Lessons From My Wife’s Poultry and The Nigerian Church

In this series, we’ve looked at Education: A Need For Redirection And Redefinition—Lessons From My Wife’s Poultry and Lessons from My Wife’s Poultry—Dynamism. Lastly we looked at Lessons From My Wife’s Poultry and The Nigerian Situation.

I was in two churches to worship on a Sunday. When you preach to others you need also to be preached to. In one of the denominations I went to, I saw something that has led to the assault on Pentecostalism by those who at least can think for themselves.

When my wife got to the gate separating the outer space from the pen, the birds were all waiting for her, all clustered together and it reminded me of the experiences I have had in several Pentecostal churches. My wife has become associated with food and water by the birds. The birds are caged and cannot fend for themselves. They are dependent upon my wife for food and water; they also depend on her for protection against disease and external aggression.

Remember, in the post on Lessons From my Wife’s Poultry and the Nigerian Situation, I mentioned the large appetite Nigerians have for everything from food, entertainment, fashion, luxury to all aspects of life. We, the pastors, have cashed on this and the fear of witchcraft and bewitchment by making our churches deliverance centers, miracle centers and solution centers. We use the name of Jesus as the bait and the better alternative to idolatrous solutions.

We create and magnify the capacity of the devil, and present Jesus as the solution, and we as His ambassadors and dispensers of His power to provide the respite they need. We make sure they never listen to another voice of reasoning. Any time you attend a church where you are not allowed to listen to other preachers, know that you are in a poultry cage.

You are enticed by the gigantic financial and structural success of the ministry and testimonies of what the anointing of the man of God had done for others.

The man of God paints a picture of extraordinary capacity and personality and creates a godlike personality. Just like Jim Jones did and led nearly a thousand people out of the United States to a forest in Guyana and made them to commit suicide. They create an enemy—the devil—and hatred for liberty, just like the Islamic nations created a common enemy for their citizens in Israel and the USA. Until the youths saw through their deception and imprisonment and revolted.

When you attend a church where fear of the devil, instead of the ability and freedom Christ has wrath on Calvary, is always emphasized, be very careful. When you attend a church were the man of God does not allow other ministers to preach, but he regulates all you read and hear, you are in a spiritual cage and a poultry.

The dependency syndrome in Pentecostalism and radical Islamism is very dangerous.

I grew up in a system in which one of the greatest preachers and miracle workers that ever lived was our general overseer. We, however, had the freedom to hear from others. We had freedom to associate with Christians of different denominations. Archbishop Benson Idahosa related with all denominations. We had the privilege under Bishop Edohasim at Church of God Mission, 39 Umuola Rd., Ogbor Hill, Aba to hone our spiritual gifts and talents. That’s how I am who I am today.

The church is not a cult or coven. Anointing is not the exclusive preserve of a few. The philosophy of Christ is that we should do greater things than He did. My desire is to see those I mentor do better than I do now. Those I mentor are not my birds; they are my ambassadors; they should do better than I have done. Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses not have church crisis like most Pentecostal churches? It is because there is a system that does not create superstar men of God.

There is a management theory that states thus, “For any psychologically mature adult, a time comes when his personal interests come into conflict with organisational goals.” When a church treats her ministers like birds in a poultry and does not give them opportunities to maximize their potentials and soar, conflict is inevitable.

Don’t create a poultry in your denomination.

God Bless You.