Goke7:


1 peter 5:3 says that pastors or elders shouldn't be lords over the flock but be examples

Also In the early church in the the book of Acts when deacons were appointed, the apostles said it is not good for them to leave the ministry of the word and prayer to serve tables or food, reason they appointed deacons to oversee welfare of the people for them to focus more on the word and prayer. That was accountability is display.

Those of you arguing don't really read your bibles so well so am not surprised with the question you asked

Stop quoting the Bible to fit your agenda. Fear God.
1. How does being example or model mean being accountable? I have attached synonyms of "example" so you can learn.

2. Go back and read that part of Acts again. The reason for that was not to be accountable but to be fair in dealing with everyone. It was a case of delegating authority and responsibility to ensure needs are met adequately. Pray tell how that constitutes accountable in your mind.

I suggest you be mindful of the evil you seek to propagate. It may not end well.

Agbegbaorogboye:

Stop quoting the Bible to fit your agenda. Fear God.
1. How does being example or model mean being accountable? I have attached synonyms of "example" so you can learn.

2. Go back and read that part of Acts again. The reason for that was not to be accountable but to be fair in dealing with everyone. It was a case of delegating authority and responsibility to ensure needs are met adequately. Pray tell how that constitutes accountable in your mind.

I suggest you be mindful of the evil you seek to propagate. It may not end well.

Stop being clever by half, delegating authority and responsibility is part of being accountable ok? And not being lords over God's people certainly mean accountability towards God's people in everything.

The bible certainly discourages pastors being demi gods which is what obtains in some churches in Nigeria and demi gods don't want to be accountable to anyone. The Apostles in the early church saw the need to cede some of their authority to others over the needs and welfare of the people.

Goke7:


Stop being clever by half, delegating authority and responsibility is part of being accountable ok? And not being lords over God's people certainly mean accountability towards God's people in everything.

The bible certainly discourages pastors being demi gods which is what obtains in some churches in Nigeria and demi gods don't want to be accountable to anyone. The Apostles in the early church saw the need to cede some of their authority to others over the needs and welfare of the people.

You can believe whatever you want to believe. It shows your level of education. Accountability means delegating authority to you.
Being a servant-leader means being accountable to you.
I'm sure if your boss asks you to attend a meeting on his behalf, you'll come back from the meeting and ask him how he ran the office when you were away instead of giving him a report of what happened where you went.
I'm also sure if your boss asks for your advice before making a decision, you'll ask him why he didn't implement your idea if he decides to go another way.
You need to learn more.

Agbegbaorogboye:


You can believe whatever you want to believe. It shows your level of education. Accountability means delegating authority to you.
Being a servant-leader means being accountable to you.
I'm sure if your boss asks you to attend a meeting on his behalf you'll come back from the meeting and ask him how he ran the office when you were away.
I'm also sure if your boss asks for your advice before making a decision, you'll ask him why he didn't implement your idea if he decides to go another way.
You need to learn more.

You just described by your submission the typical African mentality of not being able to ask questions from those in authority. Sorry to burst your bubble, the scriptures does not align with that.

Your argument is not with me but with the scriptures like kenneth hagin of blessed memory will say.

We follow God and His word and not men.

Goke7:


You just described by your submission the typical African mentality of not being able to ask questions from those in authority. Sorry to burst your bubble, the scriptures does not align with that.

Your argument is not with me but with the scriptures like kenneth hagin of blessed memory will say.

We follow God and His word and not men.

Yen yen yen African mentality. Like Africans were allowed to question the colonialists.
Like Indian, Chinese and Lebanese bosses in Nigeria encourage their Nigerian employees to question them.
Everything from Africa is bad and everything from Europe is good according to you.
Just be sure of which God you're following.
God never said people should question leaders he put over them. As a matter of fact, that's the highlight of theocracy as can be seen with Moses and his siblings, Eli the priests and his sons and even David.
Go and get yourself acquainted with biblical standards and stop twisting the Bible to your world view

Nauttyprof:


When the President is on seat, the Vice President has no say or power to go through what the President signs into law unless the President assigns his Vice to go through.

