Chicken Expectations

Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? (Deuteronomy 4: 6 – 8)

This message is borne of two different discussions I had with some friends on the same day.

Remember the story of the farmer who picked an eagle’s egg and placed it with chicken’s eggs to hatch? That different ‘chick’ had a very hard time adjusting to being a chicken chick, struggling against its inner craving and calling especially when running away from an eagle looking for chicks to eat in response from it ‘mother’s’ alarm. Its only escape came when it yielded to the call of what it was made for.

As children of God, do we realize what we are made of? Do we know what we are made for?

We fail many times when we limit our expectations only to our ability. Many times we do not even attempt to examine the extent of that ability or the power invested in us as children of God.

Many people, sadly even ministers, looking for a solution to the death and destruction AIDS is causing are assuming, even confessing that young people are unable to deal with or restrain their sex drive. Incidentally Christians are among those young people. Their solution is therefore the condom, and nothing else. Did Joseph have those hormones when that hot mistress drove him up the wall? Was his blood as hot as that of our young men? Or do we assume that he was so anointed that it was frozen?

He was not running away from AIDS as it was not there. I also doubt there were STDs then. I do not think that her husband was a problem as I suspect he was part of that whole racket looking to get seed from such a gifted man.

Why then was his boiling blood unable to lead him to sin? He had a standard that was higher than any pleasure the sin could have opened for him. Look at his argument.

There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? (Genesis 39:9)

He was brought up knowing God and His purpose. He had seen the foibles of his brothers in sex, from the firstborn sleeping with his step mother to another brother sleeping with his daughter in law. He had seen two other brothers clear a tribe because one of them had slept with their sister and even seeming to celebrate it. He had heard all about the battles in their household due to the competitions of the two matriarchs to get the attention of his father. But above all he had been instructed on God and His standard concerning sex.

He therefore did not require the right company to be godly. He did not require prefects to make sure he behaved right. He did not require laws to walk the straight and narrow. To Him God was the standard – and what a lofty standard even in such a godless society! It is no surprise that wherever he went everybody confessed that he had the spirit of the holy gods. His standards were too lofty for their ground scratching chicken lifestyle.

We see the same with Daniel and his three friends. The godlessness and wickedness of their captors, even their unrivalled power and control could not match their commitment to the kind of purpose operating in their lives. A king’s order was not enough to lower their gaze to an earthly standard. And they were teenagers whose craving for food is many times phenomenal. Yet they were able to resist palatial fare for plain boiled vegetables. Imagine all kinds of meat, fried, grilled, broiled, dried, fish, mutton, beef, game etc. and there was of course any other food one could dream of because it was made for the king’s table. And these four teenagers were able to resist it. And I even doubt there was any clear evidence to prove that it was unclean as all the other boys were Jew enough and could also have refused if there was such evidence of uncleannness.

Why do we assume that our young men are chicken and unable to fly yet we are expecting them to fly everywhere else? Why do we grow them wings in the study and corporate arena yet make them chickens in the spiritual? Why should they excel everywhere else yet in the spiritual and moral we are not surprised when they wallow with swine?

Why is it so difficult to realize that it is in the spiritual that all the other wings grow in a healthy and proportional way? Someone with a healthy spiritual outlook will necessarily find balance in all other areas of life. Someone lacking that spiritual outlook is not much different from an animal as they normally follow their instincts to find gratification. And that is where we were made in God’s image and likeness to be above the rest of His creation.

Do we realize that the advice we are offering them is not different from a person with incontinence advising everybody to wear adult diapers as they are unable to control their bowel movements, just because he can’t? And that is what I suspect is the real problem with these advocates. They are just replaying their chicken lifestyle to another generation. That is why I wonder how they still can call themselves God’s ministers as the first requirement of that minister is an encounter with God’s word and transformational power.

And the chicken mindedness gets even worse, which is many times an indicator of the last days we are living in.

