Yesu Mulungi - African Christian Perspectives

Arthur Owiti | March 8, 2010

One of the biggest signs of injustice and unrighteousness in Africa is corruption. This pandemic has affected the economic and political atmosphere since the so called global integration  of nations economically and politically. Sadly this is where most of the church has played the biggest hypocrite.

Many in Africa are poor not because they do not work hard but because of corruption instigated by greedy people who oppress the masses. Many of us can testify of people we know who have worked hard in public offices, companies with a simple salary who are then retrenched only to find that their pension money is missing due to change of management or so called privatization of the company. This is happening when some churches declare that everything is well alright in the sense that they are living in prosperity because they are purpose driven and planting seeds.

Grand hypocrisy has been exposed by most of the church who are silent on public crimes and morality but pick out the not so protected criminals. It is interesting to note that the moral laws being pushed for such as Anti Prostitution in South Africa (an issue dividing the church there ) Anti- Gay in Uganda are causing ripples yet the offenders of these crimes even hide their faces when giving press conferences..

Yet when it comes to the public crime of corruption where there is hard core evidence to prove wrong doing , the offenders are actually walking free and attending church ...This is selective morality which is not morality at all. Morality should be whole .

During Hitler's Nazi Germany where many Jews were killed and many Gypsies and Homosexuals castigated ,history books are silent about the churches in Germany. Yet Germany at the time was the home of a big Christian population. They partook in the crimes of Hitler's crimes by being silent. They chose selective morality instead of standing in the righteousness of God.

During the George Bush II Empire, the war on Iraq had no Christian justification whatsoever since the Lord Jesus the head of the church does not call for man to avenge fellow man. Sadly Evangelical America kept silent or gave support to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Only speak against abortion and homosexuality ( yes they are sins ) but close eyes and ears to the cries of innocent Afghans and Iraqis ...Selective Morality is no righteousness.

Here in Africa, when governments commit horrendous crimes such as embezzlement such as National Security Funds, Pensions money, most of the church leadership is invisible and silent .Only the media shouts about the crimes but as usual ,it is seen as just news.

Now when it comes to matters of crimes such as murder, prostitution,rape and homosexuality you find the church leadership advocate for Death penalty .These are crimes in many jurisdictions but they are sins before God. Which judgment should we as Christians be more concerned of and preaching more about ?

HYPOCRISY BREEDS LAWLESSNESS
When one turns a blind eye to the injustices in our society , that one cannot have moral authority to attack another immorality. The church is to preach the righteousness of God in full not selectively. But what we see today is selective righteousness.

This is seen when the Church attacks society for not dealing with grand corruption. They even blame their congregations for not working hard economically so as to plant seeds. On the other side they do not castigate the big political big wigs who have actually stolen and been involved in embezzlement of public funds. If they do it is as a soft pat of a pussy cat.

Yet the political big wigs attend their churches, give huge sums of money( plant bigger seeds,yet a seed does not have to be big to bring a big crop but according to the prosperity gospel big seed is big favor and a seat next to the Pastor ); take “Holy Communion” .How can one shout in the neighborhood that their children are very naughty...wont such a person be embarrassing themselves and declaring that they are bad parents ?

This is what most Church leaders do. They cry corruption is killing our society but they preach to the very perpetrators of the crime. They cover the sins of those lawless people by preaching non convicting messages, not preaching the word of God which is truth when these people attend their churches or other church functions. A bad parent should not expect super duper kids if they do not guide them well. Neither does a bad teacher expect that his students will pass colorfully if he does not teach the right material or does not use the syllabus.

So the buck stops with the shepherds of today in the war against corruption. The war is sign that there is utter lawlessness in society when we claim that there are many churches that keep God's commands. The lawlessness in the church spreads very fast to society when the church stops keeping the commands of God. Only when the church is separate from the world can its message of righteousness be effective because they will walk the talk once one is separate from the world .But why are most churches not walking the talk ? They are not separate from the world but joined to the world.

WRONG UNIONS
Many churches have made agreements with the same corrupt czars of society. They have made pacts with politicians, banks ,business companies. Actually the doctrine of incorporation or where an organization is given human personality has really made the church another business partner with other bodies.

Today the so called marriage and death certificates issued by churches have made pastors more of civil servants than servants of God. You cannot serve two masters at one time.You cannot serve both God and mammon.

So once one joins themselves to another they become one, as Paul the apostles explains in the book of Corinthians. So if a church makes a pact /partnership with a business company that is involved in grand corruption wont the church also be considered as a thief because as by agreement they are one ?

Unless the church separates from that union they will be equivalent to being thieves and corrupt because they are either silent about the wrong or still insist to be in partnership with such a corrupt organization. Not that the church stole but that it sins by partnership with the wrong doer.

This is what has muzzled the church in the war against corruption in Africa-- COMPROMISE ( we define this as 'with promise or privilege' ). The church gains privileges from the same public offenders but they cannot speak out because that would mean losing the privileges. No wonder in the law courts the wife is not forced to testify against her husband if he is accused of a wrong so as to protect their union.

If they who are seen to hold the light cannot rise to speak the truth of God's word concerning injustice who will ?

In Kenya when a political leader wants to be exonerated from public attacks concerning their leaders ship they run for cover behind the church leader. This is due to the African Chief Mentality which is most deeply seated in most of the church in Africa. Anyone who claims to be God's messenger is seen as a demigod .

Hence the politicians or any public offender runs to these demigods for cover because once the demigod tells the people that the public offender is now holy because 'he attends our church' or 'I know his record' the people are supposed to believe just because the chief has said believe.

However things are changing and many Africans have come to realize the deceit that shrouds public offices and churches which have become dens of thieves and nepotism and tribalism.

For Christians who are not of this world but a re in its the time has come to examine the status of the church in the war against corruption. Is the church really standing for truth ??.. a keen study of the New Testament Church in the book of Acts in comparison to what is happening today will reveal the truth. Today most of the church is in bed with political economic corruption, a union that is against true doctrine. Hence the darkness reigning and the injustice taking full force in society.

The church should return to the whole counsel of God's word in repentance follow the example of the true church in Acts which was a family of justice and righteousness where the poor were remembered the family protected in the midst of gross darkness and evil in the Gentile controlled world. They shone as lights in a dark world and we therefore should shine as lights in today's dark world by returning to the truth indeed and truth not just words as we wait for the King of kings of God to come after enduring the dominion of the Anti Christ world.