Hey yall... Long time no blogpost from yours truly.
I will be honest with yall, the reason I've stopped writing about "controversial topics" is simply because I started dating someone who is of the christian faith. And as you know, when you care for somebody you sorta stop saying stuff that might potentially hurt them or hurt something they believe in. But as I was in my self imposed exile, this video of "Nigerian Fake Pastors VIdeo - here" dropped into my lap.. One of the Pastors in the video said "God is a Game". After watching the video I posted this comment beneath it "
The question becomes how does one differentiate between a real pastor and a fake pastor? A real prophet and a false prophet? As usual, the Bible has an answer for us which eventually turns out not to be an answer but a question inside of an answer inside of another question. I digress. Read on
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits... So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit…Thus you will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-20).
How do we determine objectively what a False Prophet is? After all one man's false prophet might be another man's "Man of God". There must be a way to truly truly determine which is a false prophet and which is not. The verse above says you can recognize them by their fruits? Fruits as in how? Do the Fruits refer to the private jets of their pastors? Does it refer to the spirituality of the members of the church? Does it refer to how many people attend the church? What do these Fruits refer to? Because if it refers to how many members attend the church, then all the pastors mentioned in the above video are bearing good fruit. If Fruits refers to how many members of the church are prosperous, many of the pastors in that church are also bearing good fruit. If it refers to how many members of the church have given their life to christ and all that good stuff. It also means that some of these pastors in the video are very fertile, very very fruitily fertile. This verse leaves one with more questions than answers and as a result makes no sense. It is open to any number of interpretations and we all know where that leads.
It should be remembered that Jesus was also considered a False Prophet back in his day by some people. There is no way at the end of the day to determine accurately which "Man of God" is false and which is Real because at the end of the day, God still refuses to come down and tell us with his own mouth which one is real and which is false so until Kingdom come, bad guyzz gots to rely on Faith...
Some of my friends watched the video and some of them commented by saying "Religion in Nigeria is a joke" or "Nigerian pastors are frauds". But what struck me as amusing is that these very same friends attended churches albeit churches not run by Nigerians. If Nigerian Pastors are frauds, American pastors nko? Jamaican pastors nko? Or is religious fraud something limited only to Nigeria?
For example of white pastors doing the same thing. Please click on this Link
Personally, I believe that any institution or person or religion that requires you to believe something without evidence is fraudulent.
The reason that it is particularly hard to determine which pastor is false and which is real is because of this "Faith" that some of you swear to live by.
You ask the average Nigerian why do they believe in Jesus as the Son of God or this they reply with "it's because I have Faith". This una Faith go land una in Hell before Heaven if some of you are not careful.
The problem with Faith is that Faith is not a "Source of Knowledge". Telling me that you believe in Jesus as the Son of God because of "Faith" is not an answer to the question of whether Jesus is the Son of God. You cannot make something to be true by believing it to be truth , the fact that you believe that Jesus is the Son of God does not make Jesus the Son of God. Faith at the end of the day is unquestioned, unjustified belief, and unjustified belief cannot constitute Knowledge.
These Pastors depicted in the Video know that as long as they have Faith on their side, our criticisms will always fall on deaf ears. You should see how some members of churches like Redeemed and Christ Embassy defend their pastors, you would think they were brainwashed. Men and women who are supposedly educated, defending actions that are evil even to children.
As one of the Pastors said, God is a Game, Faith is a Game. The game is that there is no such thing as a Man of God because we are all "Children of God". If tomorrow I come out and say I am a pastor, na who go stop me? That is the problem with this religious business, it is absolutely hard to determine who is genuine and who is fake.
But in my personal opinion, just because you are genuine pastor in your faith does not mean what you preach is not false. But that is a topic for another day.
There is a church in my area who's pastor always preaches the value of "Sowing seed". The pastor one day asked people with $500 to step out, and then people with $1000 to step out, and it went on like that. So Apparently the prayers he now dished out blessed you in accordance to the money you brought out. And so-called educated people saw such things happening and assumed all of it to be totally appropriate. Sigh..
In conclusion, I leave yall with the 5 Richest pastors in Nigeria..
