SALVATION IS FREE

In search of salvation

The Associated Press reported on Friday, February 12, 2010 on the Internet that thousands of Hindu holy men - some naked and smeared with ash - took dips in the chilly waters of the Ganges river.

Throughout the day, nearly 2 million devout Hindus - including large groups of sadhus, or holy men - were expected to bathe in the waters, which they consider sacred.

Thousands of pilgrims began to take dips before dawn on Friday with temperatures falling below 50 degrees (10 degrees Celsius).

Devout Hindus believe that bathing in the Ganges river would wash away their sins and bring them salvation.

Some so-called Christians, throughout most of Christian history, especially in Catholic monasteries and convents, practiced mortification of the flesh as a means of receiving salvation.

The Rev. Michael Geisler, a priest of the Opus Dei Prelature in St. Louis, attempted in two articles to explain the spiritual purpose behind corporal mortification.

He said, "Self-denial helps a person overcome both psychological and physical weakness, gives him energy, helps him grow in virtue and ultimately leads to salvation. It conquers the insidious demons of softness, pessimism and lukewarm faith that dominate the lives of so many today" (Crisis magazine July/August 2005).

Many people have sought through self-torture, self-denial, self-mortification, and sacrifices to earn salvation from God.

Salvation is free

This is one thing many can just not understand. How can salvation be of the greatest value and yet be free? Anything that has some value in our world has a price attached to it.

It is true that there are many valuable materials and products on the internet and in the physical world that marketers offer as free. But are they really free?

For many of them you have to give to the givers, at least, personal information - name, email address, residential address, phone number etc. But you soon realize the ‘free gifts’ are not really so free when you begin to have your email boxes and postal boxes stuffed with junks, and when you begin to receive unsolicited phone and personal calls.

Producers of free ebooks are careful to put within their free ebooks link to sites and sales webpages they want you to visit. There are other information they may include for you in the books that is worth paying a lot more advertisement price for, to get to you, than the price of the free books. Even those nice ‘open-source’ and free software costs you in browsing and download time.

So, people find it strange when you say salvation is the most valuable thing but free.
“You get nothing for nothing in this world, boy!”

That is why we have clergies and religious groups teaching people to do costly things to receive salvation.

Salvation has been bought for you at a great price

Those who insist that salvation is not free are right to a point. Salvation carries the largest price of things that can be paid for. But the fact these religious teachers overlook is that the salvation of man has been fully paid for - on the cross of Calvary – by the Son of the living God, the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

When Jesus shed his holy blood and died for the sin of man at Calvary, the justice of Heaven was satisfied. God considered the salvation of man fully paid for.

You cannot pay for salvation

It is the ignorance of the fact of Jesus’ redemptive work on Calvary that makes people think they cannot receive salvation from God without paying for it in some ways.

Martin Luther at first belonged to this school of thought. He entered the monastery and made various efforts to earn salvation and work his way to heaven. He ate less and less until a once healthy-looking Luther became gaunt. He regularly applied the lash to his own naked back.

One day, in Rome, he came to a shrine reputed for being especially sacred – a staircase said to be the very one down which Jesus walked in Pilate’s palace in Jerusalem on His way to His crucifixion.

On his knees, Luther ascended the staircase step by step. On each step, he said a prayer. Before he reached the top, a scripture flashed across his mind. He had read this scripture in the monastery in Erfurt and later in Wittenberg.

The scripture is, “The just shall live by his faith.” Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38.

“By faith!” thought Luther. If a person could only receive eternal life and salvation by faith, what was he, Martin Luther, doing on this worthless staircase, hoping to earn salvation? What was he doing visiting all the so-called sacred shrines of Rome working for God’s free gift of eternal life?

The fact is, no one can work his way to heaven. Even eternity would not be enough to do so.

No one can pay for salvation. All the money of the world would not be enough to buy the salvation of a single man.

Salvation is so costly that the only way to get it is to be receive it free from its author, the Lord Jesus Christ.

All you need to do is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ in simple faith, with a repentant heart. Tell Him you are a sinner and are sorry for your sins. Ask Him to forgive you your sins and wash you clean in His blood. Ask Him to give you the grace to live for Him in faith, holiness and genuine love for God.

Please read the following related articles:

The precious gifts of eternal life http://www.ucevam.com/christian_article_life.html

Jesus Part Two http://www.ucevam.com/christian_article_jesus2.html

Raphael Oye Taiwo
http://www.ucevam.com

LESSONS FROM HAITI - Part Four

Christians will never lose their heavenly identity and certificates

One of the sad consequences of Haiti earthquake is the ‘loss of identity.’
"We've lost our identity. I don't exist," cried Antoine Rene, a 35-year-old accountant, whose entire life and official documents were lost in his ruined home and who was leading his wife away to seek shelter with relatives.

