It is a second chance not an affirmation of our sin

There was a time when God was disappointed with the house of David, starting with King Solomon and his children, as they became idol worshipers, disobedient, and unjust. As a result, God decided to take all the children of Jacob, except two tribes, from the house of David. This was to avoid the suppression of Israel by ignorance of the house of David so the people should know God is just God, not an unjust ruler as the house of David was becoming after Solomon. After all, it was ordered to the first king of Israel, by God through Samuel, that the king should not take the people back to the slavery of Egypt by having a large number of chariots for himself.

 

For the house of David, it was punishment for their disobedience, idol worship, and sin. If the house of David loved the lord with their full heart, mind, and soul to be obedient to the will of the lord and to love their people, as David was, the lord himself could have made them just and wise rulers. After all, the Wisdom of Solomon was not from earth but from heaven. What Solomon did to be a wise ruler is nothing but to have the right heart in sight of the lord. When the house of David replaced idols for God, when they demanded service rather than being servants of the people, when they lost the love of God and their people, however, they were to lose everything in sight of the lord. For the love of David, however, the lord did not take all tribes of Israel from the house of David. Sometimes we stand firm not because we are right in sight of the lord, but because of the love of giants that comes before us.

 

In this event, God was affirming neither Judah nor Israel, but himself. What God wanted was to discipline his children to his narrow path. Yet the house of David and Judah did not worship God with purity of heart but only in appearance and Israel became idol worshipers. God did punish them, expecting their return to him. God gave them more chances to return to him, though they kept affirming their sin until their final desolation. Since the Bible is written for our education, let us learn from it. Let us affirm Jesus and his ways, not our ways and ourselves.

 

After this, where do they end up? House of David became poor peasants who could not even afford a guest house for the birth of the lord. Israel is almost destroyed, as the 10 tribes are more or less destroyed. This is because they did not use the second, third, fourth, and until the last chance of God. God is extremely patient God. There, however, is a limit to everything and there is a point where all patience of God is replaced by anger of God to lead to our desolation in the hell of this earth and hell of the afterlife. Looking at the history of Israel and Israel’s history is an affirmation of this very fact. Yet, as any good father, the lord will try to collect his children into his hands after they are disciplined for their sins. This is the ongoing and incomplete contemporary history of Israel, which will end when they accept the lord Jesus Christ as their lord and their God. God is hugging the kid after the punishment he inflicted on him for the kid’s evil manners, so the kid could know the mighty perfection of the father and it is not by any means affirmation of the kid’s behavior. The history of Israel and Judah, therefore, is not an affirmation of Israel but Jesus. If God bless them with knowledge, prosperity, and dominance, though not necessarily with kind heart, biblical knowledge, and the Holy Spirit; there is nothing beautiful about them but Jesus. It is about Jesus, the lord, and the God, who love them with one more chance when they hate him to death. There is nothing admirable about Israel but Jesus. That is why we preach Jesus, not Israel.

 

Now let us see our local (Ethiopian) church history from a bird’s eye view by standing on this foundation. In the early history of the evangelical churches, we had elders of the faith who not only preached the word of God to save lost souls to the kingdom of heaven but who also lived according to the word of God in the system of persecution and oppression. As the lord commanded us to do, they did not only preach the word of God but they lived it. They did not only preach love, but they lived in love with all. That is why they are giants in the kingdom of heaven as it is written. Those giants of the lord end up producing millions of faithful who not only say lord and lord, but who also keep the commandment of the lord. This was a highly disorganized effort, due to the oppression, but an effective effort since every faithful was a solder of the lord and lived by the love of the lord. Those giants were not only preaching the gospel but living it, too. They love not only God and their fellow faithful but also those who hate, despise, and hunt them. In this era of prosecution and expansion, all piety denominational differences are put aside for their main mission; after all, they were wise enough to focus on the 95% that unite them rather than on the 5% that divide them. This is how through love and by love, they collected the lost souls to the love of the Lord.

