Popular clergy, Prophet T.B. Joshua, has spoken out about why people like himself are scared of collecting offerings.
Prophet T.B. Joshua
Prophet T.B. Joshua has admitted that he is afraid to collect money from congregants in the form of offerings.
“People like me are scared when it comes to collecting
thanksgiving because I don't know where you are coming from with your
money,” Joshua candidly stated in a sermon on Sunday 9th April 2017, subsequently released on his popular YouTube channel Emmanuel TV.
“Many can come with blood-money,” he acknowledged. “They
will just enter church and when it is time for offering, they will
raise their offering whereas it's blood-money. What can a man of God use
that kind of blood-money for? Are they going to bless the man?”
According to Joshua, this issue has been the bane of many ministries. “What we receive from our members as offering and thanksgiving is killing us,” he warned fellow pastors.
The cleric went further to proffer a way out, suggesting that
ministers of God are also to blame for the way they praise and give
attention to those who drop the largest offerings.
“Wicked people like the pastor to ask. If the pastor does not
ask, praise and recognise them, they cannot give. They like praise and
recognition,” he explained.
“If you want to avoid these people and stop them from putting
money - don't praise them. Let them know it's God they give to, not
you.”
Revealing another clue, Joshua called on pastors to stop receiving offerings ‘directly’ from congregants. “If
you don't receive something directly from a killer, he will not give
you - because he wants to be recognised. They like praise; that is their
reward because they have no reward from God.”
Joshua stressed that offerings in the church are between the worshipper and God. “What
comes from God goes to God. If what you have is from God, it will go to
God - you don't need to have any recognition from the pastor. Whatever
you want to give God, you give it,” he surmised.
The pastor then impressed on people the need to consider the force behind any action, not merely the action itself.
"The force behind your action determines where the action comes
from... It's not what you see but the force behind what you see that
matters,” he stated.