intercessors

Repentance and the salvation question by John Abiola

by Church Times

 

“In this way, I will punish the world for its evil

And the wicked for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];

I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud

And will abase the arrogance of the tyrant”.(Isaiah 13:11 AMP).

 

“So repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day]”.(Acts 3:19 AMP).

 Even if you don’t believe that rapture can take place any moment from now, If you die today where will you spend your eternity; Heaven or Hell?

And which do you choose, Repentance or judgment?

 Hebrews 9:27,28 says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (KJV).

 Do you know that:

1.7 people die per second’.

107 people die per minute.

 6,390 people die per hour.

 153,000 people die per day.

 56 Million people die per year.

 3.9 billion die per average lifetime of 70 per year.

Hundreds of Christians die daily while only a few make it to heaven. if you die today if rapture takes place now, where are you going? Heaven or Hell?

Listen,  Heaven is real, Hell is real and death is inevitable.  Where have you prepared to spend eternity?  Is your name written in heaven?

In the time of Noah, only eight people repented, turned back to God, forsook their sins, and were saved from the flood amongst all that inhabited the earth…

  Out of over 2 million children of God that left Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb among the first generation made it to the Promised Land, even Moses didn’t make it? Remember the word of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ? ” One shall be taken and the other left.”  Hope you also remember that when God’s wrath and judgmental fire fell on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, only three people; Lot and his two daughters were saved. Even lot’s wife wasn’t saved.

 Are you sure of your salvation?

Are you sure your name is written in the book of life in heaven?

 Don’t be in a hurry to answer the questions without first reading this revival article to the end.

My prayer is that the Lord will open your heart to believe the true confessions of this respected and internationally known man of God I’m about to share with you. They came out boldly in order to reveal sins, lies, and deceptions of the devil in the body of Christ, so as to save many unbelievers, pastors, bishops, priests, prophets, and Christians in general.

 Please do well to share this piece with all Christians in your contact.  Please do this and our nation can be saved from God’s judgment and of course the looming World War 3. More also, you would have saved a soul, who knows who’s next to die or rapture will take place.

 

 A warning to those who think they are saved

” For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death”( 2 Corinthians 7:10).

  Some time ago, I read a book whose author I  can’t remember.

 I was greatly touched, and my passion for preaching repentance and praying for mighty revival and awakening has tremendously increased.

Here are extracts from the book ” A warning to those who think they are saved”.

 Mathew 24: 40-41: ” Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left.  Dr. Jim Binney believes that ministers are lost today. Those preachers will be unprepared when the rapture comes. Dr. Binney also believes that many church members are unsaved. He refers to several well-known Christian leaders to support his position. (Dr. Jim Binney is a popular seminar, marriage counselor, speaker, and the founder of L.E.A.D. Ministries (Leadership Enrichment and Development).

 Dr. Rod Bell, President of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship of America, estimates that: 50% of church people are without Christ. His estimate concurs with that of Bob Jones, Sr…. In the 1940s he also fixed the estimate at 50 %.

  Dr. B.R Lakin estimated that 75% are lost of his church members.(Lakin, without a doubt, was the “Prince of Preachers” of this century).

 Statistics of the saved and unsaved

 Dr. Bob Gray, the longtime Pastor of the Prestigious Trinity Baptist church of Jackson Ville, Florida, once said that probably 75% of those he baptized were not saved.

  Billy Graham puts the figure at 85% while,

W Tozer and Southern Baptist Consultant Jim Elilf raised it to 90%.

 These are shocking figures to be sure, but not surprisingly!!..many of such lost people find their way into the roles of the church through evangelism methods that are less than enough in a country that can boast of ” coast to coast ” Christianity, with thousands of church buildings, millions of members.

 The reason that so many who think they are saved may actually be lost is traceable to misunderstanding the meaning of salvation: Many religious people are misled into believing they are genuine Christians because of some external criteria.

 This may be the form of their prayer at the proof of salvation. It can also include a dependence upon feelings, going forward at a public meeting, or meeting someone’s expectations in any regard about the means of salvation. The Bible warns against dependency upon the wrong things for salvation.

 I have quoted some nationally known Bible teachers and counselors at length because they have made the problem so very clear.   

If a leading evangelical like Dr. A .w Tozer said that 90% of the members of our churches are lost

Then, We are in trouble! Tozer was extremely influential in evangelical Christianity in his generation and was often called a “twentieth-century prophet.”)

