Liberating a Church Under Siege

By Adam Phiri

This book is a must read for everyone that is watching the recent happenings in the  Christendom.The proliferation of false prophets and the blatant abuse  scripture by charlatans who have sneaked into the church with strange doctrines and decieving many.It seeks to expose and shine a light on the commercialization of the gospel with materialism and prosperity taking center stage. This book will help you to:

1. Understand the false prophetic move of our day and the prophetprenuers at the helm.

2. Understand the deviation from scripture and how materialism is being used to fleece the church members.

3. It will help you avoid being deceived by understanding the times.

4. It will encourage  you to be grounded in the word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adam Phiri
• Release date: Feb 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781981330256

Book preview

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my privilege and singular honor to acknowledge all those who contributed in their special way to see the progress of this book ;  to all those who provided support, talked things over, read, wrote,  offered comments and assisted in the editing, proofreading and design.

First and foremost I thank Dr. Ron and Linda Fritch who planted the seeds of writing in me.

I would like to thank Hestra Marketing, Jacob & Semukeliso for helping me in the process of selection and editing and Publishing.

Thanks to my friend and buddy Friday Lupiya for His immense encouragement,Thank God for Shadreck Sinkala for his sound advice, support and patronage.Thanks to Reverend Rockefeller S. Sikaneta and Pastor Linda for their patronage and support. Thanks to Apostle Kaka Mwamba for His gracious support. Thanks to G. Fernando for your encouragement.Thanks to my sisters , Moto Bateman,Ninah Phiri , Thandiwe and Elizabeth for their love and support.

My deep appreciation for Mr.& Mrs Motshidisi for their love and encouragement.

My ever green critic and designer Vibes  Njowa Vengesai of Vibration Designs

Without all of you, this book would never have seen the light of day.

Last and not least: I beg the pardon of all those who have been with me over the course of the years and whose names I have failed to mention.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to all who are concerned about the state of affairs of the church.

I pray that God will ignite in you a sense of urgency to hold on in the midst of this difficult season of defeat.

I pray that you encounter divine counsel and comfort in the pages of this book.

LIBERATING A CHURCH under Siege Copyright © 2017 by Adam Phiri.

Printed in Republic of Zimbabwe, under International Copyright Law. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations em- bodied in critical articles or reviews.

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT; [e-mail]

ISBN: 978-1981330256

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from the New Kings James Bible

Book Design: Adam Phiri

Cover design & Layout: by Njowa Vengesai, Vibration Designs

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First Edition: December 2017

Published by: Hestra Marketing

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Africa

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CONTENTS

Preface      1

Chapter 1  5

Chapter 2  20

Chapter 3      95

Chapter 4  120

Preface

This has been a very overwhelming and hard book to write, because it speaks to the many errors and wrongful practices reminiscent with the church today. I stand the risk of being misunderstood; some may take it to be a diary of a frustrated pilgrim because it may seem critical of some of the major practices of the church today. A look around reveals that it is true that so many strange practices and doctrines are evident in the church but few dare question them.

When you confront these practices one always runs the risk of being misunderstood and labeled judgmental or negative. In fear of sounding negative, many people choose to remain quiet. It takes boldness and courage to speak out against such issues.

There is a false prophetic move, which keeps drawing people away from pure sincere faith to pursue man. One of the greatest indictments of the Christianity of our times is how little of Christ we see in our churches today.

In Luke 18, Jesus lamented that when the son of man comes will he find faith on the earth. ... Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?(Luke 18:8b)

With so many untested voices on our pulpits today, the church is almost a stage for a comedy of errors. Many preachers are now just tickling ears and entertaining a dying generation.

One wonders why people have become so naïve even in the face of plain senseless spiritual antics, where they are made to eat grass, drink dettol, eat snakes and stuff, as a result, many people are questioning the very  essence of the church as a life-giving institution.

CONTEND FOR THE FAITH

This book is about calling the church back to authentic faith and practice. It is a humble appeal to silence the religious behavior that is now taking center stage in most professing Christians.

When we shy away from examining ourselves in the light of scripture, for fear that, we may be viewed as being judgmental then we relinquish our responsibility to the body of Christ to sound a warning where a warning is justified. Those who stand up for truth are considered "accusers of the brethren, doctrinal error sniffing dogs", and sometimes called "error detectors" yet there is abundant evidence that a serious problem of error and manipulation exists and is deeply entrenched in the Christian community today.

