The End Days - Mathew 24:14 - The Good News

By Odon Bulamba

Welcome to all of you.  God being our God is the One who gives us everything. If I’m breathing, it is a gift from God.  if I’m walking, I must remember it is a gift from God.  Being a very good God who loves us, He did not stop Himself from only providing life but went further by giving to us His son, Jesus.  Although many of us are happy because we are able to talk, eat, have good health but for God, that is not enough, we have to remember the other gift which is the most important gift: Jesus.

When I was young, I used to play soccer and I was very good.  My presence on the field used to make the opponent team to shake before we even played.  What made me so good was that I would go next to the opponent and tell him you look ugly and they would be angry and then they couldn’t play.  I used to provocate them and I would juggle with the ball and laugh at them.

But one time, my mum told me that your mouth has no fees, we can talk without paying.  If you were charged every time you spoke, how often would you speak per day?  I’m sure most of us will be speechless.  My mum used to tell me, you were given a mouth not to abuse others but to encourage others and remember that you did nothing to be a good soccer player, thank God for that gift.

We sometimes compare ourselves to others.  How often do you thank God for what you have and what you are?  We very often forget.

In our daily lives, we very often forget about Jesus.  It’s rare to talk about Jesus for most people.  Women can talk about their hair and make-up but can easily forget about Jesus.  Men can talk about rugby, fishing but when it’s about Jesus, we become speechless.  We use our words to talk about many other things than Jesus.

Mathew 24:14, this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come.

This was a big assignment that was not given to the angels or the elders but to preach the gospel was given to you and me.  We must take the gospel all over the world and then after completing that task, the end will come.  Do you take the gospel around?  If yes, when was the last time?  If not, what are you waiting for?

When I wake up in the morning, I very often tell myself I need to lose weight, summer is coming.  I have a little boy Levi who will hit my tummy and say, “fatty”. Sometimes I feel shy if people are there because in my heart, I think if a child of 6 years can mock me, shame on me.  I go to the gym determined to get rid of my fat but after a few minutes, I’m on treadmill and I’m tired.  I go home.  Once home, I don’t discipline myself, I eat all the junk food.  After two days later, the boy will mock me again.  When it’s time to put on my shirt, I must choose the size that will fit me.  Some won’t fit my stomach and no matter how much I try to make it fit, it won’t.

The shirt will tell me, I’m the right size, you are not the right size.  What is your right size for Jesus?  Jesus was born for you and me and we were told to take the gospel everywhere and inform the world that He is our Saviour but when He tries to fit in our life, He doesn’t fit anymore because we are fat with sin.  When we start the marathon of Jesus, we are tired and we quit because Jesus didn’t give us what we were expecting.  We prefer to hold onto the relationship of the world.

Luke 2, the day that Jesus was born the angels were singing and the angels started to tell people, “Shepherds, the Messiah is born”.  The star came up and the wise men saw it and they informed Herod, a child is born.  The news to share gospel started the day Jesus was born.

Luke 2:22, the shepherd spread the news.  What do you spread in your life, what kind of news do you spread?  You have been saved for many years, have you ever taken that news of knowing the Saviour, the free gift of God to others?

When a child is born in a family we inform others. I remember when Leah was born, we all got the news, like fire in the bush, “Ange has a girl”.  We have a free gift from God, why don’t we share it?  When Leah or Rebekah or Anna were born, they were just babies.  Look at Anna now, she is taller than me.  She grows like a palm tree while I’m like a potato plant.  As she grows, we don’t know when is growing, we can’t see it and then suddenly, she is taller than me.  It’s not a matter of age to be tall but a gift from God.

Now it’s a responsibility of these girls to use these gifts.  Netball would be good for Anna because she is tall but I’m too short.  My gifts do not allow me to play netball.  Anna can reach the hoop but I will need to be lifted up.  That doesn’t mean that because my size is small I shouldn’t perform but I should look for something that matches who I am to play in society.

In the Kingdom of God, you can’t blame your small faith, you can’t blame the fact that you are not an evangelist or preacher to share the gospel, no, it doesn’t work like that, use what you have because after this life is a better life and the source of that life is Jesus.