Certificates, Diplomas, all kinds of identity cards, papers and documents lie buried by debris and rubbles, or burnt by fires.

A man can lose his identity in this world and become an unknown, unidentifiable person.

It happened during the slavery period. Men and women suddenly got uprooted by slave raiders and got planted where they became mere properties. They were given new names by their masters. They had to forget their previous languages, customs, cultures, rank, titles, and styles of life and learnt alien ones.

Natural disasters – storm, earthquake, flood etc. – do result in loss of identity. A somebody can suddenly become a nobody.

But, thank God, it is not so in heaven. The names of those who have genuinely accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior by faith are written in God’s family register, the Book of Life.

This Book of Life is safe in the Father’s holy shelf. Natural disaster cannot touch it and our God-given Certificate of Second Birth, Certificates of Approval, and Certificates of Good Works.

In fact, in heaven, there is no fear of not being recognized. Every heavenly being already knows us – who we are, what we are doing for the Father on earth and what relationship we have with the Father.

If all we work hard in this world to get is the worldly certificates, credentials and testimonials, then we must be prepared for eternal loss.

Worldly riches are undependable
1Timothy 6:17
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy

The widespread devastation and extensive damage caused by 2010 Haiti earthquake bears out the uncertainty, undependability and insecurity of worldly riches - as buildings and materials worth inestimable amount of dollars got destroyed in seconds.

All hospitals in the capital suffered demolition.

Air, sea, and land transport facilities; communication systems; Presidential Palace were severely damaged.

Buildings of the finance ministry, the ministry of education, the ministry of public works, the ministry of communication and culture, the Palace of Justice, the Superior Normal School, the National School of Administration, the Institut Aimé Césaire, the National Assembly, control tower at Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport and the Port-au-Prince seaport were demolished.

Valuable artworks were destroyed as museums and art galleries were extensively damaged.

The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) at Christopher Hotel and offices of the World Bank were destroyed.

The building housing the offices of Citibank and Hôtel Montana in Port-au-Prince, collapsed. The manufacturing facilities of clothing industry, which accounts for two-thirds of Haiti's exports, suffered structural damage.

Most of Port-au-Prince's municipal government buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged, including the City Hall

Only God can tell exactly the huge amount of cash, bonds and precious metals that are now buried in the rubbles of houses, offices and financial institutions.

What is going to happen to the owners of those things in which they have put their confidence, now?

That is why the Word of the Creator of the universe warns us against putting our confidence in uncertain riches.

Nothing is more uncertain than the wealth of this world. Many have had much of it one day and been stripped of all the next. For riches are not for ever Proverbs 27:24; For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Proverbs 23:5.

The Bible warns, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal Mat. 6:19.

It is in heaven that our treasures and wealth are guaranteed eternal safety.

We lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven as we serve God wholeheartedly with our time, money, materials and energies.

LESSONS FROM HAITI - Part Three

No man is an Island

‘No man is an island entire of itself; ever man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main’ John Donne.

“This is a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share,” President Obama said, speaking in the White House diplomatic reception room concerning the Haiti earthquake.

A time of crisis and natural disaster like the Haiti earthquake makes the world wake up with a start to the realization that no nation is an island entire of itself… that we all belong to one another.

It is pleasing to see the nations of the world rushing down to Haiti to help the people, brushing aside political differences, forgetting pet ‘isms,’ and becoming blind to racial dissimilarity.

As soon as the world heard about the catastrophe, many countries responded to the appeals for help, launched fund-raising efforts, and sent search and rescue teams – without waiting to debate in the lawmakers palaces and in the newspapers how much their help would cost and if they stood to gain anything from the their actions.

The neighboring Dominican Republic immediately sent thirty-nine trucks carrying canned food, ten mobile kitchens and one hundred and ten cooks capable of producing 100,000 meals per day. It also sent eight mobile medical units along with 36 doctors including orthopaedic specialists, traumatologists, anaesthetists, and surgeons. Towns in the eastern Dominican Republic began to prepare for tens of thousands of refugees. The hospitals in Dominican Republic were made available for Haiti refugee in need of medical help, and the airport opened to receive aid that would be distributed to Haiti.

