Men of God or Men of Gold?

By Patrick Sikana

A steamy social media storm is raging. At the centre of it is Bishop Joe Imakando of the Bread of Life’s Blessing Centre in Lusaka, Zambia.

Against the backdrop of his growing wealth (I understand he owns breath-taking mansions, drives a Hummer and rumour says he’ll soon acquire a private jet) the Bishop has had an ATM machine installed at the place of worship. The motive of that installation is what has become the subject of much controversy, much disapproval, and much condemnation.

The list of religious men who have waxed exceedingly rich while preaching the Gospel is not short. Bishop T.B Joshua of Nigeria would not miss from that list. Given what the Bible says about the fact that you cannot serve both God and mammon, the question being increasingly asked is: Are these people men of GOD or are they men of GOLD? My friends, whether these men are genuine mouth-pieces of God dispensing the eternal Gospel or a bunch of enterprising gold-diggers cashing in on naïve worshipers that is not for us to judge. The God who judges even the motives will decide that.

Before we yield to the temptation to crucify these men, let us calmly reflect on the wise counsel of Gamaliel. When the Sanhedrin had had enough of the Apostles’ ’heresy’ they decided it was time to kill them. Then one Gamaliel, a professor of the law, stood up and spoke these words: “keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (Acts 5.38)

As far as Gamaliel’s personal belief in that Christ was the Messiah, we can offer only conjecture, but I like this Gamaliel guy—and I like him in spite of the fact that he was a Pharisee. No, he did not display the same reverence to Christ as did Nicodemus, and no, he did not display sympathy towards the Christian movement. Yet, he defused a volatile situation by counselling the Jews to act judiciously, and that is why I like him. He honoured God by reminding the people of a useful truth: Since God does what he wants anyway, there is no harm in letting these men play themselves out. If they are fake, they will wither. If not, no amount of criticism, plotting or attack will thwart their mission. Hard as his advice was, the Sanhedrin reluctantly accepted it and let the men go (after flogging them, of course).

Oh wise Gamaliel! He saved the moment by giving truth its chance. You can, too. Just give pause, and be the Gamaliel of our times. During his time there were others that claimed to be the Messiah who turned out to be frauds, therefore making the apostles to be martyrs would not have served the Jews any useful purpose. I guess Gamaliel was of the “give them enough rope and they will hang themselves” mentality. I think it is true that sometimes the best thing to do, is to do nothing and just let time tell. Sometimes protesting something gives more attention to the thing being protested and fans flames of curiosity that otherwise wouldn’t have spread.

What, then, should we do to Bishop Imakando, T.B Joshua and all these men (and women) who amass staggering proportions of wealth from our faithful tithes and offerings? Here is my answer: “… for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them…”