Why is "this Gospel" not working…?

My name is Chidi (not me in the pic, doesn't matter). I became a believer in Christ (or so I thought) about 26 years ago and was subsequently ordained an associate Pastor about 10 years ago. My spiritual experience over these years was filled with lots of ups and downs. I soon discovered that I was not alone in this.

In all the “churches” I have been part of over the years, our understanding was that the fall of Adam gave rise to sin entering the world, after which all the consequences of sin followed…sickness, poverty and even physical death etc. 

In other words, in the beginning, Adam was sinless, sickness free and immortal. There seemed to be no much controversy among most “Christians” regarding our understanding of the origin of all the problems plaguing mankind today.

In addition to this, our understanding was that receiving CHRIST (who we referred to the last Adam) should mean that we will be restored to a place of dominion that the first Adam lost. However, each time I looked at my own life experience and of those around me in the different churches I was part of, I had more questions than answers. 

In my experience, I can say that some of my prayers were clearly answered but many were not and it was hard to tell which prayer will work and which one will not. It soon became like a game of chance. Sometimes we prayed for the sick, they recovered.  Other times, they died quickly.  

I also struggled to understand why it was hard as a "Christian" to live a perfectly holy life with no blemish even after speaking in tongues for so many years. I personally struggled with several sins e.g lust involving pornography, masturbation etc. I prayed, fasted many times. I confided in a few brethren and to my shock, many were struggling too. For some it was the same lust, but others had other things they were dealing with. 

One time, I spoke up about these struggles in front of the local church and after the meeting another leader came to meet me and confirmed he was facing similar struggles. However, most people pretended to be doing great, especially if you're holding a leadership position. You dare not own up to any wrong as a leader. 

As leaders, we were good at pretending to be alright. No one must know of your struggles. Members equally did the same in order to be accepted. It soon became a game of mutual deception.

But deep down within me, I hated the idea of not being true to myself. If something is not working as expected, I usually begin to ask questions. I simply can't keep on pretending for long. 

As a Pentecostal then, I liked making bold positive confessions/affirmations like the others e.g "Say to your neighbour, This is my year of dominion", etc.  But in reality, each time the rubber met the road, our experience was anything but dominion.

However, when I read the Bible, I could see clearly that at the beginning of the "Church" in the Acts of Apostles, they appeared to have had dominion to a great extent, most of which we can’t relate to today.  

For example, I read that Paul the Apostle was holding a meeting in the top floor of a storey building and had been speaking for 9 hours through the night. Someone slept off, fell and died.  The very next action of Paul was shocking. He simply went downstairs and laid himself over the boy and said to them “Don’t be alarmed, He’s alive!”. And he brought him back to life.

Fast forward to this day, the reaction will be completely different. I remember being in a crusade event in Lagos and someone suddenly collapsed probably from exhaustion or so (not sure the real reason). The very first announcement to be made with the microphone was equally shocking…“Is there any doctor in the house?”

I reasoned that it is either the "Gospel" is a big lie or what we called "the Church" had completely deviated from the truth of it. However, since I was certain the Gospel of CHRIST was true, then it must mean that we were the ones that missed the road somewhere.

Why are “Christians” still severely plagued by all the consequences of the fall of Adam even after supposedly receiving CHRIST? “Christians” are still sinning, getting sick, dying from everything you can imagine…. diseases e.g cancer, accidents, armed robbery attacks, kidnappings, terrorists attacks, suicides, natural disasters etc.

The present-day church appears almost as helpless as so called "unbelievers" when faced with similar perilous circumstances. While  the  world  is  getting  worse  and  darker  by  the  day,  the present  “church”, unfortunately, appears "dead", very much divided, riddled with scandals and unable to counter the raging storm. 

As you may have noticed, darkness is covering the earth and gross darkness is coming upon its inhabitants at an alarming rate. What we have been calling "Christianity" today has failed to shine forth the LIGHT of Christ and dispel the darkness.

Where is that dominion promised by the Gospel? Why does this "Gospel" appear not be working in practice as expected? Where is the “Glorious Church without spot and wrinkle” that the bible spoke about? Where is that church that will do greater works than Christ did when he walked the earth? Where is that Church that the gates of hell cannot prevail against? 

