Sleeping Watchmen 4

As things stand, it is alright to feel terrorized by this tiny virus. That is if you have no relationship with the only one who can handle it. And I am not talking about doctors as they are also dying.

I am talking about God, the One who created macro- and micro- organisms and everything in between.

But if terror is your destination I have good news for you. It does not have to be. You can actually change it to a desirable and peaceful one.

You can connect to God who created those viruses.

Then, whether they have been doctored to ravage populations or mutated to cause damage is immaterial as God is able to deal with them. And He can also heal it if it comes to that.

But I know that the biggest problem is the idea of confronting death.

Nobody without a right relationship with God wants to think about death. And it is because they do not know what lies on the other side of it.

But Jesus confronted death and triumphed over it. And He also promised to prepare a passage for those who believe in Him beyond the curtain called death.

But there are a few things you need to know.

The first is that God loves you. That is the reason He created you.

The second is that you are a sinner. In fact we are all sinners. And sin separates us from God.

The third is that Christ died for your sins. That sacrificial death is like the bridge that unites us with our sins with a holy God.

Finally, He requires you to ask Him to forgive you and connect you to the eternal life that His death purchased for whoever will.

Will you pray to receive Him as your Savior today?

After you have prayed, please look for a Bible in a language you understand best. I won’t tell you to look for a church as they are closed. You can download many Bibles online if you are unable to get a hard copy. You can even look for an Audio Bible online. Like I wrote recently, word planet have Bibles in very many languages.

But you can look for someone you know believes Christ to help you grow in your new life. You can even contact me though I am not on social media much. But I can give you my cellphone number if you need.

If you are sick, we can pray for healing as Christ heals, and will heal.

God bless you

Sleeping Watchmen 3

Let us think for a moment of the aftereffects of this microorganism that has brought the whole world to a standstill.

Church people are stranded as they are unable to attend church.

But the reality is that the church has been elevated to the actual position of being the church of Christ.

Do you remember Christ saying that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church of Christ?

If the church was the building, then this virus has been able to prevail against it. In fact even Caesar has been able to stop it.

But that is not what the Bible teaches. The church’s power is in the salt and light as opposed to the spotlight and flood. Its power is subject to its ‘infiltration’ of the marketplace with the reality of the transformation that the Gospel brings about.

Matthew 6 talks about our faith being ‘hidden’ for its impact to be seen. We do not practice our religion for show.

But it also says that God will then show up to justify or prove the genuineness of that faith (reward you openly)

Corruption happened when we made the building the centre of our practice of faith.

Then we made the pastor the superstar instead of the shepherd Christ expects him to be.

Then we focused the giving on the superstar and structure instead of the body of Christ. By this I mean that we transferred the responsibility of guiding our giving from the leading of the Holy Spirit to the passion and convincing power of the pulpit and its owners.

This meant that the ministry of the church was shifted from individual believers to the clique at the head of the structure. Interpersonal ministry was therefore hijacked to meet the whims of those bosses.

I am sure you have encountered a believer who is convinced that feeding a starving neighbor is wrong if they give in ‘church’, especially the tithe. This is worse if it involves some of us whose ministry is not confined to those structures as it is looked as sin (even taught) to support such ministers and ministries.

But the virus has locked down the structure and its superstar. Even those who locked themselves in those ivory towers that one had to make intricate appointments to get to them are blocked.

The believer has to decide whether they are adequate in themselves to build their faith. They must decide that they need to get their spiritual sustenance outside the superstar.

This is because online and TV ‘worship’ is not as powerful and influential as the presence in the normal service in a church building. In streaming and TV, your attention is not as absolute as in a service structured since you are at home or other familiar place. As such, you may be doing or considering other things as you are listening.

It is therefore possible that quite a number of believers will in the lock up consider and search what the Bible says about the power of the shepherd and giving as they will be sober and not under ‘influence’ when making decisions. The fact that the offering basket is not being passed means that the psychological advantage the superstar has is broken.

