The form of godliness

2Tim 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
 7  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

A form of godliness is a semblance or likeness of godliness, but where it differs from true godliness is its lack of the power of godliness.

One of the major characteristics of such people is that they shall be lovers of themselves.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

It is a form of godliness that pervades the whole of Christianity today. It is entrenched in the culture of "fulfilling your dreams"; " following your passion"; " adding value to yourself"; and so on.

These are the modern day doctrines of the Church and they have nothing to do with the cross of Christ; rather those who follow these teachings have made themselves enemies of the cross of Christ.

Phillipians 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

You must understand that the above verse is talking about BRETHREN who are enemies of the cross of Christ.

19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

All they think about is success and greatness in earthly things, their belly - what to eat, drink, where to live, etc.

These things have become their god, for when Paul talks about their belly being their god he is no doubt referring to not merely eating and eating; but he is referring to the incessant feeding of the flesh and the satisfying of all its desires.

In this way, their flesh is their god BECAUSE they mind earthly things.

You cannot mind both earthly and heavenly things simultaneously, for one is always the dominant one.

Paul wept over them because they were BRETHREN. Even so we have brethren today who have become ensnared by the lust for greatness; the desire for worldly success; they have become "motivated" to get these things by "teachings' that excite them.

" Money is good. Who does not want money raise your hand and let me pray for you "; with this and other seemingly harmless, innocent and innocuous quotes a congregation is disarmed, rendered powerless to resist, and put to sleep.

Beware of " harmless", "innocent", teachings that tend to make you laugh, get excited (motivated); or divert your attention from the saving of your soul; for even as your spirit has been saved, so also must your soul; and then will come the salvation of the body when the Lord returns for his own; those who have crucified the lusts and the affections of the flesh.

But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Hebrews 10:39

Brethren, not all " spiritual " teachings are SPIRITUAL!

Beware of New Age Christianity

It is not some new doctrinal approach to Christianity, neither is it repackaged Christianity. It is simply a watering down of the doctrines and teachings of the Bible so that the things pertaining to Salvation are no longer taught or emphasized and the things of this world are instead highlighted.

It is an unequal yoking of the Church with the world so that worldly things now find a lawful place in the church that has over the years grown to be the accepted and perfectly normal pattern of the Christian life.

There are several pointers to this false gospel, for there is another gospel that is false as Paul rightly pointed out to the Galatians.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Gal 1:8.

In Paul's day, the 'other gospel' was justification through the law - Gal chapter 3.

Today the other false gospel is a hybrid gospel of the good and the godly; the seemingly innocent things and righteousness.

There is a blurring of the lines between righteousness and unrighteousness such that people cannot tell that which is clean from that which is unclean. They can no longer discern iniquity.

2John 2:12I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 



13I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that isfrom the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

 14I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

We only know God the Father the Forgiver of sins and have never progressed beyond that point to distinguish between the goodness and severity of the Lord.

We have not yet become young men because the word of God does not yet abide in most. They are still being tossed around by every wind of doctrine.
 Don't you see and understand that for as long as pastors and overseers remain your "spiritual daddies" you can never grow into young men for they will always consider you to be children, as you too will always consider yourself. Ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

They wish you to remain children under their "covering" or the covering of the local church.

All these things are new age Christian teachings that you can never find in the Bible!

From time to time they will say things like that repeatedly until you begin to believe it is biblical but you have only been ensnared, bewitched!

They believe only in a good God who will never allow them to endure suffering. They have not been taught that we must enter the kingdom through much tribulation. They are not aware that it is only the trial of our faith that must come out shining like gold. They are still as little children exercising their faith for trinkets, baubles, positions and things that have nothing to do with salvation.

They are stuck in a materialistic gospel that only pays lip service to the true gospel.

We have forgotten that the race we run is not about good and evil but about life and death; not about what we are doing but about what we are becoming.

We emphasize doing over growing and then confuse ourselves into thinking that by doing we are growing.

