Endurance Brings About Eternal Salvation

 Weak Human Will

"but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved" (Matthew 24:13 NIV). "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him" (James 1:12 NIV).

A few years ago, my family and I decided to invite a young man over to live with us so that we may keep him away and occupied with tasks to make him forget about his drug addiction and bad company. As a matter of fact, it was the third we offered to help him escape from his corrupt company. Being a praying and God-fearing family, we encouraged him to accept Christ as Lord without forcing him to do so. Furthermore, as a Christian duty, we are obligated to witness and make disciples (1 Corinthians 9:16). 

After a few weeks of witnessing and prayer, the young man committed his life to the Lord, and his conversion was genuine as he was delivered from his drug addiction and cigarettes. Over a few weeks, he learned new skills and gradually improved his relationship with God. 

Briefly, where the young man came from most of his peers and cousins were on some addiction(s). When he went home (where he came from) for a few days, he was greatly complimented by everyone who knew his former way of life and he became the envy of many. I can still fondly remember the words one afternoon when he announced to us that he got a job, it was a bitter-sweet surprise to us. Sweet because the Lord has answered his prayers for a job, bitter because he will be working with one of his former drug buddies.  I did not feel good about it, I, however, encouraged him to remain faithful to the Lord and that he should resist temptation. 

It was then that he said, to me, "I don't want to lose my salvation and be lost for all eternity". Those words were very reassuring and we released him by praying for his well-being. The moment he left us for work, he was offered on-the-job accommodation and it was as if he was waiting for his 'freedom' and he went back immediately to his old life with a passionate indulgence (1 Samuel 14:32). As a result, the strong man of drugs and alcohol devastated his life so much that the Lord gave me a word to warn him that his days were numbered, even that did not deter him or spur him on to repentance. He simply replied, 'if I have to die so, be it'.

Consequently, about 10 months later he died suddenly in a terrible car accident without Christ, because the Lord did reveal to us that he was not among the living (Luke 24:5). 

Finally, are you struggling with some addiction or stronghold? If so, separate yourself from others and seek the face of the Lord in intense prayer and fasting for any number of days, He will hear you and answer your request and deliver you. I am a former addict of alcohol and cigarettes and the Lord Jesus Christ cleansed me from it all more than 12 years ago!

Blessed Grace

Brother Glenn

Violent Christians

Being Violent is An Act Of Self-Will

“Don't be envious of evil men; neither desire to be with them for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about mischief” (Proverbs 24:1-2 WEB).

Short Vision On South Africa's next Leader, you may find it here.

We will be brief in this article and it is intended to serve as a reminder that violent Christians displeases the Lord. Also, we formally wrote an article as commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ about ‘fighting’, and this was not widely welcomed by some Christians. Some wrote to us asking how they are supposed to defend themselves and their families if they are not allowed to fight in self-defence. Brethren, we can only report to what the Lord commands, and from our own experiences with the Lord and we can recall that He warned some of us not to behave violently in any manner (Malachi 2:16).

It is common knowledge that a Christian who responds violently to any given situation acts out of anger and malice (Ephesians 4:31) and as a result no good is being achieved when the force of anger is being used to settle matters, instead it creates ill feelings, disunity and an ungodly appetite for revenge. The motive does not issue not from love (Matthew 5:44) as we are being commanded, but from anger and self-will and when we responds from self-will we are not being submissive to Christ (James 4:7). Scripturally, we are being warned not to sin purposely (1 John 3:9) while bearing the Christian name, this is shameful to what the Lord Himself stood for and His followers are to imitate Him (1 John 2:6).

How The Lord Rebuked And Punished A Violent Tempered Brother

In an experience a brother had with someone else some time ago, the brother reported that he was verbally attacked by someone very close to him and without thinking he reacted violently and with evil intentions attacking his verbal abuser. We can tell you, this behaviour did not please the Lord at all, the brother was sternly rebuked and the Lord Himself issued the brother with a shameful punishment. Let me tell you, the Lord said as much as he (the brother) wanted to humiliate the other instead of obeying and forgiving like He did (1 Peter 4:14, Romans 15:3), He was going to give the brother a humbling punishment and He did as we have seen from the things the brother went through.

