Chiluba’s misguided pastors
Chiluba’s misguided pastorsWritten by Editor
It is shocking that a pastor of a church can go on radio and claim that Frederick Chiluba is not corrupt, that the corrupt ones are those accusing him of corruption and they are doing so because they wanted to succeed him and failed or they wanted jobs from him but he didn’t give them those jobs.
Nothing can be more stupid, more idiotic, more ridiculous and probably ludicrous than such a claim from these pastors. It is true that there was corruption in Kenneth Kaunda and Levy Mwanawasa’s governments. But it was not Kaunda or Mwanawasa that were found to be corrupt. In Chiluba’s case, he has been found to be corrupt, he has been found to have stolen public funds. And there are court judgments to this effect.
Probably what is making these pastors fail to see that Chiluba is corrupt is their own corruption, selfishness, greed, vanity. It is these that are blinding them from seeing and accepting the truth about Chiluba’s conduct.
If these pastors were calling on the Zambian people to forgive Chiluba, this would be understandable and in line with their pastoral duties. But to honour such a corrupt man, such a disgraceful element, such a shameless liar and crook, who takes over one million dollars from the coffers of his poor country and spends it on very expensive suits, shirts, pyjamas and shoes in Europe, is shameful and dishonourable.
They say they will honour Chiluba for declaring Zambia a Christian nation! What is Christian about this nation that they had declared Christian? Moreover, such declarations are worthless because they are not inspired by noble and selfless sentiments. We should always ask ourselves: what kind of Christian society did Chiluba try to build in this country that he declared a Christian nation? This whole declaration of Chiluba was inspired by nothing but corruption. It was an attempt to hoodwink the Zambian people into thinking he was an honest man, a God-fearing man when he was nothing but a shameless crook, liar and thief. This was all intended to divert public attention from his crimes, from his misdeeds, from his banditry. Of course, Zambians are generally God-fearing people and some fell for it.
But we shouldn’t forget that more sensible, more vigilant and more sober sections of our Christian churches didn’t fall for it. They opposed the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation. The Catholic Church opposed and still opposes Chiluba’s declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation. They instead support a circular state.
Chiluba should not be judged by empty declarations of Zambia as a Christian nation and other rhetoric but by his deeds. It is said that doing is the best way of saying. For Christians, living is the best way of believing. Faith without deeds is worthless no matter how many declarations of Christian this or Christian that accompany it.
As James stated, “what does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”(James 2:14-17).
What good deeds was Chiluba engaged in? Stealing public money and spending it on suits and women? Is this what these pastors want to honour?
Our way of life is the result of what we believe. Our way of being the church is a reflection of our concept of God. In order to know a church, the best question to ask is ‘What does your faith think about God?’ It is a mistake to think that all believers believe in the same God. We often ask ourselves if there is any similarity between the God Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu believes in and the one in whom Chiluba believes.
We do realise that the society in which we live is a society with many difficulties; our people have to make many sacrifices. And a society like ours engenders tremendous selfishness. As a general rule, it makes people selfish, turns them into people with an axe to grind, who try to gain something out of every situation. It is not characteristic of this type of society to encourage feelings of kindness and generosity in the people. And we are being told today that such a society was actually declared Christian by some crook who was once president of our country. Can such a society be considered Christian?
There are many people in the world today who call themselves Christians but do horrible things!
Christians should see corruption as an injustice. They should see the stealing of public funds, especially in a poor country like ours, with over 70 per cent of our population living in abject poverty, as unthinkable. But we should also realise that it is a sense of personal dignity, honour and duty that enables people to see things in this way and reject corruption and other injustices.
Anyway, this is not strange. Throughout history, we have seen crimes, injustices being committed in the name of religion, in the name of Christianity. Here in our region, we witnessed how Christianity was used to justify and perpetrate the horrible and inhuman political system of apartheid. We have apartheid churches, churches that preached racial discrimination and advocated their promotion and sustenance. But they still called themselves Christian.
We can understand the rabid opposition of these pastors to the prosecution of Chiluba for corruption. There were many pastors who benefitted from Chiluba’s corruption and his abuse of power and public resources. He made gigantic donations to them and their churches. After all, some of these churches are but businesses. They are even registered as companies and owned by their shareholders with a profit motive.
One can’t speak of a Christian nation in a country that is plagued by such terrible inequalities, and where people are not guaranteed even their human condition.
And let us not forget that Christ’s entire doctrine was devoted to the humble, the poor; his doctrine was devoted to fighting against abuse, injustice, corruption and the degradation of human beings. And fighting those who committed such crimes is totally in line with Christ’s teachings. And defending such acts, such injustices and corruption is totally in contradiction to Christ’s teachings.
Chiluba is a very desperate man and he can see clearly that there is no escape. He has to account for his corruption, for his thefts. And his days are numbered, his Armageddon is nearing – the day of judgment is near. Chiluba and his friends are panicking and that is why they are today trying all sorts of tricks to show themselves as victims when in fact they are properly brought before the courts of law to answer the charges of corruption laid against them. But no amount of mobilisation by misguided pastors will help Chiluba and his friends. And no amount of dirt thrown at the judiciary or the prosecutors will stop Chiluba and his friends from facing justice. What they need is to show contrition for their crimes, everything else is a waste of time and an exercise in futility.
Labels: CHILUBA, CORRUPTION
posted by MrK @ 11:14 AM
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