The Holy Spirit has recently been inspiring me to start talking about this menace. But due to its sensitivity, I had been taking my time to think about the best approach to take that will not be counter-productive to the church. Gone are the days when the things that shocked the sensibilities of Christians of my generation will even scratch the surface of the conviction of believers in this generation. For the most part, many of us have become docile, insensitive and completely numbed to the current dangers that sexual immorality now poses to the advancement of the gospel and the influence of the church in our days.

STANDING IN THE GAP FOR OTHERS IS CRITICAL AT THIS TIME

I recall very vividly that in a particular year, close to three decades ago, a beloved minister in a part of Nigeria was caught up in a moral failure, he fell into sexual immorality, and my generation, myself and friends upon hearing, broke down in tears, crying like babies as to why this faithful servant of God was caught up in this mess. One of my friends told me, "I wept all through the night". We prayed out ourselves with several days of fastings to seek mercies from the God of heaven for the restoration of his soul. Thankfully, the God of heaven heard our cries with those of others; He had mercy on his servant.

SEXUAL IMMORALITY HAS BECOME COMMONPLACE IN THE CHURCH OF GOD

But the conviction of our present generation has been so much damaged and bewitched beyond any ecclesiastical imagination to continue to treat with levity that which constantly grieves the Holy Spirit. If there is anything that has become an institutionalized pandemic in the body of Christ, it is sexual immorality. And to make matters worse, it is a full-blown institution of sin among ministers of the gospel, some of whom are leaders in the body of Christ. It is one thing to fall into sin, repent and move on. It is another thing to live in the sin with reckless abandon, daring all and sundry that dare to question your private lives, on account of the results you exhibit in your public life.

TO KILL EVIL, WE MUST EXPOSE EVIL

God is calling ministers of God in Nigeria, to whom I am primarily sent, back to the place of purity, holiness and sexual accountability. These pollutions have reached an all-time high in heaven. It is on record that there is an avalanche of sexual scandals in many of our churches with some of the most unbelievable details that are beyond the scope of this medium. I cannot discuss these details in public. But to kill evil, we must expose evil, by at least sensitizing the body of Christ in the spirit of love that this evil exists. We must also speak out to alert the world that some of us are not silent about evil, and although, the integrity of the church must be protected, we still have the responsibility to set the trumpet of repentance on our mouths, and call the body of Christ to the need for widespread institutional repentance.

SEXUAL SCANDALS HAVE GRAVE CONSEQUENCES

A lot of our pastors are using sex as a church growth ritual. You can take that to the bank. Some are trapped in it as a work of the flesh because of the distorted grace teachings that they've been fed. To a large extent, the consequences of these numerous sex scandals in the church have been lethal and fatal: Many young people are backsliding and becoming atheists. Many young women have lost their lives to abortions. Many marriages have been wrecked. And the number of single women and single mothers are rising astronomically. And should we remain silent and hand over the same baton of sexual recklessness to the younger generation?

WE ARE IN THE SEASON OF CLEANSING AND JUDGEMENT

My job in this article is very simple: to raise an alarm that there is fire on the mountain. The scale and scope of sexual pervasion in the church, and sadly among many ministers have escalated and are ripely responsible for many of the current crises in the body of Christ. Let us all repent and go back to purity and holiness of heart. Let all church leaders that are involved in this menace repent before God and clean up their lives. Let all ministers that are keeping side chicks, as they call them, repent, and dissolve such relationships. And let all ministers of the gospel who use sex as rituals for power, wealth and church growth come back to God. And if you are caught up in this web and are looking for deliverance, please don't keep quiet. Secrecy is the natural habitat for sin. Look for matured, trusted and God-fearing ministers and confess to them. We have already entered the season of cleansing and judgment in the church. Don't forget, God does not always settle his account on the 30th of every month!

