Recently, the Daily Mail, UK, had a feature on Bishop David Oyedepo. He was accused (alongside his son who ‘manages’ the UK branch) of fleecing worshippers by making “spurious claims” and “cynical exploitation of the gullible”.
The undercover journalist who visited the British church and the British MP who condemned him acted ignorant of the antithesis of faith and logicality when they expressed surprise about how people were urged to give more money in return for blessings that were neither guaranteed nor cognisant of the realities on ground.
The feature also talked about how much of the money creamed off these worshippers are being repatriated to Nigeria (which, in a perverse sense, is a positive development!)
The same Daily Mail, weeks before, ran a feature on another Nigerian pastor in the same UK, Alex Omokodu, (who claims on his website to have raised the dead twice) and another Pastor Mbenga of the Victorious Pentecostal Assembly who scam worshippers by selling olive oil and black currant drink at double the market rate as “miracle cures”, capable of curing terminal diseases.
Like Oyedepo, Omokodu lives large, far removed from the mess he makes of peoples’ lives.
My visceral reaction at those articles was to defend my countrymen against a searchlight that might have been beamed with a racist undertone. I mean, Daily Mail suddenly woke up and realised religion is exploitative? Wow!
Isn’t that what religion has been all about for many centuries? How can we say that what Oyedepo and Mbenga are accused of peddling different from the Pope’s selling of Indulgences in the 16th Century? Religion plays on fear to rip-off poor and miserable people in the name of God. And the irony is, the more people are deceived, the more devoted they become. So, what’s new? From appropriating people’s money to shoplifting condoms to forcing youths to have sex, what have church leaders not done?
If people have refused to read History books that teach us that religion came to us riding on the back of exploitation and politics, why, with the celebrated cases of Jim Bakker, Eddie Long and Benny Hinn among others, do people still throng churches and sponsor their pastors’ excesses out of their poverty? Why has the case of financial scandals involving the creators of TBN Channel -some of which are so disgusting- not caused a mass boycott of these hawkers of falsehood? Why does it spur people to defensiveness instead?
Why did somebody like Jesu Oyingbo have followership in the first place and why didn’t people walk out on Pastor Chris Oyakhilome when he charged gate fees before one could attend service? Seriously, who should take the blame? The person who sells snake oil or the one who finds a psychic relief (however temporary) from buying?
Take the case of Pastor Enoch Adeboye: On his church website, Adeboye claims God told him He had no choice but to keep Covenant Partners alive for 10 years because they were giving to Him within that period. This takes ideas of bizarre and outlandish to another height entirely.
One, a god is meant to earn his keep but Adeboye’s is one whose services people have to pay for, never mind that billions who are not his covenant partners are not only alive, but live considerably better lives elsewhere. Two, can Adeboye, personally, account for every single one of his covenant partners and that in those last 10 years, not a single one died? Can he? We are used to Nigerian judges and politicians saying that their hands are tied, but God? That sounds like something from the mind of a freakish Nollywood screen-writer.
Since the news broke that Pastor Ayo Oritsejeafor has joined the league of Private Jet-Owning Pastors, there has been, thankfully, a sense of outrage at the excesses of Nigerian pastors.
For the record, let me state that Pastor Oritsejeafor is not a good poster boy for Christianity (never mind the various caps he wears, anyone can be anything in Nigeria’s Pentecostalism). I make this point – debatable, of course- not just because of his Bling Bling jewellery like 50 Cents or even his bond with the present occupant of Aso Rock Villa; there is something about him –and I came to this conclusion after watching him raise an offering on Cable TV- that doesn’t seem to me would wait for God to supply all his ‘greeds’ according to his riches and glory.
His private jet was presented while he was sandwiched, like Jesus between two thieves, in the presence of a President who bizarrely declared he couldn’t see how corruption and road accidents are interlinked and, a governor whose public morals fall below average. Rev. Fr. Matthew Kukah could not have put it better: Oritsejeafor’s moral authority is undermined by these dalliances.
The issue is, religion, exploitation and subsequent scandals will not go away. Not in this generation. Not even in this world. As long as there is that primitive instinct in man to seek the supernatural, to seek God and the fear of death is constantly shaken before our eyes, people will continue to subject themselves to exploitative pastors to use as they like.
But the good thing Oritsejeafor has done for us is that he created a conversation; Oyedepo, Omokodu and other sellers of 21st Century Indulgences keep exposing the underbelly of these merchant-pastors; but whether this will translate into a rationality that will cause Nigerians to slow down on the ill-logic of tolerating these pastors’ shenanigans remains to be seen.
