Heralds Digest

  “ Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways And set a snare for your soul .” Proverbs 22 : 24 - 25 NKJV Unfaithfulness starts with unfriendly fellowship, like unfaithful conversation with sinners, unfaithful consecration to satanic ideologies, and unfaithful conformation to sinful systems. Therefore, the biblical injunction “ Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go” is clear. An angry man is a repository of unfaithful conversation, unfaithful consecration, and unfaithful conformation. But what if the ‘angry man ’ is our wife/husband, brother/sister, child/parent or anyone we cannot keep at arm’s length? It is important to emphasize that the focus on every believer’s soul intimacy with God is revealed as the principle of a friendly fellowship here. Unfaithfulness to this friendly fellowship is always the basis of vices and satanic manipulations. Whether we are able to physically walk away from...

  “ Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness .” Psalms 107 : 8 - 9 NKJV The abuse of God’s goodness starts with the misappropriation of His mercy towards redemption. It implies that only the redeemed of the Lord can truly understand the goodness of the Lord. And all the grateful hearts among the redeemed would readily give thanks for God’s art of goodness; and not necessarily for His act of goodness. Therefore, the great goodness is embodied in every believer’s full understanding of God’s nature with the expression of gratitude, as inspired by the psalmist “ Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy ” (Psalms 107 : 1 - 2 ). Even in the midst of human grossness and interplay of the wickedness of men, God’s goodness shin...

  “ Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ” II Corinthians 12 : 8 - 9 NKJV In God’s economy of usefulness for service, burden bearer and bounty buzzer often wear interchangeable identities. Apostle Paul had a burden or thorn in the flesh that annoyingly refuse to go away, despite his consistent confidence in the ability of God to make the burden disappear. Yet, God’s response  “ My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness ” remains a profound principle of bounty buzzing from burden bearing. Human ego and pride would prefer to use bounty buzzing on the basis of personal intelligence, inspiration, and industry. Unfortunately, this human economy of usefulness is not acceptable to God. When God says...

  “ You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, For in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength. ” Isaiah 26 : 3 - 4 NKJV Those who trust in pseudo gods are motivated by their offerings of relative peace, in response to the prevailing challenges of life. Unfortunately, these Greek gifts with relative peace are rooted in satanic strategy of deception and the selling of birthright. From the garden of Eden, humanity has been falling into the pit of sin, unrighteousness, and shame on every temptation to doubt the fulfillment of the promises of peace from God. Whereas, it is instructive to note that any offering of peace in response to the demand for a change of circumstances is not a perfect peace - it is a dubious scam! Perfect peace is rooted in believers’ absolute trust in the omnipotence of God. Even when unpleasant circumstances persist, perfect peace is rather more easily validated. Funny enough, the state ...

“ For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. ” II Corinthians 11 : 13 - 15 NKJV There is something fundamentally attractive in the world of today’s music, sports, entertainment that is not scripturally strange. Satan readily transforms into an angel of light to attract his prey into a lifeless love with deception and destruction. For example, when YNW Melly thought up the chorus of " Murder on My Mind " during early 2016 based on his first incarceration at the age of 16, the lifeless disposition in his hip hop talent could have been a significant source of danger. Unfortunately,  after news broke of YNW Melly's murder charges on February 13, 2019, his hit " Murder on My Mind " garnere...

  “ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ ” II Corinthians 10 : 3 - 5 NKJV Like the great Welsh preacher, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, once said “ There is no grosser or greater misrepresentation of the Christian message than that which depicts it as offering a life of ease with no battle and struggle at all…sooner or later every believer discovers that the Christian life is a battleground, not a playground ”. To engage in a playground strategy is to play with spiritual warfare, major in physical and diplomatic settlement of disputes, disagreements, and displeasure, and to exploit the protection offered by legal, administrative, and regulatory instruments whenever the diplomatic approaches fail. And whil...

  “ They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.” Psalms 106 : 13 - 15 NKJV It is not enough to define leanness as the opposite of generosity; it is also a gross demonstration of dissatisfaction, especially in the midst of abundance. The scriptures say after Israel failed God’s test on trust and fellowship in the wilderness, He gave them abundance in response to their quest with leanness and dissatisfaction. Little wonder why the rich, influential and the wealthy people on earth are plagued with unquenchable greed and gloat? Of course, money can only buy mansions, material properties, and affluence for the body; it cannot buy joy, love, and satisfaction for the soul. Whereas, even in the absence of this world’s material riches and wealth, the soul that is attracted to God’s rest and fellowship finds absolute satisfaction jus...