In the mind and wisdom of God, there is no ‘reverend’, archbishop, ladder-climbing pastor, deaconess, et cetera, in His work. Anywhere title-bearing people are found in groupings of salvation-seekers which call themselves “church”, then it is either such title bearers do not have God’s mandate to contribute to the spiritual wellbeing of these groupings, or that, these groupings are not of the Body of Christ.

As I mentioned earlier on, there are no title bearers in the True Body of Christ – the Church of Jesus Christ. Paul, an apostle of the Body of Christ, was never referred to as “Apostle Paul”. This was because he functioned as an apostle in the Body of Christ and not as a title-bearer.

He was always referred to as “Paul, an apostle” of Jesus Christ, defining his functional role in the Church (Second Corinthians 1: 1, Galatians 1: 1, Ephesians 1: 1, Colossians 1: 1, First Timothy 1: 1, Second Timothy 1: 1).

If his functional role in the Body of Christ as an apostle was meant to be a title, in which case Paul could be addressed “Apostle Paul”, (which no saint ever did), then he could also be addressed as “Prisoner Paul” as a title of honour to him.

This is because he was not only described as “Paul, an apostle” but also as “Paul, a prisoner” of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:1, Philemon 1).

Or would one do well to give Paul the title “Servant”, and seek to honour him by insisting that all people address him as “Servant Paul” because he was described as “Paul, a servant” of God? (cf. Titus 1: 1).

The word ‘apostle’ is not a title: it is a functional description of a man’s work in the Body of Christ. And that is also the case for such words as ‘prophet’, ‘pastor’, ‘evangelist’ and ‘teacher’. None of these words are titles. They are all descriptive of roles or functions played by people in the Church of Jesus Christ.

One of my dear role models is Philip: not the one with apostolic calling, but the one who first served in the pantry and set tables for widows of the Church at Jerusalem. In his later years, while evangelizing for the Kingdom of God, he was never addressed as “Evangelist Philip”, as one must do today, for anybody claiming to be playing Philip’s kind of role in the Body of Christ.

This loyal and dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ was simply referred to as “Philip, the evangelist” (Acts 21: 8) in definition of his functional role in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So why do we have in “church” today, Apostle Aaron, Evangelist Evans, Prophet Philemon, and all manner of weird titles for people who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ and doing the work of the Kingdom of God?

Why are today’s so-called men of God so much preoccupied with awarding themselves titles, even when these titles belong to God? Are they seeking equality with God? Are they not disciples of Jesus Christ?

If they are indeed genuine disciples, can they not obey the caution of the Master not to take to themselves titles they do not deserve? Does the warning of the Master that anyone, who exalts himself, would be brought low, not scare these so-called men of God?

When the apostles of Jesus Christ, who walked and talked with him for four good years before his death, burial and resurrection, were in charge of the teaching ministry of the Church after his ascension, they had with them, elders, deacons and bishops in all local congregations.

All congregations were autonomous in the cities the Holy Spirit of God led the apostles to establish the Church of Jesus Christ. The congregations were all however, united as one in the doctrines of Jesus Christ, as were taught by the apostles.

Every local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ had sets of bishops, (not just one bishop, as we are told that, in the one local congregation of Philippi, there were many bishops – Book of Philippians 1: 1), elders, pastors, deacons, etc, involved in the teaching of the flock.

During the days of the apostles, no bishop had a domain or so-called dominion beyond the local congregation in which he functioned. Of course, all bishops, elders, deacons, prophets, teachers, and other Church functionaries, were men filled with the knowledge, wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit of God, and elected for these functions by Jesus Christ himself, could visit and minister the Word of God to other congregations beyond their places of regular worship and or residence.

Today’s so-called bishop who is seen to have a spatial jurisdiction and dominion over a group of “churches” has come as a latter-century personality, who obviously lives beyond the pure Christian traditions of the apostolic era of the First Century. This certainly is a corruption of and deviation from the apostolic faith, teaching, tradition and practice.

The coming of the celibate-bishop into the Church is a further deviation brought by the pagan-Christian faith of Second Century Rome, from the faith of those who physically walked and talked with the Master, Jesus Christ the Lord.

My dear men (of God?), you who want to rub shoulders with God, be careful in your pursuit of titles meant for Him. You cannot call yourselves reverend, The Reverend (SKA?), right reverend, very reverend, most reverend, his grace, my lord or his holiness and get away with it.

