Preach the Gospel!

It is highly expedient that I write a piece on this all important subject matter to Christians. The Old man was made to worship the God of heaven,  the new man,  however,  was created to not only worship the Lord but more importantly to spread the Good News of the kingdom of God. 

My Spiritual father, Rev. Eastwood Anaba,  once said that many Christians boast of how holy they have lived their lives but many of these very holy ones are the same who have done nothing to promote the kingdom in anyway with regard to the works of God. He went ahead to call this state; “impotent righteousness”.

There are many who are carry certificates of impotent righteousness in the kingdom currently. We must preach the Gospel to the world that isn’t waiting for us but progressively advancing towards hell. 

Romans  10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?  10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

The verses above indicate to the church and the individual Christian, the need for him to speak to another. Because if no man preaches the Gospel, the sinner cannot hear of it. In other words, sinners that read the bible and if they do,  not to find the Gospel but for other suicidal reasons. 

If the sinner does not hear the Gospel, it means that there is no basis for him to mount a believe system. There is no believe without a preamble! Something must precede and precipitate a believe in whatever. And during the period the individual doesn’t believe in God,  then it is just not possible for him calling on God for salvation. Not because God won’t answer,  but because he doesn’t believe! 

The verse 15 of the scripture about tells us of something which I believe has been some part of the reason why the church isn’t preaching. It says, how can they preach unless they are sent. This particular line has the potency of making an individual conclude that he or she has not been sent so he has no business preaching the Gospel. Let us see another scripture to help us know the answer to such thoughts and questions. 

Mark  16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Go ye into all the world! This statement is an instruction not a suggestion and it is our instruction. The Lord said we should Go; into all the world,  which means that we are sent so we have the validation to preach the Gospel, and he added all the world,  so we are sent everywhere,  there are not limits or forbidden places. So the Lord told us that we are the salt of the earth. 

Salt is a necessity good not a luxury good, it must be common in town to help everyone lay hands on it to prepare tasty meals. The reason we are salt and not meat is because, when you prepare soup,  you will have both meat and salt in it,  but the meat cannot mix entirely with the soup,  it solidly swims in the soup forever but the salt fuses with the soup making it possible for it to be tasted everywhere in the soup. Therefore,  God wants us to mix in all the world,  so that the Good News be heard in every corner of the world. 

When we successfully go into all the world as Jesus instructed,  he didn’t ask us to Go and start businesses,  go and study abroad,  go for site seeing,  window shopping, vacation; NO! He said we should PREACH THE GOSPEL! Not hide the gospel,  protect the gospel,  sleep on the gospel,  polish the gospel, modify the gospel,  amend the gospel,  conform the gospel, sell the gospel,  manage the gospel,  lead the gospel, read the gospel, handover the gospel,  none of these was the instruction. The instruction was quite simple; Preach the Gospel! 

Adam & Eden

The issue of sin and death is a very delicate one. The message on sin has encountered so much controversy. There is so much that clouds the real intent and the divine motive for abstaining from sin. Not sinning because you don’t want to go to hell is just like being in a hostage situation and complying. The whole thing looks like there’s a threat you want to avoid,  hence the compliance. The children of light must dwell in light no matter what happens,  that is the life after salvation. 

John said in his epistle,  “I write unto you that no man sin,  but if any sin,  let him know that we have an advocate… Jesus Christ”. The reason for the statement is that,  you should not be a christian with bucket lists featuring sins of different breeds,  instead,  you should make a habit of living in light,  so that if at one time you fall short,  do not think of yourself as prodigal, needing to leave home,  but as loved,  needing an embrace. Not an endorsement for sin in any way. 

Like it or not, many leave the church body daily because they sinned and felt unworthy of the light anymore so decided to take strolls through life. 

When Adam sinned against God, God walked into the garden and questioned him. Adam did not speak with regret. He said, “I am naked!” The proclamation of who he now believed he already was, was a dangerous step he took. Why? The scenerio is just like an adopted son having to find out the Truth about himself will going through something and decides to leave the home he’s been always because he feels he has knowledge of who he actually is. 

