Blood Abuse?

There is something that has been bothering me for years that I feel I should also throw to you. You may have an answer for my concerns or at least also start getting bothered.

What is the work of the blood of Christ?

What is all this doctrine of that blood covering from premises to journeys to studies to livestock? That really disturbs me. Where in the scriptures did people get that notion from?

When I read the scriptures, I see the blood of Christ covering over only repented sin. The blood cleanses us from sin. The blood redeems us from the penalty of sin.

How come it has become fashionable to call upon the blood to cover everything? What are the implications of that heresy (at least for now as I am waiting for a scriptural response)?

Could we be cheapening the blood of Christ by diverting its core business elsewhere? Could it be the reason very little is being preached against sin nowadays?

If the blood can cover my house, does it really matter what I do inside? If the blood covers my business, does it really matter how I conduct it? If the blood covers my studies, does it matter how I get my grades?

I know it sounds very nice and proper to have the blood of Christ covering everything we have. It even feels great. But is that reason enough to trash what the Bible says?

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. (Mark 7:9)

Could we be cheapening the blood of Christ and ultimately the work of Christ by pouring all that blood He shed on the wayside of our desires? Could we be actually pouring scorn on that precious blood through which we have been redeemed?

Could we be cheapening the grace of God by diverting Christ’s blood to do errands for us?

Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29)

What is the work of angels for blood to be turned into our watchman? Has God exhausted them for us to look for alternatives? Or is the blood a more potent watchman that it must stop all it came to do to replace those ‘unreliable’ angels?

What does the Bible say? Please help me.

(I am not even talking about those who do crazy things about the blood like drinking it, etc.)

This was a by the way. My post for this week is ‘The Four Lepers’, a build up on last week’s message ‘Tyrants’.

The Four Lepers

And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come (2Kings 7: 8, 9)

As I continue the message on tyrants, I want us to look at the antidote to all that power our access to God and favor of people gets us into. I ended on the note that we need to be very clear on what exactly God expects of us as well as connect all these people sold out to our anointing or appearance of it to this God we are representing.

I want us to study these four lepers to get better motivation to pursue God’s agenda with greater focus. I thank God for a ministry friend who brought this message to my attention as I can share it on this forum.

Who were lepers? These were people who had some skin conditions that required them to be removed from the community to be able to check their infections from spreading. They were ceremonially unclean and therefore would defile anything their bodies touched.

And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be. (Leviticus 13:45, 46)

That is the reason we find them outside the city that is under a siege.

Another thing we need to know about them is that due to the fact of their uncleanness, they were fed like mongrels – food was more or less thrown at them. This is because any utensil they touched became unclean. In fact some were required to be broken to pieces once they touched any uncleanness. In all probability they were given food in broken or worn utensils that were otherwise useless so that they would not require all the purification or destruction the touch of a leper would require.

They also never came in contact with people. What with the defilement they carried with them? They couldn’t greet or even touch any clean person. Touching a person made him unclean for a whole seven days, requiring elaborate purification on the third and seventh days.

They could neither trade nor engage in any activity that brought them anywhere near people.

In summary these people lived a miserable life of rejection. They ate scraps from the same community. Even the person who contracted leprosy in his wealth was divorced from his wealth as he could not touch any of it. Imagine eating scraps in shards from your own wealth?

And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king's son was over the house, judging the people of the land. (2Kings 15:5)

This was a king (Uzziah) who had gone beyond his mandate and was stricken with leprosy. Even he was thrown aside from society and could no longer reign.

That is why we see them closer to the enemy instead of the city where their people dwelt. I doubt they even had houses to live in.

In all probability these people fed from the dumpsters of the cities. They were the scavengers as even their child or parent could not come close to them or anywhere they lived. Even a faithful spouse could only love them from a distance, hoping and waiting for them to heal if ever they did.

They were not any threat to the Syrians as this enemy knew that they were such rejects. I am sure they used to roam around the enemy dumpster to scavenge for food and it did not arouse any suspicion as they did not come close to them.

And that is why we see them thinking of saving their lives.

