King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel; President Jonathan and Who?

The subsidy debate has engulfed Nigeria, albeit the entire known world and I’d like to add, even the heavenly host who by now most certainly would have been bombarded by innumerable petitions and supplications from citizens of the most populous black nation on earth. This existential crisis has knocked tenderly at the door of Nigerians for more than a few months and was eventually formed and happily delivered on none other than the first day of 2012 (recall that 2012 is the year the world ends according to the Mayan calendar, so we can expect 2012 to be action packed from start to finish). The nature of that action will depend on us.

Before I digress, let’s dive into the chronicles of King Nebuchadnezzar. Who was King Nebuchadnezzar you might ask? He was one of the few kings known to have practically conquered the entire world. Daniel, a great Prophet of God went even as far as to describe him as king of kings. This king was specially chosen by God to execute judgment upon a stubborn nation that had consistently ignored divine instructions. As you might have figured, that stubborn nation was His first born son – Israel.

This king ransacked God’s own nation and carried off everything and everyone worth confiscating as slaves to his own country. He chose the finest of their princes and deployed them as strategic human capital to stabilize and expand his kingdom to the far ends of the earth. To make matters worse, God defied all protocol and declared this pagan king as His own very servant sent to accomplish divine mandate.

Critical Deduction: Every king and ruler is specially and carefully chosen and selected by God irrespective of their character and the circumstances that brought them to power. In 2011, I campaigned heavily against the incumbent president of Nigeria, but as is forever recorded in history, the party I supported lost out gallantly. The man with no shoes was crowned king right in front of us and we had little choice but to accept this as “divine mandate”. The consolation was that irrespective of the outcome, God ruled in the affairs of men.

A certain period came after king Nebuchadnezzar had appointed the best minds into his cabinet when he encountered a series of dreams. The king got up one morning and forgot his dreams. Interestingly, he remembered he had dreams, and he figured they weren’t ordinary dreams but the challenge was that the storage area (in his brain) responsible for storing the details of these dreams had been wiped clean. The power outage in the king’s mind would have serious implications for the king’s subjects (astrologers, magicians,sorcerers) and possibly several other innocent citizens of the kingdom.

Is there any chance that President Jonathan, despite appointing leading minds from across the ocean, lately encountered a series of troubling and disturbing dreams about his kingdom? Is it possible that the President, perhaps lacking the ability to lay hold of his original dreams about the Kingdom of Nigeria has now issued an edict and proclamation to slay his subjects unless they are able to recollect, interpret and execute his dream? Is it possible that these very subjects (and consultants) under the influence of the narcotic called self-preservation have now rebelled and hurriedly revealed to the President a concocted dream, an imperfect interpretation and a short term but largely ineffective solution? The Lord knows!

King Nebuchadnezzar promptly issued a death warrant for all wise men in Babylon.

This is very significant. During such crisis, the first set of victims would not be the weak or lazy, but the custodians and power houses of production in the kingdom. Is it co-incidental that the death warrant called subsidy removal has as its first victims, owners of SMEs. Basic economics tell us that SMEs are (and will forever remain) the lifeblood of any economy. Kill the SMEs and economy is stone dead.

Enter Daniel. Ezekiel told us what was seen, and what was foreseen by him in the former years of the captivity in Babylon but Daniel tells us what was seen and foreseen in the latter years of the captivity. Daniel, meaning  “the judgment of God” (from the original Hebrew) was of the tribe of Judah, and as it should seem, of the royal family. Daniel and his friends were not approached by the king’s army for professional or prophetic advice but were swiftly sought out to be slaughtered. In a classic Daniel style response, Daniel masterfully and skillfully engaged the Captain of the king’s guard and sought audience with the king who subsequently granted Daniel some additional time to find the solution (not a solution). There is always The Solution!

Advanced engagement and negotiation skills have repeatedly proven to be critical in resolving issues of immense proportions such as have engulfed Nigeria in this hour of destiny. As expected, Daniel returned with the silver bullet that heaven released (not men’s economic theories) and the rest as they say, is history. The king of kings bowed down and worshipped Daniel. The matter was resolved by just one man who heard from heaven.

We are the wise men of Nigeria today, and a call is being made for our heads. Shall we like Daniel, receive divine wisdom and insight to design frameworks and economic blueprints that Harvard knows nothing of? Do we have the courage to engage the President and have we the right to enter into his presence? Do we have the spiritual authority that will compel kings and presidents to listen to us, obey us and bow before us?

