WITNESS OKWUDILICHUKWU 14

 8 GOSPEL MINISTERS & 17 CHURCH WORKERS IN HELL

PART 14

5. CONTROL YOUR FEELINGS

Most godly people are made or marred by their emotions. The way we feel about a particular thing can make us be condemned or congratulated. Some godly people in the scriptures were dealt with on their feelings. Adam and Eve were the first human beings on earth. They lost their fellowship with God when they ate the fruit, which they were instructed never to touch let alone to eat. As soon as they sinned, by eating the fruit which they were asked not to eat, they ran away from the fellowship ground from God, when they should have waited to tell God that they were sorry for disobeying Him. When God came to fellowship with them, He discovered that they had sinned, and He asked Adam what happened and they explained that the serpent deceived her (Eve). Both of them were finally pushed out of fellowship which they were having since with their maker. Read Genesis 2:15-17 and Genesis 3.

It was disobedience to the instruction of God and an unremorseful attitude to sin that destroyed Adam and Eve. The next person was King David. He had everything he needed as a king. He lacked nothing! However, because of the lust of the flesh, he committed a crime that left Israel with a curse till today. David indirectly killed Uriah because he saw the nakedness of Uriah’s wife and he determined to have her as a wife. David conspired against Uriah and Uriah was killed in the battlefront. He took Uriah’s wife to be his. When he discovered that God was angry with him because of what he had done, he confessed his sins and God transferred the punishment of David’s sin to the Israelites and that is why Israel is fighting incessant wars with other nations. Read 2 Samuel 11 & 12.

Another person was Samson. Samson was created for the deliverance of Israel but lost his ministry on the laps of Delilah. He was thinking that sexual immorality has no negative effect on his life. When the signs of losing his strength were shown to him, he did not pay attention to them. He was lost in love with Delilah who tried on several occasions to know where his strength was. Little did Samson know that one of the things that could destroy the ministry of a man is a strange woman? A strange woman possesses a strange power that could strangely destroy a man without mercy.

The Bible says, “Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded yea, many strong men have been slain by her, her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." ( Proverbs 7:25-27 KJV)

When Samson had finally and foolishly revealed the secret of his strength to Delilah, he was shaved and had his eyes gouged out, then they made a mockery of him. Before he could save his life, he had died with his enemies. Read Judges 13 & 16. Be careful with your feelings. Do not reveal your secrets to people unless your secrets will take them to their destiny, or else you may ruin your destiny and lose your life as well.

Ananias and Sapphira were among the early Christians. They sold some property. Ananias brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. Then the Holy Spirit struck him and he died. When Sapphira was asked about the money his husband brought to the apostles, she claimed the money was the full amount and as a result, she died. Read Acts 5:1-10.

Having studied the episode of Ananias and Sapphira, you can understand that insincerity and greed were the traits that destroyed them. It is as if God is exercising much tolerance with the present-day Christians than the early ones because the sin and the evil that is increasing in the church presently starting from the pulpit to the pew are appalling. If God should react to them in ager, Christians will become afraid of getting involved in evil and sin intentionally. But I know that when Jesus comes back, He will reward everybody according to our deeds.

The amendment time is now. Beloved, do not say tomorrow you will turn to God because tomorrow may never come your way. In Revelation 22:12 NLT, Jesus said, “Look I am coming soon, bringing My reward with Me to repay all people according to their deeds.”

So let us be mindful that one day we shall be rewarded for all that we have done. If our work is good, our reward will be good but if our work is bad our reward will be bad.

May the grace, the peace, the favor and the glory of God keep you and I firm in the faith till the arrival of Jesus Christ our Lord Amen!

THE END

THE TIME TO PRAY ABOUT YOUR SALVATION IS NOW, LET US PRAY.

NEXT: Witness Okwudilichukwu The Danger Of Attending Fake Modern Churches

WITNESS OKWUDILICHUKWU 13

 8 GOSPEL MINISTERS & 17 CHURCH WORKERS IN HELL

PART 13

A forgiving Christian is a winning Christian, so no matter what the person must have done to you or how painful it is to you, please my dear, just forgive and let it go. When you let it go, something specific will happen in you. You will feel as if a heavy burden was lifted up from your shoulders. But when you grudge, you would feel so heavily burdened in your mind and such hinders answer to prayers. And if you do not know how to forgive and let go, just do what Jesus said for such a case, Jesus made an invitation thus, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 KJV). As you open your mouth and say, “Jesus I have come to You so that You will take away grudge from me and give me rest. Please take away from me this heart that bears a grudge and give me a new heart that forgives and let go." Jesus will answer you.

“Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13 KJV)

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 35:26 KJV)

It is excruciating to me anytime I hear Christians praying for the death of their human enemies. It is erroneous! If your enemies die, who do you think will make you strong? Your enemies are there to strengthen your faith in God. So, if they all die, you will gradually grow weak in faith and die off spiritually. We are called to save others. We are not called by God to destroy lives. Anybody who prays that his enemies should die does not understand what Christianity is all about. When you understand that Christianity is about compassion for perishing souls, you will not tell God to destroy the lives of your enemies. If a Christian is praying for the death of a witch or a wizard and he himself is standing against the progress of another, is he not an enemy to that person? Of course, he is. And if the person whom the Christian is standing against his progress start praying against his progress, do you think that Christian will go unpunished? Of course not, then the Bible says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. (Galatian 6:7 KJV)

It is absolutely painful seeing ministers of the gospel today telling the members of their church to pray for the death of their enemies, what sort of thing is that? Is that what the New Testament says? Some pastors are making their members charismatic murderers attempting murder with their prayer. And they call it dangerous prayer. They want to please their members by teaching them to be wicked. What sort of pleasure do you derive from doing that? If God must answer these wicked prayers by killing your enemies which souls will you proudly present before Him as your converts on the judgment day.

However, instead of praying that God should destroy our enemies, pray that God should convert them to good. David wouldn’t have become the man after God’s own heart if he had killed Saul when he had the opportunity to do so. It was love that made David find it difficult to kill Saul. Read 1 Samuel 24 and 26. Most Christians retaliate when their enemies do them wrong.

But the Bible says, “Recompense to no man evil for evil.” (Romans 12:17 KJV)

“Do not avenge for vengeance belongs to God.” (Hebrew 10:30 KJV)

“Not rendering evil or railing: but contrary blessing; knowing that ye are there unto called that ye should inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9 KJV)

Don’t love those who love you only but love everybody. Show kindness to everybody around you for this is an evidence of your Christianity. It is unbelievers that love those who love them and hate those who hate them. There are some Christians who love only those who are good to them, and they hate and abhor those who are bad to them. Jesus said in Matthew 5:46 KJV, “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans do the same?”

Our relationship with others should make a difference. If we must love only those who love us in return we would not make any difference between unbelievers and ourselves for that is their way of living. Passion for lives should make us tolerant. We should not have to give the devil any foothold.

“So that Satan will not outsmart us, for we are familiar with his evil schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:11 NLT)

Be careful about your deeds. One is punished or praised by what one does. You will either be condemned or congratulated by what you do. A good deed is a product of goodwill and a bad deed is evidence of evil intention. The angels of God in Heaven are taking records of what we are doing here on earth. Whether we are doing the right thing or wrong thing, God must reward us accordingly. Every deed that is contrary to the law attracts judgment. No lawbreaker will go unpunished. Do not join the train of those who always say God understands even when they are doing wrong things which are because of the pressure or circumstances surrounding you. And before you do anything either good or bad, enquire from God to know exactly His mind concerning that thing you want to do so that you will not make silly mistakes that may be detrimental to you physically, spiritually or otherwise.

HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH HOLY SPIRIT

This is the reason why you should have a cordial relationship WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT so that when you enquire from God about a particular issue, the Holy Spirit will reveal the answer to you expressly. The Bible says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:6 KJV).

“Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear that shall He speak and He will show you things to come.” (John 16:13 KJV).

Invite the Holy Spirit into whatever you want to do and He will direct you on how to do it. He will also guide you along to see that you do exactly as He had told you. The reason why we have problems in our pursuits is that when we receive guidelines concerning the vision we have, we won’t invite the Holy Spirit to come and be our supervisor over the vision, rather we depend on the guidelines we have received than the Giver of the guidelines. This is a grievous mistake. It is total dependence on the Holy Spirit that will lead us into perfect work.

CONCLUDED IN THE NEXT PART

NOW IS THE TIME TO AMEND YOUR WAYS BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE

WITNESS OKWUDILICHUKWU 12

 8 GOSPEL MINISTERS & 17 CHURCH WORKERS IN HELL

PART 12

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." (James 1; 19 KJV)

“He who is slow to wrath is of great understanding." (Proverbs 14:29 KJV)

We all know that as long as we continue to live, we will keep hearing pleasant and unpleasant things. But then, we are expected to think wisely and find out whether what we heard is true or false. Sometimes you may be accused of something you did not do and on hearing such accusation you tend to react in an aggressive manner. Such things would be there to strengthen your faith. Temptations and trials are there, not to go get you down but up and strong in the Lord. When the devil is placing you on trials know, that there are precious things IN YOU WHICH HE IS LOOKING FOR and ONE OF THEM IS YOUR SALVATION. If the devil will be able to get your salvation, he has gotten the most precious thing in your life. So in all trials and temptations, remember the death of Jesus on the cross of Calvary and defend your salvation.

