Jail is too good for Nigerian pastors

November 22, 2012 by Abimbola Adelakun

Recently, the Daily Mail, UK, had a feature on Bishop David Oyedepo. He was accused (alongside his son who ‘manages’ the UK branch) of fleecing worshippers by making “spurious claims” and “cynical exploitation of the gullible”.

The undercover journalist who visited the British church and the British MP who condemned him acted ignorant of the antithesis of faith and logicality when they expressed surprise about how people were urged to give more money in return for blessings that were neither guaranteed nor cognisant of the realities on ground.

The feature also talked about how much of the money creamed off these worshippers are being repatriated to Nigeria (which, in a perverse sense, is a positive development!)

The same Daily Mail, weeks before, ran a feature on another Nigerian pastor in the same UK, Alex Omokodu, (who claims on his website to have raised the dead twice) and another Pastor Mbenga of the Victorious Pentecostal Assembly who scam worshippers by selling olive oil and black currant drink at double the market rate as “miracle cures”, capable of curing terminal diseases.

Like Oyedepo, Omokodu lives large, far removed from the mess he makes of peoples’ lives.

My visceral reaction at those articles was to defend my countrymen against a searchlight that might have been beamed with a racist undertone. I mean, Daily Mail suddenly woke up and realised religion is exploitative? Wow!

Isn’t that what religion has been all about for many centuries? How can we say that what Oyedepo and Mbenga are accused of peddling different from the Pope’s selling of Indulgences in the 16th Century? Religion plays on fear to rip-off poor and miserable people in the name of God. And the irony is, the more people are deceived, the more devoted they become. So, what’s new? From appropriating people’s money to shoplifting condoms to forcing youths to have sex, what have church leaders not done?

If people have refused to read History books that teach us that religion came to us riding on the back of exploitation and politics, why, with the celebrated cases of Jim Bakker, Eddie Long and Benny Hinn among others, do people still throng churches and sponsor their pastors’ excesses out of their poverty? Why has the case of financial scandals involving the creators of TBN Channel -some of which are so disgusting- not caused a mass boycott of these hawkers of falsehood? Why does it spur people to defensiveness instead?

Why did somebody like Jesu Oyingbo have followership in the first place and why didn’t people walk out on Pastor Chris Oyakhilome when he charged gate fees before one could attend service? Seriously, who should take the blame? The person who sells snake oil or the one who finds a psychic relief (however temporary) from buying?

Take the case of Pastor Enoch Adeboye: On his church website, Adeboye claims God told him He had no choice but to keep Covenant Partners alive for 10 years because they were giving to Him within that period. This takes ideas of bizarre and outlandish to another height entirely.

One, a god is meant to earn his keep but Adeboye’s is one whose services people have to pay for, never mind that billions who are not his covenant partners are not only alive, but live considerably better lives elsewhere. Two, can Adeboye, personally, account for every single one of his covenant partners and that in those last 10 years, not a single one died? Can he? We are used to Nigerian judges and politicians saying that their hands are tied, but God? That sounds like something from the mind of a freakish Nollywood screen-writer.

Since the news broke that Pastor Ayo Oritsejeafor has joined the league of Private Jet-Owning Pastors, there has been, thankfully, a sense of outrage at the excesses of Nigerian pastors.

For the record, let me state that Pastor Oritsejeafor is not a good poster boy for Christianity (never mind the various caps he wears, anyone can be anything in Nigeria’s Pentecostalism). I make this point – debatable, of course- not just because of his Bling Bling jewellery like 50 Cents or even his bond with the present occupant of Aso Rock Villa; there is something about him –and I came to this conclusion after watching him raise an offering on Cable TV- that doesn’t seem to me would wait for God to supply all his ‘greeds’ according to his riches and glory.

His private jet was presented while he was sandwiched, like Jesus between two thieves, in the presence of a President who bizarrely declared he couldn’t see how corruption and road accidents are interlinked and, a governor whose public morals fall below average. Rev. Fr. Matthew Kukah could not have put it better: Oritsejeafor’s moral authority is undermined by these dalliances.

The issue is, religion, exploitation and subsequent scandals will not go away. Not in this generation. Not even in this world. As long as there is that primitive instinct in man to seek the supernatural, to seek God and the fear of death is constantly shaken before our eyes, people will continue to subject themselves to exploitative pastors to use as they like.

But the good thing Oritsejeafor has done for us is that he created a conversation; Oyedepo, Omokodu and other sellers of 21st Century Indulgences keep exposing the underbelly of these merchant-pastors; but whether this will translate into a rationality that will cause Nigerians to slow down on the ill-logic of tolerating these pastors’ shenanigans remains to be seen.

