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Tag: Femi Aribisala

  • Paying the price (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    Paying the price (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    Have you ever been to an expensive wedding that was a no-holds-barred affair?  I am talking about that wedding where a fortune was spent.  The champagne was ordered custom-made from France.  The wedding cake was a three-story building. Forget about the wedding but tell me, what happened to the marriage?  One year later, they got divorced.  What a waste of money.  All that expenditure went up in smoke.  You did not know that the best man was a divorce lawyer.

    Have you not noticed that the rich tend to be more security-conscious than others?  Why is that?  They have more to lose and therefore have more to protect.  What about you?  Do you have anything to protect?  Have you received anything that you need to protect?  If indeed the thief has come to steal, kill, destroy, what kind of security system do you have against the thief?  Do you have anything worth stealing?  The songwriter says: “Let the poor say that I am rich because of what the Lord has done for him.”

    “The worst armed robbers of all are in the church. 

    Your uncle gave you an exclusive car.  It was a Lexus Jeep, custom-made.  It was one of a kind.  When they made it, they broke the mould.  Everybody came and admired it.  But what happened to the Lexus?  Within two weeks you had crashed it into the Carter Bridge.  They had to use a chainsaw to remove you from the wreckage.  What happened to the car?  It was damaged beyond repair.  Whose fault was it?  Yours, because you despised in effect the gift of your uncle.

    Grace of God

    The Bible tells the story of two women.  Both of them were sinners: harlots as a matter of fact.  Nevertheless, the merciful Lord who is not a respecter of persons, who makes the sun shine on the good and the bad, blessed both with children.

    But one was careless with her gift, so careless she slept on her child and suffocated him to death.  Afterwards, she envied the other her living child and stole it.  Her game plan was simple.  Either I end up with the child, or neither of us would have a child.  When the matter was brought before the king, she readily accepted his verdict to cut the child into two.  She said: “Let it be neither yours nor mine.”

    That woman was working for the thief.  The devil has lost out.  He lost his inheritance and was cast out of heaven.  But he is determined that you should also not come into your inheritance.  It all depends on whether you know the value of what you have.

    It is only your virtue, so why is that man so determined to sleep with you and to defile you? It is only a birthright, so why is Jacob so determined to get it from Esau?

    Despising the grace

    Out of the blue, God sent Samuel to anoint David as King of Israel.  God trained him for the assignment in the furnace of affliction.  He was on the run for his life from Saul for years, with God as his only help.  But after David became king, he relaxed.  He became careless.

    It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 11:1).

    What was David doing in Jerusalem?  He was checking out the scenery.  And he ended up taking another man’s wife and killing her husband.

    In his carelessness, David trusted the wrong people. He lamented: “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” (Psalms 41:9).

    In the end, David was nearly overthrown, not by the Philistines, but by his own son Absalom.  In forty years, Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

    Beware

    Jesus warned his disciples:

    “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16).

    David learnt his lesson.  No more Mr. Nice Guy.  On his deathbed, David planned the death of Joab and Shimei.

    Salvation is free.  The bible says: “Freely have you received.”  The kingdom of God is free.  But please don’t get carried away with the freedom, or shall I say with the “free-ness.”  Although it is freely given and freely received, you still have to work it out.

    “Therefore, my beloved, as you 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.” (Philippians 2:12).

    The word of God says: “Build a wall, invite a burglar.” (Proverbs 17:19 MSG)  Salvation is such a big gift that it makes you a prime candidate for armed robbery.  Your salvation was announced on the airwaves, and the prince of the power of the air heard it.  The men of the underworld were all waiting outside during the award ceremony.

    “We will see how you will carry it home,” they say.  “We will see how you will enjoy it.”  So although the gift was freely given, although you did no work to receive it, my friend you are going to have to do a lot to keep it and to enjoy it.

    Christian thieves and robbers

    Who are these armed robbers and where are they exactly?  Listen and understand.  The worst armed robbers of all are in the church:

    Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Mark 11:17)

    “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

    It does not matter what part of town you live in.  Jesus says the whole place is full of armed robbers.  They have come to steal, to kill and to destroy.  Therefore, you need to make some hard choices.

    You have just come into a complete set of the most incredible electronic system, with some cold hard cash thrown in for good measure.  But the problem is that the whole thing was carried in the newspapers and on television.  And the whole neighbourhood gathered when the trailer came bringing in everything.

    How are you going to enjoy the abundant life that Jesus has promised, in that particular neighbourhood?  Will you save your life by returning the gift so that you can at least live in peace?  Or will you receive the gift and get ready to fight for your rights?

    “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matt 11:12)

    The dress was so beautiful, so lovely.  You’ve just got to have it.  Until you found out the price.  How much does it cost?  Five hundred thousand naira.

    Well it is not that good a dress after all.

    What if I buy it for you?

    Oh yes, please.

    I thought you said it was not good anymore.

    Well, I just could not afford it.

    Not exactly, you were not prepared to pay the price.  But you would not mind me buying it for you.

    CONTINUED.

  • Guarding our hearts (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    Guarding our hearts (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    What is the worst thing that can happen to you?

    The worst thing that can happen to you is not if one of your relatives dies, or if your house is burnt down, or if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, or if you are robbed of all your money in cash and in the bank.

    The worst thing that can happen to you is if the Holy Spirit leaves.

    The Holy Spirit is the special gift of God. He is the most important thing in your life. Indeed, He is your life.

    He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding that you need. He is the Spirit of counsel and might that you require. He is the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord without which you cannot receive eternal life. (Isaiah 11:2)

    He is the riches of the glory of God that is in you. He is: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27).

    He who does not have the Holy Spirit does not have God.

    “God gave you two sets of eyes

    The Holy Spirit is the One who marks you as God’s property. Therefore, He is the most important thing in your life.

    He lives in the heart of the born-again Christian. Therefore, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23).

    When you leave home, you lock your door. When you leave your car you lock it. Which part of your body do you protect the most? Probably, your sexual organs. You see footballers putting their hands over their privates when trying to defend against a free kick. Women do something similar by always crossing their legs.

    But your sexual organs are not the most important parts of you by a long shot. The most important part is your heart, which refers to your mind, will, and affections.

    Heart central

    God searches the heart and the mind: “The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).

    He defines a man by his heart: “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7).

    Solomon says: “As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.” (Proverbs 27:19). “As he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7).

    Your heart determines your well-being: “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” (Proverbs 15:13). “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?” (Proverbs 18:14).

    Two sets of eyes

    God gave you two sets of eyes. One set is designed to control the other set. But in most men, the set of eyes designated to control the other set is often the one being controlled.

    We have eyes on our heads and we have eyes in our hearts. That is why Paul says: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which (God) has called you.” (Ephesians 1:18).

    For the unbeliever, the eyes of his heart are darkened, and only Jesus, the light of the world, can enlighten them. “For with (Him) is the fountain of life; in (His) light we see light. (Psalm 36:9).

    Solomon says: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both.” (Proverbs 20:12).

    The eye of the heart is the seeing eye. The eyes in your head are blind eyes.

    Because they have eyes in their heads, most people think they see but they do not. Their eyes impede their sight.

    Bartimaeus was blind, but he had the seeing eye, the eye of the heart. So, he recognised that Jesus was the Son of David, the Messiah promised in the scriptures. “When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Mark 10:46)

    The Pharisees, on the other hand, were not blind. They had eyes but the eyes they had were blind eyes. They could not see Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of David.

    Jesus said to them: “‘For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.’ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.’” (John 9:39-41).

    Seeing but blind

    When Jesus called me to ministry, He said to me:

    “l speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.” (Matthew 13:13-16).

    God opened my eyes, and I saw in plain sight the demon who had been pressing down on me in nightmares ever since I was a child. Jesus opened my eyes and I saw demons in my bedroom, hundreds of them. He opened my eyes and I saw how he kept Jonah alive in the belly of a great fish.

    And so, I believe this charge of Jesus applies to me: “I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:17-18).

    Eyes of the heart

    The eyes of our hearts are designed to control what we see with the eyes of our heads. But unfortunately, most people do not use the eyes of their heart. They only use the eyes of their head.

    As a result, Peter saw the glory of the refurbished temple in Jerusalem but Jesus saw the vanity of the temple:

    “Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’” (Matthew 24:1-2)

    The eyes on your head are blind although you can see with them. But all you see with them is vanity and rubbish. You only see worthless and useless things according to God’s eternal scheme. You only see temporal things that will soon pass away forever.

    It is the eye of the heart is the seeing eye. With it, you can see both the spiritual and the natural. With it, you can see God and the things of God. But God has closed our seeing eye. To see with it, He has to open it to open it, and He only does this by His grace.

    Jesus says: “(God) has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” (John 12:40).

    The blind eyes distract you from the seeing eye. The blind eyes are focused only on the physical. They distract your seeing eye ensuring that you cannot see spiritual things. They enable you to see the glory of men but prevent you from seeing the glory of God.

    The natural glory of King Uzziah prevented Isaiah from seeing the glory of God. He only saw the glory of God in the year that king Uzziah died. For this reason, Isaiah made a prophetic declaration:

    “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:4-5).

    That is why you only connect with the spiritual when you are sleeping. You only connect with the spiritual when you close your physical eyes or are not using them.

    But the seeing eye connects you with the spiritual at all times.

    With your natural eyes, you can see men. With your heart, you can see God. God communicates with us through our hearts. So, do not follow your blind eyes. Follow your heart. Do not allow your heart to follow your eyes. Let your eyes follow your heart.

    But there is a problem here: the heart is deceitful.

    CONTINUED

  • The sin-bearing servant of God – By Femi Aribisala

    The sin-bearing servant of God – By Femi Aribisala

    Isaiah says: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).

    “Who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” (Acts 8:34).

    “Be that sin-bearing servant who refuses to give God peace until he establishes his righteousness in the earth.

    This is certainly a prophecy about Jesus.  But it also refers to believers in general.  I used to assume messianic scriptures were exclusively about Christ.  Until one day, the Lord spoke one (Isaiah 49:1-3) directly to me.  The scripture jumped off the page of the bible and hit me in the face.  I thought: “But this is talking about Jesus.”  But the Lord said: “Femi, it is also talking about you.”

    Messianic man

    God says: “My righteous servant shall make many to be counted righteous before God, for He shall bear all their sins.” (Isaiah 53:11).  Is it right to say this also applies to somebody other than Jesus?  Can anyone but Jesus bear the sins of others?

    Contrary to popular Christian thinking, the answer is yes.  Moses, for example, was a burden-bearer for Israel.  He even complained to the Lord that he needed helpers: “Why have I not found favor in your sight, so that you lay the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.” (Numbers 11:11,14).

    God required Ezekiel to bear the sins of Israel and Judah: “Lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah.” (Ezekiel 4:3-6).

    Paul also bore the burden of Israel’s sins: “I have great heaviness and continual pain in my heart. For I myself was wishing to be accursed from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” (Romans 9:1-3).

    In the Old Testament and under the Law of Moses, sin-bearing was the sole responsibility of the priests and the prophets.  Thus, Moses chided the sons of Aaron: “Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, since it is most holy, and (God) has given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before Jehovah?” (Leviticus 10:17).

    However, in the New Testament, believers are burden-bearers because Jesus has made us all “priests to our God.” (Revelation 5:10).  Therefore, Paul says: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the Law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2).

    Sin-bearers

    Burdens are loads that weigh us down and impede our movement.  Sickness is also a burden. It is sometimes so heavy; it keeps us bedridden.  We also carry burdens as a result of adverse situations and circumstances.  Thus, we may be burdened by unemployment, the death of a loved one, or loneliness.

    But whether we fully realise it or not, sin is our big burden.  Sin represents the breakdown in the machinery of our soul that, like a car, has to be removed and replaced for us to function properly according to the will of God.

    Man is not created to carry heavy burdens alone.  Today, we have man-made machinery designed to carry heavy physical loads.  But no such man-made machinery exists spiritually.  God is the principal spiritual burden-bearer we have.  The psalmist says: “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” (Psalm 68:19).

    The promise of God to Israel says: “Even to old age I am He; and to gray hairs I will bear you. I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:3-4).

    Jesus makes a similar promise to all who believe in Him: “Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).

    However, when we sin, we end up with burdens that are not from God.  Thus, God laments a nation: “Full of sin, a people weighted down with crime, a generation of evil-doers, false-hearted children: they have gone away from the Lord, they have no respect for the Holy One of Israel, their hearts are turned back from Him.” (Isaiah 1:4)

    God suffers and is deeply grieved by our sins because in all our affliction God is afflicted. (Isaiah 63:9).  He wants us to be anxious about nothing, and to cast all our cares upon Him. (1 Peter 5:7).  But our sins are not the burden He wants to carry for us.  On the contrary, He says of them: “They are a heavy burden I am tired of carrying.” (Isaiah 1:14).

    Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us. (Hebrews 7:25).  His burden-bearing task was not just fulfilled on the cross: but yesterday and today and forever.  Before Calvary, Jesus healed all who were sick: “so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘He took on Himself our weaknesses and bore our sicknesses.’” (Matthew 8:16-17).

    Sin-bearing Christians

    But it is important to know that the burden of sin is not only carried by the sinner.  It is also carried by the righteous, who are required to intercede for sinners.  It is carried by the sinner’s loved ones and even the innocent.  For instance, drunk drivers kill innocent bystanders.  Rapists impregnate their victims and give them sexually transmitted diseases.

    True children of God are sin and burden-bearers.  We labour daily in prayer for sinners.  Jesus says: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).  We mourn the transgressions we decry; frustrated in the knowledge that few will believe our report.

    God is looking for believers to stand in the gap for the sins of the land. (Ezekiel 22:30).  Beloved, let Him find you.  Be that sin-bearing servant who refuses to give God peace until He establishes His righteousness in the earth. (Isaiah 62:7).

    Burden of sickness

    I was praying in the middle of the night about a message I was scheduled to deliver at a lunch-hour fellowship in the afternoon.  Suddenly, I was gripped with a searing pain in my back.  As I crouched on the floor, I continued praying.  I knew instinctively the pain did not belong to me: it belonged to someone else who would surely be at the fellowship that day.

