Dr Emmanuel Yakubu is the President and Founder of The Voice of Miracles Ministries International churches. In this encounter with our Special Correspondent, HASSAN JOHN in Abuja, he shared his views on the way fake and business pastors have taken over the churches thereby misleading Christians. Excerpts…
Many Christians complain that, often times, these tithes are not being used judiciously for the purpose it is meant for and therefore view it as a means of exploitation by the men of God. Are they justified?
Let me tell you, when you begin to analyse spiritual things, you may not understand it. There was a time I was reading one magazine and somebody was condemning tithing. I count that as ignorance. Let me tell you, it is not my right and duty to condemn any man of God, although the way many of them behave today is different from what I read in my bible. A man of God is supposed to be a servant; your duty is to serve people and not to be a boss. Even Jesus did not come as a boss, He came as a servant.
There are scriptural ways of using tithe. One is for widows, two; orphans and three; the men of God should be taken care of by the same tithe. So, if I am in a position of these big pastors who get big tithes in their churches, what I will do is to affect the lives of the widows and the orphans. There are other groups of people that need to be affected like the less privileged ones in the society.
And would you say these pastors are using tithes right?
Most of them don’t use it that way. I say this with all humility. There are some pastors that have separate personal bank account where all these tithes and offerings are kept for them. It is not supposed to be so. In our own ministry, what we normally do is that we collect our tithe and offerings and every month we organise what we call ‘Operation feed the needy and poor’ and cater for them. Every month we tell our members to bring things to the church and we go round to the community and share to the less privileged. I think that is biblical, based on what God has asked us to do.
I don’t believe in accumulating wealth like some pastors do. They collect tithe and offerings in millions and then invest in building estates and buying properties. The focus of a man of God should not be money. My focus is to win souls for Christ because God who has called me will always make a way for me. I don’t believe in accumulating wealth, buying big cars and having escorts comprising of many police men and so on. That is rubbish. That is not ministry, it is business.
You have raised the issue of men of God going with security men. Some of them even have their security men standing behind them on the pulpit while preaching. Is it scriptural?
It is not. Most of these men of God you see carrying security all around them are people whose hands are not clean. I can tell that without any doubt. I have Angels guiding and protecting me, what do I need security for. As far as I am doing what is right, nobody will be able to kill me. Those who are carrying security all around them are business pastors. I am sorry to say that, they are business pastors. The money they use to pay these security men is huge money that can be used to support the poor. They always hide under the guise that Jesus always moved with escort, but it is not written in the bible. As far as I am concerned, they are business men and not pastors.
Why do you think they hire security agents?
One of the things is ego and pride. They want to become somebody and want to be known. That is pride and God is against it. I think we men of God in Nigeria should humble ourselves and go back to our bible and read what Jesus said and did. Jesus did not come to the earth as a big man.
How can we differentiate between a business pastor and a genuine pastor?
Let me give you an example, there are some pastors who, when you go to their office to see them, they will first give you a form to fill and then ask you to pay a particular sum of money. Paying money before you see a man of God is not scriptural. They may even tell you that they have special anointing oil or handkerchief that you must buy. These are business pastors. They are not called by God. I want to assure you that this time around, God is set to disgrace them. We have some pastors that are into cult called “Illuminati.” This is a high cult that most of these world leaders belong to. We have some of the pastors in Nigeria that belong to such cult. They are big pastors in white collar but they are worst than herbalists. They practice all manner of evil in the name of Christ. When you see them you will know them, because the bible says ‘you shall know them by their fruits.’
When you see a man that is called by God you will know because he will not be after money and he will want to do what God has called him to do. As I told you, very soon God is going to expose them, because He has told me. He is going to expose all those fake pastors. One day you will come and tell me that I told you this. God is angry with what is happening. Remember we are in the end time so anybody can wake and become a pastor.
© Daily Independent
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