The Anatomy of a Christian - Bola Olu-Jordan
The Rich young ruler was perhaps, one of the greatest men that lived in the times of Jesus. Although, it is easy for us to condemn him as too worldly and unable to deny himself of luxury to follow Jesus, but many of us are perhaps more guilty than him in that the man went to Jesus with a correct motive, (i.e. matters of eternal life) but many who seek Jesus today do so only for miracles and solutions to personal problems and not because of their eternity. That is the type of the gospel they have been erroneously exposed to by those who barely know Jesus themselves but burden themselves with religious titles to perpetuate financial crime.
Many become born again because of the need for protection from witches, healing, breakthrough, prosperity, etc, and as long as all those are in place, they grin: ‘God is good, all the time’ but if otherwise, they query: ‘why Lord?’, because they have employed him as a life-guard; to fix problems and ensure things go well with them, after all, they pay him a tenth of their income when they can afford to.
The rich young ruler, just like many today, had great possession on earth but nothing in heaven. It was so bad that the only solution was to sell ALL (not even part) of what he had and to give them to the poor and then FOLLOW Jesus, (not know Jesus. He already knew him to be Saviour but now to follow as Lord). Unfortunately, just like many today, he could not do so ‘because he had great possession’. (The bigger the head the bigger the headache). What Jesus told the rich man to do-away with is the very (if not the only) reason why some are going to Jesus today! As good as they are on earth, they have no equivalent value in eternity. THE ONLY REASON WHY WE MUST GO TO JESUS IS BECAUSE OF OUR ETERNITY. If we go to Jesus because of miracles, etc, we have gone through the back door and Jesus is not there, for He is THE way, not a way.
Lord and Saviour
This man recognized Jesus as the Saviour (good Master)! But when Jesus showed him THE WAY to follow, he went away sorrowfully! He could not see Him as Lord! This scenario is not different today. Many also call him Saviour, but unable to make him Lord, i.e. follow His ways: they only desire his acts (miracles)
The high priests, (which represent the religious leaders of today) were busy priding themselves and flaunting their holiness and titles. But the man’s quest for securing eternity, not solution to immediate needs, prompted him to go to Jesus. He was not comfortable, although he had kept all the laws from his youth; (a towering credential; scarce and rare for someone in such financial and political cadre of the society), he desired something more and different from the religious trend. He wanted to make sure. ETERNITY CANNOT BE LEFT TO CHANCE, BECAUSE IT IS TOO FINAL. That is why Paul said: “examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2Cor. 13:5). We are also enjoined to earnestly contend for the faith (Jud. 1:3) Peter said: give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall’ (2Pet. 1:10).
IT WILL BE TOO COSTLY TO GET TO HEAVEN TO DISCOVER WE HAVE BELIEVED A LIE! It is only matter of eternal life that is the primary reason to go to Jesus not miracles; all others are secondary. The longing for eternal security should lead us to Jesus not bread. Jesus is much more than bread, He is life.
It is apparent that many Christians today have lost the longing and hunger for more of Jesus to miracles and instantaneous happenings which is the religious vogue of the moment; turning Jesus to a problem solver instead of life-giver! Whatever you see the crowd embracing, it is an indication that God is perhaps not there. James said friendship with the world is enmity with God. The situation in the time of this man was no different than today. While people thronged Jesus for miracles, this man went to him because of matter of eternity. Multitudes embrace Him for the present, only a few look for him for the future.
Turn to the TV, radio, everywhere, there is always an embarrassing miracle laundering; they have turned Christianity to a miracle manufacturing company. It is now a religion to guarantee life and benefits on earth. What about eternity? Paul said if in this life alone we have hope, of all the people we are the most miserable. The pulpit has so much been ‘deregulated’ that it is now for all comers; anybody, as long as you can perform some acrobatic displays and align some words in rhymes and logical sequence. The altar no longer hold any sanctity and the title hold no sobriety again. Pastors are turning to consultants and specialists in the gospel. Some now specialize in prosperity, others babies, others for miracles, many for healing, few for deliverance and even fewer for holiness. Is church now a specialists clinic? Some have even abandoned preaching of the gospel to mere counseling or positive, psychology and philosophy. Ministrations have been reduced to mere talks and seminars. Emphasis on eternal life has been toned down to breakthrough. Disciples of Christ are not deceived, ‘Christians’ may.
Christianity has been reduced to a near laughing stock by the so called respected leaders for the sake of fame and money. Many churches have been turned into tourist centers with various miracles as tourist attractions. The gravity of sin has been lessened; it is now the trend of civilization. When our heart is only yearning for things that bring immediate relief and gain, it is an indication of an enslaved heart, seeking escape even, if it means an escape to danger. To such, the desire for bread, not seed, is supreme.
A desire to satisfy the hunger of today without an insight for tomorrow is an evidence of spiritual shallowness. Only a fool eats his seed because of hunger of today. If the quest for miracles and breakthrough is the reason why you believed, you might have innocently believed a lie. Although miracles are wonderful things and are part of the operations of God, but it is for the purpose of bringing souls, especially, non-believers or young Christians to Himself. Followers of Christ are Disciples: they are already heirs to the covenant promise, and as long as they walk in the covenant promise, miracles follow them because it is their rights as children. Jesus said: “It is not good to give the food of the children to the dogs”. To provide food for your children is your responsibility as a good parent and your children’s right. They don’t need to beg you for it. How much more is God more than a good father? He knows His responsibility. He already said: “All these things your heavenly father knows that you need, don’t seek after them, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all other things shall be added”. Yet the reason why our churches are filled to capacity today is because of what Jesus said we should not seek after.