Help came from Iceland within twenty-four hours of the earthquake. From the Middle East, the government of Qatar sent C-17, a strategic transport aircraft, loaded with 50 tonnes of urgent relief materials. With these reliefs materials came twenty-six members from the Qatari armed forces, the internal security force (Lekhwiya), police force and the Hamad Medical Corporation, to set up a field hospital and provide assistance in Port-au-Prince and other affected areas in Haiti.

A rescue team was sent by the Israel Defense Forces' Home Front Command. They established a field hospital which included specialized facilities to treat children, the elderly, and women in labor near the United Nations building in Port-au-Prince.

Canada brought in light engineering equipment, drills, the jaws of life, anything that could be carried portably.

Colombia rescue workers arrived just in time to pull a child from the rubble. The Chileans sent doctors. Sri Lanka sent security. The French assembled a clinic where parents had dug for a trapped child unsuccessfully for days. Canada brought in the big guns -- a Navy ship and Army helicopter with engineers and supplies.

The United States flew in C130s with supplies that would assist the Canadians in making Jacmel's airport the center of the rescue efforts to southern provinces not touched by the aid sent to Port-au-Prince. The supercarrier USS Carl Vinson arrived at maximum possible speed on 15 January with 600,000 emergency food rations, 100,000 ten-litre water containers, and an enhanced wing of 19 helicopters; 130,000 litres of drinking water were transferred to shore on the first day.

The helicopter carrier USS Bataan sailed with three large dock landing ships and two survey/salvage vessels, to create a "sea base" for the rescue effort. They were joined by the French Navy vessel Francis Garnier on 16 January, the same day the hospital ship USNS Comfort and guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill left for Haiti. Another large French vessel was later ordered to Haiti, the amphibious transport dock Siroco.

British search and rescue teams arrived in Léogane, the town at the epicentre of the quake, on 17 January.

UN forces patrolled the streets of Port-au-Prince. The International Charter on Space and Major Disasters was activated, allowing satellite imagery of affected regions to be shared with rescue and aid organisations. Members of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook spread messages and pleas to send help.
Seeing people from different countries working together – and not bombing one another – as a team, makes one feel happy. A U.S. mobile air traffic control tower was moved to Haiti by a Russian transport plane. Cuban doctors worked side by side with doctors from ‘anti-Castro’ countries.

God makes all this possible because He is a good God. The devil, on the contrary, is a bad devil. If he had his way, the Haitians would rot under some rubbles or die of lack of medical treatment or of starvation.

If countries with different political doctrines and other one hundred and one differences could work together to help one of them in need, in a world suffering from the devil’s evil system, one can only imagine what the world will be like when the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, takes over the direct leadership of the world, as King of kings, after the battle of Armageddon.

After the battle of Armageddon in which the Lord will prove His victorious omnipotence to the anti-Christ and his soldiers, the King of kings will begin to reign in the Holy City of heavenly Jerusalem – for one thousand years (Revelation 16: 12-16; Revelation 19:19-20; Isaiah 60:10-17; Isaiah 62:3).
His ministers and governors and kings, who will be ruling with Him, are those who have followed Him faithfully on earth, doing His will, suffering for His name’s sake (2Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:6).

Christ’s kingdom will be characterized by unprecedented peace and righteousness. People of all nations of the world will become as one. War and natural disasters will become a thing of the past. The original curse will be removed and there will be prosperity like the world as never seen (Isaiah 32:1; Isaiah 9:7; Psalm 72:1,2; Zech.9:10-12; Micah 4:2,3).

Even the animal creations will share in the peace and joy of Christ’s kingdom. They will lose their ferociousness and the fiercest of them will become as tame and gentle as lamb. (Isaiah 62:25; Rom 8:19-22; Isaiah 35:1-2).

LESSONS FROM HAITI - Part Two

Nothing can separate God’s people from Their God

Rom. 8:35, 39

35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the middle of the chaos and horror of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, songs of praises began to rise up to God. The devil had expected curses and blasphemies to be rising steadily up to the throne of God.

People sang hymns and songs of praises as they gathered outside tents and on lawn chairs, in the middle of empty streets, in the midst of the dead and heart-breaking damages. One phrase in Creole could be heard repeatedly both inside and outside the hospital walls: “Beni Swa Leternel. Blessed be the Lord.”

If the devil had thought this catastrophe would drive God’s people away in droves from their Lord, he had another think coming.

One of the beautiful lessons taught by the Haiti earthquake is that nothing, however bad, will be able to separate the heart of God’s genuine people from their loving Lord.

