Rewarding Iniquity

 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. (Genesis 15:16)

 I want to say something our motivational preachers and writers will not say; that sin has a day of reckoning. Not only that, but God’s grace is such that there is enough time given them to turn from their iniquity, short of which they will receive the full reward for the life they led.

 Psalm 73 starts by the psalmist feeling discouraged that the wicked are seeming to have all the fun for their impunity that it appears as if it does not pay to live according to God’s revelation.

 Until God appears and opens his eyes to what reality is.

 Impunity against God can only be short lived. It has a shelf life beyond which tables are turned.

 They will then, like the Amorites of old, need to be completely displaced. In fact it will be a sin for the one tasked with their displacement to show them any mercy.

 Or don’t you remember that Saul was rejected for that simple reason?

 Even the troubles with Israel began when they refused to exterminate the Amorites as per God’s order.

 What am I saying?

 Just look at these grabbers and wheeler-dealers amassing extreme wealth at the expense of the populace they swore to serve and even campaigned vigorously to convince that they will be at their service. Look at these people who are taking advantage of an illness they have called pandemic to squeeze every last dollar into their pocket. Look at these people who have grabbed all the land so that an entire country almost belongs to them. Look at these who have grabbed shares in all major corporations and bought almost all the other companies so that they can run the country as their entity as they have a controlling stake in every part of the economy.

 How can a doctor’s salary wait even as we pour billions on a nonsensical and narrow political stake increasing amendment? And they are not even ashamed to plead with the doctors and other health workers to continue dying since their greed cannot wait!

 How callous can someone be?

 But I am sure that this is going to end soon; I suspect before our generation disappears. Their iniquity is about to reach its end. And like the Amorites of old God will take their case into His hands and rid history of them and their memories.

 There are names on everybody’s lips that you will look all over and not find a single member once this happens.

Remember Jeroboam, Baasha and Ahab?

 That is what I mean.

 Some names are about to disappear completely. And it is because they have for a long time treated people God created as pawns to their greed, twisting them for their own purpose and convincing them that their selfish interest is national interest.

 They create enmity between friends and family to be able to continue eating. They even manipulate and create wars to continue to eat.

 I repeat; the day of reckoning is at the door.

 Do I call on them to repent? Have they reached a point of no return that as was in Jeremiah’s time he was asked not to waste his time praying for them?

 I do not know. But there is no harm in their repentance. Though they probably have succeeded so much in their wickedness that they think God is harmless or doesn’t even care.

 The day is coming, soon

Corruption Rides on This

And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. (Luke 3:14)

God’s servants have no problem speaking to power, or at least they are not supposed to have any.

When you see one, or are one and are scared of speaking to power, it really means that you are serving another lord.

Why do people fear speaking to power?

The answer is simple, they have power. Meaning they can snuff you at will.

But they will not only snuff you when you speak against them. Uriah was killed for his commitment to duty. Fearing to speak to power is therefore not as safe as you think.

John the Baptist died for speaking to power. But his message endures to date. And he is the one I want us to look at today.

People want to associate with the man of God. Even power wants to associate with the man of God.

I suspect that John the Baptist did not ambush Herod. He did not break security protocol to speak to him. The probability is that Herod sought John’s audience. Then John issued the indictment that led to his assassination.

What do we see in this verse?

John is preaching in the wilderness and people are flocking there, all kinds of people. Isn’t it interesting that we think people will join us when we take our crusades where they are or where they are comfortable?

Anyway, power looks for him; publicans and soldiers. They want him to address their plight.

Do you realize that he kills corruption with the last statement he makes?

Be content with your wages.

The harassment and mistreatment and harshness have their source in the heart, a discontent heart.

And it goes all the way from parliamentarians to governors to presidents to kings. It even includes ministers like me.

Being dissatisfied with my lot is what breeds corruption and almost every other vice.

I can’t bet if I am content. I can’t steal or handle stolen property if I am content.

Look at this verse.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. (1Timothey 6:6)

I will not reach out for what is not mine if I am content with what I have.

I won’t look for that side chick (imagine being equated with chicken?) if I am content with my wife. And I won’t be all over looking for greener pastures, from lands to continents to investment opportunities if I am content with what I presently have.

This does not mean the death of ambition. Discontent breeds greed instead of the meeting of needs.

That your wife was beautiful when you married her is certain. That there are more beautiful girls being born and showing up all over is also not in doubt. And that the outward beauty of your wife is fading is also certain.

But knowing that your wife has something all other women combined do not have is the treasure most miss. She has your DNA. She has your children and house. She is part of who you are. Like the Bible says she is the wife of your youth.

You are the one who has aged her, either gracefully or otherwise.

Looking elsewhere is therefore an indictment on yourself. It is akin to growing your garden yet in harvest stretching out to your neighbor’s field.

Discontent is the reason we think that grass is greener the other side. It is the reason the neighbor’s TV has better pictures than yours. And it is the reason you must have a new job all too often.

In short, discontent creates a scenario where you stop looking at what you have as you are concentrating on what everybody else has.

Let me paint contentment using this example.

There are two people doing the same job and earning the same salary or wages and one is content while the other isn’t.

Do you realize that the content will effectively budget for that pittance even as his colleague is wasting his looking all over for a break? He will therefore accomplish infinitely more even as his colleague is wasting his searching.

Of course the content will be a better worker than the discontent since the content is at home even as his friend lives in a transit camp.

Due to that, the content will easily see new opportunities since he is not on the lookout for them. They are the ones looking for the diligence in him.

He will have more available money than the discontent since he uses his wisely due to the fact that he is not preparing for any extra. This means that he is able to invest better. His investments also appreciate faster because he is not in any hurry to dispose them. It means that people will many times be pleading with him to sell as opposed to the discontent who will be pleading with people to buy.

He will also be out of debt since he has no expectation or planning beyond his income.

Of course he will be dependable since he can always be found at his post.

These are a few advantages of being content with your wages. Mark you it doesn’t have a starting or ending point for those wages. It means that someone content with earning the minimum wage could accomplish more than someone earning six figures and is not content with it.

And life demonstrates that. How many people do you know who own property yet earned very little when people who were top of the food chain in terms of employment have nothing, unless it is the reward of corruption which washes away when they leave those offices? How many started very lowly and grew very big yet collapsed when greed took over?

Have you ever seen a content person being conned or scammed like they say nowadays?

Discontent breeds greed. And greed breeds these other vices, and of course folly.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. (Luke 12:15)

Jesus is rephrasing what John was saying.

Discontent is equated with chasing a shifty shadow when there are moving clouds overhead. Like Solomon stated in his desperate conclusion it is like chasing or grasping the wind.

Contentment creates a healthy work ethic. It makes someone diligent, the kind the Bible says opens doors with royalty. And it will be because royalty will be looking for them, not the other way round. And it is the same that makes a servant divide the inheritance with sons.

Let me give a few scenarios.

Look at two C students with ambition to excel.

The content will work his way to improve his grades, meaning he will improve slowly. His colleague simply buys the A grade. And that trend will go on throughout life.

Or two people are working at the same place. The content will work hard while the other will look for shortcuts at promotion using whatever means they can. The content will grow slowly through the ranks due to his hard work while his colleague will simply catapult through promotions.

Life is the one that will distinguish them as it has no such shortcuts. I can’t buy shortcuts in life.

