From his explanation,
a church ravaged by famine exhibit certain features. These include, but not
limited to, recycling of old teachings or sermon; copying or replicating what
other churches around do; desperation to make "things happen" one way
or the other; high tendency toward seeking other source(s) of
"power".
Living in God is a
journey of life from one destination to another. Every church or people
genuinely committed to Christ from the point of surrendering to Him, "is
or are usually subjected to God's weighing scale" at one point or the
other. This is clearly established in the scripture. "And when He had
opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, 'Come and see, and I
beheld, and lo a black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in
his hand. V- 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, 'A
measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see
thou hurt not the oil and the wine. (Revelation 6:5-6).
The use of barley and
wheat in the scripture above represents God's ordained spiritual timeline,
denominated in the feasts of Israel. Passover, as the first feast, stands for
the point at which a believer surrenders his life to Christ- the first fruit of
God. Barley is a first fruit harvested in Israel. Wheat is a grain crop reaped
in the third month wherein the feast of Pentecost is celebrated. Each of these
therefore, underlines spiritual highpoints in the journey with God. In other
words, there are markers set by the Lord with which progression in Him could be
tracked. The pair of balances is, according to Bro. Akinyemi indicative of
God's weighing processes and principles which cannot be compromised for anyone.
A believer must
necessarily transit from one position to the other until Christ Jesus was fully
formed in him. "God comes to us in church history," declared Bro.
Akinyemi, adding that each time God showed up, a spiritual milestone was
erected denoting the end of a phase and the beginning of another.
The third day church must be conscious of
these dynamics and walk according to the dictate of the Spirit of God. Whenever
God appears on the scene, signaling the commencement of a new phase, and His
people fail to respond positively, famine of His revealed word becomes
inevitable. "Many churches are currently dried up" as far as the
scripture is concerned. Life and freshness usually associated with the
fellowship of brethren in Christ are not commonplace nowadays, an attestation
to the siege of famine. Not that alone, impropriety, bribery, worldliness,
immorality, rivalry, covetousness, competition, corruption and love of money
have become pronounced among church leaders and members.
In Akinyemi's view,
spiritual famine primarily, represents a tool in God's hand with which
believers are sensitized to their inadequacies so they might repent from errors
and return to God's desire at a point in time. He explained that if Christians
would realize early enough, in their walk with God, the positive use of famine
and embrace its corrective value without complaints, God's voice would be
restored to them in no time.
The current state of
the Church, according to Akinyemi, could be located within a vision recorded
years ago by a Christian brother- Thomas Wyatt - in his book, THUNDER BEFORE
DAWN:
"Just before we
went to Africa, God came to me in a vision. In it I stood where I could view
the whole world, and it was wrapped in darkness. At times I could see great
fires springing up on the surface of the earth and the people would gather
around the fires to warm themselves. Then, as I continued to watch, fires would
break out in other places. But without exception, after a large group would gather
around the fire, little evil-looking figures came out of the shadows. Those who
were gathered around the fire were so occupied with rejoicing that they seemed
wholly unconscious of these little figures. But, from where I stood, I could
see these shadowy figures as they came silently out of the surrounding
darkness. I noticed that each one was carrying a little, engraved shovel.
These, they placed in the hands of each one who stood around the fire. In the
immediate vicinity, I could see where great fires had burned in bygone days,
but had long since burned themselves out, leaving only great heaps of ashes.
"As I watched,
each of those around the fire would go over to the ash heap, fill his little
shovel with cold ashes; then, with much dignity — as though faithfully
performing a solemn duty — they would scatter the cold ashes very carefully
over the fire. This they continued to do until the fire was completely
smothered and dead. They then knelt in the ashes and prayed for light and
warmth. This procedure was repeated over, and over, and over. The world began
to grow darker and colder, and the men continued in their efforts to extinguish
every fire, here, there, and everywhere....
"All the fires
had long since died out, and the people were weeping and wailing as they prayed
for light and warmth. My heart was deeply stirred and I began to pray with a
fervency that can only be born in the darkness of the world's Gethsemanes. Then
I became a part of the scene, kneeling in the ashes. No longer an interceding observer,
I prayed even more fervently. I stood to my feet and lifted my hands and my
face toward heaven. I began to cry with great agony of soul. Louder and louder
I lifted my voice, in frantic desperation, until all the other crying around
about me was merged into my own desperate cry.
"As I stood
there, calling unto the Lord with all the anguish of my soul, I saw a light,
‘way, ‘way high in the heavens, just a speck of light. It began to come closer
and closer, and then, suddenly, it stood by my side — a celestial Being of
FIRE. He was formed like a man and yet he was a Being of fire. In his hand was
a trumpet of fire which he handed to me saying, 'Blow!' I stood transfixed,
overcome with awe! He placed the trumpet to my lips; I breathed into it, and Lo!
