Chronos

I thought to hit at you as you are celebrating your new year because I have encountered enough warfare from the holiday spirit. You see, early 2015 I thought to briefly expose the celebrations in the season, especially Christmas (The Harvest of Mammon on the blog) demonstrating that even casual observation will show anybody that Christ is not the object of all that debauchery.

I will therefore respond to the battering I have been going through from this spirit to try to expose the folly we expose ourselves to as we celebrate days and years God has not ordered.

Why don’t I celebrate birthdays? Why will I not celebrate new years? Why would I rather endure spiritual battery than keep quiet when wished those holidays?

Show me in the Bible where God ordered those celebrations in His name or otherwise. Second, there are so many calendars. Which one should I celebrate and why? Third, the calendar we now use is clearly heathen. Days and months are dedicated to demons (idols) and emperors. Why should I celebrate them?

Yet there is a Biblical year.

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. (Exodus 12:2)

But God did not order a celebration even if we were to make the sacred calendar our official one. There are things He ordered us to remember, not necessarily celebrate. In other words even when there was a celebration it was the remembrance that was emphasized.

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. (Luke 22:19)

It is not a party He calls us to but a worship relationship with Him. We break His law when we convert what should be a solemn moment into a party where the last thing to expect is heightened spiritual awareness.

And that is why even the Passover has been defiled, not just by being renamed Easter but especially because of all that baggage that has been introduced so that the remembrance is pushed to the periphery, if not out altogether. It has been merged with an idolatrous event dedicated to demons. What with the bunny and eggs and ….?

A year to me is a mark of the passage of time and nothing else. That is unless we will decide to take the sacred calendar and celebrate Biblically sanctioned feasts.

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: (Deuteronomy 16:16)

The first is the Passover and it was a whole week with events that reminded Israel of the struggle they had before leaving Egypt and the victory they received. The unleavened bread reminded them of the hurry their deliverance necessitated. The Passover lamb and all the processes involved reminded them of the judgment God passed on Egypt and the sacrifice that ensured that they escape that judgment.

Pentecost or feast of weeks was a thanksgiving season where they were to concentrate on the goodness of the Lord. Again it was dedicated to remind God’s people of the great acts of God through their history, receiving scriptural instruction throughout the whole season. It coincided with the firstfruits or the time they started eating their harvest so that it was a time of great gratitude to God who provided good things for them.

Succoth or feast of tabernacles was the season when they replayed the forty years in the wilderness, again to clearly appreciate and appropriate God’s favor and goodness.

Even Purim that was set up in the time of Esther and Mordecai was to remember the miracle that saved the Jews from certain extermination and not a party for the sake of partying.

Remember also when Ezra’s temple was being opened there was a festival for a long time. Yet do you realize that the whole time there was focus on scriptural instruction and the goodness of God. Remember that even the Psalms of ascents were the ones that were sung as the pilgrims from all over Israel were journeying to Jerusalem for the feasts? It was a spiritual exercise from the start to the end.

A major purpose of those feasts was the object lessons it offered to children as their parents responded to the questions asked concerning those observances.

And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. (Exodus 12: 26, 27)

And it was the same with the other festivals.

Celebrating things for the sake of a good time is neither Biblical nor Christian. The truth of the matter is that it is antichristian as it serves no Christian purpose however much we want to associate it with God. You see God either institutes it or His enemy institutes it. You can therefore be sure that if your party falls outside the three that are sanctioned by God, you are offering strange a fire in His altar even if you associate Him with it.

On the same line I will want us to look at the year itself. Who says we are in 2016? Whose calendar are we using to associate God with that year? It is the secular year associated with the idols and emperors who made it. What business do I have to align God with it? Who should align with the other? And I will repeat what I have said. It is either instituted by God or He has nothing to do with it. Remember this.

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: (Isaiah 29:13)

Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men … (Mark 7: 7, 8)

Let us not deceive ourselves. God is not bound to your year. He is sovereign and does what pleases Him without needing our assistance. And He operates with those who worship Him in spirit and truth and walk in obedience to His revelation.

Releasing His word to a group (congregation) of a thousand that is a conglomeration of all types of characters is therefore superfluous at the least and presumptuous at the most.

Why do I call this trend a lie? The first reason is that God is personal and deals with people individually. Lumping a thousand people together to release God’s prophecy for the year is (let me not put the word I really wanted to put here)…

But the greatest fallacy of this trend is the fact that sin is rarely if ever preached against. How does God release His goodies to a people who are not connected to His redemptive purpose? How does one word apply equally to a person swimming in willful sin as it applies to someone walking with God? How does the same word apply to the persecuted and the persecutor alike?

Of course we enjoy breakthroughs and favor. But that is consistent with our walk with God and dependent on the season God has placed us in.

But at the worst we are actually pigeon holing God. We want to constrain Him to do only what we have released in His name though it be a creation of our minds. And we do it to keep the money flowing because psyched up people will easily give to continue being more psyched up to the superstar doing the psyching. Sinners who are not challenged about their sinful ways will outgive saints who are troubled by their stench of sin as their sin is being assumed absent by all this preaching about breakthrough and favor.

