₦airaland Forum

talk2percy:
A church lie Mohammed spotted. Lying elderly thief

Meekha:
You will account for diz.....dat i assure u

koolaid87:
Shut your mouth didinrin. Have you ever seen a demon. Check inside your so called men of God, there you go!

So if the govt can't accept their responsibilities, the next thing is ignoring them and building your private institution? Nice!
Politicians are not sending their kids to govt insititution.. it's the poor masses that do. So for you to ignore the government's failures means you're backing out on the masses( folks who paid tithes to get you here)

Christianity is showing love for the less privilege. This just crowned every doubts that these pastors are nothing but capitalist clowns.

They never care one bit for the masses. Look at the tone of how he said those who couldn't afford private schools should check into government schools.


How about the book of Acts 2 vs 44,n 45. You eat bible everyday but you and your fellow con men would never preach on this.

If white missionaries built schools that he himself was once a beneficiary, how much more a Black supposed pastor doing something for his people.

One advice for you Oyedepo, instead of private jets, buy a space ship, cos revolution is imminent.

Stupid sheep always defending their slave master. Shior!

Exciton:
Lol. I'm an atheist and I approve of what he's doing. At least, he's putting SOME of the money (not all obviously: jets ) of these gullible people to good use. He's trying to build quality schools. Although the obligatory spirituality aspect adversely impacts the quality of his schools as places of intellectual freedom necessary for creativity.

The government, OTOH, is fvcking useless. Taxes should be raised through the roof: by exactly the percentage of tithes for a start! More than half the civil service sacked, salaries slashed at top levels etc. Then money should be pumped into our education and manufacturing+agric sectors. 90% of all government teachers - from primary to universities - should be sacked. Primary, secondary & vocational schools are the most important areas we ought to make really top fvcking quality and free.

In short, he's trying but if the government did her job, these schools shouldn't exist!

By the way, it seems statsocial and victorious are working for Winners or CU. Those two guys would go any length to tell you how fvking great CU is.

Statsocial:
I think everyone knows very clearly that Church Universities amongst Private Universities are the Cheapest.
At least i have visited many Universities and i know that One year tuition of Nile University can school a person in Landmark for 7 years yet Landmark has one of the best Infrastructures in the Country, Same Nile tuition would school a person for Five years in Covenant.

Even Alhikmah which is not even near Landmark in anything is either more costly or same in price. Secondly, Private Universities are way different from each other, some are content with part time lecturers and a system without research work while some are not. And even with part time lecturers you can't charge anything less than 400k in the long run.

Ask Western Delta University Vice Chancellor when the student were no longer coming they had to compromise and tell students to come from home and pay 400k, this is to evade the cost of Electricity and ensure tuition was not higher than 400k.

I'm not bragging Covenant is by far one of the cheapest if you consider the services provided for students and staff. Lecturers are allowed to go for a University sponsored International and Local conference in a year which can take 3 years in Federal Universities. I know someone who just returned from Malaga, others from San Francisco, Barcelona etc. That it is not done in public and other private universities doesn't mean it is normal. Some of these private Universities wouldn't even want to promote people yet Covenant promotes ppl within the system regularly. Some days ago 55 were promoted at the same time - off course that means increased wage bill but God has been Good and faithful.


This is just ONE (Intelligent Systems led by Prof Misra Sanjay) out of Covenant University's 22 research clusters that receives annual funding and I know about the funding - It is Oyedepo and the University that are providing for the entire research. There is no other Nigerian University that would dare this not even UI and I don't know if Tetfund would ever give you this much. But I doubt it. Last year Oyedepo paid over 422,000 USD for journal subscription, this year it might exceed 500,000 USD, The Church paid over 300 million naira for data analytics - all this cash isn't coming from student school fees and no other private universities even dare such research in naira talk more of dollars. Shall we now talk about the other research clusters which are receiving lots of cash e.g Bioinformatics(e.g Evolution proof Insecticide), Reverse Engineering, Biotech, Built Envirinment, Public Health... Pls don't compare CU and Lead city that we are in the same country doesn't mean we are mates at all. Today let anyone with access to Elsevier SciVal check, 26% of all Research work in Naija and you would be shocked to see it is from CU. From Engineering to Computer Science to whatever we top in the nation(unless the course is not on offer in the school) so let everyone know their mates o before comparing.

