Of Life And Death

————————Of DEATH—————————

Lately, I’ve heard the charming of the charmer, of how a serpent charms its prey like an unwanted food. Death does beckon to all, especially to those who take pleasures in overreacting and overwhelming themselves with labours of no reward.

I’ve lost great friends and my elders has passed on into glory without a goodbye a day before their end. They all died through mysterious ways unknown to my little mind.

At least, a father ought to tell his children when the time of his passing arrives as I was taught, but death recognizes not “goodbye” neither is the language of “come back” part of its vocabulary.

All its expression is the venomous poisonous of a serpent unleashing on its prey. It knows neither small nor great, neither poor nor rich. It poisons everything it comes in contact with, with sadness, agony and it leaves the rest with unforgettable memories that keep haunting them.

It creates fear in the heart of men and send them into a prison house where torment and sorrow are dish out as daily food.

If all men could make a wish for just one thing, it would have been to imprison death itself. To chain it and afflict it with the pain which it dishes out on mankind. Mankind would have lived forever, if death could just be overcome by one means or the other.

As it has done to us, we would have gladly re-pay it without pain or pity. We would have hung it outside our doors and make fun of it, then search all his family members one after the others to punish them with an everlasting punishment.

We would have banished away sickness and sorrow, affliction and oppression, pain and agony from our city center and from the four walls of this our little tiny pale-blue-stone called The earth. We would then have known what life truly means.

But, its powerful than us and there’s nothing within our capacity that can be done to stop its ruler-ship over us.

Sigh!

—————————Of LIFE————————–

On the other hand, we all love Life.

Life is the best and most loving neighbour one can ever have. Just as every child would love to keep his/her tiny little toys away from the stranger, so also we love to keep life as if we have control over it.

We cherish those moments that life offers us as we would love to think.

But, we don’t like dying. We hate it.

Despite we loving life, we mostly ignore and misuse life. We love it but we don’t really care about it. We toss it here and there by our ways of life and what we do.

We ought to cherish life not just the moments, and love the Giver of it.

Isn’t it ironic that we want to love life without loving the Giver of Life? No wonder we are messing life up because we have no blue-print on how to handle life.

Life comes with a manual, we can’t get to buy this in any book-store. it must be gotten from the One in whom Life issues out from.

For those that has come to the Giver of life, my questions to you:

How have you been responding to this life?

How have you been obeying the instruction that’s attached to life?

“Who out there has a desire (love) for life? Can’t wait each day to come upon beauty? Guard your tongue from profanity, and no more lying through your teeth. Turn your back on sin; do something good. Embrace peace—don’t let it get away!”

Christ didn’t just offer us life so that we can do our own things, speak our own words and fulfill our lusts.

NO!!

Life was given to us so that we can keep our tongue from profanity:

“Let not corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man

But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth

So that lying won’t be in our mouth:

“Lie not one to another… “

Since you put away lying, Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another

So that we can turn away from sin and every appearance of it:
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

So that we can do good:

Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. 

But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased

So that we can embrace peace:

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Above all, life is given to us in order to show to the world, the Love of our Father and by this, draw men to him.

…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to give answers to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

This life we have as believers ought to propel us to walk in the nature and character of that Life. It ought to change our paradigm from the earthly things to that which is heavenly and eternal.

If in any case this life isn’t doing these in us, let us not lie to ourselves, we may not yet have or believe this life at all. We may just have the appearance of godliness, but the power is nowhere to be found in us. We may just be like a fig without fruits.

And this means, we are yet to have life and appreciate the Giver of it.



For those that are yet to embrace life:

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men”

“Whosoever believes in him will not perish (as in death), but have eternal life”

He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

This Life is not in a thing, a program or some activities or some hyper spiritual gymnastics. It’s not a Sunday worship thing, neither is it associated with a set, a cult or a place of worship, rather This Life is a Person. We are called to this Life, we are called to live forever and enjoy the blessedness of God.

This is another opportunity that Christ is offering you and I, to come and have life.

Do you love life? Come to this fountain and embrace the water of life.

Do you want to be rid of death? Come to the One who is Resurrection and Life. The one who conquered death for us.

Do you want to overcome and be victorious? Embrace the One who is Victor, Christ.

This Life is in a PERSON; and that Person is Christ.

We cannot get this Life from anything or anyone else.

Most assuredly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life.

Grace and Peace.

***Scriptures: Psalms 34:12-14, Ephesians. 4: 12, 29; Col 3:8-9, Hebrew 12:14, 13:16, James 3:18, 1 Peter 3:11, 15, 1 John 5:12, John 1:4, 3:15, Matthew 5:14-16, Galatians 6:10, Titus 2:11, col. 4:6.*****

Read More

Psalm 23 (Part 3)

Why will God leads us into the paths (dimensions) of his righteousness? Because of "Hashem (His name)". Not because of our doing, but simply because He has become our shepherd. The interesting thing is, after a while the sheep can walk in the path that the shepherd has led them through without help because they now have the Shepherd's mind. The sheep becomes mature in discerning what's good and what's evil, what's godly and what's not.

To Abraham, the Lord said "I know Abraham, he will command his household to do all that I've commanded him". We should remember that Abraham didn't start that way. Abraham had to learn obedient. Jesus learned obedient by the things he suffered, the ultimate word he uttered was "Not my will but Your will". One "will" must prevail and it’s going to be the Shepherd's will or else, he isn't the shepherd to begin with.

