By Simon Ifeanyi Ezeh
The Pastors preach lies as the gospel and the people believe the lies because they are convenient and that creates a cozy symbiosis between the people and pastors until issues like the Tsunami, Hurricanes, Epidemics and Pandemics, Bokoharam terrorism, Wars, etc. arise and unravel their empty religion. The religion presented to us by pastors have no logical response to above mentioned issues of life and that renders their religion bankrupt. Once any of the above issues arises, pastors apply political response instead of godly response as instructed by Christ. Their religion seems to work under ordinary conditions but falls apart under drastic conditions as mentioned above.
It’s on record how Nigerian pastors (Enenche, Oyedepo, Adefarasin, Kumuyi et al) have reacted to the issues of Christian persecution cascading from the North of Nigeria to the Southern parts with the Yoruba and Igbo nations threatening to leave the country. Some of these pastors like Enenche have been misleading their members to brace up and fight back physically when confronted by Boko Haram militants, others like Kumuyi have advocated prayers for Nigeria in a blind hope for political peace, in fact, he’s prayed for Nigerian presidents while others like Adefarasin have encouraged their members to run for dear life because war is imminent.
Adefarasin has also advocated political solution like getting a people-oriented constitution, etc. How does Adefarasin expect the members to run to other countries having stripped them of their livelihoods in tithes and offerings which they have paid over the years? Did God reveal to him that the church members should run to escape an impending hostility? What is the place of God in all these? Do these “men of God” hear from God?
Why should they recommend or do what is directly opposed to Christ as a response to cases like Bokoharam persecution of Christians? The answer is obvious: they are stakeholders or critical investors in Nigeria project and would not want it to burn. They need political stability to run their banks, schools, hotels, football clubs, beauty pageants, etc. and their churches. So, they would not only fight, they’d recruit others in addition to themselves to help them secure their treasures on earth using scriptures that are directly opposed to Christ.
A man who’s laid down his life for Christ’s sake won’t bother with what happens to his life, possessions or the country where he lives to the extent of fighting. If you lay down your life as a sine qua non for following Christ, it means that the only thing that matters to you is God and his kingdom. Everything else becomes insignificant. Nothing under the sun is important enough to provoke you to a fight. Nothing whatsoever!
Whereas I preach to purify the Christian faith or the faith of the followers of Jesus Christ, the only savior of man, some misguided religious people from other faithscome to my column to make ill-conceived comments, assuming that I’m against Christians. Christians are supposed to be followers of Christ but they dropped the teachings of Christ and have since replaced them with those of Paul or just any convenient teaching in the Bible but,no matter how angry I am at the thieves and robbers who disguise as pastors, or at Christians to whom the teachings of Christ is offensive, I’m not against Christians.
In spite of my strong dislike for the generational deceit handed down to us as the gospel, my job is to redirect people to the narrow and restrictive way of righteousness which leads to life.Such godless commentators are hereby invited to repent and become followers of Christ themselves so they become sons of God. Eternal life with God awaits those who follow Christ in their lifetimes but eternal damnation without God awaits those who do not.Even if you hit your head on the floor twenty -five times in a day, creating a dark spot on your forehead in an assumption that you’re praying to God, if you don’t follow the teachings of Christ, it’s a waste of time. You’d still perish.
What is evident in the reactions of Nigerian pastors to the onslaught against Christianity in Nigeria is that pastors are fixed and fixated to this world and they would certainly fight to preserve their empires and treasureson earth. They have also corrupted many with this satanic theology and the unfortunate outcome is that Christians are now ready to retaliate and fightagainst their enemies. The enemies of Christians in Nigeria are not hidden but the response from Christians is most unfortunate because their leaders (pastors, CAN, etc.) are corrupt and evil. So, there’s a lack of an appropriate, coordinatedand godly response to Christian persecution in Nigeria.
How does Jesus Christ define Righteousness?
If you asked a Christian what righteousness means, he’d tell you it means right standing with God. That broad and amorphous definition is broken down and detailed by Christ in John 16:4-15.
Joh 16:4-15 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and our neighbor as Jesus Christ loves us is righteousness and it must include one’s readiness to leave this worldto be with our Father in heaven. One’s readiness and desire to leave for heaven and be with God is a legitimate consequence of loving God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind and strength. That’s the meaning of righteousness according to Jesus Christ (John16:10) and it cannot be faked since God sees our hearts. So, anyone who claims to love God but doesn’t want to go back to him in heaven yet is unrighteous and a liar! Nearly every Christian I’ve met in this life doesn’t want to go to heaven yet.
