It is perhaps pertinent at this stage of our history, at this turn of
our political and socio-economic life, while searching for lasting
solutions to our myriad national problems, to take a look at the
contributory factors induced by religion. My focus is on our modern day
version of Christianity, Pentecostalism, which seems to be the in-thing
nowadays. It is no gainsaying that it is perfectly normal nowadays, that
for one to be socially acceptable, one must be a Christian. A Christian
not just in terms of accepting the doctrines of the Christian church as
it was said to have been postulated by Jesus Christ, but to be born
again. Religion, which ordinarily should have been a strong social and
moral weapon, is today a strong source of social concern in our
motherland. Our Christian men of God today have contributed in no small
ways to the social upheaval the Nigerian nation is going through at the
present moment. They laid the foundation of greed and social discontent
from which the society is yet to come to terms. They departed radically
from the preaching of the Lord Jesus which emphasised contentment and
instead substituted greed and avarice into the social lexicon. They
offer wishy-washy holiness and continue to inundate us with the
doctrines of prosperity, albeit, prosperity at all costs. They decided
to build a temple of materialism from which they hold the befuddled
populace in a trance-like grip. They pretend holiness while their every
deed and acts spell materialism and nothing but materialism. They have
constituted themselves into a national shame seeing profit in a false
preaching and call to a material God. Writing on the surge of
Pentecostalism in Nigeria is a daunting task. This phenomenon which has
been aptly described as a “disease” by the Rev. Nyansako-ni-Nku,
President of the All Africa Conference of Churches in 2007, has taken
our dear country like wildfire. The respected clergy man stressed the
need to rescue people from this spiritual trap. Nigeria, in particular,
is experiencing the fastest growth in Christianity in Africa with the
Pentecostal churches playing a very large role in this development.
There are about 3.9 million Pentecostal members in Nigeria, following
only Brazil with about 24 million members. Nigerian Pentecostalism has
been thriving on the people’s ignorance, surviving on a mixture of
evangelism which incorporates African traditional beliefs. They have
been surviving on befuddling the populace with miracles and promises of
prosperity. African Pentecostal followers are repeatedly told that the
“Holy Spirit changes lives so that sickness and calamity only befalls
non-believers”. However, it is only the believer who is able to double
his donations to the church that is guaranteed the favours of this
material God. The success of the incorporation of old traditional
beliefs into mainstream Christianity (by Pentecostals) brings into full
circle old superstitions which were hitherto marginalised by more
mainstream Christian missionaries (Erhard Kamphausen, Head of Academy
Mission, University of Hamburg). Unlike their counterparts in various
parts of the world, who devoted their time and energy to the development
of their countries and to fighting the cause of the poor, Nigerian
Pentecostal clergymen would rather wine and dine with those in power,
even in the presence of abiding poverty and hunger in the land. The
romance with politics was never as intense as in the fourth republic
when our men of religion came out openly in support of Olusegun
Obasanjo, a so-called born-again Pentecostal Christian. All through the
years of Obasanjo’s misrule, the celebrated Pentecostal community could
only muster whimpers of protest at the audacity of that dubious man who
hid under the cloak of a condescending religion. Before the
controversial landslide election victory of Obasanjo in 2003, the
president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Mike Okonkwo, urged
all Nigerians to vote once more for the tyranny and misrule of Obasanjo,
since he was one of the folds. In fact, around that time, Enoch Adeboye
of the Redeemed Christian Church of God likened Obasanjo to the prophet
Elisha whom God had “specially ordained”. This was just one in the
unguarded forays of Pastor Adeboye into the murky waters of politics. I
can vividly remember this pastor openly anointing Olusegun Osoba as the
only one fit for the government house when Osoba was seeking for the
second term which he eventually lost. While all Nigerians were aghast at
the effrontery of Obasanjo during the infamous third term debacle, it
took the boldness of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor in May 2006 to declare that
“third term in office is not a crime”. Yes, dear pastor, it would not
have been a crime, only that our doctored constitution did not allow it
and Nigerians never wanted it. Our men of God have gallantly deviated
from the path and only pay lip service to the true essence of
Christianity. The fact that the church business remains one of the most
flourishing businesses in Nigeria is openly embraced and flaunted in our
faces without apologies. Holiness in their preaching translates to
wealth. You can only be holy if you are wealthy and powerful. The
ignorant masses are made to witness organised miracles and made to hope
on promises of prosperity. After all, “our God is a God of riches and
miracles”. The race for material wealth is actively influenced by these
supposed men of God. In order to continually give testimonies in
churches, men and women would do anything for money. No source of wealth
is ever questioned by the “Gods” of these prosperity preachers. All are
welcome in the sight of the almighty. There is obviously nothing wrong
with seeking prosperity. However, there are many things wrong with
striving to be rich at all costs so as to appear as the
specially-favoured of a material-minded God with the society remaining
morally bankrupt for it. The Christian teaching have always emphasised
that the pursuit of God, while not in contradiction with material
comfort, has nevertheless stressed its incompatibility with unbridled
pursuit of materialism. It is only apt to state that our dear nation,
while in the throes of despicable political leadership, is also groaning
under a terrible assault by a cult of religious materialists. We are
living in an era of religious materialism, also known as spiritual
Pentecostalism, and the society is poorer for it. Is it not surprising
that in the various fronts that have arisen in our struggle for the
socio-political and economic emancipation of Nigeria, the hierarchy of
the Christian fold, especially the charismatic arm, has been
frighteningly silent. We read of the activities of the clergy of other
climes in their identification with the struggles of their people.