It is every believer’s responsibility according to Jude 3 to contend for the faith. The dire consequences of error upon helpless souls are huge. Those who are beneficiaries or even victims are always the first in the line of defense questioning ones credentials and right to confront the heresy. If we allow ourselves to be silent for fear of being insulted, our fear will cause our Christian faith to degenerate even further into mere religion where forms and procedures and human tradition becomes the norm.

The Apostle Paul boldly confronted the church in Galatians, which had started well and had now wandered into error. Galatians 3:1, He did not just watch passively, he told them that they were foolish to have started in the spirit and slipped into legalism.

If the Apostle Paul lived in our time where believers are so touchy and overly sensitive, his words would have triggered a twitter storm and his message subjected to Facebook critique, tabloids would have written headlines saying, Foul mouthed Apostle insults church. Some members would have left the church at that instance and joined the another mega church next door.

It is my humble prayer and hope that this book will provide a context for self-introspection; and  will help us take corrective action.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to get through to people already caught up in error, because they often do not see themselves as being manipulated, or in any danger of heresy.

It can be very frustrating to those who seek to share the truth and who try to reach or liberate them. There are no easy solutions to this problem. But as scripture says, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. John 8:32. It is ONLY the truth that you KNOW that has the power to set you free.

By the grace of God, it is my belief that the entrance of God’s word will bring understanding. Psalms 119:130. I pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit to invade your mind and bring you into the liberty that is in Christ. We need to re-calibrate our mindsets to align with the mind of Christ and purpose for the church.

I want to state that not all is lost, there are many testimonies daily of transformed lives and transformed societies where Christians have risen above the gospel that serves SELF and have ventured to live true to their faith and have allowed their faith to radically influence their conduct at home, office and community.

The many deviations and error happening in the church do not negate the worth of the Church. It does not even invalidate what Christ did and continues to do in and through the church.The Corinthian church had many evils in its ranks; envy, strife, immorality, incest and so forth and yet the Apostle Paul still called them THE TEMPLE OF GOD. He never said GOD HAD FORSAKEN THEM.I see God’s purpose for the church manifesting in the midst of all this.

This book presents hope and is a voice calling all who have drifted away into mere religious routine to come back and encounter Christ in a new way. There is recovery and restoration in Christ.

1

INTRODUCTION

We live in very unprecedented times in which the church seems at a crossroads and has a looming identity crisis, there is a great proliferation of false prophets, teachers and pastors who now form the Christian mainstream.

Our Lord Jesus was fully aware of this season and sounded a warning in Matthew 24:11 saying; "...then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved."

This is a firm warning from our Lord Jesus Christ, we live in that very period of great deception, where the love of many is waxing cold, and many professing Christians are now merely practicing religion.

This is being fulfilled under our watch and true to His words; false prophets and ministers like a plague, are contaminating the church. Posing as ministers of righteousness, greedy wolves have sneaked into the church sowing false doctrine, preying on the weak, deceiving the flock with another gospel. It is so painful to see many souls lured into this trap.

If you are still lost in this maze, wake up! It is time. The words of Jesus are being fulfilled every day, open your eyes and see what Jesus foretold.

If you are a God loving believer, what is happening in the Christendom today should definitely concern you. Jesus forewarned the church in order to prepare us to overcome this season of deceit.

There is a bizarre form of ‘Gospel’ message, which is popular on our altars today and promises easy acquisition of all the goodies of wealth, health, happiness, power, fame, and promotion outside of the vine. There is a preoccupation with these things to the detriment of our time to commune with God in the place of prayer. Some churches even specialize in ‘death prayers’ for the death of enemies so that people can become richer and happier in this world!

Honestly, with all these happenings, we cannot afford to have business as usual,. We cannot just helplessly watch this culture of sin and compromise to manifest in the house of God.

When I think of some of these occurrences, I am reminded of the condition of the temple in Jerusalem in Jesus’ time. His anger rose against a people who had departed from the sincere faith to materialism and human tradition.

The temple played a key role in the life of a Jew. It was very central to the function of the old covenant and its ceremonies. When Jesus visited Jerusalem, he looked beyond the temple’s architectural design, towering over the skyline, as a marvel to many, dominant as if to project its moral dominance in the lives of the people.

Yet it fell far short of God’s moral standard. Jesus saw the moral deterioration and deviation from the genuine spirit of worship and prayer. The temple was busy with the ceremonial practices and sacrifices, at first glance it seemed as though everything was sincere but that was not so, things had gone terribly wrong.

The temple in Jerusalem illustrates our bodies, the Apostle Paul said don’t you know that your bodies are the temple of the living God.

Today am not just talking about the physical temple, cathedral or church building in which we gather to have services