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The Jesus’ question which was encased in his shadowy identity was both a fascinating and enigmatic phenomenon to people of Jesus time as well as people of today. The synoptic gospels presented the matter of Jesus identity in varying contexts; however, it is approached in this study from the context of Matthew. After receiving a brief answer of ‘who he is’ from Peter, Jesus mandates his disciples to keep the information to themselves. This mandate to secrecy shares certain characteristics with the Messianic secret in Mark, but differs in intentions. From the exegesis of the pericope in Matthew, Jesus’ refusal to let the public know about his personalities with his motive to keep away from ostentation and self-love. Such ostentation and self-love have been referred to in this study as identity crisis. This study argues from empirical evidence that many Nigerian pastors suffer from identity crisis. It therefore, challenges Nigerian contemporary preachers to emulate Jesus’ refusal of self-seeking and to shun hypocrisy and unnecessary publicity.ContributionTo reroute the Christian church in Nigeria, especially the pastors from ostentation and self-seeking publicity to a selfless and modest lifestyle modelled after Jesus’ own personality example according to Matthew 16:13–20.

Assemblies of God church in Nigeria, which has for over 40 years now, experienced various crises that have led to sucession and factionalism in that church. The once giant of spirituality and the mother of Pentecostalism has grappled with the problem of administration, leadership tussle and bigotry. This study is a review of previous and current crises that AG Nigeria has gone through at the General Council level in a bid to mend what seems to have torn asunder the seamless coat of Christ in line with the prayer of Jesus, ‘that they may be one’. The study uses historical-critical method and phenomenological design to analyse the depth of the crack in the church in order to predict the future of Pentecostalism in Nigeria.Contribution: To chronicle the crises in Assemblies of God Nigeria through a study of current and past patterns of events with a view to recommending possible solutions.

Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multicultural society, and therefore, Nigeria's religious inclinations differ broadly. There are currently three religions dominant in Nigeria, namely Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion (ATR). These three religions, especially the first two, have demonstrated varying levels of fanaticism in the past leading to many recounted crises and jungle justice incidents in Nigeria. Because of Nigerian politics, we have witnessed the use of armed thugs by politicians to harass and even kill party opponents and displace their families. These two factors have caused many young, highly skilled persons to flee Nigeria for a safer haven. This study therefore tries to review current religious fanaticism and electioneering thuggery leading to loss of lives and property, which consequently sees to the fall of the Nigerian economy and the subsequent enthronement of insecurity in the country. It suggests that these factors are foundational problems consequent to the amalgamation of 1914 and are leading causes for the rapid rate of migration of Nigerian experts out of the country. Contribution At a time when Nigeria is in dire need of great brains to help in its developmental struggle, politicians and religious bigots have constituted a serious blockade to this ambition. This article is a review of recent political and religious turmoil in Nigeria with a view to call the attention of all warring religious and political stakeholders to the damage their extremism has already caused and to also bring the attention of Nigerians to the foundation of these problems, namely the amalgamation and the need to address it.