The last days are very sensitive days, these are days of intense spiritual activities, the last days are very significant days in the realm of the spirit, they are days of great move of God and also great move of the devil, man is caught up in between two powerful moves. The last days are great days of light and equally great days of darkness, and not just darkness Prophet Isaiah calls it gross darkness upon the people (Isaiah 60:2), so the Logical question I am believing you should ask is “when is these last days ?”. If that is your question, it is a good one, that’s exactly the heart cry of this book, the last days is not what is coming ahead, we are already in the last days, infact the latter part of the last days. We are in the days of great visions from God and equally great delusions from the devil.
God has spoken to us expressly by his Spirit of the looming danger of wrong doctrine (1 Tim. 4:1-2) and the destructive power of heresy, we are in a generation where many believers are fast erring from the truth and thereby erring from the Faith, it’s a wonder how many believers today have developed itching ears for the truth, they rather prefer the gospel of convenience, the gospel of the masses, it is no surprise today that people are called under the anointing of social media, they call it online church, teaching damnable heresies and destroying the faith of many. I strongly believe that order should return to the church and the body of Christ as a whole. For there to be order in the church of God we need to understand how people get into error innocently, what the order of the church set up by Jesus Christ is and how to avoid the pitfall of this generation. All this and more are explained in details in this book, just relax and enjoy yourself in God’s presence
There has been a rapid success in Christianity in this century far more than any other century, we have seen diverse manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the lives of ministers of God, we have seen raw miracles, signs and wonders just like in the days of the early church. The church has been so blessed with diverse revelations from great men of God called in this century, so the success of Christianity in our age is worth celebrating compared to other ages, but the sharp contrast however is how come despite the success of Christianity the crime rate has not reduced? For example unarguably one of the most spiritual nations in the world is Nigeria, and you could easily find a church on almost every street you turn, especially in the commercial nerve centers of the country, but this Nation is currently as at the time of writing this book the Penultimate Most corrupt Nation in the world, then the question that easily comes to mind is “what is the impact of spirituality on the Nation?”, Why are there so many churches but yet an increase in the rate of crime even among church members. Now, truly speaking it appears a mystery but looking at the issue holistically we see that it is true that there are many churches but there has been an increasing decline in spirituality, the fear of God is radically on the decrease, and so much more.
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The reason we got ourselves to this state is because of the error that has crept into the church .The church has fallen from the cliff of true spirituality that the church was introduced with because we allowed error into the church of God. That is the power of error, error has a cancerous effect on the lives of people and it is very difficult to deal with except with the help of the Holy Spirit. Error replaces spirituality with religion, error replaces true biblical standard of holiness with immorality (with scriptural back up), error has replaced true honor for God and his servant with the Pride of knowing the bible also. Until this error is flushed out completely from the church we will be moving without any significant progress, active but not effective.
So where do we go from here? Its simple , recognize the cancer and get rid of it. One peculiar characteristics of cancerous growth is the way it spreads ,the rate of cell division of a cancerous cell is so amazing, that is why cancer is very difficult to treat, if you have ever seen people affected with breast cancer , if to relieve the patient they cut out one part of the breast, very often than not, they will still cut of the second one because cancer spreads so fast, its cells multiplies severally in just one day, early detection is the best way to deal with the disease. If you get the picture of a cancerous patient then you can understand the effect of error in the church, early detection is the best way to deal with it, once it begins to spread, it has such a devastating effect on the church of God. An Error could also be referred to as heresy which literarily means a belief or teaching that is contrary to the established truth of scriptures, though it can picked from scriptures but it is often twisted for specific destructive purposes. One reason error is not easily detected is because it is often wrapped in scriptures, and the simple hearted is deceived, Kenneth hagin use to say that one problem with the body of Christ is that they have not learnt how to stay in the middle of any truth of scriptures, they always go extreme, they push the truth too far. Heresy can be a total lie, twisting of scriptures or an extreme truth becoming a doctrine, and I have personally found this to be true over the years, although Kenneth is long gone to be with the Lord but his words are finding these days so much so that I begin to wonder how great a man of God he is.
In the first book I published “what the bible says about doctrines”, I spent time dealing with the root cause of doctrinal differences in the body of Christ , and how to fix it, stating to us the only doctrine Christ gave to the church in the new testament, I have received varied comments on the book by readers, but something that stunned me was a brother that read the book and called me up, he told me he needs clarity on some part of the book particularly the last chapter , the section that deals with doctrine of eternal security, so I said o.k, no problem, then I fixed a time of chat with him. I thought he really had questions but rather it was a barrage on me, he said all I said in that part was not scriptural, and that a man is eternally secured no matter what he does, then I asked him to prove, well, that is after spending time to explain to him with scriptures my opinion in that book, while he was explaining I just saw the same spirit at work in many young believers today, it got to a point, I told him I needed to rest because he had spent hours trying to twist the scriptures to prove a point that is unprovable, I have seen this time and time again especially in the young generation that proves to know the bible, I have heard some of them say, a believer cannot backslide, there is nothing called backsliding, I have heard so many extreme doctrinal assertions that are complete heresy, and the positive side of it for me really is that it has helped me to continually examine myself if I am still in the faith and on the path of the truth (2nd Cor. 13:5).
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The church and not even the government per say has a lot to do with the increasing crime rate because it is failing to do her duty, rather we doctrines that pamper people in sin and immorality, we have doctrines that assures the believer go and cheat all you want, fornicate all you want , lie and do all manner, don’t bother about your salvation, once you are saved, you are forever saved, oh no! I don’t believe that, like Kenneth hagin said in one of his books “they say you don’t understand grace, but I tell them you don’t understand the bible”.
I met a brother in youth service, actually we were together in N.C.C.F FAMILY HOUSE, and he related to me how these erroneous teachings affected him, he was born in a muslim home and by God’s working he went to covenant university to study mechanical engineering, there he met God , or rather God met him and he surrendered his life to Jesus, so as a young believer he got hold of some of this cancerous heretic teachings that is not balanced on the truth, and off he went, he told me it was God that saved him, because he was always listening to grace messages and they tell you, do any thing you want , you are still a child of God, offcourse they may not put it that way but that is what they infer, so he got involved heavily in masturbation, and when he was true he will just get up and say praise the Lord, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and continue with his daily activities or preaching to young students in the fellowship, he did this continually until he stormed on one scripture that changed his life, and the scripture is
Heb. 10:26
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,…
That scripture liberated him, so he took a personal discipline on himself never to do such again in his life, and anytime he sees people listening to grace messages he asks them to balance it with truth, because extreme can be deadly, this is someone I met that gave me his personal testimony and I am so impressed by his spiritual life when I was with him in the family house, now, let me clarify something, does he not still believe in the grace message, he believes but he has learnt to balance it, that is my emphasis. Christianity becomes a disaster when the fear of God is taken off, Paul describes people like that as having a conscience seared with hot iron (1 Tim. 4:2), they sin without any consciousness of wrong, and they tell you I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, for crying out loud, who is doubting your righteousness, but we need an evidence of it in your character as fellow believers, I cannot feel comfortable seeing a believer in a beer Parlour, drinking alcohol and then he comes to take short exhortation on Sunday and maybe I question him on it and he tells me brother I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, I am eternally secured. Amen! What’s that, you are deceiving yourself and you may say I don’t understand grace, well , but you don’t understand the bible. Once I understood to an extent the call of God upon my life which amongst other things is to restore order to the church of God, I made a decision to be blunt in some cases so believers can get the point and be free, because naturally I am not a confrontational person, so I just allow things roll away to avoid quarrels and all that, yes, it is very important we do that but sometimes I just get blunt because it doesn’t make any difference at the end of the day no matter how soft you speak some people will still misunderstand you, so its better am blunt and they misunderstand me, its fine by me. Amen!
