WHEN THE BLOOD OF JESUS WILL NOT WORK FOR NIGERIA: Why Nigeria Continues to Regress Despite Ceaseless Prayers and Bigger Churches (Dr Ope Banwo, The Mayor of Fadeyi, Founder of Naija Lives Matter and Former Pastor takes a spiritual look at the Core Problem of Nigeria)

Nigeria, the land of endless prayers, night vigils, and church services, remains a paradox. Despite booming auditoriums and the resounding cries of “Blood of Jesus!” the nation continues to flounder. Why? Because we have misunderstood the principles of Jesus’ Lordship and Saviorship. We shout His name as Savior but ignore His teachings as Lord. The result? Spiritual noise without practical impact despite having the biggest church auditoriums and biggest church gatherings in the world. 

The Ignored Recipe For Blessings in 2 Chronicles 7:14

God’s recipe for healing and blessing a nation is straightforward, as He laid out in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

This passage makes one thing clear: God’s blessings are conditional contrary what some pastors will want to make you believe. He will heal the land not simply because we pray but because we turned from our wicked ways.

This is where we miss it in Nigeria. We cry out to God for prosperity, peace, and progress but refuse to meet the conditions to get it. God’s promises are always conditional. It’s rarely absolute. We reject the hard work of repentance, righteousness, and justice while demanding miracles from heaven and God LOL!

The Difference Between Saviorship and Lordship that many Christians Are conveniently Ignorant About

From my own understanding of scripture, Jesus Christ offers two roles: Savior and Lordship. As Savior, He redeemed us with His blood, opening the gates of heaven to believers. As Lord, He calls for obedience and alignment with His teachings, which are necessary for thriving on earth.

Unfortunately, many of us Nigerian Christians and our Church Leaders and few political leaders who even claimed to be born again have embraced the Saviorship of Jesus as a magic wand to escape consequences but have rejected His Lordship, which requires responsibility, discipline, and change.

The Bible reinforces this principle in Matthew 18:18: “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” This means our actions on earth must align with heavenly principles before we can expect heaven to act on our behalf. Heaven is telling us it CANNOT AND WILL NOT ACT until we have acted on earth

This verse literally changed my own life once I got it. Now I know if I want something to happen, I better get off my ass and go hustle for it so heaven can back me up . I realized going to vigils to ‘decree and demand’ God to bless me when I have not sown the seeds or hustle to get it is just a waste of God’s time bordering on mockery of God. So I stopped doing same thing by praying and praying and expecting a different result. I wish Nigerians too will stop and reflect on that verse

I don’t pastor anymore for many reasons but one of them is the frustration of realizing that most Nigerians, indeed Africans, at home and abroad, love to cling to the salvation of Christ but reject the Lordship of Christ in our daily action and yet expect everything to be giving to us by Jesus .

At one point I had to ask myself: How do I pastor a people who come to church expecting me to do miracles when all I want to teach is the principles of Jesus? How can I even get Jesus to really take us serious when even I as their leader still struggle with basic stuff of the flesh? So I left and I have had no regrets though I will go into some churches once in a while to preach and go my way 

I strongly beleive that the work of creating personal and corporate blessings and prosperity in Nigeria is not going to come through embracing the blood of Jesus (that’s for Heaven) but through embracing the Lordship of Christ . Sadly most Nigerians are not ready for that because irs hard and when you read the Sermon On the Mount where Jesus forcefully laid out the manifesto of his Lorsldship you know it is serious work not a matter of talk or shouting “Jesus is Lord!”. It’s a matter of DOING that faith or belief that Jesus is Lord .

Ironically those who tried to tel us that all we need is the blood of Jesus have never been able to satisfactorily explain to me or themselves why Jesus will open his ministry with the Sermon on the Mount if we no longer need to obey the hardcore principles he laid out in that sermon any more because of the blood, and which he fleshed out in so many parables later, on how to thrive on the earth . They stand on the pulpit and proclaim “All you need is Jesus!” And then decree blessings and prosperity. Never mind the fact that the own they decreed last year at cross over night has not come true yet.