Remember God says He is a jealous God who will never share His Glory with any man. So be sure that you will attract to yourselves reprisals from God in due time, if you do not repent of your penchant for titles and drop them forthwith. I believe I have carried God’s warning to you in love.

In recent times, I have grown to fall in love with some words of Sir Winston Churchill: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen”. Well, in this, I have done my bit for humanity and for the Kingdom of God. I pray to God that you, my dear reader, will do your bit. Please do yours, so we can both get to live on “Humility Avenue” in Heaven, to spend Eternity with The Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

My dear “man of God”, I love you; for the love of God in my heart compels me to love you forever without any inhibitions. This is so, since he who is begotten of Love (God) cannot, but be a love-slave to everybody. This is why I speak to you in love, as I have done in this short article.

Shalom.
Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DODCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Those who allow themselves to be called laymen, in the service of God’s kingdom-work, are ignorant of the God-given roles of all Christians as priests in His service. To these simple-minded people, a privileged few are regarded as priests while an underprivileged majority are tagged and called laity or laymen.

My dear reader, do you know that there are no titles in the Christian faith? The Kingdom of God does not confer or award titles to its workers. No genuine workers of God’s Kingdom, who have been revealed to mankind in the Word of God, ever bore titles. I shall soon lead you more into this thought.

Where then do titles such as: associate pastor, resident pastor, senior pastor, general overseer, senior bishop, presiding bishop, archbishop, cardinal, general superintendant, deaconess, reverend, right reverend, very reverend, most reverend, the reverend, his grace, my lord, his holiness, etc, comfortably conferred on and borne by mortal-men, come from?

Since they do not come from God, where do they come from? Does anyone know their origin and originator? Of course, they have come as a means of setting up an elaborate organization, with class groupings of its members, an organization mankind has been deceived to call–Church. Class distinctions of God’s children! How sad.

The originators of these lofty man-made titles have without the mandate of God, intentionally fragmented the Body of Christ claiming to have made it easier and effective to minister or rule. The question is “Does God need the wisdom of men in the running of His Church?”

Absolutely not! And so, by and by, those who confer titles on people and those who receive these titles will be seen to be acting not for God, but against Him; and will be judged as such.

Since those in love with such titles are without the humility and simplicity of Jesus Christ, they could not be sent from God. And if God did not send them, who did? Your guess in this is as good as mine. Could it possibly be that they are in league with the one who seeks to exalt himself above God and His Christ?

Though this is actually so, many of these title-lovers do not know they work for this cunning and ruthless power – Satan. He allows these ignorant so-called men of God to hold on to these titles on his behalf, so as to take them back from these men whenever he wills.

Let us consider the title, reverend. This great and powerful title is used only once in the entire Bible and in honour and recognition of God alone. In the King James Version of the Bible, you can find the word ‘reverend’ only in Psalm 111: 9. Let us quote this verse here to aid the smooth flow of this discourse.

“He sent redemption unto his people: he has commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.” (Psalm 111: 9, KJV).

My dear “man of God”, do you see the seriousness of your error? You are neither worthy to bring redemption to sinful-mankind nor do you have the capacity to do so. Only God can and has brought redemption through Jesus Christ to mankind.

Dear “man of God”, do you have a covenant which you are able to keep or are keeping with mankind? If you claim you do, are you able to bring limitless blessings to mankind? If yes, then tell the whole world about it so mankind can rush to you for this blessing, and have the world rid of all its horrible suffering and poverty.

Only then would you qualify and deserve to be the co-equal to God and therefore worthy to be called by the title, reverend. Otherwise, be careful in not being accused of blasphemy, judged guilty and sentenced by the Judge of all Flesh.

For delivering to mankind, redemption from the power and dominion of sin, Satan’s power, and the consequences of sin, in and by the work of Jesus Christ, God the Almighty commands all men to revere and reverence His Name.

So-called men of God do not know or understand this? And so they pitch themselves against the Will of God by seeking to usurp His titles? I fear for these so-called men of God in antagonizing themselves against the Might of God, in view of the condemnation of God which awaits them.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, has taught his genuine disciples a great lesson in humility in Matthew 19: 16-17, Mark 10: 17-18 and Luke 18: 18-19. When in these verses a questioner addressed him as “Good Master,” he quickly corrected him of his error. Jesus Christ told his questioner not to call him “Good”, since only God is Good.

