A Spiritual Famine in Nigeria?
“IS RELIGION on the Decline?” asked a newspaper article. Some may find it hard to take such a question seriously, especially if the churches are booming in their locality. Just a brief perusal through magazines and newspapers, however, is eye-opening. Time magazine, for example, said: “The sophisticated, once powerful and lately rather liberal Protestant churches of America seem to be in the doldrums.” This is rather typical of what the media are saying about religion these days.
‘But what about the rest of the world?’ you might ask. ‘Is religion really suffering the same problems in other countries?’ Yes, indeed. And to illustrate, let us look into the troubles the churches are experiencing in the resource-rich nation of Nigeria. The situation there will help you appreciate that church difficulties have developed on a global scale.
Converts, Not Christians
About a third of Nigeria’s vast population claims to be Christian. And Christendom’s missionaries have labored long and hard to gain this strong support. Said Time magazine: “Africans are still surprised and touched by the willingness of missionaries to struggle in the hinterlands, helping to dig wells, teaching reading and writing, commanding life-giving sacks of grain during periods of famine, risking their lives trying to cure the sick.”
While such deeds may be laudable, it also must be admitted that from the outset, the churches have won friends by catering to material needs—not to spiritual appetites. (Matthew 5:3) Hence, they have made many converts but not necessarily Christians. The World Book Encyclopedia observed that many nominal Christians merely “combine Christian or Muslim religious practices with traditional [non-Christian] beliefs.” Tragically, Christendom’s missionaries have overlooked the fact that the African is often receptive to the message of the Bible itself—without the adornment of social work programs. Nevertheless, it is believed by some that Christendom’s record of missionary activity has prevented the Muhammadan religion from sweeping the African continent, as some had predicted it would.
The churches, however, have not been content merely to make Nigerian converts. Many clergymen now feel it is their sacred duty to push actively for political change. The newspaper Daily Times of Lagos, for example, stated on October 18, 1982: “The patriarch of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Dr. Bolaji Idowu, said in Ibadan yesterday that the Church had a right to participate in politics if only to steer it towards righteousness . . . Dr. Idowu stressed that the Church could not abandon politics because it had the duty to proclaim the gospel as well as the duty of making men and women participate in politics.”
The Methodist Church is not alone in jumping on the political bandwagon. Said the New Nigerian of January 12, 1981: “The Catholic Bishop of Ogoja, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Edra Ukpo has called for the creation of a department of religious affairs.” The reason? The article went on to show that some clergymen felt “it was now time for government to bring all the religious organisations nearer to itself.”
But what has been the effect of all of this on the church and its members?
The Backlash
Warnings are now being sounded against church involvement in politics. One writer observed that while the churches “give the impression that they have a constitutionally recognised role to play in the affairs of the state,” in reality, “they do not have any such role.” He further warned that it is not “in their best interest” for religionists to “get too close to the state as they do now. They might very well one day find that the state has taken up the job of choosing Bishops . . . for them.”
Speaking at an Anglican Church Synod, State Governor Bola Ige similarly complained that the churches view their constitutional freedom of religion as a “licence for them to wish to impose their own particular religious and partisan susceptibility on the State by pretending to seek the peculiar interest of their flock.” He thus encouraged church leaders to stick with their “task of evangelism” rather than politics.
Church Corruption
Is a return to evangelism likely, however? Not according to the picture church leaders and others paint of the spiritual condition of the church.
“The clergy have failed and laity have collapsed spiritually,” said a clergyman, James Jide Adesoh, in an article in the Daily Times of September 7, 1982. “Partiality, tribalism and sectionalism are a great disease in our churches at this present age,” he further stated. Similarly, the president of an Anglican Diocesan Council reportedly indicated that “the fall in the standard of Christian religion is the fault of top church leaders who allowed the love of money to over-shadow the spirit of God in them.”
In such a spiritual vacuum, corruption inevitably develops. Said one outspoken clergyman: “It is inside the Nigerian church we find elders who after committing adultery would make reference to King Solomon as a royal flirt who was loved and blessed by God! . . . It is in Nigeria we find reverend gentlemen who protect themselves with juju charms and amulets right inside the church of God!” One Nigerian governor even claimed that “the growth of crimes in Nigeria is due to the failure of religious organisations to do what they preach.”
Church corruption has become so notorious that one writer lamented that “evangelism appears to have taken the back seat and Satan appears to be the only one on duty in our churches and nation.” No wonder that a Nigerian newspaper posed the question raised at the outset: “Is Religion on the Decline?”
Famine Relief Work
The problems of the church in Nigeria are typical of those of the world’s religions. They have failed to satisfy the spiritual hunger of people. They have pursued materialism and played politics instead of teaching the Word of God. This, however, is no surprise to students of the Bible, for it long ago predicted: “‘Look! There are days coming,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘and I will send a famine into the land, a famine, not for bread, and a thirst, not for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah.’” (Amos 8:11) Yet not all suffer such spiritual hunger pangs.
Thousands of Nigerians who are truly “hungering and thirsting for righteousness” have been helped by Jehovah’s Witnesses to become spiritually “filled.” (Matthew 5:6) ‘But what makes Jehovah’s Witnesses different from the other religions?’ you might ask. Well, for one thing, they take seriously Jesus’ command to be “no part of the world.” (John 17:14) This means they stay out of politics and concentrate, instead, on preaching the “good news of the kingdom.” (Matthew 24:14) Rather than sponsoring social programs, they point people to the sure hope of a coming government by God. The latest report indicates that an average of 102,356 Nigerians were sharing this satisfying hope with others.
True, church leaders have criticized the Witnesses. But, ironically, the criticism stems from the Witnesses’ refusing to do the very thing that has caused the church crisis—namely, dabbling in politics. Because of their neutral position, the Witnesses have been spared the upheavals that Nigeria’s churches now suffer.
We therefore invite you to satisfy your own deep longings for spiritual things by joining in serious Bible study and association with these Christians who are genuine disciples of Christ. This will open up a most satisfying life to you, because “godly devotion is beneficial for all things, as it holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.”—1 Timothy 4:8.
[Blurb on page 26]
Christendom’s missionaries have won the support of many Africans by means of social projects—not by teaching God’s Word
[Picture on page 27]
Jehovah’s Witnesses have relieved the spiritual famine for thousands by teaching the Bible’s hope of a government by God