By Odon Bulamba (1st July 2005)
Moses knew what was coming for Egypt because God has told him and this is the same today for the church, we know what is coming for this world but the world is completely ignorant. We see the signs and know that Jesus is coming back soon so we have to find a place where we will be protected (as the Hebrews did in the land of Goshen, Ex 9:26) where those things will not reach us. That place is what we call our faith in Jesus Christ and we must be really protected under the blood of Jesus but we must inform others about the punishment that is coming.
Whatever God told Moses to do, it was done and the same with us, God has given us promises saying He will take His church from this earth and it must happen. Now we have to tell people because if they are not in that place of refuge it will be a disaster.
Frogs cover their eggs with an oily substance that protects them from the water in which they are hidden and today Christians can be fully covered by the Word of God (water) but they do not produce glory for God. When the frog eggs hatch the creatures do not look like frogs and it is the same with the church today; satan puts something down in the Word of God and hides it there and that thing is growing up slowly and one day it will come out and destroy the church. That is the spirit of no trust (doubt) and that is the first thing that satan puts into the church.
These frogs came from all different rivers to the city of Egypt and today we have all different Bible versions that are used by politicians, magicians, students and researchers in the world (Egypt represents the world) today for whatever purposes they want.
A frog makes a lot of noise and today in our church, governments and countries we have many Christians living like frogs, they talk not for God’s glory but to hide things (the frog has something under it’s mouth that is hidden, it inflates and deflates as it talks but you can’t see what it is). Christians want to share the Word of God but we cannot express our ideas clearly so it sounds like a frog croaking. We are not clear because we are afraid of what people will think, we talk in circles avoiding to say the truth so we don’t offend people.
Frogs jump and many people today in church have that movement of jumping and are not stable in their lives. After a frog jumps they fold up their legs underneath them and unless you saw it with your eyes you will not know they just jumped and we have to open our eyes to see what is going on around us because our church is losing control and we are moving away from God’s will.
The frog is a minister of God who does not recognize God’s power and wants to lead the church or his ministry according to his knowledge and ability. The people will now get some eggs (maybe from satan) and they will put them in the Word of God and produce new Christians who are Christians without faith. So pray and ask God for help so you can discern who is who in the churches and who I am myself in the church so that maybe I will not find myself to be a part of the population of frogs.
Gnats are really small insects that cause so much suffering to your body and we as Christians must know how to protect ourselves from small things that can make us sick. These insects represent sin in our lives and there is no small sin or big sin because sin is sin for God. Sometimes we can’t see them in our hair and we need someone to show us and it is the same for sin, I need people to warn me, remind me and show me and I must be ready to accept there is something wrong. These insects come and go in our lives and it’s not always easy to see when they are there or not and this is the same for satan; don’t expect him to come with horns and a tail saying, ‘I am satan, protect yourself’. He may even come as your husband or child.
These insects came from dust which does not normally produce insects and today things that we don’t expect can produce something and surprise us. Science, the Word of God, the way we confess things can produce things that will not glorify God. With your strength you can build or destroy and with your thoughts you can sin or glorify God. So we have to be really careful in the small things we do.
The Egyptians also took dust and created insects and today pagans are watching Christians and imitating them.
Dust is something important because we came from dust and God made us that way and when we see dust we know that something is not clean and it’s the same for our bodies, God made us responsible to tell our bodies when they are not clean.
When the third plague of flies bite the pain is terrible and increasingly gets worse and today the church is going through a struggle where servants of God and people of this world use knives to stab Christians. We have to control our words and our actions in front of people so as not to destroy others. Snakes don’t bite unless provoked and today the defense of a Christian is not to attack people but to commit everything into God’s hands because God says that vengeance is mine.
Pharaoh told Moses they could go and sacrifice inside Egypt and today countries are trying to corrupt the church, they want to use the church to manipulate people. For example they tell pastors to tell their congregation to support a party at election time. Moses said no to Pharaoh but many servants of God do not say no and they accept to manipulate their people. If you want me to do something and cover it by the Word of God then you are adding something to it and whoever adds something to the Word of God will have something added to his life later.
When we start praying for political parties that are misleading the church it becomes a danger and it’s the time where God stands up and says, ‘second angel, blow your trumpet!’ and by doing so a mountain of fire comes down on the earth into the sea killing a third of the sea and changing it to blood. Today we are living this, God has sent a big fire in the church. The fire of Joel chapter three is there to inspire us when we talk about the Word of God and things to come, having dreams etc. This fire will not only help the church to be saved but to destroy the world and that spirit today is destroying a third of the world. There are many people who are led by that spirit who are not chosen by God, they are just there to give false prophecies so we can ask for discernment but many Christians are too lazy to pray for discernment. Most people pray for the power of healing or miracles or money but forget about discernment. If we ask for it we will understand things like Elijah; 400 prophets on Mount Carmel couldn’t light a fire but Elijah poured water over the animals and fire came from heaven. Today we are praying for fire but before the fire can act properly it must be mixed with water.
When the fire comes, what sacrifices have you prepared for the fire of God to burn? We just need the Word of God and pray over the sacrifice. Because we don’t do it, God is intervening with anger because the church doesn’t understand. In order to punish the church God will send a fire which will take away grace and salvation but we don’t repent. God will harden our hearts so that we will not allow the Word of God to penetrate us and everything we receive from God will be just like fire.
When the angel blows the third trumpet a great star will fall on earth that is poison and today poison is everywhere and the church is contributing to that by teaching people to put their trust in human beings. The star is called bitterness and this is in the church and everywhere in the world today.
The sheep will die and today how many sheep have we lost in our churches, in our group, in our community? How many have we killed? We must use whatever we have or have been given and protect the benefit carefully (the coins given to servants by traveling master).
Only John heard the trumpet blown and today we have been given the grace to hear the Word of God but other people don’t. We must write it down and tell others so they can be aware, if we don’t we will pay the price.
SUMMARY
- the 10 plagues of Egypt are a parallel of Revelation which is a parallel with today’s situation in the world and church spiritually but later it will be done physically.
- the frog is a minister of God who does not accept God’s power and wants to lead the church according to his knowledge and ability
- the gnat is sin (sin is sin, small or big)
- the dust is to remind us to clean our bodies from sin with the blood of Jesus
- the fly represents Christians ability to hurt others with actions and words
- don’t manipulate others with the Word of God
- don’t be mislead by false prophecies – ask for discernment
- protect what God has given us
- trust others
- we must warn others of what is to come
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Freedom
By Odon Bulamba (15th May 2011)
EXODUS 32:1-6
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."
