Long Life & Prosperity by Charles Okenyi
Synopsis
Men and women, most times have nothing better to wish their neighbours during celebrations than “LONG LIFE AND PROSPERITY” on earth.
Man is a pilgrim on earth. A sojourner. How long is LONG LIFE? 969 years of Methusellah? 33 years of Man Jesus? God has a plan for all He created and sent to earth on a mission. How long He has proposed each man’s expedition to last is determined by Him, the Almighty Creator. So, what is God’s answer to us when we pray for long life to our fellow human being? Does God alter the destiny of men to please our request in prayers?
Prosperity – success and wealth, for what purpose? How do men source for prosperity? Any hope seeking prosperity outside of God? Man came with nothing and will return with nothing. Therefore, prosperity is vanity, but many fight, kill, destroy and take unimaginable risks to make wealth and success. Yet, God says He is the only One to teach man how to make wealth because the earth and its fullness are all His. This book did a basic search of the Scriptures to try to guide readers to sustain repentance and salvation till the end while they stop to chase after the world.
CHAPTER 1
PROLOGUE 1
The usual prayer to all birthday celebrants is I WISH YOU LONG LIFE AND PROSPERITY.
I have tried over the years to trace the origin of the phrase but in vain carnally.
However, since giving my life to Jesus Christ and I accepted Him as my personal Lord and Saviour, the gift of the Holy Spirit gave me deep insight into the word of God to know what is life and prosperity from God’s point of view.
LIFE is defined in our dictionaries as: “that property of plants and animals (ending at death), that enables them to use food, grow, reproduce, etc. It is also the time a person or thing exists.
The Origin of life is well explained in Genesis Chapter 1 that deals with creation of all physical things on earth”.
For man, Genesis 2:7 says:
“And the LORD GOD formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of LIFE and Man became a living being.”
Man was to live forever on earth but on the condition of holiness or obedience to the word or command of the Most High God.
Genesis 2:16,17 says:
“And the Lord God commanded the man saying “of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”.
Man failed in that obedience test and sin was born. Sin brings about death (Romans 6:23A). Death is the end of or when life ceases. It is both physical and spiritual.
SEE CHAPTER 6 OF SECTION ONE FOR MORE DETAILS ON DEATH.
Job 14:1 says:
“Man who is born of woman is of few days full of trouble.”
One man’s disobedience at Eden turned all mankind to sinners and therefore inherited death.
God allowed long life span on earth until Genesis 6:6-7, when deliberate sin on earth caused Him to regret creating man. He resolved to destroy man on account of this. He even reduced the life span of man on earth to 120 years. Remember that Adam lived for 930 years while his great grandson Methuselah lived for 969 years. Noah who saved the extinction of mankind on earth lived for 950 years.
Thereafter, Abraham lived to 175 years which was classified as ripe old age and his son Isaac for 180 years. Moses lived for 120 years; David for 70 years.
Down the ages, infant, teenage, adolescent, young adults and middle aged mortality is now the order of our time.
It portends that the ember caused by sin in man has refused to be totally extinguished. Man rekindles the smoldering remains of the fire with reckless abandon duly guided by the chief opposer of God, Satan.
Under this circumstance, it is the in-thing to wish all men LONG LIFE AND PROSPERITY on their birthdays.
Psalm 90:10 has even made men to believe that all those who are living above 70 years of age are on auto-pilot or extra-time and are doomed to die any moment.
Many are therefore scared to announce or celebrate their (70th) Platinum Anniversary.
Not up to 5% of the world’s populations live 100-120 years any longer. Why is life span getting shorter for men on earth?
May the Holy Spirit of God teach us, give us understanding as we search for knowledge.
CHAPTER 2
THE CURSE
God formed the man – Gen 2:7.
Satan deformed the man – Gen 3:1-6
Jesus came to reform the man – John 3:16, Matt. 1:21
CURSE is defined as; a calling down of destruction or evil; a profane oath; a swear word; a violent exclamation of anger; a scourge.
From scriptural viewpoint, curse is the calling down of all negative forces in heaven, on earth and under the earth and all things God created to work against the accursed.
