The extortionist antics of Rev Ejike Mbaka, a Roman Catholic priest, only caught the attention of Nigerians recently because of his rather indiscrete and uncouth methods of deploying the opportunity offered by the pulpit to be engaging in the profane exploitation of the partisan political environment of Nigeria for his own personal gains. The reality is that such extortionist theological shenanigan has been with us long before the emergence of Mbaka. Religious leaders have, for years, been abusing the ecumenical privileges offered them to minster unto the faithful to be misleading and duping the society all in the name of God.
Fr. Mbaka came into the limelight in 2015 when, obviously reading the clear trend of politics at the time, said that President Muhammadu Buhari was going to win that election. He was simply saying what was obvious but by using the religiously elevated platform of the pulpit, he got unusual audience particularly from people who are ever yearning for miracles instead of seeking for rational outcomes following deliberate positive inputs. For all intents and purposes, the Mbaka phenomenon is only just a symptom of a larger societal disease, namely, the falsity of religious practitioners and their unscrupulous followership. When individuals who claim to be religious leaders find it convenient to be dabbling into matters that are far removed from their primary duty of being servants of God, there is always the likelihood that they will fall into the temptation of materialism, lust and power. This is particularly dangerous when such theological deviations gravitate towards the partisan political arena.
It is not for nothing that the Constitution of Nigeria and those of many forward-looking countries specifically demand a strict separation of religion from politics, namely, “The Government of the Federation or of a State shall adopt any religions as State Religion (Section 10). Experience has taught the world that wherever religion had been unduly mingled with secular processes, the end-results have always been needless persecutions, sectarian conflicts, genocides and forced emigrations of disastrous proportions. There is also the indisputable evidence that nations that waste more time on religion are the least peaceful, least developed and least humane.
Even though Nigerians are pretending today not to know the “how” and “when” of the Boko Haram insurgency or, at least, the circumstantial impetus for its phenomenal emergence, the truth still remains that it was the inordinate declaration of Sharia Law as the operative norm in some States of the country for ephemeral political expediency by some electorally unsecured governors that provided the fuel for the otherwise then simmering sectarian unrest in those places. Today, those Governors who “introduced” Sharia to their states have all been swallowed up by the uncontrollable sectarian forces that they unwittingly unleashed on their own communities. The universal trend currently is that more and more societies are abandoning theocratic forms of government for popular democratic ones for obvious reason: religion is a personal matter and it should be separated from the political arena that is often murkily partisan and opportunistic.
The role of religious leaders in the political affairs of this country has contributed largely to the failure of our governing system. They encourage our elected leaders to be expecting miracles instead of working hard to achieve their set objectives; they totally forget that the scriptures itself says that “faith without work is dead”. They seem to think that they can simply will an expectation into reality, ala Nigeria Prays. Praying for a bumper harvest where there is no farming or praying for peace where there is no justice and praying for prosperity where there is no productivity is simply unrealistic and laughable. We delude ourselves by thinking that mere prayerful pronouncements without a genuine and realistic material follow-up will solve any problem when God has, indeed, already given us the power to think, “subdue the earth” and then pray for His blessings.
Back to the present theme of religious leaders dabbling into partisan politics, it is important for us to acknowledge that the evil did not start today. It has always been there: religious leaders in their lust for material wellbeing, apparently in competition with men of the world, have found it necessary to occasionally ally with secular powers and those alliances have brought untold hardship and setbacks to the primary assignment of religion in society, i.e., winning souls for God by promoting social justice, love and truth. In the last few years, the nation’s religious leadership has unfortunately spent more time on partisan political preaching than on winning souls for God.
Today every Dick and Harry call himself “Man of God” without the least understanding of that Old Testament’s revered designation. You are not a “man of God” just because you claim to be a pastor, a priest, a preacher or even a self-delusional prophet. The name “Man of God” as a title was reserved for biblical personalities like Elijah, Elisha and a few others such as “The man from Judah who cried out against King Jeroboam of Israel” (1 Kings 13:1, The man who told King Ahab of Israel that Israel could defeat the Arameans (1 Kings 20:28), etc., men who typically spoke truth to power and not those in partnership with power. Drawing highfaluting analogous titles from an era that is past gone is not only uneducated but an act of social blasphemy.
If Paul, the spiritually acclaimed lead apostle of Christ could contend himself with the apt title of “Servant of God’, it must be something bordering on the insane and anti-Christ self-aggrandisement for anyone appearing after him to boastfully arrogate to himself the emblematic ecclesiastical title of “Man of God”. Introducing himself to the Romans, Paul described himself thus: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus” (Romans 1:1-17); repeatedly, he humbly answered “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1-9). Even the Son of God, Jesus, said he “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister (serve as in servant), and to give his life a ransom for many”. Not so with Nigerian “Men of God”! They must gather tithes, political largesse, fame and prosperity!!
Every year we go through the rituals of fake prophesies: “Someone great will die this coming year”. In a population of more than 100 million people, what is really the big deal that someone would die within the year? In any case, who determines who is “great”? Currently, “X and Y will win election next year”. Simple mental exercise should give anyone an idea of who wins or loses an election but these reckless partisan pronouncements are made with glee and when they fail to pass, their followers do not demand for apologies and the fake prophecy goes on.
So, Mbaka’s election predictions and his extortionist approach to the business is just a bit on the irresponsible side and like we mentioned at the beginning, many other religious leaders are equally guilty of the same abuse of the ecumenical process for their personal biases, egos and material well beings. If these men were really speaking the mind of God, the world definitely would have turned a better place. Instead crimes, wickedness and corruption are the order of the day and, sadly, these religious men are in plain complicit, equally guilty of the mess. The reality is that they are unfairly taking advantage of our faith, fears and anxieties. Is that not why millions are currently quitting Christianity across the world while at the same time church leaders are getting richer by the day? Behold the Anti-Christ!
END
Perhaps the most undesirable by product
of PBM’S defective mindset, is his
hypocrisy and moral superiority – a crazy combination made toxic with an irritating blend of modesty and arrogance.