You are likely to stop buying anointed oil, handkerchiefs and other items from your church if you read an inward-looking book on how pastors twist the scriptures to financially exploit Christians.
Moreover, sowing of the seed is likely to take a very different trajectory if you act on the words written by Pastor Peter Nganga in his book Pastor, Stop Fleecing the Flock .
A read-through of the book makes it clear that Rev Nganga, who is based in the US, wrote it to lecture fellow Pentecostal and Charismatic pastors on how far they have veered from the intentions and methodologies of giving to God.
And lecture them he does. In not one, not two, but 276 pages – where scriptures are analysed, historical references made and real-life anecdotes given – Rev Nganga tears into the so-called prosperity gospel and the shaky pillars that pastors often anchor it on.
He poses hard questions to church ministers. He questions the intentions of those who brand themselves as prophets. He also reflects on whether today’s pastors can do manual work like the apostle Paul who used to earn a living from making tents. He also analyses whether Jesus was a rich man — and the answer is no. Not just that; he says Jesus was a carpenter who lived at an “insignificant” place not mentioned in the Bible.
Discussing what pastors have come to term as the seed, he notes that its meaning has been distorted.
“When did the seed cease to be the word of God and became a monetary instrument — a dollar, a yen, a pound, a shilling or whatever we ask our listeners to plant? And if the seed is what we say it is, what is the soil? Who is the sower? Jesus himself gave the meaning of the parable of the sower. Why are we trying to create other meanings for it?” he poses.
The book, published by Kenya-based Champions Media House, has the potential to make a Christian start questioning the rationale behind the many ways through which the Church takes his or her money. It may also make preachers re-examine their motivations and messaging.
This scene will play out at many churches this weekend: At some point in the course of the worship service, the pastor will ask those with envelopes to walk towards the altar.
The pastor will then receive the envelopes as he or she speaks blessings to the givers, saying how they will find a path to all they have been seeking.
Rev Nganga has a problem with that. Altar calls, he says, have derailed from their original intention.
“Instead of making altar calls for sinners to come forward to receive salvation or for the sick to come forward to receive their healing, today’s altar calls are for the people with cash and cheques to come forward to plant a seed and receive a blessing. Our sanctuaries have become banking halls or stock trading floors; only this time, it is done in names such as seed planting, breaking the yoke of poverty, and releasing blessings,” writes Rev Nganga.
He argues that if those calls entailed calling people to repent their sins, not many people would typically head to the altar.
“To maintain our flock and show them that we are truly anointed, we continue propagating the skewed gospel of sacrifice without obedience and offering without righteousness. We lead the flock into giving their material and financial offerings while their hearts are full of rebellion,” he states.
Rev Nganga used to be a consultant in building construction in Kenya, though he was active in church. When he moved to the US, he founded Abundant Life Worship Ministries in the state of Delaware. The blurb of his book says that he and his wife, Mary, have been ministers at the church for 20 years.
The topic of giving in church is playing out in many Kenyans’ minds after a video of Neno Evangelism Centre founder, Pastor James Ng’ang’a, went viral. The video shows him offended by how little the money was.
“Sasa hii ni nini? What is this?” he asks before he spills the contents of the collection jar on the altar.
Another regular sight in churches is where believers buy handkerchiefs, anointed oil and holy water, among other items for use at home.
Rev Nganga thinks this is a gross misdirection and a propagation of idol worship.
“It is an open secret that in some Christian homes, there are more idols than in some pagan homes,” remarks Rev Nganga.
“Special” shawls, brooms, mats, swords, rods, and crucifixes are some of the items the reverend lists that churches sell.
“Many believers cannot pray without using some of these items. Woe unto us, the evangelicals and charismatic! We used to blame the traditional churches for their manner of using items such as the cross and rosary in their worship. Today, we are competing with witchcraft, sorcery, and soothsaying with our paraphernalia of worship and prayer idols, all in the name of connecting with God! Worse still, we do not give the flock this paraphernalia for free; we sell them at exorbitant prices. To increase our sales and make more money, like good sales associates, we show the flock how the items bring God’s presence in worship or prayer,” writes Rev Nganga.
Examples given in the book include an African woman in the US who hit rock-bottom because she was blindly following a church that transmitted its sessions on television. This woman, Rev Nganga writes, pledged to give $7,777 (Sh1.01 million) because the preacher said that was the magic number.
“This lady was jobless, and at that time, she was undergoing severe depression,” writes Rev Nganga. “She was pledging and giving money before. She had given to her church and various other ministries over two years. Sadly, she lost her job despite giving [to the Church], and her financial position worsened. She lost her apartment and everything she had.”
She had then become homeless and was rescued by friends. She needed money sent from her mother in Africa to survive. It was in this period that she pledged the $7,777 and Rev Nganga had to intervene by calling the television network.
“She would have continued suffering in poverty while those receiving her money did not know or even care about what she was going through. Probably, they were enjoying themselves with her dollars as they did their ministry. Sadly, her financial and mental conditions did not improve. We raised funds and sent her back to Africa,” he writes.
The book also contains historical references, among them the bold act by Martin Luther in 1517 to nail 95 theses at the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, which sparked the protestant revolution.
Luther’s action was in part due to the indulgences concept that the Catholic Church had entrenched, which made it normal for people to give money in exchange for being forgiven.
“While Luther advocated against the evils of the sale of indulgences in the church of his time, some of the things he preached against in his theses are mirror images of the evils resulting from the prosperity doctrine and preaching of our days,” Rev Nganga argues.
Rev Nganga considers this a misdirection.
The book attempts to give a solution to the giving “madness”, and one approach is by open communication.
“When we need money for our upkeep or ministry, we should just come clean and explain it to the church instead of manipulating the people with seed messages and other coercive and deceiving languages,” the reverend writes.
The cover of the book is not what many would call a classic, but Rev Nganga writes that it is a reflection of what he saw in a vision in 2011 but stayed for years before that translated into a book.
“The only addition [to the vision] was my name at the bottom of the cover page, but the colours remained the same as I had seen in the earlier image,” he writes.
