Reading the story at first, I could not help laughing but I then got to thinking, 'When will Nigerians overcome this mentality of subservience to their pastors? When will Nigerians come to realize that, today, worshiping God does should not have anything to do with some so-called pastors who have so tainted the truth that we do not know what it is anymore?' Sadly, it occurred to me that the answer to all of the above is 'NEVER'.
A long time ago, I came to the realization that these pastors are nothing but treasure seekers (ok, maybe not all of them but....). With the sad state of Nigerian affairs, it occurred to some sharp thinking individuals that a quick, 100% legit way of making the fast buck, would be to become pastors. They were, and are, not wrong about this. Look at the sheep (ewu) in question - a 150 million or more Nigerians, majority of whom are gullible, timid, fearful, etc, etc. They are still addicted to that age-old opium of the masses - religion.
So you talk to the average, suffering man on the street and you will invariably get the popular mantra that has been on their lips since the inception of the state called Nigeria - 'e go better, God dey'. Na so o! Of course god dey, but I refuse to believe God will come down and set things right for us without our rasing a finger to help in any way.
The so-called pastors are not helping issues. Everywhere you go, it is the same story, ' Give God all you have, don't worry prosperity is just around the corner, give and it will multiply a thousand-fold'. So we continue to give, even if it is not there, just because we believe. It is time to realise that because of our belief we have been taken for a serious ride, a ride to enrich the pockets of some unscrupulous rogues.
I travelled to naija sometime last year and my broda invited me to his church, one of these new-generation churches. I was reluctant to go since I used to go to this church and left after a couple of months when I realised that they did not really know what they were on about, but out of respect for my senior bro, I went.
Now before anything can happen in this church, you need to purchase the monthly booklet which the pastor publishes. So an assistant pastor got up and said the reading for today was from this booklet, then
Frankly, I felt a bit overwhelmed by all these. I mean, come on, majority of the people there have only that 150 naira, but I could see some sort of frenzy in the air. ' Ah! This booklet, we get to buy am o! Ah! pastor go vex o!' Crap! Utter Crap! What happened to the Bible? If pastor's words in the booklet are based on the based, then what is the essence of this booklet which is a great revenue generator for the church? On this same day, some pastor in this church got up and was saying, ' you young men, I can see a lot of you without any suit on. from now on, you must wear a suit to the church.' Shuo! What if these guys have no money to buy the suit? What if they have to go and steal before they can get that suit? Pastor care? For where! Pastor is after only one thing - lucre, and he will do or say anything to make sure he gets it from you, whether you like it or not.
So I look at all this and I see a lot of suffering around, yet these pastors cannot even tell it like it is. They cannot even tell the masses that it is time to rise up as one and hold the imbeciles in government to account. I look around, I see a lot of these pastors wielding so much power over these people and yet using it wrongly. All they want are the trappings of wealth and damn the rest. They cannot even profer possible solutions like I did in this post.
Ah! I don't know, I just don't know. Everyday, same old circle, since indepence, same old mantra, ' e go better, God dey'.
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