BITTER TRUTH
I was born on the 26th day of May, 1954. At about 9 years of age, in 1963, my father registered me in the church as one of the officiating ministers (He knew my calling before I was consciously aware of it). In 1973, and at age 19, my faith in Christ Jesus became a personal affair and I started a personal walk with Jesus. In 1974, and while at the University of Benin, I started full-scale pulpit ministry.
Over the years and decades since then, I've been through a lot. The church in Nigeria has been through a lot. The church, world-wide, has been through a lot.
One of the hottest zones of discussion, and of dispute, particularly in the Nigerian church, as well as world-wide, has been the issue of HOLINESS. There's no genuine child of God that does not want to live a HOLY life unto the LORD. There's no genuine child of God that wants to be found wanting by his Heavenly Father. There's no genuine child of God that does not want his/her life to bring utmost glory to the King of kings. The dispute, rather, has been in the area of what constitutes holiness (or, in the alternative, what constitutes SIN), and what does not.
Sometime about the year 2011, I started what I call a FACEBOOK PULPIT. Many of those who are, today, my facebook friends were not yet on my friends' list at that time, and so may not have seen a lot of those posts. I went into quite some details, at that time, talking about "the knowledge of good and evil," the substance of the original (and REAL) sin of man in the Garden of Eden. I went into certain depths of scriptural revelation, at that time, substantiating what I was saying with very relevant scriptures. Like I said, many of my facebook friends, today, may have missed a lot (if not all) of those teachings. It is not my intention, in this current post, to do a rehash of those earlier posts. However, I do (really do) want to point attention to an issue which I believe, though seemingly unknown to the wider "church," but which I believe the church, generally speaking, HAS BEEN BLIND TO, and IS STILL BLIND TO!
Now, let's get it right, right from the beginning of this current post of mine - - that, of course, I am NOT God! I am only His Servant. I have, also, come to realise that we all have our separate and different mandates from God - - things we are assigned to do by Him, and for which He holds us responsible. I believe, in my heart of hearts, that what I'm saying (and going to say) in this post, is something for which God is holding (and will hold) me responsible for saying it. That is, this is a mandate for which I believe God is holding me responsible to say it; and, also, for which He will hold me responsible in JUDGMENT if I do not say it.
I am used to being castigated. I am used to being abused. I am used to being labelled as "carnal," when I say certain things. I am used to being insulted. After more than four decades, as at today, of suffering abuses and castigations, insults and all such things (I have also been, even much more 'celebrated,' though), I have nothing, absolutely nothing, to be afraid of. I will say this TRUTH, and damn the consequences. BITTER TRUTH.
What is this BITTER TRUTH? The BITTER TRUTH is that, in God's Mind (yes! I said "GOD's MIND," and you can quote me), God is NOT judging our state or level of RIGHTEOUSNESS OR of UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, by what we "wear" or "do not wear," in terms of clothing or dressing.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them "(Genesis 1:26&27). Male and female created He them, the Bible says.
" And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
"And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." [Forget all your ideas of "husband and wife," God is here talking about the Man [Humanity embodied in one single Individual, and how it wasn't "good" that Humanity should be embodied in One Single Individual (the Composite Man, the Composite Adam), but how that One Single Individual of Humanity, needed to be SPLIT (yes, SPLIT) into its composite sexes.] "And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam [the Composite Man] called every living creature, that was the name thereof... And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam [the Composite Man], and he slept: and he took one of his ribs [the Hebrew actually says, "sides"], and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib [side], which the LORD God had taken from man [the Composite Man], made he a WOMAN [the female "side" of Man, that had been taken out of the Composite Man], and brought her unto the man [the Male Man, the Head of the original Composite Man, that was now left in the original body of Man, after the Female "side" had been taken out]. And Adam [the Male Man that remained in that Body after the Female "side" had been taken out] said, This is now BONE OF MY BONES, and FLESH OF MY FLESH: she shall be called WOMAN, because she was taken OUT OF MAN [the Composite Man]": that is, Adam [the male Adam] NAMED THE WOMAN. He gave the Woman her name (Woman) - - because she was taken OUT OF MAN. It was a NAMING CEREMONY, not a marriage ceremony.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother" [this is Moses now writing, centuries after the event in the garden of Eden], "and shall cleave unto his wife [a marriage situation]: and they shall be one flesh." This is marriage, as at AFTER THE FALL, being predicated upon MALE and FEMALE creation, as at BEFORE THE FALL!
"And they were both naked, the MAN and his WIFE, and were NOT ASHAMED."
There, EXACTLY, lies our problem.
Now, follow me a few verses after: "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (God said they shouldn't know good and evil, but the devil was encouraging them to know good and evil. God said the day they knew (ate) good and evil, that day they would DIE; but the devil said, they wouldn't die if they ate (knew) good and evil.)
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (it was, indeed, edible), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (it was attractive, desirable), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (to know "good" and "evil"), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened [opened to what God did not want it to be opened to], and they knew that they were naked [whereas God never wanted them to see themselves as being naked]; and they sewed fig leaves together [they invented "clothes"], and made themselves aprons [to cover a "nakedness" that God never wanted them to have a consciousness of].
"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked [the "nakedness" God never wanted him to have a consciousness of]; and I hid myself."
Now, to those who claim that chapter 2 and verse 25, where it says, "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed," refers to a "husband-wife" situation; I've got a question for you: Were they no longer "husband and wife," in Genesis 3:7, when they "sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons"? Let's have our eyes opened to the truth, brethren. Genesis 2:25, inspite of the word "wife" being used there, does NOT (I repeat, does NOT) refer to a husband-wife situation. It refers to a male-female situation. If it was referring to a husband-wife situation, how come they later covered themselves with fig-leaves? Who else was with them in the Garden, that they were hiding from?
