{"id":51370,"date":"2014-09-26T14:38:47","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T14:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=51370"},"modified":"2014-09-26T14:38:47","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T14:38:47","slug":"nigerias-superstar-men-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/09\/nigerias-superstar-men-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s Superstar Men Of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who needs the God of the bible with his promises of trials and tribulations, crosses and paths of repentance?\u00a0<\/em>Yemisi Ogbe\u00a0<\/strong>listens to the sermons, counts the money, watches the high-flying life of Nigeria\u2019s mega-preachers and wonders.<\/em><\/p>\n

I had been a member of my church for four years when I began to feel a need to write about Nigerian men of God. The need was overwhelming. It crawled up the back of my neck when I tried to sleep at night. It glued me to my seat in church when the Pastor said \u2018turn to your neighbour and say\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

I turned not. I said nothing. I froze, provocatively waiting for the neighbour to find someone else to play-act with. I did not come to this local assembly to play neighbours, to be indoctrinated through the repetition of bizarre mantras in an American accent: \u2018Tell your neighbourrrr Neighbourrrr you\u2019rrrrre the man, you\u2019rrrr the man\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

Chris Oyakhilome<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Temitope Joshua<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"preacher2\"<\/a>The pastor stalks the stage, his long legs spanning the lilac-blue carpeting; his destination is the glass pulpit at the centre. He is tall and good-looking, neat as a pin, and at least a head taller than most of his congregation. He is 42 years old, with his head clean-shaven. He is always meticulously groomed and his clothes are expensive. Some of his shirts are monogrammed. He wears a diamond-studded watch, a gold tie pin and bracelet. Some of his suits have been custom-made by Ermenegildo Zegna, the fourthgeneration Italian designer famous for dressing Hollywood superstars for the Oscar ceremonies. I google Ermenegildo Zegna. I want to understand what sort of person wears Zegna. The search yields interesting results: Adrien Brody, Kiefer Sutherland, Ted Danson and Valery Gergiev, among others. The problem is, these people are nobodies in Nigeria. They are incongruous parallels to our men of God, our superstars: TD Jakes, Chris Oyakhilome, Bishop Oyedepo, Chris Okotie, Paul Adefarasin, JT Kalejaiye, Ayo Oritsejafor. The pastor speaks with an American accent; which may very well underscore the obsession with which he relates with his American spiritual father and role model, TD Jakes, or a legacy of his student years in the US. He is intense, charismatic and flamboyant. His wife, an attractive woman in her early 30s, sits elegantly to his right on the stage. She is nodding ardently, a silk scarf spread across her knees to modestly hide her legs. She has created a fashion trend. Two other pastors\u2019 wives are similarly dressed, down to the scarves covering their knees.<\/p>\n

\"preacher1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Why is appearance so important that it should be the first point of description for the Nigerian man of God? It is especially so, because in the intriguing world of godly superstardom, appearance is everything. The Nigerian man of God is not in time-honoured garb like Rowan Williams, Desmond Tutu or the Pope. He is more like Pierce Brosnan, not as himself, but as the suave James Bond. Nelson Mandela, in his generously patterned shirts, would be in danger of looking shoddy beside the Nigerian superstar man of God. Thabo Mbeki, in neat pin stripes might pass, but then again, he might be too sartorially modest.<\/p>\n

Daily Bread<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018If you know that He woke you up this morning\u2026 He took you outa\u2019 yo\u2019 bed\u2026 Some people died in their sleep\u2026 Some people couldn\u2019t get up to walk to their cars\u2026 He put food on yo\u2019 table\u2026 Clothes on yo\u2019 back\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

The pastor\u2019s congregation calls him Baba, freely conceding his God-appointed role as head, spiritual leader, and general overseer of his ministry and the souls of all who call the church theirs. Sometimes, the church is more aptly called \u2018his church\u2019. The congregation is readily cued by his opening words. People are on their feet, in acknowledgement of his presence. They clap and cheer fervently. The title of his sermon is \u2018Give Me My Daily Bread\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Give me my daily bread\u2026! Want you to help me and look at three or four people and say: \u201cI want my bread.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

The congregation choruses obediently: \u2018I want my bread,\u2019 each person turning to the people closest to them.<\/p>\n