This is a fact that has been giving the devil a migraine since sin allowed him to break through into this world and usurp the control of it.

He had assumed, when he caused the first man to fall, that all people of the world would reject their Creator and follow him in his rebellion against the Most High.

If every human being would reject God and follow him – the devil – he would have his sweet revenge. Then he could deride God as a loser and bungler worthy of nothing but contempt.

But if only one human being – just only one human being – refused to be separated from God, the Evil One would not achieve his aim.

He almost achieved his objective during the time of Noah.

Genesis 6

5. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

You see, the Evil One managed to get most of the people of the pre-flood period to follow him.

Most. But not all.

There was this problem again! Most people of the world were following him, but not all!

There was the righteous Noah who would not follow him. You can imagine how bad the Bad One must have felt to be thwarted when the achievement of his life-long aim was within sight.

It had always being like this for Satan. He had always failed to get that one last man who would have made him shout in glee:

“Do you see that God? All your men are now mine. Everyone of the dust creatures you value is now mine. Admit it, God, you are a loser! Hand it over to me, Creator of man, I am the winner of this ageless war!”

But he would never be able to rightly say this while that last man is still out of kingdom. Until every man of the world is bowing to him, saying, “You are the one we recognize as our Lord,” the devil will continue to a failure.

But to the devil’s disappointment, at every age, an Abel, an Enoch, a Noah, a Job, an Abraham, a Peter, a Paul, a Girolamo Savonarola, a Martin Luther… always emerged just when he began to think, “This time, at last, victory is certain. I have almost got all these dust creatures into my kingdom.”

Only people who do not really love God allow themselves to be pulled out of the Way to heaven by hardship, disaster, problems and danger. Those who really love the Lord cleaves to Him in spite of every evil thing the devil throws at them (Acts 11:23).

Friend, whatever the case may be, don’t allow yourself to be separated from Jesus, your loving Friend. Don’t give up following the Lord. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t quit serving the Lord. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. Heb 13:5;Mat. 28:20; Isaiah 41:10.

Please, click here to read my book, Don’t Be Discouraged OR visit http://www.ucevam.com/dbd.html

Raphael Oye Taiwo

www.ucevam.com

LESSONS FROM HAITI

Part One

Just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, the Capital of Haiti, causing untold dead and suffering.

The Haiti's President, Rene Preval, called the death toll "unimaginable" as he surveyed the destruction wrecked by the earthquake. He told The Miami Herald, “Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed. There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them. All of the hospitals are packed with people. It is a catastrophe.”

Limbs protruded from disintegrated concrete. Groans and muffled cries came from deep inside the wrecks of buildings. Hundreds are arrayed in a macabre tangle of limbs outside a morgue in Port-au-Prince near the grievously wounded. In every street were rows of fly-blown corpses and crowds of wandering refugees, seeking a place to lie down for the night with their few remaining possessions.

On Thursday, The International Red Cross said the quake had killed between 40,000 and 50,000 people, while Haitian officials had warned that the overall death toll might top 100,000.

Terrible? You can say that again!

I will say this much for the catastrophe, it teaches us some important spiritual lessons.

Lesson One

Life is short. It can come to an abrupt end – when one least expect.
Like most other people of the world, the Haiti earthquake victims welcomed the New Year 2010 with joy, singing and dancing. Little did they realize they would never see the end of the first month of the year.

James 4:14, Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
1Peter 1:24; 1John 2:17; Psalm 103:15; Isaiah 40:6.

When you consider the brevity of life, you will see to it that you don’t waste it on frivolous things, things that do not have eternal value, things that you will lose when you leave the world, things that cannot benefit you after this life.

Lesson Two

Life has a way of changing the best of plans of man. The well-made plan of man does not impress death. Disaster does not consult a man before it strikes.

James 4:13-14, Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow…

Needless to say, all, or at least, most of the victims of the Haiti earthquakes have good plans made for this year. They entered the new year with great hope for the future. But hardly had they entered the new than disaster struck and all the carefully-laid plans could no longer be pulled off, nor even be considered anymore.

This shows us that plans can only be made and fulfilled with the consent of God.

They behave stupidly who make plans for years to come without God, counting on long years to accomplish their worldly objectives and enjoy the fruits of their earthly efforts, in disregard of the fact of the shortness and uncertainty of human life.

Psalm 127:1, Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

We must look up to God for help and grace to accomplish every plan we make. We must learn to trust Him from day to day.

