In the mind and wisdom of God, there is no ‘reverend’, archbishop, ladder-climbing pastor, deaconess, et cetera, in His work. Anywhere title-bearing people are found in groupings of salvation-seekers which call themselves “church”, then it is either such title bearers do not have God’s mandate to contribute to the spiritual wellbeing of these groupings, or that, these groupings are not of the Body of Christ.

As I mentioned earlier on, there are no title bearers in the True Body of Christ – the Church of Jesus Christ. Paul, an apostle of the Body of Christ, was never referred to as “Apostle Paul”. This was because he functioned as an apostle in the Body of Christ and not as a title-bearer.

He was always referred to as “Paul, an apostle” of Jesus Christ, defining his functional role in the Church (Second Corinthians 1: 1, Galatians 1: 1, Ephesians 1: 1, Colossians 1: 1, First Timothy 1: 1, Second Timothy 1: 1).

If his functional role in the Body of Christ as an apostle was meant to be a title, in which case Paul could be addressed “Apostle Paul”, (which no saint ever did), then he could also be addressed as “Prisoner Paul” as a title of honour to him.

This is because he was not only described as “Paul, an apostle” but also as “Paul, a prisoner” of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:1, Philemon 1).

Or would one do well to give Paul the title “Servant”, and seek to honour him by insisting that all people address him as “Servant Paul” because he was described as “Paul, a servant” of God? (cf. Titus 1: 1).

The word ‘apostle’ is not a title: it is a functional description of a man’s work in the Body of Christ. And that is also the case for such words as ‘prophet’, ‘pastor’, ‘evangelist’ and ‘teacher’. None of these words are titles. They are all descriptive of roles or functions played by people in the Church of Jesus Christ.

One of my dear role models is Philip: not the one with apostolic calling, but the one who first served in the pantry and set tables for widows of the Church at Jerusalem. In his later years, while evangelizing for the Kingdom of God, he was never addressed as “Evangelist Philip”, as one must do today, for anybody claiming to be playing Philip’s kind of role in the Body of Christ.

This loyal and dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ was simply referred to as “Philip, the evangelist” (Acts 21: 8) in definition of his functional role in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So why do we have in “church” today, Apostle Aaron, Evangelist Evans, Prophet Philemon, and all manner of weird titles for people who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ and doing the work of the Kingdom of God?

Why are today’s so-called men of God so much preoccupied with awarding themselves titles, even when these titles belong to God? Are they seeking equality with God? Are they not disciples of Jesus Christ?

If they are indeed genuine disciples, can they not obey the caution of the Master not to take to themselves titles they do not deserve? Does the warning of the Master that anyone, who exalts himself, would be brought low, not scare these so-called men of God?

When the apostles of Jesus Christ, who walked and talked with him for four good years before his death, burial and resurrection, were in charge of the teaching ministry of the Church after his ascension, they had with them, elders, deacons and bishops in all local congregations.

All congregations were autonomous in the cities the Holy Spirit of God led the apostles to establish the Church of Jesus Christ. The congregations were all however, united as one in the doctrines of Jesus Christ, as were taught by the apostles.

Every local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ had sets of bishops, (not just one bishop, as we are told that, in the one local congregation of Philippi, there were many bishops – Book of Philippians 1: 1), elders, pastors, deacons, etc, involved in the teaching of the flock.

During the days of the apostles, no bishop had a domain or so-called dominion beyond the local congregation in which he functioned. Of course, all bishops, elders, deacons, prophets, teachers, and other Church functionaries, were men filled with the knowledge, wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit of God, and elected for these functions by Jesus Christ himself, could visit and minister the Word of God to other congregations beyond their places of regular worship and or residence.

Today’s so-called bishop who is seen to have a spatial jurisdiction and dominion over a group of “churches” has come as a latter-century personality, who obviously lives beyond the pure Christian traditions of the apostolic era of the First Century. This certainly is a corruption of and deviation from the apostolic faith, teaching, tradition and practice.

The coming of the celibate-bishop into the Church is a further deviation brought by the pagan-Christian faith of Second Century Rome, from the faith of those who physically walked and talked with the Master, Jesus Christ the Lord.

My dear men (of God?), you who want to rub shoulders with God, be careful in your pursuit of titles meant for Him. You cannot call yourselves reverend, The Reverend (SKA?), right reverend, very reverend, most reverend, his grace, my lord or his holiness and get away with it.

Remember God says He is a jealous God who will never share His Glory with any man. So be sure that you will attract to yourselves reprisals from God in due time, if you do not repent of your penchant for titles and drop them forthwith. I believe I have carried God’s warning to you in love.

In recent times, I have grown to fall in love with some words of Sir Winston Churchill: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen”. Well, in this, I have done my bit for humanity and for the Kingdom of God. I pray to God that you, my dear reader, will do your bit. Please do yours, so we can both get to live on “Humility Avenue” in Heaven, to spend Eternity with The Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

My dear “man of God”, I love you; for the love of God in my heart compels me to love you forever without any inhibitions. This is so, since he who is begotten of Love (God) cannot, but be a love-slave to everybody. This is why I speak to you in love, as I have done in this short article.

Shalom.
Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DODCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Those who allow themselves to be called laymen, in the service of God’s kingdom-work, are ignorant of the God-given roles of all Christians as priests in His service. To these simple-minded people, a privileged few are regarded as priests while an underprivileged majority are tagged and called laity or laymen.

My dear reader, do you know that there are no titles in the Christian faith? The Kingdom of God does not confer or award titles to its workers. No genuine workers of God’s Kingdom, who have been revealed to mankind in the Word of God, ever bore titles. I shall soon lead you more into this thought.

Where then do titles such as: associate pastor, resident pastor, senior pastor, general overseer, senior bishop, presiding bishop, archbishop, cardinal, general superintendant, deaconess, reverend, right reverend, very reverend, most reverend, the reverend, his grace, my lord, his holiness, etc, comfortably conferred on and borne by mortal-men, come from?

Since they do not come from God, where do they come from? Does anyone know their origin and originator? Of course, they have come as a means of setting up an elaborate organization, with class groupings of its members, an organization mankind has been deceived to call–Church. Class distinctions of God’s children! How sad.

The originators of these lofty man-made titles have without the mandate of God, intentionally fragmented the Body of Christ claiming to have made it easier and effective to minister or rule. The question is “Does God need the wisdom of men in the running of His Church?”

Absolutely not! And so, by and by, those who confer titles on people and those who receive these titles will be seen to be acting not for God, but against Him; and will be judged as such.

Since those in love with such titles are without the humility and simplicity of Jesus Christ, they could not be sent from God. And if God did not send them, who did? Your guess in this is as good as mine. Could it possibly be that they are in league with the one who seeks to exalt himself above God and His Christ?

Though this is actually so, many of these title-lovers do not know they work for this cunning and ruthless power – Satan. He allows these ignorant so-called men of God to hold on to these titles on his behalf, so as to take them back from these men whenever he wills.

Let us consider the title, reverend. This great and powerful title is used only once in the entire Bible and in honour and recognition of God alone. In the King James Version of the Bible, you can find the word ‘reverend’ only in Psalm 111: 9. Let us quote this verse here to aid the smooth flow of this discourse.

“He sent redemption unto his people: he has commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.” (Psalm 111: 9, KJV).

My dear “man of God”, do you see the seriousness of your error? You are neither worthy to bring redemption to sinful-mankind nor do you have the capacity to do so. Only God can and has brought redemption through Jesus Christ to mankind.

Dear “man of God”, do you have a covenant which you are able to keep or are keeping with mankind? If you claim you do, are you able to bring limitless blessings to mankind? If yes, then tell the whole world about it so mankind can rush to you for this blessing, and have the world rid of all its horrible suffering and poverty.

Only then would you qualify and deserve to be the co-equal to God and therefore worthy to be called by the title, reverend. Otherwise, be careful in not being accused of blasphemy, judged guilty and sentenced by the Judge of all Flesh.

For delivering to mankind, redemption from the power and dominion of sin, Satan’s power, and the consequences of sin, in and by the work of Jesus Christ, God the Almighty commands all men to revere and reverence His Name.

So-called men of God do not know or understand this? And so they pitch themselves against the Will of God by seeking to usurp His titles? I fear for these so-called men of God in antagonizing themselves against the Might of God, in view of the condemnation of God which awaits them.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, has taught his genuine disciples a great lesson in humility in Matthew 19: 16-17, Mark 10: 17-18 and Luke 18: 18-19. When in these verses a questioner addressed him as “Good Master,” he quickly corrected him of his error. Jesus Christ told his questioner not to call him “Good”, since only God is Good.

Maybe, this questioner should have addressed the Messiah as “reverend Master” instead, so we could get to know if he would have accepted or rejected the appellation of “reverend” as belonging to God his Father alone. Can so-called men of God (disciples of the Master?) not emulate the humility of Jesus Christ in this? How sad.

Let me give you a secret of the Devil. He is preparing to begat and outdoor his counterfeit of God’s Holy and Anointed Messiah, Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World. When he has begotten him, he will be called the anti-Christ. Many people seem to know this open secret. However many are ignorant of the lineage of this soon-to-be-revealed anti-Christ.

Surely, the anti-Christ will descend from the lineage of people who love to take the titles of God. At the time the anti-Christ becomes manifest for the end-time show-down battle between Good and evil, he will be the same as the mortal man who will be holding the highest counterfeited title of God. And then he will crown himself God and demand worship from mankind.

For now, the devil is progressing according to his set-plan: from ‘reverend’ to ‘right reverend’, then to ‘very reverend’, then to ‘most reverend’, then to ‘his holiness’, then to ‘his grace’ and then to what next, I know not. I do not have the mind of the devil. I have God’s, by virtue of my New Birth into Jesus Christ and my faith in First Corinthians 2: 16.

But I do know, from God’s Word, that when the anti-Christ manifests, he will land in a counterfeit church which belongs to one of the numerous and notorious denominational groupings of the world. That counterfeit church will look very much like the genuine Church of God.

Its members will be tares, the devil’s counterfeit wheat. Remember, the look-alikes of wheat are tares. Also remember that wheat and tares are only genuinely distinguishable from one another, at Harvest Time, by which time their destinies would have been sealed, and the destruction of tares in hell-fire, due.

The hierarchical structure of this counterfeit church of the devil is what will give it away as false and of the anti-Christ. By the time peoples’ eyes become opened to the true identity of this anti-Christ in their midst, he would have finished marking almost all of them as his own, ready to carry them into Hell for a life of eternal suffering with him.

