The Twelve Powers of Man

Mastery assures Christhood

LESSON: 1st CORINTHIANS 2:1—16.

Brethren, I want to let you know that all the teachings you have received from the world cannot bring you salvation.

For one carnal consideration or the other, you seem to think that a person's wisdom or knowledge is synonymous with his right of entry into the Kingdom of God.

I want to tell you that your numerous certificates in engineering, accountancy, economic, law, theology, science and the rest of the world disciplines, have no bearings at all with this new dispensation.

The fact that your father or relation is a pope, a bishop, or church leader has nothing to do with the kingdom of God.

Similarly, your being a member of the AMORC society or any other secret cult, has nothing to do with God’s Kingdom.

Besides, whatever knowledge you have got in any of the worldly institutions of learning is a sham. It is only God alone who can teach you to come to the accurate wisdom of the truth.

Whatever educational qualification you may have acquired, you should realise that wisdom, position or wealth without the recondite wisdom of truth, is an illusion.

To this end, the wisdom of the world, acquired in colleges and universities cannot help anybody to inherit the Kingdom.

If people like Dr. Nmadi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo had realised the importance of this new dispensation, they would have come here to receive this wisdom. They feel egoistic and therefore shun the true wisdom of God.

It is no gain-saying that the worldly philosophers, theologians and the people in general regard B.C.S. as the strongest and the most powerful society. If God does not have the supreme powers, then one wonders who else should have. It is then categorical that you should not allow your fathers position in the Presbyterian or other orthodox churches to blur your sense of reasoning because such worldly churches have nothing to do with the kingdom of God.

This implies that the worldly people read the Bible upside down, and not with any understanding. It is pathetic to note that many people still doubt visions and those who have been endowed with the spirit of healing, charm removal and what have you.

I would like to intimate you that every spiritual activity in the BCS has its significance. For instance singing, dancing, going on blessings, celebrating the love feast, the application of the holy oil, each and everyone of them is very efficacious.

It is absurd to treat the 'love feast' disdainfully. It is equally profane to treat visioners with disdain, or to receive visions from special individuals or at worst to regard visioners as mere impostors. 

There is no prophecy of God that has ever been coined out of private interpretations.

2 Peter 1:17—21 "For when he received honour and glory from God the Father, a voice was borne to him from the supreme glory. This is My Son, My. Beloved, in whom I am delighted. And we heard this voice borne to us from heaven, when we were with: Him on the sacred mountain. So we have the prophetic message reaffirmed, to which you do well to pay attention as you would to a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the Day star arises in your hearts, with this clearly understood, that no prophetic Scripture can be explained by one's unaided mental powers. Because no prophecy ever came by the will of man. Instead men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

The whole world has not been endowed with the power to interpret the bible let alone to really understand it. It is not possible to read and understand the bible without the Holy Spirit.

John 15:1-6 "I am the true Vine and my Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in me that beareth no fruit He pruneths away, and whatever bears fruit He prunes so that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean through the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself without staying on the vine, so you cannot without remaining in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in me is thrown away as a branch and withers; people gather such branches, throw them into the fire, and they are burned."

You are mere branches of this Tree of Life and unless you abide in the Father, you cannot perform effectively on your own volition.

"I am the Tree and you are the branches and can only exist if you abide in me and I in you." You can only be accorded respect simply because He abides in you, and if He does not abide in you, you become empty and ineffective.

REV 22:2 says that: In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was the Tree of life which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruits every month; and the leaves of the tree were for healing of the nations.

The tree in reality cannot also exist on its own without the branches, thus all things work in agreement and harmony to give glory to the Father. All creation derive their existance, feeding and the air they breath from this Tree.

The moon, sun, stars, water, air, forest, animals, birds, of the air, creeping things, visible and invisible things, all obtain their existance from this Tree of Life.

There is nothing you can do to prevent this symbiotic and dual co-existance.

Romans 14:7-9 "For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself; for in case we live, we live to the Lord, and in case we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this purpose Christ died and lives again to be Lord both of the dead and of the living."

You should all realize that you are part and parcel of the Tree and an embodiment of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Luke 6:17-19 "With them, He came and stood on a level spot with large throng of His disciples and a vast crowd of people from all over Judea Jerusalem and from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, came to hear Him and to be cured of their diseases. Those with unclean spirits were healed also. And the whole crowd tried to touch Him because power issued forth from him and healed every one.

The leaves of this Tree of life is used in healing the nations. How is this done? There are words which come out from his mouth and the impact of these words heal the sick of their infirmities, and those who have all types of inexplicable problems also obtain solutions through his words.