The truth is that,  with this our eye Adam was naked,  but before we had this kind of eye that detected nakedness,  God didn’t want us to know about our nakedness. Now we are all adopted into being sons of God,  Paul said. And God wants us to forget what we were so he blinds our eyes with heavenly realities so that we do not find out that we were once on drugs,  in sexual sin, liars and all that. Unfortunately, the devil brings the thoughts back. The thoughts defeat us more than our acts because as a man thinketh in his heart,  so is he. 

But God, knowing that Adam knew he was naked, expected that Adam will be sorry for his actions but Adam blamed his wife,  his wife blamed the snake. And when God spoke about sending them out of the garden, Adam named his wife Eve. That’s to say, he was more concerned about his weakness and didn’t bother to lose the presence of God. 

Most Christians leave the Church because we feel we know who we are and can’t force ourselves to be Christians. We are “naked” and that’s all we can be,  that is how we think and then we leave the Church. But allow me to show you why leaving the church is not the best. 

Genesis  3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
God made coats of skins and clothed them. Adam was using leaves to cover himself and his wife,  but how much covering could leaves cover? God knows that we want to cover our shame, we couldn’t, so he put a new skin on us, so that we won’t find the old skin. We won’t blame ourselves anymore. Adam still did not see the love of God enough to beg for forgiveness. Most times,  we sin and God continues to bless us,  we don’t realise God’s goodness so we plead for his mercy but we walk away from his presence chest out. 

Genesis  3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
This is what we miss when we decide to walk out of the presence of God. We lose the opportunity to eat of the tree of life and live forever. Jesus is the tree of life. Asking for forgiveness is pleading to dwell in the presence,  to stay in the fellowship. The longer you stay there,  there will be a word you’ll hear that will repair you forever! 

Don’t leave the Church! Don’t denounce your Faith in God! Press on unto the mark of the higher calling. Eternal life is available for those who have eaten from the tree of life. Don’t nullify the effects of the tree by walking out of the Faith. Stand Firm. You’ll make it to heaven without even trying. 

When It Becomes Unconditional…

From the old days, I have heard Romeo and Juliet being used ultimately to represent love in practicality. The truth from my end is; I have not us much studied their story as I have studied that of Christ from the scriptures, and I beg to differ but I didn’t see any resemblance among the two. 

Personally, I have been through different shades,  forms, levels, faces and times of love. One thing is true,  the more you go through love the more you either love more or love less. It depends entirely on how you examine the issue. 

The Bible clearly defines,  “God is love”. This pressupposes that Love must definitely be God. There are different stages of love that we go through but truth is, we have not really seen love unless we see it look exactly like God. 

Why? Naturally, Love must be unconditional! Why do I say that? The answer is,  because God is definitely unconditional. If God is love,  then love must have qualities that make it look God. God is God,  whether He is worshipped or not,  whether he is respected or not,  insulted or not,  despised or not, wanted or not, whatever you do to God doesn’t change His personality as God. So the same must apply to love. 

So God loved us and gave His Only Son. Great! Isn’t it? Now let’s analyse God’s actions. God so love the world; which means that God loved the place where sin abound even though in His nature He knows no sin and sin cannot dwell in His presence. So God loved something that was not in the shape he was compatible with.

Because God so loved the world,  He gave His only son. So God also decided to be the one to help the brides situation with His own resources. He wanted that bride so bad,  He couldn’t choose another. He had to make the bride suite His nature. 

He sent His Son to come and die. In other words, God gave something He didn’t expect the bride to cherish or protect. He understood the ignorant state of the bride for Love’s sake. 

Since God knows the end from the beginning,  I suppose He also knew that not everyone will accept his Son,  and not all who accepted will keep him till the end. God knew, but He didn’t blink anyway, He sent the son. From looking at the way as Christians, we still sin freely, I realize something about God,  that He is Love in practicality.

