Beloved, this message is on “The quick and the dead.” The Bible says in Acts of the Apostles 10:42 that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. One thing which is certain is that when God is dispensing His judgement, He will treat a person the way he is, whether he be among the quick or the dead. Those alive in Christ will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, whilst those who are dead in sin and trespasses will stand to receive their judgment before the terrifying seat of Jehovah.
No matter what one does here, it is definite that the day of reckoning is coming. The Bible says that everyone shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of what he has done in the flesh, whether good or evil. This is the day every man’s work shall be tested by fire. The Bible says that if any man’s work stands, he shall receive a reward, otherwise he shall be saved as someone who passes through fire. We know there is no way a person will pass through fire without having his clothes, hair and flesh severely burnt. The case of such of a victim will surely defy medical treatment. It is therefore important to pray that this day should not come upon us unawares. It is equally important to be wary of the fact that on the day of reckoning, Jesus Christ is coming to judge whatever we might have done, whether good or bad. You must have seen fellow human beings killing people to make money; you must also have witnessed those who manifest bitterness and malice in their lives. Don’t despair at all, for the inevitable day of reckoning is around the corner. My prayer is that the day will not catch us unawares, in Jesus' name.
I was invited to a burial ceremony sometime ago, and as I was about to pray, I looked at the deceased in the coffin, and it occurred to me that in spite of his nice clothes and handsome looks, he was gone. It also dawned on me that his fleet of cars and beautiful houses would never be of any use to him again. I told all those who gathered at the funeral that the man in the coffin was reminding us that every one of us would join our Creator one day to give an account of our stewardship, whether we like it or not. That man had indeed gone forever, and no prayer whatsoever could help him. Some people live their lives as if they will not stand before the judgment throne of God. This is a deceit of the highest order. The Bible has not left us in doubt concerning the seriousness of the judgment of God. The Bible takes absolute care to describe the Day of Judgment in very many terrifying ways. It calls it, “The Great judgment day of perdition,” “Eternal judgment,” “Judgment without mercy,” “Resurrection of damnation,” and “the Day of wrath and revelation of unrighteousness.” In another place, it calls it “The Great White Throne Judgment,” “The second death in the lake of fire,” “Everlasting destruction from the presence of God” and “The Great and dreadful day.”
It would be a great tragedy for a person who had prayed that demons should be bound and be roasted, to be thrown into the midst of those demons. There is no doubt that such a person would be the worst inmate of hell, because those demons he once attacked would revenge and punish him severely. For such a person, it would be eternal suffering in hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hell is without doubt a dreadful place. The only description in the Bible that aptly qualifies the period that precedes the judgment exercise is the “Great Tribulation.” This will happen after the sound of the trumpet has gone forth, and all the genuine Christians are gone. God’s judgment would be straightforward and sincere. Jesus once lived among men here on earth. He became qualified to obtain the mandate of a judge because He had the experience of suffering in the flesh.
GOD’S JUDGMENT
God’s judgment would be according to His truth and righteousness. The judgment day will not be like the worldly law courts where one’s power of oration is capable of manipulating the judge to pervert the course of judgment, or where it is possible for a guilty person to hire a brilliant lawyer to get vindicated, or where the judge of a lower court can sometimes make mistakes which an appeal court will overturn or where an appeal court can err such that the supreme court will overturn the judgement. The judgment of God is a flawless one. He would judge without error and bias. Understand this fact very well: God is not in the business of accepting excuses of Adam in respect of the forbidden fruit which he ate. God will judge according to one’s deed. God is not a respecter of persons. God is a leveler who will judge both the rich and the poor the same way. People who sinned under the law shall be judged by the law, and those who did not have the law shall be judged by their conscience. The secrets of men shall be exposed concerning what they say with their mouths. You may say that you are free to use your mouth as you wish, and you may even call yourself anything. If I put on a strange apparel and begin to call myself an angel, you may not argue with me, but I know within myself that I am not an angel of God. The judgment in question shall be carried out by the rod of God. The severity of God’s judgment is reflected in the statement of the rich man in hell who asked that his brothers should be warned to behave lest they go to hell. But what was the reply of Abraham? He said, they had Moses and the prophets and if they did not believe them, they would not believe anyone else, not even people who rose from the dead. The judgment shall be given out according to the gospel. So, to reject Christ is a serious matter.