President Jonathan, like king Nebuchadnezzar has been commissioned by God to lead and direct the affairs of Nigeria in this hour but where is Daniel, and when shall he appear? The hour has come and now is for Daniel to take center stage. Rather than complain, I choose to engage the dreams regarding the future of Nigeria with courage and divine counsel. I ask that you do the same.

References:

Dan 2:1-49

Rom13:1-3

1Tim2:1-2

Shaking Nations

Who is behind the shaking of nations and governments??

U.S debt is at near an all time high, EU economies are failing, instability and uprising has engulfed the middle-east, tornadoes and earthquakes and storms are being dispatched on a near weekly basis. Even our nation Nigeria, is right now surviving on razor edges. Who is the architect of these quiverings, tremblings  and judderings? Is it the unseen enemy, rogue nations, anarchist groups, clandestine outfits, secret ops or the global association of witches and wizards? The shaking that is gripping the earth right now, I believe is being orchestrated by the LORD himself (Hag 2:21-23 and Is13:13) and is for two purposes.

First is to shake off everything that doesn’t need to be there in the first place. This includes impostors in God's house, false governments, phony leaders, deceitful spiritualists, deceptive dogmas, counterfeit ministries, repressive regimes, man-made fabrications and everything that is chaff, as qualified by scripture.

Second is to pressurize, distill, decontaminate, distinguish, shift and propel the sons of God into the prime place of command, recognition, respect, authority, domination, governance and performance (Obadiah 1:21). The world as we know it must be shaken and turned upside down and sideways up till Albert Einstein is compelled to rise up from his grave and revise his book from “The World As I See It” to “The World as The Lord Would Have It”. 

We’ve been way too comfortable leading normal, adequate but largely uneventful lives leaving the world to itself. As a result, we have also become overgrown with weeds, covered with plaque and our discernment suspended. That’s why we need the shaking to shake off everything in us that belongs to the prince of this world. This second shaking of the ages I believe is the consequence and after effect of the proceeding word and heavenly edict and proclamation (Heb12:26) that was prophetically promulgated to shake off everything that doesn’t need to be there. Only the required things will remain (Rev3:2). Food for thought: Do I deserve to remain……and do I qualify to live in the post-shaking era? Will the prince of this world find anything in me when he comes? – (Jn14:31).

Of the 7 foods and fruits in Deut8:8, only Olives were harvested by shaking (Barley, wheat, grapes, pomegranates, figs and honey were harvested by winnowing, threshing or by hand). Instructively, Olives were harvested late in the year (from Sept to November) symbolizing the era that we live in today. We are close to midnight and we do understand that the harvest is symbolic of the end of this present age (i.e. end of man dominated world system - Matt 13:39). In Israel, there are two installments of rain (Deut 11:14). The first was to break the grounds and make it ready for planting. The second was to mature the crops in the final countdown to the harvest. The second is the latter rain which is a figurative of the immeasurable outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4, Joel2:23-29) for the final end time campaign before the harvest is reaped by husband-man (James5:7). 

The crucial lesson here is that there is no harvest without rain. This explains why there are many spiritually dead local churches. This is because there has been a famine of the outpouring of the Spirit in these churches. Without a powerful release of the Holy Ghost, what we have is docile and impotent religion and dogma that is neither capable of releasing miracles nor transforming lives. If water does not penetrate the soil into the buried seed, the new plant would not spring forth and the seed would only experience the kind of dryness many people are experiencing in their local assemblies. (Recognize that the seed must be buried, and must die symbolizing that sons of God must die to their flesh and soulful desires before the Spirit can effectively orchestrate a catalytic reaction that produces the new life – Activated Pneuma and Zoe).

Now, just as the barley/wheat and grapes had to be cut in order to be brought to the threshing floor and the wine press, so must the Olive tree be thoroughly shaken for a successful harvest of olive seeds. A violent shaking is required because the seeds are strongly attached to the tree. As long as the olive seed stays on the tree, it would never release the oil it was designed to produce. Because many of us have strong and stubborn links to the present world system, a violent shaking is the least God can do to disconnect  and violently break us off this unholy dependence. When we stay within the comfortable walls of the contemporary church and enjoy good music, great preaching, warm fellowship, nice facilities, beautiful stage platforms, studio quality sound and admiration from peers RATHER than knock on doors, engage in radical evangelism, utilize unconventional media, execute cutting edge Spirit inspired outreach strategies, speak directly to powers and invade all spheres of society, we become like that stubborn olive seed. The risk of deception is even higher because people will pass bye and appreciate how beautiful the olive seed is on the tree. The praises and admiration of men massages our ego and deceives us into thinking we are fulfilling destiny when we haven’t even scratched the surface. The destiny of that olive seed is to get off the tree, get pounded and give off oil to mankind.