It takes more than throwing pastors in jail for their followers to be set free from the mind-prison they are ensconced in. Religion and political power are intertwined in many ways that make this impossible to begin with at all. History shows that, for instance, with an Industrial Revolution, the process creates a ripple effect that bleaches people of primitiveness to transcend religious superstitions while forging a better society that is not predicated on dogmatic concepts of theodicy which religion propagates. When that day comes in Nigeria, and even Africa, these pastors will wilfully choose jail as rescue from irrelevance the times would banish them.

But here’s the problem: These pastors know that with Nigeria’s developmental progress comes their end. And they are actively complicit in the dysfunctionality of Nigeria to extend their own longevity.

http://www.punchng.com/viewpoint/jail-is-too-good-for-nigerian-pastors/

Brilliant piece.It cant be said better.

Those who have eyes,let them see and the ones with ears,let them hear.

Nice piece, not far from truth but my people perish cuz they are too gullible. They don't reason with open mind, imagine some will say "how can u be referring to our daddy G.O like that"
Wake up!!!.

.....and as the years goes by, veils are removed from our eyes. Such a sad sad story, that even the so called men of God are now men of the world. Scampering for wealth, affluence and worldly virtues. Have they so lost it !!! Its shocking, absurd and regrettable. The truth must be said, the chunk of these modern day pastors are all out for surviving just like any normal man. Religious ministries has abysmally transformed into a free TRADE ZONE.

Do you blame the religious sorcerers?
A fool and his/her money are soon parted.
The will of their God!

Nice article

They deserve to be taken to the range and their bloody heads used as practising objects by Ferociously Blood thirsty Savages. This Pastor merchants are Rogues

i agree.

Well Said

There is some sense in this article although my own contribution to it is that many Nigerian pastors will actually prefer hell to prison judging by the way they live their lives. They are more afraid of Men than God!

i can't understand this idea of calling pastors thieves every time. My people have a proverb which says 'Young man get money you say na juju e take get am. Why you sef no go do your own juju?' If it was so easy to "fleece" people, why don't you go and start your own church and see if it's that easy?

na wa oooo

There are real Pastors and there are fake Pastors. Not everyone is called. Some were called into ministry by God while others called themselves due to financial benefits. Many are called, but few are chosen so we need to employ discernment in our judgement and criticism of men of God.

[color=#006600][/color][sub][/sub]

Lasinoh: Do you blame the religious sorcerers?
A fool and his/her money are soon parted.
The will of their God!

Thanks for your write up on the above topic. I just want to make the following input:
* So many members of these churches are not illiterates and neither are they bereft of logical reasoning as some bloggers assume most often in their comments and contributions to issues concerning the church
* Erudite academicians, accomplished lawyers and reputable business personality and enterpreneurs who are rational decision makers form a large nucleus of members of these churches and have a right on how their resources are deployed
* Let me quickly add that not all members of these churches are politicians or government or private sector employees that acquire their wealth through dubious/corrupt means
* If an individual can own a private/personal car rather than using publicly provided means of transportation, what is the difference in owning a private jet?
* Most often we misdirect our energies to churches and leave out government/agencies that are primarily responsible for our well being.
* How many of the good deeds and charitable works of these churches are given prominence in our newspapers, rather we have to "mobilize" reporters to feature such events in their newspapers!
* Lagos/Ibadan expressway would have remained a forest/den of armed robbers if the churches had not taken the initiatives to open up the area! Punch Newspapers would have taken their Head Office elsewhere not this same axis that was opened up by religious organisations that ventured to "invest members" money in putting up infrastructures in this neglected area !
Just my thoughts.

.its a pity dat most of dos pastors startd wel bt d luv of money as blindfolded dem.dey re nt different 4rm thieves

Somebody please help me summarize. The story is too long.

If U think they are defrauding people then U should also go put people together and defraud them and then come back to tell us how easy it was for U to start a church, nutria it till maturity and then how it was possible for U to defraud them.
Anyone who condemns God's ministers because he/she feels he knows how to speak or write good english is simply an "ANTI-CHRIST" or simply put "A DEVIL", and his or her end is The Lake of Fire.
No matter what, these are Men of God and U should have respect for your lives because till u pay with the last drop of ur blood, God isnt gonna stop fighting U.

Pastor W.F Kumuyi still remain the most respected and trustworthy pastor

I have sometimes speculated about what would upset Jesus most if He comes to live with us as a human as He did 2,000 years ago. I have contemplated many different scenarios through the years.

