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The Truth of the Word.....
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There is something peculiar to The Believers' Fellowship. We have a service on Fridays tagged '5 HOURS OF EXPERIENCE.' 5 Hours of Experience is a programme which we hold on instruction and in obedience to the voice of the Spirit. He said to me, 'You will experience My Presence.' In T.B.F., we teach that the Presence is the encapsulator of the Anointing. In other words, the Anointing is encapsulated in the Presence. What does this mean? It simply means that there is something greater than the Anointing- The Presence. In a general sense, they are synonymous. However, if you are careful enough to think on this and not allow your thought overule the perspective of the Holy Spirit, what I mean would inevitably be understood by you. Let me explain it this way........
In a service, an anointed man of God is preaching. He calls out to those who need a touch from God and many people go out. He lays hands on some, speaks the Word to some, prays for some, prays with some, blows on some, touches some and does everything he is directed to do by the Spirit. In all these cases, he has demonstrated an anointing by a divine and effectual effulgence. Imagine what can happen when a man of God does that......miracles will occur, there will be a manifestation. However awesome the anointing is, it is still the Anointing. In the case of the Presence, it doesn't work like that. The pastor could say, 'FATHER, LET YOUR PRESENCE FILL THIS PLACE.......WE KNOW THAT YOU ARE EVRYWHERE LORD BUT WE ASK THAT YOU GAIN AN UNPRECEDENTED AND UNUSUAL ACCESS INTO THIS ARENA. LET IT BE AS THOUGH GOD THE FATHER LEFT THE THRONE TO ATTEND THIS MEETING WITH US.....COME NOW LORD, WE ASK THAT YOU COME, COME LORD......' At some point, you will find out that the place would be so charged up and there would be a cloud indicating the shekinah glory of God covering the whole place. Things will begin to happen.
These things happen under an atmosphere of the anointing as well. How then do I know that this is the Presence since in a way, the Anointing is the Presence? As a matter of fact, there are such times when the Anointing is so strong it seems like it is the Presence. These three things are the unmistakable evidences to proof that it was more than the Anointing......it was the Presence......
The Pastor releases the Anointing, not the Presence (Though each time he releases the anointing, there is a confirmation of God's presence in him.) When he releases the anointing, it affects others. He is the giver, the congregation is the receiver. Hence, it is obvious that the point of emanation is in him. In the case of the Presence, there is no such thing as a release. It comes. He comes. It descends. He descends. Yes! In fact, the Pastor cannot hold it. It is not coming from him, he therefore has no control over it......it's all by God, it's all through God, it's all with God, it's all in God. The Pastor himself cannot be on his feet at that time. He is under the influence of the Deity's Kabod. Hence, when the Pastor is down and it is as though there is no one touching him but a strange, unseen hand, it is the Presence. If the Pastor is rolling, you can imagine what the members would be doing......Unh! Ouch! Ho! Yes Lord! Hey! And then, all eighty thousand people are on the floor. At that point, no one is singing, no one is shouting, there is simply a silence that cannot be controlled. It could go on for as long as five hours. That means they are basking in the ambience of His holy presence. I have heard that phrase (basking in the ambience of God's presence) a couple of times but I have never seen the reality of it except in The Believers' Fellowship. I mean it.
Another thing about the Presence is that everybody gets touched. We know of men of God who are obviously so anointed. They are very strong in the Spirit and almost everyone they come in contact with gets transformed and genuinely impacted. However, I know of a friend whose mother was sick to death. They went for crusades organised by one of such wonderful men of God and nothing happened. The strange sickness remained. She was a Christian, a child of God but she never got healed. She died after she had suffered untold hardship. We may have questions to ask. Why did God allow that? Why didn't God heal her? Did she not have faith? The truth is that whatever happened could not have been God's will. That is proven. He has only good plans for us. Why then did it have to happen? I could give you many answers to that but the most practical of all the answers that can be given is that they were under an atmosphere of someone's anointing, a ministry's anointing or God's anointing upon a man of God or a ministry. It wasn't the Presence. That is very true because when the Presence comes, EVERYBODY GETS WHAT HE WANTS....EVERYBODY GETS TOUCHED. You could ask, 'Where have you placed faith? Do people without faith also get touched?' You will find the answer to that soon.