This is why you will see insanely successful professionals falling into depression, getting into drugs and even committing suicide, many because they hijacked the process.

Contentment gives me the drive to improve on my lot, not move away from it.

If my marriage has issues, I will aim at improving the relationship with my wife instead of looking for another relationship or escape routes like alcohol.

Our children will be the evidence of how we live our life as they will amplify our values.

Ruth did not get married to Boaz because she positioned herself to be noticed. She simply became the best in gathering scraps that she simply couldn’t be ignored. It was her diligence and not her ambition that elevated her.

David did not become king because he was super ambitious. He was simply the best at worshiping God alone with the sheep that someone in the palace knew of an excellent player of the harp who could heal a rejected king.

The long and short of what I mean is that the secret to true success is being content with what we have and where we are. Then, and only then do we have any capacity to improve on it.

Let me close with the verse for us ministers

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Timothy 2:15)

If you are content and are wondering why you appear to be always last, please read Psalm 73 for the sober dose from heaven.

Corona and Other Killer Diseases

As always I will throw a few stones on the narrative.

Before corona, Cancer was being pushed to be declared a national disaster.

Has corona killed cancer? Or what has happened that nowadays nobody is dying of cancer? 

What about diabetes, TB, hypertension and the many other diseases that were decimating our populace? 

What has happened to the abundance of information about what we need to do to manage those diseases? 

Just asking.

Prosperity Folly

 Ever wondered what would have happened had Christ been a prosperity preacher?

He meets Peter and his team and performs the mega miracle of bringing the fish from all over to fill their boats to overflowing. Then Peter falls before Him asking Him to go away since he was a sinner.

Jesus could have simply asked him to just go ahead and sell the fish and bring a worthy offering.

What about Matthew?

Since he must have been earning a good salary, he could have been reminded to invest in the kingdom. There was no need of leaving employment since the kingdom had more need for that offering. He could simply increase his worth in the kingdom by increasing his giving.

And the rich young ruler would not have gone back sad since he could have been allowed to use his wealth to pamper the kingdom in preparation for his later joining it. Or isn’t investing into the kingdom better than wasting all on the poor who may not even appreciate it?

Zacchaeus could have been rebuked for giving the poor instead of the kingdom. You see, he would not even need to compensate those he had defrauded since giving into the kingdom would sanitise the rest.

And since Judas was their first pope, the lady who wasted expensive perfume on Jesus could have been guided into better usage of that perfume.

The only problem is that Jesus as the King does not need investments into His kingdom. His kingdom is sufficient and lacks nothing.

The only thing a king needs is unfettered obedience

Sex is Spiritual

How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. (Isaiah 1:21)

Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. (Nahum 3:4)

Sex is not a simple physical or biological function.

From the scriptures, we see great focus on the spiritual aspect of sex than on the physical one.

Among some of the indicators was the prohibition of marriage to people of other faiths and priests being forbidden to marry someone who had had sex. That was unless they were previously married to a priest.

You also see that adultery is always associated with witchcraft and their sentences were also similar. I don’t know whether you realize that apart from idolatry, Jezebel was also full of whoredoms. Why would a queen sleep around?

It is thus safe to assume that she got her power to run Ahab and his kingdom through sleeping around since there was no money she needed to earn from her prostitution.

Again, look at Baal Peor. Nobody was invited to that god directly. Moab just paraded slay queens to tempt Israeli men. Once they decided to fall for them, the deal was complete. They then automatically started worshiping the Moabite gods. Sex was the introduction they needed. In short, sex was the gateway to idolatry.

Remember Michal? She was completely devoted to David to the point of defying her father to save his life. But then after David fled she was given to another man.

Then after his coronation he had her brought back. But she had changed.

How can someone who was dedicated to an outlaw turn her back on his God when he becomes king? It goes without say that it was due to her interaction with other spirits in that other marriage.

Does it surprise you that the Bible’s commandments on sex appear too stringent? Why do you think they are like that?

God created sex as a spiritual activity. The physical aspect is the doorway to that spiritual covenant making whether you know it or not.

For example, have you ever wondered why harlots are for the most part beautiful and well formed? Why don’t they get married? And why is it that the average and below average beauty girls rarely, if ever, fail to get husbands?

I suspect beautiful girls, due to their beauty and appeal, get tricked into the sex covenant, many times by men much older than them (many have no place for their age mates anyway). The spirits entered into (since it is a sinful intercourse) will then start controlling the girl, getting into deeper and deeper sin. That until sex becomes her profession.

Don’t tell me about her fending for her children unless you can tell me where those children came from.

Another telling situation that explains this is infidelity.

Someone can swindle one of all their earnings and that will leave a temporary impact. Someone can mistreat, even torture someone and the damage, though it might last long, will somehow wear out.

Why then is it impossible to completely forgive or even forget infidelity?

Mandela was known for his forgiveness, even forgiving those who tortured him in the 27 years he was in prison. Yet he was unable to extend the same grace to his wife who had endured as much adversity for being his wife as he had endured in prison.

And I am sure that was the reason David killed Uriah when he refused to fall for his ploy of covering up their affair. He simply could not have looked the other way once he realized that his wife was pregnant with another man’s child. And that was the Bible’s prescription.

And of course you remember Joseph trying to divorce Mary secretly when he realized that she was pregnant.

That does not happen when a spouse wastes common resources. Even drunkenness can be tolerated. But sex outside marriage is on another plane altogether.

It is because sex is spiritual. Adultery therefore means transferring spiritual devotion to another, something that is irreversible as it has already nullified the first union.

When a man takes a wife, and marries her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. When she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's [wife]. If the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Yahweh: and you shall not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 24: 1 – 4 WEB)

Though divorce was allowed due to the hardness of hearts, remarriage was not. Doing so is on the same plain with incest, bestiality and homosexuality.

Sex is a serious matter. Trivializing it has very harsh consequences, starting with the spiritual realm.

It can be compared to witchcraft. You can trash it all you want and will be as safe as the distance between you and spiritual compromise. You see, living right and with the right relationship with God actually trumps witchcraft.

Witchcraft is a heightened activation of demons into the physical (if I may call it that). This means that they can access anybody walking according to their standard, which is sin. They simply cannot access anybody outside their realm unless as with Job God allows them and gives limitations to how far they should go.

But I can never be safe if I am interacting with their realm because they do not need permission to deal with me.

Sadly, that is what compromise in sex does. It allows demons a field day in our lives and bodies.

But it goes farther. It introduces demons into someone’s life since it is a spiritual intercourse. It means there is an interaction and interchange of demons. Meaning that they can now legally start running one’s life.

It explains why sex (what some think is a simple physical or biological function like eating) can be so destructive. How such an activity can wreck a marriage and cause depression and many other ills. How it can become compulsive and illogical.

Or do you not wonder who impregnates those ‘despicable’ and dirty mad women in the markets and where and how they do it. You will be shocked to realize that it could be the people being held high in society. And I have a few who have witnessed some of that.

Illicit sex invites demon possession because it is a spiritual exercise, an exercise fighting against God and His standards.

It is therefore for our profit that the Bible places so many caveats on sex outside its God ordained boundaries. And we will be wise and safe following them.

 

God’s Display

I think we all can remember the adage ‘It is when God is the Only one you are left with that you realize that God is all you need’, or something like that.

