My take is that it was the platform of prosperity “gospel” that paved the way for these magicians. The prosperity gospel shifted the focus of Christians from the Kingdom of God and the righteousness that will take us there, to earthly acquisitions and endless pursuit of blessings. It created Christians that are materialistic and never satisfied. Oliver Twist Christians (OTC). (Have you noticed that our Churches hardly preach on Satisfaction, Contentment etc)
So when the magicians came, it was easy for them to deceive the masses because the focus is no longer on going to heaven but is on having it all here on earth. That is why with the millions of Nigerians that go to Church every Sunday, our country is still “fantastically corrupt”.
The prosperity “gospel” introduced flamboyance, vain living, ostentatious lifestyle and exorbitant wasteful lifestyle. These are not Christ-like qualities. These are not Christian qualities. They do not represent the personality and priority of Christ.
IN THE BEGINNING
JOHN THE BAPTIST: When God wanted to announce the coming of the saviour, He did not use the flamboyant nor the rich and mighty. There were Priests in the temple, there were Pharisees and Saducees, all in their full regalia and human glory. But God chose to use a simple and humble man, John the Baptist who lived in the wilderness, ate free food (locust and wild honey) and wore free clothes (animal skin). That was why John the Baptist could preach the radical message of “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand”. He was not afraid of losing favour with the big men and women because he did not need their money. John did not collect tithes and offerings, so he could speak fearlessly.
Today, there is so much corruption in our country yet we hear almost no open condemnation from our Churches because that would hurt the income. “Fantastically corrupt” politicians are honoured and blessed in Churches today. Whereas when Jesus met Zacheus, the Bible tells us that he repented and confessed of his sins and changed his ways. I am yet to hear the confession of the wealthy politicians that are honoured in our Churches today.
JESUS: Jesus was not flamboyant but lived simple and humble life, free from vanity. In fact, the life of Jesus was so humble that he shared his birthplace with animals.
THE DISCIPLES: The disciples lived the same humble lifestyle of Jesus. Even the rich among them (e.g. Barnabas) sold his property and shared with the rest. It was a life of sacrifice for John the Baptist, Our Lord Jesus and his disciples.
MISSIONARIES: Then, even the missionaries that brought Christianity to us, many of them had opportunity of living comfortable and luxurious lives in Europe and America but they sacrificed all that to come and lift us up and most of them died and were buried here.
S.U. DAYS: Then, even in the late 60s to early 80s, the Scripture Union (S.U.) and other similar organizations taught us to live simple, humble lives with focus on heaven.
EARLY YEARS OF OUR CHURCH LEADERS: Then, even the Church leaders of today, most of them started out in the Christ-like lifestyle of the S.U. days.
But today, the same people have replaced this with earth-minded flamboyant lives full of wastage of money on luxuries in the midst of so much poverty among their congregation who contribute the money via tithes and offerings.
We are told that it costs about $60 million to buy a private jet. This is about 27 billion Naira (or 19 billion at bank rate). To operate and maintain a private costs $4 million every year. This is about 1.8billion Naira. So if a Church owns and operates four private jets then they must have spent about 100billion Naira to buy them and would be spending every year about 8 billion Naira to operate them. This is a wasteful and flamboyant lifestyle even by standards of First world countries like USA and UK. Not to talk of Nigeria that has one of the largest population of poor people in the world (check WHO poverty data of people living below the poverty line).
GOLDEN CHARIOT: Our Lord Jesus lived at a time wherein he so much needed the best and the fastest means of transport for his ministry because he had only three years to cover the entire land of Israel as at that time. Yet his travels were done by foot.
If he wanted he could have had a camel or better still a horse, or even just a donkey. In fact, if he was like the Church leaders of today, he would have been riding on a golden chariot drawn by four horses (that was the equivalent of private jet in those days, used by Kings and Queens). But no, God uses the lowly things of this life.
AUDITORIUM VOGUE: Today, Churches are pumping billions into the building of massive auditoriums. Hence Nigeria with one of the highest poverty and corruption figures has the largest auditorium in the world, and a larger one is being built now that will be 3 kilometers long and consist of an airport at an estimated 40 billion Naira.
But our Master says: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”
Pastor Bosun in his message on Youtube spoke about this current “vogue” of pumping God’s kingdom resources into massive auditoriums as if there is a competition to know who will build the biggest and most expensive. (Link to Pastor Bosun’s message on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNjEGfcZC74).