I therefore see more believers ministering to one another in their giving. No one can hide under ‘I gave to church and therefore go there for assistance’ as the church building is closed. The church has therefore gone to the highways and byways.

And the same will happen to apologetics. Many believers directed difficult questions to the superstars and church staff. They will have to consider looking for the answers themselves as the experts cannot be reached, being also in a lockdown.

This is what makes discipleship so essential.

The Great Commission does not mean what we emphasize. Jesus said we teach all nations, and not just evangelize. A taught believer not only understands obedience, they can teach it as an overflow of their faith. 1 Peter 3: 15 was not written to pastors and church staff.

That is what this lockdown will produce from believers. As the seeking world starts flocking to Jesus, normal believers will be on hand to receive and lead them.

This must of course greatly impact the way people give as there is no single group of ‘priests’ ministering. Each believer will be holding fort wherever they are. In any case, the flood of new believers will not understand why they should be giving to a structure whose ministry impact is almost zero when there are ministers and ministries doing so much for the kingdom they have joined.

We grew up knowing that the church is a building and thus the focal point of our faith. These will join without these fetters and so will search the scriptures without the blinders that have hindered our ministry and giving.

What this means is that the superstars will become irrelevant as all believers have become what Christ intended them to be, the holy priesthood.

But there will still be called apart ministers and leaders. But their part will be the equipping of the saints for ministry as Ephesians 4 says.

Another positive from this virus is that it has shouted to the church what the Bible has always taught; that we are one body.

We are being repeatedly reminded that the strongest defense against infection is in the weakest link. It is vain to be overprotected when your neighbor is not.

That is why cities are looking for accommodation for their homeless and street families they never seemed to notice before. And it is not because they have suddenly developed any love for them. They know that by not protecting the vulnerable they are exposing themselves to infection. I am safe if only all of us are safe. My super protection is nothing if someone else is exposed.

The church is Christ’s body and each of us is a part of the whole. As such, a believer in prison in Iran for their faith should cause pain to me in my safety. A sister being raped in Iraq for her faith should cause immense pain as she is part of me.

This is the reason for Christ’s very harsh words in Matthew 25. He said that your eternity will depend on how you treated the brotherhood, especially the vulnerable.

Consider this church with a billion annual budget uptown when churches in the slums are unable to properly roof their shacky churches. Or churches who give their pastors six figure salaries when a neighboring pastor has to do casual labor to be able to minister the few hours he can afford after work despite the fatigue. Or pastors who have all terrain guzzlers for the short trips from their house to church and other classic abodes when another pastor walks for hours to be able to minister because he can’t even afford a bicycle.

Now that we are all locked down there will be a lot of soul searching among the membership about what a pastor and pastoring is. And chances are that the church building, however big it is will lose its luster for the church scattered. The same will happen on the ministry and minister.

Are we ready?

You see, we are all staring at death. And death has a way of stripping life of pretense. The idea of facing God is always sobering. And that is the crisis the world is now in.

People are turning to God in droves. They are praying those desperate prayers and giving those impossible promises. Yet quite a number will keep them once their prayers are answered. And we should wait for them.

Since the prophets have been unable to summon the solemn assembly I have mentioned in past posts, will the church of Christ stand up to receive all these who are coming to Christ for His salvation in this hour?

Sleeping Watchmen 2

Why has God brought everybody home from fear and panic from this virus?

Have you realized that for the first time in a very long time the leaders are as afraid as are the led?

Have you noticed that the rich are probably in greater panic than the poor? That the invincible are as exposed as the downtrodden?

Yet the saddest thing is that for the first time people are scared of the solemn assembly that has always been the clarion call whenever calamity struck. It has become criminal to even consider uniting in corporate prayer as it has had been since time immemorial.

Even spiritual leaders are falling over themselves to ‘obey’ the ‘kings’ as if the King of kings is on holiday.