\u2018I wanna talk about bread and get out of your way really quickly\u2026 Jesus said in the third declaration, when you pray, ask this day for this day\u2019s bread. You\u2019re gon\u2019 need bread to stay strong for life, and by bread I\u2019m talking about natural bread. You need a car so that you ain\u2019t worn out and fatigued by riding that Danfo.\u2019 The congregation cheers loudly.<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh you ain\u2019t listening to me tonight! You need a husband so that you don\u2019t have to cry yourself to sleep at thirty-seven every night of your life and drench your pillow like as if it was a washing machine. You need some money, some money in your pocket so that you don\u2019t have to die in a para-para face-me-I-face-you. You need some BREAD to survive! How many of you need a car right now?\u2019<\/p>\n

The response is enthusiastic.<\/p>\n

\u2018When Jesus talks about bread, he talks about bread, and he is not going to drop a car out of the sky for you. That means if you are going to get a car, you are going to get it in a spiritual dimension first, and the spiritual dimension ain\u2019t going to look like a car. It\u2019s going to be my words that I speak to you\u2026 All the time you are listening to a preacher, you think it\u2019s the preacher preaching but you didn\u2019t know it was Jehovah\u2026 Thank God for this preacher. It would have been a lovely experience to hear the Master preach-uh.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

Chris Okotie<\/p>\n

\"preacher-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The pastor has the habit of exhaling audibly on the last word of some of his sentences. Perhaps this is for emphasis, or maybe it is just another trait of the Nigerian man of God\u2019s whole-hearted adoption of American Christianity. The nature of his sermons might suggest that he is grooming an emotional congregation; that he does not appropriately de-emphasise his role in relation to that of the Almighty, but they do not suggest that he is carried away by his own spirituality. His intelligence and clarity of purpose are not in question, even if obscured in the song and dance of his church services. He can get the responses that he wants from his congregation because he knows it intimately. He knows it as a cohesive unit, in its disparate, individual constituent parts and as an organic part of the larger Nigerian community.
\nHe knows for example that students make up about 70 per cent his congregation. They have no income, but are nevertheless the life of the party. These youngsters believe that there is a job somewhere with their name on it; that the car and the house will materialise out of wherever; that, in general, life will somehow work out. Mortality is a distant subject. They are happy, loud, optimistic, fundamental to an upbeat church environment, and crucial to attracting the more mature membership.<\/p>\n

The elders occupy the first few rows in the church. They are an indistinctively categorised group of older members or major founders. They make up about 2 per cent of the membership, and own real estate in Nigeria, Europe, the US and, lately, in South Africa. They have more than two cars, possibly more than three, stocks, deposit accounts and substantial savings in foreign currency.<\/p>\n

About 15 per cent of members of the congregation are identifiable by their hardworking shoes and Sunday best. They are faithful church attendees, who give their offerings, however little, faithfully. They tithe if they work. Sometimes they come to church without the means of getting back home. The people in this group take every word the Pastor says to the bank.<\/p>\n

The remainder is the face of the church, or what has in recent times been termed the strategic target market: Christian male, married or unmarried, about 35 years old, driving the clean secondhand car, or, if he has the heart for monthly hirepurchase payments, the latest Volkswagen Passat or Bora. He makes a taxable income of several hundred-thousand naira a month, is able to afford a few middle-range suits and TM Lewin or Thomas Pink shirts, rents a home on Lagos Island, or not too far across the Third Mainland Bridge at Magodo, Gbagada or Ikeja GRA. He is able to travel to Europe or the US once a year. He speaks English well, sometimes with a carefully-cultivated English or American accent. He understands his place.<\/p>\n

He might have a European or American university degree. He might have a job at the bank, in an oil company or in the telecom sector. He might at some point stumble on the odd government contract or into oil speculation and be promoted to de-facto elder in the church. He might change the wife of his youth or forget his parents in the village, but he won\u2019t forget his church and his pastor. His potential is his major selling point.\u00a0Even if he never amounts to much more than the slow corporate climber, he has the steady income, the attractiveness of youth, eligibility for marriage and the capacity to father children. With just the right balance of cynicism and ambition, he is the archetypal well-adjusted Nigerian, successfully managing the Nigerian environment. He is in no danger of losing his religion.<\/p>\n

If the congregation lags in their shouts of \u2018Preach it Pastor\u2019, whistle blowing, hand clapping or random whooping, the pastor eggs them on. \u2018Oooh, you don\u2019t wanna help me up in here!\u2019 he urges.<\/p>\n

The congregation picks up the end of his sentence and draws it out in a long interlude of clapping and cheering. He calms them down again, teasingly reprimanding that there is no need to get excited. \u2018We just talking!\u2019 he declares. As a rule, as the sermon progresses, he becomes more insistent in tone and analogies. It is necessary to conclude in a way that leaves everyone concerned satisfied. The analogies that he employs do not significantly change from one Sunday to the next. The state of the Nigerian economy has not improved in the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

