Jesus’ Expensive Clothes

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did.
John 19:23-24 (NLT)

The above passage describes what happened to Jesus’ belongings after he was crucified. The soldiers in charged of guarding Jesus were fighting for it. They were so concerned over the potential damage on Jesus’ clothes that they settled for a peaceful means of drawing lots for it.

What does this event tells us? Jesus must have worn expensive clothes when he was arrested. It is very unlikely for Jesus to dress at his best when he was waiting to be arrested. So, we must conclude that those clothes were his casual wear. Ask yourself this question. Supposed you throw out a piece of your casual wear clothes (like a T shirt) to a group of soldiers, will they bother to draw lots over it?

This event tells us that Jesus was so rich that even his casual wear was very expensive, at least expensive enough for the soldiers of the mighty Roman Empire to draw lots for it.

We can see Jesus’ life on earth as an example for us. Jesus was never sick. We can never read in the Bible where Jesus got sick and had to visit a doctor. Instead, Jesus was the doctor for many who were sick. Jesus had perfect health when he was on earth.

Jesus was also very rich. His family received boxes of gold even before he reached the age of 2. When Jesus started his ministry, he never had to take a part-time job or ask anyone for money. He financed his own ministry. He must have a lot of money in order for him to do so. Even when he was crucified, the soldiers were drawing lots for his casual wear.

You may have noticed that the passage never mentioned Jesus’ money. Do you know why? Jesus never carried his money by himself. He had a disciple named Judas to carry his wallet for him. Are you rich enough to have someone else to carry your wallet for you?

What can we learn from Jesus’ life when he walked on earth? Remember, Jesus was setting an example for us. It is quite obvious that, God wants his people to live in good health and plenty of wealth while we are still on earth. The Bible never says we can only be rich and healthy in heaven. Our salvation does not begin when we die and go to heaven. Our salvation began the moment we believed in Jesus and became Christians. A Christian life is a life that is abundant in all things. All things include things that cannot be proven as well as things that can be proven like health and wealth.

Theologians and doctrine worshippers are very skeptical on the faithfulness of God. They have no problem with us wanting to live abundant lives as long as our abundance consists of things that cannot be proven objectively like joy, peace and treasures in heaven. However, when we cover the abundance of things that can be proven like health and wealth, they will get very angry as though God is unable to fulfill his promises.

Thank God for he is not a theologian. Our God is not afraid of promising prosperity that can be physically proven like health and wealth. Our God dares to promise us a lot of money. Jesus himself set an example of living in perfect health and abundance of wealth. Jesus wore expensive clothes. The question here is, do you dare to believe in him?

Knowing this truth will definitely set us free. We don’t have to live our lives trying to get rich or trying to make God to give us a lot of money because we are convinced beyond doubt that it is the greatest wish of God for us to prosper and be in health as our souls prosper. All we need to do is to believe in the faithfulness of our God and obey his words. It is not difficult to obey God when you truly believe that he is on your side and everything he does is always for your good.

Here is a disclaimer. When I say “good”, I am referring to the dictionary version, not the theological perversion. Theologians can define “good” as God doing perverted things to you like making you poor and sick for his “good” will. Such perversion comes from theology, not the Bible.

God wants us to live our lives everyday with positive expectations on good things happening to us. Every day when you wake up, confess that this is the day the Lord has made especially for you. You will see the manifestation of your prosperity today. When you open the mail box, expect a check inside. (This does not apply to those mails or emails that tells you that you have won lotteries you did not buy or somebody in Nigeria wanting to transfer money into your account.)

In short, live life with positive expectations. Expect good things, everyday in you life. If the good things do not come today, expect again tomorrow. If they don’t come tomorrow, expect again the next day. There is no end of tomorrow for those who have eternal lives. God wants us to live rich and he has done everything he could to make it happen. Our role is to agree with him and submit to his plan.

Live long and prosper.

Jesus Has Overcome The World

33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 (NLT)

I remember a story told by Jerry Savelle on his experience in the early part of his ministry. He was invited to preach in a church. He preached on the hope of God. Suddenly, he was interrupted by an old man in the congregation. The old man stood up and told him that Jesus said we have many trials and sorrows on earth. Was the old man right? The answer is yes. The above verse does say that but that is not Jesus’ full message.

The above example basically sums up the way the theologians and doctrine worshippers read the Bible. Their intention is to find the most negative words in the page and make them the context for the whole Bible. So, when they read John 16:33, they only remember the part on “you will have many trials and sorrows” and forget about the rest. Each time they came across positive messages on the blessings of God (like the articles in this blog), they will think of the “many trials and sorrows” in John 16:33. Do you want to be one of them? Suit yourself.

In this article, I am going to explain the full meaning of the above verse. It is a part of the conclusion of Jesus’ goodbye message to his disciples. I have written a few articles on Jesus’ earlier message. You can read about them by scrolling down the page of this blog.

The verse begins with Jesus telling his disciples the purpose of his message to them. He wanted them to have peace. What is peace? In English, it does not mean much but in Hebrew it has a deeper meaning. Peace is called shalom in Hebrew. Let us see what shalom is.

Strong’s Concordance 7965 – Hebrew Shalom ….. A word study in the New King James version for SHALOM says: Completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord.

Shalom basically covers everything good, including prosperity. Health and wealth are not dirty words because they are a part of shalom. So, we should not be ashamed of desiring shalom to come into our lives. Jesus has made it clear that his words are for our shalom. So, if you want to have shalom, read the Bible and if you don’t, don’t read the Bible.