The power that is in you is doing marvelous works, because by your mere saying peace to somebody who is sick, or who has problems, he or she is made well or his or her problems are solved.

In another development, a person can get well by mere looking at you. You are all embodiment of power. But why it it not possible for those outside the fold to pray for the sick to get well?

You may realize the powers which are in you, but suffice me to remind you that Paul the Apostle of old used his handkerchief to heal many sick people. The powers in you flow from the power house which is the Father Himself. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ has said that whoever believes in Him shall do greater works than He had done.

John 14:12 "Truly I assure you the one who believes in me will himself do the works that I do, and will do greater things than these, for I go unto the Father."

If you are in love with Him and you believe in Him, you are one with Him, and there are diversities of spiritual gifts (1st Corinthians 12:4-14), but it is the same Spirit which works all in all.

Ideally, the almighty God has freely distributed His powers to individuals according to His will and purpose. To this end, nobody is given more powers than are necessary, so that nobody would glory in them.

There are various kinds of powers in operation in the world. These are political, military powers, mechanical powers, powers of attorney pertaining to written documents in respect of rules of law, electrical powers.

Others are principalities and powers in high and low places employed by satan and his agents to control the destinies and fates of humanity. But all these powers have their limitations and the retributive effects on the operators.

The twelve fruits of the Tree of Life are the twelve powers of man which are love, peace, faith, order, power, wisdom, zeal, mercy, humility, riches, foresight, and life. All these are controlled by one single spirit. All of them are in agreement and in harmony..

LOVE is one of the faculties or ministries, but have you got any? It is only God almighty who has the monopoly of all these powers. Therefore if you have one or two of these powers, what about the rest? That is why man has little or nothing to glory about.

God is love. Love is the breast-plate of faith and there is no fear in love, kindness, fairness justice, equity and the rest of the like qualities are in this faculty.

A man may have love, but no matter how much love he may have, the love would still be limited, and so his love may still be limited to, his family or relations, wife; husband and children. In essence, humanity has limited love, but only God almighty has immeasurable love.

ORDER is one of the departments. This symbolizes the orderly disposition of things following one after another. It is the harmonious sequence or the condition in which things are in their proper and divine places.

It is the natural, moral and the spiritual constitution of all the planes of, the universe. It is absolute obedience and lowliness of heart as recorded in Romans 5:19 and in 1st Peter 1:2.

PEACE is a special faculty which consist of other attributes such as agreement, contentment, concord, harmony, calmness, endurance, and amity.

Others are in the same ministry are joy, relaxation, reconciliation, rest, assurance and pacification. The following passages in the Bible could be read through for I further information: Isaiah 48:18, Psalm 29:11, Romans 8:6, Romans 14:17—19.

WISDOM is another important ministry which borders on the knowledge of what is good, true and sagacious. This is coupled with judgement as to action of understanding and prudence.

It consists of ability, science, brilliance, inventions, awareness, eloquence, realities; shrewdness, discoveries and inventions. Ecclesiastes 9:16—18, Ephesians 3:10, James 3:17, Psalm 90:12 are some of the passages on wisdom.

FAITH is one of the faculties comprising sing of such other attributes as trust, belief, truth, confidence, loyalty and dependence.

Others are credence, fidelity, hope, reliance, and anticipation; Romans 4:5, Acts 26:18, Romans 4:13, Hebrews 11:1 and James 2:26 give fuller details about the significance of faith and its attendant attributes. Without faith, nobody can really please God, and faith without work is dead.

RICHES also are in another department comprising such attribute us abundance, fruitfulness, wea1th, prosperity, plenty, fertility and affluence. It is a blessing bestowed on individuals to be storekeepers. In Psalm 62:10;Psahn 104:24, Proverbs 30:8 and Ephesians 1:7, details are enumerated about the essence of riches.

ZEAL is another faculty consisting of ardency, desire, objectivity, eagerness, diligence, skill and enthusiasm. Others are endeavours, diligence, devotion, the excess of it which is fanaticism and zealotry. In Psalm 69:9, Romans 10:2, Titus 2:14 are some of the details.

POWER is another significant faculty whose weapon is the sword of the spirit. Power does not consist talking but in action. Power belongs to Jehovah God alone, and man may have just limited power.

Those other attributes in this ministry are protection, strength, and defense. Power can be bestowed on humanity the essence which confirms that man is the tabernacle of God.- Psalm 96:6 Psalm 68:35 Refer for fuller details.

MERCY: The Bible says blessed are merciful, because they shall obtain mercy. (Matt. 5:7). This is one department of the ministry which consists of compassion, forbearance, pity, clemency, benevolence, pardon and leniency.

