I sometimes watch the American and African Tele-evangelists (yes, I do have moments of levity), the likes of Benny Hinn, TD Jakes, John Hagee, Pastor Matthew, Creflo Dollar (what great name for this line of business) but nothing is more egregious that the evangelist who make direct appeals for donations. I mean very direct appeals. Robert Tilton and Oral Roberts are but two of such evangelist. It looks like the days when such begging were covertly made in the guise of sowing seed, helping doing God's work etc are but a thing of the past. The scandal of evangelical guilty-impacting pleading for money is nearing the proportions of those of indulgences that scandalised the Catholic church in the Middle Ages.

That some of these congregants fail to see the lavish live-styles of these venal evangelists they help funding is an of sheer short-sightedness. Without making comparisons to 1st century Judea, do these people lead their lives in the spirit of what Jesus would have approved?

While "sell your possessions and give your money to the poor" is not to be taken literally, does that not indicate that Jesus would have favoured a simple lifestyle. In many occasions Jesus showed his absolute distaste for wealth, especially of the type that is flaunted about. Yet, the vast majority of the leading Christian mission today contravenes the spirit of his message. The Vatican is one of the wealthiest institutions of the world, possessing huge reserves of gold and property across the world. The evangelical community is fast catching up, with it gross and tackily designed palaces of ego-worship and fashion display, dotted all over the world. Have you seen how these evangelist are dressed, in the most arcane satorial sense. Now, I hear Nigeria has one of the biggest of such palaces.

Was it not Jesus who said "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"?

Was it not Jesus who narrated the parable of Lazarus and the rich man - in which Lazarus goes to heaven only because he was poor and the rich man goes to hell only because he was rich?

Was it not Jesus who said? "Blessed are the poor , "

In what sense are these suppose to be understood?


Nowhere in the bible did Jesus specifically sided or showed approval for wealth or the wealthy. You would have to go back to the Old Testament to see instance of righteousness being rewarded with material wealth right here on earth. So to me, whatever it may call itself, the majority of the Christian world have departed from the true spirit of the life and message of Jesus.