The young damsel, Salmoe danced and wowed the king and his dinner guests. It was Herod’s birthday and forced to entertain the invited guests, she first extracted a promise of reward. Herod was drunk as usual and the foolish king spoke peremptorily without weighing the implications of his promise.
According to Mark 6: 23-24: “And he-Herod- promised her-Salome- with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom." And he swore to her: Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you, up to half of my kingdom.” Salome, Herod’s step-daughter and niece indeed pleased him and his bacchanal guests.
We do not know the mechanism used in measuring Salome’s spectacular ballet performance but she was holding the cane of blackmail and thus used it in connivance with her murder, Herodias who was Herod’s wife and also his aunt.
Herodias had no hesitation to use the occasion to take out her enemy, Prophet John the Baptist once and for all. “And she-Salome- went out and said to her mother-Herodias- "What shall I ask for?" Mark 6: 24 told us: “And she said, "The head of John the Baptist."
Because Herod was drunk and made an unthinkable vow in his inebriated state, he had no option but to redeem his pledge and so ordered the head of John the Baptists already in goal chopped-off and given to the spoilt-rotten Salome and her mother Herodias.
Have you ever thought of what mother and daughter did with the head of John the Baptist later? We know. That is another article on another day. But how did it come to this macabre episode and why did Herodias hate John the Baptist?
The prophet of God had chastised Herod for marrying Herodias, his late brother’s wife against the Mosaic Law. “For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife,” (Mark 6: 18). The Law John Baptist was referring to was in Leviticus 18: 16: “Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother.”
But there was another law Herod claimed gave him the right to marry Herodias in Deuteronomy 25:5 “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.” But the sticky point was late Phillip had no son only Salome his daughter so Herod’s defense was illegal.
The first time I read this bizarre story which took place and confirmed in secular history by the great Jewish historian, Josephus (37-100 A.D), there was a chilling fear in me to become an apostle of the True Lord God Almighty. Why would a Loving and Kind God allow His own messenger to be killed ignominiously like this?
I do not want to be slaughtered like this without a help from God, not the least a birthday present to a rotten brat and her vindictive mother as John. John the Baptist was probably between 29 and 32 years old when his head was severed. He died young.
The death of Bahamian popular preacher, Dr Myles Munro jolted the Christian world few weeks ago. He died in a plane crash with his wife and daughter. They were preparing for a crusade and many have asked; why would God Almighty allow His own to die at the young age of 60 like Munro?
That was a young age considering the fact Moses said in Psalms 90:10: “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Why would God allow John Baptist to die like a chicken? Why would a man of God like Dr Munro die at such a relatively young age of 60 and in a plane crash for that matter? More so, why allow Mrs. Ruth and their daughter to die such painful deaths? Did they sin? Didn’t You-God- promise us Your children in Exodus 23: 26: “…I will give you a full life span.”
In Christendom today, we are told and everyone assumes that long life is our heritage and the age of 70 is the minimum for a good life and anyone who dies before the age of 70 must be because of sin or something else. Dying before 70 years is dying young.
So the question is; at what age should a born-again, genuine and redeemed child of the Living God, a true Christian who lives all his/her life doing the work of the Lord die? In short, in this context, why did God allow Munro, his wife and daughter perish in a plane crash?
The Holy Bible promises us- Christians- longevity as part of our heritage. The Lord God Almighty promised to give each of us a “full life span” but unfortunately most misconstrue that to mean long years as the Psalmist said in Psalm 90: 10.
The question is what constitutes a “full life span” to the Lord God Almighty is not the number of years we live on earth. The first time I read the account of John the Baptist’s gruesome death, I stopped reading further until the Holy Spirit clarified what happened.
John the Baptist didn’t sin, he was doing the Lord’s work so why was he taken out at the relatively young age of 30 plus by an unbelieving king? Then the Holy Spirit asked me: Why did I-Holy Spirit-create John the Baptist? Now I got it! As far as the Lord God Almighty is concerned, “a full life span” is when each and every one of us carries out our individual life assignment here. John the Baptist was born with one goal to achieve on this earth: to make the Lord Jesus Christ known.
