By Odon Bulamba (21 February 2003)
Romans 10:2; I can testify about them that they are zealous for God but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
This is the first characteristic of the religious spirit, those who have this spirit have wonderful courage, love God’s word and have good Christian actions, but when they do something they put aside God’s knowledge.
Example; I am here with my children and one of them steals. When another child tells me that my child is stealing I will accuse that child for accusing my child for stealing. The child you talked to will never tell you again that your child has done wrong.
The spirit that God gave us always talks to us, but we are the first ones to take authority against that Spirit and shut up Spirit of God or shut up the conscience. I want to this, and the Spirit of God and the conscience must stay silent.
With the religious spirit, we are Christians when we meet together to share God’s word, but when we separate some of us will speak to others as if we are not Christian. Example, We wives know that each woman must love her husband, and to accept him as a husband. The Bible says in Ephesians 5 that a wife must submit to her husband as to the Lord, so do you wives submit to your husbands or do you consider him as a toy or friend? Sometimes some women compare their husbands to children.
Many people want to work for God and will even ask other brothers and sister to pray for them, “God I want your hand to touch me,” they have zeal but when it comes to knowledge they are hindered by darkness. Although they have eyes they cannot see, and with this religious spirit it will prevent them from seeing the truth.
When Michael comes to you and says it is written in God’s word my dear friend this and that, you will say, “I know that!” With darkened knowledge we want to take God’s place in explaining this knowledge.
There was a Pastor who fell into a sin, and when he fell into this sin one of his sheep went to see him. This sheep said to the Pastor, “Pastor, I know you are zealous for God and I’m afraid to tell this because you are God’s servant, but the Bible says we must help one another, so I ask you Pastor to change this.” Do you know what the Pastor did? He dropped his Bible and said, “If God exists then let Him be the judge between me and you?” This sheep felt intimidated and started shaking, “forgive me Pastor if I have done wrong but I felt in my heart that I must tell you,” and the Pastor said, “do you know how long I’ve been a Pastor? Don’t you acknowledge my experience? Don’t you know that God anointed me? Be careful because God might punish you like He punished Miriam who spoke against her brother Moses.”
This brother started crying and asking for the Pastor to forgive him. The one who came to help the Pastor was put into confusion by intimidation. The Pastor didn’t accept his forgiveness and said he wasn’t part of the church anymore. In the morning the Pastor excommunicated and condemned this man in front of everybody, a curse was on this brother. Imagine, this is the spirit of religion.
This Pastor hadn’t realised the value of one soul before God. When we do things as Christians is our knowledge enlightened or not? When we are outside of our fellowship is it real or not? If not then we must observe ourselves.
James 4:6 says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble
We still have this grace with us and it is enough, but sometimes we ignore it. Maybe it is because we don’t know what grace is; maybe we don’t have time to meditate on this Word grace although we confess everyday that we live in a time of grace but we don’t know what it is, maybe it is like a baby trying to speak?
Many Christians confess the word grace but don’t know its meaning or origin, they don’t even know why God gave grace to man, and if you don’t know about grace then you won’t know its importance. Once a person receives God’s grace and knows it, they will live a wonderful life, but if you don’t know grace, then you are like a man who looks at gold and thinks it’s just a stone.
The word of God says that God is always against proud people, and when James is talking here he speaks to those who know God. A lot of Christians on this earth are proud one way or another. Maybe they are proud because of their marriage or maybe they are proud because of their children. Sometimes we influence our children to become proud.
In the Christian life we too can despise others thinking they don’t know anything, and sometimes we walk on them. You can accept what Oscar says but not Steve, this is the spirit of religion. Sometimes when the Spirit of God speaks about the truth we as Christians always want to quench this truth, and before God we prove to be proud.
What is the dictionary’s definition of pride? Pride is a small word that is often associated with the world, but this word has brought a lot of evil into the church of God. Pride is a feeling of satisfaction, which you have because you or your people close to you have done something good or possessed something good. First of all pride is a feeling, a bitter feeling, it is not a feeling of joy, it is not a feeling of knowledge but a feeling of bitterness, it is not a feeling controlled by anyone else but the person who is feeling it, and last of all this feeling always works when there are people around.
Some Christians say it is their nature, “I was born that way, and I can’t change”. I don’t think there has been a child who was born proud, I don’t think there has been a child who was born a thief, but many Christians say this is their way or our churches way.
Question. You talked about culture being an influence on us; the example you gave us was when people go onto a Marae. My question is; as Christians, is it bad to follow to the protocols of certain cultures, for example the Maori culture?
1 Corinthians 11:16 says that if anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice nor do the churches of God.
We don’t have other customs, and when we don’t have other customs we become a new family. It is not for nothing that we are called children of God, so we must follow God’s customs. It is not bad to be invited onto a Marae, I can also follow the bereavement ceremony but when you have to follow certain conditions which you don’t know, be careful, you might adore what you don’t know.
I’ll give you an example: There was a famous servant of God who was invited to see the Pope, and because he is regarded as a holy father he had to kneel down and walk on his knees. Before he did this he had to have a piece of fabric cut from his pants, but he didn’t know why, so he asked, “why do we have to do all of this?” The answer was, “Everybody who went to see the Pope had to do it” but he didn’t accept it because he didn’t see the purpose. When we belong to God we have to ask ourselves before doing anything, does this belong to the family of God or not? If it doesn’t belong to God’s family then don’t do it because you might adore what you don’t know.
The Maoris have gods and the Marae is considered a holy place, you have to be very disciplined and quiet, you don’t play at a Marae the way you would play at your house; this is adoration. When you put something on top of yourself or equal to God, automatically you start adoring. If a Maori brother or sister is going through bereavement, what will they say if I ask them why are you going to a Marae? It is our culture and custom. I am already informed that what I am invited to is their culture or custom, so I must think if this custom pleases God or not? Why not teach them about God’s culture? (Reference to Romans 14).
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Religious Spirit (Part I)
By Odon Bulamba (21 February 2003)
Our God always works and never sleeps. although our prayers are short He listens to them, although we think He doesn’t answer, He does. God is not far from us.
We are going to talk about the religious spirit to discover who we are, and to know whether or not we do things according to God or our human nature. Sometimes the religious spirit brings confusion into the lives of Christians. When we speak about the religious spirit in the church it is a spirit that enters Christians and is disguised. This spirit gives work for them to do and they think they are working for God’s glory, but they are working for another power that opposes God’s strength.
When you observe these religious Christians you will discover they are not Christians. This spirit is not from today or yesterday but it started a long time ago. This spirit stops the work of God in Christian life, and it tells Christians they are perfect. Many Christians don’t like to hear about this spirit because it threatens them, but dear brothers and sisters we are going to talk about this spirit to make ourselves ready for heaven and prepare ourselves to be workers for God.
There is nothing worse in Christian life than to hear a message knowing that the preacher knows your problem, I will never do this. It is like taking the Bible and preaching about Colleen’s life. Why not preach the Word of God? Why not glorify God instead of talking about Colleen’s life? When we talk about the religious spirit put aside the thought that the Word of God preached was for Peter or Angela or someone else I know, but I will say it again we are here to be enlightened about our own life on earth.
What is Religion? Religion is human tradition and human belief. Do we have the word religion in the Bible? When we talk about the Pharisees you will find the word religion, when you talk about the Sadducees you will find the word religion. But when it is about Christians who were brought up in spirit and truth, this word religion disappears completely. If I called Angela a Pharisee, will she be happy? No, because they were hypocrites, proud and arrogant. The Pharisees knew the law very well and studied it seriously, but hypocrisy and arrogance was with them also. Even though the law they studied didn’t allow for hypocrisy and arrogance, they were hypocritical and arrogant without knowing it. The Pharisee culture made them like this.
Not long ago a Maori man went to the United States, and as you know Maori greet one another by the pressing of the two noses. However, when it came to greeting an American man he tried to greet him but the American kept his distance. Then the Maori man knew he was outside of his country. How did the American man interpret this form of greeting?
In Arab countries it is normal for men and women to kiss each other 4 or 5 times when greeting one another. But when this Maori man wanted to greet his American friend, the American said, “No, we will be called names.” This culture placed in another country becomes something that doesn’t honour man, and it is the same with the religious spirit.