Let me give you some revelation about the man-made title, “archbishop”. This title has been in vogue for a long time – over centuries, in fact. It was created and delivered to simple-minded mankind, by the pagan-Christianity of Rome of the immediate post-apostolic era, when her politicians were flirting ingloriously with the Church.

The power brokers of the erstwhile Roman Empire sought to extend their domain and dominion to include the Church of Jesus Christ. When they managed to do these, they then brought into the Church, titles, to show their pomp, power and distinct statuses.

Even though the word “archbishop” seems to have been derived from two bible-words–“archangel” and “bishop”–it does not make it a holy word. The word “archbishop” is alien to the whole bible-revelation and therefore of no relevance to either the Body of Christ or the Work of the Kingdom of God. Not because there is an archangel must we have an archbishop when God’s Word does not give us any revelation on this strange word.

How could we so easily swallow the deception of the devil to tag so-called men of God with this title? I am very sad that so-called men of God are not content with the God-given functional descriptions such as pastor, evangelist, prophet and teacher, established by Him to bring perfection to the knowledge of His Will to His saints. [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Four: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

It is very sad to observe that many people who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ hardly live up to his expectation in their imitation of his character. In particular, Jesus Christ has told his disciples not to live like the Pharisees of his day in craving for titles and recognition by men. They were not to work in search of vainglory from and of men. They were to imitate his simplicity, selflessness, shyness for publicity, and humility.

In this regard, here is a caution of Jesus Christ to his loyal disciples: “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.” (Matthew 23: 8-10, King James Version, KJV).

These clear and simple words of Jesus Christ spoken directly to his disciples still stand good for the obedience of all his loyal and dedicated disciples today. But I wonder how many people who claim to be Christians (disciples of Jesus Christ?) do know of these verses of scripture and obey them.

It is shocking to know that some denominations, which profess to be loyal to the Christian faith, have their leaders addressed “father” or “papa” in obvious disregard to this command of the Master. I am at a loss to know whose disciples the members of such denominations truly are.

Jesus Christ has said that, all the doctrines, commandments and instructions which he has taught mankind are not his own, but God’s. Any deviations from, or violations, of Jesus’ teachings therefore, are a direct affront to God in Heaven, who sent him. All true disciples of Jesus Christ must know and be very careful in this.

The reason why Jesus Christ commands his disciples not to seek to award themselves titles, and or desire the praises of men, is to ensure they never exalt themselves. He warns that any one of his disciples who exalts himself shall be brought down; but he who would humble himself would be exalted (cf. Matthew 23: 11-12).

For me, and I am sure for many loyal and dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ, the scary nature of his warning is enough to make one comply. But alas, many more people who seem to be very educated in the secular sense, and also claim to be dedicated to the cause of the Master, do not seem to be bothered by this warning and, therefore, disregard it with glee. They seek the praise of men and are excited when men heap upon their heads titles, appellations and accolades.

Let me say, the thing the Devil enjoys most is praise, and worship. In envy therefore, when yet in Heaven under the name Lucifer, he could not stand the sight of thousands of angels worshiping God. He coveted the praise and worship God’s angels gave to Him.

As a result, he staged a mutiny in Heaven, with a large following of angels, in attempt to take praise and worship from God to himself. Mortal man must therefore be wary of the praise, titles, appellations and accolades heaped on him by his fellow-men, since love for them could draw him into the same lust Lucifer had.

Immediately after the devil lost the mutiny he staged in Heaven (when he tried to take-over the ruler-ship of God from Him), and was cast upon the earth, he started his second and now seemingly unending-campaign, toward his diabolical plan to usurp the authority of God over His Creation.

He has been strategizing subtly and stealthily, in diverse ways, to lead man away from obeying God’s commandments and, therefore, into his dominion. While doing this, he has his eyes set on the titles which belong to God and His Christ. The ultimate aim of the Devil is to usurp the status and power of God, whereby all Creation will then praise and worship him as God.

One way by which the devil is subtly and stealthily working his way toward achieving his ambitions, is through attack on the genuine structure of the Church of Jesus Christ. By confusing many people about the true structure of the Church (the Body of Christ), he seems to be gradually achieving his ambitions.

Not many people today know the true structure of the Church of Jesus Christ. You cannot fully blame today’s generation for this. The fact is, with time, as the Christian faith of the immediate post-ascension era travelled out of the lands of Palestine and Asia Minor, heading toward the West, it gradually began to lose its structure, character, power, purity in doctrine and practice.

Today’s Christian faith is a sorry-state of what it was when it first came into being in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. The Christian faith today is devoid of much of its glory, power, holiness, pure doctrines, unique influence as the salt and light of the world, and reverential practices which characterized it at its inception.

You may have to read two great books by Richard Rives, entitled, “Too Long in the Sun” and “Time is the Ally of Deceit”, to appreciate this fact.

From the revelation of the Bible, the Body of Christ is synonymous with the Human Body: the Church is a living organism with parts which function like the body-parts of man. It is obvious that all parts of the human body are of equal importance and no part lords (and lauds) itself over the others.

Read the Book of First Corinthians, chapter twelve, from verse one to thirty-one (First Corinthians 12: 1-31) to understand what the Word of God reveals and teaches about how the Body of Christ (the Church) does and must function.

Even though the human brain, together with the central nervous system, coordinates the actions of all the parts of the body, it cannot claim importance or headship over the other parts. In the human body, no part can do without the other and neither can the whole body function properly without any one part. All parts are needed, and perform their individual and unique functions for the common good of the entire body.

The Church – the Body of Christ – must be seen in similar light as the human body. The Church has a very simple structure. Jesus Christ is the Head. All other members are equal parts to this Body and are directly connected to the Head.

All these parts therefore take instructions and directives from the Head directly. They are able to function only in, by and of the Head. Also, all parts of the Body report directly to the Head.

Sadly, many people think of the Church as an organization and not as an organism. They see it as a human institution housed in some Victorian Age masonry building, with people of various statuses occupying special positions. In this organization, wrongly called the Church, every member is made to report to some other(s), higher-up in some hierarchical order.

The notion that the Church is an organization with a powerful hierarchical structure is a teaching of the devil. By this teaching, the devil has succeeded in getting many simple-minded people of the world to live in error of the true structure of the Church.

Over a period close to two millennia, after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, many people have become comfortable believing that the Church is an organization with a hierarchical order, and never even think of it as an organism.

This false belief about the structure of the Church has become a stronghold in the minds of mankind. It is this stronghold which the devil is capitalizing and gradually building on, in his bid to take-over the world from God’s influence.

It is sad that many people do not know the true structure of the Church of Jesus Christ, as revealed to mankind in the Word of God. For many people, the Church is made up of clergy and laity; whatever the words clergy and laity mean in or to the Church, since they are not part of God’s vocabulary found in the Bible to teach the Church.

Many people professing to be Christians do not even know that these words (clergy, laity or laymen) are strange and alien to the true Christian faith. Many people are satisfied, instead of being angered, when others call them laity or laymen in description of their roles in the Church. [—this article is continued in Part Three: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Many people might be irritated, or even angered, by this headline to my article. Many more may deem it silly to even pose the question – Are “reverend” ministers also disciples of Jesus Christ? It might seem silly to pose this question because to many people, “reverend” ministers are lead-disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let me assure my readers that it is for the love of all the men who are addressed by the title “reverend”, and their many followers, that I ask this question and go on to answer it in the light of the bible-revelation. So, if you are irritated or angered by my title, just stay calm and you will be blessed in reading this article.

Without a shadow of doubt, the greatest man that ever lived on Planet Earth is Jesus Christ. Even though followers of some renowned personalities who once lived on our earth claim that their icons never die, it is only of Jesus Christ that such an assertion is true: since he alone is alive and lives forever.

The main proof to the fact that Jesus Christ is the greatest of all men who ever walked our earth and is alive forevermore, is, he is able to manifest himself today through his genuine disciples. Oh yes, he clearly manifests himself in all his loyal and dedicated disciples, who do the genuine work given to them by him to do, on his behalf, and in his name.

Just before his ascension into Heaven, Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples to do two jobs for him, and on his behalf. These jobs, all loyal disciples of the Master must execute throughout all times and seasons of the Grace Dispensation. The proper execution of these jobs by any people is proof of their genuineness, as his disciples.

Any man who does these jobs in loyalty, dedication and dependence upon the words of direction and instruction of Jesus Christ, will have manifested in him, Jesus’ full persona for all to see. In other words, people will see manifested in these loyal disciples, the personality, wisdom, power, success, and glory of Jesus Christ.

The two jobs which Jesus Christ has given to his loyal disciples to do are in a healing and teaching ministry – taking sickness and disease out of the bodies of men, and teaching sinful-mankind the way to be reconciled with God.

When on earth, toward empowering his chosen twelve disciples to do these jobs, Jesus Christ took them through four years of discipleship-training.

He taught and demonstrated to them, how they were to heal the sick of all manner of diseases; give life and strength to impotent-halts, paralytics and cripples; open blind eyes and unplug deaf ears; and also bring the dead back to life.

He taught them how to do these by uttering his Words through faith in his name, without the use of any man-made remedies, and, with their bare, but highly-anointed, hands.

For the task of leading salvation-seekers to be reconciled with God and thereby become eligible to enter the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven, he taught them in very simple and plain words, in the Great Commission statement laid out in Matthew 28: 18-20, Mark 16: 15-16 and Luke 24: 46-48, how they were to do this.

Beside the four-year discipleship-training Jesus Christ gave to his disciples, they also needed to be empowered of the Holy Spirit of God, if they were to be able to execute their God-ordained tasks of soul-winning and of healing mankind of sickness and disease.

These are the same tasks Jesus Christ executed for the Kingdom of God while on earth. He was able to execute them because he was always conscious of the fact that God (his Father) resided in him and so drew on the power of His indwelling presence for the execution of any jobs he was sent to do for Him.

As such, if any disciples of Jesus Christ are to be successful in executing their assignments, for and on his behalf, they must have a consciousness that God indwelt them. They must in this consciousness, depend on and be able to tap His power, in execution of their assignments for the Kingdom of God.

Jesus Christ made it plain to his disciples that he was unable to do anything without depending on God. Similarly, no disciple today can do any assignments for the Master, without depending on his word of instruction, wisdom in his actions, and the presence of God residing in them.

