Dr Uma Ukpai, the president and founder of Uma Ukpai Evangelistic
Association, has said poor men of God did not receive divine calling.
He also told Daily Independent that it was untrue that people resorted to Church establishment out of joblessness.
According to Ukpai, “Jesus calls church business. He said, ‘I am about
my father’s business’. He called church work business and what is
business? Business is investment plus gain, minus loss. In church
planting, no pastor can collect offering without giving account and
survive. Every church has elders and the job of the elders is to make
sure that account is given; it is not even publicly but given internally
but the account must be given.
“Church is all about investment
and the gain they make is not in money but in people; that is the gain
they make. People also can be called money because for instance, if a
pastor’s ministry can cause 20 women to get pregnant; those women will
not forget the pastor. If a pastor’s ministry can produce one of the
richest 10 men in the country, those men will not forget the man who
made them what they are.
“When you are into ministry and you have
what we call anointing, you have become profitable; you begin to touch
lives; you begin to bless people; you begin to change the stories of
families and your own story will change also because the man that waters
others shall be watered by God. There is so much misinformation about
the church. It is not all about money. If your pastor has anointing that
can make the blind see, cripples walk, leprosy to disappear, that
pastor is in money.
“The only man you can worry about is a man
who has no anointing; a man who God has rejected; a pastor who God has
not approved what he is doing. God does not bless what he does not
approve. If God approves what a pastor is doing, he will have more money
than he can spend. I am an example.”
On the forthcoming general
elections vis-a-vis the challenges of Boko Haram insurgency, Ukpai said
the crisis was part of Nigerian culture.
“There is nothing new
happening. We are used to fighting; we are used to killing and duping
one another. People try to magnify little problems here and there as
things that can overwhelm or swallow Nigeria. Let me tell you, we shall
still be here after 2015. All these problems are old problems. Nobody
has been able to manufacture new ones.
“Even APC (All
Progressives Congress) or PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), they have not
been able to manufacture new problems. So, this country will still be
here after 2015. All those stupid prophecies are from uninformed
prophets, who have neither heard from nor seen God. Take it from me that
this country will still be here and intact after 2015″.
Commenting on attacks on Christians in some parts of the country, Ukpai
said persecution had been part of the Christian calling.
Quoting
from the Holy Book, Ukpai pointed out that “The Bible promised us
persecution; it did not say we shall not be persecuted. Secondly,
persecution sharpens us and makes us pray better. I would rather have
Christians persecuted than Christians not persecuted, because the more
you persecute Christians, the more they will pray; the more they will
seek after God. Those who seek after God shall know their God and those
who know their God shall do exploit. So, in the attempt to harm us, they
are sharpening us for a better and greater day.”
Ukpai, however,
appealed to politicians and other well-meaning Nigerians to work
towards the peace, unity and prosperity of the country.
His
words: “We are praying for politics with principles; we are praying for
politicians who have prepared themselves to serve and not to lord over
us; and we are looking for politicians who are accountable to us and to
themselves. But most importantly, we are asking for electorate who would
not ask for bribes. Let nobody collect money to vote. If you collect
money to vote, you have destroyed your moral right to account from the
elected officers.
Don’t vote for Buhari, he will bring back dictatorship – Mu’azu begs Nigerians
“We want our politicians to know that we cannot continue to run in
circle; let them show some level of maturity. Finally, every politician
must respect the sacredness of human beings. Let nobody be killed
because of another person’s ambition. When anybody is killed, he cannot
be reproduced and because we didn’t create anybody, we don’t have the
right to kill anybody. So, can our politicians try to show good measure
of maturity and intelligence, fear of God and preparedness to obey the
laws of the land? They behave as though there are no laws. There are
laws and we must obey those laws; that is what will help us move forward
and move in a manner that will bring reward to the whole nation.”
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