Bitter Truth: This is why many Nigerian pastors won’t make Heaven

First and foremost, I won’t be mentioning the name of any pastor or any church. However, pastors, in my opinion, tend to be the most influential people in the society.

Pastors  lead a huge congregation and most people follow what they teach or rather tell them. In Nigeria , we have encountered a lot of scandals concerning pastors, from sex scandals to theft and being materialistic.

In the good old days, I remember most of the teachings were about helping out the needy (neighbor), loving them and visiting the sick and the people in prison and so on. I grew up knowing having a good heart and doing good will get me to heaven.

Let us take a look at the modern scenarios. Most Nigerian pastors teach about how rich and successful you will become, (success does not mean being rich). Even when they pray for you, it will be for you to get lots of money, buy lots of cars or build expensive houses

When you walk through the streets of Warei, Lagos, Port Harcourt or anywhere in Nigeria, you will meet countless homeless people; people who live under a dollar. These people are poor, and most of us pass them every day. They did not choose to be on the streets or be poor I believe, but they never get any help.

Look at the churches in Nigeria today; it is like a competition of which church is the biggest and has a larger congregation.

We give offering, tithes and first fruit in church because we want to thank God for all that he has done for us.
I hear the more you give the more you get, but again, do good to the poor around you and move on. I hear people say what if our pastor does not have a big house or expensive cars what will people think of this church. Is that the essence of Christianity?

Few days ago , I met two women arguing about their churches. One person said our church is much better because our pastor drives the latest Benz in town. The other person said, No! Ours is way much better because our pastor lives in a mansion in Lekki worth millions of Naira and owns a private jet. I think you can figure out where I am going.

With all this happening, I then pose the question, why do we have so many needy people in the streets yet our pastors are getting richer as days go by? I am not against pastors being rich, not at all; all I am saying is that it should not be a priority.

With the influence of pastors, I believe the number of poor people in the streets will reduce. There is no point in making someone extremely rich and yet the same person says we should help out other people who need us the most.

Don’t be surprised if you make heaven and you can’t find your ‘holy’ Pastor, Bishop, or Prophet.