The Senile Temptation of Pope Francis in the 21st Century

The Vatican shocked the Christian world with another one of its surprises when their leader, Pope Francis announced that changes be made in the Lord’s Prayer after using it for more than two thousand years, while pointing out error in translations suggesting that God leads us into temptation. The Pope is challenging the word that proceeded out of the mouth of God via Jesus, by which we live in Matthew 4:4.

God’s spoken word rules the world as judgment in all its creative power. His word is alive with a Dunamis power called faith. By his spoken word, Jesus created man and the world in which he dwells. God’s spoken word is like a double-edged sword, not to be tampered with in jest. It proceeds from God’s heart through his mouth. God’s word creates because God believes whatever he speaks. He is sure of what he says. Can the pot ask the potter “Why have you created me this way?”

On realizing their shortcomings in prayer language as befalls man oftentimes, the disciples requested Jesus to teach them how to pray in order to be able to pray according to God’s will, which is only known by the Spirit of God, in order to have their prayers answered by God. Jesus answered by pronouncing what we presently call “The Lord’s Prayer” keenly and vividly recorded by both Matthew and Luke as shown below.

According to Saint Matthew:

What does original scripture say?

Matthew 6:9-13 says “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen”.

Greek translation of Matthew’s writings in contentious verse 13 “And (kai) lead (eisphero) us (hemas) not (me) into (eis) temptation (peirasmos)”

According to Saint Luke:

Luke 11:2 says “And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil”.

Greek translation of Luke’s writings in contentious verse 4 “And (kai) lead (eisphero) us (hemas) not (me) into (eis) temptation (peirasmos)

It should be observed here that both Matthew and Luke repeat the same phrase using the same words written at different times, word for word. Several questions beg for answers as follows;

Were errors made during translations? How could translation errors arise in Greek as each word was translated for both disciple Matthew and Luke? Were all writers truly inspired by God when writing what God gave them? Is it right to assume that the Bible was written by non-Christian heathens who didn’t believe in what they were writing, hence prone to errors? Were these words actually uttered by Christ word for word? Was Jesus wrong in relaying the words the way he did? Suppose you were listening to God speaking these words, would he have relayed them differently as suggested by the Pope? Why were these words spoken thus and heard thus by all listeners? Can we challenge any speech made by Jesus? Can God inspire Matthew and Luke in one way and dispute it via the Pope today by acknowledging He made a mistake? Does God make mistakes in thought and speech? Would He be God with such errors?

Was Jesus ever led into temptation? All versions of the Bible state that Jesus was led by the Spirit of God to be tempted by the devil.

Scripture indicates that every Spirit-filled son of God must be led of the Spirit of God to be tempted by the devil as evidenced in several instances below;

Matthew 4:1 “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil”.

Mark 1:12-13 “And immediately the Spirit drives him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him”.

Luke 4:1-2 “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil.”

Job 1:6-12. Was Job exposed by God to temptation?

In Deuteronomy 8:2, God says he led Israel for forty years in the wilderness, to humble, to prove and to know what was in their heart whether they would keep his commandments or not.

Scripture shows that temptation comes upon man to polish and correct man with fire while revealing his hidden sins, with a chance to repent and walk righteous thereafter.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”.

Is it possible for Matthew, Mark and Luke to make the same error in writing similar graphics at different times of writing? It is difficult to believe that these disciples sat in the same room and agreed to write the supposed errors. God can use different people at different times to say the same thing as he did on many occasions relayed by scripture. At different time periods, Prophets Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel or Jeremiah have often prophesied what David confirms in song. Would we be justified to correct their prophecies today?

Let us consider that these writings were inspired by the Holy Spirit as God the Father in heaven pronounced them in the spirit. These words are backed by more than three witnesses. The Father in heaven, The Son (Jesus), The Spirit, Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke. In view of such evidence, can the Pope alter or seek to correct the words of Christ? Does a father know what he really wants to say to his child? I believe our everlasting Father (Jesus) knew how to correct our errors and what words he needed to use for the right impact.

