HIS TESTIMONY (Part II)

(Continued from part one)

Mark 2:28 quotes Him thus, “Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” Sabbath was first mentioned in Exodus 16:23 “…To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD…” It has its seminality in Genesis 2:2, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” Sabbath is the day God did what I term, ‘basking in the euphoria of accomplishment’. God did not rest out of an exhaustive stress, having gone through six days of gruelling toil; in fact, that thought alone is an abominable sacrilege. Certain phenomena cannot apply to the Divinity such as: fatigue, dearth, coition or respiration known of earthly life. The Sabbath is a day to show appreciation for creation and to worship the Creator.

The flummoxing gospel truth is that the Jehovah they hold in high veneration, who rested on the first seventh day of creationism, is the very Jesus they were beholding. Jesus called Himself the Jehovah of universal adoration! For your perfect understanding the ‘God’ of Genesis is also the ‘LORD’ of Exodus. The Greek has one word (kurios – Lord) for the Hebrew adon (Lord/lord), Adonay (Lord- applies only to Yahweh) or Jehovah (LORD -in capitals). If Jesus categorically and unequivocally makes a revelation of His Lordship of Sabbath then standing before every eye was none else than Jehovah Himself. Ponderous!

John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Ego eime (I exist) is the Greek for “I am” which is the same as the covenant “I AM THAT I AM” of Exodus 3:14. The reason why we can boast of fruitful capability is simply because we are resident in Him, without whom we can do ‘nothing’. ‘Nothing’ comes from ou (oo): ‘the absolute negative no, not; in direct questions expecting an affirmative answer’, and oudeis (oo-dice’): ‘not even one (man, woman or thing), that is, none, nobody, nothing.’  The absoluteness of our incapacitation without Jesus speaks volumes because only the nonpareil Creator can lay a claim to this phenomenon, confer Colossians 1:17.

    Jesus is the “EVERLASTING FATHER” of Isaiah 9:6, who shrouds JEHOVAH

The true reason why we find it an arduous difficulty in apprehending the bona fide Personage of Jesus is simply because we approach Him à la the logical stand of carnal propensity. John 14:9 reads, “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?”  The past participle ‘seen’ is the Greek horaō (hor-ah’-o) ‘Properly to stare at, that is, (by implication) to discern clearly (physically or mentally); become acquainted with by experience.’ The knowledge of this Personage does not fall within the scope of what the intelligentsia acquire in the great halls of the ivory tower. It is purely a spiritual matter.

This takes us to Matthew 11:27 “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”  The Father is eternal, without a beginning. How can Jesus Christ (erroneously believed to be a created being) possess this knowledge if He is not eternal as well? ‘Knoweth’ in the Greek is epiginōskō (ep-ig-in-oce’-ko): ‘to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know thoroughly, to know accurately, know well.’ It should be crystal clear to all and sundry that it must take an Omniscient One to epiginōskō  the Eternal One. Amen.

                                              

Matthew 9:6, “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” Jesus proved His most enigmatic stance in the display of an uncanny fact of His Being. Only God can forgive: no doubt a truism. From scripture we know He is not an interloper; so, what does it make Him, the Lord Jesus, who has the power to forgive sins as well? In the Book of Matthew 12:6, Jesus gave an articulation which will continue to reverberated eternally and universally, “But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.” The only one that is greater than the temple is the object of worship by the assemblage. The heavenly assizes is both the throne room and the temple; the only One greater than the Temple is the One who sits in the majestic rule of the rainbow administration. Remember He taught never to swear by the throne of God because of who sits on it? Now, this asseveration of Jesus concerning His Lordship of the most revered Jerusalem Temple, how does it make Him different from the One seated as the Majesty on high, in the celestial assizes? Chew on that!

People, in their billions, across the globe, pray to God knowing that He is Omnipresent; knowing that He will hear all of them. They believe He knows what is wrong with every individual: being the Omniscience. God’s omnipotence, nursed by all, protects and provides for our daily needs. So, when Jesus assures, in John 14:14 that, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it];” it tells me that Jesus wields the tripartite (omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent) power of divinity.

  At the transfiguration!

(…to be continued…)        Read the 1st part here

 

HIS TESTIMONY (Part I)

   

He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. (John 1:15)

One Personage said, “I am come that ye might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly;” in John 10:10. What kind of life is this Book offering? It is found in John 5:26, “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;” which takes us to John 10:30, “I and my Father are one”.

