I grew up in a very religious household. Every week, my family and I went to Sunday school and occasionally, other church meetings. My mother, who God has used as an incredible influence in my life, taught my four siblings and I to love God and obey his Word from a very young age. Every morning as a family, we read devotionals and prayed together. It wasn’t until the end of middle school that things began to shake up in my life spiritually. Like many young men my age, I became a slave to sexual impurity and debauchery, and began living hypocritically in the Pentecostal church where I grew up in. I feared people more than I feared God. I did not dare get open and transparent about the sins and vices in my life, and I had failed to overcome.
“For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” – 1 John 2:16 NIV
This brought a lot of guilt and shame, and soon robbed me of my self-esteem. The turning point in my spiritual journey came when my brother Tobi, who at the time was an atheist, came home during one of the long summer breaks of college. He began to question the validity of what we were taught as children and challenged our family on why we believed in going to ‘church’. He pointed out, that which is obvious to me now, the false doctrine which was being taught in the church. Tobi questioned how the head of the church organization at the time lived a very prestigious lifestyle with private jets, mansions, expensive cars, and more. Yet, the majority of the people who attended and gave to the church were in poverty. He asked me if I attended church for personal reasons or because our mother expected it. He even challenged me by asking if I understood the background and meaning of the church and God. As a young child, I had never been challenged this way and it opened the door for me to really start searching for the truth of the Bible and find others who lived like those great apostles and disciples found in the Word.
In college, I thought I was a Christian. However, 1 John 2:16 says, I was of ‘the world’. I was chained to the lust of the flesh through sexual impurity and the pride of life through selfishly ambitious goals and dreams. I went into college studying Chemical Engineering in order to establish an amazing career and my own business: all which I thought would make me very wealthy and respected by everyone, especially my family.
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” – Proverbs 19:21 NIV
Yet, as the Word says in Proverbs 19:21, the ‘Lord’s purpose’ prevailed. In my freshman year at Howard University, I met two young gentlemen like myself at the cafeteria entrance. They were conducting written surveys on God and passing out apple cider, as it was winter in Washington D.C. The first question on the survey was to give my full name, and then the second question had me thinking. It said, “If there was one question you could ask God, what would it be?”.
My response was short yet intricate. “Why?” was all I wanted to know. Why do we suffer misfortune on earth? Why is there pain? Why were we all created? Why was I created? What is my purpose in life? What is the truth behind the Bible? Is it possible to really live by the Bible and be happy?
As a result, I started doing personal Bible studies with the group of men that shared the survey with me – Kevin Horton, Joshua Ajayi, and Kofe Adease. The personal studies answered the questions I had and opened my eyes to realize that the Bible does not need to be confusing. You must only have the right heart to learn and allow people to teach you! These incredible young men taught me from the Word what it meant to seek God with all my heart (Psalm 119:2), make the Word of God my standard of living (Acts 17:11), what it means to really be a disciple of Jesus (John 8:31), godly sorrow and repentance from my sins (2 Corinthians 7:10), the origins of the church from what we read in the Bible to the present day, and much more. The foundation and truth of what it meant to be a ‘Christian’ became clearer and clearer as I studied and applied myself to the Word. It was more eye-opening seeing other young men and women like myself living out what they were showing me from the scriptures! The hypocrisy I was so used to and despised while growing up was gone. On February 17, 2013, I was baptized into the faith and really became a Christian on that wonderful day! The choice to become a disciple of Jesus is the most incredible decision I’ve made in my life.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”.
– 1 Peter 2:9 NIV
In my journey since then, I’ve had times of doubt, pain, suffering, and embarrassment due to going back to my old life and sin. However, like the Word says in 1 Peter 2:9, I am a part of God’s ‘holy nation’, a wonderful kingdom filled with disciples of Jesus, and I am no longer chained to the darkness (Romans 6:6-7).
I now call my family, friends, and acquaintances to learn and come ‘into His wonderful light’.
“Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” – Mark 10:27 NIV
Glory to God, as one of the fruits of being in God’s light has been seeing my brother, who was an atheist and questioned everything religious, take the same leap of faith and becoming a disciple of Jesus in Lagos, Nigeria! The scripture is really true that says ‘…with God, all things are possible.’ (Matthew 19:26). He is currently serving in the church and leading the Singles’ Ministry! I pray my personal witness of God’s unfailing love (Psalm 21:7) and his divine purpose and plan (Jeremiah 29:11) encourages you to seek after and reach out to Him (Acts 17:27) because He is also seeking you! God can and will use you to do amazing things if you just let go and let Him take the lead!