What Has Happened To Christianity In Our Generation?

CHRISTIANITY IN OUR GENERATION HAS BEEN SERIOUSLY COMMERCIALIZED AND POLITICIZED 

By Terfa Naswem

God does not bless us nor measure giving by how much gifts or offerings we give to HIM or others, but HE blesses us and measures giving by the reason and sacrifice behind our gifts and offerings to HIM and others. So let no General Overseer, General Superintendent, Senior Pastor or any Man-Of-God deceive you about giving. No matter how much you give to the Church or anybody, if you give grudgingly or with pride and with string attached; God will never bless you for such giving. 

I have heard many preachers used human psychology on their congregations so that they will give as much as they can to the CHURCH. The worse thing is that most of them use these gifts and offerings given to the Church in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord to enrich themselves while aggravating the sufferings and poverty of church members. 

Most of them make it appear as if those who are poor have been rejected by God and are suffering because of their sins. 

The questions that always cross my mind are numerous whenever I hear most of them preach: 

Were these men of God born from rich families? How much were their parents earning as monthly incomes? And before they became men of God, and church founders, what were their monthly incomes? Didn’t they face serious challenges most of their members are facing today? And when their churches newly started, how much did they have? Would they have been as rich as they are today without the churches which they established or are overseeing? Are they truly men of God or they are just using the name of God for material gains? 

There are numerous questions still left that space will not allow me ask. I wonder if any member or follower of these men of God has ever asked any of these questions. There are some sermons and biblical teachings that make me very furious because of their misleading tones. 

Most of the leaders of these great churches such as Living Faith, ECWA and The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) among others have established Universities which most of their church members whose offerings and tithes including personal donations have been used to establish such universities and maintain them cannot attend or send their children to such universities because of the high tuition fees among other charges. How can one explain this? I don’t want to go too deep so that I won’t make most Leaders and Elders including ardent members and followers upset. It worries me so much that Christianity in our generation has been seriously commercialized and politicised. 

Some of these “Men-of-God” were busy campaigning for a corrupt leader like Jonathan just because of the benefits they were getting from him when they even know the truth of his corrupt deals and his cabinet. This makes me to wonder where Christianity is heading to. I now understand why Amaechi accused some General Overseers and Men-of God for collecting bribe from Jonathan and PDP.

According to Rotimi Amaechi, “Some pastors collected N6 billion and they are circulating documents and telling you not to vote for a Hausa man, not to vote for a Muslim because they want to Islamise Nigeria. Tell them to return our N6 billion.

“They gave them N6 billion. They should return it to the Federal Government coffers. They will tell you that Buhari wants to Islamise Nigeria. Tell them we are too educated. I am a Catholic, but no Catholic priest has told me that story right now in the Catholic Church, because I will ask him how?

“If any Pastor tells you that, tell him to return the money. Nobody can Islamise Nigeria. They have commercialized Jesus Christ. They should stop commercializing Jesus Christ. He is our Lord and Saviour.

“You know what Jesus Christ did in the temple. He chased them away. We shall chase away those pastors who collected money from PDP leaders to tell us lies. We shall chase them away on behalf of our Lord Jesus Christ.”....

In reacting to this, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church Of God, Enoch Adeboye, asked pastors who ‎received the alleged N6 billion from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to discredit the All Progressives Congress’ candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, to return the money.

Prophet TB Joshua of the Synagogue, Church Of All Nations and Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka of Adoration Ministries are among the few men of God that did not allow Jonathan and PDP to buy them for support and fake prophecy.

Some General Overseers and other “men of God” collected money from Jonathan and PDP and gave Jonathan fake prophecy that he was the chosen one and that he will win his re-election bid because he has received the anointing from God. I don’t want to mention names of those fake men of God who prophesy the victory of Jonathan here but you can find out if you so wish.

I always tell my friends and acquaintances that there is nothing special about being a General Overseer, General Superintendent, or Senior Pastor of a Church. The only thing that makes them special is if such people are truly WALKING IN THE LORD AND IN THE LIGHT OF HIS WORD. Because I can decide to open a church today and give it a name like: TOUCH THE SKY GOSPEL CHURCH and claim that God called me to lead his flock and start exhibiting whatever evil plan I have under the canopy of being a church founder and my followers will be loyal to me and do whatever I tell them to do and preach to them based on how I want them to behave and what I want them to believe and further create interdenominational divide.

When I was a student in NKST SEC. SCH. ADIKPO, KWANDE LGA, BENUE STATE, I was the Bible Study Secretary, Evangelical Secretary and two-time president of Fellowship of Christian Students (FCS) and two-time Steering Committee Coordinator of FCS, ADIKPO ZONE. I was unexplainably blessed by the infallible GOD and He gave me the wisdom to understand his words comprehensively. And I want to use that blessing to tell every Christian toda that the doctrine of the HOLY BIBLE which is the road map to God is greater than the beliefs, norms, values, practices, policies, philosophies or doctrines of any church. 

I want to use this opportunity to advise all Christians that for them to truly differentiate between sermons or teachings that are not in line with Biblical principles, they must study the Bible daily and sincerely pray every day to the Almighty God for wisdom. As for me, I understand the Holy Bible very well by GOD’s grace and blessings and nobody can deceive me with any mouth-watering or go-and-bring-money-for-God preaching. 

I want to advise all General Overseers and men of God not to allow money and political influence bereft them of the power God because God says in Ephesians 6:10-18 that: “ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people”. 

From this, it is clear that the moment one armour is missing, they cannot win the war against principalities and powers of darkness.

I don’t want to judge any of these MEN OF GOD because God has not given us the power to judge them but I will always criticise any of them that goes against what the Holy Bible upholds. 

In fact what even consoles me in all this is because the Holy Bible says in the book of Matthew 7:22-23 (NIV) that:

“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.