The deviation of RCCG from Apostolic Christianity

By Moses Oludele Idowu

*The Greatest Threat*

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” ( Romans 16:17)

The greatest threat to real Christianity, Apostolic Christianity in Nigeria today is not Islam or occultism, it is not even any of the deadly terrorist cells and formations fighting insurgency against Nigeria and it is not the “coupon politics” and its array of venal and cultic politicians sucking the lifeblood of a nation. It is not even the naira that is cascading in a free fall or the rogue governments of the last decade.

The greatest danger to real and historic Christianity today is a denomination that goes by the name of Redeemed Christian Church of God, a church that was founded originally by a genuine servant of the Most High God and on purely Apostolic foundation of truth and espousing some of the purest ideals of historic Christianity but which sadly in the last few decades due to so many factors has now derailed from that path. Some of the factors responsible for its derailment include the pursuit of fame, earthly riches, vain glory, religious hegemony, compromise with the world, removal of ancient landmarks, inordinate corporate ambitions, etc.

These are strong statements to make but in the course of this essay and the upcoming essays I will show clearly for those who can still think of the danger that RCCG now poses to the generality of Christians in this nation today. We have a problem on our hands. Another Synagogue is loading before our eyes and this would be worse than the previous one because it parades all the elements of popular culture, has the men of timber and caliber, and all the trappings of social epidemics.

It has the tools, the money, the fame, the power, and connections with political and economic authorities both in the nation and even in the globalist frontiers of One- World Government schemings. That is not the kind of threat to ignore except at your eternal peril. We can confront this danger now or we can wait and pay a heavy price at the end.

Let me say this from the onset that this would be one of the most painful things I would have to embark on. I do not hate this church. My brothers and sisters, of the same blood, are trapped there; so are many of my spiritual children that I contributed to their spiritual formations on campus and many of my friends are there whom I cherish and many of whom would read this with great pain.

It is not my purpose to speak about the activities of other churches or denominations directly. However, RCCG has by her religious behaviour, and by a series of fundamentally – singular acts taken steps and by her actions threaten the spiritual foundations of Christianity in this nation – actions that in their ultimate destination and spiritual significance tantamounts to a “declaration of war” against other Christians and even the Truth as espoused in Scripture and in the Traditions of Historic Christianity. I have watched these for years and with great consternation and have spoken in times past to the danger it portends.

That danger is now more real and has manifested in clear and unmistakable ways and must now be confronted head-on. I have waited for elderly ministers to speak about these issues but they are quiet; they fear Pastor Adeboye or the RCCG machinery and its connections to earthly powers and they forget they will one day stand before the One Whose Eyes are like burning flames to give account of their lifetimes both for the lies and idle words they have spoken and the truth they failed to bear witness to when it was in their power to do so. This is why I am compelled to write these lines.

*The Offending Video*

There is a viral video that is currently circulating online, which has not been denied by the authorities of RCCG, in which Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of RCCG is heard praying for the members of his own denomination. Here is what he said:

“I decree in the Name that is above every other name Christians from every other denomination will bow before you.”

To this unscriptural, abusive witchcraft prayer his gullible, spiritually uncultured, unlearned and untutored, deluded, and mesmerized followers chorused a loud and resounding “Amen”. Thus Pastor Adeboye by this singular act of invocation has drawn a wedge between members of his denomination and other Christian denominations. He has created a hierarchy of slaves and masters, lords and servants within the body of Christ unless he is saying to us that his denomination is no longer part of the Church Militant.

Owner of the Church

The One Who owns the Church and Who gave His Life for all says that in His Body no one is superior to another and that you all are brethren and you have one Lord but Pastor Adeboye prays that his members would be superior to all others because it is an inferior who bows before a superior. He has thus created division instead of unity in the Body of Christ. The Bible is clear about such men: “Mark them which cause division among you and avoid them…”

Why does this matter? Many will abuse me and even attack me for this. They will tell me of the truths of the Bible that Adeboye has preached for years and the many good things that RCCG is doing in many nations. For all those things we thank him and will always cherish him.

That is the reason why I write this. Because Pastor Adeboye is a good man and the RCCG has a lot of influence. The more good a man is the more evil he is also capable of doing. Most of the damage and evil in the world and even to the Church has been done by eminently good men. The more influence you have and the more people following you the greater too your power to mislead. The higher a man goes the worst is his error to the corporate church. This prayer item above is one of the reasons why even if a man is a good man his theology may not be sound. A man could be right in the heart but wrong in the head.

*Why This Matters*

Why does this matter to us? Why does the prayer of a leader for his followers matter to the rest of us? It does in many material ways.
One is because Adeboye has involved all of us by naming “Christians of other denominations.” Does that exclude anyone? He has conscripted us into a battle that we are not willing to fight but which we must now fight before we have another Abimelech on our hands. I will come to this shortly.

