AND WHAT NEXT AFTER THE STORM (LOCKDOWN OR COVID-19)

This question may be going on in the minds of great thinkers, politicians, religious leaders, business men and women, academicians, health experts, world leaders, scientists, astrologers, etc, as all their economic, religious, political, health, business, academic, scientific, etc, plans and resources were brought down to zero percent. And with the lockdown slightly relaxed in some countries and totally relaxed in some other countries that had little or no casualty, man has started again with his hustle and bustle, some to still achieve their proposed plans or budget for the year, while some to re-plan and still make out something for the year or cover up for the lost period. And relatively many are not asking the Lord, “what next after this storm?” Rather choosing to heap the blame on China and call them all kinds of bad names.  These are people God created like all of us no matter  the role God has chosen to use them to play in His global theatre towards the second coming of Christ and the end of age.  After all, God said that Satan is His messenger that avenges His wrath upon the children of disobedience, so if Satan is working for God, China is also working for God.

But the most painful part of what the church is facing now is the assemblage of world religious leaders including the Pentecostalism in which some respected and revered men of God in Nigeria and worldwide are championing. And what is it? One world religion to bring peace on earth which the politicians couldn’t do. Hmmm! This is total abomination and great deception because there can’t be peace on earth until the Prince of Peace comes. He is the only One that has the mandate from God the Father to restore peace on earth and until He comes, we are making fruitless efforts.  Okay let us look at what the Holy Spirit spoke through Paul; “But of the time and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.  For when they shall say, peace and safety: then sudden destruction cometh upon them,  as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5: 1-3);  Did you see that?

Anytime you see moves for this kind of peace and safety that the religious leaders are trying to bring, run for your life because what follows is sudden destruction.  This is the second time  moves are made to bring in the false prophet before the time in the person of the Pope or the head of the Vatican city as the prince of peace who will rule with the antichrist and will manifest when the antichrist comes on stage.  The first move happened in 1989/1990 and I saw the  video recorded by a prominent American minister of God as he fixed his tiny camera in his suit to record the whole meeting and the agreement reached. And so many prominent and respected ministers of God that included the renowned German Evangelist Reinhard Bonke of the blessed memory and a Jewish American preacher of the word who is still alive were part of the meeting and plan to make the late Pope John Paul II Prince of peace.  However God frustrated that efforts and began to deal with them and bring conviction upon many Pentecostal ministers who were part of that plans and they started repenting and getting converted while some paid the supreme price of death.  This was how Reinhard Bonke of the blessed memory together with the Jewish American preacher repented and pulled out of that global network who was sponsoring their ministries, crusades and programs and was also sponsoring this move.  Be very careful this end time about the network you belong and who is sponsoring you or those networks.  It is not yet uhuru for those that think they can dine and wine with the devil and still maintain their freedom of speech and preach the truth or else ask Nigerian politicians who have enslaved themselves because of positions.

WHAT THEREFORE DOES THE LORD EXPECT FROM US (HIS CHURCH) AFTER THE LOCKDOWN OR COVID-19?

Hosea one of the minor prophets who was told by the Lord to marry a harlot (Hosea 1:1-11) as a sign of what Israel (the church) was doing unto Him, and also later told by the Lord to go again and marry another woman; but this time an adulteress (Hos. 3: 1-5) to also show the world what His beloved (the church) has continued to do unto Him after getting married to her, has the answer in his book; “come and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn and he will heal us; he hath smitten; and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.  Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth” (Hosea 6: 1-3)

The answer is clear, we should return back for healing and restoration.  He has torn us apart, but He will heal us, He has smitten us with this plague and He will bind us up.  After these two thousand years He will revive His own and at the beginning of year three thousand which is where we have stepped into, He will raise us up according to His word to live in His sight.  And then He will cause us to experience the rain, the former rain and the latter rain.  When a child is beaten, after crying for sometime, he returns back to the parents to repent and be consoled.  If he decides to run away from his parents he runs into a dangerous hand.  In like manner, if we decide to run away from our Lord and Saviour because of the Covid-19 plague He sent to warn us and the global lockdown He ordered through world leaders, we run completely into the hands of the wicked one and will be ready for destruction.  This is why the Lord keeps reminding us everywhere like this one in Isaiah:

“For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; in returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your  strength: and ye would not.  But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses (i.e run with our human strength); therefore shall he flee: and we will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift”(Isaiah 30: 15-16).

This is very understandable, “return back to me and rest in my arms, and there will be safety.  Be calm and have trust in me that what I have promised, I will do it”, for that is where the strength of the saints is instead of trying to do things by ourselves.  Why is the Lord asking us to return back for healing, rest and safety?  It is simply because more devastating plagues are coming by  early next year and it will rampage the world for the first quarter of 2021 and will likely  stretch to the middle of next year.  No man-made plans or programs stretching from six months to one year or more than that can stand again.  Why?  It is God’s time of visitation to bring all the findings, inventions and plans of humanity that are not Holy Ghost conceived to nothing.  He will continue with different types of plagues until as many as are ordained for eternal life understand Him and obey Him and the army of God will manifest to preach the gospel of the kingdom.  Every prophecy neglected by the church as not having any meaning is beginning to have some meanings as God rolls out the cloud for its manifestation. Jeremiah the prophet had this to say:

“Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon (both physical and spiritual Babylon.  The physical Babylon used to be Iraq before but today all the ancient symbols of Babylon including the tower of Babel and the statue of Seminaries the evil and adulterous wife of Nimrod the great Ethiopian  hunter are found in New York city. Then the spiritual Babylon is the church led by the papacy as they try to form one world religion with Roman Catholic as the leader), make the watch strong, set up the watchmen (ministers), prepare the ambushes:  for the Lord hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon (one world religion).  O thou that dwellest upon many waters (many people or nations), abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.  The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.  He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by His understanding.  When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth:  He maketh lightening with rain; and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures.  Every man is brutish (cruel or animalistic) by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breathe in them (they are not Holy Ghost conceived).They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.  The portion of Jacob  (which is grace) is not like them for he is the former of all things and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is His name” (Jer. 57:12-19)

This  was prophet Jeremiah speaking by the inspiration of the Lord about judgment of this so-called one world religion which the Lord called Babylon here, but in Revelation chapter 17, He called it “mystery Babylon” what is the meaning of “Babylon” one may ask? It is “confusion” and the mystery one is “secret confusion”  written on the forehead (which is the mind). Look at the Lord saying clearly through Jeremiah that “everyman is brutish” which is cruel or animalistic in his/her nature by virtue of his/her knowledge (which is his/her findings).  Every founder (inventor) is confounded (confused) by the graven image (i.e discoveries).  Why? It is simply because all those discoveries, findings inventions, etc, are falsehood, and they are not conceived by the Holy Ghost.  God called all of them vanity and the work of errors, and went further to say that in the time God will visit those things, they will all perish.  This is exactly what God is doing now, visiting, confounding and bringing down all findings, discoveries, inventions, plans, programs, etc, of man that are contrary to His plans and purposes for humanity.  And see what He said about His own people “the portion of Jacob is not like them”.  Why did He say so? This is because he (Jacob) was chosen from the womb to operate through God’s grace and be greater than his elder brother Esau who lost his inheritance because of the things of this world.  And “Israel is the rod (staff or authority) of his inheritance indicates that His true church called through His grace and free from one world religion will be His staff or His authority to execute judgment upon the children of disobedience.  God has continued to reveal to us His people everything He is doing, and to the unbelieving world, He speaks to them through us and the circumstances or happenings they will continue to behold in the world they trust.  He said through king David in Psalms; “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant” (Ps. 25:14).