‘Life’, in Greek, is zōē (dzo-ay’): ‘life (literally or figuratively): this is the vital breath of God which is given through the hypostatic union of Jesus the Christ’. The verb ‘am’ in verse ten does not appear in the original Greek text, albeit, in most cases when Jesus uses the clause “I am” it is ego eime in the Greek, which is the same as “I AM THAT I AM” which God called Himself when Moses asked of His name. The ‘I am’ we see, for example, in verses 7, 9, 11 & 14 of the tenth chapter have the translation of ego eime!

Now let me aid in raising an aura to appreciate John 10:30. The pronoun ‘my’ is also not in Greek (all italicized words of King James Version are so). ‘I’ is ego. ‘Are’ is esmen (es-men’) Thayer Definition: ‘first person plural of “to be”.’ Strong’s Definition: ‘First person plural indicative of eime: ‘we are‘. Jesus, by this declaration, says that the Father is as ‘I AM’ just as He, Jesus, is ‘I AM’! What about the word ‘one’? It is heis (hice), ‘a neuter and a primary numeral; ‘one’.’ With heis Athanasius’ homoousios (Christ’s same substance nature as the Father) gains scriptural establishment as opposed to Arius’ homoiousios (like substance). While the ‘are’, esmen, is a masculine gender, heis is a neuter. The Son and the Father constitute one ‘thing, element, substance’ in nature, thought, deed and essence as two distinct Personages!

So when we read from John 3:31, “He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all”; this testimony makes one to see the need to get closer to the Testifier.

Who cometh from above, if not Jesus? Do we know of any other who did come down from heaven to take an abode with men and still belongs truthfully to heaven? If the answer is, “None”, then this One is quite different. You must boast of Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence to be said to be above all.

                            The ‘Beloved Son’ at the transfiguration (Mark 9:7)

It does surprise me when I am attacked, especially by Moslems, with, “Even Jesus never called himself ‘the Son of God’ it is you, his followers, who give him that appellation.’ Let us traverse the scriptures. When Peter answered the question none of the disciples could with, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” in Matthew 16:16, Jesus did not accuse him of satanic blasphemy. He concurred with “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Jesus Himself said in John 3:18, “He that believeth on him 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.” Jesus did verbally testify of His Divine Sonship!

Matthew 26:63-64 read, 63) “But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. 64) Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” As a child I thought ‘Thou hast said’ expressed an attempt by Jesus to exonerate Himself from being credited with having called Himself the Son of God.

“Thou hast said,” said Jesus, in Mathew 26:64.

The term, ‘Thou hast said’ is a simple affirmative, ‘yes’. What Jesus actually meant was, “thou hast said right” or better still, “You have just said so” or “You have just said what is the truth: that I am the Son of God”. Mark 14:61-62 has in the 62nd verse “And Jesus said, I am...” Whether it is “Thou hast said,” of Matthew 26:25, “Thou sayest,” of Matthew 27:11, “Ye say that I am,” of Luke 22:70 or “Thou sayest that I am a king” [John 18:37], it is the same affirmative implication of, “Yes, you have agreed with me.” In the case of John 18:37, Jesus went on to establish His Sonship with the declaration of, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”

Angel Gabriel brought a message from heaven to Mary, saying in Luke 1:35, “….therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”. The testimony of Jesus regarding His Sonship of the Deity is true, having received a corroboration by an angel.

                   (…to be continued…)     Read the 2nd part here

ARE THERE MORE CHRISTIANS THAN OTHER BELIEVERS? (Part Two)

 

 (Continued from part one)

Now let us ruminate upon some facts.

1. Jesus says, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” John 3:3. The word ‘born’ is gennaō (ghen-nah’-o): ‘to procreate (properly of the father, but by extension of the mother); figuratively to regenerate’. ‘Again’ is anōthen (an’-o-then) ‘from above; by analogy from the first; by implication anew’.
2. How many churches make altar calls at the end of the sermons? Very few, there is no doubt.
3. How many are genuinely born of Jehovah God? Few, I believe.

In the Book of 1Corinthians 12:1-31, Paul writes about gifts. Verses 1, 3 & 4 read: 1) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 3) Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 4) Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

   THE FREEMASONRY LOGO

Verses 8-10 tell us Who gives what: 8) For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9) To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10) To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. Verse 30, “Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” asks a question; and the last 31^st verse, “But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way” is what I want you to see. The word ‘covet’ is zeloo (dzay-loh’-o): ‘to have warmth of feeling for or against’; it comes from zelos ‘heat or zeal’.

