Were the Israelites Just in demanding for a King: How far can we wait on the Lord (I Samuel 8)

I start by first observing these two key remarks, first, by James Muhlenberg, who strictly affirms, “…that Israelites call for a King was in fact a rejection of God’s traditional role in her national life,” (Muhlenberg 1961, 87). Conversely, the NIV Life Application Bible also avers that, “…their (Israelites) basic problem was disobedience to God, their other problems would only continue under the new administration. What they needed was a unified faith, not a uniform rule.”

Sometimes in life, we can be perplexed to a point and frustrated because we are doing the will of God, same case with the Israelites. They were unable to wait on the Lord’s plan for a perfect King-match; apparently, David was God’s choice.

God’s approval of Saul as a King over Israel was only an act of remedial to the request of the Israelites, in order words called the “permissive will of God.” Nevertheless, the questions is, why did God approved their request instead of acting Sovereign? This is because, sometimes God wants us to “enjoy some of our not-well-calculated choices we make,” so that we can see the result of the wrong choice we’ve made, in order to make us have a recap of how futuristic his love for us is, so that next time we will work with Him better, irrespective of His offer.

The book of I Samuel chapter 8 shows us the two main reasons why the Israelites demanded for a King. From these pretexts, I will swing my arguments.

First, they advocated for a King because Samuel was getting old. “…all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. …they told him, you are old…Give us a King to judge us like all the other nations have,” (I Samuel 8: 4, 5).

From the above passage, apparently, the elders were skeptical and troubled about Samuel’s old age, obsessing themselves with question; what will we do if Samuel happens to die now? No doubt, that was logical, sometimes our response to our environment should be efficient and fast-reasoning, the elders made no harm in thinking about their future, but, there mistake was not to think about what God has installed for them, knowing that they were a special nation – not like other nations. For me, there shouldn’t be any comparism, because, they (Israel) were governed by God Himself. This is an evidence of the skeptic nature of the Israelites, which transcended to their children-children, they all doubted God’s abilities; this consistently happened till their ruin - alas. God knew that Samuel was getting old; definitely, He had a plan of a King or judge. The best time God squares up His value and worth has always been at the point when His children are confused – that’s when God proves Himself and shows us why He is God.

In our spiritual journey, we should always know that God knows ahead of us, same applies to the Israelites, God knew Samuel was getting old, and definitely would intentionally allow him to live longer than expected till He makes new-plan on who takes the mantle of leadership, then officially announce this through His servant Samuel. We must carefully observe from the Bible, that, Samuel’s appointment of his children as “sub-judges” was due to the intense need for Samuel from all districts and cities of Israel to regulate and demonstrate justice. As such, Samuel found it ideal to “artificially produce” his sons as “sub-judges” to coordinate the affairs of areas he might not reach immediately, Joel and Abijah weren’t full judges they were sub-judges, and would not perform every rite as a typical Judge does. Their function as judges was limited.

Secondly, they clamored for a king because Joel & Abijah (Samuel’s sons) were not like their father. “…all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. …they told him … your sons are not like you. Give us a King to judge us like all the other nations have,” (I Samuel 8: 4, 5).

Here, the Israelites limited their thinking to the contrived nature of Joel and Abijah. They perverted justice and were immoral in their doings – that was a good reason to seek out for a King. The Bible noted staunchly that Eli’s children worked against the ways of the Lord, and Eli was held responsible for the sins of his children, but Samuel wasn’t. Like the usual surmise by most preachers, God had favorites – believe it or not! Joel and Abijah were not at all like their father Samuel they were lax in moral. The reason for this, the researcher can’t foretell, but, it is impossible to note whether Samuel was a bad father. Parenthood is an awesome opportunity, and there is nothing more important and delicate than molding our children.

On this path, I always ask; why did Samuel appoint his sons as acting judges? Is simple; this could be a conjecture; the Bible said in I Sam. 8: 1, “As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel.” He did actually, but have we ever sought out the meaning of the verb-word “appointed” used in the NIV, and “made” used by the King James Version respectively. Good, these words simply means, agreed (not necessary confirmed or official), artificially produced, fictitious, invented, contrived, it also means, decorated or furnished. In order words, Joel and Abijah simply were artificially decorated judges by Samuel to act on his behalf only at Beersheba. Also, another route to this argument is, if Samuel officially made them judges, their dominion would not be limited to Beersheba region only; definitely, their authority could have extended to other major regions. Samuel, due to his aged physiological problems decorated and synthesized Joel and Abijah as sub-judges.

From these, is apparent to note that, the Israelites motive in asking for a king was to be like other nations around them. This was in total opposition to God’s original plan. To concur with this suggestion, the NIV Life Application Bible agrees that, “It was not their desire for a king that was wrong, but their reasons for wanting a king”.

Lessons learnt from Findings

Sometimes we want to go our own way rather than follow the ways of God; this will always end in ruin. God has a profound plan for everyone, how pivotal is it to capitulate to God purpose, because it will only be nothing but the best. God’s love for us could make us pass through molding (difficult) times; in this period are set tests of our love for God. How profound is your love for God?

It was not their desire for a king that was wrong, but their reasons for wanting a king. Often, we let others’ values and actions dictate our attitudes and behavior. Sometimes our motive for asking for a thing determines how far God can go in giving us our request, or providing a remedial. Apparently, Israel’s motive was synthetic in nature. In order words, it was a fake, vague and borrowed concept. We must be careful on the motives on which we request things from God – this determines a lot.

It also calls for a need for proper interpretation of the scriptural text. The NIV or King James word “appointed” or “made” respectively, means “to decorate,” “agree” or “artificially produced something,” in order words, not original – not the real thing. We could simply say that Joel and Abijah were fake representation of judges, who were acting unbehalf of their father’s affairs while he was away from Beersheba.

Finally, as a church, when passing through hard times, and also as brethren in a Christian Community, what we need most is a unified faith as Christians, not a uniform rule.

Alack, had the Israelites submitted to God’s leadership, they would have thrived beyond their expectations (Deut. 28: 1). Here lies a clarion call for all Christian to conform to the will of God, working their salvation with fear and trembling in its time, fighting a good fight, in order to be furnished unto all good works. We can only make headway in their various ministries only after we’ve passed the test of faith.

Conclusion

Our obedience is weak if we ask God to lead us but continue to live by the world’s standards and values. In reality, the children of Israelites were rejecting God as their leader. Same with us all, we want to do thing our own way, we don’t want to be limited. Our human nature spices us up to explore the realities of this world. Same with the Israelites, they wanted to be like other neighboring nations, they despised theocracy rule.

The people of Israel clamored for a king thinking that the new system of Government would bring about change in the nation. Same with us today, clamor for fascinating things of this world thinking that it would bring about change in us, while is an end itself. We as Christians, have to be careful on the choices we make today, because it will either make us be like Christ or fake us as Christ, in order words been hypocritical Christians. Faith in God must touch all the practical areas of life.

The Great Commander and His Great Commission: How far have we gone?

The Theology of the Great Commission

First, Jesus did not brought to earth a religion, rather He brought to earth a Kingdom, and the only way this kingdom would be established ubiquitously on earth was only through accelerating His message and precepts to every earthen creator. This aim can only be achieved by Christians at all levels through fulfilling His post-resurrection command as referenced in the gospels (Matthew 28: 19 – 20; Mk. 16: 15 – 18; Lk. 24: 46 – 49; Jn. 20: 21 – 23; and Acts 1: 4 – 5, 8).

As Christians, we must understand God’s wish for all, “to seek first His Kingdom…” referenced in Matthew 6: 33, when we have done this, then we are qualified to carry on this command. Also, the first thing we must seek or pursue is to change our philosophies, and thoughts (to repent).

Its Precision

Rationalists, freethinkers and higher criticism, have seriously attacked the integrity and profound genuineness of the Great Commission, mostly on its theological ground. However, evangelical scholars have staunchly disputed these attacks, as such, abiding by its peculiar nature as the command of God. Some scholars also, have defended its authenticity and genuineness, and held its connections and value on the basis and ideas of both the internal and external evidences. How then do we know if it is legitimate? Well, the answer is simple; because it is a scriptural injunction, not just one of the writings by an apostle, but also one that came out of the mouth of our Savior – Jesus Christ; that is worth abiding by. So, for that alone we must acknowledge and wholly accept its unquestionable authenticity.

Its Worth and Value

Nonetheless, it was of distinct worth and value that the Great Commission was spoken by Jesus Christ, and through inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit recorded by the Gospel writers – what a phenomenon. This thrust of Jesus mainly focuses on our responsibilities as Christians to do Missions, and producing fruits (disciples). Pfeiffer, Charles et al. in a conversation emphasized that, “the Great Commission does not create new duties for Christianity …it sharply focuses the missionary thrust and responsibility beyond reasonable doubt and dispute” (Pfeiffer et. al 2003, 370).

How do we understand this, in a further assertion, Pfeiffer pointed clearly that, “...its singularity as the principal command of the Lord in His resurrection Ministry makes it more than just one commission among many commands to the disciples” (Pfeiffer 2003, 370).

Undoubtedly, its peculiarity and its supreme nature as an original idea of our Lord Jesus Christ made it worth obeying, besides, is direct from the Master’s mouth. Again, its restatement by writers of the Gospels made it more authentic. Witnessing to its undying custom of the early church, and the account of Luke, reveals this mystery as a dynamic principle for Christianity.

