By Odesola JF., PhD
A Response to the Attack on Pastor E.A. Adeboye and the Disrespectful Dismissal of Decades of Christian Service
There is something deeply troubling about a generation that believes it must rubbish the labour of those who came before it in order to establish its own relevance.
We are living in an age where disrespect is marketed as boldness, suspicion is presented as intellectual superiority, and the deliberate misrepresentation of another person’s ministry is celebrated as the courage to speak truth.
But let us ask ourselves: When did criticism become a licence to insult? When did disagreement become permission to ridicule? And when did dishonouring elders become a profession?
The recent attack on Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, is a case in point.
One may disagree with aspects of his theology, ministry practices, or interpretation of certain spiritual experiences. Such discussions are legitimate. But to accuse a man of lying, manufacturing testimonies, manipulating millions, and operating a psychological scheme without establishing the evidence is not intellectual honesty. It is an accusation masquerading as investigation.
And when the subject is a man who has devoted decades of his life to Christian ministry, the responsibility to speak accurately and fairly becomes even greater.
- LET US BEGIN WITH THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION: HAS PASTOR ADEBOYE EVER CHARGED YOU FOR PRAYER?
The writer asks why people travel hundreds of kilometres to attend programmes where Pastor Adeboye prays for them.
My question is simple: Who told you that travelling to hear a man of God pray is the same thing as worshipping that man?
People travel to attend conventions, crusades, prayer meetings, conferences, and worship services because they desire fellowship, spiritual encouragement, biblical teaching, and corporate prayer.
Does attending a church service mean that the congregation believes its pastor is God?
Does travelling to hear a preacher mean that the preacher has replaced Jesus Christ?
If that argument is valid, then every Christian conference, revival meeting, and evangelistic crusade attended by thousands of people must be classified as personality worship.
That is an unreasonable conclusion.
And concerning the allegation of payment for prayer, let us establish the facts rather than manufacture insinuations.
Pastor Adeboye has not made the ministry of prayer a commercial transaction. His public ministry has consistently presented prayer as a spiritual service, not a product to be purchased.
If anyone alleges that a particular person was charged a fee for prayer, let that person provide the specific evidence: the date, the transaction, the amount, and the circumstances.
Do not transform an allegation about a supposed VIP appointment into a sweeping accusation against a man’s entire ministry.
There is a difference between investigating a genuine financial irregularity and deliberately creating a scandal.
- THE BIBLE DOES NOT TEACH THAT ALL MINISTERS HAVE IDENTICAL ASSIGNMENTS OR MEASURES OF GRACE.
The writer asks why people cannot simply ask their local pastor to pray for them.
But does the Bible teach that every minister has precisely the same calling, assignment, spiritual gifts, or measure of influence?
Certainly not!
Romans 12:6 (KJV) declares:
“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us…”
First Corinthians 12:4–6 teaches that there are diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations, but the same Spirit, Lord, and God.
The Bible recognises different gifts and assignments within the same body of Christ.
In Acts 19:11–12, God performed special miracles through the hands of Paul, and handkerchiefs or aprons brought from his body were associated with healing and deliverance.
Was Paul therefore replacing Jesus Christ?
Was the early church guilty of personality worship because people sought his ministry?
No!
The Scripture expressly says that God wrought the miracles, while Paul was the minister through whom they occurred.
The same distinction is made in Acts 14:8–15, the very passage quoted by the critic.
Paul and Barnabas rejected worship because they were being treated as gods. They did not reject the fact that God had called and empowered them for a particular assignment.
There is a world of difference between acknowledging a minister’s spiritual gift and worshipping that minister.
- BUILDING A HIGH-TECH HOSPITAL DOES NOT CONTRADICT BELIEF IN DIVINE HEALING.
This argument is particularly disappointing.
The writer presents the establishment of a hospital equipped for robotic surgery as evidence of contradiction because the church also believes in prayer and divine healing.
But who established the doctrine that faith in God requires the rejection of medicine?
Luke, the beloved physician, was a companion of Paul.
Colossians 4:14 (KJV):
“Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.”
Was Luke’s medical profession a contradiction of his Christian faith?
In 1 Timothy 5:23, Paul advised Timothy concerning the use of a little wine for his stomach’s sake and frequent infirmities.
Was Paul demonstrating a lack of faith by recommending a practical remedy?
Certainly not!
The church can pray for the sick, support medical research, establish hospitals, train surgeons, and provide modern healthcare without contradicting its belief in God.
Indeed, a hospital equipped with advanced technology is an expression of the conviction that human life deserves care, protection, and treatment.
Prayer and medical science are not enemies. They can work together in the service of humanity.
The same God whom Christians believe heals miraculously can also be thanked for the knowledge, skill, and wisdom He has enabled medical professionals to develop.
- ABOUT THE TESTIMONIES: DISAGREEMENT IS NOT PROOF OF FABRICATION.
The writer calls Pastor Adeboye a liar over accounts involving an empty fuel tank, unusual weather conditions, and a personal spiritual experience.
Let us be intellectually honest.
A person may question a testimony. A person may ask for clarification. A person may say, “I find that account difficult to verify.”
But to declare someone a liar simply because one does not personally accept the account is to confuse personal disbelief with established evidence.
A testimony is an account of an experience. It is not automatically a scientific paper, a laboratory report, or a universally reproducible experiment.
One may examine its details, ask questions, and evaluate its credibility if the fellow doing it has his or her spiritual antenna sensitive enough captured the miraculous without resorting to personal abuse.
