Ochenika Williams

Christian || Industrial chemist || Thinker

[Rasine Irem @RasineIrem]

How can a just God send anyone to heaven?

No one seems bothered about the intellectual problem this question raises, people are often bothered by the opposite.

But if it’s a problem for God’s loving nature to send anyone to hell then it’ll be a problem for him to send anyone to heaven because all have sinned.

The Christian believes that in Jesus God’s love and justice meet so that the wrath of God is satisfied in Jesus and God’s love is expressed through him.

It is therefore faith in Jesus that is the basis by which people receive eternal life and rejection of Jesus sadly brings condemnation on every man who does not believe.

[Gideon Odoma @gideonodoma]

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SAINTS

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.
Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
Therefore do not be partners with them.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light
– Paul of Tarsus, Apostle extraordinaire

*** *** ***
If I were the one preaching and I said, as in the last line above, that believers should LIVE as children of light, & that they should not just confess they are children of light; If I said so, some deluded hypergracer would start convulsing and accusing me of advocating for Legalism.

If someone is angry when you repeat what the New Testament teaches, is that person an apostle or a fraud? Please, tell

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

Woes to those who at ease in Zion and a curse upon those who will not rise to help the Lord on the day of battle.

Shame!!!

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

The Christian faith is targeted species of/for persecution. The guys executing/exerting such acts of persecution are aware of this fact while we Christians numb ourselves to pretences like it doesn't exist.

[Gideon Odoma @gideonodoma]

POLITICS & LEGAL IMMORALITIES

The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was legal for centuries until it was abolished in the eighteen hundreds. Yet, all the years it was legal, it was immoral. As humans in a broken world, we can't always ensure that only things that are moral are legal. A thing can be legal and immoral. For instance, fornication (sexual immorality) is legal – almost everywhere in the world. It is immoral but legal.

As believers, we are not to be champions of immoral legalities. While we may not be able to officially ilegalize certain immoralities in society, we can refrain from identifying with and celebrating them.
Okay; so, it is both immoral and illegal to be a crooked, drug pushing, certificate forging, election rigging, money looting, bullion-van brandishing, Mafia Lord. If such a corrupt identify-thief hauls himself into political office by buying & bullying every conscience on his way, he remains the immoral, abhorent specimen that he is, despite buying-over the Judiciary to legitimize his fraud.

Riding on the corruption in the judiciary & the technicalities in the law to impose yourself on a people is immoral. God will never countenance such an atrocious development. Neither should God's people, especially ministers of the gospel. It is a colossal malpractice for a believer to ride along with, to embrace & identify with a manifestly immoral, objectively illegal mandate simply because the courts have manipulated the law to legalize an obvious illegality. God's position is not based on court pronouncements. So, when siding with the courts implies parting ways with God's position, a believer naturally sides with God even if he can not change the court's verdict. Yes, even when he can not change the court's verdict, it should still be obvious his allegiance lies with God.

You can disagree with a court's rulling even if and when you can not change or appeal it. It is a matter of fidelity to conscience & to truth.

Biblical example:
2 Kings 3:13-14 ESV -
And Elisha said to THE KING of Israel, “WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH YOU? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the LORD who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” 14 And Elisha said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, WERE IT NOT THAT I HAVE REGARD FOR JEHOSHAPHAT the king of Judah, I WOULD NEITHER LOOK AT YOU NOR SEE YOU.

This one needs no commentary, really:
This is Prophet Elisha speaking to the Iegitimate King of Israel. The prophet only condoned the King in his prophetic presence because of Jehoshaphat – the king of Judah. King Jehoshaphat was worthy of the prophet's presence. King Jehoram – the wicked son of the evil king Ahab – was not worthy of Elisha's presence. Not all kings are so worthy...
Elisha's conscience would not let him entertain the legitimate but ungodly King-Jehoram.

1 Samuel 15:24-26 ESV
Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and RETURN WITH ME that I may bow before the LORD.” And Samuel said to Saul, “I WILL NOT RETURN WITH YOU. FOR YOU HAVE REJECTED THE WORD OF THE LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

Is this not also self-explanatory?
This was the Prophet-Samuel who anointed Saul as king. Yet, he would not tolerate such compromise from the king. The King went to great lengths to get Samuel to show up with him in public that day.

A Christian leader with conscience does not countenance and does not tag along with every legality, simply because there are such things as "immoral legalities."

