By Chioma Obinagwam
There are many strange nations but the meanest of all the nations is “procrastination”.
Confiance News gathered from Pastor (Mrs) Helen Oyitso of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) on Sunday.
She said,”There is danger in doing what you ought to do today, tomorrow.”
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“Delay can be dangerous, when it comes to the issue of life, delay can be dangerous. Many people have gone to hell because of delayed obedience; some people fail to do what they are supposed to do,” Oyitso continued.
She noted that God respects prompt obedience.
Taking her text from the book of Matthew 21:28-31, Oyitso stressed the need for everybody to wake up to the preaching of the gospel.
Speaking further on the dangers of procrastination she noted that Agrippa could not become a christian because Felix procrastinated in the book of Act 26 vs 28.
Oyitso frowned at the slow growth of Christianity globally.
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“The world’s population is about 8 billion. Out of that 8 billion, we still have over 3.2 billion people that have not been reached with the gospel.
“We talked about the global death statistics. The averagely we were told that two people will die every second. 108 will die every minute, 6400 people die every hour, 155,000 people die everyday, 1,000,850 people will die every week, 4.7 million people on the average will die every month, and 56.8 million people will die every year. I’m sure that even with Covid these figures would have even changed.
“Of all these people that have been reached, Christianity today is about 2.3 billion, that is an average of 31 percent of the population of the world today are Christians. The average growth rate of Christianity is 1.2 percent but look at Islam, the world population of Islam today stands at 1.9 percent. 24 percent of the world, they are Islam.
“In few years back, Islam began to grow at an alarming rate to extent that the annual growth rate of that religion is now 1.9 percent. Christianity in the 80s used to be 3 point something percent but we have dropped from 3 point something to 1.2.
Oyitso noted that people of the other religions are mustering available resources to win souls.
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For example, Islam, they’re using everything; they’re using money. They’re using Corporate Social Responsibility. You see, they support the work so much that if a Christian gets converted, a prominent Christian gets converted, they will establish him but our own, no be so. They use violence; they’re using sports,” She disclosed.
“We need to wake up. Christianity in Europe is almost dead. All the churches are empty. They’re closing their churches and they’re selling their churches,” the clergywoman lamented.
“When light fails to shine, darkness will overshadow light. When good sits down and does nothing, bad will take control. God will hold you and I responsible. Wherever we are, no matter what is happening, we must shine as light of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must show the world that there is still light,” She warned.
She advised Christians to use their lives and resources ensure that the gospel is no longer hindered in Nigeria.
“God is not going to come down to do the work; He has empowered us. Everyone of us we need to wake up because the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is very very near,” She noted.
She, however, urged Christians to refrain from the “Sin of the desert”.
“There is a sin called the sin of the desert. Let me tell you the definition of that sin. People are in the desert looking for water and you found water and you decide to drink the water and you did not tell the other people. Is that not a sin? That is what happens when you’re born again and you fail to ensure that other people are born again. It is a sin of the desert and God is not pleased with that,” She explained.
Oyitso cited examples of devout Christian missionaries which include Helen Brand, Leah Sharibu among others who worked tirelessly and relentlessly for the gospel and urged others to emulate their good works.
Citing Isaiah 6:8 she said,”Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?’
Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’”
She stated that in an effort to spread the gospel, the church has secured lands in South-Sudan and Rwanda to erect churches; adding that no amount is small to support the gospel.
“As I speak to you, we’ve bought land in South Sudan, we’ve paid for it. We have land in Rwanda. We’re waiting for them to give us the bill of quantities so that we can send them the first instalment. Like I said, we’re doing a lot. Women partner with us; men partner with us. Many of us cannot go to the villages but our money can go. If we only have 2000 people in the whole of LP 40 who will be giving us N1000 every month. N12,000 a year times 2000 that is 24 million. 24 million in a year will build six churches. All the villages that don’t have churches in this Nigeria, we will begin to locate them one by one and build churches so that souls can be saved,” She appealed.
