Shockwaves are reverberating across Yorùbáland and the global Yorùbá diaspora following the sudden death of the Baba Ọba (King’s Father) of the famed Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina, USA. The late Baba Ọba, Lukman Arohunfale, a revered socialite and traditionalist, passed away under circumstances already sparking fierce controversy. His death comes just days after he publicly accused the newly installed Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty Oba Akeem Adéyẹmọ Owoade, of allegedly ordering his courtiers to beat him mercilessly during a recent courtesy visit to the Oyo palace in Nigeria. In a widely circulated voice recording, the deceased recounted how what was meant to be a simple homage turned violent. Although the Baba Ọba had reportedly battled ill health in the past year, growing insinuations suggest that the alleged physical assault may have aggravated his condition, ultimately leading to his untimely death. The palace in Oyo recently denied that s...
Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church has attacked pastors whom he claims don’t want to see churches reopened amid coronavirus pandemic. Describing the pastors as agents of the devil, Oyedepo wondered if such pastors are actually praying for churches to go down. He said, “But they are too diplomatic than spiritual, so they just keep losing ground to the devil!
Some Pastors who were angry that I said Churches should be opened and we are praying that Churches must be opened. “Now, ask them: “Do you want Churches to remain closed?” They will just be looking at you. Do you want Churches to remain closed? because I know you are a celebrated Pastor. “Do you want Churches to remain closed? Then you are an agent of the devil. If your children scatter around and you can’t see them; they now say when do you want them to come back? You now say, “anytime”, then you are a witch. No, it’s just normal,” he said.
He added: “if you ask them, “Do you want the Church to start going down?” because some of them are Pastors. Are you praying, “Oh God, let this Church go down in the name of Jesus. Let this Church go down!” Are you praying like that?
“Find out why the Church is not growing. You must have a problem and most of the time, the problem is ignorance, not knowing what to do, and not ready to find out. There are many, many Churches that don’t have any platform of contact with their members. They don’t have any: no house fellowships, nothing. They don’t have any and nature abhors a vacuum. These fellows will start looking for options and alternatives: some to the cults and some to native doctors’ places. “We have tens of thousands of House fellowships: vibrant. Even under this lockdown, my own outreach office has created 82 new Home cells for our new converts. There are many, many big-time Churches, big networks that don’t have any contact. We must have crossed maybe a Hundred Million (Naira) of welfare packages to our people since this lockdown began. There are some that don’t have any touch with them, you wake up in the morning and you are snoring? Not only to our people, to the environment, communities, maybe about 70 communities that we have been servicing with certain needs,” he added.