TELLING LIES IN GOD'S NAME

Sometime last year in January 2015, I received a friend request on Facebook from an account of someone whom I had believed at the time was the same prominent Pastor of a very large and well known Church congregation in Nigeria.

Shortly after I accepted the friend request, I received another message from the same person stating that God ministered to him concerning me that I had a bright future and that God wanted to bless me more than I could imagine and some evil forces were hindering my blessing.

He went on to say that God said I should sow a seed into the life of a new born baby that was born with a brain tumour for my blessings to begin manifestation.

I again went to the Pastor's Facebook account to review it to confirm if it was indeed genuine and I saw a number of photos and Church activities therein and I assumed it was indeed this man of God who sent this.

So I started searching for a baby with the same condition mentioned to sow the seed. Even though I never found any baby that fit that description, I was able to sow 3 different seeds in 3 different places into the lives of 3 different children.

One of them was a 7 month old baby born with a brain tumour, the other was a 12 year old boy and the last one I never knew because I sent the funds to a hospital in UK that took my money, neither acknowledged it nor responded to my mail on why I was sowing the seed.

I later responded to the pastor to confirm I had sowed the seed and I asked him to join me in prayer. He responded to say that I had to be sure that it was a new born baby with a brain tumour so as to receive God's promised blessings.

I told him I would respond to give him a testimony once I received a miracle and we left it at that.

Even though I was not sure if I had done what was directed, I prayed to God about it asking Him to direct me to such a child if I had not done what He directed and till the end of the year, I never saw any child with that description.

This January 2016, one year later, I was thinking last week of the incident and behold the very next day, I received the same message on Facebook but this time around from another Nigerian pastor.

I then shared this new incident with my spouse who said she believed this person was a fraudster. I disagreed with her because I pointed out to her that I did not give any money to the first person and maybe it was God still reminding me of the seed to sow.

I looked again at this new message and the wordings were too similar to the first one to be from two different people.

I then searched my Facebook account for the first message I had received a year earlier from the first prominent Nigerian pastor and behold, that account was no longer my friend even though the message from him was still there.

In place of the pastor's Facebook account was the phrase "Facebook User."

I then searched on Google for this new pastor and I observed his name popped up on several social media accounts including another Facebook account.

What I also observed in the second Facebook account is that he runs a Church, is married and based in the U.S. with many postings whereas the other Facebook account with his name from which the message to me came has only his photo and states that he lives in Lagos Nigeria with no other activities posted.

It was then I began to suspect that this was indeed a fraudster. I then made up my mind to speak to him and I responded to his Facebook message thanking him for his message and asking him to send me his phone number.

When he responded later, he told me to let him know when I was ready to sow the seed. I have not responded to him since then because I know he is a fraudster.

I have however, sent a message to the Facebook account of the pastor in U.S. informing him of the cloning and use of his Facebook account and he should confirm if he sent me the message and if he is not, then he should do a search to see the other account so he can inform his friends so that someone does not use his Facebook account to dupe others.

I am yet to receive a response from him and I am still waiting to hear his comments.

Dear friends, I have taken time to give this testimony for you to know the extent to which some people are willing to go to use God's name to deceive others for material gain.

I have no regrets whatsoever sowing the 3 seeds into the lives of the 3 needy children last year 2015 for God indeed gave me a very great miracle for which I am eternally grateful to Him.

Sharing His blessing with others according to our ability is what God expects us to do with the blessings He has given us.

What makes me happy is that I did not part with my money to a fraudster.

Nowadays, there are so many false pastors, prophets and preachers using God's name to fleece unsuspecting church members of their income and also seducing weak women (married and single) into adultery and fornication.

It is so bad that unless God has mercy on someone, you could be misled into committing sin against God.

This is however not surprising for God's Word in the Holy Bible clearly speaks about false prophets and their activities - 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.

As you can see from God's Word, these false prophets and pastors are agents of satan disguising as servants of the Most High God.

It is so sad that even when you tell their members about the activities of their leaders, they disbelieve, get offended and even go ahead to quote Bible passages such as "Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm."- 1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15).

This is what God's Word says about false prophets, teachers, pastors and their supporters in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron."

So one should not be surprised at their supporters who have chosen to follow a spirit of error from satan even as God's Word says in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.

However, I also have Good News for those who want to follow God sincerely as contained in His Word in Deuteronomy 18:21-22.

God says you can recognise His prophet if the prophecy from the prophet comes to pass because God will honour His name and honour the word of a prophet to prove that He sent the prophet - 2 Chronicles 20:20.

What I want supporters of false prophets, teachers and pastors to note is that every one of us will one day INDIVIDUALLY give account of our lives on earth to God and it is on this basis that God will give His judgment of innocent or guilty and no one, not even a pastor will escape judgment.

The Bible even tells us that teachers of the Gospel would be given a stricter judgment because by God's reckoning, they ought to know what is right and what is wrong so they can teach the people the right thing according to God's standards - James 3:1.

For the congregation, the standard for judgment is the Word of God found in the Holy Bible.

This is the same standard by which every single human being would be judged, whether President of a country, pastor, governor, senator, mayor, labourer, driver, mechanic, etc.

If this is the case, then the sensible thing a person must do is to know what God has said so you are not misled by your pastor.

If your pastor says there is nothing wrong with tattoos, know today the Bible says we should not use tattoos - Leviticus 19:28.

If your pastor says there is nothing wrong with a woman wearing trousers, know today the Bible says men should not wear clothing pertaining to women and women should not wear clothing pertaining to men and all who do such are an abomination to God - Deuteronomy 22:5.

If your pastor says there is nothing wrong with a man wedding a man or a woman wedding a woman, know today that God's Word says all homosexuals deserve death (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13) and no homosexual or sexually immoral person will enter heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

If your pastor says there is nothing wrong in taking alcohol, know today that the Word of God condemns it - Isaiah 5:11,22; Ephesians 5:18; Proverbs 20:1; 23:29-35).

Dear friend, if you are a Christian whose pastor is saying things and you are not sure, pray to God to show you His Word in the Holy Bible concerning that matter and God who sees the sincerity in your heart will lead you to the truth.

Do not assume the pastor is always right especially in these days of false prophets and agents of satan masquerading as servants of God.

If God gives you a vision or revelation about your pastor whose activities have consistently shown him to be doing things contrary to God's Word in the Holy Bible, please run away from that congregation and ask God to show you a genuine Church where you can worship Him in truth and in spirit.

God will not allow you to perish with a false pastor if you sincere serve God. Also, do not harden your heart against the truth of God's Word because on judgment day, there will be no acceptable excuse that it was your pastor who misled you.

This is also why you MUST diligently pray and study God's Word in the Holy Bible for that is the ONLY place where absolute truth is found.

As God's Word says in 1 John 2:27, "But the anointing which you have received from Him (God) abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning ALL things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it taught you, you will abide in Him."

May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus' Mighty Name, Amen.

Gabriel Ama.