In all of history, God has never acted without telling, informing or instructing someone about what He wants to do. Not that He needs anyone’s permission. But He does so in order to show His faithfulness. David said in Psalm 51, “…that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” When God speaks, He speaks with justification, and when He judges, He does so with clarity. Sometimes, God makes His plans known to a prophet or prophetess, or sometimes to ordinary people just like us. But, in each case, God tells someone before He acts..

Before destroying the world with a flood, God went to Noah and informed him. Genesis 6 reports that when God saw that man was inherently and continuously wicked, and that every imagination of man was evil, He, God, repented that He made man on earth.  The Bible says that God grieved, that is, God had pain in His heart. And, God said, in Genesis 6:7, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth.”

In another episode, according to Genesis 18, when God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He came to tell the man He called His friend and faithful servant, Abraham about it.

In the plains of Mamre, God appeared to Abraham. And according to Genesis 18:17, God said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great nation and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? Then, in verse 20, the Lord said to Abraham, “…because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.” Then, according to the same passage, Abraham asked God, “Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked? So, clearly, God had a plan – to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and He came to tell His friend, Abraham about it. Finally, when God could not find righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities were destroyed.

What were the sins of Sodom Gomorrah? No, it was not just sexual immorality. From God’s perspective, it was something more serious than that. Jeremiah 16:48 (NKJV) tells us what it was. It reads,

“Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughter Had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she Strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and Committed abomination before me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.”

           Sexual immorality was not the only sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. The two nations were afflicted by some of the same ailments that now afflict us: pride, haughtiness (or inordinate arrogance), idleness (a precursor to gossip and idle talk), neglect of the poor and needy, and diverse other abominations.

In another setting, God Himself came to Gideon when He was about to deliver the Israelites from the oppression by Median. According to Judges 6:11-16, the Lord appeared to Gideon and said to him, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Medianites. And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Medianites: have I not sent thee.

Finally, in a historic occurrence, God came to Saul (whose name was later changed to Paul) on the road to Damascus when He [God] was ready to take the gospel message to the Gentiles. According to Acts 9:1-16, Saul, blinded by the power of God, was led by his followers to Damascus, where God had prepared a certain disciple - Ananias – to be used by God to restore Paul’s sight. And told Ananias, “Go thy way, for he [Paul] is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

Through these accounts, it was not man wanting to do something to please God, it was God revealing to man what He was about to do.

Today, God is about to do something in Celestial Church of Christ, in this part of the world, and I have been sent by God with a specific message to all. This message is not intended for any particular person or group. When God spoke, He said, you people (not a single individual) are not doing what this church was sent to do. And that I should explain and remind all of us of the mission of this church. God said that He would also tell me what to say to you in addition to this prophesy. And I will say a few things to you that God has put in my heart since the prophesy came.

The Message, given on October 1, 2005 following a birthday service in North Atlanta Parish, Atlanta, Georgia now follows. In the weeks that followed, I sought a confirmation from God concerning this message because I wanted to be sure it came from God. In a subsequent message, God clearly confirmed the message given on October 1, 2005 and urged me to proceed.

The Prophesy

                      I have chosen you to preach my word. I will send you out to places to revive, you will go from one place to another. You are one of the chosen ones and you will go out and tell the truth about my word. The church is sinking because of the use of human knowledge and reasoning to administer the church rather than reliance upon God. Go and preach my word to the church; if it does not change, my judgment will come upon it. This church was supposed to operate in love, but it has been turned to a place of wickedness. You will have revivals at the following parishes: North Atlanta Parish, 3 days; Jefferson Parish, New York, 1 day, and in Florida, one day. Tell them how I descended this church and what I descended it to do. Tell the church to return to God or else face my judgment (repeated twice). God said that we have perverted the glory of this church – Celestial Church of Christ.

Before each revival, tell them to invite every one to attend. I wanted to descend my judgment upon the church last year, but rescinded, thinking that people will repent. Since this did not happen, I have no choice but to return judgment upon the church. But before I do, I am sending you out to warn them. I will instruct you as to what you will say.  End of message.  

           My message tonight, the additional message inspired by God is titled, “The Valley of Decision” and it is based on the book of the prophet Joel Chapter 3.

           Let someone read Joel Chapter 3:1-3, 14-16.

           God asked the prophet Joel to tell Israel that His judgment shall come upon disobedient Israel; but to those who are obedient and call upon the lord (Joel 2:32) shall come the Holy Spirit. So, Joel spoke to Israel in the ‘valley of decision’ (also known as the ‘valley of judgment’) according to Joel 3:14. Those in the valley of decision are people, who like many of us here today, must decide whether or not to have a relationship with God, and if so, which type of relationship? Such people must decide quickly because according to Joel 3:14B,” THE DAY OF THE LORD IS NEAR.” And the decision that we make today will determine our fate.

           How did Israel, God’s people, get to this point of ultimatum by God? In our own case, how did Celestial Church get to this point?

           Israel got to this point by forgetting the God who single-handedly delivered them from their predicaments and brought them into a land of comfort. All they were required to do was to fear God and obey His commandments. Israel rebelled instead.