One of our problems has been that we have not been exposed to certain truths. The Hebrew Old Testament, from where the English was translated, we are told, has the same word that could be translated either as "man" or as "husband," depending on the context. Similarly, the Hebrew Old Testament has the same word that could be translated either as "woman," or as "wife," depending on the context. It was left to the translators (who, obviously, as translators, could not be said to enjoy the same "intensity" of charisma as the original writers of scriptures), it was left to those translators, as they deemed fit in each case, to decide whether "man" or "husband" would be the appropriate translation in each specific instance; and, similarly, whether "woman" or "wife" would be the appropriate translation. With the benefit of revelation that we now have, arising from the fact that they, indeed, "sewed fig leaves" together to cover their supposed nakedness, we now know that Genesis 2:25 COULDN'T HAVE BEEN REFERRING TO, OR DESCRIPTIVE OF, A HUSBAND-WIFE SITUATION! For, I repeat, if it was referring to a husband-wife situation, how come they now started "clothing" themselves with fig leaves, after they had eaten of the knowledge of good and evil? Who were they hiding from? even before God came in the cool of the day? I make bold to say, under God, that Genesis 2:25 is NOT referring to a husband-wife situation, but to a MALE-FEMALE situation! The correct rendering of Genesis 2:25, therefore, in the English language, should have been, "And they were both naked, the male and female of Humanity, and were not ashamed." That is, before the fall of man - - that is, before the eating of the knowledge of 'good and evil,' the male and female of Humanity were "NAKED" (in the context of "UNCLOTHED"), and were NOT ASHAMED!
It's the FALL of Man (Humanity) that brought a sense and a CONSCIOUSNESS of NAKEDNESS! It's the fall of man that brought a consciousness of being ASHAMED when we are UNCLOTHED!
Jesus came, the first time, into this world, "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin" (Romans 8:3). So, he came imbued and imprinted with the fallen nature of Man, so he could take that nature to the Cross! That's why, like every other person, he felt SHAME if He was unclothed! In fact, a big part of the shame of His crucifixion, was being CRUCIFIED NUDE, and at such a cosmopolitan junction of human and vehicular traffic (camels, donkeys, etc., carrying people through that place), such that his "accusation" (his indictment) written and nailed to the top of his own Cross, had to be written in three languages - - Hebrew, Greek and Latin, as that particular place was a place where the human traffic of the then known world was very heavy, if not heaviest! At that cross-roads of humanity, he was crucified NUDE! Because our "nakedness consciousness" needed to be taken to the Cross! That consciousness needed to be KILLED, CRUCIFIED; so that WE WOULD NO LONGER HAVE IT!
When we are conscious of "nakedness," we are being conscious of our fall - - for it is the fall of man that brought with it the consciousness of nakedness! When we are conscious of "nakedness" it is because the Cross, where our nakedness and sense of nakedness (arising from the fall) was crucified, is yet to have the divinely desired effect in us! When we judge people as to whether they are "holy" or "unholy," based on their state of "dress" or "un-dress," we show that the "Cross of Christ," where our nakedness and sense of nakedness, was crucified is yet to be operative in us!
Jesus took Fallen Humanity, in Himself, to the Cross. "Knowing this, that our OLD MAN [fallen Man, the knowledge of good and evil, shame and nakedness, guilt and fear] IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, that the body of sin (consciousness of sin) might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin (even if we see naked bodies) (Romans 6:6). That's the gospel, my brother! The gospel is not a rehash of Old Testament Rules decorated only with the name of Jesus! No! The gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified on Calvary's Cross, and Resurrected on the Third Day, is the gospel of the NEW CREATION! If you are a New Creation in Christ Jesus, you no longer see anybody as being "clothed" or "unclothed" (for such a consciousness was done away with at the Cross); but you only see them as "fearfully and wonderfully made, the image and likeness of God." Brethren, if your conscience and consciousness cannot stand NUDE bodies, it's because the New Creation is yet to take full possession of your consciousness!
And, in order to show us that, indeed, the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ has REVERSED what happened in the Garden of Eden, and has restored us (if, indeed, we believe) to that glorious estate where the male and female of humanity could be "naked" (supposedly) and NOT be ashamed, Jesus, in His Resurrection demonstrated it when he resurrected NUDE! And, guess the first person he appeared to in that NUDE state? A WOMAN - - Mary Magdalene, indicating that the gender hide-and-seek that started in the Garden of Eden, and as a result of the Fall of Man, is NOW OVER!
"The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed." (John 20:1-8). There it is, brethren. Jesus was crucified nude (they stripped him of all his clothes, divided them among the soldiers that crucified him; the one they didn't want to tear, they cast lots as to who would have it: He was a criminal, as far as they were concerned. He was guilty of death. Every person to be crucified was stripped NAKED - - and, I mean, COMPLETELY NAKED! Jesus' case was no exception! His naked body hung on the Cross; but, at the instance of Joseph of Arimaethea, the body of Jesus was released by Pilate to Joseph; and, together with Nicodemus, Joseph wrapped that nude body in linen clothes, as the manner of the Jews was, to bury, and treated with a mixture of myrrh and aloes as well. A decent burial, that is, after the shameful naked crucifixion. But at the Resurrection, what did Peter and John discover? They saw the linen clothes lying inside the sepulchre; and even the little piece of clothing, "the napkin," that had been used to cover his head, was also wrapped together in a place by itself, inside that sepulchre! That is, Jesus Christ took every emblem of the fall of Man away from himself - - every emblem of shame and nakedness, and put them aside, and RESURRECTED NUDE as the original man in the Garden of Eden, without any sense of shame or nakedness, but now the Last Adam!
The Bible talks of those who are "weak in the faith" (Romans 14:1). They are the ones that, according to the Bible, cannot "eat all things" (Romans 14:2). They eat only "herbs" (they are vegetarians and they would feel guilty if they should eat meat (flesh). They are the ones that would "forbid to marry" because their conscience is such that they cannot cope with the idea of sexual intercourse (even in marriage) without thinking that they are sinning. They are the ones unto whom all things are NOT "pure" (Titus 1:15). They are the ones that are "unbelieving" (not because they are not believers in Christ Jesus - - at least in the most primary expression of that fact - - but because they are "unbelieving" of the nitty-gritty truths of the NEW CREATION) and, therefore, to them, "nothing is pure" (Titus 1:15) -- (they find fault with almost every thing) and "even their mind and conscience is defiled" (defiled by the guilt and consciousness of the Fall of Man). They are the ones that cannot go into the "shambles" (market, I Corinthians 10:25) and buy whatever they want, and eat, asking no questions. Rather, because their conscience is weak in the faith, they overly scrutinise everything, because they're not sufficiently deep and strong in the faith to know that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." They're not sufficiently deep and strong in the faith to know that "all things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." They are not sufficiently deep and strong in the faith to know that the whole earth is full of the glory of God. When they see wealth, they feel guilty! When they see beauty, they feel "contaminated"! When they see a "naked" body, they faint! The same body that is the image and likeness of God!
