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Beware of the United Church of Wolves (part 1)
As our frustrations increase by the day due to rocketing social and economic pressures so are certain good-for-nothing imbeciles and irritating shameless crooks who parade as men of God to take advantage of the vulnerability and ignorance of many who seek solace from their faith in God.
If you are religion-inclined (Christianity, especially) heed this obvious advice, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
This is not some sort of a journalistic news gathering exclusive quote by any authority. It comes directly from the Bible. Therein in Chapter 7 verse 15, the disciple of Christ, Matthew documents the thoughts of his Master (probably the highest authority) who spoke in parables.
Priiiiiiaase the Lord! Hallelujah! Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Aiiiiiimen! This is more like their usually clichéd opening sound-bite when they set on the prowl to con and defraud unsuspecting men and women who have come to offload some of their burdens unto Christ, only to go and pile on more.
Brothers and sisters, today, I want to talk a little bit about certain anti-Christ like behaviour of some people who sound more like they were twinned with Him right from the beginning.
Some love to call themselves bishops right after obtaining a dubious click-of-a-mouse pastoral training certificates from the Internet. I doubt they even know the number of years it takes for a seminarian to graduate through the though ecumenical or evangelical hierarchy to get there.
Yet, unfazed by that, others go as far for a Nebuchadnezzar-era title of prophet. The more petty they are the likelier it is for them to choose titles like apostle, disciple, father, deacon, reverend, Right (Honourable) Reverend Dr. Dr. Sir Minister Okomfo ‘something something’ without even knowing how to handle a Sunday School, or properly lead a prayer or meditation meeting without shuttering their voice boxes whilst prancing like mad dogs.
Yet they are a cleverly bunch of tricksters and so cunningly dubious they succeed in breaking marriages, businesses, education, professions whilst they stash away their booty and shame in their outrageously extravagant and guppy lifestyles in the name of God. In a way they throw it at your face but never mind, revenge they say is God’s.
Brothers and sisters, God is love. God is good and merciful. He is very kind and compassionate. His patience, indeed, has no boundaries otherwise some of these crackpots would have been chiseled and plucked out of society like a quack dentist would do to a stubborn bad tooth.
Dear reader, forgive me for now if I have sounded a bit blasphemous to you. That is not my intension. In deed, I am a sinner just like any one of you reading this today. If you were a Christian you would already know that, “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (for it is written in the Bible).
To start with, please bear in mind that I am not professing to be holy or know it all. I can, however, assure you that just like you I should be able to differentiate good from evil – the basis of all social and religious cohabitations.
By the way, I am a thoroughbred Roman Catholic. My parents have introduced me to it ever since I could say daddy or mummy, and it has remained my choice as a freethinking and independent adult.
I am aware of all the arguments against Catholicism and the criticisms of our catechetical teachings. I also know that just like any human congregation my church also has its share of scandals and wrongdoing – right from the top, through its laity to even the smallest miserable church-mouse that scurries cowardly across the sacristy during mass times. It is my choice and I’m proud of it.
My remit today is not to preach morality or to defend churches or faith. Just as good or bad morals can affect society’s life, a good church is also crucially important to society. Good news is edifying. And so if a particular church preaches venom, what becomes of its members? Poisoned!
That is why faith is also crucial to a society’s life. I know this because examples abound.
Faith is what would make me say my Rosary. Faith is what would make people bang their temples against concrete walls. Faith is what makes people fight Jihads. Faith is ‘unseeing is believing’ as opposed ‘seeing is believing’.
Faith could be good or bad. It could be a dangerous thing otherwise so many people would not follow the crank American ‘Reverend’ Jim Jones to their deaths in the middle of a south American jungle after he had defrauded them of their life savings and pensions in the 1970s.
I have had to do this piece to draw people’s attention to the obvious. Some lunatic ‘men of God’ is giving Pentecostalism and apostolicism in our communities a bad name. Some of these so-called new Pentecostal and apostolic ‘churches’ are actually churches of wolves in sheep clothing. They are ravenous deceitful money-snatching thieves who are so shameless to travel around, across borders, using God’s Holy name as their baits. Our God is a merciful one.
Continued in the next issue
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