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Blacks or Dark-Skinned People are one of the largest races on earth and the most God-loving people of all the races. The other largest races are the Chinese and the Indians. Blacks are estimated to be 1.3 billion, 1.2 billion are in Africa, while 173 million are outside Africa. Black people outside Africa are found in North, Central and South America, Europe and in the Oceania in the Pacific.
The Black Population Worldwide, the Africans at home, the African-Americans, Blacks in the Caribbean, South America, Europe and the Oceania in the Pacific is greatly increasing. In the next few years, the figure would exceed several multiples of the current 1.3 billion.
The 1.2 billion in Africa is expected to double in the next half century. As of 2016, the total population of Blacks in Africa was estimated at 1,225,080,510, representing approximately 15% of the world's population. According to UN estimates, the population of Blacks in Africa may reach nearly 2.5 billion by 2050 (about 26% of the world's total) and nearly 4.4 billion by 2100 (about 39% of the world's total).
Blacks are religious or superstitious, mostly Christians. 80% of Blacks in Africa are Christians. The World Book Encyclopedia estimated that “in 2002 Christians formed 80% of the continent's population, with Muslims forming 20%. In a relatively short time, Africa has gone from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians and Muslims.” (Wikipedia)
Almost 1 billion Blacks in African are Christians. African-Americans or the Black Africans in United States of America are 40 million, 83% are Christians, out of whom 43% are Baptists, 5% Catholics, 2% are Moslems and 1% Jews. The Blacks in the Caribbean, South America, Europe and Oceania are also predominantly Christians.
Nigeria in West Africa has the largest Christian Population in the world. According to 2002 Pew Research Center, Moslems in Nigeria were estimated to be 50% and Christians 40%. But the southern and central regions of Nigeria, where the majority of the population are located, are predominately Christians, so the actual estimates see Christians as the predominant people in Nigeria. According to Pew research, Nigeria has the largest Christian population of any country in Africa, with Christian population of 85 to 100 million.
The Population of Christians in Nigeria is equal to the populations of Australia (24 Million), Canada (36 Million), Greece (11 Million), Netherlands (17 Million), Portugal (10 Million) and Switzerland (8 Million) added together.
Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa, nicknamed “the Germany of Africa”. If Nigeria is doing economically well or embracing vigorous poverty eradication, as the United Nations urges the countries to pursue, Africa will be far better.
However, in West Africa, Nigeria is classified among Chad, Niger, Mali, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Gambia, Togo and Burkina Faso as country which is doing nothing or very little to eradicate poverty. Ghana, Ivory Coast and Republic of Bénin are doing far well In poverty eradication over the last ten years than Nigeria.
Country indices indicate that 5.7 people become poor in Nigeria every minute. That is, 8.208 people a day. The number of people who find it difficult to eat a day are 112 Million or 67.1% of the Population, and the number is increasing everyday.
Nigeria and India both have large Consumer Economies, with the population of India far exceeding that of Nigeria. However, Nigeria exceeds India as a country with the highest percentage of poor.
India’s population is 1.3 Billion, 179.6 Million are poor, that is, 17.5% of the population, according to the World Bank. In Nigeria 112 Million or 67.1% of the people are poor, based on the total population of 167million, according to Nigerian Statistics published in the Vanguard Newspaper of October 18 2016. The.current number is expected to increase based on the present adjusted population of 193 Million. Ghana is estimate to have a population of 29 Million, 7 Million or 24.2% are poor, according to World Bank statistics in 2016. Greece has a population of 11 Million, just 1.5 Million or 0.14% are poor, according to the Greek National Report of 2017.
THE AFRICAN CHRISTIANS ARE THE FORCE OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE BLACK CONTINENT
The Black Christians in African and elsewhere are more faithful to the “God tithe” than to the government tax. Many private christian businesses and unofficial employees do not pay tax to the government, but they do not indulge in the God tithe, because no one can escape from the lenses of God. And the penalty for not paying the God tithe, unlike the government tax, is curse or death, according to the pastors. So the net of the church tithes and offerings are wider than the government tax with no escape.
