Chapter 1: Introduction
The early days of the Society were filled with glorious stories suggesting an outpouring of God’s spirit and grace and having all the marks typifying a spiritual revival. As in similar cases reported in other parts of the world such as Indonesia2 the William Harris movement in Francophone West-Africa3, the Musama Disco Church in Ghana4, the Ethiopian and Zionist Churches in East and South Africa5, there were reports of repentance and restitution, holiness and emphasis on Scriptures, mass renunciation/denunciation of local fetishes and practices – all of these accompanied by superfluous shows of signs, wonders and miracles.
Paraphrasing the words of David
Watson, it would seem as if at some stage, as men continually try to force
their own structures and ideas upon the Holy Spirit, He quietly takes His
leave, leaving men to their devices.6
is
that technically, it is very difficult to generalize on many issues. The vast
majority of each local assembly of the C&S, as in Israel of old, each “do
what is right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6). In fact, most are registered
(where such registrations are done at all) under the law as separate
independent bodies. Even for assemblies joined together in some sort of
affiliation, practices and basic views of Christianity could be radically
different, depending simply on the local Pastor in charge at the time in
reference.
Christianity, people yet to be
reached with the gospel of Christ, Pseudo-Christians, Cultists, or even at the
other extreme, Pagans. However, among the vast majority of Christians in
Nigeria (at least in most Bible Colleges), the more negative descriptions are
by far the commonest for the “white-garment people”. At a public lecture
organized by a C&S organization in 1992 7, a former Assistant Secretary
of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ogundimu cited the
non–inclusion of the C&S in any other national Christian body apart from
the CAN (which is generally seen as the ‘political’ arm of Christianity in
Nigeria) as an indictment and non–acceptance of the C&S as truly conforming
to membership requirements of the General Assembly of the Firstborns (Hebrews
12;22-23).
“Love is the one thing that has given the C&S its
fame. We must return to that original genuine love which only can help us to
achieve our much desired unity and fellowship. When the C&S began, we saw
spiritual power at work and through self-discipline, love reigned supreme.
But these days, we have fake prophets, greedy and avaricious people…”
One of the most zealous, competent,
and dedicated organized groups of C&S apologists ever would be the
Unification Ministries of the C&S Church, a group based essentially on
Institutions of higher learning in Nigeria, and which at its peak in 1995,
boasted of up to a thousand graduate members, and student membership of about
the same strength.
The group which started in Ile-Ife in March 1980 had seen itself as a kind of “John the Baptist” to herald in the restoration of the C&S to its previous glories and had looked forward to submitting itself to the authority of a united C&S church. However, 15 years later the group was nowhere near its lofty objectives and was formally dissolved on Saturday July 22 1995 by its Leader, M.O. Rufai. However, a splinter group (under completely new leadership) persisted, and has continued to exist under the new but identical name Cherubim and Seraphim Church (Unification)8.
The about–face by M.O. Rufai, easily one of the most vocal and influential voices in the history of C&S apologetics, is a clear indication of waning hopes for restoration of the Society to her old glories[1]. Even among the offshoot group, of these elite Unificationists, there is preciously little hope being raised for a future C&S with the influence and clouts anywhere near those of her founding days. For instance, one of the key leaders of the main splinter group, J. O. Coker, had made the following comments at a C&S-organized public lecture in 19889:
“As earlier
mentioned, the beginning of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church was like this; and
that church was devoted to evangelism, salvation of the soul, growth in the
fruits of the spirit, communal life, love and worshipping of God, prominence
was given to the Holy Spirit as the guide of the church – Emi mimo ni dari
wa temi ko le so (sic)…Incidentally, however, eight years after the formal
launching of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, by which time when the founder
had died, the church had become a caricature if not the opposite of its old
self…The Cherubim & Seraphim like the church in Ephesus abandoned its first
love (Rev 2:4) and like the church in Pergamos (Rev 2:18) has allowed other
spirit other than that of God to operate and establish…They began to sow into
the flesh…They became self-conceited, self-centered and decided to give Glory
to themselves. The result was that this Holy Body became mostly one (where) the
works of the flesh were manifested, like adultery, fornicator, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, sedition, heresies, envying, murderers, drunkenness and reveling (Gal 5:19-21)”
These are pretty scary statements coming from a die-hard C&S leader. It speaks of the C&S becoming the opposite of its old self and being controlled by spirit not from God -demons!
Lamenting that “the ills of the past are still with us”, Coker analyzed the (1988) status of the C&S in the following way:
“I must say that
as a young person myself and having interacted meaningfully with others of my
peer – the situation has not changed from what it was years back. Today, the
youths in the C&S church could be divided mainly into two; those who are of
the opinion that the church has nothing to offer spiritually and those who
found the church liberal and suitable enough to perpetuate their misbehavior.
This is not to say that there are no youths who today are seeking God’s face
but the number I must say is negligible to be of any relevance”
Concluding that section, he made the strongest point of his paper (which he underlined for emphasis):
“And looking at it
I dare say that rather than talk of unification of the C&S church and
the roles of the youths in it, we should in fact be talking of the existence of
the C&S church in the year 2000)”
With the year 2000 now long gone into history, it is clear that while numerous factions of the C&S Society are still vibrantly continuing their various operations, it is also clear that the Society is as far from its original self as it has ever been!
It is the goal of this work to examine what disparities may now exist between the early/primitive C&S Society and what can be regarded as the typical or average C&S church today. Attempts will be made to adduce reasons for the observed disparities and where possible, trace the evolution of such new practices observable today. - How is the gold become dim! (Lam 4:1). To do this, not only doctrinal statements (theory) but actual practices will be considered. However, efforts will be made to limit the discussion to only well-documented written sources including public lectures, hymnals, newspaper articles and archive materials. The factors studied in this work are broadly divided into three categories: General factors common to all new (Christian) organizations, Factors peculiar to the C&S, and Spiritual factors. All these are examined in separate chapters, but before the factors are examined, a short history of the C&S Society is first presented in Chapter 2
Notes
1. Fakeye, G.O. Interview in James
Ashdown. Prophets and Prayer: Interviews with Leaders of African Churches
in London. p.16
2. By Kurt Koch in the books
Revival in Indonesia and The Wine of God, following also the pattern of these
other cases cited, the present –day situation within the C&S Society is a
far cry from that of the early days
3. https://dacb.org/stories/liberia/harris5-william/
5. The Zionist Churches in South
Africa. https://langhamliterature.org/blog/the-zionist-churches-of-south-africa
6. Watson, David. Discipleship.
London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1981.
7.Pastor Ogundimu.
At the 12th anniversary of the Unification Ministries of the C&S
Church, Otun Maye, Ile-Ife. May, 1992.
8. Aluko O.P. Socio-Historical Analysis of the
Cherubim and Seraphim Church Unification, Obafemi Awolowo University Campus
Fellowship, Nigeria. Al-Adabiya: Journal Kebudayaan dan Keagamaan. Vol. 17, No 1, June 2022. Pg 1-19.
9. J.O. Coker: Role of the Youth in the Unification of the
C&S Church in 2000 and beyond
(Unpublished)
[1] M.O.
Rufai was later to return to the C&S tradition much later on, but that
period is not covered in this book
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