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PRAYING FOR NIGERIA - FOR WHAT?

ave you heard the News? The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) is organizing a five day national prayer for Nigeria starting on January 15. It will end with a night vigil on January 20. The announcement said that the prayer with the theme of "Thy Kingdom Come" is a call to Nigerians to pray for their country. The National President of the PNF Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Pastor E.A. Adeboye, Bishop Wale Oke, Bishop Mike Okonkwo, Pastor S. Adelaja and Pastor T. Adeyemi are some of the men of God named as participants at the prayer meeting taking place in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

I don't see anything wrong in praying for a country or a nation. Examples filled the pages of the scriptures where men of God interceded on behalf of their people or nations. Men of God like Moses, Jehoshapht, Elijah, David, Daniel, Jeremiah and many others lifted holy hands to God for their people and He answered their prayers. . It is even on record that the people of Nineveh led by their King changed the mind of God with prayers and fasting after God had promised to destroy the city and its people for their iniquities. In the New Testament, Jesus lifting His eyes to Heaven prayed High Priestly prayers for the His disciples of then and now (Gospel of John chapter 17). Those are prayers of intercession by Christ Jesus. Till today, Jesus remains our greatest intercessor. So beyond any iota of doubt in my mind, I personally believe in the power of prayer.

I however find some problems with the call for prayer by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and the Nigeria Turning Point Prayer Movement, the organizers of the five day national prayer in Abuja, Nigeria.

The first problem I have with this call to prayer is that the organizers failed to tell us why we have to pray for Nigeria or what to pray for. I do not understand what they mean by their theme - Thy Kingdom Come. Are we being called to prayer for the coming of the Kingdom of God? To where - to Nigeria or on earth? By that theme, do they mean the pray point or reason why we should pray for Nigeria or what we should spend five days praying for? If so, has Nigeria become the elect or chosen country to pray for the coming of the God's Kingdom? If the PFN is organizing prayers for the nation, I think they should have chosen more relevant prayer points especially to the current needs of Nigeria and Nigerians. I think they should have told us what the prayer points are so that we will all know what to pray for so that we don't pray amiss.

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For God's sake, why should the PFN leaders pick "Thy Kingdom Come" as a prayer point for Nigeria and Nigerians now when there are myriads of national problems facing the nation? Should that be the prayer of the PFN now when Nigeria is currently politically drifting like a ship without a rudder? In their spiritual eyes, can they not see that Nigeria's House of Commons is shaking and facing the danger of collapse? Among the reasons for this imminent collapse of Nigeria is the disease called "Born to Rule Syndrome" that has eaten too deep into the brains of some of the Northern politicians. President Olusegun Obasanjo who is a known friend of the leaders of the PFN is himself a great threat to democracy, peace, security and good governance of Nigeria. More than ever before with the exception of 1963, more southern Nigerians are facing orchestrated trials for treason because they have identified themselves with their ethnic origin. They started with Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, but his fish was too big for their hook. They dropped him and go for "lesser" men of Igbo, Ijaw and Yoruba national group who are currently in jail. Suddenly, Nigeria has become a country where dissenting voices are recorded as treason and oppositions are haunted and hunted with all the ferociousness of the federal might.

Is the call for prayer by the PFN for the success of the Third Term bid of President Obasanjo? Why has the leadership of PFN not spoken out against this? Many of them claim to see visions and dream dreams, or hear from God, why has God not shown to them or told them that Obasanjo will be bringing destruction not only to himself, his legacy, if there is any and the country as a whole, with his inordinate ambition for power should he actualize his pet dream for the third term in office. Nobody needs any dream or vision to know that if Obasanjo or the Northern politicians stick to their guns about claiming the presidency in 2007, they will be shouting Nigeria out of the world map.

As true men of God, God should be speaking through them. If we all read the same Bible, we will see the examples of how God sent His men to warn and rebuke nations and their leaders about their sins and iniquities. God sent Samuel to King Saul to dethrone him for his sins. He sent Prophet Nathan to King David after his adulterous and murderous relationship with Beersheba. The Book of the Prophets is mostly messages of God warning Kings and nations about their sins including sins of oppression and misuse of power against their own people. John the Baptist did not shy away from this responsibility even at the cost of his life when he condemned the adultery of King Herod.

