By Sunmola Olowookere

Olabisi is a single mother of three in search of a better life; husband, good job and if possible travel abroad.

She saw the advertisement of a church programme that was coming up in Akure metropolis (name withheld) offering all sorts of miracles, she was excited as she watched the prophet boast on the screen “just come to the programme and you will be blessed. As soon as you lay your eyes on me, your problems are over”.

While sharing her experience with The Hope, she narrated that when she attended the programme, she was impressed by the prophet’s verbal prowess and the testimonies shared by the congregants. When the prophet called for “sowing seed to receive miracle”, she joined the long queue and transferred N20,000 out of her meagre savings.

She reasoned “if this is a scam, so many people will not be coming out to give out their hard earned cash”.

The prophet started from N100, 000 and she was shocked at how many people that could give away such sum of money. She was only able to participate when after calling the preceeding sums, he announced that he was condescending to N20,000 which would be the last offer, she along with others like her ran out to partake of the ‘grace”.

After the service, she joined those that wanted to see the ‘man of God.’ He prayed for her and gave her an appointment to see him the next day so he could pray for her better. When she came, he advised her that he needed to marry a powerful prophet or have one as a sex partner so that the strong anointing that he carries would break the yoke of misfortune on her.

Although, shocked at the unconventional solution, she believed in the prophet and went further to beg him to be her sex partner as she does not know any prophet she could ask.

After several couplings and paying of prophet offering, none of the good things she was expecting came forth and she was very dejected. She had spent her money booking hotel rooms for their “sessions” and there was nothing to show for it. She suspected that she had been scammed but she could not fight so she had to leave quietly.

This is just one of the trauma that people go through when they are caught in the claws of a fake prophet.

Scandalous things are happening in the christendom today because many people that were not called into the prophetic are now claiming to be prophets.

In most religious countries of the globe, the office of the prophet out of the five folds of the Ministry in the Christendom has been adjudged to be the most celebrated and coveted by clergymen. The remaining; the office of the teacher, Evangelist, Pastor and the apostle do not attract much crowd as does the office of the prophet.

Due to the fact that the office of the prophet pulls more crowd. It is the most lucrative and the adulation by worshippers sometimes could be akin to one given to a semi god. It is a heady experience when frenzied worshippers hungry for prophesy scream “Prophesy papa”.

Many atrocities are committed in recent times in the name of religion. So much that many people no longer give the usual respect and honour to Men of God.

Unwholesome practices

A popular female prophetess in Akure for a long time had been into strange practices that were alien to the Christian faith. Being a radio personality, she has a large number of people that attended her prayer programmes.

Charming and outspoken, she has a large number of followers among the youths.

One of the most bizarre of the unwholesome practices she was noted for is washing of the private part of spinsters seeking for husbands with a special soap and sponge. Many spinsters were willing to try it because she was a member of their sex. Whether the process worked for them was another matter entirely.

A popular prophet along Ondo road in the Akure metropolis is in the habit of spitting in a jug of tea and serve them to women that were seeking for the fruit of the womb. He told them that his saliva contained “anointing ” that would make them pregnant no matter their medical conditions.

This group of women are very desperate and many of them thronged his church after some of those that took the tea laced with spittle began to testify of getting pregnant.

He also encouraged some of his members to eat grass and weeds assuring them that it would heal them of any infirmity.

Despite these practices being strange and bizzarre, people, even learned ones still thronged their churches in search of miracles.

Fake miracles

In order to hoodwink unsuspecting members into believing more in the racket they run as Ministry, many have deployed means of stage managing fake miracles.

A 44-year-old woman, Mrs. Bose Olasukanmi who was used by several ‘fraudulent’ pastors to perform fake miracle was recently arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Lagos after months of trail on her by the undercover operatives.

Olasukanmi used to relocate to another church after being paid for every successful performance so that the ‘ trick would not be exposed.

When the bubble burst, the suspect Olasukanmi went into hiding while the fraudulent pastors quickly made a video of how and when they were performing the fake miracle, which looked real to the unsuspecting congregation as they watch her being healed by the pastors.

“Once she enters the stage, she would pretend that the broken right arm had been hanging and all medical efforts to heal her in both orthodox and native hospitals proved abortive until one of her friends, who is a member of the church advised her to try the church.

“At this point, one of the ministering pastor or the general overseer would step forward and demonstrate as if the Holy Spirit had entered him.

After speaking in tongues for some minutes, he would order the woman to come very close to him while the congregation would be silent anxiously waiting to see the miracle.

“The pastor would ask the woman: Do you want to be healed? Have you been born again? If she answers in the negative, he then led her to Christ in prayer. He would then order the evil spirit that bent her arm to depart and be destroyed by fire. As he is ordering the evil spirit to depart, the hanging broken right arm will be coming back gradually to its form until it is completely stretched down and normal and he would ask the congregation to praise the lord. While the congregation is busy praising God. One of the church members whose role is take the woman away, would appear and whisk her away.

When operatives of the team swung into action, the woman Mrs. Olasukanmi was arrested and brought to Lagos and she confessed to the crime and promised police that she would lead them to the pastors and all the people who played different roles in the scam.