 

Yet their denominational differences with Orthodox and Catholic “churches” and Muslims were marked and focused on, as it was not piety difference but a difference of life and death. They did not admire the achievements of Orthodox or Catholic “churches”; as neither Paul nor Peter admired the achievements of idol worshipers. They preach the fact that unless people are born again and move from their misguided religion to the faith of the lord, they are going to hell. Neither Orthodox nor Catholic is faithful and neither is born in spirit. Besides, anyone who does not have the spirit of the lord does not belong to the lord, as it is written. None of them, therefore, are going to heaven but to final judgment.

 

If they were going to heaven as all born-again faithful are, nobody with his/her right mind would prefer to create social, economic, and cultural distance around him/her for piety denominational differences by standing against those well-established and powerful “churches”. The reason why we have to stand against their dogma is because that dogma will send people to hell, and real faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ with second birth in spirit will take them to heaven. Our difference is between eternal heaven and eternal hell. This is why there is no unity between heaven and hell, and there is no unity between the temple of the lord and the temple of idol worshipers that they are. Those giants, therefore, did not sugarcoat this fact because they loved them that much. If they lie to them for their comfort, they go to hell. They loved those lost souls, who were wondering on the darkness of their heretical religion, and the lord of light that much to tell them the inconvenient truth at the cost of the giants’ comfort and security.

 

They don’t hate Orthodox, Muslim, or Catholic people. They are their mothers, brothers, sisters, all their extended family, their neighbors, coworkers, and the majority of people around them. They cannot hate them because they are their people by blood, as Paul does not hate the Jewish people. Yet they were not ashamed to preach to them nothing but the pure Gospel and to tell them unless they are born in spirit through faith they have no chance in the kingdom of God. Paul did not focus on admiring Rome, her religion, and her achievements, but on the Gospel of truth and peace. Those giants of the lord did not also focus on the achievements of Muslims, Orthodox, and Catholics but on the pure gospel of the lord. We have nothing to do with the river waters that they collect, who knows from where, for themselves, we only share the pure river of life that comes from the kingdom of God.     

 

Those giants had two consecutive roles and the lost sheep had two mutually exclusive roles. The giants tell them the pure truth (the first role of the giants), those who are called by God listen to them (one role of the lost sheep), and those who are not called hate or ignore them (another role of the lost sheep). Then the giants love all of them no matter what they do, except the love for their fellow faithful is deeper (the second role of the giants). The lost sheep hunt the giants, and the giants love them; the lost sheep insult the giants, the giants respect them; the lost sheep hate the giants, the giants honor them; the lost sheep curse the giants, and the giants pray for them. When the hatters are hungry, the giants feed them; when the hunters are thirsty, the giants give them water; and when their killers need their help, the giants help them. The lost do walk in darkness and it is not unexpected if they stumble. Yet the giants have the light of the lord, so they were light and salt of this world. Their weapon of mass destruction against all sin and evil is love, unconditional love. This is how you live in peace with the lost sheep of the lord, while they hunt and prosecute you; not by sugarcoating the truth to affirm their sin for your body's comfort and your and their inevitable destination in hell. There is no unity between Judah and Samaria unless Samaria abandons her idols. Read the bible, it is written for your education.     

 

So, we don’t make peace by admiring their sin, we make peace through unconditional love. If we don’t love them, God, and ourselves, we could let them go to hell by admiring their sin. If we follow our flesh, not our spirit, we could focus on accepting their sin as right for our stomach and comfort. Yet we love them, we love ourselves and we love God. That is why we love to tell them the uncomfortable truth at the cost of our comfort, peace, happiness, and achievement, so we can have the approval of the lord. Peace is built by imitating Jesus not by admiring the achievement of Rome. It is their nature to kill and hunt us because they are in darkness. It is our nature to take all lost sheep of the lord from their hand to the kingdom of God through unconditional love toward unconditional love of the lord. After all, we have the weapon of mass destruction against all sin and evil, unconditional love. We are peacemakers as children of God, as it is written, not by admiring the achievements of Rome but through the gospel of peace and unconditional love. We are proud of the gospel because the purpose of the gospel is to save all lost souls to the kingdom of God. We disagree with their comfortable lie to save them through the gospel of peace. We expect them to be aggressive toward us as children of darkness, yet we are expected to love them unconditionally because we are children of light. We defeat their darkness not by affirming their darkness but by shining the light of the lord into their darkness at any cost for us. At any cost! We defeat their hate of the truth, with the pure truth of the bible packaged with a thick crust of unconditional love toward all. This was the history of those giants because those giants were the lord’s own, as Paul, Peter, and John were.    

