The General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor Williams Kumuyi has narrated how he handled the case of a Deeper Life brother that was accused of attempted rape by a sister who is also a member of the Church.
Kumuyi gave the account while responding to a question by a member of the church during an interactive session as shown in a video shared on the Facebook page of Encounter Yeshua monitored by Church Times.
The member wanted to know the extent to which an erring worker in the church could be disciplined.
The Deeper Life founder responding said the important thing for any believer is to have a relationship with God devoid of sin rather than seeking to be a worker in the church of God.
Prodigal Son
He alluded to the story of the prodigal son in the Bible noting that when, “The prodigal son knew he had failed his father. He was repentant and wanted to come back home. But he was not seeking to be a son again but to be a servant of his father. That is the heart of a truly repentant person.
“He was no longer looking for a position. But the church now capitalizes on being a worker. There is no humility, no submission, and no change of life. Pastors who hurriedly restore people who erred soon find out that the people they restore repeat the same sin they were disciplined for. But God remains where he is until the sinner comes back home. ”
Attempted rape
He then went on to cite the example of the brother that was accused of attempted rape by a sister in the church. He said, “A lady came and said, so and so, a leader wanted to rape me. I called the brother and said, a lady came to report that you tried to rape him. And he said no, it did not happen. I looked at him face to face and said, Yes it happened.”
Kumuyi said the brother was adamant when he was confronted and insisted that nothing like that happened. But he was not impressed. He suspended the brother and took his position from him. After six months, he called the brother and pleaded with him to confess his sins. The brother remained adamant insisting that he never attempted to rape the sister.
After one year in suspension, Kumuyi said he called the brother pleading with him to confess his sin. The brother said it was not true. “He said it is not true. I said go your way,” Kumuyi recalled
But by the end of the third year when he was still under disciple, the brother came to Pastor Kumuyi and confessed to him that it truly happened. Kumuyi said, “When he told me, I said, I knew it happened. I said why did you not confess at that time. Some of his friends were already raising dust. I said to him that he would start the discipline since he was twisting my arm. After the discipline, we restored him to his position.”
Kumuyi said, “After he was disciplined and restored, he left Nigeria for the US. I went to preach in the US and he was in that meeting. After preaching people lined up. They were seeing me one by one. He was next on the line. I said wonderful. I asked him what was he doing in the church now. He said the State Overseer did not give him any work. I said, did you not tell him you have been released from discipline in Lagos? ”
Right there, Pastor Kumuyi said he stopped what he was doing and invited the State Overseer to complain on behalf of the brother, and asked why he was not given any responsibility since he got to the US.
It however turned out that the brother had been suspended again in the US for trying to rape another sister. Kumuyi said, “The state overseer looked at him and said, Bro, why did you not tell the GS what happened? And the overseer said, this your man from Lagos came and tried to rough handle a lady until the lady ran out. I asked the brother, is it true, he dropped his head and said, yes”
Kumuyi then said the example of the brother is the reason why the church takes time before restoring people to their position when they err. “We want to be sure if the person has truly repented,” Kumuyi said.