Special greetings in the wonderful and powerful name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who shed His blood and redeemed us that we might have eternal life through Him. The prayer is that this letter meets you well.
So much has happened against Christians and Christianity in
different parts of Nigeria in the last few years. Of particular note has been
the traumatic events our brethren have experienced and are still experiencing
in different states such as Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Rivers
and a few others. Within these states, various allegations and degrees of
persecution, killings, ethnic cleansing, forceful eviction and deprivation have
become routine. While these occur on a much lesser scale in other parts of the
country on a daily basis, it is sad and grave that hardly anything is heard
from our leaders in the Church, neither is any strong word or concerted action
going forth to seek redress from the authorities or assuage the despair our
brethren face. The daily spectre and anguish of Christians in Internally
Displaced Camps without any organised relief on a major scale by their fellow
brethren is heart-wrenching while the lack of succour expected from the
government commensurate to the scale of the trauma and agony these victims
face is also disappointing. All because
of their identification with Christ!
It has become necessary that a letter such as this is directed
in an open manner because of the obvious protocols and other encumbrances
usually associated with trying to have any direct audience with men of
God. There are many reasons why members
of the Church would want to address a special message as this to your esteemed
self because there are many questions concerning the state of the Church in
Nigeria begging for answers at this time and there are also several dangers the
denominations and their congregations face. It is also pertinent to write a
letter such as this given the friendships and circles of associations between
men of God leading the flock of God which translates into massive influence
within the Church and outside Nigeria and your capability to bring this to bear
to muster the necessary resources and contacts which the current situation of
the Church demands.
The Bible says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen
a great Light; those who dwelt in the land of intense darkness and the shadow
of death, upon them has the Light shined” (Isa 9:2 AMP). Giving contemporary
meaning to this Scripture, the Church of God in Nigeria has been the one
dwelling in the land of intense darkness and the shadow of death, without
knowing it. The precarious position of the Church is established through
concrete historical and contemporary events. The facts in the nation also
easily bear this out. Allegations of stealth jihad in governmental affairs and
appointments, direct jihad through the persecutions we have seen which have
continued unabated, all point to grave dangers ahead. Yet, no one is talking.
It will be recalled that under this state of insecurity,
several bags of daggers were intercepted in Kano State just before the
elections. Twice last year, large cache of arms allegedly imported from Turkey
were intercepted at the ports. A shipload of arms en route Nigeria was also
intercepted in South Africa. There is no information about the exact
whereabouts of these arms till today, as we speak. Given this scenario,
Christians have reasons to be concerned and wary. At the same time, no single
arrest of the perpetrators of mayhem and killings has been recorded. Meanwhile,
there is a massive influx of Northerners in all major towns and villages in the
South and there have also been rife allegations on the social media circuit
that they are biding their time as fruit sellers, okada riders and menial job
workers before what might be a general strike on Christians. God forbid!
For many years, the Lord has been giving warning signs of
our departure from Him, which have been ignored. When the Lord allowed the Boko
Haram insurgency against the Church, it was to draw the attention of Christian
leaders and the laity to this fact. Rather than seek God and mend our ways, it
was ignored like a troublesome fly that would soon go away. The Church ran to
government instead. When we continued to be hard of hearing, the Lord recently
allowed the menace of Fulani Killer Herdsmen to ravage the Church. The result
has continued to be that the Church denominations in the South interpret this
to be a Northern Church problem and have taken no cue or warning from the
situation to see beyond the surface. The truth is, they are not worse sinners;
rather, they are more fervent than Southern Christians All this while, the lack
of a Christian agenda has aggravated the state of affairs.
Where then is the Church today? Right in the middle of the
Valley of the Shadow of Death and unless there is a turnaround and the Lord
intervenes for the Church, the consequences portend graver implications. While
most Churches still concentrate on motivational and prosperity preaching and
assuring peace in these times, trusted prophetic vessels within and outside
Nigeria have continued to indicate that judgment is coming because God is not
pleased with the state of the Church and developments in the nation are the
evidences.
The Words in Malachi
give an indication of what we can expect should the Lord come at this time:
"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He
appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderers' soap. He will sit
as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And
purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in
righteousness. "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant
to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years.
And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift
witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those
who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn
away an alien — because they do not fear Me," Says the Lord of hosts. Mal
3:2-4 NKJV
What is the way forward and out of this determined evil? The
answer lies in the Word of God: “If My people who are called by My name will
humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” 2
Chron 7:14 NKJV. This Scripture outlines four things that the Church must do in
order to get a reprieve so that God can turn and heal the land. Of these four,
heaven has been bombarded with prayers, people are seeking the face of God,
repentance prayers have been organised but the Church is yet to turn to God.
For the Church to appropriately turn, it MUST involve the leaders and their
congregations. If the Church fails in this regard, we would have fallen short
of the full requirements to grant us a reprieve.
What are the impending consequences? We have seen a dress
rehearsal in Benue and Plateau States. God forbid a full blown manifestation of
such evil across the land. A vivid picture depicting what was seen in the two
states is captured in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, the day of the
Lord comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy its sinners from it.... Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the Lord of hosts And
in the day of His fierce anger. It shall be as the hunted gazelle, And as a
sheep that no man takes up; Every man will turn to his own people, And everyone
will flee to his own land. Everyone who is found will be thrust through, And
everyone who is captured will fall by the sword. Their children also will be
dashed to pieces before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their
wives ravished. "Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will
not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it. Also their bows will dash the young men to
pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not
spare children. Isa 13:9,13-18 NKJV.
The above Scripture vividly describes the type of h769orrible
killings Christians have experienced in the Middle Belt. Where are we now?
There are concerns in some quarters that
the killings in the Middle Belt were quieted to get a renewed mandate. Daily
killings have resumed. Should we not expect that anything can begin to happen
at anytime soon? In the little time and window of opportunity that is before
us, would it be possible for the Church to respond to the Lord so that He can
take up our fight? Would our leaders be willing to come together to steer the
Church from this dangerous precipice before it is too late? The Lord is coming
surely and the assurance from the Bible is that judgment begins from the House
of God (1 Peter 4:17). At the same time, the Bible gives the assurance that if
we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged. (1 Cor. 11:31)
The hands of the Lord are not tied; it is a small thing for
the Lord to reward those who trouble His people and deal with our enemies but
where we fail in His expectation of us, a matter on which He has been seeking
our attention for many years, would He not be vindicated when He judges?
Beyond the judgment, is there any silver lining? Thankfully,
there is! From the harvest of God’s visitation, the Nigerian nation is also
about to go through the most interesting time in her history. This is because
of the well-known reason in Christian circles that in God’s eternal plan, He
has chosen to use Nigeria as the springboard for the gospel that will close the
age. There is no doubt that this plan of God is known to you and from this
premise, for the purpose of further clarity, it is safe to conclude that it is
the Church in Nigeria, not Nigeria per se, that God intends to use for this
purpose.
Having this hope therefore, should we not muster all
resources so that we become partakers of this great harvest? It is written: And when they say to
you,"Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,"
should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the
living? Isa 8:19 NKJV. Given the above information, it is clear that the King’s
business requires haste; after we repent: it should no longer be business as
usual. The prayer is that the Lord will give you wisdom in taking up these
issues to the greater glory of His Name and lead you aright in the subsequent
action you might need to take. Thank you Sir, for your attention. With highest
regards.
Publisher ECCLESIA magazine and CHRISTIANS, ARISE!
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