Jesus' untimely death though divinely ordained and approved was quickly instigated by His unhidden indignations and confrontations with the Scribes and the Pharisees who were the leaders of His time. Called the "Seven Woes", the Gospel of Matthew chapter 23 contains his righteous anger against the unrighteousness and hypocrisy of these leaders. He did not stop there; His righteous anger extended to the Temple of God when He physically chased out the money changers, buyers and sellers and those who have turned the House of God to the den of thieves. Jesus, the true servant of God latter lamented over the City of Jerusalem and prophesied the destruction of the Temple. Whose examples are the leaders of the PNF following today when they cannot rebuke or chastise the political leaders of our time when they go wrong? Anyway, birds of the same wing fly together. How I wish the broom sweeping corruption in some selected parts of Nigeria today can be extended to the churches, and their leaders made accountable to their congregations.

For God's sake, whose examples are the Church leaders of today following? Their policy is "see evil but talk not about evil". They see stealing, corruption, nepotism, greed, avarice and abuse and flagrant misuse of power walking nakedly across the streets, in front of their pulpits and their mouths are under lock and key and their hand in chains. Instead of speaking for God and the true Word of God, they speak the languages of men and say what our leaders want to hear. Their calling and conscience have been put on sale at reduce prices for the temporary pleasures of this world at the expense of the treasures of heaven. Our Leader and Master ordained us Christians as the Light of the world, where is that light in the midst of the darkness that we see around us today. Jesus called us the Salt of the world. Salt is meant to prevent decay but we now live in the decadence of the decayed society. For God's sake, the Church was built by Christ to be a restraining force, a levee if you will, against the immorality and evil of the society. What a shame, the same Church is now competing for gold in the race towards evil and immorality and lack of good conscience. Do these people know anything about Liberation Theology?

How will our church leaders see evil and talk about evil. That will surely prevent all the tithes from coming into the church so the there will be money in their bank accounts. Come to think of it, a politician who in a week successfully steals ten million dollars will go to his church on Sunday for a thanksgiving, dance in the front of the pulpit, pays one million dollars as tithe and make sundry payments for thanksgiving with his friend and family. He will not leave the church without a special blessing; anointing and prayer from his pastor so that he can always have a bigger catch next time and come back paying his tithes promptly with thanksgiving. In most cases, politicians have special sports reserved for them in the pew while they read Bible lessons in the church these days as a mark of honor for them. It is however a truism that honor in the sight of men does not necessarily mean honor in the sight of God.

There is this story of a church member who stole twenty five million and paid two and half million to the church without any question from the pastor. During interrogation after being caught by the police, he confessed and named his church as one of the channels of distribution. When the detectives confronted the pastor, the man of God said that the money was given to God and not to him. Two pastors were recently arrested for robbing a bank of Twenty five million and one of them said he needed the money for evangelism. Where are our church leaders in all these sordid affairs? I think it is high time they started distancing themselves from these messy affairs and speaking out and openly against them. That is not the type of "don't judge" that Jesus is talking about.

The same people organizing the January 15 national prayers, with the support of President Obasanjo brought the American Televangelist Benny Hinny to Nigeria under the guise of coming to pray for Nigeria. What happened to those prayers? I was ashamed of my self as a Nigerian when Benny Hinny was boasting in one of his television "healing" programs that the president of Nigeria sent a letter inviting him to come and pray for Nigeria. I said that time and I stand by my words now that Nigeria does not need the Benny Hinnies of this world to come and pray for Nigeria, as there are hundreds of saints who can pray to God in Nigeria and that God would answer their prayers. In fact, Nigeria and Nigerian have survived oppressions and persecutions from their leaders because of the prayers of the saints. Nigeria would have been long forgotten as a country but for the effective fervent prayers of those silent men and women who do not have the luxury of showing off their faces or wealth over the television screens.

Most of us now know better what happened to the prayers organized by these same leaders of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) when they were openly fighting over the four million dollars invested in the "prayer business" by Benny Hinny. It was reported that Benny Hinny was angry because the projected or promised crowd fell very short of actual attendance or participants. The bottom line; the returns or profits did not justify the investments. We all know what that translates to in dollar and cents. Since the projected millions of people did not attend the "prayer crusade". Therefore the 'seeds of faith' sown did justify the harvest expected. I don't blame him. Four million dollars is a lot of money. This is beside the allegations that some of these leaders lined their pockets from the dollars send from America by the man of God. After all, some might say that if they worked by the altar, they should feed from the altar. This shame was later split over the pages of newspapers.

