Blaze Christian Magazine

14/02/2024

1 Corinthians 4:20
[20]For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

10/05/2023

03/05/2023

Sunday sermon Part 1.

PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD

Ephesians 6: 10-13 "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand"

By default, humans are born with the nature of Adam, which is of sin. This makes us vulnerable to the attacks of the devil as sin puts us in the same camp as him. When one receives Jesus, they are transferred to the Kingdom of God and become the righteousness of God in Christ. It is only then that they are able to stand against the attacks of the devil. Every human is in the midst of spiritual warfare, whether they acknowledge it or not. There are evil forces working tirelessly to inflict pain on human souls and intend to drag everyone to hell with them. When you are in warfare, you cannot survive without the protective gear of soldiers.

In Ephesians 6, Paul uses a metaphor of being a good soldier to describe how Christians ought to remain protected. He urges us to be strong in the Lord and lean on His might as our defense. Humans are incapable of protecting themselves as they are only made of flesh and blood, hence we need to depend on God's strength for protection. The devil, on the other hand, is an intelligent and powerful spirit who can only be defeated by the power of the Lord. The amplified classic version of John 16:11 describes the devil as an evil genius. He has set up an intelligent system and is very strategic in his operations against humans. Therefore, you cannot stand against his wiles on your own.

You need to be in the Lord, be strengthened by His mighty power, and be fully clothed in His armor. Otherwise, the devil will crush you and do away with you. Many people who do not have the Lord are a playground of the devil without realizing it. He sends evil spirits who pretend to be their dead loved ones to deceive them. These foul spirits give them orders which put them in danger and ultimately make them lose their lives. They slaughter cows, chickens, and other animals because they believe that they are appeasing their ancestors. The Word of God tells us that those who are dead know nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5) and that their thoughts have perished (Psalm 146:4).

When people engage in these practices, they are strengthening the evil spirits that operate in their bloodline and giving the devil legal ground to torment them. Some people come to church but they never separate themselves from these spirits. They still take instructions from them and disobey God. Ultimately, they end up living defeated lives. True prosperity is only achieved when people obey the Lord. You cannot be a successful soldier in the battlefield if you refuse to take instructions from your commander, who is your pastor. You may think that you are winning just because you identify as a Christian who comes to church, but in fact, you have fallen into the trap of the enemy and become a victim of his many strategies.

Without the Lord on your side, your life will be filled with a plethora of defeats. Your strength and intelligence cannot protect you. People may describe you as intelligent at work or school, but your high IQ will not shield you against the strategies of the devil. He is an evil genius who deceives highly educated kings and leaders into making covenants that they think will work for them, but which ultimately benefit him. You may be a physically strong individual who goes to the gym and can fight multiple people at a time, but your strength is nothing in comparison to the power of the devil.

The devil does not respect any of these things. He does not care if you are a doctor, professor, or president. If you do not have the defense of the Lord, he will tear you apart. How many billionaires are being kicked around by the devil like a soccer ball? They dance to his tune by performing rituals that open a door for the devil to do as he pleases in their lives, but they cannot see that because their riches make them think they are winning in life. The devil has no regard for age, status, title, or appearance. He does not care about your family background. He will manipulate and attack you as long as you are not strong in the Lord and His might.

Engaging in physical fights against other humans is easier as it relies solely on human strength. If you lose, you can always go back to the gym and improve yourself before facing your opponent again. However, fighting against the forces of darkness is different because they are not flesh and blood. These spiritual entities form spiritual weapons and use them to strike humans. The suffering that people often experience emanates from the spiritual realm, and these dark forces use witches and other individuals who have made alliances with the devil to work against humans. You cannot rely on your intelligence to deal with such powers; you need the power of God.