 

After those giants, freedom came with the desolation of the socialist military government. As slaves of America were not ready for the new freedom that was upon them following the American Civil War, the leadership of the local churches was not ready with adequate spiritual readiness and biblical understanding to manage the organized life of the faithful. If they had bowed toward the lord, as Solomon did, to seek wisdom in humility, they could manage it better. Yet they followed human ways and tried to imitate foreign structures. So, they imported factions, sins, and all divisions, which are common around the world. The result is the silver of governance is mixed with thin and the wine of faith is mixed with water. History repeats itself, as people of the spirit slowly are dominated by people of the flesh. Love was replaced by faction, unconditional love was replaced by envy, way of God was replaced by the way of man. It was Jerusalem after David, the silver of governance was diluted by unjust leadership, and the pure wine of faith and worship was diluted by the water of corruption. As the house of David lost the spirit of the lord, the assemblies of those giants did lose their heavenly fire, as a result. Now those churches, which are established by giants of the lord, are not the center of the Holy Spirit and Spiritual powers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are nothing but the house of David saved from complete desolation for the sake of David. Without unconditional love, all is worthless. That is why they are nothing but simply worthless if it was not for the sake of David. Where is the unconditional love? Can you stand without it?  

 

So God created Israel as a colony of independent kingdoms, and independent churches, so both Israel and Judah should return to the way of God. God is affirming neither of them, but himself. To the elders of the faith, God is giving them a sign to return to their older ways, to the way of the giants of the faith. It is not hard to understand what is happening. The giants had powers, you don’t. The giants had an unwavering dedication to the cause, you don’t. Most importantly the giants had unconditional love, even to those who hunted to kill them, you are the house of David. What has love to do with the house of David? You are brothers of Joseph who hunt him because the lord gave him a dream. You can doubt my observation but you cannot doubt the Holy Spirit which is moving out from your assembly. Please don’t keep repeating your sins as the house of David did, but please for your sake return to David. Nobody is a giant in sight of the lord, don’t fool yourself. Return to David!

 

What about Joseph of our age? What a disappointment for a dreamer. The biblical Joseph, who was ruling Egypt, did not dance in arrogance against his elder brothers, who mistreated him. He fed them when they were hungry, he protected them when they were weak, he gave them land when they had no other hope, and he showed them there was a reason why the lord gave him a dream. They did not hate him for his dream only but also because he was reporting to his father, Jacob, on the sins of his brothers too. Joseph was hated by his brothers, because he was raised right by his father and God with knowledge of good and evil, with knowledge of what is holy and what is sin. See to the giants, they had unconditional love for those who hunted them. Those elders know the truth, they just don’t live it. If you had unconditional love toward those misguided elders to persist for a while, you could learn the word of God from them. That could serve you as a foundation to differentiate the pure river of the lord from the sinful rivers of Babylon.

 

Yes, the elders may not have all knowledge of the word of God, they are not Jesus after all. But before you can improve on them, you need to stand on their shoulder to reach higher. Before a kid can teach his father, who could be wrong in many ways, he needs to learn from him first. Imagine a six-year-old kid trying to teach his illiterate and misguided father. What do you expect from this process? A street child that many of you are! This is why nobody knows which water of Babylon you are drinking nowadays. How can you know the good from evil, the Holy Spirit from evil spirit without proper foundation?