I said this because I will actually be stepping on some big toes in this book in order to establish the truth, and I may get very blunt in some statements, so forgive me in advance but understand what I mean, I say all in the love of God, and I believe many will be free by the truth because only the truth can set free (Jn 8:32).
One of my Spiritual fathers in the faith once asked me when I published the book “what the bible says about doctrines”, what do you mean by doctrinal balance, does the truth need balance ? Do you need to balance the truth? And I have been asked that question also before, my response is always what I caught from what Kenneth hagin said, the body of Christ has not learnt how to say in the middle of any biblical truth, they always go to the extreme, in other words balance simply means staying right there in the middle of the truth, not pushing the truth to the extreme, standing in the truth and the truth only. I am saying this because I believe some people may also be in that shoes, wondering what I mean by balancing a truth, let me give a simple example on truth balance.
It is a truth in scriptures that giving is the highway to prosperity in the kingdom of God, but standing on this alone and pushing it to the extreme can become heresy, and it is now very common in the church that pastors just emphasize people should give, and give and give that they will prosper, but even as it is true, to become balance on it, there are other factors for prosperity aside giving and those factors enhance the seed given, for example
All this and more are factors that makes giving productive, for example, some people just believe they will give God money and go back to sleep at home, God will put 100 fold of the money in their account, No! it doesn’t work that way, you have to provide a platform for returns by working with your hands.
That is just a simple example, if we carefully read the scriptures and understand the message of the bible we will see clearly that every provision of God has conditions attached for the manifestation of it, that is just the simple way I can explain balance.
Error has a powerful effect on a believer, just like I explained earlier with the example of my friend in N.C.C.F, error can easily lead people astray, and take them completely out of the faith if not dealt with on time, because error is cancerous, and the final effect of cancer is death, so also the final effect on error is spiritual death.
Jesus talked about error and explained to us why people go into error.
Matt. 22:29
Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
According to Jesus, who is the living word of God, people get into error because they do not understand the scriptures, so anybody in error today doesn’t understand the scriptures, or the power of God, it is either one of the two, or the two of them.
We have both category of believers today.
We have believers who don’t know the scriptures but they understand the power of God, they walk in dimensions of power but when it comes to expounding the scripture they don’t understand it at all. We also have another category that understand the scriptures but don’t understand the power of God. Have you seen graduates of seminary schools who know nothing about the revelation of God’s word but they tell you the histories and a lot of stories , they can even quote scriptures for you but they don’t understand it, some will tell you the days of miracles are over, there are no miracles today, but that’s a lie, we are in the days of miracles, signs and wonders. For a balanced Christian life you need the knowledge of the scripture and power of God.
1 Tim. 4:1-2
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
There is nothing new under the sun unless you are new under the sun, there is nothing happening that hasn’t happened before, this is one reason the scriptures are very accurate for our time and age, it is called a repeating sequence in Mathematics, one good thing that makes the admonitions of Paul so crucial to us is that the last days began since the days of the Apostles, so they had started seeing the manifestations of these seducing spirits, and all they had at that time really was just a tip of the iceberg because the latter part of the last days in which we are in right now will experience the fullness of it. The coming of Jesus is so close so the devil is unleashing the greatest of his evil works, he is more active now than he could ever be, because he knows this is the only chance he has before Jesus comes to pick his church. As the spirit of God is being poured out in greater manifestation in the last days, so also the spirit of the devil; the spirit of seduction, the spirit of heresy, the spirit of religion is being poured out into the church by the devil.
Rev. 12:12
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Whosoever hath hears let him hear the warnings of the spirit, the devil knows he has a short time, so he is unleashing all the evils he can unleash, and one of the greatest weaponry of the enemy in this age is the weapon of distraction, he wants to distract the believers with frivolities, he wants to get the believer off course that is why he promotes wrong doctrine with a passion, we need to be very, very careful.
The scriptures has warned us already, it is for us to take heed, the letter of Paul to timothy is one letter I love so much because, it addresses the pitfalls in the end time extensively, Paul warns his son in the faith (Timothy), of the distractions of the end time that is capable of pulling a believer out of the faith. I believe the letter is not just meant for timothy but all believers today, especially for the young believers in the faith, I don’t know where some preachers got the revelation of eternal security from, Paul doesn’t suggest that in his letter to timothy (and the body of Christ in general), he rather warns us again and again to stand firm in the faith and not give heed to seducing spirits and demonic doctrines.
1 Tim. 4:1-2
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
This statement by Apostle Paul wasn’t just an admonition from him to Timothy but Paul tells us that it is the spirit speaking expressly to us, and like Jesus said, whosoever hath ears, let him ear what the spirit is saying to the church (Rev. 2:11, Rev. 2:29, Rev. 3:6, Rev. 3:13, Rev. 3:22), so it is up to you, if you decide to hear or not, nobody can be held responsible for your disobedience to the voice of the spirit, not even the vessel through which the devil is communicating the heresy. What makes 1 Tim. 4:1-2, very strong in my Spirit is not just the fact that the Spirit is speaking but that the Spirit is speaking expressly, I don’t think there is another portion of the whole bible where the term “the spirit speaketh expressly” is used, the point now is what is the Spirit saying expressly,
1 Tim. 4:1
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
The spirit is saying in the latter times, and that latter times is now, we are in the latter part of the last days because the last days began with the Apostles, so when the Spirit said through Paul the latter times, the Spirit was referring to our age, it was referring to this generation.
JUST TO CONFIRM WHEN THE LAST DAYS BEGAN
Acts 2:15 – 21
For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If the last days began on the day of Pentecost with the outpouring of the Spirit, it is therefore correct to say we are in the latter part of the last days, in-other-words what the Spirit spoke through Apostle Paul concerns us gravely.
