By Pastor Layi Bamidele

The word Betrayal means “delivered up” or “handed over”. Judas Iscariot was the apostle that was infamous for his betrayal of Christ. In the journey of Christendom, one of the greatest offence is betrayal. In Matthew 26:3, the bible says; “Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas.”

Pastor Bamidele

That someone is close to you does not mean he cannot betray you. The bible made us to understand that Judas Iscariot is one of the closest persons to Jesus yet he betrayed him. That a man is your close relation or a friend is not a reason not for the man to betray you. Micah 7:2 says: “The good man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men, they all lie in wait for blood, Every man hunts everyman his brother with a net.” Verse 5-6 says: “Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide, keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in bosom. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law, a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.”

After Judas Iscariot betrayed the master, the Bible recorded that he later hanged himself. One of the principal thing that often affects a betrayal is that their end is always disastrous. In Luke 22:47-48, the bible says; “And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him, and Jesus said unto him Judas, betrayest thou the son with a kiss”.

In the recent time I have seen a situation whereby sisters of the same blood snatching their  sister’s husband. We have seen cases where a house help snatch-ed her master’s husband. The fact is that in every journey of Christ-endom, one must be conscious of him or herself. In the days of our forefathers in ministry, they go to prisons, police stations, hospitals to preach the gospel, but today  most pastors and evangelists don’t go out to preach the gospel again. Working as assistant pastors or evangelists they will be looking for avenues to either break their senior pastors’ church or create division and friction among members in order for them to scatter the church.

No matter what you build with another man’s sweat, it will surely collapse on you or boomerang against you in the end.

When a young pastor or an evang-elist without previous experience in ministry starts ganging up with church members against a man or woman of God…They are not always patient.  These acts of pride have destroyed so many young ministers of God.

So many church workers have literarily turned against their churches and the man of God that God used for their change.

Remember where leaders fumble, the followers will stumble. It is the quality of leaders in the church that determines the type of people the church will produce. When you try to pacify wickedness you are just postponing the days of Evil. When you see a pastor that is discrediting his fellow pastor in the same church, he has started creating a problem that may boomerang in future.

I have seen so many pastors that God is using greatly under the grace of a particular ministry, but once they experience the slightest insult or challenge or correction from their senior pastors or general overseers, the next is they storm out of that church angrily to start their own ministry.

When God has not called them to establish a church, they suddenly become general overseers and mislead people. They have no where to go in life. Ministry is not all about gift. Ministry is all about grace. The way people are going about ministry these days, the spirit of discipleship is fast fading away from the church. Disciple-ship means loyalty in stewardship and selfless service. All these things are becoming very difficult to get in the church. We are in the era of everybody trying to become a number one so as they can occupy the position of authority.

Many assistants want to create a vision out of a vision. They tend to scatter what God has put in place, if you are such, you better go and have a rethink or change of heart, as that will lead you nowhere in life.

I want to encourage those of you that are privileged to be leaders, to beware of ambitious, dangerous and arrogant assistants. They are always with a hidden agenda. In John 10:16, the bible says: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be no one fold, and one shepherd”.

In Collosians 3:22-25, the bible says: “Servants obey in all things your masters, according to the flesh, not with eye service, as menpleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God, and whatso-ever ye do, do it heartily, as to the lord and not unto men. Knowing that of the lord ye shall recieve of the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ, but he that doeth wrong shall recieve for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of person.”

These particular scriptures have greatly helped me in the work of ministry and gave me an insight of what it takes to be a servant.

Every good leader must be a servant and you know a servant is to serve God’s people, so it is a great privilege for you to be a servant. In most ministries today, elders stand against their pastors, deacons and deaconess ganging up against their pastors.

*Bamidele is General Overseer, Christ Glorious Endtime Evangelical Church, Lagos. [email protected]