DISINFECT YOUR SPIRITUAL ATMOSPHERE WITH PRAYER

 Disinfect your spiritual atmosphere with prayer

They swarmed around me like bees, but they died out as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off Ps 118:12NIV

As a small boy, I used to hear accounts of people who died because fish bone caught them in the throat while eating. I asked my wife, Joy, why we do not hear such stories anymore these days. Her response was straightforward, those people died by spiritual enchantment from witches and wizards. The natural person will think that it was the bone but it was through satanic attacks.

Then I wondered why do they not happen anymore these? The Lord answered me, “Prayers of believers floating in the atmosphere. When believers pray they disinfect the atmosphere, and agents of darkness and demons are restricted in their movements”. A woman in my neighborhood tried her best to force me out of the present location of Door of Hope Christian Centre. When her husband confronted her in my presence on why she was antagonizing me, she replied, “Every time prayer, prayer. They won’t allow someone to rest”. She tried many other things but by the mercies of God, she failed. She was later exposed to be a wicked person and her husband sent her away,

Witches, wizards and all the agents of satan hate prayers because prayed-over-atmospheres obstruct and inhibit their activities. Merely repeating, “The Blood Jesus Christ” several times is a great hindrance to their operations. Beware of any person who is always complaining about praying people. He maybe an agent of the devil.

While in Bamenda in Cameroon in 2016, in the midnight, I noticed some weird noise in the neighborhood I stayed. They sounded like a crowd of birds and made noise like swarming bees but I knew these were not birds or bees but witches and wizards conglomerating. Nobody in that neighborhood knew my true identity; even my landlord believed me when I told him that I was just another Igbo businessman. But that night I could not keep my identity secret anymore. I went into warfare prayers confronting those spiritual elements. I sent the Holy Ghost fire to scatter them. I bound the demons working with them and clipped their wings so they cannot fly away. My first intention was to punish them for venturing into that territory before I released them. By daybreak, my neighbors were coming around to take a closer look at my face. I learned from them that they had been under the oppression of those spiritual wicked forces. Till the day I left that place, those wicked spiritual invaders never returned again.

In the name of the Lord I cut them off.

2006 while yet new in Port Harcourt city, my family moved into a new house and we were very happy that our landlady was a believer who hosted House Fellowship for a popular deliverance ministry in her house. In our first night there we noticed movements in the atmosphere at about 1am in the night. Joy and I stood up in prayer to take charge of the spiritual traffic of that neighborhood. We declared a “No-Fly-Zone” over the area and we sent the Holy Ghost fire to torture all those spiritual elements. The next day my “prayer warrior landlady” went to enquire from the woman who brought me the manner of pastor that I was. The godly woman replied, “I told you that he is a pastor”.  I had to learn that my landlady was a witch operating under cover in that deliverance ministry. She returned the money I paid her and gave me time to leave. 

Don’t be fooled by outward appearances.

Sometime in 1998, I was living in a suburban neighborhood and often noticed that witches and wizards were having free movement in that area. The Lord showed me that a woman and her daughter were witches and they moved in and out every night. My neighbors were complaining about all manner of witchcraft attacks raging from lacerations on their skins and other attacks. I marched around my neighborhood announcing loudly that I was going to lock the spiritual atmosphere and that I would not be responsible for any harm that befalls anyone who ventured out for witchcraft meetings, because the person will not be able to return. I noticed this woman making face at me, implying that I was talking nonsense. People around avoided her and her daughter because if you challenged them by day, they will punish you at night. About one week after, it was reported that her daughter had died in her sleep. They did not want me to know and they buried her quietly. Unfortunately, the mother did not show any sign of remorse and soon died too.

As a person of prayer, it is your responsibility to provide spiritual cover to your family and neighbors.

A church that is in a neighboring town to Owerri City, was interrupted in the middle of a hot prayer session by a loud sound on their roof. When they rushed out, they saw a half-naked man falling from the roof. He confessed that he was a wizard on a journey and he tried to fly over the church building against the advice of the others that were flying with him. When our bible believing churches begin to pray, we can take charge of the atmosphere.

Prayer is a spiritual disinfectant. Learn to disinfect your home and neighborhood with warfare prayers once in a while. If you notice that the emotional atmosphere in your home is inexplicably tense, for the benefit of doubt, bind demons that maybe floating in the atmosphere. If your child screams from her sleep, for the benefit of doubt, bind all witches and wizards oppressing your child. If there is inexplicable financial difficulty in your family or business, for the benefit of doubt, go into warfare prayers and release your finances from every satanic altar. If you notice that you are inexplicably depressed or sick, do the same. If you just begin to feel uncomfortable at the mention of fasting and prayers, bind the demons trying to separate you from the power of God.

Finally, if you have anyone around you that always talks against praying people or churches, the person is a suspect. Address him as an agent of the devil in your prayer until he proves otherwise.

You can download powerful prayer collections from our website. 

You can also buy some of my books;

 Confronting Witchcraft in the Neighborhood.

Origin of Complex Spiritual Problems. Prayers That Bring Results Vol. 1 and 2. 

We have a lot of spiritual resources that can help you develop your spiritual life on our website. 

You can also connect with me on WhatsApp +2348035724526

I will love to hear from you. 

Remain in the place of prayer 

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com 

DON'T DARE THE ANOINTING

 The Life and Ministry of Prophet Elisha 6

DON’T DARE THE ANOINTING

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. 2 Kings 2:23-24NIV

Elisha was returning from a place of supernatural encounter. It is possible that these young people knew Elisha before now but the person walking past today is not the person they used to mess around. He was carrying the anointing; he was carrying the spirit that was upon Elijah and they ought not to treat him the same way anymore. Perhaps he was your son or younger brother; you ought to recognize the change. If he is your husband, you need to understand that this man is the Lord’s anointed. Some theologians are still wondering if the punishment on these youths was not to the extreme but they died all the same. We have another record how some soldiers had addressed Elijah irreverently and he called down fire from heaven to destroy them.

At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, "Man of God, this is what the king says, 'Come down at once!'" "If I am a man of God," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. 2 Kings 1:11-12NIV

Another captain who had the same assignment, rank and authority had better manners than the first two and his life was spared.

So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged, "please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!" 2 Kings 1:13-14NIV

You can debate all you want but those who died by the fire of judgment are gone and the best thing for us is to watch our behaviour when we are around or before anointed servants of God. 

For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 2 Cor 2:15-16NIV

The same anointing that brings salvation, healing, deliverance and revelation can harm those who treat the anointed irreverently. It does not matter whether the anointed is poor or rich; the hand of God is upon him. It does not matter whether he is educated or ignorant, I advise you to be careful what you do with him. God did not consult you before He anointed him and it will be to your interest not to draw the anger of the Lord’s anointed. I warn my children never to lie to me while looking at my face. It does not matter if I am their father or not; I carry the anointing. Peter was so anointed that his shadow drove out demons and healed the sick, but some church folks felt they could still play around him.

Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?  Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Acts 5:3-5NIV

You may not like the way and manner Peter passed judgment on them but they were dead and buried. You may even argue that Peter was in the flesh when he passed the judgment, my advice is that you do not try what they did, or you may end up the same way. I am not saying this in defence of anointed servants of God but as a personal witness of how the anointing on a man can harm those who treat him with disrespect.

