The Truth About African Spirituality - Stephanie Ike Okafor

hey everyone I am Stephanie EK Okafor and this is part five on the modernization of Witchcraft series now today we're going to be talking about the truth behind African spirituality now just to give you some context on my background I am a Christian um I was raised in Lagos Nigeria my father's side of the family is a royal family and royal families are known to have the cus the Asian Customs you know the Asian worship practices passed down and so my father's half-brother was actually a high priest in their community and he was a high priest to one of the deities that is worshiped and is acknowledged within what culture today calls African spirituality um it's so interesting but I'm gonna get into some of the stories much later but I'm just setting this up this way so first of all you recognize that I'm not just speaking today from knowledge but knowledge and experience um some of you might be watching this right now and you might be dabbling in African spirituality you might be curious about African spirituality um this idea of wanted to connect back to your roots this idea of wanting to you know connect more as an African especially with the rise of DNA testings and all of that right but I just want you to be open-minded okay I want you to take this journey with me because first of all As We Lay a foundation for what this is perceived to be versus what it really is I'm also going to talk to you about why the enemy has such a unique agenda against black people this is not random right this is strategized against black people so let's first kick off and talk about what is African spirituality right so in simple terms it is the adoption of the lifestyle and worship you know that traces its roots back to you know um African Customs prior to this idea of colonialism right and so it's that's why people always you know there's this saying of like I can't worship the god of my slave masters that's the concept you know and that's why we see that it has this growing influence on many so for example you know those who are familiar with this will be familiar with the you know the worship of IFA so IFA is an Asian deity that predominantly is worshiped by the Yorba tribe in Nigeria but right now in I mean Nigeria West Africa but if I literally has communities all across the world especially in the United States amongst black Americans right and the thing is that so when we look at what has taken place even within America right you have the grow intention of you know racial divide racism um this need for self-empowerment wanting to find your power that goes beyond your oppressors the idea of your oppressors right there is many people find it hard to reconcile their faith and cultural identity so as they identify with their Roots as an African or they're finding out like where they come from and where their ancestors came from then it's hard to now reconcile well how could I be a Christian and you know but then Christian Kennedy this idea right this idea that Christianity came because of slavery and so in the search for Liberation you know from systems and structures and search for empowerment that goes beyond um just going in the pattern that is believed to be as a result of what you know colonialism brought about then you have many people walking away from Christianity to African spirituality but here is the truth right first of all no matter what a person's why is when a person says that they're walking away from Christianity to whatever whether it's African spirituality whether it's Buddhism whatever the case might be they never connected with Christ you see many people have a relationship with their Church have a relationship with the idea of the faith of my parents the faith of my grandparents and so Christianity is approached like a religious checklist so I go to church I read my Bible you know everything is based on logic like all the things I have to do as a Christian and it doesn't work that way you cannot bring what is divine what is Supernatural and try to experience it from a natural perspective from a logical perspective of this is what we do as Christians right it's what we do as Christians come as a result of who we have met as a Christian and that is the encounter with Jesus right you would know a Believer by their conviction not by their to-do list you will know a Believer because they have had an encounter they have had an experience where they know for themselves that Jesus is real so when people get into this place of I'm walking away from Christianity many times you're working away from their their Church they're walking away from what my parents believe not what they encountered right so I just want to set that up first of all but then here is the thing about Christianity in Africa there has been such an imbalance of truth right about the origin of Christianity in Africa Christianity wasn't introduced through slavery it actually existed centuries before colonialism centuries prior to that right in 2016 for example some scientists had discovered that the earliest known physical evidence of a church was in sub-Saharan Africa right literally one of the oldest churches was established in the 4th Century A.D and this was in Ethiopia now look at the beauty here because when we're talking about one of the oldest churches in Ethiopia it gives us an understanding around a lot of Supernatural activity that happened that was actually you know accounted for biblically connected to the gospel getting to an Ethiopian eunuch now let me just read this with you so we're going to read from acts a 26-31 and then we're going to jump to 35 to 40. so it starts by saying now an angel of the Lord said to Philip rise and go toward the south of the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza this is a desert place and he rose and wet and there was an Ethiopian a eunuch a court official of Candace Queen of the Ethiopians who was in charge of all her treasure so first of all you have you know an angel encounters Philip and he is sent to meet this Ethiopian eunuch this Ethiopian eunuch is not just any regular eunuch he had the trust of the queen he was in charge of all