DIDN’T CHRIST SAY WE WOULD DO GREATER WORKS THAN HE DID WHILE HE WALKED ON THE EARTH? HAVE WE TRULY BELIEVED IN CHRIST? HAVE WE TRULY RECEIVED HIM?

These were some of the questions I was asking and which I believe any sincere "believer" should be asking at this time.

I couldn’t find any meaningful answers to these questions from all my church friends and even fellow pastors until one day in 2015, by the mercy of God, I came across an unusual message series taught by one woman of God who I had never heard of at the time. It was my first encounter to the true Gospel of the Kingdom.

The truth she taught at a ministers’ meeting in Lagos in 2015, were very different from what I was familiar with as a Pentecostal Pastor and challenged my long held theological understanding of the Gospel. 

As soon as I began listening to these messages on the Kingdom of Christ and meditating on them, scales immediately began falling off my eyes. As I continued listening to these messages so many times over the period of many months, more veils over my eyes came off. 

I could clearly see how the Gospel of Healing, Gospel of Prosperity, Gospel of Deliverance, Gospel of Faith, Gospel of Holiness and even Gospel of Dominion (7 mountains) etc were all deviations from the True Gospel even though they sounded great to the ears.

I also saw that even the very best of what he had seen and experienced in the "Church" so far have been just a foretaste of what is promised in CHRIST.

It has been such a great awakening. I'm presently on an exciting journey towards the perfect will of God for mankind and each passing day, my understanding of God's vision is getting brighter and brighter.

In fact, from what I have seen so far since contacting and connecting for the past two years with the above mentioned woman minister of the glorious gospel of Christ, the difference between what we have been doing and have called “Christianity” and what God really has in mind for us, is so mind blowing and can only be likened to the difference between "the egg" versus "the life" of the fully matured butterfly.

My first reaction to this glorious gospel was that of shock and amazement.  I wondered how we could have been blinded these many years for so long and never had this type of clarity about the gospel. 

This awakening began to answer all of my previously unanswered questions about why things were not working as the scriptures said they should.  I was very thrilled by the simplicity of the glorious gospel of Christ. In fact, couldn’t get enough of this glorious gospel. First of all, I owned up.  I was no longer afraid to say I had missed the mark all these years. 

Secondly, I was no longer afraid to move on and journey to the truth. However, for me, it took over 24 months of continuously hearing the truth to get the scales off my eyes.  Eventually, I could see clearly the wide gap between what we were doing/teaching/practicing all these years compared to what God originally intended. 

I could see how many of "Church activities" had degenerated to another form of religion, entertainment etc and how far we had deviated from the true gospel of Christ.

I could no longer stand the many activities including messages after I saw clearly  how far away they had derailed from the true path of Life (CHRIST) even though those activities were supposedly done in the name of Jesus. I now understand what Paul meant when he said to the Galatians “who bewitched you”. 

I had to summon the courage to completely move on from the present church even though I was in a leadership position and I was very close to many people there including the Senior Pastor of the local church I attended.  

And believe me, moving on from the present church (or what we thought was "the church") has been one of the best decisions of my life. Since then (over 2 years as of the time of this publication), my whole life (spiritual, marriage etc) has taken a glorious turn in many ways I can't explain here.

I have since continued on a definite, defined and progressive journey to know fully the TRUE GOSPEL and THE WAY into the ultimate purpose of life and all the promises of God in Christ from my connecting with the ministry platforms coordinated by above mentioned woman, where every meeting is as explosive as my first encounter with these truths.

Looking back, I'm so grateful to God. I don't know where I would have been now, if I didn't find the Truth and I can't trade this with anything else. I feel like the man that found a pearl of great value in a field and went and sold everything to purchase the field.

I have shared the set of the 2015 messages which triggered my kingdom discipleship journey.  

If you are one of God's remnant people that are being called to move on to the ultimate purpose of God on earth at this time, then this will resonate with you.

Take time and listen to these. If indeed any part of these messages strikes a chord in your heart, kindly drop me an email at Truthseeker2027@gmail.com. 

Here is the link to the 2015 Kingdom Messages.  If you have any trouble accessing this link, please email me and I will send you another link.