[Gideon Odoma @gideonodoma]

WATCH THIS VIDEO AND HEAR ME OUT IN TWO (PERSONAL) STORIES

My wife has not been able to get the indigeneship certificate from her actual state of origin. Why. Because she converted to Christianity. Yes. Sokoto state has denied her the so-called "state of origin certificate," despite many efforts.

In fact, after our wedding, I insisted that she try again. She traveled up to Sokoto, spent a full week there and came back empty handed. They refused to issue her the certificate.

Today, her state of origin certificate is from my state, not her father's state. Again, I'll remind you why: because she converted to Christianity. They told her in clear and plain terms. They re-emphasized it in the Hausa language at the office in Sokoto, to make it crystal clear. They were not going to issue her the certificate because she is a Christian.

So, a few months after our wedding, 17 years ago, she was admitted to the Nigerian Law School (NLS). We heard that Sokoto state gave out 500,000 Naira and a laptop to each indigene of the state who got admitted to the NLS. But my wife almost missed resumption because we could not raise 240,000 Naira to pay her fees. We had just married, but wedding aside, I was normally and naturally broke. But then, by a 'miracle', we managed to raise the fee a day to the closing date of registration.

Story two:
While I was in Unijos, I knew Christian students from Bauchi state who were constantly denied their state's bursary, because, you guessed it, they are Christians. The scholarship board would somehow omit their names from the approved bursary list. They can tell that you're a Christian just by your name, even without ever meeting/knowing you.

So, when the affected students appealed, the state's student association would encourage them to go and file a complaint. Usually, after a lot of back and forth, and traveling back to Bauchi to report the omission, traveling to their local government to obtain validation letters and then providing proof on indigeneship, 1. They would have spent about the equivalent of the bursary amount on logistics and transportation. 2. They would finally be told that the year's bursary program had ended, and that they should wait for the following year. The following year, the same “omission mistake” would happen. Rinse and repeat.

Therefore, while thy government agency and the officials in charge would never tell them that they were being victimized because of their Christian faith, both sides of the drama knew. It was just a power play and the Christians could do nothing about it.

Those brethren went through this ordeal and graduated, never receiving this statutory benefit from their state, even though they qualified for it. Their only offense was that they were in the wrong religion.

Time would fail me to multiply these stories.
There has been a systematic, systemic assault on Christians and Christianity in these parts. What you hear in the attached video is the normal experience of many Christians who happen to be minorities in their state. The genocide dimension is simply one segment of an elaborate, diabolical, subjugation project.

It has only been getting worse.
But it has to stop!

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

@ai_uncovered Want

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

@mentorAIhere Google

[Rasine Irem @RasineIrem]

A life of consistent prayer is not easy to build.

Your body will fight you. Your mind will wander.

Even 5 minutes of prayer everyday as easy as that seems will not be easy to consistently build.
Your flesh will fight it.

The reason this is the case is that prayer was not designed to be run on the operating system of the fallen man.

If you’re finding it difficult to pray consistently it means you’re doing the right thing.
Don’t faint.
Keep building.

There are many things a life of prayer would easily handle that hours of counselling will not.

Have a trophy room of answered prayers somewhere in your pilgrimage, it will keep you from being discouraged.

As a preacher you need a consistent prayer life, a preacher who doesn’t pray shouldn’t be heard.
If you’re not talking to God, you do not need to talk to men about Him.

But as a normal Christian, you need a consistent prayer life too.
Else you’ll wake up one day and find out that the only thing that is Christian about you is your name.

The way men give things to who they want to appreciate, you, give yourself to prayer.

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

Epic and beautiful!

[Gideon Odoma @gideonodoma]

AGENDA VASHTI-Plus! LADIES EDITION¹.

Since it is time to micro-milk the book of Esther and postulate unhinged narratives, let's roll:

VASHTI: O, strong lady. Yes. She refused to be 'objectified' by her husband-king, so that today's woman can be liberated and empowered to objectify herself, post twerk videos & nude pictures – on social media. Yes, now the 21st century woman can get paid or get famous for demeaning, dehumanizing & sexualizimg herself at the gym, on social media, and elswhere. Nobody needs to tell her these days to dress as scantily as possible to excite the base, immoral instinct of perverse men, and maybe, get paid in the process. No. As an ongoing tribute to Vashti's courage, today's woman is finally free to indulge in the objectively shameful without any sense of shame. Now, she can say 'No' to men so that she can then go on to exceed their expectations to absurd, moronic proportions – in virtuelessness. At last, because of Vashti, today's woman can be Jezebel².

