Where The Worship Of Mammon Is Mistaken For The Worship Of God.


Bamidele Salako cc

Notions of the God of the Bible in this interesting generation range from the fantastically astonishing to the mind-bogglingly contradictory to the outrightly appalling.

Popular notions combine to present the picture of a God who is interestingly regarded as good and adored as the very personification of love yet is in the same breath portrayed as requiring some form of financial or other motivation to be "moved" into action on behalf of his adherents in the face of pressing needs.

It's the image of a needy God whose bloated ego must be stroked, his head made to swell with rhythmic ballads of his greatness before he is obliged to intervene in the affairs of his children.

You want something from God and it's not happening fast enough, you're told to just give him praise and he will "release" it once you have succeeded at badgering the celestial portals with "unconditional" praise. Praise is not worship but a strategy for "unlocking" heaven's goodies.

You want a child and you've cried and prayed your heart out to no avail, all you need do is sow a dangerous seed to provoke a passive God to action and he will "release" your child - the very one he has for no reason at all held back all the while.

You want a job, move the hand of God with a special employment seed.

You're vying for a contract? For that one you need an earth-shaking, heaven-opening giving culture to arrest God's aloof attention.

You want to stay safe and secure your job and family? Just tithe faithfully or else the divine indignation will be unleashed for not paying up your outstandings with God the tax collector.

Truth is one only needs a careful perusal of scriptures without the colourations of several long-held notions to realise that these portrayals of God are alien to apostolic tradition as received from Jesus and handed down to the church. Alien to the character of God as demonstrated by the progenitor of the christian race - Christ himself. 

We are told in Acts-10:38 that Jesus went about doing good but we do not find a single recorded instance in which Jesus demanded money from the beneficiaries of his goodness as a prelude to meeting their varied needs. He healed thousands, fed thousands, taught thousands and never, not once, did he demand money as a precondition.

Notions alien to the writings of the apostles as canonised in the holy writ.

They're the notions on which the grand deception and extortion of most churchgoers by men skilled in the art of delusive oratory thrives - a transactional, even venal God whose pockets must be lined for blessings to accrue. It's a faulty logic easily disproved by simple commonsensical appraisal.

Bill Gates doles out billions in charity funds yearly to help disadvantaged people all over the world, many from whom he has never received a direct pecuniary benefit and many who will never be able to repay him in any way. He does not require financial gratification to do all of this mind-blowing social good on scale globally but God does? Bill Gates must be a better person than this God.

What's more we say we're one big family where God is the father but I am yet to find an earthly father who taxes his children as a prerequisite fulfilling his paternal responsibilities to his kids but a heavenly father who owns all things does?

I have seen fathers and mothers make back-breaking sacrifices to give their children the best but a God who made and owns the universe needs money from His children who are in need to be able to meet those needs?

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