By Moses Oludele Idowu
“With Him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are his.” ( Job 12:16)
The Puritans, Revolution and Social Change
In this third part of the series we shall examine what made the Christianity of the Puritans so powerful and why the modern pentecostal Christianity in Nigeria of our day, the captive audience of Osinbajo’s Lecture is so weak.
We have seen in the last part the roots of the movement although we cannot examine all the values.
Why was the gospel of the Puritans so powerful and impactful to the hearers of their days? Because the Puritan was first a power with God as a person.
His religion was a religion of power because the Puritan himself was a power for God in the Earth. Writer and Puritan,
Matthew Henry said it well: “To be anything for God you must first be something with Him.” This is the philosophy of Puritanism.
You cannot be a power or instrument for God’s glory, peace and change on Earth unless you are first an instrument with Him. Moses was first an instrument in God’s Hands before he became an instrument of liberation in Egypt.
Samuel first heard God before his voice came through to Israel as tool for national regeneration.
Preachers often forget that it is their lives that give power to their message. The gospel does not move on popular waves as E.M.Bounds says, “it moves only as those who have the custody of it moves.”
It is when there is a witness of the immortal power of the Gospel in the life of the one preaching it that it becomes a power among men to bless. The Gospel does not work separately when there is a disconnect between the promoter and the gospel.
The Puritans had the Truth but not only the Truth they also have a sound doctrine. Sound doctrine as Richard Baxter another Puritan wrote, “makes for a sound judgement, a sound heart, a sound conversation and a sound conscience.”
The marriage of a sound doctrine and judgement with a disciplined and well- ordered godly life is what makes the Puritan a force in society and a power with God.
The Puritans refused to divide their lives or subject themselves to the duality now so common. Such upper and lower-case compartment, a construct of post- Enlightenment Rationalism was not acceptable to them and to their worldview.
All of life must be lived to God and to His Glory – without division or demarcation. Historian of Christianity, Professor Brauer wrote: “That every aspect of their life, both personal and secular was grounded on sacrality.”
They did not recognize any space as secular space but invaded all spaces and sought to bring God to bear on all. Refusing to submit to the sacred – secular dichotomy or antithesis they invaded even the secular spaces of Europe and brought righteousness down to Earth.
They thus achieved what another writer calls “the abolition of the secular” clearing all opposition to Divine sovereignty and godliness in society.
This is the real power of Puritanism. And this accounts for the most important of its achievements and most enduring of its legacies.
Seven values have been identified among the core beliefs of Puritanism. We shall examine four of these to understand how they could influence social actions and precipitate social change and revolution. But before then let us see what they achieved.
Why the reformation precipitated change
Why was the Reformation able to precipitate social change and revolution in Europe in the 16th century and the Nigerian Church unable to change even a Local Government in 21st century? How did the Puritans trigger a revolution in 1640’s in Britain and also through their ideas and principles the American Revolution of 1770’s?
Professor Jerald C. Brauer in an excellent essay titled “Puritanism, Revivalism and the Revolution” [ Religion and the American Revolution ] noted that the Puritan worldview provided the intellectual vision or framework in term of which the revolution was later mounted.”.
He agrees that religion was indeed one of the primary forces which impelled American people towards revolution and sustained them in their actions.
In both the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War the Great Awakening preceded both conflicts and it may be said with some certainty that these conflicts arose and were consequential largely on the truths and preachings of the Great Awakening.
Historians have attributed the victory of the Sons of Liberty in the Revolutionary War partly to the “black- robed regiment”- a reference to the preachers of that day.
Their pulpits were so powerful that they imparted vision, direction to their members about the way to go. Said Rick Joyner: “Their sermons were so resolute that there was no doubt about where they stood on the great issues of their time. They were so effective in imparting a vision for liberty that they became some of the most wanted.men in the colonies by the British forces.”
Can the same thing be written about the preachers of modern Christianity or even Pentecostalism in Nigeria at this time? One of the major challenges of Christians is absence of clear direction, vision and focus.
We saw this during the election of 2015, 2019 & 2023 as Christians vacillated because of the indecision, lack of focus and direction of the leaders of the Church and especially CAN and PFN at a momentous period of history. The consequences are still being suffered till today.
The Puritan preaching was a tool for revolution because they brought the great issues of the day to bear on the people’s minds so that they could no longer go unresolved.
In his essay titled “Center and Periphery” Edward Shils provides a perspective showing how “Puritans’ theological beliefs and symbols helped to create a revolution in the colonists’ hearts and minds prior to the outbreak of rebellion.”
