eternal excellencies

1 ETERNAL EXCELLENCIES

Copyright 2014 Kingfisher Publications. All rights reserved

ETERNAL EXCELLENCIES

BY

ADIELE VICTOR



Copyright 2014 by Adiele Victor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN: 978-978-934-662-2 Kingfisher Publications Nigeria Email: [email protected] Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/eternalexcellencies Cover illustration 2014 Claudience Media House Website: www.claudiencemg.wix.com/claudiencemh Author Contact Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Facebook: Facebook.com/adielevictor9 Twitter: @adielevee Phone No: +234 703 691 348 8



Table of Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 7

CHAPTER ONE

THE BEST SEASON OF OUR LIVES............................................................................ 8

CHAPTE TWO

WHY DO PEOPLE SUFFER ........................................................................................... 16

CHAPTER THREE

BREAKING THE AMORPHOUS GLOBE OF MEDIOCRITY ........................... 31

CHAPTER FOUR

A DEFINING POINT........................................................................................................ 42

CHAPTER FIVE

THE DAYS AHEAD .......................................................................................................... 64

CHAPTER SIX

BEYOND HUMAN ............................................................................................................ 77

CHAPTER SEVEN

ITS UP TO YOU ................................................................................................................. 89



I dedicate this book to a true Excellency, my grandma Mrs. Constance Nkachu Ijoma-

Orji. You have left a standard, and your deeds would be told for generations to come.



ACKNOWLEDGMENT

To the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has given me

the Holy Ghost, who has been the inspiration behind this book, I count it

an honour to be deemed a vessel fit for your use Great King.



APPRECIATION

I would like to appreciate all those who have contributed to the success of

this book, to my dear friends and mentors. I say a big thank you.



INTRODUCTION

You know, so many times we look at the future and feel so powerless; we

see all the people around us, and begin to wonder if we could do any

better, we see the great ones around us and also wonder if we could be

anything like them. At the end we come up with various theologies and

philosophies, we begin to say things like no one knows tomorrow or things

like the future isnt certain.

The next few pages of this book contain proven and tested truths that will

give you a positive look on life; tenets that assure you of a great tomorrow.

However, this book has not been written to just make you feel good, but it

lets you know your responsibilities and it drives you to pursue your course.

Just as Richard Bach said "Sooner or later those who win are those who think that

they can.", the most pre-eminent benefit this book will give you is its ability

to show you your matchless potentials and how you can activate them.

I would like you to grab my hands as we journey through the seven

chapters of this book, that will place you on the right track to making a

lifelong impact and I am positive that at the end of this book, you will leave

with the mind-set of a king.



CHAPTER ONE

THE BEST SEASON OF OUR LIVES

The good old days this is the slogan common to most of the senior

citizens of any nation. Then they go ahead to talk about how they made so

much money, were so popular, had so many lovers, were so hot, so smart,

unbeatable and on and on and on. Then we begin to ask ourselves, how

come this guy is no longer who he used to be? The answer this fellow

did not make the best use of his youth.

TIMING

The best time of any mans life is his youth. When a man plays away his

youth, his chances of having a greater future is not so much of a reality.

The reason is very simple: it has been discovered that the great men of

today did not start their journey today. Success belongs to those who

prepare for it. So many times, people think success comes through luck;

they say God blesses some and leaves some others impoverished but we

have come to realize that in reality; who you are today is a result of who

you have either directly or indirectly chosen to be . When so many folks



hear this, they begin to say I did not choose to be in such and such a

company; I did not choose to be unemployed; I did not choose to have this

bad luck, and so on. They begin to blame the government, their parents,

family etc. The foundational truth is that you are where you are because

you chose directly or indirectly to be there. Now, very seldom do people

ever choose to be poor. It is difficult to see someone who makes up his

mind to work towards failure but the big boomer is that majority of people,

the big bulk of folks spend their lives choosing indirectly to fail. One thing

you should know is that there are no neutral grounds; its either now or

later, yes or no, true or false, good or bad. So whenever you choose not to

do the good, you have indirectly in this context, chosen to do the bad.

When someone believes that God blesses some and leaves others

impoverished, this kind of thinking leads to total irresponsibility. Where

folks leave everything up to God, Nature or Life, they play away their

youth with such ideologies as, Why dont I just have all this fun now; if I

dont do these things now when else can I do it?

Another funny thing is that, people have come to believe that whatever

will be, will be. This is the biggest lie of all times.

The only things that happen to us are the things that we make happen.

Nobody was born out of whatever will be, will be . No woman sits in her

house and just gets pregnant and no student passes an exam without



preparing for it. The only people that get a desired output are those who

put in the required input.

Now, we have established that if anything meaningful is going to come out

of anybodys life, it is going to be a product of that individuals input but a

very undisputable fact of life is that there is that factor called Timing.

No matter how much passion you have for piloting, at the age of 65 you

cannot and will not be permitted to fly a plane. No matter how skilful a

footballer is, at the age of 30, you are already considered old. If you want to

build a great company or enterprise like Apple.Inc whose founder started

at 21, or Google whose founder started at 25, you ought to have started by

now. Our youth is the best time for us to start anything we want to do.

Before we even go further, I want to give you my own definition of a

youth. Many people have their own definitions so I will do no injustice to

give you my own definition. My own definition of a youth is one who has

the ability to make choices regarding the direction of his life; one who is

still energetic and flexible in movement.

This definition tells a lot. Though there is no age bracket to it, if you can

make spontaneous changes which wouldnt harm anyone, you are a youth.

One could be married and still be a youth and one could be single and not

be a youth. The hallmark of youthfulness is strength and flexibility. How

you know that you are going past your youth is when you discover that you



cannot just do things because of their implications on those to whom you

are committed.

Flexibility of the youth happens to be its greatest benefit but unfortunately,

so many folks tend to misuse this. They get to experiment with so many

vices; drugs, all forms of sexual immortality and so on. But just as flexibility

can be misused it could also be properly invested. Sadly, majority of people

are of the other side of those who misuse their youth

From my study of great men and their brands I was astounded to find out

that nearly all of them started building their brands in their early days. I

would like to espouse you to some of their stories briefly.

We see a man who at the age of six, made his first sales profit of five cents

by selling 6 packs of Cola which he bought from his grandfathers grocery

store. At the age of eleven, the same man purchased his first three shares.

At the age of 17 he had already made about $5000 by selling newspapers. It

is no surprise that at age 78 he was ranked the worlds richest man, and is

currently the second richest man in the world. This is the story of Warren

Buffet. Business.

Next is a man who began programming at the age of 13. Together with his

friend Paul, he ran a small company called Traf-O-data and sold a

computer to the city of Seattle that counts traffic, while he was yet an

undergraduate. He wrote a version of *the programming language BASIC

for the MITS Altair microcomputer. Today the company Microsoft which



he founded at the age of 21 has become a household name; Bill Gates

Technology.

