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BALAAM (Part 7 of 7)

March 17, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

The End of Balaam

How did Balaam end? Shamefully. As if God had not killed the Israelites enough through his treachery, Balaam physically joined the army of Midian to fight against the people of God; from a lesser error to a greater evil. His fees were beginning to intoxicate him. He died in that battle. He never lived long enough to enjoy his wicked wages. He had carried the grace of God to a different altar than it had been designed for. He had taken grace too far for granted. He was killed by those he sought to kill. He joined the kings of God’s enemies, in battle against Israel (Numbers 31:8). Probably considering himself also as some kind of a ‘king’ of God, when those kings went to war, he went with them: His Royal Eminence, Mighty International Prophet Balaam, the man who sees with his eyes open. Obituary. Sunset. Grace expired. He didn’t live another day to prophesy (or sorcery-fy) his next lie.

CROSSING THE RED SEA WHILE IT’S PARTED STILL

March 15, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.

Psalm 66:6.

There are two sides to any miracle: the God side and the human side. There were two sides to the miracle of the Red Sea: the rod of God that parted the sea, and the feet of the people that walked through it (Exodus 14:21-22). There are no ferries or buses at the parted Red Sea, only legs. Who fails to use their wearied legs to cross when Divine Opportunity opens a path might sooner contend afresh with Pharaoh chasing from behind; the same Pharaoh from whom they have been fleeing.

BEWARE OF PRINCE ABIMELECH’S SILVER FROM THE TEMPLE OF BAAL

March 14, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

4 They gave him seventy silver coins from the temple of Baal-berith, which he used to hire some reckless troublemakers who agreed to follow him. 5 He went to his father’s home at Ophrah, and there, on one stone, they killed all seventy of his half brothers …

Judges 9:4-5, NLT

Once upon a time, a very ambitious but unqualified politician consulted with his people, that he must be king. He was desperate and indiscriminate in how he pursued the ambition. He couldn’t care even if it meant covenants with devils or killing his own brothers – in “his father’s home.” He couldn’t care even if he had to burn down a whole city, staining the land with blood.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? (Part 3 of 3)

March 9, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

5. Nigeria’s Date with Destiny

A year ago, during our national prayers, concerns were expressed about May 29th, the date designated as Nigeria’s Democracy Day, as bestowed upon the nation by General Abdulsalami Abukakar who was handing over to the civilian government of Olusegun Obasanjo on that date in 1999. Since then, successive presidents and many governors have had their inaugurations on that date, although in 2019 President Muhamadu Buhari had announced the change of Democracy Day from May 29th to June 12th, commemorating when Abiola’s victory at the presidential election had been annulled by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida. So, Democracy Day has changed on the calendar, but not the date for inaugurating Nigeria’s successive leaders.

What is the matter with that date? What’s in a date, after all? To answer that, I shall appeal elaborately to Pastor Bosun Emmanuel’s June 1, 2022 letter to the Church in Nigeria. That letter, entitled “Kidnap of Methodist Prelate and Other Christian Leaders: How Did We Get to this Point?” had been largely informed by concerns over the abduction, a few days before, of the head of a foremost church in the history of Christianity in Nigeria, the Prelate of the Methodist Church.

What’s in a Date? (Part 2 of 3)

March 9, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

Case 2: Haman the Agagite

Haman was a very wealthy Prime Minister in the ancient kingdom of Persia. He is said to have been of Amalekite descent; in fact, from Amalekite royal descent, for which he was called an Agagite, Agag being the title of the kings of Amalek, just as Pharaoh was the title of the kings of Egypt. The Amalekites were avowed ancestral enemies of the Jews (1 Samuel 15:1-3, 20).

This political personage, designated often as “wicked Haman,” “adversary,” and “the enemy of all the Jews” (Esther 7:6; 9:24; 3:10; 8:1; 7:6), was a man of ‘wicked devices’ (Esther 9:25). Haman was not just a wealthy and wicked politician, he was also very bloody and diabolical. Maybe that was how he got very powerful in the land. Maybe that was how he won himself a place very close to the throne, with frequent access into the palace, even at night when decent men stayed with their wives (Esther 6:1-5).

What’s in a Date? (Part 1 of 3)

March 8, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

1. Prologue

Are dates mere time-markers on a calendar, or could they be more significant than just being numbers? Is there something spiritual about certain dates and numbers; something psychic, which guides spirits and mortals in their choice of such numbers and dates? What do some societies know about dates that everybody does not?

From ancient times, there have always been those for whom dates are much more than mere time-locations; much more than signposts in a diary. I shall consider two cases from Bible history: one in the New Testament and the other in the Old, both cases involving iconic political leaders; each case an ominous date with national (almost global) implications, with the shrewd and malicious target being the people and purposes of God. We might find contemporary Nigeria (and maybe your nation also) in those prophetic perspectives.

NIGERIA, REJOICE!

March 2, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

Distress Calls

I have received calls and messages today from very concerned folks in Nigeria and abroad: prophets, intercessors, pastors, simple Christians, following Nigeria’s electoral commission’s very disappointing announcement of Tinubu as ‘winner’ of the recent presidential elections in the country, despite all the glaring cases of Olympic manipulation of the electoral process in favour of the declared candidate of the ruling party. One of the messages came from a dear sister in Australia, who forwarded her own sister’s tearful voice note, in which the sister was literally lamenting, “Sister, since morning when I saw the news on social media, I have not been myself. Please, if you know God’s personal phone number, if you know how to reach Him, call Him. Tell Him that we can’t take four more years of this suffering. I thought it was all over. Weren’t we told that the Egyptians we have seen so far, we would see them no more forever? Has God decided to punish us further with another bad government despite the many confessions of our sins? This is the worst time to be a Nigerian. This hardship must end. Please, help us, beg God for us… Not another four years of suffering… Not another four years of pain … ” She sobbed on and on. It was a very touching.

BALAAM (Part 6 of 7)

February 24, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

The Marks of the Tribe

Every tribe has its identifying marks, the Tribe of Balaam no less. Balaamites are essentially a congregation of stumblers who themselves cause others to stumble. Through the ‘in-depth teachings’ of their much-respected Prophet Balaam, they often make their victims to doubt basic Christian values. They are ‘word-based’ believers who have a Bible passage for every bad behaviour.

GOD NEEDS YOUR LEGS

February 24, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

God said to Abraham, “I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees” (Genesis 15:7), meanwhile it was Abraham’s legs that did the long walk. What does that mean? God needs your legs to get you where He is headed with you. Hearing God in that passage, it would have seemed as if God had carried Abraham in a business-class cloud from Ur of the Chaldees and dropped him off at his next destination. Still, it was God in the legs of the man.

BALAAM (Part 5 of 7)

February 21, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

The Trinity of Error

According to Jude verse 11, three spirits work with Balaam:

first, the murderously competitive spirit of Cain, which can kill even a dear brother, a hard-working godly brother out in the field, because it feels threatened by that other’s shine, because that one’s fiery passion for God shames its lacklustre service and lukewarmness;
next, the greedy spirit of Balaam, which can eat from any table, even if it be the table of devils; and can do anything for money, even if it means selling off an entire population of God’s people to an enemy patron;
and finally, the rebellious spirit of Korah (or Core) which would mindlessly destroy an entire population in the heedless pursuit for a title and a headship stool; the manipulative spirit of religious politics that psyches up followers and sets one party in the community against the other, especially against ordained leadership.

Case 2: Haman the Agagite

1. Prologue