Today we are looking as something important, a very sensitive matter, and I want you to be very attentive as the Lord inspires us, lest we become part of the people that God is not happy with. Today we are considering: The Cause Of Corruption In The Church And The Mind Of God For Our Own Generation. There is a very quiet tendency in us as a people to believe or to assume that number one, it is either God does not know the things that we think we know that is going on, or God is quiet over things that we know. But one of the things that I have come to realize is that God is never blind, God is not ignorant. In fact there is a place in 1 Samuel chapter 2, when Hannah was praying. In verse 3 she said:
Listen To Podcast: THE CAUSE OF CORRUPTION IN THE CHURCH AND THE MIND OF GOD FOR OUR OWN GENERATION
“Talk no more so very proudly;
Let no arrogance come from your mouth,
For the Lord is the God of knowledge;
And by Him actions are weighed.
God is the God of knowledge, so, He cannot be ignorant. In fact by Him all actions are weighed. Everything you do or have done or about to do, is judged by God, and so, you cannot think God is quiet when God is the judge of all. He is not quiet and He is not ignorant. And today we want to look at God's mind concerning the corruption that we think we are aware of and perhaps, the ones we don't even know, that is going on among God's people rooted in high places authority in the Body of Christ. Now, I am sure you still remember when the Bible says that judgment will begin from the house of God.
So we must understand that God the judge of all will begin executing His own judgment from His own house, for the people of His house are not expected to be ignorant of His will and are not expected to be ignorant of the execution of His plan and purpose on the earth, and so, judgment begins from the house of God. You still remember the parable of the talents, when the Master left, He left His servants with a couple of talents. A particular one He gave five, another one He gave two and the last one He gave one. And Bible says He gave to each one according to their abilities. Now when He was gone, the first one that had five began to work and trade with it and eventually got another five. So, he was able to turn it around, he was a productive servant.
The second one who got two also began to work with the two and then got another two. However the third one who got one felt the master was a very funny master. He felt he could be smarter than the Master and decided to bury what the Master gave him. And so, what happens? When the master came back, he was not able to add any value to it, he returned it as it was given him and so, the master called him a very wicked and unfaithful servant. There are many servants of God, but there are some who are wicked and unfaithful.
Now, God is not looking for and God is not seeking men and women who would do wickedness in His house or would do wickedly. You know, you remember the Scriptures that says in Daniel 11:32 that "Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits." Now, there are people who do wickedly, however, there are people who do know their God. SO we want to look at what the Lord is saying concerning corruption that is going on in the Body of Christ. What is the cause of the corruption and then, what is the mind of God, even for our time. What is the Lord saying concerning you that you are listening, and perhaps you are a member of the church but not corrupt. What is the will of God concerning you, what is the will of God concerning me? And what is it that the Lord is saying concerning a fraction of us that seems to be corrupting all of us.
1 Samuel chapter 2 and I will begin my reading from verse 12. The Bible says: "Now the sons of Eli were corrupt." You know, there is a difference between when the Bible says "And the sons of Eli became corrupt." So it means there was a time when they were not corrupt, but over time, they became corrupt. Now, the Bible did not say "they became." The Bible says "they were corrupt." It is just like saying "something is black, something is red." It does not become read, it does not become black; it has been black and it has been red. Bible says the sons of Eli were corrupt, and the reason for their corruption is not for us to be thinking about. 1 Samuel 2:12, the Bible says: "Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord."
So, if you want to know the source of corruption in Body of Christ, the cause of corruption in the church, the cause of corruption in the house of God; it is simply ignorance of the Lord. I am sure you understand that the Lord means "the Almighty", the Master and the owner of everything. Now those who are corrupt are simply men that do not know their God, they do not know their Lord. Because an understanding of the Lord produces the fear of the Lord in anyone. You see, you cannot avoid corruption as a man if you are ignorant of whom the Lord is. And you cannot really know who your God is, I am not talking about the gods of men, I am talking about the Lord; the Lord God, if you know whom the Lord God is, nobody will beg you to fear Him.
I am sure you still remember the account in the book of Revelation, talking about the throne of God. The Bible talks about the living creatures and the twenty-four elders who cast their crowns. Bible records that every time certain things are mentioned or displayed even in the heavens, the twenty-four elders would cast their crowns before the throne and would worship. The question we should ask is: what is it that produces worship from the twenty-four elders? Is it not because they seems to have the knowledge of the Lord that many of us are ignorant of? You see, it is very alarming to realize that many people are in ministry, many people have been ordained in the Body of Christ, many people have been appointed ministers and priests in the church, whom have little or no understanding of whom they are standing for, and whose behalf they speak before the people. They simply do not know their God. You cannot blame them, you simply blame those who puts them there.
