In terms of quantity the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ has never had better days than today. We've seen over 6 million gather in Holy Ghost Congress here in Nigeria as far back as 1998 which was entered in the Book of World Records as unprecedented. We've seen a million conversions from a single altar call in a Cfan crusade again here in Lagos, Nigeria and up until that day, most great evangelists including Charles G. Finney hadn't even seen up to a million saved in an entire lifetime of labours. And we've seen resurrections and miracles. I estimated from testimonies I hear some of which are wonderfully supported by medical authorities that on the average The Winners Chapel AKA The Living Faith Church Worldwide sees as much as 20 resurrections from the dead on a yearly basis. Compare that to the faith-stirring testimony that Smith Wigglesworth had up to 26 people raised from the dead in his lifetime and you will agree that in terms of quality, we are seeing more today. Today, we have congregations of up to 300,000 single congregations and 780,000 in South Korea. Wow! These are unimaginable feats. And like I have said repeatedly like a broken record, we have a man living today who have had 75 million documented decisions for Christ in his crusade ministry. I am not saying this man was estimating, I mean these are decision cards filled out and returned during actual crusades and when summed up, it totaled 75 million!
But beloved, the church sadly have lost so much in terms of quality. It looks like Rehoboam getting in more vessels than King Solomon ever made BUT the vessels are now of brass not gold! We have substituted brass for gold. The Church of today ironically have more records of immorality than 100 years ago. Some of the most prominent men of God of our day have made some of the most disturbing declarations that seem to strengthen the prevalence of moral decadence in our Churches. Someone who pastors one of the largest churches of our day said 'I don't know if gays will go to heaven...I don't like to say Jesus is the only way. God knows people's hearts and He determines if gays will go there and if other religious groups will go there...' Another said 'masturbation is really just a habit. It is not a sin against God or anybody...' Another said '..of course someone who dies in the very act of adultery can go to heaven. It is a relationship thing not a matter of sinful acts...' I am avoiding calling these giants by name but a lot is wrong among us. If we are to see the revival we crave, we will need some good old fashion teaching on sanctification for the church is become like a rotten rag along those lines.
As I post this, I have a wonderful sister who is just 18 and she is pregnant without marriage. The one that impregnated her is about 18 too. I have another who two years ago at about that same age got pregnant and her mother saw to it that the pregnancy was aborted and her younger sister just last year followed suit. Both are workers in the Church.
I was in a inner-caucus meeting somewhere where we were confidentially informed that 400 million naira of Church moneys were misappropriated and outrightly stolen by the very highest cadre of leadership of that denomination. I also was stunned to hear about a certain general overseer who some top leaders in his mega-church paid a certain cook to poison all because they wanted him dead so they can take over. All is not well I say with the CHARACTER of the church.
I couldn't help but hear the famous words of Jesus '...FROM the beginning, it was not so!' The question I want all believers reading this to ponder if 'Is there a connection between this bless-me gimmie emphasis of tele-evangelism and charismatism and the current erosion of Christian character?' I'll say there is. For how can they believe on a God they have not heard about and how can they hear without a preacher?
I have found from scriptures that every great revival is preceeded by a great reform. We we purge sin, He steps in. When we crave to be pure His blessings He will pour.
CONSECRATION, the time has come when we must follow after holiness without which no man shall see the Lord! Prosperity guarantees nothing but godliness is beneficial in the now and hereafter. If we preach just what they are preaching, we will have just what they have. Be sure about it, unless we make the move we will wind up with the same alcohol-drinking, movie-crazy, indecent-dressing, lust-ridden, sin-laden congregation that holds sway today. We must return to the HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS