Most Pastors Are Called By Their Bellies,Not God  — Rev. George John

Reverend George C. John of Christ the Way, the Truth and Life Church is renowned for his blunt but frank approach to interpreting biblical issues. Once a cultist, a businessman and a politician, he spoke with NGOZI EMEDOLIBE about some burning issues in  Christendom.  Excerpts.

So many money-gulping projects are going on in this church at the same time. Where is your strength from?
Our strength is from God. When we were at Kotangwa area, God said He would give us a place that would contain both the tabernacle and the pastor's house. He did it. Again, He said He would take us to our own place, a place that would be about four plots. The agents said it was not going to be possible, but again He did it, and gave us exactly what He promised. It's exactly the size He promised. We got this space without paying any commission. He said He would do it, and He has.
Often times, you hear pastors saying God told them this and that. How does this talking happen? When do you know that God is talking?
A lot of people today, really don't know how God talks. God can speak to man through vision, dreams, speaking in tongues, prophecy. It varies according to individuals, and how it pleases God to talk to that particular person. But so many times, such messages received by man, comes from Satan. Satan does miracles too. Some people also think God is talking to them, when actually their mind is talking. A young man can look at somebody's car and go to bed and begin to dream of the car. Such dreams come from malaria. Such people come out and begin to say 'Thus says the Lord', but that is their mind. It also happens a lot among young men and women as regards marriage, but that is a message from one's mind. Usually, it is advisable to always relate every particular dream to a true man of God for interpretation.
How will one identify a true man of God?
Right. I once went to a hospital to pray for someone, and they asked me this particular question. The wife of the medical director accosted me and asked me why I criticize a lot of men of God. I told her I do that because a lot of them are deceiving people with lies. Over 90% of them, the pastors, are liars. Some pastors are not called by God. Some were called by their bellies. Some are too lazy, and can't work, but they will tell you that God called them. When I was asked that question, God provided the answer. He said anybody he called must live life worthy of the gospel. Any pastor, who has divorced his wife, has no duty standing on the pulpit as a pastor.
Many of these pastors mess up with married women. God will always vindicate His ministry. You will see the hand of God. He did it when Moses and Aaron faced the magicians of Egypt. A true man of God will see the finger of God in his ministry. He may not be the richest person or the most popular,but there will always be signs and wonders, miracles; not the type done with charms. Many men of God have turned to 'judokas' because they want you to fall down.
Is that all that makes a true man of God?
The preacher must say what the Lord said, no addition, no subtraction. Any preacher who believes that baptism is with the father, Son and the Holy Ghost is of the devil. They do this in Roman Catholic. In some churches women are preachers. A woman should not be a pastor. That's devilish.  A divorcee should not be a pastor as well.
A divorcee shouldn't be a pastor? What if the pastor is 'blessed' with a bad wife?
If God calls you, He will give you a good wife from the onset. Before the person is born, God would have programmed what he would become. If a minister divorces his wife, what signal is he sending to his members? His church is nothing but a church of divorcees.
I see some sick people here. Do you heal the sick?
I don't heal the sick. God does. People with afflictions come in for prayers. What we do is to pray for the demons to leave them.
Is there a spiritual angle to all illnesses?
There is, unless God decides not to answer one's prayers. Some come from ancestral curses, from demons running after the person when the person does not even know it. Some times, one could be fed in the dream too, but not in all cases. There are times you eat in the dream, and it would not mean that you have been initiated.
Some people also position themselves to attract the demons. If a person is in sin, demons can follow him.
You said sprinkling in baptism is bad. Which is good?
Most churches in CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) and PFN (Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria) are wrong. They have no business with God. In the Bible, baptism involves immersing in water. But these Bible schools and seminaries have changed all these. Any pastor that goes to school to study God is a fool. God will reveal himself to you, if He finds you a worthy vessel. He will reveal Himself to you. Anybody who does otherwise will not make rapture.
If one is not baptized in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, one will not make rapture. CAN, PFN and Roman Catholic are all wrong.
PFN and CAN are wrong. Where do you belong?
We are children of God. We are the bride of Christ, the true end-time ministry.
There are churches everywhere, yet crimes and hatred are rising. Why?
Satan is at work. All these establishments called churches are not of Christ. Some pastors have driven Christ away from their churches. The highest place you can see demons now is in the church. Some pastors called themselves.
Let's talk marriage. When should a person be prepared to marry?
It depends on the circumstances. If it is an only child it could come earlier, but if a young man sees that nothing is happening. It is not advisable, because the wife and children will suffer. It is not a matter of age, but I don't advise someone who is too young to marry.
What's the position of the Bible on the situation where the woman becomes the head because she is richer?
The man is the head. But if the woman finds herself richer, she should realize that the man is the head. It's only a rebellious woman who would do that, especially those women who cut their hair, who wear low-cut.
Is the church the best place to get a spouse?
If I say yes, the question is where is the church? Is it these churches where pastors are 'perming' their hair? Where pastors are divorcee? You can seek a spouse in a true church of God.
Match-making is going on in most churches, is it approved in the Bible?
In this church, a woman does not indicate her interest first. The Bible says, the man should find, not the woman. In our church, it is a process backed up with prayers.
You seem reluctant to believe that Nigeria will improve?
Nigeria will improve if everyone turns to God. Nigeria as a nation went wrong, when they cut off bilateral relations with Isreal, and in the history of the world, any nation that turns against Isreal is doomed. Again FESTAC 77, saw demons from everywhere brought into Nigeria. Have those demons left us?
So what is the solution?
Everyone from the president must turn to God.
Some pastors live flamboyant lives, flying in private jets, when their members are dying in hunger.
It depends. Personally, I do not have need for a private jet, but if a ministry grows, to the extent that a minister has to be in Port Harcourt, Abuja and Maiduguri in one day, then there is need for it considering our poor road network.