ARCHIVE – Page 16 – Promise Tewogbola

The Mark Before A Mark

For some odd reason, I never really enjoyed reading the Revelations of John during my formative years. I remember forcing myself to read the book and how I ended up sweating profusely in my palms. The movie industry did not help matters too; their portrayal of the book of Revelations always centred on the hardships that the people on earth would face in the end-time. They always wanted to show the Beast in his power, forcing people to receive his 666 mark on their hands and foreheads (as found in Revelations 13). And yes, these film producers also seemed to derive pleasure in depicting the fate of people who refused to the take the mark.

Well, all these did not help me develop much of an appetite for Revelations. In fact, for years, most of my Bible reading was focused on the Gospels and the stories of the Old Testament and, later on, the epistles of the New Testament. Subconsciously, I avoided Revelations like a plague, all because I was scared of reading about the fate of people in the end-time.

However, all that was going to change.

At a point in my life, I believe that the Spirit of God prompted me to read the Book of Revelations. That was when, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I started seeing the book of Revelations in a brand new light.

I saw a vivid description of Heaven.

I saw Jesus Christ in His glory.

I saw the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God.

I saw the hidden manna.

I saw the very throne room of the Almighty God with the vast sea of glass.

Eventually, I got an eye-opener that totally turned my Religion upside down (That is good news since the Christian is called to be spiritual, not religious).

Remember how I told you that I refused to read the book of Revelations because I was scared of the vivid descriptions of the Beast and his mark?

Well, it turns out that about 6 chapters before the Beast is even mentioned, God in His Infinite Wisdom had made provisions for a mark of His Own in Revelations 7:2 – 3,

“And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea.

Saying, Do not harm the earth, the sea or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads”

From my little understanding of the English language, I know that the word “seal” could be used interchangeably with “mark”.

So, in essence, that verse is saying that till the servants of God (imagine the children of a CEO working in their Father’s company) have been sealed or marked in the foreheads, no harm would befall the earth, sea or trees. “No harm” also includes every possible for of maltreatment that would be inflicted by the Beast on whosoever does not receive his inferior mark.

From this point, I realized that if I was sealed with the mark/seal of the Living God on my forehead, I would be free from the mark of the Beast.

Why? Because the forehead is the seating place of the brain, which in turn is the organ through which the mind functions. Hence, the seal of the living God on my forehead would imply that my actions and thoughts are not controlled by my natural mind, but by God Himself. I would love whatever He loves, and hate whatever He hates. And all these would happen without me undergoing any form of discomfort.

Seeing this truth made me very excited. But I was eager to know what exactly what this mark was.

So, I searched the scriptures and found my answer in many points of the Bible.

An example is in 2 Timothy 2:19,

“Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal ‘The Lord knoweth them that are his’ and ‘Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity’”

You know what? God knows those that belong to Him. And the children of God also know that they belong to God. Romans 8:16 tells us that “the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God”. We know because of the indwelling Spirit of God within us.

In addition, in his letter to the Galatians, Apostle Paul said,

“From henceforth, let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Galatians 6:17)”

You know, many people have interpreted this verse in many ways. Some say that the marks that Paul was referring to were physically marks which were made on him during the severe whippings that Paul endured for preaching Christ. While this is true, I believe that Paul was also referring to the seal/mark of the living God. Note the phrase “…I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”. Paul did not say “…I bear ON my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”. No, he said “…I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”. I believe Paul was referring to his body as a container that’s carrying a seal/mark within it. This mark(s) is what made Paul who he was in Christ.

Furthermore, Ephesians 1:13 says,

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation; in Who also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”

Now it becomes very clear.

The mark that comes before any other mark is the seal of the living God. And the seal of the living God is the HOLY SPIRIT of promise.

You see, God loves us so much that even before the wickedness of the beast would cover the earth, He marked every true believer with the indwelling seal of the Holy Ghost.