The Bible says, "every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of [by] his own lust, and enticed" (James 1:14), but these "weak" ones make God a liar by claiming that it is the "dressing" or "lack of dressing" of the other person that got them tempted! They reject the testimony of God which says that it is your LUST (not the other person's dressing) that makes you tempted! They make God a liar! just to "justify" their lust (they say it's natural or normal), while they vilify the other person who has dressed as he/she desires.
They even go ahead to say that the Bible says woe unto that person through whom temptation comes! - - They lie against the Bible, just to justify their lust.
For, indeed, Jesus said, "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!" (Matthew 18:7). But, what did He mean by "offences"? The sight of someone in bikini? NO! Go to the previous verses, and you'll find that Jesus is talking of those who would "hurt" (that's what that word "offend" means there in the Greek); those who would "hurt" even the "little children" (kids) that would believe in Jesus! Are kids hurt by "nudity"? NO! In fact, they're at home with it! Rather, Jesus is saying, woe unto those who would take advantage of the simplicity of thinking of the little children; and "corrupt" the faith of those little children through supposedly "advanced" philosophical thinking, as to STOP those little children from continuing to BELIEVE IN CHRIST as their Saviour! It were better for such a person for a millstone to be hanged about his neck, and be drowned in the depth of the sea! Stop giving that scripture another meaning!
In Romans 14, the scriptures say these "weak" people in the faith (who are not strong enough to know that "Unto the pure all things are pure") should be "received" (that is, "accepted" in fellowship) by those of us who are (supposedly) strong! That means, your "weakness" in the faith (that "weakness" that makes you to "lose control" when you see a naked body), is indeed a "weakness" on your part, and not a sign of righteousness! Those who are (by God's grace - - and it is, indeed, by God's grace) "strong" in the faith (and the Bible enjoins us to be strong), and can therefore freely relate without "losing control," are NOT the unrighteous ones! For your weakness is NOT a sign of RIGHTEOUSNESS; rather, it is what the Bible calls it - - WEAKNESS! So, stop pretending that you're the one who's righteous! No! You're the one who's weak! Period!
Those of you who're WEAK in the faith, the Bible says, in Romans 14, that we (those of us who don't share that weakness) should RECEIVE (ACCEPT) you in fellowship, without disputing with you (v. 1). Yes! that is, we shouldn't try to "force" you to believe what we believe; neither should we try to force you to act the way we act! However, that same Bible, in verse 3 of the text, says you too (who are "weak" in the faith and, therefore, "eateth not"), should not judge those of us who do "eat."
Don't judge me (as being unrighteous) because I would relate with people whom you (in your "weakness") wouldn't relate with.
Don't judge the person who dresses the way he/she feels fulfilled to dress, simply because you're too "weak" in the faith to so accept him/her! Stop mistaking your "weakness" as righteousness!
If you must avoid people who dress in a certain way, please avoid them! But it is your "weakness" that is at work, and not your righteousness. That's the BITTER TRUTH.
If you must cut off from people who dress in a certain way, just to feel "clean," please do, if that is what makes you "feel clean;" but don't make the mistake of thinking you're the RIGHTEOUS ONE while they are UNRIGHTEOUS! Not necessarily! You are, simply put, "WEAK IN THE FAITH."
You may be a GENERAL OVERSEER and still be WEAK IN THE FAITH in a certain area! You may be a BISHOP and still be weak in the faith in a certain area. If you're WEAK, you're WEAK; it has nothing to do with age, position in the church; or length of time you've been in the Lord! "Weakness in the faith" is a function of what revelation you've NOT had in a certain area. Weakness in the faith is a function of what GRACE you've not yet entered into, regardless of how long you may have been in the Lord.
Take it or leave it, "nudity" will increase - - even in the Church! The Bible says, in I John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." We're gradually moving towards it - - being like Jesus at the Resurrection - - NUDE! Yes! And unashamed to relate with "Mary Magdalene" in that nude state. It won't come in one fell swoop! But, gradually, it's happening! Even those who're not necessarily, and ordinarily, "counted" as part of the Church (and that could be only in human eyes, anyway), are, whether they're conscious of it or not, already in that "mindset" of "there's nothing wrong with nudity." Whether they're still doing it as a matter of "holding the truth in unrighteousness," or not, the BITTER TRUTH is that, the consciousness of the whole world, as at today, and generally speaking, is being returned to that of and in the Garden of Eden. If the Church can recognise God at Work here, and latch on to the truth of the Gospel in these matters, we'll be able to seize this magnificent opportunity for the Kingdom; otherwise the Devil would take it and turn the tide against us; and, we'll be back to Square One; but, God forbid.
"Nudity" (so-called) is NOT of the Devil. God created us NUDE. But, as a result of the Fall of Man, the Devil has used it ("nudity ") to try and defeat the Purposes of God! But God, through the Resurrection of CHRIST, has restored our BODY into a position where we can allow REDEMPTION to take possession of it; and, in that state of REDEMPTION, "nudity" (so-called) simply does not exist in the consciousness of those who are truly (and, to that extent), REDEEMED - - just as it didn't exist in the consciousness of Adam and Eve before the Fall, and does not exist in the Consciousness of the Resurrected Christ! That consciousness of the Resurrected CHRIST, is what is called THE NEW CREATION (it's not the Old Creation that is ashamed and lustful and full of guilt when it sees a "NUDE" body!) And it is that NEW CREATION that we are called INTO!
For, as the Bible says, "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things [of the Old Nature; of shame, guilt and NAKEDNESS-CONSCIOUSNESS; of the Fall] are PASSED AWAY"! "behold, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW" (II Corinthians 5:16&17). They are now things of the New Creation! Not things of the Old Creation. Our problem has been that, in our Old Creation thought-pattern, we've not really been able to CONCEPTUALISE what the New Creation really is! Instead, we've thought that "New Creation" refers to the "good" side of "the knowledge of good and evil"! We've thought that "New Creation" refers to "MORALITY" as understood in the context of the Old Creation (Fallen Adam), as against "IMMORALITY" in that same context! In the context of the Old Creation (and, depending on what "culture" of that Old Creation you grew up in; or are exposed to, or "groomed" in), you may see nudity (so-called) as immoral; while a lack of nudity (depending, again, on your own understanding of 'lack of nudity') is seen as "moral." But, like I've said, such categorising of nudity or a lack of it (under the order of the Old Creation) as "immoral" or "moral," is only a categorising of things as "good" or "evil," under the Old Order (Old Creation) System of "the knowledge of good and evil." But, that's the System that God said we shouldn't have entered into in the first place, and, therefore, the Reason why He warned us to "NOT EAT" of the knowledge of good and evil, saying that in the day we ate of it we would surely die (we would surely be "out of phase" with Him); and, indeed, as soon as we ate of that "knowledge of good and evil," and started knowing "good" and "evil" ("naked" or "not naked"), we went "out of phase" with God, and that became our Sin, our Fall!
