The church of Christ in Nigeria just like America is deviating from faith. The consequence of this is growing atheism among our youth who are rebelling because of the hypocrisy they are witnessing every day in the church. Here is what I mean:
1. The church is committing idolatry with the way we idolize preachers as if they are God - many members believe their Pastor than they believe the Bible. They take the words of men more seriously than they take the words of God. Many (not all. When I was in Nigeria, I refused to accept all of the words I hear except I am convinced it is true as I read it from the Bible and I was tagged as a rebel and proud by some of my Pastors) Christians in Nigeria do not act as advised by Apostle Paul, when he said in Acts 17:11 "Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." The current generation of believers accept their pastor's words beyond what the scripture says - this is nothing but undiluted IDOLATRY - human worship. This is one of the sins God detest the most. No human should take the place of God in your life, none. Some will use the doctrine of "submission to authority" to hold people in bondage, citing the examples of Elijah and Elisha, forgetting the perfect example of Christ - he washed his disciples' feet, Jesus served them and pointed them to God and not himself, even though he was equal with God.
2. The spirit of covetousness has taken over the Church. Case in point is the recent back and forth between Daddy Freeze and the some leading Christians pastors, Bishops, and GOs in Nigeria. In the 1980s during the time of Idahosa, when all of this started, when members are blessed by "the man of god" based on how much money they pledged, we thought things had gone out of control; today, you see all kind of crazy things that preachers in Nigeria are doing to siphon members' money. You hear of "Bishop's love offering", etc., in one service, they will collect like 3, 4 different offerings and call it all kind of funny names.
A lot of churches were exposed in the wake of the failure of state governments' inability to fulfill their statutory obligation to the civil servants and government they failed to pay salary for months. There are some Pastors of a very big church in Nigeria that could not support its volunteer pastors (not even transport money to go church to lead the congregation, let alone money for food) who were not paid for months. Some of these pastors lead a church like a full-time pastor without a salary and their headquarters could not support them when their salary was not forthcoming. The church cannot support pastors who contribute so much let alone ordinary members who are lacking and who might not be volunteering as such. Many churches are building an empire and they have forgotten the weightier things of the Kingdom - caring for those who lack, the sick and who are weak and sick.
When a preacher will be asking members to donate 1 billion naira for a special project. How many Nigerian can boldly say they have a business that will make them single-handedly donate one billion naira except they are pen thieves?
Corruption is growing in Nigeria every day, and people who are stealing public fund, you will be surprised, are members of a church and they pay tithe of all public fund they steal. Nobody asks them where the money is coming from. When a Director in a Federal Ministry is donating millions of naira to a church project, how much is his salary in a year?
In some churches, they keep a record of people who pay tithe and these ones enjoy certain privileges - in the church of Christ, the church has monetized its blessing.
If some churches are asked to open their account book, many pastors in Nigeria will be sent to jail, if they are in the West.
Young people are getting angry and many of them are turning to atheism because they conclude that there cannot be God and He watches while his prophets defile his names.
3. The church is mixing faith with politics. During the Jonathan era, the Church was brought into disrepute because of the romance its leadership (CAN and PENTECOSTAL CHURCH ASSOCIATION) had with corrupt politicians. The church remains a safe haven for corrupt politicians. People steal public fund and they go to church to testify to the goodness of God and nobody questions them - Wahala go yawa and heaven will ask questions soon.
4. The doctrine of praying that your enemies should die is disturbing. If God kills the enemy of Christians as they pray in some churches in Nigeria, nobody will be left in the Church. The way some church leadership interprets the scriptures has placed the members under bondage, people are so afraid of the power of the devil than embracing the power of God. I often tell my mom, if you are afraid that someone is behind your problem and you are afraid of the person, then why are you a Christian if God cannot save you from your "enemies".
5. Sexual immorality has taken over the church leadership and the scent of sexual perversion among the congregation will want to make you vomit. Many prominent pastors and Bishops have been accused of sexual misconduct and they still remain in the pulpit in the face of tangible evidence. Some just completely refused to address the accusation and their church did not publicly question them. How can the church preach Christ when the issue of sexual immorality is not dealt with? How will rebellion not increase when young people who are struggling to live holy see their pastors commit adultery and nobody asks them any question?
The sad thing is that this message is now spreading to other African countries through cable TV, and they have taken it to the extreme: Pastors whose feet must not touch the ground and always be carried by church members; pastors who enter town like a celebrity, pastors who ask their members to be eating grass; pastors who match make men and women in the face of camera, pastors who ask single women to come to church without underwear, pastor who assault women, touching them in private parts in the face of a camera and are not ashamed - from Kenya to Uganda to South Africa and Ghana, the madness in some Nigerian churches is spreading to the rest of Africa and the result is just appalling. This nonsense needs to stop else judgment is coming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG27E2iagXI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fgsqzeo3Ng
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmhsQDzcWs8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIEDIxYQqzc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiYfXjbtrBQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey4MNc4tSAI
May God have mercy
These are few issues that come to my mind. Concerned brethren can add to these. The Church in Nigeria needs to gets it acts together, else, it is the beginning of the end. And what God meant to be a place where the end time revival will start will then be needing a revival of its own.
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