1 Tim. 4:1
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
The Spirit is telling us expressly that in the latter times, which is now, some shall depart from the faith, it is so clean, clear and plain a statement. The Spirit says some people shall depart from the Faith, and for them to depart obviously they were in the faith, and for them to be in the faith, they were born again. Salvation is a confession of faith in Christ, Paul tells us that we are saved by grace through faith, …(Eph. 2:8). A believer therefore is one who is in the faith, and an unbeliever is one who is not in the faith.
Let me buttress this a little, Paul asked for a prayer by the church at Thessalonica and the prayer tells us some more about this issue, if you pay close attention, you will see what I am talking about.
2nd Thess. 3: 1-2
Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.
Paul requests that the church prays for him so the word can have free course and be glorified, and the second part of the prayer is my focus because it was two prayer points Paul requested the church pray on his behalf, (1). That the word have free course and be glorified in the lives of the people (2). That they be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men.
The second prayer is my focus, the simple question is why is Paul praying that they be delivered? Paul tells us that these men are wicked and unreasonable because they have not faith. These men are not in faith, or I can use the simple words they are unbelievers, these men are being motivated by demonic Spirits to stop the ministry of Paul in that city.
This tells us that those who are not in faith are unbelievers, while those in faith are believers, those in faith are motivated by the Holy Spirit, those who are not in faith are motivated by demonic spirits.
1 Tim. 4:1
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, ….
If the Holy Spirit spoke through Paul that some shall depart from the faith, how come a preacher says a believer can never depart from the faith, he is eternally secured. The point is; are we in now saying the Holy Spirit is an author of confusion, absolutely not!
1 Cor. 14:33
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints
Well, I believe what is written down than what a preacher is saying, it is so simple. Sometimes I wonder how some people read their bibles, well, may be from the back cover, because if a believer sees in the bible that the Holy Spirit said some shall depart, and the person goes on to say , I don’t believe that, nobody can depart, is it not funny. Like I said earlier, the person that confronted me about the book “what the bible says about doctrines” told me what I said is unscriptural, nobody can depart from the faith, and I was just wondering, common! What’s wrong with you. If we take a deeper look at the word depart from the Greek origin, it explains it better, it is so clear. The word depart is from the word “Aphistemi”, which means to fall away, to be removed, to be withdrawn. Brethren, what can be simpler than that to understand. The point for me is not even the fact that a believer can depart from the faith but how he can depart. If the Spirit says I can depart from the faith, I should be concerned about how? That’s because I love Jesus, and I want to be with him forever, I don’t want to ever depart. Thank God, the bible is complete, the Holy Spirit tells us how in the same verse of scripture.
1 Tim. 4:1-2
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
How can a believer depart from the faith? Simple answer! By giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. This tells us the road out of the faith is through our ears, what you ear therefore is very important. There are a lot of seducing spirits on the internet, a lot on facebook, a lot on youtube, a lot on the radio and t.v, a lot on cable network, we must therefore be very careful what we listen to and be able to discern seducing spirits when they preach on radio and t.v, and the rest of the communication media. Seducing spirits teach doctrine of devils, and there are so many doctrine of devils today, and if you are not careful, you are on your way out, once you start erring from the truth, you are on a journey out of the faith. There are so many pitfalls in this generation at every turn, heresy all over town, and one reason believers don’t detect heresy on time is because they are deceived by the wrappings of scriptures on it. I have learnt from Kenneth Hagin long ago that every poison must contain a good piece of meat on it, 21st century rats are not that dumb, imagine you just put a rat poison on the floor probably around the kitchen, without any food beside it, the rat will just jump over it and go his or her way, but for your strategy to work, you must wrap the poison in the midst of a good piece of meat, the meat attracts the rat and as he gets hold of the meat, he absorbs the poison and the poison starts reacting in his system, that’s the same technique the devil uses, he wraps his poison with good pieces of meat (scriptures), he knows you are not that dumb to believe a lie just like that so he wraps it with some scriptures and as you are reading you absorb the poison. A believer therefore must be very careful and learn to be led by the spirit always, so a doctrine of the devil will be wrapped with scriptures to get your attention, but one peculiar characteristics of it if you are a spiritually sensitive believer is that something within you knows something is wrong, and if you allow the Holy Spirit do his work, he will extract the poison to you. Moreover there are rules for examining a sound biblical doctrine, I personally recommend that you get a copy of “what the bible says about doctrine” and devour the contents, you will learn simple ways to discern a true biblical doctrine and how to detect the poison, one thing I learnt by the Spirit of God is that God’s principles and nature never changes, no matter the revelation anywhere it must follow a well defined structure of scriptural guidelines. God wants to save us from the pitfalls of these last days, that is one of the major reasons he put offices of the ministry in the church, to teach believers how to grow and not to be tossed away by any wind of doctrine, most of the problems the church has had therefore is people intruding the offices of the ministry without any calling whatsoever, they are just bringing confusion into the church, and also some truly called but are not adequately trained in the truth of God’s word.
The lord spoke to me prophetically through a scripture that sketched out my assignment in ministry
Tit. 1:5
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
I therefore have an instruction of the Lord to set in order things that are out of order in the church of God, and the body of Christ as a whole, because of the nature of my assignment the Holy Spirit reveals to me a lot of disorder in the church of God, one thing we should know is that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of order (1 Cor. 14 :40), he is therefore not involved in disorder, and the Holy Spirit is not set to confuse the flock of God, he is not to scatter the flock, rather he is sent to unite and edify the flock of God, this is one reason I have serious issues with people causing confusion in the church and they call it a special revelation from God. The church of God which is the body of Christ in general is suffering greatly from disorder, so many things are out of order in the church today, and its high time we set these things right because a lot of people are in error especially the younger generation who are revelation crazy, I personally believe that some things are just very easy to discern, you don’t need a special revelation or anointing or even deep understanding of scriptures to know that is error. For example a young man came up with a movement against the anointed men of God of our age, and called it free the sheeple or something, the point is am not really as interested in what he says as much as the attention he receives from the church, he tells the members of the church not to pay tithes again for some funny reasons best known to him, I mean that kind of a person shouldn’t even be taken seriously in the first place because he is already out of order, he has no calling into any office of the ministry whatsoever, he has no right to tell the church what is right or wrong. God is not an author of confusion, he can never be sent from God, Jesus set up a system of order in the church from which he communicates his mind to his sheep, any other means is through a seducing spirit. My emphasis is not whether tithing is right or wrong , my emphasis is that it is wrong for any believer to listen to a radio presenter or whatever he is presenting teaching the church what to do, then what is the Job of the offices of the ministry. There is order and hierarchy in the kingdom of God and we must understand that, I even read something someone said onetime, he said that guy knows scriptures, well, praise God for concordance, you just need to search for titles, for example tithes and you get all the scriptures that relate to it, but that doesn’t mean you know the bible, it takes the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of the word to you, and for crying out loud, if you have ever read the bible you should have seen that the bible tells us out-rightly to honour all men, (1 Pet. 2:17) and he tells us to give double honour to men of God (1st Tim. 5:17), so how can God’s Spirit inspire a radio presenter to call his servants thieves, and all manner of names. That’s the spirit of the devil right there, and the church needs to come to an understanding that this is an end time strategy to throw off the faith of men, and it is just beginning. What I don’t still understand is how believers will hear a man say it is better to take your tithe to beer parlour than to give God, and you continue listening to that kind of a person, and you say he knows bible, this just shows how foolish believers can be, I mean foolish without mincing words. You don’t need any special anointing to detect that as a spirit of seduction, you don’t need any special understanding of scriptures to detect that. I said it earlier I might be a little blunt in the course of the book, so just take heart because I am not insulting you, I am only trying to get your attention so you can understand how terrible believers can be. Paul called some people foolish, and even Jesus called some people fools, so foolish is a spiritual word for correcting believer’s error.