The hardships of the Nigerian environment have undoubtedly driven Nigerians to an increasing fervour in the practice of religion. The progression from there is often downhill to the loud boisterousness of a marketplace dominated by large numbers of self-regarding and mechanical devotees. The hagglers are aggressive because they are convinced the stakes are high. Some say it\u2019s about rescuing the souls of men from hell, and showing the way to a God-appointed prosperity here on earth, prosperity of the soul, mind and body.<\/p>\n

Sceptics, on the other hand, say the whole business is about money. Even if this were true, it would only be so for the leadership, because the money does go up, but rarely comes down. Still, religious leadership is not only about money. It is also about influence, power, the allure of being God, or at least being idolised and made comparable to God; about having otherwise intelligent people hanging onto your every word, believing that you have the delegated power to bless and curse, to define who they are, who they will marry and if they will succeed.<\/p>\n

Another motive is the anticipated prosperity bestowed by a Father Christmas figure, whose answer to every question and every request is a resounding \u2018Yes\u2019. Yet, this prosperity is not freely given. Father Christmas demands love, time, tithes, offerings, building funds and allegiance to the representative man of God. Most importantly, the Nigerian Christian is obliged to help build the numbers in his church. He has to obey the laws and demands tied to his well-being, good health, survival and prosperity in the precarious Nigerian environment.<\/p>\n

Nigerian Christianity in all its aggressive insularity may be largely about money and power, but it is also about the fear of God and his representatives, about the need to understand the surreal contradictions of living in a country that imports tooth picks, Swiss lace and leg of lamb, where a good number of the citizens cannot afford N800 worth of drugs for malaria fever. It is more fundamentally about the need to make sense of Nigerian life.<\/p>\n

\u2018How will you, good fathers, if your son asks you for bread, give him a stone? Pay attention to that! How will you, fathers, if your son asks you for bread, give him a stone! When Jesus says something obvious, hmmm, pay attention because he is not trying to be obvious, he is trying to give you revelation.\u2019<\/p>\n

Cash Cow<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sermon is drawing to a conclusion. The role\u00a0of God as a father who provides his child\u2019s needs\u00a0is an image that cannot be easily flawed in our country. \u2018The World in 2005\u2019, a special edition of\u00a0The Economist<\/em>, which rated countries for quality\u00a0of life, placed Nigeria in 108th place, three from\u00a0the bottom, only higher than Haiti and Zimbabwe.\u00a0Nigeria\u2019s current GDP is US$214 billion, most of it\u00a0from crude oil. It has a per capita income of $1,600,\u00a0vast numbers of underemployed and an inflationary\u00a0rate of 9 per cent. Against this background, men\u00a0of God are highlighted; they present the success\u00a0stories of ambitious and charismatic men from\u00a0ordinary backgrounds, bringing together groups\u00a0of other men and women as churches, generating\u00a0tax-free fortunes, comfortable homes, luxury cars,\u00a0paid utilities and full expense paid trips overseas.\u00a0No wonder the prosperity doctrine has turned out\u00a0to be an extremely profitable product.<\/p>\n

\u2018I know that if my son asks me for bread I\u2019m not\u00a0going to give him a stone, but that means pay close\u00a0attention to what the Master just said. What is a\u00a0stone? A stone is hard! When you ask God for\u00a0bread, he might give you something that looks and\u00a0feels like a stone, but it is not a stone! In other\u00a0words, when I give you the bread, it may feel hard,\u00a0life may seem HAAARD, life may seem impossible,\u00a0the bread coming into your life may seem like it\u00a0can never happen\u2026 How can you tell me with\u00a0my janitor job, I\u2019m going to get a Mercedes, it\u2019s\u00a0hard! It\u2019s HAAAARD! How can YOU tell me that\u00a0maybe with five or six or seven thousand people\u00a0who are mostly under 35 that we\u2019ll be able to put down $76,000 every week to pay for the [church]\u00a0building\u2026 It\u2019s HAAARD! It\u2019s a stone\u2026 that means\u00a0you are going to have to acquire discernment to\u00a0know bread when it looks like a stone\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

The pastor preaches three out of four services\u00a0on most Sundays. His sermons can be charitably\u00a0defined as mollifying, a safe balance between\u00a0the truth of the bible and what will keep the\u00a0congregation coming back. Most Nigerian\u00a0Christians understand well the contradictions in\u00a0the lives of their men of God, especially in terms of what is professed, the lifestyle and the tenets of the\u00a0bible. In exchange for looking the other way and\u00a0not touching the anointed of God, the flock must\u00a0also be allowed their failings, their comparatively\u00a0moderate flaws in integrity; a little sin here and\u00a0there.<\/p>\n

