5 Major Reasons Religion Is the No.1 Cause of Poverty in Africa

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it was karl marx

who say that religion is the opium of

the poor

religion has been historically used

as a means to systematically oppress

suppress

and take control of resources

by the elite from the poor and please

don’t confuse it with spirituality

now as a reverend i’ll focus on

christianity

but islam and traditional beliefs do

certainly take their own share

here i am a reverend okay and

why would i speak so critically of

religion

well let me tell you a few things about

myself first i’m a born again

christian i’m spirit-filled

i’m tongue-speaking i’m charismatic

evangelical so that gives you an idea

where i stand 23 years been saved

17 of those years a minister of the

gospel

sat under some of the most amazing human

beings

but also sun under some very interesting

people i

learned something very interesting in

that period i learned that

a number of people within religious

institutions

aren’t really about shepherding

grounding discipling

and releasing but more about

manipulation

control and selfish

gain but i think

the biggest lesson that i learned is

just

how religion and i really use that word

religion

shackles people to personalities

and institutions i learned a very bitter

truth

and here’s that truth religion

is the number one tool for mind control

from the elite for the ordinary

now there are three distinct ways that

sorry five distinct ways that this

happens

now before i do so i have to give some

credit

to something most people especially for

me as a christian

know jesus christ that’s who we follow

what is amazing is that jesus christ

was perhaps one of the most

anti-religious people

i ever came across in fact jesus

out his life on earth preached the

kingdom not institutions

he was so anti-religious

that in matthew chapter 23 in the bible

you get an entire

scathing attack against the religious

leaders of the day

so scathing that it literally sealed

this fate

death by crucifixion

so let’s ask ourselves this question

exactly how has the ruling class

used religion to oppress and suppress

so let’s walk you through five key ways

that i’ve learned

the first one is that they’ve used it as

a means of control

okay so religion has been used

throughout history

to ensure that the elite can take

control

of the simple and they’ve done this in

three very specific ways

the first is to push the concept of

matador

and what’s that that’s basically the

idea that

you go out there and you do

all you can including dying if possible

for the purposes of your religious

agenda what’s so interesting

is that this is done for leaders but the

saddest part though

is that some people are so fervent about

this

that they go as far as blowing up people

as we know very well through the antics

of

boko haram and al-shabab the second

method

is the suffering model okay

pie in the sky life will be good for you

when you get in the kingdom of the

hereafter

so suffer suffer suffer the more you

suffer

the holier you are the irony as always

is that it’s the disciples that suffer

the third one is that money is evil

and there’s two really badly misquoted

scriptures

that are used to exacerbate this

the first one and you all know it it is

easier for a

rich for a camel to go through the eye

of a needle

than for a rich man to enter the kingdom

of god

and the second one just as badly

misquoted

the love of money is the root of all

evil

ladies and gentlemen those two

statements

have done more harm towards

wealth creation and the concept of

health and

of wealth in africa global finance

magazine 2020 figures

of the 20th poorest countries in the

world 16

are in africa 16.