And concerning the account of a cup of tea shared with God, the critic’s mockery reveals a fundamental failure to distinguish between spiritual language and ordinary physical description.
The Bible itself records encounters with God expressed through visions, revelations, dreams, and symbolic experiences.
Whether one accepts a particular account is a separate question from whether one has the evidence to pronounce its narrator a deliberate liar.
Scepticism is legitimate. Slander is not intellectual courage.
- THE SCRIPTURE QUOTED AGAINST HIM MUST ALSO BE APPLIED HONESTLY.
The writer quotes 2 Peter 2:3 concerning false teachers who make merchandise of people through feigned words.
That Scripture is serious, and the church must never defend financial exploitation, manipulation, or fraudulent spiritual claims.
But it is equally wrong to use a passage condemning false teachers as a weapon against someone without establishing that the person belongs to the category being condemned.
If the mere telling of an unusual testimony proves that a minister is a false teacher, then the critic must explain how he distinguishes between a genuine testimony, an exaggerated account, a misunderstanding, and a deliberate fabrication.
The burden of proof rests on the person making the accusation.
A Bible verse does not automatically authenticate an accusation simply because it has been quoted in capital letters or accompanied by religious indignation.
- THE WRITER HAS CONFUSED HONOUR WITH WORSHIP.
Nobody should worship Pastor Adeboye.
Nobody should worship Pastor Kumuyi, Bishop Oyedepo, Bishop Wale Oke, or any other minister.
Christ alone is Lord.
But the Bible that commands us to worship God also commands us to honour those who labour faithfully in His service.
First Timothy 5:17 (KJV):
“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.”
Hebrews 13:7 says:
“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.”
Notice the instruction: remember them, consider their faith, and observe the outcome of their lives.
The Bible does not instruct Christians to ridicule their elders, invent motives for them, or dismiss decades of ministry as psychological manipulation.
Honouring an elder does not mean agreeing with every statement he makes. It means treating his life, labour, and service with the dignity they deserve.
We can correct without contempt. We can disagree without dishonour. We can ask difficult questions without destroying another person’s reputation.
- WHAT HAS THIS GENERATION DONE WITH THE LABOUR OF THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE IT?
This is where the matter becomes particularly painful.
Some of the people now confidently dismissing the ministries of older Christian leaders were children, or not even born, when these men were already preaching the Gospel, planting churches, travelling through difficult terrain, praying for the sick, discipling believers, and building Christian institutions.
They inherited churches they did not plant, pulpits they did not construct, and spiritual communities sustained by the sacrifices of previous generations.
Yet some now speak as though Christian ministry began when they opened their social media accounts.
I am not suggesting that age makes anyone infallible. An elder can be corrected, and a younger believer can possess profound biblical insight.
But wisdom should teach us that the right to question an elder does not confer the right to humiliate him.
Job 12:12 reminds us:
“With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.”
And Leviticus 19:32 commands:
“Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God…”
This is not a call to blind loyalty. It is a call to godly character.
- LET US ALSO REMEMBER THE HUMAN BEINGS BEHIND THESE MINISTRIES.
Behind the title of General Overseer is a human being who has spent decades carrying the responsibilities of spiritual leadership.
Behind the large congregations are individuals whose lives have been touched by preaching, pastoral care, prayer, discipleship, and Christian fellowship.
Behind the institutions are countless workers, ministers, volunteers, and members who have contributed their time, resources, and labour.
One may investigate the finances of a church. One may scrutinise its doctrines for re-adjustment if need be. One may question some of its administrative decisions. These are legitimate matters.
But to reduce an entire lifetime of ministry to a conspiracy of fabricated stories and financial exploitation without demonstrating the evidence is neither fair nor responsible.
And if the writer’s intention is genuinely to defend biblical Christianity, then his own conduct should reflect the biblical principles he claims to uphold.
James 3:17 teaches that wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, and full of mercy.
Truth does not need cruelty to become convincing.
MY FINAL WORD TO ISRAEL OLUWASHINA AHMADU
Dear Israel, you are entitled to your convictions. You are entitled to question spiritual practices. You are entitled to demand accountability from church leaders.
But please understand that being controversial is not the same as being courageous, and being insulting is not the same as being truthful.
You have quoted the Bible extensively. I respectfully encourage you to apply its instructions on honour, humility, fairness, and the proper use of the tongue with the same enthusiasm.
If you have evidence of fraud, present it.
If you have evidence of financial exploitation, establish it.
If you disagree with a doctrine, explain your disagreement from Scripture.
But do not casually call an elder a liar, attribute sinister motives to him, and dismiss the spiritual experiences of millions of believers as psychological conditioning simply because you do not share their convictions or believe in the supernatural.
There is a generation that believes pulling down its elders is the fastest way to announce its own arrival.
But history will not remember us merely for how loudly we criticised those who came before us. It will also ask what we built, whom we served, and whether we left the Church stronger than we met it.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye is not Jesus Christ. Nobody has claimed that he is. He is a human being, a humble servant of God, and an elder in the faith whose ministry is open to legitimate scrutiny but whose dignity should not be sacrificed on the altar of social media popularity.
And to those who believe that every unusual testimony must be a lie, I ask one final question:
When did we become so intellectually proud that we could no longer distinguish between what we cannot explain and what has been proven false?
May God give us a generation that can question without destroying, correct without insulting, and disagree without dishonouring.
For the Bible remains clear:
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” — Philippians 2:3 (KJV)
We must not become so eager to expose the perceived faults of our elders that we forget the Christian responsibility to honour those who have laboured before us.