He was to be the herald, a messenger of the King of kings as promised by the Almighty God in Malachi 4:5:-6 ““See, I will send the prophet Elijah-that was John the Baptist- to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
And when the fullness of time came in God’s Eternal Time Table, the Old Prophet Elijah who didn’t die physically was told to return back to the earth as John the Baptist, hence the expression, the spirit of Elijah- this was put into effect in Luke 1:11-17: “Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John….And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Immediately our Lord Jesus Christ came, began His public ministry by being baptized by John the Baptist in Matthew 3: 13 to fulfill all righteousness, the earthly assignment of John the Baptist was completed: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John” and John the Baptist later confessed in John 1: 33-334: “And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
'I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God." Shortly after, John the Baptist bumped head with Mr. Herod, he was arrested and incarcerated and later killed as a “gift” to a conniving and manipulating girl.
Although John the Baptist was killed at the age of 30 plus, as far as the Lord God Almighty was concerned, John the Baptist had completed God’s assignment on earth and so had no need to hang around here anymore.
To God, John the Baptist lived a “full life span” even when he died at the young age of 30 plus. You see, to the Sovereign Lord of heavens and the universe, the manner of John the Baptist’s death is immaterial. What matters to God is that each and every one of us He has created on this earth carries out and fulfills the reason for your creation.
You and I are placed here on earth for a purpose. To the Lord God Almighty, “a full life span” is not numbers, not 70, 80 or 90 years or beyond. Many souls will live long years on earth and end up finally in hell fire whereas those who lived for 20, 30 or 40 years for His purpose and fulfilled their individual purpose on earth will be in heaven.
Take a look at many of the apostles and evangelists of the Early Church as recorded in Acts and Hebrews. Stephen was murdered, Saul who later became Apostle Paul was beheaded, Peter was crucified upside down, Phillip was killed and many others. As Hebrew 11: 36-40 disclosed: “Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated the world was not worthy of them.
They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
Dr Myles Munro may have completed his assignment and it was time to get out of Dodge and go and rest. We do not always have the whole picture, but the Sovereign Lord of the heavens and universe has all the whole and full picture. We did not know the last prayer Dr Munro and his wife, Ruth prayed and we certainly do not know if their daughter said to that prayer, “Daddy, include me in that prayer too.”
Some people want their wives and daughters, sons and family members to go with them to the Eternal rest together right from here and our Lord God Almighty is a wonderful Savior who grants all our requests that are in accordance with His Will. It doesn’t matter if you live 20 or 99, what matters to the True Lord God Almighty are for you to fulfill your individual assignments here on earth and finish the race.
I- Moshod Ademola Fayemiwo-know why I am here; my main mission and as long as I am fulfilling it and carrying out His purpose for my life here on earth, I will live to the age of 99 as I have told my family and pointed out in this column in previous article.
Do you know why you are here? What is God’s purpose for creating you? Have you discovered it? Are you living for Him or for your selfish and egotistical self? Are you fulfilling the reason why your Creator gave you your life to be on this planet earth?
Why are you here as creation of the Most High God? What is your purpose for living: build houses and join them together which you will all leave behind; amass as much as you can in your bank account when you will not take a dime out of here; sleep with as many women as you can which is ephemeral and fleeting; amass many titles, qualifications and all those ephemerals which have no eternal value?
Just think about it; have you discovered the Will of the Lord God Almighty for your life? Dr Monroe did, he lived it and his wife, Ruth and their daughter imbibed the Will and Purpose of God for their principal-Monroe- and lived it with him and left with him. It is up to you; only and only on this God’s Will you and I, indeed all human beings shall be judged on the Other Side on that Great Day by the Great Judge. The choice is yours.
LETTERS OF THE WEEK Dear Dr. Fayemiwo, I carefully went through one of your past articles on Ebola Virus and it was really full of revelation and very impactful. Thank you. I thank God for your revelation because it tells of what was revealed to me by the Holy Ghost when I personally sought the face of God Almighty on the Ebola Virus issues. He spoke to me that affliction does not just come from nowhere but by the negative actions of men. My challenge and empathy is the loss of innocent lives that need our intercession daily as in 1Tim 2:1-6.
I strongly believe that solutions to many issues (including Ebola Virus) are not in the hands of the government and so called scientists but with us, the sons of God who seek to obey Him completely to discern or receive from heaven and make the world better in God's love. We have prayed, and we know God has given us His word. We believe Him and would act accordingly without fear; because He does not lie.
The world needs us more now... May the Good Lord have mercy. If you would permit me, I will use an excerpt of your message on my blog site; http://www.danieloketa.blogspot.com I pray the Most High God, the One who reveals of secrets continue to give you more insight to save our generation. Keep up the good work and fight of faith sir. Thank you and God bless you. I hope hear from you soon. Best Regards. ---Daniel Oketa ,Abuja, Federal Capital Territory-FCT-Nigeria
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