A STRANGE PREACHER ON MY ALTAROne day, within the first five years of my being in an independent ministry, a young smooth talking young man came in. words came out of his mouth with ease. It will not be an overstatement to say that his mouth ran like a tap. He was as eloquent as a radio writer.He told me the kind of things that I would like to hear. I was a young man who just started ministry with little or no experience and I was very anxious to grow the work. Little did I now that it was not my work and I did not need to be desperate about anything. He said he had not come to preach but to share his testimony. He claimed to be a former witch, occultist, and armed robber now in Christ! I realized that was the kind of story that people would love to listen to.Without crosschecking, I made posters and handbills. We shared them day and night to make sure a large number of people came to listen to what we considered a wonderful testimony. We combed the entire city and promised help to anyone that wanted to come but could not for financial reason.One d-day, the hall over-flowed. The crowd kept on increasing each new day till we had no more space for people to stand and listen.The man was up to his billing and his message kept the people at the edge of their seats.However, two weeks after he left, I found that instead of increasing, our ministry was fast losing members. In fact we crumbled into factions for no reason.In the course of my damage control, I discovered that the guest speaker I had a week before was the problem. Further investigation showed that all the ministries he had visited in our area had the same problem - we were all fragmented.Please do not ask me what the problem was, because even up to this moment of writing, I cannot put my finger on the main issue. The only thing I can tell you is that all the churches he visited, had issues that led to fragmentation.It might have been a case of pollution and evil deposit. Suddenly, all the people began to find enough faults with their local pastors and to the extent that they began to leave in droves!Be careful! One can never be too careful when it comes to things of God because the people that God has led to you, He will ask you to give account of. Remember the parable of the ten talents? And each time the disciples went out in the time of Jesus Christ, he asked them for an account on returning. Do not forget that to whom much is given, much is expected. The Bible says in Mathew 26:41[a] that we should: "Watch and pray that we fall into temptation...."Remember that the Bible mentions repeatedly that we should beware of the many wolves in sheep's clothing now masquerading as prophets and pastors. While there may not be any science to know the mind's construction from the face, to borrow from William Shakespeare, there are some people who case are so obvious that this book can only serve as a reminder concerning them.