I was born on a Friday at 10am.  My mum used to tell me, “When you were born, you didn’t have any hair on your head” but all my sisters were born with a lot of hair.  I was the ugliest looking baby of my family, my mum used to tell me that she was ashamed to look at me.  Even my dad would wonder if he was my dad.  The more I was growing, my appearance changed.  To see if there are changes, you must be close to observe.

If today we call someone who hasn’t been here for ten years and ask them which one of these children is Leah, they won’t know who she is because they haven’t seen her for many years.  If you go for a long time without seeing a baby, you won’t recognise them.  The same with Jesus, when you first see his beautiful face, you know Him but if you depart from Him for some time, you may end up not knowing Him anymore and He will look like a stranger to you. 

When you look at the Word of God everyday as a mirror for your life, and you remember you have to prepare your place in heaven.

About 6 months ago, I went to the gym and I collapsed and I went to the hospital.  I could see everyone was in fear but I wasn’t.  Everyone was shaking even the person who was training me couldn’t breathe properly but I wasn’t afraid.  My blood pressure was low.  The ambulance took me to the hospital but I wasn’t afraid because I had no pain but those looking at me could see death on my face.

After some time in emergency, I was allowed to go home.  When you go away from Jesus and you push Him far, you are like someone who is dying but you don’t notice it.  Others notice it but you believe you are not afraid and others see the danger but you say, “I’m ok”.

The doctor was asking me, “Have you had this and that in your family, have you had problem with lungs?”  I wouldn’t know because my parents don’t share with me because they believe you shouldn’t frighten your children.  The doctor kept asking about the different types of sickness in my family.

Today, God is asking you about spreading the gospel of Jesus, do you spread it to your family?  My next birthday, I know when it is coming.  Do you know when your birthday is?  We all know our birthday and our age.

In life you will see someone who comes from nowhere and God makes them to go up and up.  Don’t be surprised if yesterday you didn’t have $10 but tomorrow you have the solution to help the world’s financial problems.

Jesus was born for you 2000 years ago for you and accepting Him to be born in your life will make you to step from one place to another. 

90% of my trips overseas I pay nothing.  For example, I am offered to preach in China and the church will book my flight and accommodation.  Today I was not supposed to be here because 4 different churches wanted me to be there to talk about the day that Jesus was born, to spread the news.

“Merry Christmas”, we say that when we meet.  Behind that Merry Christmas, Jesus was born.  Let’s declare it, “Merry Christmas, Jesus was born for you”.  The more we remember our God, the more we will be proud of Him.  Your God is the One who looks after you and all you have is from God. 

When my father passed away, I was 10 years old.  My father was dead and although he was tall, handsome with a lot of money, his body lied down.  Look how capable is our God, He can separate you from your life and this world and once taken, your family will prepare the funeral and find a piece of land to get rid of the body.  If He continues to give you all that you have now, you should be grateful.  If He gives His Son Jesus, we should be more grateful because all who receive Jesus will not perish.

Bring all your burdens and problems and challenges to Jesus, He is the answer and if you don’t want to give your life to God, then one day God will ask you, “Did you spread the message, did you tell the world, I am the saviour?”  Life is short, we should enjoy it and the best enjoyment is to be a part of the body of Jesus.  Tell Jesus, take control of my life and then you will discover the best father and friend ever.

Christmas is a great day where we see santas and children receiving gifts and trees and decorations which is good for our eyes but in God’s eyes, what does He see in us, what decoration do you have in your heart?  What we see outside is good for our bodies, what does God see in our hearts that is good for Him?

Happy New Year and happy Christmas, celebrate in peace and may He be with us.  Things that did not work in 2018, may God change them into positive work in 2019.  If God can change water to wine, He can change your life.  All your burdens and problems, ask God to make 2019 a year of victory. 

Signs of the End Days - Mathew 24:13 - Endurance

By Odon Bulamba

Those who endure to the end will be saved.  Very simple sentence but you must go to the end to be saved.  Endurance sometimes can be a challenge.  Salvation requires you to accept Jesus as your Saviour, as the Master of your life but you have also to endure and it shouldn’t be for a short time but continuously until the end.

