I had a discussion recently with someone on the state of things in Nigeria and how religion has contributed to getting us where we are today. He mentioned something that got me thinking. He said many big churches in Ile-Ife are owned by professors and lecturers of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). For those who don't know, Ile-Ife is an ancient city located in Osun State. OAU, one of the best, if not the best university in Nigeria, is in this city.

Nigerian Christian professors are no longer satisfied instructing students in class, conducting research and publishing scholarly papers and books, they also want to be pastors. The professors are not the only ones guilty of this. Our royal fathers are also getting on the bandwagon. Two royal fathers in the Local government I stay are Rev. Pastors. Our Politicians and entertainers are not left behind either. A Nigerian female senator from the south-west and a very popular nigerian DJ and music producer were recently ordained assistant pastors. We can go on mentioning high profile Nigerians who recently became pastors but this write-up is not about that; it is an attempt to unravel the craze for ordination in Nigeria.

Why does everybody wants to be a pastor?
Those mentioned above and many others running for ordination cannot even function well as pastors because who they are and what they do will not give them the space to pastor a church. So, why do they need the title? The craze for "honourary ordination"is gradually meeting up with the craze for honourary degrees in our dear country. A particular Nigerian Church is notorius for this; ordaining actors, celebrities, influential people, politicians and all sorts of people in the name of wanting to use their resources , facilities and popularity to expand their church. Kidnappers, armed robbers, cultists and corrupt politicians are now the ones sponsoring our "ministries" because they have money and facilities we can use to expand. The titles used in church (Rev., Pastor, Prophet, Apostle etc.) are gradually becoming titles for criminals. A prominent Nigerian Cleric, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, said not too long ago that their prayer centres are not churches but business centres. I couldn't agree more. They are money making centres. It is not God's work they are doing. Or, how can we explain the fact that Nigeria has recently taken over as the nation with the highest number of extremely poor people regardless of the fact that Nigerians sow seeds in Church every week. They lie to them that they will become rich by sowing seeds and they believe it. Despite serious and conscious effort in seed sowing however, they are getting poorer while their pastors are getting richer; buying private jets, building private universties and living flamboyant life.

Let it be clear that you are not expanding the kingdom of God but expanding the kingdom of poverty, laziness, ignorance and narrow minded people. It is good to mention here that success comes only through hard work, integrity and steadfastness and not some seed sowing. Thanks to our lazy and evil mentality of seed sowing, Nigeria is the world capital of poverty today.

Trajectories at the end of May, 2018 show that Nigeria had about 87million people in extreme poverty. Not 87 million of poor people but 87 million people in extreme poverty. Yet, we are building more churches to propagate our prosperity gospel. Who are those that this their prosperity god is blessing? Definitely they don't live in Nigeria because, if they do, Nigeria will not be the world capital of poverty right now.
We take stolen money and lie to ourselves that God has blessed us. Or, how do you explain a civil servant paying a tithe of 60million naira to a church in Nigeria. How much does she earn to pay tithe of 60million? Corruption of the highest order in the house of God. There seems to be some kind of collaboration between "men of God" and men of devil. It doesn't matter if people commit crime and steal, as long as the pastors get their share. The testimonies the pastors give are all lies. Their preachings are always about them, how God has blessed them because they sow and how God is using them to bless those who sow in their ministries. They no longer preach Jesus but themselves. They have become small gods that people worship.

Back to the question I asked earlier: why do people desire the title of a pastor so much in Nigeria? For me, they include:
1. To be seen as godly and therefore respected
2. For making money
3. For fame
4. To commit crime and get away with it
5. For respect and relevance etc.
Feel free to disagree with me if you think I'm out of point but do so with superior argument and not some emotional amd sentimental blabbing. We have to start to use our God given brains.


Author: David Gbenga Olaniyi



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