By Sam Adeoye
It’s disheartening to see how lives and destinies are been wasted simply because many had been told to use their talents and skills only in the church and nowhere else.
If you have a musical skill, they’ll tell you to use it in the church.
If you have acting skills they’ll tell you to use them in the church.
If you have a writing skill, they’ll tell you to use it in the church.
If you have a teaching skill, they’ll tell you to use it in the church.
Even if you have a business skill, they’ll tell you to use it to serve God until they ruin the business for you and you’re back to ground zero.
Erastus Akingbola, Intercontinental Bank, and Cecilia Ibru, Oceanic Bank are victims of this Evil. Their lifetime dream of building a financial institution is gone but the ministry and the G.Os they kept supporting are still out there racking money. What a shame.
If Michael Jackson was not thrown out of the church, I’m so certain that he wouldn’t have made the global impacts he made even after his passing unto glory.
If WizKid was not thrown out of the church, I’m so certain he would be begging to Eat now.
It’s a shame when you kill the destiny and the dreams of those who stick to the church for the sake of the Kingdom and throw away those who choose to do something different. It’s a shame. A huge shame.
While I was at the shooting location, someone walked up to me and said, “Sir, for how long have you been acting?”
I said, “since 1979”.
“How come we don’t know you?” He said
“Well, I act majorly in the church. Stage play” I said
“No wonder we don’t know you. You’re just too good. You brought life to your role and it’s amazing”.
This is not the first time I’ve heard this; but this was the first time I’ll be peering with Pastors and Ministers of the gospel on a secular movie and all of us are where we are in our careers because we placed religion above our careers, skills, and destiny.
Whatever you know how to do is the skills God had given you to pay your way out of poverty and lack. If you limit it to the religion you belong to, you’re a dead person.
Make the best use of your skill, it’s your only source of livelihood.
It’s a shame, a big shame on some individuals whose acts and deeds had brought nothing but shame into the body of Christ. I’ve said it several times if you want to die earlier in life, live your life to please the people who don’t like you and only care about using you and dumping you.
Funny enough, some of the people in the church including the Pastors who are so quick to condemn others and ban them from the church or minister on their pulpit are guilty of the same thing they are condemning you for.
So many General Overseer, Bishops, and Fathers are having girlfriends and hiding children somewhere that is not known to anyone.
Friends, that your deeds are covered up doesn’t mean that you are a saint. You are worse than the same people you are condemning.
Sammie Okposo is dead. The rest is up to God and his deeds while living to decide. But the fact remains that the Gospel Music in Nigeria and Africa as a whole Is what it is today because of him.
He was to the Gospel Music industry in Nigeria what Kirk Franklin is to the Gospel Music industry in America. The unfortunate thing is, while they upheld and supported Kirk Franklin during his shortcomings, we crucified Sammie Okposo and nailed him to the Cross.
The many attacks on his person even when he came out boldly to take full responsibility for his actions I believe led to his sudden death. I love what Jesus said in John 8:7 that; “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
The body of Christ is now the body of hypocrites and shameless individuals. Who will rather cover up their evil, but expose and mock others about theirs? What a shame! Where is the place of love and care for one another? What happened to brotherhood in Christ?
Jesus Christ said in John 15:12-13; this is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
Unfortunately, the Christianity of today would rather kill you for their gain than to kill themselves for you.
Well, his dead on the same Cross we nailed him now. We wait for the resurrection day to see what happens hereafter.
Sammie’s death made me remember Osinachi Nwachukwu, the voice that resurrected the dead hopes and the lost dreams.
When Osinachi died, I heard so many people condemning the family, the church, and her Pastor for allowing her to remain in a bad marriage and I heard and read about her Pastor saying that he wasn’t aware of her Marital issues.
How truth that is, is best known to God. But the truth is, even if he as the Pastor did not know, how about the wife?
Women are built with instinct to know things even though sometimes they pretend as if they don’t. Recently, I was on the phone with a very good friend of mine. The daughter walked into the room. Now, I’ve never for once spoken with the daughter or her knowing anything about me. But the moment the daughter entered the room and saw my friend on the phone, she said “Good morning Pastor Sam”. And my friend was like, “How do you know whom I’m talking to?” And the daughter said, “I know…!”