The Bible says the sons of Eli were corrupt. The question is: “How were they able to become priests in Israel had their father done his due diligence? We will soon know why he could not do his due diligence. Bible says they were corrupt, and the Bible begins to mention the different things they were doing; each time people bring offering to Shiloh, instead of waiting for the right procedure, things being offered to God first before they take a portion for themselves, they wanted to take their own portion first. But because of time, let us read verse 16 and 17. Verse 16 says:
16 And if the man said to him, “They should really burn the fat first; then you may take as much as your heart desires,” he would then answer him, “No, but you must give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.” 17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord."
These things were actually for the Lord. These things were brought by the people of God to their God as a form of worship. Now instead of them to allow God to accept the peoples worship, they want to quickly accept the offering. And do you know what happens? When men begin to participate in what God participates in, then it begins to rob God of His glory. Now they were bringing things to the Lord to show their loyalty to God. Now, a people who had been appointed in the name of God, who are supposed to have leadership responsibility among the people of God, decided to take their own portion first even before God takes His own. Look at that mindset and ask yourself if it is not happening in our own time today.
We have a people or a generation who wants their own first. Now we have a system and a group of people who have accumulated so much wealth, so much influence in our societies simply because they basically abhorred the offering of the Lord. Now if we jump to verse 22, you will simply see another thing. Bible says:
"Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 23 So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. 24 No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’s people transgress."
Now, even though that looks like a small matter, but that is a big deal. The reason why priests have been raised up by God is to avoid the transgression of the people, it is to give an example, lay a good example for others to follow. Now when a people who are raised up by God to become examples for others become wrong examples and models, what happens? Anyone who follow after them then becomes also wrong after their order. So, we now have a situation in the Body of Christ today that many believers are half-baked believers simply because they are following half-baked men of God and women of God. They have been following and submitting to authorities that have been corrupted and in turn corrupt them.
You see, many believers don't even think anything is wrong with their pastors or servants of God under whom they worship simply because what they see the pastor do, which we think or others think is wrong; is what they do too. Now, Bible says in the latter days, people will actually develop itching ears, and then they will heap for themselves teachers who will tell them the things they want to hear. Now, when a people are corrupt, they are comfortable under corrupt leaders. Now corrupt leaders have little to do in helping any people, any generation from corruption into in-corruption.
There is no way a pastor or a man of God who is corrupt, can produce in-corruption in the life of a believer. So it is important we understand how deep this matter is to God, how deeply rooted this matter is in the church today. We are alarmed and overwhelmed by the increasing number of new churches starting across the nations, even particularly, in our nation Nigeria. Everywhere you go, there are churches, there are buildings that houses three or four churches in them. Now in spite of the widespread of churches, there is so much corruption in the society. Now the question is: what is the driving force of corruption? What is driving it? Is it the society driving itself into corruption or it seems as if the church is guiding the corruption of the society? How come the people that we think are corrupt are the people that still worship in our churches?
So it shows that it is possible for a man, a woman to have responsibility over God's people into guiding them into righteousness, to become the conduit through which many people perpetuate themselves in deeper levels of corruption. So, many ideas now come from men of God, women of God that is able to produce further corruption among the people of God; so much ideas and insights, coming from servants of God to their flocks guiding them away from righteousness into unrighteousness. So much eye-opening advice and counsel coming from the pulpit to the people, teaching people how to make money on Monday even though they have shouted halleluiah on Sunday.
Now it is possible for the pulpit to then become a platform for producing corruption in the midst of God's people. But if you think that is what God wants, let me continue further. Verse 25 says: "If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the Lord desired to kill them." Now if you think because the Lord desires to kill them is the reason why they did not yield to their father, and then you now think you should blame God, No! These people have actually become such an emblem and an embodiment of corruption, that they have been doomed for judgment.
When a people are destined for eternal wrath of God, there is a very little chance that any counsel you give to them can actually sink into their minds. You know in Romans, the Bible says a people, because they refused to retain God in their knowledge; the Bible says God has given them over to a reprobate mind and then they now do the things that are not convenient. So if a people decide not to be for God and then they perpetuate corruption, they institute corruption; they create corrupt programs and corrupt events, and then they become entities through whim corruption is entrenched in the society, even though you speak words of counsel to them, they will not hear.
I am sure you remember what the Bible says in Exodus concerning Pharaoh and Moses. Each time God says to Moses "go and tell Pharaoh this, God will say to Moses, he will not heed you because I have hardened his heart." So, Pharaoh was raised up for the wrath of God. However, we must not also forget that Pharaoh did not know God. He said to Moses "Who is that your God that says I should allow His people to go and worship and serve Him?" He did not know God. That is why you must understand that corruption is an evidence of lack of the deep knowledge of God. You cannot know God and be corrupt.