Learning obedience brings us to verse 4: "Yea, though I walk through the Gey Tzalmavet, I will fear no rah; for You art with me; Your shevet and Your staff they comfort me."..

Let me explain this word "Gey Tzalmavet". Often when we read this word in the King James Version and it means shadow of death. Other translations also have it like that, but what about if we flip the word "Tzalmavet" into reasonable vowel, it will turn to "tzalmut" meaning "Self-image" or "Identity" from the root word "Tzelem" which means God's image.

Let's step backward a bit here for understanding. Shadow of death is not "Death" literary, like many of us believe it to be. It has nothing first and foremost to do with "Death" but it has to do with "Your/our identity". If I were to re-read that verse 4, it would be "though I walk through things that want to proof my identity wrong, I will not be afraid because my identity is secured in my shepherd".

Daily we are bombarded with stuffs that wants to choke our identity in Christ, some even ask us to prove our identity. For example, Satan asked Jesus to prove his identity by turning stone into bread. The emphasis isn't on the bread but on His identity as the Son of God. Many a times, situations and circumstances want us to prove our identity, we can either choose to say "lo ira ra"(I'm not afraid) or we can start by proving ourselves to the situation, the end result of that is Fear.

Sheep has no strength to defend themselves, sheep solely depend on the shepherd to defend them. Time and time again we may try to defend ourselves, we may try prove that we are right while every other person is wrong. The end result of that will be, if we are actually sheep, fear and shame. When we make Christ our Lord, what we are saying as sheep is:

"I don't have my right again, I don't need to prove anything to anyone, I don't have any strength because I have given up, I'm not going to avenge myself of things done to me and so on... I'm just going to be sheep."

David could have dealt with Saul, but he couldn't because he's no longer the master/captain of his ship. At other time someone was cursing him and he replied "allow him, maybe the Lord has asked him to curse me...(See 2 Samuel 16:5)" David of old (remember Abigail and Nabal?) would have avenged himself but God has de-roped him.
He couldn't defend himself again, rather "Hashem" was now His shepherd. Despite his mistakes, the Lord became his shepherd.

Lastly, the rod is for correction while the staff is for comfort and encouragement. "And David encourage himself in the Lord". At other place, "God brought correction to David through Nathan the prophet". There's always a rod for correction for every sheep and staff for comforting the heart of the sheep. Both work together to produce the desired result that the shepherd is looking for in the sheep...

In conclusion, I don't want to re-explain verse 5 and 6.

I just want to mention the latter part of the last verse of that Psalms that reads "I shall dwell in the house of the Lord".

In this dispensation of Grace. We are not to dwell forever in a house built with bricks and blocks as house of the Lord. "We are the House of the Lord". We are the lively stones that's building up a house for the Lord and we've also be made priests and kings to our God. For we are a kingdom of priests not of the Leviticus order, rather of the endless life that's founded in Christ Jesus.

We must daily remind ourselves because it is possible to associate the brick and blocks with God's house. It's very easy to turn a place or a thing to "house of God". God dwell not in in the building built by men, he dwells alone in the house he builds by Himself. "Whose house are we" says Paul. I remember when the Lord started opening my eyes to that truth, he led me to be reciting the last verse as "I am the house of the Lord forever"

Grace and Peace.

Read Part 1 Here and Part 2 Here

Read More

Psalm 23 (Part 2)

What does green pasture means..?

Green pasture is a place of feeding, learning and unlearning. It is a place of learning what to eat and what not to eat.

Often time, Green refers to Life in scriptural context and interpretations. In the day of Noah the bird that was sent out from the Ark came back with olive leaf (green-leave) meaning there is life once again. So, pasture can mean many thing but here it means life. We are to feed on Christ because he is the green pasture...

The word "mei menuchot" could also mean REST. Though it is rendered as "still waters" or "restful water" or "comforting water". Let us pieces this word.

In Ephesians it is said that "Christ will wash his bride by washing of the water by word"; in the book of John we have "out of his belly shall flow the living (restful) water". In John 4 "Christ is the living (restful) water".
The emphasis on "restful water" is in regards to the restoration of our soul. "You shall find rest for your soul" comes to play here.

We can as well interpret water to means "God's word" as we have it in Ephesians. Or we can take it as "Christ" Himself (For Christ is the Word of God according to book of revelation). Washing is pruning, we are the branches, and the husbandman keeps pruning or washing us by/with His word in other to grant rest to our soul.

Soul and Spirit aren't the same.

Soul is the seat of sensation, where feelings, emotions, will, desires and reasoning dominate. Because the soul is in connection with material world, hence it is written "we are not move by sight but by faith"

Faith is not of the soul but of the spirit. The purpose of Restful water is not for our Spirit rather is for our Soul; feeling that's not stable on God, emotion that's running wild like lion, desire that's soaring like eagles, self-will that's like an Ox. All these are what makes us to get into troubles many time. But, Christ becoming our shepherd, making us to feed on Him and leading us onto Himself as water of life leads to the restoration of our Soul. Our part to play is in allowing Him to be Lord not just the Saviour.

Verse 3."He restores my nefesh; He guides me in the paths of tzedek l'ma'an Shmo. (“He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake." NKJV).

1 Peter 2:25 says "We were as sheep going astray but are now returned to shepherd and bishop of our souls".

Note:" The shepherding work takes place in the soul not in the spirit.

Until we make Jesus our Shepherd not in words but by living that life, we are going to lack and our souls will not find rest. The path of righteousness will not be cleared to us."

