“When the people saw the sign that Jesus had performed, they began to say, “Truly this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” vs14

The people were only interested in the flesh, and that’s what I see so commonly in Nigeria: it is elsewhere, but it is so prevalent here.

A young girl asked me, “What did you bring us from America?” I responded, “Eternal life, salvation, God, and the gospel”, and she said, “Is that all?”

This is the mindstate almost everywhere that I go. People want something from America, and most definitely a visa, but they have no interest in God, so their false prophets promise them money, only for poverty and sickness to get worse and worse.

What’s happening? According to their lusts, God is feeding them with deceivers, who scratch their itching ears, and the PEOPLE are responsible.

There is a sense that they are to be pitied, because they’ve heard nothing but the greatest scam on earth all their lives: “Pay the prophet, and God will bless you,” while the one getting rich is collecting the “seed money,”, but he’s not sowing. The people are sold exactly what they want, which is a lie, and it is the promise of this world, a kingdom that consists in loaves and fish, and it is the universal plague of the poor and afflicted - that they want a pot of gold, and they’ll use Jesus, while the true doctrine of eternal life, peace with God, and holiness is despised and neglected. (They walked away from Jesus in John 6, when they found out His message was spiritual, He is the Bread, and they are not to seek the perishing things of this world.) People, unfortunately, don’t care that you’ve promised them wealth year after year, so long as you come up with something clever, or hold them in fear, and the Devil is filling their pulpits.

What shall we do? Warn them and rebuke them. Pity them and call them to repentance. Tell them the kingdom is not of this world, and then ask them to look and see that Nigeria has more Prosperity Preachers than anywhere on earth, but a median age of death of only 53 and one of the lowest poverty indexes in the world. They’d be better off in agnostic Northern Europe, if they want financial security and government services.

Christ came to deliver us from evil, restore us to God, and give us a kingdom that can’t be taken. He doesn’t promise wealth but contentment. Paul said it as plainly as possible, “Men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain...For we brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these [1 Tim 6].” Christ doesn’t promise us a better Nigeria, but citizenship in heaven, and a country whose builder and maker is God, with a better foundation than the USA or Canada, even the new heavens and the new earth [2 Pet 3:13].

What are you looking for? Do you seek the bread that perishes or a better life that’s free from sin, guilt, and shame - a life that pleases God by faith in Christ, which cannot be measured by things that are seen?