The Scope and Shape of the Great Commission

A constructive analysis on the basis for the Great Commission reveals two imperatives, “to make disciples” and “to preach to the gospel”. Logically, this idea gives a direction on how this instruction is to be carried out. From both connections, how do Christians comprehend this dual formation, which must be carried out as a whole? From Pfeiffer, “The Great Commission is like a shape with two foci,” (Pfeiffer 2003, 370). Pfeiffer made this claim because, while in the former years of the medieval times, when the missionary movement was an active service, beginning with William Carey, the chief focus then was upon the “Markan focus” -“preach the gospel”. Conversely, nowadays, it has changed its focal point, is now based on the “Matthew’s focus” – “make disciples.” However, Church planting imperative is not the riding-point for Christianity. Besides, how then do we justify the concern for doing mission in our present-day world? Because the Bible emphasizes both, to that extent, keeps them in proper and correlated form or balance.

These two foci however, were essentially supplemented by the participle “going,” referenced in (Mk. 16: 15; Mt. 28: 19), “Preaching,” mentioned in (Mt. 28: 20), and “Baptizing” referenced in (Mt. 28: 20). These forms of verb automatically conjoin the foci. Mendenshall in an attempt to credit this idea, commented; “There are no imperative verbs relative to witnessing or preaching in Luke, John or Acts,” (Pfeiffer 2003, 371). However, the dynamics of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit predominantly takes the place of the imperative, though in Luke and John gospels, we saw the connection, “thus it is written” and “receive ye the Holy Spirit,” respectively. When these phrases are forced back out of these passages, then, the idea to witness is a complete mess and rather superfluous and pointless, hence, indeed would be a complete aberration; besides, odd.

The Compound Nature of the Great Commission

An outlook on the nature and structure of the Great Commission absolutely tells of its composite nature, especially when viewed as an arbitrary-imposed-command – so say the rationalists. Its unique review and concern in the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John), especially when referenced in the book of Acts, tells of its significance and validity, not forgetting its estimable importance to God. However, displaying its importance, and unity in the hearts of the gospel writers, and must be obey accordingly as delineated in these gospels.

Joachim Jeremias in response to the connection of the gospel writers in depicting the Commission - strictly admitted that, “they all culminate in the Great Commission and point in a common direction …is centrifugal in nature and thrust” (Jeremias 1958, iii).

A synopsis of these scriptural texts would help us have a better understanding of the presentation of this Commission, and interpreting its contextual literary connotations.

Matthew 28: 19 – 20

“(19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (KJV)

This passage examines the authority, the all-comprehensive goal and the extension of time or period of this task. This also unveils essentially, our nature as new creations in Christ – which involves teaching others the precepts of God.

Mark 16: 15 – 18

(15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (17) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; (18).They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (KJV).

This passage reveals the power and covenant behind this Commission, and its transcendent nature. Also, the method and the geographical nature of the work – was cited.

Luke 24: 46 – 49

46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.48 And ye are witnesses of these things.49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high (KJV).

Apostle Luke revealed the dead and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the message; the universality of the work was also showcased.

John 20: 21 – 23

“21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose so ever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose so ever sins ye retain, they are retained” (KJV)

The book of John as Pfeiffer admitted displayed the, “spiritual equipment and nature of the work” (Pfeiffer 2003, 370). To add to that, this passage shows a shared authority attached to the task, and the mandate of heaven or power behind this Commission.

Acts 1: 4- 5, 8

“(4) And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. (5) For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. (8) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (KJV).

Acts, unveils the necessity of unity among believers while obeying this task, which is attached with a paranormal power to empower others, however, this paranormal power can only be gotten through an interpersonal divine contact with the Holy Spirit.

From the above synopsis, it is apparent to say that, none of the writers in his form gives it in its completeness. The fact that each of the four writers gives the Great Commission in one form, or another, needs to be observed. None of them wrote in its totality. Each one presents it from his own outlook and illustration, however, this tells that together they supplement the whole idea, and connote a total completeness. Like Pfeiffer admitted, “Only as we see the whole outline as presented in the four Gospels do we see the total Great Commission”(Pfeiffer 2003, 370).

A study of the complex nature of the Great Commission, when solute, calls on the all-inclusive goal of making disciples, which we (the Church) must make a priority.

Its Interpretation and Correlations

The interpretation of the Great Commission scriptural texts is like a changing contour, which has maintained its movement throughout centuries, causing considerable discussions. With the rise of textual criticism from freethinkers and extremists, how do we understand the original idea in Christ’s mind when stipulating this heavenly injunction for his followers? Alternatively, would we say it was just a rhetoric expression? However, constant debate had revolved around numerous questions. Culver in a comment, stated some admirable questions that has been asked, he states,

…numerous question like, where these words spoken to the disciples as apostles of Jesus Christ? Did they constitute a part of the unique assignment to the apostolic office? Or were they addressed to the apostles as representatives of the church of Jesus Christ and thus are a part of the church’s commission unto the end of the age? ...what is the interrelationship between baptizing and teaching? Is the latter a coordinate with or subordinate to the former since the conjunctive ‘and’ is missing between vs. 19 and 20 of Mt. 28? Or is teaching associated with baptizing and not merely subsequent to it? And how are baptizing and teaching related to making disciples? What is the real meaning of baptizing ‘into’ the name? Why is the word ‘name’ used in the singular when it is followed by an enumeration of the three persons of the Godhead?(Culver 1967, 120).

These were possible mature scholarly views and questions from rationalists and scholars who had found great interest in the Great Commission injunction. However, some Evangelical Scholars has strived to seek answers to these profound questions, believing that the Great Commission was addressed to the Church, and as such must be obeyed to the end of the age and must be interpreted in the light of total revelation.

Most Scholars have done careful exegetical studies on the concept of the Great Commission, interestingly, limiting their study to that of Matthew’s passage only. Likes of Karl Barth and Robert Culver are explicit examples of these.

However, a study then, of the complex nature of this injunction, simply emphasizes the all-inclusive goal of the Commission is to make disciples of all nations, while propagating the gospel of Christ.

The revelation of the Great Commission is rooted in the Word of God, and had been firmly revealed totally in both the O.T and N.T. Like Pfeiffer’s thought, “It forms an organic unit and an integral part within that revelation, and receives its true meaning and force only if seen in this larger relationship” (Pfeiffer 2003, 370).

This revelation has being systematically revealed in the scriptures. Let’s quickly do an incisive study on some of these scriptural connections.

The Great Commission had being revealed in several interpretations, but primarily as (i). a missionary purpose and thrust of God referenced in the Old Testament (See. Isaiah 49: 6; 56: 3- 8, Jonah 3: 10; 4: 2, 11); (ii). Historically incarnated in the calling of Israel (See. Genesis 12: 1 – 3; Exodus 19: 5 – 6; Isaiah 42: 6 – 7, 19); (iii). As Life, theology and saving work of Christ as disclosed in (Matthew 9: 35; 11: 1; Luke 19: 10; John 10: 16); (iv). As the nature and work of the Holy Spirit as predicted by our Lord and manifested on and after Pentecost (See. Acts 2: 17; 13: 2, 4; 16: 6 – 10); (v). As the natur of the church of Jesus Christ reference in the book of Acts (See. Acts 2: 9 – 11, 21, 39; 13: 46 – 49; 15: 7 – 18); (vi). As revealed in the Epistles (See. Romans 10: 18; Ephesians 2: 11 – 22; 3: 8 – 11; Colossians 1: 6, 23). (vii). As a testimony to the whole world before the end comes, referenced in (Matthew 24: 14).

Consequently, the Commission was steadily revealed in the scriptures for our own admonition and concern as the Body of Christ. Should the church in the face of an upsurge in textual criticism and rationalists ignore this biblical command? Christians at all level must obey God’s command; this will pave way for better infectual zeal to spread the gospel, this obviously, is an outcome of thinking-out techniques and strategies to win the sin-sick souls for Christ, by first dedicating ourselves to be use by Him.

Lessons learnt from Findings

Jesus died, was buried, and the third day rose from the dead – in less than two months from His resurrection, He would rise in the clouds to enter back into heaven. The final words of Jesus, His last instructions before leaving planet earth to take His seat at the right hand of the Father are words that are instructive and stimulating. We call these words “The Great Commission,” for in them He commissions His disciples to take His message into all the whole world: a great task, and great words that provide great hope for mankind.

It is vital that one understands the ground for this commission; this would help for a better understanding, especially, when fulfilling this command. From this incisive study, is pivotal to note the authority of Christ, some fail to recognize the authority of Christ. This is important, because the book of Col. 1: 18 says, “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” While Jesus walked upon earth, He demonstrated His authority over sickness, nature, demons, Satan, and sin – He still has all authority – all power – in heaven and in earth!

Secondly, the researcher understood the importance of preaching the Gospel, which was the only way the end would come – how is that possible? Romans 1: 16, tells us how mankind needs preaching in order to change their heinous philosophies. Although, II Tim. 4: 2 gingers us to preach the Word…, how important is this command. Alack, nowadays, some preachers will speak for minutes, and say nary a word concerning the gospel! On this note, it is essential to note that, it does not matter if the preacher’s words are neither eloquent, nor elaborate, nor loud, nor soft. What matters is, are his (the preacher’s) words the Truth of God? Because that’s where the power is!

The charge of the commission to win souls should not be ignored. From our findings, we noticed the importance of evangelism, how important is it for us to be concerned about the lost. As proverb 11: 30 tell us that “he that winneth souls is wise”, the researcher pulse by asking this question, how wise are we as Christians, if not by having an infectual zeal for winning souls for Christ? By having that infectual zeal for the gospel, His Kingdom will be established more-and-more on earth.

It is also important to underscore the importance of salvation in fulfilling the Great Commission, aim at saving souls. While we go out to preach, teach, baptize and disciple, we must fulfill the purpose of salvation – saving lost souls. As John Brown asserts in an editorial, “Christians must go forth with a message about salvation from sin!”(Brown 2008).