her treasure you know that saying about you know where your where your heart is that is where you're at in fact I don't even know the saying right now because let me customize it it has to do something about where your treasure is that is where your heart is actually that's the same right so this woman entrusted all her treasure to this Ethiopian unit that tells you that she had trust in this man so this Ethiopian eunuch not he not only represented his family or I mean well he was a eunuch son that goes out the door actually but he not only represented himself he actually represented the influence connected to him this man had the ability to influence it's safe to assume that he had the ability to influence the queen to share with the queen what he has known as a conviction for himself right so let's continue so who was in charge of all her treasure he had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated in his Chariot and he was reading the prophet Isaiah and the spirit said so check this out first of all the angel of the Lord encounters Philip he gives him certain instruction right and now after he follows that instruction the Holy Spirit comes and backs it up I mean look at the reinforcement look at the supernatural investment in getting Philip to talk to this Ethiopian eunuch right and so it says the spirit said to Philip go over and join this chariot so Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked do you understand what you are reading and he said how can I unless someone guides me and he invited Philip to come up and sit with him then Philip opened his mouth and begin it so now I'm jumping to verse 35 then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with the scripture he told him the good news about Jesus this was the whole point the angel of the Lord the Holy Spirit had they had you know reinforcement come together to say hey Philip you need to get to this Ethiopian eunuch because you need to share with him the Gospel of Jesus so Philip shares about the good news about Jesus and as they were going along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said see here is water right so Philip was not was sharing the details matter of fact I'm going to come back to this but let me just jump really quickly to Matthew 28 from verse 19 to 20. the scripture says therefore and this is Jesus giving us what we know as the Great Commission right he says therefore go and make disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you that is literally what Philip is doing in this moment Philip is teaching him about the Lord Philip had communicated to him about baptism that is why when the eunuch saw the water he says to him see here is water what prevents me from being baptized and he commanded the Chariot to stop and they both went down into the water um they both went down into the water Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him and then check out what happens here something so fascinating right and the eunuch saw him no more actually before that and when they came out of the water the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away and the eunuch saw him no more and he went out his way rejoicing but Philip found himself at azotis and as he passed through he preached the gospel he continued to do that but look at all the supernatural investment I mean literally after Philip baptizes this man there is some type of spiritual technology that takes Philip from where he was to another region I mean to personally for me this is on the same level as when you're reading about Jesus walking on water or Jesus walking through walls it's it's unheard of it how how are you able to defy logic in this way Philip you were just here now you're gone in his in like his Natural Body this is not like an angel this is not a spirit this is Philip the man Philip the man baptizes the eunuch the unit comes out of the water and immediately the angel I mean the spirit of the Lord transports Philip from one region to another so Philip literally found himself it's like he's like wait what what just happened where did I go right and he continued in his assignment but what I keep saying this is for you to pay attention to the supernatural investment in getting Philip to to share the message of the Gospel with this Ethiopian eunuch and so then when we look at history we realize that one of the oldest churches centuries before any any type of slavery was taking place in Africa centuries before that one of the oldest churches is located in Ethiopia could it be that there was such a connection with what that Ethiopian unit came to know about Jesus that he was able to sow seeds of his faith that brought the message of the Gospel to Ethiopia right and so as we think about this and we hear this whole conversation about I can serve the god of my ancestors and all of that the reality is even without you know colonialism slavery and all of this Africans would have brought the gospel to Africans if if we had enough time we would have shared the gospel with one another but I literally I remember a few years ago I had this conversation with Kirk Franklin and we were talking about this very topic right we're talking about this you know this flawed idea that Christianity was a is a white man's religion and I actually want to share with you just a few minutes from our conversation because just because of the value it adds and the perspective that Kirk brings and so I want you to check this out and we'll be right back in the northern sub-Saharan parts of Africa there were men and women that were following the faith that now we call Christianity yeah and and and even in the ancient state of Alexandria which is the most educated part of the med of of the ancient world at that time um having the most expensive library at the time um the disciple Mark started his first church in Alexandria and so you look at all of the uh uh influence that Africa had yeah on Europe it came because they were practicing what is now considered Christian beliefs and the faith of Jesus Christ you know from Augustine from from a clement and then even when you move even into Europe you have non-Christian men and women that were influenced by