CATHEDRAL TOMBS: A LAMENT FOR THE DEAD CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Pardon me, brothers, for I am about to sin. I confess that for many years, it lay smoldering within me, a
flickering thought that now explodes of itself into a raging fire. I have gritted my teeth and held my
peace for days without end, but now I must let it out that I may have peace. This word has become like a
fire in my bones.
I come to you in heavy sack clothes and a heap of ashes on my brow to announce the demise of the
greatest legacy ever bequeathed to humankind in its tedious toil in this realm of darkness. Unto us a
Child is born! Unto us a Son is given! The Word became flesh and dwelt among us! We have seen the
Fathers glory! He came into the world as a path to eternal light. He was at once that Light and the way
to the Father, the Spirit of redemption.
But He is DEAD! The Christ is DEAD! He was not killed by the Jews, perish the thought. The Jews might
have killed his body but the Church has killed his soul.
I make bold to declare that the soul of the gospel and the soul of Christ is LOVE. And a loveless church is
NOT THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. It is rather an odious chimerical distortion of the Christ and his Truth; a
stumbling block on the path of truth, for being equipped to be an agent of truth it stands at the door of
salvation, yet it does not enter because it espouses error. Neither does it allow the yearning saints to
enter and be redeemed.
I sit in church and groan under the weight of the thick darkness that breeds within it. It is packed with
people whose attendance of church services is motivated by trepidation; inspired by the dread of
vengeful God who will banish them to eternal damnation should they fail to darken the church door
with their shadows every Sunday. They pursue righteousness just to avoid the flames of eternal
condemnation. For once let the truth be declared from the rooftops! FEAR CANNOT INDUCE TRUE
HOLINESS! Do you need evidence of this? Examine every Christian you know under the microscope of
holiness; weigh each and every one of them from pulpit to pew and you will see an abundance of
malice, egoism, hatred, materialism, selfishness and greed. They claim they are Christs, BUT BY THEIR
FRUIT YE SHALL KNOW THEM!
Christendom is a massive FLOP because it was built on faulty foundations. How else can it be that a very
religious (very Christian) country like Nigeria is at the same time one of the most corrupt in the world?
Open your eyes! It is written: Does a fountain send forth at the same place water both sweet and
bitter?
Open your eyes to the TRUTH and take a stand! Else you will become like those that scripture lamented
about who having eyes, see not, and having ears, do not hear. Christ Himself knew that fear cannot
induce true righteousness else He would have said, If ye fear me, ye shall keep my commandments. I
am certain that if the Christ were with us He would have declared, It was said unto you, the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But I say unto you, LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR
HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL AND WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT.
Again He said, If ye love me, ye shall keep my commandments. This is the secret to righteousness is to
LOVE GOD and what is God? God is love! So when you love God, you will love LOVE and you will grow in
understanding of love and then keeping the second greatest commandment will become easy: LOVE
YOUR NEIGHBOUR. Again it is written, Love one another, for love is of God and he who loves IS BORN
OF GOD and KNOWS GOD. He, who DOES NOT LOVE, DOES NOT KNOW GOD. For GOD IS LOVE.
Jesus was God made flesh. He had infinite power yet He didnt have a house to his name. Foxes have
holes, birds have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. AND DONT YOU WONDER
WHY? He has the answer to your question: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break
through nor steal.
He knew that these things were not important; an insight our current church leaders HAVE FAILED TO
GRASP. The church has become one of the greatest Apostles of materialism! Look at her priests,
adorned in expensive garments and tell me, who do they remind you of? They make broad their
phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, said Christ of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The Church no longer understands what is precious in the eyes of the Lord. Your tall edifices give Him no
pleasure! But He breaks into dancing when you clothe the naked and exhaust your resources feeding the
hungry. People want to serve God but the Church has failed to INSTRUCT THE SAINTS on the MOST
DIRECT WAY TO SERVE GOD. Christ said it Himself, Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren,
that you do unto me. When you touch the sick, YOU ARE LITERALLY TOUCHING GOD! THE CHRIST DID
NOT MINCE WORDS ABOUT THIS!!! And when they raise their weary eyes to your kind face and ask,
Why do you show us mercy? You do not begin to parrot endless memorized scriptures how the bible
says this and the bibles says that. Because if you do, it means you are MECHANICAL ABOUT THIS
SERVICE, LACKING A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF ITS BASIS. But if you truly understand service, you would
smile and reply, I do this to you because I would have loved this to be done to me if I were in your
shoes. Service becomes natural not some forced, induced robotic state. This, my friends is TRUE
REFORMATION, a consequence of BEING BORN AGAIN and a renewing of the mind.
Jesus associated with the poor and the downtrodden; he embraced the tax collectors and dined with
prostitutes. Now look at the church, a church that mocks the poor (sometimes brands them faithless),
gives its seats of honor to the wealthy, turns up its nose when it sees the prostitute, denounces the thief
but does not question unexplained sources of huge tithes and offerings. He was a Christ who rather than
honor people just because of their worldly possessions, instructed the rich young man to go sell all he
had and come follow Him. Dont you wonder why? It was simply because He knew that materialism was
a major obstacle to spiritual advancement. Not only was this man wealthy, his wealth had become his
god. But the church rather prays for its members to accumulate worldly possessions and denounces
them severely when they do not pay a tithe of it. Jesus sought out the despised of the world and told
them, The world may despise you but the Father despises you not. For even you are important in the
kingdom. This, my friends, is the GOOD NEWS! The kingdom of God is within me! Even me!
