7 ThingsThe Church Should Do Now

The Truth

Monday 25^th August, 2014
In view of the various challenges facing the church in Nigeria, may I seek your kind permission to make some suggestions on ACTION POINTS for the church?
I am aware that the response of the church to the issues of the moment must be well articulated and corporately coordinated. Our responses will be in 3 stages:

1. Short term
2. Medium term
3. Long term

Please consider these suggestions as forming part of the short term immediate steps that should be considered by Nigerian Christians.
Kindly permit me to stress that these suggestions are what I have been calling them: SUGGESTIONS. I do not consider myself competent or qualified to give directions to the church.
The suggestions should be prayerfully considered, even as they were prayerfully received for the benefit of the both the church and the nation.

NATIONAL DAY OF REPENTANCE

On 15^th September, 2013, God spoke expressly to Prof. Anigbogu that “if care is not taken, in 30 – 40 years, Nigeria will be like Turkey”.
That warning from heaven carries some ominous messages with it. For example:

1. The Nigerian church has an ultimatum of 30 years to take corrective measures or else, it will be completely overrun by Islam.
2. We may be the last Christians in Nigeria. (God forbid!)
3. We may not hand over Christianity to our children.

According to the assessment of heaven, the Nigerian church has become “irresponsible”.
I am writing this article towards the end of August 2014, one year after God issued the verdict concerning the Nigerian church. For that period of one year, what has been the corporate response of the Nigerian church to God?

NOTHING!

The Nigerian church has done nothing corporately to respond to the verdict. That is very dangerous. This kind of attitude can best be described as the “Eli syndrome”; after “Eli’s syndrome” comes Ichabod.
We must not treat this warning with levity or indifference because we are aware that the verdict from heaven is true. If the verdict is true, then the judgment must also be true.
Therefore, may I humbly suggest that we set apart one Sunday in September 2014, as a day of NATIONAL REPENTANCE and NATIONAL RE-DEDICATION? On that day, let every Christian assembly in Nigeria, as well as in the diaspora, pray prayers of repentance on behalf of the church and the nation. To allow the information to circulate may I also suggest the last Sunday, 28^th September, 2014?
Thus, one year after God issued His verdict, we shall respond with national repentance.
God has already shown that He is ready to forgive us if we repent. On 1^st August this year, He led us to raise a 6 hour altar of praises and repentance at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. During the prayer session, He spoke clearly that He has forgiven our nation. God Himself chose National Theatre as the venue for the praises. (Those who understand what went wrong with Nigeria will understand the significance of the National Theatre, the venue of FESTAC ’77.)
Since we have the assurance of receiving forgiveness, we should corporately, humbly, go before God as a nation.
There are many things to repent of: worship of mammon in the church and in the nation, blood guiltiness all over the land, idolatry, adultery and immorality, corruption, hypocrisy in the church, ritual killing and cultism, neglect of evangelism, indifference to the Great Commission, drug addiction, neglect of widows, orphans and the fatherless, oppression and injustice in the land, disobedience and carnality in the church, etc.
If it seems good in your eyes, let us corporately, as the Nigerian church, ask God for forgiveness on Sunday 28^th September, 2014.

DECLARE STATE OF EMERGENCY IN THE NIGERIAN CHURCH

Drastic situations, they say, require drastic actions.
The Nigerian government realized that a war has been declared against the nation and the government declared a state of emergency in the land. Should not the church, which is the main target of that war, also declare a state of emergency in the church?
In 2012, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, said:
“This war is not political. It is religious. It is between Muslims and unbelievers (arna). It will stop when Islamic religion is the determinant in governance in Nigeria or, in the alternative, when all fighters are annihilated and no one is left to continue the fight. I warn all Muslims at this juncture that any Muslim who assists an unbeliever in this war should consider himself dead.”
This statement is a declaration of war against the nation and against the Church. The nation has responded by declaring a state of emergency. What is the church doing?
Rev. Moses Aransiola wrote a letter to the churches (www.kingdomnewsng.com) urging the church to declare a state of emergency to deal with the present challenges. The eminent Christian leader counselled that all activities in the church should be suspended and focus must be on militant and intercessory prayers until normalcy returns to the church and to the land. Suspend all activities and focus on prayers!
While the enemies of the church mobilize with carnal weapons, let the church mobilize its spiritual weapons and contend with the foes at the gate.
When power meets power, the lesser power must bow!
Every fellowship of Christians should henceforth give precedence and prominence to warfare and intercessory prayers against the hordes of hell that have risen against the purpose of God in Nigeria. Sunday worship, Bible Study, Vigils and meetings must be turned into prayer meetings.
Every platform that terrorism is standing upon in Nigeria must be prayerfully dismantled; the gods that did not create the heavens and the earth must perish from the earth and from under these heavens. (Jer. 10: 11)
Sir/ma, we have two options. We either go on our knees, or we go to war.

WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR STREET? (Evangelism Reloaded)

It is good to learn from the mistakes of others so that errors from the past do not destroy the future.
The entire North Africa was Christianity friendly until Islam overran it. What happened? The early “church fathers” were busy arguing doctrines with each other. They neglected evangelism and busied themselves expounding Biblical exegesis. On the day Islam arrived, there was no one to defend Christianity.
Before the Nigerian church falls into the same error, we need to re-focus every Christian immediately on evangelism.
Knowing full well that evangelism strikes terror and panic into the hearts of many Christians, here is a simple suggestion on how to do it effectively.

1. Take a partner, and together select a street in your town/city. The street you have selected becomes your adopted vineyard before the Lord. Select a time of the week that is convenient for the two of you to spend one hour in a week on evangelism. Please do not go alone, utilize the wisdom of the Lord, (Luke 10: 1) He sent them out two by two.
2. For the first three weeks, go to your street every week and do prayer walk. Intercede for every soul living on that street and pray for their salvation. Take authority over every satanic power and influence that hinders people from seeing the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4: 4). Do this for the first three weeks.
3. On the fourth week, begin to go from house to house with the message of the kingdom of God.
4. The evangelism tools that you require can be downloaded free at www.houseofkaris.net We have over 50 different tracts titles covering various groups in the society. Simply copy the tracts that appeal to you and take to a printer. The tracts are free for you to copy.

If you prayed diligently for your “street”, when you commence evangelism, every soul will be quiet while you will be filled with boldness to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. Your prayers should not be restricted to the prayer walk. Continue to pray at your prayer altar at home.
Now, if a congregation has 500 adults, that congregation alone will cover 250 streets. Imagine the possibility of taking the gospel to every house in Nigeria within 3 months!
Let the revival begin!
So, what is the name of your street?

JOIN THE MOVEMENT:
FOR EVERY MUSLIM THERE IS CHRIST (MFC)

Please permit me to start by asking a question.
Which one is better, that God should kill the leader of Boko Haram or that he should become the modern day apostle Paul?
Which one will give God more glory, that the leader of Islam in Nigeria should succeed in getting amnesty for terrorists or that he should become a Deacon/Priest in your local assembly?
So, what are we waiting for? Let us pray all of them into the kingdom of God.
Let every Christian group or fellowship pick one “troublesome” leader of Islam, the more radical, the better, and concentrate prayers of salvation and divine visitation upon him. Pray until Jesus Christ appears to him or her. The last prayer of Stephen turned Saul from being the leader of Boko Haram in his days to Paul, the champion of Christianity. God can do it again and again if we would pray.
Do not be intimidated by the radicalism of any Muslim. There is no one that Christ cannot save. We should not forget that in prayers, we speak to God not to the Muslims and with our Father in heaven, all things are possible. We should remember that God has prophesied the conversion of the Middle East. Is. 19: 18-24.
Do not curse them, but bless them. Let the love of Christ in us overcome the hatred that is in the Muslims towards Christ and His church.
The Muslims have a vision of turning Nigeria into an Islamic nation. The vision they have is the original vision Jesus Christ gave to His church but the church became distracted and lost the vision. Let us recover what originally belongs to the church – that is the vision of “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.”
When power meets power, the lesser power must bow.
Join the movement: Muslims for Christ (MFC)
Rom. 12: 21 – Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