The sound was amplified until it reverberated over the countryside. As I
continued to blow, the creature of fire leaped into the ashes and stirred the
smoldering embers until the flames leaped high into the sky. I was now blowing
the trumpet louder and louder, and people began coming out of the darkness from
every direction. The light from the fire seemed now to light the whole earth,
and, as the people gathered, they began to march past the fiery messenger. He
stood in the flaming fire, and, when they went by, he would give to each of
them a trumpet of fire. They, in turn, would put it to their lips and start out
across the earth, blowing with all their strength. As they went, fires were
lighted everywhere. It seemed as though the very tones of the trumpets were
lighting fires, sending a great wall of flame rolling across the earth. It was
consuming everything in its path — burning everything as it went. As I looked,
I thought, 'What desolation! What desolation! Everything that we have known is
gone.' Then it began to rain, a slow, gentle rain.
"As I watched,
vegetation began to spring up — grass, green herbs and trees, and every tree
was loaded with fruit. Everything was fruitful, there wasn't one thing twisted,
warped or barren. I turned to speak to the messenger, but he was gone. Yet the
whole world remained beautiful and serene. The warfare was accomplished, the
Kingdom of God had been established in the earth, and peace reigned. The long
night was over, and morning had come".
God expects a
"kind of response from His people whenever the devil attempts to put a
stumbling block ", disclosed the man of God adding, if ever there was a
yearning and hunger to follow His voice, He would move His people into His
fullness.
Transition into God's
fullness has nothing to do with material possession or the amount of money one
has, rather it is a result of the hunger for more of Him and His nature
revealed in Christ Jesus. Indeed, those who focused on money would ''fall off
the track of righteousness” Bro. Akinyemi noted emphatically.
Famine is intended to
make believers in Christ come to the end of "selves" in thought,
action or pursuit, nevertheless, a lot of Christian leaders or believers do
turn deaf ears to corrective signals or prompting by the Spirit of God. This
rebellious attitude is traceable to certain factors. Akinyemi listed these
issues to include delusion of past record of success; pride; emphasis on
programmes and activities; mis-judgement; ambition; praise-singing by
subordinates; insensitivity and over-confidence.
Many Christian
leaders "are easily imprisoned" by those surrounding them who believe
and do refer to them as "super stars". Some of these leaders worsen
the situation, unconsciously though, by speaking always about their areas of
strength, leaving out their weaknesses. By this, their congregation or flock
simply believes their leader(s) have no weak points.
Some pastors or
leaders of the Christian faith, Akinyemi observed," are blinded by their
record of success in the past". A lot take delight in glorying in the
achievements or breakthrough of yesterday and as such, do find it difficult to
be corrected. Truth is sidelined by such leaders who, more often, love to weigh
or compare their own achievements first with the status of the person who offers
an idea or a note of caution to the leader. For some of them, years of
experience in ministry and number of branches of the church founded or ever
administered by the potential advisor or counselor are key factors to be
considered before his or her counsel is entertained. They forget so easily that God is not a
respecter of persons and that He chooses to speak through any vessel willing to
obey Him.
Some Christian
leaders are lost in delusion of activity. They judge their performances or
spiritual well-being by the number of activities they carry out per day. To
this set, the higher the number of church programmes, the higher their strides
toward perfection. “Activities delude a lot of people just as it happened in
the days of Noah", said Ademola Akinyemi. It gives them false impression
that "they are serving God, whereas, many of them, by being
activity-driven, have lost their household or family to Babylonian culture
standard and practices".
To overcome these
vices, Akinyemi enjoined leaders to recognize always that they have weakness
(es) in areas others within the folk could have tremendous strength. They
should not shy away or cover up their inadequacies. Again, they must tap into
the grace of others within the house that God had blessed with gift in other
areas.
Christian leaders
must desist from downgrading or downplaying "the ministries of others
within the house of God". For as the bible captured it 'some were given to
be evangelists; some pastors; some prophets and others teachers and apostles".
(Ephesians 4:13). Each of these has its own relevance and should therefore be
accorded high premium in perfecting the believers in Christ.
Men of God should be
tolerant of others, do away with the "mentality of glorying in past
achievements" and embrace humility in words and conduct. It is important
also that leaders ensure they are not surrounded by "praise-singers and
'yes men" for, such a trend, Akinyemi remarked "could be dangerous
and counter-productive". He advised that they should not subdue the voice
of opposition or immune themselves from or against the truth but to test every
idea by the help of the Holy Spirit as the bible demands.
Intimacy with God
must not be compromised or negotiated by Christian leaders. Activities must be
de-emphasized to give room for the leaders to spend more time with God
personally. Intimacy with God produces clear-cut direction from one point to
the other, exposes the devil's ploys and schemes as well as areas of
imperfection that need to be improved upon. Christ's ministry on earth was
patterned after strong intimate relationship with the Almighty Father.
Akinyemi also advised
Christians at all levels to quit from eulogizing ministers of God, for such
attitude he said, could mislead the leaders and endanger their future.
(To be continued)
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