THE SO CALLED MARRIAGE MINISTRY

An unmarried sister came to me with questions as to why she was not yet married and she showed a deep desire to get married. She had had this desire for sometime now but with no result and was planning to attend a program somewhere with the hope of getting a partner.

At first I was surprised and then sad that she had made her being single an issue that required a special kind of prayer session or attendance at a program out of her church to settle it.

Beloved the act of marriage is nothing spiritual at all, it is practically a fleshy desire and it does not need angelic appearance and instructions about which brother or sister to marry.

It is all about your wish and that of your partner brought before God in prayers for approval and blessings.

The choice to get married can come from your own desire or from peer pressure or from parental pressure. Not everyone will get married and also some who do not like marriages may get married whilst the ones who desire to get married may never do.

Any pastor can decide to call his or her ministry any name but I strongly believe that according to the Bible which is God word to us, the reason for our different callings is not FOR MIRACLES, PREGNANCIES OR MIRACLE MARRIAGES but as it is stated in Ephesians 4 verse 11 And he gave some (to be) apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
13 till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man or woman (parenthesis added), unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Sincerely, I always inform the brethren who desire to get married to either see their pastor, or inform the deaconry of their church or the leaders in their fellowship and the proper procedures will be followed in the local church and not outside.

Let us consider whose children got married in the bible, it was not by their own choices but those of their parents or spiritual leaders. The issue arising from delays in settling down trust me is from personal desires and not a devil or demon.

Some just want a partner that has not yet be born or one who should come by special delivery to their door step (pointed nose, straight legs, fat or thin, tall dark and handsome, or endowned with all the right things and most times with a fat bank account).

Like my Pastor told us years ago as long as he or she is born again committed in a local church for years filled with the Holy Ghost, tongue talking with a positive outlook, then such a one is a qualified candidate for marriage.

I am carefull not to permit brethren to go around preachers who are not raising members/leaders in a denomination but trying to preach to members of grounded ministries, what they only succeed in doing is confusing the brethren with doctrines.

Ephesian 4 verse 14 that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error 15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, (even) Christ; When we as Pastor use Christians fear and anxiousness to create doctrines and become crafty by using their impatient to now make ourselves their channel to receiving instead of putting Christ as their focus  Hebrews 12 verse 1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Beloved know this you are more than a conqueror, the greater one is in you trust the one that saved you and put all your faith in the spoken word of God.

Creating a new mind set: The Valentine Day Ritual

Creating a new mind set: The Valentine Day Ritual

The Valentine Day Ritual

VALENTINE day does not mean anything in our relationship with our heavenly father and also to our salvation as Christians, it is not in any scripture of the Bible and it is just a man made celebration that does not in any way glorify God.

I have told my children that it does not mean anything and also shown it to them from the Bible that we are children of LOVE for the scriptures states that God “IS” love. God does not just love He is the embodiment of LOVE and we do not show our love on certain days or to certain people we are children of LOVE. We are created in love by a God who is love and loves us and we also carry His very nature. 1 John 4 verse 8 – 16,   8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9 Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son (to be) the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

12 No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us:

13 hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son (to be) the Saviour of the world.

15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.

16 And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.

We love every day and we show it not by giving our bodies or hearts as the celebration connotes but by bringing the brotherly (Phillo) love to every one we come in contact with.

The origins of Saint Valentine’s Day lie shrouded in obscurity. Saint Valentine himself, a third century Roman martyr, seems to have nothing to do with the romantic traditions that became associated with his feast. Please read the following from a web site research

The tradition of Valentine's Day is believed to have originated from the pagan customs of the Third Century or Fourth Century B.C., when the Parentalia and Feralia Festivals of Purification were celebrated in Ancient Rome between February 13 and February 18. This was also the time of a Fertility Festival which celebrated a young man's rite of passage and involved animal sacrifices and fertility rituals. February 13, the opening day of the festivals, was dedicated to peace, love and household goods. February 14, the second day of Parentalia was called the Lupercalia...a day some sources believe was dedicated to Juno-Lupa, the She-Wolf. Priests known as luperci from two colleges (Quintillii and Fabii) would meet at the Cave of Lupercal in the Palatine Hill, where a she-wolf was said to have nursed Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome. Vestal Virgins would offer holy salt cakes and the priests would sacrifice a dog and a goat, smearing the animal blood onto the foreheads of youths of noble birth who, clad only in a goatskin thong, later led a band of revelers known as the luperci in the performance of such antics as whipping fields of crops and bystanders with a goatskin strip (known as the februa). Women gently lashed in such a fashion were thought to become fertile...even those known to be barren. The act of such lashings or whippings was known as februatio...both this word and the word februa come from the Latin meaning "to purify." The naming of the month of February is believed to have originated from this meaning. February 15 (the Ides of February) was the second day of Lupercal and the third day of Parentalia...a day some sources believe was dedicated to Juno Februata or Juno the Fructifier, Roman Goddess of Women and Marriage. During the Luperci, the names of willing young women were placed into a box or urn and drawn by lot by every young, unmarried man. The youths and maidens who were thus matched would be considered partners during the course of the coming year, which began in March. Although such matches were generally for sexual gratification, it was not unusual for the pairings to eventaully culminate in marriage.

