Here’s why cultists easily convert Christian students
By THEOPHILUS ABBAH
The verb ‘convert’ and its noun form ‘conversion’ belong to the semantic field of Christian evangelism. They throw up the imagery of Apostle Paul’s perilous missionary journeys from the East to Europe and Asia on high-sea, with records of near-shipwrecks. The word reminds Christians of a divine assignment Jesus gave to His disciples, as recorded in Matthew 28:19, that they should “Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…” When contemporary Christians should ‘make disciples’ of those controlled by the devil, students from Christian backgrounds in Nigerian universities are, ironically, being converted into evil by cultists and agents of Satan.
One’s eyes would almost pop out of their sockets when the characteristics of students who are ringleaders of secret cults are revealed. Many cult groups operate under the cover of darkness and secrecy, so the identities of members are sealed in dark mysteries, away from the public and their parents. But a curtain into who they could be was lifted by the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja last week. Many of those exposed confessed to being students of the University of Abuja in Gwagwalada. A peep into the list of those caught in the act of cult practice by the police would make Christian parents, pastors, and elders weep in shame and regret.
A press statement signed by DSP Anjuguri Manzah, Police Public Relations Officer, FCT Police Command, Abuja said, “The following suspects were arrested during the raid carried out at the blackspot: Samuel Olatunji ‘m’ 24 years, Osarentin Solace ‘m’ 25 years, Emmanuel Jeremiah ‘m’ 19 years old, Silver Okemini ‘m’ 32 years, Shedrach Joel ‘m’ 25 years, Eraikhuemen Prince ‘m’ 22 years, Stephen Michael Momoh ‘m’ 24 years, Olusegun Samuel ‘m’ 20 years, Peter Francis ‘m’’ 20 years, Olayinka James ‘m’ 21 years, Joe Ntekim ‘m’ 24 years, Godwin Udeze ‘m’ 22 years, Abdulmuyes Babatunde ‘m’ 24 years, Muhammed Isah ‘m’ 20 years, Ogebe Michael ‘m’ 22 years, Utibe Sunday ‘m’ 19 years, Redeem Chukwu ‘m’ 22 years, Onyilokwu Emmanuel ‘m’ 21 years, Michael Aigbologa ‘m’ 21 years, Samuel Dominic ‘m’ 27 years (ex-student), Omonayin Bolawale ‘m’ 21 years, Toheeb Ramon ‘m’ 21 years, Samuel Abiodun ‘m’ 20 years, Abdulsalam Dauda ‘m’ 20 years, Danladi Shuaibu ‘m’, Hezekiah Samuel ‘m’ 21 years, Ubebe Samuel ‘m’ 26 years, Ubebe Joseph ‘m’ 22 years, Peter Mathias ‘m’ 23 years, Stephen Jonah ‘m’ 22 years, Caleb Ayemakbe ‘m’ 20 years, Clark Idafe ‘m’ 28 years, Paul Njoku ‘m’ 27 years and Bright Ejiofor 27 years. Among the suspects arrested are current and former students of different tertiary institutions.
Of the 34 of them, 29 bear Christian names, and if the mystical belief that names influence character were to be true, biblical Samuel, a prophet of God, should be weeping in the bosom of Abraham because six persons, his name-sake, had been converted by cultists. We have an unusual name like Hezekiah, a prophet-king, among them. Then, there names-sake of Catholic saints – Dominic, Solace and Francis – and the names of Jesus’ Apostles – Stephen, Peter, James, Joseph, Paul. There are names of prophets Shedrack, Jeremiah, Caleb, Joel, Jonah, Mathias, and that of angel Michael, as wells as the other name of Jesus, which is Emmanuel, featuring three times.
It is not in doubt that many Christian parents counsel their children and wards against partaking in cult activities. Also, at entry points of many tertiary institutions, one of the prominent billboards that grin at old and returning students is one that warns them about the danger of being trapped in cult activities. It is, therefore, a wonder why cultists find students from Christian families as soft grounds for them to plant their evil seeds in order to harvest precious souls.
