Without a Trace

Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. (1Kings 14:10)

I want us to look at God as completely unlike us, which is the primary meaning of holy, in the way He deals with His enemies.

Who are His enemies? It is primarily people who are sold out to an agenda different from His revelation. It is people who have decided to live a life independent of Him. It is those who have sought their security from anything apart from Him. It is people who believe they are because of their effort.

And this is why I have picked a verse on Jeroboam. God promised him a kingdom long before He gave him. He however became insecure when he was handed the kingdom, probably inferring that God’s promise to David was more permanent than the one to him. He therefore established alternative worship to keep his people from going to Jerusalem where they could be tempted to defect.

The fact that he forgot God who had given him the promise and introduced his insecurity as a religion is the reason God decided to clear his name and posterity from the earth.

We see a similar sentence pronounced against Baasha and Ahab

That sin is a reproach to any people is not just a verse in the Bible. It is the reality everywhere one looks.

God hates sin. And it is worse when sin is made into a culture. God must act when we entrench sin in our dealings, whoever we may be.

Remember a similar sentence being declared against Eli and his posterity?

In my not so many years (I am not a hundred yet), I have seen traces of such sentences on people who at one time were extremely prominent and powerful that are now approaching extinction. Though they had everything anybody could desire, it is now difficult to find descendants. Yet they had had a head start on everything from good education to jobs to lands. Yet that was not enough to guard the families against extinction.

God is gracious. Yet His grace does not annul His justice and holiness. Remember this?

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus 34: 6, 7)

But what I am talking about here goes way beyond that. It goes as far as God clearing everybody to remove the name of the offender/s. And there are enough cases in the Bible aside from these I have mentioned.

Sodom and Gomorrah were twin cities with kings, meaning that their populations were high. Yet God had no problem razing them to the ground one morning.

Why? Their iniquities had risen to heaven. In other words the stench of their sins had become offensive to God’s nose, to use words that we can understand.

Of course He sent the flood to clear all population of the earth, including animals for the same reason.

Is grace a perfume to cover up for the stench of sin? Of course not. Why then do we think God has changed as to overlook our puny independence and rebellion?

But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:18)

A prime reason God clears a name from the earth is for this simple reason; they forget that it is God who has done all for them. They then start piling glory on their effort and make themselves the reference point of all the blessing they have. Evidence of that is the entitlement mentality seen on the actions of the offender.

Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. (1Samuel 2: 30, 31)

That God can annul a promise made to Levi as concerned Eli is not a small thing. And it took just but a generation for Eli’s family to be cleared.

So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD; that he might fulfil the word of the LORD, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. (1Kings 2:27)

Let me give an analogy for this to sink.

Assume you are very rich

You also have this son you have had great hopes on and invested heavily on, from the best education to the most time in fellowship, sharing all your hopes and fears with him.

He finishes his education and does not seem interested in looking for a job or in your enterprises. The only thing he seems interested in is making special meals for his parents when they are around. He is not even interested in going to catering school or even working in eateries you operate.

You therefore think to encourage him to get out of the house by buying him a car so that he can get an excuse to be out of the house watching movies all day.

In a short while you realize that his car is nowhere and he has a limp. You investigate and realize that he was involved in an accident and ran from the scene. The car was towed to a police station.

When you get there you find that there are enough cases to get him to prison. You smooth things out by paying the offended and towing crew so that the cases can be withdrawn. And of course you also pay for the repair of the car.

The next time you are called from the police station. This time things are thick because he insulted the police, saying they could do nothing to him since you are his father. And that was after he also had an accident. This is harder but you have to even go higher in the police structure to rescue your immature and ignorant son.

You decide that this time you will dispose of the car, suspecting that its speed was too much for his inexperience. Then you decide to give him your old car, a car of immense sentimental value as it signified the start of your great wealth.

A month later you are brought a huge bill by a taxi company. Well, your boy was going out alright, but using taxi cabs. Why did he not use the car you gave him? You hear that he said he could not ride that junk for anything!

It is slowly getting to your nerves and so you decide to get him to be more responsible and get out of the house.