Christianity uh you have Josephus you have planeted the younger who were Jews these um these were Jews that even saw the influence of Christianity even at that time yeah and so you have unbelieving men that write in their autobiographies the history of Jesus and then you talk about uh uh even of Legend the earliest writings of Jesus Christ were in 1890 Christ died in in 80 30. so in 60 years you still have eyewitness accounts of the of the human of the man of Jesus Christ doing Miracles that that was accounted by people that were still alive to see it and so the reason why that's so important because it leaves room for the lack of Legend when you have people that have eyewitness account to these actual events because remember the whole Jewish faith was a was a verbal Faith that's true Judaism um um young men cannot even leave their home at the time unless they could uh oracly speak the Torah they had to memorize them memorize it it's so so so so so so Oracle belief in the ancient world was so important and so um they they prided themselves on be able to uh give you back the history of of them they knew that by yeah yes they knew that about their own thing and so before the transatlantic slave trade before colonialism Christianity existed now at the same time we do have to acknowledge that yes there has been a whitewashing of Christianity in the west it is very true and we have to acknowledge that there's been abuse of the Bible uh to to a oppressed black and brown people uh it was used all through slavery but again that is the depravity and the sin of men you see I love that Kirk really acknowledged um the white wall shape right and the abuse of the Bible to oppress black and brown people right so he he releases and he shares about the facts of Christianity and its roots in Africa but he also acknowledges that yes there has been a whitewashing of the faith right there has been an abuse of you know how people have used the Bible but this has nothing to do with the heart of Christianity it has nothing to do with representing the heart of Christ it's really about the evil intentions of other people and how they were able to profit by twisting the message of the Bible and it's not new we've seen this with Satan right we've seen how Satan would try to twist the word to cause even the Lord Jesus to fall into temptation and so we have seen how if the spirit behind Darkness would do this then what about when he empowers people and I'm going to circle back on this even as we talk about Satan's agenda against black people and even sowing seeds of hatred and you know and bitterness toward it's Christianity because it's like wait is this do we only learn about the faith because it was forced upon us right but we're going to talk about that in a little bit but I just want to acknowledge that yes there have been people even till today you will learn about so many people that would use the faith would use the the Bible would use the message of Christ and twist it for their own evil agenda right there's literally a scripture and I will share this um I wasn't planning to even bring this up but I will share all the scriptures that are used in the description but there's literally a scripture when the Lord is given a parable right about the kingdom how the you know the kingdom of heaven and how things work and it talks about that while men slept that the enemy came and sowed tares Amongst the Wheat right and then you know into the like into a man's land right and so when they're awake and they see it they're like oh my gosh we need to like take it out and it says no no no let both grow together and when it is time for the Harvest we will you know take away the tears and put them burn them in Fire and then we will harvest the wheat now the interesting thing is that tears look like wheat in its beginning stages in its infancy stages they look alike and so to try to uproot the tears you might actually end up uprooting the wheat and then when the Lord explains this Parable he talks about how the one who sowed the wheat is the Lord and the one who sowed the tares is the enemy right but while the Bible says while men slept while men were ignorant of the plan and the agenda of Satan he sows tears and the scripture talks about how these are the sons of Disobedience but check this out he shows what looks like we Satan himself is called to be you know to to disguise himself to masquerade himself as an angel of Light right this is why we have false prophets right when there is the original the enemy tries to sow the counterfeit to look like the original and so you're gonna have situations where people who would act like they are Christians and they are trying to use the word of God but their agenda is demonic what they want to sow into the life of the of the people who are receiving it is demonic but then the beauty about God is that he knows how to cause all things to work together for our good God knows how to take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it around for good but I have to say that because you cannot you you have to be open to knowing Jesus for yourself you cannot limit your experience of Christianity to what you have seen in people who literally have been planted by the enemy to bring confusion to bring hatred and others alike right but when we talk about people who represent the heart of Christianity we talk about people like Mary slauslore right I I might have butchered her last name but she was a Scottish missionary and someone write the name down right so you know don't judge me but Mary imma call her Mary but Mary literally during the time you see first of all people talk about African spirituality and all this stuff if you want to go there then go all the way don't pick and choose because she came into she was in Nigeria she was with the Epic tribe in caliber this was like during the late 1800s and this was a time that the culture believed that it was right to kill twins literally they saw twins as evil and they would when a woman would give birth to twins they would take the children and put them in what was known as an evil forest and they would allow the children to starve to death or to be eaten by wild animals