Gal. 3:1 (Paul)
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Luke 24:45 (Jesus)
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
If Jesus and Paul called some people fools, then permit me to call some believers fools because they should know more than that, a man put up a comment, he said , I am not a believer but I know this …………………. Is a liar, he said I don’t know the bible but I know that radio presenter is a liar. There are some believers however who still follow up his posts fervently, Jesus said by their fruits you shall know them. Well, praise God, I believe God inspired me to write the book to bring someone out of the captivity of heresy, If there is anything you need to know about God, ask your Pastor, he is called by God with an anointing to expose the truth to you. Kenneth Hagin always talks about the danger of intruding the offices of the ministry, it may not be instant as in the Old Testament but it is sure, one problem with the body of Christ is that those called into the offices of the ministry are in the market and those called into the market are occupying the offices of the ministry, so they have turned ministry into merchandise, they have turned it into market, and have caused a lot of havoc.
Jesus set up order in the church through the offices of the ministry, and he communicates his mind to the church through these God ordained channels.
Eph. 4:11
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
There is what is called the five-fold offices, it is the offices of the ministry set up by Jesus the head of the church to guide his sheep on earth by the power of the Holy Spirit, the offices are also called the ministry gifts given by Jesus to the church of God, although there are many gifts given by Jesus to the church, the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers are the main ministry gifts referred to as the offices of the ministry, it is interesting to note that Jesus Christ our Lord operated in all of the ministry offices, Jesus was an Apostle (Heb. 3:1) , Jesus was a Prophet (Mark 6:4), Jesus was an Evangelist (Luke 19:10), Jesus was a Pastor (Jn. 10: 11) and Jesus was a Teacher ( Matt. 9 :35). The grace for effectiveness in each of this specific offices comes from Jesus, no man can enter into the offices of the ministry by his own desire, everyone called is separated and anointed specifically into whatsoever office he or she is called, and the grace to function is released in the office, so he or she grows continually in the capacity of the grace of the office which increases according to faithfulness, Paul tells us clearly that no man taketh the honour unto himself to be called of God (Heb. 5:4), it is an heavenly honour to be called of God specifically to function in an office. Our lord Jesus set up the offices of the ministry so there can be order in the church of God, anyone without this call on his life and tries to function in an office is out of order.
FUNCTION OF THE OFFICES OF THE MINISTRY
It is the responsibility of the offices of the ministry to perfect the saints or mature the saints, so the mature saints can do the work of the ministry thereby edifying the body of Christ. This is God’s plan, which means every believer has a work of the ministry, and as the believer commits to the work of the ministry the body of Christ is edified. God’s ultimate plan for the church is for the body of Christ to be edified, God is therefore strongly against confusion in his church, he is strongly against heresy and he is strongly against disunity. God wants his church to be edified and matured, a church growing in the knowledge of the truth, that is one reason he doesn’t want us to remain as children.
Eph. 4:14
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
We can only grow when we connect ourselves to the offices of the ministry, because they are anointed to make us grow in the faith and be mature, there is heresy every where, winds of doctrine, sleights of men, cunning craftiness and all that but if we connect ourselves to the true ministry offices we will save ourselves from those wolves that wants to destroy us. I know that there are some in the offices of the ministry that have not grown spiritually but there is a lot to learn from them.
| It is not knowing the bible that makes you a Pastor, it is the call of God. |
You may know the bible more than your pastor, it doesn’t qualify you to be a Pastor and it is not a criteria for being called into the offices of the ministry, God never calls the qualified, he qualifies the called. A person called of God should equip himself by word study but the fact a person is skillful in the word doesn’t qualify him or her to function in an office of the ministry. We need to maintain order by being under the Authority of a ministry gift, you can’t say I know the bible, I don’t need a church or to be under any spiritual Authority, that is out of order and it is one reason heresy spreads so fast, people want to be on their own because they believe they know the bible, or I will just log on to an online church, No! you need a spiritual family, nobody can survive spiritually without a family just like everybody needs natural family.
Flushing out error from the church is a gradual process, it may not happen overnight but with persistence and insistence on the truth, I strongly believe one day the church will get to that point of absolute truth , and it will be the greatest Joy of Jesus Christ (2 Jn. 1:4). A dear brother put up a revelation on my facebook wall that a believer can never backslide, that there is nothing called backsliding for a believer since he is a new creature, I was just stunned because there are copious examples of believers (new creations) during the ministry of Paul that were backslidden, that is one reason scriptures warn us to be fervent in spirit, be strong and grounded in the faith, one good example of backslidden believers is the church at Galatia. The church at Galatia really got Paul upset, because they were Paul’s convert and in just a short while they had returned to their former state of unbelief, they weren’t standing strong on the grace in Christ Jesus by which they were saved, this is a story that teaches us to be steadfast and unmovable , keeping ourselves in the truth of the word of God.
Gal. 3: 1 – 5
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
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Paul called the Galatia believers foolish, and he didn’t mince words, he said it again because they behaved foolishly, because they were backslidden in just a short while that Paul left them, he came back to them and what he saw was an eye-sore, yes! Believers do backslide especially when they allow heresy among them, I am so sure the backslid began by some people teaching heresy to the Galatia believers, Paul explained the reason why he considered them foolish.
Gal. 3: 2-3
This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
The simple question he asked them was did they receive the Holy Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith ? They came into the faith and receive the gift of the spirit by faith but they now gain perfection by the law. The Galatia believers began in the spirit but now wants to get perfection by the flesh.
Can a believer backslide ? Yes! How?
Gal. 3:3
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
A Believer can begin in the spirit, very fervent for God, burning with hot zeal then all of a sudden the believer becomes cold, he tells you , I don’t think Jesus is the only way, he is just one of the ways.