The said Bill was taken to the President to sign into law and can never be placed before the Vice when the President has not transferred such duty to his Vice in absential.

Just saying

There's no way the VP won't know anything about the law before it was signed into law....no way

RuddyFusion:


There's no way the VP won't know anything about the law before it was signed into law....no way

Please, does the VP have the power to stop it since you know what really happened at Aso villa?

Agbegbaorogboye:

Yen yen yen African mentality. Like Africans were allowed to question the colonialists.
Like Indian, Chinese and Lebanese bosses in Nigeria encourage their Nigerian employees to question them.
Everything from Africa is bad and everything from Europe is good according to you.
Just be sure of which God you're following.
God never said people should question leaders he put over them. As a matter of fact, that's the highlight of theocracy as can be seen with Moses and his siblings, Eli the priests and his sons and even David.
Go and get yourself acquainted with biblical standards and stop twisting the Bible to your world view

Liar, moses siblings rebelled against his leadership hence their punishment. Is that what is the issue here? Stop misinterpreting scriptures. Moses was accountable even to his father in law that was a non jew hence he was able to receive advise on his leadership over israel.

You got to study scriptures more bruv

Goke7:


You just described by your submission the typical African mentality of not being able to ask questions from those in authority. Sorry to burst your bubble, the scriptures does not align with that.

Your argument is not with me but with the scriptures like kenneth hagin of blessed memory will say.

We follow God and His word and not men.

Who wrote the so called word, God or Oyibo man?

RuddyFusion:


There's no way the VP won't know anything about the law before it was signed into law....no way

It was not a secret every reasonable minded person knew of the amended bill it was public notice, even them Oyedepo & Co forming ignorance sent people to defend their own points, only children focused more on big brother Nigeria & nairabet were oblivious, just like they are oblivious to what is presently going on.

Goke7:


Liar, moses siblings rebelled against his leadership hence their punishment. Is that what is the issue here? Stop misinterpreting scriptures. Moses was accountable even to his father in law that was a non jew hence he was able to receive advise on his leadership over israel.

You got to study scriptures more bruv

Kindly tell how they rebelled against his leadership. There's a thin line between "rebellion" and demanding accountability if you have understanding. Asking your pastor to account to you for tithes is closer to rebellion than Miriam telling Aaron that Moses was wrong marrying a Midianite which was same thing Esau did that displeased Isaac.
I don't know how you mean Moses was accountable to his father-in-law. May I pause for a moment and gently ask what exactly you understand by the word accountability

Agbegbaorogboye:

Kindly tell how they rebelled against his leadership. There's a thin line between "rebellion" and demanding accountability if you have understanding. Asking your pastor to account to you for tithes is closer to rebellion than Miriam telling Aaron that Moses was wrong marrying a Midianite which was same thing Esau did that displeased Isaac.
I don't know how you mean Moses was accountable to his father-in-law. May I pause for a moment and gently ask what exactly you understand by the word accountability

you have defined it already nah, is that not what CAMA is all about that you and your ilk don't want? You are beginning to contradict yourself bruv.

In trying to justify yourself you have properly defined what the intended law wants to achieve, interesting. Some churches [Baptists, Foursquare and others who do likewise] may be you are not aware disclose their financial details including tithes and other collections to their registered members yearly, is it not the members contributions? does it belong to the pastor? so what's the big if pastors begin to be accountable to their members on their financial dealings and you call it rebellion when it's not the personal money of the pastor. The same churches in Nigeria who are kicking against it do disclose their finances in the countries where the law applies so what's the contention there for monies that is not anybody's personal property.

Goke7:


you have defined it already nah, is that not what CAMA is all about that you and your ilk don't want? You are beginning to contradict yourself bruv.