Based upon the witness of Matthew, Mark, Luke, all disciples who heard the prayer and the Holy Spirit who refused to question this phrase, what would you believe? Is Pope Francis senile or under temptation?

Every Jew by blood or adoption knows that Rome was a stranger and remains so even in doctrine considering their way of life, belief and governance. Rome has always sought for power over the entire world. Therefore Roman Catholic doctrine belongs to and is directed to Roman citizenry. None Romans should not feel obliged to follow such doctrine. There are many errors today in Catholicism that the Pope needs to correct before the Lord returns.

When the Roman procurator of Judea Pontius Pilate washed his hands off the affairs of the Lord at Calvary and emphatically stated while adamantly refusing to change the writing on the cross “Jesus Christ The King of The Jews”, Rome’s influence on spiritual issues of the Jewish nation ended with Pilate drying his hands using a towel. No serious individual takes Rome seriously after the towel exonerated political Rome from Christ’s crucifixion on the cross. Nevertheless, he handed Jesus to his Roman soldiers who went ahead to crucify Jesus because Jews claimed to be Sabbatical and holy, hence could not crucify Jesus during their Passover feast despite their intending to kill him, while being blinded to the fact that Christ was to be their Passover sacrifice. The soldiers cherished the crucifixion of Christ until he was dead on the cross.

Attempts by Rome to influence God’s plan for mankind has led to grievous irreparable errors that the body of Christ knows better after being guided by the Holy Spirit, errors Rome adherents follow while disregarding sound spiritual practice clearly indicated in God's written word. Everybody is urged to carefully read the Bible through the Spirit’s guidance and compare it with whatever our church leaders preach. God warns us not to trust everybody but to test all spirits whether they are of God in 1 John 4:1.

In the Lumen Gentium, a document known as “Light of All Nations”, the Vatican clearly and comprehensively reveals the Council of Trent doctrines it uses to govern the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican canons, decrees and laws describe Jesus as follows;

“If anyone denies that in the sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist are contained truly, really and substantially the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our lord Jesus Christ and consequently the whole Christ, but says that He is in it only as in a sign, or figure or force, let him be anathema” (Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, Canon 1, 1960).

The documents states that the sacrament offered in communion or mass and the wine are Jesus in body, blood and in all his divinity, and if you don’t acknowledge this, then you are cursed. Every spirit-filled Christian knows that they are in Christ Jesus and seated with him at the right hand of God in heaven (Ephesians 2:6). The Lord Jesus said the communion should be done “in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25). Nothing should be converted to his real body or blood which are acts of witchcraft.

The 6^th Canon requires Catholic adherents to bow, adore and worship the sacrament wafer which is lifted up and bowed to in processions. This wafer is then stored in a tabernacle in all Catholic churches. How can God be confined inside a piece of bread that was baked by a man in an oven yesterday then converted to a god ready for worship? Canon 1 and 3 testify to sacrificing Jesus Christ again and again each time mass is celebrated. The Bible says Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many (Hebrews 9:24-28).

Since when did man create God and worshipped him having protected him with a fence of curses (Anathemas)? This is reminiscent of Aron’s golden calf in the absence of Moses and God, an image or idol which God forbids us to worship or bow to because this is worship to a demon or Satan (1 Corinthians 10:19-20). Do Catholics worship the same Jesus that we know? My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to me (Hosea 4:6).

Failure by Catholics to study the word creates a stage for blind followers of distorted doctrines. Such followers are easier to govern and manipulate. When God commanded his prophets to write his words, he purposed that ignorance would eventually be wiped out as knowledge of the truth manifested itself among men without any hindrance. Keep them ignorant, divide and rule, happens to be the basic principle in Rome’s canonical governance. Caesar prefers slaves or servants to heirs in the kingdom.

Rome’s greatest fear is a spiritually literate following. Truth makes a people free indeed. Jesus is the way and the truth. Rome risks losing everybody when people get to know the Truth as it is according to God’s plan for mankind.