Many times we see God more as an accessory than the bedrock of our faith. Of course we dare not confess that as we fear offending Him. We will therefore pray even as we look elsewhere for more predictable solutions for our crises. Like I like to say we pray with one eye open.

But sometimes everything blocks.

Then we are left with no option but praying, and waiting for God.

Then He will show up as God, the ultimate in everything because He has nobody and nothing to be compared with.

Remember Gideon in hiding?

His options had narrowed until he had actually no option.

Then God stepped in and the whole narrative changed.

Remember David facing Goliath? Again his confession was not optional. It was that God stepped in or the war was lost. But then He stepped in.

Remember the three Hebrew boys? The case was the same; a lost cause unless God stepped in. But of course we know the outcome.

But faith does not operate on desperation. It requires us to create those options for God to step in. It requires us blocking other options to allow God to shine on His own without us feeling as if we need to confess Him to just avoid offending Him.

You see, it is funny when I confess that God gave me a job when I actually know that it was my connections that did it. It is funny when I say that God gave me a wife when I know it was my ingenuity that won her over.

What am I implying?

We are supposed to confess Him when we are walking in obedience to His revelation, even if you get bored with my repeating this fact again and again.

That God uses people is not in doubt. But there is a difference between Him moving them and when I have done it. And at the back of my mind I could actually know the difference.

When I do what He asks of me (which is usually contrary to common or even popular opinion and sense), I am opening myself to God showing up in my situation.

And sometimes it is so bad that like Gideon we have to use a fleece to confirm that the command is from Him because it looks way off. And God is not scared of those fleeces. I once laid such a ‘fleece’ because I really did not want to do what I felt He was asking of me and He outperformed my doubt.

But we lay fleeces when we are ready to follow through with what He is commanding, not to satisfy our curiosity.

Following Him opens us to the supernatural.

In closing let me ask this.

What command has God issued you with?

Are you sure it is from Him? If not, laying a fleece won’t hurt.

Will you then follow through with what you are now sure He has told you? Then step aside (by obeying) and give Him the chance to show off because you will have locked out other seekers of glory, even yourself

God Uses People

… to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66:2b)

God showed me one person whose disability has opened tremendous doors and influence.

Then He asked me to tell them that, NO, disability was not the main thing. It was only a vehicle God used to expand their ministry, though it might not even look like ministry. He can make use of any other vehicle to use them. He can even heal them of that disability and use them even better if they continue being submitted to His Lordship.

In short, God uses people, people who are submitted to Him.

It is at that point that everything else falls in place to make us perform His commission.

But we love things. And our eyes only see things. We therefore apportion them more credit than the important things, our obedience, our growth, our faith, our character.

You see, God as creator owns everything and doesn’t require permission to use it. It is us He needs to allow Him. Them He can release everything we will require to be used as He wills.

It reminds me of the time I was a musician. I could tie my ministry to music, to singing, to instruments since they opened almost every door of ministry then. I then thought that Gituma without music as a nonstarter in anything ministry.

Then God ordered me to put that all down. Of course I couldn’t hear. Then He stopped it. My guitar got lost, I lost interest in the accordion I had just bought. Then He started opening other doors with no attachment at all to my musical gift, or talent if it makes you feel better.

Many times we think it is the abilities He has given us that make us ministers.

The reality is that those abilities are vehicles to us ministering. He uses us then gifts us with tools to make us more effective ministers.

That is the reality in the spiritual realm.

And that is why God judges us for faithfulness instead of impact.

Like the set of verses I most quote it explains why we see very powerful ministers heading to hell in Matthew 7.

God is interested in you and not what He has given you. It is you He will hold accountable to the way you use those vehicles He gives you to perform His orders.

Remember God created a fish to carry Jonah from rebellion to obedience? Remember that even a talking donkey was not enough to swamp the greed of a prophet? Remember Philip did not need to walk or even a chariot to move from the desert once his commission was complete? Remember when the prison was not enough to hold Peter because he had a few things he needed done?

But it is important to realize that it is God’s commission that dictates the vehicles we get.

Or you do not remember Stephen praising even as he was being stoned to death? Or Paul being stoned to ‘death’? Or the heroes of faith we see in Hebrews 11? It is not surprising to believers that Elisha who raised the dead died of illness.

The short and long of what I am saying is that God is the only One holding the reins of our lives.

He therefore determines the vehicles He apportions us to enable to obey Him.

You limitation could be you vehicle as your strength could be. Your lack could be your vehicle as could your abundance.

What this means is that we will need to be completely submitted to God and sold out to His revelation.

Otherwise we could use what I have just explained as a pretext for spiritual lethargy.

We must seek God and His will. Only then can we effectively make use of whatever vehicles He gives us and especially to distinguish those vehicles from the snares the enemy clones as vehicles to entrap us.

Or haven’t you seen ministers whose breakthroughs completely emasculated the cutting edge of their ministry? Remember Solomon and King Saul and Hezekiah among many others whose beginning and faith and ministry was great yet they ended up in regret.

And pray for me. God is opening the door for such a vehicle for me, a vehicle He spoke and I wrote about in 2013 as ‘Varsity on the Hill’. In fact it is the reason I have not been able to post as consistently as before since I am engaged in laying things on the ground. I am trusting that by the end of this month God will have completed the provision of the chapter. But please pray.

Dangers of Focus

 You know how negative I am about motivational teachings.

It is therefore no surprise that some of my posts counter most of their stuff.

But let me explain why motivation is many times contrary to faith.

Motivation is focused on self; self gratification, self fulfillment, self this, self that.

The Gospel however is Christ focused as He is the author and finisher of our faith.

The Gospel is not comfortable as it does not pamper us like motivation does.

But motivation is so attractive, many times making us extremely pumped up before reality dawns.

But let me get to my topic, focus and determination.

Have you ever wondered what kept pharaoh so determined that he eventually led his choice army drowning into the sea?

Why could he not give up even after the trumping he got from the ten plagues?

He was determined to prove a point, that he was his own man and does not take anybody’s orders. And he had enough allies who believed in him as such. They therefore helped keep his focus on that fact.

Pharaoh said, "Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don't know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go." (Exodus 5:2)

Imagine that a cloud has separated his army from Israel the whole night. Then the sea has dried to allow Israel to pass through.

How come he was unable to see that something beyond the ordinary was happening? Why couldn’t he connect these miracles to the ones that forced him to release Israel? Why couldn’t he remember his people earlier pleading with him to concede since Egypt was destroyed?

His focus was implacable. Nothing could change that focus for anything.

You see, what in the pursuit of a good thing is positive can be extremely destructive in the pursuit of the wrong thing. Incidentally it is the same even if purpose is the name we give it.

Let me give an analogy. A telescope is a very useful tool for the astronomer. But it would be extremely dangerous if you sought to use it to walk the streets. And that is the danger of focus when not directed by and to God and His revelation. We can very clearly see things that are unrelated to the present and eternity. Sadly, we might completely lose any relationship we had with reality.

And pharaoh is not the only one we see in the scriptures.

Judas walked and ministered with Christ but was focused on money. That is why he went out when Jesus commended a woman who wasted a fortune on dusty feet. He couldn’t take such waste.

Saul focused on being king that he was unable to see the One who gave him the commission. The one who spared fatlings to sacrifice had no qualms slaughtering a city of priests. Knowing David was the anointed king was not enough to stop him from seeking to kill him though he knew that he couldn’t  kill him since he couldn’t change God’s declaration.