Blessing is the direct opposite of curse.
After the sin of man in the Garden of Eden, they were cursed – Gen 3:16-19. They suffered loss of power to subdue and dominate all that God had put under them in their life. Worst of all is that it became appointed unto every man born of woman on earth to experience death after a life full of trouble. Sin created fear and enmity between man and animals.
Jesus, God the Son, who is God’s first begotten Son suffered from the judgment on Satan and every first born – Gen 3:15. He was bruised on His heel. That means, He suffered death too having been born as Man on earth. He lived for only 33 years which was adequate for Him to fulfill His mission to earth. The curse for disobedience at Gen. 2:17 was death. Every act of disobedience or lawlessness is SIN – I John 3:4. The wages of sin is death through several agents of sin like sickness, diseases, distress, afflictions, accidents, labour pains, etc.
For the sake of the unsaved here, let it be known that Jesus Christ committed no sin (I Peter 2:22) for which He was doomed to die.
Hebrew 3:17 says:
“Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He may be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people”.
Propitiation is defined as to appease, reconciliate, to re-establish friendly relationship. For Christ to achieve this feat, He had carry the guilt for the wrongs committed by others, chief of which was that He was condemned to death in place of a hardened criminal, Barabas, before Pontius Pilate – Luke 23:18,19,25.
From the above analysis, it follows that since eternal life on earth was terminated by the sin of the first man, “long life” MUST surely be at the discretion of God Almighty, the Source of life, as life dwells in Him. He has no beginning and will have no ending. He is righteous and eternal.
He reduced the life span of man to 120 years (Gen 6:3) before He wiped out every living thing He created, except those in Noah’s Ark, at His command – Gen 7:23. Any wonder therefore, why men wish themselves long life at all times? Is it enough to wish ourselves long life despite the lawless life style of men these days? Do we deserve long life by the life styles adopted by men today?
God is the final judge. He alone decides.
CHAPTER 3
LUCIFER, SATAN – GOD’S CHIEF OPPOSER
The Book of Ezekiel 28:12-16 clearly illustrates the exalted position Archangel Lucifer initially occupied in God’s scheme of things in heaven. However his beauty corrupted his wisdom in verse 18.
He planned to build his own throne above that of God. He was therefore thrown out of heaven to the ground – Isa 14:12-15.
Satan, the devil, came down to earth with great wrath because he knew his time was short. Rev. 12:12b. He seemed resolute not to perish alone! He is identified as the god of this age. (2 Cor. 4:4). Any wonder then that he offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory if only Jesus could stoop so low as to fall down and worship him! (Matt 4:7). He could not have offered what he did not own. Many governments on earth are under his control. Agents of Satan are all over the world carrying out the destruction of persons and things believed to be favoured in God’s plan for eternity.
Many youthful, energetic, courageous and brave men all over the world are employed by Satan to terrorize societies, killing defenseless infants, women and old citizens in peaceful communities, denying them long life.
Many are possessed by evil spirits to become witches, wizards and familiar spirits that terrorize homes and families. They are the ones my parents had to take me away from at a tender age to be able to grow old in life.
We classify all demons and agents of Satan as agents of darkness. Nothing good ever comes from them. Long life on earth is not the portion of their possessed agents on earth. It is not uncommon to read terms like “untimely death”; “the wicked have done their worst”; etc in obituary posters and adverts in our media newspapers and on bill boards. Who are those exempted from the devilish schemes of Satan and his agents who are also found in many homes? Are they those enjoying long life on earth? Any magical or diabolical wand to make man live long on earth?
It is not uncommon to find infants, men and women adorned with armlets with prophetic inscriptions that serve as “protective bands” around the arms or as badges on their clothing. For pagans, it is in form of charms covered with leather and worn around the neck sometimes with toy bells for children and men or around the waist for women.
For Christians, there are rubber arm bands with inscriptions of words of their faith. Some tie anointed handkerchiefs, aprons and the like on the sick or dying persons as they are being prayed for to invite divine intervention.
The way man panics at the sickness of others truly shows that long life is not attainable by merely wishing it during birthdays or illnesses. It is surely in the hands of the Source of life.