The numerous conversions of sinners, to faith in the name of Jesus Christ and into God’s salvation, during the early days of the Church-age, were the result of the disciples of Jesus Christ, doing exactly what they were told to do by the Master in the Great Commission.

We see genuine and loyal disciples of Jesus Christ achieve fantastic feats in the Great Commission, during the early days of the post-Ascension era, because they were cut out for the task, through a four-year period in discipleship-training by the Master himself, and through the power of the Holy Spirit of God who indwelt their spirits.

Today, from his position on the right hand side of the Throne of God in Heaven, Jesus Christ is impacting and changing lives more than he ever did in the four years he was physically present on Planet Earth with the mandate of God to do so.

This is because he ensures from his position in Heaven, beside the Throne of The Father, that whatever promises he has made to his genuine, loyal and dedicated disciples, become fulfilled in their lives when they accept to act in simple faith in his word.

True disciples of Jesus Christ are those who make every effort to obey, imitate and act like him in every way. Just as Jesus Christ said he imitated whatever he saw the Father doing, for success in his earthly ministry, so must his genuine disciples also imitate his ways for success in all their assignments.

The successes of any disciples in doing any work he elects them to do, depend on three things. The first is that one must have knowledge and wisdom of Jesus’ word and ways. The second is for one to be sensitive of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God in one and how to live in dependence on His power within.

The third is for one to have the character trait of the Master. This character trait of the Master is what we see manifest in the rare kind of love, compassion, selflessness, denial of praise of mankind, a life devoid of pride and arrogance, availability, et cetera, he showed the world. The ability of any person to possess and live by all three abilities marks one as a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ.

Any disciples, who do not have these virtues of Jesus’ character, cannot be successful in any assignments given them by the Master. You cannot be a successful disciple of Jesus Christ if, for example, you delight in the praise of men, or are without the compassion of the Master for people, or are not as selfless as he was, or are not gentle, or make it very hard and nearly to being impossible for strangers and the under privileged to get to you.

Also, if for example, one is boisterous, even while preaching on a so-called altar, (running, ranting, raving, shouting, jumping and gyrating as if on a theater stage), one cannot be a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ. I know in many of today’s denominational groupings, a display of such a wild trait in one’s character is accepted as high-level spirituality or charisma.

Sadly, these wild behaviours by so-called anointed men of God, contradict the portrait painted in the Bible of the Master, as being a gentle and calm character, who never shouted in the street. These behaviours make it impossible for any men to be suitable and relevant for any assignments in the Church of Jesus Christ. [—this article is continued in Part Two: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

To give a definite answer to the question about what one should do to enter the salvation of God, I say this: repent sincerely of your sins when told about the Gospel of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then, get baptized in His name, by being immersed in natural, living-water, by a genuine servant of God.

That is the way of God and of His son Jesus Christ for one to become Born Again. It was also the way of the apostles. It must therefore be our way today, if we are to be Born Again, or saved, or enter God’s Kingdom.

Who in the Bible accounts said a prayer to be saved? From all the Bible narratives about the salvation of people, which one of them did not hinge on repentance and baptism?

You will not get one single evidence in all your search of the Bible, where prayer, and for that matter a so-called Sinners’ Prayer or Prayer for Salvation, brought any salvation-seeker the Born Again experience. Do not therefore trust in prayer to get Born Again.

In the Great Commission of Luke 24:46-48, Jesus authoritatively teaches that only repentance and remission of sin can bring any salvation-seeker into the Born Again experience.

I like to tell you in all seriousness that, remission of sin is different from forgiveness of sin. Sadly, the understanding of many preachers of the Bible is that remission of sin is the same as forgiveness of sin.

This stance is what takes many preachers of the Bible into the error of asking in prayer, for the forgiveness of their sins, in their bid to qualify to enter the Kingdom of God.

Forgiveness of sin is what you can get from God by repenting of your sin, and confessing it, silently or audibly to Him. Forgiveness of sin is also what a fellow human being can give to you, when you repent of your sin of causing him (or her) some hurt, and ask for it.

Furthermore, forgiveness of sin is what Jesus could give to people who he saw to be sick in consequence of their sins, as He crisscrossed the land of the Jews before going to Calvary.

Forgiveness of sin is what Jesus could ask of the Father to give to those who insulted Him, slapped Him, derided Him, or nailed Him to the cross of crucifixion, even before he died in their hands to bring salvation to mankind.

On the other hand, remission of sin is what Jesus could only make available in His death. He announced at the Last Supper, to His disciples that, He was going to the cross to make available remission of sins for everybody.

Jesus Christ in His sacrifice made remission of sin to be available and beneficial to all righteous mankind, from Creation to End-time. His sacrifice was to bring remission of sin to those who were even dead before His sacrifice; those living at the time of the sacrifice; and all who would come into the world after His sacrifice.

Remission of sin is what God demands of any members of the human race whose desire it is to obtain reconciliation with Him. Jesus Christ came as the Lamb of God, to pay for the sins of mankind, to enable God grant anyone who believes in, and accepts this sacrifice, the chance to obtain remission of sin.

The payment of the ransom by Jesus, to enable God grant mankind deliverance from the power and dominion of sin, are what constitute remission of sin.

John the Baptist went crying in the wilderness of Jordan, teaching Israel about a fast-coming salvation of God that was to be made available to mankind only in remission of sin (Luke 1:77, King James Version, KJV).

That was the good news John the Baptist was sent to proclaim to all Israelites, at a time they were already enjoying the blessings of forgiveness as one of two ways that God dealt with sin in their lives. The other was by atonement of sin.

Remission of sin is obtained from God, not by asking for it verbally, but in the obedience of His instructions on repentance and baptism into the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38, KJV).

If you want to enter the blessing of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, you do not ask for it in prayer, you access it by taping the right keys of God’s information-system. These keys, which one must strike to enter the salvation of God are, ‘repentance’ and ‘baptism’.

Repentance and baptism will usher every repentant sinner into the state of remission of sin. When one enters into this state, one gets the gift of the Holy Spirit of God to indwell one’s heart. This is our assurance of being in God’s salvation from the accounts of Acts 2:37-39, KJV. This assurance is what has been enjoyed by men since the Day of Pentecost.

Remission of sin is payment by Christ of our debt of sin. Remission of sin takes the sin-nature out of our spirit and body. Remission of sin comes to sinners only once in their life-time. It therefore contrasts greatly from forgiveness, which can come as many as ‘seventy times seven’ times, even in one day, quoting the words of the Master. In further contrast, man can render forgiveness of sin to fellow men, whilst remission of sin can only be given by God to sinful-man.

A book written by me that teaches on these issues is on sale in Ghana. It is entitled “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”.

In this book, the true doctrine of God’s salvation is taught. The false doctrine of Sinners’ Prayer recitals and the prayers of preachers for sinners to get Born Again are also taught. Please get a copy of it. It will bless you richly. It will put you on the right track into the Kingdom of God.

In my above mentioned book, advice is given to salvation-seekers to read the New Testament as God’s Final Theocratic Constitution. This Constitution contains articles on how humans on our earth can gain membership to the Kingdom of God. Also, one can find in it, clauses and sub-clauses on son-ship and adoption of mankind as children into the kingdom of God.

When one is conversant with this constitution, one will easily see the practice of Sinners’ Prayer recitals in attempt by salvation-seekers to enter the kingdom of God as unconstitutional and therefore powerless in enabling salvation-seekers become Born Again; and therefore denounce the practice.

Study the Bible in the spirit of serious-minded salvation-seekers who Apostle Paul met in Berea, of Acts 17: 10-11 fame, and you will easily see the Sinners’ Prayer recitals as absolutely incapable of making mankind Born Again.

God’s Theocratic Constitution will spell out to all subscribers to it, their privileges, responsibilities, code of conduct, status, and future rewards in Heaven for their service to this constitution when they were on earth. Please study this Constitution to be approved by God. You will be tested by it. You will be blessed by it. You will also be judged by it.

You can never be blessed by any passionate, zealous, or sincere recitals of a so-called “Sinners’ Prayer” or “Prayer for Salvation”, in your quest to become Born Again into the kingdom of God. May you therefore please seek to obtain the Born Again experience through your obedience of God’s Word to you to repent of your sins and to be baptised into Christ.

Shalom, peace from God the Almighty to you.
Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Dear reader, I am happy that you and I are living in the same times and seasons, according to the plan of God Almighty. I am particularly happy that you are reading this article that God has led me to write on the Born Again doctrine of the Christian faith.

My prayer for you is that, before the generations after us come to benefit by some rare teachings on salvation that God has led me to render to humanity, you my precious contemporary, would have been blessed ahead of them.

If you are serious about the Christian faith, as I am, and are an ardent listener to radio broadcasts or a viewer of television programmes of teachings by some pastors, general overseers, apostles, archbishops, etc., you might have observed something I am about to bring to your attention as an error to the Christian faith.

This error has persisted for a very long time, centuries in fact, and has therefore gained acceptance as genuine that, it passes as being able to deliver on its promises when in fact it cannot.

Did you hear the preacher-man on radio, or watch him on television this past week? Did you hear him at the end of his preaching ask you to do something if you wanted to be Born Again into God’s Kingdom? Did you hear him instruct you to place your hand on the radio or television set, and to pray a prayer after him, if you were repentant of your sinful-life, and wanted Jesus to take control of your life or get to be Born Again?

As for me I hear these every day. If you do not, begin to listen to preachers (Men of God?) on radio and television.

The prayer they ask their listeners to recite after them, when these preachers are ending their programmes on radio or television, is known by many as the “Sinners’ Prayer” or the “Prayer for Salvation”.

This is a prayer of confession of sins by repentant sinners who want to enter the Born Again experience, or start life all-over, after the power of sin has messed-up their lives. It is also a denunciation of the devil, request for God’s forgiveness, and the profession of Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Master.

The faith of the proponents of this doctrine is that, if any sinner repents of his sins, recites this prayer after the preachers of it, in sincerity and all seriousness of heart, they are instantly Born Again! Their claim is that, they are instantly passed from death to life and have had their names written into the Lamb’s Book of Life, if they were sincere in saying that prayer!

Dear reader, I would let you know that, if you ever did that, trusting the word of pious- and or sanctimonious-looking persons, who seemed worthy of your trust, then you were deceived. Nobody can get Born Again by and of prayer: be it known as the Sinners’ Prayer or the Prayer for Salvation.

