JOHN 4
By Odon Bulamba (20th June 2003)
While Jesus was waiting for his disciples a woman came with a jar and this woman was a Samaritan. This woman was surprised to see someone by the well but she didn’t want to say a word, she just wanted to get water and go back home. But there was a man there and this man had the courage to talk.
Imagine yourself, you go in front of the door of someone and the owner of the house comes, what will you say, you might say, ‘oh sorry’ and you might move out of the way so this person can come in but for Jesus, this was not the case, he didn’t leave the place he was but started talking. The time was around midday and as you know at midday the sun is really strong and for Jesus this was the right time to talk. As Christians we must also have a notion of time. What time can I do that? Will it be God’s time or not? If you don’t have the notion of time in your Christian life it will be hard for you to move. It’s very easy to have the notion of time in our every day life especially when you are looking for material interests but when it’s about spiritual life, the notion of time is often forgotten.
Jesus was at the well at 12pm and He said to the woman, ‘give me some water to drink’. There was no hello or what is your name, Jesus didn’t want to know all of this, he just said, ‘Woman give me some water to drink,’ that’s it. Imagine someone you meet on your way and that person asks you, ‘give me that’ using the imperative form, what will you say in the depth of your heart, maybe you will say, ‘oh this person is rude, this person doesn’t have a good education, he doesn’t say hello, I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me, what bravery’.
This woman didn’t answer, ‘I will give you or not’, her answer was, ‘you are a Jew’. How will you explain that? Jesus asks for water to drink and He is answered, ‘but you are a Jew’. Is the fact to be a Jew enough to quench the thirst? Does it mean that if you are a Jew you will be satisfied and never need water? Or to be a Jew, does it mean you don’t have the right to ask for water?
So let’s study something here, when you see someone, can you know if my brother is French, German or English or something else? When my brother sees me, does he know which country in Africa I am from? No, that is not easy. This woman answered precisely and if you read her answer, you can see she was 100% sure that Jesus was a Jew, but Jesus was not a Jew as you know. He was not as this woman thought that He was but this woman wanted to confirm that Jesus was from this nationality.
We also ask the wrong questions to the wrong person at times. Sometimes we ask the devil our rights. You will ask your body for example, give me time to pray but your body will say, but you forget that it is the time to eat now and you know you have to go somewhere to visit someone and you know that visitors are coming soon when you will say, give me my rights satan, satan will answer you in another way to show to you that you are guilty, to show you that you are not able to ask God what you are asking.
The first thing that satan plays with is the identity of a person, do you know you are a Christian but you don’t need to pray three times a day, you are a Methodist. A Methodist only follows Wesley’s sayings and He only prayed once a week so leave this for the Pentecostal. Once I was with a man here and I talked with him about the Gateway Church and I said in this church people praise and sing and he said this is a Pentecostal spirit, people who respect themselves can’t do what they do, that is why you see in the choir there are only young people there. It is like there are bad people there and that is why you have to be careful, look at their hair the way, they are wearing it and the way the dress themselves, they don’t even look like Christians and so for him the outlook was enough. But for us Methodists, each man has a tie and we respect each other in the church and that was the identity that he gave me. So for him Pentecostals don’t have the right to worship God the way they do so don’t speak about anything positive about the Pentecostals in front of the Methodists.
So because of that, this woman said, ‘you are a Jew so you don’t have the right to ask from me something to drink’. Jesus didn’t ask for water to wash Himself, He didn’t ask water to wash his clothes or his feet but he asked for water to drink because He was thirsty. And as for you, are you thirsty in your life and when you are thirsty what do you do? When you are thirsty and you drink juice are you satisfied, or beer are you satisfied? Some people might say yes and some might say no, but as for me, when I am thirsty, even if I drink two litres of fanta my body will still ask for water.
When you are thirsty your body needs water but if you are given (for example) fanta, you will start analysing this fanta, the chemicals are there and the amount of sugar, sucrose and so forth and you will think of your health and say, ‘this fanta will destroy my health one day.’ Because I have a tongue let me drink a little bit and if I drink only a little bit today it won’t destroy my health. But water, even if you drink 5L your health won’t be injured. Of course you can drink fanta today and tomorrow, and people will start offering and you will find out in 10 years you will need 10L of fanta but during that time the sucrose and the chemicals will work in your blood like a drug.
Sometimes a drug can stay in the head for 20 years.
When we have a spiritual thirst we must drink water, we must not drink the spiritual coke. This means we must not live an artificial life, pretending we are Christians when we are not, to accept the human solution instead of committing yourself to God’s hand to find God’s solutions.
A man wanted to be helped by God and his wife made him suffer a lot and this wife didn’t want to do a service that this man required and this man was in his house like the woman and the woman was like the husband. As you might know, in some cultures the man has a special place in the bed to sleep and the woman has a special place also and they say the man is always at the front and the woman is always at the back but this woman changed the order in the bedroom. The husband had to wake up very early in the morning to make tea and bring it back to the wife and this woman would say, ‘praise the Lord because I have found a husband of good quality.’ It wasn’t bad that the man would help but it got to the stage where the woman would order the husband to do what ever she wanted, ‘oh go and see the pan on the stove, oh Michael can’t you see what Nathanael is doing there, so get up and do that.’
It started to change their Christian lives. With their eyes people would think that this man would humiliate himself and love this wife very much but they weren’t living the Christian life but were living an artificial life, a life that would look Christian but was not any more and was controlled by the devil because they broke the law.
So when the woman said to Jesus, ‘you are a Jew’, He said, ‘if you knew the man who talks to you, and if you knew what God can give, if you give me water to drink I would give you also water to drink and you would not be thirsty anymore.’ If Jesus also had this water, why didn’t He drink His water Himself not to be thirsty anymore but He said to the woman, ‘and I will give you water and you will not be thirsty anymore’, when He Himself is thirsty. Can you imagine that? You are hungry and you ask for food and you say to the person, if you give me food, I will give you something to eat and you will not be hungry anymore in your life.
Jesus wanted to teach this woman something, He said you have something of little value but if you accept to give this thing to some one else you will find more than what you have. This woman was proud, this well has been given by our ancestor Jacob but Jesus said, ‘you talk about a well but as for me, I am the source of water. I produce water’.
Sometimes the well can be dry if the source cannot give water to this well and there are little things that Jesus asks for in our lives, He says give me these small things and in exchange I will give you the great things. ‘Oh God help me, I need money’, (for example) and God says, ‘you have 20c in your pocket, give this 20c’. How can I give this 20c just like that? How can I give 20c to this pastor, he is a thief and I don’t even know what he did with the money last month and there will be reasons. Jesus can say, ‘don’t give me 20c just give me two cents’, as this woman came with the jar, Jesus didn’t ask for the whole jar to drink, Jesus asked for a small quantity to drink, maybe it was a litre, maybe two litres at maximum if Jesus could drink a lot and the water would stay in the jar.
How many times as for us Christians when God asks for a little part of what we have, we resist to give. When God asks you for two minutes to pray you can’t find this time to pray when you can watch the rugby match for two hours. Here in NZ when the All Blacks win, you will see all the people excited, ‘today we have to watch the match’ and people will stand and watch it. There is an advertisement on tv where someone who wants to watch the rugby match but doesn’t have sky on his tv (cable) and he really wanted to find a tv and he could see people watching the match so he came in.
Before arriving there he suffered, and when he walked in, by mistake he tripped over the cord and the cord came out of the switch and the tv came down and the people who were there watching the match changed their attitude because he destroyed their program and everything that they wanted so this man had to run. At the end you can see that you need to enrol with sky to see also what others can see.
It happens sometimes when you touch human beings lives, people are against you because you destroyed their program and touched their interest. You cannot say when people are in the stadium there is no match anymore let’s pray. People will leave one after another and you might stay alone.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Jesus and the woman of Samaria
JOHN 4
By Odon Bulamba (20th June 2003)
We are going to get an exhortation on a very famous passage that is known by nearly every body and it is the story about the Samaritan woman. It is in the book of John chapter four. One day when Jesus was baptising people with his disciples, the Pharisees learned that Jesus was baptising more people than the number of those being baptised by the Pharisees. This created a spirit of hatred and distress in the heart of the Pharisees. The Pharisees started having thoughts to destroy Jesus’ life and because of that Jesus decided to leave Judea to go to Galilee because if he stayed there he might be stoned because the Pharisees would say, ‘how come this man gets all the souls for him, even John the Baptist didn’t baptise that many people’. Jealousy was there.
Jesus decided to leave Judea and he couldn’t go to Galilee without going through Samaria and there were no cars in those days and Jesus didn’t have a horse to walk with. In my country when a chief goes somewhere, people will carry him on their shoulders and the chief will sit on an arm chair and there will be a stick to carry him and he will be carried so the chief doesn’t have to walk. But Jesus was the king more than a chief and yet he walked on his feet where ever he went; what humility.
I think even here in NZ it’s not often we will see our prime minister going from Wellington to Hamilton by foot, even by car she might think she is wasting her time, maybe she thinks she will be very tired if she goes by car and she chooses to use a plane. Before going on the plane this plane must be checked very carefully and check that the pilot hasn’t drunk before starting. There is fear in their lives but in Jesus life there was no fear, especially the fear of death was not there. Maybe you will tell me that when Jesus was arrested and they wanted to throw Him somewhere that He feared, no He didn’t want to die at that time because He hadn’t fulfilled the mission that He had and when the time to die came, Peter tried to defend him and what was Jesus’ answer? ‘Go away satan’ and secondly he said, ‘if I need an army my father who is in Heaven will do something, there will be an army of angels down here. But because the time is here, I have to die and that is it’.
So when Jesus was on His way He arrived somewhere called Sychar and this place is in Samaria. Jesus was tired and he decided to sit by a well and a woman came to get some water and Jesus started talking to her, ‘woman give me water to drink.’ The woman said, ‘I don’t know you, you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan, how can I give you water to drink that is not possible’.
When Jesus arrived in Samaria He left Judea and arrived in another atmosphere, or another climate that is different to Judea’s climate and while on His way He got tired which is normal. It’s like you and me as Christians, the day we were saved we had the courage to be Christians and to read the Bible and to pray and to go to church each time, and there were lots of success in our every day life and there were lots of transformations in different things.
We discovered the joy to be Christians but people around us started to criticise this life. The devil maybe said how come these people keep shaking my kingdom like that, I keep losing souls and they keep speaking about Jesus everywhere and all of a sudden the devil raised an army against you, laziness started coming, tiredness started attacking and we said it’s not good enough to stay a spiritual baby we have to carry on, we must leave Judea to go to Galilee but we cannot spare to go through Samaria.
Once arrived in Samaria we feel tired sometimes with Christian life and sometimes we are disappointed with circumstances and sometimes we ask ourselves does God exist or not because when we ask, we don’t get. We want God to move but it’s not time for God to move so we think it’s time to put this Bible aside and leave it. If God wants to kill me, He can kill me, so be it. It happened to Even with prophets. Jonah too went through that, Moses and others knew difficult situations in their life.
When you are at the end of your limit, this is the time that God moves. When our forces are finished, that is the time that God’s forces start. When our thoughts are limited, it is at that time that God’s thoughts start.
Jesus as God was tired and He was in Sychar. Some versions of the Bible speak about Sycham and it is the same thing. Sychar means liar or drunk and Jesus arrived at Sychar and that is where he will have a rest. Sychar which means liar and Jesus wants to have a rest there. Sychar which means drunk and Jesus wants to have a rest there. Jesus wants to stay there because there is something useful there; a well. If a well had not been there, Jesus could not have stopped at Sychar, He would have gone somewhere else and sometimes we live where the liars and the drunks live but we must look to see if there is a well in their lives or not. Is there a well in their house or not because when we live with drunkards and they need a drink can I give them water instead of beer when I’m there or not.
That is what Jesus wanted to teach us there, Jesus said there it is, I’m going to have a rest and you my disciples go and get something to eat. Jesus who could transform bread and multiply the fish sent the disciples to get food. Him whom the devil said, you can change a stone into bread and He really could do that, He doesn’t want to turn the stones into bread but asks the disciples to get bread. How many times do we send our children into the gospel? How many times do we send our brothers and friends into the gospel, my brother I have a problem, can you find a verse in the Bible that can help me with my problem and your friend will say, maybe you know the Bible better than me, but you encourage them to try to find something that is good for you. When you correct others, help them and advise them, do you send them to find a spiritual food? If you don’t do it, it is time to do it.
By Odon Bulamba (20th June 2003)
We are going to get an exhortation on a very famous passage that is known by nearly every body and it is the story about the Samaritan woman. It is in the book of John chapter four. One day when Jesus was baptising people with his disciples, the Pharisees learned that Jesus was baptising more people than the number of those being baptised by the Pharisees. This created a spirit of hatred and distress in the heart of the Pharisees. The Pharisees started having thoughts to destroy Jesus’ life and because of that Jesus decided to leave Judea to go to Galilee because if he stayed there he might be stoned because the Pharisees would say, ‘how come this man gets all the souls for him, even John the Baptist didn’t baptise that many people’. Jealousy was there.
Jesus decided to leave Judea and he couldn’t go to Galilee without going through Samaria and there were no cars in those days and Jesus didn’t have a horse to walk with. In my country when a chief goes somewhere, people will carry him on their shoulders and the chief will sit on an arm chair and there will be a stick to carry him and he will be carried so the chief doesn’t have to walk. But Jesus was the king more than a chief and yet he walked on his feet where ever he went; what humility.
I think even here in NZ it’s not often we will see our prime minister going from Wellington to Hamilton by foot, even by car she might think she is wasting her time, maybe she thinks she will be very tired if she goes by car and she chooses to use a plane. Before going on the plane this plane must be checked very carefully and check that the pilot hasn’t drunk before starting. There is fear in their lives but in Jesus life there was no fear, especially the fear of death was not there. Maybe you will tell me that when Jesus was arrested and they wanted to throw Him somewhere that He feared, no He didn’t want to die at that time because He hadn’t fulfilled the mission that He had and when the time to die came, Peter tried to defend him and what was Jesus’ answer? ‘Go away satan’ and secondly he said, ‘if I need an army my father who is in Heaven will do something, there will be an army of angels down here. But because the time is here, I have to die and that is it’.
So when Jesus was on His way He arrived somewhere called Sychar and this place is in Samaria. Jesus was tired and he decided to sit by a well and a woman came to get some water and Jesus started talking to her, ‘woman give me water to drink.’ The woman said, ‘I don’t know you, you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan, how can I give you water to drink that is not possible’.
When Jesus arrived in Samaria He left Judea and arrived in another atmosphere, or another climate that is different to Judea’s climate and while on His way He got tired which is normal. It’s like you and me as Christians, the day we were saved we had the courage to be Christians and to read the Bible and to pray and to go to church each time, and there were lots of success in our every day life and there were lots of transformations in different things.
We discovered the joy to be Christians but people around us started to criticise this life. The devil maybe said how come these people keep shaking my kingdom like that, I keep losing souls and they keep speaking about Jesus everywhere and all of a sudden the devil raised an army against you, laziness started coming, tiredness started attacking and we said it’s not good enough to stay a spiritual baby we have to carry on, we must leave Judea to go to Galilee but we cannot spare to go through Samaria.
Once arrived in Samaria we feel tired sometimes with Christian life and sometimes we are disappointed with circumstances and sometimes we ask ourselves does God exist or not because when we ask, we don’t get. We want God to move but it’s not time for God to move so we think it’s time to put this Bible aside and leave it. If God wants to kill me, He can kill me, so be it. It happened to Even with prophets. Jonah too went through that, Moses and others knew difficult situations in their life.
When you are at the end of your limit, this is the time that God moves. When our forces are finished, that is the time that God’s forces start. When our thoughts are limited, it is at that time that God’s thoughts start.
Jesus as God was tired and He was in Sychar. Some versions of the Bible speak about Sycham and it is the same thing. Sychar means liar or drunk and Jesus arrived at Sychar and that is where he will have a rest. Sychar which means liar and Jesus wants to have a rest there. Sychar which means drunk and Jesus wants to have a rest there. Jesus wants to stay there because there is something useful there; a well. If a well had not been there, Jesus could not have stopped at Sychar, He would have gone somewhere else and sometimes we live where the liars and the drunks live but we must look to see if there is a well in their lives or not. Is there a well in their house or not because when we live with drunkards and they need a drink can I give them water instead of beer when I’m there or not.
That is what Jesus wanted to teach us there, Jesus said there it is, I’m going to have a rest and you my disciples go and get something to eat. Jesus who could transform bread and multiply the fish sent the disciples to get food. Him whom the devil said, you can change a stone into bread and He really could do that, He doesn’t want to turn the stones into bread but asks the disciples to get bread. How many times do we send our children into the gospel? How many times do we send our brothers and friends into the gospel, my brother I have a problem, can you find a verse in the Bible that can help me with my problem and your friend will say, maybe you know the Bible better than me, but you encourage them to try to find something that is good for you. When you correct others, help them and advise them, do you send them to find a spiritual food? If you don’t do it, it is time to do it.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
With God in the Secret Place
By Benedicte Bahjejuan
I/ Introduction questions
• What happens when we are in the secret place with God?
• How often should we go there?
• Why should we be in the secret place with God?
• Is it a physical place?
• What do we do in this place?
II/ Verses about the secret place
Psalm 139:15-16
“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.”
Ps 91:1
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
The secret place is a place where we are by ourselves with God is He is with us. Have you ever time with just you and your dad? A time when your dad took you fishing or eating out? That is what our special time with God is like. It is just you, his son or daughter and Him, and God loves that intimate time with you.
