Hell fire will not be complete without so-called men of God – Pastor Anamonye
By NICHOLAS OHWO
Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Pastor Livewell Anamonye of the Church in Lagos, Agboju Centre, says wearing of trousers among ladies in the Christendom does not amount to an act of sacrilege as many people are made to believe. For him, dressing code has to do essentially with culture rather than a doctrinal issue, adding that what matters most is your intention of wearing the trousers, to seduce men or to protect yourself.

My call
I wouldn’t have loved to be a pastor if it were to be by choice. I had strong effusion to be either medical doctor or an accountant. I was doing very well in accounting subject which culminated in the award I received as the best accounting student in my former school, Satellite Secondary School. However, I couldn’t make it further in my career due to circumstance beyond my control. But somewhere along the line before I joined Christian meeting at Satellite Secondary School, without nobody preaching to me, I saw rapture in dream one night.

While I was perplexed as to what was the meaning of that great event, a man dressed in white apparel appeared to me and explained what the event (rapture) is all about. He told me that was the end-time and that if I want to be a part of the rapture, then I should repent and serve God. It was that night ministration that changed my life, nobody else preached to me. Since then I have been on the missionary journey, evangelism, preaching here and there but I was finally ordained as a pastor in 1995.

Incessant involvement of pastors in criminal cases
It is an end-time issue. Apart from being end-time, some so-called men of God have not repented. That is why hell will not be complete without so many of them entering it. They have not got encounter with Jesus Christ. When you have an encounter with Jesus Christ, there must be a change. Moses had an encounter with Jesus, his life was different. Isaiah got an encounter with the spirit of the Lord, he wasn’t the same.

People who are doing so, maybe out of the economic pressure they decided to go and buy a Bible to be deceiving people. Nevertheless, the end-time spirit is still there because the Bible says that at the end of the world, there will be deceivers. So, they are the people wearing the sheep clothes but they are ravening wolves.

Crave for wealth among pastors
The answer to this question is in two folds. First of all, I think they hinged their quest for materialism on the word of the Lord. Any one that has forsaken everything, the Lord promised him hundred fold. But far from it now, I think many have lost the purpose of their calling. Many are in the office of Judas Iscariot who for the quest of money sold his master for a peanut. That is what is going on now. But that does not mean there are no faithful ones who are sincerely doing the work. That is why I said earlier that it is a-two-way issue, some are genuinely blessed but many have the intent to defraud the members of their church to be what they want to be.

Tithes and offerings
The issue of tithe is a controversial one. I must confess. I can say yes or no that without paying tithe one can make heaven. Yes in the sense that the thief that was crucified on the cross with Jesus Christ did not pay tithe yet he made heaven according to the Bible. On the other hand, it is a biblical injunction or God’s command to pay tithe. Paying of tithe shows our obedience to God; if we can give to him what He commands us to do, to give to Him a part of what He has given us. So, on that note, if one fails to pay tithe, it amounts to disobedience especially when you have that money and you refuse bluntly to pay. The book of Malachi calls those group of people robbers. If somebody is a robber, he becomes guilty of the word of God which is punishable by death or a sure visa to hell fire.

Pastors in politics
If you study the life of our role model, Jesus Christ, when they wanted to make Him a king after the multiplication of food for the multitude of people that clustered around him, he ran away according to John 6:15. On the other hand, some of the ministers of the gospel believe that keeping away from politicking will not give good governance. So, their foray into politics is to see how they could better the lot of the people. But I wonder how they are going to actually succeed seeing that politic is a very tasking issue and the work of God is equally tasking. I think a clear line of choice should be made. Everybody should man his post, but if they have the grace to combine the two, may God be with them.

Wearing of trousers among ladies
The wearing of trousers among ladies in the Christendom today should not be a doctrinal issue. Honestly, if you are talking about dressing, you have to talk of culture. In Nigeria here, we believe that trousers belong to men, whereas if you go to some native lands like the Urhobo, Isoko, Ibibio, Efik, you see the men wearing wrappers. If you go to somewhere like Scotland, you see their men wearing skirt, so that is their culture. You should not also forget that in Nigeria, the way men trousers are being sewed and designed are different from the ladies’ own.

To me if they stick to their own style and dress neatly, there is nothing bad. But where it becomes an eye-sore is somebody exposing the sensitive parts of her body. So, when talking of dress code, we should leave the judgment to God because it is based on culture. The book of I Samuel Chapter 2:3, God says that everything you are doing, He weighs it to know the intent of your heart. It is your intention that matters to God. God knows why you are wearing that dress, whether to seduce men or to protect yourself from being raped as some ladies are professing these days.