Aliko Dangote: Nigerias richest man, Africas No 1 and the worlds no

50th richest man started selling boxes of sweets to his schoolmates right

from primary school. He started the Dangote Group as a small trading firm

at the age of 20. Most companies and houses in Nigeria and most of Africa

were either built with or contain Dangotes products.

There are many examples of these people: Tiger Woods, Abraham Lincoln

and so on. Most of these men started in their younger years. The truth

you are getting too old is a statement constantly made by a great

preacher. Remember we are talking about becoming an Eternal Excellency.

You are not going to make a great edifice without a deep foundation, and

you do not broadcast your foundation; you do not build your foundation

when you are under the spot light. This fact is very evident in most

developing countries where you see presidents who have very poor

leadership capacities and very high grammatical error tendencies. The issue

is not that they do not want to learn leadership skills or grammar. Rather, it

is that by that time, they are expected to have learnt it. But, you see its easy

to note the cheap flaws of those on television, but many folks in their

respective offices are also guilty of this. Most of the top executives

developed themselves when they had fewer things bothering them during

their youth; which is the best time to break and form habits. Like a wise man

once said, The playboy of today is the Casanova of tomorrow. It is a



popular saying that the child shows the man. The question is this: what

kind of person have you positioned yourself to be?

Dependence vs. Independence

I would like to draw a parallel between two of lifes phases; dependence

and independence. Basically, dependence talks about ones reliance on

someone else for support i.e. parents, family, government etc. whereas

independence has to do with ones ability to cater for oneself without

external support. It is apparent though that in our country, you hardly have

an independent person who does not have somebody depending on him.

Most youths fall into the dependent class, though there are some who are

in the class of the independent; nevertheless, most of the younger youth

fall into this class. I want to contrast these two periods to you and by so

doing, show you how to harness your period as a dependent.

Time Factor

While you are in the dependent class, you most assuredly do not work,

hence, you have time; free time, time to think, to learn, time to make all the

necessary sacrifices you need to make and stuff like that. I remember

during my Industrial Training while working with some young employees,

one of them was talking about some skills he would had loved to acquire ,

but he could no longer pursue such programmes due to his work schedule.



It then dawned on me that so many young people today are preparing to

have lots of regrets later in life.

Shock Absorption

One of the many benefits of the youthful days (dependencies) is that we

have many people to help us absorb shock (losses and pains). This is a very

important factor because assuming you start up a business while a student

in school, and you make use of your monthly allowance, if you should

incur a loss, the worst thing that would happen is that you will wait for

your parents or guardians to send you another sum for allowance. But

when you are in the class of the independents, every wrong investment you

make will not just affect you, but those who are dependent on you will also

be greatly affected.

What do you have to lose if you make a mistake? If you want to be a

musician, start singing; if you want to be a business tycoon, start doing

business; if you want to be a preacher start preaching; if you want to be a

writer, start writing. Have you thought about it? Why did Warren Buffet

start selling at 6? Why did Bill Gates start programming during his teenage

years? It is all because they knew what they loved and started at it till they

became masters at it. It is only practice that makes perfect. You do

not learn maturity, you only become mature. To be a master in

anything, you need more than knowledge, more than skill, more than



formal training you need experience, and that comes with time, so why

dont you start now?



CHAPTER TWO

WHY DO PEOPLE SUFFER?

Now I want us to look at a very serious, but most often unattended

question Why do people suffer?

First of all I want to ask you this question: do you believe a whole bunch of

people are suffering? Well, I dont know about you but in my locality you

dont have to raise your head too far, just look outside the window of your

house or your car, and then you see it all; a whole bunch of people

suffering. I mean, not just suffering but I mean really suffering. For

example, you can see a man pushing a trolley loaded with up to twelve to

fifteen gallons of water, not because he wants to build his muscles, but this

guy could carry that gallon for up to twenty to a hundred meters just for an

unbelievably small amount of money. In my opinion, that is called

suffering. If this was all suffering was, you could say it is so easy to know

those who are suffering, but I tell you in the corporate world, there are

those who work in their offices from sunrise to sunset and at the end of

the day, they have just enough money to take care of their families. They

then experience medical challenges which will cost them all they have

earned and return them to a state of being broke. I dont know what you



may call this, but I call it suffering. Now you know that to pay your tax is a

social responsibility to the nation but I have met men, whose gross income

will not be able to take care of themselves and their families and yet, they

still cannot escape tax. They have to pay it. Then I ask you the question

again- are people suffering? Maybe I should help you by giving you some

definitions of suffering.

One definition of the word suffering means to put up with something

painful or unpleasant. Another definition says it is to experience or

undergo something unpleasant or undesirable. The last definition we shall

be considering states that it is to suffer means to feel pain or great

discomfort in body or mind (all three definitions are from Encarta

dictionary).

So now let me rephrase the question; are people;

(i) Putting up with something painful or unpleasant?

(ii) Experiencing or undergoing something unpleasant or

undesirable?

(iii) Feeling pains or great discomfort in body or mind?

Well, I feel this makes the question easier to answer; in fact, I can imagine

you saying in your mind that if these definitions are true, then everyone is

suffering. Sure youve got a point in that, but the truth is that not everyone

is suffering, but that a vast majority of people are suffering. In fact it is so



bad that it has become a normal thing in the minds of many; they just

expect to suffer. I want to share this thought with you: now, if there was a

God who made all humans and placed them on earth just to suffer, what

kind of a God will that be? I tell you, that kind of a God deserves to be

stoned to death, and if he is that powerful, then everybody should have

been suffering, else those who arent suffering must be more powerful

because, they have dodged his plot. But it is evident that the God who

created humanity did not make, neither has he caused mankind to suffer.

At this point I deem it most necessary to draw the line between suffering

and sacrificing. We all may have to sacrifice once in a while in order to

attain a desired objective, but that doesnt me we are suffering.

As I have said earlier, God has not made anybody to suffer; the

government hasnt, you know even statistics shows that 1% of the worlds

population are in possession if 40% of the worlds wealth, while the

remaining 99% of the entire worlds population are suffering for just 60%

of the worlds wealth; no wonder the majority are suffering. There are

reasons why that 1% is lounging while the other 99% are struggling and the

major one is:

Ignorance: On a fateful day while working with my fellow engineers on a

new site, I felt hungry so I decided to go get myself a meal rather than a

snack as we usually did. On this day I stepped into a University close to the

site where I worked, then I saw this restaurant and I walked into it; I

looked at the menu and Boy! They really had some mouth-watering meals.