We think that by routine religious prayer and praise (like the Pharisees of Matt 15); we are effectively growing, yet all we are doing is reinforcing and reemphasizing in our minds, that which we have been brainwashed with over several decades.

We praise God in song and dance ostensibly to receive some blessing, we pay tithes for the sole purpose of receiving blessings poured out from the windows of heaven. Even our prayers are geared towards receiving something from God.

It is no wonder that though we perhaps have the highest number of local churches in Africa today, yet the state of the nation is worse than most other African nations.

Righteousness has not exalted our nation, not because our leaders are corrupt, not because there are too many ungodly people; but because the Church for whose sake righteousness would have exalted us is herself UNRIGHTEOUS!

She has descended into such worldliness and carnality that she can no longer tell the difference between righteousness and unrighteousness, life or death.

Today we see many "teachers" on Facebook advocating an "anything goes policy in marriage" to the extent of actually being supportive of oral sex!

Today Christians dance the Makossa dance in Church gleefully, deceiving themselves that they are praising God, not knowing how far from God their hearts have fallen!

Musicians play in nightclubs and parties on Saturdays and play in church on Sundays and still the chorus answer we keep getting is that "there is nothing wrong in..."

David offered up the meditation of his heart along with the words of his mouth. That meant that the continual meditation of his heart on a DAILY BASIS had to tally with the words of his mouth on a daily basis. He was offering these two things on a daily basis as his praise and worship.

Today we have to "be in the mood of prayer or worship" on Sundays before this can happen. No, we are supposed to present our bodies our habitual thought patterns and the words we speak daily from the abundance of our hearts to him as a living sacrifice daily, not when we are in the mood of prayer or worship!

Aren't our hearts far from him already?


Beware of New Age Christianity!

LIFE IS SPIRITUAL!

Introduction – Will the real You please stand?

As believers we tend to compartmentalize life into various categories…”how is your prayer life?”; “How about your ‘Word Level’?” These presumably constitute the sum total of our ‘spiritual life’; not forgetting our ‘Praise and Worship life’. Yet there is only ONE life lived…the same life we live in prayer is the same as the one we live in lying or behaving ourselves unseemingly.

James 3: 8-13 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. 

10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. 

11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

We do the same with the various ‘fronts’ we present to the various people we relate with…in church we are different in our demeanour and behaviour from how we really are at home; likewise we put on a professional mask at work that disappears when we get home.

We are a different person to DIFFERENT people. We have a compulsive need to cover our NAKEDNESS because what we hide underneath is not as pleasant as what we choose to reveal to others, sometimes even to those who are intimate with us.

It is for this reason perhaps, that the bible says the heart of man is desperately wicked, who can know it?

Adam covered his NAKEDNESS from God because he should NOT have known he was naked! His eyes had been opened through disobedience and thus he was no longer innocent.

We hide our NAKEDNESS from Man because we know the SELF that we are trying to cover up has no good thing in it…it is FLESH.

Yet to expose our nakedness is simply to expose SELF…this is what the bible terms PUTTING OFF SELF so that the real NEW MAN inside can be seen:

Eph 4:17-25 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 

18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 

19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 

20 But ye have not so learned Christ; 

21 IF SO BE THAT YE HAVE HEARD HIM, AND HAVE BEEN TAUGHT BY HIM as the truth is in Jesus:  (hearing the Lord and being taught by Him is personal).

22 That ye PUT OFF concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 

23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;  

24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

 25 Wherefore PUTTING AWAY lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 

The word CONVERSATION in verse 22 refers not merely to dialogue, but in particular to THE WAY AND MANNER OF LIVING.

For example,  to PUT OFF lying is one way to PUT OFF the Old Man, but clearly Paul is not merely referring to lying with words even though he referenced speaking truth with your neighbour; no, he is talking about putting off the Old Man concerning his former way of living.

ONLY THEN can one PUT ON the New Man, for it is not possible to put on both MEN at the same time.

The hallmarks noticed in those who have put on the New Man are righteousness and TRUE holiness.

