Fear of the Depths

And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. (Numbers 9:17, 18)

And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. (Numbers 11:1)

It is interesting that we seem to crave precise direction and provision of God yet cringe from the same when God seems to agree with our desire. We love to have God speaking to us yet run away from Him when He agrees to do it. We seem to crave His presence yet flee from it when He decides to make an appearance. Our beings seem to show a longing for a close relationship with the Divine but the reality is that that desire does not appear to go deeper than our mouths; it is simply a surface craving.

Why do we express the desire of something our beings have a terrible dread for?

I believe it is because we want to access what God has without needing to become what He wants us to be. We want to profit from Him without needing to be connected to Him. We want the benefits of aligning with God without the responsibility of knowing Him

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. (Exodus 20:19)

God had rescued Israel from Egypt and taken them to the mount so that He could solidify His relationship with them so that they instead of dealing with God from a historical frame of mind would have a solid relationship with Him. They saw Him and even heard Him giving them the Ten Commandments.

It was after they had heard God speaking to them that they told Moses to listen for them as we see in the verse.

How was Moses different from the other Israelites that he would not die when God spoke to him? Why could they not trust themselves with the voice of God? What was so different with Moses that he would not die from what would kill the congregation?

The reality of God as a present reality is scarier than anything else in the whole wide world. Close proximity with Him is therefore a really dangerous venture.

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. (Psalm 2:11)

Anybody who came into close proximity with God trembled, and that not because he was a sinner. Even the holiest of them, Daniel and Job, trembled in that presence. I say holiest because we have God saying so Himself in Ezekiel 14.

And it is not only in the OT. We see the same during the call of Peter and the centurion who had requested Christ to intervene in the health of his servant.

Why the trembling?

We are coming in the presence of Holiness, a holiness that sheds blinding light on our humanness. And that holiness is accompanied by absolute power and a consuming fire.

It therefore shows us who we really are in the light of that reality. Like Isaiah for the first time we come face to face with our rottenness in the backdrop of that holiness. We realize that we are open to the judgment we deserve to the extent that we can’t even cry for mercy. What can black do in the presence of dazzling white? Yet that is not sufficient to compare with the difference between our nature and God’s holiness.

That explains why we would rather somebody pray for us instead of us battling in the prayer closet for our breakthrough. That is why we visit the prophet instead of bathing in God’s presence for our revelation. That is why we buy books and sermons instead of giving the Bible a greater priority in our lives for revelation. And we will pay a premium to have someone get into that presence for us. No wonder we are being fleeced from all corners by anyone who can faintly fake a spiritual connection. We are not ready to build our own relationship with God.

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

What proxy do sheep need to hear from their shepherd? Now, assuming we are Christ’s sheep, do we need any proxy to hear His voice? Is it in order when it is the pastor, prophet, apostle who has to hear the Shepherd’s voice for me? When does he hear his own message if he must be hearing for all these sheep?

Why would a sheep run from the shepherd to hear from an under-shepherd? How possible is the voice they hear to be the shepherd’s? How hard would it be to lead such a sheep astray? And why do I say so? How certain would that sheep be that the voice they hear is the Shepherd’s?

I dare say that the reason Israel didn’t want God at close quarters is the same that makes us go far and wide to look for God’s direction when we know that God is as far from us as an open Bible and our personal pursuit of holiness. We go to prophets because we are not ready for the change we know a personal encounter with God may demand. We pay to be prayed for because we are not prepared to handle the kind of answers God will give us when we are the ones praying.

I am sure the rich young ruler went home regretting why he went to Jesus in the first place. Jesus made the options extremely stark because He was more interested in him than the money his offering would have brought to the ministry. The Bible says that Jesus loved him before giving the killer blow. And that is the kind of love we have problems with. A mortal would not easily trash that Mercedes or house as the creator would. That is the reason a mortal is a safer bet than the creator to give direction.

Could the reason you are always visiting prophets be that you are not ready to hear God’s voice at close quarters; and that because you are not ready or willing to obey it because you have a faint suspicion of the sacrifices that would require? Could the reason you always seek corporate fasts be that you fear God coming through for you as you know that He will most certainly topple all your apple carts?

You see facing God leaves one with only two options; obey or rebel. I can have no excuse or explanation for my rebellion. Feeling sorrowful, even crying through the night will never make my rebellion any better because the command is clear. That is why we fear what we crave if it is the Lord.

Some time ago God gave me a message that was so radical even for the radical me. I first refused to write because of the implications. I did not want to write it because I did not want to post it on my blog because I felt it would attract so much opposition, even hatred. But another reason was that it would really hammer me to shape though that was not easily visible when it was coming.

