Defined By Belief

There are several reasons students fail to learn.
As a teacher, I am humble enough to acknowledge that sometimes the fault is mine
Perhaps i used a tone that the students didn’t like, or my manner of presentation might lack a certain level of persuasion or appeal
I acknowledge that because i teach an international class and all my students come from several nations of the world with varying degrees of the english language (especially since my English is Nigerian English with a bit of Yoruba “salt and sugar” added to it, some of my students might struggle to understand me
For this reason, I come up with class notes which are on their own materials that, if studied, will eradicate any form of misunderstanding or ambiguity
My desire is to impart the knowledge of Christ by every means necessary so that the simplicity of the gospel might become the light that sets believers free of wrong belief systems and helps them grow steadfastly in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ
I have thousands of success stories, but like that shepherd that left home with a hundred sheep and came back with ninety-nine, my concern is almost always on the one that is struggling to understand or is struggling to let go of wrong beliefs so that he or she can embrace fully the light and the knowledge of Christ
I switch up teaching patterns often
I tell stories, share experiences, do illustrations, share testimonies, and learning aids like voice notes and videos
I demonstrate the realities of the gospel, I pray for my students, and I cry and groan over them in the place of prayer
I don’t give up on any of my students
I am persuaded that the greatest enemy of learning lies in the strongholds of the mind, especially when it comes to spiritual things

Jesus struggled with some of his disciples regarding their faith
They were all expecting a messiah who would be like Moses
Their forefathers were in Egypt, groaning under the yoke of Pharaoh
God raised a prophet, made this prophet a god unto Pharaoh, and subjected the land of Egypt to the whims and caprices of this prophet
Armed with a staff and filled with the power of God, Moses marched into Pharaoh’s palace and demanded that the king should let the people of God go
It was dramatic, chaotic, confrontational, and challenging
The ideal way everyone who is oppressed expects his oppressor to be challenged by anyone who comes to his or her defence
Not only does the oppressed desire to be free, but the oppressed also desire to see justice done as his or her oppressor is punished for every evil decision made against them
In the case of the children of Israel in Egypt, they forgot that they came into their bondage by a verdict of God in Genesis 15
They also forget easily that Egypt offered them salvation from certain death when Joseph opened the door of the land to them and settled them in Goshen
Egypt took them in to save them from famine.
They could have moved out of Egypt after the seven years of famine were over, the way Abraham moved out of Egypt in the time of famine several years earlier of his own free will, but they didn’t
They stayed and continued to dwell in the land for over 400 years until their growth became a source of concern for the new pharaoh who needed to come up with policies to put them psychologically and physically subjugated so that they don’t end up teaming up with external aggressors against Egypt
They were jews, who spent 400 years in a country and remained unaffected by the cultures and traditions of the country
A lot of Africans travel abroad, and in twenty years, they will have lost their African roots entirely and embraced the culture and way of life of the country where they have resettled
Whenever you have people who join a dominant culture but refuse to embrace the way of life of the host after years of living in that land, it becomes a concern for the government
Till today, European countries are still reeling from the influx of refugees from Syria and other nations who came into their cities and have refused to embrace their way of life
Surely, after spending 400 years in a country, you must have integrated and become fully assimilated into the country
You must have learnt their language, their culture and tradition, and in most cases, you should have become a citizen so blended into the nation that outsiders shouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between you and your host
Sociology teaches that cultural imprint takes 40 years, and this has been proven by the careful observation of many social scientists over the years
The Jews, however, didn’t allow themselves to get assimilated into the Egyptian way of life
It is natural for their host nation to feel concerned about this, especially because they began to outgrow the Egyptians in birthrate at an alarming rate
It got so bad that the pharaoh had to decree that their male children be killed at birth because they had become a national headache
God was not unmindful of the whole story
The jews tell the story the way anyone who has experienced any form of oppression would, but they would have done the same, and indeed they did the same in the days of Saul the king, when he noticed that the Gibeonites were gaining some form of political strength in Israel (1 Samuel 21)
A lot of people who read the version of Moses didn’t bother hearing the story from Egypt’s perspective; they just came to the conclusion that Egypt was evil
If you read the story over and over again, you will realise that despite all the displays of power and might by Moses, God ensured that Egypt was preserved from Annihilation
Had Pharaoh not been stubborn, Egypt would have been spared of all the plagues and other inconveniences they had to encounter
God wanted to negotiate the freedom of the jews as bloodlessly as possible, but Pharaoh decided to take the path of war
Several years later, after they had been taken into captivity by Babylon and Assyria, the Israelites found themselves passed on from one superpower to the other as subjects
By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, the oppressors were Rome
The disciples had made up their mind that the kind of messiah they needed was a man like Moses
All the Jews were eagerly awaiting the coming of this great deliverer who would cast off the yoke of oppression from the neck of the jews
Jesus arrived and he demonstrated that he had the capacity to do greater things than Moses, but he was unwilling to put his power to work the way the Jews wanted
They wanted a divinely backed leader who would set Israel free from the uncircumcised foreigners, but they got a preacher of salvation and eternal life
For this reason, his legitimacy was challenged, and many refused to believe in him till today
He didn’t fit into the mould of their preconceived beliefs and expectations.
After three years of consistently showing and demonstrating to them that his Kingdom is not of this world, Jesus left them to fulfil his destiny
Many of them saw him after he resurrected, and they immediately changed their stance; others, like Thomas, still struggled with it

