If you are looking for one man whose life and ministry have produced tremendous results and consistent impact over the past five decades, look no further than Pastor Williams Folorunsho kumuyi, the General Superintendent, Deeper Life Bible Church, worldwide.
Since 1973, when Deeper Life Church was established by Pastor Kumuyi, the man of God, is no stranger to controversy, for reasons of many controversial doctrines held by the church, dictated by strong aversion to worldliness and all forms of carnality.
Yet, no one can ever deny Pastor Kumuyi’s consistent track as a preacher of holiness, highly vast in the knowledge of the mind of God as revealed in the Bible, humble, clear thinking and man of simplicity.
The Word of God is ever new and refreshing each passing day.. In life, change is a constant phenomenon. Although God’s word contains changeless truths, a Christian’s understanding of scriptural verses of the Bible, is subject to change, particularly, if guided by the Holy Spirit, whom the Bible calls: Teacher, Comforter, Revealer and Advocate.
It is for this reason that doctrines of churches vary from one church to another.
There is a wide world of difference between the word of God and doctrine. While God’s word is sacrosanct and not subject to change, doctrine has to do with our own interpretation of the word of God, which can be subject to change, based on another level of deeper understanding of the scriptures.
Pastor Kumuyi, on a number of occasions, has had cause to publicly admit errors and missteps of the past. He is not the type to deny his own humanness as a fallible individual. Yes, he is a man of God but he is, first and foremost, a man with flesh and blood.
In fact, avid watchers of changing trends in the Deeper Life Church would notice that there has been a seamless transition from what can be likened to the old order and the present new order.
Not too long ago, Kumuyi declared before his teeming congregation that they should expect marked changes in the doctrines and orientation of the church, admitting that some of the doctrines were mere necessities of the past times when there was no complete understanding.
The holiness preacher, while delivering his homily monitored via satellite, admitted that his teachings in the past which focused more on Salvation, but downplayed the issue of Prosperity has been responsible for reasons why a vast majority of Deeper Life brethren are look poor in their physical appearance.
Hear the man of God: “When I look at the faces of some of you, I feel ashamed. I feel embarrassed at the way you look. You look poverty-stricken, You look wretched. And, I don’t feel happy when I see you in this way.
“But I have found out that it is not your fault. It was because of what we taught you in times past. We told you then that only SALVATION is what you need and that PROSPERITY is not what you must crave for.
“But, I tell you today that if you have SALVATION and it’s not going on side-by-side with PROSPERITY, particularly that of the mind and soul, then your SALVATION may be endangered”.
Pastor Kumuyi and his lovely wife
It is probably for these past teachings that account for reasons why there has been a marked differentiation of Deeper Life folks in terms of doctrinal pattern, dressing , mode of worship and even, strangely pious lifestyles.
Indeed, Deeper Life is like no other church, even among those of the Pentecostal extraction.
Pastor Kumuyi’s oft-repeated Mantra especially in the early days of the church, has always been anchored on the Holy Scriptures, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 13 which says: “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come”.
Therefore, what the Mantra implies is this: living for heaven, is the ultimate goal of the average Deeper Life congregation member.
In 1 Corinthians 13: 11-12, Apostle Paul stated: _” When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. ”_
Pastor Kumuyi who is expected to attain the Octogenarian status by his next birthday in June 2021, not too long ago gave another shocker with respect to impending major changes church-wide.
Pastor W.F. Kumuyi and Pastor E.A. Adeboye
He said: “These changes will happen before I leave, I mean before I go, I am going to remove everything that I set up that I thought would help Deeper Life and make us holy, and make us sanctified, make us deep, make us deeper. And if I see it is not making us deeper but shallow, before I leave , I will uproot all of them and will present to you a pure church before I leave.
“What we have currently is that the young people fear Marriage Committee more than they fear God, We’ will knock off Marriage Committee because marriage committee is our own making, it is not in the Bible.”
Kumuyi also promised to put an end to women ministry, noting that “Women ministry is our own making, it is not in the Acts of the Apostles. If it is not helping us, if it is going to hinder us, we’ will strike it off.”
Born on June 6, 1941, Pastor W.F. Kumuyiwas born into a Christian family in Erin-Ijesha, Osun State, Nigeria, The young Kumuyi got an experiential knowledge of who Jesus Christ was, and what radical changes He could effect in lives surrendered to His lordship.
He was introduced to the Apostolic Faith Church. Where he heard the Gospel, and believed the word of God on righteousness, temperance, judgment to come, and salvation from sin: He became born again on Sunday, April 5, 1964
Pastor Kumuyi gained admission to study Mathematics at the University of Ibadan, obtaining a first class degree in 1967. He subsequently enrolled for a postgraduate course in Education at the University of Lagos, Lagos. On the completion of his postgraduate study, he became a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at UNILAG.
The Deeper Life Bible Church, which now has over one million members in more than sixty countries around the world, started as a 15-member Bible Study Group in Pastor Kumuyi’s official quarters at the University of Lagos in August, 1973.
•Source: AyoAROWOJOLU @ Opera.com