But why is it that fake pastors are not very common in northern nigeria unlike what we have in sw, ss and eastern part?

ignis: Somebody please help me summarize. The story is too long.

but interesting

waice6571: But why is it that fake pastors are not very common in northern nigeria unlike what we have in sw, ss and eastern part?

bad market na

You that is pointing accusing finger on someone look at your back and you will see ten fingers pointing at you. you are like the pharisees in the days of jesus, they were never satisfied with what jesus did yet jesus showed love to them. stop pointing accusing finger on mean of God if you dont want God to point finger at you. those who give in church are not dumbs. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone--especially to those in the family of faith.

Then i used 2 condemned Jehovah witness but now i realise their d only 1 preaching d truth abt d Bible.most of dis pastors re turning Bible upside down in d name of money. May God save us & ll shud also save ourselves from deceit.

masotemi: [color=#006600][/color][sub][/sub]

Thanks for your write up on the above topic. I just want to make the following input:
* So many members of these churches are not illiterates and neither are they bereft of logical reasoning as some bloggers assume most often in their comments and contributions to issues concerning the church
* Erudite academicians, accomplished lawyers and reputable business personality and enterpreneurs who are rational decision makers form a large nucleus of members of these churches and have a right on how their resources are deployed
* Let me quickly add that not all members of these churches are politicians or government or private sector employees that acquire their wealth through dubious/corrupt means
* If an individual can own a private/personal car rather than using publicly provided means of transportation, what is the difference in owning a private jet?
* Most often we misdirect our energies to churches and leave out government/agencies that are primarily responsible for our well being.
* How many of the good deeds and charitable works of these churches are given prominence in our newspapers, rather we have to "mobilize" reporters to feature such events in their newspapers!
* Lagos/Ibadan expressway would have remained a forest/den of armed robbers if the churches had not taken the initiatives to open up the area! Punch Newspapers would have taken their Head Office elsewhere not this same axis that was opened up by religious organisations that ventured to "invest members" money in putting up infrastructures in this neglected area !
Just my thoughts.

in other words,its okay for a pastor to acquire a $40million jet?

Na dem sabi

Spot on ... Woe betide every deceitful, thieving, devilish and extravagant pastors outhere .... One by one, ya'all will meet judgement in heaven, eyin omo ale jatijati!
I dont bother with Churches again, i can sit down in my own house and follow the words and instructions of God and still make heaven .... Yes!
I refuse to be gullible or contribute towards another lying and deceitful man's taste for living large and extravagant
I refuse to be exploited ....

[quote author=shadrach77]i can't understand this idea of calling pastors thieves every time. My people have a proverb which says 'Young man get money you say na juju e take get am. Why you sef no go do your own juju?' If it was so easy to "fleece" people, why don't you go and start your own church and see if it's that easy? [/quot. So your position is that you agree they are thieves but its not easy to perfect the art of stealing, so people should let them be. Hmm...such stupid position to take.

This Pastors, especially the new rave pentecostal Pastors are empire builders and not church builder.

May God almighty Allah continue to guide us to the straight path, path of those who earn his favours not those who earn anger and wrath.

The Many Tragedies of Today’s Church

These days some pastors give the impression that they see God physically every day, hobnob with Him, and so are above human scrutiny. They invest upon themselves this garb of infallibility, which means they should not be questioned or made to give account to anybody. “Who are you to judge another man’s servant,” they would quip and interpret this scripture out of its context of judging people in what they eat or drink (Romans 14:3–4), which, as far as Paul was concerned, was a petty matter in piety. They say they are accountable to only God who called them. But is this true?

Peter was “the first Pope,” as Roman Catholics teach. In Acts 10, God asked him to go and preach to Cornelius at a time the gospel had not yet got to the Gentiles. When he came back, the New Living Translation says in Acts 11:2 that “the Jewish believers criticised him.” How dare you criticise an “infallible pope” called Peter? Today, a typical pastor would have barked that they have touched the Lord’s anointed, and would distort that scripture to be the special preserve of pastors, whereas it pertains to every child of God. And that scripture, in any case, talks about physically harming the person, not about critically assessing his actions or inactions.

People found businesses and grow them with their own effort. But once they involve others, or make them invest in it, they make their stocks and salary known to such shareholders. When Bill Gates was the CEO of Microsoft, people knew his salary and shareholding. This is also true of publicly quoted companies in Nigeria. But hardly any church member in Nigeria’s “private” Pentecostal churches can boast he knows his pastor’s salary, not to talk of his personal worth – yet most of them made their wealth only after they founded such churches.