HOW TO REACT WHEN EVIL IS SPOKEN AGAINST ME

Listen very carefully, when you hear something that was said against you, you should not pick offense at the moment. You should relax and let the anger that wanted to spring up go off. Then, if you must talk by going to the person who you were told said something bad against you, please do it in a calm tone and responsible manner. Just ask him / her, "Please I want to ask you a question, would you be offended by my question?” Why you are seeking his / her opinion is to know whether he/she is happy or unhappy at that very moment. And again, you are trying to seek his permission to ask him a question so that you will not arouse his anger.

Then, the second question you should ask him/her is this, “Please look at what I heard, is it true?” However, you are trying to find out the truth. If he admitted that it is true, you go ahead and ask him/her, "Please don’t be offended by the way I ask you questions but why did you say that?” By probing this way, you are trying to know the reasons behind what he said: then when you might have known the reason, whether or not his / her reason is genuine, you add, "That is what I have come to find out and I hope you are not offended." Do not start quarreling because it may spring up offenses that may cause hatred between both of you. On the other hand, if he/she denied saying it, you will also add, “I am sorry for any embarrassment I may have caused you; it is just that I heard it and I wanted to be sure by finding out from you if it was true.” You will discover that if you have gone in anger, you would have destroyed his/ her interest than gaining it. And by asking him questions in a polite manner, you have taught him wisdom.

WHAT IF I AM CHALLENGED FOR A WRONG ACCUSATION

As far as you know you did not do it, you should not just get offended. But then, if in the process you got annoyed, try to control it by leaving the scene or the presence of the person for a solitary place so that the anger will subside. But if there was no way you could go out from him/ her just try as much as you can to calm him /her down by letting the person know that you did not do it which he/she accused you of in a low tone of voice. Know that you cannot calm down somebody who is angry with you when your voice is high.

Finally, when you know you have done something that will make somebody pick offense against you in so much that they may want to challenge you, please note that the simplest way to calm them down is to say, “Please I am very sorry for offending you, please forgive me.” And I believe that by saying this, the case would be settled.

“A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.” (Proverb 15:1 KJV)

First of all, I want you to know that why you do all these is to maintain peace with those who are offended by you. 

For it written, “If it is possible, as much as possible, live peaceably with all men.” (Romans 12:18 KJV)

“Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." (Hebrew 12:14 KJV)

Secondly, because you are going somewhere beyond this corrupt world, there should not be anything that will prevent you from going there.

4. MIND YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS

Nothing depicts the characters of Christ to humanity than our relationship with one another. It teaches mankind the difference between religion and Christianity. Christianity is God setting man free from all bondages of Satan, but religion is the man getting himself enslaved by Satan.

Our relationship with others will either present Christ or Satan to them. It should make others see Christ as real as what their hand can hold. We should make the Holy Spirit a reality to the people around us. People around us will not believe we are Christians when we are not in a good relationship with them. They won’t like to do anything with us when we say we are of Christ while our behaviors are that of the devil. Our relationship with the people around us is expected to enthrone Christ and dethrone the devil. It is not to enthrone the devil and praise him in our lives. But some Christians are making the devil proud by the way they live their lives. They would say they love God, but their lifestyles say otherwise. Jesus said, “And thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like, thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Mark 12:30-31 KJV)

When we love our neighbors, we are equally letting God know that we love Him. Our love should be shown in the way we care for others. We should not show pretentious love, claiming to love when our mind is filled with hatred. The mind that hates cannot show sincere love rather its love is shown in pretense. Love should be shown in sincerity. We should not allow grudge to dominate our minds.

James said, “Grudge condemns one before God. It is a barrier to answers to their prayers. Grudge has the ability to prevent spiritual gifts from functioning well, as some people spiritual gifts have been hindered because of the grudge they have against somebody who has offended them. Grudge makes spiritual gift unfruitful because it is the devil’s weapon of war against the children of God. Grudge has made some Christians  abandon their neighbors when they should be caring for them.”

The Bible says, “Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” (1 Peter 4:9 KJV)

We should be showing friendly and generous behavior towards our neighbors. When somebody around you needs something you know you can provide for them, you should provide for them without minding how they will react to it. God who sees your work will reward you bountifully. A grudge is evidence of total Unforgiveness. It is the fruit of a mind without Christ. We should understand that as long as we are still in the world, offenses will come to us day after day and while they are coming, we should create a great oasis of forgiveness in our minds. By doing this, we will have no space for grudge in our minds.

Jesus said, “If you are presenting a sacrifice on the altar of a temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God." (Matthew 5:23-24 KJV).

CONTINUED IN PART 13

PLEASE AMEND YOUR WAYS AND DO RESTITUTION NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.