Now, Jesus, in His earthly Walk, took that body of "the knowledge of Good and Evil," that Body of Shame and Nakedness-Consciousness, that Body of Sin (for, indeed, our Sin is the eating of 'the knowledge of Good and Evil,' contrary to God's instruction), He took that Body of Sin as His Own Body (that is, He took our Place), and went to the Cross, CRUCIFYING THAT BODY OF SIN, CRUCIFYING THAT 'KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL,' CRUCIFYING THAT NAKEDNESS-CONSCIOUSNESS, CRUCIFYING THAT SHAME-CONSCIOUSNESS, and RESURRECTING ON THE THIRD DAY WITHOUT A SHAME-CONSCIOUSNESS, WITHOUT A GUILT-CONSCIOUSNESS, WITHOUT A KNOWLEDGE-OF-GOOD-AND-EVIL-CONSCIOUSNESS; WITHOUT A NAKEDNESS-CONSCIOUSNESS, and demonstrated it by LEAVING ALL ITEMS OF CLOTHING BEHIND INSIDE THE SEPULCHRE, but RESURRECTING NUDE and EVEN APPEARING TO A WOMAN without any sense of SHAME, GUILT, FEAR OR NAKEDNESS! And, yet, we His supposed followers and preachers of His Gospel, negate all of that GLORIOUS RESURRECTION (which is a resurrection from the fall of Man; a resurrection from the shame and nakedness-consciousness of Man); we negate all of that TRUTH by turning around to preach ANOTHER gospel that glorifies clothing (the emblem of the fall of Man); another gospel that glorifies shame-consciousness and nakedness-consciousness (the very thing that He did away with by His death and resurrection); another gospel that glorifies and promotes a sense of shame and of nakedness; another gospel that vilifies anybody who doesn't obey that negative gospel of ours (which is contrary to His own Glorious Gospel); another gospel that vilifies those who, according to us, are not "well-dressed," those who, according to us (according to our own knowledge of good and evil), are "indecently" dressed; another gospel that vilifies those who, according to us are "skimpily" dressed; and we think we're preaching His Gospel when, indeed, we're preaching AGAINST His Gospel!
In your mind, please, try and imagine (and that imagination has to be in the Spirit of Revelation, and not in the flesh of LUST), please imagine Jesus freshly out of the grave, NUDE, and appearing to Mary Magdalene! That's the NEW CREATION, my brother! That's what God achieved through His Death and Resurrection - - to bring Mankind back again into our original estate, where "the male and female of HUMANITY were naked and NOT ASHAMED." That's REDEMPTION. That's the sign that sin, indeed, is GONE! That's the sign that LUST, indeed, is GONE! That's the sign that our sin has been PURGED! We are free of it! So, if you're still feeling embarrassed when you see a nude body, it's evidence of the fact that you are yet to experientially enter into a depth of the New Creation that you're supposed to enter into! That's the BITTER TRUTH, my brother! I don't care how many tongues of men and of angels that you speak in; I don't care how many churches and ministries you've planted across the World; I don't care if you're on Forbe's List of The Most Influential Preachers in the World; I don't care how many hundreds of thousands of people you have laid hands upon and who have received their healing; I don't care what other deep revelations you've had from God; as long as your consciousness (with regards to what you call "nudity") falls short of that of CHRIST at His Resurrection, you still have a fundamental revelation and experience lacking in your life!
The first effect of the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden is that it destroyed the "freedom" between the Male and Female of Humanity, as epitomised in Adam and Eve sewing fig leaves to cover themselves! Similarly, the first effect of the Glorious Resurrection of CHRIST from that Fallen State, is that it RESTORED the freedom between the Male and Female of Humanity, epitomised in Jesus appearing NUDE to a woman!
The gender-war is over! The gender hide-and-seek is over! We are REDEEMED! Redemption is not you trying to avoid sin; rather, redemption is you no longer having LUST within you, because you've experienced the Cross and the Resurrection, in REALITY, and not just in THEOLOGY, and you're FREE! just like Christ at the Resurrection with Mary Magdalene: that's the NEW CREATION! BITTER TRUTH!
No wonder the Bible says, in I Corinthians 10:29, "why is my LIBERTY judged of [by] another man's conscience?" The Greek actually says, "Why is my LIBERTY to be controlled by another man's conscience?" So, to those of you who are strong on saying, "You see, you have to consider those that are weak," that's the other side of the coin; as presented by the scriptures! - - Why is my LIBERTY to be controlled by another man's conscience? So, those of you who say that a nude body is harassing you; you are actually the ones that are harassing us! Why should my liberty be controlled by your conscience?! Don't be selfish! Don't think of yourself alone. Think of me too! I have a right to enjoy my liberty and my redemption in CHRIST! So, I cannot forever continue to take you into consideration! I want to attain to the full stature of CHRIST; but because you say I'm harassing you, I can't even start! I will no longer wait for you to mature! For, why is my liberty to be controlled by your conscience? We have waited long enough: We want to mature! We will no longer be held back by your own sensibilities! Yes, the NUDE ones are taking over!
It's a process of the REDEMPTION of our body! And it will have to be completed before the Return of Christ! We can no longer wait for the weak ones to mature!
Some ministers will have to "retire" or "be retired," by the Lord of the Harvest Himself (though painfully so). For, they are incapable of fully participating in this End-Time Harvest! There's a New Wine being put into a new Wine Skin, and those who are "nakedness-conscious" constitute the Old Wine Skin that cannot hold the New Wine! There's a World-Wide harvest, about to break forth! The present Wine-Skin of the Church (that frowns at what they consider as "nakedness") cannot contain that Harvest! The Old Wine-Skin will break!
There's a new people rising on the Wings! They'll change the Order! They'll change the Tempo! They are NOT Jesus of Nazareth! They're the RISEN CHRIST! The NUDE CHRIST! - - unfettered, unbound! Male and Female in "naked and not ashamed" consciousness! They'll break the bounds (the boundaries) set by the Devil; the boundaries set by the Knowledge of Good and Evil! They'll carry the battle to the Gates! They'll WIN! Yes, because they're the RISEN CHRIST!