A secret place = is a place known by only a few number of people.
The opposite is a place many people know about.
III/ Thoughts about the secret place
Is it a physical place?
Yes and no. The secret place of the Most High is where you have a conversation with Him without anyone knowing about it, it is therefore in your heart but also in a physical place where nobody is around.
Is it important to spend time in secret with God?
To me, yes, because it is where I can talk freely to Him, pour out my heart to Him, tell Him of my joys and disappointments, ask Him for the things I need and hear His voice.
Time in the secret is for me a time of intimacy with God, a heart to heart talk with the Lord. My Father knows me and I get to know my Father when I spend time with Him. I believe that before we were born, we were with God and we find the same intimacy when we are alone with Him.
IV/ The examples of Jesus, John the Baptist and David
Luke 1:80
“And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”
John the Baptist was in the desert until he started preaching to God’s people. Some people calculated his age from the dates given in the Bible and found out that John started his ministry at 30 years old. (see explanation below).
Time of His Ministry. Only Luke tells us when John the Baptist started his ministry. He does not give us a calendar date but tells us that John began his ministry in the desert during the reigns of several individuals and at the time of two high priests.
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. (NASB) Luke 3:1-2
If we count fifteen years after the start of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, we discover that John’s ministry began in A.D. 29, since Tiberius Caesar ruled from A.D. 14 to A.D. 37. The reigns of Pontius Pilate, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip all overlap A.D. 29. This helps us determine precisely the time when John started his ministry. Jesus’ ministry started some time later - maybe as late as A.D. 30.
(http://www.neverthirsty.org/pp/series/Life/LH016/LH01.html)
Some people said that John the Baptist spent much time in the wilderness fasting and praying. Hence he grew strong in spirit.
Luke 5:16
“So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”
The wilderness was Jesus’ secret place with God, a place where nobody came to interrupt Him or asking Him for healing or questions about the kingdom of God.
These examples teach me about having a balanced life. Jesus had very busy days during His ministry on earth teaching in the synagogues, preaching in cities and villages, travelling from place to place, healing people, talking to them but He also had time outs, time alone with God.
Ecc 3:1 tells us that there is a time for everything, there is a time to be busy and a time to relax and rest in the Lord. Jesus went to His dad to find rest and comfort after busy and stressful days, to share His feelings and thoughts with Him, things that He couldn’t share with anyone else, because it was not the time or He just couldn’t tell them everything He had in His heart. We all have things we cannot share with others, but we can share them with God, because He knows our hearts and understands us. After spending some time in secret with God, Jesus felt restored and ready for another day of preaching, helping and healing people.
To find rest in the Lord, we need first to stop doing what we are doing, then we need to find a place where we will be by ourselves with God. We don’t have any deserts around Hamilton, but we have quiet places such as gardens, rivers, parks, where we can spend a short time talking to God.
David spent time in secret with the Lord, seeking His face:
Ps 63:1-2 “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.”
What promises does God give to those who seek Him?
• God will protect you (Ps 9:1)
• You will find joy (Ps 40:16)
• You will find Him (Deut 4:29)
• You will fully understand justice (Pr 28:5)
• You will live (Amos 5:6)
Conclusion
The secret place is a place of intimacy with God. It is where you pour out your heart to Him and only He hears and sees you. It is a special time between you and Him without distraction. In the presence of God we are restored and there is fullness of joy.
My favourite time to spend time with God is in the morning when everybody is still asleep. Find a time in your daily life when you spend time by yourself with your Father, you will see what blessing it is to spend time with Him.
Lyrics of song “Take Time to Be Holy” (2nd verse)
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
I/ Introduction questions
• What happens when we are in the secret place with God?
• How often should we go there?
• Why should we be in the secret place with God?
• Is it a physical place?
• What do we do in this place?
II/ Verses about the secret place
Psalm 139:15-16
“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.”
Ps 91:1
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
The secret place is a place where we are by ourselves with God is He is with us. Have you ever time with just you and your dad? A time when your dad took you fishing or eating out? That is what our special time with God is like. It is just you, his son or daughter and Him, and God loves that intimate time with you.
A secret place = is a place known by only a few number of people.
The opposite is a place many people know about.
III/ Thoughts about the secret place
Is it a physical place?
Yes and no. The secret place of the Most High is where you have a conversation with Him without anyone knowing about it, it is therefore in your heart but also in a physical place where nobody is around.
Is it important to spend time in secret with God?
To me, yes, because it is where I can talk freely to Him, pour out my heart to Him, tell Him of my joys and disappointments, ask Him for the things I need and hear His voice.
Time in the secret is for me a time of intimacy with God, a heart to heart talk with the Lord. My Father knows me and I get to know my Father when I spend time with Him. I believe that before we were born, we were with God and we find the same intimacy when we are alone with Him.
IV/ The examples of Jesus, John the Baptist and David
Luke 1:80
“And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”
John the Baptist was in the desert until he started preaching to God’s people. Some people calculated his age from the dates given in the Bible and found out that John started his ministry at 30 years old. (see explanation below).
Time of His Ministry. Only Luke tells us when John the Baptist started his ministry. He does not give us a calendar date but tells us that John began his ministry in the desert during the reigns of several individuals and at the time of two high priests.
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. (NASB) Luke 3:1-2
If we count fifteen years after the start of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, we discover that John’s ministry began in A.D. 29, since Tiberius Caesar ruled from A.D. 14 to A.D. 37. The reigns of Pontius Pilate, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip all overlap A.D. 29. This helps us determine precisely the time when John started his ministry. Jesus’ ministry started some time later - maybe as late as A.D. 30.
(http://www.neverthirsty.org/pp/series/Life/LH016/LH01.html)
Some people said that John the Baptist spent much time in the wilderness fasting and praying. Hence he grew strong in spirit.
Luke 5:16
“So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”
The wilderness was Jesus’ secret place with God, a place where nobody came to interrupt Him or asking Him for healing or questions about the kingdom of God.
These examples teach me about having a balanced life. Jesus had very busy days during His ministry on earth teaching in the synagogues, preaching in cities and villages, travelling from place to place, healing people, talking to them but He also had time outs, time alone with God.
Ecc 3:1 tells us that there is a time for everything, there is a time to be busy and a time to relax and rest in the Lord. Jesus went to His dad to find rest and comfort after busy and stressful days, to share His feelings and thoughts with Him, things that He couldn’t share with anyone else, because it was not the time or He just couldn’t tell them everything He had in His heart. We all have things we cannot share with others, but we can share them with God, because He knows our hearts and understands us. After spending some time in secret with God, Jesus felt restored and ready for another day of preaching, helping and healing people.
To find rest in the Lord, we need first to stop doing what we are doing, then we need to find a place where we will be by ourselves with God. We don’t have any deserts around Hamilton, but we have quiet places such as gardens, rivers, parks, where we can spend a short time talking to God.
David spent time in secret with the Lord, seeking His face:
Ps 63:1-2 “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.”
What promises does God give to those who seek Him?
• God will protect you (Ps 9:1)
• You will find joy (Ps 40:16)
• You will find Him (Deut 4:29)
• You will fully understand justice (Pr 28:5)
• You will live (Amos 5:6)
Conclusion
The secret place is a place of intimacy with God. It is where you pour out your heart to Him and only He hears and sees you. It is a special time between you and Him without distraction. In the presence of God we are restored and there is fullness of joy.
My favourite time to spend time with God is in the morning when everybody is still asleep. Find a time in your daily life when you spend time by yourself with your Father, you will see what blessing it is to spend time with Him.
Lyrics of song “Take Time to Be Holy” (2nd verse)
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
Monday, September 20, 2010
DEMONS How they work (Part II)
By Odon Bulamba (21st November 2003)
I’m going to use the example of a tie to teach us something. If I make the tie long like this and use the end to make a head, it gives the shape of a cobra snake. We know the cobra is extremely dangerous because when it bites you, there is death without any forgiveness.
Also, the tie has a hole inside it which hides something in the same way the skin of the snake can be shed and underneath that skin something is hidden (we might talk more about this next time.
So how do we do a tie? It is not easy to wear a tie, especially if you haven’t learnt and if you don’t know it, it will be a serious problem. There are calculations that must be done and everything must be done precisely and if you are not careful, the shape will not be nice. A tie has a front and a back.
What is in front always stays there but what allowed the tie to be taken off is the back part. The front part doesn’t know but what is behind is what makes action and that is the same with impure spirits. The impure spirit will give you a picture of a good man but inside the heart there is death.
There is a certain way to wear a tie. I have to open the buttons of my shirt before the tie accepts to come behind the collar and as for us Christians, we have the faith and this faith is sealed by the Holy Spirit which is represented by a small presence but when you refuse to seal this faith, the bad spirit comes in you and finds a place without problems. The bad spirit will make what is hidden behind your faith and everyone will think, ‘oh Odon is a good guy.’ But you don’t know Odon. Sylvie is good, but who told you that. Michelle is good but how did you know that. Steve is perfect but who told you that. That is why God gave us the spirit of discernment because many people will be lost in the last days through many people who talk with the name of Jesus.
Today we watch tv and we see everywhere woman preaching for example and the Bible says that a woman can’t do that but because there is a spirit of blindness many churches, Christians and non-christians accept women to preach. I don’t condemn these people because I am not allowed to but they may lead many people into mistake.
When a tie is made properly you can pull on one side and the neck part becomes tighter and this is the same with impure spirits; they also start to pull little by little. When the spirit comes into your life it is like that, it doesn’t tighten at first but lets you relax so you might not realise that a spirit has come into your life and the demon will start to tighten little by little.
Nobody can wear a tie on their hands it is always around the neck and the neck is a sensitive part of the body; life is there. When the tie is pulled around the neck tightly, the voice starts to change. When evil spirits are there, you’ll find that a Christian life is changing and the way you live changes, the way you talk will also start changing and people will realise that this person has changed in his or her life. Everything that will come out of you will reflect something from death.
When the tie is around the neck and a person pulls on the part that makes it tighter, the person wearing the tie is obliged to go in the direction that they are being pulled. You are obliged to follow. I can’t say no I want to go back because I fear death so I must follow. This is the way demons work, it starts little by little, they get there and start to make your life turn little by little and those who were 100% in the Lord, you’ll become a quarter or a third in the Lord.
It’s like the hand of crab, instead of walking like a man you walk like a crab and in the church there are many people living that way that is why the Bible said that in the last days (written in prophecies) the devil will have the first position in the church and us as Christians we have to fight, we must fight the devil, we must fight these spirits.
How to fight them? It must start with our own houses, it must start with our own lives. Many people have the courage to pray for sick people, they have courage to pray for the non-christians but they don’t have the courage to pray for their own faith. They don’t have the courage to ask God to give them strength to win over the devil and these spirits can see that.
Look at my shoes, they are black but if I take off these shoes do you know what is underneath? There are socks but how are they? Some socks are smelly and others are not. Maybe if I take off my shoes, everybody will be embarrassed but Colleen took off her shoes and everything is ok, isn’t that right. My socks maybe of good quality and have great value, they may have cost $100.00 but if I am not careful, they will smell, they will never be ashamed to smell.
Once I went to a country in Africa (Namibia) and when I arrived somewhere they told me it is here that you will stay and rest with us and there was a very respected man there. This person was very rich and when we were invited into the house of this man, everybody had to take off their shoes at the door. For me it was not easy because there were many people there. The first person had the courage to take off his shoes and come in and because I knew what I had under my shoes, my heart started beating differently because one of my socks had a window. My friend was beside me and he hadn’t cleaned his socks for six days and inside his heart he said also, who asked me to wear these socks.
Everybody took their shoes off and when it was my time I thought I will also take off my socks at the same time and leave them in my shoes. And someone told me no don’t take off your socks, come in with your socks. I said that it’s ok but he insisted. There was a little stool prepared and we had to put our feet on the stool because this was their culture. Imagine, what shall I do? I took my foot and started to hide it under the other one but it didn’t hold because I was tired. He asked me, are you alright? Yes I’m ok and everybody started laughing because I wanted to hide what is impossible to hide. Although I had a nice suit and a good shirt but my socks were a shame and it would be the same thing on the day of the Lord.
Many people have gifts but underneath somewhere there the demon has room and while he is there he doesn’t talk, while he dwells in you he doesn’t talk because he has a dwelling place. He doesn’t move because he knows that if he moves he will be asked to leave so he starts beating you up little by little.
My friend who had the smelly socks started to bother those around him and those people didn’t have peace anymore, they couldn’t talk but from their faces you could see that there was something wrong, they were really embarrassed and eventually the landlord asked my friend and me, ‘come, there are some good socks there for you.’ What shame, I had the money to buy socks but I neglected. Negligence is the worst thing in a Christian life. You will neglect a small thing but before God it will be a big thing and that is the way that demons work in a Christian’s life.
You can see the tie here, this tie has also a seam and the seam is always hidden. You don’t realise that there is a seam here when you look at the front part and that is why Jesus said that it would be impossible for you to do a seam with the Word of God to take an old fabric and sew it onto a new one. When you were a sinner this was your old life. You will never take your Christianity and sew it together with your old life. When you look inside a tie you’ll see that there are always two different fabrics sewn together. All the ties have this, unless there has been a change but this is the way since old times and the church of God walk this way, people today mix politics and the gospel. People mix up the worldly life and the gospel. Culture is mixed up with the gospel.
Can you mix water and oil together, no this cannot work but today we force the church to mix them up because impure spirits lead the church today and demons lead the church if Christians don’t do anything against that. Remember the victory Jesus gave you! You’ll cast out demons and why wouldn’t you cast out demons in yourself? Are waiting for someone else to do it? What do you wait for, cast them out yourself. Pray for others and pray for yourself so that you might be completely free.
Today there is a law on earth when you go and visit the authorities or people of great value you must wear a tie. When you go to a respectable place you must wear a tie. Can you take your Bible to these meetings? When you want to meet Helen Clark (prime minister of NZ) will you take your Bible with you to meet her? Few are the people who will do that. You will come into Helen’s place and say I have a problem and my problem is this and that, help me to find a solution. Few are the people who will take a Bible to tell Helen Clark that Jesus loves you and Jesus needs your soul. Few people would do that and it’s not only Helen Clark, we don’t even do that for our children and our friends.
The demons who work with Christians are the demons of shame. This demon is very strong. You will say hallelujah to a Christian or may the Lord be blessed to the person you know but if I meet a non-christian, I will hide praise the Lord. I might even be with a friend and if I meet Shari on the way, because I know that my friend is not a Christian, the stories of hallelujah and praise the Lord are going to be left in my pocket and when Shari will start talking about the Bible I will feel a little bit embarrassed, ‘ssshh, don’t, what are you saying I have a friend who doesn’t want these stories’ and this is life, this is the way demons work.
But don’t forget whoever will be ashamed of Jesus on earth, in the heaven He will be ashamed of them too. Put aside this demon of shame and give the gospel, talk and nobody will stop you because if you don’t talk, one day God will ask you, the mouth I gave you what did you do with it? You will never say I ate KFC and Mc Donald, that is the way I used my mouth. God will never accept that, God will say I gave you feet, what did you do with these feet? I ran everyday for my fitness. Why didn’t you run to give the gospel to others. We are going to have an account to give.
Since we are still alive, demons are still fighting against us to make us weaker and weaker. Don’t forget that you are a winner because you are not the one who fights, Jesus fought for us 2000 years ago and He promised everything has been finished. So why would we worry, we only have to remind demons what Jesus said on the cross, ‘everything is finished, you don’t have any part in my life you don’t have any power to lead me into wrong because everything has been fulfilled since 2000 years ago’.
It’s like the movies we see on the tv, these movies were made a long time ago even if you talk about new release the movie has been done a few months before. Maybe for you it is the first time to see it but the actors are at their places and they are eating and sleeping. We must remind the devil of this, don’t show us the present situation, remember what Jesus did at Golgotha, satan was defeated there. So everything you show us is not life, it happened a long time ago, so we don’t need you.
What does the shame do when the shame comes into the Christian family, I’m here with my son and he does something wrong; I look first to see what people will say. This child made me ashamed, ‘Odon look after your child’, ‘It’s alright I’m going to look after him at home’ but at home I won’t do anything and tomorrow and the next day and it’s a habit for me. The child will keep making you useless in front of others so we are called to teach the gospel to our children. We are called to help our children.
Women in the old time when they were pregnant, this was the time to commit the child to God, ‘Oh God help this child within me, make the child a good example, start teaching him/her while in my womb as you taught John the Baptist and Samson, as you taught Jesus in the womb of His mother’. The child will be blessed from inside and when the child will be born maybe the angels will sing because God’s glory is there. Remember what Jesus said we will do more than that, Jesus said have faith and you will do more than even me so if you get pregnant today make sure that your child will be able to work and perform miracles for God. Don’t be afraid to say that your child will be taught as an Asian or African or English or French or whatever, red or blue. No, say that my child will be taught with a heavenly education, I need divine teaching and God starts teaching that child and you will see how demons will flee far from this child.
I’m going to stop here, people always say that it’s not to have a big nose that will help you smell easily, it’s not because of your great big nose that you will breath all the air. Never! You might have a small nose and it might work better than a big nose, so don’t neglect what you are.
Let’s pray, we will pray that God might help us against the demonic forces so the devil might not bind us.
I’m going to use the example of a tie to teach us something. If I make the tie long like this and use the end to make a head, it gives the shape of a cobra snake. We know the cobra is extremely dangerous because when it bites you, there is death without any forgiveness.
Also, the tie has a hole inside it which hides something in the same way the skin of the snake can be shed and underneath that skin something is hidden (we might talk more about this next time.