this was the culture of our ancestors so if we want to talk about culture go all the way right it's not because things have become popular you know in pop culture in music some of your favorite artists are singing about it and then you're like I'm gonna go back to the gods of my ancestors but we fail to realize that did our ancestors worship things outside of Christianity yes but were they also devil worshipers yes that that is the part that we don't want to accept they were killing twins because it was seen as evil they were killing children that had a destiny children that had a purpose and an assignment because that was the way of the culture do you know that also in those times that when a man sometimes when a man would die they would bury his widow with him alive they would bury his widow with him this these were some of the things done in the culture right and so this woman really represents the heart of Christianity because she actually she goes you know to the Epic land in caliber she learns the way of the people she learns the language she lives with them and she was in a place that literally the location of her missionary was a place known as a white man's grave it was known as that but this woman in the conviction of her faith in knowing that the Lord would be with her in knowing that hey God I'm I'm after I'm I'm going after this knowing that you're on my side because I recognize that the people are only are just ignorant of what they are doing right and so she gained a lot of great respect I mean literally when they would try to discard children she would adopt them and she gained great respect and you know as a result of the things that she did gradually they began to shift people started believing in Christ people started changing their beliefs about twins right and so amazing things started happening but I'm using her as an example because all of this happened during a time that we only like to talk about the the stories that were negative from people who don't even represent the Heart of Jesus but look at this woman who will put her life on the line because of her faith will put her life on the line for children she never met but she knew that there was a great ignorance in the land and if I can share with them the message of Jesus Christ they will come to know that there is no that there is no harm in having twins right and so let's talk about the fullness of what African spirituality is all about because when I read about it when I hear about it when I when I hear what culture is saying about it you have people saying things like create your own magic like I know the reason I love this is that I get to be liberated from you know Christian traditions and values and all this stuff and then they say I get to create my own magic I could be whoever I want to be I'm a queen I am this I am that and the reality is that you're not creating anything your only partnering with the spirit behind the kingdom you serve and so one of the things that we've been establishing in this series is the fact and the truth that you are either first of all your life is not random your life is either serving the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness right that there is no in between and all of this is part of the enemy's agenda to keep people in deception and look at what the enemy does because that scripture when I tell you that Satan disguises himself as an angel of Light it can be found in second Corinthians 11 14. but what does it mean for the enemy to disguise himself as an angel of Light he appears to bring something to you that you need and and you will look at it and say it's good is the same tactic he used with Eve in the Garden of Eden right the very fruit that they were not supposed to eat the very fruit that God had commanded Adam that hey you guys are not supposed to eat of this you know from this street but when the enemy came he presented it to her in a way that she was like wow this actually looks good for eating right she saw the very thing that was that was against them as good and how does the enemy do this he looks for your voids right he looks for what is the void in your life so now as a black woman or a black man there is a void of empowerment living in the United States right there is a void of feeling like you have a voice living in this country right because of racism because of social injustice so the enemy looks for that void that there is a void of identity and so when we start you know DNA testing and all these things and it's like oh wait I'm I know where I'm from right apart from you know however everyone has their different ways of seeing this but I'm speaking to the people who now like who feel like they're they're lacking a sense of identity lacking a sense of culture and the enemy sees that void and he says look I have something good to present to you you know if you want to truly connect with your African roots go all the way so he's like leave this whole Christianity thing alone right because how can you truly connect with your African Roots if you don't serve what they served but you have to understand that nothing about the enemy is for you his end goal is destruction but he presents things in a way that feels not even it it it gives the illusion that it's filling your Void and so that is why oftentimes when you if you ever hear and maybe you're watching this right now and you use the same language when you hear someone talking about African spirituality they they connected with feeling empowered right they connected with finding their their their King in them or their Queen in them because that is the void that the enemy says hey let me feel this right let me fill this just go all the way and we're not even really going all the way but it gives you this idea serve what they served right but let me share an an example for you know for instance um there are so many experiences I could share with you on this topic but one that comes to mind I remember in college my one of my good friends who was also my roommate um she was also from Nigeria I'm from the Yoruba Tribe and her mother was a priestess she was a high priestess um of one of these deities that are very popularly