The religious spirit, is a spirit that grows in the little characters we have in the Christian life. We say, “if I do that it’s o.k”. It’s like a child, for example a child might run and tell me that he is a good boy, “I’m not like Zoe, I’m so good that there is nobody like me.” As a parent I will say, “it’s good, but is it good for that child to believe that, won’t it lead him to accuse someone else even if they haven’t done anything wrong”. If the child does something good I will appreciate it, but if I appreciate another child while the first one is there how, will the first child feel if he believes that he is always the best. He will not like it and might even hate the second child. Because the first child was not the one given honour or praise he will take some distances from his friend, this friendship will turn into hatred. This is just a simple example to help you to understand that Christians live in such an environment.
I knew a few people in my life that used to say, “why can’t I preach like Oscar, when he preaches people always tell him that the message was a blessing for them”. These people think, ‘why does the success go to Oscar, yesterday when I preached nobody appreciated me’. Maybe because of jealousy that person will come to my place and say, “did you listen to Oscar’s message?” Then we will criticize Oscar’s message and start now to count all his mistakes. However, if Oscar hears this later he might go away and say I’m not going to carry on praying with you because there is hatred and conflict. That’s why we can see that churches have split today.
To have this religious spirit is very easy, you just have to follow your thoughts and your thoughts will lead you to this spirit. Those who are truly called Christians don’t walk according to their culture or thoughts, they walk according to the Holy Spirit, they are led and taught by the Holy Spirit, and not by their culture or their teachers at school.
When you learn the Word of God by school or culture, and not by the Holy Spirit, you risk adding to the Word of God. Example: In the time of old in my tribe women were not allowed to eat chicken, if she did she was stoned or put to death. Although many of these women became Christians, this culture is still alive in them because they keep on telling their daughters not to eat chicken.
It’s like a Maori who dies in New Zealand, people gather together on a Marae, and whether you like it or not you must take off your shoes, why? Maybe your socks have holes, maybe your feet stink, so why ask people to take off their shoes? People make conditions but don’t know why they make them. If I ask Michelle why they take their shoes off on a Marae, she will say it is culture. If we are not precise in the little things God won’t appreciate us in the big things. The question we must ask ourselves is why do I do that? If it is a cultural thing and belongs to a tribe, does that tribe belong to God?
To go to a Marae is not bad, but if you don’t know what you are doing, refer yourself to the Bible. As Jesus said to the Pharisees, they have eyes but cannot see. Since we have the Word we must not be like a blind man leading another blind man because even a small hole can be a consequence, both of them will fall.
Our God always works and never sleeps. although our prayers are short He listens to them, although we think He doesn’t answer, He does. God is not far from us.
We are going to talk about the religious spirit to discover who we are, and to know whether or not we do things according to God or our human nature. Sometimes the religious spirit brings confusion into the lives of Christians. When we speak about the religious spirit in the church it is a spirit that enters Christians and is disguised. This spirit gives work for them to do and they think they are working for God’s glory, but they are working for another power that opposes God’s strength.
When you observe these religious Christians you will discover they are not Christians. This spirit is not from today or yesterday but it started a long time ago. This spirit stops the work of God in Christian life, and it tells Christians they are perfect. Many Christians don’t like to hear about this spirit because it threatens them, but dear brothers and sisters we are going to talk about this spirit to make ourselves ready for heaven and prepare ourselves to be workers for God.
There is nothing worse in Christian life than to hear a message knowing that the preacher knows your problem, I will never do this. It is like taking the Bible and preaching about Colleen’s life. Why not preach the Word of God? Why not glorify God instead of talking about Colleen’s life? When we talk about the religious spirit put aside the thought that the Word of God preached was for Peter or Angela or someone else I know, but I will say it again we are here to be enlightened about our own life on earth.
What is Religion? Religion is human tradition and human belief. Do we have the word religion in the Bible? When we talk about the Pharisees you will find the word religion, when you talk about the Sadducees you will find the word religion. But when it is about Christians who were brought up in spirit and truth, this word religion disappears completely. If I called Angela a Pharisee, will she be happy? No, because they were hypocrites, proud and arrogant. The Pharisees knew the law very well and studied it seriously, but hypocrisy and arrogance was with them also. Even though the law they studied didn’t allow for hypocrisy and arrogance, they were hypocritical and arrogant without knowing it. The Pharisee culture made them like this.
Not long ago a Maori man went to the United States, and as you know Maori greet one another by the pressing of the two noses. However, when it came to greeting an American man he tried to greet him but the American kept his distance. Then the Maori man knew he was outside of his country. How did the American man interpret this form of greeting?
In Arab countries it is normal for men and women to kiss each other 4 or 5 times when greeting one another. But when this Maori man wanted to greet his American friend, the American said, “No, we will be called names.” This culture placed in another country becomes something that doesn’t honour man, and it is the same with the religious spirit.
The religious spirit, is a spirit that grows in the little characters we have in the Christian life. We say, “if I do that it’s o.k”. It’s like a child, for example a child might run and tell me that he is a good boy, “I’m not like Zoe, I’m so good that there is nobody like me.” As a parent I will say, “it’s good, but is it good for that child to believe that, won’t it lead him to accuse someone else even if they haven’t done anything wrong”. If the child does something good I will appreciate it, but if I appreciate another child while the first one is there how, will the first child feel if he believes that he is always the best. He will not like it and might even hate the second child. Because the first child was not the one given honour or praise he will take some distances from his friend, this friendship will turn into hatred. This is just a simple example to help you to understand that Christians live in such an environment.
I knew a few people in my life that used to say, “why can’t I preach like Oscar, when he preaches people always tell him that the message was a blessing for them”. These people think, ‘why does the success go to Oscar, yesterday when I preached nobody appreciated me’. Maybe because of jealousy that person will come to my place and say, “did you listen to Oscar’s message?” Then we will criticize Oscar’s message and start now to count all his mistakes. However, if Oscar hears this later he might go away and say I’m not going to carry on praying with you because there is hatred and conflict. That’s why we can see that churches have split today.
To have this religious spirit is very easy, you just have to follow your thoughts and your thoughts will lead you to this spirit. Those who are truly called Christians don’t walk according to their culture or thoughts, they walk according to the Holy Spirit, they are led and taught by the Holy Spirit, and not by their culture or their teachers at school.
When you learn the Word of God by school or culture, and not by the Holy Spirit, you risk adding to the Word of God. Example: In the time of old in my tribe women were not allowed to eat chicken, if she did she was stoned or put to death. Although many of these women became Christians, this culture is still alive in them because they keep on telling their daughters not to eat chicken.
It’s like a Maori who dies in New Zealand, people gather together on a Marae, and whether you like it or not you must take off your shoes, why? Maybe your socks have holes, maybe your feet stink, so why ask people to take off their shoes? People make conditions but don’t know why they make them. If I ask Michelle why they take their shoes off on a Marae, she will say it is culture. If we are not precise in the little things God won’t appreciate us in the big things. The question we must ask ourselves is why do I do that? If it is a cultural thing and belongs to a tribe, does that tribe belong to God?
To go to a Marae is not bad, but if you don’t know what you are doing, refer yourself to the Bible. As Jesus said to the Pharisees, they have eyes but cannot see. Since we have the Word we must not be like a blind man leading another blind man because even a small hole can be a consequence, both of them will fall.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Men will be unholy
II Timothy 3:2
By Hayley Boud
To understand what it means to be unholy we first have to understand what it means to be holy. There are many things that are holy in the Bible;
The people of Israel Exodus 19:110 We are also God’s people
The alter in temple Exodus 29:36 We are God’s temple
The priests Exodus 28:41 We are God’s priests
A building Nehemiah 3:1 We are Christ’s building
Soldiers Isa 13:3, Jer 51:27 We are God’s soldiers
The mountain Exodus 29:23 We have to climb the mountain of trails to get holy
The Sabbath Genesis 2:3 We are living the 7th day (the last day before Christ comes back)
A war I Sam 7:9; Ps 110:3 We are fighting against sin
A fast Joel 1:14; 2:15
The New Jerusalem Revelation 21:2
An action can be holy (Romans 16:16), the Word of God is Holy (Romans 1:2), God is Holy (Isaiah 1:4; 40:25), God’s Name is Holy (Is 57:15), a person can be Holy (Mk 6:20), a part of your body (I Tim 2:8), your calling (II Tim 1:9).
