BY BANJI OJEWALE
It has been claimed that an archetypal Nigerian politician’s perfect pastime is preying on poor people in their milling millions. When he invites the manacled, malleable and mesmerised masses to the campaign grounds, all the politician offers is a table of yet more death-dressed promises that drug his listeners to buy into his boast that he could construct concrete castles in the air. Opiated, ossified and overpowered, the citizens believe him and cede their loyalty to the vote-hunting orator: their world is trapped in the man’s bottomless pocket.
Now, it isn’t inconsiderate to put a good number of some of our religious leaders in the same cage as those politicians, given the cognate experience in history and in our clime. They pull crowds to draw the world back to the age of Johann Tetzel, the 15th Century German friar notorious for raising money for a church building in Rome. He sold to the gullible people so-termed relics and souvenirs of departed saints like Peter, John, James and Paul, and claimed that if you possessed those items you were excused from temporal punishment for your sins. Supported by the Church leaders of the day, Tetzel called his merchandise, Indulgences. There is a tradition, disputed though, that Tetzel also held that these Indulgences could secure peace for friends and relatives who had died in rebellion to Heaven.
But we can sharply contrast our powerful politicians and charismatic clerics with another Nigerian great, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, who, for six straight days in late July 2021, addressed huge local and world audiences to market, not himself with sweet talk for personal gain at the expense of the people as would Nigeria’s typical religious and political personages, but messages of hope and comfort to a troubled globe.
From July 22 to July 27, Kumuyi, leader of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM, was in Calabar, capital city of Cross River State, in Nigeria’s south-south, hosting a world-wide crusade that had the theme, Signs and Wonders for the Needy. The churchman got an ideally complete setting that had the world at his feet. For, from that metropolitan point, he connected, via every strategic social media platform, to every part of the planet. He reached far-flung cities, towns and villages in Nigeria and Africa and beyond to the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia to preach his sermons.
Each evening, over a period of less than four hours, Kumuyi climaxed the day with a teaching that addressed the needs of his audience. He would start by saying that man has lost his peace and joy because he first lost his link to his Creator. This bereavement is colossal and grave, he would argue sternly. According to the pastor, the alienation between the creature and his Creator has ripped into man’s institutions and environment and brought in a correspondingly toxic culture: revolt against all what God stands for, the summary of what is known as sin. The pastor would then go on to break sin down in liquid lingo: murder, lying, stealing, cheating, corruption, sexual and marital perversions, atheism, idolatry, antisocial activities like kidnapping, embezzlement and man’s inhumanity to man.
If all these stole our peace, argues Kumuyi, renouncing them would, superfluous to say, restore what was lost. He would then announce an ‘altar call’ requesting those desirous of receiving pardon and the peace of God to step forward. A simple two-way prayer would follow and tens of hundreds of new converts would be ushered into the Kingdom of God after accepting Christ as their Lord and Saviour, sin, self and Satan no longer ruling their lives.
That signifies reconciliation between God and man, leading to man’s return to his lost glory manifesting in victory over the devil and his works. Kumuyi then proceeds to rest on this new-found triumph to pray for the crowd. There follows a deluge of miracles: the blind begin to see; the deaf and dumb are freed from their plights, while the lame jump up from their wheelchairs and crutches are thrown away, never to find their way back to their old owners. There are also testimonies to confirm these prodigies.
What happened in the Nigerian city of Calabar enjoyed real-time transmission across the planet, enabling ecstatic crowds in distant lands to watch Kumuyi’s crusade through satellite projection and a host of social media handles. It was an interactive show that allowed online congregants to send feeds of their own testimonies and activities back to Calabar for global viewing. They witnessed the ministration of Deeper Life Bible Church choristers in polytheist India, indicating the church now has a foothold in the subcontinent. There was animating surprise from Communist China, a nation that disavows God and Christianity, as the country feasted the crusade with Chinese Deeper Life choristers who acknowledged the reality and sovereignty of God.
For many, these were the ultimate miracles, the landing of Christ in a populous idol-honouring nation, and His acceptance in another globally influential community that had for decades outlawed Jesus Christ.
“There was animating surprise from Communist China, a nation that disavows God and Christianity, as the country feasted the crusade with Chinese Deeper Life choristers who acknowledged the reality and sovereignty of God
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Although Kumuyi agrees, he adds that it’s not enough to stay rooted to these signs and wonders from Heaven. He says these supernatural acts are expected to point to some more significant phenomenon. In one of his sermons at the event, the man of God said signs and wonders lead man to a haven of new relationships with his Creator Who is only using miracles to make a statement.
The statement, according to Kumuyi, is simply that if man is moved by the razzmatazz and glamour of signs and wonders, the real goal is to draw his attention to the supreme ability of a Power to tame the forces threatening to overwhelm humanity. If He is the unseen Finger behind His servant raising the dead, calming storms, healing long-standing ailments, overthrowing godless cultures, feats that confound man, can’t He also be trusted to overrule the reign of fear and insecurity on earth?
Therefore, in holding the crusades, the international evangelist is saying that it is the contribution of the Church of Christ towards solving society’s challenges, not only in Nigeria, but also all over the world. It is the reason Kumuyi does not talk about distracting and divisive denominations at the events. Sectarian religion has failed its votaries. Breaking from its train, Kumuyi is concerned about the state of the fallen man. If he’s drawn from the mud, he will be useful to himself, family and society.
In Kumuyi’s cosmos then, the first port of call in the quest for peace is man’s soul. He believes that’s the breeding ground for all the evils that account for insecurity. So he gathers people to teach that it is futile to combat our wild nature using the equally unruly structures it gives birth to.
We must address the missing God factor in our midst. It is what will offer the integrity input required to eliminate the beast in man. The ancient Chinese who built The Great Wall of China several centuries ago to defend their homeland against nomadic Mongolians underestimated the power of personal rectitude. The bulwark was massive, constructed to be impregnable. For decades, it kept invaders off. But later, repeatedly the fortress was breached when the enemy stopped attacking the wall and assaulted the probity-deficient souls of the military commanders who collected bribes and let in invaders.
That was what Kumuyi taught again as he headed for Enugu State for another six-day crusade which began on August 26.
When the masses return to his feet during that period, the cleric won’t keep them there; he will, predictably, turn them over to their Creator, Who alone can rescue them and their environment from the gory grip of godlessness that is slowly strangling us.
Ojewale is a writer in Ota, Ogun State.