So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
430 YEARS OF SLAVERY
After living in Egypt for 430 years, God decided it was time to deliver the people of Israel. They had been slaves for generation after generation but this lucky generation was given the chance to leave Egypt. After so much time living in Egypt they had become assimilated into the culture and started to think as Egyptians.
• Acculturation • Different mentality
• Language manipulation
• Area knowledge
God didn't want them to live or think anymore as Egyptians, He wanted them to leave that behind in Egypt. Imagine trying to leave your culture behind. Imagine as a New Zealander, trying to become an African.
FREEDOM – spiritual & physical detachment
• Process of leaving Egypt (step by step)
The first step was to paint the doorway with blood. Those that didn’t, lost their first born and they realized how serious God is.
• Example of Nicodemus
The second step was to take the articles of clothing and jewelry etc from their Egyptian neighbours and they had to carry these by themselves (whatever God has given to us, we have to carry it ourselves; gifts, talents, troubles, temptations etc)
John 8:36 If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed
THE JOURNEY
•Geographically & physically they’re free by mentally they weren't:
• Freedom requires change from A to B.
• Change is a process
Physical, mental, spiritual (e.g. known by your fruits, having a new nature, etc)
MOSES IS ABSENT BUT GOD IS NOT – WE NEED SOMEONE TO WALK IN FRONT OF US
- Pressure on Aaron (God was in front of and behind them day and night – FIRE/SMOKE)
-Aaron’s poor decision and plan
-Who / what influences you in your life?
- How often do you decide to please to men (including yourself) than God?
-Try to avoid problems with them – better accept their way
Aaron made a serious mistake because of the pressure on all sides to have a god and sometimes we have pressure from our friends, family, politicians and they can make us do mistakes. When pressure comes on you, you start to wish the person would go away, you might even wish they have an accident, get sick or even die. You have a battlefield in your head, you might wish for a better job or start to compare yourself to others. Some might even go to magicians.
FREEDOM CAN BE DANGEROUS
• Wealth given as promised to Abraham (Gen 15:13-14) & fulfilled (Exodus 12:36)
• What do we do with FREEDOM? - - I AM FREE - -
• How do we function with it? As parent, friend, child of God, etc
• Freed by an unfamiliar God – they cannot cop (mountain covered with smoke, quake, etc)
• Mind becomes a battlefield
• Egyptian cuisine preferred than ‘manna’
BREAKING THE RULES – WE ARE FREE
• First commandment is violated (Exodus 20:1-4)
• Wealth used for making a golden calf (god of Egypt) based on memories of Egypt (picturing God?) They made an idol – Fulfillment of their desire. What is your desire?
• Having God’s wealth with slave mentality (e.g. woman/wife have different mentality) – COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS (life, family, eyes, gospel, peace, etc…) vs YOUR MENTALITY
• Golden calf is ‘distraction’. Everything that separate you from your God.
• What have you made as your golden calves? You give them your time, money, effort, wisdom,
• SLAVE - You’ve invested in perishable things, beging for what you live
• They danced naked in front of it (exodus 32:35) – do you realize that you are completely naked dancing in front of your golden idols?
Our actions are very important for the Kingdom of god. Spiritually we belong to God, our bodies are His temple and our mind and strength must adore Him. Faith without works is dead. How good are your actions? Your actions can change God’s mind. Only two people from this people of Israel (more than 1Million men) made it into the promised land. How often do my actions make us to push God to the limit and become angry? God paid the price for our sin but we push Him to go back to the cross.
When you first fall in love you can think about the person after every two minutes but after five years, you won’t think so much anymore. Israel said, “I love you Lord” for years and years but when God came close, they got tired. They wanted a god that allowed them to dance naked. They took the wealth from God (the gold earrings) and sacrificed it to the golden calf. You take what God gives you (time, effort, money etc) and you give it to your idols.
This is the time now to burn your gods and your sin in the same way Aaron burnt a sacrifice on the alter. God helps us every day, God does everything for us and all He wants us to do is to leave Egypt (spiritually and mentally).
CONCLUSION 1 CORINTHIANS 8:9-10 and GALATIANS 5:1
Aaron was a servant of God but he was pressured to serve the people and make a big mistake. He started by asking for their earrings to make a golden god. The truth is, the people didn’t need a god. They had God infront of them and behind them day and night but what they wanted was the gods of Egypt, the gods they were familiar with.
Physically you can be someone already delivered but you spiritually and mentally you might be still slaves. You complain, you are not satisfied with what you have, thinking you need more.
The calf was shining and beautiful; how much are you attracted to shining things (a new car, a new house) and how much to you want to appear shining in front of others (clothes, jewelry etc). Be grateful for what God has given you and think about the number of people who are poor compared to you. What God gives you is greater than what He Has given to others and we should be grateful for that.
EXODUS 32:1-6
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."
So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
430 YEARS OF SLAVERY
After living in Egypt for 430 years, God decided it was time to deliver the people of Israel. They had been slaves for generation after generation but this lucky generation was given the chance to leave Egypt. After so much time living in Egypt they had become assimilated into the culture and started to think as Egyptians.
• Acculturation • Different mentality
• Language manipulation
• Area knowledge
God didn't want them to live or think anymore as Egyptians, He wanted them to leave that behind in Egypt. Imagine trying to leave your culture behind. Imagine as a New Zealander, trying to become an African.
FREEDOM – spiritual & physical detachment
• Process of leaving Egypt (step by step)
The first step was to paint the doorway with blood. Those that didn’t, lost their first born and they realized how serious God is.
• Example of Nicodemus
The second step was to take the articles of clothing and jewelry etc from their Egyptian neighbours and they had to carry these by themselves (whatever God has given to us, we have to carry it ourselves; gifts, talents, troubles, temptations etc)
Nicodemus was told to be born again. Nicodemus was a free human being but was told to be born again. To be born again is painful, it’s a process and after the birth, there is one more step; to cut off the umbilical cord from the mother. God was saying to Nicodemus, “you need to be separated from your belief, from what you are doing, in order to inherit the Kingdom of God”.
John 8:36 If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed
THE JOURNEY
•Geographically & physically they’re free by mentally they weren't:
The Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt. They missed Egypt, they missed the food, they even compared the Egyptian food to the manna from God and missed the taste of Egyptian food compared to God who is the Master Chef.
