Are You Ready?

Imagine this scenario I was shown as I was praying.

I was led to a beach then to a location nobody dares cross or even approach due to the gangs there. Murder was commonplace; robbery was the safest you could expect after getting close to that place or the people whose den it was.

It was a gang even the police dared not confront for their brutality and deviant schemes. They had to literally plead with the gang if there was something they needed to do in those haunts.

Well, God led me there almost against my will because there was no knowing what to expect (I suspect that is what Jonah went through). I can accurately say that He dragged me there.

But He not only dragged me to the location which was scary enough; He took me right at the centre of their convention of sorts, a place that probably had more than one such gang.

Then I started to preach. What I remember was their ire when they saw me in the middle of their meeting. They immediately started effecting plans to eliminate me.

One right behind me came at me with a dagger but God spoke to him through my mouth about what he was coming to do and he was shocked because I was not even looking his direction. Another one started drawing his pistol and God also spoke about that as he was planning it.

Anyway, as that went on I was sharing the Gospel and dealing with all such interruptions until finally they were arrested by the Gospel.

All of them, and we are talking about over fifty, accepted Christ’s offer of salvation.

Of course that port city was transformed immediately.

And that is where my problems started. Where do I direct them to worship? Which church will accept them? Which church will integrate them into their membership? Which church will disciple them?

Think with me along these lines.

Can God save the down and outs? Does He save them?

Do we have the spiritual infrastructure to receive them into our congregations? Do we have the spiritual capacity to disciple those we dread?

Do we believe that Christ can change them? Do we behave like people who believe that?

It is said that talk is cheap. Platitudes come in their bucketfuls. We can confess all we can about the power Christ has to change anybody but many times that does not get beyond our confession. We will agree that they can be saved, but only when there is sufficient distance between us and them. We can even support someone ministering to them but will never even want to see what our giving is doing.

But our duplicity is exposed when such people have means. We have no problems accepting a former thief if he still has the money. We have no problem with jailbirds if they continue with their expensive lifestyle. We may even ordain them to pastor a congregation. We don’t have issues accepting politicians whose delving into the occult is known by all and sundry. We do not have issues receiving tithes from the corrupt to build our churches or maintain our comfort.

But I am sure we know that white collar thieving is still stealing. We know that the elitist conman is still a thief. And the corrupt may be even worse than serial murderers because they may destroy whole communities as opposed to individuals. And the person who solicits sex to give a job or promotion might be more destructive than a crude rapist as he may destroy marriages and families, especially because the damage is not visible yet it grows and spreads like gangrene in the spiritual structure.

But let us get back to my topic. Who will disciple those rejects when they get saved? Must we give them ten years to prove that they have changed? Did Christ do that to those who came to Him?

A case in point is a friend who became fed up with hypocrisy and duplicity in the church he served very passionately and converted to Islam. We prayed (at least I know I prayed) for him to come back to the fold and he came. He even had sessions with some leaders about his decision.

Well, he attended a huge church function and my heart bled when I heard what happened. He was arrested and detained in a police car for the whole duration of the service. He was simply treated as a terror suspect.

Was the church really interested in this young man? Did they pray for him when he was lost? Were their prayers answered?

I am fed up when I see a red alert when a Somali looking stranger attends church in Nairobi. Everybody from the ushers to the pastoral team is made aware that a suspicious character is in the church. If there is CCTV, it is all focused on him.

Assuming he had come to church to become a Christian, is there any possibility of getting through all that hostility to get to Christ? Would we even want to pray for him if he asks for prayer to receive Christ? Is Christ also scared of the suicide jacket?

I am tired of seeing former prisoners being treated as second or even third class members of Christ’s body. An adulterer in the singing group is treated better. A pastor who sleeps with his flock does not raise any eyebrows. A leader who fleeces his members is celebrated instead of defrocked.

Are there some sins Christ’s blood not cleanse? Does He also cleanse the sins of the prisoners? Does He change them as He changes us?

One aspect of the end times that we are in is the ingathering of God’s people from all over, so called the end time harvest.

I believe we will soon be hearing of suicide bombers getting saved in church compounds and will have to be helped out of the suicide vests. I actually believe there are enough of them who have become Christians but do not know where to go because the church has rejected them and do not care to know whether they have responded to Christ or not. Will we receive them? Very soon Al Shabaab members will start coming to Christ in droves. Will we receive them or would we rather that they died without Christ a safe distance from us.

And history bears me out. How many persecutors became Christians by seeing the fortitude and grace of the people they were killing? What happened to Paul?

 I want a church that will receive a former prostitute dying of AIDS and disciple her back to health so that she can reach out to her former customers and colleagues. I want a church that will receive a condemned murderer and adopt him in prison, even growing him into Christ likeness and receive him as a son if he is released, without discrimination. I want a church that truly believes that Christ came to the world to save sinners, and no distinctions are made about them.

I want a church that will receive former Muslims and disciple them without looking at them as security threats. I want a church that will wholly embrace former terrorists and disciple them into effective ministry.

If God shows me such a church, and this is my prayer, I will transfer my membership there IMMEDIATELY. If there is no such, my prayer is that God will raise a team that will be ready to venture in this direction. I am ready to join that team, also immediately.

I am tired of playing church without allowing Christ to bring in His harvest. I am tired of seeing decisions for Christ being treated as statistics. I am tired of the classification of sin and sinners.

I do not want my generation bypassed by the move of God; because that is judgment. I do not want to be part of a generation that blocks the end time harvest of souls. I do not want my children to wonder why Christ tarries because we have refused to allow Him to bring in His sheaves through our prejudice.

I am ready for a church that has enough Barnabases to introduce former ISIS and Boko Haram killers into discipleship and ministry like he did with Paul.

God is like that. He called a terrorist (Simon the Zealot) to be a disciple. Among the first evangelists was the Samaritan woman who was a husband stealer, probably a prostitute. Zacchaeus was a corrupt tax collector as was Matthew who was a disciple. Jephthah was a terrorist and gang leader. And of course Rahab was a harlot.

If the security and respectability of your church and structure is more important than the harvest of souls, then count me out. I am probably already out and only praying for direction as to where Christ would have me be.

The here and now focus is robbing me of real spiritual nurture and vitality I get when I am participating in what God is doing in restoring a lost word to Himself. The blessing in the flesh does not satisfy my spiritual hunger.

As I close, I want you to go back to where I started. Where do all these saved criminals or terrorists go to church? Where would you direct them if they asked you? That is where I am.

God bless you