Everlasting Gospel
First lesson: 1 Corinthians 7 : 32
“But I would have you without carefulness, He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the lord'.
Second lesson: Luke 20 :35
“But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage”.
Golden Text: Revelation 14 : 4
“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth; These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb”.
4.1 Only the Father has an absolute selection power
Brethren, do you remember what our Lord Jesus Christ told the mother of the sons of Zebedee, when she went and knelt down before the Lord and made a request? The Lord asked her, woman what do you want that I should do for you? She answered, grant that my children should sit, one on your right hand and the other on your left hand in your glory. But Our Lord Jesus told her, “you do not know what you ask. Can they drink of the cup I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” And the woman said, they could. But Our Lord Jesus Christ answered: “They shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized with, shall they be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it was prepared by the Father.”
If this kingdom were to be understood by you, no person would have struggled for anything or for any position, nor would any person think of anything but every person would have kept mute. But I would not have any person to blame because you are ignorant of the place you are. Each of you must definitely reap what you planted. Have you heard what our lesson says? These are they who were redeemed from among men, they who did not marry nor give in marriage, they who did not defile themselves with women because they were virgins and they were the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb wherever He goes. This very statement was stamped, sealed and delivered. This state of affairs does not require any pleading or fasting or bribery it has been laid down as an everlasting covenant.
4.2 Whither comest virgins
It means that all over the world, God had already selected those who are pure virgins, and not you making yourself after you had married and divorced or widowed or separated. But He has already called the virgins and they have been created so for this kingdom. It will be the height of foolishness for you, on that great day of reckoning, to plead with the Father to select you. Can you find therein any vacant position? Everything you see had already been planned and arranged in pursuance of His Divine order before He created man. This divine order is unchangeable. You have heard that from the beginning there has been the distinction between those who were created as worldly or carnal people and those created as spirited children. The difference between the two cannot be changed even if you weep and wail. You have to remain where you rightfully belong.
An important question which most of you always ask is where such virgins could be found. Such question is belated. Similarly it is equally too late for you to decide now to divorce, or separate from your wife so that you can become a virgin. It is also too late for you to regret now to have married a wife. Be steadfast because a place is allocated in the Kingdom for married people. If you are already married with five or seven or ten wives, do not plan to divorce them, continue with them for there is a place in the kingdom allocated for those who marry five or ten wives. A great many people think that there are certain things they do deliberately or that there are certain behaviours which are purposeful. This cannot be true. Wherever you find yourself, is where has been predestined for you and wherever each of you is born. Whatever position you find yourself has already been destined for you. No person can, and no person has ever advised God. And Jehovah God and His Christ have never made a mistake. It is only man who possesses the spirit of error. If you want to be like the person you see, you have erred. If you intend to do exactly the same thing as the other person has done, you also err.
4.3 Humility before glory
Our Lord Jesus Christ had advised that when you are invited to a supper, you should sit at the lowest seat and do not sit in the highest position, lest a more honourable man than you had been invited also. Because if you take the highest seat, and perchance a more honourable person than yourself attends, your host will come to you and ask you to give that man the seat and you will shamefully take the lowest seat. There you will complain that you have been disgraced. No person has disgraced you, but you have disgraced yourself. If you had taken the lowest seat, as He has advised that whenever you attend any gathering, you should sit yourself in the lowest position in the first instance, at the arrival of the host, you will be invited to a higher seat, then will you have worship in the presence of them who sat at the supper with you.
4.4 The predictions of Christ fulfilled in Brotherhood of the Cross and Star
I have witnessed the manifestation of the word of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Brotherhood of the Cross and Star. Every one of you is struggling for the undefined most important positions. You always strive for positions, and if you wish to arrogate the position of a preacher to yourself, it is good luck to you. It is only in the world that people are politicking for high positions. Even there, it does not serve any useful purpose to struggle for positions because God has come down Himself to rule and he had placed everything in its proper order in accordance with His divine plan. And so you cannot occupy any position which was not fore-ordained for you, no matter how relentless you may struggle. If you usurp any position, the angel will degrade
Brethren, this kingdom is very deep and mysterious and if I begin to explain its intricacies, you will agree with me that it is not only deep and weighty but sometimes inexplicable. It is a very sorrowful situation that from the beginning of times, the people of the world have never known the ways of God, neither have they known Him and His divine plan. His wisdom has confounded the intelligence of man.
