"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another".

All those who are weak in spirit resulting from sickness, or poverty and wretchedness, or sinfulness, or temptations, or tribulations, and afflictions, or any other encumbrances should look steadfastly on Me, and all their problems are solved. I do not speak in the future that their problems will be solved but that all of them are being solved at this instant. All spirits which do not give glory to God have been expelled from your bodies. This warfare is not that of the flesh and blood. It is not a carnal warfare but spiritual. The spirits of sickness, poverty and wretchedness which caused you not to be rich in 1981, the spirit of fornication which had prevented you from serving God, the spirit of pride, vain glory, pomposity and arrogance, the spirit of death which has dominated the whole world, the spirit of hatred and malice, have all been expelled from your bodies and minds. 1982, therefore has brought to you peace, prosperity, joy, truth, love and all other virtues of God.

I have a firm belief that reading through the three texts, the words contained therein will be firmly established in your minds and will form a guiding principle to your life throughout 1982.

From January to December, you will keep on reading these passages. As long as there is life in you in season and out of season, every year, every month, every week, everyday, every hour, minute and second you should focus your attention on these passages and make them your watchwords.

Have you not heard what is being read unto you, that you should not grieve the Holy Spirit? Our Lord Jesus Christ had already released this to the whole world. A great many people think that it is the curses and abuses pronounced on them by their mothers which have contributed to their poverty, bad luck and other problems. This cannot be true. Your trouble is that you have grieved the Holy Spirit. It does seem to Me, and it is true, that God had set aside 1982 as a year of redemption for every soul. This is so because since the first day of this year up till today, the revelations of the Father, the messages of the Father, the teachings of the Father and the work done by the Father are not only marvelous but surprising even to Me. This is indicative of the fact that God loves us more than we love ourselves. Each and every one of us should rid himself of the work of darkness and move towards the light. If the Father had not loved us, He would not have removed us from the work of darkness. He had built a strong fence to enclose us in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, the gospel of today is an iron fence which the Father has erected around you for your maximum security. No evil spirit will ever come around you and this iron fence will ward off all evils and encumbrances from you.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has said whosoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven in this generation and in the generation to come. (Matt 12:32). What particular lesson have you drawn from this statement? Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven from generation to generation. We should ponder a while over this concept of the Holy Spirit. If you offend against your fellow human being, you will be forgiven but if you offend against the Holy Spirit, there will be no forgiveness for your generation after generation. Till today the whole world does not understand this statement and even you, who profess to be in this Kingdom, have no regard for this important statement.

Upon all your complaints, have you searched yourself to find out if you did not grieve the Holy Spirit in 1981? What about the generality of the whole world, have they ever stopped for a moment to search themselves whether or not they have grieved the Holy Spirit? When the kings and rulers of the world called Peter and John and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, what was the reaction of the Apostles? Before these kings and rulers, they asked them to consider for themselves, "whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto man more than unto God, judge it yourself. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20)

To grieve the Holy Spirit is to disobey the voice of God. You grieve the Holy Spirit when you disobey the instructions of God, that explains the reason why the wrath of God had been visited upon the sons of men on earth. If someone complains that you do not exchange greetings with him or that when he greets, you do not answer properly, do not argue with him but apologize to him and tell him not to be angry. You may be fasting, during which you visit somebody who, on seeing you, invites you to dine with him and you tell him you cannot eat because you are fasting. If he insists and tells you if you do not eat you do not love him, apologize to him and tell him not to be annoyed. Sometimes, you may be invited to participate in a certain tradition concerning your village or family. Even though they know that such an action contradicts your belief they will still insist and will tell you if you do not participate, you will not be a true son of the family or village and that you are not dynamic and progressive. In spite of their pressure, you should not succumb, if you do, you will grieve the Holy Spirit. If you walk according to the dictates of the flesh, you have grieved the Holy Spirit. Whosoever wants to live according to the promptings of the flesh grieves the Holy Spirit because he is not prepared to listen to the instructions of God.

Now it is the Holy Spirit who is ruling in heaven and on earth, He rules everywhere because He is the Government in power, He is the Father, He is the Lord, He is the Ruler of everything. It is therefore, incumbent, upon us to obey His voice and comply with His instructions.

To obey the voice of a man and comply with his instruction is in effect respecting and honouring a man, loving a man, trusting a man; and this in turn is worshipping man.

If you are prepared to put into practice all the words: teachings exhortations, admonitions of the Almighty God then you are blessed with eternal life. You have to lend your ears to His words and His instructions, doing only such things as He likes and abstaining from such things as He forbids. And once you comply with His instructions, you have no problems and difficulties. Take for instance, you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, certainly most of you have. You are aware of the instruction of God that you should not fornicate. You have complied with that instruction by refraining from fornication but because you are so compassionate and sympathetic with your girl or boyfriend who always desires carnal intimacy, you succumb and fornicate; not because it is your pleasure to contravene the commandment of God but because you wish to please your girl or boy-friend or that by your failure to be intimate with her or him, you will lose her or him to another person. You should note that while you are trying to please her, you have seriously grieved the Holy Spirit. Here lies the source of your problems.

