PERSECUTION IS THE LOT OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD

First lesson: 2 Timothy 3:12 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Second lesson: John 16:2-3 “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father, nor me.” Golden text: Acts 28:22 “But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.” Brethren, have you now realized what have been written about this new kingdom which people christened “a sect?” if you come from a Royal family, you should be able to address yourself to the noble responsibilities of the Royalty or Kingship. You should be prepared to face the ordeals associated with the pride and pomp of kingship. The Christ's Natural Choir had already rendered a melodious rendition in respect of this. The wordings of that beautiful rendition should be taken as food for thought. You may be asking God, in your prayers, why people should level false accusation against you. And I want to tell you that the answer is not far fetched. It is what had been written about you, and nothing can change it, lest you prove God a liar. You will recall that Abel, Abraham, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the rest of the children of this kingdom were persecuted. For example, what sin did Abel commit when his brother Cain persecuted him and even killed him? All those who are the children of God are usually persecuted and people take delight in speaking bad of them. They will call you all sorts of ugly names such as thief, apparition, witch, wizard and mermaid. They will accuse you of doing all evil things in this world. It is uncommon to hear even the most vicious people calling you all sorts of names, while they themselves are the very people committing these mischiefs. Whoever says there is no destiny should come and find out the truth here. Our Lord Jesus Christ was a noble young baby, what evil did He commit to merit persecution? As soon as Herod learnt about His birth, he plotted to kill Him for no just cause. And after the death of Herod, others, even intensified efforts to kill Him; He was being sought for daily for elimination. What sin did he commit to merit such bare faced persecution? But this was the very man who fed the poor, restored sight of the blind, raised the dead, made the lame to walk, and the comfortless to have joy and happiness. He was called all sorts of evil names, and this should give you food for thought, and prepare you against such situations with calmness. Our Lord Jesus Christ had said that if the world hates you, they hate Him. If you were of the world, the world would love you, but since you are not of the world, the world cannot love you. After all, like terms attract, but unlike terms repel. Now, that I have called you unto myself, the world hates you. Remember what I had said unto you that a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him, nor is the servant greater than his master. If they had persecuted me, they would also persecute you, and the persecution of the world is not strange to the children of God. If they had believed in me, they would also believe in you. It is imperative that whoever wants to live a good life or the pattern of Christ's life, must be hated and will be called all sorts of derogatory names. No matter the type of person you may be, whether rich or poor, white, black or coloured, young or old, the worldly people must persecute and isolate you. 1.1 The world hates God's children If you want to run away and hide yourself in the inner chambers, or hide under the rocks, once you live a godly life, you will be persecuted. It is not because of your good English, riches, position, education, or beauty or having multiplicity of people here or there; once you are a child of God, you are hated. Persecution is the lot of the children of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ came, and they shouted at the top of their voices, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. They heralded His name all over the place, but nobody believed nor spoke anything good about Him. He atoned for the sin of the entire world, He was the Father of love and mercy, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, yet nobody identified with Him. He was abused, calumniated or denigrated against as if he was a felon. All those who followed Him were also maliciously persecuted and ostracized from the scheme of things in the society. If you want to follow the pattern of life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, you will be regarded as the most abominable person. But robbers, swindlers, necromancers, murderers, drunkards, and fornicators, are regarded as very good people. Only the children of God are called abominable people. If a person is dead in the family or community, you will be accused of being responsible for his death while the real celebrated murderers are never accused. That is the lot of the children of God. This false accusation is a proof that you are His. This is why the scripture says that Jesus Christ is the same today, will be the same tomorrow, had been the same yesterday, and will be the same eternity. And similarly, the persecution and false accusation of the children of God had been a continuous event. You would recall that Abraham suffered deprivation in the hands of Abimelech because of this kingdom. He was being tossed about and asked to leave his land of birth to reside elsewhere. That is what the children of God suffer whenever they are identified. Children of God often have no place of abode. They always wander from one place to another. Isaac suffered the same fate. He was isolated from the community he lived because he was not an indigene of the place, He was treated as a social misfit and pushed around like a felon. He left the place, but because of the calamity which befell the people, they all went and begged him to come back. From the word go or creation of mankind, whoever does what pleases God is often badly persecuted and discriminated against. What did Joseph do to merit what his brothers did to him he was sold into slavery. Joseph