4.5 Only the fore-ordained can happen
You may find people go to steal in order to be rich overnight. They should be prudent to know that no matter how they can steal, if they were not destined to be rich, they will never become wealthy. If you were not destined to have any child, even if you marry all the women in the world, you will not have any child. Some men have discovered that it is not easy for them to beget children and so out of desperation, they pick already pregnant women as wives in order to get children. They do not realize what they do, because only what God has destined for you can be fulfilled. It is equally a mark of folly and a wasteful exertion or dissipation of energy thinking how you will posses a lot of money. If you are destined to have money you will not know it. It is being sent to you from above. You do not have to struggle for it neither do you steal, nor tell lies nor show any tendency to craftiness and exasperation. If you are destined to have a battalion of children, do not devise any means because until you have numerous children, you will not know it and you will not experience any problem. But whoever was not destined to have children, may indulge himself in all forms of concoction, consult oracles, require the service of a necromancer, a herbalist, apply all forms of medication, he will not have a child. Even if he prays to God to give him a deformed child or an abnormal child, since his wish is at variance with the will of God, he will not have any child.
4.6 Be holy in body and in the spirit
These carnal illustrations are by way of digression. This is not the subject of today. The theme of the sermon today is the reason we are exhorted to be holy even also as He is Holy. If you marry, you are no longer holy. You are very much aware that from the day you go to ask a woman's hand in marriage, you have fallen short of the expectation of God. Because most of the requirements to consummate marriage are such things which God does not like, but since you want to marry you cannot help meeting the requirements. You have been told in one of the lessons that those who will be accounted worthy to obtain the kingdom and the resurrection for the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. Realize that when you ask a person's hand, you are going to marry or give in marriage, it means you have judged yourself.
4.7 be content with your position in life
Brethren, the gift of God is as precious as it is enjoyable. It is not grievous, it has no encumbrances, it does not admit of any question or struggling because the Father had already kept the diversities of gifts in accordance with His divine plan, and they work eternal life. Do not be so concerned when I tell you every time that I am looking for virgins. I am only pulling your legs because I have already gotten the complete number throughout the world. Many people ponder over this question of where to find the virgins, and that in the absence of such virgin I will select you. I shall not select you because your name is not in the list. You have your own place. Always be contented with whatever position God has given to you. Do not punish yourself unnecessarily because it is too late. And every man who has this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure. He wants holiness and purity, you have to be as holy as He is.
4.8 Advice on marriage
When the people of Corinth asked Saint Paul certain things concerning marriage, he advised that “it is good for a man not to touch a woman, nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. This advise is in no way perfect but it is rather choosing the lesser of the two evils. Finally he told the people that he only adviced them not of commandment but by permission. “for I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man has his proper gift of God, one after this manner and another after that”. He knows that the ability to refrain from any vice cannot be attributed to man but to God who does everything according to His divine plan and what was predestined for you. It is not good for a man to advise the other to divorce his wife or to compel a single girl to marry in this kingdom. God had already arranged every thing, He had arranged the various position, every person has his own distinct position. That was why Our Lord Jesus Christ usually concluded His discourses with the statement “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. It means that whenever you listen to the Gospels, you should accept and practise those which belong to you, and reject those which do not belong to you. Do not be disturbed by any Gospel because you are not the only child of God for as we have different faces so are there diversities of gifts.
4.9 Talents are born not acquired
I find it difficult to believe that you can only learn how to do something from somebody. But I believe that gifts are inborn in man, that which you are born with is good and then one you acquire through learning is a counterfeit. Our Lord Jesus Christ has made it known to us that God is the only Teacher, there is no other teacher, God is the only great teacher we have, who teaches us and imparts knowledge valuable to us. All other doctrines are counterfeit.
I have told you that God does not require your money, children, clothes, shoes, food but He does want you to be holy, to keep your bodies pure, even as He is holy. You have to be pure with the words of your mouth, with your footsteps, with your perception. You have to be pure in your behaviour, in spirit and in the flesh. That is why man is very important in this kingdom. This is so because God has no other dwelling place, He dwells in you. Any time you defile yourself with fornication or adultery, that house stands demolished.
4.10 Carnal intimacy breeds defilement
The failure of the ninety nine percent of the world population is attributable to this fact, because a great many people believe that there is no sin in some body marrying a wife or husband because God says man or woman should marry, procreate children and replenish the earth. If this happens you will not be holy neither will you notice the evil in it. But note that you will not follow the Lamb wherever He goes. It is said that the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us, not willing that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance and be saved. Examine critically the statement that they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain the kingdom and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. You have, been educated at school or college. You have been a member of various church denominations. You have the Holy Bible and have read the passage. If you believed in the statement that it was made for your guidance, you could not have had problems with this injunction.