In trying to justify yourself you have properly defined what the intended law wants to achieve, interesting. Some churches [Baptists, Foursquare and others who do likewise] may be you are not aware disclose their financial details including tithes and other collections to their registered members yearly, is it not the members contributions? does it belong to the pastor? so what's the big if pastors begin to be accountable to their members on their financial dealings and you call it rebellion when it's not the personal money of the pastor. The same churches in Nigeria who are kicking against it do disclose their finances in the countries where the law applies so what's the contention there for monies that is not anybody's personal property.

That's the problem of ignorant people. They assume they know the problem and adopt a solution.
CAN the umbrella body of Christians is particularly against section 839 which gives the registrar and the court power to appoint an interim manager and suspend the trustees in the event of suspicion or complaints from one-fifth of the church. There's nowhere in CAMA where it is mentioned that the financial details of church should be disclosed to the members. If you have contrary evidence share it. It's the registrar of CAC that the financial details are to be submitted to and the current occupant of that office is not even a Christian.

Now since you agree to the meaning of accountability as I gave it, you should then realise that what happened between Moses and Jethro was a case of mentoring a younger leader who is suffering from the physical demands of his office. Nothing there suggests accountability. You should also know if you're familiar with biblical standards that under theocratic laws, questioning your leader is tantamount to rebellion which is why though the children of Israel knew that the sons of Eli were corrupt in handling tithes and offerings, they didn't confront them. However, when the sons of Samuel did likewise, which prompted the children of Israel to ask for a king, God took offence!! Read your Bible.

Agbegbaorogboye:

That's the problem of ignorant people. They assume they know the problem and adopt a solution.
CAN the umbrella body of Christians is particularly against section 89 which gives the registrar and the court power to appoint an interim manager and suspend the trustees in the event of complaints from one-fifth of the church trustees . There's nowhere in CAMA where it is mentioned that the financial details of church should be disclosed to the members. If you have contrary evidence share it. It's the registrar of CAC that the financial details are to be submitted to and the current occupant of that office is not even a Christian.

Now since you agree to the meaning of accountability as I gave it, you should then realise that what happened between Moses and Jethro was a case of mentoring a younger leader who is suffering from the physical demands of his office. Nothing there suggests accountability. You should also know if you're familiar with biblical standards that under theocratic laws, questioning your leader is tantamount to rebellion which is why though the children of Israel knew that the sons of Eli were corrupt in handling tithes and offerings, they didn't confront them. However, when the sons of Samuel did likewise, which prompted the children of Israel to ask for a king, God took offence!! Read your Bible.

is that not what obtains in countries where this law is currently practiced? has it affected the ministry of the church? has the GOs in those countries be overthrown, why are we misinterpreting the law for God's sake. Does it states that the regular operations of the church will be disrupted, even in the uk where issues have been found, were those churches not operating normally under interim management. Churches in Nigeria have lots to hide and that's where the issues lies. for your info, the financial reporting council of nigeria enjoins NGOs including churches to do AGM with its registered members in attendance where financial details are disclosed. Many churches are already doing this covertly with few workers or pastors in attendance just to meet this regulation

The examples of Eli you gave is what we should avoid in today's church ok? Did Jesus not confront the religious leaders in his days when there genuine reasons to do so? Did Paul not confront Peter the head of the church then about his hypocritical stand on some matters? you said God took offence when israel asked for a King, did they not get a king? Both Prophets and Kings in the Bible all had issues that demanded accountability. Did the bible not enjoin us to entreat elders with all due respect, did the bible actually say we should not ask questions? How can asking questions be tantamount to rebellion, na wa o

Goke7:


is that not what obtains in countries where this law is currently practiced? has it affected the ministry of the church? has the GOs in those countries be overthrown, why are we misinterpreting the law for God's sake. Does it states that the regular operations of the church will be disrupted, even in the uk where issues have been found, were those churches not operating normally under interim management. Churches in Nigeria have lots to hide and that's where the issues lies. for your info, the financial reporting council of nigeria enjoins NGOs including churches to do AGM with its registered members in attendance where financial details are disclosed. Many churches are already doing this covertly with few workers or pastors in attendance just to meet this regulation