• Change is a process
The Israelites forgot that they were on a process going
somewhere with God; they should finish the journey.
Physical, mental, spiritual (e.g. known by your fruits, having a new nature, etc)
MOSES IS ABSENT BUT GOD IS NOT – WE NEED SOMEONE TO WALK IN FRONT OF US
- Pressure on Aaron (God was in front of and behind them day and night – FIRE/SMOKE)
-Aaron’s poor decision and plan
-Who / what influences you in your life?
- How often do you decide to please to men (including yourself) than God?
-Try to avoid problems with them – better accept their way
Aaron made a serious mistake because of the pressure on all sides to have a god and sometimes we have pressure from our friends, family, politicians and they can make us do mistakes. When pressure comes on you, you start to wish the person would go away, you might even wish they have an accident, get sick or even die. You have a battlefield in your head, you might wish for a better job or start to compare yourself to others. Some might even go to magicians.
FREEDOM CAN BE DANGEROUS
• Wealth given as promised to Abraham (Gen 15:13-14) & fulfilled (Exodus 12:36)
• What do we do with FREEDOM? - - I AM FREE - -
• How do we function with it? As parent, friend, child of God, etc
• Freed by an unfamiliar God – they cannot cop (mountain covered with smoke, quake, etc)
• Mind becomes a battlefield
• Egyptian cuisine preferred than ‘manna’
BREAKING THE RULES – WE ARE FREE
• First commandment is violated (Exodus 20:1-4)
• Wealth used for making a golden calf (god of Egypt) based on memories of Egypt (picturing God?) They made an idol – Fulfillment of their desire. What is your desire?
• Having God’s wealth with slave mentality (e.g. woman/wife have different mentality) – COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS (life, family, eyes, gospel, peace, etc…) vs YOUR MENTALITY
• Golden calf is ‘distraction’. Everything that separate you from your God.
• What have you made as your golden calves? You give them your time, money, effort, wisdom,
• SLAVE - You’ve invested in perishable things, beging for what you live
• They danced naked in front of it (exodus 32:35) – do you realize that you are completely naked dancing in front of your golden idols?
Our actions are very important for the Kingdom of god. Spiritually we belong to God, our bodies are His temple and our mind and strength must adore Him. Faith without works is dead. How good are your actions? Your actions can change God’s mind. Only two people from this people of Israel (more than 1Million men) made it into the promised land. How often do my actions make us to push God to the limit and become angry? God paid the price for our sin but we push Him to go back to the cross.
When you first fall in love you can think about the person after every two minutes but after five years, you won’t think so much anymore. Israel said, “I love you Lord” for years and years but when God came close, they got tired. They wanted a god that allowed them to dance naked. They took the wealth from God (the gold earrings) and sacrificed it to the golden calf. You take what God gives you (time, effort, money etc) and you give it to your idols.
This is the time now to burn your gods and your sin in the same way Aaron burnt a sacrifice on the alter. God helps us every day, God does everything for us and all He wants us to do is to leave Egypt (spiritually and mentally).
CONCLUSION 1 CORINTHIANS 8:9-10 and GALATIANS 5:1
We have to cut all the connections to our past life. Very soon Jesus Christ is coming back and your actions will be presented in front of God.
Aaron was a servant of God but he was pressured to serve the people and make a big mistake. He started by asking for their earrings to make a golden god. The truth is, the people didn’t need a god. They had God infront of them and behind them day and night but what they wanted was the gods of Egypt, the gods they were familiar with.
Physically you can be someone already delivered but you spiritually and mentally you might be still slaves. You complain, you are not satisfied with what you have, thinking you need more.
The calf was shining and beautiful; how much are you attracted to shining things (a new car, a new house) and how much to you want to appear shining in front of others (clothes, jewelry etc). Be grateful for what God has given you and think about the number of people who are poor compared to you. What God gives you is greater than what He Has given to others and we should be grateful for that.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Revelations 8 (Part XI) The Third Angel
By Odon Bulamba (1st July 2005)
Revelations 8:10-11
"The third Angel trumpeted. A huge Star, blazing like a torch, fell from Heaven, wiping out a third of the rivers and a third of the springs. The Star's name was Wormwood. A third of the water turned bitter, and many people died from the poisoned water".
The 3rd angel came down to blow the trumpet and not everyone in heaven heard it, it might have only been John. People who were in Patmos at that time might not have heard it. But we know that the writer of this message heard it and wrote it down.
When we listen to the Word of God we have that grace to hear it but other people don’t have it. We must also write it down and tell others so they can be aware. If we don’t tell them, we’ll pay the price of it.
We will soon finish this book of Revelation and then we’ll start to experience what is going on in this world, in our community maybe even in our group. We must know what we are doing, why we are here, why we pray, why we praise God, why we really go closer to God and who He is. If you don’t know yet, it is time to start to think, think about the great salvation we’ve talked about. It is time for the great salvation, this is the time we can now present our sacrifices to God and say “This is our family members, our children, husbands, people. We want them to have salvation; we need you to do it because this is the time of great salvation.”
This time will disappear soon, it will be removed very shortly and when it ends I’m not sure it will be the right time for Shari to pray for her father or mother. God will then say He can’t listen to her anymore. Although you adore Him and you sing for Him, the book of Jeremiah says that He will close His ears because whatever we are doing does not glorify Him. So we really need to work hard for our people. Maybe you know the book of Revelation but our people don’t know anything about it. Maybe they are confused, they are not sure if there is life after death. We are supposed to tell them.
Let me ask you:
- Can you stand up in front of your unsaved friends or family and say: ‘I want you to know salvation”, can you do that or do you have to think 3 times before doing it? Is it easy for you? Why not? Because of their response, so you can see how God has given us people but those people can answer you back. They put up barriers, which you must face. Will you stand up in faith and ask God to grab those barriers because He has given us power to break things and He said that whatever will be opened under the sun, will also be opened in the heaven.
So if we come together and say we are praying for this person God can do something. Let’s put doubt aside and we will see things can change.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Revelations 8 (Part X) The sheep are dying
By Odon Bulamba (1st July 2005)
The fifth plague of Egypt was the livestock dying...
How many sheep have we lost in our churches, in our group in our community? How many did we kill? Think about how often churches lose Christians, yearly, monthly and so on. How often do we lose friends because of our non-Christian way of living? That spirit is acting now. Let’s watch out, let’s keep whatever we have because the Bible tells us that the servants of a certain man were given coins while their master went travelling. When he came back he started to ask, “What did you do with my money?” They said, “I did this and got a profit.” or “I didn’t use it because I was afraid so I hid it and this is your money”.