This is a lady I’ve never spoken to before and yet she could picked whom my friend was talking to on the phone. That is the power of a female gender for you. They know things and yet, they’ll pretend not to.
I feel so sorry for the men who think that their wives know nothing about their escapades. She’s only watching you and allowing peace to reign.
Anyway; I’m not interested in pointing fingers against anyone. But trust me on this; people don’t like to associate with negative issues or persons; churches and Pastors are not exceptional to the rule. So, don’t be surprised if the same person who is smiling and laughing with you now denies you in a few seconds hereafter for hearing something negative about you.
Human beings are always ready to use you and dump you. That’s the reality of life. As Tuface Idibia said, “If you don’t use them, den go use you”.
Haven’t cleared that. Let’s talk about who killed Osinachi Nwachukwu.
So many things led to her death. And based on some of the things I’ve read mostly from her family and friends, she died long before her physical death.
The first thing that killed Osinachi is her family. According to her Twin Sister, Osinachi was never interested in the man. Then after much pressure from the man and she rejected his proposal, the man left, then after some time, he showed up again and they started dating and then got married.
Friends, listen and listen well. That was never God or man; that was pure Juju. Correct African cham from a wicked spiritualist.
If you think that because you pray in tongues, you go to church every day and you are closer to your Pastor some things cannot happen to you, you deceive yourself. Osinachi was very anointed in every sense and had a strong heart for God. How come the cham worked on her and held her bond in marital bondage even to her death? Think about that.
God did not ask you to be spiritual, He asked you to be wise as the Serpent and armless as the Dove. This he made clear in Matthew 10:16 saying; “Behold, I send you out as sheep amid wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” My question is, how wise are you?
Again Jesus said, “The children of this world are wiser than the children of the Kingdom”. This Jesus Christ made clear in Luke 16:8 saying; “for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” I ask you again, how wise are you?
Spirituality without wisdom is stupidity. So many stupid and ignorant people are in the church. Most especially the Pentecostal churches.
For a person to say yes to someone she had once said no to is not a big deal; people change their minds we can say. But the Bible admonished us to test all spirits. I expected her family to carry out diligence on the man before they allowed him to marry their daughter, but they did. Her family failed her big time.
In this part, the first thing that killed her was her family.
I understand Osinachi’s decision to keep everything going to herself and beg the few people who are aware of it to keep it secret. I was guilty of the same. I kept painting my ex white in the presence of everyone even when I was going through hell in the marriage; until one day, one of the church members said to me; “Pastor, please stop praising your wife. We all know that she doesn’t love you. You’re the one that loves her”.
In marriage, we make decisions that are totally beyond our control. Not because of any other things rather than the fact that we don’t want to offend God and miss heaven; or we don’t want to bring shame to our family. I quite understand. But the facts remain that you cannot change a person that had not made up his or her mind to change.
Change of character and attitudes is a personal decision not enforcement from others. It is an internal thing, not an external force or influence.
Her family should have forced her out of the marriage. Get the Police to arrest him for beating their daughter. Or maybe his Juju also worked on them.
The second thing that killed her was Religion.
All religions in the world have so much power to kill you. And the first thing religion does is kill your ability to think for yourself and make the decisions that are best for you. Thereafter, it’s killed your destiny and chartered your dreams. You’re zero.
No religion will take you to heaven. Take it or leave it. The only thing that guarantees your eternity is your labor of love towards your fellow human beings and your fulfillment of purpose in life.
All the religion in the world forbids divorce. Claiming that God hates divorce. But the question is, does God love it that you die in a bad marriage?
I don’t think and I believe he does.
Divorce is permitted when you are not feeling safe in your marriage.
So many Pastors and pastor’s wives are facing hell in their marriages but religion and spirituality without wisdom and understanding will not let them walk out of the bad marriage.
Marriage is a life, once you don’t have it in your marriage, take a walk before it leads to your death.
May the souls of the departed ones as a result of domestic violence continue to rest in peace.
When I said that religion is a dream killer and allowing one person to control your life all in the name of him or her being your religious leader, someone said I’m attacking Pastors because the ministry I Pastor was not successful.
Well, you measured success by money, luxurious cars, and houses; I measured success by the number of lives I touched daily and when the ministry was on, even though we had limited resources, we touched lives. We give free foodstuff and clothes to people. We set people up in business. We support Pastors with equipment and cash.