The other day I read about this ‘pastor’ who has written a book advising singles to be having sex for whatever reason and under whatever condition. That has gotten even lower than chicken to the mole, compete underground. And she (it is a she) is not even ashamed to call herself a pastor. Again I feel even calling her a wolf in sheep’s skin is flattering. She is a lion in the sheep’s pen.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2Timothy 1:7)

Whatever happened to God’s power in our times? Whatever became of God’s commandments?

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1Corinthians 6: 15 – 20)

Do those chicken teachers read such passages?

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. 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. (Ephesians 5: 3 - 6)

What are we teaching our young people when we do not give them God’s laws or expose them to God’s power? Can we really be representing God if we behave as if He has lost His power or that His power has drastically reduced? Has our fear of offending a godless generation made God of no consequence in our confession? Do we not know that God hates cowards?

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21: 7, 8)

Even here we see how God treats the coward and his crowd. For our times I think the greatest coward who heads to hell is the minister who is scared of earthlings to speak for the heavenly standard. His fear of offending the chicken crowd to speak to the eaglets about their inherent soaring capacity and how low they are sinking when they are scratching the ground for worms when there is better fare.

Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1Timothy 4:12)

Youth is the time to experience consistent victory as it is the foundation for a contented old age. Then one can guide young people through leading an explosive and victorious youth.

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. (1John 2: 12 – 14)

Is it not a shame that we are telling young people that defeat is normal when God places such a premium on them? Could this be anything other than the apostasy the Bible speaks about? And is it not an abomination in God’s eyes?

God expects young people to overcome sexual temptation and flee sexual sin like Joseph did. Let us not limit God’s power to overcome sin as that was the reason Christ came.

And to the young people, flee those leaders, be they mentors, pastors, teachers who treat you like chicken and teach you to live like chicken. You were made to soar high above the clouds. Talking about condoms and contraception to Christian young people as a response to sexual temptation opens the door for you to start experiencing hell down here instead of enjoying the victory of the cross. You do not have to have sex before you get married. In fact it is sin to have sex before you get married. And it is rebellion against God to have sex before marriage as God has invested His Holy Spirit in you to enable you to live a holy life.

Choose teachers who not only teach victory but also expect it from you and hold you accountable for the same. You are not animals to mate just because the hormones rage. You have God’s victorious power residing in you to give you victory over all sin.

God and Creativity

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19)

I want us to look at the way things are normally done to see where God is (or is not), especially in things we associate Him with.

God’s creation is different from any other creation in that He does not need or use anything existing to create. He does not need a blueprint to build. He does not need substance to make substance.

That is so different from the enemy of our souls in that he will ALWAYS work with what God has created to defile it. He looks at what God has done and corrupts it. He looks at what God is saying to caricature it. He does nothing new and only looks at what heaven is doing to rebrand or repackage it to deceive us.

An irrefutable evidence of God’s hand in a thing is the freshness, the newness, the uniqueness of it. Many times it will be something that has not only never been done but also never imagined.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (Ephesians 3:20)

If it is the normal expectation or outcome, chances are that it is not from God. My experience with God and His miracles are that He never repeats Himself. The fact that He has performed a particular miracle is many times a sure sign that He will not repeat it. That is the only constant I have seen as I have walked with God and seen His hand in all areas of my life; and of course the lives of people I have been ministering to over the years.

There was only one burning bush as there was one Calvary. Ever noticed that even Jesus never repeated any miracle He performed? And of course we see the same even in Old Testament miracles.

Why do we find it normal when we see people, even ministers copying from each other in almost all areas of ministry? Why is it normal to see ‘worship’ being copy-pasted from one place to the other? Why do we have no problem seeing miracle workers and exorcists doing the same thing everywhere and every time? Why do all prophets seem to be reading from one script however diverse the prophecy seems?

Has God stopped being the God of the Bible? Has He run out of methods and ideas to run His world? Has He become limited in His revelation? Or are we the ones who have lost His plot?

