“Praise the Lord!!”
“Amen!!”
“If you want a miracle
like the speed of light in your life this month, come out with a bountiful and
miracle-magnetizing offering of one hundred thousand for the Lord! Amen!! Let
me share this with you. Last week, I was in California [having left Edmonton a
week before], a youngman was so desperate to see me, that he nearly walked on
others. I asked him why such a rush, he said he travelled all the way from
Edmonton to offer his ‘seed of faith’ so that he can be blessed like his friend
who sow his seed while I made this similar call in Edmonton. I laughed and
prayed for him. Yesterday he called to inform me that he won a contract of
$10,5000,000; I told him that is just the beginning, hundreds of millions will
come. If you share the same faith and want to prosper beyond your imagination
come out with your 100,000 seed offering else you will come to Australia to
give me in a rush! Come out now!!”
(Shouts of ‘’Praise the
Lord” rent the air as people started trooping out to offer money for their
expected miracles)
The scene above is neither from a Nollywood nor a Ghollywood
movie script, it happened sometimes last year in a West African country; in a
massive ‘Church of God’ led by a man and his wife. This particular church prides
itself as an exemplary Pentecostal ministry. Most, if not all, present-day
Pentecostal churches are historically linked with the Azusa Street Revival of
1906 held in Los Angeles, California, led by William J. Seymour, an African
American preacher. However, Pentecostalism is believed to have started far
before then with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues as
written in the biblical Book of Act.
Some of the key features of the Pentecostal movement/church
include: preaching of salvation, experience of baptism of the Holy Spirit;
healing through Jesus Christ (miracles/divine healing), speaking in tongues,
prophecy, literal interpretation of the bible; women in leadership role (or as
‘Mama’ to a central figure ‘Papa’) and receptacle to popular culture. These
features are so defining and stand the movement out of the Christianity pack,
thereby othering the other outlandishly. The ‘other’ here refers to the
orthodox or traditional group which are considered unwelcoming or uninteresting
(in contemporary period) as many of them refused to change to the dictate of
contemporary popular culture. By implication, most youths, rich and ‘suave’,
find it rather awkward to get affiliated with the ‘boring’ orthodox churches.
But are the above stated ideals of Pentecostalism affected or threatened by the
tilt towards the ‘modern’ and the widely acceptable reformed practices? The
obvious answer is ‘Yes’!
To many, ‘salvation’ which ought to take the front seat has
now been pushed to the back seat. Prosperity preaching is now the order of the
day. We now have more motivational speakers than Pastors on the pulpit. While
nothing is wrong with being a motivational speaker and a shepherd for the Lord,
pushing salvation preaching to the backseat and shifting the peoples’ attention
to success and wealth at the detriment of the salvation and holiness scriptures
(such as Matthew 6 vs 33: Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God) is considered
inimical to the gospel of Christ.
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| Pastor 'delivering' members of his church. Source: Nairaland |
Questions have also been asked concerning the
commercialization of healing and miracles which Jesus promised as an addendum
to accepting him as ‘the personal Lord and Saviour’. Like the opening scenario,
some Pastors now ask for ‘seed donations’ and diverse nomenclatural offerings to
fund their own greed, in the name of the Lord. Members are fleeced continually
to fund the expensive lifestyles of the men and women of God, and where the
members are not cooperating, these ‘God’s anointed’ take what belong to the
people willy-nilly through the powers of ‘motivational speaking’ and/or ‘other
diabolical’ means possible. Miracles have now become ‘three for one’, ‘cash and
carry’ and an all comers’ affairs. Handkerchiefs are sold for princely sum;
ditto oil and ‘holy water’ packaged in bottles.
The mad rush for members or sheep is another downturn in the
Nigerian-Ghana Pentecostal movement, this has led to unhealthy rivalry between
and among ‘anointed’ men of God to the extent that they now move about in
bulletproof vests and cars, retinue of security guards, displaying opulence to
attract, pay unnecessary homages and get affiliated to political jobbers and
persons with unexplainable wealth. To ensure that they have a large
congregation, some go as far as recruiting ‘Membership Merchandizers’ who get
paid per members they could bring to the church. Special announcements and
advertisement of products ‘to support members businesses’ are also promoted and
allowed (at discounted fees) for the sake of getting ‘running cost’ for the
church. Men of God are also involved as key promoters of ‘pyramid/Ponzi
schemes’ (as was the case with Penny Wise Credit) using or, if you like,
milking their unwitting members of their hard-earned funds. Most recently, some
of these Pastors are involved in the new gambling business, as betting company
shareholders. In Accra, for instance, people troop to a certain popular
Pentecostal church because the pastor dictates winning lotto numbers to them to
stake money on. In Lagos, a pastor announces/prophesizes the team that will win
the weekly English League matches, and sometimes the final scores; all in the
name of membership and money!
Cases of sexual assaults and comical deliverance methods such
as using one’s male genital to remove demons through a lady’s private part,
using kissing to remove poison, asking female members to remove their pants in
church to ward-off demons, eating of grasses, fondling and sucking of spinsters
and ‘barren’ women breasts to heal them, among others, are now the order of the
day. While some have been lucky to commit all these atrocities in the name of
Jesus and get away with them, some have been unlucky and standing trial or
imprisoned; more worrisome is that new rascals are joining the fold daily (even
as you are reading this piece) after all the only qualification one needs to
start a Pentecostal church is to declare that God has called him or her..
 |
| Pastor standing on members' back to demonstrate a point. Source: http://cameroon-concord.com |
Why should I be bothered about the activities of these
rascals, or penterascals? Two reasons: morality and criminality. The morality
of the practice, of deceit and exploitation is worrisome. Many have been
deceived and maneuvered, mentally, to believe in their criminal ways, duped and
left with little or no choice but suicide. They are hero worshipped by diverse
followers who have turned into a sect (of a sort), learning the antics of the
immoral practice and perpetually become unwitting slaves to their penterascal
ideals. Premised on these, it would be wrong not to look critically into some of
their practices and prosecute those found to be acting against the law. We know
they are close to power that be and are somewhat very rich, hence many think
they are untouchable, but the citizens must speak out. Speaking out is the
‘magic wand’ and also the first step towards helping to remove the veil placed
on others’ mental and/or physical eyes, and in protecting the laws of the land;
and, if I may add, in helping Christianity rid itself of these men and women
with farcical messages and practices inimical to its image as a religion.
Adeyemi J Ademowo, a
sociocultural analyst and development anthropologist, AHP postdoctoral Fellow-in-residence
at IIAS Ghana, works with Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti
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