Pastors and conmanship

Lifestyle Religion, Spiritualism & Philosophy
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I’ve just come across a very bitter post doing rounds in social media from a congregant who felt duped by pastors of a popular church I attended from time to time through the invitation of a friend who has since left that church.

I am not going to name names since they are not the only ones and I don’t want to get personal and mention a pastor’s name because it’s not my place to judge them it’s God’s, so what I want is to give you my personal insight to avoid you falling into the trap so many church goers have fallen into.

I am born and raised in a Christian home, studied in strict Christian schools not secular one’s, my grandmothers were church leaders and I had a personal encounter with God more than 20 years ago, so I know a thing or two about the circuit and also about the real deal.

I want to tell you how God taught me to rely on Him directly simply by praying to him instead of on pastors and gimmicks. Understandably if a pastor has no alternative source of income its just human nature to turn the ministry into a money making venture. So I don’t really blame or hate them. If alot of people walked in their shoes they would probably do the same. It’s very tempting. I avoid criticizing these guys bcz sometimes even my own walk with God confounds me so I don’t have the stamina to monitor what others are doing. The judge is God. So lemme focus on my own walk with God bcz God will only require me to answer for myself.

Now there was a problem in one of my circle of friends who were believers, we went to all the great pastors. Nothing worked. We did everything they told us nothing worked. Then in despair we went to the prayer room of our school and prayed earnestly for not more than half an hour. The next morning the problem was completely miraculously resolved. That’s the point at which I stopped idealising pastors and understood that I as a believer have access to God too, it’s not limited to Pastors. Secondly I learnt that God is not in the business of complicating Himself bcz as God He can get very complicated if His interest is in making us jump through hoops to prove something but God actually simplifies Himself for us, so that He can meet us where we are. As a Father would, He comes down to the level of the child and meets them where they are.

My personal experience has been that God is accessible and available if you seek Him wholeheartedly and with sincerity. He will meet you where you are. You do not need to go to a pastor who will extort money from you or make you jump through hoops or try to take undue advantage over you.

Your relationship is with God and through the tearing of the veil that happened in the temple in the Holy of Holies really we have no reason to seek out intermediaries. We can go directly to God. And God longs to fellowship with us. If you make a habit of going some place private to pray during the day like say over lunch hour. After the first few days you will notice that the presence of God will be coming to meet you at the designated place and time when you arrive immediately you sense the presence of God.

The problem of pursuing a relationship with God through the faith of others is that the 3rd parties agenda will likely interfere with you meeting God. If the go between is hungry it’s that hunger that will take pre eminence not God.

So my point is that Christianity is a relationship with God and a personal one at that. You don’t anyone to take you to the throne of God. Jesus says anyone who comes to Me I shall by no means turn away even the thief at the cross Jesus met him where he was, at the last moments of his life after living a life of sin. So He can meet you wherever you are also. You don’t need another party to take you to God. He is available. It’s not like God is hiding from those who want to connect with Him.

I am a tad sleepy tonight so I may not be as articulate but I trust you have gotten the gist of my message. God has no interest in you going through all kinds of things to get to Him. His interest is you. Intimacy with you.

I am quoting a passage of scripture to show you the dangers of allowing proxies or intermediaries, who supposedly are closer to God, to come between you and God. It’s very dangerous because you don’t know the real intentions of their hearts. So just go directly to God. God not only allows it but longs for that direct contact with us without the hidden agendas rife in trying to access God through others who you think have preferential status in God’s sight.

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[SIZE=6]New Living Translation[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]1 Kings 13
A Prophet Denounces Jeroboam[/SIZE]
1At the Lord’s command, a man of God from Judah went to Bethel, arriving there just as Jeroboam was approaching the altar to burn incense. 2 Then at the Lord’s command, he shouted, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests from the pagan shrines who come here to burn incense, and human bones will be burned on you.” 3 That same day the man of God gave a sign to prove his message. He said, “The Lord has promised to give this sign: This altar will split apart, and its ashes will be poured out on the ground.”
4 When King Jeroboam heard the man of God speaking against the altar at Bethel, he pointed at him and shouted, “Seize that man!” But instantly the king’s hand became paralyzed in that position, and he couldn’t pull it back. 5 At the same time a wide crack appeared in the altar, and the ashes poured out, just as the man of God had predicted in his message from the Lord.
6 The king cried out to the man of God, “Please ask the Lord your God to restore my hand again!” So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and he could move it again.
7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to the palace with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift.”
8 But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I would not go with you. I would not eat or drink anything in this place. 9 For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’” 10 So he left Bethel and went home another way.
11 As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons[a] came home and told him what the man of God had done in Bethel that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king. 12 The old prophet asked them, “Which way did he go?” So they showed their father[b] which road the man of God had taken. 13 “Quick, saddle the donkey,” the old man said. So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.
14 Then he rode after the man of God and found him sitting under a great tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
“Yes, I am,” he replied.
15 Then he said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
16 “No, I cannot,” he replied. “I am not allowed to eat or drink anything here in this place. 17 For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’”
18 But the old prophet answered, “I am a prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave me this command from the Lord: ‘Bring him home with you so he can have something to eat and drink.’” But the old man was lying to him. 19 So they went back together, and the man of God ate and drank at the prophet’s home.
20 Then while they were sitting at the table, a command from the Lord came to the old prophet.21 He cried out to the man of God from Judah, “This is what the Lordsays: You have defied the word of the Lord and have disobeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. 22 You came back to this place and ate and drank where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors.”
23 After the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet saddled his own donkey for him, 24 and the man of God started off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion came out and killed him. His body lay there on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.25 People who passed by saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported it in Bethel, where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet heard the report, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.”
27 Then the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey, 28 and he went out and found the body lying in the road. The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. 29 So the prophet laid the body of the man of God on the donkey and took it back to the town to mourn over him and bury him. 30 He laid the body in his own grave, crying out in grief, “Oh, my brother!”
31 Afterward the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the message the Lord told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”
33 But even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways. He continued to choose priests from the common people. He appointed anyone who wanted to become a priest for the pagan shrines. 34 This became a great sin and resulted in the utter destruction of Jeroboam’s dynasty from the face of the earth.
Footnotes
[ol]
[li]13:11 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads son.[/li][li]13:12 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads They had seen.[/li][/ol]

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The post I read that inspired me to write this post.

7 good years you and your wife brainwashed me by threatening me with hell fire and Rapture… You told me you have anointing to change my financial life and all I can do is to sow a seed of my hard earned money at your feet and watch your God bless me abundantly… After giving you my small hawking penny all i harvested was a bucket of poverty and miserable life… I remembered walking 3km to attend church service on an empty stomach, i remember sleeping in people’s houses for lack of house rent and yet when i came to talk to one of your useless pastor all she told me was that I am still in the wilderness and after wilderness is over God will vindicate me. I am glad i had to lock myself up for days somewhere and searched myself and luckily i was able to recover my senses… All the miserable life religion gave me today is now history, sometimes i slap myself just to know if am still the one who was that dumb and foolish. Am happy that I came out of your church alive coz I had countless friends who died in your church due to depression and frustrations and you didn’t allow anyone to announce such deaths. Many people died in your Shrines but you kept it secret… Anyway my thoughts will always be with those who can ask themselves questions about your wicked deeds… Whether you are telling government to pay pastors or not i don’t care! All i can say is that you are a wicked man and dangerous to humanity… You pretend to care so you can continue with your scamming business. Whoever will come here to argue with this Post i won’t mind him or her coz they are simply Goats!!!