Can Korede Komaiya’s Critics Follow a Poor Pastor? -By Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi

No rest for the weary, they say. While still fine-tuning my last article, I was imbued with the thrust and thoughts of this opinion piece. I had felt the need to give my readers a breather, but the propelling force behind the assignments pointed me to what must be written in the now. Who am I to say ‘no’ since He’s the enabler? It is His will, my hands – to paraphrase the repeated response in an ongoing episodic TV epic.

As a digital marketing strategist, I understand the downsides of running a content treadmill. Interestingly, the Owner of the work also adopts the Flywheel approach, where every essay reinforces the previous one. Regardless, if He gives me a message to pass across, how dare I say He’s talking too much! That would defy His reason for calling me a VIS (Very Important Servant as captured in Isaiah 49:6 ERV). So, kindly tolerate the “nuisance” of this back-to-back being in your media consumption space. It is purely the case of necessity being laid upon me, as Paul the Apostle would say.

That said, Pastor Korede Komaiya, has courted controversy with his vow never to follow a poor pastor. The statement came with a major revelation: modern-day pastors follow senior colleagues who constitute them into a “brotherhood” or “clique” called the Sons of the Prophet. While managing the communications of one of them, he termed it “Our family tree,” urging me to refrain from referencing or quoting preachers not in their clan!

As I was saying, critics and disparagers of prosperity preaching went on overdrive after the internet reported that the Presiding Pastor of The Master’s Place has vowed never to be under the wings of a poor pastor. These were his exact words: “I will never follow a poor pastor. Nothing will make me do it. Criticise me from now until tomorrow, I will never follow a poor pastor. I no go follow am!” Komaiya was ready for some criticisms, and boy, was he dragged for being “materialistic”. They accused him of pandering to Mammon and “Babylon”. Soon, a 1996 picture depicting the pastor under the grip of poverty surfaced online.

Those faulting Komaiya are overlooking that he didn’t make an empty statement but spoke out of Proverbs 19:4 to wit: “Wealth makes many “friends”; poverty drives them all away.” (NLT). The man of God’s hermeneutics of that scripture is that your influence stops where your affluence ends. Komaiya strengthened his argument with Deuteronomy 8:18, “You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” Let’s be clear that this intervention holds brief for no one nor throws jabs at anyone. It solely interrogates the statement quoted above within the bounds of the Bible. The essay shouldn’t be construed as an endorsement of some pastors’ doctrines and dogmas.

Given his audacious and unapologetic proclamation, it would seem as if Komaiya was out to spite his “less-fortunate” colleagues. He hit more like disdaining the indolent living sub-optimally because they lack understanding and can’t access the grace available to them. Isn’t it stated in 2 Corinthians 8:9 that Jesus became poor for our sake, so that through Him we might become rich? How can someone living on the bank of a river be content with washing his hands with spittle?

A pastor should be the living proof that the power to be wealthy comes from the Lord. As Psalm 35:27 puts it, people should testify that God truly derives pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. With 1 Corinthians 3:21 affirming that “all things are yours”, that should be the reality of God’s general fit to be followed by the likes of Komaiya. They should be mature enough in their walk with God to have access to Kingdom wealth and call forth provisions from thin air. In Matthew 17:24-27, Jesus told Peter to catch a fish and take a coin from its mouth to pay the temple tax for both of them. The scripture says, “…as he is, so are we in this world.”

If this isn’t the testimony of any senior man of God, it’s either because they are ignorant of prosperity principles or aren’t putting what they know to work. It can also be that their faith level is abysmal, or they lack the authority to exorcise demonic forces inhibiting their breakthrough. Whatever the case, there’s clearly an indictment somewhere. Their poverty is therefore symptomatic of a deeper deficiency, indolence, or indiscipline. With true riches being found in grace, righteousness, and relationship with Christ, should Komaiye be crucified for choosing not to submit to someone lacking in those?

The question in the caption remains valid because verily, verily I say unto you, the pastor’s expressed sentiment is widely prevalent. It’s just that only a few are bold enough to vocalise it. In a previous article, I highlighted the ‘like-priest-like-people’ philosophy that attracts people of this generation to Churches with upwardly mobile pastors. Those who are so motivated in their choice of Churches are like Komaiya, who would not follow a poor pastor!

Lately, there has been an increasing number of celebrities and socialites who are accepting Jesus as their savior. You can be sure that this fad would not have been if there were no more accomplished pastors. In fact, do your checks to find out if any of these high-net-worth personalities align themselves with any pastor who is not a high-flyer.

The proclivity also obtains in secular settings. My late brother, the influential and prodigiously talented Nnamdi Unkl (God rest his soul), shared how his then-boss, an Israeli, wouldn’t give business to any vendor who didn’t own a car. Man’s thinking was that such persons are desperados who will stop at nothing to raise money to buy a car. In fairness, that can’t be said of pastors who are not financially buoyant. Their undoing is the inability to prove that they are serving the God who challenges His faithful to “Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.” (Psalm 2:8).

Not too long ago, “cut soap for me na” was a popular lingo in the streets. It was a polite plea for the well-to-do to disclose how they came by success. People follow prosperous pastors because they “cut soap” for church members by enriching sermons with their lived success principles. This is what traducers latch on to dismiss such pastors as motivational speakers who have veered from teaching the Gospel and the Salvation of the lost. What people with this mentality fail to understand is that the Gospel and Salvation are all-encompassing. Yet, all the facets demonstrate the power of God to set people free from all forms of bondage, including poverty.

As Komaiya pointed out, financial resources matter because the running cost of a Church service alone, or what is required to fund mission work, isn’t chicken feed. When God says in Zechariah 1:17 that “My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad”, it’s also a reference to the gospel and mission work.

In a previous article, we expounded how God relates to people based on their understanding of Him. It is what you see of Him that you get. If your faith and actions rise to the level of beholding Him as the God who can supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, He makes that your testimony. That a denomination chose to focus on one facet of Salvation doesn’t mean they’ve lost their way or are not pointing people to The Way. Actually, the one who was coached by the Church into manifesting a glorious destiny, becoming the first in their family to succeed, will fervently believe in God and possibly lead the entire family to Christ.

The article isn’t throwing the poor under the bus or undermining them. They are quite precious in the sight of the Lord and deserve respect with their dignity not demeaned in any way. Poverty isn’t even a perpetual condition, given that time and chance happen to them all. We only argue that it is not God’s design nor desire for His people to be poor. Consider the KJV rendition of the proverb that precipitated Komaiya’s outburst. It says “the poor is separated from his neighbour.” This threatens the spread of the Gospel because the righteous poor will have no one to evangelise!

Those offended by Pastor Komaiya’s comment should candidly ask themselves if they can humbly submit themselves to a poor priest. That they don’t mind doesn’t mean they should rail against those who prefer to follow a rich pastor. Live and let live should reign, even if in keeping with the parable where the Master allowed the wheat and the tares to grow simultaneously. (Matthew 13:25-30). It’s whatever works best for everyone, provided that the Lord’s standards (the Scriptures) aren’t compromised in any way!

VIS Ugochukwu, a Sage, Storyteller and Media Trainer, is open to feedback on X via @sylvesugwuanyi