known and worshiped and so her and her mother had an estranged relationship so the mother lived in Nigeria she was in the United States for some time she was with her father and then at 17 she had cancer we were both young we were kids um I started college when I was turning 16 and we were around that same age so at 17 she has cancer and it it should have taken her out and this was not no ordinary it was not cancer that just happened because of cancer um this came about as a spiritual attack and I'll give more insight on that but even when I say that you know biblically we can see even in Luke 13 11 that there are first of all not every sickness is because of a spirit let me just say that but there are situations when a person can get sick as a result of a demonic spirit that the manifestation of that demonic Spirit the influence of that demonic spirit in the person can cause infirmity or sickness and so Luke 13 11 says and behold there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up this Spirit of infirmity caused her to have a disability right so there are certain situations where a spirit a demonic Spirit can cause illness in a person's body and so this friend of mine had cancer and around that time her father um also kind of abandoned her and so she was with me you know when during the summer time she was like I'll go back and see my I'll go back to my brother's place she came with us my brother would graciously give up his room um so that she could stay in the room and so this was a very close and personal relationship and she would tell me about her mom she would tell me that you know all these details she told me how when she was a child in Nigeria the mother took her to and if I Shrine right and in the shrine there was this wooden figure and the wooden figure will talk the wooden figure like the mother would talk to it the wooden figure would talk back to her and she was like how is a wooden figure speaking something that we she they carved with their own hands we see this in the Bible right when the Lord is like you shall not serve any other gods before me nor make you know any images you know from anything that has been seen whether on heaven or on Earth right so we see this but the the wooden figure speaking is because when it is created it is presented before Satan for one of his you know demonic spirits to inhabit it and so a wooden figure I mean this trust me if you you mentioned this to an African it would not be that much of a shocker these types of stories were very common or are still very common because you open a door for a spirit to inhabit the thing and so it talks back it it interacts with them and all these weird stuff so she had shared with me some of the very interesting events between her and her mother and so you know during the course of we're trying to figure out you know she's trying to figure out treatment and all of that the mother comes to the United States and the mother reaches out to her and all you know got her contact with the dad and all of that and knew where we were staying and she was she hit me up and she was like Hey if my mom comes do not open the door you know and so I'm like Oh my next thing I hear like you know on the door and I go through my bedroom to like peek it's the mom I run to the bathroom I said oh my gosh what do we do if we were kids we like I had a relationship with the Lord but I didn't understand spiritual warfare like that and so I got scared so I go to the bathroom and I'm calling her and I'm like your mom is at the tour your mom is at the door and she's like Stephanie don't worry you know so she comes back when she came the mom was gone the mom comes back come you know later in the day the mom comes back she brings us food so she brings us food um you know we take the food in and all of that they talk the Mom leaves and she literally takes the food and throws it in the trash my brother comes to visit and he was just coming to check up on me and so he spent the night at our place so he was in the living room slept up on the couch my brother sleeps like extremely late like he's a night out right so he probably went to bed like one in the morning at two in the morning so my bathroom was like kind of like in the hallway so at two in the morning I come out of my room to use the restroom so I turn on the light and there are maggots everywhere all over because the kitchen bleeds into the living room everywhere So within an hour that my brother fell asleep and I'm going to use the restroom they're maggots everywhere and I was like yo what is this so I rushed to my friend's room and I'm like yo you gotta wake up I don't know what's going on in the kitchen so I wake my brother wakes up he's like startled he jumps on the couch you know we're like where is this coming from and she she starts laughing and she knew exactly what it was she was like no this is my mom and she was like I'm happy with we threw that food in the trash this is all my mom and I said what what kind of like what is go I mean these stories sound like a movie you know and so we start like killing the maggots you know like those Swiffer mops and so the flat side and we're like trying to kill the maggots and all these things and so we call maintenance and we're like um we have a maggot problem and we are very clean people so it's not even like it's not even that this was something else this had nothing like this has ever happened and ever happened after so we call the maintenance you know they they bring the pest people or whatever and they were like we don't understand how this came about and they said normally maggots there is um I can't remember how they described it but you can see where like the infestation starts from type of thing right it's not random like they start from something but they couldn't find the source they couldn't find anything they're like we they were just like honestly we don't know we are gonna spray we're gonna do what we have to do but this is a very unique case that we're looking at and so we prayed you know we had to just commit everything to prayer so during the whole time she's keeping like her distance from her mother and her you know her situation was not it was it was not really looking good right and there was this conversation she has with the grandmother because again when you know she was really young when her mother had introduced her to these things but she wanted no parts in it right as she got older she didn't want any parts in it she really wanted to walk with Christ but there were so many things that she we both of us were just ignorant to right and she had this conversation with a grandma and the grandma is apologizing and because I believe there was some connection with the introduction to this type of worship from the grandmother from what the Grandmother Had learned like all the way back right ancestors and so the grandma is like it's either your life or mine because there is a need for blood this this is what we're talking about this is the the hidden part of African spirituality and you know these are things now let me say this in Christ when you have the knowledge of who you are the authority of who you are in the power of the gospel and the power that Jesus has given us you can fight these things right and with you can have victory over things from your bloodline and and all that stuff but it comes with Revelation you have to know what you got you have to know who you are you have to know the things you need to denounce from your life right so the grandmother literally says like hey it's one of us but I'm gonna choose to go and not long after that the grandma passes away and her recovery takes a whole new turn and how everything happened was was I mean I saw this play out in front of me you know and I'm just like it was one of those things that I had so many questions about and I'm like God what is going on here right until years later um I was reminded by when as a child literally one time like in the middle of the night the Lord wakes me up the Holy Spirit wakes me up and tells me to commit my family name before the Lord and I found out so confused I didn't understand what that meant I was like you want me to commit my family I said but we are we are we're all believers you know and and there's so much to this that I cannot unpack fully in this in this you know time that we have and now I'll make sure to make time to really go deeper in this but he was like I want you to commit your family name because like I told you my father's side of the family were involved in worship to other deities other you know in other beliefs outside of Christ that was demonic and he says I want you to commit your family name before the Lord right and so I literally I wake up and I was just like you know what I'm committing the EK family I'm coming in I said my mother my brothers you know everyone connected to us I'm committing that we are dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ right that we are children of the most high God that we have no ties to you know any any inheritance from um anything demonic any door that was opened from those before us we shut that door and so I just went into prayer and after that went back to sleep and so after this you know experience I had with that friend of mine in college fast forward many years later I was and this is like several years later um I had this interesting encounter I was in my room and this interesting looking creature like it was like a woman that looked like a fish and appeared like and and the presence her presence was so demonic so demonic um and she just appeared and she's like come with us I said Jesus right I said oh no and I call her the name of Jesus and something snatched her away and I had seen a lot you know like I've shared with you guys a lot of my life has been very you know Supernatural like in the Supernatural and when I saw this creature like a woman it was like a woman but also like a fish you know when we talk about little mermaids and all these things you know there's another um version of Little Mermaid in the spirit Realm but it was so like her presence man it was so demonic and I just and I called on Jesus and it snatched her and I remember praying I was like God what was that and he began to show me that these are the things connected to your father's side of the family these were some of the things that that were connected to what they worshiped and I knew that in God I was I'm covered right that none of those things have access but a lot part of my call with God he allows me to see and experience things not just for me so that I can teach on them right because even when you talk about African spirituality you would hear about you know the the gods of the worship through water right you would hear about just all these different elements you know you would hear some people talk about how they realize they're the queen of the water there's nothing beautiful about that that is what we call a marine spirit there's nothing that is attractive about that right and so these were some of my experiences in seeing the dark side of what is African spirituality and it's not a new thing for God to call you out of what your father's practice what your mother's practice what your ancestors practice if it was demonic we saw this with Abraham right literally you know many of us are familiar with Abraham's story of being called out of his father's house to a land that God will show him and all these blessings that you know were connected to The Obedience of leaving right even the blessing of him having the thing he desired so much a son but look at the scripture like look at the emphasis the first thing God says to him in Genesis 12 verse 1 it says now the Lord sets it Abraham this is only before he becomes Abraham now the Lord said to Abraham get out of your country from your family and if the Lord could make it any more clear and from your father's house to a land that I will show you his father's house was not just because to get out of what seemed familiar to him you have to understand that Abraham's father Tara was an idol worshiper so when we jump to Joshua 24 verse 2 it says this and Joshua said to all the people thus says the Lord God of Israel your fathers including Terror the father of Abraham and the father of nahor dwelt on the other side of the river in old times and they served other gods