Who Will Call Controversial Clergies To Order As They Continue To Make Mockery Of Christianity? -By Isaac Asabor

If there is any explanation that any cleric in Nigeria will readily offer whenever he or she is asked to clarify certain actions exhibited in the course of his or her pastoral activities, it is that of saying that the Lord uses the “foolishness” of preaching to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:21) and that God reveals His will regarding eternal life through preaching (Titus 1:4). Hence, we can never overstate the importance of preaching to fulfill the purposes of God on the earth. That being said, in my experience as a Christian and a voracious student of the bible, I have found that there are times preachers do more harm than good with their messages.

In fact, nothing is more treacherous to the church of Jesus Christ than taking a passage of Scripture out of context. Much of the proliferating heresy and apostasy that are trending today is the result of illogical, imprecise, sensationally-charged preaching from different pulpits by clergies across the country. More than ever before, preachers are becoming more dangerous to the congregation as they have continued to interpret the scriptures out of context. Such practice not only dilutes the respective meaning of scriptures, it simultaneously exposes the people of God to misconstrued truth, thus weakening their collective faith.  Anyone that reads through the pastoral epistles of Paul, will find a continual theme: Preach the Word, be true to the text, teach no other doctrine, rebuke those who embrace error, stay committed to exposition, be a workman, be a teacher of the Word.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is not an exaggeration to say that not a few Christians prefer expositional preaching by pastors, rather than seeing them bringing their misinterpreted biblical scriptures as they are wont to dilute them with their own thoughts and opinions, and thus throwing their followers into confusion.  When Paul said, “We have the mind of Christ,” he implied that we can know what Christ thinks through the contextual meaning of His Word. Therefore, the contextual meaning of Scripture is the key to biblical preaching.

Ask most men of God if they are “bible preachers” and they will answer in the affirmative. That’s not the question.  The question is: Are they saying what God meant in the biblical passage? Just because someone opens a Bible when he or she preaches does not mean what the Bible says is simply been relayed to the audience. Many preachers use Scripture as a starting point merely to validate their own thoughts and opinions, thus reducing the sacred text to a postscript or addendum of their sermon. This Machiavellian act elevates the thoughts of men over the words of God. Preaching is bereft of divine authority when what God said, how God said it, when God said it, and where God said it is not disseminated to the congregation. Contextual preaching considers the truth of God in the sequence, order, and framework that was intended by the Holy Spirit. When a man operates out of that realm, he is venturing into territory not ordained from above; he exalts his thoughts over God’s.

For instance, Prophet Chukwuemeka Odumeje, popularly called “Ndaboski Bahose” recently said he wrestled with Satan in a match in hell fire, and emerged victorious.  According to him, the said match had no referee or spectators, just Satan and “The War and the battle” himself; as he is also known.

In as much as God in the book of 1^st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 27 told His children in the Christendom that “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty”, the battle which Odumeje told the world he had with Satan sounds incredible. 

In a video that has surfaced on the internet, Prophet Odemeje is seen displaying the belt he claimed to have won following his match with Satan with no witnesses.

In a similar vein, not few Nigerians would at the moment be erroneousness to adjudge Odumeje’s entertainment prowess on the pulpit to have paled into insignificance given the fact that Mummy GO’, originally known as Evangelist Fumilayo Adebayo has surpassed him in the creation of viral memes on various social media platforms.

To those that have not heard of Evangelist Funmilayo Adebayo whose nickname is Mummy GO, she is the founder of the Rapture Proclaimer Evangelical Church of God. Without any iota of exaggeration, she has been making waves on social media due to her controversial sermons so much that her photographs have also gone viral in memes on social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Nairaland with controversial and funny inscriptions that mimic her statements about hell.

The 54-year-old preacher hails from Ekiti State. She became an internet sensation when a viral video of her rendering a song titled ‘Kpatakpata’ caught the attention of social media users.

In 2019, she was heavily criticized for saying that people who take Vitamin C and eat Titus fish will not make heaven. Among her viral messages is one where she warned that break dancing originated from the land of the dead.

“Where did break dancing generate from? Michael Jackson. He got power from the dead land. What is the land of the dead? Skeleton. Skeleton is not for the living. If you break dance, you’re telling God you’re dead,” she said.

She also once revealed that she was originally a man in ancient Egypt, but died in a war, and claimed that she was trained in the after-life and was sent for ‘I.T’ (industrial training) before she was sent to Nigeria where she was reborn as a woman.

In fact, everything she said about herself sounds incredible. For instance, she said she is a former hired killer, the founder of the first relaxer in the whole world….. Ultrasheen, originator of the first attachment on earth, former Deputy to Lucifer, former Queen of the coast, former armed robber/cultist, former Illuminati boss, former General of the Egyptian Army and former and present virgin with kids. More unbelievable of all she claimed to be is that of saying she has spent 900 years under the sea and another 300 years on IT under Lucifer.

Even if most clergies often take solace in Matthew chapter 7 from verse 1 to 3 that says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged, one may not be wrong in this context to ask “Who will call controversial clergies to order, particularly as they are not affiliated to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).