REDISCOVERING MANHOOD (1)

Creation  by Michelangelo

"A close look at these verses of Scripture,

thirteen in all, is very revealing. They reveal

 the heart of God concerning the first man

that he made, why he made him and

his place in the scheme of things

on the earth that he had just created."

Men are VERY IMPORTANT to God. They are the very centre of His divine plan. And I am not talking about mankind here, as in men and women. I am talking about those you would otherwise call male; the ones with the ‘Y’ chromosome. 

They are so important to God that they were the first being He created in His image and after His likeness; the ones whose forebear, Adam, who became the ancestor of all, was chosen to partner in defining the identity of virtually the rest of creation. He is so important that the other half of mankind, woman, was created only because God saw that man would need help.

Chauvinistic and therefore offensive to the sensibilities of the western-educated, modern mind, as all of that might sound, it is true; as true as the Bible is the word of God.

In Genesis Chapter 2, we read the following account of creation:

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul… And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it…And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man (Genesis 2:4-7,15,18-23).

 A close look at these verses of Scripture, thirteen in all, is very revealing. They reveal the heart of God concerning the first man that he made, why he made him and his place in the scheme of things on the earth that he had just created.

Verses 4 & 5 identified a problem or challenge, depending on who is looking at it. And it is this: Everything else was in place, but there was nobody in charge! It says: “And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew… and there was not a man to till the ground.” Picture a well laid out estate with everything in place, sturdy structures, fine finishes, running water, breath-taking landscape, shopping arcade, recreational facilities and all, but no estate manager. That was the state of creation at that point.

Then in verse 7, God came up with the solution; he created man, a male: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” In other words, God created the man as his choice to fill the vacuum that existed. Man was his manager of choice, his preferred partner in the emerging enterprise. God’s immediate directive to the man he had just created clearly reveals his mind. In verse 15, the Bible records that “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Put another way, God placed the man in charge. He assigned him to mind the store, as it were.

What happened next is also very revealing. In verse 8, the Bible recorded: “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” Got the picture? God had created somebody and assigned him to the job, but he took one look at him and decided that, for this wonderful creation of his to succeed in the assignment that he had just given him and others that were to follow, he would need help. And he proceeded to find help for him

How God went about this phase of creation is quite instructive. He knew that his man needed help, and that he could give him one. But he wasn’t going any further without involving him! He could have imposed a companion on him; he could have done it any other way he chose, but he didn’t. He chose to bring his new creature that he had made in his image and after his likeness into the creative process. He chose to give him a choice of who his help-meet would be.

 Verses 19 & 20 continues the story this way: “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.  And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.”

Interesting, isn’t it? God was looking for a help-meet for his man. So, he made every beast of the field and every fowl of the air. He brought them to Adam, hoping that he might find one or the other of them suitable. But Adam did not find any. He gave them names reflecting his perception of each one, but found none he could call companion. This is noteworthy because had he found one amongst them, the cause of history might have been different. The other half of mankind today, known as woman, might never have been created! (TO BE CONTINUED)

WHY DID WHITNEY HOUSTON DIE (4)

'This brings me to what I consider the most puzzling issue in the Whitney case. She had such spiritual heavyweights in her orbit. ... Why were they unable to help her? Did they, like many are wont to do, put her plight down to her failure to manage fame and fortune; and therefore failed to perceive the hand of the enemy in it? If this was the case, whatever happened to the spirit of discernment…If they did discern it, were they unable to cast out the demon, as Jesus said all those who believe have been equipped to do… This, I believe, is the core issue. Are the gifts still in evidence in the Church?'

“Now what? Is drug addiction demonic? Is involvement of the occult in the entertainment industry the trigger? Or is it a pathological or psychological problem resulting from inability to handle the fame that comes with success; which then results in its victims, in hallucination, seeing demons where there is none?” 

Those were the concluding words of last week’s piece in this serial. They mirror my seeming confusion on the subject of why a young lady brought up in a godly environment; by a gospel singer mother with a heart for God; who, in spite of becoming a world renowned pop singer, continued to sing for the Lord as often as she could; became entangled with drugs, went in and out of rehab and then died at a mere 48 with drugs fingered at the cause.

Testimonies like that given on her to Christianity Today magazine’s Mark Moring by Jetro Da Silva, a friend of 12 years described as a veteran musician who played in the late superstar singer's band, and a professor at Berklee College of Music, makes things all the more complex.

Jethro, also said to have led Bible studies with Houston while on her world tour, remembered her in 1999 as “a loyal wife who was doing her best to please her husband and take a great care of her daughter, even with the challenges of having the fulfil her professional obligations and demands. She included her family in everything.”