QUESTION TIME: The questions that we should ask are as follows: if the forerunner of Christ (John the Baptist) shunned flamboyance and lived a simple humble life, if Jesus and his disciples did the same, if the early missionaries did the same, if the SU Christians of 60s to 80s did the same, and if even our current Church leaders also lived humble Christ-like lives when they started their ministry, then why did they change to the flamboyant wasteful life that we see today? What has changed? Has the Gospels changed in the Bible?
Has the personality and exemplary life of Jesus changed? Why did Jesus live that lifestyle if not to set examples for us on how to be like him? Is God behind this current life of earthly acquisitions and vanity? Did Jesus come and die on the cross and missionaries abandon their pleasant European lives and come here to sacrifice their whole lives so that we can live flamboyant lives?
We are told that there are more than 20,000 (twenty thousand) Churches registered in Nigeria. This excludes ministries that are not registered. Yet there are still up to 87 ethnic groups that are not yet reached by the gospel. That is to say that these people groups are still in the darkness wherein all of us were as at the time when the missionaries brought Christianity to Nigeria.
The Churches are all in the cities competing for and exchanging members whereas these people groups remain unreached till date. Massive billions are being wasted in the cities whilst the work of the Kingdom is suffering. Missionary groups that reach out to these people groups are no longer being funded by the Churches. The Churches only fund what brings members to their own denomination and would not contribute one Naira to support any ministry that is not their own.
This is the reason for Pastor Bosun’s message from God to the Church of Nigeria: that we are selfish and irresponsible.
ANOTHER QUESTION: Why did John the Baptist, Jesus, the Apostles, the missionaries and Christians in the S.U. days shun flamboyant money-minded lifestyle?
ANSWER: They knew and understood the various warnings in the Bible concerning the love of money, the lust of the flesh and the deceitfulness of riches as follows:
Mat 19: 23-24 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God”.
1 Timothy 6:9-10 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Matthew 6:19-24 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Proverbs 28:20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent (my words: “shall not be innocent” here means: shall be corrupt, fantastically corrupt)
Matthew 13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Observe in Matthew 13:22 above that riches have the power to deceive (the deceitfulness of riches). That is why David pleaded with God not to make him so rich that he falls into such deceit. Looking at the life of David’s son, Solomon, we see that he fell into the deceitfulness of riches.
When God made him exceedingly rich, he lost his mind and had up to 1,000 women in his life, fell into vanity and the story of Solomon ended with him drifting away from God (the source of the wealth) towards the worship of lifeless idols that were brought into his house by the strange women that he married.
If riches could deceive the wisest man then how many of us have already been deceived today?
Deceived, thinking that all is well with us, not knowing that we have mortgaged our eternal life.
If riches could deceive the wisest man, then it must be foolish to be pursuing prosperity without caution as we are doing today?
SOME MORE QUESTIONS: If there are grave eternal dangers in riches and prosperity then why do we not hear a lot of these warnings in today’s Christianity. But we hear so much about God’s promises to prosper us. Or is it that the Churches are not bothered that the riches can deceive us and rob us of God’s kingdom? This is just like a doctor prescribing for you a drug for muscle pain without telling you that the drug has severe side effects like ulcer and heart attack!
LOVE OF MONEY: In the same way that Solomon (in all his wisdom fell for the deceitfulness of riches) so it has happened today that many of us have acquired the love of money. And we are told that it is the root of all evil. So we do not need a soothsayer to tell us the origin of the evil in today’s Church.
CHRISTIAN MEANS LIKE CHRIST: The name “Christian” was coined in Antioch to describe the apostles because they were living the simple, humble and holy life of Christ with focus clearly on the kingdom of God. If they were running about with golden chariots and acquiring properties after Jesus left them, the name Christian would never have come into existence. If Jesus comes today, he’ll probably not recognize the lifestyle of today’s Churches.
Being a Christian is not only by accepting the gospel of the death on the cross but also includes accepting the humble life of Christ, free from wasteful vain spendings of God’s precious resources. This does not mean that we cannot be rich and comfortable. But the billions being spent today on expensive cars, private jets and auditoriums have gone far beyond the limits of justifiable comfort or even luxury. It amounts to outrageous extravagance and wasteful flamboyance.
ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS: Because of the flamboyant Ceasar-like larger than life lifestyle of the Church leaders today, no matter what sermon they preach on righteousness or holiness or humility, their actions are speaking much louder than their words. Their actions are speaking the message of earth-centered materialism and greedy acquisition rather than kingdom-minded living. Today we have Churches with up to ten offerings in a service. In the same way, no matter how much we teach purity in marriage, if we allow our girls to wear sexy provocative and body revealing dress to Church, we would continue to have increase in cases of fornication and adultery.
We observe today that most sermons are not based on the Kingdom of God, repentance, holiness, righteousness, repentance from sin etc. And even when a sermon is being preached on these topics, it is usually not with God’s kingdom as the goal but rather is usually preached as means of “attracting” God’s blessings and prosperity. In the SU days, righteousness and holiness were preached with the aim of being ready for the coming of the Lord. Today, we hardly hear teachings on the second coming of Christ.
When we teach righteousness it is presented as a solution to our problems, as a key to earthly success. It is not bad to have earthly success. In fact it is good, but it should not be the focus of the Church.
LOOKING BACKWARD: In order for us to understand the origin of the prosperity “gospel” and the present rule of mammon in the Church today, we cannot but talk about the man who almost single-handedly established the Pentecostal movement that led to the Pentecostal Churches of today. Before then all we had were the “orthodox” Churches with strong controls and hierarchy of the ministers. We did not have the “one-man” Churches of today.
Pa Elton was living a comfortable life in Europe. If he was like our Church leaders of today he would have bought expensive cars and built expensive houses and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. But he sacrificed all that and came to Nigeria and funded the birth of many Pentecostal Churches in the 80s. What brought him to Nigeria was because he (and some others in Europe and even America) received a vision from God that He would use Nigeria as a spring board to reach the ends of the earth with the gospel in the last days.
When he arrived Nigeria, he identified Idahosa as the man that God would use for initiating this vision. Pa Elton mentored Idahosa along with other of our Church leaders today. He arranged for Idahosa to go abroad to USA for training. But he warned Idahosa to be careful not to swallow the prosperity gospel which was just beginning to spread in USA.
When Idahosa came back, Pa Elton noticed that his focus was now more and more on the “prosperity gospel”. On three occasions, Pa Elton pleaded with him to leave the prosperity “gospel”. On the third occasion, it was said that Pa Elton broke down and wept because he foresaw the damage that the prosperity gospel poison would do to the Nigerian Church.
As far back as 1983, Pa Elton declared that the prosperity “gospel” will disfigure the vision that God gave for Nigeria and that God was going to raise another group of “Davids” to use for the vision and not the “Sauls”. This and other details are contained in a book published last year that documents the life of Pa Elton. It is interesting to note that he also mentored most of the other Church leaders that we have today.
In the book, it is recorded that during the burial of Pa Elton in 1987, it was clear that most of the people that he mentored had started deviating from the simple and humble gospel that he taught them. That is why, even with all the great achievements of Pa Elton, there are few Christians today who know him. And the ones that knew him prefer to forget about him. Till today, Pa Elton’s daughter (also a missionary) is still living in their house in Illesha, but yet many of Pa Elton’s sons in the Lord have forgotten her. She is 81 years old.
In addition to Pa Elton, there were other missionaries that came as a result of this great vision. One of them is still alive today. His name is Gary Maxey. Also last year he published a book to mourn the death of the vision at the altar of prosperity gospel and to plead with the Church leaders to come back to their first love by first denouncing the money lifestyle of today. The book is titled “Capturing A Lost Vision: Can Nigeria’s greatest revival live again?”
The aim of these two books (and perhaps other books that I have not yet read) is to remind the Church leaders of where they were coming from and to inform the “new” Christians of today that we have a heavenly vision to reach the whole world with the gospel. The pure and the true gospel
Gary Maxey stated in the book that the state of the Church in Nigeria today is as a result of the lost vision. “Without vision, my people perish”.
The objective of this write-up is to inform you and expose Satan’s strategy of making you to focus on earthly blessings and prosperity and reduce your gaze on heaven. That way we would not care about the second coming of Christ.
But the truth is that heaven is not a place that you can get to without willful, conscious, deliberate and tedious preparation. That is why Jesus said that the gate is narrow. The gate is till narrow and only the keenly prepared can enter. The casual attitude of the Church today to matters of the Kingdom of God cannot get us through the narrow gate. It takes a heart tuned to sacrifice to be able to live in the world today and still maintain the purity that can admit one into God’ presence.