If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. (2Kings 7:4)

It was a joke that they were talking about surrendering to the Syrians. I am sure the Syrians used to see them roaming all over scavenging for food. You see they were the owners of the whole land. The only place they did not control was the city because it was all locked up. And that is why they had laid a siege against it so that the famine so caused would make it possible for them to break through its defenses. They therefore knew about the existence of these lepers very well.

But to the lepers they were still the powerful enemy. They could not just walk to them and ask for food as their food was not meant for any Israelites. The Syrians had come to ensure that Israel either surrenders or dies. That might be the reason they thought of surrendering.

There was another risk of going to the enemy. Chances were that since they knew that these were lepers they would simply stone them to death. They were therefore sweetening their tongues to soften the hearts of this enemy.

But they realized that God had gone ahead of them. A prophet had given a word about provision that had to come to pass.

Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. (2Kings 7:1)

Their desperation was therefore an act of God to bring His word to come to pass. They were the evangelists He will use to take the breakthrough message to Israel. God had already performed the miracle. What He required was for someone to take the report to the starving city, because He had said it.

Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. (Jeremiah 1:12)

They therefore get to the enemy camp and are astounded. It is completely deserted, yet not ravaged as nothing is taken from it. It appeared as if the Syrians had been raptured. There were horses harnessed, probably some food cooking and clothes strewn all over. It was an amazing sight.

I do not want to go into all the drama preachers make of how God made the Syrians run away or what He used. I will leave that to the dramatists. I will just say what the Bible says, that God created a sound in the ears of this army that convinced them that a greater army was rushing in to confront them. Then He elevated the level of their fear a notch higher so that they did not even want to wait to see them. What kind of fear would cause someone think he can outrun a horse? But then we see them run away on foot and leave their horses.

To the lepers this represented an answer to prayer in a big way. They were coming to beg but found that they had all the food in the whole camp. They had come to Ephesians 3: 20 all of a sudden

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

They first eat to their fill since that was their initial concern. Then they see treasure and clothes. Gold and silver could be easily cleansed from impurity so that to them was worth taking as they would use it to barter for food. They of course needed clothes since like I have said that they probably slept outside. Second is that they could not wash their clothes where others did and so their clothes were hopelessly filthy. So they carry and hide.

They go to another tent and carry the same things.

It was a windfall for them. Imagine all this fortune they have come across all of a sudden? And they had the whole night to get as much as they could before the city stirred. Talk about being moved from the grass to grace in an instant. Talk about overflow.

Then they come to the point I want to bring across. They come to a realization that they needed to look at their position with a higher view of reality.

Surely God did not remove the enemy for the direct and simple provision of the lepers. Surely God did not answer the prayers of the lepers just to meet their immediate needs. Surely this windfall was not for the purposes of meeting the pressing needs of the four.

God was greater than the small world of the lepers’ needs, pressing as they were. God’s provision was wider than the narrow prayer of provision for this highly disadvantaged group. They reasoned contrary to Gehazi, the automatic choice to receive a double portion of Prophet Elisha.

… Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? (2Kings 5:26b)

They realized that God was as concerned for the starving city. That the reason He sent them to the Syrians was so that they see the hand of God as concerned their provision. But even more important was that He wanted them to take the message of this breakthrough to the others.

Was that easy? I think it was probably the most difficult decision in their whole lives. They were surrendering their provision for the uncertainty of a city that was least concerned for their welfare. They were ceding that overflow to resume their scavenging pattern once the city gains access to all that provision.

You see they were still lepers, unwanted and untouchable even by those who loved them. Taking the tidings to the city was therefore tantamount to surrendering their good fortune for nothing as the appreciation of the city will not extend beyond the initial gratitude. It will not last beyond an hour as they will remember that they were lepers who must be the rejects of society.

Taking the tidings to the city meant that their fortune would change almost instantaneously, and that negatively. I cannot imagine the thoughts that went through their minds as they were contemplating taking the news to the city. There could not have been worse news to these lepers. No wonder it was a revelation directly from God. And it agrees with the scriptures.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. (Mark 8:35)

Taking the news to the city was in actual fact condemning themselves to their scavenging ways.

