Our-religious-hypocrisy-has-not-helped-us-as-a-nation-we-need-to-start-telling-ourselves-the-truth
September 7, 2020 | News
OUR RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY HAS NOT HELPED US AS A NATION – WE NEED TO START TELLING OURSELVES THE TRUTH
I have always noted that the planting/establishment of Churches and other religious Centres across the length and breadth of Nigeria, and attending religious activities/prayers/programs daily, are not a sign that we, as Nigerians, are a religious country and a morally-upright people.
This was reiterated in a short well-circulated video online, of a man who was very blunt in expressing Nigeria’s level of religious hypocrisy. In his words: “We pray that our enemies should die by fire, but we are our own worst enemies. That is all we do. And that has not changed our country Nigeria. Even though we have the biggest Churches and auditoriums; we have the 50,000-seaters, 100,000-seaters, 250,000-seaters, yet, our country is still not a country. Our religion is still not saving us. Our children are on the field, doing yahoo-yahoo. Most of our Pastors are sleeping with women all around the place, most of our women are all over the place doing aristos. The Christianity we carry on our head has not paid us. The prayers have not been answered over our lives. Yet, we are still being religious. We are building more Churches. More Pastors are emerging everyday everywhere. The Churches in Nigeria have turned to businesses, all to collect money. The cajole people, they fool people, they sleep with our women, they sleep with our children, they kill the destinies of our sons. Yet, that is the same place we go. We refuse to read our Bibles. We are loyal to men, but we are not loyal to God. So many of us, you are loyal to men, but you are not loyal to God. When you see your Pastor, you roll on the ground. But when God is saying something, you do not listen. You do not hear God. You do not listen to God. But you listen to Pastors. Shame on you!
“it is time for you to go back to the place of prayer, and tell the Lord saying: Father start talking to me. Show me your ways. Educate me Lord. Teach me from Your Word. Armed robbers are increasing every day in Nigeria. Graduates are not getting jobs, and we are building more Church auditoriums. what is the essence of the auditoriums you are building, and the nation is not changing? We are the poorest country in the world. With all the brilliancy, with all the brains that we have. We are the most educated, yet, we are the poorest country in the whole wide world. But we have the biggest auditoriums in Nigeria. We have the highest number of Churches in Nigeria. We pray as if we are going to die. If to say prayer will make Nigeria great, Nigeria is supposed to be the greatest country in the whole wide world. If prayer would make somebody rich, Nigerians are supposed to be the richest in the world. CAC is supposed to be richest in the world. Mountain of Fire is supposed to be amongst the richest in the world. They are supposed to be taking over territories. If prayer alone would do it. But it is not just praying. And that is the country where we are.
“The nation Nigeria is full of Churches, but the Churches are not influencing and affecting the country positively. Armed robbers and kidnappers are increasing. And the kidnappers are bringing tithes to Churches. The kidnappers are going to Pastors for prayers. Pastors are going to babalawos to do juju. And they are burying human beings under the pulpit of their Churches. They are using rings to touch the peoples’ heads. Giving people holy communion that will make them crazy. Just to take their money. The love of money has taken over. We blame the Government, but we do not blame ourselves. It is not Buhari alone, we are all guilty. Every one of us is guilty. The Muslims are guilty, the Traditionalists are guilty; every one of us is guilty. It is not Buhari alone; everyone. We are just playing pranks. Yahoo boys are scamming people right, left and centre. Most of our girls in Lagos have turned to prostitutes.
“In a country where we have the largest congregation of Christians. A country where we pray like no man’s business. That we find out that, God is not moving in our situations. Some Church choirs are aristos. The Church members are sleeping together. A man went and dug a well. He dug a swimming pool in Lagos and calls it the water of Bethsaida. Who does that in this twenty-first century? For you to come, and go and pay N50,000 to swim in the water. Where are you getting that kind of crazy stuff from? You see that most Nigerians are not Christians. We are still pagans. The Churches are taking us into deep-deep level of paganism. What happened to the name of Jesus? The Bible says that at the mention of His Name every knee shall bow. Why do you need water of Bethsaida? Even the water of Bethsaida, when Christ got there, God did not tell the man to jump into it. He said stand up and carry your bed and move out. This is the era of the Holy Ghost. The dispensation of the Holy Spirit. We do not need any physical things anymore for us to be healed. We need the name of Jesus, not the pool of Bethsaida… After the Church has been set up, everything is about the Word. Declaration, declaration! In the name of Jesus… Jesus dies for you, and because of His death and resurrection, God had therefore elevated Him and His Word. That at the mention of the name of Jesus, every know must bow. All creatures in heaven and on earth, they must bow to His name, but we don’t do that anymore. We look for water to go and swim in. Or one river, to go and jump in three times; go and do this, go and do that.