To restore and to create are two different things. The former speaks of "putting things back to where they belonged" while the latter speaks of "to make a new thing". God’s aim is to restore man to the place where his soul would be in subjection to his spirit.

Hebrews 4 says "the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing asunder (dividing or separating) soul and spirit...” The restoration is of the Souls. The spirit is already in this state at "Salvation", but the soul needs to journey in submission to the spirit- ultimately, to the Father of the spirit, God. The road to this is always repentance.

"Tzedek l'ma'an Shmo" means the same thing as "paths of righteousness For His name’s sake or for the sake of His name". The good thing here is that as a man or woman begins to experience Christ as Lord, he/she begins to learn righteousness (What is right and Just). He or she begins to turn away from his/her own way to God’s way. The quieter one's soul becomes, the more it will allow the spirit to soar.

Hence, "He (Christ) must increase but, I must decrease". The decreasing is of the soul while the increasing is of the spirit. And until a man get into verses 1-3 of this Psalm 23, the fear of shadow of death becomes a fearful thing.

Like Paul says, "I know whom I have believed". In our journey with God, we must come to a place where we can boldly declare "I know whom" not "I know what" I have believed. The former is of experience while the latter is of books/mental understanding.

Read Part 1 Here

.......to be continue...

Read More

Psalm 23 (Part 1)

We all love to recite "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me...” 

It is a good thing to recite or lay claim on. But, where we suppose to lay emphasis on is not verses 4-6, those one are the resultant effects of verses 1-3.

Our study begins in Verse 1...”Hashem is my Ro'eh (Shepherd); I shall not lack".

I'm using a Hebrews version of that chapter and I'm going to explain the deeper meaning that such words carry.

Context!!!

David wrote Psalm 23 in unknown time. Some believe it was written while he was a shepherd boy attending to his father's sheep, while others believe the Psalm 23 was written during his time of fleeing away from Saul and the troubles of life. But the important thing here is; David was a shepherd boy before he became the king of Israel. His experience as a shepherd helped in writing this great Psalm 23.

The word "Hashem" means "the name" not "Lord" as we have it in English language. It is the custom of the Jews not to call out the original name of God, instead they use a "casual name" in place of God's name. God as we have it today does not mean God as a name. It’s a choice word used in replacement of His name. The "thou shall not call the name of the "Hashem" in vain" applies to all the manuscripts. There's a lot to dig in on this
.
The High Priests were the one worthy to call that "the name" once in every year during the atonement in the Holies of holy.

Let me take this a bit further, the name Yehoshua or Yeshua means "Hashem saves".

We see now how that becomes confusing to us because if Hashem literary means "the name" and Yeshua means "Hashem saves", then what we have is "the name saves". So, in translation the actual name of God is hidden, because the Lord doesn't refers to a name it just talk about the "office".
I'm an accountant, isn't a name but the office I possess or work in.
Having explain that. Let's go into the second thing we see in verse 1. "Shepherd"

When David was talking about shepherd. It is very important to understand what David was saying here. A shepherd is the one that "Lord-it-over-the-sheep". The shepherd have full control of the sheep, he decides what is what for the sheep, he rebukes, corrects, showers love, heals and sometimes leave the sheep to wander in the field for a purpose.

A shepherd isn't a shepherd if one of those is lacking, and you cannot be a sheep to someone who cannot lord-it-over-you. We saw that in the life of David. He didn't just know the God of Israel, he allowed the "office of Him being the Lord" to made manifest in his life.

Making Jesus the Saviour is pretty easy, the hardest part is making Him Lord or allowing Him to function in our lives as "the Lord" and until He is that, we will lack (the king James version rendered that as "want" but "lack" is more appropriate, we'll get to that in few minutes).

It is not that He is not Lord. Christ is indeed Lord, controlling the affairs of this world and beyond, but we can choose Him to be that in our lives or we can ask him to excuse himself from that office.

So, Psalm 23:1 can be rendered as "My shepherd is the one who lord-it-over me and by this, he makes sure I don't lack as a sheep".

The implication of this is: Whatever controls, rules or governs our lives is automatically our shepherd. If entertainment, sex, food, money or anything takes that place of ruling or controlling our lives, it does not matter if we say we are Christians, Christ is not our shepherd.
We need to get into this verse 1 and be sure that Christ is indeed our shepherd else the opposite of the remaining verses will be our portion.

In verse 2 we have "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the "mei menuchot".

With the understanding of verse 1. I think it should be cleared to us that, a good shepherd will lead his sheep into a greener pasture. The sheep obligation is not to seek the green pasture, their job is to allow the shepherd to be the LORD. It is the job of a good shepherd to go before his sheep like Jesus said “the shepherd leads the sheep out"(see John 10:3). He goes before them not behind them.

So, the sheep are secure not in themselves but in the Shepherd because he is their "LORD". Using the example of David and his men of war when their wives, children, and their cities were plundered. David as a man of war didn't say "go to, let's pursue them" rather, he inquired from his Shepherd "should I go, would we overtake them, would we recover all?”
In the book of Jeremiah, it is said "in that day I will give the children of Israel a shepherd, David my servant". David in allowing God to shepherd him, he became also a shepherd like his Father. Sons are to become like their Father.

What does green pasture mean..?

to be continue..

