Collecting money from vulnerable people is not what ministry is. Some preachers are experts in doing this.
They duplicate Elijah's instruction to the widow of Zarephath to the extent that people without money no longer want to go to church or feel comfortable in church again.
Recently, I was away in another city in Nigeria, and a lady who had issues with her marriage narrated how pastors exploited her.
Some instructed her to sow 'seeds' according to her age. For example, if she's age 52, sowing a seed of #52,000 is what she's told to give so that God can attend to her situation.
This line of scam was thrown at her by different pastors using the widow of Zarephat encounter with Elijah, she said.
Then there were those who collected 100k each from her. Why? Because she sought-after their counsel over the issue in her marriage.
One of the passages in scripture often being used by preachers to exploit vulnerable people is the encounter between Prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephat.
Did Elijah exploit this widow who had lost an husband that left unsettled bills for her and the children he left behind? Or he came as the solution to her economic crisis?
Let's review 1 Kings 17 to establish the truth. This is the most abused scriptures hungry prophets always depend upon to mount pressure on people to part with all they have left.
In 1 Kings 17, after Elijah communicated the word of the Lord to Ahab, God told him to go hide himself by the brook Cherith.
He told him to drink of the brook. Also, the ravens were commanded to feed him there.
According to the word of the Lord to Elijah, the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
But after a while the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Arise, go to Zarephath, I have COMMANDED a widow there to provide for you."
There are multiples of questions to ask when we read this passage of scripture. Firstly, why did God send his prophet to a poor widow who was struggling to survive?
Obviosly, God didn't send him to wreck and take advantage of a struggling widow. He sent him to fix a situation. And by fixing a situation, he was provided for.
This is the principle of sowing and reaping. Elijah fixed the situation of financial drought in the life of the widow, and he too was provided for.
Secondly, did the encounter between Elijah and the widow leave her with regrettable wounds or left her in the same situation?
If she had remained broke after meeting the prophet, then it could have been said that she was exploited. But that wasn't the case.
Now the point is, Elijah didn't go to a poor widow on his own. God told him to go to her because he had COMMANDED her to provide for him in Zarephath. You see that?
The woman was already briefed divinely and commanded to attend to Elijah. Also, the woman confirmed to Elijah that God truly sent him.
The Zarephath principle only applies when God speaks to all parties independently. The woman heard God privately before Elijah came to her.
It wasn't Elijah that told her, "Thus says the Lord..." She heard God because she was commanded.
The encounter between the duo in scripture is not focused on telling people to part with all they have left to preachers. That isn't the idea that God is pointing out.
The message is about yielding to divine instruction. The blessing is in the instruction, not in one's greed.
So if an hungry prophet tells anyone to empty herself when God has not specifically told her anything, you will only end up feeding his greed.
That's greed and covetousness at play in collabo! No man has the prerogative to tell us what God hasn't first told us or inspire in our heart to do.
God commanded the widow first before instructing Elijah to go to her. And Elijah went to her as a solution, not to compound her issues.
So please don't let any hungry prophet to bankrupt you because of a message on Zarephath's anointing.
Elijah didn't just go to her to be provided for, he went there to fix a situation. He brought prosperity to her and her household.
He gave her and her household an unending streams of income, brought their son back to life and gave them a reason for living.
And at the end of the story the woman told Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth."
If this is not your experience with any prophet that you have had encounters with, then you are being exploited.
You need healing. I apologize to you on behalf of the church.
God bless you richly.