He Who Controls Your Mind, Shapes Your Character - Thus Determines Your Destiny.

By M.P Njeke

In his book He Who Controls Your Mind, Mbongeni Phathumuzi Njeke uses his experience as a victim torn between rivalling forces to challenge readers' perspective about beliefs and Christian life.
He seeks to expose the fight waged in everybody's mind, explaining that, fundamentally there are rival forces seeking to control and influence your thinking and behaviour. Depending on your state of accessibility and acceptability or conformity, what you allow to control your mind will gradually evolve into your character. Consequently, your state of mind determines your destiny.
He Who Controls Your Mind is filled with intriguing questions, inspirations and poignant reflections to take you deeper into God's Word. It is rich with Biblical teachings, especially the intricacies constituting the oft-misconstrued Christian Salvation. Njeke's experiences provide ideal lessons to use in small group settings or for individual Bible study.
Principally, he seeks to advance the lack of knowledge in distinguishing between general Christianship and the born-again Christian perspective. He reflects on his experience during times of darkness, in retrospect comparing his experience as a born-again Christian, and aims to rekindle your inspiration through your Christian journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.P Njeke
• Release date: Oct 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223865742

Book preview

HE WHO CONTROLS YOUR MIND, SHAPES YOUR

CHARACTER AND THUS DETERMINES YOUR DESTINY

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AUTHORED BY

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M.P. NJEKE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE

INTRODUCTION

WHY ME LORD?

THE SPIRIT SHAPED MY CHARACTER

TORN BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS

CHOOSE LIFE, CHOOSE GOD

THE STRATEGIC GOD, THE STRATEGIC YOU!

JUDAH AND TAMAR

THE INGENUITY OF GOD IN DISPLAY

MY EARLY DAYS – LIFE IN CHRIST

PART TWO

THE CONTEMPORARY BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW

ORDINARY CHRISTIANS OR BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS – IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?

WHAT HOPE IS THERE FOR THE UNSAVED?

WHAT MAKES CONTEMPORARY PEOPLE REPUDIATE FAITH? ?  

PART THREE

CAN WE BE RECONCILED WITH GOD?

PART ONE

INTRODUCTION

A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 40:3-5)

God sent his son Jesus to live within us so that through his character, we, as sinners, could resemble him. God sent Jesus to demonstrate what he expected from our ancestors, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Jesus’ character was perfect and without sin. Jesus was God’s image on earth, the incarnate.

We are a new redeemed nation, the holy nation of God. We were not people, but now we are people of God. We once lost his mercy, however, through his grace we have received mercy and kindness. We were once stranded on the mountains of oblivion, wandering aimlessly on the hills of this earthly life, having lost our way in the jungle of this world, but through his kindness, he discovered you and me and gave us new names. I will be a father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:18).

The Israelite cried to the Babylonians, declaring: How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? (Psalm 137:4). Our captors want us to sing the Lord songs, because they do not respect us. Either they don't know our Lord’s command, or they are mocking us. Maybe they want us to sing the Lord songs to betray our religion and our trust to him or, alternatively, to forsake him? "Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die" (Job 2:9). A foolish woman instructed Job to do this because she had lost hope in our living God. Maybe our captors want us to fall into the same trap?

Nevertheless, despite all of these calamities, my family and I have chosen to serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). My family will not falter despite the tragedies we have endured. I take solace in hardships, through tragedies, name-calling and through misery and mockery. I thank God each day I wake up. I thank God for each day that passes by. I thank God for my wife and the children he has blessed me with, knowing that without a struggle there would be no progress.

I shed tears as I write this book, because he has saved me, and promised never to leave nor forsake me. I thank God for the days and nights, months and years that pass by.   It seems as if there was a curse over my head that I should not have a family; and if I was able to get married, I should not have children; but if I am able to  bear children,  they should not succeed in life; and if they ever become successful, , they should not have families of their own. However, every day, every month, every year, God keeps giving me new surprises. I am the man of many surprises! My God is the God of love, one who is full of new surprises.

