Pastors that are poor were not called by God – Uma Ukpai

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.

“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.”