Will it sound weird if I say this man is becoming one of my favourite writers? Anyway, his view on Christendom and dogmatic variation seem to me like the biblical John 6: 64-66. Even the crowd left Jesus when he spoke the truth.
Jesus
insists his disciples must repudiate all earthly fathers of whatever
description in preference for the one true heavenly Father.
Pastor
Adeboye of Redeemed Church testified that for some time all his children were
girls. When he finally had a boy, he quickly became his favourite child. But
one day, the boy fell sick. The more Adeboye prayed for his healing, the worse
he became. Finally, he cried out to God: “Why won’t you heal my son?” The Lord
replied: “Because he is your son, I won’t heal him.” Therefore, Adeboye quickly
changed his line of prayer. He declared that the boy was God’s son and asked
God to heal him. When he did this, the boy was healed. Continue
God’s
message here is crystal clear: the children we presume to be ours are actually
God’s children.
We are just their guardians. This makes
it all the more surprising that virtually everyone in Redeemed Church still
refers to Adeboye affectionately as “Daddy G.O.”
But if
Adeboye is not allowed to be father to his biological son, how can he be “Daddy”
to other peoples’ children? Surely, everybody in Redeemed knows that Adeboye
himself has no other Father but God. Time and again, Adeboye has insisted he
should not be called “Daddy,” but his church-members have simply refused to
listen.
Jesus defines
parentage strictly from the eternal perspective. Heavenly fatherhood links us
to God and makes us sons of righteousness. Earthly fatherhood ties us to the
devil and makes us slaves of sin. (John 8:32-34). This means those who persist
in earthly father/son relationships cannot expect to spend eternity with the
heavenly Father.
Our Father
Jesus said
to God at the end of his ministry: “I have manifested your name to the men whom
you have given me out of the world.” (John 17:6). “I have declared to them your
name.” (John 17:26).
The name
Jesus declares to his disciples is “our Father.” He reveals that God is no
longer classically “God;” distant, foreign and fearsome. He is now “our
Father;” close, intimate and loving. Therefore, Jesus gives us a new directive.
He says: “When you pray, say: our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
(Luke 11:2).
The name we
are now required to hallow is “Father.” It must be of exclusive application to
God and to God alone.
A living
parable
Kenneth
King, my wife’s “old man,” was in his late-seventies and in poor health. He
lived in Guyana and had to undertake dialysis twice a week. This was very
expensive and the costs were virtually bankrupting him in his retirement. My
wife and I discussed the matter, wondering how we could raise money on a
regular basis to send to him. In Lagos, dialysis costs 30,000 naira (250
dollars) a session, so the sums involved were too much for our lean resources.
I ended the
discussion by telling her: “Look Karen, there is little we can do in this
matter. God will provide.” Suddenly the Holy Spirit interjected and said to me:
“Femi, don’t say God will provide. Say Our Father will provide.” I immediately
relayed this to my wife: “The Holy Spirit says Our Father will provide.”
The next morning,
she got an email from Georgetown. The government of Guyana had decided to take
over the funding of Kenneth King’s dialysis treatment in appreciation for his
past services to the country. Immediately, the Holy Spirit said to me: “Your
Father has done it.”
Beloved
Christians: stop calling your pastor “Daddy.” You must have no other Father but
God.
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