NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES
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NO. 11, SEPTEMBER 2004
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NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES
NUMBER 11, SEPTEMBER, 2OO4
A THEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE ON THE PENTECOSTAL
EMPHASIS ON MIRACLES IN NIGERIA
Pius Abioje
Abstract
Christianity is becoming more and more synonymous with miracleseeking and miracle-working in the view of many Nigerians. This scenario is
apparently due, in particular, to the Pentecostal over-emphasis on the
miracular benefits that are derivable from being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Consequently, the real concern of I he Lord Jesus about seeking the kingdom of
God, in terms of loving God and one's neighbour, has been undermined to a
great extent. Many Pentecostal Christian pastors find evangelists in Nigeria
preach faith in Jesus Christ as a way to obtaining miracles of healing,
success in business, and other forms of breakthroughs, such as getting rich,
being blessed with the fruit of the womb, getting the right husband or wife, et
cetera. One's conviction, based on this research, is that if fear and love of God
expressed in love of one's neighbour, justice, honesty, mercy and compassion are
preached as vigorously as many Christian leaders now preach faith in Jesus for
miracle, the Christian image and influence will be much closer to what the Lord
Jesus desired, and Nigeria as a whole may be better challenged to be a country
of virtue rather them of vices, as it is generally the case currently.
Introduction
It is hardly controvertible that many of the mainline Christian
denominations, such as the Catholic, Anglican and Methodist
Churches, have lost many of their members to Pentecostal Churches,
such as the Apostolic Church, the Redeemed Christian Church of
God, the Church of the Lord, Aladura, the Deeper Life, Faithful
Assembly, Bethsaida, and so on. In 1999, Fidelis K. Obiora listed 1,018
names of Pentecostal Churches, with no assurance that he was
exhaustive (Obiora: 1999, pp. 21-30). One's observation is that the
* Dr. Pius Abioje is of the Department of Religious Studies, University of llorin, Kwara State.
buoyant conversion to pentecostalism is consequent upon the
pentecostal propaganda about miracles that are said l o i n In Clod through the
pastors.
As a result of loss of members to Pentecostal churches
pentecostal tendencies have been allowed to flower in traditional
churches. This fact is well articulated by E. A. Li v in (1980) when he defines
pentecostalism as:
A modertt religious movement, now represented not only by
specifically Pentecostal Churches but also within the main
Christian denominations (where especially in the Roman Catholic
Church, it is better known as 'Charismatic Renewal'). It's adherents
share a common belief in the possibility of receiving the same
experience and-gifts as did the first Christians 'on the day of
Pentecost' (Acts 2:1-4). They emphasize the corporate element in
worship (often marked by great spontaneity) and lay special stress
on the practice of the gifts listed in ICor. 12 and 14 and in Acts (e.g.
'speaking in tongues' or glossolalia, prophecy, healing and
exorcism) (391).
The pentecostals are also known for giving testimonies about God’s wonderful
deeds, whenever they gather for worship and fellowship.
The purpose of study is to examine the effect of the Pentecostal
miracular emphasis on the image of Christianity in Nigeria, a better
understanding of what Christianity is all argument is that too much
emphasis on miracle beclouds concern of Jesus Christ, and prevents
many Christians approaching life realistically and pragmatically.
The discourse is developed under three sub-headings: the pentecostal
emphasis on miracles; the place of miracles in the ministry of Jesus Christ; the
negative effects of the pentecostal stress on miracles and the conclusion.
1.
The Pentecostal Emphasis on Miracles
As already indicated, in the quot at i on from E. A. Livingstone, the
pentecostals believe in the possibility of receiving the same experience and gifts as
did the first Christmas on the Pentecost day (Acts 2:1-4). They, therefore,
exhibit speaking in tongues, exorcism, deliverance from evil forces,
healing and breakthrough testimonies, whether genuine or counterfeit.