Spirit of the World
It is saddening that Christians today are busy looking for what is legally theirs just because they have received the spirit of the world. “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God…” 1Cor. 2:12. What then is the difference between us and the world when we are busy looking for the same thing the world is looking for? Leave the world to run after miracles, prosperity, etc. They should run after you because they are part of “…the things that are freely given to us of God” (vs12b). It is freely given to you. “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom” The world is looking for bread to eat and die because their only hope is here on earth but we have a hope; we must give and live. Jesus went to prepare a home for us in heaven. Must we pursue all these things at the expense of that home? Paul advised us in Col. 3:1-2 to “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God’. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. As long as a prince remains in his domain, all these things must look after him because of his position, otherwise he is no more than an ordinary citizen. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. We are kings and Priests. Yes, friends, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High” (Psalm 82:6). But shameful that we do not know who we are!
It is sad that to see Christian leaders today, abandoning the message of the cross to hawking miracles for the sake of their belly. How are the mighty fallen? It is sad to know of many, who, years ago, would preach nothing but Jesus and His gospel, now murdering people’s eternity for bread that will not satisfy.
A disciple and a Christian compared.
There is a marked difference between a Christian and a disciple. God is certainly not looking for Christians who only bear names similar to His son. He is looking for disciples. Jesus said go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. He was talking to disciples to go and make disciples. It takes a disciple to make a disciple. God is not as such looking for believers (Satan also believes and even trembles), He is looking for those who would follow Him. He is not looking for those who would make Him their Saviour but those who also make Him Lord. Lord means leading through life. A disciple is a disciplined one; one that follows His teaching. What we have today are believers not followers; talkers not walkers, hearers not doers. Jesus said: ‘now are yea my disciples WHEN YOU DO those things which I command you to do’.
Christians only desire bread, miracles, healing, break through, etc. A disciple desires more than that, because those things are already his. He only needs to appropriate them. In the parable of the sower, Jesus described the seed as the word of God. He also said the word that I speak to you they are spirit and they are life. The life of a thing is hidden in the seed. A disciple care less about bread, but the seed. A seed has the potential to feed nations. It brings fruits itself, the bread, the word of life. Without the seed of the spirit, which is the word of God, there cannot be the fruits of the spirits. Those who turn their seeds to bread have lost the fruits.
Ancestry.
Let us look at a man called Esau. He was a myopic person, who satisfied the hunger of the moment with his eternity. Jacob, on the other hand, denied himself of the present enjoyment to secure a future. He was also hungry, that was why he prepared the food, but when he saw an opportunity to secure the future, he abandoned the food of the present. He stomached the hunger, he endured and gave it up. And that was why God began to name his seed with this visioner, a type of a disciple. The Bible calls Esau a profane person. Although a descendant of Abraham (Christian) but he only saw and cared about the present. God is looking for those who are looking to the future, the glorious home, not the type of Esau. No wonder God said Esau have I hated and Jacob have I loved. He still does the same to their descendants today.l
Judas also, although named with Christ, was a spiritual descendant of Esau. He never followed Jesus faithfully because he had secret meetings with the high priests on how to betray Jesus, when others were receiving instruction from the Master. He loved money. He must have been stealing from the purse because he was called a thief, but he was never satisfied. The love of money made him consider the offer of the high priests to betray his master. Truly the love of money is the root of all evils, yet some churches’ doctrines are based on money, prosperity, riches, etc. What a temptation! Although Jacob was a type of a disciple, out of his twelve children, only one exhibited the trait of a disciple, Joseph.
Joseph said during temptation: “would I do this thing and sin against God”, not even against his master. He sacrificed the enjoyment of a season for future glory. It was the vision of the glorious future that kept him going even in difficult times. He never lost focus of the promise of God even in prison. A situation many would have prayed away not knowing they are sometimes part of the operations of God to mould us.
Jesus endured the cross because of the glory that was set before him. It was a conscious, deliberate denial. He had a choice but He despised the shame “… Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… (Phil. 2:9-10). God did not just wake up one day and exalted the name of Jesus. Jesus paid the price no one could pay and it was supreme denial for a king to abdicate his throne and die for people who did not even recognize, let alone appreciate what he was doing. It was because Jesus endured the present shame for the future glory that was set before him, that God exalted His name above every name. Many are unable to deny themselves of the present enjoyment. They want miracle at all cost. They get the miracle but losses eternity. They are descendants of Esau. Profane people. God is looking for sons who would manage his estate and even judge angels, not a child with a slave mentality, begging for what is legally his. Many, because of miracles, turn to ‘beggarly elements’ and worship demons, calling them angels. Angels have better thing to do in heaven than to distribute largesse. Little did people like that know that they are consulting fallen angels.
Bread for life or bread of life.
Sometimes Jesus gave some people who came to him bread to eat. They can be likened to today’s believers because they believed in Jesus (Christian), they came together to listen to him (church), even in a remote place where it was not convenient (commitment). After they were fed, they went back to the city and told everybody (evangelism). Same is happening in today. Soon, the church is filled to capacity. The Pastor has no spiritual discernment to know that it is time to give the multitude the seed (the word of life) and no longer bread (miracle). To him it was time to change grammar and perfect his oration, rhymes and quotable words arranged in deliberate order.
Since such would need crowd to give them ovations like Herod, they go commercial; advertising their product (anointing) on the media and calling for public share. Jesus usually told people not to tell anybody about his miracle. But these are unable to channel God’s gifts into proper use, yet the gift and calling of God is without repentance. How sincerely wrong we can be at times like the Priests in Jesus’s days, who were truly expecting the Messiah, but when the Messiah came, they could not recognize Him, rather, they killed him – albeit with a ‘sincere’ mind!
When Jesus saw that the people wanted to make him king, he withdrew but they looked for him until they found him and “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. (John 6:26). They must have denied and said ‘No, Lord, we just love you, nevertheless, we will appreciate if you would give us this bread for life’ (vs. 34). They were looking for bread for life instead of bread of life; Jesus, recognizing the season, said: “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (vs. 27). Jesus told them he was the bread of life; it was now him they would eat, no longer the physical bread and He was they way to the father. When the crowd heard that, ‘…they said is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?’ (vs. 42). ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’. They did not understand because a carnal mind cannot understand the things of the spirit. Rom. 8:7-8. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God”.
