Ministers of Mammon? Oliver Twisty Nigerian pastors demand more money as recession bites harder
This is Rotimi Akinola’s opinion. Take it personal if you will.
As Nigerians groan under the yoke of economic hardship, their spiritual leaders request more money to keep the religious machinery lubricated.
This smart move by our “Christian” religious industry shows our churches are no more than business empires. Like they wrongly quote the Bible: “money is the vehicle of the Gospel”.
While legitimate businesses are taking drastic measures to remain afloat in this “Buhari economy”, many Nigerian churches (being no more than business ventures) follow suit.
As the naira continues to disappoint, Nigerian pastors are now devising and implementing strategies to make members donate monies in US dollars.
Deola Phillips, a top Christ Embassy pastor, reportedly told members the following….
It’s worthy to note many of the “books” are not free.
Christ Embassy leader Chris Oyakhilome weeks ago also promised church financiers “supreme success in last 4 months of 2016” if they dropped enough cash for the “ministry”. The church has also announced a special programme with notorious money-demanding international televangelist Benny Hinn.
I was at a Gospel Faith Mission International (GOFAMINT) church on Sunday. The district pastor announced members would have to donate their January salaries to the church. He called it “first fruits”. The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is notorious for the “first fruits” menace. It’s the first time GOFAMINT would join in on a national scale and I think the current economic situation of the country fueled its decision to do so.
These “churches” are not living “day after day” trusting God as Jesus urged Christians. They are already thinking about 2017. Strange enough, members who reject these money craze initiatives are warned to fall in line to avoid going to hell should the world end by December 2016.
I read a report I haven’t been able to verify about Enoch Adeboye, “RCCG of greed” (as a former pastor in the church put it), telling members to “sow in dollars if you want more dollars”.
And there’s this report about a Nigerian pastor urging people to stack naira notes in water bottles and bring it along to a “power-packed” revival meeting so they’d escape the recession he predicted will last till 2018.
Businesses lay off “unproductive” workers and are retaining hardworking ones in other to stay creative and productive. But our apparently fruitless “ministers of God” are demanding for more money.
I don’t think they’re God’s spokespersons on this matter. I believe they minister for Mammon, not God. They use their godliness, so called, as a route to financial profit.
They have neglected the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have made themselves #MinistersOfMammon.