24 comments:
I totally get where you are coming from. I agree with you to a stronger degree than I have on most issues. However, it is quite easy to tell fake pastors IF YOU ARE A REAL CHRISTSIAN. And the simple truth is that 80% of people who call themselves Christain are NOTHING like Christ. Real recognizes real, fake does not. In the bible, Jesus used the parable of blind guides leading the blind into a ditch. The premise here is that the led had to be blind too, cos if they could see, they would instantly see that their leaders are blind and stop following them. To recognize the fruits of a pastor first you gotta know what their role is as ordained in the bible: to grow the church members spiritually into the likeness of Christ. If your pastor is not building you up spiritually, no matter the miracles or money he's a fake nigga. My own volcker rule is: if he demands seed sowing as a source of blessings more than twice a year = fake. Giving is a xtian principle but it matters not where u give. In any case, Christ said false prophets will arise but he also said they will arise to meet a demand cos people will run to the prophets who tell them what they want to hear: that their problems are external, caused by others or the devil instead of their own weakness and need for Gods grace. At the end of the day you gotta be a true xtian to know one, the real ones are knowable it only takes one or two sermons if you know your faith. Finally, this is one reason why I don't go to Chyrch too much. My opinion long gaaan, but I hope it makes sense to you. Adios
El-Divine
Wait, what does it mean to be a true christian though?
Afterall, being a true christian does not mean u are perfect.
Is a true christian in your opinion, a christian who is like christ? If that's the case then I'm sorry 80% is a pretty low percentage.. I would say about 99.9% of christians are nothing like christ.
And the bible never says we should aim to be exactly like christ or does it?
1)From scripture one can assume the “fruit” true prophets should be known by are fruits of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and self-control. I guess its then left up to society to decide whether lavish living, private jets, and making millions of your congregation while they and the surrounding community continue to suffer, reflect these fruits.
2) Churches that “require” people to believe w/o evidence are fraudulent. I may agree. Good thing churches I have participated/supported have not “required” me to believe anything (that would be a cult), but have only offered/tried to convince me that what they think is the best and most fulfilling way to live my life. It’s never been by force that I believe, but yes it has always been strongly encouraged to follow a certain way much like a CEO strongly encourages a certain business plan, or a top West Coast promoter tries to convince me that his party will be the best and I will miss out if I don’t attend. But whether it’s all actual “truth” will be left up to the people to experience and decide for themselves. You’re an idiot if you keep attending a church or supporting a pastor that preaches something that does not ring true for you or is not helpful. While some may be brainwashed, I can bet that most are not.
3)Don’t be so sure God hasn’t come down and spoke with his own mouth about something. God reveals himself to the faithful in various ways (experience and observation talking) and so as long as you don’t have faith, you wont be seeing that sorta thing anytime soon. Additionally, based on scripture, Jesus was yes, definitely considered a false prophet until people saw with own eyes signs that he was true (i.e. miracles, the resurrection). I think it will take a very similar experience, both individually and on a grander scale for people to believe God/Jesus is real. So while the faithful may have seen things that eliminate doubt, the unfaithful may not be jumping to follow Christ anytime soon until they see signs and wonders (proof) that eliminate their own doubt. Knowledge and proof based belief is nothing new. It may take up until that last moment on earth, that last breath until the unfaithful believe, if at all.
4)So whose this chick ur dating??
Uhm..things we do for love!
While I am not an ardent Christian (Lord help), the whole concept of religion is based on the Faith system, hence, trying to find logic in the underlying principles is somewhat an effort in futility.
Somehow, everyother thing I have to say is tied to this. and I have lost my train of thought.
*shrug*
Hey Peace,
1. OK lol to your number one point. It didn't disagree with anything I said but OK.
2. LOL churches do not require people to believe anything. For you to be considered a christian, you have to believe certain tenets.
a. Jesus is the Son of God.
b. The only way to God is through Jesus
c. Nobody enters heaven without passing through Jesus.
d. Jesus is our Lord and Savior.
So when I said Churches require you to believe something, I meant the above tenets. Now if you say your church does not require you to believe this in order to be a Christian, then i don't know whether you can be considered a christian and whether your church can be considered a church.
And no your church does not "force" you to believe lol, requiring somebody to do something is not the same as "forcing" them to do it.