According to allchristiannews.com, the Black Churches in the United States of America received $420 Billion from tithes and donations over the past thirty years. In 2006 alone, the Black Pastors received $17 Billion. One Black church in the United States, called World Changers, received $69 Million In 2006 alone. However, the Blacks in the US are the poorest among all races.
In Africa, the monies collected are more. Three factors contribute to the high tithes and offerings income to the churches in Africa. First, in Africa are found the highest number of Christians than everywhere in the world. Second, non-tither or the stingy flocks are not welcome or face measures from the church’s disciplinary committee, if even God would not take action himself. And third, there is no governmental control of the activities of the fraudulent churches.
Unofficial estimates state that Nigerian Pastors received $18 Billion from the flocks in 2014 alone as tithes and other offerings. Meanwhile, the whole nation’s budget for 2017 was $14 billion.
With $18 Billion coming into the hands of the Pastors in Nigeria in one single year, there is every indication that the churches are able to build the infrastructures and the social amenities in the country, without even the national budget. That means that the tithe-payers money was enough to develop the nation without the taxpayers’ money.
If the African Pastors are therefore, true disciples of Christ or people who obey their Master’s commandments of love for each other or are humble servants of the Holy Scriptures, the African countries would not need United Nations to tell them what to do to eradicate poverty in the continent.
The Lord Jesus Christ had warned His disciples how He would Judge them when He returned. He said that those who did not take care of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick and the prisoner, He would sent to the lake of fire, from His warning in the Bible, Matthew 25:31-46. So, if the Black Christians are obedient or afraid of the warning of the Master and obey Him or go about helping the poor in their communities, or if they practice the principles of the early Church, no Black person would be poor in the world.
The Holy Scriptures say that if Christians speak with tongues of men and angels, or have gifts of prophecy, or if they understand all mysteries, have all knowledge, all faith that removes mountains or give all their all, but are not charitable, they are nothing. Every Sundays, weekends and weekdays, the churches in Black communities are full of people offering prayers unto God for help, chanting in tongues, praising and worshipping, giving prophecies, testifying of miracles and other works of faith, however, the poor among them are neglected.
As Jews, Europeans, white Americans, Canadians, Japanese, (and even citizens of a small country of Kuwait), do not beg for food anywhere in the world or cross the borders into other countries to seek help and refuge, as from war zones, so should no Black person be begging for food, if the Black Christians are truly practicing the faith. But the Blacks are the poorest of all races, knocking at the doors of other nations for food and help. Why?
That means, the Black Christians, especially the pastors, are not true disciples of Christ or they do not obey the commandments of Christ. If they are true Christians or people who have compassion on the poor as their Master, poor people would not be found in the communities of the Blacks. But what we see is that the majority of the poor are rather the Black Christians.
Nigeria and Ghana have the largest number of pastors in the world. Of the top 10 richest pastors in the world, 7 are blacks, 5 of them are Nigerians. Almost every Nigerian and Ghanaian is a pastor, prophet, apostle or a bishop. It is only among Black Christians that one finds titles such as “Prof. Apostle”, “Dr. Bishop” or “Pastor PhD”.
The hope of every black man or woman is to become a pastor or a pastor’s wife or pastor’s husband. The dream of young Christian ladies is to have a pastor as a husband. The pastoral vocation has become so lucrative that every three among ten educated Black African youths want to become a pastor.
The reason is that, apart from politics or becoming a governor, a minister of state or a member of parliament in Africa, becoming a pastor of a christian church or establishing a Black church (even with few dedicated slaves, called “believers”), is the surest way of making money.
UN-CHRISTLIKE ATTITUDE The early Church of the Lord Jesus was a poverty-alleviation charity organization. The early Church, unlike the latter Church, was for the poor. The less-privileged people took refuge in the churches, where they received their daily needs. The Lord Jesus, in His earthly ministry, had a treasury where monies were gathered for the poor. It was probably the spirit of corruption and greediness of the first treasurer of the Lord’s church that is now operating in the latter Church.