I am not encouraging civil disobedience. But I really want to understand who the head of the church is. Who should issue directives to the church of Christ? What has Christ ordered?

Where should the word come from? Who is in a better position to understand this epidemic than God’s servants? Why then should they be following the lead of ‘experts’?

Like I asked in my last post, was God caught unawares by this virus?

The God I know, who is the God of the Bible, not only knows everything, but He is also in complete charge of the world He created. Everything that happens is either from Him or comes with His permission. And He does it to fulfill His purpose. But He asks His prophets to prepare His people for what is at hand.

How come that the church must wait for directions from ‘Caesar’?

Away from tough questions, what do I see as the outcome of this epidemic?

Again like I mentioned in the last post the pride of man has been brought low. Man has finally realized that he is limited.

I am sure that many are questioning their chest thumping especially against God. Many are questioning their assumptions and confessions. Many have realized that money is not an answer to much in this life. And many are opening their hearts to an alternative reality.

Many are questioning the validity of what they have believed all their lives. And I am sure many are very open to Christ being the only way out of this crisis. They only need a witness to respond to Christ’s call to salvation.

But the witness is locked up, either in quarantine or social distancing. And the church that people always ran to for answers and explanations is also locked.

I see many turning to God in repentance and faith. And miracles of healing will start being experienced, especially on this virus’ sufferers. And churches will increase their membership even in closure, especially with this new breed of believers who have basically come from a godless past.

This means that the pastorate must change the kind of preaching they do to accommodate this new breed as the worn out nonsense that has been preached makes sense only to those who have grown through it. They must go back to the Bible and the Bible only for answers and doctrine as the social, entertaining and motivational model has brought people to this point of having no answers for something as small as this virus.

I am sure there are millions crying for Bibles to be able to understand what is happening. And the digital Bible will come in handy. And ministries like www.wordplanet.org with Bibles and audio Bibles in many languages are recommended for any seeker.

Apart from that there are some things that could change completely.

Harlots may have to consider moving away from their profession as the distancing aspect make the nature of their jobs risky, probably criminal.

This could make them find better alternatives to a life of sin. And their customers could also realize that fornication and adultery are always dangerous, corona or not, because they are sin and detrimental to a good life.

Families who have been spread thin of time together may rekindle the flame of healthy family and marital life through this enforced confinement. And of course the unfaithful may discover that now that they have no chance of the same that what they were running from is as attractive as it was when they tied the knot. It is only that they had been looking elsewhere all the time.

Of course, through the damage in the sporting arena, betting will take a beating. And I suspect some addicts will have gotten what they needed to get out of that addiction. This virus could very easily be an answer to their prayers.

Let me close with a hope.

This being the Passover season, suppose Jesus decides to say ‘It is Finished’ to corona as He said about our sins on Calvary? I am praying, and waiting for that.

Then the world will be in no doubt who is the King of kings and Healer of the world.

Sleeping Watchmen

Where are the prophets? Where are these prophets who are always pushing people to accept their prophetic mandate?

You see, the Bible plainly says that God does nothing before showing it to His servants the prophets.

Where did the corona virus pass through if the prophets did not prepare people for it? Did they see it coming? Or did God overlook them? If so why did He do so?

How did the locusts happen without seers seeing them?

Two things stand out.

One is that the church does not represent Christ though it may be boasting of carrying His name. This means that He has no obligation to inform them of His doings. In other words, the church qualifies for what is written in Matthew 7: 21. It is full of His name but lacks in His character and will.

Second is that there are no watchmen or that the appointed watchmen have abandoned their posts so that they were unable to see oncoming danger and alert the city (church). Worse is that they deserted their jobs (calling) for more rewarding pursuits.

You see, prophecy does not pay the bills, not if it is done according to the scriptures. Neither does it make any name for the prophet. In fact, the contrary is the norm.

Prophets for the most part were unpopular characters, we could easily say infamous.

As such, their prophecies were never ignored even when they were despised for its impact.