so Abraham literally the father of faith Abraham God called him out because God knew you can't I there's too much connected to you that you being connected to what has kept your father and his fathers in bondage you have to free yourself from that he says not only don't just think I'm after you in your country no it's deeper than that get out of your country from your family and to make it clear from your father's house because it's corrupted by idol worship how many of you out there right now you're trying to go back to the thing God is trying to set you free from you're trying to go back literally into bondage the thing that kept your ancestors bound we focus a great deal on the physical bondage which is terrible that there is no way to I will not try to reconcile you know anything about slavery but we focus a great deal on physical bondage that we don't even think about spiritual bondage these are the things that capture ancestors in spiritual bondage it you know there's a scripture that talks about you know fear not the one that can kill you know your your flesh but the one it's not just your flesh but your soul you you have to look at this also from that perspective of am I going in the idea of Liberation in the idea of freedom and empowerment but is that leading me into a different form of bondage and what is on the other side of your life because if Abraham was connected to a father who was dabbling in idol worship and you're having a hard time with how do I reconcile my faith who are you and God because if if you're if the the difficulty here is I cannot serve the god of my ancestors or I mean the god of my my slave masters he existed before then he was in Africa before then right Christianity was in Africa way before then but who is God calling you to be that is required for you to come out of that way of life and that way of worship right you see earlier I said that this is not the there is such a strategic agenda that the enemy has against black people and let me first read the scripture Luke 23 verse 26 it says as the soldiers led him away this is Jesus this is literally you know in some of the most pivotal times of the life of Jesus first of all you have to understand that everything about Jesus is was and is prophetic every event connected to his life every single detail right so when you read about the stories connected to him it's not just stories for the season you're talking about the Eternal God so everything about him Echoes through eternity it's not just for now it literally Echoes and that is why even before he came on Earth because eternity is not just about now and future it's literally the beginning end everything that existed altogether is God like he he is the alpha omega not Alpha and Omega he is Alpha Omega he just is right and so even before the coming of Jesus on the earth you see how there were so many things that represented his coming from Abraham's sacrifice and being told to sacrifice Isaac what that was symbolic to there were so many things that echoed of his coming and so even when he walked the Earth his lifestyle also echoed a message throughout eternity right so first of all let's understand that nothing about his life was also random so Luke 23 26 as the soldiers led him away They seized Simon of Cyrene who was on his way from the country and put the cross on him this is literally the moments leading up to the crucifixion and Jesus in his Humanity grows weak and then Simon up from Cyrene is seized and is told to carry the cross and this is so mind-blowing it says and put they put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus you know that there's a scripture also in Luke when it talks about pick up your cross and follow me I mean there is so much in this that is so powerful man but literally and they put his cross on him and made him carried behind Jesus now Simon was from Cyrene Cyrene is a city in North Africa Simon was an African an African played a pivotal role in assisting Jesus to carry his burden as he was approaching the finish line this was the the it could have been that and They seized a certain man if the Lord wanted this to be random he would just allow that to be and there was a certain young man who was seized to help Jesus carry his cross no there was an African man who was seized to carry the burden as Jesus was rich in the finish line of his assignment on Earth and what I want to share I need you to hear my heart because there is so much prophetic Revelation in this moment because what Simon did implicated his Nation what Simon did in that moment implicated Africa as a whole that in the same way that he carried this burden to the finish line of his Earthly Ministry you know or you know close to the Finish Line rather there's there's so much because he actually carried it out of the city but there's so much in that but as Simon played a pivotal role in carrying the cross in helping Jesus carry his cross there is an assignment an agenda that the Lord has in his end times plan that Africans play a pivotal role in you see there are many nations when you know when you think about engineering you know there there are certain countries that come to mind when you think about technology there are certain countries that come to mind when you think about Revival you think about Africa because in that moment Africa inherited this move to Usher a type of Revival that will shake the earth that is connected to the end times agenda now obviously Revival has come through many races so this is not about racial divide or anything like that I'm saying sharing something that is prophetic about the end times that there is a role that Africans play and I'm not just talking about Africans raised in Africa I'm talking about black people there is a road that black people play in the end times agenda to usher in a type of Revival that will shake the Earth for God and Satan knows this because Satan is spiritual he understands spiritual principles he he recognizes when how he he was an angel he was one of the highest ranking Angels before he fell and so what does he do now he has an agenda against black people how do we stare them away from the faith how do we get them to hate