In my early days in the ministry, I organized a crusade in Avu Market Square. Avu is in Owerri West Local Government Area in Imo State, Nigeria; I think it was a four days crusade and it fell within the Christmas festive period. The young people in the community would not let me be. They kept disrupting my message with their fireworks, what we call “knock-Out”. They would throw it into the air and in the midst of people. They were disrupting my program. I did not like that and I believe God did not like it too. My plea with them to leave the venue of the crusade if they were not interested in the gospel fell on deaf ears. Then I said something like, “If the person throwing those things thinks that he is fearless let him try and throw that Knock-Out again”.

I heard some jeering sound that suggested that they meant that I couldn’t do anything. Afterward, there was a sharp scream and an accompanying reaction from the crowd, and everywhere became quiet. Since they were not close to me, I did not know what happened. I finished my crusade and went home. It was after a long time I learnt what actually caused the young men to leave the crusade venue. One of the young men still ventured to throw a “knock-out” into the air and in the view of those standing nearby, fire came down from heaven, following the direction of the “knock-out” and damaged his hand. He screamed home. Yes, you read me right; fire fell from heaven to punish the young man that was disrupting the crusade.

On my first assignment as an in-house evangelist, the president of the organization who was a medical doctor gave me an assignment. The organization had a hospital and a ministry centre. He told me to pray and loose an eighteen-seater bus in the ministry premises because he believed it was under witchcraft monitoring. He said that anytime they tried to put it out for business, it would breakdown and they ended up incurring more expenses to repair it.

After my personal prayer, the Lord told me that my president was not faithful to Him. He had asked God to give him a bus for the purpose of evangelism. When the vehicle came, he put it out as a commercial bus. The Lord sent another vehicle and he diverted it again as hospital ambulance. The Lord told me that, it was not witches that held the vehicle but He the giver had locked it up.

This response did not go down well with my president and one thing led to the other. I was young and crude with my approach to spiritual matters. I am sorry to say that, but I am among those that the anointing on them makes to appear arrogant. Once I am sure of my position with God, I cared little how others felt about my position. One day he told me that he will deal with me and I felt that was going too far. I immediately responded, “If you try it, my God will deal with you.”

He pointed to my face and said, “Look at the person calling God.”

I was mad. I said, “Did you point at my face and say that? How dare you?”

He was a witness when the dead came back to life when I prayed over them. He had profited from women whose womb the Lord unlocked when they could not deliver safely in his clinic. He was witness to the miracles that happened in his ministry through my ministration. How can he now say I was not qualified to mention God’s name. He could only say so if I betrayed a trust but I did not. I walked away. The next day, that ambulance had an accident and was damaged beyond repair and while he was talking about that, robbers went and stole his private vehicle that was parked in his garage. In the space of one week, my president saw his world going down. Someone heard him screaming, “Evangelist Emma Nwosu has finished me!”

If you are God’s anointed, do not let folks make you forget whom you are because of one circumstance or the other. I do not take that from anyone. They were calling Elisha bald-headed fellow; why must they? 

Under some unpleasant circumstances, my family was forced to move from where I lived at central Port Harcourt City that we call Main Town to an area called Rukpoku also within Port Harcourt metropolis. I had a church in both locations and had to preach first message at Rukpoku and then move over to the church in Town for the second message. They were about ten kilometres apart. It was not easy and I did not have a car and with very little available funds. The distance was such that I needed to take three to four different vehicles before I could walk to the location of our church in Town.

One of the Sundays, one of the taxis I took had a breakdown after I had paid him. He handed me over to another taxi since the distance was not much. When I alighted, the driver asked me for another payment and I tried to explain to him that I had paid the driver that handed me over to him. He insisted that I must at least give him extra money, to which I refused. This man took hold of my shirt in the view of many watchers. He grabbed me in the open there and time was running out on me. My church location was not far from that place and even my enemies bore witness to the great manifestation of the power of God in my ministry. I really pity preachers who are not carrying the anointing.

A man shouted at the driver, “Are you Ok? You are holding Pastor Emma’s cloth?” The man was adamant until someone gave him the money he requested. I hurried to my service. Three Sundays after a driver drove his car very fast, to where I was standing and asked me to enter. The same driver who molested me the other time. He was begging me to forgive him for the manner he behaved last time. He said he had suffered greatly since then and never made any extra money since then. He was out this Sunday morning pleading with God to make him to meet me. When he dropped me this time, he did not want money from me but just my prayers.

There could be some people reading this today who had corrupted their life because of the way they treated the Lord’s anointed. In some cases, the anointed could be wrong, just like Noah who got drunk and lay naked. You dare not treat him without respect. Learn a lesson from David,

Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives," he said, "the Lord himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. 1 Sam 26:9-11NIV

Avoid the temptation of mocking his weaknesses and daring to prove that he is not holy enough to serve God. This is the root cause of many troubles some are suffering from today. 

Having read thus far, if you think you once drew a curse into your life because of the way you treated a servant of God, I suggest you contact me for special prayers.

TO BE CONTINUED

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com 

The Mantle and the Responsibility

 _The Life and Ministry of Prophet Elisha 4_ 

 *The Mantle and the Responsibility.* 

The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha." And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him 2 Kings 2:15NIV

The mantle of Elijah falling into the hands of Elisha implied the power and authority of Elijah passed over to Elisha. That was what the sons of the prophets recognized and went to pay respect to Elisha. At this point, it is necessary that we correct an interpretation to a scripture that has often been presented out of context.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied 2 Kings 2:9NIV

This discussion does not mean that Elisha wanted to be twice as anointed as Elijah was. Instead, it meant that he was asking for the right of the firstborn among the sons of the prophet that were under Elijah.

He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him. Deut 21:17NIV

In the other of precedence among the other sons of the prophet, Elisha was not the first, hence Elijah said that he asked for a difficult thing as that decision made publicly could stir problem among his disciples.

Having cleared that, it is important we understand that assuming the place of leadership ought not to be about the material gains and privileges attached to the high office. Christian leaders should be concerned instead about how they can effectively help their followers to achieve the divine purpose for the organization. Unfortunately, most of the conflicts we see in our midst are driven by selfishness and not because of the desire to serve God. Most church break-ups are as the result of people who want to hold to or draw followers after themselves. 

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them Acts 20:29-30NIV

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Eph 4:14NIV

A lot of, so-called higher revelation teachings we hear today are driven by ungodly ambition of bible teachers to outdo other Christian leaders and that is why these teachings rather than build up the Body of Christ, are causing confusion among followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Believers often forget or neglect one of the reasons the Holy Spirit compiled the accounts of bible stories and characters for us,

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 1 Cor 10:11-12NIV

Some believers are surprised when we mention what we consider some errors in the life of men like Elijah, Elisha. Paul and Peter. That is why the bible is the word of God. God wants to present us with good examples to imitate and warn us of the consequences of following bad examples. Also we are offered encouragement through the accounts of the tenacity of some of the bible characters.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Rom 15:4NIV

So, we are not having these meditations for the pleasure of it but we are yielding ourselves to the teachings of the Holy Spirit through the holy scriptures.

In our text scripture we find something that is vital in the matter of leadership succession in this holy faith; "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha." Once we observe this anywhere, our opinion ceases to matter. We must do what those sons of the prophet did; “they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him”

There are other sides to this; the leader, who is handing over his leadership mantle or office, should be careful that he does not yield to sentiments or be prejudiced by emotions and then hand over the mantle to a person upon whom his spirit has not rested. We have this kind of thing when Moses had to handover to Joshua as his successor. 

Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses. Deut 34:9NIV

We are not told but there could have been a temptation for Moses to follow the old pattern where he was the senior prophet, his brother Aaron was the chief priest and his sister was the prophetess. The children of Aaron succeeded him and the leadership mantle has always been within their family line, but now the Lord is asking him to transfer leadership to someone that was not even from his tribe. Many of the conflicts in our denominational circles has resulted because senior prophet Moses refused to do that. In some cases, as we have many in Nigeria, the leader died with instructions to transfer to Joshua, but members of his family gang together and subverted his instructions. We then have a man occupying an office for which the spirit that is behind that office does not support him.

Another temptation is for Elisha to think that since Elijah was the pioneer of the work, things must go on exactly as he found them. In some cases, the sons of the prophets or, as in Moses’ case, the elders of Israel would bound together to insist that the new leader must continue in the order that he met things. Moses was prophet but Joshua was a warrior; Paul was an Apostle but Timothy was a Pastor whom Paul asked to add evangelistic flavour to his ministry. There is no way things could continue to follow the same order with these new leaders. The Spirit was the same but the manner He used them would be different.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men 1 Cor 12:4-6NIV

When the aged high priest Zechariah eventually had a son, the people felt that he should be named after his father, “Zechariah Junior”, but that was not God’s plan. Every instrument of God is unique.

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."  Luke 1:59-60NIV

It appears to me that Elisha did not understand this. He seemed to want to continue to do things the way Elijah did. A time came the sons of the prophet urged him that there is need for improvement.

The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." And he said, "Go." Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?" "I will," Elisha replied. 2 Kings 6:1-3NIV

What Elisha must not lose or alter are the charismatic signs in the ministry of Elijah, because these are the proof of the Spirit of the God of Elijah. Elisha raised the dead as Elijah did; Elisha pathed the river like Elijah did; he multiplied food and prophesied to kings and kingdoms; but if this ministry will move forward, Elisha must bring another dimension of leadership. He must bring in new effective methods to make the school of prophets work better.

 Successors must not do everything like their predecessors; children must not continue the family business in the same order. Some Christian organizations refused to embrace technology because their founder did not use it. Some organizations refused to embrace some operations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit because their church founders did not experience it. These has resulted in stifling the influence of the Holy Spirit in some Christian circles. Once we are sure that it is the Spirit of the God of the leader that is resting on his successor, it will be his responsibility to chart new paths for them to attain greater heights. This should not be done by resorting to secular methods, but he must necessarily seek God afresh through prayers and meditation, to find out how He would lead him.

I will love to have reactions here!

TO BE CONTINUED

pnurnigeria@gmail.com 

Emma, your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com

POWERFUL PRAYER FROM PASTOR EMMA - IT IS YOUR RIGHT

https://youtu.be/jIQng8_Svsg?si=FmmP5ziLg3xmECyJ

WATER BAPTISM: WHO SHOULD OFFICIATE BAPTISM?

 Water Baptism: Who Should Officiate Baptism?

A moment of truth for the Church

It is time that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ should stand up and speak the truth to one another. Not in the manner some people do today, in a manner that castigates and causes confusion among the people. Those are not speakers of truth but partners with the devil who is the accuser of the brethren. The truth that comes from the Spirit of God is spoken in love.

Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all members of one body Eph 4:25NIV

Truth spoken in love through the unction of the Holy Spirit brings liberation from demonic and mental bondage. If we judged ourselves, we can escape God’s judgment.

The Church of Jesus Christ in its present state needs the speaking forth of this kind of truth. One of such truth is that a powerless and impotent Church was never in the idea of our Lord Jesus Christ. A Church that is only sustained by ecclesiastical liturgy is very far from the agenda of Jesus Christ. That is why even after He had spent more than three years with His followers and invested more than forty days teaching them in the upper room, He still instructed them not to move out for the assignment until they are empowered through the coming and outpouring of the Holy Spirit

You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." Luke 24:48-49NIV

He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:7-8NIV

Unfortunately, many Christian congregations lack this power and are only sustained through religious rituals. Of a truth, many minsters of the gospel today will lose their essence for existence if they take away activities like marriage and burial ceremonies from their schedules. The rest try to find relevance by teaching mysteries and eschatology of the end of the ages. These would not be wrong if they were not taking the place of the main thing, which is preaching the gospel in the power and saving knowledge from the Holy Spirit.

Consequently, one fallen generation have begotten another until we have come to the point where the true revelation sounds strange to us. 

Do you know that some Christian believers think it strange that a woman should officiate baptism? I mean to say, they believe that only men can baptise people. This is because all their life, they have only seen men officiating baptism. In many Christian circles officiating baptism is the exclusive responsibility of the most senior pastor. One of my protégée narrated how he managed to bring an old woman to be baptised in the church baptistery but the district pastor refused to baptise her because, according to him, he has already stepped out of the water. The old woman who was also sick was asked to wait for the baptismal ceremony of the next year.

Many believers who would otherwise have been effective in the God’s kingdom business are hereby bound under religious servitude to men because they are not aware of the truth as expressed in the word of God.

Take a look at this;

They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.  In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) Acts 1:14-15NIV

These number of believers, men and women, were the ones upon whom the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them Acts 2:1-4NIV 

The Holy Spirit fell on and also filled all those women. Even the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ was in their number and that means that she was filled in the Holy Spirit and spoke in Tongues like everyone else. All these women joined in the first open air preaching on the Pentecost Day to that great crowd.

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" Acts 2:11-12NIV

Apostle Peter and the rest of the Twelve would not have baptised three thousand new converts alone. If the Holy Spirit fell on and filled all of them, at what point did they separate men ministers from the their “lesser” women members?

When the Lord Jesus Christ addressed them about their assignment after Pentecost outpouring, there is no indication that He made discrimination between men and women believers, or clergy and laity.

 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Mark 16:15-18NIV

The instruction to go, was given to all genders of believers and the signs followed everyone who would believe, irrespective of their gender. 

Regarding officiating of baptism, even though we have the bible records of when believers scattered and preached in many places, there is no single record where the Twelve or another Christian leader in the bible was invited for the purpose of baptising people.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord Acts 11:19-21NIV

The people were recorded as believers because they were baptised. Later the apostles sent Barnabas to them and there was no record that he officiated baptism. Rather, it was stated;

News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts Acts 11:22-23NIV

Barnabas was impressed with the work the church planters had done and encouraged them to continue in the faith. He did not talk about baptism because these believers were already baptised. Even though a lot of the new converts were Gentiles, there was no mention of the taking up of Christian names after they became Christian believers. 

This is a portion of the letter written to Gentile believers by the Apostles in Jerusalem;

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Acts 15:28-29NIV

So, at what point did officiating baptism become the exclusive responsibility of church leaders? At what point did it turn out that when a believer wins a soul he must wait for the church leader to baptise the convert? At what point was it said that women who won souls cannot baptise their converts?

This is the Promise of God to all believers, men and women;

"'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. Acts 2:17-18NIV

What then is the responsibility of the Christian leaders?

To prepare the church people to do the work of ministry like baptism, evangelism and discipleship of new comers.

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ Eph 4:11-13NIV

Again, they are supposed to watch out that false teachers don’t infiltrate the church with their poisonous teachings. 

To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers — not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away 1 Peter 5:1-4NIV

Then to minister healing and deliverance to the people of God.

