A friend of mine told me of his recent experience in one of the more popular hip and happening Churches in Abuja. Members had been told to come to Church with their Cheque books for some kind of special prayers. On the appointed date, there was hardly any spare sitting space in the church as Church member had turned up along with some other friends who they had shared the news with. The thinking of all was that the Man of God would pray and bless the Cheques and symbolically this would translate into better cash flows and successes in business, much like blessing a biro before an exam.

My friend was himself ecstatic. He is part of the management of an ICT firm in Abuja. Coincidentally, his CEO is also a member of the church. The CEO who wasn’t going to make it caused the company accountant to hand over all company cheques to my friend to take along to the special prayer including that of the CEO. So effectively, my friend had about nine bulky cheque books with him ready to be blessed for increased earnings.

That day, the sermon took longer than usual. The topic centered on generosity. Why brethren should be generous. Why brethren should sow seeds. Why brethren should bless the Lord (through his servant the Man of God) with gifts and all that. Those were stories the congregation had heard before. They all itched for the cheque blessing part, the reason why most of them showed up.

When it finally came, my friend said it was over in less than two minutes. Very simply, the Man of God told every body to raise their booklets in their hands and in prayer he asked God to bless this cheques bla bla bla and that was it. Like some kind of insignificant thing. My friend said the brevity and shallowness of the prayer deflated the enthusiasm he had come with and indeed that of most people in the congregation.

Then came the big one, the main act actually by the Pastors scripts. The Church was carrying out X Y Z projects and was requesting for financial assistance. The appeal was laced in these lines, “No need to pledge. We know your cheque books are here, just write us a cheque. God will bless you abundantly”. My friend said he had never felt more irritated and while those who the joke was on started scribbling down and tearing out cheque slips, he gathered the booklets he had on him and found the closest exit from the Church.

Beyond the laughter we shared while he narrated this story, an irritation was also steered up in me, one which has given me the temerity to steer the hornets nest today by challenging these money mongering, superstar men of God who have become demigods and saviours to many hapless people in this country.

I have once asked if churches paid tax to the Federal Inland Revenue. If they don’t, they ought to because they are very potent money spinning institutions and such windfalls should not go untaxed. In fact, Churches should be made to declare their accounts at the end of the year. So lucrative has this business become that a banker friend of mine told me once of the many loan requests they receive accompanied with Ivy League standard business plans by persons who want to set up Churches.

It is important I make it clear ab initio that I am not against the practice of any religion in any form the practitioners deem fit. But when the practice involves the organized, systematically executed and continuous reap off of a religiously gullible people in a population where 50% of the people according to the UNDP are poor, then it raises a deep moral question. One that right thinking people must begin to talk about and challenge.

In agreement to Karl Marx’s opinion of Religion being the opium of the Masses, Nigerians have under the pressures of a failing economy and a directionless leadership ran to the Churches for succour. The Penticostal outpouring of the early eighties and Nineties seems just apt for a people who were trying to hold unto something to sustain their hopes and belief in life. That religious revival however gave rise to a new set of Chief Executives going by various names such as general overseer, supreme shepherd, founding bishop and the like.

These individuals who driven either by a foresight of the boom that lay ahead had set up their own churches suddenly turned into kingpins as their congregations transformed from mushroom gatherings into business empires and very large conglomerates. Gradually but steadily, a new class of bourgeoisie emerged, this time around in the vineyard of God and thus unquestionably divine.

We watched as the focus shifted from an intercession to save our nation from final collapse to a grandiose scramble for the same old ‘root of all evils’, money. Pastors who had tasted the pleasures and comfort of the elite class by virtue of their headship of various churches and the unhindered assess it gave them to the common wealth of their congregation sustained their position by spreading a new gospel of prosperity, devising new methods of expanding their followership and squeezing out more money from them.

We have today therefore, mega rich, celebrity, Super star, stage con-artists parading in the name of Men of God. They move in long convoys. They establish Universities and colleges which most of their members can not afford to send their kids to. They dress in cloths bought off boutiques were Hollywood celebrities shop. They speak with cultivated accents. They own conglomerates. They cruise round the world. Only recently while the nation and indeed the world moaned under the weight of the Global Melt down with many losing their jobs and Government cutting down on spending, one of them chose it as the best time to announce the purchase of his personal jet bought at an amount that could make a dead man shiver in the grave.

Now, like I have once asked, would we be right in always attacking our civil leaders of corruption and deception when our religious leaders are as good? Would it be wise for us to continue to fall prey to these self-serving individuals who claim to be speaking for the Supreme Being when clearly it is evident that they are just toying with our sensibilities for their personal benefits?

The Cheque in Church episode is nothing but a big scam and should be rightly described as that. So also their many other tactics and gimmicks through which they get us to part with some more money. We can not continue to treat them all like sacred cows just because the Bible said we should not ‘touch’ an ‘anointed’. The ‘anointing’ has surely become an all comers affairs so it behooves on us to unmask them. Like it is said in pidgin English, our mumu don do.

http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4546:cheque-in-the-church&catid=81:external-contrib&Itemid=300

you cant fall prey of things like this if u walk with God.

If i talk now some people would say "do not judge"

My man Noetic has spoken well! I dont do all biddings of any man of God, i need a confirmation in my own spirit.

Now let me tackle this secularly and advocate for the defensive.

@OP, what do you think about football stars, hollywood stars, musicians & standup comedians? Are they deserving of their earnings? The Bible says we are not to muzzle the ox that treads the grain because a labourer is worthy of his wages. The ox should eat freely out of the same grain field that it works on. There are people who will give any sum of money to see Beckham face to face or shake hands with Drogba, or support Kanu Heart Foundation with the last money on them. People have died because they wanted to see or touch Michael Jackson. Kanye West creates controversy, annoys many people and makes sales off it. Dbanj will always use dirty innuendo to pass across sensuous messages, but some people will do anything he says. Are all these people deserving of the attention or financial benefit?

My point is, what is the beef? Is it the undue attention and people-control? You cant say your complaint is cos of religion because some people's religion is hiphop and whatever the music industry says, they do and nobody raises an eyebrow. And i have never seen anyone complain about the undue amount paid to the gods of the soccer religion. Never forget that for some people, all the hope they have ever had in the world was gotten in the church.

If your point is about taxes, there i will agree with you. But its too bad that if taxes are instituted, poor churches will have an even harder time while the rich ones will still manage. And unlike companies, you cant sell shares to raise revenue for the sinking churches. What happens then?

If men have chosen to follow another man and do anything he says, (not anything at all, i hope you understand it is within limits) out of love and respect, there is nothing you can do about that. Thats how the world works. Those who dont take the lead pay those who are ahead. If you were not there when he was labouring in prayers and the word for the congregation, who are you to judge if he is paid for his services?

Just to be clear about this, if you are one of the church members, you may have the right to speak of what the pastor deserves. For those of us who are not, we do not know what makes the members do what they will so I think we should not condemn them. Leave it for God to judge.

If they were ministering lies and deceiving people for monetary gain, thats a different matter. As long as they are not teaching falsehood, God wants us to mind our business, lest we fall into error. E.g.
John 21:22-23

^^
What rubbish are you talking about?

People giving freely to the pastor is totally different from threatening/cajoling/inducing people to give telling them its a MUST if they do not want punishment from God. . .that is criminal!

lol i laugh in Kalahari. When i posted this, I knew i was calling for Tudor. Lol

Okay, for clarification, threatening and saying such things like "a rain of punishment" is criminal. But that is not the case here where they were simply asked to donate without any threats, and such cases as you have mentioned is not the case often. Agreed, some people do that and I will be the first to speak against them. Im mobile so i cant insert posts now but if you check my last 3 posts from my profile you will see what i said about tithes. The same applies here too. Cheers.

mavenbox,

I am ashamed on your behalf on your sense of ethics and morality. You might as well support exploitation of the strong by the weak, because that is what is happening. The psychologically, intellectually and socially strong are exploiting their weaker brethren and you are here clapping for them. So you do not think getting people to believe that blessing of their chequebook  in order to obtain business prosperity is criminal, and it is even worse getting them to sign away their bank account with threats of financial failure. I am sure you cannot condemn yahoo yahoo boys who promise mugus oil blocks(prosperity) only to fleece them dry, or an hypnotist who instead of helping his patient's overcome their problems, get them to su.ck his cork.  Start justifying them also.

Did you not read the OP?

People were asked to come with their chequebooks, taught specifically on giving sowing seeds, tithes and whatever, blessed the so called checkbooks for 2mins then went ahead to request for donations. Even blackmailing the parishioners telling them since we know your chequebooks are here i.e you have no excuse not to give.

Why weren't the members told point blank, bring your chequebooks next week we are going to request donations?

The pastor doesn't need to point an AK 47 before you realise he's just a manipulative SOB.

@Mavenbox
The story above is a clear case of manipulation. The pastor manipulated the members to bring their cheque books to church for "blessings" meanwhile the real motive was to get them to write cheques for him. It is really disgracefull that our so called men of God have now resorted to "obataining by false pretence"a.k.a 419 to extort money from the flock. As a christian i feel very pained that my relgion is being used to commit fraud. What these criminals are doing is even worse than what  the traders in the temple at Jerusalem deed and Jesus accused them of turning his fathers house to a den of thieves. I really wonder what Jesus would do today if he sees how commercially advanced our churches have become today. No true christian should feel comfortable that this crime is going on in christiandom today.

noetic15:

you cant fall prey of things like this if u walk with God.

