1. Law school was kind of a blur for me. I had lost interest in law, but I wanted to see the program through. That way no one can accuse me in the future of inability to pull off a law degree whatever direction I chose to follow. #Illuminare

2. With the benefit of hindsight that direction seemed pretty clear. I had had art exhibitions while in university. My interests were tending more and more towards branding. I was particularly interested in corporate identity design. #Illuminare

3. I just needed to pass my bar exam to fulfill all righteousness and complete the circle. #Illuminare

4. As the exams approached however, I happened on a conversation between one of my seniors in secondary school & his friend. This was at the back of the main auditorium in law school. Turned out this senior and his friend had failed the bar exam and were retaking it. #Illuminare

5. Their conversation was discouraging to say the least. They were talking about the toughness of the bar exam, how difficult it was to pass. #Illuminare

6. It was such a negative conversation, and it was generating fear in me. I had no intention of failing the bar exam. I hate the idea of failing. #Illuminare

7. And so, I quickly excused myself and walked away. They were dampening my faith and confidence. I wanted to pass my exam at first sitting. I thought I needed to be careful about the kind of information I ingested. #Illuminare

8. Did those two gentlemen mean any harm? Of course not! They were just ventilating their fears and inadequacies. But all that had nothing to do with me. Our destinies were not coterminous. I refused to participate in the fellowship of failure. #Illuminare

9. I did pass the bar exam at first sitting. The exam was neither tough nor easy. It was a Let my people go as far as I was concerned. Now I could pursue my passion. And today I’m a brand strategy consultant. #Illuminare

10. The Bible says faith comes by regulated input - “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17. #Illuminare

11. The NET translation of that passage is rather curious and illuminating: “Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.” #Illuminare

12. There’s what is said and there’s what is heard. That passage says, what is heard is facilitated by the gospel, a programming language. The God faith system is not open to any other type of input. Every other source of input is considered junk. #Illuminare

13. Which is why negativism does not generate faith. It’s bad news. The gospel is good news. Humanistic philosophy will not generate faith. News items will not generate faith. Prurient materials will not generate faith. #Illuminare

14. Fearful information will not generate faith. Words of discouragement will not generate faith. Gossip will not generate faith. The only thing faith responds to is THE good news - the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. #Illuminare

15. Faith is designed to respond to specific queries generated by God’s word. The program does not respond to other types of data. If you want to exercise faith stop consuming bad data. #Illuminare

16. There’s a tonnage of bad data out there. A cesspool of material is being spewed into your mind on a daily basis. Just look at the news; and then look at your WhatsApp feeds. #Illuminare

17. It’s all about robbery, violence, rape, murder, insurgence, disaffection, lying, cheating, mockery, scandal, hatred, corruption, toxicity, deviancy, oppression, discouragement, fear, antagonism, dissolution, divorce, sickness, abuse, pride, juju, ignorance, envy, anger…

18. And it’s nonstop. It’s a continuous stream. Your mind is being flooded with terrible data. It is not compulsory you consume the news. You need to do a news fast. #Illuminare

19. Strangely, empathy can also be bad data. Empathy is not always helpful. In trying to show empathy people will cite isolated data, employ wrong use of statistical analogy. That blocks faith. #Illuminare

20. If you have a life-threatening ailment for instance, people will call to offer their sympathy. But that’s the last thing you need. It’s very bad data and it’s anti faith. If you’re confessing that you’re already healed what is the point of sympathy? #Illuminare

21. According to the terms of that confession there’s nothing wrong with you. Why then are they feeling sorry for you? #Illuminare

22. Sympathizers seek to show understanding of the human condition by citing instances of people facing similar situation as yourself. And so, you will hear the story about someone’s uncle who has been battling with your ailment for fifteen years. #Illuminare

23. But how does that piece of information help your faith? Besides, it’s isolated data and it’s presented unscientifically. #Illuminare

24. We don’t know the sample size used. We don’t know any contra data – people who are not battling with the ailment and are victorious. Those facts are not presented. #Illuminare

25. But even if we assume the narrative, what has it got to do with you? You don’t know the level of faith of the other party. Neither do you know his wishes. He may want to go home. #Illuminare

