West African Mission

On approach to the Lagos Airport, having dropped from 39000 ft, the sprawling city of Lagos, home to 18 million people, the most densely populated city in Africa, presents a mass of grey walled houses with rusty iron roofs and endless streams of traffic, jostling through narrow streets in all directions.

Stepping out of the plane you are greeted by the hot and humid tropical air, you then walk the gauntlet from one officious Immigration Officer to another, who do nothing to alleviate your feeling of being a helpless alien. Dodging the pick-pockets and scamsters who are only too willing to grab your bags and then hand them back outside the Airport for a handsome ransom, I eventually arrived on Nigerian soil and was relieved to see the familiar faces of my colleague,

Anton Bosch from USA and our old Nigerian friend, Sam, who’s full prestigious title is Reverend Professor Doctor Sam Chukwu.
The drive from the airport is an education in itself as we hurtled along the double carriage motorway on the ‘wrong-hand’ side of the road with the rear wheel bearings of the car screaming for grease, only to come to a screeching halt to negotiate a massive hole in the tarmac.

Once we turned off the main route into the residential area, tar roads were rarely seen, the car then bounced, dodged and swerved up one rough pot-holed road and down another, until I doubt whether even a GPS would have found us! An interesting feature of the Nigerian traffic behaviour is that there are no stop streets, no traffic lights and no traffic officers anywhere to be seen. The process of entering a road at an intersection is quite simple, as long as you are not ramming into the side of another vehicle you just drive with your hand on your hooter, or just ‘honk’ as the Americans would say.

To overcome the enormous traffic congestion on all the roads in Lagos, thousands of Nigerians ride 125cc motor cycles, which pass on the left and right sides and zig-zag between the cars. Some of these motor cycles double as taxis, their passengers hanging onto their Kamikaze pilots for dear life; helmets are only optional accessories. I saw a number of these two-wheeled taxis with rider and two passengers, that is three people on a 125cc bike, which I suppose makes economic sense, safety and mechanical strain being a low priority!

The streets are lined on both sides with mostly unpainted buildings, the cracked and black mouldy cement finish, dating many of the buildings back to the Colonial era with very little sign of maintenance, probably due to the lack of funds. This is sad, considering that Nigeria supplies 40% of the USA’s oil, which brings billions of dollars into the Nigerian coffers, but there is no sign of this finding its way into infrastructure or job creation. The Nigerians themselves are innovative people, with an ability to adapt and survive, the tropical climate and their hostile environment. Most of them are entrepreneurs, with a business on their street outside their houses, where they sell anything and everything, from home-made to a vast array of Chinese imports.

I can’t speak for all of Nigeria, having only visited Lagos, but an inescapable and heart-warming aspect of Lagos is the very Christian flavour and atmosphere in their culture. While waiting at the airport a policeman approached our Bishop Guide and asked to be prayed for, which he duly did. Most of the music on the radio and TV and played in the streets is Gospel music and “God bless you” is commonly heard and many Christian signs are displayed on cars and buildings.
Ghana seems a lot more orderly than Nigeria, with the Capital, Accra, home to 3.5 million Ghanaians, situated on the Atlantic Coast. A number of high-rise buildings under construction as well as the reconstruction of the main road to the central city of Kumasi, by Chinese Engineers, all speak of progress. The Cocoa export money apparently filtering through to infrastructure and the discovery of oil after 30 years of searching, will hopefully boost the economy and speed up the development of this beautiful country with its navigable rivers and tropical jungles.

Our mission in West Africa was to meet with church Leaders and equip them with a sound Biblical understanding of the essentials, the immense importance of a right relationship with Jesus the Head of the church and offer them fellowship and moral support. This we were able to do by God’s grace in Conferences in Lagos, Kumasi and Accra, as well as having had preaching opportunities in churches in Ghana and Nigeria.

The immense challenge of our mission only became apparent once we gained some insight into the darkness that lurks not far beneath the ‘Christian’ veneer that is so pervasive through the West African society. Our Ghanain and Nigerian brethren told us that most of the preaching done in West Africa is what they called ‘motivational speaking’ rather than teaching sound doctrine. This has left the church wide open to every wind of doctrine, mysticism and Telly-preacher - ‘blab it and grab it’ prosperity error! Our Ghanain Host, Paa, who is a university lecturer, but who has a sound grasp of Biblical truth and a wonderful relationship with the Lord, told us that 95% of Ghanain churches embrace the American brand of prosperity teaching, most of which comes through TBN TV.

It is understandable that countries in Africa, where the majority of the population is poor, would readily and eagerly embrace the prosperity doctrine. It is however, criminal to see how the poor have been given an erroneous un-Biblical expectation that if they give their hard-earned pittance to the Pastor, God will prosper their businesses and pour out an abundance of wealth upon them. In a 6 hour long service in Nigeria, I witnessed no less than 10 offerings being taken up, with the promise that God will abundantly repay the ‘loan’.

The exploitation of these people by big name Preachers, began to unfold in all its horror, when our Nigerian brethren told us how millions of dollars are sent ahead of a visit by Benny Hinn and others, to rally the people together. We were also told that a sister was offered money to arrive on crutches and fake a healing, fortunately she refused, but no doubt others obliged. Apparently the DVD recordings of these campaigns is then used to raise funds in America. It is no wonder that the central theme of Christianity in West Africa is money!

We were aware from previous visits, that ancestral worship plagues many an Africa Christian, but this time a Nigerian Bishop told us that the pagan practise of human sacrifice has found its way back into Charismatic church circles. He gave us the shocking news that 11 Charismatic Pastors in Nigeria had sacrificed their wives!
It is very hard to gauge from the singing, praising, chanting, dancing, shouting and motivational preaching, with the loud congregational responses and money-centred theme, how many of these precious souls have repented of their sin, believed that Jesus died and rose for their justification and is now offering them all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We do thank the Lord for the opportunity to share the importance of Scripture and the centrality of Jesus with the brethren who attended the Conferences and have asked for follow-up notes of sound Christ-centred teaching to equip them to stand firm upon the Foundation of Jesus Christ our Rock. Our earnest prayer is that they will have the courage to believe and preach this unpopular message against the over-whelming odds and appeal of the distorted prosperity doctrine. – Malcolm Harris