02/07/2022
THE RISE OF YOUNG MINISTERS TODAY!!!
(A Balanced Perspective)
By Pastor Bimbo Animashaun
Over the years, I have seen the Church pray for the manifestation of certain dimensions of Grace and when the prayer got answered, the Church still went ahead to knock and criticize those dimensions.
Let me give some examples here. One, the Church would pray for salvation of souls, church growth, numerical increase and more people coming to Christ.
And when the Church exploded in growth and number, same people who prayed for it would turn around to say it's not by number and that churches with large membership have lowered the standard.
Two, the Church would pray for the prolific and excessive manifestation of the healing anointing and also the working of miracles amongst us.
And when God starts raising healing ministers with unusual dimension of the healing anointing, same people who prayed would turn around to label them as fake healing ministers using "juju" to minister.
I saw the same thing done to Rev. Chris Oyakhilome in the early 2000 and the rest they say is history.
Three, the Church would pray for financial and material prosperity so that the Gospel would have a wider spread, reach and coverage.
And when prosperity begins to flow in the Body of Christ, same people who prayed for it would begin to say things like, "Prosperity is not part of the Gospel" and churches with financial and material abundance would come under heavy fire 🔥🔥🔥 (by the same people who prayed).
Four, the Church would pray for the rise of great teachers of the Word who would bring light and understanding to God's precious people.
And when God begins to raise people with great teaching ministries, same people who prayed would turn around to say that it's not by WORD EXPOSITION alone and that these teachers lack POWER DEMONSTRATION, which is not true.
Five, the Church would pray for believers to begin to pe*****te different spheres of life so as to establish the Kingdom of God there and also to represent Christ.
Now when believers start penetrating different spheres of life e.g politics, same people who prayed would begin to question why Christians should go into politics.
Six, the Church would pray for MORE PLATFORMS to preach and teach the Gospel of Christ so that the knowledge of God's Word could cover the earth as the waters cover the sea - Hab.2:14.
And when MORE PLATFORMS begin to open up in the realm of mainstream media and social media "for instance", same people who prayed for MORE PLATFORMS would begin to say that REAL MINISTRY IS NOT DONE ON SOCIAL MEDIA and that ministers on social media are spiritual rookies.
Seven, the Church would pray aggressively that God should raise ministry gifts, especially YOUNG MINISTERS who would go all the way and preach the Gospel of Christ.
And when YOUNG PEOPLE begin to go into ministry, same people who prayed for THE RISE OF YOUNG MINISTERS would start nailing, knocking and criticizing them again.
They would begin to designate young ministers as spiritual charlatans, yet they were the ones who prayed for young ministers to rise in the first place.
By the same stretch of imagination, the Church would pray to God to RAISE MORE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS, and when we start seeing people bearing the trademark of such ministries, we start knocking them again.
It's a straightforward thing. You prayed that God should raise APOSTLES, then YOUNG APOSTLES start emerging and you call it error and pollution again.
Now the big question; WHAT DO WE REALLY WANT?
Why would a man of God be praying and advocating for THE RISE OF MINISTRY GIFTS in the Body of Christ and then still turn around to go critical when YOUNG MINISTRY GIFTS are rising?
These things are not new Sirs and Mas. I say this with humility of heart; I have seen this same pattern play out in my 20 years of ministry.
I saw what was done to Rev. Chris Oyakhilome in the early 2000, and while all of that was going on, I kept focusing on the fruits of his ministry which agreed with the New Testament, and today, to the Glory of God, the man of God is still standing strong and WE HAVE MORE MINISTERS WITH THAT SAME DIMENSION OF GRACE IN THE BODY OF CHRIST TODAY.
Someone said, "Oh, Pastor Bimbo, you missed the point. We're saying that there are many charlatans among these young folks".
Well, when we prayed that God should raise ministry gifts, did we pray for the rise of ministerial rascals and charlatans? NO!!!
Did I believe that God anwered our prayers? YES!!!
Are all these young ministry gifts spiritual charlatans? NO!!!
So, should we now because of a few bad eggs (which is peculiar to every generation anyway) designate all of them as spiritual charlatans? NO!!!
Truth is that right from the "Old Testament" till the time of the New Testament till classical Christianity and now contemporary Christianity, there have always been people who paraded themselves as genuine APOSTLES, PROPHETS, EVANGELISTS, PASTORS, TEACHERS but that would never give anyone the right to lump everyone together.
I know that by God's Grace, I'm not a spiritual charlatan. I didn't just get called and ordained in ministry; I passed through ministerial training and tutelage, and same thing is applicable to MANY YOUNG MINISTERS like myself.
We MUST STOP hasty generalization, cyber bullying of young ministers, unwarranted criticism, opprobrious attacks, personal sentiments, emotional explanation of Scriptures, etc. because even if anyone feels that he's not a young minister, let him not forget that he was once a young minister.
We cannot eat our cake and have it. We can't be trusting God to raise YOUNG APOSTLES in one breath and OTHER MINISTRY GIFTS and then turn around to designate GENUINE YOUNG APOSTLES as spiritual rookies and rascals.
Unless we can prove by SCRIPTURES and SCRIPTURES ALONE that ordination into ministry offices is by AGE, and not by GRACE, then we can say young people can't be called into any of the ministry offices.
But if we can't prove that BY SCRIPTURE, then in humility, it's better we lay aside personal sentiments and prejudices and partner with the Spirit of God to raise a new crop of YOUNG MINISTRY GIFTS in our time while we SEPARATE THE CHAFF FROM THE GRAIN and avoid hasty generalization or over generalization.
On this premise I rest my case, and by His Grace we will not be tired!!!
May the Lord help the Body of Christ!!!
Amen!!!
I hope this is a blessing Sirs and Mas?
Jesus Makes All Things Beautiful!!!
Maranatha!!!