The examples of Eli you gave is what we should avoid in today's church ok? Did Jesus not confront the religious leaders in his days when there genuine reasons to do so? Did Paul not confront Peter the head of the church then about his hypocritical stand on some matters? you said God took offence when israel asked for a King, did they not get a king? Both Prophets and Kings in the Bible all had issues that demanded accountability. Did the bible not enjoin us to entreat elders with all due respect, did the bible actually say we should not ask questions? How can asking questions be tantamount to rebellion, na wa o

Again, find out things before you jump to conclusions. In the UK where such happened to winners and MFM recently, the trustees where not suspended. What was done was that financial running of the church was taken over by an administrator while trustees remained to continue to serve the spiritual aspects of the church.
Good you now agree that it's "few" members or pastors aka trustees that are privy to the financial details of the church which is what FRC requires. No law requires that all members be informed.
I don't know where you get the idea that churches have a lot to hide. You can cite examples to buttress your claim.

You come across as a moralist more than a practising Christian not to mention your poor knowledge of Christianity which you brandish so confidently.
Jesus is God in human form. Him confronting the Pharisees was as a result of his superiority as the son of God.
Peter was not head of the church. James was. He's called James the Elder.
Go and read first Samuel. They got a king and a curse with it.
God expressly stated that the judgements of his servants lies with him and not man. In cases of erring pastors, pastors higher than such in spiritual hierarchy are too enforce discipline not the church members. The church members are to pray for God's grace to save his servants. God's standards are not man's.
Be guided.

Agbegbaorogboye:

Again, find out things before you jump to conclusions. In the UK where such happened to winners and MFM recently, the trustees where not suspended. What was done was that financial running of the church was taken over by an administrator while trustees remained to continue to serve the spiritual aspects of the church.
Good you now agree that it's "few" members or pastors aka trustees that are privy to the financial details of the church which is what FRC requires. No law requires that all members be informed.
I don't know where you get the idea that churches have a lot to hide. You can cite examples to buttress your claim.

You come across as a moralist more than a practising Christian not to mention your poor knowledge of Christianity which you brandish so confidently.
Jesus is God in human form. Him confronting the Pharisees was as a result of his superiority as the son of God.
Peter was not head of the church. James was. He's called James the Elder.
Go and read first Samuel. They got a king and a curse with it.
God expressly stated that the judgements of his servants lies with him and not man. In cases of erring pastors, pastors higher than such in spiritual hierarchy are too enforce discipline not the church members. The church members are to pray for God's grace to save his servants. God's standards are not man's.
Be guided.

Let's keep deceiving ourselves as christians in Nigeria and why are you contradicting yourself by judging me as a moralist and not a christian. Must I share your views before you believe am a believer. You better be guided and not make yourself a judge.

We have so many fraudsters today parading themselves as pastors and GOs. Your problem is that you think all churches and pastors in Nigeria are God ordained. Are you are aware of how many cultists are pastors today? You and your pastor may not be one but don't think all churches and pastors out there are genuine. Who are the pastors in higher hierarchy that will enforce discipline on such erring pastors. We are deceiving ourselves as christians thinking all is well. Do you know how these fraudulent pastors and cultists threaten their members to keep them under bondage. All these are possible cos no one is checking and regulating the activities of these fraudsters. Can anyone just open a bank in Nigeria? We tend to claim spirituality in Nigerian churches when pastors err and say we should pray for them even with their criminal acts. Pls be guided that any registered church is a civil organization that can sue and be sued. Did Christ embassy not sue govt recently when their church was closed in akwaibom? Why did they not leave govt to God. You are funny, when govt err we can sue or protest but when churches or pastors err, we should leave them to God's standards. Going by your funny logic, we should stop complaining then when govt officials and leaders misbehave as they too are ordained by God according to scriptures. The church apart from being a spiritual entity is also a physical and corporate entity and that's why churches get approval for their physical buildings or they could as well build their churches in the air by God's standards.

