Who is a joker? A joker is somebody who is generally not serious or who should not be taken seriously. At a particular night vigil which was attended by about 200 people, there was somebody who was a tough child of the devil. He was very effective because his spiritual eyes were open. He had what you could call "X-ray eyes." X-ray eyes give satanic people the ability to look at you straight in the eyes and know your spiritual level as a Christian without consulting anything. So, as the people at the night vigil were singing a popular song which describes satanic powers as powerless power, this man with the demonic x-ray eyes could see that if these powers referred to as powerless powers should come there, only about one third of those singing could successfully counter them. This means that two third of them at the vigil were spiritual jokers fooling themselves as far as warfare is concerned.
As far as God is concerned, there are many jokers on the battlefield of life. It is so serious that God actually concluded that some of them are as good as dead men, i.e. corpses on the battlefield. Revelation 3:1 says: "And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead" As far as God was concerned, those people did not exist. They were corpses on the battlefield or jokers at the battlefront. In the eyes of the satanic powers too, they are jokers. The worst spiritual jokers are those who do not know and do not agree that they do not know. There are other jokers; those who know but do not even know that they know.
Who are the greatest jokers?
Deuteronomy 32:29 says: "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" The greatest fools are those who do not think about the end. They are only concerned about the present. No matter what a man is today, everything ceases to operate immediately he stops breathing. Many people have the erroneous impression that it is only old people that die quick. But the young die too. It is unfortunate that the only time some people think about the inevitable end is when they see a funeral procession or when they pass by a cemetery.
There was a sister who by the time she died, had 670 dresses and 300 pairs of shoes in her wardrobe. Only one of those dresses was used to bury her, all the others were useless to her. It is a pity that many people die like fools. It is better not to have been born at all than for somebody to fail to make eternity. It is a big disaster to be unprepared for judgement. That is why that song writer says, "It is sad to face the judgement unprepared, because judgement will find you the way death finds you." We know that death generally does not give any warning. Your being born into this world is your opportunity to prove to God that you are qualified for heaven. It is a beginning from which there is no return. There is no reverse journey in life, even with the so-called "ogbanjes," who they claim come back to life after death. It is a lie of the devil. It is a demon power or familiar spirit that enters into the baby each time the mother gets pregnant, to manipulate the baby as soon as he is born. Death is a commitment from which there is no escape.
A scientist can discover all kinds of medication to stop all kinds of problems, but when the scientist himself is having problems, and cannot help himself, it then becomes a very serious problem. The other time they brought a doctor to me, I perceived immediately that the devil had dealt with him. I asked him if he had tried to treat himself. He said, "yes, but there has been no solution." So, I told him, "It is good for you to know that there is something greater than medical knowledge, something greater than your certificate, and for you to know of the existence of another doctor who can do more than a medical doctor." We prayed. The Lord touched him and he was healed. Here was a doctor who was keeping people from dying but could not help himself. When he found that he was dying, he had to look for help from the source of life - Jesus.
When you are born, you commence on a journey from this world to the next. That journey must be continued to the end. So, it is utter foolishness for any man to presume that he can find God on his death bed, God gives no guarantee to foolishness. If you are neglecting the opportunity God is giving to you, you are rejecting His grace. If you are resisting His divine call, it is spiritual suicide. As far as the spiritual world is concerned, there is no sudden destruction. It is always a gradual process. For example, if you are sleeping with anybody outside marriage, it is spiritual suicide. You are killing yourself gradually and making the enemy to rejoice.
The greatest jokers are those who do not think. They are people with logs in their eyes who are struggling to pick out the specks in other people’s eyes. Sometime ago, a sister came to me and said, "Help me to pray, I want to get married." I asked her to bring her fiance. But her fiancée said that he would not see any pastor. While I was praying for her, I saw a strange thing: the sister was dressed glamourously in a wedding dress while the man she was to marry was looking like a small boy by her side. She was stooping down to hold his hand. I asked the Lord what that meant and He said that the sister was marrying a baby. Two years after the marriage, the man started chasing the sister with cutlass and later with a gun.