Gal. 3:4
Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Paul asked the Galatia believers have you suffered many things in vain, the miracles you saw working among you was it the law or hearing of faith, this is a classic example of a believer backsliding even in the time of Paul, these last days there are countless number of believers who have backslid, I have heard of many, I have seen some myself and it is so painful, it boils down to the fact that the church has double work to do this time. This is one reason God set up the ministry gifts in the body of Christ to keep us aflame for him, burning with fresh zeal, he wants everybody to belong to a local assembly, he wants everybody to belong to a spiritual family where your spiritual growth and development can be monitored, when the brethren don’t see you in church for two to three weeks they know something is wrong, and they loom for you, the pastor watches over you to see you are burning for Jesus, you hear the word every Sunday and during the week, there are conferences you attend to put you on fire for Jesus. The point is that you need to take a bold step to see your spiritual life make continuous progress, as you begin the year, setup a timetable for camp meetings, conferences and other special meetings that will keep your Spirit aflame, get spiritual books, audio tapes, download messages on your phone, get inspirational songs, just make sure you do all in your capacity to make your love for Jesus burning always.
There is a story of a man that is so touching because I couldn’t just imagine it could happen to a believer, he sang a powerful song that touched the lives of millions all over the world, many gave their lives to Christ through his song but today he has publicly declared to the world that he is gay, yet this same man sang a song where he said he pledged allegiance to the lamb, nothing will take him out of Christ and yet someone will tell me no believer can backslide. Pst. Adeboye gave a true story of a young boy that he knew who was very anointed with God’s Spirit, the boy has seen many mighty miracles happen in his life, he has seen blind eyes healed, lame walk, deaf years opened , madness destroyed and so much more, and it got to a time that pride just took over him, and the brethren will ask him, bro …………, are you no going to church, he will ask who is preaching, how many dead has he raised, how many blind eyes has he opened, and so on, if you have found anyone that has done more than me tell me, and just in a little while, the pride destroyed him completely, at the latter part of his life, he ended up mad, and he is in lunatic asylum. Do you know that some of the great activist of atheism today were once believers? Tear away that mentality from your heart that once saved forever saved, man has a lot to do with maintaining his salvation, if it is true that once saved forever saved, there is no need for the scriptures to warn us of the end time, since salvation is forever, you can’t lose it, you can’t back slide, you can turn back and all that. All the bible will just say is get saved and that’s all. Some people will tell me Jesus is the saver, you can’t maintain your salvation, only Jesus can save you, only Jesus can keep you and he will save you to the uttermost, yea, I know but did you read your own part of the deal. Jesus is committed to all he says about your salvation as long as you are committed to all he says in his word about your part to play.
ALSO READ: WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT DOCTRINES
Phil. 2:12-13
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
The deal is in two parts, Jesus tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and as we do that, he is committed to working it out in us, you don’t just live like the devil and say Jesus I gave you my life and I expect you to keep it for me, that is not correct.
One reason Paul was so touched by the Galatia believers and the way they backslid so fast was because these guys were his converts, he was the one that brought the gospel to them, and they received it with so much Joy and gladness, infact they loved Paul so much that were ready to sacrifice anything for him, they were solidly behind Paul, and many believers are like that , I have even learnt my lessons, the fact someone loves you so much accepts you so much and the gospel you preach doesn’t mean the person can be trusted as a disciple, it’s all a matter of time, time will tell, how long they are able to follow will tell.
Gal. 4:11 – 15
I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all
Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
Paul was so accepted by them, that he could literarily go to rest being assured of the fact that the Galatia church has been grounded in the truth, let me take other territories, Paul said they received him like an angel of God, and if it were possible they would have plucked out their eyes for Paul, that is how affectionate they were to Paul and his gospel, but when Paul got back there they were arguing with Paul that a man must be circumcised even after salvation, we must get back to the law and all that, Paul had to start another sermon teaching them some basic rudiments of the law and the Christian faith, the things he had explained earlier, that is just the summary of believers, people don’t grow up in a day, they need to hear the truth over and over again. What touched me personally about the experience of Paul with the Galatia believers was that , these were people Paul travailed in birth for till they had Christ formed in them.
Gal. 4:19
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
Paul told them , have I labored on you in vain, because Paul really labored for them both in the word and in prayers, despite the travail of Paul in Prayers, the Galatians still went back, and Paul, who is a man of prayers recorded for us in scriptures, it just tells us prayer is not enough, we need to continually check on people and make sure they keep hearing the word of truth.
Apostle Paul gave us account of some men that erred concerning the truth and overthrew the faith of some people, the journey of error didn’t start now, it began long ago but we are getting to the close of the age, we are however having an increased amount of error on every side and because of the area of my calling I discern error easily much more than many people even preachers, the Holy Spirit shows me the error and I receive direction and more light on that same subject because I take extra time to study it. The reason I write most times is because I believe I can help a lot of people in my generation see these errors and preserve their destinies from abrupt crash because of heresy, I also believe that you will also help me to publish the message in the hearts of men I might not be able to reach physically, at least from your household and more. Heresy can be very deadly and have devastating effect on your faith, sometimes it leaves very passionate believers frustrated, Kenneth Hagin gave a story of a man, he went to visit the man in his house and the man is a bookworm with a powerful library, so Kenneth Hagin was viewing the library to see a book or periodical he can feed his eyes with, then he stumbled on a book, and he asked the man why that specific book was on his shelf, because the book is full of heresies, then the man said something to Kenneth Hagin that stunned me, he said he read that book many years ago, and even though he has read many other books after then, he hasn’t be able to recover from the heresies in that book, and those heresies has seriously hindered his faith, this man although he is a Pastor is still suffering from the heresy he contacted in a book many years ago. We need to be careful what we read, not every Christian book is good for you, if it contradicts your faith, drop it instantly.
The bible admonishes us to study as a cure to heresy, and our study is not just for fact finding or fault finding like some believers do but for understanding that the Spirit of God gives.
2nd Tim. 2:15 – 18
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
It is very important we give ourselves to intensive study of the word of God as a lifestyle, that is the safest way not to get into error. Paul says we should study so we won’t be ashamed, for some people I have met, the problem is not the study but the motive of the study, some study to find fault in their pastor’s message, or to bring up argument, or some just to twist the scriptures to prove they have some new revelation, but one thing we must be very careful of is profane and vain babblings, this is the foundation of error. That was how Hymenaus and Philetus began, and before long they had erred concerning the truth and overthrew the faith of some.
WHAT WAS THE ERROR OF HYMANEUS AND PHILETUS
2nd Tim. 2:17-18
And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
Hymaneus and Philetus were preaching another message from the one Apostle Paul was preaching, they were preaching another gospel. The message of Christ is hanged on the death, resurrection, ascension and enthronement, and all this did Jesus on our behalf, we identified ourselves with him in all these points, and the resurrection of the believer is the consummation of God’s redemptive work, so if the message of Hymenaeus is true then the death of Jesus was a waste.