Sometimes you have observed what the big members of your family are doing to the utter displeasure of God, things which do not give glory to God and which disobey the commandments of God. Your family members all plead with you that they are aware that God does not like the things they do, but for the preservation of the family name and its upliftment and also to take away their reproach, you should join hands with them in what they do. In spite of the fact that you know that such things are evil and abominable before God, yet because you seek to please them, you participate with them. By your action you have grieved the Holy Spirit. Sometimes also, you really know that there is in existence nothing like witch-craft, mermaid, phantom, charm, or talisman but members of your family invite you and tell you, they are aware that you do not believe in these things but they would like to find out certain things affecting the family by consulting oracles, necromancers and soothsayers. They tell you even though you do not believe, they who believe will consult the oracle but that you should provide the funds. You then dip your hands into your pocket and give them money, you have grieved the Holy Spirit and have set your house ablaze. You are true witnesses to the fact that most of the things you do, and most of the vices you commit do not derive from your desire or pleasure but because you want to please human beings. The result will be that you will grieve the Holy Spirit because you have not listened to the instructions of God. Similarly, you know too well the instruction of God which states that you should neither drink nor give drinks to any person. You do not drink at all but because of your several commitments associated with your work, or with the contracts which are to be awarded to you, or because many important personalities visit your house always and you rather feel that there is the need to always keep drinks nearby for the visitors. You then console yourself when you say God knows that it is not your pleasure to give drinks to people but for the very reason of keeping up your standard and since such action places you in good light before people you give drinks to them in utter contravention of the commandment of God. Once you do this, you have fallen short of the glory of God. The Father knows that about 99% of the actions you take are not taken by you per se, but they are taken in order to please others around us. Here lies our trouble. You have been advised to go on ministry work everywhere, to be kind and generous and benevolent. To distribute to the necessities of the poor and needy. Because your wife has questioned you about a certain girl to whom you have been kind and generous you feel you should not displease your wife for fear of any palaver and so you refuse to do that which you ought to do. What is it that you have done? Note that you have grieved the Holy Spirit. In the same token, women who are prepared to serve God, with the present dearth of gospel workers and practitioners, will be hindered from doing their work if perchance the relations of their husbands complain that they are very free with men. For fear of not losing husbands, they will withdraw from the service of God. To do this is to grieve the Holy Spirit. You only wear the soutane when you come here on Sunday. You find it difficult to put it on and walk about in the streets for fear that people will look down on you and speak evil of you; and so since you want to please them you refuse to put on your soutane. Notice that your action tantamounts to grieving the Holy Spirit. You are a respecter of human beings.

Sometimes the Father directs you to go and preach to someone but you feel that the person hates and persecutes Brotherhood and if you go he will disgrace you. You therefore, decide not to go thereby disobeying God. Your failure to preach to the fellow, means that you have grieved the Holy Spirit. Sometimes you are given a vision to go and make peace with the person you had quarreled with, but you feel that you cannot reconcile with someone who has insulted your person by being carnally intimate with your wife, that instead of reconciling with him, you prefer to go into hellfire, and that you cannot honour that vision. By your refusal to reconcile with him you grieve the Holy Spirit and also kick against the pricks. Whosoever wants to do something to the pleasure and recognition of many people must of necessity, displease God and grieve the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes you come across someone, may be a Brotherhood member, or your wife or your brother or your son, who does not do something which gives glory to God. You have heard the still small voice bidding you to speak to her to refrain from such acts but you feel that if you do, it will spark trouble with your wife and you say instead of being stone by your children, you refuse to speak to them. By so doing, you grieve the Holy Spirit.

We are under the rule of the Holy Spirit. He is the Redeemer, He is the King and the Lord and He is the Father, He rules in Heaven and on earth and in all the four corners of the world. It is, there-fore, incumbent upon each and everyone of us to listen to the voice of the Spirit and obey the instructions of God, failure of which is disobedience. You have been instructed not to keep a mourning house, not to weep and wail, not to perform any traditional rite and that when somebody dies, you should bury him in accordance with the teaching of this New Kingdom of God. But what obtains here is that when someone dies, you keep mourning houses for a long period, you perform many traditional rites, you give drinks and money to people and you indulge in many other irreligious actions consoling yourself that you are giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. By this singular act, you do not only set your house on fire but also grieve the Holy Spirit. When Our Lord Jesus Christ washed the twelve disciples' feet, (John 13:5-10), it was to symbolise their transfer from the earth to heaven, separated from the world unto the holy and sanctified work of God. They had no more connections with things mundane. What did Our Lord Jesus Christ say when someone informed Him that His mother and His brethren were standing outside desiring to speak with Him, while He was talking to His disciples? He asked him: Who is my mother and who are my brethren? Then He stretched forth His hands toward His disciples and said, behold my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of My Father who is in heaven the same is my brother, and sister and mother. (Matt 12:46-50). But, so long as you abandon your brothers and sisters here with you and associate yourself with your relations who are thieves, fornicators, prostitutes, liars and abominable men, it amounts to borrowing from Peter to pay to Paul. You desert your brothers who are practicing the gospel of God, you do not help when they are in want but give out all you have to the worldly people. You have grieved the Holy Spirit.

