Carrier or Treasure?

And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. (1Corinthians 14:32)

I have been reflecting a lot on prophets after a friend asked me to explain a statement he had heard.

And the statement was on the lines like a prophetic gift is absent when not in use. And the example he gave was the fact that Elijah fled from Jezebel so soon after eliminating 850 idolatrous priests as well as ordering back rain after three and a half years.

Had the gift disappeared?

I am sure not.

Let us look at the situation the prophet was in, at least physically.

He had prepared and arranged wood for the altar and then slaughtered a bull all by himself as he could not count on Israel as they were too defiled to be allowed to help him. Then he had separated its parts to enable them to be placed on the altar he also singlehandedly erected from whole stones as God had ordered. (And he had no assistant as God ordered him to get one after the incident.) We then see him outrunning horses after the assurance on his prayer for rain appears.

What do you think the state of his body was? Wasn’t he completely exhausted?

That is the reason God told him to eat well and sleep before engaging him.

He needed a strong and sober body to handle what God was preparing for him.

Look also at John the Baptist. In his mother’s womb, he was able to know when the Christ had arrived. Again during baptism he was able to know Him. How come he becomes uncertain when he is in prison?

Remember what Jesus ordered His disciples after they returned from a very successful mission that you can almost read them praying to be sent again? Let us go to a deserted place to rest.

These bodies are carriers for all those gifts. They are the carriers of all that anointing. And never forget that they are flesh, however explosive the anointing they carry.

Sadly, though by God’s own design and for His purpose and glory, it is treasure of immeasurable worth being carried and dispensed by an earthen vessel. In other words, something of immeasurable worth is kept in the custody of a very fragile (and badly and destructible fragile) vessel.

In other words, this vessel crumbles and does not dent when knocked. Then it can never be completely repaired after that breakage. Thirdly it can destroy the faithful and consistent usefulness of ages just from one ‘successful’ knock.

That is why it is of immense importance that this vessel is delicately taken care of.

And it is the reason I find it comical that a vessel will want to be treated special by similar vessels because of the kind of treasure it holds?

What do I mean?

You are not a better earthen vessel when the treasure you carry is miracles or prophecy as opposed to those with mercy or helps. Each of us is earthen. And all the treasure is from one source. And of course none of us determines the kind of treasure our earthen vessel will carry. And none of that treasure is for our own use, let alone possession.

We will be looking at how to take care of that vessel in our next post

Of Worshipers and Idols

Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: (Numbers 33:52)

Do you like me wonder why God did not issue video previews in His revelation? Why did He use very simple imagery when describing worship to Him?

Why did God limit the creativity of the artisans He had Himself filled with His Holy Spirit to only what He had revealed to Moses? Why would using a tool on stones to make His altar disqualify it from being so?

Why does God seem to have issues with images?

He knows how effective images are to our minds.

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,… (Deuteronomy 4: 15, 16)

We love images. Like we say a picture is worth a thousand words. And that is where the problem lies.

We have perfected the usage of images to corrupt our worship in the name of worship.

What am I talking about?

I am talking about our videos. In using video to help in worship (whatever that means), we have diverted true worship to the idols who thought to aid our worship.

Let me give a statement consistent with most video vixens or divas (again, whatever that means).

He (or she) enjoys a cultic following.

Break that statement to a layman.

The thrust of the statement is that the person enjoys the following a cultic leader enjoys. And that is irrespective of the message they are carrying.

An idiot will be singing blasphemy yet will always be invited to perform in church because they have mentioned Jesus in their songs (maybe only once), and probably in sport.

Video is the tool the enemy uses to draw true worshippers away from true worship. And the simple reason is that we love images.

And nothing pampers that love than a video.

Have you seen how ‘progressive’ churches run their ‘worship’ as carbon copies of the ones they see on video? Now would I be wrong if I suggested that they are probably worshipping those videos or the images in them?

Have you noticed how believers will so quickly come to the defense of that video ‘worshipper’ when they get caught up in a sin, from trying to explain his motives (yet they only see them on those videos) to condemning the ones who led them to that sin?

Since when did we become defense attorneys to sinners? Yet they will on the same vein demonize the one pointing that sin out as if they know his motives.

That is the power of images. And that is why I call it idol worship irrespective of the kind of judgment you will pass on me. It will make me a qualified judge of something I know close to nothing about.

