David Oyedepo at 70: What is Nonsensical About This?
By: Deji Yesufu
I could make a living from trolling David Oyedepo, the overall Bishop of Canaanland, Ota, Nigeria. I choose not to because Christian ministry is not always about criticising what is wrong; there are lots of things that are right, and we can focus on those. The highest viewership I have on YouTube is from a video I did where I listed five false teachings of David Oyedepo. So, if my motive were getting viewing, attention, or revenue from the pastor, I know the things I could do. Therefore, whoever wishes to believe this: understand that my criticism of Oyedepo borders more on the love I have for his soul and the myriads of deceived people who listen to him. I now turn my attention to the reason for this essay.
Most of last week the internet was agog with news on David Oyedepo’s seventieth birthday. I gave it little attention. Yesterday, Saturday, I saw a short clip of a grown man kneeling, and speaking with the Bishop. It was revolting to me. I shared the video on Facebook with my caption: “What nonsense is this?” That was about 2 pm. I tried to catch some siesta, as I had some broadcast to do later that day. When I woke up, I saw a missed call from a friend. I called him back. The guy attacked me: “…leave these pastors alone now…” I explained my position to him and switched off the call. Then I suspected that the post I shared was getting traffic. I checked and lo and behold, the whole of Facebook was on my neck, asking me to put down the post. “Oyedepo is seventy, allow the man to celebrate…” and other yada yada. I was pissed but I left comments on the thread that were a lot subdued. Now let me explain why I will not be joining anyone to celebrate David Oyedepo and why that kneeling fiasco is plain stupid.
First, the state of a nation should be blamed on its politicians and pastors – I didn’t say Imams (that’s a talk for another day). Those who read my writing will be familiar with the fact that I am presently reading all the written works of Obafemi Awolowo. Among many things you take away from Awolowo, you also wish to curse our political leaders. As you curse these people, you want to expect the worst on the pastors who legitimize evil in the land. Obafemi Awolowo inherited the struggles of Herbert Macauley to wrest the government from the hands of the British, and institute indigenous rule. He exemplified capable governance with his time in office between 1954 and 1959, as Premier of the Western Region. Awo gave the West free education and free health care when he was in office. He ensured that the ordinary man’s child, with a brain, could go to free schools. When government failed in Nigeria, and the ordering of social life fell to churches, what did David Oyedepo and his friends give us? Schools that only the super-rich can attend. Hospitals that only the super-rich can patronize. Estates that only the super-rich can live in. Etc. Awo got the resources to do all he did from Oyo to Benin using basic taxation. David Oyedepo collects taxes also from his members in the name of tithes and offerings, but his members cannot send their children to his schools because they cannot afford it. In the same way Awolowo’s name is written in gold forever in Yoruba land, may David Oyedepo’s name go down in infamy in our land. The worst part is that a generation has arisen that sees nothing wrong with what this man is doing. If you don’t see it, I do. It is nonsensical.
Second, because of the false gospel Oyedepo preaches, the position of scripture is that rather than celebrate this man, it would have been better if he was never born. In Matthew 26, Jesus said of Judas: “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.” We call this imprecatory statement: a curse on the vilest persons in Christendom. By gospel standards, it is ok to be an adulterer, a murderer, or a thief, than to be a false teacher. Nigeria underestimates the evil that the gospel of prosperity has done to this country. While the adulterer, murderer, and thief ruin his soul, the Prosperity gospel teacher ruins the souls of millions along with his. In the 1970s, with the advent of oil and the proliferation of white-collar jobs in the country, men like Benson Idahosa imported this false gospel into Nigeria from America and reaped a fortune by taxing their member’s tithes and offerings. Idahosa passed the baton to David Oyedepo and Enoch Adeboye, and the two of them filled the land with this false message. If the gospel of prosperity is any good, why is it that it is only the preachers who get rich? Why are most of their adherents dirt poor? Why is Nigeria, which has twenty churches on every street, not as prosperous as western countries where you rarely find churches in their cities? It is called gbajue Christianity. If the Bible is true, David Oyedepo and the message he preaches is an accursed thing. If he doesn’t repent of his false gospel, he will wish he was never born. Those celebrating his 70th birthday will do him greater good by asking him to repent because eternity is just at the corner.
Third, a quick response to my detractors. Many people came to that thread and were lampooning me for saying that it is nonsensical for a grown man to kneel for another. I insist on this. I am learning now that the guy in that video is a pastor living in Canada. I would like to know how many times this man kneels for the white man in the name of respect. And don’t you realize that the people kneeling for others, will have those under them kneel to them too? Where is the biblical fact that we are all brethren? Others also came to the thread, claiming that I was jealous of Oyedepo’s success. Really?! I should covet the end of a damned man? I don’t have much but I am very content with what I have, and that is all the riches I need. Some, who I thought were reformed, even came to the thread and were writing hogwash. No wonder the Reformed theology you practice in Nigeria is no different from what David Oyedepo preaches. Do you also ask your church members to kneel while they talk to you?
Obafemi Awolowo bagged a degree in law in 1947. He could easily have returned to Nigeria and become an Afe Babalola, but he refused it. He believed he was called to serve people. Awo earned such a paltry amount from government work that he only collected his salary quarterly to be able to do something substantial from it. His financial stay was his wife, who was into all kinds of business. HID Awolowo could have taken monopoly of all businesses in the West then, but Awo curtailed her. Wherever he went then, the people shouted “Awo!”. It inspired him to write his autobiography in 1959 with the same name. A friend who worked for me recently told me that when his father was about 13 years old, he dropped out of school to learn a trade. One day Awolowo was in this boy’s city for a political meeting. The boy’s boss sent him to the same house where Awo was having the meeting. When the boy came in, Awo observed immediately that a boy of that age should be in school at that time of the day. Awo shut down the meeting, called the boy and asked why he was not in school. My friend’s Dad told Awo he had lost interest in schooling. Awolowo then used the next one hour to lecture the boy on the benefits of getting an education. The boy returned to school and qualified as an engineer. He would later have six children – two lawyers, one engineer, and one doctor. The engineer, my classmate and friend, told me this story. What has David Oyedepo done for humanity besides slapping a teenage girl in church, and beating up government officials at his fiefdom?
Let us get our priorities right in this country. We cannot leave one form of colonisers, and then submit to another. We accept that many people in government are irresponsible, but I maintain that they can do all these because our religious leaders have not been speaking truth to power. And where they have, their words carry no authority because these people are hypocrites. They say one thing and do another. That David Oyedepo is a role model for any Nigerian today is proof that our culture and thinking have gone to the dregs. And the fact that you see a grown, responsible man kneel on all two knees for another man, and see nothing wrong with it, is even a greater indictment on our country. The people who gave us the Nigeria we live in never envisioned such servile thinking on the part of its citizenry.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY.
In this article, Premium Time reports Oyedepo slapping a teenage girl – claiming that the girls had confessed to be a witch.
In this article, PM News reports Oyedepo watching as his staff beat up an Ogun State Television station (OGTV) official.
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