i me just think about that ask any

african

we pray the most we fast the most

we’re the most fervent religious people

i know

and yet all the poverty

so does that mean prayer doesn’t work of

course it does

all i need to do is point you to

countries that are religious but very

rich

the usa israel

united arab emirates bahrain

so if there are countries that are rich

yet

there are people that are poor like us

something is wrong

anyway let’s get back to our list shall

we

at number four or is it number two let’s

go with number two because that was

number one so number two

is the justification of kingdoms and

empires

there’s a reason ladies and gentlemen

why

in chess you have castles you have king

queen

and a bishop in the night

you see there is no greater person

that can justify political control than

a religious person

and so throughout history religion has

justified the elite they call them the

noble

they call them the blue blood and

if you bring it close to home they are

called the anointed

third is slavery and

it’s one of the darkest chapters

in the history of mankind i mean for a

period

a group of people came

forced religious christianity on another

group

and then captured and enslaved them

shipped them across the atlantic as

slaves

and to justify all this they say the

bible

justifies this slaves

in fact black people are inferior

and white people are superior

and it took centuries before

abolitionists and

and and human rights activists came

round

to fight this revulsive

behavior but that’s not before

the toll had been done

and here’s the big deal this whole

entire scene of slavery

set the tone for the fourth factor

colonialism i’ll be honest with

every one of us here colonialism was the

back end of christianity

see when the missionaries were sent over

those that sent the missionaries had an

agenda they called it the three c’s

civilize christianize

commercialize

so they came over

but here’s something very interesting as

they began to do their work

they brought a very powerful meme

an image of the white jesus

blonde hair blue eyes

guy looked just like the missionaries

i mean and i’ll be honest with you it

was

powerful it worked

to make matters worse they took our

names and said ah these are

pagan demonic names you better get

christian names

what’s interesting you all know is that

the christian names were nothing but

english names or french names or

portuguese names they were really not

christian as if that wasn’t enough

ethnic groups they divided us by the

color of our scheme

at the top of the food chain where the

whites and then followed the indians

and then followed the coloreds and right

at the bottom where

the blacks but you see the worst was yet

to come

which is my fifth point

white supremacy you know what is

sad is that white supremacy

was it had its greatest advocate

in religious christianity it was

religious christianity

that pushed the concept an idea that

whites are actually supreme and superior

to blacks truth is

that religious christianity was used as

a trojan horse

to hide this very evil seed

and of course don’t forget the

linguistic terms like

white is good black is bad white listed

blacklisted white market

black market throw in

a good chunk of slavery appetite

jim crolls really

justified again by the bible

and then this was enforced by the use of

lynching

killing disenfranchisement

of black people inferior education

inferior opportunities

and what that god did was essentially

kept the black people enslaved through

conditioning

and bear in mind this took centuries

the seed that was further sown which is

so evil

also was the use of linguistics language

words

i apologize in advance because this is

dead

but i have to use this word one good

example

of the use of words caricature

terminologies

is the word

the word and all its related

terms

was used to further enforce

the idea of the inferiority of a black

man

you can actually take some some time and

go visit the ferris state university jim

crow museum

of racist memorabilia and actually learn

for yourself just how harmful it was the

irony

ladies and gentlemen is that these very

terms

have become the reality today and so

therefore lies the proof in what i’ve

just said

blacks actually now believe they’re so

cursed and so inferior

that the only way they can measure up is

by

looking like the very oppressor that

brought them

down and skin bleaching is a good

example

another one is the use of the word

which you know mean white man

or big boss and those by the way are

terms used for

fellow blacks that are seen to be

progressing

let me illustrate with a real example i

have a friend of mine who

got a very good contract recently a deal

where he was going to distribute a

particular product across a chain

and so he put together a deal prepared

some presentation got all his details

went and pitched unfortunately

in spite of meeting all the

conditionalities his deal was turned

down

he had some insight so what did he do he

called his partners

in south africa who were white by the

way hahaha

and have them come over and then they

pitched with him nowhere in sight

i think you know what happened let’s

just say that he has the deal now

his deal and his business is everywhere

but here’s the part that’s

really sobering

the people he spoke to and pitched were

indigenous

african blacks like you and me

today we have seen that many africans

are now at a stage because of all this

conditioning i’ve said

that we’re just about to exchange for

another

new kid on the block the chinese

so what are we doing what’s the solution

how do we come out of all this

well my solutions are not going to be

fun

but this is ted ideas worth spreading

so number one we need to unshackle

ourselves from the mental chains of

religious

dogma and mind control

which is really what religion is about

freedom

of the truth must be a substitute

further we must stop following rules and

regulations rituals

and get to the liberty of the truth

furthermore we must dis you know there’s

so much

distance in religious ceremonies and

and procedures worsened by mediators

with selfish motives

we need to eliminate that distance we

need to get to a place where we know

the creator and person and know the

truth in

him and when that happens it leads to an

epiphany of clarity of purpose and

destiny

listen it’s spirituality centered within

that’s the key

not really just a dissented without

around institutions and people

but here’s my big thing we need a

mindset change

and no no it’s not just a phrase because

mindset change or paradigm that’s a big

thing nowadays but no no no no

i’m talking about a serious

reprogramming

lastly we need empowerment

and that empowerment comes from

empowering education something that’s

really

about releasing people into destiny

not keeping them subservient to an

institution forever and ever till

kingdom

come

i’m gonna end with this saying that you

all know

it says give a man fish

and you feed him for a day

but teach the man to fish and you feed

him

for a lifetime but you know something

i want us to be disruptive completely

forget about teaching the man to fish

here’s the deal empower the man

to own the lake

and you feed him for generations after

him

ladies and gentlemen

africans must learn the empowering truth

and will no longer be

in severe bondage of religion and its

impoverishing hold but instead

we’ll see wealth for all citizens of

this very rich continent

i thank you

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