14/07/2024
Of Subtleties and Subterfuge from the Pulpit
As the world spirals out of control, one of the biggest challenges for today’s Christian is the ability to discern the still small voice of the Spirit of God amidst the strident din of alluring, but noisome and misleading tunes reverberating across the spiritual landscape.
In 1 Corinthians 14:10, Paul tells us that;
“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.”
In other words, there’s a myriad of voices speaking and each one of them has a reason, a particular purpose, a specific agenda behind the utterances being made. “None of them is without signification.”
It does not matter whether you understand what is being uttered or not. These voices are deliberate and designed to accomplish specific purposes. These voices are orchestrated, choreographed, commissioned and prompted by some specific entity. The identity of this entity can only be discerned spiritually. In other words, you need the Spirit of God to help you identify the energy behind the voices.
There is a systematic push towards universalism by some supposed ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Along with leaders of other faiths and persuasions, these men are propagating a syncretism of the religions of the world, as part of what eventuate the new world order – one world religion, one world government. They aim to blur the distinctively delineated boundaries set by Jesus Christ when he declared in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh to the Father, but by Me.”
They lead their congregations on by telling them half-truths. “God is love,” they bellow, but fail to warn the people about the coming judgment and the wrath to come. They teach that religions are of God and He does not discriminate. “You don’t have to be a Christian to call on God. He is the God of all flesh,” they assert. But these are half-truths.
Recently, I saw a short clip on social media where renowned heretic, Abel Damina was addressing his devotees that a Muslim in a mosque or an unbeliever in a shrine can pray to God from a sincere heart and God will answer him.
It’s seems simple enough – and innocent and true. In the Word of God, we see unbelievers who had encounters with God – from Abram to Rahab, to Naomi, to Naaman, and many more.
In the story of Naaman the Syrian General, he had a skin disease and when a Israelite maid in his kitchen boasted that the prophet in Israel could heal him, he acted accordingly. Naaman believed the report of the maid, so he packed his bags and went to Israel. He had to believe what the prophet said to him to go dip in the Jordan seven times. Naaman exercised faith. He BELIEVED.
Rahab was a harlot in Jericho. She had heard about the God of Israel. She was convinced about what she heard. If she wasn’t, she would have sold the spies out. But she hid them. Afterwards, she negotiated the salvation of her household with them. She was not an Israelite, but she heard a report and she believed it. She had faith in the God she didn’t know previously, so much so she is recorded in the genealogy of Jesus.
History tells us that Abram was an idol worshipper in his father’s house in Mesopotamia when God appeared and revealed Himself to him as the true God – and Abram believed Him. He could have dismissed the manifestation, but Abram chose to believe and today, he is known as the Father of faith.
So far, so good; it seem. God can and will reveal Himself to anyone He chooses to. He searches the heart of all men. From these examples, we won’t find anything wrong with what Damina said – until you listen further. Remember what I said about half-truths? You need to listen closely and you can see where Damina is heading.
To buttress his argument, or emphasize his point, Damina asked, “The people that Jesus answered their prayers in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, were they Christians? Did they believe in him?” he promptly answered “No. They didn’t.”
Herein lies the subtlety. Prayer is an act of faith – and faith is simply believing. In the Gospels, the people who came to Jesus seeking solutions, all came because they heard about him, and they believed he had the solution – based on the report they had heard. “Faith comes by hearing...”
Everyone who came to Jesus heard something about him. From Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue to the woman with the issue of blood, to blind Bartimaeus, to the ten lepers; there was a report they heard which they believed. They believed that Jesus could do something about their conditions, their situation. Damina, on the contrary says, they didn’t believe.
“God doesn’t answer prayer because you believe.” Damina says further and subtly half quotes Isaiah 65:24, ‘Before you call...’ which he concludes with another question; “So when did you believe that He answered?”
Again, look at the subterfuge. In Romans 10:9,10; it is written: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Now, please pay attention to verse 10: “For with the heart man believeth…” The words we speak begin as thoughts in our hearts. As it is written, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” So, when the Lord began to speak in Isaiah 65 which Damina half quotes, it is because the Lord had seen the heart, even as it is written in Jeremiah 17:10. This is why God can answer before you call; He has searched your heart! Hallelujah!
But Damina is not done yet, he goes ahead and quips, mockingly “’Unto you that answereth prayers shall all Christians come?” Here, he is referencing Psalm 65:2.
“O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.”
Question: why are they coming to God? They BELIEVE God hears prayers. If they didn’t believe He hears or answers prayers they won’t come to Him. Now, the fact that He hears doesn’t mean He is going to answer all flesh. Damina knows this, so he dismisses Psalms 66:18 and tags “The prayer of a sinner is an abomination to God,” as the wrath of man.
This is a reference to Proverbs 15:8, a scenario that plays out when Cain brought his sacrifice to God. To further explain this, let’s look at Proverbs 28:9,
“He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
So, the fact that God hears prayer does not mean He answers everyone – because He has searched out the hearts. Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must BELIEVE that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
Finally, in a patronizing move and subtle search for validation, Damina delivers his pièce de résistance, when he name drops Rev. Chris Okotie. He makes it look like he is chummy with the pastor of the Household of God. He is not. The testimony about Christian brethren being angry that God would save a man like Chris Okotie after being in show business is a classic. It has played out several times and it’s right there in the Bible in the story of the prodigal son.
When the prodigal son returned home and his father threw a big feast to celebrate, the elder brother was offended and refused to come into the house. He was angry and when the father came out of the house to meet him, he complained. He couldn’t understand why his father would throw a party. As far as he was concerned, he probably would have been happy if he had heard the news that his brother was dead. Okay, maybe that’s extreme, but many Christians can be that bitter.
You see, Damina could have told his story by saying, “I heard a pastor once talk about how Christian brothers were angry when he got saved.” But no, Chris Okotie sells. Damina may have been one of the many who have come around to the Household of God and he heard the testimony that day. Damina is not chummy with Okotie. He says a whole lot of things that are totally inconsistent with the Word of God. A man who says that Jesus Christ is not the Lion of the tribe of Judah and that the elder in the book of Revelation who made that statement was in error is not friends with Chris Okotie. Selah.
Many immature Christians are applauding Damina’s errors and heresies as doctrinal truths. He is raising an army of devotees, a generation of those whom the Word of God referred to as those having itching ears (2 Tim 4:3), who will push the one world religion agenda of the Beast. Selah. He wants to blur the lines between the religions and tell people they don’t need to belong to Jesus. Whereas, it is clearly written and declared by Jesus Christ Himself in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”
Abel Damina, my final word to you: it is hard to kick against the pricks. Selah.
©‘Niyi David is of the Household of God church in Oregun, Lagos