The apostle-in-charge of the first treasury of the church of Jesus of Nazareth was called Apostle Judas Iscariot. This apostle was an example of Black African pastors. He stole all the money meant for the poor, which came into the treasury. And eventually he sold Jesus Himself. But he died before his Master.
In the early days of the Church, after the Lord had ascended unto the heavens, the rich brethren gathered money from the sale of their houses and lands and distributed the proceeds to the poor to alleviate poverty. The holy scripture therefore, says that none of them lacked anything. The early Church eradicated poverty among the Christians without any instruction from the “United Nations” to do so. They did it through the love for each other as commanded by the Master.
But the apostles and the bishops of the last days churches are doing the opposite. They are rather taking monies from the poor and the needy to buy lands and build mansions, or acquire cars and private jets, with a threat that, if the poor do not give their monies to them, God would curse or kill them.
One striking revelation of the early Church, recorded in the Book of the Acts of the Apostle the fourth chapter and the thirty-six and thirty-seventh verses, was that, a Levite and an apostle of the Church, called Barnabas, who had the right as a Levite according to the Law to take tithes from the people, rather sold his property and brought the proceeds to the church to be distributed to the poor brethren.
Again, Paul, a great apostle of the early Church said in his first epistle to the Corinthians the ninth chapter that he and Barnabas had the right to take money for preaching the gospel. He argued that the law of Moses and the Lord gave them the right to take money for their services. However, he said, he would not abuse this power, but would preach the gospel without charging money.
The Lord commanded the apostles, when He sent them in their maiden mission that they should not charge money for preaching the gospel, healing and raising the dead. He charged them, “Freely ye have received, freely give”.
Everything from God by Jesus Christ is grace, a gift and free. That is what makes the message of Jesus Christ a gospel and a great joy unto all people. Before the advent of the gospel or before the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on the cross and resurrected, nothing from God was grace or free, everything needed the precepts of the Law, payment of monies and numerous sacrifices and offerings.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has set the people free from all these things to enable them worship God freely, but love one another with the same compassion as He has loved them. However, to the Black Pastors, the gospel is not free.
On the night of His betrayal, the Master and the Lord Jesus Christ commanded the disciples to love each other as He had loved them. And by so doing, the world would know that they were His disciples. And when He rose from the dead, He commanded them to go and teach all nations to obey the commandments of faith in His name and love for each other as He had loved them.
The only message of Christians is the love of their Master Jesus Christ for the world that compelled Him to die for mankind. He said to a Jewish teacher that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believed in Him would not perish, but would have everlasting life. So, Christians do not have any message apart from teaching and demonstrating the love of their Master to the world.
JESUS CHRIST VS BLACK PASTORS The Black Pastors appear to be anti-Jesus Christ. They contradict the teachings and the deeds of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth taught the disciples to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, attend to strangers in their communities, care for the sick and visit prisoners, but the Black Pastors teach their disciples not to give their monies to the less-privileged in the society, but bring all to them. Most of these pastors have warmed their disciples that if they give the tithe money to the poor and hungry on the sideways, as the Good Samaritan did, God would curse or kill them.
Again, Jesus of Nazareth teaches the disciples to feed their enemies and give drink to the thirsty enemies, the witches or devils. But the Black Pastors warn their disciples and put fears in them that if they help or give monies to these enemies, they would use them for sacrifices against them. To these Black Pastors, the prayers and sacrifices of witches are more powerful than the prayers of the disciples. They also suggest that the Europeans and other donor countries who give monies and aids to the poor and needy Black Africans are more powerful than their disciples, because the witchcraft sacrifices cannot make the white donors poor or destroyed.
The notion inculcated into the Black African Christians by the Black Pastors is that the poor and the needy or the destitute old mothers and aunties are witches, and that they are the causes of marital and financial misfortunes and difficulties which the disciples encounter in life. Even the most educated Black Christians believe this myth.