We live as though we are several kinds of ONE person…to our family we are strict, harsh and unpleasant…to our brethren we are kind, meek and humble…to our office staff we are overbearing and rude…yet we are ONE and the SAME person.

It is because we have not understood that the same life we present to brethren is the same life we present to our families and colleagues at work. SO WILL THE REAL YOU PLEASE STAND?

This evidently is not the New Man, for if it were, he would present the SAME ‘front’ to EVERYONE. He will come out PLAINLY with all his flaws. He will show that he is no spiritual giant but rather, one who is working out his own salvation with fear and trembling.

Paul said he had not yet ‘arrived’…

Phil 3:13 -14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 

14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

He was no spiritual giant…but he certainly didn’t hide anything…he didn’t hide who he really was…he was an OPEN book to be read by all…this idea of putting on different masks for different people is the greatest way Self hides itself and its works from the sight of men…we need to relearn again how to be plain…to walk in the transparency of our heart is not merely to tell the truth with our lips but also with our WALK.

When the New Man is PUT ON, he will expose the works of the Old Man, so that the Old Man may die experientially…the New Man will strive to live like Christ lived and though he may stumble and fall several times, ALL will see his TRUE nature in spite of his many weaknesses.

Watch out for this series coming soon…

GODS OF THE EARTH CHAPTER 44 - THE FINALE!!!

Chapter 44

They left the hospital after Kola had been properly attended to, under the watchful eyes of his wife and pastor. Dr Ekwueme would never be the same again. He was still coming to terms with what had happened to him in the emergency room…how the privacy and sanctity of his mind had been invaded by an evil spirit who had taken possession of his limbs.

It had taken Mary and Mrs Adewusi a little over twenty minutes to explain everything in a way the good doctor could understand, after he had treated Kola…but by the time they had spoken to him…he really couldn’t let them leave without leading him to Christ.

“So what next?” asked Kola as Muyiwa drove them home.

“A warm bath, a warm dinner and off to bed for you my darling,” said Wunmi, smiling sweetly at her husband whose head she had cradled in the crook of her arm.

“And what about you?” asked Kola, sitting up in consternation.

“This isn’t over yet Kola. We have to see it through,” said Pastor Adewusi.

“Meaning what sir?” persisted Kola.

“Meaning we have to find out what happened to those giants and inquire of the Spirit if there is anything else he would require us to do,” answered the pastor.

“So you are all going off again without me? That is totally unacceptable!” protested Kola…till his wife sealed his mouth with a kiss…that had happened fairly frequently in the last few months…it simply meant end of discussion…well in matters of the spirit, he knew his wife knew best…but to miss out on all the action…

You’ve had your fair share of action…you should rest now…

“You’ve had your fair share of action…you should rest now,” said Muyiwa.

“How did you know?” asked Kola.

“How did I know what?” countered Muyiwa.

“I mean, how did you know what the Spirit said to me just now?” Kola asked.

“I didn’t. I was merely making my own observations,” replied Muyiwa.

Mary giggled…she knew what was happening…it had happened before between Wunmi and herself…the Spirit would say something and then get someone else to voice it out…it was His way of making sure the person began to recognise his voice without a shadow of doubt…out of the mouth of two or three witnesses a thing shall be established.

Wunmi absentmindedly stroked the top of her husband’s head where the bandage had not covered, as she thought on the things the Spirit had told her while she had been unconscious…

“Does this mean I’m going to die Lord?” asked Wunmi, slowing down a little bit.

“I cannot tell you that, for then you would no longer be walking by faith but by sight,” answered the Man she had called Lord.

She remembered everything…and the time was drawing near…she didn’t know what lay ahead in the near future…but she had checked herself for traces of fear…there was none…she was ready to be offered up even as her Lord and several apostles had been offered up…and not even her cousin and best friend Mary knew what had transpired between her and her Lord.

