DESPERATE PEOPLE DO DESPERATE THINGS (PART II)

“Celebrity Preachers & their Bodyguards”

By Akin Ojumu

Religious leaders of our day go to great lengths to shield themselves from the very people to whom they claim they have been called as ministers of the Gospel. There’s a sense you get that these people who are supposed to be shepherds prefer to keep their distance from the sheep.

As soon as they attain a certain level of celebrity status, they immediately seclude themselves in fortified fortresses within gated communities. The moment they become Big Men of God” or rise to the rank of a “God’s General,” they sequester themselves in palatial mansions that are walled off with barbed wire lined tall fences and brightly lit grounds patrolled by security personnel armed to the teeth.

When they venture out of their barricaded castles, it’s always in the company of gun-toting, menacing looking, bulky biceped bodyguards whose body language exude an aura that screams at you, “Steer clear! Don’t you dare come near!!”

Even when these supposedly anointed preachers minister in the House of God, their elevated chain-fenced pulpits are conspicuously far removed from the congregation. To add to the distance between themselves and the masses, the pulpits are further surrounded by yet another layer of security personnel whose concealed weapons are unmistakably visible from underneath their dark suits.

Now, why a heavily anointed and powerful preacher would surround himself with machine-gun carrying bodyguards remains a mystery to me. With their much-vaunted superpower and anointing, you’d assume they’ll rely on the protection of the invisible horses and chariots of fire of the heavenly bodyguards and not AK-45 toting human bodyguards. It’s instructive that the irony of it all seems lost on them. They fail to realize that they project faithlessness, powerlessness, and weakness by their reliance on human bodyguards for protection.

By their preferred choice of protection, these celebrity pastors create a bubble of isolation around themselves that makes them totally detached and disengaged from the poor masses they claim to be serving. Unwittingly, those who are supposed to be God’s shepherds have become inaccessible and unavailable to God’s sheep.

This is in stark contrast to the Shepherd of the lost sheep of Israel, the Lord Jesus. He was always reachable by His own. Unlike the religious leaders of our day, the Savior of our soul did not live in a heavily fortified house. He did not seclude Himself from human contact. Neither did He hire bodyguards to keep the hoi polloi at bay. And you most definitely didn’t need to book an appointment before you could you see Him.

The Lord Jesus spent His entire ministry out in the open. He went about His mission of redemption walking the dusty streets of the villages and traveling on foot on the highways leading to the cities. He preached the Good News from the hillsides to the countryside, He proclaimed the Gospel message in the fields of Galilee, and He preached salvation in the synagogues of Capernaum. He taught in the home of the tax collector and mingled with the worst sinners. Everywhere He went, great crowds followed Him unmolested and undisturbed.

On the rare occasions when He stepped away from the masses, it was to retreat into isolation for the purpose of rest, to spend time alone with His disciples for instruction, and sometimes for the purpose of being alone with His Father. But He always came back to the crowds. It was to them He came, and it was to them that He revealed Himself.

For apologists of modern-day celebrity preachers, who’ll try to justify their need for heavy security detail by claiming it’s because their lives are in danger, let me remind you that Jesus didn’t make Himself accessible and available to the masses because it was safe for Him to do so. He was a celebrity too, and His life was even in much greater danger.

Jesus faced far worse threats than any modern-day preacher. The masses that followed Him were a nuisance, mostly looking for a miracle of food or healing. They hounded Him, crushed Him, and restricted His movement. This throng of people kept Jesus from even being able to eat a meal.

Beyond being a nuisance, the fickle minded crowd also threatened His life. On several occasions, they tried to kill Him. When He preached in His hometown, Nazareth, His own kins people tried to throw Him off a cliff to His death. In addition, the religious leaders were after Him too. From the moment Jesus grew in fame, these folks plotted to have Him killed.

Nevertheless, in spite of His frequent journeys, danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from His own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false disciples, the Good Shepherd made Himself accessible and available to the lost sheep. Because of His love and compassion for the poor masses, Jesus was always around them. 

Can the same be said of modern-day celebrity preachers?