RELIGION: Why some Churchmen/women operate in secrecy

SOME men of God operate in secrecy and encourage their members to create an air of invisibility around them. Some go the extra mile to extract an oath of secrecy from their members. Even members of some churches often complain about their inability to have access to the General Overseer or Senior Pastor, as the case may be. If a member of a congregation is unable to have a one-on-one with his/her GO or Senior Pastor, one wonders how tough it would be for a visitor to gain access. There have been stories of some so-called men of God operating without due regard for the laws of the land, in the manner they trample on rights of members. Even law enforcement agencies overlook some genuine complaints from citizens who have bizarre experiences to share.  What is more, some churches operate within confines that are not accessible to law enforcement personnel. They operate like republics that are isolated from the laws of the land and are only questionable when they visibly overstep their bounds. But that is contrary to what the Bible reports regarding the church of God, as a place of refuge, where there is no discrimination and dissembling. Jesus Christ was accessible to the lowliest and the poorest and He offered protection and salvation to all. He had nothing to hide, but today’s church leaders, some of them have so much to hide. Why? Is the church a cult, where information must not be made readily available about the church or the man of God? Why is the church not transparent in the likeness of the Church of Christ? CHRIS IREKAMBA sought answers to these posers.
‘No Matter How A Catholic Church Is, Everyone Can Reach Their Reverend Father’
(Apostle Alexander Bamgbola, former Chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Lagos State Chapter)
I DON’T think they are men of God any longer. It is sad, if people they are supposed to be watching over, as the sheep of God cannot see them. It is unworthy of anybody, who gets to that position. It’s particularly sad, because Jesus spoke about how the men of God should be in the book of John 10. We are supposed to be undershepherd, shepherding the sheep, leading the sheep, being available and guiding, caring, counselling and giving them the spiritual food, which is the word of God. But I have seen that the church has become so complex and that is why the late Andrew Burner in his book said: “I look for the church, I found it in the world, I look for the world, I found it in the church….”
  Listen to me, the church of today is no longer the Church of Jesus Christ, and that is why you see such things. No matter how big a Catholic Church is, everyone can reach the Reverend Father. But many arms of the church today have become a business complex, a corporate complex and that is why you see bouncers surrounding these men of God. You see policemen around them, and they are guided by cronies and they have become tin gods.
  If I can reach God, if I can reach my heavenly father any moment and talk to Him, any man of God or woman of God, who now creates a shield around himself or herself so that nobody can reach him or her, needs to examine themselves. Even when you call some of them, they don’t respond or pick their calls. They give their phones to their Personal Assistants and things like that.
  Sometimes you wonder whether they are true shepherds of Jesus Christ. It’s a sad thing. I experienced it when I was the chairman of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in Lagos State for five years. There were ministers I could not reach. These are ministers of God, who were supposed to be under me, but because they have large churches, they have security, protocols and all manner of things, they have become something else. I just prayed for them because many are heading for hell, and they say they are ministers of God. There will be surprises on the Day of Judgment, that I can tell you my brother.
  Today’s Church is certainly not the Church of Jesus Christ, but for the remnants that Jesus is preserving for His return. That is why it looks like a cult, operates like a cult and has all the characteristics of a cult. Many of today’s gospel ministers are not ministers of God. They are corporate CEOs and need to shield themselves away from their flocks. Anyone was able to see and reach Jesus then, even little children. Today’s ministers are not pastors, but hirelings, as Jesus called them in John 10.
‘Most Of These Men Issue Instructions To Their Protocol Staff’
(Pastor Emeka Chiemenem, Wholesome Family Ministries Int’l, Aba, Abia State)
IN the first place, these men referred to in your question are supposed to be servants of God and since He cannot be physically seen, they should be serving the people as His accredited ambassadors. When these men turn around and make themselves inaccessible to the people they were commissioned to serve, it turns out to be an error.
  God is not appropriately represented by men, who exalt themselves above Him. Let me ask you this: can an Ambassador appointed and posted to a particular nation by his country’s President be greater than he, who appointed him? That is what obtains with some “great men of God.” It is satanic and that was what brought Lucifer down. A servant cannot be greater than his master, we were told. Therefore, that servant, who does not follow the footsteps of his master, has nullified his status as a faithful servant.