Even Saul of Tarsus had no problem forcing people to blaspheme so that he could then arrest them for the blasphemy because he was focused on maintaining the purity of his faith.

Cain loved approval to the extent that he killed his brother to eliminate competition for the same.

Sadly, telescopic vision (focus), when it loses the view of spiritual reality, opens us to the evil one.

That is the reason we see pastors visiting witches to grow their ministry and not see anything wrong with it. That is the actual basis of corruption; a brutal focus on self.

A focus in the wrong context is dangerous. In fact, a focus for its own sake is evil.

Zealots are people so committed to what they believe that they will trash any contrary belief or practice. In our days we call them extremists. They will kill, maim, rape and raze everything in their way to purify their religion. And this is why I say that they give the devil a field day. Sometimes I suspect the devil is shocked that they have become more evil than he is. Yet they believe that is a pursuit of the God of justice.

I am sure you are wondering what the right context of focus is.

For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (1Corinthians 2:2)

Or like Paul said in Philippians, let this mind be in you that was in Christ.

Christ came with an assignment that defined His focus. Focusing on Him will therefore purify our focus.

Even focusing only on His promises and what He has done for us is not right as it breeds entitlement since I am the focus.

For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him; (Colossians 1: 16 – 19)

Incidentally, the part that suffers most is ministry when it gets focused elsewhere as it will then depend on the ingenuity or creativity of the minister. No wonder many have forgotten about sin, righteousness and judgment, some of the main things the Holy Spirit empowers us for.

When you hear people describing what they call worship you get to discover where their focus is.

Imagine boring worship! Who is the object there? And of course there are many other descriptions.

We are either focused on God and His revelation (the Bible) or our focus is destructive. And that is so even when we are doing spiritual things.

What is your focus? Where is your focus?

Understanding Prophecy

For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (James 1:23)

I want us to look at prophecy in a slightly different way to help us understand, and probably demystify it from what many think it is.

Prophecy is not a science or art. Prophecy is not a mysterious undertaking that only the extremely skilled can access.

Let me give an analogy.

Look at the world as a huge building being constructed and each person as a workman in the project.

An architect drew the whole project to the smallest detail.

Prophecy is like the draughtsman. He is the one who interprets the architectural drawing to the workers so that they can accurately do their part.

He helps us understand the small details the foreman may overlook because he lacks the skills and training a draughtsman has. He can only interpret the big picture from the architectural plans.

Each of us has the architectural drawing (the Bible) that helps us know the part we are building.

Then we have foremen (ministers, leaders) to help unite what we are building (our small portion) with the entire building.

The draughtsman (prophet) helps us see the small portions that we could very easily overlook either in our small portion or even the corporate part.

The draughtsman and foreman are partners. None is bigger or better than the other as only their responsibilities differ.

In fact even the normal builder is not smaller than them because they all have one boss, the owner of the building and drawer of the architectural plans

For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble; each man's work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man's work is. (1Corinthians 3: 11 – 13)

Prophecy therefore serves to unite the church in becoming the best that God has for each one of us.

It is important to realize that the draughtsman does not introduce anything new in the building. He is only able to interpret the very small details others easily overlook.

Incidentally it is the same with prophecy. Prophets do not introduce anything new; otherwise they are called soothsayers or fortune tellers. They will seem to introduce new things because they are able to clearly see things everybody else is blind to. They are able to see cultures we have developed and the hardening of our hearts over the years even as we think we are spiritually healthy. They are able to see those petty sins that hamper our growth and impact.

That is the reason the Bible is a very important for the prophet. In fact any prophet who does not recognize the importance of the Bible in his ministry is as off as the fortune teller since the context of any prophecy is the word of God.

Remember that even Jesus validated His ministry using the Bible? That the One who gave the word used the scriptures to demonstrate who He was and what He came to do?

That is why I am equating the prophet to a draughtsman; the one who can clearly hear what God is saying and reporting it.

A prophet is called false when he shifts his focus from the architectural drawing to the comfort of workers because that beats his purpose. In fact in Jeremiah he is called a worker of iniquity. A good and exciting word can never make the worker see those things only the draughtsman can.

That is why the motivational preacher (and many prophets nowadays are such) is such a danger to the church because he shifts the focus from obedience to comfort and fulfillment of believers. Those who pretend to use the scriptures choose only the juicy verses and blank out whole portions of the scriptures that do not fit their popularity and fame seeking narrative.

Other prophets (and preachers) are spiritual terrorists or bandits; ‘encouraging’ (which is actually threatening) believers to give this or the other otherwise …

Will we love the scriptures as to base our whole beings and ministry on them?

This is a poor analogy but I hope it has made some to realize what God expects of us and especially how we look at prophets

Revisiting Corona

It was evident to most that the purpose of the narrative on the virus was to usher global control through a cashless society. That is the only way Revelation 13: 17 can be actualized.

The latest ‘research finding’ confirms it. Imagine they are saying that the virus is active in money for almost a month!

It is only that they were in so much of a hurry that they introduced more drastic measures, measures that eroded the fear that was to be the vehicle to advance the change.

They pushed for lockdowns when many of us were calling them impractical and punishing. Interestingly, the WHO that was shouting loudest about the need for the lockdowns, even the most brutal, has now officially called them what the sensible were calling them, punishing. Then they fought for schools to be closed and are now fighting for them to be reopened.

I won’t be surprised to hear them saying that face masks are suffocating and poisoning as we all know.

But I suspect this was just a test run on how to control the whole world by creating a narrative from anywhere.

Do not therefore be surprised if you hear a new thing being pushed, especially riding on the back of fear.

Corona was just the sickness that came (or was brought) to create the kind of scenario they needed to test their theories on human control. And it will disappear once they have finished their research.

Otherwise explain to me why countries that trashed that narrative do not have as many casualties as those who bought it?

The schemers have gone back to their boardrooms to restrategize. And they will be back.

And ministers are still shouting follow the guidelines, guidelines that even the ones giving them do not follow and will change at a whim.

Shouldn’t we be about knowing what Christ is ordering us to do? Otherwise we will be taking the ones we lead to take the mark when in the next new thing they will be introducing it becomes a requirement, especially as it will not be called the mark of the beast or even mention the antichrist.

You see, they know that those who read the Bible know about the mark of the beast and so must be very foolish to package it as such. It surely must be packaged as something of great convenience, classy and fashionable and of course secure. And they must have the church leaders to market it as have the pyramid schemes over the eons.

Of course through this narrative they have known how to rope in the church leadership to their agenda without much effort.

My prayer is that the church (the bride of Christ) is not caught up in this error that the visible church leadership has sunk into. That we have leaders who continue to listen and obey what our Commander says. I pray that I am one such leader.

When Fame Overflows Your Banks

Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands? (1Samuel 29:5)

Have you realized that David in this instance had been in hiding on foreign lands for some years?

Yet his efforts at hiding were always hampered by his earlier fame. He had established a definition.

Incidentally there were no newspapers and TV and so you may wonder how the Philistines knew how he looked like. Yet they knew. And this is the second time he is found out.

I recently posted about Peter and how his speech gave him away when was trying his best to melt into the woodwork. Then I have also posted of beautiful feet and the fact that they are not what eyes call beautiful, meaning that they are found in the wrong places, humanly speaking. Of course much earlier I posted to show that sin is always exposed however much we may try to hide it.

