After Child Dedication What Next?

By Francis Akpaekong

The book, After Child Dedication What Next? decries the failure of parents to train up their child in the way he should go after dedicating him to God. It sees training as a command from God and proffers biblical method of child training that guarantees safety and upright living from cradle to adulthood.
The book is a must read for every parent that means well for the child. Our society would be a haven and our world totally transformed, if all parents were to imbibe the principles outlined in this book. Every parent who adopts them will find parenting not only as a grave responsibility but also a very fulfilling venture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Oct 23, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514463437

Francis Akpaekong

Francis Akpaekong is the senior pastor of Newlife Missions International, a Pentecostal Christian organization in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. With over two decades in teaching and pastoral ministry, Akpaekong is a strong proponent of Biblical child training. Akpaekong holds a combined honours degree in Communication Arts/Graphic Arts, from the University of Cross River State, now University of Uyo. Born in Ndon Ebom, Uruan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Akpaekong had at various times worked as a reporter with The Guardian, The Republic, and the defunct National Concord newspapers. He edited CityLife, a tourism magazine before moving to Sippar, an international news magazine, as deputy editor. He is happily married to Philomena and the union is blessed with children.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by Francis Akpaekong.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5144-6344-4

                eBook          978-1-5144-6343-7

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 copyright owner.

KJV

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The King James Version KJV (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation. First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/07/2015

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

723608

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface Man Is Partly A Product Of The Society

Foreword What Went Wrong?

Introduction The Man At The Motor Park

1. Training Or Dedication?

2. See A Vision Of Your Child

3. Make Up Your Mind To Obey God

4. A Joint Responsibility

5. Living By Example

6. The Indispensability Of Discipline

7. The Danger Of Permissiveness

8. Give Your Child The Legacy Of Education

9. The Company Your Child Keeps

10. Lead Your Child To Christ

11. Counsel Your Child

12. Counselling Made Easy

13. Have A Family Altar Everyday

14. What To Teach Your Child

15. Training A Child As A Single Parent

16. Benefits Of Child Training

Appendix The Profile Of An Ideal Mother

Dedication

To my parents, Chief Denis Asukwo Akpaekong

and wife, Afiong, alias, Idio Ossom, of blessed memory,

who nurtured me in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

Acknowledgements

This book is a compilation of messages I had variously administered in child dedication services and special conferences on child training over the years. I thank the Almighty God not only for the insight but also for the inspiration and passion to address this issue. My thanks also goes to the parents who had urged me to produce a book out of my teachings on the subject to enable this truth spread to the ends of the earth.

I thank Pastor Obong Akpaekong, my elder brother for editing the work and for his encouragement. God bless Brother Christopher Edet, my son in the Lord and faithful aide, who took the photographs used for the cover design.

I must also thank you, Mary Preston, my publishing consultant. Your steadfastness and encouragement have made me availed myself of the services of Xlibris Publishing Company, United Kingdom, in the publication and distribution of this book. Many thanks to other Xlibris dedicated team members who have contributed variously to the success of this work.

Thank you, members of Newlife Missions International. You have been the platform through whom my calling as a minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus reaches out to the ends of the earth. Your prayers, love and encouragement have been a tremendous strength to me.

Finally, I appreciate my spouse, Philomena for being a good partner in the task of training our children - Enoima, Akwaima, Nyieima and Inima. Together, they have made me a proud husband, father and teacher of child training.

Preface

MAN IS PARTLY A PRODUCT OF THE SOCIETY

Man is partly a product of the society. Unfortunately, our society has so degenerated that an individual who is grossly influenced by the society equally degenerates with it. The mass media of television, radio, newspaper and magazine; the social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, U tube, WhatsApp, movies, Google, etc., are powerful tools for societal influence. They wield both positive and negative influences and shape people’s beliefs, attitudes, behaviours, actions and characters.

With the level of degeneration our society has been subjected to, one can safely say that the negative influences are much more than the positive. Needless to say, an individual whose influence is grossly the product of the society will obviously exhibit negative traits in his everyday living. It therefore behooves parents to consciously implant in the child godly ideals to serve as a foundation and shield from societal influences capable of endangering his person and future.

A child so fortified will find it difficult to deviate from the foundation that has already been laid when he is exposed to the wind of negative influence from the society. This is what the scripture means when it says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it, Prov. 22:6. Training is important for your child in our dangerous society. It serves as an induction that will help him surmount the impending negative pressure from the environment. It is an antidote to the evil and satanic impact prevalent in our society today. This book is a child training manual that provides that induction and antidote for the child.

Francis Akpaekong

[e-mail]

[phone]

Foreword

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Majority of people who are in prison today were dedicated in the church when they were babies. The harlots and armed robbers have parents who took them as new born babies to church for prayer by anointed men of God. The same is the case with smokers and drunkards. Drug peddlers, kidnappers and fraudsters were also dedicated in the church. A thousand and one others who are not involved in serious vices but have in one way or the other lived contrary to expectation were dedicated to God for protection and upright living.

The question is why should a person upon whose head holy oil was poured and holy hands laid when a baby, turn out to be a criminal? How come ladies who were dedicated when they were babies become commercial sex workers? Why should people for whom fervent prayers were offered at dedication find themselves in prison for offences they duly committed? Why should a pastor’s son be a cultist? Why should the child of a committed church elder and deacon flirt? Why are there so many broken homes in our society? Who are the rapists and kidnappers in our country and around the world? Why do we have examination malpractices?

Truly, a child that was duly dedicated to God in the church as a baby is not only expected to be a blessed man but also a one who leads an upright living when he grows up. A child that received the basic comfort and care of a loving mother and a caring father should grow up to be a responsible individual. A child that was given good education is expected to be a great success and source of pride to the parents. A child raised in a Christian home where love and fear of God are the order of the day should be a loving, peaceful and harmless citizen. But the reality is that most of them are completely the opposite of who they ought to be.

How come that these people fall below expectation? Does it mean that the prayers and oil poured upon them did not work? Were the men of God who dedicated them fake? What really happened that most of these same children, when they grow up, become a disappointment and an embarrassment to the parents who ensured that dedication was performed on their children who the bible describes as the heritage of the Lord?

I have heard several parents expressed disappointment at the turn out of their children. The other day a woman in her sixties who felt she had done all in raising up the son wondered what had become of her son as she narrated her child’s rebellious life. I have come across many parents who believe that their children were bewitched before they turned bad. Others attribute their misbehavior to fate.

Truth is nothing went wrong except that the parents failed in training the child in the way he should have gone. Child bearing goes with great responsibility. Beyond dedication and provision of basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter, every child needs to be properly trained. Dedicating a child without training is faith without work. For a child to grow up to become a responsible individual he or she has to be subjected to the rigours of training from infant to adulthood. We are not talking about the training in school or church, but one carried out exclusively at home by the parents. Yes, training in the way the child should go: training that assures the child’s future, training that the child will not deviate when he is old.

The Bible contains secrets of child training that guarantee the parent joy and pride instead of