But it boiled down to this, will I write what I am being commanded or not? The message was not mine even as the audience was not mine. Will I obey or not?

I chose to obey. And as I continued listening and writing the message I was really worked on, for over three months! When the message was complete I was commanded to make it into a book, which I did and even designed the cover. I have just published it, two years later but I am sure that those who read my blog know that the messages I post changed after agreeing to handle those messages. Probably that was the reason my system was instinctively cringing from listening to those messages. Of course my defense systems had to look for reasons to convince God (myself actually) that people will not receive the messages. I may have been the one resisting the messages because I was not very willing to get as deep as the messages would require.

What reasons do you give for not consistently reading the Bible? What reasons do you give for only reading the predictable (attractive) portions of scripture? Why do you always make noise in prayer even as you run away from the prayer closet where you must listen not only to your heart but the possibility of God breaking through and speaking to you clearly? Why do you only read books from your favorite spiritual superstars (conmen) who will only tell you what you want to hear? Why do you always listen to sermons from those who will choose to entertain instead of challenging you in God’s direction? Why do you listen to songs which draw dance moves instead of a holy life?

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts… (Psalm 42:7a)

It is impossible to access the depths if all you are interested is the surface. It is folly to expect to be a good swimmer if all the time I am at the shallow children’s end. It is impossible to access revelation if all I am interested in is to know the best prophet to visit. It is impossible to enjoy prayer breakthroughs if all I know is the most powerful prayer warriors to intercede for me. And it is impossible to experience the blessing that comes from giving if I depend on others’ direction to make a decision to give.

God is interested in guiding us in the minutest detail.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. (Psalm 32:8, 9)

Are those bits and bridles the sermons we value more than we value God’s word? Are they those prayer giants who must pray for us? Are they that noise we must make in prayer? Are they the music that must be played to get us into the mood of prayer/ worship? Are they the support we must have before responding to His call to ministry?

What crutches do we use in our devotional life? Do they suffocate our worship instead of being accessories to it? Can we walk into our spiritual destiny without them or we would rather get to heaven crippled instead of allowing Christ to release me to walk in His resurrection power?

What must we have to relate with God? Is God sufficient or must we have our ‘Moses’ to connect us with Him for fear that getting as close as that ‘Moses’ would kill me? Is death an excuse to shield me from a life changing encounter with God?

How deep are we willing to go in our relationship with God?

You see an encounter with God has great ramifications on the way we live even beyond dealing with our sin. Zacchaeus ended almost penniless after his meeting with Christ. The villages the demoniac Legion roamed had their economy brought to their knees by His visitation. Plus many, many other incidents.

Are you ready to get deep with God? Could you stop making that music that is driven more by the expected sales than ministry? Could you stop pastoring that church that has refused to grow because they have insisted that you stop preaching the hard stuff because they pay you really well? Could you stop writing those books that are best sellers if God showed you that the message in them was driven by the sales instead of the message of the cross?

How far are you ready to go to get deeper with God?

Cause and Effect

It is interesting that we may be the laziest generation since creation and this for one reason. We have stopped asking REAL questions.

We have so much information everywhere at the touch of a keystroke or button that we have thought that all of life has answers that easily obtainable. The fact that I can find the temperature of the North Pole and the traffic flow in Siberia from my bedroom has deceived me to think that I can get answers to life’s questions as easily.

Is there a keystroke to sort out my prayer issues? Is there a website or search engine that can deal with relationship issues unless by offering pat answers? Can that gadget that is as expensive, if not more, than an automobile offer a solution to a troubled marriage without directing you to a divorce lawyer? Which keys can be pressed to connect me to God’s perfect will for me?

Is there a gadget that can replace Joshua 1: 8? What about Romans 12: 1 and 2 and 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 22? Is there one that can replace actual reading of the Bible and prayer?

I know you know that it is folly to look for alternatives to spiritual disciplines. But then why are they so difficult to do? Why is it easy for the rogue pastor to thrive even when he confesses to be so?

We have stopped asking questions, of course unless to those search engines. We have stopped wondering why things are the way they are. We have stopped asking whether there is something behind and beyond what we are being told.

Let me give an example. Last week I posted about a church I visited and asked a few questions. I will go ahead and add a few others today. But let me add some more information. I trust God will soon give us the full view of this situation.

And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. (Isaiah 4:1)

I don’t know whether that is a statement or call for questions. Since the foundations for it are already complete in our times, we assume that there is nothing that can be done or that the situation ‘just’ appeared. We assume that there are just too many marriageable women in our times.