You are right brother but how many Christians are walking with God or how many Christians are taught how to walk with God and know what is right and wrong.

@Mavenbox

The two logic you have stated does not correlate and about the taxes, each church will have to pay according to their earnings so there is no problem for the small churches.

I will reply you later in the day.  

Tudór:

Did you not read the OP?

People were asked to come with their chequebooks, taught specifically on giving sowing seeds, tithes and whatever, blessed the so called checkbooks for 2mins then went ahead to request for donations. Even blackmailing the parishioners telling them since we know your chequebooks are here i.e you have no excuse not to give.

Why weren't the members told point blank, bring your chequebooks next week we are going to request donations?

The pastor doesn't need to point an AK 47 before you realise he's just a manipulative SOB.

Thank you brother or just simply tell them we need donations in cash, material donation, bank transfer, volunteering service or you can even write us checks and let them do it at their own discretion.

You can't tell them to bring the check book to the church and expect them not to donate except people like me and the poster.

This is funny, come to think of it those people that are going to the church to bless their cheques, does it mean that the cheques will multiply the money in their account or what?

Even if the man of God says that, must you obey every thing without using your common sense? Is it suppose to be money doblers or what?

I cannot pity anybody that falls a victim. Infact if you among the people that went, you are not suppose to even say it because is very shameful.

@The Ashamed Wirinet:
I will answer you this once. Did you read my post? I made it clear that i dont subscribe to buying everything any man of God sells. Did you see that or your prejudice blinded you? And did you see where I said I was only advocating on the side of the defensive? Did you even read the post about tithes that i mentioned to Tudor before you started leaking?

I never said i support con men. Can you see the variance? Con men promise what they dont intend to deliver, and only because the conned was greedy or something. As for this case, there are proven examples of how true giving multiplies wealth. Ask Warren Buffet. So the question is to the church members; are they truly giving, or giving because they seek a magical windfall? And to the pastors: are they ready to do what is necessary in the spiritual to bring their words to effect? Elijah said there would be no rain but he spent hours in prayer to ensure it. Jesus spent hours early every morning before entering the streets and saying ANYTHING and seeing it come to pass.

Your bile towards Christianity makes you never consider my posts objectively. Here, i have even agreed with atheists and agnostics when they speak the truth. Whatever. Im out,

The original script is even flawed, not to talk of the supplementary script.

How sad!

Look people if you like give all your money all you own to the pastor who doesnt care how you earn it, if you are not born again, just know all your giving is in vain and you wont make heaven! its very simple. These pastors these days just go after peoples' mind and psyche; they quote the event relating to Ananias and his wife and how they were struck dead because they witheld what they should give to God; that is BLACKMAIL! They dont preach the bible any more but preach their own ideologies and practice INDOCTRINATION! Which way people? why are these pastors like this? i sorry sorry ,

Everyone else, read the first two lines of my responses to Noetic and Wirinet. I already stated my own case. I am only explaining why some people think its ok.

The pastor must have learnt under crook oyakhilome, in oyakhilome's church today there are three ATM machines that is apart from POS terminals for instant debits. I really think this pastor should step up his game con. we are now in the e-commerce age cheques are becoming obsolete.

mavenbox:

My man Noetic has spoken well! I dont do all biddings of any man of God, i need a confirmation in my own spirit.

Now let me tackle this secularly and advocate for the defensive.

@OP, what do you think about football stars, hollywood stars, musicians & standup comedians? Are they deserving of their earnings? The Bible says we are not to muzzle the ox that treads the grain because a labourer is worthy of his wages. The ox should eat freely out of the same grain field that it works on. There are people who will give any sum of money to see Beckham face to face or shake hands with Drogba, or support Kanu Heart Foundation with the last money on them. People have died because they wanted to see or touch Michael Jackson. Kanye West creates controversy, annoys many people and makes sales off it. Dbanj will always use dirty innuendo to pass across sensuous messages, but some people will do anything he says. Are all these people deserving of the attention or financial benefit?

My point is, what is the beef? Is it the undue attention and people-control? You cant say your complaint is cos of religion because some people's religion is hiphop and whatever the music industry says, they do and nobody raises an eyebrow. And i have never seen anyone complain about the undue amount paid to the gods of the soccer religion. Never forget that for some people, all the hope they have ever had in the world was gotten in the church.

If your point is about taxes, there i will agree with you. But its too bad that if taxes are instituted, poor churches will have an even harder time while the rich ones will still manage. And unlike companies, you cant sell shares to raise revenue for the sinking churches. What happens then?