What did St. Paul say? He said if any person who calls himself a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater or an extortioner, let it not be once named among you. (Ephes 5:3). Do not keep company with somebody who professes to be Brotherhood but you know that he is a rogue, a fornicator, a prostitute, he indulges in charms and concoctions, he drinks and is walking in an abominable way, but you attach yourself to him and when he dupes or deceives you complain that it is for the sake of Brotherhood that you are duped. Are you sure he has duped you because of Brotherhood? From your actions, it appears to Me that you want to tempt God because you know too well that a particular person is a thief or a swindler but you transact business with him. Many people advise you against it but you say since he is a Brotherhood and God knows him, nothing will happen to you; and God will not allow anything to happen to you. Does the Father advise you to steal or does He advise you to swindle or dupe any person? When such a brother makes away with your belongings you complain that it is Brotherhood that is killing you, that the Father says we should love every person, that every person should unite. When you make such a statement, are you justified?

You will observe that the cause of most of our sufferings is the reason that we have grieved the Holy Spirit. All your important matters and issues are discussed with the worldly people who do not believe in God. They are rogues, liars, harlots, murders, necromancers and soothsayers, and those who commit all acts of sin. What benefit, do you think you will derive from them? If your wife offends against you, you report her to unbelievers, if your husband offends against you, you report him to unbelievers. Is that the proper place you should report her or him? And is it what you are taught to do? And the Scripture asks: Do you not know that you will judge the world and the angels? (1 Cor 6:3). And if the world shall judge the smallest matters, why can't you resolve the small misunderstandings amongst yourselves and why should you report yourself to unbelievers? You approach somebody with your friend and then introduce your friend to him but complain that you brought drinks and he refused to drink and that you have brought him for settlement, because the purported judge is a drunkard. Like you, he will condemn the friend that his action is anti-social and for that reason he has been fined six bottles of drinks.

It may happen on a fasting day that a sister has decided to kill the flesh, mortify the body and keep herself holy but the husband will tell her she cannot behave in that way in his house because the Holy Father has never said so and that he would report her to her parents for her misbehavior. If you want to report her to somebody why not to the Holy Father? The answer is that if you report your sister to the Father for that particular matter you will be condemned. Because you are carnal you always wish to go to carnal persons so that they may pervert the judgment. Upon your forced justification do you not set fire into your house and at the same time grieve the Holy Spirit? Why do you always go to court and other worldly centres of settlement to make your complaints? You have grieved the Holy Spirit. The Spiritual Council of Churches has been established by the Father for settlement of all types of disputes but you prefer the law courts. This you do because here settlement is based on the truth but what you do has no iota of truth. Note that craftiness is not wisdom and it causes you to lose what you already have. Very many of you remain in Brotherhood for 10 to 20 years which period cannot afford you any good because you are cunning. You are not prepared to comply with His instructions, but when you are sick or when you have a case in the court you go into the Bethel to receive prayers. You have never considered it necessary to plunge yourself head-long into the service of God.

You are advised not to drink, not to fornicate, not to be exasperated, not to hate any person, not to tell lies or bear malice against any person but the actual situation is that you still live with these vices. Has anyone who is pompous and arrogant not grieved the Holy Spirit? Has any person with a divisive tendency not grieved the Holy Spirit? Any person who commits any act of sin has grieved the Holy Spirit. Today we have been told that we should not grieve the Holy Spirit because He is the Ruler of the entire universe. He is the Protector. He is the Counselor and the Doer of everything. Compare this with a situation in the world where you are appointed to lead a group of people who are expected to take orders from you, but they always disobey you. When you tell them to stand up they sit down, and when you ask them to sit down they rather stand up. How will you feel being at the lead? The scriptures advise that you should obey them that have rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they who must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief. (Heb 13:17). The Holy Spirit has come to redeem us from the wrath of God which is to come. But if you do not comply with His instructions and practice His words, you will surely grieve Him. The Holy Spirit does everything for us. He instructs that you should not quarrel but you are quarreling, He instructs that you should not tell lies but you are indulging in falsehood, or any other vice; consoling yourself that the Father is working. Has He ever instructed you to tell lies? You are instructed not to find fault with others, and that you should love every person as He has advised us. Your duty therefore, is to love one another. He is the Doer of everything. If we do not drink and do not give drinks to people, nor fornicate, nor indulge in concoction, nor tell lies, nor get exasperated, nor hate and persecute others, it means that we are walking according to the directive of the Spirit. Let us have our first lesson.

A great many of you were full of the Holy Spirit. But since the day you took bed in the hospital and certain drugs were injected into your body (to the utter defilement of your body), are you still feeling the power of the Holy Spirit? Everything in your body is at a stand still. From day to day you go to the hospital for surgical operation, or for "D & C" or for X-Ray or for medical check-up, do you not grieve the Holy Spirit by your action? Right now you bank your hope in the hospital, you run to the hospital at the sign of the slightest ailment. Your action is grievous to the Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus Christ unequivocally said: "these signs will follow them who believe. In my name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it will not hurt them, they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover." (Mark 16:17-18). Brethren, where is your port of call, your dwelling place now? Have you ever stopped for a moment to ask yourself why the signs have not followed you and why you visit the hospital? It is simply that you have grieved the Holy Spirit. At present your entire hope is in the holy oil, and vision, and X-Ray, and extraction of charms from the body because you complain you have pains all over your body. But you have never cared to ask what is happening. The reason for your pains is that you have grieved the Holy Spirit. An adage says what is delicious in the mouth of a sick person, that he will eat till he dies. Whosever commits sin is a slave to sin.

