02/06/2026
THE CHURCH IS NOT A SCAM: A PROPHETIC REFLECTION FOR NIGERIA
When Bishop Godfrey Igwebuike Onah declared during the dedication of St. Patrick's Church, Mkpunase Ovoko, that "The Church is not a scam; fake Christians can become scams," he was not merely responding to critics of Christianity. He was issuing a prophetic challenge to the Church, to society, and indeed to every Christian. His words touch one of the deepest crises confronting contemporary Nigeria—a nation that is among the most religious in the world, yet continues to struggle with corruption, insecurity, poverty, injustice, and moral decline.
The statement is striking because it neither denies the failures that people see around them nor attempts to defend everything done in the name of religion. Rather, it makes a critical distinction between Christianity itself and those who misuse it.
Today, many young people look at the religious landscape and ask difficult questions. They see churches multiplying while poverty increases. They hear prayers rising from every corner while corruption remains deeply entrenched. They watch political leaders profess strong religious convictions while public institutions continue to fail. They observe some religious figures living in extraordinary luxury while many of their followers struggle to survive.
Consequently, some have concluded that religion itself is the problem.
Yet history teaches us otherwise.
For more than two thousand years, Christianity has survived emperors, persecutions, wars, revolutions, heresies, scandals, and ideological attacks. The Church survived the Roman Empire that sought to annihilate it. She endured the barbarian invasions, the Black Death, the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment, the rise of atheistic ideologies, and two devastating World Wars.
If Christianity were merely a cleverly designed scam, it would have disappeared centuries ago. Fraud may survive for a season, but it cannot sustain itself across millennia, inspire countless saints, build civilizations, transform cultures, and continue attracting believers across every continent.
History reveals a different truth. The greatest threat to Christianity has never come from those outside the Church. Rather, it has often come from Christians who fail to live according to the Gospel they profess.
This was precisely the problem Jesus confronted in Jerusalem.
When Christ entered the Temple and drove out the merchants, He was not condemning religion. He was condemning the corruption of religion. The Temple itself was holy; what had become corrupt were the actions of those who turned a house of prayer into a marketplace.
The same pattern repeats throughout history.
Whenever Christians have genuinely lived the Gospel, society has benefited. Hospitals emerged. Universities emerged. Orphanages emerged. The poor were cared for. Human dignity was defended. Entire civilizations were elevated by Christian values.
However, whenever Christians pursued greed, power, tribalism, selfish interests, or personal enrichment at the expense of truth, the credibility of the Gospel suffered.
Nigeria today stands at precisely this crossroads.
We are a nation overflowing with religious activities. Churches and mosques dominate our landscape. Religious programmes fill our airwaves. Prayer meetings attract enormous crowds. Religious slogans have become part of our daily vocabulary.
Yet corruption remains widespread. Public resources are mismanaged. Elections are often manipulated. Violence continues to claim lives. Many families struggle under economic hardship. Young people increasingly lose confidence in institutions.
The disturbing irony is that many of those involved in these societal failures are active participants in religious communities.
This is why Bishop Onah's statement is so profound.
The question before Nigeria is no longer whether we are religious. The real question is whether our religion is transforming us.
A politician may attend church every Sunday and still embezzle public funds.
A businessman may donate generously to church projects and still exploit his workers.
A priest may preach eloquently and still fail in personal integrity.
A parishioner may receive Holy Communion regularly and still engage in fraud.
In each of these situations, Christianity is not failing. Rather, Christians are failing Christianity.
The Church cannot be blamed for sins she condemns.
There is another dimension of this discussion that deserves serious attention in contemporary Nigeria: the growing scandal of false prophecies and religious manipulation masquerading as Christianity.
Across the country, many young men and women who once approached religion with openness and reverence have become deeply skeptical. Not necessarily because they have rejected God, but because they have encountered forms of religion that appear more concerned with sensational predictions than genuine conversion.
Prophecies about elections, miraculous wealth, supernatural breakthroughs, mysterious enemies, and impending catastrophes are frequently proclaimed with absolute certainty, only to fail repeatedly. Yet every failed prophecy leaves behind disappointment, confusion, and wounded faith.
Historically, this phenomenon is not new.
The people of Israel repeatedly struggled with false prophets who claimed divine authority while speaking from their own ambitions and imaginations. The Old Testament prophets consistently warned against those who proclaimed, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken.
