GENERAL Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye has charged all members of the church to help themselves by being obedient to every divine pronouncement.
Warning members on the dangers of not paying their tithes and vows, he maintained that there are two houses—one is built on the Rock and the other is built on sand—both look alright and beautiful until there is a storm.
According to the man of God, at a time such as this when government find if difficult to pay workers’ salaries, God has a way of defending His own people. “Go back and tell your members to stop robbing God. Tell them not to fail in the payment of their tithes and vows.
“The reason you must pay your tithes and vows,” he stressed, “is that nobody knows when trouble will come. When trouble comes, God has a defence for His people, but such defence cannot be extended to those who are disobedient to His Word.” He therefore urged the pastors to ensure the message is delivered undiluted to the members of the church stressing that “God loves a cheerful giver and that they should make sure they do not owe or rob God.” Drawing inspiration from several biblical passages, Pastor Adeboye said:
“Not only must they give to God cheerfully, they must at all time honour Him.” According to him, members of the church must be reminded that Jesus Christ said His Father is greater than him and therefore no one can take His children from Me, emphasising that the father who protects the child of God can Himself tear the disobedient children away as a consequence of disobedience.
To stress the importance of his earlier warning during the Ministers Conference that preceded the convention, Pastor Adeboye re-emphasised that anyone who introduces tribalism into the mission will die a sudden, violent and premature death.
According to him, the church belongs to God and the moment one is born again, one automatically becomes a native of the Kingdom of God, noting that upon that realization, he has never asked anybody of his/her state of origin. He therefore re-echoed the warning which was first announced during the ministers conference, that anyone who introduces ethnicity into the church will die a sudden and premature death irrespective of the status of the person “because I have already prayed earnestly to God concerning the matter.
“Tell all your friends that I’ve prayed a prayer that anyone, whoever, tries to introduce tribalism into RCCG shall die like Ananias and Sapphira died suddenly and prematurely; anyone including the G.O. himself,” Pastor Adeboye reiterated. For the benefit of those who did not attend the ministers conference, Daddy G.O. repeated the announcement of the promotions and the additional eight provinces that have just been created. Ekiti is now a Region of its own. On the new 3 kilometre by 3 kilometre auditorium currently under construction, he declared that God will build for all those who have in one way or the other contributed to the construction, urging the pastors to tell all those who have not done so, that God will not forget.
He also announced that ministers, including pastors and their spouses, must from now make a habit of attending house fellowships and all workers’ meetings. Raffles to raise money for any church activity is prohibited, he stated, just as he told the pastors that incessant levies on members for unworthy enterprises are hereby prohibited. “If we want to build and members can see what you want to build, you can go ahead; but levies for other personal activities must be channeled through the G.O.’s office. In addition to that decree which also attracted much acclaim of those present, the cleric also urged his pastors to always refrain from inviting guest ministers to their programmes, stressing the need to encourage and develop talents within the church.
According to him, the church has reached an advanced stage of raising a12,000-man mass choir, saying that any church that has not contributed to the endeavour, should do so. Without particular reference to the recently retired ministers, Pastor Adeboye said the General Council of the church has approved some retirement benefits for part time pastors as well as burial entitlements. On transfer of pastors, he said there will be minimal transfers this year to avoid pastor’s capitalising on that as excuse for not meeting the church mandate of doubling membership every six months. “Our purpose is to win souls.
Aggressive evangelism is the reason we are where we are today. So, if you don’t double your membership every six months, your pastor will be in trouble,” he said matter of factly. Acknowledging that soul winning is not an easy endeavour, he noted that members of the church must strive to equip themselves spiritually for the onerous task, narrating what it took him to win a very difficult man like his former Head of Department at University of Lagos, late Prof. Chike Obi.
He expressed dismay that some workers within the church cannot speak in tongues, arguing, “how can you win souls for Christ if you have not received power to do so?” Speaking on a very contentious issue of personal ministries within the church, Adeboye decreed that such will no longer be tolerated in the church, saying that individuals are at liberty to leave the church “so that when next we meet them we shall greet them as General Overseers.” The ministry currently known as Youth Church has been renamed as Young Adults and Youth Church to accommodate young members who are married but are still young at heart. Adeboye also insisted that pastors should ensure that hymns are part of their service at all times, just as he stressed the need for serious cleanliness within the church and in individual homes. The man of God also warned ministers in the church not to bring strange practices into the church, stressing that RCCG does not involve in praying on water or burn candles.
We do pray on oil or handkerchief. “Let your church be thoroughly clean at all times,” he stated, adding “in the Redeemed Christian Church of God we do not pray on water and we do not burn candles.” As a result of his busy schedules, he told the crowds of pastors that his Special Assistants and the Assistant General Overseers will now be saddled with the responsibility of dedicating new churches in the mission.
In conclusion, he urged all members of the church to take prison ministry much more seriously from now by visiting the nearest prison to your church, pray for the inmates and do things as part of your corporate social responsibilty. According to him, RCCG has rebuilt the chapel in the Kirikiri Prisons, Kirikiri Town and has also established an outpost of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, in the premises or benefit of inmates in addition to giving inmates foods every Sunday.
He maintained that the church made it a habit to give them a plate of rice and chicken every Sunday it was discovered that the chicken does not get to the inmates. “So the church decided to give the inmates fish instead,” he noted.
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