Without any doubt, the death of the great renowned Gospel Music Star Sammie Okposo, was a huge shock to the body of Christ, because we were not expecting such to happen at that time, God knows the best. I was really shocked and taking by surprise on hearing that it happened, I couldn’t believe it.
But we wish his family well and pray that God will comfort and console them, we also pray that his soul will rest in peace, in the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ, ever since our brother went to be with the Lord, there as been a lot of controversy and issues on the social media and across the body of Christ, as some believe that his sudden death can be traced to depression, rejection betrayal from brethren, loved ones and most especially Pastors, this is due to the scandal he was involved in prior to this incident that happened. About 3months ago, our brother came out on his instagram handle to tell of the situation of his infidelity, whereby he had sexual relationship with a lady in United States, which is not his wife, and for some reasons, he abandon the woman, who is beginning to threaten him, with the intention of exposing his secret to the world, to be on a safer side, our brother came out by himself on instagram to tell the story of what happened to him, and he equally cancel and withdraw himself form every ministerial performances to seek God’s face for mercy and intervention.
This in itself shows our brother is humble enough to submit himself under the hand of God for mercy and forgiveness of sin, he acknowledge his sin, even though many people and pastors reject him and condemned the act, I wouldn’t know if there is a connection between his departure and the depression that came from the rejection he experienced in the hand of some brethren Church folks.
The internet can be misleading and so we cannot judge based on what we see and read on social media but there has been a lot of controversy around this issue. The story however reminds me of what happened some years ago while I was in a small church before I gained my University Admission back then, I had a close friend in church and she happened to be the daughter of the church founder, her name is “Kenny”, this lady was my close friend and we share good moment together as brethren in church, unfortunately, she got pregnant for a guy, whom by all standard is not even fit to be her husband nor to talk of been a good Christian to take up the responsibility that followed his action.
The Pastor was so emotionally destabilized and broken, t affected her in many ways, and she began to really hate her own daughter because of this step that brought shame to her and her ministry, this was a tough time for our pastor but equally a though time for the young lady too, who was in between carrying a pregnancy for the first time and probably thinking of committing suicide or abortion out of the height of the shame and reproach that as befall her.
She was immediately withdrawn from every workforce in church, she was the talk in the mouth of everyone, if she ever had an enemy, I can say it was a time they truly rejoiced over her failure. If any brother have asked her out and she declined, all of them will turn her into a laughing stock at that time, she was always depressed in the church, sometimes she’s even in tears, her pregnancy was growing, so also was the depression she was undergoing, I seems to be the next person she could turn to, but because of the generic rejection she’s suffering, I also ignored her and will not want to be associated with a failure like her, that was how I treated her, I never cared, I never want to know what was going on with her life, I left her and create a gap between us, I can imagine how many nights she cried herself to sleep.
The story made short, I gained admission to the University and started knowing God the more, walking with the holy spirit and growing in the things of the Spirit, understanding the dynamics of the love of God for humanity and how JESUS died for our sins, that we may be justified and how that all have sinned and cut short of the Glory.
Then one day, while I was heading home from school, I heard the voice of the Holy spirit and he said to me;
“Do you know that time you left your friend because she got pregnant, was wrong, everybody left her, and you joined them to criticize, condemn and even reject her, so she was all by herself in a very trying time, and the Lord said to me, that was the time she needed you the most, that was the time, you should have shown her the love of God, because even though she fell, we that are standing should have surround her and help her to rise up again”.
When I heard these things, I began to pray to God for forgiveness and mercy, I realize how I have been difficult and unreasonable in my approach, whereas, God is love, of course this is not to say anybody should continue to live in sin or wayward life, but what am saying is, In the body of Christ, we criticize and judge people too often, and people will only obey you, listen to you and even follow you to serve your God, when they see love In you, when you show them the love of God, they will leave the devil and come to Jesus.
This is the case with many people in the body of Christ, we tend to throw stone to others faster and point to their weakness and errors, and even make mockery of them, whereas, we are supposed to show them the love of God and help them to rise up again, the bible says, “the righteous man may fall 7 times, but he shall rise up again – Prov 24:16“. That rising up is the responsibility of the church , we are the ones to help them rise up again, surround them when they fall preach to them and encounter them because Jesus showed so much Love to the woman that was caught In adultery, and her sins was forgiven, God wants us to love one another and be true brethren that shows Jesus in all our ways and among ourselves, please learn something from this story and choose to live a better life that reveals Jess and glorify his name, I pray that God will grant you wisdom, knowledge and understanding to be true disciples of Jesus in truth and indeed.
Thank you for reading, God bless you.