“We have become ritualists. We are pagans. We are not Christians. You see the pastors walk around with politicians. Just imagine Nigerians without brains. If a man went to use a woman for a supposed miracle of the hand, but she was used by over seven Pastors, and you see all the stuffs on social media. That all these things are scam and fake, but you are still in the same Church. I marvel! That is when I knew that stuff is pure juju. That is when I knew that these people are being tied down…”
The truth is, a ‘religious person’, regardless of the faith and denomination, will not steal public money, will not assassinate people, will not tell lies, will not cheat on his people that have elected him/her to be in government. Such a person will not rig election, will not do fake Thanksgivings/organize religious ceremonies to appreciate God. A true religious person will not oppress his people, will not intimidate his people, will not mislead his people, will not accept bribery/payments to fight innocent people, will not blackmail others, will not be greedy, will not have the appetite to force himself on his people as a leader? Such an individual will not encourage crime, will not pretend, will not favour only his people in government spaces, will not be a tribalist, will not encourage thuggery. A religious person will always tell the truth and stand by it, no matter who is concerned, or what the situation is. A religious person will not embezzle community development projects funds of his community. A religious person will not encourage economic sabotage of any kind.
While it is sad that today, establishing a church or going into politics have become amongst the most sort out lucrative ventures in Nigeria, it still does not make everything right in the country. Instead, Government and Religion, that ought to make life and things better for all, have continued to make life miserable and harder for the general populace. Today, big and small churches are taking over every available lands and space, especially Warehouses to build church branches and schools, with nothing done in the area of establishing industries/factories that can avail jobs for not only its increasing members but also many Nigerian youths. Morality in the society, is falling at an alarming rate. And sadly, the Church and other religious bodies, as the “custodians of public morality,” have brazenly turned religion into a ‘mercantile venture.’ We simple find it appalling that The Church’, that ought to be the ‘conscience’ of the society in maintaining high standards of morality and spiritual uprightness, has joined the train of those with the ‘thirst for materialism.’
Zik Gbemre.
May 1, 2020.
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
I have always noted that the planting/establishment of Churches and other religious Centres across the length and breadth of Nigeria, and attending religious activities/prayers/programs daily, are not a sign that we, as Nigerians, are a religious country and a morally-upright people.
This was reiterated in a short well-circulated video online, of a man who was very blunt in expressing Nigeria’s level of religious hypocrisy. In his words: “We pray that our enemies should die by fire, but we are our own worst enemies. That is all we do. And that has not changed our country Nigeria. Even though we have the biggest Churches and auditoriums; we have the 50,000-seaters, 100,000-seaters, 250,000-seaters, yet, our country is still not a country. Our religion is still not saving us. Our children are on the field, doing yahoo-yahoo. Most of our Pastors are sleeping with women all around the place, most of our women are all over the place doing aristos. The Christianity we carry on our head has not paid us. The prayers have not been answered over our lives. Yet, we are still being religious. We are building more Churches. More Pastors are emerging everyday everywhere. The Churches in Nigeria have turned to businesses, all to collect money. The cajole people, they fool people, they sleep with our women, they sleep with our children, they kill the destinies of our sons. Yet, that is the same place we go. We refuse to read our Bibles. We are loyal to men, but we are not loyal to God. So many of us, you are loyal to men, but you are not loyal to God. When you see your Pastor, you roll on the ground. But when God is saying something, you do not listen. You do not hear God. You do not listen to God. But you listen to Pastors. Shame on you!
“it is time for you to go back to the place of prayer, and tell the Lord saying: Father start talking to me. Show me your ways. Educate me Lord. Teach me from Your Word. Armed robbers are increasing every day in Nigeria. Graduates are not getting jobs, and we are building more Church auditoriums. what is the essence of the auditoriums you are building, and the nation is not changing? We are the poorest country in the world. With all the brilliancy, with all the brains that we have. We are the most educated, yet, we are the poorest country in the whole wide world. But we have the biggest auditoriums in Nigeria. We have the highest number of Churches in Nigeria. We pray as if we are going to die. If to say prayer will make Nigeria great, Nigeria is supposed to be the greatest country in the whole wide world. If prayer would make somebody rich, Nigerians are supposed to be the richest in the world. CAC is supposed to be richest in the world. Mountain of Fire is supposed to be amongst the richest in the world. They are supposed to be taking over territories. If prayer alone would do it. But it is not just praying. And that is the country where we are.