Many of such pastors make no discrimination between what belongs to the church and what belongs to them. Many actually see the church coffers as their personal estate. Some, with their wives, are the signatories to church accounts although many of them strain to give it a semblance of credibility by adding one lackey. Any day that lackey gets bold enough to ask questions, he gets fired. Today, pride and arrogance have become the trait-mark of most pastors. They carry themselves not with the aplomb that befits God’s children but with the hubris that befits Satan’s agents. They drive the best cars and live in the best houses. This is good, since the Bible calls believers kings and priests that should reign on earth.

But when some of them deny their lieutenants such goodies, or make vain boasts about them, or flaunt their expensive shoes and wristwatches and suits amidst their messages, I usually feel a lump in my throat. Often I ask, could Jesus have done that? Of course they would say that Jesus wore designer dresses and that explains why the soldiers “…parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.” And if it is true that Jesus wore designer dresses which in any case I do not doubt, it means that all his apostles also wore designer dresses; for the soldiers that came to arrest Him could have used his disparate dress mode to single him out but they could not, until Judas betrayed Him with a kiss.

But today, enter any church and you need not be told who the pastor is. I see churches just struggling to kick off but one of the first things the imperial pastors do is to buy for themselves and their wives expensive seats, or they make “papal chairs” with ornate engravings and expensive upholstery – just to ensure they are “set apart” from the congregation. And they would have church protocol or security details stand as a ramrod around the altar while they preach. One day, I saw one such detail that probably had not eaten for days collapse under the torture. Are these not the vain exercise of dominion in Matthew 20:25–28 Jesus said is found among the Gentile leaders that should not be seen among us?

This virus of pride and arrogance has also infected student pastors in our higher institutions. Thus when one visits such places to minister, one sees a student pastor being attended by a horde of attendants – one bears his Bible, another his handkerchiefs, and another his handsets, ad infinitum. And one sees the other students scurrying like startled rats once they sight him, and the whisper of “Daddy is coming” would fill the air. Daddy! Who is this daddy – a fellow student who pitiably inherited a culture that blows his position out of proportion? And once this “big daddy” is appointed or before he graduates, his assistants, in a bid to prepare the ground for such largesse during their own reign, would prey on other students to raise money to buy him a car.

Some students have been deceived to give their tuition fees in such acts, and some of them have been expelled for inability to pay thereafter. Thus when such “daddies” graduate, they don’t seek for jobs. They want to found their own denominations, or wangle their way into prominent positions in a thriving church where the goodies and accolades they had known as students would continue to come. They want to become, overnight, like the tested wealthy pastors, men who had paid their dues in the pursuit of God. This, quite pitiably, often draws from the words of these tested pastors who often give testimonies that suggest they just happened upon success, without any wilderness experience.

Today, some pastors teach you not to get close to your pastor for your own safety, so that you don’t see him committing fornication or any other sin and ruin your Christian life. And if ever you see your pastor in sin, you should run for your dear life. Behave as if you didn’t see him; and what is more, remain in that church and be loyal to him. Don’t judge him! Leave him to his God that called him! And they would quote David when he mourned Saul’s death in 2 Samuel 1:20 by saying: “Don’t announce the news in Gath, don’t proclaim it in the streets of Ashkelon, or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice and the pagans will laugh in triumph.” But this scripture, in my thinking, is the wisdom of David not that of God.

There are three kinds of philosophies or wisdom in the Bible. They are that of God, that of Satan and that of man. Thus if those words by David were the wisdom of God, He would not have allowed it to be written in the Bible where not only the daughters of Philistines heard it but their granddaughters and great granddaughters still hear it till today.

Today, there is this esprit de corps, a kind of cult mindset among some pastors, that boldly declares: “Hide my sins and I will hide your sins, exalt me when you preach in my church and I will exalt you when I preach in yours.” They go to lengths to defend the excesses of other pastors so that they too will have the liberty to indulge in such excesses. When they come as guest ministers, they would make members literally worship the host pastor by making them stand up and sit down, shout and clap, and say words of adulation, which they hardly ask to be given to the Holy Spirit.

This cult mentality makes some pastors kowtow to an unwritten code of conduct that demands that “when you preach for me, raise money so that when I preach for you I too will raise money,” “when you preach for me, I will give you hefty honorarium so that when I preach for you, you too will give me hefty honorarium.” Some guest preachers even ask for as much as 30 per cent of what they raise or they will fight for it. So people like us who are not pastors in the sense of having a parish or founding a denomination, and so cannot dole out hefty honoraria to reciprocate such gestures, are only invited to preach by few pastors that love the truth.