So I told the lady serving to put fried rice (I pointed at it) then beans (I also

pointed at it) then I asked her if she had fish, she said yes, then I told her

to put in fish, then I asked for a bottle of Coke (you should have seen how

authoritative I was), then she served it in a tray and stretched it towards

me. As she did this, I dipped my hands into my pocket and brought out a

Five Hundred Naira note. I just flaunted it in front of the cashiers face,

expecting her to start counting my change. This woman looked me in the

eye and said thats not enough; your food costs Six Hundred and fifty

Naira, and here I was with my five hundred naira note expecting a

balance. I just paused for a moment (you see, being a student in a different

school where such an order wouldnt have exceeded maybe, four hundred

naira, I just assumed it was going to be same price because this was also a

University just like mine), then I dipped my hand into my pocket again

brought out my last cash (about two hundred and fifty naira and handed it

to the cashier, leaving me with just a hundred naira. At that moment, I

knew there was a problem because I left my debit card back at home and I

needed at least two hundred and fifty naira to return home from work. The

meal I was once looking forward to munch with so much enthusiasm

became an assignment because, as I took every spoon all I could think of

was my transport fare; I was actually eating in pain (you know what I

mean).

If I had taken time to find out the cost of the meal (which was possible), I

would have planned my spending better and at least enjoyed whatever I



had bought, but because of being unaware (ignorant) of the prices, I got

myself into that mess.

Ignorance which means unawareness of something (often something

important) or simply put, the lack of knowledge is one of the biggest

reasons why people suffer. As an enlightened man once said, you pay for

everything you dont know. How true a saying this is; people die

because of ignorance, just like the man who goes to hang a wet cloth on a

33kilo volt transmission line or the fellow that dives from a springboard

into the shallow part of a pool. Of course these maybe extreme cases of

ignorance but I assure you that they have surely happened somewhere. The

amazing thing is that most ignorant people do not know just how ignorant

they are.

ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE vs. RECEIVED KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge could either be acquired or received, I would like to explain

them this way; by definition, to acquire means to get or obtain

possession of something, whereas the word receive means to take or

accept something given. Hence, I will define acquired knowledge as

knowledge that is taken hold of or dug out by an individual, whereas

received knowledge is one that is accepted by an individual to whom it is

given.

A vast majority of humanity is suffering because they thrive on received

knowledge. If all you have is received knowledge i.e. knowledge that is



just given to you void of active involvement in the processing of its

facts, then you are bound to the ground. One of the major problems we

have today is that most of our school graduates are only possessors of

received knowledge. All they know is what the lecturer has taught them

in school; all that the lecturer knows is all his lecturer taught him years

ago. They know nothing about life and nothing about anything else but

you know what, they will never accept that they are ignorant. I always

say to folks if all you know is what you were taught in school, you

are headed for a miserable life. Nobody ever made a mark through

using only common sense. Common sense only makes common

people. Common sense is received knowledge; it is knowledge as

everyone should know. Acquired knowledge on the other hand, has to

be actively sought for; you have to take it for yourself. You do not get it

by sitting in a classroom, by combing the streets, or by just doing as

everyone else is doing. Acquired knowledge is SOUGHT for; you get a

topic you are interested in and begin to research on it, find out what to

do, to make things work.

Do you know why the big corporations remain at the top? It is because

they spend time and money on acquisition of information relevant to

their area of expertise. They have their research teams that figure out the

trends in their industry and how to stay on top of the charts. Funny

enough, even a number of those researchers do not know how



important it is for them to research for information that will change

their life situations.

A wise man once said to his audience, you go to school to learn how

to learn. If only all students will have this mind set! What a difference

it would make for one to understand that all the assignments and

examinations were just to teach them how to get things done right and

in quick time. It makes all the difference in the world to know that you

are not spending four, five, six or seven years of your life just to acquire

a Certificate but to learn how to pursue knowledge.

The key to having acquired knowledge is that you must have a focus-

something you are looking for. For example, if I want to begin a

business, I begin by learning what it takes to run a successful business,

then I study successful businesses and how they succeeded, I would

study failed business, why they failed and so many other things. The

point I am making is that I would study my subject intrinsically. No

school can tell you everything about something; if you want to be

ahead you have to have an edge, and knowledge gives you that edge.

These few things I have told you just now should show you why so

many people including graduates, corporate workers and business

owners are still suffering today. It has been observed that one definition

of success is based on exposure, and exposure comes from information

and this information most often than none is acquired knowledge. Let



me give you a very common instance: In Nigeria the common definition

of success is finishing school with a 1st Class Degree or a Second Class

Upper Degree, and then getting a job in a prestigious company or even

any company at all with your certificate. Its funny because it is also so in

most parts of the world, but you still wonder why people suffer. I just

pointed a good reason for you. If you are exposed or rather informed

you will find out that the people we celebrate today, the Aliko Dangotes,

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs etc. had another definition of it. I say to my

friends that, the will to go stems from the knowledge that there is

somewhere to go. You do not embark on a journey to nowhere. If

you must have real success, you must know what success looks like so

go ahead; begin studying the life of great men and great companies,

because if you dont know what it looks like, you cannot press for it.

Just as the definition of success as by common sense leads to

impoverishment, there are some other basic truths I would like you to

know that will help you channel yourself towards making a mark.

(1) SUCCESS IS NOT AN ACCIDENT

This is a fundamental truth which I believe you must have known if you

bought this book yourself, but sadly the vast majority of folks do not

know this. Success is not an accident, but you know what everyone says

(received knowledge) they say success is an accident, sure they do not



say it that way, the clothe it another way by saying whatever will happen

will happen or whatever will be will be or another way they put it is that

God (or the universe or Nature) makes some successful while it makes

others unsuccessful. Again I repeat, success is not an accident. If success

were to be an accident, why dont we all just sit at home and wait for the

accident to happen, or for nature to bring food or money into our

houses? Oh no, we wouldnt dare that. This shows that even those who

say this do not believe it; they still go out every day to struggle for the

money; they dont wait for it to come. Having studied several great men,

I have discovered that not a single one of them got there by mistake; is

it Nelson Mandela who went in and out of prison for what he believed

should be done? Is it Bill gates who had the confidence and courage to

drop out of school to pursue what he believed could prosper? Is it Dr.

David Oyedepo who spent most of his fortune in his early days buying

literature books in an attempt to develop himself? If you nurse that idea

of success being an accident (even though no one really believe this, but

most nurse it) it will only make you doubtful of the fact that your efforts

could make much of a difference in the scheme of things, hence you

wouldnt give life your best shot and you find yourself in the large army

of the mediocre.