We got to stop using the Spiritual entity of the church to cover the criminal acts of fraudsters parading themselves as pastors cos they are also citizens that must abide with the law of the land. The funny thing again is that when these pastors have issues with some of their leaders internally especially a breakaway issue they run to the same court to protect the assets and properties of the church from being taken over as they don't leave it to God's standards. Who is deceiving who here.

Goke7:


Let's keep deceiving ourselves as christians in Nigeria and why are you contradicting yourself by judging me as a moralist and not a christian. Must I share your views before you believe am a believer. You better be guided and not make yourself a judge.

We have so many fraudsters today parading themselves as pastors and GOs. Your problem is that you think all churches and pastors in Nigeria are God ordained. Are you are aware of how many cultists are pastors today? You and your pastor may not be one but don't think all churches and pastors out there are genuine. Who are the pastors in higher hierarchy that will enforce discipline on such erring pastors. We are deceiving ourselves as christians thinking all is well. Do you know how these fraudulent pastors and cultists threaten their members to keep them under bondage. All these are possible cos no one is checking and regulating the activities of these fraudsters. Can anyone just open a bank in Nigeria? We tend to claim spirituality in Nigerian churches when pastors err and say we should pray for them even with their criminal acts. Pls be guided that any registered church is a civil organization that can sue and be sued. Did Christ embassy not sue govt recently when their church was closed in akwaibom? Why did they not leave govt to God. You are funny, when govt err we can sue or protest but when churches or pastors err, we should leave them to God's standards. Going by your funny logic, we should stop complaining then when govt officials and leaders misbehave as they too are ordained by God according to scriptures. The church apart from being a spiritual entity is also a physical and corporate entity and that's why churches get approval for their physical buildings or they could as well build their churches in the air by God's standards.

We got to stop using the Spiritual entity of the church to cover the criminal acts of fraudsters parading themselves as pastors cos they are also citizens that must abide with the law of the land. The funny thing again is that when these pastors have issues with some of their leaders internally especially a breakaway issue they run to the same court to protect the assets and properties of the church from being taken over as they don't leave it to God's standards. Who is deceiving who here.

Calling you a moralist is not judging you. I'm just pointing to the obvious deficiency in ur knowledge of Christianity. Being a moralist is not a sin nor a crime. It is only a danger to apply moralist principles in theological matters. The laws of God are not the laws of man even though laws of man can also engender good conduct and a proper sense of right and wrong.

Now to the meat which you raised about fraudsters posing as pastors. I share in your indignation. It is an eyesore and a very big concern for Christianity. But you have to realize that the freedom of religion which gives you the right to worship God as you wish as long as you harm no one covers them too. If such a man is able to make people believe that parting with their money is the way to miracles and access to God, even though it is wrong, he has committed no crime in the legal sense. Now, it's obvious your hope is that CAMA will be a cure for such malady. But I regret to inform you that is not the case. In the first instance, the constitution itself recognizes the incompetence of govt to handle spiritual matters. You can't sue a pastor for preaching the wrong gospel since everyone has freedom of thought and expression. However, if a pastor was to ask you to pay him to heal a sick relative and after paying, the relative remains sick, you can sue him for fraud. It's as simple as that.

But what does God say concerning this pastors? Let me remind you of the parable of the wheat and tares. It talks about the genuine and the fake growing and flourishing together as one. The master of the vineyard told the husbandman to let both continue to grow as He would prune out the tares from the wheat at the right time. That is the biblical principle for fraudsters.

Shall we then let them continue to pollute the Christian space? Paul provided in the epistle to the Corinthians how such people are to be dealt with when found out and nowhere is there mention of getting the court to throw them out. Instead, it is about informing the church elders who are to investigate and if found culpable, he should be excommunicated from the congregation. In a situation where the elders are lame ducks, the right thing for the member to do is to leave the church. The liberty of starting off a personal ministry has had more gain than losses for Christianity. I believe you should be aware of this if you're familiar with church history.

