Many Nigerian churches are giving Christendom such a bad name by their barefaced craze for money at the expense of their salvation and wellbeing of their flock.
By Babajide Kolade-Otitoju
Yet the tithe is just one of the numerous ways through which pastors fleece church members. They, however focus more on tithes because money realised from it is always bigger than other forms of donation to the church. They also rob church members through offerings, building project funds and the evangelical fund. And increasingly, churches are being set up solely as business concerns rather than to win souls or to depopulate the kingdom of darkness as Pentecostals like to say. Many pastors are no better than common thieves who turn to the job because they cannot find any other job to do.
Church members are always going to be “robbed” anyway because unlike their pastors, they have no direct access to church funds. Gripped by the desire to make more and more money, churches are diversifying into all kinds of businesses, including outright trading, banking, setting up schools. For example, the Redeemed Christian Church of God owns not just a money-spinning university, it also own New Life Microfinance Bank. Like Bishop David Oyedepo’s Winners Chapel, its (RCCG) university is for the well-heeled in the society.
Nothing illustrates the greed for money by pastors who run Nigeria’s big churches like the story behind the birth of Covenant University, owned by Winners Chapel. When the University was being conceived and built, every church member was expected to contribute meaningfully to the university project fund and during Sunday services, young and old, poor and rich were made to part with their hard-earned money because like the offerings and tithes, the church demanded handsome contributions from its members for the project. However, when the university project was completed and the school opened; the school fees pegged at almost half a million naira per semester, effectively ensuring that an overwhelming majority of Winners Chapel members cannot send their children to the Covenant University.
Indeed, Bishop Oyedepo, intent on having his church members contribute to the Covenant University Project, told them that if they could not contribute money they could contribute their labour. As a result, young men and women who are members of the church streamed to the project site in obedience to their president and founder, carried sand, bags of cement and generally worked their socks off to ensure that the church’s university dream became a reality. Today, many of them have discovered that they laboured in vain, as they are not rich enough to send their wards to the school. This particular case shows how pastors manipulate church members for their selfish ends. This is also true of Redeemed University set up by the Pastor Enoch Adeboye-led Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG. The average Redeemed Church member cannot raise the money to send his ward to Redeemed University, even though the money he contributed at his local church went into building the university.Because pastors preach prosperity, salvation and miracles so well, many church members are so keen to achieve these three goals that they do not ask questions of their preachers, who often do not lead by example, even in the payment of tithes. Worshippers hold their pastors in very high esteem, as they desire spiritual redemption. They believe that by obeying these pastors, they will automatically land before the throne of God in heaven. The womenfolk, especially, are ready to part with anything and everything. Financial contributions by church members are often recklessly put to use. No explanation is often made about how church money is spent and pastors, knowing that they are the signatories to church accounts and that they will not be asked questions often help themselves to church money, using it to buy private jets and generally living a life of luxury and pleasure.
Reverend Moses Iloh, Presiding Pastor, Soul Winning Ministries, in validating the payment of tithes, admitted that many pastors today misuse tithes and other church funds. “You cannot fault the Bible just because a pastor is crooked. But if a pastor decides to steal the tithe, use the tithe for comforts as it is being done now, using the tithe for holidays, it does not mean that tithing is wrong. Let us not try to oppose God because the pastor is not doing well,” he argued. These days, the activities of many pastors throw up moral, ethical and even religious questions. Most set up churches for no other reason than to make quick money. The so-called churches are, therefore, not better than business places. Bello Ayoola, a theological student, speaking with TheNEWS in Ilorin stressed that what the pastors are doing should not surprise anyone because many of them see the churches as their personal properties.
“They registered the churches in their names with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Their wives and children are the trustees. So, why should you question the way they run their churches. Without question, they are their personal properties,” he argued. Early this year, crisis rocked the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Movement over the sum of N370 million. The crisis deepened on Tuesday, 22 January when a former pastor in the Church, Nnamdi Ofoegbu, accused the General Overseer, Pastor Lazarus Muoka, of obtaining the money from him to build the church, but refused to pay back. He claimed that Muoka told him that the profit they make from the church would be shared equally. It is that bad.
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Mr Tee
8 June 2009 12:54It is a pity that nowadays, many so called christian don’t go to church with their common sense, and also don’t really study their bible except what their pastor tell them from the pulpit. There is no wher in the bible that say tithe is the only way through which God can blessses materially/financially, in fact, tithe is giving which is an integral part of giving. But some avarice pastors do take advantage of an average nigerian to exploit them.Let every christian note that, we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ including every so called pastors.
Washington
8 June 2009 17:09Stealing in the name of the Lord
ladipo
11 June 2009 13:16there is a song in my church and it translates this way, .everyone of us will stand before the throne of judgement to give account of our deeds whether good or bad.
