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  • Writer's pictureLeslie Bocobo

“I’m a pastor” or impostor?

                                                                                

Apollo Quiboloy’s world is getting smaller each day. First of all, he no longer owns it and is now reduced to just a few hectares. While it won’t be long now until he is escorted away in handcuffs far from the opulence and display of wealth and fame, he is a fugitive.

 

If you recall, Apollo Quiboloy is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, sex trafficking of children, and bulk cash smuggling.

 

Which begs the question on the Senate hearings: is it in aid of legislation or in aid of Quiboloy headed by Senate clown Bato dela Rosa? A charlatan in many ways, he has succeeded in hoodwinking a few million people who now constitute part of his flock.

 

But not all shepherds love their sheep. Many would, instead of feeding them, have them for dinner. Lamb chops?

 

Remember, false teachers can be detected through sexual sin and love of money. And it is not by checking a pastor’s doctrines primarily that we are able to distinguish the false teacher from the real one, because there are many more false teachers whose doctrines are correct.

 

If a preacher comes preaching from the Quran or the Talmud and says that Jesus Christ is not God, no true Christian will be deceived by him. But, just like Quiboloy, if someone comes preaching from the Bible and teaches all the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith, most “Christians” will not consider him as a false teacher at all.  

 

Apollo Quiboloy is one such charlatan. He is puffed up with pride and conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and debates and quarrels with words and Biblical quotes which produce envy, dissension, slander, and evil suspicions.

 

Charlatans like him are only interested in the Christian faith to the extent that it can fatten not only his belly but also his wallet. On the other hand, such persons take advantage of their sheep for their sexual appetites.

 

And they are a-plenty. He claims to be tending souls, but his true interest is ravishing bodies.

 

That is why I really have no expression over the recent opening of the 2024 Paris Olympics where drag queens took center stage on their own interpretation of the Last Supper. The devil’s most effective ambassadors are not pimps and perverts, politicians or power brokers, but pastors. His priests do not peddle a different religion, but a deadly perversion of a true one. His troops do not make a full frontal attack, but work as agents, cavorting with an opposing army. Satan’s tactics are biblical and clever.

 

Quiboloy is one such false teacher who, by boldly opposing the dark forces of evil, would surprisingly chicken out over the presence of several policemen out to arrest him.

 

This pastor-turned-impostor has made demands before his “surrender.” And one of them is that PH authorities should not allow US authorities to interfere in his case.

 

But how could this possibly be when no less than the FBI wants him for his alleged crimes which he must face as a mere mortal and not as a son of god?

 

His followers, and I would like to believe are genuine Bible believers, should tell him to surrender peacefully to his arresting officers and face his accusers.

 

This should be the immediate action of any person who believes he is faultless from all the accusations hurled against him. But even his blind followers believe he is an innocent man.

 

And this is where the trouble begins when fanaticism blinds anyone from the truth and from the reality of this world. Apollo Quiboloy has enriched himself from tithes and offerings of his flock.

 

And only God (not him) knows how many other pledges, gifts, and financial blessings have been given to him for his ministry and for the building of his church and his kingdom or the “New Jerusalem.” In doing so, his followers – and I am sure many of them are lawyers, would very well be in a position to give him sound legal advice to face his accusers and surrender to the court for his arraignment – whether in PH or in the US. Incidentally, his bosom friend, former President Rodrigo Duterte is a lawyer and a former prosecutor.

 

So instead of Duterte bragging about his knowledge of Quiboloy’s whereabouts but would not say where, Duterte could be held for questioning for obstruction of justice.

 

He can be Quiboloy’s lawyer and this would certainly be interesting. Imagine the possibility of a client-lawyer relationship meeting in prison and both remaining there? That would be a sight to behold.

 

-o0o-

 

Random Memorandum: The BRP Sierra Madre is marooned on purpose on the Second Thomas Shoal, in the Spratly Islands.

 

Since 1999, it has effectively been a shipwreck with a mission, and that is to send a message to China that the Philippines has used it to symbolize how far and how much PH’s sovereignty and sovereign rights stretch.

 

-o0o-

 

Factoid: Forbes magazine included former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as one of the ‘100 Most Powerful Women in the World’ from 2004 – 2009. She was ranked 4th in the 2005 list.

 

(Leslie Bocobo is a former Special Assistant to the Secretary at the Office of the Press Secretary, Malacañang, and a former Public Affairs Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources)

 


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