By Sunmola Olowookere
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It was a Tuesday morning and as usual, the church auditorium was filled with people that had come to seek the prophet’s counsel on the solution to their problems as early as 7 a.m.
Stern looking men were on ground to distribute tallies on which numbers were written. This would dictate the sitting arrangement and the order through which the people would see the man of God.
Outside, people were rushing to buy anointed bottled water, handkerchief and anointing oil which would carry the picture of the Man of God before he would be on seat for counseling.
Often times, these products are more expensive than the ones bought outside the church premises. Most people complained about the prices and would have preffered to buy elsewhere.
But having been warned that the ones bought outside could have been infected by the witches and wizards and may not work effectively, everyone would be forced to toe the line and buy from the church premises.
Such days carry a festive mood as the members/traders are sure to rake in good sales. The food sellers and the snack sellers take up stalls somewhere in the premises to sell goods to those that would become hungry from staying long in a bid to see the man of God for counseling.
Though it was recorded in the Bible that Jesus chased out those buying and selling around the synagogue and cautioned them not to turn his father’s house to a market place, most of these crop of prophets see nothing wrong in this arrangement.
Truly there are still some genuine men of God but recently the work of the Ministry have been proliferated by unscrupulous men that are least interested in the things of God. All they are after is enriching their pockets and becoming famous.
Most of the people that thronged theses church programmes were women of varying ages. Most of them would be looking pensive as they wondered whether it would get to their turn to see the prophet that day.
In almost all churches of the prophets in Nigeria. This is the usual scene.
Hmmm….indeed, man’s existence is full of ups and downs. In most life challenges, women are mostly affected as often times, they are the ones that stood in the gap for their men and families.
Women are known to be natural worriers, if there is such a word. However instead of seeking the face of God, they seek the face of mere mortals in seeking solutions to their problems.
According to the words of Apostle Timothy, “ Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
“For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
” Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”.
The above quotes were derived from the writings of Timothy, one of the Apostles that arose after the death of Christ; a staunch follower of the doctrines left behind by the Christ and which all Christians make allusions to even till the present time as their watchword.
His writings showed utter disdain for these women and their “daddies in the lord”. It all goes to show that the current trend in the Christendom whereby some women are led astray by fake prophets is not new. It must have been happening in the days of the apostles.
Although mentoring and counseling are essential ingredients of pastoral work but some pastors/prophets have led most gullible women in their fold astray by mentoring them wrongly oftentimes for what they (men of God) would stand to gain.
Olaide (not real names) is a single lady in search of a husband. She is getting on in years but the man of her dreams was nowhere in sight.
She heard of a prophet somewhere in the Akure metropolis who was reputed for making the things one desire to happen and went to his church.
The man of God on beholden in a beautiful damsel before told her that her case was very simple as she had found favour with the angels working with him.
He said that the solution to her problems lied in her lying with him chest to chest which will cause some of his anointing to flow into her body and thereby cure her of the evil influence tormenting her.
She was confused and she told the man of God that she would be back. Though the man had only said that they would lie chest to chest but who knows the progression that could ensue from there; it leaves little to the imagination.
If Biola later acquiesced to the touching of her endowed chest with the prophet’s flat ones, no man knows. Many women have been forced to do more bizarre things so that they could get a solution to their problems.
Recently, a video clip showing a pastor and a church member having sex in a bush trended on the social media. Anyone who watched the video could see the shock of discovery on their faces as the pastor lying atop the woman looked up in shock and unfortunately looked into the camera.
Most women are gullibly led astray by these crop of men mentioned above probably because they lack knowledge and erroneously believe that a mere man can solve their problems.
These days, the church auditorium is filled with women of different kinds of mindframes. What most of them are after is what they could not get from their relationships.
They abound in different church programmes. They move from one mountain to the next valley in search of that elusive thing; happiness. Unfortunately, gone are those mindset of the crop of apostles that arose after the day of Pentecost.
What obtains now is the latter day pastors consisting mostly of men who are driven into the work of ministry by the harsh economic realities that obtains in our society. Many are of the opinion that politics and church business are the most lucrative businesses in Nigeria as at present.
In these churches, women make the bulk of the worshippers. They are seen regularly at programmes while the number of their male counterparts present in such programmes are very minimal.
Most of these women love and respect their pastor more than their husbands. They become emotionally attached to their pastors who listen to their worries, sooth them and also pray with them.
Women are such simple creatures with simple needs. Little wonder, they often get carried away by some of these men who paraded themselves as Men of God but are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Worried by the current way in which some men of God conduct their activities, the true ones among them have begun to speak out against the atrocities.
Recently also, the authority of Christ Apostolic Church, Akinyele Region which comprises Lagos and Ogun States has ordered her Ministers not to invite a blind cleric and General Overseer of a certain church in the metropolis to any programme.
This was as a result of videos trending on social media, where the Prophet was seen singing hip-hop and fuji songs while ministering at the 5-day open air crusade organised by CAC Temidire District Headq.uarters, Ogijo.
The Regional Secretary of Akinyele Region, Pastor Samuel Adedayo stated in a text message which was sent to all Ministers in the region that they should steer clear of the man of God.
This goes to show that the Christendom is also aware of the wolves that are gradually infiltrating into the religion.
