The NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR
The MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 4th - Sunday 10th November 2024
THE PROPHETIC DECLARATION TO NIGERIA CHRISTIANS
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins (Isaiah 58:1)
Some years ago, the Lord gave a revelation to an elderly Nigerian evangelist concerning the state of the Church in Nigeria. In that revelation, the leader of a large denomination in Nigeria was leading a massive crowd along a road. His sheep dutifully followed him. Suddenly, the leader was blind in both eyes. The congregation, following, could only see his back and was unaware that disaster had struck the leader. The blind leader had veered off the road and run into a bush. The congregation followed, none of them raising an alarm that they had left the road. The deeper the leader went into the bush, so relentlessly the people followed.
In 2024, Sister Celestial, based in the US, published a prophecy about the state of the Nigeria Church, and Nigeria as a country. She prophesied as follows: “Nigeria, you are so deceived, and you are so stubborn. You are willing to be destroyed for the sin of one man. You are so addicted to the pornography of worshipping these naked men and women standing on your pulpits. So many of them are defiled, even if I do not know their names. Your pulpits are compromised in Nigeria. But you are addicted to the pornography of staring at the nakedness of these men and women …” (The clips from the message are posted below.)
It would not be surprising if some people in the Church object to the message by Sister Celestial. It should however be borne in mind that the revelation of the blind denominational leader came many years earlier, and there have been similar prophecies, all pointing to the fact that all is not well with Christian leadership in Nigeria. The state of the Church, as well as that of the country are indications that the light of many Christians in Nigeria is not shinning. The problem is the leadership. That was one reason the apocalyptic letters of Jesus to the seven churches in Asia, in the book of Revelation, were directed at the pastors, not the members of the Church.
The situation of the Church in Nigeria appears to be worse than the blind leading the blind. The irony, in the case of Nigeria, is that it is the blind leading those who can see. Both revelations narrated above seem to point in this direction. Even if some erring Church leaders are unaware of what they are doing, the average Christian in Nigeria is not oblivious. And this is the mystery in dealing with Christians in Nigeria. They are aware of what is going on, yet continue to endorse it, support it, and fund it. The unquestionable loyalty that many Christians demonstrate, to openly erring Church leaders, could be the reason the Lord lamented through Sis Celestial, that Nigerian Christians are “stubborn and willing to be destroyed for the sin of one man.”
Now, the entire country is reeling from blow after blow of economic mismanagement, societal disorder, insecurity, collapse of infrastructure, as well as flagrant and odious acts of corruption and injustice. Yet, many Christians do not want to talk about how the All Progressives Congress (APC) got into power. APC was able to mobilize substantial Christian support in 2014 and 2015 because a particular church leader countered a warning from God that Christians should not support APC. The Church was warned. The warning came strongly, that APC should not be permitted to form a government. That Church leader wrote a letter and countered the warning. There is intense suffering in the land because of the action of that singular individual. To date, people do not want to talk about what happened, talk less of demanding accountability from that pastor.
The compromise of church leaders did not stop there. Buhari was able to return to power in 2019 because another church leader wilfully frustrated a program of Christian Political Consensus. That project was aimed at uniting Christians at the polls to use their numerical advantage to put an end to the misrule of Muhammadu Buhari after his first term. That Church leader destroyed the consensus, leaving the Church divided and weak. After Buhari had successfully manipulated the polls, that church leader and his group were amongst the first set of people to rush to Aso Villa to congratulate the man that was supervising genocide against Christians.
In 2023, when APC announced its obnoxious Muslim-Muslim ticket, Church leaders rolled out the red carpet for the APC candidates, at the National Christian Centre. The Church leaders also welcomed another Muslim candidate of the other major political party, with no evidence that they were available to welcome the one notable Christian candidate in that election. In effect, Church leaders openly endorsed Muslim Presidential candidates, but not Christian candidates.
Emerging signals indicate that if the Christian community is not watchful and vocal, the Church leaders will return to the market for the 2027 elections. The transactional leadership that invaded the Church in recent years is at the root of the calamity that befell Nigeria. The spiritual authority of the Church has been used repeatedly to place Islamist fundamentalists in the Presidency while there are more competent and capable Christians in the electoral race. The Church, if well harmonized and mobilized, has the capacity to provide righteous leadership for Nigeria. Unfortunately, the Church is currently being led by men and women who place personal and selfish interests above that of Christ and His people.
Curiously, the Lord has started speaking about judgment upon the Church as well as upon Nigeria. At a prayer meeting on 1st October 2024, the Lord sent a word, that the prayers of Nigeria Christians should align with His will if results were to be seen. The Lord declared that He wanted to judge the Church and the country, and that was the prayer that Christians should focus on.
Hear what Prophet Ezekiel said in Ezekiel 9:4-6 when God was going to judge Jerusalem:
And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary.
It is not enough that one is clean and undefiled from the abominations in the Church, one must in addition show God that he/she does not approve of them. God expects His children to condemn evil wherever they see it. Neutrality in this case is taken as endorsement. Therefore, to prevent collateral damage, in which the innocent will partake of the judgment of evil doers, Christians should be vocal against the evils taking place in the Church and in the land.
Secondly, Christians should organize to demand accountability from erring and reckless Church leaders. 1 Cor. 11:31 says, "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." Christians should demand that those who compromised the Church, leading to the emergence of APC in power, should openly renounce the evil they committed.
Thirdly, there is need for a national Christian solemn assembly, to confess the role of the Church in facilitating evil politicians into political offices in the country. The Nigeria Church cannot absolve itself of complicity in all the atrocities of APC in the past ten years. Without the active support of some Church leaders, APC could never have come into power and “won” re-election twice.
Maybe, if Nigeria Christians should heed the prophetic warnings, the judgment of God might be averted. But if the usual attitude of indifference is maintained, then, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus”. (Rev. 22:20).
PRAYER POINTS
1). 2 Chr. 7:14
Confess the permissiveness and complicity of some Christian leaders, which led to the emergence of corrupt people in government in Nigeria. The compromise of those Christian leaders brought evil and afflictions upon the land.
2). 1 Cor. 11:31
Condemn every political action of church leaders that run contrary to the will and purpose of God for the Church and the country. Absolve the Church of such actions.
3) 1 Jn. 1:9
Confess every act of lawlessness, impunity, corruption, and immorality taking place in the Church. Pray forgiveness of God for the Nigeria Church.
4). 2 Tim. 1:7
Pray that Christians shall be delivered from timidity and fear of men. Pray that Christians shall be bold to confront evil and acts of unrighteousness in the Church, without fear of men.
5). Matt. 15: 13
Pray that God would uproot every minister of the gospel that is not doing the perfect will of God in the Church and in the country.
6). Isaiah 26:9-11
Pray for the judgment of God upon the Church, and upon wicked rulers in Nigeria, so that the land will experience righteousness and peace.
7). Neh. 5:14-15
Pray that God would raise new leaders for the Church and the nation, men and women who fear God. Amen
