REVELATION OF THE CELESTIAL CALL; A LETTER TO THE CELESTIAL CHURCH (Part1)

Chapter 5: Appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ

From section 58 to 74, our Lord Jesus Christ appears in His church. We see the first appearance in 1954 on the Friday immediately after the harvest that particular year, the third harvest thanksgiving service in Nigeria. The founder noted that prophetic messages had been coming about the visit of Jesus our Lord, three months prior(section58). At about 3am that Friday morning of the visit, the founder was possessed by the Holy Spirit and continuously uttered the sentence till 5:30am 'Jesus Jesus whose eyes are like those of a lion's cub and from whose fingers tips light beams out'; which was related to him in the morning by a member sleeping close to him(section 58).
The Lord visited as a blind man as He appeared walking towards the church at about 9am. He met the founder's wife and spoke to her, asking for tobacco, then for cigarettes, which she replied she had none. The third time He asked for kola-nuts, and was angrily received because of what he asked, knowing well that these items are forbidden in Celestial. He was offered money to buy what he wanted by another member. He cautioned them to beware because the world is delicate (section59). Here we see our Lord Jesus Christ pointing out the problem of discrimination in the church already due to the tenants of the church. He, asking for these items we see as forbidden in the church, was indirectly telling us not to reject people with weakness of any sort. You can't show love and discriminate at the same time. Jesus is the epitome of love and every other thing is under love. Love is the greatest of all (1Corinthians13). We see He was rejected immediately and sent away because He asked for things the church sees as forbidden. As celestial, we must understand that the church is to save lives. The church should be more accepting. Not everyone will be able to follow the rules immediately, but we must accept them with love first, and then the Holy Spirit can teach and inspire them to do right and live right. Most celestial churches are known to condemn people, especially when you break up the church tenants. These tenants are for us to perfect our work with Christ, but God never condemns us. For there's no condemnation in Christ(Romans8:1). Apparently, they expected to see a white Jewish man, not a blind man. We should also understand that Jesus will take the form of the poorest or the one in need. As the world says, when I was hungry you fed me, when I was in prison you bailed me(Mathew25:34-40). In the life of Christ we must see everybody equal and not be judgmental.
Jesus Christ, as the blind man, proceeded into the church arena where he met the founder, who was about 50 yards away.
The founder described him as tall and graceful, covering himself with a single piece of white clothes wrapped round his whole body. The founder described that as he approached, a beam of white light was before Him.(section60). As he recognized Him, he asked; ' My Lord, whence comets thou and whither goest thou? He replied; 'the son of Man comes from nowhere in particular nor does He have any destination but goes where the wind guides Him'. The founder thanked Him and walked with Him and He said again 'Are thou not a prophet? You have been given to know me because of your loving kindness.' The founder offered Him money as alms. He declined and said ; 'Mine is not money but love. May it be so for you as well.
Here we understand that the founder's heart was different; on meeting Jesus. He immediately recognized Him in the spirit, knowing in the flesh He was a blind man, hence the reply from Our Lord; 'you recognize me because of your loving kindness'. It's only a true loving heart that can see Christ, the heart that will see God must be free and not judgmental. God in His church seeks love and not money. Now, in the church, we see the spirit of mammon or the love of money growing more intensely than the love for one another. We see leaders in the church mainly concentrated on the financial situation of the church rather than the actual well-on of members in the church; we are supposed to love them like ourselves and help them through their weakness.
Jesus walked with the founder and both entered the founder's residence.
He asked for water and a bowl of water was presented to him. He also asked for sugar. It wasn't easy to get sugar at that time in the area, but Jesus told the founder to check for lumps in the room and take them ; and as he checked the room, he saw them, as Jesus said. The lumps(cubes) were put in the water and stirred. Afterwards, he sipped the water seven times and gave it to the founder saying; 'men will rush to you with various problems', and went on to tell you the various uses for which water could be made.
