SHOULD MEN OF GOD HAVE BODYGUARDS?

                                     
          PHOTO CAPTION:   (ABOVE) A MAN OF GOD HEMMED IN BY BODYGUARDS

There is something that puzzles me. It is the tendency with which so-called men of God nowadays surround themselves with security guards when they go around.

They are hemmed in because they have these so-called bouncers to the right, to the left, to the back and to the front. So, I wonder where they have left God in such moments to be able to trust their security so completely in the hands of fellow human beings in the name of security men. When one watches them, one has the impression that in a way, the show they are putting on is not different from that which one witnesses when a Head of State passes. 

To say the truth, men of God have built a veritable personality cult around themselves. It becomes difficult to see them, even when one has taken a prior appointment. There is a lot of red tape and bureaucracy that stands in the way. Audience forms have to be filled out and in addition, the visitor – very likely someone in dire need of being delivered from an urgent situation – has to be subjected to a string of intermediary officials who are interposed between the man of God and the escorts.

That makes me ask the question: did Jesus go around with such henchmen? The answer is that unless I`m mistaken, he didn`t. Instead, when an attempt was made at assaulting him like when the Roman soldiers were about to seize him after Judas gave him away by planting the treacherous kiss on him, one of his disciples, Simon Peter drew his sword and struck off the right ear of the high priest`s servant – thus posing as a bodyguard to Jesus. The Master nullified Simon Peter`s action by rebuking him and ordering him to put back his sword. Jesus went further and restored the fallen ear of the servant. 

So, where have our men of God of today come from with this idea that they must parade the world with bodyguards? The action is intimidating, to say the least.

Is it because, like someone said to me recently, we have now started “worshiping the man of God instead of the God of man”?