But the most important thing is that our plans should focus mainly on things that will bring us eternal reward when we leave the world. It is folly to spend our lives planning for what won’t profit us at the end of this life. We must always be prepared for eternity.

Raphael Oye. Taiwo

http://www.ucevam.com/

http://www.ucevam.wordpress.com/
http://www.gmission.wordpress.com

OPERATION GLORIOUS MISSION 2010

When a year is packing up, getting ready to move out so a new fresh year can move in, most people begin to think about and plan for the incoming year. People begin to ask themselves, “How can I better my life in the in-coming year?” “How can I do better in the approaching year what I have been doing?” “What corrections and restitutions must I make when I enter the new year?”

I am no exception. As a year moves towards its end, my mind begins to think of the coming year and to ask the Lord about His plan for me in the year.

When we got to the middle of December, 2009, I began to seek the mind of the Lord about His will for my God-given Ministry in the in-coming year. My mind began to ask the Mighty One, “Father, what specific things would you like for me to do in the coming year 2010 so I could help fulfill the Great Commission? What, Lord of the host, is your battle plan for me in the new year?”
In answer, words flowed into my mind from the Throne of Mercy, “Embark on Operation Glorious Mission.”

Operation Glorious Mission!

Well, what are the objectives of Operation Glorious Mission 2010 as the Spirit of God makes it clear to me?

The objectives of Operation Glorious Mission 2010 are that by the end of year 2010,
*A million people from many parts of the world will have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Word of God from Operation Glorious Mission 2010 team to be led by me,
*A minimum of 100 new churches will have been planted,
*At least eighty percent of the existing UCEM Churches will have grown spiritually and numerically.

A tall order? I felt so.

To tell the truth, I put a cross on the written objective two times, saying, “God, this is unrealistic goals.” And each time, the Lord would respond, “With man this is impossible but with God, all things are possible.”

The problem I was looking at was money. I knew very well that spiritually and mentally, my people and I were capable.

Thirty years experience on the Lord’s battle-field has taught me how to serve the Lord effectively in the face of hardship, persecution and discouraging problems. Holding mass open-air evangelistic meetings is not new to me. Ministering to people in the open is a regular practice of mine. I am not inexperience at planting churches. When it comes to writing, preaching, teaching, counselling and praying, I am in my elements.

But operating money!

That’s the real gnawing problem that most ministers in my part of the world have to deal with. And it is what made me doubted in the beginning the possibilities of accomplishing these objectives.

For this project, a lot of money would be needed to acquire the necessary gospel and mission equipment and do other necessary things.

We will seek to achieve this objective mainly through:
intensive prayer warfare
*aggressive mass evangelism
*Campmeetings
*the internet
*evangelical video productions
*electronic media and printed pages.

I decided in the last weeks of December to share this vision with my fellow Christians and trust God to provide $100,000 through them.

How about being a part of Operation Glorious Mission 2010? Will you help out financially?

I want to raise 100,000 U.S. Dollars for this Project. I have collected many valuable Christian and other helpful ebooks and softwares for free download by those who contribute to Operation Glorious Mission 2010 - as a ‘thank you’ gift.

You see, when you plant a seed through a donation, you reap in many ways:
*God will bless you in one way or the other in this world for it
*God will reward you for it in eternity
*You will receive the joy of helping to fulfill the purpose of God on earth
*You can download, without charge, valuable materials - Christian ebooks, educational ebooks and helpful softwares - as a ‘thank you’ gift.

When you make a donation, we'll send you a special url where you can download one, two or even all of the materials.

Our supporters shall receive monthly reports of how we use the money towards the accomplishment of Operation Glorious Mission 2010.

You can donate securely through paypal.

To donate or to read more about Operation Glorious Mission 2010 and the gifts I have for the supporters of the Operation, please visit: http://www.ucevam.com/ogm2010.html.

You can leave your comment for me on Operation Glorious Mission 2010 on this blog or contact me through http://www.ucevam.com/contact.php .

Thanks. God bless you.

Raphael Oye Taiwo
http://www.ucevam.com/

WHY JESUS CAME TO THE WORLD

I trust you really enjoyed the last Christmas.

I did, even though I spent it travelling about teaching, ministering and praying for people. You ought to see me on the motor-bike on the highway, fighting for right of way with numerous four-wheel vehicles of all kind. Thanks to my bone-shaking, life-tired car that I had to ditch in the end.

Even though I didn’t have time to sit around with loved ones, tucking into mouth-watering ‘Christmas specials’ and sipping drinks of various sorts, I thanked God for the Christians all over the world who were doing so in celebration of the great day when the birth of God the Son into the world as a human being was being celebrated.

