By Festus Ndukwe
Lord, Revive Us or We Perish! (11)
Then came the desire to acquire jets. There is nothing wrong with this, especially if it is for taking the Gospel to difficult terrains, but for class attached to it and the spirit of ‘I have arrived.’ Then came the creation of the office of the first lady, even if the so called first lady is last in heaven. All kinds of dubious and devious ways of raising offering came. “Give N10,000, and you will have N100,000.” Pool betting in the house of God! Then the drama and showmanship of preachers blowing on people or pushing them down to fall under the anointing. Corruption had taken over!
Lord, Revive Us or We Perish! (12)
The rat race for empire building had started. Not content, many denominations decided to have their fellowships on campuses, and export their doctrines there. Hitherto, there were the CU, FCS, etc., all non denominational. Those days, these groups were nursery beds for discipleship and casting mission vision. With denominational fellowships, this was not to be. It became difficult to penetrate these groups as authorisation must come first from the headquarters. The leaders of these groups decided to be called, ‘Papas’ and ‘Mamas’ just like the church leaders.
Lord, Revive Us or We Perish! (13)
The students carried this arrogance to the NYSC. The presidents and vice presidents of the Christian Corpers Fellowships were also called ‘Papas’ and ‘Mamas’. Fellow corpers were cooking and washing clothes for them while they sat as kings and lords to be served. No one takes the honour and glory that belongs to Jesus and have revival. You can have prosperity but you cannot have revival easily. Revival is not cheap. It comes with tears and blood. From the Church to the campuses, to NYSC, and back to the Church, the rot had gone round.
● Ndukwe, a Christian minister, lives in Lagos, and can be reached at festus.felicia@gmail.com.