CHRISTIANITY IN NIGERIA: THEN & NOW!

CHRISTIANITY IN NIGERIA: THEN & NOW!

THEN: 

1. Christians used to be regarded as species from another planet.

2. Being born again was serious business

3. Persecutions were the order of the day – you were not a true born again Christian if you were not persecuted

4. Employers sought out Christians to fill key positions in their establishments

5. Christians were known for their integrity

6. Christians joyfully and readily face persecutions

7. Restitution wasn't strange

8. Holiness was the watchword

9. Hymns were part of Sunday Services

10. Messages from the pulpits were hard, rock-solid, bitter truths

11. Pastors were feared but revered

12. ‘Real’ visible miracles accompanied sermons

13. Christians eagerly volunteered for missionary postings to hinterlands just to preach God’s word

14. Christians were seen as solution providers – because the Holy Spirit was very visible in their lives

15. The Holy Bible was a prized possession for Christians 

16. Christians didn't need to go to Bible Schools to learn The Bible; The Holy Spirit was a ready teacher, the Christian a studious student.

NOW:

1. You are not ‘cool’ if you are not born again

2. Everyone – even practicing prostitutes – is born again

3. The word persecution is no more in our dictionaries as Christians 

4. Employers avoid ‘Christians’ like a plague

5. Christians and integrity are like ‘word and opposite’

6. Christians willingly and speedily deny Christ at the slightest hint of persecution

7. Nothing like restitution in our doctrines

8. Holiness is a strange word

9. Hymns have been thrown out of the window by most churches

10. Messages are now motivational talks and shows

11. Pastors are regarded with scorn

12. Money has to exchange hands for miracles to happen – sale of holy water/olive oil; special consultation sessions with the ‘Man of God’ after payment of consultation fee!

13. Missionaries to the hinterlands are extinct – replaced with pastoral postings to ‘juicy’ parishes

14. The impact of Christians is no more visible

15. The Holy Bible is seen like any other book – decorating shelves

16. To fully understand The Bible and preach the word, one has to go through a bible school; Christians no longer STUDY the Word; The Holy Spirit is no more audible.

WHY ???

Isaiah 59:2-16 (NLT)

2 It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

3 Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption.

4 No one cares about being fair and honest. The people’s lawsuits are based on lies. They conceive evil deeds and then give birth to sin.

5 They hatch deadly snakes and weave spiders’ webs. Whoever falls into their webs will die, and there’s danger even in getting near them.

6 Their webs can’t be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive. All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark.

7 Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them.

8 They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.

9 So there is no justice among us, and we know nothing about right living. We look for light but find only darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.

10 We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead.

11 We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves.

We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.

12 For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are.

13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.

14 Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.

15 Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.

The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.

16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed.

Rev 2:4-5 (NLT)

4 "But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first! 

5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don't repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.

SELAH.

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