When it comes to human beings,  we see a different mode of operation. Men are afraid to love each other,  too careful not to be hurt by anybody and too careful not to be rejected. We don’t see that in God. God knew the consequences first-hand,  but He still went in anyway. 

When people begin to offend us,  when they repeat their offences, we grow impatient and indifferent, more of self-righteousness. We tend to make them pay for their offences even when they apologize. We hide behind the fact that they keep doing what they’re doing. Have you considered the things God doesn’t like that you do,  and the fact that you keep on doing and regreting and still doing it anyway? 

The thin line is this; until a man can become very selflessly loving, He cannot be like God. God is selfless whenever He’s loving the world. The bible declares that we love Him because He first loved us. How did we know He loved us?  Because He made clear His feelings. I’ve met people who don’t care about others,  when you ask them, they go like,  “he also doesn’t care about me” or “she hasn’t also smiled to me before”. We want the “others” to take the initiative of loving.

If you keep your eyes on the effect of Jesus on your life,  it won’t be difficult to be an unconditional lover. Why? Because though Christ loved you,  died for you,  and intercedes for you every moment, he has never given up on you when you sin. Whenever you say sorry,  He forgives you. Have you thought of it before? 

Unforgiveness is a symptom of Conditional love,  which is no love at all. Because there’s no such thing as Conditional God. You love people without Conditions,  you decide to practice it with conditions but the fire that burns in you, burns no matter what. 

In Galatians 5:22-23, we understand that there is no law against love. Things means that you can fall love anyone and everyone Just like God who so loved the world. But you must be willing to give your only begotten son. That is your investment. 

One last thing! When God gave His only begotten son,  he was conscious of the fact that not everyone will believe in His son. Sometimes,  you are afraid to love because you feel they might not feel the same about you. You must love anyway,  because when they don’t love,  they’ll perish and not you. 

God loves without boundaries. I believe that most of the things we enjoy in the Church now,  and there are a lot of other Church folks criticizing those things, the reason that is still happening is because God is loving without constraints. 

All men have not Faith. Faith is when your love is acting. Not all men can act the script their love have written because of the mindsets they possess. Love them anyway. Love men,  love them in all things. 

“God Does not Approve of Technology”

There was this one time I recall a meeting we had,  and at this meeting I was amazed the sort of things being spoken of and the things mentioned. At the meeting, we were, or should I say they were; because I felt not belonging to the group at that very moment, so they were discussing things about “quiet time”. There were very serious and mind buggling concerns people raised and I felt like I was literally being killed. At a point a lady said, “You don’t have to use electronic bibles for quiet time, ” she continued, “I don’t feel the power and the spirit in the word when I read the electronic bible,  unless I read from a real Bible”

There are many people that for some reasons feel very uncomfortable about using electronic means in things relating to God and Worship. Once,  a daughter told me I should stop using whatsApp and that it’s not good. She had no smartphone by then. Shortly after she had a smartphone,  she was on whatsapp herself. I questioned her about it and there was nothing to tell me. 

There are people that speak very ill about media and technology. Most of these individuals are having their own perceptions about what they feel will be the best for God,  looking at His dwelling place being devoid of electronics. 

Exodus  24:4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Bible said that,  Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. This happened after the Ten Commandments had been given and Moses wanted a good memory of it to be kept so he wrote them down on something. He also wanted them to be read by everyone or anyone who came across it. 

Now God was very much aware that Moses had written down all the laws, but He did something we need to consider here. 

Exodus  24:12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.
From verse 4 to verse 12, God realised that He wanted something better than what was written by Moses. The term ‘tables of stone’ is the same as tablets. Now,  I know very much that the reason why most people feel it is not appropriate to serve God effectively using electronic gadgets is because unbelievers also use electronic gadgets for their activities. 

In the time that God was writing on tablets,  most of the civilizations around the world at that time had writings on stones. God was not complaining about using the same medium the world was using. 

Now the Lord said, He will give Moses tablets on which He had written the law,  that Moses will be able to teach the people. So God wanted to make it easier for Moses’ teaching Ministry. These days,  people criticise virtually everything a christian or man of God does. But God was concerned about how Moses was going to do the teaching. 

