Been here.

The Old Testament did not begin until Moses went up the mountain to talk to God. In fact, it didn’t start until after the Isrealites asked for a king of their own-

God Wanted to be their King, directly.
He Wanted to continue to speak to them directly - the same way He Spoke to Abraham directly, (who wasn’t a Christian 😂) the way He Spoke to Moses directly (a murderer running from the po-po - and also not a Christian.)
The way He Spoke to Noah - and that guy, Enoch, who just walked with God and didn’t even need to pass through the door of death before he could cross over to Heaven.
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We hinge a lot on Jesus - but Jesus is God and has always been, so it’s not only until we “saw” Him on earth that He Existed! He’s •been• ExistENCE. The Bible says,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”(Jn 1:1 ESV)

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“Genesis” means “Beginning”.
JESUS HAS •BEEN• HERE. Talking to people who believed without proof. Knowing how to get our attention even in the midst of sin. Consistently Loving us into Himself, even before we knew what He Was planning.
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I’m just thinking out loud,
wondering if Jesus came in the Flesh to die, so that we could see it and believe something that (some) others before us had already believed, even without seeing.
It almost seems like humanity became more and more cynical over time so God was like, “I gotta go show them in Person what the original plan was!” And Jesus was like, “Ai, Pops, send Me.”
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We ask what happened to the miracles the disciples manifested, but the Jews were also like, “What happened to all the miracles Moses manifested?”
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And as we find ourselves, yet again, in a time of increased cynicism, I just •know• God is calling us (😉) to be the Ones, in this time, to show dem.
Because, as a wise commenter once commented, if we don’t give them, how will they take it, ooo 😂

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” Rom 10:14-15

The Psychology of Abuse

I feel like I understand the psychology of abuse - from the perspective of the person who receives the abuse, stays there and even apologises for it. I feel like I do - whether I actually do or not, I don’t know.

Watching the Iconola videos yesterday felt scarily familiar. I could understand the rationalisation. I could understand the internal monologues going on. When she said, “this is someone I know, not a stranger...” I could get that. Like, I know you, las las you’re just acting crazy but is it not still you that I’ve known since?
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Like if you tell me to be afraid of one of my brothers because he’s acting crazy. Or that I should disown him for it. Why? Abeg he’s family; we’ll deal with it.

It’s the same way you can have a financially corrupt uncle but he’s nice to you and you’re close to his kids so when you talk about “those thieves in Nigeria” you mean everyone but him.
Or you have a close friend who’s creeping and you guys just laugh and tease him/her but when you talk about “those rubbish guys/girls who always cheat” you mean everyone but them.

Do you see? How easy it is to justify a great evil because when it’s so close to you you lose objectivity.
Physical abuse is just more visible but psychological abuse is just as deep.

And most of us have been in abusive relationships: emotionally controlling friends (!) manipulative parents (!!), insecure toasters -male and female- , abusive bosses (!!!). And the truth is that we take it. We honour that manipulative parent because it’s respect. We respect that abusive boss because we need the paycheque. We manage that controlling friend because we don’t want their wahala (and because our own dysfunction feeds off theirs.)
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Physical abuse is simply the only one we can see. The only one we “understand” how to deal with. But for the person going through it it feels just like the others... easy to rationalise...
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*Now going to find out God’s response to this and will be back with a Part 2.* ✌