A Chat with MICHAEL FASHINA a.k.a (Erujeje) after his return from USA Music tour!

Pastor Michael Fashina (a.k.a ERUJEJE) was far away in USA with the full blast of the message of God through his artistic character of an ancient thrift and apt old man, CW team had a chat with him over the phone to let us in on what God is doing with this new wave of worship, on arrival back he granted us a telephone interview;

 

CW;     Who is MrFashina Michael and who is Erujeje

 

Michael Fashina;         I am but just a man who simply love to impact into lives of other people directly or indirectly, I love affecting people around me positively to the glory of God. Soul wining is one thing that get me going beyond normal. I love to let people know how much God is in need of their lives; I visit anyone with knowable address anywhere with the love of God and persistently follow-up on them with the goal of getting them established in Christ Jesus.My second face in Character in the Old man from imuaro, in Ogun state which was actually a character in a play. Today it has metamorphosed to Erujeje.

 

CW;                             Why now Erujeje, your most profound second character?

Michael Fashina;         Like I said earlier, it was a concept; A kind of character in a play. The character was Otunba, a high chief in Imuaro, in Ogun state. In the play a missionary visited a local community with the message of salvation, while he was been faced with persecutions from the King and people of the land, God has touched the heart of one of the prominent member of the monarch the Otuna. The missionary died but the high chief became the messenger of God within that community. The Otunba carried on where the missionary left off, with such a great passion that he became a messenger with a message. That was where it all started. l drew the inspiration from the life and story of the great legendary missionary to Africa David Livingstone. The project though was a huge financial loss at the end, but it was the off-shot of the character ERUJEJE, and I believe Otunba of Imu-aro (the character) is doing fine with the spreading of God’s message everywhere now.

 

CW;                             Yes o! (laugh). Some of us thought you drew inspiration from JIMI SHOLANKE’S character, how come now music if you were into drama arts earlier.

 

Michael Fashina;         Let’s clear this. It was never Jimi Sholanke, nor Music from the beginning. I was all out for God like I said earlier for soul wining and that is what ‘am still involved with todate. I had my background in Microbiology from University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ogun state. During my undergraduate days I was merely concerned with the work of salvation through evangelism. God worked with us so much that, during one of our programmes, I was ministering in front of a two-story building yet people inside the rooms of the building were falling under the intensity of the anointing of God through the message. So great was the move of God then that we formed a DINNER FELLOWSHIP. Cultist willing gave their lives to God, herbalist within the community yielded to God, it was awesome those days on campus, but the twist to the whole of the assignment came in 1997.

 

CW;                             What is it about 1997?

 

Michael Fashina;         Yes, like Abraham was called out of his people, I heard God called me out to go to Ibadan. It was there I had to join the Church Choir of The Redeemed Christian Church of God – Jesus Embassy - while I also enrolled to study Music Technology in The Polytechnic Ibadan with an option in Performing Art. My days in the polytechnic was tough, so much that I could barely get gari (cassava flakes) to drink. For fund reason I could not go to RCCG – Jesus Embassy again, my survival was greatly threatened by poverty, yet my love for music has gone into my sub-consciousness. I saw clearly in a trance where I was conducting a large choir group, a mass choir! I was already creating characters, building up visions for Chorography, Pantomime, Ensembles and Chorale group. I started looking for assistance, but nothing came forth but He who called me never left me, but as a man I was so worried so much that I was almost going to start night club performances to survive. God was faithful; l went back to RCCG – Jesus Embassy with promise of the then pastor-in-charge (Pastor NiranFaf’owora) to assist with funding my transport fare and other little bills. I met Herbert KunleAjayi, Emerald and others who assisted in my first work.

 

CW;                             But you could have been a musician like every one, why folklore style, like anold man coming on stage to talk to children, a kind of tales by moonlights?