Uganda is a country that readily comes to mind when it comes to
clergy-activism. The Latin American countries have also demonstrated
that it is possible and holy to identify with the oppressed masses. All
we see our Pentecostal leaders doing is actively embracing corrupt
leaderships, vigorously protecting their establishments, declaring
million dollar profits, opening universities after universities and
buying jets upon jets. The lucrative nature of this modern day
pseudo-Christianity can only be explained by the rapid nature of its
spread. It is particularly endearing to many Nigerians because of its
tendencies to revert to traditional means in their efforts to perform
miracles. Their flamboyance is another attractive feature as this is
well attuned to the African psyche that loves all things vain and
gorgeous. Pentecostal churches and hotels compete for space in Nigeria
while cinema halls, disused warehouses, bars, brothels and night clubs
have all been turned to churches. To maintain their grip on the people
and to assure the comfort of their profit base, these churches have been
extremely creative, particularly in the use of the media, radio,
television, newspaper, posters, electronic mails and even the internet.
Even the home video industry has been virtually taken over by the
Pentecostal industry (Musa A Guiyab, University of Jos, Nigeria).
Perhaps a journey down history lane would show that the origin of
Pentecostalism in Nigeria was practically devoid of altruism midstream.
While the native pastorate policy of Rev Henry Venn was actually meant
to empower native Africans in the running of the Anglican Church leading
to the emergence of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther. The subsequent
indigenous prophetic movement that later became the Christ Army Church
in the 1920s probably served as the impetus that led to the formation of
the Aladuras, and later that of Christ Apostolic Church by Joseph
Babalola in 1941. The formation of the Celestial Church of Christ while
expanding the fold increased the incorporation of native African
precepts into the teachings of Pentecostalism tremendously. The
increasing nature of the newly formed Redeemed Christian Church of God
was further accentuated by the leadership of Enoch Adeboye, with the
phenomenal expansion of the church thereafter. However, in the 1960s to
1970s, originating in the wave of evangelical student revivals, new
Pentecostal churches were brought into being with Benson Idahosa
emerging as the leader of this breed. The Deeper Life Bible Church was
one of those churches that emerged and remains one of the largest
neo-Pentecostal churches to date. However, unlike others, it remains
conservative up to these days. No doubt, the spread of evangelical
student revivals were influenced in no small measures by the exposure to
the teachings of Oral Roberts, Robert Tilton, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth
Hagin and a host of others. It must be said that the influence of
Benson Idahosa on the extremely materialistic nature of Nigeria’s
Pentecostalism was in no small measure. To this date, this material man
of God remains the reference point in assessing materialism in Nigerian
Pentecostalism. It may be necessary at this juncture to take a look at
how much God had blessed his children while preaching the Pentecostal
message. In the course of waking up the dead and making the lame walk,
Nigerian Pentecostals have continued to organise crusades and revivals
to bring solutions to the numerous problems afflicting the people.
Problems such as barrenness, unemployment, financial difficulties,
deliverance from ancestral curses, sickness and so on. In the course of
performing these miracles and wonders, our pastors have not done badly
financially. Of note is the Christ Embassy Church of Pastor Chris
Oyakhilome which has an annual turn-over running into billions of naira.
David Oyedepo, the general overseer of Living Faith Ministries (aka
Winners Chapel) has grown into what is termed “an oak tree in
Christendom”. His riches are stupendous and his ministry boasts of a
50,000 capacity worship centre known as Cannanland in Otta, Ogun state,
along with a private university and many other similar interests. Of
course, his Holiness rides in a private jet to further enhance the
business of his ministry. Adefarasin is an eloquent and charismatic
televangelist whose mission today boasts of a 1.3 billion “Rock
Millennium Temple” that was meant to accommodate thousands of
worshippers. Other pastors are not lagging behind with the likes of
Chris Okotie, Samuel Abiara, Victor Onukogu, Emmanuel Ede, Ejike Mbaka,
Temitopoe Joshua, Theophilus Olabayo and Mathew Ashomolowo boasting of
billions of naira amongst them collectively. While much can be said
about the docility of our present day men of the bible in the face of
the social injustice and economic marginalisation of the masses, a
special mention must be made of one who refused to toe the line. Pastor
Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly remains a lone voice in a class
of acquiescent men of liturgy. His non-conforming attitude to the
Obasanjo years remains fresh in memory. In particular, his prophecy on
“Hundred Days and Hundred Ways” rattled the then government so much that
he was promptly arrested and interrogated by the State Security
Service. While the nation is being plundered, Nigeria’s holy men are
busy licking milk and honey. While majority of Nigerians can hardly
afford three square meals, Nigerian men of the word are busy counting
billions and flying in private jets. While the nation is burning, our
pastors are busy baking and eating cake. The people have been starved of
divine knowledge because an informed people remain a threat to the
interests of the “church”. The moral fabric of the nation is weak and
appalling, almost non-existent. Yet Nigeria boasts of thousands of
churches with stupendously rich ministers. Deception is being actively
pursued under the guise of Christianity. While we have no quarrel with
an honest business that generates profits, all we ask of these material
men of God is to be sincere and stop this deception. All we desire is
the truth in our efforts to sanitise the Nigerian society. Jesus brought
the gospel of love, peace and redemption but Nigerians are being
short-changed as what we are getting is plainly the Gospel of
Materialism. It is so bad that the whole thing has been turned into
ridicule and the pastors are busy fleecing the society blind. May God
save us!
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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