The Sleeping Army

And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. (Luke 2:37)

And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? (Luke 18:7)

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. (John 9:4)

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Romans 13: 11 – 14)

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. (1Thesalonians 5: 5 – 7)

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (2Peter 3: 10 – 12)

That I am sad is in no doubt. That the slaying of innocent students in a university is a national tragedy is also not in doubt.

But I want to bring us to some shocking truths that the media has been all the way doing their best to numb our spirits and hearts against the truth of the whole affair.

The sad fact is that this is purely a spiritual war, period. Let no one deceive you as the facts have been clear all the time since ‘terrorism’ was unleashed on Kenyan soil. People are being killed for being Christians, the most virulent enemies of the Islamic nation and faith.

Let us go back a bit. In the Westgate affair do you remember that Muslims were let out before the slaughter began? Yet what do the media report? They highlight the one Muslim man who used his gun to rescue others and the story changes to terrorism instead of profiling jihad!

They do the same thing in Mpeketoni by killing Christians, even writing their reason openly and the same is repeated, this time being painted as tribalism and terrorism though no one wants to ask how a Somali would differentiate a Kikuyu name from another Bantu name. But the media is playing their cards well.

Then in Mandera they clearly separate the Christians from the Muslims and slaughter them and again we are foolish enough to call it terrorism. They then go to a quarry on the same mission and repeat the same and again we believe the media that this is not the decimation of people for what they believe.

This recent one is the saddest because the first news releases said that they had come those early hours to kill the Christians who go to pray early in the morning. They were the first casualties where there was not any survivor. They may have retreated to the hostels when the police responded before they had accomplished their agenda. And I know the same song is being played again.

When will we wake up?

Let me give you a sobering fact. Goodluck Jonathan was as deceived as we are that Boko Haram were simply terrorists and I suspect the media played that kind of tape until the Christians who were safe from them believed as we are doing. He realized too late that it was an Islamic agenda that was being played to make sure that one of them rules the nation. Now they can expand legally by occupying all the positions they want even as the believers remain clueless.

I believe this is what is being played in Kenya. And we better wake up to that fact. Of course we know it is not very easy for them to occupy state house unless craftily like Obama did, which thing they are expert in. Again they do not need to place a Muslim there when there are enough bought ‘Christians’ willing to pursue the Islamic agenda for gain.

But my concern is not terrorism or the lack of it. I always remind people that I am a Christian minister whose main job is to share God’s message to His people. I am therefore not writing this for activism purposes. I am not looking to raise a Christian army after the flesh as then I would not be much different from Al Shabaab. I want to alert the church to the spiritual realities that concern this insecurity or terrorism to start from where you are.

A government that is of the flesh has no capacity to deal with a spiritual attack just like a painkiller cannot treat an emotional ailment. Only a spiritual entity can handle such an attack. And the only structure with the capacity to handle such kind of attack is the church.

Sadly it is sound asleep.

We have prophets who can only see when they are paid or when there are headlines to make. Where those prophets who like Elisha will warn the king where the enemy is planning to attack? Or are they paid by the enemy to show them the weakest point to attack?

Again do not for one moment think I find it strange that Christians have to die for their faith as that is what we were promised by the one who died for us. In fact a time is coming when a Christian will stand for everything evil to the world. We were told that a time will come that people will kill us convinced it is worship as the whole world will so hate us.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24: 9 – 11)

What really saddens me is that many Christians live their lives as if the present is all there is. But even worse is that preachers are the advocates of that doctrine. All the preaching about breakthrough and favor and release have this world as their goal. Heaven is treated as an assumption of sorts as it occupies a very small portion, if any, of the preaching.

Worse is the fact that sin is mentioned only to remind one that he is forgiven unconditionally as if that forgiveness has no conditions. I can do anything and live anyhow once I get forgiven as no sin can affect that forgiveness.

Preachers are more scared of offending their congregation than they are of hell. That is why they would rather speak about visas instead of victory over sin. They would rather speak about vehicles and houses and promotions than about persecution. Women sit at the front to expose their thighs to the leaders during the services and the preachers fear to scare those offerings away. It is no surprise that they follow those thighs to their conclusion yet even then the preachers would not address the resulting sin.

