Nigeria’s wealthiest pastor, Bishop David Oyedepo is in the news
again – this time in the United Kingdom. Sadly for him, Britain is not
Nigeria, where the corrupt courts absolved him of all wrong doings, his
abuses and violence against a young worshiper of his church at Winner
Chapel – aka “Cananland” It was the video of his satanic slap of a
young girl, probably an uneducated parishioner, who didn’t know how best
to express her love and witness for Jesus, that exposed the abuse and
muddled message that is being promulgated by the bishop to his gullible
and biblical ignorant followers. Since then, I have penned a couple of
articles calling on the federal government intervention to enact laws
and policies to checkmate abuses - physical, sexual, emotional, mental,
and moral abuses in places of worship in the nation in order to protect
the vulnerable. I’m not too concerned about the learned and
intelligent parishioners that sit under such blasphemous teachings every
week. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge.” To earn a PhD or have a lucrative job or business does not
make one knowledgeable. However, it still baffles me how an educated and
intelligent person could sit under such teachers and listen to the
junks that some of them teach from their pulpit every week. So, it
behooves the government to protect the weak and vulnerable especially
from physical and sexual abuses in the name of God.
Christianity is no longer an intellectual exercise in an age of prosperity gospel
The Rev. Dr. Jonathan L. Walton, the new Pusey Minister of Harvard’s
Memorial Church, and professor at Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in his first “morning prayers,” a ritual of welcoming
freshman move-in day to Harvard University at Cambridge, said, “Religion
(faith) is an intellectual as well as spiritual exercise. The Memorial
Church, he declared, is a place to educate minds and expand hearts -
action that defines faith, belief that encourages discussion, and
joyousness that allows for the occasional bout of existential angst.” I
agree with Professor Walton. If theology, spirituality, faith,
religion and the call to teach the infallible Word of God, was not an
intellectual exercise, I would have quit being one long time ago.
Training to become a priest/pastor takes years of study and
preparation. Sadly the “holy office” is no-longer sacred and
intellectually stimulating because cone men and women, who have no
business with the “holy calling”, have desecrated it in order to dwindle
and deceive the gullible and weak in the society. This kind of
unbalanced gospel messages that are being promulgated by the so-called
“men of God” and super pastors and preaches of our day around the world
is appalling and troublesome.
Christianity has lost its moral mandate and mission. Today, the
gospel message, the good news of the kingdom is perverted. What we have
nowadays is another gospel, a false gospel, and a religious
syncretism. “The gospel teaching that subtly implies and often overtly
states that God wants you to be rich is a false gospel,” writes Pastor
Jim Bakker, a former prosperity preacher and proponent of “God wants you
rich theology,” who dwindled his parishioners millions of dollars and
later while serving term in prison, he diligently read and studied the
Scripture and God opened his understanding. That teaching he says, does
not lineup with the tenets of the Holy Scriptures. It is another
gospel – another Jesus, in fact, a gospel of Satan and message of hell
fire - a prosperity-tinged Pentecostalism.”
Christianity is in crisis
Dr. Hank Hanegraaf, president of Christian Research Institute in
California, and one of the finest and courageous Christian apologists of
our time, in his book, “Christianity in Crisis” prophetically and
passionately argued that modern-day Christianity is in crisis. He said
that the Church is undergoing a major transformation and that millions
of Christians have embraced another gospel, another Jesus, a gospel of
false promises of prosperity, wealth, healing, signs and wonders. He
attributes the problem to lack of sound biblical training and Seminary
education. George Barna, the famous Church consultant, researcher and
writer, also supports Dr. Hanegraaf postulations that the Church is
dying due to lack of sound Bible teachers and strong Church leadership.
There is no doubt that the Christian faith has lost its value,
respect and dignity. C. S. Lewis, the famous Oxford apologist for the
faith, wrote: “We must return to Christianity in order to preserve the
things we value. But we cannot return to Christianity at all unless the
thing we value above all else is Christ….. Otherwise, we are in effect,
asking to save our idols for us.”
In his best-selling book, “Crisis in the Village,” Dr. Robert M.