With specific reference to Nigeria, Fidelis K. Obiora (I9W) notes:
In every nook and cranny of the country, especially in the
Western Region, voices are heard day and night with
microphone and bell announcing that Jesus is the answer,
while they do not posit any intelligible question to
anyone. Sequel to this, the country is spilled and split
with 'proclamations' of salvation, revivals and crusades
where people are promised everything (including
solutions to all problems under and above the sun) (15).
It goes without saying that prayer is crucial to the pentecostals, as to
anybody who seriously believes in God. But the way many of the
pentecostals pray is often different from that of the traditional
churches. There are those of the pentecostals who appear to think that they
could force the hands of God through commands rather than praying in
the normal way. Many of the Pentecostal groups would shout, "Praise
the Lord", chorused with "Alleluiah", and they would thank the Lord for
having heard their prayers, even though no one knows the source of
their certainty that God has heard their prayers. One would think that God
cannot be fooled, and He has the right, the wisdom and the1 knowledge1 to
decide which prayers to grant. While the Lord Jesus is reported to have
prayed often while in the world, He is likewise reported as having the
highest regard for the will of the Father. He is quoted as saying: "My
food is to do the will of the one who sent me" (John 4:34). He is also said
to have accepted His death as the will of the Father (Mtt. 26: 36-46). He
taught His disciples to always pray that the Father's will may be done on
earth as in heaven (Mtt. 6:9-10).
Viewing the subject of prayer from another perspective, Dieter (1994)
argues that the importance of prayer can never be overestimated. At the
same time, he adds that "speaking of prayers is at the same time speaking of
fasting", and the kind of fast that God wants is that people stop oppressing
and exploiting fellow him beings. He paraphrases Isaiah 58:6, where
God is quoted explaining what the best form of fasting involves, stating:
I want you to share your food with the hungry and bring
right into your own homes those who are helpless, poor
and destitute. Clothe those who are cold and don't hide,
from relatives who need your help. If you do these things,
God will shed his own glorious light upon you (25).
If many Christians in Nigeria, not to mention only pentecostals, were to
understand prayer and fasting in this way, their influence in society would
have been much more positive. On the contrary, many pentecostals in
particular emphasize faith, prayer and miracle's of healing and success in
life. Many of the miraculous claims .undoubted by many non-pentecostals.
Hence Dieter Benz notes that:
Mainly from the large established churches the' opinion is
spread, that on our days there is no miraculous, let me call it
'JESUS HEALING' any more. This statement is the outflow
of our governing, dominant materialism, of our corrupt
excessive- sell indulgence (27).
One may react by saying that Benz is entitled to his opinion. What is
clear is that the Bible is a compendium books emanating from different
authors, backgrounds and ages. It contains diverse ideologies and
tendencies, and some1 limes people feel free to pick and choose. Many
pentecostals might have picked on certain passages of the Bible and think
that Christianity is no more than actualization of gifts and talents, and
obtaining miraculous favours from God. No wonder, in the Nigerian
experience, many pentecostals in particular would not only give
testimonies about God's miraculous works in the life of individual
members in their assemblies, but advertise :heir churches as miracle
centres.
Indubitably, many pentecostals quote a number of passages from
the scripture to support their miraculous approach to Christianity.
One finds a fair summary of these in Benz's article, where he charges
that:
But the Holy Bible says: '. . . and these signs will
accompany those who believe in my name: they "will
place their hands on sick people and they will get well.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And
the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person
well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will
be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other, and pray for
each other, so that you may be healed.' (Cfr. Mark 16:1718, James 5:13-16) (p. 28).
Yet, the same Jesus is quoted as saying that anybody who would follow Him
should carry his/her cross (daily difficulties) along (Mtt. 10: 38). Beyond that,
one would think that a Christian should be interested in knowing the place of
miracles in the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, since He is supposed to be
the Leader and the Model for Christians. Was miracle-working central to His
ministry?
2.
The Place of Miracle in the Ministry of Jesus Christ
Before one can determine the place of miracle in the ministry of Jesus Christ, it is
absolutely necessary to know what miracle means to the evangelists who
authored the gospel accounts. Ordinarily speaking, Charles Hefling Hefling notes
that:
A miracle is an astounding event, astounding because it is
extraordinary, and extraordinary because what has occurred is or
involves a breach of the usual natural order. Nature, 'on its own'
does not bring forth miracles, if they occur, the laws of nature
must, by way of exception, have been suspended or overridden,
and such a suspension can only be ascribed, directly or
indirectly, to God (Hefling: 1996: 662).
