Opinion: Dear Christian, COZA won’t be an excuse on judgement day

by Saatah Nubari

biodun fat

My point is that we should live our lives, serve God and don’t worry about the pastors, they are also in this race with us. That your pastor sleeps with a PCU (Pastoral Care Unit) member doesn’t mean God does not exist or that Christianity is a sham.

I had tried keeping this to my self for sometime now, or let’s just say since May this year. It has been my church since I entered the University, The Circle International Church. Located in the outskirts of Port Harcourt, and boasting of about 2,000 members every Sunday, I was proud to be a worker in that house of God. It all started when Mrs. Zelda, called me on a Saturday, to come to their house, to help her send some stuffs to some church leaders since her husband, Pastor Zelda Anselem was a guest minister in another church for a program. With the usual zeal to serve God in any way necessary, I dressed up and went to their house, which was opposite the Corpus Christi Cathedral, along Garrison in Port Harcourt.

On getting to the house, Mrs. Zelda brought out some boxes that contained church invitation flyers.  After moving 4 of those boxes into the church car I was supposed to use in conveying the flyers, she asked me to come to the bedroom to pick up 2 more boxes in the wardrobe. I had nothing in mind; I didn’t see anything wrong in going into the bedroom of my pastor since I was only doing God a service. On getting to the room, she directed me to the wardrobe. As I picked the boxes and turned back so I could head for the door, lo and behold, there was Mrs. Zelda, the wife of my pastor, standing in front of me bla bla bla bla bla. You were expecting me to say naked right?

Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, there’s no church with the name “The Circle International Church”, and neither is their any human being— let alone pastor with the name Pastor Zelda Anselem. I wanted to even use a name like Pastor Zenda, it was underlined red, and so I right clicked and chose Zelda from the list. The point is this is how simple it is to write a false story and castigate someone. I’m not saying Ese Walter confession is wrong, neither am I saying her heart felt story is right. I’m just keeping my options open; after all they are both human and are programmed to err.

Well the COZA scandal involving Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo and Ese Walter is no longer news. As I write this, Pastor Biodun should have mounted that pulpit to deliver a wonderful sermon. I don’t know if the allegations (as at now, there are more than one) leveled against him are correct, and honestly, I don’t care. Let me start by stating that I’m not a Christian. Don’t get me wrong, I’m also not a Muslim or atheist—as a matter of fact, I do believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. Being a Christian means you are Christ like, and we all know what Christ like means. To be Christ like, you have to be without sin, and I happen not to fit that description. So let’s just say I’m trying to be a Christian, i.e. Christ like.

I won’t say much. I’ll just remind us that this is a heavenly race; I think it is a marathon and not a 4×400. If it were to be a relay, we’d know that we have to make sure our team wins, so as to make heaven.  Well, I’m sorry peeps, this is a marathon, and it is everybody OYO! (On your own).

When people say that men of God are not that important, and that we all have access to God, I laugh. They are not wrong; we do have access to God individually, but let’s look at it differently. Everything has a hierarchy, even Christianity. You’ve heard of Pastors going mad while trying to cast out demons, and you’ve also heard of pastors who have cast out demons, now what’s the difference? That a pastor went mad doesn’t mean he wasn’t anointed. It simply means him level no reach the demon own. Sorry for deviating from our COZA story. The point is that pastors are very important; they are like a link between us and God, mostly a link between people who have no link to God.

Let’s not judge anybody based on a story we read, lets try to make heaven irrespective of what our pastor does, did or is doing. There was a reason God gave us the bible, if you think your pastor is not linking you to God the way you want, carry your bible, go on your knees and link yourself to God. When I pray, I don’t ask God for much. I have now started asking him for something different, I ask him to be fair on judgment day because he knows how easy it is to sin and how difficult or almost impossible it is not to sin. His son Jesus Christ was also tempted too. I also pray that he judges me last because I’d love to have a long laugh during the court proceedings, right before I go to wherever I’m judged to go.

