But until we start telling our leaders in the church and the government at all levels the hard truth and expose their hypocrisy as it is,…
As noted by Pastor Sam Otenaike: “Why should an Overseer of a Church be going with retinue of armed police officers?… If I am calling on God and I depend on police officers to carry guns and be following me about, am I representing a God? Is that not stupidity? Somebody is preaching God is covering you…”
As noted by Princess Deki Ugen-Agbahovbe: “The current blackman has the laidback attitude of wanting others to do for them, or give them what they can actually do or achieve by themselves. That mentality in black leaders breeds laziness and mediocrity”
As said in an online video of an angry Nigerian elite: ” We are loyal to men, but we are not loyal to God. So many of us, you are loyal to men, but you are not loyal to God. When you see your pastor, you roll on the ground. But when God is saying something, you don’t hear God. You don’t listen to God, but you listen to pastors…”
It is sad to note that, establishing a church or going into politics have become amongst the most sort out lucrative ventures in Nigeria. Yet, it still does not make everything right in the country. Instead, Government and Religion, that ought to make life and things better for all, have continued to make life miserable and harder for the general populace, while the Leaders in these Two areas, have continued to live in splendor, often to the detriment of their followers. But until we start telling these leaders in the Church and the government at all levels the hard truth, and expose their hypocrisy as it is, rather than singing their praises; we would never see the desired change in our society.
It is however comforting to see someone, once in a while, who deviates from the norm in the society by demonstrating courage in constructively exposing and criticizing these public-disgrace-of-leaders, both in the Church and in Politics. Those were my thoughts, when I saw a short video online of one Pastor Sam Otenaike, who practically said it as it is in our society. In his words: “If we are a praying people…Nigerians are a praying people… Go to the express road, you can’t even travel from Lagos to Ibadan again because of various praying camps. WITH ALL THOSE PRAYERS… WHERE IS THE JUSTICE? Is it God’s will if we are praying that much? WHY SHOULD AN OVERSEER BE GOING WITH RETINUE OF ARMED POLICE OFFICERS? Somebody will say, “Pastor, it’s because you are not a big man of God. Well I DON’T WANT TO BE THAT BIG MAN OF GOD!!!” If that is the definition of your big man of God, I don’t want to be it!!!
“If I am calling on God and I depend on police officers to carry guns and be following me about, and am I representing a God? Is that not stupidity? And yet, those are the ones we hail “Big men of God”. Stupid people!!! All of us, including myself, so don’t think am just abusing you. Somebody is preaching God is covering you. And then he enters his car, armed police officers are going in front, and you are going on foot, who will protect you? Are you not thinking? And yet, we celebrate them…. Great men of God! Who has bewitched you?”
It is rare to see such men in the body of the Church, to come out publicly and bluntly say these things as they are. Often times, people fail to speak bluntly to their leaders, just because they are members of the Church, and they would not want to say something that would close the window for their expected miracles. Whereas, most of these church members are living in penury. Some persons hold these so-called men of God in high esteem that, they never see them do anything wrong. And whatever they say, they swallow and accept it without any questions, and without checking the Bible to see what was said is actually true as God said it. We also see the same thing in the government and in the country’s political atmosphere. To the point that we have allowed ourselves to become somewhat lazy and mediocre. As noted by Princess Deki Ugen-Agbahovbe: “The current Blackman has the laidback attitude of wanting others to do for them, or give them what they can actually do or achieve by themselves. That mentality in Black leaders breeds laziness and mediocrity.”
This subject was also reiterated in a short video online we had written on sometime ago. Of a man who was very blunt in expressing Nigeria’s level of religious hypocrisy. In his words: “We pray that our enemies should die by fire, but we are our own worst enemies. That is all we do. And that has not changed our country Nigeria. Even though we have the biggest Churches and auditoriums; we have the 50,000-seaters, 100,000-seaters, 250,000-seaters, yet, our country is still not a country. Our religion is still not saving us. The Nigerian youths are on the field, doing yahoo-yahoo. Most of our Pastors are sleeping with women all around the place. Most of our women are all over the place doing aristos. The Christianity we carry on our heads has not paid us. The prayers have not been answered over the people’s lives. Yet, Nigerians are still being religious.
We are building more Churches. More Pastors are emerging everyday everywhere. The Churches in Nigeria have turned to businesses, all to collect money. They blandish people, they fool people, they sleep with women, they sleep with children, and they kill the destinies of young Nigerians. Yet, that is the same place we go. We refuse to read our Bibles. WE ARE LOYAL TO MEN, BUT WE ARE NOT LOYAL TO GOD. So many of us, you are loyal to men, but you are not loyal to God. When you see your Pastor, you roll on the ground. But when God is saying something, you do not listen. You do not hear God. You do not listen to God. But you listen to Pastors. Shame on you!
“…Armed robbers are increasing every day in Nigeria. Graduates are not getting jobs, and we are building more Church auditoriums. What is the essence of the auditoriums you are building, and the nation is not changing? We are the poorest country in the world. With all the brilliancy, with all the brains that we have. We are the most educated, yet, Nigeria is the poorest country in the whole wide world. But we have the biggest church auditoriums in Nigeria. We have the highest number of Churches in Nigeria. If prayers will make Nigeria great, Nigeria is supposed to be the greatest country in the whole wide world. If prayer would make somebody rich, Nigerians are supposed to be the richest in the world… The nation Nigeria is full of Churches, but the Churches are not influencing and affecting the country positively. Armed robbers and kidnappers are increasing. And the kidnappers are bringing tithes to Churches. The kidnappers are going to Pastors for prayers. Pastors are going to ‘babalawos’ to do juju. They are using rings to touch the peoples’ heads. Giving people holy communion that will make them crazy. Just to take their money. The love of money has taken over. We blame the Government, but we do not blame ourselves. It is not Buhari alone, we are all guilty. Every one of us is guilty. The Christians are guilty, the traditionalists are guilty; every one of us are guilty. It is not Buhari alone; everyone. We are just playing pranks. Yahoo boys are scamming people right, left and center.”
The truth is, a ‘religious person’, regardless of the faith and denomination, will not steal public money, will not assassinate people, will not tell lies, will not cheat on his people that have elected him/her to be in government. Such a person will not hire goons and pay INEC officials to rig election, will not do fake Thanksgivings/organize religious ceremonies to appreciate God. A true religious person will not oppress his people, will not intimidate his people, will not mislead his people, will not accept bribery/payments to fight innocent people, will not blackmail others, will not be greedy, will not have the appetite to force himself on his people as a leader? Such an individual will not engage in illegal bunkering, will not encourage crime, will not pretend, will not favour only his people in government spaces, will not be a tribalist, will not encourage thuggery. A religious person will always tell the truth and stand by it, no matter who is concerned, or what the situation is.
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