Maybe, the peddlers of this doctrine are themselves ignorant that prayer cannot make one Born Again. In fact, that is the sad aspect of this doctrine – many of its proponents do not know they are in error.

Could it be that after-all, the preachers of this wrong doctrine are simply being mischievous, and cashing-in on the ignorance and gullibility of their listeners and therefore deliberately teach falsehood? I do not want to think so, even though at times one is tempted to.

What did Jesus say to Nicodemus about how anybody can ever enter into the Kingdom of God? Did Jesus say to Nicodemus to pray to enter into His salvation? Did Peter, on his very first assignment to lead people into the Born Again experience on the Day of Pentecost, instruct his listeners to pray some special prayer to be saved?

From all the Bible accounts, nobody ever said a prayer to be saved, or get Born Again. Why is it then so popular a practice for salvation-seekers to be told by so-called Men of God to recite special prayers after them so as to become Born Again?

Simply put, the practice of Sinners’ Prayer recitals for salvation is a deception of the devil. This all men should be aware of and denounce the instructions of so-called Men of God to pray special prayers for salvation.

So what must one do to be saved? The answer is to do what a jailor in the city of Philippi did in the early days of the Christian faith (Acts 16:25-34). Was this jailor not the first from the Bible accounts to ask this same question?

To answer the question of this jailor in Philippi, Paul and Silas at midnight, taught him to believe in Jesus if he wanted to be saved. They did not stop there. They went further to explain themselves.

At the end of it all, this jailor rushed to obey the word of Paul and Silas, so he could be saved. At an odd, inconvenient, discomforting, midnight-hour, this jailor rushed out of his home to be baptized in the river on whose bank the city of Philippi was built (Acts 16:12-13, 30-33) in his quest to be saved.

This jailor did nothing like reciting a so-called Sinners’ Prayer or a Prayer for Salvation to enter God’s salvation. He was properly led into the salvation of God by people who were truly sent by God.

This jailor was saved in the ministry of God-called, God-taught, God-anointed, and God-sent, obedient, loyal, and well-informed disciples of Jesus Christ. Sadly, ministers of such glorious credentials are hard to come-by in our world today.

Anybody today, who does not teach the doctrine that Jesus taught Nicodemus (John 3:3-5), or Peter did on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-41), or by Philip to an Ethiopian in the desert of Gaza (Acts 8:26-40), or by Ananias in his ministration of salvation to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:10-18), has deviated from the genuine way of teaching God’s salvation.

All who follow such a one, are also off-course, in as-much-as getting into God’s Kingdom is their ambition. I hope I can bless your life with this truth: a truth I am charged by God to warn my generation in. [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Two: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

For forgiveness, one must repent of the sin and confess it verbally to God, and the wronged person, to be able to receive it. In the case of remission, one must repent of the sin and be baptized in (or into) the name of Jesus Christ, to come into the power it has, of putting the salvation-seeker into the full blessings of Christ’s sacrifice on The Cross.

When so-called Men of God gather salvation-seekers, on what they term “crusade grounds”, or in their plush cathedrals, or air-conditioned chapels, or beside radio and television sets, and teach them to ask God in prayer for the forgiveness of their sins to enable them become Born Again, and or gain entry into the Kingdom of God, they mislead or deceive them.

This is a shoddy way of offering God’s salvation to people who are in dire need of it. No one, who teaches the way into God’s salvation in this manner, has the wisdom of the apostles for soul-winning. None of the apostles, of Jesus Christ, would confuse and mislead salvation-seekers, by teaching them to do such a thing – which was neither instructed by the Master, nor in his mind or wisdom. They dared not. In fact, woes and condemnations awaited them, if they did.

So why do we do this today? Where are the genuine soul-winners of God today? Where are they? Why are genuine soul-winners so hard to come by today? Please wait a minute, and let me see how I may help you appreciate why genuine soul-winners are so hard to come-by today.

You see, many of the so-called Christian teachings, supposedly meant for the salvation of mankind, which evolved through the politico-Christian power-players of the erstwhile Roman Empire, in the immediate post-apostolic times, did not have the power associated with the faith. The glaring potency and unique character of the Christian faith, seen at the start of the church in Jerusalem, on the Day of Pentecost and in the days following it, got lost completely, by the time Rome took upper-hand, in the selection and coronation of bishops for the church.

Once Rome became a force to reckon with, in the selection of leader-teachers for the church, weird non-Jesus teachings, started to rear their ugly heads in the church’s character and administration. What-with, all that history, about the cash-sales of indulgencies by bishops, as the fulfillment of their roles in the Great Commission of the Master, to win souls into his Kingdom?

How about the influx of high-office politicians, idol-worshippers indeed by their religion, who were wrongly considered as followers of Christ, and were thus admitted into the church, without obeying the prescribed rites for membership? These, and many others, are the root causes for the high level of corrupt doctrines to the Christian faith, which we find today.

Also, the persecutions to death, of the followers of Jesus Christ, a horrible notoriety of the history of the Romano-Christian tradition under Rome, in the immediate post-apostolic days, were aimed not at their persons, per se, but at getting people to accept, believe and act on corrupted and distorted versions of the teachings of Christ. Satan knew from the very beginning of Christianity that, if he could bring into the teachings of Christ, the minutest pollutants, he would succeed in rendering these teachings impotent, in fact useless, for the salvation of mankind.

And so he calculated his plans very well – waiting till the passing away into glory, all the saints of God, who talked, walked, and ate with the Messiah, before orchestrating his intrigues of deception, lies, and introduction of contaminants into God’s Word, to achieve his aims.

How much of the teachings of the Messiah, and of the apostles, do we find among people who profess to be Christians today? Many are comfortable with a system of codes and practices which are in every way, the doctrines of men. They blindly believe them, whole-heartedly, to be the doctrines of Christ.

Even the most serious-minded people, who claim to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ today, have been misled to imbibe as the truth, many adulterated versions of the Word of God. In ignorance of this, they are so zealous in their beliefs in these impure versions, as to defend them with their lives, intolerant of, and hostile to the truth, whenever they are confronted with it.

If today we have so-called Men of God, presenting the salvation message of God in doctrines different from those of Jesus Christ and his apostles, then Rome, of the Second Century or thereabout, must take the blame. The entire leadership of present-day Christianity must also share in this, in being so gullible as to accept the falsehood and deception of that past, when the Bible is readily available for study and correction to these distortions to the teachings of Christ. I cannot help, but be very sad in all this.

The genuine stewards of God are those who know how to truly function as soul-winners. They are those who know how to rightly divide the Word of God, discerning forgiveness from remission.

They are those with a thorough knowledge of the New Testament doctrines of God for the salvation of sinners. They are those who win souls in the waters of baptism in the name of Jesus Christ – using the skills and talents of fishermen, who are transformed into fishers of men.

Such are those Men of God who are indeed called, taught, and imputed with the wisdom of God on how to win souls, and sent out under the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. These are those sent to do a job that the Son of God himself should have been doing, and therefore cannot afford to do it in their way, but in the Master’s; displaying his wisdom in their service to God’s Kingdom.

It is only such workers who are sure to gain commendation by the Master, as his Wise and Faithful Stewards, at his Second Coming. It is only such workers who qualify to be ushered into the gold-plated royal residences in Heaven, to live in ease and comfort throughout Eternity.

My dear one, are you truly a soul-winner? You who call yourselves Men of God, or are happy with such appellations by men: look to your ways and works closely, and in humility, change them for God’s ways.

Do this, so you do not get disappointed at the Gates of Heaven, on the Day of Judgment, when you and your many ignorant followers, are gathered-up as tares of no use to the Kingdom of God, but for fuel in the fires of Hell.

I hope I have warned you enough.
Shalom.

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and the author of the book: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His email address is: [email protected]

It was John the Baptist, who came to announce the plan of God that, He was about to introduce remission of sin to deal with the sin problem of mankind once and for all. John taught Israel about the soon-coming and brand-new salvation of God, (only available in Christ Jesus), that could only be accessed through remission of sin. (Luke 1: 77, KJV).

John the Baptist revealed to Israel that, Jesus had come as the Lamb of God to take away their sin (and that of the world). Jesus had come to set those held captive by the devil, free; and to set at liberty, them that are bruised. It was the sacrifice of Jesus’ Life that brought the power which could save Israel (and in fact mankind) from a state they hitherto, were helpless and incapable of freeing themselves from.

John the Baptist went about in the wilderness of the river Jordan, crying out to Israel, about how the Lamb of God was soon to be slaughtered to make remission of sin available so that sin and its nature could be taken out of the spirit and body of every man, who desired deliverance from the power, and dominion of the devil, and from the consequences of sin.

To bring remission of sin to sinful-mankind is the reason for Jesus’ coming to earth. It is the very reason for the horrible manner in which he died on The Cross. He announced to his friends at the Last Supper that he was going to die for the remission of all the sins of mankind. (Matthew 26: 28, KJV).

After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus commissioned his disciples to be witnesses of the fact that, remission of sin was then forever available to sinful-mankind. (Luke 24: 46-47, KJV). The disciples lived all their lives after Jesus’ Ascension, toiling to bring the knowledge of remission of sin to everybody. They all died in this cause, while leading all men to genuinely receive remission of sin.

All the people in the Bible, who were directly involved in the work of God, to bring His salvation in Christ to sinful-mankind, died in the cause of remission of sin. John the Baptist was beheaded while he championed the cause of remission of sin. Jesus Christ was crucified in the cause of remission of sin. And so did all the apostles of Jesus Christ, die either the death of martyrdom, or of exhaustion from their toils, while propagating the blessings of remission of sin to mankind.

It is saddening that, close to two thousand years after remission of sin was made available to the world, most of us are still ignorant of how to obtain it for keeps – this great blessing of God. Why then did Jesus die, if the blessings of his sacrificial death cannot be accessed by sinful-mankind, because of ignorance of how to do so?

Oh Ignorance, you have killed many simple-minded folks of mankind from generation to generation. And yet you are so easily overcome by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of the Saviour, and of the testimony of his redeemed.

Remission of sin comes to the salvation-seeker only once in one’s life-time. It brings about a single-transaction payment for all sins previously committed by the salvation-seeker. (Romans 3: 25, KJV). It wipes thoroughly snow-white clean, the crimson-coloured slate of sin: natural man’s heart, inherited from the first Adam.

