Dr Bilal Philips canvasses for the inclusion of the Islamic perspective in the educational process in Nigeria

Dr Bilal Philips is the Proprietor of Islamic Online University and has already said that about 12,000 Nigerians have enrolled and are studying Islamic studies in the university. Having said that, what caught our attention is that he plans to establish the university in Nigeria, the process is already ongoing and is canvassing for the inclusion of the Islamic perspective in the educational process in Nigeria. By this he means that students who are studying any other course in the country may be required to take one or two courses in Islam in order to enable them understand the Islamic aspect of their course of study.

The former Minister of Education and former Governor of Kano, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, commended the works of Dr Philips and boasted to be the first Governor to make it mandatory for the civil servants to apply the Islamic perspective in carrying out their functions.

The full story is in The Nation:


The proprietor of Islamic Online University (IOU), Dr Bilal Philips, said on Monday that no fewer than 12,000 Nigerians were presently studying through the institution.

Philips made the disclosure in Kano, when he visited former Kano State Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau.

According to him, the Nigerian students are part of the 300,000 students studying in the institution at no cost.

“We are also presently planning to establish the online Islamic University in Nigeria. We are going through all the necessary processes.”

Philips canvassed for the inclusion of the Islamic perspective in the educational process in Nigeria, to enable students understand the Islamic aspects of any course they study...
 
This information is not just to keep us at alert, but also a call to prayers for Nigeria.

Prayers:
1. Pray that God will frustrate all the efforts to Islamize this country.
2. Pray that the fire of God will envelope His Church in Nigeria. May the knowledge of the Lord spread all over the earth as waters cover the sea.
3. Pray that God will open the eyes of Christians who are in positions over these schemes and enable them to stand with Him.

If nothing is done for these people, this will lead to a huge tragedy

"Aid workers who recently visited two Christian camps in Maiduguri reported: “Life has become hell for the more than 3000 people living here... Already people are resorting to eating leaves. Children are dying of hunger. If nothing is done for these people, this will lead to a huge tragedy. People cannot go home because Boko Haram is constantly regrouping and continuing attacks.”" From World Watch Monitor.

This was an assessment made by the Aid Workers who are working among Christians in the North East of Nigeria. The truth is that some of our brethren are discriminated against when it comes to aids sharing. These are people that all their means of livelihood have been wiped off. Even if the insurgence ends today, their lives will never remain the same. They need help urgently.

What are we doing as a church in Nigeria? What is your church doing? What is your fellowship doing? What are we doing as families? What are we doing in our organizations that have Christian leanings? Where are our sacrifices?

Is it not unbelievable that some Christians are dying of hunger but our offerings have not changed; resource allocations are still the same; and our preaching rarely mention them? The Nigerian Church seems to have become what C.S Lewis called Men Without Chest in his book The Abolition of Man. We show a lot of exuberance and make a lot of noise but our hearts are not touched to express our gratitude to God in practical ways towards the sufferings of our fellow man. We seem not to feel anything in our chest. We have a massive opportunity to preach the gospel now but we seem to live nonchalantly as if nothing is happening. The opportunity for social work is a great opportunity we can all leverage on to preach the Gospel of Jesus now the door is wide open. Some of the monies we raise in the South to build structures can be sent into this work. We can cut something out of our vacation and holiday spending in order to help some of these ones rebuild their lives. By now, the matter is supposed to be everywhere on the websites of churches in Nigeria. Unfortunately if you google, the results will only show the Roman Catholic Agencies and other foreign bodies. We seem to be more concerned playing politics.

From the story the Lord Jesus told in Luke 10, the man was wounded and abandoned along the Jericho road. The Samaritan was the one who showed compassion. Men and women are wounded today both physically and emotionally because of persecution just across the neighborhood. The "priests" and the "Levites" of today have not behaved differently from the same way they behaved in Jesus' story; but where are the Samaritans that will show some compassion today?

You can be used by God to motivate your church to do something. You can write us at evergreenword@gmail.com or editor@evergreenword.com in case your church does not have any plan and you want to participate. We can link you up to agencies that are working in these camps. As you consider in your heart how God will want you to respond, may He bless you.

Whatever happened to our bowels of compassion

Bowels of compassion or mercies is King James Bible Version's way of describing a heart of compassion, a heart of pity and empathy and a heart of kindness. (Phil.2:1; Col.3:12; 1 John 3:17). When bowels of mercies swells up, it stirs one up into action.