Herod couldn’t kill John because he feared his ‘word’. He hated him yet continued to listen to him because he was in no illusions that his prophecy was potent.

It was the same with Ahab. He hated Elijah with all his heart yet he received any word he gave with bated breath.

And Zedekiah sneaked Jeremiah out of the dungeon to have a private talk with him because he was under no illusions about the prophet’s connectedness.

That is not the case with the prophets of our day. Most are at pains to prove that they are prophets, sometimes even pleading with everybody to listen to them. In short they use their prophecies to gain an audience instead of passing God’s message which is the purpose of a prophet.

That explains why a prophet must have an audience as the purpose of his prophecy. The power of the message is in the number of times it is liked and shared and the number of followers of his page and buyers of his books. And this for purposes of planting a seed in whatever way.

A prophetic word on corona does not fall under such categories. It could simply have been a message of preparedness in the face of impending doom. And preparedness will disqualify any offering.

And that is why I am wondering.

Then the same prophets (many of who are pastors who decide that prophet is a more powerful title) have all of a sudden prostrated to the directives of worldly leaders instead of seeking God’s face to know His take on it. This without even questioning the validity or even usefulness of a panic stricken leadership void of revelation.

Will we remove some verses from the Bible? What do we do with a verse that admonishes us to greet one another with a holy kiss? What about the one that warns us against forsaking fellowship?

I am not advocating civil disobedience. What I am saying is that the church as we know it has become reactionary instead of revelatory. We are reacting to politicians instead of guiding them with the revelation God gives us. Meaning that we really have no revelation to talk about.

You see, God knows where every single droplet containing the virus, as well as every person hosting it, is. Do we have to lock down whole cities?

I am asking as someone who knows the accuracy of God’s revelation. I am not even mentioning the fact that He can lock it up or destroy it in an instant. Plus the fact that He can also emasculate it and make it completely harmless.

But I am talking about revelation and not presumption. We must know what God is saying about this virus and why it even is because He never does anything whimsically.

Let me summarise by stating what I believe is the reason God released (or allowed) this virus to ravage the world.

I am convinced God is drawing the world’s attention to the futility of human endeavor, especially one that seeks to neglect, minimise or nullify the reality of God.

Remember recently when the mantra ‘no human is limited’ gained currency? I mentioned in a post that that statement is one way of defying or shaking our fists at God.

God is showing man how limited he is. And He does it by starting with countries that are all sufficient and needing nothing. Remember Laodicea in Revelation 3?

Does it surprise you that those leaders who were flying for treatment outside the countries they had bled to death now have to contend for the same healthcare they had neglected? Leaders of third world countries who were comfortable going to first world countries for treatment have to hide in their ghetto hospitals as the world class hospitals have their own crises to handle, let alone having more viruses to deal with and dispense.

Do you realize that even terrorists are scared?

Second is that God has released a spirit of fear to the world. Remember Jonathan terrorizing the whole Philistine army? Do you remember Gideon and his 300 routing a 120k strong army without weapons? Do you remember four lepers routing the entire Syrian army?

I hope you realize that Goliath was using spiritual terrorism to humble Israel. And that is why David found it very easy to down him as he was spiritually connected.

Corona is like Goliath, only that God is using it to draw man’s attention to Himself just before rebellion goes overboard. Then His judgment will be inexcusable.

You see, there are many people in this world who have no idea, let alone the reality of God. Like once I read of a child in the US asking his parent why some buildings have a plus sign on them and what its purpose was. This in a country that boasts of a Christian foundation.

What about Russia where God was outlawed for generations? What about China that has criminalized Christianity? What about Muslim nations that unashamedly kill Christians with an attempt of ridding their nations of them?

The world must open their eyes to the reality of an all-powerful God who sent His Son to die for the sins of the world.

The world must be confronted with a God who is love and justice at the same time. You see the bulk of the church have one or the other. Those who preach love minimize on God’s ‘hatred’ of sin and those who preach God’s holiness almost always overlook His love.

