Fake clerics on the prowl as ‘prophecy’ economy booms in Nigeria

…They are there to pollute the church – Bishop Ighele

It does seem that there are many fake people in Christendom nowadays who go about deceiving innocent citizens all in the name of prophecies. Many professing what could better be termed ‘racketeering’ in the name of church.

At the start of a calendar year, all manners of prophecies were being dished out to gullible and unsuspecting members of the public. Sometimes, these so-called prophecies or predictions are rehashed and repeated from the previous years.

Stories coming out from some worship centres are not cheering. It has become a rat race where racketeering goes on unchecked. Under the pretense of evangelism and deliverance, many are establishing centres of fraud and other ignoble activities.

The preponderance of prophecies from many self-styled prophets and prophetesses are breeding confusion in society. Many of these prophecies lack biblical backing.

Some of the proprietors of churches nowadays are also into secret cults and ritual activities, as they derived their magical powers through occultism.

In a country where poverty is dealing with many citizens, and in a society where many people are battling with multiple life challenges that make them run from pillar to post, these fake prophet’s prey on the innocent – who consider spiritual options a last port call for lack of resources to meet their medical needs.

While seeking spiritual help is not a problem of any sort, preying on people’s challenges to ‘milk’ them of unavailable financial resources is the problem – and for this, the Church must do a soul searching and cleansing of all forms of spiritual or religious racketeering currently going on in the country.

“It is not only the church in Nigeria that has faced or is facing the problem of fake pastors and fake prophets. It is a global problem,” Charles Ighele, General Superintendent, Holy Spirit Mission (The Happy Family Nation), said.

According to him, Jesus had warned his followers that there shall be fake pastors and prophets, and also offered ways of differentiating between the fakes and the genuine pastors. He added that one of such ways often quoted by people relates to the Bible verse that says – by their fruit, you shall know them. “This simply means that by the character they display, we should be able to differentiate the genuine from the fake.”

Ighele also added that servants of God should not draw economic benefits from prophecies. According to him, Jesus said that ‘Freely have you received, freely give’ indicating that pastors or ministers of the gospel are not to make people pay for ministering to them. “We should NEVER NEVER NEVER charge.”

Gracious Akintayo, publisher, Providence News (a faith-based publication), said anyone who commercialises prophecy in any way is a deceiver and fraudulent. According to him, prophecies are subject to confirmation, and that whenever prophecies go wrong and unfulfilled, the prophet should be held accountable for inaccurate prophecy, because the prophet is subject to his/her spirit.

“Commercializing prophecy is not justifiable; it’s both wrong and ungodly. Prophecies are intended to serve as upliftment and edification, not for threat, or as a means of exploitation for financial gain,” Akintayo said.

Read also: Nigeria is a huge market for fake prophets because most people are gullible – Apostle Elo

Prevalence of sexual immorality in the Church

While some are prowling on prophecies for economic gains, some are preying on young and unsuspecting female members of their congregation – often exploiting women sexually in the pretense of deliverance.

It is also becoming seemingly difficult these days to draw the line between entertainers and pastors/ministers of the gospel – and the prevalence of social media and technology adoption has not made it any easier.

There is hardly any day on the internet today without stories about pastors (men and women of God) being involved in sexual immorality.

While this should call for repentance and cry of restoration – many have found a way to weave the stories around, tagging it “bad PR” or the handiwork of their “haters.” Some worshipers in their defence will also quote the part of the scriptures that says; “Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm.”

While that part of the scripture remains true, it was however, not meant to protect people that have gone astray from their primary calling. It also suggests that the Church cannot afford to hide wrongdoing in the name of ‘touch not my anointed’ but should pray and correct erring pastors or members in love by seeking holiness.

Today, many young preachers see ministry as an industry, which is regularly exposing the ministry to all forms of insanity, demons, and malevolent influences.

Today, many preachers are quick to boast of stardom and celebrity status even in ministry, “But in truth, they’re enveloped in darkness, lacking genuine achievements. Yeyebrity without anything to celebrate,” Akintayo said.

According to him, many televangelists and social media pastors proclaim divinity, yet attend gatherings and places antithetical to their supposed beliefs, which is why it is becoming more difficult to differentiate between their professed faiths that are contradictory with their daily lifestyle.

“They unashamedly glorify adultery, infidelity and immorality as a way of life. They consistently debase marriage institutions to promote family fragmentation and single parenthood,” Akintayo said.

According to him, many blatantly display nudity and indecent dressing for fame, while also masquerading sex-trading and promiscuity as social media influence. “They’re commonly known as home wreckers and escorts, engaging in multiple affairs.”

He added that they often appear to be pastors, but are rather pigs and pythons – preaching, praying, and prophesying venom. According to Akintayo, their charm and allure are rooted in deception, usually laced with poison, and that associating with them is fatal.

However, Ighele brought two perspectives to bear, saying that some pastors have fallen into the trap of immortality. According to him, there are two categories of immoral pastors. The first group according to Ighele is made up of pastors who fall into immorality through spiritual weakness.

“Such pastors should be restored and rescued and disciple into the way of our Lord, Jesus Christ. As the General Superintendent of a church with many branches, my policy is to bring restoration and complete healing to any of God’s wounded soldiers. No country throws its wounded soldiers to the enemy to kill,” Ighele said.

He however, describes the second form of immorality as another group of pastors and church workers or members whose lives are completely held under the dirty armpit of the devil, with an assignment to wreak sexual havoc within the church of Jesus Christ.

“They tempt, deceive and drag innocent male and female members of the church into immorality. They are there to pollute the church of Jesus Christ. Such pastors and church members should be fished out and told to leave the church. They can go and carry out their sexual escapades in brothels and not on innocent people,” he said.

Ighele, who once head the accountability unit of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), however, urged the umbrella body of the Church, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) through the five blocs of the Christian body to make a list of their member churches and pastors for internal discipline of erring members.

“Whenever there is a scandal, all the five groups that make up the Christian Association of Nigeria should look at the list. If the pastor does not belong to a group, the CAN affiliate and CAN should let the public know that such a pastor does not belong to CAN,” Ighele said.

He however, added that if the pastor belongs to CAN, a disciplinary committee should be set up to investigate the matter.

Need for government intervention

While the Christian umbrella body might appear to be weak in taking disciplinary actions against erring pastors, because members are considered equal, he suggested that the government must begin to wade into the activities of the pastors to protect the larger society.

He also suggested a need for pastors or any Nigerian wrongly accused of immorality, especially on the social media space to seek legal redress in court. Beyond protecting their image and that of their church/ministry – it will also serve as a deterrent to others who might want to wrongfully accuse others for online/social media traffic.

A clear example was the case between Daniel Olukoya, the general overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) and one UK-based lady, who wrongfully accused Olukoya.

She was fined £100,000 by a UK court after losing the case for defamation, and was also ordered to pay damages, to publicly retract and publish the court’s judgment. The UK-based blogger was ordered to pay a total of £100,000 in damages for defamatory statements made against Olukoya and his wife online. She was ordered to pay £65,000 to Olukoya and £35,000 to his wife respectively

Seyi John Salau is a BusinessDay Correspondent with interest in development journalism, which tells stories that connect the people, brands, and the government. SeyiJohn is also a media professional with BSc, Mass Communition (ACU); Masters of School Media (MSM, Ibadan) & MSc, Mass Communication (Caleb).

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