THE KEEPER OF PROMISES (PART V)
By Akin Ojumu
Now, I don't want to belabor this point, but it’s incredibly important and it needs to be said and re-emphasized.
I have no personal grievance whatsoever against any man of God, and my harangue is nothing personal. Also, you’d be grossly mistaken if you thought my jeremiad is just an over-the-top exercise in nitpicking every little mistake, or a needless forensic scrutiny of every little slip, a preacher makes. True ministers of the Gospel, who are humbly devoted to teaching the truth of the Word of God, have my utmost respect.
The ire I raise is against the deliberate propagation of error and the scuffle is with the systemic dissemination of deceit. Impostors – “clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead” – who have infiltrated the Church and are desecrating the altar of righteousness are the targets of my remonstrations. The habitual and perpetual proliferation of erroneous doctrine is the focus of my detestation.
Furthermore, I'm not looking for likes or asking anyone to subscribe. This isn't some money-making scheme or attention seeking ruse. On the contrary, what I write about is not the type of thing that tickles the ear. My screeds rub a lot of people the wrong way and they are not the best way to make or keep friends. But hey, that's par for the course...it comes with the territory. It's a badge of honor and a worthy prize to pay. My only mission is to set free all those held captive by lies and encaged by deceits. I'm more than content even if it's just one person that I'm able to reach.
So, to all of you out there who want me to stop criticizing your Papa and Mama in the Lord, this is my answer. Do you not care about the innocent souls whom these your spiritual parents are leading astray? Why are you so passionate at defending wolves in sheep's clothings while being so dispassionate at protecting the victims of their erroneous teachings? Do the errors your daddies and mummies in the Lord teach not bother you at all?
Listen, I'll stop calling out their errors as soon as every one of the people they’ve misled, and continue to mislead, knows the truth. To me, these poor souls matter more than the reputation of your daddy in the Lord. The deliverance of those who are being led astray are by far of more importance than the bruised and fragile ego of your mummy in the Lord. The Bible tells us to offer others the truth and not to let them wander into lies. It is unconscionable and a dereliction of spiritual responsibility to allow God’s flock to go astray.
For doing what God asks us all to do, I make no apologies to anyone who feels offended. The unrighteous indignation of those rattled by my relentless attack on the errors of their fathers in the Lord means absolutely nothing to me, and the contrived umbrage of those unsettled by my siege against the deceits of their spiritual mothers does not move me one bit. I only pray that you too will one day grasp the magnitude of this warfare and the eyes of your understanding will be opened to see the seriousness of what's at stake here, which is the faith of men being destroyed and innocent souls being pushed along on the broad road that leads to eternal damnation.
As the late Martin Luther King once said, “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time.”
There’s really no time to waste. What we have in our hands is a fleeting moment in time to rescue as many as we can from the deceit they are in, and shield them from the destruction that is coming. This is a narrow window of opportunity, and we must use it wisely to shine the light of truth of the Word of God on the errors that fill the Church. There are several degrees of early and only one degree of late. We must use this precious time to rescue as many as are lost in the darkness of hero worship and bring them to the light of true worship.
Wake up from your slumber, people! These are the perilous times. The boundary between truth and lie is getting erased at an alarming rate, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell what's false from what's true. A true church teaches the undiluted and unadulterated Word of God, precept upon precept, line upon line, a little here and a little there. In the place where Christ is truly worshiped, He alone receives the veneration, and to Him alone belongs the adoration.
The day is coming when the anger of the Lord will boil over. He will drive out from His Court the buyers and sellers of miracles. On that day of recompense, the tables of the moneychangers will be overturned, and the benches of those who merchandise the anointing will be broken in pieces. The House of the Lord will be cleansed, and it’ll cease to be a den of robbers, for it shall be known as a House of Prayers.
Enough already of the spiritual lukewarmness. Quit pussyfooting around with your faith. Make up your mind, it’s either you are in, or you are out. And please, for the sake of your soul, find a place to worship where Scripture is rightly divided one verse at a time. A word, they say, is enough for the wise.
Comments
Post a Comment