Two great saints that have gone before us tell us that if you want to know a man deeply listen to his prayers. Jonathan Edwards tells us that a man’s prayer reveals the depth of his soul. As a man lives so he prays. You can know a lot about how a man thinks and feels about you by his prayers. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” says the Master. And it is in the place of prayer more than in any other thing you see a picture or shadow of that abundance locked in the soul.
So a man’s prayers, invocation, wishes, desires, and the contents of that prayer matter a lot. From here I know exactly how Adeboye feels about other denominations and other Christians, fellow believers.

Father Nash died with the map of the world in his hands praying for the salvation of all men. John Hyde prayed for the Indians till he gave up. David Brainerd prayed for American Indians for their salvation till his heart could no longer support his life. Joseph Babalola died praying for all men of all nations that they would know the salvation that Christ brought. That is the proof and vindication of their apostolicity.

Pastor Adeboye in the last quarter of his life is praying not for salvation or unity in the body but that all other Christians will bow to his own and for the hegemony of his own denomination, a denomination – lest we forget – that is not spectacular for any special revelation or knowledge known to Church history nor distinguished by any Christian virtue known to the Book. This makes me weep as I write this.

By this, he disqualifies himself as an apostle to the Body of Christ or even as a father except of his own denomination.
Some truths now have to be said and the day has finally come.

*An Abuse of Prayer*

I have said before that the genius of Nigerians is not in building or development but in deconstruction and belittling. Nigerians can unravel any idea, theory, or logic however beautiful they are. But in no other art has Nigerians shown the capacity to deconstruct like in the area of prayer. If they are not using prayer to kill their enemies or destroy the enemies of their father’s house they are using it to maim their perceived enemies in their place of work or – as in the present case under review – subdue those who may even be better than them.

Thus, prayer becomes an instrument of control, intimidation, and domination – in short, witchcraft. Because prayer is universally engaged it is also the most universally abused. When a Christian prayer departs from the provisions of Scriptures and God’s love it becomes an element of manipulation, sorcery, and witchcraft.

This is the fundamental reason why for all the volumes of prayers ascending from Nigeria day and night, this nation is getting worse and her problems are daily compounding. Because you cannot fight Satan with instruments of Satan and win. It is the reason that insurgency has morphed into banditry, terrorism, hostage-taking, etc., and what is more, the crude and cultic politicians who brought us here are not falling down and dying but they are multiplying and in good health. Because for the most part they are the same friends with the same General Overseers leading the prayers. We are the ones asking the dragon to die we are also the ones feeding the dragon.

*An Examination*

The Bible commands us to ponder and examine all things. God expects His children to be thoughtful. Several Scriptures encourage us to think. Unfortunately as the author of *Centuries of Meditation* has noted: “As there is nothing so easy as to think, so there is nothing so difficult as to think well.” It is now a fact that many in our days and even in the Church don’t think, which is why I have to write this in the first instance.

I will examine the above prayer on just two criteria so that all my readers can flow with Love and Scriptures.
God is love. All His actions, judgements, mercies, and operations proceed out of His loving Heart. All the commandments and laws of God and His Christ can be summarized in one sentence: Love God with all your heart and your neighbours as yourself.

Those neighbours include fellow Christians, traditionalists, animists, atheists, Muslims, agnostics, etc. It also enjoins us to “keep the unity of the Body in the bond of peace “; that is to recognize that God’s children transcend any denomination and the body of Christ is beyond one church group or denominations and never to divide them.

Thus even though we are commanded to love all men, we are especially commanded to love the brotherhood, especially those of the household of Faith, that is those who believe in the true Christ and the Vicarious and Finished Works of Christ as we do regardless of the denominational barriers that seem to separate us. These are the teachings of the Scriptures and they have been reinforced by all true apostles throughout time. Whatever departs from true Love departs from God and is not of Christ.

Pastor Adeboye’s prayer above is a stark departure from this tradition. And it departs from this time-honoured legacy of the Church and historic Christianity. By praying that other Christians from other denominations will bow to your denomination it shows you didn’t love other Christians like yourself and those of your denomination. That is not true Christianity, Apostolic Christianity. That is not the object of prayers but a perversion of its noble purpose. It is using the instrument of a father to enslave the children of the same father. That is not the stuff of Christianity; this is the path of witchcraft and familiar spirits.

Two, scripturally this prayer is wrong for many reasons. It negates the Word of God. Christ has made us kings and priests to God His Father through the sacrifice of His Blood. ( See Revelation 1:5,6) Accordingly, every true Christian is a priest and king before God through Christ. This is what is called “the Priesthood of all believers”, one of the five pillars of the Reformation.