Nowadays, some pastors teach things that many accept as truth when such things are lies from the pit of hell. For instance, I hear some pastors teach that the minister is greater than the ministry. This is a weighty statement whose hidden import include, one, the minister is greater than everybody in that ministry put together; and two, when that minister dies, his ministry will also die. Is this not a bad way to prophesy over one’s labour? Some pastors today teach that poverty is a sin. I have not seen that in the Bible! Jesus said, we shall always have the poor among us. And when Paul went to clarify some doctrinal issues with the church in Jerusalem, among the things they told him to always do was to feed the poor. Yes, the Bible calls poverty a curse, but it never calls it a sin! It is a curse of the law just like sin and sickness which man inherited from Adam. In principle, man is supposed to be free from these curses at the new birth, but in reality it is not so. It takes revelation to go from the principles stated in the Bible to the reality lived in life.

The result of such half-truths is that congregants now do all in their power to make money. There was the media-celebrated case in Lagos of the man who stole tens of millions of naira from his employers to give to his church. He didn’t do it to enrich himself but for God to bless him to enable him pay back what he stole. There was a case in Aba of a sales girl who stole about N2 million from her employers and gave all to her church. She was sued and jailed two years. Even her church refused her employer’s N500,000 plea bargain offer.

Today, LovePeddlers and armed robbers go to churches and feel no pangs of conscience. When pastors attract such a crowd, the next thing they do is to raise money. I was in a service recently where a guest minister raised tens of millions of naira without stating what the money would be used for. “There must be a need in the church,” he said and began to call people to give in the millions. The more he raised, the more honorarium he got.

Most pastors today have the same view on rebellion, even those that broke away from other churches. They kink its meaning to suit their aim of trapping members. For instance, when somebody fails to carry out the pastor’s instruction, it automatically becomes rebellion. And they would threaten that the ground would open up and swallow the person as it did to Korah, Dathan and Abiram in Numbers 16:32. But these were men who wanted to split the ministry of Moses and not men who failed to obey an instruction. But then is rebellion against God not one of the definitions of sin? And we all, including these pastors, sin against God every day and God has not asked the ground to open up and swallow us. Why should He do that just because a pastor is involved? Moreover, we now live in the era of grace when such things no longer happen.

The result of all this is that many people today go to church out of fear (but where the spirit of God is there should be liberty!), or simply to please their pastor – not out of unalloyed desire to worship God. Permit me to state here that the church is a living thing, spiritually speaking. So it has the seven major traits of living things. Based on this truth, the church can be divided into three. First is the living church. This is the church guided by the word of God. It allows men to manifest their gifts. It does not cage the Holy Spirit but gives Him free course to manifest in their affairs. It is a church that feeds her members with the pure bread of God’s word sans poison. Few churches in any epoch belong here. The second is the dead church. These are churches that give no regard to the revealed word of God. They feed their members with bread drenched in poison, which leads them to spiritual death. They are full of ceremonies and fatuous rituals. They stifle the gift of God in men, cage the Holy Spirit and keep Him out of their affairs, which they run with human philosophies. Many of the orthodox churches belong here.

The third kind of church is the quasi-living church. This one has traits that swing between the first and the second above. Some are like the Laodecean church that Jesus spoke of in Revelation 3:14–22. They are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, and the Lord said He would spew them out of His mouth. It is a church that boasts in its material possessions like we do today. They preach prosperity and miracles instead of preaching values. Because of the untruths we spread today, the church has become impotent and prey to groups like Boko Haram, hence our insane act of taking arms against them. The church should never take arms against any group. We must win all battles in the spirit realm.

I know this article would ruffle some feathers in Christendom, make me lose some friends, and many would pillory me for washing our dirty linen in public. But permit me to state, unlike what many would argue, that exposing our sins does not make God any less powerful nor His gospel any less potent. The Bible does not support hiding our sins. That is why it says in Proverbs 28:13 that, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

One of the tragedies of today’s church is that the knives that are sharp have no handles, and the ones that have handles are not sharp! Thus the orthodox churches that have drab messages, whose pastors are as blunt as wood, have better character and structures, and the Pentecostal churches that have great messages, whose pastors hone themselves to keen-edge sharpness, have many character and structural flaws. And to worsen the matter, they now wear the garb of infallibility. May God help us!

shadrach77: i can't understand this idea of calling pastors thieves every time. My people have a proverb which says 'Young man get money you say na juju e take get am. Why you sef no go do your own juju?' If it was so easy to "fleece" people, why don't you go and start your own church and see if it's that easy?

Does any of your family member fall into the bracket of thieving and deceitful pastors? #JustAsking