OVER - RIGHTEOUSNESS LEADS TO DISASTER

By Rev.Michael Benson Ajayi 

Eccl 7:16 AMP “ Be not [morbidly exacting and externally] righteous overmuch, neither strive to make yourself [pretentiously appear] overwise — why should you [get puffed up and] destroy yourself [with presumptuous self-sufficiency]?

1 Tim 1:19-20 KJV  “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

     The word ‘conscience ‘ is the Greek word  ‘suneidesis’ it means   co-perception, i.e. moral consciousness: understanding or common sense . God wants us to worship and serve Him with common sense; an example of this is seen in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church with respect to a woman’s head cover. 1 Cor 11:14-15 KJV says “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering”  this tells us there are aspects of life that are learnt through nature , this is what is referred to as 'common sense' . It is dangerous to jettison common sense in the pursuance of spirituality; it results in disaster and in some cases death.In a bid to appear spiritual and righteous some persons go to the extent of asking the Holy Spirit which toothpick to pick out of the bunch and how many grains of beans to cook, what type of underwear to put on and so forth ;such teachings could lead to insanity.Some persons have donated there retirement benefits as 'miracle seed' and some gave out bank loans as donation because a prophet asked them to and eventually died of heart attack. Marriages and families have been destroyed because of this way of reasoning .    

    Many Christians have suffered shipwreck of their faith and given Satan the advantage over their affairs by compromising on the importance of using common sense in solving some of life’s problems. A man ran to me saying his wife and newborn twins were in danger of death because the church he belonged to does not believe in taking medication and as a result they were critically ill. I asked if they used toothpaste and medicated soap and he said yes ,I went on to educate him that the cooking salt they used contained vitamin A and iodine and that toothpaste contains medicines to prevent tooth decay and mouth odor and the medicated soap kills germs found on the body and that medical doctors were a gift from God to save lives through the wisdom given them by God;I went on to show him were Jesus spat on the ground and used clay to heal a blind man proving that healing can be achieved through physical means by faith (John9:1-15).  He was shocked that he had been deceived all these years .I instructed him to quickly take his wife and children away from the Church to the nearest hospital for treatment and if they refused he should report to the nearest police station. 
    Faith outside logic is ungodly, preachers are not beyond error; when God sent Samuel to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as king  he made several mistakes before finally anointing David the chosen of the lord (1Sam16:1-12) . Every message regardless from whom it came must be subjected to critical analysis and reasoning before accepted as truth .  Acts 17:11-12  TLB  says “But the people of Beroea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and gladly listened to the message. They searched the Scriptures day by day to check up on Paul and Silas' statements to see if they were really so.”  This is proof that all teachings must be subjected to critical analysis using common sense before they can be said to be truth , don’t just take it by faith rather reason it out with faith and logic .
Prayer: Heavenly Father forgive me of my sins against you I believe Jesus Christ died and was raised again for my salvation I receive him as lord and saviour and receive grace for protection from satanic manipulations in Jesus name.
Free prayer/counseling +2348098536911,+2348035536911, email:michaelbensonajayi@gmail.com