Maybe, this questioner should have addressed the Messiah as “reverend Master” instead, so we could get to know if he would have accepted or rejected the appellation of “reverend” as belonging to God his Father alone. Can so-called men of God (disciples of the Master?) not emulate the humility of Jesus Christ in this? How sad.

Let me give you a secret of the Devil. He is preparing to begat and outdoor his counterfeit of God’s Holy and Anointed Messiah, Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World. When he has begotten him, he will be called the anti-Christ. Many people seem to know this open secret. However many are ignorant of the lineage of this soon-to-be-revealed anti-Christ.

Surely, the anti-Christ will descend from the lineage of people who love to take the titles of God. At the time the anti-Christ becomes manifest for the end-time show-down battle between Good and evil, he will be the same as the mortal man who will be holding the highest counterfeited title of God. And then he will crown himself God and demand worship from mankind.

For now, the devil is progressing according to his set-plan: from ‘reverend’ to ‘right reverend’, then to ‘very reverend’, then to ‘most reverend’, then to ‘his holiness’, then to ‘his grace’ and then to what next, I know not. I do not have the mind of the devil. I have God’s, by virtue of my New Birth into Jesus Christ and my faith in First Corinthians 2: 16.

But I do know, from God’s Word, that when the anti-Christ manifests, he will land in a counterfeit church which belongs to one of the numerous and notorious denominational groupings of the world. That counterfeit church will look very much like the genuine Church of God.

Its members will be tares, the devil’s counterfeit wheat. Remember, the look-alikes of wheat are tares. Also remember that wheat and tares are only genuinely distinguishable from one another, at Harvest Time, by which time their destinies would have been sealed, and the destruction of tares in hell-fire, due.

The hierarchical structure of this counterfeit church of the devil is what will give it away as false and of the anti-Christ. By the time peoples’ eyes become opened to the true identity of this anti-Christ in their midst, he would have finished marking almost all of them as his own, ready to carry them into Hell for a life of eternal suffering with him.

Let me give you some revelation about the man-made title, “archbishop”. This title has been in vogue for a long time – over centuries, in fact. It was created and delivered to simple-minded mankind, by the pagan-Christianity of Rome of the immediate post-apostolic era, when her politicians were flirting ingloriously with the Church.

The power brokers of the erstwhile Roman Empire sought to extend their domain and dominion to include the Church of Jesus Christ. When they managed to do these, they then brought into the Church, titles, to show their pomp, power and distinct statuses.

Even though the word “archbishop” seems to have been derived from two bible-words–“archangel” and “bishop”–it does not make it a holy word. The word “archbishop” is alien to the whole bible-revelation and therefore of no relevance to either the Body of Christ or the Work of the Kingdom of God. Not because there is an archangel must we have an archbishop when God’s Word does not give us any revelation on this strange word.

How could we so easily swallow the deception of the devil to tag so-called men of God with this title? I am very sad that so-called men of God are not content with the God-given functional descriptions such as pastor, evangelist, prophet and teacher, established by Him to bring perfection to the knowledge of His Will to His saints. [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Four: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

It is very sad to observe that many people who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ hardly live up to his expectation in their imitation of his character. In particular, Jesus Christ has told his disciples not to live like the Pharisees of his day in craving for titles and recognition by men. They were not to work in search of vainglory from and of men. They were to imitate his simplicity, selflessness, shyness for publicity, and humility.

In this regard, here is a caution of Jesus Christ to his loyal disciples: “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.” (Matthew 23: 8-10, King James Version, KJV).

These clear and simple words of Jesus Christ spoken directly to his disciples still stand good for the obedience of all his loyal and dedicated disciples today. But I wonder how many people who claim to be Christians (disciples of Jesus Christ?) do know of these verses of scripture and obey them.

It is shocking to know that some denominations, which profess to be loyal to the Christian faith, have their leaders addressed “father” or “papa” in obvious disregard to this command of the Master. I am at a loss to know whose disciples the members of such denominations truly are.

Jesus Christ has said that, all the doctrines, commandments and instructions which he has taught mankind are not his own, but God’s. Any deviations from, or violations, of Jesus’ teachings therefore, are a direct affront to God in Heaven, who sent him. All true disciples of Jesus Christ must know and be very careful in this.

