Surgeon’s passion for sterility
Surgeons while performing any operation, give lot of importance for sterility(aseptic). They have developed a universal standard technique for this called OT Technique. Every student of MBBS and nursing course are taught this technique. There is a whole industry working to facilitate this single objective of the doctor. Every manufacturer of medicine and medical devices adhere to this requirement of the doctor. We can say that surgeon’s passion for sterility has spread so much that so many people work for it.
What is this sterility and why are the surgeons so passionate about it?
When the human body is cut open for any surgery, it is exposed to the entry of pathological micro-organisms inside the body which would lead to infection. The surgeon is therefore very careful to ensure no micro-organisms enter the human body through the cut opened for the surgery. To ensure this he does the following:
Makes the room(operation theater) micro-organisms free
All those who enter the operation theater remove their shoes and wear clean foot wears kept inside for this purpose
The surgeon and all those who are going to help him in the surgery remove their normal cloths and wear special clean cloths
They must wear cap and mask to cover their mouth
Just before performing the operation, they wash their hands with special solution for more than 15 minutes! After washing their hands, they do not use their hands even to close the tap! The taps are special. They open either with sensors or by a leaver that is operated by the foot
After the 15 minutes wash, even the operation theater doors are not opened using their palms. The doors are pushed opened using their elbows!
Then they wear special use and throw clean operation gown. Even this the surgeon cannot open it by himself. Someone else will open the packet. The packet comes with 2 packing. The person helping him to open the packet can open only the outer packet. He cannot touch the inner packet! The surgeon opens the inner packing and takes the gown and wears it
Even the gloves are opened like this and worn
Inside the operation theater there will be non-sterile assistants. Such are not allowed to even touch the instruments and the trays or the doctors!
Priest’s passion for holiness
Our God is most Holy. Just as a surgeon has zeal for sterility, our God is zealous for holiness. We can understand this from the laws God gave to His people, the children of Jacob(name changed later to Israel) through Moses in the Old Testament.
Old Testament laws of holiness
Leviticus 11:26 ‘The carcases of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not cloven footed, nor cheweth the cud, are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even’.
Leviticus 11:32 ‘And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed’.
Leviticus 11:39 ‘And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even’.
Leviticus 15:1-5 ‘And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean. And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness. Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean. And whatsoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even’.
Leviticus 15:19-23 ‘And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And whosoever touchethany thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even’.
Numbers 19:11 ‘He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days’.
Numbers 19:14 ‘This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days’.
Numbers 19:16 ‘And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days’.
Numbers 19:22 ‘And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even’.
Blood of Jesus sanctifies us
In the New Testament, we are sanctified(made clean) in our spirit, soul and body through the precious and holy blood of Jesus Christ hence we don’t have to follow all the outward bodily cleansing of the Old Testament. Through the anointing of the Spirit of God called Holy Spirit we become Holy or pure priest unto our most Holy God(Revelation 1:6).
The standard of perfection expected of the New Testament church is very high because the sacrifice of Jesus was very great. The New Testament church is expected to grow up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ(Ephesians 4:13). Therefore the teachings of Jesus were very high. We would be able to practice the lofty teachings of Jesus only when we submit our self-will to the Spirit of God and do the will of the Spirit of God. By so doing we become fools according the standard of the world but wise in God’s sight. We would be able to do such a sacrifice for the sake of God only when our heart is filled with the love of God.
Thoughts equivalent to Touch
The physical touch mentioned in the Old Testament is equivalent to the thoughts in the New Testament. In the New Testament we become defiled just by the thoughts we think! That is why Jesus said when we look on a woman to lust after her, we already have committed adultery in our heart(Matthew 5:28). Before lust entered our heart, it first entered our mind as thoughts. Only when we yield to the thoughts can it enter into our heart. Once sinful thoughts enters our heart we commit sin. In the New Testament we commit sin even before we do sin physically. Such is the high standard expected of the New Testament church which is the Bride of Christ!
Head is the capital of the body. Our spirit dwells in our mind. Since man is created weaker than the angels(Psalm 8:5), he by himself cannot overcome the devil who is actually a fallen angel. It is here the Spirit of God comes to help the spirit of man to face the devil. That is why Jesus said unless a man is born of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God(John 3:5) because only when man has the Spirit of God in him will he have the strength to over come the devil. According to our thought in our mind our body acts. The attack of the enemy is first on our mind. Once the enemy succeeds in capturing our mind it soon succeeds in making our body to do his will. That is why we see the mind of the Bride of Christ has thick walls around it(Revelation 21:12).
Paul has revealed the secret as to how we can preserve our thoughts pure. According to him to keep our thoughts holy we must do 9 things(Ephesians 6:10-18):
Always do the Will of God
Always be filled with the Spirit of God
Read the Bible
Live a righteous life
Share the gospel
Practice faith life
Preserve our salvation
Claim the promises of God
Pray for the saints
Let’s see them in detail:
Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might
We will be able to be strong in the Lord and be filled with the Spirit of God only when we do God’s will. Doing the will of God is the first step. It is for this reason servant of God counsel us to pray for 3 hours every day. If we have been doing our will then we have to repent in the presence of God and resolve that we would do His will and God is merciful and faithful to strengthen us with His Spirit.