God does not want any to perish and for this reason, He reveals or shows those that fear Him His covenant (old and new covenant) or better still His ways and they in turn will reveal or blow the trumpet to the world.  Look at what He revealed to John the divine about the church of Ephesus, and that is what He desires His children worldwide to be doing now so as to escape more plagues that are coming and the judgment of the antichrist.

“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works, and labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works:  or else I will come unto thee quickly, and I will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.  But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate” (Rev. 2: 1-6).

First of all, “angel of the church” here represents special messenger sent by God to lead and open the eyes of this church age with truth.  The features or characteristics he possesses are:  The “seven stars he holds in his right hand” means he had a good understanding or cordial relationship with other messengers and his message in expected to go round all other churches or church age irrespective of what message God gave that church age.  In essence, the message is for all the church ages.  And God through him commends those that have listening ears and are still seeking the truth but at the end, He picked one major issue that is capable of rubbishing all our sacrifices unto Him.  And this is leaving our “first love or first works” which if we don’t repent and go back to He will come quickly and remove the candlestick out of the place He put it in us.  The candlestick is His church in us which is His presence in us through His Holy Spirit and any that allows God to do this, will become an empty vessel who will never bear any fruit nor make it.  The question now is “what is our first love or first works?”  First love is like having a honey moon with God.  You know when a bride gets married to her bridegroom, they take leave of duty and go to honeymoon where both stay alone may be in a resort for one to two months or more to enjoy themselves.  It is in this honey moon that they have the fill of their first love where they get that intimacy without any distraction.  It is in this secret intimacy that they come to know themselves very well and at the end the wife or bride will most likely get pregnant for the husband or bridegroom.  But today evil and all kinds of immorality have taken over the Christian fold as many get pregnant even before marriage.  The spiritual realm controls the natural realm and so every good thing we see here starts from the spirit realm.  For this reason, God desires us to return back to our first love or the first works we did when we got converted.  He wants us to be in His presence every now and then and commune with Him.  This is the main reason for the global lockdown, so that we can get back into that intimacy with Him and He will reveal everything He is doing to us and tell us how to be part of it.  And look, more plagues are coming with more lockdowns so that we will have opportunity of having a personal intimate relationship with Him.  Take a look at what King Solomon said; “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter” (Prov. 25:2).  What this means is that it is the Spirit of God which is what glory of God symbolizes here, that hides the moves and deep mysteries of God in His word but those that are able to do research and find out the real meaning or have understanding are honoured as kings.  If you are so engaged as to avail yourself to the Lord in that secret pavilion where you are going to have an intimacy with Him so as to know Him and understand His ways or what He wants from you, you can never be honoured as a king.  Or we can better look at the example of these two sisters that represent the church in Zion and the church in the city or camp.

“Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, which sat at Jesus feet and heard his word.  But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?   Bid her therefore that she help me.  And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10: 38-42).  This is a clear eye opener for any who may be ignorant of what God is doing, but is willing to learn so as to find out the truth.  Martha represents the church in camp or the city which this Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown have dealt a great blow on.  Their activities and programs which are the assemblage of congregational church services, evangelisms, crusades, weddings, burials, thanksgiving services, donations, birthdays, etc, have all been temporarily put on hold.  While Mary represents the church in Zion which sits at the feet of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ or stays constantly in the presence of our Lord to hear His word, understand His moves and follow the leading of His Holy Spirit.  As Martha has chosen her own ways of following the Lord by creating so many programs and activities which the Lord did not tell her to do and which always take her away from the presence of God, she is still not happy complaining and blaming the Lord for letting or allowing Mary sit lazily at His feet and hearing His word.  But our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who Martha was supposedly working for, rebuked her for her constant complain despite the fact that she is doing what she liked without seeking for His direction.  He went further to say that only one thing is needful (important to Him) and Mary has chosen that good part and neither man nor spirit can take away that good part from her.  My brethren whether in Zion or in the camp (city), can’t we see what God demands of us all as His people?  Both of them were sisters of the same parents and they were serving God with the hope of doing His will, but He said one of them (i.e. Martha) is troubling herself for many things He did not ask her to do, while the younger (Mary) is doing exactly what He wanted by sitting at His feet and getting clear messages/directions from Him and doing them, and no man nor spirit can hinder her from being successful.  This is what God wants now and that is the purpose of the plague of Covid-19 and the lockdown.  He is applying the last option to force or cause His people who            are called by His name to hear Him and come back into His presence so that He can perfect them after cleansing them and they will be partakers of the latter rain which is His next move.  God’s time is tickling for Him to pour the rain, the former rain and the latter rain upon His armies throughout the world led by Nigeria with all her sins and atrocities to go out and harvest the remaining souls who are part of the Man-Child that will be taken away before the man of sin enters the stage.  Many will say why Nigeria? Yes it is surprising but go to my blog and see previous teachings I have given about God’s plans for Nigeria.  Every country has a role that God is using or going to use her to play before the world comes to an end; some positive, some negative.  Look at Israel and their Arab neighbours, look at America and their Europe allies, and just recently look at China, so as Satan had dented the image of Nigeria globally. God is about to reverse it with His great move which Nigeria will lead.  This is why she had independence in October 1st when God began creating this present world and the only country that got her independence in the whole world on that day. It is a great spiritual symbol.  Some ministers will ask, “what will we do to the vessels God has committed into our hands?  Should I abandon them?”  No is the answer. You are not abandoning anybody but there is a change now which is from God on how to continue doing that.  Remember they are not your sheep but the Lord’s sheep. Do not allow what happened to the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness to happen to you. They had told Moses that their children will be a stumbling in obeying God and going on to possess the land of promise. God therefore decreed that those children will enter but their fathers or parents that came out will all perish in the wilderness, and so they never entered. What you do as a pastor or minister in charge is, first reconcile with God by returning to Him in spirit and truth, make sure your own family altar morning and night is reactivated or revived, have time for your personal prayer and studying of the word, do your weekly personal fast as the priest of God, and also assemble the family to fast together at least twice a month, possibly two weekends from Fridays to Sundays. This will serve as part of you and your family’s tithes and offerings. We don’t tithe only money and material things. Your twenty four (24) hours of the day, seven (7) days of the week, thirty (30) days of the month, etc., belong to God and you must avail at least one tenth of each with offerings of extra hours, days, weeks and months for intimate relationship with Him.  With this, you will break barriers and God will guide you on how to go about the congregation.  But for clarity sake, break the congregation into home cells of not more than twelve or at most twenty in each cell, place  maybe a pastor or a deacon or a serious elder over them and go on to supervise and teach these cells as the Lord leads you. Encourage each vessel or family to start doing the same thing you and your family are doing as a way of returning back to God and let them be writing the messages they are receiving in an exercise book so that you can know the direction God is leading each person or each family and direct them towards that.  As for general teaching, it has to come maybe once in a month or twice, and will be online too.  This is how the church was formed at the time of Pentecost until Satan came in brought a lot of confusion and that is where it is returning back to.  This is a new move of God towards the second coming of our Lord Jesus, stop blaming the decisions of the government on this issue, open your eyes to see that this is the finger of God and those that will rebel, are rebelling against God and He will use those He placed in authority to deal with them for they are not bearing the sword in vain.  Some will say don’t mind him, after all it is because of this Covid-19 which is coming to an end, but the truth is that Covid-19 is the first stage, there are two more devastating global plagues coming that are deadlier than this Covid-19, and they will be unleashed in this world soon.  And mind you, things will never return back to normal or the way it used to be before again because this is God’s period of visitation as written in (Jer. 51) and all man made programs, plans, activities, findings, inventions, lies, etc, are crumbling to give way to God’s own plan towards rounding off the age.  Look at what Luke wrote in Acts of Apostles: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at (overlooked) but now (that He is rounding off everything), commandeth all men everywhere to repent:  Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17: 30-31).

