Founder, Living Faith Church aka Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, in a new, very revealing interview with Punch talked about the
numerous stories we’ve heard about his
church and how most of them are lies plus how
he reacts to them.
Excerpts:
Why are there so many rich people
in Winners?
Because they know better than their
contemporaries. If you don’t know what you
have, you won’t know if you are deprived of it.
The Bible is an open chequebook, it is by
revelation we access what belongs to us; by
faith we take delivery of it. Someone had
access to our empowerment programme and
she is a pepper seller, while others sell one
basket a day, she sells six, seven. I learnt she
had become the envy of all the pepper sellers
in her area. Such person has an understanding
that whatever
she does, she prospers and she knows that
when she pays her tithe, she experiences open
heavens. But in case people don’t know, they
perish for lack of knowledge, and in case they
think when you are rich you miss heaven, then
they perish for lack of knowledge.
So, it’s right when people claim
that this church is only for the
rich?
It’s for all the people who believe that Jesus
already paid for them to be rich. And those
who don’t believe, when they come they start
believing when they see it happen in a lot of
people’s lives. And we are not ashamed to be
called the church of the rich. If they call your
family poor, will you be excited? Nobody would
be excited. Even when a family is poor, they
hate to be called poor. No man in his right
mind enjoys being called poor, and nobody
truly wants to be poor, people may pretend.
Which is more honourable between being a
giver and a beggar? Most of us came in very
poor, but the light of God’s word came on us
and we walked out of poverty in grand style
into wealth and riches.
We learnt your church members
once donated about 700 cars as
seed and that the cars were given
to the pastors?
It’s important to mention that there was no
time that I know in the history of this church
where there were 700 cars. There is no such
story. People can make anything out of
anything. There was a time they said we had
six planes, and I said they didn’t count them
well, they should be up to 30 so that we use
one each day of the month.
Those are things that make news in the social
media even when they are lies. People give
here because they are taught to give, because
we understand from the scriptures that it is
the only way to increase.
Every normal Winner takes good care of his
parents. We also give to the poor. My family
has sponsored close to 150 people out of
university and others at Landmark University
are on scholarship on our own ticket because
of our commitment to agriculture.
It is a lifestyle; it didn’t start yesterday or two
days ago. Since 1992, I have been consciously
sponsoring students in various universities in
Nigeria. The church is blessed because the
church is a giving church. Just today (before
you came), I signed millions for people who
have health needs from the welfare account.
And that continues. For instance, the church
gives scholarships annually, not N100m or
N150m. And it’s not in the news. And that we
have been doing for years.
How do you feel when people
accuse you of flying in jets and
spending church money to
maintain the jets?
I feel very good. It’s an opinion. Let me tell
you what my understanding of persecution is;
it’s simply an opinion harshly expressed. And
everybody has a right to his opinion. People
who are walking in the truth are hardly
bothered when things are said negatively
about them because they have nothing to hide.
The truth is I have never felt it, some say it’s
not human, but I have not. I can’t be wasting
my time trying to reply lies because I have too
many things to do. They are doing their work,
let me be doing my work too and before they
wake up in the morning, I’ve done the next
one, so, it doesn’t matter.
When we started Convenant University, so
many people said it would not work, now, we
hosted two Nobel Laureates this week,
whereas no Nigerian university has ever hosted
one in the history of university education in
Nigeria. Now, it is the most pronounced and
preferred private university in Nigeria. In fact,
they say this is the university of the future;
that is what they say in the university
community. Those who said it could not work
now have their children here because they
have changed their mind.
Some people say how can you tell children how
to dress? We have to do that so they won’t
behave like mad people on the street. They say
how can you tell them they can’t use phone?
We tell them so they would be disconnected
from cultism. Ask me anything, I can tell you
why we did it.
Where are you going to find the President of a
nation with a woven hair? I can tell you that in
the next 100 years, you won’t find a male
president using earring because they would
count you as irresponsible, even in the secular
world, they won’t see anything in you. As free
as America is, have you ever seen any minister
there with earrings? The person may be
qualified, but he will be termed irresponsible.
But if you train these children how to carry
themselves, it will open up their future.
Everywhere you get to in this world, people are
looking for responsible people, who don’t only
say so, but prove so. So, all the opinions on
Covenant University have died now because we
didn’t stop pursuing what we believe was right
and now it has become a standard.
Some people think there are too
many churches in Nigeria and the
best way to make money is to
establish a church…
Let them go and start one. Almost every house
in some parts of Nigeria is a mosque. So what
is the complaint about? Multitudes still flock
the roads on Sunday mornings going nowhere.
Are churches enough? No. Until everybody is
saved and everybody is off the street on
Sunday mornings, we don’t have enough
churches. So for those who are angry, they would be angry for too long because they haven’t seen churches yet. A time is coming on
Sunday morning that we won’t see anybody on
the street, because they would be in church.