Jesus is against that. We must use whatever we have or have been given and protect the benefit carefully. If we are given people to bring to salvation let’s not act like the Pharisees destroying them and letting them run away. One day we will pay the price for it. We have to really hold whatever we have done, we have to be proud of what we did and ask God to give us enough ability to look after what He gave us.
For example, we had many prayer subjects for our unsaved friends and family together on a Wednesday. How many of them have you personally prayed for, not as a group but in your own time at your home and not only for your own family members? It’s a big responsibility and one day God will come back and say to you, ‘how many times did you pray those prayer subjects I gave you? And up to now you haven‘t done anything.’ So you’ve lost that soul we don’t want him/her to get lost because of you, or because of others.
We can easily get things from God but we put them aside and we say God here they are if you want them. We didn’t find time to pray, fast or look after your people properly but anyway they are alive and here they are. God will get angry, we must act properly, we must know what to do and at what time to do it. The right time to do things is very important in our lives because without time management in Christianity we’ll get lost and confused. We’ll not understand the signs God gives us to know what is coming and what has already gone. So we have to be really careful.
The fifth plague of Egypt was the livestock dying...
How many sheep have we lost in our churches, in our group in our community? How many did we kill? Think about how often churches lose Christians, yearly, monthly and so on. How often do we lose friends because of our non-Christian way of living? That spirit is acting now. Let’s watch out, let’s keep whatever we have because the Bible tells us that the servants of a certain man were given coins while their master went travelling. When he came back he started to ask, “What did you do with my money?” They said, “I did this and got a profit.” or “I didn’t use it because I was afraid so I hid it and this is your money”.
Jesus is against that. We must use whatever we have or have been given and protect the benefit carefully. If we are given people to bring to salvation let’s not act like the Pharisees destroying them and letting them run away. One day we will pay the price for it. We have to really hold whatever we have done, we have to be proud of what we did and ask God to give us enough ability to look after what He gave us.
For example, we had many prayer subjects for our unsaved friends and family together on a Wednesday. How many of them have you personally prayed for, not as a group but in your own time at your home and not only for your own family members? It’s a big responsibility and one day God will come back and say to you, ‘how many times did you pray those prayer subjects I gave you? And up to now you haven‘t done anything.’ So you’ve lost that soul we don’t want him/her to get lost because of you, or because of others.
We can easily get things from God but we put them aside and we say God here they are if you want them. We didn’t find time to pray, fast or look after your people properly but anyway they are alive and here they are. God will get angry, we must act properly, we must know what to do and at what time to do it. The right time to do things is very important in our lives because without time management in Christianity we’ll get lost and confused. We’ll not understand the signs God gives us to know what is coming and what has already gone. So we have to be really careful.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Revelations 8 (Part IX) Bitterness
By Odon Bulamba (Friday 1st July 2005)
Revelations 8:8-11
"The second Angel trumpeted. Something like a huge mountain blazing with fire was flung into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living sea creatures died, and a third of the ships sank. The third Angel trumpeted. A huge Star, blazing like a torch, fell from Heaven, wiping out a third of the rivers and a third of the springs. The Star's name was Wormwood. A third of the water turned bitter, and many people died from the poisoned water."
A few months ago, a very successful evangelist refused to work for the US government, the CIA and other similar powers. But when he was invited a few days ago, he went and did what he was asked to do, he couldn’t avoid it. They know he is called the evangelist can gather more than 20 million people to listen to him, so they used him to gather the crowd. They blackmailed him saying they had supported him for many years, so he must support them now just for 2 days and lead that big crusade in New York. Many Christians around the world wondered how someone like him could do that, someone who knows God.
This is the poison going everywhere around the world and the church is also contributing to that. We keep teaching people to put their trust in human beings. The Bible says, “Woe to those who put their trust in man.” It’s a curse! Don’t put your trust in Benny Hinn, your pastor, Odon, whoever. Put your trust in God first of all. By doing so, you will live forever, but if not, God will curse you. Don’t you want to avoid God’s curse?
So when the third angel throws that great star on the earth, bitterness will come. Who has never experienced bitterness? It is among Christians. We can see it around us as well as in the church because God uses us as Moses. After a short time, bitterness will be blatant everywhere in the world. People will be bitter at work, on the streets, in the buses, everywhere.
We will start to experience it through the law during that time. Although the law is on my side and I feel strong to take someone who breaks the law to the Police, they will start to practice bitterness and when you say, “This is what Peter did to me.” the police will say, “Don’t worry about that, go back home.” When the police are called for help, they will beat and punish you instead of supporting you. They will make it worse. This is what some countries are going through right now. In NZ, things are fine up to now but in many countries, if you call 911 or 999 or 111 the police will come and say,
- What’s the problem?
- My husband was beating me, … The police will say,
- So what?
- I want you to help me.
- Okay. And they will beat you then go. After complaining they will say it’s not true.
They will start to deceive us and then where will we go?
In my country, in the 1970s, we had many robbers. Before coming to your house, they would send you a letter saying ‘I am coming to your house on such day at such time, prepare the money, prepare things.’ At the right time they will come. Whenever people will receive the letters, they would take them to the police station and say, “Look at this please, I need your protection” and the police will say “We are also human beings like you, can we resist a bullet? A bullet can penetrate your body and mine, so if I go there I might die so just go back home and we will come”. And you’ll never see them.
That spirit today is everywhere around the world. It’s acting now. We’ll find that our authorities are unable to cover and protect us. Blessed are those who will continue to believe their only protection is Jesus Christ. Praise be the name of the Lord for those people who’ll continue to trust in the Lord as the last shield. Glory to God for those people who’ll continue to think that their life is in God’s hands but shame to those who trust only in ministers, police or authorities.
Revelations 8:8-11
"The second Angel trumpeted. Something like a huge mountain blazing with fire was flung into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living sea creatures died, and a third of the ships sank. The third Angel trumpeted. A huge Star, blazing like a torch, fell from Heaven, wiping out a third of the rivers and a third of the springs. The Star's name was Wormwood. A third of the water turned bitter, and many people died from the poisoned water."
A few months ago, a very successful evangelist refused to work for the US government, the CIA and other similar powers. But when he was invited a few days ago, he went and did what he was asked to do, he couldn’t avoid it. They know he is called the evangelist can gather more than 20 million people to listen to him, so they used him to gather the crowd. They blackmailed him saying they had supported him for many years, so he must support them now just for 2 days and lead that big crusade in New York. Many Christians around the world wondered how someone like him could do that, someone who knows God.
This is the poison going everywhere around the world and the church is also contributing to that. We keep teaching people to put their trust in human beings. The Bible says, “Woe to those who put their trust in man.” It’s a curse! Don’t put your trust in Benny Hinn, your pastor, Odon, whoever. Put your trust in God first of all. By doing so, you will live forever, but if not, God will curse you. Don’t you want to avoid God’s curse?
So when the third angel throws that great star on the earth, bitterness will come. Who has never experienced bitterness? It is among Christians. We can see it around us as well as in the church because God uses us as Moses. After a short time, bitterness will be blatant everywhere in the world. People will be bitter at work, on the streets, in the buses, everywhere.
We will start to experience it through the law during that time. Although the law is on my side and I feel strong to take someone who breaks the law to the Police, they will start to practice bitterness and when you say, “This is what Peter did to me.” the police will say, “Don’t worry about that, go back home.” When the police are called for help, they will beat and punish you instead of supporting you. They will make it worse. This is what some countries are going through right now. In NZ, things are fine up to now but in many countries, if you call 911 or 999 or 111 the police will come and say,
- What’s the problem?
- My husband was beating me, … The police will say,
- So what?
- I want you to help me.
- Okay. And they will beat you then go. After complaining they will say it’s not true.
They will start to deceive us and then where will we go?
In my country, in the 1970s, we had many robbers. Before coming to your house, they would send you a letter saying ‘I am coming to your house on such day at such time, prepare the money, prepare things.’ At the right time they will come. Whenever people will receive the letters, they would take them to the police station and say, “Look at this please, I need your protection” and the police will say “We are also human beings like you, can we resist a bullet? A bullet can penetrate your body and mine, so if I go there I might die so just go back home and we will come”. And you’ll never see them.
That spirit today is everywhere around the world. It’s acting now. We’ll find that our authorities are unable to cover and protect us. Blessed are those who will continue to believe their only protection is Jesus Christ. Praise be the name of the Lord for those people who’ll continue to trust in the Lord as the last shield. Glory to God for those people who’ll continue to think that their life is in God’s hands but shame to those who trust only in ministers, police or authorities.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Revelations 8 (Part VIII) Plague of Flies
By Odon Bulamba (Friday 1st July 2005)
Revelations 8:8-11
THE THIRD PLAGUE OF MOSES; FLIES
The third plague is about flies. I saw these types of flies when I visited Sudan. If they bite you it is similar to a scorpion’s bite. I don’t know if you have seen someone who has been bitten by a scorpion. It is really horrible and when those flies bite you, you start to feel the pain within a minute. Minute after minute, the pain will increase to the point that some people, especially children can die of pain.
Today the church is going through a struggle and that struggle is that servants of God, people of this world will use their knives (let me call them knives) and stab Christians. If you want to be hurt, go and talk to your pastor, with what comes out of his mouth or what he does, you will feel completely disappointed (some of the pastors not all of them). You will say, “Is he really my pastor or not?” Things that your Christian colleagues and friends will tell you, can lead you to reject Christianity completely. Now we who are awake, we must be alert to control our words and our actions in front of people. What are we supposed to do to not destroy others? It would be really good to make an effort and do it.
The Bible tells us to be humble like pigeons or doves and wise like snakes. A snake will never use its poison without a target. It will first make sure he wants to attack and if the time is right, he will use its poison. A snake will come in this room and pass in front of your legs without problem unless you try to push it or attack it, it will then react and behave to defend itself.
Our defence as Christians is not to attack people but to commit everything into God’s hands because God says that vengeance belongs to Him. He didn’t give us the ability to avenge ourselves, this belongs to Him. If someone does something wrong against you, the Bible tells you to give him another chance. If someone slaps you on the left cheek, you must give your right side too. But if you want to avenge yourself, the Bible does not say okay stand up and do it. No. You must wait and God will do it for you. Let’s live in a way that will not do wrong to others. We have to control our actions, anger and thoughts so that we are not putting others in trouble.
The flies were no surprise to Pharaoh. What did he do?
Exodus 8:20-22
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus says the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. 22 And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth”.
So Pharaoh started to feel something serious was going on and agreed to give the people a chance to offer sacrifices to their God. Please do something today.
Our countries are trying to corrupt the church, and this is happening everywhere around the world. They want to use the church to manipulate people. They tell Pastors or Bishops and say: “Do this and this. Tell your people, inform them, even about elections or such and such. If you do this we will give you freedom to continue your activities, there are advantages for you just, pass the message on”.
Many servants of God, Ministers and Christians are not acting like Moses who said no, they accept to manipulate their people. Moses told Pharaoh they were not supposed to offer their sacrifices in Egypt, but out of Egypt.
If you want me to do something and cover it by the Word of God, then I must remember I am adding something to it and we know whoever adds something to the Word of God, something also will be added to his life later. So, let’s be alert and remember that whenever we don’t act for God’s glory, we’ll pay the price of its consequences.
Many countries today say, “Let’s pray for our politicians.” That’s not bad but when we start praying for political parties, a system, or things that are misleading the church then it becomes a danger. It’s the time where God stands up and says “Second angel, blow your trumpet!” By doing so, the second angel says that something like a mountain of fire comes down from somewhere. The mountain was not thrown on the earth, it went directly into the sea and a third of the sea was changed to blood. Things that were living in that area were killed and sheep that were supposed to help people to go to the other side of the river were destroyed.
Today we are living it. God has sent a big fire in the church. The fire of Joel chapter 3 is there to inspire us when we talk about the Word of God and things to come, having dreams and such and such. But that fire will not only help the church to be saved but will destroy the world. That spirit today is destroying a third of the world. Once and long ago, in the church, God inspired a prophet with a misleading spirit. God prayed the power to his prophet and a spirit that was not of the truth led them. Now, as we are talking, this very spirit is acting. The spirit of God is everywhere as the book of Joel says but many people who are led by that spirit are not chosen by God. They are just there to give prophecies and those prophecies will not be true ones.
Why does God do that?
The answer is because he wants you and me to ask for discernment. Many Christians in the world are lazy to pray for discernment. Few of them will tell you ‘I spent 5 minutes kneeling down asking God for discernment.’ Most of us pray to God to give them the power to heal, the power of bringing back death to life or the power of earning money etc but we forget about discernment.