 Even Billy Graham once said that 85% of our church members are unsaved. Graham was the ‘most important evangelist since the Apostle Paul,’ Russell Moore says. One Southern Baptist leader called Billy Graham the “most important evangelist since the Apostle Paul.”

 These are frightening estimates.  If they come anywhere near being correct, you may be in trouble.

 We are now in the dark period of Apostasy. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ( I I : Thessalonians 2:3)”

The Church is trouble! We are now in the dark period of Apostasy.*

Today witchcraft and occultism activities are now on the rise as never before in the body of Christ. Materialistic gospel, values, and politics have choked the Church.

 God’s message to the Church on Wednesday 11 of July 2018 during my prayer for revival and harvest in the nations,” If I come today to take my Church less than 0.01% in Nigeria and 20% in the world would make heaven”.

 

Brethren, pray to confirm this revelation and let us repent of our sins and live a godly life. Let us preach the real gospel and pray for the salvation of the unreached people groups of the world to increase the numbers that will make heaven to 100%.

 

  *Nigerian Church’s example:*

Reports revealed that 98% of nominal Christians are in the Nigerian church.

I wrote  in one of the previous editions that,”

There are all kinds of satanic fasting, witchcraft prayers, demonic songs, curses, and satanic prophetic decrees of deaths against our perceived human enemies and materialistic gospel in the land. The consequence is that millions of people are not genuinely saved, nor transformed,  destines are mortgaged, gates of hell are widely opened, millions of demons are released and killings, kidnapping, rituals, Jihadists, Bandits, poverty, famine, hunger, corruption and lot more are on the rise daily basis.

I once led a young man to Christ and advised him to go to any Bible-believing church for his spiritual growth. He chose one of the Pentecostal Mega Churches. However, he came back to share with me his encounter at the big assembly he attended. He said, on one of the Sunday services he attended, during the praise and worship which is before the sermon, while everyone was dancing, singing, and rejoicing, Jesus suddenly appeared in the church and told him that though the Sunday service is filled up with thousands of people, “if rapture takes place today only one person will make Heaven, not even the pastor but one innocent person.”

 Just one out of thousands of worshipers was genuinely saved. This a church that has several branches in many countries.

 No Wonder God is not answering our prayers, and our offerings, services, praises and worship have no record in heaven. There are many fake miracles, healings, deliverances and breakthroughs. No wonder the society is corrupt, and darkness, injustice, wickedness and deaths are everywhere in the nation. There is no love, light, unity, integrity or accountability among Christians.

 

The experience of that brother is the same across the nation in many churches, both mega and small.

 

Repentance, righteousness, God’s judgment, rapture, hell, and holiness are not preached because pastors are afraid of losing their income.

 Gal.5.19 -26 says, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure,

 idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.

 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

 If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.  Let us not become conceited, irritate one another, or be jealous of one another.

 Testimony of my repentance and conversion*

  ” Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:10).

 I got born again in a miraculous way that is similar to Apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus.

It was on July 20, 1992, in Kano State in the northern part of Nigeria. Before that glorious day, I was worshiping in a Baptist church as a common church member, bench warmer to be precise. I and my friends were living in all kinds of sin,  having no sense of hope and Life’s direction.

I am not saying the Baptist church denomination is not good nor am I saying there were no born again and Spirit-filled believers in the Baptist church I worshiped, but I was not saved.

Until my conversion, I was of all men miserable. That day was a turning point in my life. I was on my way to do some shopping when I heard a voice “JOHN YOU NEED TO BE BORN AGAIN” I turned to see who spoke to me but I saw no one. Immediately, the personality of our Lord Jesus Christ became real in my heart for the first time and the power of the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me. I knew for the first time in my life that I was a sinner.

I don’t know how but God led me to a Pentecostal Bible church, it was one of the mid-week services and as I entered, I sat down on one of the empty chairs, listened to the sermon, and after the preacher’s message he made an altar call to those that wanted to give their life to Christ.

While he was yet speaking, I stood up and ran out to the pulpit weeping and shouting “I want to give my life to Christ. I want to be born again, I want to be saved” The preacher led me in the sinner’s prayer, I was prayed for and that same day received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and started speaking in tongues. Thereafter, the spirit and power of prayer and fasting came mightily on me. I

Would wake up in the night to pray fervently for deliverance from the bondage of sins, for the knowledge of Christ, and for repentance and salvation of my friends.

 Jesus said in John 3:16-18

Amplified Bible

16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] [a] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.

18 Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because [b]he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].

