Papers by Rimamsikwe Habila Kitause
Mediterranean journal of social sciences, May 5, 2024
Global Christianity has been punctuated by the sudden upsurge of Pentecostal's born again phenome... more Global Christianity has been punctuated by the sudden upsurge of Pentecostal's born again phenomenon in the 20th century. Employing historical and analytical approaches, this study sought to explore the conceptual clarification of born againism and to determine the historical evolution, growth, attractions and impacts of born againism within the religious landscape of Northern Nigeria. The study revealed that born againism has so far gained wider acceptance among the Northerners with its overwhelming impacts currently being felt in almost every home in Northern Nigeria. Regardless of their religious affiliations, almost every home in the North has recorded the presence of at least a born again Christian. Even in the far North which has been the bastion of Islam religion, Moslems are getting born again by the day in their number and are being discipled secretly. Some of these Moslem converts to Christianity returned back to their people as Christian missionaries and busy evangelizing their fellow Moslem faithful with great zeal and positive responses. The study submitted that if the Northern Christians especially the Pentecostals are given more opportunities and financial backing to evangelized Northern Nigeria freely, there will be more explosion of born again experience that will not only revolutionalized the lives of the normal Christians in the North but also those of Moslems as well as the devotees of our indigenous religion.
European Scientific Journal ESJ, 2020
Human environments everywhere are seriously being abused due to different kinds of environmental ... more Human environments everywhere are seriously being abused due to different kinds of environmental pollutions which man indiscriminately unleashes on them thereby making these environments almost unsafe and inhabitable engendering unfavourable atmosphere for man’s survival. This paper examines how depreciated Nigerian environmental resources have become nowadays and how this is contributing in making life unbearable in this 21st century. This study adopts descriptive and analytical approaches which were basically employed to describe the phenomenon of environmental destruction and conservation, interpret and analyse data in the study. There were also the use of personal observations, in-depth interviews and focused group discussions on the subject. It was found out that due to the expansion of Christianity which finds expression in the proliferation of churches and ministries in Nigeria, encroachment of all kinds into forest reserve areas is steadily ongoing which is the destruction o...
IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 2013
In the midst of the bleak future that COVID-19 painted, it was envisaged/ predicted that Africa w... more In the midst of the bleak future that COVID-19 painted, it was envisaged/ predicted that Africa would be the most hit for obvious reasons, reasons that range from economy to health facilities. Africa spends less than 10% of its budget on health, and only about 50% of its population have access to modern healthcare facilities, while most leaders spend billions yearly in medical tourism in Europe, America and elsewhere. Even though the world was in the throes of COVID-19, Africa was expected to be turned into a mass gravesite. Pentecostal Christianity, a brand of Christianity that has continued to make immense impact on the continent raised an equipoise between western theorisation and African situation. The Nigerian Pentecostal or charismatic Christianity stood in a gap, a cross-like gap and mediated. Its mediation is not without furores it is itself redefined as the pandemic provided a reasonable platform for self-assessment. But whether the self-assessment has impact on the gradually emerging post-COVID-19 era for the Pentecostal brand is a matter that will require some closer scrutiny and time. But in the meantime, this project inserts itself in the midst of the pandemic with the intention to determine how the Nigerian Pentecostal Christianity inverted, inflected and managed itself in the crack, to use Nimi Wariboko's terms. The crack that COVID-19 created was either expanded or mediated by Nigerian Pentecostalism. For instance, some pastors of megachurches whose voices are vociferous raised theoretical, ethical, constitutional, economic, political (as it relates to Church and State relations), and rights issues, which they considered to be part of their prophetic role. Some contributed to what has been classified as conspiracy theories. Indeed, Christian liturgy creatively migrated from the physical to the internet, the orbital wherein it sometime operated. This volume, while taking the issue of e-worship and emission of the Pentecostal churches seriously during the lockdown, it grounds them on empirical methods. It studies how Nigerian Pentecostal ecclesial processes were altered during the lockdown, and revisioning them in the context of the new normal. The resort to family/ home fellowship as the basic unit of the church and society raises critical theological issues for a contextual Christianity. In addition, how does the Bible speak to a