The Perversion of Ministry
God’s enemies in the name of ministry have taken over the pulpits in our generation. They received fake prophetic power, defiled healings and polluted miracles. Power and prosperity to divert members from hearing and doing God’s will. They changed God’s true miracles, signs and wonders with demonic transfers to deceive the mind of the simple. They burned up the churches in the land with fake fire. They bewitched people to follow them as they distributed defiled blessings to distract people from God.
Marriage is good, eating and drinking is good but any condition attached to it against God’s word is not acceptable. Christ’s letter to the few remaining contending believers in Sardis is to remind them of what happened in the days of Noah. The fake prosperity, defiled blessings, contaminated marriage breakthrough they got took them away from the true gospel. Deliverance focus for healing, prosperity and many blessing that will not touch souls is fake and unprofitable.
Fake preaching, prophecies, prosperity without righteousness and incomplete deliverance has taken away many people from God. Christ’s letter of deliverance to the church in Sardis for the few contending believers is to ignore every fake and focus on the good relationship with God. They are to join the preachers of righteousness and build the ark of salvation.
‘And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation… And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood’ (Genesis 7:1; 7).
The letter of deliverance from Christ
The letter that God wrote to Noah was read to all but few heard it and acted upon it. God does not work with crowd. He works with few that hear His words and acts on them. Don’t be deceived because of the ministers that multiply programs to deceive people with demonic deliverances and prosperity without God. The letter of deliverance from Christ to the church in Sardis is for all but only the few that act on it will be delivered. You may not be alive in the second coming but death can come anytime. Are you ready to meet God if you die now?
The day Noah went into the ark with his family, the water of judgment was released. Every human investment was affected and no human being of every class was spared. The people that died every day in the plane crash, road accidents and deaths in the hospitals were not told of their day of death. When God released judgment in the days of Noah, the only people that survived were righteous people inside the Ark. Marriage is good, prosperity is good, deliverance is good but they must come from God if we must partake in the second coming.
‘But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way’ (1Corinthians 12:31).
‘And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity’ (1Corinthians 12:31).
I said it before but let me repeat myself. Any gift, be it healing, prophecy, etc., that has any trace of anger, greed, pride, immorality, jealousy, covetousness, love of money or any work of the flesh in the life of the owner is lighter than nothing, unprofitable and worse than the worse. The world is filled with counterfeit and the only way to discern counterfeit is to check the character of the container.
‘Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not’ (Luke 12:40).
‘For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night’ (1Thessalonians 5:2).
‘Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame’ (Revelation 16:15).
Christ’s letter to you and me for our deliverance is that our thinking may fail us but He will not fail us. If you ignore your thinking and believe Christ, live right, no matter the hour, you will not miss it. If you remain righteous every hour, no matter your problem now, true deliverance will come at the hour you think not. Deliverance that comes through righteousness cannot expire, it is everlasting.
Watch is to examine yourself
You do not need to bother yourself for anything. If you meet up with God’s requirement, your deliverance will come; no power can postpone your deliverance in the midst of righteousness and deliverance prayer. But the problem with many deliverance ministers and ministry is too much prayer in the absence of righteous living. To watch is to examine yourself every day to check if you still keep relationship with Christ. It means to live above sin, to live in the will of God. It helps to keep our garment clean and make us not to walk naked or to be put to shame.
‘Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand’ (Philippians 4:5).
‘For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry’ (Hebrews 10:37).
‘Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown’ (Revelation 3:11).
To watch means to do things to the glory of God, in moderation in the sight of God and men. You may be the richest person in your church, do things in moderation. Do not over step, do everything to the glory of God. Christ can come as you are about to give bribe, commit immorality or sin. You can die in the very act of lies, cheat or at the point of evil negotiation. You can drop dead as you are about to leave the scene of sin, the hotel room.
Anything can happen when you never or least expect them to take place. Christ’s letter is watch, remain righteous, steadfast and contend to the end. Do not compromise your faith for anything on earth. For sinners and backsliders who linger in sin and negligent in watching, He will come on them as a thief. Great shall be their loss and sorrows.