When you indulge in these vices, sickness and suffering visit you and these in turn induce you to visit the hospital for a medical check-up. Additionally, you visit the necromancer and soothsayer because you feel God helps those who help themselves and that your ailment is not such that can be cured by prayers. It is true, your kind of sickness is no longer subject of cure by prayers.

The Scripture says if we would search ourselves, God would not judge us but when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world.(1 Cor 11:31-32). When you are angry, do you not know the punishment which is commensurate with your anger? What has the Scripture told you? It says: "whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the Sanhedrin: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matt 5:22). If you are going to the altar with your gift and on your way, you suddenly remember that you have offended against your brother, or you grudge against him for the offense he committed against you, leave the gift at the altar and go back to become reconciled first with your brother before you go back to offer your gift. Whenever you are exasperated with someone, you have grieved the Holy Spirit. When you pronounce woe onto somebody, or call him Raca, do you not grieve the Holy Spirit?

Now that you find yourself in a situation where you quarrel with many persons, you are at loggerheads with everybody. You are always at daggers drawn with members of your family and you have been advised to go and be reconciled with them, but you reject the advice and say only God will reconcile you, that the offense they have committed against you is very grievous and that you cannot become reconciled to them but that you will continue to worship the real God. Is it not a sad situation to find somebody who calls himself a brother who bears malice against another brother even in this Kingdom of God, you refuse to exchange words with him, you do not even greet him or respond to his greetings. It is not uncommon to find two brothers passing themselves without exchanging greetings. They just pass by silently looking each to the other person's face.

When you speak disdainfully against your brother to the extend of assassinating his character, have you not grieved the Holy Spirit? The advice that you should not keep company with them does not imply that you should be irritated with him or abuse or insult him, or hate him. Leave him alone to his own ways. Neither does it imply that you should not be kind and benevolent to him or love him but it says do not keep company with them, have no association or connection with them. It is said that every brother who walks disorderly and not after the tradition of the Kingdom, after advising him twice, and he persists, withdraw from such a brother. Do not hate him, do not abuse and curse him, do not beat him, that he may be a ashamed and find some useful thing to occupy him. But for all those who walk in an abominable way God will judge them. Why do you seek to advise a rogue not to steal again? He will slap you and drive you away. The only safe way for you, is to leave him to himself; for God will surely judge him. If you place a fornicator in a position of responsibility, do you not consider that he will perpetrate all sorts of evils? If you want to advise him to refrain from fornication he will quarrel with you, and ask you if you are not a fornicator. He will cause commotion. The Word of God says: "if any man is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, should restore such a person in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself also, lest you also be tempted." (Gal 6:1). This is like trying to catch a mentally deranged fellow by the use of force with incriminating weapon, machetes, guns, staves in order to compel him to submission. He will also make use of the weapons at his disposal to fight and tear you to pieces. But should you use love, meekness and kind words, you will be able to win him easily. You do not realize that, while in his attempt to fight you, you apply your own weapon on him, he may be wounded and a criminal case will be preferred against you.

You will remember that when Peter cut off the ear of the servant of the High Priest, Our Lord Jesus Christ ordered him to put his sword into its place; for whosoever takes up the sword must die by the sword. He then bent down and took the part of the ear which was cut off and put it in its place. (Matt 26:51-52/Luke 22:51). Can this not serve as an example for you to follow? And God has advised that when you have any business with the people of the world, you should be very careful in handling them, and your conversation with them should be with grace seasoned with salt that you may know how you should answer every person otherwise, they howl at you and tear you into pieces.

What is referred to as the flesh is a situation in which you go to somebody who offends against you, and tell him you are no respecter of persons; and that you do not fear any person; and that you understand that he is a thief. You have disgraced him and until he dies he will never forget that disgrace. What you speak to him is not the Word of God. He can sue you before the Court for defamation of character. You should always speak to an evil doer in parables, if you speak positively to him, he will immediately rise up and fight you and God will not support you in your action. This is so because thieves and other criminals are always watching and ready to react against whatever you do to them. He is always well blasted with his weapons to fight. If you look at him he will ask you why you are looking at him, whether it is because people regard him as a thief. You are aware that from the beginning satan has never done any good thing. He has been an evil doer, a criminal from his birth and he has no ability to do what is good.

The only weapon which you can employ to live comfortably with satan is love. When you abandon love you have not only failed but have grieved the Holy Spirit. If a fornicator goes to live with somebody who does not find such a place very conducive to his practice, even if you cook delicious dishes for him everyday, give him clothes, and money, he will not be happy to stay under such an atmosphere where he has no opportunity to fornicate, he will run away from the place. When a quarrelsome person comes to your house with all his tactics to induce you to quarrel, and if you do not quarrel with him, he will pack his things and run away, and will refer to all members of your house as evil persons. This explains why Our Lord Jesus Christ advises that we should not resist an evil doer. Whenever you resist an evil doer, you grieve the Holy Spirit because you have not complied with the instructions of God. We should listen to the voice of the Spirit and walk according to the instructions of Our Lord Jesus Christ as enumerated in the Holy Scriptures from Genesis to Revelations of John the Divine, so that it be well with us. This is why, whenever you come to see the Father, He looks at you and X-Rays you from head to toe. Then knowing exactly what is in you, He asks you to open to several portions of the Bible.

