By Agbo Owoicho Hilary
The inability of man in his search for meaning to the everyday events of life and the ultimate realities thereof has inevitably led him, and rightly so, to rely on the Supreme Being for answers, under the umbrella of religion. Although the truth of the reality of this Supreme Being do not enjoy universal acceptance – as revealed in the ideologies of atheists, humanists and the likes – the continuous growth of world religions today makes this position to remain contested. The Christian religion as taught by Christ and revealed in the Scriptures presents one whose concern centres on the love of God and one another through good works and generosity to the needy, and especially the poor, with the final goal of salvation, uniting the Christian with God in heaven (cf. Luke 4:18).
This all important ‘enterprise’ is manned by people chosen from amongst men to stand as intermediaries between God and man (cf. Heb 5:1); and we see them in pastors, priests, evangelists, bishops, prophets and the likes. They are to act in line with the dictates of the master, Christ, who instituted this ministry. Nigeria today is considered to be a highly religious country, evidenced in the fact that there is an ever increasing number of churches on her streets and cities and also an attitudinal character of having always to rely on God in virtually every event of life and also as being the reason for any occurrence. One would expect that the proliferation of churches would translate into a country of justice and fairness where the rights of the individual are upheld; but we are faced more often than not with cases of corruption, immorality, injustice, and the likes. A country so blessed and said to have more than its fair share of human and natural resources is paradoxically thriving in cases of hunger, poverty and unemployment. A further twist to this dilemma is revealed in the fact that the very ones who man this all important ‘enterprise’ are identified mostly with the high and mighty who are considered to be the causes of the Nation’s backwardness. This is because, like the very rich few, they also own the best houses, drive porch cars, own private jets and the likes when the only job they are known to be doing is leading God’s people, a people who are the very opposite of their status.
The question then would be that ‘is the increase in the number of churches due to financial gain?’ What is man’s understanding of business in religion? Are we to be concerned about the business of religion namely- salvation of souls or the use of religion for business purposes? Is Christianity about ‘the business’ or it is ’a business’? These questions continue to becloud curious minds who would want to know how this trend became the norm.
A close relation shared her encounter on a visit to one of the Pentecostal churches around on the occasion of a thanksgiving service of her friend in the said church. At the end of the service just before the people were to disperse, the pastor prayed for the people during which he was led into a trance, as he said, and he told them that there was someone in the church whom, before coming to church that day, picked an underwear but on second thoughts dropped it to pick another one to put on. He said that it was God who saved her from an imminent danger had she worn it. He said if you were the person you should come to the altar for more prayers. More than half the population of the ladies in the church came forward. One would think that it would stop there but not at all. All who came out were asked to sow a seed for more of God’s protection of which to my sister’s surprise the least donation was five thousand naira. You could see clearly those normal everyday events that surround our activities as humans could be exploited by our ‘pastors’ for their selfish interests.
In a paper presented to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Sr. Teresa Okure SHCJ titles this ‘fear de work’. “At a Sunday Mass, a priest called from the pews all those who had not paid their tithes to come forward and stand in front of the altar (what is called in charismatic and Pentecostal settings, “Altar Call”, calling people to come and give their life to Jesus). That done, he pronounced a curse on them in such words: “Unless you pay up what you owe God, God will destroy your businesses, make life difficult for you and may even strike you dead before you reach home after this Mass”. This seed of terror sown in the psyche of the people yielded the priest six million naira. He returned to the rectory to boast of his exploits. “Fear de work-o” he said, and then he narrated what he did to get the money the people allegedly owed God”. Clearly this priest knew he was terrorizing the people into coughing out tithes, using God’s vengeful anger as weapon to get the money. “God watched that happen and perhaps wept, not for himself betrayed, but for the people who were thus deceived into thinking God was a tyrant avid for “their life or their money”; and for the priest for mortgaging his Christian and priestly vocation”.
A Pentecostal pastor on a Sunday service came to church with thirty apples in a basket that he had blessed. And just before dismissal, he told his congregation that he had special gifts for them which would give them a fruitful week ahead. He brought out the apples and told them anyone who picked any of the apples (with a sum) would receive favour unimagined from God. Moving round the Church, he gave out these apples to people whom I considered to be well to do, based on their appearances, while the others showed interests but were not given. I watched these persons pay for these ‘blessed apples’ (since I had gone there with a friend) with large sums of money to get God’s blessings.
Trying to answer the why of this misnomer would reveal that the crave for material wealth is the fuel that has kept the fire of this divine deceit still burning. As a result, the central theme of homilies in churches today is prosperity. The prosperity gospel preachers have so penetrated the lives of their members that they no longer see suffering as part of human reality, and as such when they tell the people what they want to hear, they in turn give their ‘pastors’ the monies they require of them. But we know that the very essence and root of Christianity is evidenced in suffering, the death and resurrection of Christ. Hence no Christianity that is devoid of suffering. The business of Christianity has thus been neglected and now made a business. Little wonder then the General Overseer of a particular Church in Nigeria, when asked why he turns his church affairs into a business venture would say that “after all Jesus said that he had to go about his Father’s business”; no doubt an out-of-context interpretation of Scripture. To toe this path would only be sacrificing authentic religiosity on the altar of wealth and prosperity. This means that the people would go any length to acquire wealth since God never wants his people to suffer, more Churches will continue to spring up since this would only mean the financial empowerment of the ‘pastor’. Also, the role of Christ’s suffering and death in saving mankind would be rubbished, and the Incarnation of Jesus would be rendered irrelevant.
The call to prophecy is not of human origin but rather from God and remaining as faithful as possible to the business of this call is equally very important. Recognizing this fact; especially as portrayed by Jesus, who identified with the poor and needy and also sought out to better their situations, is the first step towards curbing this ugly trend. As a result, all pastors of souls must be adequately trained in this regard; although this may prove difficult since everyone claim being called by God. The mind of the Master when He said he must be about his Father’s business (cf. Luke 2:41-52) I believe was not business in the economic sense of the word but rather the reason why he came, namely the salvation of souls. It makes no point deceiving the people of God for selfish purposes and worse still by those who represent him on earth. Realizing that we will all give account of our stewardship in the end, and after which we’ll all be rewarded in that light, is our consolation as it is only then we would know who was concerned about the business or made religion, and particularly Christianity, a business.
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Edited by Okonkwo Emmanuel 

Editor in Chief, Gadfly Magazine, 2015/2016 Edition.

http://www.politicalcritics.com.ng/index.php/2016/07/17/divine-deciet-tool-commercialization-christianity/

Note

Is really a lecture "note" to those concern.

One would expect that the
proliferation of churches would translate into a country of justice and fairness where the rights of the individual are upheld; but we are faced more often than not with cases of corruption, immorality, injustice, and the likes.

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