 

Michael Fashina;         Well, I wanted something different, something that will get to the people, a bridge between Afro-Americans and Core Americans. Something for all, young and old, so I adopted the play I mentioned earlier, that first project wasnot anything near success until God gave me opportunity to minister in RCCG First Born Province 2 headquarters ACME - Lagos through bro TunjiAdegun (then Prov., music director), the slot was not even ours we were ask to come and stand-by for another group i.e (if Landlords group did not show-up we would be allowed to sing) vice-versa, we came in all the way from Ibadan to stand by, but as God would have it,that night was it, they did not show up, we ministered, that day and our ministry has since that night changed. Invitations for ministrations came from everywhere, we were later invited by Pastor E A Adeboye to feature at HolyGhost Congress, Pastor Paul Adefarasin of House on the Rock, Gov.,Bola Ahmed Tinubu has permanently put us on the annual Lagos State thank-giving service, God has been so good.

 

CW;                             You stormed America, can you let us in on the event and should we be expecting anything new, say a new work?

 

Michael Fashina;         We were in Chicago, North Carolina Atlanta, Baltimore, Tucson, Arizona and New York to continue the good work of leading people to worship God. No new work yet but soon we will be coming up with the video of one of our tracts soon.

 

CW;                             Do you think worship of God can be a life style or it is just when we come together in churches or other location that we can worship?

 

Michael Fashina;         My take on this is simple, Worship must first be within, then outward expression, when we come into the open, it should be the extension of what we were doing or what was happening in the secret. Attitude during worship should show concentration. For us to attain the expected standard especially our attitudes during this session in our meetings, we should start the re-orientations from the pulpit, and we should stop majoring-in-minor during our worship services and meetings. Its all about what we do in the secret, David’s heart was constantly in search of God’s presence even in difficult times.

 

CW;                             What was the role of the Church in your talent discovery and development?

 

Michael Fashina;         I can only see the church of God at large as a platform to relay the message of God to the people of God, but the discovery and developmental days was quite without much assistance from the Church, my concept was strange and new I was rejected even by my own people, was denied ministration at some major national event before, but glory to God the whole of that has changed, the church can now see that while it may seems as though am making jest on stage, God do move through comedies, since we have a God that laughs according to Psl 2., we now know we could laugh and still be blessed, this is another part of Erujeje that makes this character different.

 

CW;                             Are you married?

 

Michael Fashina;         Yes o! I traveled far to Calabar to pick my one and only beloved Morrin Ephrame Adam Fashina, we are blessed with two children, a boy and a girl.

 

CW;                             What contribution do you have that will enhance the ability of the people to worship God more even within their communities?

 

Michael Fashina;         We continue to teach, minister and bring more people to the knowledge of God. In addition we are working on bringing African Magic to workout an event, another cable company also indicated their wiliness to come down to Nigeria, all this will contribute to the worship of God as people can connect to event and be part of worship from their homes.

 

CW;                             What one statement would you say to the Church and upcoming talents (Worship Leaders)?

 

Michael Fashina;         I would like to say first to the Church, enough of mediocrity Psl 33:3 says play skillfully, Church should encourage skill and good standards, quality is next to God in ministry, good administrative patterns should be adopted and encouraged across board. To my fellow music ministers strive for excellence, acquired it through prayers, training and dedication, I must also say here perspiration is KEY, when my first ever demo was stolen, I was almost going to run insane on the street of Ibadan until someone came to call attention to the fact that the demo came from within me, if then why not go back into yourself and bring it out back again, hun! Tough though the later became the best, SUCCESS THEY SAY IS 1% INSPIRATION 99% PESPIRATION. Thank you.  

The Church and the Community

The Church and the Community

Help! We are losing out.

