CHRISTIANITY IN OUR GENERATION HAS BEEN SERIOUSLY
COMMERCIALIZED AND POLITICIZED
By Terfa Naswem
God does not bless us nor measure giving by how much gifts
or offerings we give to HIM or others, but HE blesses us and
measures giving by the reason and sacrifice behind our gifts
and offerings to HIM and others. So let no General Overseer,
General Superintendent, Senior Pastor or any Man-Of-God
deceive you about giving. No matter how much you give to
the Church or anybody, if you give grudgingly or with pride
and with string attached; God will never bless you for such
giving.
I have heard many preachers used human psychology on their
congregations so that they will give as much as they can to
the CHURCH. The worse thing is that most of them use these
gifts and offerings given to the Church in the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord to enrich themselves while aggravating the
sufferings and poverty of church members.
Most of them make it appear as if those who are poor have
been rejected by God and are suffering because of their sins.
The questions that always cross my mind are numerous
whenever I hear most of them preach:
Were these men of God born from rich families? How much
were their parents earning as monthly incomes? And before
they became men of God, and church founders, what were
their monthly incomes? Didn’t they face serious challenges
most of their members are facing today? And when their
churches newly started, how much did they have? Would they
have been as rich as they are today without the churches
which they established or are overseeing? Are they truly men
of God or they are just using the name of God for material
gains?
There are numerous questions still left that space will not
allow me ask. I wonder if any member or follower of these
men of God has ever asked any of these questions. There are
some sermons and biblical teachings that make me very
furious because of their misleading tones.
Most of the leaders of these great churches such as Living
Faith, ECWA and The Redeemed Christian Church of God
(RCCG) among others have established Universities which
most of their church members whose offerings and tithes
including personal donations have been used to establish
such universities and maintain them cannot attend or send
their children to such universities because of the high tuition
fees among other charges. How can one explain this? I don’t
want to go too deep so that I won’t make most Leaders and
Elders including ardent members and followers upset. It
worries me so much that Christianity in our generation has
been seriously commercialized and politicised.
Some of these “Men-of-God” were busy campaigning for a
corrupt leader like Jonathan just because of the benefits they
were getting from him when they even know the truth of his
corrupt deals and his cabinet. This makes me to wonder
where Christianity is heading to. I now understand why
Amaechi accused some General Overseers and Men-of God for
collecting bribe from Jonathan and PDP.
According to Rotimi Amaechi, “Some pastors collected N6
billion and they are circulating documents and telling you not
to vote for a Hausa man, not to vote for a Muslim because
they want to Islamise Nigeria. Tell them to return our N6
billion.
“They gave them N6 billion. They should return it to the
Federal Government coffers. They will tell you that Buhari
wants to Islamise Nigeria. Tell them we are too educated. I
am a Catholic, but no Catholic priest has told me that story
right now in the Catholic Church, because I will ask him how?
“If any Pastor tells you that, tell him to return the money.
Nobody can Islamise Nigeria. They have commercialized
Jesus Christ. They should stop commercializing Jesus Christ.
He is our Lord and Saviour.
“You know what Jesus Christ did in the temple. He chased
them away. We shall chase away those pastors who collected
money from PDP leaders to tell us lies. We shall chase them
away on behalf of our Lord Jesus Christ.”....
In reacting to this, the General Overseer of the Redeemed
Christian Church Of God, Enoch Adeboye, asked pastors
who received the alleged N6 billion from the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, to discredit the All Progressives
Congress’ candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, to return the
money.
Prophet TB Joshua of the Synagogue, Church Of All Nations
and Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka of Adoration Ministries are
among the few men of God that did not allow Jonathan and
PDP to buy them for support and fake prophecy.
Some General Overseers and other “men of God” collected
money from Jonathan and PDP and gave Jonathan fake
prophecy that he was the chosen one and that he will win his
re-election bid because he has received the anointing from
God. I don’t want to mention names of those fake men of God
who prophesy the victory of Jonathan here but you can find
out if you so wish.
I always tell my friends and acquaintances that there is
nothing special about being a General Overseer, General
Superintendent, or Senior Pastor of a Church. The only thing
that makes them special is if such people are truly WALKING
IN THE LORD AND IN THE LIGHT OF HIS WORD. Because I
can decide to open a church today and give it a name like:
TOUCH THE SKY GOSPEL CHURCH and claim that God called
me to lead his flock and start exhibiting whatever evil plan I
have under the canopy of being a church founder and my
followers will be loyal to me and do whatever I tell them to do
and preach to them based on how I want them to behave
and what I want them to believe and further create
interdenominational divide.
When I was a student in NKST SEC. SCH. ADIKPO, KWANDE
LGA, BENUE STATE, I was the Bible Study Secretary,
Evangelical Secretary and two-time president of Fellowship of
Christian Students (FCS) and two-time Steering Committee
Coordinator of FCS, ADIKPO ZONE. I was unexplainably
blessed by the infallible GOD and He gave me the wisdom to
understand his words comprehensively. And I want to use
that blessing to tell every Christian toda that the doctrine of
the HOLY BIBLE which is the road map to God is greater than
the beliefs, norms, values, practices, policies, philosophies or
doctrines of any church.
I want to use this opportunity to advise all Christians that for
them to truly differentiate between sermons or teachings that
are not in line with Biblical principles, they must study the
Bible daily and sincerely pray every day to the Almighty God
for wisdom. As for me, I understand the Holy Bible very well
by GOD’s grace and blessings and nobody can deceive me
with any mouth-watering or go-and-bring-money-for-God
preaching.
I want to advise all General Overseers and men of God not to
allow money and political influence bereft them of the power
God because God says in Ephesians 6:10-18 that: “ Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full
armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the
devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against
the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full
armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may
be able to stand your ground, and after you have done
everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth
buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of
righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the
readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to
all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of
prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always
keep on praying for all the Lord’s people”.
From this, it is clear that the moment one armour is missing,
they cannot win the war against principalities and powers of
darkness.
I don’t want to judge any of these MEN OF GOD because God
has not given us the power to judge them but I will always
criticise any of them that goes against what the Holy Bible
upholds.
In fact what even consoles me in all this is because the Holy
Bible says in the book of Matthew 7:22-23 (NIV) that:
“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons
and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell
them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you
evildoers!”
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Terfa Naswem
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