An openly wicked leader attends church and the preacher hails that ‘attempt at godliness’ and praises him instead of addressing the conviction of sin that might have drawn him to the church in the first place because he needs the huge offering this leader brings though it may be in the open what he does to acquire it.

It is no wonder that we are blind to persecution even when the persecutors openly declare their motive and intention. We are so full of the here and now that we have closed our eyes to the eternal. Our minds and spirits are so engrossed on the worldly that the spiritual may as well cease to exist.

A church in tune with her Lord will be a church that will die for violently raiding hell instead of being scared to death of scaring the peaceful coexistence with opposing belief systems. Remember the disciples when they were ordered to do the exact same thing by the authorities?

… Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5: 28, 29)

Do you remember them calling for a thanksgiving service after being imprisoned and flogged for the same thing (Acts 4: 23 – 31; 5: 41)?

It is no wonder that miracles were following them as they were clearly not living for this world or even the present. Persecution was not an expectation but a reality in the life of the church from its inception.

The Christian faith as we know it has thrived mainly due to the pressure persecution has put on her.

Some time ago I was reading ‘Fox’s book of Martyrs’ and was able to appreciate the amount of blood that has been shed for the furtherance of our faith. And if what Christ promised us is anything to go by we are approaching similar times very quickly. What we are seeing with Al Shabaab and Boko Haram and ISIS are a precursor of what the church will soon experience if we will hold our fidelity to the tenets of our faith.

We can choose to die passively or actively; and I am not talking about bearing arms. But we will be killed one way or the other if the Bible is to be understood clearly.

The only activism we have been given is the sharing of the Gospel to the lost world that hates Christ with a passion because He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Or we can die like dogs because we do not want to offend the world hostile to the message we bear. But die for our faith we will and it is not optional.

Will we as leaders prepare believers for that eventuality that is as certain as night follows day? Or will we continue preaching worldliness and make our churches ‘seeker friendly’ by lowering Christ’s standards? Does a seeker friendly gospel result in the transformation we see with conversions in the scriptures?

What would happen if those ‘terrorists’ came heavily armed to your favorite church and asked those ready to die for their faith to step aside to face their death or learn the ‘shahada’? What would you say if they gave you a chance to say your last words before being beheaded like has been shown on the media of late? Would you give them a witness to the power of the Gospel or would you rather they gave you another chance to reconsider your faith?

How ready are we to face death especially from the enemies of our faith? Is this verse only in my Bible or is it also in yours?

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Revelation 6: 9 – 11)

Do you realize that it is not the passive believers who are in that list? These are people who not only practiced their faith but were also actively propagating it. Does that describe you? Will the enemy have a hard time picking you out of a crowd when he is looking at the real Christians to kill or will it be clearly evident?

How much of a witness are you?

(I have been on ministry outside Kenya for two weeks and was not able to post anything during that time. But the ministry was very fruitful and I am grateful to God. I will prepare a short report later.)

The Limitations of an Experience, However Powerful

And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, (1Kings 11: 9)

One of the greatest wonders of the human mind is its capacity to constantly shape the memory of their past according to their present. Then it is able to selectively cut out any memory that does not agree with that present, however real it was.

Reminds me of Abraham’s response to the rich man’s pleas

And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16: 31)

Many wonder how people would reject God after listening to a message of someone who had come back from the dead. We think that testimony would be so compelling as to cancel any doubt about the reality of God, heaven and hell.

But scripture and experience demonstrate otherwise.

Israel saw God demonstrate His reality, power and love time and time again as He rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Yet do we not find it strangely unsettling that they are always complaining at every discomfort?

It got so bad that God finally said this to them.

Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. (Numbers 14: 22, 23, 28 - 32)

Numbers 13 and 14 are sobering chapters to read in the Bible that I would advise you to read before you continue with this. Can that passage be speaking about us and our generation?

