Do not be deceived

In life it is extremely important who you choose to associate with or follow, it can
help to mold you into someone special or lead to your destruction. In 1 Corinthians
15:33, the bible states that “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good
manners”, which goes to imply that those you communicate with can and will influence
you. In Acts 4:13,, the bible states that “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter
and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled;
and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”
In these two scriptures, one thing is clear, you can associate with someone or group
of people and ruin your good manners/morals or associate with another person or
group and develop confidence and boldness. I don’t know about you, but I prefer the
latter option. I want to introduce an excerpt from a book – The Art of Following -
by my dear father in ministry, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills and I believed it will be a
real blessing to you. Bishop Dag is the founder of the Lighthouse Chapel
International (LCI) head quartered in Accra, Ghana.

What Is the Art of Following?
Defining the Art of Following

1. The art of following is the art of copying.
2. The art of following is the art of emulating someone.
3. The art of following is the art of imitating something.
4. The art of following is the art of trying to be like someone.
5. The art of following is the art of reproduction.
6. The art of following is the art of cloning.
7. The art of following is the art of becoming a double.
8. The art of following is the art of becoming a twin.
9. The art of following is the art of catching up.
10. The art of following is the art of surging forward.

Those Who Have Successfully Practiced the Art of Following

1. Children use the art of following.
Children use the art of copying to surge forward with great leaps; catching up and
learning to speak complex languages in very short periods. Almost all the learning
that children do is through the art of following, copying or emulating.

2. Nations that have been rich for centuries use the art of following.
Europe and America used the art of following to become the oldest richest nations of
the world. Through emulation, each European country became like their neighbors and
developed into almost identical wealthy states. Their roads, buildings and other
infrastructure are similar.

Their banking and economic systems are almost identical. Their military
capabilities are similar. The lifestyles of people and the conditions of living are
similar in all these countries. Indeed, through emulation, each nation caught up
with its neighbor, refusing to be left behind in the race for prosperity.

3. Nations that have recently become rich use the art of following.
Taiwan, China, Korea are well known for their ability to follow and copy. Indeed,
most nations that recently became wealthy used the art of following. The nations
that became wealthy in the last fifty years are well known for their ability to
copy. Indeed, many of their products were simply called imitations.

They produced cars that were exact replicas of well-known European models. The
Koreans had no shame in modelling their Daewoo cars after Opel, and the Sangyong
after Mercedes Benz and the Hyundai after Toyota. Through their shameless copying
they caught up and surged forward until they became leading car-makers.

In almost every field of technology and endeavor, they have caught up and surged
forward creating the wealth that others could only dream of. Those who were ashamed
to copy could only stand by as the masters of copying surged ahead to become
millionaires and billionaires.

4. Jesus Christ the Son of God used the art of following.
Jesus used the art of following to transform illiterate fishermen into leaders and
managers of a worldwide movement. If the Son of God would use the art of following
as His only method of training, it must be the highest and most superior method of
learning, training and teaching.

The art of following is the art of copying someone. The art of following is the art
of becoming like the person you admire. The art of following is the art of becoming
a replica of something that is ahead of you. Through the art of following you will
be able to catch up and surge forward in your ministry.

Well as we have read, even Jesus Christ used the art of following to mentor and
teach his disciples how to live a “whole” life and so this is an important subject.
In the next except, we will look more at “The Art of Following”.

Rev. William Agble, Resident Pastor of LCI, Springfield, Virginia.