EVIL PREPARATION | Raiding The House Of The Strongman by Dr. D.K Olukoya

EVIL PREPARATION

Luke 13:1-5: “There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galiaeans were sinners above all the Galiaeans, because they suffered such things? , tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam jell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Some people were killed and their blood was mingled with sacrifice by Pilate. Only God knew what they did to Pilate that made him to order that they be killed. They were killed and their blood was mingled with the sacrifice they were offering. Some people reported the matter to Jesus and he answered them: “Do you think that those people were more terrible sinners than all other Galileans?”

I want you to consider the above passage seriously. It is crystal clear that tragedies are occuring in our nation. Fire outbreak, mass killing through accidents and all kinds of terrible things are happening. What Jesus is saying is this: do not think that all those who perish through accidents are terrible sinners. Repentance is the key. But unfortunately, these days, a lot of people are making evil preparation. They mistakenly prepare platforms for the devil to destroy them.

It is possible to be preparing for something but your preparation is faulty. For example, you are a student and you are supposed to sit for mathematics examination tomorrow, and for some reasons you think it is geography. And you prepare for geography, only for you to get there and discover that it is mathematics. You have done your preparation all right, but it was a wrong preparation.

To prepare is to make ready, to make previous arrangement for something. It means to be ready. Unfortunately, a lot of people are making evil preparations. I want you to understand that everyone in this world is living a borrowed life. You do not know how you started living in this world, so also you cannot tell when your life will end. No one has the power to choose where he or she would be born and how he or she would be born. So, if you look closely into the word of God, you will agree that our lives do not belong to us. The world is not the last bus stop; hence you have to be very careful what you do with your life. There is a destination in view.

One streak of human nature is the attitude of planning to do evil. Most people in the world today are actually planning to fail. It is unfortunate that many church goers are preparing for failure. And many are planning to perish.

Jesus spoke frankly in the verses we read above. The message is very clear: you either repent or you perish. The opposite of repentance is peril. So, if a person does not fully repent, he is making preparation to perish. And the worst preparation you can make for your life is preparation to perish. If you go to a place where the word of God is preached, and God cannot achieve what he wants to achieve in your life and He says, “Let him go,” that word, “Let him go,” means that He has given up on you. I pray that God will not give up on you.

The message is very clear: you either repent or you perish. Repentance is a powerful word in Scripture. There were 400 years of silence in the Bible, when the book of Malachi closed and there was no prophet and nothing happened. After that long period, the silence was broken with the cry that came through John the Baptist. That cry was “Repent.” Repentance is the first key to becoming a friend of God and to receiving complete deliverance. Unfortunately, many who say they are believers take this lightly. If you refuse to repent, you are making an evil preparation.

I am afraid we may be leading masses of unrepentant people. They live and believe in ‘false peace’. They are being told that there is peace when there is none. These are people who have refused to repent. A lot of people who come to the church are not genuinely convicted of their sins. We have people who say they are saved when they have not really repented. Unfortunately, many

churches focus on remedy while ignoring the disease. You must repent or you perish. There is no middle camp.

You can say, ‘But I have repented’. Well, if you say you have repented, why do you still go back to that sin from which you repented? That kind of repentance is questionable because true repentance should produce a change of heart. It means something has been removed from within you. True repentance means renouncing your sins. It is evidenced by consciousness of sin. It is having the consciousness of self judgment. It makes you have a sense of unworthiness and elimination of pride. It will bring great grief for sin in your heart. It will make you have godly sorrow. True repentance will make you pray seriously and receive power to resist temptation. Many people need to repent. Enough of fake repentance.

