Nigeria, The Land of ApostleNaires
At this morning’s staff Bible devotion, our Director of Spiritual Care decided he “doesn’t want peace, he wants problems” and opened 1 Corinthians 9 to talk about what it means to be an apostle. Predictably, our delightfully diverse, multi-denominational staff took the bait—respectfully, insightfully, and (thankfully) without resorting to blows.
The conversation sent me digging into Scripture to answer a simple question:
If you’re going to call yourself an apostle, what does the Bible actually require of you?
And by “require,” I don’t mean “have a large ministry logo, a few international trips, and a new suit.” I mean the biblical kind: authentic signs and wonders (2 Corinthians 12:12; Acts 5:12), direct commissioning by Christ (Galatians 1:1; Acts 1:21-22), suffering for the gospel (2 Corinthians 11:23-28; 1 Corinthians 4:9-13), planting churches and raising spiritual sons and daughters (1 Corinthians 4:15; Titus 1:5), defending sound doctrine (Acts 15; Galatians 2:11-14), and breaking new ground where Christ has not been named (Romans 15:20).
In other words, things that can’t be faked long-term.
That study also revealed that there’s a difference between the office of an apostle and the role of one. The office, in the strictest sense, belonged to those personally sent by Jesus Himself, think the Twelve and Paul (possibly Barnabas and a few others) laying the Church’s foundation. The role, however, can still be seen today in those pioneering gospel work, planting churches, and raising leaders… but the role doesn’t make the title automatic, and the title doesn’t prove the role.
Which brings me to Nigeria, where the title “Apostle” can be handed out as freely as gospel pamphlets at Ojuelegba bus stop. My checklist-research led me to another Christian blogger who absolutely nailed the wider conversation. His name is Akin Ojumu, his blog is called, The African Plume, and his piece, titled Nigeria, The Land of Apostlenaires, captures the “apostolic title inflation” phenomenon far better than I ever could.
So, I’ll let him take it from here.
NIGERIA, THE LAND OF APOSTLENAIRES
If the wealth of a country were determined by the abundance of Apostles found in the country, Nigeria would be the wealthiest nation on God’s earth. It is a land crawling with Apostles. Everywhere you go and anywhere you turn, you are inundated with men and women who call themselves Apostles.
Throughout the entire Bible, there were only 13 Apostles that we know of. Nigeria, by comparison, is so rich in Apostles, we put the ancient world of Biblical times to shame. If you step out of your house and take a stroll down the street in any Nigerian town, you are most definitely bound to run into an Apostle or two before you walk 1 kilometer.
Perspectively, the current WHO estimates suggest that Nigeria has 1 medical doctor to 6,000 patients as opposed to the recommended 1 medical doctor to 600 people. In contrast, no such shortage of Apostles exists in Nigeria. In fact, you can say with all confidence and no fear of contradiction that Nigeria is a nation of apostlenaires. There are more Apostles in Nigeria than are medical doctors. By my own conservative, albeit anecdotal, estimate, for every 100 Nigerians there is at least one man of God who has the title of Apostle before his name. If you think in terms of economic growth indices, like one of my high school classmates is wont to do, that’s a pretty darn good Apostolic Domestic Product (ADP) that puts to shame the GDP of many developed nations.
As apostle-rich as Nigeria is, it ought to be a benefactor of other poor nations – sending them apostleship aids and establishing apostleship relief funds to help these apostle-poor nations. In fact, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nigeria, being the headquarters of International Apostlary Fund (IAF), should be writing off the debts in apostleship in the apostle-poor nations around the world.
To give you an idea of the vastness of Apostles in Nigeria, the following are the names of a few of the Apostles in the country that immediately come to mind.
(1) Apostle Johnson Suleiman – President & General Overseer, Omega Fire Ministries International
(2) Apostle Joshua Selman – Founder, Eternity Network International (ENI)
(3) Apostle Joseph (Wale) Adefarasin – Senior Pastor & General Overseer, Guiding Light Assembly (GLA)
(4) Apostle S.E. Igwe – President, Apostolic Church Nigeria
(5) Apostle Anslem Madubuko – General Overseer, Revival Assembly
(6) Apostle Arome Osayi – Founder, Remnant Christian Network (RCN)
(7) Apostle Alexander Bamgbola – Zion the City of the Lord Ministries
(8) Apostle Michael Orokpo – Reverend, Remnant Christian Network
(9) Apostle Eugene Ogu – Abundant Life Evangel Mission
(10) Apostle Chris Omashola – Zion Wealth Church
(11) Apostle Joshua Izoduwa – The Major Prophet of the Northern Part of Nigeria
(12) Apostle Paul Okikijesu – General Overseer, Christ Apostolic Miracle Ministry
(13) Apostle Apostle Chinomso Mbah Nmagha Jesus – Citadel Bible Church
(14) Apostle Gordon Osagiede – General Overseer, Spirit and Life Bible Church (SLFBC).
