DEMONISM (part one)

 

The Bible does not tell us what demons look like. We know, however, that they are beings of creationism. It is also lucidly clear that demonism is of the foulness of spiritual existence.

Genesis 1:2 tells us, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”. Many Christians, not to mention mere Bible readers, do not understand this verse at all. So, this is what God dictated to Moses to explain to mankind. The first word ‘and’ of verse two is a signification of coming between an earlier event as it points to a later one as well. The earlier occurrence being the account of God’s first decision to create without the utilization of an existing material, which, of course, makes HIM God. The word ‘created’ in verse one is bara’ (baw-raw’). BDB Definition: ‘to shape, fashion, create (always with God as subject)’.

Strong’s Definition (absolutely) to create’. This creative prowess of God is what the Septuagint calls, ex nihilo, remember Romans 4:17, “…God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were”. God created out of nothing. No preexisting material was used when God first bara the heavens, the planets, the visible and the invisible objects therein. “And the earth was without form…” Let us look at the word ‘was’, which, in Hebrew, is: hayah (haw-yaw) ‘to exist, that is, be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary)’. The error here is that of the translators, who should have translated hayah as ‘become’ and not ‘was’.

  Satyr

The Bible does not tell us how arithmetically long, but the time between verses one and two of Genesis chapter 1 could have spanned billions of years, no doubt! By the reason of the fact that the earth ‘was’ or ‘become’, it then follows that it was not what the Bible says it was in verse one. A change had occurred. Next, we treat ‘without form’, which is: tohu (to’-hoo) BDB Definition: ‘formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness; formlessness (of primeval earth), nothingness, empty space; that which is empty or unreal (of idols) (figuratively) wasteland, wilderness (of solitary places), place of chaos, vanity’.

Strong’s Definition: From an unused root meaning ‘to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), that is, desert; figuratively a worthless thing; adverbially in vain’. The word ‘void’, bohu (bo’-hoo) From an unused root (meaning to be empty); a vacuity, that is, (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin’. It was a destruction of an unparalleled cataclysm! ‘Darkness’ in the Hebraic language is choshek (kho-shek’) ‘the dark; hence (literally) darkness; figuratively misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness’. Light is a spiritual indication of God, the good One. Darkness is not of a decorative hue, hence, evil -the opposite of goodness- personified by Satan, the Devil i.e. Lucifer. The cataclysmic proportion of the destruction, enveloped by darkness, which is emblematic of evil, points to God’s arrest of evil doers, judgment and incarceration of Lucifer and the beings of the earth of that earthly era. Let us look at some scriptures.

Isaiah 14:12, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” Lucifer, the Devil, did commit sin before the original, Adamic sin took place (“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee [Ezekiel 28:15]. The infamy of his “I will”, Isaiah 14:14, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High”; marked the genesis of universal iniquity. Verse twelve says that he weakened nations. ‘Weaken’ chalash (khaw-lash’) ‘to prostrate; by implication to overthrow, decay’. Satan overthrew the government of ‘nations’, the Hebrew of which is: goy (go’-ee) ‘Apparently from the same root as [gevah (gay-vaw’) ‘the back, that is, (by extension) the person’] (in the sense of massing); a foreign nation; hence a Gentile; also (figuratively) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts’. How do I know that the chaotic state of Genesis 1:2 was not there in the first verse? Simple!

..to be continued…

click here to read part two.

UNBELIEF (3rd part)

(Edmond Sanganyado asked me how I think one can overcome unbelief when I commented on one of his posts. So, dear Edmond, I’ve made some addition to what I posted on your blog site and hoping you’ll see this. Thanks for asking me to do this. …and this is the concluding 3^rd part.)

In Genesis 18:14, the heavenly Visitant asked, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” Jeremiah, by  faith, put forth the same rhetorical question in chapter 32:17 and in the twenty-seventh verse, the scripture reports the express words of the LORD God through His prophet, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” When we comfort and remind ourselves of these words unbelief will, as the hymn goes, begone. The Hebrew word for ‘thing’ is dabar (daw-baw’) ‘a word, speech; by implication a matter (as spoken of) of thing; adverbially a cause’. The Greek word for ‘thing’, rhema, means the same. What is not impossible or too hard for God to do is not everything including negative things but rather what His word in scripture supports. Tell yourself that the Lord who had delivered you on six occasions will not abandon you on the seventh occasion!