Read More

The Two Poles Of Life Pt.1

Life contains two immutable matters. These matters or things are always in constant contrast. Not that they don't work together, but from our vintage point as human, we see one to be good and the other to be bad. The breadth of an angle is in proportion to the height of it.

“As heaven is higher than the earth”

This means, heaven is up while the earth is down, there won't be any center or middle if there is no height (up) and base (down).
We do know that there is light and darkness, these two don't go together from our vintage point, but in reality they work together to create a balance world.

The south Pole and North Pole are far remove from each other, yet, the earth needs both to be able to rotate on it axis properly.

Think of electricity; there's Negative (Neutral) and Positive (Live). Though they don't touch each other as per say directly, lest they create havoc, but both energy are needed to supply you and I electrical power in order to power our phones, laptops, house appliances and so on.

A woman is needed to pro-create, but she can't do the work without the other half, the man. We cannot ‘join’ both together, they live differently, but they are actually united in order for life to be formed.

In essence, both the negative and positive energy is needed in the world we live in to create balance. If one is missing, we can all expect nothing but chaos.


If our story contains only "the good stuffs" or "good peoples" without “villains”, then we have no story. Nothing will be interesting in it.
This life is in continual beating of two opposing poles and yet, they are both needed for a greater good.

To the crux of the matter, if the world is populated only with the rich, then we can as well say the world would have been a boring place to live in, where adventures and ideas would have ceased to exist.

If everyone is an engineer or a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher, this world would have been worst. There wouldn't have been any balance. The poor and the rich are needed to maintain order in this world we live in, for it’s for shadowing our need as humans. We are needy.

While this is true; the rich ought to help the poor just like the Negative Pole (North Pole) must of necessity help the Positive Pole (South Pole) vice versa. We do see that greediness does not allow that and that's why our world is in chaos today.

Driving my point home a bit further.

Not every child of God will be rich!!!

Don’t let that shock you...

If all believers were to work in an Oil Company today, there are some that will still be poor not because they are lazy or lackadaisical, but because order must be maintain in this fallen world. Aside from that, been a body will have no meaning if all the members in our body is hand or eyes or nose or legs.

You don't have to agree with me on this, but saying to all believer that they must be rich or wealthy because they are Abraham's seeds through Christ, is a bit of an error.
The extreme thing to do is to judge those who are not rich/wealthy and blame them for it, when we are not even their God nor their Master to begin with.

Some are going to be averagely rich, some super rich, while some will be averagely poor and the other very/super poor.

Where the balance/order comes in is when those parts of the same body that are averagely/super rich are willing and are ready to contribute, help, support and lift-up those who are averagely/super poor. But, you and I know that we are defaulting already in doing this and in our minds, it seems God is far more for an individuals than he is for his body.

Well, that's not true!!

Oppression, pains, agony, failures and frustrations are caused by us by not maintaining that balance. Our greediness for this and that, while overlooking the need that God has surrounded us has led us into chaos and wrong information about the nature of God.

In essence we are more sold out to heroes than for a community, we are more into a big-one-man-show than for a company of Army that contains both the weak and intelligent soldiers, both the tall and short; those who knows how to carry guns and those that are good at taking the spoil and keeping them for the Kingdom’s use, and then, there are those who attends to the wounded and to children. All of them working together, forming a formidable army that cannot be ransacked by the enemy.

Alas! We are not that army. We are just a fragment of a small tiny frustrated individuals trying to show the world that we are the hit, whereas, we are nothing but a bunch of misfortune vagabonds running away from the reality that will soon dawn on us very soon.


As the Neutral Pole of an electricity cannot do a thing so are we individually, but when we combine all of ourselves as a unified body of Neutral and Positive energy, there's a great balance that this world will experience that she has never experience since the world began.

I know some of you’ll think this is impossible or unattainable. It may even sound foolish to your hearing, but I will rephrase one thing to everyone reading this "You are as poor as your brother/sister is". You, as a tree cannot make a forest. You may think you are already a forest until the hurricane, storms and vehement winds knock at your door. It is then you will know that it takes families of trees in the forest to sail through the vehement winds/storms.

Let’s talk about two kinds of people in this world we live in. The believers and unbelievers... these also are like two opposing poles.....

To be continue...

Read More

Here Comes Our Kingdom

What if this earth is just a prototype, a bad shadow of that which is good to come? What if we are just here to figure out things and get back to the better place where things work? Where there's no darkness or shadow, where everything is as clear as crystal. What if the family we all know now is nothing to compare to that organic, responsive family. What if the pattern and ways of training that our parents offer us is a bad picture of what a good parenting should look like. 

What if we are dead wrong about our perceptions? What if the little we think we know is as a result of bandwagon effects? What if what we often term sins, rebellion, stubbornness and disobedient isn't what they are called? What if all our good deeds, good behaviors, good moral are nothing good compare to that which is to be revealed?

What if all our ideas of God who created the universe is like single drop of contaminated water in a pure ocean? What if this idea of “born-again, salvation” that we often cry out on our lungs is much simpler than we think? What if there is no spiritual and physical? What if we are just in an energetic field that response to how we perceive thing?

What if……..?

What if……..?

This day, I'm coming to a place of keeping my mouth shut on many issues. I'm coming to a realization on daily basis that this God is a shocker and His kingdom is not what we are actually bargaining for because, we are in for a surprise that will shipwrecked our belief-systems. I'm not afraid to be caught in the wrong side of life (who know the wrong side of life?), I'm just afraid of my lack of seeking. 

