Now, how could I psossibly have posted part 2 together with part 1, when part 2 is a response to the critic of part 1?

The matter of how a Christian is supposed to behave in the society is complex. It gets even more complex when the tag “born-again” is attached to the Christian and moral expectations get higher. There is a global definition of “born-again Christianity, and then there is the Nigerian definition. As I always say in my treatises, the Nigerian definitions of Christian principles are characterized by extremities that are fueled by ignorance. This is not intended to mean that ignorant Christianity is peculiar to Nigeria; no sir! All over the Christian world, people are grossly misinterpreting the Holy Bible and the teachings of Christ every day. However, my already established case study for the book that I published on this subject is Nigeria; so, my interest is Nigeria’s brand of ignorant and misinformed Christianity.

Nigerians are committing all manner of un-Godly or ignorant acts every day in the name of Christ. On certain matters, it is relatively very easy for rational individuals to differentiate what is right from what is wrong. For instance, most rational people world over, agree that taking human life in whatever form in the name of Christ is wrong. Very often, however, it is difficult to decide or conclude who is really on the right path of Christianity, and this has a lot to do with human imperfection in the interpretation of the Holy Bible, the teachings of Christ, and ultimately, the will of God. What some of us (the human race) sincerely believe and claim to be the will of God is not always true, and we do have proofs of this fact. A good one is that humanity once believed that the world was a flat object. Indeed, the man who discovered that the world is actually spherical was persecuted and executed for “blasphemy.”

Away from the matter of the shape of the world, a good deal of the confusion in the Christian belief system is most often engendered by the fact that the bible and the teachings of Christ are built on parables and proverbs, which beget ambiguity. With ambiguity, comprehension and interpretation of “The Message” frequently vary from one Christian or one sect of Christians to the other. Let’s relate this to the title of this treatise—how do we define “born-again” Christian fashion? I am talking about the overall physical appearance of a born-again Christian in Nigeria, and my spotlight is beamed on the women folk. I am spotlighting women because they are the guiltier of my observation that Nigerian born-again Christians go to two extremes in their physical expression.

On one extreme, we have women in Nigeria who see nothing wrong in looking good as Christians. Ordinarily, this is the view that I subscribe to; God is never associated anywhere in the bible with ugliness. Anybody who allows himself or herself to look bad or ugly, in my opinion, is not representing God’s will. Unfortunately, however, some of the “good-looking” Christian women in Nigeria often look too doggon good to be Christian! They often look so “good” that they look like prostitutes out in the street to turn tricks. Now, that I definitely say no to!

Many Christian women expose too much of their body parts that should be covered up in public. More grievously, the ‘irresponsible’ fashion is not limited to their secular world; they carry it right into the church on Sundays. Humanity may pretend all we want, but the natural fact remains that most normal men, including pastors by the way, tend to be distracted with sinful thoughts and imaginations of the sexual kind in the church when we see a woman dressed sexually provocative. The women that dress “to kill” know this fact perfectly well, too; they know exactly what they are doing. They do know the negative impact of their act on men inside the church. Indeed, many of them purposely dress so provocatively to make a ‘catch’ in the church, if you catch my drift.

Then, we have women at the other extreme who believe that looking good is sinful. They think that you are only born-again Christian if you dress and look like a “plain-Jane” nerd. I definitely, definitely say capital NO to this! I declare that Christ did not teach us to look bad in order to get to heaven. He couldn’t have, when there are passages in the bible that talk about God and beauty. Don’t ask me to quote any of them verbatim off the cuff, but we all know that God is associated with beauty, and not ugliness. I truly have a major problem with a woman that decides to rubbish her God-given beauty with the ignorant belief that Christ wants her to look unenhanced and ugly. It is bad enough that ‘mature’ women do it, and downright disastrous when unmarried young ladies allow their beauty to wither away in the ignorant belief that it is the will of God. Christian or not, every woman should polish and enhance herself to look attractive, to the glory of the God of beauty. This is more important for unmarried women, who must always remember that they have to look good in order to attract husbands. They must bear in mind that most men, including the born-again Christians, would not marry physically unattractive women simply because they are born-again Christian.