Today I want us to realize that our position in the spiritual realm can also not be hidden, and that whether we were trying to do so or not.

A pastor gave me this testimony, his.

He at one time got completely exhausted and disappointed in ministry as can happen to the best of us, and decided he was done with serving God.

He therefore decided to sin in a way that would force God to disqualify him, sleep with a harlot.

He decided to travel to a distant town where chances of being known would be slim and then look for a brothel.

Then what happens? The first harlot he meets falls on his feet.

‘Pastor, please help me’, she cried out to him. And he has to become a pastor once again.

He got back home and after another punishing season of ministry still decides to go to a different distant town to do the same thing. And the scenario was repeated.

That is when he realized that there was no way to get away from the responsibilities God had placed on him. And that is what we see with Jonah’s story.

What we are and what we do in the spiritual realm is broadcast throughout the spiritual realm, and especially in the opposing realm.

Again I remember the many times I have gone to churches nobody knows me and wanted to enjoy for once being on the back bench learning from others. I therefore sit at the most unobtrusive position so that nobody notices me.

Then out of nowhere (or so I think) someone comes from the front to where I am ‘hiding’ and invites me to share the word yet I there are other visitors in the congregation.

One time we had gone to visit a lady who found faith and salvation (plus of course great release) as we ministered. She therefore became very committed to ‘our’ church.

Incidentally, she came from a great distance and came carrying a very heavy son, too heavy for many young people in church to even lift. Yet she came to church punctually, even before some leaders had arrived.

I therefore purposed to visit her with the young man I was discipling using the motor bike I was using then. And the distance was long even on the bike.

Sadly, we found that she was not at home. We waited for some time but decided to leave because it was becoming late even with a bike. We therefore decided to leave.

But on the way we found our path blocked by the villagers. They then told us that we looked like preachers and therefore they had decided that they would not allow us to leave their village before we preached to them. Of course it was a pleasure for me to do so. Yet none of us had ever seen the other.

We are known as ministers of Christ. We therefore cannot hide even if we wanted.

I feel this is very instructive even as we approach times when living our faith will be dangerous. I am talking about times when persecution will be legal worldwide as it is in countries with Muslim and other demonic religious majorities.

Like the persecuted church over the ages, we must learn to live in such a way that our visibility does not hamper the witness of the church.

What do I mean? I know someone is wondering.

Being that visible in the spiritual realm, picking me and putting me out of circulation is no big deal. I should therefore live and minister in such a way that I am making as many as possible as portent as I am in the spiritual realm before my time comes. And that is what the persecuted church continues to do to survive even as we are fighting to remain relevant and visible.

Incidentally that is the only thing Christ commanded us to be doing, making disciples.

Do you realize that the word Christian appears much later in the book of Acts? The word before then was disciple, meaning that the focus of the church was teaching like Christ commanded. Incidentally even the word Christian was not the flimsy weight we make it today.

We should be in the business of raising other ministers since that is our calling as ministers.

Look at one favorite verse our generation loves quoting.

He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4: 11 – 16)

Why we love verse 11 and conveniently ignore verse 12 beats comprehension.

God did not call us to star. Christ is the Morning Star and does not need any other star.

We are supposed to be raising believers who are just like Christ.

And we do that by focusing on making ourselves the best copies of Christ we can be so that they cannot be misled when they copy us.

Remember Paul advising the church to imitate him as he imitated Christ?

We can have the boldness to tell people that if we are fully committed to a life of complete obedience. Then we won’t be scared if we produce clones of ourselves because we are confirmed clones of Christ. And I say this because we are always producing clones of ourselves as we minister, especially at the leadership level. We do not therefore get to choose whether we will produce clones or not. We can only determine by our lives the kind of clones we will produce.

Our clones will be just like us.

That is why a superstar minister produces superstar clones, a Bible bending minister produces Bible bending clones, a promise claiming minister produces the same, a greedy minister produces a greedy clone, and so on. And that was how Peter was able to be recognized even when he was swearing otherwise.

Would it not be better for the church when our potency is not for display? That those who can recognize us do not do so because we seek to attract attention?

This is because our ‘children’ will be just like us. Then even if they will arrest us they will have our clones to deal with.

Beautiful Feet

 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns! (Isaiah 52:7)

How were those feet beautiful?

Do you realize that they most likely did not have shoes?

They were dusty and dirty and hard and cracked. They were scratched and blistered. They had some toe nails missing. They were probably bleeding from one point or the other from knocking a rock or boulder too hard. They have encountered a serpent or scorpion and survived it. They have adequate evidence of thorns and thistles tearing them. They probably had an encounter with a jigger or two.

In short, those feet have seen it all.

And therein is their beauty. It is not the beauty of the catwalk. It is not a fashion display beauty. It is not a parade beauty.

It is a functional beauty. To borrow from a worn thread, it can be like a comparison between a slay queen and good wife.

These feet are beautiful yet it is not a beauty for display.

For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2)

What they do is where their beauty originates from.

They are up and down taking the Gospel where it is needed

Bystanders will not appreciate that beauty. In fact they call it ugly, despicable. Not many of you (if any) will willingly welcome them to your carpeted and sparkling clean house. Not many of you will give them lodging in your feathered bed because you may have to discard those beddings when they leave.

Yet you will realize that this is what taking the Gospel to the nations entails. In fact it is what real ministry is like.

The trophies we carry are not for display. They are many times what the world looks as shameful, like Paul enumerated in 2 Corinthians 11.

Beautiful feet are not those expensive autos or exclusive dwellings. They are not found in those holidays and conferences in big cities.

They will still be dusty and dirty and cracked and wounded.

That is the beauty God sees. That is the beauty God admires. That is the beauty God rewards.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet. And the conveniences of our day are not found on the mountains.

Mountains are places of exertion, energy, exhaustion.

Are your feet beautiful in God’s eyes?

A Wheelbarrow Discourse

 Being on a high horse or speaking from a high horse is a simple English phrase meaning one does not understand because of their privilege or status.

There have recently been many arguments about wheelbarrows with some saying it is demeaning to give such gifts. Yet none of those goes to the recipients to ask why they are so enthusiastic when receiving them.

When I was growing up, only the rich could afford a wheelbarrow. I think I only knew one wheelbarrow when I was small. They were like radios where there was one in the whole village (or a few villages) where old men would gather to follow current affairs.

Before speaking from our high horses, we should go to the grassroots (that is what politicians always pretend to protect) to find out whether those gadgets make any difference.

Speaking to people down there you might be shocked to realize that that one wheelbarrow is what one requires to move up the social ladder.

Since the wheelbarrows (I hear) were primarily meant for hawking fruits and vegetables, what would you do if you were told that all the wheelbarrows in a certain place belong to one tycoon who then hires them out to traders for probably 100/- a day whether one sold anything or not?

Can you imagine the difference it would make to the trader if they had their own wheelbarrow? Do you think you will speak like you are doing?

And I am writing this because I speak to a few hustlers (the trending word).

Sadly, it is the same thing with trolleys and handcarts (mikokoteni). The pushers pay to use them.

I one time asked why someone insisted on carrying load I thought was too heavy yet he had a trolley and that is what he told me. He makes 100% heaving and puffing but only 50% when he uses the trolley since the owner takes the other 50%. And you want to tell people having his own trolley won’t make a difference in his life!

