Home | Letters | ARE OUR PASTORS AFRAID?

ARE OUR PASTORS AFRAID?

04/02/2018 00:04:00 The Editor

Font size:

Sir,

I just want to address our pastors on one or two issues and I will thereafter rest my case. I must declare from the outset that I am a Jesus loving Christian. I listened to a very wonderful sermon by my pastor recently. It was taken from the book of Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive Mercy.” Wow! This is amazing.

He talked about it and brought to our attention the ruthlessness that characterises the people of this epoch. It was poignant. He was on point from the beginning to the end. What struck me as he was preaching was the realisation that there is a lack of precision among many of our pastors today, when preaching the word of God. I asked myself what some of the other pastors fear. There are so many ills in this country but our pastors are still afraid of talking the truth to power.

If we are talking about the Bible, we are talking about God’s truth. Bafundisi today are so hungry for positions than they are for God. They are looking for political appointments.

Will these appointments help them in their eternity? Your guess is as good as mine. In the past, pastors were men and women entrusted with speaking God’s truth even in the midst of kings and Queens.

In other words, in and out of season: kumnandzi nome kukubi! But in our country today, that has changed. I am not the only one seeing this trend I know. Unfortunately this is just a trend. I am appealing to the Christians that want to stand up and be embarrassed for God to break this bad trend. It is ugly and it is trying to nullify the strength of the word of God.

It brainwashes people into thinking that when appointed into any position in Swaziland, God can be put on standby! Anyone who is reading this article can point to numerous atrocities that have been inflicted on the poor, mainly by the powers that be.

The majority of public servants in Swaziland are suffering. I’m talking about the ones that are giving everything to this country and stealing nothing. They work and toil only for them to be paid peanuts. They are given a 17 per cent salary increment on the premise that the government has no money but only for the very same government to increase salaries of politicians by 33 per cent.

Fast forward to a few months later, workers are denied their cost of living adjustment because there is no money and then a few weeks later others working for the same government are given salary increments of up to 115 per cent. Do I hear an Amen? If nay, why are we silent bafundisi?

It’s alright because it doesn’t affect you that much! Most of you are paid huge salaries and allowances any ways!
The state of roads in the rural areas is very bad but tax is paid equally by all. Notwithstanding this, no single pastor has pleaded with the prime minister to look into this. Yet they are privileged to dine with him. In their eyes, it is alright if development is localised in the Manzini-Mbabane corridor. The God you men and women preach frowns upon this simply it is irregular and skewed.

The rights of the poor people are trampled upon all the time. They have no one to fight for them.
Why is land being taken away from the people when they are Swazis and pay allegiance to the King? Are we now headed for a time in history where other Swazis are better than others? Why are the men and women of God that are closer to the traditional authorities and to Cabinet not advising wisely?

Another option would be to stand by these people in the Court of Law. Is it too hard for The League of Churches, Council of Churches or the Conference of Churches to pool together some resources and hire an advocate for the poor people that are being robbed every day? Will you only make public statements when a pastor has messed up or when you are asking for funds for some project from the very poor people with the promise of ‘God will bless you’?

Heaven on earth

Let’s allow the poor people to taste Heaven here on earth like you guys are doing. This will surely spur their faith on.
The thought of a Swazi pastor willing to serve without fear or favour in any position of authority diminishes every day in my mind. Experience has shown that they divorce the truth for something else once they are in these positions.

These men who claim to have been raised and/ or ordained by God are to blame for this state of affairs. We cannot as a country of one million people have Reverend D. Matse as the only Man of God to stand up for the poor, but have others that go to pews and proclaim that Swaziland is the pulpit of Africa. Which Swaziland is that? Maybe it’s the Swaziland in the new earth.

I don’t see that happening in this epoch unless the true men and women of God take their rightful stands. Our pastors seem to think they are supposed to preach only in the synagogues.

That’s fine but not enough to impact the world. If you are a cabinet minister and a Christian lead by example there for you are still the ambassador of Christ.

Every day I shudder at the thought of our pastors standing before the Almighty God accounting for their lives and the lives of the people they did not protect. Be bright in every corner bafundisi betfu.

Forty N.