Hence, the summary of this message is that we should flee the poison that is being spread through the prosperity “gospel”. As we can see, Pa Elton, the man who mentored our Church leaders, warned them of this as far back as in 1983. He wept when he foresaw the evil that we are seeing today.
In fact, the story has it that he died of a broken heart because of this. Imagine that he sacrificed his whole life by abandoning a comfortable life in Europe, came to Nigeria as far back as 1937, adopted Nigeria as his home country and spent fifty years of constant toiling to build up the Churches in Nigeria and the Pentecostal movement. Only for his sons in the Lord to disappoint him because of the goodies that started to flow in from America as a result of the prosperity “gospel”.
THE LITMUS TEST OF SACRIFICE: Christianity is a religion that is based on sacrifice. Our almighty Father sacrificed His only Son (this he illustrated by asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac), our Lord Jesus sacrificed his life, John the Baptist sacrificed his whole life to wilderness existence, selfless service and untimely death, the disciples abandoned their families and sacrificed their fishing business and sacrificed all their lives for the gospel (almost all of them were killed due to persecution yet they were undaunted), the missionaries (like Pa Elton) who brought Christianity to us sacrificed their lives to come to us and sacrificed their wealth to make mission schools and hospitals to be practically free of charge.
But today, when Churches build schools, it is a business venture, yet another means of raking in more and more money (we are never satisfied). The school fees are so high that the average Church member (whose tithes and offerings helped to build the schools) cannot afford it for their children.
A good example of the Christian spirit of sacrifice is Eku Baptist school and Eku Baptist hospital at Eku town, near Abraka in Delta State, which since 1945 has been offering the best medical services in this part of the country and yet is affordable because the Church funds it.
So the question is: if Churches today can afford to waste so much billions of Naira on expensive cars and jeeps, private jets and auditoriums, then why not use such funds to make Church owned schools to be affordable? Why not build hospitals and subsidize them (like Eku hospital) so that the millions of Christians whose tithes and offerings provide these funds can benefit from the schools and the hospitals? Our people are dying everyday due to poor hospital facilities and we are wasting money on earthly treasures.
In February 2014, Nigeria’s president commissioned a hospital built by Nigeria and the government of Turkey. Nizamiye Hospital which is an 80-bed world-class facility situated in an industrial layout in Abuja was valued at N3.2billion. This means that 100billion Naira spent on four private jets alone can build thirty of such ultra-modern hospitals in Nigeria. It will be like having thirty Eku Baptist hospitals spread all over Nigeria providing thousands of jobs and saving millions of lives. See attached picture of Nizamiye Hospital.
Churches are meant to be non-profit organizations therefore Church-owned establishments (like schools and hospitals) should also be non-profit and so should be very affordable. That is why Churches do not pay tax to the government. But with such lavish waste of money by Churches today, it is easy to see why some people have started clamouring that we should start to pay tax. This is because the message that the lavish Church spendings of today sends out to the world is that we have so much money that we do not know what to do with it! Yet the majority of the congregation is in poverty.
This does not represent the heart of Christ and does not represent the true practice of Christianity. Jesus went about doing good, free of charge. He fed thousands of people free of charge.
And we are told in the Acts Of The Apostles chapter 2:44-45 that: “all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need”.
Also: Acts 4: 32 “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
35 And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
This is a clear illustration of the heart of Christ and true practice of Christianity for us to emulate.
The story of the life of Jesus (in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) plus the story of the disciples in the Acts of the Apostles were written and preserved for you and I so that we should emulate Jesus and his followers because our lives today should be a continuation of the Acts of the Apostles. Our Lord said: “learn of me for i am meek and lowly in heart”.
One cardinal thing that stands out in the life of Jesus and the disciples is sacrifice and sensitivity to the suffering of others. I cannot imagine Jesus and his disciples spending billions on private jets and auditoriums whilst the congregation suffers. The Bible tells us that “we are the temple of God”, so I wonder why so much money is spent these days on physical “temples” by way of expensive and lavishly furnished auditoriums.
The litmus test of genuine Christianity is sacrifice. Jesus said: “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). Whenever this spirit of sacrifice is not evident, we should start checking to confirm that we are still practicing true Christianity. There is something inherently flamboyant, wasteful, insensitive, selfish, greedy and irresponsible in the prosperity “gospel”.
For more discussions on this topic please feel free to read the rest of this blog:
The message in the blog is contained in Units 1 to 14. Unit 13 contains extracts from the book on Pa Elton.
God bless you.
Written by Pastor Chinua Onuigbo
