A Brief Survey of the Patterns of Picking and Mixing (Syncretism) in Nigerian Christianity

By Nkem Emeghara Udum Adah

The study presents to every searching mind a brief history of the coming of Christianity to Nigeria that began in the 1840s, and goes on to examine brief attempts at making the faith attractive and acceptable to the people. This practice of making the faith acceptable to the people came to a head after the First World War, following the failure of the white mans medicine to provide solution to the influenza epidemic that was close to wiping out the population of the southern part of the country. The natives resorted to mixing Christianity with the faith of their forefathers. This accounts for the emergence of the prayer groups known as the Aladura and from then a culture of picking and mixing continued until it became rife and eventually became a major feature of the Christianity in Nigeria. The group included here are representative of the major classification of these groups and practices. Included are the el messiah church, Reformed Ogboni Fraternity (indigenisation), Godianism (political emancipation), Holy Aruosa (political cum religious emancipation), and the New Pentecostals and Charismatic movements of today who are more attracted by power and miracles.

The author warns that evangelical Christianity must be protected and that if the trend of picking and mixing is not checked only the heavens know how much deeper the fabric of Christianity would be destroyed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Feb 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514465066

Nkem Emeghara Udum Adah

Professor Nkem Emeghara Udum Adah is known for his uncompromising biblical approach to doctrine and theology. He is a pastor of the Baptist persuasion by training. He was privileged to study in renowned institutions in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. He has been under the influence of many renowned biblical evangelical teachers especially in the UK and USA. He is very independent minded. He has taught theology, philosophy, biblical studies, and law in many universities in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. He has a passion for unadulterated biblical Christianity.

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Copyright © 2016 by Nkem Emeghara Udum Adah.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5144-6505-9

                eBook            978-1-5144-6506-6

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KJV

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

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Rev. date: 02/19/2016

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2 THE REFORMED OGBONI FRATERNITY (THE OGBONI/ROF)

CHAPTER 3 THE GODIAN CHURCH

CHAPTER 4 THE EL- MESSIAH CHURCH

CHAPTER 5 THE HOLY ARUOSA- EDO NATIONAL CHURCH OF GOD

CHAPTER 6 NEO- PENTECOSTAL SYNCRETISM

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

I dedicate this book especially to the lady who was shot point blank in the Nairobi Mall for identifying herself as a Christian and to all others who were murdered in cold blood by Muslim assailants all over the world: murderers who failed to realize that Christians and Muslims are fighting a common enemy called 'Secularism' from the Western world.

PREFACE

Christianity in Nigeria as seen today could be said to have begun with the missionary work of the established colonial mission groups who were part of the early incursions of foreigners into what is today known as Nigeria, also a foreign creation. This group as has been said for centuries had the Bible in hand as a cover, a pretence to evangelisation as their primary aim. They made good efforts that enabled them to enter into the territory that came to be called Nigeria in the fifteenth century(1472 and 1485). It was in the 19th century that candid succeess were made by a new wave of attempts to 'christianise' the people. This attempt could be said to have also helped to begin to shape the form that the faith was to take. As has been known these efforts introduced the type of Christianity that had already been highly mixed with the customs, traditions and cultures and ways and manners of the various invaders' native lands in the cover of Biblical Christianity. This was to emensely confuse the evangelised native peoples of Nigeria.

Also the visitors had decided what should be taught the people and how they should be taught as well as what should be removed or added. They had a free hand to pick and mix.

The result was the visitors confused biblical ethics with cultural prejudiced and interpreted scripture as they deemed fit to colonise the minds of the people. The evangelised natives of Nigeria ignorant of this contrived approach swallowed everything given them whole without questions and even when some questioned the validity of what they saw they were silenced. For example there were reports of elders on different occsions quentioning the method of peaching at people, 'a small boy talking to us as if we are his age mate' protests were silenced with: 'leave him alone, don't you know he is a man of God?' 'You don't challenge a man of God when he is speaking'. There were incidents of interuptions during preching sessions with accusations that the white man had poluted the land with immorality and evil, turning our customs against us'. Such protests were rather treated as evil and in some cases the protester was ostracised.

