True Gods Don’t Need Slaves

Rules? More rules? Really? Isn’t life complicated enough, restrictive enough, without abstract rules that don’t take our unique, individual situations into account? And given that our brains are plastic, and all develop differently based on our life experiences, why even expect that a few rules might be helpful to us all? People don’t clamour for rules, even in the Bible … as when Moses comes down the mountain, after a long absence, bearing the tablets inscribed with the ten commandments, and finds the Children of Israel in revelry. They’d been Pharaoh’s slaves and subject to his tyrannical regulations for four hundred years, and after that Moses subjected them to the harsh desert wilderness for another forty years, to purify them of their slavishness.

Now, free at last, they are unbridled and have lost all control as they dance wildly around an idol, a golden calf, displaying all manner of corporeal corruption. “I’ve got some good news … and I’ve got some bad news, ” the lawgiver yells to them. “Which do you want first?” “The good news!” the hedonists reply. “I got Him from the fifteen commandments down to ten!” “Hallelujah!” cries the unruly crowd. “And the bad?” “Adultery is still in.” So, rules there will be—but, please, not too many. We are ambivalent about rules, even when we know they are good for us. If we are spirited souls, if we have character, rules seem restrictive, an affront to our sense of agency and our pride in working out our own lives.

Why should we be judged according to another’s rule? And judged we are. After all, God didn’t give Moses “The Ten Suggestions,” he gave Commandments; and if I’m a free agent, my first reaction to a command might just be that nobody, not even God, tells me what to do, even if it’s good for me. But the story of the golden calf also reminds us that without rules, we quickly become slaves to our passions, and there’s nothing freeing about that. And the story suggests something more: unchaperoned, and left to our own untutored judgment, we are quick to aim low and worship qualities that are beneath us—in this case, an artificial animal that brings out our own animal instincts in a completely unregulated way.

The old Hebrew story makes it clear how the ancients felt about our prospects for civilized behaviour in the absence of rules that seek to elevate our gaze and raise our standards. One neat thing about the Bible story is that it doesn’t simply list its rules, as lawyers or legislators or administrators might; it embeds them in a dramatic tale that illustrates why we need them, thereby making them easier to understand.

Similarly, Jesus didn’t just propose or suggest he is the end to all laws written and unwritten, he tells stories, too, bringing to bear his knowledge of mankind and the ultimate goal of God which is to restore man into dominion not only over life and all its forms but most especially spiritually over the devil and every work of darkness. Unlike most storytellers who only live to tell the stories of the adventures of others, Jesus made sure that the story of salvation and eternal life is inclusive

When you hear it, be it in a sermon, or you read it on http://gbengawemimo.com, or a friend tells you the story of how he or she was saved There is always that moment when you have to accept the story as true and then take a step of faith by giving your life to Jesus and receiving not only the gift of the same salvation which story you have heard but also the baptism of the Holy Spirit which is the seal of God guaranteeing you eternal dominion on earth and a place among the saints in heaven.

We are all witnesses to the world we live in today, where tools like the telephone (nonliving in all its essence) have taken dominion over many human beings without any form of protest from them. Some people can literally not exist sanely if their phones are taken away from them. The mobile phone has ruined and saved many lives. In itself, it is not evil, but man has always found the best way to turn his toy into his god, even when the toy does not desire to play God.

Social media following suddenly became the new gold rush with the vain and the self-conceited seated atop the pyramid like pharaoh: Content creation became the new discovery, with creativity giving way to perversity in most cases, just to draw eyeballs and earn a few crumbs here and there.

Mankind, it would seem, is stuck in that teenage cycle in which they want to assert their independence but do not want to take any form of responsibility. I am old enough to drink, still collect money from Daddy. I am old enough to have sex, know nothing about the consequences of pregnancy… To solve this, society pushes for the making of laws and rules Like Moses, we are finding out that rules indicate that we have to answer to someone, and we really don’t want to.

We want to sit at the top of the food chain, and we do not want to answer to anyone, either living or dead. The society came up with prisons for those who would dare to live as they would in defiance of the rules, We all see how that is playing out when it comes to true justice. Those who belong in prison are roaming the streets, and those who don’t belong in prisons are stuck in them.

The solution to these issues was handed to us by Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit was given to mankind as a gift, that man may once again rule himself from within, governed by the Spirit of God and in relationship with His maker. This solves the conflict between the agency of the man and restrictive rules.

Somehow, we have also made a mess of this by turning it into religious domination of the few over the many. As expected, the many got tired of their chains and they are now revolting, calling out pastors, dragging spiritual leaders, and making a mockery of the faith that has given some to enslave and milk the few unrepentantly. Jesus did not give the world a religion. Christianity was an invention of man around the person of Christ. The early church called what they received from Jesus “The Way” for many reasons Jesus said He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life, and no one can have a relationship with God except through Him.

Those who embraced the reality of Jesus outside religion did supernatural things because the Holy Spirit liberated them from the trappings of the flesh and the limitations of human reality. Those who embraced him in the context of religion became adherents of another toy, made by man, which has now become a god he cannot control. A pastor is not a god unto his congregation, nor is a Bishop an idol.

All believers are equals in Christ as designed by the Holy Spirit. This is the only way that every believer and those who would join them will live in true dominion spiritually and materially. As long as we continue the religious model in which some will be head and many will be the tail, this endless cycle of disunity and rebellion will never end.

The church today has more miracle seekers than miracle workers, this is not the intention of Christ The church today prays more against the enemies rather than for the unbelievers, whom they refer to as their enemies; this was not the teaching of Jesus. The church today has too many serving their pastors who claim they are covering over them; this is a lie and deception to keep the sheep in line.

In Christ, all believers are saviours out of Zion; they are to be equipped and empowered to bring the good news to all mankind; this is the mandate of Christ and we must enforce it or be guilty of perverting the gospel. May the Lord guide us all in making the right choice.

PS: We will be ministering by the Spirit to all at the River on the 18th of May.

We have a mandate to affirm your sonship and your dominion over all situations and circumstances by the power of the Holy Spirit. We ask none to sow any seed or bow at our feet to treat us as masters to slaves. We know that when we agree with another in prayer as brothers and sisters, it shall be done.

Come and fellowship with us on Sunday, God bless you.

-GSW-