SnowJay92:
Like how much will cover the cost of running a Master's degree in covenant, your tuition, research, everything you have to pay would be like how much bro?

TheVictorious:
Which department bro?

EKPETI:
I love this interview Papa granted. My people, Education is expensive that is why a sane society don't leave in the hands of the capitalist. The truth must be told no public university or polytechnic in Nigeria is average let alone standard.

The fee of CU is worth it compare to the services they render. 24/7 water, electricity, quality lecturers earning well, research at ur disposal, infrastructures, well equiped library, good hostels, above all discipline at its peak. There is nothing u are looking for in schools abroad that is not in CU. I know u cant compare schooling abroad and CU fees.

Bishop Oyedepo said the church has not taken anything from the school since inception and I believed him.

I pray God bless us all to send our children to good schools to get quality education not what we have in our public schools in Nigeria. Do u knw that PMB removed food subsidy in the tertiary institutions in d 80s during military regime? Do u knw what it takes a private inst. to have 24/7 electricity for 18years alone? No institution in Nigeria can say that except CU. I knw u will say is it possible. Here this, my children will attend CU. I love it.

God will continue to empower Bishop David Olaniyi Oyedepo.

NB: Education is costly.

BluntBoy:
I am still trying to understand why Churches have expensive secondary schools and universities.

If you aren't making profit and your institutions are not serving the Biblical principles of remembering the poor among us, then shut it down. It is a distraction.

TheVictorious:
He talked about the school running and gave facts that you can attest to about how expensive it is to run a standard university and you are coming here dishing out insults. To those of you who come here to complain about what people should have better done with their funds just because they are pastors, hope you know that God won't judge you by a different standard? Talk is cheap

BluntBoy:
I am still trying to understand why Churches have expensive secondary schools and universities.

If you aren't making profit and your institutions are not serving the Biblical principles of remembering the poor among us, then shut it down. It is a distraction.

TheVictorious:
Even if they are imparting the society positively?

salvation101:
if u can't afford quality Christian schools, den almajiree school is an open option for you... Na still dis same setof ppl go dey argue about Biblical principles for prosperity. So even though u r withholding all ur earnings u still can't afford to pay for decent education.. Shioor.. Almajiree school is open

BluntBoy:
If the Early Church had owned properties, it would have been for the benefits of the poor. Paul's collections were for God's people (the needy). The tithes under the Law of Moses was a food program for the needy (the Levites, the widows, orphans, etc.)

If Oyedepo is not making profit and is still not serving the Biblical principles of instituting food or basic necessity programs for the poor, why can't he close it down?

The only commission given to the Church (the assembly of saints) was to spread the gospel and keep the poor in mind. All gifts in the Church is for the benefit of every member. How does owning an expensive university edify the body of Christ?

BluntBoy:
I need comments from open-minded people, not from overly emotional and brainwashed people

Sorry.

BluntBoy:
If the Early Church had owned properties, it would have been for the benefits of the poor. Paul's collections were for God's people (the needy). The tithes under the Law of Moses was a food program for the needy (the Levites, the widows, orphans, etc.)

If Oyedepo is not making profit and is still not serving the Biblical principles of instituting food or basic necessity programs for the poor, why can't he close it down?

