DAVID OYEDEPO, THE CREATOR

By Akin Ojumu

What sort of human being will have the creative power to turn his wishes and desires into reality and yet live in an insecure and impoverished nation like Nigeria where the average life expectancy is barely 55 years and approximately 63 percent of the population – roughly 141 million people – live in multidimensional poverty? This is a country where hundreds of school children get abducted and ravaged by marauders and thousands of innocent lives are senselessly slaughtered on a daily basis.

One would have expected that a powerful man of God, imbued with such creative power like Mr. Oyedepo claims he has, would have used the power to turn the situation around and make Nigeria an El Dorado. Why is it that Mr. Oyedepo has failed to deploy his power to transform his own country? 

If, by stroke of luck, I acquired the creative power that Mr. Oyedepo claims he has, one of the very first ways I would deploy it would be to travel to every state capital in Nigeria. Standing in front of the Governor’s office, I would “call forth” the destiny of Nigeria and command the country to become what it was meant to be. Then I will travel to Aso Rock. There, I will “decree and declare” to Nigeria saying, “Nigeria, come forth!” Next stop for me will be the Sambisa Forest. I will with the words of my mouth summon all the terrorists and miscreants wreaking havoc in Northern Nigeria and then call down fire from heaven to consume them. 

Well, that’s me. At least, that’s how I would use my own creative power if I had one. Apparently, that’s not the case with Mr. David Oyedepo. Even though he claims his words carry creative power which he can use to create his own tomorrow, thus far, he has failed to use the power to transform Nigeria.

The reason Mr. Oyedepo seems powerless in the face of the ever-worsening anarchy and chaos all around him is because the founder of the Living Faith Business Center is a false teacher who perpetually twists the Word of God to promote the Word of Faith Movement heretic theology.

Romans 4:17

“As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations” – in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”

I can think of only a handful of Bible passages that are more abused and misused than Romans 4:17. This is the go-to text of the “I declare and decree” braggadocios of modern-day charlatans, windbags who think their tongues are imbued with magical power to create something out of nothing.

Of course, many of these loudmouths base their vaunted power on a faulty interpretation of Romans 4:17. The very premise of their beliefs is a distorted understanding of this verse. 

Whereas the verse explicitly says that God is the One who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were, in the typical narcigesistic fashion (i.e., narcissistic eisegesis), the narcissists of the Church insert themselves into the text and make it seem as though it applies to them. Having personalized the passage, they go on to misappropriate it by claiming authority to give life to the dead, and having the ability to call into existence the things that do not exist, thus equating themselves with God.

This blasphemous idea of equating oneself with God is the mainstay of the Word of Faith/Charismatic/ New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Movement. And it stems from the erroneous belief that the moment someone gives their life to God, they become a little god. 

The basic idea behind this controversial fallacy is that humans are actually divine, created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) not only in having a soul, having dominion over the earth, or living in relationship with others, but by being of the same “spiritual class” as God Himself. Biblical theologians decry this concept as misguided at best, and heretical and cultic at worst (Source: Got Questions).

The divinity of humanity, i.e., divine humans, is one of the core tenets of the New Thought/New Age Movement of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby. The devotees of this metaphysical cult believe that because humans are divine, the power of God is available to them and accessible by them. 

What these arrogant unregenerates fail to understand is that creative power is the exclusive preserve of the Creator of the Universe. No man born of a woman has the power to create something out of nothing. It is delusional for any mortal man to believe they have the authority to speak things into existence. Those who do so are foolish people whose souls have been darkened.

So, back to Mr. Oyedepo. If, indeed, he has the creative power that he claims to have in this video clip, don’t you think he would have done something about his drooping eyelids and shuffling gait? And while we are at it, how many planets, animals, or plants have Mr Oyedepo created lately?