The growing frustrations experienced by the ordinary church faithful and the futility of prophetic declarations over the years are gradually beginning to raise more questions than answers.
Andrew Ogbeide began worshipping at a popular church in the suburbs of Lagos around 1999. The church happens to be prophetic and every Sunday, like other hopeful adherents, listened attentively to sermons and waited for ‘prophetic declarations’ from the pulpit. Because of the severity of cases affecting thousands of people, –almost all of them mysterious, converts not only perceive religion as their opium, but a great many of them shift base from previous vocations, becoming addicts, and glued to church ‘programs’. As time progresses, with no ‘quick’ solution in sight, they become convinced that they are fighting a formidable foe, bent on destroying their life permanently; unfortunately, this has left many of them in dire straits, resulting in desperate search for the ‘missing’ link; and as the struggle become intense, with regular ‘aggressive’ prayers sessions mounts, with fewer results achieved, other factors may creep in and at that point, any proffered solution such as voodoo practice may be embraced! there is no possible suggestion that is exempted even if to resort to cultic circles!
Take the plight of those married for ‘donkey’ years without a child; what about those who have remained ‘single’ for decades despite being ‘qualified’ for marriage? There are also those hit by strange sicknesses with no origin; only that they wake up one morning to find the sudden development. The list is endless; that’s where some religious converts divert to ‘native doctors’, ‘herbalists’, and other branches to attain their objectives; other members resort to the ‘shrines’ and ‘mountains’ that litter Yoruba and Igbo lands; scary, you may say, but if you find yourself ‘childless’ after nearly twenty years of marriage, you will not think twice to ‘go deeper’ including patronizing magicians, sorcerers and as some would describe it “fallen spirits” to force a change! This is no joke as no one wants to be ‘mocked’ and wait perpetually like Abraham did in the Bible. This is where some ‘dubious’ prophets cash in and ‘introduce’ assorted strategies to milk unsuspecting members using skillful biblical knowledge; they shift the blame to what they call ‘foundational problems’; others point to ‘family curses’, ‘Spirit husband or wife’, ‘Generational curses’, and perhaps ‘witches and wizards’. So, it becomes natural to be sucked in and be ripped off knowingly if only to escape the stigma of being tagged a ‘barren’ woman!
Truly, some faithful have received ‘miracle’ after a few days of relentless ‘prayers’ and ‘fasting’, while others get reprieve following some preemptive draconian ‘dry fasting’. Yet, some have been ‘delivered’ when they scramble to ‘mountains’ scattered around the Yorubaland when confronted with no other option! Usually, the ‘counterattack’ by the victims is further proof of the ‘resilience’ and ‘efficacy’ of prayers in rare cases! Yet protracted cases drag victims into the vortex of ‘pledges’, ‘first fruits’, ‘seed sowing’, ‘vows’, and ‘voluntary donations’ which paradoxically appears to leave them in limbo. After many years, they become weary, exhausted, and defeated! This happens to be the case of Andrew Ogbeide whose eyes are now awakened after experiencing what they call ‘failure on the edge of success’.
Though he doesn’t understand the ‘jargon’ that seems to be his lot, having graduated many years back with nothing to show for his brilliance in school! He has never known peace with his ‘mates’ becoming proud owners of Real Estate and traveling abroad as they wish! For Andrew, his case tallies with ‘working like an Elephant and eating like an Ant! Job did better in the Bible since he had children and later lost and recovered them; but for Andrews, his predicament is yet to be detected in the Bible! Well, maybe with time, perhaps! That again seems debatable, as the men of today have only been appointed to live not more than certain years unlike men of yore who lived for hundreds of years and achieved dreadful things! What can restrain a man of sixty plus, who remains a ‘tenant’ from not being desperate? This is the problem.
Andrew has turned to many churches with each one ‘performing miracles’ and none coming his way; he sees people giving wonderful testimonies and he wonders when he would come; though some of the ‘testimonies’ center around being healed from cheap ailments like ‘headache’ of many years, severe ‘back pain’. Including passing the ‘WAEC Exam!’ These ‘miracles’ would obviously raise false hopes, but since religion has now become opium, it is normal to stomach whatever comes! This was how in desperation, Andrew got drowned into other church activities such as becoming ‘chairman’ of various ‘committees’, where his presence was needed at all times! And as the ‘schedule’ becomes more pronounced because of the regular ‘programs’ being initiated, Andrew found himself thinking more about his life and began to see ‘miracles’ as ‘fake’. At this point, he began to skip church programs and attempted methods of achieving the same purpose.
There was no question about his loyalty, but here he was bedeviled by the same problem-absolute lack of favor! He never found grace, not even with the ‘powerful programs he attended in the past and ‘night vigils. He had listened to ‘powerful’ preachers and ‘keyed’ into whatever they suggested; Andrew had ‘purchased several ‘miracle items’-anointing oil, anointing water, anointing handkerchiefs, and so on; he picked up and read numerous ‘Bibles’ and attended “bible pieces of training” including ‘workers in training class” all in bid to surmount the devil. He upgraded his ‘belief system’ at least to be in conformity with the Bible that proclaimed that ‘as a man thinketh..so he is” all to no avail! What then could be the delay? Over the years, while he pondered the puzzle, he witnessed the rise of hundreds of ‘Men of God’, the flashy cars, homes, and the competition to build gigantic structures for God; he also witnessed the fierce struggle to retain leadership positions as well as the slew of ‘negatives’ that usually portrays churches as “business enterprises”. It got to the point that Andrew began to ‘pay’ various sums of money to ‘see’ some ‘ministers of God’ for what they call ‘one-on-one’ counseling.
Before his very eyes, the ‘commercialization’ of the church began to unfold and church members were now ‘persuaded’ to take up various ‘funding’ of church targets as inspired by the “holy spirit!” Consequently, you may donate your plot of land, your house or vehicle, Television set, Generators, and even clothes! Under the guise of ‘building projects’, some churches had amassed stupendous wealth stylishly while escaping taxes. Once, Andrew witnessed how one church addict emptied his bank account and was subsequently thrown out of his rented apartment for his inability to pay the rent when it was due! These are the very disturbing revelations that began to emerge leaving Andrew frustrated. He didn’t know what was happening and was praying that he would not become the fool! Maybe, there is something he doesn’t yet know about “Men of God”, but whatever it is, he wants the truth to be unveiled asap; how could you explain waiting on God for donkey years and the same ailment persist? The Bible is clear in these matters: seek God and you will find him! Why then are some cases difficult to solve and others very easy? Or shall we go with the Biblical explanation that says as long as Heaven and Earth exist, there shall always be poor and rich men? Maybe; this seems to be apt!
In the Bible, the way it is ‘written’ is that Isaac “knew” his wife and she gave birth; Esau “knew” his wife and they gave birth; Now, Andrew has “known” his wife for several years and no result, except rounds of visits to hospitals, Gynecologists, lab tests and other stressful procedures! If only there could be a logical explanation to this, that would suffice, although some men of God have attributed ‘delays’ as the major cause; others ascribe being ‘polluted’ with world affairs! Huh! Such arrant nonsense! When Abimelech forcibly took Isaac’s wife, God appeared to him in the night and called him ‘a dead man’. God was straightforward; he did not dance around the bush. That was a stern warning that left Abimelech drained and fearful; when he woke up, he reacted instantly.
Many church members would have been happier to have God warn sternly those witches and wizards from ‘villages’ driving city dwellers crazy with bad luck and repeated circles of failures! Even in the book of Second Kings the sons of the prophets of God dropped an Iron beam mistakenly inside the waters and it rose back to the surface after just minor prayer points were raised! The same applies to the woman whose husband was indebted and the creditor had come to seize her two children; a prophet issued simple commands and that was it! What is so difficult in today’s practice that members only listen to ‘testimonies’ on television and radio? This may have become the latest chapter of embarrassing moments in most churches and should be quickly addressed so that the likes of Andrew would have their reprieve! Never mind if it is written “physician heal thyself’ and members “work out your salvation’ the way you deem fit!
