CORRUPT CHURCHES! WHO WILL BAIL OUR CATS?

 

Religion has intrinsically been a very important part of society from the beginning of human existence. Man’s quest to create a relationship with God has made him wander from pillar to post in search of the correct route to Him. The plethora of religions scattered across the world is proof of this quest.

Christianity arrived as part of this quest by man, brought about by God’s willingness to draw man to himself. God sent Jesus Christ who arrived earth as the only begotten son of God through the virgin conception by Mary. In the space of three years since Jesus turned thirty, He taught, healed and delivered many while mentoring his group of twelve disciples. He finally died as the sacrifice for the rescue of the human race and rose three days after.

Christianity wasn’t intended as a religious group of people but a pattern of lifestyle that exemplified the life that Jesus lived. To this, the term Christian wasn’t coined because there was any sect who decided they wanted to be called Christians. No! The title arrived from people in Antioch somewhere in present day turkey who saw the lifestyle of those people who believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus and could see in their lifestyles what they saw and heard about Jesus.

Today, Christianity has moved beyond a lifestyle tag. It has become a religion with adherents professing to belong to one church group or the other. It’s not difficult these days to see those who claim they are Christians engage in terrible acts that are anti the lifestyle that got the first Christians been called Christians.

These days, it’s easier to say “I am a Christian” yet curse, swear and steal provided you can give huge offerings in church and dance to the melodious songs that now characterizes today’s Christianity.

Gone are the days when church used to be a gathering of pious saints and where sinners found a reason to shift corner. It seems the obvious that church today just means a place you’d go to pass time on Sundays. Since Sundays have now been known for church going and most people are headed for church, it won’t be great hanging at home so we head there to add to the number.

Jesus’ desire for the church is for her to be holy and pure. But are our churches pure? Are they holy? If we check out the lifestyles of those who make up the leadership hierarchy of our churches, we’d have many questions begging for answers.

Several churches today could go for a Friday dance hall except for the name of Jesus that the pastors may call from time to time. You’d hardly find it difficult to tell the difference between a Christian sister and a prostitute in a motel.

I was amazed when I entered a particular church and all I could see were lust filled eyes of young ladies and young men with the pastor all dressed like she was arriving from the Calabar River. I could see why her female followers were comfortable arriving the so called “presence of God” in miniskirts with slits almost revealing their pants and young men would die to attend such churches.

And when our pastors see money, what happens? Don’t be surprised to see pastors who should have killed flesh before they jump to the pulpit roam around looking for filthy lucre like politicians searching for contracts. Today, pastors are perfect friends with politicians with the latter arranging opportunities for pastors to preach in federal and state government houses scattered across the nation in exchange for money. Pastors now brag of which politician they know and which they have met like that was the message God asked them to preach.

If we could ask Late Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke and Pastor Benny Hinn their experiences, they’d tell us of how they invested so much in gospel campaigns in this nation only to have those monies syphoned by so called pastors who flocked around them as ministry supporters and partners.

The church should be bailing society from the corruption mess that society has found itself but sadly, the church seem to be in need of the bail out.

Many of those who head our churches sadly went into it as a business, a personal business with the goal being to enrich themselves as much as they can. To this end, they will go any length to grow their churches, visit traditionalist and spiritualists to get powers to push the crowd in and the gullible will fall in who are looking for signs and wonders.

We’ve heard of churches built on the heads of people who were sacrificed to make sure crowds rush in. And the number of these churches is increasing that you’d hardly know which church to step into without being afraid of the foundation.

So called ministers of God are busy lobbying for spiritual titles. They want to be called prelates, bishops and arch bishops without having gone through the requisite calling or experience. They bribe to get ordained into spiritual offices so that they can be respected by virtue of their titles.

Are pastors not taking their fellow pastors to court over issues they could easily have been able to resolve amongst themselves? They fight over inconsequential things like church naming and leadership elections. Political rigging has become part of our church leadership struggles, a situation in which a pastor can fake votes to become general superintendent or overseer.

You’ve heard of pastors who sleep with women other than their wives and they don’t consider it as a sin to worry about. They have concubines in several countries. When they visit such countries, they go into their concubines and they’d be bold preaching Jesus and commanding demons out. You can perhaps wonder where they have the strength to command demons.

Church leaders are even known for playing pranks. Many of them are these days not taken serious by people around them because they feel they are fraudsters.

Church seems the perfect place today to get a harlot and you’d find them as ushers, as singers leading the choir with such beautiful voices that you’d never believe they have multiple sexual partners. And they seem to sing the roofs of “heaven” down. If you check with that choir master, you’d discover he enjoys the company of beautiful choir sisters in his apartment and he takes turn on them yet, he’d lead the choir to the standing ovation of the church.

How about the ushers who pick moneys from offering boxes and bags and are never caught? They feed on church offerings and want to be the only ones to carry the boxes into the inner room where they can have their full dose of lucre.

It is common to hear of churches who preplan miracles to fool members as well as first timers who arrive at the church. They pay a team of actors to create miracle scenes in crusades and programmes, after all what people are looking for is miracles.

These days, the in thing is to invite comedians to the pulpit of churches. Pulpits that used to be a pure territory meant for the pastor and chaste service men is now where comedians mock God and the church and church members are too blind, they laugh away to their foolishness.

Are pastors not heavily involved in politics these days? They certainly are. They are not content with their churches any more. They want to be presidents, governors, ministers, commissioners, senators and any other political position. They claim the church should pursue political leadership something Jesus who instituted the church was against. They join the crowd of politicians to do what they do and they’d claim that if you don’t do it the way the politicians do it, the politicians won’t support them. These pastors put on their pastors tag to buy the hearts of Christians to vote for a brother who is a pastor, but right behind, they are deadly wolves.

This isn’t the kind of church Jesus prayed for. If we do have to talk about the things that happen in our churches, books will be too many to write about them. Churches are busy producing followers who know nothing about Christianity. It seems all they are interested in is the offerings and tithes which pastors wilily collect in the name of God.

In this age where we can’t tell the difference between the real church and the fake, proselytes very much need to be careful where they step their feet into. Not every so called ‘man of God’ is worth following. That one does miracle is no guarantee that he is God’s servant.

Certainly, time will reveal these men who are using the church as a tool for the pursuance of their own selfish goals. By their fruits we shall know them.