\u2018But I don\u2019t want you to be only earthly in\u00a0your requisition. I want you to be spiritual and\u00a0recognise that everything that is physical is born\u00a0from the spiritual. So I want you to be so hooked\u00a0up to the bread of life, the bread of life, the bread\u00a0of life\u2026 You are an executive. Executives don\u2019t\u00a0ride around in Danfos. You are part of the board\u00a0room of the Master\u2019s ministry. You are part of his\u00a0head honchos, his senior counsel, and if you start\u00a0walking in your place with him, he is going to\u00a0make sure that all that you need on a daily basis\u00a0you have. One car! The car needed to go into the\u00a0shop today and they told me they needed to keep\u00a0it overnight, but I have daily bread [other cars].\u00a0If I didn\u2019t have daily bread, I wouldn\u2019t be able to\u00a0find a way to get to church tonight\u2026 and you\u00a0have to appreciate what is called executive time\u2026\u00a0Executives can\u2019t waste time, that\u2019s why they have\u00a0drivers, that\u2019s why there\u2019s got to be leather on\u00a0your seats and not sardine. That\u2019s why the fellow\u00a0sitting beside you is supposed to be your personal\u00a0assistant and not four other people who pay N10\u00a0to squeeze on a three-person bench. You need\u00a0bread\u2026 Look at somebody and say I WAN MA\u00a0BREAD. Do you know that a husband is included\u00a0in bread?\u2019<\/p>\n

In 2004, the Charity Commission in the UK placed\u00a0a Nigerian church in London, the Kingsway\u00a0International Christian Centre (KICC), in
\nreceivership. The Commission gave its reasons as\u00a0a lack of financial transparency on the part of the\u00a0church and possible misapplication of funds by its\u00a0trustees. An investigation was launched after the\u00a0head of the church, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo,\u00a0allegedly took 10 per cent of the church\u2019s annual\u00a0income of \u00a37,4 million.<\/p>\n

The most telling response from the church was\u00a0from one spokesperson who said: \u2018Unless the\u00a0Charity Commission is prepared to remove KPMG\u00a0without delay and take account of our church\u00a0culture, we feel that we will have no other course of action than to walk away from the charity so\u00a0that we can run our church without compromising\u00a0our Christian beliefs.\u2019<\/p>\n

When, allegedly, KPMG would not round up\u00a0its investigation quickly, because it had found\u00a0a cash cow that could be milked endlessly with\u00a0the permission of the Charity Commission,\u00a0KICC moved from London to Ghana, then\u00a0to Nigeria, abandoning its then \u00a325 million\u00a0in assets. Perhaps the spokeswoman was\u00a0unwittingly validating the fact that the Nigerian\u00a0church culture compels Nigerians to give large\u00a0sums of money to a money doubling God, in\u00a0the belief that he will make them rich, and that\u00a0the man of God is the physical guarantee of just\u00a0how rich they will be made. A more implicating\u00a0inference from her statement is that Nigerian\u00a0culture allows men of God to do as they wish\u00a0with money given by church congregations. In\u00a0Nigeria, there is no Charity Commission to\u00a0act as watchdog over the actions of religious\u00a0leaders and dissenting voices are easily silenced\u00a0by an enduring threat of bad things happening\u00a0to people who question representatives of\u00a0divinity.<\/p>\n

Class Warfare<\/strong><\/p>\n

In March 2005, Pastor Paul Adefarasin overseer\u00a0of The House on the Rock Church, gives copies\u00a0of a book,\u00a0Loyalty and Disloyalty<\/em>, to a small
\ngroup of men that he meets before dawn on\u00a0Thursday mornings. They are a type of caucus\u00a0that allows him to keep his finger on the pulse of
\nthat very important group in his congregation;\u00a0the upwardly mobile thirtysomethings.<\/p>\n