Today, I’m sharing with you this sign of the end of times that Jesus has given us, endurance.  Endurance means to push yourself through a tough time without giving up until the end.  It’s not a time of joy.  When you endure, you are not going to join a party, you feel suffering and bad, tired but you know that when you reach the other side, you will gain something.

There are two categories of endurance.  Some will endure without knowing what they will gain at the end, an empty endurance.  The other endurance is where you know that if you reach the end, this is what you will get from your work.

Endurance requires not only your physical body but your mind and spirit.  I’ve seen in our world, many join the gym and there they tell you no pain, no gain.  If you want to gain, you must accept pain.  Boys especially want to look attractive with a six pack and muscles everywhere.  My son, for example, pulls up his shirt to show his six pack.  For him to have that is a glory but to get a six pack you must endure and persevere.

We pay to go to the gym.  Maybe it will cost $10 per week and now it’s up to you to use the machines that you have access to you.  You now must work hard to reshape your body.  I’ve been going to gym for years but shame on me when I look at my body and my clothes don’t fit anymore because I don’t persevere, I don’t endure.  This morning I wanted to wear one of my nice shirts but after ironing it, the buttons couldn’t close because I had gained too much weight.

I started to think, I’ve gained so much weight. Oh well, I will use another shirt instead.  I tried to tell myself it’s alright but tomorrow, I will be even bigger.  For the first two days I go to the gym with courage to reach my target but then my arms and legs are in pain and so I take a break and with revenge, I eat KFC and other fatty foods that will kill me.  Then later I go back to the gym and then one week I stay home and then I go back to the gym and then six weeks I don’t appear again.

My neighbour is also the member of my gym and he was fat but now he has lost weight.  I asked him what is wrong, are you sick.  He said, “No I decided to lose weight”.  You must push your body and mind to decide and to keep that decision to make the target.

You can have a target but if you don’t push your body or mind to reach it, you have nothing.  Those three things must work together.

When that time comes, it will be a time of suffering but you have to push yourselves and tell your mind, “you must do this, body you must do this,” and then you know what you will gain.  We pray to God and worship him for a purpose (1) a command from God (2) we must follow the rules to be in the Kingdom of God. 

The Kingdom of God is like a gym, everything is here now and it’s up to you to work.  The Holy Spirit is here as an instructor to teach you how to use the machines.  After knowing how to use them, what do you do?  It’s a matter of decision.

I have made several bad decisions with the gym by not going but they keep taking my money.  I feel bad but I can’t claim my money back.  I can’t ask for a refund because I didn’t go.  If you don’t make any effort to work hard you will wake up the next morning and time has passed and you will discover that every day you have postponed your gym time.  When you don’t go to the gym, what do you do?  Distraction, tv, out with friends but when you hear someone has had a heart attack you are shocked, maybe because they didn’t exercise.

How often do you exercise by reading the Bible?  How often do you use what God has given you to keep your shape in the Lord?

When we trained for cross country at school, my father will encourage me to keep running, and I will say, “no I’m tired, I’m not running”.  My father can’t run for me, I must decide to run.  My father is disappointed when I don’t run.  Then after running, I would ask for an icecream, “no you don’t deserve it”. “I ran”.  “No but you didn’t persevere”.  My father wanted me to learn how to be among the best.  Since I have started to practice that in my life, that spirit of competition started to grow in my life.

If someone can read the Bible, why can’t I read it.  If someone has been working, why can’t I?  if someone looks after their body, why not me?  We must accept pain but if we want to gain without pain, we gain in a wrong way.

The life we are living, requesting to run with Jesus, practising every time even when things are hard, we need to remember to endure.  It’s up to you to do the job.  How often do you endure for your soul and spiritual life?  When we die, our bodies will remain down here on earth but our souls will go somewhere.  How healthy is my soul, how often do I take care of my soul?  Maybe I don’t because I don’t care but God is saying, you must endure until the end not just for a short time and then quit. 