The world has been in the period of ignorance all along and the global preaching of the gospel without these plagues coming on us cannot make meaningful impact just like people talking about rapture without knowing that there will be the release of the rain, the former rain and latter rain to empower the army to preach with great power and authority the true gospel of the kingdom.  A lot of people believe and say that we have received the baptism of fire and therefore what remains is the rapture, but let me disappoint you and make it  clear that what the Christendom received is the moderate infilling of the Holy Ghost.  Why did I say moderate infilling of the Holy Ghost? I said it because God Himself said so too through Joel 2:23 and this means that the former rain (i.e the Holy Ghost baptism) this  church age has is not as powerful as the one the early apostles/disciples had.  It is the initial infilling that is meant to prepare our vessels through sanctification for the baptism of fire or better still the  indwelling of the Holy Ghost.  This indwelling of the Holy Ghost entails that God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost will come and dwell permanently inside our vessels and we will become immortals and above sin, and thereby making us gods in human form and ready to be caught up to the throne of God with the Man-Child company.  The much talked about baptism of fire is going to be white like hailstones or iced block coming with rain and this is why it is called “latter rain”.  But when it touches anyone that God wants to receive it, instead of being cold, it will be very hot burning the mortal flesh as if one is inside a burning fire thereby drying or draining the human blood, peeling off the Adamic flesh where the demons are dwelling and clearing every iniquity that will hinder the Trinity from making the vessel God’s permanent dwelling place.  When this is done within some hours or days the vessels that are blessed to receive it will be so glorious shinning like burnished brass.  The men will be as bright as the sun while the women will also be as bright as the moon in her full  strength and this will attract the presence of the visible pillar of cloud of the Lord protecting them in the day and the visible pillar of fire of the Lord protecting them in the night because this cloud and fire are what the God Head is known for, in all generations from creation anytime His presence is felt.  And then they will match out to preach the gospel of the kingdom for forty days and forty nights and no human or spirit can stand them.  At the end of their assignment, they will be caught up with the Holy Ghost to the throne of God and then the end will come for the antichrist to take over and unleash all kinds of evil the world has not known before on humanity, Israel and the church under the umbrella of “One World Religion”.  And none can escape his fierce anger until the time God  gave him to do this is accomplished.

MANY WILL ASK, “WHAT WILL I BE REPENTING OF? AM I A SINNER? AFTER ALL I DID ALL HE ASKED ME TO DO?”

Hmmm! Don’t be too fast to defend or justify yourself and make God a liar.  Look at what Paul saw about his people and was almost in tears as he said; “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen (Rom. 9; 1-5). Can we see all the birthrights of Israel because of God’s grace that made it possible for him to become the firstborn instead of the lastborn he was given birth to be, yet Paul was heavy in his heart and crying that he wished he were separated from God for his brethren to make it. Why? He said; Brethren my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believeth (Rom. 10: 1-4). Paul said it clearly that why he was heavy in his heart and continue to have sorrow is for Israel (the Church) to be saved because though Israel (the Church) has great zeal of God, but not according to knowledge of the present truth which is sound doctrine or what the Holy Ghost is doing now. And being ignorant of God’s righteousness or perfect will for this church age and going about to set her own standards, the church has failed to submit to God’s righteousness or God’s perfect will. Now when Paul was addressing the Jews in Hebrews chapter 5 vs. 12, he said unto them now you ought to be teachers teaching others (e.g.) the Gentiles what the first principles of the Oracles of God are, but you don’t even know it, therefore one has to teach you again so that you can know it and be able to eat strong meat. He went further to say that this first principles of God’s Oracles are for babies that use milk but strong meat that leads unto perfection is for adults / mature Christians who know how to discern between good and evil. Therefore the plague / lockdown is meant to lead mature Christians into perfection as to be ready for the Master’s use. And come to think of it, believers and large majority of Charismatic / Pentecostal ministers of the gospel don’t even know this first principles of the Oracles of God so as to do the repentance I am talking about  and that is why many are finding it difficult to eat strong meat or believe sound doctrine that is the present truth.  But the truth is that if you don’t know them you may not be permitted by God to move unto perfection. See how Paul led by the Holy Spirit outlined this first principles of the Oracles of God very well;

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, and of laying on of hands, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment and this will we do, if God permit” (Heb. 6: 1-3);  as you can see, Paul outlined six clear things that make up this principles of the doctrine of Christ which one must know and be grounded in first, before He releases His abundant grace that will sustain you as you go on unto perfection. And these principles are 1. Repentance from dead works 2. Faith towards God. 3. The Doctrine of baptism.  4. Laying on of hands 5. Resurrection of the Dead.  6. Eternal Judgment are the foundation of every true child of God or saint as written by King David in Ps. 11:3; and if they are not well laid or have not been properly obeyed; God will not allow or permit such person or persons to go on unto perfection.  Why?  It is obvious that a house built on a wrong foundation will certainly collapse, and so a vessel whose foundation is faulty or not properly laid; will eventually backslide and some will fall away  from faith and go into blasphemy.  This is what Paul went further to say here:  “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come.  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Heb. 6: 4-6).  Therefore if God allows you to be built or grow on a wrong foundation and the time of trial and tribulations come, that house or vessel will collapse or fall away from faith.  For those who do not know the full meanings of this foundation of the principles of God very well, here are the details.

a)    Foundation of Repentance from Dead works:-

For one to understand this very well, you have to research what the Lord meant by dead works.  In simple terms dead works means anything done without the  leading of the Holy Ghost or that is not Holy Ghost conceived.  There are so many things we did since we got converted and even now we are still doing, that are not led by the Holy Ghost, but by our personal zeal without the knowledge of truth.  We must go back to God and repent of all of them even so many things we preached out of zeal and the little knowledge we had then, when you grow in knowledge and understand the truth, you are supposed to correct yourself after repenting before God.  Paul was a typical example as he made so many mistakes while trying to navigate all the dealings he had in the Lord.  After his conversion and preaching for three years, he went to see Peter and James in Jerusalem and stayed with Peter for fifteen days cross-checking what he received and he was preaching (Gal. 1:17-19).  They disagreed on the issue of righteousness by faith which was what the Holy Ghost taught Paul in Arabian desert as against what the early apostles believed that it is by the works of the flesh.  The early disciples also believed and preached you must be circumcised in the flesh no matter your age before you can be saved but Paul with the revelation of the present truth countered and rejected all these.  So they fell apart and Paul began to preach without being under anybody and was constantly attacking the apostles in his preaching countering what they preach anywhere he went.  When God revealed to the apostles that what He gave Paul to teach and preach which is sound doctrine is the truth, He sent Paul back to the apostles in Jerusalem to go and submit to Him through Peter or else he will end up in hell.  Hear it clearly from Paul:  “Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.  And I went up by revelation (from God), and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run, in vain” (Gal 2: 1-2).   We can see how he was instructed by the Holy Ghost to go and submit himself to the apostles, but particularly to Peter as the apostle of circumcision while he (Paul) was the apostle of uncircumcision (vs. 7-8) or else his race would have been run in vain.  If a renowned apostle like Paul could be told to repent of his dead works and return back to submission he rejected after preaching for fourteen (14) years, I wonder the hope of many believers and ministers of God of today who are adamant when you tell them about submission.  Many will say, “we are under the Lord Jesus”, but let me remind you that you cannot be under the Lord Jesus if you cannot be under the Holy Ghost who is Lord in the church and He does not recognize anybody or anything who is not under the authority channel He set up in the church.  That’s why He revealed  to Paul to go and place himself under God’s authority or better end up in hell.  Look at another thing Paul preached here that he had to later repent of:

“O foolish Galatians, who had bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucify among you?  This only would I learn of you, received ye the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?  (Gal. 3:1-2) “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another, but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:6-9). This was part of Paul’s judgmental preaching to the Galatians affirming that only what he and his team preached should be accepted by the Galatians and by extension all the Gentile churches he was overseeing, thereby insinuating that they shouldn’t accept what other groups (e.g) the apostles from Jerusalem preached unto them.  He even went further to challenge the heavenly host saying that if an angel preach anything contrary to what he and his team preached, such angel should also be accursed.  This is too much, mere mortal challenging spirits, but when he was instructed to place himself under submission to Peter, and subsequently delivered of the spirit of pride, stubbornness and arrogance, he changed his preaching and look at what he told the Corinthians:  “For I am jealous over you with godly jealously: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.  But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (11 Cor. 11:2-4).Can we see what repentance from dead works does.  The moment he acknowledged he has gone too far, he repented before the Lord and his preaching changed.  There are so many things we as both believers and ministers of God need to repent of and turn a new leaf.  Large majority of ministers of God are divorcees today and many have remarried, thereby breaking their vow unto God and nothing you tell them or show them in the scripture will make them change their minds as they believe they are right and God understands their plight.

Therefore hell has opened her mouth wide waiting for them except they do the needful and repent now.  If you have remarried after divorcing your spouse, repent now and go back to your first wife/husband or rather remain single or you will perish in hell.  Some started churches/ministries, businesses, foundations, schools, etc which God did not tell them to start all in the name of copying people or strife, repent from that dead works and ask God to direct you.  Some travelled to different countries for greener pastures while others within their countries relocated where God did not tell them to relocate and it is becoming obvious by what they are going through that God is not in their arrangement and they are staying put out of pride and stubbornness, repent now and ask God for direction. What of all kinds of immoral acts, prostitution, human trafficking, abortions, kidnappings, ritual killings here and there, fraudulent acts (defrauding people and sitting on that ill gotten money or wealth and trying or saying you have or will change your line of business) rape, etc, repent now and do a thorough restitutions or you are going nowhere.  The angel of death is moving around through Covid 19 and many more plagues that are coming as God has started purging before that great move starts.  Many will die before the time if you fail to repent now and do the needful.  As you have repented from doing dead works which in simple terms is doing your own will”, you turn to “Faith Toward God”, which will teach you how to do God’s will.  This takes us to the second in the line of the foundation of the kingdom of God.

b)    Of Faith toward God:-

Many of us in Christendom do not understand what is meant by “faith toward God”.  Paul by the leading of the Lord said; “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb.  11;1). In essence, he didn’t say faith is tomorrow or later today, but now, which means at once.  Faith is not hope, because hope without faith has no substance.  Substance means something that can be perceived or contacted by our senses but the impression is made by the sensory mechanism of our spirit which is faith.  In the natural, it is the eyes, ear, nose, mouth, body.  Substance is tangible meaning materiality, not visual but spiritual and it is the realm of God.  Then evidence means proof, and proof gives facts to support and makes real the existence of something you don’t presently have.  Proof takes the place of things it is to prove of, until those things manifest.  In a nutshell, faith can therefore be referred to as a spiritual power activator, which releases the power of Almighty God in our lives and circumstances.  There are two types of faith:   (a) Natural or Thomas’s faith and God’s kind of faith.

(a)     The Natural or Thomas’s faith is better known for “seeing is believing” (i.e. except I see it with my eyes, I will not believe), and people that work with this type of faith can never operate in the realm of God neither can they please God.  They are carnally minded and walk in unbelief towards God.

(b)     God’s kind of faith is known for “believe and you will see” (i.e. you must believe in your heart, confess it with your mouth and you will see the manifestation).  God’s kind of faith is also divided into two and they are: (i) The confession or salvation faith which Paul explained in Romans as; “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:8-10).  This faith doesn’t require the doing for as long as you have believed in your heart and confess with your mouth, you will see the result or manifestation.  This is also the faith used for healings and different miracles.  The minister officiating has to believe and pronounce the healings while the receiving or doing is done by the sick person or else there won’t be any manifestation.  This faith will not stand during the time of trials and tribulations.

(ii)     The Doing Faith is clearly explained in Hebrews by Paul as he said; “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6).  This place is saying that without faith which is acting or doing the word of God, it is impossible to please God.  If you come to Him, you must believe that God is that word He is telling you to obey and He rewards those that diligently seek to do His word.  This is the faith that leads you through trials and tribulations in order to do His will and be like Jesus.  This kind of faith is like a work or profession one is doing daily and which if the devil steals from you, you fall away from faith.  For this reason Paul said to Timothy; “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou are also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6:12) Paul said further in admonishing the Hebrews: “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised”) (Heb.10:23).  It is this kind of God’s faith that John the Divine was referring to in the book of Revelation when he said; “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich (in the word of God); and white raiment (robe of righteousness) that the shame of thy nakedness (sin) do not appear…” (Rev. 3: 18).  The gold tried in the fire is this kind of God’s faith gotten through endured trials and tribulations which will make you to be rich in the word of God and spiritual things, and will also prepare you for wearing the robe of righteousness that will cover your sin.  It is a strong and hard sought faith that opens the door of God’s blessings.  Therefore when you repent of “Dead Works” God expects you to seek for this kind of faith to be able to stand against the wiles of the enemy.  What I mean is to stop trusting in your human ability, but to depend or have absolute trust or confidence on God’s ability to keep His word and promises.  There are also two types of “unbelief” that many operate in which hinders the workings of this faith, and they are:

1.       Lack of knowledge:  This normally happens when people don’t have the knowledge of the scripture or present truth which is sound doctrine.  But when they are taught the truth, they are healed and drop their unbelief.