I know I am not much different from these people as I many times behave just like them. I may not blurt out or froth at the mouth against God like they did but I know I am not much different and would behave like them if my circumstances were like theirs.

How do you feel (behave comes when those feelings are nurtured) when you are on your last coin and are so far from anyone or anywhere you can get assistance? Do you feel a sense of panic? Do you become fixated on that sense of helplessness? Do you tend toward despair in the short term? Do you for an instant forget all those verses you have quoted for ages concerning God and His faithfulness? Does everything you held dear evaporate in the face of that ‘desperate’ situation?

Yet I think need is less of a danger than comfort, many times because need will require of us to seek help beyond us, and God is the best and maybe last help we can seek. Many times our past is such that we have enough experience and heard enough testimonies of the kind of help God can be. We will therefore more likely than not pray and seek God in the midst of need than turn away from Him.

Success, worldly prosperity and fame exert a different kind of pressure on us than a cry for help. And sufficiency is a greater danger than need on our spirits. Incidentally that is what happened to our friend Solomon. The fact that he had two very definite encounters with God was not sufficient to shield him from the danger success had got him into.

And he is not alone. Scripture is replete with example after another of God’s people who, though they had been so close to God and had great encounters with Him,  did things that seemed to indicate that their former experiences were more fictional than real.

And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. (2 Chronicles 16: 7 – 10)

This is the background.

And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. (2 Chronicles 14: 9 – 12)

When there is no hope from his military strength he calls on God who responds that a million man strong army is routed by his infinitely smaller and weaker army. Then in chapter 16 a smaller army threatens. By then he had been able to gather a lot of wealth and so instead of going into prayer like the first time decides like most reason, that God helps those who help themselves. He therefore goes to his dedicated offerings in the temple and offers them to a heathen king to get military assistance.

Had he forgotten that God still answers prayer? I guess not. I suspect the reality of God was the reason he sought a less threatening partner.

You see God has very high standards, standards that would, like the English say, easily topple the apple cart of our lives. God’s security demands that we dismantle our castles and other forts we may have built for our security. We are sober enough to realize that asking Him into our affairs many times will mean we get ourselves completely exposed before asking for His assistance. We realize that accessing His assistance may require that we demolish and throw away all our security.

That is why it is easier for the needy to earnestly pray as they really have nothing much to lose as they have no carts to be overturned or castles to be demolished.

It is a different thing for the secure and comfortable. Many times God becomes a threat to their security or comfort. You see we can’t really predict what kind of order God will issue in response to our prayer or search of His will.

He can simply order us to do what He did to the rich young ruler in Mark 10: 21 and like him we are not in the least interested in doing so. Or like He did to the one who had required to sort out a few things at home in Luke 9: 60 and we are not ready. He might issue the kind of order He gave to Abraham to leave everything and everybody he knew to go to a land he had no idea not only of its location but also how it looked like.

I have ‘friends’ who were so zealous for God that nothing could stand between them and what God required who after  getting to the ‘top’ have no time for spiritual things except bribing God with an attendance to church and ‘fat’ offerings. I know people who were conscientious about dressing that they would never shy at confronting brethren who were slightly liberal allow their children go to church barely dressed and their sons with plaited hair when they got to the top.

I know ministers who had no spot (hard or soft) for the devil, compromise or sin in their preaching and teaching who do not now mind when ministry colleagues and parishioners are living in open sin after they got to the top. I know friends who like me had trashed the TV for not having much positive input in the lives of their family install cable and satellite TV and pride themselves on some of the trash their family wastes time watching as a positive thing.

I know people whose call to ministry was not only exceptional and radical but also cost them everything start treating a call to ministry and the voice of God as the imagination of an infantile mind and live a life that demonstrates the least concern for God’s word though using His name for profit after getting to the top of a ministerial, church or denominational structure.

Security and comfort is the reason there is more backsliding in prosperity than need.

But how does it happen?

By the way this will also explain my recent post (When Integrity is not Enough) because the dynamics are similar when somebody gets to the top.