The reason why Jesus Christ commands his disciples not to seek to award themselves titles, and or desire the praises of men, is to ensure they never exalt themselves. He warns that any one of his disciples who exalts himself shall be brought down; but he who would humble himself would be exalted (cf. Matthew 23: 11-12).

For me, and I am sure for many loyal and dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ, the scary nature of his warning is enough to make one comply. But alas, many more people who seem to be very educated in the secular sense, and also claim to be dedicated to the cause of the Master, do not seem to be bothered by this warning and, therefore, disregard it with glee. They seek the praise of men and are excited when men heap upon their heads titles, appellations and accolades.

Let me say, the thing the Devil enjoys most is praise, and worship. In envy therefore, when yet in Heaven under the name Lucifer, he could not stand the sight of thousands of angels worshiping God. He coveted the praise and worship God’s angels gave to Him.

As a result, he staged a mutiny in Heaven, with a large following of angels, in attempt to take praise and worship from God to himself. Mortal man must therefore be wary of the praise, titles, appellations and accolades heaped on him by his fellow-men, since love for them could draw him into the same lust Lucifer had.

Immediately after the devil lost the mutiny he staged in Heaven (when he tried to take-over the ruler-ship of God from Him), and was cast upon the earth, he started his second and now seemingly unending-campaign, toward his diabolical plan to usurp the authority of God over His Creation.

He has been strategizing subtly and stealthily, in diverse ways, to lead man away from obeying God’s commandments and, therefore, into his dominion. While doing this, he has his eyes set on the titles which belong to God and His Christ. The ultimate aim of the Devil is to usurp the status and power of God, whereby all Creation will then praise and worship him as God.

One way by which the devil is subtly and stealthily working his way toward achieving his ambitions, is through attack on the genuine structure of the Church of Jesus Christ. By confusing many people about the true structure of the Church (the Body of Christ), he seems to be gradually achieving his ambitions.

Not many people today know the true structure of the Church of Jesus Christ. You cannot fully blame today’s generation for this. The fact is, with time, as the Christian faith of the immediate post-ascension era travelled out of the lands of Palestine and Asia Minor, heading toward the West, it gradually began to lose its structure, character, power, purity in doctrine and practice.

Today’s Christian faith is a sorry-state of what it was when it first came into being in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. The Christian faith today is devoid of much of its glory, power, holiness, pure doctrines, unique influence as the salt and light of the world, and reverential practices which characterized it at its inception.

You may have to read two great books by Richard Rives, entitled, “Too Long in the Sun” and “Time is the Ally of Deceit”, to appreciate this fact.

From the revelation of the Bible, the Body of Christ is synonymous with the Human Body: the Church is a living organism with parts which function like the body-parts of man. It is obvious that all parts of the human body are of equal importance and no part lords (and lauds) itself over the others.

Read the Book of First Corinthians, chapter twelve, from verse one to thirty-one (First Corinthians 12: 1-31) to understand what the Word of God reveals and teaches about how the Body of Christ (the Church) does and must function.

Even though the human brain, together with the central nervous system, coordinates the actions of all the parts of the body, it cannot claim importance or headship over the other parts. In the human body, no part can do without the other and neither can the whole body function properly without any one part. All parts are needed, and perform their individual and unique functions for the common good of the entire body.

The Church – the Body of Christ – must be seen in similar light as the human body. The Church has a very simple structure. Jesus Christ is the Head. All other members are equal parts to this Body and are directly connected to the Head.

All these parts therefore take instructions and directives from the Head directly. They are able to function only in, by and of the Head. Also, all parts of the Body report directly to the Head.

Sadly, many people think of the Church as an organization and not as an organism. They see it as a human institution housed in some Victorian Age masonry building, with people of various statuses occupying special positions. In this organization, wrongly called the Church, every member is made to report to some other(s), higher-up in some hierarchical order.

The notion that the Church is an organization with a powerful hierarchical structure is a teaching of the devil. By this teaching, the devil has succeeded in getting many simple-minded people of the world to live in error of the true structure of the Church.

Over a period close to two millennia, after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, many people have become comfortable believing that the Church is an organization with a hierarchical order, and never even think of it as an organism.

