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Tag: Jesus

  • The blood of Jesus Christ is the holy spirit [2] – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    When you ask Christians why Jesus came into the world and died on the cross, they will tell you he had to die in order to offer himself as a sacrifice for sins. However, this is entirely different from the reason Jesus gave to his disciples.

    He told them God is not interested in sacrifices: he is only interested in repentance: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13).

    At the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus did not say he had to go away in order to make a sacrifice for sins. He said he had to go away in order to send the Holy Spirit: “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7).

    Redemptive process

    Why is the role of the Holy Spirit so critical in the redemptive process?

    As a man, Jesus could only be in one place at a time. This limits the number of people he could minister salvation to at any given time. Not so, with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can be everywhere simultaneously. He can minister salvation individually and collectively. Therefore, he is a more effective minister of the new covenant.

    But let there be no mistake: the Spirit of Jesus is Jesus. The spirit of a man is the man. The Holy Spirit is Jesus in another form. He is the spiritual Jesus who transforms sons of men into sons of God by systematically feeding us with the bread of life:

    “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

    This is the charge of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13). “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:25-26).

    The out-pouring

    Jesus provides us with a symbol of the coming of the Holy Spirit by drinking wine with his disciples at the Last Supper. He poured wine into one cup and said to them: “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28).

    Many presume he was referring to the outpouring of blood from his body on the cross of Calvary. However, Jesus would not ask his disciples to drink his natural blood, something forbidden in the Law of Moses. The blood of sacrificial animals is not drunk by sinners, but the Holy Spirit is new wine.

    The Holy Spirit is the blood of the covenant that Jesus poured out symbolically at the Last Supper. The actual out-pouring ultimately took place at the Pentecost and not at Calvary. That outpouring was not merely a historical event, as was the case at Calvary. On the contrary, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit operates in the present continuous and has continued since the Pentecost to this very day. It occurs every time we invite Jesus into our hearts and the Holy Spirit either comes to dwell in us or to refill us again with himself.

    Peter told onlookers at Pentecost that what they were witnessing was the out-pouring of the Spirit of Jesus Christ: “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:32-33).

    This fulfilled the prophecy of Joel: “Afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28-29).

    New Covenant

    Jesus prayed that those who believe in him should be at one with God: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. (John 17:20-22).

    This prayer is answered through the process whereby the Holy Spirit of God comes down to in-dwell every true believer. By this answered prayer, Jesus became: “the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:24). Again, the blood that is sprinkled on believers and the blood that speaks a better word is none other than the Holy Spirit.

    The blood of Abel spoke of vengeance and judgment: “And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” (Genesis 4:10-11).

    The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, speaks in our hearts the love and mercy of God.

    Therefore, we are counseled: “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks.” (Hebrews 12:25). “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30).

    With the Holy Spirit at work in us, God fulfils his promise of the new covenant: “I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” (Ezekiel 36:25-26).

    “‘The time is coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” (Jeremiah 31:31-33).

    Unlike under the old covenant where God wrote his commandments on a tablet of stone; under the new covenant, God’s commandments are written: “Not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Corinthians 3:3).

    CONTINUED

  • The blood of Jesus is the holy spirit – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    Jesus shocked everyone by saying: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:53-54).

    Eating or drinking blood is forbidden in the Law of Moses. God says: “You shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” (Genesis 9:4). He says furthermore: “I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people.” (Leviticus 17:10).

    So it came as a great surprise to many that Jesus would declare that doing something forbidden in the law is a prerequisite for obtaining eternal life. As a result, John reports that: “From that time many of (Jesus’) disciples went back and walked with him no more.” (John 6:66).

    Unprofitable flesh

    Jesus tried in vain to explain that he was not speaking about drinking the blood that flows in his natural body. He was talking about a different kind of blood; the one that flows in his spiritual body. He told his listeners: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63).

    This means it is not profitable for anyone to drink Jesus’ natural blood. For something to be profitable in the economy of Jesus, it must have eternal consequences. That disqualifies anything and everything of the flesh, leaving only the things of the spirit. Jesus says: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6). Paul concurs: “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:50).