The first thing that happens is that when we get to the top we realize that the crowd that may have been responsible with our getting to the top (especially spiritually) may appear to be below our new status. People who have prayed that promotion or financial breakthrough are way below us. They may appear to threaten our wealth or demean our status due to their need or crudity. We forget that we were taken from their company and that they were necessary ingredients of our elevation.

The few who prosper in status and position are people who never leave their team after elevation.

On the prosperity side we have David who not only rose with his team to the palace but was the one who had actually raised them from hopelessness. But even more important is that his spiritual antenna continued in sharpness as he increased his spiritual crowd not only with more priests but he also brought in several prophets.

Any other ‘friend’ who joined him had to first deal with his crowd to corrupt him.

We see the same with Daniel. When he is elevated due to the breakthrough he got after explaining the dream, we see him remembering his friends to the king, ensuring that even in those high places he had the kind of company that could secure him from the corruption prevalent in those positions and structures.

Seeking a more enlightened crowd is therefore the first step to our slide from our spiritual potency. Then I will lose the spiritual backing of the team that loves me for who I am instead of what I have or position I hold. For the fear of the rebuke they may occasionally bring when I go astray I cut myself from my only true friends and spiritual partners who can stand with me against the enticements my status attracts. I will therefore become exposed to any machination the enemy (or structure) plans to bring me down or compromise me like it happened to these kings I have mentioned.

This new crowd will then counsel us towards worldliness and sin, eventually rebellion and wickedness as they will seek to drive us from God’s standards and laws. We will then develop our own righteousness that not only is foolish to everybody else but even stands in direct opposition to God Himself like we see Uzziah doing in usurping the priest’s office or Saul saving what was ordered to be destroyed.

But even if I am not compromised in that way I will still be in danger as I will be alone standing for God against structures and a crowd that may have nothing to do with the standards I live for. And lone rangers are very easy to bring down whether they are compromised or not. Remember the scheme by Daniel’s co-rulers to isolate him before setting him up for destruction?

What is the solution then? How can we avoid falling in those traps the enemy will set up against us?

First is a determination.

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. (Daniel 1: 8)

Psalm 1 is one indication of what kept David focused.

The second key factor that protects one from falling by the wayside is a right relationship with the word of God, the Bible. And we see that when we look at them.

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119: 9 – 11)

We see a demonstration of the same when we see Daniel connecting to a prophecy that was coming to fulfillment seventy years later (Daniel 9). He couldn’t have been a casual reader to realize that fact.

For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. (Ezra 7:10)

Further to valuing the knowledge and obedience to God’s word is the instructing of others. This is the key to retaining that instruction. Any person who remained relevant to God was not only a hearer and doer of God’s word; he was instrumental in the instruction of others. And this agrees with the fact that knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Knowing without teaching may get us to a danger as bad as backsliding. It may get us into spiritual pride and a professional instead of worshipful practice of our faith. Helping others grow is the greatest incentive to our personal growth.

In summary promotion or prosperity pose serious threats to our faith. The key driver of that is our detaching ourselves from the accountability partners we had before getting there, many times the partners who contributed to our getting there.

The solution is simple on paper. Do not agree to go up alone. Never seek to ascend that ladder alone. Do everything in your power to include your prayer and accountability partners. They are more reliable because they have known you before you acquired all those attachments and aura your new status brings. Maintain those fellowships and where possible have some of them work with you in that high office even as drivers or tea girl/ boy because you are sure of their prayerful cover and concern for you.

Value the scriptures and spend even more time there than formerly. The spiritual dynamic of that new wealth or office requires more spiritual muscle on your side. Expand your spiritual accountability team by including people who are not wowed by the trappings of you new status.

And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. (Deuteronomy 17: 18 – 20)

This is talking about a king. But I am convinced it applies to anyone occupying any office with authority. Lack of the scriptures explains the reason kings failed in the scriptures. Discovering them brought about more that spiritual revival.

But finally we must determine to instruct others. This is what is called discipleship. We will determine to spend a significant amount of our time helping others know God as much as we know Him as we take them through the scriptures.

Then our experience is not only valid but useful for more than us.