Presidential Advisor Or Advisee?

It was great news when we heard that our own bishop (was it prophet or pastor) was appointed presidential advisor on religious affairs. I still remember how we boasted about it everywhere. The man of God told us it was Gods plan for him to fill that position so that he can teach the big man spiritual morals and values. He was such a humble and honest man that whatever he told us was taken as gospel truth. Few voices of reason however did indicate that it depends upon the size of the fire to melt the ice; otherwise the ice puts out the fire. They cited the previous advisors who went down the spiritual drain as backsliders. Names were given though am mature enough not to mention them. He braved that temporary storm and finally got our blessing.

He took that office with a sense of trepidation and humility. He was seen in presidential pressers and political rallies opening with “a word of prayer.” Then suddenly things began to change. One Sunday, our man of God did not come to church to preach as he promised he would be doing every Sunday. The excuse was less spiritual this time around – he was tied up with some important state function somewhere. After a month or two rumors began to trickle in that our man was seen testing a little wine at some state banquet. Then the big news started that a concubine was identified (I don't know if it was by state functionaries) to keep the man of God warm. For those who objected to that, a scripture was quickly found. The Bible mentions a time when a king was feeling cold and they had to look for a young virgin to keep him warm – 1 Kings 1: 1 -3. Armed with that, the downward spiral continued as it was money that was now speaking. The church now heard the sad and bad news that our religious pride was now openly frequenting social places of entertainment. It was now open secret that the man of God was now the man of the president. The pastor had become a poster and all about him was in name only. A lot has happened since then and to cut the long story short his regime is no longer in power. As the new regime comes into power, we need to thoroughly answer this question. Do presidential advisors truly advise him? Why is it that many of our men in religious costumes and collars end up being converted to politics instead of the other way round? Between the two, who advises the other? As regimes change and the outgoing gets all the blame, a bigger share of that blame should also go to our men in religious collars. They neglected their responsibility. They were palm oiled. They were converted instead of converting. Is it right to call them presidential advisors or we should now begin calling them presidential advisees? We should not ignore the fact that some are faithful to the calling and have faithfully played their prophetic role. The Catholic bishops stand out as a towering example of that. But the few “rotten apples” are denting that prophetic image.

Right now as the DPP is becoming an abomination, we should not forget that our men of God were part and parcel of that mess. Sometimes politicians are honest enough to admit their mistakes. Some are already offering their “heart felt apologies” to the nation, but our men in religious collars and costumes will just go underground and resurface later under a different color. Some of them after boozing and womanizing it out under the UDF, have been seen behind “AMAYI” in the meetings she was holding before she came to full power. I may not know the motivation behind all this because I am just a church commoner, a pew man and a bench warmer but I feel our religious men are becoming political harlots of some sort. They need to be advisors and not ADVISEES.