Franklin, a theologian and public intellectual, wrote that the “Church
has lost her moral mission, call and commitment.” Today baby boomers
and the new “millennials” are flooding to churches and synagogues
because of widespread hunger for meaning and many bring aversion to such
traditional teachings such as sin, evil, forgiveness, commitment, even
truth itself. As a result, what we have today in many large churches
is “designer gospel message” and “religious syncretism” where the gospel
are re-packaged to suit those who want a faith to satisfy their “felt
need,” the gospel message that “God wants you to be rich.” “Send money
as a step of faith and God will bless you message.” “Give a $1,000
pledge and God will bless you.” Name it claims it.” “Give to get rich
message.” “100 fold return-blessing and even 1000 times return” is
another gospel, a different gospel from what Jesus Christ taught. Their
tricks are working because many of those who profess faith in Jesus
Christ are biblically ignorant and gullible and that is why
‘god-want-you-rich theology’ is a booming business for their proponents.
It is true that Jesus taught on the subject of money and finance
more than any other subject in the Bible – but all His teachings on
money were in negative connotation. I will write more on Jesus’
teachings on prosperity in the part-2 of my article.
Big faith equals wealth $millions$
In the July 2007 edition of Christianity Today, it carried a survey
conducted in 2006 by the PEW forum on religion and public life. They
found that 25% of Nigerian Christians are renewalists - that is
Pentecostals and Charismatic. The same survey noted that 33% of South
Africans and 50% of Kenyans were also renewalists. Out of nearly 900
million Africans, which include Christians, Muslims, pagans, Atheists
and other religious persuasions, about 150 million Christians are now
renewalists. Professor Paul Gifford of the University of London,
England, in his 2004 book: “New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a
Globalizing African Economy” writes, “African Christians believe that
success is determined by your faith.” Professor Gifford notes that these
renewalists have moved beyond traditional Pentecostal practices of
speaking in tongues, prophesying, and healing to the belief that God
will provide – money, cars, houses, and even spouses – in response to
the believer’s faith – if not immediately, then soon. In the same 2006
survey by PEW forum, 92% Nigerian Christians, 90% South African and 85%
of Kenyan Christians agreed that “wealth and material blessings are
based on one’s faith.” What a tragedy and travesty!
This is how sad and drastic prosperity gospel has become among
Christians in Nigeria and most of Africa. Prosperity message is
destructive and has negative effects. This blind spirituality is not
only destructive, damaging, and deceptive but worse than slavery. It is
bondage, abuse, deception, manipulation, godlessness and satanic
capitalism. Most Nigerian Christians are only not enslaved
spiritually, morally and financially but intellectually as well. It is
economic, moral, and intellectual slavery. Million of Nigerian
Christians are now victims of Satanic Churches and their false
prophets. The prosperity gospel is also destroying Nigerian society
–family, homes, causing a combination of disappointment, hurts,
discouragement, and anger toward God and sometimes causes people to turn
away from God. What we have nowadays is moral bankruptcy, biblical
ignorance, a modern day voodoo and satanic spiritual spiritualism. In a
nutshell, what we have today is 419 in the Church. What we have today
is materialistic Christianity and there is enormous danger in it.
Warning against false doctrine and false prophets and teachers
Jesus Christ warned his disciples and followers about false prophets
who would rise up to lead many astray and to destruction (Matthew
24:11). In Oliver Discourse, Jesus warned, "Take heed that no one
deceives you. For many will come in my name. And will deceive many"
(Matthew 24:4-5). Jesus said if you hold to my teaching, you are really
my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you
free – John 8:31-32. People remain in bondage when they are ignorant of
what has been provided for them through the life and death of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, today, too many Christians are
more interested in this present world materialism than in the balanced
teachings of Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul dedicated the entire epistle of Timothy to teach
against false prophets, false doctrines and godlessness in the last
days. He warns Timothy, his son in the ministry, to flee from such
things. He writes, “For the time will come when men will not put up
with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will
gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching
ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and
turn aside to myths” – 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Paul warns, “But mark this: There will be
terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form
of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such
people.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 say, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful
for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. The
Apostle Paul charges Timothy, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season
and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience
and careful instruction.” As teachers and preachers of the Word of God,
we are reminded to do our best to study and show ourselves approved to
God, a workman who odes not need to be ashamed but who correctly handles
the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
There is no doubt that that the Nigerian Pentecostal Church and
certain bishops in the fold are emulating and borrowing from the rich
American Church and her superstar pastors, bishops and televangelists
like Pastor Benny Hinn, Bishop TD Jakes, Dr. Creflo Dollar, Bishop Eddie
Long, Bishop Dale Bronner, Pastor Joel Osten, Pastor Joyce Myer, Pastor
Paula White, and Pastor Darlene Bishop etc. These imitators and
imposters refused to understand that United States is a rich and
capitalist country. The American Church organizations are big businesses
and they have learned to tap into the wealth and prosperity of the
nation without depending on the meager tithes and offerings from their
members. Today, the streets of major cities in Nigeria are littered with
all kinds of Churches promising healing, wealth, prosperity and
happiness and yet Nigeria and vast majority of its citizens are among
the poorest people in the world. Additionally, the presence and practice
of rituals, divination, astrology, sorcery, witchcraft, voodoo, magic,
envy, greed, jealousy, hatred, idolatry, hypocrisy, ungodliness,
wickedness, lust, immorality, adultery and corruption remain rampant and
alarming in the society. There is no sign of righteousness, love, peace
and hope, but injustice, unrighteousness, hate, anger, resentment,
bitterness, evil, wickedness, violence, killings, and hopelessness reign
supreme in every household, neighborhood and city.