This false belief about the structure of the Church has become a stronghold in the minds of mankind. It is this stronghold which the devil is capitalizing and gradually building on, in his bid to take-over the world from God’s influence.

It is sad that many people do not know the true structure of the Church of Jesus Christ, as revealed to mankind in the Word of God. For many people, the Church is made up of clergy and laity; whatever the words clergy and laity mean in or to the Church, since they are not part of God’s vocabulary found in the Bible to teach the Church.

Many people professing to be Christians do not even know that these words (clergy, laity or laymen) are strange and alien to the true Christian faith. Many people are satisfied, instead of being angered, when others call them laity or laymen in description of their roles in the Church. [—this article is continued in Part Three: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Many people might be irritated, or even angered, by this headline to my article. Many more may deem it silly to even pose the question – Are “reverend” ministers also disciples of Jesus Christ? It might seem silly to pose this question because to many people, “reverend” ministers are lead-disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let me assure my readers that it is for the love of all the men who are addressed by the title “reverend”, and their many followers, that I ask this question and go on to answer it in the light of the bible-revelation. So, if you are irritated or angered by my title, just stay calm and you will be blessed in reading this article.

Without a shadow of doubt, the greatest man that ever lived on Planet Earth is Jesus Christ. Even though followers of some renowned personalities who once lived on our earth claim that their icons never die, it is only of Jesus Christ that such an assertion is true: since he alone is alive and lives forever.

The main proof to the fact that Jesus Christ is the greatest of all men who ever walked our earth and is alive forevermore, is, he is able to manifest himself today through his genuine disciples. Oh yes, he clearly manifests himself in all his loyal and dedicated disciples, who do the genuine work given to them by him to do, on his behalf, and in his name.

Just before his ascension into Heaven, Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples to do two jobs for him, and on his behalf. These jobs, all loyal disciples of the Master must execute throughout all times and seasons of the Grace Dispensation. The proper execution of these jobs by any people is proof of their genuineness, as his disciples.

Any man who does these jobs in loyalty, dedication and dependence upon the words of direction and instruction of Jesus Christ, will have manifested in him, Jesus’ full persona for all to see. In other words, people will see manifested in these loyal disciples, the personality, wisdom, power, success, and glory of Jesus Christ.

The two jobs which Jesus Christ has given to his loyal disciples to do are in a healing and teaching ministry – taking sickness and disease out of the bodies of men, and teaching sinful-mankind the way to be reconciled with God.

When on earth, toward empowering his chosen twelve disciples to do these jobs, Jesus Christ took them through four years of discipleship-training.

He taught and demonstrated to them, how they were to heal the sick of all manner of diseases; give life and strength to impotent-halts, paralytics and cripples; open blind eyes and unplug deaf ears; and also bring the dead back to life.

He taught them how to do these by uttering his Words through faith in his name, without the use of any man-made remedies, and, with their bare, but highly-anointed, hands.

For the task of leading salvation-seekers to be reconciled with God and thereby become eligible to enter the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven, he taught them in very simple and plain words, in the Great Commission statement laid out in Matthew 28: 18-20, Mark 16: 15-16 and Luke 24: 46-48, how they were to do this.

Beside the four-year discipleship-training Jesus Christ gave to his disciples, they also needed to be empowered of the Holy Spirit of God, if they were to be able to execute their God-ordained tasks of soul-winning and of healing mankind of sickness and disease.

These are the same tasks Jesus Christ executed for the Kingdom of God while on earth. He was able to execute them because he was always conscious of the fact that God (his Father) resided in him and so drew on the power of His indwelling presence for the execution of any jobs he was sent to do for Him.

As such, if any disciples of Jesus Christ are to be successful in executing their assignments, for and on his behalf, they must have a consciousness that God indwelt them. They must in this consciousness, depend on and be able to tap His power, in execution of their assignments for the Kingdom of God.

Jesus Christ made it plain to his disciples that he was unable to do anything without depending on God. Similarly, no disciple today can do any assignments for the Master, without depending on his word of instruction, wisdom in his actions, and the presence of God residing in them.

The numerous conversions of sinners, to faith in the name of Jesus Christ and into God’s salvation, during the early days of the Church-age, were the result of the disciples of Jesus Christ, doing exactly what they were told to do by the Master in the Great Commission.

