by Vera Ezimora

 

When I say that I have tried very, very, VERY hard to avoid reading about the sex scandal surrounding Apostle Suleman of the Omega Fire Ministries, I mean every word of it. This is like the story of Ese Walters and the COZA pastor all over again, and we all know how that ended. In case you have forgotten, he said the holy spirit was going to give him a robust response, and till today, the holy spirit is yet to responded. The issue has been swept under the carpet, the church is probably still growing, and everyone is walking around pretending that their pastor isn’t a huge fuck up.

You shouldn’t blame Apostle Suleman for his fuckery because nobody – not his wife, not his accuser, not his congregation, not the government, not the Nigerian leaders, and definitely not the Nigerian laws and people – will hold him accountable. His wife even released a new song and music video (called My Hero) that screamed of utter, undiluted foolery, but what do I know about speaking of “the man of God.”

I know that this isn’t just a Nigerian problem, but I am focusing on Nigeria and Nigerians right now because you are my people. That said, as a nation, we [Nigerian Christians] are so afraid of anyone who claims to be the man of God. Although there is proof of Suleman’s transgressions, it does not matter because he is the alleged man of God. In fact, even if his congregation were to catch him deep inside his accuser’s vagina, they would still spin the story. It would be reported as a woman who used juju to harden the penis of their precious man of God and then proceed to jam it inside her vagina, all without his knowledge and consent. And of course, he hated it the whole time.

The reason why people from other religions look at us and laugh at us and disrespect us is because while we (Nigerian Christians) pretentiously wander around saying ‘God bless you,’ to everyone, we don’t actually know God. We don’t reverence Him, and we do not care to do so. We’re more concerned about the carnal beings who stand on the pulpit and tell us what God told them to tell us, and we are ever ready to pay any price for God’s words. We cling to every word that falls out of their mouth, forgetting that this God we claim to serve actually sent His only son to die for us so that we, ourselves, will have direct access to Him.

No, we’d rather be broke and hungry because we have given all our money to “God” so that He, in turn, can give it to the Pastor to fund his sexcapades — because we all know how much God just loves to fund our sins and make sure that while we dishonor Him with sexual deviance, adultery, and lies we do it ever so abundantly and comfortably. That’s the God we act like we serve.

Apostle Suleman is only one man that we know of. There are many, many more. While we salivate over the men (and women) who claim to hear from God, let’s remember that we are called to be Christ-like, not pastor-like.

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

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