Our weapons are not earthly, but powerful in God for pulling down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). You cannot demolish strongholds by relying on human power and wisdom. When you use your own mind to deal with spiritual matters, the devil can deceive and manipulate you into making foolish decisions and flawed judgments. This is why some people find themselves in trouble. When a man with a wife and children quits his job just because he felt offended by someone at work, it is because he is influenced by demonic spirits that make him believe he should not tolerate any disrespect. When striving to make progress in life, it is important to realize that there are those who are actively working against you.

Have you ever wondered why it is such a challenge to find a job? Although you have a strong CV and impress potential employers during interviews, they never call you back. Even when you are confident that you have landed the job, things quickly take a turn for the worse. This is all a result of the spiritual warfare happening around you. It is not just by chance that all the potential partners who propose to you suddenly withdraw when it is time to pay lobola. It is all orchestrated in the kingdom of darkness. Why do you think your life is following the same pattern of problems that your parents went through? It is because such things are programmed by the spirits that are assigned to work against your family.

The enemy's ultimate goal is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Whether you choose to engage in battle with him or not, he will use all of his weapons to strategize and bring you down. Everyone is born into a spiritual warfare on this earth, and choosing not to fight means accepting defeat. The only ones who are guaranteed victory are those who are fully clothed in the armor of the Lord and dependent on His supernatural power. Without this dependence, you are vulnerable to the many tricks and schemes of the devil. Hold on to the Lord and do not remove His armor. Be blessed.

03/04/2023

PASSION WEEK- JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE

Reference scripture: Matthew 21:12-17

After Jesus entered Jerusalem, He went into the temple courts where He found that the temple was turned into a marketplace. Some people were selling animals for sacrifices, others were exchanging money for travelers, and others were selling doves. They were also dishonest and robbing people in their trade. The Lord Jesus was angered by this and He drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money exchangers, the seats of those who sold doves, and said to them, “It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations' (Isaiah 56:7), but you have made it a den of robbers".

The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the temple shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” But the leaders were disgruntled. They asked the Lord Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” “Yes,” Jesus replied. “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise” (Psalm 8:2).

The temple of God is a place where you expect to find people worshipping and giving honour to the Lord. It is a place where the people are meant to receive healing, peace, and everlasting joy. In this case, the temple had been turned into a commotion and people there used it for their own motives and selfish gains. This shows they had no fear of God. Let us remember that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we need to rid ourselves of all uncleanliness. We ought to walk in the fear of God and righteousness, ensuring that whatever we do does not defile the temple of the Holy Spirit.

In Exodus 12:15, the Lord gave Israel strict instructions of how to observe Passover. They were to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, whereby they were to eat bread made without yeast. The Lord told them to remove yeast from their houses, saying that whoever ate yeast during that time should be cut off from Israel. As we commemorate this Passion Week, let us not continue to harbor the yeast of sin, which defiles our temples. For when we sin, we are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace. Child of God, ensure that you end every ungodly transaction in your life during this time. Be blessed.

13/02/2023

The Apostle Paul, who wrote 2/3rd's of the Bible, was an aggressive persecutor of Christians before he had a radical encounter with Jesus! This changed him completely! We have that same grace available to us! When we encounter Christ we begin a new life with Him, a life of love, acceptance, peace, joy, and living according to the Word of God! We get to live IN forgiveness as we walk with Jesus!

27/09/2022

CHURCH ON TRIAL
We are appearing again tomorrow at court. It is the 16th appearance. Church persecution is REAL in SA. It has actually started that believers find themselves being taken to court without committing any crime whereas criminals are left walking free. They are doing the same thing they did to our Lord Jesus Christ. We however, continue to pray for our justice system. Lord, have mercy on South Africans!

21/09/2022

PSALM 112:
THE HAPPINESS OF A GOOD PERSON

[1]Praise the Lord! Happy is the person who honours the Lord, who takes pleasure in obeying his commands.

[2]The good man's children will be powerful in the land; his descendants will be blessed.

[3]His family will be wealthy and rich, and he will be prosperous for ever.

[4]Light shines in the darkness for good people, for those who are merciful, kind, and just.

