4: The Church Trimester 2: Implementing The Way Globally – part two

The Lion Is In The Way

The Church Trimester 2: Implementing The Way Globally – part two

From our last discussion: “The Church Trimester 2: Developing the Way – part one,” we examined how God took meticulous energy to develop our cognitive structures, that is, how we think and relate to one another. Cognition was defined as the construction of intellect: how we learn something, how we keep (store) it in its original template (schemata), and how we implement what we’ve learned into our everyday lives to make it work well for us. (Patience Osei-Anyamesem’s “The Classroom Laboratory”, © 2004).  Lastly, we shared the awe and wonder of how our Heavenly Father clearly characterized The Way He wants us, His Church Body, to live, move and have our being.

Part One identified how Our Creator constructed the cognition of the Church.  This discussion, Part Two, involves how God put The Way into action, or implementation, so that His children—Christians—could apply it into our everyday lives to make The Way work well for us yesterday, today and forevermore (Hebrews 13:8).  This means God’s Way is perfect and, when implemented or put into practice, it works well (for the good) of all who try to live it.

But it wasn’t easy for The Way to reach all of us Christians.  In fact, it took almost 400 years of bloody persecution before we, around the world, could receive God’s plan, The Way, for the course our lives to follow.  God’s plan was to create a global ecclesia—a worldwide community of Christians joined together at the heart of Jesus Christ.  But when the “first batch” of Pentecostal disciples became “comfortable” in Jerusalem, there was no growth of the global Church.

These disciples, though true believers and receivers of the Lord’s blessings and miracles, forgot that they were commissioned to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . .” (Matthew 28:19a); and perhaps denied what Jehovah did in Genesis 11:6-9.

Hence, the Roman Imperial persecution, initiated from the time of Deacon Stephen’s stoning to Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Commodius, Gallienus, and  finally through Diocletian, ignited an almost 400 year (A.D. 54 – A.D. 313) inextinguishable fire that would by no means surreptitiously spread the gospel.

The Second Trimester is evidenced with the fetus’ first movements—the mother feels the baby “kicking.”  The baby can also hear and recognize the voice of the mother.  Also, during this period, the vital organs (heart, lungs, kidney and brain) can be measured and assessed to make sure they are properly functioning.  Amazingly, the gender of the baby can be identified. And lastly, the fetus fills the entire uterus.

Well, God must have been waiting during this period in the Church Body’s development for “the kick,” the movement to let Him be assured that His “baby” was alive and filling up His entire “uterus”.  But since He didn’t get movement, Rev. Paul O. Ajah in his work, The Church Militant (© 1989), emphatically describes the nearly 400 year ruthless bloodbath in this wise:

Imperial persecution can be regarded as a mixed blessing or even as a blessing in disguise.  It actually helped the Church to increase numerically and to grow stronger in fidelity.  It achieved the opposite of what its perpetrators had intended.

Aiming to exterminate, it purified.  It called forth the virtues of Christian heroism, and resulted in the consolidation and triumph of the New religion.  The philosophy of persecution is best expressed by the terse word of Tertullian, who lived in the middle of them, but did not see the end: ‘the blood of the Christians is the seed of the Church.’

The end of persecution made it possible for Christians to show their faces in the open, build their places of worship, and propagate their faith without fear.  The membership of the Church increased, and soon, all the idol temples were forsaken (Ajah, p.29).

The pungent odor of persecution propelled (or compelled) the Church to move.  Alas, the Church heard and recognized the voice of its Father, its vital organs were properly functioning, its members could be identified; and last, but by no means least, its Body filled the entire “uterus” as decreed in Acts 1:8: “ . . . and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Christians, give thanks that our Father cares so much about us that He gave us the Path on which to walk our life’s journey.  He set forth The Way and even gave us a manual on how to operate in it, the Bible.  Now what more can we ask for?  And, isn’t it clear that by following The Way, we are to have good success? (Joshua 1:8).

Then why are so many Christians living in such pain and agony, poverty, distress and weary?  Most of us have strayed off The Way, the Path, our precious Saviour died to put us back onto after confessing Him as Lord, King and Counselor, the Author and Finisher of our born-again faith-filled lives. 

So is it still not understood that persecutions, in varying degrees and forms, will strike us until we move back to The Way, and recognize and hear His Voice, thereby properly function in accordance to His pattern for success identifying with Christ as we fill our world with our testimonies validating the gospel, The Way, of Jesus?

THE LION IS IN THE WAY!: A Message to the Naked Church contains the first and second revelations of the oracle which sound an alarm to give warning to the Christian—Pastors, Ministers and Fellow Sheep—who is out of The Way (Chapter 2).

Chapter 2 reveals how today’s Christians are “going fishing.”  We think so much about the cares and materials of this life that we can no longer hear Him in the daytime. Shepherds have exchanged their functionality in saving perishing souls with popularity in wearing, carrying, or flying in high-priced plushy products; have lost their identity as true disciples of Christ, and have ceased filling their world with their personal testimony of the power in the name of Jesus.

In Chapter two, Rev. Anyamesem addresses the “leaders of the flock” who are going “fishing” (seeking greener pastures and fighting for material gain).  Souls are perishing because leaders have gone out to fish.  It will not be allowed by Christ for a true man of God; just as Peter’s waywardness was corrected, so yours will be corrected one day on this earth (John 21:15).  And I hope to some, it is now (p.15).

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It would be most helpful to journey with me, Rev. Anyamesem, if you had a brand new copy of my book entitled THE LION IS IN THE WAY!: A Message to the Naked Church.  To place your order, please contact Patience Osei-Anyamesem on Facebook or email at godspatience@yahoo.com or jesuspatience@gmail.com.

Also, I would like to answer any questions you have about the Church or about what is happening in your personal lives.  Contact me on 233-(0)548412661.

Rev. Peter Osei Akwasi Anyamesem.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THE LION IS IN THE WAY

Rev. Peter Osei Akwasi Anyamesem is a seasoned minister of Assemblies of God, Ghana; and is currently, the Head Pastor of Assemblies of God, Ghana—Philadelphia Assembly in the Ashanti Region.  He is also the Founder and Proprietor of Global Village Christian Academy Int’l School, a private Christian school dedicated to academic excellence and the winning and keeping of the souls of children and teens for Christ Jesus.  He was born on April 16, 1956 in Achinakrom, Ejisu—Ashanti Region in Ghana, West Africa.  The Lord has blessed him with a dynamic wife, Mrs. Perpetual Osei-Anyamesem, by whose assistance, he has reached his current level in his career and in his personal life.  In 1979, at the latter part of October, he confessed Christ as his personal Saviour and Lord according to John 3:1-5.  Rev. Anyamesem’s educational background includes current Masters Degree studies in Educational Psychology; Diploma in Theology from the Mid-Ghana Bible College—Assemblies of God School; Ghana Institute of Languages, Kumasi, English Proficiency Level; and graduate of Faith School of Evangelism.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Lion Is In The Way is an oracle for today’s congregations and tomorrow’s generations.  It is a revelation about the attitude prevailing in our contemporary churches.  This revelation is concerned with the behaviour of complacency among His Church leaders; and how Jesus grieves about how His Church has gone wayward.  This book reveals to all readers, especially to the born-again who are walking in the narrow way to heaven, the warning about the consequences of backsliding.  His appearance is to correct the errors of those going wayward and bring them back to The Perfect Way in order to avoid His wrath before His second coming.  He is coming soon!

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Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Lion Is In The Way