The world must look afresh at who God says He is as opposed to what we think He is like. And this desperation will drive hordes to seek.

But I also believe this will open the world’s eyes to the power of God. It will have to confront the power of God, especially His power to heal. Many will encounter God’s healing power in this crisis as the gateway to faith in the Savior.

Corona is an illness God is able to heal, and He will heal. And that healing will be for a sign to lead people to Christ.

What is God telling you about this?

Dressing as Marketing

How do you know that a yard sells vehicles? How do you differentiate a shop and an office? What is the difference between a residential premise and a house to let?

Of course it is because of the packaging.

You do not ask anybody as you are walking along the street where the shops on that street are as they are screaming to be noticed.

Yet I am talking about dressing, especially our daughters’.

Your dressing projects you in a clearer way than your words can.

Let me give another illustration.

Suppose you come to my house and find my wall unit full of wineglasses, empty wine and beer bottles and those beautiful used casks at the corners in my house. What will you think of me?

Of course that I am a drinker (I do not want to say drunkard). I might use words to explain that I have never tasted a sip of alcohol and even convincingly argue that I actually picked those things as an admirer of art. But then I will always have to explain to everybody who comes to my house why my works of art paint the picture of drunkenness while I am a vehement and ruthless fighter against the same.

How would you feel if you went to a shop display yet when you get into it are told that it is a store?

That is how many girls nowadays behave.

How do you know a harlot? Primarily by their dress. And that is why we have a verse like this in the Bible.

And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart (Proverbs 7: 10)

That dress screams I am available like any effective advertisement or display does.

And what does a harlot project to advertise? Of course what is for sale or hire, however you take it.

She will therefore accentuate parts that draw a man’s attention and enlarge his desire for sex so that she can then shout, ‘I am available’.

Her dress is simply to entice and nothing more. It is an advertorial.

I ministered with a guitar for many years. Young people would approach me to help carry it. 

Incidentally it was when there were impressionable young girls or age mates around.

They wanted to be mistaken for guitarists and of course feed off that to gain a leeway into something else, probably only respect though probably something more sinister.

That is the packaging I am talking about here.

Your dress is an advertisement of who you are. And it is a very short and expensive one.

Some people will not buy any other soap or toothpaste because of an advertisement a few seconds long they saw on TV or heard on radio as they grew up. And they have been unable to change well into their middle age. That is the power of advertising.

You will become sober when you realise that that dress you put on has the capacity of shaping the rest of your life simply by the message it gives. People will judge you using that first glimpse they shot at you as you were entering the room, or even church.

Sadly, cheap and expensive do not mean the same thing when applied to women. It has pretty little to do with the cost of their attire.

Cheap and expensive mean that you are either a common harlot or an expensive one. It thus means you are not homely enough or what people call wife material. And many times this is gauged by that first impression got from the way a woman dresses.

Modest is the word the Bible uses to describe the dress of a believing woman.

And modest is simply a dress that does not attract attention, either to itself of its wearer. It is simply a dress that covers the wearer’s nakedness. And a verse is in order here.

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, but (which becometh women confessing godliness) with good works. (1 Timothy 2: 9, 10)

A godly woman does not allow her dress to shift the attention of onlookers to herself or her dress. She dresses in such a way as to give her deeds a chance to manifest since they are the ones to point people to the Christ she serves. A focus on dress distorts your witness.

That is one place cults always beat us. You can never confuse their message by looking at the way they dress. Whether it is drab or otherwise, their uniformity in dress will always lead you to the message they carry as they do not create diversions. You do not have to battle your mind from peeping breasts to the message of the cross as we do in our door to door evangelism.

I do not want to go on and on as I know you know what I mean.

As an example I do not know whether you are aware that being called sexy is the politest way someone can call you a prostitute (harlot). Otherwise what has sex to do with someone who is not your husband? That is the simple interpretation of that sexy dress you love being complimented for.

Will you allow Christ to be in charge of your wardrobe?