YeKengalé

I suppose it’s always good to ground ourselves in some common earthly wisdom when our heads can at times get stuck in the clouds of lofty contemplations. So thought tentmaker Paul, who also had some sky-breaking revelations, unlawful to even talk about, yet recognized at the end of the day, one’s mortality is grounded in some very practical considerations.

Those involved in the pioneering lifestyle of handling the ‘glory’, the anointing, the prophetic. …establishing bio-psychic interfaces with the higher end of the electro-magnetic spectrum, (whatever language game you want to play) may seem to ‘dwell in the clouds’. Those with an intense ministry schedule often spend hours plenty ‘in the spirit’ (in alternate states of consciousness) accessing information from higher planes of consciousness, or being the conduit of higher frequencies of energy with often spectacular manifestations, giving off the very false impression that one has transcended their humanity.

Jesus’ disciples themselves were absolutely confounded, unable to conceive that water-walkers could be crucified. My friend, Tony learned differently. It was in the very midst of operating under a heavy unction that he had a stroke that took out a portion of his brain the size of a golf ball. It took him months to recover. It mattered not that people to the left and right of him were falling under the power like tissue paper being blown by the wind, and dramatic physical healings were taking place all over the platform. In fact, at first he thought he himself was caving in to the unction resting on him (which would have been odd but at least plausible). Only after withdrawing and feeling fully the weight of discomfort did he recognize he was in serious trouble and had to be rushed to hospital to save his life.

I’m not about to get into the theology of all this which is quite besides my point. For all the talk and teaching about the cultivation and protection of the anointing that is on one’s life, there’s hardly any teaching out there on how to nurture and protect one’s self. Listen, forget the anointing. It has its own guardians. It will be here long after you’re gone, and God is ever merciful whose gifts and callings are without repentance. Protect yourself.

After recovery, Tony’s wife stands guard at every altar at which he ministers. I watched her at a prayer conference several years ago. The minute the anointing lifted, (and she’s acutely sensitive) she was there to collect her man from off the stage, regardless of who else was in the healing line and how willing her husband was perhaps to extend himself a little and pray for them. Nope. God doesn’t get to kill her man. The Glory is wonderful, but follow the protocols.

And then church people can be so judgmental and unforgiving. As fire-thirsty as a dry forest in a summer of heatwave, they put these high demands on their ‘Mand of God’ (nope … the extra ‘d’ is deliberate, though nobody can explain to me what it means) then after they hype the poor fellow to the heavens and he burns out in the flames, these same church folk wag tongues and fingers not recognizing themselves as the source that drove the poor ass to the bottle, Bathsheba or boy of preference when his unrequited soul could no longer find rest. That donkey was ridden to ruin. I remember withdrawing from prophetic ministry at an early age when I saw the pedestal being prepared for me. I have acute acrophobia.

And I’m not casting any shade on how any preacher passes. I think how TBJ chose to transition was grand. That’s how we’re supposed to go if we have to. Alert and on your watch. I too had an uncle who chose to transition in church after a long sickness. He put his clothes on after a season of being bed-ridden, walked to the service, stood up during testimony time to bear witness to God’s goodness, then sat down and nodded off, never to wake again in that discarded carcass.

Let’s have all the glory we can stand, but till the time comes when mortality clothes itself with immortality, let’s go against our inherited theologies and be kind to the flesh for a change. The cherubim will always be there singing holy. Let’s keep on their right side.