4.11 To be forewarned is to be forearmed
It is now one thousand nine hundred and eighty-two years since the Gospel on chastity and celibacy started to be preached to people. It is a long time enough which should have sounded a note of warning into every person's ears even if they were blind and deaf, and to people before this generation if the people had believed in the significance of the virgins who would follow the Lamb where He goes. It seems to me that the whole world is in the same position as the five foolish virgins who attended a wedding with their lamps without fuel and contented that when the bridegroom arrived, they would look for oil. The other five who were wise took their lamps and also oil in their vessels. While the bridegrooms delayed, they all slumbered and slept. When the bridegroom arrived at midnight, they all had slumbered and slept. When the bridegroom arrived at midnight, the ten virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish realizing that their lamps were almost extinguished asked the wise to give them oil because their lamps were gone out. The wise told them no, lest there be not enough for us and you but go to the town and buy oil for yourselves. No sooner had they left to buy oil than the bridegroom arrived. The door was opened and the five wise ones entered, the door was closed against the five foolish virgins. That is why so many people who had married having realized the truth contemplate separating from their wives. It is rather too late for you to take such a decision.
4.12 Do not love the world and its lusts, they pass away.
It is said that the world passes away with its lusts and desires. The emphasis is on the passing away of its lusts and desires. That is why it is said that a man or a woman who is not married cares for the things which belong to the Lord how he or she may please the Lord. Adam worshipped God up to the time he did not marry. But from the day he married and the unexpected happened things, fell apart. You heard that since Adam was carnally intimate with Eve which prompted their expulsion from the Garden, Adam no more cared for the things of God but was preoccupied with the question of how to feed themselves, clothe themselves, care for their children and find shelter for themselves. There is a passage in the Bible where Our Lord Jesus said blessed are the barren, and the wombs which never bare and the paps which never gave suck. Do you understand the implication of that statement? To whom does this statement refer? It refers to unmarried women, those who do not marry nor are they given in marriage, for they will follow the lamb wherever He goes.
4.13 Purification is total abstinence from sex
The word “purification” refers to those who do not defile themselves with men and women. If you maintain your virginity and sanctity, it means you are pure. I do not suppose that any such virgins would easily be found in Africa. A great many of them will be found among the whites, because there are many whites who believe these words and so they do not marry till they die. The whites do not appear to have high regards for begetting children. Some multi-millionaires have only one child, others have none and others still do not marry. Some of them only live in hostels without any concern for anything. These indicate that when they will embrace Brotherhood, they will do it with devotion and sincerity. God knows why He started Brotherhood with the blacks. If He were to start from the Western world, the 144,000 required would have been found there but He did not want the blacks to have a cause for regret, that was why He started from Africa. The whites do believe that a thief and liar have no share in the Kingdom of God, because they have appreciated the truth. How many blacks have believed this sermon? They console themselves that man is saved by grace.
4.14 Condition for marriage
He has even given a condition that from now on those who marry should remain as though they had none and they who weep as though they wept not, and they who buy as though they possessed not. How many persons have complied with the words of this Gospel? Your thinking is that Father knows and He will choose you. I want to sound a note of warning that He will not choose you no matter what happens. Only pure virgins will be selected, those who have never defiled themselves with men or women, those who never marry or are given in marriage, will follow the lamb wherever He will go.
It is indicative that the answer given by our Lord Jesus Christ to the mother of the two sons of Zebedee is true when He said 'to sit on my right hand was given to them for whom it was prepared by the Father' from the beginning. This means that the pure virgins have been selected before the foundations of the world were laid. There are some people who are born into the world, but have never heard about this kingdom, nor do they attend church services in any church denomination, but they have a resistant attitude to marrying wives or husbands or associating themselves with men or women. They do not know why they are born so, only the Father knows why they are born. From now on, do not toy with any gospel you receive. He wants us to be as pure as He is. He wants us to be in readiness, without any hindrance, so that we may be worthy of Him. Requirement for money or clothes or any other carnal thing is not for you. To be pure in thought, words and deeds; to be pure in the flesh and in the spirit is for you..
4.15 The insubordination of man
Animals are intelligently more precautious than human beings, because if you set a trap or snare and one animal falls in it, all other animals will avoid that route. It will take a very long time before another animal falls in the trap again. But if a man falls into the pit or in the snare other men will continue to fall into the same trap or snare. This is so because one of the frailties of man is high propensity to blame or criticize the other person. If one person falls into a pit another person would feel that he fell because he did not have the tactics of jumping or of running before jumping and that he could do better. He tries to jump using his tactics but also falls and so one by one the thousand of them will fall into the pit and snare.
4.16 Marriage embodies sufferings
Before you were baptized into Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, you had read many books, novels, magazines and other publications. You will be so pompous and arrogant that you will neither learn from any person nor take correction when you err. You will feel that you are so educated that you cannot receive instructions from any person. Therefore, you tend to maintain your position of condemning and criticizing. This explains why we have stagnated. God has not hidden any truth from us, He says that if a man marries, he has not sinned; but such will have trouble in the flesh. But I would that you be relieved of this affliction, that those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who buy as though they possessed not, so that you may be saved. Who has opted to be saved? You claim that you know your way, does it save you? Learn from experience of your parents as married couples. Also learn from the marriage experience of your brothers and relations and friends and examine the conditions of marriage and you will learn the greatest lesson of your life. It is said a man or woman who has not married cares for the things of the Lord that he or she may be holy both in body and in spirit but any person who marries cares for the things of the world, how he or she may please his or her husband.
