How Yahuah delivered me from Apostasy. This is a thread.

----

1. Just before I came into the Truth (for those who do not know what I mean by this, I am referring to my decision to quit Christianity), I was on a fast decent into apostasy. Please take heed lest you be deceived.

2. What began as a healthy skepticism soon became a deadly romance with darkness and all the while I would have sworn I had light. How great is your darkness when the light in you is darkness.

3. It is my hope that my experience will equip those who are seeking the Way of Truth with awareness of the modus operandi of the enemy. Listen folks, the enemy is a master of deceit and if you think you understand his stratagems, think again. Please listen attentively.

4. There is a healthy dose of skepticism that is required for life and living. The way I see it, it is like the Most-High plants a seed of Contemplation in those whom he calls. If it were not so, none would ever repent (change of mind always precedes a change of action).

5. Just so that we are clear, contemplation is not an antithesis of faith. To contemplate is to look thoughtfully for a long time at something or someone. This is not about double mindedness.

6. Contemplation is a very healthy attitude which the Scriptures highly encourage. The MessiYah also hinted at this in Luke 14:28-32. Contemplation is about counting the cost; thinking about consequences. Choices Create Consequences.

7. The Berean believers are a perfect specimen of what it means to contemplate. They were always eager to receive information but they didn't just swallow everything hook, line and sinker. Scriptures affirm them as nobles thereby exalting contemplation as a righteous practice.

8. From hereon, I shall now narrate my journey of faith. I will lay bare how healthy skepticism almost became full blown cynicism. This is the story of how Abba Yahuah rescued me from the Jaws of the enemy. This is my testimony and I hope you are blessed.

9. In the summer of 2018, I began to write a book which I titled 'MORE: Unlocking the Potentials of Individuals, Organizations and Nations'. The premise of that work was based on the idea that there is a Seed of Greatness in everyone but that most will die never discovering this.

10. I was well into the last chapter when an encounter with a Stranger changed my coordinates. Essentially, I stopped writing and never published that material. I will come back to this abandoned project but for now let me tell you what happened before this fateful encounter.

11. Before this particular encounter, something happened. I had been recently reunited with an old High-School buddy of mine (a most brilliant fellow). Back in the day, this fellow was one of those who excelled in academics and so I had a natural respect for his smarts.

12. I am what you call a Sapiosexual (I assure you that this word does not mean what it sounds like). I am naturally drawn to intellectuals and the reason for this is not unconnected to my upbringing but that is a subject for another day.

13. This fellow and I hit it off big time. Here was I, a soon to be dad with a great career ahead of me in fellowship with a smart fellow both contemplating life. This fellow shared with me his recent discoveries about faith. We spoke at great lengths and hours unending.

14. We spoke about everything. He had recently become a dad too and so in many ways, I felt connected to him. I would have considered him some sort of mentor even though we are contemporaries. The subject of faith however was a larger chunk of what we spoke about.

15. He was the very first person who seemed to be genuinely interested in exploring what I felt were the inconsistencies in Christianity. For the longest time, I have never stopped contemplating my own faith. I couldn't let go of the thought that something was off about Church.

16. In many ways, our conversations centered around understanding the pagan roots of Christianity (the role of Rome and all the shenanigans therein). For the first time, I was confronted with the possibility that Christianity is a Broadway religion (a Babylonian Mystery).

17. My fellowship with this fellow (let us call him DePaul - not his real name), opened up ths vistas of my mind to question things. Nothing seemed off limits. We examined the subject of flat earth, vegetarianism, deep state, bitcoin and all sorts of topics.

18. While all these was going on, my wife expressed concern about my interactions with DePaul. You know this thing about women and their sixth sense. While I didn't ignore her reservations, I was not going to quit seeking the Truth. So, I furthered along this path of quest.

19. The central thesis of our discussions was: Rome had hijacked The Message of the MessiYah. This was the overriding theme of our discussions so you can imagine that we became very doctoral about the "Holy Bible". This is the point where things began to get really slippery.

20. At this point, things were becoming a little too close for comfort to my wife. I had made some radical decisions out of zeal which threatened my marriage. One of such was decision not to pay tithe to the Church follows by the decision to quit going altogether.

21. Now, the subject of tithing and church attendance are two topics I cannot unpack within the context of this thread but let us just say that nothing in Christianity is what it seems. In any case, I was on a roll!

22. I suddenly became a Vegan and was very judgmental of everything and everyone. If you met me a year a go, you would have felt very sorry for my wife. I was simply on a rampage.

23. In the midst of these, my wife and I welcomed our son. I cannot tell you how joyous that event was and is to this day. I thought I knew love but I was wrong. Each time I carried my boy, I was shook. I cried a few times. I was confronted with my own posterity.

24. My fellowship with DePaul continued and things were ramping up to a crescendo. The sticking point was when he came up with this idea that Paul is an impostor. He came up with a barrage of verses to prove that Apostle Paul was anti-MessiYah.

25. DePaul convinced me that Paul's writings could not be taken seriously because he was a deceiver. I had my reservations but I was too lazy to read the Scriptures for myself. There are tons of resources online about Paul's inconsistencies.

26. At this point, the healthy discourse was no longer a contemplation but a groupthink. I was not a Berean. I essentially sang whatever the song DePaul sang. He would quote a few verses here and there to defend his point of view. I sheepishly followed him.

27. Then came the moment of reckoning. DePaul hinted at the idea that Homosexuality is not a sin. His argument was, 'It is not part of the 10 commandment'. By the way, DePaul rejected the writings of the Old Testament. He  insisted that Moses was a liar!

28. This was the point when I met the Stranger I mentioned earlier. The new fellow was the one who became a voice of reasoning for my now thoroughly brainwashed self. He was the one who began to show me (line upon line, precept upon precept) about the will of the Father.

29. I was going through what in retrospect I now call a 'Crisis of Faith'. I was torn between two theologies. One was based on absolute cynical mistrust for the establishment (there is a healthy mix to this) and the other, a contemplative proposition.

30. Things went downhill between myself and DePaul who was sore offended that I no longer reasoned with his theology. My conclusion is that DePaul is a Gnostic. This right here is the key to understanding the errors of Christianity and the multiple expressions within it.

31. Gnosticism is a theology that is based on ritualistic adulation of 'God'. It has the form of godliness but denies the power of the Most High.

32. Gnostics practice a lot of what would pass as righteous acts in Scriptures such as fasting and prayer but under the hood (with discernment), you will see that they reject the Way of Truth. This is the main context that Paul wrote from in his day. He was dealing with GNOSTICS!

33. I stand here today to assert that contemplation is required but believers must be careful not to become cynics.

As you can imagine, I have barely scratched the surface here. I have written a book coming out soon. I hope you will pick it up to find out more.

Shalom!