BECAUSE OF THE KINGDOM?

Dearly Beloved, BECAUSE OF THE KINGDOM? "And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize — a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion]" (Matthew 11:12 AMP) Throughout church history, denominations, groups of people, and individuals (both Christians and non-Christians) had misinterpreted and misapplied the Scriptures. These misinterpretations and misapplications which many people will claim are because of the kingdom of God have caused many erroneous doctrines and practices today. It is unfortunate that people are still misinterpreting and misapplying the Scriptures today especially to suit their selfish wishes. It would have been better if such selfish ambitions advance the cause of the gospel, but most of such are to deliberately deceive people to the selfish gains of the perpetrators of such misinterpretations and misapplications. To buttress this, here is a mild drama that ensued between me and an unknown person recently. The person sent an SMS to me thus: "2nd edition of the ongoing chevron/Texaco bonanza, you just won N500,000.00, your number is one of the 15 lucky winners, ticket BT352k. Call us on [a mobile phone number]." Immediately I received the message, I knew it was a hoax. I called the person and advised him to desist from such act. The moment he discovered that I was not going to play along with him, he ended the call. Therefore, I sent this SMS to him: "I will advise you to stop this dubious act of duping unsuspecting people before God catch up with you with His wrath. You are warned!" He did reply my SMS. Here is his response: "I will advise you to stop this dubious act of yours because the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. You are warned! Mind your business." I replied him again thus: "So, your own way of taking the kingdom of God by force is deceiving people! The Lord will reward you greatly! I mind my business, but do not try such on me and other unsuspecting people again. I warn you, be ready for God’s wrath!" He never replied my second SMS. One would wonder that such person could be bold to say that he is duping people because of the kingdom of God. No wonder, there are many questionable churches and fake pastors today. They hide under the kingdom of God and cause much havoc to unsuspecting people. Many scam emails have been sent to people telling them that there are donations to be used for God’s kingdom purpose. A careful verification of mails would reveal that they come from fraudulent people. Are you one of such dubious people? Are you also deceiving other people because of the kingdom of God? Jesus Christ declared, "Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy. Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done" (Revelation 22:11-12 NIV). In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). 
 Prayer Point: Pray that you will not misuse the opportunity of the kingdom of God that you have to mislead or dupe other people.