The fact that you were born in the church and got confirmed does not exclude you from God’s judgment. The fact that you were born in the church is not a licence to enter heaven. If you are not truly born again, that is, begotten from above by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and if you could not identify the time and situation when you became a new creature, then you need repentance. Your failure to remember the time and instance of receiving a new birth is an indication that you are not born again. The judgment shall be decided on individual basis, in accordance with every privilege and talent given to you. There is nothing like collective judgment. The husband will be answerable for himself the way the wife will be answerable for herself. You will explain yourself to God concerning what you have done and His verdict will depend solely on what you have done. Christians will go through the same judgment process as non-Christians. There will be no partiality of any sort. Everything you have done in the flesh will be tested by fire. I have an idea of the kind of question God will ask: “What have you done for me?” Most people are asking God to do one thing or the other for them, and God in His kindness keeps doing them. But what have you done for the Lord? Can you list some concrete things you have done for Him? Have you been doing things for Him out of pure motives? How have you been using your talents? Are you the type that hides all the resources God has given you to save souls? He may ask you another question: “Did you use the worldly possessions at your disposal to glorify my name?” “Who did you personally lead to Christ?” Will He say to you, “Welcome home my good servant?” What would you say when He asks you to present those you ought to have personally led to Christ? What a shame if as a house fellowship leader, pastor or deliverance minister you are unable to present anybody to the Lord. You may say, “I started this and that, I sang and led praise worship.” These are mere excuses as long as you cannot present the names of people you led to Christ. You will regret all the neglected opportunities you might have had to witness for Christ. You will also regret all the broken promises of your commitment and reconsecration you made when you were in trouble, but which you broke immediately you were relieved of the situation. You will remember when you once boasted, “If God can deliver me from this painful leg, I will never go back again to the world.” However, you slipped back into the world as soon as you got healed. How about all the angry and idle words and lack of submission to the Holy Spirit? What would you say about your certificates to which you devoted all your pride and attention? Do you know that your certificates cannot be buried with you? Even if that is done, do you know that termites would eat them up? Think about all these, beloved. Nobody will ask you about all these posts, and honours which you got from your dead church. The reasons some people will die in their churches and be buried by their enemies is the lust for power. Many people say, “My great grandfather was here and this is where I will die too.” Of course, they will die even more quickly than they imagine. The devil is very effective in causing havoc, stirring up quarrels and agitation for posts. It is this type of unholy strife that makes it impossible for many church goers to pray effectively. All areas will be thoroughly checked, for the Bible makes us to understand that certain people will have no part in heaven. They won’t get there as far as Revelation chapter 21 verse 8 is concerned. All abominations will not be condoned. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 22:5 for example: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abominations unto the Lord thy God.”
Abominations are greatly abhorred by God. Those who murmur with their lips, those who commit abortions, those who steal with their pens or biros, rumour mongers, sorcerers, the glorified academic prostitutes, those praying with candles; idolaters and all liars whether small or big, shall have their part in the lake of fire. This is the second death (Rev. 22:15).
Beloved, it shall be a great scene because millions of the dead will be there. Those who have read about Adolf Hitler will see him there on that day. If anyone like Oduduwa ever existed, he too will be there. Therefore, since nobody on this earth has any guarantee that he will live the next day except by God, it is high time all people repented and turned to God. You are advised to depart from the land of the dead and go to the land of the quick. Because whether we like it or not, death is an inevitable thing we shall all face. People who fear death exceedingly and those who try to ignore it will both meet with death. The Bible calls those who never give death a thought fools.
Death is an inescapable thing for man and it is indeed a great leveler. Psalm 49:16-17 says, “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased: for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.” One man of God once said that all you would have left when you die is what you gave away. Death cannot be avoided; neither is the time of its visitation certain. Therefore, we must set our house in order. You must live a life of holiness, so that death will not send you to hell without warning. Death is not the determination of existence, but rather the end of many things that we love so much. Physical death occurs when the soul and spirit leave the body whilst spiritual death means separation from God. To be carnally minded is to be at enmity with God, and people who are carnally minded walk in the path of trespasses, spiritual ignorance and unbelief. To be carnally minded also connotes living in worldly pleasure. The Bible says that all that give themselves to the pleasure of the world are dead whilst they are alive. The Bible also says that no man liveth unto himself. Many people have forgotten that God who brought them to life has the right to dictate to them how they should live. This is the problem of most people. The spiritually dead people shall be gathered with the people that are called “dead” from the beginning, whilst the quick shall be gathered with the quick. I have stated the foregoing, so that you can know what things make for life and death. Eternal separation from God is the portion of the wicked and this is eternity in hell fire. My prayer is that this will not be your lot, in Jesus' name.