Remission of sin breaks the yoke of bondage of Satan over sinful-mankind. Remission of sin establishes the repentant sinner as a branch in the True Vine; it infuses the divine nature of God with the spirit of man. (John 15: 5, Second Peter 1: 4, KJV). Remission of sin therefore, delivers natural man from the power and dominion of the kingdom of darkness, translating him into the Kingdom of Light of God’s dear Son. (Colossians 1: 13, KJV).

Remission of sin makes one the child of God – born of the holy incorruptible seed of God. In fact, the blessings of remission of sin are endless and are of such great value that, it is only God who can grant it to any seekers of it, who deserve to receive it because they do as He has instructed them to.

The simple-minded person, with a rather limited knowledge of the New Testament teachings on God’s salvation in Christ, who is reading this article, may be asking in his mind what we have done wrongly, incompatible with the New Testament revelation, and the apostolic teachings, which have denied us the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

The answer is simple: all what we have done, not knowing or discerning remission of sin, what it entails and brings to the salvation-seeker, and how one can access it. This ignorance has taken us away from the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

In particular, our error in equating remission (of sin) to forgiveness (of sin) has taken us far away from the salvation of God in Christ Jesus. This is the greatest error to the Christian faith – an error resulting from the wiles and machinations of the devil, all aimed at denying us the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

Even though sinful-mankind can obtain forgiveness of sin from God in as many as “seventy times seven” times in even one given day, all that large number in forgiveness cannot equate to or bring about one single blessing of remission of sin. This is because, for the sinner to obtain forgiveness of sin, it does not (necessarily have to) involve the death of Jesus Christ.

No amount or number, of forgiveness of sins, can bring to the repentant salvation-seeker, the salvation of God in Christ Jesus. And to be told by a so-called Man of God to make one single request for forgiveness of sin from God, in one ‘Crusade’ event, to gain God’s salvation, is a ridiculous deception.

You can gain forgiveness of sin through repentance and confession of the sin to God, and or to the person you have wronged, without recourse to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That makes forgiveness to be obviously cheaper than remission, which (remission) must involve the precious blood and sinless life of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to come about.

I do hope we remember that, Jesus Christ could grant forgiveness of sin to paralytics, impotent-halts, and even those who nailed him to The Cross, without them obtaining remission of sin. This was because, it was after they had been forgiven of their sins that Jesus then shed his blood on The Cross, for the remission of sin (for all mankind). This is the great contrast between forgiveness and remission (of sins) that is obviously revealed to us from the spirit (and maybe not the letter) of God’s infallible Word.

You can also gain forgiveness of sin from a fellow man, but you can never obtain remission of sin from your fellow man – not even from your closest kinsman, (except of course, from our one and only Kinsman-Redeemer, Jesus Christ). Again, as said earlier, remission of sin is obtainable from God only once in a life-time; forgiveness of sin however, can come to the sinner every day of the week, month, and or year.

Forgiveness of sin exonerates sinful-mankind from the consequences of sin: which are guilt-consciousness, sickness and disease, confusion, misery and poverty. (Deuteronomy 28: 15-68). The wrath of God, which must come upon all who sin, is stayed for those people, who are wise to seek forgiveness for their sins from Him, after repenting of them.

A man called Cornelius, of Acts chapter ten fame, enjoyed life in the blessed state of being in God’s forgiveness, and yet was neither in God’s salvation nor in His Kingdom. In that state of being in God’s forgiveness, enjoying in all, whatever the blessings of God are in that state, he did not have the remission of his sins.

It was much later on, when he was baptized in the ministry of Peter, an apostle, that he gained the remission of his sins, qualifying him to receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God in his heart and as a seal of ownership by God. That baptism also earned him the adoption and son-ship by God, for his addition into His family.

You see, forgiveness (of sin), deals with the issues of mankind’s sin, before and after Calvary. Remission (of sin) however, deals with issues of sin in man at Calvary. Both deals have their unique blessings and ways of being accessed. [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Four].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His email address is: [email protected].

Today, it is very important we observe closely, the way the disciples of Jesus executed their first assignment in soul-winning on the Day of Pentecost, and indeed, in all others, so we can imitate them for our own successes. All soul-winners, working in and for God’s Kingdom today, must do exactly as Peter an apostle, and his friends did for the salvation of men on the Day of Pentecost, and in the years after this great day.

Peter and his friends always preached a message whose substance was designed by the wisdom of God, and aimed at bringing repentance of sin to their listeners. Also, they always had the right directive, aimed at leading those who accepted their message to appropriately respond to it, for their genuine entry into the Kingdom of God.

Any time they went out to win souls, the theme of their message was the same. It was always about Jesus the Son of God: who lived a sinless life, was falsely accused and put to death by crucifixion on The Cross, was buried, resurrected on the third day after his burial, and who ascended into Heaven, to be seated on the right hand side of God forever.

For the apostles of Jesus Christ, this is the core-message of the gospel, which has the potency to prick the hearts of any hearers of it, so as to bring them to the point of repentance from their sins. Later on, when Saul of Tarsus joined the company of apostles of Jesus Christ as St. Paul, he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say in the Book of Romans that, this message of the gospel is the only one with the cutting-edge power to bring about repentance unto salvation. (Romans 1: 16, KJV).

Again, Paul an apostle, in the Book of Galatians, chapter one, verse eight to nine, in writing to Galatians of his day, stressed to them the importance of accepting only the message of the apostles in their quest for God’s salvation. He stressed that, even if angels came to preach to them some other message beside the one preached to them by the apostles, they should not accept it. Any contrary message, Paul revealed, would bring to both the preachers of it and their hearers, curses from God. Simply put, any such message would deny them the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, if we are to make any genuine disciples for Jesus Christ today, who are worthy of being admitted into the Kingdom of God, this message of the apostles must be ours to all who would listen to us. We are not to preach to salvation-seekers any other message – not even one on healing from diseases or on deliverance from evil forces, or on prosperity, or on forgiveness of sin, or on any other.

Simply because a particular message can be found in the Bible does not mean it is relevant, or has the power of God, for the repentance of the sinner, toward his salvation. Sadly, many so-called Men of God do not know this! Many are yet to humble themselves to obey God’s Word for their own salvation. This they must do, so the Holy Spirit of God can get to dwell in their hearts, and then to constantly reveal to and teach them, for the benefit of their followers, the truths of God’s salvation in Christ Jesus.

Our message to the salvation-seeker must always be that of The Cross. This is the only one message, tailor-made by God Himself, which can bring a feeling of remorse to the heart of any sinner who hears it, and thereby lead him to repentance onto salvation.

Just as Peter did on the Day of Pentecost for the over three thousand returnee-Diaspora Jews, who accepted his cutting-edge message of The Cross, whenever we have any person today who comes to the realization that it is his (or her) sins that killed the Saviour, and repents of them, that person must be properly taught about how he or she must act, so as to come into the saving-power of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.

The way to obtain reconciliation with God and how to gain entry into His Kingdom, must be for mankind today, the same as was taught by Peter to his hearers in his day. There is no other way taught by God in His Word to salvation-seekers to bring this about.

So what did Peter direct the salvation-seeker to do, to genuinely enter the salvation of God, one may ask? It is very important that we know this, and to also do as Peter did, if we are to achieve any success in our efforts to win souls for Christ.

Peter told his listeners to do two things: first, to repent from their sins, and then, to be baptized in (or into) the name of Jesus Christ. Peter taught them that if they did that out of genuine desire for reconciliation with God, and to enter His Kingdom, they would receive remission of sin, and go on further, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now, this is the only assurance from God’s Word, which we find in Acts 2: 38-39, KJV, on how any salvation-seeker can ever enter His salvation. We must always keep in our minds that, on the Day of Pentecost, when the first crop of salvation-seekers were led into the Kingdom of God, by His sure representatives, the genuine directive as to how to enter it, was for the salvation-seekers to repent of their sins, and to be baptized in (or into) the name of Jesus Christ.

As said earlier on, this baptism was to enable God grant them remission of sin, and also the gift of the Holy Spirit of God to firmly dwell in their hearts, (forever). It seems to me mankind’s difficulty in post-apostolic times, in understanding how to enter the salvation of God, has to do with the words remission of sin. But if God can and will grant His Holy Spirit to anybody who desires it in this Grace Dispensation, it must be through the person’s faith in remission of sin.

Sadly, remission of sin is hardly known or understood by even the learned theologians and self-styled Men of God, in our world today, who claim to be God’s soul-winners. The word remission is a very rare one. It is found only in the King James Version of the Bible, and in only ten verses. It is completely absent in all other popular Versions of the Bible, that I know of.

This fact of remission, as being a rare word, establishes it as a gold-miner’s word. For me, this word is found and understood by only gold-miners: miners who are engaged in the search of nuggets and pearls in the Bible. It is those who are seriously engaged in such a search, who are blessed with the knowledge and understanding of this rare Word of God – remission.

And yet, remission of sin is the best thing that ever came from God, with the intent to make all His blessings reach mankind. We can only fathom the depth of God’s love for mankind, in His gift of Jesus Christ, if we understand what remission of sin is all about.

This is because it is only those who have gained access to remission of sin, by applying the wisdom of God to their ways, who are the genuine disciples of Jesus Christ. They are those, who are in God’s salvation. Anybody else, no matter how good he looks, is in fact a tare, and not the wheat he may think of himself to be. Remember that, tares are wheat look-alike.

These truths the devil and his cohorts know. Sadly, not even the many so-called Men of God, of our generation, know these truths. They wrongly equate remission to forgiveness (of sin)! They are thus unable to properly teach salvation-seekers how to genuinely enter the Kingdom of God.

I have always wondered how the devil has been able to beguile as many as over 99% of so-called Men of God, (who I know), and as many salvation-seekers, not to know or think of remission (of sin) in their quest for the salvation of God in Christ. The devil has easily and cheaply succeeded in leading many so-called Men of God to teach salvation-seekers to ask God for forgiveness of their sins, instead of how they can secure remission of sin through repentance and baptism, in their quest to enter His Kingdom.

Until the advent of John the Baptist, even Israel, the elect of God, did not know anything about remission of sin. All they knew and enjoyed then, were atonement and forgiveness of sin. We can therefore say that, Jesus did not come to our world to die to bring into being, forgiveness of sin – forgiveness of sin being a blessing of God, which was already being enjoyed under the not-so-perfect Old Testament.