FLEE SEXUAL IMMORALITY (1 CORINTHIANS 6:18)

He was one of the mighty prophets in the days of Apostle Ayo Babalola. An extremely anointed and gifted prophet of God who was used mightily by God in almost the same ways God used Apostle Babalola. But his account of exploits was not well documented for the coming generation, our own generation, in particular. But for those who knew this great servant of God, his final days were beclouded and shrouded in the dark clouds of a major sexual scandal that unfortunately ended his ministry. According to his story which I was told by a prophet of God, this man of God would organize back-to-back crusades and revival meetings that attracted thousands upon thousands of people. The blind saw. The lame walked. He was a terror to the community of witches in the whole Southwest part of Nigeria. In fact, in some quarters, many people felt like this man of God was underrated and should have been given the same publicity that the ministry of Apostle Ayo Babalola received, given the scale and scope of the mighty works God did through him.

A TRAP WAS SET FOR HIM

Being such a terror to the kingdom of darkness in the whole region where he operated from, they devised a strategy to get him after all other options to stop him had failed. Very close to the prophet's house was a young lady and her mother, both of whom were active members of the council of witches in this city. So here was the plan: Whenever the prophet returned from his crusades, tired and worn out, this young girl, under instructions from his mother would collapse, feigning sickness, and then they would send someone to the prophet’s house to quickly hurry him down to their house to pray for the girl. This was planned to coincide with the exact time the prophet arrived home from his crusades, tired and drained out. This process was repeated for months. They didn”t rush. As soon as the prophet returned from his crusades, even before he sat down, someone would bang into his house, crying and weeping, “Ah baba, baba, it's Dedunke again. She's convulsing”. Please come and pray for her.

THE TRAP WAS A BEAUTIFUL GIRL

And then the prophet would rush out to pray for Dedunke, and then she would be healed instantly. Then one day, the same process was repeated, but this time around, Dedunke, herself was sent to bang into the prophet’s house in very loose clothes as soon as they sighted him, coming into his house from his revival meeting. On this particular day, Dedunke entered into the house, collapsed to the floor, and the prophet, who had just removed his clothes and was only in his towels, rushed out when he heard the crying of, “Baba please help me”. As soon as the prophet bent over her to pray for her, she grabbed the prophet to herself, and the prophet, totally burnt out and worn out from his just concluded meeting, pounced on her and slept with her. The council of witches had won. In the days that followed, the prophet fell sick to a strange illness, and later died. What a loss to the kingdom. The whole city was shocked. His ministry had ended in shame and reproach. What a tragedy!

SPIRITUAL SENSIBILITY IS ESSENTIAL FOR CHRISTIANS AND MEN OF GOD

What is the lesson in this story? Spiritual sensitivity. Understanding that every believer in Christ- male or female – and particularly, every preacher of the gospel is one sexual scandal away from a fatal fall that they may never recover from. Most people that fell didn’t plan to fall. There is nothing like, “I can’t fall”. Once you are standing on that arrogant premise, you have already signed a contract for a fall. Every one of us is capable of any sin, given the right environment. It is important to understand that sexual temptation is Satan's strongest weapon for ruining ministries and destroying ministers. It is such a potent weapon in the hands of the devil. And Satan always uses human agents to carry out his agenda against every faithful minister. You have to flee from it. You have to be very careful and sensitive. You have to take off your mind from this delusion, “the Lord will forgive me if I fall”.

MINISTERS ARE PRIME TARGETS

The forgiveness of God is more merciful than the laws of sowing and reaping. One casual sex can collect forty years of ministerial progress from you. A lot of pastors have been trapped and are looking for reprieves. Don’t stay silent. There is at least one trustworthy person that you can talk to. Silence is the natural habitat for sin. Don’t play God over people. Don’t let people’s emergencies become your own emergency too. Walk in the spirit. Run from it. Flee from it. You are only looking at forgiveness. Satan will never let you see the other side of things. As a minister of the gospel, you're a prime target for ministerial elimination through sexual scandals. You must never trade your ministry for temporary sexual enjoyment. You may never be able to recover from the consequences.

THE SEVEN SEXUAL PITFALLS THAT EVERY MINISTER MUST AVOID

“And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not” (Rev 2:21)

This is one of the most difficult subjects for me to teach because of its level of sensitivity and the need to preserve the dignity of the body of Christ in the face of the public. But I must obey the Holy Spirit, no matter what. It is a message for the moment as a lot of people are groaning in the hands of Satan on account of this menace.

