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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you