I was born on the 26th day of May, 1954. At about 9 years of age, in 1963, my father registered me in the church as one of the officiating ministers (He knew my calling before I was consciously aware of it). In 1973, and at age 19, my faith in Christ Jesus became a personal affair and I started a personal walk with Jesus. In 1974, and while at the University of Benin, I started full-scale pulpit ministry.
Over the years and decades since then, I've been through a lot. The church in Nigeria has been through a lot. The church, world-wide, has been through a lot.
One of the hottest zones of discussion, and of dispute, particularly in the Nigerian church, as well as world-wide, has been the issue of HOLINESS. There's no genuine child of God that does not want to live a HOLY life unto the LORD. There's no genuine child of God that wants to be found wanting by his Heavenly Father. There's no genuine child of God that does not want his/her life to bring utmost glory to the King of kings. The dispute, rather, has been in the area of what constitutes holiness (or, in the alternative, what constitutes SIN), and what does not.
Sometime about the year 2011, I started what I call a FACEBOOK PULPIT. Many of those who are, today, my facebook friends were not yet on my friends' list at that time, and so may not have seen a lot of those posts. I went into quite some details, at that time, talking about "the knowledge of good and evil," the substance of the original (and REAL) sin of man in the Garden of Eden. I went into certain depths of scriptural revelation, at that time, substantiating what I was saying with very relevant scriptures. Like I said, many of my facebook friends, today, may have missed a lot (if not all) of those teachings. It is not my intention, in this current post, to do a rehash of those earlier posts. However, I do (really do) want to point attention to an issue which I believe, though seemingly unknown to the wider "church," but which I believe the church, generally speaking, HAS BEEN BLIND TO, and IS STILL BLIND TO!
Now, let's get it right, right from the beginning of this current post of mine - - that, of course, I am NOT God! I am only His Servant. I have, also, come to realise that we all have our separate and different mandates from God - - things we are assigned to do by Him, and for which He holds us responsible. I believe, in my heart of hearts, that what I'm saying (and going to say) in this post, is something for which God is holding (and will hold) me responsible for saying it. That is, this is a mandate for which I believe God is holding me responsible to say it; and, also, for which He will hold me responsible in JUDGMENT if I do not say it.
I am used to being castigated. I am used to being abused. I am used to being labelled as "carnal," when I say certain things. I am used to being insulted. After more than four decades, as at today, of suffering abuses and castigations, insults and all such things (I have also been, even much more 'celebrated,' though), I have nothing, absolutely nothing, to be afraid of. I will say this TRUTH, and damn the consequences. BITTER TRUTH.
What is this BITTER TRUTH? The BITTER TRUTH is that, in God's Mind (yes! I said "GOD's MIND," and you can quote me), God is NOT judging our state or level of RIGHTEOUSNESS OR of UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, by what we "wear" or "do not wear," in terms of clothing or dressing.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them "(Genesis 1:26&27). Male and female created He them, the Bible says.
" And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
"And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." [Forget all your ideas of "husband and wife," God is here talking about the Man [Humanity embodied in one single Individual, and how it wasn't "good" that Humanity should be embodied in One Single Individual (the Composite Man, the Composite Adam), but how that One Single Individual of Humanity, needed to be SPLIT (yes, SPLIT) into its composite sexes.] "And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam [the Composite Man] called every living creature, that was the name thereof... And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam [the Composite Man], and he slept: and he took one of his ribs [the Hebrew actually says, "sides"], and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib [side], which the LORD God had taken from man [the Composite Man], made he a WOMAN [the female "side" of Man, that had been taken out of the Composite Man], and brought her unto the man [the Male Man, the Head of the original Composite Man, that was now left in the original body of Man, after the Female "side" had been taken out]. And Adam [the Male Man that remained in that Body after the Female "side" had been taken out] said, This is now BONE OF MY BONES, and FLESH OF MY FLESH: she shall be called WOMAN, because she was taken OUT OF MAN [the Composite Man]": that is, Adam [the male Adam] NAMED THE WOMAN. He gave the Woman her name (Woman) - - because she was taken OUT OF MAN. It was a NAMING CEREMONY, not a marriage ceremony.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother" [this is Moses now writing, centuries after the event in the garden of Eden], "and shall cleave unto his wife [a marriage situation]: and they shall be one flesh." This is marriage, as at AFTER THE FALL, being predicated upon MALE and FEMALE creation, as at BEFORE THE FALL!
"And they were both naked, the MAN and his WIFE, and were NOT ASHAMED."
There, EXACTLY, lies our problem.
Now, follow me a few verses after: "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (God said they shouldn't know good and evil, but the devil was encouraging them to know good and evil. God said the day they knew (ate) good and evil, that day they would DIE; but the devil said, they wouldn't die if they ate (knew) good and evil.)
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (it was, indeed, edible), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (it was attractive, desirable), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (to know "good" and "evil"), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened [opened to what God did not want it to be opened to], and they knew that they were naked [whereas God never wanted them to see themselves as being naked]; and they sewed fig leaves together [they invented "clothes"], and made themselves aprons [to cover a "nakedness" that God never wanted them to have a consciousness of].
"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked [the "nakedness" God never wanted him to have a consciousness of]; and I hid myself."
Now, to those who claim that chapter 2 and verse 25, where it says, "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed," refers to a "husband-wife" situation; I've got a question for you: Were they no longer "husband and wife," in Genesis 3:7, when they "sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons"? Let's have our eyes opened to the truth, brethren. Genesis 2:25, inspite of the word "wife" being used there, does NOT (I repeat, does NOT) refer to a husband-wife situation. It refers to a male-female situation. If it was referring to a husband-wife situation, how come they later covered themselves with fig-leaves? Who else was with them in the Garden, that they were hiding from?
