By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
A viral video of nine minutes, eight seconds, about the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church (DLBC), Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, admonishing Christians to give to the poor and the needy made rounds on Social Media platforms in the last four days with major media websites writing and publishing stories with catchy headlines out of it.
Link to the video viral video: https://youtu.be/orE8mNX9nF4?si=ZK_4q0xY6xP71hrt
Vanguardngr.com headlined the story thus: “Hardship: “Shun Church, use your offerings to feed poor, unemployed – Kumuyi tells Christians” with the lead of the story stating that “the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Doctor William Folorunso Kumuyi, has advised Christians against giving their offerings to the Church, but rather give it to the poor and the unemployed in their communities.”
In the story, the news website also referred to how an On Air Personality (OAP), Daddy Freeze, had rebuked some pastors over their supposed flashy lifestyles while their members wallow in poverty.
“Recall that a controversial OAP, Daddy Freeze, had rebuked some Nigerian pastors over their ostentatious lifestyle while their members lived in abject poverty,” the publication had noted.
The story, which was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by Vanguard online, has got more than a thousand views, reactions, more than 400 reposts and more than 200 comments.
Screenshot of the video on official X handle of Vanguard
Also, other news websites like Pulse. ng and the discoverer.ng also headlined their stories: “Kumuyi tells Christians to shun church, use offerings to feed poor amid hardship” and “Hardship: Shun church, use your offerings to feed poor – Kumuyi tells Christians,” respectively.
FACT-CHECKING THE CLAIM
After much searching, Stonix News stumbled on the video uploaded on YouTube by one Godstime Onovwiekedafe on December 24, 2023, which has accumulated more than 3,600 views and 66 likes.
The video screenshot on Godstime YouTube channel
The same video was posted by one Festus Olarewaju Ojo on February 22nd which has garnered 22k views, 1K shares and 361 likes.
The screenshot of the video on Festus Ojo’s FB page
OUR FINDINGS
A diligent fact-checking led Stonix News to the complete video, which was uploaded on the official YouTube channel of the Deeper Life Christian Church during the church’s December Retreat Crusade programme held on December 24, 2023.
It was discovered that the full video was a 7:39:42 minutes duration footage of all the church’s programme activities from the 21st to the 26th of December, 2023. The video has 63k views and more than a thousand “likes” on YouTube.
The part of the video that went viral was extracted from the video where Pastor Kumuyi was preaching on “Healing.” In the complete video, the man of God was urging faithful to believe in the power of healing.
He later digressed after reading from the book of Acts 3:6-8 which says: “Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have given thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk. [7] And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”
It was while exploring the Bible passage that he quipped, saying unlike in the case of Peter and John of the Acts of the Apostles, the church of today has silver and gold and they should give it to the needy in the church and their communities and not only the church authority. There was no portion the renowned holiness preacher urged Christians to “shun” giving to the church and focus on the needy, alone.
To drive home his point, he made an allusion to a preacher he didn’t identify, thus: “Look at all these offerings we’re collecting. This church has silver and gold.
“I learned of a preacher somewhere who was having their church service. And he said, ‘Now we’re going to collect the offering. If you have N10, 000, N20, 000, or N50, 000, raise your hand, and they were faithful.
“Then, he stood up and said ‘that N10, 000, N20, 000, and N50 ,000 go to the poor in your communities. All the offerings are not just for church, there are poor, unemployed people around.
“There are indigent people around. We will build our church, but while you’re building, your neighbours are dying.
“Your neighbour, who does not have anything, your sisters, and your brothers have nothing to send their children to school. We built DLICC (Deeper Life International Conference Centre) with all the offerings, we could build…..”
VERDICT
Though Pastor Kumuyi urged Christians to give to the poor and the needy, it was not said in the context that the viral video has portrayed it. The octogenarian cleric did not tell Christians to “shun” giving to church. He only said while doing the necessary in the church through offerings, Christians should also extend a hand of fellowship to the poor around them.
Again, the fact that the video, which has been on the internet for three months now, was made to resurface with an extracted portion to mislead and misinform, shows that some persons have the intention to use the video to disinform the public – a form of mischief intended to reinforce some dissenting voices against the controversial discourse on tithing and giving offerings to the church.
Pastor Kumuyi did not urge Christians to stop giving to the church. The headlines of Vanguard and Pulse were not only misleading, but mischievous and disinforming by churning out half truths as regards what the man of God actually said.
Screenshot of the story on Vanguard website
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