To a farmer a wheelbarrow is even more precious. And I am speaking as someone who farmed with and without one. Imagine the amount of time a farmer saves using a barrow looking for feed for his animals. And a peasant farmer (the majority of our farming community) cannot afford one.

Please do not use your stinginess to pour scorn on someone trying to make a difference in one person.

Unless you have something more empowering to do. And even then just do your thing. We have too many people to help that by the time you have touched enough you will realize that you have not even scratched the surface of need.

Stop politicizing need. It will backfire on you so badly as God is always on the side on the powerless.

 

Will Your Speech Betray You?

 After a little while those who stood by came and said to Peter, "Surely you are also one of them, for your speech makes you known." (Matthew 26:73)

Have you ever wondered whether people would know your faith if you pretended otherwise? Would your speech betray you?

Peter was in such a fix. He was amidst a hostile crowd at night. Not only did he need to warm himself from the cold of the night, he had to blend in because the agenda of the crowd gathered in the night’s cold was to ensure that his hero, rabbi and Lord died. He would therefore be as exposed as his master if this crowd got to know that he was in His team and that is not a comfortable thought in that dark night.

But his association with Christ could not be concealed for long. Though he even tried his old fishing lingua he was unable to shake the continuous discipleship he had undergone under Christ. Even swearing (provably the strongest effort he made to be so unlike Christ) was inadequate to shield him from exposure.

Simply speaking, every effort at lying to prove that he was part of the crowd was inadequate to hide his close association to the soon to be crucified Master.

Probably it was in the way he spoke those curses that betrayed him. Maybe it was his gestures that betrayed him. Maybe it was his insistence on the fact that he did not belong to Christ that betrayed him. Maybe it was his intense effort to try to blend in that betrayed him. Maybe it was his gentleness and authority when trying to prove his point.

But the important fact is that he was unable to distance himself from his closeness to Christ however hard he tried.

That dangerous truth I always repeat surfaces. A tree is known by the fruit it produces. Nor argument is needed yo differentiate a lemon from an orange tree when they are in the fruit stage, or the ones with seeds from the ones without.

Peter was unable to disappear into the woodwork because of what Christ had done on his life.

What am I saying?

What has Christ done in your life? What have the scriptures done to you?

Is that evident? Can you hide it or are you like Peter?

Have you absorbed scripture in such a way that it is what oozes when you are put under pressure or punctured? Have you been so immersed in prayer that it is what your presence draws even at the ‘wrong’ place?

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

Being with Jesus was the difference, the same difference that should describe us.

Otherwise we do not belong to Him.

Unveiling Atheism

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none who does good. (Psalm 14: 1)

I want to help us appreciate that atheism is a lifestyle as opposed to a profession. Some of the most ardent atheists are eloquent professors of faith. Atheism is a heart issue as this verse states.

What do I mean?

Atheism is a way of life. Simply speaking, atheism is a life lived as if God isn’t. And you remember Jesus talking about a tree and its fruit. Atheism is a life whose fruit demonstrates a negation of what God stands for in His word.

The US is voting and I think that is where I will start.

God is the creator of life and clearly hates murder. One ticket stands for abortion that I won’t be surprised if they made a law allowing it for a day old child (they already allowed partial birth abortion, meaning that a child can be killed as it comes out of its mother’s womb).

I have seen a quote by a pastor that goes something like this, ‘a believer who votes for a candidate who supports abortion becomes an accessory to murder that we know abortion is’.

The same ticket pushes for legalizing of prostitution as they have for years done for homosexuality to the point of punishing (and did they punish!) anyone who refused to cooperate (remember the businesses and ministries that had to close because they couldn’t pay the heavy fines demanded when they refused to actively support the abomination?). That ticket criminalized freedom of conscience if it did not agree with their abomination.

And you still see believers defending it!

I have to be actively against God to agree with someone whose profession goes against what God says in His word. I will have to be an atheist.

And do not parrot what the media is spewing because the media is an ally in depravity. Depravity sells. You can almost be sure that the person the media is actively campaigning for is the one with the most rotten moral agenda since that will ensure their continuity. They might even thrive under that moral morass.

In any case, have you sought God’s clear will concerning your choice? Has He given you clear direction?

If not, you are an atheist just using God as a prop.

Let me come home.

Since our democracy does not have demarcated parties, we revolve around personalities.

There are politicians people always fight for whose only visible quality is incitement. They never help anybody and have never done anything for the nation.

Yet people will fight, others have died in their support. You will sadly realize that even ministers are in those camps to the point of hating fellow ministers who do not support their candidate. Imagine walking on egg shells when you want to discuss the state of the nation with a fellow minister unless you speak well of their person who confesses wickedness!

Politicians are for the most part unbelievers and so operate on the earthly realm and play by the worldly (even satanic) rule book. I am not saying that we look for a Daniel or Noah in them. But it is instructive that we follow God and His revelation when we support and choose.

How can a person who represents Christ bend so low as to lay their life on the line for this person who will at the first instance disown that faith that has employed them?

Again that is atheism.

This virus has exposed other atheists. How does a person worshipping trees and cows and stones hold a prayer meeting with a person worshipping Christ? What is so ecumenical about Christ?

Even the sailors in Jonah’s boat knew that each person worships their own god differently and separately.

A Christian and Muslim (let alone Hindu and traditionalist) worship different. One is the antithesis of the other. How then do we hold a joint prayer service?

Like I have asked, why did the church leaders not call a solemn assembly? Why did they wait to be massed with all the other ‘worshippers’ to call upon (which?) God?

Again, the heart is where it starts. They could believe that all faiths are similar, if not the same. Christ is just the profession, probably the side their bread is buttered.

They are atheists feeding on Christ’s name.

Even the church closures are more of demonstrations of atheism than submitting to authorities. Some leaders are so scared of the virus that they would rather close churches than risk catching it as I doubt anyone would arrest a whole church for ‘disobeying’ protocols that do not mean much when politicians and the same leaders making them have meetings.

Even in the US where not long ago pastors were being denying licenses for refusing to join two homosexuals are only threatening to arrest ministers who decided to obey God rather than men and are having congregational services and evangelistic meetings where even baptism is done en masse.

Again we are atheists if the word of the state carries more weight than that of God.

Let me go where you think I ought to have started, ministry.

Look at this preacher whose sermons draw hordes to church.

Then the elders discover that he is a moral sewer. He sleeps with anything and everything, from hookers to elders’ wives and daughters and everything in between.

They are indignant and confront him.

To their dismay, not only does he confirm what they had heard, he is unrepentant in the least, daring them to do what they want.

They have the power to sack him and know it is the right thing for them to do.

But they know that the congregation will scatter once he leaves, probably to follow him wherever he goes. Then the offerings will follow suit.

They therefore decide to ‘wisely’ cover up all the evidence, disorienting the seekers who had reported that sin to the elders looking for a spiritual solution.

Those elders are atheists. Probably most of that congregation is also atheistic.

Maybe a church has a very vibrant choir (or worship team as they are now called).

The lead singer has the voice that the Swahili say can coax a snake from its hole. And the choir gels seamlessly and their commitment is superb. Unlike other groups, there are enough men. And they are always there.