If you go to the end, that is the time that you will be saved.  Do you want to be saved?  Then go to the end.  Do you want to be in the Kingdom of God?  Then go to the end.  God is so good, whenever we know something is hard, He doesn’t hide from us.  He opens our mind to understand that it is hard but we should try.  E.g. if press-ups are hard, then start with one and then move to two on the next day but we always want everything at once without hard work.

Ladies always look at other ladies and comment how beautiful they look.  Ladies spend a lot of time on their faces, first looking at their eyebrows, then using their tools to remove hair from their brows and then take a crayon to artistically, nicely create nice eyebrows.  Then their hair.   I have seen a lady walk into a bathroom and don’t expect them to come out in five minutes.  Once they step out, you can see the difference and how hard they have been taking care of their bodies.

Men, we are supposed to say, wow, you look so great.  Teach us also to know how to take care of ourselves.  Women have a lot of talents that we men don’t have.  They have patience to spend 10 minutes on eyebrows but I can’t do that.  They will wear red lipstick to match a red outfit.  After doing that, they can come out not to please themselves but for others to see, for the world to appreciate how clean and beautiful they look.

We must do a proper make up for our souls so that wherever we go, people will say, you have done a great job.  If you want to be saved, don’t only say that Jesus has given His life for me and that’s all I need, you also need to exercise.  Someone who never goes to the gym will be weak compared to the one who goes every time.

As a student, we would study and then go to the gym.  The more you work physically, the more you become mentally focused.  We can be twins but if you practise a lot and go to the gym and I don’t, our bodies and abilities to do things will be different. 

Whose fault is it, if I don’t exercise?  Can I blame anyone?  Should I blame myself?  Jesus is telling us clearly that we must endure and if there is no endurance and you don’t find any obstacle in your life it means that there is a problem in your life.  Every Christian must face challenges and temptations and tests.  Your test can be your children, friend, neighbours, family and even your tv. 

I was born on 14 November.  I decided this year to do nothing on that day, to have a rest.  Then I watched tv for hours and my eyes told me it was enough but the program was so good, I told my eyes to be quiet.  Even now I feel that I have a headache because I watched tv all day.  I was watching Greenleaf.  A pastor’s family with disorder in the church and all is about money and glory.

I was watching episode after another to discover what is next.  I started at 9am and I was still there at 5pm.  I believed it was a good day for me but it wasn’t, I should have spent the day with the Lord, maybe I should have vacuumed for my health.  To watch tv is ok for a couple of hours but not all day focussing on what is not necessary.

I endured to watch it but gained nothing, waste of time.  The Lord is telling us that salvation is coming, if you endure, salvation is at the end.  There are only two destinations, Kingdom of God and the other is the opposite.  If you endure, you will end in the Kingdom of God but if you feel tired or lazy or tell yourself you will do it next time, you will be shocked when Jesus tells you, I don’t know you.

Why postpone things you should do today?  Once you go to gym daily without stopping, it becomes a habit but if you give up, you will start every week.  Endurance requires encouragement and motivate each other.  E.g. Ange lets go for a run together.  By encouraging each other we can move forward as a team.  If we don’t encourage each other, we will all die cold.

Like the army of the Lord, we should be there for each other not only by watching movies but all spiritual activities.  Levi loves to play and sometimes he asks me to play with the football.  We kick the ball around the house and because I’m lazy I tell him to go and play with his friends and he is happy and he learns and socialises while I am just sitting in my chair.  When he comes back he has gained something but I haven’t.

After a few days I feel I need to exercise and I go back to the gym and I will see those running on treadmill non-stop and I envy them.  I can’t run like them because they practice while I don’t.  They have gained a lot and I have lost my money and more.  They know how to use their time, mind and bodies to gain something.  I know how to waste my money on the gym but I don’t think about how to gain.

I must be stupid, waste of money.  If that was my child wasting money like that, I would tell them no.  after two months those at the gym are so much ahead of me, that I am embarrassed.

