The Light Bearer For The World Ministry

Hello, once again, my friends from all across the globe. I hope you’re all doing fine.

I want to sincerely thank you so very much for reading my first testimony. I humbly make a request, that you lend a helping hand in spreading the testimonies and sermons in this platform all over the world, for the benefit of others, and to the glory of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus The Christ, whose second coming is quite at hand. 

My Second Testimony.

Today I’m sharing more testimonies about God’s intervention in my life at very critical times when my very existence was at great risks. In psalms 23:4 (KJV), king David wrote the following words: 

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. “

My names are Joseph Achi and I have earlier revealed in my first testimony that I lived in the northern part of Nigeria, west Africa.  I still do. 

I live in kaduna state, which has become one of the most religiously volatile states of my country, even though our elders would be quick to point out that Kaduna has always been a beautiful and peaceful place to live in, as far back as they can remember, until in the 1980s when the peaceful coexistence of the Christian and Muslim populace was compromised by some few individuals using religious extremism as a facade for some selfish ethnic and political gains in the northern region. Since then there have been some very serious clashes between those two dominant religious groups in various parts of the region. I’m going to share only the incidents in which I was affected, and how God saved me. 

1. In the year 1992, a bloody clash engulfed kaduna, starting from the southern region of the state and spreading to other parts of the state. The state capital where I lived was struck on a Sunday evening around 6pm. 

 On that fateful day I had gone to keep an appointment at a place where I was to meet and debate with a missionary of the Unification Church founded by a certain Sung Meon Moon. This missionary was preaching in my community what I considered to be an unsound Bible doctrine, which had almost compromised one of my Christian friends, but for the fact that I had discovered the unholy romance just in time. 

As I was reasoning with my small audience our debate was interrupted by a Muslim mob chanting religious slogans and attacking both motorists and pedestrians on a major road not too far away from us. It was just a matter of time until their victims mobilized to defend themselves against that onslaught, and then the bloodbath began. 

By my Christian upbringing I was taught to stand against bloodshed, and violence of any kind, so I found my way back home and locked myself into my home and started to pray. The conflict wore on into the night and there were sounds of gunfire and the desperate cries of people either fleeing for dear life or encouraging those fleeing to stop and hold out against their assailants to the death. The night sky glowed red from houses burning; death hung in the air and fear was palpable. The small  Christian community I lived in at that time was sandwiched between two larger Muslim communities, and it was evident to anyone who could see that we were overpowered. But by God’s intervention the community did not fall; it held out  into the early hours of the morning, and then there was some respite. However, that respite didn’t last because by 8 am our assailants launched another attack on our neighbourhood again, and this time it was even more fiercer than the first onslaught because the cover of darkness offered by the previous night had lifted off, and the two opposing sides were in plain view of each other. 

Now through out the duration of that fight I didn’t take sides with anyone ; I locked up myself and prayed for everyone. I told God to put fear into the people’s mind so that they’d be afraid of being killed. I asked God to make both the Christian and Muslim warriors to turn backwards to their homes. 

At a point the youth in my community were going from house to house compelling every able bodied male to join in the fight. My father was far away working in a different part of my country: there was only me, his eldest son, my mother, elder sisters and other younger siblings. The warriors asked me to join or risk being beaten. I declined the invitation and told them it was okay to beat me, but that Id be praying for both of the warring sides to lose the courage to keep up with the bloodshed and retreat.  They left me but came back again after some time with more threats, and  this time they threatened to burn our house unless I joined the war effort. I still stood on my scriptural grounds to “do no violence to no one” as seen in Luke 3:14. I told them I would be loyal to God’s word. To God’s glory they left me to continue with my intercession. 

At that time of the morning a military aircraft started a surveillance flight, circling over head ostensibly trying to identify hotspots of the conflict , which wore on until 4pm in the afternoon when the military ground troop finally broke through to secure our small community and then provided a safe corridor for all evacuees from our community to go to designated police and military barracks as refugees until normalcy was restored.

 I got to understand later that this became necessary because there were armed mercenaries brought in from a particular neighboring muslim country ( name withheld) to help in the war effort; so the military had to flush them out. 

The military vehicles sent to carry us were not enough to accommodate everyone. My mother, two elder sisters and myself could not board any of the trucks so we followed the long line of displaced people to trek to the nearest police barracks. The military provided security all the way and seemed to be everywhere enforcing peace and order. However, when we reached the police barracks my family decided it was better to proceed some four or five kilometers ahead to the military barracks where we had relations to take care of us. But as we proceeded along we discovered that the area we were following had no military or police presence, and it was understandable because it was mainly a Muslim settlement and the fight had not extended there as it did to places with a Muslim/Christian mix. 

Just about a kilometer to the barracks we ran into a Muslim mob coming out from the afternoon prayer in a nearby mosque. They made a beeline for us: it was easy to tell that we were Christian because of our mode of dressing. They first question us to know where we were coming from, and after they learned of it they gleefully proceeded to take revenge on us, stating clearly that people in my community killed lots of their Muslim brothers in the battle of the previous night.  They allowed my mother and sisters to go away alive but started dragging me off to my death. I was just smiling as they pulled me along because I felt a sudden surge of peace and calmness which I could not reconcile with the hostile atmosphere surrounding us. 

I told my family to go ahead, with a promise that I’d meet them at the barracks shortly.

 Honestly I just said that to them before I even knew that I was saying it because even if I could break free from that blood thirsty mob and make a run for my life, it won’t be long before I’d be cornered somewhere in that large Muslim community and lynched. Well,  I didn’t  even have such intention. 

 In the meantime, my mother adamantly stood with me even after  I had persuaded my sisters to try and reach the barracks as allowed by our assailants. 

They soon started picking up  metals from a nearby mechanic workshop with which to hit me, while yelling and pulling at me all the time.  But before they could deal a single blow on me, an elderly man, whom I thought was their imam, ordered them to stop. 

I was brought to him and he questioned me further to know more about me. I told him I was on my way to seek refuge  at the army barracks nearby. He asked if I was not one of the people fighting their Muslim brothers at my community, to which I answered that  I was not one of them. He took two other elders and they went apart to make some deliberations and afterwards returned. They asked to search me to see if I was armed, but before then they asked me to declare what I was having with me. I told them they’d find in my bag my Bible, a few cloths and shoe. That’s all. Someone was mandated to confirm what I had said, and it was just so.  Then the man prayed for me (his authority over them suggested to me that he was their imam). He said because  I was a man of peace, he asked God to protect and give me the peace that I was seeking. I answered with a wholehearted AMEN. 

Hallelujah!!!  I knew that God just gave me back my life because I took a neutral stance in that  conflict. 

The mob became restive and murmured against that seemingly unfair judgment meted out by the elderly man. They were appealing to him to consider the blood of their Muslim brothers spilled in my community, but he sternly rebuked them saying in response that I said that I was a man of peace. He ordered me to go on ahead to my destination. 

So I left with my mother. When we arrived at our destination, my sisters were already in a mourning mood at the outskirts of the barracks, but when I showed up God turned that mourning to joy!

Hallelujah!

However, our joyful reunion was cut short by a stampede; some persons were running towards us at the top of their heels. We ran into the barracks also and afterwards got to find out what had happened. It happened that they too followed behind us in a bid to reach the barracks, but the same mob that stopped me attacked them and killed a few of them just within few minutes after I was let go. 

May their souls rest in peace. 

Looking back now, I believe the followings to be the unseen but yet prevailing  facts of what transpired at that time of the conflict:

1. That that  small Christian community ( about 20% of the total number of residents of that town) armed with only sticks, stones,  few dane guns, bows and arrows, survived that 22 hours onslaught by a well armed group of Muslims and hired mercenaries fighting them from two fronts, not because of  any act of bravery on their part, but only because of God’s divine intervention. 

See Jeremiah 1:18-19 (KJV):

For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land….And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.” 

2. I’m happy to say that because of the stance I and my few friends took to do no violence to anyone, it gave us the opportunity to speak to other Christians who got involved in the fight, and they later repented of their involvement when they learned it was scripturally wrong. And God was glorified. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-4(KJV):

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

3. That my escape from that Muslim

mob was God’s own divine way of manifesting His sovereign power in saving me even from an unwilling enemy; the fact that they pursued and killed some refuge seekers at that same spot, just a few minutes after I left, proved that that  elderly man wasn’t just feeling generous when he allowed that angry mob to let me go unharmed; it was God who worked out my deliverance from death that day, in order to give me back my life which I had laid down for His sake when I refused to join in the fight,  though under  very serious threats by my own community. 

Psalms 106:44, 46 (KJV):

“Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry: He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives”.

Isn’t it all true when the Psalmist wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in  Psalms 50:15, saying:

“And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” ?

It is my humble and heartfelt prayer that this testimony will help restore someone’s confidence in God’s power and ability to help them in the hour of their need. 

God bless you. 

Amen. 

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Hello to all of you who have been reading my sermons on this platform. I want to sincerely thank you for your time, and I hope that you’ve found the articles worth reading.

I’m presently working on a book which chronicles my encounters with God in almost four decades past, and I have decided to share a snippet of those encounters with you before hand. The motivation for doing this is purely out of a desire to give hope to someone out there, that Jesus Christ is alive, and that He wants to have a relationship with them if only they can trust Him enough to surrender their life to Him. All what you’re going to be reading here are real experiences, which happened to me over the years of my walk with God. There are so many of them, but I’m just going to share four of those encounters here as a testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ is alive, and that He still does great and amazing miracles in the lives of those who know and trust Him. Hallelujah!

My First Testimony.