It is a Christian requirement for a woman to get married one day, and, to get married, a woman has to look attractive to men. We all know that the attractiveness of a woman (indeed men, too), is most often actually based on the enhancement of one’s basic physique, and not necessarily on the inherent beauty. There are people, who are naturally beautiful, but even they have to keep enhancing that beauty, or it would wither away. Sure, Jesus Christ himself probably would marry any woman just for the content of her heart, but, unfortunately, Christ cannot come down from heaven and marry all the female Christians on earth. Hence, it is my conclusion that any unmarried woman who intends to get married has no business making allowing her beauty to wither away, in the name of Christ.

So then, as Christians, we must learn to strike a balance by looking good without looking too good. We must not rubbish our beauty in the name of Christ, but we should also desist from obvious indecent dressing in the name of beauty. Like I said, the women who are guilty of looking too good do know exactly what they are doing when they dress so provocatively to church. I have seen some pastors who rebuke them openly in church.
“They are the devil’s incarnates that he sends to destabilize the church,” a pastor once said in a sermon. I would say he was probably taking it a little too far, but then, maybe not.
“Folks,” he continued, “I was a man ever before I became a pastor, and I do have feelings, too. Sure, I may be able to fight the distraction spiritually better than the next man, but I am human all the same.”

Now, that’s my kind of man; a pastor who does not unnecessarily pretend to be holier than though; one who admits that he is human, with weaknesses just like the next guy. I am going somewhere with this conclusion comment, by the way! It is leading to the topic of my subsequent blog—Sex And Hypocrisy In Christianity. Do keep in touch.
Meanwhile, what do you think about Christian fashion?
Also, visit www.FunkyPastors.com for more related views.

It is apparent from some responses to my “Invasion of The Funky Pastors” series that some of my comments have been misconstrued by some of my readers. Specifically, my treatise titled “Sex and Hypocrisy in Christianity” met with criticism on the Nairaland.com platform. I must say that I sincerely welcome and highly appreciate the comments of my critics, and, it behooves me to try and clarify a few of my apparently misunderstood terms or statements. One respondent cautioned me to guard against “generalization,” and “narrow (my) point of view” as I accuse Christians and pastors of hypocrisy of the sexual kind. 

Let’s start with the theme and summary of the referenced treatise as contained in the very first paragraph as follows: “When it comes to the matter of sex and sexuality, too many Christians are doggon hypocritical, period! They often say one thing when they mean or do the exact opposite. They are too quick to falsely proclaim, and then they have to pretend, that they possess the self-control that is required to shun sex and sexual activities. Their hypocrisy often leads to all manner of sexual ‘atrocities’ behind closed doors, and, grievously, defenseless children are most often the victims of the sexual atrocities that result from hypocrisy.”

I have gone back to look at my comments more critically, and I truly do not see what constitutes undue “generalization” as pointed out by my critic. The ‘advice’ was obviously prompted by my statement that “too many Christians are hypocritical.” Down the line in the text I expatiated conclusively with, “Ultimately, my position is that too many Christians, who proclaim to shun sexual activities in public, are committing sexual “atrocities” behind closed doors every day. One step further, all in line with the basic theme of my “Invasion Of The Funky Pastors” series, I posit that there are relatively very few pastors out there who truly practice half of what they preach in the matter of sex and sexuality.”

I will start by repeating and emphasizing my statement that the pastors that are “funky” in the entire Christian world are actually very high in number. Further, I state that Nigeria, West Africa, served as a case study for my book on this subject, and, I do state with alacrity that the funky pastors in Nigeria overwhelm the good ones in number. My statement is research-based, and I will not apologize for stating today’s reality in the Christendom. I define a funky pastor as bible-toting, brainwashing, self-serving, slick-dressing, smooth-talking, wealth-seeking, blood-sucking son of Adam who preys on emotionally vulnerable believers in Christ and God. Alas, with the advent of the Invasion of Nigeria by Funky Pastors, the church, which is supposed to be the citadel of righteousness, has seen its share of moral decadence like everything else in the new Nigeria. No amount of Nigeria’s traditional hush-hush attitude to information can change this reality!

