The infiltration of the Church (2)

Last Christmas, I wrote Part 1 of this article. I had reason to suspect that I would one day write the second part, but was not quite sure when. In that first part, I recounted the origins of the church after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and the intense persecution and suffering that the faithful endured. The persecution ended when Emperor Constantine became a Christian and Christianity suddenly became attractive and fashionable as the King favoured Christians and the Church. I linked this with the entry of the Christian religion into Nigeria through a conjunction of European colonial and missionary interests-the result being that the new faith “made sense” as it could offer access to education, government jobs and status in a new colonial society.

I noted the post-civil war transition to faith-based Christianity pioneered by the Scripture Union (SU) movement and now inherited by the Nigerian Pentecostal Church. Then a tentative hypothesis-that the adversary appeared to have changed his strategy and carried the battle against the children of God into the house of God, and my main question was whether the enemy (that is the devil and his agents) has indeed infiltrated the church? Some days ago, some friends and I were gathered discussing sundry matters, and the discussion turned to matters of faith. The profile of discussants was similar-middle class, university-educated professional males and females in their 40s and in some cases late 30s; married with children; most were not saints (at least not all their lives), but had as they approached their 30s and 40s turned towards God.

It quickly emerged that many of those gathered had horror stories to tell about their experiences in the church. These people were having serious challenges in their walk with God. Amazingly in almost every case, the challenges were not coming from outside the church, but from within. A friend, Kayode had the first horror experience to share. Apparently he was a member of a respectable Pentecostal church-he had been for over 10 years. He had never gotten involved in inner workings of the church however, as in popular parlance, he had not become a ‘worker’. He considered himself a child of God, but he had been susceptible to the occasional sin, so he didn’t quite consider himself a candidate. As Kayode advanced in age and career however he recognised a need to get closer to God, and he was able to put his sins behind him. He attended Bible School and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, but he still chose not to join the church workforce. On the other hand, his growing public profile meant he could no longer be anonymous in church, or any other context for that matter.

Kayode usually worshipped in the branch of the church closest to wherever he lived, and went about his business quietly. After moving to the island, he moved to a proximate branch as usual. In this new church his wife became a worker. Surprisingly, within weeks of his wife’s joining she was made a head of department, above many more qualified, longstanding members. Kayode had his reservations as he wondered in what way his wife had deserved the promotion less than three months after they joined the church. He felt the appointment was somehow linked to him. But he felt it was inappropriate to   stop her from serving God in any capacity so he kept quiet. A few weeks afterwards, the local pastor approached Kayode with a loan request to buy a property in a choice part of Lagos Island. Kayode obliged. Weeks later, Kayode had cause to mention his plans for a change of career to his local pastor.

The pastor who at that point in time was in some form of career transition requested to see Kayode’s business plan! Kayode did not feel obliged to share such proprietary business information with someone in a similar career line, so he diplomatically denied the request thinking that was the end of the matter, but was he mistaken? A few weeks later, the local pastor declared to a workers retreat that the calling of the Lord was upon Kayode and appointed him a Minister. Kayode had not become a worker and was not present at the retreat! The stage was set for blackmail-if Kayode declined he would be accused of shirking the call of God; if he accepted he would come under the direct spiritual authority of an individual he now had cause to be wary of! Kayode hoped for the best and decided to honour the ministerial appointment. Well he wasn’t so lucky. Not more than a few days afterwards, the gentleman who proclaimed the call of God on his life began spreading malicious gossip about Kayode. He was careful to keep the gossip ‘below the radar’ so Kayode had no opportunity to respond.

Moji a teacher shared another horror tale. Her colleague, had been considering returning to her profession which she had not had the opportunity of practicing since graduation. Moji’s friend however had reservations about notorious sharp practices in that profession. She was a devout Christian, and was not so sure she could cope with some of the things she heard happened in the industry. She then started attending a fellowship presided over by an apparently fervent minister who ran a firm running such business. Surely she thought, this was God answering her prayer? She arranged to spend her next long vacation working in the minister’s firm to test whether she truly desired a career change back to her original profession. To Moji’s friend’s shock, the practices in the minister’s firm were worse than others she had heard about. But what Moji’s friend really freaked out over was the fact that the minister gave her instructions to carry out those activities (knowing her previous reservations about such) without any compunctions.

Olu next shared his own experience. Olu’s pastor and his wife ran the church like a closely-held corporation, with the pastor as CEO, the wife as Chief Operating Officer, and their children as members of the Board of Directors. A few carefully selected cronies were permitted into the Board. Apparently a third world war had literally broken out in the church. The church leaders had made the mistake of transferring a new senior minister to preside over the territory in view of its enhanced ecclesiastical authority. The CEO who was heavily entrenched in the territory thoroughly isolated the new fellow, tormenting him spiritually, physically, socially and otherwise, and boasted that he would show the hapless newcomer who owned the church! Soon petitions began to fly. Members of the congregation watched in confusion as the warfare began to manifest publicly.

These are real life, verifiable (and verified) experiences. Listening and reflecting on these stories, I was reminded of my hypothesis about the infiltration of the church. Surely these are not the doings of people who know anything about Christ? My worry is how many people are being driven from the faith daily by these ministers from hell. My co-discussants were already settled in their relationship with God-no one could drive them away, but how about younger Christians and unbelievers? How do we explain to them that these people do not represent the reality of the Christian faith? Fortunately we know for sure that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church of God.
•Columnist’s Note: This article was first published on November 5, 2008. This 5-part series of spiritual recollections continues for the next two weeks before we return to other matters of “economy, polity, society”.

Opeyemi Agbaje