ALWAYS REJECT UNGODLY COUNSEL

Luke 4:18 (AMPC)
 
“The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me (Jesus Christ), because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity],”
 
Dear people of God, many Christians usually get into trouble because they fail to adhere to God’s instruction in His Word in the Holy Bible.
 
What is the first thing God’s Word says to do when you have a problem? As proof, let us see James 5:13 (AMPC), “Is anyone among you afflicted (ill-treated, suffering evil)? He should pray. Is anyone glad at heart? He should sing praise [to God].
 
The Bible says we should pray to God FIRST whenever we encounter any trouble. But how do you pray to a God with whom you have no personal relationship as a Father to a child? How do you pray about your problem when you don’t even know what the Bible says about it?
 
Once you begin to pray outside of Scriptures, don’t expect any answer from God because you are not praying according to His will.
 
So you must have a personal Father-child relationship with God, you must know what His Word says about your SPECIFIC problem and then you must first pray to God about the SPECIFIC problem using His Word so you can obtain an answer.
 
Now, many Christians run off to their pastor with their problems for counselling even before praying about it, which goes against God’s Word.
 
The reason they do this is because they want their pastor to agree with their own side of the story and where this is not forthcoming, they run off to a pastor of another church for counselling in the hope that that pastor would tell them what they want to hear.
 
Well, for our own good, it is God’s Word that should counsel us and so whatever counsel we obtain from our local pastor must tally with God’s Word otherwise the pastor is misleading the person and even into sin.
 
The late Gospel minister Kenneth E. Hagin said in one of his messages that the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to him that a Christian must obtain counsel in his local church and not another church because his pastor knows him and would give him the right counsel.
 
You can see why every Christian MUST belong to a church fellowship where he or she is well known unlike what we have today where some sit in their home professing Christianity without belonging to any local church assembly.
 
Another reason the Lord Jesus revealed as why a Christian must belong to a local church assembly is because His Word says we should confess our faults to one another and pray for one another so we can be healed and restored spiritually.
 
One important point to note in all of this is that a Christian must NEVER go to a non-Christian for counsel because there is every likelihood of obtaining an ungodly counsel that goes against God’s Word and becomes sin both for the counsellor and the counselled.
 
Let me give two examples to illustrate this point:
 
CASE STUDY 1
 
A friend of mine recently confided in me that his wife has filed for divorce from their marriage and this friend is heartbroken.
 
He told me his uncle told him to come to the village to take another woman as wife and forget about his legally married spouse.
 
I immediately told him that was an ungodly counsel offensive to God and that no matter how painful it was for him emotionally, he should NEVER make the mistake of taking another woman into his home as long as his legally married spouse was still alive.
 
What I told him to do is to read Malachi 2:15-16 concerning marriage and divorce where God says He hates divorce (verse 16) and he should pray to God to restore his marriage.
 
I equally mentioned to him that if he had a fault he should know that God knows every secret and he should first ask God for forgiveness before presenting his request on his marriage.
 
All the counsel I gave him was consistent with God’s Word to pray first, use God’s Word to pray and to reconcile with God where he had a fault.
 
This is unlike his uncle’s ungodly counsel for him to enter into adultery, sin against God and damn his soul into HELL fire for eternity.
 
 
CASE STUDY 2
 
Over the radio on Thursday May 27, 2021, I listened to a program where a man wrote seeking counsel on his problem.
 
This man has a fiancée he intends to marry but while both of them initially lived separately, he had problems with his landlady and had to move out of his rented apartment into the family home of his fiancée who lived alone while her mum and siblings are based in the UK.
 
Some 2 months ago, the fiancee’s mum and sister visited Nigeria as usual and each of them (mum and sister) on 2 separate occasions seduced the man and slept with him.
 
The man now claims to be remorseful about these incidents, wants confess to his fiancée what transpired because he loves her so much and still wants to marry her but his fiancee’s mum is threatening to kill him should he expose what transpired between them.
 
While one group of callers into the program were of the view that the man should inform the fiancée and then leave the relationship, others said he should just leave without telling the lady because telling her would destroy her relationship with her mum and sister.
 
Callers said the immoral relationship between his fiancee’s mum and sister was bound to continue should the man go ahead with the marriage so he should leave.
 
I was so shocked to hear a female caller vehemently oppose all the previous counsel and stated that there was nothing wrong with what happened between the man, his fiancee’s mum and sister.
 
This caller stated that as long as they were two consenting adults, there was absolutely nothing wrong with sleeping with anyone of your choice and that churches were the ones creating problems by calling sexual immorality between two unmarried persons a sin and that God created sex for two people to enjoy themselves.
 
She said as long as nobody killed another person, there was nothing wrong and the man should not bother telling his fiancée anything.
 
It was almost my prayer time so I had to turn off the radio and move on to more important activities.
 
Dear friend, is it the church that calls sex between two unmarried people a sin or is it God’s infallible Word?
 
Can this lady claim to be a Christian and not know what God’s Word says about sexual immorality?
 
Does she understand the spiritual damage that occurs when someone engages in sexual immorality? Does she know the number of demons given legal right to inhabit people involved in sexual immorality?
 
What kind of counsel would this lady give her biological kids?
 
Can you see why a Christian must NEVER seek counsel outside his or her local church? Take further note however, that even when you do seek counsel in your church, let it be from your pastor whose character is consistent with God’s Word.
 
Ensure to crosscheck the counsel against God’s Word so you do not allow yourself to be misled into a grave sin against God.
 
Most importantly, do exactly what God’s Word says is the first thing to do when you have a problem – take it to God in prayer.
 
Look again at today’s lead Holy Bible text and you would see why you must take your problems first to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer because He ALONE is the Solution to every problem.
 
Jesus Christ is the Word of God because God’s Word contains a solution to every problem of this life and God can NEVER mislead you since He is Omnipotent (all Powerful) and Omniscient, knowing the end from the beginning.
 
Go to God in prayer and He will speak to you through His Word. If He wants you to go to your pastor, He would surely direct you but just ensure to do EXACTLY what God says for your own good.
 
Jesus Christ is coming shortly to take in Rapture ONLY those who are qualified according to His righteous standards in the Holy Bible.
 
Are you living a genuine life as His disciple? Are you ready for Him? Repent and come to Jesus today, for tomorrow may be too late for you.
 
Once Jesus takes away His children, the entire earth would come under God’s wrath and Divine judgement in a most terrible manner never experienced before.
 
Why do you risk your life in sin and risk the grave danger, pain and suffering ahead and risk ultimately damning your soul forever in the lake of fire?
 
May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus’ Most Powerful Name, Amen.
 
Gabriel Ama.