She cast her mind back over six years and saw how the Lord had moulded her and transformed her life…it always had to be through the path of suffering…or how else would one die to self if one didn’t die to comforts…pleasures…worldly desires and ambitions…and even to one’s very Will…she was satisfied that the Lord had indeed been good to her…not in the way people often said, whenever they felt that the Lord had ‘blessed’ them with some material benefits…but in the sense of having begun to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus.

She had walked with him…hand in hand…in the garden while she had been unconscious…that was more than enough for her…so now if she perished in the flesh…then she perished.

Kola had been staring up at her intently, unnoticed by Wunmi till she looked down once…

“What are you thinking about?” whispered Kola.

“I’m thinking about good the Lord has been to me,” replied Wunmi, whispering directly into his ear so that it tickled him.

“You know…sometimes you treat me like I’m a child, is that because compared to you I’m what they call a new born babe in Christ?” asked Kola.

“Nope, you are not just my husband…you are my father…and I am not just your wife, I am your mother,” replied Wunmi, smiling down at him.

As Muyiwa drove home, they saw the deserted streets and the damage done by the giants. Muyiwa marvelled at the scale of destruction that they had wrought….the Rapture was much closer than anyone could ever think, he thought to himself.

In fact he had never thought the Church would still be on earth to see any of these things…but one thing was certain…the time of the Antichrist drew near…the Great Falling Away was now almost complete…the wheat was being separated from the chaff…the Bride of Christ from the Church Denominations.

These were the days in which God was making up His jewels…and he had learnt that it was a fiery process…ministry was not enjoyable as the ministers of today were trying to make it out to be…he didn’t see Paul or Peter or anyone else enjoying themselves as they preached from city to city…all they encountered were hardships and pain.

The scales had fallen off his eyes and he had come to see the Church for what it really is…a System of Religious Organisations called Denominations…Spiritual Empires on earth…whose leaders had set themselves up as gods of the earth…he and Kola were not the only ones that had aspired to be gods on earth…you could see these gods that are not gods everywhere you turned…if you had eyes to see…

Muyiwa smiled mirthlessly…he had only been fortunate to be married to such a woman as Mary, or how would he have survived! Another woman would have left him a long time ago…but not Mary…she was of the Spirit…they never let go…because love never fails…he realized that now.

The Hosts of Heaven had escorted the giants out of the city where they destroyed and disposed of the abominations in a place where man would never find them…they had never been meant to appear…at least not yet…the return of the Nephilim was reserved for the days of the Antichrist…the reliving of the days of Noah when giants walked the earth, freely inhabiting it along with mortals.

They surveyed the mass destruction caused by these infernal beings and felt great compassion for the mortals that had lost their lives…yet there was nothing they could do to ease their suffering…the mortals would have to rebuild their city and cope with their losses as best as they could.

With one accord they returned to the battle ground where the rest of their Company still battled with fallen angels…it was almost over…Belial was gone, and so were Janut and Baal…only the Lord of Darkness himself remained…locked in battle with Michael their warlord.

Swiftly they joined the waning battle and made short work of the fallen angels that remained…then they formed a wide circle around the battle between the two arch angels.

As soon as Kola was safely settled in, Wunmi and Mary drove down to the place where the giants had last been seen. They had firmly insisted that the others remained behind, and the Lord had confirmed it to them…he had work for only Mary and Wunmi…the others had completed their tasks successfully.

Michael holds fort till you arrive…this battle is for mortals, not for angels…for it is YOU that must wrestle against Principalities and Powers and Rulers of the Darkness of this world, and Wicked Spirits in Heavenly Places. But it is to them the fallen angels that I will demonstrate My manifold wisdom through my Church which you now represent.

“Okay sir,” responded both ladies at the same time.

Mary drove a little further till she saw the whirlwinds in the distance. She looked at Wunmi and Wunmi nodded.

As they drove closer, they could see a wide circle of tall majestic Beings beyond the sphere of the earthly skies…they had been granted the gift of Discerning of Spirits…they were beginning to be caught up as Mary parked and they stepped out of the car…it was the last thing they remembered…physically.

