14th June, 2020
In Exodus 32: 25 – 26, we read, “And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side?”
In delivering this message, I know that I am facing the possibility of being misunderstood, due to the penchant of some of our brethren who interpret every correction and calling to order of Christians as condemnation. This is not a condemnation of Nigerian Church or Christians but an evaluation of both the spiritual and moral state of the Nigerian Church. No one can deny that things have gone wrong in a country that has the largest Church in Africa. The presence of darkness is simply the absence of light. Why isn’t the light shining?
The present situation in Nigeria appears similar to what occurred in Israel that made Moses to cry out, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” The Nigerian Church seems to be naked without any spiritual cover. Whenever the enemies of Christ wish, they burn Church buildings; they mercilessly massacre Christians, sack entire Christian communities and drive the rightful owners of the land into Internally Displaced Persons Camps. Not content with killing Christians, they abduct underage Christian girls and marry them to people of other religion without parental consent. Lately, they graduated to kidnapping Christian leaders and would only release them after collecting ransom and on one occasion, they still killed the Christian leader after the ransom was paid. In the Government, parastatals, politics, and in the society, Nigerian Christians have become endangered species in their own country.
Rightly, Christians embarked on massive prayers and fasting for years, but the situation neither changed nor abated. As a matter of fact, it seems, the more the Christians prayed, the higher the intensity of the attacks. Why are prayers not being answered?
During the November 2016 National Prophetic Conference held in Ibadan, I delivered a message from God that “Nigerian Christians are praying and fasting but, they are not repenting.” Based on this word from God, we organized the National Prayers for Repentance under National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) in 2018 and repeated it in 2019 and again in February 2020.
After the 2020 edition of the program, God spoke from Matt. 3: 8 saying, “Bring forth fruit meet for repentance”. In effect, produce evidence that the Nigerian Church has repented.
I believe this is the point at which Nigerian Church is stucked. We pray and fast a lot, but we have serious issues of unrighteousness within the Church.
Please permit me to provide some examples:
- The unbelievers steal; Christians too, steal.
- The unbelievers lie; Christians too, lie.
- The unbelievers rig election; Christians too, rig election inside the Church.
- The unbelievers violate Constitution to defraud and to discriminate. The Christians too violate the Constitution of the Church to rig election and commit unrighteousness.
- The unbelievers practice tribalism, so do Christian leaders
- The unbelievers betray the country, Christians too betray the kingdom of God
- The unbelievers reject the truth, Christian too, they reject the truth
One could go on and on. The question then is what is the difference between unbelievers and Christians? The truth of the matter is that the Nigerian Church has lost moral authority. The Church is meant to demonstrate moral authority in order to uphold the moral standard of God in the country. Unfortunately, the Church has lost moral authority.
Consequently, it is unable to demonstrate spiritual authority. Christians without moral authority cannot demonstrate the spiritual authority of God. Wherever there is holiness, there is fire. The Nigerian Church has no fire to answer the enemy at the gate. It is becoming a cold Church.
What is going in Nigeria requires spiritual authority to resolve. There is a terrible spiritual dimension to the killings that are going on. These are not ordinary massacre of lives but “indirect human sacrifices”. You see, every empire is built based on foundation of blood. Even to build the kingdom of God on earth, it has to be based on blood, the Blood of the Lamb of God. The currency to pay for an empire is blood. Now, when a human empire has reached its climax and the beneficiaries of the empire do not want it to die, they have to shed double the amount of blood needed to establish it in the first instance.
“The wise shall understand.” Daniel 12: 10
For this reason, every effort should be made to ensure that the situation in the country does not escalate to a war situation in which human blood would be shed freely. If you notice, there have been various attempts to provoke war in Nigeria, but God has been merciful, He has not permitted it. Christians need to pray specifically for the bloodshed to cease. Some forces are feeding on it and they desire more bloodshed. It is indirect human sacrifice.