    After delivering my message, I told my audience the Lord wants me to pray for “someone” suffering from severe back pain.  Three people were healed on that day because the Lord caused me to bear their sickness the night before.  He put their sickness on me.  I entered into their pain, and He healed them.

  • Stop trying to be good (4) – By Femi Aribisala

    Stop trying to be good (4) – By Femi Aribisala

    How can a mere mortal be right-stamding in the eyes of God?

    First, he has to admit that he can do nothing by himself. He must admit that he automatically does everything the wrong way. Then he must believe that God will turn the wrong things of his life into right things through the works of Jesus Christ.

    We are only right when we believe in God who always does the right things and corrects our wrongs. We are only right when we believe in God to do the right things for us.

    The right thing can never be what a man does. The right thing is only what God does. So, how can man get anything right? He must believe that God will get it right for him.

    Faith in God is the answer. Faith in God is the key. The scriptures tall us: “Without faith it is impossible to please (God).” (Hebrews 11:6). With faith, the wrong thing becomes right. The bad thing becomes good. The only goodness in man acceptable to God is faith in God, and faith itself is a gift of God.

    “Human generosity is a sin against God.

    “You cannot make God accept you because of something you do. God accepts sinners only because they have faith in him. In the Scriptures David talks about the blessings that come to people who are acceptable to God, even though they don’t do anything to deserve these blessings.” (Romans 4:5-6).

    Those trying to be good fail for trying. Those who do not try succeed because of their faith:

    “The Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but they found that He would accept them if they had faith. It also means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why not? It was because they were trying to be acceptable by obeying the Law instead of by having faith in God.” (Romans 9:30-32).

    Saving faith

    Salvation does not come from merely believing in God. It comes from believing in the word of God. This is because: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17).

    So, what is the world of God?

    In th time of Noah, salvation was in believing what God said about the Ark. The word of God said those who went into the Ark would be saved. As a result, many who believed in God perished in the Flood because they did not believe in the Ark. But salvation was in the Ark.

    Today, salvation is also not merely in believing n God. It is in believing in Jesus, the Word of God. Jesus is now the Ark. As a result, many people who claim to believe in God are unacceptable to God. To believe in the One true God, we must believe in Jesus, the Son of God and the Word of God:

    “If we have faith in God’s Son, we have believed what God has said. But if we don’t believe what God has said about his Son, it is the same as calling God a liar. God has also said that he gave us eternal life and that this life comes to us from his Son. And so, if we have God’s Son, we have this life. But if we don’t have the Son, we don’t have this life.” (1 John 5:10-12).

    (God) accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:22). “(God) declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26).

    Jesus is the Way

    Jesus is the only way to God. Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6).

    The Bible does not say: “ God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in God should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

    No! It says:

    “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

    God the Father is not the author of our faith. Jesus is. (Hebrews 12:2). God the Father did not appear to Paul on the road to Damascus, and commission him to establish the church and to write two-thirds of the New Testament. Jesus did.

    God the Father did not appear to John and reveal to him what is to come, which he wrote in the Book of Revelations. Jesus did.

    The scriptures do not say: “Looking unto God the Father.” No! They say: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2).  The righteousness of faith is in believing who Jesus is and believing in His atonement for our sins on the cross.

    The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. He does not testify of the Father but of the Son. People are to be led to Jesus, and not to the Father. If you lead people to Jesus, they will get to the Father because Jesus is the way to Him. But if you try to lead people to the Father, they will never get to Him.

    Completed works

    Today, there is still no salvation in believing in God. The apostolic creed is quite straightforward. It has a division of authority between God the Father and God the Son:

    “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21).

    Moreover, faith is not believing what Jesus will do. It is believing what Jesus has done. Therefore, thank God in advance before receiving anything from Him. Faith does not mean believing God will do something. Faith is believing He has already done it. Jesus says:

    “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24).

    Sin is unbelief

    Sin is not merely what men do. Sin is first and foremost what men believe. For a man to be good in the sight of God, he must believe in God. For a man to be right standing with God, he must believe in God:

    “People are acceptable to God because they have faith, and not because they obey the Law. There is only one God, and He accepts Gentiles as well as Jews, simply because of their faith.” (Romans 3:28-30).

    So, why do you do the things you do? Only one answer is acceptable. You must do what you do because you believe in Christ. Faith in Christ is the only acceptable reason for human action. Anything that does not originate from faith in Jesus is a sin. “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23).

    If you give money to the poor but the reason why you did is not because of your faith in Jesus, your generosity is a sin. You sinned against God by giving money to the poor.

    If you are faithful to your wife only because you love your wife, you have sinned against God. You must be faithful to your wife because you believe in Jesus and love God.

    Jesus asserts the saliency and supremacy of faith in Him every situation:

    “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26).

    We must hate them, and then love them only because we believe in Jesus.

    Jesus warns that sin is mistakenly seen as doing something bad when it is doing something that does hot arise from our belief in Him:

    “When (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” (John 16:8).

    In effect, with the perfected works of Jesus on our behalf on the cross of Calvary where He took away the sin of the world, sin has now been reduced to not believing in Jesus. Only those who have the Holy Spirit know this. Others think God approves of their dead works.

    Exclusionary law

    Paul asks:

    “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? No: but by the law of faith.” (Romans 3:27).

    The law of faith in Jesus is exclusionary because there are so many things that we simply will not do because we believe in Jesus. People do evil because they do not believe in Jesus.

    But because you believe in Jesus, you will not steal. Because of your faith in Jesus, you will not fornicate. Because of your faith in Jesus, you will not murder. Because of your faith in Jesus, you will not steal. Because of your faith in Jesus, you will not sin intentionally.

    But people who do not believe in Jesus are liable to fly planes into buildings, killing thousands, in the belief that, by doing this, they are doing God a favour.

    Jesus warns His disciples about this:

    “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.” (John 16:2-3).

  • Stop trying to be good (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    Stop trying to be good (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    Stop trying to please God. If you try to please God, you will sin against God. Stop trying to do the right thing. If you try to do the right thing, you will sin against God. Stop trying to do good things. If you try to do good things, you will sin against God.

    Uzzah tried to do a good thing. The ark was falling and he tried to steady it. God killed him.

    Peter tried to do a good thing. He prayed that Jesus would not be killed. That prayer turned out to be Satanic.

    The Bible says: “Happy is the man who does not sin by doing what he knows is right.” (Romans 14:22).

    Sorrow awaits the man who sins by doing what he knows is right. He did the right thing but did not know the right thing is a sin. How can we avoid this? With man, it is impossible.

     Goodness is not amenable to human effort.

    Listen carefully to Jesus: “What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children…” (Matthew 7:9-11).

    Jesus says a man gives good gifts to his children. Nevertheless, He calls him evil. What if he gives bad things to his children? It would make no difference. There is nothing an evil man can do that will make him good.

    Wrong things

    It makes no difference if a man does the right or the wrong thing. Whatever he does is evil. This is because we do the right things sometimes and wrong things at other times. This shows we are evil.