It takes more than throwing pastors in jail for their followers to be set free from the mind-prison they are ensconced in. Religion and political power are intertwined in many ways that make this impossible to begin with at all. History shows that, for instance, with an Industrial Revolution, the process creates a ripple effect that bleaches people of primitiveness to transcend religious superstitions while forging a better society that is not predicated on dogmatic concepts of theodicy which religion propagates. When that day comes in Nigeria, and even Africa, these pastors will wilfully choose jail as rescue from irrelevance the times would banish them.
But here’s the problem: These pastors know that with Nigeria’s developmental progress comes their end. And they are actively complicit in the dysfunctionality of Nigeria to extend their own longevity.
Culled From Punch
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D word of God must be fulfilled judgment start right from d altar. God may ur kingdom come o
ReplyDeletethe writer has it all twisted. i fear for him really
ReplyDeletethe writer's got it all twisted. raised a few good points of concern but took quite an ignorant perspective.
ReplyDeleteThanks for open our eyes .
ReplyDeleteThese people are just deceiving poor Nigerians ,
why are they doing all these ?
What is the difference btw thieve ( corrupt Nigerian )and collector of the theft materials (Nigeria man of God ).
Dont forget that we have your record, when revolution start , we will not spare all of you including your family.
APOLOGY TO REAL CHRIST FOLLOWERS.
They quickly forget that our Role Model JESUS never owned a pin yet His ministry that He 'pastored' for just three years has been firm for over 2000 years. They are only deceiving themselves and those that wish to be deceived.
ReplyDeleteGod is God and can never be changed to suit any man. They will surely reap from their fields of deception and over materialism.
The most annoying are those that pally with men of power but never tells them the truth.They should borrow a leaf from Elijah/John the Baptist. Lions in sheeps' clothing!!!
God will surely deliver His own!
Wait o, them force u to give offering or pay tithes? Wonders shall never end! People serving satan & belonging to various cults are promised riches & power & told to bring this & that, and they do it, and nobody complains. People serving God are also promised riches, health & various blessings, and are told to give this & that, they also do, why are people then complaining about it? If as a church member, u are not being blessed as promised by your pastor after giving offerings & paying tithes, then stop na! or are u being forced? Are they going into your account to take it by force? Even if you have it all, and u want to ascribe it to hardwork, rather than say its a blessing from God, and hence choose not to pay tithes nor give any offering, nor even go to any church, is it not your decision? People should stop castigating pastors! U have a choice! Every body does!!!
ReplyDeleteNow that the white man has spoken, expect a deluge of attacks from Nigerians. Trust us in copycatting.
ReplyDeleteWhoever this writer is, you did great justice to the issue of religion, going by the facts.. However what you confuse for religion is hypocrisy and mental laziness, as well as an undying quest for the fetish inasmuch as there is gain at sight. A true religious person is liberated from these shackles. He knows his Spiritual leaders are human and he scrutinizes his demands from the scriptural and ideal standpoint before he yields to demands. He understand the basic truth of what religion should be-to draw closer to God and to recognize him in his every neighbor. The Chief cornerstone of Christianity- Jesus Christ sums up all the laws that way. Every other thing na jara including contributing to a pastor not for the good therein, but with the expectation of something better in return. If it were for the good, he'll understand that the needy shouldn't be forgotten since they are his chief neighbor who he sees everyday..
ReplyDeleteHuman nature is very selfish,and the more it's served with the wants ,the more it craves for more.Even if in the beginning every pastor meant well,at certain points things may take a different shape and route,
ReplyDeleteHowever judgement belongs to God.
There is this impatience with man to judge ,condemn .yes cos it's irritating ,it looks unreasonable,whatever?
Pointing out the obvious is not to be mistaken for being judgemental, No.
I am aware that each and every human being could become a person being crictized if given the same opportunity.
What to do ,let us highlight the flaws with love ,
Human nature takes correction when done with love .
The worshippers ?or the followers ?uhmm.
Condition makes crayfish bent,for the fear of death many people had become slaves to death
Hmm, it is well...
ReplyDeleteGreed and the desire to gain cheap 'fame' have pushed many 'never-do-wells' to parade themselves as men of God. How they acquired this status and why they have followers is baffling. Today, people, especially Africans and Nigerians in particular are so gullible to the extent that they allow themselves to be undermined by men who have nothing to offer them. This is sad and may God deliver them from the hands of the anti-Christ.