1. From my personal findings, a lot of pastors fell into sexual scandals as a result of prolonged marital crises or as a result of deliberate decisions of their spouses to punish them through sex-starvation. Consequently, Satan hijacked this situation, and the door to extra-marital affairs was opened to these pastors. I have personally spoken to some pastors in this exact situation. Unfortunately, the spouses doing this are being used by Satan to destroy the ministry. If you're going through this experience, speak out.
2. Maybe you don’t know. But let me bring it to your notice that there is presently a major ritual for church growth, fame, power and wealth accumulation among some league of pastors that must be sustained by continued “sexual intercourse”. And this evil is spreading like wildfire even beyond the scope of our imagination. These pastors may not even like to do it, but they must do it to sustain the powers that bring crowd, fame, influence and money to them. And to make matters worse, these pastors, some of whom are famous, have the mandate to recruit as many pastors as possible into their camp. So, what they sometimes do is to use female protocols, ushers and others like that to lure invited ministers into the same click. It is a deadly fold whose path leads to hell.
3. The distorted message of hyper-grace that a lot of pastors in Africa have copied from America has led to the loss of the supernatural power of God that is needed to sustain many of the proponents of these distorted grace teachings. Consequently, many of them see adultery or any other extra-marital sexual experience as a character flaw that has nothing to do with their stand with God. Afterall, “Sin is dead” and as a New Testament believer, “I cannot sin”. As a result, they do whatever they like with their bodies.
4. A lot of pastors that have fallen into sexual immorality and are still living in it were drawn into it by their mentors or spiritual fathers. In many occasions, many of them are privy to the private lives of their mentors. The man of God has two faces. On the pulpit, miracles are happening. The word is sharp. In his privacy, the man is having secret relationships. Consequently, in their hearts, it appears like, “this thing is not that serious as people paint it, afterall Papa did it and his ministry is still flourishing”.
5. A lot of pastors are reckless. They hug everybody in the name of “love”. They hold the opposite sex on their waists; they ask single or married ladies to seat on their laps in their offices; they are very loose when exchanging chats with the opposite sex calling every tom, dick and harry, various names that should only be given to their wives, “my love”, “my sweet heart”, “honey”, etc. While it may appear as if these appellations mean nothing, they drive the nails of love and affection into the hearts of the receivers, which ultimately becomes the burial ground of the pastor in the days to come
6. A lot of pastors are extremely careless. They care less about where they counsel the opposite sex. They meet them in remote places. They meet them in private and secluded places. They lock the doors behind and seat very close to them. A lot of pastors have met their waterloo in this way. Many don’t even tell their wives about their movements. Consequently, it is very easy for them to fall flat when a very serious agent of the devil is sent to bring them down.
7. A lot of sexual scandals in ministry are also traceable to mental health breakdowns. It has been proven scientifically that people suffering from Bipolar have very extreme sexual appetite – they are never satisfied sexually – and they will look for sex in awkward and strange places that may often defy logic – including for example – sleeping with teenagers; married people and vulnerable people.

If you are going through any of these crises, please speak out to matured and trusted ministers whom you know are living beyond reproach and can protect your privacy. There are still many faithful pastors whom you can talk to. If you hide it, Satan will continue to torment you until he finally ruins your ministry and sends you to hell. Sexual immorality is not a weakness. It is a terrible sin before God which if not repented of can land the perpetrators in hell. Please don't let anyone deceive you. Here what Jesus said to the church in Thyatria about sexual immorality. This was in the time of grace. Here is Jesus warning the church in Thyatria to repent of their sin of fornication. So, where did our hypergrace teachers get their teachings from that sin is dead? DEAR MINISTER, RUN FROM SEXUAL IMMORALITY

Revelations 2: 20-24

“Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works”

•Ayo Akerele, a leadership and system development strategist and minister of the word holds a doctorate degree in employee turnover and human capital development from the prestigious Edinburgh Business School, Edinburgh, Scotland. He is based in Canada and can be reached at: ayoakerele2012@gmail.com