In the next sentence, Jesus told us that here on earth we will have many trials and sorrows. Theologians and doctrine worshippers love this part. In their minds, this is the full message of the Gospel. God gives us trials and sorrows to show us his love, sufficient grace and trials to test our faith. It is God’s will for you to be sick, poor and fail in every area of your life. It does not matter to God how much you are suffering as long as you obey the right doctrines like the rest of the doctrine worshippers. God also causes disasters to create trials and sorrows. When you see many people died in disasters, do not be surprised because it is God’s will to fulfil his promise of many trials and sorrows.

This is basically how perverse theology has become. Is theology right? Let us read the third sentence to find out.

“But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

There is a “but” here. Sure, there will always be many trials and sorrows in this world but Jesus has overcome the world. What has that got to do with us? If you are a Christian, Jesus is in you through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The moment we believed in Jesus, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit. We become the temples of God. Have you ever wonder why we Christians don’t go to temples? The answer is we are the temples. Each of us is a complete temple that comes with the permanent presence of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus said he has overcome the world, it also means we Christians have overcome the world because we have his permanent presence in us.

What does this mean? This simply means we have the means to overcome the many trials and sorrows we will face in this world. Do you have many trials and sorrows today? If you live long enough, you are practically guaranteed with them but that is not all. Trials and sorrows are just the natural products of this world. In order to overcome them, we have to overcome their source, which is the world. Jesus has done that and he is in us.

As a result, we have what it takes to overcome the trials and sorrows that we are facing now or will face in the future. No matter how big or seemingly impossible your troubles are, don’t give up. You have what it takes to overcome them. Jesus has promised that and he does not lie. All you need to do is to turn to him for advice on how to use the powers he has given to you.

Let me put this in another way. Jesus is not the Superman who will come to rescue you from a burning building. You are the Superman. You just need to learn on how to use your super powers. Jesus is the one who is capable of teaching you on how to do so. Turn to him and learn from him. Soon, you will have full mastery of your super powers. You will not only be able to save yourself from a burning building, you can save others as well.

Welcome Superman to Planet Earth.

Your Grief Will Suddenly Turn To Wonderful Joy

20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.
21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.
22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.
23 At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name.
24 You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.
John 16:20-24 (NLT)

We have come to the next part of Jesus’ farewell message. Here is the bad news. The disciples were going to weep and mourn while the world was going to rejoice when Jesus faced the Cross. That certainly sounds bad.

Jesus compared this with a woman suffering the pains of labor. Those pains are real but they don’t last forever. Once the baby is born her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. This means that the sorrows of the disciples would not last for long. Their sorrows would turn into joy soon.

There are sorrows in this world. There are still many things that do not work in the way we want them to work. When we have setbacks in our lives, it is easy to feel sorrow. However, Jesus has promised that he will turn them to joy.

22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.
John 16:22 (NLT)

The joy that Jesus gives us is everlasting. No one can take them away from us. What type of joy is this. The next 2 verses will explain in detail on this joy.

Now, if I am to stop here with the promise of joy from Jesus, I will not incur the wrath of the theologians. After all, I only mentioned joy. Joy is not health and wealth. So, it is not a dirty word to them. The word “joy” by itself can be quite subjective. It cannot be proven right or wrong. It can be easily faked. No wonder the theologians are quite tolerant to this word. They will never accuse you as a joy preacher for preaching joy.

Unfortunately for them, I am not going to stop here. I am moving on to the next 2 verses that must be among the most hated verse by the theologians. Here we go.

23 At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name.
24 You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.
John 16:23-24 (NLT)

This is another truth that the theologians cannot stand. So, the joy that was promised by Jesus refers to us getting everything we want from God. Jesus promised us that we can ask the Father directly on anything we want in his name and we will get them. Shocking? That is the truth.

I want to analyze deeper into these 2 verses. First, it implies that we Christians have the right to choose and decide on what we want. There is no limitation on what we want. Jesus never said we can ask for everything except health and wealth. We have the freedom to choose and to decide what we want. So, do be shy. We do not need to ask permission from anyone especially the theologians or the doctrine worshippers. What do you want? Do you want a lot of money? Ask God for a lot of money to come to your life. Do want to have good health? Ask God to give you good health. Do you want to have a mate in life? Ask God to give you one. There is no limit on what we can ask.

I remember once I shared that I want to be rich to help the poor. Some people questioned my intention and wondered whether my real intention is to live like a king. My reply is so what? Why can’t I want to live like a king? The Bible never says I cannot live like a king. If I want to live like a king, all I have to do is to ask the Father in Jesus’ name and he will grant my request. I don’t have to use helping to poor as an excuse to be rich.

We Christians are not drones. Being Christians does not mean we have lost our individuality and have no more personal desires. We still have our own desires. I love Star Trek. In Star Trek, there is a race known as the Borg. The Borg consist of billions of people of various species who have linked their minds into one big collective mind. This big collective mind controls every individual of the race. Each person is just like a body part to the collective whole. They have no individuality and no personal desires. Their only greeting message is “We are the Borgs. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.”

We Christians are not like that. We have our desires and no one has the right to tell us what we can or cannot think and want. What do you want? What do you like? What are your desires? You have the full right to decide on them.

Secondly, we use Jesus’ name in our prayer requests. This is like putting Jesus’ signature into our prayers. When God the Father receives our prayers, he will see Jesus’ name on it. Our prayers is Jesus’ prayers. Do you think the Father will ever say no to Jesus’ prayers? If he does, the whole Trinity will collapse. This means God can never say “no” to any of our prayers.