    Therefore, natural blood cannot sustain eternal life. Natural blood can only sustain life for a maximum of 80 to 120 years. Jesus says: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). 80 to 120 years of natural life hardly constitutes “abundant” life.

    There is only so much blood that can be in the body of a man; including the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5). If it is the blood from Jesus’ natural body that we are required to drink, that blood would have run out a long time ago. In any case, we don’t have access to Jesus’ physical blood today.

    Since the flesh profits nothing, the blood from Jesus’ natural body cannot provide atonement for sins. God says: “The soul who sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4). However, natural blood cannot touch the human soul. Since it is the Spirit that gives life, the “blood” that sustains eternal life must be spiritual. That “blood” is the Holy Spirit.

    Blood relatives

    Blood determines lineage. People of the same family are called blood relatives. Similarly, we are told in Acts that: “(God) has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” (Acts 17:26). This answers Jesus’ prayer to God about believers: “Protect them by the power of your name- the name you gave me- so that they may be one as we are one.” (John 17:11).

    What then is that one blood that unites all believers with God and Jesus, making us blood relatives? What is that one blood that is in God and Jesus and also in believers? Certainly, it cannot be the blood that flowed in Jesus’ natural body because that blood is no longer available and is not in any believer. In any case, God is spirit: he has no natural blood.

    The “one blood” that unites all believers with God and Jesus as members of a single family unit is the Holy Spirit. When we receive the power to become children of God, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. Jesus says: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” (John 6:56).

    Living Water

    God said to Moses: “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” (Leviticus 17:11). But Jesus says of the life he gives: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” (John 6:63).

    When blood stops flowing in the natural body, the result is physical death. Similarly, when the Holy Spirit stops flowing in the spiritual body, the result is spiritual death. This makes the Holy Spirit the spiritual equivalent of natural blood. Therefore, in the spiritual realm, the Holy Spirit is “the blood of Christ.”

    At the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus invited the Jews to drink his blood of the Holy Spirit, which he referred to as “living water: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37-38).

    John explains that: “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.” (John 7:39). However, the people did not understand what he meant.

    New wine

    Paul says: “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking.” (Romans 14:17). However, at the Last Supper, Jesus ate bread and drank wine with his disciples. He said to them: “Take, eat; this is my body.” (Mark 14:22). “I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (Mark 14:25).

    So what eating and drinking is done in the kingdom of God that is not actually eating and drinking? What wine is drunk in the kingdom of God that is not old but new?

    The food we eat in the kingdom of God is the word of God. Jesus says: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). By the same token, the wine we drink in the kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit: “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1 Corinthians 12:13).

    Therefore, when Jesus said: “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink” (John 6:55), he was speaking metaphorically and not harking back to pagan mystery religions. In the scriptures, “the fruit of the vine” is juxtaposed with “the fruit of the Spirit.” Old wine comes from grape juice. New wine comes from the Holy Spirit.

    At Pentecost, when Jesus’ disciples received the Holy Spirit, onlookers thought they were drunk with wine. But Peter explained: “These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (Acts 2:15-17).

    The new way of drinking “wine” that Jesus spoke about at the Last Supper is by receiving the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, Paul counsels: “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18).

    [Continued]

  • Fighting against the truth – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    For a long time, Jesus was a big problem in my life. I simply could not handle the truth of God that he reveals. Before I met Jesus, I was convinced I was righteous. I lived my life under a strict code of principles and precepts, which I believed set me apart from the rest of humanity.

    But the truth, which I only discovered much later, was that these principles were absolutely rubbish. The problem with Jesus is that his righteousness is diametrically opposite to mine.

    Jesus the righteous

    When I met Jesus, his message was unambiguous. There could only be one conclusion from his teachings: Femi Aribisala is unrighteous. I was confronted with a choice. I would either have to choose the righteousness of Christ, or conclude he says a load of pious nonsense. I could not come outright to say Jesus was talking rubbish because I came from a Christian home and was raised as a Christian.

