Africa On Fire

Africa On Fire!/span>

by Chimezie Onyebilanma

"…the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short." Rev. 12:12

I stand to be corrected but I do not know of any other continent on earth today where you can find the kind of spiritual warfare that you find going on right now in Africa. If you look from Cape Town to Cairo it is like the devil in his rage is working relentlessly to set off fires in Africa. From the civil wars in places like Sierra Leone and Angola to the killings and atrocities going on in Sudan and Rwanda. From the famines of Ethiopia to the natural disasters of Mozambique - Africa is on fire.

But though this is what is most reported on the news, it is not at all the most important type of fire burning in Africa today. You don't even need to look too closely to notice this fire - revival fire. Since around the mid-1950s God has been moving in unprecedented ways to sweep through Africa to win her nations. Missiologists predict that soon "there will be more Christians in Africa than on any other continent in the world!" In the last decade as church leaders worldwide observed the growing indigenous missionary movements coming out of Africa, God's purpose for setting Africa on fire began becoming clear. God’s purpose is not only to win Africa but also to use her for the remaining task of world evangelization. And all over Africa today God's fire burns stretching out to claim all the un-reached frontiers within the animistic and Islamic blocs. While at the same time he has been thrusting out Africans like firebrands among the un-reached in the entire world from Poland to Indonesia.

It is exactly because of this that high level dark forces are working hard to quench God's purpose for Africa through bad governments, diseases, poverty, wars, idol worship, and Islam. The crisis in Africa cannot be understood except viewed from its spiritual perspective. The devil sees that he is rapidly losing ground and seeks to counter God's fire. The contention is over the remaining over 200 largely unevangelized tribes in the continent. As well as the hundreds others around the world that God purposes to use Africans to reach. So the enemy works to waste Africa’s rich resources so that there would be no funds to send out missionaries. He brings crisis so that no one would be able to come in or go out to preach. And Islam and false religions are working hard to get to the many remaining un-reached peoples of Africa before the truth gets to them. Truly, Africa is on fire.

Now the whole purpose of drawing our attention to all this is because I believe that the outcome of these intense spiritual struggles in Africa depend a lot on what we do or do not do. Each of us has a part to play to see the working out of God's purpose for Africa. There are various different ways God will lead us as to our involvement if we ask him. But I want to end by highlighting two important areas all of us (no matter our location on the globe) should seek to be involved. The first (and by far the most important) is prayers. Let's get on our knees, fan the flames of God and quench hell's fire in Africa. The second is partnership. We need to join hands together to see God's purpose come to pass in Africa. None of us can do it alone. We need to share our resources together to empower the move of God across Africa.

I believe we can give the devil fire for fire and show him that God's fire swallows up hell's fire. Let's do it!

That the nations may praise Him,

Chimezie Onyebilanma,
Lome, TOGO.

PS: I would like to receive your comments on the above issue. Just reply to: caprotogo@bibway.com

"Chimezie Onyebilanma is a full-time cross-cultural missionary and the National Director for Calvary Ministries (CAPRO) in Togo. CAPRO is an indigenous Africa mission agency involved in church-planting among the remaining unreached peoples and working presently in 14 countries of Africa."

MATTIE'S CHRISTIAN PAGES

Associate Writer -- Chimezie Onyebilanma