When you come home, I will not say you are a thief, or a fornicator, or a liar, but when you read through the passages you will contemplate within your heart how I manage to know what you do. As you read the passages you will actually know that the words are for you but I do not call you a thief or prostitute. Is it not the same thing which happened when the Jews summoned the woman taken in adultery before Our Lord Jesus Christ to tempt Him? On arrival they told Our Lord Jesus Christ that Moses has provided in his laws that a woman such as the one they took to him, who commits adultery should be stoned, and they asked Our Lord's opinion about that provision. If Our Lord Jesus Christ had ordered that she should be discharged, He could have been killed at the instant because He would have been accused of contravening the law of Moses. Conversely, if He had advised that she should be killed according to the Mosaic Law, it would have generated into the talk of the town, the order of the day. They would have implied that it was Our Lord Jesus who advised that the woman be killed. If He had said that, He would have committed a very grievous sin even though He had to be crucified on the cross, His Blood would not have availed anything. For God says you should not kill (Ex 20:13), and as a Son of God if you order the killing of any person, you would grieve the Holy Spirit. What did Our Lord Jesus Christ do at that instance? He stooped down and started writing the names of the people, who accused the woman, on the ground. Beside each of the names He indicated the sins they have all committed. He did not mention any person's name. When they continued to ask Him,

He lifted up his head and told them, He who is without sin among you, let him first take a stone and cast at the woman. When they heard that, and as they looked at their names and the crimes they had committed, they were convicted by their own consciences and so went out one by one beginning from the eldest to the least. (John 8:4-9). Throughout the whole episode, Our Lord Jesus Christ did not make mention of any person. Our second lesson will now be read.

Brethren, have you heard what is read unto you? Any person who believes in God and has implicit faith in Him is quite free to speak to Him at anytime on any subject, but any person who neither believes in God nor trusts in Him is not free to speak to Him. Whosoever does not believe in God is not only dangerous but dubious and suspicious. He will always watch, observe and listen to you. He will also look at your countenance and give interpretation to any expression of your face. If you cough, he will interpret it to mean your cajoling him. If you laugh, he will complain that you laugh at him. Whatever you do will be misinterpreted by him. From the day you openly told him to go away with his foolishness, he will not forget it till he dies. He will not forgive you. Do what you may to him, he will neither forget about your statement nor appreciate what you have done to him. Now that you complain that you have not offended against him, but he hates you, can you remember when you addressed him as a foolish person? This statement has driven cold blood into his vein; and so do what you may to him, buy a car, build a house, buy an airplane or steamer for him, he will not forget your statement. You have been advised to abstain from all appearance of evil; from calling any person Raca, to speaking disdainfully against any person. If you see somebody drinking wine and you advise him before others that he should not drink again, he will be so enraged that he will begin to abuse you whether your father or your mother does not drink and whether he is the only person who drinks. He will regard your statement as a disgrace to him.

When, in your pomposity and arrogance, you approach somebody and tell him you are fearless of any person, when he does anything you tell him to his face, do you think that by so doing you are serving God? You are not; but you are causing confusion and trouble. God has

advised that you should employ love in dealing with people and that you should love every person. Has He advised you to disgrace any person, or to curse and abuse him, or to beat him up or to bear malice against him? He says you should love him. What else can you do? It is only the Father who can change and reform a man. You lack that ability, but you have to love every person.

If a person who is a thief lives in your house, when he steals do not judge, do not complain but be good and truthful to him. God knows that he is a thief; you know he is a thief and he himself knows that he is a thief. Just leave him alone. God will change him in due season; but be kindly affectionate to him. The only precaution is that you have to be mindful of sinful men, take caution in what you do and say to a flippant person, to a thief, and to a fornicator. Know what to say to a prostitute. Be very cautious with any human being. Not long ago somebody came into the Bible Class with all sorts of charms around his neck, he carried other charms, concoctions, talisman and ring. Since I have no regard for such use-less things, (I do not even know or recognize them), I did not comment on it, but continued to impart the lesson and the man was sitting in there. However, since then he has not put up any other appearance in the Bible Class. If he was beaten up and driven out of the House of God, he would have gone away to make adverse reports against Brotherhood, he would have even alleged that his money was taken away from him, what defense would you have made? You would not have been able to exonerate yourself from the charges.

You are aware that sins have multiplied and that evildoers have doubled the number of the righteous ones, and so whenever anything is alleged against you, the evil ones will always rise up and stamp their feet on the ground in affirmation of their allegation and will even mob you and condemn you while you try to defend yourself. Is it the thing of God to implicate yourself amongst the evil doers? Have you ever seen a godly person taken for judgment before the worldly men? Who is justified? He will never be justified till doomsday. But, no matter what the evil men do since they are judged by persons of the same plumage, they will always be justified. You are warned to abstain from all appearances of evil. You know that a person is a necromancer, a drunkard, an evildoer and you invite him to a divine function or celebration. What is he coming to do there? Is he coming to cause confusion and commotion, if such happens who is to blame? When you are invited by unbelievers to their function, because they are prostitutes, thieves, fornicators, snuffers, drunkards, abominable men, and necromancers, do you actually know where they will take you to? God really knows what happens when a man of God comes in contact with unbelievers. That was why he advised Solomon not to fall in love with the woman from the province of the strange country. (1 Kings 11:1-2). God knows what would happen between her and Solomon but Solomon did not know it. It was because he grieved the Holy Spirit and the Almighty God, that his kingdom fell. He erected a building for God quite alright but he not only erected a temple where mermaid or fetish was worshipped, but also knelt down to worship the fetish. Do you think God was pleased with his actions?