We are commanded to study the word of God and even write in our hearts and our doors. 2 Timothy 2:15 says “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

God does not like changes made in his written word. The word “Trinity” connotes a union of three people considered as a unit. No single poorly written Bible translation has the word Trinity in it. Yet Rome continues to use the word Trinity. Was it erroneous for God to refer to himself as the “Godhead” and not the “Trinity”? (See “Godhead” in Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20, Colossians 2:9).

God says in Revelation “For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book”. Also compare this warning in Revelation 22: 18, Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32 and Proverbs 30:6.

The use of the rosary during prayer demeans man’s fellowship with God. It assumes man is too forgetful as to forget God despite the presence of the Holy Spirit whose presence in a true Christian can never be ignored or taken for granted unless of course he is absent from you. The Holy Spirit is too good a teacher to overlook his children.

Unspiritual repetitions of supposed prayer via the rosary amounts to incantations which are mantras that summon unclean spirits from the spiritual realm. I cannot imagine my own flesh and blood children talking to me using a rosary if I was seriously their father. Rome has therefore made prayer into a joke and ineffectual among the faithful masses. I wonder how many have been swept by this fallacy. None of God’s men in the Bible talked via a rosary.

Matthew 6:7-8 says “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knows what things ye have need of, before ye ask him”. God even answers our thoughts before we sound then.

True Christianity leads every believer back to the Eden before sin messed up man’s fellowship with God. It completely restores man with God. Heaven did not provide for surrogate fatherhood between God and our biological fathers who God uses to provide a temple for his habitation on earth.

Fatherhood surrogacy seeks to supplant the Holy Spirit who is God. We only have two fathers. Our Spiritual in heaven and our earthly biological father who gave birth to us. Our earthly father epitomizes our real Father in heaven.

The physical realm is pregnant with parallels in heaven. There is no room for third parties. There was never supposed to be a priest between God and man in the beginning. God was and still remains the King. He made only one body for me as a temple of the Holy Spirit.

When the heavenly King sows understanding in the inner man of the heart and finally arrives to dwell in me by His Spirit, is there room for another one inside me? Can God share his temple (Human body) with another one? The Bible says “When one comes in, the other must go away”. Apostle Paul said we too must decrease to allow Christ to grow inside us. Show me room for the surrogate father and the absence of God’s plan will be evident. We can never call anybody Father in the light of this awareness.

Our confession of sins is not unto men but towards God who has power to forgive, cleanse and atone. A priest has no power to forgive sins. Forgiveness means healing and setting free. Prayer should be between me and God in a secret chamber. The priest and I form an obnoxious crowd for matters of the heart. This belongs to our creator.

1 John 1:8-10 says “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us”.

Communication with spirits of the dead is witchcraft. God forbids this in both the Old and New Testament. God rebuked Saul when he summoned Prophet Samuel in a séance. Summoning the dead demeans God who is eternally present with us whether we be asleep, awake or even dead. How do we ignore God to consult the lesser dead creatures?

Mary was used to provide a physical body in which God would live as Jesus Christ on earth after he departed from heaven to dwell with man and eventually restore man with God in spiritual fellowship. We are sons of God, created as spirits and then given a physical body to serve God on earth. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1). This is only possible when we are born again and the Spirit of God dwells in us.

When Jesus resurrected, he commanded that his disciples wait in the upper room for the coming of the Holy Spirit who would dwell inside their bodies. His mother Mary and his siblings were among the disciples who obeyed this command. God did not descend upon the 120 disciples and told them to intercede for the world through disciple named Mary. No scripture alleges this except Rome’s earthly Canonical statutes.

Jesus wanted only the best service for us including His mother. He went to heaven and sent to us the best Rabbi like him, the best teacher, our comforter and intercessor who is none other than the person of the Holy Spirit. Mary was never a mediator between God and men. Our mediator is God himself, the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth (1 Timothy 2:5-6). A child cannot nurture another child. Only a parent can. Mary was and still is a child of God.