A MIND BENT ON RECEIVING UNCONDITIONAL MIRACLES WILL NOT UNDERSTAND HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD. Their mind was made up for bread and would not accept anything less. They began to murmur. Suddenly their countenance changed. The new comers must have asked those who invited them if this was what they invited them for. They came to eat free food, not to be turned to cannibals! Jesus, perceiving their inability to grasp his message still, came out boldly to say: “… verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed….” Disappointed, many of them stormed out, saying “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?”
WILL YOU ALSO GO?
The true message of the cross is always ‘a hard saying, who can hear it?’ There is no ‘preach it, pastor’! There is no ‘yes, sir, give it to them’! There is no ‘say it again’! Your head is not ballooned, there is no holy rolling! No shout! Everybody sits down for personal consumption and subsequent application. Yet, it is the truth! The crowd who came to eat bread left in anger. Even “many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying, who can hear it?”. So they ‘…went back, and walked no more with him”! Even disciples! As you read this message, I don’t know what you may likely do, too. Will you say the same? Jesus, unable to fathom the scenario, seeing even some of his disciples (not the twelve), then said to the twelve, “will you also go?”
The fact is that the true message of the cross is ‘a hard saying’. An adage says the truth is bitter. A local adage says when you see brothers go to a room and coming out laughing, they have told themselves a lie, but when they come out frowned, each going different ways, they have probably told themselves the truth.
Jesus said “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”. John 6:44. Except the father draws us to Himself, the message of the cross will continue to look like foolishness. It is true that an average Christian cannot stand the message of the cross, because it is not a bread message. It is not an automated message of pressing it here and receiving it from the other side. It is not miracle-miracle. In fact those who came for that were disappointed. Narrow, indeed, is the way and strait is the gate. We are not called into bread and butter Christianity. We are not called into religion. We are called into faith in Jesus. A personal faith walk with Jesus. A one-on-one relationship, leading to intimacy.
Let us see the answer the 12 disciples gave to the question “will you also go”? “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life, And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God”. That is it! This is the only thing that separate disciples from Christians, even from disciples! There is a difference between the goat and the sheep, even among the sheep God said I will judge between cattles and cattles (Ez. 34:17). Where else shall we go? To whom? Thou hast the words of eternal life. It is not miracles they are looking for, it is eternal life and that was the only reason they could stay, otherwise, the message was too much that all would have left! Let me ask you a question: what are you looking for in Jesus? No matte how hard the message is, there will always be a remnant according to the election of grace!
In our last edition, the cover message was “RAPTURE: ONE IN A MILLION, is it that serious?” Many have expressed shock, disbelief and doubt, because of fear that could that really be? But friends, it may perhaps, be more serious than that! God does not save by multitude, never by crowd. Anywhere you see crowd embracing something or in a frenzied fashion, it is perhaps an indication that God is not there! WHEN THE EMBELLISHMENT FOR THE COVER OF A THING IS TOO MUCH, IT IS PERHAPS TO MAKE UP FOR THE INADEQUACIES OF WHAT IS INSIDE.
An idiom says ‘good wine need no bush’ that is, a good product needs no advertisement. Miracles do not need advertisement. Jesus does not need to be advertised. Anointing does not need advertisement. When we do those, it is actually a merchandizing! Commercial jingles for children, miracles, anointing, healings are unnecessary. Petrol does not beg for fire, it catches it. “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” Mat. 24:28
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, joy in the Holy Ghost. Rom. 14:17. Joy in the Holy Ghost. Not joy in healing, miracles or anointing oil. The seventy disciples returned to Jesus with this type of joy in Luke 10 when Jesus sent them out 2 by 2: And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. (vs. 17) ” But Jesus said to them “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you NOTWITHSTANDING IN THIS REJOICE NOT, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
Many do not only rejoice and celebrate this, they build a church around it. It is sad and appalling that many build church around gifts. Because they have the gift of healing, they put a big sign board out, announcing their professional ability as a ‘specialist’. We never saw such antecedent in the Bible where a church was built around gift regardless of the type of gift, even prophecy! Unfortunately, many who go by the name of the prophets today are actually seers not prophets! Prophets need no introduction. Gift is not a calling into the ministry, it is to effect body ministry in the church. Many patronize such because they are looking for specialist who would be able to deliver fast. Thus we see many churches founded on Miracles and not on Christ and the owner of the church is he who is always worshiped on his birthday. All their messages, activities, etc are centered on this and nothing more, even the name. They can’t preach any other message except that. May we be called a gospel preacher rather than be tagged a ‘so-so and so minister’, even holiness minister. The gospel encompasses all, no specialty.
When the Federal Government wanted to ban unsubstantiated miracles broadcast in our media, there were stiff oppositions from those who sustained their profession on such aggrandizement. The only thing that Jesus asked the 70 to rejoice about is the only thing the present church does not have: Jesus said “… but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” Many have been so much carried away with results and miracles that they forget to ensure, let alone rejoice, that their name is written in heaven.
There have been great successes by Satan in making many so called pastors give a slave mentality to Christians. No one is talking about been a disciple, but being a Christian. Satan does not have problem with Christians, but with disciples. IT IS BETTER TO BE A DISCIPLE THAN TO BURDEN OURSELVES WITH THE GREATEST CHRISTIAN TITLE.