The Northern Eastern Nigeria have suffered a great and terrible ordeal in the hands of the insurgency. nobody is spared whether you are a Muslim, a Christian or Animist. Towns and villages have been razed down; properties and means of livelihood destroyed; schools and churches and mosques completely burnt down; millions displaced; children forced to leave schools and for many of them, their lives have been changed irreversibly. As a Christian minister, my focus is on the ordeal of Christians in this region of the country.

There is a wrong misconception among Christians in the South that everybody in the North is a Muslim. This is very far from the truth. There are millions of indigenous Christians from these regions and many of them are among those that are displaced. Their churches have been destroyed and many are trapped in the Internally Displaced Person's (IDP) Camps. They cannot go back to their homes and they do not have any means of livelihood, they virtually depend on aids and helps to survive. The sad thing is that many are dying in the IDP Camps of starvation. Unfortunately, we cannot see massive movements among the churches in the South to mobilize Aids for these brethren. No regular Offerings are being raised for them.

After the August 29 2005 Katrina disaster in Louisiana, especially in New Orleans, there was a great mobilization of relief materials for the victims of the Hurricane by churches, church agencies, non-profit making organizations, and other groups. Among the groups mentioned here, six are outright church groups while four have some Christian leanings. But in Nigeria, the case does not seem to be the same. The reason is not that the church is poor, the issue is that we are distracted. The monies are under the authority of a few persons who use them for 'projects' that attract their fancy. A few of the indigenous churches in the North are overwhelmed by the enormous needs around them. Remember  "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" .James 1:27 KJV.

The question that keeps ringing in my heart is, what happened to our bowels of mercies? The purpose of this post is to stir you up to action. Make sure you are doing your part no matter how 'small' yo may think it is. Do not shut your bowels of compassion. If you want further information and contact on how to get involved, agencies and church organizations, kindly write us through evergreenword@gmail.com.

May God richly bless you.

NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ELDERS FORUM (NCEF) - A PRESS RELEASE

CONFLICT OF IDEOLOGIES AS THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO PEACE, UNITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press,

A few weeks ago, the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) issued a statement titled THE NEED TO PRESERVE THE PEACE AND UNITY OF NIGERIA. Of concern to the Christian Elders is the deteriorating state of national security, the free fall state of the economy, the inflammation of religious tension through the misappropriation of state powers, a worrisome foreign policy that is evidently skewed in favor of Islamization, as well as the increasing impunity of the Fulani herdsmen, amongst many other issues.

The National Christian Elders Forum was established by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to make statements in defense of Christianity in Nigeria, as well as promote peace and unity among Christians and Nigerians, as a whole. The NCEF is made up of Christian Elders from the six geo-political zones in the country.

.....

4. ISSUES OF CONCERN

In the build up to the 2015 elections, majority of Nigerians expressed great hope that there would be CHANGE in the nation. However, ten months after the new government was sworn into office, credible apprehension can be expressed given the policy direction of the new administration. We hope that the buildup to these policies do not result in full blown Sharia which President Muhammadu Buhari had promised Muslims in Nigeria.

A number of worrisome issues readily come to mind:

a)      The apparent disregard for the Constitution, by Mr. President in many instances. For example, N900 billion was released in bailout package for states without Appropriation, the government was run for five months without a Cabinet, international commitment are being made without recourse to the National Assembly. All these are acts violating the Constitution.

b)     Including Nigeria in the Saudi Arabia Military Coalition of “Muslim/Arab” nations would appear that the Foreign Policy thrust of the present administration is to make Nigeria a satellite state of Saudi Arabia. The strengthening of the nation’s democracy and security for all should remain the greatest priority of Government. This we see to have been negated by the President’s fiat/unilateral decision to enlist Nigeria in the 34 nations Muslim/Arab coalition. Given the emotive and sensitive nature of this unilateral Executive decision, it should have been handled by Mr. President in line with our democratic culture through popular discussion and participation by the citizenry, or at the very least, through the National Assembly.

c)      Attempt to fund deficit in the 2016 Budget through issuance of Sukkuk loan which is a “Sharia compliant loan.” Nigeria is not a Sharia compliant nation.
d)     The consideration of establishing “free visa” arrangement with Islamic D8 nations. These countries are: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey, and of course, Nigeria.
e)      The apparent Islamization of key security positions in the country.
f)       The apparent disdain and contempt of Mr. President for Christians in Nigeria as demonstrated during his interview on Al – Jazeera on the objection of Christians to Nigeria’s involvement in the Saudi led Military Coalition to fight ISIS.

