The word of God came to me the very first time during an armed-robbery attack. “Femi,” he said, “nothing is going to happen to you here.” Immediately, one of the robbers contradict-ed him by firing a bullet into my left leg. Even so, the word continued: “Femi, there is nothing wrong with your leg.”

Nowhere in the bible is it said or implied that the bible is the word of God. As a matter of fact, the bible is not even in the bible. Scriptures referring to the word of God never refer to the bible. For example, Moses says: “The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram.’” (Genesis 15:1). It was not the bible that spoke to Abram. The word of God came to him before any scriptures were written and before the bible was compiled. Therefore, neither the scriptures nor the bible can be the word of God.

I walked into the City of David parish of the Redeem-ed Christian Church of God, Lagos, for the very first time and was surp-rised to hear the choir playing the theme song from the blockbuster movie, Mission Impossible III. Don’t get me wrong; the choir was excellent. But you start to wonder if you are not actually at a pop-concert as opposed to a church.

Jesus came into the world as a heavenly commando sent by God to destroy the works of Satan single-handedly. The devil holds men in bondage through the singular sin of the love of life; the foundation of all sin. We steal, cheat, fight, kill and commit adultery in order to save our lives. God required Jesus to call us to repentance and tell us about his kingdom. He would then demonstrate that our fear of death is baseless by laying down his life and then rising from the dead.

IN Romans, Paul says God imputes righteousness by faith alone based on David’s assertion in Psalm 32: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

The Lord sent me on an errand. I said: “I go, Sir,” but did not go. He asked me to go out of town to talk to an old man about Christ. I can never say “no” to the Lord, but I dragged and dragged my feet about it. I debated indefinitely what to tell him. I had known the man all my life and felt it would be presumptuous of me to talk to him. I dilly-dallied until I was shocked to hear he was seriously ill and in hospital. Then I became afraid. What if he died?

THE bus was going from Lagos to Benin and it was waylaid by highway robbers. They got on the bus brandishing automatic weapons. “This is a stick up,” declared the leader of the gang in a menacing tone designed for maximum effect. “Is there anybody here who has been paying his tithes? If you have been paying your tithes raise your hand.”

Emmanuel Okonjo had had enough. His email to me from Abuja said as much. “That is the last parish of that church I will join. I am now convinced the church is a cult.” What was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back for Emmanuel. The pastor came to church that Sunday morning and laid down a decree “ex cathedra.” “Anyone who speaks against our church or against our G.O. (General Overseer) is going to die.”

The word “Trinity” can be found nowhere in the Bible. It is completely incongruous with scriptural understanding of God. God is not three persons. There is only one God and it is the Father. Jesus says: “salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22). Salvation is neither of the Romans nor of the Italians. The Trinity is an unscriptural concept, smuggled into Christendom under Roman Constantine by cloak-and-dagger means.

Jesus says we can identify his disciples by their fruits. (Matthew 7:20). He then says the fruits of a man are his words. (Luke 6:43-45). So here is a sure-fire way of determining the true disciple. Step on his toes and see what he has to say. Give him a slap and listen to what comes out of his mouth. That is the value of Boko Haram attacks for Nigerian Christians.