Christianity is a religion birthed from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in the 1st century CE.
This beautiful and divinely peaceful religion was then introduced to Nigeria in the 15th century through Augustinian and Capuchin monks from Portugal.
Christians in Nigeria comprise about 49.3% of the nation's population. Research has shown that Nigeria has the largest Christian religion population more than any African country, with more than 80 million people in Nigeria belonging to the church with various denominations.
Everything was peaceful, cool and well until we began to see things in certain strange ways.
The following are five obvious things we are doing wrongly in Christianity today:
1. Radical fire prayers: I know a lot of people would bash me for this but it is an innocent opinion from my mind. We now pray to God as if He is our servant about to be sent on errand. We use prayer line such as ''oh Lord, arise by fire... Go to my village and visit the camp of my enemies and remove my head from the evil cooking pot''
What happened to the kneeling in prayer? What happened to bowing our heads and joining of our two palms placed in front of our mouth showing sign of humble request. We now stamp our feet, shout and scream our lungs out, pacing back and forth while nodding/shaking our heads and occasionally clapping our hands.
The Bible says in John 14:13-14 “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it''.
And in John 15:7-8, 16:“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples... 16: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you''.
The verses above showed God's readiness to answer our prayers and points to the fact that God wants all the glory.
Mathew 6:5-6 has this
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
This verse clarifies it all.
2. Everyone must speak in tongues:
This is one of the misconception in our Christendom today, if you have not been seen speaking in the holy ghost then your salvation is shaking.
I was at a fellowship sometimes ago and the pastor in front of the congregation asked us to thank and worship God, I was surprised to see that I was the only one praying in understandable English... Every other worshipper in the congregation had gone into indaboski realm... And I began to ask myself, are we giving thanks to God or we are doing deliverance?.
1 Corinthians 14:16 has this to say...
Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?
A sister in church refused to marry one of the brothers from the choir and when she was asked, she said Bro. Joseph was not born again. They asked her how she knew and she said because Bro. Joseph does not speak in tongues.
When has speaking in tongues become a yard to measure our stand in the Lord?. Some men of God sometimes put themselves in position of God by trying to impart speaking in tongues in the congregation.
Speaking in tongues is good and has it's root firmly established in the bible but the way we misplaced its application is embarrassing
Speaking in tongues is a gift from God and He gives it as He wishes.
3. God's calling: The issue of God's calling had long become alarming and questionable. Every young Christian now claims they have been called to start a ministry. Since it is difficult to justify their calling, we innocently and sometimes gullibly join their ministry. Every uncompleted building is now a church and every private school has a church running in it in the evening and every Sunday. Check some streets in Lagos, you will count more churches than schools. As a matter of fact there is no street in Lagos today without a church.
Bible colleges now admit people easily and some even award certificate after few weeks of study.
Is it not ironic that a man who went to Bible college of 6months now opens church and stand to teach a MSc holder who spent 6 years in the university.
The only calling I recalled in the bible for every Christian is
The book of Mark 16:15 which says
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
When a brother is given an avenue in church to showcase God's gift in his life and the spirit of God began to move in him and use him mightily, next thing he wants to start his own church.
4. Anti interdenominational marriage (members of this church must not marry from another ministry): This has caused a lot of fallout in the church body, delayed a lot of marriages and stood as stumbling blocks to many youths.
Excuse me sir, is there no God in the other person's church? Is their Jesus different from our's? Daddy, are you afraid that my husband will take me away from this church or is it that you think I'm going into a new and different doctrine?
If truly we serve the same God and as a Shepherd, you love your sheep... Then you should rather be happy for me (that I'm getting married) and pray I maintain my salvation wherever I go.
Jesus said in Mark 10:6-9
'But from the beginning of creation, "God made them male and female.' "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
Denominations should not separate, ministerial doctrine should not separate... Not even any father in the Lord.
5. Introduction of strange substance in spiritual exercise: there are many instances in the bible where Jesus Christ prayed on mud, water, and oil to wrought divine miracles. At a time... the touch of the hem of his garment by the woman with the issue of blood recorded a historic miracle.
Praying on water, handkerchiefs, anointing oil and mustard seed is understandable. These days bringing pepper to church to be prayed on is the new trend. If you want to be promoted at work, bring your boss' photograph to the next revival. Bring your phone to church with a huge prophetic offering for prayers and the next SMS you will get on your phone will be a miraculous credit alert from your bank. Bring 7 smooth stones to vigil and every Goliath in your life will die.
Is this not why God slaughtered the two sons of Aaron?
What exactly have we turned Christianity to?
In conclusion, the rate at which money is syphoned from congregational members during revival is unexplainable.
''If you are here and you can support God's work with #50,000, run to the altar now God wants to bless you today''. Daddy, those of us that doesn't have #50,000... We don't deserve God's blessings abi?
People who come to church because they want to be shown the way of salvation end up with seared heart. The Jesus they want to come and see will collect all their money and sometimes collect their property
I know I will get a lot of bashing and condemnation for this... But the points above are obvious truths we all bear in silence.
Is this the Church Christ is coming back to meet?
what ever religion wehave as long as we respect humanity and as long we have hope for blessings to come we can live with that