- Says young pastors must be discerning, circumspect
- No one listens to a man when a woman makes allegations
- Police commence investigation
Olawale Olaleye
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adebayo, Friday night at the church’s monthly Holy Ghost Service, condemned those who hide under the guise of grace to commit sin, warning that sooner or later, according to Numbers 32:23, their sins would find them out.
“If you have given your life to Jesus, His blood will wash away your sin, but if you continue in sin under the guise of grace, as the Lord lives, your sin will find you out,” he said.
Putting his admonition in perspective, Adeboye posited that, “The Bible says you must abstain from every appearance of evil, 1Thessalonians 5:22. The elders say, ‘They want to burn you, you rub yourself with oil and sit near fire, you’ve made the job easy. The elders say, ‘They are calling you a thief, and you are playing with the child of a goat’. The elders say, ‘What you are not going to eat, don’t smell’, avoid every appearance of evil.”
He however cautioned that men of God must be vigilant and cautious in dealing with the opposite sex, “because when a woman accuses you of something, nobody is going to listen to you.”
Adeboye, who spoke at the Redemption Camp along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway before a congregation of millions of worshippers from different countries, was apparently reacting to the allegation of rape against the Senior Pastor of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo.
That was as the police, reportedly, commenced investigation into the rape allegation after an official complaint at the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos, by Mrs. Dakolo.
The G.O, as Adeboye is usually called by the congregants condemned willful submission to sins under the guise of grace, citing scriptural instances against such, and also alluding to traditional proverbial anecdotes.
“I agree I am old fashioned. They called me so, when I said I would never have a female private secretary, because when a woman accuses you of something, nobody is going to listen to you. Nobody! They will listen to the woman. When you ask for witness, the sister will say, ‘do they invite people to such things?’
“The Bible says if the devil comes to you face-to-face, you fight him but according to 2Timothy 2:22, when you find yourself facing youthful lust/temptation, don’t wait to fight, flee. When you see a sister smiling at you in a koikoi way, run like a terror! Don’t say, ‘I’m a great man of God, I’m highly anointed; ask Samson.”
Adeboye, who said he had been severally accused of failing to speak up against burning national issues, said he often refrained from talking because, “I am under authority of CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) and PFN (Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria) and whatever they say is what I have said.
“But I feel compelled to say some things. To those who are young and upcoming ministers of God, it is written, ‘There’s nothing hid that will not come to the open’, Mark 4:22. You think you’ve done something and it is covered? Then you can throw away your Bible, because the person who said hidden things would come to the open is the Truth Himself; the harbinger of grace.”
Reiterating the need to be moderate even in personal dispositions, Adeboye stated, “I am old fashioned. I was ordained in 1975 and still surviving. It is better to be old fashioned and live than to be modern and die. I’ve not said anything O. Only the Bible has been speaking.”
Celebrity photographer and wife of singer Timi Dakolo, Busola (nee Amupitan), had in an interview last month accused Fatoyinbo of raping her when she was 17, but the pastor has since denied the allegation.
Fatoyinbo, however, went ahead to step down as senior pastor of the church pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation into the allegation, which followed intense public outcry.
PFN and CAN had also condemned the act of rape, saying no one, no matter the position or circumstance, has the right or justification to defile anybody.
But both Christian organisations supported an investigation into the accusations against Fatoyinbo to establish the truth, do justice in the situation, and aid the process of healing and restoration, as proposed by Pastors Sam Adeyemi and Poju Oyemade, of Daystar Church Christian Centre and Covenant Christian Centre, respectively.
Meanwhile, the police have commenced investigation into the allegation of rape against Fatoyinbo following an official complaint filed in the week by Mrs. Dakolo.
Accompanied by her husband, Mr. Dakolo, a musical act, Mrs. Dakolo was encouraged by some Nigerians to hinge her allegation on legal grounds, beyond just granting press interviews.
Based on her formal report, the police were said to have commenced action with the evidence she provided, while planning to reach out to Fatoyinbo for his own side of the story.