If we want revival and desire that the power of God should be manifested, the first message we must honour is the message of repentance. If that is not done, deliverance cannot follow. To be very honest with you, the greatest deliverance comes after repentance. Where there is true repentance, people weep before the cross; they cry because of their sins. Today, people come to the church without having anything concerning salvation. Some people ask; “What does it mean to be born again?” That kind of deliverance is just a waste of time. And pastors who conduct deliverance without ensuring that those they want to deliver are born again are equally sinners. More demons may come upon such people. A lot of people in churches today need to be broken down completely by the power of God. They need to shake sin out of their lives like one shakes liquid out of a bottle, so that the power of God would be able to manifest in their lives. The lesson that many people in the church have not leant is that the devil is wicked and that he does not know mercy.

The devil is looking for those who will go to hell fire with him. As long as there is a little sin in your life, it is enough ladder for the enemy to deal with you. The truth is that even if we called you a believer and you have not repented, you are only deceiving yourself and not God. There is nothing like partial repentance. It is like saying that seven thieves went to raid a house, six of them could not get in, only one got in. The moment the house is raided the seven thieves are guilty. If you repent from telling lies and you are proud, or if you repent of the way you talk, but bitterness is still there; or you repent of bitterness but stealing is still there; or you repent of lies but covetousness is still there, or

you repent of covetousness but the lust of the heart is still there; or you repent of the lust of heart but you are still forging papers, you are guilty all the same. As far as the Scripture is concerned, you have not repented. It is like saying that a a bird fell into a snare but the snare caught only one of its wings. Of course the bird cannot escape. That is what you suffer when you repent partially.

I want you to understand that it is either you repent or perish. I like to tell you that with all that is happening now, it is dangerous for you to move about without ensuring that at every moment you are ready for heaven. It is also very dangerous for you to pray a certain kind of prayer when the enemy is still resident in your house. If you know you are rebellious and proud, if you know you still commit fornication and the lust of the heart is still in you, but you are attacking witches and wizards, of course, they will turn around and deal with you. Satan (like Pharaoh) would want to keep some sins in you as a pledge, so that he can return.

Moses said, “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said, “You can go but leave your cattle behind.” Today the devil will say, “You can go but leave your business life with us.” You can give your body, soul and spirit to Jesus, but continue with your fraudulent business. That was what Pharaoh said: “You can go, but leave your family behind.”

How can you say you are born again but your children are demons in the streets. Satan, like Pharaoh, would want to keep a little sin there so that you can still turn back. Satan would tell you to hate your enemy but don’t harm him, whereas God says you should cut him off and don’t allow him to destroy you. God is seeking true repentance from us.

Genuine repentance is the first step towards brokenness. But if you don’t prepare for it, then you are preparing to perish. When you repent, you surrender yourself to the word of God in all situations. When you repent, you deny yourself completely and take up your cross daily. When you repent you come to Jesus with the mind of seeking help in Jesus. When you repent, you come to Jesus with a broken and a contrite heart. Repentance means turning from the way you were travelling earlier to the opposite direction.

Jesus said, “Repent or perish.” When you repent, you feel sorry for your sins.

You will manifest godly sorrow. You would not like to go back to that kind of life anymore. When you repent, you will hate evil things. You will depart from all the filthy things you were doing before. There would be a radical and fundamental change in your life.

When the gospel first came into this continent, some of our fathers joined the church with multiple wives and so on. But as they repented, they began to disengage such multiple wives one after the other until a man with 1.5wives would be left with one. And they were able to move the hands of God. They had an understanding of what it means to repent.

The modern-day gospel is brandishing fake repentance. It provides a lot of substitution for real repentance. Makeup your mind to go for true repentance. There are people who God wants to use but He cannot use them now because they are too dirty. There are people for whom God has lined up wonderful programmes. When such people cry: “God, I want you to do something wonderful in my life. I want you to use me”, God will say, “Yes, I want to use you, but how about this filthiness in your life? Remove it and I will use you.” Although God wants to use them, He cannot, because they are not fully surrendered to Him. Some people think that repentance is just a change in action without a change of heart. Some people have only experienced emotional revival, no change has gone deep in their lives. Some appear very godly but let someone upset them, then you will hear terrible words that would make you wonder if they are believers. You may confess the word of God with your mouth while your heart is not in it. Confessing to God that you are a sinner is good, but confession should not be characterised only by the movement of your lips, it must move your heart. The exercise of your mouth alone cannot really change your heart.

