WAIT FOR YOUR TURN

I was serving my daughters breakfast this morning and I made the mistake of starting with Nicole, my five year old. Bella, who is two, was seating in her chair, calmly watching me get the breakfast ready. She was very quiet and peaceful . But as soon as I set the bowl of cereal down in front of Nicole, Bella became belligerent. She began to scream, "I want shereal! (she calls cereal, shereal) Daddy, I want shereal!"

A lot of us Christians are like that; we are cool and calm until God starts blessing the people around us. Then we become envious and agitated. In 1999 I was working in a church in Port Harcourt Nigeria and I remember that there was a young woman in that church who got engaged and was about to get married. Some of the single ladies in that church became very angry. One of them was overheard saying, "We have been in this church longer than her, we pray more than her, how come she is the one getting married?"

I think one of our problems as Christians is that we don't know how to handle what I call, OPS, or Other People's Success. We allow ourselves to get depressed over what God is doing in other people's lives. 

We must understand that we are not in any competition with anyone. Don't let people's success be your source of frustration but rather let it be a source of inspiration. If there is anything I have learned about God, it is the fact that he makes all things beautiful in his own time. As I rejoice with those who are being blessed, sooner or later, God gives me a reason to rejoice.

P.S If you live in the Metrowest area of Massachusetts and you need a church where you can grow and be all you are meant to be, then let me invite you to The Redeemed Christian Church Worcester. Our address is:
65 Wilson Street
Worcester Massachusetts.

FIVE WAYS TO WIN AN ELECTION EVEN IF YOU ARE THE WRONG CANDIDATE

The good news about American democracy is that power actually belongs to the people; the bad news about American democracy is that the people can be manipulated. In every election season, the chance of the electorate electing the wrong candidate is as high as the chance of me burping after guzzling a full can of Pepsi. Because of the gullibility of the electorates, I have come up with seven fool-proof ways of getting elected into office, even if you are not fit to govern.

1. BE WILLING TO TELL THE CROWD WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR.

Don't be naive enough to believe that you can go anywhere in the polls by telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The last president who promised to always tell the American people the whole truth and nothing but the truth was Jimmy Carter. You remember his famous Malaise Speech in which he unsmilingly told Americans the whole truth? He was accused of being a pessimist and then overwhelmingly voted out of office by an electorate who preferred the smiling, positive talking, Ronald Reagan.  

People don't want to hear the truth. Don't tell us the truth, that it will take a long time to bring down the unemployment level from 9.1% to a comfortable 5%. Tell us that as soon as you get elected, on day one, you will wave a magic wand, and in a blink of an eye, the unemployment level will drop so fast that the folks on food stamp won't know what hit them.

Instead of telling us the truth, that all of us who bought expensive homes, with zero down payment, knowing fully well that we couldn't afford the mortgage, are part responsible for the 2008 real estate bubble bust. Just put all the blame on Wall Street and all those 1% plutocrats ridding around in their fancy limousines and chomping down on fat cuban cigars.

Don't tell us the truth that you don't have any clear cut solution on dealing with the immigration situation in this country. Don't tell us the truth that it is logistically impossible and morally unimaginable to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, lurking around in this country. Just tell us that on day one of coming into office, you will resolve the immigration issue once and for all.

Don't tell us the truth that the budget cannot be balanced without any spending cuts to the Military as well as downsizing the  entitlement programs. Just tell us that you have a secret strategy for balancing the budget, repaying all our loans to China and repairing all our failing infrastructures without any spending cut. And when we ask you where you are going to get the money to carry out all these wonderful promises you have been making on the campaign trail, don't tell us the truth that it can only come from China. Just look us straight in the eyes and tell us that you will find the money somehow.

Also, when we ask you why you are running for office in spite of all your millions, don't tell us the truth that you have this Macbeth-like ambition to be the most powerful man on earth. Just tell us that you are touched by our sufferings and that you have arisen like Moses to take us out of poverty, to a land flowing with milk and honey.

                                                                                                     ---- To be continued.

WOULD YOU RATHER BE INFORMED OR ENTERTAINED IN CHURCH?

I walk up to you and present you with two magazines: the National Enquirer and Time
Magazine and ask you to choose one. You look at the National Enquirer and on the cover they have a photograph of Jennifer Lopez dressed in a skimpy attire and the headline reads: JENNIFER LOPEZ FINDS A NEW HUNK!" You look at the TIME magazine and on the cover is a photograph of a bald headed, slightly chubby, middle aged man with grey beard, staring at you. The headline reads: BEN BERNANKE DISCUSSES INTEREST RATES AND THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM.

Tell me the God's honest truth, which of these two magazines will you want to read?