What all this means is that, sinful-mankind should not seek to obtain forgiveness of sin in his quest to enter God’s salvation. Rather, sinful-mankind must seek to understand and to secure remission of sin, to enable him enter the salvation of God. [—this article is continued in Part Three].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His email address is: [email protected]

The year 2030 will mark the 2000th anniversary of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is important to note that this anniversary is only two decades away. It is also important to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ, earlier on, before his Ascension, told his disciples that he would return to earth, a second time, and so mankind must await his return.

We do not know when this Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will take place. Whether it will be before this 2000th anniversary or after, we do not know. Mankind must however start in earnest now, preparations for this return of the Saviour; that is, for those who have not yet done so. For, as sure as the sun shall rise from the east and set in the west, Jesus shall soon come.

Many people, who profess to be adherents to the Christian faith, whether rightly or wrongly, consider themselves to be workers in God’s Kingdom and or stewards to His secrets, mysteries, and blessings. It may be that, it is such serious-minded people who may be preparing for The Great Day of the Lord, which the closeness of this 2000th anniversary of his Ascension seems to be reminding many of us about.

For those who consider themselves to be called by the Lord Jesus Christ, to lead people into his salvation, they have a lot of thinking and preparations to do, if they are to receive any commendations from the Lord at his coming. In particular, they must remind themselves of the Great Commission of the Master, and critically consider what roles they are playing in it.

By this Commission, the Master enlists loyal, knowledgeable, wise, and anointed followers for this special work of soul-winning. Today, those who believe they are in this Commission must be asking themselves how they are faring in the execution of this special work of, and for, the Kingdom of God.

Soul-winning is a specialist’s job. Anyone who is involved in it must be blessed by God to be able to work with His mind and wisdom, if he is to do it effectively for the expected results. This is what the Word of God says about soul-winners: “… he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11: 30, King James Version, KJV). This means that only those with the wisdom of God can win souls for Him. Soul-winning is a job for only wise people: those wise in God’s sight, and not in the eyes of mortal men.

This explains why genuine soul-winners of God’s Kingdom have today become endangered species of the male homo sapiens. Did any people ever see this obvious scarcity of God-taught, God-anointed, and God-sent men, in the business of soul-winning? I am sure many people have. Is that why somebody tried to help God out of this, by wrongfully recruiting and sending out women, to execute a God-ordained men-only assignment?

Yes indeed, Mary Magdalene was the first to see the resurrected Christ. But she forever, thereafter, remained in essence and silence, just the first to see the empty tomb of the Saviour. She did not have the mandate of the Master, to be a legal (credible) witness (testifier of, or messenger-carrier of the proof) to his resurrection.

Mary Magdalene was never conscripted and or ordained by the Master, to have either a part or lot in the business of taking the message of his resurrection to the world, with the object of winning souls for the Kingdom of God. And so are all women, the weaker sex to men, and as such the easily beguiled by the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, never chosen by God as vessels, to carry His Word (message of salvation, warnings, or direction) to mankind. Throughout all the times and seasons Heaven has been ruling in the affairs of men on earth, God has not as yet used (and will never use) women as message-bearers, in His Information Ministry.

The error by many in depending on the wisdom of men, while trying to render a duty that was to have been done by the Son of God himself, has brought about a sad state of affairs, to the Kingdom of God. The ignorance of many people about God’s ways, and His wisdom for soul-winning, has led them into doing ridiculously weird things, all in the name of soul-winning.

Men who are called, chosen, taught, anointed, and sent out by God for this assignment, must constantly remain focused and fully dependant on the instructions of His Son, if they are to be successful. It is important for soul-winners, to always remain dependant on the Master’s instructions since they work in his stead and not for themselves.

When Jesus Christ was about to depart from earth to the Good Father in Heaven, he took the apostles outside the walls of Jerusalem, to Mt. Olivet, to bid them an unforgettable good-bye. There, he finishes his last pep-talk to the apostles. Then he becomes air-borne, en-route to Heaven. They watched and waved him good-bye, till a cloud concealed him from their sight.

This pre-Ascension pep-talk was on how the apostles were to go about the task of soul-winning, for the Kingdom of God. The success of this soul-winning work depended on these downcast men: downcast because their Master was leaving them, for a very long while.

They could not afford to make any mistakes in this soul-winning business – Heaven and The Throne were depending on them. Any mistakes would attract upon themselves, the Wrath of The Throne. One little mistake, would also bring about a permanent denial of God’s salvation to all the inhabitants of the earth.

They had to understand this, and not make any mistakes. They were to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit, to be given to them by God, and on the wisdom in the instructions of the Master. They were also told that the Holy Spirit, upon coming into their hearts to dwell, would constantly keep them in remembrance of the Master’s strict instructions, for their success.

As they waved their Master good-bye, on Mt. Olivet, two men (angels of God?), in white apparel joined their company. The men in white clothes spoke to them, echoing words which their Master had told them earlier on before this Ascension Day. The angels told them about the sure-return of the Master, in the like manner they had just seen him go to Heaven.

Then the apostles returned to their makeshift abode in the Upper Room, in Jerusalem, to console one another with this truth of their Master’s sure-return: cheering themselves up, on the temporal loss of physical contact and fellowship with their Lord.

While consoling themselves, they eagerly await the descent of the Holy Spirit of God into their hearts: by which they are promised by the Master, they would be equipped with power, wisdom, boldness, and the constant remembrance of his instructions on soul-winning to begin to execute the work of evangelizing the world, for the Kingdom of God.

After waiting in the Upper Room for only ten days, the promise by Jesus to send them the Holy Spirit is fulfilled. Then, they immediately move out into the streets of Jerusalem, catapulted by the sheer dynamism of the Holy Spirit of God in them, to execute the high-precision job of winning souls for God’s Kingdom, which can only be done by men who are endowed with the wisdom and power of God. [—this articled is continued in Part Two]

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His email address is: [email protected]

The much-awaited Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will soon become a reality. Many people know this. But, the issue is, how many people are ready for him? A lot of people seem not to be bothered by the fact of Jesus’ return. This is because, for a long time (since Jesus made the promise about his return to his disciples) nothing has happened.

In 30 AD, the year of Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, angels of God re-echoed on Mt. Olivet words he had earlier-on spoken to his disciples about his sure-return to earth. The year 2030 AD will therefore be the two-thousandth year, since this promise. Obviously, it has been a long time since; long enough for many people to have turned themselves into scoffers, who teasingly suggest that he is unable to return.

However, this sure-to-come event of Kingdom Calendar now seems imminent. This is why there are, today, many rumours and predictions about the Master’s return. These are signs, among others, pointing to the fact that because of the integrity of the one who made the promise to return (Jesus Christ the Nazarene), the fulfillment of his words can no longer delay.

Of course, nobody knows when the return of the Master will take place. The Master has however, warned his disciples that it will come like a thief. He has cautioned all his disciples that, if the master of the house knew when armed robbers would break into his home, to take away his goods, he would not have been sleeping.

It seems to me that, everything about this coming event is characterized by surprise: season, day, hour and a never-seen cataclysm of its kind in the earth. At a time when people will seem to enjoy peace, then, this surprise will come upon them.

Not only in these things will the Second Coming, of the Lord Jesus Christ, be a surprise to the inhabitants of the earth. The composition of the group of the elect few, qualified to enter Heaven, will also shock many. We are told in the Word of God, that all creation awaits the revelation of this select-group, which will be declared eligible to enter Heaven (Romans 8: 19).

There are people who many others do not expect to see in Heaven, but who will surprise the many, when they find their way there. At the same time, a select few (of so-called archbishops?), expected by many to be in Heaven, will fail to enter it. It could be that some rank-free disciples of the Master will find their way into Heaven, while some high-rank so-called archbishops (and self-styled reverends?) will be denied entry.

According to the Master people will come, from the east and west, to feast with Abraham in Heaven, whilst many Israelites born out of his loins are cast out into darkness (Matthew 8: 11-12). Jesus has also said that, while many people of Tyre, Sidon, Nineveh and the south (Ethiopia of Africa) will gain places in Heaven, many Israelites of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum will be denied entry (cf. Matthew 11: 21-24; 12: 41-42; & Luke 11: 31).

The greatest surprise of entrees into Heaven to many people will, however, be king Nebuchadnezzar: one-time king of the erstwhile Babylonian Empire who was a thorn in the flesh of unrepentant-Israel. Nebuchadnezzar ruled with an iron hand for more than forty years – 605-562 BC. Though many people do not know of a single good thing he did in his reign, he ended it in a manner worthy of earning him life in Heaven.

How could this be, many may ask? And this is the reason why it will surprise many to see him with them in Heaven. Many more others may seek to find issues with God, for being cast out of Heaven, while this one-time wicked king is made to enter. How is Nebuchadnezzar able to achieve God’s blessing in this? The answer is simple: God’s Word in Ezekiel 36: 25-27, became real to Nebuchadnezzar at the tail-end of his life. Here are these verses:

“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36: 25-27, KJV).

You see, when it pleased God to lead Nebuchadnezzar into His salvation, He turned him into a beast. Please read Daniel 4: 1-37 to understand this drama. For many people, it was God’s judgment upon him for his wickedness; and they rejoiced in it. But that was God’s disguised blessing to him.

God wanted to wash Nebuchadnezzar in the dew of Heaven but could never get him into the open, out of his palace, to do so. And so He turned him into a human-beast; drove him into the fields and commanded angels to guard him; so nobody would hunt him down as game. And all this, God did for a period of seven years, during which He caused the dew of heaven to do a thorough work of taking out his heart of stone, and transplanting in him a heart of flesh.

With his new heart, Nebuchadnezzar was able to worship God for his very first time. Because God washed Nebuchadnezzar in the dew of heaven (waters of baptism?), he was able to meet Jesus’ condition for anyone’s entry into Heaven, stated in John 3: 3-5. Do you see the love of God for Nebuchadnezzar and how in this love, God caused all things to work together for his good? Nebuchadnezzar will therefore surprise many to be found in Heaven to spend Eternity with God.

Nebuchadnezzar will not be the only surprise in Heaven. Remember the sailors who were with Jonah, the disobedient messenger of God who was sent to the people of Nineveh? Well, they had their idol-polluted hearts purified in the rain-waters of the storm which hit them, while they were on the deck of their ship casting its cargo into the sea. In that thorough drenching by the rain-waters, they had their stony hearts replaced with those of flesh, thus enabling them fear God, offer sacrifices and make vows to worship Him. Please Jonah 1:4-16 from the King James Version of the bible to understand the drama of this account. These seamen will therefore surprise many to be found in Heaven.