With specific reference to the miracles of Jesus Christ, St. Thomas Aquinas
states that:
The miracles of Christ, like all miracles, are works of divine
power. For a miracle is, by definition, a work that surpasses all
power of creatures. Christ is God, and can directly exercise the
divine power in working miracles; as man, Christ is the
instrument through which the miracles are wrought (Cfr. Glenn:
1978:349).
It would appear, however, that many contemporary theologians do not limit
themselves to the simple perspective of St. Thomas Aquinais The Bible Reader's
Encyclopaedia and Concordance notes, for instance, that miracles of the Bible
"are called signs or works, not portents or exhibitions of power nor even deeds
exciting wonder or contrary expectation." (Wright: 1977: 252). This point is
corroborated
by Charles Hefling who states that many "contemporary
theologian" see biblical miracles as "a vehicle of meaning, a sign, which invites
(though it does not compel) the personal response of commitment” Furthermore,
he observes that the miracle episodes "were recorded, not by detached and
'neutral' observers, but by interested parties, Christians for whom faith in
Jesus as the Christ made all the difference." Therefore, according to
Hefling, "for contemporary biblical scholarship, then, the first question to
be asked about miracle stories is not 'What really happened?’ but rather, ‘what
is the meaning conveyed by this narrative-?" (Helfling: 1996: 662).
The bottom line is that since nobody can authoritatively confirm
or deny, al this historical point in time, the factuality of the miracles that
are credited to Jesus Christ in the Gospel accounts, it is better to
concentrate on what they might mean than on whether they truly look
place. For instance, it stands to reason that the story about Jesus Christ
walking on top of the sea signifies that Jesus Christ had, or the author
believed that He had control over natural forces: As Joseph A. Fitzmyer
notes: "Jesus of Nazareth or the real 'Jesus of history' led a full life as a
Palestinian Jew and said or did many things to which modern historical
investigation has no access" (Fitzmyer: 1991: 11).
The foregoing is based on the realisation that the gospel
accounts are not simple history, but include benefits of "hindsight,
meditation, faith in him as the risen Lord, a developing christology, and
echoes of later church concern." (Fitzmyer: 1991: 10). The fact remains
that the gospel accounts were written more than a century after the
departure of Jesus Christ, and there was no tape or video recorder, and
so the evangelists could not but rely on oral tradition and their own
creative faculties.
Many simple Christians may still think of inspiration as
implying that every story in the Bible is inerrant or true in a historical
sense, but biblical scholarship does not seem to support this
assumption currently. Raymond E. Brown (1975) succinctly explains, for
instance:
Inerrancy is a corollary of inspiration: It has been
repugnant to Christians to posit error in a Bible for
which God had an author's role and responsibility. Only
gradually have we learned to distinguish that
while all scripture is inspired, all scripture is not inerrant. The
first step in narrowing the scope of inerrancy is to recognize
that the concept is applicable only when an affirmation of
truth is involved. In the Bible there are passages of poetry,
song, fiction, and fable where the matter of inerrancy does not
even arise. A second step is to recognize that not every
affirmation of truth is so germane to God's purpose in
inspiring the scriptures that He has committed Himself to it
(115).
It is not impossible that some or many of the Gospel miracle stork-.1. belong
to the fictional and fable genres. Robert C. Broderick (1975) notes that
scripture miracles were used to prove revelation. With specific reference to
the miracles that are ascribed to Jesus Christ, he-notes that the intention was
to prove three points: "that He was tin-Messiah (Mt. 11:4-6, 12:28, Jn. 1:3034), that He was the saviour (Mt. 9:2-8, Mk. 1:34, Lk. 4:34-37, Jn. 10:25-38),
and that He was the suffering servant (Mt. 8:16, Cf. Is. 53:4)." He concludes
by adding: "The miracles we read about in the gospels, like those of the OT,
are signs more of what they reveal than we learn from the nature of then
execution" (391).
