THE CHRISTIAN WALK

Sunday, November 10, 2019
[email protected]
Cameron, Texas, USA
CAN A TRULY-GENUINE AND WHOLY-REGENERATED BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN PLAY POLITICS AND NOT BE CORRUPTED?

t all began at the most-famous and "best" university in the world-as far as I am concerned-the University of Lagos, Nigeria. I was nearing my 19th birthday when I entered that great citadel in the 1980s. Instantly, the political pedigree in my DNA sprouted up. My late father; Ademola Olumuyiwa Fayemiwo was the first secretary-general of the defunct Action Group-AG- in the defunct Western Region of Nigeria led by the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. They used to call him: "Gbogoro" literally "The Shaker or Rebel" in my native Owo, Ondo State in the 1950s and 1960s. I didn't know the details of my late father's political exploits in those days until the late Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin explained all of these and more in his autobiography; Ajasin: Memoirs and Memories. Some of these political activities took place before I was born and some at my infancy. When I later arrived here in the United States, a chanced encounter in Oakland California with Dr Gabriel Tenabe, Director, Office of Museums at Morgan State University, Baltimore Maryland brought a lot of the political activities of my late father to proper perspective. Tenabe should know as a historian, archivist and an Idoani native nearby to my ancestral home of Owo, Ondo State.

Back to the Unilag Years; I became the apotheosis of my late father at the University of Lagos as student union politics consumed me and I valued becoming the president of the students union more than earning a degree. My deep involvement in student's politics opened my eyes for the first time to the intersection between quest for political power of any hues and the occult, Satanism and voodoo which I will elucidate more next week. It was during what we called the "Aluta Continua" or "The Struggle Continues" students' days when socialism and communism were the staples in many of Nigerian college campuses. Unlike these days, student's union politics in our days were tough and vigorous. You must be ideologically rooted and sound to be involved. Through those "struggles" that I met professors like the highly cerebral Akin Oyebode, who later became pioneer Vice-Chancellor of Ekiti State University, Prof. Akintunde Obilade, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo who is now Vice-President of Nigeria, late Prof. Olayide Adigun all of the Law Faculty, the late Prof Funsho Akingbade who was the chairman of ASUU, Unilag Chapter, late Prof. Campbell Shittu (C.S.) Momoh of the Philosophy Department, late Prof. Abiodun Adetugbo of English Department and numerous others. Of course, I won my presidential election in a landslide and some of these professors eventually became my informal advisers and mentors.

My interest in politics at the student level gave me access and contacts to many go-to-political juggernauts and influencers in Nigeria such as late Chief MKO Abiola, posthumous president of Nigeria 1993; late Alhaji Shehu Ahmadu Musa, Makama Nupe and secretary of the federation under the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) administration of President Shehu Shagari (1979-1983), late Alhaji Dr Ismail Babatunde Jose described as the "legendary doyen of Nigerian journalism," late Dr Mariyue Eyeniegi Kolagbodi, whose contribution to Nigerian trade union movement is legendary, Hassan Adebayo Sunmonu, president of the Nigerian Labor Congress between 1979 and 1984, the great Chief Gani Fawehinmi who later became my attorney,

Dr Jeremiah Tunji Otegbeye (late), foremost Nigerian Marxist-Leninist and founder of the popular Ireti Hospital Group in Central Lagos and his firebrand ideological divalent; Otumba Kunle Oyero, who was former president of the Nigerian Youth Congress and senator between1979 and 1983 under the platform of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria-UPN. Dr Tunji Otegbeye took me to many places and many people, including meeting Chief Yakubu Bolarinwa Abioro (now late) at his expansive and sprawling country side mansion in Ipokia, Ogun State.