Like we reported elsewhere on this website and above, some Christians think that the Lord will leave them without punishment for deliberate sinning (Hebrews 10:26; 12:6) and the punishment is not always easy to bear (Genesis 4:13), but we have a sinful defect to learn from and not repeat. The application of violent force onto another person is out right humiliating and the person doing it expresses disrespectfulness and a form of dominance over the other and for this God will not leave you unpunished.

Furthermore, we know that the Lord Himself was often threatened with violence yet He never threatened back (John 8:59; 10:31). In a gesture of evil, His opponents finally brutalised His body in a show of force (John 19:1; Matthew 27:32-56) to quench their evil hate for the Lord and yet they were forgiven (Luke 23:34).

In conclusion, brethren acting violently when we are being insulted or provoked only displays the weaknesses within us, and those weaknesses exposes the deep rooted evil of Unforgiveness, grudges and hate within us (1 Peter 2:1; Ephesians 4:31). It is a fact, there are some Christians who are out right violent. And while they hide behind the legal principle of self-defence which is often legally permissible, but not Godly acceptable (1 Corinthians 10:23), our Lord commands us to refrain from all forms of violence which is often rooted in evil retribution (Colossians 3:8; Ephesians 4:30-31). I have heard many times how some Christian brethren confessed saying that if they were not Christian they would have attacked someone, what an appetite for violence and how ungodly instead of just saying, ‘I forgive you’ and act forgivingly. This actually reminds me of a situation in which a certain brethren in the Lord confessed that she forgave a certain brother for something he did, but she used that same offence the brother committed to voice her hurt, and clearly there was no forgiveness if there was, love would have been present instead of avoiding the brother who offended you. The lord said that Christians who are in such bondage will not see His Kingdom for no sin will ever be justified despite the offence, love must take over (1 Peter 4:8).

Now Brethren if you have a violent heart, stop watching violent movies that promotes a spirit of grudges and evil feelings of hatred, we encourage you to REPENT! As Christians, let us love, (John 13:34) let us forgive, let us share with our offenders (Christian or non-Christian) and this will be an expression of our true Godly love (Proverbs 25:22) and this will free us from God’s coming wrath against such offenders (John 8:32; Philippians 2:15). The price of our salvation is very high, purity and a blameless mind (Ephesians 5:27).

For those who are not saved yet, If you are willing to turn your life over to God, please start by praying this Prayer of Sincere Repentance.
For questions or comments on this article or our ministry, please contact us.

Blessed Grace in Peace

Brother Glenn

Being A Good Samaritan

 Doing Good Works

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:38 NIV).

On Friday 9 October 2020, I received a message from the Lord Jesus through a dream that He made me understand that He has anointed and called all Christians to do good, but many ignore the direction of the Holy Spirit when the Lord opens an opportunity for them to do good. Furthermore, the Lord added that no selfless effort a Christian employs in doing good to others will go unnoticed (Mark 10:30).

Kindly allow us to share some of our experiences here. Since my wife’s mother and my father live about 300KM away from us, as a family, we often set out to visit them and on about six or seven occasions we experienced problems with our car with some mechanical issues even after we had it fully serviced before we would embark on our journey. However, driving an older used car and acquiring the services of backyard mechanics (we are not being ungrateful here) there would always be some additional mechanical issues that would remain unresolved.

Like the Apostle Paul and Luke (Acts 21:5), we never go on our journey without praying and the Lord has preserved our lives on all our journeys Praise be to Him!  Now, of all those unfortunate situations only one ‘Good Samaritan’ (without us asking for help) came our way on a very cold, windy, and rainy day may the Lord bless that man and his precious family for opening their hearts and their home for me and my wife and children. On that cold day, that man was in a hurry to go fetch his wife at work after that he suspended all his activities and got his wife involved and they invited us to their place while he arranged for someone to get our Van fixed (Matthew 25:31-40).

Do Not Grow Tired of Serving Others

Again, in August this year (2020) we had another incident with our Van and the same family ungrudgingly opened their hearts again and helped us with accommodation, however this time the Lord wanted them to hear the Precious and Priceless Gospel from me and that was God remembering the good they did to me and others (Acts 10:4-5). Therefore, if we help others or give grudgingly we forfeit our blessings and we hinder the Lord to save others (Matthew 16:23) and we deny God the glory  (Colossians 3:23).

