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Where did the church go wrong?

For me church has always been a soothing place. We lit candles for those who had passed on and exclaimed at God’s miracles when a sick person had been healed.

I had never set foot in, nor even knew what a charismatic church was, although by the time I was in high school there were whispers of such churches in the big city of Durban.

I never heeded any of it. Most of the stories connected the churches to Satanism and nobody wanted to get into that. I moved to Gauteng to study and for the first time ever, I set foot in one of these churches.

Although  no-one ate snakes or drank petrol in this one, I was uncomfortable.  There was a lot of noise and flashiness.

There was a band, praise and worship team, a youth team, lots of shouting in tongues and people in tears. And lots of declaring that God will give you wealth ahem excuse, me that God will give you money. 

There were categories for people, this particular one had a millionaires and a billionaires club.  I quietly asked my friend if we could leave, I was very uncomfortable and shocked to the core. I didn’t find any of it soothing at all. I didn’t find comfort in the church. Needless to say we left. In the following weeks we tried three other churches and still they just didn’t fit.

I stopped looking and started speaking to God in my own terms. I found my sanctuary again. Recently people who have been calling themselves prophets have been in the news for doing things I disagree with to other people. Mboro who seems to have pioneered this extreme worshipping thing, I abhor! Always it seems the demon possessed are females, and the only way to exorcise these demons is to insert his digits whether finger or toe into the woman’s genitals in public, on camera?

 

Then there is this Lesego he of the congregation that eats grass ugh! Lately his protégé Penuel has started jumping on people, making them eat snakes and weaves and making them strip. He then justifies this by saying it’s in the scriptures. I’m not the most bible savvy of Christians but I don’t remember any scripture saying anything about eating a weave or a snake. 

The thing that angers me the most in this whole issue is the silence of the other men and women of God as they call themselves. Where are the Archbishops, the priests, deacons and ministries that will stand against this abuse of people? Christianity is not perfect this we know. I am surprised that church folk can march against other matters that affect society but yet in their own arena cannot make their presence felt?

 

Where is the condemnation of these heinous acts performed on people? Where do our Gospel singers stand on this issue? What do they have to say about what is being done to the people who consume their music? 

This topic makes me sad and I am in no ways stating that my church or denomination is better than any other.  I’m just saying I can’t seem to find God in watching people being treated in a manner I find uncomfortable. I see no God there.

I choose to believe God would never require you to do the things these “prophets” request. But we find God in different places and ways, heck there are people who don’t believe in God at all. So I shall stick to my comfort and others will seek theirs. In the end it is all up to you after all.