Others are forgiveness, favour, appreciation, good disposition, indulgence, cheerfulness and thanks. In Genesis 19: God is the source of life for all live 19, Psalm 52:8, Romans 9:15—18, Ephesians 4:16, Psalm 23:6, the significance of mercy are realised and without mercy , none of us would see salvation.

HUMILITY is another faculty consisting of these other attributes such as meekness, gentleness, lowliness, docility, not, to glorify himself or show the. t submissiveness and diffidence. Colossians 2:23; Galatians 5:22—23 referred.

Those who have no humility cannot please God, and the proud are always susceptible to eminent fall and disgrace. Our Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself even into accepting the death on the cross.

Another important faculty is that of FORESIGHT, consisting of vision, prophecy, preconception, foreknowledge, prediction and prevision. Others are precaution, planning, pre-recongition and clairvoyance. In proverbs 29:18, Psalms 89:19; Acts 26:19 you can obtain some details on the importance of having foresight.

LIFE is one of the powers of this faculty. It is the spirit and the light. It consists of breath, sentience, being, essence, heart, soul, animation, and duration. It is water and blood. The recorded quotation from the Bible give the details: Gen. 2:7; Leviticus 17:11; John 8:12, John 11:25; Rev.22:1-5; Rev.22:17.

God is the source of life for all living things. He is the word. The mysteries surrounding all these faculties are beyond the wisdom of humanity.

The reason why the work of God is so badly treated on earth is because no one person is given more than two or three or at most three of these powers so as not to glorify himself or show the tendency to lord it over others.

And since all these gifts are distributed with their limitations, therefore selfishness to lord it over any department does not arise. For instance without the power of God bestowed on His children, one could be stricken at the alter or pulpit while preaching, and he or she would drop dead instantly.

The efficacy of burning in candles to invoke spirits or preparation of juju, concoction is no more there. Those who indulge in these diabolical things must suffer untold hardships. There is nothing you can successfully do without the spirit of God. (EPHESIANS 4:8-16).

There are those who have been endowed with the powers of vision and healing, but they may have no money or other material things. They may have neither education nor the ability to absorb the shocks. Hence these divisive tendencies cannot allow things to work (JOHN 2:24) normally.

It is possible to remain with people for a pretty long time without their knowing the type of person you are. It is is only the Lord of love, life and power who can know how to deal with an evil person. It needs the highest sense of diplomacy or a rare order to deal with evil men.

God does not want a person to report somebody to Him, because He knows the minds of all people. God is the custodian of all good virtues and powers. A person can deceive an individual or government, company, or firm but definitely not God.

Galatians 6:7 "Make no mistake, God will not be mocked. What a person sows that he will harvest as well."

Many people profess to have big certificates and work in governments and companies, but in reality these paper qualifications are fakes, yet they are drawing fat salaries monthly.

God does not need to ask people to tell Him what you are. 2nd Peter 1:5-11. For this reason, do your utmost to supplement your faith with virtue, your virtue with knowledge, your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with patience, your patience with piety, your piety with brotherly affection, your brotherly affection with love. For if you possess these qualities increasingly they will render your knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ neither inactive nor unproductive, while he who does not have these is blind, short visioned, oblivious of the cleansing from his former sins. Exert yourselves the more then, brothers, to confirm your calling and election, for if you practise these things you will never stumble, for so an entrance into the eternal kingdom of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be liberally provided for you."

He knows whatever you are, and even the most hidden imagination of your heart.

Which of the virtues do you possess? If it is lack of having these virtues that has caused me to stumble and fall and cannot perform at all. You also know that the art of giving is receiving. You cannot expect to receive what you not decided to give out.

Those who have come to the understanding of this truth, always try their best to make sure they give out something to people. Anybody who chooses to remain cannot obtain these Godly attributes. (JOHN 15:1-2), because the branches of the tree cannot be sustained unless they are attached to the stem of the tree.

But the trouble is that you must neither add nor subtract or else you shall be cut off from the face of the earth.

JOHN 15:4-6 "Remain in me and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself without staying on the vine, so you cannot without remaining in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in me is thrown away as branch and withers; people gather such branches and throw them into the fire and they are burned."

If you are with Him in doing His words, you cannot be separated from Him no matter the circumstance.

It is the greatest height of insult to take dictation from wisdom, whereas love one another is the only hallmark with which to repose your confidence.

1st Corinthians 13:13 "There remain then faith, hope, and love - these three; but the greatest of these is love."

It is only love that unites the world and binds humanity together. Those who have no love are lost,(1st Corinthians 8:1-3) and those who love God are know by Him.

