Nwaoha James I JUST FOUND THIS VERY IMPORTANT!!! LIE NO 3: There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian revival where millions have accepted Christ yet the country remains morally bankrupt and most Nigerians remain poor. THE TRUTH: There is everything wrong with this current Nigerian Christian culture where we have minimal positive impact on the social, economic and political climate of the country. As a consequence, both Christians and non-Christians are suffering. Christians are the salt of the earth. So Nigerian Christians are the salt of Nigeria. Salt has three uses: seasoning; preservation and healing. Seasoning makes food tasty. Applied to nations, a predominant Christian order should result in high per capita income, very low poverty rates, high life expectancy, a large and growing middle class, a good social security system; in sum, a good quality of life. Preservation counters and restrains decay. Before refrigeration, salt was used to preserve raw meat. Applied to nations, a growing Christian population should check moral decadence, strengthen family values, reduce corruption, produce accountable leaders and responsible citizens. Healing cures what is hurt or broken. Applied to nations, a nation blessed with a burgeoning church should experience cohesion, a progressive order that rises above historical divisions of class, creed and tribe, a people who are strengthened by their experiences to expect a future better than the past. Revival is like the sudden gushing of a wellspring of life resulting in a massive visible growth in Christianity. Many Christians who were passive about their faith become active, making Christ the centre of their lives. Many in other faiths convert to Christianity. There is a healthy growth in number of Christians, church attendance and number of churches. Revival is thus a production of massive quantity of “salt”. Any nation that experiences revival should experience a visible improvement in quality of life, a strengthening of societal values and emergence of nationhood built on an enduring platform stronger than colonial or historical and geographical definitions. This is the normal desirable type of revival, the type of salt that our Lord Jesus requires us to be. But there is another type of revival typified by another type of salt. Jesus described it salt that has lost its savour, salt which neither seasons, preserve nor heal. Jesus described such salt as GOOD FOR NOTHING. Any Christian revival without a positive impact on the prevailing culture, on the economy and on nationhood is very suspect. It is GOOD FOR NOTHING. There is no doubt that in the last 30 or 40 years, Christianity in Nigeria has witnessed an explosion in the numbers of those professing to uphold the gospel. The country hosts the largest church auditorium in the world, and also hosts the largest regular monthly gathering of Christians anywhere on the globe. Perhaps the 2 or 3 truly global organisations of Nigerian origin are churches. Sadly, the Nigerian Christian revival seems to be the GOOD FOR NOTHING variety. Neither the country, nor her people, nor the Christians therein, have experienced the liberty and freedom that should accompany the gospel. It was a shock to find that by World Bank records, the average Nigerian may be living under worse conditions than most of Sub-Saharan Africa! This abject poverty and dismal picture is the fruit of 30 years of preaching faith and prosperity! Beyond a doubt, Christians have not been spared the pains of this yoke of poverty. There is not even the slightest shred of evidence to suggest that the living standard of the average Christian is better-off than the average Nigerian. This picture is not consistent with the scriptural impact of Christian growth in any country. From current World Bank Human Development Indicators, 54% of Nigerians live in absolute poverty, surviving on less than N6,000 monthly. It is more saddening when Nigeria is compared with other Sub-Saharan African countries. The World Bank has data on 21 African countries between 2008 and 2011. Nigeria ranks 15 out of 21, and is 5% worse than the Sub-Saharan African average! GOOD FOR NOTHING? As Christians, we aspire to live long, rightfully relying on Ps 90:10 “Seventy years are given us! And some may even live to eighty.” However, over 100 countries including many with minimal Christian population have achieved life expectancy over 70. Nigeria’s life expectancy of 52 years places it 33rd in Sub-Saharan Africa! Why are Nigerians living shorter than even other Africans? Is this what God wants? Is this what we want? Shall we continue like this? What shall we do to change the situation?
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 13:44:03 +0000
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