A pastor and founder of Christ Evangelical Powerful Church of God, Prophet Michael Ogundipe has said the destiny of Nigeria is in the hands of church leaders and those who claim to serve God.
He made this observation at a press briefing to mark the 10th anniversary of a prayer mountain known as SoromidayoPrayerMountain, which God used him to start.
Ogundipe, who has been in the business of leading souls to Christ for the past 21 years; observed that pastors have crucial roles to play if Nigeria would attain her divine destiny.
He said, “The fact that things are not working well for us as a country does not mean Nigeria does not have a glorious destiny. We have a bright future as a country. The main problem God has is with the people who go about claiming that they are pastors and who are not ready to do the will of God and lead the sheep of God in their care to the right path”
According to him pastors have responsibility to lead their congregation on the path of righteousness. He said, “If for instance you know that a member of your church is working in an establishment where his salary is just about N20,000 per month and he comes to pay a tithe running into millions, you should ask question and find out how he got the money. It is not all offerings that we should embrace. We should be able to tell our congregation the truth.”
Ogundipe who hails from EkitiState said he established the prayer mountain through the help of Pastor Jacob Adebanjo whom he said God used to give him a place in Ijebu Igbo area of OgunState.
On the tenth year of the prayer mountain, the church leaders said, “The Lord has been faithful. He brought us this far and he has continued to sustain us. The Lord has done incredible things for us as a church and as a people. Since we started the prayer mountain, God has been faithful. We have had countless manifestation of God’s hand. People who have been waiting on God for the fruit of the womb have been blessed of God. We have cases of the deaf and dumb healed and people with diverse kinds of sicknesses coming to testify to the power of God.”
He said a special programme has been planned starting from March 13 to March 15 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the mountain. “We have invited several men of God who we believe God will use to meet the needs of the people. They include, Rev. Ezekiel Abatan and a host of others. We believe as these people minister God will bring solutions to people’s problems.”
On why the prayer mountain was established, the church leader said, “God told me that many of the PrayerMountains in the country have been bastardized. They have been turned to commercial centres where unnecessary demands are placed on worshippers. He then spoke to me and asked me to start a prayer mountain where people will bring their problem and they will get solution. He warned me against doing what many others are doing. That is why we started. To the glory of God, God has kept his promise concerning us”
He described as fraudulent and unscriptural the undue demands placed on people who go to seek solution to their problems in PrayerMountains. “We have instances where people are asked to bring all kinds of things ranging from anointing oil; handkerchief and sometimes they are asked to bring certain amount of money so they could be prayed for.
“We have also had cases where the prophet or whoever is preaching would ask worshippers to empty their pockets and submit the money at the altar in some of these mountains. This is ungodly and unscriptural. While it is true that God can use some of these materials as points of contacts to heal, it should not be a norm. And we should not make religion out of them. God works in diverse and mysterious ways. We should not limit God by human methods” he warned.