[Opinion] On Pentecostal Pastors, God vs. Gospel Comedians

By

Bayo Oluwasanmi

I’m neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son. Yes, I’m not a pastor.

But I have a message for Nigerian Pentecostal pastors.

I’m here to warn you. The Lord is angry with you. If you choose, you can ignore the message at your own peril.

Because you have sided with the tyrannical government of President Jonathan to oppress and terrorize the poor, you are fighting God: it’s a case of God vs. gospel comedians. And we know who’s going to win.

I call you gospel comedians because you teach and practice false gospel. You’re hypocrites. And from the body of evidence, that’s who you’re!

The time to change your minds about God, yourselves, and your wickedness that characterize your life is now. In a word, you must repent.

Not long ago, we were inundated with stories of pastors who went shopping with audacious frenzy for jets.

In the past week or so, the story of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s offshore company clogged the news arteries of different media outlets.

In a cache of documents reviewed by Premium Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) found that Gmobile Nigeria Limited an offshore company was incorporated in 2007 by Oyakhilome in a Caribbean tax haven in the British Virgin Islands.

According to the report, a business associate of Oyakhilome said some directors of the company held shares on behalf of Oyakhilome’s two teenage daughters, Sharon and Charlyn.

Oyakhilome is the founder and president of Believers Loveworld, Inc, aka Christ Embassy.

As you well know, the church is the last pillar of refuge for the people. It is the enduring buffer against a repressive and oppressive government like Jonathan’s.

You seemed loath to speak truth to power.  But “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth,” Paul reminds us in second Corinthians 13:8.

Nigerians have become weary of your gospel of deception and theology of prosperity. Nigerians have been swallowed up in the fiery abyss of your scams.

You have substituted modest lifestyle for lavished and ostentatious living. You have shunned pronouncements in favor of the dispossessed.

Do you ever think of the social mission of the church as one of expressing solidarity with afflicted Nigerians rather than confederate with Jonathan’s administration that is saturated with corruption, hypocrisy, and nepotism?

Cast your mind back to the missionaries who brought Christianity to you.

The missionaries not only preached the gospel, but visited the sick, catechized the children, admonished the erring, and labored to settle disputes and promote harmony and brotherly love.

They were sustained by the freewill offerings of the people. But like Paul the tentmaker, each learned some trade or profession by which if necessary, to provide for his own support.

The missionaries built no mega churches. They built churches known for their purity and simplicity that resembled the church of apostolic times.

Far from the monuments of human pomp and pride, the people assembled not in magnificent churches or grand mega cathedrals. But beneath the shadow of mango trees the people listened to the words of truth from the servants of Christ.

The mission schools by the missionaries were accessible, affordable, and inclusive. The schools were reputed for moral excellence and academic laurels. Our poor parents could afford the tuition fees.

They built hospitals that healed the sick and cared for the needy. They lived among the poor. They trekked long distances to preach the gospel. They didn’t need jet planes to undertake the Great Commission.

The followers of Christ must tread the same path of humiliation, reproach, and suffering which their Master trod.

Think of your discipleship:

Which gospels do you belief in? Gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth or Gospel according to Jesus of Oyingbo?

You rob the poor rather than enrich them. You fleece the poor rather than feed them.  Rather than receive the poor, you reject them. You fight them instead of fighting for them.

The Bible explicitly states that the word of God is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.

Apostle John was quick to warn us: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1John 4:1

As apostate Christians with your half-pagan companions, you directed the warfare against the poor.  But remember there is no light between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. And there can be no union between their followers!

You have shown hatred to the principles of God’s law. You have embraced deception by which lies are made to appear the truth.

You have replaced God’s law with human laws and your congregations are led to worship the creature rather than the Creator.

Like wolves hunting their prey, you pursued those of us who dared to criticize you and claim freedom of religious faith.

Because you cherish evil under a profession of godliness, you hate those who disturb your peace by condemning your course of sin.

Under the cloak of pretended Christianity, you actively participate in the siege and slaughter of the poor. You corrupt their faith. You turned their minds from the word of truth.

Your fortunes are built on the alarming indifference to the doctrines which are the pillars of the Christian faith.

Your preaching slogan is based on the spirit of compromise and conformity with the oppressors in power. You have become satanic in your cruelty to the poor.

We are at a crucial moment in the history of our country when people’s lives are in ruins. Everything is in chaos. And you don’t give a damn to being fair and honest.

Nigerians have never been so hopelessly divided by ethnicity, poverty, religion, culture, and language. And yet, you close your eyes as if all is well.

You thumb your nose to the odious smell of neglect and suffering of the poor.  Where is your compassion?

We are at a time when judgments on people’s lawsuits are based on lies, and when the government conceives evil deeds against the people. Where is your outrage?

We’re have been transfixed by violence and misery as our hall mark and destruction always follow us. Where is your protest?

Nigerians don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good.  Where are your tears?

The government mapped out crooked roads and no Nigerian who follows them knows a moment’s peace. Where is your cry for justice?

There is no justice among us and we know nothing about right living. We look for light but find darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.

We grope like blind along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark.

We growl like hungry bears. We moan like mournful doves. We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.

Among the living we are like the dead!

The gospel teaches service to the poor and rejection of the indifference of the prosperous to the poverty around them. Where is the emblem of your calling?

Rather, you’re interested in retaining your privileges and power at the expense of your flock. The poor are deceived and robbed. What Bible version do you read?

You have failed to alleviate or at least lessen the sufferings and the hopeless situations of your congregations. Where is your charity? After all, it’s being said charity begins at home.

Your worship is full of shallow formalism. Your outward piety is not matched by inner purity. You fasted for public recognition while ignoring the needs of Nigerians all around them.

You have aligned yourselves to the forces of darkness and oppression. What happened to Christ’s teaching of the Beatitudes? You have thrown all into the memory hole.

With your hideous collage of comedy and errors, the poor are further tormented and pulverized. In every sense of the word, you are anti-poor.

Well then, God cannot be casual or indifferent about your conduct and conversation.  God’s judgment brings discipline and destruction.

Your habitual sins of idolatry, hypocrisy, injustice, and corruption have not escaped God’s notice.

His righteous wrath will soon fall upon the king and commoner alike that all might learn that the Lord Almighty cannot and will not be mocked.

There comes a time when changing one’s mind is not only desirable, it is imperative – and that is what God demands from you – now!

You can still do the right thing and please God:

(1) Be honest and fair.

(2) Reject making a profit by fraud.

(3) Stay away from bribes.

(4) Shut your eyes to all enticement to do wrong and

(5) Preach and practice the true Gospel.

It’s not too late for you to ally with the oppressed Nigerians.

There could be no better opportunity for you than now to mobilize the people. Reach deep into the arsenal of your influence, position, and the strength of your congregation and confront the tyrannical regime of President Jonathan.

Because improper attitude or action has crept into your life, it’s time for a change. Do these words describe your lifestyle before God today: pure, genuine, and uncorrupted?

Let James 1:27 point the way to an outward religion that is consistent with inner relationship with Jesus Christ:

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” (New Living Translation, 2^nd edition).

Repentance may be old fashioned, but as long as there is sin, it will never be outdated.

If you refused to do God’s will but continues federating with anti people administration of Mr. Jonathan, then turbulence lies ahead!

*** We cannot drive a car forward by looking at the rear view mirror. We cannot use shoes as hammers, newspapers for umbrellas, and finger nail to tight a screw!

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