In 1840 Henry Townsend and fellow English christian missionaries brought in the Church Missionary Society (CMS) ways and doctrines. This came to be called Anglican Church Systems. Birch Freeman and colleagues introduced the Methodist ways in 1842 when they entered, In 1850 Reverend Bowen from the USA brought in what came to constitute the Nigerian Baptist. The attempt of the Welsh Baptist to enter was very short lived. By 1856 the Presbyterians came in through the Calabar routes followed by Samuel Bill who preached along the shores of the Qua Iboe River and whose legacy we have today as the Qua Iboe Church Systems.

Then in 1867 the Roman church came to constitute the Roman Catholic Church Systems.

These groups competed for attention not so much attention to biblical teachings as attention to their own ways and systems which each claims was superior to the others. Villages and families were incited against one another as these rival groups competed for membership and territorial consolidation. The Roman church in particular introduced their system which was a mixture of ancient Roman systems and practices incluing names of days, saints and holy days.

These competing systems continued untill the emergence of indigineous African systems. The game of picking and mixing thus took a new turn and began to shape Christianity in Nigeria in its own so called native ways.

Syncretism as used in this study represents the mixing or intermingling of practices and doctrines which were not originally part of the Christian beliefs and were never intended to be part of Christianity that the bible presents.

There are those that regard the mixing of practices and doctrine to be a healthy development. 'After all, they argue, the world is ever changing and culture is not static neither should Christianity be expected to be static'.

Others are that argue that Christianity in particular should be made to adapt to culture changes and move on with developments in society.

Yet others, mostly acclaimed academicians, claim that syncretism is vital because Christianity should be contextualized especially in Africa. 'The Word should be made flesh in all cultures', they argue. This has given rise to terms such as weltanschuung, agornamento, inculturation, acculturation, contextualization, adaptation, and even indigenization to mention just these.

Thus in African Inculturation theology we hear of Christ presented as 'the Elder brother', 'the Ancestor', 'the Chief Priest', 'the Kola of life', to mention just these. Some others are that think that by introducing the use of native musical instruments and the wearing of native clothes and dresses, as well as leading worship and singing and preaching in native languages constitute relevant cultural inclusions to serving God. We know that God cannot be served or worshipped by proxy, by singing other peoples songs and wearing other peoples' clothes. Although to the African mind set what is most important is reverence, fear and right relationships and morality toward fellow human being and nature.

All these attempts connected with the art of making Christianity relevant to the culture of the people would not have been necessary if the missionaries had not arrogantly imposed a sysncretised form of Christianity to the people.

In fact one African scholar had claims that African Traditional Religion is superior to the Hebrew Old Testament and suggested that African Traditional Religion should replace the Christian Old Testament Text for Christians of Africa.

Syncretism has remained a worldwide phenomenon and has continued till today, especially in Africa. Well, whatever may be claimed, biblical evangelicals argue that the fact still remains that Christianity has to be left to remain Christian. If the so called processes applied to making the gospel so called relevant to a people leaves them with something else, different from what Christianity is, as taught by the Apostles, and as taught and exemplified by Jesus the Christ, then there is doubt as to what the real intention of these theological terms and processes really are? Can the old mix with the new? Christ is still asking. Can new wine be poured into old wine skin; will there not be an explosion as the two reject each other? What we see today especially in Africa, could be described as a struggle between attempt to sustain the true faith against adulterated versions of Christianity as certain post modern preachers seek to preach their own doctrines for one personal reason or the other.

