Liberian Literary Magazine Promoting Liberian literature, Arts and Culture
[ that is like every other week ] and then the praise and worshipers’ practice on Mon / Wed / Fri. you get the picture? This is more than a little. It is a hell of a lot. They drag the kids that they can and leave the rest to fend for themselves after they return from school- that is if they are not demanded to attend some of those sessions. These women get so entangled in the web that they eventually begin to compete for their leader’ s attention. This leads to all sorts of dangers. They start cooking, cleaning and soon the pastor’ s wife gets a continuous vacation from her duties. I mean who wouldn’ t want the constant help with the home chores? Which woman would not? The men get detached from their wives, the pastors get attached to others people’ s wives and then anything is possible. Single women, teenagers and minors are all entrapped in this complex relationship. I would still like to think that this does not start out as an evil enterprise but when two people from the opposite sex get to do those many things together, alone in secluded
places, many things happen. This is partly how children get hooked in this world of pastor worship and get abused; this is partly responsible for single women forming attachments to their spiritual leaders. This is how the spiritual mothers let their guards down and turn a blind eye to these deeds especially if they feel unable, unwilling or uninterested in catering to all the needs of their spouses. The chances are way too many. Husbands, who often already have their own issues, get bitter, angry and hateful to the pastors. This doesn’ t happen overnight. They get abusive, intolerant, stay out late, drink, and neglect their duties because hell has broken open. The children get mixed up in this as well. They find themselves with plenty free time since the ones responsible for supervision are busily‘ supervising’ another’ s home. They can now utilize that free time as they see fit. In the end, the family structure is gradually eroding because those that should keep it, are busy seeking“ God’ s” earthly favor. Church / TAX / Poverty The amount of young, abled body people that are expected to linger in church activities is simply alarming.
One often hears the complaints that people forsake church activities when they get jobs. This to me is a matter of simple logic. Without job the person is free to come for all the prayer services and fasting. They can go up on as many mountains as possible. However, when‘ God’ finally gave them the job, they are unable to do so. One requirement of jobs is that employees report to work at hours their employers schedule for them. This is too simple to be an issue. However, I believe this is just a ploy to make them feel guilty and release more of their meager incomes. The pastor, knowing the salary, pushes this because the church can now take its 10 % tithe on it. They forget that these people have families and all the needs that lagged in the drought period. Pastor takes the tithe first and leaves you to figure out the rest. I think God must be a Jewish banker-come high or low, they come like a loan shark for their money. If the member is allowed to stay too long away, they see the reality and then the tithe gets reduced or stops altogether. Hence, this guilty lane is offered to prevent that in part. TO BE CONTINUED …. D. Othniel Forte
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