Disciples are sons of God. They know their position. They do not struggle for bread (miracles), they desire to please the father, the king, as heirs to the throne by obeying Him. They pursue things with much more eternal value than gallivanting from church to church looking for miracles. They don’t look for miracles, miracles follow them. They make things happen, they don’t watch it happen. They go after the rhema. They look for seeds, not bread that will not satisfy. They are not comfortable in places where the only thing they have to give is bread. The 12 disciples says: where shall we go, for you ONLY have the WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE. Such words are scarce today because it’s meant for the few, the disciples. Disciple’s concern is not about living successfully in this world but securing a place in eternity. Paul said in 2Cor.1:9 that: “we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead”.
Disciples’ investments are not in this part of heaven, but above, where moth cannot get to and where it does not decay. They are concerned about how to live a life that is pleasing to God, not how to be in vogue. They are concerned about how to be acceptable to God not how to be acceptable to the world. They know that friendship with the world is enmity with God; to be a friend of the world and be a hero to the world means to be an enemy of God.
There is no automatic escape from hell for you for the fact that you are a Christian. In hell, there would be millions of Christians. Jesus is looking for those who would worship Him in spirit and in truth not through a man, church or an organization. We will not line up behind our leader, pastor or church in the judgment. You will personally and individually be responsible for anything you did or believed, regardless of how or who made you to believe it.
It is only faith in Jesus that God is looking for not commitment to your church. You can be committed to the church and never know Jesus. You can even administer baptism and perform many great miracles because of your great titles and yet, Jesus would claim never to know you. He asked some to depart from Him that he did not know them because they are workers of iniquity despite those people claimed they performed many mighty works IN HIS NAME.
Disciples are those who have stayed with Jesus. They know Him, not know about Him, and He knows them. They have formation in Christ not information about Him. They have left all and following Him. They are not following Him because of benefits but because of their eternity. They not only desire his acts, but His ways. They only live in the world but they are not of the world. They follow Jesus not the world system. They are not filled with the cares and desires of the world but filled with the Holy Ghost and power.
It is interesting to know that Stephen and Philip were ordinary member of the church before they were appointed as deacons (servants). If such were to be in the church today, with their level of spiritual maturity, they would have given them titles next to God’s. WHEN THE TITLE IS TOO BIG, IT IS TO COVER UP THE SMALLNESS OF WHAT IS INSIDE. WHEN THE NOISE IS MUCH, IT IS AN INDICATION THAT THERE IS PERHAPS LITTLE OR NOTHING INSIDE, FOR AN EMPTY BARREL MAKES THE LOUDEST NOISE. Jesus never announced himself, he was announced. Even when he was announced, he rebuked them. Greater is a disciple walking in the commandments of God than a god working his own miracles.
Who then is a disciple?
A disciple is not born, he is made. A disciple learned to be a disciple. It involves a walk. It involves a doing. A disciple is not made by once a week Bible study or few weeks of ‘believer’s class’ or even a Sunday Sunday miracles rally. How people turn to be ‘God’s generals’ within a short time of conversion is a mystery. It’s like a 6 years old baby already nursing her own babies! Maturity, whether physical or spiritual, takes a gradual process. It took Jesus 3.5 years of daily instruction to make only 12 disciples. They lived together, ate together, slept together and did everything together and yet, it took him that long to make only twelve. After Paul’s conversion, he was in Arabia for three and a half years receiving instruction to become a disciple. He did not put a big signboard out to recruit crowd; after all, they knew his testimonies. Becoming a disciple is a deliberate, conscious and determined process of becoming like Jesus in words, deeds and actions and not by name alone. GOD IS LOOKING FOR FRUITS, NOT TITLES. HE IS LOOKING FOR THE CALLING NOT THE COLLAR.
Jesus was speaking of disciples when He said: “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: Lk. 12:51. Disciples are always few because it entails a lot of denials, and that is why they are called disciples. Disciples must be willing to leave Egypt, ambition, desire, friends, fashion, plans, etc, to follow Jesus. They have only one ambition: to please their master only.
Isn’t it appalling to know that many thought they had been disciples but they haven’t? This is the reason why many so called men of God could not make one. You don’t wake up suddenly and become one. Being discipled is not receiving instruction as one of the crowd gathering to hear a man speak and making jottings. It involves a relationship, a Paul-Timothy relationship, personal tutelage. For every disciple there is a discipler. It is easy to be lost in the crowd but difficult to be lost as a disciple. Jesus said I know my sheep and they know me (Jn. 10:27).
It’s only in Christendom that we have many fathers, yet many are bastards: everybody who is a success in ministry is their father. Many have claimed to receive instruction from ‘father in the Lord’ who never knew a child exist somewhere, let alone plan for him. Paul corrected such in 1Cor. 4:15. What a one-sided relationship that is? A child without a father figure would be delinquent, having no voice and love to nurture them until they become matured and can also disciple others. Disciples have a commitment to please God in the talk, dress, life actions, etc. They minister Christ with their lives even when they are not talking. Their life is an epistle that people read. God is glorified in all that they do. Their prayer is not asking for things but seeking for His very presence.
Are you just a Christian or a disciple? A Christian is satisfied as long as they eat bread. He does not care to know how to fish as long as he gets fish to eat. He is dependents, spiritually passive and indolent. He has no interest in the Bible as long as someone tells him what is there whether true of false. He believes more in the anointing oil and other preparation by the so called men of God. He does not walk in covenant promise but live in fear of tomorrow. He lives on charity for survival because he does not know God’s provision for his life. There is no maturity, but stagnation. He believes church attendance and activity group is what makes a Christian. There is a secretary between him and God. He has no spiritual sensitivity to hear God and when He talks, he does not hear. He always wonders how God speak to people. To him it’s a mystery. God is a deity to him not a father. He can’t approach him, except when he is in need: then, he looks for a seer to steal God’s plan for his life.
It is the same in the physical, when you become too comfortable where you are it is a sign and an indication that you are not growing. It is stagnation. If you stay too long in a place where you eat bread, you will develop spiritual poverty mentality: you become barren and shallow. You lose all hunger for more of Jesus.
