God Can Be so Funny: Priestly Silver Jubilee and Physical Encounters with Spiritual Forces
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God sent his beloved son, not for the healthy, rich, wealthy but the sick and the nobody's of society. The book is a powerful demonstration of God's foolishness in caring for sinful people, things or favors which they cannot do for one another. Consequently, the author sees all the miracles that happened in the course of his ministry and the spiritual encounters he made as God's design to approve his ministry of healing and joy. You cannot stop reading till the end.
Anthony Nwachukwu
The Rev. Fr. Anthony Mary Odinaka Nwachukwu is a Catholic priest of Ahiara Diocese, Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria. He has written numerous religious and scholarly works and has delivered lectures to numerous Christian communities. He currently lives in Queens, New York.
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God Can Be so Funny - Anthony Nwachukwu
Copyright © 2013 by Anthony Nwachukwu.
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ISBN: 978-1-4759-5322-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4759-5323-7 (ebk)
iUniverse rev. date: 10/25/2012
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One
Spirituality And Ministry
Only Ordinary Human Beings Become Saints, Not Angels
Religion And Its Ministers
Ghost Ministers In The Lord’s Vineyard: Who Is Fooling Whom?
Chapter Two
Self-Assessment And Faith Detector Test For Ministers Of The Gospel Message
Religion Is Not An Option For Heavenly Rewards
Chapter Three
True Lessons Are Not Always Planned
Money And The Priest
The Family And The Priest
Women And The Priest
Women Religious (Nuns) And The Priest
Chapter Four
Jubilee Prayer, The Priest, The Bishop—Sede Vacante
Words To The Seminarians And Aspirants—The Future Church
Chapter Five
Acknowledgment Of God’s Favors And Reasons For The Jubilee
Chapter Six
Few Of My Testimonies And Success Stories
Blessings And Conclusion
Introduction
* * *
"I have come, not to call the righteous
but sinners"—Luke 5:32
In this Jubilee booklet—JB, I invite you, dear people of God, fellow priests and other ministers of the Christian religion to deliberate with me on Christ’s Mission and our responses to it so far. The Mission or Gospel is not magic. It is targeted and specific—helping selves and others belong more deeply
(Pastoral Message 2011/12, Bishop W. Murphy of Rockville Center Diocese) to the sheepfold of Christ in words and deed. Historical antecedents indicate that individual intentions to this mission differ and this is where God sounds so funny to me. I cannot believe I am over 25 years already in the priesthood, a ministry I gratuitously received from God; He Who condescends to lowly people like myself. Can anybody understand such God Who allows weak and sinful individuals minister in His name? An omnipotent God Who gives speech to those who curse Him, freedom to those who break His laws, brain to those who doubt His existence, a people He built into a great nation to challenge and change His creation, forgiving those who think they have fooled Him, allowing selfish politicians enough time to repent or fool themselves by embezzling public funds before they are disgraced or dragged to their graves. Lord, you are Awesome, so patient, so loving and caring, even to a fault. At times, when doctors who studied the human body give dates to their patients to live or die, you laugh because you created the body. When they brought the woman caught in adultery, expecting her condemnation, instead, you challenged her accusers (Jon. 8:4)—seeing potential growth of faith in every sinner. You hate sin and not sinners. No wonder, You take no pleasure in the death of a wicked man (Ezekiel 18:32) and that makes you funny too. You can really be funny and that is why I admire your unfathomable Ways. When you are funny, you are ever concerned. But when man is funny, he acts funny, strange, suspicious, and tricky. Lord, make my ministry funny so that we can laugh away our problems and realize that nothing is impossible to you. Even when a widow or orphans feel dejected, you still send them good spirited people for assistance. I know you laugh with me each time I accomplish a goal because the success is yours. Your ways are indeed funny. Nobody who leans on you can sin. You have all the powers over life and death, yet you allow people assert their importance in matters they may not know the end results. But you stand at the end of our problems from the beginning. No wonder you can allow an 88 year old Papa or Mama feel stronger than a teenager and a consulting medical doctor faint face down on top of his patient. Wow! You surprise every inch of my imagination. No problem is insurmountable for those who consult you first. Even when armed robbers are throwing parties and rejoicing for their successful operation, you keep on laughing, as their captors are few yards away, waiting to bring them to justice. Now I know,
A thousand years is just a day in your eyes. We continue to labor for food we never taste.
I am an American, this or that" makes no sense to you because you own life citizenship. I can see why you demanded the soul of that man on the very day he made the highest profit or had huge harvest (Luke 12:20). Raising the only child of his parent to a great level when society and their neighbors had forgotten all about them, may sound so funny. People will always behave true to types or to their identities irrespective of the environments that influence their actions but you claim ownership of their lives. You give those who toy with the Sacraments opportunities to repent and enjoy your blessings, but in their self-deceit and foolhardiness they assert their autonomy in an uncertain wide world. Those teachers who deceive their students and crave for huge salaries may not know that they are cursing their future. What do we say of the long-robed evangelists who employ different strategies to make fortunes and financially catch their early birds—the vulnerable of society? Today, there are more Christians, Evangelizers, Prophets, and Ministers of the Word than necessary. Yet, beyond these religious bigotry and paraphernalia, society is still hungry for the Word.
However, my story in this booklet may appear unbelievable to some of us. It is a timely wake-up call to all of us to stop deceiving ourselves in the name of Christianity. God is simply being patient. Telling lies to have our way is an unconscious visit to the devil’s den. Life, death and judgment are real and nobody can deceive God. Before we go into the stories, we have a couple of items to examine. Hence, the choice of our language in this booklet may not appear academic enough to some people but funny because the most important things in life are not always colorful or beautiful. The beggar at our door steps may be the funny Jesus Himself. If God were to own an apartment in your street, will it make a difference? If you have no regard for others, even if God introduces Himself to you, you will still shun Him. Thus, spiritual forces may refer to strange human actions, evils, ‘the dead’ or demons in the heavenly realms. They also extend to those vital and animating forces within every created order—living beings, humans, brutes, objects et cetera. However, in this JB, "Spiritual forces are those supernatural occurrences that challenge