The Apostles wrote to believers in various regional churches addressing them as saints. Kindly verify this at the beginning of most epistles and other books. Every believer is scripturally speaking, a saint by virtue of the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Kindly confirm this by scripture (Psalms 34:9, 97:10, 149:5, Acts 26:10, Romans 15:26, 31, 16:15, 1 Corinthians1:2, Ephesians 2:19, 6:18, Hebrews 13:24, Revelation 5:8).

Sainthood comes when God starts dwelling inside a Christian’s body after they get born again and they start hearing the leading of the Spirit of God in every aspect of life.

Scripture says there is no link between the living and the dead. Any attempt to contact or minister to the dead is witchcraft, which is an abomination to God and leads man to hell. The Bible does not provide any evidence about a single believer who was made a saint after their demise. The living do not fellowship with the dead.

Many people stick to the Roman Catholic Church because it allows people to consume alcohol and even smoke cigarettes. Alcohol is an opposite parallel to the spirit of God. Alcohol triggers evil in man while the Holy Spirit draws man to God’s glory. Every person who is not destined to benefit from God’s kingdom is driven to consume alcohol.

Proverbs 20:1 says “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise”.

Leviticus 10:9-10 “Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean”

Proverbs 31:4-5 “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes’ strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted”

Ephesians 5:18 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”

Therefore, the tabernacle of God will not be full of wine or unclean things, but will be full of the Holy Spirit who makes us drunk in a holy pleasurable way that pleases God. We are kings, princes and priests called to serve both God and mankind in Jesus Christ as we are led by the Spirit.

A major command to Moses on the mountain categorically states that you shall not create any image in the likeness of God or earthly things for your worship because no man has seen God. Whatever images are created and hung in church are mere stretches of man’s unhealthy imaginations seeking to defy God. I have often wondered how Israel came up with the image of a calf as an object of worship when Moses tarried on the mount.

When we conceptualized how God created us in his own spiritual image, we then create a golden image that we feel resembles God, hung it naked on the cross and proceed to worship and bow before it, create another bronze image we thinks represents Mary and still bow before it. We quickly forget that every image has a devil behind it. Jesus resurrected and rose to heaven where he dwells right now. The cross and the grave remain empty to date. Why would your cross still have Jesus on it? We should prefer Jesus in our hearts showing us how best to carry our crosses as we follow him, than his being crucified eternally on the cross as is evident in some churches.

Nobody wants to see the Lord on the cross whenever they step in church. That was the most demeaning sacrifice the Lord had to go through for our sake and we ought to seriously respect and never dare to mimic it in a statue or even during Easter. Our Jesus is a resurrected victorious Christ who shares with us the pleasures of holiness on the Highway of Holiness.

I have seen children baptized by sprinkling of water who later confuse this baptism with being born again. Jesus was baptized on attaining the age of 30 years. His parents never took him to John the Baptist as a child because God’s timetable could not allow for that. Moreover, a child is still under a parent’s charge and answerable to parents. An adult who has repented and received Jesus by the Spirit of God is more likely to understand and embrace the complex meaning of water baptism.

John 3: 23 says “And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized”. This testifies a large volume of water was available for total immersion of the human body and not a mere symbolic sprinkling with a few drops of water.

The Ethiopian eunuch was also baptized by Philip in a river. Death to the world by water is a serious thing. Israel was covered by the waters of the Red Sea which by no means comes in a calabash. Who are we to be spared death by embracing a symbolic sprinkling of drops of water on our foreheads? A mockery of a significant spiritual death to our worldly life followed by a resurrection unto a new life in Christ. It is only those who have received Christ (Born again) get the benefits of water baptism.