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. James 5:14NIV

To teach and build up the entire Body of Christ;

Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you 1 Tim 4:11-14NIV

A Body of Believers  who serves God in this manner will never lack the anointing presence of the Holy Spirit.  When we set our own standards we end up edging God out of our midst,  hence the powerlessness we experience today. 

I will love to get your reactions.

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com 

THE DAY I DROWNED A POLICE OFFICER’S WIFE DURING BAPTISM EXERCISE

 THE DAY I DROWNED A POLICE OFFICER’S WIFE DURING BAPTISM EXERCISE

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Rom 6:4NIV

Yes, you read me right. I killed a senior police officer’s wife during baptism. And the man was a Muslim.

While my family lived in Borikiri area in Port Harcourt, a woman brought me a complaint about issues with her sister. Her sister would get pregnant, carry the pregnancy to term and successfully deliver her baby safe and strong. The problem was that if she takes in again, the living baby would die two days to the delivery of the new child. In this way she had lost four children. This woman was brought to me and, looking at her alone was sobering.

Before this occasion, I have handled this kind of case before while I lived in Onitsha. It was with a wife of a powerful witchdoctor. So, I know immediately this had to do with an inherited covenant. Either the father or mother of the woman had an existing covenant with a shine and the demons of the altars are trying to get her attention to come and service the covenant. In some cases, the demons want her to return to the shrine and serve as shrine priestess. Not many people would accept such conditions these days, especially when it was their parents that made the covenant on their behalf. These kind of cases are wrongly referred to as spirit spouse because they are not, and the terms of their covenants are different from spirit spouse. But just like spirit spouse, they hinder their victim from getting married, cause miscarriage, attack the human spouse of their victim and if these efforts fail to achieve their goal, they begin to create the kind of circumstances we are talking about now.

What some of the victims do is to approach the altars of the demons in charge and seek terms of peace. While I was in Adam-Palm Farm Settlement in Imo State, Nigeria, we had another case. The woman had settled for annual settlement of making sacrifices on the altar of the demons. The materials for the sacrifices often included expensive aprons, foot wears and costly perfumes. I don’t know how these spirits use these things. In fact, it is a common thing to see some of these items littering the roadsides. A time would always come when their victim will not be able to meet the demands and they either kill her or strike her with madness. The reason is that these demons are wicked spirits who will at the same time be attacking the sources of income of their victim and whoever is supporting him or her. This problem affects both males and females.

I warn people never to enter into an agreement with demons because satan will always fail on his own side.

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies John 8:44NIV

In this case of Ada-Palm Farm Settlement, things became very hard for the woman’s family and they could not meet up with the demands, and the demons tried to kill the woman on one of the night we were having Deliverance week, so they hurried her to our centre. By the grace of God, she was delivered. We later baptised her and she has remained free ever since.

With these background of experiences, it was easy for me to understand what this woman was going through. However, we have a problem in this case; the woman that brought her was a Muslim and married to a senior police officer who was also a Muslim. In some Muslim circles in Nigeria, it is a taboo to even mention that you went to a pastor for prayers, not to mention that you need to convert to Christianity. I went ahead to announce to these women that I had no charms or talisman to give to them. I told them that it is only through the power in the name of Jesus Christ that I could help them, and they must need accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour. I also told them that I will baptise them into the name of Jesus Christ and then terminate the evil covenant with demons by the power in the name of Jesus Christ. They asked me to allow them to think about it and discuss the matter with their husbands as well. They returned the next day and said that they were willing to surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour. I instructed them briefly about baptism and asked to return again the next day for the exercise.

Till date, I do not still know why the police officer’s wife was showing interest of joining her sister in the exercise, because it was her sister that was facing the challenges. But the next day they both returned and they were prepared for the exercise. Yet, we met another challenge. The senior police officer’s wife had a bad dream.

In her dream, she saw me put her into a coffin, dragged the coffin into the river and pushed into the river and she drowned. After she told me the dream, I was surprised that this woman still wanted to go ahead and get baptised, even though, she was aware that I was going to baptise her in one of the big channels of the atlantic ocean in Kpokolo axis of Borikiri. That was when our main text was laid in my heart by the Holy spirit. I explained to her that the dream was actually the exact expression of what I wanted to do to both of them. I explained to them that I was going to kill the old person that they were through the process of that baptism; the result will be that the new person that will come out of that water will be too powerful for those demons of the evil altars to handle.

It was only the heart of a hard-core missionary that made me to go ahead with baptising them. Joy, my wife, was with me and I baptised them. Glory to God that they returned safe and better. We ministered deliverance on them and they left. The great testimony is that the woman has had four children after that exercise, and all of them are alive today.

There is mighty power in the name of Jesus Christ.

If you are reading this now and you are still undecided to surrender your life to Christ, I encourage you to do so now. If you are among those who are still servicing ancient inherited covenants and satan and his demons are messing your life up, I need to let you know that you do not have to continue with that. There is sufficient power in the name of Jesus Christ to set you free. Maybe, you have a slightly differently issue, I encourage you that it is still the same name and the power in that name. you can be delivered too.

Here is what the bible said;

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:9-11NIV

for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Rom 10:13NIV

Just bow your head and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to do it again in your life. You can welcome him into your life and the miracle will start. If you need further assistance, contact me with information below. I have written a number of books and God can use them to help you too.

I recommend you read some of my books 

COVENANTS: HOW THEY AFFECT PEOPLE 

HOW TO OVERCOME SPIRIT HUSBAND AND WIFE PROBLEMS 

ORIGINS OF COMPLICATED SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS AND THE WAY 

+2348035724526

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com

WHY WATER BAPTISM SHOULD BE IN THE RIVER

 Why baptism must be in a river.

(Position of a Deliverance Minister).

After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized John 3:22-23NIV

I took a lady who came to our Centre for deliverance attention to the river to baptise her. She told me that as I asked her to step into the water to get baptized, her spiritual eyes were opened and she saw a man warning her not to dare follow me into the water. That was her spirit spouse. She testified to her total deliverance after that baptism. One brother was deep into occult and hard drugs. He accepted to give his life to Christ and get baptized. He told me when he came out of the water that he saw the strong demons that controlled his life leave him as I baptised him. We have received many of such testimonies as we baptize people.

There are people I personally refused to baptize because they wanted me to baptize them in the swimming pool in the comfort of their home. Not that I had anything against the swimming pool baptism, but I saw that as giving them the mandate of the gospel within the terms of their flesh. Unfortunately, the principal reason for baptism in the baptistery or swimming pool is because of our comfort, not the absence of a nearby river and I have never heard someone present bible grounds for it. Those Christian leaders do not want to stress themselves. I have even seen a pastor deep someone in water while standing outside the pool. This is a height of official indiscipline. Standing with the new comer in the water connotes that you are bringing him into what you are. To stand outside means that you are a hypocrite. Sorry if that sounds hard but it is the naked truth.

Lately, some bible teachers have misapplied the bible scripture that said that John will baptise with water and Jesus Christ will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire, to mean that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ do not need water baptism but only the baptism in the Holy Spirit. 

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Matt 3:11NIV

This is a complete miscarriage of bible theology. Our main text states clearly that Jesus Christ baptised His believers in water. It is also stated in scripture that He instructed and supervised as His disciples baptised new converts in water.

The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples John 4:1-2NIV

Apostle Paul who came sometime after the Lord had returned to heaven was baptised in water and he baptised others after him.