    But at the same time, I sought refuge in the misguided conviction that Jesus’ righteousness is impossible to fulfil. I was convinced, for example, that there was no way a man could get to the point where he would never again look at a woman lustfully. There was no way that one would slap a man on the one cheek and he would readily turn the other cheek.

    There was no way a man would take your coat and you would give him your cloak as well, unless of course you were stupid. There was no way a sane human being could be expected to love his enemies and to pray for those who despitefully use him. In short, I concluded there was no way anyone could be the kind of man Jesus preached about.

    So what then should I do about the declared truth of God’s word? I decided it was better for me to stop reading the bible, especially the words of Jesus. I reached the conclusion, which I now realise was a major piece of deception, that if I continued reading the bible, I would certainly end up as an atheist.

    Sooner or later, the illogical and the irrational nature of Jesus’ teachings would get to me, and I would conclude that Jesus himself was a load of rubbish. Since I did not want to reach that conclusion, I decided to stay away from Jesus as much as possible.

    Living a lie

    That was my way of dealing with the truth, and it was completely idiotic. The problem with Jesus’ truth is that it does not leave us alone. We can run away from it, but are nevertheless soon overtaken by it. Jesus’ truth does not go away. It is always there, staring us in the face. It is always there, compelling a choice. If we harden our hearts, there remains only one way out: we have to become abject liars.

    It is one of the major tragedies of contemporary Christianity that most so-called Christians are living a lie. We name the name of Jesus but ignore his commandments. We continue in sin but delude ourselves that Jesus has taken away our sins. We say Jesus is Lord, but in all practical matters reject his lordship. Accordingly, Jesus says: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).

    “He one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Luke 6:49).

    If Christians were to put Jesus’ words into practice, we would be known as the most righteous people on earth. We are not because we ignore Jesus.

    Instead, most Christians are hypocrites. A hypocrite is a play-actor, a pretender, and a deceiver. He is formally and outwardly righteous, but inwardly insincere and evil. Jesus says of the Pharisees: “Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:28).

    Hypocritical Christians

    Hypocrisy among Christians is particularly harmful because it speaks of a terrible heart condition. The hypocrite knows the right thing to do, pretends to do the right thing, but does not believe in doing the right thing. Hypocrisy is pretending to be righteous when our heart is far from God.

    The scriptures say we can change our life by changing our heart. That is the central message of Jesus’ beatitudes. However, the hypocrite says we can change our life by changing our appearance. Hypocrisy fundamentally denies the existence of God. Our actions keep begging the question: “How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?” (Psalm 73:11).

    The hypocrite is only concerned about men; he does not reckon with God. As long as he fools men he is satisfied. Peter calls hypocrites wells without water. Jude says they are trees without fruit, twice dead.

    Are you a hypocrite? Then you need to repent. Jesus pronounced woe on hypocrites. He warns: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20).

    And so today, we have many people whose Christianity does not go beyond going to church, quoting the scriptures, singing praise songs and going to prayer-meetings.

    Beloved, how do you respond to the truth? Your answer will determine whether you inherit life or death. Do you fight against the truth? It is a losing battle because the truth is impregnable. To fight against the truth is to fight against God. You cannot win.

    The helper

    One day, I found myself in a church and the preacher preached a message I could not really understand, except that something in me connected with it. It was time to stop fooling myself and accept defeat. My righteousness is inadequate. I needed to succumb to the righteousness of God. I went forward and prayed a heartfelt prayer of repentance. I asked God to help me and keep me in his righteous path.

    From that day, something strange happened to me. I discovered a power from within, teaching me the ways of God; enabling me to obey the commands of Jesus. Accepting Jesus means accepting his words and precepts. It means living by his words. Jesus says: “This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19).

    I suddenly discovered that the commands I felt are impossible to obey can be obeyed with the help of Jesus’ Holy Spirit. He is appointed to lead us into God’s truth. The ways of God are anathema to the flesh. But they can be realised when we are born again of God’s Spirit.