In the end the only peopel that seemed to be enjoying that ‘prosperity’ appears to be the pastors and their families who now live in mansion la and drive best cars around, while the overwhelming followers still deal with abject poverty, lack and oppression as they come back every Sunday for more “Receive your prosperity!’ Blessings

What a sad spectacle

Fact of the matter: If Nigerians sow corruption, disobedience, and apathy, heaven cannot “loose” prosperity, peace, and progress for the nation. You can plead the blood of Jesus until you are blue in the face. It won’t happen 

Where I think many of Us In Nigeria Miss the Mark.

Note that I used the word ‘us’ so I am not even excluding myself in our collective mistake or should I dare say ‘foolery’ as a nation?

Many Nigerians want the rewards of obedience without the responsibility.

We pray for prosperity while electing KNOWN corrupt leaders.

We cry for divine intervention while supporting wicked systems.

We sow disobedience and demand blessings.

We emotionally support the older, richer and more powerful among us any time a younger and poorer person calls any of them out as being corrupt . When someone calls out our judiciary for corruption that we all know is present, instead of using that opportunity to demand total investigation and purging of our judiciary and elders we all rally round ‘protect’ the same judiciary from embarrassment and maybe well deserved shame .  We collectively resolve to snuff out the ‘audacious rebel’ and then wonder why nothing changes . Yet we remain convinced that the blood of Jesus will bail us out of our mess

it’s depressing . And I am depressed even as I think about this this morning

Imagine a child begging for pocket money and appealing to your love as a parent, while refusing to clean their room or do their homework, and listen to their mother,  instructions that you as a parent has set as the requirement to be qualified for pocket money. That’s Nigeria. We tell God, “I know you love me, so bless me anyway,” while blatantly ignoring His conditions for blessing.

This is why 2 Chronicles 7:14 remains unrealized in Nigeria. We pray and seek His face, but we refuse to turn from our wicked ways. Until we humble ourselves and do so, our prayers are like empty noise.

The Role of the Church in the ongoing mess in Nigeria:

Despite being blessed with so many respectful and blessed Men and women of God, The Nigerian church has also largely failed in its role. Many pastors focus on building better and bigger auditoriums rather than building better citizens. They love to preach salvation and tell us how giving our tithes and offering is the magic formula to be blessed but shy away from teaching the hard truths of accountability, discipline, and obedience.

many of them embrace and even elevate known looters who run into their houses when pursued by the police but refuse to call out evil for what it is and refuse to tell their congregation that he who refuses to work shall not eat. They do it because unfortunately they knew that’s not what their people want to hear and won’t come in their numbers if that’s what they are teaching

That’s why a hardcore bible teacher like Gbile Akanni does not have the biggest church in nigeria . The man is downright scary in preaching the principles for earthly survival and heavenly journey that we all need

Our prayers often fall into the category of misplaced priorities. We fast and pray for miracles, but as Jesus taught, divine intervention mostly follow obedience, not noise. We often rely on the extraordinary and very very few times when God does miracles to imagine thats what God wants to do or will do everyday . Yet fact is Jesus preached for about 40 months (3 and half years) and only did 36 recorded miracles . That’s LESS than 1 miracle a month!, thus proving that miracles were NOT his preference but obedience to His teachings and parables

As Matthew 6:33 says: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Instead of aligning with God’s kingdom principles, we shout, “Blood of Jesus!” and hope for shortcuts and miracles and some of the unscrupulous men and women of God indulge us with their mostly fake and exaggerated miracles.

The blood of Jesus is not a magic bullet. It saves our souls, but it does not exempt us from the consequences of disobedience.

