Pastor arrested for defiling school girls in Edo

A pastor with the Deeper Life Bible Church, Eze Fidelis, had carnal knowledge of a nine years old and her friend. The Pastor blamed it on the devil.

Eze was arrested by men of the Edo State Police Command for allegedly defiling two teenagers at the same time.

“I am 47 and have been a pastor for 10 years. The parents were my church members before they left but they were still coming to my house. Joy came with her friend and the devil tempted me. They didn’t cry and I did not do anything reasonable with them. I gave them N50. The parents discovered and confessed after which they forgave me,” he said.

Fidelis, however, denied having sex with the victim recently.

Fidelis was among the 32 suspects paraded for various offences ranging from kidnapping, car snatching, armed robbery, cultism and fraud.

He was alleged to have had carnal knowledge of a nine years old girl at Abudu in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of the state.

The state Police Commissioner, Foluso Adebanjo, said it was the victim’s father that noticed that she was not walking fine and upon enquiry said the painful movement was as a result of sexual intercourse with the pastor.

In a chat with journalists, Fidelis blamed the devil for his ordeal, saying he committed the act over a year ago.

He said the victims who are in primary school came to his house during school-break but did not have proper sex with them.

Information from The Nation Newspaper was used in this report.

Photo: Naijapals

Pastors blast Kumuyi, Deeper Life over son’s suspension

Two leading pastors have criticized the leadership of the Deeper Life Ministry over the suspension of the son (John) of the General-Superintendent of the church, Pastor William Kumuyi. The sin of John was that his wife, Love wore an “inappropriate” wedding gown, according to the term of the church.

Leading the criticism is a former minister in the church and former Vice – presidential candidate, Pastor Tunde Bakare. The convener of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) described the action of the leadership of the church as hypocritical. Bakare, a lawyer turned Pastor also made references to the bible to back his claim.

He said, “I personally did not see what they have done wrong. A man is entitled to his own authority in his own home.1st Peter Chapter 3 attested that a wife should dress to please the husband and not the members of the church or public. It’s sheer wickedness to the couple; they should leave them to enjoy their honeymoon. They should not squeeze them to the modus operandi of a particular organization. I did not see anything wrong in the wedding. The bride was not naked or dressed inappropriately and the groom didn’t. Esther the queen was beautifully dressed in the bible to gain the king attention. They should not make mountain out of a molehill. I was in the Deeper Life Bible Church for five years and nobody compelled me to dress the way I dressed. My wife was with me in the church though we weren’t married then. She wears earrings and dresses nicely. All this talk about this couple should stop.”

Backing Pastor Bakare is the General Overseer of The Royal Family Life Ministry, Pastor Sam Segun – Progress who argued that dressing does not affect the faith of any individual.

Pastor Segun-Progress submitted that, "dressing in any way does not affect the faith of any individual. Putting on earrings and making up do not by any way mean sinful acts. It’s not against Christian faith to dress the way the woman dressed. But it was actually against the doctrine of Deeper Life Bible Church, and since the church is not the Kingdom of God, the couple should be allowed to do that which pleases them and their belief. There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. For any church leader to condemn a member contravenes the standard of the scripture, which is the symbol of our Christian faith. The doctrine of any church has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. Every individual should be allowed to do that which pleases his faith. I would have appreciated it better if this affected couple were just disciplined within the church and were not suspended. The suspension of the two notable members of the church is capable of sending them out of the church and Christianity totally. All I can deduce from what happened in the Deeper Life Bible Church is hypocrisy and this is not too good for our churches and the church leaders. I will urge the leadership of Deeper Life Bible Church to read the book of Exodus and see what God says about hypocrisy. The development in the church was a bad omen for the body of Christ and did not portray the church well before the public, especially the non-Christians.”

Do you agree with Pastor Bakare and Pastor Segun – Progress?

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Deeper Life Suspends Kumuyi’s Son, Wife

 

The leadership of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry has suspended the son of the General Superintendent of the church and his wife, John and Love Kumuyi from carrying out any activity in the church over their recent controversial wedding in Jamaica.