Take a look at 2 Corinthians 5:5,

“Now He that wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, Who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit”. Some other translations end that verse as, “…Who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee”

Do you know the gravity of that verse? The Presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of any believer is like God saying,

“Look son (or daughter), I have bought you wholly with the Precious Blood of my Son Jesus Christ. I have redeemed you totally – spirit, soul and body. I have prepared for you a wonderful home for you in heaven. Now, take a part of My very Spirit – The Holy Spirit. Yes, that is My Seal, My Mark and your proof that you have a home in heaven after your sojourn here on earth. In the meantime, live a victorious and glorious life here on earth. You have My very Nature – The Divine Nature within you. You can now live victorious over sin, sickness, poverty, oppressions, depressions and the curses of the law. You can live the exact full life that my Son Jesus Christ lived here on earth. And when you are done here on earth, you shall have your mansion in My Heavenly House”

That, my friends, is the enigma of The Mark before a mark…

Judging The Perception Of The Sons Of God By The Sons Of God

Someone once quipped that there are 3 sides to any story:

Your side;

The other person’s/people’s side; and

The right side

Many times, the way we see things is totally dependent on how we are and not on the real state of whatever we are seeing.

To illustrate that point, let us imagine a cup that is filled with some measure of water. The pessimist would see the cup as half-empty: the optimist would see the cup as half-full; the realist would see the cup as one containing water; while the opportunist would DRINK the water, especially if it is chilled and the weather is particularly hot.

From the said illustration, all the individuals were correct, in that their reaction to the situation was dependent on their state of mind rather than the situation on ground.

In the same way, our approach to the term “sons of God” is totally dependent on the individual giving the definitions. From the Genealogy of Christ in Luke 3, Adam, the progenitor of all mankind was called “the sons of God”.

What does this imply? It simply means that by the virtue of creation, all of mankind can be referred to as children of God, or better still, the sons of God. This label holds true for all of God’s creation, regardless of one’s religious background, race, sentiments, or prejudices. This can be proven by the fact that there are a lot of general benefits that all creations get from God.

For example, the rain falls on all of mankind, including the Buddhist, the Moslem, the Animist and the Christian. The same holds for spiritual laws that work for all of mankind when they are followed.

Any man who engages in tithing and giving would always experience the boons of blessings.

Any man that embarks on speaking positivity to himself and everyone that is about him would always be prosperous.

All these are just a few of the spiritual laws that apply to and works for all of mankind, because we are all Children or sons of God.

Furthermore, we can take this truth to another dimension…if you can take it:

By virtue of creation, even satan is a “son” of the Living God. Yes, and that’s why satan could pop his ugly little head into a meeting of God with the “sons of God”, as is found in the book of Job!

However, if we look from another perspective, John 1:12 makes us to understand that anybody who believes in Christ Jesus is given the power to become a son of God. This explains that there is a higher level, which is greater than the general grace that exists for all of mankind. And this grace comes only by believing in Christ Jesus.

Nevertheless, just believing in Christ Jesus is only the basic beginning of God’s perfect plan for His sons.

Once one is born again, he/she receives the indwelling of God’s Own Spirit within him/her. This Spirit is the seal/guarantee on every believer that signifies that the individual has a home in heaven at the end of his/her stint stint here on earth.

Nonetheless, amongst the sons of God who believe on Christ Jesus, there is still a higher level of grace that can be attained. The 14^th verse of Romans 8 makes us understand that as many that allow themselves to be led by the indwelling Spirit of God within them are the sons of God!

This is where it becomes all interesting…

First, there is a basic level of grace that exists on all mankind by virtue of creation based on the fact that they were (or are) one way or the other related to Adam, a son of God. This makes them qualified to be called the sons of God.

Then, there is a higher level of grace that exists on as many that believe on our Lord Jesus Christ. This is definitely higher than that which exists for all of mankind. This level is good, but it is not the best. You see, because of God’s great love for mankind he would not force Himself on any man. All mankind, regardless of whether they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior or not, have the ability to make choices. They have to choose to accept Christ or reject Him. They have to choose to be led by The Spirit of God or not.

And this is where the third level is.

The born again individuals who choose to be led by The Spirit of God.

These are the ones that Romans 8 verse 14 refers to. They are the ones that John 1 verse 17 talks about. They are the ones who have chosen to receive the fullness of God within them. They are the ones who know that they have received the exact kind of grace that operated in the life of Jesus when He was fulfilling His earthly ministry. You see, despite the fact that Jesus was fully God, while He was physically on earth, He was also 100% Man.

He sighed.

He groaned.

He slept.

He ate.

And He wept.

He was tempted in every way…

…yet He did not sin once.

Why was Jesus able to operate in the realm of grace He operated under?

Simple. Because He CHOSE to follow the leading of The Spirit of God within Him.