Agbegbaorogboye:

Calling you a moralist is not judging you. I'm just pointing to the obvious deficiency in ur knowledge of Christianity. Being a moralist is not a sin nor a crime. It is only a danger to apply moralist principles in theological matters. The laws of God are not the laws of man even though laws of man can also engender good conduct and a proper sense of right and wrong.

Now to the meat which you raised about fraudsters posing as pastors. I share in your indignation. It is an eyesore and a very big concern for Christianity. But you have to realize that the freedom of religion which gives you the right to worship God as you wish as long as you harm no one covers them too. If such a man is able to make people believe that parting with their money is the way to miracles and access to God, even though it is wrong, he has committed no crime in the legal sense. Now, it's obvious your hope is that CAMA will be a cure for such malady. But I regret to inform you that is not the case. In the first instance, the constitution itself recognizes the incompetence of govt to handle spiritual matters. You can't sue a pastor for preaching the wrong gospel since everyone has freedom of thought and expression. However, if a pastor was to ask you to pay him to heal a sick relative and after paying, the relative remains sick, you can sue him for fraud. It's as simple as that.

But what does God say concerning this pastors? Let me remind you of the parable of the wheat and tares. It talks about the genuine and the fake growing and flourishing together as one. The master of the vineyard told the husbandman to let both continue to grow as He would prune out the tares from the wheat at the right time. That is the biblical principle for fraudsters.

Shall we then let them continue to pollute the Christian space? Paul provided in the epistle to the Corinthians how such people are to be dealt with when found out and nowhere is there mention of getting the court to throw them out. Instead, it is about informing the church elders who are to investigate and if found culpable, he should be excommunicated from the congregation. In a situation where the elders are lame ducks, the right thing for the member to do is to leave the church. The liberty of starting off a personal ministry has had more gain than losses for Christianity. I believe you should be aware of this if you're familiar with church history.

Then why are churches taking their own internal matters to the court to sort out themselves and don't want the same court to interfere when they are being call to question.

I have so may examples of this before you say I lack theological knowledge in your own eye (I can tell you I've been around in church circles for a very long time to know so much that goes on)

Be careful of contradicting yourself I must warn.

Goke7:


Then why are churches taking their own internal matters to the court to sort out themselves and don't want the same court to interfere when they are being call to question.

I have so may examples of this before you say I lack theological knowledge in your own eye (I can tell you I've been around in church circles for a very long time to know so much that goes on)

Be careful of contradicting yourself I must warn.

Any church that takes its internal matters to court is not following the teaching of Christ concerning settling disputes as recorded in Matthew.
If a member takes the church to court, he has also disobeyed the law of Christ. I have told you before to read your Bible.

Agbegbaorogboye:

Again, find out things before you jump to conclusions. In the UK where such happened to winners and MFM recently, the trustees where not suspended. What was done was that financial running of the church was taken over by an administrator while trustees remained to continue to serve the spiritual aspects of the church.
Good you now agree that it's "few" members or pastors aka trustees that are privy to the financial details of the church which is what FRC requires. No law requires that all members be informed.
I don't know where you get the idea that churches have a lot to hide. You can cite examples to buttress your claim.

You come across as a moralist more than a practising Christian not to mention your poor knowledge of Christianity which you brandish so confidently.
Jesus is God in human form. Him confronting the Pharisees was as a result of his superiority as the son of God.
Peter was not head of the church. James was. He's called James the Elder.
Go and read first Samuel. They got a king and a curse with it.
God expressly stated that the judgements of his servants lies with him and not man. In cases of erring pastors, pastors higher than such in spiritual hierarchy are too enforce discipline not the church members. The church members are to pray for God's grace to save his servants. God's standards are not man's.
Be guided.

This is a serious matter oh. Who is now a Christian?

Agbegbaorogboye:

Any church that takes its internal matters to court is not following the teaching of Christ concerning settling disputes as recorded in Matthew.
If a member takes the church to court, he has also disobeyed the law of Christ. I have told you before to read your Bible.

Sir, most of the churches are not following the teachings of Christ then cos the courts are full of so many church cases. Can you see how the church has invited the world or govt to pry into it's affairs? So who is truly responsible for all planned laws? Are you aware of so many church leadership disputes in Nigerian courts?

