PROSPERITY WITH A DARK PURPOSE - PART I

"Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well." - Proverbs 5:15

I am told of a church somewhere in Makati City's central business district, deep down in Bayani Fernando's wimpish, pinkish Metro Manila where its presbytery recently 'gave the boot' to their pastor for a number of serious reasons. My unimpeachable source tells me that even after numerous reminders to this wayward weasel, he has continued to walk towards the dark and away from the light. This pseudo-pastor loved getting inebriated with beer almost nightly in public places and sometimes in the privacy of his own home. Not satisfied with the numbing effect of the bottle, he goes on to take a special interest with one of its church members. A female I suppose. And only God knows how many more. Prosperity with a dark purpose from a pastor impostor? If you ask me, I think just these two items would be more than sufficient grounds to remove a pastor from the delicate responsibilities of caring for its sheep, him being their shepherd. But a shepherd who "slaughters" his very own sheep in the convenience of his own abattoir deserves to be in for the slaughter himself, especially if that poor little sheep is the most vulnerable in the drove, and one who bleats the most for affection. A so-called man of God who in reality is a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' deserves to be stripped off his cover, so to speak. He must be unmasked for his true colors to be revealed for all to see, not to mention the yellow streak that would show running down his spine. His un-virgin wool must be sheared off from his pachydermic epidermis and then given away to the cold and the contrite, not to the prosperous and the plentiful. Men like him are not fit to carry on preaching from the pulpit, for with it is the divine task of winning souls for God - and not the careless and selfish act of ushering souls to eternal damnation. Some say it's alright for a pastor to drink even every night and then go on to preach the next day, as long as he doesn't preach while intoxicated. Well, on that ignoramus idea, it's just like saying that it's alright for a leader of a church to gallivant and have affairs here and there and everywhere around Metro Manila, as long as he goes home to his wife every single night, right? Wrong! Imagine, this so-called man of God was even so arrogant to address one of his loyal church members who saw the light as "isang langaw lang siya sa buhay ko!" This member snapped back immediately saying, "kaya pala lagi ako dumidikit sa kanya, e kasi, saan ba mahilig dumapo ang langaw?!" And to those who blindly tolerate these actions, you too could be most answerable to God and are responsible for the necessary actions to take to stop this and uproot this wrongdoing once and for all, lest you carry on your tired old backs the heavy wrath of God. Further, I am told that this unrepentant person continues to this day to cast his 'net of deception' from his leaking 'boat of pretention.' He could very well be a 'poacher of lost souls' for his self-satisfaction and aggrandizement. A fisher of men who, in reality, is really just a plain old fisher of compliments - and God must be angry and pissed off at him! With this story shared to me, I am reminded of the great and incomparable Reverend Jimmy Swaggart, when he fell, he fell flat on his face for a similar sin. But he went on to try to restore himself in an orderly fashion and in one occasion, as he read Psalm 51 weepingly, repentantly before an equally emotional congregation, he asked forgiveness from both God and man. In a nutshell, Psalm 51 talks about the Psalmist David's repentance from the sins of pride and lust, among others. We all need to cry our heart's out to God Psalm 51 at some point in our lives, yet some people would rather skip it and jump to Psalm 52 straight from Psalm 50 and use it simply as opening scripture for Sunday church service. And so, this church I am told moves on towards the light, and away from the temporary darkness brought about by this 'angel of light,' with a sign on its door which says: "Wanted: A pastor who fights our battles with us, not a pastor who hides his bottles from us. A pastor with a genuine love for the ministry, not a pastor with a genuine lust for the miniskirt."

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