Rape of women in church auditoriums

A 35-year-old pastor in Akwa Ibom State was arrested by the police for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl inside his church. The police said Nnamso Friday Jacob,  otherwise known as “Major Prophet Honesty Jesus,’ drugged the girl before he raped her. The incident reportedly occurred on June 23 at Mr Jacob’s church, the Living Power of Zion Church, Ndue Eduo, Okon Eket, Eket Local Government Area of the state. The police spokesperson in the state, Nnudam Fredrick, The police said the girl went for “counselling ‘” and “deliverance” which was fixed by the suspect who is the general overseer of the church.

“While she was in the prophet’s counselling room, the suspect administered an intoxicating liquid substance to the victim and thereafter took advantage of the victim and had unlawful carnal knowledge of her,” Mr Fredrick, a chief superintendent of police, said. Mr Jacob is the second pastor to be arrested for rape in Akwa Ibom in less than a month.

Another pastor was also arrested in the state for keeping eight teenage girls in a so-called deliverance centre and allegedly raping one of them said to be 15 years old.

The pastor, identified as Inimfon Eyo Inyang, 33, was said to have also made an attempt to rape a 21-year-old girl. He was among the 12 people arrested for rape in the state.

Fraud

The alleged activities of fake prophets and pastors are said to be on the increase in the south.

The fake clergymen are alleged to have wreaked havoc in the states by their actions. They are said to have indulged in duping and raping unsuspecting marred women in recent times.

It is estimated that over 500 women have been allegedly duped and/or raped in the last three years by the ‘Men of God’, According to unconfirmed reports. A number of desperate salvation seekers in Edo and Delta states have recounted atrocious ordeals in the hands of these ‘prophets and pastors who are often clothed in the best dresses and wearing the best perfume, as a way of attracting unsuspecting prey. Several unsuspecting members of the public have lost their money to men wearing white that parade themselves as prophets, pastors or prayer warriors.

According to a media report, the victims say that these men display all manners of spiritualism and persuaded them to pay money into their various bank accounts.

A self-acclaimed ‘reverend’ in Benin City ran into trouble when one of his schemes back-fired and he got exposed.

He was noted for reportedly organising prayers for people that needs to get their visas to travel abroad, and conducting deliverance services for barren women. The fake cleric pounced on a young man who had planned to travel abroad, collected money from him, and promised to “pray” for him to get a visa. When the young man was turned down when he appeared at the embassy of the country he wished  to travel to for his visa, matters took a nasty turn. He promptly alerted the police that the false prophet had collected N250,000 to “pray” for hint, and the ‘reverend’ was arrested.

Murder

Many of these prophets are also embroiled in murder cases. Few years ago, a popular prophet went through a huge scandal when a human skull was alleged to have been uprooted from his altar.

The Cross River State Police Command also arrested a 45-year-old prophet and founder of a church known as “ Victory is Sweet Ministries ”, Micheal Morris Bassey for alleged possession of a human skull, threat to life as well as possession of charms.

Bassey was arrested  after he was reported to the police by a victim. A human skull, effigies, as well other criminal charms, were also found inside “covenant ” box placed at the altar in the church.

Christian Associations speaks against influx of fake prophets

Religious leaders have expressed worry over rise in the number of fake pastors , scammers , charlatans and herbalists disguising as prophets in churches and duping unsuspecting members.

They are specifically worried by the high level of unholy activities becoming a daily occurrence in the “House of God”.

They found equally troubling, the upsurge in cases of prophets and pastors being arrested, paraded and jailed for offences such as frauds, rape, rituals, kidnappings, stealing and embezzlement among other nefarious activities.

They described the situation as disappointing, a dent on the body of Christ as well as discouragement hindering people from giving their lives to Christ.

In a report published in The Hope, the General Secretary of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Supreme Council Worldwide, Pastor Ejide Aladesaye said the quest for wealth and fame pushed many into pastoral work, even when they were not called by God.

According to him, pastors that were truly called by God knew that all the ungodly acts are satanic and the end is destruction.

He said the dos and donts are clearly written in the Bible, adding that it is only God that enriches people, not through shady means.

He posited that fight against sin needed self denial, true modesty and contentment in order not to end in destruction.

Also, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),Ondo State chapter, Rev. Father Anselm Ologunwa said those so-called clergymen were not in the spirit and were not of God.

He hinted that church registration and verification were ongoing in the state in continuation of what his Predecessor did so as to ascertain those who actually went to seminary or theology schools, adding that this would be the first step his administration would take on the issue.

According to him, the exercise would enable the association to know who the self-acclaimed pastors are, their roots and background and those who are not in line, would be fished and flushed out.

“Because of the economic crisis, many people have come under the umbrella that they are pastors. That is why in the State, we have taken step by registering Churches and want to know pastors that are under these churches to ascertain whether they have truly passed through the mandated training and schools. :

“Many have been brainwashed by this fake pastors, just probably because they were looking for miracle. Some who are using charms to perform the so called miracles and have dragged many into the kingdom of darkness,” he explained.