MATTHEW ASHIMOLOWO’S “CRUSADE” OF MAMMON

By Akin Ojumu

A Christian crusade outreach is a large-scale, organized evangelistic event designed to convert non-believers to Christianity and revitalize the faith of local churchgoers. Christian denominations use the event strictly as a means of an intense, coordinated effort to spread the Gospel message and win souls to God’s kingdom. The primary focus is to preach the Gospel to unregenerate sinners.

You may ask, “What exactly is the Gospel message?

The true Gospel message is the “Good News” that Christ Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead to reconcile humanity with God. Derived from the Greek word euangelion, it is the foundational message of Christianity. It declares that salvation and eternal life cannot be earned through good deeds but are offered as a free gift of grace to anyone who trusts in Jesus and accepts Him as their Lord and Savior.

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Acts 2:38

“And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

A true minister of the Gospel will preach the Gospel message. Not so Matthew Ashimolowo. What we find him preaching at a recent “crusade” in Erin-Ijesha, Osun State, Nigeria, is a man-made religion especially designed to arouse carnal desires. The religion he is seeing promoting is an idolatrous pagan religion devoted to inflaming the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and pride of life. It is a religion and a “gospel” dedicated to temporal desires. 

The original Twelve Apostles of the Lord Jesus never preached the kind of message Matthew Ashimolow preached in his crusade. What you hear from him is a shallow Christianized TED TALK for self-improvement, self-development, personal-growth, and personal-empowerment. Ashimolowo’s hollow message is most certainly not the Gospel of salvation that Paul preached and for which he was beaten, imprisoned, and killed.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

While Matthew Ashimolowo turns his crusade ground to an occasion to brag about his “small house” in Lagos which is equipped with elevator and has a master bedroom the size of a football field, all Paul could boast about was being homeless, hungry, and naked. Even as Ashimolowo lets it be known that his “ministry” as an evangelist of Mammon has brought him great riches and privileges, what Paul would have us talk about, with respect to his ministry as a faithful servant of the true Gospel, is his rags and adversities.

2 Corinthians 11:21-27

“But whatever anyone else dares to boast of – I am speaking as a fool – I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one – I am talking like a madman – with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”

The Lord Jesus Christ does not offer sinners what already enslaves them, i.e., their own lusts and desires. The Lord offers sinners the Gospel and, with it, the hope of being rescued from what enslaves them. The Gospel calls the sinner to flee from sin, deny self, run from judgment, die to all that is in the world, escape hell, and gain heaven. 

The gospel of Mammon offers you all your temporal desires. It tells you to gain the whole world, embrace your desires, succumb to your cravings, and live your best life now in this world.

Matthew Ashimolowo is not a minister of the Gospel. He does not preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The man is a slave to mammon. You put your soul in serious jeopardy if you consume the poison he is selling.