[5]Happy is the person who is generous with his loans, who runs his business honestly.

[6]A good person will never fail; he will always be remembered.

[7]He is not afraid of receiving bad news; his faith is strong, and he trusts in the Lord.

[8]He is not worried or afraid; he is certain to see his enemies defeated.

[9]He gives generously to the needy, and his kindness never fails; he will be powerful and respected.

[10]The wicked see this and are angry; they glare in hate and disappear; their hopes are gone for ever.

12/09/2022

The power of God rests in the Truth. You do not have to be a pastor, apostle, or evangelist to operate in the supernatural. It can also be a child, a senior, a man or woman, an elderly person or a normal believer who simply speaks, preaches, and testifies of the truth; God will support them with miracles, signs, and wonders. There is supernatural power in preaching the truth. When you speak the word of truth, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the spirits of infirmity, poverty, and depression must go. We must return to the word of truth.

06/08/2022

The ACDP is totally opposed to the plans of the ANC to introduce the teaching of ancestral calling into schools. The Department of Education in Kwazulu-Natal will be hosting an indaba on the subject, and through them the ANC has sent out invitations to the public to make submissions for abstracts on ancestral calling in schools.

Obviously, the ACDP will fight this tooth and nail and will never allow the ANC to do this. The ANC has removed prayer and the teaching of Biblical values from schools. Our children used to be taught values from the Scriptures, values that guided and trained students about moral living, how to live right, how to live morally. Children were taught what is right and what is wrong. Now children are no longer taught that, because the idea of children making their own discoveries is being promoted instead.

The Bible is not being taught in schools anymore, which is one of the reasons why many children are very rebellious. Recently children died in a tavern, the youngest of them being a 13-year-old girl. They died around 3 and 4am on a Sunday morning. What would 13-year-old children be doing in a tavern at 3am?

It was a deliberate strategy by the ANC when they removed prayer and Bible reading from the schools - they now want to teach about ancestral worship. They are also suggesting that children can receive an ancestral calling in school, and if they get an ancestral calling in school teachers must be able to assist them. This is totally unacceptable.

If these children receive this so-called ancestral calling, they are going to drop out of school and say, “I have a calling to be a sangoma.” We have very low percentages of children who have Matric in South Africa; and when it comes to university graduates, matters are even worse. Government will be indirectly encouraging learners to drop out of school and become sangomas. The ACDP totally opposes this. We want children to remain in school and graduate.

If they believe that ancestral calling, then their parents will deal with that – not schools, not teachers. Their parents must deal with that and no teacher should be given such a responsibility.

The ACDP rejects this. We are going to fight this and we encourage others to do the same. People may say, “But don’t they have the constitutional right to freedom of religion?” This is true. Section 15 of the South African constitution guarantees freedom of religion, belief and opinion; but the ANC does not apply this section when it comes to Christians reading the Bible and praying in schools. Therefore, they will not be able to use this when they try to say ancestral worship should be taught in the schools.

Rev Kenneth Meshoe

02/08/2022

A very encouraging message from Apostle G. Maldonado:

05/06/2022

PRAY until something happens.

02/06/2022

Psalms 20:1-9
A PRAYER FOR VICTORY

[1]May the Lord answer you when you are in trouble! May the God of Jacob protect you!

[2]May He send you help from His Temple and give you aid from Mount Zion.

[3]May He accept all your offerings and be pleased with all your sacrifices.

[4]May He give you what you desire and make all your plans succeed.

[5]Then we will shout for joy over your victory and celebrate your triumph by praising our God. May the Lord answer all your requests.

[6]Now I know that the Lord gives victory to His chosen king; He answers him from His holy heaven and by His power gives him great victories.

[7]Some trust in their war chariots and others in their horses, but we trust in the power of the Lord our God.

[8]Such people will stumble and fall, but we will rise and stand firm.

[9]Give victory to the king, O Lord; answer us when we call.