Pastor adeboye's
prophecies for 2016 are no different from his previous ones - he has
managed to keep everything fuzzed up and has avoided being specific so
as not to incriminate himself in the future. However, there is one item
on his list that requires scrutiny because I believe it shows Pastor adeboye to be a manipulative person. I shall return to this in a moment.
Pastor adeboye
First, let us build a quick picture of the man. Pastor adeboye
is probably the most influential pastor in Nigeria. His church has
branches in almost 100 countries around the world, with an estimated
14,000 churches in Nigeria alone. The Redeemed Camp is responsible for
perennial traffic congestion on the Lagos-Ibadan motorway because of
where it is situated and the sheer size of the congregation that
worships there. Whether the church has done enough to forestall this
problem and alleviate the sufferings of road users is a subject for
another day. Pastor adeboye's fund
raising methods are a cause for concern. He announced plans in 2013 to
build a church auditorium of approximately 3km in length (http://dailypost.ng/2013/08/14/three-kilometer-auditorium-angry-nigerians-blast-adeboye-say-n1billion-per-person-donation-is-criminal/).
To fund the project, he told his followers: "We need N1 billion from
ten people . . . We also need N100 million from those who can afford it.
Please see my secretary."
How many hard-working people with
unquestionable source of income would dole out money on a project like
that which will not yield any returns for them? This behaviour
encourages corruption - the thieves who steal our commonwealth will see
this as an act of buying penance from God. Pastor adeboye
is importunate - he never tires of using mental gimmicks to persuade
his members to give him money. Only last month, he was reported to have
told them: "Let me tell you the truth, the only reason we still take
offerings is to get you out of poverty. When you give offerings you’re
sending money to heaven." A few years ago, he claimed that he drove his
car without fuel from Ore to Lagos to a thunderous applause from his
congregation. It beggars belief that anyone would believe this story. To
complete the picture, take a look at his 2015 prophecies and decide for
yourselves whether he made any ground-breaking predictions or if he
just played safe by refusing to make specific statements. (https://secure.saharareporters.com/2015/01/02/end-year-prophecies-ijabla-raymond#.VKbHn0sJtN4.wordpress).
Notice that he had prophesied: "Daddy (referring to God) says all over
the world insurgencies will be considerately weakened." The terrorist
activities of jihadi groups like ISIS, Boko Haram (BH) and al-Shabab in
2015 do not support this prediction. This observation alone completely
invalidates his claim of speaking the mind of God.
Let's return to the 2016 prophecies which can be found on the church's website: http://rccg.org/prophesies-for-year-2016/. Pastor adeboye
prophesied that, "a new sexually transmitted disease will surface." But
he does not disclose that he received this revelation from newspapers
and medical journals. British researchers announced late last year the
discovery of a "new" sexually transmitted disease (STD) called
mycoplasma genitalium (http://www.nhs.uk/news/2015/11November/Pages/New-sexually-transmitted-infection-MG-may-be-widespread.aspx). It is worth noting that pastor adeboye
does not give the name of the new STD and its causative organism like
researchers always do. Does God whom he claims to speak for not know
this information? Why does he not specify where, how and when the
disease will surface? How bizarre for an omni-benevolent God to announce
the emergence of a new disease but not the cure? Curiously, God was
also silent about BH and the abducted Chibok girls, the fall in the
price of crude oil and its effect on our economy, the agitation for the
state of Biafra, climate change, the conflict in Syria. Pastor adeboye's
prophecies portray God as someone who is always silent on the issues
with real implications for our daily existence. That, of course, is
based on the assumption that God exists and that He speaks to the
pastor. I could never understand how someone can know the mind of an
entity they cannot even prove exists. What is obvious is that pastor adeboye, like the rest of his fellow prophets, relies on the BBC, CNN and other news media to formulate his prophecies.
The
reason this situation bothers me is because literally tens of millions
of Nigerians believe that God speaks through this man. Accordingly, the
choices they make in life are guided by every word he speaks.
Collectively, adeboye and his fellow
pastopreneurs have turned a generation of Nigerians into magical
thinkers and have destroyed critical thinking. Even our universities and
other centres of learning are not immune from their destructive
influence - believe it or not there are professors who believe that
prayers can make a car drive without fuel just as pastor adeboye proposed; that diseases can be caused by evil spirits; that witches and wizards are responsible for infertility; and so on.
Thankfully,
the days of lying to Nigerians are drawing to a close. Information is
the greatest weapon against ignorance, fear, superstitions and
exploitations. Nigerians now have access to the internet and can easily
cross check facts. By this time next year, we would know if a new STD
has been discovered and if indeed God speaks to pastor adeboye. Ijabla
Raymond is a medical doctor and he writes from the UK. He can be
contacted at ijabijay@me.com or Ijabla.Raymond@facebook.com.
http://saharareporters.com/2016/01/15/pastor-adeboye-prophet-or-imposter-candid-look-his-2016-prophecies-ijabla-raymond
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