“All over Africa today, there is an Africa prayer Watch, there is fasting and prayers going on, there is an imported miracle worker from Europe to bless millions of Africans and make us escape a hell we know virtually nothing about other than ‘you’ll get there when you die’…But the truth is; Africans live in a literal hell that burns from the seat of power”
One sunny Sunday, a middle aged lady strayed into the church, she needs help, a medical assistance, physical and a spiritual help, the pastor of the church just done with the Sunday sermon and was having a chilled glass of Juice, his orderlies were engrossed trying to impress their loyalty to ‘Daddy’…suddenly he spotted this frail shabbily dressed lady with a dirty sack strewn upon her shoulder hanging around… “Aah Kilode O?” Ta ni lady yen n bere?” …he queried amusingly in Yoruba language… (Aah! what is it, what’s that lady looking for?”) One of the orderly hurriedly conducted a mock interview with the stranger and found out the stranger has been wandering in the street only God knows how long searching for help wherever it could be found.
The middle aged lady happened to be a deportee from Europe with problems more than a shoulder could bear and a family drained of resources trying to rehabilitate their own, to this, the poor young woman has gone to the streets of Lagos seeking for help from whoever that cares and having found the churches that litters all nooks and cranny of this bustling city shouting “give” “give” and “give” and “love” “love” and “love” as a place of hope she felt relieved to have found a place of refuge at last.
‘Daddy’ as the young man is fondly addressed by other young people old enough to be his age mate quickly got a wind of the private interview and angrily retorted… “Aye yen O yo Ooo”… (There is no room for that!) and added they should asked the poor lady to go back to whichever church she belonged to and seek for help there, then if they’re not willing to assist her, that shouldn’t be our problem or let her own pastor file welfare claim on her behalf, then we may consider that.
The Poor Old lady, in a good command of spoken English pressed on, “Please brothers and sisters, Please, help me even to eat”, “look at my medical bills, I am in a hopeless situation, I have no home, my money is spent, “My family all gone, please”…
The young privileged orderlies with some soft heart of touch at the bitterness of this poor lady hurriedly ran back to “Daddy” and the Pastor reacted angrily “Ewo…e lo yan ju e” (Look! go and take care of that) and quietly sipped his glass of chilled juice… flanked by a legal adviser to ExxonMobil Oils and a Society lady… all privileged deacons of the church…exchanging pleasantries.
This is an order. The poor woman was shoved to the gate as she resisted been pushed out with force, she cried and pleaded as much as she could, then burst out in tears… “For the sake of Christ” “Please help me” ‘Even if I don’t belong to your church” Please…all that pleas and tears fell on deaf ears and blind eyes of the knuckle-size tie knot young and privileged orderlies, yes, privileged, I could count couple of them working with some privileged blue chip companies, new recruits with some illusory perks, and others from some privileged homes.
I was in the queue to see “Daddy” too for problems I now consider “a waive of hand offer” by this horrifying sight. I followed the young blind orderlies doing just what they were asked to do as ‘Pastor’s Orderlies’ to the high fenced gate that could dwarf any NBA star…and watched as this stranger was pushed out into the street, on a hot sunny Sunday… She kept weeping though and now shedding some tears that could make you want to join in a sorrow. Now I have forgotten about all my own cares as this was much glaring insensitivity, wickedness and sheer greed that could hasten the speed of some so acclaimed ‘unbelievers’ to a burning hell we all preached against with some faked passion… the lady walked away weeping while the young orderlies looked on.
There is a Salvation Street somewhere in a high brow area of the city completely cut off usage by pot-holes and never drying muddy waters.
Salvation Street got its name I presume by the presence of religious centers that litters the street from the beginning to the end…and they could be really busy fellowshipping, night vigil-ling, wishing a miracle… there was a NASFAT, (An Islamic Religious Organisation) a Redeemed with a Catholic size dome of a roof, another group in a mini-paradise of fancy cars, terraced floor and plastic flowers all fenced in their own ‘heaven’ amidst an environment reeking with rot and decay…and more with some blaring megaphones praising Jesus. No other business is done here than the religious, from the beginning of the street to the end.
Then I become curious and asked what kind of people will be pleased doing business in a filthy and decaying environment cut off from any form of civility and simple decency…and what kind of peoples will be pleased to see their own suffering in anguish and emotional torture yet turn a blind eye.
The doctrine of hell is a sure bet to bait any religious person into the fear of the border of ‘terrible worlds’.
Hell is a place of suffering, a place of severe suffering, nobody wants to go there, many people would not like to talk about it…people are not afraid to die but what happens after they’re dead and gone and if they do the fear is heightened by the thought of an eternal place of a scorching fire with the Devil heating the kiln and inflicting an endless torture to the mortal body. Nobody wants to imagine the reality of such a scenario. The cause of this imaginary fear is due to man’s excessive quest to provide answers to an endless question that has preyed the thoughts of humanity for ages… ‘Where did I come from and Where am I going and the thought of an eternal punishment for those who erred while on earth…the thought of this ‘unseen fear’ destroys interest in life and makes living a Herculean experience.
Therefore to run away from this imaginary fear of eternal punishment and the Herculean task of living to earn some happiness, the majority of peoples run to the church, the average smart person able to buy into this scary idea put up a religious center, give it a name and attach some divinity into it to dig deeply into the soul of the fearful, the uninformed and the blind…you could actually be blind while you stare on in disbelief at what happens among us religious people today. It’s been like this and worse now because suffering and hardship has increased and people want some relief from this pain and emotional torture of hoping and endless waiting while your dreams fritters away.
The poor wants some food to eat, the sick need some medication and care, the lonely needs some comfort, the deserted needs a friend, the orphans needs a family, the betrayed needs a brother, the weak needs a shoulder to lean on, the ladies need some caring Jesus to wipe some tears due to bitterness of heart of broken relationship, the destitute needs a home, the young Africans running round the World seeking for refuge needs a father, the confused needs a guide, and lots more.
Tell me, what man will be plagued by all these vices above and wouldn’t struggle to seek a solution even if it is temporary and this is why we sure have more than a million places of ‘false hope’ in Africa today called worship centers, miracle camps, and religious organization preying on this vices to bait the victims and take even the last dime on them and won’t care a pin to help any of their own.
This is an acerbic truth; the reason you have more churches in Africa today, Nigerians in the lead is because there is just too much suffering and emotional torture growing beyond human capacity to contain, so the people, gripped in an initial fear of an eternal place of suffering called ‘Hell’ is plagued by an additional strange fear of a reality too visible to imagine any cruelty worse off than the present ‘excruciating situation’ could exist…
In a bid to continue the running and hiding game from this sheer reality we face in Africa people run to the churches as a place of hope and refuge, not because they crave for a salvation of soul nor do they trust a divine God of justice that frowns at all forms of injustice but because the suffering of this present situation is enough hell already and those looked up to as God’s rep. and brother’s keepers prey on that fear of the weak…their own people!
What did the average smart ones that have built a pulpit over the predicament of their own people did, they heightened the fear, the fear of that place of suffering and torture called ‘Hell’ and make an endless promises of a miracle that will fetch you out of hell, the hell of suffering, poverty, severe lack, joblessness, bareness, darkness and of course laziness, greed, selfishness and sheer corruption that has crippled growth in almost all African countries and now crept into the churches too.
The thought of eternal punishment destroys interest in life and makes happiness virtually an impossible feat how much more an additional man made sufferings here on earth.
The pursuit of that illusive happiness and peace other than the one true righteousness, honesty and truth in Christ Jesus brings has swelled the miracle centers littered all over Africa; it has swelled all the Nigerian churches without a genuine thought of the Supreme God who would rather want us show some true love and concern for each other and has promised punishment for the wicked, the greed, the cruel, the heartless insensitive and callous individual among us who’s garbed on the cloak of Satan, The Keeper of hell and are shouting “give” “give” and “give” while themselves give to none,. “Love” “love” and “love” while they love nobody but their selfish self and their cronies in the place of power and privileges.
And Jesus Christ said to the young rich man; if you wish to be a complete man, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven then come, follow me, but the young rich man on hearing this, went away grieving. (Math.19:16-22)
The Jesus we all claim to worship and follow with passion, again said; ‘Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come you that are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Then the people will answer and say ‘Lord’ when did we see you hungry, naked or a stranger and took care of you. And Jesus Christ will say; to tell you the truth; ‘As long as you did it to one of the least of these people who also are members of my family, you actually did it for me. (Math.25:31-46)
All over Africa today, there is an Africa prayer Watch, there is fasting and prayers going on, there is an imported miracle worker from Europe to bless millions of Africans and make us escape a hell we know virtually nothing about other than ‘you’ll get there when you die’…But the truth is; Africans live in a literal hell that burns from the seat of power…their government, to the place of divine worship, their churches and circles round again among these helpless God’s own people in black skin!
The government rips off on the people, take advantage of their own people and they run to the churches for relief and the churches rip off on them too and threaten them with a ‘Burning Hell’ and they shrink in fear ‘soul and body’… they desert their cultures of family, care and hard work and become individualistic, greedy and extremely selfish.
God have mercy! Like the rich young man that approached Jesus Christ, the African religious leader is not ready to help his own people get out of hardship and misery instead he tells them to keep hoping on God while he buys more cars and cruise in luxury and he is certainly comfortable with that…So the blind faithfulls struggle to make a friend of him, they call him ‘Daddy’, ‘Daddy G.O.’ ‘Mummy G.O.’, ‘Daddy Superior’ ‘Mother Excellency’ etc. and ‘Daddy’ is happy, He has a congregation running into millions of Africans running away from a hell they’re already stucked into.
The government may have failed their own people and have become broad day witches, this is why young Africans are running away from motherland in droves to any place they may find refuge and those who couldn’t jet off, run to the church and the church treats them with contempt because they are enmeshed in a cringing poverty.
Like Jesus said; As long as you refused to help your own people, the poor, the wretch, the orphans, the least of the people of the African society, you did not do nothing for me, despite your one million church memberships.
Where the school system has failed in Africa, build schools and subsidize the fees, where factories has collapsed build factories in the name of your churches and employ your own if you are afraid to employ strangers and pay them their due wages… Where the roads has been cut off and out of use and the society sliding back into stone age… build roads, you sure have the money to do all this and don’t use it to buy jets and conduct Ten Million Man Crusade.
Africans flock in droves to those crusades because they want an escape from the harsh realities of life they face everyday, the Hell they see and lives in, not because they trust in those magic… people leave the crusade fields and still consult their ‘Juju’ and ‘Shrines’ when the relief doesn’t come quickly or come at all because they never trust you in the first place! My dear ‘Daddy’ Put your promises of a quick escape from hell into actions, build schools and make the fees moderate, go to the villages and assist the common poor Africans, rehabilitate those who have turned into crimes due to frustration, use your millions made through tithes and offering and build skills acquisition centers, love your own people and give them some regard before you invite those ‘Messiahs’ from Europe and America.
Africans will love to see a Reinhard Bonke Skills Acquisition Center in Nigeria, A Benny Hinn High School and Vocational Training Center in Africa East Africa, A non-denominational Pentecostal University run by members of the Pentecostal Associations, Christian Associations, Moslem organizations etc., that won’t skin the common poor Africans alive with tuition fees…This is what Jesus Christ will do and this is what he has said we should continue doing while he delays coming until we have affected this world positively…since we have chosen to become highly religious, we should live up to it demands of brotherliness.
When Jesus shall come…for those who believe…to judge the earth, he will begin in the church, there will be no need to judge any unbeliever because he never believes in anything, he will start with those who preach hell in the church.
The truth is; there is an inevitable punishment that must come upon every man on this planet earth for all wrong and injustices done to each other irrespective of whatever you believe in.
The self deception of an escape path to peace is so blinding that by the time we get so old and weary of life we stare into the fog of life and see nothing but days spent in vanities and excessive chase after the wind…all these your material quest, wealth acquisitions and crazy title chasing, Chief, Rev. Dr. Pastor XYZ,…Of course there is nothing wrong if you fancy to be addressed with titles.
And finally Jesus Christ said; “therefore the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruit of the kingdom”…and that is the true love of Christ. (Math.21:43-45)
That said; from church you’ll all march straight to the very ‘Hell’ you’re threatening the poor innocent people Jesus left in your care with. And there will be in heaven, the frustrated young girl who resorted to Prostitution because you refused to build a Skill Acquisition center and help her learn a trade with all the tithes and offering you’re pilling up, there will be the Armed Robber who resorted to robbery because he couldn’t get a job after graduation and he became frustrated in life, there will be the drunkard who lost his job and couldn’t get any help from anybody in the world until he resorted to drinking and drugs.
Jesus Christ!…There will be the orphan, the street urchin, the strangers that don’t belong to your ‘beautiful domed churches’ that you treated with contempt, all seated in heaven judging you ‘Pastor Miracle Worker’, Daddy G.O. and Rev. Dr. Stainless Angel’ because they repented and loved God in their attitudes.
What will you do when you see us Mr. Prayer Warrior…? That prays all day and do nothing with all your wealth to lift a brother that is down.
Every religion I have been privileged to observe share two things in common, blessing and punishment and two command of loyalty, love and forgiveness.
Every African owes motherland a duty to show forgiveness to ourselves and love. Sanitize and heal this wound we have inflicted on ourselves and stop the hell we know from burning and go back to our African traditional culture of brotherhood and family… then we would have escaped from the burning hell we’ve made for ourselves.
Excerpt from the book, the Making of an African god by Njoku SaintJerry A.
