Introducing The Book

Jesus simply said to me, "Here is a book to help you with your problem". This book that you are now reading is that book. It focuses on the key areas of his teachings that the churches have fallen away from. In 1993, I had the incredible honour and privilege of having our Lord Jesus appear to me. He appeared to me through a dream. He looked very happy to see me as though he was meeting a close personal friend after a long time apart from each other, but I was completely overwhelmed as he kept coming towards me. How could such a sinner as me even stand in his presence let alone talk with him? Every part of me seemed focused on the fact that there was sin in my life. This was not sin as you would imagine it to be. I was already careful to make sure that there was nothing in my life that would stand between God and me. However, by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I knew that there were certain sins that I would definitely commit again. How could I stand there and try to pretend to the one who knew me better than I knew myself that all was well? I threw myself at his feet and pleaded for mercy. Any previous ideas I had about all the things that I would ask God if I ever had the chance did not even enter my mind. Jesus responded by simply saying, "Here is a book to help you with your problem".

It will helpful for you to know that God’s hand has been upon me very strongly throughout my life. At the time of my birth, he declared my name through a sign. When my mother returned to the hospital after deciding to no longer have me up for adoption, she was amazed to find that the nurses were already calling me by the name that she had decided on the way back to the hospital to give me. Also, in the first year of my being a Christian, God spoke audibly into my mind on three occasions while I was sleeping and taught me about three areas. The first area he taught me about was the importance of complete replication in evangelism. The second area was about the importance of individuals being true to their unique giftings, and the third area was about the danger of religion as opposed to a living faith. Two years after my encounter with Jesus, God supernaturally anointed me with his holy anointing oil. There was no human hand or man-made oil that was used. God, himself was responsible for the anointing. Although I’m not focusing on these experiences in this book or a number of other experiences over many years, I want you to understand that the Lord’s hand is upon me. This is not because of anything that I’ve done but because of his great love and desire to impart truth to you.

At first, I was waiting expectantly for some book to come from somewhere that would help me with my problem after Jesus had appeared to me. It wasn’t until many years later that I realised what Jesus had actually meant. Surprise, surprise, I found the meaning for my experience in the Bible. In the Bible, when God gives someone a book (or a scroll as they were called back then), it actually produces what equals to a book through the person that God gave the book to. There are two examples in the Bible of God giving someone a book. The first one was to Ezekiel, who wrote the book of Ezekiel and the second one was to the Apostle John, who wrote the book of Revelation. Ezekiel’s experience reads as follows.

Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. He then said to me: "Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. (Ezekiel 2:9-3:4)

The Apostle John’s experience reads as follows.

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings." (Revelation 10:8-11)

In both of these examples, God gave them a scroll, which they ate, and a message resided in their spirits which they later wrote down. Some may say that the message I received was for me and not for others. Firstly, this is not consistent with the character of God who blesses one with the purpose of blessing many. Secondly, truth is truth. If God has opened truths of the Bible to me, they are still truths of the Bible. And as truths of the Bible, they are of value to all.

Ezekiel and John both received scrolls which later produced books. However, the scrolls are only symbolic of the one-off encounter with God. It was the impartation of his grace during the encounter with him that produced the words of God which they later wrote down. In the case of Jeremiah, the same thing happened, but the symbol was not a book. Jeremiah’s lips were touched only once by a hot coal from the fire of the Lord, and the result was a lifetime of ministry and a lengthy book of the Bible. His experience read as follows.

Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth… (Jeremiah 1:9a)

In these three examples that I have given, the people were awake. Is it only experiences while being awake that are valid? According to the Bible, it isn’t. Solomon was not awake when he received what would later become the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs. Jesus appeared to Solomon in a dream and through the dream, supernaturally imparted wisdom to him. The wisdom from Proverbs that some of us know so well was first imparted through a dream. It says the following in 1 Kings.

At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for - both riches and honor - so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life." Then Solomon awoke - and he realized it had been a dream. (1 Kings 3:5-15a)

I came to realise that the Lord imparted the equivalent of a book to me during my encounter. Just as Ezekiel and Jeremiah did not suddenly have complete books that they were ready to write, it was a process over time with me. However, like them, the hand of the Lord was upon me so that eventually the work would be produced. Through this book, my experience with the Lord is not only about me. It’s about you as well. It’s about you too receiving a book to help you with your problem. Is a problem with sin unique to me? Obviously, it isn’t. It is a universal problem that is relevant to all. I present to you here the book that the Lord Jesus in his absolutely awesome and amazing grace has allowed me to give to you.