Royal   Assembly

 

 

Desolate Wilderness chp 1

 

 

For over two thousand years of the existence of the Church of Christ, she has gone through various periods and eras of apostasy.

 

 Through the grace of God she has always come out transformed by her trials. Jesus had said that the gates of hell will not prevail over the church. However, that has not stopped the enemy of the church from trying to put the church under attack. Once again the church is facing the imminent danger of another apostasy, if we are not in it already. These are dangerous times for the church, as the signs of the end-times are already upon us, and eating deep into the administrative programmes and affairs of the church.

 

 I hope therefore that as you read through this book, your heart will be opened and receptive to the Spirit’s call to every believer to ‘awake to righteousness’ right now.  As a result, I believe God that there will be genuine heart-cry for true revival of the Holy Ghost’s fire, in individuals and the church as a whole. My burden therefore is to alert the church on the dangers of continuing in the way we are going. Let me begin here by highlighting some of the areas of concern.

 

It was George Bernard who wrote, “…and I love that old cross where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners was slain.” This was a man who understood the saving power of the cross.

 

The Church has almost completely lost sight of the true power of the blood of the cross and therefore the true salvation experience! Men do not give their lives to Christ any longer for the redemptive work of the cross, or the hope of eternal life, but for what material gain they will get out of it. Thus, Christianity is no longer ‘powerful’ or seen as a Faith worth dying for. Rather a man would always give up salvation, even for a piece of bread.

Oh! We need a fresh vision of the cross of Christ.

 

 We need a fresh vision of His bleeding side. We need a fresh vision of the resurrected Lord and we need a fresh vision of the judgment seat. When Jesus died, it was an unbelieving centurion, who beheld the cross and the bleeding one on it, and finally confessed, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” The cross was, has always been, and will continue to remain the pivotal point of true salvation.

 

A man that does not see the cross, does not see sin the way God sees it, neither does he feel the pains of sin the way God sees it, neither does he feel the pains of sin the way God does. How can a man who does not see sin the way God sees it, hate sin the way God hates it?

 

And how can a man who does not know or understand the cost of the sacrifice of God’s Son for his sins weep bitterly in repentance for his lost condition when he gets to the altar? Our altars have lost the fire. The reality of the suffering of Christ, the judgment seat and eternity in heaven or hell as presented by ministers of the gospel, has lost its effectiveness at the altar.  We also have situations where many people respond to hundreds of altar calls for salvation in different places and programs and yet remain untouched spiritually and unconverted. 

 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation (Romans1:16). The church seems to have lost sight of the saving power inherent in the gospel and have now resorted to human inventions. Today, ministers employ a lot of threatening on one hand, and begging on the other hand, to get men down to the altar for salvation. The sinner is cajoled or enticed to the altar and probably taught what to say. The man who hears the truth of the gospel preached as it should be gets convicted in his heart by the Holy Spirit. Such a man is drawn with brokenness and tears of heart-felt repentance to the altar. He pours out his heart to God without being prompted by any one. 

 

Today, many people flock to the altar supposedly making a decision to follow Christ and yet very few of them often leave with true conversion. As a result we have only succeeded in raising ‘half baked Christians’. Men, who today are promising sons and tomorrow, are prodigal sons; today they are sound; tomorrow they are confused. Today they stand for Christ; tomorrow they fall for Satan.

 

This is not at all surprising, because the Gospel is now preached so as to make the sinner comfortable. The music in the Church must be such as should make the sinner comfortable. Anything that may likely offend the sinner must be carefully avoided and with enough craftiness and worldly wisdom. I do not say that music is not right for the church, anyway, but worldly music in the church edifies the devil and not God! For, whatever message of music and in fact, anything in the Church that does not point the sinner to the cross or does not allow the sinner to see his true state; and does not allow him decipher the big difference between the world and the Church, cannot have the power to save him.    

 

Another issue worthy of note is the lack of Christ-like quality of conduct and character in the church. Jeremiah had said to us: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah8: 20). Any wonder then, why we still have many greedy, stealing ushers and unscrupulous elders? Hypocrisy and pretence are prevalent in the church. Every one is pretending to be more spiritual than they actually are. Whatever happened to the men who knew their God and did exploits like those in the bible?  Whatever happened to men and women of true faith who set the world ablaze with the love and power of the Holy Ghost; whose lives were completely transformed and were sold out to the Lord, by the same message of the gospel of Jesus Christ we have today?  

 

Can we not be like John E. Bode who, from the depth of his soul sang, “O Jesus I have promised to serve Thee to the end;” And the saintly Polycarp, when threatened with wild beasts and fire said to his persecutors, “Thou threatenest me with fire which burneth for an hour, and after a little while is extinguished, but art ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly.”

