Written by Nnamno Ejike, a practicing Physician, Gospel Minister, Writer, Editor. He recently relocated back to Nigeria.
A former member of your congregation and worker in your “Pastoral Care Unit”, whom you were in a position of spiritual authority over, publishes a scathing and scandalous worldwide exposé online, accusing you of despicably lascivious sexual manipulation and misconduct with her. She also claims to have supporting evidence in the form of electronic receipts of payment with her personal credit card for your tryst ‘crime-scene’ hotel room in London during an ‘official church business’ journey by you, plus audio recordings of your national Overseer’s lengthy mediation dialogue with her in which he purportedly confirms you confessed the sin to him. Said ‘victim’ also makes bold to allege that this is not an isolated incident or terrible ‘mistake’, but that you have indulged in similar transgressions with several other women in your congregation.
Another member of the same “PCU” buttresses this point by following suit immediately with another public exposé alleging you also similarly attempted to seduce her during an ‘official church engagement’ in Lagos, in which you apparently engineered the booking of a single hotel room for the two of you. She claims she rudely rebuffed your advances, left you begging shamelessly in your bathroom towel, and also avers possession of a complete audio recording of said episode, as well as pictures of you striking a pathetic pose in your bathroom toga, and of herself in said hotel room with your driver’s licence and ID card in the shot, and of the hotel room door and number (rather bizarre actions and responses by the ‘victim’ at the time by the way). Now, these grave accusations are either: a) Entirely true, b) Mostly/significantly true, c) Largely false, or d) Completely false. You are innocent until proven guilty, and given the benefit of the doubt.
However at the first opportunity to address such ruinously libellous and devastating accusations from the privileged platform of your church pulpit, in the face of national indignation, wild speculation, anxiety and confusion amongst your stigmatized and traumatized congregation, and demands/expectations for a redeeming response and/or firm denial from you, what do you do? You choose to offer the ludicrous statement that “we asked God, and He told ‘us’ not to respond”! Really?? Are you on some cheap roadside medication?? What imaginary counterfeit deity could have ‘counselled’ you that such a defence was the best initial response? What quack Bible are you reading?! And who are these vacuous, shadowy “we” endorsing such ‘genius counsel’?? Are you aware of the seriously damaging effect of such public foolishness to the Flock of God, and to the reputation of Christ and His Church?? No, ‘silence’ is not always golden, my friend! Sometimes it stinks!!
There is no clearer demonstration of God’s heart on man’s transgression(s) than Christ’s charge to the self-righteous mob at Jerusalem in the 8th chapter of John’s Gospel- “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” – the woman caught IN THE VERY ACT of adultery. This was a rather radical ‘paradigm shift’, unveiling the mystery of unmerited and boundless mercy in the unfolding dispensation of Grace, and caught the blood-thirsty crowd completely off-guard. Yes, if God were to mark iniquity, NOman shall stand indeed. May God deliver us all from such self-righteous and judgmental conceit, from smug ‘delight’ at the errors of others.
However HABITUAL, unrepentant sexual sin and lascivious serial adultery are a different kettle of fish altogether, and inexcusable in a ‘man of God’ shepherding a flock of God’s people, especially when he is preying on the very people he is meant to be nurturing and overseeing spiritually, and corrupting and defiling them. That is a grave and debilitating violation of trust, and an unconscionable abuse of sacred authority.
The potential for such misdeeds to sabotage and derail the faith of a Child of God is dangerously high, and the toxic fallout can be life-long. There is no doubt that there are many walking-wounded and outright backsliders in The Body who are casualties of this epidemic malady perpetrated by lecherous wolves clad in finest sheep-wool. God has not called us unto uncleanness, but to holiness, to glory and virtue. Thus Christ ends his discourse with the ‘village slut’ He has just rescued from rocky execution with the admonition, “go, AND SIN NO MORE”. The demands of holiness can be tasking in a mortal body with natural cravings, and a world immersed in hedonistic submission to the lusts of the eyes and the flesh, with sexual imagery and subtle signalling bombarding us on every side. But His Grace IS sufficient, and that is ‘the mystery of Godliness’. It is NOT by human power, neither by might, but by the empowering Spirit of The Living God!
So in the light of all this therefore, and your sadly inane and evidently guilty response, you should obviously excuse yourself from the pulpit with bowed head immediately, and ultimately issue an honourable and sincerely contrite statement, and most importantly, get your act in order with your God.
Saul lost the kingdom, not just by reason of his transgression, but for his refusal to repent of his sin, for a lying tongue, and a deceitful and vain heart. Hear him- “Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel…” He was more interested in public approval and preserving his “celebrity image” than in the state of his soul, and the precious pardon of God. David, on the other hand, did even more abominably than Saul, but was quick to repent in true remorse, and to fall down before God and cry out for help.
We pray for you, for your obviously humiliated and hurting wife, and for all concerned. Let the Wisdom of God direct, and let the Blood of The Lamb cleanse, redeem, heal and restore; amen.
The Word >>>
Ecclesiastes 10:1-2 (NKJV)
1 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.
2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left.
Psalm 49:20 (NKJV)
A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, Is like the beasts that perish.
1st Timothy 3:1 (God’s word Version)
1 This is a statement that can be trusted: If anyone sets his heart on being a bishop, he desires something excellent.
2 A bishop must have a good reputation. He must have only one wife, be sober, use good judgment, be respectable, be hospitable, and be able to teach.
Proverbs 28:13-14 (God’s Word Version)
13 Whoever covers over his sins does not prosper. Whoever confesses AND ABANDONS THEM receives compassion.
14 Blessed is the one who is always fearful [of sin], but whoever is hard-hearted falls into disaster.
Galatians 6:1-3
1 BRETHREN, IF A MAN BE OVERTAKEN IN A FAULT, YE WHICH ARE SPIRITUAL, RESTORE SUCH AN ONE IN THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS; CONSIDERING THYSELF, LEST THOU ALSO BE TEMPTED.
2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
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