By Dr. Segun ‘Tremendous’ Oshinaga
“But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, FOR YOUR HEART IS NOT RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF GOD.”
Acts 8:20-21 (NKJV)
Until the Church in Africa, nay Nigeria can have this ‘Peter Attitude’ towards money, we will keep groping. Truth be told, the corruption within the Pentecostal body in Nigeria today is unprecedented. But it didn’t start today. The seed of this corruption was laid more than 30 years ago but we have seen it acquire a ‘larger-than-life’ image in the last 15,10 years.
If we are not careful and unless the Lord of the harvest intervenes, we probably have not seen the end of it. Celebrity Pastors/bishops/Apostle is the desire of many and they don’t lack models. Everybody is now a Bishop or Archbishop.
Lately, some are calling themselves Cardinals. I know, at least three. When the Cardinal space gets crowded, as I’m sure it will be soon, we will start having Popes. Pentecostal Popes! We will rival the Catholic Church in all her glory.
This craze for ‘titles and treasures’ is only a symptom of a deeper and serious malaise – the emptiness of the spirit and the increasing need to fill the void with a bang.
Simon the Sorcerer is running wild across African countries. As I traveled through West, South, and East Africa in the last one year, it became clear to me that the ‘god’ called greed is running riot through the Church. We erroneously call it revival. No sir! No ma! This is not revival. Men of God are competing with celebrities and politicians on who is wealthier or more popular. It’s only proof the decay and rot in the body of Christ is deeper than we know.
What is worse is that many of our preachers now dabble in the occult. Many are known to belong to secret cults, Freemasonry, and others. No wonder their ‘results’ are flashy. I call them ‘Pentecostal Babalawos’. The ‘rituals’ that some perform give them away. It takes deep discernment to figure them out. Their ‘Pentecostal legalese’ deceive some ‘Very Elect.’
We can bury our heads in the sand but it’s an open secret that we stink to the high heavens. It’s time to repent and get back to serving God in ‘spirit and truth.’
The missionaries who brought schools and health centers to Africa at the turn of the century literally gave their lives to educate our parents. It was the ‘gospel of sacrifice’ that gave us this ‘heritage of faith’ that we now desecrate with lasciviousness and insatiable greed for materialism. They were rich because they made many rich. Today, our religious celebrities are rich by making many poor.
Our religious elites have become indistinguishable from our political elites. The same spirit of greed is discernable from the two classes. We have therefore raised a generation of ‘needy’ believers whose hunger is for material blessings and success. They have been raised on a diet of prosperity gospel.
Our Pentecostal leaders need to read this again and again
“So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. Pass on what you heard from me—the whole congregation saying Amen!—to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain.”
2 Timothy 2:1-7 (MSG)