Now I was wondering if a piece of land or a material thing can really be holy, how can a mountain be holy? Perhaps it was just holy because God was there and itself was not holy. The temple was therefore a holy place because God was there and the Holy of Holies was where God was. The Word of God is therefore Holy because it is God Himself and so if we are to be Holy we need God in our lives and if our actions are to be Holy we need God to act in us.
“Quadesh”
Means apartness, holiness, sacredness, a holy thing (e.g. arc), holy vessels, sacred abligations, something consecrated, a dedicated thing, holy of holies (innermost part of the temple), a temple, holy tabernacle.
People or things that were dedicated to God were devoted to Him and to His service and could only be used for God’s glory (e.g. Samuel) and were withheld from ordinary use. We don’t have the right to use our bodies as we please because we dedicated our lives to God, we devoted ourselves to Him and so to be Holy we must keep ourselves from ordinary use and from worldly things. We are God’s holy vessels and as the vessels in the temple could only be used for God’s glory, so should we.
I think everybody knows that story of Belshazzar (Daniel 5) who took the vessels from the temple in order to drink from. Remember God’s reaction? He wrote on the wall, ‘Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin’ meaning that God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it, you have been weighed on scales and found deficient and your kingdom as been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians. So God is unhappy if we use what belongs to Him for something other than His glory and we therefore must be careful not to do anything apart from what He has agreed to. If not you will find your kingdom (body, heart and soul) will belong to another nation (satan).
“Qadash”
Means to be clean, to sanctify, purify, to consecrate, to be selected, to be pure, holy, sacred, devoted. A state in which people or things are set a side for use in the worship of God. Must be withheld from ordinary use and treated with special care as something which belongs to God and defilement makes it unusable (Deut 22:9; Ez 44:19; 46:20).
To be holy we must be clean and pure which means we must do our best to stay clear of sin and if we do fail, we need to repent make ourselves clean again because if we don’t we will make ourselves unusable.
“Hagios”
Means to be chaste, pure, holy and separate from sin
“Hosios”
Is different to Hagios because it isn’t about the moral significance but just the ritual significance.
This is the performer of holiness but in character; acting holy rather than being holy. It is important that we ARE holy, not just in our actions but in our being. The way to be holy is to be filled with the Holy Spirit since Himself is Holy.
In summary, to be Holy we have to be;
SET APART – CLEAN – PURE – DEVOTED – FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
So to be unholy, obviously, we have to be the opposite to that;
Without God’s spirit, living in the world and for ourselves rather than God, disobedient to God. This is what we will see in the end days and this is why the end days will be so hard to live in because people will not obey God and will live according to their own ideas which will be selfish.
By Hayley Boud
To understand what it means to be unholy we first have to understand what it means to be holy. There are many things that are holy in the Bible;
The people of Israel Exodus 19:110 We are also God’s people
The alter in temple Exodus 29:36 We are God’s temple
The priests Exodus 28:41 We are God’s priests
A building Nehemiah 3:1 We are Christ’s building
Soldiers Isa 13:3, Jer 51:27 We are God’s soldiers
The mountain Exodus 29:23 We have to climb the mountain of trails to get holy
The Sabbath Genesis 2:3 We are living the 7th day (the last day before Christ comes back)
A war I Sam 7:9; Ps 110:3 We are fighting against sin
A fast Joel 1:14; 2:15
The New Jerusalem Revelation 21:2
An action can be holy (Romans 16:16), the Word of God is Holy (Romans 1:2), God is Holy (Isaiah 1:4; 40:25), God’s Name is Holy (Is 57:15), a person can be Holy (Mk 6:20), a part of your body (I Tim 2:8), your calling (II Tim 1:9).
Now I was wondering if a piece of land or a material thing can really be holy, how can a mountain be holy? Perhaps it was just holy because God was there and itself was not holy. The temple was therefore a holy place because God was there and the Holy of Holies was where God was. The Word of God is therefore Holy because it is God Himself and so if we are to be Holy we need God in our lives and if our actions are to be Holy we need God to act in us.
“Quadesh”
Means apartness, holiness, sacredness, a holy thing (e.g. arc), holy vessels, sacred abligations, something consecrated, a dedicated thing, holy of holies (innermost part of the temple), a temple, holy tabernacle.
People or things that were dedicated to God were devoted to Him and to His service and could only be used for God’s glory (e.g. Samuel) and were withheld from ordinary use. We don’t have the right to use our bodies as we please because we dedicated our lives to God, we devoted ourselves to Him and so to be Holy we must keep ourselves from ordinary use and from worldly things. We are God’s holy vessels and as the vessels in the temple could only be used for God’s glory, so should we.
I think everybody knows that story of Belshazzar (Daniel 5) who took the vessels from the temple in order to drink from. Remember God’s reaction? He wrote on the wall, ‘Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin’ meaning that God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it, you have been weighed on scales and found deficient and your kingdom as been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians. So God is unhappy if we use what belongs to Him for something other than His glory and we therefore must be careful not to do anything apart from what He has agreed to. If not you will find your kingdom (body, heart and soul) will belong to another nation (satan).
“Qadash”
Means to be clean, to sanctify, purify, to consecrate, to be selected, to be pure, holy, sacred, devoted. A state in which people or things are set a side for use in the worship of God. Must be withheld from ordinary use and treated with special care as something which belongs to God and defilement makes it unusable (Deut 22:9; Ez 44:19; 46:20).
To be holy we must be clean and pure which means we must do our best to stay clear of sin and if we do fail, we need to repent make ourselves clean again because if we don’t we will make ourselves unusable.
“Hagios”
Means to be chaste, pure, holy and separate from sin
“Hosios”
Is different to Hagios because it isn’t about the moral significance but just the ritual significance.
This is the performer of holiness but in character; acting holy rather than being holy. It is important that we ARE holy, not just in our actions but in our being. The way to be holy is to be filled with the Holy Spirit since Himself is Holy.
In summary, to be Holy we have to be;
SET APART – CLEAN – PURE – DEVOTED – FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
So to be unholy, obviously, we have to be the opposite to that;
Without God’s spirit, living in the world and for ourselves rather than God, disobedient to God. This is what we will see in the end days and this is why the end days will be so hard to live in because people will not obey God and will live according to their own ideas which will be selfish.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Revelations Chapter Two (Part VI)
By Odon Bulamba (16 March 2001)
Revelation 2:13 I know where you live-where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city-where Satan lives.
Imagine if you thought that you were a good Christian but then someone comes along and says, “You dwell with Satan”?
Revelation says that Satan’s dwelling is in Babylon, it is not the Babylon that use to be long ago but the Babylon that is happening in the church today. Babylon also means Babel, remember Genesis 11. When people wanted to reach God they decided to build a tower that was very high so they could see where God lived.
The foundation was made of bricks and we know that bricks are made from the earth’s resources. It is like our bodies, we are made from dust. All their thoughts were physical and their flesh was working rather than the spirit. So they built a tower.
When they reached the top God put confusion in them. They started talking different languages and communication became impossible. This is what is happening in the church today. If you go to a Pentecostal church you won’t be able to speak the language of a baptist church. They divide each other with their speech and this is what we call doctrine. People hang onto man’s rules more than God’s rules. We marry man’s rules and not God’s rules. This is where Satan dwells. When this happens God brings confusion and splits up Christians.
The tower of Babel was built many years ago and that’s why we have many languages and descendants. God’s church also has descendants. Who are descendants? The upbringing you give your child will reflect what you have learnt. If you don’t bring your child up according to the word of God people will find it hard to recognize that your child is a servant of God. This is why it says in Timothy that the Pastor must control his own household.
If you use the English language your child will speak English and if you talk like a cat your children will do the same. Each one of us has a nationality, you can try and hide your speech but sooner or later it will come out. This is the same with our upbringing and it’s the same with what churches teach us. Satan dwells here. We must pay attention to the word of God. Does God allow me to do what I’m doing? Does God allow me to hate Maoris or other nationalities or not?
Because they have killed my father do I love them or not? If I hate someone then I become a murderer, the Bible says this in 1 John 3:15. The world can hate but as Christians you are not allowed. If you are slapped on one cheek give the other also. You must pray for your enemies and love them. It is not easy to love your enemies but we must do what David did with Saul.
We must avoid Satan dwelling among us. Satan doesn’t have the right to sit on your sofa but if you give him room he’ll kick you off. We must be careful not to be a stumbling block for others so that people will not fall because of us.