Very often, miracles are attributed to religious heros. For instance, in
the life of Patriarch Abraham, there was the miraculous appearance of a ram
(Gen. 22:1-18). In Abraham's life, and in the lives of his descendants, God is
reported to have worked near innumerable miracles. Principal among the
miracles was the Exodus event, which included many of the miracles that
God performed through Moses and later through Joshua. God is also said to
have performed miracles the lives of the Judges, Prophets Samuel, Elijah and
all the other Prophets. Yahweh is said to have, among other things, brought
victory to the Jews in wars that they would have naturally lost, halted both the
sun and the moon for Joshua, fed people with manna from heaven, gave water
from the rock; multiplied food stuffs; cured and healed the sick; raised people
from the dead through Elijah, and so on. It cannot be surprising, therefore, that
God is said to have worked many miracles through Jesus Christ, such as healing
the sick, raising the dead, exorcism, multiplication of bread and fish, entering a
locked-up room without unlocking and so on. In the words of Daniel Harrington
(1994):
The (Gospels present Jesus as a healer and exorcist, as
transcending the laws of nature (walking on water, stilling a
storm, etc.), and restoring dead people to life (Lazarus, the son
of the widow of Nain, Jairus' daughter). His resurrection from
the dead is the New Testament counterpart of the Exodus as the
great sign of God's power (574).
Thus, God is said to have worked miracles both in the Old Testament (OT) and
in the life of Jesus Christ. Since neither the OT nor the gospel accounts are
completely historical in every detail, certain embellishments cannot be ruled out.
Biblical inspiration and inerrancy do not mean that God dictated the contents of
the Bible to the hagiographers, as it is claimed for the Qur'an. For instance,
hardly is any Christian taking seriously today, the Pauline injunction that women
should not speak in the assembly of God's people (ITim. 3:11-14).
With regard to the subject-matter of this discourse, one would argue that
anybody who believes that God works miracles in his or her life, such as this
researcher, cannot doubt the possibility of miracles. As The Bible Render's
Encyclopaedia and Concordance states:
One of the gravest obstacles in the way of believing that God
answers prayer is that to do so would be to alter this own natural
and moral laws, and hence to change his mind. The answer must
be along such lines as to ask, 'What is God's mind? According to
Jesus, it is fellowship with man and that for ever. All
else subserves that great plan, and prayer, the medium
whereby man enters into communion with his God, is surely
provided for in the scheme of creation (Wright: 1977: 293).
At this juncture, the issue of the place of miracles in t h e mission
and ministry of Jesus Christ can be addressed, having made some necessary
clarifications. Essentially, one has explained that Jesus could have
performed some or many miracles. There is no indication, however, that He
made miracle-working His principal p inoccupation. On the contrary, one
reads that He was sometimes reluctant to perform miracles (e.g at Cana in
Galilee, John 2:1-12). The also refused to perform any of the miracles asked of
Him by the devil, saying: "It has been said: 'You must not put the Lord your
God to the test'". (Luke 4:9-12).
The evangelists portray Jesus as recognizing the power of faith.
They quote Him as saying that anybody with a little amount of faith can
move mountains with ease (Mtt. 17:20). Yet, He did not take kindly to people
asking Him for a sign or miracle before they could believe in Him (Mtt.
12:38-39 & Mark 8:11-13). In the words of Helfling: "Those who
'demand a sign' obstinately laying down then own conditions for believing in
Jesus are consistently refused" (1996:662).
Thus, even though Jesus Christ might have performed many
miracles, like most prophets before Him, He did not see miracle working as
His major concern. For Him, what brings fulness of l i f e i s obedience to the
law of God, which makes Him to reign in people’s lives, and kindness,
mercy, compassion and goodness in general may be in vogue throughout the
world. (Cfr. Mtt. 5:6-10 & 25:31-46). That does not seem to be the principal
concern of many Pentecostals.