And as many that allow themselves to be led by The Spirit of God can live the exact way that Christ lived while He was on earth!

Now, when it comes to judging the perception of the sons of God by the sons of God, it is only one “group” of the sons of God that is permitted to do this:

Not the general sons of God…because of the sinful nature that all of mankind inherited from the first man Adam after the Fall.

Not the carnal believers of Christ…because they refuse to be led by the indwelling Spirit of God, but would rather follow their five senses and logic. Such people cannot know their covenant rights as a believer, because they refuse to follow The One who reveals all things.

However, as a son of God who is led by the Spirit of God, one is qualified to judge all things!!!

Why?

Read this excerpt from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians,

“But as it is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.

But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God

Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ”

Please, Africa Is Not A Country!

There is this particular minister I really like listening to. I admire him a lot and respect the grace of God operating on him. In fact, I have a series of his teachings on my phone’s music player that I regularly listen to.

So, this day, I was listening to him teach and he was trying to buttress a very valid point by listing the countries that were affected by a particular issue,

“…it happens here in the U.S…go to Britain and you’d find the same thing there…also in Brazil, India and even AFRICA!”

On hearing the last phrase, it took me the grace of God not to tune out of this particular teaching.

Days later, I was watching a charismatic revivalist trying to make another point. He was like,

“We’re seeing the revival commence here in the U.S…it’s spreading out to Germany, Argentina, Japan, AFRICA…soon it would be all over the world!!!”

Again, on hearing that, it took me God’s grace not to miss what the man was saying.

Now, I’m not a fighter for the “emancipation” of the Black race fashioned after the form of Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and other legendary vanguards (By the way, if there’s any kind of freedom needed by anybody at all, it is the freedom provided by the right kind of knowledge).

I’m also aware that the people that categorize Africa as a country usually do not have ulterior motives/ hidden agendas to downplay the importance of Africa as a continent.

However, I believe in always standing for what is right!

And categorizing the whole continent of Africa as a country is not right!!!

You see, just because China has a population of over 1.3 billion people and Africa has a population of about 1.1 billion people is still not enough reason to refer to it as a country…

Seriously speaking now. I mean, I agree Uganda, Swaziland, Liberia and Morocco are all in Africa. But the aforementioned countries are part of the over 50 nations that make up the whole continent of Africa. I won’t say that the fact that I visited France means I’ve visited the whole of Europe, despite the fact that France, indeed is in Europe; the same way, people also shouldn’t use vague generalizations when dealing with specific African countries.

So, instead of saying,

“We want ‘so-so-so’ to happen in Canada,Peru, Belgium, Iraq and AFRICA…”

You can always say,

“We want ‘so-so-so’ to happen in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia”

You see how easy that was? Simple geography offends no one.

Furthermore, instead of saying,

“We’d be visiting Mexico, Bolivia, Holland, North Korea and AFRICA…”

You can always say,

“We’d be visiting Mexico, Bolivia, Holland, North Korea and Nigeria (or the specific African country/countries you’d be visiting)”

That, I believe, is right!!!

Truths YOU HAVE TO START Keying Into

Wow!

It feels so good to be back here. Yeah, I know you must have missed me very much. Don’t worry folks, over the next couple of days (or maybe weeks) I’d more than make up for my enforced ‘sabbatical’ from blogging.

While I was ruminating on what to use for marking my return to blogging, I realized that there were numerous Children of the Light who had no idea of certain laws, perks or if you like, truths that should govern their everyday life. For this reason, I felt that I should share some of them with you:

1. The Holy Spirit makes intercession for you (Rom 8. 26)

2. Christ makes intercession for you (Rom 8. 34)

3. You are putting on Christ (Gal 3. 2, 5)

4. You have the Spirit of God’s Son resident in you (Gal 4. 6)

5. You have been blessED with all spiritual blessings in Christ by God (Eph 1. 3)

6. You WERE CHOSEN in Christ before the earth’s foundation to be holy and blameless (Eph 1. 4)

7. You’ve been acceptED as one of God’s beloved (Eph 1. 6)

8. You’ve BEEN MADE to sit together with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2. 6)

9. Through Christ, you have access by the Holy Spirit to the Father’s presence (Eph 2. 18)

10. The power of God in you, is able to do for you more than what you ask or think (Eph 3. 20)

11. God is at work within you to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil 2. 13)

12. God has qualifiED you to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light (Col 1. 12)

13. God has deliverED you from the power of darkness and translatED into the kingdom of His dear Son (Col 1. 13)

14. All treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ. Interestingly, your life is also hid in Christ! (Col 2. 3; 3. 3)