The church of Pergamum held fast onto God but they killed a faithful witness. That’s what is happening in the church. When you talk about the truth people begin to hate you, but if you flatter someone everybody is happy. In Matthew 6:16 the Pharisees always wanted to be hugged and hear that they were the best. They always wanted to be first so that everybody could see them. Woe to those who want to be first.
Jesus says in Revelation 2:14, “I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam”. Who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin be eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality?
Balaam was a prophet and worked for God. Balak invited Balaam to dinner because he knew that people listened to him and so did God. However Balak wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites.
Numbers 22:16-22. We can see that Balak wanted something from Balaam and that Balak would give him anything he needed. “I ask you Balaam to curse the people”, “I can’t curse the people for I must obey God’s word”. Balaam also made a mistake. He said to God, “God, I am going to curse the people”. However in verse 12 God said that he wasn’t allowed to go. Balaam listened to Balak because he wanted money and honour, so Balaam begged God to let him go. So God said go.
It means that when we are servants of God and God says, “do not sin,” be careful. Christians can drink to get drunk but when they finish having a good time they just ask God to forgive them. They know that God is against drunkenness but they still do it and think that God will forgive them.
When Balaam left the Bible says that an angel came with a sword. Balaam couldn’t see the angel even though he was a prophet. The donkey said to Balaam, “why are you hitting me, everyday I have carried you”?
When we want to please our bodies we go astray. Satan comes and wants us to kneel down and he’ll pretend to give you something. This is what the church is doing right now. When Peter preaches the gospel and everybody feel God’s power in him, the Baptist church will ask Peter, “Peter, come to our church and we will give you a car, a house and we’ll start a new church”. Peter will say, “this sounds good, I won’t have to pay rent and will receive all the offering”.
Peter then starts a Baptist church. Can you see that Peter forgets he is an Evangelist and becomes a Pastor? When Peter carries on in this church the power of God will start leaving him, the Holy Spirit will not work because he has fallen. If Peter says, “No, I don’t want this because it goes against the word of God”, God will do something good.
If you sell souls to denominations; these souls will suffer forever. As it is written in the book of Matthew 18:6-7, woe to the one that makes someone fall, woe to him! Woe to you who think only about the physical race! What colour was Adam? Race doesn’t matter in the eyes of God; if you were created a human being then you are like Adam. God can do what He wants but as human beings we must respect everyone whether you are white or black. Remember that one day worms will not worry about your colour.
Revelation 2:13 I know where you live-where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city-where Satan lives.
Imagine if you thought that you were a good Christian but then someone comes along and says, “You dwell with Satan”?
Revelation says that Satan’s dwelling is in Babylon, it is not the Babylon that use to be long ago but the Babylon that is happening in the church today. Babylon also means Babel, remember Genesis 11. When people wanted to reach God they decided to build a tower that was very high so they could see where God lived.
The foundation was made of bricks and we know that bricks are made from the earth’s resources. It is like our bodies, we are made from dust. All their thoughts were physical and their flesh was working rather than the spirit. So they built a tower.
When they reached the top God put confusion in them. They started talking different languages and communication became impossible. This is what is happening in the church today. If you go to a Pentecostal church you won’t be able to speak the language of a baptist church. They divide each other with their speech and this is what we call doctrine. People hang onto man’s rules more than God’s rules. We marry man’s rules and not God’s rules. This is where Satan dwells. When this happens God brings confusion and splits up Christians.
The tower of Babel was built many years ago and that’s why we have many languages and descendants. God’s church also has descendants. Who are descendants? The upbringing you give your child will reflect what you have learnt. If you don’t bring your child up according to the word of God people will find it hard to recognize that your child is a servant of God. This is why it says in Timothy that the Pastor must control his own household.
If you use the English language your child will speak English and if you talk like a cat your children will do the same. Each one of us has a nationality, you can try and hide your speech but sooner or later it will come out. This is the same with our upbringing and it’s the same with what churches teach us. Satan dwells here. We must pay attention to the word of God. Does God allow me to do what I’m doing? Does God allow me to hate Maoris or other nationalities or not?
Because they have killed my father do I love them or not? If I hate someone then I become a murderer, the Bible says this in 1 John 3:15. The world can hate but as Christians you are not allowed. If you are slapped on one cheek give the other also. You must pray for your enemies and love them. It is not easy to love your enemies but we must do what David did with Saul.
We must avoid Satan dwelling among us. Satan doesn’t have the right to sit on your sofa but if you give him room he’ll kick you off. We must be careful not to be a stumbling block for others so that people will not fall because of us.
The church of Pergamum held fast onto God but they killed a faithful witness. That’s what is happening in the church. When you talk about the truth people begin to hate you, but if you flatter someone everybody is happy. In Matthew 6:16 the Pharisees always wanted to be hugged and hear that they were the best. They always wanted to be first so that everybody could see them. Woe to those who want to be first.
Jesus says in Revelation 2:14, “I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam”. Who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin be eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality?
Balaam was a prophet and worked for God. Balak invited Balaam to dinner because he knew that people listened to him and so did God. However Balak wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites.
Numbers 22:16-22. We can see that Balak wanted something from Balaam and that Balak would give him anything he needed. “I ask you Balaam to curse the people”, “I can’t curse the people for I must obey God’s word”. Balaam also made a mistake. He said to God, “God, I am going to curse the people”. However in verse 12 God said that he wasn’t allowed to go. Balaam listened to Balak because he wanted money and honour, so Balaam begged God to let him go. So God said go.
It means that when we are servants of God and God says, “do not sin,” be careful. Christians can drink to get drunk but when they finish having a good time they just ask God to forgive them. They know that God is against drunkenness but they still do it and think that God will forgive them.
When Balaam left the Bible says that an angel came with a sword. Balaam couldn’t see the angel even though he was a prophet. The donkey said to Balaam, “why are you hitting me, everyday I have carried you”?
When we want to please our bodies we go astray. Satan comes and wants us to kneel down and he’ll pretend to give you something. This is what the church is doing right now. When Peter preaches the gospel and everybody feel God’s power in him, the Baptist church will ask Peter, “Peter, come to our church and we will give you a car, a house and we’ll start a new church”. Peter will say, “this sounds good, I won’t have to pay rent and will receive all the offering”.
Peter then starts a Baptist church. Can you see that Peter forgets he is an Evangelist and becomes a Pastor? When Peter carries on in this church the power of God will start leaving him, the Holy Spirit will not work because he has fallen. If Peter says, “No, I don’t want this because it goes against the word of God”, God will do something good.
If you sell souls to denominations; these souls will suffer forever. As it is written in the book of Matthew 18:6-7, woe to the one that makes someone fall, woe to him! Woe to you who think only about the physical race! What colour was Adam? Race doesn’t matter in the eyes of God; if you were created a human being then you are like Adam. God can do what He wants but as human beings we must respect everyone whether you are white or black. Remember that one day worms will not worry about your colour.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Revelations Chapter Two (Part V)
By Odon Bulamba (16 March 2001)
Revelation 2: 12-17
12And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; 13I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 14But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 15So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Many young people have a desire to become married. If Michelle leaves her family and goes to Kelly’s family and finds that one of her brother’s is single, Michelle can marry him. Everything in Michelle’s life will be shared with her husband’s life. She will follow what she has learnt and follow what her husband has learnt. Her life will not depend on herself but someone else. Before making any decisions she will consult with her husband.
When we are married we lose 50% of our responsibility to take 50% of someone else’s responsibility. In some cultures women aren’t allowed to speak. It means that their husband can do anything to them. Michelle must accept everything her husband says. Why?
The church of Pergamum was a young church. God loved this church a lot and this church walked with God. However, this church decided to get married and when they got married they didn’t respect God’s law. Pergamum means married. Jesus says that, “He is the one that owns a double-edged sword”. This sword has a meaning. (Hebrew 4:12)
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edge sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow: it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
This sword can enter people’s lives and separate both soul and spirit. The sword is the word of God so you cannot play around with it. If a child plays with a sharp knife the parents will know that there is danger. It is the same with the word of God; because the word of God is sharp we must be careful how we look after our sheep.
Parents must be careful with their kids, Evangelists and Pastors must be careful with people who use the word and make sure they don’t play around with it. Unfortunately the word of God in most churches today has become culture. When we don’t recognise or admit that the word of God is efficient and all that we need, God gets very angry. The Bible can cut you in two.
