Should I watch this movie?

Although the bible is very clear and unequivocal about issues like stealing, murder, fornication, greed etc, there are a whole lot of things the bible did not specifically talk about, giving rise to many questions like what kind of songs should I sing and listen to? Is masturbation a sin? Where is it in the bible that we should not smoke? Is it wrong to wear a mini skirt? Should I take alcoholic drinks? Can I watch X - rated movies? What's the big deal about going to a nightclub?

However, for John, the beloved to have thought that the whole world could not contain all the books that would have to be written if all Jesus did during just three and a half years of His ministry were to be recorded, it’s unthinkable to imagine how big the bible would be if it were to list out every possible question that will ever arise in the hearts of men all through the different ages and state out God’s answer to them. Yet, inasmuch as the bible didn't attempt to write everything in the mind of God, or specifically list every possible decision we may face in life, it does address all choices for the new creation man with principles that govern our freedom as Christians.

These principles are guideposts in the word of God, to help us not to derail from the way of the Lord such that the liberty which Christ won for us by His blood would not end up being a snare that will drag us to the pits. Some people would say, “Do what you want to do, you are free in Christ”. Yes, we are free in Christ, because who the son has made free is free indeed (John 8:36).  As a matter of fact, we are no longer under the law, for if righteousness comes by the law then Christ died in vain (Gal 2:21). He has blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross (Col2 :14). We are justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified (Gal 2:16).

Now, does that mean we are free to live our lives the way we want? Does that mean we now have a license stamped from heaven to satisfy the flesh and its evil desires? Does that mean we should do anything and everything that crops up in our minds and behave anyhow? I don’t think so. About this matter, Paul said, “You my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather serve one another in love” (Gal 5:13) and Peter also said, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God”(1pet 2:16).

Therefore, having the understanding that He saved us so we would not continue in sin but live the rest of our lives doing the will of God (1 Pet 4:2), let’s check some of these arising questions with these principles. First, let’s examine the issue of dressing. Paul made us understand that we should stay away from anything that could cause others to stumble when he said “But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak (1 Cor. 8:9)” and Jesus had earlier said "If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose his faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the deep sea (Matt 18:6).” So, if your manner of dressing is causing others around you to fall, then you don’t have the love of God in you because if you love your neighbor you won't do what will make him fall. Besides if God wanted us to expose our bodies, would He have made coats for Adam and his wife (Gen 3:21)? As Christians, our dressing ought to be marked with decency and modesty (1 Tim 2:9).

Another question to consider before engaging in any act is whether or not it would defile your body which is God's temple (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Masturbation fails this basic test. Besides, you should also ask yourself whether or not it would violate your conscience (Rom 14:23). Do you have a clear conscience after masturbating or do you battle with guilt? Paul kept a clear conscience before God and man (Acts 24:16). Anything that will rid you of a clear conscience is a no go area for a believer who has the hope of becoming like Jesus in appearance when He appears (1john3:2-3). In fact, any form of sexual gratification outside of marriage is not the will of God. So is this self gratification okay when you are married and your wife/husband is not around? No! It still goes against the natural use which is for sexual intercourse between a man and his wife, exactly the same way oral sex, anal sex and the likes are against the natural use God intended and is a perversion, and we know the perverted cannot even by mistake inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor.6:9).

Furthermore, another check is whether or not what you are about to do would be of benefit to you spiritually (1 Cor.10:23). What goes into your heart through your eyes and ears influence your actions and who you become. So would you rather feed your spirit and soul with the junks and filthy rubbish from the entertainment industry: the dirty music videos and the movies that never fail to have sex scenes? Even if you are married, don’t you know that buying and watching those things simply means you consent to what the actors and actresses prostituting themselves are doing? Don’t you know that these are all devices and schemes of the devil trying his possible best to drag as many people as he can with him to the pits? In case you don’t know, Satan knows he's already doomed and has been defeated at the cross, so he tries all he can to keep as many people as he can from walking the way of the cross, he keeps blackmailing the cross, getting people confused, filling their thoughts with filth that will lead them to sin which results in eternal destruction. The issue of which songs to sing and listen to goes beyond the lyrics, it's not just about not singing songs with dirty and vulgar words, neither is it about not singing a particular style/rhythm, but rather it's about the spirit that influenced the song, the spirit that birthed the song. Scripture tells us, “Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God” (1 john 4:1). The fact that Kanye West sang a song that doesn't seemingly sound bad doesn't mean I should sing it. I won't sing songs influenced by spirit of immorality or cooked in the very pits of hell because I will be invoking those spirits around me. Don’t you know that music is spiritual or why do you think Elisha called for the minstrel and didn’t you know what happened when he started to play (2Kings 3:15)? Or why do you think you fall into diverse sins even when you didn't plan to after listening to bad songs? The mind gets influenced by such. What would you rather expose yourself to? Wouldn’t you rather expose your mind and subconscious to things that are pure and of good report? (Phil. 4:8) James said, “Are any among you happy? They should sing praises” (James 5:13).