    Every good thing a so-called good man does only confirms he is a sinner. We sin by helping people because we help some people and do not help others. We sin by being generous because sometimes we are not generous.

    Jesus does not say: “Give to him who asks you occasionally.” He says: “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” (Matthew 5:42).

    But we have not been doing this. We cannot do this of our own free will unless God makes us do it. We can only give occasionally.

    No human effort

    Goodness is not amenable to human effort. You are either good or you are not. Therefore, those who try to be good (when they are not) are not acceptable to God.

    So, stop trying to do the right thing. With God, a man can never do the right thing:

    “No one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.” (Romans 3:20).

    God cannot be pleased with the actions of a man. God can only be pleased with God. God is only pleased with Jesus. He said so at the Mount of Transfiguration:

    “A voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 17:5).

    What about Moses and Elijah? They are not God’s beloved sons, and He is not well pleased with them.

    Moses sinned and could not enter the Promised Land. Elijah killed 40 children who mocked him. His action did not please God. When the Zebedee brothers asked Jesus if, as Elijah did, they should command fire to come down from heaven and consume the Samaritans who would not give them free passage to Jerusalem, Jesus rebuked them: “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” (Luke 9:55-56).

    Not of works

    God was pleased with Jesus before He inaugurated His ministry. He was pleased with Him before He did any miracles. He was not pleased with something Jesus did. Indeed, it was God that did everything Jesus did. Jesus maintained this: “The Father who dwells in Me does the works.” (John 14:10).

    When God called me, He called by seizing control of my tongue. He used my mouth to speak to me. He called me three times: “Femi, Femi, Femi.” And then He said: “I have loved you from the foundation of the world.”

    This was exciting because God loves me. But it was also disturbing because God’s love for me has nothing to do with me. God loved me before I did anything. He loved me before I was born. Nothing I did after my birth made Him love me. He loved me without my having to do anything good. He loved me before I was born.

    He says the same of Jacob: “(For the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” (Romans 9:11-13).

    God loved Jacob before he was born. He hated Esau before he was born. David echoes this: “The wicked are estranged from the womb.” (Psalm 58:3).

    Rich young ruler

    “Behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:16-17).

    The rich young ruler asked the wrong question. He asked: “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life.” But the truth is that he can do nothing at all. Therefore Jesus gave him something to do that He knew he could not do. He told him: “Go and keep the commandments.”

    This man did not understand this. He claimed to have kept the commandments. So, Jesus told him to go and sell all his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. But the man could not do it.

    Jesus said: “It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24).

    What does this mean? Does it mean that a rich man cannot enter the kingdom of God? No.  Jesus does not say that. He only said it would be hard for him to enter.

    How hard would it be? Well, said Jesus: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25).

    How many people here have seen a camel go through the eye of a needle before?

    Jesus says it is easier for a camel to do so than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. This means that some camels go through the eye of a needle, although with great difficulty. And for a rich man to enter the kingdom, it is with greater difficulty than that experienced by a camel going through the eye of a needle.

    So I ask again. How many people here have seen a camel go through the eye of a needle before?

    Well, maybe you have to go to Israel to see it happen. But camels go through the eye of a needle every day in Nigeria. How do I know? Every day, rich men enter the kingdom of God in Nigeria.

    So how are they doing what is impossible? With man it is impossible. But with God all things are possible.

    God the waymaker has made a way whereby man can do the impossible. Man can do this by doing nothing but by believing. Man can do the impossible by faith.

    CONTINUED

  • Stop trying to be good (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    Stop trying to be good (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    “Goodness cannot be found in man. Goodness is a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit”.

    If God asks you to do something, do not do it. Ask Him to do it for you. God will never ask you to do what you can do. He will always ask you to do what you cannot do.

    Let us be instructed by the psalmist who says: “I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me.” (Psalm 57:2).

    If God performs all things for us, then we have no free will.

    For example, Jesus says: “Give to him who asks you.” (Matthew 5:42). But no man has ever obeyed this simple command. Indeed, no man can. We do not always give to him who asks us. Who only do so sometimes.

    Jesus knows we cannot do it on our own. He tells us: “Without Me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

    How about this one: “Be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48).

    Has anyone achieved this? No!

    “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21).

    Did the man do it? No!

    So, I repeat. If God ever tells you to do anything, do not even try to do it. Ask Him to do it for you. He will do it through you.

    Stop trying

    Stop trying to be good. You can never be what you try to be. You cannot be what you are not. You can only be what you are.

    God says: “I AM WHAT I AM.” Paul says: “By the grace of God I am what I am.” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

    We are what we are and not what we try to be. So, stop trying to be good. You are either good or you are not. Goodness is not amenable to effort. A man can only be good if God makes him good.

    Goodness is not in man. Goodness cannot be found in man. Goodness is a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. Therefore, a man can only be good if he is born of God and is vested with the Holy Spirit.

    Jesus says: “Make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.” (Matthew 12:33).

    But only God can make the tree good and its fruit good. A man who is born again is a good man by the grace of God. He must be careful not to fall from grace by trying to be good.

    A woman is a woman

    A woman is a woman because God made her a woman. She does not have to try to be a woman. She does not have to prove she is a woman by getting pregnant. If her boyfriend asks: “How do I know you are really a woman? I cannot marry you unless you first get pregnant for me.”

    Tell him to take a hike: “BYE, BYE!”

    The devil told Jesus: “If you are the son of God, jump down from this high place.” Do not bother with him. “My jumping will not make me a son of God. I am either a son of God or I am not. My jumping will just make me a dead son of God.”

    Righteousness of man

    According to man, the righteous man is the man who does good works. This is nonsense because we are not what we do. We are what we are.

    Man, in his ignorance, says the good man is good because he is eager to lend a helping hand. He is generous. He is respectful. He gives money to the poor. He does not fight. He goes to church regularly. He is faithful to his wife. He takes good care of his family.

    But all these good deeds are dead works because it is a man who does them. A man can never do anything good. Man is congenitally bad.

    Jesus says we are evil: “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34). He says furthermore: “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts.” (Matthew 15:19).

    Jeremiah concurs: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9).

    This ensures that the righteousness of man is unrighteous to God. The Bible says the Lord is righteous in all his ways. (Psalm 145:17). But man is completely different: “We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6). “As it is written: “‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’” (Romans 3:10).

    Jesus told the scribes and the Pharisees who brought to Him a woman caught in adultery and asked if she should be stoned to death: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” (John 8:7).

    Nobody could stone her because nobody is without sin. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).  

    Only God

    Jesus says: “No one is good but One, that is, God.” (Matthew 19:17). But Jesus Himself claims to be good so He must be God: “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?” (Matthew 20:15).

    That is why we must not receive praise from men. No man deserves praise. Only God is praiseworthy.

    Nothing a man does pleases God because man is imperfect and God only wants perfection.

    I have discovered that absolutely nothing I do impresses God. I have tried repeatedly to please God by doing righteous things: but I have never been able to impress him. Nevertheless, I have seen people who do bad things, and they are full of testimonies about God. And I know they are not lying.

