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The Church in Nigeria: Submissions and Recommendations by Apostle Joshua Selman (PFNat40) · Selah Media House

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Hallelujah, praise the name of the Lord.
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Please allow me stand on the existing protocol, forsake of
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time. I honor our Father in the Lord.
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Baba Wali OK and every father here represented.
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May the Lord bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.
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Thank you most sincerely for this great privilege that has
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been given for these few minutes.
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I pray that God will help us in the name of Jesus.
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Can we lift our hands to heaven in one minute and just cry unto
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the Lord to speak yet again to our hearts?
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In addition to all that we have heard and learned, let's pray
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that God will speak to our hearts.
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You can never get enough of the Word.
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There is always room for more. In Jesus name we pray please.
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You may be seated. I'm not really preaching for
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sake of time. This is not the kind of platform
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to preach. I just want to make a few
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submissions within the time that I have as a contribution.
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By the way, hearty congratulations to the
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Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria.
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I think one more time, let's give God a big hand.
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Clap for his good hand. Hallelujah.
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Amen. And so I sort of just want to
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state, maybe make a few submissions that I believe would
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hopefully be a meaningful contribution in our desire to
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make progress and to advance. I trust that God will help us in
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the name of Jesus Christ. Now Revelation chapter 3 and
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verse 22, the Bible says he that hath an ear, it says let him
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hear what the Spirit sayeth to the churches.
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The Holy Spirit is always speaking and according to
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scripture he speaks expressly. And I believe that at every
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major prophetic milestone that a man or a ministry, a vision
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covers, God comes in to bring commendations, He comes in to
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bring rebukes, He comes to bring in a new chapter to that
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person's life or that organization.
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In Revelation chapter 2, when you read from verse 1 to 11, you
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find out interestingly that Jesus, in speaking to the seven
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churches, beginning, you know, with the church in Ephesus, He
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commended them on a few things. We don't have the time to do a
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long read on that, but you may want to write for reference
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Revelation chapter 2 from verse 1 to 11.
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He began by commending them on the great things, their ability,
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their stamina to stand, you know, and resist falsehood and
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so on and so forth. But then he lovingly brought a
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few observations that he suggested that they make
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amendments over and that's the model I want to use very
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quickly. So I'm just going to do a long
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read just as a letter, if you want to call it.
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And I titled this to the church in Nigeria.
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Now the truth is that like our Father in the Lord, Papa Erico
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said and then you know Pete Daniels came and made a very
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strong prayer point on that. We have seen the hand of God
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over the Nigerian church. In truth, there is no generation
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without voices who have been raised by God to speak His
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purposes. We have spearheaded revivals and
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campaigns across the globe right from this nation and to God be
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the glory for all of this. These things are worthy of
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commendation. Nigeria has literally exported
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and is still in the business of exporting the gospel in its
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various dimensions, beginning from our domain all across
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Africa, spreading across Europe, you know, down to the Middle
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East and literally across the globe.
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Hallelujah now. But there are few challenges,
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and I want to just point out quickly within the time that I
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have so that I don't stretch us beyond the time allotted.
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A few years ago the Lord led me to preach a message called the
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Purified Church. And in that message I listed by
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the Spirit 7 what would call 7 deadly sins that the Lord would
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want to purify from the church. And as a way of humbly
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presenting these challenges, I'm hoping that as I run through the
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list, it would give us a reason to trust God for grace as we
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forge ahead. To look very closely, I'm going
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to list them very quickly. Number one, that the Lord would
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want the church to access grace and to rise above it is a
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subject of immorality. And by the word immorality, it
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is beyond just sexual immorality.
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It attempts to capture every kind of moral perversion from
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sexual immorality, pornography, masturbation, and every kind of
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Antichrist practices. As far as the moral uprightness
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of believers are concerned, there's no hiding the fact that
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these are challenges that have plagued the church globally and
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our nation has not been spared of such.
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And we are praying that this as an observation that God will
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grant grace so that men and women will rise above the grip
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of sin on this wise you believe that shout Amen #2 very quickly.
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The loss for money and material things.
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Now there is a striking difference between prosperity
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and materialism. I will not go into that.
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The church that is victorious and must remain victorious must
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conquer the lost and on guarded appetite for money and material
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things, especially using the standard of money and material
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things as the ultimate standard to portray spirituality.
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While prosperity and material increase is captured in the
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Bible as one of the benefits for the believers, we must not make
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it become the pivot and the measure of true spirituality #3
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witchcraft and extra biblical practices.
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It's a sad reality, but there is a growing need to examine our
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principles and practices, particularly on the pulpit, with
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reference to the ordinances that were presented to the church
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from Jesus by Jesus and practiced by the early apostles.
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The church has been plagued with all levels and all shades of
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extra biblical practices and sometimes direct practices that
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from the lens of scripture qualify to be called witchcraft
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#4 pride, feign glory and self centeredness.
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This is 1 area that has truly plagued the church and
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unfortunately I make a very humble submission that this has
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become a cancer to my generation of preachers.
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The cancer of pride and vain glory and self centeredness #5
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the scene of the tongue I call it.
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Everything from lying, gossiping, bug biting and the
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sowing of the seeds of discord. As simple as and as harmless as
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this may look, it has destroyed the body of Christ.
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It has brought dishonor and reproach to us as a people and
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there is need to obtain grace from God to trust God to rise
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above these limitations. Number six, the scene of
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competition and unhealthy comparison.
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Competition and unhealthy comparison.
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This has even advanced to creating unhealthy cabals and
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sometimes called like structures.
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And I tell you the truth, there is no future for a people.
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There is no future for any territory that will want to live
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practicing now. There's a place for loyalty and
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honor, but the moment it becomes occult like then it is
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destructive. Praise the name of the Lord very
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quickly #7 is the scene of imbalance, exaggeration of
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truths, or communicating truths beyond the boundary of their
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relevance. The Bible talks about the whole
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council of God, and while we commend the church for the great
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strides for this far, we must come to an honest
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acknowledgement of all these things.
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I run the list one more time very quickly #1 immorality in
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all of its expressions #2 the loss for money and material
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things #3 Witchcraft and extra biblical practices on the pulpit
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and across our assemblies #4 Pride, vain glory and self
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centeredness #5 the scene of the tongue number six, competition
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and unhealthy comparison of men of structures. 7 The danger of
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imbalance. Now, very quickly, let me talk
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about another major issue that I think is worth considering.
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I call it doctrinal issues. There is no greater time, I
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think, in the church age where we have a widespread confusion
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as to our doctrinal stance. And I'm hoping and praying with
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all we respect as a submission that the PFN would be able to
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consider creating a platform that brings stability to the
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things that the Bible says are most surely believe.
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Everything we believe as believers has been challenged.
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Everything, literally the foundational pillars of the
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Christian faith are being threatened and challenged across
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the globe. Doctrinal issues.
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There is a growing confusion, especially among younger
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believers, as to what is really to be believed.
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Everything has been challenged. Another issue that we need to
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look at that is worth considering is the issue of
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division and disunity. I mentioned that early on, but
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let me just stress it a bit. We need to manage our appetite
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for, you know, headship and fraternities so that we don't
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begin to behave like a lot of occultic societies.
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It matters that people are given the liberty to serve God.
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But then we must be very careful with the subject of cabals and
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comes disunity and divisions. This is by no means downplaying
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the achievement of the church. These are humble submissions
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using this platform in a bid to improve ourselves and fudge
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further onto perfection. One other area very quickly that
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I'll talk about within the time that I have is what I call the
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inefficient management of zeal. And may I request our attention
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for one moment? This is particularly to my
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generation of ministers. There is what we call the
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inefficient management of zeal. This has led to widespread
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communication of dishonor, dishonor to fathers, dishonor to
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contemporaries. Right now there is a growing
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trend within the body of Christ where dishonor looks
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fashionable. People have spiritualized lack
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of manners and just because we quote scriptures around it does
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not make it right. There is a lot of mismanagement
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of zeal. Hallelujah.
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And I'm hoping and praying that God is going to grant grace all
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over social media. You'll find, in fact, quite
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honestly, it has even become a human right violation issue now.
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And as simple as it sounds, if this is not addressed, pastors
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will start killing themselves. The level of growing hatred in
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the body of Christ and everything is credited to our
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love for Jesus. That's not a model we find in
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Scripture. Hallelujah.