"You’re an idiot if you keep attending a church or supporting a pastor that preaches something that does not ring true for you or is not helpful. While some may be brainwashed, I can bet that most are not. "
So if something does not ring true to you, it must be false? if it rings true to you, then it must be true?
Is there no such thing as objective truth?
3. "Don’t be so sure God hasn’t come down and spoke with his own mouth about something. God reveals himself to the faithful in various ways (experience and observation talking) and so as long as you don’t have faith, you wont be seeing that sorta thing anytime soon"
These socalled "False Prophets" claim that God reveals himself to them. Is there any independent way of verifying that? That is the problem with revelation based religion, it cannot be substantiated or verified.
Btw I never said Jesus was not Real. I simply question the legitimacy of the claim of him being the "Son of God".
1. My first point wasn’t meant to disagree with you, it was a response to your question about what “fruits”are. You did query about that did you not?
2. Okay thanks for clarifying that “require” and “force” are different. I assumed you meant force. So we agree churches cannot force you to believe anything, but they can require a subscription to a particular doctrine to be a member of the church, yes. So anyway, I believe I was making this point in response to you saying that any church that requires you to believe something that isn’t proven is fraudulent. Fraudulent means deceitful/dishonest does it not? So isn’t it only deceitful and dishonest if you yourself know something to be untrue, but say its true? Isn’t it only fraudulent if there is incongruency between what you say is going on and what is actually going on? I would imagine that most church leaders speak from a genuine place. They truly believe what they are saying, and truly believe they have the answers to a better way, and so when they speak from this place, they cannot be considered fraudulent. They may be inaccurate, but if they speak from genuine convictions, and they “practice what they preach” they cannot be considered fraudulent.
3. Of course there is something as objective truth. But who can know it? Please tell me if YOU know the objective truth, that would be awesome. We have yet to find a way to know and prove objective truth, so we all remain seekers. Whether we realize it or not. And again, my point was that you cannot force someone to stay in a church or force them to believe any certain thing. But since we’ve clarified that you did not mean force, this point is now moot.
4. You’re right “False Prophets” claim they’ve seen the Lord and all that. My point wasn’t that any old person couldn’t just say that, because they can. My point was that you sounded pretty sure that God hasn’t done such a thing. And I’m saying don’t be so sure. If one understands that God reveals himself to the faithful, then the unfaithful should be careful to say God does not come down and speak to us before first having faith and seeing for him or herself. You can only speak from what you know, not what you don’t know. Now the verification of it all is far more tricky. And I could give reasons that could help you figure out whether the prophet is true (i.e. watch the prophets fruit) but the end of the day, the truth is that Knowledge with a Big k and Truth with a big T can never be known. That’s the human experience. We all rely on faith. For example, you can never KNOW or PROVE objectively that someone you love loves you back, but you have faith that they do. And you go off that. Sometimes you don’t know the truth..until you do. So false prophets may never be found out…until they are. God may not prove to be real to you..until He is. Just like it happened with Jesus.
some of y'alls responses are longer than the blogpost... take am easy lol
Nice post... we just have to pray and be in tune with the holy spirit to tell the real from the fake. But my litmus test, if the pastor preaches every week about money, he is probably fake.
Stay Blessed
Interesting. I have to say though, Truth can never die, still what you have pointed out is old news.
Anybody that takes time to study the Bible as seriously as they take their jobs will be able to CLEARLY discern what is true.
And if you really do have the Holy spirit..even easier.
Also, you don't seem to understand what Faith/Trust is. Trust/Faith is ALWAYS directed at something, because of the nature/character of that thing. You can't TRUST or have FAITH in nothing or anything you know nothing of.
It would only be 'Blind Faith', if I knew nothing about ''God''. If God revealed nothing to us, it would certainly be Blind Faith.
Right now, God has revealed some of God's character/nature and what God has done in the world, and an idea of what will be done in the future. We are left with two options, Trust in God or Doubt God, only.
Eche True Christianity involves an intimate knowledge of God through his own word. John 17:3 "and this is eternal life, that they may KNOW you, the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Christian faith is not blind. In Romans 10:17 it says "faith comes from the Word of God". True Christianity does not in any way involve perfection. But if you fill your life with the word of God, faith comes in. And with faith comes the power of God, "John 1:12 to them that believe he gave the power to become sons of God." and if you are a true son of God you can tell a charlatan.
