When We Pray: The Problem Nigeria Has

I don’t think the problem of Africa, Nigeria precisely, is in the time spent going to church.

I think we have many problems, with corruption topping the list, but when it comes to talks of religion, the Christian religion especially — since that has over time proven to be the easiest to talk about, to criticize and condemn for God knows what reasons — I think, it’s not so much about Nigeria being a praying country that makes it poor.

As I’ve stated, there are many angles to look at, but let’s consider the religious angle.

In doing that, you’ll often hear arguments such as “China is the least religious yet the most progressive”.

Or “America doesn’t care about morals as Africans do because they invest their time in better things”.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard such arguments, but none is wrong. China is indeed progressive and America, far better than Nigeria though Nigeria is “supposedly” more morally sound.

We pray a lot in Nigeria. We have a lot of churches, even though 80% of them are more monetarily inspired than inspired by the Holy Spirit.

But I don’t even think the blasphemy and hypocrisy of these churches account for 60% of the problems we have in Nigeria when considering the religious angle.

No, I think the problem is the fact that we acknowledge the devil more than we acknowledge the God we claim to serve.

Now, my thoughts are not the projection of God’s thoughts, so I maybe wrong, but walk with me a little more.

Now, there are Satanists in America, as there are in Nigeria and there are Christians there as there are here.

But I think the majority of the population there, does not give much sh*t about religion. They believe in their willpower, that they make their destinies, that there is no God or god at all, that we just exist as the plants do, and many other beliefs that to a typical African would sound insane.

Meanwhile, we believe in the opposite of all that. There is God and there are gods.

Now this is how I think each belief system affects us all.

Not acknowledging evil does not mean it doesn’t exist. But acknowledging it so much gives it more power over you than good.

The thing with the devil is, he doesn’t need much from you at first. Just a gesture, a creek in the wall, a little space between your window, a hole in your curtain, anything at all, that’ll do for an entrance.

While with God, you need to open up, and you need to open wide.

Now you may go about your business thinking “I don’t believe in either of the two powers. Whatever I don’t know will not know me”

Oh, how wrong you are.

Cos God knows us all, as the devil does too.

You see, every day it’s a wager between the two on whose path we will choose to walk. And like a salesman, they put in the work, write great copies and stuff.

But if you’re used to patronizing Walmart, it’s a slim chance you’d think of going to Shoprite at your convenience.

God/the devil is Shoprite for some and Walmart for some, and for others, they’re the stores on your street you patronize only because you’re too tired to go to the market. You don’t really give a sh*t.

When Adam and Eve ate from the tree, it wasn’t their physical eyes that opened, it was their minds. And our minds cannot be void since then. It has to be occupied by something.

The devil knows this and that’s why he became flexible enough to fit into any space at all. That’s why people kill for no logical reason (Jeffrey Dahmer), why people rape those they’re not even physically attracted to, why people steal even when they don’t need to, and basically why people do horrible things.

But God, God needs permission. He’s like the “nice guys”. Gentle and sweet. They don’t want to hurt you and when they tell you they’ll take a bullet for you, you’d want to avoid gunfights cos they would.

That’s God.

You let him in and it’s Romeo and Juliet for you.

Now I derailed.

Anyway, the problem Nigeria has isn’t that they have made God their priority, if that were the case, we would have no problems.

The problem Nigeria has is that we fear the devil more that we fear God. And like I’ve said, when you acknowledge evil so much, it’ll have more power over you than good.

That’s our problem in Nigeria. That’s why people are in constant pursuit of an enemy, binding and casting. If a prayer were to last for an hour, a typical Nigerian would devout 30 minutes to binding and casting and the other 30 minutes to thank God, ask for mercy, and remember to pray for the needy.

It’s the sad reality of our prayer system in Nigeria.

Sure, acknowledge the devil, because he exists, but don’t obsess over him. You serve a greater God. You ask him to protect you, he’s not dumb not to know you’re talking about the plot of the devil too. You don’t need the extra probs of hitting your legs or banging your head or beating the ground. He hears you, he knows.

But we don’t know because we’ve been blinded by the devil.

A good manipulator knows how to make anyone fall in love with him deeply or hate him deeply. Either way, he steals a part of you. And that’s what the devil has done to Nigerian Christians.

So it’s not that we pray too much that’s our problem. It’s that we fear too much, he whom we shouldn’t.

And that’s what I think is the problem of Africa (Nigeria).