The only commission given to the Church (the assembly of saints) was to spread the gospel and keep the poor in mind. All gifts in the Church is for the benefit of every member. How does owning an expensive university edify the body of Christ?

salvation101:
ignorance ignorance ignorance..
Go nd read the history of havard University before spewing ignorance
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Harvard_University

TheVictorious:
OKAY. But hope you you're fulfilling all your obligations to the church of Christ, using your business to bless lives and advancing the course of the gospel before coming on social media to critique others. Hope you know that God does not recognize any believer differently from pastors or bishops?

BluntBoy:
What is my concern with Harvard?

Moreover, didn't you read how the collections were made? Was everyone indiscriminately burdened with contributing toward building the college?

salvation101:
if it didn't concern u dat Harvard started as a purely Christian institution for clergy, why are u now saying dat d church has no business in education and killing ursef over an institution dat u didn't sow a kobo into but yet its breaking new grounds every day?

BluntBoy:
That would be for Caesar, not for God. God already asked us to respect constituted authority.

Except the school is cheap, it becomes a business and an extension of Oyedepo's kingdom.

Statsocial:
Bishop David Oyedepohttps://static.pulse.ng/img/incoming/origs5720460/1026362916-w644-h960/Bishop-Oyedepo.pnghttps://static.pulse.ng/img/incoming/origs5720279/8569729885-w900-h600/Covenant-University.jpg


People should just sit down and find out what exactly they are paying for. The church has not drawn anything from Covenant University since inception in 12 years. But this year, the church reserves about N1.6bn stakes in its development. So, it’s not a business, it’s a service platform.

"It is foolishness to be shameful of what is gainful"
David Oyedepo

Founder and President, Living Faith Church aka Winners' Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, in this interview talks about the church, corruption and wealth, university proprietorship, expensive tuition fees, boko haram and sundry issues

YOU PREACH AS IF YOU HAVE COMMITTED THE ENTIRE BIBLE TO YOUR MEMORY. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU READ THE BIBLE?

The Bible is an unfinishable book, you keep reading. A student once met me after a meeting and said that I quoted 68 scriptures verbatim. He asked if I memorised the scriptures, I said no, I eat them. No matter how unintelligent you are, you can’t forget the food you ate last night, except you are mentally derailed. If you are given three seconds, you could tell what you ate about five days ago, if you truly ate it. So, the Bible is just not for reading, it’s actually for eating. I’m not among the people that have read the Bible three or five times, I don’t know how many times I have read the Bible and I’m not planning to know how many times. I just know it’s my delight to feed on it daily, and I can’t claim to have finished reading it.
HOW HAS IT BEEN, PASTORING THIS ONE CHURCH FOR THE PAST 3 DECADES

The ministry is 33 years, the church is now in its 31st year. It started as an itinerant ministry before we were called into the church ministry. It has always been interesting. These things work when you have the right perspective on them. Every pastor is ordained to serve the congregation, not to be served by the congregation. When that understanding dawns on any pastor, and he embraces it, then, pastoring (pasturing) becomes a sweet adventure. I’ve never looked towards what I can get from any member since inception. But I’ve always longed for what I can give to the people. I must say I’m jealous over them, I don’t want anyone to take advantage of them or play games on them. I want them to just be the children of God that they are, serving God without duress or pressure.

IS IT TRUE THAT CHURCH MEMBERS HERE PRAY FOR THE DEAD AND THEY WAKE UP, EVEN IN THE MORTUARY, HOW DO THEY DO IT?

(Cuts in..) By tapping them and saying wake up (laughs). We must know the source of everything that we experienced or observed. No man has the power to raise the dead. Jesus is the only one that has the keys of resurrection and death in his hands. So, we rely on him to do those things and he quickens whosoever he wills; he determines who to bring back and who not to. We only believe in God to bring back whosoever he wishes, if we have the key, we would be delighted to bring back everybody, and even open a clinic for bringing back the dead.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY RICH PEOPLE IN WINNERS' CHAPEL?

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.

HOW COME THERE IS SUCH WEALTH IN THE CHURCH DESPITE THE POVERTY IN THE NATION?