You take him to an apartment of flats that you own to manage and give him the rent of a few units as his pay. But there already is a caretaker so there is very little he is required to do. You just told the tenants in the units from which he was to receive his pay from to give him money instead of banking it, the same arrangement you had with the caretaker and bank. You also give him one unit and furnish it for his residence.

Sometimes later the caretaker comes to you. He has not been paid his salary for months. You are shocked. You decide to investigate further and discover that no money has gone to the account, meaning he convinced all the tenants to be paying into his account or directly to his person.

This irritates you. You decide to find out how your son could change all those lease agreements without your permission.

On getting to the apartment, you find someone else in his house. He wonders what you are doing getting into his house just like that.

Where is your son? You ask. I don’t know where he went after he sold me this unit. He says.

You get out in a daze, wondering whether you got into the wrong apartment. As you are in that situation, another man you did not see getting in comes to you and asks what you are doing in his property.

You hold on your car to stop from collapsing on the cabro. Then you look around to ascertain that that was your property.

How can you call my property yours? You ask him.

I have completed buying it from the owner. He replies.

You both decide to invite the police and your lawyers to help in this. And the truth is what people call stranger than fiction.

Apparently your son forged the title deed and sold the apartment for a song.

The police become very interested. The new owner gets shocked by the truth, then realizes the predicament he is in and confesses.

Apparently, the boy was his customer at a bar and bragged about his immense wealth. But his boasts could not last long as he drunk expensive liquors when he got the rent. He became easy prey for this man’s greed. He gave him liquor on credit on purpose, and then convinced him to sell him the apartment at a quarter of its market price. Then the boy could buy land in a cheaper place and build other flats. He was coming to look for him to finalize the deal and start collecting rent when they met.

But the boy had disappeared, confident that he could continue receiving rent through his account.

Though you are justified in letting your son’s accomplice lose through the scheme he had plotted, you feel morally obligated in compensating him, which takes a huge chunk of your finances.

You then think through some incidences that used to occur in your residence when your son was a good boy. You remember sacking several workers for the loss of money especially since they could not logically explain how it disappeared. You feel a huge chunk of guilt as you start suspecting your then good son.

You call the workers you sacked and asked whether it was your son who stole that money and they answer in the affirmative.

Why did they not tell you? You ask them. You could never have believed them, they say. And you realize that that is the truth. You now have to look for a way to at least seek forgiveness from these people you unfairly mistreated due to the thievery of your son. Compensation is only a small part of that.

What will you do with him if you are that father?

That is how God feels when we take His gifts for granted. This is how He feels when we take His calling for granted. This is how He feels when we take His favor for granted. It is how He feels when we take His love and forgiveness for granted.

And that is why God gets so offended as to clear one’s memory from the living. The existence of the rebel’s name is so offensive that any sight of the same is offensive, even if they be descendants.

I don’t know whether you realize that most animosity that we see is due to historical injustices that happened too long ago that there is no memory of what happened. As an example Ishmael lost his privileged position because Isaac was born. And they are still fighting. Terrorism is one clear outcome of that feeling of disenfranchisement millennia ago. Some tribes are enemies just because in the very long past their founders, maybe just one person, had a spat with the other side. Now tribes hate each other so badly that a stare can be interpreted to cause a war between them.

God hates sin. God cannot stand rebellion. Willful sin calls on God’s swift judgment.

Many times we feel as if God overlooks our acts of disobedience and rebellion. Many times that is what we preach from our pulpits when we are preaching grace.

If we took God’s word seriously, we will realize that the things we do and how we do them have a capacity not only of affecting our lives not just in our lifetime, but way beyond our descendants.

King Saul realized that such a sentence had been passed on him and therefore pleaded with David to spare his descendants. Benjamin, his crown prince went beyond that as to make a covenant to preserve his lineage. And you realize that by the time David is rested enough to remember that lineage it was a small step to extinction. Even their wealth had been transferred to a servant and the only person who was alive was a refugee, yet he was the king’s grandson.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. (Exodus 17:14)

Now suppose this was an adopted son that you had rescued from poverty or some other desperate situation? Suppose it was an orphan?

Do you realize that is what we are to God? We are actually even worse. We are adopted from his enemy for the sheer love He has for us. We even hated Him before He adopted us. Remember Jesus saying that we are sons of the devil as it was his interests we pursued?