The use of water and sugar, not necessarily together in Celestial, is well known. We can see here the birth of this by Our Lord Jesus to the founder. Every instruction, item and number(for example '7' sugar) given to the celestial is grace! This means that God has come down to our level to receive our faith even if it's lifted, with common items in Jesus Christ's name alone. He then asked for a cloth large enough and he was given one of the harvest clothes materials wrapped around the altar(section 64).
Jesus related to the founder in section 65 that all the service of Celestial church of Christ are acceptable unto the Father and that the founder should tell all members to be steadfast with worship because worship will be the ultimate salvation of mankind. He also mentioned that the Love of money will constitute the downfall of many in their bid to enter heaven. He told the founder to fix his eyes on Him. Here, we see a very important message to all celestial members. The service of celestial cannot be compared to any other service of any other denomination, celestial church is a church from heaven above; it's services were given to us to have undeniable access into the Holy of Holies. The service of celestial church is heavenly and once u partake in this service you take part in an acceptable worship of God through Jesus, this is given to the church, this is why we see manifestations of the gift of the Holy Spirit in the church from young to old, poured out in large proportion. This is the glory of God in our life as celestial. The grace 'Luli' given to us is met fully in the church service. When partaking, we are taken up to heaven and when every time a service finishes we are rewarded again by the grace in the blood of the lamb. The way of worship and conducts of the celestial worships reveals a lot of wisdom, power and glory of Jesus. The body of Jesus being offered on the 7 candle altar of God is the ultimate sacrifice so we receive undoubtedly from every service.
When our Lord Jesus took His leave, one of the elder said to Him ' who can fail to see the glory of this blissful sunshine? Then our Lord chanted 'Halleluiah' seven times ; at the point a paralyzed man was healed Just by overhearing the talking from the other room.(section65).
Section 66 and 67 on the Celestial constitution explained how Our Lord Jesus left; escorted by the founder, He disappeared. On the third day after this first visitation, a member of the church as she claimed also, was secretly going after fetish priest and using power of darkness, she met the man on white robe who earlier visited the founder as she was passing a cemetery and she became frozen stiff and was brought to church, earlier prophesy had been given to the founder that some members who claimed to be Christians and are still engaging in dark practices and were worse than idol worshippers, and that one of them will be caught and brought to him; the woman was then brought to the founder and He informed her that it was Christ who she saw after praying for her and releasing her; she confessed(section69).
The second appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ on the beach to His church was in 1954 at the bar-beach in Lagos on the occasion of the anointment of some members to the church. As happened earlier prior to the first visit, the founder was possessed by the Holy Spirit at about 3am and reportedly prophesied of His coming to sleep. At about midday, while praying, a boat suddenly appeared far out in the sea and in a split-second it was some hundred yards away. The next thing the founder described having seen, was a man on the beach in a reclining position wearing a piece of blue cloth round His waist and his wound like the one on Him on the cross. His body showed signs of having come out of the sea; holding a well-worn old Bible wrapped in a piece of string, a copy of the Quran and some sun-dried fish, which the founder is described as having recognized Him immediately and went towards Him, receiving further injunctions and explanations of a number of things. In particular, he directed the founder not to engage in any form of favoritism for selfish reasons or what is said to be 'eye service' (section 70).
Here we see, it's always a task for leaders, especially in the faith, to work the fine line and not favor for some reason or another. It could be because of a relationship; your wife, your brother or closest friend in the church. It could also be because of a member's contribution to the church, a member paying more money, at this temptation some leaders fail to follow Christ and favor their human feelings. We as Christians must stand with Christ in this journey of faith. A man must leave his brother, sister, and mother his father and follow Christ, remembering Jesus using the term" who is my mother?" when they ask Him (Mathew12:46-50). This means as Christians we can't favor our relationship with people over the gospel. The gospel is a sword between brother and brother (Mathew10:34), it is important to keep our focus on the spiritual purpose of Christ in the church rather than our feelings. A member of a church might be contributing mostly to the church and the pastors are scared to make any decision that might displease him, even at the cost of Jesus' word. This is common nowadays. The highest contributors have the highest say. Instead of spiritual authority, there's a place for human feelings in large proportion, the spirit of mammon which leads to competition, pride and mostly arrogance, either through behavior or words. Jesus showed the founder that this was very important by pointing out that we as celestial, should be members without any discrimination. The spirit of God, which is the spirit of Love, seeks humility in all scenarios.
