The Preacher's Diary

 PREFACE: The Second Word 

In 2021, the first part of this message was published, on the Samaritan woman with her five ex-husbands and two other men.  Some readers thankfully wrote back to say that it was a refreshing eye-opener, and they were looking out for the continuation.  They were persuaded that it had a follow up, or had to have one.  As that was all that I had at the time, I could give no more. I kept telling them politely that there was no “Part 2” to that post, unless I received a further word from the Lord.  I wasn’t expecting any more, though. 

Before the end of 2024, however, probably in answer to those earnest enquiries and other souls in need of the healing that this might offer, God began to open to me the ‘continuation’ – the fuller picture that apparently resolves the puzzles stirred by the first post.  In the fitting words of Jeremiah, maybe I should say, “And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying …” (Jeremiah 1:13; Jonah 3:1).  That notwithstanding, the entire message retains the original date of my first encounter with it in July 2021. That initial post is Part 1 and 2 of the present series.

I have taken many days since the ‘second encounter’ to carefully put down the message.  Quite unusually (except occasionally for editorial purposes), I have taken the further step of theological caution, to submit the first draft of the message to select Christian leaders who should judge it for scriptural veracity.  The Bible says that if one prophet prophesies, the others in their silence might judge the speaker (1 Corinthians. 14:29).

Two respondents from those were persuaded that this was an audacious liberating truth, bringing theological balance to an uncommon topic, but warned that one should prepare for the backlash from doctrinal hardliners, not because it was false teaching but because it was an unsettling truth.  So, as the document itself verily admits, prepare to learn, relearn, and unlearn, as I, too, have.  The link to the e-book version shall be provided in the last three ‘Parts’ of this series, which is where the meat is.

Thanks for your time. 

The Preacher
February 2025

 1.  The Insight of a Prophet 

One tiring thirsty afternoon, Jesus broke a long-distance trip on foot to sit by a midway Samaritan well where He struck up a memorable conversation with a local woman.  By prophetic insight at one point in their discussion, Jesus said to her, “thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband” (John 4:18).  The woman was very shocked at how the stranger knew so much about her private life, and that opened the door to other serious matters.

2. Every Man is not a Husband 

When Jesus said, “thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband,” He was making a distinction between husbands and a non-husband; a non-husband irrespective of the level of intimacy between the partners.  Jesus was specific that the woman had had five men who were “husbands,” and was at that time with Man Number Six who was “not” a husband, or not yet a husband, notwithstanding that she ‘had’ him at the time.  In other words, ‘having’ a man does not make him a husband or make one the wife, and ‘being with’ does not mean ‘married to,’ no matter the degree of the intimacy, even if it were to such an intensity as to be noted even by Jesus the Son of God.

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10. Beyond Wisdom and Prudence

Jesus often made the point about time-bound mysteries purposely put by God beyond the reach of even the most meticulous unintended searcher.  Once, He told His disciples that He was offering them truth that “MANY prophets and righteous men have desired to see … and have not seen” (Matthew 13:17).  It was truth being made freely available to a present generation; truth that MANY holy men in previous generations had carefully sought but could not access.  In other words, merely being a prophet in terms of calling, or a righteous person in terms of an acceptable lifestyle, does not often provide access through some seals, when the time or the people for whom the message is sealed have not come.  Being anointed is not the question here, and the multitude of searchers does not guarantee a find where the calendar of God is the mystic factor.  Jesus’ point was clear: certain revelations are reserved for certain generations.  No matter how holy or how many and how earnest other searchers might be, they are not supposed to find them, and never will, even though they might never agree that they did not find it.

How did Jesus know that many researchers had tried to break the code but could not? 

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7. Delayed Insights

Sometimes, understanding might be delayed not because the dispensation or generation for that revelation has not come, but because those for whom it is meant have not matured enough to receive it.  Why?  Truth misunderstood can be abused, turning it into a dangerous error that is still ‘based on the word of God.’

Jesus told His disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but YE cannot bear them now.”   The matter was not the message but the intended audience.  The reception of those truths was going to be pending for as long as they remained immature.  The ‘time’ for the unsealing, unlike the visions of Daniel, was not tied to a coming generation but to a mature dispensation of the intended receivers.  That explains why God would not give some people a direction until much later in life.  It explains why some prayers are kept in what appears to be the “Unanswered” file, until a mature future.  Sometimes, however, that season may be mercifully shortened by the coming of the Great Teacher who, “when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, … will guide you into ALL truth” (John 16:12-13).