The researcher also understood the importance of Baptism. Emphatically, the Great Commission places great emphasis on baptism! As seen in all the scriptural injunctions, men place little or no emphasis on baptism, but Jesus did!

Finally, the most vital part; the importance of discipleship. “A child does not know how to eat except taught by the mother,” in the same manner, is the life of a baby Christian. New converts needs to be taught and discipled; teaching them all things as Christ had commanded in His Word – this is the basis on which the Christian faith is grown.

Its Connection to and Implications for Present-Day Christianity

John Young in his 1968 classic, Theology of Missions, sincerely admitted that, “The Great Commission does not make Christianity a missionary religion” (Young 1968, 162). Despite this conjecture by Young, other scholars on the ground of this all-important Great Commission injunction had made the same remarks. Conversely, Charles Pfeiffer, from a parallel perspective also concluded that, “the Great Commission is not an isolated arbitrary command imposed upon Christianity. It is a logical summation and natural outflow of the character of God as He is revealed in the scripture” (Pfeiffer et. al 2003, 370).

Pfeiffer while making this possible postulation base on an authority - the Bible, made reference to some scriptural passages, Ezekiel 33: 11; 1 Timothy 2: 4; and 2 Peter 3: 9.

However, Christians at all level must slot in an intensive and corporate heralding of the gospel among the nations of the world, by firmly communicating radically the gospel of Christ as written in the scriptures. The Church must lead converts and its members into an inner experience of the life in Christ through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. By so doing, separating people from their past sinful lifestyles and experience without separating them from their culture, and engrafting them spontaneously to the congregation of believers through the practice of baptism.

Pfeiffer posits, “…renew …minds, and mold them into true Christian discipleship” (Pfeiffer et. al 2003, 371).

Based on this thought, the Church (as a whole) must embed and instill in them, the precepts or the original idea of God, rooted in the Word of God, so, making them steadfast at all times, and as such, building them to be light to others and an advertisement to their world. Upon these, such is the pattern of our Ministry as the chosen ones according to the Great Commission; none of the prerequisites must be omitted or neglected.

For Christians, no one must undermine or demean the authority or validity of this principle, which must be obeyed by the Church.

Conclusion

The Great Commander has issued His Great Commission. It is just as applicable to our generation as it was to the generation of the first century Christians. Let us learn from it, and practice it, as we take New Testament Christianity to our world!

In strive to bring out a comprehensive research work; the researchers came across the action verb “GO”, which is a command in its present participle, which literary means, “as you go”, or “while you are going”. Jesus in using this verb assumes we are going to GO – why don’t we go and make Him proud!

In view of the foregoing, here lies a clarion call to wake up to our responsibilities as Christians, and yield to this command, which must be instilled through adequate teaching both in Churches and in Christian environments. This discipline also serves as a threshold for training people of God that will invade and penetrate this world with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then gradually establishing God’s Kingdom here on earth. Christians at all levels must have an infectual zeal for fulfilling this command. This however, must be done diligently in righteousness so that the people of God will be thoroughly furnished unto all good works – while submitting to this Christological juridical principle.

Thanks and God bless.

The Image of God in Man: VicCounted's Perspective

The Bible avers that humans alone are "created in the image of God”. What exactly does this mean? Some have equated the image of God as being the physical characteristics of our bodies that make up the way we look.

Scholars have added light to this concept. In the creation story, man was said to have being created in the imago dei: image of God. What is this image of God in man? Danny McCann in an attempt to counteract these reactions pointed, “The image of God was reflected in Adam and Eve in their original sinless and holy condition. It obviously includes original knowledge, righteousness and holiness” (McCann © 2004, 19). Apparently, some of this nature and qualities were lost in the fall of Man, hence certainly not all of it. It remains apparent that man is still in the likeness of the transcendent infinite Creator (God) – how is that possible?

A Biblical interpretation of this term as seen in several passages interpreted man’s likeness to God as, “the immaterial aspects or function of man,” such as, reasoning, will, moral perception, the capacity for relationship, self-determination, dominion over creation, which were all distinguished into three main distinct parts in the course of this study. (See Man’s likeness to God). Upon these movements, let us unpack these definitions.

The original state of man has been stained with the fall of man. How do we understand this mystery if not by God’s inspirational insight through His Word. How then will man be restored to his original state? The term the image of God in man was interpreted adequately in the scriptures, and has its “backing” both from internal and external evidences. As the Bible is the only book that reveals in a much clearer way the likeness and image of God, for study sake, we will adopt its pre-concept in order to demystify this concept, with the intention of achieving a godly feat – this is why God’s Word is so powerful, it can give an answer to any question of man.

God Himself is “Life” and any Word that proceeds from His mouth is Life as well, and anything called “life” in this sense is pneumatically immortal. Upon this background, below are some exegetical studies on some scriptural passages that had helped the researcher with answers:

Genesis 1: 26 – 27 (Plan of the Triune God)

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”(KJV)

The Bible specifically declares that it was a deliberate plan of God to create man in His image and likeness so that he can have dominion over his creatures, by doing so man in a sense, is acting in place of God here on earth as His representatives – what a concept!

Genesis 5: 1 (A Writer’s Remark)

“…In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him” (KJV). Here, the writer was giving an opening remark on what God did, and so, addressing man as a “supreme being” made in the image of the Triune God. However, the similarity in appearance between God and man was explicitly re-mentioned in this passage by Moses (the writer of Genesis). .

Genesis 9: 6 (Life Resemblance)

“Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (KJV).

God declares that man’s blood should not be shed by anyone, because he is created in His image. Here, God was trying to share His supreme value and personality with mortal man – how loving. This was done by stipulating a universal guiding principle for man’s existence.

James 3: 9 (Social Commonness)

“Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God” (KJV).

Here, the King James Version uses similitude, which is synonymous to likeness or image. Man however, is warned not to misuse his tongue by cursing his fellow man who is also made in God’s likeness. Logically, this simply means that any man that curse his fellow man is naively cursing His Maker, because there is a God’s content or “symbolic feature” in every man. Man must be aware of the consequences if such act is consciously setout.

2 Peter 1: 3 – 4 (Christian Glorious Calling)

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (KJV)

This passage is syntactic in nature; the writer uses a phrase in verse 3, “given unto us all that pertain unto life and godliness,” and in verse 4, “partakers of divine nature,” which is God Himself in a pneumatic form (man), man have adopted the divine nature of God, which is life and righteous. This is a more Reformed view, which sees the “redeemed man” as a new creation justified by faith.

Apostle Paul enlightens more about God’s call upon us, which is glorious and attached with great and precious promises that allows us to partake in the divine nature and for the most part, escape the corruption of the world, which originates from evil desires.

Ephesians 4: 24; Colossians 3: 10 (Indwelling of the New Man)

“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (KJV)

Apostle Paul advises both the Ephesians and Colossians believers to “put on the new man”. This implies that the image of God in man originally had dwindled during the fall of man to a level that brought man under a fallen state (See. Romans 3: 23).

Paul here was emphasizing on the new image (man) of which redemption in Christ was its source of manifestation. Though Scholars commonly concur that the divine image is unalienable (impossible to take away) from man. However, this does not mean that man has not soiled the image of God - ad infinitum. Therefore, it is now agreed upon that there are some “divine likeness” that were lost because of man’s disobedience to God.

GOD’S LIKENESS TO MAN

To begin with, the researcher would like to start by observing this very important statement by Rich Deem of the God and Science News Flash in a recent 2009 editorial, Deem writes,

…humans evolved from ape-like ancestors. If this is true then we are nothing more than glorified apes. However, compared to our closest "relatives", scientific research indicates that humans are unique on many fronts, including creativity, personality, abstract thinking, and moral judgment (Deem 2009).

In Genesis chapter 1: 26, God said, “let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” from this original idea, no distinction should be made between “image” and “likeness” because they are synonymous in both the O.T and N.T inscriptions. Accordingly, man is unique among all God’s creations due to its tripartite nature (body, soul and Spirit). Having the “image” or “likeness” of God simply means that man was created to resemble God. There are few other texts in Genesis where man is said to have been ‘in’ or ‘as’ the image of God, according to His likeness. Though, many interpreters have thought to locate the image of God in man’s reason, creativity, speech, or spiritual nature. It is more likely then, that is the whole of man not an aspect of him. As most scholars do stance, “man is the corporeal image of the incorporeal God” (Berkouwer 1962, 56).

In the ancient Near East, it is usually the King who is said to be the image of God, but in Genesis chapter 1, it is Mankind as a whole that is God’s representative. Significantly, man was still spoken of as the image of God after the fall: the fall of Genesis 9: 6, which depends on the belief that man represents God, so that, in a sense, an injury done to man is equally an injury done to God – logically (Also see above, James 3: 9 (Social Commonness)

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The Bible avers that humans alone are created in the “image of God”, what exactly does this mean? Briefly, as the researcher will try to answer this deep question, and in series discuss some vital topics in order to unveil denotation of “the image of God” as regards the immaterial part of man, which sets man apart from the animal world and fits himself for the dominion God intended him to have over the earth (Genesis 1:28). This also enables him to commune with his Maker. In a recent editorial of the gotanswers.com, a Christian evangelistic website, they contributed to this effort and made a remarkable contribution on this study, dividing this likeness into three tripartite factors, which were, God’s likeness mentally, morally, and socially. Let’s briefly look into these:

Mentally:

Man’s conscious activeness and exceptional intelligence in making fiction a reality has for years being a controversial issue. The meaning and significance of God’s action into and in and through history becomes the basis for man’s inner response. He are made in His image and likeness as reasonable, intelligent and volitional beings, just as God Himself, though He is incorporeal and infinite. Simply put, Man was created as a rational and volitional agent. To be precise, man can reason and man can choose. This is a mirror image of God’s mental power and independence. This in a sense is man’s ability to create, invent, paint, write, calculate or think, these concludes that man is made in God’s likeness.