I also cultivated the friendships of the diplomatic community in Nigeria, notably the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republic-USSR) now Russia and the United States of America. As a matter of fact, I contemplated going to the then USSR to complete my studies instead of finishing my degree at the University of Lagos. The vantage location of the University of Lagos in Metropolitan Lagos which was the seat of the federal government in those days exposed active student unionists to ample and countless opportunities which I explored to the fullest. Religion as many know is also a veritable tool for political recruitment and as a Moslem in those days; it came in handy in my selfish ambition to build political alliances and early exposure preparatory to my future political ambition. But as I was planning my own self-centered future on my own terms and oiling my egotistical desire, the True Lord God Almighty, the Creator of me and everything unbeknown to me was orchestrating silently but methodically His plans for my life and future. It was in 1987 when I encountered the supernatural intervention and spiritual "interruption" of the Lord Jesus Christ into my life and I gave my life to the King of kings and Lord of lords, Hallelujah! All of a sudden, my selfish ambition and self-planned future evaporated and as Apostle Paul disclosed: "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:8). Hallelujah to the Lord of lords and King of kings, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Upon graduation, I made up my mind never to work for government and instead went into journalism which craft I had picked up during my university years. As every perceptive mind knows, you can't make a journalist; journalists are born period. If it is not in you and you weren't born with the craft of writing and an avant-garde of the society, you can't be a journalist, as simple as that. That is what the True Lord God Almighty steered me to as soon as He manifested Himself in and to me, but I didn't know there would be more training to undergo in the School of the Holy Spirit just as He did in the lives of the saints that came before us: Moses-trained for 40 years-Paul-trained for 14 years-etc. But from the moment I gave my life openly to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on that fateful day at the Campus Chapel, University of Lagos; all my selfish political ambitions and plans vanished. Of course, I had to cut ties with and severed relationships from many friends and associates in order to fulfill God's Plan for my life. I still remember that day when my good friend and classmate, Tokumbo Afikuyomi rushed to my office in one of the several newspapers I worked brusquely: "Fayee, what is wrong with you? This is our time. You need to get this straight, you can't abandon the struggle." It was 1990. General Ibrahim Babangida had just announced his shambolic transition-to-civilian rule program by creating two political parties: the National Republican Convention-NRC-and the Social Democratic Party-SDP. Tokumbo was working at the secretariat of the SDP on Keffi Street in Central Lagos with Ambassador Babagana Kingibe. I told Tokumbo I wasn't interested. He was shocked. He came again but I was rebarbative. He couldn't understand why all of a sudden a former vibrant and pugnacious student union leader and known activist would just walk away from this political thing everyone knew was inbred and in his DNA from his university days. When next we would be reconnecting again at late Chief Gani Fawehinmi's Chambers at Anthony Village, Maryland, Tokunbo had become Sen. Tokumbo Afikuyomi, representing Lagos State with Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu now known as Asiwaju. Sen. Afikuyomi and I discussed briefly near my Mercedes Benz Car at Chief Gani Fawehinmi's Chambers and I told him I would stick to journalism while he should continue with his political adventure and career. Both of us were millionaires as at that time in 1993. With my monomaniacal resolve to etch out in journalism, I had set up that samizdat called Razor as my bailiwick to confront the military thugs and gangsters misruling Nigeria but almost expectedly and as anticipated, I soon got my fingers burnt and was clamped into the Gulag by the late Nigerian military schizoid, Sani Abacha. My friend, Kayode Fayemi, who was my classmate at the University of Lagos and Sen. Afikuyomi and others who were in the UK assisted in the campaign to free me from Sani Abacha's Underground Tunnel. Tokunbo had fled Nigeria at this time when Sani Abacha bared his murderous and Shrekish fangs. This was during the debilitating June 12, 1993 crises foisted on the nation by the Dyadic Evils of Babangida and Abacha which engulfed Nigeria compelling critical voices in Nigeria to rise up in defense of our honor, values and the land. After suffering bouts of arrests, detentions and sundry harassments from Abacha's goons as the publisher/editor of that samizdat called Razor, I was forced to go on exile first in neighboring Ghana and later Benin Republic. It was from the latter that the killer squad of Abacha went after me and kidnapped me back to Nigeria on Friday February 14, 1997 to be chained like a dog underground at the Directorate of Military Intelligence DMI-in Apapa, Lagos.