The Christ came bearing a message of love. He preached it to the end and sealed it with his blood by
death. A gruesome, shameful death on the cross, with His arms stretched out wide as if to say, I give
you my life! I give you my all! I LOVE YOU! This, my friends, is the ultimate image of love; a bleeding
Christ on the cross of Calvary. A creator thats submits to an ugly death at the hands of its rebellious
creation, and with His last breath blesses and forgives His murderers. Love gives until it can give no
more! But we behold a church who does not seek out the hungry of its congregation to give them
succor. If it cannot do this for its own flock, how then could it show love to strangers? Let me state
emphatically, YOU ATTAIN CHRISTIAN LOVE WHEN YOU SHOW LOVE TO TOTAL STRANGERS, not family,
friends or those of your flock. This is the real message of the story of the Good Samaritan. Sometimes
we justify our actions or inaction by quoting scripture and saying, You shall always have the poor with
you. In other words, there will always be poor people in this world and that cannot be helped. It is
nothing but a baseless excuse for spiritual slothfulness, killing the voice of conscience that accuses you
while you feed fat ob your wealth like the rich fool, even while surrounded by the poor. The command
of Christ could not be more lucid in this regard: FEED THE HUNGRY! Properly interpreted, what this
means is that since we will always have the poor among us, we are forever bound to feed them. This is
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Claiming to be Christs when your own extended family members do not have
food to eat makes you a FALSE CHRIST; THE ANTICHRIST! It is antichrist that is not moved by compassion
when it meets the poor; antichrist that will not share its last meal with the hungry; antichrist that calls
down fire to consume other humans who have stumbled and are in error (Jesus severely rebuked his
disciples when they wanted to do this); antichrist who flies its healthy children abroad for a health
check-up when its neighbor cannot afford paracetamol for their sick only child!
Now the church delights in long lifeless ceremonies. No wonder the congregated are consumed daily by
death and destruction for truth is not raised on its altars. Supplications rising to the eternal throne are
mostly egoistic, materialistic and selfish prayers. God bless me! Save me! Restore me! Me! Me! Me! It is
not out of place to cater for yourself and your needs; even animals do the same. The message of Christ
is focused on THE OTHER PERSON. Is it surprising then that the second greatest commandment is LOVE
YOUR NEIGHBOUR as you love yourself? Observe that love of yourself is ASSUMED! The problem of our
world, which the Christ identified and attempted to cure with the second commandment, was a healthy
SELF LOVE that has metamorphosed into an unhealthy SELFISHNESS. Heaven does not break into song
when you acquire an oil block! Stop such testimonies! Material possession is not the currency of
heaven! True treasures are eternal treasures. Let the testimonies in church concern things that have
true spiritual value; how you were able to overcome bitterness against your Dad after 15 years; how you
are growing in the understanding of love. Look at your church. Which testimonies elicit the loudest
applause? Despise not the power of the Father; He created Heaven and earth; your biggest miracles are
NOTHING TO HIM. I remember once in church during a fundraising service when the choir
spontaneously broke into the halleluiah chorus when a man donated a hundred thousand naira. Listen
carefully: IT IS THE WIDOWS MITE THAT IS THE APPLE OF GODS EYE. A church that thinks different the
Christ is A FALSE CHRIST. Isnt this obvious?
Surely you feel the truth of these words resonating in your being. Its not surprising because truth has
that quality to it. I invite you to look at our generation; a generation that cannot endure the truth. This is
precisely why Christ was killed and we all kill Him daily whenever we see the truth and deny it. Jesus was
not afraid of the high priests of His day. He pointed the finger of rebuke firmly at them, no matter how
revered, anointed or highly placed they were, to rebuke error. But his Christians these days hasten to
defend their Pastors who are OBVIOUSLY living in error. Dont criticize the man of God, they tell you.
Are their actions Christ-like? You tell me. Christendom is filled with people who chose propriety over
truth; acceptability instead of verity. Try to point out their error to them and they will call you names.
They raise stones, verbal if not physical, and chant like the killers of truth through all ages: Crucify him!
Crucify him! Oh angry Christian, what do you know of love and mercy? Had you known love, you would
know to bless and not curse; had you known the Christ, you would have known that it is he who is
without sin that should cast the first stone. You believe the rage you feel is holy anger, so did the
murderers of Stephen think when they struck truth with rocks till it died.
Tombs everywhere! Tombs everywhere I turn! Christ is dead! And behold the church is where his bones
are interred!
Meanwhile, do not be deceived. I will be in church next Sunday, where I will seat and mourn the death
of the Messiah, and pray earnestly that He may once more roll away the tombstone by the glory of his
resurrection! Amen.

- Written y Emmanuel Essien
Email address (mannyessien@yahoo.com)
Twitter handle (@mannyessien)