₦airaland Forum

The Damnable Errors of Arome Osayi and Jerry Eze

By: Deji Yesufu

I am a civil servant. For the past fifteen years, my morning revolves around preparing children for school; dropping them off early to make their school assembly; and then reporting to the office before 8 am which is the official resumption date for workers in many Nigerian institutions. This particular morning, I complete the circuit early enough and then I drove into our parking lot around twenty minutes past seven. Because I had forty minutes to spare, I wound down the car glasses and tried to inhale and exhale the morning cold breeze. As I did this, somehow my attention was drawn to the two vehicles to my right and left. There were two ladies in these cars, who had the windows of their vehicles wound up. They were praying. As I watched the motion of their mouths, they were obviously listening to prayer session emitting from their phones. I could tell that they were both listening to the same prayer channel from one of these YouTube prayer pastors – either Jerry Eze or Arome Osayi. I found it strange and fortuitous that in a public place, two women who do not know themselves, will be tuned to the same prayer channel, and will be uttering the same “amen” in the same location thousands of kilometers from the individual leading the prayer. I considered it both the magic of the internet and the deception of the prosperity gospel. It is the errors behind the latter that I wish to shed light on in this article.

I do not know Arome Osayi and Jerry Eze in person and it will be impossible for me to comment on who these men are. I draw my judgement on them simply from the content of their preaching and prayers which is all over the internet. I would also naturally not have responded to these men, except that I find their content in the public space, and since I am a religious public commentator, I felt I should share my thoughts with the public too. It might help one or two persons. I will be writing on three essential points about these men: their false prosperity gospel; their endless and meaningless tales; and their “many” deceived followers.

Theologically, there are a few errors that Christians peddle that one cannot consider as damnable. Some of these errors are products of traditional practices in a place that might have influenced the teaching of the Bible in those places; there are other errors that exhume from a faulty interpretation of the scripture. For example, I consider the practice of “speaking in tongues” among Pentecostals as an error but it is not a damnable error. I think that one can be speaking in tongues and still be a conscientious Christian who does not deny the tenets of the Christian faith. The trouble however with these endless prayer sessions, led by the likes of Arome Osayi and Jerry Eze, is that at the root of it is the damnable heresy of the prosperity gospel. The reason why the adherents of these teaching spend morning, afternoon, and night praying, is so that God might bring them into some prosperity and blessing, and so that they might have some liberation from a health challenge. This is not the Christian gospel.

As I write this, the local church that I am pastoring is looking at the life of Jesus as it is recorded in the gospels of John. In chapter eighteen of that book, Jesus Christ is brough before Pilate and the Jews are recommending to the Roman leader that Jesus should be executed. Pilate is confused. He makes it clear to the Jews that he finds no faults in Jesus. In fact, by the turn of the next chapter, the Jews begin to recommend that Jesus be crucified. And Pilate is wondering why the Jews will recommend a capital punishment to a man who had done no offence. When he enquired further from the Jews who this Jesus really was, they respond and said that Jesus had called himself the Son of God. Pilate, a bullish Roman warrior, was scared. He asked Jesus “who are you?” Jesus did not respond. The heart of my point here is however in the final verses of Chapter eighteen, Pilate gives the Jews an option: take Jesus or take Barrabas – Barrabas was an insurrectionist and a murderer. The Jews took Barrabas. In other words, since Jesus did not have an offence, they took the sins of Barrabas and put it on Jesus, while they declared Barrabas free. That, my friends, is the gospel.