 

Ifa Priests & Worshippers

So, if the word of God enjoins you to desire zealously the gifts of the Spirit, one of which is speaking in tongues, who are the pastors teaching you not to bother because it is only when God wants to let you have it is when it will happen? 1Corinthians 14:39, says, “Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues”. The ‘covet’ is the same zeloo. ‘Forbid’, koluo, (ko-loo’-o) means: ‘to hinder or forbid, i.e. prevent (by act or word)’.

Number 4. How many church going people do speak in tongues? Not many, compared to the church going billions!

   Islam

The likes of Isis of Syria, Al-Shabab, Boko Haram, Al-Quaeda are working in the course of Allah as the whole of Qur’an chapter 9 (i.e. At-Tawba) commands. When a Muslim says, “We’re more than Christians”, do not argue. All Arabians, the two major Islamic branches of Sunnis and Shiites, the third, Kharijites and all the 73 different sects are Qur’anic Moslems. There are probably more than a billion adherents of Hinduism. Buddhists cut across the globe. Are there more Christians than each of the religions of the world?

                         Buddhism

Let us look at more figures. Buddhism, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica, goes thus: “Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of Asia, and during the 20th century it spread to the West.” China alone boasts of 1.7 billion human beings. India, with the huge population of one point two billion, is the home of Hinduism.

                  Shintoism

The huge population of China and Asia massively practise the religion of Taoism. Among the religions of the world is Shintoism of Japan, Ifa worship of Western Nigeria which is practised in some West African countries, Brazil and many parts of the world. Kabbalah, the Jewish occultism, is global. And what about Freemasonry? It is the most powerful cultic religion; boasting of the emperors of the world, the wealthiest of human beings, politicians and globally famed entertainers.

                                        The promise of Jehovah

You can be a Christian today by doing God’s will for the word of God teaches in Matthew 18:14, “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” You can be born again and be transformed into God’s child. Say this prayer of salvation: “Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe in my heart that Jesus died for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I believe that Jesus is LORD and I receive Him as my LORD and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen”. Maintain the new birth by:

1. Praying always (in the name of Jesus) 1Thessalonians 5:17.

2. Read the Bible everyday (Joshua 1:8).
3. Go to Church regularly (Hebrews 10:25).
4. Tell others about Jesus (Mark 16:15).

                                                                   Church Service 

 

 

 

Kabbalah

 (Concluded)

ARE THERE MORE CHRISTIANS THAN OTHER BELIEVERS? (Part One)

 

Who is a Christian, one born by Christian parents, the one who just decides to change faith and starts going to Church or a one who likes going to Church to worship God? A Christian is a person who has received Jesus as his Lord and Saviour i.e. a born again person. A Christian is a follower, a saint of Jesus, who follows Jesus having made up his mind and knowing fully well whom he has decided to follow.

A Christian is the one who has believed in John 3:3, having heard the gospel of regeneration, then, he took the necessary Romans 10:9-10 ritual of spiritual regeneration. Praying the prayer of salvation, truly, from his heart, the Holy Spirit of God endorses his sonship of God. His name is written in the book of life. This is the Christian.

Roman Catholic Church alone boasts of one billion, two hundred million (1.2bn) ‘Hail Mary’ chanting members. The other Churches of Orthodoxy, Methodist, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Adventist, each with its traditionally approved mode of worship, will probably account for maybe something over half a billion. Baptist, White garment churches and the teeming Pentecostalism, and their vigorous ‘hallelujah!’ chants, could also boast of a billion more adherents. 3 1/2 billion church goers form half of the global populace. Looks very much like Christians have a numerical advantage over other religious worshippers.

In the Book of Luke 18:8, Jesus rhetorically asked, “…Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? This is an indictment on mankind; the only ingredient He needed to accept an earthling spiritually into His Kingdom, faith, will be lacking. ‘Faith’, in Greek, is: pistis (pis’-tis) ‘persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself’.

Jesus has always employed the concise words as a Catechizer; He warned prophetically, of ‘many’ in Matthew 7:22-23, (22) “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? v23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity”. Many, not few, will be cast into hell! Many, not few, are evil doing, enemies of God, unfortunately. Why would the Lord of heaven, in His Omniscience, open His mouth to say that, “I never knew you”? It is simply because He sees only those who operate within His word. God’s word is sacrosanct, and anyone who rebels against His-seven-times-tried word (Psalm 12:6) is dead, cut off from His sacred presence.