I was born in the northern region of Nigeria in the early 70s and was raised up by very devoted Christian parents. My mother was especially a very devoted Christian and I followed in her steps from a very tender age of four years and, thus, grew up to become deeply religious. By the time I was eleven years old , I had already been baptized, been a communicant, been confirmed and was already doing house to house evangelism and hospital visits under the banner of a popular  Society in my church ( name withheld).

I was also a chorister and a trainee manservant. 

When I turned sixteen years something extraordinary happened to me: I had gone to bed on a fateful night and the room was pitch dark because there was a power interruption. So, as I waited to fall asleep, a voice spoke to me in the darkness, calling me by my first name. It said: “ Joseph, if you die now where would you go to?”

I had no answer to that question so I remained silent. Strangely, I felt no fear at all. Somehow I knew it was God speaking to me. Just then He answered His own question to me. He said: “ you’d go to hell”. Then everywhere was quiet once again. 

  It was at this moment that fear gripped me. I was really afraid to sleep thereafter because I thought I’d die that night. So, I was greatly relieved when, after what seemed like an eternity,  I heard the first Cock crow heralding the dawn of another day. But, thereafter, every night became a dreaded time for me to live through because I feared I might die in my sleep and go to hell. 

At that time my family had relocated to the middle belt region of my country, but my mother whom I was closely attached with left us to go back and live in the family house in the north so as to attend to her religious duties which, as she said, she missed so much. As a result of the distance between us, I couldn’t share my experience with her, neither did I with anyone else , instead I started asking my father to allow me relocate to the north to stay with my mother and continue with my education, but he declined the request. 

Worthy of note is that at this material time I had stopped almost all of my activities in the church because the Church at that town I was living was not really encouraging me to carry on with those duties: the atmosphere was not as spiritual as was the previous ones I had been. It was the same reason my mother had given to my dad for her relocation back to the north. So I prayed to God and said that if He’d make my father to allow me stay with my mother in the north, I’d serve him with my whole heart. But in the mean time, I devoted more time to prayer and study of the. Bible to see if that could at least bring me some assurances of salvation because I still lived with the fear of God’s verdict passed on me that night. I tried to flow with the activities in the church, but it didn’t just make any difference; the more I tried the more I really saw reason why I cannot fellowship with the church any more. Every service was a sorrow to me; I couldn’t see the true devotion and reverence for God which I had grown to know existed among God’s people. Some of those things that totally put me off where as follows:

1. There were allegations of theft among ushers who handled the offerings, and during one particular harvest ceremony an usher stole eggs and stuffed them in his pocket, but he was caught when it broke and stained his trousers. 

2. Almost every boy my age at the time was promiscuous and they did not hide their sexual escaped with the opposite sexes; they actually flaunted it. 

3. I saw two young male choristers smoking and when I asked why they did that, one of them explained that it was because he’d broken off with his girlfriend and needed to forget the pain. I guess his friend was just smoking along with him for some emotional support. 

4. The priest was just interested in making each service a time of laughter for his congregation; we were told lots of stories and it seemed everyone was okay with that, except me. 

So, I stopped attending church altogether, much to my father and certain church leaders’ dismay. I intensified my Bible study and prayers at home, asking God to help me relocate to where my mother was, while promising Him that I’d serve Him better there under my mothers guide and influence. 

At this particular time of personal retreat two things happened to me:

1. I witnessed the transformation of life that occurred in a bachelor who was a close Neighbour to us. He was a very angry young man and was feared by many. But he liked me and would sometimes invite me to spend the night with him. On one of such nights he suddenly jumped out of the bed screaming in fear   He got a machete and started slashing at an invisible enemy in the air. I stood aside watching him,  not knowing what was wrong until he later explained that some demonic beings came to drag him to hell and it was so real that he didn’t think it was a dream. 

Subsequently, his colleagues at work who were Christians came to pray with him at home and he accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour of his life. He became a totally changed person. I couldn’t help noticing those remarkable changes in his life. 

2. A girl in my neighborhood who was attending a Pentecostal church  noticed my activities with the Bible and tried to help me to gain a more accurate knowledge of the Christian faith. I ended up attending a revival service at her church and listened to the testimony of two young girls who got hypnotized by a man when touched them on the head. This man led them to the river Benue, but just as they reached the river bank and started following him across the train bridge ( it was a secluded area) one of the girls suddenly shouted out and said, “satan you are a liar, in Jesus’ name!”

Immediately after she said that, the  man vanished into thin air, and they regained consciousness , and ran back into town. 

 Other testimonies followed, all of them declaring that Jesus intervened at critical moments of their lives to show Himself mighty to save and to deliver. It was my first time of being in such an atmosphere of worship and revival; in such a place where everyone seemed to have a testimony of a personal intervention of God in their lives. There was joy in that church and I felt that I needed to have more of Christ in my life.  I pressed on with my prayer for God to help me go to my mother. 

My prayer was answered after two years and I travelled back to the north to continue with my study. 

There in my old community it seemed everything had also changed. It seemed the church I had grown up attending had also changed; there was no difference with what I  experienced in the middle belt region I had relocated from. It seemed there was no more fear of God. I was shattered. I stopped attending church once again. The Priest personally paid me a visit at home to find out why I had stopped attending church, but I kept my observation to my self. Little did I realize that that encounter with Christ which I had in that dark room had totally opened my eyes to what true communion with Christ should be: it was not , as I later came to realize, all about church activities or the observance of church rules; it was rather a life transforming relationship with the very person of Jesus Christ. He needed to be so real to anyone who must walk with Him. My encounter with the Lord had awakened me to that reality and now I saw the church through the eyes of God’s Spirit, or God helped me see it just the way He wanted me to. Which ever was the case, it changed me totally and I was never the same again; I was constantly in search of what would give me that kind of a relationship, an inner peace and acceptance with God. But just how I could achieve that was what eluded me. 

As the year turned round and I enrolled in a new school, the Lord led me to befriend a boy in my class. He was different from the others and I guessed that was what attracted me to him. Something felt so different about him and it was spiritually tangible; I could feel God around him. 

One fateful afternoon after school hours, as we were walking home, he told me about a certain German Evangelist ( Reinhard Bonnke) who was scheduled to hold a five days open air crusade in our city in the coming month. Frankly I wasn’t interested in that talk and I somehow felt that he was over hyping the issue, especially when he said he’d be on that crusade ground two hours before hand for each of those five days. I was curious to know why he’d be under the sun for two hours before the crusade starts, to which he replied that it was so that he could pray for the Lord to manifest His power to heal and to save souls through the ministry of that visiting Evangelist. 

At that point we were at an intersection and I just stood for a while to look at him because I thought that was a crazy thing  for anyone to want to do. But just then something happened which I couldn’t really explain: but the Lord spoke very clearly to me that afternoon. It was just past noon and the sun was shining so bright, but I noticed another brighter light around my friend and a voice spoke to me. It said something like this to me: “this is what’s different between you and your friend; you claim you love me but you have no commitments to show for it. Your friend on the other hand is ready to spend two hours under the sun to pray at the crusade ground for the benefit of others”. 

I was deeply convicted. My friend kept talking enthusiastically about the crusade and what he’d be praying to see happen in peoples lives. I didn’t even hear him make any wish for himself. It was all about the benefit of others. 

For the first time in the three years following my encounter with Christ in that dark room, I suddenly felt that I knew what God wanted me to do. When I reached home that day, I locked up my self in the room, fell on my knees and, from the bottom of my heart, asked God to change my life and make it like my friend’s. I didn’t know anything about the sinners’ prayer ; I just prayed according to what I felt was what I needed – a new life like my friend’s own. I felt so hopeless. I cried bitterly. I kept asking for his kind of life. At a point afterwards I stopped crying and I felt some relief. I rose to my feet with a kind of peace I had never felt before.  From that day onward I always felt this strong desire to pray and to read the Holy Bible, sometimes all through the night until early the next morning without even realizing it. 

One day my mother’s younger brother had a guest and he asked me to serve them some food. While I was in the kitchen the Lord opened my ears to what he was saying to his friend about me, in a hushed tone, right from the living room, and it was that I had changed within few days and that my new life was pleasing to him.  Immediately the Lord spoke to me again. He said:      “ do you hear what he said? It was because I answered your prayer when you asked me to change your life and to make it like that of your friend”. 

I was overjoyed and full of the holy Spirit at once after hearing the Lord’s word to me. I was so much under the influence of the Holy Spirit that I began to sing a new song I had not learned before that time.  That was almost some thirty three years ago and that song is still fresh in my memory. Hallelujah!

The crusade did eventually hold and though I could not attend the first two days, yet on the third day being on the 17th day of October, 1990, I was in attendance. Even though I knew I had already been saved, yet when the alter call was made that day I decided to publicly confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour before an estimated crowd of 500,000 people. It was a memorable occasion to me: from criticism to enthusiasm in identifying with and serving my Lord Jesus Christ.  

It’s been a long time since then and I’m still walking with Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of my life. 

Even though I am aware of some decisions I’m not proud  I had made as a Christian, I can say that for the most part of those years I have enjoyed a great relationship with God to whom I still remain grateful and deeply indebted for giving me the new life I asked for. 

This can be your story, too, if you are truly ready to surrender to Jesus Christ and to make Him the Lord of your life. 

If you are, then call upon Him right away; He’s just a prayer away!

 

Matthew 6:19-21; 19:16-30; Proverbs 3:5-10; Ecclesiastes 11:1-6; 2 Samuel 24:18-24; Isaiah 43:23-25.