One of our problems has been that we have not been exposed to certain truths. The Hebrew Old Testament, from where the English was translated, we are told, has the same word that could be translated either as "man" or as "husband," depending on the context. Similarly, the Hebrew Old Testament has the same word that could be translated either as "woman," or as "wife," depending on the context. It was left to the translators (who, obviously, as translators, could not be said to enjoy the same "intensity" of charisma as the original writers of scriptures), it was left to those translators, as they deemed fit in each case, to decide whether "man" or "husband" would be the appropriate translation in each specific instance; and, similarly, whether "woman" or "wife" would be the appropriate translation. With the benefit of revelation that we now have, arising from the fact that they, indeed, "sewed fig leaves" together to cover their supposed nakedness, we now know that Genesis 2:25 COULDN'T HAVE BEEN REFERRING TO, OR DESCRIPTIVE OF, A HUSBAND-WIFE SITUATION! For, I repeat, if it was referring to a husband-wife situation, how come they now started "clothing" themselves with fig leaves, after they had eaten of the knowledge of good and evil? Who were they hiding from? even before God came in the cool of the day? I make bold to say, under God, that Genesis 2:25 is NOT referring to a husband-wife situation, but to a MALE-FEMALE situation! The correct rendering of Genesis 2:25, therefore, in the English language, should have been, "And they were both naked, the male and female of Humanity, and were not ashamed." That is, before the fall of man - - that is, before the eating of the knowledge of 'good and evil,' the male and female of Humanity were "NAKED" (in the context of "UNCLOTHED"), and were NOT ASHAMED!
It's the FALL of Man (Humanity) that brought a sense and a CONSCIOUSNESS of NAKEDNESS! It's the fall of man that brought a consciousness of being ASHAMED when we are UNCLOTHED!
Jesus came, the first time, into this world, "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin" (Romans 8:3). So, he came imbued and imprinted with the fallen nature of Man, so he could take that nature to the Cross! That's why, like every other person, he felt SHAME if He was unclothed! In fact, a big part of the shame of His crucifixion, was being CRUCIFIED NUDE, and at such a cosmopolitan junction of human and vehicular traffic (camels, donkeys, etc., carrying people through that place), such that his "accusation" (his indictment) written and nailed to the top of his own Cross, had to be written in three languages - - Hebrew, Greek and Latin, as that particular place was a place where the human traffic of the then known world was very heavy, if not heaviest! At that cross-roads of humanity, he was crucified NUDE! Because our "nakedness consciousness" needed to be taken to the Cross! That consciousness needed to be KILLED, CRUCIFIED; so that WE WOULD NO LONGER HAVE IT!
When we are conscious of "nakedness," we are being conscious of our fall - - for it is the fall of man that brought with it the consciousness of nakedness! When we are conscious of "nakedness" it is because the Cross, where our nakedness and sense of nakedness (arising from the fall) was crucified, is yet to have the divinely desired effect in us! When we judge people as to whether they are "holy" or "unholy," based on their state of "dress" or "un-dress," we show that the "Cross of Christ," where our nakedness and sense of nakedness, was crucified is yet to be operative in us!
Jesus took Fallen Humanity, in Himself, to the Cross. "Knowing this, that our OLD MAN [fallen Man, the knowledge of good and evil, shame and nakedness, guilt and fear] IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, that the body of sin (consciousness of sin) might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin (even if we see naked bodies) (Romans 6:6). That's the gospel, my brother! The gospel is not a rehash of Old Testament Rules decorated only with the name of Jesus! No! The gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified on Calvary's Cross, and Resurrected on the Third Day, is the gospel of the NEW CREATION! If you are a New Creation in Christ Jesus, you no longer see anybody as being "clothed" or "unclothed" (for such a consciousness was done away with at the Cross); but you only see them as "fearfully and wonderfully made, the image and likeness of God." Brethren, if your conscience and consciousness cannot stand NUDE bodies, it's because the New Creation is yet to take full possession of your consciousness!
And, in order to show us that, indeed, the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ has REVERSED what happened in the Garden of Eden, and has restored us (if, indeed, we believe) to that glorious estate where the male and female of humanity could be "naked" (supposedly) and NOT be ashamed, Jesus, in His Resurrection demonstrated it when he resurrected NUDE! And, guess the first person he appeared to in that NUDE state? A WOMAN - - Mary Magdalene, indicating that the gender hide-and-seek that started in the Garden of Eden, and as a result of the Fall of Man, is NOW OVER!
"The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed." (John 20:1-8). There it is, brethren. Jesus was crucified nude (they stripped him of all his clothes, divided them among the soldiers that crucified him; the one they didn't want to tear, they cast lots as to who would have it: He was a criminal, as far as they were concerned. He was guilty of death. Every person to be crucified was stripped NAKED - - and, I mean, COMPLETELY NAKED! Jesus' case was no exception! His naked body hung on the Cross; but, at the instance of Joseph of Arimaethea, the body of Jesus was released by Pilate to Joseph; and, together with Nicodemus, Joseph wrapped that nude body in linen clothes, as the manner of the Jews was, to bury, and treated with a mixture of myrrh and aloes as well. A decent burial, that is, after the shameful naked crucifixion. But at the Resurrection, what did Peter and John discover? They saw the linen clothes lying inside the sepulchre; and even the little piece of clothing, "the napkin," that had been used to cover his head, was also wrapped together in a place by itself, inside that sepulchre! That is, Jesus Christ took every emblem of the fall of Man away from himself - - every emblem of shame and nakedness, and put them aside, and RESURRECTED NUDE as the original man in the Garden of Eden, without any sense of shame or nakedness, but now the Last Adam!
The Bible talks of those who are "weak in the faith" (Romans 14:1). They are the ones that, according to the Bible, cannot "eat all things" (Romans 14:2). They eat only "herbs" (they are vegetarians and they would feel guilty if they should eat meat (flesh). They are the ones that would "forbid to marry" because their conscience is such that they cannot cope with the idea of sexual intercourse (even in marriage) without thinking that they are sinning. They are the ones unto whom all things are NOT "pure" (Titus 1:15). They are the ones that are "unbelieving" (not because they are not believers in Christ Jesus - - at least in the most primary expression of that fact - - but because they are "unbelieving" of the nitty-gritty truths of the NEW CREATION) and, therefore, to them, "nothing is pure" (Titus 1:15) -- (they find fault with almost every thing) and "even their mind and conscience is defiled" (defiled by the guilt and consciousness of the Fall of Man). They are the ones that cannot go into the "shambles" (market, I Corinthians 10:25) and buy whatever they want, and eat, asking no questions. Rather, because their conscience is weak in the faith, they overly scrutinise everything, because they're not sufficiently deep and strong in the faith to know that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." They're not sufficiently deep and strong in the faith to know that "all things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." They are not sufficiently deep and strong in the faith to know that the whole earth is full of the glory of God. When they see wealth, they feel guilty! When they see beauty, they feel "contaminated"! When they see a "naked" body, they faint! The same body that is the image and likeness of God!