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Preface:

Testimony: God Still Raises the Dead

Bear with my short story told in long notes.  A few days ago, an inner partner in the work of The Preacher, who operates in the prophetic and had headed administration in the office, called to recount how often the work of The Preacher had been attacked in the past, and the indications for prayer to guard our facilities against a present appearance of those occasions.  We have had computer files lost or corrupted, my laptop strangely lost on an international flight and the office manager’s backup laptop stolen at night through his window, both within the same week but thousands of miles apart, a strange fire that burnt down my house with its library of hundreds of prized books, thousands of other volumes, and many cherished notes from decades of devotion and studies.  Those were apart from the perennial distractions known to those who are familiar with us, as well as the individual battles of personnel at various connections with the ministry of The Preacher.  They have all been part of the thankful signs that our voice reaches far, healing and helping many, and the enemy has been very unhappy (Ezekiel 19:9). Over the years, we have had the privilege of serving many altars, big and small, in far lands and near, who in turn serve their multitudes across the world with the bread from us.  Sometimes they tell us, sometimes we find out. That sister’s call was a signal that something was afoot, but I did not immediately discern it so. 

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1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:

5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

6 He is not here …

Luke 24:1, 4-6.

The grave is not your address.  Whoever they are, whatever they carry to fragrance your shame, may they be disappointed who look to find you there.  May Heaven announce their horror: “He is not here!”  By the mightier power of the God of Heaven, may the mighty ones of the earth who have thought to put you down and seal you in the grave be disappointed, their frightened faces “bowed down … to the earth.”  It’s a morning not to mourn.  Too early for the grave to gloat…

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Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters.

Jeremiah 35:8.

The Rechabites were a people of great interest, of whom even God took notice in their strict adherence to an ancestral code: their patriarch had instructed them to build no house but live in tents, to own no fields, not farm at all, and drink no wine all the days of their lives.  Three hundred years later, in the days of the prophet Jeremiah, God was going to use them as an object lesson to His people the Israelites, so He asked Jeremiah to invite them into the house of God and offer them wine to drink.

Jeremiah invited them as directed, into a chamber of the temple complex, and lavishly offered them wine, saying, “Drink.” He did not say, “Thus saith the Lord, drink wine.”  It would have made little difference even if Jeremiah had invoked the name of the Lord in that matter.  They had respectfully followed the prophet into the house of God, and they certainly had reverence for his words, but there was a limit to which that reverence would go: so far as it did not cross the ancestral wine line.

Those Rechabites refused the wine of the prophet, stating that their ancestor of three hundred years ago had urged them not to drink wine: they, their wives, their sons and their daughters.  They had faithfully obeyed that, and were not about to break the ancient tradition even at the instance of the prophet, in the house of God. God took note of it and blessed them with an everlasting blessing (Jeremiah 35:19).

There is something of interest in the response of the spokesman for the Rechabites.  He stated that they, their wives, their sons and their daughters have rigorously kept to the custom instituted by the ancient father.  The implication was that any women who stepped out to marry a Rechabite, not being one herself, prepared herself for the lifestyle of the man she was choosing to marry.  She could not say, “Well, that is what your father told you; that is not what my father told me.”  Accepting to marry a Rechabite meant choosing to become one.  It was an implicit choice: “all our days, we, our wives, our sons …”

Next point: where a woman agreed to become a Rechabite with her husband, that became the family lifestyle.  Sons and daughters would be born into that lifestyle, grow in that practical culture of their dad and mom, and themselves become practicing Rechabites.  In the unlikely situation that a woman came into a Rechabite home with a Bachus and orgiastic culture and insisted to maintain that independent ‘modern’ lifestyle, their children were already an endangered species, for the woman is the builder or destroyer of the home (Proverbs 14:1).  It is very unlikely that a true Rechabite would marry such a woman, or proceed to keep her if she picked up that alternative culture in the course of the marriage.

Final word: If you don’t want to be a Rechabite, don’t marry one.  If you have chosen to marry a Rechabite, prepare for the package.  That is where peace will be found.  God blesses such homes with an everlasting covenant.  Amen.

From The Preacher’s diary,
January 21, 2025.

Have you ever been at any of those meetings where some honourable man refused to step out because he was not “properly introduced,” meaning that his string of titles and achievements were not ‘duly’ acknowledged in the introduction?   Sad, especially where it involved a clergyman.

A few years ago, driving through a city, I saw a board advertising a Christian event.  What caught my attention was the string of the titles of the patron or designated speaker at the event; he was Evangelist Chief Rev. Dr Somebody, or something like that; about three or four titles before the name.  This appears to be more an African fad.  If Billy Graham had been an African, he might not have been simply Billy Graham.  If Kenneth Hagin had been an African, it might have been unthinkable that he would allow himself to be simply called “Brother Hagin.”  For John Wesley, even after so many years, the culture would have considered it very irreverent to call the hallowed name without some honourary prefix.

