Elijah, top, once admitted not hearing from God. In Nigeria, preachers claim otherwise

By Gabriel Akinadewo

Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-Meholah, was one of the ‘luckiest’ prophets in the Bible.
He was introduced in I Kings 19:16 when God told Elijah to anoint him (Elisha) ‘prophet in thy room’ (successor).
Elisha was ‘plowing with twelve yoke of oxen’ when Elijah cast his mantle upon him.
For 20 years, Elisha followed Elijah. When his master was to be taken into heaven by a whirlwind (II Kings 2), because of Elisha’s truthfulness, perseverance and dedication, he got the double portion of Elijah’s spirit (power).
Elijah was fire, so Elisha got the double portion of fire.
When Elisha met the Shunammite who was barren, he prayed and God gave her a son (II Kings 4:17).
Later, the son of the Shunammite died and she ran to Elisha. Elisha said in verse 27 that something was wrong with her and God had not revealed it to him.
By that statement, he declared openly that God was, and remains, the ULTIMATE when it comes to spiritual matters.
Elisha was a man of God but he never claimed to be God.
This was a man of God who was so powerful that after his death, the body of a man was cast into his sepulchre and the moment the corpse touched Elisha’s bones, “he stood up on his feet” (II Kings 13: 21).
There were other powerful men of God like Elisha in the Bible but they never claimed to be God or arrogated clairvoyance to themselves.
In Nigeria, it is a pity that some ‘men of God’ are behaving irresponsibly.
I am a Christian, so this piece is not to denigrate christian leaders but the truth must be told.
The way some ‘men of God’ are polluting the environment with predictions these days is becoming an embarrassment.
I read one last week. He said: “Nigerians must pray very well so that a former Head of State (President) does not die in 2021”.
I compare this prediction to a joke from another ‘man of God’ who, after praying for an expectant mother (pregnant woman), said: “God said I should tell you that if you don’t give birth to a boy, you will deliver a girl”.
Haba! Which former Head of State was this man referring to?
We have six former Heads of State. As at today, the oldest is General Yakubu Gowon (86), Chief Ernest Shonekan (84), General Olusegun Obasanjo (83), General Ibrahim Babangida (79), General Abdulsalami Abubakar (78) and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan (63).
I pray they spend more years in the land of the living.
So, is this a prediction or guess work (what we call Agbari in Yoruba)?
People die in their 80s. A former president in a foreign country died recently. In fact, a president in an African country (not even up to 80 years) also died. So, what type/sort of prediction is this?
These predictions are embarrassing ‘real Christians who fear God’.
In the Bible, prophets were always precise in their predictions, not the type of ‘kalokalo’ type we have in Nigeria.
Another one also predicted a few days ago (I think I have read him three times repeating the same prediction) that ‘death may enter Aso Rock if serious prayer is not said by Nigerians’.
What exactly is the meaning of this? For God’s sake, these ‘seers’ are mocking themselves (Not God or God’s work).
Another one said yesterday “I see crisis in one South-East state”. I got angry and decided to put this piece together.
Psalm 62:11 says “God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this; that power belongeth to God”.
Power of prediction belongs to God only, not any ‘man of God’.
God can use you and if you become too arrogant or attribute your pecuniary prediction to God, He will discard you very fast.
God can also use anybody. That was why He used Jehu, a roughneck, killer, area boy and gangster, to destroy prophets of baal (II Kings 10).
Enough of these politically-motivated predictions.

-Gabriel Akinadewo, journalist and Freedom on Line publisher, is a top official in his church