About 10 years ago, I was so ‘fascinated’ by the outrageous antics, dual-personalities, theatricals, pretentiousness, sinful opulence, and phariseesm, of some of our men of God (MOG) that I decided to pay a close attention to these characters by opening a ‘file’ for them.
Some are criminals, some are fetish, some are outright entertainers, some hypnotise and dispossess their gullible followers, some make outrageous claims, and some adopt weird methodologies. A good number, by their body language, have little regard for Christ, their Master, whom they claim to proclaim, ignoring what he said or how he lived his life or only remembering when it is convenient for them. Some of them, according to Max Romeo and the Up-setters are busy stealing in the name of the Lord. They come in his name but unfortunately, they are devoid of his character and principles.
Some contradicted themselves, others rubbished both the virus and the vaccine, some enacted the 11th commandment: thou shall not be vaccinated, claimed that they could cure or that they actually cured Coro-victims
It has always been like this because even Christ himself lamented: They preach but do not practice… they do all their deeds to be seen by men.. they love being called Rabbi (pastor; man of God) neglecting the weighty matters of law justice, mercy and faith….inside they are full of extortion and rapacity… they are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. You serpents, brood of vipers; how can you escape being condemned to hell? (Matthew, 23, 1-7 13-33).
Some of them even agree with the above unflattering picture: Thus saith the Lord has become a common tune in the mouths of many in our society. There are so many self-appointed prophets showcasing themselves and their ministration on the media. They use high-sounding words, push people down under purported anointing and are always quick to make prophetic declarations on every trending issue in the society. The most unfortunate fact of their life is that they have no knowledge of the God they claim to represent. They have in turn made their followers twice children of hell.
These are imposters and deceivers in the world. (Pastor Kumuyi, Daily Manna, 15/7/21). Unfortunately, my plan to do a series on these MOG has not yet materialised because of other matters contesting for attention and because when you think you have seen it all, worse and more bizarre cases crop up and all of them start with Thus says the Lord but God has said Do not listen to the prophets; they speak a vision of their own and not from the mouth of the Lord. I have not sent these prophets and yet they ran; I have not spoken to them and yet they prophesied( Jeremiah,23) and in effect I have NOT sent them (Jer, 27:15)!
When I started this self-appointed responsibility to watch and report on Coro in 2020, I did not place the pastors on the periscope but before long, they started asking for my attention. The first to seek my attention was, Prophet David Kingleo Elijah, GO of Mount of Possibility Church, Ojo, Lagos, when he boasted, “I am going to China to deal with Coronavirus. That was when Coro was a hear-say issue. By the time Nigeria became Coronised, I did not hear from him again. There was also the GO of Hand of Healing Ministry who sent Coro out of Edo State. But they ‘failed his hand’ because Oga-Coro wrecked havoc in Edo State, as it did all over the world with 7694 cases and 321 deaths as at 9/4/22.
As we are gradually removing Coro from the front-burner, so as to effectively face other existential challenges, including the Russian aggression of Ukraine, as well as the economics and politics of transition in Nigeria, I have the presence of mind to x-ray the roles of these our MOG in the war against Coro. Some contradicted themselves, others rubbished both the virus and the vaccine, some enacted the 11th commandment: thou shall not be vaccinated, claimed that they could cure or that they actually cured Coro-victims, some made outlandish prophesies and claims, some manufactured special Coro-containment concoctions and some publicly disagreed with and rubbished, their fellow MOG regarding the nature and scope of Coro. Surely, a good number of them consumed an overdose of conspiracy theory concoctions.
My own charity in this instance will begin from abroad, and particularly in Kampala, where Pastor but Augustine Yiga of Revival Church Kawaala was among the first to say that there was nothing like Coro and that it was an ordinary flu. As a reward for his ‘medical-scientific discovery,’ he was arrested and charged for undermining government efforts in fighting the pandemic and misleading the public.’
Televangelist Jim Bakker was sued by the State of Missouri (US) for selling a false and fake anointing oil against Coro. On the other hand, Kenneth Copeland, a ‘compassionate’ shepherd, had directed his sheep to keep on tithing, since even if their businesses and jobs failed, God, their limitless source, will always provide more enough.
A Myanmar born Canadian Pastor David Lah, held that there was no Coro, held services against the existing protocol, caught the virus, along with his congregants and was jailed three months for his efforts. He had preached that Christians, or more particularly, his followers were immune from Coro and that if people hold the Bible and Jesus in their hearts, the disease will not come in,” Bishop Glenn of Richmond, Va.’s New Deliverance Evangelistic Church defied Coro, vowed to keep preaching unless I’m in jail or the hospital, held jampacked services in a state that limited public gatherings to 10 max, but eventually and unfortunately, he died of the virus!
In Australia, the Church of Ubuntu, sacked a church-worker, Lainie Chait, for getting vaccinated, because it is contrary… to what is required of us by our Lord God and Creator. She took legal action against the church. In what is a mixture of home and away story, a Christ Embassy pastor in Glen View3, Harare, was arrested and fined $2000 for pastoring 50 unvaccinated congregants. Another Christ Embassy Pastor, Marvin Osaghae, the church itself, and 30 of his ‘apostles,’ were fined $35000 for holding service in contravention of existing protocol in Australia. This appears to be a regular feature of Christ Embassy because their TV Channel, LoveWorld, was fined £125,000 by the UK authorities for misinforming the public about Coro.
Read also: Oga-Coro: The spiritual and religious dimensions (2)
Pastor Wiseman, a Kenyan and GO of Bishop Climate Ministries, London, was arraigned for fraud and unfair trading practices for selling Coro “plague protection kits” for £91 to his congregants. The kit contained a small bottle of oil and a red yarn. Red yarn? That was as the spirit directed. In Kenya, three pastors, Don Mutugi Majau, Joan Miriti, and Alex Gichunge sued the Interior, Health and ICT Cabinet Secretaries, the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police for banning Church services and religious gathering because of Coro. The pastors argued that their activities were restricted without consultations and that as the Church provided hope and solace, they should be classified as essential service providers, so that they could congregate, while abiding by the applicable protocols.
Late Tanzanian President and servant-leader, John Magufuli was not a pastor but he was very Pastoristic in his Coro-related utterances and reactions. He refused to close down churches because he believed that they provided healing, seeing the Coro outbreak as satanic, which could not survive in the body of Christ because it will burn. He later announced that the test-kits were faulty as samples taken from paw-paw, goat and sheep tested positive and that he patronise Covid-Organics from Madagascar. A month later (June 2020) he declared Tanzania Coro-free, a feat achieved due to the prayers of the citizens. He had earlier commended priests and worshippers for not wearing cloves and masks and also expressed the fears that some of the items donated to cure Coro could actually spread the virus.
His death in 2021 was controversial because while the Tanzanian government announced that he died of heart disease many people attributed his death to Coro. A very bizarre one happened in India where a 70-year-old ‘priest’ Sansari Ojha from the Brahmani Dei Temple beheaded one of his parishioners, Pradhan, claiming that he was ordered by a goddess to sacrifice a human in order to bring an end to the pandemic in India.
Now finally back home, I start with Pastor Oyakhilome, who was firing on all cylinders while the WAC was at its hottest and whose disciples created records across the globe for defying Coro protocols – and paying for that. Actually, if there was an Anti-Coro Challenge, he would have easily won the gold cup unchallenged in Nigeria and be a good contender across the world.