 

What shall we say of  Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego who feared God more than the king; who preferred to die in the fiery furnace rather than worship man and declared; “God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning furnace fire and he will deliver us out of thine hand” (Daniel3:17).

 

These men and many more like them found true salvation and became “men of whom the world was not worthy.” Our salvation experience now cannot be any little compared with what they experienced many years ago.

Yes! Brother Jude had said, “Let us earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” but we have earnestly condemned the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. Do we then expect to end up where such true saints ended?

 

Oh, we need the fire again, that fire that brings true salvation. We must wait upon the Lord until He creates in us a hunger for that which is real; that which Apostle Paul describes as “the power of God unto salvation.”

 

We needed a revival. Let us seek the Lord, the God who answers by fire, until He brings fire and life again to our altars. Abba Father, help us to re-dig the wells of our forefathers. Save your Church from this great depth of hypocrisy and apostasy!

 

But, shall we continue like this? O we need a visitation from above.

 

Jesus came through a womb no other man had ever come through. He rode into Jerusalem on a colt no other man had ever ridden. And He was buried in a tomb no other man had ever been buried. Moses was saved by water at birth. By water he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. And by water he lost the glory. Elijah was known as the man who called down fire right from the mountaintop. By fire he proved the God of heaven as the Sovereign Lord in Israel. And by fire he was taken up into glory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Church in Her Transition chp.2

 

But ye are come unto mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angles, to the general assembly and church of the first born and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediate of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel”, “for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrew 12:22-24 & 29).

 

 

A

t the beginning of the creation of this earth, God the father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit manifested their personality. It was so obvious that the three God in one worked jointly to create the earth! “God the father prophetically declare the invisible to be visible, why God the Son - the Word   executed the spoken word. While God the Holy Spirit instantly implemented the physical manifestation.

 

 From the time God created the earth and all through the Old Testament era, God the father personally worked with men in their different generations. In the era of Adam, He was the one that came down to the garden at cool of the day.

 

He also walks with Enoch. He walks with the generation of Noah. He was the one that destroyed the whole earth and entered covenant with Noah and his descendants. During the generation of Abraham, God the father also reveal himself as the Almighty God. The father manifested himself all through the time of Isaac, Jacob and the generation of Israel. God Himself, personally visited Egypt as the “I AM”.

 

All through the Historical event of the Old Testament days, God the father walked with them. In other word, the prophetic era of the Old Testament times, which is also known as the former rain, it’s was God the father that take the Saints through the old testament transition. After the era of the Old Testament transition was over, God the son, which is Jesus, was made manifest and was introduced by John the Baptist. During the transition of the New Testament church of the latter, Jesus Christ walked with twelve men. These men were is followers. For three and half years God the son (Jesus Christ) introduced a new doctrine and also to perfect the law and the prophets of the Old Testament transition.

 

When Jesus the Son of God was revealed in the New Testament. He was able to raise the first-born Church. He then surrender himself for the redemption of humanity. He brought restoration to all mankind, and made all that believed perfected His own blood. God the son that Jesus Christ successfully finished His assignment in the new testament Church, he eventually introduced the Holy Ghost which is God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost took over from Jesus, right from the transition of the New Testament up to this our contemporary age. It was the Holy Spirit that the Apostle Paul describes as the God of consuming fire. The Apostle Paul wrote,

 

“That we’re come to mount Zion which is the end time church. The last day’s transition is going to be combined manifestation of God the father, God the son and God the Holy Ghost. Is the church that is Holy to be the city of God”. The transition of the end time church is the church of the first-born.

 

The New Testament church transition, that became the end-time church which is know as first-born, because of the blood of Jesus in Calvary. As a first-born she Is entitle to double portion. “You may see that in the book of Numbers in the Old Testament. The end time church been the first born in the New Testament, is therefore entitle for the double of the outporing of the Spirit of God. This will be a combine manifested of God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. The church in her transition is simply the process in which God the father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit took the church through, right from the time of Adam to the rapture of the end-time church. It’s a revelation of the birth, the power, the falling and the rising of the church. It’s covered the past, present and future of the church of God. Prophet Joe had foreseen these whole events. And he wrote about it. This is the scripture were this book was given birth from. Let’s see the that very scriptural quotation: “A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth, the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate Wilderness, yea and nothing shall escape them” (Joel 2:3). 

 

In this above scripture, the Lord revealed to us about the past of the Old Testament after the fall of man. Prophet Joel called the desolate wilderness. The New Testament church of God in the days of the Apostles was what Prophet Joe called the flame that burneth. While the contemporary church of the living God, also know as the end time church, Prophet Joel called as the garden of Eden and fire devoureth before them and nothing shall escape them.

