Devil’s Advocate

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10: 26 – 31)

I want us to look at some reasons that make a sober minister become an entertainer or motivator as opposed to being a herald of releases from heaven. This is because we many times are very quick to pass judgment on people we deem to have abandoned the faith without caring to understand that it is very possible to fall in the pit they are in if we are not careful with our faith.

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

We must understand why and how people sold out to God can all of a sudden seem to forget the God who meant everything to them not long before.

I want us to look at some of the causes for a believer to abandon the faith yet be convinced he is still a person of faith.

The first is promotion in earthly terms. Effective ministry attracts favor from many corners. Sadly, we do not determine the kind of favor we will receive or the kind of people we will receive it from. This means that we could slowly become elevated by that favor.

What do I mean? It will become normal for people to sacrifice things they do not have for us to have them. A person who cannot afford a TV will mobilize friends to get you one. People who can never afford meat will pay a butcher to deliver a kilo a week to you. People who do not have a vehicle in their wildest dreams will gladly sacrifice to buy you one. And those who live in the slums or shacks will pay dearly to have you live with the decency a minister requires. All this so that your ministry continues being vibrant and relevant.

What follows is that you acquire a new status from those sacrifices they have made for you. But this status brings in new friends, friends who are consistent with it. The only problem is that these friends connect with you purely on the neighborhood or hangout joints as opposed to ministry. This means you will rarely have any substantial spiritual fellowship in your new status.

But it becomes worse because your new location becomes inaccessible to those who have funded your move there. In their desire to elevate you, they have locked themselves out of your life. They may even have done that on purpose, to make sure you do not waste much time on people to get quality time to develop yourself for them.

Without a spiritually sound fellowship and accountability, anything you do will be right. Those around you have no spiritual capacity to help you spiritually and those spiritual enough are too far to be of any good.

And it gets worse. Soon you start thinking in terms of your new status. Your neighbors emasculate any little spirituality you have by their worldliness. Mark you I am not talking about sin. You become so withdrawn from your congregation to the point that you become a complete stranger to them outside the pulpit or ministry point.

You slowly start isolating yourself from the poverty you came from. You disconnect with people without vehicles as there is very little you have in common. Their offerings start being too little for your new status especially because people in your new status start giving toward your new status – so that you become their pastor at the expense of the masses that lifted you.

That is when a pastor starts operating like an executive, seeing people only on appointment, an appointment that can be cancelled at no notice because a more worthy person has arrived. I remember a person who had waited for three months to see a pastor having the appointment cancelled as he was waiting for it at the reception. It is impossible to describe the pain he went through. Yet someone with a big car will cut through that waiting crowd and see that pastor without requiring an appointment. So the argument of the pastor being busy holds no water.

Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! (Numbers 23: 10b)

This is Balaam responding to the call to curse Israel.

Is it surprising that he died the death he had confessed he hated?

And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. (Numbers 31: 8)

How did he die the death of the wicked contrary to his desire in his prophecy?

The pull of the favors from a king was irresistible. He was unable to be sober in the presence of such favor and promise. As I said in my blog post ‘Balaam and Politically Correct Answers’, leaving the presence of a king, especially when your prophecies have rubbed him the wrong way can be a very dangerous proposition.

It was thus easier to lower his standards, especially because lowering those standards was being rewarded very handsomely.

That is how come he was not able to know when his death was coming, especially as he had prophesied about it.

Another example is Lot. How did his wife become a pillar of salt yet she had lived in close proximity with the father of faith for enough time? How did he find comfort in Sodom yet he had followed his uncle on his own volition? How did his daughters rape him yet they had seen kings being rebuked for having ideas about Sarah?

He had simply chosen a great land. The Bible says that it was like the garden of God. Its appeal was therefore irresistible. The rest was a matter of course. The decision simply activated the course of events.

And that is what many times happens to many a minister, however anointed they may be or think they are.

The saddest part is that God may never indicate that He has disqualified you from His team. Like Balaam you may continue prophesying. Like Saul you may continue reigning. Like Judas you may continue handling His money. Like Diotrephes you may continue exercising the bishopric.

One verse that scares me is Romans 11: 29

For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

God will continue using you even when you leave His team.

Does that speak to you?