The Anglican Bishop of Nike Diocese, Enugu State, Rt. Rev. Christian Onyia, has warned Christian spinsters to beware of the nomenclature ‘pastor’, stressing that the ‘hood does not make the monk.’
Speaking to newsmen at the Pre-Synod press conference of the Diocese in his office, yesterday, Bishop Onyia, who was pained by the alleged cause of last week’s death of gospel music minister, Osinachi Nwachukwu, regretted that the nomenclature ‘pastor’ has become a python presently eating up the society.
He said that the gospel music artiste, who he knew closely, would have probably been alive, today, if she was not deceived with Bible.
The bishop, therefore, advised Nigerians, especially the ladies, not to enter into a relationship without knowing who the other person really is.
He said: “The theme of this year’s Synod is “For Church Mission, which is more important: who or what I am?” Everyday, since I finished writing this my charge, I feel like starting it all over again, particularly, with the latest story of Osinachi.
“Why the thing is hurting me too much is that while I was a priest in charge of the Cathedral, I related with this young lady, so much so, that you won’t know she wasn’t part of my family. And why I felt like rewriting my charge was because I looked for opportunity to address our young sisters, and here comes the opportunity now.
“There is a devil, a python that is eating up our society now; that python is this nomenclature called Pastor. I think right now, in Nigeria, we have more pastors than the congregation. Almost every member of the church now is either Pastor or Deacon and everybody carries Bible, and some have been endowed by God with the gift of eloquence, rhetorics, people who can hold you on for the next six hours and you will not be tired.
“Unfortunately, today’s generation is mistaking those things for righteousness. That young girl, may be, would have been alive today if she was not deceived with Bible. All of a sudden, a conductor, a tout will carry Bible and begin to preach and say all kinds of things to entice young sisters who have laboured in the Lord, who have been there waiting upon the Lord. They will take undue advantage of them and lure them into what they call marriage, just to take advantage and use them and destroy their lives, future and destiny.
“Our aim is to try to educate people during this Synod, to watch out for such people and not go to them because of what they are. I use myself as an example; what I am is the Anglican Bishop of Nike Diocese, that’s what I am. But that may not be who I am. I may be a devourer wearing the robes of the Bishop; I may be a killer, I may be a murderer covered in the robes of a bishop and so on and so forth.”
Quoting the Bible passages for the theme of the Synod, Matthew 16:13 and Matthew 7:22-23, Bishop Onyia warned that every good thing a man did on earth without Christ would be regarded as iniquity on the judgment day.
