One of the biggest challenges in Christianity, or Christ Followership, is the fact that most Christians do what they are told by men, rather than what they are commanded by God to do in Scripture.
That is why there are so many traditions in Christianity, because believers do not study Scripture. Instead, we “cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition”-Mark 7:13.
As a result, I took it upon myself to study Scripture and use it to dispel some common misconceptions. Here is an initial stab at this. Space will not permit me to fully tackle this issue. Hopefully, I will do a book about it in the future.
God Did Not Give Adam a Wife:
Too often, we have been taught that God gave Adam a wife, and sadly, many men have used this as authority for the ungodly practice whereby their pastors have ‘visions’ and ‘dreams’ about whom they ought to marry. Many people have entered into unhappy nuptials because of this lack of understanding of Scripture.
God never gave Adam a wife.
Genesis 2:22–23 says:
“Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
God did not give Eve to Adam as his wife. He created Eve and brought her to Adam, and it was Adam who made a free will decision and accepted her and made her his wife.
2. God Never Cursed Man:
Many people accept the lie told to them that God cursed man after the fall from of man, occasioned by the disobedience of our first human parents. This is an outright lie. God never cursed man.
God loves you. God can’t hate you. God can’t curse you. God can’t allow evil into your life. God does not plan evil for you. His thoughts towards you are for good and not for evil.That God loves you is an unchangeable fact. So, get rid of any thoughts that are contrary to that fact. God can’t hate you!
What actually happened as a result of the fall of man?
Genesis 3:17 says:
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
God cursed the ground. He did not curse man. And this is corroborated in Genesis 5:29, which says:
“He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”
3. God Updates Man Remotely From Heaven:
Many people have raised doubts about Scripture, because of the changes in man’s lifespan, abilities, and the different races on Earth, being that we all come from one ancestor, because as Acts 17:26 states:
“From one man he made all the nations,”
There is no contradiction. Scripture remains inerrant. The answer to that conundrum can be found in Genesis 6:3, which says:
“Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
Notice the words “My Spirit”.
If you read the creation account in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, you will notice that God did not mention His Spirit when He created man. In fact, the major reason why man is more precious to God than His other creations is that, whereas He spoke all other creations into being, Scripture tells us that He formed us by His own hand. We see this in Genesis 2:7:
“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
In Genesis 6:3, God uses the word “My Spirit” because God was giving a remote update from heaven to the spirit He put in man, directing it to reduce man’s longevity to 120 years in much the way a firm life Apple gives remote updates to Apple devices, like iPhones, from the California offices. One of the ways this was accomplished is that man began to eat red meat. Prior to that time, man did not eat red meat.
This is corroborated by Job 32:8:
“There is a spirit within people, the breath of the Almighty within them, that makes them intelligent.”
What is Apple‘s ability to remotely control their devices from their head office called? It is called “Intelligent design”. Here, science is copying God.
God could and can still update man’s genetic properties remotely from heaven through His Internet (His Spirit), just as your smartphone manufacturer can alter the longevity, behaviour and quality of your phone remotely through the Internet.
4. Noah Did Not Hunt The Animals He Had In The Ark. Also, There Were Few Aquatic Animals in the Ark:
Many people reject Scripture because they claim that Noah’s Ark could not possibly have contained all the animals on Earth, and that Noah could not have caught each animal, even with help from his family.
And they are right. Scripture does not say that Noah caught the animals on the Ark.
Genesis 6:20 says:
“Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.”
Noah did not go hunting for the animals. The animals came to Noah. He did not go to them. They were remotely updated by God from heaven and ordered to go to him.
Also, notice that that Scripture says “every kind of creature that moves along the ground”. What this means is that aquatic animals did not come to Noah, for the simple reason that they did not need an Ark to survive a flood. They thrived during the flood.
5. Melchizedek, Not Christ, Performed The First Holy Communion
I have heard pastors and clergymen preach that Christ instituted the Holy Communion. That is false. The first Holy Communion was instituted by a mysterious Figure known as Melchizedek, in Genesis 14:18–19:
“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.”
It was after this incident that God changed Abraham’s name from Abram to Abraham in Genesis 17:5.
Christ re-instituted the Holy Communion in. Luke 22:19. But notice what Paul says about a man who has accepted Christ and taken the Holy Communion after baptism, in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
You see, just as Melchizedek’s communion led to Abram‘s change to become Abraham, Christ’s Communion will lead you to become a new man.
6. Sleeping With Married Women Can Kill You:
One of the most sacred institutions in life is marriage. It is often thought that there is no consequence to sleeping with a married woman. But there is. But there is!
Genesis 20:3 says:
“God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”
Sleeping with a married woman can lead to death. I do not know if the same is true for a sleeping with a married man, because Scripture is silent about that, and there is no Scripture specifically condemning polygamy, although, I believe Christ condemned it in Mark 10:8:
“And the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.”
I do not see how three can become one flesh. However, please note very strongly that this is MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION. I am not being led by the Spirit on this. It is my dogma. It is not the Word of God.
7. God Did Not Consider Ishmael As Abraham’s Son:
This will offend many people, especially Muslims. However, according to Scripture (and you must understand that prophet Mohammed accepted the Books of Moses as being of divine origin), God did not consider Ishmael as Abraham’s son AFTER Isaac was born (not before).
We see this in Genesis 22:2:
“Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Notice the words “only son”. Note that Ishmael was 14 years old when Isaac was born, yet when Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac, God called Isaac his only son.
God did not consider Ishmael as Abraham’s son after the birth of Isaac. This does not mean that Ishmael was not Abraham’s child. He was. But the only time the word son is used to describe him after the birth of Isaac is when he is mentioned with Isaac, not when he is mentioned alone.
8. Silent Prayers Are Answered Faster Than Spoken Prayers:
I have seen too many pastors and clergymen tell their congregations to open their mouths and pray, because there is no silent prayer in Scripture. That type of talk is borne out of ignorance.
Scripture records the fastest prayer in the Old Testament as first Genesis 24:45:
“Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
Another potent silent prayer was Hannah’s prayer of-1 Samuel 1:13:
“Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk.”
And in the New Testament, the fastest prayer ever answered is in Matthew 9:21:
“For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.”
Silent prayers are very valid. This is corroborated by Ephesians 3:20:
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
Your thoughts are prayers. As a matter of fact, if what you pray with your mouth contradicts what you say with your heart, it is what you say in your heart that will prevail, because as 1 Samuel 16:7 teaches:
“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
9. Meditation Is Not a New Age or Eastern Religious Practice:
I have heard many pastors teach that meditation is a New Age practice and should be avoided. That is not true. Meditation is just like prayer. Prayer is good if you are praying to the one true God, and bad if you are praying to a dead god or an idol.
In fact, the patriarchs practiced the art of meditation. We see this in Genesis 24:63:
“Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.”
I have taken great pains to break these misconceptions down and demystify them for you. However, please read Scripture for yourself. It will stabilise you on the Rock of Christ and prevent you from being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.
Please do follow what is doctrinal. Follow what is Scriptural.
God has a plan to prosper you and help you achieve your heart’s desire. However, if you do not come into agreement with God’s plan for you, God’s plan for you will not come to pass. You need to have a good relationship with your God and with yourself and that can only happen when you read and understand Scripture by yourself, instead of living your life following dogma.
*Reno Omokri is Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years.
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