There is perhaps nowhere else where this crave for picking and mixing has been more bandied by so called Christian theologians than Nigeria. I have also observed through mostly personal interactions, that many African scholars seem to have accepted the colonial line of thinking in order to please their colonial masters in universities and colleges who were bent on compromising Christianity in the name of scholarship even as the academic world in the west of those days required, a world of ideologies the purpose of many of which are being questioned as it was influenced by false evolutionary theory of the human person including religion and society. They also mistakenly regarded Christianity as one religion among a plurality of religions.

Fortunately Christianity is not just an academic exercise. Christianity as understood by evangelicals, as the way of life of a particular people who are made to be culturally unique and focused on a direction that is unique from other peoples of the world. I think that Christian Pastors, theologians and teachers in Africa must retrace their ways to this original intention of Christ in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the European Pastors, theologians, teachers and preacher of the past and of the so called modern era. This mistake of picking and mixing for selfish purposes, we know now partly accounts for the extreme nominalism in Christianity and consequent extreme backsliding of the western world. Truth or the WORD of God does not change, it is timeless. Practice and belief should be tested by the timeless WORD, never should the Word be adapted to suit, community, society or time.

What I have done in this book is to bring to the fore some of the features of syncretism among Nigerian Christians, in order to put the reader into a reflective mood on the happenings among Nigerians especially in that country including regarding some so called genuine Christian practices. It is left to the reader to imagine what would be the fate of Christianity when eventually these versions of Christianity get burned out. Then to project ahead the path a backsliding African church would take as a result of this burning out. We could see that European and western backsliding was the result of compromising true faith with old wives' fables in the name of so called modern era ideologies and colonizing aspirations.

Also the post modern era claims to be an age of search for authenticity that has led to picking and mixing of practices for self preservation. If Christianity adopts this worldly attitude what would be its fate especially in Africa when the current post modern attitude gets burned out. This is why it is essential to call attention to this trend of events in African Christianity using Nigeria as a case example.

There are many people who contributed to the writing of this book. These include student researchers and colleagues who gave encouraging words. Also worthy of mention are the many renowned evangelical Christian scholars, notably the late Papa Rev Professor John Wenham, late Rev Dr John Stott, late uncle Tony Wilmot, Professor Jon Jonsson, my mentor and personal friend, Dr FF Bruce, Dr Sidlow Baxter, Professor Gordon Wenham, Professor David Wenham, Professor Gordon McConville, Professor D France, late Dr Martin Walter, Professor Norman Geisler, Dr Ron Rhodes, Baba Dr Thomas High, to mention just these. I thank all of you for your influence and challenge of defending the Christian truth. This same spirit has contributed to the writing of this work, the fruit of a research that has spanned several decades by one who has been most reluctant to put anything in print.

This survey starts with what was at inception initially christened the Christian Ogboni Society but later came to be called Reformed Ogboni Fraternity (commonly referred to as the ROF). The research on this phenomenon began with an essay I wrote a very long time ago (early 1980s) when I was a young seminary student at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary Ogbomoso. The reader will also observe that former members of the ROF or their children or relatives were interviewed during the research exercise.

I consider the ROF pattern as perhaps, the first attempt to mix Anglican missionary Christian doctrine and practices with traditional African ways in Nigeria, specifically the Yoruba traditional ways and culture, and that it perhaps paved the way for the other patterns that followed.

Thus included in this brief study are:

The foundations of the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity (ROF) which originated from the Yoruba part of Nigeria as representative of all those groups that seek to indigenize Christianity, by attempting to absorb Christian doctrines, beliefs and practices into the African indigenous beliefs, and practices. The founders of the ROF were said to have gotten the influence from the English lodge set up and practices.

The El Messiah church, is selected as a representative of what has come to be generally referred to as the Aladura groups that also originated in the Yoruba land, and emphasize the integration of Yoruba traditional worship ethos including the babalawo(native priestly) practices without discriminating good ones from the bad. This is usually characterized by interaction with spirit forces, ecstatic experiences, psychological manipulations, all sorts of claims of deliverance from spirit influences and from other personal problems; visions, foretelling, forth telling, healing, self emolation and such like.