The mind is powerful, and once it clutches onto a belief system and makes an identity out of it, letting it go takes a lot of hard work.
It is my duty as a teacher to challenge false belief systems
It is my responsibility to pull down strongholds of strange imaginations and false soulish metaphysical experiences, which many people had embraced and deemed as spiritual
Of course, some people will fight against the truth
To them, you are stripping them of their identity when you try to take away their long-held belief system by bringing it into subjection to the word of God
We are supposed to know the truth and be set free, but I have come to see that many people have encountered the truth, but they choose not to be set free by it
Jesus also faced the same challenges with the Jews, and he had to declare that since they had chosen not to believe in him, they would end up dying in their sins
What we believe defines us.

In 2022, a lady wrote to me in dire need of help
She was constantly assaulted in her dreams by some women who poured termites all over her body and laughed while she cried in agony
She would normally have this dream twice every month, and as soon as she had it, her body would begin to itch all over for days
It got so bad that she couldn’t bathe without landing in the hospital
This lady was dwelling in Europe
She was married with three children, and she had an Italian husband
I told her we have to get rid of the dreams, she must move to the realm of visions, and close the door to the metaphysical realm of dreams, which had become a snare unto her
She joined my class, and within a month, she was healed completely of this malady, which had plagued her for over five years
Three years later, I shared her testimony as she grew out of dreams into visions with one of my classes, and one of the students wrote in reply, “God cannot be boxed; he speaks through dreams.”

PS: My argument has never been that God does not speak through dreams, dear lazy student. I have only challenged you or any other believer to bring to me any scripture in the new testament where Jesus had a dream or where any of the apostles or deacons had a dream or where any of the members of the early church came to any of he apostles with a dream which confused such so much that they had to be looking for a dream interpreter
I have asked you to show me how God guided any of the New Covenant believers through a dream after we received the Holy Spirit
I have asked that you present to me how God would allow his children to be attacked in a dream while such is full of the Holy Spirit to the extent that the dream would alter the person’s reality and bring upon such a person great calamities
I have asked you how come Christians who claim to be dreamers do not have exploits of the spirit to present as evidence of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
I have asked you how you plan to communicate with the Holy Spirit constantly if the only way he speaks to you is through dreams. How do you hear from him outside of sleep?
I have asked you to explain to me why God will speak to his children the same way he speaks to atheists, Hindus, Krishnas, muslims, pagans, and every unbeliever in the world
I have shown you from the Old Testament that God spoke through the souls of the unbelievers through dreams and cited the examples of Chief Baker, Chief Butler, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Pilate’s wife, and explained to you that all these people didn’t understand what they saw, as it led them into a state of confusion
I also established that God raised people like Joseph, Daniel, and some priests in the days of Moses as dream interpreters to help guide the unbelievers in the path He desires for them to go, but he does not do this in our day because we now have the holy Spirit
You can dig in and insist you will hold on to whatever you want in the name of “God cannot be boxed.”
There is a reason I am here and cannot cross over to where you are, and there is a reason you are there and cannot cross over to where i am
The gulf between us is a gulf of faith
You believe what you choose, and therefore, you live in its reality, as do I.

I named a miracle baby in Essex yesterday; it was a glorious occasion (I will share the full testimony later). London hangout is this Saturday, you are invited.

-GSW-