You may have a function to which you invite unbelievers and the children of God, and because you want to please the worldly people, you buy drinks, cigarettes, snuff and encourage the pouring of libation and the observance of certain traditional rites. When they come, you keep them in one part of your compound. It is your intention to give to each group what they like so that you maintain your position as a gentleman. Have you not grieved the Holy Spirit by your action? This is exactly what goes on in Brotherhood. When you want to bless your marriage, you extend invitation to men of various stations in life. After the divine and solemn blessing by the Father, you arrange reception for the various sets of persons. You take the worldly men to a hotel and entertain them with drinks and disco dances. Is it what you are taught in this kingdom? Who has imparted such a lesson to you? You are, by your actions, blame-worthy even by outsiders, and you have also grieved the Holy Spirit. Conversely, if you invite them but do not give them drinks, or cigarettes or snuff, they will think you are a mentally deranged fellow.

Of a truth it is good for one to please God.

You should not have invited them at all. Whatever you have to celebrate, you should not invite them but only the children of God. Whether at funerals or at other functions and celebrations, are the children of God not capable of containing the situations? Is there any portion of the Scriptures which lends support to your having association with the worldly persons? The various passages which advise against your having association with the worldly men are at my finger tips. You have left the world. You should not associate with them. Separate yourself from them, but you should not hate them. When in the previous advent, Our Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh, have you read somewhere that He had connections with the people of the world? The Bible has borne eloquent testimony to the fact that He did not commit Himself unto any person because He knew all men. To fail to commit yourself to or to have connection with any person has nothing to do with love, truth, humility. What happens is that when you commit yourself and separate yourself unto God, you will be capable of serving Him properly, and God will be pleased with your actions.

All that you read from Genesis to Malachi are prophecies. You should not despise these words of God, and prophesying. Do not disregard any of the prophecies. All are the words of God. They were written by the inspiration of God; and whatsoever is inspired of God is prophecy. That was why, when Our Lord Jesus read these Books, the Laws and the Prophets He said, "Today these prophecies will be fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:21). He did not therefore despise the prophesying. He complied strictly with the instructions contained in the Books, and did everything accordingly in obedience to the Words of God. If somebody misleads you to believing that Our Lord Jesus Christ committed Himself to the worldly people, you should quote a passage of the Scriptures which lends support to that statement. When people claim that Our Lord Jesus Christ is a friend to sinners, you will also quote your authority. Because He was never exasperated. He never stole, and never committed fornication, nor did He abuse any person nor judge any person. Any person who commits sin is an evildoer. Even among the twelve disciples, only three of them were admitted into His inner circle. Even then He did not rely much on them. Whatever happened to Him, He did not confide in any of them. He did not trust any of them, nor did He commit Himself to any of them apart from the Father alone. Remember an instance, when Our Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples how He would go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. And Peter rebuked Him saying, "Far be it from you Lord, this will not happen to you". But He turned and said to him, "Get you behind Me, satan, you are an offense to Me, for you think not of Spiritual things but of the flesh". (Matt 16:23).

If Our Lord Jesus Christ had relied and accepted the advice by Peter, He would not have been able to fulfill the purpose for which He came into the world. Search all passages of the Scriptures, you will discover that Our Lord Jesus Christ did not commit Himself to any person neither did He trust any man apart from the Almighty God. Love all men but; do not trust any man. To trust in a man is to obey and comply with the instruction of man. Our Golden text will now be read.

Brethren, do you hear what is read unto you? It is said, if we profess to live in the Spirit, we should walk in the Spirit. If we profess to be the children of God, we should practice His Words, doing only those things which He commands us to do and abstaining from these things which he forbids us to do. You should not be proud, pompous and arrogant. You should not be envious and jealous, you should not be exasperated against anyone. If you are irritated against anyone, is that an indication of walking in the Spirit? If you are proud and arrogant, can you profess you walk in the Spirit? If there are envying, quarreling, petty jealousies and disputes, is the Spirit of God present in such an atmosphere?

As I have already told you, the Spirit is life. It is peace, it is truth, and such traits have no tendency to pride and arrogance, or to exasperation or to envy. If you discover that you have lost ten naira after the departure of your visitor, you either send a messenger or approach him yourself and ask him if he had seen a ten naira when he came to your house. Will that action indicate that you are walking in the Spirit? If a man is in a state of financial difficulty and he approaches you for an assistance for a small sum of money, but you tell him that you are sorry that you have no money nearby even though you have thousands in your house, can you walk in the Spirit?

