Christianity: Religion or Business

Enterprise?

It would be unwise to claim that all Christian

Churches are money raising ventures – very

unwise. However, there are so many of them

operating under the guise of Christianity and with

ulterior motives that put Christianity as a religion in

a shameful position. Unless Christians can hold

firm to the teachings of the Bible and not fall prey

to these false prophets, then ‘true’ Christianity

might go into extinction.

Over the years, Christianity seems to have

evolved. I am not sure if it has always been this

way and I was just too young back then to

notice or it if it has actually changed drastically.

In this age of technology, the realm of

Christianity has grown vast and the word of God

can be found on the tele, radio, newspaper,

online – with most of it being administered via

social media. I have seen the same scriptures

being interpreted differently by different

churches so much that at times, I have had to

stop and do some reflections. Who is telling lies

and who is speaking the truth? And who really is

twisting the verses to suit their own personal

needs?

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There are so many churches out there some

with such ridiculous names and strange

activities going on yet they have huge

followings. Every one of them believes they are

preaching the Truth. The rate at which churches

are mushrooming is very alarming. I keep asking

myself; why do Christians feel the need to start

their own churches instead of growing in the

already existing ones? Apart from evangelising,

what is it about starting your own church that

makes people do it? And it hit me; money.

It would be very unwise of me to claim that all

churches are money raising ventures. Not all of

them are. My issue is that there are too many of

them out there whose main focus is robbing

people off of their money in the name of God.

There are too many of such churches and every

single day, a new one is born. And in what

seems to be their naivety or blinded faith,

Christians are tagging along and putting their

lives and life savings at risk.

Every time I turn on my tele or go to social

media, there is some prophet or pastor being

praised for his or her miracle performing ways.

Unfortunately, the manner in which most of

these sermons are given in some of these

churches has taken attention away from God

leaving the very Pastors to be revered and

worshipped by their followers in the place of

God. Miracles are now performed not as a

means of illustrating God’s almightiness, but

they are presented as a PR package for the

pastors behind them; they showcase how

powerful this pastor is and what you will gain if

you start following him and ‘sow your seeds’

with him.

Sow a Seed!!!!!

I have heard this phrase so many times my ears

have started to itch at the mere mention of it.

This is the phrase that is taking the rounds in

Churches of today. It is no longer important to

teach people how to live their lives according to

God’s commandments or how to maintain a

righteous path in life. However, it’s become

common to simply tell people, sow a seed and

all your desires shall be manifested in the name

of God. This seed they talk about isn’t referring

to the Word of God or living a Godly life so as to

attain everlasting life, it is referring to how

much money you ought to give if you want God

to look upon your life with favour.

It has become the fashion for some pastors to

devote a third of their ministries every Sunday

talking about sowing a seed. This idea of sowing

a seed which is equivalent to ‘give me your

money and only then shall you receive blessings

from God’ seems to be held in such higher

esteem than anything else written in the Bible.

The manner in which some of these pastors

have interpreted the Bible verses dealing with

this topic is quite remarkable! Consider some of

the verses about sowing a seed in the name of

God:

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Acts 20:35

Galatians 6:7-8

Proverbs 11: 24-25

Ecclesiastes 11:6

Luke 8: 1-15

When I got older, I became a little unsatisfied

with some of the beliefs and the hypocrisy that

the church I grew up in was teaching and

practising, thus, I went on a voyage of

discovery. I tried different churches every

Sunday…suffice to say, it was an experience

that opened my eyes in more ways than one.

Firstly, I was very impressed by the number of

young men that seemed to be actively involved

in pastoring in churches. I thought to myself…

‘and yet they call us the lost generation, Er?’ But

one of friends who is a pastor in that church

was quick to burst my bubble when he said, “Do

you have any idea how much money Churches

make these days? And it’s all tax free, that’s

why I want to start my own soon! You get to

spread the word of God and at the same time

make some money. God is amazing!”

It finally began to make sense to me why almost

every guy I knew growing up that had failed to

make it in life was either a pastor or had

established their own church. Chances are that

some of them have genuine interest in

Christianity, but the financial aspect of it makes

their motives very questionable. During my

church ‘tours’, I did observe that it was mostly

these very young pastors (youths) that seemed

very devoted to preaching about sowing the

seed than anything else during their sermons.

Somehow, they always managed to fuse in these

three little words into every sermon they

delivered. The manner in which these verses

where shoved down our ears made me feel

guilty to attend church services if I didn’t have

any money on me that Sunday. I could not let go

of the idea that I would never receive God’s

blessings if I don’t put a lot of money in those

baskets/buckets. And slowly, I began to grow

further away from God because I felt I couldn’t

afford him. If I felt like that even when I am

someone who comes from an average family,

what about those people that come from very

poor families?

