Pastors are chosen and called among many to serve and save mankind from sin.
Their nature of call requires one to fully dedicate and commit themselves to the will of the caller-God.
The Bible records a number of accounts of first apostles such as Paul and Peter who-times without number-suffered persecution for their faith and calling.
Yet, they remained steadfast in their faith to the caller and sender-God-until they accomplished their tasks.
They understood that their call implied sacrificing one’s own leisure, hobbies and posh lifestyles to deliver mankind from sin.
These first apostles never allowed anything to separate them from their call.
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword? Just as it is written: ‘For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we have been accounted as sheep for slaughtering,’” they would say.
A serious meditation on this verse leaves one wondering whether it is the same God that called apostles such as Peter and Paul who also anointed and sent modern pastors.
Take, for instance, the turn of events in the firing of some pastors for refusing to lead the flock in rural areas.
The pastors contend that their firing by superiors make them victims of victimisation.
Principal Pastor of the Chipangano Church in Mzimba, Mjeruzge Nyirenda, says pastors and apostles who refuse to serve in remote areas devoid of entertainment centres and luxuries could be motivated by something else other than service to the Lord.
He cites Apostle Paul, who in one of his epistles, challenged that there is nothing in the world that could separate him from his call to service.
Paul says in the concerned epistle: “To the contrary, in all these things we are coming off completely victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death or life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“From this scripture, Paul proved to be a pastor who had accepted to go anywhere in the world-including areas which have no electricity and entertainment joints and halls-as long the spirit of the Lord sent him there. But how many of the modern apostles and pastors accept to minister in rural areas just like Jesus and his disciples did?” asks Nyirenda.
Nyirenda says drawing from the two parallels; one is bound to conclude that modern pastors and apostles are motivated by earthly wealth when venturing into spiritual ministries.
Pastor Robins Zimba of the Last Church of God believes majority of the modern and town-based pastors and apostles are not genuine and do not profess the faith that Jesus Christ preached.
Zimba argues that genuine pastors and apostles are those that do accept to serve their God anywhere, including the most risky for their own life.
“After all, the ultimate goal to a pastor or apostle is to receive the kingdom of God after spreading the gospel. A pastor or apostle should not start creating boundaries. Otherwise, such a pastor or apostle doesn’t profess the true faith of Jesus Christ,” he explains. n
