even in its community structure which is the most strategic point of invasion of satanic forces to perpetuate a cycle of chaos. And thus it is not too late for many to do what I did, in changing my subject and school of study; likewise today many are faced with the challenge of beginning on a new foundation their spiritual journey to in that wise follow properly the Spirit of God to determine their faith and thus level of and reason for persistence. We all as a community would thus avoid the pitfalls of Uzah who felt he could save God’s work without authority. The pitfall of Paul who in order to save God’s work fell into persecution, the pitfall of Sarah and Rebecca whom in their persistence wrongfully tried to help Gods Promise. These without wanting to; denied God while He insisted He would not deny Himself. But in the other way we must become as faithful as Abraham who followed though he did not know where exactly he was going, Hannah who persisted in prayer and got her answer without cutting corners; men who would persist to find and discover our calling in Christ so that we would invest it and have something to show to him when he returns. Even if we would have to admit wrong once in a while, make sharp u-turns once in a while and even change our minds when many who respect and look up to us are watching. Then God would also be moved to show us that He Himself though high, mighty and powerful; is also willing to show us how he too can change his mind when he wants and means to. God changed his mind about destroying humanity with floods, God changed his mind about Ahab when he repented, and God changed his mind about his regret to have created humanity by keeping his promise for Christ to come. How does it feel to know that the never changing God changes his mind when it comes to human beings in repentance? In conclusion I would want to say: do not be faithless and persistent thus tossed by the wind, be faithful and persistent and thus established on solid rock, never weary and fainting.
" The WONDER OF CREATION AND PHYSICS
By David Dungji Chinke
Man has continuously wondered on his surroundings, the bodily existence a limiting space for him to operate. Many times seen as a hindrance and limitation to the ultimate progress of man, always demanding; food, shelter and care. Man must thus dedicate himself to studying and understanding his body and environment in order to help him progress in this environment. This has progressed and improved over the centuries, from the founding of musical instruments, farming methods, and writing and now humanity is within a major technological revolution that cuts across levels of microscopic electronic intelligence and cutting edge scientific discoveries in quantum physics and medicine. It is obvious that we in the less developed countries are just beginning to discover and enjoy some of the benefits of this cutting edge technology. But as the frontiers increase and improve, we are continuously faced with the questions that perturb our generation. The questions of the limits of scientific influence on faith and life, in the past the world of science had plunged into a whole level of criticism for religion as they felt there were so many things in the religious books that were in conflict with scientific discovery. Religion fought back with the commensurate fervor but as time went on it was clear that more and more Christians began to accept theories from science, born from the fact that many of these scientists were themselves Christians. It was thus clear that while rejecting parts that seemed to contradict the bible they inadvertently could not ignore the prosperity and progress that came along with it. With all these progress it is clear that many points of disagreement still endure between conservative Christianity and science. These areas of disagreement range from certain ethical issues in medical practice such as: contraception and family planning, abortion, cloning etc. It is needles to say that science though has been a very useful tool for Christians in validating and strengthening the witness, through medicine, archeology and other related disciplines. Although many continue to argue that faith in its very nature does not require any scientific validation, it is clear that those involved in Christian scientific enquiry continue unperturbed in this endeavor convinced that while opposing forces are unrelenting in pursuit of scientific evidence that contradicts and debunks scripture, Christians must continue to pursue science that validates and thus strengthens scripture. In this light, Our leadership of the GROW Journal has continued to seek practical and biblical scientific explanations to questions that continue to perturb the Christian witness. The phenomenon of Christ has continuously raised questions in non faith circles as to why our adamant belief; the answers continue to resurface that humanity needs peace, prosperity to realize its divine destiny and we at GROW consistently discover that no other alternative stands as superior to the Person and answers that Christ provides. Thus we announce to you in this edition of THE GROW Journal that arrangements are in the final stages to release the New Revised Edition of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth – sub titled the Works of the Silent Crusader. This volume unveils a more detailed and complete compilation of the series into one book: in this volume, a new scientific dimension is sought to explain Christ’s resurrection through a scientific point of view. Be expectant and ready to read through this new volume as we get ready to unveil and launch it in the coming months as God allows. Before then I would like to delve into a tiny area that has consistently been an area of contention for many bible scholars as easy target for criticism. This is found in Revelation 7:1; there the apostle John describes an event where the seventh seal of tribulation is about to be opened and John sees four angels of God stand at the four corners of the earth. This description seems to say that the earth has four corners. Looking through history, we see that it was indeed a belief in the medieval church that the earth was indeed flat, and thus having four corners. It is also said that those who first proposed that the earth was round or spherical were opposed and fiercely persecuted. It is unclear what John really saw, but indeed he did say “four corners of the earth”. We can investigate this with a artistic/scientific eye and discover what really obtains. This scientific principle is based on one principle: the principle of dimensions, this physical world has two and three dimensions to everything, drawings and texts and some art works are done in two dimensions, but we humans have the capability to see things in three dimensions. In the Kingdom of heaven on earth; we described the spirit world as a world in the forth dimension. This picture drawn below gives an idea of how this works.
" 2013: THE CHALLENGE OF BUILDING A STRONG COMMUNITY
The number thirteen is not a very popular number as compared to 12, which is associated with the 12 tribes of Israel and thus the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ. The number 7 associated with completion and the Sabbath rest among the Jews, the number 1 associated with beginning and individual strength, uniqueness and success, the number 2 which starts community celebrating the coming together of two people to build and be strong together etc. 13 though to many has a different connotation, to the Americans it seems to be an unlucky number, but we will look at the number 13 from a biblical stand point. Christ selected 12 apostles to be close to him and to establish and lead his church. One of them fell by betraying him to the Jewish leaders (Judas), they replaced him with Mathias (Acts 1:15-28) through the casting of lots. The apostle Paul was called by God to be an apostle to the gentiles, thus he became the 13th apostle. Some have argued that the process of casting ballots was not approved by Christ and thus Paul was actually the 12th apostle selected by Jesus Christ to replace Judas Iscariot. There is no clear biblical evidence that this position is true though. And thus it would be more appropriate to judge from the defense of Paul himself in 1st Corinthians 9:5, and 2nd Corinthians 11 and 12 that the Position of apostleship is God’s duty to appoint any person, but even if men such as fellow apostles had reason to reject any other, the other apostles had not rejected Paul. It is also clear to back up his argument that the 12 apostles were selected to rule the 12 tribes of Israel in the kingdom of Heaven, and thus Paul was selected as an apostle to the gentiles. We also know that many such as James the Lords brother, Jude, and much latter Apollos were also accepted after Jesus had arisen. The number 13 therefore, should mean to us a much more positive number, a number of addition, addition to boost the community and encourage love and understanding beyond parochial boundaries; this is what was revealed to the apostle Peter and actualized through the ministry of the apostle Paul. So as we enter and absorb all the challenges of the year 2013, we must look up with hope that God would bring into our lives this year people who will in more ways than not, symbolize the 13th apostle of God for in-depth understanding of Gods purpose, engendering love and togetherness and ultimately helping us to realize that God is far, far beyond our limited expectations. And like he proved to many men who followed him, like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Jonah and finally the 12 apostles led by Peter: he does have many out there who still follow him. God Bless and happy 2013!!!
From The GROW JOURNAL
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