As I write, my eyes are full of tears and my mouth is full of joyous laughter. It’s the tears of joy, laughter at my enemies, a mockery of my destroyer, and glory to my good Lord! I will not sing my Lord’s song I will never allow the enemy to get the upper hand! I am a destroyer; my God is a formidably unshaken living God! "I do all things through Him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13).

I want to sing the praises for the Mighty Redeemer. I want to glorify him, and him alone, for saving my life, for adopting me as his son. I once was lost, throwing stones at everything called salvation, and blaspheming his name. I was lost in the land of ancestral worship and glowing with the hope of wealth. That was my past! Lost like a prodigal son, not knowing that I was a chosen person, of royal priesthood, harbouring a holy ambition, a people belonging to God that I may declare the praises of he who called me out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter:9-12). I have come too far to forget his amazing, wondrous accomplishments.

Then it dawned on me – there are two operating powers in life. Negative and positive. There is bad and good. There is God and Satan. In addition, there is heaven where the good people go, and hell where the bad people will eventually go. I realised that the world revolves within these two dynamic forces – good and evil – and that without bad things, good things could not prevail. Moreover, I wondered why God had allowed this to happen, not only to me, but to everyone. I looked at my feet moving, and was surprised by the competition between my feet. The one does not want to move, resisting the force from its partner; eventually one gives in, allowing its partner to drag him, reluctantly, thus creating motion. This power of relenting and dragging is necessary for life to continue! Then I realised that it’s the ultimate reason why we have movement. A one-legged person cannot move like a two-legged person. Instead, he jumps. Hence, everything in life comes in twos. I also realised why God allows evil things to happen to us, even to Christians and his chosen nation, Israel. He allowed suffering to engulf his only begotten Son, Jesus! I wondered, who am I then? Everything is paired in twos, which is the wonder of nature, wonder of our living God!

The fountain of knowing God, the fountain of discovering yourself, the fountain of wisdom. These are all the fountain of love. The words of mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream (Proverbs 18:4). As I contemplate, it dawned on me that we need wisdom, just like when Solomon instructed his sons and declared, Get wisdom and get understanding (Proverbs 4:5). Without wisdom, we cannot understand God, and without knowledge we cannot get the fruits of wisdom.

I then asked myself where had I gone wrong in my life? Where have we gone wrong as a nation, and as a country? Where did we go wrong as a church of God? Where did we go wrong as parents, and where have our children gone wrong? Everything is messed up in this world. Families are breaking up, children disrespect us as a matter of course, corruption is a norm in all spheres of life, and churches are run like stokvels. Parents indulge themselves in drinking sprees and our teens behave like vagabonds. But why? The answer lies within these two contrasting principles – the forces of good and evil, wisdom and stupidity. The forces of accepting and negation, of light and darkness. Our lives demand us to always choose. You cannot be either or.

In his book Carson (2018:18) correctly defines these principles as; a principle of good, and a principle of evil; and neither has a complete mastery over the other

I was also stuck in this oblivion, not knowing that my days are running out, and that I had exiled my life and my family to Babylon. Not knowing that my path was very different to what God had intended me for. But everything has its time. God made me use his wisdom to realise my ineptitudes. I did not voluntarily choose to change the course of my life. I did not elect to be a born-again Christian. However, circumstances that were ruining my life and family, contributing to its vile environment, caused me to choose life over death. My actions were because of God’s grace only, and I heartfully thank God for that. He opened the floodgates of wisdom to flourish, and the fountains of knowledge blossomed to encompass my life. Hence, God through Prophet Hosea bemoaned Israel for their lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6).

WHY ME LORD?

I heard that voice calling my name on the mountaintop, and when he calls, you cannot resist it. He said, I want someone to shout aloud through his voice because the time has come for my Son to judge the world! I want someone to shout: ‘Prepare the way for my son is coming soon’. The ramblings of the mountains, the crashing rocks from the mountaintops, the cracking thunder, the whistling of the wind that blew vehemently, the darkness caused by the heavy black clouds hiding the sun – all this didn’t give me peace in that