Also, Naaman, the leprous-Syrian army general, will surprise many to be found in Heaven. You see, Naaman was not only cleansed of his leprosy in the seven dips he made into the waters of the Jordan. But in the process, he had God take out his heart of stone and transplant in him, a heart of flesh.

When God was through with Naaman in His transformation process, he not only worshipped God with a heart of flesh, but was ready to take a load of the earth of Israel, to build a temple unto Jehovah in Syria. In Second Kings 5: 1-19, we read the entire account of Naaman’s cure from leprosy and the recreated heart of flesh that God him after he dipped himself seven times, into the waters of the river Jordan, in obedience to Elisha, a man of God.

The Old Testament has accounts of how God (Personally) baptized some people, to make them eligible to enter Heaven, when they had no idea what blessings He was bestowing on them. The list of such blessed people is a very short one.

It consists of Noah in the ark (First Peter 3: 20-21); Abraham in the waters of the Euphrates river (Joshua 24: 2-3); infant-Moses in the Nile waters (Exodus 2: 1-10); Israel in the Red sea crossing (First Corinthians 10: 1-2) and the generation of Israelites who crossed the waters of the Jordan (Joshua 4: 1-9). Nebuchadnezzar, Naaman and Jonah’s ship mates in his infamous journey from Joppa to Tarshish were God’s latter additions to this short list of men baptized by God Himself.

All these incidents of baptism occurred as and in the shadows of this ordinance of the New Testament doctrines, which brings new-life to all who are blessed by God to receive it in Jesus’ name. Later on, God sent Jesus to make real these and many other shadows of baptism, in that which he received at the hand of John the Baptist.

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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

In recent times, I have grown to become very much fascinated by records of historical events. This fascination has led me to give a lot of value to the work of archaeologists, geologists, historians and other workers who seek to inform mankind of his past, more than I ever did.

I delight in studying the past for two reasons. First, is the thrill I get from knowing how that mankind of ancient times lived without today’s technology and lifestyles, and yet advanced to the heights of being able to build such wonders as the Tower of Babel and Pyramids of Egypt.

The second is that, I get to know that nothing is really new in this world: all we see today have once been around in our world. The only differences are the ways these things come and the colour of their wrappings.

No doubt, the past informs the present, as many people believe. And that the present reflects the future is also a fact. Today is the shadow of tomorrow’s reality. What goes up also comes down; and what goes around, comes around. The wise of our earth have always thus spoken; and how true I find their words to be.

The best place to study mankind’s past is in the Word of God – the Bible. This is because many bible events predate recorded history. The Bible is history recorded by God Himself, of those special aspects, of mankind’s existence which he is himself ignorant about, but known to the infinite Mind of God.

Before mankind could get to make pots, metal-tools, develop the alphabets, or record events, relics of all of which, today, give us something about our history, God had already captured the history of mankind’s Creation and His dealings with him, thereafter.

God’s record of mankind’s history has neither error nor inaccuracies. This is because He not only has a perfect mind with which He directed the recording of mankind’s history, but also because He Himself caused those historical events to come about, and in the manner and sequence they did.

In this article, I like to take readers to mankind’s history in the pre-Flood days of Noah. The wickedness of the earth in the days of Noah, which precipitated the destruction of the entire world, were committed by two beings – humans, and also a peculiar race of giant-humans who were called, nephilim.

It might be news to many people today that, a non-Adamic race, the nephilim, once physically co-habited the earth with mankind. Yet this has been a fact of history which is more than four millennia old. The fact is that, before The Flood of Noah, the nephilim race became the second occupants of the earth.

From God’s account about this race in the Book of Genesis, the nephilim came as product of an unholy sexual union between the sons of God (a crop of fallen angels, or were they archangels?) and the daughters of men. These daughters of men were very beautiful, but sadly, too powerless to resist the physical strength of angels (and or archangels?).

I like to quote this record of Genesis from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, here: There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown (Genesis 6: 4, KJV).

May readers note in this quotation, the words “in those days; and also after that”. This is worthy of note because it establishes the fact that the invasion of this army of fallen angels to rape the daughters of men, occurred, at least, on two occasions – one before The Flood of Noah, and the other(s) sometime(s) after the deluge.

This was a case of history repeating itself; and I am not surprised about that since nothing really is new, under the sun. In fact, there has been yet another invasion by fallen angels into the lives of men, in modern times, which (invasion) also produced its latter-day race of nephilim.

Presently, I shall show when and how this modern-day invasion took place. I shall also venture to show where this took place, and go on to reveal to mankind today, how to identify the latter-day nephilim, who are in an unending conflict against today’s seekers of God’s salvation in Christ Jesus.

The offspring which came of the first invasion did not live very long, for the world-wide deluge of Noah’s day, which destroyed all life on earth, caused their extinction. We do not know when the second (or third, or fourth?) invasion by angels to our earth, to have sexual acts with the daughters of men took place. However, records in the Bible show that their offspring lived on earth much longer than the first.

We read in the Book of Genesis chapter fourteen that, after The Flood of Noah which historians teach mankind to have taken place around 2348 BC, a race of giant human beings lived on the earth. The last biblical account of this race of giants, was one that involved the killing in battle in about 1018 BC, one of its kind, who had twelve fingers and twelve toes (Second Samuel 21: 20).

The post-Flood race of giants has been known by various names in the Bible. However, they are all of a common ancestry, since they all came into being, when some fallen angels raped some daughters of men. These giants have collectively been called Rephaims, Zuzims, Emims (Genesis 14: 5), Anakims, Zamzummins and Horims (Numbers 13: 28-33, Deuteronomy 2: 9-12, 20, Joshua 11: 21-22) at various times and locations.

Individually, some of these giants have been called Anak (Numbers 13: 33), Og (Deuteronomy 3; 3-15), Goliath (First Samuel 17: 4-7), Ishbibenob and Saph (Second Samuel 21: 16-18). In Second Samuel 21: 19, it is revealed that the inglorious and well-known Goliath had a brother, of the lineage of the nephilim, whose name was however not given to us. Also, Second Samuel 21: 20 mentions the man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each leg as a man “born to the giant”. He was killed by Jonathan, a nephew of David the Warrior of Israel.

Let me make a few observations about this race of nephilim –giants, mighty men of old, men of renown. The first is that, God was angered by the union of angels and humans which brought this race into being. That being the case, this race never came into being by God’s design and therefore had neither value nor use in His Kingdom.

The race of nephilim therefore was only useful and belonged to the kingdom of fallen angels – darkness. Being of the kingdom of darkness, the nephilim could only serve it by working against mankind. Of course they were against every man, in general, but more so the elect of God.

That is why this race, throughout its period of physically intruding into the affairs of mankind, was constantly at war with Israel, the elect of God. Thank God this race became exterminated through wars waged against it by Israel, the earthly Army of God.

Today, mankind might not be aware of its existence, because today’s nephilim neither has physical contacts with humans, nor visible spatial domains: they now exist as spirit beings. Today’s nephilim came into being through a sexual union, which is revealed as spiritual adultery.

Every student of the Bible knows what spiritual adultery means. It is the forced union between the true worship of God, and that of idols, demons, Satan, and or any other powers beside God. So any union between archangels (spirit beings) and bishops (humans) will result in the birth of nephilim. And this is one cursed legacy bequeathed to this generation, by the pagan-church of Rome of the Second Century, who forced an unholy marriage between archangels and bishops.

Whether the pagan-controlled church of Rome, in the aftermath of the apostles of Jesus Christ, during the Second Century, knew it or not, their marrying of the two words –archangel and bishop– to create without the mandate of God, the word archbishop, brought into the Church, the latter-day nephilim.

After studying the many notorious acts of the Roman Empire politicians of the Second Century, in and against the Church, one is inclined to believe that they were done on purpose and at the behest of their Boss – Satan.

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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Towards the end of the Part One of this article, it was revealed that today’s nephilim, is indeed the persona of the archbishop of today. It was also revealed that the archbishop was a creation of the pagan-Christianity of the erstwhile Roman Empire and that this happened in the Second Century; over 1900 years ago.

Obviously, this has been a long time since; long enough for this nephilim-persona (of the archbishop) to have been coated with so much cosmetic powders as to have camouflaged his true identity, to people today. But what secret of man and or the Devil, can be hid from the piercing eyes and all-knowing Mind of God the Almighty?

And so today, by the Grace of God, the true identity or personality of the archbishop, begotten by and of the pagan-Christianity of the erstwhile Roman Empire, can no longer be hid from salvation-seekers. It is my hope and prayer that this article will bless all its readers and the many seekers of God’s salvation in Christ Jesus, in revealing to them who the archbishop is, in reality.

The New Testament is the Constitution of the Kingdom of God. In another thought, it is the bequeathed Will of Jesus Christ to his genuine and loyal disciples. Being a Will, is the reason why it could only come into effect after the death of Jesus Christ. Yet still, the New Testament is the last Covenant of God, made to establish, define and maintain a new relationship between God and man.

Every detail of this Covenant is composed by God alone. No man had a part in the composition of this Covenant. This Covenant is made to be in force forever: it does not change. No man can add to or subtract from the words of this Covenant since it is sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ.

Please, be not mistaken into thinking of the New Testament to have come into being with the accounts of Matthew chapter one verse one. The New Testament came into being by the events of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, on the Day of Pentecost. The Book of Acts chapter two, verse two, is therefore, the starting point of the New Testament.

Being a constitution of the Kingdom of God, the New Testament defines the status, responsibilities, functions, privileges, code of conduct, et cetera, of all its members. This Constitution reveals how all members must function as Ambassadors of Heaven to Earth, and also lays bare, the rewards due them for their dedicated service to the Kingdom of God. These rewards, however, can only be presented to deserving ambassadors in Heaven, at the end of time.

If we study the details of this Constitution, with particular reference to its articles and clauses on membership and functions of its earthly members, it will reveal to us the personality of the archbishop, as being the latter-day nephilim. In this constitution, the archbishop is not mentioned to be a member of it. This constitution does not therefore assign any role or functions to him.

The Bible reveals that the Church of Jesus Christ is a Body synonymous to the human body (Romans 12: 4-5, First Corinthians 12: 12-27). Every member of this Body fits into it according to the design of God, and plays his assigned role in much the same manner as every part of the human body does. The role played by every member in the Body of Christ is determined and assigned by only the Master, Jesus Christ, and never by any other person(s).