Wouldn’t it have been better if they amassed enough treasure at least until daybreak? What difference would it make as the city was going to sleep anyway? Couldn’t they at least sleep in a clean comfortable tent for once before the city came to spoil their party?

But they realized that God had opened that door for the city and not for them. However much they would have tried to justify their need for their own security and comfort they knew that they really had no reason in the reality of God.

The Bible is replete with example after another of people who lost their spiritual connection at the face of expediency.

Jeroboam son of Nebat was promised the kingdom of Israel by a prophet. After it came to pass he became scared that the continuance of his people to worship in Jerusalem posed a threat to his kingdom. He forgot the promise and created alternative worship to stop his people from being drawn to God who had promised him the ten tribes. He eventually lost everything.

King Saul was so scared of the army forsaking him that he resorted to sin to rally them around him. He lost the kingdom.

Gehazi could not take it when Elisha refused a gift willingly offered. From much of the story of the prophet they really did not have much. He therefore decided to counter the prophet’s folly. He became leprous.

Judas wisely siphoned some ministry funds for a rainy day. It is interesting that his greatest break led him to suicide.

There is one incident where I see someone taking the lepers’ route. This is the slave girl that had been captured by the Syrians and taken to Naaman’s house.

Like the lepers, a slave was hopelessly disadvantaged apart from being really abused. How does this girl connect his tormenters to the God of Israel for healing? How does one show that kind of love to an enemy? But like the lepers she takes spiritual responsibility irrespective of the consequences.

I am sure at the back of her mind she expected to be punished for as much as hinting a solution from a vanquished enemy and gods. Weren’t there prophets in Syria who offered more drama? But she spoke her mind anyway. The fact that she was not abused for daring to pour scorn on the gods of Syria confirmed that she was God’s mouthpiece in that situation.

What am I driving at? A tyrant becomes so by focusing on self. He can’t be called so if he uses his power for the benefit of others. And that is where these lepers come in. They threw away their advantage for the good of the society that had trashed them. They realized that their situation was too small compared to a starving city, even if the city would not change their treatment of her ‘saviors’. The lepers would continue living in the wild and scavenging the waste of the city as soon as their heroic deed was forgotten, which would be before the week was over.

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)

What drove the lepers to such an apparently foolish action is the realization that God’s purpose is bigger than personal interest. They wasted their chances because they knew that God had a bigger focus than the four lepers. Answer to prayer, though they must have prayed endlessly for provision, was not constrained to their narrow needs.

I am not and will never be the centre of the universe. God is. Not only has He created everything in existence, He has created the same for His purpose.

It is therefore a very narrow view when I treat my prayer and its answer as if it starts and ends with me. In fact that is what creates the tyrants we saw in the last post. Even the provision we celebrate falls on the same premise. The fact that I have got what I needed does not necessarily mean it is for my consumption, even if I had fasted for it for long. God is the one who determines the purpose of that provision.

I know this is a hard teaching. To many even the story of the lepers, compelling as it is might not challenge them to change.

As some of you know I do not raise support. This means I wait for God to provide whichever means He uses. Provision for me is therefore supposed to be jealously guarded so that it can accomplish all that it is meant for especially as I do not know the next time provision would come.

One such time I got money for paying house rent. Then a friend called me in desperate straits as he was either being evicted or his house being locked for rent arrears. What was I supposed to do? I prayed and asked God for direction and He told me to go and clear that friend’s rent. So I paid someone’s rent instead of mine.

I can give you many such testimonies where God gives supposedly to meet my needs then redirects that provision elsewhere. And I have a few friends with similar experiences.

Why does God give you whatever He does? Do you ever ask Him that question or do you become content with the provision and lock out any other purpose for it? Are you the centre of your world yet proudly calling yourself a servant of the King of the universe?

