CAN THESE BONES LIVE?

This article was written for the April edition of our in house Journal "The Pavilion Jot" at a time our nation was preparing for the General Elections. But because it is the Proceeding Word, it is still as relevant as it can be.

May you be blessed as you read and please pray for Nigeria.

Ezekiel 37:3, 9-10
3 And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." 9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." “10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. NKJV

Obadiah 21
21 Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau,
And the kingdom shall be the LORD's. NKJV


How time flies, it seem like yesterday when a group of young people stepped out of their comfort zones; where heads have reached the roof of spiritual growth and adventure, when there was a deep hunger for fresher, newer and powerful experiences with God; it is almost unbelievable that five years have gone by and it is as if we have not even started.

We thank God Almighty for keeping the Vision fresh and supplying strength to sustain momentum to keep going forward seeking fresher and more accurate positions in God.

Our fifth anniversary is coinciding with a momentous period in the history of our nation Nigeria and this is why I believe God is having me open this article with the prophecies of Ezekiel and Obadiah to show that there is still a long way of to the promised greatness but that we are no longer where we used to be as a nation, there is great hope because the process has begun.

The nation is in dire need of saviours today just as Israel needed a deliverer in the closing days and years of their Egyptian bondage. I also believe that Nigeria is the closing days and years of her political and spiritual bondage.

We are at a period of transition into our fifth republic and most importantly the nation is attempting to transit from a civilian to civilian administration for the first time; the nation is indeed teetering on threshold of a significant change which will without doubt determine the course of events that will either shape and establish this nation as great nation or further delay the greatness.

The greatness of this nation is guaranteed, there is nothing that can alter it, this nation cannot fragment; I believe that God has destined that the Emekas will forever be brothers the Oluseguns and the Aishas will forever be sisters to the Priyes. Nigeria will forever be ONE according God’s plan and intention.

Flesh and blood did not reveal it to General Yakubu Gowon when he made his foremost declaration in the early 70s that “To keep Nigeria ONE is a task that must be done”.

I believe that keeping Nigeria ONE is a divine intent, but it requires human cooperation as called for by General Gowon and this will definitely happen because it is needed to attain that level of greatness that we pursue, but the time and season of the fulfillment of this might be delayed for generations if there is no deliberate effort to provoke a social transformation that will upturn the present situation of things and establish a society where righteousness and justice reigns, where people do not hide behind politics and ethnic bias to cover for misdeeds.

But there is no earthly institution or structure that can achieve this remarkable shift; just as there was no form of negotiation that could have freed Israel from Egypt; it will require an institution with links to powers and wisdom that is beyond this realm to effect such a change; it will take the power of belief to effect the much needed change in our society and in the nations of the world.

Corruption in Nigeria is no longer a practice or something to be seen as a mere national phenomenon, it has matured into a culture, a cause, a belief and an institution with passionate adherents, just as terrorism, homosexualism can no longer be regarded as a mere practice, it has become a belief, that is, a cause that the adherents are willing to give their lives for its perpetuation; it will therefore take a belief with superior powers to remove such beliefs from our society and the only institution on the face of the earth with such superior powers to make any meaningful impact on such institutions is the CHURCH.

In the words of Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister “we cannot only conquer the evil of terrorism not buy guns and bullets but by our beliefs”.

It has therefore become imperative for the Church in Nigeria to respond to God’s challenge for His agency on earth to rise up to her responsibilities and utter His voice.

We are being called in KCP as God is calling many other Churches who are willing to let His opinion reign in their affairs at this momentous period of our national history to assume our position as Prophets, Priests & Kings in the earth beginning from our sphere of influence in our region.

We act as Prophets to declare God’s counsel through as many means that he will give to us.

The Church is the conscience of the society and we must rise up to subject our nation to profound scrutiny. Because of our access to the word of God, the Church is the only institution that is in that unique position to articulate what is wrong and why it is wrong.

This involves the holding up of Biblical standards of justice and righteousness as against the merely expedient or conventional; we cannot afford to be partisan or be sympathetic with some political views; our objectivity must be kept sacrosanct.

The word of God cannot be held captive to any ideological system; it is both an affirmation and a critique of whatever social system is in place

We operate in the priestly office by bringing the need of the nation to God and the power of God to the nation in intercession because we are only qualified to criticize or comment on national issues when we have talked to God about the state of our nation.

It is in the pace of intercession that the Church truly becomes an alternative power centre, a place where social wounds can be healed and the disillusioning process of social transformation empowered by supernatural hope. It is naïve to think that we can confront beliefs supported by entrenched powers of evil with merely sophisticated techniques of political persuasion and ideological warfare. Without the critiquing and empowering presence of God in the heart of our reformation projects, we lose our relevance and purpose.

Prayer is not a pious instrument by which we get God to anoint our enterprises, it is entering the strength of Him who moves history and binds the powers that be.

The Church in Nigeria need to be delivered from this prevailing self oriented and sacrifice evading mode of Christianity and come to a place of utter belief where we are not just willing to live for God but die for His cause if need be.

Ultimate and genuine social transformation happens in the deepest of places where only God can go – in the hearts of men and it requires men and women who are willing to pay the price by setting aside personal needs for God’s need.

It requires a group of boys and girls who reject this “dance oriented” youth ministry and receive some responsibilities from God as youths like Daniel and Joseph did in Bible and released God to wrought a great transformation in their day.

We must complete the cycle by operating in our kingly office by managing our nation under God; there has been a lot of talk about the operation of the Church in the market place, but little has been done about the talk, BUT THE TIME IS NOW.

To reign as kings in the world does not mean that we hold political offices primarily, but it speaks of the our creative subjugation of the forces of the world; a situation where we take over by serving our nation by identifying areas of decay and coming in as SALT; seeing areas of darkness and coming in as LIGHT.

It is time for the Church in Nigeria to take more seriously the creative mandate to cultivate the earth and rule over recalcitrant forces that seek to destroy the nation through corruption and injustice which manifests in ecological crisis, epileptic power supply, lack of security of human lives, monstrous traffic situation in our major cities and confused educational policies.

God at this time is bringing us face to face with the state of our nation and He is asking us as He did Ezekiel “can these bones live”? Can this nation truly become great?

It is necessary for Our Vision to graduate into a Movement, a belief, it is then that we can effectively engage our society and make meaningful impact as we make manifest His manifold wisdom; it is then we can become saviors who will chart a new course for our nation.

The time has come for us to stand for all that we have heard and accepted to be truth.

Welcome to my Blog

This is to welcome you to my blog. My name is Dotun Reju, I pastor a Church in Jos City Nigeria.

This blog will be served every month and the focus will be on the Proceeding Word that I preach weekly in our Church "The Kingdom Citizens' Pavilion" here in Jos city Nigeria. It will also highlight excerpts from my personal journal especially as it concerns the state of the Church in Nigeria and the extent to which the Church is engaging in the social, economic, political and of course the spiritual realities of our nation.

My belief is that the purpose of the Church is not to meet on sundays and another day of the week for Bible study but to communicate God's opinion on all issues that affects mankind to the world in which the saints live.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God Matthew 4:4 .

Thank you for visiting my blog, I am looking forward to heari ng from you

Pastor Dot