You can never find anywhere in the Bible on God saying “no” to a Christian’s prayers. God’s answer to our prayers is always “yes”. This should give us confidence that our God will always give us what we want. So, ask God for anything you want in Jesus’ name and you will surely get them.

How about Christians who ask and don’t receive? My answer is I don’t know. As far as I am concern, I will make use of this truth to get what I want in life. I am not going to ask God only after every Christian on earth has successfully received what they ask God for in prayers. I am not interested to be the last Christian to be rich.

In Verse 24, Jesus encouraged his disciples to ask God for everything they want and he told them the reason behind God’s generosity.

24 You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.
John 16:24 (NLT)

He wants them to have abundant of joy. This tells us what is God’s highest priority for us. He wants us to have abundant joy. When I was in my religious church, I thought God’s highest priority for me is for me to go for mission and give money to the church. The above verse tells me otherwise.

God wants us to be joyful. If you want God to be happy, be happy yourself. When you are happy, he is happy. When you pray, ask God for things that will make you happy. As you do, visualize yourself living in the life when you have what you ask for. Feel the joy within you. You will have what you want.

The Final Role Of The Holy Spirit

12 “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.
15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’
John 16:12-15 (NLT)

This article continues from the topic I have started yesterday. Jesus was explaining the arrival of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not here for vacation. Neither is he here to boss us around and make us suffer to satisfy his sadistic purpose. The Holy Spirit is not a sadist. He has specific missions in mind and his intention is to fulfill them. There are basically 2 parts in his mission. The first is to the world and the second is to us, Christians.

In the earlier article, I have shown you the first part of the Holy Spirit role, which is to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement. The recipients of these convictions are the people of the world, in other words non-Christians. These convictions are not for Christians. Christians can never be convicted by the Holy Spirit at all because it is not his job description to do so.

In this article, we shall look at the second portion of the Holy Spirit’s role on earth. This role is only for us Christians. You may have noticed that I have added the word “final” in the title of this article. My purpose is to emphasize to you that there is no other addition to the roles of the Holy Spirit. This means you will not wake up one day and be told that the Holy Spirit has taken up a new role of being God’s Inquisitor whose role is to punish you each time you make a wrong move or think a wrong thought. That can never happen.

Let me get straight to the point. The second and the final role of the Holy Spirit is to guide us, Christians in all truth. This sounds simple but it can be easily manipulated. If you have heard this passage being preached in a religious church, I am sure they will twist it to fit their theology. I am going to explain this role in detail in order to reveal the truth that will set you free.

The first term I want to emphasize is the term “guide”. The Holy Spirit guides us in all truth. This implies the Holy Spirit’s role is purely in an advisory and passive role. He guide, not force. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s mandate and role is only in telling us what we should and should not do. He does not have the right to force us to obey him. So, if you are smart and want to have the best prosperity in life, you should obey every word from the Holy Spirit. At the same time you can also choose not to obey him and there is nothing he can do about it because his role is purely as our guide. He does not have the right to enforce our obedience or to punish us.

If we get into trouble when we disobey the Holy Spirit, it is not his fault. He did not cause the troubles. Let me give you an example. Let us assume that you are interested in smoking. The Holy Spirit will advise you not to smoke. You can choose to ignore him and take up the habit of smoking. A few years later, your health suffers and you have lung cancer. When that happens, it is wrong to say that the Holy Spirit gives you lung cancer to punish you for disobeying him when he told you not to smoke. The Holy Spirit did not give you that lung cancer. The lung cancer was caused by the nicotine in the cigarretes. The Holy Spirit has nothing to do with it.

The second emphasis I want to make is “all truth”. What is that? In the subsequent verses, we can read that it means everything from the Father. So, as Christians, we have access to all knowledge in this universe. If that is the case, why have not become encyclopedias yet? The answer is, we do not have that sort of capability to store so much knowledge. We are not designed as data storing machines. Our role here is to choose what type of knowledge or truth we want and the Holy Spirit will reveal them to us. That is all.

We choose from the menu on what we want to know and the Holy Spirit will guide us to it. We are the clients here. The Holy Spirit’s role is not to boss us around but to serve us as our guide to the infinite truth that our God has for us. What do you want to know? Do you want to now how to make a lot of money so that you can live like a king? Ask the Holy Spirit and he will guide us to your objectives. If you are smart you will obey him. If you choose not to obey, you are on your own. The Holy Spirit will not do perverted things to you.

This concludes the roles of the Holy Spirit. These roles are confined into specific areas as I have explained in these 2 articles. There is no other. The Holy Spirit will never step out of line and abuse his power. That can never happen. So, the lesson for us here is the Holy Spirit is our friend. He is not our enemy. He is not our taskmaster. He will never force us not threatened us to do anything we don’t want to do, no matter how “holy” these things are. He will never do perverted things to us under any pretext, may it be “sufficient grace” or “trials”. He is not a pervert.

My objective is to help you to see the Holy Spirit as the person he truly is. He is our friend. He is always on our side. He is our helper. What do you want? Ask him to help you to get them. Do you want good health, long life, fruitful relationship, successful career and lots of money? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. He will do his job.

The Roles Of The Holy Spirit

5 “But now I am going away to the One who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going.
6 Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you.
7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.
9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.
10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more.
11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.
John 16:5-11 (NLT)

In the above passage, Jesus revealed to his disciples on the event that would take place after he left. The Holy Spirit would arrive and do his job. Jesus had even moved on further to describe the roles which the Holy Spirit will play in our lives. I can assure you that the Holy Spirit described by Jesus in the above verse is totally different from the “Holy Spirit” being preached in religious churches.