The line is drawn. God is not looking for just ‘Christians’, but disciples. Are you one? A self proclaimed one or a God-proclaimed one? Don’t wait till eternity to answer that question. You can take a step to become one now. Will you do that, regardless of your title or years of experience as a Christian or say it’s a hard saying, who can hear it!
Many become born again because of the need for protection from witches, healing, breakthrough, prosperity, etc, and as long as all those are in place, they grin: ‘God is good, all the time’ but if otherwise, they query: ‘why Lord?’, because they have employed him as a life-guard; to fix problems and ensure things go well with them, after all, they pay him a tenth of their income when they can afford to.
The rich young ruler, just like many today, had great possession on earth but nothing in heaven. It was so bad that the only solution was to sell ALL (not even part) of what he had and to give them to the poor and then FOLLOW Jesus, (not know Jesus. He already knew him to be Saviour but now to follow as Lord). Unfortunately, just like many today, he could not do so ‘because he had great possession’. (The bigger the head the bigger the headache). What Jesus told the rich man to do-away with is the very (if not the only) reason why some are going to Jesus today! As good as they are on earth, they have no equivalent value in eternity. THE ONLY REASON WHY WE MUST GO TO JESUS IS BECAUSE OF OUR ETERNITY. If we go to Jesus because of miracles, etc, we have gone through the back door and Jesus is not there, for He is THE way, not a way.
Lord and Saviour
This man recognized Jesus as the Saviour (good Master)! But when Jesus showed him THE WAY to follow, he went away sorrowfully! He could not see Him as Lord! This scenario is not different today. Many also call him Saviour, but unable to make him Lord, i.e. follow His ways: they only desire his acts (miracles)
The high priests, (which represent the religious leaders of today) were busy priding themselves and flaunting their holiness and titles. But the man’s quest for securing eternity, not solution to immediate needs, prompted him to go to Jesus. He was not comfortable, although he had kept all the laws from his youth; (a towering credential; scarce and rare for someone in such financial and political cadre of the society), he desired something more and different from the religious trend. He wanted to make sure. ETERNITY CANNOT BE LEFT TO CHANCE, BECAUSE IT IS TOO FINAL. That is why Paul said: “examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2Cor. 13:5). We are also enjoined to earnestly contend for the faith (Jud. 1:3) Peter said: give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall’ (2Pet. 1:10).
IT WILL BE TOO COSTLY TO GET TO HEAVEN TO DISCOVER WE HAVE BELIEVED A LIE! It is only matter of eternal life that is the primary reason to go to Jesus not miracles; all others are secondary. The longing for eternal security should lead us to Jesus not bread. Jesus is much more than bread, He is life.
It is apparent that many Christians today have lost the longing and hunger for more of Jesus to miracles and instantaneous happenings which is the religious vogue of the moment; turning Jesus to a problem solver instead of life-giver! Whatever you see the crowd embracing, it is an indication that God is perhaps not there. James said friendship with the world is enmity with God. The situation in the time of this man was no different than today. While people thronged Jesus for miracles, this man went to him because of matter of eternity. Multitudes embrace Him for the present, only a few look for him for the future.
Turn to the TV, radio, everywhere, there is always an embarrassing miracle laundering; they have turned Christianity to a miracle manufacturing company. It is now a religion to guarantee life and benefits on earth. What about eternity? Paul said if in this life alone we have hope, of all the people we are the most miserable. The pulpit has so much been ‘deregulated’ that it is now for all comers; anybody, as long as you can perform some acrobatic displays and align some words in rhymes and logical sequence. The altar no longer hold any sanctity and the title hold no sobriety again. Pastors are turning to consultants and specialists in the gospel. Some now specialize in prosperity, others babies, others for miracles, many for healing, few for deliverance and even fewer for holiness. Is church now a specialists clinic? Some have even abandoned preaching of the gospel to mere counseling or positive, psychology and philosophy. Ministrations have been reduced to mere talks and seminars. Emphasis on eternal life has been toned down to breakthrough. Disciples of Christ are not deceived, ‘Christians’ may.
Christianity has been reduced to a near laughing stock by the so called respected leaders for the sake of fame and money. Many churches have been turned into tourist centers with various miracles as tourist attractions. The gravity of sin has been lessened; it is now the trend of civilization. When our heart is only yearning for things that bring immediate relief and gain, it is an indication of an enslaved heart, seeking escape even, if it means an escape to danger. To such, the desire for bread, not seed, is supreme.
A desire to satisfy the hunger of today without an insight for tomorrow is an evidence of spiritual shallowness. Only a fool eats his seed because of hunger of today. If the quest for miracles and breakthrough is the reason why you believed, you might have innocently believed a lie. Although miracles are wonderful things and are part of the operations of God, but it is for the purpose of bringing souls, especially, non-believers or young Christians to Himself. Followers of Christ are Disciples: they are already heirs to the covenant promise, and as long as they walk in the covenant promise, miracles follow them because it is their rights as children. Jesus said: “It is not good to give the food of the children to the dogs”. To provide food for your children is your responsibility as a good parent and your children’s right. They don’t need to beg you for it. How much more is God more than a good father? He knows His responsibility. He already said: “All these things your heavenly father knows that you need, don’t seek after them, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all other things shall be added”. Yet the reason why our churches are filled to capacity today is because of what Jesus said we should not seek after.
Spirit of the World
It is saddening that Christians today are busy looking for what is legally theirs just because they have received the spirit of the world. “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God…” 1Cor. 2:12. What then is the difference between us and the world when we are busy looking for the same thing the world is looking for? Leave the world to run after miracles, prosperity, etc. They should run after you because they are part of “…the things that are freely given to us of God” (vs12b). It is freely given to you. “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom” The world is looking for bread to eat and die because their only hope is here on earth but we have a hope; we must give and live. Jesus went to prepare a home for us in heaven. Must we pursue all these things at the expense of that home? Paul advised us in Col. 3:1-2 to “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God’. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. As long as a prince remains in his domain, all these things must look after him because of his position, otherwise he is no more than an ordinary citizen. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. We are kings and Priests. Yes, friends, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High” (Psalm 82:6). But shameful that we do not know who we are!