ESTHER: Well, she was quite malleable. She obeyed Mordecia. Imagine, she obeyed enough to even keep quiet about her nationality. So that, now, ladies can turn social media into their personal journal and diary where – unprovoked – they tell the world every last bit of their lives and showcase their compounding poor life choices, while shaming their parents in public and respecting no one, (let alone OBEYING some old-school 'Mordecai' of a dad). Esther, guided by her 'dad', fasted and put her life at great risk to speak up for her people, God's people. Because of her, today's woman can now be narcissistic, and egregiously selfish – without any care for family or community that may inconvenience her in the slightest. She has no allegiance. She is her own lady. She did not ask to be born, so she owes no parent any honour, she owes no one nothing. You see, she greedy and her God is hedonism. Esther took faith in God seriously and was spiritual, so that today's ladies can disregard God and be promiscuous. How cute! 🤷🏽‍♂️

Lesson:
Vashti said No, so that you can now say Yes.
Esther said Yes, so that you can now say No.

Nonsense!

NOTES:
1. Mordecai (Men's) edition may follow.
2. 2Kings 9:30, Rev 2:20

[Gideon Odoma @gideonodoma]

VASHTI & CO... THE BIG ISSUE IS: How to interpret the Bible.

And, this is why I hinted at 'agenda' and what I call 'micro-milking' early enough in my last post.

There is a 'theological' way to read the bible. Theological here is different from exegetical. It is a framework that acts as a lens through which interpretation is done. Not bad. We all (should) do it, especially if we know we are doing it when we are at it.
So, yes, when you come to the book of Esther, be careful not to over-project preconceived notions and fringe elements (tribalism, racism, feminism, patriarchy, etc) onto the book. Those elements might be here and there, in the narrative, but there is a core to the book. So, when you work through the book with a fine comb for the purpose of mainstreaming any (marginal) strand of the many issues that are hinted at, you will soon land on a sad, bad slippery slope. When you teach from elsewhere the principle of discipleship, for instance, you can illustrate it with Mordecai's dealing with Esther. But you can't put the weight of such teaching on the Mordecai material. It is not the control for a Christian understanding of discipleship, even though it can illustrate many parts of the Chriatian teaching on discipleship. Get the point?
Therefore, given what some of you are doing with the book of Esther, ACF, IPOB, MBF, MIYETTI ALLAH, etc can spin favourable narratives out of Haman's dealing with the Jews/Mordecai. And, depending on who you want to identify with, you can make Haman or Mordecai the hero of your narrative. Yes. And the mere fact that Hama was executed, similar to (but more serious than) how Vashti was deposed, would not be sufficient to undermine their heroism. People die, people are jailed, people lose their job now and then, all for standing for the truth. Jesus was crucified. But He was right. His opponents were wrong.
So, you see, with an agenda and a readiness to micro-milk the book of Esther, you can make heroes and villains out of any of the characters there. Let me give you an example, a sample.
"Haman was a patriot, a nationalist who was ousted while working to preserve his culture and the purity of his race from the corrupting influence of Jewish culture which, through Mordecai, was threatening to take over the land. The Jews had no right to be influential in a land that was not theirs. Haman therefore was incentivised by a strong patriotic ethos, even though his motive was embellished to appear like ego more than altruism. He was a good man who loved his people and culture. Mordecai however was the bigot who wanted to flash his foreign culture on people's faces and offend the sensitivity and sensibilities of his host culture. He was a bad man" Again, you see what you can do with an agenda, right?

Well.. this is not yet the first word of my introduction on the matter, but I am tired from long travel, and I'm in a different time zone, which is a bit disorienting. Therefore, while my mind wants to think, my body wants to sleep. So, true, Haman's wife was right... huh? What was that? Okay, I need to go.

Would love to host a space on this Esther narratives – in particular – and 'How to interpret the bible' – in general – but, God, when? 🤔

[Gideon Odoma @gideonodoma]

MINISTRY... YOUNGER PEOPLE

Every year, during MiS, we invite an elder to teach and minister to us. We seek to learn from their experience acquired over decades of walking with the Lord. We expect them to tell us a lot of how they've seen God's word play out. Experience.

