Gone are the days when crosses
were the signposts of churches.
The trend nowadays is for assemblies
to bear flashy pictures of pastors in charge,
often with their wives beside them.
As the real owners of ministries,
‘Pastorpreneurs’
are the heads of trustees.
With family members as co-trustees,
there are no marked differences between
assets of churches and those of the pastors.
The shameful abuse of gospel grace
by these men of crafty pretense
in religious ropes,
has brought a stigma of infamy
to the venerated image of God’s church –
diminishing its moral voice.
Driven by putrid sludge of materialism,
they peddle The Holy Word for profit
at the expense of worshippers,
whose genuine concerns
they fleece to line their pockets.
By spiritualising mundane matters,
they delimit terms of success known to man.
Unthinkable to question motives of ‘Men Of God’,
these demagogues turn human judgments
into divine commands –
dishing out spiritual orders
with more focus on collections.
The out of context tithing doctrines,
stage-managed testimonies,
and miracle faking sprees;
are The Heartbeats Of Their Vanity Empires.
With sensibilities of members erased
by sugar frivolities of these charlatans,
followers are nudged to donate till it hurts:
Many forgo basic necessities,
default on credit instalments,
and even go borrowing,
to meet the demands of congregations.
As anticipated miracles become gaudy illusions,
those blacklisted helplessly watch
as their properties: furniture, cars, houses…
are repossessed or auctioned.
The mere mention of certain televangelists
brings to mind scandals
that have caused ripples of oddities.
With vast business interests
established through tithing money,
the smiling millionaires are having fun.
Their ungodly opulence,
a testament to the lucrative nature
of translating The Holy Word.
In an era of material excesses,
‘Pastorpreneurs’
are the raiders of Lord’s Vineyard.
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