1st Corinthians 13:3 "And though I give all my belongings to feed the hungry, and surrender my body to be burned, but I have no love, I am not in the least benefited."

LOVE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL THE POWERS OF MAN. 

You have been advised in your own interest to give gifts to people because your prosperity depends on giving out your material resources for sustenance of the underprivileged.

If you go to the university, you only go there to obtain qualifications whereby you will have more money, but in this new kingdom of practical Christianity, when you graduate, you have higher powers and in addition you inherit the kingdom of God. It is more blessed to give than to receive, and ideally, giving is receiving.

James 2:4-6 Have you discriminated among your own and become judges with evil thought? Listen, my dear brothers, Has God not chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs to the kingdom He has promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor. Do not the rich domineer you and drag you into the courts?

It is imperative for those who had been ministering to the necessities of the under-privileged to continue doing so. They should not be fed up in doing good, especially those who have got this recondite wisdom and understanding.

Here is an analogy to draw a parallel to the fact that it is better to give than to receive. There was a king who had no child. He did the best he could to make sure that his wife bore him a child, no matter the sex.

He consulted renowned medical experts and consultants. He did everything humanly possible to have at least one child irrespective of sex. He promised to make anybody who would make him have a child a millionaire.

One day the queen, his wife saw a poor man with some sheet metal, struggling to build a little hut for himself and his family as he has been driven away from his former house.

He could only have a monthly income of just ten naira (N 10.00) which could not carry him through in a month. The children were not well fed.

The queen had compassion on, him and his family and so decided to help him. She asked the man to bring all his children to be trained by the King. She regretted having wasted all money in native and medical treatment without success; whereas the money could have been spent in doing some welfare work for the underprivileged.

The queen regarded the four children begot by the poor man as hers and started to train them in the best secondary schools and universities in that country. When the specialist doctor who used to come on visit to the palace asked the king and queen about their situation they said they were alright.

You all should realize that God who knows the hidden minds of all men knows how to salvage people from inexplicable problems. They started caring for other people's children just as their own, forgetting completely about the frustration they faced because of childlessness. But just as God would have it within a year, the queen became pregnant. She continued to care for these underprivileged children. She was content with whatever situation she found herself.

Eventually she bore a male child whom she counted as her fifth child among the children of the poor man. In the course of time, they were able to own two male and two female children, all totaling eight children.

Meanwhile, the king and the queen asked the parents of the four children to come and enjoy all the palace, and to enjoy all the affluence of the royal family. They gave them the same color of dresses to wear, and they all ate together from the same table.

This implies that if you hate other people's children or property, you may not have your own.

Luke 16: 11—12 Therefore if you have not been faithful in matters of unrighteous riches, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you are not reliable with what belong to another, who will give you anything for your personal possession?

This is, the wisdom I had before I was five years old. You should always work for the good of others first and foremost and all other things shall be given unto you. Matthew 20: 26—28. This is a message that goes with power and it works like magic. Our Lord Jesus Christ had set the pattern for everybody to follow. He did good for others. Anybody who does any good thing for other people, is automatically doing it for himself.

Our Lord Jesus Christ did good for people, and as a result, He is now the king of glory. Although in the course of His doing good, lie was vilified, disgraced, and spat upon, yet he neither relented His efforts in helping them, nor stopped doing good. Therefore, whatever, you have to do, do it well as if you are doing it for yourself.

Eph. 6:5—8 Slaves, render obedience to your earthly masters, with reverence and awe, with such unmixed motives as you feel toward Christ. Do not be eye-slaves as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ carry out whole-heartedly the will of God, rendering service with good-will as to the Lord and not to men, aware that whatever good each one may do, he will be recompensed by the Lord, whether he is a slave or a freeman."

You should be prepared under any circumstance to serve anybody whether he be bond or free, for you are all one in our Lord Jesus Christ; hence there is neither male nor female in this kingdom. Since you all belong to God in Christ, you are all Abraham's seed, and therefore heirs according to His divine promise.

If you give out your material resources to do good, God will replenish you in material prosperity, spiritual upliftment, in good health, in peace, and every good thing of life.

Who among you can give ten thousand naira(N10,000.00)to the poor? Who is prepared to help? You will rather give your money to the corrupt, the rich or to swindlers, only to regret later for being defrauded by giddy minded persons.

Luke 14:12-14 "He further told his host, "Whenever you give a dinner or supper, do no invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your well-to-do neighbors; for they may invite you in turn and so repay you. Instead, when you give a dinner, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind; then blessing will be yours, for they have nothing to repay you, but you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

You should not give your gifts to those you expect will reciprocate. Have you ever made love feast for the poor? (1st John 3:14). Those who do not love still abide in darkness and death.

