“But before that, I wish to state categorically that while I concede that the ownership of a private jet is incongruous with the humility and simplicity of comportment of this particular man of God, I do not consider a personal jet as so out-of-this-world that its ownership or lack of it should define the spiritual health of an Adeboye or any church leader for that matter. God does not have any problems with His children having things; he is concerned about things having them. ”
The unfolding tragi-comical political drama in Ekiti is taking on the character of a soap opera, with all its twists and turns, reflecting the ebbs and flows of life, flashes of nobility and humaneness and sometimes downright silliness. The Ekiti saga also has another major characteristic of the soap, it’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon.
What do I mean by that? Anyone who thinks that curtain-call is near, because of the declaration of Engr Segun Oni as the lawfully returned winner of the Ekiti governorship supplementary election on last Tuesday, and his swearing-in the next day, needs to go and watch more soaps! There are several more episodes ahead and they promise to be as exciting and revealing as ever. How it will end? God never ends anything on a negative.
It suffices to repeat here today what we said last week in our discussion on the subject of conscience: “…Mrs Adebayo has raised a weighty matter and I hope, she did so, not lightly, for to trifle with her conscience and with the democratic will of a people is to pour upon herself, hot coal – and it burns! The same applies to all who are actors in this nauseating drama.”
Talking about conscience, that word was used in yet another important context last week. In a three-part treatise by Tony Nyiam titled “The Corrupting Influence of Prosperity Theology”, the vexed issue of Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye’s supposed private jet came up for mention. Adeboye is the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
In a really refreshing series, Tony, a retired military officer, wrote as follows: It is unChristlike for a man of God to become a copy-cat of those who are attracted to the super (materially) rich life-style. This is especially so when many of those paying tithes to the pastor's church are struggling to make a living. It is undoubtedly unwise of Pastor Enoch Adeboye to have allowed himself fall into the temptation of the mighty's private jet ownership life-style. This runs contrary to the biblical allusion to the fact that Christianity is not particularly a calling of the mighty and the noble. Isn't this why Paul said that "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty" (1 Corinthians 2:27)?”
He continued: “Pastor Adeboye needs to search his conscience. For it is only then will he understand and realize what our Lord meant by the declaration "My Kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). I do hope Pastor Adeboye does not, in response to this request that he searches his conscience, invoke the usual self-flattering claim that God told him to buy such an expensive private jet airline. It is the ego that has driven Pastor Adeboye to make such an unwise decision. For Pastor Adeboye to be going for a life style that the public, even in richer countries like the USA, are criticizing is a big mistake. An insensitive one at that. Pastors must always remember Paul's warning against being self-interest driven: "For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled" (Titus 1:7)… Pastor Adeboye has always seemed immune to this lavishness. Recent events show that things may be about to change. We pray this does not happen to a pastor who has, in the past, done much for the body of Christ.”
I agree absolutely that Pastor Adeboye does need to search his conscience; so do we all. In fact I would be surprised if he needed Tony’s advice to do so. I expect that kind of exercise to be second nature to a man God has used so tremendously in His vineyard. But what I find unacceptable is Tony’s pre-emptive strike. Perhaps it is the soldier in him, but he certainly betrayed intolerance of any response that runs counter to his opinion when he said “I do hope Pastor Adeboye does not, in response to this request that he searches his conscience, invoke the usual self-flattering claim that God told him to buy such an expensive private jet airline. It is the ego that has driven Pastor Adeboye to make such an unwise decision.” The point here being that Tony either does not believe that God does speak to His children or that if He does, God is bound by Tony’s own understanding of His will.
This is the kind of flaw that runs through the certainly well-meaning exertion of the writer on the subject of Prosperity, which has become a major weapon of the enemy is sustaining division and widening the gulf within the One United Church that the Lord Jesus Christ built.
But before that, I wish to state categorically that while I concede that the ownership of a private jet is incongruous with the humility and simplicity of comportment of this particular man of God, I do not consider a personal jet as so out-of-this-world that its ownership or lack of it should define the spiritual health of an Adeboye or any church leader for that matter. God does not have any problems with His children having things; he is concerned about things having them.
Let me state also that I agree substantially with Tony's position on the rise of materialism among the clergy in Nigeria as in many parts of the world. And without mincing words, I admit that this is much more pronounced in the wing of the Church that I belong to - the charismatic/Pentecostal movement. But I do find Tony's thesis overly dismissive of financial and material prosperity as less than godly, not to say ungodly. And this is certainly untrue of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as I shall try to demonstrate briefly.
What is true is that, as with everything, balance is quintessential; and that seems to be in short supply today, even in the Church. Unfortunately Tony also manifests this trait in his piece. If we excuse the headline, nowhere in the piece did Tony identify anything good about the so-called prosperity theology, or is it corruptive through and through and should therefore never be preached? Yet he says he is of the holistic school! To show that sincere as this well regarded man is, he is sincerely wrong on this issue, one may ask: Shall we shut down the television stations, close all the newspapers and magazines and yank all radio stations off air because of the “corrupting influence” of the media? Tony canvassed a place for political theology; doesn’t that have any corrupting influences?
He himself put his finger on the heart of the matter when he wrote: “It is often forgotten that the word 'prosper', in the spiritual sense, and the way it is used in the Scripture, means to excel in the totality of one's being - body, soul and Spirit. The biblical idea of prosperity is not the 'material prosperity' which many of our men of God mistake for the objective of prosperity theology. If that was not so, the Spirit of God, speaking through Zechariah, would not have questioned the already materially-rich King Joash and his people: "Why transgress the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper?" (2 Chronicles 24:20). It is not just about money, riches and other material wealth. Thus, in the Third Letter of John we are each wished "above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (3 John 1:2).”
In other words when the Bible speaks about prosperity, “money, riches and other material wealth” is inclusive. Would the gospel be complete were we to ignore or deliberately downplay these components of prosperity? Certainly not! At its most basic, a wholesome teaching on prosperity would be one that recognises that the Christian’s spiritual health is as important to God as his physical and financial well-being. 3 John 1:2 quoted by Tony makes that crystal clear.
While I do not wish to turn this into a rebuttal of Colonel Nyiam’s piece since, as I said earlier, there are substantial areas of agreement; I think it is useful to take a close look at God’s position on the financial and material well-being of His children as revealed in the Bible. This is particularly so because, as we shall see, true biblical teaching on prosperity, far from being corrupting in its influence, has a purifying influence. The problem has been a disproportional focus by commentators on its abuse. (Continues Next Week)
PIX:Lt, Col Tony Nyiam (rtd)
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