On first sighting, the book is harmless enough. It is written by a Ghanaian medical doctor\u00a0and church overseer, Heward Mills, whose\u00a0congregation at some time showed signs of a\u00a0loss of confidence in his leadership. He came\u00a0to the conclusion that a church must be run\u00a0in a strict and hierarchical manner in order to\u00a0be successful. Mills\u2019 church, Lighthouse Chapel\u00a0International, boasts of branches in more than\u00a025 countries in Africa, Europe, North America\u00a0and Australasia. In his book, Mills lists ways of\u00a0identifying rebels in the church for the purposes\u00a0of excommunicating them. He defines the spirit\u00a0behind this initial symptom of rebellion as \u2018the\u00a0spirit of Lucifer\u2026 the spirit that tries to replace\u00a0and take over rightful authority\u2026 I want you\u00a0to learn right here, that all these things are\u00a0impossible. You cannot replace God. And you\u00a0cannot succeed in fighting your own father\u00a0[the overseer of a church]. God will not help\u00a0you and, in fact, he will fight against you. All\u00a0nature, including the wild ravens and eagles of\u00a0the air, will fight against you.\u2019<\/p>\n

He concludes the section on identifying a rebel\u00a0by declaring \u2018rebellion is as witchcraft. The\u00a0biblical punishment for witchcraft is execution:\u00a0\u201cthou shalt not suffer a witch to live.\u201d Exodus\u00a022: 18.\u2019<\/p>\n

Words such as traitor, insurrectionist, mutineer,\u00a0rebel, separatists and refractory anarchist are\u00a0commonplace in Mills\u2019s book. Actions that\u00a0might be considered rebellious toward the\u00a0overseer of a church are defined in the book\u00a0as challenging the overseer, suggesting that he\u00a0might not be right, not taking down notes as he\u00a0is preaching, not buying his recorded preaching\u00a0on tape, not smiling, clapping, shouting or\u00a0saying amen when he is preaching, not being\u00a0happy with the overseer\u2019s wealth and blessings.<\/p>\n

Pastor Paul guards his Thursday group jealously,\u00a0and is particular about the material that he\u00a0gives them. The defence, made on his behalf by\u00a0members of the group, that he might not have\u00a0read Mills\u2019s book before presenting it to the\u00a0group comes across as completely implausible.\u00a0This is a group that he is cultivating into the\u00a0backbone of his vision, a Millennium Temple\u00a0with facilities for social welfare programs\u00a0and seating for his 7,000 and growing\u00a0congregation. It is significant that Mills\u2019s book\u00a0or its distribution is not at all extraordinary in\u00a0the context of the Nigerian church. It is, in fact,\u00a0emblematic of the relationship of the shepherd\u00a0and the sheep that exists between pastors and\u00a0their congregations.<\/p>\n

The Nigerian Christian congregation, especially\u00a0the ambitious thirtysomethings, who are not\u00a0only precious to the church agenda but are\u00a0also eulogised as the hope of Nigeria, have to\u00a0be psychologically won over. Otherwise, the\u00a0wheels upstairs would be turning with questions
\nabout a fascinating kind of superstardom:\u00a0pastors wearing the most expensive clothes\u00a0and driving the most expensive cars; flying in\u00a0private airline jets; riding in security convoys;\u00a0purchasing the highest number\u00a0of first class tickets; offering\u00a0themselves attractive honorariums\u00a0for visiting each other\u2019s churches;\u00a0demanding travel management\u00a0contracts reminiscent of Jennifer\u00a0Lopez; making prolific media\u00a0appearances; and living with family scandals,\u00a0dirty politics and extra-marital affairs.\u00a0The Nigerian congregation does not seem to be\u00a0asking why the Nigerian man of God remains\u00a0elitist. If God means to bless all of us as he has\u00a0blessed pastors, why is it taking so long? And\u00a0what is the possibility of it happening to us\u00a0when we are so busy paying for the life of the\u00a0man of God?<\/p>\n

In April 2005, after Benny Hinn Ministries\u00a0sponsored an evangelistic crusade in Nigeria,\u00a0it was alleged that Hinn left the country\u00a0disheartened by the worship of men of God by\u00a0churchgoers. Bishop (Dr) Joseph Olanrewaju\u00a0Obembe, the Nigerian co-ordinator of the\u00a0crusade replied sarcastically: \u2018Well, it was not\u00a0the first time Benny Hinn would leave Nigeria\u00a0in anger. When he was brought here 15 years
\nago by Archbishop Benson Idahosa, he also left\u00a0in anger. He was so eager to leave Nigeria that\u00a0he even flew economy class.\u2019<\/p>\n

In 2003, Reverend Chris Okotie, leader of\u00a0the Household of God declared that God had\u00a0ordained him President of Nigeria. According\u00a0to the January edition of\u00a0Source Magazine<\/em>,\u00a0he demanded Nl0 million respectively from\u00a0specific members of his church to fund his\u00a0political aspirations. He was defeated at the\u00a0polls and further disgraced by accusations\u00a0of extramarital affairs with members of his\u00a0church. When the tabloid,\u00a0City People<\/em>, accused\u00a0him of lavishing a flat, a Mercedes Benz,\u00a0jewellery worth millions of naira and cash gifts\u00a0on a particular member of his church, he was\u00a0alleged to reply that he was just helping her\u00a0out.<\/p>\n