The cry for help cannot be at a worst time than this era, we need the help of God now than before in the music ministry, we gain nothing by casting assertions on God gifting  talents and creativity  Whilst we differently have what we variously perceived God Almighty to be and our own brand of methodologies of how we think he should best be worshiped, what we call DOCTRINES we should by now come to realize one thing …we seems to be losing more. The church we know from the scriptures was supposed to be one big happy family, indivisible, large congregation of people across the globe, with just one slogan LOVE and one vision HEAVEN Jesus himself prayed this prayer while he was here on the earth John 17:11 - And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. So I wondered what was most important to Christ then and what is most important to the Church now, He said then  John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. Little did l always wondered supposing Christ was to give us doctrine, what would that doctrine have been, one of the early apostle said  1Peter 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren… I just could not get out of the evil the devil has smuggled into the church, the madness embedded in our faith being in doctrine of church than the words of Christ Jesus. Do not get me wrong I belief in the church having a doctrine the bible talks about sound doctrine as admonished by Titus, one of the apostles of Jesus. But my concern here is that even apostle Titus rightly agreed to the fact that these doctrines find their roots from the WORD of God. Titus 1:9 Holding fast the faithful WORD as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers any doctrine that does not finds its root EXPRESSLY in the WORD of God must be thrown out. But the headache here is that every of these doctrines teachers still find some scriptures to back their claims and teachings, this brings me straight to my point here… any teaching that would make us lose to hell and devil should be abolished.

Carefully follow me here do not misinterpret me please! Any teaching that does not allow for the use of MUSIC in its entirety, is from the pit of hell, discard it. Like I have always said in teachings and seminars ‘there is nothing like worldly music or Christian music, what we have is worldly lyrics and gospel lyrics’, other than this, music is music. The definition of music simply put says “it is the arrangement of sound in a manner that is pleasant to hearing” so even if you sing the whole bible in an unpleasant manner you simply have made noise and not music, Psalms 33: 3 Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise. Emphasis here includes SKILLFUL playing of music, Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. This is the charge from the word of God, no specification or discrimination on the rhythms types, beat patterns or the entire musicology of presentation of the gospel. It is not how dead or slow a piece of music is performed or sung that makes is spiritual or how fast or the gyration of the music so played or performed that makes it worldly, NO! it is simply the lyrics, the message it is passing that determines the essence of the music, the immediate last quoted scriptures …says admonishing one another in psalms…, the word psalms here is pronounced qalmov, psalmos in Hebrew meaning a set piece of music, i.e. a sacred ode (accompanied with the voice, harp or other instrument) we were not limited by this scripture and any biblical references on the rhythms pattern with which to perform hymns and spiritual songs, I have seen people go wild, screamed and really get undignified in the praise of God Almighty and I have also witnessed people whaling and crying still in the worship of Almighty God, regardless of rhythm so played afterall rhythms are simply BEAT pattern. The evil in the advancement of man-made doctrine to the use of music in the praise and worship of God has made us lose beyond measure and probably are still losing and will continue to lose more if we do not act now! My little over view of music industry globally has revealed one clearly known fact, today most world class entertainers and musician has always had contact with the church earlier in their careers, the church seems to be the place where these talents were usually first unfolded, some of these talent were even given opportunity to developed by the church and even in few cases the church actually invested in the development of these various talents at start up, but somewhere along the way we lose them. The reasons for these losses will be reviewed in more details in the next edition watch out!

Early in the career of world acclaimed king of pop MICHAEL JACKSON he was in a local church choir in Indiana, he probably was discovered there or atleast he had the church as his early platform to showcase his talents, but as time goes by we lose him and eternally lust him to hell when he Died at age 50 ,  June 25, 2009 in LA California, …we are losing. A great talent was born into the family of Rev’d and Mrs Ransome-Kuti, his name being FELA he had his earlier talent developmental activities right in the church more importantly as a son of a rev’d., whose grandfather was Nigeria's first Gospel Musician, but again we lust him, he wrecked a great havoc, created and promoted a shrine that became known internationally, got a Guinness book of record for getting married to twenty (27) wives in one day , he discipled enough people, old and young into the devilish acts of helm and drugs smoking, he was an alcoholic and eventually died of HIV/AIDS out so many acts of adulteries …again we lose. Little did we wondered what is wrong, history has it that Fela’s grandparents were completely given to God, Josiah Jesse Ransome-Kuti
Fela's grand-father was the first Christian in the Ransome-Kuti family. His parents were traditional religion worshippers but they apprenticed him to the missioners who came to Abeokuta from Badagry where they had earlier settled having arrived the West Coast from England.