It is sad that to see Christian leaders today, abandoning the message of the cross to hawking miracles for the sake of their belly. How are the mighty fallen? It is sad to know of many, who, years ago, would preach nothing but Jesus and His gospel, now murdering people’s eternity for bread that will not satisfy.
A disciple and a Christian compared.
There is a marked difference between a Christian and a disciple. God is certainly not looking for Christians who only bear names similar to His son. He is looking for disciples. Jesus said go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. He was talking to disciples to go and make disciples. It takes a disciple to make a disciple. God is not as such looking for believers (Satan also believes and even trembles), He is looking for those who would follow Him. He is not looking for those who would make Him their Saviour but those who also make Him Lord. Lord means leading through life. A disciple is a disciplined one; one that follows His teaching. What we have today are believers not followers; talkers not walkers, hearers not doers. Jesus said: ‘now are yea my disciples WHEN YOU DO those things which I command you to do’.
Christians only desire bread, miracles, healing, break through, etc. A disciple desires more than that, because those things are already his. He only needs to appropriate them. In the parable of the sower, Jesus described the seed as the word of God. He also said the word that I speak to you they are spirit and they are life. The life of a thing is hidden in the seed. A disciple care less about bread, but the seed. A seed has the potential to feed nations. It brings fruits itself, the bread, the word of life. Without the seed of the spirit, which is the word of God, there cannot be the fruits of the spirits. Those who turn their seeds to bread have lost the fruits.
Ancestry.
Let us look at a man called Esau. He was a myopic person, who satisfied the hunger of the moment with his eternity. Jacob, on the other hand, denied himself of the present enjoyment to secure a future. He was also hungry, that was why he prepared the food, but when he saw an opportunity to secure the future, he abandoned the food of the present. He stomached the hunger, he endured and gave it up. And that was why God began to name his seed with this visioner, a type of a disciple. The Bible calls Esau a profane person. Although a descendant of Abraham (Christian) but he only saw and cared about the present. God is looking for those who are looking to the future, the glorious home, not the type of Esau. No wonder God said Esau have I hated and Jacob have I loved. He still does the same to their descendants today.l
Judas also, although named with Christ, was a spiritual descendant of Esau. He never followed Jesus faithfully because he had secret meetings with the high priests on how to betray Jesus, when others were receiving instruction from the Master. He loved money. He must have been stealing from the purse because he was called a thief, but he was never satisfied. The love of money made him consider the offer of the high priests to betray his master. Truly the love of money is the root of all evils, yet some churches’ doctrines are based on money, prosperity, riches, etc. What a temptation! Although Jacob was a type of a disciple, out of his twelve children, only one exhibited the trait of a disciple, Joseph.
Joseph said during temptation: “would I do this thing and sin against God”, not even against his master. He sacrificed the enjoyment of a season for future glory. It was the vision of the glorious future that kept him going even in difficult times. He never lost focus of the promise of God even in prison. A situation many would have prayed away not knowing they are sometimes part of the operations of God to mould us.
Jesus endured the cross because of the glory that was set before him. It was a conscious, deliberate denial. He had a choice but He despised the shame “… Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… (Phil. 2:9-10). God did not just wake up one day and exalted the name of Jesus. Jesus paid the price no one could pay and it was supreme denial for a king to abdicate his throne and die for people who did not even recognize, let alone appreciate what he was doing. It was because Jesus endured the present shame for the future glory that was set before him, that God exalted His name above every name. Many are unable to deny themselves of the present enjoyment. They want miracle at all cost. They get the miracle but losses eternity. They are descendants of Esau. Profane people. God is looking for sons who would manage his estate and even judge angels, not a child with a slave mentality, begging for what is legally his. Many, because of miracles, turn to ‘beggarly elements’ and worship demons, calling them angels. Angels have better thing to do in heaven than to distribute largesse. Little did people like that know that they are consulting fallen angels.
Bread for life or bread of life.
Sometimes Jesus gave some people who came to him bread to eat. They can be likened to today’s believers because they believed in Jesus (Christian), they came together to listen to him (church), even in a remote place where it was not convenient (commitment). After they were fed, they went back to the city and told everybody (evangelism). Same is happening in today. Soon, the church is filled to capacity. The Pastor has no spiritual discernment to know that it is time to give the multitude the seed (the word of life) and no longer bread (miracle). To him it was time to change grammar and perfect his oration, rhymes and quotable words arranged in deliberate order.
Since such would need crowd to give them ovations like Herod, they go commercial; advertising their product (anointing) on the media and calling for public share. Jesus usually told people not to tell anybody about his miracle. But these are unable to channel God’s gifts into proper use, yet the gift and calling of God is without repentance. How sincerely wrong we can be at times like the Priests in Jesus’s days, who were truly expecting the Messiah, but when the Messiah came, they could not recognize Him, rather, they killed him – albeit with a ‘sincere’ mind!
When Jesus saw that the people wanted to make him king, he withdrew but they looked for him until they found him and “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. (John 6:26). They must have denied and said ‘No, Lord, we just love you, nevertheless, we will appreciate if you would give us this bread for life’ (vs. 34). They were looking for bread for life instead of bread of life; Jesus, recognizing the season, said: “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (vs. 27). Jesus told them he was the bread of life; it was now him they would eat, no longer the physical bread and He was they way to the father. When the crowd heard that, ‘…they said is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?’ (vs. 42). ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’. They did not understand because a carnal mind cannot understand the things of the spirit. Rom. 8:7-8. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God”.