 

The fact that you, Joseph wants to be, are wrong is proven by your fruit. What is the quality of the faithful? The young generation is with you but what is their quality? The giants of the faith produced excellent quality faithful in millions. You are rebranding millions of sinful people, who live in sin, as holy by the blood of Jesus without the fruit of the spirit. I don’t mean wealth but holiness. They live in sin, they die in sin, and they cry about wealth 24/7, and you proclaim they are saved by grace like our born-again spirit is the spirit of the flesh. The uneducated teacher can only produce ignorance, after all; are not you an uneducated teacher? When the light in you is nothing but darkness, the only thing you can share is darkness.  

  

You may say you have the power of God, the Holy Spirit. Ok but how do you know what you have is the Holy Spirit? You know the identity of the spirit, by looking at the fruit of the spirit. Your fruit is questionable because the “faithful” nowadays seems to be something that evolved from a monkey with greed and envy, rather than with truth and unconditional love. Since you don’t know the bible, how can you know the right fruit? When you have no proper foundation, how can you build a proper foundation for others? All spirits are not the right spirit. Even if you have the Holy Spirit, be very careful not to stumble then after. If the Holy Spirit can abandon the assembly of the giants who support you as a tree, it would not be very hard to abandon you, you wild branch who is planted in their achievement.

 

They are the olive root and olive tree that support you. They have the knowledge and truth of God. They are the original giants of the lord, who lost their ways. You are not supposed to insult them, attack them, undervalue them, and be arrogant about the power of God, which is manifested in you. God is not affirming your ignorance and lack of biblical knowledge. God is not affirming the river waters that you keep collecting from all idol worshipers, who feed their stomachs in the name of the faith. God is talking to his giants to go to the right path, the older ways, and to leave their human ways behind.

 

If God can take his powers and his manifestations from those giants, it would not be much of a problem to take his powers from you. If the olive tree can be punished, what do you think is your future wild branch? Your role was to unconditionally love those who hate you, to pray for those who hunt you, to feed those who despise you, and to unconditionally love those who love to hate you. It is not wise to sing against your brothers by saying that “Joseph is anointed in front of those who hate him”; but to feed them when they are hungry, to protect them when they need protection, and to respect them when they feel lonely. If you did that you would learn a lot word of God, which could sustain you, from them. They are the giants who could make you look tall. The reason why you look ugly dwarf on public media is because you are not standing on their shoulder. Now you have powers but you are ignorant of the word of God. Nobody knows what kind of water you are drinking and the quality of your work can be seen in the quality of the faithful. Do you think the lord is affirming you? You don’t know Jesus. Seek Joseph to know him and to imitate him. If you love Joseph, imitate him.

 

Yes, beautiful churches are built for your comfort, but the lord is living in a temple of thieves, and earthy ways. Your churches are built but the temple of the lord is destroyed for that. Your flesh is prospering, at least the religious leaders, but the spirit of the faithful is dying that is why the quality is deteriorating. The temple of the lord should worship the lord 24/7, not material things and earthly things. People should love God with their full hearts, minds, and souls but now the Lord is an ATM that pays with interest. You put in some money, and the lord gives you more money. All day you don’t think about how to make the Lord happy, but you cry about how much car, house, money, and comfort your ATM should pay you back. You are building the temple of Money by destroying the temple of the Lord. If you think the lord is smiling on you, your lord has to be the devil.    

 

So, who is right? The Lord! Who is wrong? Both of you! When Saul becomes Paul, it is clear evidence nobody is beyond redemption, let alone you. Nobody is beyond redemption if we open the door for the lord when he keeps knocking to redeem us. Let us listen to the lord. God is telling us neither way is right. The human ways of the older assemblies are crowding out the way of the faith and way of the Holy Spirit. The uneducated ways of the spirit, unguided by knowledge of the word of God and not founded by unconditional love, are a recipe for disaster. This is why both need to return to older ways, the way of the Lord, the way of Peter, the way of John, and the way of the elders of the faith in Ethiopia. I don’t mean all elders are wrong, and I don’t mean all new blood is lost, what I mean is the way of the giants is the way forward. Those giants are imitators of Paul because they want an intermediate target before they can aim at Jesus. So, aim at Paul if not at Jesus, please. If you want someone local, look to the giants of the lord and their ways.

 

Happy Fasika