If you think you’re safe from getting cut because you don’t smoke or lie, you’ll forget about the sharp point at the end, which can hurt a lot. There are little things in the word of God we neglect. These little things can provoke a change in us, which means that there is no big sin or small sin. The Bible says that, “to hate someone is like a murderer”.
Some Christians hate others for no reason. For them they think it’s not a sin and is normal behaviour. “This is what my grandfather was like” or, “this is how I was brought up”. We see things as culture and this causes division.
A church we visited once had two race’s sitting opposite each other. Tongans sat on the left and Europeans sat on the right. It was hard for the white people to sit with the Tongans and also with the Tongans to sit with the white people. You could see black and white, which represented division in that church. The preacher speaks about unity but where is it in this church? They talk about it but don’t practice it. If we hate someone we are murderers. 1 John 3:15.
Although we meet together in one church we live in darkness. When you say we come to pray to Jesus because He is the light, are we serious? Can’t you see that you are playing with the word of God? Churches don’t do anything to stop it but encourage it. Why? The church is married to its denomination and would rather follow a rule that was established 18 years ago. You can see this everywhere in Christian life, so before God we are murderers and eternal life is not in us.
We must be very careful with what we call little sins. When we want to justify ourselves we fall into a trap.
A few years ago a man was invited to a meal. He was very hungry but the meal was very hot. He started eating hot potatoes and found that it was too hot, but because people were around him he couldn’t spit it, so he just swallowed it. Tears came from the man’s face, “why are you crying” people asked? There was a picture of Jesus’ cross on the wall so he said, “I remember how Jesus was persecuted for me”. Can you understand? A little thing like this has led him to lie for he justified himself to let people know that he was not greedy. This is how Christians fall into sin. Many Christians today are physically at church but spiritually their thoughts are far away. The body is in the church but their spirit is in the world.
Revelation 2: 12-17
12And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; 13I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 14But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 15So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Many young people have a desire to become married. If Michelle leaves her family and goes to Kelly’s family and finds that one of her brother’s is single, Michelle can marry him. Everything in Michelle’s life will be shared with her husband’s life. She will follow what she has learnt and follow what her husband has learnt. Her life will not depend on herself but someone else. Before making any decisions she will consult with her husband.
When we are married we lose 50% of our responsibility to take 50% of someone else’s responsibility. In some cultures women aren’t allowed to speak. It means that their husband can do anything to them. Michelle must accept everything her husband says. Why?
The church of Pergamum was a young church. God loved this church a lot and this church walked with God. However, this church decided to get married and when they got married they didn’t respect God’s law. Pergamum means married. Jesus says that, “He is the one that owns a double-edged sword”. This sword has a meaning. (Hebrew 4:12)
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edge sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow: it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
This sword can enter people’s lives and separate both soul and spirit. The sword is the word of God so you cannot play around with it. If a child plays with a sharp knife the parents will know that there is danger. It is the same with the word of God; because the word of God is sharp we must be careful how we look after our sheep.
Parents must be careful with their kids, Evangelists and Pastors must be careful with people who use the word and make sure they don’t play around with it. Unfortunately the word of God in most churches today has become culture. When we don’t recognise or admit that the word of God is efficient and all that we need, God gets very angry. The Bible can cut you in two.
If you think you’re safe from getting cut because you don’t smoke or lie, you’ll forget about the sharp point at the end, which can hurt a lot. There are little things in the word of God we neglect. These little things can provoke a change in us, which means that there is no big sin or small sin. The Bible says that, “to hate someone is like a murderer”.
Some Christians hate others for no reason. For them they think it’s not a sin and is normal behaviour. “This is what my grandfather was like” or, “this is how I was brought up”. We see things as culture and this causes division.
A church we visited once had two race’s sitting opposite each other. Tongans sat on the left and Europeans sat on the right. It was hard for the white people to sit with the Tongans and also with the Tongans to sit with the white people. You could see black and white, which represented division in that church. The preacher speaks about unity but where is it in this church? They talk about it but don’t practice it. If we hate someone we are murderers. 1 John 3:15.
Although we meet together in one church we live in darkness. When you say we come to pray to Jesus because He is the light, are we serious? Can’t you see that you are playing with the word of God? Churches don’t do anything to stop it but encourage it. Why? The church is married to its denomination and would rather follow a rule that was established 18 years ago. You can see this everywhere in Christian life, so before God we are murderers and eternal life is not in us.
We must be very careful with what we call little sins. When we want to justify ourselves we fall into a trap.
A few years ago a man was invited to a meal. He was very hungry but the meal was very hot. He started eating hot potatoes and found that it was too hot, but because people were around him he couldn’t spit it, so he just swallowed it. Tears came from the man’s face, “why are you crying” people asked? There was a picture of Jesus’ cross on the wall so he said, “I remember how Jesus was persecuted for me”. Can you understand? A little thing like this has led him to lie for he justified himself to let people know that he was not greedy. This is how Christians fall into sin. Many Christians today are physically at church but spiritually their thoughts are far away. The body is in the church but their spirit is in the world.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Revelations Chapter Two (Part IV)
By Odon Bulamba (9th March 2001)
“I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
To be a Jew today means you belong to God’s tribe. The new tribe of God is today’s Christians. The new Jewish tribe is Christians today. Remember that the Israelites and the Jews are two different tribes.
How could Jesus say that in this church of Smyrna there are people in the synagogue of Satan? People pretend to belong to Jesus but are not. Remember the horse and the donkey, people pray and walk according to the church rules but don’t belong to the real thing. They might give their 10%, or kneel down for five days and fast, but Jesus is not with them.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
We see that this church of Smyrna is still alive today. In 2 Thessalonians it says that Satan will lead the church and in today’s world there are churches led by Satan. Satan works through servants of God who lead churches. They mix up the Bible with things from the world and lead God’s people into confusion. This really hurts God.
How can people say, “I belong to this church and you belong to that church”? Because of this kind of attitude the church is divided. Churches don’t help one another. “Because you belong to this church your faith is different from our church”, but all of us believe in Jesus Christ. Are there two or three ways to believe and worship God? Do we have different faiths in Jesus Christ? The faith Moses had is our faith today because God never changes; God is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
Today Christians want people to think there are different ways to believe. They mix the Bible with communism; they mix the Bible with the law of New Zealand and then they serve it to people for them to drink.
I know someone who was invited to a ceremony. This person said, “Today I will eat all the different kinds of food available to me”. This man ate a lot. After the feast he went home. At home his stomach started to heat up and hurt. He started thinking about what he ate and said to himself, “I ate good food today but my stomach disagrees”. Suddenly he burped and gave off a horrible smell. When people talked to him they turned their heads from him because of the smell. This happened because he mixed up the food.
This is what servants of God are doing today, they mix up bits from the Bible and give it to Christians and then they become confused. If Jesus were to come back today, what would happen to you? The Pastor will say, “Do not worry, this church is the best in the world but if you go somewhere else you’ll be lost”. When Jesus comes back and people are spreading the good news, they too will not know He has come.
When Jesus was raised from the dead not all the disciples had seen Him, only the women. After this two young men were walking and the Lord was beside them. They had been with Jesus for two years but at that time Jesus was a stranger to them because they were living in confusion. Do you know why they were confused? Jesus said that, “when I am arrested you will flee”, but Peter said, “No Lord, not me, I’m so strong I can lift heavy weights”. Everyone wants to show how strong he or she is before Jesus and forget that Jesus is God and doesn’t need our strength.
We as Christians today want to defend God instead of God defending us. We want to fight in His place. We are not as strong as the Almighty God and we have no experience in combat, but we still want to fight. This is terrible!
When Jesus was on the mountain before His arrest the Bible says that the people all fled. They became frightened and left Jesus. The Bible talks about fear more than 368 times. It says, “Do not fear you Christians for fear is not a gift from God”. The disciples left Jesus and Peter was with them, this was the Peter who was strong and brave. A woman came up to Peter and asked him, “don’t you know this man”? But Peter said, “Do you know me? You must be confused because I have never seen him before”.
This is what the church is doing today. We keep living in confusion and deny the truth. The Bible may say something but you say, “No, our church doesn’t accept this”. Why do we deny He who created us? When someone comes to speak about the word of God we change things.