Ah, Christmas day! Even large numbers of non-Christians from most parts of the world refused to be left out of the eating and drinking and dancing with which Christmas is often celebrated.

The painful thing is that many Christmas celebrants do not really understand what Christmas stands for. Nor do they really care. For all they are concerned, Christmas is no more than a time of wining and dinning, spending time with the family and having good times with friends.

Whenever I got the opportunity during the festive period of Christmas, I talked about the real meaning of Christmas: why Jesus came to the world.

Jesus came to the world to give man eternal life - John 3:16; John 3:36.

When a man repents and accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior, He is reborn by the Holy Spirit. Being reborn, the man (or woman) receives, as his birth right, eternal life, which is the nature of God.Unlike the physical life that a man receives when he is born into the world, eternal life enables the receiver to go on living with God after this life - for ever and ever.Because it is the nature of God, eternal life enables a person to live the godly life – the God kind of life.

Jesus came to the world to destroy the work of the devil - 1 John 3:8.

The Lord Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, which includes:

destruction of human soul and body – 1 Peter 5:8; Rev 9:11. One of the names of the devil in Hebrew is Abaddon, which means destruction. That is why the Lord called him the murderer in John 8:44. Jesus came to the world to destroy this work of the devil by saving human soul and protecting human body from the evil one. Heb 2:14.

Putting people in darkness. He covers the world in foul darkness, causing the people of the world to walk in darkness. That is why he is called the ruler of the darkness of the world.Jesus, the Light, came into the world to deliver people from the darkness of the devil and translates them from the region, dominion, realm of darkness into His kingdom of light - John 8:12; Col. 1:13.

Leading people away from God into eternal suffering in hell – John 12:40; 2 Cor. 4:4; 2 Cor. 11:3.The major work of the devil is to lead people away from God and eternal joy and peace into eternal suffering and torment. Jesus came to destroy this work of the devil by leading people back to God – Rev. 5:9.

Jesus came to the world to save the sinners - 1 Tim 1:15.

Jesus came to the world to save the sinners by calling them unto repentance - Matt 9:13. Jesus knew the evil power of sin over the people of the world.He knew that they must be called to repentance or else they would suffer for the sins for all eternity - Luke 13:3, 5. So, He came into the world to call sinners into repentance.By helping the lost sinners to recognize themselves as sinners, to understand the terrible reward of sin and to repent of their sins, He saves the lost - Matt 18:11.

Jesus came to the world to save the sinners by washing them with His blood – Rev 1:5; 1 John 1:7. When a sinner repents, the blood of Jesus cleanses him from his sin.

Jesus came to the world to save sinners by redeeming them from sin and Satan – Titus 2:14; Eph 1:7; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:12.

Jesus came to the world to reconcile man with God - Col. 1:21-22; Rom 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18; Eph 2:16.

Jesus came to the world that man might receive the Holy Spirit - Matt 3:11; John 14:16-17.

Jesus came into the world so that human beings might enjoy the unique experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and have the Holy Spirit abiding in them.

Jesus came to the world so that we might be able to sit on God’s throne - Rev 3:21. Who is man that he might hope to be given the opportunity to come anywhere near the throne of God. But because of the unspeakable love of God for us, Jesus came into the world that He might not only make us worthy to come near the throne of God, but that he might make us worthy to sit with Him on the resplendent throne of God alive with extraordinarily great power of the Almighty.

Raphael Oye Taiwo

Unity Christ Evangelical Ministry (UCEM)
http://www.ucevam.com/
http://www.ucevam.wordpress.com/