Section 70 continues as the founder relates to having seen a woman wearing simple apparel moving around him; the man with blue loins from the sea. She was looking at Him with concern, then moving away again. This woman was the gracious mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Mary. Under the hot sun at the bar-beach, as the founder rushed towards and spoke to Him, returning to the congregation to tell them, members rushed towards Him and He spoke to many of them. A lady amongst them who was dressed in Yoruba attire related to the founder her own experience that she was asked why she went naked. It was pointed out that she was not wearing the sutana(section70b).
The revelation of our mother Mary here to Jesus is part of the reason we have a service for our beloved mother, because She's divine and God has already glorified Her above all women. She is the mother of all Christians(John19:26,27).
My understanding at the point when all the members rushed to see the man from the sea; celestial members in their white garment except a woman in her regular attire and she was told to be naked by our Lord. The sutana is a spiritual covering. By faith we receive this grace, by obedient, it is because you believe, we must believe in the power of the sutana as it is. Jesus is covering us completely and you are not naked. From here we see that, as the word says, we wrestle not flesh or blood but spiritual forces of darkness (Ephesians6:12). We can't afford to be naked in the spirit; our heart is the spirit and no cloth can cover your heart, but as celestial, we have been given the sutana to help your heart or spirit. Mostly, when we are in white, we feel protected, we feel holy, we abstain from uncleanliness even if it's food stain or dirt because of the color white, all these permutations while wearing the white keeps going on in our minds, lifts up our faith even without knowing. The way of service and what we wear and don't wear in the church have all been given to cover our nakedness and bring us closer to God; for us to feel pure, confidence to ourselves, so we can approach the throne of grace with confidence(Hebrew4:16).
Many believers at the bar-beach saw Jesus and many of them rolled on the sand in spiritual turmoil, digging the sands with their hands and testifying to His identity and presence. Many animals on the sea dipped in and out of the water in salute(section70).
When God really shows up and He's received in the faith, we can expect revival instantly.
Jesus is still showing up to His parishes even till date. for one, have witnessed a visit after the children's harvest in my local parish. A man was dressed in white, native white, as a blind man and had two other younger boys by his side wearing white, and also seemed all blind. Another occasion, He was to come alone and eat with us the Saturday before the harvest that particular year. I have heard of several testimonies and every Celestial should please be observant of this, especially before or after the harvest. Don't expect a well dressed, good-looking Jewish man; that might be, but that's not faith. Our Lord has already described Himself in His Word. The miracles that happened in the church were too numerous to mention, as the founder said. Before 1958, several people had been raised from the dead (section72). The blind see through the grace of Jesus, about 18 a day, lame walk, barren got pregnant, pregnant safe delivered. Quoting directly from section 74 of the Celestial church of Christ Church constitution 'Miracles are indeed an everyday occurrence with us. These testify to the fact that He who sent me and promised that these miracles would happen through me so that the world may believe that He sent me- that He is still with me. Glory be to His name in heaven. Hallelujah. May the Celestial Church of Christ continue to wax strong. Amen.'
We can say now that there's a big difference in the ratio of miracles done and the way of miracles.
These days, some leaders have reduced the power of the church to spiritual work over anything and not laying of hands and these days we hardly hear of twenty miracles per day or the dead being raised. We have this power as a celestial. God gave our founder to demonstrate this as the first true celestial. We are to become a true celestial with the word of God. In understanding of the church and pursuit of charity. We have to chase after real power just as the founder had. Everything we have in the celestial church is for understanding and spiritual growth.