There is a video and commentary trending on the social media that Pastor William Kumuyi has recanted his earlier doctrine on dressing by women in the church after years of misleading the womenfolk.
Many of my professional colleagues have, on the basis of this, launched unwarranted attacks on the personality of the man of God. But I am afraid of the way they have heavily descended rudely on Kumuyi in a matter many of the critics know little about! My fear emanates from my knowledge of the scripture that says: “Touch not my anointed, and do my prophet no harm”. Though neither the church nor Pastor Kumuyi has mandated me to defend them on this issue, I, as a member of the church, who has privileged information, think I should correct the wrong antagonistic view.
Some of the contentions are that Kumuyi has for years deliberately misled his congregation on things like exposure to knowledge through the watching of TV contents; and that he imposed a shabby dress code on the church members, especially the womenfolk.
The latest uproar is about a purported message by the Pastor to the Ekiti Deeper Christian Life congregation of his church, based on 1 Corinthians 11: 5-6 that says women should only cover their heads in the church when they are praying or prophesying.
To start with, there was never a time Kumuyi “unbanned TV” in Deeper Christian Life Ministry, as it is being claimed by some of the critics. Yes, at the early life of the church, possession of TV set and watching of it were frowned upon, because of the bad moral many of the TV programmes of that period “preached.”
The world, through ICT, had since moved away from that era to something better: where ICT tools have become powerful instruments in expanding the frontiers of knowledge and advancement! It isn’t that there are no more negative aspects of that development, but the good seems to have outweighed the evil! Even in the Deeper Christian Life Bible Church/Ministry today, ICT has become a powerful tool of evangelism, though every mature adult should know when to apply the brakes!
On the position of I Corinthians 11: 5-6 that warranted this latest tirade, it is not a new doctrine in the Deeper Christian Life Ministry. It’s part of the 22 doctrines of the Holy Bible, which the church believes in and has taught since its establishment in 1973 or so. What does it say?
5. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.
6. For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered.
Logically, to many people either in Deeper Life or somewhere else, since most of the time the church is where people pray and prophesy, there is the tendency to believe that a woman must cover her head once they are in a church.
But what the two verses of 1 Corinthians 11: 5-6 quoted above say is that it is only during prayer and prophecy that a woman should cover her head.
That the Pastor or the church, in a recent message to the Ekiti church, reinforced or provided an explanation on it doesn’t make it a new message; or redefining or preaching a new message. Far from it. It’s neither a new doctrine nor modifying an old one. The Bible itself warns the Galatian church who were so removed from the doctrine of the Bible to another doctrine that there was grave danger in that.
The Deeper Life Bible Church, if you know, is an assembly of many people: some highly educated, some barely educated; many not too educated; some wealthy, many not too wealthy in naira and kobo. So, not all of us are at the same educational and spiritual levels. That is why the pastor or any pastor in any assembly has to keep on teaching, reinforcing and explaining the doctrines over and over again! More so, when there’s the likelihood that new people come into the church to worship on every service day.
There’s a general phenomenon in life: many people listen to what their pastor say. They don’t listen to what he doesn’t say. This is common in every church. This often brings confusion and strife. In fact, a popular Nigerian pastor once said that his congregation should not only listen to what he said, but to also listen to what he didn’t say, in order to have a balanced message!
Take for example, the statement of our Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 16: 17-18:
17. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
18. They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly thing, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
That’s the teaching of Christ. The Bible preaches it, and every Pastor or child of God preaches it. But it will be absurd or the height of stupidity for a believer to see a snake on the field and run after it to take it up, based on what it’s written in Mark 16: 17-18. It is also the extremity of ignorance to deliberately drink poison, because the Bible has said it will not hurt us.
Some years ago, a so-called prophet deliberately threw himself into the lion’s den at the University of Ibadan Zoological Gardens, based on the event in the book of Daniel when Nebuchadnezzar, out of envy and wickedness, threw Daniel into the lion’s den.
God expects believers to use their God-given wisdom in applying His word. There’s a purpose God gave you intelligence or wisdom. Please use it.
The Kumuyi I knew in the 70s is still the same Kumuyi today, and if God delays his coming, it will be the same Kumuyi tomorrow! He has not changed. It is his critics that do not understand him, and therefore change every time.
