20th November, 2012
By Isaac Asabor
It is not an exaggeration to say that Peter was engaged in a dialogue with Jesus Christ before he was fully reinstated as one of the disciples of Jesus Christ. The threads of the dialogue can be found in the book of John chapter 21verse 15 to 23. No doubt, the kernel of the dialogue was that Peter should feed His sheep. In the same light, pastors of today’s churches are expected to feed their sheep (their followers).
Permit me to confess at this juncture that this piece is not a sermon but a personal view on how the vices of hypocrisy, deceit, levity, worldliness, materialism and greed have collectively reared their ugly heads into the church. The situation is literarily nauseating at the moment that the sheep are no more being fed. Rather, it is the shepherds (the pastors) that are collecting from the sheep to feed themselves. And they usually justify this action with the scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7 that says “Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk?”
This piece should not be seen as an expression of disrespect to our senior pastors and other men of God but it should be seen as a response to God’s commandment in Proverbs 27 verse 17 that urges us to be supportive to one another. The scripture says “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Our men of God need the intercession of other Christians as it is very obvious that most of them are seemingly racing through the wrong track in the Christian race. An African proverb says “When the elders seem to forget the tenet of the tradition, the younger ones should always remind them on what the tradition says.” It may not be wrong to say that it is expedient to sharpen some of our pastors at this “jet-age” with the word of God.
This view may sound absurd to some religious zealots but they need to be reminded that falling away from the Christian race is not exclusively a probem for “baby-Christians”. “Big men” in the Christendom can fall as well. In fact, the Bible is replete with stories that revolve on how men of God like Moses, Saul, Samson, Judas Iscariot and David among others disobeyed God. And the Bible told us that they individually paid the costly price of disobedience. The truth in this context is that if great men of God that are mentioned above disobeyed God in their walk with God, on what spiritual pedestal can our men of God stand and boast that they are infallible to fall? It is not an exaggeration to say that the men of God cited above were highly loved by God before they individually disobeyed Him. Moses at various times spoke and heard from God. David was a man after God’s heart. God anointed Saul to the extent that he is today remembered as a warrior. Samson was purposely ordained by God to discomfit the Philistines. Judas Iscariot, as a treasurer, related with Jesus Christ on one-on-one basis. But they all fell at different stages in their respective ministry since there were apparently no younger believers to tell them the truth or sharpen them like Iron. The qualification for telling our fathers-in-the-lord the truth is not that of title but how much word of God one has. The truth is that many religious followers that are close to them would not tell them the truth as some of them are seemingly church scavengers that are searching for miracles.
Still in the same nexus, the Bible in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12 says “So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” Therefore, our fathers-in-the-lord should be very careful. Most believers erroneously think that the ability to perform miracles is a yardstick for making heaven. It is not. Jesus Christ did not see it as a condition because in Matthew 24 verse 24, His word says “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible.”
How can some pastors truly say they are feeding the sheep by destroying family values through their unscriptural activities? Some pastors today divorce their wives without blinking their eye lids while some relish in ostentatious lifestyles. Given all the vices that have been pointed out in the foregoing paragraphs, how can some pastors convince watchers of the Christendom that they are truly feeding the sheep? Paul in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1 said “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” If I may ask again which examples are some of our fathers-in-the-lord leaving for others to follow? Is it the example of acquisitiveness or that of the Spartan life Jesus lived? A friend jocularly said that with the manner some pastors are competing for the acquisition of private jets that the appropriate authority would soon consider the need for the construction of Christian airports and aerodromes across the nation.
Jesus never lived a life of acquisitiveness. In His messages as recorded in the new testaments He strictly frowned at it. In one of His messages in Matthew chapter 6 verse 19 He says “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” In my view, our spiritual fathers are supposed to demonstrate this scripture to their members rather than demonstrating the contrary. They are wont to tell us that “Our God is not a poor God.” But have they forgotten the word of God in the book of 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9 that says “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty we might become rich.” Since our pastors are expected to live the exemplary life which Jesus Christ lived, it would be necessary to ask, “How many of them would have the heart that is large enough to become poor for members of their church?”
At this point, it would be germane to ask, ”If Jesus walked on earth today, what church would He attend?” “Would He attend the one that has fleet of Jets?” Or “Would He attend the one that has an aerodrome constructed very close to its auditorium?” “What kind of pastors would He listen to?” Would He listen to the pastor that shouts even while holding the microphone? “Would He listen to the pastor that scream like a Karate fighter and kicks the air while preaching prosperity messages?
In fact, it would not be an overstatement to say that Jesus wanted a Church that would take care of the sheep (followers). It is for this reason that He instructed Peter to feed His sheep. But as it is today, the pastors are arguably not feeding the sheep as they ought to but they are engendering the culture of acquisitiveness. Or how else can one describe the lifestyle of a pastor that is deeply engrossed in the vices of materialism and worldliness and the obsession for private aircraft?
Most pastors of today rub minds with politicians all in the name of praying for them without admonishing the politicians of their corrupt tendencies. They should not forget the word of the elders that says “When a cat decides to sleep with a he-goat that it would wake up smelling like the he-goat it slept with.” Given the wisdom that is inherent in this wise saying, our men of God should mind how they literarily sleep with the politicians. Jesus never mingled with the politicians. If He wanted to, He would have done that with the Sadducees. The Sadducees was a politically inclined religious group. They were generally wealthy members of the Jewish aristocracy who had embraced Hellenism. If Jesus wanted to be praying with them He would have done that. The truth is that He prayed or interceded for them but He never prayed with them. For God’s sake! There is no way a man of God would pray with a man of means without receiving any “brown envelope.” Get it right! There is a huge difference between the phrasal verbs, “praying for” and “praying with.” The question goes again. “Is this how our men of God are feeding the sheep?”
I know that anyone that reads this piece may be tempted to question the rationale behind it. The reason for writing this piece cannot be far fetched as many Nigerians, particularly the impressionable youth population, reverently look up to these men of God as role models or idols. But as they look up to them, it is expedient to ask “What is the content of the message they usually receive from these pastors given the fact that communication is a powerful persuasive tool?”
Finally, given the unpalatable vices that have reared their ugly heads in the Christendom, it is incumbent on all pastors, Christians and religious bodies to put heads together in fashioning out a way of setting an agenda for a religious renaissance. The ball for self-regulation or self-cleansing should be set rolling. Our pastors should look for ways of saving the Christendom from unnecessary credibility problem that has come to characterize it. They should ensure they begin to feed the sheep as Jesus Christ commanded. They should begin to feed the sheep with salvation-focused sermons, and not prosperity-focused sermon. And they should also desist from living the life of acquisitiveness that is not in consonance with the messages they preach on daily basis. It is not enough to be feeding the sheep with the spoken words alone. The sheep can also be fed through the lifestyle of the shepherd.
•Isaac Asabor writes from Lagos