2.       Unpersuadeableness:   This one is like an incurable disease because the word of God no matter how truth it is and who it is coming from, or visions, dreams from God, etc cannot make such person to believe the truth.  One who walks in this type of unbelief, after the first and second admonition, and he/she continues in that lie/doubt, leave the person knowing that such person is subverted, and sinneth against God and has condemned himself/herself (ref. Titus 3: 10-11)

c.       The Doctrine of Baptisms:–There are seven baptisms that involve humanity which the scripture mentioned but as believers, we are concerned with the last four (4) and the seven are:

i.      Baptism unto Moses in the cloud and the sea (1 Cor. 10: 1-4).  This was done by the Israelites and the mixed multitudes from the whole world in the wilderness when they came out of Egypt.  The cloud represents Holy Ghost baptism while the water represents water Baptism.  But many of them were later destroyed because of unbelief.

ii.     John’s Baptism with water unto repentance: (Ref. Matt. 3: 11; Mk. 1:3; Lk. 3: 16) John baptizing his disciples with water unto repentance from their old ways inherited from the  tradition of their fathers, and as such preparing for a new way towards the manifestation of the Ministry of our Lord Jesus.

iii.    Christ baptism with water for the remission of sins. (Ref. Jn. 4: 1-2)  After Christ was baptized by John in water to fulfill all righteousness, His ministry began as the Holy Ghost descended on Him, His disciples therefore began to baptize many more disciples on behalf of the Lord who were eager to join the Lord’s ministry.  Now the last four baptisms that we believers are concerned with are:

iv.    Baptism of water unto Repentance for the Remission of sins or Immersion Baptism: (Acts 2:38-41; Acts 11: 42-48; Acts 19:5; Rom. 6: 3-6).  This is done by the Son of God using any true minister or believer who has already done it.  This happens when an unbeliever acknowledges his/her sins, confesses them before the Lord and the Lord directs His minister to baptize such vessel on His behalf.  The minister in question takes such person or people to a flowing stream or river and after he prays, he buries such person or people inside the flowing stream as a symbol of being buried with Christ in His grave and raises the person from the water immediately as a symbol of resurrection with Christ.  And with this, he/she has identified with the death and resurrection of the Lord.  As he/she continues to live on and commit any sin it is the blood or word of God that will do the cleansing or atonement and not returning back to do another water baptism.

v.     Holy Ghost Baptism: (Matt. 3:11b; Mk. 1:8; Acts 19:6).  This is the promise of the Father to the Son.  It was not given to any until Christ died and resurrected, then the Father released His spirit unto humanity who receives His son as his/her personal Lord and Saviour to give us utterance to speak with new tongues/languages.  Therefore it is a process where the Lord  gives those that believe the initial infilling of the Holy Ghost to enable them speak with new  tongues/languages that will help them pray in the spirit, relate with spiritual realm, understand God’s moves and begin with the process of sanctification. The spirit man is also sealed as a symbol of God’s acceptance of the person’s salvation waiting for when the soulish body will be redeemed (ref. Eph. 1:13-14).  With this he/she can communicate with God and manifest the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (Mk. 16:17-18).

vi.    Baptism unto Christ and His Body: (Eph. 4:4-5; Rm. 12:4-5).

          This is done by the Holy Ghost using the blood.  This is the only baptism that gives one access unto the Body of Christ and large majority of believers don’t know about it neither have they done it.  I know that many out of ignorance will reject it, but it is true.  Baptism unto water for the remission of sins  is for one’s personal life ministered by different men of God, while Holy Ghost baptism is also personal to each individual as a seal of the person’s relationship with God.  But this baptism here is done not by any man on behalf of the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost Himself using the blood of Jesus which is the same thing with Blood of Redemption or Separation to set apart those He called and have agreed to heed to that call and do His will alone.  They listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit asking you to surrender yourself unto Him or come and sit at the feet of Jesus to hear His word.  Then the vessel willingly agrees to set himself/herself apart  for His Masters use, and in consecrating or dedicating yourself unto God, He must place you under His authority  channel by directing you to place yourself under a man of God.  It is in this process that the Holy Ghost sanctifies them with the Blood of Redemption and the word of God.  It is also called the “Baptism of Suffering”, because in it they experience some of the things that Christ went through so as to identify with His sufferings.  They face rejections from family, friends and Christian brethren, loneliness, hunger or famine, reproaches, distresses, trials, persecutions, imprisonments at times, fears, in most cases no permanent dwelling places, etc.  They also separate from traditions of men that transgress the Word of God and if you refuse, He will afflict you. But whoever endures this to the end lives to enter the next and final baptism which is the Lord’s glory.

vii.  Baptism of Fire or unto Death or the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost (Matt. 3: 11; Lk 3: 16; Jn. 14:23).  This is done when the Lord releases the expected fire baptism which comes like hailstones and as it touches the head of those God has prepared to receive the baptism, it will melt and go down the entire body and start burning or peeling off the flesh and all impurities in that body while at the same time be draining or drying the blood where those demons and sins dwell. As this is going on, the person will be dead temporarily, but after this a new flesh without blood and a new spirit (because of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost) will come up, they will become immortal beings, that is what Paul meant in (1 Cor. 15: 53-54) that immortal shall put on immortality and corruptible must put on incorruption.  Therefore as believers, we are supposed to have this last four (4) baptisms, and that is why God allowed the global pandemic or plague and the lockdown so that those who are ready to receive the real baptism unto Christ and His Body can have it as the last preparation towards the release of the liquid fire or fire baptism for the army of God to come out of the wilderness and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God.

d. Laying on of Hands:-

          There are four clearly defined laying on of hands the scripture talks about and they are (a) laying on of hands to bless an offering (b)  laying on of hands to heal   (c)  laying on of hands to  consecrate or dedicate people for the service of God (d) laying on of hands to ordain people for the start of their ministerial calling.

i.     Laying on of hands to bless an offering:  It is a process whereby ministers of God lay hands to bless the offerings given unto God by members or even non-members of the denomination, and in the process call down the blessings of God upon those vessels.

ii.    Laying on of hands to heal:  Hands are laid by ministers of God on the sick while praying for them to recover.  It is one of the signs that follow anyone who believes and is baptized according to (Mark 16: 17-18);  Ministers of God can also use true anointing oil (because there are so many fake oil) to anoint the sick while praying for them to receive their healing. (James 5: 14-15)

iii.   Laying on of hands to consecrate or dedicate people for the service of God:  Hands are laid on people who have received the unction to separate themselves unto the service of God for training by their shepherds.  When one decides to place himself or herself under the authority channel of God through a minister of God, the servant of God in question is supposed to pray for the person in acceptance of that submission and lay hands on such person and anoint him if he/she is within the same city.  But in case they are not within the same city, Holy Ghost anointed prayers can still be prayed for such person asking the Lord to divinely anoint the person and give him/her the grace to dedicate himself/herself to his/her calling and yield to the trainings the Lord will pass them through unto the end.

iv.   Laying on of hands to ordain men for the start of their ministerial calling:-

          Hands are laid on people for ordination to start their ministries by their shepherds who are majorly apostles or prophets where there are no true apostles.This is done after the Holy Spirit had indicated that the period of the person’s tutelage or training as a student is over.  It doesn’t stop the person from being under submission.  There should be no sentiment on this as this is a very serious business before the Lord.  If the Lord did not give a clear indication, then the minister in question should not go ahead and lay hands to ordain them.  Why?  It is because the Lord through Paul warned Timothy and the entire church in 1 Tim. 5: 22, saying; “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure”.  That word, “suddenly” indicates “any how”, maybe as a friend, or brother/sister or son/daughter or because he/she is giving you too much gifts or your ardent supporter, because if you defy this warning and go ahead to ordain such person, God will hold you responsible for any evil he/she commits if he/she  deviates from the calling.  It is not enough to ordain somebody because he/she has attended a Bible school and obtained a diploma or a degree.  The person must have spent years being mentored by his shepherd as he watches him follow the footsteps of our Lord Jesus without turning left or right.  This is why it is necessary for his shepherd to also approve that he is qualified and ready for the task ahead before releasing him for ordination.

