Luke 9:49-50
49 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”
50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
Focus on ME
Nowadays, it seems like it is the trend to analyze, debate and decide on who is a true servant of GOD, who is a false prophet, who was sent by GOD, who was sent by satan, who is a wolf in sheep clothing and who is a fake pastor, who is genuine etc etc
Beloved, should this be our main and only focus? The accusations, counter accusations, camps for and against, blogs, you tube videos of them versus us? Is this who we have become?
Should we be focusing on the moral failures and lapses of others especially within the faith?
And once we have succeeded in playing our part in humiliating the preacher, silencing him and destroying his ministry what do we get? Apart from your thirty silver coins and a guilty conscience, what do you profit?
Listen, JESUS CHRIST said HE will build HIS church and the gates of hell will not prevail. Listen, you enemies, more are being added to our number.
If we are offended by people among the congregation, are we not supposed to deal with it privately in the presence of two brethren and escalate matters within the fellowship of faith? Has anyone, before they forwarded the negative information, sent an email, message, letter or tweet to the concerned individuals before joining the bandwagon of “ destroy the Christian preachers”?
Remember, strike the shepherd and the sheep will flee.
Like Paul, I must ask, who has bewitched us?
Are we supposed to read, digest and forward all the negative material on other Christians gladly circulated by hell online ?
It is rare, if at all to hear of the encouragement, contribution and help TBN, TD Jakes, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn and others gave to the Christian faith .
I remember personally one occasion before the terror attack in Nairobi, the preceding week had been a seven day call to get saved on Family TV a channel that aired TBN programs regularly. Many of these men and women preachers preached their hearts out. Few remember this. But now, all we hear is condemnation of its founders. Nothing about how this channel blessed many worldwide, me included. I am sure glad somebody gave some finances to TBN and Family Media. I am glad somebody helped Paul Crouch and Family Media broadcast and put a satellite somewhere. I am glad someone paid the bills. I benefited from their giving. I was built, strengthened, encouraged, greatly helped and I marveled at how YAHWEH reached me in my parent’s house, how much HE cared for me, that HE sent HIS word in a way I could understand through people I did not know.
Will I join the bandwagon of “ kill the church”? No. It is an exercise in futility. The Body of CHRIST will not die. We will live to testify of this grey season and overcome. More preachers are being born and prepared should CHRIST tarry.
Countless times, we received healing, building and comfort when The HOLY SPIRIT used TD Jakes, Joel Osteen and other people. That is why all the images of horns on preachers heads will not dissuade us from listening to preachers. So, you want us not to hear Paul because he was a killer? He told us this himself. Come on brethren. Let us be fair and serious.
When we were young, little children, we idolized our parents. As we grew, we saw that they were not perfect, does that mean we denounce them and reject them and humiliate them just because they are human. Are they perfect? No. Should we burn the house because one member’s sins are more pronounced than other members?
Remember, let he who has no sin cast the first stone.
Do we throw them away for their faults? What about the good they did?
Parents urinate too. We come to discover that they use the big potty and later at a time, some of them will use adult diapers and we will be aware.
Should we then humiliate them? Denounce them? Ostracize them? Publicize their faults? Or should we care for them, look for ways to correct their errors and see to it that we do not make the same mistakes?
What is wrong with us?
My point, let each one focus on their walk in CHRIST, not on amplifying the faults of others.
Learn from David. You respect grey hair. Respect the work your parents did. In their old age, help them and when they die, bury them with dignity.
But I hear in the West and in so called civilized society, you put your parents in homes at the mercy of strangers and I hear that this practice is so entrenched people do not know what to do with the old people except throw them away.
Has this culture seeped into the church? I think regrettably so.
I think GOD in HIS wisdom is wise to have left Abraham, David, Paul, Peter and others live in an age where respect and common sense dwelt. All glory to HIS NAME now and forever.
As for this ‘likes based’ generation! As for this “let us help our enemies kill us “mentality! I am not surprised that satan will come to rule this world. Let us see how much the left behind Christians will like that. I bet they will search deep and wide for a sermon from Joel Osteen to comfort them. They will search for a fatherly voice like TD Jakes. They will search for the powerful ministrations from the ministers from the African continent like Dr. Oyedepo, Dr. Adeboye, Dr. Olukoya. I tell you, they will scour the internet for these messages and find them after a long hard search if they find them at all. Disrespectful and ungrateful generation! They will wish they spent their time following the preaching instead of the preacher. Remember, JESUS said , do as they say, not as they do.
If we keep on consuming all the dirt on other Christians and people who confess JESUS CHRIST, will we remain standing? Won’t we be totally and utterly discouraged and abandon the faith?
We see Peter and Paul engaging one another but such engagement edified the church and is useful today. We see people being called out by the Apostles in that time, but this calling out edified and informed the church and the Body of CHRIST.
This ongoing witch hunt is not edifying anyone. Instead it is giving fodder to our enemies, scaring new and potential believers away, confusing the weak in the faith and is a deeply concerning matter to the mature believers.
Is there no forgiveness of sins for the preacher? Was Jonah not forgiven? Was David not forgiven? Is Abraham not in heaven?
What if all these things being forwarded are lies? What if you discover that these are cleverly orchestrated schemes of hell to attack preachers of the Christian faith? After all, many are in jail for crimes they never committed. Yet lengthy detailed procedures to determine their culpability was followed in and out of courtrooms. The truth then gets unearthed years and or decades later and someone is posthumously declared innocent.
What if you discover that all the things they are saying about the preachers are lies? What will you do then? What will GOD do with you?