Besides, a closer look at my phraseology and syntax in the referenced treatise would probably change my critics’ minds on the “generalization” charge. Speaking of pastors in particular, my application of the underlined phrase, “too many,” grammatically implies that, even if just two out of ten pastors are funky, it is still two “too many,” considering the fact that there should be zero bad pastors in Christianity, period! I dare say that Christ did not intend for some of his pastors to be what I call “funky.” And, Christians should not accept, or even be perceived to accept that 80% righteousness, or 80% demonstration of integrity amongst our pastors is good enough. Our goal should be set at a hundred percent, even if we know that it can never happen with humanity. The pastors must endeavor to demonstrate the integrity of Christ in every sphere of their lives. If they do not like the heat of our pressure on them to be righteous, then they should leave the kitchen! Nobody forces them to be pastors, and when they choose to be there, then they should live above board, and be seen to live above board in morality.

I cannot stand the heat of the expectation to be morally upright at all times; no wonder I am not in the priesthood kitchen. In other words, I am not a pastor because I do not think that I possess the impeccable morality that befits a true pastor, and I do not want to deceive people that I possess it. And, unless God mysteriously anoints me to become one, I cannot see myself as a pastor any day soon. There are certain ways that a pastor should carry himself or herself, which I know I am not cut out for. Oh, by the way, most of my sins in question are actually of the sexual-but-legal kind.

That’s me, being honest about the fact that, sinful or not, I do not condemn, nor do I intend to shun sexual activities that are legal. I do strongly believe that it is much more sinful when people pretend in public that they hate sex and sexual activities, and then they turn around and commit sexual atrocities in the dark. I insist that it is a million times worse when the culprits go by the title “pastor,” and I will tell you why! For one thing, the Christian family is getting smaller for it, as Christians who are disgusted by the activities of contemporary “funky pastors” leave the fold in numbers every day. We are supposed to trust these pastors for Chrissakes! They are supposed to lead us to heaven; rather, some of them actually behave like the devil himself in so many ways, thereby eroding the faith of so many Christians.

Check this out for a disgusting fact: Once upon a day in 2006 in Lagos, Nigeria, a pastor going by the title and name “Reverend King” decided to condemn two congregation members to death by “hell fire.” King had a church with one of those funny funkadelic names that I do not even bother myself to remember. And what were the sins of his condemned members? They committed adultery! The Reverend simply commanded some members of the church to pour some gasoline on the ‘sinners,’ and then he personally struck a match and set them ablaze. Reverend King was soon charged for murder when one of the fire victims died in a Lagos hospital a few days after his arrest by the police.
         
Now hear this: A very sick irony in the drama is that the so-called pastor, who set people ablaze for fornication and adultery, was living in sin with several women. He actually kept some of the women of his so-called church under duress in his church-cum-residence complex, and used them as intimacy gadgets. Further, his harem of women included other men’s wives that he brainwashed to leave their homes and spend days in his house, all in the name of Christ. Essentially, Reverend King was brainwashing his flock that they were not allowed to have sex for any reason, yet he could engage in all manner of sexual atrocities right before their eyes, because God said so. All this information was revealed through published eyewitness testimonies during the course of Reverend King’s trial in a Lagos law court. He was subsequently convicted in 2007, and sentenced to death by electrocution. He is awaiting execution as I write this. Now, tell me, what is so wrong when I say it bluntly that Reverend King was a funky pastor? Who the cap fits, let him wear it, I always say! My cap will never fit anybody who is a true pastor. Like I always say also, good pastors do exist in Nigeria, but there are too many funky ones, period! Many are not as outlandish in behavior as Reverend King, but they commit equally un-Christ-like atrocities every day. And, believe me; many of them have amazing powers of mind control over their flocks. This is a topic for another day.

To demonstrate the sick brainwashing effects of some funky pastors on many Nigerian Christians, Reverend King’s charm, or whatever anybody may call it, was still at work even while he was under trial for murder. A bunch of his church members, women especially, were at the court protesting his incarceration and trial. They were ready to lay their lives on the line to defend their belief that the Reverend did not do anything wrong. This continued up to his conviction, and all the way to his awaiting-execution days. Mind you, nobody disputed the fact that he did set the victims ablaze, and nobody denied that one of the fire victims did die. No sir! They were saying that in spite of all that, the man did not do anything wrong. They insisted that he was working on instructions from God, and had the right to burn sinful members.

