L ast week was quite interesting on Nigeria's
social media space. It started with a video of
Pastor Adeboye telling his followers not to
marry a woman that can neither cook nor pray
for one straight hour. The question that has
been on my mind is: does that mean God is
deaf? What parent makes their child beg (for
one hour) for something they know the child
needs? The truth is that prayers, besides
making the believer to feel good about
themselves, are an absolute waste of time.
They do not grow the economy or an
amputated limb. Youth unemployment is at an
all time high despite our regular night vigils,
prayers and supplications - it is evident that a
God who is interested in human welfare does
not exist. If He did, malaria and cancers will
not kill millions of children whilst He
preoccupies Himself with consensual sex
between homosexual couples.


In our country, pastors are marriage
counsellors, psychotherapists, psychiatrists
and financial advisers all at once even though
they are not appropriately trained for these
roles. They tell women to go back to their
violent husbands because, according to them,
divorce is a sin against God. Many a woman
has lost her life because of this advice. People
like Adeboye are so influential anything they
say is taken as the literal truth. Sadly, his
comments portray a man who is out of touch
with the realities of modern family life. More
and more women are now in employment and
some of them are the main providers for their
families. Marriage is now regarded as a
partnership rather than as a master-servant
relationship. Some of the most celebrated
chefs in western cultures are men - what is
wrong with teaching our boys and young men
to cook for themselves? Adeboye has similarly
instructed his female followers not to marry
men without jobs. But what happens when a
man loses his job - should his wife divorce
him?


I feel sorry for the people who think God
speaks through this man or through any man
at all.


If you want incontrovertible evidence that
religion cannot reform the world, then consider
the degree of theft and corruption in Nigeria.
These problems have become endemic even
though practically every Nigerian is a
practising Muslim or Christian.

Nigerian pastors have acquired a taste for
private jets - ostensibly to reach the parts of
the world that need the gospel of Jesus,
except that they avoid such places as
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq.
Charity begins at home - it is senseless to run
off to put out the fire in your neighbour's
house when your own house is up in flames.


Nigerians and their country are in dire need of
salvation from endemic corruption. It is
evident that religion cannot transform our
nation because as our religious devotions
have increased, so have our corrupt ways.
Pastor Adeboye and his other pastopreneur
friends need to sell off their jets, repent of
their lies, stop robbing their church members
through emotional blackmail, and give back
what they have stolen. Their message has
failed.


Adeboye's gaffes were followed by the news
that the Nigerian government is going to
subsidise pilgrimage to Mecca by granting
Muslims concessionary exchange rate.

That is almost N8 billion for an exercise that
does not benefit our economy. Many
businesses are failing, parents are struggling
to send their children to school, our hospitals
are poorly resourced but that is how our
government chooses to spend N8 billion. And
believers wonder why we cannot stop talking
about religion. There would be no use to
criticise religion if it is removed from public
space and kept as a private matter. It is
wrong for the government to use tax payer's
money to subsidise religious rituals.


The week ended with the RCCG convention
where Adeboye makes his usual wild claims
but says nothing of consequence about our
nation. Our Vice President and a professor of
law, Yemi Osibanjo, who also happens to be a
pastor in the Redeemed Church watched on as
Adeboye went to town with his preposterous
claims. For a man who claims to have
resurrected dead people, cured all kinds of
diseases and driven a car without feel, you
would think Adeboye would have told Vice
President Osibanjo by now where to locate the
abducted Chibok girls, right? But no, another
RCCG convention has ended and not a word
about their whereabout. When Adeboye claims
that his car drives without fuel or that he has
resurrected dead people and there's a medical
doctor, engineer, architect, research fellow,
PhD holder or a professor in the congregation
who believes this fantasy then I feel grief and
have great concern for the education system
that has nurtured such people.


Religion has caused more harm than it has
done good to African societies. Without a
doubt, Adeboye and his fellow pastopreneurs
have been responsible for the corruption in the
way a generation of Nigerians think. But
judging by the reactions to his sermon on
social media, I think it is safe to say that the
scales are starting to fall off the eyes of
believers. I believe that pastor Adeboye will
think twice now before re-telling his favourite
story of how his car drives without fuel. I am
thankful for the Internet and how it has placed
knowledge at the fingertips (literally) of
ordinary people. I pay tribute to fellow
secularists for their unrelenting effort to
liberate the minds of our people from the
shackles of religion. Despite my grief, I feel
hopeful about the future.


Ijabla is a medical doctor. He writes from the
UK and can be contacted at: ijabijay@me.com

saharareporters.com/2016/08/09/why-i-am-convinced-god-does-not-speak-pastor-adeboye-dr-ijabla-raymond
http://saharareporters.com/2016/08/09/why-i-am-convinced-god-does-not-speak-pastor-adeboye-dr-ijabla-raymond

RCCG avengers over to you, do justice to this article

Akuku

why not leave that for God to judge if he was lying or not? abi who made you judge over him?




tank u!

Psalm 105:15
 “Touch not my anointed ones,
    do my prophets no harm"




Matthew 7:1-5
 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

The country is very tough that even animals are confused, they don't know what they are doing anymore.

I couldn't even read the entire rubbish...... ENVY, HATRED, JEALOUSLY, BITTERNESS CAN KILL O

........ I've long since wondered if there was a rule book stopping them from creating an industry.

I applaud this man.

cloudgoddess:
I applaud this man.

So this is where you are? Okay, you applaud him for what, bashing Adeboye? A person that thinks that all members of RCCG are educated in Nigeria should not be applauded. He needs scan.

I dont consider people who see religion as an encumbrance to development intelligent . Now look at this , if we take away religion will our problems magically go away North Korea has been without religion for 68 years officially atheistic for that matter and look at how poorly developed they are!

Only bigoted buffoons reason in such an abysmal way . Top countries all over the world made it with religion why can't we ? Please focus on the problems staring at us right in our faces and stop looking for religion to blame . Gosh !

I thought u were making sense till i saw where you wrote that GOD doesn't exist. I didnt bother to read the rest of the gibberish .

I knew you must be another misplaced atheist. You guys lack simple comprehension skills.