Everything isn't about logic. It's like when you know someone do intimately that if a false accusation is made against them you can tell within urself even without proof that that's not true. Someone can be like "how do you know" and u tell them "I just know".
Eche True Christianity involves an intimate knowledge of God through his own word. John 17:3 "and this is eternal life, that they may KNOW you, the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Christian faith is not blind. In Romans 10:17 it says "faith comes from the Word of God".
El Divine.
Do u know what "knowledge" is?
One can not intimately know God, one can intimately believe in God but one cannot know him. U say through his word, how do we know the bible is the word of God and not the Koran? How can you categorically prove that the bible is the "WOrd of God" and the only word of God? U can't. everything is based on faith, so no TRUE CHRISTIAN can intimately know God because Faith is not knowledge.
It would only be 'Blind Faith', if I knew nothing about ''God''. If God revealed nothing to us, it would certainly be Blind Faith.
What do you know about God? That was not revealed to you through the bible? U don't know anything about God, rather you believe something about his character. So in reality, it is actually blind faith.
Right now, God has revealed some of God's character/nature and what God has done in the world, and an idea of what will be done in the future. We are left with two options, Trust in God or Doubt God, only.
The idea that God even has a character is a belief in of itself. What has God revealed about his character and nature? please educate me. And if by educating me, you point to verses in the bible. U should also explain to me why the verse in the bible is more legitimate than the verse in the Koran. Or did God reveal that to you to? Did God tell u his true Word is located in the bible and not in the Koran?
Same with Realist here.
Hi Azazel. :)
I'll say what my sis says:
I'll not judge another man's servant, to God, he stands or falls...
selah!
You blog gives me a lot to think about
Adiya
Muse Origins
Muse Origins FB
I think the question we need to ask Christians is: "Why are you a Christian and not a Muslim or a Jew?"
Truth is, they most probably don't know why they are Christians. Most people belong to the religious institution they do because of their place of birth, and parents, the people they were born to.
I mean, we are at a stage in society where questioning God's existence, authenticity, or nature is vain, what we need to decide upon now is what religion is the 'true' one. As far as I am concerned, I wouldn't pick one. For the simple fact that the three mainstream religions are man-made, and the three books they claim to be the 'word of God' were written by men. And the messages in these books were interpreted by men, too.
Since when was man's word something to go by?
I grew up in a Catholic home, in fact, I still identify as Catholic, but I only belong without believing. I belong because expressing my true religious views in my family is a taboo, so I just go along with it.
I honestly don't know how people can believe in God in a world like this.
And I missed my point, so I'll stop now.
Richest pastors do thrive everywhere, not just in Nigeria. :)
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We know if one is a false prophet or true prophet by what he says and does. (By their fruits you will know them).
-If someone preaches a different Gospel (Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead), he is a false prophet even if an angel talked to him. Galatians 1:6-9
-If someone says Jesus is not the Son of God, he is a false prophet 1 John 2:18-27 and 1 John 4:1-6
-If someone takes away or adds to the Gospel and to the Word of God, and what he says contradicts with the word of God, he is a false prophet
-If someone lies in God's name or twists God's word by taking it out of context or playing gymnastics with the text, he is a false prophet and has no respect for God's Word.
etc but please see Jude, 2 Corinthians 11 and Revelation chap 2 & 3.
Also, please check my blog post in Tumblr http://robynfd.tumblr.com/post/42146514456/why-we-should-question-pastors
How do we know if Jesus is the Son of God? He made this claim and proved it by raising Himself from the dead (please read my comment (Robyn Deep) under the blog post: Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Then why is your grandpa not alive)
How do we know the Bible is God's Word, because Jesus said it is (Matthew 24:35) and He proved to be God by raising Himself from the dead (see above).
How do we know a true christian? Not through absolute moral perfection because God calls us perfect (ONLY because we have the righteousness of God through Jesus) while we are being made holy (by the Spirit of God) Hebrews 10:14. The Holy Spirit gives us the desire to obey God and seek after His righteousness. If you find a Christian who hates God's law and wishes they had freedom to commit sin, there is a 98% chance they are not Christians. See also 1 John and Romans 7-8
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