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| Adeboye |
Pastor Adeboye’s message to singles
on marriage Last week was quite interesting on Nigeria’s social media space. It
started with a video of Pastor Adeboye telling his followers not to marry a
woman that can neither cook nor pray for one straight hour. The question that
has been on my mind is: does that mean God is deaf? What parent makes their
child beg (for one hour) for something they know the child needs? The truth is
that prayers, besides making the believer to feel good about themselves, are an
absolute waste of time. They do not grow the economy or an amputated limb.
Youth unemployment is at an all time high despite our regular night vigils,
prayers and supplications – it is evident that a God who is interested in human
welfare does not exist. If He did, malaria and cancers will not kill millions
of children whilst He preoccupies Himself with consensual sex between
homosexual couples.
In our country, pastors are marriage
counsellors, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and financial advisers all at once
even though they are not appropriately trained for these roles. They tell women
to go back to their violent husbands because, according to them, divorce is a
sin against God. Many a woman has lost her life because of this advice. People
like Adeboye are so influential anything they say is taken as the literal
truth. Sadly, his comments portray a man who is out of touch with the realities
of modern family life. More and more women are now in employment and some of
them are the main providers for their families. Marriage is now regarded as a
partnership rather than as a master-servant relationship. Some of the most
celebrated chefs in western cultures are men – what is wrong with teaching our
boys and young men to cook for themselves? Adeboye has similarly instructed his
female followers not to marry men without jobs. But what happens when a man
loses his job – should his wife divorce him?
I feel sorry for the people who
think God speaks through this man or through any man at all.
If you want incontrovertible evidence that
religion cannot reform the world, then consider the degree of theft and
corruption in Nigeria. These problems have become endemic even though
practically every Nigerian is a practising Muslim or Christian.
Nigerian
pastors and luxurious life style
Nigerian pastors have acquired a
taste for private jets – ostensibly to reach the parts of the world that need
the gospel of Jesus, except that they avoid such places as Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq. Charity begins at home – it is senseless to run
off to put out the fire in your neighbour’s house when your own house is up in
flames. Nigerians and their country are in dire need of salvation from endemic
corruption. It is evident that religion cannot tranform our nation because as
our religious devotions have increased, so have our corrupt ways. Pastor
Adeboye and his other pastopreneur friends need to sell off their jets, repent
of their lies, stop robbing their church members through emotional blackmail,
and give back what they have stolen. Their message has failed. Adeboye’s gaffes
were followed by the news that the Nigerian government is going to subsidise
pilgrimage to Mecca by granting Muslims concessionary exchange rate. That is
almost N8 billion for an exercise that does not benefit our economy. Many
businesses are failing, parents are struggling to send their children to
school, our hospitals are poorly resourced but that is how our government
chooses to spend N8 billion. And believers wonder why we cannot stop talking
about religion. There would be no use to criticise religion if it is removed
from public space and kept as a private matter. It is wrong for the government
to use tax payer’s money to subsidise religious rituals.
Prophetic
declarations
The week ended with the RCCG convention where
Adeboye makes his usual wild claims but says nothing of consequence about our
nation. Our Vice President and a professor of law, Yemi Osibanjo, who also
happens to be a pastor in the Redeemed Church watched on as Adeboye went to
town with his preposterous claims. For a man who claims to have resurrected
dead people, cured all kinds of diseases and driven a car without feel, you
would think Adeboye would have told Vice President Osibanjo by now where to
locate the abducted Chibok girls, right? But no, another RCCG convention has
ended and not a word about their whereabout. When Adeboye claims that his car
drives without fuel or that he has resurrected dead people and there’s a
medical doctor, engineer, architect, research fellow, PhD holder or a professor
in the congregation who believes this fantasy then I feel grief and have great
concern for the education system that has nurtured such people.
Religion has caused more harm than
it has done good to African societies. Without a doubt, Adeboye and his fellow
pastopreneurs have been responsible for the corruption in the way a generation
of Nigerians think. But judging by the reactions to his sermon on social media,
I think it is safe to say that the scales are starting to fall off the eyes of believers.
I believe that pastor Adeboye will think twice now before re-telling his
favourite story of how his car drives without fuel. I am thankful for the
Internet and how it has placed knowledge at the fingertips (literally) of
ordinary people. I pay tribute to fellow secularists for their unrelenting
effort to liberate the minds of our people from the shackles of religion.
Despite my grief, I feel hopeful about the future.
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