The Danger of the Abuse of Priestly Powers
In 2015, after the dust raised by political prophecy that Goodluck Ebele would lose the election to Buhari, I wrote an article titled, Jesus the End of History and the Last Man. In that article I warned of the danger and crime involved in using the name of God to deceive people. Today, I am still convinced on the validity of the claims I made in that article. Yes, it is evil to use one’s position as a “famous”, “powerful” or an “influential religious leader” to mislead people in the name of “God said this or that”, when in truth one ruled by emotions, sentiments or drive for money, power or relevancy. When the flesh takes over, it is no longer the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is preached but the human worthless ego rooted in foolish pride and arrogance.
On a second note, one should not capitalize on the leadership vacuum in Igbo land today to throw the people around all in the name wanting to be famous. The danger here is that it gets to a point when the people will get fed up with this type of deception, lash out at the institution the rabble-rouser belongs and in this case it is the church that would suffer. A lot of young people are turning away from the Church because of the level of fraud; giving them more reason to do that is not good at this critical moment in the evolution of Christianity in Nigeria.
It happened in Europe. There was a time in European history when the Church was the most powerful institution but then that power and influence were abused by the clergy and the spiral effects was anti-priest movement. In France during the French Revolution, priests were slaughtered and European nations are yet to recover from the aftereffect of the unguarded behavior of priests who are hungry for influence, power and money.
What is about to Happen in Nigeria?
Anybody watching political development in Nigeria, especially in the Southeast, would know that the Southeast has stood with the PDP over the years, even during Abasanjo and Yar Adua’s administrations. When Jonathan cam, this support was doubled because Jonathan was seen as our own. However, In the run up to the just concluded primaries that seems to have changed. When the PDP failed to zone its presidential ticket to the Southeast, the people felt cheated and unfairly treated. The Zone, especially the youth decided to through the PDP away from queue behind their son. Obviously, the PDP is alarmed and has hired Fr. Mbaka to do for Atiku what he did for Buhari in 2015. The hope is to either retain their stranglehold in the zone or destabilize it to ensure that Obi doesn’t take it in 2023. The paid prophet is doing his job and we are going to see more of these prophecies in the coming days and months.
A Word of Advice to Priests
Clergymen should be careful not to dabble into politics to the extent of being used to sell ideologies or people, whether right or wrong. The Catholic Church in Europe learnt this lesson the hard way and banned its priests from partisan politics. A pastor should be prudent in speech and should be critical, taking cognisance of the signs of the time. Certain things are better not said, or if tit must be said; should be said in private as opinions. No amount of provocation should outweigh the value of self-control and prudence in speech in the life and ministry of a religious leader.
In the periods of election and political campaigns, political parties dig out old news and events that would support their interests at the detriment of other opposing parties. Men of the Clergy should beware of such political antics and not allow themselves become emotional over it. The role of a Clergyman is to guide the people on the part of truth, justice and love towards the creation of a better society.
Time has come when people should be able to reason for themselves in certain critical matters (political, socio-economic, and religious) and not simply believe and do what their daddies and mummies in the Lord think or say carelessly or sentimentally from the pulpit in the name of God.
The time is now to defend our collective interest. Money bags who want to become presidents by all means should not be allowed to buy our consciences. And finally, that some priests sold their consciences doesn’t mean that we should sell ours or follow them sheepishly.
