WHEN OUR SPIRITUAL LEADERS MISS THE MARK

For every serious Christian 

When our spiritual leaders miss the mark; what should we do?

Kumuyi, Oyedepo, Benny Hinn and the rest of us

When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. Then David was angry because the Lord's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah 1 Chron 13:9-11NIV

Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. He said to them, "You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way 1 Chron 15:11-13NIV

Today is like one of those days one gets up from sleep only to receive a letter from his boss for an assignment he hates to undertake but because of a sense of duty, must carry it out. As long as I am concerned the men I will mention here who will form the objects of our discussion are celestial beings and I am reminded that even the angel of our God fear to bring charges against them. Yet, we have to do it because of the connection the subject has to do with every one of us. I am also faced with my sense of duty to guide my teeming followers across the world. So, it is not just about these men but about the present generation and those that will follow them. 

The above scriptural references state how a young faithful follower of King David lost his life in active service; he died working with all his energy to assist the Lord’s anointed to achieve the task he had undertaken for the Lord. The most painful side of this matter is that Uzzah was not killed by witches or wizards, he was not killed by occult powers or agents of darkness in any guise. The bible is very clear that it was God that killed him. For some people this is hard to believe. After our Deliverance Week 2023, the Lord has been impressing in my heart to point out to the believers in Christ Jesus that many of the ugly situations for which we accuse the devil are actually the result of our abuse of holy things. This is one other example of such.

This outcome displeased King David so much that he abandoned the Lord’s assignment and the ark in the middle of the road. He could not understand why God should reward faithfulness with such ingratitude. If you read the whole account you will discover how another man who saw the “obvious death” involved with the ark and decided to sacrifice his life by taking the object of death into his house was blessed. David began to rethink when he heard that God had blessed the keeper of the ark abundantly. That was when David discovered that the problem was not with God but with the method he employed to carry out the holy assignment. So he repented, corrected his method and successfully fulfilled his holy task. 

Praise God!

So we can learn here that the reason God is not blessing our lives or ministries may not be because we are disobeying Him but it is possible that we are obeying Him in the wrong order, but then somebody has lost his life; a woman has become a widow and children have become orphans because of the error of David’s method. It seems unfair to me that there was nothing that was said about compensation. So Uzzah’s young life was cut short as a result of David’s error in serving his God. 

Why then did the author of the bible – the human as well as the Spirit author – choose to put such a discrediting account in God’s holy book?

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did 1 Cor 10:6 NIV

The Lord permitted that these kind of account should be included in His holy book to keep us from making the same mistakes. Unfortunately it is not in our nature to learn that way. We still make the same mistakes and then jeopardize our lives and those of others. It is for this reason we are choosing some models of Christian service to drive home our points.

Pastor W F Kumuyi and the devil’s box

If there is a place for spiritual grandfather, he is mine because he raised my father-in-the-Lord. Firebrand elite preacher of the gospel of holiness. Those that love or hate him, do so for that reason. He is uncompromising in what he believes as God’s truth.

He told his followers to keep away from TV sets branding it devil’s box. They were not to waste their time acquiring degrees from universities and it was also reported that there was a time that followers were advised not to get married. According to him, the return of Jesus Christ was too close to waste time on such.

All that has changed with time. In the recent, I have heard him correcting some of those teachings and tagging them “Unbiblical”. He now appears on TV. In fact, even rural churches under his denomination have one so that they could follow live-broadcast of his teachings. Many of his followers are currently university lecturers and he remarried after he lost his first wife to a terminal sickness.

My question.

How about those who lost lifetime opportunities because they followed what he now brands unbiblical? I know families who destroyed wedding pictures and some abandoned their family members to die of hunger because they refused to join their church denomination. These damages are irredeemable.  

Bishop David Oyedepo and the Word of Faith Movement

He made mockery of those who suggested that believers may need deliverance from demons. He taught that once one comes into Christ, all sufferings, sicknesses and other challenges of life are over. Followers were not permitted to announce death from the pulpit and they dare not attend meetings with other “lesser Christians”

As I was told by a trusted brother, circumstances in the life of his very wife forced him to ask another servant of God to attempt to cast out demons from her. When the demons left, his wife became okay. Today, he has officially declared Tuesday for Deliverance Services and Winners’ Chapel can join other Christians in fellowship.

How about those who followed his teachings and lost loved ones because they refused to accept deliverance from demons? How about those who kept mouthing empty boasts in the name of faith and exposed themselves to death?

Pastor Benny Hinn and the $1000 Seed Faith

For those of us in the USA, you may not understand the value of $1000 to a person in Africa. Oral Roberts had introduced this thing and many followed it. People were asked to sow seed faith as a contact for extraordinary miracles.  He built the support framework for his ministry through this medium. If Pastor Benny Hinn makes a proper scriptural restitution of the money he made from this practice, he would go bankrupt. Yet, there were those who sowed their school fees, house rents etc to what he now calls error; what happens to them?

One day, Pastor Benny Hinn came on air to declare that he no longer believed in such giving. He said such kind of giving amounted to trying to buy God’s gift with money. 

