NAMES OF BLASPHEMY. The church is full of the names of Blasphemy. How? Blasphemy is when one speaks irreverently of God or the sacred things of God. It is not heard anywhere or found one who claims to be God but it is commonly observed that the servants of God are bearing God’s name, this is Blasphemy and antichrist.
In Psalm 111:9 the scripture states:
He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: Holy and Reverend is His name.
For us to affix Reverend before our name is blasphemous to God. The reverence that is due God alone should not be ascribed to mortal men. The Hebrew word that is translated in Psalms 111:9 as Reverend is the Yare. Yare is a part of the noun Yahweh and Yahweh is the name of God. There are men like some Bishops who bear the title His Holiness or Holy Father. Although God’s desire is that His people should be holy, calling ourselves Holy as a name or title is blasphemous. In I Samuel 2:2 the scriptures states that ‘there is none holy as the Lord’. As ministers of God, we have been called to ministry and not the bearing of titles.
The word of God states in Philippians 2:5 -8
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
It is blasphemy to call a mortal man, Holy Father or Father in the Lord. The Lord had declared in Matthew 23 that we should call no one Father for one is our Father and He is in heaven. Calling one Master or leader is disallowed in spiritual things.
Matthew 23:8-10 states: 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.
The practice of ministers of God going to study God in theological schools to become a master in divine knowledge that is knowledge pertaining to God with human degrees such as Doctor of Divinity is blasphemous.
The scripture states in 1Cor2:14 that the natural man cannot understand the things of the spirit.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit: for they are foolishness: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned 1Cor.2:14
The next name of Blasphemy commonly borne in our time is Bishop. The word Bishop though found in the Scripture is a Latin word which has given a different meaning to the original Greek text. Many believers often think of a bishop as a minister of superior rank having authority over a group of other ministers and churches but the scripture makes us to believe that all ministers are overseers of God’s sheep. The scripture does not in any way support hierarchical system often called the Divide and Rule System. What is observed and practiced in our present day church system is drawn from Nimrod’s pattern and adopted by the church.
In Matthew 20:25-28 Jesus Christ declared the mind of God to us saying:
And Jesus called them to Him and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men hold them in subjection tyrannizing over them. Not so shall it be among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant and whoever desires to be first among you must be your slave. Just as the Son of Man came not to be waited on but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many[ the price paid to set them free].Matthew20:25-28AMPLV
The scripture in Titus 1:5 reveal that Paul instructed Titus to appoint elders in every city but in verse 7 this same elders were described as bishops [Latin word]. In Acts 20: 17, we saw many elders to the church of Ephesus while in verse 28 these elders were described as overseers. From the Greek text the words Bishops, elders and overseers means the same personality.
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed. Titus 1:5
Acts 20:17, 28 states:
And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church ………….verse 28 states: Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he had purchased with his own blood.
The word to ‘Feed’ is translated as to ‘Shepherd’. The words, elder, bishop, shepherd and overseer refer to servants of the Most High God working together to feed the people of God with the Revelations of God’s word given to them until we all come to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. A bishop according to the scriptures cannot be the head of the church for the scripture states that Christ is the Head of the Church. He passed through a process spiritual and physical humiliations recorded in Ephesians 1:19-23 to become the Head of the Church.
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
No man has been made to pass through this process therefore cannot be the head of the church. The fruit of the Spirit, the Gift of the Spirit and the ministry Gifts are all administered by the Holy Spirit and cannot be given by man or an association or body of ministers.
The scripture reveals this truth in 1Cor 12:11.
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will.
It is a privilege to be considered and counted worthy to be a servant of the Most High God. The Gifts are not meant to make us Lords over God’s heritage.
The scripture in 1Cor3:4-8 reveals:
For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal. And walk as men? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planted any thing, neither he that watered; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
TO BE CONTINUED. Louisadikibarasika bassey okokon.