I see younger ministers trying to do the same a lot these days. I see people starting out in ministry focusing on 'firing people up' to make an impact, or to pray prayers, or to be disciplined. It is very effective, short-term. It may even be some form of spirit-coated motivational exercise unto good works. I get it. But I think it is inappropriate. Leave that work for elders. And do it very sparingly. If you are young, bury your life in the scripture. Exegesis. Hermeneutics. These should be your obsession.

Teach the scriptures. Expound it. Teach it raw. Let stories and illustrations be scanty in your delivery. Aim for naked mastery of the word. No toppings, no garnishing. If you are young, you don't have the breadth and the luxury for that sort of unhinged, even if fiery protocol. Yrs, i know that it is tempting to go that exciting route, because it usually sparks prayer. Young audiences go ga-ga at such deliveries and it might even make you popular. But your soul, your soul, o man of God, will be lean. Your asernal will have petrol, but not rocks. Your word-store will be emasculated, and your doctrine will be flippant and emotional.
You will start to depend on 'inspiration' a lot, and you will start to commit doctrinal blunders frequently.
You may have fire. But you will lack wood to keep that fire burning. Your ministry will spark people, but will hardly ground them. We build with doctrine, unembelished doctrine.

If you are young, leave the elders to 'speak', leave 'talk' for them. If you are young, labour in the word, in doctrine. Let those who hear you be burdened with untempered excavations from the word. Be meaty. Just keep at the word. Stay with scriptures. Let most of your statements be clear explication of the text of scripture before you.

I will say more later. And when I do, I will still end with this paraphrase from a wise man: learn to read the lines before attempting to read between the lines. Till then, stay with the 'lines'.

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

The charismata doesn't negate that. Even while Jesus gave his disciples power to do, they were taught and they accepted teaching. We have not so learned Christ - keep your additions biko

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

The Christian faith has changed hands over the years like a football kicked to and fro, goalpost expanding daily to accommodate all manner of rubbish. Many of which a real-time, proper Bible discipleship naturally deals with. Take time to learn and grow.

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

Was locked by heaven. How easy it would have been for John to have named himself the Messiah and the traction he'll get will be beyond utterance. The very thing he denied doing is what we've mainstreamed in our age in a very subtle way. REPENT O CHRISTIAN!

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

John the BAPTIST!!!
The one man who could have successfully taken the glory of Jesus to himself. He was born of prophecy, witnessed by all. The son of a notable old priest with angelic encounter - just imagining the populace of people who were in attendance on the day his mouth

[Gideon Odoma @gideonodoma]

A word from the past... as we approach MiS2025
***

UNCTION, PREACHER, GET UNCTION
The tragedy of this late hour is that we have too many dead men in the pulpits giving out too many dead sermons to too many dead people. Oh! the horror of it. There is a strange thing that I have seen "under the sun," even in the fundamentalist circles; it is preaching without unction. What is unction? I hardly know. But I know what it is not (or at least I know when it is not upon my own soul). Preaching without unction kills instead of giving life. The unctionless preacher is a savor of death unto death. The Word does not live unless the unction is upon the preacher. Preacher, with all thy getting–get unction.
…Preaching is a spiritual business. A sermon born in the head reaches the head; a sermon born in the heart reaches the heart. Under God, a spiritual preacher will produce spiritually minded people. Unction is not a gentle dove beating her wings against the bars outside of the preacher's soul; rather, must she be pursued and won. Unction cannot be learned, only earned-by prayers. Unction is God's knighthood for the soldier-preacher who has wrestled in prayer and gained the victory. Victory is not won in the pulpit by firing intellectual bullets or wisecracks, but in the prayer closet; it is won or lost before the preacher's foot enters the pulpit. Unction is like dynamite.
– Leonard Ravenhill

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

Oh Christian, there's something that one does. Let it not be that you are just "one" and not a "threat".
You're only a threat when we are five...chai.
God epp me 🤲🏻🤲🏻

The Spirit began at Pentecost and has continued till now. The Spirit is alive and active

Man your gate!!!

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

If the Nazarite should be fully consecrated unto God, should not the Christian be even so and much more?

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

My take!!!
One who consumed alcohol comes under it's influence and control so much that God had the Nazarite abstain from wine to be fully consecrated to him in the period of his vows such that the Spirit of God would be in charge of the man, so when in the new testament,

[Ochenika Williams @WAdavize1715]

drunkenness is contrasted with the Spirit of God, it is left to one's volition because Love should bring the man that profess Christ under the lordship and authority of God's Spirit. He should willfully seek to be controlled and led by the Spirit and not some other thing.