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Book Review: Love & God - Oyindamola Depo-Oyedokun


BOOK REVIEW: LOVE & GOD
Title: Love & God
Author: Oyindamola Depo-Oyedokun
Genre: Prose
Sub Genre: Christian Fiction
Year: 2017

Feyikemi felt something strongly for Jason, much more than his somatic body type, it was something deep, she was drawn to this guy the same way a metal spoon couldn’t resist a magnet when in close proximity.

Jason was the first guy she ever knew, so she was still naive of such kind of emotion, but Jason had made Feyikemi go against principles that her mother had raised her in, Jason was literally the devil in her life but his seemingly good qualities had blinded her from seeing his inward state and configuration, his attitude and outward demeanour masked the wolf that was in him.

Jason was literally the devils incarnate, he managed to pull and draw Feyikemi from Gods side of the Kingdom into his. Every moment spent with Jason no matter how seemingly fun-filled and happy it was, was actually the devil changing Feyikemi and drawing her little by little from God, from those Forehead-sense sapping kisses, to the unholy weakness in Feyikemi’s knees whenever she saw him, and the illusive charming presence of Jason.

Even though Feyikemi was aware of this she was still drawn in between her Love for Jason and God, Jason was an atheist and a very unpersuasive and rigid one.
                      
                                              2 Corinthians 6:14,15
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
    
As Christians you don’t have business entering into a relationship with an unbeliever, as the above scriptures clearly and explicitly states, don’t use the useless cliché reply “that you love him/her and that you will convert him/her” that one is a trap, Love is God and as such love must be given in Godly terms, first of all between a man and a woman, secondly between not just any man or woman but a Holy Ghost filled person, a person whose heart is panting after God, because its not even every “believer” you can enter into a relationship with.

'Jason, don't talk like that. It doesn't have to be an 'either or' thing. You could accept God. You could become a Christian... saved' said Feyikemi as she desperately tried to win him over.

    Feyikemi tried her best to woo him and change his mind, she even tried to emotionally blackmail him, she wanted to use his love for her and hinge on that to change him, but it didn’t work. This premise just proves scriptures for us, The bible says “as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is”. Jason’s heart had already become impregnable, his heart had already been laid siege to by Satan.

“I'll find a logical explanation for whatever you'll call a miracle. I'll have to pretend I believe in Him, and you'll know and come to hate me for it. It won't work.” Those were the blunt and deep piercing words of Jason back to Feyikemi. She was hurt by those words.

Jason was an intellectual guy, his life was run by intellect, he believed anything could be explained by science, but scripture tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, it then says in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path”.

We are not intellectuals, we are not people that lean on our understanding, we are not people to be run by intellect, we are spirit beings and not soulish, Life is spiritual! Even the so-called intellectuals that think its their mind they use to carry out things are being influenced by spirits, spirits that are anti-God, because there are only two sides, Light or Darkness, if you’re not obeying God then you’re for Darkness. There’s no sitting on the fence, its either Light or Darkness.

'If you love me, then try with me.' she said as she brushed his hand with hers. 'That can't work, Feyikemi.' 'But you said we work.' 'Yes. You and I work, not me, you and God.' Feyikemi noticed the tone disgust with which he pronounced 'God'.

    Jason’s hate and disgust for a belief in an entity called God had out-gunned his Love for Feyikemi, so strong his hate for God that he couldn’t even meet Feyikemi half-way, this brings a verse of the bible to my head “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Jason had been blinded so much by Satan to see truth, this is how it is in real life, Satan has veiled the power of God unto salvation which is the gospel of Christ from peoples eyes, you would think this veil is only for unbelievers, but actually believers also have wool pulled over their eyes; this one sometimes is more dangerous.