The gospel is about God’s gracious work in Christ Jesus – where he took the sins of the world and put it on his Son. Then God brought the whole gamut of his wrath on his Son, and killed him on the cross because of the weight of the sin of the elect that Christ bore. The story did not end there. Jesus, however, rose from the dead after three days. In other words, while the wages of sin is death – Christ defeated death by rising from the dead. Therefore, whoever believes in Jesus, they can trust that Christ has taken away their sin; Christ have forgiven their sins; and Christ has brought them into newness of life in the Holy Spirit. Our duty as Christians, is not to spend the rest of our lives, looking for breakthroughs of prosperity and deliverance from demonic influences; but to simply repent of our sins, believe in Christ as Saviour, and then live the rest of our lives bringing the positive influences of the gospel on our societies. The pastor continues to remind his community of the gospel, and press gospel demands on sinners to repent; the civil servants bringing the effects of the gospel to his community – serving the civil populace at work; the Christian politician bringing gospel light to leadership – showing the world that there are still Daniels and Josephs in our day and time; etc. There is simply nothing Christian in what Arome Osayi, Jerry Eze, and the likes are doing on the internet!

The doctrine that underlines these men’s preaching is called the prosperity gospel, and I can say with biblical authority that anyone who believes their message will not go to heaven. The prosperity gospel is damnable heresy because it teaches that Jesus Christ died to make us healthy and wealthy. It has gone a little further in the Nigerian animist environment, where there is an ingrained belief that there are forces of good and evil forever at war in the “spiritual realm”. They then teach their followers that those who can pray enough; fast enough; give to church enough; etc, are those who will possess the powers to defeat the devil and all of his evil machinations in the spiritual realm. They reduce Christianity to give and take. The whole element of grace in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is lost. Everything is contingent on what you do. If you want results, do the things that these men are asking you to do and you will see results. This is why these prayer sessions are inundated with “testimony sessions”. The testimonies lend credence to the fact that what the man is preaching is true. Osayi and Eze have simply taken over from the false gospel that their fathers in the faith, the like of Oyedepo, Adeboye, and the late Benson Idahosa have taught for years now. They are the new kids on the Charismatic bloc, and they are reaping a fortune in the process.

Again, these men’s “products” are in the public space and no one is using my money to purchase their rubbish. But the time comes when it becomes necessary to put a word of caution for all to read. There is one word that concerns me when it comes to deception in the religious communities. That word is “many”. Jesus used it in Matthew 24 when he spoke about the signs of the end, and what will happen when he is about to return. He said “many” will be deceived by false teachers and false prophets. Similarly, Peter used the same word in his second epistle – the second chapter. He talked about how many false teachers will deceive many in those days. The days when “many” will be deceived is today. And Nigeria has so cultured the environment to allow for these deceivers to flourish in our day and time.

For those who may still have ears to hear, let me say it again: there is no redemption in what Arome Osayi and Jerry Eze are teaching. They are simply repackaging an old heresy: it is the teaching of Balaam who was deceived by the gains he sought to get from ministry. Jesus Christ did not die for anyone to be healthy and wealthy. Jesus died to save you and I from our sins. When we repent of our sins, and trust Jesus as Lord and Saviour, he begins to bring the fruit of righteousness to bear on all that we do. It might please God to make a Christian wealthy. Such a person should understand that God demands that he uses his wealth to further kingdom purposes. It might please God to give you and I a lengthy and healthy life. We should understand that God will demand from us what we used every moment of our health for. For some other Christian, they may never know wealth or enjoy good health all their days. For such, the Lord has given them little and the Lord will still demand to know what they do with the little that they had. Please renounce the gospel of prosperity. Stop listening to Arome Osayi, Jerry Eze, and their likes. I know that my words will fall on “many” deaf ears. But if one person has ability to hear the warning in these words, the effort in writing all these would have been worth it.

Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached on naijareformed@gmail.com

Source

Even if the allegation is true, which I don't think so, I don't think it's right and in love to mention their name for public criticism like this. It's better to write them a letter and send to them personally.

That way, you won't offend God while trying to do good. Remember David restrained himself from "touching" Saul when he ha the opportunity simply because it is unscriptural.

The writer of the piece is deeply mistaken about what others preach or deeply ignorant.