I really appreciate all your thoughts so far. The ultimate solution to all these is for the church to self regulate which is where the churches in Nigeria has failed to do. This is why CAN or PFN was even set up but the problem has always been that no one want to be accountable to anybody as everyone claim they are called by God and only accountable to him which has always been the gimmick used to cover all atrocities lots of churches and pastors have been associated with. Like I said earlier let's stop pretending that all is well. Even in the genuine churches there are issues cos they have all failed to self regulate. This is why the idea that the pastors and churches should be left alone to do as they please cannot hold water anymore. As you have also pointed out, many are no longer following the teachings of Christ in resolving even their internal issues.

The day nigerian churches truly uphold righteousness and integrity, they will find it easier to tell govt to look away from it's affairs but all your theological theories of how church can handle itself is not working in any Nigerian church today except we want to tell ourselves lies and the pastors themselves know it.

According to Scriptures, every govt is ordained by God and they bear not the sword in vain, reason we are enjoined to always pray for those in authority to guide us in all godliness and honesty. The church in Nigeria despite the gains in terms of number of, attendance, souls and conversions has not been a very good example in the last 20 years in the area of integrity and holiness, gone are the days employers of labour seek referrals from churches and pastors for employment, gone are the days cheques from churches are honoured at banks without much questions. The Nigerian church need to do soul searching and return to righteousness, then we don't need to be fighting with govt on pages of newspapers. It has nothing to do with whoever in aso rock after all we had non christians as Presidents when the church still had much respect and honour than today. Telling the govt that they have no spiritual competence to pry into church affairs is double speaking as the church too has not enough spiritual competence to handle its own internal affairs from what we have seen over the years.

Whatever is happening today is a call to the church by God to awake and return to righteousness. God bless you bro and blessed week to you and yours.

Goke7:


Sir, most of the churches are not following the teachings of Christ then cos the courts are full of so many church cases. Can you see how the church has invited the world or govt to pry into it's affairs? So who is truly responsible for all planned laws? Are you aware of so many church leadership disputes in Nigerian courts?

I really appreciate all your thoughts so far. The ultimate solution to all these is for the church to self regulate which is where the churches in Nigeria has failed to do. This is why CAN or PFN was even set up but the problem has always been that no one want to be accountable to anybody as everyone claim they are called by God and only accountable to him which has always been the gimmick used to cover all atrocities lots of churches and pastors have been associated with. Like I said earlier let's stop pretending that all is well. Even in the genuine churches there are issues cos they have all failed to self regulate. This is why the idea that the pastors and churches should be left alone to do as they please cannot hold water anymore. As you have also pointed out, many are no longer following the teachings of Christ in resolving even their internal issues.

The day nigerian churches truly uphold righteousness and integrity, they will find it easier to tell govt to look away from it's affairs but all your theological theories of how church can handle itself is not working in any Nigerian church today except we want to tell ourselves lies and the pastors themselves know it.

According to Scriptures, every govt is ordained by God and they bear not the sword in vain, reason we are enjoined to always pray for those in authority to guide us in all godliness and honesty. The church in Nigeria despite the gains in terms of number of, attendance, souls and conversions has not been a very good example in the last 20 years in the area of integrity and holiness, gone are the days employers of labour seek referrals from churches and pastors for employment, gone are the days cheques from churches are honoured at banks without much questions. The Nigerian church need to do soul searching and return to righteousness, then we don't need to be fighting with govt on pages of newspapers. It has nothing to do with whoever in aso rock after all we had non christians as Presidents when the church still had much respect and honour than today. Telling the govt that they have no spiritual competence to pry into church affairs is double speaking as the church too has not enough spiritual competence to handle its own internal affairs from what we have seen over the years.

Whatever is happening today is a call to the church by God to awake and return to righteousness. God bless you bro and blessed week to you and yours.

You write so well. These submissions are apt!

May the good Lord bless you with more wisdom.