Scriptural Reading: I Peter 4:17-18

‘‘That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.’’ Ephesians 5:27 (KJV)

Whenever we were unable to attend our former church, ‘Ministry of Perfection’, Benin City, Nigeria, we would go to a nearby church which was just a stone throw from our house. The name of this church was the Church of God Mission, Nigeria. It was in this church that the pastor told us this story of another pastor. According to him, he said that this pastor organized a crusade and that before this pastor would come to minister, he would engage in the sin of immorality. On this fateful day, as this pastor was committing immorality, the light went off in the room and mistakenly he carried the woman’s pant thinking it was his handkerchief. As he was ministering, he started sweating and he decided to bring out his handkerchief to clean his face, behold it was a woman’s pant and that was how the crusade ended abruptly. It was a divine disgrace.

From our scriptural reading where we took our text from in the book of I Peter 4:17-18 records that judgment would start from the house of God, which means from the high to the low. It will be a day of gloom and doom and there would be no hiding place for humankind. The purging would come with hot wrath and reward as well where the sheep would be separated from the goats. Pastors who compromise the word for selfish gain and no longer preach holiness and righteousness, and no longer mention Heaven and Hell in their messages, who have betrayed Christ with their messages and people no longer have the zeal to attend church; such pastors would have a bitter experience. Jeremiah 23:1 (KJV) says ‘Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.’

God is a loving father that does not want any humankind to end up in Hell. He wants us to look up to Him only and not to build confidence on any pastor as none of them would escape His judgment. We live in an era where the church is failing and it is failing Christ and God is not happy with some of the churches that compromise His standard.

Do we know that as the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is at hand, God has good news for us in the area of giving us genuine pastors? Let us check this out in the book of Jeremiah 3:15 (KJV) ‘And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.’ Let us hold on to this scripture and apply it on a daily basis for God to lead us to genuine pastors that will preach and teach the word of God to us that will prepare us for eternity in Heaven.

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, prepare me and my family for Heaven by giving us genuine pastors according to your heart. Amen.

 Genuine preachers are life savers and there is no relief in Hell but only in Heaven.

                                                                                                                       -The Writer-

OGBAJIBREDE Onome is an Evangelist and a Devotional Writer who inspires and encourages people to come closer to God. His Devotional has featured on Exploits Christian Magazine. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution and can be contacted via [email protected]