(2) BRAIN WORK IS MORE PROFITTABLE THAN

HARDWORK



Back in the days, especially in most African countries the nobles were

the fighters, those who were warriors they were the great men of their

time even in a country like Nigeria. Before civilization the farmers were

the big shots, but unfortunately today, most of them are suffering. You

know why? Things have changed and paradigms have shifted. Now

those who earn the most are those who sweat the least. Brain work (or

mental exertion) is of a far greater value than hard labour (physical

exertion). Let me illustrate this for you: take for instance, a construction

company; those who labour the most are the labourers, next to them are

the machine operators, next to them is the Supervisor who should be on

the site, next to him is the Chief Engineer and then the Project Manager

then the main contractor. The order of pay also slides from the

contractor who may not even set his foot on the site, down to the

labourers. You know why this is so? It is because the risk bearing also

slides downward from the contractor to these labourers. Your ability to

handle people and manage tasks (which is primarily what we call brain

work) is of more value than your ability to perform physical, exertive

exercises.

John D Rockefeller said: if the ability to deal with people is as

purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more

for that ability than for any other under the sun.



(3) NOBODY EVER GOT RICH BY SAVING ALONE

A parable was told by the greatest person whoever walked the surface of the

earth: Jesus. The parable told is that of the talent.

The Parable.

14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and dug in the earth, and hid his lords money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

Matthew 25 vs. 14 -27

Here, we see the master telling the fellow who went to save the money,

why didnt he at least give it to the money exchanges for usury. This shows

us that saving is not even considered as an option of making money.



I have actually been in a place where two guys were arguing and they began

to talk about their accomplishments and all they had to say was how many

digits their accounts displayed. Although we were students, it struck me: if

the only thing we have is money not even a source of money, just money

itself (saving) then we do not need a prophet to tell us that very soon, we

wouldnt have a thing to show forth.

Saving itself is a great thing and one of the principles of financial discipline

and increase. Sure you must save; saving happens to be a better option than

careless spending, but a much better way is investment. Most people,

especially the poor and middle class have been enslaved by saving alone.

You cannot get richer by saving alone. Saving should be a means to an end.

For instance, if you want to start up a business and the capital you need is

about N1000, but all you get per day is N10, saving half of it (your money

per day) say N5 for 200 days will be able to give you your required profit to

start up a newer business (this is what is called investment in its most basic

form). But on the other hand if you just save the money for no reason at all

but to amass it, you are simply doing nothing of value because, its either

you spend that money or you die and leave it. Warren Buffet has become

famous as one of the richest men and biggest philanthropist because he

saved and bought other companies with the profits he made. Never forget,

saving alone does not make anybody any richer.



(4) MATURITY IS GROWN INTO NOT LEARNED

A better way to say this is that you do not learn maturity; you grow into

it. So many times we downplay the idea of a young individual starting a

business, saying that he has no experience. I remember a few years ago

when I was telling someone about my intention of starting my own

company immediately after I finished school. She said to me, well thats

a great idea; in fact business is the way. But you see you must work for a

while at least so you can gain experience. Most of us have this notion

about business start-up, but just as Peter J. Daniels said, The crowd is

always wrong, they can only affirm what is right, they never

initiate it. How true this is. I began to study different people by names

in the business world and I found out unlike the advice I got, most of

them started their own thing without having to work under anybody

else under the guise of gaining experience. If you would, you could work

for someone and also run your company at the same time. There is

nothing wrong with that.

That is just one side of the coin; on the other side, there are those folks

who believe you must know every single thing about the business world

and your own business and in fact everything there is to know before

you go into business. Again, I say this is a grave misconception. Nobody

ever started with all the knowledge there is about what he does;

although you need to know the basics, you do not need to know

everything. Little wonder you can find someone who has read about a



hundred books on business, attended seminars, even held a degree in

business but has not started a single business. Like I said, maturity is

grown into, it cant be learned. Whatever it is you want to do, you need

to understand this basic truth: just start, let the other things follow. If

you want to be a musician start singing let the other things follow, if you

want to be a dancer, start dancing. Do not wait till you get famous

before you start, why not start now?! Like the popular saying Rome

was not built in a day, If you ever want to amount to excellence,

youve got to start playing early.

Preparation is essential and really important and I am not downplaying

the place of it, but so many people spend their whole life time preparing,

and end up doing nothing; youve got to make a step and begin

something. You cannot make a success out of life by just preparing to

do, you have to do.

Its just like in ships; you can do all you want with the steering of a ship

and that ship will neither change its position nor direction, but when the

ship is in motion a change in the steering position has a visible impact.

So remember, maturity is not learned; its grown into so that, the earlier

you start, the faster you attain the required experience.

I like to end this portion with this story: a man once asked his son, son

what do you want to be when you grow up? He said, Dad I would like

to be a professional footballer (American football). The next morning



at about 5 a.m. the dad came into the room and woke him up; the young

boy was startled because it was unusual for him to be awoken at that

time. Then the dad said, if you want to be a great footballer, you must

wake up and run now. So the boy woke up and ran with his father.

They continued until that little boy became a great footballer, and when

he was asked about his success he said, I owe it all to my father.

Maturity is gained over time; the earlier you start the better for you.



CHAPTER THREE

BREAKING THE AMORPHOUS GLOBE OF MEDIOCRITY

Mediocrity simply means averageness; that is, a quality that is adequate or

acceptable, but not very good. In this chapter we will discuss how to break

out of the amorphous globe of mediocrity.

In the previous chapter, we talked about how many people have taken

suffering to be standard. This however, is most common in the developing

countries than it is in the developed ones. For example, in most parts of

Africa before you see somebody on a wheelchair, you could bet that that

fellow must have used every means possible to do without that wheelchair,

even if it meant walking in pains. That is to say they are ready and willing to

suffer to the point which they can do nothing again- when it is really bad.

But in developed countries, once they feel a slight pain and the doctors tell

them they are confined to a wheel chair, they do not hesitate to do that,

they just go on with their life (in their wheel chairs). That is because they

are not accustomed to enduring pains unlike the former.

In the case of mediocrity, it happens to be common to every nation on

earth. Every nation is made of three classes of people: the poor, the rich



and the average (mediocre). It is a known fact that in every nation, the bulk

of the population lies between the poor and the average, while a very select

few occupy the realm of the rich. If this was all that there was to it, it

would not have been a big deal. The problem we have is that folks have

taken the average life to be the standard; people have now gotten the idea

of just escaping the poverty line. Mediocrity has become the standard for

which many are attaining even without knowing. Well, this is happening

because there are so many poor folks around and also, many have this idea

that only those in political offices and sort attain to that height of the

rich. I dare say thats a lie.

