Like I said in my previous post, I have not been going to Church for a very long time and I am currently still not going to any physical Church right now. So, why would someone who said she encountered and has been walking with the True Jesus Christ for some time now say she is not going to Church? I will explain “why”.
If you read my first blog, I mentioned that I stopped going to church because of so many experiences I had with fake Pastors and carnal Churches.
What I have come to understand is that there is difference between going to Church and having a deep personal relationship with The Lord. What most people call going to Church is practising Religion which is very much different from Salvation and having deep personal relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ. Going to Church is very good and also beneficial if you find a good Spirit-filled Church that teaches raw Gospel and helps you to build personal relationship with The Lord. As someone who grew up in Africa (Nigeria) I have been to so many Churches and have visited so many self-proclaimed Prophets with my mom.
Yes, I was born and baptised in Catholic Church and that´s the Church we attended, but I grew up in poverty. My parents were very poor and like most poor Households in Africa, we were searching for quick solutions to our Problems and my mom believed that visiting Pastors and Prophets will bring automatic solutions to our Problems. So, yes most of the times she took us along to other Pentecostal Churches as she used to believe there is no miracles happening in Catholic.
So, on the process of all these Church visitations and prayers, I was severely abused as a kid, by so called Prayer Warriors (some of them family members), Pastors and Prophets. Am talking about physical and mental abuse when I was still a Child, starting from around 9 years old. It was traumatic events that still haunts me till today. I was beaten with long Sticks, electric Cords and will be thrown outside to sleep alone at night, in the dark. For long period of time, I was isolated, they made other Kids stay away from me, I was fed like a dog and humiliated in front of many church Congregations. Why? Because I was fair skinned and beautiful little girl. Unfortunately, in Africa those days, most people believed that fair-skinned Girls were demon possessed. They call it marine spirit and claim that the people from marine world feed on human flesh and blood. They claimed they were the cause of all the accidents that happen within the city. So, as a child, between the age 0f 9 and 12 years old, I was accused of being part of so many evil things that happened within the city. And we didn’t just visit one Church but several Churches, Prophets and most popular Pastors within the state that period. And all of them did same thing. They will bring me up to the Altar, make me give fake confessions and used me to fake their deliverance power. I knew in my heart then that they were lying and that all what they said I did, never happened, but my poor mother believed them because, the congregations were brainwashed to never doubt the words of a Pastor. Even when I tried to defend myself that I don´t know what they were talking about, they will claim that is the demonic spirit talking through me. So, at that age I began to detest Pentecostal churches and Pastors. I even wondered why God allowed such things to happen to innocent Kids. With that experience I had as a kid, somehow subconsciously, I could discern a true and fake Pastor and until I left Africa and relocated to Europe, I would say that all the Churches I visited, even later on in life, that there were just few Churches where I felt the Spirit of God. Majority of the Churches, immediately I enter the church I could discern they were all fake.
After I relocated to Berlin, I have been to just few Churches but I didn´t feel the presence of God in any of them so, I decided to be going to Catholic Church. After some time, I stopped going to church and have always wished to discover church that teaches raw Gospel and Salvation, but I didn´t see. Coupled with the tradition and belief system in Germany, where most people don´t believe in God and little is being discussed about God in our everyday life in this Country, I drifted away from anything Church until during the time of pandemic in 2020/2021 when online Churches became very popular and everyone was talking about different churches they were joining online and all the miracles that were happening through them. I researched some of the Churches but I didn´t join any. Because, though I didn´t have deep relationship and have not started walking with the Lord then, I knew 100% in my heart that joining a church because of miracle was wrong. I knew then that if we should seek God, we should seek him for who He is and pursue Salvation not miracles. So, when people were giving testimonies of all the miracles that were happening in those Churches and even sharing their own personal testimonies, I knew that from my own childhood experience that most of the Churches that uses miracles to lure people in are mostly fake Prophets. Because even the Bible says in Matthew 6:33 “but seek ye first the kingdom of God and it´s Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you” So, even as someone who was a carnal Christian then, I knew that going to Church for miracles, which was what my mother did then was wrong and these are the things that exposes people to fake Pastors. But what I didn´t know was that only praying to God when I have needs or needed protection was also wrong and it doesn´t please God at all. Because He created us to have deep personal relationship with him and not transactional relationship where we will only come to him for what he can do for us (which I will come back to in another post) Even though I only prayed to God then when I needed something, somehow, He answered most of my Prayers. (I guess it was Grace) until after I had my encounter with the Lord Jesus. After the encounter I was on YouTube looking for answers to so many questions I had then and Holy Spirit directed me to Pastor Jerry Flowers of Redefined Tv and Pastor Stephanie Ike of One A Potter´s House Church LA and the two have been my Rock on the path of my Spiritual Journey. Amazingly, they were both the perfect Mentors I needed, I have learnt so much from them and both are teaching the “Raw Gospel of Christ” that has helped me to build a very strong relationship with the Lord Jesus. So even though I don´t go to any physical Church at the moment, I am always listening to their teachings, playing their old messages and also reading the Bible at home. I use the You version Bible App. Listening to the Word of God has been so much part of me right now that I wake up to it and even while at work I couldn´t even wait to go home to listen to the next message. I start my day with the Word and end my day with the Word.
I believe walking with Jesus and building a deeper relationship with Him to the point where you can hear His Voice and be able to discern between the Voice of the Lord, your own voice and the voice of the devil is not something you can do alone. We need Mentors who God has ordained and who are gifted to disciple people for God´s Kingdom. Ministers of the True God who bring the truth of the Gospel to life.
Somehow God know exactly who can Mentor us because He created us , knowing our individual Purposes in this world, He knows who is the perfect person to help us on our individual Spiritual Journey. So, is better to ask God to the right Minister for you because the person who is my mentor his or her message may not resonate with you but the good news is that the Holy Spirit knows exactly the right Minister/Church for your calling and when you ask Him for direction, He will direct you.