Modern-day designer Church is perverted
I’m afraid to say that what we have today is a perverted Church; a
Church that is totally misconstrued, misguided and misinformed where
spiritual witchcraft and biblical ignorance are in abundance. What we
have today is a Church that is bewitched, a Church that is preaching and
teaching another gospel; another Jesus and a message of “get rich and
get healed theology,” a Church were the so-called men of God are
preaching eisegesis rather proper exegesis and sound exposition of the
Word of God, where they are using pragmatic psychological philosophies
for attaining success and for solving spiritual issues rather than sound
exposition of God’s Word, men who are using the Word of God for lucre
and for profit.
The Church was called upon to uphold the honor, glory and authority
of Christ on planet earth. Instead of upholding this divine mandate
with dignity, the Church and her leaders have been deceived and trampled
upon by demons of antichrist and cultic and pharisaic associations
where the presence of God is completely absent and self and pride are
enthroned. What we have today are Church buildings where sin,
wickedness, witchcraft and all manners evil are practiced and people
accept it so; multimillion dollar buildings and temples where the
spirit of Christ has been thrown out and Satan himself is enthroned on
the altar. No wonder atrocities and exploitations of worshipers such as
the ones we read in our newspapers and watch on television are
happening every day. The Church must pray for revival and renewal. I
agree with Rev. D. Peter C. Moore, who wrote that, “The Church that God
cherishes is one that is “Evangelical in Teaching, Catholic in
Sacrament, Reformed in Doctrine, Charismatic in Ministry Gifts, and
Liberal in Ethos and Global in Scope.” Anything else is just humanistic
and designer religion.
The danger of prosperity and materialistic message rather than true gospel
The danger of Pentecostal prosperity and materialistic message is
giving people false hope – that God will fulfill His promises based on
their twisted interpretation of Scripture. Biblical hope is more of a
simple wish; it entails certainty based on God’s demonstration of
faithfulness to people in the history of salivation recorded in the
scriptures and as experienced by promise of Christ’s return and the
anticipation of resurrection from the dead. That is the blessed hope in
God. Most of these prosperity preachers may have earned PhD’s in other
fields of study but not in theology, divinity or ministry. They should
go back to school – Seminary to study the Scriptures – and take course
in exegesis, biblical interpretation, hermeneutics, homiletics, and
biblical languages such as Hebrew w and Greek in order to be qualified
to correctly teach the Bible. Because what most of them are teaching
today is another gospel, a twisted and muddled gospel - a gospel of hell
and that of Satan designed for the coming of antichrist. Prosperity
teachers are preaching arrogance, foolishness, sin, and false doctrine –
because what most of them are propagating today is not true gospel but
another gospel, a muddled message. They should repent and confess their
sins for contradicting and twisting the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
In Part 2 of this essay, I will unpack the teachings of prosperity
preachers and share what the true gospel message is about including the
prosperity aspect of the gospel from the teachings of Jesus Christ, who
is the Gospel.
Dr. Ekeke is a theologian, author, consultant, and leadership scholar. He is the president of Leadership Wisdom Institute.
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