GRACE AND DISGRACE ON PRAYER MOUNTAINS

INTRODUCTION
Praying on mountain tops is increasingly becoming an important feature in the Nigerian Christian atmosphere.

Today, Prayer Mountains are said to be centres of great miracles where God speaks to people who come to seek Him, set captives free, break yokes, inspire people and confirm their ministries.

So many people have gotten their destinies confirmed and renewed on Prayer Mountains. However just as anything good has its bad sides, Prayer Mountains are being polluted.

Many of them have become places where the unsuspecting Christians meet with more spiritual challenges than they came with.

Some people go to the Prayer Mountain to destroy their rivals or competitors with negative prayers.

Some years back on a Prayer Mountain, a false prophet who specialised in defiling men and collecting their semen in handkerchiefs was caught.

He was cursed around 3 am right inside the Church on the Prayer Mountain and was handed over to the police.

Evil happening on some of these Prayer Mountains have become so bad that people are now warned not to come unsupervised, and to avoid socialising.

In this report, we shall examine the good and powerful sides of the Prayer Mountains, the crime and spiritual immorality being perpetrated thereby spiritual criminals who pretend to be prophets and how people fall into their nets.

INTRODUCTION

THE SPIRITUALITY OF PRAYER MOUNTAINS

PRAYER MOUNTAINS IN AFRICA

ABUSE OF PRAYER MOUNTAINS IN NIGERIA

* Joseph Ayo Babalola

ORIGIN
The culture of going to mountains to pray in Nigeria was largely a legacy of Joseph Ayo Babalola, founder of Christ Apostolic Church.

A steamroller who was called to the ministry, he depended on prayer in quiet places for the power of God.

Most of the famous prayer mountains were his legacies and were inherited today by the CAC.

Other mountains were also established by the Cherubim and Seraphim Church.

The latest of these mountains is Mount Carmel in Ifewara, Osun state, established in 2015 by Enoch Adeboye, pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

It is not exactly clear why Babalola had such habits, but it must have been copied from what he read of Jesus, the founder of the Christian faith.

In His 1,095 days of ministry, Jesus Christ had the habit of withdrawing to the mountains either all alone or with some of His disciples to pray.

This habit has been construed by a large section of Christians around the world as a cardinal necessity of Christianity.

It could be explained that Jesus did not go to the mountain tops because prayers are answered only on mountaintops, but when it’s time to pray, He needed to free Himself from the large crowd following Him everywhere.

Before the arrival of Jesus, some Old Testament’s prophets also found their ministries locked with mountains.

Bishop Bada Funso, provost of EPIC Theological Seminary and Bible College, Ketu Lagos Nigeria said “In the Bible, mountains are often the place where God encountered people, changed their lives and sent them back down to the world with a prophetic message.

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Unfortunately, in present-day Nigeria, the evil ones are penetrating the ambience to hoodwink the unsupervised and the careless.”

Talking about the Old Testament prophets who had to do with the mountains, the provost cited the examples of Noah, whose ark settled on Mount Ararat.

Abraham was also linked to Mount Horeb where he was to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, and Moses who was associated with Mount Sinai.

When the Israelites crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, they entered between two mountains. There are so many examples in the Old Testament before Jesus came to give a New Testament version of it.”

Not these alone, there are 55 verses about mountains and hills in the Bible. For example,
* The Mountains shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness” – Psalm 72 vs 3.

* Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness and the house of Israel shall possess their possessions”- Obadiah 1 vs 17.

* I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence come to my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth”- Psalm 121 vs 1 to 2.

* Who established the mountains by His strength, being clothed with power” – Psalm 65 vs 6.

* Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee and went up on the mountain and sat down there.

Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them”- Matthew 15 vs 29 to 30.

These verses further strengthened Christians to patronize Mountains, not just for sightseeing but as places imbued with great spiritual powers that men could tap from to solve their earthly problems.

Today in Nigeria, over 22 Prayer Mountains have been identified. In fact, it is becoming a kind of competition among the Churches to establish denominational Prayer Mountains.

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THE SPIRITUALITY OF PRAYER MOUNTAINS

PRAYER MOUNTAINS IN AFRICA

ABUSE OF PRAYER MOUNTAINS IN NIGERIA