The history of the Ransome-Kuti family started from him. Staying with the white men, he was also one of the early people in Abeokuta to convert to Christianity. He probably saw it all when the first Church in Nigeria, St Peter Anglican Church was built in Ake, Abeokuta and he was the Church organist. He distinguished himself from the early pack of Christians with his gift of music. As an organist, he was said to be a great composer. Great was his musical dexterity that so many local traditional religious worshippers turned to Christ. For that, he was a marked man in the society. But unknown to him, he was creating a record, both in heaven and on earth. On this terrestrial divide, and in what became Nigeria in 1914, he became her first gospel musician and the first Nigerian to write Church hymns. Many of these hymns are being used in so many Yoruba speaking Anglican Churches today. Not only this, his children, like Israel Ransome-Kuti, Fela's Father was also a great song writer. The popular Egba anthem, Abeokuta Ilu Egba, was composed by him. Another folk song, Ise Agbe, Ise Ile wa, was also composed by Israel. It is sad that many of the descendants of the pioneer Christian, Jesse Josiah Ransome Kuti are not in the faith today.

Some Songs by JJ Ransome Kuti; Eje komo ko wa o, Eje k'omode ko wa (2x), Jojolo... Omo kekere jojolo awon lore eledumare E je komode ko wa. This song was confirmed by Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti.

Another was the case of Beyonce. We have the clear history and the upbringing of the world best female R & B singer Beyoncé traced to her local church where it all started as a church choir, Beyoncé was at the age of 8 when she started singing in church, today what do we have right in our faces Beyoncé is completely derailed and leading a whole lots into the worship of idol with her music, pulling a whole large crusade of idol worship through her marriage with Jay-Z when they put up shows and musical concerts. Born in Houston in the fall of 1981, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles started performing at age seven, from dance classes to singing in the church choir, Beyoncé was natural. But today our church girl today promotes sexual immoralities, and acts of seduction musically, with parade of awards that seems to give approvals for all her activities, this role model is populating the congregation of hell right in the face of the church that discovered and developed the very same talent she is using at the moment as though God is no longer in heaven watching! I think we are losing here if nothing is done in the place of intercessory prayers and supplication to God. Critizism by Church would win nothing to us, we are losing let do something pleaseeeeeeee! Atleast LET US PRAY FOR HER.

Maria Carey, Jennifer Lopez, world best Celin Dion, R Kelly and a host of others super stars moving and leading more people to hell, had their start ups right from the church, are we not losing more, do we continue to lose more, folding our arms, trading blames, doctrines superiorities and self-righteousness will only make us loose more, will would take a share of the reason for populating hell, when we refuse to allow these talents manifest within the four walls of the church with their music types.

A closer look at the reason(s) for breakouts from church by these talents reveals the rigidity of the church, usually borne out of share ignorance of the concept of what a good music and spiritual music should mean, a good music may not necessarily be spiritual, but all spiritual music MUST be a good music. But the church early has been deceived by what is called new music, creativity if constantly allowed is arts and music. Each act of creativity within church seems to threaten the conservativeness of the church, while the only reason for this conservativeness has always been anchored in the church DOCTRINE. Psalms 96:1 - O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. Creativity in music should be encouraged in the church, where a church of a thousand years want to maintain same music would be difficult because even music evolved over the centuries too.

What do we say about Jennifer Lopez who grew up in Newbury Park and has attended Lighthouse Church since she was a teenager. She taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School for many years. More recently she and her husband, Greg, have led small groups. They were instrumental in forming the Starting Point, part of Lighthouse' growth and connection classes which explores questions of faith, God, the Bible and other relevant topics. But what do we have today people of God a media show of seduction by our one time teacher of the word of God, help us oh God!