In the same class are, Dr. Crefflo Dollar and Rev. Dr. Abel Damina. These men currently live on the monies they got from this kind of giving. Crefflo Dollar and Abel Damina even asked those who still have their old teachings to destroy them because according to them, they were false teachings from the devil.

Yet, most people bought those books and CDs by giving lavishly to support the ministries of these men. Some of the givers are now poor and there were those who could not finish their education because they gave their school fees to Abel Damina and Crefflo Dollar. Unfortunately, these men are not considering returning the money they had collected unjustly.

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Luke 19:8NIV

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood Transfusion

Many things have changed among these people; they are now permitted to pray in the open and most important of all, blood transfusion is now permitted. They used to claim that it is same thing as eating blood of animals which the bible condemned. Many of their faithful followers died because they refused to receive medical assistance in this area and will not accept prayers of healing or deliverance.

Now they have changed or adjusted their beliefs, what happens to those who lost their lives to those errors they made them believe?

Abel Damina.

I have to return to this fellow because, even though the other preachers made mistakes and are currently very busy trying to make amends, he metamorphoses from one error to a more destructive one. Currently he is launching direct attack on entire bible teachings. He has come forward to condemn baptism by immersion and the Holy Communion. He said that God does not live in heaven and even was bold to say that Mary was not the mother of Jesus Christ. Space will fail me to mention his many destructive heresies. Abel Damina is regarded by many as one of the greatest church leaders of this generation and his following is very large.

As we talk now, there are still many that are following and defending his teachings. Some of these teachings have eternal consequence on those that follow them.      

Like Uzah, Like the REST OF Us

Apostle Paul told us how to follow a man. We should be careful to observe if the man we are following is following Christ.

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Cor 11:1NIV

Unfortunately, most Christians are just too lazy to read their bible for them self.  Coming back to talk about Uzzah, THE BOOK OF THE Law that stipulated how to carry the ark of God was in his father’s house; his father was the custodian of the revelation that David lacked which resulted in his fatal error. God was fed up with people who abandoned their spiritual responsibilities because of laziness or greed. The only reasonable thing for God to do was to strike in such a way that will get David thinking. But who would He strike and not violate the principles of His holiness and fairness?

Uzzah! Yes, because it was his duty to speak out against that error but he was too busy dancing with Daddy G.O. It was his duty and that of his brother to bear the ark on their shoulders but the current state of things gave him freedom to live free like other believers. In fact, he died for his selfishness; he died because of his desire for a stress-less service. Yes, there are people who will read this who are currently serving in churches and ministries that they are sure that their practices are contrary to the truth revealed in the bible. But they are not willing to speak out because it could deprive them of their benefit.

Coming to address our leaders; they should understand that they don’t know it all. They should give attention to their followers once in a while. Perhaps the next disaster could be averted. They should be courageous to make changes if they discover that they have missed the way. In this light, we must commend Pastor W F Kumuyi, Bishop David Oyedepo, Dr. Crefflo Dollar and Pastor Benny Hinn. Even the leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses deserve our commendation. We also pray that their followers would understand that these men owe their obligation to the God who called them and they should as much as possible try to support them in their effort at reformation. This is in the case when they are taking the right steps.

As for the followers, they should do their own bible study after they have heard the pastor’s preaching. God does not have grandchildren. If one follows a false teaching and lands in hellfire with his leader, there would not be time to make amends or complain in hellfire. 

A lot of false teachings are going round among Christians today, especially with the advent of the Social Media. Even people who are not Christians come online claiming to be pastors as a cover to deceive the followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be extra careful.

If one finds some kind of mistake in the teachings of his spiritual leader, they should find a polite way to point out the errors. Once they are sure that a leader was bent on error and would not listen, they should escape the blow of Uzzah. That is why I encourage everyone to get the bible in the language they can understand. The red light is always when a preacher begins to explain the bible in strange languages. The bible was written to help ordinary humans discover the will of God.  Read the Bible in the language you can understand. 

Finally, the Holy Spirit remains our guide and teacher. We thank God that the Holy Spirit is available for every believer, irrespective of the office they occupy in the Church. Through devotional prayers and reading of the bible, the Holy Spirit will help everyone of us, as we yield to Him.

I will like to get your reactions from this brief meditation.

I wish you a joyous New Week

(Kindly share this across your contacts.)

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com 

(Pastor Emma N.J Nwosu is the International President of Prayer Network for Universal Revival.  He lives in Port Harcourt with  his wife Joy and four children.  He hosts International Prayer and Revival Conference/Convention  and spreads Revival Fire. He also heads School for Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare  - Deliverance School Online.  

He has authored more than 50 books. Among them are, Pastor Lukas Church – Story of the Pastor who visited Hellfire,  QUEST FOR SUPERNATURAL POWER,  HOW TO TURN YOUR CHURCH INTO A POWER STATION,  CONFRONTING WITCHCRAFT IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD,  BOUNCE BACK AFTER A FALL. His books are available on Amazon Kindle Bookstore and his ministry online Bookstore,  PNUR Revival Press. 

Contact  : +2348035724526, +2349092862555 pnurnigeria@gmail.com)

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