Reverend Okotie drives in a convoy of three\u00a0SUVs; the one he rides in, a Hummer, was\u00a0given as a gift by his congregation. In a three-page\u00a0interview in \u2018The Glitterati\u2019 column of\u00a0ThisDay<\/em>, a Nigerian daily, he declared: \u2018I know\u00a0that Reverend Chris Okotie would eventually\u00a0emerge as the president of the Federal Republic\u00a0of Nigeria, so that Nigerians would breathe\u00a0a sigh of relief. I want them to know that the\u00a0names that they hear being touted back and\u00a0forth are ordinary names\u2026 I am an endowed\u00a0Nigerian, gifted, and Nigerians know what I\u00a0am capable of doing. On a good day, on a level\u00a0playing ground, none of them can compare\u00a0with me in terms of popularity and the love\u00a0that I have for this country.\u2019<\/p>\n

The interview was Reverend Okotie\u2019s way\u00a0of announcing his intention to campaign for\u00a0presidential election.<\/p>\n

Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy, one of\u00a0the most popular Pentecostal church leaders in\u00a0Nigeria, renowned for huge televised crusades\u00a0and miracle services and probably a more\u00a0plausible candidate for the Nigerian presidency,\u00a0spent the better part of 2001 in a media\u00a0battle with Reverend Okotie. The Pentecostal\u00a0Fellowship of Nigeria unsuccessfully attempted\u00a0to make peace between the two, or at least to\u00a0get them off the media. Christians and non-Christians expressed disgust at publicly aired\u00a0arguments between the two leaders. Many\u00a0Christians felt that neither of the parties\u00a0accurately represented the Christian. Many\u00a0non-Christians felt both parties very accurately\u00a0represented the Christian, especially leaders of\u00a0Nigerian Pentecostal churches.<\/p>\n

In 2004, a member of Oyakhilome\u2019s 10\u00a0000-member church, a cashier with the Ikeja\u00a0Sheraton Hotels and Towers, donated millions\u00a0of naira to the church \u2013 perhaps an everyday\u00a0event in the context of a Nigerian church,\u00a0until it was suggested that the church was\u00a0under no obligation to query the members of\u00a0its congregation on the sources of suspicious\u00a0money. It was also suggested that even if there\u00a0was a possibility that it was stolen money, the\u00a0church was under no obligation to return the\u00a0money to its rightful owner. The 2004 attempt\u00a0by the National Broadcasting Commission\u00a0to ban the advertisement of miracles on\u00a0television would have damaged Oyakhilome\u2019s\u00a0ministry substantially. He is really best known\u00a0for a hit programme on Nigerian television\u00a0called Atmosphere for Miracles, a serialised\u00a0documentary on the miracles he has performed.\u00a0The examples are endless and increasingly\u00a0routine. Nigerian Christians, and followers\u00a0of men of God, are described as stupid and\u00a0gullible; their reaction to blatant manipulation\u00a0by men of God, knee-jerk, naive, lazy or\u00a0obtuse. This is a simplistic statement made\u00a0without reference to the uniqueness of our\u00a0upbringing and training to defer to authority\u00a0figures and rich people. If the typical Nigerian\u00a0church is essentially a personality cult, then one\u00a0must look beneath simplistic generalisations\u00a0at the underlying dynamics now prevalent in\u00a0our culture; the existential issues, fear and\u00a0intimidation maybe. We must look beyond\u00a0plain stupidity.<\/p>\n

Almost a Basket Case\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deji Thomas provides an insight into some\u00a0of the dynamics of the relationship between\u00a0pastors and members of their congregations. Thomas is one of those people whose reputation\u00a0seems to contradict his real-life persona. He is\u00a0known to be uncompromising and vociferous\u00a0and people are usually taken aback by his\u00a0fearless and confrontational nature, because\u00a0he is diminutive. For three-and-a-half years\u00a0Thomas worked as personal assistant to\u00a0Pastor Paul Adefarasin, of the House on the\u00a0Rock Church. There was no avoiding the fact\u00a0that his personality had made him completely\u00a0unsuitable for the job. He was too strident in his\u00a0protests, too independent in his thinking, much\u00a0too non-conformist in his views. His father is a\u00a0university professor and had allowed Thomas\u00a0and his siblings the freedom of expression in\u00a0a time when their Yoruba peers were being\u00a0taught by their parents to be submissive and\u00a0unobtrusive in the presence of authority figures.<\/p>\n