    We get no commendation from God for doing even what He tells us to do. Jesus says: “When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’” (Luke 17:10).

    Frank Sinatra sang a million-dollar song: “I Did It My Way.” Nothing is further from the truth. There are only two ways. We either do it God’s way or the devil’s way. Man’s way does not exist.

    Since I met Jesus, I have discovered that what I call good is bad. What I call right is wrong. Solomon says: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12).

    Like Job, we must surrender to God and acknowledge that it is unwise to pontificate about things we do not understand. It is unwise to talk about things that are too wonderful for us to know.

    God is always right, even when we think He is wrong. He is always fair, even when we think He is unfair. He is always kind, even when we think He is unkind.

    Men do not know what it means to be right or wrong, fair or unfair, and kind or unkind. We must leave all this to the Holy Spirit to decide for us.

    God’s ways

    The ways of God are not the ways of man. “The Lord does not see as man sees.” (1 Samuel 16:7). What makes a man good in the eyes of men makes him evil in the eyes of God.

    Jesus says: “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” (Luke 16:15).

    You are busy making up, doing your hair, putting on lipstick. You are wearing exquisite clothing and expensive jewelry because you want to look good. But God, your Bridegroom, is not interested. He is only looking at your heart.

    Therefore: “Do not let your adornment be merely outward — arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel — rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” (1 Peter 3:3-5).

    Good and evil

    We say this one is a good man: and that one is a bad man. But it is all poppycock. The man we call a good man also does evil. And the man we call evil also does good things.

    Every man has the good and the evil in him. But God’s standard says, for a man to be good, he must be good all the time: “The person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.” (James 2:10).

    For a man to be good, there must be nothing evil about him. To be good, we must do the right things at all times. But no man can do this. To be good, we must always be good. We must not change. We must be good yesterday, today, and forever.

    James asks: “Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.” (James 3:12).

    But man produces both salt water and fresh water. We have all eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Therefore, we cannot be good because we are good for one minute and bad for the next.

    Jesus says: “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” (Matthew 7:17-18).

    Therefore, a man cannot be a good tree because men bear bad fruit.

    This is how the Bible presents the predicament of man, even regenerated man:

    “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” (Romans 7:18-19).

    “I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:22-24).

    Only Jesus can deliver us.

     

    CONTINUED

  • My church is bigger than yours – By Femi Aribisala

    My church is bigger than yours – By Femi Aribisala

    “The popularity of a church is an eloquent testimony of failure and not success”.

    They contradict the counsel of the Lord without batting their eyelids. They plant church parishes like supermarkets on every street corner. They build cathedrals and church monuments like World Trade Centres, each one striving to be the biggest and most splendiferous in the universe. They gather thousands, even millions, of “worshippers” in front of television cameras every so often in the mountains of Kilimanjaro. They are the new spiritual superstars; the mega-pastors of the mega-churches.

    In this conceit, one of my former churches takes the cake. While its emphasis on branch networking and exponential growth might be a wonderful policy for a fast-food chain, as a framework for a Christian organisation, it has tended to produce half-baked pastors who exhibit flagrant disregard for godly propriety.  

    Carnal growth

    In the world today, success in “Churchianity” is measured by the size of the congregation and not by changed lives. Accordingly, highfalutin mega-pastors have fine-tuned church-growth strategies. It is all a question of numbers, numbers and more numbers. Numbers determine how much money is fleeced from the flock. Numbers determine the extent of pastoral control and captivity of men. When pastors meet, the unspoken question is “How big is your church?”  The answer determines social status. Like Mordecai to Haman, the mini-pastors must bow down to the mega-pastors.

    One of these putative timber and calibre pastors even maintains God specifically gave him the mandate to establish mega-churches. He claims God said to him: “I am about to raise up a mega-church in Europe, at this end time and I am calling people who will establish those churches. Some people have already responded to my call. Your destiny and that of millions of other people depend on whether or not you will obey me. The primary assignment is to raise up a mega-church.”

    However, God does not raise up churches. He has only one church. He does not ask men to build churches for Him. Jesus says: “I will build My church.” (Matthew 16:18). Moreover, God despises what men esteem. (Luke 16:15). Therefore, He prefers the mini to the mega. He says: “Woe to the multitude of many people who make a noise like the roar of the seas.” (Isaiah 17:12). Jesus identifies God’s flock as little, as opposed to large. He says: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). Thus, Zechariah asks rhetorically: “Who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10).

    Deceitfulness of riches
    The Lord says: “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey.’” (Matthew 21:5). Daughter of Zion, Jesus was not husband-material. He did not drive around in a Mercedes-Jeep but on a donkey. He did not even build His own house. Instead, He said: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:20).
    Think of a woman of great and dazzling beauty. Our very own Agbani Darego easily comes to mind. She blazed the trail as Nigeria’s first Miss World; for a season the acclaimed most beautiful woman in the world. But if we were to seek God’s opinion, he would regard her beauty as ugly. For this reason, Jesus had to be an ugly man; that his beauty might be exclusively divine. Isaiah says of Jesus: “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” (Isaiah 53:2).

    However, because Jesus was ugly according to the values of this world, He was handsome according to the values of the kingdom of God. The beauty of the Lord is the beauty of holiness. (2 Chronicles 20:21). His beauty is the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit that is of great price in the eyes of the Lord. (1 Peter 3:4).

    Kingdom dynamics

    Indeed, according to Jesus’ kingdom dynamics, the popularity of a church is an eloquent testimony of failure and not success. Jesus told His disciples: “The world would love you if you belonged to it; but you don’t- for I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you.” (John 15:19). However, the world loves today’s mega-pastors. Nothing rubbished the ministry of a popular pastor more than Newsweek Magazine’s declaration that he is one of the world’s most respected men. Jesus says: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26).


    The wisdom of God is contrarian. “She calls aloud in the street; she raises her voice in the public squares.” (Proverbs 1:20). “No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.” (Psalm 33:16-17).

    When applied to our vainglorious mega-churches, this means no man is saved by the size of a church. Neither are the wicked delivered by the great charisma of a pastor. When we play the numbers game in churches, we are guilty of trusting in the multitude of our mighty men. (Hosea 10:13). “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!’” (Zechariah 4:6-7).

    One of the great mountains before Zerubbabel was Solomon’s temple. Those charged with rebuilding it were intimidated that the new temple would not have the splendour and majesty of the old. But God is not concerned with size and other externalities. Through Haggai, he notes that, despite its physical shortcomings, “the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former.” (Haggai 2:9). Before Zerubbabel, the great mountain of Solomon’s temple would become a plain.    

    When the disciples extolled the splendour of the Jerusalem temple to Jesus, He replied: “All these buildings will be knocked down, with not one stone left on top of another!” (Matthew 24:2). The same fate awaits the magnificent cathedrals of today. However, the real temple of God, the body of Christ, remains impregnable. Jesus said: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19).