What I really want to drive home in this article is for us to make a list of what talent we (the church) have lust and probably we are losing right now. What we (the church) are doing about it, the church has a lot of power, when we come together to pray God answers, if God had saved FELA do you think God would not want him to sing afro beat, he would have sung afro beat to the praise of God. What more do you think we should do for talents whom God has sent to the world to manifest His glory under the tutelage of the church other than guide the talents as a church and not let them slipped us by no matter the creativity and the dynamics of the manifestations of these talents because the word of God says; James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We simply push them out once they cannot fit into our box called doctrine. For you to know God does things when we pray, do you know an international figure in the music industry turned in for Jesus last year? King Sunny Ade is the undisputed king of juju music, the dance-inspiring hybrid of western pop and traditional African music with roots in the guitar tradition of Nigeria. God moves when we move Him with our prayers and worships.  King Sunny Adé know as  (Sunday Adeniyi), was born September 22, 1946 into a royal family in Ondo – Nigerian, pioneer of modern world music, he is a popular performer of Yoruba Nigerian Jùjú music.  His father again was a church organist, they always have the church factor in their start up, thank God today! The popular Juju musician, King Sunny Ade, recently gave his life to Jesus Christ during a church service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Yaba, Lagos. Sunny Ade dedicated himself to Christ during an altar call by the RCCG’s General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye. With Pastor E.A Adeboye confirming his commitment to follow Christ, he is today a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the fastest growing church in Africa.  

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) also reports that the Juju music maestro was among 30 worshippers at the service who rushed to the altar to be prayed for by the general overseer. When Adeboye asked that the persons who answered the call should confess their sins, Sunny Ade was the first to kneel down.

The Lord that touches the heart of Rev’d Fabiyi Obey popularly known as Commander Ebenezer Obey will touch the heart of Omotoyosi Janet Ajiloye otherwise known as St. Janet, the now Obesere disciple girl, and the self-acclaimed General Overseer of St. Bottles Cathedral had her background from the church, she has literarily turn all gospel lyrics to vulgar worldly lyrics she is called sex music queen by her fans after the release of her album faaji plus, the album was banned by the Lagos state house of assembly because of the derogatory lyrics used, yet her manager still has this said about her “the popular belief among music lovers about the G.O of St. Bottle's Cathedral, St. Janet is that she is not only vulgar, but also weird in performing her act.” Her manager, Shina Ayo Oyinlola however feels otherwise, St. Janet is not only a very responsible singer, but also a complete gospel musician, aberration! This is the open embarrassment the church would have to face for our negligence, a former church chorister, now turned this?

A former Juju musician now turn world Evangelist has these testimonies to share; “I was raised in a Christian home, but I never knew the difference between giving one's life to Christ until after I ran into problem. I owed my property owner a 3 months’ rent of 6 pounds and he gave me a 7 day-quit notice. I began to avoid him. I would return home late in the night and leave before the break of dawn. One day, I found myself in a church called SIM (Sudan Interior Mission) which is known today as Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) prior to that time I had not entered a church in 3 years. That day, the Pastor's sermon was on ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me’. When the pastor finished his sermon, he said, “Is any one of you here passing through troubles and torments?” Jesus can do it and you can do it through Christ. He began to mention different kinds of challenges after which he asked, ‘are you owing, are you a debtor?’ This he repeated about five times. It was as if someone had told him about me. He later asked if anyone would like to give his life to Christ, that day, we were ten that came out subsequently, I met with the pastor and narrated my challenges to him. He prayed, counseled and eventually followed me to see the property owner who then cancelled the notice. That was how the problem was solved and that was how my rapport with Christ began. After many years out of the fold, the Lord started opening my eyes to certain things. I heard the voice of the Lord calling me ‘Son, I want you to leave what you are doing’. I want you to come and work for Me. I was reluctant in my heart because Juju music was in my blood. I said no!, why should it be me. The struggle continued for years with each year bringing a clearer picture of what God wanted me to do.

