The Dream- A Prophetic Revelation of the Nigerian Church

It was one of those dreams where it seems that even after an interruption you pick up where you left off, I remember waking up a couple of times during the dream and I always seemed to continue where I stopped.

In the dream, it seemed I was part of a team of people saddled with the responsibility of helping a major denomination (name withheld) choose a person for its vacant leadership position, the denomination had compiled a list of potential candidates and we were supposed to visit them to choose the one most suitable for the post.

As we prepared to go, it seemed that a video or catalog of the past leaders and their accomplishments was being shown to us, most of them had done reasonably well in advancing the cause of the denomination, but there was one particularly that seemed to have done exceptionally well, the people well loved him and I could feel the deep emotions of pride and nostalgia as the achievements of this brother were being highlighted, it seemed he had done very well in increasing membership, breaking new grounds and building projects, etc it seemed he was the benchmark for the new leadership. (However I noticed that all his achievements were natural, there was nothing of true spiritual value to be pointed out in all he had done).

 When we finished with the past we proceeded to visit the prospective leaders, we were in a hurry because there was so much to be done from my end and there was not much time left to get it done, I just wanted to get the job done as quickly as possible.

The Church of Babies

As for me, brothers, I couldn’t talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as babies, so far as experience with the Messiah is concerned. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. But you aren’t ready for it now either! 3 For you are still worldly! Isn’t it obvious from all the jealousy and quarrelling among you that you are worldly and living by merely human standards?     1 Cor 3:1-4 CJB

The first person we saw was a young lady, maybe in her late twenties, her Church was quite small and they seemed mostly children, her youth made a deep impression on me, so I asked her when she started preaching and she said ‘ a couple of months ago’ in fact, she had just moved into the state.

My first thoughts were ‘She is just too young and inexperienced in the ministry of the word’ and it was a surprise to me that she would be considered to lead such a major work, however, we decided to move on to the next person, as we proceeded, she called us to her office which was in another part of the building, she wanted to give us something to help with the transport expenses, as I stepped into her office, she handed me a wad of notes, quite a lot, it was too much for the purposes she stated, immediately it came into my spirit that she had just offered a bribe to help her cause, I peeled off a few notes, sufficient to meet the need and returned the rest to her while thanking her for her kindness.

The Church of the Living Dead Preacher

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,’These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Rev 3:1-2 NKJV

The next person was a more established person who was ministering when we got to his church, the auditorium of the Church was average in size, but it had an open grave in it and the person in the grave was the man preaching! From the look of the corpse it had been dead for a while; it seemed nobody could see the open grave but us. Talk about a dead man preaching

The needed but neglected Preacher- The Vision of Christ

He said to them, “But who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered and said,”You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.     Matt 16:15-19 NKJV

As we decided to move on to the next person on the list, we passed by a church on the way, the name of the minister was not on our list but I could overhear what he was saying to his congregation, he was trying to reconcile the vision of his church to the vision of Christ, HE WAS TRYING TO PLACE Christ at the center of his ministry to the people, as he spoke I heard the Holy Spirit say to me ‘this is the one to lead the denomination but he has been overlooked by the denomination’! The Lord began to say to me that the true leaders of His people in the next restoration will be people who HAVE THE VISION OF CHRIST.

Then I woke up.

My Understanding

As I considered this dream I understood it was related to the Nigerian Church and certain issues that pertained to her, the denomination I saw in the dream was just a representation of the Church.

• The first point of note was that achievement was measured in purely natural lines, physical expansion without a corresponding spiritual depth, of course in many churches, health, and progress is measured in terms of increasing offerings, growth in attendance, buildings, and all the rest, which by themselves are not bad but surely are a poor indicator of how well an assembly is doing if that is the main criteria for judgement.
• Secondly, no one seemed to mention the importance of seeking the face of the Lord in choosing leadership, it seemed that He was not consulted on who to lead His people!
• Thirdly, because the criteria for choosing leaders were not built on the will of God or by seeking the Lord, all kinds of unsuitable candidates had been penciled down, from the immature who devised carnal ways of currying favor, to the dead but alive preacher, it is no wonder the state of the leadership in many church groups leaves much to be desired. We hear of court cases involving factions, assassination attempts, factions attempting to bar others from worship centers’ ministers embroiled in one scandal after the other, fakery, and all kinds of deceptive practices.
• The Church of the Living Dead preacher represented the congregations that the Apostle John spoke of in his prophetic message to the Church in Sardis, active in the pulpit, yet disconnected from the life of God, bearing outwardly the vestige of piety but sadly lacking the power of godliness, many of them are power hustlers, miracle peddlers, purveyors of fake prophecies and masters of deception. Not all of them started that way but something went wrong in the course of life, they became branches disconnected from the vine yet still active in ‘Christian service’ leading many astray.

These are not the leaders the Lord chose, they are ambitious carnal people who were chosen by men.

• The Lord showed me the one true need of the Church, men (and women) who had caught the vision of Jesus Christ, but these were the ones neglected by the Church as a whole because they usually didn’t have the means or the influence (or the desire) to lobby and politic for leadership places in the Church.

In the Acts of the Apostles, the criteria for deacons were ‘men full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.’ How much more will it be for people who will occupy the ‘highest’ levels of leadership in the Church?

This dream gave a lot of meaning to some other prophetic revelation that it has pleased the Lord to give me concerning the Church and the coming (or present) apostolic restoration.

At the heart of the apostolic restoration is the revelation of JESUS CHRIST, without this revelation, it is impossible to be an apostolic people, to understand real sonship and the Fatherhood of God.

I believe that just as the  Lord called the first disciples to follow him, he is calling the Church back to himself and is raising a people who have caught the vision of who he is and are committing themselves to follow him in word and deed.

It is this revelation that will separate between the called and the chosen, which are you?

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
Rev 3:20 NKJV