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."  Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized Acts 9:17-18NIV

Our main text put forward before us the kind of location where Jesus Christ baptised people; “because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized”.

There was no bible instance where people were baptised in a pool or baptistery. Without diverting our attention, we have dealt with the matter of baptism being for believers; that is someone who heard the message of the gospel and exercised his will to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour. This is an impossible art for a baby.

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned Mark 16:15-16NIV

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Acts 2:41NIV

The inversion of the Church by the worldly system as leaders has led to the introduction of some practices which are alien to the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples. What I mean is that some of these practices were never expressed by the Lord nor His disciples directly or indirectly. One of them is the practice of baptising believers within the church hall baptistery or the swimming pool.

Someone had challenged me, “Just what is wrong with baptising people in the pool? Water is water anywhere”.

I asked him, “Just what is wrong in obeying a simple instruction of someone you claim is your God? Why not simply step out of the church premises and do what He told you?”

In extreme cases we can accept anything but I have travelled to as far as ten kilometres to get a river for baptism and I did not regret it.

It is true that many people have testified to having been blessed as they got baptised in a swimming pool, I want us to understand that there are spiritual reasons for baptising people in the river. As the testimonies I shared with you portrayed, it is a dimension of spiritual warfare.

1. It is a total obedience to the instructions of our Lord Jesus Christ 

2. It is a direct confrontation with the marine powers that hold many people as captives.

3. It is taking the battle to the gates of our enemies.  More than twenty persons I have baptised in a river were initially afraid of the river before then, because of their dream experiences. They used to see themselves in the dream in rivers but after that baptism they were freed. 

4. Marine powers claim ownership of the river and when we take people to the river, we are asserting our claim over all of God’s creation.

5. It is a pattern of witnessing as other people see us by the riverbanks baptising, they are awakened to their need of the Lord Jesus Christ.

6. It is a public display of our identifying with Jesus Christ.

This is as much I can give on this article. You can read more on this subject from my book, Baptism as a Tool for Total Deliverance. Available as soft copy on our online bookstore.

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com 

PRAYER PARTNERS: HOW IMPORTANT ARE THEY?

 PRAYER PARTNERS: HOW IMPORTANT ARE THEY?

It is a sign of a healthy Christian life when someone cries out, “I want to have a prayer partner!” We can never overestimate the importance of having prayer partners. The bible does not hide the fact that we will do better in life if we work as a team.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Eccl 4:9-11NIV

Nowhere else does this hold truer than in the matter of spiritual activities. The reason being that within the body of every human being is an ongoing battle between the flesh and the spirit. The soul of man is the central processing unit (CPU) and it manifests whatever comes from either side. A man who is fighting this kind of battle will most likely fall one day, “But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want Gal 5:16-17NIV

Take note of the clause, “You do not do what you want”.

Also take note of another clause, “they are in conflict with each other”.

This battle runs in the life of every human being. The reason we did not feel this conflict before we came to Christ is because our spirit person was dead and our fleshly personality had the total control, so the desire for the things of the spirit were either dead or in its minimal stage that was of no threat to our flesh. The things the flesh desire are the things that satan and the worldly system desire. Since the real battle is between the world of good and evil and our flesh subscribes to evil, satan is at peace with the choices of the flesh.

On the contrary, when we come to Christ our spirit personality is resurrected and the battle for control starts. The spirit personality tilts to the things that are towards God and the growth of our soul towards godly virtues. This is not what our flesh wants.

In your spirit person, you know that you ought to read the bible but your flesh wants to watch indecent contents on the Social Media. You know you ought to fast at least every Thursday of the week, but your fleshly person wants to eat. You now know the benefit of getting up to pray in the night but the flesh won’t have that; it would prefer that you watch movies till late in the night or just go to bed. Before your salvation and the resurrection of your spirit, attending church services and fellowships, were not very important but now that you are born again and your spirit person is hungry for more of God, you don’t just want to go to church, you are interested in every detail of the activities that happen there.

Due to this conflict you need to know how best to fight and win. One of the most effective ways to fight this battle is to have other good believers who are pursuing this end as you. Even though we read it say that two are better than one, the same bible said that an evil person around you could mess up what God is working out for you.

Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 1 Cor 15:33NIV

So, every company is not right for the believer. When the disciples were facing persecution, they had their own team or people to return to.

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God Acts 4:23-24NIV

It was these people who joined them in prayers.

When Daniel’s life was threatened by Nebuchadnezzar, he had prayer partners to ask to pray with him.

Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon Dan 2:17-18NIV

Even the Lord Jesus Christ required prayers from His prayer partners.

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." Matt 26:36-38NIV

You cannot become so big that you no longer need prayer partners. In fact, the more you grow, the greater is your need for prayer partners. Unfortunately, many servants of God do not understand this. They even feel shy to express their need for prayers. This is especially so when servants of God boast about the spiritual power they have more than everyone else.

When prayer partners are most needed -

When you are stressed and depressed. Just invite your prayer partner or walk into a prayer fellowship and be quiet for a while.

When you want to make an important decision. Tell someone to pray along with you.

When you are seeking to hear from God or getting some direction on some issues.

When you are too tired or confused to utter prayers on your own. At moments like this, devil will want to stalk you because you are in your weakest moment and vulnerable. You need to contact your prayer partner as soon as possible.

When you need someone else to kick-start your prayers. You are not just able to start praying on your own.

When you have a big spiritual challenge like the sudden death of a child, spiritual attack on your family or a bad news from home.

When you want to develop and grow your prayer life to a higher level. You need to have a fix time and place to meet with your prayer partners or team.

Where do I find the right prayer partners?

From what we stated above, you can see that your prayer partners ought to be people around you. Too sad that most of us brag that we don’t relate with people in our immediate environment. If you cannot mention one person around you that fits in for a prayer partner, then you have to review your connections. May be you are in a wrong company.

Your prayer partner does not necessarily have to be very strong spiritually. He may be someone who is also seeking to grow up in spiritual matters. He mostly will have struggles of his own. Both of you are just coming together to keep yourselves warm.

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Ecc. 4:11

The advent of technology makes it easy for us to have prayer partners who are staying even in another continent. There is no problem with that for a start. Yet, there are things that only people nearby can do.

Even if your spouse is not as strong as you would want, still ask him or her to be your prayer partner. Start with short moments of prayer and then grow with time. Your colleagues at school or workplace can be your prayer partner. I strongly advice against an opposite sex who is not your spouse as a prayer partner, unless there are other persons present. That brings me to add that you can have more than five members in your team.

You did not have the power to choose your parents or siblings, but you are the one to choose your friends. Now, think of at least three persons you would want to propose to as your prayer partners. Write down their names and take two nights to ask the Holy Spirit to open their hearts to accept to be your prayer partners. You can also ask the Lord to show you if they are not the right ones for you. They maybe members or your local church.

I think your spouse will be wonderful for this.

(Please, let us know before you ask someone on PNUR Network to be your prayer partner, unless you know that person before you joined the PNUR Family)

Let me know what you find.

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com

ESTHER: LIFE OUTSIDE THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD 3

Our Troubles and Troublers

Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman." Est 7:6NIV

Recently I was a guest preacher to a church program and the theme was, “Haman Must Die!” The focus of the program was to do spiritual warfare against spiritual and natural forces that represented the enemy of their progress. From the first day I received the invitation, the Holy Spirit kept impressing in my spirit that Haman was not their problem. By this I do not mean that there was no Haman, but that the power Haman had over them was because they relinquished their God given position and so lacked the moral standing to exercise their Kingdom authority, therefore they became vulnerable and weak before the powers that resisted their wellbeing. This will form our next focus in this meditation

After a period of fasting and prayers to seek God’s intervention, Esther was able to secure access to meet her husband in the inner chamber of his personal retreat. After explaining herself, the king was shocked and wanted to know who could have devised such evil against his wife.

Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman." Est 7:6NIV

That is the way we present our troubles and troublers. We talk about them like they came from nowhere and we pray to God about them like, if God was serious enough with doing His job and protecting us, there would never have been troubles or troublers. The truth however remains that God sees our future troubles and troublers before they manifest and He takes steps to spare us the pain. But our tendency is to respond to the troubles when we can see them. At the time we are able to see them physically, they would have taken roots spiritually. At that point, like trees with ancient roots, we will then need great efforts to deal with them and in most cases, at a very high cost to us. That is the situation with the enemy that Esther now introduced to her husband as “this vile Haman”.

Who is Haman?

He was from Amalek. Far back when the Israelites were coming out of Egypt, without any provocation the Amalekites attacked them from the rear. They attacked the weak and despairing among the people of God. The Lord Himself told Moses and the people of Israel to brace up and fight back. Ex17:1-3

From this point God knew that Amalek would constitute a great threat to the establishment of the people of God. So,

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."  Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. He said, "For hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord. The Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation." Ex 17:14-16NIV

So Haman was an offshoot from a generational enemy. Many years before Esther was born, God undertook to prevent this situation that caused her threat to life. One of the first assignments that God gave to King Saul was to deal with Amalek. 

Samuel said to Saul, "I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'" 1 Sam 15:1-3NIV

If King Saul did what he was commanded to do, there would never have been a Haman. Unfortunately, 

The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.' Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?"  "But I did obey the Lord," Saul said. "I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king 1 Sam 15:17-20NIV 

Now, the vile Haman, according to Esther, was an Amalekite and from the royal root of King Agag. So great was Agag that even the Spirit of the Lord recognized him. King Saul killed the common people but preserved the members of the royal family. It was Samuel who killed Agag but some members of the royal family remained alive. We can now see that if the ancestors of Esther did what they were instructed to do, Esther will not have to fight with vile Haman today.

Secondly, I hope you remember that at the start of our meditation, we said that Esther, Mordecai and the rest of the Jews that are now facing the threat of the vile Haman were among the great number of the people of God who refused to heed the Lord’s call to return to their own country. 

"This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "'The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you — may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem Ezra 1:2-3NIV

So, if Mordecai and Esther had joined the rest of their people, Mordecai will not have a face to face confrontation with Haman that will lead to the issues we are talking about now.

After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles … When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. Yet having learned who Mordecai's people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai's people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes. Est 3:1,5-6 NIV

On the one hand, this vile Haman came to be because of the failure of the ancestors of the present generation of the Jews. I make bold to say that a great number of the battles believers are confronted with today are the result of the sins of omission and commission of those who lived before them. The Lord Jesus Christ made the same statement to His audience.

What it means is that every drop of righteous blood ever spilled from the time earth began until now,. from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was struck down between altar and sanctuary, is on your heads. Yes, it's on the bill of this generation and this generation will pay. Luke 11:50-51(from THE MESSAGE BIBLE): 

Whatever calamity that would come on this generation will be the result of the seed their ancestors sowed. the imminent death that forced them into fasting was because their ancestors failed to obey the instructions from God. The location they met the crisis was because they themselves failed to obey the Lord.

This calls for introspection from my reader. It also reminds you that whatever things you do today, are seed that you are sowing. If you do not reap them, your generations will. Those of us who are returning to idolatry and occult; those of us that are robbing temples; those of us that are oppressing people; those of us who are building beautiful houses by destroying the future of other people’s children and those who attacking and abusing servants of God should know that someone will reap what they are sowing. This holds for both the positive and negative side of life.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Gal 6:7-8NIV

We like to point out here that Haman did not fall from the sky and it is not the result of failure on the side of God. Most of the complicated spiritual battles we are facing today are the result of negligence on the part of our fathers. The rest are there because we are failing in our responsibility. God is very ready to help us get through out of them but we need to face the truth.

I strongly believe that the three days and nights of fasting and prayers was not directed at asking God to kill Haman. I believe it was a period of national repentance and reconciliation with God. It was a time to call out their sins and the sins of their fathers. 

In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes. Est 4:3NIV

Sackcloth and ashes represents repentance and humbling themselves to ask for God’s mercy. They were not out to bind and destroy Haman. They were aware that they would not be in such circumstances if they had obeyed the Lord.

Repentance clears the way for God to step in. Are there things you need to repent of? In the course of reading this, are you reminded of some generational iniquity that you need to repent of?

Once they began to offer the right kind of prayers, God began to move on their behalf. Their destiny helpers began to remember them. Their enemies began to fall down and serve them. Court cases they could not handle began to go in their favour. 

That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. "What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?" the king asked. "Nothing has been done for him," his attendants answered. Est 6:1-3NIV

Even the so-called almighty Haman fell down before them to beg for his life.

Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman." Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life   Est 7:6-7NIV

Hmmm!

Our troubles and our troublers are not nearly as powerful as we have made them to appear. We only need the right heart attitude and prayers. 

Do you feel like praying now?

Please, go ahead. I will come back to you.

(To be continued).

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com  

ESTHER: LIFE OUTSIDE THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD 2

 Intimidated by the fear of suffering

"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." Est 4:16NIV

Unless you have been in the same position, it will be difficult to understand all the implications in Esther’s statement; If I perish, I perish. Here Esher decided to confront what she had feared all her life; the fear of suffering.

Oh, how many of the Lord’s people fear hardship and suffering. We sing it in our songs and shout it from our pulpits; we don’t want to suffer and we don’t want to die. I beg to disappoint you by saying you can never find a life of true purpose outside the realms of deliberately embracing suffering and death.

 Unknown to us, the devil has discovered this weakness in us and so has technically taken us captive within the prison walls of our fears. For the fear of suffering a young minister sacrificed his daughter to satan so he could have a big congregation. For the fear of suffering our brothers in the business world joined occult so they can get contracts. For the fear of not having our own fruit of the womb, believers have drunk concoctions in the satan’s coven. There is no limit to what satan can take you through if he could intimidate you with the fear of suffering. 

One of the principal assignments of our Messiah who suffered is to deal with this fear.

Free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death Heb 2:15NIV

Fear is a merciless slave master 

We are not told at what age Esther was when her parents died and the circumstances that led to their death. However, we know that she was born at a time her people were living as slaves among ruthless gentile people with emperors who were reputed for their mindless torture and murder of their enemies. Nebuchadnezzar was brutal; just imagine a man who felt no quam as he attempted to kill hundreds of young men he had spent three years to train, just because of the issue of a dream. Not many people knew that all those young people were castrated as eunuchs, that included Daniel and his friends. That explains why we never heard of the children of Daniel. The emperors enjoyed absolute power. That included king Ahasuerus who ruled at the time of Esther.

The fear of suffering and death was part of Esther’s everyday life. It was the fear of what they could suffer that kept Mordecai from joining others in Jerusalem when King Cyrus opened the doors for them. Fear of suffering made her hide her real name and nationality. Imagine to find yourself in a situation that you don’t want anyone to know who you really are. Though in a marriage. the same fear kept her from complaining when she began to lose her place in the palace. 

Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, "All the king's officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king." Est 4:10-11NIV

She suffered in silence. She married the man out of fear of offending her father. Oh, did we forget to mention that the king also married her just to get back at his wife for disobeying him. History said that the king’s marriage to Esther did not last.

Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. Then the king's personal attendants proposed, "Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Est 2:1-2NIV

There are many, today who still make decisions, not because of sound judgment, but because of what they fear. Some for fear of poverty, married a rich unbeliever. Some for the fear of parents married someone from their tribe. Some for fear of suffering like the pastors who keep begging for mission support, clung to the job they know they ought to leave to make their service to God more effective. I have met families who are now childless because they aborted their children earlier because they feared they won’t be able to raise children then.

Like Esther, fear has become the prison house.

Fear made Esther silent about what she knew of the saving power in the Lord Jesus Christ. She dared not talk about Jehovah because she was afraid. How she was afflicted in her soul for the period she lived in that fear. Oh, the emptiness in her heart. In today’s parlance, she only hummed Christian hymns and wished for the days when she owned her life.

Despite all she had sacrificed, the enemy did not spare her. The family she belonged to had been taken, her peace had been taken, her prayer life was taken, she cannot remember the last time she opened her bible, and now, her father is telling her that, not only himself, but her entire race was about to be destroyed. She was afraid.

We are often deceived to believe that satan will let us be if we do not disturb him, but that is a lie. While Esther played it cool, the enemy of her soul was gaining more and more grounds. Haman had bought her husband over and had total control of the whole kingdom because he now wore the signet ring. 

Esther could not even see her husband’s face for the space of one month but Haman could visit even in the midnight.

The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had erected for him.  His attendants answered, "Haman is standing in the court." Est 6:4-5NIV

Esther decided to face her fear. All the compromise was to her lose. 

Now, if I will perish, let me perish.

Everyone will now know that I am a true child of God. All my friends and staff will hear the testimony of my conversion. Everything about me will once again radiate my true personality in Christ 

If I perish, I perish 

I can see in my mind’s eyes as the Queen Esther walked into the conference hall and ordered all her staffs and servants to suspend all activities and give her their attention.

“Everyone in this office must join us for a three days fast”.

I can see the shock on everyone’s face. Who is talking?

“Yes, I know you are surprised but I want you to know that I am actually a Christian child of God. From today, no more those worldly dressing and everything in this space that is under my control will reflect the glory of King Jesus Christ”.

That was the first time anyone of them ever heard the word, fasting and praying to Jehovah. I will shock you further; are you aware that Queen Esther went into the presence of the king under a fast? When you fast for three days without food and water the way they did, your body will omit a smell. Before now, that would bother Esther. No longer so.

If I perish, I perish.

(To be continued)

MORDECAI: LIFE OUTSIDE THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD

 Mordecai; Life outside the perfect will of God.

I am sorry to say that this message is not for everybody. In fact, I wish I knew the specific person for whom the Lord is sending this message, I would have sent it directly and not bother my entire audience. I can only ask everyone to open up as we go through it and maybe at one point, the one for whom this message has come will jump out.

"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." Est 4:16NIV

From our main text, within the reply of Queen Esther to Mordecai are hidden some ugly history. We call it ugly history because they are things that even the inspired author of that bible book was ashamed to mention. The nation of Judah was taken into exile because their God handed them over to their enemies. They were sentenced to spend seventy years in exile. within this period God advised them to integrate themselves with the people of the land of their captivity.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.  Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Jer 29:4-7NIV

Mordecai was among those that were born in the period of this exile and so was Esther who was his brother’s daughter. There were those who strived to retain their original spiritual and national identity even though they lived in Babylon. These were the heroes we use as models today; Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Some people like Ezra continued to teach the Jews the word of God even though they were in exile.

In answer to many intercessions, God sent Cyrus to work for the restoration of Jerusalem and the new nation of Israel.

"This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "'The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you — may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:2-3NIV

Unfortunately, not many of God’s people were eager to return to their own country. At this time a good number of the surviving population were born in exile and their lifestyles were those of the gentile nations. Their ambitions and dreams were those of Babylon. So, preaching of the true gospel of the true kingdom of Jehovah sounded strange and for others, it was unrealistic. There were those who held to the old instructions to adopt to Babylon because it matched what they wanted to hear. This was the category that Mordecai belonged. Out of the entire nation of Israel, only very few were willing to return; 49,897 persons.

The whole company numbered 42,360, besides their 7,337 menservants and maidservants; and they also had 200 men and women singers Ezra 2:64-65NIV

As it was those days, so it is today. The preaching of the message of revival of our sanctification is no longer valued. The message of eternity in heaven and hell is not the kind of thing people want to hear today. Death to self and living for the Spirit is not one of the topics one will hear in a conference today. Even those we considered as fathers in the Christian faith keep manifesting lifestyles that shames the true gospel for which we knew them.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God 1 Cor 1:18NIV   

Mordecai happened to be in the number to whom the message of the Cross was foolishness. Has it occurred to you that it was an abomination for a true daughter of Zion to be in the number of virgins competing to be married to a gentile king? Has it occurred to you that Mordecai was encouraging his daughter to eat those delicacies that Daniel and his friends called defilement? Are you aware that King Ahasuerus was about the fourth king after Cyrus? What were Mordecai and Esther doing in that gentile nation after other believers had departed to Jerusalem?

Hmmm! My hands are shaking.

While believers were parking up and marching towards Jerusalem, Mordecai was adjusting himself for life in the world after the revival. While other heaven minded Christian leaders are now teaching their congregation that friendship with the world was enmity towards God, Mordecai was training his daughters on how to trap rich gentile men for the sake of material wealth. When other believers laboured at carrying rocks to restore the temple of true worship of Jehovah, Mordecai was standing as a security man at the gate of gentile nations with party placards in hand, seeking to prophesy to the uncircumcised that God will continue to bless them in their sin. While brethren contended for the restoration of a true worship, Mordecai was teaching his own congregation on how to live and be welcome by the world. The things that genuine believers mourned and lamented over, were the same things that Mordecai celebrated as success.

They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness." When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of this unfaithfulness of the exiles. And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice Ezra 9:2-4NIV

The point is that Esther and the other members of the church of Mordecai did not even know that these things were sin, because Mordecai encouraged them to do it. Esther succeeded to get married to the unbeliever through the worldly method taught by her leader and there was celebration in the church of Prophet Mordecai. Esther was taught that telling lies was kingdom wisdom, so that even her own husband did not know her real name and nationality. 

Yes, you read me right. The king did not know the real name and nationality of his new wife. The result of this was that all the maids and friends of our sister in the palace were total unbelievers. Furthermore, our sister was not able to share the gospel with them. Oh, how could she have shared the gospel with them when they did not even know that she was born again? If they did not know that she was born again, how could she now teach them kingdom lifestyles of fasting, prayers and meditating in the word of God?

The hypocrite that he was, Mordecai refused to bow to Haman on religious grounds but he had told Esther to hide her identity. 

Then the royal officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's command?" Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai's behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew Est 3:3-4NIV

Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. Est 2:10NIV

Did you get me? While Prophet Mordecai bragged about his commitment to God, Esther bowed down to all the heathen idols in the palace because she was told to hide her true identity, but the hypocrite of a leader still boasted that he was called by God.