Are we not by our actions demonstrating that we were after plundering Him instead of being made sons? Aren’t we more interested in what He can do for us than what our adoption entails?

And that is what invites His wrath, a wrath that goes as far as deleting us from the future.

Ezekiel 16 gives an analogy of what God does for us versus the kind of response we develop once we ‘reach’. No wonder His wrath becomes very harsh.

And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1Samuel 15: 17, 23)

What do we do for God to clear us so that there is no trace of our presence?

The first thing is what Saul and Jeroboam sought at the expense of God’s revelation, security. Reasonable as it may be, it attracts God’s wrath.

Can I break it down for this day and time? You may be wondering.

Many ministers were very radical when they were called. They left jobs, closed businesses, moved to unfamiliar environments without caring for what their life will be after leaving all for Christ.

Due to that, God blesses that effort and releases favor, fruit, even support, especially support. Then you gain authority because of your commitment to God’s agenda. Your word is interpreted as God’s voice.

Sadly, like we see with Saul and Jeroboam, that power is addictive and feeds on itself. You realize that what you did not even consider a need becomes essential to life itself. And that is life. What we thought was an unnecessary luxury becomes primary to life itself.

Let me give an example. Less than thirty years ago, a telephone in the house was the preserve of the rich. Very few saw it a necessity. It was more of a status symbol and a waste of money for most. What about today? Many would bargain for a reduction of oxygen to ensure not only that they have a cellphone, but they have a smartphone fully loaded. Many fall sick when their device is sick as they can’t imagine life without it.

Not so long ago a TV, any TV was a luxury. Look at the situation today. People are not content with just a TV. It must be a smart TV or very large screen, even curved screen. You look at that race and wonder whether there are TVs that can see tomorrow!

So that drive could very easily be part of us if we are not careful enough to maintain a close and consistent relationship with God and His word. We could very easily look for security, affirmation and worth in things and people instead of God. Like we see with Saul who thinks his army remaining intact is more important than waiting on God.

Probably God gave you favor in high places and you started behaving as if He does not love those of low degree and so completely shut them out of your ministry. He may have given you songs in the night as you worshipped Him and you decided it was a viable financial stream instead of waiting for Him as you were doing when He gave you those songs. He may have, like me, given you books to write and you transformed them into an industry.

I am not saying selling is sin or bad, but neither was keeping the army together for Saul. What has God told you concerning that opening, that support, that favor, those gifts. But He only gives them for His purpose. You realize that Saul did not make himself the tallest in Israel. He did not even make himself king. He did not draw people to himself. He lost it when he forgot that simple truth; that he was there ONLY for God’s purposes.

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)

You could be in business and get some leakage that an essential product will be in short supply. You then buy a lot and hide it, what the Bible calls hoarding, so that you can then have a blast as you make a killing when the others have sold out theirs.

You could be a farmer that adds water to increase the volumes of your milk. Or you sell things in doctored containers. Or you sell animals that you know are going to die. Maybe you sell vegetables that still have a strain of pesticide.

But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:18)

Again you realize that He is the source of your effort and therefore has the purpose for the same.

You may be in employment and fear that you will never get that promotion if you do not bend some of God’s rules in secret. You may be in education or academia and fear that you will not achieve this or the other without overlooking God’s commandments and you allow your desire for success destroy your moral and spiritual compass. You could withhold grades until a particular girl sleeps with you and she will have to drop out of the course if she refuses. The girl who sleeps with you gets an A and the brighter girl who has refused to do so drops out of the course or college altogether.

You realize all these scenarios come about when I become the centre of attention and therefore the reference point. Sadly, these are all things I have seen. In fact these are just a sample of what is happening.

You are deceived if you think that God will overlook the justice of people on the short side of your stick as He also made them for His purpose, and you have mired that purpose for them.

Are you doing things that could make God wipe your memory from the living?

Politics

Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds; (1Samuel 22:7)

Last week I mentioned politics in the course of the message I was posting.

I mentioned three things that make me not post about political preferences, if any and will state them briefly.

