COVID-19: Perfect Time For Pastors To Show Their Worth

Top Nigerian Pastors

Major cities and countries across the world have  been placed under lock down and thousands of isolation centers have been created to battle the dreaded corona virus. 

Celebrities, politicians, business moguls and known philanthropists have made charity a pillar of humanity to assist local and foreign governments in their struggle to save lives and ease suffering.

Philanthropists have been making donations to augment the purchase of medical supplies, aid the establishment of isolation centers and provide welfare packages for to health workers. Countries in the developed world have also channeled these donations to the provision of periodic food supplies to homes to help families cope with the lock down.

Religion has become such a lucrative enterprise in the modern era that religious figures now appear on Forbes magazine yearly. 

Since the turn of the 21st century, Nigerian pastors have continued to break grounds  in this venture, Nigerian Pastor, David Oyedepo, the General Overseer of Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners’ Chapel), is currently the richest pastor in the world with a net worth of $150 million according to the 2020 edition of Forbes magazine. This wealth is primarily gotten from monthly tithes and businesses established from tithes. 

There are four other Nigerian men of God who always grace Forbes magazine editions, they are:

• Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy (No. 3 with $50 million)

• Pastor Enoch Adeboye of Redeem Christian Church of God (No. 5 with $39 million)

• Prophet T. B. Joshua of The Synagogue Church of All Nations (No. 9 with $10-15 million)

Another millionaire pastor from Nigeria not captured in Forbes list for 2020 is Matthew Ashimolowo of Kingsway International Christian Center with an estimated net worth of $16 million.

Until yesterday (Monday 30^th March), we were yet to hear any of these men of God coming forward to offer assistance of any kind even if it were exclusively for their church members.

The Redeem Christian Church of God headed by Pastor Enoch Adeboye (5^th Richest pastor) donated medical supplies which included 8, 000 hand sanitizers, 8, 000 face masks and 200, 000 hand gloves to the Lagos state government. 

Some have questioned, what happens to the church members in other states? It was not clear if the donations came from church coffers or the private pocket of the Pastor Adeboye.

In the midst of all these cries of sickness and financial hardship, the Church of the richest pastor in the world, Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners’ Chapel), announced this month the introduction of USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) so that members can still pay their tithes despite the closure of banks; he came under heavy fire.

The lock down has also birthed economic hardship which has majorly affected the plebeian population which includes market traders, artisans, and other members of the low class who depend on daily incomes to survive. 

The vast majority of Christians who follow these men of God are from this class of people, when will it ever be time for them to reap the benefits of their loyalty to ‘God and His men on earth’?

An argument our men of God might bring forth is that the government of Nigeria is wealthy enough to tackle the issue and financial donations will only provide the government excuses to neglect its duties.

This argument is logical in a way however, it still does not justify the deafening silence from our men of God.

Nigerian pastors became popular and influential after several years of them displaying spiritual abilities to heal the sick from all kinds of diseases. Some of them have even been said to raise the dead. 

Shouldn’t we be seeing our men of God traversing the country and the world healing the corona virus patients and bringing the pandemic to an end once and for all? Isn’t that what the Lord Jesus would have done?

Corona virus cases in Nigeria currently stand at 132 with two fatalities even though thousands are still at risk of contracting the virus. Researchers and thinkers have forecast that the virus could kill as many as 10 million people in Africa