ReplyDeleteFrom London, UK
Eyaaaa I just pity D̶̲̥̅̊ ignorant people. Those pastors live their normal life. D̶̲̥̅̊ life of D̶̲̥̅̊ world. May God open our eyes to see D̶̲̥̅̊ right way to follow.
ReplyDeleteExploitation of vulnerable, desperate and sometimes inexplicably gullible people? Yes! This brand of 'Christianity' being the face of the Christian religion? Yes! These so-called men of God should be exposed as the charlatans many of them are? Yes! I wholeheartedly agree with these three points made explicitly or implicitly by the author, but his premise, logical reasoning and the conclusion he eventually arrives at are at best extremely biased and at worst more ignorant than the gullible people he has referred to.
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems with his argument is that he comes to the conclusion that Christianity is primitive by identifying a subset of Christian leaders who have done ill to the Christian faith. But should it then follow that all of the Christian leaders (note he quotes Matthew Kukah) are of the same kind? Or does it make logical sense to draw from the practices of these individuals that Christianity is primitive (I wonder what his definition of this word is), without actually engaging with the Biblical text to see if these practices are actually encouraged or flatly rebuked? It is like a black man concluding that all whites are racists because he recently watched 'Roots'. Or like a white man concluding that all black men are vandals because he recently listened to a song by Tupac at his violent worst! I am sure the author of this article will agree this was simply ridiculous!
But no, he chooses very easy and extreme targets, that many in the church already find repugnant, to then propose that we leave the primitive-religion behind and then embrace what...? An atheistic worldview? That my friend is certainly more backward and primitive than the religion that you are waxing lyrical against. Indeed in that system of thinking you will find a myriad of practical, philosophical, and metaphysical questions that would be left unanswered than with a worldview that believes in an Omniscient, Benevolent, Holy, Transcendent, Omnipotent God who created all things and who became one of us so that He may die for us. He also offers that same gift to you, if only you will believe in Him.
The truth my dear friend is that thinking Christians would not for one second stand for the many evils these pastors are propagating, but you need to ask why they would not...and it is quite simply because the God they serve, the Jesus they worship, the Holy Spirit who resides in them have forbidden all such actions in the Bible that has been graciously given to them. Please try and be more thorough and objective before addressing such issues in the scathing manner with which you have, your responsibility as a writer or journalist demands as much.
God bless
Touch not my annoited and do my phrophet no harm .....do not judge so u wnt be judged ....if I drop offering in church I do so cos its commanded in the bible not bcos I care what dey do wiff my money ....and when I receive it back in seven fold I knw its frm God and not man and u wnt see me complaining so why shld anybody wanna judge a pastor ? What do u stand to gain
ReplyDeletefollow Follow followers! Where are all of u when the Jehovah people dey talk these things from bible since. After they will be critisized as turning bible upside down. Even Fela talk am, other musicians too talk am say religion is politics. Make wuna open eyes and stop being fooled into paying Tithes that was only ment for the Israelites WHO WERE OBLIGATED to pay since they were under the laws given to Moses by God. Did Jesus order cristians to pay tithes? Non of these thieves so called many of God can show it from the bible. Why dem no go continue to buy private jet. Soon na moon dem go dey go.
ReplyDeletewho is the annointed? That is how they will continue to site and quote bible to shut up the mouth of sincere people and blind them because Satan thier Oga even sabi quote bible pass them. How dem go know say na Satan these so called Men of God dey work for? Dem go soon see their downfall.
ReplyDeleteIs the Pope the founder of catholic church? Can his family or children inherit the church from him? Thanks
ReplyDeleteI pity this writer. He is so ignorant!!! It is true that many Pastors do funny things. But for every bad pastor, u probably have 2 good ones. Mind what u say young man. You even wrote against Pastor Adeboye. May God forgive you
ReplyDeleteI pray that all the religious slaves in Nigeria and the world over realize what they are been meant to pay and go tru..its very clear that some of this religious slaves are very many in this part and i have seen some coments from their likes...may God Himself open ur inner eyes and mknd to know watz up...
ReplyDeleteHun-hun, heaven and hell are real,if not JESUS would have told us. You are not disgusting more than I do but,one The didnt call or force anybody to come,even if they have their churches around me I can never be deceived "you shall know the truth and it will make u free". Two,many people lack understanding hence the wise one feed on them,u know vultures feed on dead,some followers are dead spiritually somebody needs to celebrates on them. Thirdly, everybody wants his or her business to grow so they need to employ and deploy all means to do that and fourthly Here is end time. It is fufilling of God's proclamation.