So, a church, irrespective of its name, if that church lacks the knowledge of the Lord, if the leadership of that church lacks the knowledge of the Lord, corruption will be the order of the day in such a society or a community of people or the people of God. Now, I want to read what happened afterwards because what we have seen now is the cause of corruption and the unfolding events of corruption. Let us see how God intervened later on. Verse 27, the Bible says:
"Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? 28 Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? 29 Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’ 30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed."
Now one of the things that I also want us to note is that the basic reasons why corruption seems to have perpetuated itself in the land and things were not addressed was because Eli honored his children more than honored the Lord. Of course, he had some honor for God, but the honor he had for his children was more. And you must not forget that Eli was at such a time the father over these leaders. He was not just their biological father, he was their spiritual father. He was what we could call their mentor, their father in the Lord. However, the father in the Lord now honors the people, his children and sons in the faith, more than the way he honors the Lord God of the faith. And so, what happens is that we now have a society where a people who should be put into order are being allowed to do what they want simply because their mentors, their fathers in the Lord honors them more than they honor God.
So we could have a society where there is so much corruption going on in the body of Christ, we could have a situation where so much evil is being perpetrated even from the pulpit and among the priests. But we wonder if these things are bad, why are certain people in positions of authority over these people quiet? Why is there nobody talking, why is there nobody complaining? If it is bad, why is no man speaking? Now the Bible shows us a situation now that Eli was aware of the evil of his people. He was aware of the corruption of his children, his sons in faith, his biological and spiritual sons were corrupt and they were corrupting the children of Israel. Yet he could not address them the way he ought, he could not exact authority over them.
You know he could have removed them. He could have done so much to them, to show who was really in charge. However, he left them and he allowed them to be until it became something that has become an embarrassment to his house, an embarrassment to God, and embarrassment to the order of his calling. And so, God said "far be it from me" those who honor me, I honor. And this is important and a straight message to men and women of God who are mentors even to men of God, those we could call Pastors of pastors, Bishops of bishops and then the Apostles of apostles. If God has raised you up at such a time as this to have leadership in His house, it is not so that you can begin to honor the people under you, but you must honor God. You must speak for God, irrespective of what will happen, you must damn the consequences.
The best or the highest they could to you is to stop giving you any tithe or offering or to stop inviting you to their annual conventions and retreats. That is the best they could do. But you must understand that your responsibility is to speak the truth, you must be able to guide and coordinate, and you must be able to inspire the correctness and the spirituality or the righteousness even in the body of Christ, because you have been raised up at such a time as this as the voice of God over the people. Don't forget, whatever Eli said in those days was taken as the mind of God. So, Eli was seen to be a spiritual authority, yet, he refused to use his authority because of his honor for the people in power. You must understand this, if God is raising you up also as a priest, in fact, the fact that God is quiet over your misbehavior is not because God has no counsel over it. The day you get to know the counsel of God, I pray it will not be too late for you.
Now, the mind of God is that those who have corrupted the system, those who are doing evil and feeding fact on the offering of God's people, those who are lying with women, those who are taking advantages of women in the church; those who are sleeping around with women and still saying they are men of God; in due time, the mind of God is that they shall be replaced and they shall be removed. And that is what God said. Let us see the final judgment of God in verse 34-36:
"Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them. 35 Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever. 36 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and say, “Please, put me in one of the priestly positions, that I may eat a piece of bread.”
My prayer is that this will not be your experience in Jesus' name. It is important that you understand that the quietness of God is not a sign of weakness and it is not foolishness. God is only waiting for repentance. God wants us to turn back from our evil ways and the evil patterns that we have been following. Now you could call it the traditions of elders, but it has not produced righteousness in the minds and in the hearts of your people. It has not even produced righteousness in your own heart. It is important you therefore jettison such a tradition and embrace the truth. What is the truth? That the will and the mind of God at such a time as this, God is raising up men and women who are faithful, who would hold offices in the Body of Christ. Men and women who has the heart of God and who has the mind of God. And what does this tell us?
You see, every time we remember the acts of God, we remember the love of God for His people. And every time we remember the mind of God, we remember the knowledge of God. You see, you cannot be an effecticve priests in the house of God, you cannot be an effective servant of God, if you lack the love of God and you lack the knowledge of God. Bible says in Hosea 4:6: "My people perish for lack of knowledge. because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you from being priests." You see, the message was not to the people, it was to the priests of the people. Now the fact that you are a priest does not mean you have knowledge. You must therefore as a priest go in pursuit of truths. The things you have heard hitherto as knowledge may actually be falsehood.
