Pentecostals, You have Changed O – NINYO

Indulge me a little and I will take you down memory lane. When the pentecostal movement newly came, it was like the proverbial “breath of fresh air”.

They came with zeal. Prayer meetings had a spark of fire. Street evangelism took a new turn. Evangelism tracts became a thing. They brought in charisma and courage. There was an awakening of some sort.

Their belief in the gifts and workings of the Holy Spirit in our days set them apart. They stood out from the seemingly lukewarm mainstream churches.

They took Bible study seriously. Prayer meetings were good, and their fellowship meeting could never be mistaken for an entertainment arena but a place where people would re-dedicate themselves to the service of the Lord. Their endeavours brought many into the faith, including yours truly.

Our songs were more of expressions of our dedication to the Lord and our love for him. Our evangelism was geared towards winning souls to the kingdom, not winning people to our own local assemblies.

Much emphasis was also placed on Christian character. The fruits were there. So much respect was accorded the movement. Being a part of it meant that people would look at you as someone truthful and trustworthy.

Back then, pentecostals did not spare the mainstream churches. They boldly called them out as being too worldly, too lukewarm and too compromised.

Yes, they criticized everything that they met on ground…

But when I look back today, I could see that almost everything that the pentecostal/charismatic movement once preached against, they now celebrate..

Their leaders once rejected wearing of collar to distinguish themselves from the rest of the brethren. Nowadays, they want it..

They rejected wearing of clergy vestments as found in mainstream churches..

They rejected sitting on throne chairs in front of their congregations to distinguish themselves from others

Let me shock you. Many of them did not fancy religious titles. At best , they were modest with them. And that was the origin of calling ourselves “brother so so and so” or “sister so so and so…”

If you hear some among us use words such as “bro”, “sis”, “brethren” to address ourselves, it was an ingrained culture since the last 3/4 decades of being in the faith propelled by the pentecostal movement.

Regardless of age differences, social class, or giftings, we saw ourselves as family, brothers and sisters.

Their emphasis was on separation from the world. They emphasized there has to be a distinction between the church and the world when it comes to value system…

Messages on repentance from sin and dead works were very loud..

Messages bordering on scriptural verses such as “godliness with contentment is great gain” was a regular. “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” was a favourite bible phrase..

“Love not the world or the things that are in the world” was a popular verse we grew up to know…

The resultant effect? Young people were being converted in large numbers. Their messages set many young people on fire for the Lord, who eventually left the mainstream churches. Some older people also followed suit.

Were they perfect? Far from it. They made mistakes here and there but one thing you could not deny was their strive not to be like the rest of the world but to change their world for the better.

Things appeared to be looking up until Satan began to whisper to a few gifted leaders amongst them and they started getting ideas. They saw that there was money to be made. They saw that there were personal empires to be built. They saw that they could carve out kingdoms for themselves.

Very few voices saw this trend and took a vocal position against it but they were lampooned. They were asked to keep quiet. They were called “jealous”. They were called critics. “There is no anointing for criticism….” they told them in derison.

Then they began to wield the scripture that says “touch not my anointed” like a weapon so as to shield themselves from accountability.

And like the saying goes, a little leaven, leavens the whole lump. The pentecostal/charismatic movement that used to be a beacon of hope became a harbour for all kinds of charismatic abuses and ecclesiastical criminals. Consequently, the public trust level has gone south.

Today, everything seems to have changed. Everything that the pentecostals rejected before, they have embraced.

Heavy religious titles are back. Nobody fancies religious titles like the pentecostals…

In fact, to them, getting a religious ordination is like a coronation. Back in the day, when people were called to service, they would be sober or even cry because of perceived burden of responsibility to serve. Nowadays, people want the titles and when they are given, they roll out the drums and “coolers of jollof rice” 🍚 would start flowing. It is a religious coronation.

The collars are back…

Throne chairs in front of the church are back …

Religious gowns have become fashionable…..they use them for validation of some sort.

Clergy vestments are back…

Call a deacon among them “brother” and he would take an offence…

And when it comes to promoting worldly values and celebrity culture, the pentecostals are taking the cake. When it comes to red carpets and making entrances, they are giving the entertainment world a run for their money….

Nobody curses their enemies like the pentecostals. .

Nobody puts money at the centre of religious endeavours like the pentecostals… Money is at the centre of everything that they preach…

Nobody uses the bible to aggressively manipulate and extort money from their congregation like the pentecostals…

Nobody loves to receive worship from their fellow brethren like pentecostal leaders….

Nobody likes to be called “spiritual daddy” like the pentecostals…

Nobody seeks to shield themselves and their doctrines from the scrutiny of scriptures like the pentecostals..

And let me shock you, no group has brought the name of the Lord into disrepute like the pentecostals….

Introduce yourself as “pastor Lagbaja” in a business space today and watch as people raise their guards. This is due to the way the world around them now view the pentecostals…

The pentecostal movement has been hijacked. They have lost the plot. But it seems some are oblivious.

They are lost in their religious festivals and to the new comers among them, the pentecostals are the best thing that has happened to them after jollof rice. This is because they never knew what it used to be.

The glory days of the pentecostals are over. I have written this, advisedly, unless there is a massive wave of true repentance. I doubt this will happen to a people already drunk on the wine of spiritual papas.

They are now owned by men and not by God. They have removed all doubts that their religious endeavour is business.

The truth of the gospel has become scarce among the pentecostals. The words of papas now hold sway. Papas are the ones at the centre of today’s charismatic ministerial endeavour. It is not Jesus.

Gone are the days we used to say “the Bible says”. Now they say ‘my papa says” . They now vibe to their papa’s rhymes. They vibe to ideologies of men who have learned how to coin words in such a way as to grab the attention of men.

When I came to this realisation some years ago, I was mortified. I was ashamed. I was afraid for the degree by which we have departed from where we began. But I was not willing to die for an identity that has lost reverence for the person of Christ. I had to take a stand for myself.

If you happen to come across this post and you are serious about your faith, you know what to do… It is never too late to repent. May God guide everyone.

It is a new day!

NINYO.

Published by: Clement Afreh CBCInc Hypes @clementafreh