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We cannot love Jesus too much to kill one another as proof that
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we love Him. Something is wrong with our
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understanding. Something is wrong with our
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zeal. I make a humble submission and
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this may sound funny, but among many recommendations that I
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wrote here I I am not sure that I will have the time to present
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them. One of it is to truly examine
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the mental state of ministers. It looks like a very subtle
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issue, but there is a need to examine the mental state of
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pastors. Many pastors have spiritualized
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trauma, trauma from childhood and we come on the pulpit and
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turn it into sermons. These things is not just an
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issue of prayer and fasting. There might be need to bring in
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professionals and look carefully as to whether or not preachers
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are fit to serve upon the pulpit.
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I have one minute. My apologies that I do not do
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justice to the things that I'd want to say, but there needs to
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be. I'm still speaking about the
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inefficient management of zeal. One of the things we learn from
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Scripture about authority is that authority must also have
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jurisdiction. You do not have the right to
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speak about Everything Everywhere anyhow, because of
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zeal. Again, it's an appeal,
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particularly to my generation of ministers.
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There is this unguarded passion where we sustain credence from
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wherever we talk about all kinds of things.
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When you read the epistle of John, John said I write to you
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fathers, I write to you young men, I write to you children.
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There are letters that are for fathers.
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Children should not read that letter.
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There are letters for young men and there are letters for
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children. By the time children begin to
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read the letters for fathers, they become arrogant and they
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become discouraged. There are letters for fathers.
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There are letters for young men. There are matters within the
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body of Christ that children are too small to address, no matter
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the level of spirituality. It is arrogance I write to you,
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fathers. There are issues that only
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fathers can speak about. There are issues for young men.
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There are issues for children. Now, because we do not
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understand the jurisdictional component of authority,
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everybody is doing everything and we credit it to the Holy
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Spirit. There is a way the Holy Spirit
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leads. Let us not make a mockery of His
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wisdom and His leadership. My time is up.
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Please allow me just for two minutes if I'll make a quick
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request. I have tabled a few
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recommendations and please let me just run it in 2 minutes and
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then I'm out of your face. Number one, my first
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recommendation and a humble submission to the Pentecostal
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Fellowship of Nigeria is that a structure be created and made
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available where preachers with all kinds of moral feelings can
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have a safe haven to open up and have an opportunity to be healed
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without being destroyed, without being demoralized, provided the
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churches in place. There are people who will fall.
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There are people who will rise. The campaign of celebrating the
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falling of our soldiers will ultimately destroy everybody.
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There must be a structure where wounded soldiers can find a safe
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heaven. They can be spiritually
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rehabilitated and brought back into the system.
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Recommendation #2 That a structure be created so that all
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those who are in direct antagonism to the principles of
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the Scripture. There is no point watching
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people betray the name of Christ indefinitely.
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We must have the courage to, with maturity, call those people
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and if need be, engaged in a meaningful scriptural discussion
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because for as long as we allow evil to thrive, because we are
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looking for peace, it will eventually destroy the body.
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Somebody must have the courage. There are people in widespread
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practice of, say, with due respect, witchcraft and other
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extra biblical practices, the fathers and those who are
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instituted by the authority, they have the credence to
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lovingly call such people and say, would you want to re
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examine this practice from the lens of Scripture?
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We will will be surprised how many people got into their
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confusion not because they were evil, they were like the lady
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with the spirit of divination. And if they have a better chance
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they can come out of some of those practices.
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Recommendation #2 #3 Quickly, I wrote here that the PFN, in
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conjunction with say, Khan and every other major Christian
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body, should create a recommended material documenting
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the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith.
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What does the Nigerian Christian believe?
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It's important that this is spelled out because the
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generation that is coming is in clear confusion right now.
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Everything you bring as a doctrine is a subject of debate.
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The fathers are transiting gradually.
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It's important that a spiritual council come together and define
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for Nigeria as a spiritual recommendation.
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What do we believe? The Bible calls them the things
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that are most surely believe. While we may not agree on
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everything, it's important to define the things that define a
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Christian. Finally, I want to recommend
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that hopefully in conjunction with all other institutions, A
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dedicated institute be raised so that pastors who never had an
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opportunity to be trained but are currently in ministry, they
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don't have to give up ministry, but a system be created to train
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them. The more people are trained, the
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more they reflect Christ. Most of the, the, you know, the
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madness and childishness on the altar.
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Sometimes it's not a demonic attack, it's a reflection of the
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lack of training. And these things can be
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corrected. I'm praying in the name of Jesus
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that in addition to all that the Lord has done this 40 years,
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that this humble submissions will help to improve the PFN and
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the body of Christ. The Lord bless you in Jesus
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name.