According to other sources, the tradition of Valentine's Day is derived from a time when hordes of ravenous wolves roamed the immense wilderness area outside Rome where shepherds (the city's earliest inhabitants) kept their flocks. The God Lupercus (from the Latin lupus meaning "wolf") was believed to watch over the herdsmen and their animals and keep them safe from the hungry predators. Every February, in this scenario, the Romans celebrated a feast (also known as Lupercalia) to honor Lupercus in order that no harm would come to the shepherds and their flocks. This celebration continued to be held long after wolves no longer presented a problem to the Roman countryside. Yet another theory on the ceremonial source of this day is that the festival was actually held to honor Faunus who, like the Greek God Pan, was a God of Herds and Crops. As is apparent, the true origin of this festival is so ancient, that even scholars of the Last Century B.C. were unable to officially determine its roots with any degree of certainty. However, there is no question about the importance of the ceremony. Records show that Mark Anthony was Master of the Luperci Colleges of Priests and chose the Lupercalia festival of the year 44 B.C. as the proper time for the offering of the crown to Julius Caesar.
With the advent of Christianity, priests attempted to replace such ancient heathen practices. In the Fifth Century A.D., the Church resolved to abolish this pagan celebration by creating its own holiday around the same date and selecting a saint who was remembered for his devotion to love. In A.D. 496, Pope Gelasius outlawed the Lupercian Festival, but cleverly retained the Juno Februata lottery. However, in order to lend the festivities Christian meaning and eliminate the pagan overtones, the drawing of saints' names were substituted for the names of unmarried girls. The names were placed into an urn or box and then young people (both male and female) drew a name from the container. During year which followed, the youths and maidens were supposed to emulate the life of the Saint whose name they had drawn. It took some time for this new tradition to garner popularity, but eventually more and more Romans relinquished the Lupercian ceremonies. Nonetheless, young Roman males, who had been hoping to meet potential mates during the time of the Festival, were not totally satisfied with now having a lottery of saints' names instead, and insituted their own custom of offering women whom they admired and wished to court handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. By the Fourteenth Century, the Church had reverted back to the use of of girls' names. During the Sixteenth Century, Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geveva, made another attempt was made to institute Saintly Valentines, but it proved equally (of not more) unsuccessful as the first and was certainly shorter-lived. Eventually, the Church looked for a suitable Patron Saint of Love to take the place of the heathen Lupercus. They found an appropriate choice in Saint Valentine.
During the medieval era of chivalry, the names of English maidens and bachelors were put into boxes and drawn out in pairs. Each couple exchanged gifts and the girl became the man's sweetheart for a year. He wore her name on his sleeve and was bound by duty to attend and protect her (the accepted origin of the phrase, "to wear one's heart on one's sleeve"). This old custom of drawing names was considered a good omen for love and often foretold a wedding. In 1537, King Henry VIII declared, by Royal Charter, that all England would celebrate February 14 as "Saint Valentine's Day" and with the passage of time, February 14 became the traditional date for exchanging love messages and simple gifts (such as flowers or candy), with Saint Valentine becoming the accepted Patron Saint of Lovers.  To read further go to the link below

http://www.novareinna.com/festive/valentine.html

Also Dr. Douce, in his Illustrations of Shakespeare, cited in The Book of Days, writes:

It was the practice in ancient Rome, during a great part of the month of February, to celebrate the Lupercalia, which were feasts in honour of Pan and Juno. whence the latter deity was named Februata, Februalis, and Februlla from where the month was named. On this occasion, amidst a variety of ceremonies, the names of young women were put into a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. The pastors of the early Christian church, who, by every possible means, endeavored to eradicate the vestiges of pagan superstitions, and chiefly by some commutations of their forms, substituted, in the present instance, the names of particular saints instead of those of the women: and as the festival of the Lupercalia had commenced about the middle of February, they appear to have chosen St. Valentine’s Day for celebrating the new feast, because it occurred nearly at the same time. 

http://www.theholidayspot.com/valentine/history_of_valentine.htm

It is not surprising to note that Valentine day is observed by all and sundry, Moslem, Hindus, pagans and even Atheist observe it and it is not for any religious believe but for the carnal nature of it. Companies observe it even in the old manner as in the ancient times by having ballots where male staff pick female partners and buy gifts for them and it does not matter who you pick married or unmarried, some years back a male partner ensure he pick a colleague who he had been trying to start a relationship with and he succeeded during the Valentine day ballot before long he slept with the colleague who was married with 4 kids and destroyed that marriage. In schools this day teachers have children pick partners and then instructed to ask their parents to buy gifts (my children take that day off to study the bible at home as I do not want somebody to instill the wrong ideas into them).

Today I counted nothing less than 100 women young and old wearing white and red clothing’s and little children in some schools where seen in like clothing’s (Christians and non Christians). I can assure you that today many young girls will lose their virginity, men and women will cheat on their partners infact today just for giving cards, roses, ice creams, chocolates, candies, gifts of any nature there shall be sexual gains to it.

Somebody asked me a question so pastor what should I do today; I simply told her go out and tell someone about the greatest gift of all “The love of God” for all humanity. Save a soul today, save a family today, a child today. Bring hope to some one by telling and showing them the Love of God. Just be a blessing........