A cry from Heaven

"I have loved you, says the Lord ..." Malachi 1.2

The love of God is a fact. And yet, we should never assume that His love tolerates sin. God is Righteous, Perfect and Pure. He forgives the wrongdoing of repentant sinners and is slow to anger, but will not allow the guilty to go unpunished. His Righteousness, Holiness and Purity do not allow His love to be mixed with unrighteousness, wrongdoing and the wickedness of humanity.

Meditate on these passages:

"The Lord is slow to anger and rich in faithful love, forgiving wrongdoing and rebellion. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished..." Numbers 14.18 (HCSB)

"The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will never leave the guilty unpunished..." Nahum 1.3 (HBSC)

Many Christians obsess on the Love of God in an unthinking manner. As a result their faith is devoid of the Fear of God. They defile themselves with every type of immorality, idolatry, lie and deceit. They are yoked to the world. Their sins are so blatant that they no longer understand the Word of God. They have eyes but do not see, and ears but cannot hear. They are lost at the bottom of a pit, but continue to act as if they were Christian. They rush to do evil, and even convince others to join in their misguided ways.

The moral and spiritual climate in the time of Malachi is no different than today. Christians are estranged from the Covenant made on Calvary.

In those days the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel sent Malachi the prophet with a judgment, a verdict against Israel not unlike the stern verdict of Jeremiah to the false prophets and corrupt priests of his day. In those days the Lord said, “I… will cast you out of My presence. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten." Jeremiah 23.39-40

The question we should ask ourselves is: Can the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, be pleased with the spiritual state of His people today… the New Israel, the Church?

Could a stern verdict have been pronounced against modern day "Christians" who take their faith lightly and only bother to be spirit while they are physically inside their churches?

Rock bottom and still wearing high heels

If Jesus gave this assurance: "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover,” (Mark 16.17-18) why are some people in church, including the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, unable to break free, change their lives or solve their problems? Is the authority of God a farce? Is it real?

Of course it is! Proof of this is other people who give testimonies of their victories and conquests. We have authority over every kind of demon, but what we do not have is authority to remove pride from people’s hearts, which allows the devil to work in the lives of destroyed people.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where people let go of anything and everything – properties, health, relationships, a family’s love, peace, etc. – but not arrogance and pride. This is clear in the story of ex-psychic Lucia Culanda:

"I suffered a lot, and it took me a long time to overcome because I HAD HIT ROCK BOTTOM BUT WAS STILL WEARING HIGH HEELS. Though I was sinking and going downhill fast, I refused to let go of my ego and arrogance. I would not step down from my pedestal.”

If you are experiencing pain and suffering and want our help, let go of your pride. As long as it remains we cannot help you. We do not have the authority to drive our your pride.

Here is a piece of advice from the Almighty: "The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility." Proverbs 15.33

God bless you greatly!

Bishop Guaracy Santos

Whether you like it or not

Some time ago I was speaking to the parents of a young man who were fed up and did not know what to do about their son. He refused to obey anyone. He said he was free to act whatever way he wanted and would not allow anyone to tell him what to do.

When they came to the UCKG, I prayed for the young man and he manifested a demon. The spirit said: "I don’t let him obey anyone. He’s proud of that, but he doesn’t know that he has to obey me."

People make a big mistake when they equate freedom with not having to submit to anyone or anything. We will always have to submit to someone or something, and it’s up to us to decide who or what – who we are going to OBEY!

You can obey an evil spirit like that young man…

You can obey your own fleshly urges…

You can obey other people’s advice about your life…

Or you can obey God, like Gideon.

"So Gideon took ten men from his servants and did as the Lord had said to him ..." Judges 6.27

Bishop Marcus Vinicius  

What are you tired of?

In this world of evil, all of us are tired.

The question is: What are you tired of what? Fighting? Suffering?

There’s a huge difference between these two people.

When those who are tired of suffering are attacked by fear, they may even have crawled into a cave at some point in their lives, but when they have had enough of suffering, they take a stand, face and overcome their fears to turn the tables on defeat and shame.

They do what Gideon did, who was called by God to change his life and the lives of the entire nation because of his attitude.

"Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son GIDEON THRESHED WHEAT IN THE WINEPRESS, in order to hide it from the Midianites." Judges 6.11

Elijah had experienced God’s deliverance in great ways, but got frightened by a letter and irritated by the unbelief and ingratitude of the people of Israel and got "tired of fighting". He asked God for his own death and crawled inside a cave. He was overcome by fear and had to be replaced by Elisha.