Solomon was seeking the God of Israel among the gods and idols in high places, he sacrificed thousands of animals in order to find this God yet, God revealed himself to him without necessary saying to him; "Solomon go to Zion where your father placed the ark (1 King 3:1-15)". The seeking heart meets God, the place does not matter, what matters is the heart that's seeking.

We've built a lot things into the Kingdom that God is bringing to us, we've set a lot of standard. We've patterned how the Kingdom should look like and sometimes we've made it a thing of this present Earth and Heaven. We've set up how the Kingdom should be ruled, how this or that should rule over others. We've even compared it with the way the kings of Israel ruled in their time as if that was what God desired for Israel. In fact, the way kings in this world rule is totally erroneous.

We are too quick to forget that all the labourer received the same reward despite that they came into the field at different time. There was no greater/lesser one among them, all of them were equally paid, and all of them were kings. It was the goodness of “Good Man Of The House” to reward them according to His generosity not according to their works.

Our Kingdom comes with a new Earth and a new Heaven. This earth will be consumed away and the heaven over it will be rolled away like carpet (Revelation 21:1-9). 
Let us not mix these together; "the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever" does not refer to that which is to come, it simply means God rules in the affairs of this falling world. It means Christ is in charge of this present world despite her falling state. 
God's ultimate purpose is to make all things NEW, to make the new Earth and the new Heaven a place where Christ’s Preeminence will be seen and felt, where darkness, sin and diseases will have no place to stand, where there is no more tears or death. This is the kingdom we are called to seek for, we are not called to make this present one into it.

No matter how we try, this earth is not the earth the Lord has given to us though, it was before, but now it’s a training ground for the new Earth that we'll be given at the Arrival of Our King and Kingdom.

Our Kingdom is not of this world, just as our brother and Lord said "My Kingdom is not of this world". I often wonder "is it that we don't read the word of Christ or are we just quick to forget what he said?" Our Kingdom is where we'll see our King face to face and no other one, where we can see all thing-NEW. Where there’s no clergy and laity!

We were made anew when we believed in Christ, we shall also be brought to that new Kingdom because a new wine must be put into a new wineskins. But first, we must of necessity receive our training here because we still live here, we must of necessity learn things as regard to our new Kingdom and those things we'll learn here, let us never equate them to that which is to come.

We must not compare the systems of this earth now with that which we were promised. The best parent we have here aren't the best rather a parasite in the eyes of eternity. The best teacher of our days isn't what we need because there’s none. The truth we hold dear now, we may have to let it go to really embrace the Truth Himself.

Have we ever wondered why God, our Father won't judge us based on what we know or the things we understand rather by WHO we have. Have we realized that He didn't put the Life into things rather in a Person? “He who has the Son, has Life”

While it’s good to live on the earth we have now. We must live life to the fullest; we must live in sincerity of heart not with eye-pleasing. We must never live like we have a continue city here, we don't have a continue city here now.

And it does not yet appear how glorious we look like now; we do look so terrible now in the face of this earth. Yea! There is yet to be difference between the tares and the wheat, between the sheep and the goat but, when our Kingdom come then shall we be revealed. Then shall we see and differentiate between the tares and the wheat, the sheep and the goats. “For as He is, so are we now in this world”.

Let us not put our efforts into that which is ready to be done away with rather, let us labour for our Kingdom, let this be our daily cry; “Thy Kingdom Come”. 

Let us live in sincerity and contentment. Let us hold this present Earth with all simplicity without getting attached or used to it. 

Who knows when our Kingdom will appear? Who knows when the Lover of our soul, our King will dazzle the earth with his blazing glory? Who knows when our appearances will be changed in a twinkle of an eye? 

And who knows when death shall knock at our door?

Here Comes Our Kingdom with New Jerusalem…but not of this world, but of that which is to come….

The Bride says: “Come quickly Lord!”

Read More

Random Posts... 1 ( Stages of Life)

There are three stages in life: Morning, Afternoon and Night.
There are three stages of a Man journeying into God: Natural, Carnal and Spiritual.

We were all born in the Morning (Natural). God's call to us is to come up. In obeying that call, we enter into Afternoon(the carnal or immature stage).
While it is good to come to that stage, it is not enough for you to remain there and boast about your "Carnality"-Immaturity (Afternoon) claiming all that Christ has done for you.

God still call you to become spiritually mature. But, the unfortunate thing is, many will remain in this field of carnality, because they don't trust the Night.

They enjoy the "Afternoon", they have something to show forth, they have things to pursue, names to make, pleasures to dazzle in, knowledge to die in.....

You see. It takes courage, diligent, unlearning and perseverance to embrace the night. 

The promise of God is that "at the time of the night there shall be light". 

He didn't promise light in the afternoon.. 

Candle Light has no meaning in the morning nor in the afternoon. It is in the night that we know what you are made up of. 

Stars are for the night, not morning or afternoon.

The calling of God to all carnal believers is to come away into the Night and Embrace the Cross.
You may call yourself any name or title.

You may be the owner of the new fastest growing business enterprise called/termed "church" in the town.

You may be the chair's warmer or co-labourer in that enterprise. 

Or you may just be someone that claim all God's promise but has not felt the weight of the Cross of Christ.
Your own may be "I don't do denominations, I do house churches, I meet with brethren"... What is even the difference? Is it because you meet in a house? Or because you don't have pulpit and there is no pastor? Or because you share meal after house-fellowship and yet, there is no changes in your walk with Christ?

