The Median Newspaper

Bomb blast!
When rascals become men of God
They revel in everything that people of their calling and standing should not be involved in: womanizing, falsehood, back-stabbing, avarice, influence peddling, usurpation of powers, and what have you? 
By Douglas A. Achingale 
It is grossly confounding how the number of men of God we have around us today has increased exponentially. Nonetheless, at a time when moral bankruptcy is on a steady rise in Cameroon, one should not search too far for the reason for this rapid increase. Rather than because good-hearted people are keen on reversing the trend, it is owing to the fact that persons with pernicious intent are taking advantage of the awful state of despondency in which most Cameroonians find themselves, to make selfish gains.

Proliferation of noisy churches
    Some of the commonest sights along the streets of our major towns and cities nowadays are Pentecostal churches. Now competing with bars, they are hosted by all sorts of buildings: baroque like depleted ones. By day and by night, their stentorian preachers and screeching attendees seem irreversibly determined to disturb the peace of the inhabitants of the neighbourhoods they operate in. At times their voices resound in long distances thanks to loudspeakers installed in the façades of the church buildings.
    Someone once described such pastors as “bonbon pastors with a sweet mouth who preach like Jesus…” Visit some of these churches and you will agree with that description. Many of the pastors never went to a school of theology, yet their skill in publicly proclaiming the word of God is astounding. (But some of them can be very wanting in that regard too). 

False Pentecostal prophets?
    Some others – even those who received official training – refuse to be called pastors and ascribe to themselves the title ‘prophet’. How they came by that sacrosanct appellation, no one can tell. It is mostly this category of men of God who claim to have healing powers. Some of the illnesses they purport to do away with are poverty, HIV/AIDS, barrenness, etc. Meanwhile they tell all those who come to them for healing that they are demon-possessed.
    That is baleful behaviour within the church premises. Out of it, the situation is even worse. It is amazing to see in what malefic spheres these pastors operate once they take off their cassock. They revel in everything that people of their calling and standing should not be involved in: womanizing, falsehood, back-stabbing, avarice, influence peddling, usurpation of powers, and what have you?

Pastors-cum-boxers in Douala church
    Three of such pastors who were arrested in Douala recently and thrown into jail were so overwhelmed by cupidity and rapaciousness that they chose to settle scores not in the quarters but on the pulpit. Before the service attendees knew, the three men of God were trading punches in typical Kung Fu fashion. Rather than separate the fighters, many of them joined the affray, each fighting on the side of the pastor of their choice. The mayhem was thus total!
    These are men who are called to shine the light where there is darkness. They are called to light the candle rather than curse the darkness. They are shepherds called to lead a massive flock. They are called to lead by example. And so nothing whatsoever should lead them to such a scandalously atrocious act. If after receiving a slap on the left jaw, they cannot turn the right jaw to receive a second slap, then they really are not fit to lead by example. They should thus drop their cassock once and for all.

Squabbles at PCC
    A lot of intrigues and backstabbing are known to have characterized the election of the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) not long ago. However, thanks to the maturity and equanimity of the leaders of that church, water flowed under the bridge without inundating it.
    While we commend the good sense of the hierarchy of the Presbyterian Church, we call on those – particularly the pastors – who fomented trouble during the said election to henceforth desist from such deplorable practice. We all know what the PCC represents. Squabbles like the ones mentioned here would only help to dent the shiny and mammoth image of the church.

Wayward Catholic priests
    This piece would be incomplete if we do not turn our searchlight on the Catholic clergy. This writer is a perfervid Catholic Christian and knows only too well that the Catholic doctrine does not allow Christians to uncover the misdeeds of their clergy in writing, however outrageous they may be. Nevertheless, after second thought and for purposes of balance, I have decided to say a word about the folly that is gripping some Cameroonian priests nowadays.
    Indeed one of the most annoying things about some members of the Catholic clergy is the tendency for them to keep mistresses. It has become so commonplace that it now seems normal.
    It is common knowledge that some bishops of this country, today of blessed memory, did father children; some in very outrageous circumstances. One of them actually named his son after him. The child of a younger bishop who died not long ago was being looked after, while the man was alive, by a lady very well known to this writer. Meanwhile yours truly once had a female neighbour in whose house a popular priest in Yaounde slept regularly. Not even an anonymous note slipped under their door by yours truly, indicating that he had been recognized as a priest, could stop the bloke from coming!
    If this is not the height of hypocrisy, how else would you call it? If these men of God knew that they would not be able to keep the vow of chastity, why then did they venture into priesthood? And what stops them from backing out of it now and live a worldly life? True, salvation is personal; but do they know how many younger people they are misleading and how many they are turning away from the church?