I first said that politics is not redemptive. Nobody was ever drawn to Christ due to or in their pursuit of politics. Neither have I heard of anyone becoming a believer as they supported a ‘believing politician. How many have got in as pillars of character and virtue and left with not a shred of either? How many have entered as examples of stable marriage and family and left with strings of mistresses, some younger than their own children? How many have gone in as respected ecclesiastics and left with people questioning what religious titles are doing in their names?

Second is that politics is irredeemable. If truth be told, politics is completely opposed to the Gospel of Christ.

Third, Christ is my example. Though the season He manifested was probably the most volatile politically, we never see Him engaging in it though enough attempts were made to draw Him in. They even made His ‘crime’ political to have Him crucified.

And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. (1Samuel 8:7)

Today I want us to look at politics especially as it concerns the believer.

Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you. (Judges 8: 22, 23)

This is what God says about politics.

The foundation of politics is rebellion against God’s rule. It is the establishment of an alternative leadership, a rebuilding of the tower of Babel. It is an establishment of leadership devoid of God’s superseding Lordship.

That is why the ruling motive is hate, the existence of an enemy. You can’t have politics if there is no enemy, whatever name you may call them. One must show the superiority of what they are offering and the inferiority of what the opponent or competitor is offering. You must incite an aversion, even hatred of the opponent or competitor and everything and everyone he represents. And I have seen it even in church politics.

Democracy has made it even worse. Though in the past there was a king and everything revolved around him, in today’s world there are many ‘kings’ validly occupying thrones with all spiritual (demonic) powers controlling them and their systems.

But that is at the politest level, the surface.

Below the surface you will get to see the grossest of intentions, the vilest of the villainy. And I will take us to the Bible for clarity.

While Gideon refused to be made king, his son by a strange woman killed seventy of his brothers to assume a nonexistent throne. And murders litter the political landscape throughout the Bible, from Pharaoh killing boys to protect his kingdom to Herod killing boys to abort the King of the Jews.

And murders are not limited to enemies, even perceived ones. Many would sacrifice their own family. Remember the Moabite king who offered the crown prince as a burnt sacrifice to turn the tide in a war?

Remember Saul attempting to kill his crown prince Jonathan for trying to speak sense to him and especially knowing God’s will concerning Saul and his kingdom?

Another thing we find in politics is the connection with the underworld. From Saul with the witch to Ahab with his eight fifty prophets, politicians will always have spiritual guides. But since politics is geared at life independent of God, it is impossible for politicians to consult spiritual guides connected to the creator God. It has to be God’s enemy that offers spiritual counsel. It is only very few that you find seeking godly counsel, and even then it is not all the time as God’s Lordship does not allow for another king’s prominence. David was an exception as are many other worshippers in palace courts.

It therefore goes without say that a lot of interaction with demons is the fare of politics. This explains why anything goes with the side one supports whereas everything is wrong with the other team. Murder and witchcraft are explained away when it is our team whereas a snide remark is abomination itself when it is from the opponent.

It explains how someone can kill a neighbor for no reason except their political preference. Someone can raze a neighbor’s property due to political differences.

Do you wonder how someone can do things during the day that they are ashamed of doing even during the night after coming from or going to a political meeting? How does a woman remove all her clothes before cameras? How does someone kill and rape someone they do not even know after their leader (many times treated as god) demonizes a community unless demons were released in such a meeting?

Nothing has changed from Bible times. And people in the know will confirm this. There is this very influential politician whose bathing water is used to make tea for his guests. It is no wonder he enjoys fanatical following among his followers however idiotic his agenda is. I see even believers arguing using his flawed and demonic arguments devoid of any sense, leave alone facts.

The truth is that you must use the demons a side subscribes to to see sense in some arguments they use. Of course you can never be neutral in a political argument as politics have no neutral position.

That is why I pity ministers who try to use politics to get a solution. Some even try to bring politicians together, as if they are ever apart. It is the masses who must be sawn apart for kingpins to thrive in the game.

I remember three different eyewitness accounts of people who came from places where people were killing and maiming the enemy as they supported their ‘king’. Yet they went to a hotel and found the two ‘kings’ lounging and laughing together yet there was no ceasefire on the ground. The blood being poured was a sacrifice they were making to their gods (Satan) for power or position.