What carrots do these cult marketers dangle at Christian students that so convincingly dislodge their moral and spiritual foundation? How did cult leaders sell those carrots to them, under what circumstances?
It’s very simple. Agents of Satan on our campuses have nothing new to offer; they use demonic tricks to market the old product that Satan had peddled since the days of Adam and Eve – the same that the devil marketed to Jesus, but failed to make Him a customer. Cultists tell their victims to eat the forbidden fruit [cult meal] in order to receive spiritual powers that would ‘open their eyes’ and place them on a higher spiritual plane than mere mortals. They are told that after initiation, they would become spiritually empowered to ‘see’ any danger ahead, so that they make [learned] incantations to avert them.
Like Satan would lie to Jesus, they would say the kingdom of Nigeria would be delivered to cult victims, because many high and mighty personalities in Nigeria are patrons and matrons of cult groups on campuses. Cultists deceive these innocent minds with a list that contains big names in mouth-watering sectors of the economy – finance, oil and gas, manufacturing, construction, government, political leadership, and even those of religious icons in the country. The agents of Satan promise to help them scale through their academic hurdles, and position them for juicy employment upon completion of their undergraduate programmes. As soon as the gullible young minds acquiesce to these tricks and get initiated, they would be subjected to deadly and dangerous assignments, like violence and bloodshed, to test their loyalty to cult groups.
There are volumes of literature in circulation about cult activities and practices in Nigeria. But why are Christian students easy prey for manipulation by cultists on our campuses?
Bitter truth? That adolescents from Christians homes become cheap meat for cultists is evidence of how Christian parents and churches have failed in moral and spiritual upbringing of their children and wards. Christian parents send their children to very expensive schools, engage home-teachers, provide best meals, buy the best tech gadgets for them, give them all they would need to be comfortable, and drum into their souls the need to work hard and grab good grades necessary for admission into higher institutions. But Christians parents would not put in five per cent of similar efforts into the spiritual upbringing of their children.
In churches, these children are dumped close to church junk rooms every Sunday to prevent them from distracting their parents who eat the bone of the Word in the main auditorium. In their noisy children section, they are unruly to children teachers, who are afraid of enforcing discipline because the unruly child’s parents could be the highest donors to the church. Because children are brought to church only on Sundays to enable them display the designer clothes their parents have purchased for them, the lessons and messages preached make no impact on them. This goes on year after year, and by the time the children hit 16 years of age, they are bundled into airconditioned cars and delivered at university campuses, where cultists would pounce and feast on them. Here, instead of them, as Christian children, to rebuke and cast-off Satan, they become meat to Satan.
Christian parents and churches must take seriously the spiritual upbringing of children. Any one, even armed robbers, can feed, buy good clothes and pay their children’s fees into expensive schools. Christian parents should do more. Jesus alerts us in Matthew 5:20 that: “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” That is to say, Christian parents must take extra steps to raise truly Christian children. We must ensure that our children understand Christianity convincingly. They should know how to pray, the power in the Name of Jesus, the power in the Blood of Jesus, the Supremacy of the Name of Jesus over occult powers; they should be taught about Heaven and Hell; they should know how to live as Christians – dress, eat, associate with people, behave, study, etc. They must realise the tricks of the devil, which is summed up in John 10:10 – to kill, to steal, and to destroy. These children should know their Bible, not just John 3:16. They should be taught how to apply the Word of God in their daily lives. They must be made to understand that being Holy Ghost-filled is not anathema to hard work and success in life. We don’t need to worship Satan to become successful in life. As Jesus would tell the devil in Luke 4:8, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’
As Christian parents, we have a lot of work to do if we must be true children of Abraham. God had confidence in Abraham, that he would diligently teach his household to walk with God. Genesis 18:19 says, “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” If we succeed in life but our children are a disaster, what have we gained? (WORLD ALIVE).