A Bobski of my Word

Everything and Anything

[Abolaji Rasaq Oluwapese @bolazeal]

Christianity in Nigeria Is Amorphous. And That Makes It Dangerous.

Christianity in Nigeria has no shape. That is one of its biggest problems. Ask ten Nigerian Christians what Christianity means, and you may receive fifteen different answers.

To one person, Christianity is salvation. To another, it is prosperity. To another, it is deliverance from witches. To another, it is speaking in tongues. To another, it is political warfare. To another, it is seed sowing. To another, it is fighting ancestral curses.

To another, it is simply attending church every Sunday while behaving like Satan from Monday to Saturday. Everything enters. Anything goes.

That is what I mean when I say Nigerian Christianity is amorphous. It has become a religious container into which almost anything can be poured.

Traditional superstition entered Christianity. Our obsession with spiritual enemies entered Christianity. Our respect for powerful men entered Christianity. Our culture of unquestioning obedience entered Christianity. Our desperation for wealth entered Christianity. Our fear of poverty entered Christianity. Our politics entered Christianity. Even our corruption entered Christianity.

We did not completely abandon many of our old beliefs. We simply changed their names. The village witch became a "spiritual wife." Ancestral misfortune became "generational curse." The herbalist became "Daddy G.O." Sacrificial offerings became "seed." Divination became "prophecy."

And instead of asking questions, we shout Amen! My Naija people, we are very innovative. The problem with an amorphous religion is that almost anybody can redefine it. A man can wake up tomorrow, rent a warehouse, buy speakers, wear a suit, and suddenly God has appointed him General Overseer.

No theological training. No serious accountability. No institution above him. No board with the courage to question him. No congregation allowed to interrogate him.

Then one morning he announces: "God told me."

God apparently has excellent network coverage in Nigeria. He speaks to pastors about your salary, your marriage, your enemies, who wins elections, your bank account, and occasionally the car the pastor should buy.

And because there is no universally accepted Nigerian Christian authority capable of saying, this is nonsense, nonsense can reproduce itself freely. CAN? LOL.

One church says women should not wear trousers. Another church says trousers are fine. One says alcohol will send you to hell. Another serves wine during communion. One says poverty is spiritual failure. One says Christians must take over government. Another says politics is worldly. One says your problem is demons. Another says your problem is that you have not transferred enough money.

The customer is always right, not in Nigerian Christianity.

And this flexibility becomes dangerous when religion begins interacting with money, politics, health, family, and public policy. Because once somebody believes that a religious leader speaks directly for God, ordinary accountability becomes difficult.

How do you argue with God? How do you audit God? How do you question a prophecy? How do you fact-check "the spirit told me"?

That is the loophole.

In a functional institution, authority comes with procedures. In Nigerian Pentecostal culture especially, authority can sometimes come from charisma.

If you can preach loudly enough, perform confidence convincingly enough, and gather enough followers, people begin to assume that success itself is evidence of divine approval.

A large congregation becomes proof. A private jet becomes proof. Wealth becomes proof. Influence becomes proof.

And once success becomes evidence of righteousness, we have created a theology perfectly suited to a society already obsessed with worldliness.

This is why Nigerian Christianity can produce completely contradictory characters under the same label.

The quiet Christian feeding poor people without cameras is Christian. The pastor demanding money for miracles is Christian. The politician stealing public money and donating part of it to church is Christian. The civil servant collecting bribes and leading morning devotion is Christian. The clergy sleeping with kids is Christian. The businessman cheating customers but writing JESUS IS LORD on his shop is Christian. A muslim man preaching on the altar is Christian.

Everybody is Christian.

Which eventually means the word itself can become almost meaningless. Christianity becomes identity rather than ethics.

You do not necessarily have to behave like Christ. You simply have to identify with Christianity.

That distinction is important. Because Jesus becomes less important than the religious industry built around his name.

And that industry has become enormous. It controls attention. It influences elections. It shapes relationships. It determines what millions believe about science, money, sexuality, marriage, illness, success and failure. Yet much of it operates with astonishingly little accountability.

That is where the danger is. Not because every church is fraudulent. Not because every pastor is dishonest. And certainly not because every Christian is gullible.

There are sincere Christians and responsible churches doing extraordinary humanitarian and community work.

But when a religious ecosystem has no clear boundaries, weak accountability, and an endless ability to reinvent doctrine around the personality of whoever is holding the microphone, abuse becomes very easy to disguise as revelation.

When Christianity can mean everything, eventually somebody will use it to justify anything. And Nigeria already has enough things people are willing to justify.

[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

The movement of the Portuguese players in between the lines is terrible. They will have to improve on this if they are to go far in this World Cup

[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

@ui_shehu @woye1 @aonanuga1956 @DOlusegun @SundayDareSD @HMMohammedIdris @Abdulfagge @officialABAT @TahirTalba @HighChiefOkoro @OgbeniAdugbo Yes

[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

@thejinduenugbe [email protected]

[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

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[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

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[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

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[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

JOIN #PAWS CULT! 🐾

[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

@Jagaban70 @BayoObidient With English like this I wonder how you got the job in the first place…

[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

@BellinghamJude Leemaoo

[Pixelverse @pixelverse_xyz]

Pixelverse, the emerging game ecosystem and entertainment studio, raised $5.5M from top VCs and Web3 founders.

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[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

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[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

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[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

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[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

@ShehuSani Depends on who they released

[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

@UTDKara I hope your voices yield the right results sha

[A Bobski of my Word @MbubahS]

@ParamLaboratory @FRChronic ....

[KIRAVERSE @Kiraversegame]

Can’t stop, won’t stop 💪