Prov.3.9 “Honor GOD with everything you own; give him the first and the best “. MSB

The subject of giving to support the gospel and it’s ministers is, perhaps, one of the most difficult aspects of the Christian life to practice, and the reason is not far fetched as we shall soon discover as we make progress in this message.
Permit me to say this, for some personal reasons: I am not a proponent of the prosperity gospel. As a matter of fact, in my entire ministerial duty, which has spanned almost four decades now, I don’t think that I’ve preached about giving as much as I have done about other Christian duties and obligations; I hardly preach on that topic because it has been widely abused. However, when I do, it is usually because I have an obligation to preach the truth, of which Christian giving is a part of.
There’s a need to reach God’s people on the need to give financial and/or material resources for the work of His Kingdom here on earth because Satan and His agents are working overtime to undermine the spread of the gospel, by not only discouraging people to go all out to work for God, but also by persuading them to commit just relatively little or no resources towards that cause. Most people who were philanthropists before soon discovered that they could not give freely again after they have met with Christ, even when it is obvious to them that the blessings of giving at this point in their new faith in God, and for the cause of the gospel, would surpass that of their previous acts of charity; some of which God did not even recognize because of the way and manner it was done. See Luke 6:32-34; Matthew 6:1-2.

Any Christian can give to support God’s work on earth, irrespective of their financial situations. If we understand the justice of God, how that He does not demand from us
what we cannot reasonably give, then, perhaps, we can be more courageous in giving for His work, even when prevailing situations around us seem to suggest that we should do otherwise.
Mark 12:41-44: “..for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, putting in all she owned, all she had to live on”.

God’s Counsel To Us On Giving.
Matthew 6:19-21; Proverbs 3:5-10; Ecclesiastes 11:1-6.

God is not asking you to give because He needs your money or resources; He is asking it of you because it belongs to Him in a way that you may not understand unless you know Him personally. However, suffice it to say that God owns you, and that He has been instrumental in bringing your life to the position it presently sits on in His overall plan for the world at large. You may think that your position in God’s big world is insignificant, but that’s not correct; God has you placed in the right and proper place, however whether you’re functioning as He expects of you or not is your own call.
Let me make an analogy using a built structure: Consider how significant every brick is to the making of a house. The house may not fall apart just because one brick was pulled out, but it will certainly cause a breach in its overall structural integrity. Consider yourself and your giving as that one brick in God’s Kingdom structure: although it may seem relatively insignificant if you do not give to support His work, yet not doing so plays a role which is far beyond what your mind can readily fully comprehend now.
Every penny you have didn’t come to you by accident; it came as a result of divine providence, way beyond your own understanding, and it must be accounted for some day.

James.5.3 “Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you’ve piled up is judgment”. MSB.

Whatever you posses now ( unless it is fraudulently acquired) came to you by God’s divine providence, and this same divine providence is aimed at guiding you on the use to which it should be bestowed, if only you can allow God to guide your heart in this matter.
Hag.2.8: “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD Almighty”. NLT.

God gives to us all the money, that we legitimately own, not only to meet our personal needs, but to also use it in such ways as His Word directs. He is able to give us more money but only to the extent that we are able to use the previous ones according to His will.

Prov.22.9 “A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor”. NIV.
Giving according to God’s will is a kind of investment in God’s Kingdom, which is aimed at seeing that His children have all the require for their personal sustenance and for the spread of the gospel. When we do this well, God ensures that we are further entrusted with more resources to use as He directs. The key take away here is to ensure that we have been faithful in the use of previous resources. This is one of the ways how God funds His Kingdom’s activities on earth.

Prov.19.17 “Mercy to the needy is a loan to GOD, and GOD pays back those loans in full”. MSB

So the next time you hear a message preached on godly giving, resist any temptation to think that the preacher has come for your money once again: you own nothing but what God’s divine providence allows you to have.

Ps.50.10 – “For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.
Ps.50.11 – Every bird of the mountains and all the animals of the field belong to me.
Ps.50.12 – If I were hungry, I would not mention it to you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.” NLT.

God does not want us to loose our financial and/or material resources, so He counsels us to invest them on a venture that will never fail; He advises us to invest in His Kingdom!
In spending our money, we should put God first on the list, as a mark of honour, because all we have comes from Him, and nothing that we give out in His name will amount to a waste. With God, generosity can never result in want or poverty!

Prov.28.27 “He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses”. NIV.
Prov.11.24 “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller”. MSB.

Let us borrow a leaf from the corporate world: when businesses diversify, they end up creating different ways of generating multiple income; similarly, there is wisdom in investing our money in God’s Kingdom, through giving to support multiple causes which are righteous before God. For instance, by deciding to give to support the Lord’s work, His faithful ministers in different fields of Kingdom services, and other Christians in need; we would be opening up different channels by which God’s blessings come to us. God owes no one!
As long as our investments are diversified, our blessings, too, would come in diverse ways.

Eccl.11.1 – “Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later.
Eccl.11.2 – Divide your gifts among many, for you do not know what risks might lie ahead”. — NLT.

God’s Warning To The Miserly Christian. Matthew 19:16-30; Isaiah 43:23-25.

Matt.19.16 – “Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good things must I do to have eternal life?”
Matt.19.17 – “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “Only God is good. But to answer your question, you can receive eternal life if you keep the commandments.”
Matt.19.18 – “Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied: “‘Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely.
Matt.19.19 – Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
Matt.19.20 – “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”
Matt.19.21 – Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Matt.19.22 – But when the young man heard this, he went sadly away because he had many possessions”. NLT .

The rich young man wanted God’s gift of eternal life, but he would not part with His own wealth in line with the counsel of Jesus Christ, to invest in God’s Kingdom. Jesus must have had a reason for asking him to do that, however, it was obvious that he couldn’t bear to obey the Lord because his riches seemed to be of more value to him than having to do so. Heaven must cost you something! How much or how little you give is inconsequential to God provided it is in obedience to His bidding that you did it; how much you invest in His name is what you get back as well!
2Cor.9.6 “Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop.
2Cor.9.7 I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving” . MSB

Those who heap up riches for their own conveniences, and forget, or refuse, to support God’s divine project for the salvation of souls, and to assist the financially vulnerable, are miserly in God’s sight, just like that rich young man. Similarly, those who fear to give out the little they have, for the fear that they’d suffer lack as a result, are equally miserly Christians. Considering that God is able to bless us in return, when we give to His cause wholeheartedly, should encourage us to keep giving without fear whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Luke.6.38 – “If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving–large or small–it will be used to measure what is given back to you.” NLT.

The Sacrificial Giving Which Reflects Our Faith In God’s Ability To Bless Us.
Psalms 126:5-6; Jeremiah 31:16; Hebrews 13:16-17.

If we are waiting to have more money before giving for a worthy cause, such as to help further the spread of the gospel, or to support God’s Ministers, and the needy ones around us, then we have missed the point of this message.

Christian giving is a duty, and not a hobby we do at our leisure. We would be falling for Satan’s old trick, which he has so often successfully used in both hindering the work of God, and also making us to loose our blessings, if we see giving as something to do only at our convenience.
We should endeavour to give as soon as the need to do so arises.
Hag.1.2 – “This is what the LORD Almighty says: The people are saying, `The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD’s house–the Temple.'”
Hag.1.3 – So the LORD sent this message through the prophet
Hag.1.4 – “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?
Hag.1.5 – This is what the LORD Almighty says: Consider how things are going for you!
Hag.1.6 – You have planted much but harvested little. You have food to eat, but not enough to fill you up. You have wine to drink, but not enough to satisfy your thirst. You have clothing to wear, but not enough to keep you warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!
Hag.1.7 – “This is what the LORD Almighty says: Consider how things are going for you!
Hag.1.8 – Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD.” NLT.

It is quite easy for most people to give in support of God’s work when they have enough, but only those who know what it means to honour and to love God would dare to give even in times of hardship.
Giving for God’s work may not be easy in these days of financial
hardship, but those who dare to sow in tears now will surely reap with joy soon in God’s own time of visitation.
Jer.31.16 “Thus says the LORD: “Refrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, And they shall come back from the land of the enemy”. NKJV .

It is my humble prayer that God will give a more deeper understanding of this message to the reader, and a generous heart to share what God has blessed them with for the work of His Kingdom, and for the help of His ministers. In Jesus Christ’s Mighty name.

Before I became a born again Christian I’d heard a few talks about it, and had also seen people who claimed to have been born again. However, what I saw, and heard, was quite different from what I experienced when I eventually became a born again Christian, because it was then something happening inside of me.
To be sincere with you, I had tried having the experience a few times prior to the time when I eventually found Jesus Christ as my Lord and my personal Saviour. If you ask me now what made the difference between the first failed attempts and the final one, which eventually worked, I would say that it was knowledge; knowledge of the ways and workings of God, through the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Consider the scripture below with me:
1Chr.28.9: “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever! “ AMP

I was raised by devoted Catholic parents, and was taught how to pray and practice Christian piety, according to the Catholic tradition, right from an early age. My mum often told me stories from the Bible and prayer was a constant family tradition and, therefore, as it’d be expected, I grew up with a religious zeal which matched my Christian upbringing.
Prov.22.6: “Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it”. NLT

As a Catholic, I tried to be a faithful Christian. I joined the choir, I trained as a man servant ( altar boy) and I did both house and hospital evangelism as a member of the Legion of Mary, which was one of the many societies a member of the Catholic church could associate and work with as a dedicated Christian. I was doing all of that before I was thirteen years old, or thereabouts. However, when I was sixteen years old, I began to notice other Christian activities outside of the Catholic church: I saw other Christian fellowships in school, Evangelizers approached me with the message of salvation, and I saw some of my neighbours who practiced Christianity differently from the way I did. I may not have noticed it at the time, but all those exposures gave me much food for thought. I began to desire to know God more deeply, and to serve Him more faithfully. I tried my best to avoid doing anything that could offend God, and although I was not always successful at that, nevertheless I did not give up my desire to serve Him faithfully.
Although I was aware that some people admired my Christian life style, yet deep within me I knew that I was still far from living the life that God would accept as meeting His holy standard: I just knew it without knowing how I came by that knowledge.

One night, as I lay on my bed to sleep in the dark, a voice spoke audibly to me: Joseph, if you die now where will you go?
I didn’t have a ready answer to the question. You will go to hell, the voice answered for me. Then all was still and quiet again.
I knew it was God’s voice: I just have that intuitive knowledge that God had just revealed to me the true state of my spiritual life. All the while He spoke, I was at peace, but after His verdict had been passed, and He was gone from my room, I became afraid. I thought that my life was actually going to be taken that night. Sleep fled from my eyes. I thought about the judgment of God, and also about so many things, which I cannot remember now. I felt so unworthy.

1John.3.20: “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things”. NKJV.
I left my room at the first light of day, glad that I had survived the ordeal of that night. However, something about me had changed upon having that encounter: it was like I had awaken to a new reality. I wanted to know what was really acceptable to God from that point; not only from my own personal perspective, but from His own perspective; so I buried myself in intense Bible reading. God opened my eyes and, for the first time, I began to see the world as anyone who wanted to please God would see it. Little things that didn’t matter to me before became issues of grave concern; things like laughter in the Church when the priest cracked a joke during his sermon; or like people conversing while in the Church. Certain things which I had overlooked before that encounter now appeared as horrible abnormalities to me: I thought everyone should be serious in God’s presence. Wherever I looked, I see people practicing those things as if they were the norms of life, even in the Church ! So, I stopped attending church altogether because I was sure that what they were doing there could not help me.
At that time I turned to God in fervent prayers to change my life, which He eventually did. He saved me from the sinful life I was living. The day He saved me, I knew that my sins were forgiven, and I didn’t want to practice them any more.

The above is just a brief narration of my salvation encounter with God, through His Son Jesus Christ. And I will be using this experience in conjunction with the first scripture I quoted ( 1 Chronicles 28:9) to explain what true salvation is and the error that some people so often make, which makes the experience elusive to them.

Let me reproduce that same scripture again and break it down in three- easy- to-understand ways, so as to help us better understand the principles enunciated in it.

First:
1Chronicles.28:9:
“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him;

God wants an intimate relationship with us, and He has already provided the means by which we can have it with Him, which is the Holy Bible. You should regard the Holy Bible as God’s love letter, requesting a relationship with you, the sinner.
Now, there’s no way you can find out about this love request unless you have either read the Holy Bible yourself, or heard someone, who has read it, tell you about God’s love advances towards you.
This is the kind of knowledge, which king David admonished Solomon his son to have. He was to know God for himself, and to try and understand His requests, and to respond to it.
Some people do not even have the time to read God’s word, with a view to knowing Him well enough, so as to be able to consider how to answer to His request for a love relationship. Others avoid the Holy Bible thinking that it is a boring book filled with restrictions, and/or demands, that would take the shine off their life. They judged God before they have even read His love letter.
Attending church meetings, or even carrying out some religious duties, without first wanting to know God, is not the right way to start a relationship with Him. It should be taken for granted that people attend church meetings because they have a desire to know God. Some people have not this knowledge, and yet still wonder why their lives can feel so love-less and meaningless, even with their commitment to religious activities. All what we do in the church, or at home, would be meaningless, unless we have a personal knowledge of God’s love for us, and have also favourably responded to His request to accept His love.
John.17.3: “And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent”. AMP

When Solomon received this admonition from king David his father, he embarked on a quest to know God. This account is recorded in 1 Kings chapter 3 . However, let’s consider a few of the verses:
1Kgs.3.3 – “Solomon loved the LORD and followed all the instructions of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local altars.
1Kgs.3.4 – The most important of these altars was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed one thousand burnt offerings.
1Kgs.3.5 – That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” — NLT

There’s no way that God can ever ignore the person who responds to His love overture: in fact He eagerly awaits the response!
Jer.31.3: “The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” NKJV

If this is true, you might ask, how is it that God does not seem to transform some people’s lives even after they have prayed to Him asking Him to save them?
Important question!

I have questioned the practice by some preachers who are in the habit of getting people to say “the sinner’s prayer” before they have even had the time to know God. Being born again is a very serious business which requires the meeting of two minds; God’s, and the willing sinner’s. As it is with any relationship that will last a lifetime, making a decision to surrender one’s life to Jesus Christ must be deliberate, not spontaneous: it must be the outcome of a careful and unforced decision, free of threats and/or coercion. The warning given to a sinner should be aimed at letting them see the danger to which a sinful life can expose their soul to. Similarly, the persuasion made to them should be to enable them to consider accepting God’s free love, forgiveness and mercy: the motive shouldn’t be to push them into a hasty, fear -driven decision to accept Jesus , because a relationship based on fear cannot take off well, let alone outlast and overcome the trials that must surely test its genuineness along the way. Salvation is a love thing:
John.3.16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” NLT .
1John.4.18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
1John.4.19 We love Him because He first loved us.” NKJV

No one has the right to force a love relationship on anyone, not even with God! Our duty as God’s people is to properly preach the truth of the gospel to the sinner, and make an appeal for them to accept God’s love and salvation: if they’re presently willing and ready to do so, very well; if otherwise, then we must pray for them in the meantime, and to wait for another opportunity to make another appeal to them.
Gal.4.19 – “But oh, my dear children! I feel as if I am going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives”. — NLT.
We must discourage the practice whereby people are casually called upon to come forward to accept Jesus Christ into their lives, and after a little prayer, they are assured that they are now born again, and that their names have been written in the book of life! That is not the preacher’s call to make. Assuming that the requirement for salvation is actually fully met at that time, it is still the duty of the Holy Spirit to give assurances to the repentant sinner that they have been accepted into God’s family.
Rom.8.16 – “For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s children”. — NLT.

Now, let us look at the second part of that scripture in 1 Chronicles 28:9; it says:
“…appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind.. “

Any child of God, who has tasted of the goodness of God’s saving grace, will agree that no unsaved person can fulfilled the admonition in the scripture above, yet that’s what some innocent people are actually encouraged to do without a prior knowledge of, and true submission to God, through Jesus Christ His Son. The words in the scripture above are crafted to connote a deliberate response to God’s love by a person who themself are in love with Him.
We cannot submit to God in that way without first knowing and loving Him.

John.14.23 – “Jesus replied, “All those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and live with them.
John.14.24 – Anyone who doesn’t love me will not do what I say. And remember, my words are not my own. This message is from the Father who sent me”. — NLT

The mistake of compelling people into accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour, even when it is obvious that they’re not ready for such an undertaking, becomes manifest by the absence of the Christ-life, which they are supposed to manifest as proof of their encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is the reason why you see people claiming to be saved but with nothing substantial in their character to show for it. Consider the order of change which happens when a person is genuinely saved: God’s Word says it in 2Cor.5.17: “Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!” AMP
First, the process of being “grafted” into Jesus Christ must happen through knowing and depending on Him, with the whole of one’s heart, for salvation and deliverance from sin, which we need.
Jesus Christ Himself alluded to this process in John.15.5 where He said, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing”. AMP.
So, where this important process is not allowed to happen, simply because we are in a hurry to get the credit for leading people to Jesus Christ, then they cannot draw His life transforming virtue into their lives, not having been grafted into one body with Him.
1Cor.6.17: “But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him”. AMP.

As the phrase actually imply, being born again is supposed to be a life changing encounter, unless the process is not properly consummated. So, when people present themselves as being born again, without a transformed life to show for it, then there’s a fundamental flaw to their testimony. This flaw is mostly the fault of the preachers who purportedly led them to Christ. We must know that salvation is a process which must be followed through to the end for any meaningful results to be achieved; in this case, a new life.
1Cor.15.1 – “Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message.
1Cor.15.2 – And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it–unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place”. — NLT.

Finally, let us consider the third part of that scripture in 1Chronicles 28:9.
“..For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever! “ AMP.

Jesus Christ does not do casual friendship. He loves His own to the end.
John.13.1 “[Now] before the Passover Feast began, Jesus knew (was fully aware) that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. And as He had loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the last and to the highest degree”. AMP.

You must understand that Jesus Christ sees right through us! So, if you have to get saved by Him, it must be on the same terms as His; that you’re going to remain faithful to Him all your life. However, if at the initial point of pledging your life to Him you’re not being sincere, either because of certain habits or characters, which you’re not sure of repenting of, and discarding for His sake, then the process cannot sail through.
John.2.23 “During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him.

John.2.24 But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were.
John.2.25 He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them”. MSB.

Because Jesus Christ knows us all, He can deal with us based on that knowledge. This is the reason why many people may answer to an altar call, but just a few of them may end up experiencing the joy of God’s salvation in Christ.
The person who wants to be genuinely born again must, of necessity, have come to a crisis point where what really matters to them is Jesus Christ’s forgiveness and mercy over their sins, which they also must be willing to confess, repent of and forsake for ever. When anyone comes before Him in repentance, He can tell if they have been broken to that extent or not.
So, where does this place the preachers who think that they can give people salvation on some terms alien to known scriptural values? It is high time that we stopped usurping the Lord’s power to save whom He will, otherwise we would be giving a false hope to a lot of people as, regrettably, many have already! This recklessness of giving a false hope to sinners must have to stop, or else we must be ready to bear the consequences which will inevitably follow.
Matt.23.15 – “Yes, how terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn him into twice the son of hell as you yourselves are”. — NLT.
Suffice it that after we have preached the gospel, with all sincerity, we should invite who ever is ready and willing to make a life transforming commitment to Jesus Christ and then lead them on it, not pre-empting anyone to do or to say anything that they’re not yet convinced of. Thereafter, we must desist from attempting to give them any hopes, as we see being done; that they are now children of God, and that their names are now written in the book of life: let God be the judge of that!
Jer.17.10 “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” NIV.

Salvation is a personal affair between the sinner and the Saviour. He has a clear cut process for the salvation of the soul, which must be followed through to the end.
It is God’s desire to see more and more people get saved through His Son Jesus Christ. However, we must be careful so that we are not seen to be the reason why this desire is truncated.
The price for the salvation of the soul of the lost sinner was paid in blood and agony, so the next time we minister to the lost, we must let this fact weigh in heavily in our mind, and to let it dictate the mood for the solemn duty we have at hand.
Heb.10.29 “How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

It is my humble prayer that while trying to be a light to those in darkness, we would not end up incurring the wrath of Almighty God because we have obscured the true light of salvation from shinning upon them.
Amen.

Luke.11.23: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters”. NIV

I like to think that I am on the Lord’s side, walking, working with, and for Him. I’m sure you do, too, unless you’re not a practising Christian. But how true is each individual Christian’s position in this issue? Should we simply assume this to be true just because we believe that it is? Isn’t there a better way of ascertaining the authenticity and genuineness of a Christian’s walk and work with God, besides their own personal assessment? Of course, there is! Consider the scripture below:

Matt.7.21 – “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.“
The key issue in the scripture above is obedience to God’s revealed will in the Holy Bible, which every person is expected to know and obey. Any claim of ignorance of God’s will can hardly avail anyone some reprieve in God’s sight, because we have a duty to know His will and to do it.

Matt.7.22 – “On judgment day many will tell me, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.”
Take notice here that some people would try to make out a case for their inclusion into God’s heavenly Kingdom by reason of their works . However, our works are only commendable to God if done according to His will, and with a pure motive.

Matt.7.23 – “But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were unauthorized. ” — NLT

Worthy of note is the fact that Jesus Christ said above that many people will claim that they’d worked for Him, even citing examples of such works, but all to no avail because those works were either not done according to His will, or else were done with evil motives. Whether you’re doing what’s right with a bad motive, or doing the wrong thing with a right motive; divine justice sees them all as not doing the will of God.
Prov.21.2 – “People may think they are doing what is right, but the LORD examines the heart”. — NLT

Prov.16.2 “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD”. NIV

Prov.14.12 “There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death”. AMP

A careful consideration of the scriptures above will reveal that the willingness to do a thing can be distinguishable from the motive for doing it, and God appears to be more interested in the later than in the former.
Judas Iscariot was willing to follow Jesus Christ, but for a totally different motive, as it eventually turned out to be. Hear what Jesus Christ said about His twelve chosen disciples, and the comment, which followed His statement, in John 6.70: “Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.
John.6.71 – He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would betray him”. — NLT
Judas Iscariot may not necessarily have followed Jesus Christ with the sole aim of betraying Him to those who sought after His life, but that was what he eventually did! However, it is likely that the recipe for that disastrous act of betrayal could be traced to an initial bad motive for following the Lord, and it would seem that Judas Iscariot was not alone in that, as the next scripture will also reveal:
John.6.24 “So when the crowd realized he was gone and wasn’t coming back, they piled into the Tiberias boats and headed for Capernaum, looking for Jesus.
John.6.25 When they found him back across the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
John.6.26 Jesus answered, “You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs–and for free”. MSB

It is obvious, from the scripture above, that many more people followed Jesus Christ for other reasons besides the gospel He preached, and this is still true today as it was yesterday.
Very many years ago, when I was just two years old in my walk with Jesus Christ, I happened to be conversing with some fellow Christian brothers about our expectations as God’s children. Some had lofty ambitions about what they expected God would do for them, by and large, as they served Him. I didn’t feel comfortable with their expectations because it all seemed transactional: they all seemed to be serving God in exchange for some temporal earthly benefits. But should anyone serve God for a reward? Aren’t there some more nobler causes or reasons for serving Him? I felt I should correct the narrative, so I quipped in: I said I was serving God for free, out of gratitude for saving me from my sins. It appeared that my statement seemed odd to them because those were the days when the prosperity gospel was gradually making an in-road into the Nigerian church, and most young men of my age wanted to have a piece of it. Well, I said what I said to them because that was my true motive for serving God, and it still is today, more than thirty five years afterwards.
What about you, reader? What’s your real motive for serving God?

Prov.20.6 – “Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is really faithful? “ — NLT

God is looking for faithful followers who would share in His burden for the lost sinners, who must be saved before they’re eternally lost. Those who would make themselves available, and share in this noble work with God, must be people with a single purpose, just like Him: to save the lost.
Luke.19.10 “And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost.” NLT

We like to think that we are dedicated to soul winning for the Lord, however, that is for Him to judge because we cannot be too sure of our own self testimony. History has proved, too often, that most of us are more interested in the blessings of God than in our labour for Him. Do you doubt that? Then, please, kindly take the loyalty test below:
🙏what did you ask for in your prayers in the last seven days? Did it include salvation for lost souls?
🙏if it did, in how many of those seven days did that prayer feature?
🙏did you pray that prayer with a burdened heart just as you did for your other personal pressing needs?
🙏in which of those days have you thought it necessary to preach to anyone?
🙏can you honestly say that you preached out of a genuine concern for that person, or out of duty for your local church?
Since the test above is between you and your God alone, I’m sure that you’d be sincere to yourself about the result.
Even the disciples of Jesus Christ were, at one time, too occupied with the thought of their personal worth in God’s coming Kingdom, that they failed to share in His passion for the lost souls of the world, so He had to rebuke them in order to restore them back to acceptable conduct.

Luke.22.24 – “And they began to argue among themselves as to who would be the greatest in the coming Kingdom.
Luke.22.25 – Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men order their people around, and yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’
Luke.22.26 – But among you, those who are the greatest should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.
Luke.22.27 – Normally the master sits at the table and is served by his servants. But not here! For I am your servant”. — NLT

It is easy to see that most of us are like that today. Is it not true that most Christians serve God for the hope of His reward? I hear how some people often pride themselves in the many stars that they’d have on their crown, in heaven, for the number of souls which they have won for God. I hear some people praying for financial blessings more than they have ever prayed for the grace to serve others as Jesus Christ did. I see people waiting to reap the blessings of God without first making any efforts to gather lost souls for Him to save.
We have been anointed for greater works in these last days, but it seems that we have restricted our “greater works” to how large our church halls can be, and how many people can gather there to donate money for the comfort of a selected few privileged leaders; that, certainly, is not what Jesus Christ, and His Apostles, did in their days.
Are we truly on the Lord’s side? If we are, our works should show, not our words.
Matt.12.30 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters”. NIV

To be on the Lord’s side is more than just running a church or ministry; it goes beyond pulling a mammoth crowd in our vast cathedrals or managing only a few members in some mushroom churches: it is about doing exactly what God has commanded us to do – to make disciples for Him of all nations. And do you think we have achieved that already? I don’t think so! If we have, then our places among those disciples should be lowly, so that Christ can be exalted among them; but as it stands in most churches today, Jesus Christ’s place amongst the members is obscured, as their Pastors have occupied that exalted position.
Can we realign ourselves with heaven’s mandate by listening to those who truly made disciples for Jesus Christ, and not for themselves? Of course we can, and we actually should, right away!
Consider John the Baptist: to his envious disciples, who thought that Jesus Christ was outperforming him in ministry, John the Baptist had this to say:

John.3.27 – “…God in heaven appoints each person’s work.
John.3.28 – You yourselves know how plainly I told you that I am not the Messiah. I am here to prepare the way for him–that is all.
John.3.29 – The bride will go where the bridegroom is. A bridegroom’s friend rejoices with him. I am the bridegroom’s friend, and I am filled with joy at his success.
John.3.30 – He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. — NLT

I know of only a few Church leaders who are humble enough to refuse being worshipped by their members: like John The Baptist, they point out Jesus Christ to them as the One to whom their loyalty and worship must be directed.
Without meaning to exaggerate, I can say that most church founders today are being “worshipped “, knowingly or unknowingly, by their teeming members, yet neither they nor their members would agree to this. However, it really doesn’t matter whether they do, or not, because the facts are clear enough for everyone to see. Let me cite a few instances below:

1. Most of those leaders have now accepted to be called daddy ( another word for father) which our Lord, Jesus Christ, forbade when He said in Matt.23.8-10: “Don’t ever let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are on the same level as brothers and sisters.
   And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father.
   And don’t let anyone call you ‘Master,’ for there is only one master, the Messiah . NLT

The popularity of some Pastors amongst their followers is in rivalry with the name of Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, and the disturbing thing is that those leaders enjoy it, and would do nothing to dissuade their members.