How can you believe there is a loving god that permits this kind of division? LoLz.

You barely know them or listen to them, yet have concluded they preach only prosperity gospel.

Yes, Christ died for our sins, but is that just what his death was worth?? We are Christians, followers of Christ and the major reason he sent us His spirtit( Holy Spirit) after death is that we do greater things than he did.

Now this men, fully understanding this, went into ministry to ensure other Christians understand thier mandate as believers. Go into the world make disciples, “ he has anointed us to preach good news, proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed.

Rome will prosper in it's falsehoods until the time allotted for it is over. Emperor Constantine claimed that he saw a sign in the skies and some voice told him 'by this sign, conquer'. Then he syncretized roman pagan beliefs with some doctrines of the Bible, and boom, Christianity was created. There is no such thing as Christianity in the Bible, it is a Roman creation.

Daniel 8:11-13
King James Version
11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down.
12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.
13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

This is Rome. Rome magnified itself against the prince of the host, Jesus Christ, by Rome, the daily sacrifice in Jerusalem was taken away an Jerusalem was conquered. It was because of Judah's transgressions that Rome was empowered against it, and Rome cast the truth to the ground and has practised and prospered till date!

Then Daniel hears a voice asking how long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden down?

We are still in this epoch, the host is still dispersed and the sanctuary is still being trodden down- by the most grievous of the heathen, where they do regular gay parades.

MrPresident1:
Rome will prosper in it's falsehoods until the time alloyed for it is over. Emperor Constantine claimed that he saw a sign in the skoes and some voice told him 'by this sign, conquer'. Then he syncretized roman pagan beliefs with some doctrines of the Bible, and boom, Christianity was created. There is no such thing as Christianity in the Bible, it is a Roman creation.

Daniel 8:11-13
King James Version
11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down.
12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.
13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

This is Rome. Rome magnified itself against the prince of the host, Jesus Christ, by Rome, the daily sacrifice in Jerusalem was taken away an Jerusalem was conquered. It was because of Judah's transgressions that Rome was empowered against it, and Rome cast the truth to the ground and has practised and prospered till date!

Then Daniel hears a voice asking how long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden down?

We are still in this epoch, the host is still dispersed and the sanctuary is still being trodden down- by the most grievous of the heathen, where they do regular gay parades.

Always fun reading you

VBCampaign:


Always fun reading you

Daniel 8:11-12
King James Version
11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down.
12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.

Identify Rome and this passage will make sense. Is it not Rome that magnified itself against Jesus Christ? Is it not Rome that took the daily sacrifice away, and cast down the place of the sanctuary in 70AD?

Who gave Christianity to the world? And From whence is Roman Catholicism?

Has the Bible not told us that Rome will practise and prosper until its time is over?

Rome did not disappear, it only morphed.

MrPresident1:
Daniel 8:11-12
King James Version
11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down.
12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.

Identify Rome and this passage will make sense. Is it not Rome that magnified itself against Jesus Christ? Is it not Rome that took the daily sacrifice away, and cast down the place of the sanctuary in 70AD?

Who gave Christianity to the world? And From whence is Roman Catholicism?

Has the Bible not told us that Rome will practise and prosper until its time is over?

Rome did not disappear, it only morphed.

Yeah

Mr Deji Yesufu is grossly mistaken. I don't know about Jerry Eze but Arome Osayi does not preach the prosperity gospel. In fact, there is probably no preacher who rails against such teachings as Apostle Arome. He doesn't run a YouTube prayer platform (I challenge you to post a link of his YouTube prayer channel), doesn't preach breakthroughs or testimonies as you have alleged.
I don't want to call you a liar but you've grossly misrepresented Arome Osayi and that is borderline wickedness.
Arome Osayi is among the most sincere and soundest gospel teachers of his generation. Do your own research.