e.     Resurrection of the Dead:

The Christian fold is conversant with two major resurrections of the dead which are for both the just and unjust (that is believers in Christ Jesus and unbelievers in Christ Jesus) as referenced in Daniel 12:2; John 6: 28-29; but the Christendom do not know that believers who will finally come out as the army of God will face their own death and resurrection in two ways here on earth and will not need another resurrection to appear before the judgment seat of Christ.  The resurrection of the army of God starts as a sign when they are buried in water baptism so as to identify with Christ’s death, and when they are raised from the water to signify identifying with Christ resurrection, until the full manifestation of the resurrection of the living saints when the baptism of fire will cause the mortal body full of sins and corruption to die and be changed (i.e. resurrected) to a new Body that will appear before the judgment seat of God.  This is what Paul was trying to explain here:

“Behold, I shew you a mystery ; we shall not sleep, but we shall be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15:51-55). 

With this explanation from Paul, once the army of God receives this liquid fire, they become the living saints that have resurrected from the death of their mortal bodies, then they go and preach the gospel of the kingdom. At the end of their message or assignment on earth, the trumpet of God will sound and the saints who are dead will come out of their graves having picked their bones and ascend to heaven while the living saints will join them in the cloud because their bodies have already changed from terrestrial to celestial bodies and they all will ascend to the throne of God so as to appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive their rewards.  They will later be joined by the tribulation saints who are going to be perfected and killed by the antichrist for refusing to worship him or receive his mark.  This is what the scripture calls first resurrection (Ref. Rev. 20: 4-6).

The second resurrection is for the unjust (i.e those who died without receiving Christ as their Lord and Saviour, those that received Him at the beginning but later backslided and fell totally from faith, those that received the mark of the beast in their right hand or forehead).  They are resurrecting to face eternal damnation.  Even those that the sea drowned, those  burnt to ashes by fire, those buried by earthquakes, devoured by wild animals, those swept by hurricane, tornado and other natural disasters, those that are already in hell will also resurrect, the followers of antichrist and the false prophet, those that will be dying during the one thousand years reign of Christ who will end up in hell when they die, etc. They will all resurrect to face judgment.

f.     Eternal Judgment:-

Whenever eternal judgment is mentioned, many people conclude it is only the judgment seat of Christ and the white throne judgment that we have but far be it as there are other judgments that will take place once and for all which are eternal judgments too.

i.     Judgment of the Jews (Israel) and the church that will be left behind by the antichrist:

Jesus while addressing the Jews how they have continued to doubt and reject Him said, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another (antichrist) shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (Jn. 6: 43).

Here the Lord was telling them how they will receive the antichrist who is going to come in his own name after rejecting Him that came in the name of His father.  David had this to say about that period of judgment of the Jews, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.  For in the time of trouble i.e Jacob’s trouble which is judgment of the Jews by the antichrist he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle  shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock” (Ps. 27:4-5).  The desire of David is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life so that during the time of Jacob’s trouble, God will hide him in His pavilion or in the secret of His tabernacle.  Jeremiah the prophet gave his own prophecy like this:  “Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child?  Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jer. 30:6-7).  Jeremiah saw everyman in Israel with his hands on his loins like a travailing woman and when he asked the Lord, He said it is the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble, but he shall be saved from it.  Daniel also lent his voice on this in his prophecy: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (i.e. 7 days which is 7 years): and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease……” (Dan. 9:27).  All these great men of God were talking about the trouble that Israel is going to face in the hands of the antichrist, but didn’t state how long except Daniel and John the Divine.  Daniel  clearly stated it is a week of seven days which is symbolically interpreted as seven years.  Daniel and John the divine also mentioned how the antichrist will deal with both the Jews and the Church that will be left behind.  And here is the way both of them said it,  first Daniel’s prophecy: “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them (the saints)” (Daniel 7:21).

“And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host (the Jews) and of the stars (the saints) to the ground and stamped upon them” (Dan. 8: 10). John the divine’s prophecy goes like this:

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and power was given him over all kindred’s, and tongues and nations”                           (Rev. 13:7)

The message is clear from this two great men the Lord called “beloved,” on how the antichrist who is an Israelite coming from the tribe of Dan will deal with both the Jews and the Church that will be left behind after the Man-Child Company would have been caught up to the throne of God.  There is one significant thing about the saints in this end-time and that is, whether you belong to the Man-Child Company or the Church that will be left behind to be judged and perfected by the antichrist, it is just one eternal judgment here on earth.  The Man-Child Company is being judged now by Lord Jesus through His Holy Spirit that is, completing the Ministry of our Lord Jesus.  This is what the Lord said by Himself when He was addressing His disciples; “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  And when he is come, he will reprove (convince) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the price of this world is judged” (John 16: 7-11).  A lot of people even among the ordained ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ do not even know that the Holy Spirit has started this commission from the Lord since.  They are still waiting for the time the world will be brought to their knees to do this.  Well let me state clearly that the Holy Ghost began this work from the day the early disciples received Him on the Pentecost and spoke with new tongues and He is gradually rounding it off.  On that day, the early apostles who were the first recipients of this gift, received into their lives the spirit of righteousness and judgment as they had righteousness imparted in their spirits for them to be able to go through the process of renewal of their minds towards the final redemption of their soulish bodies which is what we all are waiting for (Eph. 1: 13-14).  This enabled them to go through conviction of sins, repentance and forgiveness or judgment and  condemnation until they finished their race.  This extended to all the dispensations and church ages including the one we are in now which is Laodicea church age.  If the Holy Ghost convinces you of any sin, and you repent immediately and gets converted, He forgives and the blood of Jesus will be used in Heaven (i.e. 3rd Heaven) to cleanse your record from any iniquity or guilt, but if you delay in repenting, He will wield the big stick of judgment with afflictions or persecutions, if you then repent He will still forgive after you have suffered for sometimes.  But if you still refuse to heed to His warning after this judgment, then you have condemned yourself waiting for the manifestation or the judgment of the antichrist for comparison and last option.  This is why God used Paul to write to the Church through the Thessalonians saying; “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (11 Thess. 2: 7). To understand this place very well, let us look at what “letteth” stand for.  The word “letteth is katecho”  in Greek, meaning to hold down (fast), have, hold (fast), keep (in memory), let, make toward, possess, retain, seize on, stay, take, withhold.  When you look at the meanings of the word “letteth” in Greek and in English as clearly defined by New Strong’s Exhaustive Analytical Concordance  to the Bible, you will understand  why and what the Lord meant by allowing Paul use that word.  Therefore if you allow the Lord to bring conviction  upon your sins and keep you on the part of righteousness continually and also continue to judge your sins whenever you err, then you are among the people Paul was talking about here.  And as soon as you join the Man-Child Company to be caught up, antichrist will come and continue the judgment of the Jews who rejected Christ and the church who rejected His grace and opted for law.  So in essence there will not be any judgment for believers at the judgment seat of Christ because it has been carried out here on earth by both the Holy Spirit and the antichrist, but a reward which the Lord Himself will give to those who made it, according to their works and faithfulness unto the Lord and their calling.  This is why the “judgment seat of Christ” is referred to as Bema in Greek. Bema in Greek is a place of reward i.e. athletes are rewarded according to their performance like in an  international competition as the Olympics, etc.  At the end of each event, there are people that came first, second and third, they normally come up to a stand whereby they are given medals as follows; gold, silver and bronze, while the rest of the participants though not given any price or medal, but will not be punished and will receive their appearance or participating fee given to all participants and which to us is the “Robe of righteousness” (Immortality) and a “Crown for those that love His appearing”.  This is the judgment believers in Christ Jesus will face in Heaven at the end of their earthly assignment and after being caught up to the throne of God.  As for the Jews (Israel), see their plight:  “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses  rifled (thoroughly searched), and the women ravished (seized and raped); and half of the city shall go forth into captivity and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.  Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle ……..” (Zech. 14:2-9).  This judgment of the Jews will be carried out by their brother from the tribe of Dan for seven (7) years, though the first three and half (3 ½ ) years will be peaceful after which they will face a horrible period of another 3 ½ years that no man can imagine until they look up unto He who they rejected and mourn for Him and He will come and save them (Zech. 12:10).  They will be saved at the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem and will be converted in one day (Isa. 66: 7-8).