            Celestial Church of Christ, on the other hand, following Israel’s footsteps, went a step further, not only by not fearing God, but also by perverting the glory of God which we have all enjoyed since coming into the fold and by abandoning the mission of this church as given to the founder of the church, the late Rev. S.B.J. Oschoffa. Anyone who does not understand how a church or nation can pervert God’s glory only needs to read Paul’s prayer for Israel contained in Romans 10, the first three verses:

           “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

           Today, what we have done in Celestial Church of Christ is to ignore the righteousness of God – the gift that God gave us through His son, Jesus Christ. Instead, we have replaced God’s righteousness with our own brand of righteousness. And we are wondering from wondering about like a people without God. We are distracted and moving in the wrong direction. And so today, as God has instructed,

let me remind you of the mission of Celestial Church of Christ.

The Mission and purpose of Celestial Church of Christ.

           In his account of what the Lord sent him, the Rev. S.B.J. Oschoffa narrated that on September 29, 1947, he was praying in his house along with some friends who were visiting when he saw a beam of light. Following that, he saw a winged being whose body was covered by fire, small eyed, and was flying toward him. The beam of light diminished as this being approached him until he was about a yard from this creature. Then, according to Pastor S.B.J. Oschoffa, the being said to him,

            “God wishes to send you on an errand of preaching to the world. Many Christians there are who, during their lifetime, when confronted with problems and difficulties of this world they seek after fetish priests and another powers of darkness for all kinds of assistance. On their death, they think they are Christians, but they are no longer Christians because Satan has left his mark on them. For this reason, such people, after death, cannot see Christ. God wants to send you to the world on a mission of preaching and exhortation, but the world will not believe you. To assist you in your work so that men may listen to and follow you, miraculous works of Holy Divine healing will be wrought by you in the name of Jesus Christ. These of divine healing and God’s spiritual mark on you will testify to the fact that God sent you.”

           From this message given more than fifty-eight years ago, it is quite clear what Celestial Church of Christ was sent to do. The church clearly was sent to evangelize the world; to bring the lost of the world to Christ. Only God can save, and His word tells us clearly that only by coming to and through Jesus Christ can man have any chance of being saved. That is why the church is called Celestial Church of Christ [emphasis is on Christ, not man]. And the mission of Celestial Church of Christ given to The Rev. S.B.J. Oschoffa is the same mission given by Jesus Christ to His disciples before His returned to heaven. In the last chapter of the Book of Mark, Jesus said to his disciples,

            “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned… [And just as God said to the Rev. Oschoffa, Jesus also said to the disciples in the same passage]…And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” 

           Therefore, it is quite clear to me that the mission of this church – Celestial church of Christ – is the same mission that Jesus Christ had – which is to save the lost. Evangelism is the heartbeat of God. Our mission is to anoint a people for the return of Jesus Christ. In the year 1978, I was sent by the Washington, D.C. Parish of Celestial Church of Christ to represent the parish at the International Conference of CCC convened in Lagos, Nigeria by the late Founder, Rev. Oschoffa. At that summit, the founder announced that the full name of this church is “the Holy Anointing Church from Heaven” or in Yoruba, “Ijo Mimo Alami Ororo L’torun Wa.” Our mission is to anoint and prepare a people to welcome Jesus Christ when He returns to the earth. We are anointing with oil quite alright, but we not preparing – through the word - a people that can stand up and spread the good news about Jesus Christ, and unless we hid this warning and repent, we are all going to be held accountable in the last day. That is why in the words of the prophet Joel, we are now in the “valley of decision.” We are either going to return to the mission of this church and preach the word of God and bring the lost souls back to God, or else we will face the judgment of God.

           Pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life and the Purpose Driven Church, tells us that when a church loses its mission, it also loses its message.

           Our message should be,

*that Jesus is the Son of God;

*that Jesus was punished for our transgression;

*that He was wounded for our iniquity and (as the Bible reminds us) by His stripes we are healed;

*that Jesus died on a wooded cross and on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead for our justification. The word justification means to be declared not guilty. In the sight of God we are not guilty because Jesus rose from the dead. And therefore,

*that only by the power of the shed blood of Jesus have we any hope for eternal life. That’s the message that we ought to be telling the world and wining souls God. Romans 10:9 says that “…if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Believing and confessing are the keys; believing that Jesus is the Son of God, and confessing that He is the Lord of your life, so that through you others may come to God, is your mission and is my mission.

           My brethren, I believe that as a church, we have lost our mission, and in the process, lost our message also. That’s what God sent me here today to tell you. I was not sent to any particular group or sect. I was sent to all. I was told to invite all to hear. We have lost our bearings and we are now drifting from place to place. But if we hear and return to God, the Holy Spirit will come upon us and the light of God will shine upon us once again.

           In closing, let me refer you to II Chronicles 7:14-15. Let someone please read it. The key word is “if” since God will not take our free will from us. He has given us the free will to pick and choose as we wish. If only we would choose to do the right thing – repent, God will be our God and we will be His people again. As David said, in Psalm 20:7, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we [that is, those who have chosen to believe] will remember the name of the Lord our God.

           Today, I hope that you will make the right decision and choose Jesus as your Lord and Savior and be the person that God made you to be.

           Let us pray. [Song] “Holy Spirit descend into our midst, we are expecting Thee.”