In addition, if you say the bible doesn’t say anything about smoking so there’s nothing bad in it, then you can as well say that the fact that the bible did not mention the Virgin Mary's parents means that she didn't have parents at all. Besides, sniffing cocaine or marijuana is also not written in the bible, so does that mean we should go ahead and get ourselves ‘high’ on it? We were not created to be under bondage, addiction to anything (1 Cor. 6:12). Such cravings are simply evidence of the flesh (the sinful nature) and to live after the dictates of the flesh is death (Rom. 8:13). Have you asked yourself why alcohol only gives you boldness to do wrong things and pushes you to sin? Have you thought about the many lives that have been destroyed who started with little sips of alcohol? Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whoever is deceived by it is not wise (Prov. 20:1).

Finally, before you make that decision, ask yourself this very simple question: does it glorify God, would He be honored and praised by this? (1 Cor. 10:31) Would you be able to stand before the White throne on that great day and tell Him “I glorified you on the earth?”
True Disciples.... making an impact

Stop Sitting on the fence!

In the beginning, the Creator designed us as passionate beings in such a way that we would have an overly insuppressibly strong passionate love of Him in our hearts, but man fell and lost the passion to worldly desires, lesser things.

As Christ came to reconcile man to the Father, there is a trick the devil, the adversary and his cohorts uses to deceive man even after accepting Jesus as Lord. In Rev 3:16, the bible records Christ speaking to the church in Laodicea, “So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth”. This clearly shows that He detests ‘Lukewarmness’ and expects that men should be in earnest.

According to the dictionary, a Lukewarm person is one that shows or has little enthusiasm, interest, or conviction. Relating this to the Christian walk, a lukewarm Christian is one who is not fully convinced about his faith in Christ and/or has little zeal for God. He is one who is not fully committed to the essence of his faith and still indulges in satisfying the flesh and its evil desires, he is indifferent about working for God, he is the professing Christian that gives a false opinion of Christianity to others through his lifestyle, he is inconsistent in his walk with Christ, he is neither really here nor really there, he is in between, he prefers the neutral ground, he prefers to sit on the fence.

One cause of this indifference and inconsistency is self-conceit and self-delusion, as He told the Laodiceans ,"Because you say…"(Rev 3:17). There was a wide difference between their thoughts of themselves, and the thoughts Christ had of them! How careful should we be not to cheat our own souls! There are many in hell, who once thought themselves far in the way to heaven.

Isn’t it better to party as hard as anything, enjoy the pleasures of this world to the fullest, satisfy yourself while here and know that you have a choice spot in the lake of fire than to shuffle in between walking with Christ and the way of the world and eventually end up in the pits?

You see, there is no sitting on the fence, for no one can serve two masters, it’s either he loves one and hates the other (Matt 6:24). If following Christ is worth anything, then it is worth every thing. Apostle Paul said in Titus 2:14 that Jesus gave Himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He didn't endure the pain of the cross for hours, bleeding in agony for us to be lackadaisical about the things of the Spirit.

Wouldn’t you rather part with sin and self-confidence, that you may be filled with Christ's hidden treasure and receive from Him the white raiment he purchased and provided; his own imputed righteousness for justification, and the garments of holiness and sanctification? Wouldn’t you give yourself up to His word and Spirit, pray earnestly for the working of his Holy Spirit, to take away pride, prejudices, and worldly lusts? Wouldn’t you rather allow the fire of the Holy Spirit burn intensely, red hot inside of you, that anyone who comes close would feel that fire and even become engulfed in it? Make up your mind today, because the truth is that there is no place for the lukewarm in His presence.

Are You True (2)

There are many people who profess Jesus as their Lord, yet they deny Him blatantly not necessarily in their words but by the very things they do. These are the people that Paul spoke about in Titus 1:16, however, Jesus was very clear when He said, “Whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven” (Matt 10:33). Are you one of those He was referring to?

When Jesus said, "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one" (Matt 5:37), He was making it clear that integrity, honesty are core values that anyone who is a part of His Kingdom must uphold, but do you observe this in your everyday dealings? Can your spouse or colleagues at work or your mates in school vouch for you? Or are you one of the so called 'Christians' indulging in corrupt practices and deceitfulness? Telling lies in the disguise of diplomacy and exaggeration?

When He said "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt 6:33), are you one of those who have subtly twisted His words to aim for money by all means, so you can give to the work of God and finance the projects of His Kingdom? Or are you aiming at your own personal ambition, seeking your own interest not really concerned about the business of the Father? Don’t you know that pleasing the Lord and satisfying the King's desires must come first in our pursuit ahead of receiving any blessing from Him?

When the wonderful counselor said, "Be careful not do your alms before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagouges and on the streets, to be honoured by men"(Matt 6:1-2), are you making a show of your service to God, ensuring your name is mentioned when you make donations, even going to the extent of displaying your charity on TV, newspaper and internet?

