6By Simon Ifeanyi Ezeh

Sometimes, when Christ spoke to people, he came across as unrealistic, arrogant, blasphemous, or simply madand that’s because peopleassume they’re listening to or reading ordinary words of an ordinary human being when reading or listening to Christ. That’s also why Christians don’t bother with Christ’s words in the Bible. A classical Christian would rather read and listen to Paul than Christ because Christ’s words are repugnant, unrealistic and useless with respect to worldly success, peace or prosperity whereas Paul’s words are convenient and amenable to material prosperity. So, when you ask a Christian about Christ, he quotes Paul for you because he had replaced Christ with Paul in his mind, assuming they’re preaching the same gospel but they’re not.

Whereas Christ is preaching the selfsame gospel which had been preached by the prophets, from Noah to John, which is forgiveness and mercy from God for repentant sinners, Paul’s gospel is that Christ is sacrificed to a merciless God in order to obtain grace for sinners because everybody sins compulsively without the ability to stop or repent. Whereas Paul concludes everybody in disobedience, Christ does not because in all of Christ’s teachings or parables, there’s always a remnant of righteous people (though very small in numbers) who would not join the multitudes to do evil.

For instance, while one son is prodigal, the other is not and in the parable of the lost sheep, only one is lost while 99 are at home with the good shepherd just as everything on the threshing floor isn’t chaff – both the wheat and the chaff are all present on the threshing floor! All the virgins are not foolish and all the coins are not lost, neither is Christ’s flock made up of goats alone without sheep. While we have foolish builders who build on sand (listening to everyone else but Christ), we also have wise builders who build on the rock (Christ). Christ insists that at least one person or family is worthy (godly or righteous) in every locality where people live just as he teaches that every child is sinless with his angel always standing in God’s presence. So, believing Paul’s false doctrine that no one is righteous or that everyone on earth is a sinner, including children, is a display of foolishness, ignorance, dishonesty and complete disregard for the words of Christ. One could google my name to get other articles that explained the subjects of righteousness, so called original sin or fall of man, Christ as Sacrifice, etc. in greater details. Please, pardon the brief digression. 

I haven’t heard or read anyone living or dead who spoke or speaks like the Christ. The key note of my faith in Christ remains the nature of his words or teachings, apart from the miracles he did and still does even though he’s no longer here physically. His dread sovereign words and the miracles which occurred and still occurs only in his name set him apart from other lifeless and ineffectual “prophets” of dead religions which people are blindly following to hell. If that your prophet or god is alive and effective, call on him to heal you or yours of blindness, deafness, paralysis, cancer, etc. If he does, continue worshiping and following him but if he doesn’t, run from that dead religion to Christ the son of God and only Saviour of man. You shouldn’t continue looking for life from the dead. The dead has nothing to offer you! Christ is not just alive, he’s the only source of life! No one ever did the sort of miracles he did prior to his coming and whosoever could replicate them at any given time must only be able to do so in his name!

 One couldn’t be on the fence with Christ, you either love him completely or you hate him completely because he speaks the truth devoid of any qualification, modification or embellishment whatsoever. His message has no material benefit at all and he never hid that fact neither did he attempt to lessen the impact of the bitter and undiluted truth with political sophistry like pastors and politicians.

That’s why I find it difficult to forgive pastors who have since changed the gospel to a capitalist strategy for massing wealth from anxious and gullible people. Pastors are really not the focus of this message but one wonders how they could read these dread sovereign injunctions from Christ and still run off with all manner of vain, ineffectual inanities in the name of the gospel of God’s kingdom. It’s sad.

Let me repeat, in line with Christ’scategorical and tautological style,that the word of God are the words of Jesus Christ. The Bible is not and cannot be the word of God simply because many doctrines in the Bible are opposed to the words of Christ and are therefore, ungodly and unacceptable as God’s word. So, whatever we find in the Bible is only correct to the extent that it agrees with Christ. QED.

Let’s begin by considering his hard saying in Matt 5: 25-26.

Mat 5:25 

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 

Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. 

The above parable could be seen literally in the light of avoiding or settling a quarrel before it gets out of hand or leads to very unpleasant consequences but it’s beyond that. It has far-reaching, eternal connotations which are only visible to the blessed eyes.

Clearly, the adversary he’s talking about here is God Almighty. He’s the one who sendsadversities to us to harass us into righteousness and not into sin. Adversity has to do with hardship or affliction and it’s the direct opposite of peace, prosperity, fortune, advantage, success, pleasure and ease. Adversities are from God and their purpose is to test or purify our faith or faithfulness. We should please note that adversity is different from temptation or evil. Temptations and evil defile people who succumb to them and they’re usually from man or Satan but never from God. Whereas hunger is adversity, fighting or quarrelling is not (they are evil) just as lying is evil but trekking for lack of a car isn’t. A quarrelsome or unfaithful spouse is adversity for the husband and should be endured and forgiven but sickness is a work of darkness which should be kicked out of our lives and never to be endured. God tests or tries our faith with adversity but never tempts or seduces us to sin. Below is an account of Christ’s experience with adversity.

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 

Heb 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

We have to note that suffering or adversity doesn’t defile (make one ungodly) anyone neither is it a result of sin. Since Jesus Christ, a sinless man, suffered in this world, he has validated suffering as a part and parcel of humanity, righteous and unrighteous alike. He didn’t just suffer, he was a man of sorrows and familiar with grief. When a godly person gets hungry (for food, sex, clothing, etc.), he goes to God in prayer for provision but an ungodly person would get anything he needs or wants by all means, godly or ungodly. Adversity is not comfortable or easy to handle. In fact, most times, the issues of life are far beyond what man (science, medicine, law, etc.) could resolve and that’s the whole point of suffering: to drive us to our Father, the Almighty God, who’s able, willing and always ready to help us. Adversity must be good for us precisely because it redirects us back to our source with the capacity of not just providing what we lack but making us whole.

When we go to God in prayer, the starting point is to forgive anyone who’s offended us as well as ask for forgiveness in areas we might have fallen short of God’s expectations so that we’re made whole before proceeding to ask for our needs.

Mat 6:14-15  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Adversity humbles us because when we remember the issues for which we need God’s mercy, we humble ourselves and forgive others. That part of being made whole is highest point of prayer and it’s directly linked to adversity. In other words, without suffering, we cannot be made whole and this explains why the rich cannot make it to heaven. Whereas Christ blesses the poor, he curses the rich. He foretells the eternal happiness awaiting the poor in God’s kingdom in contrast to the eternal anguish awaiting the rich in hell. Please, read it yourself below.

Luk 6:20  And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. 

Luk 6:21  Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 

Luk 6:22  Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. 

Luk 6:23  Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. 

Luk 6:24  But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. 

Luk 6:25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. 

Christ is saying, in the above scripture, that, whereas it’s not every poor person that is righteous or would go to heaven, whoever would go to heaven must come from the subset of the poor. The rich who wants to end in heaven would have to become poor and his only reason is that you couldn’t enjoy here on earth and hope to enjoy in heaven as well. Never! It’s those who endure to the end that shall be saved, not those who enjoy to the end.

Mat_24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

It’s an “either or” situation. If one gains this world, he loses heaven and vice versa. Beneath every wealth, there’s always some filth! Let’s see his further explanations.

Please note this very carefully: the rich man’s sin in the scriptures below isn’t just because he didn’t give to others, the problem is that we CANNOT have it both ways! It’s like a light switch, a make-or-break system. When you switch down, the light is on but when you switch up, the light goes off. Whereas the poor are promised a rest in God, the rich have had their rest on earth already. No pastor understands this since they always tell the rich that they are blessed and approved of God and in that process subject the poor in their midst to perpetual temptation and longing to be rich.

Luk 16:19  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 

Luk 16:20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 

Luk 16:21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 

Luk 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 

Luk 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

Luk 16:24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 

Luk 16:25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 

Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 

Luk 16:27  Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: 

Luk 16:28  For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 

Luk 16:29  Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 

Luk 16:30  And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 

Luk 16:31  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. 

Since we cannot have it both ways, Christ counselled the rich young ruler to give away his wealth and follow him if, in fact, he needed the kingdom of God but the rich guy suddenly discovered he didn’t need it that much. He walked away, preferring material wealth to God or God’s kingdom like most of us. This alone should teach pastors that material wealth is antithetical to godliness but in their blindness and lust for money, they preach that material wealth is a blessing from God and a sign of God’s approval. What could be sadder?

Mar 10:17  And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 

Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. 

Mar 10:19  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 

Mar 10:20  And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 

Mar 10:21  Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. 

Mar 10:22  And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. 

Mar 10:23  And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 

Mar 10:24  And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! 

Mar 10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 

You could be poor and still be unrighteous, that’s double tragedy. But, if you’re poor, know you’re blessed and stop wasting time with pastors. Just strive to obey the words of Christ and you’re good. Let me tell you something you must keep to yourselves, hidden in your hearts: heaven must be too beautiful for human description. God is watching to see those who’d allow worthless things like food, sex, houses, lands, cars, wine, fashion, music, social media obsession, etc. to distract them from the real McCoy which is heaven. Think about the sweetness of sex and imagine if sexual ecstasy from a single sexual activity is extended to a period of one year! I’m not saying there’d be marriage in heaven (there won’t. Matt 22:30). If God created sexual ecstasy which is just fleeting and very short-lived, it points to something far grander (I lack words here) and unimaginably more enjoyable which we’re to expect in heaven. According to the scripture below, it’s impossible to imagine the nature of God’s reward for his obedient children in heaven. The beauty of heaven is beyond human conjecture.