We see genuine and loyal disciples of Jesus Christ achieve fantastic feats in the Great Commission, during the early days of the post-Ascension era, because they were cut out for the task, through a four-year period in discipleship-training by the Master himself, and through the power of the Holy Spirit of God who indwelt their spirits.

Today, from his position on the right hand side of the Throne of God in Heaven, Jesus Christ is impacting and changing lives more than he ever did in the four years he was physically present on Planet Earth with the mandate of God to do so.

This is because he ensures from his position in Heaven, beside the Throne of The Father, that whatever promises he has made to his genuine, loyal and dedicated disciples, become fulfilled in their lives when they accept to act in simple faith in his word.

True disciples of Jesus Christ are those who make every effort to obey, imitate and act like him in every way. Just as Jesus Christ said he imitated whatever he saw the Father doing, for success in his earthly ministry, so must his genuine disciples also imitate his ways for success in all their assignments.

The successes of any disciples in doing any work he elects them to do, depend on three things. The first is that one must have knowledge and wisdom of Jesus’ word and ways. The second is for one to be sensitive of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God in one and how to live in dependence on His power within.

The third is for one to have the character trait of the Master. This character trait of the Master is what we see manifest in the rare kind of love, compassion, selflessness, denial of praise of mankind, a life devoid of pride and arrogance, availability, et cetera, he showed the world. The ability of any person to possess and live by all three abilities marks one as a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ.

Any disciples, who do not have these virtues of Jesus’ character, cannot be successful in any assignments given them by the Master. You cannot be a successful disciple of Jesus Christ if, for example, you delight in the praise of men, or are without the compassion of the Master for people, or are not as selfless as he was, or are not gentle, or make it very hard and nearly to being impossible for strangers and the under privileged to get to you.

Also, if for example, one is boisterous, even while preaching on a so-called altar, (running, ranting, raving, shouting, jumping and gyrating as if on a theater stage), one cannot be a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ. I know in many of today’s denominational groupings, a display of such a wild trait in one’s character is accepted as high-level spirituality or charisma.

Sadly, these wild behaviours by so-called anointed men of God, contradict the portrait painted in the Bible of the Master, as being a gentle and calm character, who never shouted in the street. These behaviours make it impossible for any men to be suitable and relevant for any assignments in the Church of Jesus Christ. [—this article is continued in Part Two: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

To give a definite answer to the question about what one should do to enter the salvation of God, I say this: repent sincerely of your sins when told about the Gospel of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then, get baptized in His name, by being immersed in natural, living-water, by a genuine servant of God.

That is the way of God and of His son Jesus Christ for one to become Born Again. It was also the way of the apostles. It must therefore be our way today, if we are to be Born Again, or saved, or enter God’s Kingdom.

Who in the Bible accounts said a prayer to be saved? From all the Bible narratives about the salvation of people, which one of them did not hinge on repentance and baptism?

You will not get one single evidence in all your search of the Bible, where prayer, and for that matter a so-called Sinners’ Prayer or Prayer for Salvation, brought any salvation-seeker the Born Again experience. Do not therefore trust in prayer to get Born Again.

In the Great Commission of Luke 24:46-48, Jesus authoritatively teaches that only repentance and remission of sin can bring any salvation-seeker into the Born Again experience.

I like to tell you in all seriousness that, remission of sin is different from forgiveness of sin. Sadly, the understanding of many preachers of the Bible is that remission of sin is the same as forgiveness of sin.

This stance is what takes many preachers of the Bible into the error of asking in prayer, for the forgiveness of their sins, in their bid to qualify to enter the Kingdom of God.

Forgiveness of sin is what you can get from God by repenting of your sin, and confessing it, silently or audibly to Him. Forgiveness of sin is also what a fellow human being can give to you, when you repent of your sin of causing him (or her) some hurt, and ask for it.

Furthermore, forgiveness of sin is what Jesus could give to people who he saw to be sick in consequence of their sins, as He crisscrossed the land of the Jews before going to Calvary.

Forgiveness of sin is what Jesus could ask of the Father to give to those who insulted Him, slapped Him, derided Him, or nailed Him to the cross of crucifixion, even before he died in their hands to bring salvation to mankind.

On the other hand, remission of sin is what Jesus could only make available in His death. He announced at the Last Supper, to His disciples that, He was going to the cross to make available remission of sins for everybody.