Take courage.  Jesus gave the sick new life.  He touched them and they could walk.  Not only physical miracles but spiritually, God is telling us that we can stand up and move forward.

The end is coming, we are going towards the end of everything and when the end comes, it doesn’t care what you look like, and your end is not only the return of Jesus but it can be today or tomorrow, you life can end and when it ends, God will look at your endurance.  What report will you tell God about your spiritual endurance.  You can give a report about your singing for church, now your endurance for your soul, prepare it.

Signs of the End Times - Mathew 24:12 - Iniquity

By Odon Bulamba

We are going to continue with our study from Mathew 24 and today is verse 12. This is the Word of God which is telling us that because inequity will grow in our lives around us, the love of many will wax cold.

What is inequity?  It means going away from the law, pushing the law far away from yourself.  This Word has been practiced in many societies and you may wonder how come human beings who are loved by God so much that He has given His son for us, how come we give inequity first place in our live and our love continues to wax cold.

This was one of the signs.  Be careful because when you see people’s loves becoming cold, there is a danger coming, it’s a sign that Jesus is coming back. 

Inequity is also in institutions around the world.  For example, in our schools they used to read the Word of God, pray and have religious studies but today in several countries, religious study is not part of school anymore and schools are going far from God.

Many families don’t have time anymore, not even to read Word of God or praying before going to bed or before to eat.  We are pushing God aside.  I had a parent told me to stop me talking to their son about the Word of God.  We can see how the Word of God and it’s the law has been fought by individuals, countries and institutions.

For example don’t kill but the law will allow the death penalty.  The government will know the Word of God but they continue to give those penalties.  In some countries, they bless homosexual marriage while the Word of God states that women and men should marry.  By doing so this means inequity.  We know the Law and what God wants but we put it aside to satisfy our own needs or the needs of those around us.  When this takes off, the love for God and the Word of God will start to become cold.

People who used to be proud of being Christians yesterday, will today feel ashamed to talk about Jesus in front of others.  Those who used to be proud to love Jesus now fear what others will say.  This lets Jesus down whom we are calling their Lord and Master.  Who is ashamed to talk about their boss or job or parents?  No matter how old or ugly or what they look like, I will be proud of my parents and talk to others about them.

For example, Anna meets with her friends and instead of introducing her mum, she says this is my aunty and my mum is the beautiful lady over there.  How will the mother feel?  You will feel humiliated and you will feel that you are being let down.  For God, it is the same because He loves us and is our Father and when we promote other things and people instead of God, He feels that we are letting Him down.

All over the world you see people promoting their pastor or their church but it’s almost impossible to hear them talking proudly about their Jesus.  Remember your first love, that is what revelations tells us.  That message was given to Laodicea.  Once you remember your first love, it will be hard to do inequity.  If you remember that Jesus died for you and His grace is sufficient, you won’t need anything else.

However, we most of the time we prefer to please our bodies rather than our souls.  We want our bodies to look and smell good but we don’t think at all about our souls and we forget out it.  If you don’t love your soul but love everything around the world, you will perish.

We know that this body will die and our soul will go somewhere to live for eternity.  God didn’t hide it from us.  Take care of your souls because it will live forever but because we love inequity, we take care of our bodies first.

I tell my children to take care of themselves.  For the child, they will think only about their bodies.  Why can’t I tell them to take care of their souls because satan may come at any stage to visit your soul so don’t lose it, it is the most precious thing that God recognises. 

I love to buy things.  This morning I was thinking about the amount of money I have spent to buy things for myself.  It was a shock.  Buying food and other stuff for my body.  When I try to please my body, it will always tell me that it is not satisfied.  I don’t know how many pairs of shoes I have?  I have a big shelf of shoes.  I don’t know how many shirts I have.  I have briefcases of clothes. 

I may spend 45 minutes just deciding what to wear.  I bought a lot and now it puts me in trouble because I waste my time. If I only had two pairs of shoes, it would be easier.  I even forget now what clothes I have.  I still have a shirt that I bought 10 years ago but I have never worn it.  I should be ashamed of myself to see how much I care for my body compared to my soul.