Patrick Agbobu
12 June 2009 18:04We should stop deluding oursleves, prayer does not change anything, it only changes the person who prays. We should stand up very tall and ask ourselves, what is the way forward for Nigeria? We should reorganise ourselves and our piorities. Nigerians are too vain and we love greatly material things. We always ask for and look for what we want and not what we need. We have the worst roads and we want to use state of the art latest cars, which we do not have the capacity to service. Our women are seen on okada with the latest disigner bags. We commit frauds and 419 and end up spraying the money to show off. Most of the so called political players have criminal records that can stretch 10 miles, amongst them are drug barons, assasins, kidnappers and what have you. Most of our religious prechers are very fraudulent. Most of our Paramound Rulers or Kings, or Obas etc. give the best chieftaincy titles to the most dubious persons in the societies as long as there is money to shower on them. Thieves and very dubious and questionable individuals are hailed and showered with prases by sycophants who form the majority. No body is asked even by ones parents the sourse of his or sudden wealth. This can not be allowed to continue and no prayer can save us from these bad behaviours. our founding fathers, Dr. Azikiwe, Chief Awolowo, The Saduana of Sokoto, Tafawa Balewa, Okpara, Macauley, just to mentioned a few did not live these types of lives we are living today. In their days we had constant electricity, good and safe roads, functional hospitals and schools etc. Instead of improving on the work these noble men and women did, we are sinking futher and futher into oblivion.
VAUGHAN Olasunkanmi
12 June 2009 23:18I am very glad this issue is coming to the front burner,I am particularly grateful that,regardless of what these ‘men of God (of money)’ would have you believed,you are an instrument in th HAND OF THE MOST HIGH GOD,to unravel one of the greatest cover-up of the century -TITHING.These latter day jet-age,tithe-phyllic pastors would go any extent to rationalize what has been settled in the bible.TITHE IS NOT MONEY and does not have a place in the new testament. and there is no direct or indirect instructions to Christians to pay tithes.As a matter of fact,1Cor. 16:1 records the instruction of Apostle Paul a Christian) to the Corinthian Christians that collections of the saints which is called Giving or collection should be done every 1st day of the week(sunday) and tithe(from one-tenth) contravenes 2 Cor 9;6-7 which places the decision of the amount to give ‘as the giver purposeth in his heart’,not out of compulsion(which tithing was to the Isrealites non-christians),and your reward depends on how sparingly or abundantly you give.
I believe,and stand to be controverted,that these clear instructions,are not obeyed,promoted or practised ostensibly because it does not take care of the pecuniary interest of these people.I have witnessed a situation where a wife of a pastor once called my Preacher,Evangelist Emmanuel Akpe(08023008232),a thief because he dared to expose the dishonesty in tithing during one of our open-air preaching.
I am bold to inform you that I have never paid tithe in my life and I will never pay it.I have witnessed God’s marvelous blessing in my health,marriage,job and goodwill from friends and relations.We are of the Church of Christ,we appear to be in the minority cos of our spiritual conviction based on the word of God,that the Church must be pure and not of the ‘world’,we are however assured,that our expectation in Christ Jesus will not be cut short and as stated in Proverbs,the way of the Lord is strength to the upright.I pray God will protect all your interests from the persecution that may follow your bold attempt to stand on the narrow way.Thank you and may God bless you in Jesus name(amen)
Comment
anthony asuquo
13 June 2009 13:43It is now thinkable, it is now believeable, it is fraud, it is everywhere. may God help us his followers.
JOSEPH UGANDA
22 June 2009 18:36i WOULD THINK THAT THE PERSON NARRATING THAT IS JUST BIASED AND FOR MORE INFORMATION EVEN THE SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES BUILT BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ARE NOT FREE OF CHARGE ACTUALLY HERE IN UGANDA THEY ARE THE MOST EXPENSIVE UNIVERSITIES. BY THE WAY WHY DO YOU MENTION RCCG? RCCG IS GIVING BACK TO THE SOCIETY AND SO THEY ARE HELPING YOU TO DEVELOPE YOUR COUNTRY. I WAS READING ABOUT THR YELLOW DAY WERE MTN AND RCCG GAVE BACK TO THE SOCIETY. STOP YOUR SELFISH MIND GROWW UP BE A TRUE CITZEEN OF NIGERIA.
Princewill Anyanwu
24 June 2009 07:38Can we all called Nigerians simply shut our mouths up for just a second.we have tried everything name it, fighting(civil war), tribalism, Preaching, praying and talking and we have failed enmasse.why dont we try SILENCE.Talk is cheap,that even a drunk will tell you he’s not while he staggers down road.Our case is impossible, our nation state impossible, nothing seem right and just nothing or anyone seem to have an answer to our multi dimensional crisis.Who is better than anybody??Who can lead us better?? who can prophesy better??NO NOT ONE, BUT GOD.Can we simply seek God for direction, vision and and ask that His light may shine upon us as a people and even then , we may speak.May God help us.