On her growth in the faith, he said: “She grew in her desire and hunger for God. There were people in her life who played a great role in that, including Patrice Houston, the wife of Gary Houston, Whitney's elder brother. Pat is a God-fearing woman and a prayer warrior. When she came on board as Whitney's personal manager, she would not make a decision without prayer. She and others covered Whitney with prayers…Like all the Christians who seek the Lord, she was growing and learning. Whitney was always a spiritual woman. She enjoyed praying and reading the Bible.

Life's struggles led her to know and understand grace and mercy on a deeper level. Nippy (Whitney’s pet name) was real about her challenges, but she also knew the Lord in a personal level. She was not a hypocrite. I often witnessed Whitney praying for a lot people. When one of her friends was seek, and she asked the whole band to join her in her dressing room, and she began crying out to the Lord, asking for healing. Nippy was a woman of prayer. I believe that she was in peace with the Lord when she died.”

Now, let’s attempt some answers. First, I must state that I am fully persuaded that there is considerable demonic interest in music and other forms of entertainment. This is simply because entertainment generally set out to appeal to the flesh and whatever is of the flesh is has all the potentials of becoming anti-Spirit. The massive appeal that things of the flesh attract makes successful entertainers very rich and influential. They are therefore very good tools for drawing people into darkness. The devil knows this better than most people because he has been there. As Lucifer, he was the diva of heaven who became so influential that when his fame led him to rebellion against God, he had a horde of followers, who were eventually expelled along with him.   

The extent of this incursion into the industry at an institutional level in the United States has been widely highlighted, discussed and debated. The so-called Illuminati cult remains, at least, an ever present myth in that country. With names, dates, events etc listed in a video documentary still in wide, global circulation, it is a myth uncannily close to reality. But even here in Nigeria, Shina Peters, a veteran musician, recently told an interviewer in passing that entertainers were constantly under spiritual pressures their fans no nothing about.

I am also convinced that if there is demonic interest and therefore a certain level of demonic influence, the character alteration that we see in children of God who go into secular entertainment, can only be spiritually induced. In other words, whether the problem is drug abuse or sex including homosexuality and lesbianism; whether it be child molestation or some other weirdness, the source is the same – satan.

Now then, if the source of the problem is spiritual, doesn’t it follow that the solution must be spiritual? Any wonder, then, that campaigns to “just say no” and sojourns in rehabs don’t cut it?

It can be argued, correctly, that in the case of Whitney attempts were made at finding a spiritual solution because as J Lee Grady wrote in his article quoted substantially earlier, “Christians in the music industry reached out to…and prayed with her during her up-and-down battle with addictions”

This brings me to what I consider the most puzzling issue in the Whitney case. She had such spiritual heavyweights in her orbit. They include Cissy, her mother, Pastor Mavin Winan and the rest of the Winnan family, and even T. D Jakes, with whom she co-produced her film that will be post-humously released in a few months. Why were they unable to help her?

Did they, like many are wont to do, put her plight down to her failure to manage fame and fortune; and therefore failed to perceive the hand of the enemy in it? If this was the case, whatever happened to the spirit of discernment which is one of the gifts apostle Paul told us belongs to the church (see 1Corinthians 12:10)? If they did discern it, were they unable to cast out the demon, as Jesus said all those who believe have been equipped to do in Mark 16:17?

This, I believe, is the core issue. Are the gifts still in evidence in the Church? Consider for a moment what great evangelical value, a Whitney from whom a demon has been exorcised, would have been? Satan successfully robbed us of that! And I am reminded of one of the questions the Lord Jesus asked during His earthly ministry: “…when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth (Luke 18:8)? This is food for thought for all of us, this writer not excluded. (CONCLUDED)

WHY DID WHITNEY HOUSTON DIE? (3)

'Now what? Is drug addiction demonic? Is involvement of the occult in the entertainment industry the trigger? Or is it a pathological or psychological problem resulting from inability to handle the fame that comes with success; which then results in its victims, in hallucination, seeing demons where there is none?'

Her funeral was styled “Celebrating the life of Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 - February 11, 2012) – A Child of God.”

She was born and largely raised by Cissy Houston, a gospel singer with a heart for God. We have quoted one Ra Imhotep in of the many writings, by many people about her as recalling, how “she started out in the choir, had the song ‘Guide Me O Jehova’ as her first solo performance, became ‘one of the few entertainers who got a record deal, because of her true talent and not because of connections and affiliations that she had’ and thus ‘paved the way, with her voice and image, for many diva’s that would come after her…”

We have read former Charisma editor, J Lee Grady’s assertion that: ”Anyone who has listened to Whitney Houston’s rendition of ‘I Love the Lord’—or who saw her perform with CeCe Winans and Shirley Caesar at the 1996 Grammy Awards—knows she had an incomparable voice best suited for gospel music.”