An Imaginary Conversation Between Jesus And God over Nigerian Problems:

I often Imagine the following conversation in Heaven between God and Jesus as they agonize over how such a blessed nation keeps crawling like an invalid in so many areas :

Jesus: “Father, this Nigeiran problem is get serious o. Is this how we will be looking at them? My Daddy! You know they are supposed to be the trigger to establish Your Kingdom all over Africa and beyond

God: You know the deal and you know I can’t really bless them until they do the right things by following your teachings that you died just to bring to them?

Jesus: But my Daddy, what about my blood? You accepted my blood as atonement for all their sins, before and after they accept me as their Lord and Master? Didn’t my cover everything for them?”

God: “Yes, Son, your blood covers their salvation and guarantees them a place in heaven. But their success on earth depends on accepting your Lordship. There is a reason I said they must accept you as LORD AND SAVIOR. It’s clear that Nigerians, that’s even the few of them that did anything with you and your work on earth, want you as Savior but reject you as Lord. They refuse to obey your teachings yet expect me to bless them as if they do.”

Before Jesus could even think of what to say, God continued “I know you feel for them since you are all about Love as I wanted you to be but you know I have to balance my infinite love for them with my eternal justice or this whole human experiment won’t work.”

God continued “Even you as my Son did not get glorified until you obeyed my will to lay down your life for them on the cross though you tried to dodge it in the garden of gethsemane and you obeyed when I didn’t listen to you in the garden. Right? So if I didn’t wave this eternal rule of my ultimate Lordship for you, how can I waive the demands of your own Lordship to them? “

Jesus, ever loving, but knowing Daddy is always right, bows His head sadly, willing Nigerians in His Spirit to remember His teachings and align with His principles to God can be activated to help them through his own ceaseless supplications.

Meanwhile, the angels, watching our vigils and misguided prayers on Sundays, stifle their laughter as they hear, “I decree prosperity in Nigeria! I decree progress!” from many pastors

God has been clear: Heaven operates by principles, not sentiments. If Nigerians sow corruption, greed, and disobedience, we will reap destruction. If we sow righteousness, justice, and humility, we will reap blessings. The Blood of Jesus will not intervene and has refused to give intervene in such cases in Nigeria 

The Blood  of Jesus is the Passport, Visa and Boarding Pass to Heaven, Obedience to His Lordship on earth and the principles for prosperity and wellness he laid down on earth, is the tax clearance you need to be entitled to His providing you the goodies of the kingdom of God on earth as the Lord Of All

 

The Path Forward The Way I See It (and of course I could be wrong):

The solution to our problems are n nigeria right now is not more prayers or bigger churches; it’s repentance and alignment with God’s principles. So, Here’s how I believe Nigeria can begin to align with 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Matthew 18:18:

1. Humble Ourselves in our personal lives, in government and inter personal relationships 

We must Acknowledge our failures as individuals and as a nation. True humility means admitting our complicity in electing corrupt leaders and supporting unjust systems. True humility is not stifling the few that want ot fight corruption . True humility is recognizing we have rot in our major systems from executive to judiciary and boldly backing calls for it to be cleansed. It is prideful to say someone should be thrown in jail for calling out corruption instead of giving him every opportunity to prove if if we can and censure him financially if he cannot. 

2. We must Pray right and CORRECTLY Seek God’s Face. Not meaningless night vigils where we are demanding blessings when we have sowed courses. 

Prayer is powerful, but we must pray aright and it must be accompanied by a sincere desire to align with God’s will. This means seeking His direction, not our selfish ambitions.

Praying presumptuous prayers and trying to ‘order God and his angels’ is only noise that even endangers us to committing mockery of the most High God which will in turn make our situation worse

I honestly think our prayers these days must be more on Greece to make all of us realize our complicit my in the hell we are living in and begging for the grace to know when and how to repent and wisdom on how to turn from our wickedness . Asking or decreeing for blessings form heaven now is an ignorant and even impudent thing to ask the Hloy, loving but JUST God who is a consuming fire even as his mercies continue to endure to give u la more opportunities to stop and rethink

 

3. We all must Turn from Our Wicked Ways- top to bottom 

This is the hardest but most critical step. Corruption, tribalism, greed, and apathy must be uprooted from our hearts and systems. This includes holding leaders accountable and rejecting the culture of impunity.