ii.    Judgment of the Nations of the World to be performed by the Lord Jesus:

After the return of Jesus Christ with His saints to deliver the Jews, send the antichrist and the false prophet where they  belong to, all the nations on earth will be gathered unto Him at His Throne of His Glory to face their judgment:  “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of His glory:  And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  for I was  hungered and ye gave me meat:  I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:  I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed  me:  I was sick, and ye visited me:  I was in prison, and ye came unto me.  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink?  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in?  Or naked, and clothed thee?  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?  And the King shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.  Then shall he say also unto them on the left, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:  For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink.  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?  Then shall he answer them, saying, verily I say unto you, in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matt. 25: 31-46).  There are clear things believers must understand here and when this will happen.  Three different groups of people are mentioned here and they are the sheep nations, the goat nations and the Lord’s brethren.

Let us start with who the brethren of the Lord are here.  The brethren of the Lord here are the Jews i.e. the Israelites as a nation and not believers majority of who have been caught up, the sheep nations are the nations that not only received and served the Lord, but reached out to Israel and helped them during that fierce wrath of antichrist or better still their judgment by the antichrist.  They will provide support through aids like food, clothing, finance, shelter and even protection from the armies of the antichrist.  While the goat nations are the nations that rejected Christ and will play active part in dealing with Israel during this period.  Those nations that represent the goat nations will be wiped out from the face of the earth with their Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings, Queens and citizens.  The people that may be saved from these nations will have to receive Christ individually as their personal Lord and Saviour and move into the family of God to become fellow-citizens with the saints and household of God (Eph. 2:18-22).  Since we have seen it from the gospels being the witness of Grace, let us check their fate also from the witness of King David a prophet of God; “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and the nations that forget God” (Ps. 9:17).  I believe every doubting Thomas will agree with me that this is not a child’s play.  God is very serious about this and it is really frightening as the whole nation with her citizens will be turned into hell and that nation will cease to exist.  God save us from wicked and ignorant rulers that will lead their nations to hell.  And then the brethren of the Lord are the Jews i.e. Israel as a nation.  That the antichrist is coming to judge them does not mean that God has totally forsaken them, no, far be it because their returning back when their partial blindness is removed by the Lord through the preaching of the two witnesses (i.e. Enoch and Elijah), will be like fire.  The people or nations that will help them this period and that have been helping and supporting them will be saved and blessed.  This is why America despite having a President that the world hates is still bouncing even with Covid-19 conspiracy.  President Trump is hated by the world but you know what, he is the apple of God’s eye.  I know many will attack me for this out of ignorance, but suffice it to say that what is highly esteemed among men, is an abomination before the Lord.  Obama was loved by all and is still loved by Americans out of ignorance, but he nearly destroyed America and would have pitched America against God by frustrating Israel.  He is a black man, was a Christian when he became president but after he entered he became antichristian and was rolling and approving abominable policies to frustrate Christians in US. Trump was a white racist when he entered and was not a Christian, but when he became President he reverted those anti-Christian policies that Obama introduced, he became a Christian and has been protecting Christians worldwide and the Jews.  He did the unthinkable like Cyrus the king by moving the embassy of America from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem thereby opening the door for a global recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s God ordained capital:  For this reason, God is highly pleased and will give him another chance to finish all He wants him to do for Israel and the church.  Obama is a men-pleaser and God displeaser while Trump is a God-pleaser and men-displeaser, and I think God is bringing him back.  For if he leaves the throne now, antichrist and his team will take over but their time remains small because the army of God is yet to preach the gospel of the kingdom.  So I have the witness in my spirit that he is retaining that seat to give the church and Israel the final protection before the army of God manifests. And his name depicts what God is doing with him:  “Donald” meaning “World leader” while “Trump” means “Trumpet of God”. So he is the World leader God is using to blow His trumpet about what He is doing in the world this end time.  The time he became President of America and what he is doing now shows God’s divine will for him and no man or force can stop him now. And come to think of it, apartheid and racial segregation have been before even Donald Trump or his father was born.  I didn’t want to write this but God has asked me to reveal it to the world to stop blaming His servant Donald Trump.  He God started this judgment of slavery, apartheid and racial segregation on Africans because of what we did to Israel in the wilderness when they came out of Egypt.  The children of Israel had journeyed and came to a place where they became confused.  Fortunately for them, Hobab, Moses’ brother in-law and Zipporah’s brother came into the camp to see them and how they were faring in their journey.  Moses pleaded with him to come and help them by being their eyes so as to direct them as they seem to have lost the way, but he refused and the children of Israel wandered for three days looking for a resting place.  Hear it from Moses’ mouth: “And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel (his other name is Jethro) the Midianite, Moses’ father in-law, we are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you:  come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.  And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred.  And he said, leave us not, I pray thee: for as much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee”. (Num. 10:29-32).  For clarity sake, Midian was in Ethiopia and that is why Moses’ wife Zipporah was referred to as an Ethiopian woman.  This refusal by Hobab the son of Jethro or Raguel, and the brother of Zipporah to help them made the children of Israel to suffer greatly thereby bringing out their monstrous and rebellious nature as they continued to attack God and Moses.  It also helped in prolonging their journey from 40 days to 40 years.  This compounded the problem of Africans as the children of Israel who were being delivered from the hands of another African country Egypt, who had treated them as slaves for 430 years and were hoping that they will get succor from the Ethiopians, their in-laws were dashed.  So God had to come to their rescue, delivered them and decided to let Africans taste what they have given God’s begotten nation.  And look at how He said it and did it:

“At the same time spake the Lord to Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying; Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot.  And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.  And the Lord said, like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years, for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.  And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and Egypt their glory.  And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, behold such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape” (Isa. 20:2-6).

