Dynamic of Finishing

Have you realized that the church’s battles with the Pharisees and Sadducees ended with Christ’s crucifixion?

What do I mean? I know someone is asking.

Remember all the battles about Sabbath and ceremonial purification and many other cultural and spiritual sparring themes we read in the Gospels? Which of them do we see in the Acts?

None.

The church did not even once have to battle such things. Of course meaning that Jesus fought and finished all those battles and wars. His church therefore started from a point of victory on those issues. Of course because they had other battles to do.

Never again do we see noise being made because a miracle was performed on the Sabbath because the Lord of the Sabbath took back His day. Never again do we have confrontations on the temple because the Greater than the temple had put the temple in its rightful position.

The apostles were therefore freed from those battles to forge ahead with the Gospel unhindered and unfettered by those little battles.

Remember what the apostles said?

Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. (Acts 6:2)

It was a new challenge but they had to deal with it in such a way that it did not detract them from their focus. Now imagine if they still had to deal with battles on Sabbath and ceremonial demands?

They were able to be focused because Jesus cleared those battles conclusively. In short they started a brand new chapter of ministry.

But you will always realize that they also never left any battles they fought for a later generation as they copied their Commander. They did not deal with a case twice.

As an example look at the Judaizers in Acts 15. They have a conference and clear that issue. It is later only mentioned as a reference.

I hope you realize as you read the Bible and live this faith that it is the way Christ programmed His church to operate. We are different from swine and dogs that return to their vomit.

My experience as I have grown in faith and ministry is that God does not purpose for us to repeat lessons, unless we missed them or chose to flunk them.

Incidentally, even temptations operate like that. You will not fight a temptation, overcome it and later have to face it. I have never seen it like that. God’s victory is complete and does not need revisiting.

That like was with Jesus the devil departed to look for an opportune moment simply means that he goes to craft a different temptation and not repeat what was won.

What am I saying?

If you have a recurring temptation or a series of them, it means you have a serious problem with your faith. Either you are not in the faith or you refused to grow and so do not challenge the devil to package temptations as a single one brings you down time and again.

Again, if we have to be dealing with a similar fall or sin on a person all the time, we really are not dealing with a brother.

For example, a sister is always coming for prayer and repentance after sleeping with this or the other brother. That is a harlot. And it is the same if it was a brother. No deliverance (whatever that is) can help them because they have refused to walk in or toward victory.

Let me get to this bishop to get you angry a bit.

The bishop walked in adultery. But let me dirty the water even further by introducing a conspiracy.

He was angry that the girl did not tell him she was pregnant. How does a grownup have sex and be surprised when a pregnancy occurs?

My theory is that our guy is a serial adulterer. But not only that. Once a girl gets pregnant, he has a way of procuring abortion since he has all the offerings to fund it. I won’t be surprised to know that there are more girls he has slept with and made pregnant but cleared those pregnancies ‘conveniently’.

When he got to this girl, she knew (women and girls talk) that so and so was here and got pregnant and somehow the pregnancy disappeared. Of course because there is no way to fix a man (especially a man of God) with adultery without a child because the whole structure will kill you for seeking to spoil their darling’s reputation.

She therefore hid that pregnancy, either because she really loved him or did not want to add the sin of murder to that of fornication. She therefore refused to be smitten to stupidity like the rest.

Then of course when she informed him that she had borne his child he became wild and forgot to reduce his pride and arrogance, giving a lawyer quick cash.

But why are we even dealing with adultery in a bishop? We gave a toddler the spiritual responsibility of a parent. Those base drives ought to have been dealt with in his youth even before he got married.

Chances are that he flossed over them because he was gifted. The church tapped into the gift instead of working on the body carrying it.

And for some time it worked because he was protected from temptation by the busyness of ministry.

Until he rested when he became the head of his own denomination. He had the time to see those figures and shapes and contours and bosoms of all those sisters who were always at his service.

That is when he realizes that he did not grow through overcoming temptation. In short he did not deal with temptation as he was growing. He is therefore unable to defeat temptation because he doesn’t know what temptation is. I will not be surprised to learn he also has issues with finances and tempers

The saddest part is that the bishops defending him are just like him, dealing with temptation just like he does because they were given pastoral roles in their spiritual kindergarten because they were gifted. They therefore understand him perfectly and some are just like him only that their sin has not exploded.

Look at these verses.

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. (Ephesians 5: 3, 4)

To imagine that we are talking about these things with respect to spiritual leaders is an insult to our faith. Those are the very basic temptations we overcome when we believe.

Yet it is so because we trashed discipleship and magnified the gifts. It is the greatest error the Pentecostal movement introduced to the church of Christ. It became even worse because the other denominations who ought to know better have started copying the error since mushrooms grow faster than cedars and we love fast growing.

It saddens me when I see a whole denomination parading a child as a reverend and even bishop, even giving him airtime on radio stations because he is so gifted. Others are paraded in churches because they have excellent voices or good grasp of an instrument.

Giving a child responsibility before growing their faith to maturity will eventually kill them. And I suspect this is the case with this bishop and his defenders.

When will we get back to what Christ commanded us? When will we get back to discipleship?

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. (Ephesians 5: 5 – 7)