Some
men of God have been indicted as yet another alternative way people are
exploited even as the controversial ponzi scheme, MMM continues to
generate controversy.
Divinity has designed creation and creatures to exist and co-exist
under a form of authority. Many nations of the world are under the
political authority of a President or a Prime Minister. A kingdom is
under the authority of a King or Queen. A family is under the authority
of a father and mother, a father, or mother. And the church of the
living God is under the authority of an ordained servant called by
Heaven. Where there is no authority, pandemonium reigns and rules; and
men cast off restraints.
The authorities I refer to are not phantom. They are represented by
men and women with flesh and blood. Men who thirst and hunger. Men who
laugh and cry. Men who have passions just like you and I. Men who get
financially broke and buoyant. Men who have desires and ambitions. Men
who love and fear God. Men who don’t give a hoot if there is God or not.
And men and women who strive to take care of their families by every
means necessary.
Manipulation by a political mentor is no news. That’s the game in
the terrain. Malevolent acts towards the subjects in a kingdom may be
forgiven. The king is trying to protect his royal inheritance. But when
exploitation drips down from the cassock, robe, and collar of a
Father-in-the-Lord, it hurts the mentee and grieves the heart of God.
In Church, a man referred to as “Father-In-The-Lord”,
stands in gap for his spiritual children. Very many of them operate with
the anointing of God whose voice they obey daily. They do the will of
the Father and are revered among men. Unfortunately, many of the
Fathers-in-the-Lord are MMM-dependent- Milking, Manipulating,
Malevolent. They see themselves as the lord who must father others by
crude antics and mean tactics.
A recent lamentation I heard from a young man who was about to
leave Christianity completely because of the experiences he’s had with
certain men of God in Nigeria is driving me to write this account. There
are certain elements who are not about the souls of men but about dough
in their pockets. Behind their gymnastic preaching-prowls are strokes
for dough and more dough.
It was in a US Midwestern city when I stumbled on this man. I
observed how he was reacting to my lines; standing up and sitting down,
waving his hands, and screaming intermittently: “Preach it, Sir”
in response to some ecclesiastical deliveries. After the event, he
volunteered to chauffeur me back to my hotel. He then told me his story.
He was attending a church in Lagos when he won the US lottery. It
was a heavy task for his family raising about N300, 000 for airfare
alone. His job only paid N10,000 per month. He approached his pastor who
lent him N20,000. He made up the difference through begging and
borrowing from friends and enemies. He paid back the loan in two months.
During a latter telephone conversation, his pastor said: “Please, when you are settled, the Lord said I should tell you to sow $2000 for the publishing of my book.” The young man’s heart dropped in despair. But he struggled to donate $500 to his Father-in-the-lord. “When your Father-in-the-lord says a word, it is God speaking. The voice of the Father-in-the-lord is the voice of God”. That’s how he was trained in his church.
The pastor was angry about the $500 contribution. He said to the young man: “Who do you think you are? Did I not help you get where you are today? Did I not make you?”
The donation was too small for pastor. A N20,000 assistance became an
albatross on a young man trying to grow himself and family.
Pastor called again after about nine months: “I want a Toyota
Camry 2008 American specification; please, find out how much it will
cost. God wants you to pay for it. I don’t want to know how you buy it,
how you transport it; I just want the car in front of my house when it’s
ready”. The car would cost about $8,000. The young man mustered up
boldness and asked:“How long, Sir, am I going to be doing this for you”?
“Forever! For the rest of your life. You know I made you”, pastor said. Remember it was just a N20,000 loan; and it was paid back with interest.
I burnt in anger as he told me this story. But his account is mild
compared to many others I have seen and heard. Some fathers and
mothers-in-the-Lord have destroyed the lives of young men and women
buffaloed into wrong relationships. I have met a handful who got married
to men because their Father-In-The-Lord said “God said he’s your
husband”. Some of them were murdered or maimed by these spouses after a
long season of abuse.
As a young man when I first arrived the US almost 30 years ago, I
was told by a prominent visiting man of God who showed me the picture of
a girl saying: “…that is your wife”. A girl with a scarf
around her head and mandible for Fola? But I was born and raised in a
house of prayer and by praying parents. I know the voice of God when I
hear it.
The intention of these Fathers-in-the-Lord is to use the concocted
and arranged relationships to build an empire for themselves. If you are
a young man with a high-paying job, you are in trouble. These men will
bring you close, manipulating and controlling you and your earnings. If
you let a Father-in-the-Lord run your life, he will ruin and run you
down and out of town.
God has not called pastors to run people’s lives, but to point the
sheep always to the Chief Shepherd. If you don’t know your pastor fairly
well enough, you may be making some crucial decisions of life enhanced
by the voice of a fallen angel, not the voice of God. If you allow
outsiders run your marriage, your business, ministry, and life, you will
get run down, and you may never get back up. There once was an occupier
of the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Fathers-in-the-Lord destroyed his
dreams with false prophecies after milking him clean and dry.
There are men and women of God scattered all over who are engaged
in awesome work of help and relief on the mission field. There are many
men and women, names you have or haven’t heard; and faces you have seen
or may never see on televisions who are committed to helping the
helpless. I know great men and women of God in Nigeria, men with
impeccable character and integrity who say what they mean and insist on
what they say even if the weather is not commodious. Men who do not
attempt to help God with miracles from the oracles, or conjure signs and
wonders that make many families sigh in pain and ponder.
Even with these ersatz ‘Fathers-in-the-Lord’, there are pastors who
are more than shouting Hallelujah; who are not seeking gullible men and
women given to fanatically humming a rambunctious ‘AAMMEN’ to lies in
the name of prophecies. They are liberators from spiritual illiteracy
and freedom-fighters from natural ignorance. They are teachers who teach
from the wealth of experiential knowledge of life encounters. Their
assemblies are sanatoria for societal reformation, wheels where
characters are shaped, a refuge for the helpless and hopeless, and
living examples of righteous living and lifestyle. I have a few in my
life.
A Father-in-the-Lord running a conglomerate of con-artistries and
assemblies of maddening mercantilism grieves the heart of God. They are
ones who rehash in God’s ears what He said in Genesis 6:6 that He
regretted making man.
-Fola Ojo, willieojo@yahoo.com
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