    God’s verdict

    In the kingdom of God, it is the stone that the builders reject that becomes the headstone. (Psalm 118:22). This prophecy is bad news for mega-churches and their mega-pastors because it predicts they will ultimately be rejected. According to Jesus, the first will become last and the last first. (Mark 10:31). So today’s “first-class” pastors and their majestic churches will eventually be humbled.

    Isaiah says: “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low.” (Isaiah 40:4). This indicates that, in the day of the Lord, we are likely to discover that the big church is small in the sight of the Lord and the small church is big. Mega-church “wanna-be’s” readily sacrifice the doctrine of Christ on the altar of the imperatives for a large following. But we are not called to empire-building but to righteousness. Indeed, Jesus says to popular mega-churches across the ages: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” (Revelation 3:1).

    David got into trouble with God when he became preoccupied with size. When pride moved him to conduct a census in Israel to glory in the size of his kingdom, God responded by decimating it with pestilence which killed seventy-thousand men. (2 Samuel 24:1-15). Jesus himself was not the product of a big “church,” but of little Bethlehem Ephrathah. (Micah 5:2).

    Why are Christians still so sinful?  Why is so little of the character of Christ evident in the churches?  One major reason is that too much emphasis is placed on numerical growth and too little on spiritual growth. Indeed, the messages that promote numerical growth often impede spiritual growth. Everywhere, pastors are engaged in church-planting, for the primary purpose of increasing their dominion and finances. The outcome is the mushrooming of churches that are impressive to men, but contemptible to God.

    Isaiah warns: “Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, therefore you will plant pleasant plants and set out foreign seedlings; in the day you will make your plant to grow, and in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; but the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.” (Isaiah 17:10-11).

  • Are you a child of the truth or the lie? (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    Are you a child of the truth or the lie? (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    Jesus told Pilate that he who is of the truth hears His voice. This means Jesus is only acceptable to the truthful. A man is either of the truth or he is of the lie:

    “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?  He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. (Jn 8:43-47)

    If you tell a liar the truth of God, he will reject it

    Two kinds of human beings

    Here is a stark definition of two kinds of men. One who is of the truth and one who is of the lie. One who is of God and one who is of the devil. One who can hear the word of God and one who cannot but can hear the voice of the devil.

    The world says that opposites attract. But the word of God says like attract. Only those who are of God find the gospel of Jesus Christ attractive. Jesus says those who are attracted to the gospel are those who are of God.

    Jesus is like a magnet. His people are drawn to Him and they welcome His revelation. Although His light rebukes their sin, they nevertheless respond to that light in repentance and faith. They live by His truth. But those who are not of God reject the gospel. Otherwise, why would a man not believe the truth and prefer to be told a lie?

    Rejecting the truth

    If you tell a liar the truth of God, he will reject it. Jesus said the reason the Jews did not believe Him was because He told them the truth. If He had told them a lie they would have believed Him.

    Look at this scripture again:

    “Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46).

    Jesus asked the Jews if He had ever told them a lie. “Have you ever caught Me telling you a lie? Have you ever caught Me sinning? On the contrary, you have only observed Me telling you the truth. Everything I tell you I practice. I do everything I tell you I can do. I do everything I teach. You have never heard Me or seen Me contradict Myself. You have never observed Me being hypocritical. You have always known Me to be truthful. And yet, you don’t believe Me. Therefore, the problem is not in what I say. The problem is in you. The problem is that you are not of the truth. The problem is that you are not of God. For God is a God of truth.”

    We cannot know our true selves if we don’t know the true God. If we don’t know God, we will be open to lies, especially about humanity. It is in the wisdom of God that men who reject the truth of God will believe lies:

    “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18).

    Because men did not like to retain God in their knowledge, the Bible declares that God gave men over to a debased mind and vile passions, allowing men to do ungodly things:

    “For this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

    So, God says to Isaiah:

    “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

    Unbelievers are liars

    Unbelievers are liars and they make God a liar. Because they are liars, they reject the truth. But the truth we reject will judge us on the last day. Jesus says:

    “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” (John 12:48).

    Those same words of truth we rejected will come back to question us. The truth will ask: “Did I not tell you so-and-so on such-and-such a date? Why did you reject what you knew to be the truth?”

    We reject the truth because it is true. We reject the truth because we are liars. We reject it not because we believe it is false, but because we know it is true. We reject truth because we are not of the truth. We reject it because we don’t like the truth. We reject it because we don’t think the truth is profitable in this life.

    We want the world to like us but if we speak the truth they will not. If we are truthful, we will not get away with murder. If we are pastors, our ministry will suffer. Our membership will decline. We might not be able to pay our bills.

    In which case we cannot expect to spend eternity with the truth.  We must spend eternity with the lie.  Jesus says:

    “I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.” (Luke 16:9).

    Eternal habitations

    A man will end up in the end with what he believes. According to our faith so shall it be unto us. We will end up with who we believe. If we believe in idols, then we should be prepared to spend eternity with the idols where they are. If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then we can look forward to spending eternity with Him where He is.

    Truth in man comes in response to the truth of God. It is received as a gift from God. This gift comes by way of teaching and also by way of the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of a man.

    Jesus is the word of God. The word of God is truth. The more we read the words of Jesus and trust the Holy Spirit to quicken what we read to our spirit, the more our hearts are cleansed so that we think the pure thoughts of God.

    In the end, the pastors, bishops, popes and other members of the religious establishment decided that the way out was to kill Jesus. But can you, O great Christian, kill the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, today?

    Hating the truth

    God is love and He is also the truth. There is a very close relationship between the truth and love. The truth is to be spoken in love. (Ephesians 4:15).

    Love thinks no evil. Love rejoices in the truth. Love believes true things. Love hopes true things. Love never fails to love.

    Why do we hate the truth? We hate the truth because the truth is bitter. We hate the truth because the truth exposes us. We hate the truth because the truth reveals who we are. We hate the truth because we believe in self-deception. We hate the truth because we don’t like ourselves. We hate the truth because we are not who we want to be.  We hate the truth because we are not who we claim to be.

    We like lies because we cannot handle the truth. Yes, he is a preacher

    of the gospel.  Everyone acknowledges him as a man of God. But nobody knows he is a closet drunkard. Nobody knows he is having an affair with his secretary. They call him Arch-Bishop, but nobody knows that he is addicted to pornography.

    Would they still love me if they knew the truth? Would they still love me if they knew I am a fraud? Would they still love me if they knew I am still striving against sin? What if they found out that I beat my wife? What if it becomes public knowledge that I have children outside of my marriage? What if they knew that I shoot cocaine? Would they still love me?

    Secrets don’t exist

    All the things we are hiding are already known. Nothing is hidden from God.

    The prodigal son went away into a far country so that he could be with prostitutes without having to bother with his father. No such luck. God is Jehovah Shammar. Take solace. God knows already. What a relief.

    He knows I am a thief. He knows I have lustful thoughts.

    He knows I still shoot cocaine.

    God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world. He did not send Jesus into the world to condemn me, but to save me. He knows that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Therefore, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

    Even though my sin is scarlet, the promise of God says His grace will ensure that it will be as white snow. Jesus says about a sinful woman: “Her sins, precisely because they are many, have been forgiven her because she loved much.” She has been accepted into God’s beloved. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

    Gospel of truth

    We have met the truth and it did not destroy us. The truth is not as damning as we feared. The truth is the gospel. The truth is ultimately good news.

