CHURCH, IS THERE REALLY A HIDDEN AGENDA AGAINST US?

Hi my people! It's been quite a while, right? How are you 'coroing' things? I believe say aunty coro dey see you dey run. It will keep running as long as you stay away from it.

These year has been a really trying year : most especially beginning from March. At some point during the total lockdown, I was wondering if this world was going to end. I wondered when we will get through this. It felt like wartime.

Well, while those times are not over (Coro is still lying in wait and we are still at war against it), the air is kind of fresher with the smell of hope. Maybe not hope that this will all just melt away immediately, but a hope that God is still with us and Coronavirus cannot affect t his plan for his people and the earth one way or another. He's got it all in control.

So yeah,there has been a lot of talk in the body of Christ about how the restriction on church gatherings is an agenda of the devil against the church. Many have even gone ahead to say that this Coronavirus is mere propaganda. And so there's this cry of 'the devil is out to get us through this government'.

Hold on a second. Pause. Move away from the Lamentations of the crowd.Breathe. I mean, really breathe. And then ask yourself, 'what is really going on? Is there really an agenda against the church?

I want to take us, believers, down the first century, when our fathers (the Apostles were around and the church h was still very young. Before Jesus left them, he had told them in Matthew 16:18 thus ' ...I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it'. He had also told them of the persecution they would face from the authorities because of their faith in Him.

Now, down to the book of Acts when Jesus had gone back to heaven and the Holy Spirit had come in his place to dwell with the church. It didn't take long for the gates of hell to start fighting the young church. But then God's word can never pass away and we see that the gates of hell could not prevail. As persecution scattered the church, the gospel spread because they preached the word everywhere they went. (Acts 8:4). Remember that Jesus had told his apostles in Acts 1:8 that they would be witnesses for him in all parts of the earth. So the persecution , instead of killing the young church, only served to spread the gospel and so build the church.

Now back to our era for a bit. Why do many of us in the church think there's an agenda against the church? Why do we lament that the churches are being closed down? It all boils down to the simple reason that we can't meet in our big, organized venues or our meetings are restricted. But I ask again, is there really an agenda or we're just crying wolf?

WHO OR WHAT EXACTLY IS THE CHURCH? Let me remind you. The church is the BODY OF BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST. The church is the believer, not some blocks of wood or inanimate object. Not our buildings.

Let's troop back to the book of Acts again. In Acts 2:46 the church enjoyed each other by not only meeting in the temple, they met from house to house. The next verse clearly shows us they were still growing. More souls were added to the church. Paul in his Epistles talks about the church that meets in the house.

So when we say the church is being closed down or unnecessarily restricted, what the heaven are we really talking about?

Public gatherings are being restricted, including schools. And for good reason. To safeguard our health by preventing or at least controlling the spread.We complain that the markets are not closed down so why the church?

I ask you. Is the CHURCH CLOSED DOWN? Are believers banned from meeting at all? Are we banned from hearing God's word as a group at all? Are we banned from spreading the gospel because our meetings are restricted?

The church has come under attack all through the centuries so I can understand our fear that we're been attacked again but to be honest, I think somehow we just enjoy the victim role a little too much.

I don't hear the early christians just sitting around lamenting about the persecution they were facing back then. They were spreading the gospel, working real hard for Jesus in that hostile atmosphere when even their lives were threatened. They met in small groups. At some point history tells us they couldn't even meet openly. It was that bad! But still,THE CHURCH KEPT GROWING!

OUR BUILDINGS ARE CLOSED DOWN.ACCESS TO THEM IS LIMITED, TRUE. BUT IS THE CHURCH LIMITED? Does what is going on stop us from taking the gospel to the lost? Ministry isn't in the church building. What goes on in there is equipping the believer to go out! Real ministry is out there where the sinners are. I personally think we've been hiding away in our church buildings for too long.

It's time to move out! Meet that neighbor you have never spoken to about Jesus and minister the gospel to him or her. Thicken the bond with your fellow believers. Stop sitting around playing the victim. At least no one is killing christians yet. The early christians were being hunted down and killed ,yet they grew and did exploits for Jesus so what is our excuse really?

Fellow believers, quit the cries of victimization and get moving! Time is running out!

Till I come your way again, please STAY SAFE! Someone out there needs you.