My friend, what's the difference?
Someone should tell me....
Anybody can meet anywhere, so far it doesn't affect their lives, so far Christ isn't having the preeminence in their lives, so far its still business as usual.

What difference does it make? We may as well termed such place a secret-court or better still, Babylon.

God's call to every little Diotrephes is to get down from their high horse, remove their fake crown and fall at the feet of the Cross of Christ.

Carnality is a lifestyles that God calls everyone of us to leave and embrace the cross..

Here comes the night when the Sons of God shall shine brightly. It is only reserved for Sons/Daughters of God not "Children/Carnal".

"...to be carnally minded is Death..."

Read More

The Unknown Man...

When a man knows whom he has believed; He doesn't rant about with those who are trying to keep their systems/doctrines/empires in place.

He sounds controversial, he is misunderstood, and he questions what he hears, even the next preacher preaching at him.

He loves wilderness, he hates Babylon and her children in various quarters. When you see one, you would say to them "You are beside yourself" or "Too much of learning has made you mad" or you could be so extreme and say "You are possess by demons".

Read More

NEED FOR CIRCUMCISION Vol 2. Part 1(Continuation..)

THE CROSS

In whom (Christ) also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: (Col 2:11)

I would like to put it this way, The Circumcision of Christ is the same thing as the Cross of Christ. The instrument for the flesh is the cross. The Cross for Abraham in his day was “circumcision”, though he was 99 years old when the Lord commanded it to be done. Moses and children of Israel had their own shares. The fundamental thing here is that, this circumcision was done when it was not convenience. It was never at their convenience time. The show that, the cross of Jesus Christ as it were is not a convenience thing. You don’t carry it because it is convenience; you carry it because of the joy that is set before you.

“For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross…” Hebrew 12:2b

I know a great deal of books has been written concerning the Cross but, I want to put in a simple way what the cross simply means.

The Cross means God’s will “crosses” my will!

Since, there is only one will and one desire in heaven, this gives no room for my will or yours to be done. We must either conform to His will willingly or be crush into His will unwillingly. Either of the two, His will must be done. We must either choose to decrease by embracing His cross or be forced to decrease by His eternal counsel. All things must of necessity decrease, and Christ must increase. That’s the counsel of God and nothing can alter that.

We see the cross as the instrument of our circumcision, because that is what God has ordained. Daily, we must carry our cross, embrace it. The cross is the center of God’s will for all creation and not just for Christians. The Judgment of God on all flesh is the Cross.

Read More

NEED FOR CIRCUMCISION Vol 2. Part 1

What Circumcision is

We've seen what circumcision is not; let’s talk about what circumcision is.

In the old, it is refer to as “removal of foreskin” which most often applies to male child. Then you would probably be asking, "are we still under the old law? Why should I be circumcised?" Before arriving at a conclusion by saying we’re under the new covenant and there is no need for circumcision.

Paul made a clear reference when he was talking about circumcision in his letter to Philippians’

For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. (Phil 3:3)

From the passage above circumcision is in contrast to the flesh, which means: worshiping God in the flesh shows that one is not circumcised. One’s confidence in the flesh is a clear indication that one is not circumcised. Should one also failed in rejoicing in Christ Jesus (in his spirit/heart) daily then, the problem is un-circumcision.

In whom (Christ) also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: (Col 2:11)

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.( Rom 2:29)

As I have made it clear previously that circumcision is not salvation, I will like to add that circumcision is not also the removal of the “foreskin” from a male child according to the Law of Moses. It has nothing to do with that under the new covenant.

What circumcision is really is the putting off of body of sins (which is also the body of death). It’s the removal of flesh in the heart of man. It involves cuttings, pains, shedding of blood and the circumstances that surround circumcision are not palatable.

Circumcision itself is not a joyous thing; none really want to go through it. God has always been the initiator of it. To Abraham, He commanded it. To Moses, his wife understood what it was and did it for her husband lest God smote him, to the children of Israel; God gave the order to Joshua to circumcise them.

And in bro Paul’s letter, he said “we are circumcised in Christ”. This means that God has ordained this circumcision for everyone that would ever come into Christ.

We can conclude then that circumcision is an inward thing according to the book of Romans 2:29 not of outward things. One can display various characters and even pretend to be what he/she is not. We can be religious, fervent so to say, we can also be diligent and full of activities but the revealer of our uncircumcised heart is our “tongues”.

  

What Is the Problem?

Read More

THE SERPENT OF BRASS

 THE SERPENT OF BRASS

 And Moses made a serpent of brass (As the Lord commanded), and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.(Num 21:9 KJV)

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. (John 3:14-15 NASB)

The important thing here is that before looking up to the Serpent of Brass there must first be a "bite" from a serpent. Before any healing can happen, there must first be sickness, before any binding of wounds, there must be brokenness, before salvation and restoration there must be a falling short of glory of God.

Negative first before the Positive,the natural before that which is spiritual, the carnal Law before the spiritual Law.

"Let there be Light" God says "and there was light" but, there was darkness first. The emphasis from that verse was not the biting of the serpent, neither was it on the people that were bitten rather on the Serpent of Brass that was hung on the tree. That's the focus, the objects of all worship and adoration.

Serpent that was biting the people here means...sins, craftiness, lies, evil works, the devil himself...the antidotes to these things is nothing but looking up to Serpent of Brass for healing.