Let us begin. From Verse 5 to Verse 7, Jesus basically said that he had to go in order for the Advocate to come. The Advocate is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has 3 jobs to do. They are:
1. convicts the world of its sin
2. convicts the world of God’s righteousness
3. convicts the world of the coming judgment.

If you have ever been to religious churches, you will have a very negative impression on the above roles. I am not surprise if some theologians used the above verses advance their own theology and proclaim judgement to those who refuse to submit to their lies. Unfortunately for them, I am going to reveal the truth of the above verses. The explanations in this article will set you free from the lies of theology.

First, let us look into the role of convicting the world of its sin. Let me ask you this. Who is being convicted here? The answer is the world, not believers. The Bible does not say anything about the Holy Spirit convicting Christians of our sins. No matter how much we sin or live in sin, the Holy Spirit will never convict us of our sins. The reason is simply because it is not his job. His job is to convict the world, not us. So, when you hear Christians saying that they had been convicted by the Holy Spirit, they are not telling the truth. Their conviction may be real but the Holy Spirit is not the one responsible for it. The above passage is the proof.

Having said that, this does not mean Christians can sin with joy and peace. This is impossible because we Christians have been born again into another species. Since we are born of God we belong to the species of god. We are gods. The nature of gods is holiness, not sin. So when we are living in sin, we are living in an environment that is alien to our species. We will not feel good. We will not have joy and peace, let alone prosperity. So, when we sin and feel bad about it, the bad feelings were not caused by the Holy Spirit. It is caused by our own godliness. The incompatibility between our godliness and the sinful environment that we are in causes us not to feel good. Do not confuse this as a conviction from the Holy Spirit.

The next question is what sin? Does it refer to the 10 Commandments? The answer is no. Verse 9 tells us the answer.

9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.
John 16:9(NLT)

The sin here specifically refers to the world’s refusal to believe in Jesus. That is all. This has nothing to do with Christians because first we are not the world and second, we believe in Jesus. So, we Christians can never be convicted by the Holy Spirit for our sins.

The second role of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of God’s righteousness. What is that? Verse 10 tells us the answer.

10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more.
John 16:10 (NLT)

Righteousness is not a result of the things we do. It is the result of what Jesus has done.

The third role of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of the coming judgment. This must be one of the most abused verse. Theologians love this verse. Each time there is a disaster like earthquake, storm, bush fire and terrorist attack, they will be prompt to pronounce it as the result God’s judgement. God caused planes to ram into buildings to judge the nation for banning school prayers or God set fire to bushes because of the nation’s policy on abortion. Of course, most of us have some basic intelligence not to fall for that but there are still some crackpots who really believe that disasters are the judgement of God.

Are they right? Did the theologians tell the truth? Does the term “coming judgement” refer to the disasters we have today? If it doesn’t, what does “coming judgement” really means? Let Verse 11 tells us the answer.

11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.
John 16:11 (NLT)

The “judgement” here is for the ruler of this world. Who is that? His name is Satan who also happens to be the first theologian. He is the god of theology. The judgement here is neither for Christians nor non Christians. It is for the Theologian, otherwise known as Satan. The god of theology has been judged. This is the truth.

The above passage is not exhaustive on the roles of the Holy Spirit. There are more in the subsequent verses, which I will cover in future articles. The only thing I want to assure you is that the Holy Spirit is our friend, not our enemies. God gave us the Holy Spirit for our prosperity. The Holy Spirit is not Gestapo.

Do Not Abandon Your Faith

1“I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.
2 For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.
3 This is because they have never known the Father or me.
4 Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.
John 16:1-4(NLT)

The above are part of Jesus’ goodbye message to his disciples. He had predicted that their faith would be challenged after he left. So Jesus was helping them to be mentally prepared for this eventuality. In Verse 2, Jesus predicted that his disciples would be expelled from the synagogues. They would face persecution from the theologians because of their faith. The theologians would do anything they could to destroy the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Murdering is not beneath them. We can see the same practice today. They may have lost their power to kill but they still have the ability to spread their lies. The lies of theology are still wide spread today.

Why would the theologians resort to such acts? In Verse 3, Jesus tells us the reason. The theologians have never known the Father or Jesus. We can see the same happens in religious churches today. If you happen to be in a religious church, you will find that the term ”God” and “Jesus” is only an empty slogan. Their real god is their doctrines. They are doctrine worshippers and they can sink to any level to defend their almighty doctrines. They do not mind how much you are suffering in your sickness and poverty as long as you keep to their doctrines. However, if you ever dare to ask God for health and wealth, the theologians will condemn you because you have violated their doctrines. This is the nature of the theologians.

In Verse 4, Jesus told his disciples to be prepared for the persecutions from the theologians.

Let us stop here to review the lessons to be learned. First, we need to realize that the theologians still exist today. The good news is they are not as powerful as their counterparts in the Dark Ages. This means we will not be killed for violating their doctrines. However the bad news is they still exist and they have considerable influence over some crackpots who attended their religious churches. You can read about them in the news. Each time a disaster happens, the theologians will say it is a judgement from God. There will be some crackpots who believe them.

What has this got to do with us? We need to realize that as long as we live as Christians on earth, we will face opposition from them. If you have been with this blog long enough you would have witnessed some of their tactics. At first, they begun with a very polite tone telling me that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is wrong and their doctrines are right. Those who believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ are labeled as being deluded by the Prosperity Gospel. According to their doctrines, as long as there is a single Christian who is either poor or sick, the Bible must be false and need to be reinterpreted to suit their doctrines. When they find that they have lost in their reasoning, they become abusive and vulgar. I have finally ex-communicated them.

