Miracle for sale; Buy one, get one free!

Some 2000 or so years ago, Jesus accompanied his mother, Mary to a wedding in a village, Cana in Galilee. At the said wedding, there was a shortage of wine, and Jesus is recorded in the Bible to have performed his first miracle by turning six jars of water into fine wine.

Fast forward to 2013, quiet a sizeable number of pastors in this present age will definitely be smiling to the bank having performed such a miracle.  First of all, I am sure this wine would have the ability to solve marital problems, cure impotency, drive away evil spirits, grant visas, employment among others.

As a Christian, we are admonished to be Christ-like but you look at some pastors of today, you wonder whether that same admonition applies to them.  Anytime the actions of some of these pastors come under scrutiny, we are told to “touch not my anointed ones”. 

Yet, under the cloak of Christianity, many people have gone ahead to amass wealth at the expense of their congregation. Is it not surprising that some pastors now offer consultancy services for a fee? Meanwhile the same Bible teaches us that Jesus walked and offered advice to many without taking a dime, yet when people chastise the actions of these pastors, they are told “touch not my anointed”.

Sometimes you don’t need any magical eyes to read between the lines as to how cunning some of these pastors are.  They devise crude means to fleece their congregation, promising mouth-watery miracles to entice their congregants. Nowadays, there are pastors who now demand huge sums of monies just to prayers or even fast on behalf of their congregation.

I used to listen to sermons on radio usually at dawn, but I had to put a stop to it because I felt all what some of these pastors did was to advertise their churches and the so-called miracles they have done.

It’s a pity how some people are so gullible to fall for the wits of some of these masqueraders.  Many stories have been told of women who have been coerced into sleeping with pastors for the sake of having children.

Many are the stories which have equally gone unnoticed.  About seven months ago, there was a story told of a pastor who had an affair with a married woman for over six years. I can imagine throughout the six years, the pastor, supposed to be giving guidance to the flock, could go about his duties as if all was well.

That’s why sometimes I puke when some people are quick to say “touch not my anointed’.  There’s no denying the fact that there are genuine men of God around as well as those who hide under the pulpit to perpetuate all sorts of vices. No wonder the Bible cautions that in the end times, there will be false prophets who will even go to the extent of performing miracles just to deceive Christians.

The good old scripture also says that, “For lack of knowledge my people perish.” This goes a greater extent to explain that sometimes we need to probe further.  Our attitude of trying to blame every misfortune on that gray-haired old lady in the village has really been our undoing. Sometimes when there’s no old-lady, we still comb the village to find another old lady whose neck the blame would be hanged on. Goodness!

Even in the light of modernity, some people are quick to blame deaths resulting from diseases such as malaria and cholera as coming from evil spirits even when the environment of the deceased is completely engulfed in filth.

The crave for miracles is getting bigger by the day and as it grows, so does the bank accounts of these pastors who have offered the miracles for sale like they sell tomatoes in Makola. Some of the common items sold are (holy) water, honey, mustard seed, canes, salt and anything that these pastors can lay hands on.

There was a certain rich man in the Bible who went to Jesus and asked what he could do attain “eternal life”, Jesus told him to go sell his possessions and give it to the poor.  How I wish these pastors extremely rich pastors could follow this instruction.

Some of these churches are now being  run  like business entities and I think it’s about time we look at taxing them according. After all it wouldn’t a bad idea to have 10 percent of offerings or the income of the pastoral team.

I’m out!