  I think there are some factors responsible for these men of God making themselves scarce to the people. These include pride, crowded schedule, enhanced status and avoidance of distractions among others. When some of these people suddenly find themselves in such positions that they never expected, it gets into their heads and they become very arrogant. Avoiding journalists, who have good intentions, could be by design to avoid being misquoted. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus Christ, they could not identify Him. It took an insider (Judas), who said: ‘Whoever I shall kiss, that is Him.’ This was because there was no glaring difference between the Master and His servants. But today, it is obvious from afar who the General Overseer, President and Founder is, by reason of the bodyguards, gun wielding mobile police men and a fleet of cars that follow him about. These same “demi-gods” would stand to preach that except the Lord guards a city, in vain is the watchman watching. It is unfortunate. When you go to their offices, you wait for hours or days before you could see them, but with God there is an instant access to His throne. It is a misrepresentation here.
  I recently heard of one, who pretended to be having prayers in his office, while so many visitors were at his reception waiting for him. A visitor, who knew him from way back, bumped into his office only to see him watching African movies in his office. And many of his members were outside waiting for their “man of God,” who was observing a “serious prayer hour.” We need to wake up and stop deceiving ourselves.
  The church is not a cult and transparency should, therefore, be the watchword. As much as I believe in transparency though, it’s not everything about the church or man of God that should be for public consumption. Jesus was so transparent that He took people, who asked Him where He lived, to His house. The scripture says, ‘as He is so are we in this world.’ So, there must be openness, transparency and reachability with us men of God.
  Most of these men issue instructions to their protocol staff to do so. Some overzealous staff also carry out these instructions beyond limit. Some church leaders are busy building structures and not building members. The same people, who were used to building the ministries and churches, get dumped when they are milked by these “great men of God.” When a sheep does not have access to the shepherd and the shepherd cares for the sheep only when he needs milk or skin, it is not Christ-like.
‘No Man Of God, Who Is Transparent Will Prevent Genuine Seekers’
(Rt. Rev. (Dr.) Michael Olusina Fape, Bishop, Diocese of Remo, Anglican Communion, Ogun State)
MEN of God, in the true sense of it, are ministers of the gospel who are God’s representatives on earth by virtue of the work they do. They are ordained men, who through their ministries, seek to reconcile sinful humanity back to God, and thereby bring good news of God to all in need of salvation, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10 : 15).
  The issue of inaccessibility to men of God needs careful examination against the backdrop of why an individual seeks an audience with a minister of God. If there is a brewing problem in a church, the type that tends to expose any shady deal or ungodly practice in a particular church, the man of God may decline an interview in order to cover his shame or misdeeds. Of course, that raises another question about the integrity and moral uprightness of that man of God. The scripture is very clear on this, “For everyone practising evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:20, 21).
  No man of God, who is transparent and in the right standing with God will prevent genuine seekers from accessing needful information from him. The Church is not a cult and therefore, has no reason to turn away people that desire to know about the goings on therein, especially if that is required for educating the public on a particular matter.
  There are churches that have public relations department, and often times, activities of such churches are made known to the public through the public relations officers. Aside this, a man of God must be ready at any time to give reason for his faith, be it to a journalist or any genuine enquirer. Again, where there is any hesitation on the part of a man of God in granting audience either to a journalist or genuine seekers of information, there may be a skeleton in his cupboard.
‘You Don’t Have To Book Appointment Before You Can See Me’
(Rev. Amos A. Kunat, New Estate Baptist Church, Surulere, Lagos)
FOR me, a man of God should be accessible, because the ministry is about people and therefore, if you remove people there is no ministry. Without people, there is no ministry because ministry is about service to God and to the people. The men of God should be available for people to meet with them. The only thing is that the meeting or whatever should be coordinated because these people are also human beings. Sometimes a person can be over inundated, but it should be structured in such a way that people know when the person is available for them to meet with him and for how long, whether in the office or wherever he has made available for people to meet with him. There should be a protocol of how people can go and see the person one after the other. This is so that he is not over inundated because if everybody comes at the same time, and they are speaking to him at the same time, he will not be able to minister to the people effectively. For me, the issue of avoiding people is a little bit not acceptable for ministry because it is about people and meeting their needs.