Then you discover that the leader gels the choir using her thighs. Sex is the gelling agent in the choir as all the men are more committed to having sex with her than with singing for Christ. No wonder they sing so well and never fail to attend practice!

Like with the pastor, dealing with the harlot will more or less kill the choir and chase congregants who are drawn to the church by their singing.

The leadership therefore warns the choir against openly showing their sex colors.

That is atheism.

Maybe it is not the ‘ministers’. Think of this very generous giver whose giving has almost singlehandedly grown the church’s structures to be the envy of the other churches.

Then you discover that he is involved in very fishy businesses, some outright illegal. He is also behind some very murky deals that even unbelievers find wicked.

Of course you know that confronting him will send his money elsewhere, as well as probably endanger your life as everybody knows. And of course he could ask for his money to be refunded as his kind have done elsewhere.

You therefore decide to close your eyes and ears to all that evidence.

You are all atheists.

These are not imaginary events and people. They are things that are happening, things I have come in close proximity with enough times; things that have made me and many others to be thrown out of ministry, leadership since we just couldn’t keep quiet. Things that make the faithful minister serve without support when the crook is spoilt for how to spend his.

You see, when God’s standard become subject to any other condition, He stops being God. If God’s revelation is subject to a relationship He also stops being God as happens to many young people in love with the wrong person.

What God says is final or He stops being God to you. He is holding all the strings or He is not there at all.

And we see that with Israel.

Their problem was no the existence or power of God. Their struggle was with God’s standard.

Even the Philistines knew that the God of Israel was incomparable to their god, Baal.

The problem they had was God’s standard. It was way too stringent and limiting (that is how it always appears). Remember the wide and narrow gates and roads?

Then like with Eve the devil whispers to our ears that God really does not have our interest at heart (you shall be like God, you shall not die etc.)

Once we question God’s intent, we have already fallen into the devil’s trap. This is because we then think that we can operate better without the limits God places on us for our good.

Like I ask, the Garden of Eden ranged between Ethiopia and Syria. What made them continue staying at the place where the forbidden tree was? How many countries are included in that garden?

Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Egypt, probably Somalia, Djibouti and Libya, then Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, in fact all the countries of the Middle East.

And there was food in all those places.

I am sure they questioned what was in that one tree to forbid them from eating its fruit. The devil took advantage as he always does.

The good thing is that God’s commandments are not subject to debate.

That question is the door to atheism as we then look for plan Bs to escape the prison God’s love constrains us in.

Are you an atheist?

Because it is in the heart that it all begins.

God bless you.

Proximity to Fire

My last post looked at the danger fire poses on those closest to it by looking at ministry.

Today I want us to examine examples from the scriptures to enable us understand what it means to be close to fire.

Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment. (James 3:1)

Why was Moses unable to cross over to the Promised Land?

Do you realize that it could have been a very flimsy reason had it been somebody else?

He was angry, justifiably so. He was also under extreme pressure as the people wanted to stone him. How does someone remain sober amid noise from two million disgruntled ‘children’?

Yet it is important to understand why God could not overlook Moses’ mistake.

He was too close to God to be excused for anything. He knew God too well to make the mistake he did irrespective of the pressure. Simply speaking he was too close to God’s fire to escape the scalding from the same.

There was simply no excuse for Moses to do what he did considering his closeness with God and the assignment God had given him.

Aaron made the golden calf and escaped with a rebuke, amongst many other errors in judgment. Remember he even joined ranks with Miriam to question Moses’ authority?

Look also at David. His single error of adultery opened judgment on his whole lineage. Yet we have Joab who killed for envy in a cold blooded manner not being judged thus.

What am I talking about?

In a forest are many trees of different sizes.

What happens when a very huge tree falls (or is felled)?

It never goes alone. It will fell many other trees. In fact it will kill any tree that lies on its fall.

I hope you realize that ministry is many times exactly like that?

A minister is most times like that tree. And his prominence is always tied to his closeness to God, real or imagined.

That is why someone is not ashamed of seeking counsel from a person of his grandchildren’s age, just because he is a minister. That is why someone can take rebuke from his children for the same reason.

The minister represents God. You remember that Israel would repent for speaking against Moses as well as speaking against God?

That is where fire comes from. God knows the vantage point we occupy in people’s hearts and minds and so will not excuse any fall on our side. He would therefore rather burn us than allow us to burn others with the power He has entrusted us with. Again it is irrespective of whether we have been called or called ourselves since the ‘sheep’ may not be so discriminating.

That is why I always insist that one must have a very clear call to respond to.

I might love people to the extent that I interpret that concern for ministry calling (or they mistake it). I then become a pastor, evangelist, prophet, on that basis. I really have no muscle for that and could very easily crumble when the stresses of actual ministry pound on me yet I have hordes looking up to me to understand God.

My fall, discouragement, despair, depression, will not stop with me but affect all who are looking up to me or are under my watch. It means that it will affect them far more than it affects since it will have a ripple effect on them.

God will therefore burn us before we burn His people, or because we burn them.

I hope you understand.

Are you called? Are you ready for that fire? 

Approaching Fire

I thought to share this brief message to not only encourage us to aim at drawing close to God but especially to let us know the requirements of that closeness.

 Do you remember that the strongest soldiers who were sent to throw the three Hebrews to the furnace were consumed by the fire that did not harm the youth?

And why? They were not prepared to handle the accelerated and amplified heat.

Do you realize that the Levites had conditions for entering the ministry? Yet what were they warned against? Defilement. In short the danger they were warned against was becoming unclean.

What about the priests?

‘Lest you die’, was the warning.

Why?

They would be approaching God’s ‘presence’.

And we have examples.

Aaron’s sons had been confirmed priests and had even served one week of their commissioning.

Then in their excitement and zeal make use of their new status to offer strange fire and God kills them immediately.

Uzzah is enjoying great worship escorting the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem when the oxen stumble and he instinctively reaches out to steady the precious load and God also strikes him dead. And I hope you remember long before that when over fifty thousand died when they looked (probably came too close) at the ark when it came from the Philistines after they sent it back for wrecking havoc on their cities and gods.

What am I saying?

God’s presence is precious. But it is also dangerous if one is not ready for it.

The person who should come to that presence needs adequate preparation to handle the fire. Or don’t you know that our God is a consuming fire?

In short I am saying that before you take a spiritual responsibility it is essential to evaluate whether you have adequate skin to handle the fire the positions brings you to.

Though pastor and bishop are nice titles to be called, they are spiritual positions bringing the holder into the proximity of God. And that is whether they are qualified, called or not.

Know that that position you crave has a capacity of taking you so close to the fire before you are ready to handle it. And that fire has a capacity of destroying you in more ways than one.

Burnout, propensity to sin, curse on you and yours, broken and unworkable marriages and child raising, etc. are some of the fires that can destroy you.

No wonder warned against taking spiritual positions just because they offer themselves.

Listen to God very closely to know whether He has adequately prepared you to handle that fire contained in the responsibility (a title is worse) you are being offered.

Otherwise why did Joseph stay for thirteen years before seeing the fulfillment of the dream God gave him. Why did David stay for close to twenty years before taking the position he was anointed for? And why did Moses rot in the wilderness before taking the position God had set up for him before he was born?

Let God Himself tell you when you are ready. Then the fire will not consume you

Ezra

I weighed into their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels one hundred talents; of gold one hundred talents; and twenty bowls of gold, of one thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold. (Ezra 8: 26, 27)

I recently posted about Nehemiah and Ezra and their responses to situations. I used statements that probably left some in the wilderness, especially concerning the treasure Ezra was ferrying.