The Holy Spirit has never displayed unbelief: for it is outright alien to His Being. Like Jesus (Revelation 1:5 & 3:14), the Holy Spirit is a faithful witness in John 15:26-27, 16:13; Acts 20:23; Romans 8:16, 9:1; Hebrews 10:15; 1Timothy 3:16; 1John 5:6-9. The word ‘faithful’ in Revelation 1:5, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead”; is pistos (pis-tos’) {it comes from (peithō : (pi’-tho) A primary verb; ‘to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty)’} it means: objectively trustworthy ; subjectively trustful; one who trusts in God’s promises’. Your failure to remove unbelief from your spiritual systemic nature is always tantamount to not having believed on Jesus in the first place.

The only panacea for unbelief is found in John 6:29, “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”. John 1:12 reads, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”. It is an absolute aberrancy to ‘believe on’ an emanatory result of creationism. Only the Creator is to be believed on because it implies gathering all the trust in you and elsewhere and repose the same on Him. Definitely, one ‘believes on’ who will never disappoint. Jesus is the only One who will not disappoint.

“Is there any small, tiny, wee bit of faith in you as regarding this situation?” This was what I asked a young Briton (about the age of nine) with whom I shared words of salvation when he said, “I do not really believe this thing about Jesus”. “Yes, Mr. Ojewale”, was his response after the question. “Hold onto this tiny faith, just listen to me carefully and then let’s pray”. The young boy whom I went to his house to give evening tutoring together with his older sibling agreed to receive Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. I led the younger of the two boys (Stephenson – I cannot remember his first name) in the sinners’ prayer….and the spiritual deal was done! God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). What the Greek interpretation says is that God does not look at the face before He attends to anyone. ‘Respecter of persons’ in Greek is one word: prosōpolēptēs (pros-o-pol-ape’-tace): ‘an accepter of a face (individual), that is, (specifically) one exhibiting partiality’.

Hold on to that small tiny faith of Master Stephenson (he’s probably in his 20’s this 2016). Do not forget the reports of Bible characters and some testimonies you have heard from your neighbours and friends. You will be surprised how your faith will assume a similitude of James 2:23, which reads, “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God”. (2Chronicles 20:7; Job 16:21; Isaiah 41:8). Amen.

Read the 2^nd part here

UNBELIEF (2nd part)

 

(Edmond Sanganyado asked me how I think one can overcome unbelief when I commented on one of his posts. So, dear Edmond, I’ve made some addition to what I posted on your blog site and hoping you’ll see this. Thanks for asking me to do this. This is the 2^nd part…)

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith”, Mark 11:22-23. By ‘Have faith in God’, Jesus means ‘Have the faith of God’. Peter, in Matthew 14:28 asked Jesus, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water”. In the next verse Peter did what no man ever did on water. Faith! The same faith wielding Peter allowed Satan to scare him with unbelief and in verse thirty Peter ran out of faith and, “he cried, saying, Lord, save me”. Hear Jesus in verse 31, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Did Peter not walk, even if it was two or three steps?! But the Lord’s verdict was ‘little faith’ and ‘doubt’.

The Book of Romans 11:20 reads, “Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear”: and we can begin the exegesis of this verse by treating the adverb, ‘well’. It has a corresponding meaning to ‘well’, kalōs in John 4:17 (Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband) & James 2:19 (Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble) and also ‘truly’, alethes in John 4:18 (and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly). ‘Well’ or kalōs (kal-oce’) from Thayer Definition: means ‘1.beautifully, finely, excellently, well a. rightly, so that there shall be no room for blame, well, truly’. Alethes comes from ‘a’ (a negative not) and lantano (hidden). What the ‘well’ of Romans 11:20 agrees with is the reasoning of the 10th verse. Note that in the three references the audience involved seemed not to be a good believer. Unbelief broke Judaism away from God’s spiritual relevance. They could not keep the law, the use of which God never intended to save man eternally, anyway. The firmness of Paul’s hearers is not as a result of graft of gentiles.

Faith is the ground upon which their stand has been made sure. If it is by faith, then faith cannot be mingled with highmindedness (Proverbs 28:14). Highminded is the Greek word, hupsēlophroneō (hoop-say-lo-fron-eh’-o): ‘to be lofty in mind, that is, arrogant’. God expects you to approach Him in fear of His holiness. ‘Fear’ is phobeō (fob-eh’-o) ‘to frighten, that is, (passively) to be alarmed; by analogy to be in awe of, that is, revere’. Phobeo, in this context is ‘to be in awe of, that is, revere’. Unbelief jettisons faith to install pride which takes Jesus (the Author and Perfecter of our faith) out of the picture. Pride, which is destined to fall, will metamorphose into abject fear (which Lucifer is experiencing now in excruciating discomfort)