Christianity how do we get them to hate themselves because a a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand a nation divided its against itself cannot stand so how do we cause tension Within how do we oppress their Nations Africa has some of the most oppressed countries in the world and it makes no sense the poverty level in Africa compared to the natural resources that are produced it makes no sense the natural resources in Africa can feed the world yet we have some of the poorest countries it the math isn't mapping right and so the enemy has this agenda to oppress in the natural and in the spiritual Realm let's oppress them in the natural so all they do is pursue After Next if we oppress them financially then then their their entire focus is about the next check another check let's not get them to a place where they're committed to God let's oppress them in the spiritual Realm let's get them to go back to all these Asian practices that served his kingdom because if Africans get to know who they are and what has been entrusted to them in the end times agenda you see there are different things entrusted to different nations there is there is technology that are entrusted to some because of what the role it would play in the end times because the word has to get through to all the Earth so technology also plays a part so there is such a role that Africa plays in the end times agenda you see it's no coincidence even right now that we are seeing this wave of afrobeats this wave of African worship that is literally I mean going through the streams of the world right I was literally shopping the other day and I was in the mall and I'm hearing a song that I grew up on I said hop how is this playing in the mall in California and the thing is one of the things I've learned even about you know God's kingdom is that sound precedes manifestation there is always a sound that sound goes before manifestation right and so that's why you often see that whenever there's there's like a new move of God happening there is sound that is released right when you study the word even when you study the wall of Jericho there is sound that is first released before the manifestation of the move of God when you study Revelation you would always see this connection with you know the the trumpets you know you know going before manifestation happens and so even when we see in the natural that there is a sound of African worship African music that is going through the streams it is a sign of things to come that there is a manifestation that is about to be birthed and this happens both ways because just like I said the enemy also plants his people you will see the rise of many false prophets and you'll see the rise of real prophets of God you'll see the rise of people that were sent by the enemy masquerading as you know Believers but you will see the rise of these people coming from Africa and you and it's not you're not even going to be looking for them you would just stumble into them but this is where discernment has to it has to kick in and that's a whole other conversation but there is a plan that God has for you and the enemy's agenda is that you will never Discover it the enemy's agenda is to keep you distracted enough because he does not know where or whom it will come from you think the enemy knew that Abraham the son of an idol worshiper is the one God will encounter and then we see his journey and and the Legacy Abraham has till today he doesn't know where it would come from and so he just goes on this wild attack let me let me see how I can oppress them through systems because I don't know where this this I don't know who these people are I don't know if they're in somewhere in Ghana or they're in Kansas I don't know if there's somewhere in the UK or or they're in you know Gambia and so I just want to encourage you I want us to pray but one thing I've learned about the Lord is that if you have an open heart to really want to know him you would encounter him if you have an open heart to seek him to pursue him and to get curious enough about who you must be you will find it you will find him his word says if you seek me with all your heart you will find me if you seek God with all your heart you will find him I don't want you to be deceived I don't want you to live a lie I don't want you in in search of feeling your voids you live a lie because there's nothing that could fill your voids like its source nothing have you ever been so thirsty but you tried to like use other things like you know Soda or alcohol you still need water at the end of the day your body is still dehydrated and it needs water you could get by with soda for a little bit but you're gonna come back to kneading water right and so I want us to pray and I pray that this blessed you I pray that it gave you something to think about maybe you're you're not even maybe you're watching this so you can have the conversation with a friend and I pray that God will give you that boldness to really declare his truth and I encourage you to study these things for yourself right but let us pray heavenly father I just thank you Lord for those on the other side of this I thank you Lord that you will encounter them I thank you Lord Jesus that as they search for you as they seek you that they will find you that Lord even tonight before they go to bed or even as they sleep and counter them in dreams oh God reveal to them the truth behind what they think is for them but yet it is to destroy them unmask the enemy cause them to see what is beyond the surface oh God and I just thank you for the testimonies that will come out of this I thank you that at the end of the day Lord God that you will be glorified through their lives and we just call forth who you've called them to be we call forth who you've always known them to be and we say Have Your Way in Jesus mighty name amen

Channel: Stephanie Ike Okafor

Views: 376,118

Keywords: Stephanie Ike Okafor, Stephanie Ike, African Spirituality, Toure Roberts, Sarah Jakes Roberts, ONE Church, Woman Evolve, Jackie Hill Perry, Beyonce, Jesus, Faith, Spirituality, Ifa

Id: 8_2jslTrdC0

Length: 62min 29sec (3749 seconds)

Published: Thu May 25 2023