As if that injunction is not enough, God has added another condition that wives should submit themselves to their husbands and that husbands should love their wives. If you are a man and you love your wife as he has commanded, in which other way will you love God because He wants your love with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Similarly, if the woman submits herself to God also what about the order that every wife should submit herself to the husband? Brethren, I do not intend to belabour this point, I am only scratching the subject. You really know what I am telling you. Our first lesson will now be read. Those of you who still want to marry should know yourself.
First lesson: 1 Corinthians 7:32
“But I would have you without carefulness, He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord'.
Brethren, listen to what is read to you. A servant cannot serve two masters. It is said wife submit yourself to your husband. If she should submit herself to her husband by carrying out the husband's instructions, what time will be left for her to serve God? It is also said “husband love your wife”. When he spends his time in loving the wife, caring for her, buying things for her, keeping her happy what other time has he at his disposal to love his God also. It is rather too late to try to do the two.
4.17 A servant cannot serve two masters
This explains why Paul since the day he was selected, did not go back home but straight away served God. He worked harder than all the other apostles. From the moment he was called, he did not go back home, he had no wife, no children and so nothing attracted him at home but concentrated all his thoughts and energy in the service of God. He did not follow the examples of other apostles because others always went on their ministry with sisters but he never went to any place with any sister because he had no sister and had no need for one since he had determined to run the race.
If you keep yourself holy, without being intimate with man or woman, your eyes will be opened and many things will be taught you. Many of the things you never regarded as sinful and many things you had regarded as good will be shown to you and you would know your relative position. That also accounted for the other Apostles taking a 'little' wine, but Paul drank nothing. He did not eat any meat. All his abstinence was to make him worthy of the Lord. Any person who has no wife, cares for the things of God how he will be holy both in the flesh and in spirit in order to please God. He has no other thought apart from knowing how to please God and with such a view you have no hindrance.
4.18 Friendship with the world hinders your service to God
Apart from maintaining that purity and sanctity in you, the large circle of relationship will weigh heavily on you. Your brothers and sisters, children, parents, paternal relations, maternal relations, other relations all expect certain obligation from you. They may be so demanding that you spend your time, energy and money relentlessly that you hardly have time again to attend to the work of God. If you devote your attention to your domestic affairs, your children requesting for one thing or the other, your parents and brothers reminding you of your responsibilities for them; after all these, what other time will be left for to follow Our Lord Jesus Christ? Right now a great many married men and women are in trouble. It is not uncommon to find fathers telling their children, who go to them for some requests, to go to their mothers and vice versa. At the period of a man's devotion to God, his children would go to him demanding money for food or for school fees or for one thing or the other. You find yourself in a position where you are torn between two alternatives. It is the same God, Our Father who commands saying 'Fathers love your children. If you love your children sincerely, in what other way will you love your God? Alternatively, if because of this implication, you abandon your children so that you can concentrate your attention in loving God, it means you have violated the other commandment that fathers should love their children. If you spend your time with your wife and children always when can you remain in peace, when can you be pure and holy and when can you pre-occupy your thoughts in the things of God?.
In order to escape the bustling, tempestuous and disturbing situation in the house, some have moved to the Bethel leaving behind their wives, children, and relations. While there, their children will be sent to look for them, and the children will call their fathers. It appears to me that it is now too late for you to have a way of escape. Can you now discover yourself? Who is to blame, you or Our Lord Jesus Christ? When it is said that those who will follow the lamb are those who neither marry nor defile themselves with women, you frown your face; are you worthy or capable of containing the situation? Is there any more chance for you?
4.19 A man's hindrance is his wife and vice versa
There is no married man or woman who can profess that his or her heart is pure and that he is at peace with his wife or husband. Whenever you come across a man, he will complain that his only trouble is his wife and a woman will complain that her only trouble is the husband. A man may not bear malice against any other woman but the wife and a woman may not begrudge any other man except the husband. This contractual obligation is not easily separable but during the period of the contract, they are always under fire. This state of affairs lends credence to the words of the scriptures that a married man or woman cares for the wife or husband. Any married person has no other thought except to please his or her partner.
