1 Samuel 15 New King James Version (NKJV)
15 Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack[a] Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”

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We see many Churches today neglecting the needs (physical or material) needs of their members and pouring money into building projects, media outreach, etc. Please, how can you neglect to show love to the people you see – those around you but claim to show love to people you do not see (those who watch TV or listen to radio stations)? We must understand the deep implications of "first love". We must start by first showing love to those we see in our Churches and then we can, in a very powerful way, reach out to those out there who we do not see or who are not in close proximity to us. 

 

The best strategy is to, "Take good care of your people - your members", first. Assist them from the money collected. Also, teach them how to make money. And then they will be empowered and encouraged to join hands with you to reach out to those out there through TV, Radio, etc. They also will be inspired to show love to others as they go about their daily activities. "Love is contagious." The love they receive from their Churches will "infect them" and they will spread it! 

 

Yes, money should be allocated to buildings and outreach activities. But enough money MUST be allocated to "welfare". We take care of our people and then (together) we can more readily do so much more with regards to impacting our world. This is the strategy the likes of the Apostles Peter and Paul implemented. This is one key reason they had so much impact during their time – a very great impact that reverberates even to this day. This is one very important ingredient you need to create a sustainable impact on "the World Mind". 

During Jesus' public ministry, Judas Iscariot was his treasurer. The money in his care was used to take care of the families of the Master's Apostles - for these Apostles "left all" to follow Him. Money was also used for the welfare of others. Some of the money also went towards the Master's material needs and that of the 12. The "behind the scenes" effective administration of money played a very, very important role in the success of Jesus' public gospel ministry. We must learn to take care of our people – our members. 

You may ask, “Was the money in Judas' purse used to meet the needs of Jesus, his Apostles and their families?” It may not be there in black and white in the Bible. However, we can deduce. Judas Iscariot was the treasurer. Now, what did they do with the money? We know the Apostles "left all" to follow Jesus, to be with Him in His travels and all that. Sometimes they would go fishing. But that was never enough to meet their daily needs and that of their respective families... Please, take note: we are talking about meeting needs not funding luxuries!

We know Jesus did not erect buildings with the money. So, the question remains, "Please, what did they do with the money?" Some of it went into meeting the needs of their families. Some went into taking care of other people. 

Let's look at the miracle of feeding the multitude with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Mark 6:35-37, "And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”" 

We need the power of deduction; the ability to draw inferences. Jesus told his Apostles, “You give them something to eat.” We can infer from this statement that, this was not the first time Jesus and his team fed people. Look at the conversation very closely, please. The Apostles were not surprised about that statement. They were used to feeding people. But they were concerned that they did not have enough on that day to feed those present. Jesus wanted them to feed the people. However, right there and then, they had only two hundred denarii. It was not enough. Hence, the Master made a decision to resort to a miracle... This tells you that it was not uncommon to see Jesus and His Apostles dipping their hands into their Ministry's funds to meet the needs of people. Remember, they had a Ministry purse. Judas Iscariot was their treasurer. Donations from Ministry partners were kept by Judas. 

Also, consider how the 12 Apostles lived in the early days of the Church (Please, see Acts 4). In Acts 4, it was easy for them to bring money together and provide for the needs of the believers because they were already used to such things. When Jesus was with them, they cooperated to meet one another's needs. After Jesus left, they continued in that practice. But of course, we know they took it too far, selling all their belongings, laying the proceeds at "the Apostles' feet", believing the world was soon to end. The world never ended and believers from other parts of the world had to come to their rescue. Anyway, back to the key point, which is this: The spirit of working together, as believers to see that nobody suffers lack.Churches or Gospel Groups should hold onto this spirit. It is a powerful strategy to show love and spread love. 

We should not spend too much money erecting physical buildings and paying for media outreach at the detriment of meeting the needs of our members, most especially the poor in our midst. We cannot claim to have the love of God for "the world" when we neglect the people in our midst. Take care of your people. Empower them. Then you all can do a far better job in ministering to the world out there. This is what Jesus did. Peter and Paul as well. And boy, did they spread their message far and wide? You bet! 