Do you ever wonder that it is the women who trashed marriage at their peak as a damper to progress and choice that are the proponents of polygamy nowadays and as second, third … wives, and that not for upkeep? Do you wonder why rich progressive women are paying young bright university students to impregnate them yet they had rejected marriage offers when they were coming in their dozens in their youth?

You see, unless we ask these questions, we will not have the capacity to offer any solution to a world that is quickly spinning out of spiritual control.

But even worse, unless we become more engaged in our spiritual responsibilities, we will have no capacity to know what God requires of us in our generation. It is our spiritual lethargy that has given the evil one so much room in our lives and churches.

I want you to know that there is absolutely no alternative to the actual reading of the word of God. I know some will say listening but that is not so. I love audio Bibles. In fact I am always listening to it. But the reality is that there is a place for it, a place that is additional and not substitutional to reading. Why so? Reading is a more active engagement than listening. And that is why we are commanded to read the Bible consistently. And of course this explains the reason we are helping people with reading plans to make reading the Bible a reality for many who have been taught, or convinced, that the Bible is too big or complicated to be read in its entirety.

Again there is absolutely no alternative to personal prayer. No prayer expert can replace the need to be in consistent prayer on your own, however highly you pay him/ her. Even communal prayer can never replace personal prayer.

There is also absolutely no alternative to hearing from God personally. No prophet has the capacity to completely hear what God is telling you better that yourself. In fact a prophet comes to confirm what God has already spoken. If for instance everything you hear from God is through a prophet, two things are happening, that is a false prophet and you are a fake believer. This is because a prophet from God must lead people to a richer relationship with God.

Do you ask God questions? Does He respond? How do you know when He has responded?

I am the way I am because I am always asking questions. I ask God questions all the time. And He always responds. In fact many times He teaches me by also asking me questions; questions that I must go to the scriptures to get answers.

God is not scared of any questions you may ask, however crazy you think they may be. In fact He loves those questions. They are not indicators of a lack of faith as I was told in my childhood when I asked people questions they did not have answers to. That is why we are supposed to love Him also with our minds, because all our mental quests are settled to our satisfaction.

But I need to add that we are not asking questions as a prosecutor. We are asking to know what God is saying as opposed to asking Him to confirm our folly.

Where are those questions?

What is wrong?

I visited a church on Sunday and saw something I have never seen before; probably heard it being said, but never seen.

It was a huge church, seating close to a thousand at full capacity.

On entering it was about half full. But I was shocked that less than 5% were men.

Since it was a service combining several churches of a denomination, other churches came, increasing the percentage of men to about 10%.

The singing was so shrill that it was deafening. I had never encountered so much soprano in my life. Though I can understand Kikuyu quite some, I could not understand anything that was being sang because of the high tones in the congregational singing and instrumental and PA sound.

My heart was disturbed. I became restless as I felt that something was not adding up. I then started looking around to understand why my spirit was not at ease.

With the children, the sexes were balanced. It was the same with the teenagers. But there were no adult men. There were a countable number except at the front (elders and pastors) where most were old. And they were also completely outnumbered by women.

Where were the men between twenty and sixty? I wondered. Why are they everywhere else but the church?

Incidentally that is an area the women were very brutal with the crackdown of killer brews recently. I was told they even destroyed the legal ones when the ‘war’ began. Are the brews the only reason the men were nowhere to be found? Could there be another reason for that? Could drinking be just the symptom, a symptom whose disease could be traced to the church?

It reminds me of a post I posted in 2013 titled ‘Genetically Modified Woman’. You can read it on my blog.

Let us talk. Pray and tell me what you think. Borrow heavily from the scriptures. Looking at history is also not forbidden.

The Great Omission

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19, 20)

As we look at the way we compartmentalize God’s orders to what we find comfortable with as opposed to the whole command released. Then we claim full compliance when the only thing we have done is keep 51% of the small portion we agree with.

It is sad that the Great Commission is looked at with the same lens. We pick the portion we can easily keep and assume the rest does not matter.

A church may choose the first word, ‘GO’ and run with it for all it is worth. Missions are the heartbeat of God, they believe. We must Go, Go, Go and Go to make God happy. Any church that is not involved in missions is not worth to be called so. So we continue going and sending. We look down on a Christian involved in any other Christian endeavor than missions.

Another one will choose ‘TEACH’ or disciple. The heartbeat of God has moved to discipleship even as the Goers are getting better at their game. Nothing is worth the Christian calling if people are not being discipled. From Bible Studies to mentorship forums to seminars their plates are always full.

