₦airaland Forum

otemanuduno:
so you mean that Jesus make mistakes of pronoun, talking about the third saying? LET HIM TAKE UP HIS CROSS AND FOLLOW ME...

is it not supposed to be LET HIM TAKE UP MY CROSS and follow me? While will someone use 'his' to refer to himself ?

If you succumb to the harassment that you contribute money to the church building fund, don’t assume that by so doing you are laying up treasure in heaven. You are not. You are laying up treasure upon the earth. The church building is the house of the pastor: it is no longer the house of God.

A prominent Lagos pastor made it compulsory for all members of his church to contribute a minimum of N10,000 each to his church’s multi-billion naira building project. Surely it must have occurred to him that some of his members do not have that kind of money. But he would not be deterred. He was determined that his mustard-seed church must become a tree.

A former member of the church told me that, one Sunday morning, the pastor could not contain his frustration any longer that his mustard tree church-building was not growing at the pace he desired. Therefore, he decided it was necessary to apply some yeast. He shocked his church-members by declaring that they had to bring money for the church-building willy-nilly; even if it meant they would have to go and steal it.

I was a bit perplexed about this, so I sought some clarification: “Was he joking when he said that? Or what exactly did he mean?” “He was not joking,” the lady replied. “He said it in a fit of anger and frustration. I think he was just annoyed that the building project was not moving as fast as he wanted.”

Cathedral builders

The continued insistence of pastors on the building of “cathedrals,” and their harassment of members of their congregation for this purpose, come from the refusal to understand and accept the true faith proclaimed by Jesus Christ. Pastors today are preoccupied with style over substance. As Jesus says of the Pharisees who sat in Moses’ seat, even so pastors today sit in the seat of the Pharisees. Like the Pharisees of old, everything Pharisaic pastors do today is done for show. (Matthew 23:5). This explains their continued preoccupation with putting up magnificent church buildings.

Even in the Old Testament when temple building seemed to be divinely ordained, Jeremiah warned against calling physical buildings the temple of God. He stood at the doors of the temple and warned all those who came to worship: “Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.’” (Jeremiah 7:4). The psalmist also warned about the futility of temple building. He declares that: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it.” (Psalm 127:1).

The perennial futility of temple building in the scriptures should give pause to any sensible pastor. At the time of Eli, the so-called house of God was at Shiloh, but God destroyed it. Solomon then built a magnificent temple in Jerusalem 1005 years before Christ, but this was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar.

Ezra had the temple rebuilt, only for it to be destroyed again by the Seleucids and the Maccabees. After the Babylonian captivity, Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple, but with vastly inferior and diminished splendour. Much later, Herod also extensively refurbished it.

That temple was still standing at the time of Jesus. His disciples were so impressed by its splendour; they drew Jesus’ attention to it. However, Jesus’ response was to insist that the refurbished temple would be destroyed yet again: “Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’” (Matthew 24:1-2).

Jesus’ prediction came to pass in AD 70. The temple was destroyed by the Roman army. It was completely burnt to the ground. The gold in the ceiling melted and came down on the walls. In order to recover the gold, practically every brick had to be removed and scraped.

Indestructible temples

However, Jesus spoke of another temple which could not be destroyed: “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.” (John 2:19-21).

Thus, what we find again and again in the scriptures, is that God allowed the physical temple to be destroyed. He then reveals to us in Christ, the impregnable spiritual temple. There can be no question that the latter is preferred. It is written in Haggai: “‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. “And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts.’” (Haggai 2:9).

Nevertheless, carnal pastors can only see physical glory. Indeed, they have no appreciation for spiritual glory. Therefore, they continue in the futility of building cathedrals which, sooner or later, will once again be destroyed.

With new understanding, we now know that the temple of God is not a physical, but a spiritual, building. It is made up of “living stones,” and not dead inanimate bricks. The Most High no longer dwells in temples made with hands. (Acts 7:48).

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that worship will no longer be determined by a physical location: “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’” (John 4:21-24).

Spiritual temples

Given these antecedents, pastors should not continue to insist on building temples. Neither should they harass their church-members for money to put up towers of Babel. It should be clear to all that temple or cathedral building has nothing to do with the righteousness of God.

In the New Testament, churches are not situated in cathedrals but in houses. (Colossians 4:15). Indeed, the building of churches is not a New Testament tradition. Nowhere in the New Testament is money ever raised for building a church or temple. Money is only raised for the poor. Pastors continue to build cathedrals today for their own glory and not for the glory of God.

Some of these mega-pastors are more preoccupied with putting up majestic church buildings than in building up men. Like Saul, they set up monuments to themselves. (1 Samuel 15:12). Time and again, the bible reveals that God hates the cathedrals and monuments men build while only paying lip-service to his name. Thus, Hosea says: “Israel has forgotten his Maker, and has built temples.” (Hosea 8:14).