It is important you review the things you know and put them side by side with the truth of the word of God. you must allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth. There are so much truth that you have not yet known and encountered. Don't box the Holy Spirit or chase Him out of the equation. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth; and until you are guided by Him, you will not be exposed to more truth. Jesus said to His disciples: "there is so much that I still want to say to you, howbeit you cannot receive it now. However when He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you into all truth." There is so much that I believe that you should know than what you know now. The reason why you have not yet known them is because you have not allowed the ministry of the Holy Spirit to manifest in your life.
You have not allowed the Holy Spirit to take you into depths, into dimensions of God that helps you to fear God. You cannot know God and actually misbehave. If the fear of God is rooted in you, then you don't need and women to begin to rip you off or tell you what to do. Then the Lord becomes not your guide, but something that you just look at. That is why the Bible says looking at the perfect law of liberty. You just look at it. You see, with the Holy Spirit comes direction and leadership. The Holy Spirit inspires your heart, for the Bible says as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
The admonishment for us today is that we should begin to review the things we call knowledge. It was the lack of knowledge of God that made the sons of Eli to actually go into corruption. Now if you also don't know God, even though you have a form of godliness, you will lack the true power of God in your life. Many things that you truly desire to demonstrate by God or through God in your life will actually not be done. And so, if you must allow God, if you must ensure that God is glorified in your generation, you must subject yourself to the truth and you must get out of every realm of corruption that you could have been in.
So if we must avoid what the Lord has said in 1 Samuel 2:36 to happen to us, it is important as believers, as servants of God, men and women with the calling of God hanging on our head, to come to the place of reflection, repentance and the re-training for effective ministry. There is knowledge that you have, there is a training that you have heard that you must erase and get to the process again that will prepare you for what is really important for your life. So much that you have heard that you did not need, so much you need that you have not heard. It is important that you search for the true knowledge in God. And you must not forget, the fact that you have responsibility over God's people does not automatically imply the approval of God on your life.
You see the message of "touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm" which many ministers of God have been hiding under to do evil is clearly not the ideal or what the Lord expected, because in 1 Samuel chapter 2 that we read, verse 27 says "then a man of God came to Eli." No name! A nameless man so to say, an insignificant man, a man of low profile, he came and he brought the mind of God to Eli. Now, it is important that we understand that no man in ministry is above the judgment of God. No man in ministry is above God and is beyond the punishment of God, and no man in ministry is too blessed to be rewarded by God. You cannot tell me that you are so rich and therefore, you don't need the riches of God in your life. You can't tell me you are so blessed and you don't need the blessings of God.
The same way you cannot tell me that you are so anointed and too anointed to be punished by God. The anointing of God on your life does not exempt you from His punishment if you have done evil. Remember, those who do wickedly they shall be corrupted by flattery. But those who know their God, they shall be strong and they will carry out great exploit. It is important we understand the cause of corruption in the church and the mind of God for our own time. God says "I shall raise up for myself faithful priests." Are you going to be one of those faithful priests that God is raising at such a time as this? It is important that you come to the place of the word and the Spirit. Subject yourself to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, meditate on the right word, meditate on the word of God and grow up from your inside out.
Don't allow men to put you in offices and places, telling you that you should be there without recourse to your maturity, irrespective of your indiscipline and poor attitude, don't allow men to just put you into offices in the name of ordination. Allow yourself to grow into levels and realms of responsibility so that you will not become like the sons of Eli who were given positions of authority without the spirit of authority inside of them. They did not have the Spirit of God. Instead of raising a people unto God, helping women to know God, they were sleeping and fornicating with them, the very thing they should teach the women not to do.
That is very important for us to know, that before we make certain people leaders in our churches, before we lay hands on people in our churches, you must ensure that these people have been raised up by God, these people have actually been schooled by the Holy Spirit, these people have actually been groomed in the fear of God and so, they are ready to take their places. Until then, they must continue to sit down and be taught, they must continue to sit down and be brought up properly under the hand of God. And if that is done, the Body of Christ will be better for it and God will be glorified on the earth, and there will be less reproach for the people of God and for God because of corruption, made or done by men and women in spiritual authorities.
May the Lord bless this word in our spirit, I am so excited for the privilege given to me by God to bring this word to you, it is a word that comes to each one of us as a means of checking ourselves. Let each one of us examine ourselves if indeed we are still in the true faith. May the Lord bless us, may the Lord establish us in righteousness and may His name be glorified in our lives, and may His kingdom come upon us, in Jesus' Mighty name. It has been a great joy connecting with you today in this edition of Forms & Patterns™.
Till next week, God bless you.
