“Shepherds are dying, an alarming cry”

SHEPHERDS ARE DYING!!!

Since the first month of January 2021, there have been exponential increase in the rate at which Shepherds are dying.

Hardly would you surf the net and browse through various Celestial Church of Christ platforms for ten minutes and the obituary of a Shepherd not popped up.

Is the Word of the Lord as recorded in Isaiah 65:20 no more potent?

“There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.”

Is God no more honouring His promise to the seeds of Abraham by faith? Is the axiom that CCC members do not die young no more alive? Can we not rebuke the angel of death anymore? Could it be spiritual attacks? Could it be transgressions?

What could it be?

1. Many of our fathers in the Lord are fast losing their health in their early and middle ages due to their lifestyles.
No matter how hard you strive in old age, how you use your body in your younger years must count.
A young man given to excessive drinking and extramarital affairs will definitely pay for it when he’s advancing in age. It is natural that by 40years of age, bodily immunity would have started reducing,hence so many symptoms of diseases and ailments cannot but start to manifest.

At harvests and other Church programmes, you marvel at the extent to which some elders consume red and cow meat with soft drinks,much more in their houses. To their gluttonous souls, it is an honour, but to their bodily systems, they wouldn’t realize it is poison. The cumulative complications of this eventually kill them in their middle age.

Hear what Solomon instructed in Proverbs 23:19‭-‬21 MSG

“Oh listen, dear child—become wise; point your life in the right direction. Don’t drink too much wine and get drunk; don’t eat too much food and get fat. Drunks and gluttons will end up on skid row, in a stupor and dressed in rags.”

2. Individual health systems differs.
Moses was divinely graced to have good eyesights at 120years, but how many old men or women would still have good eyesights at that age?
There is what is called the Law of Diminishing Returns in Economics. If your health system cannot support you till 80years in ministry,why not retire yourself rather than die untimely?
There is no law that says Shepherds must die as a Parish Priest. There were many late,but sound Shepherds in the Celestial Church Christ who never led any parish, yet they did the work meritoriously.
The mindset that you must continue to lead a parish even when your health is failing and cannot carry you to do the work must be reconsidered. Son of man,know thy health and do the little God gives you His mercy to do wholeheartedly.
It is better for our aged fathers in the Lord to quit the stage when the ovation is loudest rather than waiting till they become incapacitated. It is inglorious to die untimely due to quest for power, authority, rewards and recognition.

3. No matter how spiritual a man is, he needs a body to function effectively. Many of our fathers in the Lord are stressed. They are worn out as Moses was.
Sitting down at meetings, attending to people who need spiritual support, counselling, praying, fasting, daily movements around parishes, frequent travelling on Nigerian roads, etc. easily wear the body out. This is aside their nuclear and extended family demands, the pressures from the communities and amidst the clerics, even their personal lives, etc.

“And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses’ father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even?” Exodus 18:13‭-‬14

Of a truth the Lord who called them strengthens them,but we must realize one special thing about God. No one can ever start and finish the work of God. Jesus never did. If He did, Matthew 28:19‭-‬20 KJV wouldn’t have been emphasized.

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Any man of God can only do the little He receives divine mercy to do, no matter how much he tries to.

Faithful, obedient and God fearing daddies in the Lord need to learn more about stress management to avoid death before their due time.

4. Members need to rise up to cover the gaps noticed in our spiritual fathers rather than exposing their inadequacies. No man is 100% infallible. Only God has no weakness.

The congregation must always leave the gap that our Priests are still human,no matter how much we look up to them for perfection. Jesus supports our weaknesses, let the church members also rally round the Shepherds when any correctable faults or weaknesses are observed rather than erecting judgement seats. Though this is not to support evils or promote sinners, but many Shepherds have died due to judgements from the parish council/elders. Many Shepherds are already wounded spiritually and emotionally because of the sentences passed upon them for their inadequacies.

In the early days of the CCC, there were few parishes and small number of congregation. Then, church members cared less about the faults and weaknesses of the patriarchs. Why? They were “gods”. Members were only interested in getting solutions to their challenges of life. Then,members were highly ignorant of so many doctrines, tenets, rules, regulations and ordinances.
Today, everybody is wise. We all know; as we usually proclaim, because our eyes are wildly opened, even spiritually.

Shepherds are not ghosts or angels,they are anointed men separated for divine use. Enough of judgements against them. What is the gain for a Shepherd to die because he stumbled into iniquity? Of what benefit is that to the Church and the heavens? Remember CCC Hymn 539 stanza 3 & 4

Baba ko fe egbe elese,
Beni ko si fe iku won,
Wa sodo Mi l’Olugbala nwi,
Emi yio si gba gbogbo yin la

Gbogbo yin, e po ninu ife,
Pelu isesi tododo,
E ma gbadura nigbagbogbo,
Emi o si wa pelu yin dopin.

Amin.

May the Lord God of Celestial put an end to incessant sudden death amidst His heritage. Amen.

“He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 25:8 KJV

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