1 Cor. 15 :12
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. ….
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
If there is no resurrection from the dead then we are all just wasting our time in this world as believers, and it means Jesus died in vain, because of his death among other things, brought us life, hope and secured eternity for us with the Father. It wasn’t only Hymenaeus and Philetus that was preaching the message but they were the major speakers, and their words overthrew the faith of many believers. There are also many Hymenaeus and Philetus in this generation overthrowing the faith of many through the messages they preach on the altar. Paul used this passage of scripture (1 Cor. 15:12 -23) to warn the church at Corinth so they won’t be overthrown in their faith, the devil has found one powerful strategy of defeating believers and it is by promoting heresy among believers, promoting vain and profane words, because he knows when a believer gets into heresy he or she is straying away from his covering in Christ and open to the attack of the enemy. God’s covenant of protection on a believer is contained in the believers’ willingness and commitment to follow the voice of the shepherd, it is contained in the believer’s commitment to stand in the truth of God’s word and be open to the reproofs of God.
ARE THERE HYMENAEUS AND PHILETUS IN OUR GENERATION?
By their fruits you shall know them (Matt. 7:20), they don’t have to preach the same message of Hymenaeus and Philetus but they produce the same result which his straying believer’s from the faith. They may not say there is no resurrection but there are many messages being preached today that calls for serious spiritual scrutiny, for example, there is a denomination that preaches that there is no Hell, and they also wrap it with the scriptural belief that God is love and a loving God cannot take his beloved children to hell, so there is no Hell. Now, as much as this sounds good, it is erroneous and far from the truth. While it is true God is love (1 Jn. 4:16, 1 Jn. 4:8), and he doesn’t take his children to hell, it is not true there is no hell. I know someone may be asking what I mean by that because it sounds logically self contradictory, but that is the beauty of the ministry of the Holy Ghost he only unveils the truth of the scriptures to us.
Matt. 25:41
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Jesus tells us bluntly the original purpose of Hell and its creation, Hell was not created for man, it was created for the devil and his angels, the purpose of hell and the lake of fire was to punish the devil and his angels for their rebellion against God, it was never a place of destination of God’s love ones.
So who takes people to Hell?
Rev. 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
It is the devil deceiving believers to Hell, the devil doesn’t want to go to hell alone, he wants to go with a multitude of God’s children as a pay back to wound the heart of God. So it is not God taking people to Hell, it is the devil deceiving people an motivating them or rather seducing them to go against the command of God which legally takes them to Hell. For Example, Jesus died as a remedy to the sin of the world and whosoever believes in him will not go to Hell (Jn. 3:16), so the devil deceives and seduces unbelievers with sin and immorality and unbelief so they won’t accept the Lordship of Jesus upon their hearts and the purpose is to get them to hell with him. Is there an Hell ? Yes! That is how heresy works, they package the poison in a wrapper of scriptural truths.
There is a prayer rendered by a denomination which is about the largest church denomination in the world and the prayer is heresy. Let’s take a look.
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus
Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
Some one may be asking, what is wrong with this prayer?
Jesus taught his disciples to pray this way.
Luke 11:1
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Jesus didn’t give his disciples the method of praying but the model, they weren’t to repeat the words Jesus gave them religiously, but he was bringing to their consciousness who our prayers are addressed to and the primary purpose of prayer in hierarchical order.
WHAT JESUS NEVER SAID : Jesus never said pray to Mary.
Praying to Mary is therefore wrong and going to another address definitely but not heaven, so whosoever is answering their prayers I don’t know but not the God of the bible.
DID THEY WRAP THE HERESY WITH SCRIPTURES ?
Definitely,
Luke 1:28
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Luke 1:42
And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Take a look at the Prayer and compare the scriptural wrappings.
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus
Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
Out of six (6) prayer lines, four (4) is wrapped with scriptures, this is one reason an ignorant believer cannot detect anything wrong in the prayer, and he just prays it religiously from his heart, unknown to him that the prayer is not going to God.
WE DON’T PRAY TO JESUS , NEITHER DO WE PRAY TO THE HOLYGHOST
Even Jesus told his disciples bluntly and to all of us that we shouldn’t pray to him, it will be an error to pray to Jesus, we only pray to the Father, that is the only address that through which prayer can be channeled.
Jn. 16:23
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Jesus tells us to ask him nothing, even though Jesus is God, he understands spiritual order, we don’t ask him anything, we don’t pray to him, we only ask the father in his name.
Scriptural order of prayer is :asking the father in the name of Jesus.
Can we pray to the Holy Ghost ? No! it is wrong, we can talk to the Holy Ghost, ask him questions, tell him how much you love him, but when it comes to prayer for specific need, it is addressed to the Father in the name of Jesus.
Wrong Prayer : Jesus , in the name of Jesus, I need a car
Right Prayer : Father, in the name of Jesus, I need a car.
If we cannot pray to Jesus, how can we now pray to Mary ?
HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD.
Luke 1:28
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
She was blessed to be picked among women, and it is the outworking of God’s favour upon her life, she wasn’t holy, nobody was holy, it was the death and resurrection of Jesus that imparted holiness on his disciples and those that believe in him, so if mary was holy at all, it was after Jesus died and resurrected, mary is a seed of Adam , and every seed of Adam was under spiritual death, Jesus died amongst other things to release us from the hold of spiritual death, mary therefore couldn’t be holy as long as Jesus was alive.
Matt. 12:47
Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother
Inotherwords, Jesus was not giving special credence to the motherhood of mary, anyone could have been my mother, whosoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother, and sister and mother. Why then do we treat Mary specially, when Jesus did not!
PRAY FOR SINNERS
How? Oh God! This is funny, is it in heaven she will pray for sinners or what ?. Jesus has done all he could do about the sinner, the only prayer of the sinner is the prayer of salvation and the sinners prays it by himself, Jesus can’t even pray it for you.
Rom. 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Your salvation is based on your confession, nobody can do it on your behalf, neither an angel nor any member of the God-head.
Mary cannot pray for you now nor at the hour of your death, that is heresy, mary doesn’t have an intercessory ministry in heaven, only Jesus has, and his intercession is on your behalf that you might be kept through in your salvation, and Jesus intercedes through the church which is his body. Amen. I know some will be upset because I just touched the heart of their belief for many years, but thank God the truth is come to you, rather than defending something that is false, why don’t you open your heart, because this is the truth.
There are many other erroneous doctrines, but I can get into all of them in this book, I will just touch a few more.
FORBIDDING TO MARRY
This is also a common practice among one of the biggest church denomination in the world. The question is “ is it right to forbid a person to marry ?”, I will answer the question with a scripture, which is a scriptural warning of this end time.
