A
statement reflecting the opinion of Church Arise! LivingWater Ministries on the
coming national elections in Nigeria.
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On the Brink of Nigeria’s Breakthrough,
Church Arise!
The Presidential election
tomorrow is the most critical of the elections as it will not only produce the
most important player in Nigeria’s political space for the next 4 years, it
will also affect the outcome of the other elections at the state and local government
levels.
The failure of the incumbent
government is monumental and unprecedented. For Church Arise! the bottomline is
the unfeigned Islamist agenda which is responsible for such outrages as the unchecked
gruesome herdsmen killings and brazen lop-sidedness of critical appointments –
every agency that bears arms in Nigeria is controlled by a Muslim; and so is
every key Agency in the Education sector! The culmination is the brazen
unconstitutional and immoral imposition of a Sharia judge as the Chief Justice
of Nigeria, bringing all three independent arms of government under the headship
of people who bear allegiance to the Islamic faith.
Yet officials of the same
government unashamedly boast of integrity, incorruptibility, improved security
and economy, and so forth! And quite surprisingly,
there are otherwise intelligent people who endorse these obvious
falsehood. On the surface, such
endorsement is a reflection of how bad the “other alternative” had performed
when in power, with truly humongous atrocities committed. The endorsements might also be traced to
individuals or blocs who perceive they are being favoured in the current
arrangement beyond what they could ever hope to get under any other scenario.
In reality, both the brazenness
of those pushing the strange narratives, and the docility of the masses quietly
absorbing them only point at momentous spiritual manipulations and
bewitchment. Such gigantic spell cast
over a whole nation could only have been procured at enormous costs in blood
sacrifice, as Pastor Bosun Emmanuel extensively discussed at the CETCon
in May last year (please click here
for the audio).
Yet, the sovereign LORD is on the
Throne! His counsel cannot fail. No
amount of any other sacrifice can trump that already provided by the Blood of
the Lamb.
As Church Arise! has repeatedly
made clear, while it is very desirable to have the righteous (presumably
Christians) at the helm of affairs at the apex level of our political
hierarchy, that is not the ultimate. It
is far more important that the Body of Christ learn to see eye-to-eye, identify
issues that are of strategic interest to the Kingdom of God, clearly articulate
those issues, and develop solid strategies to defend and promote them.
This done, no government (no
matter the composition) would be able to push the Church around. And we will have clear markers and guidelines
to evaluate government actions and policies.
Thankfully, the epic struggle in
the past several months had finally caused a considerable section of the Body
of Christ to awaken from their enchanted slumber. In recent times, we have seen marathon
prayers and praises across the length and breadth of the Land. Including in the diaspora. We know our God is
faithful and He rewards diligence. He surely will do great things this season
in the land!
Church Arise! fully endorses the
position articulated by Bishop Abioye of the Living Faith Church, Abuja (see Video
here), and more directly expressed by Rev Isah El Bubah in the video here. We have no doubts that they have consulted
widely within the Body of Christ and also with Heaven, before making these
declarations.
The clear objectives of
tomorrow’s election will be to send the current government in office packing at
the Federal level. In the unfortunate
situation of there not being a credible consensus Christian candidate with
sufficient clout and political structure on ground, Church Arise! endorses
voting for the Atiku-Obi candidature with the clear understanding that it is a
stop-gap measure that must be diligently followed through with the
restructuring of the Federal government into a true federation as agreed to by
the founding fathers of the nation in the pre-military era Constitution.
Christians should therefore note
the clear voices that God is raising up for the nation’s deliverance at this
crucial period and be ready to cooperate further with them after the election –
whatsoever the outcome. While it may indeed be prudent for the elders (such as
the National Christian Elders Forum, and other individual Elders so recognized
within the Body of Christ) to have limited their public pronouncements to
prayers in the prevailing hyper-sensitive environment, their voices are
well-captured in the declarations of the able-spokespersons already referred to
here.
In closing, we salute the courage
of our Esther in the present administration, and note his extraordinary example
of Christian integrity and faithfulness to standing by commitments to even a
rogue administration. What a glorious nation would emerge if such exemplary
principles were put to practice en masse,
in a government of the righteous! We
note that his major bold initiatives were sooner or later reversed at earliest
opportunities; but who knows, if not for such a Daniel, how far in the Islamist
agenda we would be by now? We pray that the God who delivered Daniel from the
den of lions he was conscripted to be a pliable even if unwilling king, will
give our Daniel also a glorious soft landing and leverage beyond whichever
government is in power.
We urge all to go out tomorrow and vote
massively to begin the restructuring of this country to usher in the glorious
destiny long-prophesied for us. All this
is in line with our mandate as salt of the earth and light of the world,
occupying for the Lord, while awaiting His imminent return.
Shalom.
Ile-Ife, 15th
February, 2019.