Another will choose ‘BAPTISING’ and spend every waking moment on that. Distinguishing different levels and categories of baptism as the reason it is the only quantifiable command in the commission. They fill their books with member after another who has been baptized their way, requiring that someone not baptized their way is not really baptized and must be baptized aright.

And that is where most will stop. In fact you will be surprised to get someone talking about the rest of the commission beyond reading it to avoid the accusation that they are reading parts of a verse. And it is also awkward to jump over a portion you can’t implement to get to the promise at the last part.

Yet what does the remainder of the verse state?

Teaching them to observe ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you

Do we realize that that portion encapsulates the whole commission? Teaching God’s people to walk in the obedience of everything God commands them is the whole purpose of the commission. Teaching everything else yet leaving out obedience is not taking the commission as it is required. But teaching obedience without widening its scope to ALL that God has released is not teaching aright.

But we must look beyond the negative aspects of our response to the commission. We must look at our omissions as an active aspect of our personal and corporate response. It is not just the absence of our keeping the commission. It is simply our choice to decide to do contrary to what it calls us to.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

Sidestepping one part, and the key part of the commission, is therefore a sin against the One who gave it. Choosing what we will do makes us lords as opposed to ministers (slaves or servants). We are in effect demeaning the One who gave the commission to our level, even worse.

But it gets worse. Omitting the ALL part will make the product of all our effort severely limited as we have given a very small dose of what is required. They will therefore believe that they have the whole package when they have only a small portion. Like we talk about drug resistant ailments, what we have done is inoculated them against the complete Gospel Christ gave and is. We therefore make them enemies of the Gospel by making them believe that the dose we gave them was the complete package. Then any other demand the Gospel places on them will be resisted with their all.

That is why we see very ‘devout Christians’ visiting witches, some who even practice witchcraft. We have very serious pastors comfortable with keeping harems as the commission they were given did not say anything about adultery. We have some who see no problem defrauding their congregation through one ruse or the other yet they are very firm on the commission, even using the commission for it. that is how pastors, churches and ministries can defend homosexuality as an inherited trait instead of the abomination God calls it.

We have churches and mission organizations that will use every trick on the book to get your contribution, from taking you on guilt trips to giving exaggerated missions’ reports to convince you to give to them. We have churches that oppress their laborers and ministers to give the top brass palatial lifestyles. Yet they are convinced they are obeying the commission.

No wonder we are having a drought of preaching that touches on sin or holiness, even heaven and hell. No wonder we do not look for spiritual qualifications when we are looking for church workers. No wonder money and position is the thing we look for when we are looking for elders and deacons instead of spiritual virility. No wonder there is no place to grow a thief and weed him from the stealing spirit but decide to make him a pastor to benefit from the masses he will pull with his dramatic testimony. No wonder singers (called worship leaders) many times are the most sexually immoral people in the congregation.

Yet it is not enough to show the negative. I believe God has called me not to show where the error is but to show how to get from error to the truth.

What is the ALL? I completely believe it is connecting the people we get into the faith and grow in discipleship have a real and growing relationship with the risen Christ.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)

And our responsibility as ministers is to facilitate that.

Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. (Acts 6: 3, 4)

That was a church that had taken the commission seriously. Everybody was about keeping the King’s commands on a continuous basis. That is why we see a normal member dying for trying to display an exaggerated generosity in chapter 5.

What then is the ALL? I know someone is wondering. It is simply teaching ALL that Christ taught His disciples. But what about this verse?

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. (John 21:25)

How can we get the ALL yet only a small portion of it was written? I know many are wondering.

That is the essence of the ALL. We are supposed to guide them to the ALL through accessing the source of that ALL.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:5)

We are supposed to nurture the people God sends our way to the point at which they stop depending on us and start feeding off the Vine Himself. Otherwise we are what I always refer to as spiritual brokers.

What is the source of that ALL? It is important to realize that God has released enough of Himself through the Bible. Accessing the Bible in its completeness forms the basis of being able to access His more focused nurture.

Valuing God’s word and spending adequate times in it consistently connects us to the life-giving flow from heaven as we can get the revelation God has given to mankind. And that is not optional. No Christian can grow unless he spends adequate time in God’s word. Why?

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1Peter 2:2)

New believers need to be introduced to a consistent intake of God’s word to grow. Unfortunately, most are introduced to doctrines and traditions as per the ones doing follow up or discipleship. Even the more focused will take them through helpful topics that will answer their basic questions. Most do not lead the new believer to develop a taste for the Bible as their only source of nurture.

I have asked a question in training forums that causes me intense sadness when I see the response.

How many have read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation even once? I have been shocked to see a whole hall of pastors, bishops, evangelists where none has ever read the Bible from beginning to end successfully. And we are talking about ministers! Most read the Bible to prepare their sermons and nothing else.

Is it any wonder that there is so much sin and drama among them? Does it then surprise that some pastors must be paid to pray for somebody? Should we be surprised when it is only the moneyed that can access pastoral ministry?

How does a person go through a Bible school and not read the Bible consistently? How does someone preach God’s word that he does not spend adequate time reading?

We cannot expect God to give us revelations if we are disregarding the one He has already given. God will never speak anything that is contrary to the revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures. No revelation can come from Him that casts any doubt or suspicion on the one already recorded in the scriptures. Simply speaking the surest place we can access revelation is the Bible. No revelation is worth a dime if it does not concur with the revelation that has already been recorded.

Pursuing any other agenda than the intake of the Bible is therefore spiritual folly. And that does not matter with whether your pastor, bishop, apostle, superstar demonstrates otherwise. In fact he is the greater fool. And I am not afraid of offending.

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:20)

You are safer if you rejected all other revelation except the Bible than if you spent your effort following other revelation, however inspired it is. If Jesus used the scriptures to argue with His enemies, who am I to think that using revelation outside the Bible for my argument is useful? Prophecy is prophecy not because of its accuracy. It is from God only if and when it agrees with God’s revelation in the Bible. Anything that does not agree with the plain teaching of scripture is spurious revelation. Check this

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. (Deuteronomy 13: 1 – 4)

Discard these prophets who are boasting of their general prophecies coming to pass as that is where the test for prophecy should begin, not end.

Immerse yourself in the word of God. That is the surest place to get revelation. It is from there that God can speak a more specific word to you and not apart from there. In fact there can never be any word from God apart from the Bible. It is only in addition to and in agreement with the Bible.

This, I believe, is the full extent of the Great Commission. We are simply supposed to lead people to become completely immersed in the Bible so that any revelation will easily be known from where it came.

Lest you think I am speaking from jealousy I will tell you a few facts about me.

I was a musician, singer, choir master and trainer, instrumentalist and composer.

I have been a missionary to unreached people groups and have preached for over thirty years. I am a trainer on evangelism and discipleship and am involved in a lot of discipleship and mentoring programs.

I am a writer and have published many books, booklets, Bible Study materials and run a blog. I am presently involved with the writing ministry and assist Christian writers have their books published and have many books that have come out as a result of that effort.

God has granted me a very rich harvest (fruit) through the years as I have served Him.

I have handled temptation from many sides in those years of ministry and I can confidently state that it is my complete and passionate intake of the Bible that has not only kept me sober but also pure from the defilement that comes from much public ministry. People have come to me with a ‘clear’ word from God that I disqualify because it is contrary to the Word. I remember that after I rededicated my life to Christ I was able to read the New Testament from the Gospel of John to Revelation in a month. And I have never looked back. People struggle with reading plans but I have never had much of a problem with reading the Bible.

But it started with a commitment. I discovered that my first years after accepting Christ were a struggle because I did not know what the Bible said about many issues and there was nobody who was able to help me through my many questions. When I discovered that the Bible was not only current but on spot on many things, I determined to entrust all my nurture to it. And of course I will be lying if I attributed it all to my effort. God gave me a thirst for that word that is present to date. And I enjoy reading the Bible.

And I know that is what has kept me sane when fame or money or attention or success or failure struggle to put me down or set me up for a compromise.

And the Bible is the reason the church thrived behind the iron curtain when persecution was at its worst. The only thing they could count on is the portions of scripture they could memorize as the Bibles were treated as contraband. They therefore valued the Bible and would strip it so that each would take a portion to memorize then they would exchange. Fellowship was a risky venture and so they valued those portions of scripture. And no wonder they were able to bring down atheism and communism in those lands. The western world is going down for the same reason. They are treating the Bible as an ornament to be worn around the neck instead of food to be consumed daily.

This therefore is the Great Commission simplified. Go to the whole world sharing the love of Christ so that you draw men to God. After they believe, start growing them in the ways of God through the word until they are able not only to stand on their own in faith but are fully connected to Christ and His word that they will walk in obedience in all ways. Then they will be able to replicate what you have done on them.

And that is how life is. A child is born completely helpless. Then they grow to take care of themselves until they are able to reproduce and take care of the next generation.