I started a fellowship and opened the Decross Fellowship Centre, where we had midweek programmes. We sent new souls won for Christ to different churches around the community. I was still not ready for the church proper. But my wife was all for it. She said if God has called you, you have no option than to yield. So after many years of declining the call, I said yes to the Lord and I was ordained on my 50th birthday by Archbishop Benson Idahosa (now late) in 1992 at Abeokuta.
My calling is clear. When I came on the gospel scene, people bombarded me with engagements and it was like I was in the world. However, God said no, that was not what He wanted me to do. He said He had called me to be a preacher, using music as a vehicle. When I asked Him to clarify His purpose, He gave me Ebenezer Obey Evangelistic Ministry, that is the umbrella body for the outreach programmes.

God is known to make something out of nothing. I was not a theologian; I wanted to die a musician because it was my passion. But God said, “don't worry. You're still a musician but now you' will use music as a vehicle of soul winning. I sought advice on how to go about this from people who have come before me, many of whom had extended hands of fellowship to me. Pastor Billy Ingram, an African-American in California, advised me to go for an Observation Course rather than a 5-year Bible course.

He said we all have different callings and different callings have different approaches. I went and prayed over it. I took Ingram's advice and then travelled out. This really helped me. This course was in two bits of three months each. I saw how things were being done. Evangelist A. Daud was of great assistance. In addition to that was the ECWA church that sent me a pastor of my choice to assist me for two years, but for logistics' reasons had to extend his stay to 5 years.

Jesu Olore o! the first gospel record I did was accepted widely. One thing I realise is that there is a need to help both the secular and gospel artistes

©Bola Adewara.

Additional reports by Tope Olukole, (Nigerian Tribune) Adewale Ojo (Contemporary Age) and Decross Magazine.

Born in 1969 in Chicago, IL, R. Kelly discovered an interest in music when he was in high school and won a school talent show, singing Stevie Wonder's Ribbon in the Sky. He took his electronic keyboard to the streets of South Chicago, and began busking. His fusion of rhythm and blues, gospel, pop, hip-hop, and classic soul has garnered fifteen top-forty hits more than any other male solo artist of the 90's. He is a singer, songwriter, producer, and remixer and has written and produced songs for popular musicians including, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Gladys Knight, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross, and Toni Braxton. Kelly's third album, R. Kelly, was released at the end of 1995 and became his first number one Pop and rhythm-and-blues title. In 1997, he made I Believe I Can Fly for the Warner Brothers film Space Jam. The song won three 1998 Grammy Awards, including "Best R&B Male Vocal Performance," "Best R&B Song," and "Best Songwriter."

Married, and the father of three children, Kelly was arrested in 2002, when a video tape of him allegedly having intercourse with a minor was made public on the internet, and was charged with producing child pornography. In 2008, he was acquitted of the charges. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that R. Kelly has been a frequent attendee of Salem Baptist Church. A source says the troubled singer “goes to church whenever he can when he’s in Chicago.” Facing 21 counts of child porn, the source added, “He takes the service very seriously… and doesn’t want to be disruptive and have people asking for autographs, so he comes in after the start of the service and leaves before the end.” Now that he has been discharged and acquitted he his relax, we pray the God will have him taken over completely for His use.

Born August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey, Whitney Houston almost seemed destined from birth to become a singer. Her mother Cissy Houston, cousin Dionne Warwick and godmother Aretha Franklin were all legendary figures in American gospel and soul music. Cissy Houston was the choir minister at New Hope Baptist Church, and it was there that a young Whitney got her start. Even as a child, Whitney was able to wow audiences, she later told interviewer Diane Sawyer that a rapturous response from the congregation at New Hope had a powerful effect upon her "I think I knew then that (my singing ability) was an infectious thing that God had given me." By the time she turned 15, Whitney was performing often with her mother and trying to get a record deal of her own. Around the same time, she was discovered by a photographer who was awed by her natural beauty. She soon became an extremely sought-after teenage model, one of the first African American women to appear on the cover of Seventeen magazine. But music remained her true love.