Sadly, the world knows about that power. And I know you never ask why advertisers look for these ‘worshippers’ to become the face of their products and services. You do not ask why media houses will offer them those lucrative and highly visible programs when they have little or no knowledge about running them.

You see they are idols. They are worshipped, to put it bluntly. And for mammon that is the strongest point for any product or service. Package a god in your shop and people will be falling over themselves to buy something from you.

In the past, music was appreciated for the message it carried and for musicians its instrumental excellence was added. Nowadays it is the dance. Until churches have become expert in copying those dances in their ‘worship’.

Will we pray that God opens our eyes to this openly open idolatry we are practicing especially in His name?

Scriptural or Not? 3

Where did crusades and door to door outreaches start? I know someone is asking.

I have never taken very keen interest in church history. I will therefore give an educated guess as a student of revival.

When the price for a revival has been paid, God will send conviction through the area targeted by its pursuers.

What that means is that a great spiritual awakening occurs beyond the narrow confines of the structure seeking revival. By structure I do not mean a church building. I mean the ‘church’ seeking revival. And by church I simply mean Christ’s followers in a certain area, many who are not even aware of others’ existence. Only God knows them by name.

That conviction shakes everything in the concerned area, leaving nothing.

That is why liquor dens and brothels close in revival. The fire of God consumes everything in its path, from evil desires to actions.

That hunger for the spiritual draws everybody to a place offering spiritual direction wherever it is. They do not have the luxury of choosing or deciding on the better. Their hunger for the spiritual is such that they will flock to anybody offering spiritual direction.

As things normally stand, spiritual houses (church buildings) and their managers are most times caught totally unawares of the spiritual tenor. This means that they will be suffering from a dearth of the spiritual as they are content with their structure. Remember Jesus and the temple?

The outdoors therefore become automatic venues for instruction. And they will consist of instruction to people who need to understand why they are so convicted. That may explain why they are mistaken for evangelistic campaigns. Many will have had no prior interaction with the God of the Bible and His word and so will be simply babes in the spiritual needing milk.

Another reason is that few, if any, church auditoriums would be big enough to contain the numbers revival would bring into the Kingdom.

Like we see with Jesus and the early church, nobody sent out any invites to the people who would come to those meetings. Their hunger for God’s things and the corresponding spiritual groundwork for revival was the one drawing those masses to the meetings.

I will in passing also mention the tent revival meetings where the church would hold meetings where they would invite revivalists to challenge (more accurately, guide) them about revival. Again these people would be men who have paid the price for revival so that there was no doubt that their relationship with God was one that could be emulated. The church would also be in deep search for revival and so would be ready to pay the price for it. That is why they would set apart weeks to be able to focus on God and His revelation. Remember Ezra?

Contrast that with the characters we invite for our crusades!

I will also hasten to add that that hunger for revival was not driven by material things. It was a purely spiritual hunger.

You see, you can only revive what is dead. It therefore means that those seeking revival had realized their spiritual death and so started calling on God to raise them from it.

Revival is never first aid. You do not revive someone who has fainted. You revive people in morgues.

It is therefore interesting that these days we have churches celebrating revival even without confessing spiritual drought. In other words they want to be raised back to life when they are in their best health. Imagine rushing to the mortuary to be raised to life! Yet that is what many believers and churches today are doing. They are celebrating revival without dealing or even acknowledging their spiritual death or even hunger.

And this is where our generation is getting it wrong. We are copying past revivals without seeking to understand how they came about.

No wonder we are getting away from the scriptures to recreate what past generations got through their spiritual sweat and blood. Sadly, we are using entertainment to ‘do’ it. And we are surprised when nothing similar comes out of our effort.

Then, when it doesn’t work out, we borrow from the world, even from dens of evil and wickedness to attract ‘revival’.

Or don’t you like me wonder what disco lights have to do with the Gospel? What effect does a smoke generator produce in a religious service? What about dance and comedy troupes? We even have seeker sensitive churches!

We have become so desperate for numbers that we are borrowing a leaf from the evil one to keep them in just like he is able to maintain his numbers in those dens of sin.

We forget that people will follow life and light wherever it is. It does not need any packaging.

