Most people have heard about the latest rounds of violence against foreign nationals in South Africa with Nigerians bearing the brunt of it by virtue of their ‘dominance’ of the foreign national count. For many of us back home far from the frightening scenes of violence, bloodshed and anger it is a very disturbing event, how much more so for Nigerians who are in the eyes of the storm so to speak.

We who are absent in the body are present with you in the spirit praying for your peace and protection at such a distressing time.

There is a lot to be said about these incidents, many commentators have given reasons why they are happening and what can be done about it. I do not want to dwell on these because they are merely expressions of what I believe are  the real workings or purposes hidden away behind the curtain.

However I want to look beyond the curtain to try to shed some light on what may be really happening in these incidents.

As a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ and one who is deeply interested in and to a reasonable degree schooled in the way of the spirit and the prophetic counsel of the Lord for my nation. I want to make the assertion that what we see playing out in this incident is a manifestation of the conflict between good and evil, the will of God and His counsels as revealed by the Sprit of God and Satan who seeks to usurp God’s plan and buy himself more time to execute his own agenda for the nations.

Let me start by saying that Jesus from the beginning prophesied that ethnic conflicts and disturbances on a huge scale will be a manifestation of the last days. In other words satan will use these conflicts as a tool to frustrate and hinder God’s plan.

Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately.  Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

Matt 24:4-8

Why do I say satan? If we know nothing at all we know that Jesus said the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy is the devil, He is the actor the main player behind the veil.

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10 NKJV

The question is what is he trying to accomplish or do?

As we come to the close of the age and await the coming of the Lord, the Lord is accelerating his program for the salvation of the world and the manifestation of His Kingdom on earth.

Just as it was with Moses and Jesus, we see that Satan always uses violence and murder to try to abort God’s dispensational  plan, in the same way through the same tactics satan is doing same in Nigeria ( we see this with Islamic fundamentalism, Boko Haram etc) and in South Africa through the xenophobic violence mainly targeted at Nigerians.

Why Nigeria & South Africa

I believe that in God’s counsel and purpose He has connected these two nations to be the fulcrum or the channel through which a worldwide revival that will transform Africa and the nations of the world will come.

We should never lose sight of one very important truth, right from the garden of Eden, there has been a continuing conflict between God’s kingdom and that of the arch enemy Satan. This conflict has played out over the centuries in different ways and times, with man being at the center of the conflict. When people have leaned towards God, there has been a progress made in the establishment of God’s will but when they have leaned towards the enemy God’s will has always suffered a setback.

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Just as the South African nation received help from the Nigerian nation so God has ordained through Jesus Christ that the South African Church will receive help from the Nigerian Church.  One after the flesh and the other after the spirit.

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However we see with the benefit of hindsight that the will of God will always be done and that even the manipulations of satan will always advance the cause of the kingdom. God has no equal; He sees the beginning from the end and takes all things into account in His dealings with mankind.

Remember the former things of old,

For I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things that are not yet done,

Saying,’My counsel shall stand,

And I will do all My pleasure,’

 Calling a bird of prey from the east,

The man who executes My counsel, from a far country.

Indeed I have spoken it;

I will also bring it to pass.

I have purposed it;

I will also do it.

Isa 46:9-11 NKJV

Like I say, God is an eternity ahead of the devil; Jesus was the Lamb of God slain before the foundations of the earth was laid. (Rev 12:13)

God may choose a path that was not in the original plan, He may use alternative actors if the first chosen fail, He may compel when willing obedience fails (ask Jonah) but be assured His counsel will be done!

Nigeria was a very important part of the South African struggle for freedom from apartheid oppression (like many other African Nations), even though she was geographically very far from the center of conflict, this oppression itself was part of satan’s attempt to subjugate the people of South Africa and hinder the plan of God for that nation. God did not choose South Africa or Nigeria or the black race to be a main force for revival today. It was a decision made before the foundations of the earth was laid.

By her connection to the South African struggle Nigeria was intimately woven into the destiny of the South African nation and this was a prophetic statement of the place that Nigeria would occupy in the destiny of South Africa. As a result of this involvement Nigeria was honored with the status of a frontline state because she fought a battle that was not hers and carried the burden of another. This was God’s plan

Just as the South African nation received help from the Nigerian nation so God has ordained through Jesus Christ that the South African Church will receive help from the Nigerian Church.  One after the flesh and the other after the spirit.

Many years ago a prophecy came forth that Africa was shaped like a gun, with Nigeria as the trigger and South Africa as the muzzle. This prophecy illustrates the nature of the relationship between both Nations and its impact for the world and the kingdom of God.

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Here are extracts from some prophetic words

1983 –At the First National Convention of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International (FGBMFI) Held at Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt

A visiting delegate from New Mexico USA spoke about visions of black men that God was giving him while he was in his home country. When he asked about who the black men where, The Lord he said explained to him that these black men where Nigerians. He had never visited Nigeria before and the Lord told him he will soon take him there because the nation Nigeria was a nation he planned to use in revival. He then spoke on in prophecy.” Thus saith the Lord- Nigeria and Nigerian Christians will be used by the Lord to preach the gospel in the market places of the World in these last days.”

