INVEST IN YOURSELF; NOT YOUR PASTOR Invest in gaining knowledge for your own personal growth & development and not in making your Church Pastor richer. Our topic today is picking on personal growth in the perspective of Black people in general and Black women in particular with special focus on Churchgoing. I tend to pick on Personal Development & Growth a lot because it is an experience I have learnt a great deal from and what has helped me grow as a person. I took on a Course in Neuro Linguistic Programming when I started my business years back. This Course was priced at £2000 but being a woman in business, the Council where my business was located was kind enough and gave us a subsidy which reduced the price to £200. This made me curious. What is Neuro Linguistic Programming and why is it so expensive? My curiosity took the better of me and I went on the Course. To date, it is one of the best investments I could have given myself. When I got to know more about this field, I realised the wonders it does to grow a person to great heights. A workshop with Anthony Robbins –one of the top influencers in the industry could cost you about £10,000 and this made me realise how lucky I was in taking my course. It is a training aimed at developing you as a person. It changed a lot in me to the point I saw things around me differently. I was focused on seeing positive, opportunities, strategies, purpose, meaning etc etc. I realised my business was a blessing and the way I present it is based on how I feel inside. How I feel inside is very important to my growth. For this reason I need to be in a position to continuously educate and develop my mind to see things in practical ways than to leave it to chance. This is where I find my Black community different. When it comes to investing and paying money to put knowledge in our heads and minds, we see it as a luxury. We forget that the person that can change us is US. We cannot expect anyone else to come into our brains or minds and change our lives. Most of us do not see life for what it is - A journey to be explored and results achieved. We break down at the least opportunity; we think good things in life are meant for other people and not ourselves. We somehow believe that we were put on this earth to suffer and for this reason, we look up to something else as our support base - Our Pastor and Church. Our Pastor becomes our anchor. He becomes our voice of authority. He is to be worshiped and trusted as if he were God himself. Someone out there may ask me what I know about Church. I know a lot to talk about it as I have experienced the brainwashing of some Churches and Pastors. They want you to invest your money and time in the Church and forget that you exist as a person with a purpose on earth. Churchgoing is one of the biggest con in the Black community. It ranks on the same level as racism and corruption in our community. We are so devoted to going to Church; we do not have time or money to do any work to help ourselves as a person, race and community. We put very little information and knowledge into our head that we blame the world for our predicament. People have had their lives shattered and made meaningless because they trusted so much in a Church which supposedly is there to help but brainwashed them into robots and Zombies. On a recent visit to Africa, I found this same phenomenon everywhere. People will sleep in Church for days even with the most common ailment that the reason for the problem is very obvious but still think they need to pester God for miracles. We do not make two comments without calling God into the issue. People will spend thousands of their currency into the Church while they go home and starve and their Church will not be the least interested in their personal wellbeing. If you asked such people to spend some of that money to gain knowledge they will ask you why you think they need knowledge. We have been so brainwashed by Pastors that we think it is a sin to invest money in our own education. This has resulted in the poor state of the Black community across the world and Africa in particular. I once was going to a Church where all that was ever preached was contribution of 10% tithe. You are made to feel so guilty that the last penny you have has to be spent in Church notwithstanding if your children are hungry or not. This action is seeing as giving to God. Funny about this is that the Church members do not have a job or descent source of income but they must contribute to Church. Then the Church takes this money to enrich the Pastor and his family who then travel the world in Jets and stay in the best hotels etc. In this particular Church, I took it upon myself to help the women gain skills that will help them set up businesses so they could earn money and then contribute to Church. Somehow the Pastors wife found my action as wrong because I am encouraging business entrepreneurship for Church members. My question is “how do you give tithe if you do not have a source of income?” This same Pastor was driving a very expensive brand new Jeep but it was okay for the rest of us Church members to walk to Church and contribute tithe. I had to question this way of reasoning and in the end had a fallen out with the Church. Where is it written in the Bible that the Pastor should live rich expensive life while the followers become paupers? I question this across the Black community and Africa. Pastors in Africa own private jets to fly round the world, live in Mansions, dress with designer clothes etc while their tithe paying members continue to wallow in poverty. How does this work with God and his plans for his children? I had a chat with one of my client recently on this topic and she said to me to spare her getting into this discussion. Her experiences were extremely sad. She took a loan and sent her brother in Africa lots of money because he needed help. Then it turned out his brother was deeply into a Church. The Pastor in this Church told her brother to close the business down as it was not Godly to run a business as a member of the Church. Now the brother sits and prays to God every day. Question is why we are always praying to God to help us when we refuse to help ourselves. God wants us to prosper because he is a God of wealth and riches. Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version (NIV) 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Why would the creator of Heaven and earth and all the glory in it want us to be poor? God said he will help those who help themselves. If what our pastors are preaching is not mental slavery, I dont know what is. How do you become rich from just praying? While you pray and contribute money, they travel the world with Jets. Prayer is a spiritual action. Spirituality is a necessary part of life. We are all spiritual beings and we must create a relationship with our Creator without involving a third party – Pastor. Most of these Churches are simply cults where members are treated in a particular way as against the way we understood Church in the Bible. This is where I wonder why most Black women spend so much money into their Church instead of themselves. 2014 is at the corner. This is your chance to change something in your life. Make a plan - Draw out events, activities, seminars and workshops to attend for the year. Target on achieving something and stay focused to achieve it. Aim to change your life for the better. Seek knowledge that will improve your life and remember “Knowledge is power”. I am sure this is an area your Pastor will fight with you; the minute you start questioning their actions. My advice is not that you stop going to Church but remember to invest in yourself first. Remember the saying - Charity begins at home. While your Pastor may be jet-setting the world with his private Jet sponsored by your tithe, you should also at least have a descent car to drive around town and be comfortable enough to take your children on holidays, buy them the gifts they want, wear designer clothes, contribute to your local community etc etc. After all our God is a God of wealth and we all deserve the good things of life. Poverty was not written on your face and wealth on the face of your Pastor. We are all descendants of Abraham and God gave us the key to his kingdom. Next time your pastor is preaching, be smart enough to differentiate truth from greed. Genesis 26:24 New International Version (NIV) 24 That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 21:20:10 +0000
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