I am not a betting man but I am willing to wager $1000 that you would go for the National Enquirer. The reason is simple; National Enquirer is more entertaining than Time magazine. Personally, I don't have any problem with people reading the tabloids. But I am deeply concerned at the rate at which we are sacrificing knowledge on the altar of entertainment.

We have become so addicted to entertainment that we no longer hunger and thirst for deep knowledge. Today our young ones would rather watch Snooki acting the fool on MTV , than watch a congressional debate about the deficit on C-Span. Our young ones can recite all of Lady Gaga's songs and yet can't quote John 3:16 without looking it up on Google. They know who won last year's Dancing With the Stars but they can't tell you who won the 2011 Iowa straw poll.

I have been a Pastor long enough to know that often times people come to church with a ravenous appetite for entertainment . They don't want to hear some boring sermon from Leviticus or Deuteronomy. They want their Pastor to be funny, and the choir to be entertaining. And if you don't entertain them this Sunday, you better don't expect to see them the next Sunday. It kind of reminds of the sage words of Apostle Paul:

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." 2 TIMOTHY 4:3 (NIV)

Let me make one point very clear here: I am not saying that you become a geek or a nerd. I am not anti-entertainment. But there is a time and a place for entertainment,. Don't always expect to be entertained.There comes a time when you should go after real knowledge, no matter how boring it is. If great thinkers like Newton, Locke, Voltaire, Jefferson, and C.S Lewis were alive today, I seriously doubt that you would ever catch them watching MTV or flipping through the pages of the National Enquirer.

FINAL WORD

I want to thank you that bought my latest novel DON'T LET THAT COUNTRY CHANGE YOU.

And thanks for the positive reviews.

If you have not gotten it yet, you can get an e-version for just .99 cents on amazon.com. Just click on the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/DONT-THAT-COUNTRY-CHANGE-ebook/dp/B00557L2G4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313282179&sr=8-1

THE LAW OF DETERIORATION

Simply put, the law of deterioration states :"Things will move from good to bad, unless worked upon."
If we look around our world today, we see the law of deterioration in place.
The other day I went to the registry to renew my Driver's license. When I got my new licence, I pulled out my old driver's and tried comparing the picture I took in 2010 with the recent picture in my 2011 license, the comparison almost brought tears into my eyes! To put it more gently, I will say that I have added more than a couple of pounds, and I looked worn out and battered. What happened to you Emeka? I asked myself. You used to look like Denzel Washington, now you look like Chewbaca!
I knew what happened to me. The law of deterioration. Let's go back to the definition again: Things will move from good to bad, unless worked upon.
I think one of the biggest mistake we make in life is that we ignore this law of deterioration. I know a lady who was having trouble with her husband after they have been married for more than ten years. The woman said, "My husband was so nice, when we first got married, now he is a monster. I don't know what happened to him."
I will tell you what happened to him: The law of deterioration. The law of deterioration can transform a romantic man into boorish, mean, selfish ogre.
When we first started the parish in Worcester, there was a young man who walked up to me and told me he wanted to be a member of our church. This young man told me that he was excited to be a part of what God is about to do in our church. He gave me ideas on how to make the church grow. For about two months he kept coming to our services and even volunteering to help with some activities.
But after a while, this young man started missing midweek services, then he began to miss Sunday services and eventually, he stopped showing up at all. As a Pastor I was concerned. I wanted to know what happened to the young man. Was it something I said? Was my sermon too boring? Didn't he like the music? What happened?
All these questions where floating through my mind, then I remembered the law of deterioration. The law of deterioration can turn an enthusiastic parishioner into a cold, backsliding, ambivalent church member.

WORK ON IT

The only way we can overcome the law of deterioration is to constantly be on our guard. Don't take things for granted. If someone has told me ten years ago that I will be fat and chubby, I would have laughed it off as a big joke. The problem was that ten years ago I had this erroneous belief that I will always be lean and mean. I stopped working out, I allowed my Gym memebership to elapse, and I ate M&M candies like they were going out of fashion- now look at look at me.

The same thing goes for married couple, don't always think that the your spouse will be as sweet as he or she was when you were dating. You have to be on your toes at all times. Work on your marriage and it will not deteriorate.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I will like to remind you that my latest book, DON'T LET THAT COUNTRY CHANGE YOU is still available for purchase on amazon.com.

You can get this ebook for .99 cents, by simply going to www.amazon.com and typing the title "Don't let that Country Change you."

You can also click on this link to purchase it directly.

http://www.amazon.com/DONT-THAT-COUNTRY-CHANGE-ebook/dp/B00557L2G4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312112279&sr=8-1

The great thing about this ebook is that you can read it in an hour. You can read it on your computer or you smartphone!

WHAT WOULD YOU DELETE?

Imagine that you are seating at home watching television. Suddenly a strong wind begins to blow and all the windows in your house starts to rattle, and Bingo your fearless pit bull starts to bark with his tail neatly tucked between his legs.