was truthful, honest and upright person. But just because he did what was pleasing to God and was loved by his parents, his brothers arranged and sold him into slavery saying that it would not be in their midst that he would earn such glory. If you are of the family of God, you are finished. The worldly people will wage an endless war against you. Nobody would ever speak well of any real man of God. For instance, what did the children of Israel do in Egypt as to be so envied and persecuted? A malicious law was enacted that all male children born to the Israelites must be killed. The Egyptians were suspicious that the enterprising Hebrews with their increasing population would over-run them and rule over them. The children of God are so persecuted to the extent that whatever they do is regarded as sin. If they are poor, they are mocked at, and if they are too rich, ugly meanings will be read into their riches. When Paul (formerly Saul) persecuted the children of God, he was called a lawyer of great repute and the best youth leader of the time, a great Roman citizen and the champion of their tradition and culture. He was hailed and loved everywhere he went and was accorded the best treatment and honour. But as soon as God's invitation was extended to him, everyone started to persecute him. He was haunted for from one city to the other for elimination; his Roman citizenship notwithstanding, he was deserted even by his close friends and relations. It is not shame that really prevents many people from coming into Brotherhood. Rather they are afraid of calumny and persecution. When they see how the children of God are being shaken and denigrated, they become afraid and discouraged. But that is the immutable lots of the children of God. They would call you whatever they like, and would say whatever they like against you. But our Lord Jesus Christ has said that those who deny Him before men, He too would deny them before His Father who is in heaven. As they persecute you, hate you, accuse you falsely and kick you around; if you go out to toe their line, your demise is imminent. What particular sin did John the Baptist commit? He was only being blunt when he told King Herod that he should not marry his brother's (Philip) wife, and to refrain from all the evils he (Herod) had committed against God and humanity. And, during a function, his brother's wife, asked her daughter that John's head should be given to her in a plate. She never asked for silver or gold but for John's head so as to put him out of existence. They never loved the truth which John bluntly mentioned to them. However, those who argue that there is no destiny are only being unrealistic. Destiny evolves a situation where all the things prearranged must materialize in the world. In this case, right from your childhood, nobody will speak anything good about you. And so, you will be tossed around just like that. Whatever you do, they will shout in one voice, 'kill him on the cross.' Brethren, I do not want to be tedious to you, let our first lesson be read. And I hope that with what you have been exposed to, you will be able to take your stand. First lesson: 11 Timothy 3:12 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Brethren, right from the beginning, there is nothing new or innovative which these enemies of righteousness have brought. It has often been persecution and malicious accusation against those who are good and just. Right now, they are doing just exactly what has been done in the past and there is nothing odd about that. That has been the lot of the children of God. If you say that you want to live a good life so as to be loved by the people, then you are not sincere with yourself. The world cannot love what is not its own. Any Brotherhood member who wants to be loved by the worldly people is a mere impostor and liar. No true Brotherhood member could be loved. That is why it is “woe unto you when the people of the world would begin to speak well of you.” And it is said, “blessed be unto you when men will persecute, revile and say all manners of evil against you falsely for my sake.” We should not cry, should not be sorrowful, or fastidious when the worldly people gang up to persecute us; for it is no new thing, all children of God through the ages, time and season had suffered the same thing. They have neither added nor subtracted from their vicious acts. 1.2 Accept tribulation gladly It is not even necessary to pray God to help you so that the people of the world might not laugh at you. As soon a you decide to serve God, you should anticipate persecution, suffering, deprivation, humiliation and false accusation. Because these are what was written about you and other Christians. And if you fail to do good because you are hated or persecuted, you have deviated from the path of truth. And if people fail to hate you, they too have deviated from what was written about them. That is why the scriptures say that heaven and earth shall pass away, but not an iota of the word of God shall pass away until they are consummated. “If you say that you want to live a good life to be loved by people, then you are not sincere with your claim”. The Holy Bible says. Our Lord Jesus Christ told Pilate that nobody could ever harm Him unless the authority comes from His Father. There is nobody who could do anything except he is given power from above. It is a self-evident truth that all things add together to give glory to God especially to those who faithfully believe in Him. You will now realize that the way of God is rather enigmatic. You should realize that all those who decide to follow the life pattern of Our Lord Jesus Christ must encounter problems in life. You should not regret the good things you have done, and then swear not to do again. If you are contemplating on doing that, you have failed woefully. It is a pity that you have not fully come to this consciousness, but Our Lord Jesus the Christ did, and that was why He could overcome the world. We should therefore rejoice over persecution, false accusation and there should be no gainsaying about