You can read about their persecution in the internet. The latest one that I came across wrote that we Christians have a “cone of silence” in our churches and we don’t tell the doctor our sickness. I don’t remember seeing any of these cones, have you? When I visited the doctors, I told them all my sickness. I have never said I am healthy when I see a doctor. Why would I want to see a doctor when I am healthy? Of course, such testimonies mean nothing to the theologians. They are only interested in propagating their doctrines, not the truth.

So, persecutions against Christians still exist today. It only changes form. We as Christians need to be aware of their tactics and we need to remind ourselves that we will keep our faith despite their persecution. No matter what lies the theologians can come up with, they can never change the truth that is clearly stated in the Bible.

1. Jesus died at the Cross to redeem us from all our sins.
2. At the Cross, Jesus died poor for us to live rich.
3. At the Cross, Jesus took all our sickness for us to live in health.

No amount of theological lies can change the above truth.

In case you feel pressured to abandon your faith and worship theology, consider this. Can theology help you, deliver you from your troubles and give you prosperity? Can the theologians give you health and wealth? The answer is no. They only know how to suck your blood. I have attended a religious church before for close to 10 years.

The church only preached 2 things:
1. Go for missions.
2. Give money to the church.

In conclusion, do not abandon your faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You may not have receive the prosperity you ask for but being under the bondage of theology will not help either. Do not give up your faith.

Remain In His Love

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.
10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you
John 15:9-12 (NLT)

We continue from the previous article on Jesus’ farewell words to his disciples. I firmly believe that these words are for us as well. In Verse 9, Jesus tells us that he has loves us, as the Father has loved him. What does it mean? Think about this. How much does God The Father loves Jesus? It must be a lot. Jesus is loving us the same way and the same amount. This revelation alone can set us free from the bondage of theology.

Think for yourself. Do you think the Father will ever cause earthquakes, floods, typhoons or terrorism attacks on heaven each time Jesus makes a mistake? Certainly, not. This means the earthquakes, floods, typhoons or terrorism attacks on earth are not the judgement from God. God will never ram planes to buildings to judge a nation that does not have school prayers. Jesus loves us so much that he will never kill us each time our governments make a wrong policy.

Let us move further. Where is Jesus now? He is in heaven enjoying life. The Father must have loved him so much that Jesus must have the abundance of health and wealth in heaven. I do not think Jesus will ever get sick or have to beg for food in heaven. Jesus loves us as the Father has loved him. Therefore, our lives on earth must be in abundance of health and wealth too. Despite the theologians’ efforts to make health and wealth sound like dirty words, Jesus had always wanted us to live in health and wealth. His greatest will for us on earth is to live in abundance prosperity, which includes health and wealth.

Some may say that the Father sent Jesus to die at the Cross. Does this mean Jesus will ask us to do the same? This is my answer. If you want to replicate the Cross, you have to replicate completely. First, Jesus chose to obey willingly. If he had chosen not to die for our sins to redeem us, he is still the Son of God. His prosperity would not be reduced. Likewise, if Jesus ever ask you to die at the Cross, you have the right to say no and still keep your destiny to live in prosperity. You can choose not to obey.

Secondly, Jesus had the command over 12 legions of angels who were ready for a rescue mission should Jesus changed his mind. The same must happen to you if the event of the Cross is to be replicated fully. If Jesus is to ask you to go to the Cross, he must give you the command of 12 legions of angels. The moment you change your mind, you can summon them from heaven to destroy your enemies. You can even become the supreme ruler of earth.

What if Jesus asks me to go to the Cross, but without the same privileges? Then Verse 9 will not be valid. Jesus would have broken his promise and forfeited his position as God. You can apply to replace him.

Jesus loves us as the Father loves him. This is an established truth. This truth can never change. However, it will not be forced on us. Jesus advised us to remain in his love.

Next, Jesus tells us that remaining in his love must include obeying his commandments. At this point, I am sure the theologians will love to say that Jesus wants us to obey the 10 Commandments. Are they right? Does the “commandments” in John 15:10 refers to the 10 Commandments? The answer is no. Let me show you what the commandments in John 15:10 truly is. Here we go.

12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you
John 15:12 (NLT)

This is it. Jesus’ commandment for us is to love each other as he has loved us. This is not the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments never say anything about love. Jesus is greater than the 10 Commandments. This tells us that Christians who choose to obey the 10 Commandments are guilty of blasphemy against God. Don’t make the same mistake.

I would like to emphasize more on Verse 10. Love is a continuous flow. First we were told that Jesus loves us as the Father has loved him. We have the choice on whether we want to remain in his love. If we do, then we have to obey his commandment, which is to love each other as he has loved us. Can you see the flow here? Knowing how much Jesus has loved us gives us the power to love others. As we love others, we remain in Jesus’ love, which entitles us to receive more love. This is a virtuous cycle.

How do we love each other? We help each other to move to higher level in our prosperity. We help each other to become healthier, richer and be more successful. This is true practical love. We do not create problems for each other to show each other our “sufficient grace.” We are not perverts.

In Verse 11, Jesus speaks of joy. Jesus’ priority is our joy. What makes you happy and joyful? Jesus will give you that thing. Do you want to have a lot of money? Jesus will give them to you as long as you are happy. So, be bold and ask God for anything you want. You don’t have to justify anything. Ask for anything you want. As long as you believe you receive, you will get what you want. Jesus’ priority is for us to have joy. He wants our joy to overflow.

