WHY THE CHURCH HAS LOST IT ALL?

 The church of late has found itself in the receiving end. It has auctioned the pulpit it should be protecting it , they have offered it to the political elites. Today , it is very difficult to know , which shepherd is genuinely leading the sheep to the light and the one leading them to the dark. Money laundering has now become rampant in churches. Those who have been in the front to propagate that vice is the clergy and a section of political elites. They organise for fictious projects and tag the cost too high. Since they know their congregants aren't in a position to raise it , their pastors/ vicars/ reverends/ Fathers organise for a church fundraise and invite leading politicians who inturn bring the monies in liquid form and not through cheque. If the real cost of the project is sh 2.5 Million , they will ensure that fundraise gets more than that amount. The church will take its share and the other , they give back to the politicians to engage in another business like that.

How do you expect the modern church to stand up and condemn poor governance from the political leadership? Already , they have become the appendage of the government. That is , their mouth pieces. And because the political class has realized it , all thru need is to open their wallets and they will go away with any injustice they met towards Kenyans, that is , political, economic , cultural and social. There are many issues that have been happening in this Country where , we have been expecting the Church to step in but it remained mum. The question is , why would they castigate a political outfit A or B yet , that is where they get their source of revenue? In the 80's and early 90's , the church was vocal and united. They were pointing out state excesses , impunity , corruption , Dictatorship and plundering of taxpayers monies with pronounced impunity. The clergy were also coming to the side of one another. So far , in this year's general elections , we had two religious leaders who were trying a stab for the top seat. We had Agano Party presidential candidate Waihiga Mwaure and Reuben Kigame who wasn't successful when IEBC disenfranchised him by failing to clear him. After moving to the High Court , it compelled IEBC to clear him but declined. After this predicament that befell Kigame , the Church remained tight lipped. They didn't come to his rescue because to them , he doesn't have money. To them , he isn't a "Heaven gate keeper". How can they come to the rescue of someone who isn't in a position to open his wallet and gift them "tithes" in briefcases?

Kenya is missing the Church of the likes of Bishop Alexander Muge , Timothy Njoya of Presbyterian church of East Africa (PCEA) , the late Ndingi Mwana Nzeki , Cardinal Otunga etc. This are the clergies who took the oppressive KANU regime by the horns. They didn't fear the battons of the dreaded anti-riot police , the special branch slueths and the ruthless KANU mafia goons who were ruthlessly dealing with any one who was opposing President Moi rule. Timothy Njoya along Parliament road , he was cornered by the anti- riot police where they descended on him using huge sticks in a discriminate manner without caring at all. As he was wailing and trying to cover his head , they continued to do it with much zeal. All that because he was criticizing the KANU regime for its bad governance and oppressiveness. Today , the moder church and its clergy cannot do that. They are all jostling to invite politicians in the pulpit. You find , even before sermons begin in a church on a Sunday, a politician just because he came with loaded pockets, he is given a platform to spew vitriolic statements and insults and hatred and once he finishes , the clergy takes over to preach the sermon of that Sunday.

Bishop Alexander Muge was a very vocal clergy. He didn't fear KANU regime and it's surrogates. He used to take the bull by its horns. By doing this , he became a thorn in Moi's feet. He smoked out corruption , nepotism , KLEPTOCRACY , rampant looting , tribalism , Political instigated attacks among many evils. As a church man , he ensured that , however much KANU regime tried hard to sweep its evils below the carpet , Kipsang Muge , leading the diocese of Eldoret stood his ground. Some KANU henchmen even came forward to issue death threats to him with an aim of intimidating him but he refused to cow in. Others even advanced the carrots ( bribes) for him to keep cool and stop unearthing their ills but he took turned that down. The next possible thing which KANU regime was left with was to find a way of eliminating him. It didn't took long before Bishop Muge was pronounced dead in a grisly road accident along Eldoret-Nakuru highway. The traffic police commandant in Nakuru district then , said it was a normal "accident" and truly , it remained an accident.  Catholic clergy too Father Kaiser died the same way , a road accident. He was too critical of the KANU Government and didn't relent to point out its many blemishes that plagued it. 

That is the church we are lacking today. Apart from preaching prosperity gospel and engaging in commercial businesses, some very tricky like developing guest houses , the church has been taking advantage of its congregants. The punitive"taxes" they impose to the hoi polloi who run in the church to get spiritual nourishment with hope that , their social and Economic problems with disappear into the thin air. Poverty isn't a religious and spiritual problem , no. It is an economic, social and political problem and it will only be solved by the ruling class. By formulating robust Economic policies that is coupled with political goodwill , all problems will be eliminated. But in Africa , the church and the government must ensure you remain poor , desolate and destitute so that , you deify both political elites and the clergy. I may sound critical but I must speak the truth. That is why , Karl Marx , the German sociologist once coined this phrase, that Religion is the opium of the masses. They go to religious halls to get and consume false consciousness. Before the advent of white man religion which was brought to us through the gun , Africans had their way of worship. The white demonized it and called it barbaric. Sad!!!

It is very interesting that , in Africa , instead of religion be used as a catalyst of uniting different ethnic nations ,it is used to divide them and forment hatred that even leads to civil wars. That is exhibited by Nigeria. A country with almost 2000 religious outfits. In Nigeria , if you through a stone in a haphazard manner , chances of thst stone landing on the head of a pastor is very high. Why do the African man follow a foreign concept in a dogmatic manner? We behave as if we own God more than the owners of the religious beliefs were subscribe to. In all European countries , they have more hospitals , industries , universities , schools , research and policy institutes , innovation hubs etc more than  Churches. In Africa , we have more Churches than other other social and economic entities. We believe our problems can be solved by the bible. The owners of the modern religious believes , the solutions to their problems is domiciled in research findings and journals and books in the library and Universities repositories.

I am ain't an atheist but am a Christian who refused to follow religion in a dogmatic manner. I truly understands what's good and what is bad. So , I must interrogate what's happening around me in a critical manner. We have churches that have set up hospitals. If you think that's the place people will go to seek medical care in large numbers , you are wrong. They charge exorbitant fee fee even to their congregants. That's way , this congregants will end up seeking medical attention in the government hospitals. Their tithes are used to develop this medical facilities and also schools but they are alienated in accessing them because of the high cost. This is the most painful thing. I have seen too , a church raking thousands of shillings per month but if you find out if they even sponsor one student in High School/ college/ University , you find none yet , corporate entities which are out here to make profits hives some funds in order to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Where is the Church? The craze for the church to accumulate more wealth at the expense of their congregants is captured well by German sociologist Max Webber in his works ,"Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism." If we Kenyans will not take any care , the church will make you poor than the government you are blaming for not addressing the cost of living. Poverty isn't a religious problem. It is through working hard and smart thst you will be able to fight poverty. We are told God worked. So , he believes in working inorder to achieve what he wanted. Now , that person giving you a litany of bible verses , how have they been used in building the Nation?