it at all. You have to make your choice and is either the world or the kingdom of God. Those who have chosen the glory of the world have surrounded themselves with the things of the world. But our happiness is that millions of people have seen this glory and have acknowledged it. The only thing that is disturbing them is that they already been saturated with the material things of this world. It is a commonplace event to see robbers, money-doublers, swindlers and embezzlers being lauded and praised in our society at all times. They are often the first to be conferred with chieftaincy titles and the paraphernalia of rulership, but the godly are despised. They are often out of the scheme of things. That is why many people are lured into doing evil. And from this, evils and tribulations are escalating every minute of our life. Brethren, let our second lesson be read. Second lesson: John 16:2-3 “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father, nor me.” Brethren, right from the beginning, God had chosen His children. Therefore, do not murmur against God or curse Him because of false accusation, persecution or calumny. You should not speak evil about the people of the world, because their action constitutes what has been written about them. Our Lord Jesus Christ had warned that you would be driven out of their synagogues, and killed, and all sorts of atrocities will be perpetrated against you, because they do not know the Father or the Son who is in their midst. The truth is that when they commit all these evils against you, they think that they are doing the work of God. When they send you to prison, or ostracize you from your family or community, they still say they are serving God. But they know not the Father nor the Son, and whoever refuses to serve God must certainly serve Satan. If you do not live a godly life as taught by Our Lord Jesus the Christ, you must live an evil life which conforms with the whims and caprices of Satan. Those who indulge in evil acts, are in the service of their father, Satan; the original liar and originator of all evils and false accusation. Man is a dual nature, either he is good or he is evil. 1.3 Man is either good or evil Cain was an evil person and a symbol of evil things. But Abel was a symbol of goodness. If you come from the family of Cain, you cannot do anything good in your life. And on the other hand, if you belong to the family of Abel you must have to do good as a matter of compulsion. If you are of the family of Cain, you will only boast of your ability to kill, steal, commit atrocities, and in the course of doing so, you will say that you are doing something for God. And till doom's-day they will not achieve anything good. You will recall the act of the mother of the two sons of Zebedee who demanded that Our Lord Jesus Christ should allow her two sons to sit on the right and left hands of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus told her that the prerogative to get them seated there is not entirely His because, those who were meant to inherit this kingdom had been prearranged. Therefore all these things which were written about you must come to pass, and you should no bother yourself for anything. For what had been written, had been written. Why do they commit all those atrocities against you? It is because they neither know nor believe in God. Caiaphas, the high priest decided that it was better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish. Eventually Our Lord Jesus Christ was killed just as an ordinary felon, but Barnabas who committed a lot of atrocities during the political tumult was released, because he was of the world. And if these things do not happen to you, how could you be identified as a child of God? All the children of God had this sign on their fore-heads; Abel, Zacharias, and Abraham had it too. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul, Peter, John, James and the rest of them had this sign for easy identification. It is therefore wrong for the children of God to anticipate that the kingdom of God involves drinking of tea or eating garri with “afang soup”. It is something much more than that. We should pity our parents, relations and friends who have not come to the realization of this truth. This is the kingdom of God and all things practised here are in line with the injunction of God. We have to pray the Father to have mercy on us. 1.4 Forgive and pray for your persecutor The foolishness of the world shall be exposed at the fullness of time. Satan and his agents shall be exposed, so that the word of God might be consummated. However, this does not mean that they will continue in their abominable acts, and whoever thinks that way is only being foolish. Most of them have given testimonies confirming how they had treated the children of God. Many people were afraid to testify about what they did to inhibit the work of Brotherhood. Most of them did that not out of their volition, but out of ignorance. After all, most of us were invited into this kingdom by the grace of God, and not because of righteousness nor how well we ran the race. He has shown compassion to all of us, so that nobody would boast in His presence. If you come across a person who hates or persecutes you, you should realize that he has neither the Father nor the Son in his life. And he does this with the belief that he is doing it for God. These are the people who have neither seen God nor realized His physical or spiritual traits. By seeing God, we mean that only those whose hearts are pure can see God. But it has been written that they will drive you out of their synagogue and they will treat you as a social misfit. And even worse treatment shall be metted out to the children of God; worse that to malefactors in the society. Since Our Lord Jesus Christ had established that they did this thing in ignorance and He went further to pray the Father to forgive them, so must we pray for those who have persecuted or falsely accused us. And this prayer must be extended to your family, your community, churches, governments and societies who have persecuted you for no cause. 1.5 Mankind is very ignorant Let us remember that it is this same Jesus Christ whom those He healed of various infirmities took up stones and other weapons to kill. He committed no offence other than the fact that He claimed to be the Son of God. There were certain spiritual manifestations that helped to heighten the ignorance or the confusion among the Jewish people. For instance, Elijah was taken into heaven through the whirl wind. And it was prophesied that he would come back in like manner. But John the Baptist came in the Spirit of Elijah and the very people who anxiously waited for him did not welcome him. They all doubted him and thereby called him a fake. Elijah did not crashland from above, nobody took notice of him, rather he was called names and treated with disdain. As in the case of Our Lord Jesus Christ, two angels had announced that this same Jesus who is taken up into heaven from you, would come in like manner as He was taken into heaven from you. If you now ask the worldly people if Jesus the Christ has come back, they will say no. They are still expecting Him to come back from the skies, whereas the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are very much with us now. That is why Father gives us these gospels daily; from January to December so that we may not perish. They are for our salvation, because the Father is not delighted in the death of sinners. If God reveals Himself to you, it is expedient that you will not fail to believe Him. Many people are praying, saying if you are God, reveal yourself to me. But the question is how will that be, when you neither know the Father nor the Son. Others are also praying, if this is the expected kingdom, may you reveal it to me. And that is what is causing confusion in the entire world. And the next moment, another person will call you to ask, “who is that your Leader? Is he God? What is he really? And once you tell him that he is God, he will drive you away saying you are worshipping a human being. This is to show you that the person does not believe in the Father or the Son. It is expedient to pity him because he does not know what he is saying. It was the same confused situation which made Our Lord Jesus the Christ to ask His disciples to tell Him really what people say He is. He was in fact a different person to many of the people. Some said he was Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaac, Abraham, while most of them said He was a prophet. But He asked the disciples to sound their opinion about His personality. And Peter said confidently that “You are Christ, the Son of the Living God,” and Our Lord Jesus Christ said unto him that it is not flesh and blood which revealed the thing unto him but His Father who is in heaven. 1.6 God's word manifesting now Therefore, whatever we are seeing now is the manifestation of the word of God. Christ had said that time shall come when men will drive you from their synagogues, persecute or kill you in an attempt to prevent you from worshipping God. They do this because they neither know the Father nor the Son. If every person had loved you or spoken well of you, that of course should not have been the kingdom. But right now every right thinking person knows that this is that long expected kingdom. It is not a matter of putting a physical sign or emblem on your fore-head or body to tell people that this is kingdom of God. This is a known fact because all the things which were written about this kingdom have come to pass. Why is it that upon all the churches scattered all over the place, and the atrocities they commit against humanity, nobody speaks ill of them, but Brotherhood of the Cross and Star is being spoken bad of everywhere? This is to prove that Brotherhood of the Cross and Star is that long expected kingdom quite in line with the words of God as recorded in the Bible. This also confirms the reality of our first lesson that whoever lives a godly life shall suffer severe persecution and vicious campaign of calumny. And this is the firm belief that they are doing something for God. It is a commonplace issue to see people coming to ask you, “brother, why is it that upon the churches that fill the earth, it is only Brotherhood that is singled out and persecuted? He wants to tell you craftily that Brotherhood is an evil organization. It is only in the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star the gospel is preached and practised without any pollution of satanic teachings. That is why all things have been exposed to you, and nothing is hidden from you. It is said that when a cow gives birth to a child in the market square, there is no need asking it to close its legs. It was not the love of Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery, nor for that Judas Iscariot to betray Our Lord Jesus Christ. But without them the word of God would not have manifested. And hitherto, God would have been made a liar. Let our golden text be read. Golden text: Acts: 28:22 “But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.” Brethren, that is what happened about 2000 years ago. I would like you to compare it with what had been read to you in our first lesson. It is imperative that those who endeavour to follow the life pattern of Our Lord Jesus Christ are hated, persecuted and taunted as being impostors. Those who live godly life are driven away from the midst of the worldly people. It should not bother anybody if people speak ill of Brotherhood. Speaking ill of Brotherhood is a proof that Brotherhood is the promised and the long expected kingdom of God. You are witnesses to this truth that all necromancers, juju doctors, occultists, secret societies and the rest of them, commit a lot of atrocities against humanity but nobody speaks bad of them. They are included in the scheme of things, and some of them are appointed as high-ranking government officials. They are given official recognition in churches as Elders, Patrons, and Vicars, Apostles or Deacons. And above all they are those given first class positions as traditional chieftains. Upon all these double dealings, nobody speaks ill of them. But Brotherhood is the sacrificial lamb, and is falsely called all ugly names. That is why I have been telling you and I am saying it again that Brotherhood is not a church, a service center, prayer house or healing home. It is the new kingdom of God. And that was what Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” What was done to the Israelites, must be done to the Gentiles. I assure you that when this gospel shall be distributed to the inhabitants of this world the scales shall fall off from their eyes. It is not that the Jews loved Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of Mary and Joseph. Rather, they converged around Him for their personal advantages. And there was a law that nobody should say in the land of Israel that God has a son. Again, it was decreed that whoever violated the law should be put to death. But they failed to understand that in Psalm 82:6, it is clearly stated that, “you are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High.” The foregoing Bible citation therefore confirms our sonship of God, the Most High. The people of the world are of the opinion that nobody should be a child of God contrary to the divine words of God. And that is why most people in the world continue to commit vicious acts with impunity because they are ignorant of the fact that they are children of God. They neither know the Father nor the Son; not even the Holy Spirit which they say does not exist. They say the Holy Spirit had stopped to exist right from the day of the Pentecost. It is the greatest height of insult and act of ungratefulness for the very man whom God has begotten, to turn round to deny the sonship of God. And whoever does not believe that man is the prophet, angel, Son of God, and God Himself, should realize that God only passes through man to perform His great and wonderful works in the universe. If it had been the will of God that man should rule and reign over all other creation, it must certainly come to a fulfillment. It is unthinkable for anybody to have thought that man should be a tree, animal or something else for God to use for His purpose. That is why people of the world are fraught with false teachings that God or prophets, and the Holy Spirit are no longer in existence. It is a fact that God is man, prophet, angels, spirits and the Holy Spirit. Thus it is ridiculous to bother about the persecution, hatred and calumny perpetrated against God's children as these have been the lot of children of God right from creation. And without these vicious acts against the children of God, none of them could be easily identified. Recently, Pastor M. E. Etop led the progressive crusaders to Ibeno to visit one of our newly converted brothers. On reaching there the natives of the area said all sorts of evil things about Brotherhood of the Cross and Star. Members over there are facing serious persecution and spoken ill of and they live in abject abandonment. Yes, that ought to be so because that is what had been written about us, and the scriptures are being fulfilled. But the brother they visited had for several years wandered about the wide world in search of salvation with tears. No secret society, juju doctor, or necromancer was able to save him. All efforts in native and conventional medical treatment failed, until when the man came to Brotherhood of the Cross and Star to get his salvation. Nobody deemed it fit to give a word of thanks to Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, rather it is persecution, blackmail, and campaign of calumny. Tell me, if Satan had ever done any good thing, let alone heal the sick or raise the dead. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ said “Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” The children of God should not bother themselves for very soon their suffering, hatred, persecution shall fade away. Whenever you are persecuted, hated or maliciously accused, leap of joy, for you are saved. 1.7 We are the promised people We are the promised people. We should rejoice as we have no other sign of identification as the children of God other than to suffer false allegation and persecution. We should not raise any opposition. When the people love you, God hates you, and when God loves you, the world must hate you. How can the people of the world speak well of you if you are the children of God? They must speak ill of you and taunt you. When the agents of Satan commit sin they will be praised by the world. When Brotherhood heals the sick they will accuse it of using the power of Beelzebub. We should therefore thank the Father for allowing His words manifest on us. When Pontius Pilate told Our Lord Jesus Christ that he had power to set Him free for he found no evil n Him, what did Our Lord Jesus say? He told him (Pilate) emphatically that he could not have done anything if the authority was not given to him from above. This persecution and false accusations are the only identity cards, credentials, and certificates with which the children of God could be allowed inheritance of this kingdom. It is imperative that all must speak evil of you. 1.8 Tribulation, our identity card If you talk of white garments, good badges, and medals, I tell you Satan can make whiter garments, better badges than yours. But our own identity card and certificate of fitness and worthiness is persecution. You could remember that Barnabas killed and committed various atrocities against the people and the government. But being a notorious felon he was released, while the innocent and pious Jesus Christ was nailed to death on the cross. The scripture was fulfilled, for what had been written had been written, and nobody can change what God has already designed. In fact, tribulation, persecution, hatred, hunger, death and disgrace are the identity card of the children of God. Brethren, I do not intend to take you further; it is said that a stroke of the cane is sufficient for the wise, let those who have ears, hear. May God bless His words. Amen. THANK YOU FATHER.