The role of the Church in Nigeria is well documented. Very properly documented. The positive impact of the early churches in this country connects to nearly every family tree in southern Nigeria and the history isn’t a bad one. The church positively influenced every facet of our communal and personal lives.
The true churches have always been and remain places of solace and fortress for the broken and rejected. Places where you can still find trusted shoulders to lean on and build faith. Because they have been around with us for long, our churches have been firmly woven into the fabric of our culture. No attack against them will stop them from operating.
Because the churches have also become a big industry, intrepid exploiters have invaded and formed a very powerful club of ferocious plunderers who are milking their desperate congregations. A voice must be raised in defense of these victims. Victims usually don’t know they are exploited until they are liberated.
Unfortunately, the victims of these pastor-preneurs have elevated those who exploit them to mean the CHURCH and GOD. Once the actions of these their gods-of-men are questioned, their followers are quick to claim that the Church is under attack or that you are questioning or challenging God, as if these men or women, are God or are the Church.
Your preacher or the preachers you love are not GOD. They are not the CHURCH. They are human beings. When their teachings are questioned and challenged, stop that joke of saying the Church is under attack. Your favorite preacher is not the Church. Neither is he or she God. Stop trying to suffocate free speech. Your pulpit idols are not beyond scrutiny.
I think that when this talk about pulpit exploitation started innocuously, the club of exploiters never imagined that the advocacy would gain momentum. But it turned out that, momentum was not only gained, their own club has become divided and there is confusion in their camp.
The result is coming. Many people have been liberated already and many more are being liberated, and many more will be liberated from the manacles of blind and heartless pulpit exploitation.
The Church is not under any attack. It is pulpit mercantilism that is under intense attack. In the end, many more will come to the true knowledge of God for themselves.
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.
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