And like I have asked some people, if 2016 is the year of promotion (or something like that) was there no promotion before then? And will the promotions cease when the year ends?

These preachers are not more than fortune tellers, only that they are using the Bible while the others are reading palms and stars. And their results are not much different because the guesswork will finally come out.

Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. (Isaiah 47:13)

You see if I guessed something on a group of a hundred, I can never score zero, especially if I know something about them. But I will not be accurate on all of them.

Doing the same on a thousand will give better results as more people will receive my ‘prophecy’. But you see that even more will lose out on the same.

Let’s say I ‘prophesy’ promotion in 2016. Anything positive can very easily be connected to my ‘prophecy’.  And there is a whole year for the same to be repeated all over the congregation. And I will of course get all the positive testimonies as the year progresses.

But the reality is that some people will not only be demoted but lose their jobs and stay jobless for the whole year. Some will start business that will crash in the year. Some will have relationships that they had counted on to promote them to marriage break. Some will lose their marriage (since sin that is the cause of most marital conflict is not addressed). In short quite a number will experience the opposite of the word I am preaching.

As a result I may crust the faith of someone through my ‘prophecy’ since it went opposite in his situation.

And I will repeat something I say all the time. Prophecy is either 100% accurate or it is false since God is the source of all true prophecy. In the same way if only one person in my 20 000 congregation received something different from what I prophesied, I have no excuse to argue out the fact that I am a false prophet. And I have no apologies to make for this statement because it is backed by scripture.

I ought to dwell in God’s presence enough to know exactly what He wants me to tell the people He has entrusted to me. Lack of that is the reason pastors are still leading people to celebrate pagan ceremonies in church and live according to pagan days and years.

I use chronos for my days and years. For example, recently I remembered 30 years since God called me and I responded. But I did not hold a celebration because it really is not about me. I prayed with my family thanking God for the far He has taken me since that decision. It is His faithfulness rather my usefulness that was the focus and so it brought out worship instead of pride. Landmark it is, but the landmark is about God and the favor He granted me to know and serve Him.

Do not feel sad, then, if I do not wish (again why wish when I can pray) you happy this or the other. Do not be disappointed when I fail to attend some of your parties because sometimes God refrains me for His own reasons.

I hope I have burst your bubble positively

God bless you

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

Anointed Donkeys

Imagine with me this donkey conversation

Donkey 1: You have been so aloof lately. Why don’t you spend as much time with us?

Donkey 2: I have been quite busy. You see I have started getting opportunities that require my spending less time with you.

Donkey 3: But you also seem to be avoiding us. Why do you not even wave at us when you are passing?

Donkey 2: I am too busy to notice anything that does not fit in my purpose.

Donkey 1: My friend, that borders on pride

Donkey 2: If walking according to my new status is pride, then I plead guilty.

Donkey 1: Eh? You actually mean you have been avoiding us?

Donkey 2: No. It is you who are fighting to drag me to your level, something that I will resist with everything I have

Donkey 4: I hope you are not starting to imagine that you are a horse.

Donkey 2: Even a horse is beneath me.

Donkey 3: Now you are taking this too far. Since when did a donkey attain a higher status than a horse?

Donkey 2: Have you ever see a horse being given red carpet treatment?

Donkey 1: Explain

Donkey 2: If you never saw it, did you not hear the time people were removing their clothes and laying them on the road for me to walk on?

Donkey 3: Was it not for Jesus that the people were doing it?

Donkey 2: How many times has Jesus been walking these roads without anyone doing anything of the sort for Him? Could they have done it if it were not me who was carrying Him?

End of the conversation.

Many ministers, especially in our times reason so much like Donkey 2. They believe that God has no other choice but to use them. They ascribe all that God does through them to their persona.

In fact many announcements and advertisements for meetings, seminars and Gospel crusades leave no doubt as to who the main guy is.

‘With God all things are possible’ is not complete without the addition, ‘with so and so’. The attendance of some ministers commands greater awe and expectation than the presence of Christ would. People attend events and concerts because of the minister present rather than a response to God’s invitation. I know of people who will go on leave (stop attending church) when their star performer (sadly called pastor) is on leave. I have even encountered some who will come to church and go back home because they discover their star is performing elsewhere. And I am talking about people who proudly confess it.

The sad fact is that these pastors are proud of the fact that they are the reason people go to church. Yet who are we?

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2Corinthians 4:7)

There is no glory inherent in us. A light bulb is an ornament without electricity. It may be the focus of the room, but only because it carries the light giving glory.

That glory is Christ in us. Remove Christ and we are worse than that light bulb without power. This is because in us dwells nothing good. This makes it very clear that what is visible is what is being radiated by whatever is in us. And that is what we see in Galatians 5 where the works of the flesh are contrasted with the fruit of the Spirit. In each the resident presence reproduces itself in the vessel holding it.

Even at our best we can only radiate what is in us and not ourselves. We therefore should lead people to the source of what we radiate.