Every generation is different. We may have physical buildings today. And it's okay. (These buildings must be realistic and “within budget”.) But we must not neglect the poor and needy in our midst. If we neglect them, then it shows we do not have a clear understanding of the gospel that Jesus presented. 

 

Commentary: 

We MUST ask, "Please, what should be done with the monies collected?" In the Bible, we see that Jesus (inferred from Mark 6:35-37); His 12 Apostles (Acts 4:32-37) and the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 16:1-4) used monies collected to MEET THE NEEDS (PHYSICAL NEEDS) OF PEOPLE. Money was not used to erect ridiculously expensive buildings or projects that are way out of budget. Also, money was NOT used to fund luxurious lifestyles of Ministry or Church leaders. Yes, some of the money went into meeting the needs of leaders. But it was their basic needs. Nowhere in the NT (New Testament scriptures) did Ministry money go into funding or paying for extravagant expenses, ludicrous expenses, luxuries, and whatnot. 

Acts 4:32-37
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Beloved, I hope you saw it (verse 35). The money "was distributed to anyone who had need". The needs of the leaders and their members were met. It was not the needs of the leaders alone. And it was their "basic needs" NOT extravagant, luxurious "wants" like very expensive cars, private jets, million-dollar mansions, etc. Ministry money is not for funding luxurious lifestyles. Anyone who wishes to live in luxury MUST go work for the money himself/herself – go get a job that pays you six figures or more or go start and run your own private business with your own money and then develop it into a multi-million dollar business and then fund your luxuries with "your own money" NOT Church's money. 

1 Corinthians 16:1-4
1 Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.

It is very clear in verse 1: "Now about the collection for the Lord’s people..." Paul raised money to meet the needs of people! Jesus, the 12 Apostles and the Apostle Paul WERE PEOPLE FOCUSED! The needs of people - most especially, fellow believers (or "Church members") were not neglected. All the monies were not poured into taking care of the Senior Pastor alone; into buildings alone; and not into outreach expenses alone. But today, we see Ministries pouring so much money on Radio, TV and Internet outreaches AND close their eyes to the needy in their midst. Very un-Jesus-like. "Please, where is your love?" 1 Corinthians 13 highlights: If I do not have love, I am nothing... 

When your heart is quickened by the all-powerful, life transforming teachings of Jesus Christ, you will not only preach and teach. You will also be interested in identifying various areas of need in the society. You will then do something remarkable to meet these needs. A spirit-filled life is devoted to doing practical, physical things to meet needs in addition to “talk, preach and pray”. Jesus met physical needs. He fed people. The Apostles met the physical or material needs of their members with the money laid at their feet. The Apostle Paul raised money to meet needs of believers who were going through financial hardship. When Missionaries came to Nigeria, they also met physical needs: free education, free health care (or very easily affordable), etc. When Caucasians from the Southern Baptist Convention, United States of America came to Eku, Delta State to preach and teach, they set up the Eku Baptist Hospital. Was it not free or easily affordable? By their fruits you shall know them. It’s not by mere grandstanding and speaking grammar. 

If a preacher is spending millions of US dollars per year in the ownership, use and maintenance of a private jet, then how much money is he/she spending in showing love to the poor and the needy - how much goes towards meeting their physical needs: food, shelter, skills acquisition programs, money management skills, health care, etc? How much is spent in solving social problems? How much? Please, compare and contrast. Discover where his/her heart is

 

Matthew 8:4, “And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.” Please beloved, note that this is just one example. There are others. 

There is an incident where our Master Son, Jesus Christ told two individuals to make mention about healing, miracles, signs and wonders. And it was a specific instruction for a very specific reason - to encourage John the Baptist: 

Matthew 11:2-6, "And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

 

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”"

 

Even this specific instruction from Jesus to a specific individual, John has been twisted by many fame seeking preachers and used as a reason to shout and make so much noise about the miraculous. But this was not the Master’s example. Jesus said, "Go and tell John..." He did not say, "Go and shout it everywhere; tell everyone; make so much noise about it. Spend a lot of time on it."

