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Money is a very powerful force. Even the Bible recognises the awesome powers of money that it compared money’s ability to get things done to God’s ability to get things done in some occasions. Bible tells us that God answers all things. At the same time, it tells us that money answers all things (Ecc 10:19). It tells us that God is a defence, and equally asserts that money is a defence (Ps 7:10; Ecc 7:12). The Bible refers to God as a master, yet refers to money too as a master. All in all, the Bible concluded that one cannot serve two masters at a time. He will love one and hate the other (Matt 6:24).
There’s no gainsaying the fact that in Nigeria, Pentecostal fire has been radically subdued and in some cases transformed to strange fires from the devil. Pentecostalism is symbolic of the church powered by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus resurrected from the dead, he warned the apostles and disciples not to step out of their abode to preach the gospel until they receive the Holy Spirit that will imbue them with the power to share the gospel and perform miracles without fear or favour (Acts 1:8). Ten days after he ascended to heaven, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on the 120 apostles and disciples waiting in the upper room in cloven tongues of fire resting on their heads and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and went out boldly to preach the gospel, perform miracles, and speak in new tongues. Three thousand persons gave their lives to Christ. They became witnesses of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all over the world.
It’s obvious that the Pentecostal church is established on holiness and righteousness as the Holy Spirit cannot operate in an unholy vessel. The first step therefore for any Christian aspiring to be a man of God is to acknowledge that he/she is a sinner, as all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Repent from the sins. Receive Jesus as personal Lord and Saviour. Receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit in order to receive power to overcome sin and the power to preach and perform miracles.
Galatians 5:19-21 enumerated the works of the flesh which whoever claims to be born again should not have, talk more of someone who wants to be a man of God. They include adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, and revelling. The Bible warned that they, which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Apostle Paul in admonishing his protégé, Timothy, on how to be a great man of God, taught him to endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, because no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier (2 Timothy 2:3-4). Every man of God is expected to be as disciplined and as selfless as a soldier who is prepared to give his life for the sake of the people he signed to defend with his blood.
Jesus on the other hand lived the life of a shepherd over his flock and loved his flock so much that he was not only prepared to give his life to protect them, but actually gave his life to protect them. He was rich in heaven, but became poor on earth that his disciples can become rich through his poverty (2 Cor 8:9). Nigerian pastors rather become rich at the expense of their followers they steal from to make them poor.
When the early apostles of Jesus started their ministry and the ministry started expanding and required their attention financially and otherwise, the apostles refused to mingle themselves with money. They rather chose from among themselves faithful men and women they called deacons to share food and money while they concentrated on preaching the word of God. They recognised that their calling was not for bread and butter but for the spreading of the word of God (Acts 6). They were intentional in doing this because they didn’t want to fall from their priestly/pastoral heights like the High Priests and Prophets of old in Israel.
Eli was a High Priest in Israel, before the coming of Christ. He had children who were meant to succeed him as the High Priest. Because those children became greedy and were stealing the offering and tithes of the people to God and were committing fornication and adultery with the women who came to worship God in His temple, God rejected them (I Sam 2:12-22). Indeed God, in His wrath, punished the entire nation of Israel because of them. They were killed in battle and the ark of God was captured from Israel. Eli, their father, fell and died. The wife of one of the children of Eli who was pregnant gave birth prematurely and named her son Ichabod because she lamented that the glory has departed from Israel. She died after giving birth to her son (1 Sam 4)
When God rejected the lineage of Eli from being His priests, he chose Samuel who became the High Priest and the Prophet for Israel. Samuel’s children went the way of Eli’s children – they took bribe and perverted justice. God, again in His wrath, rejected Samuel’s children. Israel rejected Samuel’s children and asked to be ruled by Kings instead. Samuel objected but God compelled him to anoint a King for Israel (1Sam 8:1-22). God, from time immemorial, has shown zero tolerance for immorality and embezzlement of God’s fund. He has always punished them mercilessly who involved in such practices in the name of being men of God.
When the new brand of Pentecostalism berthed on the Nigeria shore sometimes in the 60s and early 70s, not many subscribed to it. The new converts were often subjected to all manners of maltreatment and humiliation. They preached holiness and righteousness and forsook sin. They were contented with what they had. They were largely regarded as church rats because of the level of their poverty. However, the miracles they were performing were loud and their joy, despite their so-called poverty, was eloquent. These started attracting many people into the church. As the church started growing, it appeared that the devil felt that persecution was no longer working to dissuade the Christians. He went to the shop and bought the King James version of the Holy Bible and headed to the church. It was as if the devil vowed that if he couldn’t succeed in dissuading people from joining the church through persecution, he could succeed in destroying the church through compromise.
The devil gradually started recruiting his own men of God who gets their powers from his kingdom through occultic means. The text of their message started changing. However you get money does not matter if only you pay your tithe to the church. Holiness was not a criterion to become a man of God; charisma and eloquence became preferred. Holiness was no longer the message to be preached but prosperity. Poor people were treated with dishonour and contempt in the church. Fat envelopes must be reserved for a man of God and a beautiful hotel room got for him before he can come to preach in any church. Prophets prophesy for the rich politicians and entertainers to get their money and attention. Men of God drive expensive and luxurious vehicles and private jets bought with the stolen church money. Adultery and fornication are so rampant among the men of God that they boldly come to the altar to admit their recklessness. A “man of God” impregnated three sisters, asked another to abort five pregnancies, in which the sister refused to abort the fifth one and was ostracised by the man of God.
The “fathers of faith” in the Pentecostal faith tricklishly and cunningly eliminate all their associates that started the ministry with them as the ministry is expanding in order to make way for their wayward sons and daughters most often to succeed them, essentially turning the Pentecostal church into a family business. They build schools which the contributors of the money in their church cannot afford but which the children of the “unbelievers” can come in and take over. They openly boast of the cost of the dresses they wear to church. The honest truth is that there is a Pentecostal meltdown in Nigeria. Are you surprised why God is punishing Nigeria and Nigerians?
Time has come for awakening. The New Testament church is not a religion, it’s a relationship. For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Church members must open their eyes. Whoever that is not behaving according to the order of Jesus is a thief who has come to steal, to kill and destroy. He is a satanic agent sent to desecrate the church by stealing God’s money and defiling the women that attend the church. Whoever is still attending any church after the stench of the atrocities of the man of God is exposed will likely go to hell with the man of God. The only reason God exposed him is to signal the followers that their pastor is no longer of God but of the devil. God said, mark such people and avoid them for they do not serve God but their belly and deceive people with charisma and good words (Rom 16:17-18). As we enter into a new year, may God deliver us and our country from the terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, rapists, and armed robbers of the Pentecostal pulpit in Nigeria.