The kingdom of God is funded by God’s resources. We are not funded by the economy of the world, but by the economy of the kingdom, which has a budget for all of its agenda on earth. We’ve been here (Canaanland) since 1999 and we have never had power outage or water shortage. The main players are Nigerians, the builders are Nigerians. There is no building here that any foreign expert took part in. There is no foreign company’s presence here, including the (Faith) tabernacle. Some of the revered foreign companies here in Nigeria are technicians in Germany, and they are all political contractors, not that they have something special to offer.

IS THERE ANY WAY WE CAN TRANSLATE THIS INTO THE NIGERIAN SYSTEM?

It is possible by believing in the capability and capacity of Nigerians to do whatever they need to do. This is the largest church auditorium in the world. It’s 104m free span wide. Even one of the reputed foreign construction companies (Julius Berger) came here to take pictures. Nigerians have unusual capacity to match any expertise in the world in any field they are involved in. Most of us go to school in foreign lands and we beat them, is it that when they get here, they become smarter? It’s just for the authorities at the various levels to believe that we cannot develop ourselves seeking foreign aides for everything. We must take advantage of the opportunities around us to develop the capacity of our men and women. This office (Church Headquarters) was built in 2001 and it’s neat and there is no crack on the wall, so, what is the problem? But if we want to do anything, we must give it to people from foreign countries so that those who award the contract can have a deal and share the money and at the end of the day, they are still poorer than poverty because any money stolen never enhances a man’s value.

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. My idea of it is that, in a football match, you have only 22 people playing with thousands of spectators. And that is the way it is in the journey of life. In every field, you find just few players and many spectators, multitudes. If we don’t know where to place opinions, they will displace us. When we started Covenant 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.

IS THAT WHY THE COVENANT UNIVERSITY HAD THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF FIRST CLASS GRADUATES THAT WON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S SCHOLARSHIP TWICE NOW?

What we do first is to package the man to suit the future that he is dreaming of. And that we do by injecting our seven core values into them, and we used SIM CARDS as the acronym for it: Spirituality, Integrity, Posssibility Mentality, Capacity Building, Responsibility, Diligence and Sacrifice. We package that into them so that right from here, they have two things; character and capacity working for them. With those two, you can go to any level in life. Here, there is time for everything.

WE LEARNT THAT THE UNIVERSITY WANTS TO BE ONE OF THE TOP 10 UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD IN 2020. DON'T YOU THINK THIS IS A TALL DREAM?

Where we are today, Harvard was not there 100 years after it took off. I studied the world class universities in depth. So, we are closest to it. The two Nobel Laureates that came signed up as visiting professors at Covenant University, we have about five of them in different areas. That somebody has never done it does not mean it cannot be done. We are believing God for it, not by using strength and power. There is a particular university in the US that never takes anybody from outside North America for postgraduate studies, but we have 19 Covenant University graduates there. Prof. Okebukola shared that with me at the conference last week. A Covenant University graduate is the overall best graduating student in a school in Britain. So there is increasing expression in the quality of training that they receive in their respective areas. Except the dream is taller than God; if it’s not taller than God, it’s a cheap possibility.

WE EVEN LEARNT THAT THE CHURCH IS PLANNING TO ESTABLISH TWO MORE UNIVERSITIES?

It is actually seven in our vision plan.

ARE UNIVERSITIES NOW SECONDARY SCHOOLS THAT YOU ESTABLISH HERE AND THERE?

We are trying to avoid having too many students on one campus so that we will not lose the quality of the training programme. Otherwise, the quality would wear down gradually. But because of the present security challenge that the nation is facing, it’s normal for us to review our approach in a manner that does not create tension for workers and anybody else. We believe God to help us out of the crisis. So if there are no adequate mentioning of our programmes, it is to create adequate room to see these security issues overturned.