So how do we do a tie? It is not easy to wear a tie, especially if you haven’t learnt and if you don’t know it, it will be a serious problem. There are calculations that must be done and everything must be done precisely and if you are not careful, the shape will not be nice. A tie has a front and a back.
What is in front always stays there but what allowed the tie to be taken off is the back part. The front part doesn’t know but what is behind is what makes action and that is the same with impure spirits. The impure spirit will give you a picture of a good man but inside the heart there is death.
There is a certain way to wear a tie. I have to open the buttons of my shirt before the tie accepts to come behind the collar and as for us Christians, we have the faith and this faith is sealed by the Holy Spirit which is represented by a small presence but when you refuse to seal this faith, the bad spirit comes in you and finds a place without problems. The bad spirit will make what is hidden behind your faith and everyone will think, ‘oh Odon is a good guy.’ But you don’t know Odon. Sylvie is good, but who told you that. Michelle is good but how did you know that. Steve is perfect but who told you that. That is why God gave us the spirit of discernment because many people will be lost in the last days through many people who talk with the name of Jesus.
Today we watch tv and we see everywhere woman preaching for example and the Bible says that a woman can’t do that but because there is a spirit of blindness many churches, Christians and non-christians accept women to preach. I don’t condemn these people because I am not allowed to but they may lead many people into mistake.
When a tie is made properly you can pull on one side and the neck part becomes tighter and this is the same with impure spirits; they also start to pull little by little. When the spirit comes into your life it is like that, it doesn’t tighten at first but lets you relax so you might not realise that a spirit has come into your life and the demon will start to tighten little by little.
Nobody can wear a tie on their hands it is always around the neck and the neck is a sensitive part of the body; life is there. When the tie is pulled around the neck tightly, the voice starts to change. When evil spirits are there, you’ll find that a Christian life is changing and the way you live changes, the way you talk will also start changing and people will realise that this person has changed in his or her life. Everything that will come out of you will reflect something from death.
When the tie is around the neck and a person pulls on the part that makes it tighter, the person wearing the tie is obliged to go in the direction that they are being pulled. You are obliged to follow. I can’t say no I want to go back because I fear death so I must follow. This is the way demons work, it starts little by little, they get there and start to make your life turn little by little and those who were 100% in the Lord, you’ll become a quarter or a third in the Lord.
It’s like the hand of crab, instead of walking like a man you walk like a crab and in the church there are many people living that way that is why the Bible said that in the last days (written in prophecies) the devil will have the first position in the church and us as Christians we have to fight, we must fight the devil, we must fight these spirits.
How to fight them? It must start with our own houses, it must start with our own lives. Many people have the courage to pray for sick people, they have courage to pray for the non-christians but they don’t have the courage to pray for their own faith. They don’t have the courage to ask God to give them strength to win over the devil and these spirits can see that.
Look at my shoes, they are black but if I take off these shoes do you know what is underneath? There are socks but how are they? Some socks are smelly and others are not. Maybe if I take off my shoes, everybody will be embarrassed but Colleen took off her shoes and everything is ok, isn’t that right. My socks maybe of good quality and have great value, they may have cost $100.00 but if I am not careful, they will smell, they will never be ashamed to smell.
Once I went to a country in Africa (Namibia) and when I arrived somewhere they told me it is here that you will stay and rest with us and there was a very respected man there. This person was very rich and when we were invited into the house of this man, everybody had to take off their shoes at the door. For me it was not easy because there were many people there. The first person had the courage to take off his shoes and come in and because I knew what I had under my shoes, my heart started beating differently because one of my socks had a window. My friend was beside me and he hadn’t cleaned his socks for six days and inside his heart he said also, who asked me to wear these socks.
Everybody took their shoes off and when it was my time I thought I will also take off my socks at the same time and leave them in my shoes. And someone told me no don’t take off your socks, come in with your socks. I said that it’s ok but he insisted. There was a little stool prepared and we had to put our feet on the stool because this was their culture. Imagine, what shall I do? I took my foot and started to hide it under the other one but it didn’t hold because I was tired. He asked me, are you alright? Yes I’m ok and everybody started laughing because I wanted to hide what is impossible to hide. Although I had a nice suit and a good shirt but my socks were a shame and it would be the same thing on the day of the Lord.
Many people have gifts but underneath somewhere there the demon has room and while he is there he doesn’t talk, while he dwells in you he doesn’t talk because he has a dwelling place. He doesn’t move because he knows that if he moves he will be asked to leave so he starts beating you up little by little.
My friend who had the smelly socks started to bother those around him and those people didn’t have peace anymore, they couldn’t talk but from their faces you could see that there was something wrong, they were really embarrassed and eventually the landlord asked my friend and me, ‘come, there are some good socks there for you.’ What shame, I had the money to buy socks but I neglected. Negligence is the worst thing in a Christian life. You will neglect a small thing but before God it will be a big thing and that is the way that demons work in a Christian’s life.
You can see the tie here, this tie has also a seam and the seam is always hidden. You don’t realise that there is a seam here when you look at the front part and that is why Jesus said that it would be impossible for you to do a seam with the Word of God to take an old fabric and sew it onto a new one. When you were a sinner this was your old life. You will never take your Christianity and sew it together with your old life. When you look inside a tie you’ll see that there are always two different fabrics sewn together. All the ties have this, unless there has been a change but this is the way since old times and the church of God walk this way, people today mix politics and the gospel. People mix up the worldly life and the gospel. Culture is mixed up with the gospel.
Can you mix water and oil together, no this cannot work but today we force the church to mix them up because impure spirits lead the church today and demons lead the church if Christians don’t do anything against that. Remember the victory Jesus gave you! You’ll cast out demons and why wouldn’t you cast out demons in yourself? Are waiting for someone else to do it? What do you wait for, cast them out yourself. Pray for others and pray for yourself so that you might be completely free.
Today there is a law on earth when you go and visit the authorities or people of great value you must wear a tie. When you go to a respectable place you must wear a tie. Can you take your Bible to these meetings? When you want to meet Helen Clark (prime minister of NZ) will you take your Bible with you to meet her? Few are the people who will do that. You will come into Helen’s place and say I have a problem and my problem is this and that, help me to find a solution. Few are the people who will take a Bible to tell Helen Clark that Jesus loves you and Jesus needs your soul. Few people would do that and it’s not only Helen Clark, we don’t even do that for our children and our friends.
The demons who work with Christians are the demons of shame. This demon is very strong. You will say hallelujah to a Christian or may the Lord be blessed to the person you know but if I meet a non-christian, I will hide praise the Lord. I might even be with a friend and if I meet Shari on the way, because I know that my friend is not a Christian, the stories of hallelujah and praise the Lord are going to be left in my pocket and when Shari will start talking about the Bible I will feel a little bit embarrassed, ‘ssshh, don’t, what are you saying I have a friend who doesn’t want these stories’ and this is life, this is the way demons work.
But don’t forget whoever will be ashamed of Jesus on earth, in the heaven He will be ashamed of them too. Put aside this demon of shame and give the gospel, talk and nobody will stop you because if you don’t talk, one day God will ask you, the mouth I gave you what did you do with it? You will never say I ate KFC and Mc Donald, that is the way I used my mouth. God will never accept that, God will say I gave you feet, what did you do with these feet? I ran everyday for my fitness. Why didn’t you run to give the gospel to others. We are going to have an account to give.
Since we are still alive, demons are still fighting against us to make us weaker and weaker. Don’t forget that you are a winner because you are not the one who fights, Jesus fought for us 2000 years ago and He promised everything has been finished. So why would we worry, we only have to remind demons what Jesus said on the cross, ‘everything is finished, you don’t have any part in my life you don’t have any power to lead me into wrong because everything has been fulfilled since 2000 years ago’.
It’s like the movies we see on the tv, these movies were made a long time ago even if you talk about new release the movie has been done a few months before. Maybe for you it is the first time to see it but the actors are at their places and they are eating and sleeping. We must remind the devil of this, don’t show us the present situation, remember what Jesus did at Golgotha, satan was defeated there. So everything you show us is not life, it happened a long time ago, so we don’t need you.
What does the shame do when the shame comes into the Christian family, I’m here with my son and he does something wrong; I look first to see what people will say. This child made me ashamed, ‘Odon look after your child’, ‘It’s alright I’m going to look after him at home’ but at home I won’t do anything and tomorrow and the next day and it’s a habit for me. The child will keep making you useless in front of others so we are called to teach the gospel to our children. We are called to help our children.
Women in the old time when they were pregnant, this was the time to commit the child to God, ‘Oh God help this child within me, make the child a good example, start teaching him/her while in my womb as you taught John the Baptist and Samson, as you taught Jesus in the womb of His mother’. The child will be blessed from inside and when the child will be born maybe the angels will sing because God’s glory is there. Remember what Jesus said we will do more than that, Jesus said have faith and you will do more than even me so if you get pregnant today make sure that your child will be able to work and perform miracles for God. Don’t be afraid to say that your child will be taught as an Asian or African or English or French or whatever, red or blue. No, say that my child will be taught with a heavenly education, I need divine teaching and God starts teaching that child and you will see how demons will flee far from this child.
I’m going to stop here, people always say that it’s not to have a big nose that will help you smell easily, it’s not because of your great big nose that you will breath all the air. Never! You might have a small nose and it might work better than a big nose, so don’t neglect what you are.
Let’s pray, we will pray that God might help us against the demonic forces so the devil might not bind us.
Friday, September 17, 2010
DEMONS How they work (Part I)
By Odon Bulamba (21st November 2003)
Thank you very much for being here tonight, it is true when we come together and meet together for God’s glory at that time the devil also gathers his own to glorify himself. The life we live on earth is a short life but sometimes we forget that our life is so very short and when you are alive you forget completely about death, when you feel sick you might have an idea sometimes about death and when you go through difficulties you will expect a solution that will be a good one and you always hope for tomorrow that the solution will be there.
But for demons it’s not the case, they knew from the beginning that they were condemned and they know that there is no more chance for them and that they have been condemned for eternity. They know that they will never know any solution for their problem and they know that they will never be forgiven because grace was limited, so for them they only live despair.
People who are desperate on this earth sometimes commit suicide, sometimes they become angry, sometimes they behave like animals and sometimes they don’t want any one around them because of their despair. You and me when we are in despair do we have joy or distress? Tell me, when you are in despair, does this distress sometimes lead to anger?
Devil has collected all the spirits and has told them, we have lost the battle so because you are all in anguish let’s make an army and this army will be called the army of darkness and we’ll keep fighting until the end. Because God won over us, the angel Michael won over us, it would be better now to fight against God’s creatures and they came together to know what they would fight against. An idea came, we must fight men because men have been created in God’s image, if we touch men, God also will be touched. That is how the devil made the decision to start the fight against men and this battle started to organise strategies to know who is a Christian and who is not a Christian and to fight.
Demons don’t have a choice, they don’t have forgiveness or pity so if you think the devil can’t do that to me, you are wrong. Make sure you are wrong. Imagine the courage of the devil who would tempt Jesus and he tempted Him three times. Although Jesus was holy and is God, he fought against Him three times to tempt Him. So why would satan not also tempt us human beings?
There was a man who had three children. At the end of the year, at New Year’s Eve he would always ask his children where they would go for holidays and they would say we are going to France and to Belgium and so forth. He would say, so book a hotel and choose where you are going to stay and the children would choose expensive hotels and he would give them lots of pocket money. One year, the last year before this man died he told his children, up until now I have always asked you what you wanted but today I’m going to tell you what I want and he had prepared three bags and these bags were like boxes with gold.
Then he called his first son and the first son saw the boxes appearance and the Dad said I’m going to give you a present that is really special, one that you have never had in your life. The child thought maybe its lots of money, the child may have thought there is diamond and gold inside. His Dad said, stay here and he called upon the other children and said the same thing. And he asked the first one to open his box and he did and found a sheet of paper and on this sheet was written, I give you all the blessings. The child was disappointed, why only blessings, others find money or clothes, you give them lots of things but for me you just give one word; blessings.
He said to the second one, open and the second one said, ‘oh man I think I’m going to go through the same thing’, and when the second one opened it said, I give you peace, so may peace be with you. ‘Am I going to eat this?’ Inside his heart he was not happy.
The third one, he asked him to open and he told him, I give you love. Daddy how are we going to go on holiday now? I’d planned to go to the States and you talk about peace, you speak about love, you speak about blessings, we don’t need them. The Dad was very disappointed, he said take it because it is a battle you are going to have and the father could see all the spirits roaming around the children. He knew that without love his children will never be winners, without joy and peace his children will never win and without blessings they will be unhappy.
The children didn’t accept that and the father brought his three children to the beach because his children were sulking and they didn’t want to talk to their father. He said let’s have a walk and one of children took one of his friends with him and while they were walking along the beach the father would talk to them, he said be proud of what your father gives because it is of real value. The oldest saw on the beach people who were half naked having a bathe and he said. ‘daddy I don’t have time to waste let me have a bathe it’s very hot’, and the father could see the spirit coming close to his child to draw him in and the father said, ‘my son listen to me, come back’. ‘Oh you with your stories, I don’t mind let me go, you are not able to pay my ticket to the states and you ask me to take a walk along the beach’.
When the first one went the two other brothers and the friend followed him and these children swam. They went a little bit too far and the wind came and the waves were very strong and the children started crying, ‘daddy, help, help. The father had with him a rope and looked at the four children in the ocean and wondered whom shall I not throw the rope. He had only two seconds to think because the waves were really strong and the father thought because my children know about Jesus and because I talked to them about peace, love and blessings and they didn’t listen to me and because their friend is there, I will throw the rope to their friend.
The father threw the rope to the children’s friend and this child was saved but all three of his own children died. Why do I talk about this? Sometimes God gives us peace and impure spirits show us that peace is somewhere else. You look for peace in your neighbour’s place, you try to find peace with a sorcerer, you try to find peace at the funeral, you call the police to find peace and I assure you that you will never find peace in anything else. The policemen too have these problems, even ministers have their problems.
Secondly God had talked to them about blessings and impure spirits show us that there are no blessings on earth and many Christians are confused about it. When they don’t find material things they don’t know they are blessed, for them blessing is to have many goods around them. When they cannot see material things they think that blessing is not there and that God doesn’t love them. I assure you my brother and sister to find salvation is a blessing and it is a great blessing and if you don’t consider your salvation seriously you will be like these three children.
We have a box before us today and this box is decorated very well but the devil is not far away he is just around and you know that spirits that always fight Christians are called darkness exterminators because they are determined to exterminate, that is there role. When they know you are a Christian, they attack until the end and if you don’t persevere in prayer, you might lose your salvation.
How do these demons act? They start first with your children; they attack first the children in your house. The children are more and more educated, they annoy you until the point you get angry, ‘my son don’t do that!’ The son will say, ‘you say that to me? Oh what are you going to do to me, try to touch me and I will call the police.’ The child knows that his peace is in the police but this is not the child but the demon around him. When you talk to him about the Word of God, ‘oh it’s boring’. But if you talk about stars or musicians, children are very happy.
This is how the spirits work in the Christian’s house, when you tell your children, let’s pray they say, oh daddy again and when you insist they will do everything so that you might fall into temptation and when you listen, the devil rubs his hands and calls others.
Thank you very much for being here tonight, it is true when we come together and meet together for God’s glory at that time the devil also gathers his own to glorify himself. The life we live on earth is a short life but sometimes we forget that our life is so very short and when you are alive you forget completely about death, when you feel sick you might have an idea sometimes about death and when you go through difficulties you will expect a solution that will be a good one and you always hope for tomorrow that the solution will be there.
But for demons it’s not the case, they knew from the beginning that they were condemned and they know that there is no more chance for them and that they have been condemned for eternity. They know that they will never know any solution for their problem and they know that they will never be forgiven because grace was limited, so for them they only live despair.
People who are desperate on this earth sometimes commit suicide, sometimes they become angry, sometimes they behave like animals and sometimes they don’t want any one around them because of their despair. You and me when we are in despair do we have joy or distress? Tell me, when you are in despair, does this distress sometimes lead to anger?
Devil has collected all the spirits and has told them, we have lost the battle so because you are all in anguish let’s make an army and this army will be called the army of darkness and we’ll keep fighting until the end. Because God won over us, the angel Michael won over us, it would be better now to fight against God’s creatures and they came together to know what they would fight against. An idea came, we must fight men because men have been created in God’s image, if we touch men, God also will be touched. That is how the devil made the decision to start the fight against men and this battle started to organise strategies to know who is a Christian and who is not a Christian and to fight.
Demons don’t have a choice, they don’t have forgiveness or pity so if you think the devil can’t do that to me, you are wrong. Make sure you are wrong. Imagine the courage of the devil who would tempt Jesus and he tempted Him three times. Although Jesus was holy and is God, he fought against Him three times to tempt Him. So why would satan not also tempt us human beings?
There was a man who had three children. At the end of the year, at New Year’s Eve he would always ask his children where they would go for holidays and they would say we are going to France and to Belgium and so forth. He would say, so book a hotel and choose where you are going to stay and the children would choose expensive hotels and he would give them lots of pocket money. One year, the last year before this man died he told his children, up until now I have always asked you what you wanted but today I’m going to tell you what I want and he had prepared three bags and these bags were like boxes with gold.
Then he called his first son and the first son saw the boxes appearance and the Dad said I’m going to give you a present that is really special, one that you have never had in your life. The child thought maybe its lots of money, the child may have thought there is diamond and gold inside. His Dad said, stay here and he called upon the other children and said the same thing. And he asked the first one to open his box and he did and found a sheet of paper and on this sheet was written, I give you all the blessings. The child was disappointed, why only blessings, others find money or clothes, you give them lots of things but for me you just give one word; blessings.
