2: 18-19: Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:
It has been predicted that unless Nigerian Christians take up the gauntlet and fight for their freedom now, Christianity may be wiped out in the country within the next forty years. This may sound incredible in some ears, but the systematic execution of the plan is what we are already seeing. To wipe out Christianity is to abort the destiny of Nigeria. But Nineveh preceded Nigeria. Nineveh was to be wiped out in exactly forty days and the prophet sent to it refused to go until he was imprisoned in the belly of the fish for three days.
What happened when he eventually went?
And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not (Jonah 3:1-10).
Again, in this passage, we see how God looked on the repentance of the people and forgave their sins and turned the calamity that was to befall them away. No matter how impending the doom, God can turn it away once He sees genuine repentance. Will the Church of Nigeria, the House of His Glory, bring collective and universal repentance to God today and He will not move on our behalf? How should the Church of God in Nigeria go to God in the three-month emergency?
We have another scriptural pattern in Lam. 2 14-16; 18-19: Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it (Lam. 2:14-16). Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street (Lam 2:18-19).
This passage tells how Zion, the joy of the whole world, became a reproach to all who knew it – just exactly as Nigeria has become reproach in the comity of nations. Zion had great destiny, but sin arrested it. Nigeria also has great destiny which sin is threatening to abort. If we do not cry to heaven for deliverance NOW, then we have surrendered the nation and future generations to the satanic plots over it. These Biblical examples show that the key to breaking the arm of Islamic agenda over Nigeria and restoring the country to its rightful destiny (a double advantage) is to go back to the Author of the Universe in repentance and supplication to restore, reinstate, re-establish, impose, consolidate and render immutable His original plan for Nigeria and His Church. Our God is waiting. He has been waiting since 1914. He has been waiting since October 1, 1960, when the spiritual manipulation of Nigeria’s destiny became a desperate politico-spiritual agenda of the enemies of the Church. Our God is on His throne waiting. Are we ready to meet Him in sobriety and supplication? Is the Church ready?
7. In view of these copious examples, the Church should arise and declare a three-month emergency. Within this initial 3-month period, let all Christian Churches virtually convert all their Sunday services and mid-week meetings to fervent and agonizing prayer, supplication and intercessory sessions to the God of heaven for His merciful help. This action will sound an alarm in heaven that the Church means business. All the congregation of God, as a united force, should turn to Him in repentance and mourning for the sin of the nation and seek His face in repentance. With three months of purposeful, heart-felt, desperate and collective prayers, God might turn the tide against the foe and bring deliverance. Time is ticking and the time to act is now. The more we delay, the more souls will perish needlessly. The enemy has declared the emergency, we have to take the battle to its gates and remove the evil from our land.
8. If anyone thinks this is a false alarm, remember Syria, Turkey, the whole region of the Asia Minor and much of the present-day Middle East. They were all Christian communities. They were the territories traversed by Paul in his missionary journeys. Great, effective and flourishing Churches were planted in these places by the early disciples, apostles and missionaries. Today, the envelope of darkness covers them all because they failed to heed the warning. The alarm has been sounded. Christ’s command stands for all time. What he is saying to His Church in these perilous times is the same thing He has said before: Watch and pray!
9. Finally, we must remember God’s open-door promise anticipated whatever we may be going through as a nation. Said He: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” ( 2 Chro.7:14). It is time for the church to awake from its slumber and defend its heritage! Delegating some ‘prayer specialists’ or intercessors as we are called to do this prayer work has not worked, nor has it produced the desired result for Nigeria. The situation on ground now demands the total involvement and commitment of the corporate Church in Nigeria. The Church in Nigeria must become one territorial Church in this matter. Thus we shall be fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 56:7, in becoming God’s House of Prayer for our nation, and the nations of the world. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people (Isa. 56:7).
10. In all these things, we must never despair nor lose hope and faith. Our God is on the throne. His redemptive purpose, prophetic agenda and covenant promises over our nation are our weapons for this battle. Let us in penitent and tearful intercession remind Jehovah of all the profound things He has said over our nation, and plead with Him to, in-keeping with His nature, fulfil with His mighty hands, what has proceeded out of His mouth in righteousness. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it (Isa. 46:9-11). I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory (Isa. 46:13).
HOW THE ALTAR OF PRAYER SAVED RUSSIA
In 1996, I was in Russia for some meetings with the Russian church. We flew to Ukraine and I was with Pastor Sunday Adelaja for one week of Prayer School in Kiev. Several former Communists leaders were there en masse because they were hungry for God. There was this Russia General Superintendent of a denomination with several churches all over Russia. He was a former KGB (secret police) officer who had killed many Christian pastors, but now a minister of God. This miracle happened after ex-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had brought reformation that dismantled Communism.
At this time, American evangelists were coming to Russia in large numbers for evangelism. These Russians had been denied access to the Bible for seventy years. Now they were hungry for the Word of God and Bibles were being sent to them in millions. This ex-KGB now turned denominational superintendent grew very fast in the faith after his salvation.
It was time for the general elections and the incumbent president, Boris Yelsin, a drunkard, was performing dismally. The people at the top took over the businesses of the land and the country was left impoverished. Army officers were hungry and army captains could be seen beside the road begging for alms because salaries were unpaid. It was now the election time and Yelsin was campaigning to come back for another five years. He had a strong opposition in a Communist candidate called Gennandy Yugannov who reminded the electorates of the ‘glorious days of Communism’ and encouraged a return to communism.
Yugannov campaigned much against democracy and the opinion pool seemed to favour him. In the opinion poll conducted, those who wanted Communism to come back were 65-70%! Democracy of Yelsin took 20% and other parties 5%. With the result of the opinion poll, those in favour of Western democracy became afraid and desperate. Churches were packing up and American pastors who were in Russia started handing over their churches to the indigenes and preparing to return home.
One of these evangelists that came to establish churches handed over to the former KGB officer who was now a Christian leader as the General Superintendent. I was in one of the man’s churches to preach in the heat of all these where spoke on ‘the Role of Intercessory Altars in National Salvation’. For almost two hours of my speech, thousands of Russians listened to me and began praying, and weeping.
I said, “I challenge you to raise national prayer altars everywhere and communism will be soundly defeated”. The communist candidate had threatened that as soon as the communists come back to power, they would close down all churches and nationalize all companies again.
I admonished, “Let every Sunday meeting be turned into praying altars, including mid-week meetings. No more sermons, if you don’t want to go back to the dark days of communism, let there be a cry on every altar, ‘O Lord save Russia from return to the communist era…”
After my message, the Bishop took the microphone and said, “I make a covenant before God with God’s people in this country, I am going to shut down my Sunday services and turn them to prayer meetings for the nation of Russia. I will get other pastors and General Superintendents all over Russia to start prayer altars across the nation for national salvation and deliverance. Communism must never come again.”
I left Russia for Ukraine, and the Russian church started this prayer altar to pray across the length and breadth of Russia – cries of deliverance. When the election came, Boris Yetsin and the Democratic Party won by a landslide victory – 75% of the votes! God overturned the calculations of the communists. The national corporate altar prevailed.
God can do this in Nigeria; He can overturn the calculations of the enemies of the Church.
By Rev. Dr. Moses O. Aransiola
Int’l. National Director, Nigeria Prays.
http://kingdomnewsng.com/
Source:: PraiseworldRadio
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