I beg everyone that opens this page to contribute or enlighten if you know more please!!!!! Thanks.

Okay I know God has left most churches and CHRIST has been replaced by Pastors, GO's etc because we are now in the Era of Pastor worship,  but I just noticed something new again amongst some self professed Christians,  When they pray, they now say "The God of Adeboye" or "The God of Oyedepo",  And I open my mouth wondering where is this coming from again? Why are people doing this?  Even people wey dey serve juju self, dey do am in secret so why are self professed Christians worshiping and Idolizing their Pastors when there is a book called "The HOLY Bible" to guide? And even when you do it, why not in secret?

In that book (Bible) God introduced himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (OT) These men are gone and since we have their history and God even introduced himself with their names it is safe to say they made Heaven.  So my question now is,  are these people no longer relevant anymore? Why replace them with your own pastors who are still alive today, since you dont know of anybody that will make heaven? This is not to put anyone down but to drum the hard core facts into the ears of pastor worshipers. You are not GOD, neither would you choose or select for him who will make heaven and who wouldn't. Your pastors are not divine but mortals. Even if they raise up the dead, draw fire from heaven, they still remain under these words "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" I would rather pray in the name of  "The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, our Lord Jesus Christ" and live it at that because they have been established by our guide "THE BIBLE" None of your pastors or GO's has. Finally Christians were given only one name to pray with, and that name is JESUS CHRIST!  It should be the God of our lord Jesus Christ, Not Adeboye, Oyedepo, Oyakhilome. I am sure your pastors or GO's don't pray in their own names so why are you doing that? If for any reason you want to pray with any name for that mater it should be "YOUR OWN- God" and not anybody's because deep in your heart you alone knows the God you serve. Now this post is not to stop anybody from worshiping their pastors or Go's because truth is I can not do that and nobody can because you will find a million reasons to defend your actions but since it is not biblical abeg make una take am easy! Na beg I dey beg o! no be force,  Anybody that knows better please elighten us, using the Bible as reference and not what your pastor said because truth is I trust and Believe the Bible more than your Pastor or GO. Thanks

Simple answer ---- brainwashing and manipulation by these "pastors" coupled with ignorance, desire and/or greed of the sheeple!

You have some of the "pastors" on this very forum fraudulently and/or idiotically peddling all sorts of falsehood aimed at elevating "pastors" and manipulating the sheeple into giving money etc to them and holding the miscreants in esteem. Here is an example from another thread:  https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-707140.0.html#msg8759220

When God says he has commanded the widow, that doesn't mean she heard any voice. It was a prophetic utterance just like saying "I have ordained her" to feed you. But the woman physically was broke. She was about to die. But the blessing lies with the manor God. A man of God carries anointing to prosper. She had to connect to the anointing by ministring to him with the food. If she had not done that , she would have died even though she had been ordained to feed him. She must connect to "the prophets reward"  and that's what he made her do.

and another:

The anointed man carries the blessing. When you give him, you position yourself to recieve period.

Suggesting that the "pastor" is the "anointed" man and must be given money etc for the sheeple to be blessed. Whereas the Bible teaches that every Christian is anointed and blessed!

When people constantly hear fraudulent things like these from "pastors" that they trust and hold in esteem, if they fail to engage their brains properly exactly as millions fail to do, it is not then surprising that they talk of "the God of Adeboye/Oyedepo/Oyakhilome" etc It is only sad and extremely pitiful!

This is a new one, I haven't heard this one before but I will keep my ears open going forward to see if I can pick something up, MOG is the one that pisses me off the most, every believer ought to be able to call him/herself an MOG since Christ died equally for all of us and no one is more"special" than the other.

It is very HARD to tell those "under the influence" otherwise because they believe they are "blessed" because some pastor prayed for them rather than God's mercy. We need to keep them in our prayers.

ogajim:

This is a new one, I haven't heard this one before but I will keep my ears open going forward to see if I can pick something up, MOG is the one that pisses me off the most, every believer ought to be able to call him/herself an MOG since Christ died equally for all of us and no one is more"special" than the other.

It is very HARD to tell those "under the influence" otherwise because they believe they are "blessed" because some pastor prayed for them rather than God's mercy. We need to keep them in our prayers.

The practice is based on their spin on this scripture: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:19.

The point being that Paul said "MY" God, not just God or our God. So, Paul had such a special relationship with God that when people gave to his work, they were likely to receive unlike if they had just given to anybody else. The people making prayers in the name of these ministers believe that these ministers are unique, as evidenced by God's blessings upon their life, so one can acccess similar blessings by going through their God, the God that gave them all that stuff.

Frankly, sometimes, you wonder whether many Nigerian christians are simply retarded.

nlMediator:

The practice is based on their spin on this scripture: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:19.

Far from it. It's Yoruba thing. And if you observed , it's mostly among the yorubas. It has nothing to do with the emergence of new churches. It started in the 1940s. The emergence of the White garment churches who had supernatural manifestations and miracles. Nominal christians began to leave the old churches to join the miraculous churches. "the God of orimolade" etc.

As a child in celestial church as far back as the 70s I used to hear such sayings as "Olorun Oschoffa " (God of oschoffa) so let's not use everything to attack innocent men Of God. It is not them that make such claim but the followers. It's a Yoruba thing.

Enigma:

, it is not then surprising that they talk of "the God of Adeboye/Oyedepo/Oyakhilome" etc It is only sad and extremely pitiful!

I know if you haven't brought CEC or oyakhilome into a thread , your body will not rest. We don't use such utterance in CEC . It's a teaching church brodo.

Joagbaje:

Far from it. It's Yoruba thing. And if you observed , it's mostly among the yorubas. It has nothing to do with the emergence of new churches. It started in the 1940s. The emergence of the White garment churches who had supernatural manifestations and miracles. Nominal christians began to leave the old churches to join the miraculous churches. "the God of orimolade" etc.

As a child in celestial church as far back as the 70s I used to hear such sayings as "Olorun Oschoffa " (God of oschoffa) so let's not use everything to attack innocent men Of God. It is not them that make such claim but the followers. It's a Yoruba thing.

I’m not keen on laying the blame on pastors. It’s more of a congregation thing and that was my focus. The first time I heard it, it was by an Igbo man in a church pastored by another Igbo man. Perhaps, they were influenced by Yorubas around them? Or the two practices (white garment and Pentecostal versions) are independent but related. And I’m pretty sure I’ve heard justification for that practice with a reference to Phil. 4:19.