Revelation 2:10, Do not fear what you are about to suffer, behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation for ten days, be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life
The Bible says, “Do not fear”. When servants of God didn’t bow down to other gods they were arrested. The king would say, “Because you do not bow down to my gods you will be thrown into the furnace”. God’s servants were not afraid of the fire because they knew it was for the glory of God.
Most people are afraid to die. It is better to die for the glory of God then the devil. People are burnt alive in South Africa for stealing. As for us Christians we know there is eternal life after this life, but we are afraid to tell the good news about it. When someone becomes a Christian they carry a New Testament in their pocket so they don’t have to carry a big thick Bible. When a nice girl walks by you hide your Bible because you believe she won’t want a preaching. “I just can’t relate to her if I am a Christian, but if I drink a little and invite her to the pub, it will be easy for me to talk with her”. Can you see how sin is more important then the will of God? Christians do these things not pagans. You must carry your cross and die.
Daniel was arrested because he prayed and the king threw him into the lions’ den. But because he was not afraid, he carried on praying. Remember that FEAR is a bad thing for a Christian, but only fear the Lord and wisdom will be given to you.
Nobody can stop the devil from tempting us. Many Christians in Smyrna were in the presence of the devil. Jesus said, “He will throw you into prison because you just let things go”. You are thrown into a prison because you have done something wrong, but when you do something against the will of God, Satan puts you into his prison, and when you are in there he will persecute you. In Satan’s prison there is both physical and spiritual torture.
Jesus says, “be faithful until death.” It means that if you are not faithful until death you will not have this crown. It doesn’t mean being faithful for five years after your second birth, it’s not about being faithful for ten years of knowing Jesus Christ, but it says, “be faithful until death.” The church of Smyrna gave up their faithfulness, which allowed the devil to lead them.
Jesus promised that, “if you are not faithful to the end, you will not have the crown of life.” We must be really careful to know where we are up to. Am I faithful to God? Am I faithful to the word of God? How can I be faithful if I have enemies? How can I be faithful to God if I don’t listen? How can I be faithful to God if I don’t love my neighbour? We must think about these things, don’t just read it; put it into practice.
2 Timothy 3:7, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Some people can study everyday but will have no knowledge about the truth. We must not think like these people. If we don’t know the truth it is hard to be faithful to God. How can I put truth into practice if I don’t know what the truth is? When you encourage someone not to sleep during a message, are you the first one to fall asleep? When Steve will ask you, “how was the message?” and you reply, “Oh, it was good.” This is a lie. You can’t say it was good because you were asleep, maybe you’ll say that you slept well in the church but if you say you fell asleep Steve may think that you’ll not a good Christian. You will make excuses to Steve because you didn’t know what the message was about and so that Steve won’t think you’re a bad Christian.
Do I learn the truth or not? The Lord said to the church of Smyrna, “Christians in Smyrna be very careful and faithful until the end.” Not to be faithful has serious consequences in the Christian life, the five foolish virgins are an example. They were faithful for a time, 2 hours before their Lord came they were unfaithful; there was no oil in their lamps.
Instead of checking the oil in their lamp or turning their lamps off before the coming of the Lord they just wasted it. They would have used the light of others. You cannot imitate other people’s gifts so do not compare yourself to anyone else or you could lose your life. Those who try to imitate other people’s light, their light will get smaller and smaller. The wise woman could see that the other five women had a problem, and the not so wise women became envious towards them. “If only we had their oil we would look good”.
The same thing happened with the two women who had babies in Solomon’s time. One child died so the woman of that dead child decided to steal the other woman’s child. Before God you cannot hide yourself, the wisdom that God put in Solomon was able to detect whom the baby belonged to. He took a sword and said, “I must take this child and cut it into two so you can both have a share”. The true mother said, “Why do you want to do this? Give the child to the other woman”. The other woman said yes, this is my child. So the lying mother said cut this child into two and it was therefore obvious to Solomon who was the correct mother.
In the book of Hebrew the word of God is a sword and this sword always cuts. God uses this sword to cut us spiritually. God doesn’t care whether your Bible is French or English, but He does care about the work of this Bible in your heart.
As for us Christians we must make up our minds to know where God will cut us. If we say, “God, we want to belong to you only so please don’t cut us”, you must put te Word of God into practice.
Because of their bitterness God said, “be faithful until death, the one who has ears must hear what I am saying”. God didn’t say to those who have ears listen to what the Pastor has to say, nor what the bishop has to say, but to those who have ears to what the Spirit has to say to the church.
God invites us to listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice instead of man’s voice. Ask God to help you know where the Spirit speaks and where the Spirit does not speak so that you will not follow what man wants. This is how you will find the crown of life.
Those who are winners will not die; this means there is a second death after this life. We live and then die. If we don’t live in the Lord or are not faithful to the end, you risk taking part in that second death and this death is dangerous because it is eternal.
There was a servant of God who wanted to know what life was like after death so God said to him, “do you really want to know what life is like after death?” and he said “yes I want to know, because people say there is life but what kind of life, how can I preach to people about death if I haven’t experienced it?”
So God showed him. At night in bed the Lord came to him. He felt someone holding his neck and pulling it with a great force. The Lord ripped his neck, head and chest from his body. The head was on one side and the chest on the other. The pain he felt was unbearable so he started screaming out for help but God closed his mouth so that nobody could hear him. God said to him,” this is only the first part”. When the spirit leaves the body it is like a fight. The man then said, “this is too hard, I want to go back”. The Lord said, “you have started your journey so you must finish it”.
So they moved on and the Lord left him alone. Because he had the knowledge of God’s word he remembered that the way that leads to heaven was narrow. He wanted to go the narrow way but someone said, “this is not your way, go back”. He had fear and said, “this is a problem Lord because I preached your word and did good things for You, so how can I be on the wide path”?
The devil came before him and said, “you have disturbed me everyday and you cast me out in the name of Jesus. When people were sick you cast me out of them and today you have the cheek of coming into my kingdom, you had ears but they never listened”. So the devil pulled the eyes and ears out of this man.
Imagine the pain in your body and heart, “you had ears but you didn’t listen”. So he went on and saw the world. The mountains were flat and in Revelation 20 you can read about this. The world was flat, the trees were gone, the buildings were not there, and nothing was there.
He then saw the sun coming down 7 times and the power of the sun was multiplied 7 times, so the sun was very hot. The water in the ocean started boiling and the water would come onto the earth and mix with the dirt. It is like mixing boiling hot water in a pan and water bubbling over the sides. The dust was mixed up with water and became like mud.
Because the earth was like boiling mud the Lord said, “death doesn’t exist in you for this is the earth”. He looked everywhere to hide but couldn’t. Everywhere there was mud. He tried to run but it was impossible so God gave him pain 7 times greater. When he wanted to flee he put his foot on the earth but it got stuck and his foot burnt up. He cried and screamed but nobody came to help him. God left him there for a few seconds only. This servant of God said, “Lord, forgive me, I want to go back where I was before, I don’t want to move on, I think this is enough and I accept what you want to say”.
God gave him life again and now this person really knows about life after death. Remember we must be very careful to know there is a second death and this second death is not just about being buried, it is a death that has no end!
“I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
To be a Jew today means you belong to God’s tribe. The new tribe of God is today’s Christians. The new Jewish tribe is Christians today. Remember that the Israelites and the Jews are two different tribes.
How could Jesus say that in this church of Smyrna there are people in the synagogue of Satan? People pretend to belong to Jesus but are not. Remember the horse and the donkey, people pray and walk according to the church rules but don’t belong to the real thing. They might give their 10%, or kneel down for five days and fast, but Jesus is not with them.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
We see that this church of Smyrna is still alive today. In 2 Thessalonians it says that Satan will lead the church and in today’s world there are churches led by Satan. Satan works through servants of God who lead churches. They mix up the Bible with things from the world and lead God’s people into confusion. This really hurts God.
How can people say, “I belong to this church and you belong to that church”? Because of this kind of attitude the church is divided. Churches don’t help one another. “Because you belong to this church your faith is different from our church”, but all of us believe in Jesus Christ. Are there two or three ways to believe and worship God? Do we have different faiths in Jesus Christ? The faith Moses had is our faith today because God never changes; God is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
Today Christians want people to think there are different ways to believe. They mix the Bible with communism; they mix the Bible with the law of New Zealand and then they serve it to people for them to drink.
