MESSAGE FROM THE ALTARDEVOTIONAL SERVICE 18/07/2021DELIVER US, O LORD.

MATTHEW 23:13 – 17.13. “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees ! You hypocrites ! You lock the door to the Kingdom of heaven in people’s faces, and you yourselves don’t go in, nor do you allow in those who are trying to enter !”15. “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees ! You hypocrites! You sail the seas and cross whole countries to win one convert; and when you succeed, you make him twice as deserving of going to hell as you yourselves are !16. ” How terrible for you, blind guides ! You teach, “If someone swears by the Temple, he isn’t bound by his vow; but if he swears by the gold in the Temple, he is bound.”17. Blind fools ! Which is more important, the gold or the Temple which makes the gold holy ?(GOOD NEWS BIBLE). The Land is on the verge of witnessing the most horrific spectacle since it’s formation. The Country is on the path to the most horrendous carnage ever witnessed. The forces of evil are in a conspiracy to kill and destroy with impunity leaving in their trails unforgettable trauma and inconsolable remnants of avoidable pogrom. The siege is on and very soon the onslaught will commence with brutal effectiveness. Whatever we are experiencing presently is a mere rehearsal leading to the real act. The merchants of death are deployed. The sky is heavily laden with the cloud of sorrow and the rain of death and wanton destruction is about to fall. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times have I wanted to put my arms round all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me! And so your temple will be abandoned and empty. (Matthew 23:37-38). The Land and God’s people are facing this avoidable calamity because of the failure of the Church. In the quest for accumulation of perishable riches , the Church has abandoned her spirituality. In romancing with the world and its captivating radiance, the Church has lost her voice. In secularization of religion, the Church lost her beauty. The leadership of the Church, entrapped by splendour,has succumbed to the avarice of inimical power and has lost the courage to speak the truth to the forces of anti Christ. Like Judas Iscariot, the Church has preferred the ” pieces of silver” to ruling with Jesus Christ. The Church now plays the ostrich while the hordes from hell’s gates; barbaric invaders with symbol of false god and religion trample upon the land wantonly. Yet, there is still hope to stop this carnage if only the Church will wake up to her spirituality: watch and pray. * Pray for a spirit of courage to lift up and condemn the dross of bloated greed and power madness.* Pray for a spirit of power to speak truths to those who hold power and can use it to silence prophets.*Pray for a spirit of subtlety to understand the ambiguities of righteousness and upholding it*Pray for a spirit of humility to see when our righteousness become false righteousness and our moral certainties turn out to be foolishness.*Pray for a spirit of faith that shows Jesus Christ’s death to be the only saving one and suffering on our part is not cosmically noble, only sad.*Pray for a spirit of hope that contains us when the enemy corrupting our covenant turns out to be our own interests and the institutions that sustain them.*Pray for a spirit of love. Unless, the Church wakes up to her spirituality now, this rain of sorrow will fall and with devastating and consuming effect on the Church herself. It is not too late to stop this impending doom. Deliver us O Lord.