Strong Delusion

“And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie”. There is a vast difference between faith and delusion, by literal or linguistic meaning and scriptural implication, even though the concepts may be scientifically proximate being both phenomenon that involve belief and occur in the minds and souls of men. My pocket Webster’s Dictionary defines faith as “belief without evidence, confidence; trust, belief in God, the Bible etc, a specific religion, anything given adherence or credence…allegiance; faithfulness” and delusion as “the act of deluding or the state of being deluded, a false, irrational and persistent belief” (to delude being “to mislead the mind or judgment of; deceive”). According to the Vine’s Concise Dictionary of the Bible, the basic meaning of faith or “pistis” is primarily “firm persuasion” in relation to “faith in the (invisible) God or Christ or things spiritual” as distinct from “faith” in man. The word implies trust, trustworthiness, fidelity and assurance, with its elements being firm conviction of truth; personal surrender; and conduct inspired by such surrender. On the other hand, delude or delusion is defined as “to reason amiss”, wrong opinion and/or error in religion or morals. The meeting point of faith and delusion may thus be that where faith is unfounded, erroneous, false or even contrived, it may be actually delusional! The other point as may be discernible from my initial quote is that God himself may “send them” delusions! When Paul (with Silas and Timothy) wrote the second epistle to the Thessalonians, they started with thanksgiving and prayer for the Thessalonians growing faith and love, and the suffering and persecution they were enduring for the faith. Paul declared that “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled” and then warned them against some false teachers who had come to deceive the Church with wrong theology concerning the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ, before providing an explanation for the conduct of the deceiving preachers and those they were successfully deceiving-because they refused to love the truth, “God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie”!!! I suspect that many today live in delusion (and captivity and oppression) rather than faith! I may of course add the clarification that I refer only to faith in the invisible God rather than in men, mammon or religion!!! In Biblical times, when God’s children had serious reproach in their lives, they put on sackcloth and wailed in the temple before God, and he always answered them. Today many utter empty words-“it is well”, “God is good”, “I am blessed” even as it is evident that they are not confronting their real issues before the true God. A brother or sister may be afflicted with poverty and lack, but instead of asking God for a fundamental intervention in his condition and changing his behavior, he develops a theology of poverty (just as prosperity is not necessarily a sign of God’s blessings, poverty is not necessarily evidence of righteousness!) and engages in “holy” begging. A sister is unmarried and over 40-there is something wrong-spiritually and with her character and behavior, but instead of making required adjustments, she is the loudest in Church and an evangelist on social media. Many are denied the fruit of the womb and instead of following the examples of valiant and faithful women like Hannah, Elisabeth, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, etc whom God answered and removed their reproach, they invent an alternative theology and rationalize their oppression and denial. Many’s dreams are frustrated and they attend Churches wondering when their problems will be resolved, but instead their problems are multiplied, while their Pastors boast to them daily of the blessings of God in their own lives. And the sorrowful child of God waits and waits… Someone told me of a conversation that was a classic example of gross delusion, three “brothers” engaged in “holy” gossip about someone whose marriage they alleged was in trouble. Knowing the three, I wondered about their locus standi-one in his second marriage after divorce; another’s marriage was childless after over two decades, a medical case of confirmed impotence and depression; the third also in a second marriage, after widowhood, and in the habit of boasting how God took away his deceased first wife with his permission!!! The three regularly speak excellent “Christianese” and continue in their delusions! God’s truth is evident and clear in the scriptures-when people refuse to believe those simple, unchanging truths, God allows them to believe in lies! According to Prophet Isaiah, God says “Just as they have chosen their own ways …so will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; Because, when I called, no one answered”. There are examples concerning idolatry and homosexuality-Paul wrote to the Romans disparaging those who refused to glorify God instead worshipping images of men, birds, animals and reptiles “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness” and allowed them to worship and serve “the creature rather than the Creator”; and those who “God gave them up unto vile affections” whereupon men lusted after men, and women after women! For those of us who are neither idolaters nor homosexuals, we may of course note that down the passage, other categories of reprobation were mentioned-wickedness, evil, greed, depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless…may God have mercy on us all!!!

Divine Healing

I have usually written on faith and spirituality around Christmas and Easter (and other times) but the last two Wednesdays of 2013 fell on Christmas and New Year days, public holidays on which this newspaper does not publish. This piece was deferred from then. From the earliest of times, God had proclaimed himself as healer-“…for I am the LORD that healeth thee”; David sang in in the Psalms of a God “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases”; and Prophet Isaiah wrote “Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound”. When Jehovah sent Isaiah to inform Hezekiah to set his house in order in preparation for death, when he prayed and wept before the Lord, God healed him and added 15 years to his life. God closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife, but when Abraham prayed, God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. Jeremiah the Old Testament Prophet acknowledged God’s healing power when he wrote “Heal me, Oh Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for thou art my praise” One of the earliest descriptions of Jesus Christ’s ministry was one of teaching, preaching and healing-“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.” At this time, Jesus had only called four out of the twelve disciples. He then called another four and resumed his healing mission-“And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news (Gospel) of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every weakness and infirmity among the people” So he healed the leper; the Centurion’s servant; Peter’s mother-in-law; the man with palsy (paralytic); the ruler’s daughter, the sick multitude; the woman with the issue of blood; the daughter of the Canaanite woman; the two blind men; and many others recorded and unrecorded. Why was healing so important to the Trinity? Because “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” for while evil (which Jesus characterized as thieves) come to steal, kill and destroy, he seeks to restore and heal-“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. The New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language defines “life” as “the state of an organism characterized by certain processes or abilities that include metabolism, growth, reproduction and response”-the implication being that where these processes and abilities are lacking or constrained as tends to happen in a state of ill-health, life is circumscribed! The same dictionary links “abundance” with “richness, plenty” and “abundant” with “plentiful, copious”-evidently it is not likely that someone in poor health can have abundant life in the sense in which God and Jesus Christ intends that we should. And so when Jesus saw people suffering ill-health and therefore lacking the abundant life God wishes for his children, he had compassion on them and healed them. It was that compassion that drove Christ’s healing ministry. The scriptures confirm in numerous instances how Jesus Christ’s healing was motivated by compassion-“And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick…” (Mathew 14:14); Jesus himself proclaimed “…I have compassion on the multitude” (Mathew 15: 32); and when he encountered two blind men in Mathew 20: 29-34, the Bible records that “So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him…” Apart from the compassion which Jesus had for the sick and vulnerable (today’s Church seems to have stronger compassion for the rich, strong and powerful!), there was usually another element often present anytime Jesus healed, this time in the recipient of healing-faith. So the leper declared “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean”; the Centurion asked Jesus to “speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed”; in relation to the healing of the paralytic, “…and Jesus seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy; son be of good cheer”; the ruler who sought healing for his daughter declared “my daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live”; the woman with the issue of blood said, “If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole”; and speaking to the Canaanite woman, Jesus himself proclaimed “…O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour” Compassion seems often lacking in conventional Nigerian healthcare-when doctors proceed seemingly whimsically on strike; when hospitals refuse treatment to accident or gunshot victims without police reports; or when the sick (and dying) are turned away, for lack of money.