When she was 19, Whitney Houston was discovered in a nightclub by the renowned Clive Davis of Arista Records, who signed her immediately and took the helm of her career as she navigated from gospel to pop stardom. By 1992, Whitney Houston was on top of the world, but her life was about to get very complicated very quickly. That year she married the R&B singer Bobby Brown, formerly of New Edition, after a three-year engagement. At first the marriage was passionate and loving, but things turned sour as the decade progressed and both Brown and Houston battled substance abuse and increasingly erratic behavior. How do we always stand aloof as do they were never past of us (the church), Huston passed on recently, again we lust! There is the case of Majek Fashek also on substance now this article is a clarion call to the church to wake-up … help we are losing!

We community worshippers team invite you God into this situation and ask that you turn every of these hearts hurting you with talents you gave them to have a contrite spirit and you create a new heart in them all that will cause them to return to their first love in Jesus name. We also pray that your church will be devoid of ignorance and will be able to accommodate all this talents in Jesus name, the dynamics of music would not be the bane of quality manifestation in the church any more, you will pour out your spirit on us all that we should not be ignorant of the devices of the devil and shall not be limited in our ministry by the yoke of unsound doctrine of men in churches any more, amen. 

COMMUNITY WORSHIPPERS - Dec 2012 Edition WATCHOUT! WATCHOUT!! WATCHOUT!!!

The Dreadful Responsibility!

The dreadful responsibility!

One of the life’s greatest assignments is to dole-out RESPONSIBILITIES to us all. In real sense of it, we cannot live life without taking and accepting responsibilities even when we are not ready for it.The authority we could exert sometimes is a function of the responsibilities we are willing to accept. Actions are tied to responsibilities and commensurate authorities are made available for the responsibility to be easily executed. Nature, Man and situations could put on you responsibilities beyond your abilities, but because responsibilities challenge your abilities, you sometimes surprisingly find yourself living up to the responsibilities.

Situation sometimes puts you in a difficult state where you have no options than to accept responsibilities for some actions even where such actions were taken by other people. Permit me for the sake of illustration to break the word responsibility to RES-POND-ABILITY; that is, your ability to respond to circumstances, situations, roles assignments and dictates of live generally. Where such ability is lacking, the desired result(s) is not seen and the effect of this lack of ability could be devastative. Respond time could also be of essence, accuracy of response is vital to evaluate the whole resulting ability of the person tagged RESPONSIBLE.

There was an account in the scriptures, in the book of Samuel chapter 6; the nation Israel lost their most potent weapon of war to the Philistines. After some season the enemies decided to restore the weapon back to the rightful owners, especially when they discover that they do not know ‘how’ to use the weapon. King David about the fact that the enemies had by themselves brought the weapon to the boundaries ofJudahDavid accepted the responsibility for restoring the weapon back to its original place and be used for its original purposes. The whole process of restoration was neither hindered by any form of time strain nor unwilliness from any of the royal staffers of the king. In-fact the enthusiasm by which all was willing to march with the king in this assignment of restoration was TOTAL. The weapon was a national weapon – THE ARK OF CONVENANT.

David the king, has the sole responsibility to restore the Ark back to Zion. As far as God Almighty is concerned the king was accountable to him. The process got started Professional cart riders were engaged, the very best of them Uzzah and Ahiorode the chariot carrying the national weapon 2Sam 6:3 And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. Something went wrong, Uzzah tried to help, in the process he died – God slew him.

