Moment of Truth The Nigeria Capitalist Commercial Pentecostal Pastors (NCCPP) – Pt. 2 You don’t have to be a finance expert to know that the richest people in Nigeria today are the big Pentecostal Pastors. And that is the truth; they are richer than the Nigerian politicians. This is where I pity the politicians because the people will shout and abuse them for cornering so much but rather the people will rush to the Pastors, kneel down and do obeisance for milking them, pronto. Before you flare up, I am not saying it’s bad for Pastors to be rich. What I am saying is that the riches of a Pastor should translate into true wealth. You have true wealth when your riches can translate into touching the lives of people positively and not exploiting their poor situation. Pastors must learn to share riches and even give back to society. If they cannot do that, what is the difference between them and the Senator or Governor who looted the treasury and stacks it in a Swiss bank or Brazil? Unfortunately this is what we see among us in Nigeria. Almost all Nigerian Pastors are quick to preach that the principle of having is giving. They always admonish their followers to give beyond ability. This is a very good biblical doctrine. However our Pastors themselves do not give. By this, I am not talking of when they receive many donations of car gifts etc and they have no enough room to store them; then give some to their subordinates. Majority of our Pastors are professionals in receiving but giving less or not at all. Yet they sing all the time that people must give in order to be blessed. No wonder, Jesus said ye hypocrites should first remove the logs in your own eyes. Where the government is irresponsible and clueless, the church should be a succour giving peace and hope to the people. The roads for example in the country are very bad and all the Pastors do is to join the people and wait upon the government to repair them even if they lead to their halls of worship. Take for instance the Lagos-Ibadan-Benin expressways. There are so many big churches’ headquarters along those roads. Unfortunately many congregants met their untimely death on those roads while going or coming from their conventions in the various camps. Yet the Pastors could not hold a meeting together and repair or construct those roads leading to their camps; if only for the benefit of their members; and they have more than enough money to award the contracts. They were waiting for the government while their members were dying. Rather they would prefer to build large and long halls for holding services forgetting that God does not live in the buildings made with hands or blocks. Have you ever observed that whenever a Nigerian GO wants to undertake a project, he will always call for contributions or donations? He or she will never announce that the church will use the money from its huge deposit account. They receive and receive but never give out. What a hypocrite! Let’s have an example. In or about 2011, Pastor Oritsejafor at the conference of the Inspiration Ministries in the U.S.A. boasted that the normal number of his congregation was thirty thousand people excluding those who would not attend all the weekly meetings, or would only show up occasionally or during festivities. He said it to boast of how God had lifted him up. I shook my head. He added that he was sure these thirty thousand would attend all the four weekly services in the church. One thing I know is that Nigerian Pastors collect offerings in all their services; they would never ask the members not to give on any service. So if the thirty thousand give an average of one hundred naira per person, that amounts to three million naira per service; in four places makes twelve million a week and you can multiply that by fifty-two weeks for a year. Yet the road to Warri where his church situates is a death trap; despite the fact that these members will be travelling that road to the church. How I wished his listeners in the U.S would know this? A capitalist does not give anything for free but collects and collects; he looks after himself alone. A commercial man is a businessman who works about his gain all the time and does not give a hue about the loss of another person. He does not contribute where he will not gain. Just like the capitalist, he cares not about the welfare of the public but his own family. All the attributes of a capitalist commercial man are being exhibited by the Pentecostal Pastors in Nigeria. That’s why many people after graduation, without looking for job, go straight into the ministry to establish their own churches. Few that do not make it go into fetish things. It has become an association – the NCCPP. Please NOTE that NOT all Nigerian Pentecostal Pastors belong to this club of billionaire Pastors; in fact many abhorred their practices with passion. Beware, “I am coming quickly and my reward is with me; to pay each according to his works” It is time we changed our ways (Including me, the writer). Read the concluding part next week, God’s willing, under “commercial churches” Many thanks. May the Jehovah Shammar envelop you with HIS presence and show you mercy in Jesus Name.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 04:15:54 +0000
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