Sometimes I get really worried…
I posted a video of Bishop David Oyedepo yesterday that mentioned that The ARK Project is bigger than any stadium in the world.
While that was the caption of the video, the content of the video explains why such fits could be accomplished without stress.
As expected, some of my African brothers and sisters didn’t watch the video, yet they made longer comments. And then I wonder how they derived their comment.
For God’s sake, who starts an argument with an headline alone? Should the fact that I saw on the front page of a newspaper that “Fuel Price May Increase” mean that my government is inconsiderate. No way! We know better not to judge a book by its cover.
This is why many people live in ignorance and poverty, they make arguments with headlines instead of the main point. I wonder which school they even went to.
I know those who watched that video, their comments were supportive and some even prayed for the man of God to complete the project. Those who didn’t watch it didn’t hesitate to suggest helping the poor with the money. Some others just saw it as an opportunity to pour their grief on the man.
My simple advice to people who talk down on Pastors who are doing great exploits is “go and start your own ministry, and when you get to his level, let’s see what you’d do with your own ARK project”.Honestly, it’s easier said than done. Many of these people live with selfishness and sublime greed, yet they know how to advocate for good things.
Look, I’ve been poor before, and that was the exact mindset that kept me in poverty – I just believed that those ontop must come to my aid. But thank God for the bible, I found out that the poor shall not cease in the land, and that you’d remain poor until you begin to take responsibility.
That was my liberation. Frankly speaking, I’ve never seen any man who’s purpose is to alleviate poverty from the earth. Even Jesus’ purpose was to preach the gospel to the poor, it was never to support them with rice and beans.
Abi, is the gospel about giving rice and beans? It’s far more than that. So while I give you today, I must advance to another level tomorrow. A wise poor man should find hope in my advancement and follow suit, not sit down and wait till I come again to help him.
The greatest gift you can give to a poor man is to teach him how to give. Trust me, some times I get overwhelmed by requests from different people, daily. But while all of their requests may seem urgent, not all are important. While some others may be important, they may not be urgent. So I filter my responses based on this intelligence, otherwise, I’d be back to poverty in no time.
Helping the poor is good, but God didn’t send you to everybody. And trust me, His purpose for your life is more important than your desire to help the poor.
That said, pastors are not philanthropists. They may have things in common, but they are not. Philanthropists may follow their hearts while pastors will follow the Word of God and the dictates of the Holy Spirit. Jesus fed people, not because they were poor, but because they were stranded. Let’s be wise!
He that gives to the poor shall not lack, but it doesn’t mean you’d lack if you don’t give to the poor. Personally, I know several dimensions of giving that open strange doors of favour, giving to the poor is the last one.
So if Bishop David Oyedepo is building an ARK, don’t criticize that, He’s following the master plan.
Secondly, no two ministries are the same in terms of mandate. While the vision of the church is to equip believers to maturity, God assigns different mandates to each of them. For Bishop Oyedepo, his mandate is to liberate the world from all oppression of the devil through the preaching of the word of faith. The mandate describes the method of fulfilling the assignment. His job isn’t to go about helping the poor, his job is to preach the word of faith, and he’s expected to stay in his lane. There are many ministries that have the mandate to feed the poor. So when you see them do those things, don’t compare them.
I’m a giver, and I know this through practice, but my divine assignment is to add value to lives by propagating applicable knowledge to people. If I live my office, who would do my job. Imagine you come to this page for 3 days and nothing new has been posted, wouldn’t you be worried that something may have happened to the visioneer? Then imagine that the reason why I didn’t post anything was because I went in search for the poor. You may feel emotional about it, but even you will agree that it’s not intelligence.
So please, let’s occupy our space till Jesus comes.
I’d be responding to comments on this post, and I promise to be hard on those who will not read this properly before commenting. Christianity shouldn’t make us religious people, we’re more than a religion, we’re the change that the world is waiting for.
May God give us understanding!
#EmekaAnslem