Immediately, the significant of the seemingly simple weapon suddenly became clear to everyone David immediately saw how important God esteems this weapon. The celebration of the proceedings went awry that day because of the death of Uzzah; not just the death, but open death caused by God Himself. That’s serious! Terror of who and where to keep this weapon fell upon everyone! How do you bring such a DREADFUL weapon into the city of Zion? A weapon that made God kill people even someone that supposedly was trying to help and safe the nation from national embarrassment. But God took it personal, killed such a professional and dutiful servant. No one was ever willing to accept responsibility for the safe keep of the ARK OF GOD following the development. Where do we rest the Ark? Not even the palace of the king was good enough for it anymore as far as David was concerned; I guess there was no need for wide consultations as to where to rest the Ark. He horridly took on-the-sport a decision to excuse the weapon away from the public; The Ark should move to the house of another dutiful servant Obed’edom he ordered, 2Sam 6:10.

Let me reiterate here that the ARK was a symbol of God’s presence. Anywhere the Ark was, God was assuredly there. Again it was a weapon, great weapon of physical battle, the Israelites often carried with them to battles front. Itsefficacy for victory is well known by all. Even the enemies could testify to its potency. I don’t want you thinking ‘But how come such a powerful Ark?’ It was part of the methodology of God to tell man how great He really is. The Ark contains three symbolic items; THE TABLET OF TEN COMMANDMENTS 1Kings 8:9, THE AARON’S ROD THAT BODED Num 17:10 and SAMPLES OF THE MANNA with which God fed His children in the desert Exo 16:33. Each item has a great symbol and meaning. For the purpose of not digressing, I will not go into that now; but these are what were in the box that God Almighty chooses to kill for. Permit me to say here, it goes beyond the items in the box but His promise. The Ark was called THE ARK OF CONVENANT, (agreement between God and Man to make the presence of God continually available anywhere you find the Ark.) Man was to WORSHIP in His presence, and the Zoe around the Ark cannot be evaluated. Very intense, awesome! We saw the gods of the Philistines rendered completely useless before the Ark even without any one there. Again, we saw God kill for this same object. Then there was more to it.

The safe keep of such weapon you would have agreed should be in the hands of highly responsibly officers in the ministry, maybe in the custody of the King, the Priest, the pastor, the superintendent, the General Overseer, Archbishop or the Pope. Unfortunately, everyone knowing the antecedents of the Ark took cover for themselves and their household not even the friend of God (David) was willing to accept such a dreadful responsibility.

Looking around, David just concluded on a person‘who was insignificant enough such that his death and probably death of his household pose no national treat’; Obed’edom - the gate keeper. The order was given by the king that the Ark should immediately be moved to the household of Obed’edom. No single person objected to this decision. It was a national consensus that the gate keeper was irrelevant and good enough for death. No one objected, instead every one daily kept a tab on Obed’edom and his household waiting for when mortality announcement would be heard from the family. But the situation proved otherwise. The weapon of war became an instrument of blessing to this household 2 Sam 6:11. God who always is a ROCK of offence to our enemies is constantly our ROCK of defence. The Ark became a total instrument of blessing to this gate keeper so much that the people reported to the king about it and the king reacted immediately to the report.

I tried to appraise the situation and I came to these conclusions: Obed’edom dare to accept this DREADFUL RESPONSIBILITY,in return GOD DARED TO SURPRISE HIM. That which was wished for him unto death became a great blessing that announced him to the world to-date. I pray that every dreadful responsibilities push towards you for shame and disgrace, responsibilities that your enemies know you do not have capacity for, yet enemies allotted it to you aiming it at your embarrassment, God will turn it around for your good IN THE NAME OF JESUS! Live situation may have dole out to you responsibilities beyond your finances, your intellectual capacity and natural abilities, heavens will rise up for your sake to-day and as the captivity of Zion was turned around, your life will experience a great turn-around in Jesus name. You will become the next Obed’edom that the nation includingthe King wanted dead but now became envious of. YOU ARE NEXT IN LINE for national testimonies. AMEN.

COMMUNITY WORSHIPPERS - Newsplash Nov., 2012 Edition