THE METEORIC RISE OF NATION-CHURCHES
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.
Isaiah 60:22
Part 2: The Nigerian Church in Prophecy
By Daniel Break forth.
Prophet Isaiah is not called a Major Prophet for nothing. He it was that first prophesied the virgin birth of the Messiah, Jesus, centuries before it happened. The prophecy is found in Isaiah 7:14. This prophecy was written during the 8th century BCE while Jesus was born in the 1st Century C.E
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel”
This means there was a gap of roughly 700-800 years between the prophecy and its fulfillment.
Prophet Isaiah also spoke about the Church in the last days…
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it”
As Bishop Oyedepo humourously posits, if Apostle Peter referred to his time as the last days, then we are in the Laster Days.
In the year 1936, S.G Elton, a British missionary from Bradford arrived in Nigeria with his family for mission work. He was initially with The Apostolic Church before he went non-denominational. In some sense, S.G Elton was to Nigeria what James McKeown also of T.A.C was to Ghana except that S.G Elton went non-denominational and though he didn’t start a church in the manner of The Church of Pentecost, he was able to inspire Benson Idahosa among many others. In his time, Idahosa was said to have directly inspired about 70% of Pentecostal Churches in Africa.
Papa Elton had also stated that Africa was a gun and Nigeria was the trigger.
Elton had prophesied that Nigeria would be known for corruption but would eventually become a nation known for righteousness. He envisioned two phases: a period where Nigeria would be globally recognized for corruption and a subsequent era where it would be admired for its righteousness. This prophecy, delivered in 1986 after 50 years of missionary work in Nigeria, suggests that Nigeria was currently in the first phase but will transition to the second.
It is now 38 years since the prophecy, a new generation has risen and church platforms have noticeably been established as vehicles for this prophecy and internal examples to Nigeria. Now many are asking the Church to fill the roles of government while a larger group of people are demanding that if the Church is able to do so much with her resources, what is the government doing with all the resources at its disposal?
It is often told of how Nigerian students in the 1970s/1980s fuelled the latter rain revival as we see today. Famously one of the prophecies at the time was that the young students who were spearheading the revival would soon become objects of envy. The prophecies were accepted and nurtured carefully and in the succeeding years, the prophecies have been trying to come to fulfillment.
This part will not be complete without the story of the Covenanted Church as Pastor Enoch Adeboye called it during the recent 73rd RCCG Convention held last week. What did he mean by a Covenant Church?
At inception of the RCCG , there were only 9 members in a ‘White Garment,’ fellowship called Glory of God Fellowship (GGF). The group became so popular that it drew not only members of the church, but others from the neighborhood. By 1952 he left the Cherubim & Seraphim Church and the fellowship he had started then grew into the RCCG. The name RCCG was said to have been revealed to the founder, Josiah Akindayomi in a vision. Allegedly the letters forming the name of the church appeared in the English alphabet to Akindayomi, who could neither read nor write.
Miraculously he was able to scribble down the individual letters which, when put together, read “The Redeemed Christian Church of God”(RCCG)
In this same vision God promised to take the church to the ends of the earth and declared that the Lord Jesus Christ would meet the Church when he returned in glory. The Lord also established a covenant with Akindayomi similar to the Abrahamic covenant in the Bible, promising to meet all the needs of the church in wonderful ways if only members would serve Him faithfully and be obedient to His Word. RCCG was formed, based on this covenant.
To put it succinctly, the METEORIC RISE we see today has its place in prophecy.
End of Part 2.