Bizarrely, Pastor Paul had hired him without a\u00a0formal interview. In fact, he had been so excited\u00a0about hiring him that he had peremptorily\u00a0rounded off interviews that were then being\u00a0conducted to find him an assistant. If at the end\u00a0of three years Pastor Paul was dissatisfied with\u00a0Thomas, he didn\u2019t express as much. He even\u00a0seemed reasonably satisfied with the quality of\u00a0his work. Thomas, on the other hand, was at\u00a0the end of his rope. His health was suffering. He\u00a0was desperate to resign. Perhaps a major issue\u00a0was that he had got close enough to a Nigerian\u00a0man of God to see the contradictions. Thomas\u00a0admitted that men of God need to be allowed\u00a0their humanity. He spoke from experience that\u00a0the Nigerian congregation needs a visual god,\u00a0in a very literal way. He described people who\u00a0would lie, bribe and physically assault aides\u00a0to get close to a pastor. The fawning, the daily\u00a0adulation, the gifts of money, houses, cars, all\u00a0unsolicited, all apart from the free access to\u00a0God\u2019s money that these pastors have. It would\u00a0be hard for anyone in their position not to\u00a0morally compromise themselves.<\/p>\n

Thomas resigned from his position in January\u00a02003. Pastor Paul arranged an inquest, which\u00a0reviewed a four-page document containing
\ncharges, and listened to testimonies against him\u00a0by several witnesses. It was claimed that other\u00a0resignations from the office at the same time\u00a0as Thomas\u2019s showed that there was an attempt\u00a0to \u2018break away\u2019 a segment of the church. The\u00a0main charge was rebellion against the church.\u00a0Pastor Paul believed that Thomas should have\u00a0informed the leadership that the other people\u00a0resigning were preparing to do so. Thomas\u00a0maintained that it was not his business to\u00a0inform on anyone else\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n

The inquest took place in Pastor Paul\u2019s office\u00a0and lasted more than six hours. Members of the\u00a0church leadership were in attendance. It ended
\nwith the determination of Thomas\u2019s guilt and\u00a0Pastor Paul carrying out the symbolic act of\u00a0washing his hands in a bowl of water; washing\u00a0his hands of Thomas. As punishment for the\u00a0alleged rebellion, Thomas was forbidden from\u00a0attending any of the House on the Rock church
\nservices worldwide and select members of the\u00a0Church were advised to cut off all contact with\u00a0him. Thomas claims that as the inquisition was\u00a0winding up, Pastor Paul reiterated a threat\u00a0he had made on several other occasions: no\u00a0one who leaves House on the Rock succeeds\u00a0after leaving. Thomas described the way that\u00a0statement psychologically affected himself and\u00a0his wife, Bukola: \u2018We would panic when basic\u00a0things that virtually everyone experiences at\u00a0some time or the other, like flat tires, illnesses,\u00a0happened to us. What broke that terror hold\u00a0for us was reaching the place of realisation that\u00a0our lives were not in the hands of any man, but\u00a0in God\u2019s.\u2019<\/p>\n

The months following the trial defined the\u00a0end of the relationship between Pastor Paul\u00a0and Deji Thomas, and a battle of wills that\u00a0disrupted relationships with friends and family.\u00a0It would seem that Pastor Paul had followed\u00a0Heward Mills\u2019s recommendations to the letter.\u00a0Idiosyncratic people just did not have a place\u00a0in the House on the Rock, and there was no\u00a0place for insubordination or contradiction of the man of God.<\/p>\n

It has been said that former US president\u00a0George W Bush is a quintessential bornagain\u00a0Christian. This could simply be because\u00a0during his term he was one of the most visible\u00a0Christians in the world.\u00a0Newsweek<\/em>\u00a0of March\u00a02003 asked and answered the question: would\u00a0Iraq be a \u2018just war\u2019 in Christian terms, as laid\u00a0out by Augustine in the fourth century and \u00a0amplified by Aquinas, Luther and others? Bush\u00a0satisfied himself that it would be.<\/p>\n

