By Festus Ndukwe
Lord, Revive Us or we Perish! (8)
How did the Church descend into this state of near deadness? It was first observed in the external. American Gospel of prosperity and faith became appealing. Young ministers who were products of the Nigerian revival in the 70s began to move to the US for camp meetings at little or no cost. Some of them came back with strange lifestyles, barbing punk hairstyles and blowing their hair. Some came with American slangs. The minister would be speaking, and members would be affirming from the pew, ‘That’s right! Ride on!’ Or someone would walk to the altar and drop his offering. No reverence. It was no longer God’s Church!
Lord, Revive Us or We Perish! (9)
The rot had just begun. Rascality came to church! The invited speakers began to state how much honorarium they should be given, and the kind of hotels they should be lodged. The Church began to commercialise the grace of God. People began to buy anointing oil and handkerchiefs to be healed. Prayer contractors emerged and were collecting money to conduct deliverance in homes.Then, the worship songs changed. Some secular artists changed to singing Gospel songs for financial gain. The atmosphere opened up for immoral living, and gradually the Spirit being grieved, walked away. The fire had gone!
Lord, Revive Us or We Perish! (10)
Things took a turn for the worse. The simple and modest lifestyle that marked the revival disappeared. Ministers of God became flamboyant. To show he is a big man of God, he had to put on big flowing agbada and move with a retinue of body guards. The charismatic ministers went back to the orthodox practice they said they left by putting on big crosses on their necks and collecting titles. They formed a network, and to qualify to be in it, the person must have certain kinds of worldly possessions. The class system had begun in God’s house. There can be no revival in this kind of atmosphere.
●Ndukwe, a missionary and minister of the gospel, lives in Lagos and can be reached on festus.felicia@gmail.com.