If I may ask what do you mean by “the things that are of the world?” Why did you marry a wife or husband? A man may decide to devote himself to the Lord, to keep himself pure and undefiled with a woman. The wife will wage war against him. She will tell the husband to return her to her parents because she is not his maid. The moment a woman tells the husband that she intends to keep herself pure for some time in order to please God, the husband will suspect her, right away, that she has started having an affair with another man. He will blame the action of the wife on her disloyalty to him instead of accepting that the woman really wants to be pure and holy. He will tell her that the Leader has never approved of abstinence from sex for any married person at any point in time. But for the shame of it, most of you would have reported to the Father the refusal of one partner or the other of sexual intimacy. If one threatens that he will report the other, she will challenge that she is quite prepared to appear before the Father. Even if one of them makes bold to go to the Father, to lay such a complaint, he will not report direct the true situation of things but will beat about the bush and dance at the periphery of the matter without mentioning the real cause of trouble in the house which is sex.
4.20 Marriage life incompatible with service to God
If any person resolves to render, sincerely and diligently, his service to God and his sister sees him going on ministry with another woman, he will be strongly suspected of having been carnally intimate with the woman. In the same token if a devoted man goes on ministry work with her, the husband will begin to cast aspersion on her, and that she has betrayed her intention.
Upon the gospels preached who has listened, assimilated and practised the gospels? The thoughts of the wife are always on the husband, if the husband does not return from work early to be with the wife, she will accuse the man of being intimate carnally with another woman. Similarly, the husband spends all his time thinking about the wife so that if the wife is not readily available, the husband will accuse her of having sex with another man. Suspicion of promiscuous intimacy is now the order of the day. This is the order, and it is unchangeable. But no person thinks about God who created him, but his only pre-occupation is carnal intimacy. For this reason, there is always disagreement and strife between husband and wife.
If you make the mistake of standing with somebody's wife to discuss anything, and the husband sights you from somewhere, you are done for because he has marked you down. And if he comes near you, the way he looks at you will frighten others. Should your wife prepare food for another man and two of them enjoy the food in your house, and you come to meet them laughing, will you not set the house ablaze? You will thank God for disclosing the secret plans of your wife's clandestine association with the so-called Brotherhood member. Upon the gospels delivered to you, no person has complied with the words of God. If your husband buys soutane for a girl who cannot afford it and you accidentally come to see the transaction, no matter what the man tries to explain you will not regard the girl as a Brotherhood but will declare that you have caught him red-handed and will want the husband to explain his relationship with the girl. No matter what he tries to explain, you will insist that God has handed him over to you.
Wherever a woman is, whether in Britain or America or any other part of the world, her mind resides with her husband in Nigeria. Similarly wherever a man is, whether in India or Tanzania or France, his mind will always be fixed on the wife who is in Nigeria. But Our Lord Jesus Christ is in need of your heart and now your heart is not in Him but in mundane things. Brethren you will notice that this problem does not come from God or from any other person but you are the architect of it.
Do you remember that young man who told our Lord Jesus Christ that he would follow Him but that he would go and bid farewell to his relations at home? Have you been told that he ever returned to our Lord Jesus Christ? He went to see his wife and children and felt he could go back, but it was impossible. Let us have our second lesson so that you realize that no person means you any harm but the situation has already been created for you even though it is unbearable.
Second lesson: Luke 20 : 35
“But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage”.
4.21 Those who will follow our Lord Jesus Christ
Brethren have you heard that? Those who are unmarried will follow Him wherever He goes, and no person will have power over you; no man or woman will come to capture you while you are walking with Him. No person will speak to you in a despiteful manner, and since Our Lord Jesus Christ is the bridegroom, you have only one way to follow. Our Lord Jesus Christ will not allow a married woman to follow Him because he has instructed somewhere that a woman should submit herself to her husband. If He (Jesus Christ) therefore allows a married woman to follow Him, the woman will find herself in a position of submitting to two persons which tantamounts to being sincere to one and despising the other.
This injunction is not man-made law. It has no alternative. It is a laid down condition that those who are accounted worthy to inherit the kingdom of God do not marry and give in marriage. They do not sell or buy. They do not keep girl friends and boy friends or concubines. This does not imply that those who marry and keep concubines will not have a share in this kingdom but I am merely giving you the condition under which any one is qualified to follow Our Lord Jesus Christ, wherever He goes. I do not say that you will not enjoy but your kind of enjoyment is quite different.
4.22 Those redeemed from earth
You are all aware that no person keeps, this condition. Our Lord Jesus Christ has not forbidden any person from marrying, neither has He advised you to marry. Your father or any other person has not advised you to marry or not to marry, but it was fore-ordained for certain persons because the passage is specific that they who shall be accounted worthy to inherit this world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
During this Pentecostal, every gospel delivered to you provides either a question or an answer. When a condition is given as a reason for your being forbidden from doing certain things and you are so inquisitive to ask why those things should not be done, then corresponding answers are given. The first lesson tells us that a man or a woman who has not married cares for the things that belong to God, how he or she may please the Lord. His or her ultimate aim is to serve God and so he keeps himself pure and holy while still waiting. If you come across a man or a woman who does not desire to marry it means such a person is predestined to serve God.