Sometimes you complain that you are not aware of any offense you have committed against somebody who hates you bitterly. Can you deny offending against Me? When the other day the person asked for a help of ten naira but you told him you have no money though you are counting in thousands, and your fleet of cars are around and tomorrow you would undertake a project costing so many thousands of naira, yet you try to defend yourself as a brother. Compare that with a situation in which someone is in financial difficulty and you

do not even give him the opportunity to ask for help but you give him some money to help himself and tell him to pay back only when he can afford it, but he forgets about the whole transaction. Anytime you see him, you ask him: "brother how are things?" He will pay deaf ears to your question and will go his own way. Why then should you send messages to him that you are exhausted of your patience and that if he fails to defray that debt you will have no alternative than summoning him at a place where he would not be comfortable, by such an action, are you walking in the Spirit? Furthermore, if you resort to threatening him, whenever you see him you curse him that God should punish him for not refunding your money, you also report him to every person you come across that he has not defrayed his debt can you claim to be walking in the Spirit? If you profess to live in the Spirit, why do you not walk in the Spirit? Most of you are sometimes kind and benevolent to a person, you accommodate him in your house and maintain him. But after sometime, because of annoyance, you become angry with him and abuse him and even drive him out of your house. I ask you when you do this, are you walking in the Spirit?

Judas Iscariot was gallivanting and loitering about in the streets when Our Lord Jesus Christ picked him as one of His disciples. However, he went into the midst of the disciples, and fortunately or unfortunately, he was appointed a treasurer. Do not forget the passages of the Bible when Our Lord Jesus Christ says all those sent to Me by the Father will follow Me and all those who follow Me, I shall in no wise cast out. (John 6:37) Who has taught you to evict somebody, whether he is a rogue, a swindler, and extortioner, a robber and an ardent evil doer? Was Judas driven away by Our Lord Jesus Christ?

Even that night during the Last Supper Our Lord Jesus Christ openly told his disciples one of you will surely betray Me. Does it mean that He did not know who would betray Him or was He feeling shy to mention the name of Judas? He knew him yet He did not mention his name but rather declared that one of them would betray Him. And so the disciples, one after the other asked Our Lord Jesus Christ saying, "Lord is it I?" (Matt 26:22). He answered in the negative but when Judas Iscariot asked the same question, He said, "yes you are the person". Do you know the reaction of Judas at that point in time? Realizing that, Our Lord Jesus Christ was aware of his plot to betray Him to the Jews he immediately withdrew the action. God can make and unmake. If Judas Iscariot had not betrayed Our Lord Jesus Christ, what would have saved us? Would Our Lord Jesus Christ have been the One? And would the Word of God have been fulfilled? What did Our Lord Jesus Christ do thereafter? He dipped a piece in the cup and gave to him and as soon as he took and ate the bread the action of withdrawing his betrayal of Our Lord Jesus Christ disappeared from his mind. That was why Our Lord Jesus Christ told him saying, "Judas whatever you have to do, do it quickly". When Judas was told to put his plan into action quickly, the disciples thought He meant that Judas should go and buy food quickly. But Our Lord Jesus Christ knew that he would betray Him.

If Judas Iscariot had withdrawn from carrying out his plot of betraying Him, Our Lord Jesus Christ would not have fulfilled His assignment of shedding the Blood and the Word of God which says whoever eats your food will kick against you. All would have been made void, and He would not have been the Christ. The ways of God are deep and mysterious.

Sometimes a thief may come into your house, and you know him from the expression of his face to be a thief, a swindler, a murderer but you allow him to remain in your house. You have to eat with him and bear with him, otherwise, you are not walking in the Spirit.

God knows each and everyone of us, whatever you may be, a thief, a fornicator, a prostitute, a liar, God knows you all. But sometimes in your ignorance you say God is stupid for allowing certain things to happen because if He were wise such a thing would not have occurred.

Rather you are foolish and not God. If we profess to live in the Spirit, we should use the power of God to walk in the Spirit. We should be slow to speak, slow to wrath (James 1:19), and we should surrender everything to God but continue to practice loving one another. Do you consider that when you nurse evil thoughts that God does not know or that when you commit any vice, He has not seen you? Even after committing any evil He is still kind to you. He does to you even those things you never expected God would do for you. And then in your ignorance you contemplate within your mind that if God had known what vices you have committed He would not have bestowed such blessings unto you. He knows, but He has no association with anything sinful, but it is His duty to bestow His blessings upon his own children. He loves you. We hate God more than we hate ourselves.

We have insulted Him more than our fellow human being. We have used him in the most disrespectful way and we have not stopped at committing any evil against God. Upon all your discourtesies to Him, your actions against God and the sacrilege you commit, has He ever told you to stop talking to Him? Has he ever reacted against your misuse of Him? Even where you do not take cognizance of His existence, He does not react because He is in the Spirit. He has instructed you not to steal, not to tell lies, not to indulge in charms and concoctions and other evils. To which of these have you complied, and from which of them have you refrained?

And yet He still gives you food, money, children and answers your prayers speedily. This explains why you refer to Him as sumptuous Jehovah. Do you really know what is referred to as very good? If you have a wife and she is contracting illegal carnal intimacy with another man and you do not even budge, you pretend as if you do not know anything about it, your wife will refer to you as a very good man because despite what she has been committing against you, you still give her money for clothes, food, etc. Indeed, you are a very good man. Similarly, if you have a wife but you are always running after women outside your matrimonial home, or take home other women and commit adultery with them, and in spite of your waywardness, she does not complain or quarrel with you or cause trouble in the house, but continues to prepare your food and keep the house, you conclude that she is a very good woman and that you have never seen her like and, for that, she is your mother.

