PAPA ADEBOYE ADMITS THEOLOGICAL IGNORANCE

By Akin Ojumu

Simply speaking, theology is the study of God. For Christians, theology is the attempt to understand the nature, character, plan, and purpose of God for humanity. 

Unlike the mystic religious systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and New Age Mysticism, Christian theology is nothing mystical. True Christians do not seek the knowledge of God from esoteric experiences. In Biblical Christianity, the study and knowledge of God comes from studying the Word of God, i.e., Holy Scriptures.

Romans 10:17

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.”

Theology is the study of the Bible in order to know God. Sound theology comes from a sound understanding of the revealed truth about God as taught in the Bible. True knowledge of God doesn’t come in dreams and visions. God is not known through angelic visitations or celestial travels. God reveals Himself in the pages of the Bible.

Sound doctrine is the product of sound theology. A preacher lacking in sound theology is bound to mishandle the Word of God. When a pastor mishandles the Word of God, he’ll lead his congregation into error. Those who consume erroneous doctrines are traveling on the broad road that leads to destruction.

Christianity is not mysticism. Christians come to the faith and stay in the faith by hearing the Word of God as written in the Holy Scriptures. The more the believer studies the Bible, the deeper is his understanding of God. As his understanding of God deepens, his faith matures, and, through the work of the Holy Spirit who dwells on his inside, his life becomes more and more conformed with Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:18

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 

A faith built on esoteric experiences is not a true Christian faith. Those who anchor their belief on mystic occurrences are not true believers in the God the Bible.

Which brings me to the subject of this commentary.

Speaking at the recently concluded June edition of the “Holy Ghost” Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the General Overseer, Papa Enoch Adeboye, revealed to the congregation that he did not attend a Bible College. The spiritual leader of a denomination with membership numbering in the hundreds of thousands seemed to revel in his ignorance of theology.

Talking about himself in the third person, Papa Adeboye tells his congregation:

“Do you know your father in the Lord never went to Bible College?”

Now, why didn’t Papa Adeboye go to Bible College? 

Well, curiously enough, it is God’s fault. He wanted to go, but God prevented him from doing so. How and why? He didn’t really say.

“I wanted to go, but God didn’t allow me enough time.”

Continuing in cutting faux self-deprecation, calculated false humility, and tongue-in-cheek denigration of theologians, Papa Adeboye then admits he actually lacks the qualifications of a shepherd of God’s flock.

“So, I don’t know all the big words…I don’t know theology. I don’t know…um…what do they call it? Homiletics…All those big, big things that you are supposed to know to be a church leader. I don’t know any of them.”

If, by his own admission, Papa Adeboye doesn’t know “all those big, big things that you are supposed to know to be a Church leader,” what credentials does he then have to be a General Overseer? 

Well, Papa Adeboye has knowledge of the secret. That’s right. The man’s qualification isn’t based on his good grasp of the Bible. It isn’t based on sound theology and sound doctrine. His pastoral credential is hinged on a secret knowledge he possesses.

“I only know one thing. I know the secret.” 

Papa Adeboye only knows one thing. Just like the typical Gnostic, the man has a secret knowledge. 

And what’s this secret knowledge, exactly?

“I know the secret of moving with God.”

Oh yeah! The man knows the secret of moving with God. 

In lieu of competency in Scriptures, and instead of a solid grounding in the knowledge of the Word of God, Papa Adeboye’s claim to the pastoral office is his secret knowledge of moving with God. 

And what’s this secret of moving with God comprised of, really?

“Be holy, for I am holy. That…that’s about the only thing I know. I…I…somehow, he allowed me to know it early.”

O sure! God revealed to Papa Adeboye the secret of moving with Him without the need for him to study and understand the Bible. Theology is overrated. If Papa Adeboye could come to the understanding of God’s holiness without the encumbrance of actually studying the Holy Scriptures to know what it says about God’s holiness, of what use is it for any Christian to want to put every effort into attaining excellence in the knowledge of Scriptures.

If you are not alarmed by Papa Adeboye’s admission of lack of knowledge of theology, something is most definitely wrong with your faith. God cannot be known outside of the Bible. The understanding of God’s holiness comes from understanding what the Holy Scriptures teach. Without the accurate and sound knowledge of the Bible, it’s impossible for any man to walk in the holiness of God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.”

One of the requisite qualifications a man MUST possess in order to become a Pastor in the Church of God is the knowledge of Biblical theology and sound doctrine, and the ability to teach it.

Titus 1:9

“He must hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”

1 Timothy 3:2

“Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.”

2 Timothy 2:15

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

Yet, in total disregard for the above clear and explicit instructions in the Bible, Papa Adeboye brags about his ignorance in theology. Not only does he glamorize his lack of sound theology, but he also goes even further to belittle folks who diligently study to show themselves approved of God so that they may rightly handle the Word of Truth.

Papa Adeboye’s lack of depth in theology is reflected in his homilies, which are like a McDonald’s double-cheese hamburger. They are prepackaged, predictable, and loaded with spiritually malnourishing ponderous platitudes that divorce the Holy Spirit from the Word of God and present the Almighty God as a favor-dispensing celestial genie in a bottle. These are messages that celebrate ecstatic emotional outbursts as evidence of spiritual power, tell stories of miraculous encounters, and elevate the anointed leader to Godlike status.

What’s tragic about all of these isn’t just the biblically unsound and spiritually empty teachings of Papa Adeboye. It’s the massive number of people who follow him and keep coming to hear him with cult-like fervor. Many of these are undiscerning folks who have erected for themselves a golden calf which they confuse with the God of the Bible. They are such that crave the spectacular, enchanted by the mystical, captivated by the tall tales of celestial travels, angelic visitations, and drinking tea with God. To these people, Christianity is all about signs and wonders, catching liver shivers, and tapping into the special anointing of Daddy GO.

May God, in His infinite mercies, open the eyes of the spiritually blind.