In other words, Jesus is telling us that “When you are happy, I am happy.” So, do you want to make Jesus happy? If you do, be happy yourself. What do you want to be happy? Ask Jesus for them. Jesus will surely give them to you for the sake of his own happiness. Isn’t God good?

Jesus Is The Source Of Our Prosperity

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.
7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!
8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
John 15:5-8 (NLT)

This is another article on the subject of prosperity, which should not be a surprise to the frequent visitors to this blog. After all, what is the Bible for? Some say that it is for our salvation but I am already saved and so are all other Christians. Once we are saved, we are saved. We don’t have to read the Bible to be saved repeatedly. We read the Bible to use it to get what we want. It is important for us to continuously remind ourselves that God did not create Man for the Bible. God created the Bible for Man. The Bible is our servant and tool. It is up to us to use it for our prosperity. So, don’t worship the Bible. Use it.

In this article, we shall look into the relationship between remaining with Jesus and prosperity. Jesus used an analogy of vine and branches. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. This means we are connected to him. Branches of a tree are not fully independent. They may have leaves that can absorb the energy from the sun and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make food but they do not have the ability to obtain water and minerals from the soil. Branches need to connect to the trunk (vine) in order to get their supply of water and minerals.

Likewise, our connection with Jesus is necessary for us to get the water and minerals we need. In our case, we get to utilize Jesus’ powers for our prosperity. So, if you want to bear much fruit like exceeding and abundant prosperity, don’t lose touch with Jesus. Without him, we can do nothing.

This also implies that God has blessed us equally. The amount of blessings God has given to rich Christians and poor Christians are the same. Think about this. The vine does not have any control in deciding how much water and minerals each branch can have. It is up to the branches to take the supplies. God is no respecter of person. He will not choose only some of us to be rich while the rest are meant to be poor. It is never the will of God for believers to live poor. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the spiritual realms. It is up to us to take up the personal responsibility to convert our spiritual blessings into their physical equivalent.

Therefore, we Christians need to take active steps to remain with Jesus in order to be rich. He is the source of our prosperity.

Verse 6 speaks of those who do not remain with Jesus. I am sure many religious preachers would have loved to use this verse to blackmail their church members into obedience. They will tell you that anyone who disobeyed the church leadership is guilty of refusing to remain with Jesus. You will be gathered into a pile to be burned. In other words you will go to hell. This “fact” has been conveniently left out in their “evangelistic” messages.

The above is nothing more than theology, which is a lie from the pit of hell. God will never send Christians to hell no matter what they have done or God would have broken his promise and lost his integrity. God is not a theologian. He is not a liar.

How about Verse 6? This verse has nothing to do with going to heaven or hell. It speaks only on the results on earth. It simply says if you choose to stay away from Jesus and rely on your own limited strength, you will be very limited. You will be so limited that you will not be able to overcome the natural limitations in life. As a result, you will grow old and wither like a branch that has been chopped off from the vine. This branch may look good for a while but it is only a matter of time that it will dry up. At that time, it can only be used as firewood. So, this is not a blackmail.
In Verse 7, Jesus tells us the reward for remaining with him. We will get what we want. Let us go through the verse again.

7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!
John 15:7 (NLT)

Do you see what I see? Jesus promised that we can ask for anything we want and he will grant everything we ask for. What do you want? Do you want good health, a perfect partner, lots of money, a huge palace, private plane, private island and anything you desire? Ask Jesus for them. As long as Jesus is a person of integrity, you will get what you ask for. There is no limitation in this verse. Jesus never say you can ask for anything other than health and wealth. Health and wealth may be dirty words to the worshipper of doctrines but not to God. Ask God to give you a lot of money if that is what you want.

This verse comes with a condition. The condition is we are to remain with Jesus and his words remain in us. Remaining with Jesus means getting his words into us. His words are in the Bible. This means the first step must be to read the Bible. However, that is not enough. The theologians and the worshippers of doctrines read the Bible too but they are no pleasing to God. Jesus called them hypocrites, white washed tombs and brood of vipers.

We must read the Bible with the right attitude. Read with the spirit of faith. When God promised to make you rich, you must believe you are rich even if you are physically poor right now. When God promised to make you healthy, you must believe you are healthy even if you are physically sick right now. Do not come up with silly excuses like if God promise riches to all believers then why are there still poor believers? This is stupidity. It is like asking if the sun gives light and heat why are there dark and cold places on earth? Do not fall into such traps. Believe what God says is true even if you see some imperfections in this world. This is faith.

In addition, we need Jesus’ words in us. How do we do that? We need to meditate, confess and keep God’s words running in our thoughts as often as we can. This calls for discipline. We must keep our minds focused on the words of God especially when the situation says the opposite. For example, we must believe that God wants us to be rich even if we are in the middle of a recession right now. Our God is greater than the recession.

Verse 8 tells us what happens when we make Verse 7 works for us. When we have succeeded in staying in faith and getting all the prosperity we desire from God, we produce fruits. We will be showing the world that we are the true disciples of Jesus. This brings great glory to his Father.

God’s glory comes from our prosperity. When we get everything we ask Jesus for, we bring glory to God. Please note that, the glory of God has nothing to do with making people poor, sick or in killing people in disasters. I repeat, the glory of God comes from giving us exceedingly and abundantly above all that we dare to ask and hope.

If you want to glorify God, ask and hope for big things. Remain with Jesus and let his words run through you. Your prosperity will be great.

