Believers called to warfare

Bishop Hulan Hanna might have made some people squirm in their seats during his sermon, but he bluntly told them that he didn’t come to preach to make them feel good, or to shout and do cartwheels, but to inform them that, for Christians, it is a time of warfare, and that it is now God’s time.

“This is not the time for a fearful church or a timid Christian,” said Hanna, senior pastor, East Street Tabernacle, during his sermon at the 97th Biennial National Convention of the Church of God of Prophecy (COGOP) Bahamas.

“There is a real demon on the outside and Jesus said he comes to steal, kill and to destroy. That is his function; that is his mission. Instead of backing down from us, Satan and his adherents are emboldened and many of God’s people are either too terrified of Satan to stand against him or they’re not even mindful of the time in which we live – in both cases, this is dangerous.”

Hanna said what is at stake is the children, institutions and homes.

“You cannot sit down and say the devil is busy. We need to get busy and do the work of God and reconcile.”

Speaking on the topic, “It Is Now God’s Time”, Hanna told his fellow Holiness Pentecostal Christian Church members that they came together in convention against the backdrop of a world that is unsettled.

“Internationally, conflicts abound with thousands being killed by those who have little to no regard to the value of human life or national boundaries. The world economy is still on the rebound, and even though this is good news, you and I know all too well that the tipping point for a real recession is only one major international catastrophe away. A good economy will not result in souls coming to know Jesus Christ.”

He said people sometimes use the metric of measuring their success or even their spirituality by money and the things money buys. And that they also use the metric to measure their walk with God. But he said a good economy will not result in souls coming to Jesus. And that a good economy will not necessarily change the perception a person has of himself.

“This nation needs Jesus Christ and more Jesus,” said Hanna at the convention which is being held under the theme, “Go Ye Therefore Reconciling the World to Christ”.

“This is why national programs promise so much, but they deliver so little because what people need cannot be measured in buildings and programs; cannot be measured in what you feel. What people intrinsically need is a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Our issue is not the lack of things – our issue is the lack of a person – this person is Jesus Christ.”

He said Jesus Christ should get people excited and that he is the essence of who people ought to be in this world today.

“Sometimes we lose our bearing and we substitute other things for Jesus Christ, but at the heart of this nation, and at the epicenter of this church, we need Jesus Christ. And that sounds so simple, and so uncomplicated, but people seem to have a difficult time wrapping their mind around it.”

The senior pastor said the things that are happening today show that people need Jesus Christ to be in every institution in the country.

“The redefining of biblical institutions – including an all-out attack on the human gender, which seeks to question the gender for a human being at birth – these are all real as they are tragic. A boy is still a boy; a girl is still a girl. North America, Europe, and any international institution cannot redefine what God said a person is at birth. And the church and the people of God can ill afford to be comfortable, or to put our arms around things that are politically correct. We have to take a stand for what is right. You may lose some friends in the process, you may not be invited to certain places in the process, but on Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”

He told believers that the world is not changing and that the world is trying in a diabolical way to change God’s people. But that righteousness must still be the standard of God’s people and holiness the essence of who they are. And that they may lose some friends in the process and be marginalized, but that they cannot be fashionable.

“We cannot want to be like the others.”

He said the spirit of anti-Christ and secularism is becoming more and more pronounced. With each passing day, he said, The Bahamas is in trouble, not because of a new devil, but the same devil that has always been around.

Hanna said God wants to make His people uncomfortable and wants them to get upset, because He wants to move them to a place where they decide to no longer walk in this world step-in-step and accept things, but to stand as an agent of reconciliation.

“The boldness of Satan is such that it is as if he is not the least bit moved by our claims that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. We have this power, this authority, this anointing, but the devil doesn’t even care. The devil feels very comfortable.

But we have to move resolutely in the name of Jesus Christ, and determined, if we are going to fight for God, or only show up for a good time every so often on the calendar.”

Hanna said he believes God wants His people to be a fighting church.

“I believe we are fighting Christians. I believe that God wants us to determine once and for all that we will not stand by and allow our communities to be destroyed. We will not stand by and allow our children to be destroyed. We will not stand by and allow for the redefinition of our homes and our institutions. We will stand in the name of Jesus Christ and we will reconcile mankind to Christ.”

He said the church has the answers for all problems. And that their answers need to be taken outside the walls of the edifice and outside the confines of their respective homes.

“We need to take it from our bosoms and go in the name of Jesus Christ and declare The Bahamas will be a nation after God in the name of Jesus. We must break the back of every satanic force that has come to destroy and declare that this world can and will be declared to Christ,” said Hanna. “For Christ we live; for Christ we die.”

The COGOP convention runs through Sunday, March 19.