Why Christian leaders should pay attention to act of criminality in churches – Don

Prof. Afe Adogame, a United States-based lecturer, says there is an urgent need for Christian leaders to pay attention to acts of criminality and abuse in some churches.

Adogame, of Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S., made the remarks on Tuesday at the International Conference held at the Redeemed Christian Bible College, Redemption Camp, Mowe, Ogun.

Supreme News reports that the conference has as its theme “Life Is War”, Social Militarization, and the Culture of Prayers in Africa.

The conference was organised by Nagel Institute, Calvin University, U.S.; Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko, Ondo, and the Redeemed Christian Bible College.

Adogame said there is a criminal dimension and abuse of prayers in some churches that leaders need to pay attention to.

He, however, commended the leadership of the Redeemed Christian Church of God for “always standing for the truth of the gospel at all times.”

Adogame said in many churches, people had become vulnerable due to the fact that church is now their last bus stop because of the failure on the part of the government.

“For many, as a result of failure on the part of government, churches are now their last bus stop, putting their trust in church leaders for help.

“But many of these were abused by quack pastors, who take advantage of women and children.

“Just as we have quack doctors, there are also quack pastors who take advantage of people, and it is high time to pay attention to criminality in these churches.

“The house of God is a holy place that needs to be revered,” he said.

Adogame, who noted that the government had failed the people, said this is the time churches should play an important role in bridging the gap.

Earlier in his opening address, Pastor Sunday Akande, National Overseer, RCCG, Nigeria, said that “militarised prayers” were necessary against forces perceived to be militating against social progress.

Akande said Christians responses to the challenges of underdevelopment and the weakness of the political apparatus through the instrumentality of prayers had configured daily life around militarization.

In his keynote address, Prof. Opoku Onyinah, of Pentecost University, Ghana, said science could not solve all the human problems, hence the need for prayers.

Onyinah said prayers are needed for both physical and spiritual problems, but Christians should not stop doing what is necessary.

“Once we are praying, we should not stop to do what we need to do. We need to work and act,” he said.

Onyinah said there is also a need for prayers for the manufacturers of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

“We thank God for Artificial Intelligence; it has made our system easier. It is the people who are feeding the Artificial Intelligence with the information or data that we need to pray for.

“We need to pray for them so that they can feed the machine with correct information so that they will not destroy human abilities and capabilities.

“We need to pray for them so that they will be godly and have God's consciousness to put the right information in the machine for human preservation”, he said.

In his remarks, Prof. Babatunde Adedibu, the Provost of Redeemed Bible College, said the conference was to equip Christians on the importance of prayers as warfare.

Adedibu said that the conference was packaged to equip participants to be more victorious in both the physical and spiritual battles.