So God advises us to ask for it and with it, we will understand things like Elijah. It is true that 400 prophets had prophesied about this and that. However we need to be on the Mount Carmel, which is the mountain of judgment. On that mountain, we will see something that the world will not believe but it will be true and possible. When Elijah had that problem with the other prophets, the Bible records a discussion between them. We are on the mountain, we’ll put the sacrifice there and we’ll pray to our God. The majority of the prophets believed Baal could do something, and they prayed to him, knowing their god will be the one to manifest himself. Elijah poured water over those animals and prayed for fire. The fire came from heaven.
Today we are praying for fire but before the fire can act properly it must be mixed with water. First of all, water must be poured on the sacrifice, and then we can call for God’s fire. But here it is different, God asked the angel to send the fire down. Because people don’t ask for it and are not prepared, time has gone when we were supposed to put water everywhere on the sacrifice. It has gone.
God will say “Okay time has gone, fire must come down and burn something, so what will it burn?” What sacrifice have you prepared for the fire of God to burn? Nothing at all. However the people of this world have been trying like those prophets of Baal to “cut themselves”s for money. For example, some people can work 36 hours in 2 days or more than 59 hours in 5 days. They kill their bodies because of money; others kill their time by over studying and so on. But we, who have the living God don’t really need any physical effort. We only need to take the Word of God and pray with it over the sacrifice.
Unfortunately we don’t do it and God has decided that time is up and He must intervene. He is not intervening in a proper way but with anger, because the church doesn’t understand. So that day He will send fire down and that fire according to some people is called chemical weapons. I don’t believe in all of that. Some want to stop Iran making those weapons. I don’t care about that because the Bible says that fire will come from heaven and when it comes, it will come straight down into the sea, and the creatures will die. Firstly, in order to punish the church, God will send a fire, which will take away grace and salvation. They will go somewhere else.
As for us, we don’t sincerely kneel down and ask God for forgiveness because we don’t feel the fruit of repentance in us.
Whenever I tell someone, “Can you please fix the problem with your sister?” they say, “Oh who is he to tell me that? I don’t care, leave me alone, I don’t have time for that” and walk away.
God will harden our hearts so that we will not allow the Word of God to penetrate us and everything we receive from Him will be just like a fire.
Whenever I tell Odon, “Please Odon, the Word of God says this and this please repent”, it will be just like a fire on me, I’ll get angry and I’ll break everything in my heart. I might go and argue with the person and talk against him.
That fire is on earth today. If the church today defends things that do not please God, it’s a shame. If we, as a church start showing the world that ‘it’s alright, God is everywhere and we are expecting Him to come one day”, but in the meantime we continue our daily life as if nothing was coming, it’s a shame. We are supposed to tell people that something is coming. When God sends down fire and people hear that God is punishing the church, burning the church and destroying all the sheep, they will say “Oh things are getting serious, we need to change our ways” What will be that change?
I can tell you at that time and for 3½ years, the gospel will be for the people living in the Middle East. So we can put aside this big part of the world as well as other areas around the world: they will not be accountable straight away, but Europe, America, Africa and us in NZ we will go through it. So why don’t we prepare ourselves? God in His anger will ask the third angel to blow the trumpet. We read that a big star will come down.
Revelations 8:8-11
THE THIRD PLAGUE OF MOSES; FLIES
The third plague is about flies. I saw these types of flies when I visited Sudan. If they bite you it is similar to a scorpion’s bite. I don’t know if you have seen someone who has been bitten by a scorpion. It is really horrible and when those flies bite you, you start to feel the pain within a minute. Minute after minute, the pain will increase to the point that some people, especially children can die of pain.
Today the church is going through a struggle and that struggle is that servants of God, people of this world will use their knives (let me call them knives) and stab Christians. If you want to be hurt, go and talk to your pastor, with what comes out of his mouth or what he does, you will feel completely disappointed (some of the pastors not all of them). You will say, “Is he really my pastor or not?” Things that your Christian colleagues and friends will tell you, can lead you to reject Christianity completely. Now we who are awake, we must be alert to control our words and our actions in front of people. What are we supposed to do to not destroy others? It would be really good to make an effort and do it.
The Bible tells us to be humble like pigeons or doves and wise like snakes. A snake will never use its poison without a target. It will first make sure he wants to attack and if the time is right, he will use its poison. A snake will come in this room and pass in front of your legs without problem unless you try to push it or attack it, it will then react and behave to defend itself.
Our defence as Christians is not to attack people but to commit everything into God’s hands because God says that vengeance belongs to Him. He didn’t give us the ability to avenge ourselves, this belongs to Him. If someone does something wrong against you, the Bible tells you to give him another chance. If someone slaps you on the left cheek, you must give your right side too. But if you want to avenge yourself, the Bible does not say okay stand up and do it. No. You must wait and God will do it for you. Let’s live in a way that will not do wrong to others. We have to control our actions, anger and thoughts so that we are not putting others in trouble.
The flies were no surprise to Pharaoh. What did he do?
Exodus 8:20-22
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus says the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. 22 And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth”.
So Pharaoh started to feel something serious was going on and agreed to give the people a chance to offer sacrifices to their God. Please do something today.
Our countries are trying to corrupt the church, and this is happening everywhere around the world. They want to use the church to manipulate people. They tell Pastors or Bishops and say: “Do this and this. Tell your people, inform them, even about elections or such and such. If you do this we will give you freedom to continue your activities, there are advantages for you just, pass the message on”.
Many servants of God, Ministers and Christians are not acting like Moses who said no, they accept to manipulate their people. Moses told Pharaoh they were not supposed to offer their sacrifices in Egypt, but out of Egypt.
If you want me to do something and cover it by the Word of God, then I must remember I am adding something to it and we know whoever adds something to the Word of God, something also will be added to his life later. So, let’s be alert and remember that whenever we don’t act for God’s glory, we’ll pay the price of its consequences.
Many countries today say, “Let’s pray for our politicians.” That’s not bad but when we start praying for political parties, a system, or things that are misleading the church then it becomes a danger. It’s the time where God stands up and says “Second angel, blow your trumpet!” By doing so, the second angel says that something like a mountain of fire comes down from somewhere. The mountain was not thrown on the earth, it went directly into the sea and a third of the sea was changed to blood. Things that were living in that area were killed and sheep that were supposed to help people to go to the other side of the river were destroyed.
