Chapter 21
Pastor Adewusi entered the church premises and went straight to his office. It was only 6am and Service wouldn’t start till 9am; but he needed to do some things. Ever since the attack on him in church that had almost taken his life, he had realized that God had given him a second chance and he wasn’t about to waste it.
He had cultivated the habit of rising a great while before dawn each day to pray…just like Christ did. So he drove from his home each morning to his office where he could pray without distractions.
He had grown lean through much fasting but that had been a little price to pay for the things the Spirit had eventually begun to show him. He had dreamt of an impending attack on someone close to him in church…Wunmi.
He had dreamt that she was unhappily carrying a pregnancy belonging to someone who was not her husband. He didn’t see who the husband was; so he was guessing it could be a ‘spirit husband’ he had heard so many of his colleagues speak about in their gatherings as they testified of the goodness and power of the Lord.
He knew Wunmi was not an adulterous woman, so it was either someone else impersonating her in the dream…or Wunmi was in deep trouble. He had woken up at about 4am with a sense of impending doom…a feeling of danger…danger that stemmed from the dream itself, not from his external surroundings; so he had come to pray.
It was nearly 8:45am before he stopped praying and began to get ready for Service. He knew exactly what he was going to say in Service; for he had stopped giving ‘Messages’…concoctions of scriptures tied together to teach some particular theme or concept in the bible…it was what his colleagues did, and most of them were motivational speakers…that was all they were now…just speakers…gone were the days when men preached the Word of God.
The Spirit had taught him to build on the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets of old; so he simply preached what they had preached before him. He had started with the book of Romans and cross referenced Paul’s teachings with other scriptures that Paul or other apostles had written elsewhere…line upon line, and precept upon precept.
He joined the intercessors as they prayed for the Service and then went on to sit down with the other congregants. It was the first thing he had corrected in his life…there were no special seats for anyone…not even the pastor…he sat anywhere in the church now…sometimes he was even to be found sitting somewhere in the middle rows of the church to the amazement of the congregants.
When they had inquired why, he had simply quoted James 2:1-4;
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
He had seen the error of his ways a long time ago; and the hypocrisy of his colleagues that claimed they were merely ‘giving honour to whom honour is due’ by according special seats to themselves and their guests…the apostle James had exposed the hypocrisy…they were merely partial in themselves and judges of evil thoughts.
As he opened his bible to preach, he scanned the choir quickly for Wunmi…she wasn’t sitting among the choristers…but he saw Mary…surely Mary would know if anything was the matter with Wunmi…he would talk to her after Service…maybe they could both go and visit Wunmi later.
“The apostles did not teach messages; they did not give sermons…they taught doctrines; so if one does not understand the term ‘Doctrine’, one might never understand what the Word of God is…it consists of Doctrines, not disjointed messages that can never be whole. In the book of Acts, we see exactly what the early church practiced as the word of God.”
ACTS 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
“The apostles’ doctrine and fellowship were things that they practised, meaning that they were practical things…things that had to be done, not merely listened to."
"They continued steadfastly in it…meaning they continued to practise the apostles’ doctrine. Doctrines are a body of practical teachings or principles that are meant to be practised. That is why the book of James says we should be doers of the word not hearers only; because doctrine can only be practised."
"The phrase ‘apostles’ doctrine does not refer to the singularity of the doctrine as though there was only one doctrine; but rather it refers to the uniformity of the doctrines of the apostles…they all taught the same thing!”
“To show you that it wasn’t just one doctrine that is referred to in that scripture, turn to Hebrews 6:1-2;
Hebrew 6:1-2 1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we DO, if God permit.
"There are at least three doctrines referred to in verse 2 – the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, and of resurrection from the dead. So the apostles’ doctrine does not refer to only one doctrine, it refers to the uniformity of what they all taught.”
Pastor Adewusi looked up and was gratified to see Wunmi entering the church. She quickly sat at the back in order not to distract others.