We don’t know how God will judge. We might be arranged ethnic group by ethnic group, sex by sex, age by age, continent by continent, colour by colour, he might even zone it—like North East first and all that, just like our political parties do. The thing is that we don’t know how it’s going to be, and who’ll make heaven of hell. God might have labeled it like this:

NAME                                         DESTINATION

Sani Abacha                               Heaven

Ibrahim Babangida                 Hell

Sen. Yerima                               Heaven

James Ibori                                Heaven

Olusegun Obasanjo                  Judgment in progress

Pastor Biodun                            Heaven

Mrs. Biodun                                Hell

Ese Walters                                 Hell

Saatah Nubari                            Still typing this

Goodluck Jonathan                 Buying a shoe (will be judged when he gets a shoe)

My point is that we should live our lives, serve God and don’t worry about the pastors, they are also in this race with us. That your pastor sleeps with a PCU (Pastoral Care Unit) member doesn’t mean God does not exist or that Christianity is a sham. Forget Pastor Biodun and our so-called repentant Ese Walter, go to church, worship God, read your bible and pray you make heaven. Your pastor won’t be your lawyer when court sits on judgment day—as a matter of fact, there are no lawyers. As for me, I have asked God to judge me last, and I’d be sitting with a plate of hot akamu, laughing when God asks you ”so it is because your pastor bought a private jet and you heard of COZA that you stopped believing in me?”  May we all make heaven, Amen!

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Saata Nubari tweets from @Saatah

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

Comments (17)

  1. Let evrybody know dt weda,imam,traditional ppl cn judge odas inrespectiv of d crime ppls comited.

    all dose religious leader hs to b an epitom of displain to b able preach worlds of God.

    no one nt even jesus n prophet muhamed kno hw judgement day wil b as jesus said in bible n prophet said it do wat is gud n forben wat is bad n he God cn judge.let all of us b praying for pradise.we all need the MERCY OF GOD.

  2. Thank u oooo..for speaking my mind…saata..this is exactly what i told my friends dats its so easy to write a blog and accuse anyone…only God knows the real truth here and for all the people judging the pastor already …na wao! who told u its all true sef?
    Hmmmm! God protect us all sha…and make we all run our race o!!!

  3. nice one hmmmm, God help us to make heaven this is all we pray for.we should pray for our pastors they re human beings like us they ve feelings, blood, and a heart like us.we should love and respect them.to all the pastors, bishops, Rev, who so ever that's call by God I pray for God supernatural power and grace upon u all in Jesus name Amen.

  4. @Onye saying you can’t sit in a church of an adulterer means you have judged him. How many of us can stand before the throne right now without wrinkle, stains or blemish? The unbelievers cover up and stand by their own while we Christians pull our own down. 1Peter 3:8 says “Love covers a multitude of sins”. 2Cor7:1 says “let us cleanse ourselves of every filthiness of the flesh and spirit PERFECTING holiness in the fear of God. Notice the tense PERFECTING? The Bibles says we should judge not so that we will not be judged. Who are we to judge another man’s servant?
    It’s disgusting how we celebrate people’s weaknesses. 1Peter2:17 says we should love the brotherhood. Unbelievers do this with ease but Christians will never do so. Rather we wallow in self-righteousness and self justification (as it is in Ese’s case).
    Truth is “even if Pastor Biodun is guilty as charged” ( so many men of God have been so wrongly accused- Pastor Paul Adefarasin, Oyakilome, Oyedepo, Ituah Ighodalo, etc)’, James 5:16 says we should confess our faults one to another (not on the Internet) and pray for one another. How many of us have never fornicated or committed adultery? Even while we lived with the guilt, why didn’t we take to the Internet to confess our sins to the world so we can be guilt-free? What makes PastorBiodun different? Have we taken time to find out what the word Pastor means? Do we know that we are all Pastors in our various territories and spaces?
    I hereby plead with us all to me mindful of what we say so that we don’t heap coals of fire on our heads with the words of our mouth. Remember, bearing false witness or exaggerating is sin before God. Let us together embrace our mandate as Christians (soul winning) and rise together with one voice to put the devil to flight. Let us arise together and stand for the Church (the body of Christ) that the gates of hell might not prevail. Remember just as Saata Nubari said “COZA WON’T BE AN EXCUSE ON JUDGEMENT DAY”.

    1. @margie blah blah blah pls tell me if u hv a company and you have a staff that hv molested several female staff will u still hv him work for u? Grace is for all Christians not only men of God. Any1 put in a leadership position should lead with example. I still maintain my stand cos if I’m in such church every time he preaches abt what he’s accused of I will judge him in my mind, better to leave.