Read More

JUST ONE THING

Just One Thing Part 1

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: (Col 2:6 KJV)

Some days ago till this time I've been having some conversations, meditations, understanding and I've also been praying as regards some issues. Well, I’m going to talk about one of them like I did in my previous post about “Professor or Possessor?”

A brother once advised us by saying “as you have received Christ so also walk in him”. This word, I've read it severally but I didn't really have understanding as to what he was saying. But, of late the Lord in His gracious mercy has been showing me some light and I wouldn't say this is the final light, for I know the Lord still have a lot to pass across as regard this.

Read More

The Growing Madness Called "Church"

The Growing Madness Called "Church"

Many of the articles I write, I enjoy because they sort of ‘burn out’ of me through my fingers and all I have to deal with is grammar and formatting. I am not particularly writing this because I enjoy the topic but I feel that there is a need to speak the truth. It will then be up to individuals to love or hate it, act or remain passive as people tend to do – or even fight it – but I would have spoken the truth.

I sat down in a gathering where I was about to do a gig, focusing on going up to the stage to play some songs. Just before I went up, a guy went up to the podium and started speaking freely about ‘Church’ and ‘Christianity’ – and I sat in my seat and felt fed up… again – but in a nice sort of way. I was glad that someone who has never read any of my articles or had a discussion with me, but who is evidently given to the God-Chase had similar things to say about the filthy stench of ‘Church’, if I may.

Now, when I say Church, I refer to its usage as is commonly used, a place where people gather to do fast-paced music they call ‘praise’ and slow-paced music they call ‘worship’, where the gathering of one person speaking to a large group of passive listeners is ‘fellowshipping’, where the ‘pastor’ is the leader of the ‘flock’ which is the congregation and where he is respected and worshipped as a demi-god because he is ‘the man of God’… But the truth is, no congregation or gathering of people is perfect, so let me not flog these issues.

But then, there are other things.

The church intends to ‘grow’ and by that, it means increase in numbers and branches with more individuals who take on board the practice that characterizes the mode of worship of the denomination, its style of dressing, style of speaking, style of living, which is, more or less, an off-shoot of the church’s ‘founders’.
These may not be the best scenario, ideally, but then, there are other things.

Read More

NEED FOR CIRCUMCISION. VOL. 1, PART 2

NEED FOR CIRCUMCISION

VOL. 1, PART 2 (Updated Version)

We’ve been dealing with issue of circumcision for a while now. If you have not read previous post, you may do so here on the Facebook page or from my blog site here

Joshua chapter 5

This book of Joshua chapter 5 portraits the circumcision of the new generation of army, this circumcision has to do with the heart. In the Old Testament it was referred to as circumcision of the foreskin. What God was proven in that time which is of great relevance to us as a people is, the fact that we have forsaken Egypt does not mean we are totally through with it and need not to be circumcised.

The first stage is our leaving Egypt while the second stage deals with wilderness experiences leading to our circumcisions. Without that, we cannot become an armed person for the Lord neither can we enter into the Promised Land and eat the fruits of the land.

 There is always “the” Promised Land and a Promised Land for the people of God, The former is an eternal Land while the latter is a temporary one leading to the eternal one. They both go hand in hand. One cannot lay claim on the eternal when one has not fully grasp to some levels the temporary one.

The tool or the way to embrace the two is through circumcisions. God’s promise to Joshua was “as many that would go through this circumcision, I will roll away from them the reproach of Egypt”. The condition by which God will do that is through circumcision.

Read More

MAYBE!!!

Maybe this isn't the best time to buy that stuffs, to get entangle with that person, to allow your heart to be cumbersome with that thoughts and imaginations flying and humming in and out like a bee on flowers. Maybe this is the time to journey backward and see where you are coming from. Maybe it’s time we remind ourselves of our frailty and consider not the strength we've put together so long. This might help us once again to see what we ought to crave for than what we are already dying for.

Sometimes, we are quick to forget "our frames", where we were "carved" out, we think we know many thing, we think we have understanding; we think we are full of wisdom and how to maneuver our ways. Though we may not actually say it out and that does not negate this fact. The absolute thought of "I'm best at this" it’s a signal that we are journeying on a wrong path.

How often do we consider that we could be "deadly wrong", how many times have we looked at ourselves in our closet and tell the sincere truth to our consciousness and sub-consciousness that “we are nothing but dust...” The pursuit of happiness, good living, good job, good home and a lovely family are not what guarantee blessed life. We may have all that we crave for and lose that “which” is craving and yearning for our attention.

Read More

Quiet An Age...

It been a while... 

This year has been a little busy for me but, I'm trusting the Lord to put together some of the things He has been showing to me lately such as "God's Testimony", "Need For circumcision Part 1 Vol. 2-Part 2 Vol 1 and 2", "Expositions on the books of James chapter 1, Jude, John and some other passages". 

The continuation on the "Great House" will also be posted.  All these by His grace and also by your prayers. As God continue to lead me, I will also share some of my personal experiences lately as regards God's kingdom, His Church and the world...  

I earnestly covet your prayers as this year go by, for there are many thing to be publish/post but the time is really limited and the busy schedules isn't helping.

May the Lord be gracious to everyone of us and may His mercy keep and guide us all the days of our life in Jesus name. Amen

In His service,

John.

Read More

SEVEN PROGRESSIONS OF TRUTH

Seven Progressions of Truth

By Chip Brogden

There are seven stages of awareness through which we must pass through in order to bring ourselves out of bondage towards the fullness of Truth and into the life of an Overcomer. This describes the spiritual growth of the Christian from sinner, to seeker, to believer, to disciple, and to overcomer.