  Meanwhile, a few weeks before my conversion, while walking down the road, I saw by the roadside many fairly used books displayed on the floor for sale, my eyes were glued to a particular little book written on salvation by an American great evangelist, Billy Graham which I bought and read.

 Years later, I discovered that it was the seed of Billy Graham from this same book that laid the foundation which led to my repentance and salvation. Not long after, I received the call of God into the prophetic ministry for the nations; to call the people to repentance, warnings of God’s coming judgement and pray fervently for revival in the Church and harvest of lost souls and I thank God for saving me so that through me many others mighty repent of their sins and be saved, for nothing gives me greater joy than when an unbeliever is saved, a fallen Christian/leader is revived or a deplorable, dead, carnal, cold, worldly and prayerless church is revived.

 “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning”( Acts 11:15). ” Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls”( Acts 2:38,41).

 My prayer for you today is that the Holy Spirit will descend mightily upon you and you will be convicted of your sins, will genuinely repent and be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and revival fire and that your testimony of repentance, salvation and revival will save others in Jesus Amen! 

Here is another testimony of genuine repentance and conversion written by Margret Adeoso in her book: Properties of the word of God

“A young lady preached to her father to accept Jesus and believe on his name. The father was angry at her and snapped back at her, “can’t you see that I go to church and read my Bible regularly? In fact, I have been going to church and have been reading the holy Bible before you were born”.

 The lady was not intimidated by his anger but gently explained that going to church does not make one a Christian, and neither does it make one a member of the church of God, against whom the gates of hell shall not prevail.

 There is a difference between receiving Jesus into one’s life and going to church. A churchgoer without Jesus in his life is merely reading the letters of the Bible but not the life and the spirit of the word of God. Such a life is a life without the power God has for his children.

 She told her father the story of redemption and the new birth. Having spoken for a while, there was sober reflections. The father then asked his daughter, ” How can I accept Jesus into my life? ” She then led him to genuinely say a similar prayer to the one below;

 

Thank you God for your son Jesus 

LORD God, thank you for giving me your precious Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the Blood He shed on the cross to redeem me from the power of darkness and translate me into the Kingdom of light. It brings me closer to you.

I accept and receive Jesus as my Lord, Saviour, and Redeemer. I believe in the name of Jesus. I repent by the name of Jesus. I repent of my sins and ask that you forgive me. From now on, I will be doing your will. Thank you for my new life in Jesus Christ, the word of God in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

 After the prayer, the lady told her father that he was born again. By listening to the word of God, studying, and doing what the word says, his faith in God would increase. In addition, he would begin to see the power of God in his life. For the kingdom of God is not in the word but in power (1 Corinthians 4:20)

Repent to avoid judgement:

 “The Great Judgment Day of God is almost here. It’s countdown time: . . . seven, six, five, four . . . 

Bitter and noisy cries on my Judgment Day, even strong men screaming for help. Judgment Day is payday -my anger paid out: a day of distress and anguish, a day of catastrophic doom, a day of darkness at noon, a day of black storm clouds, a day of blood-cuddling war cries, as forts are assaulted, as defenses are smashed. I’ll make things so bad they won’t know what hit them.

 They’ll walk around groping like the blind. They’ve sinned against God!

Their blood will be poured out like old dishwater, their guts shoveled into slop buckets.

Don’t plan on buying your way out. Your money is worthless for this. This is the Day of God’s Judgment—my wrath.  I care about sin with fiery passion—A fire to burn up the corrupted world, a wildfire to the corrupting people.”(Zephenias1:14-18)

 Probably, you fell into Satan’s deceptions and lies years back by involving in all kinds of vices.  Or you have been deceived and led as astray for selfish purposes; power, fame, position, and wealth, or you once duped people and involved in hidden sins, abominable things, and immorality among others hence, you think God cannot forgive you, you believe your sins are too abominable in God’s sight. You may have shed so much innocent blood, been involved in rituals, and human sacrifices destroyed destinies and sent many souls to hell under a strong covenant with Satan and hell.

 Well, I bring good news to you today; God still loves You and wants to set you free today.  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  (Romans 5:8-9)

 Only acknowledge your sins, humble yourself,  and don’t miss this opportunity today, mercy may elude you tomorrow. Today might be the last and only chance you have so make use of it and save yourself from God’s coming wrath and judgement upon the wicked. He will forgive, deliver and transform you.

 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to what he had done, whether it be good or bad (2Corrithians 5: 10).

 

John Abiola

Revive Us Again series 66.

 Gmail: prophetjohnabiola97@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

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