Men of God 004

Late 70s and early 80s in Nigeria gave birth to the rise of iconic individuals leading Pentecostal churches and the churches they led took over the spiritual landscape from the Orthodox churches. Many of the Orthodox churches experienced a decline in their membership and many only stayed open because of their connection to the western part of their organisation. A few Cathedrals survived this decimation but many of their branches had very few members. It was the beginning of the reign of the Pentecostals. A group of churches that emphasised the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the attendant supernatural works that comes with that. This ushered in the era of Grace, faith and miracles. If you have never benefited from these miracles it's easy to sneer at it but one exposure to it and you are in awe. Many church members erroneously transferred this awe to the man of God instead of God. That was the beginning of  false altars.

In line with the book of Revelation, the laodicean church became stupendously rich. Giving to the things of God is Biblical but many of these churches misappropriated the monies, that was the beginning  of moral poverty. I testify that many of these men of God in Nigeria, a few that I served up close and personal were lavished with gifts without their soliciting. Imagine if you were a millionaire and someone helps you to be rid of a shameful thing you have abhorred in secret, what remuneration will you be willing to give to that individual? This was how some of them became personally rich. I testify. The former Chairman of Unilever is the Executive personal assistant to a popular man of God, go figure! I have witnessed previous presidents kneel before individuals I served.

The new found success of these churches attracted charlatans, who saw an opportunity to get rich quickly, this was beginning of false prophets. These evil individuals penetrated the ranks of the churches and preyed on ignorant church members.

The spiritual landscape in Nigeria and much of Africa now became littered with churches spending God's money wrongly, individuals building personal altars, proud individuals starting their own organisations prematurely, charlatans coming to the church as a source of their new frauds. It became a mess.

I want to end this session by saying there were still lots of genuine men of God who were still poverty stricken as they were not savvy in playing these games and unfortunate to have extremely miserly members who only gave to miracle workers. This was when God called me. I pleaded with him to find someone else because I did not know where I would fit in all that mess.