ThothHermes:
Mr Deji Yesufu is grossly mistaken. I don't know about Jerry Eze but Arome Osayi does not preach the prosperity gospel. In fact, there is propably no preacher who rails against such teachings as Apostle Arome. He doesn't run a YouTube prayer platform (I challenge you to post a link of his YouTube prayer channel), doesn't preach breakthroughs or testimonies as you have alleged.
I don't want to call you a liar but you've grossly misrepresented Arome Osayi and that is borderline wickedness.
Arome Osayi is among the most sincere and soundest gospel teachers of his generation. Do your own research.

Ok

LordReed:
How can you believe there is a loving god that permits this kind of division? LoLz.

As usual, God doesn't fit into your definition, therefore there's no God. Your consistent attempts to make God in some image is hilarious. What stops God from permitting division or differences. It's still people like you that castigate God as narrow when He insists on one way.

VBCampaign:
The Damnable Errors of Arome Osayi and Jerry Eze

By: Deji Yesufu

I am a civil servant. For the past fifteen years, my morning revolves around preparing children for school; dropping them off early to make their school assembly; and then reporting to the office before 8 am which is the official resumption date for workers in many Nigerian institutions. This particular morning, I complete the circuit early enough and then I drove into our parking lot around twenty minutes past seven. Because I had forty minutes to spare, I wound down the car glasses and tried to inhale and exhale the morning cold breeze. As I did this, somehow my attention was drawn to the two vehicles to my right and left. There were two ladies in these cars, who had the windows of their vehicles wound up. They were praying. As I watched the motion of their mouths, they were obviously listening to prayer session emitting from their phones. I could tell that they were both listening to the same prayer channel from one of these YouTube prayer pastors – either Jerry Eze or Arome Osayi. I found it strange and fortuitous that in a public place, two women who do not know themselves, will be tuned to the same prayer channel, and will be uttering the same “amen” in the same location thousands of kilometers from the individual leading the prayer. I considered it both the magic of the internet and the deception of the prosperity gospel. It is the errors behind the latter that I wish to shed light on in this article.

I do not know Arome Osayi and Jerry Eze in person and it will be impossible for me to comment on who these men are. I draw my judgement on them simply from the content of their preaching and prayers which is all over the internet. I would also naturally not have responded to these men, except that I find their content in the public space, and since I am a religious public commentator, I felt I should share my thoughts with the public too. It might help one or two persons. I will be writing on three essential points about these men: their false prosperity gospel; their endless and meaningless tales; and their “many” deceived followers.

Theologically, there are a few errors that Christians peddle that one cannot consider as damnable. Some of these errors are products of traditional practices in a place that might have influenced the teaching of the Bible in those places; there are other errors that exhume from a faulty interpretation of the scripture. For example, I consider the practice of “speaking in tongues” among Pentecostals as an error but it is not a damnable error. I think that one can be speaking in tongues and still be a conscientious Christian who does not deny the tenets of the Christian faith. The trouble however with these endless prayer sessions, led by the likes of Arome Osayi and Jerry Eze, is that at the root of it is the damnable heresy of the prosperity gospel. The reason why the adherents of these teaching spend morning, afternoon, and night praying, is so that God might bring them into some prosperity and blessing, and so that they might have some liberation from a health challenge. This is not the Christian gospel.

As I write this, the local church that I am pastoring is looking at the life of Jesus as it is recorded in the gospels of John. In chapter eighteen of that book, Jesus Christ is brough before Pilate and the Jews are recommending to the Roman leader that Jesus should be executed. Pilate is confused. He makes it clear to the Jews that he finds no faults in Jesus. In fact, by the turn of the next chapter, the Jews begin to recommend that Jesus be crucified. And Pilate is wondering why the Jews will recommend a capital punishment to a man who had done no offence. When he enquired further from the Jews who this Jesus really was, they respond and said that Jesus had called himself the Son of God. Pilate, a bullish Roman warrior, was scared. He asked Jesus “who are you?” Jesus did not respond. The heart of my point here is however in the final verses of Chapter eighteen, Pilate gives the Jews an option: take Jesus or take Barrabas – Barrabas was an insurrectionist and a murderer. The Jews took Barrabas. In other words, since Jesus did not have an offence, they took the sins of Barrabas and put it on Jesus, while they declared Barrabas free. That, my friends, is the gospel.