“The nation Nigeria is full of Churches, but the Churches are not influencing and affecting the country positively. Armed robbers and kidnappers are increasing. And the kidnappers are bringing tithes to Churches. The kidnappers are going to Pastors for prayers. Pastors are going to babalawos to do juju. And they are burying human beings under the pulpit of their Churches. They are using rings to touch the peoples’ heads. Giving people holy communion that will make them crazy. Just to take their money. The love of money has taken over. We blame the Government, but we do not blame ourselves. It is not Buhari alone, we are all guilty. Every one of us is guilty. The Muslims are guilty, the Traditionalists are guilty; every one of us is guilty. It is not Buhari alone; everyone. We are just playing pranks. Yahoo boys are scamming people right, left and centre. Most of our girls in Lagos have turned to prostitutes.
“In a country where we have the largest congregation of Christians. A country where we pray like no man’s business. That we find out that, God is not moving in our situations. Some Church choirs are aristos. The Church members are sleeping together. A man went and dug a well. He dug a swimming pool in Lagos and calls it the water of Bethsaida. Who does that in this twenty-first century? For you to come, and go and pay N50,000 to swim in the water. Where are you getting that kind of crazy stuff from? You see that most Nigerians are not Christians. We are still pagans. The Churches are taking us into deep-deep level of paganism. What happened to the name of Jesus? The Bible says that at the mention of His Name every knee shall bow. Why do you need water of Bethsaida? Even the water of Bethsaida, when Christ got there, God did not tell the man to jump into it. He said stand up and carry your bed and move out. This is the era of the Holy Ghost. The dispensation of the Holy Spirit. We do not need any physical things anymore for us to be healed. We need the name of Jesus, not the pool of Bethsaida… After the Church has been set up, everything is about the Word. Declaration, declaration! In the name of Jesus… Jesus dies for you, and because of His death and resurrection, God had therefore elevated Him and His Word. That at the mention of the name of Jesus, every know must bow. All creatures in heaven and on earth, they must bow to His name, but we don’t do that anymore. We look for water to go and swim in. Or one river, to go and jump in three times; go and do this, go and do that.
“We have become ritualists. We are pagans. We are not Christians. You see the pastors walk around with politicians. Just imagine Nigerians without brains. If a man went to use a woman for a supposed miracle of the hand, but she was used by over seven Pastors, and you see all the stuffs on social media. That all these things are scam and fake, but you are still in the same Church. I marvel! That is when I knew that stuff is pure juju. That is when I knew that these people are being tied down…”
The truth is, a ‘religious person’, regardless of the faith and denomination, will not steal public money, will not assassinate people, will not tell lies, will not cheat on his people that have elected him/her to be in government. Such a person will not rig election, will not do fake Thanksgivings/organize religious ceremonies to appreciate God. A true religious person will not oppress his people, will not intimidate his people, will not mislead his people, will not accept bribery/payments to fight innocent people, will not blackmail others, will not be greedy, will not have the appetite to force himself on his people as a leader? Such an individual will not encourage crime, will not pretend, will not favour only his people in government spaces, will not be a tribalist, will not encourage thuggery. A religious person will always tell the truth and stand by it, no matter who is concerned, or what the situation is. A religious person will not embezzle community development projects funds of his community. A religious person will not encourage economic sabotage of any kind.
While it is sad that today, establishing a church or going into politics have become amongst the most sort out lucrative ventures in Nigeria, it still does not make everything right in the country. Instead, Government and Religion, that ought to make life and things better for all, have continued to make life miserable and harder for the general populace. Today, big and small churches are taking over every available lands and space, especially Warehouses to build church branches and schools, with nothing done in the area of establishing industries/factories that can avail jobs for not only its increasing members but also many Nigerian youths. Morality in the society, is falling at an alarming rate. And sadly, the Church and other religious bodies, as the “custodians of public morality,” have brazenly turned religion into a ‘mercantile venture.’ We simple find it appalling that The Church’, that ought to be the ‘conscience’ of the society in maintaining high standards of morality and spiritual uprightness, has joined the train of those with the ‘thirst for materialism.’
Zik Gbemre.
May 1, 2020.
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes