Commercial Prayer ‘Wariors’

When I left the Church on a Sunday I drove to my office, BNCL, publishers of Observer titles to collect the day’s edition of my Newspaper and other national papers. I met a middle aged man at the security office who was going through all the newspapers on the table.

I politely told him to give way so as to enable me collect my papers. He looked straight into my eyes and, with some pride intermixed with anger and arrogance, he boasted “so you don’t know me. I am one of the great Pastors praying for the state governor” He was referring to a governor who, despite his two terms of eight years did nothing to lift the state above the conditions he met it.

I was pleasantly surprised and angry, “what is the big deal about being one of those praying for the governor”. I asked.

Hear his answer “It shows that I am well known and respected in high places. So, if you say you don’t know me, it means you don’t know what is happening”

I became angrier and fired back at him: “How many times have you gone to the hospitals to pray for the sick? Do you go to prisons to pray and how about rural evangelism where you cannot get monetary rewards for your prayer;

With those words violently delivered, his eyes fell. I entered my car and drove off.
Not long ago, on invitation I was at the Headquarters of one of the local governments in the state. The chairman had phoned me to come over for coverage of the commissioning of some projects he had executed.

Before 9.30 am I was there but could not get entry into the chairman’s office. I wanted to discuss with the chairman before the arrival of the then governor of the state who was billed to commission the projects.

As I waited in the office of chairman’s secretary I heard babel of voices each calling on Holy Ghost fire to destroy those who were against the chairman. Only the prophets of Baal could have ever prayed with the curiosity with which they made their demands from the Holy Ghost fire.

“What is happening over there?” I asked the chairman’s secretary whereupon he said that the prayer ‘warrior’ had held the chairmen hostage for over two hours. He also revealed that they just came; pounced on the chairman telling him they had come to pray for him.

Before going into prayers, they had perhaps succeeded in convincing the chairman that there were enemies after his job and life.

As they strolled out of the chairman’s office, (about ten of them), what I saw were young men in continental suits with Italian shoes to match. They were on their way to another local government chairman to pray for him. I didn’t know how much they were able to rake from the chairman but the expressions on their faces was that of satisfaction.

All over the country, there are many of such prayer ‘warriors’ who move from one big office to another to pray for their CEOS. What they first do is to work on and manipulate the sensibilities of these big men.

The hypocrisy of these men can be discovered in their prayer points. Rather than asking God to change the selfish corruption-riddled and oppressive hearts of men in authority, they approach the Holy Ghost fire to kill their so-called enemies.

In the days of the prophets of old kings were regularly rebuked whenever they erred and deviated from observing Divine Ordinances. The Elijahs, Elishas John the Baptist did not spare wicked and sinful men of authority. Our saviour Jesus Christ rebelled against the transaction of business in church.
It is no longer so. Once a man climbs to a higher level on the ladders, he is seen as sinless by our new generation of commercial preachers.

Whereas it is our leaders who actually need deliverance from the sins of stealing, corruption and bad governance, these mobile prayer warriors shift their focus to what they call enemies of our leaders.”

Who is the first enemy of progress in Nigeria – a well – blessed and richly endowed country with many dying of hunger resulting from poverty and lack. And we know that the situation would have been better if these leaders commit the resources available to improvement in the living standard of the highly dehumanized people.

The prayer we need is that God should deliver this country from the hands of wicked and evil leaders.

Bad, murderous and satanic as Abacha was he had ‘prayer warriors.’
Actually around the late dictator, were about 400 marabouts who saw themselves as the mediators between the Head of State and the spirits.

In any case, what is happening today is not unexpected. In the Holy Bible, Christ said many shall come in His name claiming to be Christ. He said they shall deceive many and even perform signs and wonders, but in reality they are sons and daughters of iniquities.

Some of these commercial Pastors who move from one office to another have found such strategy more lucractive than establishing a Church. Like salesmen, they command the power of sweet talk. They can talk fears into the heart of the gullible and then exploit it to their momentary advantage.

That is yet the state we have degenerated today. If you add that to the dirty politics in most churches, then you will discover that many are actually called but only few will be chosen.

When the former Head of State was sick, many high ranking Pastors went to pray for his recovery. And they came back to tell us that the Late President was recovering. But the man died. May his soul rest in peace.

Tunde Bakare, a fiery Lagos- based Pastor, prophesied in 1999 that though Obasanjo had been elected president, he would not survive in office. What he meant was that Obj would die either through military intervention or natural expiration.

The ways some Pastors conduct themselves have encouraged and even hardened criminality. When a man brings millions of naira to the church and the Pastor makes no attempt to find out the man’s means of livelihood, what is he doing. That man could be a criminal.