Is the human brain much different from that of our closest "relatives”, like the chimpanzees? According to Daniel J. Povinelli of the University of Louisiana's, New Iberia Research Center,

Humans constantly invoke unobservable phenomena and variables to explain why certain things are happening. Chimps operate in the world of concrete, tangible things that can be seen. The content of their minds is about the observable world (Iberia Research Center 2007).

Thus, the study of Anthropology tells of how creative man was thousands of years ago before the Patriarchs. This period marked an unforgettable artistic creation ever in history – how could man initiate such an idea. This mirrors man’s creative and conscious nature.

Morally:

Few weeks ago, on the cause of this research, Rev. Kalu Okechukwu commented on the hostile nature of man in reconciling passably with His transcendent infinite creator. In his observation, he noted that, “man was created innocent; for him not to maintain that state was an inability on his own part – he could have remained innocent if he wanted.”

In addition, another remarkable input on this study was by the gotanswers.org web magazine, in a statement opines,

Part of being made in God’s image is that Adam had the capacity to make free choices. Although he was given a righteous nature, Adam made an evil choice to rebel against his Creator. In so doing, Adam marred the image of God within himself, and he passed that damaged likeness on to all his descendants (Romans 5:12). Today, we still bear the image of God (James 3:9), but we also bear the scars of sin. (Gotanswers Report 2008)

This view was as a result of Adam’s disobedience to God, he could have remained immortal and innocent as it was on God’s mind originally. However, this also brings out some aspect of man’s likeness to God in terms of its mental effect (See Man’s likeness to God: mentally), because man was volitional – that was a part of God’s image man adopted. The researcher will avoid digressing from the main concept and maintain the study framework. Man was volitional and had the freedom to make options for himself that was part of the qualities of our being, which reflects God’s image in us.

It is Amazing to note that, man was created in righteousness and perfect innocence, which was a reflection of God’s holiness. God saw all He had made (Mankind included) and called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Our conscience or “moral compass” is a sign of that original state. Whenever someone writes a law, recoils from evil, praises good behavior, or feels guilty, he is confirming the fact that we are made in God’s own image.

Communally:

Man was principally created for fellowship. Either fellowship with fellow man or with God still runs a spiral connotation. This reflects God's triune nature and love. In Eden, man’s primary relationship was with God. This implies fellowship with the transcendent incorporeal creator. In addition, God made the first woman because “it was not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Every time someone marries, makes a friend, hugs a child, or attends Church service, this depicts he is demonstrating the fact that he was made certainly in the image and likeness of the ever-loving social Father.

Even evolutionists are beginning to recognize the uniqueness of human beings. Ian Tattersall, in Becoming Human - Evolution and Human Uniqueness, says humans represent a "totally unprecedented entity" on Earth, and "Homo sapiens is not simply an improved version of its ancestors - it's a new concept"(Tattersall © 1995)

Since most austere evolutionists are consciously responding and concurring to this fact, we must be aware of God’s image in us, which are all worthy of honor and respect; they are neither to be murdered (Gen. 9: 6) nor cursed (Jas. 3: 9).

RELEVANCE FOR CHRISTIANITY

First, the researcher will like to start by bringing on this vital statement, “it is believed that after the fall, the image remained more or less intact while the moral image was destroyed – to be restored in full redemption through Christ”(Okechukwu 2009, 19)

The good news is that when God redeems an individual, He begins to restore the original image of God, creating a new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). That redemption is only available by God’s grace through faith in Christ as our Savior, from sin, that separates us from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through Christ, we are made new creations in the likeness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Obviously, Adam lost his position in God’s place by being disobedient to God’s instruction. The sin he committed led to man’s depravity (sinful nature). The relationship that existed between God and man became terminated – at first. By being made in God’s image, man was expected to operate in connection with God. From the background of the above emanating issues, can we now say that God’s image is still relevant to present-day Christianity? According to J. Ellicott, in his 1959 classic, Ellicott’s Commentary on the whole Bible, emphasized more on this, he however concluded that “Man has not totally lost his original position” (Ellicott 1959). He further asserts, “The capacity/ ability that man received from God was only weakened and defiled by the fall” (Ellicott 1959). Ellicott was rather being liberal in his statements, but was conversely interpreting the original idea of the scripture as concerns this absorbing issue.

The book of Col. 1: 15 refers to Christ as the visible image of the invisible God. Relating this assertion of Paul with the view of Ellicott, one can say that the relevance of God’s image in man to the present-day Christianity is base in the person of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5: 17 tells us that “whenever any man decides to repent and turn to God, he becomes a new creature”. This experience or change automatically makes a new being out of man. Upon this, Christians now can have the Holy Spirit, who is a symbol of God’s omnipresent image. God’s Spirit in them is capable of leading and directing them to act in the likeness of God. We must not fail to understand that, even though “God and Man are not identical in a whole, they are not totally differenct” (Okechukwu 2009). In a sense, God and Man are alike because man has the ability to reason, to have self-direction or will and the eagerness to have fellowship with His Creator and fellow man.

Man was created to relate rightly with God and to be identified with freedom from sin. This position was actually destroyed at the fall. However, in Christ, we have redeemed this position because of the redemption and creation image, which sums the totality of God’s image in us achieved in full redemption through faith in Christ - that is the only source of restoration for Man.

CONCLUSION

Never has there been a journey or an embarkment, which began and never ended. Better still, the beauty of it is actually a great, beautiful end. As the Bible says, “the end of a thing matter more than its start”.

This study has obviously reached a point of necessary worth conclusion. After having clearly enumerated salient facts in a bid, reveal what “the Image of God in Man” entails in its entirety as well as the relevance and full implication of “Imago Dei” in the lives of today’s Christians, and with the aid of fitting references and opinions of authors, editors, speakers to bring out a wide range of scholarly views on the subject matter.

A reflection of God’s image in man would never be duly, let out if needed reconciliation along with re-positioning in Christ is not achieved in the life of today’s Christians, as well as in Christ’s body as a whole. More so, the offering of Jesus for the remission of man’s sins as well as for the redemption of man from the state of fall is good enough; yet not enough. Man has his part to play!

“Shall we continue to live in sin so that Grace may abound…” This is just one out of many scriptural texts that assures the reality of perfect life of liberty in Christ on the condition that sin and righteousness is eschewed. It is worthy of embrace that the relevance of Imago Dei to the present-day Christian has no substance as such if practicality of it is yet to be felt in the life of the believer. More so, an urgent call to salvation and righteous living is the real essence of divine restoration of the “Image of God”, which man once lost.

To this end, man is allowed a placed in God’s heart again – he can recover his lost position as a replica of the Almighty. His (man) one-time fall is thus nullified by virtue of the work of redemption Christ did on the Cross and all sins are atoned for, with the Blood of Jesus. The new birth is obtainable. Salvation is not far fetched and there is room for all.

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God”. This is true, as the shared Image of God does not in itself end here on earth. Heaven is real, and is a place meant for the redeemed ones. This is more than a wake-up call!

The Internet Church: Church in Wire Cables

In 2004, Peter Glover in his book the Virtual Church shared his views on this new revolution and the possible effects of making a Virtual Church community on the cyberspace. In his observation, Glover states:

The World Wide Web certainly has a place in supporting the general work of the Christian church. But when it comes to setting up a virtual church community on cyberspace as part of the latest communications revolution, then the surfer is no more a member of a legitimate Church, than could be a reader via the printing press (Glover 2004)

Hence, this dear-suggestion seems to out-hold the certainty of establishing a virtual church community on the web, which most Christian scholars predicts would be another road to other ends of the earth – while fulfilling the Great Commission.

In spite of this, my stand in this vital and challenging overview is that first, I believe and feel that we should understand the concept of been a Church in every age until Christ returns. Conversely, I would like to start by stating the four Bible-authorizing essentials from the New Testament perspective that makes a church ‘a church’ in the sight of God, not in our own presupposition. From the New Testament perspective, these are the essential elements a biblical church must have: Praying together for a cause, mentioned in (Acts 12: 5); Preaching the Word of God, referenced in (John 8:31,47; Gal.1:8-9; 2; I Thess.2:15; 2 Tim.3:16-4:4; 1 John 4:1-3); Administering of Sacraments, referenced in (1 Cor.10:14-17,21; 1 Cor. 11:23-30); and the exercise of Church discipline also mentioned in (Matt.18:17; Acts 20:28-31; Rom. 16:17-18; 1 Cor. 5:1-13).

Nonetheless, is of no doubt that the Church pictured in these four main contexts is however suppressed and victimize with the revolution of the virtual church. The four descriptive elements of a ‘God’s own Church’ seems to technically fall victim to the practice of the modern Church.

Glover in some other attempt tries to emphasize more on this, and said:

The great sadness of our generation is that Bible-believing Christians are finding faithful churches increasingly hard to find. And though the preaching of the Word can occur online, the Bible makes it clear that preaching ought primarily to be within the context of community church life, not apart from it. But the other two elements, sacrament observance and the disciplining of the flock, are simply impossible to administer… (Glover 2004)

In all, Glover seems to make a point. The church should be a place to worship God in Spirit and in Truth, not “cable wires”. Nonetheless, there is still time to amend and properly tune the “mission statement” of the church, while using this revolutionary-disoriented phenomenon. Apparently, the cyberspace can never provide for observing of sacraments, or even Pastoring and disciplining of flocks as the local church does. Though it might to some extent, provide some limited range of preaching to its user, but not the whole of it as compared to what you get in a local church. Notwithstanding, Christ commands us to go preach to all nations of the earth and even to the ends of the earth, and make disciples of them. However I hope we catch this illustration; let’s hypothetically think of the cyberspace as an imagined nation where we can make disciples for the LORD. However, is very possible to make disciples online and then direct them to a local congregational church where they can receive further edification, pastoring and sacramental observance. In that case, it is more fulfilling to direct cyber converts to a local church nearby, than ignorantly trying to perform the whole rituals of a biblical church – which is impossible. .

