Apostle Suleman and why pastors need bulletproof cars

Several mixed reactions have trailed the assassination attempt of Apostle Suleman where seven lives were reportedly lost in his convoy.

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While it is evident that Suleman escaped this assassination attempt because he was in a bulletproof car, this attempt at eliminating his life shows that pastors, too, just like politicians, need to be protected. Contrary to what they themselves preach on the altar, pastors and apostles are not immune to bullets and guns and no God’s anointing can save them from bullets.

Though a number of people have decried how pastors would cruise the town in bulletproof cars while their entourage is in ordinary cars, I do not subscribe to this condemnation. Right from the days of the earliest apostles, persecution of Christians and God’s disciples has been pronounced and recurrent.

From Peter and John arrested by Sadducees, questioned by the Sanhedrin, and flogged, to Stephen who was arrested by the people, the elders and the scribes, questioned before the Sanhedrin, and stoned to death, and then King Herod (believed to be Agrippa I) executed James and imprisoned Peter, and how the Jews and Gentiles attempted unsuccessfully to stone Paul and Barnabas, and many other cases.

This persecution is a testament to the fact that there are a number of people who hate pastors and apostles for their ministries and would do anything to eliminate them. If Jesus Christ himself were alive, he would probably be flying on planes as there would be many people who would be trying to bring him down.

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What I condemn outright is the narcissistic behavior of Apostle Suleiman and his crass display of “no man can kill me” in a video he released few hours after the attack without some solemn regard to the feelings of the families of the deceased.

For a man that several sexual scandals have been associated with his name in a couple of years, this self-inflicted immunization from attack is quite telling about his character as a man of God.

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It is absolutely preposterous of him not to acknowledge that the bulletproof car was his saviour, and not God. He could have died, just like the seven people whose lives were lost.

This is where I find fault with this man. For once, a man of God must think like a human–fallible in some ways. But no, a man of God is always infallible in Nigeria, and sees himself as ‘unkillable’.

Pastors and Apostles in Nigeria must acknowledge their fallibility and frailty even though they see themselves as advanced imago dei.

In the same vein, their followers must be well aware that their pastors and apostles are fallible as well. Idolizing men of God is unchristian. Jesus Christ should be the epicentre of our worship. Anything short of this is idolatry.