 

In God prophetic calendar, the church had entered her divine transition in this 21st century. If we look at the book of Joel, the Scripture says, And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all fresh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men dream dreams, while the young men shall see vision. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit (Joel 2:28-29).

 

In this Scripture, prophet Joel was declaring what is a head of the church of the living God, in these last days. The Lord had propose to make the end-time church to demonstrate the authority that man lost in the garden of Eden, when he fell from that glory. In the beginning man was carrying immeasurable glory of God. Whatsoever he proclaimed come to pass and remain permanent. God was ruling as king in heaven, why man was ruling as a king on earth.

 

The scripture says, man prophetical gave names to the animals. Man was fully in control of planet earth until he carelessly fell from that position. Glory be to God who had promise to bring the church back to that realm in this last days and He uses Jesus to demonstrate it. Before these incredible events take place, we saw in the scripture, that God raise one-man church.

 

 Due to his faith, total commitment and dedication to God, he was granted scholarship over death. After that decade, He began to take the Old Testament church from one process to another, until a nation of a church was formed in Egypt. They spent some years in Egypt. They prospered, and were blessed in fruitfulness. They began to live like the Egyptians. They turn their back from the God of their fathers. The best way the Lord can bring them back to their position of fellowship was to raise the Egyptians to persecute them.

 

Eventually the Lord raised a man from among them to deliver them from their persecutors. Because God was with him, he brought what (prophet Joel called desolate Wilderness). In their desolate wilderness transition, they experience tremendous present of the Lord. According to God divine programmed. Moses was to only take them out of Egypt why Joshua assignment is to take them into their promise land with signs and wonders. 

 

When the Old Testament church was in their promise land, the Lord began to raise Judges, Prophets and kings to rules over them. In those days of the Old Testament, the scripture makes me to known that they were in their former rain of the prophetic era of the wilderness transition. In the book of Ezekiel 37:8 those bones that were covered with tendons and skin, but no breath, which symbolized the era of the Old Testament church. We also observed that all that ever happened in the Old Testament was God using the enemies to chastise the children Israel. After the era of the Old Testament was over the Lord began in new era. 

 

The New Testament era began with John the Baptist. His birth was prophetic. His mission was to introduce the lord Jesus Christ and to baptize every repented sinners. He was from the lineage of the priest Lord of Aaron. The scripture recorded, that he delivered separate himself, so that he can fulfilled his mission. As the last man who ended the old testament church wilderness transition and the first man of the new testament church flame burneth transition, the Lord properly made him to live in the wilderness, clothed with animal skin and was feeding or locust and wild honey.

 

The anointing of the Old Testament era and the anointing of the New Testament era rested on him. Because of this double outpouring of the former and letter rain that was upon him, he was able to kindle a fire of revival to happen in the wilderness. The scripture recorded that, then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and the entire region round about Jordan (Mathew 3:5). After the ministry of John the Baptist was over, the Lord Jesus began by introducing a new standard of divine service to His disciples. After His death and resurrection. His disciples were baptized with the Holy Ghost. That baptizing that is what prophet Joel called the flame burneth. In the book of Ezekiel 37:10, the new testament church were those lifeless being clothed with tendons and skin in which breath from the four wind entered.

 

The scripture makes me to know that under that anointing, the Apostles were able to spread the gospel to other places of the world. Through the apostles Paul, the flame spread to Europe. In Europe, some of our contemporary men and women of God took the flame to American, and some other places. Presently, the mantle hand over to the Africans. According to the prophetic calendar of God, the continent of Africa had entered her jubilee in this 21st century. God had divinely programmed it for the Africans to pioneer the revival in these days.

 

Looking at the vision of prophet Ezekiel prophesy on the dried bones, we saw that the tendons and skin that came upon the dried bones was the old testament church in her desolate wilderness transition of the former rain, which is known as the prophetic era. Why the breath from the four winds that entered the lifeless human being was the New Testament church in her flame that burneth transition of the latter rain, which is known as the apostolic era. Then is this our contemporary age, the army will not only stand according to the scripture in Ezekiel 37:10, but to be on the move for God.

 

 The Lord had reserved a double outpouring for them, which is known as the former and the latter rain of the prophetic and the apostolic era. Is a combined of the anointing of the Old Testament  and the New Testament church. Lets see the scripture quotation that obviously declared it.  

 

“Then shall we known, if we follow to know the Lord; his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come into us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth” (Hosea 6:3). “Be glad then, ye children of Zion and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he hath giving you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain; the former rain; and the latter rain in the first month” (Joel 2:23). 

 

  We discovered in this scripture quotation, that the Lord is concern for us to be revived. The Lord raises these two prophets to foretell what is ahead of the church of God in these last days. As you do the reading, you will discover some tremendous truth in God’s divine programme in this end-time stay blessed in the glory of the Holy Ghost as you do the reading.