Just some couple of days ago, on the course of this research, a friend of mine told me that, “God can’t approve of building a church community on the internet because it is simply not a legitimate church – in fact it is unimpressive to me, and a trap to fence-in churches and Christian organizations to the mischievous wall of the Internet.” In his opinion, he also said something very interesting, that, “once the church have fully accepted and embraced this tool, using it to run her entire programs and activities, there will be a regulation of Christian sites from the central database system”. He further reference a passage from the bible: I will share the verse with you, it made sense in a way however. Hebrew 10: 25: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

However, his claims and comments seem real and intriguing. After this encounter, I ceaselessly thought about his views for some couple of weeks, and concluded that God might be speaking through him though, after all – ‘the internet’ aren’t ‘the church’, and on the mainstream, the cyberspace is just a new revolution not a ‘new church’. It would be wise to note this; the cyberspace can only serve this one essential purpose for the church, which is to be used as an innovative tool for reaching out to the unreached and spreading the gospel to diverse nations of the World. When converts are made, directing these converts to a local church is then considered a priority.

I discovered that most Christian fanatics kick against building a church community on the web simply because of Paul’s admonition in Hebrew 10: 25, that we should not forsake the gathering of our brethren as most of us are doing presently…, apparently, this passage certainly speaks volumes, but at the other end, are we just misinterpreting the context of that verse? The truth be told! People are more open, more friendly, and ready to discuss issues on the internet, than what it uses to be in a typical church arena. Rather than being at church service, many prefer being on an internet church service. These assumptions and speculations have only resulted to an increase in climax of the Cyber revolution, but the question now is, what should the church do? Conversely, I tender this simple practical answer to the question myself. We (the Church) can penetrate the internet and use it for ‘Cybermission’. When we have made some disciples, we can direct and engraft them to a local church near their residence for further edification (this is where church planting is vital). After experiencing God’s presence in their newly located Church, they (these converts) will see the difference between a real church service, and those they see or experience on the internet – there is a total difference.

I conclude with these last few words from Pope John II (may his soul rest in peace) in his speech at the 36^th World Communication Day Anniversary. Though he admitted that the essence of the Internet is that it provides an almost unending flood of information, much of which passes in a moment. On this bedrock, he concluded his speech by admonishing the Church in Cyberspace with these few words of admonition:

There already exist on the Net countless sources of information, documentation and education about the Church, her history and tradition, her doctrine and her engagement in every field in all parts of the world. It is clear, then, that while the Internet can never replace that profound experience of God which only the living, liturgical and sacramental life of the Church can offer. It can certainly provide a unique supplement and support in both preparing for the encounter with Christ through communicating, and sustaining the new believer in the journey of faith which then begins. ... The Internet causes billions of images to appear on millions of computer monitors around the planet. From this galaxy of sight and sound will the face of Christ emerge and the voice of Christ be heard? …this is the purpose of evangelization. …for if there is no room for Christ, there is no room for man …I dare to summon the whole Church bravely to cross this new threshold, to put out into the deep of the Net, so that now as in the past the great engagement of the Gospel and culture may show to the world "the glory of God on the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6). May the Lord bless all those who work for this aim. Amen.

However, is now apparent that the church in cyberspace cannot wholly provide the four essential components a biblical Church provides - from the New Testament perspective. My stand on this argument still, is that the internet should be a forum for evangelism, and a call for Cybermission. I am actually not in support of having a church community on the internet, neither am I countering the idea. But rather than building an Internet church, the time spent in piling up cyber junkies to form a Cyber-Church should be spent for Cybermission, because a local church provides that fresh anointing from God’s Word, right administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of church discipline as earlier mentioned, which a church built on the cyberspace can never provide. The internet might offer an extensive knowledge of the bible, and can be use as a tool and an innovative new approach to traditional evangelism, but the crux of it all is that it does not teach values; and when values are disregarded, our very humanity is demeaned and man easily loses sight of his transcendent infinite Creator.

The Impact of Relativism on the Virtual Church

First, I would like to start by observing this significant comment by Ken Ham, of the Answers in Genesis Ministry, in a recent speech of his at a youth conference, where Ham clearly said that, “human secularists are not the problem, rather a symptom of lack of Biblical upbringing”. Apparently, the children and youths of the past and contemporary generation, seems to be victim to this misappropriate direction. In our schools today, we find out that the academic system is unconsciously deleting the biblical precepts from their academic system, by excluding and challenging Biblical Principles, and questioning the Bible authenticity. This is also done by reflexively evaluating and validating evolution, anthropology, history, psychology and other humanitarian courses, which are based on human relativism, and hence, alternating and challenging the Bible authority. On this deluded background, our kids then, builds their thinking and philosophy towards this precepts and hence, disfiguring the original concept of the bible. This phenomenon however, creates vacuum that paves way to relativism, which gives birth to human secularists, and multi-religiosity in our society, especially in this Church. However, this had only vindicated Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 53: 6, which says, “we all, like a sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…”

Upon this bedrock, it is likely to admit that, a child learns the truth at home, and then goes to school to learn the facts. This statement to some point sounds rhetoric but has a valuable and profound accuracy, because a truth when proven becomes a fact. However, this is a call to parents to imbed the basic knowledge of the bible to their children - first at home, because when this teachings and principles have become path and parcel of them, it will be rarely impossible for the school system to uncerment the child’s philosophy about God and His Word (bible). The child grows with these inward understanding of the basic principles of the bible, and then efficiently - guiding it from the whacks of secularists or from what was taught in class, same applies to a child brought up in a mix religious community. Here the parents plays a very pivotal role in inculcating the knowledge of the bible first to the child, because every child learns the truth at home and then goes to school to learn some facts about the truth he or she was already used to. In that case, it is important that parent grasp the concept of building a holistic child.

However, how does the rejection of the Christian belief from the philosophical view of the world, and vast increase and multiplication of multi-religious groups, which were all first, as a result of the world’s consistently increasing population, and secondly, the increase in relativism, affect the administration of this superhighway as medium for spreading the gospel? Reminiscing more, is obvious that these factors (secularization, globalization and multi-religiosity) are the main challenge of the contemporary church - but does that possibly means that these factors are also challenges of the Virtual Church?

On May 2002, at the “36th world Communication day celebration”, Pope John Paul II, officially spoke on “the internet: as a new forum for evangelism”. In his speech, he asked a question at the concluding session of his enumeration, he asked, “how can we ensure that this wondrous instrument first conceived in the context of military operations …now serve the cause of peace?” and further catechized, “Can it favor that culture of dialogue, participation, solidarity and reconciliation without which peace cannot flourish?”

However, his questions are similar to that of secularization, multi-religiosity and globalization. Part of the Church believes it possibly can, while others don’t. Regardless of this, the church can only measure out mediums to change the world - which is part of our calling. The Christian church can achieve this through determining forums and techniques to penetrate the internet, and use it as tool to reach-out to the world for change. This in a length of time will definitely yield much result by diverting this technology from being a war-machine to an evangelistic occupied machine.

The church should be aggressive now, rather than giving these factors the chance to affect her, she should rather use the cyberspace to combat globalization, secularization and multi-religiosity in our world, regardless of it challenges. Note however, that the Church can only achieve this, if she ‘consistently pastes theses on the gates of the Cyberspace’ as Luther did during his days – this I think would to an extent, fight these factors.

Conversely, in the midst of secularization, globalization, and multi-religiosity, the church in Cyberspace still has the chance to survive these factors if she would universally embrace this new technology as one body with an aim to use this tool to address and fight secularization, globalization, and multi-religiosity as one body, then we will win the fight as a Church. The church should applied the Gestalt theory on this plan, and work as a whole, because there will be no sum or massive impact if we work in parts. We cannot yield any much result as singular units or entities (there should be oneness in the body of Christ). But when the church work as one body, as brethren, and a community to embrace this new technology as a tool for internet evangelism (Cybermission), then as one body in Christ we will hold the devil in ransom. If these are in place, then we can handled and manage the problem of secularization, globalization and multi-religiosity in our society, whereby addressing the problem through a widespread of information and teaching on the cyberspace.

At Counted for Christ International, our main aim is to ‘enlighten the eyes of people’s understanding’ with godly materials, articles and stuffs that will enrich their lives, and awaken them from the illusions and intuition of world secularists. As such, it is very important what we read, listen-to or watch, because when what we read or watch is internalized or conceived, it forms our values and guides our passion, in order words given and building-us-up in a new dimension. It is very important that folks be careful with what they do on the internet, because the devil is seeking and looking for whom to destroy, and the internet is a more-better device to penetrate through us - if we are not careful. Our main goal while using the internet should be to enrich our spirit with godly things, because when this is our target, the formation will compose a deeper godly dimension in us, which will bring fourth our radiant and godly nature – making us to live a successful Christian life. Irrespective of this, Church leaders are also not out of picture in this scenario, they should be careful with the way they do internet evangelism.

The printing press was invented sometime around 1450. During its first half century, it had only a limited impact on the culture and lives of people in the Occident. Then came, Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), a Dutch humanist activist, at about that time he published his first book, which was just volumes of proverb translated from Latin and Greek sources. Interestingly, it was not long before Erasmus acquired fame and became a figure throughout the Occidental world, and wrote and supplied poetry, plays, essays, and apologetics, defending the Church Himself. Most contemporary scholars like James Hughes speculate that Erasmus “laid the foundation for a new world of communication.”