    2. Wats al dis about judgement? D pastor hasn’t com clean to deny d accusation instead he said “we r plannin a robust reply”. Truth is plain and doesn’t need to be prepared. If he did it, he should repent and seek forgiveness instead of tryin to confuse his followers, what makes him different is him using bible passages to lure ladies to his bed, I’m not just a member but a worker at coza and trust me I know what goes on in dere. And part of d blame goes to d young ladies who can neva stop sayin “I love u pastor”, pls leave dat to his wife. Dear ladies why don’t we prefer bein close to pastors wives and getting counselling from dem instead of their husband. I think Ese Walter is scorned, hell hath no fury like a scorned woman. May Gdo have mercy on dem

  5. Saata,you started off so well with your write up but along the line you fumbled.I intend to disagree with certain comments you made.Beautiful is your statement when you said that Pastors are also in the race with us so their actions shouldn’t determine whether we worship God or not….this agree to.We look to Jesus alone.But when you said some about some Pastors running mad when wantin 2 cast out a demon is,in your own opinion,based on the fact that the demon pass their level,to this I STRONGLY disagree with u.When JESUS says,’I have given u authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and 2 overcome all the powers of the enemy’ HE meant it.We believers have authority over demons,they flee because of the Christ in us.If one runs mad in casting out demons,his spiritual life must be questionable.I am a Christian.I am Christ like,not that I am perfect..I do make mistakes but thank God 4 grace bc when I realise my wrongs,I repent immediately of them.Christ in me is my perfection.Sin no more appeals to me because I belong to Jesus.So dear Saatah,know your place in Christ.There are some of your perceptions about the Christian life that needs to be corrected…

    1. Nice one! Thank you! I was like “nah!” when I read the pastor running mad and the other casting demons part. Personally, I’d say the pastor that ran mad isn’t for God. And Saata, about Ese sayin the story, what if that was her form of confession to those she says were spreading the rumor and that’s the best way she could do it (Proverbs 28:13- People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.). Yes, this issue shouldn’t stop christians from serving God. Then I think u using an example with Biodun and Ese’s name is judging (God knows ur intention tho). Everything happens for a reason, the issue would die down or be resolved and we will still have full cause to glorify God’s name.

  6. Thanks4 d piece @saatah that was indeed profound.to mr&mrs judges i wish u can cast a stone if you ar not also guity of this type of accusation. I av a heaven to make the bible says “judge not” anytin contrary to this am sure is disobedient and dis attacts hell.dont condem any1 the person myt av obtain mercy while u ar busy castigating.think b4 u talk.cheers!

  7. 9c one..no matter wat hapens or wat anybody does, true or not, we ought to pray 4 our leaders( our pastors inclusive) we have no right to criticize them, God called them nd not u..remember Saul nd David, even tho David knew the annointing already departed from Saul nd was on him, he did not disregard or say evil about him..God will help us. All

  8. Saata Nubari’s piece is cool but he digressed a lot. This issue didn’t make christians stop going to church or stop serving God, but instead it opened the eyes of some christians to see a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. We have always heard about pastors like this for a long while and souls are still being won to christ daily. Whether what Ese Walter and Franca says is true or not. These things still happen and they’ll keep happening. Like I told a friend when we were discussing this, “sex invoves two people, but then the aftermath, one party could say it was fun and the other could say it wasn’t” Ese Walter was hurting but nobody saw it, everybody judged her, u tell christians not to judge the pastor so then should they keep judging Ese? Let’s take time to reflect on our attitudes as christains.

  9. Apostle Paul was saying ‘I put my body under subjection least after preaching this gospel I my self should be cast out’ and that’s my pray to the man in the eyes of the storm and other men of God.

  10. @onye-1, you aint God,2, you were not there 3, you are in no place to judge or condemn any man. If u find ursef in a place of worship wia u cnt connect with ur God, itz okay to go elsewia. One church wasn’t meant for everybody.but just becareful what you say or names u call God’s anointed. Let God alone b the judge of it al.

  11. This is what people need to read inorder to understand dat its all about d ‘Heaven Race..tanx

  12. @saatah your piece is interesting but lacks the main point, christians will not stop believing in christ because their pastor is accused of adultery, what will happen will be lack of trust for that particular pastor. Look at it this way, an armed robber takes seed or offering to a man he/she believes to be able to intercede on his behalf and then gets to hear what his pastor has done, what do u think will happen? Can one lie and teach others the truth. I for one will not be able to sit in a church of an adulterer. May God grant us discernment spirit in Jesus name amen.

  13. Wonderful write up and hilarious. Can’t stop laughing. You are just on point. You have said it all.God bless u

  14. This is so true. We all have a race set before us and on that day, we’ll speak for ourselves. So let God be the judge. I’m really carefully what I say with mouth cos every idle word will be accounted for. Itz a very nice piece, I hope people get to read this

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