It was interesting to hear Bush\u2019s name\u00a0mentioned in the same sentence as Augustine,\u00a0Aquinas and Martin Luther, and to hear his\u00a0categorical declarations of war in the name of\u00a0Jesus. Bush\u2019s presidency has been defined as the\u00a0most resolutely \u2018faith-based\u2019 in modern times,\u00a0and an enterprise founded, supported and\u00a0guided by trust in the temporal and spiritual\u00a0power of God. Here perhaps is the perfect\u00a0comparison for the superstar man of God:\u00a0well-dressed, supported with an articulate\u00a0public relations infrastructure, rich, powerful,\u00a0lord over the most powerful constituent\u00a0entity in the world, with a God agenda\u00a0dangerously ensconced in personal ambition.\u00a0Eugene H Peterson\u2019s warning resonates: \u2018The\u00a0moment a person (or government or religious\u00a0organisation) is convinced that God is either\u00a0ordering or sanctioning a cause or project,\u00a0anything goes. The history, worldwide, of\u00a0religion fuelled hate, killing and oppression is\u00a0staggering.\u2019<\/p>\n

Spiritual Favour<\/strong><\/p>\n

The city of Lagos has most visibly developed\u00a0along a 15km artery of the Lekki-Epe\u00a0Expressway. It is representative of the movement\u00a0of money in Nigeria: housing estates, outlets\u00a0and office complexes as physical manifestations\u00a0of mergers and acquisitions in oil and gas;\u00a0malls, supermarkets, fast food outlets, private\u00a0schools, university campuses and possibly the\u00a0first private cemetery in Africa. It is possible to\u00a0drive the 15km in a reasonable 20 minutes, and\u00a0in that time literally drive past 50 churches.\u00a0Some of these churches are known to generate\u00a0several million naira in revenue every Sunday.<\/p>\n

Nigeria is one of the most religious countries in\u00a0the world. Every Sunday, millions of Nigerians\u00a0fill innumerable churches. Every Friday, half of\u00a0the country shuts down in observance of the\u00a0Muslim Sabbath. Nigeria is also number two\u00a0on Transparency International\u2019s list of most\u00a0corrupt countries.<\/p>\n

Many of my fellow Christians express no alarm\u00a0about Nigerian churches as prototypes of the\u00a0Nigerian system and feel that it makes no\u00a0difference that there is an agenda to make a few\u00a0people rich through the contributions of many.\u00a0They believe that if an intelligent Christian is\u00a0pushed far enough, he will assert his right to\u00a0individual worship and that there is no lasting\u00a0harm in manipulations by the men of God.<\/p>\n

At the risk of losing my faith in the Nigerian\u00a0church, I have begun to ask what the real\u00a0relevance of Christianity is in Nigeria,\u00a0especially the unglamorous Christianity of\u00a0carrying crosses, following paths of repentance,\u00a0seeking a God of love, and endlessly turning\u00a0the another cheek. Will Nigerian men of God\u00a0and congregations cease deceiving themselves\u00a0and do the millions of Nigerians who profess\u00a0Christianity make a difference to a precarious\u00a0economy? Will the biblically proscribed need\u00a0for integrity in our relationship with God and\u00a0other human beings gain its rightful place in the\u00a0church? Is there a danger in giving more and\u00a0more power to men who believe it is their Godgiven\u00a0right to determine the course of other\u00a0people\u2019s lives? What will happen if it becomes\u00a0difficult to continue to control people with the\u00a0threat of a God who avenges insubordination\u00a0to his representatives? Will men of God then\u00a0find \u2018more effective\u2019 means of keeping people\u00a0under control and keeping themselves relevant?\u00a0It is hard to predict which way the church will\u00a0go, especially if its leadership continues to\u00a0drive it in the egocentric, live-the-American-dream\u00a0direction that it has for the past 20\u00a0years. It seems that for as long as Nigerians\u00a0remain chronically superstitious, as long as the\u00a0economy teeters and as long as Church is \u2018good\u00a0business\u2019, we will have our superstars, our Big\u00a0Men, embodying the essence of our desires not\u00a0only to thrive, but to live the good life, not\u00a0through merit, but through spiritual favour.<\/p>\n

For as long as superstar men of God can promise\u00a0us the ability to master our environment, live\u00a0well, marry well, and afford good health, then\u00a0they will have satisfied all the parameters for\u00a0our belief in them.<\/p>\n

Who then needs the God of the bible with\u00a0his high standards, his promises of trials and\u00a0tribulations, crosses and paths of repentance?\u00a0Who will want Him?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0chimurengachronic.co.za<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who needs the God of the bible with his promises of trials and tribulations, crosses and paths of repentance?\u00a0Yemisi Ogbe\u00a0listens to the sermons, counts the money, watches the high-flying life of Nigeria\u2019s mega-preachers and wonders. I had been a member of my church for four years when I began to feel a need to write […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":51376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32],"tags":[6],"yoast_head":"\nNigeria\u2019s Superstar Men Of God - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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