A MIND BENT ON RECEIVING UNCONDITIONAL MIRACLES WILL NOT UNDERSTAND HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD. Their mind was made up for bread and would not accept anything less. They began to murmur. Suddenly their countenance changed. The new comers must have asked those who invited them if this was what they invited them for. They came to eat free food, not to be turned to cannibals! Jesus, perceiving their inability to grasp his message still, came out boldly to say: “… verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed….” Disappointed, many of them stormed out, saying “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?”
WILL YOU ALSO GO?
The true message of the cross is always ‘a hard saying, who can hear it?’ There is no ‘preach it, pastor’! There is no ‘yes, sir, give it to them’! There is no ‘say it again’! Your head is not ballooned, there is no holy rolling! No shout! Everybody sits down for personal consumption and subsequent application. Yet, it is the truth! The crowd who came to eat bread left in anger. Even “many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying, who can hear it?”. So they ‘…went back, and walked no more with him”! Even disciples! As you read this message, I don’t know what you may likely do, too. Will you say the same? Jesus, unable to fathom the scenario, seeing even some of his disciples (not the twelve), then said to the twelve, “will you also go?”
The fact is that the true message of the cross is ‘a hard saying’. An adage says the truth is bitter. A local adage says when you see brothers go to a room and coming out laughing, they have told themselves a lie, but when they come out frowned, each going different ways, they have probably told themselves the truth.
Jesus said “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”. John 6:44. Except the father draws us to Himself, the message of the cross will continue to look like foolishness. It is true that an average Christian cannot stand the message of the cross, because it is not a bread message. It is not an automated message of pressing it here and receiving it from the other side. It is not miracle-miracle. In fact those who came for that were disappointed. Narrow, indeed, is the way and strait is the gate. We are not called into bread and butter Christianity. We are not called into religion. We are called into faith in Jesus. A personal faith walk with Jesus. A one-on-one relationship, leading to intimacy.
Let us see the answer the 12 disciples gave to the question “will you also go”? “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life, And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God”. That is it! This is the only thing that separate disciples from Christians, even from disciples! There is a difference between the goat and the sheep, even among the sheep God said I will judge between cattles and cattles (Ez. 34:17). Where else shall we go? To whom? Thou hast the words of eternal life. It is not miracles they are looking for, it is eternal life and that was the only reason they could stay, otherwise, the message was too much that all would have left! Let me ask you a question: what are you looking for in Jesus? No matte how hard the message is, there will always be a remnant according to the election of grace!
In our last edition, the cover message was “RAPTURE: ONE IN A MILLION, is it that serious?” Many have expressed shock, disbelief and doubt, because of fear that could that really be? But friends, it may perhaps, be more serious than that! God does not save by multitude, never by crowd. Anywhere you see crowd embracing something or in a frenzied fashion, it is perhaps an indication that God is not there! WHEN THE EMBELLISHMENT FOR THE COVER OF A THING IS TOO MUCH, IT IS PERHAPS TO MAKE UP FOR THE INADEQUACIES OF WHAT IS INSIDE.
An idiom says ‘good wine need no bush’ that is, a good product needs no advertisement. Miracles do not need advertisement. Jesus does not need to be advertised. Anointing does not need advertisement. When we do those, it is actually a merchandizing! Commercial jingles for children, miracles, anointing, healings are unnecessary. Petrol does not beg for fire, it catches it. “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” Mat. 24:28
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, joy in the Holy Ghost. Rom. 14:17. Joy in the Holy Ghost. Not joy in healing, miracles or anointing oil. The seventy disciples returned to Jesus with this type of joy in Luke 10 when Jesus sent them out 2 by 2: And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. (vs. 17) ” But Jesus said to them “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you NOTWITHSTANDING IN THIS REJOICE NOT, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
Many do not only rejoice and celebrate this, they build a church around it. It is sad and appalling that many build church around gifts. Because they have the gift of healing, they put a big sign board out, announcing their professional ability as a ‘specialist’. We never saw such antecedent in the Bible where a church was built around gift regardless of the type of gift, even prophecy! Unfortunately, many who go by the name of the prophets today are actually seers not prophets! Prophets need no introduction. Gift is not a calling into the ministry, it is to effect body ministry in the church. Many patronize such because they are looking for specialist who would be able to deliver fast. Thus we see many churches founded on Miracles and not on Christ and the owner of the church is he who is always worshiped on his birthday. All their messages, activities, etc are centered on this and nothing more, even the name. They can’t preach any other message except that. May we be called a gospel preacher rather than be tagged a ‘so-so and so minister’, even holiness minister. The gospel encompasses all, no specialty.
When the Federal Government wanted to ban unsubstantiated miracles broadcast in our media, there were stiff oppositions from those who sustained their profession on such aggrandizement. The only thing that Jesus asked the 70 to rejoice about is the only thing the present church does not have: Jesus said “… but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” Many have been so much carried away with results and miracles that they forget to ensure, let alone rejoice, that their name is written in heaven.
There have been great successes by Satan in making many so called pastors give a slave mentality to Christians. No one is talking about been a disciple, but being a Christian. Satan does not have problem with Christians, but with disciples. IT IS BETTER TO BE A DISCIPLE THAN TO BURDEN OURSELVES WITH THE GREATEST CHRISTIAN TITLE.
Disciples are sons of God. They know their position. They do not struggle for bread (miracles), they desire to please the father, the king, as heirs to the throne by obeying Him. They pursue things with much more eternal value than gallivanting from church to church looking for miracles. They don’t look for miracles, miracles follow them. They make things happen, they don’t watch it happen. They go after the rhema. They look for seeds, not bread that will not satisfy. They are not comfortable in places where the only thing they have to give is bread. The 12 disciples says: where shall we go, for you ONLY have the WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE. Such words are scarce today because it’s meant for the few, the disciples. Disciple’s concern is not about living successfully in this world but securing a place in eternity. Paul said in 2Cor.1:9 that: “we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead”.