Let me try to break it down in smaller pieces.

Let us take the talent.

According to books, the talent weighed between 50 and 60 kg.

This tells us that at the very least they were ferrying 32 tonnes of silver and 3 tonnes of gold.

Due to the state of the roads and means of transport, it must have been a very large caravan, visible from very far.

A talent of gold was worth 10 000 shekels, a shekel being the daily wage for a laborer. That of silver weighed at half of that of gold. You can localize that to get the worth of that gold and silver. Of course the vessels would cost more due to the labor involved.

It is worth noting that the journey took almost four months, of course through enemy territory.

Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth [day] of the first month, to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the bandit by the way. (Ezra 8:31)

It was evident to all that God must have protected them from enemies and any other thieves and bandits along the way. Chance was ruled out as they were completely exposed and vulnerable without an army.

I hope you can see why Ezra proclaimed a fast.

I am sure that as Darius prayed for Daniel in the lions’ den, the king must have prayed that the God of Ezra protects all that treasure from enemies as it was mind boggling even thinking about the loss of all that treasure. And like with Darius the king must have started believing in Him since there was no logical explanation for that protection.

Yet do you know it is the same with our frail efforts at living our faith ‘dangerously’ in these times?

Do you know that we have the same impact on our friends, neighbors and relatives when we decide that radical faith is not only practical but is the choice for us?

Will you make a decision to jump into the deep end of your faith?

The Jonah in Us

The Bible says that Elijah was a man like us.

Do you realize that Jonah also was a man like us? Allow me to contextualize him. Imagine being in these situations.

You have finally decided to settle down with the love of your life after a number of years in a relationship. The engagement went on very well and all that is remaining is the wedding of your dreams. 

You therefore approach your best friend to walk you through that home stretch.

Before you know it, he marries your fiancé in a secret wedding and she does not even remove your engagement ring.

In a daze, you seek to understand what has happened. Then you get to know that that was the nature of your friend, leaving bleeding hearts wherever he passes. 

Then God sends you to give him a message that he has a week to change or he will come under judgment. Will you go or wait for the ultimatum to expire?

You have a vibrant business. There is this brother (or sister) who has seemingly tried everything without success.

Since you really gel in fellowship, you decide to co-opt him in your business. At the back of your mind you want him to learn the ropes of business so that you can fund him into opening his in a way that it won’t fail as had been happening. 

He therefore gets into the nerve centre of your business because you trust him. 

Before you realize it, he has changed the business to become his and kicked you out. You have to beg to start from scratch again because he has taken everything you slaved to build. 

After some time, you get to a leak of some error in his books with a capacity of completely destroying him and the company. What will you do?

Or you were sitting your final exams in college and the guy next to you copied your answers. When questioned, he was somehow able to convince the lecturer that you were the one who copied though even that lecturer knew the truth. You were referred, making you miss the graduation as well as a whole year of your life. 

Then God sends you to them with a message, repent or …. Will you go?

Imagine you have been married for decades with mature children. Your marriage is the model for all since you seem to gel effortlessly. You have no complaint concerning your marriage and therefore are not putting any front to impress anybody. You know God has granted you a perfect marriage.

Then you come from work one day and discover that some photos are missing from the wall. You assume the house girl has removed to clean them. 

Then you see your husband’s corner where he keeps his stuff like books is empty and are puzzled.

You then go to the bedroom and discover that all your husband’s clothes are missing. 

You now feel like you could eat the house girl alive. How could she allow somebody to steal your husband’s stuff? You must call him to inform him about the theft of his things. But in your confusion you do not remember where you left the phone.

You get back to the living room and just as you see your phone, you also see a letter.

Your husband is saying that he has decided to leave the marriage as it had become a prison to him. He is not coming back as he has got somebody that has freed him from the prison. 

He says you do not look for him. Just move on as he has.

And who has captured his heart? The house girl!

Maybe you are the man in such a marriage.

Before you leave work in the evening your boss calls you and informs you that you have been transferred to a distant town immediately. Due to that, you are not expected in the office since you have one week to report to your new station. All your dues have been worked out leaving you with a free week to move.

Since you love new things, you are excited but anxious about your wife since you know she must get a transfer first and the logistics will be tenuous. 

That is what you are thinking when you get to your house. You then open it and find it as clean as an empty stadium. You think it is the wrong house and go out to get into the right one. Then you find it is actually your house that is empty. 

You move to the bedroom and find that your clothes are all over the floor as anything movable has been removed from the house. 

You decide to call your wife to ask whether she knows that things have been stolen from your house. 

She laughs and tells you that she has left with her severance package and please do not ever look for her. 

As you are preparing to move to your new station, you find out that your wife moved with the boss that gave you the transfer.

Ten years down the line you hear they have a major crisis that only you can resolve. What will you do?

These are things that happen around us all the time.

We love theoretical theology just like we love bashing those spiritual failures we see in the Bible. 

I just hope we look at them like we would like to be looked at. I hope we have some grace as we examine some of those stories for our instruction. And it is because the stories are just like our stories.

I fact many of us are worse that Jonah. How many times do you hear believers saying ‘return to sender’ in prayer? How many are experts in binding and loosing and releasing? How many are so vengeful on enemies when they are praying? How many are claiming and reclaiming and at whose expense?

Aren’t we going farther than Nineveh?

You see, Jonah wanted God to judge Nineveh for their sins because they were the enemy. They deserved it. He just didn’t want grace to be extended to them. But he was not praying judgment to them. He just wanted them to get what they deserved.

But it is important that we get the central teaching in this book. And it is that Jonah was an Old Testament character God privileged to experience New Testament realities.

You see, Jonah was in tune with God’s revelation to Israel during his time. Ever read these verses?

Yahweh, don't I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies. (Psalm 139: 21, 22) 

Enemies were to be hated 

God was therefore releasing a new paradigm. The other character who was introduced to the same reality is Hosea. 

Compare those verses with what Jesus said. 

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (Matthew 5:44) 

Isn’t this what God was introducing to His servant Jonah? No wonder He was so patient with him. 

Will we apply God’s message of love to Jonah to help us excitedly live out the New Testament realities? Will we love those we do not like? Will we love like Christ loved?

Otherwise Jonah will continue being a textbook topic with no didactic value to us.

Jonah changed because we couldn’t otherwise have been reading his story. Sadly, he left many of us where he started at as concerns enemies, some of who are conceived in our minds.

Imagine we can even hate our fellow believers! And that because we differ in the way we interpret a portion of scripture!

 I have said elsewhere that I was kicked out of leadership because I sought to privately correct a false teacher. At another time I was declared backslidden because I had obeyed God and went to minister to a ‘sinning’ church that I had really battled with God to go. My ministry support was withdrawn without notice and my family left ‘hanging’ in the great city because we disagreed on the modalities of doing ministry that I had been called to start and which was already having a great impact with the ministry later being killed.

There is a Jonah in each of us. What we need to decide is which of them we will be. 

We can be the former Jonah who ran away from the commission because he could not bear to see grace being poured on the enemy or the one who received the New Testament reality that God loves even our enemies and is therefore not bound by our bias from reaching out to them. 

Will we bless those who curse us like Christ commanded?