The stubbornness of the olive seed is also an indication of the olive seed’s refusal to undergo the pressure that most definitely awaits it at the olive press where the olive seed is crushed and subjected to intense pressure which causes it to release what is known as “extra virgin oil”. This is emblematic of the unalloyed high pressure production and release of the anointing and power of the Holy Ghost through the sons of God – vessels of honor. Show me a heavily anointed man, and I’ll show you a man that has fought great battles and withstood great pressure. Great anointing that produces unshakable results only flows from a crucified life that has already been shaken by God and is 100% lived in faith. This is why Isaiah said it is because of the anointing that the yoke is broken (Is10:27). 

This calling is a discomforting one that presents daunting challenges on per second billing basis. Jesus learned obedience through the things he suffered (Heb5:8). The anointing was produced during those times when men deserted you and you learned to trust God only; It was produced in seasons when you spent disproportionate amounts of time in study, mediation, prayer and groaning in a bid to discern the will of God amidst absolute confusion; it was produced when you didn’t know where the next meal was gonna come from; It was produced when you waited patiently while watching people who didn’t sacrifice like you get blessed; It was produced when your trusted confidant and friend betrayed you; It was produced when you were rewarded with retrenchment for faithful service to a company; it was produced in that season of rejection and depression where the only thing remaining was your faith. 

So we know then, that it is not the devil behind every shaking. We understand why God devises and deploys His own SHAKEOUT PLAN because he knows man’s nature. God’s shaking comes to root out everything He didn’t plant into our lives so that He can plant his own incorruptible seeds. Rather than sitting down and looking pretty on a tree, God wants to pluck us, compress us and show us off. Man loves comfort, but normalcy and unproductive routine is diametrically opposed to the God nature. His will is for His sons to wield flaming swords criss-crossing the globe, tearing down evil monuments and traditions, liberating the oppressed and establishing kingdom rule (Jer1:10). God is doing a new thing, and it shall spring forth quickly (Is 43:19). The yoke destroying anointing is about to be released in wholesale shipments. 

Get READY!

I AM NOT NORMAL

We live in an age where man has developed a concept of the ideal life. You are expected to have “achieved” certain milestones at certain stages of your life, marked out by age ranges. Let me provide you with the time table.

Age 2: start nursery school;

Age 4: Begin primary education

Age 10–11: Get into secondary school

Age 15–17: Get admission into a good University

Age 19–23: Graduate with 2:1 or 1st Class

Age 23–30: Get married, get a masters degree, get a good job

Age 35–40: Get through with having kids, and be a manager at a good company

Age 60–65: Retire and take care of your grandchildren. Enjoy your retirement package

Age 70 and Above: This is extra time. Play golf, travel the world, volunteer and die when you are tired

If you dare dis-conform (does this word exist!?) or deviate from this time table, then you need special prayers. Your case is exceptional and you need to fast, pray and seek God for guidance on how to escape this pit of shame. You ought to start combing your ancestry for unidentified curses that are the probable and possible causes of your predicament. 

The folly in this chronology is quite obvious, but it is still very surprising that many seemingly liberated souls in an age of exceeding revelation and insight are still subconsciously loyal to this dogmatic and religious time table. 

Actually, the odds of leading a highly productive life are against you if your life follows this preset pattern! 

Is it not noteworthy that no man has changed the world by doing any of the things listed in this timetable?

If this is what it means to lead a normal life, then my life is not normal!

My advise to you: The next time someone expresses worry and concern about something in your life which you know is part of the master plan, gently but FIRMLY advice them to go worry about their own troubles.

Defy the Quit Option!

Never quit! Never take no for an answer! It doesn't matter the weight of diametrically opposed and counteracting forces, existential predicaments, or a desolate and miserably grim present state of affairs. We will rise to the very highest level possible in our chosen field. We will break all limitations. This declaration is our eternally binding covenant sealed by the Blood of the Lamb.

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less than twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.

In the book “Lone Survivor”, Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of this operation (Operation Redwing), tells the story of the desperate battle in the Afghan mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.

There is an undeniable innate desire for greatness on the inside of every living human. Without exception (no matter how concealed, repressed or de-emphasized), 6.5 billion of us are obsessed with obtaining some measure of recognition, admiration, respect, veneration, reverence and esteem from the members of our community and human-sphere. This desire in and of itself is totally legitimate because we as offspring, inherited it by design from our progenitor, pre-cursor, Lord, creator, paramount ruler of the universe and architect of all matter and energy in all its existential forms (including spiritual energy). 

