Singer cum writer, Etectera in his latest article kicks against Nigerian Churches.
According to him, many of the Churches in the country today are living a lie.
To back up his claim, he highlighted eight reasons why the church is leading Christians straight to hell as seen below:
1. There is almost no evidence whatsoever that the early church had
their “services” on a Sunday. They gathered together ‘from house to
house’ virtually every day! People did not dress up and “go to church.”
There were no denominations or separate groups with different ‘labels.’
They lived their lives together – And the apostles in Jerusalem preached
everyday at a huge open-air gathering, not “hidden away” inside four
walls. Church buildings do not exist in the Bible. They were invented
around 200-300 AD, when the church was in serious decline. Church
buildings are anti-New Testament, and they bring with them a host of
problems and traditions. It was when the church fell into the hands of
Rome that this concept of the “cathedral” took over. And today, we are
still spending millions building these beautiful monuments while the
worshippers are starving.
2. The words “prosper” or ‘prosperity’ were NEVER used by Jesus at
all – and only mentioned a few times in the entire New Testament. Yet
our greedy pastors have built kingdoms upon them. The words – “sell what
you have and give to the poor” and “deceitfulness of riches” and “you
cannot serve God and mammon” and “woe to you that are rich” were
DEFINITELY used by Jesus and the apostles, but you don’t hear them
preached by your pastors, do you?
3. Tithing is not a New Testament practice at all. And it is being
shamefully abused by today’s preachers. In the Old Testament, tithing
was only applicable to Jews and to the land of Israel and that was at a
time when a great number of them lived in Babylon, Ammon, Moab, Egypt
and Syria. As a result of that, the land they occupied became tithe-able
lands. Tithes were not acceptable from Gentiles’ lands. So my brothers
and sisters, you need to ask your pastor why he is collecting tithes
here in Nigeria. Also, the only people authorised to receive tithes were
the Levites – (Hebrews 7:5). If your pastor is collecting tithe from
you, ask him if he’s from the tribe of Levi. Even Jesus who was a Jew
couldn’t collect tithes because he wasn’t from the tribe of Levi but
from that of Judah. And if your pastor insists that being a worker in
the lord’s vineyard qualifies him as a Levite, please remind him that
Levites had no land and did not own properties.
4. The Jesus of today’s church is a “Father Christmas,” a Jesus who
exists mainly for our own “happiness;” a Father Christmas who wants to
rain down continual blessings upon us; a Jesus of grace and mercy
without judgement, righteousness or truth. Our gross misrepresentation
of who Jesus really is, is one of the most serious offences of today’s
church. We worship a “plastic” Jesus – one that we have painted in our
own image. What an offence to God.
5. What we have today are churches that are so loose that they excuse
any sin or misconduct, including homosexuality and adultery. Aren’t we
supposed to accept only the truth of God’s word? But instead, we have
opted for a modern church that is socially based, smooth and
sophisticated, and presented like a Nollywood movie with men and women
of ogboni fraternity dressed in their occultic regalia occupying special
seats during services. Something is wrong!
6. What happened to the strong calls for repentance that brought
thousands down to the altar to repent and ask Jesus Christ to save their
souls? This is the litmus test for Christianity; it is the essence of
the Cross; it is the great commission that Jesus commanded us with. If
your church is not winning souls, then it is like a barren woman, and it
is a shame. Something is wrong!
7. What happened to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost? Do we even know
what it means anymore to feel the presence of the Spirit of God descend
on a service and fill up the room with holiness? Or we just love that
party atmosphere and excitement when the choir plays a boogie-down song?
Or we love to scream “ride on pastor” in the excitement we get when
some charismatic preacher works the crowd? It’s been so long we’ve felt
the presence of the Holy Spirit that we don’t know what it is anymore.
Something is definitely wrong!
8. Lots of pastors are aware that there is something very wrong with
the church today. They know there is little ‘fear of the Lord.’ They
know there is no deep repentance or deep moving of the Holy Spirit.
They know that it is just the same old “game” being played every
week. A lot of them are very aware of this, but they will not do
anything about it. They will not rock the boat. And they will destroy
anyone who comes along trying to do something. They do not want any
reforms. There is too much to lose. They have their careers and their
“kingdoms” at stake. This is the truth of the matter. Most of you are
worshippers of your pastors and not God. Many of you are hell bound. So
pray my brothers and sisters. Pray for your souls. Let me stop here and
leave room for you to call me names. But do remember that the church is
leading you to hell – not me!