The DMI miasmatic ambience was physically traumatizing and near death, but paradoxically became my Damascene Experience a la Apostle Paul (Acts 9:1-43). Remember I disclosed that I gave my life to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at the University of Lagos in 1987 which was widely reported in all the Nigerian newspapers and thus saved. But I didn't become a born-again Christian until eleven years later on Friday February 21, 1997 inside the DMI Gulag. I have written legionary instances in this column on the differences between a saved Christian and a Born-Again Christian, albeit mainstream Christianity confuses both stages in the Christian Walk. You see, when you give your life to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, He removes and births certain desires in your heart in order for you to be used by Him for His Glory as He Himself disclosed: "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you will go and bear fruit-fruit that will last-and so that whatever you ask in My Name, the Father will give you" (John 15:16). Apostle Paul, a classic example of this Divine Project of the Almighty God in our individual lives elucidated more thus: "For we-referring to all saved and born-again Christians who believed, obeyed and responded to His calling-God's handiwork in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do"( Ephesians 2:10). You see, this is what many people on earth referred to as destiny, but it is not destiny until you discovered what that advanced works are, believed it and obeyed it. It is a choice, even for born-again Christians. Some believers don't even know what this "God's handiwork in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Some discovered it, but because it doesn't fit into their own selfish and personal motivation and self-will rejected this God's work which He had prepared in advance for us to do in our individual life and refused to believe it insisting on doing what they felt as meet their own selfish desires. While some discovered it, believed it but refused to obey and do it exactly as our Lord Jesus Christ wanted it. That is why there is a proliferation of churches all over the place on earth today. Our Lord Jesus Christ had a word for these sets of Christians thus: "Many will say to Me on that day; "Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in Your Name and in Your Name drive out demons and in Your Name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, � never knew you, depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness�" (Matthew 7:22-23).

A perfunctory reading of that Lord's Statement could present transpicuous oxymoron when viewed against the backdrop of what He-our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ mandated His disciples to go out and preach the Gospel and perform miracles. What is bad in driving out demons? Are these not the fallen angels we are battling with in our spiritual slugfest? Are we not mandated by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to go and open the eyes of the blind and perform other miracles as proofs of God's imprimatur on our individual calling so why should Jesus Christ tell such workers to depart from Him on the Day of Judgment and disown such miracle workers? Thanks be to the Lord God Almighty for answering such question Himself in the verse preceding those quoted above: "Not everyone who says to Me; Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only he or she who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). The three verses from Matthew 7:21-23 must be read and studied in amity, without a break. Many believers are pastors, evangelists, teachers etc because that was what they chose, but not what the Holy Spirit called them to do for Him. No matter how brilliant you are in college, if you are admitted to read Education and left Education and started attending Law Lectures when you have not been admitted to read Law, you are in for the surprise of your life during graduation that you will not be awarded a degree in Law, but Education. Many pastors called themselves into pastoral works without hearing from the Holy Spirit. They will be shell-shocked on that Day before the Lord of lords and King of kings for the angels in charge of pastoral ministry have not written about their works, since the Holy Spirit didn't reveal to them to pastor churches. "Depart from Me you workers of lawlessness, because you call Me Lord but did not do what I say" (Luke 6:46). As I disclosed elsewhere, the True Lord God Almighty isn't much interested in what believers are doing but who told you to do what you are doing for the Lord? Any spiritual work; be it pastoral work, evangelistic ministry, teaching etc that is not initiated and directed by the Holy Spirit has no eternal value, period! However, in carrying out God's Divine Assignment, you have to be trained by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Consequently, the Holy Spirit orchestrated my kidnap by Abacha's goons in the neighboring Benin Republic on Friday February 14, 1997. You see, I thought I was running away from Nigeria into exile after bouts of detentions at Alagbaon Ikoyi, Adeniji Adele Lagos and many others in those giddy years to be safe not knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ was moving and working in the background to make Himself known to me in order to reveal to me the work He had for me and train me to walk in it and work it out to His Eternal Glory. You see this pattern in the lives of men and women of the Holy Bible; from Abraham who was called from the Land of the Chaldeans to a land of refugees, Moses had to go into exile in the Land of Midian for 40 years, the children of Israel went into Egypt and became slaves for 430 years, Elijah had to go on exile too, so Elisha, even our Lord Jesus Christ was taken into exile in Egypt from where He was called following Herod's death etc. Why did God do all these and continues to do same today? Because God Almighty has a purpose for your life, and that purpose is His Will for you and you must discover it, believe it; ascertain your calling by asking the Holy Spirit and wait to be trained. Don't we do the same in secular life? Do you become a medical doctor and surgeon, because you are a good butcher? Do you become a lawyer simply because you know how to argue and are eloquent? Do you become an architect without being trained? Who will award a contract to a company to build a bridge when that company isn't trained as engineers? May be in some underdeveloped nations, but certainly not here in America! Thus, my going to the notorious Abacha Gulag at the DMI Apapa in the 1990s was my spiritual training ground by the Holy Spirit.

