Nigerian pastors are worse than yahoo boys.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5........so I kept counting on and on, the number of churches on my street as I walked back home from church on Sunday. Every day,  the number of keeps rising; churches littered every where. Then I begin to wonder; what really attracts people to opening churches?



The Holy Bible says that where a man's treasure is, there his heart lies. It also says in another verse that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so, by these premises, I will be safe to say that one can point to the motivation of a church owner by the messages/sermons he preaches.

Within over two decades of living, I've been privileged to attend innumerable church services in over twenty (20) different churches and the sermons I hear tend to dive towards one central focus — prosperity, healing and giving. You walk into a church, particularly in Africa and the pastor is either carrying out a healing/deliverance session or telling you to sow an unaffordable seed to become rich.

Of course, the versatility of the Bible will always ensure pastors have some verses to back up their (most times, treacherous) bids. "Give and it shall be given unto you." So you hear them say. Some others cunningly cite cases like that of Ellijah who demanded for the last meal from the poor widow of Zerapat as a seed for her prosperity. Virtually any favour you ask for from a pastor has to be paid for these days.

Christianity basically connotes living like Christ but funny enough, I can't remember anywhere in the Bible were Christ asked a dime from anybody. As a matter of fact, it was he who brought money from a fish's mouth in order to foot a bill. I'm sure if He were some 21st century Nigerian pastor, He probably would have asked the disciples to sow a seed. More so, when Christ helped his disciples to catch a net-full of fish, he did not ask for any seed whatsoever.

Yahoo boys became popular for their illicit exceptional skills in exploiting and extorting financial goodies from unsuspecting individuals. But what do you know, pastors these days now do worse! From the poor, to the down trodden; to the rich and the very rich, this scourge has ravaged. The only difference between the yahoo boy on the street and the pastor with a suit and long tie is that whereas the former is seen as a criminal, the latter is believed to be legal — doing God's work.

My friend always says "Thief na thief: whether e kari gun or thief meat for pot." A man who tells someone to prove God by sowing his shop rent is a thief! So also is a man that collects the little from the poor in the church, builds a school and charges unaffordable fees. When I reminisce on the old time missionaries, I discover that missionary schools were either free or almost free. But what do we have today? Church-owned schools that charge the highest fees!

The church in it's rightful sense ought to serve as  a help ground for the poor and not a slaughter ground for already starving bodies. When Christ was about to leave his disciples, he told them to go into all the world and preach the gospel; not to collect seeds. Giving should be a thing of will. Whenever coercion or exploitation comes in, it becomes stealing. Pastors must begin to face their primary assignment of preaching the word and leave tax collection to the government. Church members are getting poorer yet the pastor has a fleet of private jets and thinks he'll make heaven? Nonsense! If you tell me yahoo boys will end up in the lake of fire then I think Nigerian Pastors should roast in the largest ocean of fire.

© 2015 CHIDUBEM N.J