Why does God not repeat Himself? Why does He always do new things?

The first reason is us. We are creatures of habit. We also love order and worship in which we are in charge. This means we will create shrines where God speaks or does something in His nature.

Let me give an example. Imagine with me that one time you pass through a place and feel such a compelling drive to pray that you forget where you are going and kneel and have the prayer time of your life. You then proceed wherever you were going and forget that experience. Two or three months later you pass by that place and feel the same urgency and get the same result. This is a place you very rarely pass through. Now imagine a third time experiencing the same thing. What will you think? What will you do?

Chances are that you will associate that place with prayer. It is very possible that you could neglect prayer anywhere else. You could even travel far to get to that place to pray, meaning that prayer elsewhere may die since there is one place where prayer is compelled. Chances are that the place would be made into a prayer museum. Yet it could just have been coincidental. Remember Nehushtan?

The other reason is our enemy. The devil is most effective when he appears like God (2 Corinthians 11:14). And he most looks like Him when he is performing similar feats. We see him doing it when Moses was performing miracles in Egypt without caring whether the replicating was adding to the hardships of their people. It therefore means that the devil follows what God is doing and copies it to get followers because he knows that even ascribing a miracle he performs to God does not give glory to God.

A lot of the miracles we are shown are of such kind, which actually are works of magic. A lot of prophesies and revelations are also of the same kind too.

A pastor preaches a sermon that brings hordes to Christ and forgets that it is Christ who draws people to Himself, thinking it is the sermon. He will therefore preach that sermon again and again so that he can get the same response.  I know a pastor who preaches the same sermon all the years I have heard him, changing one thing or the other but leaving the sermon untouched.

I am suggesting something completely radical that may change the way we do ‘business’ in God’s name.

Have you ever considered that many of those things you think you are doing for God may not be originating from Him? Have you ever considered that many of those miracles you celebrate could be works of magic? Have you ever imagined that that fervent prayer you offer could be other than directed to God?

Ever wondered why people who speak in tongues say almost the same thing I have heard them saying all my life? Does it mean that God is saying the same thing in the same language? Does the Holy Spirit have only that language? Why does the same thing being said mean different things when interpreted? How come many speak that language with no evidence of God’s transformational presence?

Why are the same songs sung in worship gatherings all over? Does it mean that God’s revelation to an individual is enough for all? Is His inspiration or revelation so limited that it must be spread all over for people to worship? Has His promise to pour His Spirit on all flesh run its course so that we are back to Samuel’s time?

Does worship consist only of song? Must it be preceded by song? Can there be worship without song? What is the difference between a worship song and a praise song? And why must a singer rush to the studio when they compose a song?

How does a secular entertainer perform in a worship concert? How does a worship leader entertain in a secular bash? How does a godless tycoon or politician get a chance to address a church gathering and not in repentance?

Why do we go for long stretches (from three to seven weeks) of fasting yet see nobody losing any weight? Why do we ask for people’s prayer requests in their seasons of fasting? Why are people eating during those weeks of fasting? What is the purpose of our fasting in the first place? And why do people who go through those fasts boast about those feats?

Why is it that all the writers are writing about the same things? Why is there no difference between secular and spiritual books? Again why are sales the focus of our writing?

As usual I am asking these questions first to myself. I don’t want to be operating in a system where God is only assumed to be present when He probably isn’t.  And I will close with my favorite verses

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 21 – 23)

When was the last time you heard or saw something that was so fresh that it could only be ascribed to God?

Power Struggles

Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, (Titus 3:1)

Today I want us to look at conflicts that come from two people or structures that have to interact to be able to achieve something and God’s take on this.

In Kenya we are having conflicts between the two centres of power, the central government and the county governments, mainly because we have not learnt the intricacies of a devolved system of government.