Some people repent temporarily because of the gain they want from God. This is not true repentance. You may attempt to leave some terrible sins and keep hidden pet sins. That is not repentance. If you are always going to God, saying, “I am sorry for my sins,” it means that you have not repented. A person like that should be assured that he is on his way to hell fire.

Repentance is not the sorrow of a thief caught red-handed with stolen property and is afraid of the consequences. It is not reluctant apology of a person who has

been proved wrong. It is not mere regret because someone discovered what you did. It is not regretting because of the physical things one would lose as a result of the sin in which one was found. It goes beyond stopping one particular sin because of certain circumstances. If you stop smoking or drinking for health reasons, you have really not repented of them. Repentance is not just saying sorry. There must be a fundamental change of heart. That is why Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish.”

Many years ago, a beautiful girl sang in the choir of the church which I was attending. She came from a Christian home and led prayers at home. Her father was a pastor and a very strict man. One day, the lady was asked to fetch water and she came home very late at night. Her father was angry and shouted at her: “Where are you coming from?” She gave flimsy answers with which her father was not satisfied. So, he went to the mission and called a midwife to check the girl whether she had committed fornication. The midwife checked and confirmed that she had committed fornication. The man was mad with her, stripped her naked and used blade to cut her back. Then he called her mother to bring pepper which they robbed in the wound.

He thought that aggressive, acidic reactions would have changed the girl, but a year later, the girl became pregnant. The father, who happened to have followed her to one boy’s house, was shocked when the boy said he was not the only one. He accompanied her to another boy’s house, who also denied responsibility for the pregnancy. They went to another boy and he also said: “I am not responsible for the pregnancy.” The man came back home and gave up. This happened in 1977. Right now the girl is in her fifth marriage.

If you allow the devil to hold your finger, he will pull your hand. If you allow him an inch in your life, he will go a mile. If you give him a seat in your life, he will build a big empire there. That girl was going to church, listening to all the messages but she never repented.

One of the most embarrassing days I have had in my life time was the day an Alhaji entered the church I was once attending. It was a small church of about 100 members. The Alhaji came in while the pastor was preaching and shouted at the top of his voice at all of us: “You foolish people, you gather yourself here saying that you are praying and holding vigil upon Vigil. I warned my daughter

about this your Vigil. Now, you people have gotten her pregnant. I told her to stop coming here. Now look at what you people have done to her. Your foolish choirmaster has made her pregnant.” The Alhaji came and embarrassed us.

That meant that the choirmaster had never repented.

Many people in the house of God have not really repented. It is a tragedy that anyone would go from the altar of the Lord and end up in hell fire. What a tragedy it would be that an angel should read from the same hymn book you have been singing your special number and ask you if you didn’t remember that you sang the song. Then you will say, “I did.” Then he will ask you why you did not do what you sang.

If you cannot obey what is written in Hebrew 12:4, then you are planning to perish.

Hebrew 12:4: “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”

If you don’t resist sin by striving against it unto blood, then you are planning and preparing to perish. You must not deceive yourself. If you are close to heaven, you know. If you are far from there, you also know. If your fellowship with God is real, you know. If you are a weak believer, you know, and if you are a strong believer, you know. You know your spiritual status, except you want to deceive yourself. But one thing is certain, a day is coming when everybody will stand to give account of what he did with all the messages he or she heard.

What d id you do with the Bible you read? What d id you do with the grace of God that was upon you? You may say, “But I was a minister.” Then the Lord will tell you, “But I don’t know.” Then you will say, “But I worked for the Lord.” And He will tell you: “Yes, you did, but you did it in sin.”

The moment a person dies, a sheet of cloth or a blanket would be placed over him. A vehicle would take the body to the mortuary if the family can afford it. Arrangements would be made for the funeral service, if the family can get a religious group to perform the funeral. The choir would sing some songs from the hymn book. There is a section in the hymn book for dead people.