There are many jokers in the house of God. They are Christians, born again for a long time, and they claim to have received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, yet they are being pursued everyday in the dream, and there is no power in them to withstand the pursuers. There is nothing in their subconsciousness to make them say, "I bind you, in the name of Jesus."
They are jokers at the war front. They do not even bother to find out why their pursuers succeed. If you dealt with whosoever are attacking you in the spirit, they won’t come back. If they see you in the morning, they will run. The fact that they are not running away from you shows that something is wrong. As a sister, why should a demonic mother-in-law come into your home and say, "Well, I will make sure I get you out of this house," and she succeeds? Something is wrong. How can evil people be carrying a Christian to witchcraft meetings and he comes back weak and tired, or is terribly sick. Something is wrong. Psalm 78: 9-10 says: "The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law."
It is wonderful to belong to a living church where the truth is preached. Every information given to you by the Holy Ghost is to make you a better soldier of the Lord. The children of Ephraim were highly privileged. They got trained and were given arms, but they went to the battle front and turned back. What a tragedy? The children of Ephraim disappointed our Commander-in-Chief. Ephraim looked tough with his weapon and good on the outside but was a failure inside. No wonder Jesus lamented in Luke 11:39: "And the Lord said unto him, now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness?" This lamentation shows the true picture of many of us today: Broken outside, while the inside is ungodly, beautiful outside but unserious inside. Such people are jokers as far as God is concerned. A sister was working as a secretary in London. One day, she worked late and three of her female colleagues walked up to her and asked, "When are you coming to the meeting?" She said, "Which meeting?" They said, "You are one of us, never mind, your marks are being compiled."
When the sister got home, she asked the Lord to explain to her what those ladies were saying. The Lord said, "They told you the truth, you are one of them." If a person has a familiar spirit and is confessing that Jesus has delivered him from the power of darkness and has translated him into His light, while his heart is still dirty, still belongs to the camp of the enemy. Sometime ago, I watched a mile race. As the athletes warmed up, at the extreme of the track was a very big and muscular man. Many people believed that the big and muscular man would not have any problem winning the race. But to everyone’s amazement, he collapsed shortly and they had to feed him with glucose to revive him. At the end of the day, it was a hungry looking man that won the race. So, it is not a question of being big and beautiful, but a question of having power. That is why Jesus says that not all that call Him Lord, Lord, shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. He says, "Some shall come unto me on that day saying, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not heal the sick and raise the dead?" But He will say, "Sorry, I do not know you, your name is not recorded in my book of life." You may say, "Lord, but I was a chorister," He will say, "Yes, but you sang with a dirty heart." You may say, "I was a house-fellowship leader," but you did it
with envy." You may say I was a pastor. He will say, "But your eyes could not cease from adultery." You may say "I was a bus evangelist," He will say, "But you were beating up your wife at home." The Lord will not permit any unrighteousness.
Before somebody can prophesy, raise the dead, heal the sick, etc, he must have received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. But a lot of people will do all these and still go to hell fire. That was the tragedy of Ephraim. The first time he came to battle armed, he failed. Look at what happened the second time in II Chronicle 25:7-10: "But there came a man of God to him saying, O King, let not the army of Israel go with thee, for the Lord is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim. But if thou will go, do it, be strong for the battle, God shall make thee fall before the enemy, for God hath power to help, and to cast down. And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered. The Lord is able to give thee much more than this. Then Amaziah separated them to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again..."
This time around, it was God who disqualified Ephraim. The divine summary of the life of Ephraim is that:
-Ephraim was good on the outside but bad inside.
-Ephraim was no longer dependable.
-The fire of Ephraim had gone out just like the fire of many people have gone out and they are just pretending.