Scripture says in Isaiah 14: 12-15 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

God says “Come, let us reason together”. Such reasoning should be done within scriptural contexts. The word of God is not open to philosophical discourse. What he has stated stands for ever waiting to be witnessed by every individual when we conclude our stay in our timeline and step into the spiritual Kingdom in one second, minute, hour, day, year or decade from now. What will you do when you discover King David is still merrily dancing while playing his melodeous harp and Mary’s mind was deleted of the important role she played when she was here on earth to eliminate human pride from setting in?

God has provided grace to all who need it on earth without another person’s intercession but for the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus himself. The only representative Christ sent to each of us is the ever present God, the Holy Spirit.

Finally, it is a dangerous thing to follow decrees made by councils of men that openly reveal faults and scripturally contradictory doctrines that can be verified by simple tests of the spirit (1 John 4:1) and still expect to successfully defend your behavior before the living God whose doctrine is very clear and stated repetitively from Genesis to Revelation. Many have erroneously chosen to follow such doctrines because they found their parents and great grandparents in this bandwagon.

Kindly remember that we and our parents can be sincere, but sincerely wrong. The word of God carefully seeks to correct such errors with a witness of three happenings or decrees in the Bible by different individuals without man’s intervention.

The word of God has been tried, verified and seasoned. We need not add to or remove anything from it. Our helper the Holy Spirit is ever present to help us if we dare ask. But we need to ensure we are in the Spirit and that He dwells in us before seeking his guidance. Let not our endeavors be futile by attempting to operate outside the Spirit of God. The written word and the living Word will always judge you.

The word of God is clear about being born again which has nothing to do with baptism. The spirit inside man is dead in sin hence quenched until the Lord lights it again. Job 21: 17 says “How often is the candle of the wicked put out! And how often cometh their destruction upon them! God distributes sorrows in his anger”. Proverbs 20:27 says “The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly”.

The only person who can light the spirit of man is Jesus, if we hear him, believe and receive him as the son of God who died on the cross to wash our sins away. He gives us faith which pleases God when we hear his plan for mankind. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Jesus is the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world (John 1:9).

Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). We need to do what Jesus tell us if we want to encounter God.

Jesus urges us to be born again if we desire to see or enter the kingdom of God (John 3:1-7). We must know that God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Therefore our spirits must be alive in order to communicate with God. The Lord is always seeking for those who are sincere enough to welcome him to dwell in their hearts. He says “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelations 3:19-20)

Jesus shows us how we get to be born of the Spirit of God as follows; “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 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 (Romans 10:8-10).”

Therefore we only need to believe, repent and trust in Jesus, open our mouths and ask him to forgive our sins (God’s kingdom operates by sounding whatever you need), then ask Jesus to come into our hearts and commune with us. Jesus respects you and he will do exactly what you desire by coming into your heart. The Holy Spirit performs the spiritual birth.

I remember one day when I was still smoking, I had just read the writings above and decided to verify whether this could work or not. Having smoked cigarettes for eleven years, I jokingly asked Jesus to help me stop smoking. I was shocked to discover the following day I had totally lost my urge to smoke cigarettes or consume alcohol to date. I have never turned back since then. Kindly experiment by asking Jesus to do anything for you and receive the shock of your life.

If there is one teaching the Pope needs to teach the Body of Christ, it is how to upgrade our prayers in the secret place with the most high God, from the outer court of the tabernacle where our sins are washed with the blood of the Lamb, into the Holy Place where we seek the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and further still into the Holy of Holies where we encounter Yeshua himself at the highest level of worship as overcomers.

The Bible does not mention where Mary features in this order of things. No priest or Pope is mentioned either. This because every born again individual becomes a Royal Priesthood giving service to God first then mankind. In God, we are all priests, guided by the ever present God, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. He never left but remains with us until the end of times (Hebrews 13:5, ). The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).

The Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth has urged all men via scripture to walk as he walked. He is the first and final example to be emulated by all who want to guard against failure. Christ always heard God’s counsel in his heart every second. We are no better than Christ to purpose to avoid this and walk differently. We too need to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

Failure to adhere to Christ’s pattern removes the Christian walk by replacing it with the Law of Moses, legalism and ordinances that are merely shadows of real spiritual issues. How do we start a walk in Christ? ;

(i) You must be born again by the Holy Spirit like Jesus himself, in order to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). You must be born again like Jesus himself, in order to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again (John 3:7).