    Thanks to Jesus, we can no longer deal with truth in the abstract. Thanks to Jesus, truth is now a person with a personality. Truth has come down from heaven to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus says: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

  • Confronting the truth of Jesus – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    Truth in the bible is not abstract. It is real and tangible. Truth in the scriptures is a person. Jesus says: “I am the truth.” (John 14:6).

    Jesus is truth personified. Only Jesus, who came down from heaven, truly represents God. He is also God’s ideal man. He is the word; the very expression of God. His Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Indeed, the primary function of the Holy Spirit is to guide us into all truth. (John 16:13).

    Impregnable truth

    We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth. (2 Corinthians 13:8). No matter what we say or do, the truth remains the truth. It is absolute. It refuses to go away. It cannot be silenced. It does not change. However, it can change us. Jesus says: “The truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32). It is the lie that shackles.

    God is the God of truth. (Isaiah 65:16). Truth is his nature and personality. This makes him faithful and just. He is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8). He is the rock that endures to all generations. (Isaiah 26:4). He does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17).

    The challenge then is how we respond to God’s truth. Do we fight the truth or succumb to it? If we decide to fight, it is going to be a losing battle because the truth is impregnable. Not even the gates of hell can prevail against the truth of God. (Matthew 16:18).

    John the Baptist spoke the truth to Herodias: “You should not marry your husband’s brother.” Herodias had a problem dealing with this. She decided to fight it. John the Baptist must be killed. God’s truth must be silenced. But would the death of John the Baptist change the truth of her adultery? Would the death of John the Baptist make her adultery righteous? Certainly not!

    Jesus told Pilate: “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37). But Pilate is dismissive. He asks flippantly: “What is truth?” and walks away. (John 18:38). But the truth cannot be dismissed. The truth now confronts us perpetually in the person of Jesus. Can we honestly live with him? Or do we declare like Peter: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8).

    Killing the truth

    In biblical Israel, prophets of God were killed because they dared to tell the truth. They told people what they did not want to hear. They convinced people of their sins. But rather than deal with their sins, the people decided to deal with the prophets.

    Jesus told Pilate he who is of the truth hears his voice. This is powerful stuff. Truth is only acceptable to the truthful. Jesus provides a stark definition of two kinds of men. The one is of the truth: the other of the lie. The one is of God: the other of the devil. The one is able to hear to the word of God: the other only able to hear the voice of the devil. Opposites repel and likes attract. Only those who are of God can receive the gospel of the kingdom of God.

    Jesus is like a magnet. His people are drawn to him, and they welcome his revelation. Although his light exposes their sins, they nevertheless respond to it in repentance and faith. They live by the truth. Those not of God will reject the gospel. Jesus says they will reject the truth because they are of the lie. Liars can only receive lies.

    Accordingly, the pastors, bishops, popes and other members of the Jewish religious establishment decided the way out was to kill Jesus and silent the truth. But God raised him from the dead, never to die again.

    Judgment of truth

    We hate the truth because the truth is bitter. We hate it because it exposes us and reveals who we really are. We hate it because we don’t like ourselves and prefer to walk in self-deception. 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.

    In which case, we cannot expect to spend eternity with the truth. We must spend eternity with the lie. “No lie is of the truth.” (1 John 2:21). “All liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.” (Revelation 21:8).

    On the last day, we will be judged by the truth we reject. (John 12:48). The same word of truth we despise will come back to interrogate us. It will say: “Did I not tell you so-and-so on such-and-such a date through such-and-such means. Why did you reject it?”

    We reject the truth not because we believe it is false, but because we know it is the truth. We reject it 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 truth is profitable in this life. Our ministry might suffer. We might not be able to pay our bills. We might end up losing our job. As a result, truth has stumbled in our streets. (Isaiah 59:14).

    Those who reject the truth of God will end up with what they believe. Jesus says: “According to your faith will it be done to you.” (Matthew 9:29). If we believe lies we shall spend eternity with lies. But if we believe Jesus, the Son of God, then we can look forward to spending eternity with him in the City of Truth. (Zechariah 8:3). Therefore Solomon counsels: “Buy the truth and do not sell it.” (Proverbs 23:23).