He said to the second one, open and the second one said, ‘oh man I think I’m going to go through the same thing’, and when the second one opened it said, I give you peace, so may peace be with you. ‘Am I going to eat this?’ Inside his heart he was not happy.
The third one, he asked him to open and he told him, I give you love. Daddy how are we going to go on holiday now? I’d planned to go to the States and you talk about peace, you speak about love, you speak about blessings, we don’t need them. The Dad was very disappointed, he said take it because it is a battle you are going to have and the father could see all the spirits roaming around the children. He knew that without love his children will never be winners, without joy and peace his children will never win and without blessings they will be unhappy.
The children didn’t accept that and the father brought his three children to the beach because his children were sulking and they didn’t want to talk to their father. He said let’s have a walk and one of children took one of his friends with him and while they were walking along the beach the father would talk to them, he said be proud of what your father gives because it is of real value. The oldest saw on the beach people who were half naked having a bathe and he said. ‘daddy I don’t have time to waste let me have a bathe it’s very hot’, and the father could see the spirit coming close to his child to draw him in and the father said, ‘my son listen to me, come back’. ‘Oh you with your stories, I don’t mind let me go, you are not able to pay my ticket to the states and you ask me to take a walk along the beach’.
When the first one went the two other brothers and the friend followed him and these children swam. They went a little bit too far and the wind came and the waves were very strong and the children started crying, ‘daddy, help, help. The father had with him a rope and looked at the four children in the ocean and wondered whom shall I not throw the rope. He had only two seconds to think because the waves were really strong and the father thought because my children know about Jesus and because I talked to them about peace, love and blessings and they didn’t listen to me and because their friend is there, I will throw the rope to their friend.
The father threw the rope to the children’s friend and this child was saved but all three of his own children died. Why do I talk about this? Sometimes God gives us peace and impure spirits show us that peace is somewhere else. You look for peace in your neighbour’s place, you try to find peace with a sorcerer, you try to find peace at the funeral, you call the police to find peace and I assure you that you will never find peace in anything else. The policemen too have these problems, even ministers have their problems.
Secondly God had talked to them about blessings and impure spirits show us that there are no blessings on earth and many Christians are confused about it. When they don’t find material things they don’t know they are blessed, for them blessing is to have many goods around them. When they cannot see material things they think that blessing is not there and that God doesn’t love them. I assure you my brother and sister to find salvation is a blessing and it is a great blessing and if you don’t consider your salvation seriously you will be like these three children.
We have a box before us today and this box is decorated very well but the devil is not far away he is just around and you know that spirits that always fight Christians are called darkness exterminators because they are determined to exterminate, that is there role. When they know you are a Christian, they attack until the end and if you don’t persevere in prayer, you might lose your salvation.
How do these demons act? They start first with your children; they attack first the children in your house. The children are more and more educated, they annoy you until the point you get angry, ‘my son don’t do that!’ The son will say, ‘you say that to me? Oh what are you going to do to me, try to touch me and I will call the police.’ The child knows that his peace is in the police but this is not the child but the demon around him. When you talk to him about the Word of God, ‘oh it’s boring’. But if you talk about stars or musicians, children are very happy.
This is how the spirits work in the Christian’s house, when you tell your children, let’s pray they say, oh daddy again and when you insist they will do everything so that you might fall into temptation and when you listen, the devil rubs his hands and calls others.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Slavery (part II)
By Odon Bulamba (23rd January 2004)
What is the effort we make to please God? Is it to hate our neighbours, is it to slander, is it to be proud, is it to be sufficient and to think that you are better than others, to think that you are more beautiful than others, to think that you are more intelligent than others, how do you please Your God?
To please God you don’t need to ask yourself one thousand questions, it is just a question to follow His will. Does God allow me to do that? What does God ask me to do? When you please God, your soul will also be pleased. When you do something against God, your soul will also be in distress. Imagine if Steve works for the New Zealand embassy in France and New Zealanders are mistreated in France. Where will the NZ government find out about the situation? Who will be the first person in France to find out about New Zealanders? It will be the ambassadors, it will be Steve. Whether Steve lives in Paris or Marseilles, this is not the problem of the NZ government. He might be in Stratford and something happens in Marseilles, he will be asked, you are in France, tell us what is happening? “I don’t know, you know I live in Marseilles, I don’t know what is happening in Paris”. Its country will say, you must know, you are on the field you must know, give us a report. And his report will be more important than others.
The souls that are in us are God’s ambassadors, these souls will be asked to give a report about all that you have done and if you look seriously on your soul you will have the eternal life but if you don’t care about your soul, you can forget about it. As I say always, your position in society will never give you a visa of heaven, your religion will never give you a visa, your personality will never give you a visa for heaven. We have only one visa, not two or three, only one and this visa is somewhere in people’s lives and this person must accept that this visa is given.
Before telling you what this visa is, I will give you an example. I’ll ask Marcia a question, “when did you leave NZ last time?” 1993. “Where did you go?” Holland. Marcia went to Holland in 1993. Do you remember the date, or the month that you left? April. Although it has been over ten years, Marcia does not forget. She knows that she travelled sometime and Marcia can remember who greeted her at the airport in Holland and she can remember where she spent her first night in Holland, she can even sometimes remember what she ate her first night in Holland, isn’t it true? Yes. It’s easy to remember all this and before leaving this country to go to Holland what did you do? She cried. Why did she cry? Because she left her family? Did she cry because she left her country or did she cry because there was a certain joy somewhere in Holland? Why did you cry Marcia? Because I was leaving my future husband. There was a reason and this reason was Steve. And if Marcia’s mum was beside Marcia, she could think my daughter cries because she is leaving me and she could say, ‘Marcia don’t cry’. And Marcia could think in her heart do you think that I cry over you, no it’s for Steve. This is a personal truth.
When people die on earth we cry, why do we cry? Do we cry because they leave us, do we cry because it is normal to cry or do we cry for our souls because also one day they will leave? Before doing Marcia’s travel I think she found a visa. Maybe New Zealanders don’t need a visa before going to Holland but normally you need a visa and this visa won’t be found on a table at home, you must fill in a form and send your passport and the visa will be placed inside the passport and if you don’t have a passport where will you put the visa?
Many people on earth don’t have an identity. It is like a citizen who doesn’t have a passport and they want to have a visa to go to heaven but where will God put this visa. Are you a citizen of the world, are you a citizen of heaven or are you a citizen of your religion; which passport will God put the visa?
In the past many people reject the passport from Zaire. If you wanted your visa to be rejected, you just had to show your visa from Zaire. You could be well clothed, you could be rich when you go to the embassy and say you need a visa and you show your passport, ‘o Zaire, no thank you’. If you insist they will take the passport and stamp something in it and this thing is in there and it will make you suffer. You know what it is? If you don’t have a visa what do you have?
Interdictions (to prohibit). They put the stamp on your passport to say that this person cannot enter our country. It is finished, it is forbidden and if you go to another embassy and you open your passport and they see interdiction, ‘o he was rejected there’ and they cannot accept because of another interdiction and you will find a passport filled with stamps and this is a negative visa. It means that visa will never allow you to enter into another country.
Us Christians we are called to have a certain identity and the identity we need is the Christian identity and this visa must be sealed by the Holy Spirit. Whoever wants to inherit the kingdom of God must find his identity and accept the Holy Spirit to lead them and if you don’t accept this spirit, woe to you because you will be given another visa and it will be the interdiction. The devil will also put the visa in your life or in your head and your identity will be useless.
I learned while working for the immigration that there are many people in this world today who don’t have a citizenship. They don’t have any nationality, if you ask them what is your citizenship they will say they don’t have any and if you ask them what is their country of origin, there is none. They were born and grew up but don’t have a country so how do they do their travelling? They have to steal passports and travel with them. They buy false passports to travel with them and they go through that way. But in heaven there won’t be any false passports, each one is called to start preparing for their travel and you will start thinking when I’m going to start to leave this earth will I cry for the children who are going to stay? Or will I cry for the joy that I will have to enter heaven.
Remember the story of Lazarus? Lazarus was against Abraham’s breast and behind there was a rich person and this rich person said to Lazarus, ask someone to go to see people from my family to talk about the gospel and they said, ‘no it’s not possible. There are people who are already preaching on the earth, it’s up to them to listen where they are. We cannot leave where we are anymore’.
If Peter would die today, what would we do? We would cry. Why will we cry? Because Peter has left us and we won’t see him anymore, we can feel that in our hearts. Nobody beat us or tortured us, but in our hearts there is something that hurts and it hurts a lot. But after crying, what will we do? We will pray. Yes we will pray but what will we tell God? When we pray are we going to say thank you God because you took Peter? Will it be Ang’s prayer. She might say, why only Peter, why not Steve? Why not Michael why my husband? People do that. People cry and judge God and find that God is unjust, ‘why always my family? Why do you always touch me? Why not elsewhere?
After the death of my father, I asked God, ‘Why didn’t you kill all the old people from my family? And left my father alive?’ One day when I talked to one of these old men, he said to me, ‘shut up, what did you say, don’t say that anymore’. Although he was old, he was not happy about that and I didn’t even kill him but because he was afraid of death, he didn’t want me to say, God take this person. So what will be the prayer that you will do if Peter dies? Forgive his sins. It will be too late to forgive his sins, the only prayer that will be there is to thank God.
One question be sincere, if death would come, if an angel would come and say your father is here and your husband is here, death will say I will take one of these two, choose one, who will be sacrificed? The Dad will go. Can you say that to your father? Never. Your father will say, I gave you life, I sent you to school, if you are what you are today it is thanks to me, remember when I looked after you, when you were a baby, you were sick and had problems but you sacrifice me today, why?
And tomorrow our children might say, ‘take our mum’ How will you feel? You will not be happy. That is the way we give our souls, when sins come I think instead of having my body humiliated, I would have the devil play with my soul, because my soul is not that important. It’s better that people think that I didn’t do the bad thing.
When death comes, a funeral will be there and when someone will be buried it is not a joke, it is serious. People don’t have time to waste, you go down there, they cover it and that is it, whether you cry or not, the body will stay there and the soul will be somewhere else to be judged by itself. So why do we give more value to this body that will stay under the ground and not give great value to our souls?
Many Christians today kill one another, there is such a great war in church today to the point that the church has been divided in one thousand parts and it is the same in the mosque. In each denomination or religious entity there is this history and we all forget the place of our soul but if we gather it is to feed our souls, it is find the visa to go to heaven. Let’s not meet together to fight against one another, where is Martin Luther King today, where is Wesley and others? Where is Mohamed and others? Their bodies are always buried and their souls are somewhere. They fought against one another and this stayed on earth and their souls went back to be judged.
Is your soul prepared to go back to God? When you pray in the morning, when you pray in the middle of the day or any time, do you pray for your souls or do you pray only for your physical life? Are you a coloniser or a colonised? It would be better to have our souls as colonisers and accept to have our bodies as colonised. Amen? Amen!
We are going to stop here and we will pray altogether and ask God to help us to have our souls as colonisers so that we would stop mistreating our souls and to ask God to give us strength to over come evil and find the good visa to go to Heaven. Let’s pray
What is the effort we make to please God? Is it to hate our neighbours, is it to slander, is it to be proud, is it to be sufficient and to think that you are better than others, to think that you are more beautiful than others, to think that you are more intelligent than others, how do you please Your God?
To please God you don’t need to ask yourself one thousand questions, it is just a question to follow His will. Does God allow me to do that? What does God ask me to do? When you please God, your soul will also be pleased. When you do something against God, your soul will also be in distress. Imagine if Steve works for the New Zealand embassy in France and New Zealanders are mistreated in France. Where will the NZ government find out about the situation? Who will be the first person in France to find out about New Zealanders? It will be the ambassadors, it will be Steve. Whether Steve lives in Paris or Marseilles, this is not the problem of the NZ government. He might be in Stratford and something happens in Marseilles, he will be asked, you are in France, tell us what is happening? “I don’t know, you know I live in Marseilles, I don’t know what is happening in Paris”. Its country will say, you must know, you are on the field you must know, give us a report. And his report will be more important than others.
The souls that are in us are God’s ambassadors, these souls will be asked to give a report about all that you have done and if you look seriously on your soul you will have the eternal life but if you don’t care about your soul, you can forget about it. As I say always, your position in society will never give you a visa of heaven, your religion will never give you a visa, your personality will never give you a visa for heaven. We have only one visa, not two or three, only one and this visa is somewhere in people’s lives and this person must accept that this visa is given.
Before telling you what this visa is, I will give you an example. I’ll ask Marcia a question, “when did you leave NZ last time?” 1993. “Where did you go?” Holland. Marcia went to Holland in 1993. Do you remember the date, or the month that you left? April. Although it has been over ten years, Marcia does not forget. She knows that she travelled sometime and Marcia can remember who greeted her at the airport in Holland and she can remember where she spent her first night in Holland, she can even sometimes remember what she ate her first night in Holland, isn’t it true? Yes. It’s easy to remember all this and before leaving this country to go to Holland what did you do? She cried. Why did she cry? Because she left her family? Did she cry because she left her country or did she cry because there was a certain joy somewhere in Holland? Why did you cry Marcia? Because I was leaving my future husband. There was a reason and this reason was Steve. And if Marcia’s mum was beside Marcia, she could think my daughter cries because she is leaving me and she could say, ‘Marcia don’t cry’. And Marcia could think in her heart do you think that I cry over you, no it’s for Steve. This is a personal truth.
When people die on earth we cry, why do we cry? Do we cry because they leave us, do we cry because it is normal to cry or do we cry for our souls because also one day they will leave? Before doing Marcia’s travel I think she found a visa. Maybe New Zealanders don’t need a visa before going to Holland but normally you need a visa and this visa won’t be found on a table at home, you must fill in a form and send your passport and the visa will be placed inside the passport and if you don’t have a passport where will you put the visa?
Many people on earth don’t have an identity. It is like a citizen who doesn’t have a passport and they want to have a visa to go to heaven but where will God put this visa. Are you a citizen of the world, are you a citizen of heaven or are you a citizen of your religion; which passport will God put the visa?
In the past many people reject the passport from Zaire. If you wanted your visa to be rejected, you just had to show your visa from Zaire. You could be well clothed, you could be rich when you go to the embassy and say you need a visa and you show your passport, ‘o Zaire, no thank you’. If you insist they will take the passport and stamp something in it and this thing is in there and it will make you suffer. You know what it is? If you don’t have a visa what do you have?
Interdictions (to prohibit). They put the stamp on your passport to say that this person cannot enter our country. It is finished, it is forbidden and if you go to another embassy and you open your passport and they see interdiction, ‘o he was rejected there’ and they cannot accept because of another interdiction and you will find a passport filled with stamps and this is a negative visa. It means that visa will never allow you to enter into another country.
Us Christians we are called to have a certain identity and the identity we need is the Christian identity and this visa must be sealed by the Holy Spirit. Whoever wants to inherit the kingdom of God must find his identity and accept the Holy Spirit to lead them and if you don’t accept this spirit, woe to you because you will be given another visa and it will be the interdiction. The devil will also put the visa in your life or in your head and your identity will be useless.
I learned while working for the immigration that there are many people in this world today who don’t have a citizenship. They don’t have any nationality, if you ask them what is your citizenship they will say they don’t have any and if you ask them what is their country of origin, there is none. They were born and grew up but don’t have a country so how do they do their travelling? They have to steal passports and travel with them. They buy false passports to travel with them and they go through that way. But in heaven there won’t be any false passports, each one is called to start preparing for their travel and you will start thinking when I’m going to start to leave this earth will I cry for the children who are going to stay? Or will I cry for the joy that I will have to enter heaven.
Remember the story of Lazarus? Lazarus was against Abraham’s breast and behind there was a rich person and this rich person said to Lazarus, ask someone to go to see people from my family to talk about the gospel and they said, ‘no it’s not possible. There are people who are already preaching on the earth, it’s up to them to listen where they are. We cannot leave where we are anymore’.
If Peter would die today, what would we do? We would cry. Why will we cry? Because Peter has left us and we won’t see him anymore, we can feel that in our hearts. Nobody beat us or tortured us, but in our hearts there is something that hurts and it hurts a lot. But after crying, what will we do? We will pray. Yes we will pray but what will we tell God? When we pray are we going to say thank you God because you took Peter? Will it be Ang’s prayer. She might say, why only Peter, why not Steve? Why not Michael why my husband? People do that. People cry and judge God and find that God is unjust, ‘why always my family? Why do you always touch me? Why not elsewhere?
After the death of my father, I asked God, ‘Why didn’t you kill all the old people from my family? And left my father alive?’ One day when I talked to one of these old men, he said to me, ‘shut up, what did you say, don’t say that anymore’. Although he was old, he was not happy about that and I didn’t even kill him but because he was afraid of death, he didn’t want me to say, God take this person. So what will be the prayer that you will do if Peter dies? Forgive his sins. It will be too late to forgive his sins, the only prayer that will be there is to thank God.
One question be sincere, if death would come, if an angel would come and say your father is here and your husband is here, death will say I will take one of these two, choose one, who will be sacrificed? The Dad will go. Can you say that to your father? Never. Your father will say, I gave you life, I sent you to school, if you are what you are today it is thanks to me, remember when I looked after you, when you were a baby, you were sick and had problems but you sacrifice me today, why?
And tomorrow our children might say, ‘take our mum’ How will you feel? You will not be happy. That is the way we give our souls, when sins come I think instead of having my body humiliated, I would have the devil play with my soul, because my soul is not that important. It’s better that people think that I didn’t do the bad thing.