DON’T STRAY FROM YOUR PROTECTOR

I was sitting in the backyard of a hut at a village – one of UCEM Rural Mission Field – enjoying the evening tropical breeze and heroically resisting the numerous midges which were trying to get into their tiny bodies some of my precious blood.
Suddenly, my attention was drawn to a giant ant crawling along near my feet. For no reason I myself could explain, I fixed my gaze on the creature as it inched its way away from me.
What I didn’t immediately realize was that I was not the only observer of the ant. Two lizards at the wall of the hut were following her with their sharp eyes from different directions. But they wouldn’t dare an attack because of my presence.
As she moved further away from me, they moved down the wall. I could imagine the lizards saying, “Good boy, get away from that monster human being. He has nothing to offer you. Get wise, dummy, come to us! We have some great plan for you!”
For some reasons known only to the ant, she would turn about and head towards me, though she wasn’t aware of the two lizards stalling her. The lizards would beat a hasty retreat back up the wall. Then the big, black creature would turn round again and move away from me. The observant lizards would retrace their steps down the wall.
I suddenly felt protective towards the ant. But I made up my mind that I would protect her from her deadly enemy only if she stayed around me. I wasn’t ready to run around chasing away some lizards because of some dumb giant ant.
Oh, how I wish the ants would stay in my immediate area! How I wish it would not give the lizards the opportunity they needed to gobble her. But oh, no! The ant, like the fools of the world, chose to abandon her protector and move into the enemy territory.
It kept going until she had moved far from me – far enough for the lizards to decide it was safe enough for them to get their dinner.
When the lizards were sure that their prey had left enough distance between us for them to make a safe attack without risking my intervention, they moved in.
As quick as a striking adder, one of the two lizards struck and devoured her. And it was the end of the one who would not stay in the area of her protector!
Some Christians are like the giant ant. For one foolish reason or the other, they move away from their eternal Protector, Jesus Christ, and stray into the territory of the enemy of their soul.
The Bible warns, ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour’ 1 Pet. 5:8for .
There is no doubt about the fact that the devil is your enemy. He hates you as no human being can ever hate you. His desire for the destruction of your soul is indescribable. He doesn’t want a moment of joy for you in the world. Eternal suffering in the burning lake of fire is his full desire for you.
The devil lures many foolish Christians away from the protective area of Jesus - the Captain of Salvation, the defender of the people of God - with money and luster of worldly glory. They stupidly move away from Jesus to the enemy of their soul in the hope that the enemy will help them get the good things of life they desire.
Jesus warned strictly, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5.
Inside Jesus is the ‘Safe Territory.’ Outside Jesus is the enemy’s territory, the danger zone. If for any reason you move away from Jesus, you move into trouble.
Don’t give the enemy the opportunity he needs to destroy you body, soul and spirit. Stay with Jesus whatever happens.
Fellow, ‘with purpose of heart… cleave unto the Lord.’ Acts 11:23.
Never let anything separate you from your Savior, Defender and Protector. The Apostle Paul asks a thought-provoking question, ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?’ Rom. 8:35
To this question every genuine child of God should give an unequivocal answer: “Nobody and nothing.”

LEARN TO OBEY GOD'S VOICE

OBEY MY VOICE

Jer 7:23
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

God is not a cruel task master whose servants are heavily-laden with unreasonable demands and commandments (Mat 11:28).
God is a good Lord who cares for His people. He doesn’t make unnecessary demands on them. He doesn’t burden His people with callous laws and inconsiderate commandments. He does not desire to break His people’s neck with heavy yoke of insensitive decrees.
He, however, desires that we obey Him implicitly when He speaks.
You and I must realize that God has a right as our Lord to tell us what He wants us to do and what He wants us not to do. And we, as His servants, have a duty to obey Him absolutely.
If you have being in the Lord for about six months, you must have heard about the ‘Ten Commandments.’ So, when you hear me talking about obeying the Lord, your mind probably automatically goes to Exodus 20 where the Ten Commandments are listed.
That is o.k. But I don’t want you to think that the Ten Commandments are all you have to obey. The whole Bible is full of instructions and orders from the Lord to his people – instructions and orders we are duty-bound to obey.
But that is not all. Many times in the course of our lives, the Holy Spirit speaks to our heart or reveals to us in some ways certain things the Lord wants us to do.
These revealed instructions may make no sense to us. We may even consider the instructions from the Holy Spirit downright stupid because of what we think the people around us may say or think if we go ahead and obey God’s voice. But we will do well to obey the words from the Spirit of God, just as we will obey the words of the Spirit of God in the Bible.
I am not saying you should obey every voice you hear or every vision you see. I have seen too many people get into serious trouble by following every kind of voice and vision and dream and prophecy, to ask you to do so. Not only is it stupid, but it is dangerous, to obey every voice we think we hear, or every prophecy or revelation we receive, without making sure that they are from the Lord. The Bible warns:

1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

But when you are rightly certain it is the Lord speaking, go ahead and obey the Lord.
It may be a little nudge from the Holy Spirit to do something that will bring glory to the Lord. It may be a silent voice of the Holy Spirit in your heart that is urging you to take a certain action. It may be a deep impression, from the Holy Spirit, to turn around and move in another direction. The leading may come in several other ways. As soon as you are convinced it is from the Lord, go ahead, and obey the Lord.
Let me give you two examples from my recent experience:

About three weeks ago, I went to a town to worship on Sunday with my fellows in one of UCEM Churches.
At the right time, I was called to the pulpit to preach. I got behind the pulpit, saluted the people, reminded them about this and encouraged them about that.
Anybody who observed me closely would realize I was tired. The day before and the day before it (Friday and Saturday), I had conducted a 2-day monthly programme, Victory Revival. I do most of the preaching and ministering in this monthly programme. This sometimes leave me tired on Sunday, as it now did.
As I stood behind the pulpit on that Sunday, I felt exhausted. And the heat in the place wasn’t helping the situation.
I announced to the congregation I would only preach a little, then close the meeting. Knowing some might feel disappointed that I would not be ministering to them – especially, praying for the sick - I said in a placating voice, “Next time, I will come and hold special meetings for you where I will preach the Word of God and minister to you.”
Heads nodded in agreement, understandingly.
I preached my little sermon and was about to pack it in when the Holy Spirit urged me to pray for the people en masse. “Well,” I said to myself, “I’ll just make it brief and quick.”
As I prayed, I sensed the presence of the Lord.
“Through this prayer,” the Lord said, “I have touched many people here. There is a person here especially who has been suffering from severe pain for some time. I have healed the person.”
“Thank you Lord,” I said, eager to close the meeting. Then I knew the Lord really wanted me to announce this. I was reluctant to do this because I knew one thing would lead to another and I might have to spend the next thirty minutes ministering in the spirit.
But I also knew the folly of disobeying the Lord’s expressed will.
I told the congregation what the Spirit asked me to announce. No sooner had I ended the announcement than a man put up his hands.
Oh no,” I thought. “The fellow wants to ask a question or ‘make a speech.’”
I was ready for neither of these. So, I ignored him.
But he wouldn’t be stopped. He jumped to his feet, came out and testified to how the Lord had healed him of a severe pain especially in the neck as I prayed.
“When I heard the message about the healing of a serious pain,” the man said. “I knew the Lord wanted me to tell publicly what He has done for me.”
Then another woman jumped up and testified to how the Lord had healed her when I was praying.
I began to thank God for enabling me to obey His voice to pray and declare the words of knowledge He gave me.
Last week, (it is now about two months at the time of preparing this special edition of the Victorious Giant), I was ministering on Saturday evening at the Rural Mission Outreach of UCEM Students Fellowship. At the end of my message, I began to pray for different groups of people.
I asked a group - which I thought would be the last group I would pray for - to stand up and place their hands on their heads as I prayed.
They complied.
“In the Name of Jesus,” I began to pray. Then the Holy Spirit cut me short. He wanted me to pray over a more urgent matter.
For a moment, I remained silent. Here were these people laying their hands on their heads, expecting me to go on praying for them. And here was I being directed to ignore them for some time and begin to pray for some other thing.
It was an open-air revival meeting. I knew that apart from those on the revival ground, there were many other people lurking in dark places in front or at the backyard of their houses, who were following what we were doing with their ears. What would they think?
I decided to obey the Holy Spirit. I said over the loudspeaker, “Sorry, you people who have your hands laid upon your heads. Please, hold on, the Lord asks me to pray concerning an untimely death that is about to happen around this place. Someone will die suddenly and the whole community will be shaken because of the tragedy, unless the Lord intervenes. Now, let’s pray that the Lord will intervene and the tragic thing will not happen.”
I prayed. The people were shouting “amen” after each sentence of prayer. Then we carried on with the meeting.
The second day, I left the village, after Sunday Service in our church there.
Three days later, I received a text message thanking me for the prayer. A person had just escaped death narrowly around the place where we held the revival meeting. It happened in a way that made the people there, even the unbelievers, agreed that it was the case I mentioned and prayed about.
A Muslim Alhaji came to our people in the community to express his surprise at what the Lord did through us. The Alhaji said, “I was sitting in front of my house when that Man of God was praying for the people. I heard when he stopped the prayer and mentioned the case of someone who was going to die tragically at that place. And when he prayed that the Lord would prevent the thing from happening, I joined others to say ‘amen.’ Now, seeing what followed, I know without doubt that God is with you people. And you are doing His work.”
I thank God for helping me to obey His voice that evening, not caring about the negative reaction that might come from anybody because of the unusual way I acted. A person’s life was spared and at least a Muslim leader was convinced that Christ was alive and was with His people.
See some of the promises of God to those who obey Him:

Ex 23:22
But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

Isa 1:19
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

Luke 11:28
But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

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