When I spend $100 to buy a pair of shoes and it’s impossible to give $100 offering to church.  I must think twice about offering to church and I must choose a small bank note for God and the rest is mine.  I can spend $100 on Nando’s or KFC but when it’s time to read one verse from Bible to feed my soul, it is impossible to spend 45 minutes reading but I can spend 2 hours with my children eating at Nando’s and walking around the park.

We can’t enjoy like when we are doing inequity because it will bring your love for God cold.  Christian priorities are not for God anymore but their priority is to see what they want and what they want do.  I travelled in China in a train that goes extremely fast and before to leave New Zealand it was on my agenda to experience it.  It was like an arrow.  Less than five minutes, over 100 kilometres gone.  I can’t see anything.  Oh lord, my heart desired so much to travel in this train, what next.  What did I gain?  Why can’t my heart desire to spend at least one second with Jesus.

When I’m talking about the Holy Spirit, why can’t I desire the Holy Spirit to take me somewhere for the glory of God but I prefer to get on a train.  You see people coming to New Zealand from other countries and they go to visit the bubbling mud in Rotorua.  They pay for the flight to see mud and people take photos of mud.  People think this is a big thing to show back home, to show others that they are travelling around New Zealand. 

In 2001, Michelle took me to a bridge in Rotorua and I started to smell rotten eggs.  I wondered is this normal, what is happening here and the smell was growing stronger.  People leave their countries to experience the smell.  How much money and time you have wasted to smell it?  They will take their testimony back home that others should go to Rotorua, “you will be amazed”.  It’s all natural.  People pay for that.  This is inequity and makes you to close your Bible and leave aside important things, “I won’t go to church on Sunday I have to go see the boiling mud”.

Many people will go to the beaches, travel around and do things the way they want and sacrifice their love for Jesus.  Because Jesus is God, He has been telling us that we have three big things in life; love, faith and hope.  The biggest is love.  Don’t stick on hope, I hope God will give me the capacity to pray tomorrow or go to church tomorrow.  God wants love first.  I have faith in God, in the Word of God but that is not enough, what you must fight for is love first.  But we leave our love aside and accept it to go cold and hope that hope and faith will replace love.

That is why patience doesn’t exist anymore, people are not kind as they used to be.  When we read the Word of God, we know what is good and bad but today people don’t know the difference between right and wrong because we don’t read the Word of God.  In churches, they will say come and join us for bbq.  I have received that invitation from pastors and the day of the bbq, you will see a big crowd.  Churches become like clubs promoting inequity and pushing aside the love of God.

Is your love becoming cold for God?  How much do you love yourself?  I give myself 10/10 because when something goes wrong against me, I feel that I must look after myself.  We take care of ourselves and forget that we not only have the body and spirit but also the soul that needs taking care of.  We should not forget our souls. 

When you see the mud boiling in Rotorua, you don’t think about what is causing the bubbling mud.  I don’t have time to ask what is this phenomenon.  By coming close to those that know science you might know.  Do you ask why do you live while others are dying?  Do you ask why you can eat while others can’t?  Do you ask yourself if you are better than those who are eating with tubes?  What did you pay to God to have what you have? 

For that reason, God is inviting us to not let our love to grow cold.  The only secret is to define inequity, what is pushing you to stray from the Word of God.  What is wrong with you?  When I have headache, I ask what is wrong and I take Panadol.  I will look after myself.  I will see my doctor when I am sick.

Take care of your soul.  Ask your God what is wrong with you. Nothing can separate us from the love of God so why should I allow myself to be separated from God.  “I don’t want God anymore, today is Saturday, I want a break, tonight I am having a party, I want a break”.

One time I had a nightmare that I was angry in my dream that God took my father.  I told God, I don’t care about you, what you give to me, you take back, you are not kind.  God responded in my dream, “For 4 mins, I will stop you from breathing,” and in my dream, I couldn’t breath and I was fighting for life and then I woke up.  How precious is our breathing?  If someone blocks your nose for two seconds, your body will fight for breathing and you won’t care about your house or shoes or other material things.