We wish to remind Mr. President that he was brought to power through the votes of Nigerians, Christians inclusive. Mr. President should kindly remember that the over 50% non-Muslims in Nigeria did not vote for the nation to transmute into a Sharia compliant nation. Mr. President assured Nigerians that he is “a convert” to democracy but we are disturbed by the direction of his administration.

We are aware that there are presently Islamists in Government prepared to execute the Islamization Agenda. Any nation in which Islamists believe that they are sufficiently strong to exercise influence rarely experience peaceful cohabitation amongst the divergent groups within it. This is the current situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the Sudan. Islamism thrives on injustice, inequality and unfairness. We urge Nigerians to remain circumspect so that the Islamists do not drag the nation down the path of destruction.

5. KADUNA STATE RELIGIOUS BILL

We wish to express tremendous shock at the proposed Kaduna State Religious Bill. The proposed Bill contravenes Section 38 (1) of the 1999 Constitution. We should remind the Government of Kaduna State that religion is personal and no one has the right to legislate on how individuals worship. We call on the Kaduna State Governor to retrace his steps from this ill-advised venture.

 ...

See the full text of the Press Release here.

Please pray for Bishop GT Adebanjo and his wife

The husband and wife were kidnapped in Warri on their way to Harvest Thanksgiving Service.. They are calling the other bishops in the denomination to raise N10m and send to them.

"Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!" Isa 64:1 NIV

Please pray.

Read here for more.

Rev. Yat Michael and Rev. Peter Yein Reith have been released.

The pastors,  Rev. Yat Michael and Rev. Peter Yein Reith, were arrested by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in December 2014 and January 2015 respectively. Rev. Yat Michael preached in the Evangelical Church in Bahri after which he was arrested. Rev. Peter Yein Reith was arrested after he submitted a letter of concern from leaders of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, inquiring about the whereabouts of the Rev. Yat. The brethren were brought to trial several times being charged with multiple spurious allegations.

Thank God they have been released.

However, we will continue to pray for the church in Sudan to remain strong and multiplying in the face of oppression and persecution.

See more here.

Special request: Please pray for the Nigerian church. May case of the Nigerian church not be like that of the Laodecian church (Rev.3). They saw themselves as rich, wealthy and lacked nothing but in the eyes of God, they were wretched, pitiful, poor and naked.

Easter Sunday Car Bomb Explosion kills over 25 persons in Kaduna Nigeria

A car bomb exploded along a busy roadway Sunday morning in a central Nigeria city, killing at least 38 people in the latest attack on a region beset by religious, ethnic and political violence, an official said.
The blast struck Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna state, leaving charred motorcycles and debris strewn across a major road in the city where many gather to eat at informal restaurants and buy black market gasoline. Nearby hotels had their windows blown out of by the force of the powerful explosion, which engulfed a group of motorcycle taximen.

At least 38 people were killed in the blast, said Abubakar Zakari Adamu, a spokesman for the Kaduna state Emergency Management Agency. Others suffered serious injuries and were receiving treatment at local hospitals, Adamu said.
The explosion badly damaged the nearby All Nations Christian Assembly Church as churchgoers worshipped at an Easter service, the possible target of the bomber. Witnesses said it appeared the explosive-laden car attempted to go into the compound of that church before it detonated...

Please continue to pray for the Nigerian Church for a re-awakening. Pray that God may console those who are grieving and cause the perpetrators to repent. Pray that those in leadership positions will have the will to do what is right.
Read more!

Boko Haram's Plot to end Christian Presence in Northern Nigeria

The al-Qaeda linked Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram has declared it is plotting to "end the Christian presence" in much of northern Nigeria. According to a spokesman, the group is preparing to launch a campaign of terror against Christians through kidnapping Christian women and coordinated bombings. The women reportedly will be held for ransom and returned only to Christian families who leave the region.

The goal is to eradicate Christians completely so that a "proper Islamic state" might be established. The authorities say Boko Haram is well armed with sophisticated weaponry and munitions.

This new threat against Christians is very direct and indicates very dangerous days lie ahead.

Christians need to be watchful and work together prayerfully to see this plot of the devil brought to naught. Our God frustrates the tokens of liars and makes their diviners mad.