Disciples’ investments are not in this part of heaven, but above, where moth cannot get to and where it does not decay. They are concerned about how to live a life that is pleasing to God, not how to be in vogue. They are concerned about how to be acceptable to God not how to be acceptable to the world. They know that friendship with the world is enmity with God; to be a friend of the world and be a hero to the world means to be an enemy of God.
There is no automatic escape from hell for you for the fact that you are a Christian. In hell, there would be millions of Christians. Jesus is looking for those who would worship Him in spirit and in truth not through a man, church or an organization. We will not line up behind our leader, pastor or church in the judgment. You will personally and individually be responsible for anything you did or believed, regardless of how or who made you to believe it.
It is only faith in Jesus that God is looking for not commitment to your church. You can be committed to the church and never know Jesus. You can even administer baptism and perform many great miracles because of your great titles and yet, Jesus would claim never to know you. He asked some to depart from Him that he did not know them because they are workers of iniquity despite those people claimed they performed many mighty works IN HIS NAME.
Disciples are those who have stayed with Jesus. They know Him, not know about Him, and He knows them. They have formation in Christ not information about Him. They have left all and following Him. They are not following Him because of benefits but because of their eternity. They not only desire his acts, but His ways. They only live in the world but they are not of the world. They follow Jesus not the world system. They are not filled with the cares and desires of the world but filled with the Holy Ghost and power.
It is interesting to know that Stephen and Philip were ordinary member of the church before they were appointed as deacons (servants). If such were to be in the church today, with their level of spiritual maturity, they would have given them titles next to God’s. WHEN THE TITLE IS TOO BIG, IT IS TO COVER UP THE SMALLNESS OF WHAT IS INSIDE. WHEN THE NOISE IS MUCH, IT IS AN INDICATION THAT THERE IS PERHAPS LITTLE OR NOTHING INSIDE, FOR AN EMPTY BARREL MAKES THE LOUDEST NOISE. Jesus never announced himself, he was announced. Even when he was announced, he rebuked them. Greater is a disciple walking in the commandments of God than a god working his own miracles.
Who then is a disciple?
A disciple is not born, he is made. A disciple learned to be a disciple. It involves a walk. It involves a doing. A disciple is not made by once a week Bible study or few weeks of ‘believer’s class’ or even a Sunday Sunday miracles rally. How people turn to be ‘God’s generals’ within a short time of conversion is a mystery. It’s like a 6 years old baby already nursing her own babies! Maturity, whether physical or spiritual, takes a gradual process. It took Jesus 3.5 years of daily instruction to make only 12 disciples. They lived together, ate together, slept together and did everything together and yet, it took him that long to make only twelve. After Paul’s conversion, he was in Arabia for three and a half years receiving instruction to become a disciple. He did not put a big signboard out to recruit crowd; after all, they knew his testimonies. Becoming a disciple is a deliberate, conscious and determined process of becoming like Jesus in words, deeds and actions and not by name alone. GOD IS LOOKING FOR FRUITS, NOT TITLES. HE IS LOOKING FOR THE CALLING NOT THE COLLAR.
Jesus was speaking of disciples when He said: “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: Lk. 12:51. Disciples are always few because it entails a lot of denials, and that is why they are called disciples. Disciples must be willing to leave Egypt, ambition, desire, friends, fashion, plans, etc, to follow Jesus. They have only one ambition: to please their master only.
Isn’t it appalling to know that many thought they had been disciples but they haven’t? This is the reason why many so called men of God could not make one. You don’t wake up suddenly and become one. Being discipled is not receiving instruction as one of the crowd gathering to hear a man speak and making jottings. It involves a relationship, a Paul-Timothy relationship, personal tutelage. For every disciple there is a discipler. It is easy to be lost in the crowd but difficult to be lost as a disciple. Jesus said I know my sheep and they know me (Jn. 10:27).
It’s only in Christendom that we have many fathers, yet many are bastards: everybody who is a success in ministry is their father. Many have claimed to receive instruction from ‘father in the Lord’ who never knew a child exist somewhere, let alone plan for him. Paul corrected such in 1Cor. 4:15. What a one-sided relationship that is? A child without a father figure would be delinquent, having no voice and love to nurture them until they become matured and can also disciple others. Disciples have a commitment to please God in the talk, dress, life actions, etc. They minister Christ with their lives even when they are not talking. Their life is an epistle that people read. God is glorified in all that they do. Their prayer is not asking for things but seeking for His very presence.
Are you just a Christian or a disciple? A Christian is satisfied as long as they eat bread. He does not care to know how to fish as long as he gets fish to eat. He is dependents, spiritually passive and indolent. He has no interest in the Bible as long as someone tells him what is there whether true of false. He believes more in the anointing oil and other preparation by the so called men of God. He does not walk in covenant promise but live in fear of tomorrow. He lives on charity for survival because he does not know God’s provision for his life. There is no maturity, but stagnation. He believes church attendance and activity group is what makes a Christian. There is a secretary between him and God. He has no spiritual sensitivity to hear God and when He talks, he does not hear. He always wonders how God speak to people. To him it’s a mystery. God is a deity to him not a father. He can’t approach him, except when he is in need: then, he looks for a seer to steal God’s plan for his life.
It is the same in the physical, when you become too comfortable where you are it is a sign and an indication that you are not growing. It is stagnation. If you stay too long in a place where you eat bread, you will develop spiritual poverty mentality: you become barren and shallow. You lose all hunger for more of Jesus.
The line is drawn. God is not looking for just ‘Christians’, but disciples. Are you one? A self proclaimed one or a God-proclaimed one? Don’t wait till eternity to answer that question. You can take a step to become one now. Will you do that, regardless of your title or years of experience as a Christian or say it’s a hard saying, who can hear it!