I pulled this from Reuben Abati's viral write-up titled Fr. Mbaka and the voice of God 'cos it's thought provoking. It's not the full article. Here's the excerpt:
'Prophecies and predictions by Christian pastors often mark the end of a year and the beginning of another in Nigeria…egged on by the media, looking for juicy material for their overtly religious and superstitious readers, these pastors sometimes overreach themselves as they dish out prophecies as if they were some kind of annual merchandise.
This year has not been different with interesting prophecies offered by Apostle Johnson Suleman, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka and a host of others.
What I find curious every year, is that each Pastor ends up saying something different from the other, whereas what we know is that there is only ONE GOD – absolute and indivisible. The teleological concept of God is monotheistic, but today’s Pastors in their prophecies convey a pantheistic concept of God: a God that speaks in many voices and forms, creating a dissonance which is then exploited by the media, as the year unfolds, measuring the prophecies against actual developments, to determine who among the many prophets is the true seer. This seeming retailing of prophecies in the public sphere should be a source of concern to the Church.
Of all the prophecies that I have read about this year, I find two particularly interesting. The first is the New Year Day declaration by Pastor Tunde Bakare before his congregation at the Latter Rain Church that God had just spoken to him not to leave politics because he still has an assignment for him in the political arena. “God told me to run for President”, he announced. When - he does not know but he tells the congregation to pray along with him. “When He tells me the time, you will hear about it.”
It will be recalled that Pastor Tunde Bakare was the running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) during the 2011 Presidential election. His decision at the time to go into politics was quite controversial particularly amongst his Christian brethren who argued that a man of the cloth should not swim in the dirty and dirtied waters of Nigerian politics. The CPC lost the Presidential election and Pastor Bakare returned to the pulpit.
He won’t be the first Pastor to declare an interest in the highest office in the land. Pastor Chris Okotie of the Household of God Church first ran for President in 2003 as a candidate of the Justice Party. Then he ran again in 2007 and again in 2011 on the platform of the FRESH Democratic Party. He lost on all occasions. Yet each time Pastor Chris Okotie declared an interest in the Presidential office, he always said he had heard from God. Listening to his campaigns, he always sounded so sure that he had indeed been anointed by God to be President. In 2015, God apparently did not speak to Pastor Okotie because he did not bother to join the race.
Do Pastors Okotie and Bakare, both learned men, hear the voice of the
same God? Is it possible for God to anoint two of his servants as
Nigerian President at the same time? For, indeed, when Pastor Bakare’s
critics opposed his decision to go into politics, his stoutest defence
in 2011 was that he had heard the voice of God, and that the voice of
God is superior to that of man. He quoted the Scriptures: Psalm 78: 70,
71; Romans 13:1. We, lesser mortals, may probably not fully understand
the ways of God and the prophetic Ministry but the clergy must resist
the temptation, the unwitting temptation may be, to project God in a
negative light. The doctrine is that the omniscient God, the
I-am-that-I-am that we know never plays politics with His words. He does
not contradict Himself. He keeps His promises...'
For the full article, read here.
*Seems every pastor has made it a point of duty to reel out prophecies annually it's almost like a competition of whose prophecy will come to pass or not. At the end of the day most of these prophecies either contradict each other or they don't come to pass.
I know of a particular pastor, once his prophecy comes to pass his people will go and announce it on social media that pastor so so said so so on so so date but when any of his prophecies doesn't happen like he prophesied, they will give excuses for it. It's sad.
God really can't contradict Himself. And if God says something will happen, that thing MUST happen. None of His words fall to the ground. So if these pastors all claim to hear from God yet give contradicting prophecies, who exactly are they hearing from?
Truly, only God knows those who are His. He sees their hearts but we see their hands, their fruits, the products of their lives and Jesus gave us a clue, "By their fruit you shall know them."
"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing doesn't follow, nor happen, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken: the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him." Deut 18:22
"If what the prophet spoke in God's name doesn't happen, then obviously God wasn't behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him." (Message Bible)
"I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying." Jer 23:21
So sad. It's a terrible thing to say the Lord said when He has not spoken.
'Prophecies and predictions by Christian pastors often mark the end of a year and the beginning of another in Nigeria…egged on by the media, looking for juicy material for their overtly religious and superstitious readers, these pastors sometimes overreach themselves as they dish out prophecies as if they were some kind of annual merchandise.
This year has not been different with interesting prophecies offered by Apostle Johnson Suleman, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka and a host of others.
What I find curious every year, is that each Pastor ends up saying something different from the other, whereas what we know is that there is only ONE GOD – absolute and indivisible. The teleological concept of God is monotheistic, but today’s Pastors in their prophecies convey a pantheistic concept of God: a God that speaks in many voices and forms, creating a dissonance which is then exploited by the media, as the year unfolds, measuring the prophecies against actual developments, to determine who among the many prophets is the true seer. This seeming retailing of prophecies in the public sphere should be a source of concern to the Church.
Of all the prophecies that I have read about this year, I find two particularly interesting. The first is the New Year Day declaration by Pastor Tunde Bakare before his congregation at the Latter Rain Church that God had just spoken to him not to leave politics because he still has an assignment for him in the political arena. “God told me to run for President”, he announced. When - he does not know but he tells the congregation to pray along with him. “When He tells me the time, you will hear about it.”
It will be recalled that Pastor Tunde Bakare was the running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) during the 2011 Presidential election. His decision at the time to go into politics was quite controversial particularly amongst his Christian brethren who argued that a man of the cloth should not swim in the dirty and dirtied waters of Nigerian politics. The CPC lost the Presidential election and Pastor Bakare returned to the pulpit.
He won’t be the first Pastor to declare an interest in the highest office in the land. Pastor Chris Okotie of the Household of God Church first ran for President in 2003 as a candidate of the Justice Party. Then he ran again in 2007 and again in 2011 on the platform of the FRESH Democratic Party. He lost on all occasions. Yet each time Pastor Chris Okotie declared an interest in the Presidential office, he always said he had heard from God. Listening to his campaigns, he always sounded so sure that he had indeed been anointed by God to be President. In 2015, God apparently did not speak to Pastor Okotie because he did not bother to join the race.
For the full article, read here.
*Seems every pastor has made it a point of duty to reel out prophecies annually it's almost like a competition of whose prophecy will come to pass or not. At the end of the day most of these prophecies either contradict each other or they don't come to pass.
I know of a particular pastor, once his prophecy comes to pass his people will go and announce it on social media that pastor so so said so so on so so date but when any of his prophecies doesn't happen like he prophesied, they will give excuses for it. It's sad.
God really can't contradict Himself. And if God says something will happen, that thing MUST happen. None of His words fall to the ground. So if these pastors all claim to hear from God yet give contradicting prophecies, who exactly are they hearing from?
Truly, only God knows those who are His. He sees their hearts but we see their hands, their fruits, the products of their lives and Jesus gave us a clue, "By their fruit you shall know them."
"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing doesn't follow, nor happen, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken: the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him." Deut 18:22
"If what the prophet spoke in God's name doesn't happen, then obviously God wasn't behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him." (Message Bible)
"I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying." Jer 23:21
So sad. It's a terrible thing to say the Lord said when He has not spoken.
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