Just years later, in the course of Erasmus fame, then came to limelight - a monk by name Martin Luther (1483- 1546), who came in with his own Reformation. Luther had a communication tool, which was his means of reaching the world. Some Historians predicted and compared the impact of his reform/ success to that of other early Reformers, like John Wycliffe (1325 – 1384), and John Hus (1373 - 1415) who were not quite as successful. James Hughes in his 1997 unpublished thesis, “The Church in Cyberspace: The Coming impact of computer on the church”, estimated the reasons for this remarkable movement, and uncovers:

The reforms of Wycliffe and Hus were silenced by a jealous Church. The Church tried to use the same tactics to silence Luther. They failed for a variety of reasons: in Germany peasant sympathy lay with Luther, the Church was loosing its control over the state, the civil rulers and the common people were loosing their patience with the sin and corruption among members of the Church hierarchy, the renaissance opened the world to new ideas, and the Holy Spirit had prepared men to speak as their highest end to the glory of God. (Hughes 1997)

“Today the world still feels the impact of Luther’s nails on the door”, Hughes further articulates.

In summer 1978, Bainton wrote a fascinating book on “the life of Martin Luther”, in his remarks to Luther’s reform, this was his stand; he states that, “Luther had access to a communication machine, which made his message of reform the talk of Europe. Wycliffe and Hus had no such means of reaching the world.” (Bainton 1978, 60)

Empirically, the Churches in Nigeria for example, are ripped in confusion and strife, and Church denominations strive for authenticity. For example, the Neo-Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria - decades ago and even today sees other Christian denominations such as the Anglicans and Roman Catholics as backsliding Christians or perhaps pagans at worst. Alas, several times, I have heard my dad agree to this presupposition, he is a Pastor in one of the Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria, and he is one of such that agrees that the Roman Catholics are not real-Christians - he sees them as pagan worshippers, is absurd to note this though. Unfortunately, the cyberspace is their best tool in spreading this effusive and vociferous message to the world, this movement tells of only one thing; that the Church is not united. Apparently, no one wants to join an un-united force. However, this has being the problem of the Church globally, not just in Nigeria. Is unfortunate the Cyberspace have become a war machine for Churches, alas, in the midst of secularism and multi-religiosity. However, in the Western world, these have really gone to high climax. Upon these facts, I discovered that in the present-day Church, the effects of Luther’s reformation are simultaneously fading into darkness. But, I still believe that the church can stop these devilish intuited actions.

Donald Macleod, a professor of Systematic Theology at the Free Church College in Edinburgh, and a well-known radical speaker at conferences, summarizes the situation this way, in one of his publication for the Free Church of Scotland, he writes:

Modern evangelicals are dancing on the tombs of the prophets. We pay willing and fulsome tribute to the heroism of Luther. But will we follow him? Modern Protestantism is in a bigger mess than 16th century Catholicism, but no one is nailing theses to the gates (Macleod 1987).

Honestly, sometimes I just imagine what will be the shape of the church decades from now. Hughes, in an illustration asked, “Will the church be trapped in superstition, plagued with corruption, splintered by selfish factions, weak in its faith, clinging to a world based movement, and ineffective in it’s witnessing for Jesus? Alternatively, will the Church be a vibrant reformed and reforming organism, which will be challenging the 21st century civilization with the Lordship of Jesus Christ over people’s lives, over the Church and over nations? This was the agitation of James Hughes in his book “The Church in Cyberspace: the coming impact of the computer on the church”.

Who will be nailing theses on the gates? On what gates will they nail them? Who will lay the foundation for a new world of communication? What will it be? Hughes further asked.

The invention of the computer device started all way back to 1950. During its first few decades it had limited and lesser impact in the culture of the Occidental world. But after several decades of its invention, an increasing number of patronizes have inevitably increased. It is used in essence to automate processes, which have for centuries had been labor intensive. However, the computer will soon make widely available new forms of communication that are beyond the experience of most of us in this century. James R. Hughes in 1997 commented on this development and emphasized:

There are really two computing eras, we are moving into the second one. The first one we’ve been living with for thirty-five years. We’ve been exploiting the calculating capabilities of computers — number processing — and we’ve been exploiting the stuff called data processing, which is a fancy way of saying, filing and retrieving, and that’s it. That’s all we’ve been doing with computers even though we’ve known from the mid-1930s and the theorems of Turing ...that computers were universal symbolic processing devices capable of any kind of symbol manipulation and whatever. ...We are making the transition now from the era of calculating and data processing to the era of symbolic reasoning by machine (Hughes 1997).

Upon these backgrounds, I want to ask this rhetorical question. October 31st, 2017 will mark the 500th anniversary of Luther’s action. What will be the state of the Church on that day; will she be rapt in secularism, globalization and multi-religiosity? The question is yours to answer.

The Church in Cyberspace

The vast acceptance and the use of internet by most Christian “Cybermissionaries” as an innovative tool and forum for modern-day evangelism, and a medium to “reach the unreached” for Christ is overwhelmingly challenging and increasing. From retrospect, most Christian organizations see the Internet as an ideal technology-footed approach to evangelism, which also stand as a new challenge for the Church. In the midst of these controversies, others speculate and object to this orientation. Conversely, some concluded that the device is a satanic illusion coated with the cable wires - but do we need to buy into this speculation? NO. However, most Christian fanatics have different odd views on this topic, and it is certain that millions of people are amalgamating with the new movement of the online community in record numbers, representing a huge harvest plantation ripe for evangelism. Meanwhile, how can the church best take advantage of the Internet to reach-out to lost souls?

The church's invasion into the cyberspace has really-not flawed or been scrubbed to the mud either, rather is yet to show its strength and objective. Atypically, its objectives, results, and impacts so far are still uncertain and out of balance.

The idea of the “Church in cyberspace” was officially looked upon during an April 1997 meeting of the “The Internet Evangelism Coalition” (IEC) conference, which had in attendance about 95 representatives from different Christian organisations and churches, reminiscing on the general concept of the internet to the church. Some disvalued and stood against the notion, while others supported the movement. Interestingly, sometimes later, certain churches and Christian groups started exploring the cyberspace, sourcing for new ways to penetrate it with the gospel as their main goal, the outcome of this movement is really what we (the church) are enjoying and standing on today. Ever since, the Committee (IEC) had grown into a universal community and Coalition of Evangelical Ministries, with many big Christian networks (like the Christian Broadcasting Network) collaborating with their vision.

Titillatingly, in this 21^st century, 80% of most renowned Christian organizations had fully embraced this concept, and are now recognizing the enormous potentials of the Internet, because of its greatly expanded reach, and its availability on a 24 hours basis for sharing the gospel and evangelizing the lost.

The focus of this paper however, is not on using the new media for administrative reasons in the Church, rather, for enhancing and spreading the gospel, and seeing this “Cyberspace”, as a medium and road to the new-modern evangelism.

Despite its colossal enthralling values, some of the mortifying and detrimental ways in which the Cyberspace can be used, are already apparent to all. Hence, the church has the obligation to guarantee that this amazing tool serves a common good, and does not become harmful to the society. One of the main goals of the church in ensuring that this does not happen should be to change the society, and conversely not otherwise. However, if the Church does not realize this intent and approach the situation pragmatically, with the objective to modify the structure, then the church would face deeper challenges than she can ever imagine - which definitely will question its authenticity. Like other networking and communication media, it is a means to achieve a godly feat, not an end in itself. The Internet can offer superb incredible chances for evangelism, and can be grasp as an open-ray to a new modern evangelistic approach, known as “Cybermission”. Above all, by providing inspiring information and motivating a stirred-up interest among the cyber users with an open encounter with a Christian message or through an awareness movement, especially among the young folks who spontaneously turn to this device as a means to connect to the world. In the year 2002, Pope John II, in his speech at the 36^th World Communication Day anniversary, admonishes the church, and commented on this internet syndrome. In his speech, I quote his views, “It is important, therefore, that the Christian Community think of… practical ways of helping those who… make contact through the Internet, to move from the virtual world of cyberspace to the real world of Christian community”.

However, in such a context, how are we (the church) to embed the wisdom which comes not just from circulating information, but comes from a spontaneous perception and knowledge that understands the difference between good and bad, right and wrong, or something just and immoral, and yet sustains the balance and standards of morals, which flows from that modification?

In retrospect; the Internet, an overwhelming contemporary electronic data-processing device is really a mystery, and a posed challenge to the present day Church. The internet is only not a revolutionary device, but is also an intriguing electronic wonder processing device. A device that can turn any computer with a modem into a world-class communication center – is obviously no joke. It would be interesting to note that any tool can be used well, and at the same time be misused – is in two folds. But am part of the movement that believe that, you and me can make the change and start teaching and educating folks on how to use this device positively, especially for enlarging God’s Kingdom by educating and bringing the message of our Lord to their email inbox.

Apparently, the knowledge of the 21^st century “Man” had been immensely enlightened and upgraded through the superhighway. This revolutionary device had also led software engineers to search for more possible world-changing vaporware. Still with the Internet, I agree with the motion that moral negligence had long been shredded apart, because most core-Christians now practice relativism and secularism in the church due to the ill-impact of this device. Is absurd to say that some core-members of the church are also embracing and practicing the worldly wisdom attitude, unknown to us, they might probably be our family members, children, relatives, or friends.

Because the cyberspace is face with both the positive and the negative consequences, it is wise that we strive hard enough to avoid the outcome of its negative illusions. Hence, it is undeniable that the internet is an essential tool that can be use as an imperative source for the spread of Christianity using the concept of “Cybermission”, which also touches on the global impact of evangelization and charitable work, including practical aspects of international politics and economic development.