The gospel is about God’s gracious work in Christ Jesus – where he took the sins of the world and put it on his Son. Then God brought the whole gamut of his wrath on his Son, and killed him on the cross because of the weight of the sin of the elect that Christ bore. The story did not end there. Jesus, however, rose from the dead after three days. In other words, while the wages of sin is death – Christ defeated death by rising from the dead. Therefore, whoever believes in Jesus, they can trust that Christ has taken away their sin; Christ have forgiven their sins; and Christ has brought them into newness of life in the Holy Spirit. Our duty as Christians, is not to spend the rest of our lives, looking for breakthroughs of prosperity and deliverance from demonic influences; but to simply repent of our sins, believe in Christ as Saviour, and then live the rest of our lives bringing the positive influences of the gospel on our societies. The pastor continues to remind his community of the gospel, and press gospel demands on sinners to repent; the civil servants bringing the effects of the gospel to his community – serving the civil populace at work; the Christian politician bringing gospel light to leadership – showing the world that there are still Daniels and Josephs in our day and time; etc. There is simply nothing Christian in what Arome Osayi, Jerry Eze, and the likes are doing on the internet!

The doctrine that underlines these men’s preaching is called the prosperity gospel, and I can say with biblical authority that anyone who believes their message will not go to heaven. The prosperity gospel is damnable heresy because it teaches that Jesus Christ died to make us healthy and wealthy. It has gone a little further in the Nigerian animist environment, where there is an ingrained belief that there are forces of good and evil forever at war in the “spiritual realm”. They then teach their followers that those who can pray enough; fast enough; give to church enough; etc, are those who will possess the powers to defeat the devil and all of his evil machinations in the spiritual realm. They reduce Christianity to give and take. The whole element of grace in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is lost. Everything is contingent on what you do. If you want results, do the things that these men are asking you to do and you will see results. This is why these prayer sessions are inundated with “testimony sessions”. The testimonies lend credence to the fact that what the man is preaching is true. Osayi and Eze have simply taken over from the false gospel that their fathers in the faith, the like of Oyedepo, Adeboye, and the late Benson Idahosa have taught for years now. They are the new kids on the Charismatic bloc, and they are reaping a fortune in the process.

Again, these men’s “products” are in the public space and no one is using my money to purchase their rubbish. But the time comes when it becomes necessary to put a word of caution for all to read. There is one word that concerns me when it comes to deception in the religious communities. That word is “many”. Jesus used it in Matthew 24 when he spoke about the signs of the end, and what will happen when he is about to return. He said “many” will be deceived by false teachers and false prophets. Similarly, Peter used the same word in his second epistle – the second chapter. He talked about how many false teachers will deceive many in those days. The days when “many” will be deceived is today. And Nigeria has so cultured the environment to allow for these deceivers to flourish in our day and time.

For those who may still have ears to hear, let me say it again: there is no redemption in what Arome Osayi and Jerry Eze are teaching. They are simply repackaging an old heresy: it is the teaching of Balaam who was deceived by the gains he sought to get from ministry. Jesus Christ did not die for anyone to be healthy and wealthy. Jesus died to save you and I from our sins. When we repent of our sins, and trust Jesus as Lord and Saviour, he begins to bring the fruit of righteousness to bear on all that we do. It might please God to make a Christian wealthy. Such a person should understand that God demands that he uses his wealth to further kingdom purposes. It might please God to give you and I a lengthy and healthy life. We should understand that God will demand from us what we used every moment of our health for. For some other Christian, they may never know wealth or enjoy good health all their days. For such, the Lord has given them little and the Lord will still demand to know what they do with the little that they had. Please renounce the gospel of prosperity. Stop listening to Arome Osayi, Jerry Eze, and their likes. I know that my words will fall on “many” deaf ears. But if one person has ability to hear the warning in these words, the effort in writing all these would have been worth it.

Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached on naijareformed@gmail.com

Source

Deji Deji, asking God for help or blessing is different from redemption and forgiveness of sins.

Image123:
Deji Deji, asking God for help or blessing is different from redemption and forgiveness of sins.

Ok

Image123:
As usual, God doesn't fit into your definition, therefore there's no God. Your consistent attempts to make God in some image is hilarious. What stops God from permitting division or differences. It's still people like you that castigate God as narrow when He insists on one way.

LoLz. The problem is it doesn't fit YOUR definition of the god. That's what makes it so funny. How can you claim that there is a loving god (do you disspute this claim?) but people disagree so much on what he says to the point of killing one another yet this so called loving god DOES NOTHING. Exactly what you'd expect from a nonexistent mythical thing.

LordReed:
LoLz. The problem is it doesn't fit YOUR definition of the god. That's what makes it so funny. How can you claim that there is a loving god (do you disspute this claim?) but people disagree so much on what he says to the point of killing one another yet this so called loving god DOES NOTHING. Exactly what you'd expect from a nonexistent mythical thing.

What stops God from permitting division or differences? No such thing in the Bible that claims there's a God. But you that claim there's no God have definition and specifications for who you claim doesn't exist. That's hilarious like i said.
God is not just a loving God, God is love. So again, He beats you to it by defining love.
Whether people kill themselves or not, people still die. Even much more than the number of people killing themselves over God. So your point is moot in the big scheme. As regards difference and diversity, you'd notice how creation itself is diverse. All humans unique, all planets different. Even the gospel accounts come from different angles. God is too much to be in the box dear.

Image123:
What stops God from permitting division or differences? No such thing in the Bible that claims there's a God. But you that claim there's no God have definition and specifications for who you claim doesn't exist. That's hilarious like i said.
God is not just a loving God, God is love. So again, He beats you to it by defining love.
Whether people kill themselves or not, people still die. Even much more than the number of people killing themselves over God. So your point is moot in the big scheme. As regards difference and diversity, you'd notice how creation itself is diverse. All humans unique, all planets different. Even the gospel accounts come from different angles. God is too much to be in the box dear.

There we have it folks, the absurdity of defending absurd religious positions. The god is love so he allows people to kill one another over disagreements about the god and his message.

Wehdone sir! Bwahahahahahaha!

LordReed:
There we have it folks,the absurdity of defending absurd religious positions. The god is love so he allows people to kill one another over disagreements about the god and his message.

Wehdone sir! Bwahahahahahaha!

Interesting what you choose to believe selectively. Are you now the entertainer?

Image123:
Interesting what you choose to believe selectively. Are you now the entertainer?

LoLz. What part of what I said is wrong? YOU are the one who said the god is love, YOU are the one arguing that nothing stops the god from allowing people kill one another over his messages. Na you carry hand talk am so yeah own your poop bro. Bwahahahahahaha!

Image123:
Deji Deji, asking God for help or blessing is different from redemption and forgiveness of sins.

I understand what you mean
But these kinds of programs should be for certain periods. Maybe once a month or every quarter. Leading prayers of blessings and prosperity every morning is not the gospel Jesus Christ calls us to proclaim. It is a false gospel that is leading Christians astray and keeping them deceived that they know God cos of his blessings on them

I agree with VBCampaign. I thank God for opening my eyes. I have never for once joined any of these morning online prayers. Nothing can ever make me leave my sweet fellowship with Jesus every morning and tune in to keep chanting Amen to one imaginary problem in the name of prayer. God is in control of every area of life of the wholehearted believer. We should all know this.