THE RIGHT BIBLE

Sister Bunmi got down from the commercial bike that dropped her in front of No 7, the house where house fellowership  holds every thursday. She hurriedly paid the bike man and quickly rushed into the compound knowing she was late and not hearing the claps of hands and singing means they were already done with songs and praises.

Jesus! elder Shokunmi is already preaching she thought to her self.

Elder Shokunmi was one of the blunt no nonsense elders and head of that fellowership center. He has no problem doing his correction and embarrassing you in front of everyone.

Bunmi got to the door of the particular apartment where the fellowship was holding and took off her sandals. From the numbers of footwear by the door she could tell the living room was full and might not get a sitting spot.

She entered causing a brief turn of heads by many to her direction and few glance from others as she moved to a corner of the crowded living room and settled by the arm of  a chair. Elder Shokunmi sat on a chair just in front of the big TV screen where everyone could easily see and hear him speak.

Bunmi could garther from what he was saying and jolted down points from a brother's book near her. The preaching was about earthly intelligence and wisdom.

Elder Shokunmi called out a bible verse and a sister read it out loud from her bible after reconfirming the chapter, then he called another verse and a brother proceeded to read from his phone but Elder Shokunmi interrupted him.

"No no young man, read from your bible" he requested.

"I am reading from my bible" the brother replied.

"Mr Man!" elder stated with a mild angry tone "reading from your bible and reading from your phone is two different things".

"Respectfully I disagree Sir, they are exactly the same thing".

The atmosphere in the room automatically changed, people started readjusting on their seats, sounds of whispers came from all corners.

Bunmi looked closely at the brother and wondered if he was really ready for a contest with Elder Shokunmi.

"Okey young man..what is your name my son? elder Shokunmi asked.

"Oghene, Sir" the brother replied.

"Brother Oghene let me give you knowledge you younger generation don't know but you think you know everything, listen very carefully my son. This bible you are seeing in my hand is the approved bible from as far back as the apostles, printed with ink on paper which can not be corrupted by the anti Christ, it is filled with anointing of the holy spirit but that phone in your hands is a product of technology and technology is a product of the anti Christ. You know nothing about the demonic manipulations that have been put into technology, the witchcraft inside that small flat thing you are carrying. You think before they put the bible inside there they did not calculate what they were doing?"

Brother Oghene paused for some seconds as an awkward silence fell upon the room then he replied back.

"Respectfully Sir, all you said is your personal opinion and it does not necessarily mean that it is correct. The word of God were first written down in scrolls before technology developed to the stage of making printing machine and that was when multiple copies were made in smaller compartment as we have today compared to the sizes of the scrolls. Technology have always been there in different stages making the spread of the Word of God easier to access.

Elder cuts in before Oghene could continue,

"I am not talking of olden days technology, we are concentrating on modern technology that have witchcraft like abilities. A motorcycle as a faster and improved technology to bysicle is different to holding something in your palms and speaking to someone in another continent  or using your face as a key to unlock an object to use".

"I don't really want to be distracted with the structure of technology but rather focus on why the bible in my phone is the same thing with the printed copy in your hands." Oghene sharply responded.

There were some few nods of agreement from the listeners, then Oghene continued.

"The words are the same, understanding is still based on the revelation of the Holy spirit and the printed copy does not have any form of spiritual advantage in powers over the one in my phone. The Christian power does not lie in the bible rather on the believe and faith in the Word of God. When people wake up in the middle of the night after a nightmare and grip their bible tight waving it as a weapon, it is not the bible that the evil spirits are afraid of but the faith been exercised in the words inside the bible."

Elder Shokunmi stood up for his respond this time.

"Young man do you realize that you are contradicting yourself..Same you that says power is not in the bible still says power is in the Word of God..is the Word of God and the bible two different things?

What I am saying here is that this bible in my hand is pure and uncorrupted, when I open it I see only the books of old and new testament and nothing else but you see that your phone have been corrupted with demons of laziness, entertainment, pornography, idleness and much more. When people spend hours looking into it , 10% might be in the Word of God but then 90% is spent on all these fleshy desires."

"Okey I acknowledge that was a good and very valid point but let me first respond to the contradiction statement. I didn't contradict my words. The bible and the Word of God are one concept but two different things.

The bible is a singular book containing the different epistles of the Christian faith while the Word of God are the spoken words, precepts and teachings about the heavenly kingdom of God almighty. The word bible wasnt even used when Jesus walked the earth.

Now to say because my phone as an electronic device have other functions that also allows for the access of ungodly things does not automatically make the bible app in it useless. A christian's personal battle with sin have nothing to do with the bible unless additional writings are added that provokes sin in the individual which that in it self already makes it not fit to be called the bible. We have heard confessions of former occult pastors who get bibles from shrines and use them to perform so called miracles, its not as if it contained words different from the one in your hands but demons have been deposited into the object as a book and not the knowledge that comes from what is written inside it. However i will end with this, the word of God is the same however it is packaged, written in a book, carved on stone tablets, in a computer application or orally recited. The super natural power exibited through it depends on the level of faith, revealation and understanding a christian absorbs from it.

Bunmi watched elder Shokunbi sit down slowly as the room went silent. Everyone then went into a state of reflection.