The Certainty of an Unbeliever Minister

Unbelievers! Taking over the pulpit? What a paradox? Yes, I mean unbelievers who as pastors, evangelists, bishops etc are preaching from pulpits in our churches. Who is an unbeliever? Is an unbeliever not somebody who does not accept the Lordship of Christ? Yes, an unbeliever is somebody who does not accept the Lordship of Christ. Believers on the other hand are those who accept the Lordship of Christ. They are those who love Christ and keep His commandments (John 14:15). These are the ones who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them (Rom 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16).

A person who does not have the Holy Spirit indwelling in him or her does not belong to God. Paul in Romans 8:9b says that “Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Such a person irrespective of his position, office, prefix attached to his name etc is a property of the devil and belongs to the satanic kingdom. That person’s life is characterised by a sinful lifestyle. In 1 John 3:6-9 we see the contrasts between a believer (a child of God) and an unbeliever (the child of Satan). “6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.”

The contrasts between believers’ and unbelievers’ lifestyles based on the passages above are:

Believers
1 They have seen Christ and known Him.
Unbelievers
1b They have not seen Christ, neither do they know Him

Believers
2 Does not keep on sinning
Unbelievers
2b Keep on sinning

Believers
3 Practices righteousness as Christ
Unbelievers
3b Practices wickedness (unrighteousness) like Satan

Believers
4 They are born of God
Unbelievers
4b They are born of the devil

Believers
5 They have the seed of God (that is God’s very life, Spirit and nature living in them)
Unbelievers
They have the seed of Satan (that is their lifestyles are characterised with lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life)

Anybody, that includes me the writer, the General Overseers, Archbishops, Popes, Bishops, Pastors etc who transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God (2 John 9). That person is an UNBELIEVER! A pastor who sleeps around with his members is an unbeliever. The same goes to a bishop who lies, deceives his congregation and embezzles the church fund. A covetous, lying, proud and adulterous minister is as much a child of the devil as an atheist who professes that God does not exist.

Having unmasked who an unbeliever is, you will agree with me that that there are loads of unbelievers all over the church landscape who masquerade as ministers of the Gospel. These are people who either, have never had the real faith in Christ or are apostates who they knew God in the past but have not continued knowing Him in the present. We have a lot of people like this in the Bible. We shall look briefly at some of them who through their lifestyles and actions confirm their status as Unbelievers (although they were seen as believers by the people around them).

i) Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Christ was an unbeliever
(although he was initially a believer). Aside from betraying Christ, he was a thief (John 12:6). It was his covetousness that led him into betraying his Master (Matthew 26:14-16). We can see that Judas Iscariot appeared outwardly as a disciple of Jesus Christ but inwardly he was an unbeliever: a traitor, thief and covetous person.

ii) Paul the apostle spoke about Alexander the coppersmith who did him
much harm (2 Tim 4:14). Alexander was supposed to be a brother and a believer. For example, he was with Paul in Ephesus during the uproar engineered by Ephesians silversmiths against the gospel of Christ (Acts 19:33).

iii) The Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles spoke of false teachers who have
crept in unawares into the church (Acts 20:29-30; Matthew 7:15; 2 Peter 2:1-2; 1 John 2:19).

Conclusion
We have been able to point out in the first part of this series, that it is possible to have unbelievers as pastors, bishops, reverends etc. People described by our Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles as false prophets, grievous wolves, false teachers etc were members of the church who were ministers but were unbelievers. The perfidy that has bedevilled the church of today is as a result the upsurge of such characters as ministers in this generation.

In the other series we shall consider the characteristics of this group of ministers, the emphasis of their messages and how their teachings and messages impact on the Christian community the world over.

Altar Call
Have your totally surrendered your life unto the Lord Jesus Christ and made Him your Lord and personal Saviour? If not, then take the following steps of faith in order to be saved and receive strength to serve Him.
A – Admit that you are a sinner (Rom 3:23)
B – Believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is able to save you from your sins and sins’ problems (Mathew 1:21)
C – Confess your sins and invite the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour (Romans 10:9-10)
D – Depart from doing evil and live a righteous life in Christ Jesus (Titus 2:11-14)

God bless You in Jesus name

Nice post but lots of errirs