NIGERIA HOUSES OF HORROR (PART XVI)

“Nigeria Churches are Places Where Faith Goes to Die”

By Akin Ojumu

Appointments of people to spiritual positions in Nigerian Churches are based on, among other flimsy things, how long the person has been attending Church, how consistent they are in paying tithes, and the sheer size of the offering they give every Sunday. Very often, Churches ordain individuals to pastoral offices because of their eloquence of speech and the gift of gab. 

Churches in Nigeria flippantly elevate people to pastoral positions without giving much thought to the qualifications of pastors established in Scripture. Even Churches that give cursory consideration to some of the requirements stipulated in Titus 1:5-8 and 1 Timothy 3:1-13 for the appointment of Church leaders, those also tend to completely ignore Titus 1:9 and 1 Timothy 3:2 both of which require fidelity to the Word of God and fealty to sound doctrine as important prerequisite for becoming a shepherd of God’s flock.

“He must hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” (Titus 1:9).

Of all the requisite qualifications an individual must possess in order to be ordained a Church leader, by far the most important, in my view, is being grounded in Scripture. This is the pillar that holds all other qualifications together. Knowledge of God’s Word is the foundation of everything we do as Christians.

“Therefore an overseer must be…able to teach.” (1 Timothy 3:2).

To be ordained a leader in the Church of God you must be able to teach the Word of God. The foundational and preeminent qualification a pastor must possess is the ability to teach sound doctrine – i.e., accurately, reliably, and error-free.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Those who exercise spiritual authority in God’s Church must be Scripturally savvy and adequately equipped to refute those who assail God’s Truth. 

“My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.” (Proverbs 4:20-22).

Before you can feed God’s people with God’s Word which is able to give them life and sound health, you yourself must be well grounded in the Word. If, as a pastor, you can’t tell the difference between sound doctrine and error, you are a disaster waiting to happen. A pastor not versatile in sound doctrine is a clear and present danger to the flock over which he is a shepherd.

A pastor must hold the Word of God in high regard by studying it diligently and teaching it accurately. When a Church leader has a high view of Scripture, he makes expository teaching of Scripture a priority. For such a leader, the Bible passage is the topic, and support materials are used to explain and clarify it. 

The goal of a pastor is simply to expose the meaning of the Bible texts, verse by verse. He seeks to uncover the original meaning and intent of the writer of the Bible text contextually.

Beware of any pastor who makes himself the hero of the Bible story. A preacher who engages Bible twisting or makes Bible passages all about the flock and their temporal problems is ravenous wolf in pastor’s clothing.

Those charged with the task of appointing Church leaders must understand the gravity of the responsibility. The choice they make is the difference between life and death.

They must bind 1 Timothy 5:22 on their hands and on their foreheads as a constant reminder of the “Do nots” of choosing a pastor.

Do not ordain someone a pastor simply because the person has an angelic voice and when they sing, the sound of their voice can raise the dead.

Do not elevate someone to the position of a pastor because the person is a trendy dresser and when they dress up for Church on Sundays, they look like someone straight out of the front page of GQ magazine.

Do not make someone a pastor simply because there’s an opening for a pastor of the church’s new parish.

Do not promote anyone to the position of a pastor simply because the General Overseer has given the church a goal of planting a thousand new parishes and there’s a need for people to pastor them. 

Do not make yourself a pastor just because you had a falling out with your present denomination and so now you think the next thing to do is to go start your own.

Do not become a pastor simply because you heard voices in your head which you interpret as God calling to put on the pastor’s mantle.

Do not put on the pastor’s robe just because you are widely read, and you are well versed in human philosophies.

Do not take on a pastor’s job because you are good at giving TEDx motivational pep talks.

Do not think you are a pastor simply because of your business acumen and top-notch organizational skills.

Using the aforementioned round peg in a square hole approach in the appointments of Church leaders constitutes a complete disregard for clear Biblical instructions on what to look for in a person being considered to preside over the souls of men.

No one should ever be ordained a leader in God’s House without a thorough background check. There should never be a laying on of hand on anyone without an exhaustive period of ascertaining whether the person is qualified to be ordained.

“Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.” (1 Timothy 5:22).

There’s a grave danger in ignoring Biblical guidelines in the appointments of Church leaders. It is a grievous sin for unqualified persons to serve in pastoral positions. Likewise, those who ordain unqualified persons as Church leaders are equally guilty of committing an egregious sin. Both the unqualified persons and those who ordained them invite the wrath of God upon themselves.

Churches in Nigeria are places where faith goes to die. These are gold-plated sepulchers where Believers go to bury their belief in the tomb of false religion. Presiding over these funeral homes of faith are grifters and shysters of all shapes and sizes who are totally unqualified to be shepherds of God’s flock.

While hundreds of thousands of souls are willing hostages in Nigeria houses of horror, God is at work setting the captives free, one soul at a time. In His infinite mercies, God is letting loose those trapped in the snare of Motivational Churches of Sam Adeyemi and Paul Adefarasin. 

Every day, God is rescuing hostages from the dungeons of the Buying and Selling Churches of Enoch Adeboye and David Oyedepo. One by one, mesmerized and bewitched souls imprisoned in the Myth and Mystery Churches of Joshua Selman and Osayi Arome are getting liberated.

As long as there remains breath in me, I will not cease to wage war against these evil places of false worship. And I can’t wait for the day when not one stone will be left on another and the Nigeria houses of horror are all pulled to the ground and laid to waste.