I personally spoke with a very unfortunate young lady who was a serious emotional victim of Reverend King. In her own words, she was “dying for the opportunity to become one of his wives,” and she insisted that “he did nothing wrong.” I felt so sad and sorry for her, yet she was a perfectly healthy and happy young lady. Long before she joined Reverend King’s church I knew her as perfectly mentally normal. Such are the vulnerable minds that make it very necessary to expose and condemn funky pastors, and not directly or indirectly justify their behaviors with all manner of clichés that arise from misinterpretation of the scripture. The self-serving pastors are the manufacturers of some of those copout clichés in the first place; and then they inculcate them in their vulnerable followers. My favorite one is their new-wave fund-drive cliché: “my God is a rich God,” as they insatiably grab for material wealth.

It is one thing to use “my God is a rich God” as a great motivational cliché for the followers, but when the pastors now turn it into an excuse to grab wealth, that has got to be sinful! I do not need to cram the entire bible in my brain in order to discern this; my God-given common sense tells me so. I do not blame some Christians who get so disgusted with the pastors that they simply renounce the Church. Some of them do not necessarily renounce Christianity, mind you; just the Church. They stop going to church on Sundays because they have been disappointed by one pastor too many. I do speak from experience.

In conclusion, I want to thank the respondent to my “Sex & Hypocrisy in Christianity” treatise who advised me to be less generalizing. Do remember, however, that even if we have only one out of ten pastors to be bad, it is still one too many, and, implying this does not constitute undue generalization. If we do not criticize the 10% failure in our pastors today; it will degenerate to 50%, and then worse, until, one day, it reverses to 90% bad, and 10% good pastors in the Christendom, and even worse.

Also remember this: the fact that you wish that there are more good pastors than bad ones does not make it so; there are truly many devil’s incarnates out there who call themselves pastors. I have not said that there are no good ones; I am saying that you should be careful about who you pick as a good one, that’s all. I do have kids, and, knowing what I know now, I would rather pretend that every pastor out there is funky and not trust him unconditionally with my kids, than trust too much and regret it later! How about you?
Do make time to visit www.FunkyPastors.com

When it comes to the matter of sex and sexuality, too many Christians are doggon hypocritical, period! They often say one thing when they mean or do the exact opposite. They are too quick to falsely proclaim, and then they have to pretend, that they possess the self-control that is required to shun sex and sexual activities. Their hypocrisy often leads to all manner of sexual ‘atrocities’ behind closed doors, and, grievously, defenseless children are most often the victims of the sexual atrocities that result from hypocrisy.

“My born-again husband watches pornographic movies. He watches it late in the night. It started when I was pregnant, of course I understand that one because I couldn’t do it (with him) that time; and also it’s better than committing adultery. We had a talk after I delivered; that there will be no indecency and that I will try and give him (some).”

The preceding is an excerpt of a comment posted on Nairaland.com platform on the net on January 23, 2011, by a housewife, apparently a Nigerian, who decided to report the “sins” of her husband to the entire world. A number of people responded to this comment—on the Nairaland forum and off—with a variety of comments and advice. Somebody advised the woman on the platform not to report her husband to their pastor. Another respondent teased (not on the Nairaland platform), that reporting ‘the sinner’ to a pastor does not really make things any better. The undertone of this comment is that the pastor to whom the housewife wanted to report the sin might be guilty of the same, similar, or even worse sexual sins.

Feeding off this episode, the theme of my piece today is: when it comes to the matter of sex and sexuality, too many Christians are doggon hypocritical, period! They often say one thing when they mean or do the exact opposite. The comments by the respondents about pastors were apparently spurred by the public knowledge of the hypocritical activities of funky pastors in Nigeria, and throughout the entire Christian world! The truth of the matter is that God made humankind with sexual desires, and, a mere human pronouncement that a person has become a pastor does not necessarily automatically switch off all those desires that God put in us.

The key issue here, therefore, is self-control, otherwise called self-discipline. Christians are too quick to proclaim, and then have to pretend to possess the self-control that is required to shun sex and sexual activities, but they don’t. It is common knowledge that all manner of sexual abuse abound in the Christendom, which are products of hypocrisy. I will tell you, as if you did not know already, how this happens sometimes. Too many Christians, contrary to their true feelings, have to put up the front that they are not sexually aroused. Some actually pretend to abhor sex. This is common with pastors and other “men of God.” Indeed, by virtue of their positions, it behooves some of them to damn sexual activities of various kinds in public.

