Using God’s given-authority for wrong reasons

Members of Prophet Penuel's End Times Disciples Ministries in Soshanguve, Pretoria ate parts of a snake, believing it would become chocolate. Courtesy of The Times

By Ofentse Ramatsetse

I read a rather disturbing article titled “Radical prophet's congregation eat a snake, say it tastes like chocolate,” published by The Times Newspaper on July the 14^th. Astounded by its outraging content, I perused the story to quench my curiosity. But I can't hide the fact that I'm disappointed by the deeds of other Christians.

The article narrates of a self-proclaimed prophet Penuel from Soshanguve, who claims to perform miracles in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This self-proclaimed man of God, whom by God’s given-authority, precipitates an alive snake to taste like chocolate and orders his congregation to eat it.

When journalists probed this ‘miraculous acts’ for confirmation, they found a church’s Facebook post saying and I quote: “We have authority to change everything into anything and it will obey because of our authority”.  Perhaps there’s nothing wrong that statement. As a matter of fact, I respect it because it’s recognised in biblical scriptures.

 The scripture (Genesis 1; 26) affirms the dominion given unto men over all animals of different kinds including living beings that creeps on earth. This scripture confirms our authority as children of the Most High.

Interpretation and execution of God’s Word

Yes, I agree that men have been given dominion over everything, but perhaps we need to question the use of this very dominion we boast about. Is it aligned with God’s intentions? Is it beneficial to all our Christian community? Is it not for selfish purpose?

I once attended a three day conference at Secunda and the guest preacher ministered under the topic: The missing Ingredient. His sermon touched a lot on believers that no longer fear God and honour His word. However, this Limpopo-based pastor said something quite interesting. He said and I quote, “To many Christians, God is just an idea”. Very powerful I thought.

But why does he say this? He has noticed that many believers do not fear God. They do quite despicable things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. They do not honour the Word and its decree. That is why we, as Christians, fail to win more souls in the House of the Lord.

I don’t disagree that it’s not possible to perform miracles, but is it pleasing to God that a self-proclaimed prophet orders congregation to eat an alive snake? Oops! I’m not so sure about that.

Average Christians versus Matured Christians

I once had a chat with a group of tertiary students about average Christians, and one guy said that in this secular society, no modernised Christian should be bamboozled by the deeds of certain prophets. But let’s ask the question, who is an average Christian?

In this context, an average Christian is simply a Christian that believes anything without processing it first. This is someone whom when told to eat grass does it without musing over it. From an epistemological point of view, they believe certain phenomena without critically analysing, testing and verifying them.

Who is a matured Christian? In this context, a matured Christian is someone who does not receive preaching as it is without biblically confirming it. With his spiritual maturity, comes a divine understanding of how things operates in the heavenly realms. The bible says, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7; 15). 

Know what is fruitful to your Spirit as a Christian! There are vultures out to devour you. Pray God for spiritual discerning.