Please pray the Lord will protect and deliver believers in northern Nigeria. Pray He will frustrate the plans of the enemy and through His mercy bring many to repentance. Pray that Christians in Nigeria will not be fearful but trust God (Revelation 2:10).

(Source: VOM as reported by Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission)

Pray for the persecuted Nigerian Church!

My plea with us this first month of the year is that we remember the persecuted brethren in Northern Nigeria in our Church, group, family and personal prayers.

In the Nigerian Church, there is an evolving culture of using January for Fasting and Prayer in preparation for the year. There is nothing wrong with having Fasting and Prayer but what we do within period determines whether we are eternally minded or not. What we do within the programme determines whether we are concerned with what burdens the heart of God or not.

Mark Ojunta
Photo: Compass Direct News

On the 28th of August, 2011, our brother Mark Ojunta was murdered while serving among the Kotoko people group in North Eastern Nigeria.

In Christian Post, it was reported that “ 36-year-old evangelist Mark Ojunta, from southern Nigeria, was ministering amid the Kotoko people of Nigeria's northeastern state with Calvary Ministries (CAPRO) when he was shot in Maiduguri. Boko Haram reportedly killed at least 23 Christians during August alone; beginning on Aug. 11 through Aug. 15 where attacks in Rasta Foron village resulted in six dead, and on Aug. 15, in Heipang village, where nine members of one Christian family were killed.

These deaths were followed by the murder of six Christians on Aug. 21 in Kwi, lotion, and Jwol villages, and, on Aug. 14, in the community of Chwelnyap, where two more were killed at the hands of militants”.

In January 2012, they carried out series of attacks on Christians and their places of worship. One was on Deeper Life Bible Church in Gombe. According to Sahara Reporters, "The attackers started shooting sporadically. They shot through the window of the church, and many people were killed including my wife," Mr Jauro told Reuters news agency.

From Reuters, On the 6th of January, “Gunmen opened fire in a hall in Mubi on Friday where a group of Christians had gathered to mourn the deaths of those killed in an attack the previous day.
"Unknown gunmen in Mubi attacked and killed 3 people on Thursday night and on Friday as people gathered to mourn the deaths, the gunmen believed to be the same attackers killed 18 people, totalling 21," a Red Cross official told Reuters.

A lot of indigenous Churches have been burnt down, pastors killed and members scattered. Brethren are living in fear. Those who are non indigenes may run back South to their villages but what of the brethren who are Northern Nigerian indigenes?

Now, is it time for Churches to gather in their Fasting and Prayer programmes concentrating on claiming one earthly possession or another? Is it time to focus on making frivolous promises to members just because you want to raise their hope? Is it a time to lead the people into ‘covenants’ that we cannot prove from the Scriptures which we have discussed here? Or is it not time to lead the Church in repentance and cry to Him for the National Church? These are perilous times.

The other day, I saw a reverend gentleman speaking passionately in the ranks of the protesters against the removal of petrol subsidy over the past few days. My heart was stirred up. I thank God for him. However, God is looking for men and women who will equally be on fire for the matters of the voiceless believers who are suffering and living in fear.

Brethren, please whatever you do this month of January, remember the persecuted Church. Pray that God will encourage these believers and uphold them. Pray that God will give the Nigerian Church the Christian heart to forgive their persecutors and raise several ‘Sauls of Tarsus’. Pray that God will deliver the Nigerian Church from materialism and human worship. Pray that people and Churches will be touched to contribute to the welfare of the persecuted brethren. The work is indeed great and the harvest ripe but the labourers are few. Please be among the few.

God bless!

The Spirit of Sudan: The Preacher

This is a must read for all those who love Nigeria as a country. My deep concern is how to wake up the sleeping church. I see most church leaders who are more interested in how to amass wealth and ride the best SUVs, than pay attention to spiritual matters. I see pastors who are more interested in just doing church work, serving the organization, engaging in church politics so as to fetch promotion than to key both themselves and members into God's program and agenda. Please pray, send this to your pastors and church leaders and as many Christians as you can reach. God is warning this nation! I will post the whole piece. You can contact the author through the web address after the write up.