Now, that is the problem; just because it behooves one to damn sexual activities in public does not automatically extinguish sexual desires in one. Keyword here is ‘behoove,’ which implies that the person is condemning sex only because it is expected of him to do so, and not because he or she really wants to shun or condemn sex. A “man of God” may have this obligation placed upon him by his office, but, unless he truly has the anointing from God Who would give him the spiritual strength to suppress sexual desires and urges, he is still the intrinsic sexual animal that most of us are. Indeed, if we really want to be honest about this, even those who are truly anointed do often succumb to temptation and go astray, too.

Ultimately, my position is that too many Christians, who proclaim to shun sexual activities in public, are committing sexual “atrocities” behind closed doors every day. One step further, all in line with the basic theme of my “Invasion Of The Funky Pastors” series, I posit that there are relatively very few pastors out there who truly practice half of what they preach in the matter of sex and sexuality. More grievously, too many of them are getting away with sexual atrocities simply because they claim to be men of God. This is due to the gullibility of many Christian minds that are plagued with ignorance, who believe that pastors are never wrong. Sadly, some extremists actually believe that even if a pastor is caught red-handed doing anything wrong, a true Christian should pretend as if nothing happened and leave the judgment to God. Trust Nigerian funky pastors to capitalize on this weakness to the max!

Unfortunately, very often the victims of sex crimes that result from hypocrisy are innocent defenseless children. The reason is simple—the erring hypocrites have proclaimed to the adult world that they have no interest in sexual activities. When the natural urge comes, and it always does because the culprits in my scenario have no spiritual anointing to resist it, they are too embarrassed to approach adults to satisfy the same desire that they proclaim to abhor. The way out for many pastors in this situation is to molest children and intimidate them not to report the act to anybody. Alas, every day in the Christian world, children are molested in great numbers in this manner. In ‘open’ societies such as US and parts of Europe many cases are exposed and the culprits brought to book.

The case is quite different in less open societies, however. My case study, Nigeria, is one of those less open societies where, generally, sexual offenders prey on children undetected. Chances of detection dwindle many times over when an offender has a holy bible in hand and goes by the title “pastor.” Indeed, a child that is bold enough to point accusing finger at a pastor in Nigeria is most likely accused of blasphemy, and given the beating of his or her life in some cases.

In all my postings on this forum I try to leave an underlying message. My message for this edition is obvious already. It is for the gullible Christians out there who believe that it is okay to leave their children in the unsupervised care of any man who claims to be a pastor. Do remember, it does not matter if the child is male or female, the debased pastors (male or female), do not always differentiate between girl and boy; they are often homosexual!

As always, I invite you to keep a date with the next edition of “The Invasion Of The Funky Pastors” on this platform. Meanwhile visit www.FunkyPastors.com for more on the subject, and the book that started it all—“The Invasion Of The Funky Pastors: Church Business At War With African Culture.”

Your Excellency, it is very apparent that you have a grouse with Nnewi people; the question is—why? What is your grouse, we humbly ask? What has Nnewi done, so grievous that you have decided to forsake her so conspicuously? I write this open letter to appeal to Your Excellency to forgive whatever it is that Nnewi people might have done to you, if any, and give us our due respect in the scheme of things in the State of Anambra.

Nnewi is the second most important city in Anambra State, next to Onitsha. Sorry, point of correction—Nnewi is not really a city yet, but it is long overdue to become one, and that is exactly the point of this letter. Nnewi has all the trappings of a major city, but you have not deemed it necessary to elevate her to this rightful status with simple prerequisite infrastructural development. Have you been to Nnewi lately, and if you have, are you proud of what you saw? Indeed, Nnewi is an eyesore under your watch; quite a disgraceful sight, Your Excellency!

We are talking about the second most important city of your State, for Chrissakes! As a matter of fact, the assessment that Onitsha is more commercially/ industrially important than Nnewi is not a consensus. Some people disagree; they are of the view that Nnewi is more important. Besides the common proclamation that Nnewi is the “headquarters” of automobile spare parts market throughout West Africa, she is the home of numerous trendsetting industries. The Innoson Group of companies in Nnewi, for instace, has gone beyond mere assembly, to the actual manufacture of various forms of motor vehicles––cars, trucks, buses and motor cycles. Nnewi is also the home of Coscharis Motors; the Cento Group of Industries; the Chikason Group of Industries; Cutix Cable Industry; Ibeto Group of Companies, to name just the few.