When death comes, a funeral will be there and when someone will be buried it is not a joke, it is serious. People don’t have time to waste, you go down there, they cover it and that is it, whether you cry or not, the body will stay there and the soul will be somewhere else to be judged by itself. So why do we give more value to this body that will stay under the ground and not give great value to our souls?
Many Christians today kill one another, there is such a great war in church today to the point that the church has been divided in one thousand parts and it is the same in the mosque. In each denomination or religious entity there is this history and we all forget the place of our soul but if we gather it is to feed our souls, it is find the visa to go to heaven. Let’s not meet together to fight against one another, where is Martin Luther King today, where is Wesley and others? Where is Mohamed and others? Their bodies are always buried and their souls are somewhere. They fought against one another and this stayed on earth and their souls went back to be judged.
Is your soul prepared to go back to God? When you pray in the morning, when you pray in the middle of the day or any time, do you pray for your souls or do you pray only for your physical life? Are you a coloniser or a colonised? It would be better to have our souls as colonisers and accept to have our bodies as colonised. Amen? Amen!
We are going to stop here and we will pray altogether and ask God to help us to have our souls as colonisers so that we would stop mistreating our souls and to ask God to give us strength to over come evil and find the good visa to go to Heaven. Let’s pray
Monday, September 13, 2010
Slavery (part I)
By Odon Bulamba (23rd January 2004)
It’s a joy to meet together because God gave us this privilege to be together, I think that God deserves to be glorified. Each mouth must have the privilege to praise God for all His goodness. God is really good and his goodness is infinite for us. From time to time when I think of my life, I find out that I am not good but by God’s grace and His mercy, He keeps accepting me as I am. Maybe it is the same for you, maybe it is the same for everyone. Sometimes we are sinners when we sin against his will, when we think we know better than God but He is always here and forgives us and He considers us as His children and doesn’t care about what we do.
This same God gives us life. When we wake up in the morning many people are ungrateful, they don’t have the courage to say, thank you God because you made me see a new day. And maybe I am among these ungrateful people. There are people who look with a great effort for the gift of life in the morning, many people spend millions of dollars to stay healthy and just to stay alive but as for you, who are alive without giving anything to God, you completely forget God in your life. You say, this is our life, I live my life but don’t forget that someone gave you this life, the life you have is given to you in credit and one day you will have to give it back to God, whether you like it or not, you will have to give it back.
Although this life is a little bit difficult and complicated, God always helps us to go through difficult situations and we are winners. Yesterday I had problems and today I have forgotten about these problems. Yesterday I was in distress and I would cry but today I left distress. Sometimes I come to the point when I wonder if it is useful to keep living because of the problems, maybe because people reject me, maybe because I don’t find what I want, maybe because I am proud, maybe because I don’t like others but God with His love doesn’t keep record of all my bad decisions, He keeps going and gives me life in abundance.
When birds wake up in the morning, they keep singing to glorify God but when you wake up in the morning, the first thing might be to find a cup of tea. My wife where is the cup of tea? Oh husband there is this and this, my child must do this and this but where is God’s glory? There are many people who wake up in the morning and when they see the sun, the turn and say, ‘good morning sun, oh this is a lovely day’. They say that and they don’t think to say, ‘O, this is a lovely God’. They completely ignore God’s existence in their life and they start getting attached to doctrines and religion. As for us the Baptists, we are like that, and for us Pentecostals to pray or not, God is the same. But when there is a danger or a serious problem you’ll see that everyone will start looking for God’s face.
Five years ago I was in Kenya and one day I left the camp to go to Nairobi and on the way I met some armed robbers. They hijacked the mini bus and took us into the woods and for them it was not a joke because if they asked you to do something and you didn’t, you would die. I can tell you that on that day people started crying and praying to a God that they did not know. Out of fear they started to looking and searching for faith in God and many people in this world live their life in that way.
When God gives them an opportunity to know Him, they always say, ‘I don’t care, I don’t mind, to be there or not is not my problem’. But when there will be a serious problem, because the fear of death is there, they will start shaking and say, ‘God help me, o God help me, how can I get out, help me Lord’. But this God will tell you, ‘sometimes I would come to you and you wouldn’t call on me, so you are calling on me because you are afraid. Are you afraid of being afraid or are you afraid of me?’ That’s the churches serious problem today, we are afraid with worldly problems, but we don’t fear God who created us but this God can transform this world in one second.
If God says, today it is finished with this world, it will be finished. Even if Osama Ben Laden comes in this house with four forms of explosives and God says that nobody will die, then nobody will die. Even if the explosion is great, if God says that Marcia will stay alive, she will stay alive. But if God says that everyone in this house will die, then everyone will die. God has our lives in His hands and we must accept to have our lives in His hands. We cannot say that our lives are somewhere on the shelves, we cannot say that we live far from God, we must always remember that our lives are in His hands.
To find food is easy in NZ but leave this country and go to Vietnam and you will see how people suffer. I even know countries where people eat once every two days. So if today the Mum ate, the next day it will be the Dad and then the child, they have turns to eat. Here we have food in abundance and people think that it is normal and don’t think that it is a blessing and when it’s time to eat food, we must give a sign of acknowledgment just to say thank you to God because He gave us enough to eat, or thank you God because you gave me an appetite to eat.
Go to the hospital and you will see how many people who are not able to eat, they can smell the nice food but their body cannot eat but as for you, God gives you the strength and appetite to eat and the ability to find the food but you are not able to glorify God for that. There are so many things I could say. We go away from God’s glory and we come apart from God’s glory. Imagine having a child and when you give him things he never says anything, you will ask yourself is this child happy or not. Why does this child not thank me, I give him clothes and other things and it might lead the parents to say I will not give anymore. God might say, “That’s it, I will not give you anything more because you are not thankful. I won’t give to you anymore because you don’t acknowledge what Me Your God gives to you”.
Many people don’t reach the age that we have, many people die younger than us and at our age there are still people that depend on their mum and if you compare yourself to others, do you think that you are special and that is why you are what you are. No, I think that it is because of God’s glory and his love which is why you are what you are today. Sometimes we have to know how to humiliate ourselves and if you do not know how to humiliate yourself, you will perish. People don’t believe that there will be an end to everything one day but I can assure you that there will be. The same way that your lives have an end, everything will pass away one day. People want to accept it only when there is proof but unfortunately when death comes, death doesn’t say this is just a trial I will come back later. If death comes it comes once forever and there will be a judgment, whether you like it or not you will be judged unless you are attached to Jesus Christ.
We are going to talk a little bit about slavery. I will probably need two or three sheets of paper. When we talk about slavery we think of the dominator and the one who is under dominion. When we see the one who has dominion we see the one who has power and when we see the one who is under dominion we see some weakness. So I’m going to ask you, what are the characteristics of those who dominate? Let’s take for example colonisation, you have the colonised and the coloniser. And what do those that colonise do? They make the laws, they might have power, they command, they have weapons. What do they do to those who are colonised? They mistreat them, force them to accept their culture and exploit the riches of the country, they bring education and the gospel. They also bring diseases and hospitals, they bring schools, jobs, and forced labour, they bring humiliation, and fear and hatred, and technology.
And how is the attitude of those who colonise towards those who are being colonised? They are usually wicked.
And when we think of those who are colonised, how is their attitude? They hate, they rebel, they despair, they are deceived, they are badly paid and cannot eat well. They can sleep in difficult situations. They get weaker everyday and complain and cry to God. Imagine that you’re a boss and you have servants in your house, what will be your attitude towards your servants? To give orders, and to be strict, and always try to find something for them to do, maybe they will wear a uniform. Will you wear a uniform as a boss, the same uniform as your workers? Never. We can do a long list.
I’ve got a list and we said all these things. It’s difficult to see how much the colonised people suffer. Sometimes people cry when they see just how mistreated colonised people are. And in Moses’ time, the people were whipped to do forced labour, they were woken up very early in the morning and although they could be right, they were always wrong. And when they would talk to the boss, they were not entitled to the truth. Although they could explain ten thousand times they were always taught, “you are wrong, you are wrong”. They were always condemned, they were always minimised, they were always humiliated and to kill them was a small thing. I know that someone told me one day that they would prefer a cat in the place than a person from such a race. If my cat was killed, I would cry much more than to see an islander being killed. This person gave a very small value to this person.
Let’s have a look at these things and let’s see who are the colonisers and replace them with our bodies and let’s replace the colonised with our souls and think a little bit about it. Our bodies always make laws for our souls and we force our souls to accept things that our souls don’t like. Although our souls will say, this is a sin, my body will say I will do it, I have to do it. We show to our souls that we are more powerful and we mistreat our souls. We force them to accept our culture which is full of sin. There are many more examples and if you start analysing every night how many times your body has mislead your soul, you will find out if your body is a slave of God or a slave of the devil.
How many times our body has made our soul sick, how many times our body humiliated our soul to the point that our souls are always scared. If God would come back now where would I be, if God would call me now, where would I go and our souls cry and sometimes they hate our body because they find they are mistreated.
But as you know when colonisers come they occupy the territory that is not theirs. When people are slaves, some people have a power over them and our souls too are invaded by our physical forces; our envies, hatred, lies, disputes, quarrels, and all the fruit of the flesh always put our souls into slavery. But believe that one day there will be a riot, there will be a day when these souls will come before God and testify against you and that is the day we call the judgement. That will be the day of freedom for the souls, where the souls will stand up before God and say, Odon mistreated me like that, Gustave mistreated me like that, Steve mistreated me like that, Lebon did this and that and on that day nobody will stop these souls.
We have a principal us people, we say, too much is too much, that’s enough, that’s enough. Our soul that had been mistreated will reach this point one day, to say too much is too much. My body you must rest, that is it and the soul will leave the body.
How many slaves have fled? How many colonised have killed themselves because of anger? And for today how many people hang themselves because of problems and sin that is around them. People take the rope and hang themselves. Now I take a rope and give it to Saida to hang herself, will you hang yourself Saida? No. Nathanael? Maybe yes, maybe no. It’s not easy, you might take the rope and put it around your neck and when it will tighten you will start to fight and say, oh no this is not the time. Maybe you will have another chance to save your life. Maybe you will have the chance of being helped by someone. But when the soul will make up its mind to revolt against you, you will never find another chance to get out. That is why while we still have life; that is the time we must be thankful to God, that is the time we must do our best to please our souls, we must do our best to please our God, and not only please our bodies or our surroundings.
It’s a joy to meet together because God gave us this privilege to be together, I think that God deserves to be glorified. Each mouth must have the privilege to praise God for all His goodness. God is really good and his goodness is infinite for us. From time to time when I think of my life, I find out that I am not good but by God’s grace and His mercy, He keeps accepting me as I am. Maybe it is the same for you, maybe it is the same for everyone. Sometimes we are sinners when we sin against his will, when we think we know better than God but He is always here and forgives us and He considers us as His children and doesn’t care about what we do.
This same God gives us life. When we wake up in the morning many people are ungrateful, they don’t have the courage to say, thank you God because you made me see a new day. And maybe I am among these ungrateful people. There are people who look with a great effort for the gift of life in the morning, many people spend millions of dollars to stay healthy and just to stay alive but as for you, who are alive without giving anything to God, you completely forget God in your life. You say, this is our life, I live my life but don’t forget that someone gave you this life, the life you have is given to you in credit and one day you will have to give it back to God, whether you like it or not, you will have to give it back.
Although this life is a little bit difficult and complicated, God always helps us to go through difficult situations and we are winners. Yesterday I had problems and today I have forgotten about these problems. Yesterday I was in distress and I would cry but today I left distress. Sometimes I come to the point when I wonder if it is useful to keep living because of the problems, maybe because people reject me, maybe because I don’t find what I want, maybe because I am proud, maybe because I don’t like others but God with His love doesn’t keep record of all my bad decisions, He keeps going and gives me life in abundance.
When birds wake up in the morning, they keep singing to glorify God but when you wake up in the morning, the first thing might be to find a cup of tea. My wife where is the cup of tea? Oh husband there is this and this, my child must do this and this but where is God’s glory? There are many people who wake up in the morning and when they see the sun, the turn and say, ‘good morning sun, oh this is a lovely day’. They say that and they don’t think to say, ‘O, this is a lovely God’. They completely ignore God’s existence in their life and they start getting attached to doctrines and religion. As for us the Baptists, we are like that, and for us Pentecostals to pray or not, God is the same. But when there is a danger or a serious problem you’ll see that everyone will start looking for God’s face.
Five years ago I was in Kenya and one day I left the camp to go to Nairobi and on the way I met some armed robbers. They hijacked the mini bus and took us into the woods and for them it was not a joke because if they asked you to do something and you didn’t, you would die. I can tell you that on that day people started crying and praying to a God that they did not know. Out of fear they started to looking and searching for faith in God and many people in this world live their life in that way.
When God gives them an opportunity to know Him, they always say, ‘I don’t care, I don’t mind, to be there or not is not my problem’. But when there will be a serious problem, because the fear of death is there, they will start shaking and say, ‘God help me, o God help me, how can I get out, help me Lord’. But this God will tell you, ‘sometimes I would come to you and you wouldn’t call on me, so you are calling on me because you are afraid. Are you afraid of being afraid or are you afraid of me?’ That’s the churches serious problem today, we are afraid with worldly problems, but we don’t fear God who created us but this God can transform this world in one second.
If God says, today it is finished with this world, it will be finished. Even if Osama Ben Laden comes in this house with four forms of explosives and God says that nobody will die, then nobody will die. Even if the explosion is great, if God says that Marcia will stay alive, she will stay alive. But if God says that everyone in this house will die, then everyone will die. God has our lives in His hands and we must accept to have our lives in His hands. We cannot say that our lives are somewhere on the shelves, we cannot say that we live far from God, we must always remember that our lives are in His hands.
To find food is easy in NZ but leave this country and go to Vietnam and you will see how people suffer. I even know countries where people eat once every two days. So if today the Mum ate, the next day it will be the Dad and then the child, they have turns to eat. Here we have food in abundance and people think that it is normal and don’t think that it is a blessing and when it’s time to eat food, we must give a sign of acknowledgment just to say thank you to God because He gave us enough to eat, or thank you God because you gave me an appetite to eat.
Go to the hospital and you will see how many people who are not able to eat, they can smell the nice food but their body cannot eat but as for you, God gives you the strength and appetite to eat and the ability to find the food but you are not able to glorify God for that. There are so many things I could say. We go away from God’s glory and we come apart from God’s glory. Imagine having a child and when you give him things he never says anything, you will ask yourself is this child happy or not. Why does this child not thank me, I give him clothes and other things and it might lead the parents to say I will not give anymore. God might say, “That’s it, I will not give you anything more because you are not thankful. I won’t give to you anymore because you don’t acknowledge what Me Your God gives to you”.
Many people don’t reach the age that we have, many people die younger than us and at our age there are still people that depend on their mum and if you compare yourself to others, do you think that you are special and that is why you are what you are. No, I think that it is because of God’s glory and his love which is why you are what you are today. Sometimes we have to know how to humiliate ourselves and if you do not know how to humiliate yourself, you will perish. People don’t believe that there will be an end to everything one day but I can assure you that there will be. The same way that your lives have an end, everything will pass away one day. People want to accept it only when there is proof but unfortunately when death comes, death doesn’t say this is just a trial I will come back later. If death comes it comes once forever and there will be a judgment, whether you like it or not you will be judged unless you are attached to Jesus Christ.
We are going to talk a little bit about slavery. I will probably need two or three sheets of paper. When we talk about slavery we think of the dominator and the one who is under dominion. When we see the one who has dominion we see the one who has power and when we see the one who is under dominion we see some weakness. So I’m going to ask you, what are the characteristics of those who dominate? Let’s take for example colonisation, you have the colonised and the coloniser. And what do those that colonise do? They make the laws, they might have power, they command, they have weapons. What do they do to those who are colonised? They mistreat them, force them to accept their culture and exploit the riches of the country, they bring education and the gospel. They also bring diseases and hospitals, they bring schools, jobs, and forced labour, they bring humiliation, and fear and hatred, and technology.
And how is the attitude of those who colonise towards those who are being colonised? They are usually wicked.
And when we think of those who are colonised, how is their attitude? They hate, they rebel, they despair, they are deceived, they are badly paid and cannot eat well. They can sleep in difficult situations. They get weaker everyday and complain and cry to God. Imagine that you’re a boss and you have servants in your house, what will be your attitude towards your servants? To give orders, and to be strict, and always try to find something for them to do, maybe they will wear a uniform. Will you wear a uniform as a boss, the same uniform as your workers? Never. We can do a long list.
I’ve got a list and we said all these things. It’s difficult to see how much the colonised people suffer. Sometimes people cry when they see just how mistreated colonised people are. And in Moses’ time, the people were whipped to do forced labour, they were woken up very early in the morning and although they could be right, they were always wrong. And when they would talk to the boss, they were not entitled to the truth. Although they could explain ten thousand times they were always taught, “you are wrong, you are wrong”. They were always condemned, they were always minimised, they were always humiliated and to kill them was a small thing. I know that someone told me one day that they would prefer a cat in the place than a person from such a race. If my cat was killed, I would cry much more than to see an islander being killed. This person gave a very small value to this person.
Let’s have a look at these things and let’s see who are the colonisers and replace them with our bodies and let’s replace the colonised with our souls and think a little bit about it. Our bodies always make laws for our souls and we force our souls to accept things that our souls don’t like. Although our souls will say, this is a sin, my body will say I will do it, I have to do it. We show to our souls that we are more powerful and we mistreat our souls. We force them to accept our culture which is full of sin. There are many more examples and if you start analysing every night how many times your body has mislead your soul, you will find out if your body is a slave of God or a slave of the devil.