- Ephraim even became a fire quencher like many who are quenching the fire of revival today. If Ephraim goes with you, you will lose because the Bible says so. The Bible makes us to understand that though he wears an armour, God has abandoned him without his knowing it. He has been judged without his knowing it.
-Ephraim was a walking corpse. A dead man cannot go to battle.
-Ephraim was a joker.
Saul was another example of a joker. The spirit of God was upon him. But in I Samuel 15, the Spirit of God departed from him, even though he was still a king. He was therefore a fake king. A person can be a very nice signboard, pointing to the right place, while himself is not going in. When Goliath began to challenge the armies of the God of Israel, Saul could not face him because God had dethroned him and the Spirit of the living God had gone out of him. Underneath the uniform of Saul, was a corpse, underneath the uniform of
the armies of Israel were corpses. Something now happened to Saul after the spirit of God had departed from him. The Bible says in I Samuel 19: as he was prophesying, he was also rolling on the floor until he became naked, he was still prophesying. Meaning that, two spirits were upon him, the Holy Spirit and the demonic spirit. It is a fearful thing. That is why you could see somebody who speaks in tongues but by the time she sleeps at night, spirit husband will be oppressing her. That weak flesh will eventually drag the spirit into hell fire.
Carnal people are closer to hell fire than they can imagine. This is why many people who speak in tongues may find themselves in hell fire if they are not careful. There are people who speak in tongues every day and yet they are unloving. They keep malice and have envy, jealousy, anger and bitterness in their spirit. The tongues will stand against them on the day of judgement. Many churches today sponsor and promote death. Many church goers listen to dead sermons, pray dead prayers and associate with dead members. There are many dead pastors preaching dead messages to dead churches all over the place. And some of us have decided to glue ourselves to the dead places. If we believers copy the people of the world, we will end up where they are heading to. If there is no difference between them and us, there will be no difference after death.
A lot of people do not involve their churches in their social activities because they know that their pastors will frown at certain things they will want to do. If you are worried about what the world would say about you for being faithful to the Lord, then you are a joker on the battlefield. I pray that God will deliver you from such delusion. As far as heaven is concerned, many present- day Christians are jokers.
Paul said, "No man who warreth, entangleth himself with the affairs of this world, that he may please he who has sent him to fight." Entanglement reduces the power of a Christian so much that when he commands a demon to be bound, the demon would refuse. Our Commander-in- Chief is not happy with us when we are entangled. Are you entangling yourself with what God has delivered you from? Are you thinking about the end? These are questions we must answer.
Amos 4:12 says, "Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel." One of the most powerful parables that Jesus told, is the parable of the prosperous fool who had a big harvest and was happy. Then he said to himself, "My soul rise up, drink, eat and be merry for you have food stored up for many days." That was what he was saying, but heaven said; "Fool, tonight you are going and to whom will all these things you are storing up belong to?"
Some people do not attend midweek service because of overtime in the office. They fail to understand that if they fall down in the office and die, the work will continue. You should be prepared to meet God. And like I have been saying, God Himself is a God of preparation. That was why He sent John the Baptist to come and prepare the way for Jesus Christ. Noah preached for one hundred and twenty years. Moses made the Israelites to prepare for the Passover. God himself says, "Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what the good God has prepared for his people." It will be very sad to miss that preparation. Jesus also says in John 14:2, "In my Father’s house, there are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you..." The Bible makes us to understand that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels.
Below are reasons we need to prepare to meet the Lord.
1. The meeting with God is sure and certain. It is unavoidable. The Bible says that many people will look for death on that final day but will not find it. The day of reckoning will come and you have to explain to God what you have done with your life and what you did with Jesus.