Every member of this Body is either, an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, or a pastor/teacher, according to Ephesians 4: 11. It will be good if one pondered on this statement; and accepted it as the truth of God. Indeed, the Body of Christ (the Church), is made up of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors/teachers.

Each of these parts shoots off from the Head, who is Christ. All of these four members must function in the roles of elder, or bishop, and or deacon (Philippians 1: 1, First Timothy 3: 8-12). There is also the word ‘overseer’ used in Acts 20: 28, in description of any man who plays one or all three roles of elder, bishop, and deacon.

The common error in giving to men, such titles as ‘presbyter’ and ‘shepherd’, within the context of roles they play in the Church must be avoided, since nowhere in the New Testament are these names mentioned as such. Of course, we do have a presbytery, but without presbyters: and this is the revelation of the New Testament to us.

If we bring our minds down to earth from Heaven, we can understand this, when we accept that we do have Cabinet without ‘cabineteers’. We must never seek to assist God, in trying to enrich His vocabulary for Him, by forcing into His Word, without His mandate, the word ‘presbyter’ simply because He has mentioned the word ‘presbytery’ in His Word. We must not do this.

The word ‘shepherd’ when used in the New Testament, is always in the context of the role played by Jesus Christ, in the Body of Christ. None of the four-member parts of the Body of Christ– apostle, prophet, evangelist and pastor/teacher –plays the ‘shepherd’ role, in the entire New Testament revelation.

From all the foregoing, there is no mention in the Word of God, of the word ‘archbishop’. Obviously, since Creation, God has never used this word. The word ‘archbishop’ has never entered the Mind of God, and never will. Why so, one might ask? It is simply because this word ‘archbishop’ is irrelevant to all intents and purposes of God the Almighty.

All people who bear the title, archbishop, do not represent God, no matter how pious- or sanctimonious-looking they may be. Whatever roles the archbishop plays on earth, among a people who claim to be of the Church of Jesus Christ, he is without the mandate of God. No archbishop can therefore be of any good to anybody who desires to seek the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

The entire personality of archbishop, and whatever roles he plays in any grouping of salvation-seekers, is alien to the Constitution of the New Testament. The archbishop is therefore not a God-made person; but one made by the Adversary, one of today’s spiritual nephilim. The archbishop, therefore, is a functionary of the Adversary. May every archbishop, and his followers, beware of this.

Let me lead you to think about words, their meanings, power and how they can impact on your life. Every word has within it, spiritual power; in fact all words are spirit. The word ‘archbishop’, therefore, has within it, a lot of spiritual power that enables it to do the work it was created to do. The sad thing is that, the spiritual power within the word, ‘archbishop’, does not come from God.

If a word comes from God, it is highly laden with the power of God and blesses the people it is spoken to. When a word originates from Satan, it has laden in its belly, so much demonic power that will bring curses to all it is used on or who use it.

The word nephilim of old, and its latter-day version, archbishop, have the same capacity to wreak havoc against people who seek to do the Will of God. For about 1300 years, from the date of the Flood of Noah (in 2348 BC), when the second invasion to earth by the parent stock of nephilim took place, to the year of their final destruction (in 1018 BC), the nephilim had their day.

The return of the latter-day nephilim, in the personality of the archbishop, is known to have taken place in the Second Century (after 100 AD). The latter-day nephilim has therefore been around for more than 1900 years. It must be time now for today’s spiritual Israel to be rid of this power of the enemy.

All true servants of God must take up their spiritual weapons to wage war against this imposter, to rid the world of his corruption of God’s people. For sure, God will be with all His loyal soldiers who rise up to this task; and victory will not elude His army.

Shalom.
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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail addressed is: [email protected].

(Your esteemed and highly authoritative newspaper,) The Chronicle, in its Thursday, July 21, 2011 edition, carried a news item credited to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on views expressed by some clergymen in Sunyani, Ghana, who the GNA said it randomly interviewed on the issue of homosexuality. I must say it made interesting reading.

After reading the news item, I felt obliged to join the on-going public discourse on the rise in homosexual tendencies in Ghana, the worry of many people. This article is therefore an expression of my views on the menace of this weird lifestyle, more so on what the Clergy should have proactively done, to have stemmed its fast-growing popularity and the embarrassment it has brought us.

All in all, what did the Clergy in Sunyani say in the news item which we did not already know?  For me, these clergy-men told us nothing new. That is sad; coming from a privileged few, who claim to be so close to God that their work is to warn mankind of all impending dangers.

If they are now warning mankind of God’s sure-to-come judgment on all homosexuals, then they have done too little, too late.

From my little research, the Judgment of God came upon the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, in punishment for their sins of homosexuality, in the year 1898 BC or thereabout. Mankind has therefore lived on earth after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, for close to four millennia (1898 BC – 2011 AD).

God hates
homosexuality
For all this time, mankind has known God hates homosexuality and all other sins; that He will judge all homosexuals; and will destroy all those who engage in homosexuality. So, was it beneficial, for the Clergy to tell us what we have known ever since the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah?

What I expected the clergy-men to tell mankind was what God has done as solution to the sin-problem of mankind, which includes the sins of homosexuality: how that in, and by, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, a lasting solution has been found to stem the tide of every sin of mankind.

I believe these clergy-men know that, the homosexual perverts of Sodom and Gomorrah were enslaved to the yoke of the Devil and, therefore, incapable of breaking from it.  Jesus Christ came to set mankind free of that yoke. This freedom has been available for all salvation-seekers to access since the year of ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ in 30 AD; a mystery many clergy-men claim to be its custodians.

If the Clergy had been up to the task of propagating this good news about how Jesus Christ delivered mankind from the power and dominion of sin, all this while, the homosexual menace would not have reached the horrible limits we now face.

The Clergy seems to have fallen asleep, when they should have been informing mankind that Jesus Christ manifested to take the sin of the world away, and that he has indeed destroyed the works of the devil in, and by, his sacrifice.

The Clergy does not seem capable of dealing with the homosexual menace, despite all the power they often claim to possess in an anointing they say came to them from God, for their work. Because of their inadequacy to this task, they are now in desperation, calling on politicians to make laws to rescue our nation from an imminent Sodom-style destruction, the result of the weird lifestyles of homosexuals. How sad this is.

Very often, I have heard clergy-men preach that the age of the Law is over; and that we now live in the era of Grace. Why then do the Clergy want to take us back to an era of law? And why must they seek the support of politicians, to legislate such a law?

I think all men who consider themselves as part of the Clergy, must seek to concentrate on the core mandate of the Master, in the Great Commission, and on they functioning as the salt and light of the world, instead of trying to bring mankind back to the Law age with the help of politicians.

Why is the mandate of the Master, to bring his salvation to sinners, not being fulfilled by the Clergy, who claim to be called by the Lord for this assignment? The Clergy seem to be too much pre-occupied with the cares of this life and, therefore, are hardly seen as God’s ministers of reconciliation between sinners and God the Almighty.

problem of gays and lesbians
The problem of gays and lesbians can never be solved by politicians or by any legislation. No world government can control homosexuality. This is because, the solution to all sin problems lie in the spiritual power of Jesus’ sacrifice, God’s Word, His Holy Spirit, and the will of the individual who acts in the appropriate manner as desiring for solution to his/her sin problem.

It is therefore sad that the Clergy has resorted to cries and wails to governments of the world, for legislation to deal with such a spiritual canker as homosexuality, which pre-dates modern history. How could the Clergy take its eyes off the mandate of God to genuine workers of His vineyard, to look to worldly institutions for solutions to problems of mankind?

The answer is not difficult to find. The Church, led by the Clergy is now comfortably in bed with world governments. This was the same problem the Church suffered in the Second Century under pagan Roman Empire governments. It is sad the Church is yet to shake himself off the shackles of governments of the World Order.

The relics of the influence of pagan Roman Empire governments are with us unto this day. What-with all the titles we see borne by the Clergy, which have no relation to the Christian Faith, but were introduced into the Church by pagan-Rome?

Where from such words as Clergy, Laity and Archbishop? Do you know God has never used these words? If God has never used these words, then what relevance do they have in His Work and or within His workforce? Pagan-Rome of the Second Century brought them into the Church.

No archbishop has any role to play in the work of God. That is why God has no definition for this word. It is the invention of man and therefore irrelevant for God’s Work. For a long time this word served the purpose of pagan-Rome. Its continuous use clouds the true structure of the True Church, by introducing foreign elements into it, and distorts the salvation message.

The word archbishop is an unholy product of two words -archangel and bishop. Not because we have an archangel and a bishop must we have an archbishop. Any person, who wields spiritual power from his position as an archbishop, has not been given that power by God the Almighty.

Not very long after Creation, an unpermitted sexual relationship between the sons of God (angels) and the daughters of men (humans) resulted in the birth of an unholy and inglorious race of men-only giants known as, nephilim: who roamed our earth, before and after The Flood (Genesis 6: 4; Numbers 13: 28-29 & 33; Deuteronomy 2: 20-21; First Samuel 17: 4-7, et cetera).

This race of dreadful giants was neither suitable for God’s use, nor for mankind’s; but only for the kingdom of darkness. It therefore quickly became extinct, and the culpable angels kept in chains in very dark prisons awaiting judgment (Second Peter 2: 4, Jude 6-7).

The fact therefore is that, any hybridization of an archangel and a human-bishop will never bring forth any being, suitable or acceptable for God’s use in His Church. May all seekers of God’s salvation, beware of this.

There are few God-ordained appellations describing the functional roles by which genuine workers in the service of God are known. These are not titles; they are descriptions of roles or functions in the Body of Christ. They are: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. None of these are titles. That is why we read ‘Paul, an apostle’ and ‘Philip, the evangelist’ and never ‘Apostle Paul’ or ‘Evangelist Philip’ in the Bible.

The Clergy have gone chasing after titles that are irrelevant to the Christian Faith and thrown away the anointed functional descriptions God Himself has ordained for His workers. With man-made titles in their hands, they are then devoid of the power they must have, to be able to prosecute the agenda of the Work of God.  They then cry to political power brokers they have formed alliances with to come to their assistance and rescue. Oh my Lord Jesus Christ, where is your True Church? Maranatha.

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist of the gospel of Jesus Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation.

His e-mail address is: [email protected].