By Olumide Goodness Adeyinka
In the 80s when some of us became very serious with our Christian experience, when we moved from being nominally a Churchgoer to becoming a Church member and publicly declared our allegiance to Jesus Christ and identified with His death and resurrection, what was in vogue then was how much you can prophesy or see vision with accuracy or how much strange tongue you can speak with interpretations. We were concerned so much with how potent our prayer was and the nonnegotiable importance of evangelism. We were consumed with the passion of leading a life of total surrender to Christ even though we had a lot of self-strivings in it, but at least we all wanted to see the kingdom grow and people get their liberties from the clutches of sin. One thing we all ran away from was RELIGION. We hated it, especially the way and manner it was passed to us by our parents, and wanted the liberty of the human soul to praise and worship God. It was like a prisoner let loose from jail. We just wanted a personal Godly experience.
That movement was interesting initially and believers grew in great numbers until about the late 80s and the 90s when something strange started coming into the mix. I believe the influx of young people in their 20s, 30s and 40s then became what the Impostors see as “big catch” or what I call prey. Pentecostal ministers then were satisfied with what little they get from offerings and stipends from the congregation. The Church and ministries were ours and not theirs. We were involved in every aspect of the development of the ministries and everybody knew everybody. Preachers were networking with each other through friendship across the aisles, and there was no suspicion or backbiting. I remember the Church I was part of bringing another minister from just about 3 miles away. Nobody was thinking about “sheep-snatching” because we saw all people belonging to God and they could worship God anywhere. Remember though that the Pentecostal Churches were booming so greatly at this onset, and it was clear to anybody in the Orthodox Churches that it is just a matter of time, the Pentecostal movement will sweep the entire land. I believe it was at this point that the enemy decided to sow Tares in the midst of the True Church. I will like to enunciate the analogy from the scripture in Matthew 13: 24-30
“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn”
The unfortunate thing here is not that the enemy came and sowed Tares in the True Wheat but that men slept. We slept for too long in the Church.
I remember vividly in a meeting in 1989 when a minister of God who is a Bishop said before all of us that the mandate of his calling is to show the world that the Church can be rich and wealthy. He was riding a goodly Mercedes Benz 280 extended version then. By 1990 precisely, the same Bishop was boasting about giving cars out to people as seeds. We clapped for him in the 80s and clapped him in error in the 90s too. The church was asleep then and had been too asleep.
By the early 90s, it had become a vogue for Pentecostal ministers then to ride in exotic cars precisely Mercedes Benz to show their “higher calling” in God. At that point in history the Tares were growing as the Wheat was growing too because the Church was asleep. It became so apparent that certain blocks of minister needed to separate themselves from others because they have proved to be “called” by their evident “fruits”. Now they have all the perks of lustful eyes with lustful desires. At that time in question Churches were seriously praying Nigerian businesses to fail so that they can have their warehouses to use. Money had taken over by then absolutely. The power of money became the evidence of God’s calling and presence. Discrimination by facts of how much money you have or can raise, how many members you can pull together, what car you drive, the size of the house you have or are building, and what league you belong became the instruments of definition.
Even at this stage of the growth of Tares and Wheat, the serious ones were still doing the work of God with the integrity of their heart but were severely threatened by the “success” of the Apostate Church.
By 1991-92, the same Bishop I spoke about earlier was boasting about buying a private jet to show the world that the Church too has means. It is important for us to realize the original intent and reason behind the ministry of “Jets” and “Cars” and “Mansions”. It has nothing to do with evangelism or ministering to the people. It was TOTALLY ambition-driven.
At the same time in question, the divide in the Church was as wide as political ideological clashes within the Nigeria Polity. Gangs and groups were born to pursue certain agenda, cults developed to suppress others within the same quest for “souls”.
By the middle 1990s, every minister in Nigeria Pentecostal movement belongs to one gang or group or the other operating at the peril of others. Those who were charismatic and eloquent enough to fleece the sheep badly in the name of Christ were turning to “fathers” and even their mates that were not so fortunate became “sons”. They do not have a choice though except if they want to be real in an unreal world of deceit for plenty. This evil trend went on for so long unchecked because the church was asleep for too long.
I am right at the crux of my writing for this week. This is the beginning of Rat Racing in the Church in Nigeria.
A Rat Race is a term used to describe an endless, self-defeating, purposeless and pointless pursuit of what is not missing. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of laboratory Rats trying to escape while running around a maze or in a wheel. They have no where to go except the delusional feelings of labouring to escape to peace. There is no peace for the wicked says God’s word. Rats are seen to expend a lot of energy and time doing nothing in real sense of it, so are all this Charlatans who parade themselves as Men of God all over the place.
By the late 1990s, it had become so unbearable for those who had struggled to maintain a level of devotion to God to cope. They were scorned, despised and called names, and unfortunately many of them gave in. It was like they had no choice when the choice was clearly cut out. They also had to begin a regimen of deceit and lies and cunning messages that are concocted from hell all in their bid for find their footing. They had to encourage members to do everything to show that God is actually blessing them. Messages like ‘watch and pray’ are then twisted to mean one should be sensitive to grab God’s blessings when the show up. Members who are civil servants and those in private sector of the economy went so wild at the prospects of proving that God indeed can bless abundantly beyond their means or emolument. Stealing from public coffers became the order of the day while the ministers steal from the pulpit claiming “he who works in the temple should eat from the temple”.
By the 2000s, the competition had gotten fiercer with Pastors and Bishops now competing for almost everything. They compete for our land on every inch of the expressway, they compete for exotic cars to see who rides the newest customised edition of expensive cars, they compete for who builds the biggest sanctuary, who has the biggest membership, who pays the Pastor the most, they also compete for security personnel companies to see who is better protected. That is not all, they also contest for membership and fight over it especially if it is a “big fish”. They contest for air time on both TV and Radio. The more victories you have in all of this struggles the more “anointed” you are and the more approved you will be.
The weapon of their competition is more virulent than you can imagine. Blackmail is the order of the day. Lies about others are very cheap weapons that everyone can afford. More expensive weaponry are underground dealings to subjugate others and frustrate their economic calculations especially those who are not in their camp. They use Media houses for battle and use PR companies to launder their battered images. Do not forget though that they also have an army of punters who are willing to die in defending them to their own peril.
Most recently, the Race of the Rats is in the economic relevance of Nigeria. They are presently monopolising the educational institutions in Nigeria, they have bought massively into estates and banking. They are doyens of the hospitality industries and still not satisfied with their billions. Peace has no price, else they would have bought into it long time ago.
The question you will tend to ask is when is it going to be enough. The answer is until death do them part with their socio-pathological double life that had instigated the true Church into error.
Ambition is a desire for personal achievement, so it can be good, but when it becomes centered on competition it breeds extremism. An Irish Poet Oscar Wilde said and I quote “Ambition is the last refuge of failure”
Finally, this article should not be misconstrued as an attack on any named person imagined or real. It is an attempt to bring the Church back from his slumber because we have been asleep for too long. Arise and lets go Shine!!!
Olumide Goodness Adeyinka can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