Jesus Christ in His sacrifice made remission of sin to be available and beneficial to all righteous mankind, from Creation to End-time. His sacrifice was to bring remission of sin to those who were even dead before His sacrifice; those living at the time of the sacrifice; and all who would come into the world after His sacrifice.

Remission of sin is what God demands of any members of the human race whose desire it is to obtain reconciliation with Him. Jesus Christ came as the Lamb of God, to pay for the sins of mankind, to enable God grant anyone who believes in, and accepts this sacrifice, the chance to obtain remission of sin.

The payment of the ransom by Jesus, to enable God grant mankind deliverance from the power and dominion of sin, are what constitute remission of sin.

John the Baptist went crying in the wilderness of Jordan, teaching Israel about a fast-coming salvation of God that was to be made available to mankind only in remission of sin (Luke 1:77, King James Version, KJV).

That was the good news John the Baptist was sent to proclaim to all Israelites, at a time they were already enjoying the blessings of forgiveness as one of two ways that God dealt with sin in their lives. The other was by atonement of sin.

Remission of sin is obtained from God, not by asking for it verbally, but in the obedience of His instructions on repentance and baptism into the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38, KJV).

If you want to enter the blessing of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, you do not ask for it in prayer, you access it by taping the right keys of God’s information-system. These keys, which one must strike to enter the salvation of God are, ‘repentance’ and ‘baptism’.

Repentance and baptism will usher every repentant sinner into the state of remission of sin. When one enters into this state, one gets the gift of the Holy Spirit of God to indwell one’s heart. This is our assurance of being in God’s salvation from the accounts of Acts 2:37-39, KJV. This assurance is what has been enjoyed by men since the Day of Pentecost.

Remission of sin is payment by Christ of our debt of sin. Remission of sin takes the sin-nature out of our spirit and body. Remission of sin comes to sinners only once in their life-time. It therefore contrasts greatly from forgiveness, which can come as many as ‘seventy times seven’ times, even in one day, quoting the words of the Master. In further contrast, man can render forgiveness of sin to fellow men, whilst remission of sin can only be given by God to sinful-man.

A book written by me that teaches on these issues is on sale in Ghana. It is entitled “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”.

In this book, the true doctrine of God’s salvation is taught. The false doctrine of Sinners’ Prayer recitals and the prayers of preachers for sinners to get Born Again are also taught. Please get a copy of it. It will bless you richly. It will put you on the right track into the Kingdom of God.

In my above mentioned book, advice is given to salvation-seekers to read the New Testament as God’s Final Theocratic Constitution. This Constitution contains articles on how humans on our earth can gain membership to the Kingdom of God. Also, one can find in it, clauses and sub-clauses on son-ship and adoption of mankind as children into the kingdom of God.

When one is conversant with this constitution, one will easily see the practice of Sinners’ Prayer recitals in attempt by salvation-seekers to enter the kingdom of God as unconstitutional and therefore powerless in enabling salvation-seekers become Born Again; and therefore denounce the practice.

Study the Bible in the spirit of serious-minded salvation-seekers who Apostle Paul met in Berea, of Acts 17: 10-11 fame, and you will easily see the Sinners’ Prayer recitals as absolutely incapable of making mankind Born Again.

God’s Theocratic Constitution will spell out to all subscribers to it, their privileges, responsibilities, code of conduct, status, and future rewards in Heaven for their service to this constitution when they were on earth. Please study this Constitution to be approved by God. You will be tested by it. You will be blessed by it. You will also be judged by it.

You can never be blessed by any passionate, zealous, or sincere recitals of a so-called “Sinners’ Prayer” or “Prayer for Salvation”, in your quest to become Born Again into the kingdom of God. May you therefore please seek to obtain the Born Again experience through your obedience of God’s Word to you to repent of your sins and to be baptised into Christ.

Shalom, peace from God the Almighty to you.
Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Dear reader, I am happy that you and I are living in the same times and seasons, according to the plan of God Almighty. I am particularly happy that you are reading this article that God has led me to write on the Born Again doctrine of the Christian faith.

My prayer for you is that, before the generations after us come to benefit by some rare teachings on salvation that God has led me to render to humanity, you my precious contemporary, would have been blessed ahead of them.

If you are serious about the Christian faith, as I am, and are an ardent listener to radio broadcasts or a viewer of television programmes of teachings by some pastors, general overseers, apostles, archbishops, etc., you might have observed something I am about to bring to your attention as an error to the Christian faith.