1 Tim. 4:1-2
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
The spirit of God is speaking expressly through saint Paul that in the latter times, which is our days there will be doctrines of devils which includes “forbidding to marry”. It is not wrong for a person to decide he doesn’t want to marry, but it is wrong for a church or any spiritual organization to forbid anybody not to marry because of a position or something . Paul calls it a doctrine of the devil, it might sound harsh but it is the truth and it is what the word of God warns us of. Nobody church can forbid or should forbid anyone to marry, yes! Church can forbid divorce, that is scriptural but does not have the right to forbid marriage. There are scriptural guidelines about marriage, and the church can for example forbid a believer from marrying an unbeliever, that is correct but cannot forbid a believer from marrying a believer if they have settled it in their heart to get married. Infact, Apostle Paul warns younger women who are widows to go and marry, because they will become busybodies and be seduced into sin.
1 Tim. 5:14-15
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
For some are already turned aside after Satan.
Paul definitely doesn’t support the concept of a lady being a sister, Paul advices her to get married and bear children, because some are already turned aside to satan. How true is this? Very true! Most of those sisters have become lesbians today and the men gay because it is unnatural for a man to remain alone, and when the cravings of their body cannot be granted they give themselves up to demonic things like lesbianism and the rest. Paul says some have turned aside to satan, most have lost their faith through these practices and have now become servants of the devil, most have erred from the faith because they couldn’t hold themselves anymore. See, it is not a sin that your body desires sexual pleasure, it was created that way, it is natural and God designed that the sexual pleasure be exercised in marriage, and we should understand that, it is natural for a man to desire a woman but what is unnatural is for a man to desire a man, or a woman desire a woman. What some people don’t know is that some of these demonic practices prevalent in the world today began from the church, and it is as far back as the days of the early church. Let’s see what Paul said about this.
ROM. 1:26-27 (N.L.T)
That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.
And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
Paul tells us there is a natural way to have sex, but these women instead indulged in sex with each other, it is natural for a man to have sex with a woman (in the confines of marriage), but what is abnormal is a woman with a woman, burning in lust for each other, and also men with men burning in lust for each other, it is an abomination in the sight of God. The funny part of this letter is that it wasn’t addressed to unbelievers, Paul addressed it to the believers in rome.
Rom. 1:7
To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
He addressed the letter to the saints of God in rome, and among the saints of God were people doing such dastard works, and rome is the capital city for this church denomination that practice forbidding to marry before they moved to Vatican city, under the guise of single sisters and fathers a lot of atrocities are being performed, it is just simple logic, the body desires sex and they cannot have it naturally, so the devil seduces them into having it unnaturally.
1 Tim. 5:9-15
Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.
But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.
And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
Paul admonishes the church to take care of widows specifically above the age of 60, being the wife of one man, and well reported of good works, but if the widow is still young, refuse to take care of her, let her go and marry, because they will be idle and wandering from house to house, becoming busybodies and from there they can be easily seduced into sin.
The best way to avoid error is to do what scriptures says and not we think scriptures says
I said earlier I cannot treat all the errors in the church today in one book, but I just picked little to explain the point we gave about the characteristics of erroneous teaching, there are a lot of them, some have been over the years, and new ones are coming up daily, but the bottom point is that if we stay with what the scriptures say without overstretching it or making it to serve our lustful purpose we will be free from error.
While some people get into error by ignorance but for the most their conscience has been seared, they have no fear of God before their eyes, they are just serving their belly and wants to make merchandise of young believers in the faith.
1 Tim. 1:19
Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Apostle Paul by the revelation of the Holy Spirit reveals to us the key issue behind the heretic message of hymenaeus and his group, they didn’t have a good conscience, they didn’t hold their faith with a good conscience. So many believers have not realized today the place of the conscience in our Christian faith, and it goes a long way to sustain and maintain our salvation, many believers in the last days are becoming dull in their spirit, cold in their love for God and seared in their conscience, we are in a generation that calls evil good and little by little our conscience is wearing out. Faith without a good conscience will not take you far in the journey of spirituality and that was the problem of hymenaeus and his group, their conscience was dead and they overthrew the faith of many.
How important is the conscience ?
Rom. 1:9
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
Paul gives a personal testimony of all he does in Christ is in truth, and his conscience also bears him witness in the Holy Ghost, there are many believers today serving God as though they have no conscience, and that is the genesis of the pitfall of any man, before heresy can survive in any believer the first thing the devil does is to deaden the conscience of the person and see nothing wrong in evil, to see nothing wrong in sin, to see nothing wrong in twisting the word for individual benefit, to see nothing wrong in lying in the name of Christ, all they see is their ego, all they see is the material gain and all that.
Apostle Paul gives us a testimony of the life of Hymenaeus and what got him into heresy and to properly handle the case, Paul handed him over to Satan so he might learn not to blaspheme, heresy is another form of blasphemy, it is blasphemy against the truth of God’s word and the integrity of God. The conscience of a man is the policeman of his heart that pricks him when he goes wrong, the conscience consists of the spirit and the soul of a man, it is however possible to sear your conscience until the point it doesn’t recognize evil as evil anymore, you have configured it to see evil as good, and that configuring is in the mind, when you irradiate your mind with evil imaginations and lust until it seals itself upon your Spirit man. You cannot serve God effectively and productively with a dead conscience, some things we hear today says a lot about the deadness of the conscience of most believers, it is now a popular saying that it is better to do business with an unbeliever than to do with a believer, especially anyone that calls himself a Pastor, its so sad to hear that, because this has been proven again and again , this is one reason order must return to the church, Pastors are duping members heavily today and members are equally duping pastors and the church as a whole, its just a whole state of confusion and these things ought not to be so, the church is a sacred community and everything done is in sacredness. A good conscience is non-negiotable for us to see the fullness of the redemptive package in Christ.
1 Tim. 1:5
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
The whole commandment of God is hanged on love out of a pure heart and a good conscience, so one good way to avoid the pitfall of this generation is to keep your conscience tender and open to correction , however this can only be possible if you take heed to what you hear, Paul warns us to avoid vain talks, fables and all manner of arguments that don’t edify the spirit man.