Immediate Success

19 They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified,
20 but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!”
21 Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!
John 6:19-21(NLT)

In the previous article, we read about Jesus feeding a huge crowd by multiplying a boy’s lunch. Everyone had a huge feast. They ate until they could not eat anymore. At the end, there were twelve baskets of leftover food. Then Jesus realized that the people were planning to force him to be their king in order to ensure the unending supply of food. He ran away.

15 When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.
John 6:15(NLT)

Meanwhile, his disciples were waiting for him at the appointed place and time by the shore of Galilee. After they waited pass the predetermined time, they got into the boat and sailed to the other side. The weather turned rough. They had to rowed hard to maintain their course. They were helpless, trapped in a boat and isolated from the rest of humanity. Suddenly they saw Jesus coming to them. Jesus was walking on the water. At first they were afraid but Jesus calmed them down. They were eager for Jesus to get into the boat. After Jesus was on their boat, they arrived to their destination immediately.

Let us stop the story here and review the lessons we can learn. After Jesus had successfully provided food for a huge crowd, he suffered a setback. Instead of being grateful and more receptive from what Jesus had to say, those who witnessed the miracle and ate the food plotted to force Jesus to stay with them. Jesus knew about it. How did he respond? He ran away.

You may have noticed that Jesus did not sulk, get bitter, complain or talk negative. He just ran away, rejoined his disciples and moved on. He did not allow his setback to hinder him from progressing in life. Think about this. If Jesus could have setbacks when he walked on earth, it should not be a surprise for us to experience some of them too. Setbacks are parts and parcels in life. So, the question here is not whether there is going to be any setbacks in our lives. The real question here is what are we going to do when we have them.

Jesus had shown us an example on what to do. Move on. He did his best to provide food for the crowd but they were not really grateful to him. Forcing someone to do what he does not like is not a reflection of gratitude. Most people would become bitter if they were in Jesus’ shoes at that time but not Jesus. Jesus’ response was to run away, rejoined his disciples and move on. He never even bothered to say anything bad about those people. His message to us when we face similar setbacks is, do likewise.

Let us move to the disciples’ side. When Jesus did not turn up at the appointed time and place, they packed up, got to the boat and sailed to Capernaum. Why Capernaum? I suspect they must have known Jesus’ itinerary and the itinerary named Capernaum as the next stop. Since Jesus did not turn up at the appointed time, his disciples must have figured that they could met him in Capernaum. So they sailed.

When they were in the middle of Galilee, which is a very big lake, a huge storm arose. Imagine a few man on a boat facing a storm. They were helpless. They could not call for help because mobile phones did not exist at that time. Even if they could, no one could do anything. There were no helicopters for the coast guards to rescue them at that time. These men were all by themselves. They were at the mercy of the storm. Their only hope was in their own effort to row as hard as they could in order to reach the shore before anything bad happened to them.

At the crucial moment, they saw a figure moving toward them. They were terrified. It turned out to be Jesus. Jesus was walking on the water to reach them. Jesus appeared before them, at the moment they needed him the most. He did not forsake them. Even when they were trapped on a boat in the middle of the sea, Jesus could still get to them. If Jesus could not find a boat to sail to them, he was even willing to walk on water.

The same can happens to you and me. You may be in a situation that looks hopeless right now. You feel isolated and no one can help you. You may have tried every solution but nothing works. You may be like the disciples who tried to row as hard as they could to reach the shore but the storm is too powerful for you. Your boat is about to capsize at any moment. If you are in this situation, the following are Jesus’ words to you: “Don’t be afraid. I am here!”.

He said those words to his disciples and he is saying them to you right now. Jesus is here with you. Even if you are trapped in the middle of an ocean, Jesus can still walk on it to reach you. He is on our side forever. He will never leave us nor forsake us. So, when you happen to be on a boat in the middle of a storm, get ready to invite Jesus on your boat. What will happen when Jesus got into your boat?

21 Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!
John 6: 21(NLT)

They arrived at their destination immediately. The storm became irrelevant. It could not harm them anymore. Before Jesus appeared, they were rowing as hard as they could but they could not achieve anything but the moment Jesus got into their boat, they arrived at their destination safely. This tells us that the presence of Jesus in our boat makes a great difference to the storms of challenges we are facing right now. So, if you are facing a huge problem right now, the only thing you need to do is to stay calm and get Jesus into your boat.

What does this mean? It means activating your faith. Instead of focusing on the problem, focus on Jesus instead. He is the solution to all our problems. He is both able and willing to help us. However, he will not force his help on us. We need to co-operate with him to receive his help. We do it through faith. Only when we are in faith, we will be in position to receive the blessings of God in our lives. When that happens we will find ourselves arrived at our destination without realizing it.

Feeding Five Thousand Men With Five Barley Loaves And Two Fishes

8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up.
9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.)
11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.
12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
John 6:8-13 (NLT)

Here is the famous story on how Jesus fed a huge crowd with just a boy’s lunch. I have heard this story being preached even in religious churches but none of them got the true message of this story, which is prosperity. Why do you think God put this story in the Bible? Obviously he wants to show us that he cares for our well-being. He wants to meet all our needs even if some of these needs are as “unspiritual” like food to eat. Unfortunately, those who are blinded by the lies of theology can never see that.

Let us begin with the background of the story. After Jesus had crossed over the other side of Galilee, he attracted a huge crowd. They kept following him. Why did they follow him? The Bible tells us that Jesus healed the sick. It was a miracle to them. It must be common at that time for the theologians to propagate the theology that God gives disease and make people sick to show them his sufficient grace, to reveal his glory or to teach them some lessons. Yet, Jesus did the exact opposite from the teachings of theology. He healed the sick. The people saw hope in him and kept following him.

