tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1254799220794829654.post2655806336919833191..comments2023-06-11T10:14:51.521-04:00Comments on AFTRES - African Treasures: Sins of the FathersAkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18226554227772959243noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1254799220794829654.post-68834913133113552942011-10-03T10:17:49.598-04:002011-10-03T10:17:49.598-04:00The writer of this article has asked for a respect...The writer of this article has asked for a respectful and scripture backed discourse, devoid of sentiments. I happen to agree with that. The thing is though, the topic of discussion, in and of itself, is a practice steamed in sensationalism. Anyway we should keep it civil in our comments…if there are any.<br /><br />Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that's where life starts (Proverbs 4:23 Message Bible)<br /><br />We ought to be careful what we hear or what we allow to find roots on our minds. That an idea or opinion is written down in a book or preached as a sermon is not a stamp of its authenticity or authority. Not all Christian books are Christianly. Not all messages proceeding out of the mouth of a pastor or a preacher are divinely accurate. That's why we have heretics and false prophets and false teachers.<br /><br />Opinions and ideas wrapped up and served as divine oracles still need to pass the scriptural sniff test. In Acts 17:11, the Jews at Berea are described as being more honorable than those at Thessalonica in that, "....they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."<br /><br />We need to always ask the question, "Are these things true? Does this message conform to the scripture? Is this practice, which is a tradition, in our church biblical?" The days of “pastor said it so it must be so”, or “I read it in a Christian book so it is a fact”, or “it is the way it has always been done in our church”, are over. <br /><br />I have not come across an instance in the New Testament where a Christian is said to need deliverance or had deliverance performed on him. There is nowhere in the New Testament, that I know of, that a Christian is said to be under a generational curse or bondage. <br /><br />In a lot of ways we are like the Jews on the journey from slavery and bondage in Egypt to the freedom and salvation in the Promise Land. We just have to ALWAYS build ourselves a golden image to worship. We simply have to trust, if only little, in the arm of flesh. There has to be a sacrifice. We must always shed the blood of bull and goats as a backup plan. The forgiveness of sins in the blood of Jesus can’t simply be enough. To us, mere faith in the finished work of redemption isn’t sufficient to wipe away all curses and bondages. We believe in the promises in the Book of Romans alright, but we just have to sow back the torn veil of the temple (Luke 23:45). <br /><br />As Believers in Christ, we are not immune from “issues and problems of unknown origins”. Examples abound in the scriptures. The Great Paul had “a thorn of the flesh and the messenger of Satan buffet him” 2Corinthians 12:7-10 and Timothy had a “chronic stomach bug and often infirmities” 1Timothy 5:23. I don’t know that either of them went to anyone to have a deliverance ceremony. We live in a fallen world ruled by Satan and his minions. We are engaged in constant battle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12. But the good news is, the collection of weapons in our arsenal are out of this world; 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5.<br /><br />The problem with us is that tremendous amount of secular ritual and occult practices have been imported into the church and Christianized. The “deliverance rituals” carried out in most of our churches today is nothing more than exorcism practiced by the Roman Catholic Church. It has no basis in the Word of God.<br /><br />We’ve got to go back to the Scriptures.Akinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18226554227772959243noreply@blogger.com