(15) Apostle Debrah Eunice Osagiede – General Overseer, Spirit and Life Bible Church (SLFBC)
(16) Apostle Elo Okor – President of LPFM
(17) Apostle Livingstone Iniabiecheton Lambert – Founder & General Overseer, Livingstone Home Of Miracles Ministry
(18) Apostle Ezekiel Adenipekun – Mercy Throne Mission
(19) Apostle Jide Adeleye – Jide Adeleye Global Outreach
(20) Apostle Paul Adenuga – General Overseer, Faith Revival Apostolic Church (FRAC)
(21) Apostle Theophilus Ebonyi – Senior Pastor, Faith on the Rock Ministry International
(22) Apostle Sunday Eleojo Wada – President & Founder, Power Must Change Hand Prophetic Ministry
(23) Apostle (Dr) Ogochukwu T. Amaukwu – President & Founder, Excellent Christian Ministry International Incorporated
(24) Apostle King Omudu – Senior Pastor, Shelter of Glory
(25) Apostle Paul Odola – General Overseer, Dominion Power Assembly international
(26) Apostle Paul Ameh – Paul Ameh Ministries International
(27) Apostle Edith Grace – Woman of Great Grace
(28) Apostle (Dr) Emmanuel Nuhu Kure – Overseer of Throne Room (Trust) Ministry
(29) Apostle Sam Okpe – Itinerant Preacher
(30) Apostle Elo David
(31) Apostle Godspeed Orokpo
(32) Apostle Philip Cephas
To say that this is by no means an exhaustive list is a gross understatement. It does not even begin to scratch the surface of the depth of Apostles in Nigeria. To those Apostles whose names are missing from this apostolic list, I owe you apostolic apologies. Do not be crossed with me that you are left out of the Forbes List of Nigeria’s apostlenaires. No offense is meant, and no slight intended.
From a purely transactional sense, you'd think these many apostles concentrated in this one place would count for something transformational in the lives of the people. With this number of apostlenaires, you'd expect that medical professionals in Nigeria should all be in the unemployment line looking for other jobs, and the hospitals doors should all be shuttered because sickness and diseases have been banished from the land. As a result of the multitudes of Apostles in the land, deaths should have lost its sting, Hades completely powerless, and funeral homes and undertakers out of business.
Likewise, the police force and security apparatus. They all should have been abolished because crimes have ceased and criminals have turned into saints. Armed robbery, kidnappings, banditry, corruption, 419s have all been eradicated by the virtue of the apostolic power that flows from the mouth or magic wands of Nigeria’s apostlenaires. With so many apostlenaires in the country, the place ought to be a paradise – a heaven on earth. Nigerians ought to be safe, secure, and full of abundant health.
That Nigeria is a hell on earth – a haven of kidnappers, den of robbers, a sanctum of crooks, and sanctuary for all sorts of sickness and disease – is a phenomenon that should raise suspicion in the mind of even the average inquisitive person about the apostleship of Nigeria’s apostlenaires. With the widespread chaos and the pervading mayhem that exist in the country, it won’t be blasphemous for anyone to question the legitimacy of Nigeria's apostles. You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to quickly come to the conclusion that the title of apostle is nothing more than another label title-loving Nigerians give themselves.
The criteria and qualifications for apostleship are spelt out quite clearly in the Bible for anyone who cares to look into the perfect law of liberty that is able to set people free from bondage of deception. To be an apostle, you must have been (1) chosen directly by Jesus Christ himself and, (2) witnessed the resurrected Christ (Mark 3:13; Acts 1:22–24). That's the primary and fundamental definition of the term apostle (Greek: apostolos) in the New Testament. Besides the 12 disciples of Jesus and Matthias who was later on elected to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:22–26), the only other person that met these criteria was Apostle Paul who had an encounter with Jesus on the way to Damascus (Acts 9, Rom. 1:1, Galatians 1:1, 1 Peter 1:1, etc.).
There's a second general use of the term apostle in the New Testament and it refers to "messengers (apostoloi) of the churches" (2 Corinthians 8:23. These apostoloi include faithful men like Barnabas (Acts 14:4), Silas and Timothy (1 Thessalonians 2:6), Titus (2 Corinthians 8:23), Andronicus and Junia (Romans 16:7), etc.
If we were to rely strictly on the Bible and go by what the Word of God says, there's only one conclusion that can be drawn. It's scripturally impossible for there to be apostles in the church today and it is a biblical implausibility for anyone to lay claim to the mantle of an Apostle in our day. Neither apostles nor the messengers of the churches were self-perpetuating. There's no record in the New Testament that apostolos and apostoloi were replaced by modern day apostles.
But heck, what does the Bible know and who cares about the Word of God? What's to stop anyone from giving themselves the title of apostle and who's there to prevent any holy roller from joining the ranks of apostlenaires?