In addition, we should remember that the bible says that if we ignore the cry of the poor for help when it is our turn to ask for help from God Almighty, He will ignore our cries too (Proverbs 21:13). In 2009 when I attended a Bible School pastoral course, I was unemployed and as a result, I was unable to pay my tuition fees so a brother in the Lord paid on my behalf about two installments without letting me know and when I approached the dean to explain my situation to him he told me that someone paid for me. Now that was God!

In conclusion, we can recall how happy the Lord was with a dear sister in our ministry who showed kindness to a needy person and for her effort, the Lord promised to bless the sister for her selfless efforts and that her good works of ministry will serve as a testimony on the day of the Lord and we know that day is very near (Revelation 14:13). Let us be eager and remember our poor brethren amongst us our giving serves as thanks offering to the Lord (1 Chronicles 29:14).

Brethren as a final encouragement, we all still have an opportunity to change the lives of others around us. The Lord has not just called those in ministry but everyone to work for the good of others and you too will be rewarded even if you start today please consider this scripture (Matthew 20:6-14).

 Blessed Grace

Brother Glenn

The Deceitfulness Of Date Setting

  The Deceitfulness Of Date Setting On God's Events

He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know"(Acts 1:9).

NOTICE: PLEASE NOTE THAT WE WILL HAVE AN ARTICLE READY 

TOMORROW 15/11/2022. WE SINCERELY APOLOGISE FOR THE 

INCONVENIENCE.

Brethren, kindly allow me an opportunity to reflect on a few things the Lord taught us. 

The Lord Jesus Christ is warning Christians who fall into the trap of date setting for His coming or His judgments. This goes against the spirit of hope that we are encouraged to have and who hopes for something he knows about? (Romans 8:24-25). Love will continue to draw people to Christ, not judgment which is for the disobedient! There is a YouTube channel where dates for events are set. Remember what we said elsewhere on this blog, the Lord will NOT give a date for certain things to happen, because people will expect, He will unveil His Presence and calamity for the world 'as a thief in the night' (Revelation 16:15; Matthew 24:43; I Thessalonians 5:2).

The Day Of His Visitation

A few years ago, the Lord gave me a promise through a message to us that He was going to bless me with a spiritual gift. What exciting news that was to me! I immediately inquired from the Lord what type of spiritual gift it would be and when I'll be receiving it, but the Lord's gentle answer on about three occasions was the same, "Your father must just continue to pray, he will receive His spiritual gift". 

It then happened that one Wednesday evening while I was preaching the gospel the Lord bestowed the spiritual gift upon me with power and those who listened to the message I preached confirmed that they felt God's awesome Presence and that I was not the same as before (1 Samuel 10:9). The following morning the Lord said, "Your father has received his spiritual gift", and this has remained with me ever since, I humbly worship God the Father in Jesus' name!

On another occasion, the Lord promised our ministry a prayer house and a vehicle to help us in our witnessing ministry, He did not reveal dates or times on when we would receive the promises after a period of more than two years, but every time we would inquire when the gifts would be coming, He again encouraged us to continue in prayer. As it was, for this gift, there was no announcement but just confirmations in dreams and visions, we knew the Lord blessed us with a prayer house only on the day we signed for the property. Hallelujah, What an AWESOME GOD WE SERVE!

On yet another occasion, I trusted the Lord for another blessing and He promise that I would receive it and that I should just continue believing and praying for the thing daily which I did, and surprisingly, the next morning the Lord announced that I will be receiving the thing I prayed for on that day and GLORY TO THE LORD ALMIGHTY, IT WAS SO!

Similarly, when God Almighty promised Abraham that He would bless him with a son and make him the father of many nations, Abraham had to wait for almost 25 years hoping against hope and the Lord proved His faithfulness at His own set times (Genesis 17:4-5; 18:10). 

In addition, when the Father was about to send our Lord Jesus Christ into the world, He send His messengers to announce the coming of the Messiah in the flesh (Isaiah 9:6; Micah 5:2; Luke 2:11; John 1:29).

 Essentially, today's message is a warning from the Lord to the brethren to guard against some people who are preaching 'date settings' in the Holy name of the Lord. Over the years, we have witnessed how countless people were being shamed for giving dates in the name of the Lord which has never come to pass. Brethren, we must escape the trap of date setting, the Lord, God Almighty alone determines the times and seasons and when He reveals it to His servants they will announce His plans, while He will execute His will on the day of His choosing (Isaiah 49:8).

Blessed Love

Brother Glenn