We all want to live, marry, have children, build houses, make a lot of money, travel the world and enjoy till “ripe old age” before contemplating going to heaven to meet that God we so much love. Those are the thoughts of an unrighteous person and anyone who passes on with that mindset will be lost for eternity. It would be stupid to start arguing, “But, David said this and Elijah said that,…” since the Lord and Messiah is Christ, not David, Elijah, Paul or anyone else!
Thatgreat and cracking question, therefore, is “Why would someone who claims to love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength not want to return to him yet?” What’s it that keeps him from desiring to return to heaven? The truth is that whatever keeps us from desiring to return to God in heaven is more important to us than God. This heavenly desire could never make you kill yourself or harm anyone else…it simply makes you ready, willing and expectant of your return to the Father.
Loving God and despising this evil world is a healthy obedience to the commandment of Christ. It has nothing to do with crass delusional terrorist sentiment whereby religious fundamentalists kill themselves and others in view of a vain promise of some airy-fairy seventy-five virgin girls in some impractical fools’ paradise. Only an idiot believes that because God is spiritual and all his blessings or rewards are spiritual as well. Not one of the blessings as outlined in the sermon on the mount (Beatitudes – Matt 5,6,7 & Lk 6) is material in nature even though Pastors teach, albeit falsely, that money, cars, houses, marriage, child bearing, good health, formal education, fame, political victory or appointments, musical and sports talents, and anything that could make money or be bought with money is a blessing.
So, Christians have been suckered by glib talking tele evangelists (pastors) and all we do is chase and pray for money and what money could buy. We work hard to acquire material things and work even harder to preserve and secure them so they don’t get stolen, lost, burnt, worn out, etc.Everything we could purchase with money belongs to Caesar (man) Matt 22:18-22 and the things of men are the same as the things of Satan – Matt 16:23. Remember, the spirit of money is called mammon of unrighteousness by Christ – Lk 16:13. Money is actually a demon called mammon!
How could a pastor be saved? Even Jesus Christ wonders this way in Matt 23:33. Having placed themselves in Moses’ seats, they’re not amenable to repentance since they see themselves as archetypical believers and custodians of God’s laws. In fact, pastors commit all manner of atrocities supposing that there’s some immunity covering them but they would be shocked to discover after death that the prediction is to Caesar as to the world in general. What Christ says to one is what he says to all – Mark 13:37
The point here is that the enemy thinks he’s punishing a child of God by killing him but he doesn’t know he’s just given him aticket back home in heaven. Of course, you don’t go about looking for these terrorists so they kill you but if after you’ve prayed to God, ran as much as you’re able and fulfilled all righteousness by always seeking the will of God, whatever they do to you is a waste of time because God is with you and will raise you up on the last day if you’re killed.
This, again, brings to the fore the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and the implication for his followers. We are supposed to look at Jesus Christ and learn all he did and taught so we pattern our lives after his. He expressed absolute faith in God by allowing himself to be killed and be raised the third day according to God’s unbreakable promise. That singular incident punctured the threat of death to the followers of Christ because, by it, death has been proven not to be a finality as believed by human beings. So, we don’t have to recant our faith in Christ by saying or doing what we shouldn’t say or do just because a terrorist has a gun to our heads. Even if he kills the body, he’s no access to our souls – Matt 10:28. Hallelujah!
In God’s kingdom, you can’t fight!
There are so many places in the Old Testament where God was supposed to have endorsed wars and fought for some people by killing others and sometimes the children of the “enemies of God” were taken captive (usually the virgin girls) and subjected to all manner of demonic abuse as obtains in Nigeria’s Bokoharam abduction camps but all those stories become very wicked, ungodly and unlikely to have happened when juxtaposed with the doctrines of Jesus Christ, the light of the world.