Monies collected by the Black churches have several names. They are named tithes or ten percent of one’s income; firstfruits or one’s first salary, profit or gain in the year or one’s earnings for the first job or first profit from enterprise; sacrifices such as “the lamb upon the altar”, “prophet’s offerings”, bishop’s blessing, “mission house dues”, movements’ offerings, sale of “anointing water”, or “anointing oil”, “prayer cloth” or “Elijah’s mantels”, the list cannot be exhausted.
Blacks in general are naturally generous people. And combined with their love for God they are easy God-givers of all people. They may not have enough, but they give freely at church.
In a report by Stephen Liggins for Media Report under the title, “What we (the West) can learn from African Christian”, of April 8, 2013, he wrote, “Africa is a beautiful continent. There is stunning scenery—the mountains, valleys and lakes of the Rift Valley—and world-famous wildlife. It is also poorer and much less developed than in the West. The majority of people live in villages. There is a shorter life expectancy, and a tragically high incidence of HIV-AIDS. It is less politically stable than countries like Australia. But, most significantly, sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most Christian places on earth!
“African Christians are better prayers. In fact, I’ve become increasingly aware that they put most of us to shame. They pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and supplications.
“Finally, African Christians excel in practising hospitality. Hospitality goes further in extreme situations. I once travelled down into Rwanda for a couple of days after teaching in Uganda. By arrangement, I was met at the border by a Rwandan Christian. Making general conversation, I asked about his family, and how many children he had. His answer was something like: “One of my own, and 35 others.”
Before the advent of pentecostal and charismatic faiths in Africa in the early 19. Century, Black Africans loved themselves. Naturally, blacks in their communities were their brothers’ keepers. And they were hospitable. They used to help each other and care for each other’s children as they did to theirs.
A black mother or father used to train or instruct the children of another, if they went wrong. The neighbours shared food or ate together. When one home had noting to eat for the day or if the neighbours realized that one house was going hungry, they shared their food. One could go to the other’s farm and freely harvest what one would eat.
There was great love and sharing among Black African communities until the doctrines of Pentecostalism and Charismatism that teach that they should bring all monies to the church, and not to use them to help themselves, gained root in the Black communities. The Pentecostals and the Charismatics teach that when someone is in need and lack daily supplies, the worshippers should not give the little monies to help those people, but bring all to the church.
The monies are sacred and for God. They should not be used for any purpose, not even to pay for one’s own household or the educational needs of one’s own children or feed the house. The ten percent of one’s money, the whole of one’s first income, prophets’ money, church building or mission house funds, sacrifices, faith monies and the monies for pastors’ care are sacred unto the Lord. If the poor people need help they should first pay the monies to God, and God would come down from heaven to bless them.
The Black “Christ Pastors” care for buildings, cars, jets, mansions and luxuries more than human lives. While the members have no food to eat or money for medical care, they use the millions of dollars to build church buildings and mansions and buy cars and jets.
The early churches were not building churches of bricks or structures and edifices, they were building human beings. They used all the monies to care for the poor. The churches began to build cathedrals over 200 years after the first apostles were gone. These were the period that materialism gradually took the place of the love of Christ for each other in the Church.
The cost of building and maintaining the buildings, the care of the parish and the large staffs shifted the use of money to care for the poor to service and maintenance of material and administrative costs. The poor and the needy were not just neglected, but they were threatened to pay part of the expensive cost or face God’s wrath.
Since those days till today, the churches only mention the name of Jesus and call Him Lord, Lord, and prophesy, heal, raise the dead, deliver from demons and work miracles in His name and collect the.monies, but they do not obey His commandments to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, care for strangers and the sick and visit the prisoner. And they don’t care about the threat of hell fire for the disobedience.
It appears they are ready to go into that hell fire than to give up collecting the poor people’s monies for “sowing spiritual things” into them. And because they do not fear or are not ready to stop taking the monies from the poor, anyone who speaks against the money business in the Black churches becomes an enemy. Some of those who preach against their activities receive death threats. The Black Christian Pastors therefore, are not, and also not ready, to be the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ or to at least care for the poor and the needy brethren in the Black churches and communities.