SOME PEOPLE BELIEVE FAITH-BASED UNIVERSITIES CHARGE HIGH TUITION THAT SOME OF THEIR MEMBERS CAN'T EVEN AFFORD...…

They should bring the comparison. You know people talk all kinds of things. Compare what they pay here and there and what those payments cover. The rate of power consumption in the hostels alone is out of this world. All we need to juxtapose this is that they should rent the room and pay for electricity and they would pay ten times the amount. People should just sit down and find out what exactly they are paying for. The church has not drawn anything from Covenant University since inception in 12 years. But this year, the church reserves about N1.6bn stakes in its development. So, it’s not a business, it’s a service platform. In every nation of the world, the government subsidises education to all the stakeholders, not in this country, not a dime has ever crossed from government to any private university in Nigeria. And ask those who are in it how much profit they are making, they would explain to you how it has been wonderful to pay staff salaries and keep the system running. Move to the next country where people rush to study, look at how much they pay and what they get for it. Whether they have teachers or not doesn’t matter. But every visiting professor here takes more than N1m. We are not talking about top individuals, Nobel Laureates and others. So, it’s where we find ourselves and we want to make a difference, and we must make a difference. I want to believe that the private universities are doing the best they can. Ask the federal universities how they get their allocations, what they calculate to train a child out of the university. Ask them what it is and ask them who subsidises for private universities. Most of them don’t have any equipment whatsoever. There is no engineering equipment you are looking for that you won’t find here, bought brand new. If the government is not accepting responsibility, all we can do is to do the best we can to get these children trained, but at a cheaper cost than they do and with greater quality than they have. Those who cannot afford it can go to government institutions and if they are committed, they will still come out with good results.

https://educationexplorersite./2017/11/25/bishop-oyedepo-the-church-has-never-made-profit-from-covenant-university/

Statsocial:
Law in Al hikmah is about 700k while Engineering is about 650k in landmark so what is your point? Only if you want to talk about Islamic studies which is about 200k. Landmark on the other hand doesn't offer christian courses.

TheVictorious:
Well, I wouldn't say anything about your take on Dr. Oyedepo (you have the right to it). Again can you deny the impact of Dr. Oyedepo's ministry on lives humanity all over the world, talk about his heart for seeing souls saved, affecting lives, establishing men, etc. I know him and I'm in a better position to tell you about him. This is not an attempt to whip up sentiments And YES, I also honestly disagree with his positions on a few things (which I don't share on social media) but it will be totally unchristian to deny the fact me and many other Nigerian Christians today cannot successfully talk about our Christian walk without giving due credit to people like him for their labour of love over the years in our lives. Don't forget to answer that my question (raised in the previous comment) in your heart. You must think that trying your best to point out faults is the same thing as laboring in the gospel. There are many young people concerned about fishing out seeming errors underscoring what is not the gospel that are in the end not preaching the gospel; majority of whom are just "social media Christians" that are not accountable to anybody, just trying to score points on social media. If you are one of them, I repeat, I hope you know that God will not appraise you with a different standard from pastors. Enough said!

BluntBoy:
What impact has he made on humanity other than a selfish extension of his own kingdom? How is his impact any different from those of businessmen like Bill Gates and Aliko Dangote?

His impacts are only felt through his businesses and not through his pastoring. His false teachings have only created materialistic Christians, many of whom are ready to steal to sow a seed for selfish gains.

What is the essense of thousands of Christian followers that claim to be born again but have not attained spiritual maturity?

For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere human beings? (1 Corinthians 3:4)

When you listen to a member of Winner's Chapel, all you see is Oyedepo, instead of the Good News. Christians who cannot read their Bible for themselves but depend totally on the philosophy of Oyedepo. All they think about is prosperity and how poverty is not God's plan for humanity, as if they can predict God.

BluntBoy:
His impacts are only felt through his businesses and not through his pastoring. His false teachings have only created materialistic Christians, many of whom are ready to steal to sow a seed for selfish gains.

BluntBoy:
how poverty is not God's plan for humanity, as if they can predict God.