By CALEB AYANSINA
ABUJA – PRIMATE,Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh has cautioned Christians to be wary of donations from Western non-governmental organisations who are using various tactics to lure them into things that are enmity to God.

Addressing over 6,000 delegates at the opening of the conference of the third edition of Divine Commonwealth Conference (DIVICON) of the Anglican Church, a non-denominational gathering held at National Christian Centre, Abuja, the primate charged Christian faithful to forge ahead in the face of a myriad of temptations, persecution, challenges and trials going on in some parts of the country.

Okoh urged them “to look forward to each new day with great anticipation,” adding “as we are all aware, our country is going through harsh economic realities: there is unemployment, poverty and frustration all around. Even the rich are beginning to experience giving-fatigue.

“There is a moral deficit in our church, both among the leaders and the parishioners. We are too often and too easily excited and enthusiastic about ‘the lust of the flesh’, ‘the lust of the eye’, and ‘the pride of life’ – money, materials and other short-time values. This has led to serious compromises of moral standards. There is a dearth of spiritual discipline which ought to be the concomitant of any serious profession of the Christian faith,” he stated.

Okoh maintained that there are dangers and obstacles as “we seek to ‘go forward’. Among these are the great evils associated with the philosophy of aggressive secularism, which promotes a world view neutral of all theistic considerations, and admits no transcendental reference. It breeds a society which increasingly degenerates into more and more ungodliness.”

According to him, several NGOs of western origin are in this category, warning “you need extreme caution and necessary counselling before signing on to do anything with ‘do-good packages’, from USA, UK, Canada, Europe as a whole! This philosophy goes hand-in-hand with another, namely, materialism.”