One secret most people do not know is this; The worlds system was

not designed to make anybody rich, it was designed to make

mediocre at best out of men. The organization of things generally has

placed people not to rise above mediocrity and thats the reason only very

few people who are able to chart another course for their lives are able to

break out and walk in the realm of the rich. No wonder when Bill Gates

found something worth doing, he dropped out of school to pursue his

dreams; Steve Jobs would rather take calligraphy classes than do what was

organized to make a nobody out of him; the Google boys, doing their

Ph.D. headed for nothing but mediocrity dropped out of it to focus on

their greater plans. Here is the key; the entire worlds system, its education,

government and organization were made to make at best, stereotype

citizens, to make everyone on a level ground. In other words, if nations



plans work 100%, it means everybody would be equal. But remember that

there is no perfect system; there are those who cannot afford an education,

some of which occupy the realm of the poor; there are those amongst

them who walk in the realms of the average and the rich depending on

their individual inputs of self-development. There are those who can afford

an education, most of which at best, occupy the realm of the mediocre

(largely because they think schooling is all it takes); some walk in the realm

of the rich and some also in the arena of the poor all based on each ones

individual inputs.

Now let me explain what I mean by a mediocre. A mediocre is one who is

barely able to cater for himself and his family (nuclear or extended); one

whose influence does not spread beyond his locality or household. From

this little picture, I hope you can see that even many of the people you

thought were above mediocrity are actually right there, and that most

people get comfortable when they attain mediocrity. Remember the book

you are holding is to teach you how to be an Eternal Excellency, which is

someone, whose influence will remain even long after he or she is gone.

THE WAY OUT

During my sojourn on earth, I have read quite a number of books and

listened to some men talk, but one thing that appals me is to hear people

rant about problems without giving any meaningful solution to them so I

will give you the solution in this situation on how to break yourself away



from the comfortable globe of mediocrity. The first and most important of

them all is to have a dream.

A dream in its simplest definition is that thing you would like to see

yourself do if you had everything working for you (by this I mean time,

freedom etc.) in uttermost sufficiency. In order words, it is that one thing

you would want to do if you were not limited by anything at all. It could

also mean something that somebody hopes, longs or is ambitious for.

To break out of the amorphous globe of mediocrity, you need to have a

dream, not just a dream but a good dream. This is where the subject

becomes crankier.

I heard a story of a man who at a very old age, probably above sixty

celebrated the new bicycle he had just purchased; I mean that was the most

expensive commodity he had ever purchased. It surely must have been a

dream come true, but this is the point I am trying to get across: even

though that was a dream come true, it wasnt a great dream at all. Funny

enough I will now ask the question: how do we know if our dreams are

great dreams? The answer is simple.

EXPOSURE

Your dream cannot be greater than your level of exposure. In the previous

chapter, we dealt with the issue of ignorance which covers this topic of

discussion very well, but as it relates to dreams, I can only say to you that



the more informed you are, the better dreamer you will become. For

instance, in the illustration I gave about the man who greatly celebrated his

purchase of a bicycle, in this present day and time, I truly cannot say this

was not a great feat for this fellow, but I surely can say its not a dream I

would have any adult pursue. Now for this man, if all his friends and

counterparts were all walking on foot and he had never seen a car he would

be justified for having this as a dream; on the other hand, if everyone

around him was riding a car he would not have had any justification for

having such a low dream. The same goes for every one of us; to say your

dream is to be a doctor is not good enough a dream. For one, there are

many doctors graduating from school every day; but to say you want to be

a better and more renowned surgeon than Dr. Ben Carson is a better

dream, because not everyone is as good as he is. Remember, the book is

not a book for low shooters or mediocre; I am counting on you as one

who is on the way to becoming an Eternal Excellency.

A better picture I have of a dream is that thing which you are ready and

willing to trade your life for. This, I tell you is a far better definition of a

dream. Do you have a dream? Really, I wouldnt be surprised if you do not.

I mean do you have a course for which you are ready to trade your life for;

do you have something for which at the end of your life, people can say

that you pursued? The bitter truth is that most people do not, in fact a very

large percentage of people do not, and amongst those who do, they have

no idea, how worthless their dreams are. For example in Nigeria, most



peoples dreams are just to have a family. They do not even consider the

financial implications of this, like a man I met a while ago. He was a poor

labourer with two wives and had a plan of going back home to marry

another. I do not know if he is trying to beat the Biblical King Solomon or

what, but even at that he cannot because King Solomon was loaded. I can

even remember a movie I once saw, where this guy said his whole life goal

was to be a husband. Oh boy, I feel so sorry for his wife because, if he

really meant what he said, then he would not mind dying the day after his

marriage ceremony because he has fulfilled his lifes dream.

Although I would rather people had low dreams than none at all, let me

give you a hierarchy of dreams as a student of Banking and Finance: to say

your dream is to be a banker is just there (does not worth much of

anything); to say you want to be the best banker in your organization thats

good; if you say you want to be the best banker in your country thats

better, but if you say you want to be the best banker that ever was, boy I

tell you thats just the best you could dream for.

If you want to aim for anything aim big or if you want to dream of

anything, dream big; if you want to think of anything think big and if

you are expecting anything, expect the best.

But you see, most people would rather go the other way or would say such

dreams are unrealistic. How can you think of being the best banker there

is? They would rather just settle in being paid well, they forget very quickly



that nobody has made any great impact on the planet earth by being paid

well; even the richest men in the world are not rich because they are being

paid well but because they make good money. When you are leaving this

earth, will you be happy just to know that you were paid well or that you

filled a spot in your life time? Remember I am talking to Eternal

Excellences, those whose names will revolve around the spiral of the clock.

Now I will answer a question you probably would have been asking; how

do we dream big?

BIOGRAPHIES

This is a very simple but profound thing most people have not given

thought to; it is one thought I have not heard many people place major

emphasis on. It is also the answer to the question how do I know I can

achieve my dreams? Read biographies of great men; other Excellences.

Just in case you do not know what biographies are, they are stories of

people written by others while the story of a person written by that person

is his auto-biography. Here, I just classify both as biographies. In all my

course and walk with the greats, I am yet to see a great man who has not at

one time or the other, referred to what was learned from the life story of

another great man. You hardly see a true Excellency today who has not

mingled with the excellences that have gone before. Like the saying goes

the secrets of great men lie in their stories, so if you ever want to be

great, you have got to learn the secret of these great men.



Another big advantage of studying biographies is that it gives you a

reservoir of triumph. For instance, when you study biographies of certain

men, you begin to see how they broke out of all the prevailing obstacles

surrounding them and achieved greatness despite their setbacks. This helps

you to see that you can also walk through your obstacles and achieve

greatness just as they have, because the journey to success is full of

obstacles and only those who know they can, will attain.

Having established how to dream well, now I want to tell you what is most

important in fulfilling your dreams and there is only one principal factor I

will concentrate on in this book, which is

DISCIPLINE

So much has been said about this. Its been said to be the Soul of an

army, which makes large numbers formidable procures success to

the weak and esteem to all- George Washington Its been said as what

makes the great, great and I affirm to these statements. As a wise man

once said, The rich and the poor both do the same things; its just

that one does it consistently while the other does it as convenient.

Dr. David Oyedepo always says discipline means doing it as demanded

and not as convenient. How true it is! Nobody ever achieves much of

anything without discipline; no painter ever finishes a painting without the

discipline to sit down and get to painting until he finishes it. In connection

to fulfilling our dreams, discipline is of much relevance as well. Usually ,



great dreams which I could call life time goals usually comprise smaller

goals and if you do not get those goals achieved, forget about the big

picture.

In the making of an Eternal Excellency, the one trait I would exalt above

all else is that of discipline. It is a trait more valuable than skill, charisma,

composure or anything else. If you lack discipline, be sure that you are not

going anywhere. Discipline means to be confined to a set of rules; it means

to subject oneself to a set of rules in order to achieve a certain reward.

There are essentially two types of discipline:

(i) Self-discipline

(ii) External discipline

For real success, you are going to subject yourself to real self-discipline.

Nobody can force you to succeed, they can only tell you to, but it has got

to be a personal decision. This is one big reason there are many failures in

life, this is the same reason why most people love to work in a salaried job.

Many people are not willing to discipline themselves; they think they

cannot discipline themselves. So they want to be under a boss who will

sack them if they do not meet up to the set standards, but as I told you

earlier and I repeat again, nobody ever made any lasting impact especially in

the economic world by getting paid. It is still for the same reason (lack of

discipline) that many companies fail, usually due to undisciplined founders



or the inability of the owners to discipline its staff. It all revolves around

discipline. Whether you succeed or fail is all a function of your discipline

quotient.

HOW TO BECOME DISCIPLINED

- know that you can be disciplined

- make a resolve to be disciplined

- Get a bunch of Rules

On this point I will dwell a little bit; if you want to be disciplined, get a

bunch of rules or laws, whichever one you would like to call it. There is no

discipline without rules. So get to putting down some do s and donts on

which you want to build your life on. I must tell you not just to burden

yourself with just any rule, but get to finding out the rules that are relevant

to your being a success.

Finally: Dont Give Up. After you have gotten a bunch of rules you want

to follow or live by, then begin to live by them and just like everything else

you become perfect over time and not in a day. This is really where most

people miss it. If you have been living your life carelessly since you were

born, its definitely going to take you some time before you break some of

these habits you have always followed. So ensure you follow the rules,

make sure you dont break them, and if peradventure you fall out of line,

just get back in line. Do it until discipline becomes your habit.



What you want to do with ease you must first learn to do with

diligence

You are about to enter into the heart of this book.



CHAPTER FOUR

A DEFINING POINT

At the end of this chapter, you are either going to throw this book away, or

you are going to read through to the end with a new sense of life and with

great enthusiasm, hence, the book will become one of your most valuable

assets. You are welcome to the heart of the book; it is definitely going to

change you

IS THERE REALLY A GOD?

In recent times, there used to be this argument as to whether there is a

God or not; so many say that if in fact there is a God, how can all these

things be happening? I mean the stealing, the killings, the economic

inequalities and so forth. Others say God is just a figure we have adopted

and formed in our minds; some ay that we are our own gods and we

evolved from the apes, baboons and chimpanzees. Well , I really do not

have much time to argue with anybody concerning these issues, simply

because I know that deep down in the heart of every man, we all know that

THERE IS A GOD, and the sad fact is that most do not know how to get



to Him, so to justify their inadequacies, they simply resort to saying there

is no God.

Folks, there is God and you know it, even if you think you are an atheist, I

dare say you are lying to yourself and the truth is that you are swimming in

the stream of Self-deceit, which is the worse form of deceit. Like a story a

man once told: there were a couple of guys in the army who said there was

no God, but when the bombs started flying and bullets filled the air these

same folks started calling on God (who they didnt believe) to save them.

Like the bible says in Romans 1 vs. 18-22

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of

men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is

manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the

creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his

eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew

God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their

imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they

became fools

Notice where it says, so that they are without excuse, the sun, the moon,

the stars, flowers, everything shows that there is a God



As I said earlier, most however, believe there is a God but they do not

know anything about Him, neither do they know how to reach him, so I

will be showing you some of the dominant characteristics of this God.

THE NATURE OF GOD

Now that we know that there is surely a God, the next is to find out the

characteristics of this God. I would take you through this one characteristic

of His that I have found out to encompass His full nature, which is that

HE IS LOVE.

God is love; HE IS LOVE. The Book even says so, and by book, I mean

the HOLY BIBLE in 1 John 4:8 and 16:

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. And we have known and believed

the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God,

and God in him.

You see, the truth is that so many people have no idea what love is, so

when I say God is love, they really do not know what to match Him with.

So in a pictorial form, I would explain what I mean by God is Love.

I will use the illustration of love given to us by God Himself, in 1 Cor.

13:4-8 to explain what LOVE IS and by so doing, explain who GOD is.



1 Corinthians 13 vs. 4-8:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not

puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,

thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things,

believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but

whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease;

whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

1 Cor. 13:4 says: Charity suffereth long.

(1) GOD is Long Suffering and Kind

The question here is: what does it mean to be long-suffering? To be long

suffering means to be able to endure for a very long time.

In other words, it means God has the ability to tolerate the intolerable, the

most uncomfortable person or condition and be kind while He is doing it.

On the other hand, most humans are very unlike that. Humans most of the

times are not long suffering and when they choose to be long suffering;

they are not kind while they are doing it. One of the places you see this is

during rush-hour traffic; you will see everyone in their cars suffering long

(because they cannot do anything about it) but if you dare try to take an

opportunity to get into their traffic space, boy, they just begin cursing and

yelling at you. This is a typical example of being long-suffering and not

kind. But praise GOD, He is long-suffering and also kind, not because he



cannot do anything about it but because this is who he is so he gives you

His kindness for your entire life time and endures all your inadequacies but

still remains kind to you. God is not angry with you; He is not wicked to

anyone. As long as you are alive, he is tolerating your person and still

remains kind to you, because thats just who He is.

CHARITY ENVIETH NOT.

(2) GOD is not Envious Of Anything (Anyone)

I really love the fact that this particular characteristic of God was pointed

out to us. You see, some folks think that because they have found a special

way of making money either through money rituals or even good ways

such as through innovations and inventions that they can make God

envious. I tell you, thats a lie. The Scripture tells us that God is not

envious. I really wonder how foolish some man could be to think God is

envious of him. Well this is just to tell us: GOD IS NOT ENVIOUS OF

ANYTHING. He created all things.

