Men of God

We have them in hundreds if not thousands. They appear in different regale and uniforms, and we see them everywhere especially on Sundays. Our television and radio stations are filed with their messages. They also go by different titles, some are called Pastors, Evangelists, Prophets, Apostles others combine two or three names- Pastor Prophet or Apostle Evangelist and all sort. While I don’t mind the title they go by or the fact that there are many of them, I worry if they are actually doing what they are called to do.
Malachi 2:7 spells out at least some of their duties for us. Its reads ‘For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and the people should seek the law from his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of host’. This scripture presents four things we should look out for in them, namely:
1. Their lips should keep knowledge. This speaks of the content of their message. It should be complete, accurate and up-to-date. They are not to withhold knowledge but to preserve the integrity of knowledge. That means they have to be knowledgeable in whatever they say. It is not surprising that some of our earlier scientist and philosophers were Men of God. Examples include Isaac Newton, Gregior Mendel, John Wesley, John Peckham, Nicole Oresme etc. They were both knowledgeable in secular things as well as in the knowledge of God. The movie the chronicle of Narnia was from the book of a preacher by the name C.S Lewis and it is so amazing that he wrote the book decades ago (1949-1954). If you have seen the movie you will know it is a good presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in terms and pictures that the children on the street can relate to.
2. People should seek the law from their mouth. This speaks of character and charisma, in that we should see them practice the same things they preach to the extent that we go to them so that they can teach us what they practice and they should also say it well enough for us to be willing to go to hear them. The latter I know a few have mastered well as they speak so eloquently that we long to hear them but the latter cannot exist without the former.
3. For his is a messenger of the Lord of Host. The commission. A messenger is one that bears a message from his or her master and can only be heard on the ground that he or she has a message from the master. Not only that he has a message but he must have a current message from the Master. First Corinthians 14:30 say ‘if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent’. It means there must be a present truth or message they are trying to pass across to us from God.
Friends when we see our men and women of God, do we see people?
1. With a Commission from God
2. With Character
3. With Charisma
4. With a message of accurate Content

A BAD DEAL

I have always wondered what the issue was for Jesus just to turn stone to bread. I thought it was harmless, thoughtful of the devil and a helpful suggestion to a man that had been fasting. More so, what was in it for the devil? I didn’t just see it. Other than the fact that it was suggested by the devil who we all generally consider to be full of evil plans and can be up to no good, I didn’t see anything wrong with it, even so that Jesus at some point turned water into wine. Until I read Matthew 16:26 ‘For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’

This scripture implies that a deal is bad and should not be made if you have to give up your soul for anything, whatever it is. Then I understood that the temptation to turn stone to bread was not the end point for the devil but it was the beginning of a process to steal the soul of Jesus.

The process was going to be that Jesus would start agreeing to suggestions, advances and proposals made by the devil that looks harmless at first and seem helpful until the devil gets to the point where he will demand of Jesus to bow down to get the world. That is the goal!

This sound so real to us today, where we as Businessmen or Businesswomen, Employers, Employees, Job seekers, Students, Ministers of the Gospel, Politicians or Christians begin but yielding to seemingly harmless or helpful suggestions or proposals which will eventually be a bad deal. It will start as harmless, until we get to a point where we have to exchange our souls (our values, commitments, convictions and even covenant relationships) for the chance to rule or save the world. Two dangers we face at this point:
1. We would have made so many concessions before now to the devil’s suggestions that one more will not seem bad.
2. The world will be dangled right before us when the demand for our souls will be made and it will be difficult to resist.
Whatever the case, it is a bad deal that will not profit anyone because we would have given the most valuable possession anyone could ever have –our souls.