    “Adam, who told you that you were naked? That is not the truth. The truth is that although you have been stealing, you are not a thief. It is not in your nature to steal, beat people up, lie, cheat and fornicate. The truth is that we can be righteous, and live godly lives. God in Christ has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

    The truth is that God has provided the opportunity for the man who has messed up, the man who has blown it, the man who has failed, the man who has sinned and the man who has transgressed to begin again.

    How has he done this? He did it by giving us the avenue to a new birth.

    But I am an old man says Nicodemus. Would I have to go back into my mother’s womb?

    It does not matter if you are young or old. It is a spiritual and not a physical rebirth. The slate is wiped clean. The past is forgiven and forgotten. God is the most merciful of all. Once we repent, confess our sins and make a turnaround, He does not remember our sins anymore.

    Thanks to the path of life laid out before us by Jesus, the believer has new principles, new affections, and a new nature. He has the divine ability to overcome temptation.

    When a man is born again, his spirit is re-generated, quickened and made alive by God. He is now able to see, understand and perceive hitherto hidden things about the kingdom of God. The things of God are spiritually discerned.

    Nicodemus was a teacher and a ruler of the Jews. Nevertheless, he could not understand this because he was spiritually dead. What Christ spoke spiritually Nicodemus passed through carnal filters?

    “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

  • The relative and the absolute marriage – By Femi Aribisala

    The relative and the absolute marriage – By Femi Aribisala

    “The Christian marriage is no longer till death do us part. It is now till divorce do us part”.

    I wrote a book entitled: “Why Christians Won’t Go to Heaven.”  Some Christians complained my book is too absolute. They said I should have written: “Why Some Christians Won’t Go to Heaven.”  No, I replied. I mean no Christian will go to heaven. Christianity is not a criterion for heaven. Then, I wrote an article entitled “Christians Make Terrible Husbands.”  Some self-righteous Christian husbands shot back saying I should have said: “Some Christian Make Terrible Husbands.”  No!  No!  No!  I mean “all Christian husbands.”

    God’s prophetic word is appropriately expressed in absolute terms. Jesus says: “The sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12).  He does not say “some of the sons of the kingdom.” It is not the job of the prophet to give you the option whereby you can exclude yourself from his prophecy.

    Option of divorce

    Man specializes in turning the God’s truth into a lie. Take, for example, the question of divorce. Moses knew God is against divorce. Nevertheless, he permitted the Israelites to divorce their wives. What gave Moses such audacity? 

    Jesus says: “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:9).

    God’s command on the question of divorce is absolute; but man turned it into a relative command. When the disciples discovered God is absolutely against divorce, they replied: “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” (Matthew 19:10). In short, they would rather not marry than obey God in marriage.

    But if we don’t marry, we are confronted with another absolute commandment. We must not have sex outside of marriage. We must not fornicate. What then is the way out?  Sin!

    Relative marriages

    Most Christians contract relative marriages even though the marriage covenant is couched in absolute terms. When we say: “for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health;” we are speaking absolutely and not relatively. Nevertheless, we retain the option of divorce if things get worse or poorer.

    When we quarrel one year down the road, we play the divorce card. But if divorce were an option in God’s plan for marriage, He would not have asked Hosea to marry a prostitute. As to be expected, Hosea’s prostitute wife was unfaithful to him. She even had children by other men. Nevertheless, divorce was not an option for Hosea.

    In short, the Christian marriage has become a farce. We talk the talk but do not walk the walk. We make the absolute commitment, even before God, knowing full well we have no intention of keeping it. We promise to be faithful; “forsaking all others,” but have no qualms whatsoever about having affairs. We even have one or two children out of wedlock.

    We promise to love and to cherish, yet we are not averse to beating up our wives, sometimes to the point of hospitalisation. No wonder then that the Christian marriage is no longer till death do us part. It is now till divorce do us part. It is till problems do us part, or till economic adversity do us part, or till the bondwoman do us part.

    As usual, Jesus foresaw all this hypocrisy. He would not have us deceive ourselves by signing a legal agreement, or by going before a pastor and a church to make our marriage binding. Precisely because we choose to swear the oath of marriage, that implies we are not trustworthy and cannot trust others. In the scriptures, marriages were not determined by oaths, but by sexual intercourse.

    Jesus says: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:33-37).

    Rationalising absolutes

    Christians specialise in converting God’s absolutes to man’s relatives. A famous Nigerian pastor is divorced from his wife. He then commits adultery by remarrying a divorced woman. Nevertheless, he told his congregation that “the Holy Spirit” ministered to him that his new wife had never been married before. The woman who was married before is dead and this newly-married wife is born again. So, old things are passed away, (including her previous marriage), behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17).

    Paul’s scriptures are often twisted by those inclined to contradict Jesus. Sometimes, people use Paul to lose complete sight of Jesus. When you quote Jesus to them, they accuse you of heresy. One pastor with a vested interest said forbidding a Christian to remarry because he is divorced is a doctrine of demons. Where does he get this from? Paul says: “The Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry.” (1 Timothy 4:1-3).

    When queried by a journalist about his remarriage after divorce, a famous Nigerian pastor had this to say:

    “Some argue that the bible says you must remain unmarried for as long as your spouse is alive… The bible doesn’t say so. It doesn’t say so. I think a lot of people don’t study the Word of God enough. There is a difference between a man who marries a woman and the woman leaves him and the one that divorces. There are so many people who are parading themselves as preachers of the scriptures who don’t know the bible enough, particularly in the area of marriage.”

    Absolute marriage

    However, marriage is God’s institution. It is not man-made. God’s marriage plan is absolute; there is no divorce. It is till death do us part. Indeed, everything about God’s concept of marriage is absolute. God’s absolute marriage has one prototype. It is between Adam and Eve. It is not between Adam and Steve.

    Under what circumstances is it lawful for a man to hate his wife? 

    Under absolutely no circumstances! 

    Under what circumstances is it lawful for a man to beat his wife or for a wife to slap her husband? 

    Under absolutely no circumstances!  

    Under what circumstances is it lawful for a husband or a wife to commit adultery? 

    Under absolutely no circumstances!

    Under what circumstances is it lawful for a husband and wife to abuse one another? 

    Under absolutely no circumstances! 

    Under what circumstances is it lawful for a husband and wife to deceive one another? 

    Under absolutely no circumstances!

    Under what circumstances is it lawful for a husband to kiss his wife? 

    Under absolutely all circumstances!

  • One, two, many gods (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    One, two, many gods (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    I went to buy blank videotapes in a van that had Christian VideoNet emblazoned on both sides. Immediately I came out of the van, an Indian man engaged me in a friendly conversation. Soon he was talking to me about “Our Lord.”

    My immediate reaction was: “Which Lord is this man talking about? What makes him think that my Lord is his Lord?”

    My thinking was that whatever Lord this friendly Indian man was talking about; it cannot be my Lord Jesus Christ.