Early in September 2011, while fasting and praying for the national prayer retreat of The Preacher scheduled for later that month, the word of the Lord came to me, “Pray against the Spirit of Sudan.” South Sudan had become independent from the oppressive Islamic north only a few weeks earlier, on July 9. I understood the word to mean that the Satanic principality that had sponsored Sudan’s very oppressive anti-Christ Islamic regime, and sustained twenty cruel years of a most ravaging civil war between the Christian south and the Islamized north, having lost that territory, was seeking another abode, in Nigeria. I took it as a personal prayer point even though, later, I had to send out sms’s to a few friends. The message as I understood it seemed well explained by Luke 11:24-26, especially the first half of verse 24:

24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man[a territory, Sudan], he walketh through dry places, seeking rest ; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. 25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

This reminds me so much of the Kenyan experience decades ago, when a group of intercessors in a teacher training school suddenly had a vision of furious red horses galloping towards their country. Intercepted by timey prayers, however, the horses diverted from the border of Kenya into Somalia next door. Somalia has not been a normal country ever since, with little rest from wave after wave of Islamic insurgencies.

In September 9-11, 2011, there was the retreat of The Preacher in the Middle Belt city of Jos, Nigeria. In the process of the prayer vigil on the second night of that retreat, a sister with remarkable prophetic gifts raised a prayer concern about Nigeria. She used the same words to describe her burden as she called us all to pray against “the spirit of Sudan.” I was frightened. It was no mere coincidence. I realized at once that God had confirmed His word in the mouth of a second witness. Anyone who has gone through the horrors of one civil war will never wish to experience another. Ask them in Liberia, Sierra Leon, Libya, and ask the elders in eastern Nigeria who suffered the Biafran war.

Four days before Christmas, we posted the online message, “When Feasting is Unpardonable Sin ,” warning that in this season of Christmas festivity and the threats of Islamic jihads in Nigeria, it might not be permitted for everyone to enjoy a feast when the land mourns. Yesterday was Christmas, but it was not to be for everybody. I had been fasting for many days, and could not but go on fasting. St. Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, on the outskirts of Abuja the capital city of Nigeria, was suicide bombed at the close of Christmas service as worshippers were queuing to leave. Over 40 deaths have been reported, besides several injured and inestimable property damaged. What jolted me was the Yahoo News on the tragedy: “Boko Haram is trying to ignite a sectarian civil war in a country split evenly between Christians and Muslims” It sounded so much to me like the word of the Lord about the agenda of the Spirit of Sudan. Could that be a third witness from the mouth of a prophetic internet donkey?

What further bothered me in that news were the remarks attributed to Muhammadu Buhari, who had also contested at the last presidential polls. In the opinion of that retired army general and former head of state, these assaults are a pointer to the failure of the present government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, a man who has been under the severe assaults of high level sorcery and political snares; such manipulations and sorceries that it takes more than a Sunday school T-shirt to bullet proof.

As we relish, on one hand, the lofty condemnations of the premeditated brutalities of Boko Haram, we, on the other hand, share the worry of Jesus in Luke 11:17, about the paradox of a house divided against itself. Oh, that Prophet Daniel could come down and read us these glittering handwritings on the wall!

About a year ago, a retired army General who, like Buhari, is a northern Muslim and former military ruler of the nation, threatened tacitly in the papers that there could be a civil war attributable to Dr. Jonathan if he did not ‘gentlemanly’ abdicate his presidential ambitions to the ‘north,’ all of whose prominent candidates were Muslims.

Some hundreds of years ago, Egypt was a very Christian territory, as also was Libya and the rest of northern Africa. Today, the story is pathetically different. Ephesus, where Paul once preached, which had the first of the seven churches to which Jesus sent special letters, it is said, does not have a church anymore. Its candle has gone out, as Jesus had warned in Revelation 2:5. Islam has taken over that city, and others like it.

May our children not rise up in the next fifty years to curse us fathers and mothers whose knees were too stiff to bend, whose lazy brains and fearful hands knew nothing to do while the spiritual topography changed against their tender future. As a Bishop recently feared and warned, may they not have to spit on our graves someday, that while we pursued our insatiable greed and stuffed our protruding bellies with stolen wine, we wasted our political privileges in the houses of parliament and the other corridors of economic and political power, shamefully unlike another woman centuries ago who in similar circumstances swore, “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).

Jos, a city whose name is said to have been derived from the acronym, “Jesus Our Saviour,” which used to be the paradise of many missionary agencies in Nigeria, is now like ancient Berlin with an invisible wall marking the risky boundary between the Muslim north and the Christian south of the city. The city has already conceded some precious grounds to the threatening advance of Islam. Port Harcourt and Lagos are not too south from the ‘northern’ threats. America is not as far away anymore; not farther away now than next door. South Africa and Kenya and Britain are already marked for their own seasons. Ghana and Zambia are stirring. France seems almost like a helpless captive. The list is long. Every place is under watch. It is a global threat, “while MEN slept” (Matthew 13:25). Feeble women and little children may sleep, but when adult men also sleep in some seasons, things go wrong.

There are notable parallels between the two nations of Nigeria and what used to be Sudan. Today, Nigeria is reckoned as the foremost evangelized and evangelistic nation in Africa, a missionaries-sending nation next only to USA in the world. In the 1950s and earlier, the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) similarly sent missionaries, and especially evangelized the northern parts of Nigeria. Sudan had a dominantly Christian south and an Islamized north. So does Nigeria. Both territories boast a large land mass. Sudan had and still has a species of Islam that is fundamentally fanatical and very intolerant of any other faith, like the Boko Haramians of northern Nigeria. Sudan used the means of politics, governance, and violence (in fact, wars) to pursue its agenda of enforcing sharia over the entire country. The tools have been no different with those who have been invoking the spirit of Sudan into Nigeria. The sounds of ‘Boko Haram’ are the sounds of that spirit already knocking at our door.

‘Boko Haram’ is a political mask. May God expose the masqueraders behind the mask. Boko Haram is a unilateral declaration of war awaiting escalation whenever ‘the other’ should have been provoked enough to reply. When a cock struts out to challenge the sleeping neighbour next door to an early morning fight, check properly; its owner is behind it, waiting with a machete. The coordination, professionalism and sophistication of Boko Haram are not those of some ragtag terrorists or ‘militants.’ They have the intelligence and other backings of certain foreign governments, of notable foreign and local agencies, royal fathers, as well as serving and retired politicians. Until recently, when God exposed one of their moles among the members of parliament, who could have believed that those dissidents had such ‘noble’ membership and patronage? The general public will be shocked the day it learns about the size and skill of their army and the sophistication of their weaponry; but our prayer is that God may do again in Nigeria what He did to Pharaoh and his armies when He overthrew both horses and their riders in the sea (Exodus 15:1). Amen.

Last night, during my midnight prayers, the date “January 12” came to me as having been marked for a surprise attack in an unsuspecting location. I wish I can right away tell where, but it could be somewhere in one of the ‘safer’ southern cities. Watch and pray; pray with eyes open in this season.

Often, one hears the understandable remarks of aggrieved southern Nigerians, that the country should split, and “let them go their own way.” It is not so easy, for many reasons that this is not the place to explain. Besides, by such expressions, unawares, these make prayers in support of the very Spirit of Sudan.

Someday, soon, the mystery of the fifth seal shall speak from under the altar in Heaven, and there shall come “the great day” of the wrath of the lamb that sits on the throne. In that day, there shall be no hiding place in the dens and rocks and mountains “from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:14-17). May that day come soon, in Jesus name. Amen.

May the world join us now to contend against the Spirit of Sudan. We would rather have those prayers now than relief materials later for a war-torn people, should that wandering spirit somehow find abode here, aided by the bloody invocations of its armed priests that have already offered more than sufficient provocations.

If this stirs you, please, pass it on. If it does not, delete it. One will chase a thousand, but two can put ten thousand to flight (Deuteronomy 32:30). Amen.

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Emma Nwosu: So much noise about nothing

This is a good write up, especially for those who have burden for revival for the Church in Nigeria. Send it to your pastors and leaders. Read it please:

One cannot ignore the noise going round in the country without being accused of indifference; Terrorism, Gay marriage and Islamic Banking. Let me state that none of these issues is peculiar to Nigeria or our generation.

....... Each time missionaries come to our gatherings to ask for mission support, our leaders announce that it is time for widow’s mite. Some even divert funds meant for these missionaries for their insatiable materialistic desires. When we are told to pray for missionaries martyred by the governments of these countries, we rush over it to continue with our kill and bury prayers. It was when Afghanistan was liberated from Taliban control that we heard that two lady missionaries- Heather and Mercie- had been held in a dungeon waiting for death.

Even in the bible, religious extremism and terrorism is mentioned. That was what killed Jesus Christ and James the brother of John. Some forty men bound themselves under an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed Paul (Acts 23:12-13).................

If our pulpits become fiery voice of God again and preachers follow the examples of John Wesley and John Wycliffe, we will rule Nigeria from our churches. ............

