God is a Democrat! In Gen 1: 26 “…and God said; Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” The statement: “Let us” is a democratic statement. It is a phrase that is applicable in political circles where decisions are taken by common agreements and popular opinions. May I also remind us that the first “House of Assembly” was in the Bible: Deut 1:10Moses appointed men that were chosen by the people… (NLT) That is DEMOCRACY
According to the scriptures: “When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice…but when the wicked are in power, the people groan” Prov. 29:2 Unfortunately, the government and governance of Nigeria has been the business of the wicked, devilish, blood-thirsty and corrupt leaders who desire nothing but power, money and fame. thing to do with the world.
The above scenario has been made possible by the standoffish attitude towards politics. In the early days of Pentecostal revival in Nigeria, believers were discouraged from having any relationship with the world. The biblical injunction in I Cor 5: 17; “Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers…” was taken to the extreme. Believers were not to take part in politics, they were not to partake in virtually any secular activities except to earn their daily bread and even then, it must be well defined as certain professions were no go areas for heaven bound believers. The law profession was one of such because “Lawyers are liars” Believers were not to own luxury properties. Exotic cars such as Mercedes Benz was a sin for believers.
Today, better understanding of the scriptures have simmered down such myopic beliefs. In the same vein, wrong notions that we carry today about Christian involvement in politics will simmer down.
POLITICS is the strongest, most powerful FORCE for development in any society. It affects the whole life of a nation. Political illiterates don’t know that; the whole of their lives is governed by the dictates of politics. Unfortunately, a larger percentage of believers fall into the category of political illiterates.
Politics is the domain where the devil desires strongly to reign because he realises how powerful a tool it is, to control and manipulate human lives. It is also the realm God has won potential victory over. A realm where He desires that His children will operate and take dominance. If not why would HE say we are PRIESTS and KINGS?
A priest works on the altar but a KING works in the world. We are supposed to be both, in God’s expectations. We are to excel both in the church and the world. Unfortunately, majority of believers are only reigning in the realm of priesthood and not in kingship. Many have become spiritual giants but secular nonentities. As a result, we have cut ourselves off from at least half (fifty whooping percentage) of God’s total counsel and expectation for our lives in earth.
Consider this statistics for example.
Ogun State of Nigeria has…
1. The largest single Church building in the entire world; The Winners Chapel.
2. The biggest religious/human construction in the entire universe, the 3X3 Km auditorium of RCCG.
3. The greatest number of Christian Universities in any state in the world. (Covenant, Crawford, Mountain Top, Macpherson, Redeemers’, Chrisland, Babcock, Anchor etc)
4. The highest number of Christian retreat Camps anywhere in the world. The list is growing everyday to include: Redemption Camp, Mowe & Simawa, Deeper Life Retreat Center, Mowe; GOFAMINT International Camp, Aseese; Prayer City, Magboro; Foursquare City, Ajebo, Celestial City, Imeko; The Apostolic Faith Camp, Igbesa: Assemblies of God Camp, Sagamu; Christ Embassy Campground, Aseese; Tabbioerrah Camp, Ogere and many more.
5. Churches with the largest branch networks anywhere in the world. The RCCG alone has close to 4,000 branches. The MFM, Deeper Life and others have thousands of branches.
The above are human, capital and productive investments of The Church run into several trillions of naira. The Church has attracted huge financial fortunes into the state via its several faith-based programmes. The RCCG alone attracts over five million (far above its entire population of 3.75 million) visitors into the state on monthly basis thereby drawing huge cash-flow from other states and overseas.
Apart from the above, The Church has created thousands of direct and indirect jobs to citizens of the states. From the income generated from church jobs, they go on to pay taxes to the government. These churches have also given birth to sprawling communities from hitherto sleepy villages from which government now derive huge revenue in form of tenement rates, land survey charges, Certificate of Occupancy charges and many more. Such communities include Mowe, Ibafo, Aseese, Magboro, Simawa, Ofada, Imeko, Igbesa, Ajebo, Ogere and many more.
To say that the Church has brought heavy financial blessings to the state is an understatement.
Now, with all the trillions of naira investments and cashflow benefits of the Body of Christ in a state like Ogun, isn’t it a shame that The Church has virtually no say in who becomes a Ward Councilor let alone a Local Government Chairman, State/National Assembly or even the Governor of Ogun State. Despite these heavy contributions to the economy of the state, the church is not a stakeholder in the choice of who rules the state.
This is not acceptable!
Multi-national corporations whose investments in nations merely run into millions of naira are major stakeholders in the choice of who rules such nations. If The Church has invested this much into the fortunes of a State like Ogun, it will not be too much for the church to be a major stakeholder in the affairs of the state and even the nation.
Believers, members of these denominations and others, as representatives of The Body of Christ in Nigeria must as a matter of urgency get involved in the politics of
this country now to salvage it from the power brokers who are bent on destroying her for their own selfish ends.
What then should we do?
We must team up with other like-minded believers to invade the arena of politics and gradually wrest control from wicked, self serving leaders and stop the hordes of hell from unleashing ungodly laws and oppressive rules over the nation.
This is also aimed at delaying the aggressive takeover of the devil and the anti-Christ to enable as many as have been destined for salvation to be saved before the second coming of the Lord. This is our first and primary motivation.
The issues relating to politics are so vast and the control of the powers of darkness is so deep that a think-tank is needed to PRAY, PLAN, DEVELOP STRATEGIES and DEPLOY RESOURCES to see to the actualization of effective Christian participation in politics. It is no small task. Passion is important but it is definitely not enough. Heavenly inspired strategies are called for.
I suggest weekends of POLITICAL SEMINARS and WORKSHOPS or RETREATS for CHRISTIAN politicians.
We have had diverse kinds of fasting and prayers in The Church on almost all and every topic or issue under the sun except active partisan politics. Now let’s give it all we’ve got. Let’s pray and fast to dethrone NIGERIA’S POLITICAL PRINCIPALITIES and POWERS. Let us go beyond prayers and fasting. Let us get ready and jump into the bandwagon of effective Christian Participation in politics.
Let’s be counted in the number. Let’s make our impact felt. The founding fathers of our faith have travailed over this nation. Now is the time to march forth on the wings of their prayers, toils and sweat and bring down God’s manifest presence in our body politics.
Evang. Kolade Segun-Okeowo (Believers in Politics)