2. Focus has now been shifted from Jesus Christ’s name, in prayers, to the names of some famous church leaders, or the name of their church. We hear prayers or declarations made to God in their name, for instance: the God of Pastor so and so… Or, the God of so and so Church…
   How about just simply sticking to the teaching of Jesus Christ in this issue, where He said in John.14.6 “..I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. NLT

We cannot rewrite the traditions of the Church of Jesus Christ and still claim to be on His side. Jesus Christ is the ultimate reference to God, and we all, irrespective of our positions in our local Churches, are brothers and sisters on the same level. In fact the Holy Scriptures passed on to us carries a course for those who would dare to alter the divine order, which God has ordained for His Church!
Gal.1.6 – “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who in his love and mercy called you to share the eternal life he gives through Christ. You are already following a different way
Gal.1.7 – that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who twist and change the truth concerning Christ .
Gal.1.8 – “Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches any other message than the one we told you about. Even if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message, let him be forever cursed” . NLT

3. Finally, the issue of church financing is quite disturbing. One might just be wondering if some churches have not become a family business empire…? With only a very few exception, we can say without fear of any contradiction that most churches are actually a well oiled money making enterprise. You need only to see how the founders use the finances of the Church for themselves to arrive at this conclusion. Nothing more! This is contrary to the laid down principles of the old traditions of the early Church of Jesus Christ, where church finances are primarily committed to helping the needy, in addition to supporting the ministers of the gospel. See Acts.4.32 – “All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had. Acts.4.33 – And the apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great favor was upon them all. Acts.4.34 – There was no poverty among them, because people who owned land or houses sold them. Acts.4.35 – and brought the money to the apostles to give to others in need. — NLT.
   I am only raising a genuine concern, not condemnation, by all the foregoing: it is clear that something has gone wrong, and we need to draw awareness to it.
   The Lord’s work has to be done only in accordance to His laid down principles, otherwise it cannot be said to be His work. The engineer who abandons the original blueprint given to him, for another, has compromised the project he was contracted to execute; so also is the Christian who abandons the laid down principles of God’s Word. We must understand that ministerial success is not measured in Church hall sizes, membership numbers or balances in the Church’s bank account: success here is strictly measured in obedience to the laid down principles of God’s Word. To do otherwise is to scatter, not gather with the Lord!
4. Let me share a testimony to buttress point:
   I was once a pastor in a small but spiritual vibrant church for almost 20 years. Tried as we did, the number of the members never grew past a certain level. We were mostly below fifty (50) in number. We held crusades. We did evangelism. We were not perfect, but we upheld strict adherence to the core Bible principles of holiness, righteousness and truth as best as we could. We thought we should grow beyond that number, and we were worried that we couldn’t. However, there was one thing we were never short of: God’s presence and power was there! We saw miracles happen and, best of all, people’s lives got completely transformed from sinners to holiness conscious brethren.
   One day something happened that completely changed how we saw that church. An agent of Satan joined that church and, in conjunction with other agents working elsewhere, they tried to kill me and my family. It was on a Wednesday night after I had done teaching the Bible study. On my way home with my family, our huge 4×4 Toyota pick-up got struck by a truck and, according to witnesses who saw what happened to us, the impact caused it to roll over twice before resting back on all four wheels. When it did, I was covered in broken glass, but I was still on my seat with my hands still holding the steering wheel as though nothing had happened. And, accept this if you can, I didn’t use the seat belt! The cabin was smashed, but God made a small allowance for my head to still remain held upright, otherwise I’d have ended up with a broken neck and skull. My wife was on her knees, in the front seat by my side, calling the name of Jesus. My phone was still where I had kept it. It didn’t even appear to have shifted. My kids, five of them, were all seated quietly in the back seat, so I asked: is everyone alright? And they answered that all was well. We all slighted from that mangled truck without any aid. The only thing that showed we had an accident was the damaged vehicle and two small cuts on my wife’s fingers. Apart from that, the shower of broken glass left some tiny, negligible cuts on some of us, which didn’t even need any medical attention.
   Sometimes later, that agent of Satan came out to confess that they were behind my accident. But the greatest part of the revelation was that the agent said that God was with us in that church, with seven angels permanently stationed there! Seven great angels for a congregation of that small size can only mean that our spiritual activities had attracted much attention, both from heaven and hell. In fact that agent said that their mission became necessary because we disturbed that kingdom by our preaching. Praise God!
   So, believe me when I said that ministerial success is not only measured in sizes, numbers, or bank digits.
   Wherever God has placed you to serve, all He demands is faithfulness, and that can only be achieved when you’re always on His side.
   1Cor.4.1 “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God .
   1Cor.4.2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” . NKJV
   Are you on the Lord’s side?
   Are you gathering with Him or scattering?
   What we think of ourselves with regards to the questions above is inconsequential, unless our thoughts are aligned with the truth of God’s Holy Word.

ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS to the difficulties you face in life? Have you been betrayed by friends, disappointed by family or rejected by society? Do you feel lonely and alone in an unfriendly world? Do you need someone to talk to but can not find any? Never mind, Jesus Christ is always there for those who need Him, and He has the answers that work. He cares for you and wants to be your friend, but only if you can recognize and accept Him now as your Lord and personal Saviour, because that is who He truly is. He says: “come onto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and l will give you rest”. Matthew 11:28.

HAVE YOU DONE SOMETHING TERRIBLE , and have been burdened with guilt and condemnation? Do you seek comfort for your troubled heart? Jesus Christ has no words of condemnation for anyone, but pardon: there’s forgiveness and mercy to all those who sincerely turn to Him in repentance. “When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the
woman, He said unto her; woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee ? She said, no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.” John 8:10-11.

ARE YOUR SINS TOO MANY, and you are wondering if you can ever be forgiven, and accepted by God? Well, as long as you are willing
to repent and forsake those sins, and accept Jesus into your life, no amount of sin is too big for God to forgive to anyone.
“come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow’; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool”.Isaiah 1:18

“wherefore I say unto thee, her sins which are many, are forgiven..”.
Luke 7:47

DO YOU SOMETIMES HAVE DOUBTS as to whether God truly forgave you when you turned your life over to Him in repentance?
Have no worry anymore because if you truly and sincerely talked to God about those sins, they are as good as gone forever.
“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified”.
Isaiah 43:25.26.

DO YOU FEAR THAT YOU WOULD BE REJECTED if you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour? Well, be rest assured that you can find a better friend and companion in Jesus Christ.
“When my Father and my Mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.” Psalm 27:10 .

DO YOU SOMETIMES FEEL THAT YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH to earn God’s love, or to have the eternal life, which He freely gives to all those who receive Him, and have accepted to live according to His kingdom’s principles?
O yes! for once, you are right: no one is good enough to earn God’s gift of eternal life. But cheer up because that, also, has been fixed: God freely extends His hand of fellowship to anyone who desires to have eternal life: Jesus Christ has paid for it all when He died, and rose again, to take away, not only your sins, but the sins of the whole world. And now He offers to us His holy
life in exchange for our sinful life, so we can have eternal life in God’s glorious heavenly Kingdom!
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. All things are of God
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, To wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trepasses unto them; …for He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him“.
2Corinthians 5:17-21.

Dear friend, why not approach Jesus Christ today with those disturbing issues of your life? He’s just a prayer away:
“And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me”. Psalm 50:15.

Visit us at https://joeachi.cw.center/ for more life transforming messages.
God bless you.

From the cradle to the grave, our days on earth are impeccably timed by God, and how few they are in relation to our eternal existence after death!
Between the two points of our existence and demise lies a huge burden of ambitions, duties and dreams to be achieved and/or carried out, but how much time we actually have for all this is quite uncertain.
The Holy Bible cautions in James 4.13 -14: “Look here, you people who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit. How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog–it’s here a little while, then it’s gone”. — NLT

Our ability to spiritually appreciate time has mostly been lost – swallowed up in the hustle and bustle of life. We spend our few days on earth struggling at achieving success at whatever we do, yet hardly sparing a thought for the most solemn pursuit of them all, which should be the pursuit of a peaceful and quiet death, in holiness and righteousness: this is the basic requirement for a smooth and glorious transition from this world to heaven.
How sad that we could plan well for the temporal and transient issues of this present brief life, but would neglect the ones that carry eternal consequences, especially those that have to do with the inevitable call of death, to which we must capitulate someday; perhaps even sooner than we presently do realize. We, mostly, neglect this all important aspect of our life until it becomes too late to be remedied. Does it not seem strange that we dedicate so much of our time and energy on the very things we would have to part with at death, but shirk from our duties and responsibilities to the very ones that would determine the place of our eternal existence beyond the grave?
How much time left does your life presently hang on? It is obvious that such knowledge is beyond our power, however what is within our power is the use to which we subject it before we expire.
Success, or failure, in the pursuit of life’s goals does not add or detract from the length of our days because how we live only enhances or diminishes our quality of life, not the length of it, as that is entirely at God’s discretion to manage as He chooses.
Eccl.8.12 – “But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off.
Eccl.8.13 – The wicked will never live long, good lives, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows”. — NLT

While old age may be an ominous sign that death lurks somewhere near, yet we cannot say with certainty that youth and vigour, on the other hand, is a sign of many years to one’s life, because both
the aged and the young die alike, each according to the days allotted to them by God.
Ps.90.12 – “Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom”. — NLT

Eccl.9.12 “Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them”. NIV

A certain Evangelist, named James Agboola, once preached at a Christian meeting where I was in attendance. He explained how he had a life from death experience at the youthful age of 36 years, and how the Lord, Jesus Christ, had met with him and decided to show him mercy by sending him back to the earth to amend his sinful way of living, and then to give warning to all of mankind of the dangers of living a sinful life. However, before he caused his soul to return back to his dead body, Jesus Christ reminded him that the 36 years, which he had spent on earth, were all that God had actually allotted to him, but that as an act of mercy, He would allow him to live on earth for an unspecified period of time, which he should use to preach God’s Word, and give mankind God’s warning: yet he was never told how much time it was by which his life had been extended.

We’re all bound to the same fate: it’s quite easy to tell how long we have already lived, but to know how much longer we shall live is well beyond us, except where God choses to reveal that to us, just as the story below will explain.
While working on this message, I received the good news of the
transition to heaven of one of our faithful, elderly mother in the Church. From what I’ve gathered so far from those around her in her last moments alive, it would seem that God had given her a premonition of her death. Earlier on, during one of our weekly church fellowships, she had shared a testimony about a dream in which she saw herself wading through the deep waters of a river, on the other bank of which was a blazing glory of light. However, just before she was completely immersed in that river, a strong voice spoke, and stopped her, saying it was not time yet to cross over to the other side.There upon she awoke. I was on the pulpit when she shared this testimony, so I told her, in the audience of the church, that the Lord would prepare her well against the time of her home coming, and I enjoined the church to pray for her.
Now that time has come and that dream has been wonderfully fulfilled. Her daughter who was present when she died had this to say: that her mother had prayed all through her last night, so much that she had to plead with her to take a break and sleep, but to which she simply replied, saying that her strength came through prayer. At dawn, while still in bed, her mother had asked to know what the time was, and after she had announced to her that it was 7:00 Am, she proceeded to say this prayer: into thy hands, Lord, I commit my spirit, soul and body. Then she turned her head sideways and died quietly, at exactly 7:02 Am
on the clock; just a two minutes notice to God that she was ready to come home at last.
How wonderfully captured here are the words of Prophet Balaam who, being excited at the prospects of the fate of the righteous at death, exclaimed:

“… Let me die like the righteous; let my life end like theirs.” Numbers 23:10. NLT. May we not as well wish for a happy ending to our lives much in the same way as that?