This error has persisted for a very long time, centuries in fact, and has therefore gained acceptance as genuine that, it passes as being able to deliver on its promises when in fact it cannot.

Did you hear the preacher-man on radio, or watch him on television this past week? Did you hear him at the end of his preaching ask you to do something if you wanted to be Born Again into God’s Kingdom? Did you hear him instruct you to place your hand on the radio or television set, and to pray a prayer after him, if you were repentant of your sinful-life, and wanted Jesus to take control of your life or get to be Born Again?

As for me I hear these every day. If you do not, begin to listen to preachers (Men of God?) on radio and television.

The prayer they ask their listeners to recite after them, when these preachers are ending their programmes on radio or television, is known by many as the “Sinners’ Prayer” or the “Prayer for Salvation”.

This is a prayer of confession of sins by repentant sinners who want to enter the Born Again experience, or start life all-over, after the power of sin has messed-up their lives. It is also a denunciation of the devil, request for God’s forgiveness, and the profession of Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Master.

The faith of the proponents of this doctrine is that, if any sinner repents of his sins, recites this prayer after the preachers of it, in sincerity and all seriousness of heart, they are instantly Born Again! Their claim is that, they are instantly passed from death to life and have had their names written into the Lamb’s Book of Life, if they were sincere in saying that prayer!

Dear reader, I would let you know that, if you ever did that, trusting the word of pious- and or sanctimonious-looking persons, who seemed worthy of your trust, then you were deceived. Nobody can get Born Again by and of prayer: be it known as the Sinners’ Prayer or the Prayer for Salvation.

Maybe, the peddlers of this doctrine are themselves ignorant that prayer cannot make one Born Again. In fact, that is the sad aspect of this doctrine – many of its proponents do not know they are in error.

Could it be that after-all, the preachers of this wrong doctrine are simply being mischievous, and cashing-in on the ignorance and gullibility of their listeners and therefore deliberately teach falsehood? I do not want to think so, even though at times one is tempted to.

What did Jesus say to Nicodemus about how anybody can ever enter into the Kingdom of God? Did Jesus say to Nicodemus to pray to enter into His salvation? Did Peter, on his very first assignment to lead people into the Born Again experience on the Day of Pentecost, instruct his listeners to pray some special prayer to be saved?

From all the Bible accounts, nobody ever said a prayer to be saved, or get Born Again. Why is it then so popular a practice for salvation-seekers to be told by so-called Men of God to recite special prayers after them so as to become Born Again?

Simply put, the practice of Sinners’ Prayer recitals for salvation is a deception of the devil. This all men should be aware of and denounce the instructions of so-called Men of God to pray special prayers for salvation.

So what must one do to be saved? The answer is to do what a jailor in the city of Philippi did in the early days of the Christian faith (Acts 16:25-34). Was this jailor not the first from the Bible accounts to ask this same question?

To answer the question of this jailor in Philippi, Paul and Silas at midnight, taught him to believe in Jesus if he wanted to be saved. They did not stop there. They went further to explain themselves.

At the end of it all, this jailor rushed to obey the word of Paul and Silas, so he could be saved. At an odd, inconvenient, discomforting, midnight-hour, this jailor rushed out of his home to be baptized in the river on whose bank the city of Philippi was built (Acts 16:12-13, 30-33) in his quest to be saved.

This jailor did nothing like reciting a so-called Sinners’ Prayer or a Prayer for Salvation to enter God’s salvation. He was properly led into the salvation of God by people who were truly sent by God.

This jailor was saved in the ministry of God-called, God-taught, God-anointed, and God-sent, obedient, loyal, and well-informed disciples of Jesus Christ. Sadly, ministers of such glorious credentials are hard to come-by in our world today.

Anybody today, who does not teach the doctrine that Jesus taught Nicodemus (John 3:3-5), or Peter did on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-41), or by Philip to an Ethiopian in the desert of Gaza (Acts 8:26-40), or by Ananias in his ministration of salvation to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:10-18), has deviated from the genuine way of teaching God’s salvation.

All who follow such a one, are also off-course, in as-much-as getting into God’s Kingdom is their ambition. I hope I can bless your life with this truth: a truth I am charged by God to warn my generation in. [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Two: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].