I "graduated" in September 1998 and when I came out, I went to see late Papa Abraham Adesanya of blessed memory. I was planning to go and see Papa Michael Adekunle Ajasin but was informed he died while I was in the Gulag and Papa Adesanya had stepped into his shoes. Again, the political offer and temptation growled back to life. "I want you to go to Ondo State to go and contest for the Senate on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy-AD. I told Pa Adesanya to let me go and seek the Face of the Lord. Abacha had died, the NADECO �migr�s had started returning from exile. My friends; Tokunboh Afikuyomi, Kayode Fayemi, Dele Momodu and the rest had started returning home. Afikuyomi returned to the Senate in 1999 and later became a commissioner under Governor Raji Fashola in 2007, Kayode Fayemi fought hard and later became Governor of Ekiti State and later minster and now serving his second and final term as Governor of Ekiti State. While scores of politicians and activists, especially the June Twelvers ran into exile, people like us and others stayed put in Nigeria to confront Abacha's murdering squad. If I had wanted to become a Senator in Ondo State in 1999 when I regained my freedom from Abacha's Gulag as Pa Adesanya told me, it was mine for the taking. I would have won landslide, but the Holy Spirit, the Greatest Boss instructed me; you still have more training to undergo, so relocate to the United States. That was why I moved my entire family out of Nigeria to the United States in 1999 in obedience to the instructions of the One Who Called me; my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I have gone into this personal story and mini-biography to undergird Divine Assignment and whether a truly-genuine and wholly-regenerated Born-Again Christian can play the politics of today in Nigeria or Africa, in fact anywhere on earth for that matter and not be corrupted. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

The Breakthrough 2020 Program slated for January 2020 is still accepting enrollees and participants and as we disclosed in previous articles in this column, the Holy Spirit has directed that we should focus on the issue of how to discover the wills and purposes of God for His children and how to go about fulfilling that purpose. It is astonishingly lamentable and also tragic that many saved and born-again Christians are in quandary on what they are called to do for His Utmost. Of all the numerous letters and email, phone calls and sundry communication we receive here at The Jesus Christ Solution Center, this problem of not knowing the wills and purposes of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the believers is a top priority. Yes, you have given your life to the Lord Jesus Christ; yes, you are now saved; yes, you are indwelled with the Holy Spirit but what is next? Even those who are pasturing some churches complain how the church is not growing and at pains on what to do. We receive email from those already in the field asking to know, if they are really doing the work of the True Lord God Almighty.