ReplyDeleteU have spoken anony 23
Delete@ Femi Onzion... I agree with you totally, and I could not have put it better myself. In fact, hats off to you. The writer of this article is indeed as ignorant as the people he's pointing fingers at. Imagine a world where everyone embraced an atheistic worldview and the only standard for morality is 'your gut feeling'. This world would be upside-down and there would be a lot more atrocities committed than the ones this person is complaining about.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that some of these pastors are taking advantage of their members, and christians need to insist that it stop!
NIGERIAN EYE! I PRAY THAT GOING FORWARD THROUGH THE YEAR, YOU WILL HELP US DIG OUT MORE ARTICLES RELATED TO THE EVIL DEEDS OF THESE SO CALLED MEN od gods (money). I HOPE BY THIS, MORE WILL BECOME ENLIGHTENED AND BE EMANCIPATED FROM THEIR MENTAL SLAVERY.
ReplyDeleteGOD IS REAL, JESUS IS REAL and SO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT. BUT THESE MEN of gods HAVE PAINTED HIM IN A DIFFERENT MANNER. A MONEY HUNGRY GOD THAT COVET ALL MEN RICHES.
NIGERIAN EYE! I PRAY THAT GOING FORWARD THROUGH THE YEAR, YOU WILL HELP US DIG OUT MORE ARTICLES RELATED TO THE EVIL DEEDS OF THESE SO CALLED MEN od gods (money). I HOPE BY THIS, MORE WILL BECOME ENLIGHTENED AND BE EMANCIPATED FROM THEIR MENTAL SLAVERY.
ReplyDeleteGOD IS REAL, JESUS IS REAL and SO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT. BUT THESE MEN of gods HAVE PAINTED HIM IN A DIFFERENT MANNER. A MONEY HUNGRY GOD THAT COVET ALL MEN RICHES.
NIGERIAN EYE! I PRAY THAT GOING FORWARD THROUGH THE YEAR, YOU WILL HELP US DIG OUT MORE ARTICLES RELATED TO THE EVIL DEEDS OF THESE SO CALLED MEN od gods (money). I HOPE BY THIS, MORE WILL BECOME ENLIGHTENED AND BE EMANCIPATED FROM THEIR MENTAL SLAVERY.
ReplyDeleteGOD IS REAL, JESUS IS REAL and SO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT. BUT THESE MEN of gods HAVE PAINTED HIM IN A DIFFERENT MANNER. A MONEY HUNGRY GOD THAT COVET ALL MEN RICHES.
NIGERIAN EYE! I PRAY THAT GOING FORWARD THROUGH THE YEAR, YOU WILL HELP US DIG OUT MORE ARTICLES RELATED TO THE EVIL DEEDS OF THESE SO CALLED MEN od gods (money). I HOPE BY THIS, MORE WILL BECOME ENLIGHTENED AND BE EMANCIPATED FROM THEIR MENTAL SLAVERY.
ReplyDeleteGOD IS REAL, JESUS IS REAL and SO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT. BUT THESE MEN of gods HAVE PAINTED HIM IN A DIFFERENT MANNER. A MONEY HUNGRY GOD THAT COVET ALL MEN RICHES.
I just have some few points like these, 1 The writer obviously is more ignorant than the exploited church menbers because he is of an Atheistic view what an unfortunate state of spirit! May God better the lot of we that believe in God that we may desist from our sins. 2 The exploitative nature of churches is real and most of the so called Men of God are just smart thieves. 3 They thrive because people are lazy in reading and searching the scripture therefore they are ignorant, and thus believe in Men of God rather than God. 4 Its the personal spiritual failure of worshipers that give rise to the uncalled for popularity of this Men of God they were actually promoted to assistant Gods by their followers. 5 U have to stand well with God and be pure in the heart for u to see these evil men the way they are i mean their real criminal nature. 6 Most of us throng churches with no commitment to serve God and therefore fall blind before these so called Men of God to devour! May God Almighty in his infinite Mercy Lighten up our ways, Amen.
ReplyDeletei dnt have much to say, but as for the writer of this long epistle, may God have mercy on you, i really why many so called writerd do not seem to mind their business, forgetting God should be left alone to judge. as for the writer, are you perfect, why do strive to bring out the imperfection in pastors instead of working on yourself? am sorry but you dont need all this blasphemy if truly you are a real christian, always try to maxmise your time and use it on something worthwhile!!!!!!
ReplyDeletebeware of how you criticise pastors,dnt just talk bcos other people are talking.....be sure of your comment before you contribute.if you want to fight corruption,start from the governmwnt,our political leaders are the pioneers of corruption,let the LORD judge his church cos its beyond humans to do so.
ReplyDelete