Suddenly God appears in your living room dressed in complete white, with his eyes blazing. He says to you, "Child the hard disk in your brain is almost filled up. You have too much information in your head. We need to delete some of it now; otherwise you will no longer be able to store up any new information."

You look at God in surprise and you say, "Is that why I have been having headache lately?"

God says "Yes". And then he pulls out a piece of gadget from his pocket and begins to fiddle with it. Then he says to you, "To prevent a mental breakdown I will need to delete 50% of the information stored up in your memory bank. I need you to tell me what information to delete."

The big question here is, what information would you allow the Lord to delete?

Here is my own list of the things I will love the Lord to delete from my memory.

1. Memories of all the hurtful words people have ever spoken to me that I still remember today.
   
2. Memories of all my past failures.
   
3. All my prejudices and misconceptions about people.
   
4. Memories of the things I have lost.
   
5. Every misinformation and lies I have ever been told that is affecting me adversely today.
   

I ask you again, what memories would you allow the Lord to delete from your brain?

For 0.99 cents you can read my latest Novella by clicking on one of the links below:

http://www.amazon.com/DONT-THAT-COUNTRY-CHANGE-ebook/dp/B00557L2G4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1308914266&sr=1-1

DON’T LET THAT COUNTRY CHANGE YOU !

Chapter 3

HANGING IN THERE 

Basil placed his handkerchief on his lap and began to neatly fold it into various halves.  

"You are laughing at me now, but wait until you get to America and realize that nobody there understands you. Then you would wish that you had listened to me." 

What surprised Chukwudi the most was the realization that Basil was dead serious. For a man who had never travelled more than fifty miles outside Makurdi, he actually believed that he could teach Chukwudi a thing or two about America. 

"You really think that I don't know how to speak English?' 

"I didn't say that. All I am saying is that the English we speak here is way different from American English." 

Chukwudi chuckled derisively. "English is English anywhere you go my dear Basil." 

"Let me ask you Chukwudi, if an American says to you 'how are you?' how will you respond?" 

"I will say fine thank you." Chukwudi replied, giving Basil a puzzled stare." How else should I respond?" 

"Wrong!" Basil exclaimed. "In America if someone asks you how you are doing, you say 'Good' or 'I'm hanging in there.'"

"Hanging in where?" 

"Hanging in there!" Basil said, his eyes flashing. "Your uncle should have explained these simple American phraseologies to you."

"Basil, please go away, you are causing me headache." 

"Like I said, if you humble yourself, you will learn a lot from me."  

 
     For 0.99 cents you can read the whole book by clicking on one of the links below:

http://www.amazon.com/DONT-THAT-COUNTRY-CHANGE-ebook/dp/B00557L2G4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1308914266&sr=1-1
 
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65502

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER REMINDS ME OF ONE MY HOMEBOY

I will like to talk about a man in my home town whose name I will not divulge for the sake of peace and harmony. This homeboy was not a movie actor or a weight lifter, neither was he married into the Kennedy family. But he had one thing in common with the former Californian Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger; they both were creeps.

Just like Arnold, my homeboy was not satisfied with one woman, just like Arnold, my homeboy would often creep out of his matrimonial home in pursuit of sluts, Jezebels , whores and home breakers. Just like Arnold, my home boy thought he was slick. And Just like Arnold, my homeboy sired a child out of wedlock.

We didn't know of my homeboy's dalliances until about two months after he died. Suddenly a woman showed up in our compound clutching a little boy. She announced that my homeboy was the Papa, or like the Latinos will say Papi. When the woman announced that the child was homeboy's son, nobody argued with her; even Steve Wonder and the Blind Boys of Alabama would have seen the resemblance. I felt sorry for my homeboy's widow.

If I had the ability to time travel, I will travel back in time to that moment when Arnold and my homeboy first began to entertain the idea of cheating on their respective wives. I would at that moment, drop some scriptures on them. The first scripture I would drop on them will come from the book of Numbers

"And be sure your sin will find you out"…. Numbers 32:23

The second scripture I would drop on them will come from Proverbs

[But] whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he [that] doeth it destroyeth his own soul…..Proverbs 6:32.

I am sure by the time I try to drop the third scriptures on them, Arnold would bolt out of the room screaming, "I will be back!"

Question of the Week!!!

As a Christian what would be your Christ like advice to a friend whose spouse has just cheated on him or her? Please back your views with scriptures if you can.

DO YOU LIVE IN THE WORCESTER AREA OR KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES?

We have a branch of The Redeemed Christian Church of God in Worcester Massachusetts. I would like to invite you to one of our services.

VENUE : 65 Wilson Street (off Shrewsbury Street)

Worcester MA

01604

SUNDAYS: 10am

TUESDAY: 7pm

Our services are spirit filled and word based. We create the atmosphere for you to succeed.