John and Love wedded in Jamaica on 15 June, 2013 and thousands of members of the church have reacted sharply while condemning the wedding gown worn by the wife and other aspects of the wedding that were at variance with the church’s standard. She was decked in attires quite different from the acceptable standard set for Deeper Life members by the church.  Love was arrayed in flowing gown with a veil to match, while lots of people said her hair wasn’t natural and that she applied lipstick as part of the make-up.

 Also at issue was the hiring of a Limousine which conveyed the couple to their destination after the wedding. And a huge cake was cut during the wedding contrary to the church’s tradition.

 Due to the myriad of controversies generated by the wedding on social media, especially on Facebook, by members of Deeper Life, the church decided to place the couple on suspension to give them time to pray and seek forgiveness from God for their action.

On Saturday, at Deeper Life’s monthly miracle and revival program held at the Deeper Life Conference Centre, DLCC, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, John and Love’s suspension from church work was announced to the over 50,000 Deeper Life faithful at the event by Pastor Philip Oluwi, a key leader in the church.

Oluwi, certainly is acting on the instruction from the General Superintendent of the church, Pastor William Kumuyi, to suspend the couple for the embarrassment they brought upon the church during the wedding, emphasizing that the standard of Deeper Life regarding wedding and moderation had not changed.

“The church, Deeper Life, remains committed to the biblical practice and standard of almost 40 years Christian dressing and still remains and does not compromise on biblical Christian dressing.

“Hence, deviation warrants the displeasure and frown of God and the leadership of the church. John and Love are now under discipline,” Oluwi announced to the entire congregation, an action that helped to calm the nerves of many Deeper Life faithful.

 Also, the couple has apologized to the church for the embarrassing way the wedding was conducted. The letter was read by Oluwi and re-read severally to church members by the Church’s Secretary, Pastor Jerry Asemota. The letter addressed to the Church Secretary, with the heading: “Letter of Apology,” expressed the deepest regret of the couple for bringing the church into disrepute.

 The letter reads: “We unreservedly and wholeheartedly state that we did not intend and do not intend that our act or omissions in any way undermine the great work that God has done through the Deeper Christian Life Ministry through our father in the Lord, the General Superintendent.

 “We also use this medium to profusely and sincerely apologise to the General Superintendent (Kumuyi) of the church for the embarrassment and heartache our action has caused him; more so as he had earlier declined to be at the event. We acknowledge that we may have been distracted by cultural differences as we both have lived outside Nigeria for nearly two decades.”

 The letter added: “This notwithstanding, we fully accept that having been nurtured, taught and brought up with the sound teaching of the word of God, we should have been able to draw the line which we failed to do. We have now realised the far reaching effect of our actions and omissions and do plead with the church for forgiveness and also appeal that any action that should be taken be directed at John and Love, as we take this time to prayerfully reflect on our actions.

 “We take full responsibility for what has happened and this action should in no way be blamed on the General Superintendent or the leaders of the church in Nigeria, United States, Jamaica, or United Kingdom and beyond.”

 However, P.M.NEWS investigation revealed that John and Love’s wedding was not conducted in a Deeper Life Bible Church. It was also not conducted by pastors from the church as Deeper Life Bible Church in Jamaica has not been licensed by the country’s government to join couples in wedlock, according to the laws of Jamaica.

 The wedding was taken to another church where the ministers in the unnamed church conducted the wedding and joined them in holy matrimony.  Besides, Deeper Life leaders that came from Nigeria were said to have disapproved of the earlier gown Love was to wear for the wedding, while another was hurriedly sewed the night before the wedding.

 Church leaders were said not to have seen the new dress until the couple was marching into the church and by then, it was too late to take any action as the wedding was not conducted in a Deeper Life church.

 John and Love wedded in Jamaica on 15 June, 2013, and thousands of members of the church have reacted sharply while condemning the wedding gown worn by the wife and other aspects of the wedding that were at variance with the church’s standard and Pastor Kumuyi's preaching.

 

Information from PM newspapers used in this report.