The Wafflers

He suddenly found himself serving as a Parish pastor in a very big ministry

He was until the previous Sunday just a Sunday school teacher

He was a worker who impressed the church authority as soon as he joined the parish

He joined the church straight after graduating from university

He was very eager to serve the Lord

His zeal was very obvious to everybody

Many of those who had been in the race before him laughed at his enthusiasm

They were once as eager as he was

But time had taught them that the Lord was in no hurry to return

The church needed a fresh blood badly

He fitted quite nicely into that mold

He was single as at the time he joined

The parish pastor of one of the other parishes under the church won the American visa lottery

He informed the church he would be leaving the country with his family

The Pastor prayed about it

Immediately after that Sunday service

The pastor sent for him and informed him he had been promoted and transferred to pastor a parish

He accepted the position

He had always loved the Lord and his works

He had always loved telling people about the gospel

The pastor prayed for him and gave him the address

The following Sunday, he set out for the church

Nobody warned him that the church was located in the marshes at the outskirts of the city

He parked his car at a point and walked almost four kilometers to the church

The community in which the church was situated was completely under water

He had to take a canoe and sometimes walk on wooden ramps in order to access the church

The members of the church were eight in number

An elderly couple and their two children, a married woman and her two children and a widower

Young men would line up beside the road to the community smoking cannabis and talking trash on Sunday mornings

He took the assignment with the whole of his heart

The parish needed an amplifier, a generator and some other minor gadgets

He encouraged the church to contribute and save some money towards the procurement of the needs of the church

The money was kept with the married woman who also doubled as the chief usher of the parish

Every month, he gave her 10,000 to add to the contribution of the others

Though the money was not so much, he believed that if by the end of the year, they all could save up to 200,000 he can approach the headquarters’ parish and ask for some financial support to augment what they had saved to procure what they needed

Other members of the church were encouraged by his dedication

He taught them the word, prayed with them and counseled them as a shepherd should

They in turn took him to the house of former members who left for one reason or the other and he sold the vision of the new parish to them

His fiancé went to the parish with him one day and contributed 50,000 towards the project

She was impressed by the dedication of the members and their genuine drive!

December came, he went to church knowing they would have surpassed their projected savings

He got to church only to be told the chief usher had travelled to her village for the Christmas holidays

He couldn’t believe it!

The woman never told him anything!

The woman didn’t drop the church money with her for anybody

He called her!

“What is going on?”

The woman said they went to the village for Christmas and she wouldn’t be back till March

He was very disappointed!

He asked her if she could transfer the funds

She laughed and said the nearest bank to her in the village was 30 kilometers away and she didn’t even have an account with the bank!

She assured him he would get the money as soon as she returned home from the village

He took her word for it

February came, the woman arrived from the village but refused to come to church

He was patient till March, since she had given her word to return in March

On the first Sunday of March he went to her house

The woman started whispering and stammering

She had spent the money!

He couldn’t believe it!

The total amount of money saved was 190,000.00

He contributed 120,000.00

His fiancé contributed 50,000.00

The rest of the church contributed 20,000.00

The money was long gone!

When he got back home that evening, he was very unhappy!

But what could he do?

He dusted himself and made up his mind not to give up on the church

Especially because of the other members!

The following week he was told that the Provincial Pastor would like to meet with all the Parish pastors

A luxurious bus had been made available to drive them all to the Provincial headquarters

He joined the bus

It was the first time he would be riding in a bus full of fellow pastors

He had expected the discussions in the bus to be highly spiritual, godly and edifying

When he was in the university and they had fellowship conferences or conventions with other believers, it was always fun

They would talk about Jesus, miracles, signs and wonders, casting out demons, Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts, Creflo Dollar, Billy Graham, Charles Stanley, etc

They would declare their faith and charge one another in the things of the Lord

He found out pastors were very different

They had wives, children, financial responsibilities, and deep rooted issues!

They talked about these things all the way to the provincial meeting!

He felt as if he was drowning!

The babble was just too much

Jesus!

They got to the meeting with the top man

Top man got on the altar and said the suit he was wearing was bought by the youth department

The Men group bought him this, the choir bought him that but the women didn’t buy him anything!

He said “When he got letters requesting for his support in the course of the year

He knew which group would quickly be supported and which group he would ignore!”

WOW!

The top man was practically blackmailing a social group in the church to buy something for him!

As they returned home from the meeting

The pastors resume their talks

This time they focused on the provincial pastor and how wealthy he was

They practically justified their need to con money out of members in order to make it in life

By the time he alighted from the bus he was totally disoriented

Instead of walking west towards his house, he found himself walking eastwards

He didn’t stop walking until the echoes stopped!

“What am I doing among these people?” He kept asking himself

A friend called him two days later

They had both been in the same fellowship while on campus

The friend told him about a family that went through the worst Christmas ever

The family lived in Onitcha but their village was Nnewi

After dropping the children in their village compound on December 24

The couple went back to Onitcha on pressing business

On their way back to Nnewi later that afternoon, they were involved in a motor accident

The wife died and the husband went through series of surgeries

When it was time to bury the wife in that month of March, they invited a priest to pray with the family

The Priest demanded for 60,000.00 cash for himself and a buffet for his entourage

The family had to beg and borrow even in the midst of their current predicament to meet up with the demand of the priest!

His friend was devastated!

“How could the Pastors and priests of Christ be that wicked?”

As he slept that night, he heard the voice of the Lord

“Teach my people the gospel, it is My power unto salvation, if they have the gospel they will break the yoke of every false prophet and hireling off their necks”

He woke up praying in tongues!

Ps: This event happened in 2009

He was posted to Agiliti community of Mile 12, Lagos, Nigeria.

He decided that he would be like Jeremiah

Born into the order of the priests but called to be a prophet

The sheep of God’s pasture must serve the Lord their God with gladness

The sheep of His pasture must be taught to know the voice of their shepherd

The lambs of his pasture must be taught to follow the sheep until they can recognize the shepherd’s voice for themselves!

Please read the Bible for yourself

Identify the voice of faith

Identify the voice of fear

If any man (Prophet, Bishop, Priest or Apostle) gave you a message of fear in order to compel you to act in a certain way for his or her self-gratification, know that such a man did not speak the mind of God! It was his or her belly that spoke to you!

If the Holy Spirit wanted you to support a project or a ministry, he will tell you so directly! You will feel blessed for supporting such! You will not feel robbed! God loves a cheerful giver

If you keep going to spiritual consultants instead of going to God directly with your challenges, you will inevitably be misled

There are no super-Christians anywhere!

Only those who know their God and those who know their men of God!

True men of God will lead you to God and insist that you have a relationship with God directly!

When you hear the voice of God, your faith is kindled! He gives you a blessed assurance of hope and glory. The price for your fulfillment in Christ had been fully paid by Jesus on the cross.

Ps: There is a common saying amongst many ministers of the gospel

"Win a soul, win his pocket...

Some people are anointed to raise money....

People wouldn't give willingly unless compelled...

Members dont care if the pastor eats or dies of hunger...

God doesnt bless an empty hand...

As long as you keep looking at the sheep for your sustenance, You are lost!

No matter how much success commrcialization of the gospel has brought you, you are not a part of Him!

If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind

If the LORD indeed sent you on that assignment, He will definately sustain you

God bless all the shepherds tending his flock with fear and a sense of accountability, I have good news for you, Behold He comes quickly with his rewards