    Salvation of truth

    Truth in man comes in response to God’s truth. It is God’s truth that gives light. It is his truth that opens the eyes of the blind. Truth comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It comes by way of the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. Jesus is the word of God. The word of God is truth. (John 17:17). The more we allow the Holy Spirit to write Jesus’ word on the tables of our heart, the more we appropriate the mind of Christ.

    God did not send the truth into the world to condemn us but to save us. The truth is the gospel. It is good news. It ensures we no longer have to fear our nakedness. The truth means although we have been sinful, we don’t have to remain in sin. When we obey the truth, we receive the ability to overcome lies and live godly lives.

    Through the word of truth, God provides the means whereby the sinner is made righteous. By receiving the truth of Jesus, we receive new life. We are redeemed and born again. The slate is wiped clean. The past is forgiven and forgotten. The future is the promised glorious end.

    This is the truth: God is merciful. His mercies endure forever. Once we repent, confess our sins and make a turnaround, he does not remember our sins anymore.

  • Today’s pastors are all fake: Jesus is now the only real pastor – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    Frustrated by the magnitude of the miracles attending Jesus’ ministry, the chief priests and elders of the Jews challenged him in the temple. They demanded to know by what authority he was doing the things he was doing and who it was who gave him the authority.

    In his reply, Jesus presents a dichotomy between what is of God and what is of men. He asks them: “The baptism of John- where was it from? From heaven or from men?” (Matthew 21:25).

    The question is loaded. By implication, Jesus maintains what is of God cannot be of men and what is of men cannot be of God. This dichotomy between God and men finds its most eloquent expression in Jesus’ categorical assertion that: “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15).

    It is pertinent, therefore, to ask whether the ordination of pastors today is of God or of men.

    Fake pastors

    The answer is straight-forward: the ordination of pastors today is of men and not of God. It does not come from the commandments or teachings of Jesus. It comes from the writings of Paul.

    Paul does not say Jesus specifically instructs him to create ministerial positions in the church. Instead, he bases his authority for doing this on a messianic Old Testament scripture. With reference to psalm 68, he writes: “This is why it says: ‘When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.’” (Ephesians 4:8).

    Undertanding that this scripture foretells Christ’s resurrection, Paul then says: “(Jesus) himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12).

    However, on investigation it becomes apparent that Paul’s position misquotes and even distorts the original psalm. The psalmist says: “When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious- that you, O LORD God, might dwell there.” (Psalm 68:18).

    Can you see the difference? The psalmist says men gave gifts to the Lord. Paul, in quoting the psalmist, changes this to say the Lord gave gifts to men.

    Unauthorised ministerial posts

    Apparently, Paul wanted to create posts in the churches he established so as to bring them more effectively under his control. So he twisted an Old Testament scripture to make it seem as if it was the Lord who authorised it. As a result, there are people today who insist the Lord has called them to be pastors and teachers, not knowing that Jesus does not envisage any of these positions under the New Testament.

    This is what Jesus says: “I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes.” (Matthew 23:34). Nothing here about pastors and teachers. On his resurrection, he said furthermore: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone.” (Mark 16:15). This means all believers are called to be evangelists, it is not a special calling for a select few.

    In creating unauthorised posts, which have since spawned many others such as popes, arch-bishops, and right-reverends, Paul enshrined the spirit of the Pharisee in the heart of Christianity, contrary to the teachings of Jesus.

    Jesus discourages honorific titles and warns that those who exalt themselves will be humbled. He mocks the pomposity of the Pharisees, insisting that we should not follow their example: “Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates.” (Matthew 23:8).

    This show Jesus permits no differentiation among his followers. We are all equal. The pope is no different from the lay Catholic. The arch-bishop is the classmate of the members of the laity. None of them is greater in status than the other. So how come some classmates are now calling themselves teachers?

