How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the Morning! How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations! – Isaiah 14:12 (King James Version)
The church has for millennia survived and even thrived in adversity. Hence, the fact that the modern church is under attack should be no surprise.
What has been startling, and a little disappointing is the fact that the church body, from the leaders — Apostles, Evangelists, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers, to the wider assembly which is made up of those who labour in the vineyard without necessarily occupying an office — seem to have forgotten that a primary assignment of Lucifer “(Satan)” is the weakening of nations.
Christians have forgotten that they are the light of the world and have a responsibility to shine that light unto all men.
I believe that we have forgotten this fundamental truth and it is reflected in our attitudes towards the things of God.
Spiritual insensitivity and compromise have caused the church to be weakened by the devil and we have stopped fulfilling our mandate in the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid
Neither do men light a candle and
Put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick
And it giveth light unto all that are in the house
Let your light so shine before men
That they may see your good worksAnd glorify your Father which is in Heaven – Matthew 5:14-16 (Kings James Version)
The natural consequence of this failure is that the church has become something of scorn. Unbelievers and those in other faith have turned on our leaders, mocked our gatherings and scorn our practises.
The blame for this is firmly on the church and the outside world cannot be blamed.
The church is complicit and have deprioritised the things that should have been made of paramount importance. The church has frankly, lost its vision, and as a result, we have also lost our power. This is because God will only empower what He has mandated.
OLD PRODUCTS, NEW STRATEGIES
The agents that bring about the weakening of the church and nations have been the same from the dawn of time: poverty, wars, political instability, diseases and plagues, bad leadership, genocide etc.
The ‘products’ have remained the same in every dispensation, but the enemy is savvy and employs new strategies for each new generation. The church, which should be wise to this, seems more ill-equipped than ever to deal with these forces. This is in no way due to a lack of resources, but rather a lack of vision, direction, and focus. We (the church) should not be ‘ignorant of his devices’ (2 Corinthians 2:11). The devil is the great enemy of the church and we seem to have forgotten that, a handy situation for the great liar and serpent. The church is now able to be subdued.
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdomsThat made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners. – Isaiah 14:16-17 (King James Version)
Isaiah 14 is a book of double references. It doubles as a prophecy of God delivering Israel from the Babylonian Empire and a promise of God to deliver us from the powers of evil, bondage and sorrow.
That passage of scripture recounts some of the exploits of the evil one, focusing on destruction and imprisonment. Reading this reminds me of countless wars in history—the first and second World War and the Sino-Japanese wars.
On a more continental scale, Africa has suffered its fair share of wars including the Nigerian Civil War, Liberian war, and the Genocidal war in Rwanda where over 1 million people lost their lives.
Africa continues to struggle with diseases already conquered in other parts of the world like Malaria even after so long.
The enemy has also effectively used poverty to weaken the world as can be seen in the travails of Africa, Latin, America, and parts of Asia where people live in abject poverty.
A major trick of satan is to hoodwink believers into believing this sad state of affairs is simply just the world is. The atrocities of the world have been conveniently explained away by many, including some Christians who have accepted things as simply a part of life.
THIS IS NOT GOD’S DIRECTIVE FOR HIS CHURCH
One thing is clear in all this — this is not God’s plan for the church. So we need to wake up, we need to go back, retrace our steps and get back on the right path.
The world is ravaged by diseases with a new one popping up every decade or so. From HIV/AIDS to Swine Flu, to the most recent, the COVID-19 virus. These diseases have brought the world to its knees and in the midst of it, the church seems largely powerless to help the world around them.
This raises a couple of questions:
- Where is the healing ministry given the church?
- Where are the spirit of faith and the anointing of the Holy Spirit?
In place of the dynamic move of God to turn situations around, the church has instead turned to success seminars, prosperity teachings, leadership conferences and numerous collaborations of Pastors, Teachers and Leaders with secular corporations, all in search of money to run these so-called Ministries.
THE MOST POWERFUL TOOLS OF SATAN
During my travels in the pursuit of world missions and evangelization, I have seen the effect of poverty in many nations. I am convinced the enemy is cleverly attacking the economy of the nations of the world to weaken the finances of the church which in turn weakens her pursuit of world evangelization and world missions.
As a result, I have concluded that poverty is the greatest weapon in the arsenal of the enemy.
A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things. – Ecclesiastes 10:19 (King James Version)For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. – Ecclesiastes 7:12 (King James Version)
The man who wrote this, Solomon, knew what he was talking about because he had money and wealth in abundance.
Does this mean the church is denied resources by God? Far from it.
Corruption is the means the enemy has employed in weakening the nations, and in particular the church.
CORRUPTION IN THE NATIONS AND THE CHURCH
Corruption is a tool that has been used by the devil to deny people wealth, happiness and satisfaction by giving the leaders of nations over to greed, selfishness and self-aggrandizement.
Basic infrastructure, proper education and healthcare have been withheld from the people and this contributes to the level of poverty in many developing countries today.
Africa finds itself at a place where the resolve and the spirit of the people have been crushed by authoritative and oppressive leaders in many countries.
However, what people might have failed to notice is that the speed of the spread of the gospel of Christ has also been greatly affected by this.
In my travels, I have discovered that this poverty has made people more abrasive to the Kingdom of God in the last 30+ years.
Sadly, even the few churches and denominations that possess some resources prefer to multiply their churches rather than engage in true evangelism and mission. It is evident that the leaders in the church have also given in to corruption.
THE SOLUTION IS FROM THE CHURCH
The fact that many churches have lost their way does not mean that the world has any other options to turn to. The church is still the solution to the weakening of nations.
We are the ones with the authority and power to combat these weakening forces (Matthew 28:18; Luke 10:17-19). However, it is important to realise that we are not only going to do it spiritually but also physically.
We must reorder our priorities, unite and stop the wasting of God’s money and resources. Our priority must be the people and not our projects.
Humanity and its relationship with God must be our preoccupation.
THE CHURCH MUST HELP
If we leave the production of food, healthcare, environmental needs (like good water and waste management), education, clothing and infrastructure to the government of the world alone, it is clear they will not be able to cope.
This means that the church must also get involved to help the material needs as well as the Spiritual needs of the people.
The fallen nature of selfishness and greed in man will not allow secular leaders to discharge their responsibilities with honesty and simplicity.
This is where the church must come in. We must be involved in all these with the sole aim of winning the people to Christ.
Let your light so shine before men
That they may see your good works
And glorify your Father Which is in Heaven – Matthew 5:16 (King James Version)
The church engaging in these humanitarian activities is one of our fundamental responsibilities. The fact that the unsaved world is already active in this area does not mean it belongs exclusively to them.
Jesus classified them as “your good works”—a manifestation of the light and love of Christ within you.
In scripture, there is a relationship between the “light” given to us and the love in us (John 1:5-9). It is the shining forth of this light that will fight and defeat the weakening forces of the old foe Satan.
The church must be the standard from a spiritual, moral, and philanthropic perspective. Our scope when it comes to saving people needs to expand. The gospel is paramount, but we must not neglect the material needs of people as this is an area the devil actively afflicts people.