What is important for you, life or material things?  Is it to visit trees or people rather than coming close to God.  Come back to Jesus, Himself is love.  You can’t find a shop that sells love.  We need to come close to Jesus and tell Him, my love is growing cold, I want you to remind me about my first love and how happy I was when I first met you.

End Times - Mathew 24:11 - False Prophets

By Odon Bulamba

It’s a joy to be here and I praise God to see all of you.  This morning I wasn’t sure if I will be here today because I felt sick and I was telling myself, if I feel sick now, what is going to happen, no one will have the opportunity to hear what God wants us to hear this morning.  I started to feel better and now I am here.

Mathew 24:11, here Jesus is talking about the end of times.  Many prophets will arise and will mislead a lot of people and believers.  How can false prophets will come into the church and mislead so many people who have known God for many years? 

First, we have gifts of the Holy Spirit and ministries and we also have the Word of God but many Christians today hate the Word of God and don’t have time for it.  When you talk about other ministries, they find it boring but when a prophet stands up and talks about what will happen in their physical lives, people will be happy.  For example, “in two days’ time you will win lotto”.  Or someone tells you, “God has said what you are going through will end and you will get healing, God spoke to me,”  we feel it’s a good message because our ears only want to hear what pleases our feelings.

This is how satan has set the trap in the church.  When I was child, my uncle asked me what would I choose between money and wisdom?  I said, “Money.  What about you uncle?” and he said, “wisdom”.  I said, “I choose money because money because I need money”.  My uncle asked, “Do you say that I don’t have wisdom and that’s why I ask for it?”.  He was offended.

My mother slapped me, “never say that to people”.  As an innocent child, my choice was money and my words told my uncle it was a wrong choice.  Today prophecy relies on people.  If you look in the Bible, the prophets will tell you exactly what God wants you to say but prophets today are vague so you find your own interpretation.

Jesus is warning us, when false prophets come, that is the end times.  A prophecy is to tell you what is going to happen in the future.  It’s not the best gift because we don’t need it every day because we all know what is going to happen.  The false prophets don’t stick on the Bible but say things about your day to day life but when it’s a matter of spiritual things, they talk less about eternal life.  Good prophets will say, “it is written in the Word and you church have forgotten”.  False prophets tell you, you won’t pass away.  To pass away is normal but they just want you to feel happy and please you. 

In Africa, we have plenty of those prophets.  Most of them consult with witches and they meet with you and tell you your entire life and tell you what you did yesterday and it is the truth but they are false prophets, they are being used by satan to tell you what is going to happen.  “In 10 mins, you will receive a call and they will tell you this and that”.  Then the friend calls you and it’s exactly what the false prophet said would happen.  How not to believe such a person and once you believe, you will start to follow him.

In many churches, believers don’t follow Jesus but their pastors and prophets.  When they face a challenge, they go back to the prophet and the prophet says, “you face that because of this and that but you can change it by doing this”.  We discover that people no longer put trust in Jesus but in human beings.  If your pastor is not there, then you feel that God doesn’t exist and your prayers are blind because the pastor is the only person who can help us.

These false prophets are like mobile phone, “I can’t live without it”.  I trust my phone to send a message to where I want.  Once I opened a Facebook page and I had hundreds of people who wanted to request my friendship.  If you have lots of friends, you might become famous.  The only friend you need is Jesus.  None of those friends on Facebook spoke to me about Jesus.

When the false prophets come to church everyone wants to talk to them.  For example, everyone in the church wants to talk to the prophet (maybe called Elijah) but he won’t have the courage to them those coming to him to go to Jesus, instead he will say, “I will pray and God will take care of it”.  The false prophets use the name of God but what they are doing is not from God.  Don’t be foolish to think that because someone uses the name of Jesus, that they are from Jesus.  Jesus warned us that those that come in my name are not all from me.

Why do we prefer prophets rather than Word of God?    The Word of God is life and truth but prophets are not life and not always truth.  Why give our heart, soul and mind to prophecies?  Jesus said, “follow Me”.  There is only one way to heaven but we focus on prophecies and put aside Jesus.  Satan uses that gift more and more because it is our weakness.  We don’t want prayers or preachings, just prophecies.

