In the Book of Acts of the Apostles (Chapter 3), the Bible gave an account of an incident at the ‘Beautiful Gate’. The gate was beautiful but the devil positioned an ugly sight there to desecrate it.
The Beautiful Gate was the most unlikely place for a beggar to ply his trade. How come the beggar could not go elsewhere but the entrance of the Lord’s cathedral to beg? No matter how prostrate nigeria’s economy, could a beggar come near Also Rock? It was absurd situation but the devil had his plans. He wanted to use the beggar to make the gospel unattractive. He wanted to make sure people are discouraged from coming to church. He planned it to cast a slur on the church.
However, there was a Peter. Peter was a cleansing agent. God used him to clear the mess at the Beautiful Gate.
The state of today’s church is deplorable. There’s so much desecration. Let all join to rid the church of self-made and orchestrated scum and distractions,
The beautiful gate of the church has been desecrated by both the enemy and members. This has reduced the lion to a minion. But the church MUST bounce back and take its pride of place.
Where are the Peters of this generation? They must arise to remove this desecration so that the church can ‘stand and walk’ in the name of Jesus.
The devil is on rampage; in a titanic battle these last days. Terrible things are happening on some supposed altars of God. Jealousy and envy, greed and selfishness; avarice, lust and all manner of debauchery and immorality have crept into the church and taken centre stage.
Of course, the church is also a human organisation and in Nigeria, everything is rotten. Nevertheless, somany unsavoury schemes have been woven around the church and some of its ministers by the desperate souls, fighting most brazenly to taint the church with tar.
Sometimes, I wonder what the PFN and CAN should do or are doing to curb the madness? Of course, I understand the constraints but even the leadership of the body is not any better; it has become a political arena to chase clout and lucre.
Such limpness of the church leadership emboldens even ashawo to point ugly fingers at God’s anointed with the aim to scatter the flock of Christ.
Not too long ago a woman purportedly had sex with a popular man of God in Nigeria, snaps the ‘cleric’s’ staff of office (apologies Madam Funke) and without shame, spills the encounter on the public sphere. She had no disagreement with the man. It was not as if the man didn’t pay her for services rendered or something. So, what is her motivation for going public with such a sordid immoral act? What could be responsible if not to rubbish the church with concocted balderdash?
Now a self- confessed hooker comes up to claim two love trysts with the same man of God and the society swallows the toxic baloney with glee. Haba!
When did prostitution become honourable as to warrant attention? Even if this whore was pimped for the clergy, as she claimed, did ‘his anointed holy water’ wash away the stains of her disreputable life? If it did, there was no sign in the dirty confessional. And, by the way, why is that experience so important? Is that not her career? What tales has she told about the very many derailed men that had accessed her jaded and blackened pot of bile?
Because a servant of God must be destroyed. Because the body of Christ must be ridiculed. However, the Lord is laughing at the heathen and holds their antics of kicking against the bricks in derision. Nobody can carry the earth!
Of course, pastors are human and vulnerable too; we all have our foibles. Nobody is an angel; angels are not on the earth but in heaven. People are looking for saints in the Church whereas they are demons themselves.
It is time we stopped judging pastors by a different template and leave them to give account of their stewardship to God. Surely, pastoral work is expected to be exemplary, hold the torch of truth and point the way for sinners. However, it is still possible that after showing people the way, some pastors, God forbid, may unfortunately be castaway, a fear Paul expressed in I Corinthians 9:27.
I deplore the much Satanic contrived rubbish spewed on the church and its ministers. Nevertheless, let me also point out that I don’t hold brief for the pastors; they must live above board.
I am more concerned about the church. It is my informed opinion that Christians should live life and as many that bandy the name of Christ in vain shall meet a sordid end; that is what the scripture says.
I will also point out that our expectations of these pastors are often Utopian. Why would I expect the pastor to do what I cannot do myself? You would be fast to say because he is a man of God. So what? Are you a man of Satan? Is heaven or hell meant for only pastors?
The society is also deficient in its definition or understanding of church or pastor. Shakespeare wrote that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So, what if the wizard troubling your community repaints his coven and calls it a church where he ministers as a ‘pastor’; does that make him one? It is, therefore, absolutely wrong to run down the church or true servants of God because of activities of charlatans and hirelings of Satan. By their fruits, the Bible says, we shall know them.
There are still many Peters doing the Lord’s work fervently. It is sad to note though that there are also many overly loud, pretentious Peters, prancing about the altars of Satan, alias churches, and luring men to damnation.
The devil has also positioned them like the beggar to desecrate the gospel of Christ. They are no more at the gate but inside, on the altars. They are sick but many do not know it. They have sickness of the spirit and also suffer from diarrhea of the mouth, dripping deceit. Their sight is blurry so they see questionable visions. They say thus says the ‘lord’ when the Lord did not say anything. Do you know who their ‘lord’ is?
They are not difficult to spot. They are blindsided by the lust for affluence and influence. The social media is the marketplace of their spurious and disgraceful prophecies. They are permanent fixtures, stealing the joy of the gullible with wonky, fear-inducing prophecies.
After the just concluded general elections in Nigeria, is it not time we asked them, ‘how market?”
However, I pity them because of the looming calamity if they cease not. Where will all this end if not a small box preserved for worms, and a place in the smouldering furnace in hell?
The Lord’s “winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” John 3:12.
The fire shall consume all sinners whether on the altar, in the pew, brothels or taverns; whoever has desecrated God’s beautiful gate. The winnowing fan is being wound; the axe is laid at the feet of the evil tree soon to be hewed down.
Every Peter at the God’s gate, real or fake, to cleanse or smudge, has a date with the Lord. That appointed time for gathering of the wheat and chaff is around the corner. Only you would decide what you are, wheat or chaff.