Rev. Moses Iloh, founder and Senior Pastor of Soul-winning Chapel, in this interview with TEMITOPE Ojo, bares his mind on the incessant killings in the North and how the Church has failed in her role…
What do you make of the killing and abduction of young girls in the country, and what are the spiritual implications on the land?
The Bible says: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”, and when you don’t have that knowledge, you run into danger. What is happening now is that Christians are totally ignorant of what is happening. And that is so sorrowful. What is happening in Nigeria today is not a battle between Islam and Christianity; it is a spiritual warfare. And we need to approach it that way. All these declarations of fasting and prayer are not what we need. People want to kill (Muhammadu) Buhari, saying he wants to Islamise Nigerians. Nobody can Islamise you except you want to be Islamised. Why has President Goodluck Jonathan not Christianised Nigeria, since he is a Christian? As long as we remain ignorant and religious, Christianity in Nigeria will have no effect. The Christianity I know is light; it is not religion.
The greatest mistake people are making about what is going on up north is to think it is a religious war. No; I tell you it is not a battle between the Muslims and the Christians, neither is it ethnic war; it is simply a war of corruption. A new religion has been formed in Nigeria. What is happening is the consequence of corruption and I don’t want corruption to be interpreted as just taking money. When you narrow it down to kleptomania, then you miss the point. This country is corrupt. Leadership is corrupt. Mannerism is corrupt. Justice is corrupt.
What does corruption mean? It means spoiling. Today in Nigeria, people say we have two main religions: Islam and Christianity. But the truth is that there is a bigger religion than the two, and that religion is called corruption. It is a religion that knows no tribe, creed, sex or class. When it comes to stealing and killing Nigeria, all the people meet and unite there. On Sundays, Christians will go to Church, and on Fridays, Muslims will go to the Mosque; but on Monday through Thursday and on Saturday, we are all thieves; ganging up in that religion. Tell me, when corruption will come to the table of a Christian who is a civil servant or a banker and he will say no? This cannot happen. What they would say is: What is my own inside it? What will I gain from it?
So, what are we talking about? The main religion in Nigeria today is corruption; it is neither Christianity nor Islam. Today in Nigeria, we complain that there is no unity; but it is a lie. We are united in corruption. We are like Siamese twins when it comes to corruption.
During their campaigns, our leaders promised improved electricity supply. This has not come and you have increased the tariff. People get sick, and there is no medication. Pensioners are dying without their money. There are no jobs. People are owed salaries. Justice is perverted. At the same time, these aggrieved people are reading how powerful those who have caused the problem are. So, there is an element of bottled bitterness, bottled acrimony; looking for a way to explode. That is what has brought about the menace of Boko Haram.
Boko Haram is not a religious war; it is just that those who are practising it happen to be Muslims, who happen to kill fellow Muslims too. It is bottled anger, which is likely to continue. At a time, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) was violent in the west, and they were recognised. Today they have honour. Militants in the Niger Delta were once a threat to the nation, but today they are being honoured.
Do you think the Church is playing its role well in curbing this menace?
No. What we have is people declaring fasting and prayer here and there. Fasting and prayer for Nigeria is not correct. Fasting and prayer cannot bribe God. Everybody today is praying for Nigeria, but the Bible says, “Faith without work is dead”. You kneel down and pray. I used to say to myself that when you kneel down and pray, after praying, what do you do? You have to stand. Nigeria is going. Nigeria is in a shambles. There is sin in the whole world. What is happening? Rather than do something, we go about as general overseers and senior pastors flaunting wealth as if that is what Christianity is all about. What is happening now is that the Church is an organisation where you have to employ public relations, and the leaders use their “number six” to cajole the people and tell them what they want to hear only. We are in this world and we are becoming of the world, and the world is controlling us. Christians go to churches on Sunday to simply ask and ask from God. They all want something. But is that what Jesus came for? How many people go to church today with N10,000 in their pockets and all they ask of God is to direct that person who needs that money most to them? There is the problem of money; today the devil tramples the biggest Christian with money. The Bible says “thou shall have no other gods beside me”. Christians in Nigeria have so many other gods. Our fame becomes a god to us. Money becomes a god to us. We are drifting so much that today the Christian is so scared of telling the truth, mostly when it is against government or against the regime, because you want to be a good boy, and because you want to benefit from the leader. So, as long as you benefit from the government, the government is good. How many Christians in Nigeria today can talk like Elijah? So many church leaders today came from very poor backgrounds, and today they are in affluence because God blessed them.
How does the Church tackle all these problems you have highlighted?
The Church needs to wake up and know the truth. You may not like the truth, but that is the only way out. The Bible says: “Do not give the holy things to the dogs.” Why is it that when Christian leaders are invited to speak at functions where our politicians are, we just carry ourselves there with all the bodyguards and tell them what they want to hear and not what is expected of them by God? The Church needs to look inward. Today, they are competing, running after money. If they don’t take time, what is happening outside will catch up with them and destroy them. God does not live in a building made with hands; so if the people there are evil, what is happening outside will happen inside. The Church could be the solution to our problems; but presently, the Church is also in that religion called corruption. If the religious leaders are sincere to themselves, it is time to look inward. God’s word is faithful, but there is consequence for disobedience. Without repentance, fasting and prayer is a farce. Christians should be so straight and clean, honest and transparent that they go into politics and bring life and light to the poor. But the Church has to first look inward because faith without works is dead. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.” What can the Church in Nigeria show? The bible says, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, I will hear them.” The problem here is arrogance. When you are starting a Church, you are easily accessible, but once God enlarges you, members in your Church cannot see you again. Who are you? Before you got to that position, who were you? You need to humble yourself before God can hear you.