4.23 Take the world and give me Christ
It is not necessary to ask any question, because if you confront the girl whether she does not want to get children, she will say no, if you further ask her whether she does not desire to marry she will give a negative answer, if you further ask what she wants, the answer will be that she wants to serve God. A spiritual chorus attests that you can take away the whole world but give me' Christ Jesus. What this means is that such a girl has summed up courage to take that absolute but solemn decision to reject the world but accept Christ Jesus as the bridegroom. Today if you find somebody who wants to serve God, people will regard him as a demented fellow. Taking the condition of this world as a base, of the two persons, the married on one hand and the unmarried on the other, who is mentally deranged? I want to say that the one who marries is the foolish person, because she no more has the Christ and cannot follow the Lamb wherever He goes. The unmarried person has chosen things from above, while the married has chosen mundane things even though two of them are His.
You do not have to be jealous of the unmarried because you have married a wife and have begotten children. You should be satisfied with your own position, that is your glory. Do not be jealous of the unmarried who has opted to serve God and follow the Lamb wherever He goes. Has He not told us plainly that whosever does not forsake all that he has, cannot be His disciple? You can be a president, a governor, a millionaire, a king, an emperor or a man outstanding in the society but the condition is that those who will be accounted worthy to follow the Lamb of God wherever He goes, are those who have neither married nor are given in marriage.
Do not be deceived by any person that you will follow him even though you marry. If any man preaches any other gospel unto you which is at variance with the one you have received here tolerate him patiently because he is speaking carnally. If any person tells you that even though you have married for long, you would, today follow our Lord Jesus Christ, he is deceiving you He has said: “In My Father's house there are many mansions”. Would you not like the mansion in which you are kept? It is the same Lord. You should be satisfied with your own position.
4.24 There are many mansions in the Father's house
This statement is confirmed by the words of a spiritual chorus that man should be content with his own position, be absolutely satisfied with your position. If you are married, love your wife as he has instructed and if you are a woman, submit to your husband. Obedience to these instructions is the kingdom of God. If you have money, remain where you are in your affluence for the same Christ Jesus rules over you and you are in this kingdom. I have already told you what is in store for those who surrender themselves to God, because every person has a share in the benefits accruing from their services to God but the particular set of persons who will follow the Lamb wherever He goes, are the only set of person who are accounted worthy to inherit this kingdom.
If God has given you the ability, having heard this gospel you surrender yourself completely, to God, refraining from fornication and adultery, you will be given your due position in one of the many mansions. Do not ever think that you will take your place amongst those who will follow the Lamb because it is said “but they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage”. They have never had any association or intimacy with men or women. They are holy both in the spirit and in the flesh, and they are without blemish or any vestiges of sin in them.
4.25 The examples of John and Christ
We should learn from the life and example of John the Baptist who neither married nor kept a girl friend. He was never intimate with any woman nor did he commit fornication but was pure and holy to the end of his life. He did not eat anything except locust beans and honey. You will also recollect that Our Lord Jesus, speaking to us today, was a handsome young man and there were many beautiful women but He did not marry, He did not keep any concubine or did He have any intimacy with any women. He came into the world to serve God as a full time worker.
Whosoever puts his hands into the plough and then looks back is not fit to enter into the kingdom of God. In the same token, no soldier who entangles himself with the affairs of this life can please the person or authority who enlisted him into the army. If you like to be angry about the gospel, you can be angry, if you wish to be happy, be happy but one thing is certain and that is, the truth is always bitter but it endures for ever.
Some people, after resolving that they want to serve God, soon begin to run from pillar to post with women feeling satisfied that I do not know what they do. I am telling you, that is your kingdom, you can afford to do what you like because you are not one of those selected to follow the lamb wherever He goes. If it was not so Our Lord Jesus Christ would not have said 'whosoever is unjust, let him be unjust still, whosoever is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he who is righteous, let him be righteous still and he who is holy, let him be holy still; Behold I come quickly and my reward is with Me to give every man according as his work shall be. That is the condition in this kingdom. Whatever you sow the same shall you reap. You are instructed not to commit any vice and no person tells you to do what is good but those who are virgins they have their place. Those who after listening comply with the gospel, and abstain from sex have their own place and those who continue to fornicate and maintain intimacy with women and men also have their own place. There are sufficient places.
4.26 The highest position is that of a virgin
This gospel will be kept specifically for reference to all those who come into Brotherhood of the Cross and Star to struggle for positions so that each person may know his relative position whether among the virgins or among those who marry but have decided to remain like those who do not marry or whether you are still indulging in promiscuous sexual interaction. It is a common place knowledge that members in Brotherhood struggle for supremacy over others, the members continue to inquire about the highest position in this kingdom. Prophets claim to be in the highest hierarchy, the Pastors claim, they are the highest and the Apostles also stake their claim to the headship of the hierarchical structure of the kingdom. Others who claim to be the highest are the Christ Students and the Christ Servants, but I want to put it to you that the highest position in this kingdom is that of a person adjudged worthy to walk with the Lamb wherever He goes, eat with Him and dwell with Him eternally. Those who follow Him wherever He goes are those accounted worthy to inherit this world and the resurrection from the dead because they neither marry nor are given in marriage.