Governors have become comical in the way they run their affairs as they try to outshine the president. Many have become pseudo kings in those small enclaves of theirs, even using titles that can never fit their small frames to make them feel important. Some have consolidated all major contracts and given them to friends and family and some have made corruption a comedy in the way they do it.

But I write this not for political purposes as you know I am a minister of the Gospel of Christ. I just want to give us a background of this topic at hand because it is in the spiritual where such conflicts are most destructive. I will therefore look at the spiritual and marital realm.

Who is a pastor? Who is a ministry leader?

It is sad that many pastors today want to be treated as and even call themselves CEOs of the church. Is the church a corporate entity? And it is no wonder that many of their churches run as secular entities, some even looking for secular certification of quality.

In their pursuit of that secular relevance many have killed the divine distinctions and have become just another secular company, albeit with a spiritual name. Some have retrenched pastors as a cost cutting measure. Others have injured spirits of their members when they procure or change contracts or recruit staff as they behave much worse than secular entities – simply because they are living outside their calling. In fact for most ministry eventually dies out as there is no secular equivalent or certification for the same.

But we are looking at power conflicts. I have mentioned this because a secularly run church MUST have such conflicts. And the primary source of those conflicts is their lack of connectedness to their divine order book and self seeking agenda.

But I do not want us to look at these impostors or thoroughly deceived persons or entities. I want us to look at a genuine church and members who are doing their best to pursue God’s calling for their lives and structures. I am therefore not addressing a church like yours if you have a superstar for a pastor or you choose the rich and influential when you need leaders.

A church is composed of ministers; each and every member of the church of Christ is a minister according to the scriptures.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4: 11 – 13)

A pastor is therefore not the sole minister with his clique of aides. His is not the only calling in the congregation. He will therefore be in extreme disobedience should he believe or behave as if his is the highest or only calling in that structure he leads. Trying to put all the callings under his subjection will not only subject these ministers to spiritual oppression but will also leave many souls frustrated as he keeps on clipping whichever spiritual wings that may cause any of them to fly.

‘There are people who are called (or call themselves) pastors who are not pastors’. How many times have you heard a church give such clarification so that their members are not misled into being pastored by these ‘spurious’ pastors? The impression being given is that only the pastors who are in the employ of the church are pastors.

Yet who is a pastor? Who calls a pastor? Who determines the validity of a pastoral calling? Where are pastors needed?

A pastor is Christ’s under shepherd. It goes without say that only Christ has the mandate to call someone into the pastoral ministry. It is also important to note that the pastoral call is not limited to the local church as we know it but the universal church of Christ. There are pastors who are therefore sent into the weirdest of places according to our convention. In fact many that we call pastors do not qualify to be if we followed the Biblical definition.

What do we think of a pastor who has been sent to minster to the gangs or prostitutes? What about the one sent to minister to the mariners or truck drivers? What about the one sent to pastor the broken and fallen pastors? What about the one sent to heal the injuries caused by pastors?

Are these pastors if their calling and ministry is outside our narrow local church definitions?

And that is where power struggles begin if we even for a moment lose our vital connection to the Head through commonsense or denominational structural fidelity. Or we may shift ever so slightly from the Bible and use our traditions to gauge ministry positioning and effect.

Let me give us a Biblical example.

Paul was custom made to take the Gospel to the gentiles. But he was rejected because his conversion went contrary to convention. It took someone with a different calling to receive him. Barnabas was also custom made for that kind of ministry. He not only convinced the church about Paul’s conversion but went all the way to Tarsus to look for him.

In a short time, or long, the same Paul is able to become what God intended him to be. He starts as an assistant to Barnabas but eventually takes over as the leader since that is what Barnabas was called for.

Then another ministry opportunity opens up for him. Mark wants to get into ministry and Barnabas knows that he is ready for the kind of discipleship and mentoring he had offered Paul. But Paul as the new team leader will have none of it. Like the other disciples he will not minister with failures and so rejects the kind of ministry that made him who he was.

