By Tochukwu Ezukanma<\/p>\n
In our religionism, our neighborhoods are brimming with churches.
\nChristians throng these churches almost every day of the week:
\nWednesdays, Thursday, Fridays, and of course, Sundays. There are vigils,
\nmorning devotions, evening services, Sunday services, Fellowship
\nmeetings, and one revival and crusade after another. In addition, the
\nradios and televisions inundate us with preaching and exhortations from
\npastors. Why is such a religious country steep in wickedness, dishonesty
\nand selfishness? Why are we so knowledgeable of the Bible and quote it
\nwith effortless facility but remain welded to satanic proclivities?<\/p>\n
It is because our most important fount of morality, the church, lost its
\nmoral compass. Ordinarily, the society finds its spiritual, moral and
\nethical rudder in the church. But engrossed in their quest for wealth
\nand power, our \u201cmen of God\u201d became spiritually and morally
\nrudderless. In their perversion of the Word of God, they strayed from
\nthe essence of Christianity: salvation, and love, forgiveness, chastity
\nand other fruits of the Spirit; care and compassion for others,
\nespecially, the poor, sick and weak; and respect for the rule of law.
\nThey now preach prosperity. Prosperity Doctrine is falsehood. It ignores
\nthe central themes of the Gospel of Jesus, and dwells on peripheral
\nissues. It dwells on money, cars, mansions, and sowing seed and getting
\nrich. It preaches inanities like: Jesus was poor so that we, Christians,
\nwill become rich; if you are poor, you are not a partaker of the
\ncovenant of Jesus Christ, etc.<\/p>\n
With Prosperity Doctrine, many Christians became fixated on materialism
\nat the total disregard of the kernels of Christianity, like the
\nacceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and upholding His
\nprecepts: love God with all your mind, heart and soul and love your
\nneighbor as<\/p>\n
thyself. As a result, unlike in the past, when Christians, inspired by
\nthe unadulterated Word of God emanating from the pulpit, attempted to be
\nChrist-like, Christians, now, befuddled by Pentecostal pastors\u2019
\ntravesty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, are greedy, wicked, lawless and
\nlicentious. They profess Christ, but endeavor not to be Christ-like.<\/p>\n
Preoccupied with power and consumed by greed, these pastors, especially,
\none-man owned Pentecostal church pastors, spout lies, and sometimes,
\noutright nonsense from the pulpit. They intimidate their members into
\nempting their pockets into the offering boxes as offerings, tithes,
\nfirst fruit and an assortment of seeds. They twist the Word of God to
\nconvince their members of the staggering nonsense that to question or
\ndisobey a pastor, \u201can anointed of God\u201d, will bring the wrath of God
\non you in this life and consign you to hell fire in the hereafter.
\nAlthough Jesus Christ came to raise believers, not pastors, and the
\npromises of God are to all believers, not, exclusively, to pastors, some
\nNigerian Pentecostal pastors have successful apotheosized themselves,
\nand made themselves the objects of worship to their members. Thus, their
\ncongregants worship them and submitting totally to their personal wills.<\/p>\n
Many Christians are essentially enslaved to their pastors and are
\nvictims of the pastors\u2019 whims and caprices. This unbridled power over
\ntheir flock provides the pastors unparalleled latitude for exploitation
\nand abuse. Not surprisingly, many Pentecostal \u201cmen of God\u201d break up
\nhomes, seduced married women, defile under-age girls and fleece their
\nmembers in variegated ways. So, instead of being the fount of the Truth,
\nand consequently, a wellspring of hope, peace and encouragement, and
\nemancipation from fear and diffidence, the church became a major source
\nof problem for the Nigerian society; reinforcing the dread, dismay and
\ndispossession of the Nigerian masses.<\/p>\n
That a country with the greatest concentration of extreme poverty in the
\nworld is also home to the wealthiest pastors in the world is a powerful
\ntestament to the exceptional success of Nigerian pastors in swindling
\nthe masses with their distortion of the Word of God. Therefore, it is
\nimperative that the government scrutinizes the activities of these
\ngreedy and unscrupulous businessmen, masquerading as men of God. The
\nCorporate and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) is splendid. The object of the
\nlaw is to inspect the financial activities of Nigerian churches. As far
\nas I am concerned, the law should also checkmate the enthralling grip of
\npastors on the minds of their members by restricting the errant nonsense
\nsome Pentecostal pastors proclaim from their pulpits.<\/p>\n
In their penchant for mendacity, some super-star pastors and other
\nmembers of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) want Nigerians to
\nbelieve that the church is directly connected to God, and cannot submit
\nto the authority of the government. Ironically, a number of Bible verses
\nunequivocally state that the church must be subject to the authority of
\nthe government. It was a precept that Jesus exemplified and the early
\nChristian leaders dramatized. Evidently, these Pentecostal pastors that
\nperfected the art of twisting the Word of God and hoodwinking their
\nmembers think that they can also deceive the Nigerian government and the
\ngenerality of Nigerians.<\/p>\n
Some of them argue that a Moslem president and his administration lack
\nthe moral and spiritual authority to regulate the affairs of the
\nChristian church. Caesar was neither a Jew nor a Christian. Caesar was a
\nRoman that believed in, and worshipped, the Roman gods: Cupid, Mercury,
\nApollo, etc. Instructively, Jesus Christ recognized, respected, and
\nsubmitted to, Caesar\u2019s authority, and obeyed the laws of his empire,
\nthe Roman Empire. In the 1st Century, when St Paul wrote in Roman 13:1
\nto 7, and in his other epistles, and Peter wrote in 1Peter 2:13 to 15
\nurging Christians to subordinate themselves to the powers of the
\ngovernment and all its agents, no kingdom of the world was ruled by
\nChristians. Invariably, they were urging Christians to obey the laws of
\nkings and governments that were not Christians.<\/p>\n
Therefore, in accordance to the Word of God, irrespective of its
\nreligious make-up, the Buhari administration reserves the right to
\nregulate Nigerian churches. As dictated by the Bible, pastors must
\nsubmit to government regulation, as stipulated by CAMA. Disobedient
\npastors will be punished by the Buhari administration with the approval
\nof God.<\/p>\n
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria.<\/p>\n