DOCTRINAL SHIFT

Please permit me to share a true life story with you.
One of our senior brothers, a missionary, was on board a flight and he found himself seated beside a Lebanese Muslim. As he introduced himself as a Christian, the Lebanese picked interest in conversing with him.
“I contemplated becoming a Christian some time ago”, declared the Lebanese Muslim. In order to know more about Christianity, he started listening to Christian preachers on cable TV. After a few months of Christian diet, he decided to remain a Muslim.
Why?!
“Aha”, proclaimed the Lebanese Muslim triumphantly, “while Islam teaches you to make heaven, Christianity teaches you how to get the best in this life.”
This is our problem, a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Word of God makes it clear, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” 1 Cor. 15: 19
Unbelievers come to church and they think Christianity is only about prosperity and abundance. Meanwhile, it is only faith in Jesus Christ that guarantees eternal life. There is none other name under heaven  given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4: 12.
Therefore, there must be an immediate doctrinal shift in the church. The preaching of money gospel must cease and the Nigerian church must return to the message of the cross, the message of the good news of the kingdom of God; the message of repentance from sin leading to eternal life.
The clarion call in the church now must be “discipleship”! In the past 20 years, the Nigerian church has not been raising disciples. Rather, it has focused on raising millionaires. We are all witnesses of the unfortunate results of that distraction. There must be a deliberate doctrinal shift in the church. Mammon must be dethroned in the church while Christ must be enthroned in His rightful position as the Lord of all.
Christians have a role to play in checking pastors who insist on preaching the prosperity message. The emphases of the church must be on raising disciples. Particularly amongst the youths, the church must focus on discipleship. Or else, if we succeed in halting the aggression of Islam, we may still lose the next generation to entertainment, drugs and internet.
(May I recommend some books? BEWARE OF SUCCESS deals with the distraction of prosperity in the church, while RETURN TO THE NARROW PATH focuses on raising disciples including Bible Study teaching outline. All the books can be downloaded FREE at www.houseofkaris.net) Ministries that have developed discipleship materials should please dust them and put them to active use. The church must urgently commence discipleship.
The issues surrounding persecution of Christians in the nation must not be hidden from Christian children. Pastors, Priests, Reverends, Prophets, must deliberately go to children’s church and explain these issues to the children. The Christian children and the Christian youths must be taught and trained to understand why they are Christians and why they must remain Christians. Please do not hide these issues from the children, the future belongs to them.
There must be a drastic doctrinal shift in the church.

SUPPORT FOR THE PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS

Have you ever heard of Invercargill? It is a city in New Zealand called the “end of the earth”. Invercargill is the farthest distance on earth from Jerusalem. For that purpose, it is called the “end of the earth.”
From Invercargill, the end of the earth, Christians came to visit and support persecuted Christians in northern Nigeria. We travelled with them to Gombe and to Jos. Meanwhile, where are the Nigerian Christians?
It is embarrassing that God had to go outside Nigeria to get foreign Christians to support and sustain our persecuted brethren. Many of us refused to leave our comfort zones. It is time to repent.
The Voice of Christian Martyrs has been in the forefront of mobilizing support for the persecuted Christians in Nigeria and every Christian in Nigeria should join in reinforcing and sustaining Christianity in the North. It is the least that we could do for Jesus Christ.
Whatever support that you give through the Voice of Christian Martyrs shall faithfully reach the widows, the orphans, the fatherless, the surviving gospel workers and the brethren in the North. It is in our collective interest to reinforce Christianity in the North of Nigeria.
There is a support program of minimum N500.00 monthly donation to support the persecuted brethren. Interested believers could send their donations to: The Voice of Christian Martyrs, Zenith Bank, 10 13 48 26 09 www.stephensng.com
Let us show the enemies of God that our brethren are not destitute of kinsmen.

MOBILIZE POLITICAL AWARENESS

It is imperative that churches commence mobilization of Christians to register and ensure that they vote during the election. Not only that, Christians must be trained to ensure that they vote for candidates and parties that will protect the interest of Christianity in the nation.
Let us commence deliberate training of Christians to be politically intelligent and discerning. If the church does not use its numerical size to put righteous people in governance, the instrument of the state shall be used against the church. Whenever unrighteous people come into power, they use their influence to undermine the church. Christians must be politically discerning.
For your kind consideration, please.
Your brother in Christ,

B.
Twitter: @houseofkaris
www.kingdomnewsng.com

from: kingdomnewsng.com