4.27 Heart searcher and eye opener
This year appears to be a very wonderful year even the kind of Gospels delivered since the commencement of this Pentecostal have no comparison. The gospels have revealed very deep and recondite wisdom which has astounded the most erudite readers and have opened the eyes of the ignorant. This is so since a great many of you have asked the question to have an explanation of the difference between the married and the unmarried because it is your own thinking that both the married and unmarried bend, go on blessing, eat from the same plates and do the like things, and so they are all children of the Father. This explains why some Brotherhood members are usually advised by their relations not to accept any position which forbids one from marrying a wife or a husband, but to remain in the marriage and beget children, and build houses and own property because there is no difference in Brotherhood since the Father regards all in the same way. It is true that every person is equal in Brotherhood and every body enjoys this kingdom in the same way. There is only one love and God loves every person in the same way. Whatever is your position, stay where you are. I cannot advise you to marry, or not to marry. I cannot question you for the reason you marry or why you want certain positions and places in this Kingdom. These places are categorized. You are, free to occupy any one you like. It is said that the dogs are found outside the gate of the city. Sorcerers, whore-mongers, adulterers, murderers, idolaters, are found outside the city but the same Father looks after them.
4.28 There are benefits
What is the benefit a handsome young man derives for not marrying a wife, for not enjoying himself, for not begetting children. Similarly what is the gain a beautiful young woman gets for not marrying a husband, enjoying herself and bearing children; not employed to get a house and a motor car? It is the answer to this question that we are going to tell you now. A great many people erroneously claim that every person is the same because they have bought cars and have built a house, I want to give you the answer to the question asked by many that they have motor cars and built houses and that there is no difference between the members, and the profit which is to accrue to those who have completely surrendered themselves in the service of God. Every person should be content with his own position. Our golden Text will now be read.
Revelation 14 : 4
“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb”.
4.29 First among equals
Brethren, have you heard what is read unto you? Heaven and earth will pass away but not a jot of the words of God will pass away until all are consummated. It means that whosoever has not married or given in marriage, any person who is not intimate with a man or woman is redeemed from the world. He is therefore not worldly but rather the Father's. Those who have neither married nor are given in marriage those who surrender themselves totally, will follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have no association with anything carnal. The result derived from somebody abstaining from attachment to a man or a woman is very obvious. For one thing, such a person who has kept his sanctity and purity will follow the Lamb wherever He goes. For another, he has no other interest apart from serving God. As an illustration if you observe the structure of the government of the state, you will notice that there is the Governor at the apex, working in the office of the Governor, there are officers of various ranks working in that office. Also there are other officers of the civil service who work in other ministries but those who are allowed to follow the Governor or the president or prime minister or king are there. In the kingdom those who are considered worthy to follow the Lamb wherever He goes are those who have never defiled themselves with men and women. Even though there are many people in the kingdom but those who will follow the Lamb daily are those who are undefiled.
You may ask why are these the only people who will follow the lamb wherever he goes. Can you harvest yams from your farm and park them into a house and then appoint a goat to watch over the yams/ even if the goat volunteers to render free service to you. If you are so foolish to allow the goat look after your yams, you will not be sure of getting any yams again. Similarly can you collect all goats into a house and you are so foolish as to appoint a leopard to look after your goats? The same is true with those who will follow the Lamb wherever he goes, because they have no association with men or women and if they come in here they have no association with any person but will render their service to all. They will go to Lagos, Britain India and many other places ministering unto the people but without being sexually intimate with any person. They do not segregate among men and women. But any person who is married will have his own concentration on men or women. If you send him to perform a certain duty in Lagos, he will remain there for a short time and when he sees a beautiful woman he will seduce the person and elope with her. He will refuse to drop the woman even if you shout on him.
From that moment the sheep in the bethel will be scattered. A girl who has been intimate with men will, if she goes on ministry to a bethel, seduce a man even though she knows that he has a wife. No matter how strongly the wife tries to stop her from eloping with her husband. That Bethel will scatter. If it is decided that she should be suspended for that act she will accept to be suspended than to leave the man. I really want you to discover the truth in this sermon.