15. You have been elected in God (1 Thess 1. 4)

16. The Word of God works effectively in you (1 Thess 2. 13)

17. You have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness (1 Pet 1. 3)

18. You have been called to be a partaker of the Divine Nature (1 Pet 1. 4)

19. In everything, you are enriched in Christ (1 Cor 1. 5)

20. You are God’s temple and the Holy Spirit resides in you (1 Cor 3. 16)

21. You have the Mind of Christ (1 Cor 2. 16)

22. All things are yours….and you belong to Christ (1 Cor 3. 21, 23)

23. You are joined to the Lord and you are one spirit with Him (1 Cor 6. 17)

24. You are the image and the glory of God (1 Cor 11. 7)

25. There’s a treasure in you (2 Cor 4. 7)

26. You are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor 5. 21)

It doesn’t stop here.

You can take up the Word of God and search for more verses that tell you who you are in Christ. Feel free to add more to the comments section below….

April’s Full…I’ll Be Right Back!!!

Happy April to you. I’m really expectant and I look forward to receiving all the ‘goodies’ that are embedded into this month.

I want to thank my readers for bearing with me during my little ‘sabbatical’. I’d be back, sooner than you expect.

Furthermore, I want to appreciate as many who took some time out to pray me into the perfect will of God. May the Book of God’s visitation be opened in your favour, sooner than you expect..

Finally readers and well-wishers, I commend you into the safe Hands of God. As arrows in the Hands of the Mighty One, you’d hit your target this month…

…By His Grace!

All Things Are Yours…

Let’s take a moment and ponder on what would happen if Someone walked up to you in the heat of the day. He’s immaculately dressed in a black tux, white shirt, black tie and matching shoes.

The Guy presents to you His Identification card. You blink your eyes in wonder. Why, you say, He’s from my bank! His face has a tender mix of compassion and concern. You look into His eyes and instantly know you can trust Him.

All is going according to the script, until He tells you that there’s £100 million lying fallow in your bank account.

The cautious part of you looks incredulously at the Man standing in front of you.

A hundred million pounds?!!

The Man from your bank then presents your statement of account to you. You stare at the sheet of paper, your mind trying to convince your heart that it’s all a hoax.

But, moments later, with your tear-stained eyes facing the Bank Manager seated opposite you, you find out that there was no scam in the first place.

It was all true!

In fact, the money had been lying dormant in your account right from the day you were born!

You hold back the well of tears threatening to flood your eyes, as you remember the days you forced yourself to fast, since there was no money to buy food.
You remember how you used to walk long distances to your destinations because you had no money for transport.
You remember how you wore one cloth for all your social functions.
You remember how you couldn’t pay your bills….

Just then, the Manager peers down a particular document on the table and tells you that there’s a clause attached to the money in your account.

When you ask what it is, The Manager tells you that after every withdrawal you make, not minding how frequent or how large it is, the account is replenished back to its original amount!

You’d probably have fainted at this point!

Nice story, you might say…

But to me, it’s more than just a ‘nice story’. It’s an analogy that clearly depicts how many pass through life, enduring it while we’ve been given ALL THINGS to enjoy.

You see, in real life, we are all given a BLANK CHEQUE to write out whatever we want. For some, they write exorbitantly; others write less impressive figures. Still, some others do not even know that such a cheque exists in the first place!

The key here is KNOWLEDGE. Because, unless one KNOWS that he/she has priviledges and perks, he/she would probably just get by with life.

But regardless of the presence/absence of the knowledge, the TRUTH remains that everything has been given to us to enjoy!!!

That’s what abundant life’s all about.

You don’t have to struggle with lack of money or the absence of good health. You don’t have to battle with anxiety or certainty over the future.

You don’t have to struggle anymore because you’ve been given ALL THINGS that pertain to life here on earth.

All you have to do is to go to your banker, withdraw from the ‘pool of unlimited resources’ that has been freely given to you and live your life to the FULLEST.

It’s the good life. No scam!

The Hedgehog And The Fox

Hello there!

