SIGNS OF IDENTITY CRISIS/LOW SELF ESTEEM IN MINISTERS
By Alex Mwata
1. Walking around surrounded by a battalion of bodyguards. When asked to preach, one body guard carries his/her bible, another a water, another a towel and another a notebook, escorting him/her to the pulpit. Two or more remain on the pulpit while you preach. What became of your security dude? The more you rise, the more God becomes unreliable to provide security.
2. Excessive obsession with big titles. When introducing him/her, you risk a public rebuke if you don’t call out the titles. Mightiest prophet, Chief Apostle, Senior Arch Bishop, the Mighty man of God, prophet to the nations, Reverend, Senior pastor…just but to name a few. Why all these stuff?
3. Obsession with displaying machines they drive and houses they live in. This is normally disguised as for the glory of God yet it is for the ego of the man of God. It is as though the affluence and money validate a man of God.
4. We must be reminded constantly of countries flown to. Space has to be created within the preaching to accommodate the trip to the USA, or the UK. Occasionally there is no connection between the sermon and the trip to the UK. Sometimes accent has to be altered to prove the point.
5. Obsession with very distinct “priestly” attire. The choice of colour and design and other accompaniments has to make a clear distinction between the man of God and others. Validation is derived from these. These sometimes extends to hairstyles for men.
6. Sermons revolve around God blessing you so that your enemies are shown dust. It is to revenge against past hurts. It is about proving a point to those who laughed at you.
7. Any challenge/questioning on the man of God; he will pull a ‘touch thee not the anointed one of God.’ Threats and curses become the order of the day because of a serious identity crisis. The major tool here is control and instil fear. And you had better not leave that church. You will be cursed with a curse.
8. He is so afraid of anyone else shining in the ministry that he will just not easily give out an opportunity for someone else in the congregation to preach. Competition is the driving force. The principle is that you should never outshine your boss. Woe unto you if you praise someone other than him. And if you happen to plant a church in the same town, it is met with real war. It will be interpreted to mean you have come to fight the man of God.
9. He will constantly be reminding all who care to listen that he is the man of God of the house; he is the priest of the house and without him you cannot go anywhere. That he is the only one anointed by God. Very insecure in his calling.
10. There is an obsession to be seen to be rubbing shoulders with other “mighty” men of God; top political leaderships in the country; etc. Validation for all he/she does comes from here. You will hear several unnecessary mentions of how they shared a platform with so and so man of God; how he took tea wherever with a certain government official bla bla bla. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking tea with politicians or sharing a platform with so and so; the problem becomes when validation is derived from this.
IDENTITY CRISIS!!
.CREDIT: Church Newspaper Zambia