Sometimes I wonder what title(s) we might have given to Jesus if He were a preacher in our day.  Even if He did not give Himself one, His followers would surely have found something for Him, because simply “Jesus” would have been too ordinary for a mighty man of God such as He.  They might very properly and respectfully have given Him the trending title of Papa or Daddy, even if some of those were his grandfathers in earthly terms.

In the contemporary ministry of the prophet, it could be a grave offence to call up someone who believes themselves to be a prophet and not append the title to their name.  Does the title make the prophet?  The matter is not the title but the heart that seeks it, or the pride that repudiates it.  In the Bible, there were great messengers of God who carried no title that described their mission, and others who did.  For example, by what title might we have called Moses?  Paul, on the other hand, introduced himself often as an apostle (Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1, etc.).

Nobody called Abraham a prophet, but that was how God introduced him to a heathen king: “for he is a prophet” (Genesis 20:7).  He carried the mantle without bothering about the title.  People never called him by the title of a prophet, but God said that he was.  Which is greater, the recognition and accolade of mortals or that of God?  It was never taught me in Sunday School that Abraham was a prophet.  If I asked you to list ten great prophets in the Bible, you might start with Elijah, then Elisha, and probably close with Jonah, but very unlikely to have Abraham on your list.  So, what makes the prophet?

In the Bible, Nathan was called a prophet, and he was (2 Samuel 7:2; 12:25; 1 Kings 1:8, 10); so were Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 18:36; 2 Kings 3:11).  On the contrary, Amos did not even believe himself to be a prophet, let alone call himself by the title, yet he was.  He said of himself, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son.”  He introduced himself merely as a farmer.   He went simply by the professional title of his trade: “I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit” (Amos 7:14).  That is like saying, I am merely Farmer Amos, or Dr Amos, or Captain Amos, or simply Mr. Amos, but certainly not Prophet Amos.  He didn’t carry the title and didn’t care about it, but he was.  Of Jezebel in the New Testament, it is said that she “calleth herself a prophetess,” but Heaven had a problem with her.  She was not what she called herself (Revelation 2:20).

If you are not what people call you, especially what you make people to call you, you are a lie.  First be, then the name might follow.  The name alone does not make the man; the man makes the name.  There appear to be four scenarios from the examples presented:

1) Abraham: Nobody ever called Abraham a prophet; he also did not call himself by that title, but Heaven recognized and announced him as one.

2) Jezebel: She carried the elaborate title of a prophetess, but God said that it was fake.  Her lifestyle was a contradiction to her flashy titular claims.

3) Amos: He declined the title of a prophet, especially as he was not from the lineage of prophets and never had the training of a prophet.  He rather designated himself by a secular ‘title,’ but he was a prophet.

4) Nathan: Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Paul all had titles, and they were what their titles said.

In essence, the matter is not the title, but it could be a wrong spirit to seek the title merely for the prestige or power it offers.  Strangely, it could also be subtle pride to renounce titles because they are considered vainglorious, and to rather adopt ‘modest’ (holier) titles.  It is better to be bigger than the title one carries, than be less. The title does not make the ministry.

From The Preacher’s diary,
March 24, 2025.

People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead. – James Baldwin

  … We eventually do to ourselves what we have done unto others. – Eric Hoffer

 Men may not get all they pay for in this world; but they must certainly pay for all they get. – Frederick Douglas

Studying the Bible lately, a question hit me very hard; a question you might also have asked: “Why didn’t Jesus forgive Judas Iscariot who betrayed Him?”  Judas might have been undeserving, but as a holy man and as his ‘pastor,’ Jesus could have prayed for him as He did for Peter (Luke 22:31-32), instead, what we hear from Jesus about Judas is a very sad lament:

The Son of Man will die as the Scriptures say he will; but how terrible for that man who will betray the Son of Man! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born! (Mark 14:21, Good News Translation).

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Forgiveness is Requested, not Extorted

Forgiveness should be requested, not demanded.  One does not say, “But I have been begging him since, yet he doesn’t want to forgive.  After all, is he God that I should be begging him over this very small matter?”  ForGIVEness should be a gift, not an extortion.  Penitence is deeper than the words of confession by which one ‘applies’ for forgiveness.  If confession has no roots in a repentant heart, if it is only as deep as the tongue, then it had been a mere religious show or ceremonial oration, which could be more offensive to the sensitive soul.  We may not call something a gift if it were procured by force from the other.  Gifts are offered and received, not extorted; for-give-ness no less.

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