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The answer to the question, 'Do people without faith also get touched?' will be answered by the third sign of the Presence. This sign is the most significant as it pertains to Christians for it is the part that in a way 'depends' on them. I quoted the word, 'Depends' because in the real sense, this thing comes strictly by grace. It is not for man to choose. God is the One Who chooses who He wants to bless with, surprise or give His Presence. The third sign is that the Presence doesn't just come. There could be goose pimples, shouts so loud, silence so pronounced the drop of a needle seems extraordinarily audible but I can tell that in almost all cases, it is the Anointing. During one of our meetings in July 2005, the Lord said through me, 'The number of times the Presence has been experienced all around the world after Jesus ascended to take His place at the right hand of the Father has not exceeded 5000.' Incredible? Yes. True? Definitely! Doubt me and doubt God. I always say to people most especially our members, 'I say it as I hear it....' and on that day, I said it as I heard it. Hence, I acted as a divine mouth piece being utilised by Jehovah.
Let's get serious. These things don't just happen. If a man of God falls for the temptation of fornication and on the day after he does so, he prays for a blind man, so far he is anointed and does not doubt, the blind man will receive his sight. Yes! He will. Why? His word says, '....the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.' Let me say this again, the Presence doesn't just come. There must have been a solid preparation. Remember the Old Testament days? Anytime a priest went into the temple, into the holiest of holies to give sacrifices unto God, there was always a fifty-fifty chance that he would come back alive. If he went into the cloud of God's Presence with anything God considered questionable like a wrong or sinful attitude or a simple act of disobedience, he would be killed by God on the spot! For that reason, there always had to be a rope and a bell tied to the priest's waist or leg in case he died. This was to ensure that the one who would pull out his body from the temple would not also be struck by God for an act of insurbodination which even he may probably not be aware of. That was how serious it was then. More importantly, that is how serious it is now. When Moses asked to see the face of God, he was told by Him, 'No man can see my face and live.' Why did Moses want to see God's face? Was he not anointed? Of course he was. Why then did he need to see God's face? He knew that there was something more than the anointing, he knew that there was something more than the charisma, he knew by revelation that there was a higher dimension, he knew that the Presence was real and incomparable to his elixir. He therefore asked to see His face. He did anyway after over a thousand years at the Mount of Transfiguration and of course, after he had died.
What am I saying? God will not honour folks with His Presence who only go to church to tender before him a list of unending requests. Yes, they may be anointed. In fact, they may be so anointed that they cast out demons and experience glorious manifestations. They still will not be honoured with the Presence. Don't forget, the gifts have been given to every man to profit withal. The Presence can come (not 'WILL COME' because as I stated earlier, it is for Jehovah to choose) if Christians live their lives for God. If you ask me which scripture stands as my best scripture, I will tell you it is Psalm 84 vs. 2. I have come to a point in my life where I know that blessings are the least important things. Yes! All I want is Him. He asked before but if He asks again, 'Totan, I want you to ask for just one thing and I promise I will give you.' I will always say, 'Lord, I want more of you!' I have a question to ask from you. What else could matter?
Let me just tell you that the Presence comes to those who are more than thirsty, those who are more than hungry, those who do more than cry, it comes to those who are dead. I do say to our members, 'I'm a walking dead man.' What I mean is that I am dead. Let me explain more. I mean to say that I am dead. Money? Unimportant. Fame? Unnecessary. Riches? Worth dung. All that matters is JESUS. Glory to God. Tommy Tenney said, 'Fire doesn't fall on empty alters.' You can't beat that. The altar always has on it a slain bullock or any other animal that is allowed, probably any animal that chews the cud. When the slain animal is placed on the altar, the fire comes from on high and it is consumed. I am that slain animal. You are or can choose to be that slain animal. That fire is what I have been explaining all along- The Presence. In other words, when eighty thousand serious people, eighty thousand people who have not come for the service because of themsleves but because of Jesus, eighty thousand people who know that there is more to life than chanting, 'Gimme gimme gimme', eighty thousand expectant people, eighty thousand holy people who know that they are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus but who still choose to have the right disposition towards their fellow men, eighty thousand selfless, passionate 'No-is-not-an-answer' people gather in an auditorium, the Presence can come. Of course, for such people to exist, they must have been fed with the truth of the scriptures and taught what it is like to understand no other language but the language that has only one word- Jesus. All such teachings would be the preparation for the Presence. Let me say it again, the Presence doesn't just come. The Anointing can come just like that but not the Presence. There are cases of people who just get touched by anointed men of God and immediately burst out in tongues even before they get born again. Yes, that's possible but it has to be the anointing. Never will it be the Presence. Remember, the Anointing is encapsulated in the Presence.
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