After some time of travelling, Jesus looked at the crowd and cared for them. He wanted to feed them.

5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?”
John 6:5 (NLT)

This tells us Jesus’ character. He is totally anti-theology. He cares for the people more than he cares for doctrines. A theologian would not have bothered with the problem of getting enough bread to feed the people. His priority is always on making sure that everyone believes in the “right doctrines”. Theologians do not care if you are starved to death provided you are committed to the “right doctrines”.

Fortunately, we can rest in assurance that Jesus is not like them. He cared for the crowd even though they were not related to them. We can also read from the passage that Jesus’ priority was to meet their needs for food. He never bothered about the “right doctrines”. As far as he was concerned, his “right doctrines” is to meet the needs of the people. Are you glad that he is your shepherd?

So, Jesus asked Philip on where to buy bread to feed the crowd.

7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”
John 6:7 (NLT)

Philip had correctly pointed out that it was physically impossible to do so. Jesus was rich but not that rich.

In case somebody may ask me on how do I know Jesus was rich, the answer is clear. When Jesus was in his earthly ministry, he did not go around looking for jobs to stay alive. Neither did he behave like a religious preacher who goes around asking people for money. There is also no record of Jesus living like a beggar begging for alms. Not only that, Jesus was not alone. He had his disciples with him. The disciples like Peter had left their occupations to follow Jesus. Even if we assume that they were not paid for being disciples, they must eat to stay alive. In addition, Jesus did not even carry his own wallet. He had a specialist to do that for him. These tell us that Jesus was a very rich man when he walked on earth.

However, he was not infinitely rich at that time. He was physically constraint from providing food for that huge crowd. I suspect this applies to all of us. I believe none of us has infinite wealth to do what we want to do. The good news is though we are physically constraint, we are not spiritually constraint. Jesus knew this and used his spiritual wealth.

8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up.
9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.)
11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.
12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
John 6:8-13 (NLT)

Jesus took a boy’s lunch and multiplied it to feed a huge crowd. Everyone ate as much as they wanted. In the end there were twelve baskets of left. Let us stop here and find out what we can learn from this story.

The first lesson is what I have written earlier. All of us have some physical constraints because none of us is infinitely rich. However, there is no constrains in the spiritual realms. Whatever we lack physically, we can draw from it spiritually like what Jesus had done. You may be facing an impossible situation right now. You may have lost your job, burdened a huge debt and you are facing the prospect of losing everything you have. Or, you could have been told that you are diagnosed with a terminal disease in which there is no cure and you can die at any time. All these are supposed to be “impossible” situations where there is no hope in the natural for you to turn things around.

If you are to look only in the physical world, you will not find any hope. However, if you are a believer you have another source of hope, God. As Christians, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Whatever we lack physically, we have the option to rely on our spiritual source. We can turn our spiritual wealth into physical wealth. We can turn our spiritual health into physical health. This is what Jesus had done in the above passage. He turned to his spiritual supply to obtain more than enough food to throw a party for huge crowd. He was setting an example for us in converting our spiritual blessing into the physical equivalent.

How did he do it? First, he took five barley loaves and two fish from a boy. For some reasons, the boy decided to give his food to Jesus. It was a great act of faith. The Bible did not say how big were the loaves and fishes but since they comprised as a boy’s lunch, we can safely speculate that it must be very little compared to a huge crowd of hungry people. Why did Jesus need the five barley loaves and two fish? He intended to multiply them.

If you know some basic arithmetic, you are aware that if you multiply a small number with a big number, the small number will become bigger. The disclaimer here is the original small number must be a positive number. The above rule will not work if the small number is zero. This is why Jesus needed some food to multiply into a lot of food. If he had nothing, he will get nothing because any number multiplied with zero will still be zero. This is also called the Law Of Sowing And Reaping.

Let us get back to your situation. If you are poor, how complete is your poverty? None of us can be completely poor. There must be some seed we can sow. You could still have a few dollars in your wallet. These few dollars are insignificant compared to your debts but if you can sow it in faith, you can receive a harvest of many times more which will not only settle your debts but there will be a lot of left over that will make you very rich. So, whatever problem you may have, look for opportunities to sow seeds. Your situation will be turned around. Your poverty will turn into prosperity. Your sickness will turn into health and you failure will turn into success.

Next, Jesus wanted the crowd to sit down. Why is that so? Sitting down refers to being organized and calm. When you are any form of trouble, the worst thing you can do is to get worried and anxious. When you act with anxiousness in your heart, you are bound to make more mistakes and end up with bigger problems. So, when you are in trouble or in an emergency situation, your priority is to calm down. Get rid of all anxiousness. It is only when you are cool you are in position to listen to what God wants to tell you. Then you will get the solution that you want.

Imagine what will happen if Jesus did not tell the crowd to sit down. The moment the food was distributed, there could be a stampede for it. More people could have died of the stampede than starvation. So, the bottom line is, stay calm at all times.

Jesus gave thanks. I have written a separate article on the importance of gratitude. When we give thanks to God, we are effectively putting ourselves in the position of faith. It is only through faith that we can get everything we want. Please note that Jesus gave thanks before the miracle happened. We can say that the act of giving thanks activates our faith, which will get us what we want.

Just as there is no complete poverty, there can never be complete evil in any situation. There must be a least some microscopic good in it. Look for the microscopic good and give thanks for it. When you do that, you will certainly get what you want.

Your five barley loaves and two fish will become more than enough for a huge crowd of 5,000 men (not counting women and children) to eat to their hearts’ content and with leftovers enough to fill twelve baskets. Your prosperity will come if you obey the above principles.