I’ve been so busy over the past couple of weeks, and as such, I’ve not been able to post as frequently as I would have loved. Anyways, I was able to squeeze out some time today to churn out something for your reading pleasure. (N.B: I might sound a lil’ bit ‘rusty’. Please bear with me)

Okay, so I stumbled on an interesting story last year. It was about The Hedgehog and The Fox. A lot of you might even be familiar with the story. I hope you’d get a few deep insights from the short story I’m about to tell:

The fox is a very, very cunning creature. Very powerful. Sleek. And extremely fast-paced.

The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a very weak animal. It’s slow and sluggish. It seems to be content with foraging shrubs in search of sweet plants and maybe small insects.

Now, it must be noted that the fox is carnivorus (i.e, it feeds on other animals, e.g, hedgehogs!).

From the look of things, it seems that the fox has everything going for it.

So, the fox finds the gentle hedgehog searching for food. The hedgehog is totally oblivous to the danger posed by the fox. The fox carries out all its feasibility studies and raw data analysis and feels confident that THIS TIME, it would catch it’s prize.

The fox makes for the prey.

And again, as usual, the hedgehog senses the imminent danger. It shakes its head, wondering why the fox would never learn it’s lesson!

Nonchalantly, the hedgehog activates its defensive mechanism and curls itself into a ball of pins, just as the fox is about to pounce on it.

Needless to say, the fox is flabbergasted, to say the least. It shakes its head, licks its wounds and trots away to its den to restrategize!

THEN THE CYCLE REPEATS ITSELF….

The fox is good in so many things, yet it does not get its desired goal. The hedgehog on the other hand is only good in ONE THING. And that ‘one thing’ continually saves its life from the jaws of death.

You might be wondering how this applies to you.

The truth is that it concerns you, even more than you think.

It bores down to ONE word: PURPOSE!

How many foxes do you know? You don’t even have to look so far, because they are all around. They seem to have all the connections in the corridors of power. They might even have loads of money. But that extra ‘something’ is absent in their lives. They feel that they are nearly attaining what they want, but like the fox, they land on a ball of pins!

The hedgehog’s life is simple and uncomplicated. It is an expert in one thing: Forming balls of pins! People with a vision and a sense of purpose are like that too. They might not have connections or affluence, but they are fulfilled.

The question now is: Which would you rather be?

What He Did For You: A Physiologist’s Viewpoint

I felt the need to take some time out just to try and summarize the PHYSICAL implications of what Christ did for you and I over two millenia ago. This goal of this piece isn’t to undermine, but to make you all the more appreciate the spiritual significance of Christ’s death and resurrection.

At the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ’s sweats were as droplets of blood. This is medically referred to as HEMATIDROSIS. It occurs in instances of great emotional distresses, as a result of ruptures of the capillaries of the sweat glands. The condition usually makes the skin very tender, meaning that the physical assaults that Christ would later receive were going to be really painful for Him.

After Christ was arrested for a sham trial, He was smitten on behalf of the High Priest, by an officer. Though, we can’t determine the exact force of the blow, it’s easy to estimate that these early beatings were sufficient to induce MULTIPLE CONTUSION, especially because Christ had earlier gone through a phase of HEMATIDROSIS.

Between the Lord’s Supper and the end of the Roman trial, Christ endured great emotional stress compounded by His disciples absconding and a beating after the Jewish trial. He was forced to walk for almost 3 miles to the various trial sites. Besides, Christ must have slept little (if at all) and all these factors were going to make Him particularly vulnerable to the severe scourging He’d later receive.

The whips used by the Roman soldiers had thongs, to which small iron balls or sheep bones were tied at intervals. Though, Jewish law commanded that the highest strokes a man could receive was 39, the Romans had no limits. So, it’s save to say that Christ’s flogging could have been much worse.

Christ was whipped by two Roman soldiers referred to as LICTORS. He was whipped on His Chest, Back, Gluteus and Legs. The beatings tore His Skin and underlying subcutaneous tissues. Then the underlying muscles were tattered by the whippings. The ribs could have been fractured by repeated blows, leading to laceration of superficial blood vessels. At a point of the fierce whippings, blood would have spurted out of His deep wounds with each beat.

Blows to Christ’s back would have been excrutiatingly painful. Perforation of the back muscles by the whippings would send impulses that exceeded the pain threshold. The spinous processes of His vertebrae would have been cracked as a result of the beatings.