OPEN UP YOUR LIFE
TO GOD TODAY
It is high time you opened up to the Spirit of God. Give God a place in your life today. Since you have devoted your time to going to clubs, drinking with your friends, as well as going to village meetings, what reward or profits have you acquired? Don’t you know that this is the end time. Have you forgotten that the Bible says that men will become lovers of pleasures than God at the end time? These are the signs of the last days and if Jesus were to descend now, holding the Book of life with Him, will your name be there? If the trumpet sounds now and things begin to happen, are you confident you will go with God? If you lack that confidence, your state can best be described as dead.
A man of God preached somewhere and at the end of the service, somebody the following question: “I noticed that from the beginning of your preaching, you talked about heavy load and that Jesus wanted to remove the heavy load; but I don’t feel anything heavy on me where I was seated, so what were you talking about?" The preacher replied: “If you dip the head of a dead man inside a bucket full of water would he feel it?” He said, “No.” The preacher said, “It is because you are a dead man, that is why you could not feel anything, and you could not feel you are under bondage.” Another man of God was taken to heaven where he saw joy, beauty, people and bliss, and when God said, "Let’s leave this place for another place,” he refused. However, God insisted that they must leave so that he could see the other side. God took him to hell where he saw one man struggling, crying and groaning amongst coals of fire. He saw him being pestered by worms of fire in the nose, stomach and all over the body. The sight was worse than somebody fighting to win heavy weight boxing championship. God said, “Do you see the man?" He said, "Yes." Then God gave him this mandate: “Go back and warn my people that they should not come here.” If such a man comes to tell you that he went to hell and saw something and you remark in unbelief that it is a figment of his imagination, then you want to enlist yourself with the dead.
We are waiting for a time when the trumpet shall sound, and it will soon happen, whether you expect it or not, whether you are getting ready or not and regardless of whether you are still running after the things of the world, which you label as your daily priority and programmes. I once spoke to a man to give his life to Christ. He replied that he could only do so after he might have made millions of naira. But he was not even close to making hundreds of naira when he was hospitalized, he then started looking for money to take care of himself. None of his friends with whom he drank in the club houses could afford to pay his hospital bills. This was a man who did not want Christ but millions of naira. We should know that the trumpet can sound at any time, even before you get up from where you are now! That is why the Bibles say that two people will be in field, one will be taken and the other left behind. Once a believer fails to hear the sound of the trumpet, it would have been better if he were not born. It will be a repetition of Noah’s dispensation. Noah and his people had to run into the ark of salvation when God was determined to judge the wicked. God did not mind that only eight people were saved while others perished. A great feast took place immediately as fish began to eat men and theirs souls were ushered into hell. All the same, God was not bothered. It is only those people who die in Christ that will take their part in heaven.
REIGN OF ANTICHRIST
After this, the reign of antichrist would start. Many churches will be disturbed. Those who hate night vigils will start to hold compulsory personal night vigils. Many who never read Bibles will start to search for Christian bookshops. At this stage, an horrible event which the Bible calls “The great tribulation” will set in. It is my duty to warn you, so that you won’t say you did not hear about it. A time is coming when you will give an account of the things you have done whether good or bad. Note as well, that all the gossips will be amplified for all to hear. All the cleverly concealed sins will be made open for everybody to see. It follows therefore that whoever misses the trumpet sound will taste the horrible experience of the great tribulation. It will be such a terrible time that it is better to read about it than to experience it. Nobody should dare experience God’s undiluted anger that will be poured out. I don’t take the pleasure in deceiving anybody about it, neither am I interested in specializing in preaching faith that may still lead you to hell fire. If am not thrilled either preaching prosperity alone to you which may lead you to hell fire. It you have read Hebrews chapter 11 very well, you will find what the Bible calls faith. If you look at the catalogue of the great people of faith listed therein, you will see that only a few made heaven. It is baffling to know that some people are proud of belonging to witchcraft groups, which are nothing but useless gathering where they eat their own children. They are not interested in going for deliverance, neither are they interested in getting out of their witchcraft and familiar spirits activities. When the trumpet sounds, they will be with the antichrist and join their master, the devil in hell fire.