Loins girt about with truth
The loins of our mind must be girt about with truth. Our minds will be filled with truth when we read the Bible. Servants of God advise us to read 5 chapters of the Bible daily. Old Testament David was a man who delighted in the Word of God because he understood the benefits one gets when he reads the Word of God. He revealed his revelation in Psalm 1:2. David loved the Word of God so much that he read it the whole day!(Psalm 119:97). We love to read the newspaper the whole day is it not? For David the Word of God was sweeter than honey!(Psalm 119:103). For most of us Word of God is bitter like bitter gourd that is why we don’t read the Bible out of delight but more out of necessity.
Because David read the Word of God like this what did he get from God? Well he got more battles to fight! He got more trials. We read the Bible and think because of that we would not have trials in our life! And if trials come in our life then most of us become upset with God and we stop reading the Bible and praying to Him! God wanted to make David rich that is why he allowed so many battles in his life. Through the battles he amassed huge wealth.
God sends trials in our life so that we can amass eternal wealth(1 Peter 1:7). We have no revelation about this and hence we don’t want trials in our life.
Having on the breastplate of righteousness
We must live a righteous life in this crooked world. If we bend like the unsaved people and live a hypocritical life then we won’t have the breastplate of righteousness and the enemy would easily kill us. Today even our servants of God give bribe to get their work done in the government. Servants of God are called to be role models for the believers. Servants of God are the shepherds that lead the believers who are the sheep. If the servants of God err they cause the sheep to err also. Therefore greater will be the punishment of the erring servants of God. That is why we the sheep must pray for our shepherds otherwise along with the shepherds the sheep will also get destroyed!
Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace
We should do(action) some gospel ministry. TPMites are lagging behind very much in this area. They believe in character perfection and hence do not do any ministry and waste away their life on earth. We need to do soul searching. Praying for souls is needed but that has to be done in the night. During the day we need to act.
Taking the shield of faith
We can please our God only when we practice faith life(Hebrews 11:6). We need to practice faith life during our time of sickness and during our financial needs. We should not stretch our palms like beggars before doctors and banks. We are children of God. How can children of God become beggars? In these last days most TPMites have become hypocrites. All our doctrines are only in words and not in works. There are hardly any TPMite who has not taken loan. The topmost church in the earth has no faith! This is another sign of the coming of Jesus(Luke 18:8). That is why hardly any TPMite would enter New Jerusalem!
Without shield we cannot defend the attacks of the enemy. Without faith we cannot even stand up to face the enemy. Fighting the enemy and over coming him are far off things! That is why without faith we get defiled without doing sin!(Hebrews 3:12).
Today many servants of God are not preaching the truth point blank. Preaching the truth point blank has become old fashion! The fashion today is to preach the Word of God in a smooth buttery way so that it hurts no one! That is not the way John the Baptist preached(he boldly called powerful people children of vipers) or Jesus preached(he called powerful people white washed sepulchers). See how boldly Paul preached(Acts 28:25-29). Many servants of God are unable to preach the truth point blank these days because they themselves are not practicing these truths in their life! Servants of God who don’t preach the truth point blank are actually using the believers by taking their money and living by it! Such servants of God themselves cannot enter Zion neither can they make the believers to enter New Jerusalem!
Oh youths rise up and show your zeal for God like Phinehas son of Eleazar did(Numbers 25:7-8). Only you can by your zealous action turn the wrath of God that is burning upon the Church. Live and show to the world that living such a lofty life is possible by the Power of God. Then great will be your reward in eternity(Numbers 25:10-13). Don’t be a coward like your forefathers and don’t copy the practices of the fallen people in the Church.
Take the helmet of salvation
Here we can see what we are talking about. Salvation takes place in our head. In our spirit. Salvation is compared to helmet to preserve our head or thoughts. To preserve our salvation we must preserve our thoughts. If we repeatedly allow ourselves to be defiled by sinful thoughts then Bible calls us dogs! Dogs cannot enter the kingdom of God(Revelation 22:15).
Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God
Of all the weapons given to us Word of God is the only weapon of offence. Word of God is the only weapon which is a weapon of defense as well as the weapon of offence. When we read the Bible it becomes the weapon of defense. When we remember the promises of God and stand on the promises during our trials it becomes the weapon of offence. Most of us know the promises of God but during our trials we throw the promises of God(sword) down and run away unable to face the enemy! Like the way the disciples ran away when Jesus was arrested.
Praying for the saints
Most of us pray for ourselves and for our family and we mostly ask material things. This is wrong. We need to pray for others(servants of God first and then for the believers and for the unsaved souls whom God has brought in our contact). For ourselves we can pray for spiritual things and for our sanctification if we are unable to live an overcoming life.
For us servants of God are praying, many believers are also praying for us, Spirit of God is praying for us with great groaning which cannot be uttered when we get filled in the Spirit of God(Romans 8:26), Jesus is always interceding for us before God the Father(Romans 8:34).
Only when we do each of the above perfectly will be able to keep our thoughts holy. Today because most TPMites are unable to practice the above they are unable to keep their thoughts pure and they conclude that it is not possible to keep one’s thoughts pure! We are like frogs in a pond that thinks there is no world outside the pond.
Let us remember that we are anointed as priest for our most Holy God. As priests let us be passionate for holiness in our thoughts and do our ministry victoriously and receive our eternal reward from our God. Without holiness we cannot even see our most Holy God(Hebrews 12:14) forget standing before Him in New Jerusalem.
May God help us.