  I don’t know why some people do that. But for me and the ministry I belong, the Baptist pastor is available to everybody and church members any time. Our telephone numbers are usually on the church bulletin and if you call me, I would pick my phone and the next thing I would say is: “hello, how are you?’ If I don’t know you and I don’t feel like talking with you, I would say, ‘sorry I’m not available to discuss with you now.’ If my lines are available the other day and you called, I would pick it and we would talk. I didn’t know who was calling one day, but I responded. That is how accessible we are. You don’t have to book an appointment before you can see me. If you come to my office and I’m not with anybody, my personal assistant would schedule you to see me. That is why I come to the office because I know people may want to see me or meet with me. So I pick my calls and respond to mails and see people one-on-one. Everyday, I’m in the office from Tuesday to Friday and for me, that is the way it should be.
  I don’t know why others make it difficult for people to see them. I won’t be able to give explanation for their reason. But saying that the church is run like a cult is an extreme situation. I know certainly that one way or the other, it may not be unconnected with the fact that the minister must first of all structure his calls, know who is calling and deal with all that. Not that the church is an occult. That is not correct. It is more on the issue of propriety, if it is a matter that another person can handle, the Personal Assistant will schedule you to speak with another person, so that you don’t get the man of God is not too inundated with things that are unnecessary.
  The Personal Assistant helps to receive all the calls and what they are about and then, only allow those ones that must be answered by the man of God, because sometimes the pressure can be so much, especially when the person is well known.
‘If A Man Of God Is Unreachable, How Will He Fulfill His Calling?’ 
(Pastor (Dr.) Jacob E. Umoru, President, Lagos Atlantic Conference of Seventh-day Adventist)
PRIESTS and prophets were the two categories of Men of God we read about in the scriptures. A priest was one, who made the sacrifices (prayers), performs the rituals and acted as mediator between man and God. That means he was responsible for offering the divinely appointed sacrifices to God, for executing the different procedures and ceremonies relating to the worship of God, and for being a representative between God and man.
  In other words, he was the mouth-piece of man. Their duties fell under three main headings: Service, Teaching, and Prayer. On the other hand, God, in His wisdom, chose men, who would obey Him faithfully and He gave them authority to speak on His behalf. These were called prophets. Prophets were not chosen or elected by men, and they were not permitted to inherit the title or regard it as an official post to be filled by a man specially trained for it. In Numbers 12:6, Then He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.” Jesus, Who is our example as Christians, declared in Luke 19:10 “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
  In fact, Jesus was a people-oriented man of God. He identified with everyone He met, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated. The Pharisees accused Him of being a friend of sinners, because He mingled with men in the society. We read this in Luke 7:34 “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ He was very accessible to all that needed Him. It appears that modern “Men of God” read another Bible and so, understand Christianity differently.
  The Bible says in Matthew 6:20-21 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” But when professed men of God are acquiring and amassing wealth on earth and becoming too comfortable here on earth, they lose sight of heaven. Then fear comes, especially when some are not careful about the source of their wealth and so are unreachable for ‘security reasons,’ while others are distant from people due to their questionable source of ‘spiritual power.’ For these reasons, one is right to ask, ‘is the church a cult that you cannot make information available about the church or the man of God himself?’ We must not forget that we are pilgrims; this world is not our home. Jesus is coming again to take us home, John14: 1-3.
  Seventh-day Adventist ministers (men of God) are different in this regard. Yes, some have alleged that the church is a cult because we worship on Saturday according to the scripture: Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11, Isaiah 58:12-14, Ezekiel 20:12, 20 Matthew 12:8, Luke 4:16 Acts 13:42-44, Revelation 22:14. The Seventh-day Adventist Church ministers (men of God) are people-oriented, because we believe we are called to communicate the everlasting gospel to all the world, nation, kindred tongue and people in the context of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12.
  In my opinion, if the man of God, who is supposed to speak forth for God, is unreachable, how will he fulfill his calling to ministry? Like Jesus, the man of God is anointed to preach the gospel to the poor; sent to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:18-19.