Even today politicians offer human sacrifices. It is clear when we see the kind of senseless violence we see during campaigns. They even sacrifice their families and family members depending on what the devil asks as sacrifice. You see, the higher the prize you want the higher the price you must pay. It also explains why witchdoctors will make booming business during the electioneering season.

What am I aiming at? Why would a minister of the Gospel allow himself to be swallowed by politics? Why would a minister take sides in this dirty game? What does a true prophet get out of skewing his prophecies toward one side?

The ruling spirit in politics is certainly not the spirit of Christ. And that alone speaks a lot.

A politician reveres false prophets because he can easily control their prophecies to suit his agenda. And most kings had their court full of those prophets. It is the prophet who hears from God and reports accurately who is endangered. Remember as recently as Mau Mau many died because they refused to take sides and were hated by both sides because like I have said you can’t be neutral in politics. You either support us or you are an enemy.

Does it surprise you that there are bishops and prophets who are at the heck and call of politicians? Does it surprise you that there are ministers who are known for their logical political discourses? Does it surprise you that there are ministers who are the go between of political sides? Does it surprise you that there are preachers whose sermons are closer to political statements than didactic?

Would I be wrong if I called these ministers court prophets, prophets for hire? How different are they from the 850 Ahab had employed?

A true prophet will be hated by the political players because he represents another kingdom, the heavenly kingdom. No wonder they have been killed throughout history. History, Biblical and secular, is littered with the carcasses of many a true prophet. Many kingdoms sought to clear their kingdom of anybody who could hear from God, unless it favored them. Again you just need to read the Bible to see it. In fact if a true prophet sought relevance in a court, they ended up being compromised, and then rejected by God as we see with Balaam and Judas.

If your heart beats faster when a politician speaks, chances are that you are worshipping him irrespective of how intelligently you may argue to the contrary. If you feel offended when a politician is attacked by another one, rush back to the cross as you are giving the evidence of being a castaway. If the Gospel is placed on the backburner when politicking starts, it is very possible that you really are not a believer in Christ.

A friend sent me this message

Post-election discovery – Like Maoism in oriental countries, in Kenya, 75% of adult people presently practice political HATEMONISM as their second religious faith. The rest are (like) the young preschool children who normally adore their fathers, mothers and nursery school teachers. (Author Murrey Kerigun)

This agrees with what I am trying to point out, that politics is really worship, worship of another god. That is why people become extremely caught up when their side is confronted.

Have you ever wondered why during campaigns there are almost nil evangelistic drives? Ever wondered why almost all prayer being called for and organized concern elections and their aftermath?

Like I said in my last post, Kenya is NOT a Christian nation. We should start evangelizing it as even people we call Christian ministers have swallowed the political virus and are completely corrupted in things Christian.

Bring your arguments to the contrary. Only make sure you use the Bible and not your political preference.

The Bible expects us to submit to those with authority over us, not to worship them and their agenda. We should only worship God. We are also required to pray for those in authority over us, not revere them as they are also men. The Bible calls them God’s ministers of wrath to those who do wrong.

Therefore voting or refraining from voting (not boycotting as the latest fad in Kenya) is fine. Registering or deregistering as a voter is also fine. Spiritualizing those actions is idolatry as they are secular actions in a secular state.

A few other things are worth mentioning as they release, or are subject of a release of similar demons.

Do you feel hot under the collar when your pastor is criticized without caring to know whether what he is being accused of is true? Do you feel overly protective of your favorite football team? Does the defense of your company (or employer) go beyond the logical? Does your business define you?

All these are pointers to idolatry on your part. If anything or anyone gives you greater excitement than your love for God; if anything offers more direction than the Bible, it is very clear that it is an idol, a god you are worshipping. It just does not matter the kind of words you use to explain what you think is your faith.

Some ministers started posting wholesome posts after the elections ended. There is one statement that has circulated that speaks into this message.

‘We are longing for the elections to end so that we can get back to being saved and posting healthy stuff.’

And you tell me this does not expose us as idolaters. And you realize that I am just mentioning ministers and not believers. You see, if the best is dross, how bad is the common believer?

