More than ever, Nigerians live in a world that is not just sexually charged, politically tensed, criminally attractive but religiously confused. We live in a country where money determines virtually everything we do. Money determines the air we breathe, the church we belong, the pastor we revere, the education we get, and perhaps the life partner we choose and who sponsors us at weddings and other sacraments of the church. Poverty is the modern name for leprosy of old Israel. If you are poor, you are cajoled, you right is trampled upon, your privileges are not accorded, you wisdom is folly, you are regarded as opposition of the government if you dare speak up, in fact you are everything but that dignifying of societal prestige. As a poor or rich girl growing up in Nigerian society, you cannot know exactly who will marry you off but you know the class you can never get married to.
Poverty is a cancer; average Nigerian is ready to compromise anything to escape the pain of this illness. No option is left unexhausted to clinch a rosy livelihood including patenting God. God’s name has been used by pastors to rob innocent people of their menus. The seed of suspicion this has sown among brothers and friends is obvious; but more dangerous is the collateral erosion it has in areas of faith and morals.
The success of commercializing the gospel in Nigeria draws strength from the gullibility of Nigerian Christians. The Gospel business is thriving because we are terribly religious; and since religiosity is directly proportional to economic health of a country, the habitual miscalculations of our government has meant more hardship, religious gullibility and economic superstitious. Mind you, there is no limit to what an economically crucified man can do to secure his liberation.
The issue of doctrine has never been a cause for division within Nigerian Christendom. The division was initially historical, at a point political and now economical. Nigerian church has gone into the hands of capitalists. And when private investors dominate any sector, the results are obvious- there is a competition as every investor aims to woo customers and the number of entrepreneurs rises. Averagely, one in every one hundred Nigerian is now a self-styled pastor. Bill-boards of crusade adverts and neon-signs of churches competing for membership now litter our highways just as church and miracle-giggles overtake all the available airtime in our electronic media.
One wouldn’t have been bothered if the multiplication of churches had meant increase in faith but unfortunately, it has not. Every entrepreneur wants to satisfy his/her customers and that is why these pastors change message of Christ in ways that appeal to their customers. They call themselves non-denominational. They call their groups ministries but whichever, they dilute unpleasant doctrines.
One of the tests of true religion is continuity of doctrine. In Jewish religion, God gave law to Moses; Moses passed it to Joshua; Joshua transmitted it to the elders; and the elders passed it to the prophets. The law and the prophets formed the foundation of Jewish faith. The Law, otherwise called the Ten Commandments teaches two principles: reverence and respect. It stresses reverence for God, for God’s name, God’s day, and the parents God has put us into their care. It also teaches respect for man’s life, body, property, personality, and for one’s self. These principles were elucidated and reinterpreted in each social context by the prophets. Jesus was not a prophet in the mind of Jews but in Matt 5: 17-20 He affirmed the Jewish root of the kingdom he came to inaugurate. He declared publicly that rather than break the Law and the Prophets He had come to fulfill them.
As the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy of a Messiah who would bring good tidings to the poor (Lk.4:18-19), Jesus truly identified with the poor, the oppressed and the powerless. Yet, He never allowed socio-economic liberation to take the place of worship. He never turned pulpit into platform nor convert the gospel into a national anthem. Rather, Jesus encouraged His disciples to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. He insisted before Pilate and in Gethsemane that His kingdom was not of this world. He welcomed suffering and was crucified by the political power of Rome. He outlined among others, deprivation, hatred, homelessness, and suffering as the cost of discipleship and predicted hard times that would greet those who believe in him. True to His prediction, His great apostles and disciples were martyred and the nascent church that sprang from the Pentecost went underground in her first three centuries and was called the church of the catacombs. In this sense true Christianity was permanently tied to the cross.
Regrets! Industrializing our churches has robbed Christianity of an essential ingredient- cross. We proclaim Jesus of Easter Sunday and forget Jesus of Good Friday. To meet with public psychology, the so called men of God go both extra biblical and ecclesial, focusing on their personality rather than God. The message oozing out from their pulpits to the waiting faithful is doctrinally ridiculous. They promise only that which God can give.
History disproves commercialization of the Gospel. Confronted with economic constraints in the past, the church sold salvation under the guise of indulgence to the highest bidder. Though, it gave few privileges but such could not compensate for the immense harm it caused the church as an institution and the course of Christianity at large. In the French revolution, the church was lumped together and thrown away with the oppressive structure known as the ancient regime.
I am afraid Nigeria Christianity faces this sad future. We risk a harvest of revolts when people wake up to a realization that our religion has become another oppressive and siphoning structure. It will be an Armageddon let loose on a nation that commercializes God and now exports to other countries. If church were to be a product, Nigeria is a leading world producer.
