Earthly glory is vanity, seek Jesus Christ

Ecclesiastes 1:2-4, “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. 3 What profit hath a man of all his labour, which he taketh under the sun? 4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever.”

Vanity in the scripture refers to the emptiness in the end of life without God. Semantically, vanity in futility means to leave it all in life and die empty. Life without Christ is valueless because such life has no future. It is, therefore, worthless to seek the things of this earth purely on its glory because they will all end in this planet, which can change from time to time. This earth is not a permanent abode for anyone; we are all strangers here. The Bible advises in 1st Corinthians 7:29-31 saying, “But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; 30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; 31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.” High premium should not be placed on the things of this world, as they all end up here and pass away.

They are only good for enabling us live good life here on earth. They have no eternal value; they pass away and can disappoint at any time. When I was growing up, the young men then wore what they referred to as bongo trousers to show off.

Their trousers swept the ground as they walked. Today, nobody wears such. The pencil mouth style of trousers young men wear now that is so tight will soon fade away. In the late 70s and 80s, riding air-conditioned 504 and 505 Peugeot cars (popularly known as ‘Ntu-OYI’) was the pride of every rich man; this brand of cars dominated our roads and streets. But today, they are out of fashion and off the roads. Even the architectural designs of houses change from time to time. In the lead scripture, the preacher wonders what gain does a man have in his labour for all these. According to him, generations pass away, but the earth abides. Those earthly things pass away, but the Word of God remains the same. Whatever asset we acquire here on earth should not make us so proud to the extent of forsaking our service to God and preparation for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible queries in Mark 8:36-37,“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul”? Man gains nothing in acquiring and holding unto the things of this world. The honour and glory bestowed on an individual ends here on earth, they have no future, hence lead nowhere. Whosoever has them should treat them as second class to the things of God. While we have those things for the purpose of keeping the body and soul together, our major preoccupation should be how to serve God with the best of our ability in order to make heaven at end of this life. The Bible says in John 3:3-6, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” For any man to make heaven, such man must be born again, so that his spiritual orientation will be transformed to be in tune with God his Creator. The flesh with its desires will be subdued to allow the spirit of God take control and direct man’s affairs, actions and inactions. The above scripture makes it clear that a man must be born again to enable him see the Kingdom of God and be in heaven at last. One can only be born again by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Hence, the Bible tells us in John 1:12-13, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” One must have the passport to heaven to enable him make heaven. When one is born again and living in Christ, he is preparing for the rapture, and anytime the trumpet sounds or the person dies, all the wealth one has on earth, which gave him glory here will be abandoned and the person goes to the great beyond. So, embrace our Lord Jesus Christ, as He is the way to eternal life in heaven. The Bible puts it thus in John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Receiving our Lord Jesus Christ and accepting Him is acquiring the power of eternal life in heaven. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Any man who wants to make heaven must reconcile with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He does that by repenting of his sins and asking for forgiveness. When the person does this, he has the visa to enter heaven.

There is no point in procrastination. If you have not repented and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you are still priding yourself on the glory of earthly possessions. You, therefore, need repentance by receiving Jesus Christ and ensuring you have passport and the visa to heaven. It is then you will have the glory of God, which will last forever, as you are going to live eternal life in heaven.

Testimony Of The Lord’s Doing
The Miracle Working God Has Done It Again
MY name is Sister Joy Ohara. I reside at Ibafo, Olodi-Apapa. I am from Olodi region. I give God the glory for making me a Chosen. I am here to thank the God of Chosen for breaking the yoke of delay in getting admission that lasted for 11 years. I have been writing G.C.E and JAMB since I passed out from secondary school, and it lasted for 11 years. Each time I wrote the exam, a woman would go and collect the result, and when I went to check the result, I would not pass. In 2007, I came for a youth programme titled: “Missing The Focus And Marrying The Future.” Our General Pastor said, “Some of you here, your parents usually pay for special centre.” Where I was seated, I said to myself, ‘This is actually me.’ I said God please show me mercy. I prayed and asked God for forgiveness. When I got home that day, the angel of our Pastor visited me and said, ‘My daughter, you have been writing exams and you have not been passing.’ I said yes. He said ‘today, you are going to get admission.’ He said but I want you to go to pastoral school and not university. I said no, I would not go to pastoral school. I wanted to go to the university. I said my sisters are graduates, and if I don’t become a graduate, others will mock me. He said, ‘But I advise you to go to pastoral school.’ I said no, and he said okay granted. He then said if you finish school, you will not work and I said okay. He said to me again, ‘Your choice is to read Medicine and Surgery for first choice; your second choice is Pharmacy.’ I said yes. He said I don’t use any man whose hand is stained with blood.

He said I want to use you. So, he chose a course for me. He said I should go for Computer Science. ‘Tomorrow, you will know the essence of it.’ I said okay, and went for the exam. I was among the best students in the second batch of the examination I wrote that year. I gained admission, and my mother paid for the first year. The second year, my mother had stroke, so there was nothing I could do. I came to church during one of the services with tears. I told God that sickness had befallen my mother, who was financing my education, and now, I don’t know what to do again. So, I sowed a seed in one of our programmes titled: “God Has Sworn To Bless You”. After the programme that night, God revealed a business to me. I was standing with an angel, who showed me this recharge card business. He said to me, ‘My daughter, I told you that you didn’t have a helper and you didn’t believe me, but Blessed is the One that has the God of Jacob as help. He then said to me, ‘This is the business you will do.’ I told him that I didn’t have money. He said go and borrow from your elder sister. I borrowed N20, 000 and then prayed and told God that if He is actually the One that gave me this business, He should prove it to me. So, I started the business and within three months, I made a profit of N450, 000. I started paying my school fess by myself.

Later on, I started spending the money anyhow, so the angel of our Pastor came to me again and said to me that this is not what I asked you to do, I said but my account is dormant, he said to me yes, go and reopen your account and begin to save up money there, that’s the money you will be using to train yourself, so when there is no sales I will pray to God and tell him that you know I will pay my school fees, please I need money, he will just arrange new notes of money and put in my bag and I will hear a voice saying “Go And Pay Your School Fees I Have Put Money In Your Bag” and once I open the bag I will see the money and go and pay my school fees, that was how I graduated from the university. After school I went for job hunting, I forgot that he told me that I will not work for anybody, a mighty hand came into my box and removed the original file from my admission letter that contains all my portfolio, he removed it and took it away, he told me earlier that I will not work for anybody so anytime I go out to look for job I get disappointed, the angel normally tells me that if I get disappointed I should go home rejoicing but instead I go home in sadness. So along the line I continued with the business and stopped coming to church, he came to me and said to me my daughter, remember I am the one that gave you this business so that you will have time to serve me I refused you to work for anyone, now you love the business, you no longer love me, I said No and I repented and that was how God started blessing my business. Praise the Lord, our God is great.