Jesus Christ discouraged unnecessary noise about the miraculous because he knew such a practice would create distractions from the spiritual work of spending quality time in dishing out teachings that would transform souls; transform people's character inside-out; teachings that would cause them to grow spiritually and be drawn closer to the Father - to forge a living and a vibrant one-on-one personal relationship with the heavenly Father. 

Placing too much emphasis and time on healing, miracles, signs and wonders can have an adverse effect of people just coming to God for what they think they can get from God without being interested in the ways of God. They also may become lazy and fail to use their brains to develop man-made cures for their physical maladies or physical, natural problems. Advancements in man's work, for example, Science and Technology, the Arts, etc would suffer. 

Does God perform miracles today to solve physical or material problems? Of course, "Yes". God intervenes. However, he would prefer humankind discovers and comes up with the cures or solutions. That's one of the reasons he gave us a brain. God would rather focus on our salvation and spiritual development. These are things Science and Technology (for example) cannot do for us. But the things Science and Technology can do for you, God would rather have you get them done through Science and Technology. Nevertheless, in his infinite love and mercies, he still intervenes for us, even to this day. Amen.

 

= = = 

 

(Please brothers and sisters, note that broadcasting, shouting and making so much noise about the miraculous is not a sin. However, there are dangers or disadvantages to it. Therefore, Jesus cautioned against it.) 

 

1) Matthew 8:4 (A leper, healed)

Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
 

2) Mark 7:33-36 (A deaf and mute man, healed)

So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them, the more widely they proclaimed it.
 

3) Matthew 9:29-30 (Two blind men, healed)

Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.” And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one finds out about this!”
 

4) Mark 5:41-43 (Jairus' daughter brought back to life)

Taking her by the hand, Jesus said, “Talitha koum!” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” Immediately the girl got up and began to walk around. She was twelve years old, and at once they were utterly astounded. Then Jesus gave strict orders that no one should know about this, and He told them to give her something to eat.
 

5) Mark 8:25-26 (A blind man at Bethsaida, healed)

Once again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, and when he opened them his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly. Jesus sent him home and said, “Do not go back into the village.”
 

{Karo's commentary: “Do not go back into the village.”...because he did not want him to go into the village to make so much noise about the miracle; create a stir and get himself (Jesus) jampacked with a lot of miracle seekers. This would take time away from the all-important work of preaching and teaching. Besides, mankind is expected by God to come up with solutions to physical problems. Nevertheless, he does intervene sometimes.}
 

6) Mark 7:24 (Jesus did not want anyone to know he was in the region of Tyre)

Jesus left that place and went to the region of Tyre. Not wanting anyone to know He was there, He entered a house, but was unable to escape their notice.
 

{Karo's commentary: A key question is why did he not want anyone to know he was there? Perhaps, he needed some rest. He wanted to get away for a time. Broadcasting or making so much noise about the miraculous can get you to end up not having enough private time for yourself. Jesus wanted to avoid that. This is another reason he discouraged people from making so much noise about it. Some believers have worn themselves out for failing to take a cue from this important attitude of the Master. You have to learn to take care of yourself. Then you can do a much better job of taking care of others. This is sometimes misunderstood as selfishness. It is not.}
 

These are just a few examples. You can be rest assured that there are more cases, when you consider Christ's over 30 years of living on the planet as "son of man and Son of God in one".
 

~Brother Karo Kanye Akamune.

 

 

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In the after-life, when the physical body shell is discarded, these feelings of pains/sorrows or joy/gladness are highly, greatly amplified to the "nth degree". The joy, gladness and love become really, really "unspeakable"! The pains, sorrows and guilt become really, really amplified too. The physical, carnal body really does insulate us from or limit us from having a complete or total, all-encompassing feeling of "actual realities". The mortal death (the first death), changes all that.

However, the heavenly Father, the Father of all does not keep souls in hell forever. We must ask, "Keeping souls in hell eternally... ...Please, what purpose does it serve? How does that add value to the eternal plan and purpose of God? Who benefits from that?"

Revelation 20:14 says, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Clearly, "hell" is not the same as "the lake of fire". If they are the same, hell will not be cast into the lake of fire. Hell cannot be cast into itself. So, please, what does this text mean? The mortal death is the first death. Now, some people will find themselves in hell. But after a while, "death and hell" would be cast into the lake of fire. What does this mean? It means they would go from hell to the lake of fire. Why?