Michael had the upper hand for he fought with the fury he was known for, when the sacredness of his Lord had been trespassed. For Lucifer had hurled insults, blaspheming the Name that is above all names…and Michael couldn’t let him go scot free…the zeal of the Lord of Hosts had consumed him, and in holy anger, he had turned himself into a living weapon. Lucifer backed away at the fierceness of his onslaught…never before had Lucifer seen Michael fight with such fury!

The defeated fallen angels watched from afar…cloaked in darkness…they knew they had lost when the Enemy of Darkness appeared in their Realm.

Michael stopped fighting abruptly and withdrew some distance along with his Host of angels.

Lucifer turned around to find out why, and found himself staring at the Enemy of Darkness and her cousin…his mortal foes!

With a snarl of rage he launched himself at them…but a Standard appeared before them, shielding them and preventing him from getting close to them.

“When the Enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall raise up a Standard against him,” muttered Mary with new understanding.

Then both of them felt themselves being clothed from above…the clothing was light, yet strong…it was armour…they had been clothed with the armour of God himself!

In their hands appeared the Sword of the Spirit and the Shield of Faith…then the Standard was lifted and they saw their foe.

Lucifer clashed swords with the Enemy of Darkness…for that was Wunmi’s name in the realm of the Spirit…

The Enemy of Darkness found herself possessed with fighting skills which she had never learnt…

OH BUT YOU DID…ALL THOSE TIMES YOU WRESTLED IN PRAYER FOR THE SALVATION OF YOUR HUSBAND, WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?

Mary watched closely in awe of her cousin…till a fallen angel suddenly threw away his cloak of darkness and approached her unexpectedly…then Mary found herself engaged in a battle…for one more appeared…then several others.

Suddenly Mary cried out the Name of Jesus…from deep within her, a river of Living Water suddenly burst forth from her mouth…it was a river of blazing light…like a torrential flood it swept her adversaries away and out of her presence…they were gone…but there were more throwing off their cloaks of darkness…so now she knew why the Spirit required her presence…it was to give support to the Enemy of Darkness, so she could keep her focus on Lucifer, Lord of Darkness.

She readied herself as they streaked towards her…she had to learn in the Reality of the Spirit realm, how to use the Sword and the Shield…she had long since learned that it was not merely the confession of the Word that wielded the Sword…it was the might of the arm…the strength in the spirit of a man!

She had been strengthened with MIGHT in her inner man by the Spirit of the living God…she was ready!

They came at her all at once in their numbers, but Mary had Omnipotence on her side…for a few moments she enjoyed the ability to see around her all at once…she parried every blow till it became a game…and when she tired of it, she laughed terribly as one by one she dispatched them back to their own place…till she stood alone.

She watched as her cousin battled the Lord of Darkness…he was furious at the easy dispatch of his fallen warrior angels, by a mortal.

Finally he got the upper hand and tripped up the Enemy of Darkness, so that when her sword fell out of her hand in battle, he laughed and bent over her to thrust his sword through…that was when he made the mistake of his life…for the sword never drops…it changes places…

For in the instance that he bent over the Enemy of Darkness, the Sword of the Spirit came out of her mouth as she uttered the words; BEGONE FROM ME, FOE OF MY FATHER!

The curtains of the Heavenlies ripped apart to receive their Lord into Darkness…it was over…Michael raised his sword in salute…

“For the Majesty!” he roared.

“For the Majesty,” Wunmi and Mary roared back.

Michael nodded his head to acknowledge them, and the majestic Host of Heaven faded out of their sight…it was over.

Wunmi awoke from the vision and looked at Mary who was still slumped over the steering wheel. It was dark…Wunmi checked her phone for the time…past 2am in the morning! They had been gone for hours!

As Mary stirred, Wunmi lifted her hands in silent worship to the King of all Kings…the Lord of Lords…the one who is the Alpha and the Omega…He who was…who is…and ever shall be…the Beginning and the Ending of all things!!!

THE END!!!

Thank you for reading this! May the Lord bless and use you greatly to become the Foe of his Foes…and the Enemy of Darkness!