The things they said about JESUS that led to Calvary were not true. They carefully built a case for HIS crucifixion and succeeded in getting HIM crucified. The scriptures warn us that had they known what they were doing they would not have put The LORD of all glory to death. Beloved, get off the hate trail. You focus on your walk with The LORD. Focus on your salvation. Run your race.
Whosoever calls upon The NAME of The LORD shall be saved. Does this apply only to the sheep and not the shepherds? Come on my fellow brethren.
As children of GOD, we are called to:
1. Believe in JESUS CHRIST and that HE died for our sins and that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life.
2. Be led by The HOLY SPIRIT.
3. Keep the commandments and laws of GOD.
4. Follow the protocols outlined in scripture for dealing with conflict and trouble in the church. Issuing public statements to unbelievers is not one of them. (For sure, The LORD will deal with all the drama in HIS house, if indeed it is HIS house. If you find out that a certain place is not the house of YAHWEH, then come out of her beloved, come out without destroying the faith of others who are babes in the faith, in time, they will grow and take the steps necessary as led by The HOLY SPIRIT.)
5. Do good without tiring.
6. Tell others about JESUS CHRIST.
7. Pray without ceasing. Pray for the leaders and think good about them. Stand with them. Surely by now, we have outgrown the behavior of the Apostles when they were disciples of scattering and distancing ourselves from our leaders when they are in trouble. As far as we know, each of them died a martyrs death anyway. We are not playing games here. We are not of this world but we are in this world.
8. Wait for the coming of JESUS CHRIST as we do these things.
We are not saved to:
1. Start analyzing the lives of other people
2. Start debating the merits and demerits of other people’s call to ministry
3. Provide entertainment to others on the drama among Christians
4. Providing consternation services to all and sundry who are wondering what exactly is going on within the Christian faith
Beloved, the standard is JESUS CHRIST, not other human beings and definitely not other faiths.
In this day and age almost everyone can read. Almost everyone can research. Almost everyone can make a choice. In spiritual matters, all of us can go as deep as we want in our spiritual journeys. THis is what we should be doing.
Children of GOD are free to seek as deep a relationship as they want with GOD ALMIGHTY. Indeed, HE says, “You will find ME when you seek ME with all of your heart”. Do this for yourself.
Use the building blocks provided by others. Moses our teacher wrote the Torah. We read his word and take it as the Word of GOD but we do not go around killing people and burying them in the sand. Get my point. We all have failings but GOD in HIS wisdom uses us. For others to try and use failings to discredit calls, is a spiritual injustice to put it mildly.
We are not called to be investigating journalists on the lives of others and forwarding information on others. You are also a man and some wise Brit once said that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Another spoke about digging holes for others. If you dig a hole for another, rest assured you will fall into it yourself.
Focus on JESUS, not on labeling.
Focus on The HOLY SPIRIT who is our Helper.
An interesting scenario occurred in scripture when a donkey talked to a man. The man listened to what the donkey said, but he did not go and build a broadcast about the merits and demerits of the donkey preaching.
Beloved, our KING and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST already warned us that religious leaders are a brood of vipers, white washed graves etc why are we still shocked when we hear of such happenings? HE told us to do what they tell us but to not do what they do. Read Mathew 23. JESUS spoke about this, so, we know already that this evil exists .
So, let us focus on getting to see HIS WONDERFUL Face. Let us focus on how we will hear:” Well done, good and faithful servant”. These are words that are spoken to HIS servants individually and personally , not in a group, not a forward through others and social media.
Beloved, run your race.
Brethren, I stand for running your race, not analyzing the races of others.
If you continue analyzing the races of others, you will find yourself on their tracks, running their races and then what will you tell The KING on that awful day?
HE told us that there will be wolves around us. When you smell a wolf, unless you know about wolves you are to stay away from the wolf for your own safety. You are not encouraged to go near the wolf.
And this is where we fail, this where we are falling off the horse.
When we smell and see wolves among us, we want to find out all there is to know about the wolf and spend lots of precious time trying to bring down this wolf at the expense of spending time in prayer, time with our LORD and time building our most precious faith. Remember, wolves are pack animals. They are a team . It is usually a network, a cartel, impossible to penetrate. And when a wolf bites you, I hear you can become a were wolf too. So, why all this fascination with wolves in the church. Why focusing on the wolves, as if we have no SHEPHERD?
In my country, once upon a time there was an attack on persons who were thought and believed to be practitioners of witchcraft. Several times, the community hunted down these individuals and burnt them alive.
One man commented, paraphrased: “Anyone who is able to identify and hunt down and kill a witch or sorcerer, is himself a witch and sorcerer.”
Beloved, remember what JESUS told us to do and let us do it.
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
You are in no way called to work out the salvation of others be they leaders or none leaders.
Salvation is an individual thing.
I suggest that instead of killing your faith with listening to all the wolf hunting, wolf bashing and witch hunting, why not listen to online audio Bible, hymns and other Christian based material? Why not ask for The HOLY SPIRIT to fellowship with you.
Beloved, these are the end times. Our SAVIOR is coming back.
Focus. Do not be distracted by social media or any other thing.
Walk in the light.
Beloved, the scripture informs us, "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15.
Do you want to know JESUS as your personal Lord and Savior? Your eternity is at stake! JESUS has opened the door of salvation to every person. But there is coming a day when the door will be closed. Today is the day of salvation. Choose to be in the family of GOD. JESUS died so that we can spend eternity in Heaven with HIM. Don't delay! And if you want to begin a relationship with GOD or resume a broken one, say this: O GOD, I come to YOU today. I know I am a sinner. I believe that JESUS died on the cross to save me and HE resurrected on the third day. I repent of my sins and forsake them. I confess JESUS as my LORD and SAVIOR . I invite JESUS into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank YOU JESUS for saving me and making me a child of GOD. Amen