The thing is, the love, mercy and justice of our changeless or immutable heavenly Father is far, far beyond our human understanding. Even in hell, people would have an opportunity to make an eternally binding decision to totally and completely reject God and his eternal plan and purpose. This decision, in all fairness, has to be made "consciously" and "wholeheartedly". True justice demands this. And many times, the confusion and turmoil of the very short life on Earth does not afford people the opportunity to make this decision. In all fairness, they must be afforded this opportunity. We are talking about souls that cannot be admitted into "heaven" - they have not met the requirements but at the same time, they have not fully and wholeheartedly rejected God - consciously or knowingly.

This is where "hell" comes in. It's a temporary holding place. If the soul repents completely and wholeheartedly submits to the Father's eternal plan, purpose and love, he (or she) gains the right to "ascend" to the celestial abodes of glory (a.k.a. heaven). If the soul refuses to wholeheartedly embrace the divine love and to fall in line with God's eternal plan and purpose, then there's nothing else Deity can do for such a soul. His/her final destination becomes "the lake of fire", which is "the second death" (Revelation 20:14).

"The lake of fire" is a coded term for annihilation or cessation of being. The individual will cease to exist. That's it. To God and to righteous spirits, cessation of being is a most painful thing - beyond what human words can describe. To them, it is synonymous with being cast into a lake of fire, world without end. The lake of fire is cessation of being. The soul has consciously and wholeheartedly decided not to be a part of God's eternal adventure. He (or she) would be let go!

Yes, Jesus Christ said in hell, the worms do not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48). But he never said the soul would be there eternally. After the first death (physical body death), if the soul lands in hell, he/she would continue his/her existence there. If that soul totally and completely refuses to be salvaged, he/she would experience death. This is the second death - the death of the soul. This means, "death and hell" for that particular individual is cast into "the lake of fire". This is the final judgment. There is no resurrection whatsoever for the individual at this stage. There is no resurrection from the second death.

The first death is death of the mortal flesh. But the soul continues to exist. The second death is death of the soul. With regards to "the spirit", it is with God - the spirit returns to God after the first death. At the second death, "the personality" returns to God. The soul disintegrates into nothingness. Anything of eternal value from the life experiences of the individual is preserved in "the spirit".

It is very important for us to understand that many times, symbols are used by the heavenly realms to communicate information to us, who live in the earthly realm. In your dream experiences, you may be shown "hell fire". This does not mean in literal terms there is a physical fire with people burning in it. The fire, the worms, etc that you may see are symbolic. You may even see angels interacting with the souls there. And the "interaction" may appear to your mortal mind as "torture". In actuality, the angels are ministering to the souls, seeking to assist them to evolve. What you see as "torture from angels" is symbolic. The soul is being provided opportunities to face what is holding him/her back from wholeheartedly embracing the divine love and the divine way. The weights and chains keeping him down in the pits of hell have to be broken to allow him ascend to heaven. It's not a walk in the park. There's conflict. There's pain. There's sorrow. It is what it is. But one day, a final choice will be made... 

No one will be in great pains and sorrows forever and ever in some hell. Being in hell eternally serves no value to anyone. It adds nothing to our heavenly Father's eternal plan and purpose. Nothing. It benefits no one. It adds nothing to the Father's eternal Kingdom. Plain and simple. The unfathomable love of the Father of fathers will go at any length to salvage or save his child. But that which love cannot save does not exist forever. Justice will terminate it. Some people do not understand these things, in part, because they have a very, very limited and a very, very faulty viewpoint of the concept of the soul. May the eyes of our understanding be enlightened. Amen.

I greet you!
- Brother Karo Kanye Akamune

 

 

Meditate on these questions, please:
1) If the shedding of blood is a must requirement for the forgiveness of sins, how come Jesus forgave people their sins as he went about preaching and teaching - before he was crucified?

2) What is justice? Is it justice to punish an innocent man for the crime, sins and misdeeds of guilty offenders?

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