How many times our body has made our soul sick, how many times our body humiliated our soul to the point that our souls are always scared. If God would come back now where would I be, if God would call me now, where would I go and our souls cry and sometimes they hate our body because they find they are mistreated.
But as you know when colonisers come they occupy the territory that is not theirs. When people are slaves, some people have a power over them and our souls too are invaded by our physical forces; our envies, hatred, lies, disputes, quarrels, and all the fruit of the flesh always put our souls into slavery. But believe that one day there will be a riot, there will be a day when these souls will come before God and testify against you and that is the day we call the judgement. That will be the day of freedom for the souls, where the souls will stand up before God and say, Odon mistreated me like that, Gustave mistreated me like that, Steve mistreated me like that, Lebon did this and that and on that day nobody will stop these souls.
We have a principal us people, we say, too much is too much, that’s enough, that’s enough. Our soul that had been mistreated will reach this point one day, to say too much is too much. My body you must rest, that is it and the soul will leave the body.
How many slaves have fled? How many colonised have killed themselves because of anger? And for today how many people hang themselves because of problems and sin that is around them. People take the rope and hang themselves. Now I take a rope and give it to Saida to hang herself, will you hang yourself Saida? No. Nathanael? Maybe yes, maybe no. It’s not easy, you might take the rope and put it around your neck and when it will tighten you will start to fight and say, oh no this is not the time. Maybe you will have another chance to save your life. Maybe you will have the chance of being helped by someone. But when the soul will make up its mind to revolt against you, you will never find another chance to get out. That is why while we still have life; that is the time we must be thankful to God, that is the time we must do our best to please our souls, we must do our best to please our God, and not only please our bodies or our surroundings.
Friday, September 10, 2010
VAMPIRES
By Hayley Boud
What is a vampire and what can we learn from them as Christians?
They Hate the LightWe know that Jesus Christ Himself is the light. Vampires prefer to be in darkness and we know that satan is represented by darkness (void of light – no God).
“Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” Eph 5:7-10
Therefore we need to expose vampires and their actions to find the truth....
PowersVampires have powers that humans don’t. They can read minds, fly, run fast (depending on the version you read), they can seduce humans. We know there are only two sources of power so if the power that someone has to do something isn’t from God....the only other way they have gained that power is through satan.
In ancient Greece the word that was used to describe someone who drank blood and had certain powers was, “demon” or even “satan”. Over the years the word was slowly changed to “witches”, “coven”, or “wiccan” and then over time it was changed to “vampire”.
In Deuteronomy 18:9-10, it calls witchcraft detestable by God and He warns the Israelites not to practise “divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft”. Therefore, vampires are not something to imitate and God calls them detestable and in other versions He says they are an “abomination” (meaning God hates it, He absolutely loathes it, He has an intense aversion to it which means He can’t even look at it).
Aversion means:
1. A fixed, intense dislike; repugnance.
2. The cause or object of such a feeling.
3. The avoidance of a thing, situation, or behaviour because it has been associated with an unpleasant or painful stimulus.
4. The act of turning away or averting.
If God absolutely loathes vampires, if He hates it so much that He can’t look at it without feeling shame or intense loathing, and if God lives in us, then shouldn’t we also have the same feeling when we see vampires? If God lives in us, shouldn’t we react to vampires the same way He does? Many Christians are not. In fact, many Christians are attracted to vampires which but God says He is opposed to it.
Drink blood
Vampires drink blood and we know as Christians that life is in the blood. If someone loses enough blood, they will die.
“You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well”. Acts 15:29
Drinking blood is also satanic ritual obeyed by those who actively participate in the Satanist church and by also by witches. By drinking blood is believed the person will receive power. They will become more like God. Isn’t this the same issue that tripped up Eve in the garden of Eden, “Eve, if you eat this fruit, you will become like God”. (Gen 3:3-5) Interesting! And what is even more interesting is that the cover of the book “Twilight” has a picture of an apple on the front. The picture that represents envy and pride.
No soulIn movies, the vampire is depicted as having no shadow or not having a reflection in the mirror. This is because the vampire doesn’t have a soul. If there is no soul then there is no hope of salvation. They live for eternity but they can’t go to heaven and they just walk the earth forever, drinking blood. This was the scariest thing for me, when I was a child. I have only ever seen one vampire movie and I couldn’t watch anymore after that. It scared me so much as a child and the thing that frightened me the most was that they have no hope. The live for eternity without any redemption. And the worst part is, they don’t choose it. Someone drinks their blood and they become a vampire and they didn’t get the choice. They lost the opportunity for salvation.
Of course this is a lie from satan. We all have a choice and we can choose to go to heaven or hell. We all have a soul and no matter what, we can’t get rid of it. This soul will either go to heaven or to hell. There is no way that we can be free of our soul because our soul is what gives us life. When the soul leaves the body, it is now dead. It can’t continue without the soul. And this soul must go somewhere; only heaven or hell. No other choice. But I believe vampires are satan’s way of tricking people into thinking there is no heaven, no hell, no soul, no salvation and he makes it attractive for people to think they could live forever on earth. It’s not attractive! Watching these kinds of movies makes us think that it would be nice to live forever with the one we love but this is a lie. Read revelations and you will find the truth about living on this earth.
Undead
The vampire is neither dead nor alive. Another lie from satan. If you are not alive, then you must be dead. You can’t be half, half. If you are dead, then you can go to heaven or hell. If you go to heaven, you will stay there for eternity and enjoy. Presently hell is under construction and if you haven’t accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you will be going to hades. Satan is bound and can’t move but he has his demons to work for him and if you are sent to hades, satan can also use you. He can send your soul to earth to work for him like an evil spirit. He needs workers because time is short now, he knows Christ will come back soon so if he can send the dead back to earth to torment people, he will. Therefore, the undead are actually dead but working for satan. Therefore, being a vampire is not something that should be desired or attracted to.
Teeth like lions(Revelations 9 – Odon’s message)
People will see their teeth when they speak but it might not give us a fright, as we are familiar with the vampire movies. These movies are actually preparing the psychology of the human being so at that time people will find it normal to see vampires. Today, especially young people find it “cool” to have power like vampires, and to act like vampires. They are proud to be called vampires. Satan has been preparing the memory and psychology of the young generation so they can be destroyed at that time.
Secondly, their faces will be like human beings and that will help people not to fear them. They are similar to us, not monsters so why fear them? So Satan will use people that look like me and you so that they can destroy the world properly. So satan is using these vampire movies, preparing our minds so that we will find vampires normal and not be afraid, especially the younger generation.
Therefore, we need to be careful with what we are showing our children. We need them to understand the truth and it’s probably better not to let them watch vampire movies because we don’t want them to become familiar to it. We want them to fear these monsters, not be attracted to them.
Beautiful and seductiveIt is there extreme beauty and their ability to seduce humans that attracts people to them. They use this as a way of trapping humans. Satan also comes in a form that is attractive. He would never come as a red beast with horns. He would come as something very seductive. In the same way he attracted Eve.
Vampires are portrayed in a very sexual way and they are free to do what they want and take what they want. I saw a preview for a tv program about vampires and it had these words flash up, “lust”, “greed”, “envy”. It’s not very Christ-like!
Movies and television makes it look very attractive though. It looks enjoyable to be a vampire, to seduce people, to suck their blood; it’s portrayed in a very sexy way that makes us think it would be enjoyable. They make it look like we would actually enjoy having our blood sucked out of us. This is a lie! Satan is the father of lies and he twists the truth. For example, in the twilight series, the main vampire (Edward) protects the main character (Bella) which is a lie, only God can protect us. No man can protect us and satan definitely doesn’t protect us. Edward doesn’t sleep and he uses his time to watch over Bella while she sleeps which is another lie from satan because God is the only one who doesn’t sleep and watches over us while we sleep. This story sounds so romantic but it’s just a way for satan to glorify himself.
Can’t enter your home without being invited but once invited they can come and go as they please. Satan also can’t enter your spiritual home without your permission. Remember that. When he starts to tempt you, tell him, “you are not invited here, I have decided not to allow you in”. But remember that once you let him in, it will be difficult to get him out. Once we fall into temptation, it’s hard to stop.
Vampire bible (satan has his own bible)
Pretty scary and not very enjoyable to read. It depicts humans as animals that are to be preyed on. It talks about the rules you must follow as a vampire and it talks about how to take the soul of a human and to not have any compassion on humans because they are just animals to be eaten. The vampire must remember they are above humans, they are the god and they worship themselves and that they use the power of darkness for their magic.
Vampire temple (satan has his own temple)
This is what the website says:
If Vampires were real, would you want to be one?
POWER - WEALTH - HEALTH - PLEASURE - IMMORTALITY
It is not just a fantasy.
If you want to know more you can find out on facebook but I don’t recommend it. It doesn’t edify the soul and it made me feel disgusting. I totally understand how God says it is an abomination and that He loathes it.
Philippians 4:8 (New International Version)
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”.
Therefore I don’t recommend you read the vampire bible, or visit the vampire temple website or watch vampire movies or television programs.
1 Corinthians 6:12
“Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything”
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any”
“Some of you say, "Everything is permitted for me." But not everything is good for me. Again some of you say, "Everything is permitted for me." But I will not be controlled by anything.”
God allows us to watch vampire movies and read the books but what do we gain from it? Not everything is beneficial, or helpful or good for me. Are watching these movies good for my soul? Does God enjoy watching these movies? If God has an “aversion” to these movies, then shouldn’t we? But, we are free and it’s up to our conscience to decide and we are not here to judge others, just ourselves.
What is a vampire and what can we learn from them as Christians?
They Hate the LightWe know that Jesus Christ Himself is the light. Vampires prefer to be in darkness and we know that satan is represented by darkness (void of light – no God).
“Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” Eph 5:7-10
Therefore we need to expose vampires and their actions to find the truth....
PowersVampires have powers that humans don’t. They can read minds, fly, run fast (depending on the version you read), they can seduce humans. We know there are only two sources of power so if the power that someone has to do something isn’t from God....the only other way they have gained that power is through satan.
In ancient Greece the word that was used to describe someone who drank blood and had certain powers was, “demon” or even “satan”. Over the years the word was slowly changed to “witches”, “coven”, or “wiccan” and then over time it was changed to “vampire”.
In Deuteronomy 18:9-10, it calls witchcraft detestable by God and He warns the Israelites not to practise “divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft”. Therefore, vampires are not something to imitate and God calls them detestable and in other versions He says they are an “abomination” (meaning God hates it, He absolutely loathes it, He has an intense aversion to it which means He can’t even look at it).
Aversion means:
1. A fixed, intense dislike; repugnance.
2. The cause or object of such a feeling.
3. The avoidance of a thing, situation, or behaviour because it has been associated with an unpleasant or painful stimulus.
4. The act of turning away or averting.
If God absolutely loathes vampires, if He hates it so much that He can’t look at it without feeling shame or intense loathing, and if God lives in us, then shouldn’t we also have the same feeling when we see vampires? If God lives in us, shouldn’t we react to vampires the same way He does? Many Christians are not. In fact, many Christians are attracted to vampires which but God says He is opposed to it.
Drink blood
Vampires drink blood and we know as Christians that life is in the blood. If someone loses enough blood, they will die.
“You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well”. Acts 15:29
Drinking blood is also satanic ritual obeyed by those who actively participate in the Satanist church and by also by witches. By drinking blood is believed the person will receive power. They will become more like God. Isn’t this the same issue that tripped up Eve in the garden of Eden, “Eve, if you eat this fruit, you will become like God”. (Gen 3:3-5) Interesting! And what is even more interesting is that the cover of the book “Twilight” has a picture of an apple on the front. The picture that represents envy and pride.
No soulIn movies, the vampire is depicted as having no shadow or not having a reflection in the mirror. This is because the vampire doesn’t have a soul. If there is no soul then there is no hope of salvation. They live for eternity but they can’t go to heaven and they just walk the earth forever, drinking blood. This was the scariest thing for me, when I was a child. I have only ever seen one vampire movie and I couldn’t watch anymore after that. It scared me so much as a child and the thing that frightened me the most was that they have no hope. The live for eternity without any redemption. And the worst part is, they don’t choose it. Someone drinks their blood and they become a vampire and they didn’t get the choice. They lost the opportunity for salvation.
Of course this is a lie from satan. We all have a choice and we can choose to go to heaven or hell. We all have a soul and no matter what, we can’t get rid of it. This soul will either go to heaven or to hell. There is no way that we can be free of our soul because our soul is what gives us life. When the soul leaves the body, it is now dead. It can’t continue without the soul. And this soul must go somewhere; only heaven or hell. No other choice. But I believe vampires are satan’s way of tricking people into thinking there is no heaven, no hell, no soul, no salvation and he makes it attractive for people to think they could live forever on earth. It’s not attractive! Watching these kinds of movies makes us think that it would be nice to live forever with the one we love but this is a lie. Read revelations and you will find the truth about living on this earth.
Undead
The vampire is neither dead nor alive. Another lie from satan. If you are not alive, then you must be dead. You can’t be half, half. If you are dead, then you can go to heaven or hell. If you go to heaven, you will stay there for eternity and enjoy. Presently hell is under construction and if you haven’t accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you will be going to hades. Satan is bound and can’t move but he has his demons to work for him and if you are sent to hades, satan can also use you. He can send your soul to earth to work for him like an evil spirit. He needs workers because time is short now, he knows Christ will come back soon so if he can send the dead back to earth to torment people, he will. Therefore, the undead are actually dead but working for satan. Therefore, being a vampire is not something that should be desired or attracted to.
Teeth like lions(Revelations 9 – Odon’s message)
People will see their teeth when they speak but it might not give us a fright, as we are familiar with the vampire movies. These movies are actually preparing the psychology of the human being so at that time people will find it normal to see vampires. Today, especially young people find it “cool” to have power like vampires, and to act like vampires. They are proud to be called vampires. Satan has been preparing the memory and psychology of the young generation so they can be destroyed at that time.
Secondly, their faces will be like human beings and that will help people not to fear them. They are similar to us, not monsters so why fear them? So Satan will use people that look like me and you so that they can destroy the world properly. So satan is using these vampire movies, preparing our minds so that we will find vampires normal and not be afraid, especially the younger generation.
Therefore, we need to be careful with what we are showing our children. We need them to understand the truth and it’s probably better not to let them watch vampire movies because we don’t want them to become familiar to it. We want them to fear these monsters, not be attracted to them.
Beautiful and seductiveIt is there extreme beauty and their ability to seduce humans that attracts people to them. They use this as a way of trapping humans. Satan also comes in a form that is attractive. He would never come as a red beast with horns. He would come as something very seductive. In the same way he attracted Eve.
Vampires are portrayed in a very sexual way and they are free to do what they want and take what they want. I saw a preview for a tv program about vampires and it had these words flash up, “lust”, “greed”, “envy”. It’s not very Christ-like!
Movies and television makes it look very attractive though. It looks enjoyable to be a vampire, to seduce people, to suck their blood; it’s portrayed in a very sexy way that makes us think it would be enjoyable. They make it look like we would actually enjoy having our blood sucked out of us. This is a lie! Satan is the father of lies and he twists the truth. For example, in the twilight series, the main vampire (Edward) protects the main character (Bella) which is a lie, only God can protect us. No man can protect us and satan definitely doesn’t protect us. Edward doesn’t sleep and he uses his time to watch over Bella while she sleeps which is another lie from satan because God is the only one who doesn’t sleep and watches over us while we sleep. This story sounds so romantic but it’s just a way for satan to glorify himself.
Can’t enter your home without being invited but once invited they can come and go as they please. Satan also can’t enter your spiritual home without your permission. Remember that. When he starts to tempt you, tell him, “you are not invited here, I have decided not to allow you in”. But remember that once you let him in, it will be difficult to get him out. Once we fall into temptation, it’s hard to stop.
Vampire bible (satan has his own bible)
Pretty scary and not very enjoyable to read. It depicts humans as animals that are to be preyed on. It talks about the rules you must follow as a vampire and it talks about how to take the soul of a human and to not have any compassion on humans because they are just animals to be eaten. The vampire must remember they are above humans, they are the god and they worship themselves and that they use the power of darkness for their magic.
Vampire temple (satan has his own temple)
This is what the website says:
If Vampires were real, would you want to be one?
POWER - WEALTH - HEALTH - PLEASURE - IMMORTALITY
It is not just a fantasy.
If you want to know more you can find out on facebook but I don’t recommend it. It doesn’t edify the soul and it made me feel disgusting. I totally understand how God says it is an abomination and that He loathes it.
Philippians 4:8 (New International Version)
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”.
Therefore I don’t recommend you read the vampire bible, or visit the vampire temple website or watch vampire movies or television programs.
1 Corinthians 6:12
“Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything”
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any”
“Some of you say, "Everything is permitted for me." But not everything is good for me. Again some of you say, "Everything is permitted for me." But I will not be controlled by anything.”
God allows us to watch vampire movies and read the books but what do we gain from it? Not everything is beneficial, or helpful or good for me. Are watching these movies good for my soul? Does God enjoy watching these movies? If God has an “aversion” to these movies, then shouldn’t we? But, we are free and it’s up to our conscience to decide and we are not here to judge others, just ourselves.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
REVIVAL (Part V)
By Odon Bulamba (23 May 2003)
Jacob loved Leah’s sister more than her and Leah was isolated. Although she had obeyed her father and accepted the name she was given, she lived in a relationship with Jacob that was not easy and Leah was disappointed. She didn’t flee her house, she didn’t even criticise her father who wanted her to marry Jacob, instead she said, I am here and I have to look after my family, God is my witness.