By the time the lictors were done, Christ had lost so much blood that He had a reduced blood pressure and blood flow. This would have led to a state of shock which would in turn lead to irreversible cell and organ damage.

A crown of thorns (which was most likely to be a helmet of thorns, rather than a carefully plaited crown) was placed on Christ’s head. With the crown on His head, He was also receiving blows to that same head. This would have driven the thorns deeper into the highly vascularized scalp and forehead. At this point, the pain could be best described as indescribable, because of the perforation of nerves, arteries and veins on His head.

Roman soldiers got Christ a royal robe which they consistently wore and took of Him. Each time this happened, the clotted blood on His wounds would reopen, bleed and cause more pain.

Weakened from His scourging, Christ was made to carry His Cross. He fell from the weight of the Cross. This could have led to a blunt chest trauma and a contused heart.

Christ was dehydrated and hypovolemic by the time He reached Golgotha. Nails of about 5 to 7 inches in length were driven into His hands and feet. The nails caused injuries to His median, peroneal and plantar nerves. Insects burrowed into open wounds and orifices in His battered body.

On the cross, Christ had difficulty in breathing. Maximum inhalation was only possible when His body weight was supported by His outstretched arms. But exhalation was impossible in this position, besides, the pain would be too much for His perforated arms to bear, so He had to shift His weight back to His lower extremeties. Christ had to alternate between the two positions just to keep breathing, yet He also had to be careful so as not to reopen clotted wounds. Eventually, fatigue would build up in His muscles and so, He was forced to support His weight on His lower extremeties. Not being able to breathe properly, Christ’s chest and respiratory muscles became paralyzed with increased strain and pain. The inevitable was only moments away…

To ascertain Christ’s clinical death, a random Roman soldier pierced Christ’s side at an angle that reached the base of His heart. The serous pericardial fluid, as well as blood from the heart, gushed out of Christ’s side.

Christ was buried and on the third day, He was resurrected and now is on the right side of power.

But what I continually see, is Christ, with His outstretched arms on the Cross, saying:

“I love you this much. I’d rather die, than live without you”

What would your response be ?!!

State Of The Mind: A Poem

Graves, white-washed graves; sickly beauty;
Full without…
Of loud mouthfuls of knowledge to passersby who care,
Full within…
Of decaying putrid flesh; skeletons no one wants to talk about

Hypochondria, an almost welcome relief, is let out of the backdoor,
While melancholia ‘reins’ with bits.

At the expense of real inspiration,
Self, condemned to daily denial,
Is motivated to maintain the perfect IMAGE…

IDOLATRY! Idolatry it is,
Poor substitute for Godly piety, unabashedly denying
The very Power that could have been its Backer.

The accolades and laurels pushing for significance,
Are rewards for the good performance given…
And all are taken,
Except the unfancied plaque labelled ‘HEED!’

“It’s under control!
it’s under control!!”, they say,
Till when the last grip on the truth
Quickly slips out of the brakeless vehicle
Speeding down the steep gradient

As Blindness sadly smites Realization across the face,
Whatever high shoulders left are shrunk
And locked up under custody of roaring rodents,
That only moments ago had no semblance of a chance

Targeting A Goal: A Poem By Alonge Adeyinka Joseph

Close to the pole of life, i set my ball
Aiming to get a goal.
But getting a goal
isn’t as easy as it seems

Through storms,
Through struggles

My life keeps abiding to those roles
I have to play
My mind keeps following the rhythm of success

My aim is to get a goal
My attention refuses to be diverted
along the slippery paths of life
’cause all I’m targeting is the goal.

Though I’m on the pitch,
pains will come
Through the fatigue that the game puts on me

But all I’m targeting is the pole,
And keep dancing to the to the tune of the game,
to get the goal and win the match

By perseverance, I bear the stress
’cause I say to myself
“Winners never quit,
Quitters never win”

The fear of failure makes
my heart to skip some beats
And at times, I get some sleepless nights

All these do to me
is just to keep me on my toes to get my goal

I’m so close to getting this goal,
I’m not done trying

Because, finally, in the end,
the stress would be worthwhile,
the trials would end,
and victory will be achieved!

P.S: Joe gave me this piece on the 5th day of February, 2013. So, this particular poem is almost a year old!
Well, Alonge Joseph Adeyinka can be reached via email on: cacprince03@yahoo.com.

Happy Sunday