PROPHET T.B JOSHUA ON THE RELEVANCE OF THE HOLY BIBLE

      PROPHET T.B JOSHUA ON THE RELEVANCE OF THE HOLY BIBLE

By Isaac Ojo-Eleka, Ezekiel Fajenyo & Sunday Patrick

A critical problem in Christianity today has to do with the use of the Holy Bible. Most Christians are not knowledgeable on the fact that the Bible is the Word of God. The problem has to do with how to translate same as a tool towards enriching their spiritual being. Most often, the Holy Bible (which has appeared in different editions over the centuries) has been handled by people in different ways reflecting their “understanding” of its meaning and relevance as well as its use.

 It is not uncommon to see people wrapping the Bible under the fold of their pillows when sleeping with the strong belief that such can massacre satanic influences or do damage to unseen forces but on dangerously attempting evils on people. Copies of the Bible are kept in corners of personal rooms, on vehicles or offices with a view to warding off evil machinations which might be orchestrated by forces of demon.

It is also the case that some Christians know the Bible from the books –Genesis to Revelation –and can generously quote therefrom, to substantiate religious arguments, preaching, sermons, and writings. But this quality is not to be manipulated by Christians as even some anti-Christ are prolific in their knowledge of the Holy Book. They often use it to establish their own frame work of thoughts and actions.

  Deep and long as its history and developments have been over the centuries, the Bible is simply seen as the work and word of God with which  man encounters the supernatural father in heaven and the tool through which he identifies with the holiness of the creator. But the Bible is a record of history, places, preachings, rare encounters, temptations and trials and the developments of Christianity itself.

 Powerful, unchangeably true and believably inspiring and spiritually motivating, the Bible is the sole assurance of the details of heavenly existence of the place of God and His Son, Jesus Christ  and the expectations of  a Christian who  wishes to live  according to the rules and laws tailored along accepted commandments, visions, wisdom and spirituality. To every Christian, the Holy Bible is undisguisedly sacred unlike other books, just as the Quran is a sacred book to the Muslims.

 It is a source of confidence, hope, vision and assurance of miracles and deliverance. Yet, not every Christian truly knows the very depth of the Holy Bible’s strength and dimensions as a spiritual statement, while seeing it as a manifestation of God’s message to man on earth through which he could attain salvation. Man is still very far away from mastering the details of its reality.

 Prophet T.B. Joshua, the General Overseer of the Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN), spoke recently on the authentic relevance of the Holy Bible to a Christian life. On Sunday, 26^th February, 2012, while addressing the over 10,000- strong congregation in the church headquarters, he explained that the Bible is not only the Word of God but the voice the Holy Spirit through whom God speaks to man.

Carefully selecting his words to explain the spiritual potentials of the Holy Bible, he insisted that the Bible is unique and it exists to strengthen people’s relationship with God. It should mean everything to a living Christian, because according to him, it is a special gift to man and man is expected to read it every time, not only  to commit it to memory, but as an integral part of your being. As gift to me, it rejoices the heart. It keeps me from sin and it is enduring. It keeps me from error. It is profitable”.

 Each of these words means a great deal in the life of any Christian who sees the Bible as an expression of faith; The Holy Bible is a solidifier of faith; a symbolic seal between man and God in their expected relationship; an engine room of spiritual purity and belief and instrument of the expression of confidence in the holiness, power, purity, dependability and faithfulness of God all the time and to enjoy the fulfilment which comes through its messages (all of which bear spiritual essence).

The closer a Christian is to the Bible and its messages, the closer he/she is to God, especially if it is memorized in part or whole which is the essence of its purificatory particularity. It is a gift of a spirit which has to be handled with tenderness and care because it is a tool of defence in  moments as well as a healer which banishes sin and its effects from the life of man. This is the reality of its profitability: it is financially energy-giving, spiritually inspiring and emotionally motivating.

 The Bible is a resourceful material for every Christian for the enrichment of his spiritual life and closeness to God; especially in case it makes life abundant since every Christian’s “life depends on it”, being a product of the “Holy Spirit” who breathed through

men the holy scripture. The scripture is authored by the Holy Spirit, it means to quote the Bible, is to quote the Holy Spirit, and the kind of feelings which comes through such an experience is unlike when  one reads other books such as  literature and history which have no direct inspirations.

Prophet T.B-Joshua, a world renown deliverance minister and foremost preacher, told the overflowing crowd that anyone who engages in reading the Bible is reading the Holy Spirit who is an integral part of  a Christian, because “our lives depend on it”. It provides an answer to all difficulties of life, because as the voice of the Holy Spirit with eternal qualities, it is a mirror through which hidden realities are understood and mastered while life is being powerful deciphered, unexplained Spiritual and fed on.

 Issues of life -frustrations, Spiritual uncertainties and season of dilemma, ill-health and confusion are carefully explained. The book creates a spendable part of holiness, purity, cleanness, faithfulness, discipline and spiritual maturity; it removes man from sin and error, stabilises his spiritual life and strengthens his human value orchestrated by a strong faith in the power of Christ. Prophet T.B Joshua is correct to observe, therefore, that every Christian must “talk scripture in every situation”, because it is a dependable source of empowerment through the knowledge of God.

The Bible strengthens faith and dishonours falsehood, deception, ill-virus and spiritual important which is why is must be thoroughly understood in its deep symbolic signification. Christians are supposed to have a unique identity because they are created to be special and are expected to be happy in the knowledge of the truth. As special beings, he maintained, Christians are not known to admire experiences of impossibilities because everything associated with God is about possibilities, though being a Christian does not necessarily remove one from the plagues of sickness, pain, poverty and trials.

 Though these problems exist to kill and to destroy people, they are sources of promotion, joy and fulfilment for committed Christians. As believers, Christians are expected to know their Bible and be sinless; they should be doers of the word and the Bible must be committed to memory as an integral part of the life of a Christian. And understandably, there will be experienced “an uncommon plan of greatness. Such a person could experience a vision, because the Bible is a mirror of the truth. The Bible is a tool in the hands of the Holy Ghost; it is an instrument  and weapon to fight against isolation, sickness, poverty and demon and a resource material for attracting blessings. Significantly, according to the respected prophet, a Christian who depends on the Bible should be able to ‘’ ask God to draw you close to Him’’ because  “this is the greatest and most important prayer” God can be found in the Bible, person who attests to the fact that scripture has to be quoted in every situation as a demonstration of one’s deep knowledge of God prescriptions for a good life.

The Bible, therefore, links man with God directly, being charged with the power of anointing. As a source of empowerment, the Bible creates room for the mastery of faithfulness, forgiveness, generousity, grace, goodness and all other virtues associated with the Almightiness of Christ, the feeling of moral ugliness and spiritual impotence it banished with the rightful knowledge of God through the Bible. Prophet TB Joshua said, “I know where I belong” should be pronounced in every situation as a Christian, and should be influenced by a change in words and thoughts, especially with a new feeling that “to His power, all things are possible,” if you know where you belong, you will begin to talk as a victor; a true knowledge of the Bible makes a Christian a victor; he becomes triumphant over issues of life which may test his spiritual being.

 The Bible is, therefore, far bigger and richer in orientation, meaning and significance than the sheer tool to which it is being made by people who squeeze it under the pillow or place it in corners of the room. Unless it is well used, it will never achieve any significant effects. People will not be close to God and cannot experience victory when challenged by critical situations of life.