TITHE, MEN OF GOD AND THE REST OF US.

BY Duru Kizito

A statement credited to the General overseer of Redeemed Christian Mission Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has gone viral on social media. The Clergyman allegedly claimed that one’s refusal to pay tithe to the church attracts divine curse on the person. Opinions so far have been divided, but with many social media opinion moulders and influencers lashing out and hitting hard on the Pastor.

Ordinarily, I would not have bothered myself reacting to Adeboye’s claim, for it does not in any way concern the average Nigerian who is on the street hustling to make ends meet. There are so many pertinent and mind boggling issues that beggar attention from writers and to me, I don’t see tithe as one of the serious problems or challenges of the country. But for clarity sake and out of my love to always contribute to trending issues and topics, I shall proceed to voice my opinion, view and argument about tithes.

I have not read anywhere in the holy Book of Christians (the Bible) where followers of Christ were enjoined, admonished or charged to pay tithes to Pastors or Priests. Equally, all through the biblical life account of Jesus Christ, there was no indication of any event Where He paid tithe to any high Priest (I stand to be corrected). One is now left to ponder on the hype our so called men of God give to tithes, as if it the hallmark of Christianity and Spirituality. This hype, unfortunately and eventually, has been bought hook, line and sinker by unsuspecting and perhaps gullible church goers, who continuously see modern day men of God as God of men. A holier than thou friend of mine even went as far as saying that what Bishop Adeboye said was the voice of God. To her, God, not Bishop Adeboye, has promised to curse anyone who does not pay his or her tithe. When I tried to talk sense to her numskulls, she told me not to question some certain things concerning God. Would you blame her? She has been brain washed by those who still want to enrich their already deep pocket from her tithe.

Nobody should be deceived with the notion that God should not be questioned. Our men of God should stop making God look like a dictator whose actions cannot be questioned. If we can politely question some actions and activities of our earthly fathers, what then stops Christians from questioning God, especially when things turn out ugly in their lives? I am not an ardent bible reader but I am fully aware that in the Old Testament of the bible, King Hezekiah was told he had no chance of survival from his illness by Prophet Isaiah. Immediately, King Hezekiah went up to his room and questioned God’s decision to allow him die despite serving him in truth and in prefect heart. God heard his prayers and commanded the same Prophet Isaiah to go back to King Hezekiah and pronounce life on his head, that wasn’t enough, God also added fifteen more years to him. Dear Christian, who believes that God shouldn’t be questioned, would King Hezekiah have gotten the approval to continue living and even additional fifteen years if he had not questioned God? Some of our Pastors have taught us to embrace negative occurrences in our lives as God’s will which is most unfortunate.

No doubt, God admonished us to pay our tithes, but not necessarily to our Pastors. There is no better way to pay your tithes than helping the needy and less privileged ones around you. God loves charity, charity to indigent persons, not to those who have three private jets, yet they preached against deep love for earthly possessions. They do not believe nor practice what they preach, their major interest seem to be how to enrich themselves more with proceedings from the shallow pockets of their followers. A bosom friend to pastor Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo of Winners Chapel International, owns covenant University, a tertiary institution that most of his church member cannot afford the school fees of the university for their children, but and sadly, the university was built from the tithes of the same men and women whose children’s dreams of attending the school have been cut short, owing to the astronomical figure the school collects as school fees. Adeboye has not commented on it and you want to tell me that the big joke is not on him?

If Pastor-Prenuers like Adeboye, Oyedepo, T.B. Joshua, Chris Okotie, and Chris Oyakilome etc. channel their tithe towards bettering the lives of poor masses, I can assure you, so many people will be instantaneously rich. What these Pastor-Prenuers earn in a month runs in billions, yet some of their church members are struggling for three square meals every day. The irony is that, in pursuance of their unending drama, they would still pay their tithe in their churches, the same churches that they dictate and oversee how the finance is managed. Who is deceiving who? I have a friend who assisted two of my friends by paying their school fees this year, to each, he gave Fifty Thousand Naira and I am sure he does not pay his tithe. If my friend had deposited the hundred thousand naira in the waiting hands of his pastor as tithe, who would have helped my friends with their school fees? But to Adeboye, my friend is a cursed person because he decided not to enrich his already rich Pastor through his tithe but has channeled his wealth towards helping young men by shaping the academic life and future. Please someone should help me tell Bishop Adeboye that the big joke is on him.

This is 21st century, one cannot because he commands large number of followers, feel that he can spew gibberish and expect everybody to applaud him. Why is Adeboye so concerned with tithe and issues surrounding it? What last did he speak against the killing of Christians in Nigeria? Like my friend Charles Ogbu questioned through his facebook post, Ogbu wrote: Right here before our very own eyes, a Christian Pastor, Mrs. Eunice Elisha, was butchered here in Kubwa, FCT, by a Muslim Mob, simply for preaching her gospel along a street that also houses a mosque. This woman was a Pastor with the RCCG. And she was not killed in a Sharia practicing states like Zamfara, Kano e.t.c. She was dismembered right here in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja. As I write this, no one has been arrested for her death, one year after. No one! Pastor Enoch Adeboye is the owner of RCCG. The slain woman was his Pastor, yet, Adeboye and the other Pastor-prenuers saw no evil and they heard no evil. Their voices travelled for Omugwo.

A Pastor’s wife, Mrs. Bridget Agbahime was slaughtered in Kano by a Muslim mob for asking her Muslim neighbor not to do ablution in front of her shop. President Buhari didn’t categorically condemn her murder. Instead, he admonished us to learn to respect other people’s religion. Five of the Muslim guys who killed Mrs. Bridget were apprehended and charged to court by the police, only for the sharia practicing government of Kano state to officially withdraw the charges and declare that the killers had no case to answer. That was the end. Again Bishop Adeboye and the other Pastor-Preneurs saw no evil and heard no evil. Their vices again traveled for Omugwu.
The people of southern Kaduna are 95% Christians. Since Buhari came to power, Fulani terrorists have been organizing festival of death for them. Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai who himself is a Muslim fanatic; publicity admitted paying these Fulani beasts cash “compensations”.

The army and the police all headed by Muslims seem more comfortable aiding abetting these bloodbath. Yet again, Bishop Adeboye and the other Pastor-Prenuers saw no evil and they heard no evil with the exception of Oyedepo who spoke just once and Apostle Suleiman who spoke number-less time against the killings. In all these, Pastor Enoch Adeboye was comprehensively and emphatically SILENT.
He has spoken just twice. The first time was when the government wanted to take away his post as the General overseer through some reforms. Second time is now that he is allegedly threatening divine curse against those who refuse to pay tithe. Adeboye never threatened divine curse against the marauding herdsmen raining death on mostly Christian dominated area. He has never threatened divine curse on those looting our money and milk our treasury dry. He has no threatened divine curse on the political terrorists masquerading as government.

In all we do, wisdom should be the principal thing and I am elated that people, Nigerians, are beginning to seriously juxtapose the life styles of some men of God and what they preach on the pulpit. If one thinks the key to success and prosperity lies in paying tithes promptly, let the fellow continue to pay tithe, I don’t have an issue with that. But we should all frown at the claim of Bishop Adeboye. Those that do not pay their tithe but render sincere financial help to people are not and will not be cursed by any spiritual being, even Bishop Adeboye knows this.

TRUTH IS BITTER BUT AS BITTER AS HONEY.

Very insightful!