If men have chosen to follow another man and do anything he says, (not anything at all, i hope you understand it is within limits) out of love and respect, there is nothing you can do about that. Thats how the world works. Those who dont take the lead pay those who are ahead. If you were not there when he was labouring in prayers and the word for the congregation, who are you to judge if he is paid for his services?

Just to be clear about this, if you are one of the church members, you may have the right to speak of what the pastor deserves. For those of us who are not, we do not know what makes the members do what they will so I think we should not condemn them. Leave it for God to judge.

If they were ministering lies and deceiving people for monetary gain, thats a different matter. As long as they are not teaching falsehood, God wants us to mind our business, lest we fall into error. E.g.
John 21:22-23

Hey, Lady!  Is that how small your moral values are?  Too bad!!!

^^^
If you are as blessed as your name pronounces, you wont be too short-sighted to read where I wrote that I was explaining for the defensive, and I dont subscribe to such. I can explain why people honestly think its ok, because I have worked with such people in church when I was a teenager and they learnt to eventually respect my views on freewill giving. If you do not have enough time or attention to read the thread in perspective then its just too bad.

the desperation in the church. part 1

^{And i have never seen anyone complain about the undue amount paid to the gods of the soccer religion}

Soccer players deserve their pay for services they provide.  soccer clubs are for profit organizations while churches are not. Are u sying that pastors are entertainers?

@kunle: calin pastor oyakilome a crook is as good as using ur silly tongue 2 curse ur generation. @poster: you may feel unconfortable with the pastors admin ethics. But God uses d foolishnes of preachin 2 work miracles. It was d faith of d woman of d issue of blood dat made her whole n not what jesus prayed same as naman in elishas time, God is not a methodist, D pastor mustnt be dramatic about praying for d check. If he issue a decree for 2 minutes ön their check thats enough. Besides you can neva outgive God as there is nothin d so called poor can give that can be a rip off if its done out of faith. It is a law of seed time. @maven: am so proud of a woman of substance like you who could rise up 2 this occasion and speak in the intrest of a few naive xtians whoz faith would hav been dampened by this malicious and heresious post. All i will say is let there b light.

@Adconline: how many times do I have to say I was only drawing parallels? I never implied that they are entertainers. I said i was acting as a SECULAR ADVOCATE ON THE DEFENSIVE. Secular, meaning that pastors may as well be entertainers or TV producers. Advocate, I was trying to act as a middleman for the defense. Obviously I did a bad job of that, seeing Im no lawyer. Mea Culpa. My error. I apologize.

*exits thread*

when it comes to money, God is all ears but to stop an earthquake or a tsunami, he is no where to be found. also, i tort he was unpredictable, so how come he gives back in abundance for what he receives.

We are admonished in the Bible to test ALL spirits and see if they be of God,when such issues arise,test the spirit and if you smell foul play you are not obligated to play along just because you are in "church"

Gspot:

@kunle: calin pastor oyakilome a crook is as good as using your silly tongue 2 curse your generation.

all these pastors are crooks who capitalise on the ignorance of the masses to exploit them. its clear from the story that those people were scammed and deceived. promising abundant wealth in heaven and snatching the little from the poor, . Karl Marx was right, religion is really opium.

KunleOshob:

The pastor must have learnt under crook oyakhilome, in oyakhilome's church today there are three ATM machines that is apart from POS terminals for instant debits. I really think this pastor should step up his game con. we are now in the e-commerce age cheques are becoming obsolete.

I wont be very surprised if this is true . . , . . .but bro the POS terminal aint a bad idea . . . . .helps against cash theft.

Gspot:

@kunle: calin pastor oyakilome a crook is as good as using your silly tongue 2 curse your generation.

when I hear such ridiculous assertions as above . . . my belly aches so oyakilome is now equal to an entire generation

pek:

the desperation in the church. part 1

LOL!

hahahahhahahahahahahahaah, very funny post

rasputinn:

We are admonished in the Bible to test ALL spirits and see if they be of God,when such issues arise,test the spirit and if you smell foul play you are not obligated to play along just because you are in "church"

be as wise as the serpent n as harmless as the dove.i am a christian but i know there are mnay crooks today parading themselves as men of God,so be careful

dasarge:

How sad!

Look people if you like give all your money all you own to the pastor who doesnt care how you earn it, if you are not born again, just know all your giving is in vain and you wont make heaven! its very simple. These pastors these days just go after peoples' mind and psyche; they quote the event relating to Ananias and his wife and how they were struck dead because they witheld what they should give to God; that is BLACKMAIL! They dont preach the bible any more but preach their own ideologies and practice INDOCTRINATION! Which way people? why are these pastors like this? i sorry sorry ,

2Timothy 2
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them
    that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and
     of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and
     meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.