If you loan out some money to somebody and he or she refuses to return the back to you, you need not bother to sue him or her in court. His or her money in the spiritual world would be deducted with sizable interest and paid into your spiritual bank. That is why I am assuring you that it is better to give than to receive.

There are quite a number of things which the people of this world do not know, but right now you are being given gratis. Since the creation of man, (Genesis 1:26-29) nobody has the powers which God has bestowed on man.

Man had been endowed with all powers to take superintendence of all creations of God. Have you known that whatever is referred to as powers are invested man? All other creations of God, namely fishers in water, birds if the air, trees, animals in the bush, and all other creeping things have not been endowed with these attributes of God.

It is only man whom God created in his image and likeness who has been endowed with powers to control other creations. But God is the power house through which all powers are generated.

The power house is situated thousands and millions of kilometers away but the electric light or electric powers are working far away in houses, offices, factories and everywhere.

It is just the same thing that God is doing with human beings. And just like individuals or corporate bodies w ho refuse to pay their electricity bills, their light or power supply is disconnected, so it is with man.

ACCEPTANCE OF GOD'S INJUNCTIONS AND THE PRACTICE OF HIS WORDS ARE JUST LIKE PAYING THE ELECTRICITY BILLS. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE ONLY CHANNEL THROUGH WHICH THE POWERS OF GOD CAN FLOW TO INDIVIDUAL, FAMILIES OR COMMUNITIES.

Somebody can be in the United States of America and the powerhouse in Nigeria, in Africa, but the person in the United States of America will lavishly receive the power, while a person in Nigeria where the powerhouse is situated may not get the impact of anything.

It is commonplace occurrence to see numerous people clamoring and looking for talismans, rings, and amulets with the intent of acquiring powers through objects and other media, and not through the DIVINE MEDIUM WHICH IS BAPTISM DUALLY APPROVED BY THE ALMIGHTY GOD.

In the interim, the power which God has bestowed on any man is right from childhood, and a question of acquiring power or self-development is delusive. Such thinking should be ignored by all well meaning people.

The little framework called man is the tabernacle of God, and forest, fire, water, roads, mountains, valley, animals, birds, are found in man. Man shall continue to exist, for man has no beginning and no end.

If you fight against your fellow man, you are fighting against God. Therefore right now, you have to refrain from committing sins against your fellow man. It is wrong to say that you have done something in retaliation against another man. SUCH RETALIATORY ACTION AGAINST THE OTHER PERSON IS AGAINST GOD ALSO.

Heb. 2:6—9 But someone has somewhere testified: "What is man that thou art mindful of him, or a son of man that thou lookest after him? For a little while thou hast ranked him lower than the angels; with glory and honour hast thou crowned him; all, things hast thou subjected underneath his feet."

In thus subjecting all things to him, nothing is left cut that is not subjected; but at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we see Jesus, ranked lower than the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honour because of the sufferings of death, in order that by divine grace He might taste death for every one. Although a man might have been made little lower than the angels, but the irony of it all is that all things have been put in subjection wider him. Otherwise what could have, made God to be mindful of man, or to come and dwell with him. Do you know that all powers are in you? Consequently, since powers are in you, you simply collect leaves, herbs, bark of trees etc. and speak to them to perform some actions, and they, obey and act immediately.

But your problem is that you do not know the particular part of your body from where the power can generate. The powers of some of you can generate from the hairs on your head such as that of Sampson, some can generate- from your eyes, ears, tongues, mouths or foreheads. That is why you should come to the accurate realisation of yourself, and you shall have no more problems.

You ought to think positively always because positive thinking means success whereas negative thinking means failure. You really believe that you are the image and the likeness of God, and that all the powers are embedded in you, then you can do anything.

The only thing that can ever inhibit you from displaying the powers in you is sin and pride. These vices are counter productive.

Man has been able to acquire all the knowledge and technology in the world, he but cannot read and understand the Bible which is the Book of life. Yet these erudite professors have read volumes of books in colleges and universities for at 1east five to fifteen years.

It is because you have not been able to refrain from anger, hatred, selfishness, fornication and adultery. Our Lord Jesus Christ has said that those who hear and do His words shall do greater works than He had done.

Once you become a master, by overcoming these vices and human frailties, you have automatically attained Christhood and - all things shall obey and be in subjection to you at all times.

May my peace and blessing remain and abide with the entire world, now and forever more — Amen.

THANK YOU FATHER