The mythical stories don’t make any sense on two bases: 1. The lessons from all those war stories are completely contrary to the nature and character of God as revealed by Christ, 2. If Moses could part the red sea by just speaking in the name of God, why should people of God engage in a warfare (assuming it happened) by using ordinary military weaponry just like ordinary armies of ordinary nations of the earth? Imagine that one nation of God has to fight with Nigeria and as Nigeria goes to buy guns and bombs, the nation of God also buys guns, bombs, etc.! What’s the difference between the two nations? In fact, if Nigeria is amenable to wars or fights, that nation of God should never be because, if you slap me and I slap you back, we’re the same people. The weapons of our warfare are supposed not to be carnal but that scripture is only amenable to recitation, not to be applied to real life situations by classical Christianity.
All these points are corroborated by Christ in the scriptures bellow and in view of them, you can’t fight under any circumstance, if in fact you’re a child of God.
Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
If our Lord and Saviour, the good Shephard of our souls won’t fight because his kingdom is not of this world, why and how does a Christian believe he could fight for whatever reason in this world and still remain a follower of Christ? I don’t know.
Mat 5:38-48 Love Your Enemies!
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for hemaketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
The above scripture speaks for itself. The commandment, “Love your enemies”, forecloses any possibility of retaliation or fighting back no matter the offence we suffer. Those who are killing us, destroying our farms, abusing our women, taking our lands, houses, etc. are clearly our enemies but, if we really desire perfection as commanded by Christ, we must love them (i.e. forgive them) and pray for them. If, in fact, we’re honest, this highlights the fallacy of Paul’s gospel of sacrifice and graceas opposed to Christ’s gospel of repentance and mercy. If Christ died to make God forgive us (one wonders which sins, past, present or future), how does it help us with this commandment of loving our enemies? Is it Christ that would love our enemies on our behalf, pray for them on our behalf and obtain perfection on our behalf, etc.? How does the supposed sacrifice of Christ magically enable us love our enemies? In any case, it doesn’t work because Christians don’t love their enemies.
Christ did things in order for us to take our cues from him and repeat the same things; he never did anything our behalf. “Love your enemies” exposes the bankruptcy of the sacrifice and grace gospel.
If every possibility of fighting the enemy is precluded for God’s children, it means we should be very careful how and what we invest in, and ensure a temporary approach to life. For instance, spending fortunes to build mighty edifices as churches or residential buildings becomes stupid since we won’t fight to retain them if or when the children of the evil one come to attack us and take those houses. The prince/god of this world is their father and the phenomenal world belongs to them. They belong to the earth, we belong to heaven: there’s no construct that justifies a fight between they and us.
Mat 10:16-42
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Jesus Christ suffered many things in the hands of the Jews (the church establishment – pastors) and ended on Calvary not on our behalf but as an example for to follow if the kingdom of God is our goal. He carried his cross, we have to carry ours! He was hated and killed for telling the world the truth, so shall be our portion if we also live for the truth according to above scriptures. Everything we experience today in the hands of Fulani herdsmen has been foretold by Christ in the last quote above. So, we need not be surprised or afraid because the Lord, the good shepherd would never leave us nor forsake us. Our lives are hid in Christ and in God: we’re absolutely impregnable. The salvation of God is different from the salvation of man. John expected Christ to save him from Herod but he didn’t. In fact, after he was beheaded, Christ was informed and he said nothing about it precisely because cutting off John’s head means nothing to John since he went straight to heaven.
It’s those who endure (not enjoy) to the end that shall be saved. Christ commanded Peter to sheath his sword because those who slay by the sword shall be slain with the sword but Enenche and his fellow false prophets are deceiving their gullible followers into fighting their enemies, using the same scripture. In his warped theology, he argued that Jesus simply meant not to fight in that particular situation but to fight at other times. Again, I ask, “How could a pastor escape the damnation of hell?”
This same Enenche quoted Lk22:36-38 as bellow to support his militant Christian ideology.
Luk 22:36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.
The Christ who commanded Peter not to fight with the sword because those who kill with the sword must be killed with the sword could not have made a volte farce to give them another contrary commandment since he’s not known for double speak. Having commanded them in such unmistakable details against retaliation and love of one’s enemies as in the beatitudes, Christ could not contradict himself by now commanding them to fight their enemies. Jesus Christ is that man who won’t put out a feebly glowing splinter, neither would his voice be heard in the streets because nothing in this life is what raising one’s voice about.
That’s what we should be since we are his disciples. We are peace makers; not trouble makers and we can’t change to trouble makers in spite of the enemy’s attacks. The Lord bless your hearts. Amen
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