AFOLABI OGUNDE: WHERE UK’S DAILY MAIL GOOFED ON BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO AND WINNERS MINISTRIES, Written by Via Business News on 21 October 2012

 

 

Bishop David Oyedepo

When the British begun to colonize Africa just few centuries ago, they saw nothing wrong with using the Gospel of Christ to bamboozle our ancestors into surrendering their lands and resources over to Her Majesty’s government; now fast-forward to modern times where African pastors are some of the most influential persons on Earth, it seems the detractors have arrived in busloads.

The Daily Mail, one of the United Kingdom’s most widely read publications is the detractor of the day. Perhaps somebody needs to hand them a copy of the King James version of the Bible, or maybe a contemporary version of the material would suffice.

Prosperity ministries like Living Faith, popularly known as Winners, will continue to generate a lot of confusion-based controversy in places like the United Kingdom where the people increasingly are distanced from the doctrine of the gospel (the Word of God).

Many ex-Christians and Christianity bashers always cite the fact that Jesus Christ was humble and didn’t fly in private jets or ride in luxury cars; they always remember how Jesus rode on an ass. Well the gospel also informs us that he made himself poor so that we could become rich. 2^nd Corinthians 8:9 says “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich”.

Church attendance in British churches are at an all time low, and many of the British church buildings are now tourist centers and not places where men go to fellowship with God. The Africans who were first taught Christianity by British missionaries in the 19^th century have now mastered the gospel in a way that certifies the Great Commission given to men by Christ. I can imagine how the Archbishop of Canterbury would be ticked off about this, or the Bishops of Reading, Newcastle, Coventry and Birmingham, just to name a few.
Truth is African Pentecostalism is the most successful and fastest growing branch of the Church of Christ world-wide, and the scandal prone churches of the West are uneasy considering the trend.

Statistics show, “regular church attendance in the United Kingdom stands at 6% of the population with the average age of the attendee being 51. This shows a decline in church attendance since 1980 when regular attendance stood at 11% with an average age of 37. It is predicted that by 2020, attendance will be around 4% with an average age of 56.This decline in church attendance has forced many churches to close down across the United Kingdom with the Church of England alone being forced to close 1,500 churches between 1969 and 2002. Their fates include dereliction, demolition and residential conversion.”

The statistics paint a picture whereby funds are being generated by African churches where attendance is on the increase, and diminishing in British churches where attendance is on the decline.  It’s easy to see how the Charities Commission can get sidetracked and misinformed. However it would be a violation of several international and divine laws for Her Majesty’s regulatory bodies to revoke the status of a faith based institution.

The Roman Catholic Church is arguably one of the richest institutions on the face of the planet. Africa’s prosperity ministries/churches are rapidly amassing the wealth that took centuries for some religious organizations to acquire. There is bound to be a conflict of interest as there are many open and hidden interests that would not want to see this scale of empowerment for the African man.

Living Faith ministries owns at last count, three universities in Nigeria. In less than a decade some of the graduates are already working for globally recognized institutions like the World Bank, Goldman Sachs, KPMG, Deloitte, Mobil, Total, Chevron and a long list of other Fortune 500 companies. It is understandable why some anti-progress machineries are in motion, what is befuddling is how one of Britain’s most widely read newspapers goes about misinforming its readers about a progressive faith-based spiritual organization that is ordained by God.

The Daily Mail has been sued severally for libel in the past and has had to cough up millions of pound sterling in damages to the victims of its occasionally leaky mouth. One would think that the publication would have done legitimately not to publish the junk it did on Sunday. Including in the article was this, “Followers (of Living Faith) are urged to target vulnerable people such as the lonely, the sick, the homeless and the suicidal as potential candidates for conversion.”
To the undiscerning eye, Winners will be made to look more like Exploiters, whereas the truth remains that the writers are obviously not of the Christian faith and are just looking for a story controversial enough to sell their newspapers. Christ did tell his servants to minister unto the down-trodden and the bed-ridden and the poor. A quick fact check of the New Testament would have saved the Mail this ignorance that is sure to cost them.

The obvious remains yet to be stated and it’s as simple as this, before the journalists at the Mail rush to the press again, they should patiently pick up a copy of their bibles, dust it thoroughly open, and read some of the pages. After all, every man is entitled to have freedom in his religion, and in the way he thinks about God and HIS prophets. There should not be an abuse of this right by anybody, not even the Fourth Estate.

The only intelligent portion of the article was after it, in the comments section. A commentator from  Grove Park South East London said, “Are any members of his congregation complaining about the money they pay this man and his family? Has any member of his congregation complained that they did not receive the ‘blessings’ they prayed for or that the devil was not knocked out off that woman when she received that blow to the face? Has any members of his congregation been convicted of any criminal activity? If the answer to those questions is “no” then really what harm is this so-called Man of God causing?”