What I want you to understand is that, all those crises and confusion among the exiles in Susa happened because some fellows chose a path for themselves that was contrary to God’s plan for them. When we choose our own paths, we encumber ourselves with the responsibility to sustain ourselves. Deceiving, telling lies, stealing and all kinds of manipulation soon become our new lifestyle. 

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? James 4:4-5NIV

(To be continued)

EVERY SCEPTER OF THE WICKED

 *PNUR Global Day of Fasting and Prayers 07/03/2024*

*Every Scepter of the wicked must be broken now*

_The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil Ps 125:3NIV_

Glory be to the Lord Jesus Christ for another opportunity to come into His presence. Remember that prayer is the opportunity that God has given to you to say something about your life. When you fail to pray at a time like this, you are simply surrendering your life and destiny to the opinion of others. God has given this earth over to man to rule but through the vehicle of prayer we grant God permission to intervene in the activities going on in the earth. Through prayers we can also revoke whatever the devil and his agents have done against us and our loved ones.

Scepter in the context of our text represents government or seat of power. At the point of writing, the scepter or seat of power was already on the land or blessings that are the portion of the child of God. The prayer of the Psalmist expresses the impending danger if the circumstance persists; godly people could be compelled to do things or go to places that they would not go ordinarily. Unfortunately, situations have forced some people to do so.

This one is a true life story and the man that did this evil thing was the biological father of one of my members. So I am not telling you a story I heard from somewhere. On the day this man was to be buried, as they lowered the casket into the grave, a lady married to one of his relations just noticed some movement in her body and her menstrual period flowed out. She ran to a corner and tapped on her husband and there was a loud shout of “Chai!”

They were told but they did not believe it. The man had made sexual advances on the woman but the woman cautioned him and warned him that he was going to commit abomination for attempting to sleep with his brother’s wife. This evil man decided to hurt this woman. By some diabolic means he shut her womb under an oath that unless he died that woman will remain sterile. The timeline of the curse expired when he was laid into the grave.

I have heard people say something like, “Only over my dead body will this person get promoted in this office”. Some of these statements are not empty words and they often back their words by resorting to hidden diabolical actions. Like the account we just shared, there are some today that are carrying curses from witchcraft covens or evil altars. Too sad that they have never taken time to pray about them.

I decree that every such curse hanging over the head of anyone reading me now must be broken today, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Shout that AMEN like thunder!

Any man or woman that has tied your pain to his breathing, must expire now, in Jesus name.

Thunder an AMEN!

For our holy brethren who condemn aggressive warfare prayers, let me explain. We are not asking the man to die. What we are saying is that, if this evil person said that he will not be alive to see you move forward in life, he must die now, because at the end of this prayer you are moving higher, in Jesus name!

Give the AMEN! three times now.

People, I feel the anointing!

Years back, I returned to my home town after the Holy Spirit prompted me. I told a very close relation that I was told by the Holy Spirit that he had sacrificed me before a satanic altar for his own riches. I told him that I came to ask him to revoke what he had done because I did not want him to die. Yes, I was sure that I will not die because the Lord placed me under the covenant of life and peace but I didn’t want to leave what I am doing in the mission field to come and bury him.

In response, he told me to walk out of his presence. The Lord laid me to the occult prophet that carried out the ritual for him. The prophet accepted that they did such a thing but told me that it was not in his hands but in my brother’s hands to change the status quo. I went back to my brother with the false prophet, but he told the man not to mind me because there was nothing I could do. I called some people, among them are those who are still alive today; I told them what had happened and what I am pleading with my brother to do and save his life. They told him to reverse whatever he had done if what I said was truth. Well, he refused. The good news is that I was at his burial.

I declare to you today under this anointed atmosphere of our PNUR Global Day of Fasting and Prayers; any man or woman who has placed you as a sacrifice on any satanic altar shall take your place in the name of Jesus Christ!

Shout that AMEN like you believe me!

A woman brought to see me three of the most beautiful set of ladies I have seen in my life. They were her three daughters. All graduates, all gainfully employed, all tall and elegant with this skin texture that only dead men can resist. Three of them were home grown well behaved ladies. Yet, at the age of 32, 35 and 36, no man was showing any interest in any of them. Men talked to them like fellow men. The woman lamented how her husband had died in a very mysterious condition and how her husband’s brother quickly encroached on the family property after his death. She managed to train these beautiful ladies up to University level through her “Akara” business. Those of you in the western nations cannot imagine the kind of pain associated with sending three daughters to university by frying “Akara”. I just pray it will not be your portion in Jesus name.

Here they were, no suitors and every night she wept her head a river because she knew that something strange were holding those ladies. Her husband’s brother was even trying to drive her from the place where she fried and sold “Akara”. My heart bled at the level of wickedness of man against man. I gave her an assignment and some prayers.

Now hear the testimony! It was not up to two months the same woman ran to me in excitement.

“Brother Emma, you won’t believe what I want to tell you. My two daughters are getting married at the same time in a week’s time”.

They got married because God broke the scepter of the wicked. The third and youngest got married six months after.

I announce to you that the season of your bondage must expire today in the name of Jesus Christ.

I just wish that you know how to shout an AMEN! that can shake even the throne of the devil.

When we talk about such things, some believers accuse us of magnifying the devil and spreading fear among the children of God. But as I write now one of my pastor friends is living like vegetables. He went one day to unlock the door to his church, something flicked past his face. There and then he lost his memory. As we talk now he can’t pronounce my name, he can’t read the bible, he can’t operate a computer and these are among the many things he can no longer do. He just sits in a place.

If this does not get you angry, then you don’t have a heart in your chest.

Our main text tells us how dangerous it is for the inheritance or destiny of a child of God to be under the stranglehold of the wicked. Scepter means rule, it means government and it could also represent authority. The scepter of the wicked means the controlling power of the wicked. It could be witchcraft enchantment, it could be satanic curses and invocations. In some case, a member of a larger family trades the family members on an occult altar and sets his throne over the entire family. You will notice that only this man will experience prosperity in this family. Every end of year, every other member of this large family will line up in his house for stipends.

Whatever they are, it says that under such condition some righteous women have seen themselves in the house of witchdoctors in search of fruit of the womb; some godly men have joined occult so they can secure a job and put food on the table; some decent girls have become prostitutes so that they can change their undies. I mean there is no limit to the terrible corruption that could happen or take place in the life of a child of God under the stranglehold of wicked people.

We will not be able to count the number of good people who have been pushed into evil because they could no longer endure the suffering. Many have backslidden and some weak hearted ones have resorted to commit suicide.

I strongly believe that if any of such persons are in this prayers with us, those satanic limitations shall be broken. I repeat, I believe that there is sufficient anointing flowing for this special day of prayers and this anointing will surely break the yokes from those who dare to take God at His word and join in this fast.

That is why I want you to consider yourself fortunate to be connected to this prayer and fasting. Don’t let anything distract you from participating in this prayers.

Yes, I feel the anointing as I write now!

Fix a place and time sessions you will enter into private prayers.

Don’t be selfish, involve other people around.

Then remember that, “When You Pray, *YOU MUST BELIEVE YOUR PRAYERS!”*

Now, pick up those Prayer Collections, “Prison Break” and “Jesus Christ Breaks Every Chain”, and launch into aggressive warfare prayers with them.

Please, if you don’t have them yet, just let me know and I will send them right away

I will come back to you as we all pray.

I know that you know that I am praying for you.

Remain under this anointing in Jesus name

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com