Sonship has a much deeper meaning than is generally associated with it. 

To be a son means to have the nature and character of a forbearer. (This explains why some biological parents denounce offspring that willingly take an acute detour away from the nature and character that was presented to, and expected of their wards.) The Father spoke to Jesus during the transfiguration and said “This is my beloved Son. Hear ye him.” This event happened deep into the ministry of Jesus when He was about concluding it. God was in essence issuing a divine score-card and validating (based on visible and undeniable performance) the status, person, character and ministry of Jesus as a perfect, impeccable, flawless and exhaustive spectacle of divinity amongst humanity.

Therefore, for every member of the universe of rational, balanced and spiritually aware homo-sapiens (i.e. those that came from Yahweh; NOT from the chimpanzee or some big bang detonation), there is a substantive desire for greatness. This is normal. This is default. This is scriptural. This is undeniable. This is our nature.

Now, The ultimate measure of a man is where he stands in moments of difficulty, NOT moments of comfort or pleasure - MLK. If you fail in the day of adversity, your strength is weak – Holy Scripture. When push comes to shove and we are stretched beyond limit, should we capitulate? The human body is a colossally complex but yet assiduously adaptive machine that was designed to withstand near unfathomable extreme conditions. Michael Jordan, Usain Bolt, Roger Federer, William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great and the U.S. Navy SEAL have all taught us a few lessons on possibilities. Consequently, we must query and probe on why these men (and women) were able to do things that many of us couldn’t or simply would just not do. Were they hewn out of a tempered breed, or perhaps a special hybrid blessed with more talent than other living souls? The obvious answer is NO! Their difference was, is and will always be in their mind and spirit; something I would call a sturdy, stalwart, resilient and excellent spirit that defies and conquers ALL adversaries. Their minds operated rather differently from the expected or popular train of thought that prevailed in their day. Where others saw and professed under-achievement or the status quo, they dreamt and reached for opportunity and victory.

Navy SEALs are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force, a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC) as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).

The unit's acronym ("SEAL") is derived from their capacity to operate at sea, in the air, and on land – but it is their ability to work underwater that separates SEALs from most other military units in the world. Navy SEALs are trained and have been deployed in a wide variety of missions, including direct action and special reconnaissance operations, unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism and other missions. Without exception, all SEALs are male members of either the United States Navy or the United States Coast Guard.

SEAL training is brutal. Prospective SEALs are subjected to an incredibly tough selection process that is meant to weed out chaff. It takes over 30 months to train a Navy SEAL to the point at which he will be ready for deployment. The SEALs that emerge are ready to handle pretty much any task they could be called on to perform, including diving, combat swimming, navigation, demolitions, weapons, and parachuting. The training pushes them to the limit both mentally and physically in order to weed out those who may not be able to successfully complete the demanding missions and operations with which SEALs are faced. The types of stresses they endure during BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) are the same stresses they will endure as SEALs. If they can't withstand it when lives aren't on the line, chances are good they won't be able to withstand it when lives are at stake.

Marcus Luttrell attributed his survival to his success at the grueling Navy SEAL training. The training was targeted at breaking the minds of trainees. If you succeeded at training with your mind intact, you were deemed ready for just about anything.  If Marcus had given up during training, he would never have stood a chance at surviving the real deal. His training instructors even warned him that if a trainee ever for once voiced out his frustration and desire to quit, that trainee always ended up relinquishing the Navy SEAL dream. In this game, the moment you open your mouth in frustration, you prove you are unfit for the calling.

My direct questions to you are these: Do you have a breaking point? Are there conditions that would warrant you giving up? If the situation demands waiting almost indefinitely, will you give in? Do you lack the ability to survive and thrive anywhere? Does your patience run out easily? Does the experience of those around you define what your viewpoint is? Has your backward or indigent background skewed your worldview in this present day? Is the word “impossible” in your lingua franca?

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, you are NOT ready for Super Achievement. You should be content walking in the path already threaded by others.

We must utterly understand that the greatest treasure that man has is his faith. What can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trials, tribulations or even angels? In the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews, we learn that by faith, men stopped the mouths of lions, men obtained a good report, women had their dead raised to life, disciples suffered extreme persecution, Enoch was caught up into heaven, Noah kicked off the ark project 100 years ahead of the flood,  Abraham searched for the city whose Architect and Builder is God, Sarah obtained strength to conceive at 90 years of age, men were stoned to death, some were sawn asunder, others were slaughtered by the sword, but YET, ALL DIED IN FAITH HAVING NOT RECEIVED THE PROMISE!

