NIGERIA and "PROSPERITY" - Andrew Strom
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
website and even this List were under attack while I was away. It
is the most amazing thing. The attacks almost always coincide
with my trips away. Thankyou to those of you who prayed and
also sent encouragement to my poor embattled wife. Everything
is fixed now - but I thank you for the patience and kindness that
the vast majority of you displayed. My Nigeria trip was certainly
an eye-opener, as you will see from my report below:
NIGERIA and "PROSPERITY"
-by Andrew Strom.
How do I begin to describe Nigeria? Firstly, by honoring a truly
beautiful people who will dance and sing and shout "Hallelujah" at
the drop of a hat - and whose brilliant smiles never fail to light up
the night. Nigerian roads are another story. They are a kind of
intricately synchronized apocalypse that never quite happens.
Ancient beat-up taxi-vans roar down the highways, avoiding elephant-
size potholes and weaving in and out of traffic at will. You feel
inches from a dozen collisions yet emerge astonishingly unscathed.
Horns toot, goats bleat, people run across in front of cars, giant
diesel emissions seem to blot out half the Atlantic seaboard, and
yet somehow the great crunch never arrives. It is another of
Nigeria's many miracles that I am still struggling to comprehend.
We spent our first week outreaching amongst the Ijebu people in
the villages of Southern Nigeria. This is a somewhat "forgotten"
region and has some of the worst poverty and oppression in the
land. Witchcraft and Islam still have significant strongholds. But
the people seemed to receive the gospel gladly. And of course,
healings and deliverances were common in most places.
I was amazed at the young Christian workers. They would put up
with any hardship - walking for miles, sleeping on hard earthen
floors with no food and little water, to see the gospel spread to
another village. If we had more young warriors like them in America,
I'm sure we could see the nation won back to God in a heartbeat.
The "PROSPERITY" MESSAGE
And now, the disturbing part. To say the prosperity/ Hyper-faith
message is "ingrained" in Nigerian Christianity is to grossly
understate things. It is the "orthodoxy" of the land. Indeed, if you
speak to even mature believers questioning it, they will look at
you with the most uncomprehending blankness. It's not that they
strongly disagree. It's just that they have never even considered
the possibility that there may be an opposing viewpoint. -Which
is quite scary, because Nigeria is home to some of the largest
churches in the world. All through Lagos you see billboards
advertising "power", 'favor', and miracles. Churches are called
things like "Winner's Chapel" and "Success Arena". There is an
absolute obsession with this stuff. It is like TBN on steroids.
I spent much of my time in the leaders' conferences pointing out
that this message is the exact opposite of the cross. -That the
cross brings us to death, brokenness and repentance before
"resurrection" - whereas this "power and success" gospel actually
bypasses the cross in many ways. -It is all about going "up" -
instead of down onto our faces before a holy God. It is the very
opposite of true Revival preaching - or the preaching of the apostles.
Sin becomes a secondary issue - compared with "what I can get
out of it". Happiness becomes more important than holiness.
Despite some blank looks, some headway was made in preaching
these things. But honestly - they need a lot more of it. There is still
a great hunger and openness to the truths of God in places like
Nigeria. But they have been immersed in poisonous distortions from
the West for so long. A lot of this is OUR fault. We are broadcasting
our cheap, selfish "what can I get out of it?" gospel to the whole
earth. Only in a place like Nigeria does it become obvious what we
are doing to the Christianity of the world. We are poisoning God's
Revivals and spreading error on a mass scale. What is God
to do with you, America? Will He stand by forever and let us soil
the garments of His bride worldwide?
One thing that the leaders can clearly see in Nigeria when you
talk to them about it, is the need for a sweeping Revival of
Righteousness in the land. This is a key point of agreement.
Despite years of miracles and power, and despite all the millions
who now name Christ, they freely admit that in Nigeria sin and
corruption remain dominant. In fact, Nigeria is ranked as one of
the top 20 most corrupt nations in the world - including it's
"Christian" areas. That's what happens when you place all your
emphasis on power and miracles, yet so little on REPENTANCE.
But Nigeria has a lot of good things in place - which make it ripe
for such a move of Righteousness. -They are given to a lot more
PRAYER than in the West, they are a lot more spiritually HUNGRY
than Western Christians, and they value powerful preaching by the
Holy Spirit. I truly feel Nigeria is ripe for Revival. But somewhere
she must find PROPHETS OF REPENTANCE. In fact, if it is one
nation that needs "John the Baptists" at this moment it is Nigeria -
even more so than the USA, I feel. May God raise up such
preachers in that land before it is too late. What is needed is
TRAINING and TEACHING - more than anything else.
It really makes you wonder about a lot of other Revival nations as
well. What is the exact impact that our sick Western doctrines
are having in these places? And just how much harm are we
actually doing to these Revivals? -Scary thoughts.
All in all, an eye-opening and powerful trip. Thankyou so much
for your prayers, my friends.
God bless you all.
Andrew Strom.