2. The time of the meeting is not made known to man. The uncertainty of time coupled with the certainty of the meeting, makes it important that we prepare. As the world was carrying on during the time of Noah, it will be the same when rapture comes. There will be no time for preparation after this life is over, that is why we preach against procrastination which is the grandfather of failure. No one has a good reason for not preparing. We live in a world where people are planning and preparing things. Some are preparing where to spend there annual leave now, others are preparing how to celebrate some religious, cultural and social meetings. Many are busy making business or education preparation, etc. We are either preparing for heaven or preparing for hell.
These are the two areas, there is no middle ground. There are some people who prepare for heaven on only one day of the week and spend the other days preparing for hell fire. Some are busy praying, "O Lord, provide for me, I want money, I want to marry," when their main prayer should be how to make heaven, because the Bible says, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and it’s righteousness and all the other things shall be added unto it." Prepare, stand firm, be established, be reliable, be steadfast and be determined, that is what it means to be prepared.
We must be very careful. If we are not ready, it means that we are jokers in the battlefield of life. We must not give the enemy points to use against us. Revelation 20:15 says, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Once a person's name is not written in the book of life where the names of the redeemed are written, the
person is finished. There is no begging, no bribing, no appeal. The names are written for record purposes and not for fun. Your name may be in your church register or any club’s register, but as long as it is not in the book of life, you will not go to heaven. We may not understand many things about judgement, but one thing is clear: the Judge will make no mistake. Every thing shall be looked at dispassionately according to the word of God. The judge is free from partiality or tribal sentiments. That is why that song writer says, "Lord, I care not for riches, neither silver nor gold. But I will first of all make sure of heaven, I will enter the fold. In the book of your kingdom with its pages so fair. Tell me Jesus, my Saviour, is my name written there?"
When the apostles cast out demons for the first time, they were excited. They came to Jesus and said, "Lord, even the devils were subject to us in Your name." Jesus said to them, "Do not rejoice because of these, but rejoice because your name is written in the book of life." That is the joy of a Christian. The source of our joy is not miracle, casting out demons, signs and wonders, church posts, money or theological degrees, but the fact that our names are written in the book of life. If your name is not written there, your coming into this world and attending Christian meetings are all in vain. The Bible also makes us to understand that names could be erased from the book of life. There are many examples in the word of God, of people whose names were blotted out. These include Judas, Demas, Ananians and Sapphira.
One day, we shall all give account of our lives to God. There will be judgement, whether we believe it or not. Judgement will come after death and you do not need a thousand years to get ready. All the neglect of talents, unprofitable spiritual development, religious attachment to dead churches, activities for activities sake, disobedience after the order of Jonah; God is saying go to Nineveh and you are going to Tarshish. All the unscriptural marriages, family strifes, husband and wife fighting, ungodly relationships, etc, shall qualify for judgement. The average modern Christian is afraid of being called a fanatic. Until you get to the level where you are described as a mad person for the Lord, you stand the risk of having your name blotted out of the book of life. People are afraid of a complete transformation of their lives. The Lord is requesting that they leave certain things but they want to leave some and keep others.
Today, I want you to think about it. Are you a joker on the battle- field? It doesn’t matter what you call yourself or how long you have been born again, the important thing is: are you ready to meet your God? It is time for personal spiritual examination. In the balance of the Almighty, what do you weigh? Church activities, posts and titles cannot save you. Confess your sins to the Lord now. Do not hide anything from Him. He is ever ready to help you if you are sincere. Open your heart to the Lord and tell Him what you are. That is the way to obtain breakthroughs.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Every darkness, be dispersed from my life, in the name of Jesus.
2. Every stubborn problem, receive the arrow of the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus.
3. Anti-profit, anti-testimonies, and anti-miracle forces, be paralyzed, in the name of Jesus.
4. Every eye of doubt, be blind, in the name of Jesus
5. Every power planning captivity for me, be disgraced, in the name of Jesus.
6. Lay your right hand on your head and pray aggressively like this, I renounce every evil parental dedication, in the name of Jesus.
7. I refuse to feed my doubt. You doubt, I command you to die, in the name of Jesus.
