Sermons lack biblical reference
Madam,
My knowledge of the church is as small as a baby’s knowledge of math. In fact, I do not have the range nor do I have the intellect to discuss church and its politics in any capacity. However, I am a very inquisitive and opinionated individual who always feels the need to add butter to the bread by sharing my two cents on issues that have my interest.
Lately, I have been particularly fixated on the church, the modern church to be specific. I have deliberately left out religion from this piece and focused mainly on the church. As we live in a world of the haves and the have nots, the church has single-handedly become a case study for this. The divide between the wealthy and the extremely poor is evident in a place where you would not expect to witness such.
This compromises the church and further exacerbates the notion that the church has turned, for some, into a money-making machine.
The extravagant lifestyle promoted by leaders in the church has stuck out like a sore thumb when you realise that most of the congregants barely know what they’ll be eating for supper.
UNWILLING TO SACRIFICE
You find pastors with 10 cars and unwilling to sacrifice one to at least set up a soup kitchen. Deacons draped in suits that cost an amount you have never even held. Of course, some churches only give pastors incentives but some compensate every leader on the Board. Don’t get me started on the lavish lifestyle portrayed by the new age prophets and prophetesses. Just the other day I was going through an Instagram
account of one popular prophetess, after going through each picture and being blinded by all the bling, I decided to watch one of her sermons, because maybe I was jumping into unnecessary conclusions about her without getting a feel of what she has to offer.
Boy, I was in for a surprise; her sermons not only lacked biblical reference, character, but you could also tell she barely believed what she was saying.
PROSPERITY SERMON
She was quick to move on from speaking about Jesus to highlighting how success was inevitable if one gave more than usual, a typical prosperity sermon. This is common with most preachers by the way, moving away from the true gospel of urging people to repent and be born again to mostly focusing on preaching about ‘getting through dry seasons’, ‘tithing in order to bring blessings’.
It’s confusing, really, when one of the last few things Jesus said before he ascended was that the apostles should be fisher of men and preach of the return of Christ. However, that is not what most churches speak of now, instead they hand out holy oil samples with the hope that congregants will come back to ‘buy’ the oil the next time.
OFFERING BASKET
Or they fixate their eyes on the offering basket during offering and make snark comments about how they don’t appreciate people giving anything but paper money to the Lord. I mean, what?
I don’t remember anything in the scripture about that. But then again, I did say my knowledge of the Bible is as small as a mustard seed, therefore I stand to be corrected. The church ought to be helping more than it is gaining.
Khulile