They therefore had to part ways as Barnabas had to continue doing what God called him for.

That is the kind of power struggle I am talking about.

Supposing Barnabas was like some of us! He could have put Paul to his place by reminding him the role he played in his call and ministry and the fact that even God’s call for them started with Barnabas’ name. Then a disaster could have been the result requiring the apostles to be called to resolve the dispute.

But Barnabas was secure in his relationship with Christ and calling. He did not look for his certification from works but from keeping his focus on God and His assignment for him. He knew that God needed him to restore and develop Mark. Whether Paul would be a partner was not a requirement. Remember he sold his land and gave the proceeds to the church in Jerusalem and left to take the Gospel far away without seeking to eat any of his offering. He never complained when he suffered deprivation and persecution even after coming from such privilege because God and His call were sufficient.

That is the reason he left Paul and started discipling Mark. And that is the same Mark who wrote the Gospel we now read, the same Mark Paul later requested for ministry.

Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. (2Timothy 4:11)

He could have aborted that ministry had he insisted on his seniority, a seniority that was recognized by the church from Jerusalem to Antioch, headquarters of Jewish and gentile apostolic outreaches. But he knew who he was and was content in doing what God had called him for, developing ministers.

Is your Christian leadership like his or must people know who you are when things become tough? What about your discipleship? Can you leave success for another tough assignment or must you eat the fruit of your ministry sweat first?

Conflict occurs when God’s call is not the defining aspect of ministry, and especially when one person thinks his call or ministry determines or defines another minister’s calling or ministry. This will cause them to apply the pressure of his authority (according to his position in the structure) to make sure that everybody ministers according to the narrow definition his calling has. Of course he will emasculate, even kill some ministry or minister simply because they do not submit to his infantile obsession with his narrow understanding because their call is outside or beyond anything he can conceive or understand. And I am speaking this from a few bitter experiences in ministry. There was this one time I was confronted for having backslidden because God gave me an assignment in a church that was off limits. Another time a ministry I had been called to initiate was killed and my support removed without notice because it was not running at the whims of the big men of the structure. It was completely inhuman as I was literally thrown to the streets yet I had a family to support. All because I had decided to follow God’s clear orders, orders that did not promote the visibility of the big men of the ministry.

That is something being replicated all over even as ministers are falling over each other to be recognized for their ministry and calling prowess so that they forget the One who has called them (if indeed they are called). As we seek greater visibility for our ministry to the world, especially through the media, we have many times sought to obliterate those who appear not too keen on adding the shine to our glory even as we pamper those who seem to recognize how big we are though they be walking in open sin. We offer sinners ministry opportunities and discard the ones whose ministry does not affirm or add any shine to ours.

On the marital front the opposite seems to be happening.  We seem to be trashing our divine order book for commonsense. And I will not dwell on this for long as I have addressed this in many other posts. I will just give us a few passages and verses to consider.

Numbers 30 addresses vows in the family context.

1 Kings 21 talks about accountability in a marriage for decisions and actions. Basically it answers the question where does the buck stop? Who is answerable to God for what decision or action?

Ephesians 5: 22 – 33 again talks about order in a marriage as does 1 Peter 3 and many other passages.

Study the totality of the scriptures before you accuse me of focusing on passages that seem to be against your feminist leanings because it is important to know that feminism is a worldly movement, meaning that it is orchestrated from the enemy of our souls to kill the divine order. And killing that order brings about a disorder that is destructive to everything spiritual like cancer to a living cell.

The greatest problem in marriages is that many men do not realize their spiritual responsibility as far as marriage and family is concerned, meaning that they abscond that responsibility or delegate it to their wives, thus bringing out spiritual and moral chaos since the head is sick. Many opt for peace at all costs and lose their spiritual heritage in the process.

But like I have mentioned earlier it I something I have written about several times and so will not repeat the same thing on this post.