Is it illogical to think that God provides for you as provision for somebody else? Do you think God released all that favor your way for your narrow self-centered use? Do you think all those gifts come your way because you are the neediest? Do you think all those scholarships and job offers come your way because your family is the only one in need of them? Do you think all those goodies come to you so that you can have a surplus? Are all those airtime credit and shopping vouchers that expire before you can use them really meant for you? Do you think that all those gadgets you continue to receive as gifts are for your exclusive use?

If that is your thinking, I am sorry to tell you that you and Balaam are not much different. The only difference might be the price tag attached. You and Judas are birds of a feather, the difference being that there is no Jesus to sell that primitively. You and Gehazi are buddies, only that you have overthrown the prophet and are the willing recipient of all those gifts.

What is the application? I know some are asking.

Like Christ said and we have seen with these lepers making a clean break with my security might be the thing that will connect me to heaven’s agenda. We will gain when we decide to lose for a higher purpose.

What do you do with all those gifts you receive? Why do you not divert them for a month to someone else even if it means living frugally? Why don’t you give all those unopened envelopes you are given without even opening them to someone you know will need the little or much in them.

Is your car small for your family? Why not give it to someone who needs it even before getting a bigger one? Is your furniture in need of a makeover? Give it out instead of selling it.

You see the lepers were trashing their security to connect with God’s purpose. And therein lay their breakthrough. I believe that act of surrender opened the doors of healing for them. Though it is not recorded, the least God could have done to such an act of faith is healing.

And that is what we invite to our corner when we decide to tackle the tyranny our positions draw toward our persons like bees to a flower by going the lepers’ way. We trash everything that we deem security for the common good of the people we serve even though they may laugh at us for that kind of folly.

Are people jostling for the spiritual position you hold? Why not leave it for them? But what if they will trash me aside? Remember the lepers.

Is your position as pastor/ senior pastor/ bishop/ apostle/ vision bearer attracting undue attention from people closest to you or people who have done nothing to take the ministry where it is? Just give it to them. Unless what you run is yours and only uses Christ’s name or church to fulfill legal requirements. Or unless you believe God can use only you.

Are you afraid of taking a sabbatical or an elongated leave from ministry? Prove your closeness to the heart of God by letting go and letting God. Are you afraid that people are scheming to shove you aside? Leave before they do it. That is unless what you are running uses Christ for a rubber stamp or marketing gimmick when is simply your business.

It is our insecurities that drive us farthest from the cross of Christ. It is our surrender of our security that opens us to the freshness of God’s revelation. That might be the reason there are so many recycled and repackaged messages we are hearing nowadays. It is so sad that you can hear a preacher preaching a sermon as if he prepared with another one whose sermon was almost identical. The only problem being that they are continents apart. That is the reason many prophets are so predictable in their predictions.

Or we can continue being tyrants since there are more examples of them than that of the lepers. But then we should not be surprised when we experience emptiness.

And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (Psalm 106:15)

Or even worse is like those examples in your team you lose ultimately.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 21 – 23)

Those are the cards on the table. Play the ones you please yet knowing where it all will end.

This message looks at the spiritual tyrant. God willing I will build one on how to avoid that tyranny as I start ministry.

Tyrants

After posting the article on the media, I have had time to look at monopolies and the reason they have and abuse their unquestioned authority.

The media industry is run by a small cartel that determines the manner in which it operates from the ethics to the editorial content. Sad to say is that the said cartels are composed of very godless characters, some who are in the direct employ of the devil (usually called illuminati or something like that). That is the reason the media is about popularizing abominations even as they pour scorn on godly values and vocations.

I will remind us of the two tabloids created by leading newspapers in Kenya whose specialty is the sins of the pastors, especially the really shameful. Sad to say is that most of the stories are made of hearsay with no attempt at establishing the facts before writing. The same trend has been visible on the TV stations for some time now.

But I will not stop at the media, though it is at the top of this pyramid. I will look at a few other positions and responsibilities that place us in a similar position, a position where we enjoy unquestioned authority, a position where our word becomes law. In the next post I hope I will be able to give us a way out of the damnation that that tyranny invites.