    Nevertheless, Paul tells Timothy: “I was appointed a preacher and an apostle- I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying- a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” (1 Timothy 2:7). This cannot be true because Jesus expressly forbids this: “Do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. (Matthew 23:10).

    Moreover, Jesus tells us God, and not men, will be our teacher: “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.” (John 6:45).

    No contradiction

    Jesus says furthermore: “Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do.” (Matthew 23:9). This means the pastor is not the head of a church. He cannot lord it over members of his congregation. As a matter of fact, pastors are now anachronistic. Jesus says: “There shall be one flock and one pastor.” (John 10:16). This establishes Jesus as the one and only “Good Pastor.” (John 10:11).

    God the Father is the source of all authority and from him it flows to Jesus, the Son. Does it then flow from Jesus to the pastor, the bishop, or the pope? Certainly not! On his resurrection, Jesus declared to his disciples: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18). The authority remains firmly with Jesus.

    Jesus says: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28).

    Strange doctrine

    What are we to conclude from all this? All those who call themselves pastors are not disciples of Jesus. Their authority is not from heaven, but from men. They are fake pastors with Jesus being the only legitimate pastor. David says: “The Lord is my pastor, I have all that I need.” (Psalm 23:1). If Jesus is our pastor, we don’t need fake pastors. Jesus does not outsource his church to pastors. He says: “I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18).

    Wittingly or unwittingly, pastors today disobey the voice of Jesus by heeding instead the voice of Paul. Eternal life is not in the words of Paul. Eternal life is in the words of Jesus. (John 6:68-69). Jesus, not Paul, is “the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2). Therefore, Jesus’ words are the only acceptable basis of church doctrine.

    The Holy Spirit does not speak on his own authority; he only says what he hears. (John 16:13-15). Not so with pastors. They insist on being answerable to themselves. Jeremiah says: “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” (Jeremiah 5:30-31).

  • Jesus avoids surgery on eye socket

    Manchester City’s Brazilian star striker Gabriel Jesus says he will not need surgery on his right eye socket which was fractured by team-mate Nicolas Otamendi.

    The 20-year-old Brazil international had to go off after the accidental collision with Argentina defender Otamendi in a match in Melbourne, Australia, last Friday.

    However, he felt sufficiently cheered by the assessment of the medical staff to go public with the news on Thursday.

    “Yesterday I did a facial resonance, several exams and I have good news! My recovery is going very well and I won’t need surgery,” he wrote on Facebook.

    “In 15 days I will be reassessed but all signs show that I will be back within three weeks!

    “Thanks a lot to everyone that sent me messages, who supported me, sent positive vibes and prayed for me.

    “Thank you to Dr Jorge Pagura, Dr Claudio Lotemberg and Dr Sergio Miranda, for the treatment and attention.”

    Jesus made a strong impact at City upon his arrival in January, scoring three goals in his first three appearances before suffering a broken bone in his foot that sidelined him for two months.

    City manager Pep Guardiola labelled him “special” and suggested the club might have been fighting for the title rather than scrapping for a Champions League place had he been available all season.

    With pre-season training still a few weeks away, Guardiola will hope Jesus will be back in time for the US tour which begins in July.

  • Pastors are Jesus killers – Aribisala

    Pastors are Jesus killers – Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala
    The presumed principal custodians of our faith; the pastors, bishops and popes of our churches, are ungodly and unrighteous.
    Christians are told lies so repeatedly; many no longer recognise the truth. Answer me this: did your pastor happen to mention that Jesus was killed by pastors?
    Not likely! Pastors don’t want people to know their fore-fathers killed Jesus; otherwise they would soon recognise they too are in the same business. Jesus says to the pastors of old: “You are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.” (Matthew 23:31). Even so, the pastors of today testify against themselves that they are the descendants of those who killed Jesus.
    Testimony of Jesus
    Let me tell you a story you must have heard before but have probably been led to misunderstand. Jesus told the story to some pastors and they were very angry with him because they recognised it was a veiled attack on them. They even wanted to kill him right there and then but held back because of the crowds. Perhaps you need to listen to the story one more time.
    “There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.”
    “Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.” (Matthew 21:33-40).
    Let us get certain things straight about this true-to-life story. The landowner is God. The servants of the landowner are the prophets. The son is Jesus Christ. The vinedressers are the priests and the pastors.
    What you may not have realised is that, precisely because Jesus told this story against pastors, they have gone to great lengths to distort it. They now insist it was not the vinedressers who killed the son of the landowner, but that the landowner himself killed his own son. They tell men God sacrificed Jesus for their sins, instead of the fact that pastors killed Jesus in order to continue in their own sins.
    Mercy and not sacrifice
    Jeremiah says: “Among my people are found wicked men; they lie in wait as one who sets snares; they set a trap; they catch men.” (Jeremiah 5:26). Who are these wicked men? Make no mistake about it; pastors are at the top of the list.
    Hosea says: “The priests are like a gang of robbers who wait in ambush for a man. Even on the road to the holy place at Shechem they commit murder. And they do all this evil deliberately!” (Hosea 6:9). Today, there are even gangs of Catholic priests raping young boys.
    Jesus said prophetically to the Pharisees: “If you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matthew 12:7). What did he mean? He meant if they understood the love of God, they would not kill him, an innocent man, in order to protect their corrupt lifestyles. If pastors today knew the love of God, they would not continue to kill Jesus by misrepresenting him.
    A man walked in on a gang of men robbing a bank. He switched on the light and declared: “Repent. I am the light of the world.” What do you think the robbers did to him? They had him killed, switched off the light and continued with their robbery. They then claimed it was God who killed him as a sacrifice for the sins of men. But God demonstrated unequivocally that he was not responsible for Jesus’ death by raising him from the dead.
    Fleecing the flock
    Jesus says: “I am the good pastor.” (John 10:11). “All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers.” (John 10:8). Those who came after him are no different. Their primary focus is to fleece people of their money so as to build up their own kingdoms. Jeremiah says: “They are as greedy as dogs, never satisfied; they are stupid pastors who only look after their own interest, each trying to get as much as he can for himself from every possible source.” (Isaiah 56:11).
    In many respects, what holds today is no different from the falsehood popularised in the days of Martin Luther, when priests maintained a man could purchase forgiveness of sins for a dead relative by giving money to the Catholic Church. The Dominican monk, Johann Tetzel, was one of those sent out by the pope to preach this message in order to raise money for the church.
    His message was straightforward: give money and your sins will be forgiven. Like the pastors of today, he came up with a popular refrain: “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”
    Unrighteous pastors
    Jesus came to set the captives free by giving us true first-hand information about God. But after he did, pastors have endeavoured to distort even the true portrait he gave.
    They pretend to reveal God to men but have a vested interest in ensuring they don’t know him. How would they continue to rip people off if they were to know the truth of Jesus’ message that makes men free? (John 8:32). The result is that more falsehood about God is taught in the churches today than almost anywhere else.
    So what does Jesus do about this? First, he tells us a parable that a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by armed robbers and left for dead. A priest came along, saw the dying man but quickly walked away.
    A pastor also came along but he too ignored the dying man. Finally, a Good Samaritan came along. He bound up the wounds of the poor man, took him to the hospital and paid for all his medical expenses. When the man recovers, should he remain the disciple of priests and pastors? Certainly not!
    Jesus is the Good Samaritan. One of his major assignments is to convince us that the presumed principal custodians of our faith; the chief priests, the Pharisees, the religious hierarchy; indeed the pastors, bishops and popes of our churches, are ungodly and unrighteous. Accordingly he says to them: “Assuredly, tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.” (Matthew 21:31).
    Jesus’ life demonstrates this conclusively because these so-called “men of God” kill him, an innocent man, in order to protect their interests and positions. Jesus’ adversaries were not “sinners” but “holy” and religious pastors. Therefore, contrary to what it seems, many of those who claim to speak for God are not of God. Instead, they rob men of God. They rob them of his knowledge by presenting counterfeit portraits of God. They rob them so that they and not God would be the gods of their lives.