We all saw the show of shame in the banking sector, those who claimed to be Christians ran the house of fraud in the name of banks. One of our sisters, who was a bank executive, claimed she gave her house-help loan to the tone of thirty six million Naira, but we know the truth. Most of the bank executives were and are still prominent members of our churches who pay in large sums of their stolen money into our cathedrals. If they valued their religion in any way, we will see this wealth in the life of the ordinary man on the street, and then who will have time for non-interest banking. When governments of some States in Nigeria returned schools to Mission organizations, what was the result? Tuition rose astronomically so that almost all the students in these schools were thrown out. If we showed value for those students they won’t face the temptation for going for non-interest banking system of another religion. Does the bible encourage the Christian to lend to his brother on interest? Why are we now threatening to have our own banking system only in response to Islamic banking? So now it was not adopted we go back to comatose, never taking the initiative........................


Please read it here.

The Coming Fire

No nation on earth prays like Nigeria. We hold the twin record of the largest place of worship on earth as well as the largest Christian gathering. So, why isn’t the fire coming down?

As made clear in James 5: 16, it is not just prayer that brings down the fire from heaven; it is the “effectual prayer of the righteous man” that “availeth much”. Nigerians pray a lot, maybe we are not praying in righteousness. With all the number of Nigerians who attend church, there should be no talk of corruption in the country. Lo, not only is corruption galloping in the Nigerian society, it has also entered into the church. The scandals that rock the church should not be mentioned. They are awful.

Spirit-driven church or poverty-driven people?
True, there has been an explosion in church growth, but can we really say that Nigeria has experienced revival? A look at the history of revival in the world shows that every revival is accompanied by repentance, restitution, societal transformation, and genuine turning to God. The opposite is the case in Nigeria. We have experienced increase in church attendance, but in the true sense of the word, we are yet to experience revival.

According to Wesley Duewel, “revival days are not normal days in the church. They are super normal, supernatural. They are the great days of the church when God manifests His presence in overwhelming reality”.

The Nigerian church is filled with many “great men of God”, “fathers, daddies and mummies in the Lord”, prophets, deliverance ministers, evangelists, anointed men of God, and so on, but in recent years there has been no revivalist. There is yet to emerge a spiritual leader that will mobilize people in the power of the Holy Ghost to genuinely repent from sins, carnality, worldliness, evil and turn to God without expecting anything in return. Most of the “spiritual leaders” in the country today are “spiritual negotiators” and “motivational speakers” skilled in the art of getting material wealth from heaven for men, in exchange for payment of tithes and church attendance.

It is imperative that Nigeria must experience genuine revival if the nation is to escape the judgment of God. The Most High will not always tolerate the iniquities and transgression that have become the hallmark of the Nigerian church and the Nigerian society. Duewel puts it succinctly, “when God calls for repentance and people refuse to repent, how can He awaken them to their danger? He has no alternative but to send judgment. …when people who have had God’s light reject revival, judgment is inescapable”.

Revival or judgment?
Before the Nigerian society can be transformed, the church must experience revival. If the church resists the Spirit of revival, then “the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning” (Isa.4:4) shall visit the church. Before God will judge the politicians, the police, the judiciary, the military and the business class in Nigeria, He must first and foremost judge the charlatans, the conmen and the clowns masquerading as servants of Jesus Christ though they may be bishops, pastors, prophets, ‘daddies’, ‘mummies’ and ‘papas’. Thus saith the spirit of judgment, “…begin at my sanctuary”. Ezekiel 9:6.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: 1 Pet.4: 17. The clarion call in the church now must be the cry for revival. Every prayer meeting must cry for revival. Every heart must yearn for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God. “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” Psalm 85: 6. The Spirit of revival must move over this land if we are to avert the danger that is ahead. It is far better that we accept the correction of the Lord than wait for His chastisement.