1 Tim. 6:20
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen
Apostle Paul mentions to timothy his son in the faith and to the church (body of Christ) as a whole two key things capable of erring a believer from the Faith
Apostle Paul concludes his first letter to timothy mentioning these two things, these show us how grave they are in the heart of Paul and its power in erring a believer from the faith. To some believers profane talks is just a normal thing, after all, it’s just a joke or something. Profane talks includes talks that do not edify the Spirit, talks that engenders quarrels or fights or arguments and there are many believers that get involved in such talks, many of them do it innocently but don’t know the fire they have lit with such arguments, some can argue about the beards of Adam, or arguments that questions the validity of the bible, and from there people get involved in all manner of talks that wears down their faith and gets them into heresy in a bid to know more, I have met some people who always bring out something from the bible or pick something in a message preached by the Pastor just for the purpose of arguments, the funny thing is that the whole tithing issue began that way, some will pick up the message of Bishop oyedepo on tithing, contradict it, pick up the message of Pst. Adeboye and so many ministers of God, then begin a series of arguments on it, and just in a short while the whole thing spread like wild fire, I just get amazed sometimes, that some people will come to church only to pick fault in a message and the next day publish online through social media platforms then ignorant believers begin arguing, I can’t tell the total number of people who have erred with this tithing issue, its just so enormous, it was a calculated move of the devil that really strayed many believers from their faith, what some innocent believers don’t understand is this, when a pastor is condemned, purpose of the condemnation is not to dent the Pastor’s image, even though that is how it appears at the beginning, it is just a minute part of it, the main purpose is to destroy the faith of his followers, to make them lose faith in him, and some people starts drawing back, they just feel what is the essence of believing a man of God when I can read the bible myself, so some just stay at home, and from there the devil (wolf) latches on them(sheep), and utterly destroys them. It is important I stress this, the devil’s target is not the preacher but the believer, he wants their faith to be destroyed.
Paul also talked about oppositions of science, there are scientific theories propounded to disprove the validity of the bible, and these theories also have the capacity to destroy the faith of some believers, especially the knowledge driven believers, there are many of such theories today like Charles Darwin theory of evolution that says man came from ape or the big bang theories and all of those stuffs, in our crave to know, we must also be very careful with the kind of information we put our heart on, there are also many theories in philosophy that negates the claims of the bible, this is one reason you find very learned people tell you the biblical claims are not true and all that, many professors today find it difficult to accept the truth of the bible because they believe they know it all, they have read it all. What some of these professors don’t know is that these scientists that propounded these theories acknowledged the bible as true at the tail end of their lives, and there are many scientific discoveries today that proves the bible as true and accurate, it boils down to the fact that some have just deliberately refused to believe, so they oppose the truth and ignorant believers are thrown off because of their intellectual prowess which is actually based on the fact they do not want to accept the fact that a supreme being rules over them. They have seared their conscience and have made themselves believe a lie and live the lie all the days of their lives.
One thorn in the flesh for many believers today is the love of money, I have come to terms with a fact that we live in a highly monetized world, many have bowed their knees today because of money, believers today respect people who have money which shows us how carnality has eaten deep into the fabric of the church, Yes! Money is important, I know and I recognize that but the love of money is evil and demonically induced. We need money to stay alive, to maintain good health will cost you money, to avoid shame and embarrassment from landlord, you need money, you need money to pay the fees of your children, you need money to take you round the world with the gospel, you need money to be a responsible father but the point is many today are chasing money rather than the God of Money. Many are not even chasing money but worshipping money, do you know in some churches today they appoint deacons based on financial grounds, even if they know the source of the money is not clean. It boils down to the fact that the church is gradually falling from its peak of spirituality and embracing money and success.
1 Tim. 6:10 (A.S.V)
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
The bible never said money is the root of evil but the love of it is the root of evil, and I love the American standard version, it says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, all kinds! In-other-words, all kinds of evil spring forth from the root of the love of money. There was a time that Ponzi scheme came into this Nation Nigeria, and not just the unbelievers but the church bought heavily into the scheme, at that time they started operation in Nigeria, I didn’t know too much about it, but I just felt something cannot be right about this, how can you drop a certain amount of money and they return 30% of the money you released as bonus just in 30 days without doing any work, and so many other ones came up with more interesting packages, I was so surprised that the brethren I knew at that time, a large chunk of them were involved, and one of them was trying to convince me to join the scheme, after doing all he could and showing me proofs of his own money, one part of me was saying well, there is nothing bad, another part was saying this is fraud, but the brother insisted it is an help platform and all that, so I just told him I will get back to him, I just decided let me browse it out on the net to see the history of the organization, then my heart sank because I saw it was a Ponzi scheme, but the lesson for me in the whole period of the scheme is the love of money that has eaten deep into the fabric of the church because some churches were holding seminars for a Ponzi scheme, some pastors got heavily involved, and the scheme really exposed the loop hole of the church. What people don’t know about Ponzi scheme is that they use the new customers to pay the old and it goes on like that until they gain enough confidence of people, yes, some people gain but they close the scheme later and dupe a lot of greedy people, I have a couple of close friends who have been duped, they lost a lot of money, I will keep their names secret in my heart because I know they have repented now, but the whole scheme is a fraud and not for help, but because of the love of money believers can’t even see anything wrong in it.
Paul says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, the love of money is simply doing anything no matter the consequence for the sake of money, some believers can go any length just for money, one of the easiest things that can err a believer from the faith is the love of money.
1 Tim. 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Those who coveted after money have erred from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows, one reason is because money is insatiable, the more you have the more you want to have until the person becomes miserable and sorrowful, some pastors today edit their messages because of money, when they find themselves in a gathering of financial moguls, they preach sermons that will benefit their pockets rather than the truth, many have lied , I mean lied practically with God’s name because of money, I have been to services where I was practically disgusted, the pastor will say God said there are 50 people here to bring 50,000 naira, then he said well if you have 40,000 come out, even though it is 20,000 come out, then he prays, after he will say God said this is a season of mercy, if you have 10,000 naira come out and he will keep on calling the amount until he gets to 100 naira, and he does that for every service, common, God is not a beggar, he doesn’t compel people to empty their pockets because they came to his presence. I have seen ministers like that rise and go down the drain, while some will always prophesy to your pocket, prophesy your gold wristwatch, diamond necklace and almost strip you of all you have. Kenneth Hagin said God told him if he wants to have a successful ministry he should never love money because some of his servants have lost their anointing because of the love of money, I was in a ministers meeting and I was shocked when the officiating minister told us of a cult that some pastors join and they instantly give them a million naira, and they grow mega churches in just a few months.
1 Tim. 6:10 – 11
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Paul warns men of God to flee from the love of money, and follow after righteousness, and not just men of God, we all need to heed to that warn to keep our lives and destinies from a shipwreck, God knows we need money and he has made adequate provision for that.
Matt. 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
We seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the money, fame , cars , houses we will ever need will be supernaturally added unto us, we seek God with all our hearts and do the work he has committed into our hands diligently and he does the additions supernaturally. No matter the state anyone is right now even though you have erred you can retrace your step by acknowledging your wrong and rededicating your life to Jesus. You can do this simply by saying after me.
Lord Jesus, I rededicate my life to you, I know have erred from the truth and I have followed my own ways but today I acknowledge I am wrong, and I receive forgiveness of sins, Lord, I make a firm decision today to stand in the truth of your word and in the truth alone.
Thank You Jesus.
If you said this prayer, congratulations, and for follow up, send a mail to this address
davidoshinministries@gmail.com
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