If these men and women accomplished unfathomable things but still didn’t receive the promise that their faith envisioned, then the empirical and logical deduction is that their faith saw far exceedingly beyond the great miracles they obtained. In simple terms, their faith delivered great results, but they all died in faith because what their faith originally anticipated was incomparably greater than the promise and results they obtained in their life time. 

This realm of faith has one description. It is called boundless faith.

So I ask again: is there anything that is capable of invalidating, extinguishing or paralyzing your faith? I pray for you (and myself) that our faith will not fail. (Now we know what Jesus meant when he prayed the same for Peter).

Shalom!

TOMORROW DOES NOT EXIST!

Go, move, stop, quit that job, write that exam, run, fly, start, reverse, retry, resist, recover, replace, change over, get out, leave the comfort of home,……..whatever……..Just Do Something! 

GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN!

These are POWERFUL ACTION words. You are not young and you are not old. All that matters is that you are alive. Those who know half of what we know are DOING twice as much as we are. The instruction for the NOW is clear. Yes I know we don’t have enough information. We don’t have enough money. There is nobody to help us. We don’t know where to start from! There is no infrastructure! Security is lacking! Guess what? These are all excuses! This is a different season. We’ve moved beyond dissertation. This is beyond talk. You know talk is cheap. In this season, we have a mandate to do a lot with almost nothing, create forests in deserts, defeat ancient foes and recover lost ground! In this season, even if we are making a mistake, then let's make it with passion! All that matters is the heart. Jesus loves both good and bad people and He is particularly attracted to imperfect people. It’s indifferent folks that He hates! There's no room for indecision.

There’s no excuse. Yesterday is gone and wehaven’t yet received an invitation into tomorrow! In the words of Dr. Mike Murdock, "Hope is what you sell when you don't have answers". The time for hopeless hoping is past. What you do NOW determines whether you get an invitation into tomorrow. People who are 10 times better than us in all respects died today. The reason you are reading this is because someone up there is giving you yet another chance. That person is trusting (not hoping) that you will get the message this time. There is no guarantee you will have another chance. Let me share this deep revelation with you. If you think your future is awaiting you, you’ve missed it completely! Actually, there is no “future”. It’s all a lie. The future doesn’t exist. It’s an optical illusion. Jesus always talked about "TODAY". Infact, He dismissed "Tomorrow" by saying it would take care of itself. Tomorrow is merely an extension of today. All you have is today. No more, no less! Today is what connects you to tomorrow. Throw today away, and tomorrow goes with it!

So my question to you is: What have you been postponing? What have you been hiding from? It's clear they’ve been lying to us to wait for the “right” time. Remember they said the same thing last year, and the year before the last. You can’t claim to not know the truth. The choice is yours. You can go back to the waiting chamber, or you can choose to seize the moment.

The time is NOW. We are already late. We need to work twice as fast with half the resources. The ball is in your court. This time tomorrow morning, that ball would be long gone. By then, we may have missed it and another opportunity may not come in our life time.

Be a Bitz’uist. This was the word used to describe David Ben-Gurion. He was Israel’s first Prime Minister, a founder of the modern state of Israel and a member of Time Magazine’s 100 most important people of the 20th Century. A Bitz’uist is someone who just gets things done no matter the challenge!

David Ben-Gurion was also a Kibbutz. Kibbutz is the name of a community in Israel. Kibbutzniks constitute less than 2% of Israel’s population, but they produce 12% of Israel’s exports! At a time, they constituted 15% of Israel’s entire parliament. They led an innovation that turned a barren wasteland country classified as being 95% semi-arid into a nation with over 240 million trees. Israel is the ONLY country in the world where desert land is being turned into forests. They dug a well as deep as the length of 10 football fields, brought out warm water and reared fish right inside a desert. They took it to another level by harnessing waste water from fish plantations to irrigate farmland in a desert.

The forests in Israel today started with one tree.

At age 85, Caleb said “Give me this Mountain”. He was just as strong and competent as he was 40 years earlier. I’m certain he thought within himself “I’m not gonna let these clowns talk me out of my destiny a second time”. Will we respond like Caleb?

Enough said!

TODAY is the DAY of SALVATION!

In the transcendental words of my friend and leading Apostle of Change – Amenze Iyamu, JUST BE!