Pastor S. G. Elton spoke prophetically in this meeting concerning two key African nations, saying that Africa is like a gun pointed down. Its turret and muzzle is South Africa. Its trigger is Nigeria. He said the days would come when Apartheid (then at its peak in South Africa) will be removed from South Africa. In those days, he said the Gun of Africa would begin to fire for God’s purpose.

Prayer Meeting in South Africa:

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This is what Satan is fighting, of course there are many natural factors that seem to justify the present actions or state of relationship between both nations just as there seemed to be a natural reason for Judas betraying Jesus but we know it was satan at the back of it.

The thing is that Satan uses people without informing them or seeking their permission, people are very susceptible to spiritual influences because they don’t generally realize how pervasive these influences really are.

The South African Church needs the help of the Nigerian Church to come to a place of maturity so that together they may give expression to the will of God at this time.

Satan is fighting on many levels against this plan, by creating this disharmony between the nations, he seeks to break the union of the nations and cause a divorce that will be destructive to both parties. One nation needs to display some maturity here and not yield to this temptation. This is where walking in the love of God really is important and why the voice of the Church must be heard calling for restraint and peace.

I have read and heard so many calls for retaliation by the Nigerian people particularly because it seems that there is a high level of official complicity or tolerance for these actions on the part of the South African authorities but wisdom is needed here, we should pray for this, that whatever actions the Nigerian Government embarks on will not be beyond the bounds dictated by God’s will and counsel.

This is particularly where the Church in Nigeria and South Africa need to step in and by prayer and wise actions take steps to enforce the will of God. Make no mistake about it, the Church has the capacity to do something about this and ensure the will of God is done.

The challenge is that when the Church is blind to these truths it will act like mere men according to the flesh. There is a reason why Jesus is restoring the ministry of the Prophet (not the fake ones) and the Apostle; it is to bring clarity and understanding at times such as this.

When I visited South Africa, I tried to emphasize these two things, God’s plan for South Africa and the divine relationship between the two countries.

Let me repeat, none of these countries can fulfill her true potential without the other, the devil knows this but do we know it?

Why Migration is sometimes God’s agent of dispersal and transfer

Every biology student knows that plants populate through the process of dispersal that occurs in different ways. For example

• Butterflies and insects transfer pollen when they fly from plant to plant
• Some plants have pods that contain seed, when those pods explode the seeds within them are dispersed far and wide
• Some other plants spread because animals eat the fruit with the seed and deposit the seed in their faeces as they go from place to place.

If you apply these to the migration issues you will see how the seed of the gospel spreads and also how evil seed spreads. When migrants travel they carry  seed with them, good or bad seed, it is unfortunate that sometimes the evil are more zealous than the good, they connect with the local population to execute their wicked deeds but the believers don’t, many times they form camp of Nigerians and do not reach out sufficiently to the local population.

What is happening in SA is very painful but so was the death of Jesus at the hands of the people he came to help. The Lord Jesus and the apostle Stephen exemplify the attitude the Church must have, I mean the Nigeria Church, at such a time. Instead of railing and ranting they prayed ‘Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing’. Truly they don’t know what they are doing!

Satan’s counter strategy against the Church in SA

One of Satan’s most effective counter strategies against the seed of God is the manifestation and the rise of false prophets and apostles, we see it in SA particularly because most of this fakery is propagated from the sources where true ministry ought to flow.

Just as God is sending true prophets and apostles and sending good seed in the guise of believers to SA, many of whom will be economic or spiritual migrants, the devil is doing exactly the same thing with a view to countering what God is doing. When the bible says we are in warfare, this is a dimension of it.

Some of these people God is sending or sent may never have known that God took the there for the purpose of bringing Him and the kingdom to South African people, they had in their minds economic freedom, God had something else in mind. God never told Joseph he was going to Egypt, he didn’t really need to know, He just needed to be faithful where he was.

In conclusion Christians in Nigeria and South Africa need to be aware of the undercurrents and the behind the scene actors at play and give themselves to prayer particularly for the political leadership of both Nations.

Suggested Points of Prayer

• We need to pray that God’s prophetic counsel over the nation will stand and that satan’s plan and purpose will backfire spectacularly.
• The Church must not encourage retaliation and revenge as that is not a God strategy.
• We need to take authority over the devils of violence, murder and bloodshed that have been released over the nations.
• Pray for the political leadership in South Africa that God may grant them the wisdom and the boldness to address the natural and economic issues through which the enemy is manipulating the people.
• Pray that God will send and release His true ministers to and in the nation of South Africa to do what He has sent or planted them in the nation to do.
• Pray for the Church in South Africa to find her voice and embrace her identity as the representatives of Jesus and His Kingdom and that the virus of racism and its root pride be exhumed from amongst her.
• Pray that the Church in South Africa will become a model for racial healing, love and grace
• Pray that God’s judgment will be strong against unrepentant false prophets, deceivers and charlatans and that those under their influence will be delivered form their deception.
• Pray that the God ordained relationship between both nations will be strengthened and restored.
• Pray that God will expose and uproot criminal elements, gangs and those that the devil has planted to corrupt the field that He has planted.

If this has blessed you, please share and like.

Tonye Oliver