Gospel has gone full cycle and is now a lucrative
money minting career! Early in the mornings, late into the night, on radio and
on the television stations, pastors are reaching out to Kenyans, supposedly
with the good news! They perform miracles at a fee, from poor and desperate
Kenyans in the name of being the much sought bridge between humanity and God!
As the congregations sink deeper into poverty, get loans and sell their
property in order to get the money for these Panda Mbegu initiatives,
the preachers blossom in riches. They live in leafy suburbs, drive
fuel-guzzlers and dress in flashy clothes! It is no surprise that most of these
pastors live and float in a sea of riches, in the leafy suburbs of Kenya, while
most of their devoted congregation fights to survive in the Mathares and
Kiberas of this country!
They perform miracles at a rate that would turn
Jesus Christ green with envy, and mesmerize Kenyans into believing that they
can forget all their troubles at the click of a prayer! The deal is simple; pay
some money and the prayers to solve your problems are offered! Do I remember
anywhere in the Holy Scriptures whereby Jesus Christ told Peter and brigade to
be charging some fees in exchange for prayers? I do not think so, but in Kenya
it is happening! The pastors come in all manner of fancy and business friendly
names and in order to create the customer friendly business, give all manner of
fancy names to their churches! Yes, preaching in Kenya has seen some jump into
riches, while condemning others to poverty and fantasies that have ruined
lives.
Almost every corner you turn into, the poster
announcing a miracle-laden church or pastor meets your eyes! The rules of
commercial advertising are key and that is why eye catching names must be used
in order to woo Kenyans! It is now a norm to find a church sandwiched in
between entertainment joints or sitting on the next floor after a bar, in a
storey building! In our buses too, pastors all the only passengers allowed to
stand all the way and deliver the good news!
At Jevanjee Gardens, Kencom Bus Stage, around the
Tom Mboya statute next to the Kenya National Archives and City Square, next to
Uchumi Supermarket along Aga Khan Walk among other places where Kenyans
wind up time or take breaks from their demanding jobs en masse, you will never
fail to see a purported pastor, Bible in the hand and screaming at the top of
his or her voice for Kenyans to change their ungodly ways or face Armageddon
when the day of atonement comes!
But just like any other career now, is it not
evident that it is about making money and not shepherding God’s sheep? Why is
it that in the buses and at bus stations, the same pastors stretch out their
hands and ask for offerings? In the many church halls that spring out in
every corner of the country, the M-Pesa numbers to give money dominates our
screens? Worse still in some churches, woe unto you if you dare give out coins
as your offerings! To these pastors, theirs is a God of big money and notes are
exactly what is needed from the worshipper! They have defied the adage that to
give is a matter of the heart, and not how deep your pocket is!
Do you remember the blind man whose sight was
restored by Jesus Christ in Bethsaida? Did Jesus blow his trumpet on his
miracle working prowess or better still, charge the afflicted some money or
payment for healing people of their afflictions or raising the dead? No, He did
not. Sadly most of the pastors in Kenya are blowing this very trumpet that
disregards the gift of humility, and for miracles to work at your work-place or
home or wherever you need it, then you must pay! Remember, the miracle babies
that turned out to be human trafficking?
The unfortunate thing is that Kenyans and pastors
join in this religious mesmerization and the antics fill our ears, eyes and
minds as the Gospel that the Son of Man preached while on earth is turned into
the Gospel of prosperity! We engage in a game of religion whose playing level
is not the same; pastors play it from a point of advantage as the Kenyans from
the point of disadvantage join in the fray! Who will save them from the
frustrations and hell that some of these charlatans in the name of pastors put
them through? Economic drain, mental manipulation, domestic wrangles and other
ills spring from these religious frolics. Have most of these churches sprang up
as economic entities that do not even remit their dues to the taxman? Has
gospel been turned into a money minting venture?
However in all this, we have great pastors who
are living the very example that Jesus taught us to follow! Those who have not
made a career out of frustrating Kenyans from the religious perspective!
Take your time and soberly examine it, and see if
it fits genuine gospel or outright religious mesmerization. Maybe, we are
justifying the philosopher who once said that religion is the opium of the
masses!
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