Your Excellency, let’s talk business sense here, shall we! To a businessman, Onitsha is the most ‘profitable’ city in Anambra State. Nnewi is the second most profitable, and, if properly exploited, she has the potential to become a major city as profitable, perhaps more profitable than Onitsha. To coin a phrase, Nnewi is certainly a goose that lays, or should be laying lots of golden eggs for Anambra State. You are proclaimed to be an astute businessman, and for this, I am truly bewildered that you have not exhibited much business sense in this instance. You have abandoned your second (if not first) most profitable city to rot away. You do know that a rotten goose does not lay golden eggs; that the goose must be nurtured in order to lay healthy eggs. You do know that with adequate infrastructure, Nnewi industries would prosper and lay more golden eggs for the State. And, Your Excellency, you definitely do know that all this must start with passable roads in and around Nnewi!

Now, when an astute businessman ignores all this, then, it becomes pertinent to ask—why? Have Nnewi people wronged you in any form that we are not aware? If we have, we surely would love to hear about it, apologize for it, and make amends if possible. I would personally offer to come all the way from the USA any day to lead an ‘apology team’ to the State House. But if you have no grouse with Nnewi, then we call on you to give us our due respect in the scheme of things in Anambra. It does not make any business sense whatsoever, and you are not portrayed as a sensitive or responsive leader when small, relatively insignificant towns in Anambra State have good roads, and Nnewi roads are abandoned to rot into gullies and small hills. So, once again, I persist with the question—have we wronged you, Your Excellency?

This situation is even more worrisome when the Dim Emeka Ojukwu factor is brought into the equation. Beyond her industrial/ commercial status, Nnewi is the home of the Ikemba of Nnewi, Dim Emeka Ojukwu the legend; leader of the APGA political part under which you won your governorship mandate. It is common knowledge that, through his legendary political influence, this son of Nnewi was extremely instrumental in your election. One would think that the Ojukwu factor is enough to place Nnewi at the very top of your developmental priority list, and when this does not happened, then one wonders—why? Even if Dim Ojukwu is too modest and does not request it, Nnewi people, indeed, the entire world expects you to exhibit the sense of respect to honor Dim Ojukwu’s hometown with deserved developmental attention.

I was in Nnewi during my recent visit to Nigeria, and I truly wept! How Art The Mighty Fallen, I lamented! The entire Nkwo Nnewi area, the very center and commercial heartbeat of the city, or should I say town, is an eyesore! All the major roads are dilapidated and some are impossible to pass. The famous Nkwo Market is virtually inaccessible because most of the roads leading to it have turned into gullies. Remember this, Your Excellency—the Nkwo Market actually gave Nnewi the status of a goose that lays golden eggs. Also remember—a sick goose cannot lay any eggs!

Some Nnewi indigenes outside the shores of Nigeria, the USA in particular, have seriously discussed this matter. We are all shocked that Peter Obi, an astute business intellect actually sits back and allows his State’s second fattest goose to rot away. Rumors around town when I visited Nnewi had it that Coscharis Motors would love to site some arms of its automobile empire in Nnewi, if only there was infrastructural incentive. Nothing can sum up my lamentation better than this single demonstration that industrial giant sons of Nnewi are locating industries elsewhere, which they would rather locate in Nnewi and create jobs for their own brothers and sisters!

This petition is personal, but it is based on a consensus opinion of several Nnewi indigenes in Texas, where we have discussed the pitiful degeneration of our city/ town under your watch. I remember that one angry Nnewian suggested that we must seriously mobilize people and campaign against your re-election. Another guy informed him that this is your last term in office, which means that you do not need our votes any longer. But then, somebody else made another mature comment; we do not really have to campaign in order for you to feel the repercussions of this act. He perceived your neglect of Nnewi as a business failure to exploit the potential of a great ‘business product’ called Nnewi. He argued that it will always be on your public resume, and may affect you when you least expect it. You must admit that it does not look good, especially for a man that is proclaimed to be an astute businessman! Do reflect on it, Your Excellency!
Harry Agina writes from the USA harryagina@yahoo.com

Depraved Christians have turned Christianity into a huge business franchise marred by mischief. Hatched in the United States of America, this trend has spread like wild fire all over the Christian world. Africa is definitely not left out of this rat race; indeed, she is knee-deep in it! And, who else but Nigeria is the champion of the game in Mother Africa! My little story brings you commercialized Christianity with the "Nigerian Factor." Welcome to "The Invasion of The Funky Pastors!"

