Bomb experts search for evidences in front of buses at a bomb blast scene at Nyanyan in Abuja April 14, 2014. (Afolabi Sotunde/Courtesy Reuters)
Nigerians today live in fear more than ever before, because of the violence plaguing the most populous country in Africa. But the widespread violence is caused by disobedience to God.
Violence does not just start overnight.
It starts from a rebellious heart.
Bad and evil thoughts germinate and grow into bad and evil acts form the closets to the streets and to the corridors of power.
And from the bedroom to the boardroom.
Boko Haram terrorists are attacking and killing innocent people and no one has asked who are the suppliers of their arms, SUVs and trucks.
The cultists caught in ritual murders of innocent people are reported in the news, but the police and press have not investigated and exposed their customers who as we speak are still living among us and many of them are in fact regular church goers and mosque goers pretending to be "Christians" and "Muslims". But they cannot fool God by their mere eye service and lip service, because Jesus Christ said:
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
~ Matthew 7:20, Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV)
These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules
~ Matthew 15:8-9, Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV)
What makes us true or false Christians shall be known by what we manifest in our lives and they can be known by the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Heavenly Virtues shown by our behaviors and lifestyles.
The 7 Deadly Sins
- A proud look
- A lying tongue
- Hands that shed innocent blood
- A heart that devises wicked plots
- Feet that are swift to run into mischief
- A deceitful witness that uttereth lies
- Him that soweth discord among brethren
Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.
Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.
Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.
Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.
Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.
Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.
Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.
The 7 Heavenly Virtues
1. Faith
2. Hope
3. Charity
4. Fortitude
5. Justice
6. Temperance
7. Prudence
Please, check yourself and if you are practicing the evils of the seven deadly sins, repent before it is too late for you and members of your family and relations.
Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
~ Galatians 6:6-8, Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV)
May God help us all to live in obedience of His Word and save us from the violence of rebellion and wickedness.
Then said I, Lo, I come:
in the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God:yea, thy law is within my heart.
~ Psalm 40:7-8, Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
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