Permit me to speculate. While the official spiel for the retirement of Bishop David Abioye from Living Faith was attainment of the age of 60, he was probably turfed out because his eyes “chook pass” the capo de tutti capi’s. Takes some doing to “outchook” a pair of eyes capable of squeezing money from every Biblical verse. Maybe, just maybe, the capo was afraid that the consigliere could attempt a takeover, something unheard of in the Cosa Nostra ecosystem.
But the church ain’t the Cosa Nostra, and then, I’m only speculating. Well, public sentiment was on Abioye’s side when he exited Living Faith. He was deemed to have been treated in a squalid fashion and projected as a different being from his grasping boss. He may just be a more grasping person. I just watched the video in which he said sickness is better than poverty, a daft claim made to scare followers into loosening their purse strings for his new church.
Abioye is from the casino Christianity background, one which desires to make a high roller of every member. The more money you give, the more blessings you get go the narrative. The metrics are still things of the world, to which Christians say they don’t belong. It is Yahoo theology. Watch Abioye push that nonsense with traffic-warden energy, the type you see Ibieyomie give off.
Not one person, I continued to repeat, followed Jesus, and became rich. That shows that the goal of Christianity isn’t material wealth. Pastortainity is, however, a different faith. It is an insensitive faith. It is CBEX. It is not just mean, but median and mode (pardon that).
Abioye’s claim that sickness is better than poverty came from a heart of granite. Would he say that if he were the father of a cancer-afflicted five-year old? Would he not sell off everything he’s got if he could get a cure for his child? I see kids with hydrocephalus at neurology clinics, and their sight rips me up every time. It does nothing to people like Abioye, obviously. Would a parent of a child in that condition think Abioye was making sense? Unlikely.
Abioye doesn’t care about people. He wasn’t trained to care. He was trained to have the naturalness of an animal, the reason that type of bilge came from him. I’m sure he’d not say the same thing if he had two strokes or malignant brain tumour. Or a full-blown warty body like those creatures in sci-fi movies. Watch out the world! This guy is a different animal. He’d take from the deaf, dumb, blind and lame. He’d smash shins and kneecaps, including old people’s, if that’s what is needed to trouser more money.
He’s already claimed that Jesus is the recipient of tithe, the payment of which He didn’t teach or command. The Bishop is extortion on two legs. Zero, apologies for anything written here.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
