Ebuka Obi’s Misleading, False Teaching About Untimely D£ath
Ebuka Obi’s Misleading, False Teaching About Untimely Death
By Fr. Chinaka Justin Mbaeri
Let us temporarily suspend the fact that Ebuka Obi is teaching his followers this strange path of witchcraft, that is, wishing death upon anyone who “monitors” them. Let us even leave the fact that such utterances contradict the very spirit of Christ who said, “Bless those who curse you and pray for those who persecute you.” We shall revisit these again at a later time. What I want to talk about here is the mentality behind that expression “untimely death,” which seems to live not only in the minds of his followers but in many people here on Facebook too.
Let me begin with what people mean when they say “untimely death.” They usually mean that someone died before their “time.” This means that somehow their death caught God by surprise, or that the person’s life was cut short outside of what was destined for them. But the question is, who determines what is timely or untimely? From a biblical and theological point of view, there is no such thing as “untimely death.”
It’s pertinent to note that no event which happened on earth or in any other planets, slipped out of the hands of God. This includes the death of a human; hence, no death of a human is a mistake or happened against God’s knowledge.
God is the accurate time keeper– he alone knows when the right time for any event including death to happen. As a result, man’s view and knowledge of timing is different from that of God.
It’s also paramount will remind those who as we now know, wrongly believe that a human, made by God, in His likeness, could lose his life without God’s knowledge. This same people believe in the Trinity, in the supremacy of God– His Omnipotence, His Omniscience, His Omnipresence.
Indeed, however can you describe God as “all knowing” as still believe that a soul created by God could die without him knowing?
Succinctly, no one dies without the knowledge of God– not even the wickedest human on earth. God is Omniscient, he can’t be taken unaware. He, God can’t be surprised.
Its either happens within the total will of God or His permissive will. No one is potent enough to rack God’s brain.
The foolishness of God is wiser than the human wisdom.
The Bible says in the book of Psalms: “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:16).
If the scripture says God knows when one is born, his daily indulgences, what then is the bases of the teaching that one could die against God’s knowledge and will because such a person who was offended by another sees himself as closer to God more than the offender, as result, the offender should die for his sake, against how God predestined his living and death.
Ebuka Obi appears to be ignorant of God’s Omniscient and omnipresent nature; nothing happens prematurely. Therefore, what might not be a considered an untimely event – death if humans might be a perfect predetermined outcome by God.
The Hebrew phrase used for “days ordained” is “yamim yutsaru”, which means the days “formed” or “fashioned” by God. This means that even before one takes one’s first breath in the womb, the number of days one will live before dying, is already known to God.
Again, in Job 14:5, it says, “A person’s days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months and set limits he cannot exceed.” The Hebrew term “ḥōq” used there means a “boundary” or “limit.” In other words, life and death are not random. They are already within the providence of God.
In the New Testament, this truth continues. Jesus said in Matthew 10:29-30, “Not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will… even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” If God so carefully numbers the hairs on our heads, how much more the hours of our lives?
Therefore, what we call “untimely death” does not exist before God. Every death happens at the time appointed by Him. If one escapes an accident or sickness, it is not because they are lucky or powerful in prayer, but because their hour has not yet come. When Jesus was almost stoned in Jn. 7:30, the Bible says, “They tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.”
His death will inevitably happen exactly when God had predestined irrespective of the views the world hold against him.
This applies to everyone created as human in the image of God–every human dies irrespective, when and how God had predestined it to happen. As birth is death.
So when one says someone “died untimely,” the person implies that the act happened outside of Gods knowledge and county.
This teaching is heretic, not only unscriptural but also undermines divine providence and supremacy.
The truth is, death is never untimely before God. Every death is timely because every moment of life is under His sovereign gaze.
Well, as humans, it is understandable that the idea of “untimely death” comes from human pain and limited understanding, not from revelation. We feel it is untimely because we were not ready, because the person was young, or because it was unexpected or sudden (mind you, sudden death is different from untimely death). But from God’s side, it was right on time. Life and death belong to Him alone. As we read in Deuteronomy: “See now that I, even I, am He; I kill and I make alive” (Deuteronomy 32:39). To think otherwise is to drift into superstition, which is the same spirit that drives people (like the Vick Martins of the post) to believe that by wishing others death, they can control divine outcomes.
No curse or prayer of death can alter what God has fixed. He alone gives life, and He alone decides when it ends. Everything else is noise on social media.
Credit / The Reliant News
