So here there I was, Sunday afternoon watching Scandal reruns in preparation for the up coming season…I’m so excited can’t even contain myself. 🙂 Anyway let me quit before I get you caught up in my Scandal addiction. So, I’m browsing the internet and then I saw it. The headline screamed at me
“Jim Iyke Gets Delivered by TB Joshua”
Okay, for those of you who don’t know, let me give you a little background. You see Jim Iyke is the bad boy of Nollywood( Nigeria’s film Industry). He has been tagged as a playboy, a womanizer, in fact I’ll loosely compare him to actor Colin Ferrell. And TB Joshua is a well-known Nigerian prophet. Ok so now you got it, let me continue with the intention of this post.
Apparently, he went to this popular church in Nigeria and got “saved & delivered”…Im thinking wow..that’s nice that He has found Christ and then I think nothing more of it other than wondering about the roles he will play in the future. But then I gave God praise and kept it moving.
However a lot of people didn’t see it that way. The next day, the backlash was terrible! People wanted to know whether his deliverance was for real or show, leaning more towards show. Some said they didn’t know he had demons in him. Others said that after he had let down numerous women, he now wants to be saved, the list of disparaging remarks went on and on… this brought me to wonder
Why do we as religious people (I dare not say Christians, because Christian would mean Christ like) pass judgement so easily? So willing to sit on our high horse as if one sin is far greater than the other…(if I lie and cheat but you kill, that makes you a worse sinner than I am…Really?) Why is it that when someone falls and is trying to make amends it’s so hard for church folk to forgive? Lend a helping hand.? If Jim Iyke has truly been saved, is this the kind of Christianity we want to show him? If he is not saved, and it was a performance as people are insinuating, isn’t it for him to answer to God?
This reminds me of the Bishop TD Jakes & Tyler Perry thing… you saw the video right? where Tyler Perry donated $1million to Bishop Jakes’s church, Tyler then proceeded to pray for Bishop and “lay” hands on him. There was an uproar among many people who believed it was all pretense. The main insinuation was, why won’t Bishop receive the “Holy Ghost” when he had just been given $1million? And all this came mostly from people in the church. If it was for show or it was real…why can’t we leave it for them and God.?
God alone sees the heart of man.
I’m in no way saying that as Christians we should condone sin and not say anything about it… but the judgement we place on one another goes against everything Christ stands for. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”~ Luke 7:1
People that don’t belive in Christ should get to know Him through believers..not just our words but our actions. The bible says “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”~ Mathew 5:16
Comedian Marcus D Wiley of the Yolanda Adam’s Morning show once said, it’s easier to get a job in the present economy than for church folk to forgive a fallen brother/sister.
I don’t know any of the people in this post, these are just my thoughts as I continue to live my imperfect life serving a perfect God.
Blessings
Unoma
Unoma Nwankwor 
If I know Nigerians very well, I think there’re two sides to the story. I haven’t read the tweets so this is just my opinion based on why the reactions. The one side is the issue of the church, which I know is not the thrust of your post. Nigerians have issues with that church in particular. The other side is not so much Jim Iyke per se but the publicity behind the whole thing. People generally associate salvation and deliverance to be a hush hush affair at the initial stages if it is genuine. So people are in all probability are attacking the publicity (Stunt) especially as the we’re talking a notorious actor. Otherwise, personally, I keep my opinions to myself. I’m all about the gospel and if anyone gets saved, I’m happy. It’s not for me to determine the genuine-ness of such conversions.
But, by their fruits you will know then n’est pas? Therefore, I have no right to judge. 🙂
Got it! Now I understand the backlash better but still the judgements were harsh…But you just summed everything up..by their fruits, we shall know them..
Unoma, I am not on twitter, so I didn’t see this backlash you talked about. I did see the news report and it worried me. Not so much that Jim Iyke was featured but that the deliverance was through T B Joshua. You were glad the Jim Iyke maybe had found salvation in Christ in it all. Hmmmmnnnn! you want to find out a bit more about T.B Joshua. You definitely want to do that.
Modupe, you are right…I don’t know TB Joshua…This post is not about him or his authenticity…you missed the point..on some popular blogs and twitter were pple questioning Iyke himself being “saved” not TB Joshua…all I’m saying is that we shouldn’t be so quick to judge pple…since we ourselves are not without sin
Hmmmm………this is the world for you…….when I saw the story about Jim Iyke, the only question I asked as ‘why that church in particular’?….and then like you Unoma, I left it to God because in the end, no matter what I think, God knows who is who and which church is his church…..I am hearing about the Tyler Perry and Bishop TD Jakes story for the first time……both men I love and respect but I don’t get it either….but then again I was not there and even if I was, God sees the heart and he knows the motivation behind Tyler’s gift and that is what matters and who am I to judge if this was truly God’s spirit moving……Like you said, God sees, knows and he will judge…..I like to steer clear of these stories Unoma…….it never brings any good…….let every man go to bed at night with his own ‘truths’
Well said. I normally stay away as well but this kinda rubbed me wrong…like you say God sees..
Preach it, my sister! Someone said “Stop judging others by what you would or wouldn’t do. You are not the standard” {paraphrased}. I think about that anytime I want to leap to conclusions…may God help us.
Thanks sis! That’s exactly right. I normally wouldn’t have said anything but the twitter backlash was terrible. His fans, critics, fellow stars all judging him. Who are we to judge. God slone see the heart of man.