For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2Corinthians 2: 15 – 16)

God is never at our mercy. Remember this

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. (Luke 19:40)

We are the ones in need of His mercy. We do not deserve to serve Him at all. Nothing in us gives us any stature in God’s sight since He already knows that we are dust.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

The fact that He chooses to use us does not change the fact. It in fact amplifies it when we get a glimpse of the One we are serving.

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)

It is sheer folly, ignorance, even blasphemy to suppose that we qualify to be used. It is even worse when we equate ourselves with God as equal partners.

The first culprit of this is some people we more or less worship for their availability to be used of God. Mariolatry is one such perversion. Mary was not confused as we are about who she was in the sight of Christ, her son in the flesh. Look at her response to God’s offer to use her.

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. (Luke 1:38)

She did not treat herself as some of us treat her. But neither did Jesus.

Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. (Matthew 12: 47 – 50)

Why we think that she and some other dead people can intercede for us is not only incredulous but also completely unscriptural. Or have we forgotten this

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:24)

Why are we using others to pray for us?

But this message concerns us and our stature or lack of it in the eyes of God.

We know we have fallen for this trap when someone’s daily walk with God is not an essential when one is considering leadership in church and ministry positions.

We look for an excellent voice when we want to raise worshippers without asking whether their lives are consistent with their confession. We look for more degrees without caring to know whether they dwell in God’s presence. We look for the rich without caring to know whether those riches are at the disposal of the King we serve or they are like the rich young ruler in the Bible.

A smartly dressed preacher is regarded better than the one who does not have an elaborate wardrobe. An eloquent debater is respected for wasting an hour expounding on a verse than one so immersed in the word that anything he speaks is the scripture. A magician will draw more people to their ‘church’ with magic tricks and witchcraft than someone whose closeness to God is evident even to the unbelievers. A false prophet has a greater following than a simple proclaimer of the Gospel of Christ.

Even the people we support are many times very clear evidence the kind of donkeys we love. People would rather support an adulterer with a big church than one who struggles because he has refused to compromise his calling. They would rather support a very prominent ministry that pushes the homosexual agenda than one which has decided to stick to the plain Gospel of Christ.

But feeling better than other donkeys does not change the fact that it is still a donkey. In fact it is worse because it has a serious identity crisis. But it gets even worse because it has lost the purpose for which it was created. It has disqualified itself from ever being used by his creator and started living its own self-defeating purpose and of course feels great to it. More like what happened with Eve when she thought to become like God.

Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. (Psalm 32:9)

That is what happened to Saul, the king. He became more important than the prophet who anointed him, than even the God who commanded it.

It also happened to Nebuchadnezzar. See what he said

The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? (Daniel 4:30)

It happened to Belshazzar when he took temple utensils to his party.

And it attracts judgment, sometimes instant as it is blasphemy however we may want to look at it.

Saul and Belshazzar lost their kingdoms. Nebuchadnezzar was demoted to the point that he ate grass like an ox.

But it is Herod who met that judgment dramatically as he started rotting and being eaten by worms as he was standing and taking in all the glory the people were pouring on him.

And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. (Acts 12:23)

But does it have to end that way? Is there a way we can avoid falling in that trap?

Of course God has provided an escape even for that (1 Corinthians 10:13).

But it is not an attractive option for most. It is sacrifice at its most basic.

But we have Christ as our example. See how many times He referred people to His sending authority.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (Philippians 2: 5 – 7)

He surrendered the authority He had to accomplish the mission that brought Him.

And He also gave us the same instruction.

But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?  Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. (Luke 17: 7 – 10)

Are you more important than the Gospel you proclaim? Who between you and the Gospel adds value to the other? Who can exist and flourish without the other?

It is essential that we establish that in our hearts and minds who we are in relation to the God we serve. Otherwise we will continue behaving foolishly in our service to Him. Our self importance will very easily disqualify us from being ministers, not only in the eyes of men but also in the eyes of the one we pretend to serve.

Look at some introductions given of ministers as they are called to speak and you will get what I am saying. Some would put Christ to shame if He stood by them as they were being introduced. There would be little difference between them and Herod.

Some churches are extensions of these donkeys. A signboard will be incomplete if it does not have the picture of the main donkey very prominently. An announcement can never be made if it lacks their contribution. Some have wives of the donkey as the deputy and children as directors. And we are talking about church and ministry!

But another problem with our self importance as we do ministry is that we are wont to set the standards instead of relying on God’s eternal standards. It becomes easy to dismiss sin and excuse it for weakness. We become our own judges of character, even dismissing anyone who insists that God is the only one with the standards for any judgment. Thus we will explain sin instead of addressing it, especially if we or our supporters are the culprits.

We also easily become partial with our attention. We elevate those who ‘recognize’ our status and hate those who do not buy into our importance. We hate, even destroy people and ministries whose view of our life and ministry makes them treat us as ordinary donkeys. It becomes worse if they have the backing of scripture and character as we fear they may influence others into their ‘skewed’ view. Sin is sin not because it is so in God’s eyes but because it stands in opposition with our self importance. We handsomely reward those who recognize our elevated status and publicly affirm those who invest in our status.

What kind of donkey are you? Is your status consistent with God’s revelation? Or are you on the firing line of God’s judgment?