How many times do we complain? How many times do we say that it’s because Michael told me, that’s why I live like that today. It’s because of him why I’m suffering today, why did that happen to me? Maybe I could flee and go away, but this is not a solution.
Eventually God saw Leah’s life and opened her womb while Rachel who was beautiful in people’s eyes was without child. This is the way revival works. Where you are weak, where everybody knows you are weak, God keeps making you grow. You find a husband (Jesus) and you were a simple Christian but as a miracle you become a servant of God, you who didn’t speak with God yesterday, you will talk with Him today, and because you obeyed you start living together with Jesus in the same house, to say that Jesus and you become one and the ministry can go ahead.
So when Leah became pregnant she gave birth to her first child who was Reuben. And if you read well she gave birth to seven children before her sister gave birth to her first one. The one who was loved couldn’t give birth and the one who was not loved could give birth. When God revives those who belong to Him He gives them the gifts of the Spirit and these gifts will show themselves at work while those who are loved by man won’t have any gifts. They will start to preach, perform miracles and do whatever God wants, while the others are still waiting to adopt a child. Like Christians today, they look for miracles and gifts here and there but they cannot find them.
In some countries people say if this one will be an evangelist it would be great because of has height, or if this person could be a pastor it would be great because he is really handsome, if someone is ugly everybody would say not this one. In America, if the pastor is black, the Church is black and if the pastor is white, the Church is white, and when the pastor is green what colour will the Christians be because we don’t have a race that is green. So we must be careful, we must pray to God sincerely so that these gifts might be put into action. Although man can reject us and criticise us, our eyes will always be on God.
So Leah gave birth to her firstborn Reuben, in the book of Gen 29. What does Reuben mean? Reuben’s arrival made Leah to rejoice a lot. Gen 29:32 “Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” Reuben means to see.
First Leah was humiliated and then discovered that the Lord could see how people would humiliate her. When you are humiliated by others, when you are humiliated by the world and it’s a problem, when you are humiliated by disease, when you are humiliated by suffering, do you believe that God can see this humiliation, and if God can not see, do you tell Him to do something? You must know that to be revived you will be humiliated, not only by man but also with our everyday lives, sickness can humiliate you, lack of money can humiliate you, lack of a Church can humiliate you, everything can humiliate you, but remember that God can see what’s happening, when you remember God’s presence, when you remember God’s eyes, you will make the first step towards revival.
Leah gave birth to her second son. His name was Simeon. I remember 2 yrs ago in December, Michael and Sylvie sang a song at Hukanui church called Simeon. This song touched me a lot because it had a meaning for me. What does Simeon mean? Simeon means to be answered. That day when Michael and Sylvie sang, it was an answer for the world. The world would wait for Jesus and the day of His birth He was there, it was an answer. Like you and me from time to time when we ask God for things, do we wait for the answer from God or not?
Many Christians when they pray they say, let’s pray because this person or that person encouraged me, but deep in their hearts they don’t pray, they pray because they are influenced, this is not to pray. People will be the first ones to complain and contradict God, I prayed but you didn’t answer me. When we pray we have to do it with sincerity, and God will answer. So for the second step of revival we must pray with certitude and precision, we must pray knowing that God will answer, we don’t have to go left or right, or say let’s find the solution here or there, we must pray knowing that God is there and He will answer.
Leah fell pregnant again and gave birth to Levi. What does Levi mean? It means attached. Look at that, she was answered a few weeks ago and now she is attached to God. As for you, when you pray to God and you have an answer, do you get attached to God or do you leave Him and carry on with your everyday life? Many Christians when they have a problem and really want God to do something in their lives, they will pray with strength but when God answers, they will just say praise God, they don’t become attached to God, they don’t have time to get attached to God, they completely forget God’s presence but when another problem will arrive, they will say where’s God, let’s seek God.
If you get attached to God you will not have problems, problems will avoid you because problems will know that God is with you. If God is with you, who will be against you? But if you let God go far away, Satan will see that you are alone and he will come and attack. That is what we call temptation. But if you are attached to God you may have a few trials but you will win.
After that Leah gave birth to Judah. What does Judah mean? It means to praise. After being attached to God you must praise Him. Revival works together with praise and if you are not attached to God yet, it will be difficult to praise God. You’ll praise Him today but tomorrow you won’t. It’s like someone who’s drunk, he goes two steps on the right and two steps on the left, there’s no balance. If you are not attached to God, you might stand up today and feel God’s fire but tomorrow when you praise, it won’t be the same.
Oscar used to lead us in the church in praise. When he started praising through hymns people would sing, dance, and sweat to the point where sometimes we would forget who we were. However, there were other days where he would lead us in praise and as we were singing he would say stop stop, are you tired, didn’t you eat, why are you tired, let’s praise God with strength, he would always refer to Psalm 150 “let everything that has breath praise the Lord”. Whatever you praise with, just do it, whether it’s your hands, your instrument, just praise God; from there people would really praise God. Do we praise God in our hymns, in our prayers, in our actions; everything He does for us, do we praise Him?
After that Leah gave birth to Issachar; Gen 30:17, Issachar means my wages, or my reward. So what kind of wages do you get after praising? What present does God give you after praising Him? As our brother Oscar would say, whoever has breath must praise God. I would say that the life we have is a present. God gives us this present in advance. When we can meet together like this, it’s a present, whatever happens in our lives, is a present. And when you give a present to someone and the person doesn’t even say thank you, how do you feel?
Imagine, you give someone a Bible and the person takes it and puts it beside him and doesn’t say anything, how will you feel deeply in your heart, would you feel joy? No, sadness will be there, you may even judge this person, although you won’t say it but you might think that this person isn’t educated. The education that God gave us is that we have to give thanks for everything. Do we glorify God for everything? For example; when you wear a pair of shoes, do you glorify God for that, when you have everything you need, do you glorify God for that? If you don’t glorify God for the presents He gives you, then what do you glorify God for? When a person gives you a present and you don’t say thank you, do you think you would say thank you if you had to buy this thing with your own money? I don’t think so. So we have to be thankful because He gave us the Gospel freely. Some people try to find this Gospel to buy but they can’t even find one, and when they find a Bible they glorify God with all their heart. So we have to know how to glorify God.
After that Leah had another boy Zebulun, which means to honour. When God gives you a present and you glorify God, this honours God. How many times do you honour God in your life? So, these are the steps of revival, they are very simple steps, but they are very serious to put into practice, when you talk about them it seems easy, but to put it into practice is not that easy. When you can give birth to all these things, the new life will begin in you.
So who was the seventh child Leah gave birth to? It was Dinah, what does Dinah mean? (this is homework). Dinah was the seventh born, and for all that time Rachel didn’t give birth. God can give us in advance seven different things that the world doesn’t have. God will give us seven different things that other Christians don’t have, and all this will be in advance, only if we start to accept what Leah accepted to be. So if you accept to live as a Christian and accept to follow all these steps you’ll see that God will get closer to you. At the beginning Jacob didn’t love Leah, but because she started giving birth, Jacob got closer and closer to Leah to the point that they had 7 children. She didn’t think about anything that happened the day of her wedding, she knew that God was there and He is just, that’s all. We are called to live like Leah. Leah was given a servant named Zilpah. Zilpah was there to help Leah.
Some versions talk about Leah meaning a cow. We know that in New Zealand and everywhere else if someone has cows then they are rich, poor people don’t have cows. Cows represent riches. These riches are not something you can see with your eyes, but they are riches that are hidden like a treasure. Let’s take the example of a cow. Firstly, when a cow gives birth, the farmer will come and help this cow to give birth, the farmer will look after this calf because he knows it is a riches. God also takes care of us, because He knows we are riches. After a while the calf will get bigger, not only his eyes will grow but the whole body will grow too. So you have a cow that starts walking, there is grass, which is hard to uproot from the soil, but when a cow eats it he can do it easily, he isn’t tired, they keep doing this great work for years.
The cow has a tail, what’s its role? It taps to the right and then to the left. The cow controls its body; if a fly touches it on its left side then it will be chased away immediately. As for us, when we are touched by the world, what is the weapon we use to defend ourselves? Although the cow keeps beating the flies with its tail it continues to eat the grass. Imagine you are eating and an insect comes under your clothes, what will you do? Will you keep eating, no; you will stop and probably jump up and down. But with a cow it’s not like that, the cow gives the tail its task. As for you, do you give the Holy Spirit its task in your life? Do you give God His task in your life, or do you keep doing what you are doing and leave it to the point where God will take revenge?
When the cow eats, after a certain time he is full and then ruminates. Do we also ruminate, do we remember what we ate? After a certain time a cow will give birth, to mean that the cow always produces, the cow gives us milk. The cow keeps giving us milk, and God told us that “I prepare Caanan for the Israelites, the country where milk and honey flows”. Why did God speak about milk? This poor Leah whose name means cow can produce something, which God has prepared for a whole nation, what a destiny. Here you are as God’s servants and God says that through Michael my people will have that, through Oscar my people will get that. It’s not easy to understand but when God gives, He gives and that’s it.
Also people eat the cow’s meat. The cow helps all of us, even its skin has a task, and its flesh also. Even what the cow rejects helps us. Everything that the cow gives has a work to do. Of course you can say that the cow doesn’t have a nice appearance, but you’ll be the first one to eat the meat or to drink the milk, or you’ll be the first one willing to be rich or to have a farm. So as for us Christians we have to expand our knowledge, and to expand our knowledge by reading the Bible is not enough, it’s also about practising what we learn. When we put into practice what we learn then things will work really well and nobody will be able to stop it. As Ezekiel could see the bones that were covered with flesh, we also have the ability to see the plan that God has for us in the future. Do you look at your future life in the Lord, or don’t you have this vision. So if you don’t have it, it’s the time to think about it so that you might be revived in the Lord. Amen.
Jacob loved Leah’s sister more than her and Leah was isolated. Although she had obeyed her father and accepted the name she was given, she lived in a relationship with Jacob that was not easy and Leah was disappointed. She didn’t flee her house, she didn’t even criticise her father who wanted her to marry Jacob, instead she said, I am here and I have to look after my family, God is my witness.
How many times do we complain? How many times do we say that it’s because Michael told me, that’s why I live like that today. It’s because of him why I’m suffering today, why did that happen to me? Maybe I could flee and go away, but this is not a solution.
Eventually God saw Leah’s life and opened her womb while Rachel who was beautiful in people’s eyes was without child. This is the way revival works. Where you are weak, where everybody knows you are weak, God keeps making you grow. You find a husband (Jesus) and you were a simple Christian but as a miracle you become a servant of God, you who didn’t speak with God yesterday, you will talk with Him today, and because you obeyed you start living together with Jesus in the same house, to say that Jesus and you become one and the ministry can go ahead.
So when Leah became pregnant she gave birth to her first child who was Reuben. And if you read well she gave birth to seven children before her sister gave birth to her first one. The one who was loved couldn’t give birth and the one who was not loved could give birth. When God revives those who belong to Him He gives them the gifts of the Spirit and these gifts will show themselves at work while those who are loved by man won’t have any gifts. They will start to preach, perform miracles and do whatever God wants, while the others are still waiting to adopt a child. Like Christians today, they look for miracles and gifts here and there but they cannot find them.
In some countries people say if this one will be an evangelist it would be great because of has height, or if this person could be a pastor it would be great because he is really handsome, if someone is ugly everybody would say not this one. In America, if the pastor is black, the Church is black and if the pastor is white, the Church is white, and when the pastor is green what colour will the Christians be because we don’t have a race that is green. So we must be careful, we must pray to God sincerely so that these gifts might be put into action. Although man can reject us and criticise us, our eyes will always be on God.
So Leah gave birth to her firstborn Reuben, in the book of Gen 29. What does Reuben mean? Reuben’s arrival made Leah to rejoice a lot. Gen 29:32 “Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” Reuben means to see.
First Leah was humiliated and then discovered that the Lord could see how people would humiliate her. When you are humiliated by others, when you are humiliated by the world and it’s a problem, when you are humiliated by disease, when you are humiliated by suffering, do you believe that God can see this humiliation, and if God can not see, do you tell Him to do something? You must know that to be revived you will be humiliated, not only by man but also with our everyday lives, sickness can humiliate you, lack of money can humiliate you, lack of a Church can humiliate you, everything can humiliate you, but remember that God can see what’s happening, when you remember God’s presence, when you remember God’s eyes, you will make the first step towards revival.
Leah gave birth to her second son. His name was Simeon. I remember 2 yrs ago in December, Michael and Sylvie sang a song at Hukanui church called Simeon. This song touched me a lot because it had a meaning for me. What does Simeon mean? Simeon means to be answered. That day when Michael and Sylvie sang, it was an answer for the world. The world would wait for Jesus and the day of His birth He was there, it was an answer. Like you and me from time to time when we ask God for things, do we wait for the answer from God or not?
Many Christians when they pray they say, let’s pray because this person or that person encouraged me, but deep in their hearts they don’t pray, they pray because they are influenced, this is not to pray. People will be the first ones to complain and contradict God, I prayed but you didn’t answer me. When we pray we have to do it with sincerity, and God will answer. So for the second step of revival we must pray with certitude and precision, we must pray knowing that God will answer, we don’t have to go left or right, or say let’s find the solution here or there, we must pray knowing that God is there and He will answer.
Leah fell pregnant again and gave birth to Levi. What does Levi mean? It means attached. Look at that, she was answered a few weeks ago and now she is attached to God. As for you, when you pray to God and you have an answer, do you get attached to God or do you leave Him and carry on with your everyday life? Many Christians when they have a problem and really want God to do something in their lives, they will pray with strength but when God answers, they will just say praise God, they don’t become attached to God, they don’t have time to get attached to God, they completely forget God’s presence but when another problem will arrive, they will say where’s God, let’s seek God.
If you get attached to God you will not have problems, problems will avoid you because problems will know that God is with you. If God is with you, who will be against you? But if you let God go far away, Satan will see that you are alone and he will come and attack. That is what we call temptation. But if you are attached to God you may have a few trials but you will win.
After that Leah gave birth to Judah. What does Judah mean? It means to praise. After being attached to God you must praise Him. Revival works together with praise and if you are not attached to God yet, it will be difficult to praise God. You’ll praise Him today but tomorrow you won’t. It’s like someone who’s drunk, he goes two steps on the right and two steps on the left, there’s no balance. If you are not attached to God, you might stand up today and feel God’s fire but tomorrow when you praise, it won’t be the same.
Oscar used to lead us in the church in praise. When he started praising through hymns people would sing, dance, and sweat to the point where sometimes we would forget who we were. However, there were other days where he would lead us in praise and as we were singing he would say stop stop, are you tired, didn’t you eat, why are you tired, let’s praise God with strength, he would always refer to Psalm 150 “let everything that has breath praise the Lord”. Whatever you praise with, just do it, whether it’s your hands, your instrument, just praise God; from there people would really praise God. Do we praise God in our hymns, in our prayers, in our actions; everything He does for us, do we praise Him?
After that Leah gave birth to Issachar; Gen 30:17, Issachar means my wages, or my reward. So what kind of wages do you get after praising? What present does God give you after praising Him? As our brother Oscar would say, whoever has breath must praise God. I would say that the life we have is a present. God gives us this present in advance. When we can meet together like this, it’s a present, whatever happens in our lives, is a present. And when you give a present to someone and the person doesn’t even say thank you, how do you feel?
Imagine, you give someone a Bible and the person takes it and puts it beside him and doesn’t say anything, how will you feel deeply in your heart, would you feel joy? No, sadness will be there, you may even judge this person, although you won’t say it but you might think that this person isn’t educated. The education that God gave us is that we have to give thanks for everything. Do we glorify God for everything? For example; when you wear a pair of shoes, do you glorify God for that, when you have everything you need, do you glorify God for that? If you don’t glorify God for the presents He gives you, then what do you glorify God for? When a person gives you a present and you don’t say thank you, do you think you would say thank you if you had to buy this thing with your own money? I don’t think so. So we have to be thankful because He gave us the Gospel freely. Some people try to find this Gospel to buy but they can’t even find one, and when they find a Bible they glorify God with all their heart. So we have to know how to glorify God.
After that Leah had another boy Zebulun, which means to honour. When God gives you a present and you glorify God, this honours God. How many times do you honour God in your life? So, these are the steps of revival, they are very simple steps, but they are very serious to put into practice, when you talk about them it seems easy, but to put it into practice is not that easy. When you can give birth to all these things, the new life will begin in you.
So who was the seventh child Leah gave birth to? It was Dinah, what does Dinah mean? (this is homework). Dinah was the seventh born, and for all that time Rachel didn’t give birth. God can give us in advance seven different things that the world doesn’t have. God will give us seven different things that other Christians don’t have, and all this will be in advance, only if we start to accept what Leah accepted to be. So if you accept to live as a Christian and accept to follow all these steps you’ll see that God will get closer to you. At the beginning Jacob didn’t love Leah, but because she started giving birth, Jacob got closer and closer to Leah to the point that they had 7 children. She didn’t think about anything that happened the day of her wedding, she knew that God was there and He is just, that’s all. We are called to live like Leah. Leah was given a servant named Zilpah. Zilpah was there to help Leah.