And so God through Isaiah who was regarded as a mad prophet in Israel because of this, said Africans will go into slavery, face apartheid regime and racial discrimination in the hands of the western nations to taste what they had done to His people Israel.  The children of Israel were looking for where they will pitch their tents in the wilderness and rest for three days, Isaiah the prophet walked naked for three years as a sign, but now Africans will be enslaved for three-hundred years or three centuries by the Western nations before succor will come fully to them.  Some may quickly say that Jesus Christ has nailed all curses on the cross and therefore anything pertaining to curse should not be mentioned at all and again.  Yes that is hundred percent correct and this is also why He is raising the leaders of His armies in Nigeria and Africa, but has the greater percentage of Africans accepted His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary?  The answer is no, and the time He set for the enslavement of Africans has it elapsed?  No – therefore racial discrimination will continue until God announces His army for the world to see.  So you can spare Trump for now because this is the finger of God until the fullness of time when God will put everything aright by causing the western nations to bow their heads unto Africans and blacks as they preach the gospel of the kingdom with the kind of power they have never seen before.

iii.   Judgment Seat of Christ by the Lord Jesus Christ:  This will take place in Heaven and it is for believers in Christ Jesus who were  faithful unto the end and were able to be among the company that will be caught up to the throne of God.  It will be performed by the Lord Jesus Himself.  The “Bema” here is a Greek word and referred to the stand where those that excelled in their events by coming first, second and third during Olympics will go and stand to pick their medals.  Jesus had earlier indicated in the scripture about three different category of believers who were able to bear hundredfold (100), sixty (60) fold and thirty (30) fold in (Matt. 13: 18-23) and also of another three which is about the talents, how the man that travelled to a far country gave his servants, five (5) talents, two (2) talents and one (1) talent to go and trade with.  As they traded, one with five talents gained five more talents, one with two talents gained more two talents, while the servant with one talent did not trade with it choosing rather to hide it in the earth (representing hiding the talent in his vessel) without making use of it.  Well you can check out the full parable in Matt. 25:14-30.  So as the Man-Child Company is lifted up, they will be taken to the part of second (2nd) Heaven where the warring angels led by Arch-angel Michael have their military base.  At the end of three and half (3 ½ ) years, they will lead Michael and his angels to the other side of second (2nd) Heaven where Satan and his principalities have their base, and this is the war you have been hearing or reading in the scripture.  Why is the war necessary (Rev. 12: 7-12), it is important because the Heavens need to be cleaned and cleared of any iniquity or defilement caused by Satan and his cohorts.  Secondly Satan and his agents are occupying where the saints are supposed to stay before the wedding of the saints and the Lord Jesus.  The Man-Child will give the command for Satan and his cohorts to be cast out because it is man that Satan dethroned when he deceived Adam and Eve in the garden, so it is at the orders of the redeemed man that he will be thrown down to the earth by Michael and his angels.  This is their last assignment before receiving their rewards so that part of second (2nd) Heaven will be thoroughly cleaned.  After the wedding of the Bride and the Bridegroom in third (3) Heaven, the saints will occupy the place Satan and his cohorts were before.  So at the time the wedding will take place, the Lord will give gifts as a reward to His Bride for making it this far and it will be so glorious.

iv.   The White Throne Judgment to be performed by the saints in the Lord’s Presence:

The white throne judgment is where the resurrected unbelievers in Christ Jesus and the entire world will appear for their final judgment and condemnation to the lake of burning fire and brimstone.  This will take place in Heaven before the Lord Jesus Christ but will be performed by the saints.  Look at how Paul reminded the Corinthians and by extension the church; “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?  And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?  Know ye not that we shall judge angles? How much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Cor. 6: 2-3).The Lord made it clear that the saints will not only judge the world but also those fallen angels that left their first estate, married the daughters of men when they came down and therefore gave birth to anakims (i.e. giants) in the Bible                  (2 Peter 2:4; Job 4: 18),  and so all those that had already gone to hell which is a waiting place and the angels that are reserved in Tartarus which is another section of hell for judgment, those that Satan deceived and gathered again from the four corners of the earth i.e. Gog (China) and Magog (Russia) which number is as the sand of the sea to battle the redeemed saints and beloved Jerusalem, and which fire that came down from God out of Heaven devoured will appear at the White Throne Judgment and to be judged by the saints and sent to final place which is lake of fire and brimstone as their final abode and eternal separation from God.  This is the details of the principles of the doctrine of Christ which are the foundational messages for every true disciple.  If God therefore through His Holy Spirit examines and gives you a satisfactory mark that your foundation is solid it doesn’t matter how many years you have being in the Lord.  He will release His grace for you to go on to perfection and you will begin to flow in the mysteries of the kingdom without difficulty. You will understand the scripture and will have no difficulty in doing them no matter the reproaches you face, the persecutions, the rejections, temptations, etc, and there won’t  be fear of backsliding or  falling away from faith.  His grace will be sufficient unto you and the peace and joy of the Lord will be your portion.  As you continue to obey Him, He will begin to manifest His promises unto you for people to see that it is good to serve the Lord.

In conclusion, the Lord is saying to His people and those that are ready to hear Him; “Go and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, return, thou  backsliding Israel (the church), saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord and I will not keep anger forever.  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree (demons under the guile of being pastors or ministers of God), and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord.  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you:  and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:  and I will give you pastors (shepherds) according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer. 3: 12-15).  What more can I say as the Lord through the mouth of Jeremiah wants His children to return back in fellowship with Him and stop scattering our ways by jumping from this Church/Ministry to the other one or from this man of God to the other man of God or from this doctrine to another doctrine thereby confusing ourselves and refusing to obey Him.  He reminded us like He told Israel through Hosea that He is married to us and wants to bring us to Zion to continue with our honeymoon.  And finally promised to give us true shepherds who He has trained according to His heart, and who also will feed us with knowledge and understanding of the present truth which is sound doctrine.  Most pastors do not understand this new move, therefore they will do everything to frustrate you or stop you from giving heed to this call.  This is why God said He will give you a pastor by Himself who is a true shepherd that can lay down his life for God and the sheep. And again He said, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith (i.e. doing the Word of God not keeping or obeying the rules and regulations of your Church); prove your own selves (the lockdown has afforded you the opportunity of doing so and not doing things with eye service to please men as nobody except God is supervising your spiritual life now or seeing what you are doing). Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (1Cor.12:5).

Having seen this foundational truth, the ball is now in your court to tell yourself the truth if your foundation is truly in agreement with what God is saying; if not, quickly make a move to solidify it so that you can go unto perfection. If you think the foundation is okay, have you submitted to God’s Authority Channel like Paul did when God began to deal with Him? Have you done restitutions in marriage, in finance, in business, in the field of academia, in spiritual life, in health, in your jobs, to individuals or corporate bodies you defrauded, to your parents you have been cheating or stealing from, to government agencies, to people you stole their children in hospitals, to your adopted children you are hiding the truth from, to the pregnancy you lied and accused an innocent person as being responsible, etc.? All these and many more must be repented of. Seek counsel from true ministers of God to guide you wisely. Remember the Lord is coming for a church that has no spot or wrinkle and His Spirit cannot dwell permanently inside an unclean or unsanctified vessel. Have you been delivered from traditions of men that transgress the Word of God? Are you delivered from family ties? Remember Jesus broke His family ties when He said that His mother and brethren are those within that do the Will of God. What is your take on this?

Think wisely and make a quick decision before it is too late. God bless you as read and obey Him.  May His grace abide with each and every one of us.

By Apostle John A. Daniel

Founder/ President, Melchisedec Graduate Bible Academy, Lagos – Nigeria.

www.melbac.org.

Email: apostlejohnd@gmail.com, apostlejohnd@harmabitrac.org

Phone contact: +234-8033476693