When was the last time your heart felt that you need to hear from a prophet about a situation?  We change them to be magicians – they give solution to our problem.  I had someone calling on my phone and it looks like it comes from Australia but it’s from another country and they don’t explain what they are doing but they tell me it’s about business.  Some people could be trapped.  When we talk about money it’s easy to fall into a trap.  False prophets come to your ears to hear something you like (like the phone call) to buy your soul. 

In Africa, they don’t talk about the Word of God but healings.  Prophets only talk about healings, becoming wealthy, being happy.  If your marriage is not good, see the prophet.  Prophets are the ones standing up in the church, if you want God to bless you, come and see me.  They pass a handkerchief above your head and whatever you ask for, you will get it.

Apostle (someone Odon knows), he will do miracles and people say amen using his name.  If you want to disturb someone, steal their phone.  I’ve seen someone leave their handbag behind but not their phone, they must go back for their phone.  If you ask to see someone’s phone, they won’t let you because there are secrets held on the phone (even between married couples).  Those are the type of things I am using as example about false prophets.

A phone can be destroyed, it’s not confidential (the phone provider can see it and even keep a copy), and when you send a message, they can block the message and it won’t reach the destination.  Satan uses the false prophets to come in our lives like spiritual phone provider and controls all the situations between God and ourselves.  At some point the false prophet will interrupt your communication with God and you won’t be able to talk any time to God without first talking to the prophet.  I’ve seen women do all things for the prophet but not the husband.  E.g. the prophet says o be at church at 6am, she will be there but if her husband asks her to do something, she doesn’t.

We can spend hours listening to prophets but not even one hour to pray to God.  We can’t even be there without falling asleep.  Whenever we leave Jesus to be by Himself, we fall asleep. When Jesus wakes us up, we will wake up for 2 seconds but fall back asleep.  When you are tired and your faith is dying and things are tough in your life, satan knows this is the right time to attack, “because they love God, let me send a prophet”.

A prophet will tell you what you are going through and tell you, “God has told me this and that will happen”.  When Jesus left the earth, He said He will leave us the Holy Spirit to find consolation but today we find consolation in human beings.  We forget about the Holy Spirit.  When I feel sad, the Holy Spirit comforts me because I know that human beings can’t take away my sadness.  I need someone who can comfort me.  My solution should be Jesus, not human beings.  God can use human beings to bring solution but we must pray to God first.

Satan knows we love those who bring nice messages.  One day my phone went dead.  I had all my contacts in that phone.  Everything was in that phone.  How will I get back those messages?  I went to Vodafone and they fixed everything and it all came back to normal.  Who is that person who knows you inside out?  Is it Jesus or the prophet?  Many Christians will go astray.

I encourage you to love Jesus and the Word of God.  Whenever you face a challenge, talk to Jesus rather than giving your faith to a prophet.  Look at the prophets in the Bible, people never went to see prophets but rather prophets went to see the people and the prophets didn’t give prophecy every day.  Today, prophets must give a message every day you see them and it’s only about your physical life, they don’t talk about spiritual things. 

Prophets today won’t tell you about your sin and to repent but tell you it’s ok.  One day you will stand in front of God and He will tell you, “I warned you about false prophets, why did you get mislead”.  God has given us intelligence to not be deceived.

Three friends were together walking and one was in trouble.  The second one said, “drink alcohol and you will forget the problem”.  He drank until he was drunk and he lost his mind and instead of taking the problem away, it created greater problems. 

The Holy Spirit is the only one we were given to guide us and teach us of the things that will come.  Our target is to go to heaven.  Do we pray only for our physical problems or to prepare our eternal lives? Take your life seriously.  You must carry your own cross.  It might be heavy but accept to carry it.  A prophet might give a message but ask God to confirm it.

Pray for God to help us to be awake and to see God every time.  Pray God to keep our eyes open. Sleep can take you far away in your dreams and many false prophets can take you far away from God.