Tithing which has caused a stir by Nigerians after popular OAP "Daddy Freeze" spoke against, but recently popular investigative journalist and writer, Femi Owolabi,
has come to advocate for pastors and what they do with the tithes
and offerings they get from the church.
The journalist took to his Facebook Page to speak on the issue. Below is what he posted....
I
live around Yaba area of Lagos. From Sabo down to Iwaya, you see
boreholes donated by Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, MFM. Many
months ago, I was working on a report and I needed to carry out some
laboratory tests. When I got to University of Lagos' Chemical
Engineering lab, I was directed to the university's central lab which I
gathered is the largest and most equipped. Entering, I saw that the lab
was donated by Daniel Olukoya, founder of MFM who is actually an alumnus
of the school. As much as the leadership of the Christian
Association of Nigeria, CAN, embarrasses itself on the pages of
newspaper, CAN runs one of the largest displaced persons camps in the
northeast. For three years that I have been mobilizing relief materials
for displaced persons in the northeast, aside individuals and a few
NGOs, Christian organizations have been a larger donor of relief
materials. My phone would ring, and the caller goes, "I am Pastor JJ. We
have bags of cloths, please how do we get these to the displaced
persons in the northeast?"
Charis Family Church, in 2015, opened
its facility as a collection center for relief materials. The pastor,
Bayo Adeyinka, and a team raised almost a million naira to sort
logistics. Just yesterday, another pastor whose church's team
once gave me bags of relief materials for IDPs, told me they have 33k
left in the account, and he asked what this can sort for the IDPs. He
also wants us to meet this week so he can drop with me, bags of relief
materials. A man reached out to me many months ago. He needed
information on how he can move 1000 cartons of flour (or wheat?) from
Lagos to any of the IDPs camps in the northeast. I did a check on the
man, he is a pastor. In Lagos here, the Catholic Mission and a couple of other missionary hospitals are always on medical outreach to the IDPs.
I
understand there is an ongoing debate on whether or not paying tithe is
a Christian practice. Sincerely, those arguing against come with strong
points. And sadly, responses from Daddy GO and others are so weak, far
from convincing. Get it right, it is the duty of Lagos Water
Board to provide water for Lagosians, but MFM now shares in this
responsibility. It is the duty of NEMA and the Refugees' Commission to
attend to the victims of insurgency, but CAN and a couple of other
Christian organizations share largely in this.
So, above all, if I
am paying tithe or giving church my money, I do so because of some of
these things I have mentioned in this post
No comments:
Post a Comment