Those who witnessed it all and also benefited from the same are here on my page.
So, I’m not talking because I failed in ministry, I never failed. God asked me to stop and I did. After all, it’s not my church. It’s His church. He can do whatever He wants with it. I’m just a vessel in God’s hands.
Anyway, whatever you are doing as a Christian if you cannot take it out of your local church and launch yourself into the street, you’ll die before your time. It’s not a curse, it’s a fact.
Soon very soon you’re going to have a hit Song if not songs from Micheal W. Smith and Sinach. Trust me, it’s going to be a hit because both of them are great worshippers.
The two met recently and Michael W. Smith in his words said; “what a joy it was to meet the one who wrote and brought us Waymaker, Sinach. What a sweet soul. We talked about collaborating and writing something together; I think it’s a fabulous idea if I don’t say so myself. Grateful!
Sinach in her response said; “Great meeting the amazing @mwsmithofficial! You are a great blessing to me and I am looking forward to collaborating with you”
I wondered what could be been her fate if she was still under the control of a tiny god that had to dictate to her who to relate with and who not to relate with.
Anytime I see the Onafowokans, my heart breaks with the way things had turned out to be for them. Both the husband and the wife are great music ministers. These are a couple or let me say family of worshipers.
Both the Wife and the husband sing very well. The husband plays Base Guilter, Trumpet, and Keyboard very well. Their son is a great Drum player.
In my opinion, that’s a band on its own. But the local church they were then used them, controlled them, manipulated them as they did with the majority of us, and dumped them. What a life.
As the Lord is making ways for Sinach, I pray that He will make ways for every one of us and that the gifts and the talents God had given us will not remain dormant in us, both will be used to the glory of His name and for the lifting of lives across the nations of the Earth.
I came across a post by Gen Robert Jr. where he said that; so the highly esteemed Pastor Chris Oyakhilome suspended some gospel singers in Christ Embassy and asked them to go back to the choir and stop seeing themselves as #SUPERSTARS and some left…? The arrogance of these so-called gospel ministers is just irritating especially when they begin to rise, yet they rose by the nurture of the grace of God upon the man God set over them.
That you are a superstar doesn’t mean you have overgrown being in the choir of your local church!
Why do people who are blessed easily forget where they were lifted from?
This is why sometimes God would not want to bless people because sometimes when God blesses them He loses them!
If God had not given Lucifer the position in heaven He wouldn’t have lost him to pride.
Don’t let God’s blessing on you become God’s regret over you.
The best thing God can do for you is to grow you before blowing you.
If you don’t grow and you blow you will go!
You will stray away from God!
To be humble amid fame, popularity, prosperity, and affluence is the goal.
Fighting or breaking out unlawfully from the place that made you who you are is a battle you cannot win and will never finish fighting till you die!!!
Reading this got me upset I must say.
For me, this is nonsense … absolutely rubbish. This is the reason why Gospel Music and Musicians remain poor. Not so many musicians remain ever Green. Not even this generation of musicians have any depth in their songs be it Gospel or Secular except a few.
Caging them now that they are young and can make money and secure their future is indirectly destroying their futures while you are securing yours. After all, your children can take over the ministry when you are old and no more, T.D Jakes has done it, Bishop David Oyedepo has done it, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has done it; several other Pastors are going to do the same, the cash out continues, how many of the Gospel Artists can do the same?
I’m yet to see Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey’s child singing or King Sunny Ade’s child. Not even late Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister or Michael Jackson. Except for Fela Anikulapo Kuti whose second generation is now into music and Wizkid that is gradually grooming his son. So, what happened to them in their old age, roaming about the street begging to eat like late Fatai Rolling Dollar? What a shame!
If you as the Man of God will not allow anyone to treat you as a common Man, or determine how you live your life and plan your future, why should you force the Gospel Musicians to be treated as such? You’re a Gospel Minister in Words, he or she is a Gospel Minister in Music, one is not bigger than the other, respect that and move on.
Trying to put someone under because you wear the title of a Pastor, Bishop, Reverend, or whatever is nonsense. You’re not wiser or smarter than the people you’re leading. Some of them are wiser than you. Jethro was never a Man of God or led a group of people, but without his wisdom and counsel, Moses would have died doing all things by himself.
