by Olayinka Olorisade
Criticisms are flying all over the place and emotions are running high, but bottom line is, many think that ‘pastors’ have become day-time robbers. I think that people need to re-evaluate themselves and I have a few (maybe not a few) questions I want us all to answer.
There has been so much talk from people. This issue of pastors owning private jets instead of doing charity work with all of their life and money, has evoked so much emotion from people. The latest news is another prominent pastor has been given a private jet as gift and he dared to receive it and even keep it!
“What audacity!” many say.
Many are of the opinion that he should sell it and use the proceeds for charity, while some think that if it was a gift to him, then by all means, he should keep it. The arguments are that ‘pastors’ now buy private jets and ‘big cars’, live large while the congregation suffers. They take offerings and tithes, impoverish the already poor congregation, do not pay taxes, and then live large.
Criticisms are flying all over the place and emotions are running high, but bottom line is, many think that ‘pastors’ have become day-time robbers. I think that people need to re-evaluate themselves and I have a few (maybe not a few) questions I want us all to answer.
I want us to think through them carefully and be open to answering them honestly (please be honest with yourself at least). Here goes my questions:
Do you think you deserve the best?
Are you working hard and smart to achieve that best?
Are you materially responsible for anyone (no matter how little) asides your family whether at work, where you live or just anywhere?
Do you give part of your income to charity or just give part of it to people who need money, food, shelter or clothing, asides your family?
Do you provide food, shelter or clothing to people asides your family?
Do you think about the fact that your neighbour might not have had anything to eat for days before you take that bite of your precious sliced bread (even though we’re thought to break bread and eat as the proper way of eating bread) or sink your teeth into that apple or dip your hand in your pocket for money to buy Shawarma and Ice cream?
Do you want a house(s), a car(s)?
Do you want to be able to travel the world, go anywhere you want to, whenever you want? And If you get the opportunity, would you go?
Do you think you deserve to receive and keep your gifts?
(And here goes the not so nice questions)
Do you cut corners?
Do you cheat in exams or have cheated before and did not think there was something wrong with that?
Do you take or give bribe?
Do you change figures at work?
Are you diligent, honest, and loyal at work?
Can you say you genuinely love and care for others (asides family and friends, those are easy to love) like God says we should?
Do you jump queues?
Do you lie and cheat?
Do you throw rubbish on the floor/streets/roads? (Yes, you read that right. It is illegal behaviour which is corruption, so, if you do, you are corrupt!)
Are we not all to be like our Lord (whoever yours is)?
As Christians ( I am a christian, so I would speak as one), are we not all to be like Christ, giving materially, emotionally, with our energy and time?
Caring for the oppressed and poor, healing the sick and brokenhearted?
Are we not all referred to as Priests (‘Pastors’)?
Are we not the body of Christ, the Church? Don’t we all make up the Church? Or is the building the Church? Is the Church not the people who come in to the building?
Now I know people may have gotten carried away by some things, but I don’t want us to get carried away by the thought that a ‘pastor’ is that man or woman that stands on the pulpit in that building every Sunday and gives sermons from the Bible, because we are all pastors.
No christian is excused from what the Bible says Christians should do. And you don’t even have to have a religion to genuinely care and cater in every way you can, for your neighbour. If we all do what we say only the ‘pastor’ and the ‘Church’ ought to do, the world would be a better place to live in.
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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.
What is all this noise about private jets and pastors?
Mr Kola Okoro Abu, has set up an enterprise and has asked all men and women to come and contribute to the success of it.
If Ekewre, Kunle and Musa decides not to be a part of it, is it a crime?
Also If Emeka, Babatunde and Bala decides to be a part of it, is it a crime?
Every man and woman has been given the power to choose and we all know that we are a direct product of our choices. Good or Bad!
If your pastor, bishop, arc bishop or circumference bishop has spent money on a private jet or he has been gifted with one, the choice is yours to keep contributing to the maintenance and upkeep of it.
It is totally unacceptable that you keep complaining and refuse to stop encouraging it.
People in Nigeria and the world over, should stop the nagging, mudslinging and backbiting when the solution is directly in their hands.
If you live in a house and the roof is leaking right onto your bed, will you continue to complain about the house, the builders, or in the case that it’s a rented apartment, continue to speak evil about the landlord? Will you not get the cheapest possible solution to fixing the roof?
If your landlord keeps increasing the rent of your flat, will you continue to sit in the house and complain?
We need to start taking charge of our own lives and leave pastors alone. Even if the money for the jet was sourced from the church funds contributed by its members, I am sure nobody had a gun to their heads when they were contributing the money.
You wake up on Sunday morning and decide to go into the church and put your hard earned money into the organization. If you really do not like what has been done with the money, then simply stop doing it. It’s really that simple.
It is really that simple!
Please let these pastors ask themselves, would Jesus have done as they are doing now? They have all lost focus.
Awww how cute.
Have you wondered why we don't act like Christians?
Clue: Because our Christian leaders are not telling us to. We act exactly as they tell us to: 'Greedy self serving non-Christians'
Thanks for bringing another perspective to this 'Pastors are failing argument'.
I'm sorry but this blog, at the risk of sounding rude, is extremely disappointing, totally digresses into other areas and losses the point completely. The issues are:
1. If it was indeed a 'gift', then who made the decision to buy a private jet.
2. A private jet cost in the region of $40m, so where did the money come from. If majority of the money came from the church's cuffers then who authorised such frivilous expenditure. I'm sure sure massive expenditure couldn't have been done without the authorisation of the 'pastor'. In that case, is it still a gift?
If it was not from the church's service donation box but some extremely wealthy members stumped up the money, then as a 'man of God', isn't it more righteous to ask them to put the money into community based programmes..heaven knows the people need all the help they can get. When God sent his only son, Jesus, to this earth did he give him first class service.
All I'm saying is this all stinks but people are so desperate to believe in something or someone that they become blind and can't see what's in front of their nose.
If it looks, smells and feels like crap then the odds are IT IS CRAP!
You are spot on about the real issue… Many of these "pastors" are entrepreneurs, they just happen to be in the "religion business."
Nigeria is rather a doomed nation when human feeling is absent not only in the veins of Nigerian politicians but also in the veins of Nigerian spiritual leaders. Come to think of it, private jet is now the in thing! And it is increasing days and nights. Our leaders are wicked! Let me give you just one example. As you leave the main Lagos/Ibadan expressway to turn round and go to Mountain of Fire in ward Lagos, the portion road there is terribly bad. Thousands of MFM congregation members go through harrowing experience to navigate the short route, roughly 300metre long to go to the Church and contribute huge amount of money virtually every weekend causing hectic traffic, yet the Church leadership has not deemed it necessary to do some corporate social responsibility patching on the road. To them the road belongs to the government and not the church. And the Church money belongs to God and the Pastor but not the public. Well, God will judge.