What we are witnessing in Shakahola is a lesson for religious organizations and governments to weigh in and determine a control mechanism in the religious sector.
First, the history of break-up in church congregations helps us to understand the minds of faithfuls and their beliefs.
In early 70s, Kenya experienced a spiritual wave in schools and communities led by Joe Kayo factor.
There after new groups of Churches began to spring up. And it followed with many more others coming up in the gallery.
What people do not ask themselves is whether there is a limit in spiritual welfare.
In my own thinking, there must be a limit.
Spiritual language has a limitation of expression like any other language and can misguide and mislead in godly matters. When Jesus Christ was asked whether he was the messier, he gave two levels, those in the mountains and those in the valleys.
The mountains were those in total darkness in spiritual matters and those in the valleys are those who pretend to know but are still away from the truth.
Most kenyans can be leveled in the valleys as they have heard and they know the Bible. But what do they know? The heavens and the angels, no, not at all.
The gist is in the details of what they do and practice.
They lie, they steal, and they kill in the cover of religious sects calling themselves as faithfuls.
The victims are men and women of shallow minds and especially women and children.
False promises and sweet melodies and stories entice many to fall victims.
The valleys have widened and are swallowing many in numbers.
So where did things go wrong? In the early days of Christianity movements in Africa, people were taught baptismal classes which qualified them to believe and remain faithful to the word of God.
Today what is happening is totally different. People are being taught doctrinal classes and devotional classes.
These are intended to make worshipers follow the rules and regulations of the sect and commitment to obidiency to the leadership.
This calls for strict adherence to what goes on within the organizations.
It therefore turns out to be indoctrination houses for myths or people lost in faith and ready to die for the same.
Faithfuls put all their time and resources to achieve heavenly rewards.
Offerings become a demand commodity, music becomes a trading product, and anointing oil becomes a product on sell, just as handkerchiefs become entry permit at a fee.
All this is no longer a transformational business in Christ but a way of enrichment to be millionaires in this world rather than in heaven.
This has happened and it has produced multimillionaire preachers and gospel singers in current generation. And in return, the society is full of people who worship personalities and material things.
That is what Jesus Christ called dead people in reference to the young man whom he asked to follow him to become a disciple but refused saying he needed time to go and burry his father.
Meaning the boy and the father did not know God and were living in dark world. We have families that are living in darkness in the name of spiritual faith and are dying literally because of poor spiritual leadership and guidance.
This is a critical moment that requires government intervention and constitutional mechanism to bring orderliness in God’s word. If religious organizations are left to build sanity by themselves, it will not work because they are all in the same boat.
Let the government machinery strike the groups by setting spiritual standards to be achieved by the preachers and the organization they lead.
Every preacher must qualify as a teacher in spiritual matters in line of the sect he or she believes. Secondly, worshipers should not be indoctrinated to be believed in certain spiritual ethics and malpractices which can cause harm or even kill.
To effectively deal with this problem, doctrinal and devotional classes should be monitored on what they do and who does it.
Faithfuls should also be watched on how they spend their time and resources in the name of supporting churches.
The church must remain a preserve for those who serve the lord in their capacity as appointed leaders and not every Dig and Harry in the pulpit.
That is the only way we can determine the root cause of Shakahola massacre and eliminate unqualified leadership in our houses of worship.
May God help us to understand His ways and become our own brothers’ keepers.
By Jonathan Nzyoka
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