I am not surprised. I met one of them in Chicago in Illinois, USA some times ago, when he came to raise money, the Nigerian style, for another American Televangelist. With his flowing gown he was running round the stage and promising instant miracles and blessings in proportion to what amount of money the people can 'pay' for their blessings. People were later asked to bring their credit cards out and sow bountifully. Then, bottles of olive oil, popularly called 'anointing oil' were freely distributed so that people will anoint their credit cards in order to reap 'bountifully'. I saw people drenching or immersing their credit cards in olive oil in the name of anointing. I was not surprised because they believed what the man of God was saying even when he was not speaking the truth of the Word of God. How I wish people will realize that any amount taken from a credit card is borrowing and this amounts to giving what you don't have. This is not the New Testament teaching about giving from what we have or can afford.

Thank God for the voice of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). It has raised its voices and concerns about the way things are currently taken shape for the worse in Nigeria. CAN has decried the alleged third term bid and asked President Obasanjo to speak out about this allegation. They have also decried the lack of political tolerance among some politicians; and asked Nigerians to "fight for justice and equality", as there is no alternative to democracy and rule of law. It is the belief of CAN that there are many Nigerians who could succeed President Obasanjo, and even perform better if given the opportunity. In a related godly admonition, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja and the President of the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan said that Nigeria has many men and women who could successfully succeed Obasanjo in 2007. I cannot agree more with these voices of reason and of God spoken through men.

Why has the voice of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) not been added to these calls from fellow Christians or men of God in Nigeria? Is it that they are too close to the Presidency and therefore will not want to offend the powers that be? Is it because they have been part of what they should ordinarily have spoken against. Is it because they have done what they should not have done and left undone what they should have done and therefore have no strength and moral courage left in them? Have they forgotten the scriptures that admonished men and women of God not to fear men but God? Do they not realize that by refusing to speak against evil even as committed by their friends and colleagues, they do not fear God?

Ooh, maybe, they belong to the group of people who always say that people should always allow God to judge especially men and women of God. As much as I believe in God's final and ultimate judgment, I also believe that we all have the moral obligation to speak out in the face of glaring evil. Otherwise, why did God speak and rebuke the first couple after their disobedience to Him? In the same spirit, God sent the Patriarchs to warn and lead the people of God out of the path of perdition. God did not wait to judge Pharaoh after his death, He sent Moses and Aaron to warn, punish the Egyptians and liberate the children of Israel from their Paraohic bondage and oppression. If it is the desire of God to wait until the Day of Judgment, He would not have sent the Prophets, the greatest of whom is Jesus Christ. Jesus did the greatest job of warning the people against their evil and unrighteous ways. He did not just pray for them and waits for God's judgment on them. When the need arose Jesus poured out His righteous indignation or anger on the people who deserved it. The same thing Jesus did, He asked all Christians to do after Him. How I wish people, believers and non-believers alike will know that the same God who is called Love is also a consuming fire! The Bible says He is angry everyday against every form sin and unrighteousness.

I will suggest that the leaders of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) first remove the log in their eyes before trying to remove the mote in the eyes of Nigeria. They should first pray to God to deliver them from all acts not found in the Acts of the Apostles or the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Founder, Owner, Leader and Head of His Church. They should first take themselves out of the world and its pleasures of sin into which they have enmeshed themselves. They should first remove themselves from the pinnacle of the Temple to which Satan has taken them and humble themselves at the foot of the Cross of Christ. They should first dethrone themselves from the leadership and position of power in the Church of Christ and enthrone Jesus in His Power and Glory over His Church. How many of us can boast of lifting Holy hands to God in His Holy Place each time we pray? Thank God through Jesus Christ who gave us the New Covenant and its Dispensational Grace; many hands would have withered behind many pulpits in churches and many crusade grounds locally and internationally.

Let me quickly state here before I am misquoted or misinterpreted again that I am not against any pastor, leader and minister of God of which I am one. What I am against is the ungodly deceit, brainwashing and manipulation that have permeated the Church of Christ, in the name of "name it claims it" faith, which has no precedent in the scriptures. What do we call a situation where a pastor asked his church member to sow bountifully, name whatever they want as blessing and go out and price them, including cars and homes of course. Many who believed the pastor thinking they are believing God were not only disappointed but frustrated when months and years gone by and yet what they had claimed were yet not within their reach. Such pastors were not only mocking God but calling Him a lair when what he promised his church members in the name of God would not come. These are the people sending believers and nonbelievers away from God and His true Church and not people like me. These should be troubling to all who desire the true Church of Christ with leaders who serve God and not money. Yet our leaders fold their hands, close their mouths and continue to look elsewhere.

I know many will despise me and my words. I know some will call me names and say all manners of things against me. I know many will want to persecute me if they can but none of these is new. Those before them did likewise to those before me. I however hereby wish to commend them to the truth of the Word of God through James the apostle:

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up (James 4:1-10).