Now,  in those times,  tablets were current technology,  and it was made of stones then. Today,  tablets are still existing,  and are current technology, made of silicon and plastics. Do you think God has a problem? 

God upgrades communication mediums, maybe you haven’t checked, but God did a recent update we are benefiting from. 

Hebrews  1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,  1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
So God has upgraded His communication systems,  you think He has a problem with you upgrading yours? The reason why we have to use the same mediums the world use is because if the world is using those mediums and God wanted us to touch the world,  how would we do that through other mediums which the world will not be found through.

God at Sundry times,  spoke to us in divers manners. Divers manners means he had used different modes and mediums of communication. God understands that communication is not complete until the receiver can decode the message. Imagine speaking in your native language at a crusade in another country were no one understands your native language. 

We need to spread the Gospel through these mediums,  spill it everywhere. Make sure people read them. There are people that complain when Pastors or Ministers try to use electronic and social Media to communicate the Gospel. God has no problem with that,  if it is done exactly the way the Gospel needs to be preached. 

Daniel  5:5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
In the verse above,  God wrote on the wall of the King, and the bible said,  the king saw the writing as it was being written. At that moment,  the only way the king would have seen what God wanted to write was if God wrote on the wall, because the king was facing his wall. 

If people are looking unto their phones,  reading stuffs on their Facebook walls,  and other walls. It will be a waste of time trying to communicate to those people using another medium other than the wall. So make sure your Facebook wall is speaking the mind of God. God wrote using the hand of a man,  that is because, he doesn’t use whatsapp,  Facebook, twitter and the likes,  but you do and He wants to communicate with someone who is looking at your wall at the moment…. 
Share this on your wall for someone to read,  leave a comment down here. 

TRUE DOCTRINE I (IDOLATRY)

Man is not to bow down to or worship anyone or anything but God alone. No image, no icon, nothing! Do not worship the one whom the image represents. This is idolatry. Maybe one is worshiping statues in a church but does not recognize that these are in effect idols. That is sin. Read what Exodus 20: 3 – 5 says.

“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:”
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:…” (Ex. 20: 3 – 5)

Here are some other verses that deal with idol worship. This includes bowing down before the image who is in the likeness of some one or some thing.

“Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,” (Deut. 4: 16) (Read also Deut. 4: 17 – 19.).

“Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath (has) forbidden thee.” (Deut. 4: 23) (See also Deut. 4: 24 – 25, 5: 8 – 9.). (This would include pictures, so forth.).

By the way, prayer is to God alone. it is a part of worship. The question should not be: Where in the Bible does it say it is wrong to pray to (or talk to) someone else such as Mary or other saints who have died? But instead, the question should be: Where in the Bible does it say it is all right to pray to (or talk to) or worship anything or anyone but God alone?

It is wrong to pray to, and bow down to (worship), angels. That is idolatry. John, who wrote the book of Revelation, made this mistake, and he was reprimanded for doing that. John was so overwhelmed with what he saw that he forgot that it was wrong to bow down to (worship) the angel (Rev. 19: 10, 22: 8 – 9). We are not to worship anyone but God.

“And I (John) fell at his feet to worship him (the angel). And he (the angel) said unto me (John), See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19: 10) (Read also Rev. 22: 9.).

Cornelius made the mistake of worshiping the wrong one in Acts 10: 25 – 26. We are not to bow down to (worship) any saints, dead or live.

“And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshiped him.” (Acts 10: 25)

“But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.” (Acts 10: 26) (Read also Acts 3: 12.).

You are not to bow down to anyone or anything, even if you are doing it out of respect, in reverence, or in honor of one. Praying to saints, such as Peter, Mary, or anyone for that matter, who has died, is idolatry. This includes talking (speaking) to them. We are not to pray to (or talk to) any living saint, who is not present, either. This too is idolatry.

So, are you going to reject what the Scripture says and teaches? Or are you going to deny God’s Word and explain it away. The choice is yours.