 

Matthew 7:13-14 read, v13) “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 thereat: v14) Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it”. This is indubitably categorical! The word ‘way’ is: hodos (hod-os’): ‘a road; by implication a progress (the route, act or distance); figuratively a mode, means or lifestyle’. The spiritual lifestyles of several billions are quite offensive to the Divinity. Apōleia (ap-o’-li-a), is the Greek word for ‘destruction’ and it means: ‘ruin or loss (physical, spiritual or eternal) in hell’. ‘Life’ is zōē (dzo-ay’) Thayer Definition: ‘life a. of the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, and through him both to the hypostatic “logos” and to Christ in whom the “logos” put on human nature b. life real and genuine’. (…to be concluded…)

OF TRIALS AND TROUBLES (5th part)

                                            

                                    Judas and his 30 pieces of silver

Judas means ‘praise’ (of Jehovah). In all our trials the Spirit of God is always there to encourage us to victory, only if we will acknowledge His presence with songs of praises. Did he not hear, “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born” [Matthew 26:24]. He chose the trajectory of destructive failure for himself! Ask the rich man, from under whose table Lazarus used to pick crumbles, if he would have loved or expected a better treatment if he were to be in Lazarus’ shoes and Lazarus were to be him. We, each and every one of us, know what good thing should be done; the truth is we are so apathetic when it comes to the facilitation of the alleviation of the quandary fellow beings get entangled. This rich man is the architect of his after-life traumatic experience.

“If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.”

Woman with the issue of blood acknowledged the fact that she was faced with a problematic situation. Yes, she had been to too many places. Yes, she had spent all she had to professional and unconventional health practitioners to no avail. This woman with an unprecedented health issue was able to apprehend another possibility. “Yes”, she told herself, “it’s quite surmountable, this trial”. When all avenues prove abortive, there is yet the Jesus untapped solution. She heard of Jesus, we all do; it is just that we discountenance this one great solution to all problematic issues of earthly life. The woman said what only faith prods man to an eventual achievement, “For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole” [Matthew 9:21].

Trials are meant to prove who we truly are and what is achievable. She made a connectivity with the sinless, last Adam. This is the very first step in anyone’s quest to being an overcomer. When she came to Jesus she did not listen to discordant faithless input of the evil adversary. The Mosaic Law disallows a menstrous woman coming face to face with a man of God not to mention an audacious physical connectivity. Faith is an enabling tool that gets you the right words of doing business with the LORD God. I do not know how messy any trial can be, but I tell you, although I am not a female, it will be difficult to see a more harrowing disturbance to what this woman went through. 12 is the number of Jesus. The blood that issued from her represents the captivity of man’s sinful nature. None can save from the Satanic entrapment of sin save Jesus, the Author of life. Be wise, reach out to the Deliverer!

        

   Paul, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, comparing scripture with scripture (1Corinthians 2:13)

Whether you want to do good things or you are already on the path of righteousness, you will definitely face daunting challenges. You can remain undaunted like Paul of Tarsus, that great apostle, evangelist and Church planter of all time. Hear him in 2Corinthians 11:24-31. 24) “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25) Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26) In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27) In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28) Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 29) Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? 30) If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. 31) The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not”. One day Paul, in his farewell message, wrote, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: v8) Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” 2Timothy 4:7-8. The word ‘fought’, in the Greek is agōnizomai (ag-o-nid’-zom-ahee): ‘to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or generally (to endeavor to accomplish something)’. His fight was legally fought in that he said, “I have kept the faith”. Do things according to the word of God. You will succeed. Amen!

Was the Lord Jesus spared?

Jesus was not spared. He came to His own whom He had created, promised Abraham to protect, led from Egypt with great power. Even when your closest ones are against you, keep looking at Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). The word ‘author’ is archēgos (ar-khay-gos’): ‘a chief leader’. And ‘finisher’ is: teleiōtēs (tel-i-o-tace’): ‘a completer, that is, consummater’. Jesus is your Chief Leader in every good deed. HE is the Completer of all the well intentioned struggles we encounter. This is why HE came to our world: to identify Himself with our trials and troubles. We are, for this reason, overcomers. Amen! (Concluded)

Read the 4^th part here.