It is very tragic for a believer to find out on that Day as Apostle Paul disclosed that he feared that he had not been running his Christian race in vain: "I went in response to a revelation and meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders. I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles (because) I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain" (Galatians 2:2). Brethren and precious souls, this Will and Purpose of the Almighty God for us cannot and can never be negotiated by the Sovereign Lord God Almighty of the heavens and the universe. Never, and I repeat never will our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be beholden to man's and woman's will. There are three wills on earth: the Will of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the will of Satan and your self-will. That of Satan and your self-will are similar while that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is always contrary to the other two wills. Satan and his demons have bonded with the fallen children of Adam and Eve for eons that there are close affinities between the wills of these fallen angels and fallen human beings.

Whatever it will take, make sure you register for this Breakthrough 2020 and hear from the Holy Spirit. Are you a pastor and your congregation is small or large-it doesn't matter-how did you know the Lord Jesus Christ has called you to pastor a church? It doesn't matter the title and time you have been a pastor, but can you conveniently assert this laudatory admonition from Apostle Peter: "Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election�" (2 Peter 1:10). I remember that day during a visit to Retired General David Medayesa Jemibewon at his Ogudu GRA residence in Lagos when he asked me to join him for us to go to Otta, Ogun State to go and see former Head of State and later two-term President Olusegun Obasanjo. I told General Jemibewon that I wasn't interested. General Jemibewon repeated his offer thrice so that I could hear him well so I repeated it after him that you want me to meet Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and I said, I wasn't interested. General Jemibeown was taken aback.

A serving governor in Nigeria once asked me to accompany him to see a political juggernaut that scores of people begged influence peddlers to link them with and I told the governor I wasn't comfortable seeing the great politician and my governor-friend was flummoxed. I have disclosed how a serving president in an African nation sent for me and out of respect I told his representative to let me pray over the invitation as I normally do. The Holy Spirit instructed me to tell the representatives some terms and conditions for the proposed meeting and when the terms and conditions were not met, the meeting did not take place, period. I was ambushed by another great friend of mine and a man I respect a lot, another retired general in Nigeria. He knows my credos and beliefs so he did not tell me where we were heading and that was why I said he ambushed me. We arrived at the place only to be ushered into the presence of His Eminence Alhaji Muhammadu Sa "ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto and other influential emirs and political leaders. Later I asked my general friend why didn't he tell me he was taking me to that august place? He replied that he "knows" me and we laughed. I was a guest of a prominent and an accomplished medical practitioner in Indiana here in the United States and she told me Mr. Fix It, the late Pa Anthony Akhakon Anenih would be visiting and she wanted me to meet the man. I told her I wasn't interested and she was shocked. There are numerous examples of these types of things.

What have all these got to do with knowing the wills and purposes of the True Lord God Almighty in the lives of believers? Plenty! If the Holy Spirit doesn't have a say in the totality of your life, it will be extremely difficult for the Lord Jesus Christ to reveal His will and purpose for your life. The wife or husband you will marry, the city, town and place you will stay to do that will and purpose, the company you will keep and associate with; in fact, all areas of your life should and must be directed by the Holy Spirit so what the Word of God says will come true thus: "� your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying; This is the way, walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21). When the Lord told us: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all- not in some areas but in all; including whom to see and not to see-your ways to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes�" (Proverbs 3:5-7a), it is not arrogance or pride. How can you submit certain areas of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ while withholding other areas and yet you want Him to reveal His will and purpose for your life? How can you claim to be His Own when your footpaths are not ordered by Him whereas He has said: "The steps of a good man- and woman too-are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his-and her -way" (Psalm 37:23).

The bottom line; do all it takes to be at our Breakthrough 2020 in January 2020 and you will thank the Holy Spirit for making it happen to attend.

LATEST ON BAYELSA AND KOGI GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS:

I have already disclosed the outcomes of the forthcoming governorship election in those states and there is nothing more to add. Those politicians and their surrogates that have been calling us here at The Jesus Christ Solution Center should stop calling please. It is late now and there is nothing that can be done now!

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