I know someone who was invited to a ceremony. This person said, “Today I will eat all the different kinds of food available to me”. This man ate a lot. After the feast he went home. At home his stomach started to heat up and hurt. He started thinking about what he ate and said to himself, “I ate good food today but my stomach disagrees”. Suddenly he burped and gave off a horrible smell. When people talked to him they turned their heads from him because of the smell. This happened because he mixed up the food.
This is what servants of God are doing today, they mix up bits from the Bible and give it to Christians and then they become confused. If Jesus were to come back today, what would happen to you? The Pastor will say, “Do not worry, this church is the best in the world but if you go somewhere else you’ll be lost”. When Jesus comes back and people are spreading the good news, they too will not know He has come.
When Jesus was raised from the dead not all the disciples had seen Him, only the women. After this two young men were walking and the Lord was beside them. They had been with Jesus for two years but at that time Jesus was a stranger to them because they were living in confusion. Do you know why they were confused? Jesus said that, “when I am arrested you will flee”, but Peter said, “No Lord, not me, I’m so strong I can lift heavy weights”. Everyone wants to show how strong he or she is before Jesus and forget that Jesus is God and doesn’t need our strength.
We as Christians today want to defend God instead of God defending us. We want to fight in His place. We are not as strong as the Almighty God and we have no experience in combat, but we still want to fight. This is terrible!
When Jesus was on the mountain before His arrest the Bible says that the people all fled. They became frightened and left Jesus. The Bible talks about fear more than 368 times. It says, “Do not fear you Christians for fear is not a gift from God”. The disciples left Jesus and Peter was with them, this was the Peter who was strong and brave. A woman came up to Peter and asked him, “don’t you know this man”? But Peter said, “Do you know me? You must be confused because I have never seen him before”.
This is what the church is doing today. We keep living in confusion and deny the truth. The Bible may say something but you say, “No, our church doesn’t accept this”. Why do we deny He who created us? When someone comes to speak about the word of God we change things.
Revelation 2:10, Do not fear what you are about to suffer, behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation for ten days, be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life
The Bible says, “Do not fear”. When servants of God didn’t bow down to other gods they were arrested. The king would say, “Because you do not bow down to my gods you will be thrown into the furnace”. God’s servants were not afraid of the fire because they knew it was for the glory of God.
Most people are afraid to die. It is better to die for the glory of God then the devil. People are burnt alive in South Africa for stealing. As for us Christians we know there is eternal life after this life, but we are afraid to tell the good news about it. When someone becomes a Christian they carry a New Testament in their pocket so they don’t have to carry a big thick Bible. When a nice girl walks by you hide your Bible because you believe she won’t want a preaching. “I just can’t relate to her if I am a Christian, but if I drink a little and invite her to the pub, it will be easy for me to talk with her”. Can you see how sin is more important then the will of God? Christians do these things not pagans. You must carry your cross and die.
Daniel was arrested because he prayed and the king threw him into the lions’ den. But because he was not afraid, he carried on praying. Remember that FEAR is a bad thing for a Christian, but only fear the Lord and wisdom will be given to you.
Nobody can stop the devil from tempting us. Many Christians in Smyrna were in the presence of the devil. Jesus said, “He will throw you into prison because you just let things go”. You are thrown into a prison because you have done something wrong, but when you do something against the will of God, Satan puts you into his prison, and when you are in there he will persecute you. In Satan’s prison there is both physical and spiritual torture.
Jesus says, “be faithful until death.” It means that if you are not faithful until death you will not have this crown. It doesn’t mean being faithful for five years after your second birth, it’s not about being faithful for ten years of knowing Jesus Christ, but it says, “be faithful until death.” The church of Smyrna gave up their faithfulness, which allowed the devil to lead them.
Jesus promised that, “if you are not faithful to the end, you will not have the crown of life.” We must be really careful to know where we are up to. Am I faithful to God? Am I faithful to the word of God? How can I be faithful if I have enemies? How can I be faithful to God if I don’t listen? How can I be faithful to God if I don’t love my neighbour? We must think about these things, don’t just read it; put it into practice.
2 Timothy 3:7, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Some people can study everyday but will have no knowledge about the truth. We must not think like these people. If we don’t know the truth it is hard to be faithful to God. How can I put truth into practice if I don’t know what the truth is? When you encourage someone not to sleep during a message, are you the first one to fall asleep? When Steve will ask you, “how was the message?” and you reply, “Oh, it was good.” This is a lie. You can’t say it was good because you were asleep, maybe you’ll say that you slept well in the church but if you say you fell asleep Steve may think that you’ll not a good Christian. You will make excuses to Steve because you didn’t know what the message was about and so that Steve won’t think you’re a bad Christian.
Do I learn the truth or not? The Lord said to the church of Smyrna, “Christians in Smyrna be very careful and faithful until the end.” Not to be faithful has serious consequences in the Christian life, the five foolish virgins are an example. They were faithful for a time, 2 hours before their Lord came they were unfaithful; there was no oil in their lamps.
Instead of checking the oil in their lamp or turning their lamps off before the coming of the Lord they just wasted it. They would have used the light of others. You cannot imitate other people’s gifts so do not compare yourself to anyone else or you could lose your life. Those who try to imitate other people’s light, their light will get smaller and smaller. The wise woman could see that the other five women had a problem, and the not so wise women became envious towards them. “If only we had their oil we would look good”.
The same thing happened with the two women who had babies in Solomon’s time. One child died so the woman of that dead child decided to steal the other woman’s child. Before God you cannot hide yourself, the wisdom that God put in Solomon was able to detect whom the baby belonged to. He took a sword and said, “I must take this child and cut it into two so you can both have a share”. The true mother said, “Why do you want to do this? Give the child to the other woman”. The other woman said yes, this is my child. So the lying mother said cut this child into two and it was therefore obvious to Solomon who was the correct mother.
In the book of Hebrew the word of God is a sword and this sword always cuts. God uses this sword to cut us spiritually. God doesn’t care whether your Bible is French or English, but He does care about the work of this Bible in your heart.
As for us Christians we must make up our minds to know where God will cut us. If we say, “God, we want to belong to you only so please don’t cut us”, you must put te Word of God into practice.
Because of their bitterness God said, “be faithful until death, the one who has ears must hear what I am saying”. God didn’t say to those who have ears listen to what the Pastor has to say, nor what the bishop has to say, but to those who have ears to what the Spirit has to say to the church.
God invites us to listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice instead of man’s voice. Ask God to help you know where the Spirit speaks and where the Spirit does not speak so that you will not follow what man wants. This is how you will find the crown of life.
Those who are winners will not die; this means there is a second death after this life. We live and then die. If we don’t live in the Lord or are not faithful to the end, you risk taking part in that second death and this death is dangerous because it is eternal.
There was a servant of God who wanted to know what life was like after death so God said to him, “do you really want to know what life is like after death?” and he said “yes I want to know, because people say there is life but what kind of life, how can I preach to people about death if I haven’t experienced it?”
So God showed him. At night in bed the Lord came to him. He felt someone holding his neck and pulling it with a great force. The Lord ripped his neck, head and chest from his body. The head was on one side and the chest on the other. The pain he felt was unbearable so he started screaming out for help but God closed his mouth so that nobody could hear him. God said to him,” this is only the first part”. When the spirit leaves the body it is like a fight. The man then said, “this is too hard, I want to go back”. The Lord said, “you have started your journey so you must finish it”.
So they moved on and the Lord left him alone. Because he had the knowledge of God’s word he remembered that the way that leads to heaven was narrow. He wanted to go the narrow way but someone said, “this is not your way, go back”. He had fear and said, “this is a problem Lord because I preached your word and did good things for You, so how can I be on the wide path”?
The devil came before him and said, “you have disturbed me everyday and you cast me out in the name of Jesus. When people were sick you cast me out of them and today you have the cheek of coming into my kingdom, you had ears but they never listened”. So the devil pulled the eyes and ears out of this man.
Imagine the pain in your body and heart, “you had ears but you didn’t listen”. So he went on and saw the world. The mountains were flat and in Revelation 20 you can read about this. The world was flat, the trees were gone, the buildings were not there, and nothing was there.