One clear fact that politics has exposed many ‘believers’, the reason I call them unbelievers, is that they forget who God really is. They behave (believe) as if God is smaller than their demigods. Their posts indicate a faith in a god who is subject to our politics.

I wonder where the Bible disappears to once politicking comes around. I wonder where Christian love disappears to once we take political sides. I wonder the kind of god we serve going by the kind of posts we are reading from believers. And the stress our posts are pointing at.

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10)

We forget (did we ever know?) that God is really in charge of this world He created, that He determines not just what happens but the people to run His affairs.

until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? (Daniel 4: 32c, 35)

This is my final take on this. The God I serve is not subject to political seasons. He actually orders them around for His purpose. He is the King of all kings and Lord of lords.

And this is the One I serve and will therefore not sell that birthright for political or tribal correctness.

The Prison of God’s Love 5

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5: 18 – 25)

How are we to access this love that is the channel of God’s power? What other alternatives are there for us?

The first point I will make is that God does not release Himself in bits or fractions. You will either have all of Him or none of Him.

I remember in the past people saying (I don’t know whether it is still being said) that so and so is saved kidogo (a little) and another is saved a bit more and there were others who were saved kabisa (completely); thus indicating that there were different levels of salvation.

But we also have the nominal and committed Christian which is saying the same thing. Then we have I am a Christian but I am not saved. And in our church we do not get saved. Of course there is in our church only our leader reads the Bible. I am a Christian but do not believe in the inspiration of the Bible, etc.

All these are corruptions of the simple Christian faith.

Who is a Christian? Where do we get the definition?

The problem with our generation is that we look at a cow to describe a camel.

What do I mean? We are looking for Google to describe spiritual realities. We want the world and its systems to teach us about our faith as if it does not have its own definitions. We even fail to realise that all these look to the Bible to justify what they do.

I want us to use the Bible as our sole authority on all things spiritual. Then we will not use the relativity prevalent in a post Christian worldview to explain our faith.

But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66: 2b)

We must have a problem with our faith if the Bible is an option. This is because God is fully committed to it. His word is the only permanent feature of all His creation. Remember Jesus saying that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass a way than the smallest stroke in His word to be removed, leave alone changed like many are attempting to do.

We must designate the Bible the way God, its writer designates.

We must therefore look at God’s love using His terms, the Bible. We will be completely deluded if we use Hollywood or any other wood to describe it.

What happens when we receive Christ? Does He send a letter of acceptance or does He come in? The Bible is clear that He comes in through His Holy Spirit to make permanent habitation in our lives.

Simply speaking, He plants the seed of Himself in our lives

How we deal with that seed determines how we will grow and thrive in the Christian life. Remember verses like fan into flame the gift, do not quench the spirit, among others?

When we activate the gift; when we release the manifestation of the spirit, we will then start experiencing spiritual growth and releasing spiritual power. God is released to function in our lives. And we of course start growing in our salvation.

Where does it start?

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1Peter 2: 2, 3)

We cannot grow outside God’s word. This is because we can never be able to know God outside His revealed word. The Bible is the primary source of His revelation. Others are accessories to it. It is like spices to food. Though it adds flavor to food, it can never be food on its own.

Miracles, signs, gifts are all accessories to God’s word. They are unable to stand alone as there are many sources of similar displays.

Magicians perform feats similar to miracles. Witches and wizards speak in tongues. Soothsayers foretell the future. Psychics can read one’s mind. Exorcists can ‘cast out’ demons. Yet these are all forbidden in scripture.

Only the Bible can validate or invalidate anything we are doing. Sadly, many believers will only look at the outward to validate.

How many call a false prophet a servant of God just because a few things, sometimes only one, that they foretold happened without knowing that according to the Bible a prophecy in ten thousand going wrong disqualifies one as a true prophet? This is because God perfectly knows what will happen as He is the one who makes it happen. It goes without say that He can never tell you to say something that He does not do.

But how many read the Bible? How many believe what the Bible says? How many look at the Bible as the final authority in all things doctrinal?

We have been on the political mood for a long time in Kenya. Hopefully it has ended. And it has convinced me that Kenya does not need revival. Kenya needs to hear the Gospel afresh.

