By Alex Agbo

I chose to keep quiet on this Freeze – Ibiyeomie – Enenche matter because I had very useful things to think about. But the mounting venomous utterances from the Christians is becoming the undoing of the church. I find it utterly distasteful. Who knows if some ‘Men of God (?)’ would rain their curses on me after reading this, while their foot soldiers will term me a Freeze supporter?

It is wrong in Nigeria to stand away from the crowd anyways. So I know I am already ‘wrong’. I do not join in hauling bad words at a ‘sinner’ because he insulted a man of God.
Raining curses and threats on a man is not Christlike, especially when done from the pulpit.

The pulpit is where love, soothing words, compassion, mercy and call to repentance flow from. It is to be manned by the called of Christ.

Jesus, when in Luke 9:55, was approached by His disciples to rain fire down from heaven on a city which rejected Him, rebuked them and said ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are made of.’

By this He meant ‘You have been redeemed. No bitterness, hate and arrogance must come from you. You must have pity on them instead of hate, you must be civil, you must be decorous and human, if the fire comes down and burned the unbelieving, they’d go to hell, then where is your gain as my follower?’

I am ashamed at the level of religious hate spewed by the ‘Christian’ community against Freeze. Is this how to win souls for Christ; where is the principle of turning the other cheek?

Let me warn. If we have converted our power of declaration into an arsenal of vituperation, vile bitterness and railings against a dissenting voice, we will account for any loss of souls arising from that. Christ paid the price with His blood for every single soul walking the face of the earth today. None of these precious souls should be called ‘cursed’.

Saul of Tarsus killed disciples, he was licensed by the powers in Judaea, Samaria and beyond to hunt down the disciples of Christ.

But he later wrote the most books on love in the Bible. He did many great miracles and exploits in the Name of Jesus.

Imagine Saul in the hands of loveless, clannish and cursing Christians of today! Saul would rather have gone back to his vile ways because he would have been bullied by so called untouchables, educated thermo ‘dynamicians’.

No wonder Paul said to be circumspect about our conducts. We are the Bible people read. We are the message they listen to.
I do not in any way support Freeze’s use of insult on a pastor, the church or the man, Dr. Oyedepo. He is a man I respect so much. My respect for him increased tremendously during the ongoing campaign of hate against another of God’s creature.

Dr. Oyedepo never uttered a word against Freeze. That’s class. That’s how to be a follower of Christ. He probably thought it wasn’t too important for him to join issues with Freeze.

The Christian community in Southern Kaduna and other states in the Middlebelt are daily buffeted on all sides. The church is being annexed using a certain CAMA, the church is becoming more worldly and carnal.

These are issues that should concern our pastors, not one single man who has now been elevated to a larger than life status unwittingly by what I see as crass eye service and bandwagon behaviour.
Jesus, our example, never at any time, even at the point of death, raised his voice to curse those who attacked Him.

The only time He came close to it was lamenting the fate of Capernaum and environs who didn’t believe in His mandate as the saviour.

We should be dealing with issues of inordinate sexual behaviour among brethren, the abuse of grace and liberty in Christ, greed and covetousness among brethren, callous and mindless manipulation of the gospel, elevating doctrine and traditions of men above the true teaching of Christ and many other scary things that have crept on us ‘while men slept’.

We should think of the damage a frontal attack and volley of curses, invective, verbal dehumanization, self glorifying litany of personal achievements and all the unnecessary details of how another of God’s creature has been confined to the dustbin of wretched wretchedness will do to the lost souls.

If I wasn’t already a born again, I’d definitely not have anything to do with an organisation whose leading men have a different opinion of the process of favour than the one laid down by its deity.

Remember, whatever any man is today, it was never by power. Daniel said so.

God sets up empires and removes empires.
He can also make a Freeze one of His Generals if He so wish. Let us beware of scaring people away from the Church.
Beware.

Alex Agbọ wrote from Lagos, South West of Nigeria.