A Nigerian televangelist and teacher of the Bible, Apostle Joshua Selman Nimmack has taken a swipe at the Church in Nigeria describing it as a church akin to what was described by Prophet Jeremiah in the 23rd chapter of the book of Jeremiah.
He said in the message titled, The Apostate Church, posted on the ministry’s YouTube channel on July 4 that “there is no place like the church of Nigeria where we strengthen the hand of evildoers.”
In an emotional laden tone, Selman described the Church in Nigeria as in dire strait needing an emergency rescue. “There are men and women of God in Nigeria who rather than build the church are destroying the church and scattering the sheep. Many doctrines from the pit of hell are being preached in our churches.”
He said many church leaders have deviated from the truth noting that the Laodicean Church and the Church given to the doctrine of Balaam are now with us. “We need rapid emergency attention otherwise we have become a psychological hospital where the grace of God has been replaced with psychological things.
“We now find justification for all things. We preach eternal security without responsibility. We tell people they can be saved and whatever they do thereafter does not matter. We can now sin in the name of Jesus and do what we like. People who are into these things will receive a rude shock on the last day.
“A man comes and meets a man of God and tells him to prophesize to him. Even when the man is obviously living a reckless life, the man of God says some positive things into his life without warning him of his sin. God can give you the power to prophesize and things will happen but God will hold you accountable on the last day for condoning sin” he said.
According to him many of the visions and prophecies by some men of God were ignited by hunger in their belly. “A man is sleeping with another man’s wife, you know it and you are saying it is well with the man. They bring an offering and we bless them even when we know the money is stolen. We collect the money and bless them. They ensnare gullible people. Devil is smart enough to respond to our needs and make us live in perpetual error. The apostate church is here” he said.
He noted that a lot of gullible people have been deceived. “Everything about the church is now money. A lot of people are planning to get out of school and belong to the kind of church where money is being worshipped. There is a lot of deviation from the truth of God’s word. We like a congregation that likes to massage our ego. In the presence of God, there is the presence of joy not the presence of foolishness. We laugh at things when we should be crying. There are men and women now in the church whose job is to match-make people in marriage and they do it based on favouritism.”
Selman who cried his heart out in the course of the sermon noted, “The church is now meeting place for people looking for contracts. That is why the church in this country has no voice. Politicians know where to run to for security. Prostitutes come to meet pastors for prayers. The pastor knows, rather than speak the truth to the person and lead the person to Christ he won’t because it will cost him what she is about to give.”
He noted further that many church leaders have been led astray with new age teachings in the name of new creation reality. “We have taught men all kinds of things. We tell them you are the god of yourself. We tell them they are Jesus.
‘That is the doctrine that made the apostate church. And that is exactly what the devil wanted saying he would exalt himself to the throne of God. Even when you do something that requires repentance they say no need feeling bad just pull yourself up. The leader of the choir is sleeping with people and we are clapping for him.
“You are engaging in malpractices and you say glory. When a man of God cannot stand and preach holiness and righteousness such man of God is gone. We want things from God and we have been taught a short cut to it is to touch an anointed man of God. There are prophets who collect money to pray for people. They teach all kinds of things and emphasise breakthrough. But there is a straight line between faith and foolishness. We teach people that now faith is…and somebody in 200 level in the university wants to buy a jeep. We no longer want to follow process.” He said.
Nobody is a biological accident
In another of his message, Selman said there is no person that is a biological mistake urging Christians to engage their gifts so they could succeed.
He said, ‘the gift of God is the seed in you that is supposed to help you enter the realm you will have influence and honour to legislate on behalf of heaven.
He said Joseph’s gift was not the ability to dream but his ability to interpret dreams.
He then explained that the anointing of the pastor or mentor does not guarantee one’s entry into success. “That your man of God or mentor is anointed does not automatically guarantee you will enter success.
Making reference to the late Reinhard Bonnke, he said, “he was considered a dullard while growing up but today his name is synonymous with soul winning because he discovered his gift.”