Depraved Christians have turned Christianity into a huge business franchise marred by mischief. Hatched in the United States of America, this trend has spread like wild fire all over the Christian world. Africa is definitely not left out of this rat race; indeed, she is knee-deep in it! And, who else but Nigeria is the champion of the game in Mother Africa! My little story brings you commercialized Christianity with the "Nigerian Factor." Welcome to "The Invasion of The Funky Pastors!"

My story will unfold with some of the intriguing peculiarities that constitute the "Nigerian Factor.’ It is too long for one article; hence, I will present it in a mini-series, and this is the maiden edition. One relevant and fundamental Nigerian Factor in my story is the one that I call the copycat syndrome. This peculiarity explains the characteristic alacrity with which Nigerians have engaged in the global church-commercialization pandemic. The alacrity or passion is a cultural trait, and Nigerians exhibit it wherever they are, home, or abroad. It was, for instance, the cause of the notoriety and the consequent persecution of Nigerians in the United States of America over credit card and “Green Card” frauds, which peaked in the 1980s. I know all about it because I was right there at the headquarters of the drama, Texas, when it all went down.

The notoriety did not mean that Nigerians were the only people that were guilty of those activities in the USA. Indeed, when compared to other nationals, Nigerian perpetrators could actually be said to be ‘small fish’ in the Green Card and Credit Card crime games. They only seemed to be big fish because they were too aggressive and too loud about it. For this, they received all the media bashing and the consequent persecution.

I have said all this to get to the point that Nigerians have taken the game of making money in the name of the Lord to a ballistic height! More grievously, many are making a whole lot of mischief in the process. I would not condemn ignorant born-again Christians who err inadvertently, because, as Christ said on the cross, they know not what they do. My grouse is with the fraudsters out there that pose as pastors or “men of God,” and willfully exploit and extort emotionally vulnerable and ignorant Christians.

They are obsession with money. Many have perfected various intrigues to brainwash their followers into virtual zombies under their command, and the ultimate object is extortion. Stories of stage-managed fake miracles, ritual murders, and heinous sex offenses by pastors abound in today’s Nigerian Christendom. Some of the best ones are contained in my recently published book, a non-fiction novel titled “The Invasion Of The Funky Pastors: Church Business At War With African Culture.” The gist is better at http://www.FunkyPastors.com