If you succumb to the harassment that you contribute money to the church building fund, don’t assume that by so doing you are laying up treasure in heaven. You are not. You are laying up treasure upon the earth. The church building is the house of the pastor: it is no longer the house of God.

Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool: What temple can you build for me as good as that?” (Isaiah 66:1).

ken4jj:
Why can't you guys analyze issues without bringing in tribalism? To think that people who are educated and exposed still fall for tribalism shows that there is no hope for this country. Can't you air your views without dragging people of the SE? Can you prove that the SE hates Tinubu? Or does it now mean that Tinubu does not have any opposition or hater in the whole of SW?
The problem with most of you is that you end up doing exactly the same thing you accuse others of doing instead of showing good examples. What you said would have made sense if you had not gone tribalistic. Most times, i don't understand what is difficult in making a point without tribalism.

OrlandoOwoh:
With the type of youths we have today, some that posted before me, I fear for the future of Nigeria. Is it that they didn't read the OP, but just just jumped into the thread and start calling PMB names because of GEJ's loss?

PMB made reference to 1985 because he was addressing a select people on finance. May I ask, the SAP that the IMF made IBB implement, which devalued the naira, how did it help us? Even undergraduate at the time, without Harvard certificates, knew it was a doom.

Have we asked ourselves, does the IMF/World Bank love us more than ourselves, that they keep telling us what is "good" for us?

ireneony:
abeg make una give the guy lighter to smoke that mary j

As e de hot ontop this sun

If e good for your health take am..

By the way I don't see anything wrong in it.

The stupid camaraman is to blame for this.

allycat:
Do you declare a leasehold as your property? If I lease a property it is not mine to declare, same as if I rent a property. So putting that he didn't declare a leasehold without the number of years the lease is for is making the whole thing look more like a desperate attempt to nail him at all costs.

defash8:
Oluyede or not, Danladi need to step down, he does not look competent to handle this case.

“It is not just defiling these children aged 7 and 9 respectively, they have committed a sacrilege.

Achuwa1:
the issue is not with the senate,but the president tht has no WASC certificate,,,,,how can an illiterate be rulling a country with so many sound & educated graduates,msc holders,phd holders 7 professors.,,,we need to get rid of pmb as soon as possible.

OBAGADAFFI:
Religion should be optional in school.
What if the parents are Atheist

modath:
You didn't get me, they should not be "forced" on pupils,

Students should be allowed to decide if they want to be 2face or Salawa Abeni before being mandated to spend time doing what they naturally don't have any affinity for, It's like forcing someone with hard muscles into gymnastics... do you get ?


& you only made a case for Fine Art, probably cos Architecture is your field..

God knows how many drawing books i tore in frustration.....Practical Biology was not fun for me either..

modath:
You didn't get me, they should not be "forced" on pupils,

Students should be allowed to decide if they want to be 2face or Salawa Abeni before being mandated to spend time doing what they naturally don't have any affinity for, It's like forcing someone with hard muscles into gymnastics... do you get ?


& you only made a case for Fine Art, probably cos Architecture is your field..

God knows how many drawing books i tore in frustration.....Practical Biology was not fun for me either..

Paulancebay:
Let him construct 100 million roads and rails in those regions it doesn't move an ant, he is just too unpresidential and is vituperation comatose, Nigeria needs a father and dogged leader, not a war monger!

Competent sources said that the President became more upset as more stunning revelations emerged that apart from the Calabar –Lagos Railway Project, the National Assembly equally expunged other key national infrastructural projects and also drastically reduced the votes earmarked for others.

Revealed: NASS slashed capital votes for Lagos-Ibadan Highway by N24 billion, 2nd Niger Bridge vote by N3.9 billion, Odukpani-Itu-Ikot Ekpene Road vote by N4.3 billion, Benin-Shagamu Road vote by N800 million, Itakpe-Warri Signalling Project by N302.9 million etec

dukie25:
[s][/s]

Am currently debating with some people I consider a bit more intelligent, so stop the mentions, go and debate with your ilk.

dukie25:
Was Jonathan the head of CCB? Are you saying Bubu tele-guides the CCB?

dukie25:
[size=15pt]HYPOCRISY[/size]:when you support Tinubu but hate Saraki

www.nairaland.com/attachments/3611942_tinusara4_jpeg013bdf86e0bf8cb9dc22a3e009268038

lookingfly:
the truth they say is bitter and I must say the op nailed it hard. Why are you trying to divert the topic....... Or is it now a crime to say the truth bare as it is. Let's call a spade a spade, wale Soyinka has been gag by APC 82 million dinner that's why he has lost his voice and to crown it all,Bubu is just clueless, the true defination of an illiterate presido.