It was a German philosopher and economist, Karl Marx, who said in 1843 that religion was the opium of the people after he saw how the socialist government of his time was using social control to influence ordinary people.
According to Marx, religion not only was employed by those in authority to oppress people but also to make them feel better about being oppressed when they could not afford real opium, a highly addictive and feel-good drug.
In many contemporary societies today, elements of Marx’s declaration still hold true, only this time, the opium of the people, nay, church goers, is the quest and mad rush for questionable miracles.
And because of this grim reality, if Marx was alive today, he would have given himself a pat on the back for his famous quotation on witnessing the manner charlatans who call themselves “men of God” were using miracles to manipulate their members and subject them to dehumanising conditions.
Indeed, many examples abound of Nigerian and other African “pastors” who perform really extreme miracles and whose modus operandi leave much to be desired.
But despite all the well documented cases of utter abuse and the many ruckus associated with these unsubstantiated miracles, many exploited Nigerians, and others in the continent, still flock into their abusers’ “houses of solution” for healing and miracle, and if all else fails there, they will be primed to make another church their next port of call.
Without further ado, these are some of the men who claim to wield spiritual authority over their members and have also used miracles to somewhat trample on the dignity of these members.
First on the list is South African pastor, Lesogo Daniel, who tried to turn petrol to pineapple juice, perhaps in accordance with the story of Christ who turned water into wine.
To erase any doubt that the said liquid was not petrol, Daniel had poured some of the flammable substance into a bowl and lit it.
With the proof completed and prayers said, he began to feed his members with the substance and a man in the thick of action there later “testified” of healing after gulping his. He also oddly said that there were a lot of fumes in the “juice” but it did not have any side effect on him.
During another meeting, Daniel raised the stakes. He told his members that he was going to give them “food from above.”
The problem with this “food” Daniel was touting, however, was that it was grass he wanted to feed his members.
Immediately he gave the order, men, women and children sprinted to the thick carpet of lush grass outside the church auditorium and began munching on it like ruminants.
Interestingly, according to Daniel, the recompense for stooping to eat grass was that they would be brought closer to God and healed of their diseases.
Next on the list is another controversial South African pastor, Light Monyeki.
Monyeki is of the Grace Living Hope Ministries. He is notorious for asking his members to drink rat poison.
During church service in 2017, he held a bottle of water up and publicly laced the same with Rattex, a potent rat poison.
“In our part of the world, poverty and ignorance reign supreme and these men of God know and exploit this”
He purportedly convinced the members that nothing was spurious about the efficacy of the “water” by taking a sip himself. Monyeki then beckoned them to take turns drinking with them.
Tragically, it led to the death of some members while many others were admitted in the intensive care units of different hospital wards.
Amazingly, when he was questioned about the incident, he revealed to interrogators that he did not drink out of the bottle but had only pretended to do so to his congregation.
In neighbouring Ghana, a self-styled pastor who goes by the name Blinks, and leads a church, the End Time Church of Blinks, was viewed by hundreds on a live stream as he bathed members of his church.
He called it a holy bath and the ritual shockingly had female congregants strip almost naked to partake in it. Blinks used a sponge to scrub both male and female members after which an assistant pastor rubbed some “anointing oil” on them.
A couple of years earlier, Blinks had caused uproar in Christendom after he was caught on camera shaving the pubic hair of female devotees. He also proudly claimed that he was carrying out a special directive from God by bathing his members and needed to obey God’s instruction.
Coming down to Nigeria, there is a prophet, Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere, alias Udumeje, who is known for his unusual antics. He had, during church service, casually hoisted a full-grown man up onto his shoulder and flung him across the church auditorium onto chairs arranged for members.
Before Odumeje unleashed this feat of strength that would have made even professional wrestlers green with envy, someone in the background using a microphone had been shouting at the top of his voice, calling Odumeje “the heavyweight champion of the most high.”
In addition, Odumeje, contrary to the message of love Christ preached, said he was not a preacher of love.
“I shall be a terror to the kingdom of darkness.
“Everyone cannot be preaching love.
“I am not a preacher of love. I am at war. I am a fighter. I am Indaboski bahose,” Odumeje once said.
A miracle seeker, Eunice Agbala, who lives in Egbeda, Lagos, while recounting her own bitter experience said, “I won’t mention the name of the church, but whenever I am asking God for something and do not receive it, the pastor will say it is because of my sin.
“The pastor is a woman. She will then tell me that to be able to have my prayers answered; I must walk on my knees within the church premises.
“But whenever I do it, I will remember that Jesus already died for my sins and I should not be paying for my sins anymore by walking on my knees.”
An Anambra-based public affairs analyst, Damion Ugorji, said that because poverty and ignorance were rampant in Africa, many pastors used the need for miracles to control their members and subject them to bondage.
He also said that some members usually think that their pastors are God in human form and for that do not mind doing anything to please those pastors.
“In our part of the world, poverty and ignorance reign supreme and these men of God know and exploit this.
“They put their members under unnecessary bondage and pressure and do all kinds of stuff to them because they know that many of these members don’t have the funds to go to the hospital to take care of themselves.
“And then again, even the members that have some money, instead of going to the hospital when they have an ordinary headache, they prefer to run to their churches seeking for a solution. This is ignorance.
“Another aspect of this ignorance is that members think that some of their pastors are God in human form. This is why we see instances where pastors ride on the backs of such members. There is a particular incident I read about where the pastor said his legs mustn’t touch the ground.
“People will do a lot of things and accept a lot of nonsense because they want to please God and pastors have used it to manipulate them, but pastors are also humans and they should stop exploiting gullible members.”
A pastor, Emeka Onwuha, who also spoke The Point, agreed that the government had to come in and intervene to save people who have become “puppets” in the hands of “wicked” pastors.
“Yes, I call any pastor that treats members shabbily wicked, or how else do you want to describe them?
“And though I don’t support government intervention in church matters, it is situations like the ones you highlighted that make me wish that the government can regulate churches.
“It is getting out of hand. People must be delivered. Unfortunately, there is so much bad blood in the body of Christ. When a pastor is telling the truth about this matter, members in another church who may be in bondage will say it is because he hates their church.”