Culled from OCCUPY Magazine 2011 Vol.30 No.1, a publication of Calvary Ministries (CAPRO). Pastor Bosun Emmanuel pastors the Truth Sanctuary, a missions church in Surulere, Lagos, and is the author of The 7 Signs of Spiritual Maturity. He can be reached at sunemmanuel@yahoo.com

Pastors beheaded in Borno state, Nigeria

Twelve Christians were killed, including three pastors, in northern Nigeria after members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram launched attacks on police and government bases on July 26. The violence, which began in Bauchi state, spread to the states of Borno, Kano and Yobe. Churches were set ablaze and several people were abducted, including Christians. Many believers were threatened with death if they refused to convert to Islam. According to an August 6 report from The Daily Sun, three pastors -- Pastor Sabo Yukubu, Pastor Sylvester Akpan and Pastor George Orji -- were brutally beheaded by assailants who were reportedly acting on the instruction of the militant group's leader, Mohammed Yusuf, who was later killed by authorities. The militants attempted to force the pastors to convert to Islam, but they refused to abandon their faith. They were then beheaded by guards who shouted "Allah Akbar" and fired several gunshots into the air in celebration.

Pray that God will comfort the families of those killed in these attacks. Pray that the peace of Christ will rule the hearts and minds of Nigerian Christians in the face of ongoing threats and danger (Philippians 4:7).

To find out more about how Christians suffer in Nigeria, click here.

Persecution Report from Voice of the Martyrs

Many of us who live in the southern part of Nigeria do not know what believers are going through in the north and many other muslim-majority countries around the world. This ignorance is of great consequence as you will not able to pray properly. Watch this month's report which features up-to-date news, interviews and testimonies from around the world including Eritrea, Nigeria, Israel and Vietnam. Please pray and spread the news to make Christians aware. Another danger of this ignorance is that we will continue to preach our 'strange' message of prosperity instead of committing ourselves to missions and helping one another.



Watch Now

You can see more information here and the Persecuted Weblog here.

8 Mistakes the American Church made

This is a sermon by Lee Grady of Charisma Magazine in Nigeria in 2002. It was reproduced in The Nigeria Anglican, the official magazine of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion. I'm convinced it worths repeating in this blog.

Eight Mistakes the American Church Made That I Hope You Don’t Repeat

When in 2002 I was in Nigeria conducting interviews, I was invited to speak at a growing Church that meets near a University in Lagos. Knowing that future Church leader would be in the audience that Sunday morning, I wanted to deposit something that could shape the destiny of Africa. My message was title “Eight Mistakes the American Church Made That I Hope You Don’t Repeat”. I don’t have the kind of pulpit savvy that gets people shouting ‘amens’ and waving handkerchiefs. Yet this sermon struck a chord not only with my Nigerian friends, but also with Americans who heard about it when I returned. I am sharing the gist of the message with you because I know it’s not too late to learn from our blunders. Here’s my list of the American Church’s all-time biggest goofs:

1. We made unbelief a doctrine:

While Christians in Chine, Latin America and Africa were casting out devils and healing the sick, we were teaching seminary students that the Holy Spirit doesn’t do miracles any more. That’s really bad theology.

2. We tolerated division:

Who needs the devil when Christians are perfectly OK with hating one another in the name of denominational loyalty? Why should the world listen to us teach about family values when the family of God is so fractured?

3. We cultivated a religious spirit:

We taught converts that Christianity is all about daily Bible reading, Church attendance and avoiding cigarettes and beer. Genuine faith became drudgery. Christians trapped in dry legalism lost their joy because they thought intimacy with God could be achieved by their performance.

4. We encouraged “superstars:

We elevated ministers to celebrity status, and some of them actually believed they deserved the titles, the pedestals, the grand entrances and the first-class seats next to Jesus’ throne. They stopped modeling servant hood and as a result the Church forgot that Jesus washed the feet and rode on a donkey.

5. We equated money with success:

We taught that biblical prosperity could be obtained by inserting our tithes into a heavenly slot machine. LOTTO fever spread throughout the Church and we found a way to legitimate greed and materialism when we should have been using our wealth to feed the poor, adopt orphans and fund missionary ventures.

6. We wouldn’t release women in ministry:

We let gender prejudice have more control of the Church that the Holy Spirit. He is ready to send an army of dedicated women to the front lines of spiritual battle but He is waiting for us to bury our stinking male pride.

7. We stayed in the pews and became irrelevant:

We insisted on letting a group of older white men in dark suits represent our faith in the marketplace, and we freaked out when somebody tried to use rap, punk or metal music to reach the younger generations. Instead of engaging the culture, we hid from it.

8. We taught people to be escapists:

Jesus told us to occupy the planet until He returns. But most of us were reading rapture novels when we should have been praying for our brothers and sisters who were on the verge of martyrdom. They were willing to suffer and die for the cause. Why can’t we have that kind of faith?