Think about it. How come since Independence in 1960, Nigeria has not had one Godly leader?
It is certain that for ethnic and tribal reasons, people will seek to point to one or two past leaders as Godly, but a sincere appraisal of all the past leaders will reveal that the nation has not had a single Godly leader since Independence.
It is pertinent to define what is meant by “Godly” within the context of this discourse. On the spiritual side, a Godly leader is one that does not traffic in occultism, charms and has no association whatsoever with cults or powers of darkness. On the moral side, he does not take decisions to favour himself or his friends. He has no iota of corruption, injustice, covetousness, or illegal acquisition of wealth that can be ascribed to him. He puts the people first and does not discriminate either on the basis of religion, tribe, ethnicity, class, or gender.
In the ancient northern kingdom of Israel, the gate of hell was located in Bethel and it led to the destruction of the entire nation till today. Let us turn into the Bible:
“And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. “ Genesis 28:17
As Jacob was fleeing from Esau, he caught the revelation of the gate of heaven in the land. He saw a ladder reaching from the earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending. As long as that gate remained opened, grace, favour, mercy and goodness shall continue to flow into the land. He named the place “Bethel”, “house of God”, and to affirm the spiritual importance of the spot, anointed the place in worship.
To confirm the flow of mercy upon the land, when the children of Israel returned from captivity, goodness filled the land. Of course, on many occasions they would stray from God, but they would always come back in repentance. Since the gate of heaven remained opened, righteous leaders would always spring up in the land to bring restoration. The ministry of the prophets flourished and many kings were obedient to the Lord. The reigns of David and Solomon brought unsurpassed wealth, victory, and expansion to the nation. Everybody was happy. Everybody? Not really. The devil was mad.
Since Lucifer understood spiritual principles very well, he realized that so long as the gate of heaven remained opened, he could not destroy the nation. He bided his time and waited for an opportunity to present itself. Sure enough, an opportunity came in the days of Jeroboam. Working on the fear and insecurity of Jeroboam, Satan led him to set up a golden calf, where? At the gate of heaven. An abomination was placed right under the nose of God. The golden calf was placed at Bethel!
“Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.” 1 Kings 12:28-29
The devil knew what God did not want to see in the land. Remember that it was because of the golden calf that God nearly annihilated the entire nation in the wilderness if not for the intercession of Moses. The calculation of the devil was correct. The moment the golden calf landed in Bethel, the gate of heaven was shut.
In the northern kingdom of Israel, mercy, favour, goodness, and godliness, stopped flowing from heaven. It is amazing to note that the northern kingdom existed for 255 years and had 19 kings. Not one of them was Godly. Even though powerful prophets like Elijah ministered in the land and Elisha came with double the spiritual power of Elijah, the nation did not turn back to God. The people saw miracles upon miracles, they experienced divine intervention, again and again, but they did not return to God. Why? The gate of heaven in the land was shut. Until the image that provoked to jealousy was removed, the gate of heaven would not open to the land.
Of course, the moment the gate of heaven was shut, the gate of hell opened. In the days of David, the soldiers in the northern kingdom numbered one million. (1 Chr. 21: 5) By the reign of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, the army had been reduced to fifty charioteers and ten thousand foot soldiers. (2 Kings 13: 7)
To make sure that righteous indignation was heavy upon the land, the devil duplicated the abomination by setting up another one in Dan. The land came under God’s indignation. For all the evil kings in the northern kingdom, God kept repeating the same charge against them, “the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat”. And what was the sin of Jeroboam? The golden calf at Bethel. That was the major sin in the land.
When king Josiah eventually appeared to destroy the altar, long after the nation had been destroyed, he carried the ashes of the idols that he destroyed in Jerusalem to Bethel! Why? Because the problem was located at Bethel and he carried the ashes of the other idols there to defile the evil altar. Imagine carrying ashes from one city to another city.2 Kings 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
Nothing stopped the people from tearing down the altar in Bethel after the young prophet cried against it and gave two powerful signs immediately - the tearing down of the altar and the hand of the king that withered. That was a wonderful opportunity for the people to avert a national calamity; but, no, they did nothing. They simply repaired the
altar that God tore and continued in their idolatry. So, God left them to their ways. 255 years later, the entire nation was destroyed. Till today, no one knows where the ancient Israelites of the northern kingdom are.
Could something similar have been done in Nigeria around 1960, at the foundation of the nation? Did a prominent leader in Nigeria set up an image or a covenant that is provoking God to anger against the land? Is there something that Christians need to focus repentance prayers upon and prayerfully tear it down? When a nation has had over twelve leaders and not one of them could be considered Godly, then, the issue is no longer a coincidence.
Where is the gate of hell located in the land?
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