Sir, you’re not that smart or wise; you’re only opportune to be the leader. Humble yourself and respect the people following your lead.
The fact that you help someone to rise to Stardom doesn’t give you the right to lord it over them or to become a lord over them. Someone helped you to get to where you are today. How many of those are lording it over you and even if they are, must you do the same to those that are looking up to you?
What happened to the idea of doing things differently?
We need to grow up and stop all these witch-hunting attitudes we call leadership and obedience to serve. It’s absolute nonsense.
There is a saying back in the 70s down to the mid-80s that says, shit money doesn’t smell. Owó Igbẹ ki rún. I loved the way Late Fela Anikulapo Kuti put it when I had the opportunity to visit him In his Ikeja residence before he passed on to glory. He said, “Owo’gbo ki rún. Olori pipe lon fa Igbo” means, money made from selling Cannabis doesn’t smell, Cannabis is for those who choose to think straight.
How true the second part is, I don’t know; but the fact remains that a larger percentage of our celebrities, politicians, business owners, lawyers, doctors, professors, and several individuals are consumers of the same. And yet, they are the pillars on which the economy is standing and thriving.
This made me remember the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 15:11 which says; “It is not what goes into the mouth of a Man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him].”
Meaning, that what we eat, drink, or smoke in some cases is not what makes us unclean and defiled, but what comes out of our mouths. Only God knows how many lives the majority of us had destroyed with our mouths as a result of fighting for God and condemning people’s actions and deeds.
I watched the video burial of Wizkid’s Mum, I saw him and his siblings attending the church service and how the church members and the choir members were happy seeing Wizkid live and directly in the church without protocol, ticket, or booking appointment and I asked myself will the circumstances be the same if he was nobody?
This is the person who produced a Christian song and the same church people did not buy his music. Money, time, and effort went down the drain for nothing.
As I watched the video, so many questions were flowing through my mind.
- If this Guy had remained in the church, would he have accomplished all he had accomplished?
- If his source of making money is wrong simply because he’s not singing Christian songs, he smokes and drinks, therefore he is a sinner. Please tell us, is he attending church service and paying his tithes and offerings?
The church is always too good at judging others even when Jesus Christ warned us not to judge. In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus Christ said; “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your eye? Hypocrite! First, remove the plank from your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Secular music is bad as far as the religious folks are concerned but the collecting of their tithes and offerings is not bad after all.
With one side of the mouth, we condemn and destroy people for following their heart and doing what is best for them to survive; with the other, we praise them in other to exploit them for our selfish reasons.
It’s so funny to see how religion has turned so many of us into Chameleons. In public were hot for God and acted like God’s Personal Assistant or even God himself, and in secret, we turned a beggars. Doing so many unspeakable things just to get money from the same people we condemned in public to live a fake life we cannot maintain.
Pastors, churches, and Christian brothers and sisters were all out condemning Big Brother Naija and calling it all kinds of names, but the moment Ilebaye won One Hundred, Twenty Million Naira and paid a tithe of Twelve Million Naira all the condemnation stopped. What a shame.
This made me remember our own Agbani Darego. When she was contesting for Miss World, the entire church in Nigeria was condemning her and questioning her Christianity. But the moment she won and became Miss World in 2001, setting the record of being the first black African to win Miss World, the church suddenly remembered Esther in the Bible and how she contested for a beauty pageant, won the heart of the King, and became the Queen.
If Agbani Darego had listened to the many voices coming from the religious quarters, I believe she would have given up on her dreams of becoming the first African Lady to be crowned as Miss World and the religious minds would have been so happy thinking they’d saved a soul from been snatched by the Devil, meanwhile, they just intercepted and interjected the plans and the purpose of God for her life.
The voice of man is not always the voice of God. Some people’s voices are nothing but Demonic, Devilish, and Satanic voice.
Voices strategically positioned to destroy you and your destiny. Their counsels, suggestions, ideas, teachings, and even book contents sound so good to the ear, but they are deadly weapons strategically positioned to destroy you.
You must learn to follow your heart and allow God to lead you all the time.
I’ll leave you with Proverbs 3:3-10
One
Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.
Two
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Three
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.
Four
Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
Enjoy the rest of your day.