This is the only way God gets to dwell in your body when you believe in him, repent your sins and receive him by invitation into your heart. We need to become a temple of the Holy Spirit where God is with us and in us. God is able to reach mankind using our bodies. We have a greater impact upon those we interact with and God seeks to confirm our utterances as we are led by his spirit who dwells in us.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding (Psalms 9:10). We receive the fear of the Lord when we are born of the Spirit of God.

(ii) You must be baptized in many waters like Jesus. Jesus was baptized in many waters. A total death to this world and rose up to a new spiritual life in God (John 1:26). A dead body must be totally covered during burial (Much water). This must not be symbolic. A rise from water marks the resurrection with and in Christ Jesus. Baptism is a death and resurrection in Christ. Every Christian must be dead and permanently on the altar to serve God in a renewed spirit, body and soul (mind).

I was baptized in water as a child to please my parents and get their demands out of the way. I went into the water as a dry sinner and emerged a very angry wet sinner. When I got born again, I understood the meaning better and had to undergo another baptism to enable me die to the world and rise up to a new life in Christ.

(iii) You must be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus was baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire by God the Father (Matthew 3:11). “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”.

A clean house will not remain clean for long unless it is occupied by another inhabitant. Strong demons can opt to dwell in body. A Christian should purpose to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in their tabernacle by asking Jesus to baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire, lest demons seek to enter therein.

Spiritual baptism fills a born again believer leading him deeper into the things of God. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Romans 8:14).

(iv) Seek a personal experience with God. When I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, it was such a splendid experience. I can only say that I felt the way the burning bush felt as flames engulfed it wholly without consuming it while Moses gazed upon the spectacle. It was an awesome unimaginable experience which proved to me that only fools can dare say that there is no God. God is very much present and waiting for your walk in faith.

It is true that God truly makes his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire (Psalms 104:4).

I beseech you by all the mercies of God to seek a personal experience with the living God.

Nothing can challenge a personal touch from the Almighty God to whom I give all the praise, glory and honor for allowing me to share this testimony with you. One day I developed a back problem resulting from a slipped vertebral disc that kept me from work for six months. I prayed to the lord while lying on my couch unable to move about the house.

The Holy Spirit whispered in my spirit commanding me to lift my right leg vertically upwards from my waist. The moment I obeyed his command, I stood up, the pain was gone and I went back to work the following day. He proved to me that I was healed by every stripe he received for me. I have been whole ever since. Praise be to the Lord my God who dwells in me.

The saddest thing about life is that people hear about God but they never attempt to seek him out. God desires to have a fellowship with you and me. Imagine getting a beautiful child in your spitting image who walks away, never to be seen until you finally look at their old scrawny lifeless body lying dead on the ground. That is your body with God staring at you at the end of your life. How would you feel if you were our Father God? Please, try to get in touch with God your father. Stop hearing about him. Experience him in person.

(v) Stick to the law of grace. John 1:17 says “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. Galatians 5:4 says “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace”. Grace is the new law in Christ. We need to start relaying upon the Spirit of God and constantly rely upon abundant grace from God.

We should make conscious endeavors to fellowship and stick to fellowships that proclaim the word of God as it has been revealed in the Bible to ward off cunning worldly seductions that lead Christians astray. Christians should not live by dictates of men like those who sat in the Council of Trent.

God says “The just shall live by faith”. This faith only comes from Christ via the Holy Spirit.

This begins your spiritual journey led by the Spirit of God while in complete fellowship with him like Adam’s in the Garden of Eden. Do not be satisfied with religion which leads you nowhere, but seek a real live fellowship with your creator who desires to talk to you each day more than you do, the way a father yearns for a child’s love. Our God is a consuming fire and ardent with love for you and me.

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