When the Only wise God said "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" (Matt 22:21) and paid His tax, He was teaching the disciples not to rebel against the governing authorities but to obey the laid down rules and regulation of their society so far they were not in contrast to the will of God. Do you live by this, or do you break traffic rules? Or is it that you are involved in tax evasion? Or you place your church poster where it is clearly written not to post a bill?

When the Lord said, “And if you say that someone is worthless, you will be in danger of the fires of hell” (Matt 5:22), don’t you know He meant that you are not different from an assassin when you kill, demoralize, and irreparably damage the life of others by the very words you speak? Do you edify and build up lives with your mouth or do you destroy lives with it?

When He also said “Everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unfaithfulness makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Matt. 5:31–32). Do you follow His teaching? Are you one of the 'Christians' today who believe that divorce and remarriage are biblically permissible? Don’t you know that what God has joined together in the unity of the Spirit is joined together until death parts a couple? (Rom. 7:3)
Indeed many Christians who go to church, and even serve as volunteers would be surprised on that day of Judgment  when He will say to them "I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt 7:23). The true disciples of Christ Jesus are those who continue in His word. Once again the question is, are you true?

"Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt 7:21).
True Disciples.... making an impact

The World System

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (Ps 24:1). God designed the earth beautifully and gave man dominion to rule over it. But after the devil lost his place in heaven, he organized, orchestrated, and sponsored a pattern around the world in order to destroy man. This pattern is called the world system. The world system has its own principles, ideologies and thought patterns based on lies from the pits of hell. It is ruled and controlled by the prince of the power of the air, the god of this world, the devil and built around the adamic sinful nature in man which is what drives and fuels it. Everything in the world system is constantly incensed and rebellious against God and His kingdom.

There is a constant conflict between the principles of the world system and the principles of God. This is why they hated Jesus and the words He spoke; this is why the disciples persistently faced persecution and this is the same reason why everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2Tim 3:12). And it’s simply because the things which the world counts valuable do not count before God as the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God (1 Cor. 3:19).

The whole world system is based on men's lustful desires, their greedy ambitions and the glamour of all that they have. The world system even has its own standards.  It says the beautiful women are those who are slim, up to a certain height, with some parts of their body big enough and having a certain shape and if you are not anything close to that you are inferior when God’s verdict is that you were wonderfully made. So you see many women wasting hours of their lives in front of mirrors, painting their lips and faces, with all sorts of hairstyles trying to look flashy like Beyonce because that’s when the world will say they look gorgeous. They go for tummy tucks, go for plastic surgery to change the shape of their nose, lips, and do all sorts just to fit in. The world system says, a handsome man must be muscular, and tall and have a certain skin shade, leading many ladies to miss God’s plan for their lives and end up with regrets. The world celebrates you as a success when you have a private jet, a Limousine, an architecturally magnificent mansion, expensive labels of clothings and jewelry, and a Swiss bank account. Some people even try to use God as a means to achieve success which the world would applaud. They pray and fast to be what the world says they ought to be. You even see churches building edifices in order to be viewed as glamorous by the world and some preachers mentioning the name of their designer suit and shoes. The world even goes to the extent of ranking people over each other, creating lists and awards of richest people, finest people, and greatest people based on its standards so others are considered as failures and seethe with jealousy. So, according to the definitions of the world men like Paul that died without building a house, or having riches, and even ended up being beheaded were total failures. Yet in the eyes of God, these men of faith were the truly successful and great ones.

My friend,  the more you try to look like what the world thinks you should look like, the more empty and frustrated you become, and the farther you go from being conformed to the image of Christ which the Father desires for you (Rom. 8:29). The world wants to squeeze you into its mould but the word of God says “Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2).

The world will attack you as a true Christian because the world system is persistently at loggerheads with the way of the Lord. James said “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Whenever you are in step and in tune with God, you become out of step with the world, you don’t appeal to the world, you become undesirable to the world, you are not cool enough for the world. So whenever the world is no longer hostile to your way of doing things, whenever the world begins to applaud you and approve your life, whenever the world is at peace with you and becomes friendly with you, whenever your words no longer pricks the world, you can be very sure that you are out of step with God, you are most certainly out of the will of God and have become an enemy of God. You can’t be in step with God and be in step with the world. You can’t have one leg in God and one leg in the world, you are either with God or with the world (Matt. 6:24).

You see, once your heart starts getting attached to the world, and the desire of the world is beginning to lay hold on your heart, the truth is that you are gradually slipping into destruction. As followers of Christ, we are strangers and pilgrims in this present world (1 Pet 2:11), we are in this world but not of this world (John 15:19). Our home is not here, for here we do not have a continuing city, but we are looking for the city that is to come (Heb 13:14). Beware! The devil has designed the world system to destroy you on your journey into eternal rest as a pilgrim and it has brought down many vibrant men and women of God.

In conclusion, “Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world: the lust of the flesh (craving for sensual gratification) and the lust of the eyes (greedy longings of the mind) and the pride of life (assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things), these do not come from the Father but are from the world. And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides forever” (1John 2:15-17).