Pasuma, Portable’s praise night and other matters [OPINION]

A Lagos-based church gave Nigerians more than enough to discuss both online and offline last week when the flier of its special programme scheduled to be held on December 15, 2023, surfaced online.

The church, a parish of the Celestial Church of Christ, prides itself as the Land of Goshen Cathedral, the Mountain of Divine Encounter with God.

Leaders of the church have decided to host what they called Ankara/Praise Night probably to allow church members and their guests to thank God for sparing their lives from January till December. Thanksgiving is, of course, not out of place considering what we all went through this year and yet we are still standing strong. Despite the anxiety that preceded the presidential election in the country, the election was held, a winner emerged, there was a change of baton and the country is still one. A similar scenario played out at the state level. We faced the challenge of cash scarcity and we survived. Why then won’t we thank God?

Then, one cannot but commend the initiative of the man who appears to be the shepherd of the church judging from the way his picture was placed conspicuously on the flier. He was identified in the flier as Evangelist Sunday JP De Governor, aka Ebundola 1 of Lagos. What a name!

The shepherd and other leaders of the church who put the programme together must have reviewed the list of all gospel musicians in the country and found none of them fit for this praise night. While still ruminating on how to navigate it, the inspiration came. The lot fell on three musicians who could pull the crowd to the church and possibly win more souls for the kingdom. Who are the three wise ones? The first is a famous fuji musician, Alhaji Wasiu Alabi Pasuma Oganla. This is exactly the way he was addressed in the flier. Another privileged musician who will minister to the congregation and win souls is a street-hop artiste, Habeeb Olalomi, aka Portable. In order not to be accused of not being gender-friendly, the organisers also picked a female rapper and songwriter, Maryam Shuaibu, well-known as May Shua. The lady describes herself as Naija’s Best Rapping Shawteey, NBRS, which is one of the major catchphrases in her songs.

Just imagine members of the congregation in the mood of worship and suddenly, Portable jumps (yes, jump) to the altar and instead of shouting “Praise the Lord,” what you hear echoing from the speakers is his trademark “Wahala,wahala, wahala!”

When the criticism that trailed that announcement became unbearable, a church leader was reported to have intervened and probably asked the organisers to stop the plan. As of yesterday though, the flier was still on the church’s Facebook page with more people still commenting.

A sign that the church has courted “wahala” further emerged when Portable insisted that nobody would stop him from taking evangelism to that church as scheduled since he had already been paid N5m appearance fee. In a viral video, Portable, speaking in Yoruba, announced, “Celestial church, we must do the show o, you have already paid me N5 million. Pasuma will perform, I will also perform and we must do it. The children of God are coming. Land of Goshen Cathedral please in God’s name, consider us as children of God. Don’t judge me by my appearance.” I like the young man. He knew he was going for a show and not a ministration.

I hope gospel musicians who play free for churches like this with the understanding that they are doing it for God have taken note of the amount Portable said he was paid. A word is enough for the wise.

As far as engaging secular musicians is concerned, there is nothing new under the sun. On Sunday, December 15, 2019, Genesis Global, another parish of the Celestial Church of Christ in Lagos, had its anniversary, tagged “Celebration of Harvest 2019. One of those who sang at that church programme was fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde (K1 De Ultimate).

Many years back, somebody had made a quotable quote that resonates more now. I can’t remember who said it but the statement captures all that we are seeing today. “The rate of godliness in the world is less than the rate of worldliness in the church,” the person said many years back.

Many churches have gone worldly in their attempts to attract more members by all means. Sometimes, the names of these churches or the themes they choose for their special programmes betray them. Some churches organise special programmes for those who want to join the japa train. “My visa a must,” or “I receive my visa by fire” as some of the themes of such programmes. It may sound strange but it is real. Special prayer sessions are also being held in some churches for the victory of foreign football clubs. Some fans of such clubs also come for special thanksgiving whenever they win matches.

The first crossover (December 31) night that I spent in Abuja, I decided to worship in a church in my neighbourhood. I was shocked when I arrived at the church and discovered that a comedian was engaged to coordinate the crossover service. I didn’t realise this on time because the service was already underway when I arrived. I only noticed that the young man seemed to be trivialising all issues, including bible readings. It appeared I was the only one in the church who was not comfortable with the arrangement because I could see people, mostly youths, laughing loudly and shedding tears. That was what they did for the better part of the night.

By the time I realised that I was attending what could have been more appropriately tagged “Night of a Thousand Laughter” rather than a crossover night, it was already too late to relocate to another church.

Have you listened to a pastor who is supposedly preaching and he will never cite any bible passage throughout the sermon? Those in that category are more of motivational speakers than pastors.

Are there no pastors who put on performances like Portable? There is one who displays funny dance steps and his members will begin to drop dollar and naira notes at his feat.

These people get away with these behaviours because their followers will be quick to quote Psalms 105: 15: Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. For me, I take solace in the fact that only God knows those who belong to him.

Culled from The Punch