AS THE CHURCH LEADERS TOOK SECOND WIVES, I ATE THE BACON

Preaching the word is very powerful but doing the word is even more powerful. I grew up following Christ as I watched my parents and the church leaders follow Christ. My childhood church was a Christian church that embraces the holiness of the Levitical priesthood as well as Christian teaching. Like all other Christian churches, we prayed, we danced to the rhythm of the drums with our waists lowered , we lifted up our hands in praise to God.

In my childhood days we probably were the only group of churches that shouted aloud “3 Alleluiahs, 7 Alleluiahs and 21 Alleluiahs” as expression of special praise to God. We dressed in white robes symbolizing the purity of our hearts and our holiness.

But these were not the only things that marked us out.We were taught that there are clean and unclean foods, to eat the clean foods and not to touch the unclean foods to avoid being defiled by the uncleanliness in them. Pork and associated products like bacon, Ham were considered unclean. We were taught to keep our walk and our eyes straight and not to lust after a woman or another man’s wife.

Because we watched the leaders practice these rules they were teaching, we as kids revered them and followed their teachings as God’s authentic word. But when the leaders took second wives unto themselves, I ate the bacon. I did not only eat the bacon, I did other things that I would share in a future blog. That church lost over 70 % of my generation to sinful living and my journey of unbelief began.

Titus 2: 7 : “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rev Joshua Amaezechi, an ordained Minister in the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA), is the President of the LEMA Institute. He works as the Lead Chaplain at the Kalamazoo County Jail, Michigan through the Forgotten Man Ministries.

The opinions and comments expressed in this blog are exclusively that of the author.The LEMA Institute or its Board and faculty is not responsible for any aspects of the information supplied by the blogger. The LEMA Institute, however welcomes suggestions for improvement and seeks your continued prayers and financial support.