Who are you in God's presence, home and office.
You are just Agba ofifo meaning empty barrel
Pls if the story you are about to read is what you can relate with where you worship, just take a step of faith by leaving the congregation.
This happened recently to a man of God, wish you happy reading
On a recent visit to Lagos, Nigeria, one of my spiritual sons invited me to speak to his congregants. I was thrilled, as I had not seen him for well over fifteen years, while he trained under me as a young minister.
On my arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to see he had the ushers lay a red carpet and line up on both sides for the ‘guest minister.’ from Ireland.
What an honor, I thought. Then I discovered there were two entrances into the hall. The main door was for the special guest. The smaller door was for ‘other members’.
As they alighted from their cars they were directed by the ushers towards the smaller door, and so was I! They could not recognize me, as I came wearing a pair of jeans, a simple cotton shirt and sporting a beard.
We were hurried to our seats, per adventure the ‘special guest’ arrived simultaneously. After all, they would not want us to be in the way, would they?
So, I obeyed the instruction of the ushers to sit somewhere near the back of the auditorium. No complaints for me, as I despise been fussed over anyway.
After the church service had started, the worried pastor left his seat, wondering why his ‘special guest’ was so late. I watched him from the corner of my eye, make his way outside the hall, three ushers and two ministers in tow.
As he passed, people were kneeling and doing obeisance. Some were old enough to mother him. He barely acknowledged them. How could he anyway, wedged between his handlers!
‘Have you seen the invited speaker arrive?,’ he asked the head usher. Alas, he was told ‘We have not seen the man of God, sir.’
On his way back in, looking flustered, I tried to walk up to him but was halted by the usher beside my row.’
“Please wait for ‘papa’ to pass though, sir” he said irritably.
‘Papa’? He is only in his early forties!’ I almost screamed.
Not one to be hindered, I cleared my throat and beckoned to 'Papa' from my humble back row seat. ‘Bro, I am here,’ I said. He almost fainted. And so did the usher. Who dared to call Papa an ordinary ‘bro’? ‘Ah sir, when did you come sir?,’ Papa gasped, nudging the usher out of the way.
‘Didn’t the ushers outside see you? And why are you sitting there?’
“I tried to come up to you at the front,” I protested,
‘but your bodyguards, sorry ushers, blocked my path.
They told me the front seats are reserved and led me to
the back seats. So I sat in the midst of God’s children.’
‘Sir, I am so sorry. Please let’s go to my office,’ he said.
‘Why,’ I asked.” The service already started.”
As he led me to the front, I could sense the congregation looking at me suspiciously.
I was like a fish out of water among the front sitters.
Who is this not so important person taking an important seat?
Why is he not wearing a suit? Where is his tie? How come he has a beard? Where is his protocol team?
As I often refuse to be introduced until after the sermon, the church greeted me with caution, wondering what kind of ‘man of God’ is this, wearing jeans on a Sunday morning?
But then when the Word of God came, many left with tears of conviction in their hearts, including the Papa. I visited the same church last year and he had taken my counsel.
Papa had died and Bro had taken his place. Long gone were the protocol team. His seat was now same as everyone else and he has learnt the lesson of humility.
Does this paint a picture of a Pentecostal church you know? If not watch out, there is one coming near you. The outward show is one of the most disheartening things about Pentecostal Christians. I mean, it won’t really be Pentecostal if there was no hype, would it?
Why are the pastor and his wife’s chairs different (nay, more comfortable) than the congregants? Are their own bottoms made of eggshells? Why do you allow your mothers and fathers age-mates to call you daddy? Because the church gave you a title? Hmmm. . .
Why do the pastor and ministers have special parking spaces? Surely if they arrive early enough, they could park anywhere? Oh, one more thing, why do you treat your Pastor like Bono? He stays in the office during Sunday School and announcements, pretending to be praying. He has the whole week to pray, surely? But when everyone has ended praising God, he makes a superstar entrance to preach, his iPad carried by hefty bouncers.
Excerpts from 'FREED TO GREED-How Pentecostals moved the goalposts.
- Pastor, deacon, choir leader, worker and so on and so forth..Lord Jesus, if church title will send me to hell, take it from me today.
*Aaah, after all this fasting, preaching,convention,sunday school etc etc Lord don't let it be zero for me in eternity. Amen
*May you not watch over the souls of others while the enemy has control of yours. Amen
*The Lord will deliver you from the congregation of the rejected. Amen
*** Demas was almost making it to the Kingdom and he missed it, God will hide you from fake Christianity in Jesus' name
Church is now a place we showcase our newly bought clothes, vehicles etc
Some testimonies are not even to the glory of God but just because you want people to know the latest happening in your life and family, pls my brothers and sisters, lets change our ways
Hi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! I found similar content that readers might be interested in:
http://www.nairaland.com/3831734/apostle-johnson-suleman-london-church/1
Wow....
Nice post, shouldnt be surprised at their behaviour, Jesus warned of people like that.they like to sit in front rows and stand in corners of the street doing "things of God", just to be visible by men.God is the final judge anyways.well done
I am touched by ur words.
TaNx
So touching indeed
Touching...
This post has received a 1.56 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by yesfat-eu from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you like what we're doing please upvote this comment so we can continue to build the community account that's supporting all members.
Nice post, i followed your account, please follow me at @mrrandy
Congratulations @yesfat-eu! You have received a personal award!
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
SteemitBoard World Cup Contest - Play-off for third result
Participate in the SteemitBoard World Cup Contest!
Collect World Cup badges and win free SBD
Support the Gold Sponsors of the contest: @good-karma and @lukestokes
Congratulations @yesfat-eu! You received a personal award!
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!