A man stood in front of thousands of people and presented a story of a woman who was kidnapped and was saved, not by policemen, not by people living within the vicinity or even by her combat skills; she was saved a flyer that developed the ability to not just to talk but also speak in tongues.
Living Faith’s General Overseer also known as Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo told this story on the biggest night of the Church’s calendar year, the annual Shiloh which was themed ”Breaking Limits”.
Bishop Oyedepo said a woman was taken to a forest by some kidnappers, with several other people tied down like slaves and as the kidnappers came to take the woman’s baby, out of compassion for the safety of her baby, she took her bag and threw it at them and a Shiloh flyer flew out of the bag and he (Bishop Oyedepo) began to speak in tongues from the flier. He went further to say all the agents of the devil (the kidnappers) fell flat and she reached out her hand, saw a knife they were going to use to slaughter them and used it to cut off the ropes of everybody else.
On any other platform, this would have been the joke of the year but the believability of this story was guaranteed based on the man who said it and nothing else. This story was greeted with chants of ”Hallelujah” by the congregation of the Living Faith Church, not exactly a surprise in a country where applying logic or reasoning to religion is a sin worthy of hell. For anything to even be able to produce sound, certain conditions must first be met. A technological driven device would need at least these in it before producing sound Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), microphone, audio interface, cables while living organism would need the Jaws, Lower lips, Lower Teeth, Tongue, Uvula, Vocal cords and Lungs; and these conditions are not found in any flyer.
Even in the Bible, there was a process to the miracles of Jesus, certain conditions were present and prerequisite for a miracle. Jesus didn’t turn goat into wine, he turned water to it. He multiplied bread and fishes after he was given the exact thing, not Akara and Kunu, neither did he heal the Centurions’ servant that longer posses legs, his legs were paralyzed. When Jesus walked on water, he had feet to use to walk on it, when he raised the dead, he gave them a life which they previously had.
Unless this flyer is a first of it’s kind technology, there is no way we shouldn’t question the truthfulness of this story by Bishop Oyedepo. When you consider the miracles of Jesus and how closely related and consistent they were when placed beside reasoning, a talking flyer is far fetched and can’t stand the test of common sense. In any other country, the first line of questions would be, who is this woman? How true is her story? Is there a police report on this incident? Why didn’t the police make this information/incident known to the public since it is a matter of public safety and why are we getting it from a pastor’s mouth first? Who are the kidnappers? What is their criminal profile? What state are the victims in presently? Who are the other eye witness?
No one is truly asking the questions that should be asked and it is not a surprise. In a miracle obsessed country, pastors understand the role tales of miracle play and they need no second invitation to serve it especially when they know the authenticity will never be questioned and it would be waved off as spiritual events. It wasn’t a coincidence that Bishop Oyedepo told this story on the church’s biggest night, with close to million people listening both on the campground and various streaming platforms in branches nationwide. It was a move that reeks self-aggrandisement as he continuously emphasized the role his ‘speaking in tongues’ played in conquering the ‘agent of the devil’.
One would probably be tagged the anti-Christ for daring to question an ”anointed man of God” but we simply can’t reach a level where anything goes as long as it is said by a pastor. It is hard to believe such a story from a man who also believed that president President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock, is a clone called Jubril from Sudan last year.
On this same ground, he read an opinion piece published on the back page of the Nations Newspaper, an obvious satire as cold hard fact. Over 200,000 thousand members came out thinking President Buhari is a clone because they were scared to question what their pastor had said, his voice was ”the voice of God” and to doubt what he says is conjuring the wrath of God upon oneself.
Little research, just the tiniest of research would have helped them know that there hasn’t been a single human clone since the research truly began in 1902.
The culture or belief that you can’t question the pastor is a dangerous power to give to some selected men given the power religion wields in a country like ours. In a country where pastors are getting richer and members are getting poorer, such beliefs only empower these pastors to sell whatever story they can imagine in their heads and we are compelled to believe it is true.
The extremely low number of educated people in the country is a tool for not just political leaders but also religious ones. Nigeria presently has the highest number of out of school children in the world, the clear lack of investment in this progressive sector by the government is the reason why the country continues to wallow in a state of perpetual poverty and underdevelopment. Even the educational system itself is dysfunctional and isn’t designed to produce citizens who are critical and forward thinkers. The educational system is not only obsolete but also designed in its archaic self to produce citizens who are conformed to established beliefs without any inkling to question the falsity of beliefs and efficiency of systems.
Despite the enormous amount of c⁶hurches in Nigeria, despite the many sermons, service, vigils, crusades and retreats, Nigeria has the most population of poor people in the world. All of our prayers haven’t been enough to get us to where we would like to be, instead we are moving backwards or is our reward in heaven? While countries who are by nature are secular continue to make progress in every department of human existence, Nigerians hold on to beliefs who were passed on by the same people who enslaved us. Maybe it is time to question our belief system for once and understand that the solution to our problems doesn’t lie in religion but in us questioning every fragment and facet of our society through logical reasoning.
Significantly what has made us poor is not just in our choice of leaders but also in our choice of beliefs.