Some versions talk about Leah meaning a cow. We know that in New Zealand and everywhere else if someone has cows then they are rich, poor people don’t have cows. Cows represent riches. These riches are not something you can see with your eyes, but they are riches that are hidden like a treasure. Let’s take the example of a cow. Firstly, when a cow gives birth, the farmer will come and help this cow to give birth, the farmer will look after this calf because he knows it is a riches. God also takes care of us, because He knows we are riches. After a while the calf will get bigger, not only his eyes will grow but the whole body will grow too. So you have a cow that starts walking, there is grass, which is hard to uproot from the soil, but when a cow eats it he can do it easily, he isn’t tired, they keep doing this great work for years.
The cow has a tail, what’s its role? It taps to the right and then to the left. The cow controls its body; if a fly touches it on its left side then it will be chased away immediately. As for us, when we are touched by the world, what is the weapon we use to defend ourselves? Although the cow keeps beating the flies with its tail it continues to eat the grass. Imagine you are eating and an insect comes under your clothes, what will you do? Will you keep eating, no; you will stop and probably jump up and down. But with a cow it’s not like that, the cow gives the tail its task. As for you, do you give the Holy Spirit its task in your life? Do you give God His task in your life, or do you keep doing what you are doing and leave it to the point where God will take revenge?
When the cow eats, after a certain time he is full and then ruminates. Do we also ruminate, do we remember what we ate? After a certain time a cow will give birth, to mean that the cow always produces, the cow gives us milk. The cow keeps giving us milk, and God told us that “I prepare Caanan for the Israelites, the country where milk and honey flows”. Why did God speak about milk? This poor Leah whose name means cow can produce something, which God has prepared for a whole nation, what a destiny. Here you are as God’s servants and God says that through Michael my people will have that, through Oscar my people will get that. It’s not easy to understand but when God gives, He gives and that’s it.
Also people eat the cow’s meat. The cow helps all of us, even its skin has a task, and its flesh also. Even what the cow rejects helps us. Everything that the cow gives has a work to do. Of course you can say that the cow doesn’t have a nice appearance, but you’ll be the first one to eat the meat or to drink the milk, or you’ll be the first one willing to be rich or to have a farm. So as for us Christians we have to expand our knowledge, and to expand our knowledge by reading the Bible is not enough, it’s also about practising what we learn. When we put into practice what we learn then things will work really well and nobody will be able to stop it. As Ezekiel could see the bones that were covered with flesh, we also have the ability to see the plan that God has for us in the future. Do you look at your future life in the Lord, or don’t you have this vision. So if you don’t have it, it’s the time to think about it so that you might be revived in the Lord. Amen.
Monday, September 6, 2010
REVIVAL (Part IV)
By Odon Bulamba (23 May 2003)
- Part of the Great Salvation
In the church today we often talk about revival. We know that revival is a step from death to life; if someone is dead and comes back to life again people will testify and say that we have seen such person at such place. When we speak about revival it doesn’t mean that it’s about resurrection, it doesn’t mean that someone was dead and came back to life to sin again, it means that if you are a sinner then your soul is dead because of your sin. It means that when you meet Jesus in your life, then this soul finds life, and when life is there, we can speak about revival; this is the elementary teaching for newborn Christians.
But for adult Christians, they also need the Bible too; this revival will be a little bit different than the revival for new born Christians. The way a new born Christian will read the bible is different from the way a mature Christian will read the Bible. Of course the Bible is the same, but there are teachings for spiritually young Christians and spiritually older Christians.
For example; if I open the Bible to the Song of Songs and I say let’s study it, few people will understand the meaning of this book, because it’s a poetic book and it speaks a lot about love, many pastors teach that it speaks about the love of Jesus Christ for the church and that’s it, other churches can go without reading this book for ten years, and very few Christians know about this book in the Bible. Perhaps young people who are in love might know this book, they might take a few verses to send to their lover, but for normal Christians they don’t study this book. It’s the same thing with revival. When we talk about revival at a mature level we get closer to God who is life, there is no mention of the presence of sin, but we seek God’s presence Himself.
Listen to me well! For a newborn Christian revival means I was dead in my sin and I came back to life. But for those who are adults in the Lord, it is not about sin it’s about seeking God’s presence. Once Moses asked God if he could see Him, Moses was very keen to see God, he said God I’ve seen everything, I’ve seen my parents, my children and now I want to see you. We also might have this need to see God. Moses could hear God’s voice, he could talk with Him easily, but he wanted to go further and see God, although he could hear Him it wasn’t enough, he wanted to see with his own eyes. Like you and me, when we were saved we could read the Bible and pray, we then reached a certain level in understanding the scriptures, and then we reached a level where we asked God to help us so we could pray for ten minutes, and now we are at the level where we say God, help me to hear your voice, help me God so that when I pray for someone this person might be healed, we forget completely the level where we started, we are at another level.
There was something that died in us and we want this thing to come back to life, it’s the direct contact with God. God said to Moses you won’t see me because if you do, you won’t live but later God showed Himself to Moses. So what need do you have?
The need you have to see God is what we call revival. The need you have in your heart is that God might come close to you, to touch you and to help you in your spiritual activities. For example; if we pray together here, and God’s presence is manifested and we can feel God’s presence in our prayers, will we be ready to say let’s stop now or will we be willing to carry on, I think that if someone is touched by God’s presence, this person will want to keep feeling God and this person will feel a new life in them.
There was a woman in the Bible who married a man named Laban, this woman gave birth to two daughters Leah and Rachael. Leah was the oldest and she was weak naturally while her sister was beautiful and physically perfect in man’s eyes. In some versions it says that Leah’s eyes were a little bit tired and awkward. Although Leah had problems with her eyes, she didn’t stop growing, she would grow day by day. Although people would comment about her awkward eyes, she didn’t care, she kept growing, God continued to help her grow in an incredible way and she was proud of the physical aspects that God had given her.
After a time she became an adult and she was ready to get married. God went and visited Leah, He saw that Leah was ready to get married, and something happened in Jacob’s life on the other side; you know the story, Jacob introduced himself to Laban, and Laban said to him you can stay with me for a few months. After one month Laban said to Jacob “what do you want me to give you for all the work you’ve done here?” Jacob looked around and saw that Rachel was a beautiful wife for him, he was not afraid to say in front of his uncle that he loved his daughter. Laban thought that it’s normal that my daughter might be loved. Laban said ok, you love my daughter, that’s good but what’s going to happen? Jacob said to him, I will work for you for 7 years. Laban who knew the law and the rights said ok you can have my daughter, so Jacob started to work for 7 years.
At the end of the 7th year Jacob said I’ve finished my work now, please give me your daughter. But Laban remembered the law, the younger sister cannot get married before the oldest, first the oldest must get married and then the youngest. What happened? Laban gave Leah instead of Rachel to Jacob. In the morning Jacob realised that it was not Rachael he had married, it was Leah. From that day on, life changed, Leah came from being a single woman and then the next day she was married which her father had prepared. This same Leah who didn’t even think about getting married because it was her sister who was loved, found herself in front of her husband. Her father said to her, you will marry Jacob. Was Leah allowed to say no? Did she have the right to say no to her father or not? Maybe she had this right, maybe she didn’t love Jacob, who knows, maybe she knew that Jacob loved Rachel more than her, but she accepted what her father told her, she accepted to be married that day.
Secondly, because Leah didn’t have eyes that pleased people, she was ready to be abused by others. Imagine getting married to someone you don’t love, how will you live with this person in the same house? For example; we say to Colleen we give you this person to marry who you don’t love, will you be able to live in peace with this man, I think it will be difficult. Because there’s no love, it won’t go well. But Leah accepted, although she knew it would be difficult to be married to Jacob, she accepted.
After that Jacob went to Laban and said, you misled me. Laban said, ok stay with Leah for a week and then we’ll see, and after a week he was given Rachel, and then he had to work for another 7 years.
Why am I telling you this story? We’re going to talk about Leah. Leah means tired and when you are tired you don’t have the strength to do things. Imagine having an appointment with someone who always says come back, come back, you’ll be tired and disappointed. When you study very hard and you don’t succeed, you’ll be very disappointed. When you work with all your strength and then you are asked to carry on working, you’ll say no, you might have the will to carry on with this job but because you are tired you can’t. It’s the same thing with us, we always pray and ask God but we don’t receive to the point we are tired sometimes.
We want to do well but we cannot reach this level because we are tired. Sometimes we read the Bible and really want God’s presence but because God doesn’t show Himself we get tired and then we feel completely forgotten. But this doesn’t stop us from growing. In our weaknesses God recognises us and when we recognise our weaknesses God is there to comfort us. Let’s imagine I stand up here and I say to Sylvie from now on your name is no longer Sylvie, it’s tired. If people start calling you tired, will be happy, I think not, it’s not easy. But Leah was called tired.
When I was very young and I was told you are very lazy, I would look around to find anything to throw at that person, to show them that I wasn’t lazy. I remember one day there was a woman who lived near our place. This lady told one of my aunties that she was lazy and my aunty replied saying, “You are lazy because you’ve got a fat tummy. If you were really strong you would work and this tummy would go away, so you are the one who is lazy”. When we are told that we are lazy or tired we feel shocked. Most Christians are really shocked when you tell them their mistakes or their weaknesses.
The name plays a great role in Christian life. Leah had accepted this name, and what about you and me, what is our name? When you are called Christian, are you really a Christian, when you are called thief, liar or slanderer, are you happy with this name?
So Leah kept growing and she didn’t reject her name but she said that God is with us. Do we keep growing in the Lord or did we stop because people talked about us. After a certain time we are called to meet Jesus, and this must happen through obedience. If Leah had not obeyed her father she wouldn’t have got married. Although she wasn’t in love with Jacob and she knew that Jacob belonged to her sister, she still obeyed her father, she didn’t complain or discuss, she said ok that’s alright, I’m going to get married. Of course people teased her about her eyes, but she said I’m going to get married to this man and that’s it. How many times do we obey God’s voice each day? Start counting in your life how many times you obey God in a day or per hour.
From time to time when God tells us something, we are the first ones to say no, this is not right; we want to use human intelligence to match God’s view. For example; if I were Leah at that time I wouldn’t have married Jacob because it would have been a shame. Everybody would say look, how can she take her sister’s husband, maybe newspapers would write about it but she accepted to obey, and by obeying she got married.
- Part of the Great Salvation
In the church today we often talk about revival. We know that revival is a step from death to life; if someone is dead and comes back to life again people will testify and say that we have seen such person at such place. When we speak about revival it doesn’t mean that it’s about resurrection, it doesn’t mean that someone was dead and came back to life to sin again, it means that if you are a sinner then your soul is dead because of your sin. It means that when you meet Jesus in your life, then this soul finds life, and when life is there, we can speak about revival; this is the elementary teaching for newborn Christians.
But for adult Christians, they also need the Bible too; this revival will be a little bit different than the revival for new born Christians. The way a new born Christian will read the bible is different from the way a mature Christian will read the Bible. Of course the Bible is the same, but there are teachings for spiritually young Christians and spiritually older Christians.
For example; if I open the Bible to the Song of Songs and I say let’s study it, few people will understand the meaning of this book, because it’s a poetic book and it speaks a lot about love, many pastors teach that it speaks about the love of Jesus Christ for the church and that’s it, other churches can go without reading this book for ten years, and very few Christians know about this book in the Bible. Perhaps young people who are in love might know this book, they might take a few verses to send to their lover, but for normal Christians they don’t study this book. It’s the same thing with revival. When we talk about revival at a mature level we get closer to God who is life, there is no mention of the presence of sin, but we seek God’s presence Himself.
Listen to me well! For a newborn Christian revival means I was dead in my sin and I came back to life. But for those who are adults in the Lord, it is not about sin it’s about seeking God’s presence. Once Moses asked God if he could see Him, Moses was very keen to see God, he said God I’ve seen everything, I’ve seen my parents, my children and now I want to see you. We also might have this need to see God. Moses could hear God’s voice, he could talk with Him easily, but he wanted to go further and see God, although he could hear Him it wasn’t enough, he wanted to see with his own eyes. Like you and me, when we were saved we could read the Bible and pray, we then reached a certain level in understanding the scriptures, and then we reached a level where we asked God to help us so we could pray for ten minutes, and now we are at the level where we say God, help me to hear your voice, help me God so that when I pray for someone this person might be healed, we forget completely the level where we started, we are at another level.
There was something that died in us and we want this thing to come back to life, it’s the direct contact with God. God said to Moses you won’t see me because if you do, you won’t live but later God showed Himself to Moses. So what need do you have?
The need you have to see God is what we call revival. The need you have in your heart is that God might come close to you, to touch you and to help you in your spiritual activities. For example; if we pray together here, and God’s presence is manifested and we can feel God’s presence in our prayers, will we be ready to say let’s stop now or will we be willing to carry on, I think that if someone is touched by God’s presence, this person will want to keep feeling God and this person will feel a new life in them.
There was a woman in the Bible who married a man named Laban, this woman gave birth to two daughters Leah and Rachael. Leah was the oldest and she was weak naturally while her sister was beautiful and physically perfect in man’s eyes. In some versions it says that Leah’s eyes were a little bit tired and awkward. Although Leah had problems with her eyes, she didn’t stop growing, she would grow day by day. Although people would comment about her awkward eyes, she didn’t care, she kept growing, God continued to help her grow in an incredible way and she was proud of the physical aspects that God had given her.
After a time she became an adult and she was ready to get married. God went and visited Leah, He saw that Leah was ready to get married, and something happened in Jacob’s life on the other side; you know the story, Jacob introduced himself to Laban, and Laban said to him you can stay with me for a few months. After one month Laban said to Jacob “what do you want me to give you for all the work you’ve done here?” Jacob looked around and saw that Rachel was a beautiful wife for him, he was not afraid to say in front of his uncle that he loved his daughter. Laban thought that it’s normal that my daughter might be loved. Laban said ok, you love my daughter, that’s good but what’s going to happen? Jacob said to him, I will work for you for 7 years. Laban who knew the law and the rights said ok you can have my daughter, so Jacob started to work for 7 years.
At the end of the 7th year Jacob said I’ve finished my work now, please give me your daughter. But Laban remembered the law, the younger sister cannot get married before the oldest, first the oldest must get married and then the youngest. What happened? Laban gave Leah instead of Rachel to Jacob. In the morning Jacob realised that it was not Rachael he had married, it was Leah. From that day on, life changed, Leah came from being a single woman and then the next day she was married which her father had prepared. This same Leah who didn’t even think about getting married because it was her sister who was loved, found herself in front of her husband. Her father said to her, you will marry Jacob. Was Leah allowed to say no? Did she have the right to say no to her father or not? Maybe she had this right, maybe she didn’t love Jacob, who knows, maybe she knew that Jacob loved Rachel more than her, but she accepted what her father told her, she accepted to be married that day.
Secondly, because Leah didn’t have eyes that pleased people, she was ready to be abused by others. Imagine getting married to someone you don’t love, how will you live with this person in the same house? For example; we say to Colleen we give you this person to marry who you don’t love, will you be able to live in peace with this man, I think it will be difficult. Because there’s no love, it won’t go well. But Leah accepted, although she knew it would be difficult to be married to Jacob, she accepted.
After that Jacob went to Laban and said, you misled me. Laban said, ok stay with Leah for a week and then we’ll see, and after a week he was given Rachel, and then he had to work for another 7 years.
Why am I telling you this story? We’re going to talk about Leah. Leah means tired and when you are tired you don’t have the strength to do things. Imagine having an appointment with someone who always says come back, come back, you’ll be tired and disappointed. When you study very hard and you don’t succeed, you’ll be very disappointed. When you work with all your strength and then you are asked to carry on working, you’ll say no, you might have the will to carry on with this job but because you are tired you can’t. It’s the same thing with us, we always pray and ask God but we don’t receive to the point we are tired sometimes.
We want to do well but we cannot reach this level because we are tired. Sometimes we read the Bible and really want God’s presence but because God doesn’t show Himself we get tired and then we feel completely forgotten. But this doesn’t stop us from growing. In our weaknesses God recognises us and when we recognise our weaknesses God is there to comfort us. Let’s imagine I stand up here and I say to Sylvie from now on your name is no longer Sylvie, it’s tired. If people start calling you tired, will be happy, I think not, it’s not easy. But Leah was called tired.
When I was very young and I was told you are very lazy, I would look around to find anything to throw at that person, to show them that I wasn’t lazy. I remember one day there was a woman who lived near our place. This lady told one of my aunties that she was lazy and my aunty replied saying, “You are lazy because you’ve got a fat tummy. If you were really strong you would work and this tummy would go away, so you are the one who is lazy”. When we are told that we are lazy or tired we feel shocked. Most Christians are really shocked when you tell them their mistakes or their weaknesses.
The name plays a great role in Christian life. Leah had accepted this name, and what about you and me, what is our name? When you are called Christian, are you really a Christian, when you are called thief, liar or slanderer, are you happy with this name?
So Leah kept growing and she didn’t reject her name but she said that God is with us. Do we keep growing in the Lord or did we stop because people talked about us. After a certain time we are called to meet Jesus, and this must happen through obedience. If Leah had not obeyed her father she wouldn’t have got married. Although she wasn’t in love with Jacob and she knew that Jacob belonged to her sister, she still obeyed her father, she didn’t complain or discuss, she said ok that’s alright, I’m going to get married. Of course people teased her about her eyes, but she said I’m going to get married to this man and that’s it. How many times do we obey God’s voice each day? Start counting in your life how many times you obey God in a day or per hour.
From time to time when God tells us something, we are the first ones to say no, this is not right; we want to use human intelligence to match God’s view. For example; if I were Leah at that time I wouldn’t have married Jacob because it would have been a shame. Everybody would say look, how can she take her sister’s husband, maybe newspapers would write about it but she accepted to obey, and by obeying she got married.
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