The gospel Paul preached to the Galatian Christians was so sure, that he declared that the slightest perversion of the true gospel even if preached by himself to the Galatians should be refused.
Even though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we revealed unto you, let him be accursed! (Gal 1:8)
In recent times, there have been revelations given by some individuals who arose from the dead, some through dreams, and dramatic vision encounters. While this write-up is not to discredit all revelations, its intent is to take our eyes off the drama that birthed the revelations, but to compare the contents of these apocalyptic messages with the scripture. Like Paul, I dare to say that even if a being called Jesus appears to a man, it is not enough for us to take all he said hook line and sinker. Didn’t Jesus warn us that many false Christ will come in his name? and that the angels of darkness even disguise like that of light?
This emotion appealing revelations that seeks to correct the ills of the church didn’t start today.
In 157 AD, at a time when the church was slipping into complacency, and immorality, a prophet named Montanus, with two prophetesses (Maximus and Prisca) came as a voice of the ‘Holy-spirit’ to correct the immorality of the church, at first their “revelations” given in an ecstatic mode were accepted as the voice of God, as it rebuked the prevailing immorality in the church, later they were termed heretics. Other Apocalyptic “prophets” include St. Hippolytus of the 3nd Century, St. Hilary of Poitier of the 4th Century, St. Martin of Tours of the 4th Century, and a host of others that couldn’t be mentioned due to want of space.
Ever since, there have been more apocalyptic movements that give eschatological messages to the church; some are true, while most of them are false. The benchmark for measuring their correctness is not the personality of the messenger, but the content of the message.
In our days, due to the worldliness of the church, ‘apocalyptic ministries’ have resurfaced. Some of these ministers became ministers overnight due to one revelation they received concerning how many people went to hell, and only one person made it to heaven. They present heaven to us as if it is a place you get to by chance, as if it is a place you enter by your righteousness, as if the moment you use ear-ring, wedding ring, ‘attachment’, and even lip gloss! You can never enter! And sadly, many Christians have bought that idea.
I know there are individual Christians, and even whole denominations whose convictions are being validated by these so called “revelations”, but like Paul said, even if he preached a different gospel from the one he preached before (one that reveals the righteousness of God which is from faith to faith, one that talks about the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross, one that emphasizes the righteousness of the believer as long as he stays in Christ, one that talks about heaven as our home, and not as a reward for our “labour”, One that emphasizes salvation by grace through faith in Christ, and one that unveil God’s will for the salvation of the whole human race) we should refuse to heed to such.
There was one i read who wrote an open letter to a notable G.O in Nigeria, telling him he has lost or at the brink of “losing” his salvation, just because he refused to accept a “revelation”. While I must admit that God is no respecter of person, my question is when did this individual become heaven’s registrar to know those who are ‘losing’ their salvation? One even said only 24 humans are ‘rapturable’ in Ibadan-even including babies. (and some unlearned individuals said all babies will go to hell if they die, what an heretic teaching!)
Can you see what these so called revelations are doing to the body of Christ? Some have repented for some days, and after falling once or twice end up giving up, and some prefer to enjoy the world since they have a very slim probability of entering heaven as reported by the so called revelations.
All these revelations make Christianity look like every other religion, one without assurance for eternal life, a religion in which you need to depend on your “effort” to make it to heaven.
I know these revelations call us to repent from our sins (which we need), but a message that negate the theme of the gospel, will do more harm to the Body of Christ than good. God is a holy God, he hates sin, and that was why he sent Jesus to pay for the sin of humanity, and give a new-life to us, so that we are enabled to live a sin free life.
God did not create hell for man, but for Satan and his host. Only men who disbelieve Jesus will end up in hell, no matter how moral they are. And an individual has full assurance of making heaven as far as he believe in Jesus as his saviour (John 3:16-18).
Any message that preaches otherwise is not from God, no man will go to hell for ‘taking’ a match stick from his neighbour, such revelations are fallacies from the pit of hell. Such messages are saying in effect, the sacrifice of Jesus is not enough for the salvation of your soul. What an insult on God!
It is high time we all go pass our feelings or traditional biases, and search the scripture for the truth, for only the truth sets free!
By,
Sam Olu-Makanju
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