Unfortunately it looks like we are not ready to do this though we all say we are tired of corruption in our leaders.

Yet when the few brave ones among us are bold (or is it ‘stupid’) enough to call out some from among us who may or may not be corrupt, we spit on them, put them in handcuffs and insist they must go to jail for their audacity. We hesitate to put the perceived strongest among us to the real test of the accusations .

We don’t even allow the person making the accusation to have a level playing field to prove his allegations.

We allow those accused of corruption to use their powers to put him in jail and handcuffs while watch our judges give ex parte orders to further grind him down

What a shame of a nation that groans under the weight corruption of corruption everywhere but too timid to stand up and stamp it out and won’t even help the few who are bold to try

4. We must Sow Righteousness (and righteousness is NOT quoting scriptures!)

Just as farmers cannot expect a harvest without planting seeds, Nigeria cannot expect blessings without sowing righteousness, justice, and accountability.

Right now you and I must ask ourselves : what righteousness did you sow today ?

 

5. Our leaders Must Lead by Example or we must get new leaders 

Our churches and political leaders must teach and model these principles. The focus must shift from emotional prayers to actionable change, from shouting “Blood of Jesus” to living out His teachings.

We must also resolve to do away with this damning tribal DNA where even the most intelligent among us feel they must support someone in power simply because he or she is form their tribe . We must stop being vocal only whether someone from the other tribe is in power and insist on same level of performance from all regardless of tribe

In my opinion the shocking way many of the one tribe closed ranks to protect their own when they get to power but not performing is another major reason why the blood of Jesus is not working for Nigeria as it should . The Blood can never and will never avail for evil doers no matter how hard we pray and fast

My Own Personal  Call to Action (it may be impetuous but it’s what think) 

Nigeria is at a crossroads. We can continue crying for blessings while ignoring God’s principles, or we can align ourselves with His Word and unlock His promises.

As 2 Chronicles 7:14 reminds us, God is willing to heal our land, but we must do our part. Until then, the blood of Jesus will not work for Nigeria—not because it has lost its power, but because we refuse to align with the principles that activate it.

It’s time for Nigerians to stop expecting miracles from nothing. Instead, let’s sow the seeds of righteousness, humility, and obedience. Only then can we truly bind prosperity on earth and loose it in heaven.

Afterall, the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power and we do not get that power without the Lordship of Jesus being fully embraced

Jesus also once said to those who beleive in him , ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”(John 8:31-32). This emphasizes that freedom—spiritual, moral, and even societal—comes from abiding in Jesus’ teachings and living by His truth not just shouting “blood of Jesus!” like a babalawo mantra .

We need to go back to DOING the words of Jesus if we really want His Blood to work in Nigeria. There is no choice .

So I will end this my early morning rant with  Matthew 7:24-27, where Jesus concludes His chilling Sermon on the Mount (which underpinned the entire part of his ministry that has to do with his Lordship) with the parable of the wise and foolish builders: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

This chilling advise from Jesus underscores the importance of not just hearing Jesus’ teachings but actively applying them in daily life. The Blood of Jesus cannot , and will not work for you, in the daily survival hustle on earth until you and I go back to doing the right things the right way under the Lordship of Christ . It’s a wonder that many of us Christians never connected the Sermon on the Mount to the Lordship of Christ we willing profess. We prefer to say ‘we are no longer the law!’ when that really has to do with with Saviorship . Not Lordship 

Until we do this, we will continue to reap what we sow.

Yes, My name is Ope Banwo, Founder of Naija Lives Matter and I say nigerian lives cannot begin to matter until we focus on what matters