The Negative Effects of the Pentecostal Stress on Miracle
It would seem contradictory to believe in God and deny the
possibility of miracles. God is commonly conceived as omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent and ever active. Th us, one would agree with
Daniel J. Harrington, in his observation lha I some of the philosophical
objections to the possibility of miracles "a rise from an outmoded and
mechanistic view of nature". His advice that "nevertheless, even
believers should maintain a cautious prudence about the extent to which
God works miracles directly or indirectly through secondary causes"
(1994: 574) also sounds highly imperative.
One can buttress that advice with the report of an incident that
happened in Ibadan, South West Nigeria, a couple of years ago. A
person claiming to be a prophet was reported to have sneaked into a
lion's enclosure in the zoological garden of the University of Ibadan,
with a Bible and a pastor's staff. He was said to be telling fellow
visitors to the zoological garden that with faith one could even
challenge lions. But before five minutes, he was killed by the lion.
This incident was recalled in a newspaper, when recently a
pentecostal healer was reported killed by a mad man that he was
supposed to cure. The spiritual healer, whose name was given as
James Atanga, was said to be the charismatic group leader of St.
Theresa's Catholic Church, Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital. The
incident is said to have happened during a special healing crusade.
(The. Monitor, Tuesday, July 1,2003, p. 32).
It goes without saying that a fanatical or lunatic belief in
miracles can be extremely dangerous. While it may be true that it is not
every pentecostals that is as imprudent as the two persons in the stories
told above, it has to be admitted that pentecostalism as an idealistic
enterprise could fuel such dangerous tendencies.
It is highly indubitable that most pentecostals encourage people
to have a childish faith in God, forgetting the values of maturity,
caution and prudence. How is one to avoid a justification of Sigmund
Freud (1856 - 1939) who traced the origin of religion to illusion? Shay
Kelly (1997) quotes him as saying that:
Religion is a projection, an illusory fulfilment of our
most infantile feelings of helplessness and dependency along
with our need for security and protection against the
harshness of life and the seeming futility of death.
Confronting this fundamental existential situation, people
seek refuge and consolation in the illusion of omnipotent,
all caring and loving, God-like father-figure (59$).
I h is study discovers that the approaches and the utterances of many
Pentecostals in Nigeria can lead some people to think that Freud may be right.
In the words of Clyde F. Crews, Freud thought that religion constitutes "a
fertile ground for the growth of neurosis and psychosis" (I98d: 76). One's
opinion is that, that is not necessarily the case, if the approach lo religion is
mature and realistic. For Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel accounts,
real life does not consist in search for miracles as many pentecostals seem
to be saying, but in love of God and neighbour.
In the same vein, many pentecostals in Nigeria, through their
excessive emphasis on miracles, prevent many Nigerians from facing life
realistically and pragmatically. Investigations revealed that many
pentecostals encourage people to spend more time in the church, at
evangelistic and prayer crusades, revivals, night vigils and prayer
meetings than at work. Members and prospective converts are rarely told of
the virtues of hard work, honesty, mercy and compassion. More often than
not, they arc told that faith in God is all they need to have the best of life.
(Cfr., for instance, "Only Prayers can move Nigeria Forward" in Sunday
Champion, June 23, 2002, p. 15). Iheanacho Nwosu, in a report, quotes
Bishop John Obiokeke, who is also a pentecostal, as advising pentecostal
pastors "to stop clothing their messages with deceptive promises and teach
their followers how to emerge out of their woes." The Bishop was said to
be disturbed and regarded as "totally unacceptable, a situation where
some preachers rather than teach their congregation on how to work hard
and live lawless life, lavish them with promises of miracles." (The article
is titled: "Pentecostal Pastors Tasked", in Sunday Champion, June 23,
2002, p. 15).
That mention of "promises of miracles" reminds one of the
charge of Karl Marx that religion is no more than opium of the
people. The opium offers temporary satisfaction until the effect wears off.
In a similar way, many people flock to pentecostal assemblies, where
they are told that Jesus is the only answer to their problems, as if they
need not make any effort at all. One would have thought that heaven
helps those who help themselves, and that life is nothing ventured
nothing gained, nothing sowed nothing to reap.