But here is Jason in hospital on his death bed, he had become an alcohol addict and was living a miserable life, he had been booted out of his work place and had sunken to a low state following the jettison by Feyikemi. He had little time to live, Feyikemi was by his side trying one last time to save him, and how happy she was when he agreed, even though he didn’t live a life of Christ’s righteousness she was sure that he would go home to heaven, how happy she was. That is the Joy of Christianity, you can be sure and sure that when a loved one dies in Christ he is going to truly rest in peace (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Another thing that struck me in the book which is so common even in the church  is the way people view fornication and other sexual related sins, people in their minds have already raised them and put them on a higher pedestal than other sins, some people even make it seem like the end of the world when a person (girl especially) has coitus outside the context of marriage, even if you have never known any man/woman in your life, never committed any sexual sin in your life you are not still a gift to your spouse if you are not seeking after God.

Your body ordinarily given to your spouse as a woman is not beneficial to that man except that body has first been offered to God as a living sacrifice and made holy and acceptable.

Let me even chip this in, the first thing we must understand in our walk in chastity unto God is that virginity isn’t purity. Virginity is what we have by virtue of our not yet having had sexual intercourse with a man, being pure is who we are by virtue of God washing us off of our sins and making us pure and holy in Him.
    Virginity is not a gift to your husband if you’re not single, to be single is to be separated unto God. There are still many virgins out there that are not up for Gods purpose would you call that a gift to a man?
    A virgin may not necessarily be preserving her body to glorify God and a virgin may still engage in other acts to satisfy her sexual urges, none of which is pleasing to God. But what God wants is someone who offers up her body to Him as a holy sacrifice — virgin or not — once you do this, He washes you off of every past sexual encounter and makes you a pure and holy vessel, ready for Him to use you for every good work.
                                                         Colossians 1.19-22
 "For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault."
    
You aren’t holy and blameless as a result of being a virgin; you are holy and blameless as a result of what Jesus did for you on the cross, so even if you’ve lost your virginity its not the end of the world.

    If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and saviour, living in the grace of what He has done for you by His sacrifice on the cross, then the above Bible passage applies to you. So there's your answer to the snide comments about you being a “revirgin”... you have every right to keep your body in purity for Christ — virgin or not in the eyes of the world.

The balance here is, Marriage as ordained by God is between a man and a woman, anything outside that is an aberration. Sex was designed for use within the confines of the marital bed of you and your partner, anything outside that is Fornication or Adultery. So don’t now go in the lieu of what I wrote and use it as a license to sin, Grace is not just unmerited favour, it is power to live above sin and not continue in them.

Don’t take steps outside of Gods ordination, don’t let only the important steps be ordained by God, let every one be, follow Gods leading.

I say this for people whose hearts have been broken by wrong relationships, there are still good people out there, there are still God-fearing people out, you just need to listen to God more and pay heed to his warning signs, even after Jason and the plot twist Michael, Feyikemi still found love with Osato, for everyone of you out there that are not going to be eunuchs/celibate your Osato is still out there, you just have to trust God when he is leading you.

I personally love this book, not just because its Christian related but the work the author put into it, as a Nigerian citizen, she really did her homework. You could tell that she put in extra work to depict the setting in which the story happened.

The author made the interactions between the characters in the book real and vivid. I could imagine every scenery in my head very clearly and unambiguously, I loved her depictions of the nuances of the Nigerian characters and foreign ones, even the Texan accent which I hate so much she nailed it.

I love this book also because through it I studied the characters and related it to the bible, it helped me understand some bible verses really well and shed more light on the meaning of some of the verses.
Well from intuition and deduction, I could perceive the authors understanding of scriptures and God, I could infer from her description and depiction of every scenery related to prayer and church activity the eyes to which she views Christianity.

What a book! I recommend this for every book reader, every one who doesn’t love reading, its highly educative and informative looking at it beyond the surface.

Follow the Author on her various social media accounts
Twitter - @feyikemi_
Instagram - @feyikemmy_
Youtube Spoken Word Channel - Pauly D.O Verses

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