When Dr.&Dr Mrs. Paul Enenche built the largest church auditorium in Africa, they did the impossible and implausible to many observers. They said it was to showcase the power and a mighty of God. It reassert the opinion of many critics that Nigeria, despite its secular outlook, was becoming the home of christian religion of the word. Saturday, novenmer24th attracted the high and the mighty in Nigeria society, from the political top guns to the religious leaders even the president Goodluck Jonathan was present and the definition of humility….Enoch Adeboye, of the RCCG was present, [Pastor Paul said he was converted to Christianity at his crusade] not to be left out and indeed, the cynosure of all eyes that day was David Oyedepo, the spiritual father of paul Enenche and the one who holds the largest church before now, Canaan land. But now, ‘the Dunamis,’ is the largest church, and they say it to have gulped a whopping 3billion dollars! that is about 1 trillion naira in nigerian local currency.
Less than a decade of this feat, Bishop David Oyedepo has launched the ‘ARK’, an amphitheater that will seat 106,000 and includes a 24floor mission tower made of 2 pairs of 12 floor each surpassing the 100,000 thousands capacity hall of Dunamis. This has attracted negative nuances from church critics, why build massive complexes when most Nigerians were living from hand to mouth. The pastors refused to be mired in such narratives and think it was unfair to portray the mega churches in such light; It is a non brainer to say that the Nigeria church contributes nothing to the economy they only siphon people of their hard earn money to erect larger-than-life project. The federal universities and higher institutions are the meeting point of cultism compared to the church-run universities. If not for the contribution of the church in schools and centres of learning, the rut in the system would have been unimaginable.
In the mists of such euphorias, some conservative has added their voices saying, having such structures in not part of christian focus, but reaching the nooks and craning of the world with the good news. They liken the gigantic structures to the tower of bible which was impressive and shows what man can do, but such feats was to raise the ego of Men behind the project like Nimrod who did not please God or obey his instruction for man to spread out. True enough, such barometer will always be a yardstick to mention success in ministry, whether we like it. He added we did not referee the two majestic structures in the bible to in positive terms: God though commended the tower of babel, but it was not representing his desire for his creatures.Genesis 11:4-7, And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. In AD 70 they destroyed the temple at Jerusalem as predicted by Christ. See Matthew 24:1-2, And Jesus went out and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Gods intention for his church is Matthew 28:19-20, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. When we have three denominations of Pentecostals church in a single street it raises eyebrows, when a ministry buys an old factory converted it to a church building it raises the eyebrow, when a founder boast of having three private jets, it raises the eyebrow. Nigeria has about 750 local government why would a ministry have branches in America, two in UK and none in any of the local government? They say it is these massive structures and international spread that have attracted the government to form MAGA,[
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd. ) , on August 7, 2020 , signed into law, the Companies and Allied Matters Bill, 2020. The bill, which has also been passed by the National Assembly, replaced the 1990 CAMA.
But top clerics in the country like the Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide aka Winners’ Chapel, David Oyedepo; as well as the CAN and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, amongst others, have rejected the law, especially the section 839 (1) and (2) of the law which empowers the supervising minister “to suspend trustees of an association (in this case, the church) and appoint the interim managers to manage the affairs of the association for some given reasons]
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One thing is for sure: the church that stated in the synagogue, later chased out to form house fellowship in the home of brethren, has become a big ministry that seats hundreds of thousands at a seating. Jesus christ, the author of this Fatih once parable about his church: Matthew 13:31-32 saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
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