We must, however, be instructed that such a glorious exit from this world of turmoil to the glorious heaven of rest is the benefit of a prudent use of one’s life time, by giving all of it to Jesus Christ, and trusting Him to save it to the end.

“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come”.
2Corinthiant 5:17 NASB.

How much time do you think that you have left before death calls?Perhaps if we knew we would have lived differently, giving more time and attention to the issues of God’s kingdom, and the requirement to live a holy and righteous life before Him. But is it any wonder that God has withheld such privilege from us? Of course not! Unless our faith in Him is well proven, and
constant, such a privilege would, instead, excite the carnal mind with the possibility of deliberately living a careless and worldly life, only to seek reconciliation with God just before the known appointed time of death; albeit to our own condemnation, because God cannot be cheated!
Gal.6.7 – “Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow!
Gal.6.8 – Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit”. — NLT
How much time do you still have to live? I’m sure that you don’t know. However, not knowing how much
time our lives hang on should make us want to set our priorities right, assuming that we are blessed with such wisdom. Uncertainty has a way of priming the soul of the wise to be more prudent with the management of their lives. So,why not use your time more prudently by giving top priority to the spiritual and eternal issues of your life? Why not get to know God through His son, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of your soul, and reformation of your character? For, unless Jesus Christ transforms your life, you would have no place in God’s heavenly kingdom after your death.
John.13.8 – “…Jesus replied, “But if I don’t wash you, you won’t belong to me.” — NLT

Those who reject God’s call to repentance now, promising to revisit the issue at a more convenient time, must understand that the
ordinances of God cannot be manipulated: God’s call to repentance is at His own discretion and time, and it is only valid while it lasts.
John.6.44 : “You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me–that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End.” MSB

Isa.55.6 “Seek GOD while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand.
Isa.55.7 Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to GOD, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness”. MSB

What we do with God’s invitation to repentance is entirely our business, but if we reject it, the consequences which will follow would be well beyond our control because that’d now be in God’s power to handle. Time wasted in indecision is time
irredeemably lost, unless God’s mercy comes calling again.
At the close of life, when the dark curtains of death are drawn over the soul, man would, for once, become more enlightened with the
knowledge of how the issues of his life should have bean rightly handled, but, regretfully, at that time he would no longer have the power to remedy his wrong choices, or even to better the good ones; his judgment would’ve been long determined, and his fate eternally sealed.
So, now that you still live, why not take a pause for a while, and consider this important question: If you have time for anything, shouldn’t you also have time for Jesus? Although your time is entirely at your discretion to use as you wish, yet God will hold you accountable for such use as you have invested it on.
Eccl.11.9 “You who are young, make the most of your youth. Relish your youthful vigor. Follow the impulses of your heart. If something looks good to you, pursue it. But know also that not just anything goes; You have to answer to God for every last bit of it” . MSB

If, however, you choose to commit yourself to Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour, He will save and reform your life.The Holy Bible promises in 1John.1.9 that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. NIV

So, wouldn’t you rather believe in Jesus Christ, repent of all your sins, confess Him as your Lord and personal Saviour, and be saved? Thereafter, you can dedicate the rest of your life to doing His will, and then you would see how much beautiful and worth living that He can make your life to become.

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God bless you.

She walked out into the street with mincing steps, letting the deliberate rhythm of her strides to gently twist her waist, causing her hips to sway enticingly to the admiration of onlookers.
She already knew that she was beautiful, and that she also looked too seductive to be overlooked in the street, but the complimentary whistles and hisses from male admirers each time she walked in the street were more proofs, which she never failed to expect. Even the ladies from across the street could not help stealing a glance or two – she sees them all with the corners of her eyes! How could she fail to notice all of that, anyway, when she actually expected them? How happy she felt to have all eyes on her, from so many admirers, can only be imagined! From the mischievous taxi driver who poked his head out of the window, and blew a lustful kiss, to the sales girl who stole envious glances at her – the silent applause and unspoken compliments kept pouring in from all directions of the street in a steady stream, filling her to the brim with pride as she minced voluptuously into the distance ahead.
What was it that brought her so much attention? Was it her over-pampered face, so bleached out of tone with the rest of her skin, or the different shades of colour smeared on it?

Jer.4.30 : “What are you doing, O devastated one? Why dress yourself in scarlet and put on jewels of gold? Why shade your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.” NIV.
What brought her so much street fame? Was it the outline of her naked body, so conspicuously
projecting from underneath her tight-fitting cloth? Was it her half exposed and compressed breasts, threatening to pop out at any moment from that generous neckline? Was it her exposed thighs or protruding hips? Whatever it was, it sure got her male admirers enchanted, and swept away in an orgy of lust and immoral reverie, until their whole bodies were aflame with uncontrolled desire and lust.
Matt.5.28 “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”. NIV

The fiction captured above represents the reality in our
streets today as both the old and the young (especially of the female gender) go about the streets in skimpy garments, designed to reveal instead of to cover their nakedness. To be naked does not only mean to be without clothes,
but also to be dressed in such a manner that the naked parts of the body, sought to be covered by the use of clothing, are actually
exposed or clearly projected from underneath it.This is called virtual nakedness, and such kind of dressing is sinful in the eyes of God who desires that all humans, whom He has made in His image and likeness, be properly dressed. Those who labour under the misguided belief that God does not look on the outward appearances of mankind, but only in the inside of the heart, should consider the precedent (with regards to proper
dressing) set by Him in the Garden of Eden:
1 Adam and Eve stood naked before God, stripped of His glory by sin; so they sewed fig leaves to make aprons in order to cover the shame of their nakedness. Genesis 3:7.

2 As they heard God approach their habitation, they ran away to hide among the lush plants of the garden because the aprons, which they had invented, did not give sufficient covering for their naked bodies. Genesis 3:8-10.

3 God noticed their plight, and He made coats of skin to clothe them properly . Genesis 3.21 .

Now, let’s get this straight: if God was not concerned about their outward looks, wouldn’t He have left them still dressed in their skimpy aprons? Worthy of note, also, is the fact that the clothing, which God provided for Adam and Eve, were coats: the aprons did not give them sufficient covering, and that was why they had earlier run to hide! However, God’s coats adequately covered their nakedness.
If you look critically at most of the fashion trends of today, you’ll notice that they are like that apron, which Adam and Eve sewed; it reveals, not cover, the nakedness of the body. Young ladies (with some elderly women also) spend quite a fortune in buying clothes that offer anything, except to properly cover their nakedness. That is not proper! God’s word says in Rev.3.17: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Rev.3.18: I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see”. NIV.
Virtual nakedness is promoted by the following clothing items: body hugs, transparent cloths, or cloths deliberately styled and sewed to bring out the shapes or curves of the naked body, which modesty and decency would rather have concealed from all others, except from a person’s legally wedded spouse.
Undersized clothes, and cloths deliberately styled to expose the breasts, thighs, and other sexually sensitive parts of the body, are all complicit in promoting lust and sexual orgies. Those fashion trends defeat the actual intention of the use of cloths, which is to properly cover the naked body. Such dressing should not only be considered as indecent, and condemn-able in any decent society, but should also be considered that it is immoral and sinful in the eyes of our Almighty God who frowns at such indecent dressing.
When any one is sexually aroused because of the indecent dressing of another person, passing by or sitting, he or she is actually having a virtual sex with them. Jesus Christ gave the understanding that it is the same thing in God’s sight as having a literal sex with them! See Matthew 5:28.
Young men, and a growing number of older men, too, have formed the habit of feasting their eyes on ladies and older women who delight in exposing the nakedness they should have kept concealed with proper clothing.They call it fashion, but God sees it for the truth that it actually portrays: a deliberate and provocative sexual appeal! A lustful drive, which ultimately promotes virtual street sex. Those who are guilty of this indecency may disagree with what’s been said here,
but they must know also that what we think of, or how we see this message, is inconsequential in the light of divine justice: what will matter in the end would be God’s verdict, because He is the righteous judge who knows the motives of the heart. For those who dress to entice the opposite sex (2 Kings 9:30); whose dressing is immoral, aimed at attracting attention, and to please or seek a lover (Jeremiah 4:30
Songs of Solomon 7:2,3); whose dressing encourages or promotes sexual immorality or prostitution (Ezekiel 23:40-44); whose dressing inspires pride or too much consciousness of their looks: God is sounding the warning now:
James 4.4: “You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.” MSB

2Pet.2.14 – “They commit adultery with their eyes, and their lust is never satisfied. They make a game of luring unstable people into sin. They train themselves to be greedy; they are doomed and cursed”. NLT

If this message reflects your dressing habit or lifestyle, just know that God is calling you to repentance now: amend your ways!
Believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and confess your
sins to Him. Ask Him to save your soul, and give you a new life free of the old sinful habits, which has estranged you from God. He is faithful, and will do it.
1John.1.9 : “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” NIV

If you truly desire to live a new life and to be sure you can make heaven your eternal home with Jesus Christ, then contact us for more inspiring and edifying messages at https://joeachi.cw.center/, or for any enquiries, send an email to josephachi1876@gmail.com

God bless you!