Jeremiah 30:7 says, “Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble but he shall be saved out of it." Here, the great tribulation is described in very mild words. Terrible things will happen like incurable diseases. Then the antichrist will take over and do a lot of strange things. Even though he has not yet manifested physically, his spirit has been manifested in so many lives. Just as Jesus Christ was an incarnation of holiness, the antichrist will be an incarnation of sin. Just as Jesus Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit, the antichrist will be filled with evil spirit. As Jesus was filled with love, mercy, humility, etc, the antichrist will be filled with hatred, impatience and wickedness. Just as Jesus was going about doing good, the antichrist will be doing evil. Revelation 13:12-18 provides an exhaustive image of what the antichrist would do: “And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of man. And decieveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had a wound by the sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred three score and six.”
When the trumpet sounds, and the children of God are taken away, the antichrist will take over and begin to terrorize the world. Nobody will be able to buy or sell unless he receives the mark on both his forehead and his right hand. That means that any Christian who misses the rapture would have to fast for the period of seven years the antichrist will be around. He will not find any place to buy food. Many people find it hard to do seven days fasting let alone seven years. Let us assume that daddy wants to remain standing in the Lord, but what about the kinds? Would they understand this after you fail to provide food for a week? Beloved, anyone who collects the mark of the beast on both the forehead and right hand will surely go to hell. (Revelation 14:9). It will be a great dilemma, for it is either a person receives the mark and is condemned, or endures the hunger and terrible suffering of the great tribulation and gets saved. To this end, people will resort to committing suicide but it will impossible. For if they attempt to jump down from a high place, the ground will turn to “Cushion” before they land. The sea will also reject them if they try to drown in it. The sea would say, “I have my own problem, I have to account for all the mermaids holding meetings inside me. Get out and receive your correct measure!" This is why people who come to service with their minds flying about instead of concentrating ought to beware. Men will become haters of themselves and they will hate their wives, and wives will hate their husbands and children. The Bible calls such people murderers.
Are you among the quick or the dead? It is the Holy Spirit that can make you to be among the quick. Romans 8:11 says that the Spirit that raised up Jesus shall also quicken your mortal body. Therefore, you need to repent of your sins and be saved. Come to the feet of the Cross and let your burden roll away. Beloved, if you say that you have repented, born again and speak in tongues, whilst your life remains the same, you are deceiving yourself. When the early apostles received the Holy Spirit baptism, apart from the fact that they spoke in tongues, they were accused of turning Jerusalem and the world upside-down. Those people who were previously afraid could now challenge the highest power of their time. So, if you have been attending a church where they say baptism in the Holy Spirit is not necessary, and that not everybody can speak in tongues you are deceiving yourself because the Bible says, "These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name, they shall cast out devils, speak in new tongues, they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover and if they shall drink any deadly poison it shall not hurt them" (Mark 16:17-18). If you want to cheat yourself out of God’s blessings by going to listen to one preacher somewhere, who does not know his head from tail, then it is your fault. Paul said, “I thank my God that I speak in tongues more than you all.” It follows therefore that if it was not necessary, Paul would not be thanking God for it. Beloved, the choice is yours to make, either to be numbered amongst the saints and the quick or to be amongst the dead, both here and hereafter. God has given you more than enough chance, talents and resources to come into eternal life and to have it even more abundantly. You have another opportunity today to join the quick ones.
Please pray the followings prayer points aggressively:
1. I will not be defeated, in Jesus name.
2. You the root of sickness, be roasted, in Jesus name.
3. Every spirit of abortion and bondage, be roasted in Jesus name.
4. Every evil finger describing my goodness to the enemy, I command you to wither, in Jesus name.
5. Whatsoever will make my weapon useless, Lord, destroy it from my life, in Jesus' name.
6. You strongman, I do not ask you to be wounded, I say be paralyzed, in Jesus' name.