On another note, when people look only onto God, they tend to
be unmindful of the fact that they could take certain steps, such as
protest, resistance and non-cooperation, against their socio-political and
economic exploiters. Power (though not omnipotence) belongs to the
people, but blind faith in God, as represented in too much emphasis on
miracles, can eradicate a people's potentiality for self-liberation.
Hence the status quo very often abuses religion to deceive,
fool, tame and exploit the people. That is why some political leaders
sometimes preach better than professional pastors. Nigeria has
witnessed many occasions when some of the political leaders have
prescribed prayers in cluirches, mosques and other places of worship.
They have occasionally prescribed prayer and fasting for a number of
days, simply to distract attention from themselves and dodge
responsibility. Reuben Abati (1999) articulately notes this point:
A prayer for us is a selfish tool of social interaction or a
vehicle of political expediency as represented by
General Yakubu Gowon's 'Nigeria prays' which
indeed is an ad-hoc resort to the use of prayers as a tool
of political engineering. We even love to blackmail
Clod (10).
The bottom line is that over-emphasis on miracles helps to compound t h e
gullibility and the vulnerability of many Nigerians. Too much stress on miracles
is also negative in another direction: It is directly and indirectly encouraging
materialism. For one thing, t h e objects of their desired miracles are usually
materialistic in nature: health, wealth, prosperity and security or protection, for
instance. Another f a c t o r i s that miraculous promises and claims draw people,
and the larger the number of people, usually the larger the amount of money and
power tha t accrue to a church founder and pastor. Hence people talk of
commercialization of Christianity, and in an impoverished country, such as
Nigeria, it is not surprising that the phenomenon is a thriving business.
Conclusion
One can say, without any fear of contradiction, that Christianity in
Nigeria is largely characterised by miracle-seeking, claims and promises of
miracle-working, due largely to the pentecostal approach to the religion. The
pentecostal over-emphasis on miracle tends to overshadow and marginalize
the real concern of Jesus, which is establishment of the reign of God on earth,
so that people may do His will in the world as in heaven. The kingdom or
reign of God implies justice, mercy, kindness, truthfulness, honesty,
uprightness and generosity which are farfetched in Nigeria, even though the
worship of God can be seen to boom, through main so called men and women
of God.
A fact discovered in the course of this study is that many pentecostal
pastors do not involve themselves in socio-political and economic analysis of
any kind. Hence, the issues of justice, honesty and fairplay rarely feature in
their evangelization. Engelbert Beyer (1998) also discovered that:
In the Celestial Church of Christ, Elders appointed in read the
sermon during service are strictly forbidden from making
reference to newspaper publications, or any matter of political
nature, or one that affects government or is derogatory to
other religious organisations. They are strictly enjoined to
limit themselves to the word of God in the Bible whenever
there is service in progress (26).
That prevalent attitude among many Nigerian pentecostal
pastors in particular implies official indifference to the socio-political
and economic plight of the people of God, under the pretext of
spirituality. Meanwhile, as Reuben Abati (1999) notes:
You must have heard of pastors who snatch other
people's wives, imams who rape young girls, and
church wardens who steal church funds. And these are
no exceptions: the House of God has since been
overtaken by contractors and speculators, for whom
religion is a route to commerce, fraud and crime (10).
One must confess that in the interviews conducted in the
course of this research, many interviewees actually felt that it was
wrong for religious pastors to dabble into, intervene or comment on
socio-political and economic matters. But, a few people felt that
pastors should appeal to the conscience of socio-political and
economic actors, since Christians are serving a God of justice, mercy,
truth and fairplay. They also believe that, like the prophets of ok,
including Jesus Christ, Christian pastors should not justify total
aloofness on socio-political and economic issues, and advocate only
miracles.
That would be very much unlike Jesus Christ who
antagonized evil perpetrators, including those in the ruling class. But
dishonesty and fear of losing favour and income may prevent a pastor from
imitating Jesus Christ and the other good prophets of old.
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