God sent His Son Jesus Christ into this world to save us from our sins only because He loves us: nothing else could have made Him do that because there is no nobler cause for such sacrifice than His own love for us.
“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love; not that me loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son as the propitiation for our sins”. 1John 4:9, 10. KJV

He didn’t do this so He could gain anything from us; in fact there simply wasn’t anything desirable enough in our fallen nature to make Him want to die for us: if it wasn’t for love alone, He would never have offered Himself as the atonement for our sins.
“But we are as an unclean thing, and our righteousness is as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf: and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6 KJV.

All that the world had for Him was their sins, and that is what He still gets from the world today, yet His love for the world still endures, even for you, too!
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly…
But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us…
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled, we shall be saved by His life”.
Romans 5: 6,8,I0. KJ.V

Jesus Christ knew beforehand that He would be rejected, mocked, beaten and then crucified by the very world He would be coming to save from their sins, but that didn’t deter Him in any way from going on ahead with His rescue mission, because it was not for a
personal gain that He would be doing this: it was for our sake that His love compels Him to do it for us, His persecutors. It was because of God’s unconditional love which “..bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things…” 1 Corinthians 13:7 NASB.
Jesus still believes that you could ask to be made free from the huge debt of your sins. He still hopes that you’d seek God’s forgiveness, which He fully paid for when He laid down His life for you, for all sinners, and died that horrible and tortuous death on the cross. He still bears with your doubts and endures your rejection, knowing that you could still benefit from His love while you still live.
Far beyond the reach of human reasoning; away from the din of this world’s commotions and the hustles and bustles of daily life, the love of Jesus still strives for the soul yet unsaved. His heart still yearns for the sinner who is lost, and wandering ever closer to the verge of eternal damnation. We never can tell what industry Jesus Christ bestows in averting the arrows of death that would at any instant hasten the unrepentant soul to an early grave, far from the reach of His saving grace, already procured for them through so much pain, blood and agony, mingled with His boundless love. We never can tell how fervently and intensely He interceeds always before the Father’s Throne in heaven for the grant of more of His grace and mercy on mankind, so that we may not die while still living in our sins, and be condemned forever; but to live and enjoy the fruit of His love, the forgiveness of our sins, and the salvation of our souls, while the opportunity lasts.
Although Jesus’ love for the sinner is boundless and eternal, yet death and merciless judgment must take
its toll on the unrepentant sinner some day!
“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation, which shall devour the adversaries…
of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, where with he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again,The Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”. Hebrews 10:26-31. KJV.

What would you do with Jesus’ love today? Would you
continue with the world’s old tradition of rejecting and
spurning of the love of God revealed in Him? Or would you, for once again, make a difference, as some others have, by receiving His love, and open the door of your heart to Him? He said in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me”.

So, wouldn’t you rather believe in the Lord Jesus Christ , repent of, and confess all your sins to Him, and be saved? God’s Word promises that when we truly repent of all our sins, and embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal Saviour, those sins would be forgiven us. God says in Isaiah 43:25: ” I, even I, am He that blotted out thy transgression for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins. “

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse is from all unrighteousness”. 1 John 1:9.

If you truly want to respond to God’s love, through Jesus Christ, and have your sins forgiven, now is the time to do it! Call upon His name and ask for His mercy and forgiveness. He will surely deliver you from all your sins. You only have to believe and trust in Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:11 : “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

For further help visit https://joeachi.cw.center/ , and read more messages, or send an email to josephachi1876@gmail.com for any enquiries.

Thank you, and may God bless you!

The Judgment

As l opened the door to my room, stepped in, and shut it behind me, I felt a gentle breeze blew in my face and, suddenly, I felt extremely weak and totally devoid of any strength. I barely managed to lie on my bed and gave up the ghost right there.
I noticed that my soul left my body, and it was then that it dawned on me that I was dead. I found myself on a broad road filled with many people who, like me, had just died. No one spoke to anyone; everyone on that road just moved ahead quietly, controlled by some unseen forces.
There was a multitude on that road, too large to be numbered! Yet more and more souls of the dead from the earth kept joining that throng.
Far ahead in the distance I could see that the road was split into two; the road to the left was wide, and
almost all of this multitude of souls went that in that direction of the road as they approached that junction; but the road to the right was just a very narrow way, and no one seemed to want to take that path. As an enlightened Christian, I recognized those roads as the broad and the narrow way, which the Lord, Jesus Christ, taught about in the Gospel.
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in there at:Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it”. Matthew 7;13,4 K.J.K.

I thought that all those people following the broad road were foolish for not choosing to follow the narrow way to heaven, so l determined in my heart that I would follow the narrow way when I reach that junction where the road was separated.When I eventually got there, however, I discovered that my legs seemed to have a will of their own; they would not obey the impulse of my will to go in the direction of the narrow way to heaven. I tried with all my strength to will them in that direction, even by leaning heavily with my body towards that direction, but I could feel that a greater force just took hold of my soul and veered my legs into the broad road that led to hell fire, and to eternal torment! That road just descended into a dark and foreboding region with so much heat coming from that direction.
At this point, as I progressed in the direction of help fire, every word from the Holy Bible began to come into my mind and I could hear them clearly as though someone was reading them very loud to me: my judgment had begun!
Every sin I had committed came into clear consciousness and the word from the Holy Bible that forbids and condemns each of those sins was read out loud to me, at the end of which l was asked if I was guilty of the sin or not. Of course I pleaded guilty to them all because I knew that I had committed those sins.There was nothing like an argument or a plea for mercy. All the while, as the judgment continued, I was approaching the pit of hell fire with its searing heat blowing all over me. It was evident that every one of those multitude of souls was passing through the same judgment. I could see the people ahead of me falling into that horrible pit of hell, yet none of them had the power to tum back in retreat, or even to halt at all.They just kept falling into the pit of hell!
As I approached the precipice of that pit, I thought it was all over for me but, just as that dreadful force was about to plunge me head long into that fiery pit, I heard a loud voice say “stop!” , and immediately my feet got stuck to the ground and my soul came to an abrupt halt at the very edge of hell fire, while the rest of those army of lost souls still move past me. I watched with horror as that unending multitude kept falling head long into that fiery pit all around me. I could also see the liquid fire of hell, like a raging storm at sea, tossing the millions of lost souls within its confines, and their cries of pain and agony were so horrible and unbearable to hear.
Jesus began to speak to me, calling me by my name. He asked me to see where I had chosen to spend my life at last. I just stood there unable to say or do anything – not even to plead for forgiveness, yet I was passing through a hell of torment just being there! I was totally at the mercy of that unseen power controlling the damned souls of sinners.
Then the unthinkable happened: Jesus said He was going to give me a second chance to come back to life in earth and start my life all over again. He warned me that the 36 years I had wasted in my first lifetime were all that God had allotted to me, so I would be returning to earth for an unspecified grace period of time, which could end at anytime. He made it clear that my next life was not mine any more, but a grace period I was to live in doing God’s will.
After He was done talking to me that dreadful force resumed its control of my soul and started moving me backwards from the edge of hell.

The above is my own brief narration of the Life From Death experience of Evangelist James Agboola, which he shared with us at a Christian gathering some years ago. However, it could be your own personal experience
someday in the future, too, unless you repent of your sins, give your life to Jesus Christ and accept to live for Him as your Lord and personal Saviour.
“He that believeth on him ( Jesus Christ) is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil”.
John 3:18,19. KJV.

You must know that there’s a judgment day coming! Everyone who ever lived on earth must be judged someday. For some, that judgment is already done with, while some are currently passing through it as you read this message; it is just a question of time for every one of us still alive until.we face God’s judgment.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things
done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” 2 Corinthians 5:10.11. KJ.V.

Your life, as you presently are living it, is preparing your soul for an eternal existence, which will begin either with a joyful song at the entrance to heaven, or with an agonizing wail as you take that final plunge to eternal hell; it is your decision to make right now!
God’s judgment is impartial: we shall each receive what we deserve from Him. Some people are so hardened in their sinful pursuits that they do not have the time to stop and think of their inevitable day of judgment, let alone to repent and seek for God’s mercy and forgiveness. Others have simply persuaded themselves to believe that there would be no such day of judgment after death at all, because they think that God doesnt seem to care to restrain anyone from sinning at the present moment.
“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of
men is fully set in them to do evil”. Ecclesiastes 8:1 KJV.

Man’s unbelief or impiety will not change anything: Judgment is certain! Within just a few moment of time at the Judgment seat of Christ, and the most arrogant sinner’s heart would melt in repentance, but to no avail!
A few moments at the Judgment and the staunchest of unbelievers would have no doubts or arguments left to take comfort in anymore! No one argues at the Judgment seat of Christ: they simply answer to His just verdict. There would be no trials but only a Judgment because we are each of us already on trial from our first days on earth to the moment we cease to breathe.
You are presently on trial as you read this message, so what will you do with Jesus Christ now? Your decision will determine your Judgment someday, may be sooner than you think!

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the
whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into Judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil”. Ecclesiastes 12:13.14. K.J.V.

If you want to give up your sinful life now, and are willing to invite Jesus Christ to come and save you from the bondage of Satan then go on ahead in simple faith, and talk to Him in prayer about it right where you are. God’s word, the Holy Bible, promises that if we confess our sins, and are willing forsake them, God who is faithful and just, will forgive us all our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. See 1John 1:9 and Proverbs 28:13 KJV.

If you want to live forever someday in heaven with Jesus Christ, that is the decision to make now!
For further help visit https://joeachi.cw.center/ , or send an email to josephachi1876@gmail.com.

Thank you.
May God bless you!