1:57 pm, Sunday 17 November, I have just walked out of Sunday service,

Beautiful sermon shaped by psalm 84, My takeaway? – God is not only greater than what the ‘world’ offers, but he’s also greater than what ‘he’ offers.

Yet in a few minutes, I am about to get a gut-check whether I really believe that.

Well,

I need a haircut, and just across the street is my salon, so as I take a seat, a top city Pastor, with an amazing pianist backing him up, is live on TV going on and on about the Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, and how the wealthy Nigerian once asked him for 1000 USD, he adds how’s he’s glad he didn’t hesitate, actually, he says, ‘I wish he had asked for more, he’s now Africa’s richest’, the congregation roars back.

The Preacher’s application?

The man that blessed Dangote is my spiritual father, so you guys in this church need to ‘tap into this anointing.’ The congregation roars again. the pianist presses some more.

So Aliko Dangote is name-dropped multiple times, Kenneth Copeland and Jim Bakker too, you can now tell the thread of  Western prosperity gospel influencers here.

The crowd ululates, “and so it’s going to be done to you if you belong to this Church.”

Offertory time comes shortly after, there are three categories, I hear something about “the seed, the tithe, and the offering”, people walk up the aisle, something looks like a red carpet somewhere, but well, my barber is supposed to be trimming my beard, focus is key.

Yet I am more concerned about the spiritual wounds being inflicted, those don’t heal faster than barber wounds, or do they?

Then testimony time is here, someone is thankful for the Ph.D., another a court case, God has been kind. Indeed.

Shouldn’t we rejoice with those that rejoice? (Rom 12:15)

I wrestle, but then the other questions remain, I need my “sword of the spirit” (Eph 6:17) here, hasn’t God promised to provide? Yes, but hasn’t he also warned us about idolatry and the love of money (1 Tim 6:10, Heb 13:5, 1 Tim. 6:6–8)

Didn’t the psalmist I heard in Psalm 84 treasure desire to be where God is, more than anything? Yes. hasn’t he commissioned the pulpit for public reading of scripture and exposition ( 1 Tim 4:13, Neh 8:8,)  rather than business leadership, cultural analysis, motivational and therapeutic banter?

 I feel equipped to rise out of the spiritual perversion I have just witnessed on TV, thousands walking away that Sunday remembering the richest man on earth, rather than the perfect God-man who “came to “seek and save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

My friend, keep your word near too, you will never know what’s across the street, or what your youth-leader says in the prayer circle, or who sits next to you in the taxi. You will never know who posts next in the WhatsApp group, what you scroll past, or what your maid plays next on the radio.  A remote control in your hand is no guarantee for spiritual safety like the New Testament writer would remind, “prepare your mind for action.” (1 Peter 1:3)

Consistently pick up the sword of the spirit, the Christian life is wartime, and spiritual wounds are never far off. So keep it near, this is enemy territory, by doing so, you only resound the sages who wrote “guard your heart with due diligence, for its the wellspring of life.” (Prov 4:23)

Put differently, hide your sword at your own risk.