The Bible says, "every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of [by] his own lust, and enticed" (James 1:14), but these "weak" ones make God a liar by claiming that it is the "dressing" or "lack of dressing" of the other person that got them tempted! They reject the testimony of God which says that it is your LUST (not the other person's dressing) that makes you tempted! They make God a liar! just to "justify" their lust (they say it's natural or normal), while they vilify the other person who has dressed as he/she desires.
They even go ahead to say that the Bible says woe unto that person through whom temptation comes! - - They lie against the Bible, just to justify their lust.
For, indeed, Jesus said, "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!" (Matthew 18:7). But, what did He mean by "offences"? The sight of someone in bikini? NO! Go to the previous verses, and you'll find that Jesus is talking of those who would "hurt" (that's what that word "offend" means there in the Greek); those who would "hurt" even the "little children" (kids) that would believe in Jesus! Are kids hurt by "nudity"? NO! In fact, they're at home with it! Rather, Jesus is saying, woe unto those who would take advantage of the simplicity of thinking of the little children; and "corrupt" the faith of those little children through supposedly "advanced" philosophical thinking, as to STOP those little children from continuing to BELIEVE IN CHRIST as their Saviour! It were better for such a person for a millstone to be hanged about his neck, and be drowned in the depth of the sea! Stop giving that scripture another meaning!
In Romans 14, the scriptures say these "weak" people in the faith (who are not strong enough to know that "Unto the pure all things are pure") should be "received" (that is, "accepted" in fellowship) by those of us who are (supposedly) strong! That means, your "weakness" in the faith (that "weakness" that makes you to "lose control" when you see a naked body), is indeed a "weakness" on your part, and not a sign of righteousness! Those who are (by God's grace - - and it is, indeed, by God's grace) "strong" in the faith (and the Bible enjoins us to be strong), and can therefore freely relate without "losing control," are NOT the unrighteous ones! For your weakness is NOT a sign of RIGHTEOUSNESS; rather, it is what the Bible calls it - - WEAKNESS! So, stop pretending that you're the one who's righteous! No! You're the one who's weak! Period!
Those of you who're WEAK in the faith, the Bible says, in Romans 14, that we (those of us who don't share that weakness) should RECEIVE (ACCEPT) you in fellowship, without disputing with you (v. 1). Yes! that is, we shouldn't try to "force" you to believe what we believe; neither should we try to force you to act the way we act! However, that same Bible, in verse 3 of the text, says you too (who are "weak" in the faith and, therefore, "eateth not"), should not judge those of us who do "eat."
Don't judge me (as being unrighteous) because I would relate with people whom you (in your "weakness") wouldn't relate with.
Don't judge the person who dresses the way he/she feels fulfilled to dress, simply because you're too "weak" in the faith to so accept him/her! Stop mistaking your "weakness" as righteousness!
If you must avoid people who dress in a certain way, please avoid them! But it is your "weakness" that is at work, and not your righteousness. That's the BITTER TRUTH.
If you must cut off from people who dress in a certain way, just to feel "clean," please do, if that is what makes you "feel clean;" but don't make the mistake of thinking you're the RIGHTEOUS ONE while they are UNRIGHTEOUS! Not necessarily! You are, simply put, "WEAK IN THE FAITH."
You may be a GENERAL OVERSEER and still be WEAK IN THE FAITH in a certain area! You may be a BISHOP and still be weak in the faith in a certain area. If you're WEAK, you're WEAK; it has nothing to do with age, position in the church; or length of time you've been in the Lord! "Weakness in the faith" is a function of what revelation you've NOT had in a certain area. Weakness in the faith is a function of what GRACE you've not yet entered into, regardless of how long you may have been in the Lord.
Take it or leave it, "nudity" will increase - - even in the Church! The Bible says, in I John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." We're gradually moving towards it - - being like Jesus at the Resurrection - - NUDE! Yes! And unashamed to relate with "Mary Magdalene" in that nude state. It won't come in one fell swoop! But, gradually, it's happening! Even those who're not necessarily, and ordinarily, "counted" as part of the Church (and that could be only in human eyes, anyway), are, whether they're conscious of it or not, already in that "mindset" of "there's nothing wrong with nudity." Whether they're still doing it as a matter of "holding the truth in unrighteousness," or not, the BITTER TRUTH is that, the consciousness of the whole world, as at today, and generally speaking, is being returned to that of and in the Garden of Eden. If the Church can recognise God at Work here, and latch on to the truth of the Gospel in these matters, we'll be able to seize this magnificent opportunity for the Kingdom; otherwise the Devil would take it and turn the tide against us; and, we'll be back to Square One; but, God forbid.
"Nudity" (so-called) is NOT of the Devil. God created us NUDE. But, as a result of the Fall of Man, the Devil has used it ("nudity ") to try and defeat the Purposes of God! But God, through the Resurrection of CHRIST, has restored our BODY into a position where we can allow REDEMPTION to take possession of it; and, in that state of REDEMPTION, "nudity" (so-called) simply does not exist in the consciousness of those who are truly (and, to that extent), REDEEMED - - just as it didn't exist in the consciousness of Adam and Eve before the Fall, and does not exist in the Consciousness of the Resurrected Christ! That consciousness of the Resurrected CHRIST, is what is called THE NEW CREATION (it's not the Old Creation that is ashamed and lustful and full of guilt when it sees a "NUDE" body!) And it is that NEW CREATION that we are called INTO!
For, as the Bible says, "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things [of the Old Nature; of shame, guilt and NAKEDNESS-CONSCIOUSNESS; of the Fall] are PASSED AWAY"! "behold, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW" (II Corinthians 5:16&17). They are now things of the New Creation! Not things of the Old Creation. Our problem has been that, in our Old Creation thought-pattern, we've not really been able to CONCEPTUALISE what the New Creation really is! Instead, we've thought that "New Creation" refers to the "good" side of "the knowledge of good and evil"! We've thought that "New Creation" refers to "MORALITY" as understood in the context of the Old Creation (Fallen Adam), as against "IMMORALITY" in that same context! In the context of the Old Creation (and, depending on what "culture" of that Old Creation you grew up in; or are exposed to, or "groomed" in), you may see nudity (so-called) as immoral; while a lack of nudity (depending, again, on your own understanding of 'lack of nudity') is seen as "moral." But, like I've said, such categorising of nudity or a lack of it (under the order of the Old Creation) as "immoral" or "moral," is only a categorising of things as "good" or "evil," under the Old Order (Old Creation) System of "the knowledge of good and evil." But, that's the System that God said we shouldn't have entered into in the first place, and, therefore, the Reason why He warned us to "NOT EAT" of the knowledge of good and evil, saying that in the day we ate of it we would surely die (we would surely be "out of phase" with Him); and, indeed, as soon as we ate of that "knowledge of good and evil," and started knowing "good" and "evil" ("naked" or "not naked"), we went "out of phase" with God, and that became our Sin, our Fall!