Pulpiteers

This is the person who has access to a pulpit. He (again contrary to the plain teaching of scripture many are women meaning they are not exceptions) is the person who makes a living by preaching to people.

I am a preacher and love teaching God’s word. I have severally asked people to stop me as I teach to ask something if I was not clear or even ask for clarification on something I have said as they may forget if they waited till the end of the sermon. Never once have I had anyone do so. The preacher is many times treated as the voice of God that can’t be questioned even when his closeness to God is only on his lips.

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: (Isaiah 29:13)

Look at all the abuse God’s people go through at the hands of some of these pulpiteers? And by the way not all pulpiteers are profiteers by decision. Many are taken the profiteering route by the people they preach to. Many of the people preached to do not know the difference between the voice of God and the voice of His servant (some are not even His servants). Yet that is not the real problem. Few will care to know God beyond that servant. What he says is treated simply as what God says. But even worse is that they do not expect any responsibility to God beyond doing what that pulpiteer says. Some never entertain the thought that the pulpiteer is a person like them.

Close to thirty years ago I was invited to preach to a high school. There was also another function in another school and they invited me to join them. We had very good fellowship on the way.

What shocked me are some young people who asked me to give them the portion of scripture where an illustration I had given came from. As far as they were concerned everything I spoke came from the Bible. That is what shook me as to my responsibilities as a preacher of God’s message. It got me to appreciate this verse.

My brethren, be not many masters (teachers), knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. (James 3:1)

We incur greater condemnation because we exercise greater authority over the people we instruct. And this happens whether we realize it or not. We can have people do things just by suggesting because of that pulpit we occupy.

This is the reason we have pulpiteers who can impoverish their congregations just by expressing some whim. Someone can give everything they have so that the pulpiteer can buy a car or house yet the said giver does not even have food for his family. We have pulpiteers who will unite or separate families just by a sermon they preach. Some become sex maniacs because their authority on the pulpit overshoots the moral judgment of those they lead. These are things I have seen, some that I have come too close to.

Why is pulpiteering such a risky venture?

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2Corinthians 4:7)

A minister (and the pulpiteer is many times the most visible of them) can be compared to a container holding mercury. We know that mercury is the densest liquid. Think of the minister as a plastic bag. Simply speaking he has no capacity of handling all this weight without falling apart.

There are two extreme errors we can fall into. The first is to so fortify the container that it takes all the glory from what it holds. The other is to decide that mercury cannot be defiled even if it spills, unlike other liquids, that we become careless with the vessel.

The first error brings me as a minister to the point that I become more prominent than the treasure I hold (ministry). I therefore present myself in terms of being indispensible to the treasure. In other words I am more important than the ministry I carry out or that the ministry really must have me to continue. At the least we operate at par with that treasure. You see me and you are seeing the treasure. And sadly that is how many pulpiteers have packaged themselves to their congregations, whether in the church they pastor to the TV/ radio audience they pretend to pastor. These are the pulpiteers who will hold that pulpit with iron hands and jealously guard it against pulpiteers other than those he has carefully vetted for fidelity to him. These are the ones who love it when their fans go on leave when he does so as no other person can hold that treasure like him. Simply saying he becomes a god.

These pulpiteers are synonymous to the churches they lead. The sign board to the church must have the picture of the pulpiteer and his wife. At the very least it must have the name of the great man/ woman. Even an advertisement (again here the media has won over the church) of an evangelistic or ministerial outreach will never be complete if it leaves out the main guy. Even when the pulpiteer is modest (false humility is more like it), there must be no doubt as to who the main guy is. Compare that with Jesus hiding out to avoid the popularity His miracles were bringing around.

The other error is when the holder behaves as if it does not really matter whether he holds the treasure or not. He does not care for the security of that treasure. He can tear to shreds for all he cares as he is just a holder of a treasure that is safe and does not depend on his fidelity or lack of it. This minister lives his life as if it has no relation at all with the message he carries. He behaves like Samson whose lifestyle bore no relation at all to the call on his life. The pulpit becomes an extension of his rottenness as he does not have the fear of God in his life. He will therefore use the pulpit as an opportunity to express his brokenness, yet not to God who alone has the solution.