It is incontrovertible, then, that Whitney started out and, for the most part, lived her life, as a child of God. But did she end up as one? We may never know for sure while the Lord still tarries, but I personally take comfort in a statement by Lee Grady quoted last time from his Fire In My Bones column of Wednesday, February 15 titled, “Whitney Houston and the Silent Shame of Addiction.” He wrote that Whitney died “… just two days after she sang an impromptu version of ‘Jesus Loves Me’ at a Hollywood nightclub. I’d like to believe it was a feeble cry to the God of her childhood.”

As we have been saying these past two weeks, however, many more questions remained “un-interred with her body”. They include, “why she had to die at a mere 48…why her life took a sudden dive for the worse right at the peak of her career…why she became associated with crack, cocaine and prescription drugs, such that all speculations about her death hover around drugs...?”

In finding answers, we have seen that there is a school of thought which holds that she was a victim of witchcraft, because, the entertainment industry in the United States is in the vice-grip of satan. Imhotep’s in his article referred to earlier was emphatic that “the music industry is a cult and once one gets a record deal they are now an initiate and are a part of the cult for life. Whitney Houston was no exception to this rule and she took the oath back in the 70’s. Once the oath is pledged you become the property of the record labels and the machines and you can NEVER retire. The only way out of the game is death…”

On the other hand, there was Lee Grady, who fingered addiction to hard drugs, which he described as her ‘personal demon’, as the problem. He implied that this might have resulted from her choice of a “broader path” rather than stay with gospel music, which, according to him her “incomparable voice (was) best suited for”, may not have helped matters.   

That broader path led her to make a pop album, which became the all-time best-selling debut album by a female in the 1980s and made her America’s diva, says Grady. That worldly success, however, did nothing, in Grady’s words to “help her overcome her personal demons.” The result was that by the 1990s, she had become so addicted to cocaine that she took it everyday! According to Grady, three stints in drug rehab over a period of eight years did not help Whitney. Neither did the prayer of “Christians in the music industry.”  

Grady lifted the discussion somewhat, when he pointedly wrote: “Let’s not kid ourselves. Whitney Houston was not the only person who talked about Jesus yet struggled privately with illegal drugs. I frequently meet men and women at church altars who have never found the strength to kick their habit. I even know of pastors, youth leaders and worship leaders who live double lives—hiding their addiction under the cloak of Sunday morning religion. They hide because they’re afraid they’ll be shunned or shamed if they ever admit their problem to anybody.”

He continued: “What we need is less judgment and more transparency about this problem. Drugs, including alcohol, are harsh taskmasters. Crack and crystal meth are impossible to overcome apart from serious intervention. Once a person’s brain is altered by these substances, he or she needs a miracle. Telling them to ‘Just say no’ is not going to cut it. But we can’t pretend people are OK when they are hooked on drugs. If the addiction continues, they are likely to end up dead”

 If all of these makes Grady’s diagnosis of the problem seems psychological, as in choice of a broader path; using her gospel music suited voice for pop, and not being able to handle the fame that accompanied her success, he went a bit further: “I agree with Cissy Houston that Satan was involved in Whitney’s sad journey. Hell is directly connected to every crack deal ever made.”

Juxtapose that last bit against Imhotep’s recollection of Tina, Bobby Brown’s sister’s statement about Whitney. She was quoted as saying: “Whitney hallucinates and sees demons when she’s high; she bites and beats herself black-and-blue but blames the devil for the injuries.” According to Imhotep, Tina goes on to say that,  Houston sees ‘demons’ everywhere she goes, and beats herself up while saying “The Devil be hitting me.” Tina claimed that drugs have made Whitney so paranoid she sees evil apparitions and once drilled a spy-hole in her bathroom to look for “demons.” She said: “She’ll point to the floor and say, ‘See that demon. I’m telling you somebody’s messing with Bobby.’ She always thinks it’s something to do with Bobby.” She added: “She breaks everything – mirrors, phones, cabinets, appliances.” 

Now what? Is drug addiction demonic? Is involvement of the occult in the entertainment industry the trigger? Or is it a pathological or psychological problem resulting from inability to handle the fame that comes with success; which then results in its victims, in hallucination, seeing demons where there is none?  (TO BE CONCLUDED)