Under the circumstances, Christians would require a higher spiritual power to counter the evil forces operating in Nigeria. Unfortunately, a Church without moral authority cannot be endowed by God with spiritual authority. “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” Jn. 9: 31
The solution to the problem is not only in multiplying prayers and fasting but in addition producing evidence that the Nigerian Church has repented. It is time to put the house in order. Nigerian Christians know what is wrong, starting from the Christian leaders. The Christian leaders should be honest and speak the truth and do what is right. God is not amused with the politicking going on in the Church.
Do not forget that on 14th September, 2013 God said, “if care is not taken, in 30 – 40 years, Nigeria will be like Turkey.” Just 7 years down the road, see what is happening? At the same time that God made this statement, He said “the Nigerian Church is an irresponsible Church.”
If there is one area in which Nigerian Christians have demonstrated irresponsibility, it is in the way and manner they have treated the persecuted Christians. It is shocking what the Nigerian Christians have done to their persecuted brethren. It is not Christlike at all. It is disappointing.
But it is not all gloom. I wish to appreciate the intercessory community in Nigeria. Thank you very much for your labors in prayers and fasting. If not for you, the situation would have been worse. Please do not relent in prayers. May the Most High show us mercy and intervene in our land.
I wish to suggest however, that as you talk to God, also pray that God will send other people whom Christian leaders will listen to. May they accept Godly counsel and permit righteousness to reign in the Body of Christ in Nigeria. If those entrusted with leadership in the Church had listened to the National Christian Elders Forum, and had not acted as if the speaking the truth was contest for temporal power in the Church, the situation would not be like this.
Please let me make it clear, before some people say I am condemning Christians, God expects the Christians to judge the unrighteousness within the Church as prerequisite for Him to judge the evils outside the Church. So long as Christians are comfortable with evil and unrighteousness within the household of God, the Most High will not do anything about the evils outside the Church. 1 Cor. 5: 12 &13; Eph. 5: 11; 1 Tim. 5: 20 etc
In closing, I wish to make the following points clear:
- The first step in regaining moral authority is for Christians to insist on reorganization of the apex body of the Association of Christians in truth and in righteousness. It is no use pretending that nothing has gone wrong. If there is no difference between the ways the Church is managed and the way politicians run Government, God may not intervene in our situation.
- It is Christian duty for all Christians to support the persecuted Christians, particularly those in IDP camps. Details can be found at www.csmnigeria.org
- Christians should revisit the building of common Christian purse to implement Christian visions. The first attempt was deliberately frustrated by some misguided elements in the Church. Fortunately, another opportunity is presented in Christian Social Movement of Nigeria (CSMN), the socio-political arm of the Church. Interested persons should visit www.csmnigeria.org for details.
- Christians should remember that the root cause of the crisis in Nigeria is the conflict between Democracy and Sharia ideology. Resolving this conflict is fundamental to solving the political problem in Nigeria. The first step in resolving the conflict of ideologies is in developing a new Constitution for Nigeria based on Democracy alone as the National Ideology. Christians should focus attention on this.
- Lawyers should commence the task of developing new Constitution for Nigeria patterned after the 1963 Republican Constitution which was the only Constitution negotiated by the founding fathers of Nigeria. A new Constitution should be ready to promote Democracy in Nigeria.
- Christian technocrats and Academics should commence developing structures and institutions that would ensure checks and balances in Government to prevent unbridled impunity and lawlessness witnessed in governance in the past few years.
- Finally, Churches should return to the teachings of holiness, righteousness and sanctification and begin the process of restoring moral authority to Christianity in Nigeria. The priority of the Church should be soul winning and preparing people for the return of the Lord.
Remember, Aaron made the people naked before their enemies. It was a leadership problem. Nigerian Christians should look for a leader that will cover their spiritual nakedness. You deserve better than this.
As Moses called out to Israel, “who is on the Lord’s side?” so is the Lord calling to Nigerian Christians. Those on the Lord’s side should step forward and defend the truth and righteousness in the Body of Christ. The moral authority of the Nigerian Church must be restored.
God bless you.
For more information, please visit:
