Church losing bearing due to love of money

The church Jesus imagined was meant to be salt and light. It was meant to be a shining city on a hill, whose light would light up the world and show the path to righteousness. The church was meant to be above the desires of the world and above money.

It was meant to stand for justice for the poor and the downtrodden and in it those who had been abused by the world would find refuge.

The prophets of old were a pain on the sides of evil leaders. A political leader considered the prophet the official cane for his mistakes. A meeting between a prophet and a king was seldom a chance for pomp, ululation and praise.

Instead it was a sombre moment at which David would be asked to explain the whereabouts of Uriah and the appearance of Bathsheba in his house.

The church, therefore, was meant to be the salt that kept the world from rotting and healed its wounds. Prophets were not funded through corrupt dealings and you will never read anywhere where the apostles entreated Rome to send them politicians to finance their church-building activities.

Further, the prophets of the day spent their time correcting social ills and ensuring politics did not ruin the lives of citizens.

It is worries me that Kenya is full of prophets and preachers who can see 2022 clearly; who can tell us who the next president will be, especially after receiving offerings.

They become pinpoint accurate in their prophesy the moment brown envelopes are handed out during services so that they can build physical temples for a spiritual God who said he does not dwell in buildings.

These prophets are, however, totally incapable of telling us how to solve the Mau Forest problem.

They can’t hear God’s voice concerning the state of corruption in the country and they are deaf to the cries of many Kenyans who are in such abject poverty that death by starvation is a clear and present danger.

Some our clergymen and women have even come out this week to claim their rights to be visited by politicians,  stating categorically they have a stake in the cash that is being dished out.

Their faith is in a new lord—the Kenyan politician. Let his kingdom come, his money come and his will be done in 2022. This lord must visit them and this lord is the one to finish their projects. The God of heaven knows not how to build his own house without Nairobi’s help it seems.

But most of our priests speak nothing about the widespread corruption in the public service. They do not ask about the billions of shillings that are lost each year.

Who cares if corruption is fought or not; who cares if Kenya loses billions as long as the church gets its coins? The people can live in hell as long as they have a good looking building to visit once a week on Sunday.

Further, politicians in the eyes of these clergy are divided into two. There are politicians who “bring development” whenever they visit.

There is no tendering for such projects. Their approach is simple; if you want the country to develop, put Kenyan politicians in a tour van and let them make roadside declarations on projects and by magic, the projects will appear.

Such development involves humongous cash donations to churches, that shall continue to preach the gospel of prosperity.

Be it Tangatanga or Kieleweke or any other political grouping, just come, the churches await your offerings in exchange for a ticket to heaven and a 2022 prophecy.

Then there are politicians who are focused on legislative and policy agendas and budget lines. They are focused on the fight against corruption and uniting the country; the ones that say let us not campaign too early, let us focus on development.

Truly speaking, the words and acts of our clergy seem at odds with the Bible.

If you study the Bible, you will realise there were some who accused Jesus of healing people through the power of Beelzebub, the so-called Lord of the flies. These religious leaders were friends with Herod and Pilate. They had direct connections with the politicians. Pilate had nothing to fear from them and Herod was the builder of their temple.

They, like the Kenyan clergy, were married to politics.

The role of the true church of Jesus is to feed the hungry, to call out injustice, to lead tax thieves to pay back what they had stolen and to fight for justice.

Indeed religion that God finds to be true is the religion that takes care of the needy and fights for a just society.

The church should be fighting corruption, exposing politicians who have babies they refuse to take care of and ending poverty. Instead, a section of the church today is mostly focused on receiving handouts from the latter-day Herods.

Mr Bichachi is a communication consultant. bichachi@gmail.com