Today we are living it. God has sent a big fire in the church. The fire of Joel chapter 3 is there to inspire us when we talk about the Word of God and things to come, having dreams and such and such. But that fire will not only help the church to be saved but will destroy the world. That spirit today is destroying a third of the world. Once and long ago, in the church, God inspired a prophet with a misleading spirit. God prayed the power to his prophet and a spirit that was not of the truth led them. Now, as we are talking, this very spirit is acting. The spirit of God is everywhere as the book of Joel says but many people who are led by that spirit are not chosen by God. They are just there to give prophecies and those prophecies will not be true ones.
Why does God do that?
The answer is because he wants you and me to ask for discernment. Many Christians in the world are lazy to pray for discernment. Few of them will tell you ‘I spent 5 minutes kneeling down asking God for discernment.’ Most of us pray to God to give them the power to heal, the power of bringing back death to life or the power of earning money etc but we forget about discernment.
So God advises us to ask for it and with it, we will understand things like Elijah. It is true that 400 prophets had prophesied about this and that. However we need to be on the Mount Carmel, which is the mountain of judgment. On that mountain, we will see something that the world will not believe but it will be true and possible. When Elijah had that problem with the other prophets, the Bible records a discussion between them. We are on the mountain, we’ll put the sacrifice there and we’ll pray to our God. The majority of the prophets believed Baal could do something, and they prayed to him, knowing their god will be the one to manifest himself. Elijah poured water over those animals and prayed for fire. The fire came from heaven.
Today we are praying for fire but before the fire can act properly it must be mixed with water. First of all, water must be poured on the sacrifice, and then we can call for God’s fire. But here it is different, God asked the angel to send the fire down. Because people don’t ask for it and are not prepared, time has gone when we were supposed to put water everywhere on the sacrifice. It has gone.
God will say “Okay time has gone, fire must come down and burn something, so what will it burn?” What sacrifice have you prepared for the fire of God to burn? Nothing at all. However the people of this world have been trying like those prophets of Baal to “cut themselves”s for money. For example, some people can work 36 hours in 2 days or more than 59 hours in 5 days. They kill their bodies because of money; others kill their time by over studying and so on. But we, who have the living God don’t really need any physical effort. We only need to take the Word of God and pray with it over the sacrifice.
Unfortunately we don’t do it and God has decided that time is up and He must intervene. He is not intervening in a proper way but with anger, because the church doesn’t understand. So that day He will send fire down and that fire according to some people is called chemical weapons. I don’t believe in all of that. Some want to stop Iran making those weapons. I don’t care about that because the Bible says that fire will come from heaven and when it comes, it will come straight down into the sea, and the creatures will die. Firstly, in order to punish the church, God will send a fire, which will take away grace and salvation. They will go somewhere else.
As for us, we don’t sincerely kneel down and ask God for forgiveness because we don’t feel the fruit of repentance in us.
Whenever I tell someone, “Can you please fix the problem with your sister?” they say, “Oh who is he to tell me that? I don’t care, leave me alone, I don’t have time for that” and walk away.
God will harden our hearts so that we will not allow the Word of God to penetrate us and everything we receive from Him will be just like a fire.
Whenever I tell Odon, “Please Odon, the Word of God says this and this please repent”, it will be just like a fire on me, I’ll get angry and I’ll break everything in my heart. I might go and argue with the person and talk against him.
That fire is on earth today. If the church today defends things that do not please God, it’s a shame. If we, as a church start showing the world that ‘it’s alright, God is everywhere and we are expecting Him to come one day”, but in the meantime we continue our daily life as if nothing was coming, it’s a shame. We are supposed to tell people that something is coming. When God sends down fire and people hear that God is punishing the church, burning the church and destroying all the sheep, they will say “Oh things are getting serious, we need to change our ways” What will be that change?
I can tell you at that time and for 3½ years, the gospel will be for the people living in the Middle East. So we can put aside this big part of the world as well as other areas around the world: they will not be accountable straight away, but Europe, America, Africa and us in NZ we will go through it. So why don’t we prepare ourselves? God in His anger will ask the third angel to blow the trumpet. We read that a big star will come down.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Revelations 8 (Part VII) Plague of Gnats
By Odon Bulamba (Friday 1st July 2005)
Revelations 8:8-11
THE PLAGUES OF MOSES: THE GNATS
Who can tell me the advantages of having gnats? Who likes gnats among us? They are really small insects that can cause so much suffering to your body. They can bite and suck blood and can easily destroy your body. I’ve never met anyone who is proud of having them. People use chemicals to remove them because they don’t like having them. Gnats also choose where to live. If you are really clean then it’s not too easy to have them, unless you sit by someone who has them, in that case they can easily come from that person to you. It is very easy to get them.
We, as Christians must know how to protect ourselves from small things that can make us sick. To do that, first of all we must go to the Word of God, which says that there is neither small nor big sin. Sin is just sin. Those small insects represent sin in our lives. In our lives we have different ways of analyzing things. We might regard sin as something “very bad”. But if for example Chloe takes my pen without asking, you might think, “That’s fine.” We regard some of our sins as fine, and others as big but for God a sin is a sin.
You cannot see those insects from far. Some people can have them in their hair and they will not notice unless someone next to them says, “Odon you’ve got something in your hair.” Then I will know I’ve got something. I will recognize I have them if I accept someone to tell me, to warn me, to remind me there is something wrong in my hair. Children who have them depend on their parents to decide to put chemicals on them and get rid of them, otherwise they can live in their hair for many months or years.
You cannot easily remove gnats, if it bites your body you can’t just find it and kill it. Sometimes you can but it’s not really easy. You also can’t get them whenever you want them. You will not know where they come from and when they disappear again. They come from anywhere: your husband, wife or child can be a stumbling block for you. Don’t just expect Satan to come with horns or a tail and say, “I am Satan, protect yourself.” Be watchful at any time and know that sin can crop up from anywhere. So we need protection. When those small insects were in Egypt. What did they do? Who can tell me? It is written in:
Exodus 8:16.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt”.
Some Bible versions give another meaning to that word. You can see those small things come from anywhere, they came from dust. Dust normally does not produce insects. Today, in our lives things that we don’t expect can produce something that can really surprise us. Science today, for example, can produce anything. From the Word of God we use, we can produce things, which will glorify God or not. The way we confess things in front of people can produce joy or hatred depending on how we have voiced our ways. With your strength you can build or destroy, with your thoughts you can sin or glorify God. So we have to be really careful in the small things we do.
When Moses took the dust and showed Pharaoh what God could do, the magicians of Egypt thought ‘we are also able to do that. Don’t intimidate us, we are also a great people, we know, we have the knowledge too.’ And they proved it.