This is the person who does not mind peddling the Gospel. He will sell anything from books to anointing oil to handkerchiefs. He has no qualms about being paid for praying for or ministering to people. It does not disturb his conscience when he sleeps with his parishioners as everybody knows that he is a sinner anyway. He simply has no push to any worthiness to hold that treasure.

Yet do not for a moment forget that most of the people under his voice will take him as the voice of God and obey him without as much as a question. They may even fight anyone who may appear to question anything from the anointing to the conduct of these pulpiteers.

But do not forget that for the most part more pulpiteers are faithful to the treasure they hold than those who are otherwise. The problem is that those who are faithful to their call have no business marketing themselves or their ministry. Faithfulness to their call is all the reward they require for serving. They are what Christ called the shepherd of the sheep unlike the rest who are hirelings who are in it for the rewards they can access from that ‘ministry’.

And that is life. There needs to be a genuine for a fake to appear. Look at it this way: how much genuine currency is in circulation? Yet when ever did that genuine make any headline? You see it is the fake that will always make headlines as it seeks to be as close to the genuine as possible, and that to deceive the gullible.

That is why it is wrong to say that all pastors are crooks or all ministers are in it for gain just because the devil rightly exposes the fakes he has raised to pour scorn on such an honorable calling. How many others are doing the really transformative ministry outside the glare of the cameras? How many are interceding in their closets without shouting out that their prayers are the ones holding society together? How many are constantly receiving the ‘well done, thou good and faithful servant’ from heaven?

But you see the media is trying to kill opposition by disparaging Christian ministry. And that because these are the only ones connected to the absolute power running the world. These are the only ones with a connection to heaven that can open their eyes to see the end the media is working toward. And of course they have the muscle to shut down the media completely by using their pulpits to share what God has shown them, especially about the media.

I remember recently when we had a referendum when the church (at least part of it) took a position contrary to the one the media was on. One media house was infuriated and decided to show the church who was boss. They simply stopped airing any programs from churches and Christian organizations.  I hear the pastors told them, ‘you don’t want money from Christians, fine?

What the media house forgot was that most of their advertisers were submitted to these pulpits they had scorned. And they stopped advertising in the media house. The said media house had to plead with those pastors by giving them free airtime for their services to be able to convince their advertisers to bring back the money.

That is the reason the pulpiteer can be a tyrant. He is entrusted with a message from heaven and holds immense power for good or evil. Sadly to say that the one who is ignorant will normally use his power for evil.

Scribes

The other category of ministers is closely linked to the last. Many are nowadays both so that they can access everything their ministry can draw to them. I will therefore not dwell much on them as much of what we see with the pulpiteers applies to them.

I also need to let you know that I am in the writing ministry so that you realize that what I am writing may apply more to me than to you. I am a preacher who also happens to be a writer and so I have exposure to both aspects of ministry.

But very few will question a writer as he is thought to be an expert on the topic he has written about even if all he has done is copy and paste from this to his page. Some are experts at making a message they have simply copied more original than even the originator of the same.

A writer is compared to a cow that eats green grass and transforms it to produce white milk. A good writer is therefore one who browses widely yet is able to produce something original and life-giving. But sadly some will give clear evidence of their lack of originality by giving something similar to green milk. In fact many times it will just be a green liquid, a simple combination of the grass and water the cow had consumed. Very little digestion had occurred.

What applies to the pulpiteer applies to the scribe. It is only that they occupy different pulpits.

The Prophet

The prophet is probably the most dreaded of the tyrants. This is because He is the one whose ministry implies a clear connection to the voice of God. He is therefore revered more than any other type of minister due to that single fact.

Whereas a pulpiteer and scribe will paint using broad strokes and therefore give general highlights on people’s lives, the prophet will give very precise and direct message to a particular position.

Fighting or slighting a prophet will many times bring about quick judgment. Sample this.

Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. (2Kings 1:14)

And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. (2Kings 2:23, 24)

Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king. (1Samuel 12:17)

No wonder they are the most targeted of ministers as they not only give God’s word, they give it in a very direct context. That is the reason they are the ones who fill history with their deaths.

Again that is the reason the prophet is the one everybody fights against, from the media to other ministers – because he stands the tallest and poses the greatest threat to any deviation from God’s orders.

But the prophet is also the most counterfeited ministry. It also happens to be probably the most abused ministry. This is because very few Christians will dare question a prophet even when they have enough evidence that he is either false or even operating in the flesh. But I think there is a greater concentration of con artists in this than in any other ministry because the devil does not want to take chances with a church that hears clearly from God through the mouth of His prophets.

What would you do if a prophet told you that God had ordered you to give you all the money in your pocket or account? What guidelines will you use to verify that that word came from God? What arguments will you use to explain if you felt otherwise? Would the fact that they gave you a very accurate prophecy earlier defeat your argument?

Of course there is the singer/ dancer who like Herodias daughter can cause a king to kill a prophet. That is also another field dominated by tyrants, some who are known as Gospel musicians yet spewing blasphemy after blasphemy through their music.

Conclusion

I did not write just to show us who the tyrants are. I have said that the tyrants are many times counterfeits or ministers who started aright but became snared later, many times by the gifts from those they led. I want to point us to the end of all this tyranny so that as ministers we will be able to appreciate the authority God has bestowed on us so that we are not taken advantage of.

I also want to point the led to their responsibility to check this tyranny through the responsibility God has also bestowed on them. I am guilty of sin when I allow my spiritual leader to make spiritual decisions for me. I have no excuse at all when a spiritual leader takes advantage of me. I will be judged very harshly by God when I allow a spiritual leader to walk all over me. I can never feign ignorance when a spiritual leader leads me to sin.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)

But let me point at the judgment we will (not may) incur when we use our spiritual positions for something outside of the mandate God has for us. I will mention a few incidents.

·         Samson died a miserable death

·         Gehazi became completely leprous

·         Balaam was killed with the sinners

·         King Saul dies with his whole family

·         Eli, apart from also dying with his sons also lost the priesthood

·         Reuben and Esau lost their birthright

·         Ahithophel committed suicide

·         General Joab was killed

·         Herod was eaten by worms as he was giving a speech

Let me give us two examples from the life of worshipper David.

And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. (2Samuel 23:15, 16)

David just expresses a whim and his loyal soldiers take it as a command and risk everything to get the king a cup of water.

And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee. (2Samuel 24:21 - 23)

This guy is willing to surrender his inheritance so that the king can seek God. In fact he even wants to fund the whole expedition due to his loyalty to his king.

What will help us avoid tyranny is what David did after such acts of loyalty.

… nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men. (2 Samuel 23: 16, 17)

And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. (2Samuel 24:24)

We must carry our own weight even as we lead people. But even more important is that we need to be pointing these people to God continually. Our ministry should leave no doubt at all as to who is the boss. We should redirect any focus directed at us to the right place.

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)

This was John the Baptist responding to the report of his loyalists that his star had started waning. He was actually excited that it had happened as that is what he had been preparing his loyalists for. He knew without that that was what he was created for.

Like John we must be ready and willing to point the people we lead to a living relationship with the God we serve. Again let us look at another person who was the only link for millions.

And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them! (Numbers 11:29)

This as his loyalists had complained that some people had responded to God outside the prescribed place and sought Moses to intervene.

We should point people to God through everything we do, from sermons to songs to prophecy. Any other direction will surely bring God’s judgment on our tyranny.

Let us be tyrants for God. Let our passions run with the desire to divert any attention and devotion directed at us to the Person who created all for His glory.

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)

But above all is the fact that we need to establish what exactly God expects of us wherever He has placed us. Then we will not be confused by all the applause we may be enjoying from earthlings and lose our connection to heaven. his voice must not only be clear; it must also be current.

That is the only way we can divert the judgment due us from the tyranny we create by these spiritual positions we hold.

God bless you