People would spend money to print pamphlets and obituary posters. And some would cry saying the deceased was a good person. While they are crying, others would be saying in their heart that the foolish man or foolish woman is gone. People would shed tears over the lifeless body. But what the deceased d id not want to let go and serve God, he would not be able to hold anymore. The money he pursued day and night, that did not allow him to have time for his spiritual life, that money if placed in the hand of the corpse now, it would not be able to hold it. The business he was always thinking about for which he could not pray, he would no longer go for it. The spouse whom the deceased was so fond of that he or she could not ‘develop spiritually, would now mean nothing. Soon after the spouse is buried, the one living will start talking about marrying someone else.

People may gather to give what they call their final respects, sing funeral songs and say all kinds of good things concerning the deceased.

They may say that the deceased has gone to be with the Lord. They would give the date of his birth and the date he died. But the question is: “Are you really sure you are going to be with the Lord?” People will decide where your body should be buried, but they cannot decide where your soul will be. If you eventually land in hell fire, the demons there would torment you even the more, because of the good funeral songs and the good testimonies given concerning you.

How can you see light and choose death? Why must you run after money when money would flyaway soon? Do you spend your life running after sex? Sex is the expressway to hell fire. Why should the ugly and dirty spirit face you on that day and ask: “Were you not the one praying fire prayers? Were you not the one singing? Were you not the one going about ringing bell along the streets saying, ‘Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand?’ Were you not a Sunday school teacher? Were you not a member of the choir? What are you doing here?” These questions will be passed to you if you do not repent.

The Bible says that if you entertain evil thoughts in your heart, even if you did not carry them out, you have already sinned. It means you can commit sin with your eyes closed. Some people are professional time wasters. They come to a man of God and hide their sins. They would be wasting the precious prayers of

the man of God. They would not tell him what they have been doing wrong. When things continue going wrong, they would say, “I don’t understand why the prayers of the man of God is not working for me.” However, they never told the man of God what they were doing in secret.

Ezekiel was an interesting prophet. God took him by the hair and cut his hair and his beard. After, God asked him to burn one-third of it with fire. He did. Then God asked him to cut the second part to pieces with a knife, and he did. God asked him to scatter the third part in the wind, and he did. While he was doing all these, people were watching him. They didn’t understand what he was doing until he began to interpret his actions.

He said that the one-third that was burnt with fire meant that one-third of the people would die by famine and pestilence. Another one-third of the people would fall by the sword. That was what the hair cut into pieces meant. The final part that was scattered in the wind meant that the people would be scattered all over the world. With many illustrations like that, Ezekiel warned the people. In fact, he could be said to be the man of God who warned the people greatest in the Bible. One day God called him and told him something:

Ezekiel 33:30-33: “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.”

The people enjoyed listening to prophet Ezekiel, but would not do what he said. The children of Israel were making evil preparation, preparing to perish; and they perished at last.

Paul preached to many people. Some listened and some did not. Then he uttered a prophetic word to them. He said: “You will die and you will perish; I

will do a work in your days that even if you see it you wouldn’t understand it, you will hear but you will not understand.”

If the Bible says some people will perish, dear reader, it should not be you. If the Bible says, some people will be deceived, it should not be you. If the Bible says that the love of many shall wax cold, you should not be one of them. You need to face this reality: what will happen to you at the end of the day depends on you. You must not be guilty of any form of evil preparation today. Pray and remove yourself from the list of those who blindly go into evil preparation.

PRAYER POINTS

1. My Father, have mercy on me now, in the name of Jesus

• Every power that wants me to perish, get out of my life, in the name of Jesus.

• Bondage of sin in my heart, break, in the name of Jesus.

• My Father, do not forsake me, in the name of Jesus.

• Holy Ghost fire, incubate my life now, in the name of Jesus.

• Anointing that breaks the yoke, fall upon me now, in the name of Jesus.