Moses watched them and wondered how they could also do it.
Today pagans say, “How can Christians do such things?” or, “How can someone like Peter do this? In that case, we can call ourselves Christians also or why not say a Christian is a person who is not a believer but behaves like one”. Our little sins can sometimes make a bad impression. A French saying says: “don’t call anyone who puts on priest’s clothes, a priest.” Or wearing nun’s clothes doesn’t make you a nun. The truth is that you are not a nun, but someone else.
So let’s put aside the appearance and think about the secrets of the dust.
Tell me now, how important is the dust for you in your life? Is dust really important? Is it really useful and why did God create dust? I think our sisters will be really unhappy if they can see dust around their walls or homes. They will remove it because they hate the dust.
- But is dust important?
- We were made from dust or Adam was made from dust.
- Yes that’s really good we were made from dust, which means that dust has an impact on our lives. Dust is something important. We came from dust and God made us that way, we were given life but now we hate it.
If I want to sit in this chair and I see dust on it, I will think ‘Ange can you please clean this seat or I might go and sit somewhere else.’ If you want to eat and you see dust on your plate along with your food, you will not eat from that plate. First of all you may not have the courage to tell Ange about it, but you will take action and either get another plate or clean that one yourself because you fear telling Ange, and offending her. But others may say “Ange, look at this”. Ange may say, “Oh I’m sorry”. If it’s Pete (her husband), he will say “Ange the plate you have offered me is not a good one” because Pete is in the right position to talk to Ange.
Since God created us and gave us these bodies, He made us first responsible before Him to tell our bodies when they are not clean. “My body, stop this. If you carry on, you will produce something that is not good.” For example, our brother has made a mistake, is arrested and accused of child abuse. Everyone will remember he is a Christian. Everyone will be proud to say, “Oh you Christian people, look at this” because somewhere there he didn’t tell his body ‘you are starting now to be covered by dust, you need cleaning, you need purification from Jesus blood so the outcome of your product cannot harm others.’
Revelations 8:8-11
THE PLAGUES OF MOSES: THE GNATS
Who can tell me the advantages of having gnats? Who likes gnats among us? They are really small insects that can cause so much suffering to your body. They can bite and suck blood and can easily destroy your body. I’ve never met anyone who is proud of having them. People use chemicals to remove them because they don’t like having them. Gnats also choose where to live. If you are really clean then it’s not too easy to have them, unless you sit by someone who has them, in that case they can easily come from that person to you. It is very easy to get them.
We, as Christians must know how to protect ourselves from small things that can make us sick. To do that, first of all we must go to the Word of God, which says that there is neither small nor big sin. Sin is just sin. Those small insects represent sin in our lives. In our lives we have different ways of analyzing things. We might regard sin as something “very bad”. But if for example Chloe takes my pen without asking, you might think, “That’s fine.” We regard some of our sins as fine, and others as big but for God a sin is a sin.
You cannot see those insects from far. Some people can have them in their hair and they will not notice unless someone next to them says, “Odon you’ve got something in your hair.” Then I will know I’ve got something. I will recognize I have them if I accept someone to tell me, to warn me, to remind me there is something wrong in my hair. Children who have them depend on their parents to decide to put chemicals on them and get rid of them, otherwise they can live in their hair for many months or years.
You cannot easily remove gnats, if it bites your body you can’t just find it and kill it. Sometimes you can but it’s not really easy. You also can’t get them whenever you want them. You will not know where they come from and when they disappear again. They come from anywhere: your husband, wife or child can be a stumbling block for you. Don’t just expect Satan to come with horns or a tail and say, “I am Satan, protect yourself.” Be watchful at any time and know that sin can crop up from anywhere. So we need protection. When those small insects were in Egypt. What did they do? Who can tell me? It is written in:
Exodus 8:16.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt”.
Some Bible versions give another meaning to that word. You can see those small things come from anywhere, they came from dust. Dust normally does not produce insects. Today, in our lives things that we don’t expect can produce something that can really surprise us. Science today, for example, can produce anything. From the Word of God we use, we can produce things, which will glorify God or not. The way we confess things in front of people can produce joy or hatred depending on how we have voiced our ways. With your strength you can build or destroy, with your thoughts you can sin or glorify God. So we have to be really careful in the small things we do.
When Moses took the dust and showed Pharaoh what God could do, the magicians of Egypt thought ‘we are also able to do that. Don’t intimidate us, we are also a great people, we know, we have the knowledge too.’ And they proved it.
Moses watched them and wondered how they could also do it.
Today pagans say, “How can Christians do such things?” or, “How can someone like Peter do this? In that case, we can call ourselves Christians also or why not say a Christian is a person who is not a believer but behaves like one”. Our little sins can sometimes make a bad impression. A French saying says: “don’t call anyone who puts on priest’s clothes, a priest.” Or wearing nun’s clothes doesn’t make you a nun. The truth is that you are not a nun, but someone else.
So let’s put aside the appearance and think about the secrets of the dust.
Tell me now, how important is the dust for you in your life? Is dust really important? Is it really useful and why did God create dust? I think our sisters will be really unhappy if they can see dust around their walls or homes. They will remove it because they hate the dust.
- But is dust important?
- We were made from dust or Adam was made from dust.
- Yes that’s really good we were made from dust, which means that dust has an impact on our lives. Dust is something important. We came from dust and God made us that way, we were given life but now we hate it.
If I want to sit in this chair and I see dust on it, I will think ‘Ange can you please clean this seat or I might go and sit somewhere else.’ If you want to eat and you see dust on your plate along with your food, you will not eat from that plate. First of all you may not have the courage to tell Ange about it, but you will take action and either get another plate or clean that one yourself because you fear telling Ange, and offending her. But others may say “Ange, look at this”. Ange may say, “Oh I’m sorry”. If it’s Pete (her husband), he will say “Ange the plate you have offered me is not a good one” because Pete is in the right position to talk to Ange.
Since God created us and gave us these bodies, He made us first responsible before Him to tell our bodies when they are not clean. “My body, stop this. If you carry on, you will produce something that is not good.” For example, our brother has made a mistake, is arrested and accused of child abuse. Everyone will remember he is a Christian. Everyone will be proud to say, “Oh you Christian people, look at this” because somewhere there he didn’t tell his body ‘you are starting now to be covered by dust, you need cleaning, you need purification from Jesus blood so the outcome of your product cannot harm others.’
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