Caveat: These signs are not particular to any denomination.

No.1 – Falsehood: This would include the pulpit lies during sermons and preaching, all in a bid to convince people. The Word of God that is alive and active does not need to be assisted with lies in order to bear fruit in people’s lives. God is truth and preachers owe their congregation the truth. Once falsehood creeps into the life of the community, then that community would constantly live in the tension of being exposed. I bet you, devil loves this type.

No. 2 – Fake Miracles: This is related to number 1. There are many fake miracles in Nigeria today, some which have been sufficiently proven. I do not think that the essence of Christianity is miracle. The danger is that people will begin to seek miracles instead of God, and priests/pastors will become miracle merchants. Besides, it is God who works miracles and not priests or pastors or bishops or men/women of God, whatever we choose to call them. The more the public unmasks the many fake miracles, the more we render the Word and work of God less credible.

No.3 – Cult Personages: This implies the cult following of individuals who are gifted with charism in the church. It may be a ‘powerful’ priest or pastor. Today it is common place to hear people partition God and associate God with a particular person: ‘God of Fada dis or dat’ or ‘God of Daddy dis or dat’ The more the attention is placed on the individual charismatic personality rather than God, the more we slide into idolatry of a kind. At least, let us allow them to die first, before we canonize them.

No.4 – Lack of Accountability: Some church leaders find it difficult to account to the church. They consider the church as a private property and so owe nobody any explanation. Related to this is the over-docile congregation, who never asks questions nor demand accountability from the leaders. Accountability would include not only matters of finance but also of other aspects of church life and pastoral administration.

No.5 – Disunity: Division and lack of unity among different churches in Nigeria is quite a terrible thing. This has affected the message in most churches since they spend time denigrating other churches for the sake of getting more members and earning more territories. It has impeded the gospel message because it contradicts the Gospel of love and unity. More still, the society is worse off because of this. Now imagine a situation where all the Christian churches in Aba are on the same page concerning bad governance. I bet you, whoever is in-charge of that State would sit up.

No.6 – Insufficient Theological Training: This becomes very evident first in the quality of preaching. The Bible is used to justify every agenda, and interpretation of the Bible is tailored to personal interests. Some would apply a barrage of Bible quotes to entertain rather than educate. Those who have balanced theological training should also keep updating themselves, and incorporate social analysis in their teachings given the peculiar nature of Nigeria and its problems.

No.7 – Abuse of Members: This would include psychological, sexual/moral and financial abuses. Today, there are cases of sexual abuse of minors in the Nigerian church. This is sad and regrettable. Priests and pastors are caught in the web. There are also other abuses like incessant financial fleecing of members. In some cases, curses are used to threaten members into doing things that they ordinarily wouldn’t want to do.