Pulpit bigwigs and their ridiculous season-induced prophecies Published By: Paul Dada
By Paul Dada
Let me tell you straight up; I am unapologetically Christian. I believe in the Bible. I hold it to be the final authority on all matters of the Christian faith. But I am convinced that the kind of Christianity promoted and practised by many of the Nigerian pulpit superstars especially those of the Pentecostal variant, is a sham and a sick joke. It is aberrant. It is contradictory to the godly principles taught in the Bible.
One of the aberrations of the Nigerian Pentecostal Christianity is the yearly vague prophecies churned out by these men at the so-called crossover nights marking the end of a year and the beginning of a new one. These men posture themselves as God’s special buddies who He gives first hand information about what He plans to do in a new year. In their own eyes, they are higher mortals favoured by God to unravel His plans for others.
It is really risible that many of those prophecies are vague. Some are just like good wishes. And others sound like political punditry. One of Nigeria’s almighty prophets” said, “In 2024, things will get worse before it gets better. The wind is blowing, pray to God to allow the wind to blow you good.
“Some serious secrets would come into the open in Nigeria. There are some people who would start the year as nobody but become significant before the end of the year. Get ready to grab many opportunities this year.
“There will be divine intervention in those places that are hot. There will be medical breakthroughs in areas like asthma, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes”.
If you ask me, I’d tell you those aren’t prophetic utterances but motivational sayings.
Another pulpit bigwig at the crossover service of the mega denomination over which He superintends, declared: “It shall mark the end of misfortune in your life! It shall be your Isaac order of year, your year of enviable turnaround!
“It shall be your year of spiritual breakthrough that will set the pace for other breakthroughs in your life!
“It shall be your year of unchecked enlargement! You shall be satisfied with favour and fulfilled with the blessing of the Lord all through 2024!
“Every Winner that will care to maintain a walk with God shall dip his foot in oil! It shall be your year of supernatural flight!
“You will be jumping levels all through 2024! God is bringing every Winner from the street corner to the limelight! It shall be your year of favour after the order of Mary!
“Favour will locate you to make the impossible happen in your life! You will never know setbacks in your journey all through 2024!”
Biblically and logically, many things are wrong with the way these men do their phony prophetic declarations. In the Bible, a prophecy is no prayer or good wish. And it is not something you can give arbitrarily or out or excitement because a new year has dawned. Prophets in the Bible were moved by God to give messages to the people. Those messages were mostly about the need for people to repent of their sins or face tragic consequences. And when prophecy was positive, it was to build faith in God.
Prophetic messages recorded in the Bible were precise. Whatever a prophet said would happen always did. The prophet was just a tool used by God whenever He had need of him. The prophet wasn’t someone who just started making declarations whenever he felt like it.
The Nigerian pseudo-prophets seem to present God as someone who is kinder and more loving or more ready to bestow material blessings because it is a new year. They project God, a timeless being, as one who is excited because a new year has dawned. So, to them, God is going to do for you what He didn’t do in the previous year. The reason for God to do something new, greater, and mightier, in their warped belief, is that we are in a new year. But soon, the new year becomes old, and many of their prayers and so-called prophecies do not come to fruition. Yet, they continue with the cycle each new year.
One popular pastor once declared to his mega congregation; “no loss, no lack, no limitation”. But that year, some of them lost their jobs and recorded losses in their businesses. Others lost their lives. Some could not afford to pay school fees. Others could not pay their house rent. He just gave them false hope based on motivational nothing
The scathing truth is that these prophetic declarations by these Pentecostal/ Charismatic pulpit celebrities are nothing. These preachers who live large on the tithes, first fruit offerings, seed offerings and all kinds of levies imposed on their followers, would do better by taking pragmatic steps to alleviate the suffering of many of them. These preachers fly in private jets and ride in posh cars while many of their faithful followers hop on motorbikes and drive “my-brother- help-me -push-am” cars. Perhaps, they need to start by making it easy for their poor followers to send their children to the high tuition universities and schools established by them. Let them have grand and noble plans for the poor widows, the orphans, the unemployed, the underemployed and other vulnerable people in their congregations.
It is a shame that the followers of these men are not able to discern that they are victims of a huge scam. They are hapless but trusting religious fans plunged into Disneylandlike fantasy. But when you try to reason with them, they hold what you say to be anathematic. They are bedazzled admirers of their captors. They are afflicted by Stockholm syndrome. They love their manacles. And it is sad.
We need more Akeredolus
The late Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akerdolu
Two days after Christmas in 2023, the sun set for Rotimi Akeredolu, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Governor of Ondo State and Chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum.
The news of the death of Akeredolu who was aged 67, was shocking although it was well known that he had been very sick. He was battling with both leukemia and prostate cancer.
Akeredolu may have lived a short life but he surely left indelible footprints in the sand of time. Honestly, we need more men like him in power. He was an activist governor who placed the interest of his people above that of politics.
One thing Akeredolu would be known for was his galvanisation of his colleague governors in the southwest to start the security network codenamed “Amokekun” in order to check the spate of attacks on the people by criminal elements. The move drew the ire of powerful personalities in Aso Rock but Akeredolu was unfazed.
Akeredolu was not afraid to hold and express views contrary to those held by his party, the All Progressives Congress. When the Federal Government said, security outfits like the Amotekun could not bear firearms, the Ondo Governor, said his administration would work to procure arms for the one in his state.
Akeredolu openly and bluntly criticised the Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria approved by former President Muhammadu Buhari. He called on Buhari to let the old and new naira notes co-exist. He said the policy had failed significantly and called it a “needless drift into the abyss of chaos”.
Akeredolu once said in an interview: “The fact that we belong to the political ruling party does not stop us from expressing our view”. Adding, he said: “I have found it difficult particularly with the political class. I’m like somebody coming from a different milieu and it’s not the one they are used to. A few times, I put my feet down, and I say this is what I believe and I think with time, they’ve just come to appreciate my position that when this man takes a position, he is not probably going to change and that is probably the lawyer in me.”
The truth is that when others dawdled and waffled, Akeredolu stood and spoke up for Nigerians. We need more men like him in power.
Adieu, Arakunrin.