There is nothing wrong with the Bible verses

encouraging us to be more giving and to give

from the heart. It is a situation where even a

cent would mean A Lot if the heart that was

giving was sincere. Think of the woman from

Mark 12:41-44 do you think this widow’s

offering would be encouraged in some churches

these days? We live in a time where the rich

receive special treatment even in churches

because they are the ones that ‘give more and

contribute to the growth of the church.’ These

rich folks are the ones that sit on the front rows

in church while the old ladies hard of hearing

and sight sit in the back because they are too

shabby to be displayed in the front.

A church is a place that was initially meant to

be a place of equality but is now a place

exhibiting all forms of segregation packed with

very judgemental people that look only on the

outside and never the soul of their brothers and

sisters. It is a place where people get to realise

how different their social status really is

because only the rich are mostly heralded and

given opportunities to grow and participate in

church activities while the poor and uneducated

ones remain in the background. But ‘again’ I will

reiterate, not all churches are like this.

I find the judgmental attitude of some Christians

very daunting. If someone walks into your

church dressed in funny clothes, shabby, or they

are looking like they just stepped into the

building mistaking it for a brothel, instead of

throwing them judgemental looks or avoiding

them like a plague, how about taking it as a God

given opportunity to witness to them? A church

is a place for sinners; we are all natural born

sinners seeking deliverance from God. Just

because your sins are dressed up in clean and

fancy designer clothes does not make you better

than the rest. Sit down.

When some pastors start their churches or their

pastoral work, you will constantly hear them

preaching about how difficult it is for rich men

to enter the kingdom of God. However, two years

later, these very people will be rolling in fancy

cars and wearing extremely expensive suits,

taking long vacations to worldwide destinations,

buying Islands, yachts, and acquiring real estate

faster than actual business moguls themselves.

The question is; where is all that money coming

from? They will quickly tell you that they have

been blessed thanks to their work in God’s

name. The truth is yes, their lives have

tremendously improved since they started their

preaching work. The only problem is that they

got to where they are today because you gave

them…and you kept giving and giving them your

‘seeds’. How is it that you have been sowing for

so many years yet you cannot even afford to

buy yourself a Vitz or take your kids to a proper

school while the Pastor has 15 cars packed in

his garage with a Yacht he only uses once a

year?

Does he really need all those material things he

keeps acquiring for himself all in the name of

God? He’s sent his kids to fancy schools abroad

and yet when you go to him complaining about

the financial problems you’ve been facing he

tells you; “Sow a seed my brother and it shall be

well with you.” How is it that you are telling him

you are broke, and he is telling you to give him

money if you want a miracle? Does that even

make sense? This is the same crap that happens

with government institutions; you have been

robbed left right and centre and you run to them

for help and they tell you, “Madam, you need to

pay for a police report if you want us to work on

your case.” The hell??

Sometimes I have been tempted to believe that

we can’t solely hold fake pastors or prophets

responsible for the evil acts they do. Christians

are to a very large extent to blame for the

perpetration of such behaviour. It’s a fact we

live in very difficult times hard to deal with;

diseases, poverty, droughts, wars, ISIS, natural

disasters and so on. We are in desperate need

of miracles and we will believe anything we are

told if it means rising above our challenges. But

that shouldn’t be the case. Even blind faith is a

sin in itself and the Bible cautions us about fake

prophets preaching the Word in His name. It is

not wrong to question the acts or motives of

pastors. Remember, they are not gods but men

born of Adam and prone to sin as well. They are

not immune and neither are they perfect. The

problem is that you have put some of them on

such pedestals that you can no longer see them

as human. They have become synonymous with

God himself. Today am reminding you that they

are not!

Why should you feel comfortable taking off your

clothes so that the pastor can bless you with his

‘holy body’ in order for you to have a happy

marriage or find yourself a good spouse? Do

you think God would ask something like that

from you? Someone tells you to eat grass to

demonstrate your faith and you ahead and do

so! You is selling you ‘holy pants’ and you buy

them…smh. Are you nuts?? No pastor should

touch your body everywhere as a means of

blessing you or cleansing you of your sins

because that’s not how the Holy Spirit works.

God isn’t that lazy, he can operate from

anywhere in the world and he doesn’t need to

feel your boobs or vagina to help you have a

child. Someone tells you that they had a vision

of you being their wife and that you should

leave your boyfriend because he is not your

soulmate and you believe them without

questioning anything?? If God appeared to

people to tell them about their soul mates then

most of us wouldn’t have been born I tell you.

The world’s population would be less than half

what it is today.