He then saw the sun coming down 7 times and the power of the sun was multiplied 7 times, so the sun was very hot. The water in the ocean started boiling and the water would come onto the earth and mix with the dirt. It is like mixing boiling hot water in a pan and water bubbling over the sides. The dust was mixed up with water and became like mud.
Because the earth was like boiling mud the Lord said, “death doesn’t exist in you for this is the earth”. He looked everywhere to hide but couldn’t. Everywhere there was mud. He tried to run but it was impossible so God gave him pain 7 times greater. When he wanted to flee he put his foot on the earth but it got stuck and his foot burnt up. He cried and screamed but nobody came to help him. God left him there for a few seconds only. This servant of God said, “Lord, forgive me, I want to go back where I was before, I don’t want to move on, I think this is enough and I accept what you want to say”.
God gave him life again and now this person really knows about life after death. Remember we must be very careful to know there is a second death and this second death is not just about being buried, it is a death that has no end!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Revelations Chapter Two (Part III)
By Odon Bulamba (9 March 2001)
Revelation 2:8-9, “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
We are going to talk about the message given to Smyrna. Smyrna was a big church and well known in the Middle East. You would be respected if you belonged to this church. It means that if you belonged to this church you were proud. People boasted that they belonged to this church. Smyrna means bitterness, this word will tell us what happened in this church.
As we know Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. Jesus doesn’t want us to turn to someone else. He didn’t give power to other gods to be worshipped in this church, but says, “I am the first and the last”. If you want a solution just go to Jesus, don’t think you can find a solution in your friends or family.
Why did Jesus say that to the church of Smyrna? Because deep in their hearts the Christians in this church forsook God’s will and followed the Roman Government. If you mate a horse and donkey together and ask the offspring, “who you do you belong to?” it will not know.
The church of Smyrna accepted the Roman law and left out God’s law. They started mixing God’s law with the Roman law and this is like inter-breeding a horse with a donkey.
Nobody knew exactly what was going on in this church. Some people would see that they were 50% Christian and 50% Roman. So the Lord reminded them of one thing. “The government has never given their life for you, but as for Me, I have given My life for you and was crucified for you, so why do you want to give Me up? Remember the great love I have for you? Remember I left my throne in heaven to come to earth in a body to suffer? I also accepted to live among you humans even though I am God, but today you reject Me! You say that this is the church of God but you have no room for Me because the government fills it”. The people didn’t realize what Jesus was saying.
In verse 9 He says I know your suffering. How many people know about suffering on this earth? Suffering makes many Christians fear. Most Christian’s give up their faith when suffering is involved/ Many Christians will diminish the value of their faith and forget that at the beginning God said that Adam will suffer. They forget that Jesus said, “The one who wants to follow Me must carry His cross”. However when the time comes to carry our cross we are not willing to do it.
These people in Smyrna suffered from spiritual sickness. They could give their life to God when they prayed and sang but spiritually they were sick because there was bitterness inside them. When I was a child and fell ill from malaria, my mother gave me bread which had medicine in it. She knew that if I saw the medicine I would not take it, so she put it in a piece of bread with honey in it. “Here is honey son, come and eat”. So I started eating the bread. I could taste something bitter in my mouth and then my attitude changed, my mum said, “you must swallow the bread”. She knew I had discovered something in the bread. We are like this with God, when there is bitterness in us, God can see it, you can do your hardest to hide it but God will say, “I know everything”.
Even though these people worked hard for God and suffered for Him, their bitterness would count it useless. So their suffering was useless. Jesus said that, “apart from your suffering you still make an effort and the one thing I like is your poverty because you are realizing you are poor”.
Matthew 5:3, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
If you have admitted that you are spiritually poor, the kingdom of God belongs to you. Try to count how many churches are spiritually rich. Any Pastor or Christian will say, “I know the Bible, I’ve been a Christian for twenty years”. If you know everything why do you meet with others to preach and pray? If we know everything why are we looking for God’s face? Jesus Christ knows everything because He is the first and the last. Even though Jesus is God He still learnt about carpentry from Joseph.
One day I needed salt. In Africa nobody asked his neighbour for anything so it became a problem because we needed salt to taste the food. We thought we were rich but to have something little as salt was a problem. If you don’t admit you are spiritually poor you will never grow. Although we might be poor we must rejoice in poverty for it is better to be poor physically then spiritually. You may be rich physically but if you don’t have Jesus in your life you are poor. You may think that Helen Clark is rich but if she doesn’t have Jesus in her life she is poor. Only when she realizes that she is spiritually poor can she be sure that one day she will enter the kingdom of God.
The poor always seek and have this courage to look. They are very strong and work hard day and night to win their bread. The rich however do nothing. They know that bread is available all the time. This is why it is written, blessed are the poor in spirit. Revelation 2:9
Revelation 2:8-9, “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
We are going to talk about the message given to Smyrna. Smyrna was a big church and well known in the Middle East. You would be respected if you belonged to this church. It means that if you belonged to this church you were proud. People boasted that they belonged to this church. Smyrna means bitterness, this word will tell us what happened in this church.
As we know Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. Jesus doesn’t want us to turn to someone else. He didn’t give power to other gods to be worshipped in this church, but says, “I am the first and the last”. If you want a solution just go to Jesus, don’t think you can find a solution in your friends or family.
Why did Jesus say that to the church of Smyrna? Because deep in their hearts the Christians in this church forsook God’s will and followed the Roman Government. If you mate a horse and donkey together and ask the offspring, “who you do you belong to?” it will not know.
The church of Smyrna accepted the Roman law and left out God’s law. They started mixing God’s law with the Roman law and this is like inter-breeding a horse with a donkey.
Nobody knew exactly what was going on in this church. Some people would see that they were 50% Christian and 50% Roman. So the Lord reminded them of one thing. “The government has never given their life for you, but as for Me, I have given My life for you and was crucified for you, so why do you want to give Me up? Remember the great love I have for you? Remember I left my throne in heaven to come to earth in a body to suffer? I also accepted to live among you humans even though I am God, but today you reject Me! You say that this is the church of God but you have no room for Me because the government fills it”. The people didn’t realize what Jesus was saying.
In verse 9 He says I know your suffering. How many people know about suffering on this earth? Suffering makes many Christians fear. Most Christian’s give up their faith when suffering is involved/ Many Christians will diminish the value of their faith and forget that at the beginning God said that Adam will suffer. They forget that Jesus said, “The one who wants to follow Me must carry His cross”. However when the time comes to carry our cross we are not willing to do it.
These people in Smyrna suffered from spiritual sickness. They could give their life to God when they prayed and sang but spiritually they were sick because there was bitterness inside them. When I was a child and fell ill from malaria, my mother gave me bread which had medicine in it. She knew that if I saw the medicine I would not take it, so she put it in a piece of bread with honey in it. “Here is honey son, come and eat”. So I started eating the bread. I could taste something bitter in my mouth and then my attitude changed, my mum said, “you must swallow the bread”. She knew I had discovered something in the bread. We are like this with God, when there is bitterness in us, God can see it, you can do your hardest to hide it but God will say, “I know everything”.
Even though these people worked hard for God and suffered for Him, their bitterness would count it useless. So their suffering was useless. Jesus said that, “apart from your suffering you still make an effort and the one thing I like is your poverty because you are realizing you are poor”.
Matthew 5:3, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
If you have admitted that you are spiritually poor, the kingdom of God belongs to you. Try to count how many churches are spiritually rich. Any Pastor or Christian will say, “I know the Bible, I’ve been a Christian for twenty years”. If you know everything why do you meet with others to preach and pray? If we know everything why are we looking for God’s face? Jesus Christ knows everything because He is the first and the last. Even though Jesus is God He still learnt about carpentry from Joseph.
One day I needed salt. In Africa nobody asked his neighbour for anything so it became a problem because we needed salt to taste the food. We thought we were rich but to have something little as salt was a problem. If you don’t admit you are spiritually poor you will never grow. Although we might be poor we must rejoice in poverty for it is better to be poor physically then spiritually. You may be rich physically but if you don’t have Jesus in your life you are poor. You may think that Helen Clark is rich but if she doesn’t have Jesus in her life she is poor. Only when she realizes that she is spiritually poor can she be sure that one day she will enter the kingdom of God.
The poor always seek and have this courage to look. They are very strong and work hard day and night to win their bread. The rich however do nothing. They know that bread is available all the time. This is why it is written, blessed are the poor in spirit. Revelation 2:9
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
