The men of God and unspoken reality, By Manoah Kikekon

By: Manoah Kikekon

In our society today some people have become small god, they believe no one has the right to despise or say they had done something wrong, meanwhile it should not be forgotten that we are all human and we are prone to mistakes. Most at times, the comment and the criticism of other people serve as an alert to remind us of the wrongs we are doing unknowingly.

The reality that is not talked about today is the wrongs of the men of God or religious leader, it should be clear that I am not criticising any man of God but to make a wake-up call to my fellow Nigerians that believe so much that men of God cannot do something wrong, If I may say, such ideology is very wrong. The fact they are humans has subjected them to mistakes and probably do something unintentionally.

Some may say since they are men of God, they are no more of the flesh, believe me or not, they make mistakes. Nigeria today is one of the most religious country in Africa, if not the world at large, where we have set various religious records in terms of the largest auditorium, congregation and every other leading position in terms of religious ownership.

As I said I do not intend to criticise any religion or any religious leader but to debunk some unrealistic ideology, the religiosity of Nigerians have had a large advantage on our society in the past which is the purpose of religion, but what is happening in Nigeria today call for the attention of Nigerians.

 Several men of God are not qualified to be called men of man let alone men of God, because their actions are disgrace to man how much more God. Despite this, some will still say “he is a man of God, the anger of God will come against anyone that says anything against him”. 

If people should chastise those that talk against, the man of God that had slept with another man’s wife, has maltreated his wife, caught with human part or the one caught lately in a drug trafficking, what then are we allowed to talk about?

If people are not allowed to talk against a Pastor or Imam that had committed crime because he is a man of God, I tell you boldly that we have got religion wrong in this part of the world and the effect may be severe than what we can envision, because in near future people will become men of God with the intention of becoming immune to criticism anytime they say or do anything bad.

 Several videos and news reports have documented atrocities of pastors or imams. In short time, their worship centres opens again and people over look any crime since they are men of God.

This reality not allowed to be talked about which is why some say “thou shall not speak against the anointed” I am not ready to speak against the anointed neither are my encouraging anybody to do so, but the take home here is that, how long are we going to keep overlooking crime in the name of men of God?. Meanwhile the people we referrers to are nowhere nearer God, which they themselves know, but the followers become so dogma that they never see the wrongs of the leader and this is doing more harm than good to the society in every ramification.

People today know some religious leaders as do as I say and not do as I do, I don’t believe I am in the right position to criticise anyone let alone a man of God, but as an advocate of human development this has placed me on the podium to call people’s attention to some cankerworms in our society which may be a barrier to human development.

I believe a pastor or imam should be a role model of discipline and sincerity, but what we have today is the other way round. This is not to say, there is no sincere and discipline men of God in our society today, but from what we all can see, a substantial percentage of them are not what they proclaim. 

Who are my to judge anybody? If the Book had said “judge not, that ye be not judged”. This is why I will say even if I am a judge; I do not think I am worthy of judging any man of God or religious leader. 

But I will say, do not let religious bigotry shadow your conscience or debar your inner vision from seeing the deformities on the part of your men of God.

 

 

Manoah Kikekon is a graduate of History and International Studies from Lagos State university, a journalist and Blogger.