(3) GOD Vaunteth not Himself; He is not PUFFED UP.

Well its good to know that God is not just a lousy show off. Another

translation, the Amplified says It is not boastful or vain glorious, does not

display itself haughtily. Isnt it good to know that God is not boastful or

vain glorious? So many folks tend to misunderstand the story in the Bible

about the man who was born blind from his mothers womb in John 9 vs.



1-3 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his

disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was

born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the

works of God should be made manifest in him.

They tend to think that God put that blindness on that man, but if you

know that God is not vain glorious or boastful you would understand that

God wouldnt put sickness or poverty on people in order that He may heal

them and get glory out of that.

God is not vain glorious. It tells us that if God is healing the sick, then

because He is not vain glorious (or a prank star), He most definitely didnt

put sickness on people. God is not puffed up; although He has got

swagger, He is not a show off. Have you ever wondered why God does not

appear in the sky every morning waiting for people to greet Him? I bet if

men were God, the whole world would have to assemble at a particular

time to pay him homage.

(4) God does not behave unseemly.( vs. 5)

Another translation put it this way:

It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and

does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its

own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no

account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].



That is to say that God does not behave unmannerly, he does not act

unbecomingly. This blows away most of our theories where we say God

works in mysterious ways. Yes, God certainly works in diverse ways but

not truly mysterious. Remember He said, I am the same yesterday, today

and forever: Heb 13:8.

He also said I am that I am Ex 3:14. You see, the only people who would

think God works in mysterious ways (you cannot tell what hes going to do

next) are those who never knew His yesterday, so He looks entirely new

like a stranger today. If you settled down to study your Bible you would

discover that God has a consistent nature. He even said For I am the LORD,

I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed-Mal 3:6

You could actually know God, you could know his lifestyle, although none

of us truly knows everything but at least we know His rhythm, we can tell

what He would or wouldnt. God does not behave unseemly i.e. He doesnt

kill people, He doesnt make anyone a failure, He doesnt bless you to curse

you. He has a nature; He can be known. Why dont you try knowing Him?

(5) God does not seek His Own

In other words God isnt selfish; God is not just interested in us serving

Him. He is also interested in helping us. Now, lets look at something that

bests illustrate this truth, in 1 Tim 2:4. We are told that God wills for all

men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, but Jesus said

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to



destruction, and many there be which go in there at: because strait is the gate, and narrow

is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.- Matt 7:13-14

That broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be

which go therein. This is a classic example that shows us how God does

not force His will on anybody; I mean He just said He does want all men

(meaning all of humanity) to be saved (which includes being saved from

hell and destruction), but He later said that the road to hell is broad (so

large) and many folks are trooping into it. God never forces anything on

anyone, God never seeks his own (seeks his own rights); He has given us a

choice, and everything happening in our lives are portraits of our choices.

If God was to force His will on Humanity, there would be no sin, I mean

the moment you dared sin you would die (that includes your thoughts as

well). The fact that most of us are alive is a great pointer to show that God

doesnt insist on his own rights. Hear what He says I call heaven and earth to

record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:

therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:- Deut. 30:19

In order words, God gives us a choice, but He does us good by telling us

the right choices to make; but again He makes your will stronger than His

by giving you the power of choice.

(6) GOD IS NOT EASILY PROVOKED (vs. 15)

God is most definitely not easily provoked, what an amazing fact to know.

You know that there are those people who do not even give you a chance



to apologize when you wrong them. I mean, the moment you step on their

shoes, their impulse response is a slap or a shout; I mean thats the way

they are programmed and if you are unlucky to do that when they are

holding a knife, I feel so sorry for you. If God were anything like that, I

tell you there wouldnt even be a world to start with; I mean nothing at all,

maybe only water and dry ground. God is a balanced God; He is the

expression of perfection; He gets provoked of course, it is all over the Old

Testament but He is not EASILY provoked. If you have done something

wrong all He really wants is just repentance; He is not holding punishment

for you. Thats why he said Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:

though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like

crimson, they shall be as wool Isaiah 1:18:

He is always ready to forgive even the murderers; He is not mad at them

(that doesnt mean He approves of their deeds) but it is just His nature:

LOVE. So contrary to what you were taught when you were small, God is

not an invisible police man holding His gun cocked, pointed at you just

waiting for you to act wrongly so He can shoot you; He is not easily

provoked.

(7) God does not think evil towards you.

Evil is the direct opposite of good. It baffles me when people associate

certain kinds of things to God. In primary school I was taught that evil is



the direct opposite of good, and I wonder if this is same in every country,

because if this is true, when you see something not good then it most

certainly is evil.

So I ask: is hurricane a good thing? Is earthquake a good thing? Is murder a

good thing? Is rape a good thing? Is the collapse of a building a good

thing? I bet that everyone who has got just a little intelligence would be

able to tell that these are not good things but folks today in forms have

categorized all of these (earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes etc.) as acts of

God. If these things are not good then they must be evil. So in other

words God must be an evil genius? Not at all. No wonder we are told

categorically that God thinks no evil.

Several times in the Bible, we are told that God is a good God. David, one

of the closest men ever to God wrote about four times in the book of

Psalms that God (the Lord is Good) Psalm 248, 1005, 1353 and 1459; it was

also written in Jeremiah 3311, Rom 325 and Nahun 17, that The Lord is is

good. Do you know that even death itself is evil hope you do, death is

evil and it also cannot and is not from God? 1 Cor. 15 vs. 24-26

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the

Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must

reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is

death.



Here we are even told that the last ENEMY shall be destroyed, which is

death. In other words, death is not from God. I am sure you want to

know where all of these things are from if not from God; friends just relax,

I will tell you later in this chapter. The fact we are establishing here is that

God thinks no evil, so if you have any evil going on around you maybe

sickness, poverty, business failures etc. Be sure its not from God, because

God is a good God. Finally, just to assure you, I will read His message to

you.

For I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the lord thoughts of peace, and

not evil to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11.

(8) God doesnt rejoice in iniquity but rather in the truth (vs. 6)

I hope you have been following all thats been going on here. There are

certain things God does not like and generally we call these things evil,

iniquity, sin or wickedness all of these are the same, as we see it over

here. Sin is sin; God is not pleased with sin, neither does He rejoice when

anyone is living in sin; He doesnt hurt people for sinning, neither does He

kill anyone for sinning; He doesnt bring evil to the sinner (and there is a

very important reason, He doesnt, I would address that later in the

chapter) but that doesnt mean He loves sin.

One thing we must learn to accept is that there is such a thing as right or

wrong, good or bad. We are not animals; we have morals which God has



given us. He is not pleased when we just live like amoral beings. He doesnt

rejoice in iniquity. I will expatiate more on this later in this chapter.

