There is a reason why we must not keep quiet. Most of us are very comfortable when people call out politicians who mismanage our public finances and tax the poor to share amongst themselves. You must be blind in Nigeria today not to have noticed that, there is a cartel of crooks across all strata of the religion ladder, who are taking advantage of the people in the name of God, manipulating the masses and collecting the little they have, to sustain their own lavish lifestyles.
You may not understand, but let me paint a scenario using yours sincerely. I have more than 50k followers on Facebook alone. That’s apart from other social media platforms. That’s very very small compared to what some people have. Some people have tens of millions of followers. Should I decide today that I want to go into the Church business, I don’t even need to rent a brick and mortar office. I will just make a public confession that I had a personal encounter with God and he directed me to start a ministry and do his work.
I will coin a ministry or business name. The Light of Glory Evangelical Ministry LOGEM, for instance. My wife, yours sincerely and our daughter, will be the registered trustees. Take 150k and register the name with the Corporate Affairs Commission CAC under Part C, and open a bank account with that name, to facilitate collections.
I already have enough space in our house and other gadgets (phones, cameras, microphones, lightings, table, tripods etc.), everything that I need to talk to all my followers from the comfort of my house without renting a physical space to call a church building. I already have a mini home studio because of my work.
Our people love to hear about demons and ancestral curses very well, so I will start with one night in a week and call it, “the night of demonic exorcism.” A weekly online vigil when all the demonic and ancestral spirits defying progress in your life will be exorcized. This will last from 12 midnight to 3am. I will also have a second evening called, “Seeds of Faith.” Where indepth analysis of the word will be given online to build faith in the brethren. Then, I will have a day for counseling and questions and answers. These two activities do not have to last more than one hour each.
If my conversion rate is say, 10 percent, that means 5000 people out of my 50,000 followers will believe me and give me a chance. If these 5000 people transfer N500 only, thrice a week, to my account which will be on the screen as I am preaching, that will be N1,500 per person, times 5000 people. The total is N7,500,000 weekly. If we reduce the conversion rate to 5 percent. That is 2,500 people out of my 50k followers. The net rate in will be N3,750,000 weekly. If we even reduce it to 1000 people out of my 50k followers, the net earning will be N1,500,000 weekly.
I don’t know how many jobs in the productive sector in Nigeria pay such remuneration weekly. Remember all that money is not even taxed. I will expect them to pay their tithes in their various Churches. Mine is interdenominational. I will only encourage them to give their seeds and shepherd offerings in my own account. They will be an open physical counseling day. I will rent an existing office and pay the occupant per use. Remember people don’t come for counseling empty handed.
I will convert all of them to free marketers by telling them God said if they do not share and send the link of our prayers to at least ten people everyday, they are attracting his wrath and may delay their miracles. They will help in expanding my business and bring in more contributions. Within the crowd, there will also be a few desperate rich people who will be vulnerable and all I need is to find a very great strategy to keep them hooked and milk as much as I can from them. These and more will bring in other random millions. I don’t need juju to collect your money. Pastor Mensah Otabil, from Ghana said recently that, “Christians are the easiest people to deceive.”
If I want to posture charity, I will still ask these followers to contribute money, bags of rice, noodles and a few other things. We take them to a few places and snap pictures and videos and bring them to show the public the human side of the ministry. I still will not spend ministry money. It is the followers that will donate. But me and my ministry will claim the accolades. This is a well paying model that many of them have perfected and several up-comers are learning. No God is calling them. It is the poverty in the land, the unemployment and the lack of vigilance from the complicit authorities, that is fueling these desperados who have picked up their Bibles in search of lucre instead of search for souls for God.
While I will always maintain that this is not a blanket description of every preacher, that there are indeed some preachers out there whose passion for God is unquenchable, suffice it to also say that majority of those who own the popular pulpits today and their wannabe up-comers are schemers, scammers and plunderers and that is a sufficient reason for us not to keep quiet.
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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