God even had to choose someone else to replace him, saying:

"Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshias king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place." I Kings 19.16

Tell me, what are you tired of? Suffering or fighting?

Your answer to this question will determine where you are going: Out of the cave or into one.

May God greatly bless you!

Bishop Guaracy Santos

Righteous offerings

 

God is looking for righteous offerings from His servants.

A prophecy:

"He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness."  Malachi 3.3 announces the coming of Jesus as Lord and Savior. He would refine the children of Levi like gold and silver.

Levi was the tribe of Israel chosen to serve Almighty God as priests. They would perform the special duties of the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple.

At first Levi and his sons felt honored to dedicate themselves to the Lord. They did it with holiness and fear. Only they could carry the Ark of the Covenant, assemble and disassemble the Tabernacle, making sacrifices and present the people’s offerings to God, in addition to other duties.

But over time, his children grew cold in their faith and did what was evil. They no longer served God.

Their lack of fear caused them to look at offerings as a weariness. They showed disrespect for the Lord of Hosts by giving Him unclean offerings… stolen, lame and sick animals. Malachi 1.13

Jesus came as a refiner's fire to purify the unclean hearts of the sincere, and refine them like gold. But this can only be performed on the sincere because all others, hypocrites and so forth, would be burned up by His fire.

The blood of Jesus continues to wash and justify a sincere sinner, and the fire of His Spirit keeps him pure so that he brings righteous offerings to the Lord.

The true worshiper

EVERYTHING is possible for  those who believe. But this belief requires that one abide by certain rules to make EVERYTHING possible.

God the Son came into the world to remove sins and serve as Intercessor before God the Father. But only for those who obey Him.

Therefore, Jesus is the Gift of God the Father to save the believer and is The Offering of the believer to enter the presence of God the Father. Ephesians 2:18

Jesus is the Torn Veil that enables the access of His servants to the Holy of Holies. Hebrews 10:20

Three times the Lord said:

None shall appear before Me empty-handed. Exodus 23:15; 34.20; Deuteronomy 16:16.

This means that it is impossible to enter the presence of God the Father without the offering.

Every offering made to God the Father has to symbolize Jesus.

If the offering comes from a pure heart, it represents Jesus and the offering giver is accepted before God the Father.

If the offering comes from an impure heart, the offering giver is not accepted before God the Father.

In other words, the Christian life depends on the offering.

My Father seeks true worshipers, said Jesus. That is, My Father seeks offering givers.

It's not about money, belongings or possessions. But something that proves sincere dedication of the heart.

Worshipers who worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Christians who use their intellect (spirit, intelligent faith) and in true, that is, through Jesus (The Truth).

True worshipers are true offering givers.

Fake worshipers are fake offering givers.

“No servant can serve (offer up, surrender to) two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve (offer up, surrender to)  God and mammon.” Luke 16.13

This is why many "Christians" are losers. Their offerings have not symbolized the Lord Jesus.

"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." John 4:23

In other words, Jesus is The Way, The Living Offering, Clean and Perfect for access to the presence of God the Father.

When you realize you have to change

Over the course of our lives, we go through many experiences that shape us — or at least they try to. If we are blind and deaf to what each experience teaches us, then our character cannot be shaped. And that’s the problem many of us carry inside. Our human heart is just so full of itself, so convinced that it knows better, that it can never be wrong, that we often miss the learning point in an experience.

When it hits us — the rude awakening of being shown we ARE wrong — we can react in one of two ways.

1. We can wake up and humbly learn our lesson, or
2. we can stubbornly dig our heels in and maintain our pride.

The first means we learn and grow; the second means we have become too proud to be taught something new.

“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind,” said the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4.23. Few, but deep words.

Our mind needs renewal. It does because it gets old. As the years go by, if we don’t keep refreshing the spirit of our mind, we start getting really old spiritually and mentally. Old ideas, old ways, resistance to change. We stop growing. We get left behind. Younger (and fresher) minds begin to pass us by. And we become a boring, bitter, resentful caricature of our old self. And then we blame the world for having changed.

“Change is difficult but often essential to survival.” – Les Brown

So next time your current views or beliefs are challenged by different, better ones, don’t be proud. Go ahead and change yourself.

It’s for your own good.