4.30 Fornication leads to other vices
Whenever there is quarrelling and fighting there is fornication and adultery. Wherever people quarrel, know that they are struggling for money so that they can maintain their families and in the course of their rivalry trouble ensues. That is why this group of people are specially created virgins for they have no interest for money or material things but they are devoted and diligent in the work of the Father serving him both day and night. These persons are the first fruits redeemed from the earth. Other fruits will also emerge and it will be from the examples shown by the first fruits that the spirit of fornication will be totally exterminated and no person will ever be intimate with another person of the opposite sex for like attracts like and so mankind will be reformed.
You have been exhorted not to commit fornication but you disobey and commit fornication such that the heathens and the people who are adepts in fornication will acclaim you as a good man of God. If you fornicate with any member of your congregation, other members will do likewise since they have been having their eyes on such a business. You scatter the church by your immoral behaviour. God cannot dwell in you for as long as you continue to fornicate.
4.31 Virgins are invulnerable
However those who are virgins are always with God and follow Our Lord Jesus Christ wherever He goes. They can go where they please and there will be no trouble; rather every person will bow down unto them. You can notice that the wisdom of God has confounded the wisdom of man. You indicate your intention to go to war but you have not prepared for it. You have not been enlisted, you have no army uniforms, army boots and guns, and with what then will you fight? It does not consist in fasting for one month and the second month you become intimate with all the women who come across your way. This amounts to your licking what you had vomited. So brethren, you can notice that those who will serve with our Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him wherever he goes, day in day out, are the virgins. If He dwells in you, that spirit dwells in you and God dwells in you. Since they dwell in you, they can through you, work day and night without being fatigued. If you fire a gun at them they are not perturbed. They have no trouble with people's wives and husbands; have no association with food, money, land or any mundane things. Their devotion is to serve God and project His glorification. Because He walks with them and works with them wherever they go, our Lord Jesus Christ will follow them. He sits with them and work with them. They are, therefore, instruments so that wherever they go the Father does His work. Even the gospel they deliver will divest you of all vestiges of sin in you. Work has not yet started in earnest because every place is inundated with fornicators but what I want to do is to change the vile and corruptible body and plant incorruptible and immortal body because if you no more commit fornication all those who come in contact with you will refrain completely from fornication because, light always attracts light.
4.32 Sanctify yourself with the truth
This is not an easy job. Every man's hands must be on deck. It does not require any joke at all. It does not require raising of hands or election for any person, because the Father has already selected His elects. Our Lord Jesus Christ said “and for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth”. Those who neither marry nor are given in marriage, do so, in order to use the truth to sanctify the whole world unto God. But those who marry and are given in marriage are like guns loaded with powder without bullets, when you fire the gun, it booms but since there are no bullets you cannot kill any animal.
4.33 As a preacher you are a sheep among wolves
When you are preaching, a woman is staring at your face and would give you certain signs and make amorous looks at you. If you reply, the action will indicate to her that you are one of them. Since she has had her victim she does not even listen to what you preach. She will be mesmerized and she will pray that the service should end so that she takes you home to have the first act.
4.34 Be extra vigilant
This gospel is very controversial, if you take courage to preach that people should not commit fornication every person will be against you. If you are a man, the women in the congregation will devise all means to be intimate with you, and as soon as you yield to their temptation and fall, they will tell others you are one of them; from that time on you will no longer preach against fornication because you will begin to change the tempo of your preaching and emphasize the fact that man is saved by grace. They will bring money to you. Others will want to buy a car for you until they succeed in having sex with you. Then they will turn round and ask why you have turned against your words.
To preach to people to refrain from theft, lying, anger is a simple gospel to preach but when you preach that they should not fornicate you will not sleep that night and every member will set traps and work for your downfall. When you fall they will draw your attention to your words. These women will pretend to be serving God by washing your clothes, preparing food for you, sweeping and dusting your house but shortly they will turn and tempt you, because such women are full of temptations. One day, under their false pretences, they will tune you to committing fornication with them. When they see that you have fallen, they will go their way. The most astonishing thing is that, they do it so openly that others will notice it, just to show you they do it deliberately.
You may be preaching at the altar and she will openly make signs to you to stop preaching and follow her home because the audience does not understand the gospel of God. Realizing that what they do is known by others, they do not see the need to do it secretly. They can even do it in the market.
It is a common knowledge that once you are intimate with a woman or man, that indication will be noticed by many people, even the blind will know and this alone can lead to the downfall of the Bethel. As Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden for the sin of their being intimate with each other, so are you expelled from the boat of salvation and you have fallen headlong from the throne of God for being intimate with a man or woman.
Whoever is not married but remains a virgin is in the throne of God. He is in the Garden of Eden. Wherever such a person goes, everything will bow down for him and wherever he enters, will be very quiet. Men of all walks of life whether they are presidents, governors, lawyers, doctors, engineers, millionaires or philosophers, will submit to him.
Brethren, I do not intend to be tedious unto you, one stroke of the cane is sufficient for the wise. Let those who have ears hear. May God bless His words Amen.
THANK YOU FATHER