(8) God bears up under anything and everything, ever ready to believe

the best of every person; His hopes are fadeless under all

circumstances and he endures everything.(vs. 7)- amplified

From the characteristics we have examined earlier, it is quite easy to infer

that this is consistent with the nature of God. You cannot push God to the

wall; you cannot make Him do His worst. God bears up under anything

and everything as the old timers say nothing is too difficult for thee.

God is the most stable being there is.

Also, He is ever ready to believe the best of every person; if only we know

how God believes in us, it is going to just change our perception of life.

Thats the reason why God could let a serial killer live because He believes

the best of every person; the same reason why God wouldnt hurt you

when evil thoughts stream through your mind; He believes the best of you

can still emerge. The best example was of a man called Saul in the

Bible: And Saul, yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the

Lord, went unto the high priest, Acts 9:1. He persecuted the people of God,

imprisoned them but God never terminated him; rather God called him to

preach to people. This just shows that if nobody believes in you, God does.

His hopes are fadeless even when you dont have hopes for your future; He

still hopes you can make it. As we said earlier He endures all things.



(9) GOD never Fails

This could mean so many things, but I will just explain two of these things:

-

(1) It means God will always remain God, God will always be God. This is one

truth you should hold so dearly, because people today are really going

crazy, going about with the notion that there is no God. This lets us know

that whether the President, the most famous man or even the preacher says

there is no God God is always God. As a matter of fact in the book of

the beginnings, that is Genesis in chapter one We were told that In the

beginning God created . Thats to show that God was already

there before the beginning and you can be sure He will still be even after

the end.

(2) It means God never fails to accomplish what He wants to do. This is going

to lead us to some very important points, but first I want you to know that

God never lets us down; you cannot hand over any issue to God and have

it fail in fact, you cannot pray to God about something and have Him fail

you if and only if you play by the rules. This is where so many miss it;

there are rules God has set for those who want to enjoy a walk with Him.

Its just like in the bank; although you have an account in a particular bank

you dont just go to the person at the counter and ask for your money; you

need to fill the appropriate slips and follow the recommended steps if you

really want to get any money out of that account; it doesnt matter how



much you beg or yell; at worse, the security will throw you out. It is the

same with God; if you follow the rules be sure of success, if not you will

get otherwise. But God never fails.

So we got all of these from the truth that, God is LOVE. Now that we

know a bit about whom God is and how He is love, I am going to show

you His biggest demonstration of love.

WHERE EVIL COMES FROM

Having established that God is love and that He is not the author of

sickness, death or failure, I want to take out time to show you the one who

does these things, and how he does them. It is an age long stuff from the

very beginning after God created man.

God gave man all the dominion over the entire earth, over every single

thing on the earth; in fact, because God had created man in His own image

and likeness [and God being the father of Spirits (the spirit realm)] He also

thought it wise to put man in charge of the physical realm (the earth).

And God said; Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have

dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and

over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God

created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female

created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and

multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the



sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Gen 1 vs. 26-28

But we are made to understand that the devil was cast out of heaven, due

to his desire to be worshipped and be in charge of heaven instead of God.

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above

the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the

north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.- Isaiah

14:13-14.

Even after being cast out of heaven, the devil never lost that desire to be in

charge, so when God gave man charge over the physical earth, he began to

seek ways to take that control of this physical world from man, and this

was what led to his deceiving man.

And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall

not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman,

Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes

shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. - Gen 3

After he tricked man into eating the fruit in which God commanded man

not to, man unknowingly sold the control of the earth into the hands of the



devil. Up until that time, death wasnt mentioned, sickness wasnt

mentioned, poverty, failure etc. All those began when the devil gained

dominion over the earth, though Adams treason. We see that when the

devil was tempting Jesus, he offered him the whole world

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all

the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things

will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.- Matt 4: 8 9

All the sicknesses, diseases, deaths and poverty constitute a part of mans

selling out to the devil; a bigger one is that man became a sinner; a better

way would be to say sin entered into humanity, because the devil is the

author of sin. Remember what God said as a warning to man.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou

mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of

it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.- Gen 2

vs. 16-17

So when he partook of that tree, man became dead. But being dead here

doesnt mean physically dead because we later saw that man was banished

from the garden and also gave birth; it refers to spiritual deadness which

means being dead to God.



In other words man became dead to God; it became impossible for man to

please God, as he became a sinner by default. The devil now being the one

with the power over the occurrences on earth began to afflict man with

different kinds of diseases, poverty and even death.

Having established the fact that God is love, it therefore wasnt consistent

with Gods nature to leave man to the control of the devil that is, to

suffer, and therefore He began to make provisions for man to be able to

escape the evil of the devil. In the former times He appointed priests to

make sacrifices on behalf of His people in order that their sins could be

washed away.

Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first

tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high

priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and

for the errors of the people:- Heb 9vs 6-7

This worked perfectly well for them and cleansed them from their sins

although it had to be performed at certain times and during intervals. The

devil still had the right to afflict them with anything he wanted to whether

sicknesses, poverty, failure or even death. So God had a better plan, one in

which man could take back his dominion over the occurrences on earth

and specifically in his life, one in which man could oppress, rather than be

oppressed of the devil. Since the dominion was given to the devil by man

in his physical body (Adam), it was necessary that it must be taken back by



man in his physical body, but all men were spiritually dead at this time and

thus subject to the devil (principally because all men were offspring of

Adam).

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned

after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. -

Rom 5vs14

God needed a man, who was spiritually alive (meaning alive to God), one

who had a life which was not subject to the devil, but yet still had this

physical body to undertake the task of regaining mans dominion back

from the devil and settling the issue of sin once and for all. And this is the

reason why God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth

in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. - John 3:16

Jesus was that man who God sent to save mankind from the manipulation

of the devil and his cohorts and one of the many reasons why He alone can

save man is because He had a different kind of life, not the life of a normal

man. Remember He was born of a virgin, meaning He was not born of any

mans sperm.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused

to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then

Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example,



was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the

angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David,

fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy

Ghost. - Matt 1 vs.18-20

He was born of God, with the life of God, but lived in the physical human

flesh from his mother, Mary. In other words, Jesus was God made flesh.

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: - Col 1vs15

Let me also explain it this way: in the process of reproduction there is a

need for the sexes to copulate; the man produces the sperm (which

contains life) and the woman provides the eggs for fertilization (which

gives body to the life from the sperm), then after a certain period, the

woman gives birth to a child. This is how we were all born, but in the case

of Jesus there was no mans sperm fertilizing the eggs from Marys womb

but God put, life into Sarahs eggs (so that life could get flesh) and this was

how Jesus was born.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him

in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife:

eternal excellencies

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