NO LONGER BUSINESS AS USUAL: GOD IS RESTORING HIS FEAR TO THE CHURCH!!!
Around 1991, one of God’s servants in a part of Nigeria was very sick–and was actually in his dying moments. I can recall very vividly that we prayed for him many times in our church at that time. On the night he was to pass, his wife who later shared this strange experience was beside him.
He was already hallucinating–hanging between heaven and earth–when he began to say strange things to himself. But of all the strange things that happened–what stunned the wife the most were some conversations this man of God was having with some unseen beings–which went like this:
“Yes, yes on the 3rd of May, I preached about this subject using this verse of the bible. And on the 10th of June, my message title was on this….”. The man was still in between–but was already giving an account of his ministry.
The fear of God gripped me when I heard this fearful story. A lot of us pastors have got this fake confidence that we are in charge and God is our boy. Our money and influence have deitified us. At the point of death, the narrative will change. Your crowds will become irrelevant. Your jets and limousines will become irrelevant. Your fame and affluence will become irrelevant. The only thing that will be relevant is your relationship with God and your impact on men.
The fear of God is dying in the hearts of a lot of us–believers and pastors alike. And God is now in the process of restoring that fear to his church. The era of reckless and irresponsible Christianity will soon pass.
Just about a week ago, a servant of God just finished preaching–and right on his altar, he slumped and died–and that was it. It was never in his plan that the door of eternity was going to open to him–much less happening on his church altar. God is about to restore his fear into the church–and it will begin from us–the pastors–before spreading to the wider community of believers. Enough of the ridicule and embarrassment that has bedeviled the body of Christ for this long.
1. If you want to be a professional fund raiser, you are free to be so, but not in the coming glorious church.
2. If you want to be a psychology and philosophy pastor-lecturer, of course, you are free to be so, but not in the coming glorious church
3. If you want to add occultism to the preaching of the gospel, you can create your own movement and start to practice your paganism, but no longer in the coming glorious church.
4. If you want to sleep with as many people as you like for powers, no problem, it’s your choice, but no longer in the coming glorious church.
Shortly, before Jesus comes, God would bring some levels of sanity into the church. This is the precursor to the birth of the glorious church that will pave the way for the arrival of Jesus. And if you think that there is still plenty of time, I will have to refer you to the fictional perspective of William Barclay in the following story–which I have told a couple of times.
“Three of Satan’s demons were coming to the earth to complete their assignments. They were talking to Satan about their plans. The first said, “I will go and tell them that there is no God. Satan replied, “that won’t deceive anybody. They know that there is a God. The second demon said, “I will tell them there is no hell”. Satan replied, “they know deep down in their hearts that there is a place called hell”. The third demon said, “I know what to do. I will tell them that there is still plenty of time”. Satan smiled; you will ruin men by their thousands for the most dangerous of all deceptions is to tell men that there is still plenty of time”.
There is a strong sense of urgency in the realm of the spirit–and it is sad to know that many of us are not in tandem with heaven on this matter and that is why we live so recklessly. Interestingly, very few men seem to epitomize the reality of this urgency like the faithful servant of God who pastored Shadow Mountain Community Church for decades before turning over the baton of her leadership to Dr David Jeremiah. His name is Dr Tim Lahaye.
Some years back, Dr Tim Lahaye developed this sense of urgency by writing the popular book, “Left Behind”, which became a series and a best seller that sold more than 30 million copies across the globe. He was motivated to write this book by an experience he had in a plane. He was flying across two US cities and right in the middle of the flight, he saw the pilot of the plane flirting with one of the hostesses. He said to himself, “what if the rapture happens now”? He disembarked from that plane with such an urgency to warn men of the imminent return of Christ, through the publication of the “Left Behind Series” book.
Although, Dr Lahaye passed on in 2016, leaving an indelible legacy of cutting-edge insight into the events of the end time, the urgency and fervor in his message have not diminished. Contrary to expectation, his messages have continued to rivet through history, leaving a track record of imminence and urgency in the way we understand, interpret, and relate to world’s events.
In God’s calendar, it no longer business as usual in the body of Christ. It is now time for all of us to take a stand–to stand with Christ–and live for him–or to stand with the world–and live for her. But, to continue to walk around with scattered legs–as Baba Gbile Akanni puts it–by putting one leg in Christ and the other leg in the world will no longer be the order of the day in the body of Christ. God is restoring his fear to his church!