4
Reasons:
Why
horrible Pastors make you poor!
I miss the days when
Sundays was looked with awe and not lost in reveries. When Sunday was all smiles and genuine
Christian laughter. I miss the days when going to church was cool and part of
cultural fabric interwoven in our DNA. The days when you looked forward to
spiritual reawakening and genine confession of sins. I miss the days when going
to church was not out of fear, showoff
or dreaded frustration of one day having descent burial or dignified diaspora send off . I miss the days when going to church you were
shy of approaching the Holy of holies (The Tabernacle) the Alter or facing God
with dry blood shot eyes and defilement of purity of heart. In my interaction
within and outside the church I have come to this four basic conclusions why we
have so many horrible pastors that leave us far much poorer spiritually and
financially broke every Sunday we attend “their church”.
1. Building their “Little” Kingdom – You will be tricked to believe you
are genuinely helping advance building Gods Kingdom. In essence they are
shamelessly building their earthly mansions, golf courses and expanding private
run ways. Before the tithe, they will whip your emotions with fear of not
giving. They will quote conveniently an
array of memorized scriptures from the Holy Bible just to make you give dreadfully
(fear of not going to Hell) as opposed to cheerfully.
The will indeed invoke the name of God of Exodus how He will rain
brimstone of fire in your wallet and business lightning’s tsunamis after waves endeavors
if you don’t give. They will in
conjunction with the choir, the clumsy choirmaster and the worship team
conspires to induce you with a crescendo of ‘psychedelic’ angelic music characterized
by a profound sense of intensified false sensory perception of a “Cheerful
giver”.
Your fellow Christian in the same pew will make sure they see whether you
dip in the bowl of life in their sinful hawkish eye. They will watch you with awe! With a feel good
attitudinal smile like a slow puncture in winter. Woe unto you if the church
you attend must make single file to the holy Dias to “graciously give”. In the
end they will summarize their prosperity gospel with “you are poor because you
don’t give”.
This is indeed a distorted theology since we cannot bribe God. Even
though we are co-copters in the kingdom of God (Meaning you have to do
something on your part) however, God cannot abandon you in the hour of need.
But remember, He, the God almighty abandoned his beloved son Jesus in the hour
of need on the cross for the sake of you and me. On our part we are adopted
sons and daughters and God does not expect all of us to behave the same. That’s why He (God) provides the sacrament of
forgiveness freely i-regardless of your fake pastor. Known as Toba’ from where
I come from.
Now, There was this West African Pastor that I once attended ‘his’ church.
(not ‘Ours’ remember), whenever a church
denotes your pastors name more than that of Jesus Christ, the reason something
is terribly wrong. (Now you ask why you haven’t seen me in your pastor’s church
of late—because I anonymously attend Catholic mass daily without qualms, show off
or quakes not because I agree with all Catholicism but because of sanctity of
faith). The West African pastor, His Church was in Hamburg, Germany, “Soul’s
paradise’ of some sort if you ask them. I was 21 years Kenyan old in Germany- Europe (don’t ask how old I am
now, just know I am your old uncle, a sage aging gracefully in the land of free
in faith, you right! like the damn old wine).
I remember very well I was driven
against my will by my Hawk eyed revival Pentecostal filled Aunt Elizabeth who
drove me 40 miles
in cold winter to give to the shadow way fictitious paperless pastor the ordained
Sabbath ‘tithe’. Yes, you are right again, he was deported in the summer of the
following year. I am glad you are
following this story; I can see you nodding your head as if to acknowledge it’s
as if I am in your mind. It’s like video, cinema, movie unfolding right before
us. Most of us are reserved not to rattle
the feathers lest we are viewed indifferent.” Un-Conforming “Christians if you
like.
Back to our original story. The congregation kept giving the deutsche marks
as they were once known before the advent of Euro. The dude (Fake Pastor) was
building a palatial house with a swimming pool on top as the roof in his
ancestral home in Nigeria. He made his
fortune out of our own ignorance. I don’t blame him, but all in God’s name. Now
as write this I fondly remembered many will come in my Name. It was too late. I
had been faithfully constitutionally coned before the fall of the Berlin wall.
Now to more pertinent pressing question. When last did you receive annual
or half year audited financial report as a cheerful giver in your church? Please
I beg, do not answer this rhetorical question, kindly continue giving cheerfully
but remember faith without reason is dead.
2. The Glue – Your pastor if you ask him tomorrow thinks he is the one making you go
to church. Most Horrible pastors assume you need them more than you need
God. They take the role of God and
remove him in your daily life as they remotely control your decisions and
sanity. Some of them also think you have
never had foundational faith, especially if you are a diaspora from Africa living
abroad. They forgot that your God has always
guided you across the Atlantic Ocean, the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean Sea,
even before you met them in their giving give prosperity sermons.
3. The Building VS Body of Christ- the expansionist pastor thinks a mega big church translates in fortunes.
Now you have a big church in form of a building so what next? People must give
to sustain the rising cost of maintaining the building as opposed to maintaining
their souls. Need I go further you ask?
4. Pride & Selfishness: There is a general consensus while
writing this blog that your pastor hates the Pastor next door. Yes you heard me
right. You don’t want to think of your pastors a human being with shortcomings
like you and me. Pastors are not immune to self-destructive attitudes. There is an arrogance that assumes their way
of doing church business is the right way. The reason why they are afraid of
forming and molding other upcoming junior pastors lest they take over to poison
their “followers’ to form a true church. They cockily consciously don’t perpetuate
leadership in their congregation they preach fear and personality cult worship.
Now you know where your pastor’s church
is.
By
NJoroge wa Ngige – 120116-0400hrs