“So when we talk about doing the word of God, we are talking about practising the doctrines or the principles of the Word of God. In verse one of the scriptures we have just read, the writer talks about the foundational principles of the doctrine of Christ. This shows us that doctrines are principles…there is no theory involved. They are a set of instructions about how to live and conduct ourselves in a manner that will please the Lord.”
“Let us look at an example of what the doctrine of Christ was about; the very same doctrine that the writer of Hebrews said in the above scripture that we should now ‘leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on to perfection’; meaning that the principles of the doctrine of Christ are meant to lay a foundation before moving on to more difficult things. Look at Matt 7:1-8;"
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
“As you can see, they are all practical instructions that Christ was giving his disciples to practise. We know that they are the doctrine of Christ because the last two verses of that chapter say so,”
And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished AT HIS DOCTRINE:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
“My dear brothers and sisters, doctrines are the principles of the word of God given to us to practise so that we can grow spiritually. Without the practice of doctrine we cannot leave the principles of the doctrines of Christ and move on to more difficult things."
We must have developed that habit of practising the doctrines of Christ before we can grow into more difficult things that are often referred to as the meat of the word. As I bring this fellowship to a close and make room for questions, listen to what the prophet Isaiah has to say about doctrine…
ISA 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
"We cannot understand doctrine till we are weaned from the milk of the word. It is this same milk of the word that the writer of Hebrews refers to as the principles of the doctrine of Christ; the foundational things that we ought to have developed into habit by continuous practice."
Hebrews 5:12-14;
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
“The first principles of the oracles of God refer to the principles of the doctrine of Christ. The writer is expatiating on what prophet Isaiah said centuries ago. If we don’t learn to practise habitually the foundational doctrines of Christ, that Christ and his apostles taught, namely the principles of righteousness or the word of righteousness, or the doctrine of righteousness; how can we understand what the Epistles teach? Now does anyone have contributions to make or questions to ask?”
He closed his bible and began to pick people who raised their hands…the fellowship proper was about to begin…
Chapter 22
“He seemed to be manifesting when I was conducting deliverance for him,” said Wunmi as she sat in Pastor Adewusi’s office with Mary.
“What kind of manifestations?” asked the pastor.
“Well, he was swaying a little bit, then after a while he began to look dazed and then suddenly began to convulse wildly and threw himself on the floor and lay still.”
“Hmmm…and you are certain it wasn’t all a charade of some sort?” Pastor Adewusi perceived that something was not right but he couldn’t put his finger on it just yet…certainly Wunmi couldn’t be lying, perhaps her husband Kola had been pretending. He knew he was operating in the gift of Discerning of spirits, so he waited for the gift to be fully operational…it would come to him presently…whatever it is that was wrong with the scenario Wunmi had painted.
“No I don’t think he was faking it, but there was something else that happened though, and I found it a little strange. After everything was over and we had given thanks for his deliverance he wanted us to take some chilled fruit wine, but I didn’t feel like it, and he was really persuasive about it, in fact he was very insistent on it, but I felt it was a time for sober reflection on his part, not a time for celebration. Next he wanted us to make love and he really begged me for it which I found very puzzling, but again I refused. For a moment I saw a flash of anger cross his eyes, and then he recovered himself and smiled as I left for the children’s bedroom.”
“We were supposed to come to church together this morning, but he mumbled something about being too tired,” finished Wunmi.
“He hasn’t yet been delivered Wunmi. As a matter of fact, the fallen angel was not within him when you did the deliverance, it was all part of a master plan. Your husband is not repentant in the least. He has conspired with the fallen angel to drink chilled wine that has been drugged, so he can make love with you and bring forth the fallen angel at the last moment to plant his seed within you,” said Pastor Adewusi, as he allowed the Spirit to speak through him.
“I thought he had truly changed, I didn’t know he was still play acting!” said Wunmi in dismay.
“You should leave his home for your life is in jeopardy,” said the pastor.
“Come and stay with me, my husband will be delighted and it’s a big house,” said Mary immediately reaching out to hold Wunmi’s hand.