I. Hungry For Truth
II. Seeking For Truth
III. Choosing The Truth
IV. Accepting The Truth
V. Knowing The Truth
VI. Believing The Truth
VII. Living The Truth

I. Hungry For Truth

Theologians describe it as a God-shaped vacuum in our heart. However you choose to describe it, there is a capacity for God within every man and woman. Some seek to fill the void with other things, but man is never truly satisfied until he finds communion with His Creator. Jesus says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.” The most amoral people in the world are the ones who have no hunger for Truth. They are the ones who love Darkness more than Light.

It is better to give food to a hungry man than to force-feed people who are not hungry. This is one of the failures of evangelicalism. People have not been taught to tell the difference between a hungry person and a person who is full, so they indiscriminately cast their pearls before swine. Jesus did not reveal Himself to everyone, nor did He minister to everyone He encountered. He qualified them on the basis of their spiritual appetite.

Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What does it all mean? It is not so much our seeking the Truth as the Truth drawing us to Himself. That drawing us to Himself is interpreted by our soul as spiritual hunger. Without this we cannot come to Truth.

Read More

Journey So Far Part 2

Journey so far II…

The embodiment of servant-hood/slavery

(This is the continuation of the Journey So Far Part I Read it Here)

And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterwards shall they come out with great substance.

There are two things I will love us to put in our heart as we begin to read this second part. These were highlighted in the above verses of the scripture. The first is "SERVING" and the second is "GREAT SUBSTANCE". Moreover, we should note that the initiator of these two things is "GOD". It was Him that pronounced this prophecy to Israel while they were in their father's loins, Abram. This co-notes or shows that God has a purpose for sending His people into slavery and the end result is "GREAT SUBSTANCE". With this is mind, we can now go into this second part fully.

Moab hath been on ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity; therefore, his taste remained in him, and his scent is not change.

Some of the means that the great God has created and made on this journey to the Kingdom are challenges and slavery; without these means, the level of one growth cannot be measure in God's eye. Just as an athlete is not worthy of a crown and a gold medal without passing the test of race/competition, so also any Christian is not worthy of any crown or being glorified with Christ without challenges and slavery.

If these two things are missing in a believer's life then, degeneration is inevitable. This is why most men of faith in the past had to pass through many challenges and slavery. They were not men or women of faith by mere confessions but by what they went through. Was it Abraham, Enoch, Moses? Was it Peter, Paul and the other disciples? Were they not a slave or bondservant of Christ? Was it by mouth confession only? No! It was a result of reality. I'm not saying you should not confess good things but my emphasis is that those good things will and shall not come without challenges and slavery; your confession are mere word when it lacks the reality of the cross.

According to that scripture above in genesis, the blessing of the children of Israel were tied to been a slave in Egypt; if they refuse it, they would not experience the blessing. They cannot refuse, it was/is the laid down rules and plans right from God's hands to all his children. It was God that ordained it. Though they were yet to begin the journey but the laws and road map had already been drawn and mapped out for them; the foundation was laid in their father by God. And, I'm very persuaded that Abraham would have declared the whole counsel of God to Isaac, then Isaac to Jacob and Jacob to his children.

Jacob experienced slavery and challenges, Joseph was not exempted nor spared from it, even Moses had his own share of it, and then all the children of Israel partook of it.

If we call ourselves spiritual Israel needless should we think that we are exempted or God will bypass his laid down pattern for the sake of us. God maintain His standard in every generation, the world may change, people may go and come but His standard is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Things that God hates....

Read More

WATER BAPTISM.. IN WHAT NAME?

This is the continuation on the previous blog- Basic Element of True Salvation.

It is very important not to just talk about the water baptism without touching the other aspects of it which are: 1. IN WHAT NAME MUST WE BE BAPTIZED?
2. IS IT BY SPRINKLE OR IMMERSION?
3. WHO CAN BE BAPTIZED?

I believed Water Baptism is important and not just as a fulfillment of all righteousness. Many who seems to use this kind of phrase counted water baptism as not being important. By God's grace, I will be showing to you that, in whatsoever baptism you have been baptized has an effect on yor Christian walk. In fact, entering to spiritual things may be difficulty if this is not in the proper place.
Let's start with;

IN WHAT NAME MUST A CHRISTIAN BE BAPTIZED?

Name is very important, if it were not so then, people shouldn't be given name. When God created Man in the Garden, He gave "them" name. When the Lord brought all the animals before Adam, they were to be given name and whatsoever name that Adam gave to them, it was that they bared even till today. Just imagine how it would have look like if everybody in your Family doesn't have a name, there will be disorderliness.
So, name is very important when it come to the issue of water baptism. 

The scripture said in Matthew 28:19

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

This was the commandment the Lord gave to the disciples after His resurrection. And this word were to be understood by the revelation of Himself which He has given to them.

John 14:8-9;

Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

There are many other scriptures that confirmed how the Lord was revealing Himself to them, Who He was and Is and Is to come.

If Jesus Christ has really saved you and I, wouldn't it be proper for us to be baptized in that same name in which we were saved? or Should we just follow the Logo(letter) and despise the place of Rhema(Revelation of the Logo)? The Logo said, we should be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy-Spirit. But what does the Rhema said?
The first step in recognizing what the Rhema said is by asking, What is the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy-ghost? These three things mention about are just like a title.

Read More