The Reformers fought with their lives and blood to recover this truth from the pangs of Rome. It is therefore unscriptural and grossly so to pray that other believers from other denominations will bow to your denomination. All priests are equal and priests don’t bow to other priests and kings don’t wait for the mercies of other kings to eat. This is a negation of Scripture, of the teachings of Apostolic Christianity, and of the Reformation. This is the spirit of Rome, the spirit of denominational hegemony and control.

The second commandment forbids us from bowing to anyone above or on Earth or under the Earth except God Our Maker. It is idolatry. But a prayer is soliciting that “Christians of other churches” for whom Christ died will bow ( or be servants) to those of a single denomination and this from a supposed man of God and minister of Christ, when the Christ of God has decreed that ” you should not be servants of men.”

On the day God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt, he warned Moses to tell the future leaders of Israel in writing that they should not oppress His people or cause them to wander again to Egypt. They are His servants. In the day Christ redeemed Humanity, He warned that His children would not be servants of men. That prayer has negated all these. Thus, we have a lacuna, a man is embarking on a prayer using the Name of Jesus ( or is it another Jesus?) to invalidate the very words of the same Jesus expressly declared in the Holy Written Word.

We are to bow only to Christ and to the Authority of His Word. Any other thing is an invocation of witchcraft and a departure from true Christianity.

*RCCG and the Danger of Cultism*

Most people who are not versed in Church and Christian History do not know that most of the cults and fraternities today began originally as genuine Christian formations whose leadership derailed. And the tell- tale signs are usually the same: entertainment of unscriptural notions, the pursuit of religious hegemony, seeking for reputation among saints, exalting your brand above and to the detriment of others, seeing yourself so special and favoured above other believers, churches, groups, and your god more powerful than theirs.

These are the stuff that marks the beginning of a cult and the departure from historic Christianity. Today, we can see some of these tendencies in some Nigerian churches but especially in RCCG. I am warning this nation and especially the Church at large to take this seriously and not ignore this warning.

Five years ago the same man prophesied that “nobody will amount to anything in Nigeria without the input of the RCCG.” That is a curse on Nigeria and her children but many didn’t see it. I responded then in an article republished yesterday.
Today, all other Christians will bow to those of RCCG, meaning that royalty and salvation are no longer domiciled in Christ and His Finished Works but in a denomination – a denomination with all its foibles, flaws, and contours.

Recently the same church placed an embargo on her churches not to bring any minister from outside the denomination to preach on her pulpits. You can see the trajectory.

Soon members of RCCG and ministers will also be banned from going to other churches. Then the cycle is complete. This is how cults begin. For those of you who still remember and studied history, the Jim Jones tragedy exactly followed this trajectory that RCCG is now pursuing. It has already separated itself by her actions and prayers from other denominations. Jim Jones too did the same. That is why you should worry. The threat is real and we ignore it at our peril.

*Beware the Spirit of Abimelech*

Here are the prayers and prophecies:

– no one will be anything without us. ( 2019)
– your family members, friends, and colleagues will come to you to eat (2023)
– other Christians will bow to us ( 2024)

You can see clearly expressed here the manifestation of “another spirit”, “another gospel ” and even “another Jesus”
I can smell something is wrong here.

Will these prayers and prophecies lead to unity in the body of Christ? Will they promote prosperity and peace in the nation? Will they contribute to the genuine Revival of Apostolic Christianity – the only thing now left to save this nation from the path of self-destruction?

The answers are No.

RCCG and its unscriptural and witchcraft prayers and prophecies may be the reasons today the citizens of this nation are poor, wretched, and miserable. For if we cannot eat unless we come to RCCG members then it means we must be poor because only the poor go to the rich to beg for food. If other Christians will bow to RCCG members then it means other Christians will be evil, poor, and in penury because it is “the evil that bows before the good and the borrower is a servant to the lender.”

It is a curse on Nigeria and her people. That is why we must worry.

Abimelech conspired with his mother’s brethren to rule and bring his father’s children in subjection to himself, to bow to him. Just as one denomination is praying for.

It is now I understand why RCCG is always courting earthly powers and ever so beholden to politicians and people in government why they seek all forms of traditional, political, and even economic powers, and why they usually turn their altars to campaign rostrum to politicians – the same politicians who brought us to this mess.

It is now I understand why the G.O. is always found with them and around them and saying different things when he is in their midst and a different thing when he comes out.

It is now I understand why RCCG is also involved and has been named with the religious segment of the globalist agenda of One-World Religion, an arm of the proposed One World Government. When you have such ambition as Abimelech and you want to rule over your brethren when you are not the firstborn then you must seek for powers from other sources just like Abimelech did to his destruction.

Abimelech brought evil on the seventy children of his fathers to pursue his ambition to reign but also came ultimately to a tragic end. At the root of every major evil is inordinate desires and ambition. I cry today as Jotham cried to the people of Shechem: wake up, we have found the enemy and it is right in our midst.

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© Moses Oludele Idowu
February 24, 2024
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