Why Silence Isn't Always Golden, By Ayo Akerele

The sickness of silence is unprecedented. There is nowhere in the Bible where God's people, whether in the Old or New Testaments, are told to turn from evil. In any case, God commands us to speak up, to expose the evil or to approach the wrongdoer to correct him with love. To be silent when evil is raging will multiply evil in scale and scope. This is the root cause of the massive destruction of our nation by evil politicians. Why? They know people won't react.

A few days ago, I had a long call with a man of God in Nigeria, who chose to tell me about a development that he considered truly troubling. According to him, he attended a believers' conference at a popular venue in the southwest of the country and, to his surprise, the host taught them not to pray in the name of Jesus and to get their prayers answered. . The man called it a new son-ship revelation. Indeed, he said that “we are all sons of God as much as Jesus and no longer need the name of Jesus to do anything”. The place was packed and at the end of the meeting the host decided to pass on that unique son grace to the attendees. I told him in plain language that the pastor was working for Satan and misleading the Church. But here's the problem: nobody talks about it. The church is silent. He's having a good day.

He is now bringing with him thousands of young Nigerians, some of whom will also become pastors and further magnify his mistakes. Following this experience, another dear sister contacted me with something similar, and even much worse. According to her, a generation of ministers has emerged in her region who have huge followings of thousands of young people and teach that the Bible is imperfect, incorrect and not to be trusted as the word of God. Now, how do you stay quiet in that kind of environment? How do you mind your own business when Christ's church is taken over by jackals and false teachers, all of whom have huge followings? If you care about your children, the next generation, and the whole body of Christ, and don't want to depopulate heaven for hell, you will rise up and raise your voice beyond the four walls of your bedroom and beyond the four walls of your churches.

One of the major scourges paralyzing African society is that of silence. Our culture is deeply rooted in silence. We equate silence with dignity. We equate silence with divine approval and spirituality, even in the face of evil. Therefore, evil continues to grow by leaps and bounds in our society, and even much worse in the church. An average Christian in Africa learns to look away from evil. Don't talk about it. Leave it to God.

If you are a man and a woman of truth, keeping silent and focusing only on your work and your ministry will be catastrophic in this season. God did not raise you up for your congregation alone, but for the whole body of Christ. It is this lack of understanding that causes many of us to shut up and take the “face your ministry” approach. There will be no ministry when the body of Christ is completely taken over by jackals and hyenas. Eventually some of the people you call your members will be influenced by these false ministers through the media and other platforms. If you can speak on the radio, speak to the nation and the body of Christ. If you can write books, write lots and tell the truth you know for the sake of the next generation. If you can host talk shows and documentaries on television, do it and teach the truth you know. But do them with love.

One of the major scourges paralyzing African society is that of silence. Our culture is deeply rooted in silence. We equate silence with dignity. We equate silence with divine approval and spirituality, even in the face of evil. Therefore, evil continues to grow by leaps and bounds in our society, and even much worse in the church. An average Christian in Africa learns to look away from evil. Don't talk about it. Leave it to God. Let God fix it. And what have these practices brought us? The massive decay of values ​​in our societies and the proliferation of false prophets, false doctrines and bad practices in...