IT IS WHAT GOD SAYS, AND NOT WHAT YOU THINK, SAY OR BELIEVE

At the end of speaking to an elderly man during an evangelism exercise today, he told us how his daughter from his third wife was about getting married and how happy he was and how members in his Church were amazed at the way he danced about his daughter's upcoming wedding.

Third wife? This hit me and I now understood why God had led us to this man to preach the Gospel.

This is the same man who had earlier said he believed in Jesus Christ and His power to heal his eye problem, spoke about how God had sustained him all these years, prevented armed robbers from killing him and how he was a deacon in his Church!

So I wondered so much about this issue of a third wife that I asked the man if he thought a Christian should have more than one wife to which he said he had never had more than one woman at a time and even the third one was not staying with him.

The man went on to narrate how the first wife had killed all her children through witchcraft and even committed adultery and left him to marry another man. He said the brother of the second woman he married came and took her away.

As for the third woman, the man said after giving him three children, she left him to marry another person with whom she had five children and now his daughter getting married wanted the woman and him to be reconciled.

He shocked us further by saying he was looking for a fourth woman to marry! His reason was because he could not be alone and he needed a woman to sleep with him!

Though I never asked for his age, but this man cannot be less than 70 years old!

When we reminded the man that God's Word does not accept his current lifestyle and that only the first woman was his wife and that he should have prayed to God to cancel satan's power of witchcraft over her life, the man insisted on the fact that the woman committed adultery and there was no way he could accept her back into his life.

When reminded that a Christian ought to forgive and love, he said he was willing to forgive the first woman but what would he do when she was the one who left him to marry another person.

We then asked him what advice he would give as a deacon in the Church to a brother whose wife committed adultery and he said he would tell the person to leave his wife and marry another because she is not his wife for committing adultery!

Dear friend, one thing was obvious about this man - he, just like so many others including those who profess Christianity, did not believe in the power of God to resolve any and all issues no matter what it is.

When they have an opinion or lifestyle that is contrary to what God says in His Holy Word, the Bible, and you remind them of God's Word, they still insist on their opinion or lifestyle.

This is why our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ says in John 3:18-19 "He who believes in Him (Jesus Christ) is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already; because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

At the end of the day, it is pertinent to note that no matter what anyone including satan feels, thinks, says or does concerning any issue, it is what God says about it in the Bible, His ONLY HOLY WORD, that counts.

The Bible is the manual God in His love has given to mankind to serve as a guide and reminder about what He has decreed and the Bible is the standard God will use to judge every human being.

This is why God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 "Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

And these Words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Dear friend, you can see the emphasis God gave the Israelites concerning His Word and since God does not change (Malachi 3:6a), the same emphasis remains today for Christians and indeed the entire world.

Make no mistake about this, dear friend. It is certainly not what we want as human beings but what God says on any issue.

If God says we should pay tithes and we do otherwise, that is rebellion. If God says we should forgive others for Him to forgive us and we do otherwise, that is rebellion. If God says we should not tell lies, steal, keep malice, commit adultery, fornication, etc and we do otherwise, that is rebellion.

God's Word says in 1 Samuel 15:23a "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry."

Dear friend, please make up your mind to study God's Word in the Holy Bible and obey Him in ALL things as He has commanded, because the consequences of disobedience is grave. Not only would one not enjoy God's blessings here on earth, but at the end of life here, one would enter eternity in HELL FIRE FOREVER.

Of what benefit would it be to such soul, to enjoy sin here on earth for a few miserable yeas and then spend eternity with satan, who is the father of lies and sin?

May God bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus' Most Powerful Name, Amen.

Gabriel Ama.