Let us also not forget that the British revolution of 1649 triggered by a rebellion in Ireland and Scotland was largely motivated and directed by the Puritans. It was to some extent a Puritan revolution. And it is now even established that the Americans – the Puritan segment – were also involved in the British revolution of 1640. John Thornton in the The Pulpit of American Revolution tied the 1640 revolution to the American revolution:
“The name of Hugh Peter reminds us that New England shared in English Revolution of 1640 sent preaches and soldiers, aid and comfort to Cromwell; gave an asylum to the tyrannicides, Whelley, Gaffe and Dixwell, reaffirmed the same maxims of liberty in the Revolution of 1688, and stood right on the record for the third revolution of 1776.”
The Christianity of the Puritans was a Christianity of action, liberation and revolution; the Christianity of NIgerian pentecostals is a Christianity of aloofness and non- involvement or of even collaboration with evil.
It is instructive that Yemi Osinbajo himself who gave the lecture is a pentecostal and a part of the most sinister government that ever ruled Nigeria. I shall come to this later in the series. This is the major difference between then and now and why they moved mountain but we cannot.
The Puritans were a true heirs and children of Reformation and the principles of the Reformation’s Gospel; is the modern Pentecostal Movement in Nigeria as at this day a true heir of the Reformation – by her values, conduct, preaching, doctrine and practices?
There are three other reasons why the Puritans were a power and agents of revolution and social change:
- A strong intellectual tradition and a history of challenging religion and political authority.
- A Congregational system of Church Government with emphasis on local governance and individual responsibility. This system of government ensures that clergies and officials of church are elected by the very congregation itself rather than imposition from outside.
This would hasten the development of self-rule in the American colonies and ultimately the birth of democracy. - Opposition to tyranny and desire for liberty which ensured the rebellion of 1640’s culminating in the overthrow of monarchy in England and the birth of revolution. This would serve as example to the new colonists in America.
The puritans opposed tyranny
The Puritans opposed tyranny and fought it. They engaged the tyrannical powers of their day and challenged it leading to Civil War and Revolution. Because the Puritans saw all spaces – political, religious, social as belonging to God this was not difficult for them although a monumental achievement.
The Nigerian Church cannot do this because to a large extent she is part of the evil and tyranny that stalk the land. And the Pentecostal segment of the Church in Nigeria is even much more so. It lacks the ideology, vision, spiritual focus and direction, a high moral authority, an intellectual backbone and theological high ground to support such a magnificent and grandiloquent accomplishment as a Revolution like that of the Puritans.
Why?
The Pentecostal segment of NIgerian Christianity lacks the values, virtues and some of the revolutionary tools and beliefs the Puritans held. There are 7 in all but because of space I will mention just 4 of them.
The first is covenant. Puritans took this very seriously and saw their relationship with God and His Son in that light. This is why they could not cheat another person even in business and why they were true to themselves and to God. Once God had been called to witness a thing be it marriage, business transaction, or oath it is irrevocable.
The second value in the Puritan’s belief system is consent. Nothing must be imposed but everything must be with the consent of the ruled and the will of the governed. Even a pastor cannot be imposed on a congregation without their consent. This is a revolutionary idea which would challenge all usurped power and l snowball into the overthrow of monarchy and lay the foundation for democracy and people rule. This is why a Puritan is a rebel against tyranny and all imposed authority.
The third is rule of law. Total submission to legitimate law of God and man. In the Puritan worldview and understanding Law was more than simply a deterrent against evil.
Again I quote professor Brauer:- “It was more than simply a deterrent against anarchy and chaos. Law was, beyond that, a positive reality which provided structure and order for life so that humanity could realize its full potential in mutual service as well as the fulfilment of its responsibilities to God.”
This helps the Puritans to govern and even easy to govern but difficult to enslave to tyranny.
The fourth value is an organic society ordained by God.
The Puritans saw God and His providence in the ordering of events in society where the Nigerian Church largely sees people or devils because a segment of the Nigerian Church is still largely trapped by traditionalism, magical thinking and superstitious veneration.
Puritanism sought to bring the society of its day under the rule of the Sovereign Lord the Pentecostals of.our day seek to bring society and even the nation under the hegemony of their own denominational cocoon.
A General Overseer once said that no one will be relevant unless they come to his denomination. The same man prayed that his members would lord over their brethren from other denominations and those from other denominations would come to them to bow like brethren of Joseph.
That is why the Puritans could change and save their society but the Nigerian Church can’t. Fortunately Professor Yemi Osinbajo the lecturer on the virtue of Puritanism and Reformationism is a member and a senior pastor of that denomination.
We shall address this and some of the errors and misconceptions of the lecture in the next one or two series.
[ To be continued]
Follow me:
Facebook: Moses Oludele Idowu
WhatsApp: 07045083710
X: @MosesOludele
© Moses Oludele Idowu
September 17, 2025
All Rights Reserved