Join me today and let us make this change, and work as “Cybermissionaries”, bringing the message of our Lord Jesus Christ to the unreached, who are lost on the cyberspace. The Internet is a godly oriented tool, which could be seen as such if properly used. Hence, this device however, has not only been misused for decades now, also, it has affected lives of millions positively. However, the crux of it all is that, notwithstanding the negative consequences and the ill-impact to the lives of millions, there is still time to make lots of change and turn the face the cyberspace around, this time – for the good. The Church in general should start now, penetrating the internet with the gospel. Also, the Church should pick up the challenged now, and start proclaiming the Sovereignty of our Lord, and unfolding the mystery behind His Word, revealing the kingdom Thoughts and Principals to the hearts of those who are willing to hear, by doing this, we are enlightening the eyes of people’s understanding in a godly pattern through the process of “Cybermission”.

In motion to these, the Church should not slack or be in shock over the changes that have occurred so far, and will occur in the information age. Rather we should embrace this new phenomenon and see it as an opportunity to reach out to everyone in the cyber world, and “paste godly theses at the gates of the cyberspace”, like Luther did during his days, using his own available tool of communication. The church is in shock, and has been sleeping while the world is undergoing a transforming by a revolution, is so sad that the church is idle about this revolution. The church should come in with its message of hope, and raise a new precept and concept to transfuse this new media.

I see a new dimension of revolution in various vaporwares, I can feel its adaptation and can even hear it speak in riddles, but can this be a sensation or a vision of oppression and terror, or just a feeling of renovation and restructuring the old concepts and precepts of evangelism and mission, to a new formation called “Cybermission”. If we do not get prepared, we will miss the opportunity to use the Internet for God’s exhortation and Glory, and it will be ineffective to control the negative impact of the internet, which inexorably will arise. If we do not catch this vision now, then we cannot control the workforce of the uprising consequences on the church.

On a concluding note, I end by stating this short admonition from Peter Glover himself, he says, “what the church needs is God’s help to obey Christ’s agenda for it (the church) - no more, no less”. Technically, though the Christian church has many things to offer and teach the world as well as individual Christians - through the internet, the reality of it all is that, a sincere Church membership, and genuine congregational Church worship on the cyberspace, is really-not biblical. If we are to rediscover precisely what it means to be a Church from the New Testament perspective, then we ought to humbly admit that God actively seeks those who desire to worship Him, to worship “in Spirit and in Truth,” that’s a symbol of a true worshiper (John 4:23, 24). However, I believe that the internet can be effectively use for internet evangelism (Cybermission), by drawing lost souls to God using the aforementioned techniques, and then directing these people (new converts) to a local church near their location, where they can have an experience of what it means to worship God in a Church setting – not in cables and wires. God bless you!

Join me as we scrutinized some of the vital topics attached to this broad trend, and weigh our observations and assumptions both empirically and theoretically in a moderate sequence. However, this is just an introductory message from the sub-topic “Church in Cyberspace”, a new work I have put together. So, for more detail on this topic, and other sub-topics in this book “the Church in worldly wisdom”, which will be coming out at the bookshops soon, please contact us by sending an email to CountedforChrist@gmail.com, and we will get back to you…

CAUSES OF RELIGIOUS CRISIS IN NIGERIA

Nigeria is being seen as a radical-crux religious nation, but the overall conceptions if critically scrutinized are false, and this same fervor, can be linked to any other inter-religious/ tribal nation. We cannot conclude so easily the happenstance of the state of the nation, and depict false impressions – that are ironical. Categorically speaking, life speaks in riddles, but except you understand the form and the modes of life, you cannot understand it riddles. Perhaps we can make up for an articulate formation. God as the lover of all men, have seen an ideal nation in Nigeria, a Nation with the heart to tolerate diverse religious/ tribal practices in an atmosphere of tolerance, an environment filled with deep-rooted spirituality, where Muslims strive shoulder to shoulder with Christians in an atmosphere of tolerance, this turbulent city moves seemingly endlessly. Yet in this infernal environment, there is a harmonious ballet of love and hate, laughter and violence, poverty and wealth, which for me is a sign of a good ending - if only Nigerians would grasp the wisdom of their existence and God’s creation. With these religious/ tribal interference however, pose to be an outrageous factor, yet this nation still to a scale, maintains a level of quantum peace. Many speculations have been thrown at the state of Nigeria, some being false, and while some technically true, but the paradox of it all is that none of the speculation is a definite truth. Here, we will look at some essential causes of religious violence or happenstance in Nigeria, which is also an overall threat to national integration.

The following are the major causes of religious conflicts in Nigeria, which have been portrayed as a threat to National Integration in Nigeria:

Impact of Colonial Rule:
The British Colonial rule and the administrative policy of Sir Frederick Lugard and his successors founded a foundation for inter-religious hostility in Nigeria (criticize me if am wrong, but that is the fact). After the conquest of northern Nigeria and the imposition of indirect rule system, a British in the first decade of the 20th century, and other colonial administrators deliberately restricted the activities of the Christian Missions in northern Nigeria. This was to ensure political stability in the North, and to sustain the co-operation of the Emirs. However, the attempts to extend the influence of Christianity and western education in the areas that were predominantly Muslims, gave rise to inter-religious riots in some parts of northern Nigeria.

Increasing Acts of Religious intolerance:
This is one of the major causes of religious conflict in Nigeria. Religious intolerance means the inability of some people, be they individuals or groups to tolerate the weak or deviant behaviour of other members. In Nigerian context however, religious intolerance is vividly manifested as the inability of members of one religious group, such intolerance often leads to tension discord hostility, and possibly violent confrontation.

The Upsurge of Religious Fanaticism:
The increasing incidence of violent and religious conflicts in Nigeria can be linked to the growing number of both fanatical Christian and Islamic groups in some parts of the country. These religious fanatics carry their dogma, beliefs and sectarian religious views to the extreme. They are often prepared to wage war against those who have contrary beliefs, and who maintain different mode of workshop or religious principles and practice that are not acceptable to them. The fanatics, therefore, have no regard for the fundamental human rights, which guarantee freedom of worship for the citizens.

Politics of Religion
The use of religion as a tool for achieving political ends has contributed immensely to the problem of religious conflicts in Nigeria. Some politicians in Nigeria are known to engage in reactionary recourse to religious fervor as a means of either holding on the power, or as an instrument for political ascendancy. In such circumstance, their fellow religious adherent are often manifested, mobilized and utilized to achieve selfish political goals.

Michael Jackson: What led to His Death

Is so sad that Michael Jackson had to leave this soon, honestly, am sad. However, there are some real-life lessons to learn from his life. MJ, as friends called him, was an extremely talented African America icon, funny enough to say that my two-year-old nephew knows his name – isn’t that incredible.

Michael at the twilight of his life complained of not having a proper childhood upbringing, and logically saying it was the cause of his moral breakdown, claiming it led to his moral negligence. This seems to be true; there could be some elements of truth to that still. In this thoughts and ideas of mine, I still insist he could have lived a better life which could have strengthened his lifespan not withstanding whatever that could have happened during his childhood. Is a good thing he discovered his lapses, which most of us fail to observe in our various private lives, but discovering this fact should have given him a boldface to step and tackle his challenges and succeeded more than he ever did.

They said he died of “cardiac arrest”, but should we assume this to be the whole truth, and believe the media report? Medically he died of cardiac arrest, but observationally most of us knew what led to his death. An autopsy was said to be carried to confirm what really killed him, but does that guarantee they (the medical expertise) would boldly say what really happened to MJ, or perhaps tell us how it all started. Psychological, and of course Philosophically, we learnt that men die short as a result of long assimilated and over-waited burden, stress, pains, disease, sickness, anger, hatred, stress, or any form of anxiety or pressure. As a result of all these, the heart, brains and body grows weak and the anti-protection enzymes in the heart goes on vacation, and this paves way for any form of heart disease or attack. This is when the Medical English works. Therefore, for us to live up to our cubit, we need to abstain from carrying for-so-long-in-our-heart the pressures and anxieties of this world.

Jesus taught his disciples in his famous Sermon on the Mount in Mathew 6: 25- 34, admonishing them on how to win over worries and anxiety (because he knew how important this was). He tells us not to worry about tomorrow, because sufficient of the day is his own troubles. He tells them to look at the plant and animal Kingdom, the birds of the sky and the lilies of the valley. The sum-up of it all is, if the plants and animals (the least things he created) do not worry about stuffs, why then should we worry about material and nonsensical things. I assume some of you might be asking yourselves how this words is related to MJ’s life. But the point is, it does relate to him in every way.

Michael Jackson an essentially talented young man with great performing dynamics was really a role model to millions of young and older folks in our society. For a man like this, there must be some basic lessons to learn from his life, and on that, we look at his strength and weakness. Notwithstanding, MJ’s status and value to the world is admirable. I keep asking this all-important question, “Why did God have to take him this soon”? God could have considered extending his lifespan, but that is why He is God, “He is not a respecter of any man”. Not minding Michael’s position and status, he died at a very young age (he lived just for 10 years, since life begins at 40) just of Cardiac arrest, unbelievable.

From Michael’s life, is wise to learn that we should be contented with what we have, MJ had everything as a young boy, but he wasn’t contented, he wished he was a Whiteman, is so bad that he was deceived to go for a surgery to narrow his nose and tone his skin and wax himself-up. Is obvious to say that, if he had not made this mistakes, he definitely could have lived longer than many of us (May his soul rest him peace). Michael Jackson is dead as a result of not been contented with what he had. He wasn’t the first to died of this factor (contentedness), many have died because of this, I can reoccur the wife of one of my formal president who died from not been contented with her outer-shell. PLEASE BE CONTENTED WITH WHAT YOU HAVE IS VERY IMPORTANT!