Christian in a new normal; does the faith of a Christian plot a graph from pre-COVID-19 through COVID-19 and perhaps beyond? As a church in the gap, how did Pentecostal Christianity in Nigeria raise theological, philosophical, social, ethical, and political questions that will iv Nigerian Pentecostalism and COVID-19: D ynamics, Worship, and Creativities Igboin unravels how the immediacy of historical events is interpreted in religious mode. For the Pentecostal, there is no event that escapes divine arrangement in the here and now. Even though there are conspiracy theories canvassed by some leading pastors of the Pentecostal stock, COVID-19, like any other emergency, is meant to call the church to attention. Igboin argues that prosperity gospel, which is the boon and bane of Pentecostal churches was reconceptualised, at least, in the heart of the lockdown. To be sure, prosperity gospel entails a holistic teaching that God rewards his children with health and wealth and all material blessings on the condition that they faithfully serve, demonstrated mostly in paying tithes and offering, generously donating to church projects and zealously propagating the gospel. With the lockdown, there was a natural gap created between wealth and health; wealth gave way to health teaching. Of course, it makes sense in the circumstance to abandon wealth teaching and concentrate on health and recovery. It is a healthy congregation that can appropriate messages of wealth. In the precarity of COVID-19, hope, compassion, love and health became themes that forcefully resonated. But whether health theology separated from wealth theology makes 'sense and spirit' requires further interrogation. Adedibu observes that the health theology during the lockdown must be reviewed against the backdrop of the myriads of testimonies of healing that characterised Pentecostal worship prior to COVID-19. If wealth theology is suspended in favour of health theology, he argues that there must be substantiable evidence to claim that the power of healing hitherto 'waged' against all kinds of sicknesses still productively resulted in healing during the lockdown. He posits that there are no such credible or verifiable healing testimonies to prove the claim of healing. The COVID-19 thus became a tsunami that undercut Pentecostal powers of healing. Okanlawon studies the dynamics and creativity in worship. According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered ecclesial processes associated with worship and mission, which are integral features of Pentecostalism. The pandemic has created a situation whereby spiritual encounters are now being mediated through new media platforms rather than through mass gatherings and popularised programmes. But is it possible to still mediate and experience spiritual encounters in Africa in a COVID-19 pandemic context without distorting Pentecostal theology of worship and mission? Okanlawon appraises B.O. Igboin B.A. Adedibu Nigerian Pentecostalism and COVID-19: D ynamics, Worship, and Creativities in its efforts to communicate with Nigerians. 1 As of 17th January, 2021, there are 110,387 confirmed cases, while 89,317 cases have been discharged and 1,435 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). 2 Several studies have been carried out on conspiracy theories among Christians and non-Christians alike. Such theories have shown to have possible lethal effect, especially when they deal with the faith of a people. Studies that even dealt with the Jesus-myth theory 3 have shown that conspiracy theories have no limit. At the same time, the country is not spared from the theories ranging from polio immunisation being poisoned 4 to the president of the nation (President Muhammadu Buhari) being cloned and represented by one Jubril from Sudan. This has made many Nigerian Christians believed the existence of coronavirus in the country is a hoax, no thanks to the many conspiracy theories as given and promoted by their church leaders whom they see more as their heroes. Thus, this study looks at the different conspiracy theories during the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown of the country as they relate to the Church. It examines the roles of the Church in the spread of conspiracy theories during this period. In addition, it evaluates how Christians have responded to these conspiracy theories and how they have affected the Church in its entirety and the nation at large.
Rape is a worrisome epidemic that is becoming problematic in contemporary Nigeria due to many fac... more Rape is a worrisome epidemic that is becoming problematic in contemporary Nigeria due to many factors that are already inherent in the Nigerian society such as sex myths, culture of silence associated with rape, modernizing influences and peer group pressure among several others. This article is essentially library researched while incorporating internet sources using expository and phenomenological designs. It is discovered that the perpetrators of rape in Nigeria cut across all age brackets involving security personnel, close associates, and even relations all caught up in the crime. The paper submits that the responsibility of eradicating this evil in Nigeria lies with the parents, Churches, Civil Societies, Non Governmental Organizations and Government at all levels.
Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 2013
The phenomenon of religion is assuming an alarming proportion in the 21 st century with the three... more The phenomenon of religion is assuming an alarming proportion in the 21 st century with the three Nigerian cardinal religions competing for pre-eminence and supremacy as seen in the religious behaviours of the various religious adherents in Nigeria. The article is crafted using phenomenological and historical analytical method. It unravels the fact that there is at the moment a very bright prospect for the survival of African Traditional Religion, Islam and Christianity in Nigeria in spite of the rising tide of fundamentalism in the Nigerian recognizable religions. This is anchored on the fact that there are still some compromises among the major religions in Nigeria. The paper submits that it is needful that all the spirited stake holders of the various religions in Nigeria create an avenue for meaningful dialogue in order to checkmate the monster of religious intolerance, insensitivity, self will, and fanaticism to paving way for peaceful coexistence and sustainable national devel...
Human environments everywhere are seriously being abused due to different kinds of environmental ... more Human environments everywhere are seriously being abused due to different kinds of environmental pollutions which man indiscriminately unleashes on them thereby making these environments almost unsafe and inhabitable engendering unfavourable atmosphere for man's survival. This paper examines how depreciated Nigerian environmental resources have become nowadays and how this is contributing in making life unbearable in this 21 st century. This study adopts descriptive and analytical approaches which were basically employed to describe the phenomenon of environmental destruction and conservation, interpret and analyse data in the study. There were also the use of personal observations, in-depth interviews and focused group discussions on the subject. It was found out that due to the expansion of Christianity which finds expression in the proliferation of churches and ministries in Nigeria, encroachment of all kinds into forest reserve areas is steadily ongoing which is the destruction of the environments. Each denomination and ministry competes over acquisition of large land mass running to hundreds of hectares for either camp grounds for their church retreats or for the establishments of church-based business centres, filling stations, bakery, Television centres, primary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities thereby depleting the environments. The results show that there is a destruction of the environment on the one hand and the conservation of same on the other hand. The findings show the environmental crisis devastates living organisms which is gradually engendering the total
Human environments everywhere are seriously being abused due to different kinds of environmental ... more Human environments everywhere are seriously being abused due to different kinds of environmental pollutions which man indiscriminately unleashes on them thereby making these environments almost unsafe and inhabitable engendering unfavourable atmosphere for man’s survival. This paper examines how depreciated Nigerian environmental resources have become nowadays and how this is contributing in making life unbearable in this 21st century. This study adopts descriptive and analytical approaches which were basically employed to describe the phenomenon of environmental destruction and conservation, interpret and analyse data in the study. There were also the use of personal observations, in-depth interviews and focused group discussions on the subject. It was found out that due to the expansion of Christianity which finds expression in the proliferation of churches and ministries in Nigeria, encroachment of all kinds into forest reserve areas is steadily ongoing which is the destruction of the environments. Each denomination and ministry competes over acquisition of large land mass running to hundreds of hectares for either camp grounds for their church retreats or for the establishments of church-based business centres, filling stations, bakery, Television centres, primary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities thereby depleting the environments. The results show that there is a destruction of the environment on the one hand and the conservation of same on the other hand. The findings show the environmental crisis devastates living organisms which is gradually engendering the total collapse of human environment if no quick attention is given to its proper management. The paper submits that the quicker attention is given in taking better care of the environmental resources by the government, organizations and individuals, the sooner the world becomes inhabitable for human beings.
Nigerian Pentecostal theology of prosperity has always been built around Tithing, Offering and Se... more Nigerian Pentecostal theology of prosperity has always been built around Tithing, Offering and Seed sowing with the attendant spill over effect on the mainline churches becoming more captivated in the practice. Even within the Pentecostal circles, the neo Pentecostals are steadily exerting a great deal of influence on the classical Pentecostals by enticing some of them to start preaching prosperity in the manner that the neo Pentecostals do. This article employs oral interview as well as phenomenological and expository approaches in its studies. It is discovered that prosperity preaching is currently becoming an important religious phenomenon in the Nigerian religious landscape leading to the skyrocketing of prosperity churches in contemporary Nigeria. The article submits that it is high time those who preach prosperity in Nigeria maintained a balance between their prosperity emphasis and salvation messages for the sake of people's souls.
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Papers by Rimamsikwe Habila Kitause