      “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)

    My new Indian friend kept on chatting, and he was curiously smiling at me. And then it hit me. When I think Indian, I think Hindu. But this Indian man was not a Hindu. That was what he had been trying to communicate to me. This Indian man was a Christian.

    Forgive me for having such a one-track mind. On an earlier occasion, I had met another Indian man. He was clearly not a Christian, but I soon got the impression that he was in the marketplace for a new religion. He did not wait for me to witness to him. Having seen the insignia on the van, he wanted me to tell him about Christianity. But then he had some vital questions he wanted cleared up right at the beginning.

    “Your religion,” he asked, “does it allow you to drink alcohol?”

    “Yes,” I replied expansively, “we even drink wine in church.”

    “Wonderful, wonderful,” said my Indian friend, brightening up. Then he asked: “How many gods do you have?”

    I was a bit slow on the uptake and did not quite understand what he was getting at. “What do you mean how many gods do I have?” I asked incredulously.

    “Yes, yes,” the man replied, without any hint of mischief. “How many gods do you have?”

    “I have only one God,” I said marvelling at him.

    And then I understood why. He was shopping for another god. This man was quite simply a “god collector.”

    “Only one?” he asked in disbelief. “You have only one God?”

    “Well, yes,” I replied, now defensive. “I have only one God.”

    The man shook his head in a way that said eloquently: “Forget it.” What is the point of a religion where you only have one God? That is simply too risky. What if He happens to be busy at any given time?

    Dear Reader, how many gods do you have? Do you even know all of them? Many of us do not even realise that we serve other gods. Our predicament is similar to that of the biblical nation of Israel:

    They feared the LORD yet served their own gods- according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. (2 Kings 17:33).

    He is the God who took us out of the land of Egypt. He parted the Red Sea and we walked through on dry ground. 600 Egyptian chariots and horses chased us when God delivered us from Egypt and from Pharaoh. And yet all of them ended up at the bottom of the Red Sea.

    So why would we, after such a glorious experience, trust in the same horses and chariots which brought the Egyptians to grief?

    The message should be clear. God saves by faith alone. He who has Jesus has all the protection he needs. He does not need chariots and horses. God says:

    “I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.” (Hosea 1:7).

    Nevertheless, the Bible records that Solomon had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen. (1 Kings 10:26).

    My nephew had an urgent question to ask me. “Uncle Femi,” he said, “does God not like His children to save money?”

    He had been having some difficulty with the Holy Spirit. Every time he built up a tidy nest egg, the Lord would come up with a project that would wipe it all off. He was becoming frustrated. He just did not seem to have any money put away for the rainy day.

    “God does not like His children to rely on money,” I said to him. “He wants His children to depend solely on Him. It would appear that, in your case, when you build up a savings you start to rely on the money instead of relying on God.”

    You can put burglar-proofing on your door but do not rely on it. It can be cut like paper. You can buy life insurance policies but do not put your hope in them. The insurance company itself can collapse. You can not have a godfather. Neither can you have a “sugar daddy.” And you can never go to Egypt for help. (Isaiah 31:1).

    So, tell me please; how can we fight Goliath if we have no weapons? Do not even bother trying to put on the armour of Saul. The weapons of our warfare are not man-made, but they have divine power to pull down strongholds. (2 Corinthians10:4).

    How would we kill Goliath? “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord. (Zechariah 4:6). How would we pay our school fees? How would we meet our life partners? How would we get promoted in our jobs? Neither by might nor by power but by the Holy Spirit.

    Jesus revealed to us that God is spirit. This means He is invisible and immaterial. He is not flesh and blood. Since God is a spirit, worship must be spiritual. Once we make an image, it is no longer spiritual worship. Therefore, God insists that we make no likeness of Him.

    The LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words but saw no form; you only heard a voice. (Deuteronomy 4:12).

    Once we have to relate to something physical, be it a rosary or a beautiful carving of Jesus, it is no longer spiritual worship; it is physical worship. Note that the children of Israel worshipped the brass serpent that Moses made, calling it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4).

    Christianity is not the service about an altar of stone or wood but about the human heart and life. It is not the service of Sunday best clothes, but of the garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3). and the robe of righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10). It is not the service of drums, saxophones, and organs, but of making melody in our hearts to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19).

    Spiritual worship means keeping oneself unspotted from the world by living holy godly lives. (James 1:27).

    But frankly, faith is a big problem for a lot of Christians. It is so unreal. We want a God we can see: a God we can touch. And so, we make a calf and say it is the God that brought us out of Egypt. But we just made the calf, so how can it be God? Or, we want a king like all the others. But is God not our king? No! We want a king who is flesh and blood.

    And so, we not only weary men but we also weary God as well. We provoke the Holy One of Israel to anger. God says: “Samuel, tell them what a king will do to them. Tell them a king will sell them and their children into slavery.”

    But we are not impressed. It does not matter. We still want a king. Everybody else has one, and we would like to be like everybody else.

    The man who looks unto the hills is the man who does not know God. The man who looks unto the hills is the man who does not know where his help is going to come from. He has many gods and has so many helpers. But the man who has God knows his salvation is coming from the only true God.

    Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly, in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. (Jeremiah 3:23).

    Even the psalmist who was initially looking to the hills soon realised the error of his ways:

    My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (Psalms 121:2).

    Our help does not come from the lord who is the Governor of the Central Bank. It does not come from the lord who is the Managing Director of First Bank. It comes from “the Lord of all lords” and “the King of kings:” The Lord who made heaven and earth.

    Sometimes we pray just to fulfil all righteousness. And after we have prayed, we come back to our senses and have panic attacks.

    Joy’s son was going back to the United States from Nigeria. He had an American passport and a Nigerian passport simultaneously. He came in with his Nigerian passport, which meant he did not have a Nigerian visa. But if he tried to leave with his Nigerian passport, they would require him to show a visa for his destination, the United States. That would mean he would have to show his American passport.

    But dual nationality had been suspended in Nigeria. If he showed his American passport, they would ask him how he got into the country without a Nigerian visa.

    It was a “Catch 22” situation. Joy took the matter to God and asked for His help. Then she went to the airport with her son. But on getting there she had a panic attack. She started looking for other gods to help her. Perhaps there was someone she knew who could help her? Perhaps if she spoke politely to the immigration official he would overlook the matter? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

    But what does the word of God say?

    Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7).

    But Joy was anxious about everything, and she had no peace. Finally, the Holy Spirit spoke: “Did you not ask me for help? So why are you still anxious?”

    Suddenly, she stood there in the middle of the airport terminal apologising to the Holy Spirit. She had scarcely finished praying her apologies when someone called her name.

    “Professor Ogwu, is that you?” She looked up to see this distinguished military officer standing in front of her with a big grin on his face.

    “What are you doing here?” he asked.

    “My son is travelling to the United States.”

    “Where is he?” the man asked taking charge.

    He took charge so completely that he ushered him past immigration and literally onto the plane. Problem solved.

    When Joy told her husband what had happened, he was unimpressed. “It was just a coincidence,” he insisted. Coincidence my foot!  God is not a coincidental God.