Now, Jesus, in His earthly Walk, took that body of "the knowledge of Good and Evil," that Body of Shame and Nakedness-Consciousness, that Body of Sin (for, indeed, our Sin is the eating of 'the knowledge of Good and Evil,' contrary to God's instruction), He took that Body of Sin as His Own Body (that is, He took our Place), and went to the Cross, CRUCIFYING THAT BODY OF SIN, CRUCIFYING THAT 'KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL,' CRUCIFYING THAT NAKEDNESS-CONSCIOUSNESS, CRUCIFYING THAT SHAME-CONSCIOUSNESS, and RESURRECTING ON THE THIRD DAY WITHOUT A SHAME-CONSCIOUSNESS, WITHOUT A GUILT-CONSCIOUSNESS, WITHOUT A KNOWLEDGE-OF-GOOD-AND-EVIL-CONSCIOUSNESS; WITHOUT A NAKEDNESS-CONSCIOUSNESS, and demonstrated it by LEAVING ALL ITEMS OF CLOTHING BEHIND INSIDE THE SEPULCHRE, but RESURRECTING NUDE and EVEN APPEARING TO A WOMAN without any sense of SHAME, GUILT, FEAR OR NAKEDNESS! And, yet, we His supposed followers and preachers of His Gospel, negate all of that GLORIOUS RESURRECTION (which is a resurrection from the fall of Man; a resurrection from the shame and nakedness-consciousness of Man); we negate all of that TRUTH by turning around to preach ANOTHER gospel that glorifies clothing (the emblem of the fall of Man); another gospel that glorifies shame-consciousness and nakedness-consciousness (the very thing that He did away with by His death and resurrection); another gospel that glorifies and promotes a sense of shame and of nakedness; another gospel that vilifies anybody who doesn't obey that negative gospel of ours (which is contrary to His own Glorious Gospel); another gospel that vilifies those who, according to us, are not "well-dressed," those who, according to us (according to our own knowledge of good and evil), are "indecently" dressed; another gospel that vilifies those who, according to us are "skimpily" dressed; and we think we're preaching His Gospel when, indeed, we're preaching AGAINST His Gospel!
In your mind, please, try and imagine (and that imagination has to be in the Spirit of Revelation, and not in the flesh of LUST), please imagine Jesus freshly out of the grave, NUDE, and appearing to Mary Magdalene! That's the NEW CREATION, my brother! That's what God achieved through His Death and Resurrection - - to bring Mankind back again into our original estate, where "the male and female of HUMANITY were naked and NOT ASHAMED." That's REDEMPTION. That's the sign that sin, indeed, is GONE! That's the sign that LUST, indeed, is GONE! That's the sign that our sin has been PURGED! We are free of it! So, if you're still feeling embarrassed when you see a nude body, it's evidence of the fact that you are yet to experientially enter into a depth of the New Creation that you're supposed to enter into! That's the BITTER TRUTH, my brother! I don't care how many tongues of men and of angels that you speak in; I don't care how many churches and ministries you've planted across the World; I don't care if you're on Forbe's List of The Most Influential Preachers in the World; I don't care how many hundreds of thousands of people you have laid hands upon and who have received their healing; I don't care what other deep revelations you've had from God; as long as your consciousness (with regards to what you call "nudity") falls short of that of CHRIST at His Resurrection, you still have a fundamental revelation and experience lacking in your life!
The first effect of the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden is that it destroyed the "freedom" between the Male and Female of Humanity, as epitomised in Adam and Eve sewing fig leaves to cover themselves! Similarly, the first effect of the Glorious Resurrection of CHRIST from that Fallen State, is that it RESTORED the freedom between the Male and Female of Humanity, epitomised in Jesus appearing NUDE to a woman!
The gender-war is over! The gender hide-and-seek is over! We are REDEEMED! Redemption is not you trying to avoid sin; rather, redemption is you no longer having LUST within you, because you've experienced the Cross and the Resurrection, in REALITY, and not just in THEOLOGY, and you're FREE! just like Christ at the Resurrection with Mary Magdalene: that's the NEW CREATION! BITTER TRUTH!
No wonder the Bible says, in I Corinthians 10:29, "why is my LIBERTY judged of [by] another man's conscience?" The Greek actually says, "Why is my LIBERTY to be controlled by another man's conscience?" So, to those of you who are strong on saying, "You see, you have to consider those that are weak," that's the other side of the coin; as presented by the scriptures! - - Why is my LIBERTY to be controlled by another man's conscience? So, those of you who say that a nude body is harassing you; you are actually the ones that are harassing us! Why should my liberty be controlled by your conscience?! Don't be selfish! Don't think of yourself alone. Think of me too! I have a right to enjoy my liberty and my redemption in CHRIST! So, I cannot forever continue to take you into consideration! I want to attain to the full stature of CHRIST; but because you say I'm harassing you, I can't even start! I will no longer wait for you to mature! For, why is my liberty to be controlled by your conscience? We have waited long enough: We want to mature! We will no longer be held back by your own sensibilities! Yes, the NUDE ones are taking over!
It's a process of the REDEMPTION of our body! And it will have to be completed before the Return of Christ! We can no longer wait for the weak ones to mature!
Some ministers will have to "retire" or "be retired," by the Lord of the Harvest Himself (though painfully so). For, they are incapable of fully participating in this End-Time Harvest! There's a New Wine being put into a new Wine Skin, and those who are "nakedness-conscious" constitute the Old Wine Skin that cannot hold the New Wine! There's a World-Wide harvest, about to break forth! The present Wine-Skin of the Church (that frowns at what they consider as "nakedness") cannot contain that Harvest! The Old Wine-Skin will break!
There's a new people rising on the Wings! They'll change the Order! They'll change the Tempo! They are NOT Jesus of Nazareth! They're the RISEN CHRIST! The NUDE CHRIST! - - unfettered, unbound! Male and Female in "naked and not ashamed" consciousness! They'll break the bounds (the boundaries) set by the Devil; the boundaries set by the Knowledge of Good and Evil! They'll carry the battle to the Gates! They'll WIN! Yes, because they're the RISEN CHRIST!
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