In addition, we should make good use of what we have now, we should stop been sarcastic about stuffs and world’s view, plus things that are in vogue. We should prioritize our priority. As we live just for a little while in this sinful world, we should please, consider living our lives for God. Be godly. I don’t really know much about MJ’s religious life, but I have tried to ask some few friends of mine whether he met Christ before he died? Did Michael Jackson die as a Saint? I got no concluding result on that, but from the little I got, it was negative. I dearly wish he met Jesus before he died, because if he did, I have no reason to worry about his death, knowing that he is in a better place, and we will meet someday in heaven. May his soul rest in peace…

As we have observed some out-of-the-scene thoughts and discovery about Michael, it would be wrong not to admit he was a good man, and one with an outstanding dynamics and potentials. Well he has made his mark, and it would be good that the wise learn from his mistakes. Time waits for nobody brethren, we all will die one day like Michael, make good use of the time you have now and live for God, because tomorrow waits for no one. Learn to be contented with what you have or are, because that is the best for you. KNOW WHO YOU ARE, do not try to be like others, be proud of who you are, copy no one and never mind what people say, ignore them till they fade away. On a final note, be a lover of God, and make him your best friend.

Applying all these essential lessons to your life will not only make you a better person, but will make you who God wants you to be. And as such, you life a successful, happy and fulfilling life to a maximum lifespan. So go set your priorities right and be the best to your generation. For MJ, may his soul rest in the bosom of our Lord! Amen.

EXPLORING NUMBERS 11: 23 WITH CHARLES H. SPURGEON

I got this short post from Spurgeon’s daily devotional sermon (Morning and Evening 8th June), in my PC STUDY BIBLE software while doing my morning devotional prayers. I was inspired and touched after reading this text, and God put it in my mind to pass on this message of life to that dieing soul out there. Categorically saying, this is not my work, I just want to share this text with my readers, because I have that push inside of me to do so, so let us follow God’s directives and quote the text as written by Charles Spurgeon, and pray that – that same Spirit that overwhelmed my body this morning will catch yours.

IS GOD’S EYES DIM THAT HE CANNOT WATCH OVER US?
"Thou shalt see now whether My word shall come to pass unto thee or not."Numbers 11:23
God had made a positive promise to Moses that for the space of a whole month He would feed the vast host in the wilderness with flesh. Moses, being overtaken by a fit of unbelief, looks to the outward means, and is at a loss to know how the promise can be fulfilled. He looked to the creature instead of the Creator. But doth the Creator expect the creature to fulfil His promise for Him? No; He who makes the promise ever fulfils it by His own unaided omnipotence. If He speaks, it is done--done by Himself. His promises do not depend for their fulfillment upon the co-operation of the puny strength of man. We can at once perceive the mistake which Moses made. And yet how commonly we do the same! God has promised to supply our needs, and we look to the creature to do what God has promised to do; and then, because we perceive the creature to be weak and feeble, we indulge in unbelief. Why look we to that quarter at all? Will you look to the north pole to gather fruits ripened in the sun? Verily, you would act no more foolishly if ye did this than when you look to the weak for strength, and to the creature to do the Creator's work. Let us, then, put the question on the right footing. The ground of faith is not the sufficiency of the visible means for the performance of the promise, but the all-sufficiency of the invisible God, who will most surely do as He hath said. If after clearly seeing that the onus lies with the Lord and not with the creature, we dare to indulge in mistrust, the question of God comes home mightily to us: "Has the Lord's hand waxed short?" May it happen, too, in His mercy, that with the question there may flash upon our souls that blessed declaration, "Thou shalt see now whether My word shall come to pass unto thee or not."

TIPS FOR SETTING UP A CHURCH CHOIR

INTRODUCTION
In music one can only understand it form, only if understood from its roots. Same for any field of profession, music as a source of life and a fundamental factor for the human movement and survival, can be motivated and pioneered from many variable sources. Part of these structure, is the Church choir music movement; that minister godly songs to its audience (definitely the church members). This sub-factor in music is very essential, and predominantly is one of the vital source and factors that promotes and brings every church to the limelight. To these, we can only help by suggesting and bringing-about some factors to its pivotal stream and stating the principles to be applied in order to achieve a phenomenal and consistent standard choir for a church. Let briefly examine and learn from some precepts that will help us in administering and conducting a standard church choir. Basically, this work is to showcase and explain how to set up a standard church choir, join me as we enroll and discover some tips behind the scene of the church choir program, and perfectly arrive at the main aim of writing.

GETTING A QUALIFIED MUSICOLOGIST
The first step towards every successful choir group is to find or source for a qualified musicologist, basically, this individual often times in most renowned churches, are in charge of the administration and organization of the church choir. In a more defining way; they are choir leaders’ and are in charge of the inflow of things in this department. The contemporary view of a musicologist in most churches is that, they are music or choir directors; well that’s a good description. So, for study sake and for advancement of every church, it is required that they source for a qualified, consistent and proficient musicologist (music director).

SOURCE FOR SINGERS
The next step after finding a good musicologist is to discover talents and singers. On this platform, we should note that “everyone can sing, but not everybody can join the church choir”. The music director is fully in charge of keeping to this standard, which is why it is necessary for a church to find a qualified and renowned music director. He is in charge of discovering these talents, they probably will be somewhere in church, the steps to get these talents, are to announce in church for interested individuals, after that, call and advise the interested ones on the basic pre-requisites of been a member of the choir (note that one of the requirements is your spirituality, this is the basic), when they have accepted the terms, then you are set for a successful choir.

VOICE AUDITIONING
The third step from my own perspective is the voice auditioning decree. I think this is a necessity for an organization of a successful choir. Here, the music director tries to get those that are really talents, and good singers; at this point there is confusion on the path of the musicologist on those to be selected and those to be dropped, because not everybody can be sing. Some probably might join because they love to sing, but they don’t know how to sing, so the best thing to do here is to drop these people, and may be, put them in for a private coaching exercise, if necessary and if from the director’s path a is stress-free activity.

VOICE PARTS
After the music director have selected those to join the choir, the next thing to do is to divide and define their vocal parts, basically there are four different vocal parts fashioned in a standard church choir; these are the alto part, tenor part, soprano part and the bass part. When these four parts are discovered, then, you are sure of a reliable and formidable standard choir that probably will grow with time and succeed music threats.

VOICE PART LEADERS
Here, it is required to have voice parts leaders, these are the main figures to count on, when giving music manuscripts, this makes the work of the musicologist a lot easier because, all he or she needs to do is to consult the group leaders and give them manuscripts for rehearsals and these leaders pass it-on to their fellow vocal parts’ members. This for me is wisdom, because is stress-free from the path of the musicologist. We all need to technically apply this principle and concept to our different fields on profession, not just for the choir. It is called in Economics; “division of labour”, this is necessary for an effective and successful social group.


REHEARSALS/ CHORISTERS MEETING PLAN
The meeting arrangement rolls comes up immediately after selecting the vocal parts leaders, now the choir is about to start its operation. So the wise thing to do for an affective organization and ministering of the choir is to map-out define-time for practice. In the African context this is call the “choir practice time”. At this time, every choir member leaves whatever he or she does at home or office, and attends the choir meeting or practice. This sometimes is fixed twice weekly, and often times done during the evening time.

SITTING ARRANGEMENT
The sitting arrangement; normally this is a pattern way of sitting and organizing voice parts. Fundamentally, the first roll should be for the sopranos’, the second roll for the altos’ the third roll for the tenors’ and while the last roll should be for the bass’ part singers. This is the universal standard for a standard choir, anything outside this standard, might probably devastate the formation of the choir’s ministration – that’s the system and the resulting process.

MUSIC OR SONGS DOCUMENTATION
My lecturer calls this the music song bank, here, is the duty of the music director to organize and arrange songs in sequence. Basically this is essential for adequate delivery and consistency of the church choir. These songs are passed on to the choir members periodically and they run through these songs consistently on their own private leisure time. This principle helps the members to get use to the songs to be presented on Sunday morning; basically this is a precept that must be followed.

TIME FACTOR
It is vital to keep to time; this time concept is applied only on the choir rehearsal days, and may be if requested from the church leader (Pastor) to have a fix time for the choir’s Sunday ministration, normally this idea does not apply to the Sunday morning service, because the use of time in Sunday morning service - varies.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Well, this principle is partially part of the requirement for an effective choir; the result might probably be on a gradual scale, and yet - prolific. This is where the musicians or instrumentalists master the songs to be performed on Sunday morning service. Normally the musicologist is in charge of providing the songs or sound beats to be used - to the musicians or instrumentalists, this is for them to practice on their own private time; it is advised that the instrumentalists should not practice together with the choir members, because of distraction and misused of time, due to its procedures and formalities. So, it is the duty of the music director to select good instrumentalists that are sound and proficient in their field, this helps to foster a reliable and balance music presentation in church.

Finally on this, it is necessary for the music director to give the members of the band and choir an orientation on how to use the musical instruments, and also how to service them, for a balance and productive result.

CONCLUSION
These phenomenon and precepts should be applied and followed, in order to achieve a moderate crispy advance and standard church choir. If any of these precepts is been misused, this might result in an inconsistency or difficulty in running or managing a choir group. Interestingly this responsibilities or duties anchors on the shoulder of the musicologist (music director or leader) - is a pity he performs 95% of the task involved in achieving a moderate standard and disciplined church choir.

Nevertheless, we can still confirm to the fact that a good food is worth buying, so a good musicologist or music director is worth hiring, and should be compensated adequately. These as we know, will produce the best service from him and definitely - that of the choir members. Please let’s not forget to administer these principles while trying to set up or establish a standard choir for any church.