What the worldly people refer to as good man, and those regarded by God as good, are those persons who always endure all situations in their lives, those who endure evil doings. No matter what you do, he does not bother himself, he will not even ask questions for offenses committed against him and people will conclude that such persons are very good. That is why Our Lord Jesus Christ told Simon a parable that a certain creditor had two debtors, one owed him fifty naira and the other ten naira and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both and so asked which of the two debtors would love him most? And he answered and said, I suppose he to whom he forgave most, and Our Lord Jesus Christ told him you have rightly judged. (Luke 7:40-43). Do you realize that any person, who does not impute sins on you in spite of the fact that you have committed all sorts of vices and he imputes no sin, is the one who loves you most and he it is that you will regard as good. This is the characteristic feature of Our Lord Jesus Christ which endeared him to people and induced them to seek after Him since He never bothered about what sins they committed.

Let Me tell you that no matter what you do for your wife, buy a car or a ship for her, build a stone building for her and do all other material things for her but any day you rebuke or admonish her for committing any vice, she will be very infuriated with you and will pass you for a very bad man who does not want her to be at peace. In the same token a man may do what he likes in the house but any day the wife tells him she does not like his going out at odd hours, he will be exasperated with her and will warn her to stop her insolence.

The implication of the injunction that we should love one another as God loves us is to forgive one another, without reckoning any sin for any person and to endure all evildoers. You may quarter somebody in your house free of charge, feed him, buy a car for him and look after him but if you rebuke him for going out often, he will be very cross and will plan his exit, and one day you will be surprised to come back and will not find him in the house. He will pack away from your house in spite of your generosity but because you have rebuked him, he has to go away. Our Lord Jesus Christ has enjoined that we should forgive one another as He has forgiven us. Why have you not accepted this injunction? Because this is the only factor that can unite us, that is, if we no longer impute sins on people. I do not impute on you and you do not impute on me; we continue to love each other, that is the order in this new world.

Do you consider that God does not see a thief when he goes to steal? Sometimes he goes to steal and his ear is chopped off.

When he goes back, he will not think again of going to steal. Even if you advise him to go and steal he will tell you that roguery is not a good occupation because he is fully aware of the repercussion of stealing. Do you feel that a person who does not fear God can fear a human being?

I want to tell you that whosoever is an evil doer is neither afraid of the government nor police, nor the president, nor the governor, he does not even fear God. Leave such a person in the hands of God, only God can change such a person. If you go to reprimand him, it means you have voluntarily given up yourself to him and he can deal with you as he likes. That is why we have been advised not to be proud, pompous and arrogant, not to grieve one another, not be jealous of each other. Leave such a person to his own way, and practice what God has enjoined you to do, i.e. love one another. Do not be exasperated with any man neither should you commit any offense against any person.

Are you not surprised that no person is suspended from

Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, none is excommunicated or disfellowshipped? None is reprimanded yet there is no problem, only the Father reforms. The order is that we should love one another, and do not impute sin on any person, this is the greatest of all the commandments. A spiritual chorus says, clear the forest and God will set the fire. Why not clear the bush and allow God to set the fire? Go and practice what God has advised, that we should love one another, we should not impute sin on any person, and that we resist not the evil doer. We should not tell lies and get annoyed if God will not do whatever is remaining. Even though you build a house and buy a car for someone but as long as you continue to pronounce woe on him and disgrace him and grow exasperated with him, it means you have no love. If you give one thousand naira to somebody gratis but you report him to every person you see to an extent of his being sued before the law courts where he is fined one thousand naira, what good have you done for him? If somebody offends you and you do not backbite against him nor report him to others and become exasperated, you have retained his good name and it means that you love him and stand well before God. From that day Our Lord Jesus Christ shed His precious blood when He said: "it is finished," (John 19:30), it symbolises that God imputes no sin on any person.

He forgives us. In the same token we should no longer impute sins on people. That was why when Peter asked Him how many times will my brother offend against me and I forgive him? Is it seven times?

Our Lord Jesus Christ told him, "not seven times but seventy times seven times." (Matt 18:22). This means that you should not impute sins on any person. That is the commandment of this New Kingdom of God; you have to love one another always.

That is the basis of the freedom and the liberty you find in this Kingdom. If any person pronounces woe on you or calls you various names, no person listens to him, no person is angry about it. Instead he will be loved and ministered unto.

But this is not an indication that a man will not reap what he sows. If you do good you receive good reward. But if you do bad you receive bad reward also. We should, therefore, surrender everything into the hands of the Father; but rather practice His Words and comply with His commandment.

Brethren, I do not intend to be tedious unto you, one stroke of the cane is sufficient for the wise, let those who have ears hear. May God bless His Words. Amen! 

REFERENCE: Everlasting Gospel By The Sole Spiritual Head

Of The Universe, LEADER OLUMBA OLUMBA OBU on:- NEVER YOU GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. From:-FROM CROSS TO STAR - THE GLORIFICATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT- Volume One Pages: 16-58.