My story will unfold with some of the intriguing peculiarities that constitute the "Nigerian Factor.’ It is too long for one article; hence, I will present it in a mini-series, and this is the maiden edition. One relevant and fundamental Nigerian Factor in my story is the one that I call the copycat syndrome. This peculiarity explains the characteristic alacrity with which Nigerians have engaged in the global church-commercialization pandemic. The alacrity or passion is a cultural trait, and Nigerians exhibit it wherever they are, home, or abroad. It was, for instance, the cause of the notoriety and the consequent persecution of Nigerians in the United States of America over credit card and “Green Card” frauds, which peaked in the 1980s. I know all about it because I was right there at the headquarters of the drama, Texas, when it all went down.

The notoriety did not mean that Nigerians were the only people that were guilty of those activities in the USA. Indeed, when compared to other nationals, Nigerian perpetrators could actually be said to be ‘small fish’ in the Green Card and Credit Card crime games. They only seemed to be big fish because they were too aggressive and too loud about it. For this, they received all the media bashing and the consequent persecution.

I have said all this to get to the point that Nigerians have taken the game of making money in the name of the Lord to a ballistic height! More grievously, many are making a whole lot of mischief in the process. I would not condemn ignorant born-again Christians who err inadvertently, because, as Christ said on the cross, they know not what they do. My grouse is with the fraudsters out there that pose as pastors or “men of God,” and willfully exploit and extort emotionally vulnerable and ignorant Christians.

They are obsession with money. Many have perfected various intrigues to brainwash their followers into virtual zombies under their command, and the ultimate object is extortion. Stories of stage-managed fake miracles, ritual murders, and heinous sex offenses by pastors abound in today’s Nigerian Christendom. Some of the best ones are contained in my recently published book, a non-fiction novel titled “The Invasion Of The Funky Pastors: Church Business At War With African Culture.” The gist is better at http://www.FunkyPastors.com

Depraved Christians have turned Christianity into a huge business franchise marred by mischief. Hatched in the United States of America, this trend has spread like wild fire all over the Christian world. Africa is definitely not left out of this rat race; indeed, she is knee-deep in it! And, who else but Nigeria is the champion of the game in Mother Africa! My little story brings you commercialized Christianity with the "Nigerian Factor." Welcome to "The Invasion of The Funky Pastors!"

My story will unfold with some of the intriguing peculiarities that constitute the "Nigerian Factor.’ It is too long for one article; hence, I will present it in a mini-series, and this is the maiden edition. One relevant and fundamental Nigerian Factor in my story is the one that I call the copycat syndrome. This peculiarity explains the characteristic alacrity with which Nigerians have engaged in the global church-commercialization pandemic. The alacrity or passion is a cultural trait, and Nigerians exhibit it wherever they are, home, or abroad. It was, for instance, the cause of the notoriety and the consequent persecution of Nigerians in the United States of America over credit card and “Green Card” frauds, which peaked in the 1980s. I know all about it because I was right there at the headquarters of the drama, Texas, when it all went down.

The notoriety did not mean that Nigerians were the only people that were guilty of those activities in the USA. Indeed, when compared to other nationals, Nigerian perpetrators could actually be said to be ‘small fish’ in the Green Card and Credit Card crime games. They only seemed to be big fish because they were too aggressive and too loud about it. For this, they received all the media bashing and the consequent persecution.

I have said all this to get to the point that Nigerians have taken the game of making money in the name of the Lord to a ballistic height! More grievously, many are making a whole lot of mischief in the process. I would not condemn ignorant born-again Christians who err inadvertently, because, as Christ said on the cross, they know not what they do. My grouse is with the fraudsters out there that pose as pastors or “men of God,” and willfully exploit and extort emotionally vulnerable and ignorant Christians.

They are obsession with money. Many have perfected various intrigues to brainwash their followers into virtual zombies under their command, and the ultimate object is extortion. Stories of stage-managed fake miracles, ritual murders, and heinous sex offenses by pastors abound in today’s Nigerian Christendom. Some of the best ones are contained in my recently published book, a non-fiction novel titled “The Invasion Of The Funky Pastors: Church Business At War With African Culture.” The gist is better at http://www.FunkyPastors.com