“Yes, go and stay with Mary till God gives further instructions, and in the meantime, do not respond to his phone calls.” said pastor Adewusi.
Wunmi’s disappointment knew no bounds as they left the church and got into Mary’s car. Mary had suggested she leave her own car in the church premises and come back for it after they had collected her things from home.
“Don’t worry my dear, we will sort this out. God knows what he is doing,” said Mary, trying to reassure her cousin as she drove out of the church premises.
Janut stood before Kola, his hand on his throat.
I could snap your throat with a single twist of my fingers.
Kola stared up in terror at him. Janut’s eyes were completely devoid of any expression, but Kola knew he was in a terrible rage. The plan had failed and Janut had reached the end of his patience.
She will return from church soon, and then I will kill you both. I no longer require your services. You have failed me; your usefulness has ended.
He lifted Kola up to the height of his huge black eyes without effort and Kola choked, trying to breathe. He felt himself slowly losing consciousness…he was weakening and could no longer struggle…he was descending into blackness…
“Stop in the name of Jesus!” said Wunmi authoritatively as she stepped into the house along with Mary.
That won’t work with me. He belongs to me. He has what is mine. I have legal right over him, ask your Majesty in the heavens!
She heard his thoughts loud and clear in her mind, for he had not uttered a word…indeed he had no visible mouth with which to speak.
Janut raised Kola high above his head intending to dash him to the ground. In a moment Mary rushed towards him; “the blood of Jesus!” she shouted repeatedly.
She threw herself on Janut in a desperate measure just as Wunmi flung herself at him heedlessly. Neither of them had forgotten the lesson they had learnt in the Great Battle six years ago…
Rev 12: 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Mortal flesh touched angel flesh and the result was still the same as it had been when Wunmi had launched her spirit at Lucifer.
There was a flash of blinding light and the smell of sulphur filled the atmosphere. When their eyes got used to the dimness of the room, Kola was on the floor and Janut was nowhere to be found.
Kola was shamefaced as he begged his wife’s forgiveness.
“I forgive you darling, but for now the Spirit has instructed that I move out of our matrimonial home until further notice. When you finally and truly repent I’m sure He will allow me to return. My life is in danger as long as you are still in cohorts with a fallen angel. He said you belong to him; is that true?” asked Wunmi.
Kola nodded.
“How did you get so intimate with a fallen angel?” asked Mary gently.
Wunmi and Mary listened attentively for the next half hour as Kola told his story. He had wanted knowledge and power that would make him like a god on earth and he had gotten what he wanted up front as a sign of good faith from the fallen angel.
Now it was his turn to deliver on his own part of the deal and he had failed. He had exchanged his wife as a vessel to bear the fallen angel’s seed, for all the knowledge and power that he had craved.
The fallen angel had given him technology that had not yet been invented anywhere in the world, and had also implanted the technology in his brain that gave him both great speed and great strength.
“I can testify to that Mary,” said Wunmi nodding her head in affirmation. She had seen him use both before her very eyes.
“Do you still have the strength and speed up till now?” asked Mary.
Kola stood up and tried to lift his wife with one hand effortlessly as he had once done before, but try as he would he couldn’t. He tried to run at the speed he was now familiar with but found himself moving rather sluggishly. His eyes widened in surprise.
“So your powers have left you?” asked Wunmi, just to be sure.
“Yes, it looks like he has taken what belongs to him from me. I also just tried to recollect the technological memories he implanted in my mind but I can’t. They’re gone too,” said Kola.
“Well let’s hope he never returns,” said Wunmi coldly as she walked away to begin packing her things.
Kola looked appealingly at Mary who shook her head immediately.
“Not now,” whispered Mary as she went to join Wunmi in the bedroom.
Kola no longer knew where he stood…he still didn’t feel repentant…yet now that Janut seemed to have left him…perhaps he should return to his wife’s church…maybe in the course of fellowshipping with them again, the Lord might have mercy on him and grant him godly sorrow unto repentance.
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