REPORT - CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP UPGRADE 2 - PART 1

The firmament was bright and harmless showing no sign of an impending rainfall. The sun was milder than the usual in a hot season. Cool, calm and re-assuring was the atmosphere under which the Christian Leadership Upgrade 2, held in Lagos recently.

After the formalities of registration and exchange of pleasantries among brethren in the auditorium, a shout of “praise the Lord” pierced through the atmosphere and broke its relative quietude, more so, with a deafening response of “hallelujah", from those seated in the room. And by the third time this was repeated, the atmosphere was totally changed to that suggestive of a troop in high spirit for warfare.

“We are going to pray" declared the brother holding the microphone, and our prayer "is going to be from the victorious position". There was only one way to capture, in the main, what has been happening with the church, he lamented. Sound doctrines had been replaced with human philosophy and motivational teachings; the love of money had taken over the hearts of church leadership; immorality in high scale; schism; bribery; stealing; corruption at its zenith at all levels; high level deception; falsehood and sorcery perpetrated by general and non-general overseers. 'The church had been bewitched'. Again, he said "our prayer is to praise God that the bewitching of the Church is ended this day" in the name of Jesus Christ. And so, the brethren prayed, some in known and others in unknown tongues.

Event recorded in the book of Acts, Chapter 8: 9-10 formed the basis of the next prayer point. "But there was a certain man called Simon which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one. To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, 'this man is the great power of God." The brethren again thanked God vehemently that the bewitching of Nigeria by deceitful men had ended in the name of Jesus Christ. The prayer then dove-tailed into "ushering into Nigeria, a new regime of the fear of God; of truth and righteousness in spiritual replacement of the old nature (or the bewitched) one taken away.

Songs of worship followed this praying session. Of particular note is the song-

           Hallowed be your name (2ce)

           Our Father who art in heaven

           Hallowed be your name.

 A few people who strolled in at this point enthusiastically joined in the worship without delay.

Then it was time for the Bread of life - teaching segment. The Christian Leader Upgrade series which began in June, is generally devoted to the spiritual meaning, application and implications of the End - Time signs listed in Matthew 24 by Christ for His disciples. The theme for the month of July therefore is: “In the Days of Famine".

Brother Ademola Akinyemi picked up the microphone as soon as he placed his laptop on the pulpit. After a brief salutation, he began with the summary of Upgrade 1 teaching (held a month earlier), which had focused on "Wars and Rumours of Wars". He reminded the gathering that God changed His strategies of dealing with Israel under the leadership of Moses to another when Joshua came up to lead Israelites into the land of promise. For example, Moses' rod was used for various miracles as the Israelites journeyed from Egypt to Canaan. On the other hand, God involved the people directly in virtually all areas or processes of manifesting His greatness during the regime of Joshua as the leader. He noted that God wanted the people to "grow up" in Him individually and collectively, that is, to be familiar with His voice and ways, so as to follow Him with all their hearts. And to achieve this objective, the attitudes, values and dispositions within a man struggle against those arising from godliness hence series of warfare ensued within the man. Contention and battles (wars and rumours of war) varied in scale and dimension necessarily arise over the territorial control of a man's heart, said Akinyemi.

With reference to Psalm 37, the man of God laid the groundwork for the day's business. Verse 18-19 "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of famine, they shall be satisfied". Famine "is generally defined as lack of food in a region", over a long period, Bro. Akinyemi was quick to point out that famine could be physical or spiritual in nature.  

Spiritual famine refers to dearth of revelational knowledge of the word of God among His people and the inability to hear or discern the voice of God over a long period by those who were once or in tune with Him. To Ademola Akinyemi therefore, spiritual famine was always a consequence of disobedience to God's instructions or direction. Consistent failure to follow the path created by God for His own, he noted, usually resulted in famine of God's voice, a situation often characterized by dryness, stalemate and confusion.

(To be continued)