By Revd. Dr. Idowu Ibitoye
Introduction
“Jesus answered; Watch out that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name claiming, I am the messiah, and will deceive many” (Matt. 24:4-5). Indeed we are living in the end time, fake pastors and prophets are increasing every day and the Words of Jesus Christ is coming to pass. A newspaper reported on 7th October, 2020 with the captioned: “missing child: Ondo pastor bags life imprisonment, court Lampoons police,” and an online video of a pastor who ordered some of his females worshipers to off their pants and he anointed there private genitals what an abomination! These and many prompted me for this write up. However, on the Ondo pastor the facts and evidences against the pastor in question are not pasted on the public domain, but the court finds him culpable and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with other accomplices. My conviction is that if the pastor is innocent God will vindicate him and he will be set free from the predicament. There are many fake pastors in our contemporary times, this is been reported on daily bases.
Who is a Pastor
A pastor is the leader in a Christian assembly who has divine mandate to lead the flock of Christ; Pastor gives advice and counsel to people. The New Testament typically uses the words “bishops” (Acts 20:28) and “presbyter” (1 Pet. 5:1) to indicate the ordained leadership in the early Christian era. Other related word for pastor is shepherd because he must care for the flock through his teaching and welfare activities.
In most frontline and leading denominations the pastor is always an ordained priest. He is commissioned and consecrated for the service. Usually the denomination has to license and authorize him; this is done after his seminary education. It is a pity today because most new generational churches commission just anyone for the office of pastor without proper training or mentoring this is causing a deadly blow to the church.
Who is a Fake Pastor?
A fake pastor is the devil’s agent who claims that he is sent by God. Such a pastor will even claim that his inspiration, gifts and talents are from God, while he will continually ascribe his miracle activities to God. Fake ministers are all over the place today. Most of the time fake ministers are also commercial or circumstantial pastors, they are commercial because their aims and objectives are to turn the church to a business venture, they come into the ministry to make money, they are circumstantial because they have searched for jobs and they were unsuccessful so they settle down and claim that they are pastors, “Watch out for false prophets, they come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” Matt. 7:15. Once a fake pastor is identified one should quickly run away from him.
How to identify fake Pastors/Prophets Jesus Christ gave pre-requisites to how believers can identify fake pastors; He said “By their fruit you will recognize them…” Matt. 7:16. Always watch out for the type of fruit a minister produces, if it is not the fruit of the spirit then it is going to be the opposite. Below are the itemised points on how you can identify a fake minister.
1. Unholy Practices – Any unholy pastor will constantly display unholy activities in his ministerial discharge, such will be having immoral affairs with his church members, lying and unfaithfulness will always be his trade mark. “Aaron’s son Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire come out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord” Lev. 10:1-2. Nadab and Abihu engaged in unholy activities and they got their instant judgment. Likewise, sons of Eli were involved in temple unholy activities, “The sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt… His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death” 1 Sam. 2:17,25. God will begin to expose and punish all pastors who engage in unholy practices. God who is the owner of His church will surely sanitize and purify His altar.
2. Embezzlement of church fund –It is simply stealing or misappropriation of church fund. Many pastors are Judas’ today who constantly steal church fund. This is usually done by covetous pastors, who are greedy, acquisitive, and who always show a strong desire for material possessions. Covetousness is considered to be a very grievous offence in the bible. The tenth commandment forbids coveting anything that belongs to a neighbour (Ex. 20:17). To all who embezzle church funds the scripture says “Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds, at morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it., they covet fields and seize them, and houses and take them, they defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance.” Micah 2:1-2.
3. Diabolical – Another sign and manifestation of a fake pastor is being diabolical, to be diabolical is for someone giving himself to the devil. In contemporary times many so called prophets engage in diabolical means to gather crowds and do all sort of fake miracles. Such fake diabolical servants get their powers from marine spirits, or from other demonic agents, they may have large congregation or have influence on the government of the day; that does not qualify them to be genuine God’s servant. Once you discover such a minister run away from him.
