[dropcap]L[/dropcap]et me first express my deep gratitude to you for the invaluable work you have done in promoting the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. For as long as I can remember, your name has been successfully linked with the spread of the gospel. You are, without doubt, one of the greatest preachers of the gospel in the world today. I particularly enjoy listening to you on audio. Your deep sonorous voice makes the word of God even more interesting to hear.
I come from a family where many are your adherents. My immediate elder brother was a member of the Deeper Life Ministry until his death. It was through him that I came in close contact with your teachings on audio. My elder sisters and brother were at one point or the other, members of the Deeper Life Ministry.
It is because of two of them, my elder sister, Ifeyinwa, who spent about three decades of her life as a member of the Deeper Life Ministry before her death in 2015 and my elder brother Princewill who is still a member of your church, that I am writing to you.
As far as many of us in the family could see, she lived a life that was on the surface totally sold out to God and in my own estimation, approximated the highest ideals of the faith. It was therefore a rude shock to me when, in 2011, this same supposed paragon of Christianity, a devout member of the Deeper Life Ministry conspired with Princewill and others to accuse me of being an occultist using the fortune of members of our family. The shock of the accusation has never left me even till today.
What was more shocking is how someone like her, who many of us had assumed all the while to be a model of Christianity, could become such a purveyor of a malevolent allegation.
Let me, for the purpose of this letter sir, reiterate that I have never joined any cult group. I have never ever joined any group, secret or open. I have never consulted a spiritualist or gone to a native doctor. I have lived a very clean and transparent life. I don’t believe in occultism and such clandestine groupings. As an outstanding disciple, imbued with the Spirit of God, I know that the Spirit of God will minister the truth to you.
I therefore found it very strange that people who had been such devoted members of your ministry could lay such an allegation against an innocent person and proceed to conspire with others to launch a vicious spiritual attack against me
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It might also interest you to know that Ifeyinwa was married to a member of the Deeper Life Ministry who is still serving as a pastor of one of the Deeper Life parishes in Umuahia, Abia State, even now.
Let me hasten to say for the purpose of full disclosure, that her husband Pastor Emenike never shared her views and dissociated himself from it.
Since my experience, I have discovered that so many other people have been victims of similar allegations. Indeed, the situation has become an epidemic. I believe that despite the enormity of the responsibilities you bear, you would have heard at one point or the other, similar allegations being made against various people. It has now become a common feature in the society and what is amazing to me is that many people I have spoken with tend to associate these kinds of allegations with the Deeper Life Ministry. It is for that reason that I am writing this letter to you.
Having known you both in the course of my work as a reporter and as a Christian, I can safely vouch that you do not subscribe to these allegations. But then I wonder, is there something in the doctrine of the Deeper Life Ministry that encourages or that creates the enabling environment for your members to believe in these kind of things? In other words, is it a doctrinal problem or isolated character deviance of individual members? Is there any way in which the church has perhaps unwittingly become an enabler of this evil?
I know that you would be worried, as many other people in the society are, about the harm which false prophets and fake divinations are wreaking in the body of Christ.
My brother and sisters claimed that a pastor gave them a revelation alleging that I am an occultist who is using the fortune and luck of the family to achieve personal success. Obviously, nothing can be farther from the truth.
To begin with, neither my sister nor many of my other siblings acquired the skill and education to earn meaningful remuneration. She dropped out of secondary school at Class Three and married a primary school teacher who is a pastor of one of your Parishes in Umuahia. As much as I could, I have supported them. Given their limitations, they were not equipped to achieve much material success. It is not a question of anyone using their fortune. I sponsored my brother to study law and upon graduation, he refused to practice but elected to live in the village as a land speculator.
However, it would appear that in their world of Born Again Christianity, personal efforts don’t matter. Every “Born Again” Christian is entitled to success and when that does not happen, someone, usually a more successful kith and kin, would be accused of using their fortune and luck.
I sincerely implore you sir, to use your good offices and examine the issue of false prophecies and allegations of witchcraft and occultism in the Deeper Life Ministry.
The challenges of your office may not allow you to hear some of the stories and the problems these false allegations emanating from fake prophecies are causing. But believe me, they are enormous. There is virtually nobody who has not had either a personal experience, or knows of someone who has been affected. The conventional wisdom in the body of Christ is that it is the sign of the end times. It may well be so, but it does not obviate the need for the church to rise against it.
You have contributed enormously to the growth and spread of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are a great disciple and a true father of the faith. You have another historic role to play, and that is to ensure that the doctrine of the Deeper Life Church continues in tandem with the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ and that members of the church maintain the sanctity of the faith.
Allegations like these cause irreparable damages to individuals, families and the society at large. It harms the faith. I thank God for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that my faith in him was firmly established before now. If not sir, I honestly do not know whether I would have been able to countenance any message of the gospel after this nasty experience.
It is deeply saddening that supposed warriors of the Faith could become agents of such satanic manipulations and falsehood. My experiences in the hands of my family members who are part of the Deeper Life Fellowship have seared deeply in my consciousness. And it would only take the grace of God for it to be erased.
Once again sir, let me thank you for the work you have done as a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that the good Lord who gave you the grace would continue to lead you to a successful end.
May God bless you sir.
Yours sincerely,
Prince Emeka Obasi
Publisher
Emeka Obasi is a former information commissioner and publisher of Hallmark Newspapers, National Mirror, and other publications. He is an author and respected journalist and writer. He can be reached on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