I can see Sarah as she silently went, “Pshaw, when some people eat good food, they just say anything!” She denied saying that. The Bible attests to the fact that her faith removed barrenness from the history of her earthly sojourn. So, you may have shown disbelief a whole lots of time, do not despair, God gives a second chance over and over and again. Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns of praise and worship; do likewise in times of trouble when faith is gravely taxed and, like the duo in Acts 16:25-31, your supplications will bring you favourable answers. What do you think Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were doing in the fiery furnace? They were putting their faith to test. What happened? The LORD Jesus, in His pre-incarnate manifestation, joined the three teenage Hebrew children to partake in the feast of an uncanny faith which resulted in an uncanny victory over the fierce element of combustion (when the vicious heat of a furnace was turned into an air conditioner) in Daniel 3:23-25!

…to be concluded….

Read the first part here

UNBELIEF (1st part)

          

                                                                Doubting Thomas

 

(Edmond Sanganyado asked me how I think one can overcome unbelief when I commented on one of his posts. So, dear Edmond, I’ve made some addition to what I posted on your blog site and hoping you’ll see this. Thanks for asking me to do this. It’s the 1st part.)

It is the opposite of saving faith, and by this same faith, we understand, God perfected creationism (Hebrews 11:3). God, therefore is the first to exercise faith. If God is love (1John 4:8) it then follows that true faith must be found in ‘Love’ i.e. God. Unbelief is not only the absence of faith, it is an unfortunate rejection of the Lord God of salvation.

In a stealthy creep unbelief does advance its bid to strike a devastating punch. Unbelief is always the enemy’s approach. Not once has unbelief uttered the beneficial, “peace be unto you”, because it has always run a destructive errand for its author – Lucifer. Unbelief is Satanic set up. It comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy [John 10:10]. It has been missioned to disarm you – of your shield faith (Ephesians 6:16, 17) so that you cannot use the sword of the word – in order to weaken your spiritual business relationship with the Author of faith (Hebrews 12:2) to subdue and to shipwreck you. The Luciferian spirit of unbelief is sadistic, relishing every second of your plunge into the slavery of faithlessness.

Unbelief blindfolds (John 12:40). It delists you from the partakers of joyous mood of accomplishment. By it we disappoint God (Mark 6:6). It makes us losers (Mark 9:24); and by which we stumble (Romans 4:20). Dejection is its sole terminus. Thank God, however, that there is a way out for an unbelieving heart.

Matthew 13:58, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief”. This is the first time ‘unbelief’ is used in the entire Bible which the Greek calls apistia (ap-is-tee’-ah): ‘faithlessness, that is, (negatively) disbelief (want of Christian faith), or (positively) unfaithfulness (disobedience)’. Jesus, even Jesus, in His native Nazareth, could not perform great miracles which all Israel had hitherto witnessed. Unbelief is nothing but one of the games Satan plays to outwit humans. To beat the enemy the first thing is to uphold the God given, Joshua 1:8, formula. The word ‘depart’, muwsh (moosh), means ‘to withdraw’. Joshua was directed never to allow the positive word of God to ‘muwsh’ from his mouth. Joshua learned that one of the secrets of the success of Moses was to have shunned negativity. Positively, Joshua was to ‘meditate’ which in Hebrew, is hagah (daw-gaw’): ‘to murmur (in pleasure or anger); by implication to ponder’. ‘Ponder’, from Collin’s Dictionary, is ‘to give thorough or deep consideration (to)’.

When one fills one’s whole being with God’s rhema it will definitely purge one of the negating impurity of the enemy’s words of unbelief. Like He informed Joshua, God assures us of ‘good success’. The clause ‘have good success’ is śakal (saw-kal’): ‘to be (causatively, make or act) circumspect and hence, intelligent’. You would have, on account of depending on God’s word or promises, acted intelligently in your ‘way’. ‘Way’ is derek (deh’-rek) from BDB Definition: ‘way, road, distance, journey, manner a. road, way, path b. journey c. direction d. manner, habit, way e. of course of life (figuratively)’. ‘Prosperous’: tsalach or tsaleach (tsaw-lakh’): ‘to advance, push, prosper’. Unbelief will hinder your positive push in your course of life.

After you have learnt the word of God or better still the promises in God’s word, you must guard it as your treasure. You guard the word of God like the pugilist holds his fists and arms to guard his chest and ribs (or else one heavy punch lays him flat even till the count of twenty) by doing Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…”. It is all about Jesus. The word ‘looking’ is aphoraō (af-or-ah’-o) Thayer Definition: ‘to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something’.