Listening to believers, and sadly even ministers, it becomes clear that the political narrative from their side (mainly tribal) holds more authority than the truth, even Biblical truth. It appears as if truth is subject to the political side I belong to. Salt can conclusively be verified as sugar because that is the narrative of one’s political side.

Others are posting so much hate that you wonder whether they share a neighborhood with the devil. I had to unfollow some ministers as I couldn’t bear the kind of hatred I saw on their social media platforms. Yet they are still called ministers of the Gospel! You wonder which gospel they preach.

It is therefore preposterous to talk about the love of God before we establish the rule of God in our lives. He pours His love on those who are completely submitted to His Lordship. And it is impossible to be full of God yet reason like the politicians.

A case in point is a politician who called on all witches and wizards to unite to push their agenda, on national TV. Yet you hear believers telling others not to talk about it as it may be interpreted wrongly. People might associate that statement to a political divide, probably the side they support. Yet the speaker was pushing her side’s agenda.

Since when did believers condone something the Bible expressly forbids? How can we be shy about something God is so outspoken about? Unless we really are subject to another god!

We must get back to being radical for God. Though I suspect that the majority just overstayed in church until they started smelling saved! Some went so far as to smell a call to ministry and attended those cemeteries that pretend to be seminaries. They learnt how to enhance the smell of being saved to cover the stench of their unregenerate nature.

Politics have just released the beast that has been masked by all that perfume. Now we have no excuses as who we have all along been is clear to all.

Sadly, very few have realized their unmasking, I believe because they either have consistently quenched the Holy Spirit in disobedience that His voice became too faint. Others may have been what I have mentioned earlier, that they stayed with the saved for so long that they ‘became’ saved by association.

But we also have political opinions; probably more informed than those shallow and tribal ones you are pasting all over to articulate your champion’s convenient truth, and lies. We just choose to let politics be. And there are reasons for that.

One, politics is not redemptive at all. Have you ever heard of someone who got saved during the course of a campaign meeting or debate? Don’t they rather produce characters so charged with hate and ready to destroy the enemy? How do you explain the fact that people rape, maim and raze businesses and residences of neighbors whose only crime was voting?

How do you explain mature women removing all their clothes on the streets and feeling no shame? How do you explain adults defecating and smearing their school with their faeces to prevent voting? How do you explain people destroying their roads by making bonfires on the tarmac in celebration? How do you explain children being so far from home late at night because they are celebrating a politician’s win?

Two, politics is irredeemable. In fact could be anti-gospel from its root. Why? It thrives on dividing what is united. Like the last of the things God hates, it sows discord among brethren. Use history to prove me wrong if you can. Politics thrives by having an enemy and it must create one if there isn’t. Interestingly, the political players are not divided. They are partying together while their followers are killing, maiming and raping each other.

Three, Christ is my example. Though He lived in probably the most volatile political time and place, never once do you find Him getting into politics, however hard they tried to drag Him into it. Remember they had to make Him a politician to force Pilate to order His crucifixion?  Being a king was treason, and that is what they made Him.

God’s love does not have political sides. Christ died even for His enemies. Does it not surprise you that Christ also included atheists among the people He died for? How does He die for people who deny His existence?

That is the kind of love He invests in His people. And we see it with Stephen when he was being stoned.

Simply speaking, the love of God means loving like God loves. It means living life in a way that God directs. It means having an agenda that only comes from God. It means having ambition dictated by God’s will.

Being constrained by God’s love means surrendering our comfort in pursuit of those God loves because we also love them so.

Remember Paul being stoned and left for dead? What did he do when he was prayed back to life? He simply went on preaching the Gospel. Why didn’t he call a press conference or even visit a hospital for examination? God’s love constrained him.

God’s love simply takes over our lives, COMPLETELY. There is nothing in my life that is left out when God’s love takes over my life.

Of course we know of missionaries who went to preach fully aware that they would not come back home, either from illnesses they would contract or the violence of the people they were taking the Gospel to. The love they felt for those unreached savages was worth the sacrifice. And church history is littered with so much of this.

Is that the love that controls your life? Is it a prison for you? Are you content being imprisoned by God’s love?