Primate of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Mr Nicholas Okoh yesterday in Ilorin took a hard look at the current situation in the country and said: “We are in a spiritual blindness”.
He Proffered: “where spiritual blindness and poverty persist in a nation, it will eventually result in economic poverty, breakdown of social system and emergence of heartless people who will make the time perilous”.
He said when leaders lead without the counsel of God, they grope in darkness “and will not see what makes them stumble.”
Okoh speaking at The Standing Committee Meeting of Church of Nigeria holding at The Cathedral Of St. Barnabas Ilorin with the theme “The Poverty of Riches” said “the blessings of nation resources with which God has blessed Nigeria” had no impact on the wellbeing of the people.
The reason he said Nigerians “are forsaking the giver and putting our confidence in gifts”
According to him, the Church in Nigeria “cannot be successfully separated from the spiritual poverty of the nation” as evidenced in the divisions, greed, spiritual short-sightedness and confidence in wealth” all around even in the church.
Okoh told members that the Church “has very strong connection with the nation. It is the members of the church that make up the state; therefore, to a large extent, the life of the church impacts the nation and vice versa”.
He pointed out that the spiritual climate in the church in Laodicea “when the Lord described as disgusting and lukewarmness was also a reflection of the city itself and the life therein”.
“Though the city was rich as was the church, but the poverty of their riches was evident.
This situation, Primate Okoh said “comes closer” to helplessness in Nigeria because the church which would have challenged the decay being witnessed in the country today was herself half-dead.
Primate Okoh however said, hope was not lost as “God can heal and restore Nigeria if we can heed His call. “Any part of His creation, including the nations, which submit to God, shall receive His blessings”.