Strong’s Definition: ‘to consider attentively’. Looking, grammatically, is a present continuous verb. Yea, it is all about Jesus, all the time, so do not stop, for a second, in your continuous ‘looking’. ‘Author’ is archēgos (ar-khay-gos’) ‘the chief leader, prince’; while ‘finisher’ is teleiōtēs (tel-i-o-tace’) Thayer Definition: 1. a perfecter 2. one who has in his own person raised faith to its perfection and so set before us the highest example of faith’. Strong’s Definition: ‘a completer, that is, consummator’.

…to be continued…

Read the 2nd part here

THE CHOSEN ONE (2nd part)

 

 

…continued from part one…

‘Holy’ is hagios (hag’-ee-os) {Origin: from ἅγος hagos (an awful thing)} meaning: ‘sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated)’. ‘Nation’ is ethnos (eth’-nos): ‘a race (as of the same habit) i.e. a tribe’. Christians, of divine election, form a nation, a race of a set apart people of Almighty God. That should, no doubt, stir up ripples of titillation within every chosen one. This is the reason why the scripture points out, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God”, 2Corinthians 5:20. The chosen ones are a race of God’s own people.

 

The word ‘peculiar’ is from two words: eis and peripoiēsis. Eis (ice) means: ‘into, unto, to, towards, for, among’. Peripoiēsis (per-ee-poy’-ay-sis): ‘1. a preserving, a preservation 2. possession, one’s own property 3. an obtaining’; so, in this context ‘peculiar’ or Peripoiēsis gives you a picture of a dot inside a circle, as taught by Rev. Chris Okotie, where the circle is God and the chosen one is the dot. As long as the circle remains closed, absolutely nothing can happen to the dot. Sometimes the circle makes way for the enemy’s intrusion but will ensure that the intruder cannot go beyond a particular limit. After the trials the circle is opened to exit the intrusion. Peripoiēsis is a reminder that the chosen is wholly owned by the Most High, having purchased him. Laos is the translation of ‘people’ and it is phonetically pronounced (lah-os’) meaning: ‘a people, people group, tribe, nation, all those who are of the same stock and language’. Laos does not imply all peoples in general. It pertains to a particular stock which, in this context, applies only to the elect earlier mentioned.

‘Darkness’, which speaks of shadow, is emblematic of obscurity, sin, ignorance and heathenism, all of which point to satanic hegemony. That is where we were thankfully brought out from. While in the darkness, Satan toyed with our emotions, life and spirituality. We went into deformity of all sorts. Our vision was gravely impaired. Ignorance made us to star in every evil drama. A spiritual rape was the constant perpetration. Darkness is an incapacitating gaoler, a slave master, destroyer of life and it is the spirit of shame. Darkness hates light which exposes his evil stance, and by extension his weakness.

‘Marvelous’ speaks of a wonderful spectacle, something so adorable you want to visit it and stare at it in wonderment. This marvel qualifies a ‘light’; and this is the best part. Having experienced the brightest shining strength of the sun, no one expects a more outshining object. In heaven dwells the most glorious splendour of brightness found nowhere else. That is where this chosen generation is being showcased. Remember God dwells in an unapproachable light [1Timothy 6:16] “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see…” . If He has brought us into this same light, we become quite untouchable, too invulnerable for the enemy. Come, he will, to scare you out of the faith (from which you draw strength; which makes you impotent against his evil antics) that you wield, just to remove the prefix ‘in’, leaving you ‘vulnerable’ once more. Satan knows who we are. He understands and perfectly well, that touching you (outside Peripoiēsis) will be an undoing, he knows what poisonous effect it is to dare touch us. He has learned to keep away. He cannot approach this light again, having lost his estate in heaven (Jude verse 6).

 

  Fallen Lucifer

 

His thought of the chosen sends shivers of fear through his hellish spirit even as he embarks on his pernicious peregrinations. Our presence, as James 2:19 reveals, is a source of unimaginable disturbance to Lucifer. He thought he was a star of eternal repute. His arrogance stripped him of his exalted height. The chosen ones have occupied the position of his dreams (on the heavenly throne) which he alone dreamt, a dream not coming from God’s knowledge. What God knows not of has never been, and will never find itself coming into any existence. Those things enter into the annals of dream world of fairy tales which, with a snap of little-fingers-effects, comes an abruption of the tall, pipe dream.

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” [Galatians 4:7]. People of God, what you have just read in Galatians tells you that you, as chosen ones, constitute an heir and your very inheritance is God Himself! Hallelujah! Rejoice chosen ones for you are the occupants of God in His light of great marvel. Philippians 4:4, and I reiterate, rejoice!

 

 

 

 

Read the 1^st part here.