Isa 64:4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

God is that our adversary who sends us adversity or affliction to prepare us for heaven. He suffers us to hunger (for anything), not just to harass our lives but to make us look back to him, reconnect and renew our relationship with him. That thing you lack (food, etc.) isn’t the issue, God is! If we have all we need, we forget God. That’s precisely why the rich are ungodly. Remember that most of the prophets were so afflicted that they cursed their days of birth whereas blind and/or foolish Christians are celebrating their birthdays. The very fact of celebrating their birthdays gives them away as unbelievers or haters of God because every lover of God would have it so rough in this life he won’t have any sense of ease let alone celebrating birthdays. Only a fool celebrates birthdays. How could you celebrate what you are commanded to hate, despise or lose?  If Matt 10:16-42 below is talking about you, you would never celebrate birthday in this life. In fact, you’d most likely curse the day you were born.

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 

Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 

Mat 10:18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 

Mat 10:19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 

Mat 10:20  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. 

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 

Mat 10:23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 

Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 

Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 

Mat 10:26  Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 

Mat 10:27  What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 

Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 

Mat 10:29  Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 

Mat 10:30  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 

Mat 10:31  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. 

Mat 10:32  Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 

Mat 10:33  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 

Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 

Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 

Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. 

Mat 10:40  He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 

Mat 10:41  He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 

Mat 10:42  And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. 

Any wonder prophets like Job, Jeremiah, David, and even Solomon (with all his material wealth) cursed their birth days?

Job 3:3           

“Let the day perish on which I was to be born,

And the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’

Jeremiah 20:14         

Cursed be the day when I was born;

Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!

Jeremiah 15:10         

Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me

As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!

I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me,

Yet everyone curses me.

Psalm 51:5    

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

Ecclesiastes 7:1        

A good name is better than a good ointment,

And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.

 Even Christ declared that he was forsaken because he was sore afflicted and the rest who didn’t directly curse their birth days had zero regard (absolute hatred) for this world including their lineage. The story of the Virgin Mary, the so-called virgin birth of Christ and the misplaced significance given to the entire narrative by Christians become very doubtful because Christ treated it with uttermost disregard especially where he said that it’s those who listen and obey his teachings that are blessed instead of his mother and that his mother and siblings are his followers, not the so-called blood relatives. Oh, how blind Christians are! Christ says that Mary isn’t blessed just because she’s his mother, she could only have been blessed because she obeyed Christ’s teachings. He also often addressed Mary as woman, not mother! Why, then, do we have all the noise about the “Blessed” Virgin Mary, etc. just because she’s the mother of Christ? Blindness!

We conclude this section by agreeing with the wise man below that affliction or adversity is far better than prosperity or happiness in this life because the former prepares us for the real life beyond this world but the latter is transient, destructive and limited to the earth. While the wise wait for the promised eternal life with God and endure affliction for that sake, fools must ensure their happiness in this life no matter what it takes. 

Ecc 7:2  It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. 

Ecc 7:3  Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. 

Ecc 7:4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 

If you’re rich and have just read through this message, please, go on your knees, repent of your sins and ask God for mercy. The rich have issues with God not just because they worship mammon (money), steal directly and indirectly, rob the poor, engage in fraud or illegitimate transactions, evade tax, tell lies, give and take bribes, exploit undue advantages, oppress the poor, kill those who oppose them or just to enhance their chances, get others corrupted with their evil wealth, etc., most rich people can’t repent because they aren’t prepared to return the things they stole or acquired unjustly as that would impoverish and ridicule them. Of course, your repentance is a lie if you’re still retaining the things you stole or acquired unjustly.

This is the hardest part of the process for a rich man’s salvation because he can’t afford to return to poverty and be humiliated. So, most of the rich perish in eternity without God! Imagine returning your doctorate or Masters degree because you cheated to obtain them but have now repented or returning huge amounts of stolen monies, houses and cars to government or individuals on account of your repentance! That would surely make you a laughing stock in your society but it’s better for you than perishing in eternity without God. 

Foolish people don’t think repentance is work enough to merit God’s forgiveness and that’s why they don’t believe the thief on the cross did anything to merit Christ’s pardon. Repentance is hard work, in fact, it’s an uphill task accomplished only by desperate and “violent” seekers of God’s kingdom. Repentance is not just coming out for alter call, making some confessions and joining a church. The Lord bless your hearts and grant you angelic help on your path of repentance today because we’re only given today, not tomorrow. Amen.

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