These individuals exploited the fears, hopes, and vulnerabilities of the people for influence, prestige, or material gain.
The tragedy is that when false prophecy becomes normalized, many people do not merely reject the false prophet; they begin to reject faith itself. Having been deceived in the name of God, they conclude that God Himself is a deception.
Consequently, many young Nigerians are drifting toward various forms of neopaganism, secularism, radical skepticism, and spiritual relativism. Some now place greater confidence in astrology, occult practices, ancestral mysticism, internet spirituality, and self-constructed belief systems than in the Gospel of Christ.
This development should concern every sincere Christian.
For while the Church proclaims Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, false prophecy often substitutes truth with spectacle, discipleship with entertainment, and faith with emotional excitement. It creates followers of personalities rather than followers of Christ.
Instead of producing mature believers capable of carrying their crosses, it often produces religious consumers perpetually searching for the next miracle, the next prediction, or the next sensational revelation.
One of the greatest services the Church can render to contemporary Nigeria is therefore the restoration of authentic Christian witness.
The Gospel was never primarily about predicting tomorrow's headlines.
Christ did not establish the Church as a fortune-telling institution.
He came to reconcile humanity with God, transform hearts, teach holiness, and establish the Kingdom of God among men.
In this regard, Bishop Onah's statement becomes even more relevant.
When people encounter religious fraud, commercialized spirituality, manipulative prophecy, or exploitative miracle claims, they may be tempted to conclude that Christianity itself is fraudulent.
Yet such a conclusion mistakes the abuse for the reality.
The existence of counterfeit currency does not prove that genuine currency does not exist. On the contrary, counterfeit currency exists precisely because genuine currency exists.
Likewise, the existence of false prophets does not invalidate Christ. It merely demonstrates that some people have chosen to exploit His name.
The challenge before the Church in Nigeria is therefore not only to condemn corruption in politics and society but also to courageously confront every form of spiritual exploitation within the religious sphere. For whenever Christianity is reduced to a marketplace of predictions, prosperity formulas, and fear-driven manipulation, it ceases to reveal Christ and instead obscures Him.
Bishop Onah's reference to Nehemiah offers another important lesson for our nation.
After the destruction of Jerusalem, Nehemiah understood that rebuilding walls alone would not save the people. Alongside physical reconstruction, there had to be moral and spiritual renewal.
Infrastructure without character eventually collapses.
Buildings without values become monuments to corruption.
This lesson is profoundly relevant to contemporary Nigeria.
We often discuss roads, electricity, technology, economic reforms, constitutional amendments, and political restructuring. All these are important.
Yet history repeatedly demonstrates that no society survives on infrastructure alone. A corrupt mind will misuse good roads.
A dishonest official will steal public funds regardless of economic policy.
A greedy leader will manipulate any political system for personal advantage. Ultimately, a nation rises or falls on the character of its people.
What Nigeria desperately needs is not merely institutional reform but moral reform.
This is where authentic religion remains indispensable.
At its best, religion reminds humanity that there is a moral order greater than personal interest, ethnic loyalty, political ambition, or economic gain. It teaches accountability before God when human accountability fails.
The dedication of a church, therefore, is not primarily about bricks, cement, roofing sheets, and architecture.
It is about dedicating a people to God.
Indeed, Bishop Onah's most profound reminder may have been that the faithful were consecrated before the church building was consecrated.
The physical church is only a sign.
The true temple is the human person transformed by grace.
Nigeria does not merely need more churches. Nigeria needs more Christians who are truthful when nobody is watching. More public servants who fear God more than they fear public criticism. More business people who value integrity above profit. More citizens who place the common good above personal gain.
The crisis of our nation is not ultimately a crisis of religion.
It is a crisis of authenticity.
The challenge before every Christian, therefore, is not merely to defend the Church against criticism but to live in such a way that the criticism loses its foundation.
For when Christians truly become what Christ calls them to be, families flourish, communities prosper, justice grows, corruption diminishes, and society is renewed.
The Church is not a scam.
But whenever Christians abandon the Gospel while claiming to represent it, they create the illusion that it is.
The future of Christianity in Nigeria may depend less on how loudly believers preach and more on how faithfully they live.
For in the end, the most convincing argument for the Church has never been a cathedral, a sermon, a miracle claim, a prophecy, or even a theological treatise.
It has always been a transformed life.
And that is precisely the challenge that Bishop Onah's message places before Nigeria today.
Teclus Ike Ugwueze