26. You hear he’s battling with the disease but is in fact not battling with the disease. He’s tired and he’s given up. Beware of the single story narrative. Beware of stories taken out of context. Beware of isolated data. #Illuminare

27. And so you need to be careful about sympathizers, especially when you’re exercising faith for healing. You will get a lot of messages declaring, “It is well with you.” It’s just a religio-cultural expression. It really means nothing. #Illuminare

28. Most times sympathy is just cultural. It’s what humans do - they mark the social register. There’s nothing deeply felt. #Illuminare

29. Take the case of Jairus’ daughter. Jairus, a public figure, had appealed to Jesus to heal his twelve-year old daughter. Unfortunately, Jesus was delayed on the way to the house and the young girl died. #Illuminare

30. By the time Jesus got there, there was noisy confusion. People were weeping and wailing loudly. #Illuminare

31. Jesus had a reputation for miraculous works and yet when he announced the girl wasn’t dead, the sympathizers laughed him to scorn. These were the same people who only minutes ago were wailing loudly. #Illuminare

32. The ease and speed with which they switched to mockery shows they weren’t really mourning. They were just fulfilling societal obligation. Jairus was a high-ranking public official. Social sympathizers don’t care much for faith. #Illuminare

33. You also have to be careful about the fellowship of the afflicted. Some people enjoy being sick. They derive emotional nutrient from their status. It makes them feel special. #Illuminare

34. They get to cultivate fellow sufferers, get to exchange experience, processes and procedures. They’re into disease proprietorship. #Illuminare

35. Now, there’s nothing wrong with talking to those going through similar difficulties, but you have to resist the urge to feel special because of disease. #Illuminare

36. You have to resist the urge to feel sorry for yourself, the urge to feel helpless. You have to be hard on yourself. Not all support systems inspire faith. Some encourage acceptance of condition, which is antithetical to faith. #Illuminare

37. God didn’t lay sickness on you to teach you patience and long suffering. Don’t let anyone tell you that. It’s a lie. #Illuminare

38. What you need is iron sharpening iron, not clay being rubbed on iron. You need friends who will inspire you to believe the word of God matter-of-factly. #Illuminare

39. You don’t want empathy. That confines you to your situation, makes you find comfort in the acceptance of a dreaded disease. #Illuminare

40. What you want is someone who will stand with you in faith, someone to resist the devil with you, send you faith building resources and shake you out of your lethargy; someone who’ll show determination to fight a trench warfare. #Illuminare

41. The emotion you need in dealing with life’s challenges is anger. I don’t mean fleshly anger, I mean righteous indignation. #Illuminare

42. That’s because you know the situation negates the finished work of Christ. The enemy is trying to cheat you out of your blessing. He wants to steal your joy. #Illuminare

43. If indeed the punishment required to make you whole was laid on Jesus, then nobody has a right to lay the punishment on you. Jesus already took on vicarious liability. He has paid the price. Otherwise you’re being cheated, and you ought to feel annoyed. #Illuminare

44. Satan will always try. If you don’t know your rights or you’re accepting of nonsense he’ll push you around. #Illuminare

45. It is absolutely illogical for the God who laid your sins and diseases on Jesus to turn around and lay the same diseases on you. That means God has no integrity. #Illuminare

46. God is not a sadist. He doesn’t consume his children. He’s not Moloch, the abominable god of the Ammonites. You have to get to that Nollywood inflection point, that notch of dramatic colloquialism called “Nonsense!” #Illuminare

47. In Nollywood movies when someone does something annoying, the response is always, “Nonsense!” And it usually comes with a drawn-out hiss. Don’t accept nonsense! Hiss! #Illuminare

48. I want you to give your life to Jesus. Please pray this prayer: “Father I come to you in the name of Jesus. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead. I am saved. Amen.” #Illuminare

49. To read On Faith Part 3: Data Input go to http://www.myilluminare.com/on-faith-part-3-data-input/. #Illuminare

50. *To understand the Christian walk from a contemporary perspective, read my book, Conversations of a 21st Century Saint. Order at https://lekealderstore.com . #Illuminare

51. © Leke Alder | [email protected]. #Illuminare