olugbenga osunkoya
Jul 27, 2017 · 3 min read

SALVATION FOR SALE?

Picture credit: community journal.net

I was going to see a friend about 3 years ago somewhere in Ojokoro on a Sunday morning for an important matter and as my driver drove through Ojuelegba through Mushin through to Oshodi, trust me and this is no exaggeration, I counted over one hundred and fifty churches; not different parishes of one church but different churches and their sign boards and posters littered the walls of a city that should have been a mega city.

The churches ranged from one shop to flats, parking garages, semi and actual mega churches and I asked myself and driver, wetin lost wey Nigerians dey find all about? This thing should be between you and your God and not something to use as a show off or rip off. The sometimes annoying part is especially one “MEGA” church located on Apapa Oshodi expressway that has this stupid practice of sending their members into the streets VERY early in the mornings with megaphones to go disturb quiet neighbourhoods while people are still sleeping or getting ready to go out to beat the early morning rush, I have on two occasions turned back two of such types as one woke me up around 4am while I was still in dreamland and started disturbing the neighbourhood of less than twenty houses.

Two particular stories come to mind; very recently, one very rich Nigerian pastor called out his members and in exchange for salvation or prosperity or thanksgiving or a combination of both to give one thousand naira for every year he or she has spent on earth. Bros na wetin na, you dey plan to establish bank?

And the other one is a story of a church service I attended where the pastor “PREACHED” the word and spoke glowingly about the reward of hardwork , diligence etc. and enjoined the congregants to heed his words and work so hard to leave something for their children and the unborn generation and the congregation was really touched and moved by the pastor’s preaching that morning. Then “SUDDENLY” (according to D’banj), our dear pastor abi na “daddy” sef we go call am went into a trance (what the yorubas will call o wo inu emi) for over fifteen minutes mumbling some mumbo jumbo that “only dem” could understand and then he came back to the “world” and brought yet another message and guess what the message was? GOD had revealed to him in that trance a figure that could bring about “something” wonderful and miraculous in the lives of the congregants. The figure was $100 and that anyone who could afford it should “key” into it and so the rush started but I watched in awe as the line started getting longer and then a condition was immediately given that you could give a promissory note of the amount. Suddenly again, it dawned on me that not everyone in the congregation could afford it and I saw the pitiful look on their faces; unfortunately, it was a joint service that had both adults and children in the same congregation. I could imagine the kind of thoughts that went on through the children’s minds when they didn’t see their parents on the queue. These kind of lies put congregants under undue pressure as they want to rightly belong too and thus leads them into doing things they should ordinarily not do. Should salvation be relegated to the background or should it actually be for sale to the highest bidder?

All I have to say is Thank you Lord. Pastors, Kontinu o, diaris GOD.

Unusual & Random Musings

Reflections,Musings,Political Sarcasm, Conversations

olugbenga osunkoya

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I am so passionate about Nigeria. A humanist and journey to perfection disciple.

Unusual & Random Musings

Reflections,Musings,Political Sarcasm, Conversations

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