No danger is adequate to keep a thirsty animal from the only source of water in the desert. The presence of a lion is not enough deterrent for a gazelle to stop visiting the only waterhole.

That is the same with the spiritual. We create baits because we are lacking in the life that the world is looking for. We think people are coming for those attractions and become frustrated when they do not stay despite all our efforts. They came for life and left when they found entertainment.

The Gospel is its own packaging. Let that sink.

It means we ought to clarify what is the Gospel and whether it has absorbed us.

Scriptural or Not? 2

As you continue looking for verses to prove my last post and assertion wrong, I want us to look at the insane cost implications of following the unscriptural route.

And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. (Luke 9:3)

In simple terms, Jesus commanded His disciples to take absolutely nothing when they went for missions.

Everything, from their security (stave or staff) to an extra article of clothing, was the responsibility of the man of peace.

(By the way, man of peace is a word that that has been coined to describe what Jesus expected from the communities He was sending His disciples to)

Jesus therefore expects nothing of those He sends on mission except their spiritual preparation and availability?

The rest would be dependent on the household that will receive him and the message he carries.

No wonder the judgment due to the one rejecting the messenger was to be so dire. You see, rejecting the messenger means rejecting the message, and of course the Originator of it.

They were not to plead to be taken aboard. And they were not to do advance diplomacy to scout for the man of peace. They started their journey to the place they were sent to.

Another important thing to mention is that the messenger did not dictate on the kind of hospitality he would receive. He took whatever he was given. He was not expected to demand or even expect preferential treatment. He ate what they ate, slept where they slept and simply lived as they lived. The only difference was that he had a message he was bringing to them.

Contrast that with the way we do ministry and missions today.

A pastor automatically expects special treatment (remember the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ times?)

A mission is a capital intensive venture. Look at the amounts being wasted (I am using this word with my last post as a basis) planning a mission. In fact the budget spent on the survey itself can support a genuine missionary for years. Yet very little actual mission work results from those thrusts.

Look at the amounts of money being spent on ‘hiring’ a professional evangelist to preach in a mega crusade. Look at the monies being spent hiring or buying sound equipment and also hiring instrumentalists and ‘worship leaders’ (dance troupes and psyching singers). Yet the only fruit is decisions, decisions that have no impact on church attendance or societal transformation.

As we were discussing my friend mentioned a crusade where there were more decisions than the total population of that area.

What is God saying about the way we have been doing our evangelism? Are we willing to change it to be in tandem with God’s revealed strategy?

To make the point clearer, suppose with me that this call came in our times.

Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work that I have for them.

What would it entail? What kind of budget would it require? How much giving would it require before the two finally set off for their mission?

That is how far we have strayed from God’s order of things.

Like the Pharisees, we have substituted God’s word with our traditions. And we will look at those traditions in a later post.

Will we pray that God makes our hearts willing to agree with His vision for reaching the world with His good news? Will we change our methods when they do not agree with His?

Scriptural or Not?

I want to challenge us to look at things we have always done and never questioned.

As usual I will challenge us to look at the scriptures for answers, ready to discard tradition if it stands in opposition to God’s word.

Where do we get scriptural justification for evangelistic crusades?

What about door to door evangelism?

We were discussing this with friends and were at a loss to find any justification for the same, the Bible pointing in a completely opposite direction.

The Bible consistently points at identifying a man of peace, accepting his hospitality and dwelling there as long as you are in their village/ city. And it is the same whether you are looking at the Old Testament or the New.

Could this be the reason we have been unable to evangelise our world even as it continues becoming a global village?

Could we be dissipating all our energies and resources doing something the Bible never told us to do? Could this be the reason that even with all the decisions we continue recording nothing happens to bring more people to church or even change the spiritual tenor of society?

Have we commercialized the Gospel, running it the way we do successful businesses? Are we using fleshy (mammon) standards to gauge our success as evangelists?

For your discussion let me suggest this;

The way we do our evangelism is unscriptural. This means that we can never expect a spiritual harvest therein.

The fact that we have done it for generations that way is no reason for us to continue in error as God will never support our erroneous practice.

God is only bound to His word. Never will our traditions move God otherwise.

Let us share those verses. I am waiting to be hit by them, even knocked to sense.

And in closing let me ask something I have addressed earlier.

Where in the Bible is Christ called someone’s personal Savior?

God bless you