A member of the Deeper Life Bible Church has protested the introduction of unconventional music led by popular gospel “rock stars” into the church by the General Superintendent, Pastor WF Kumuyi.
In an open lengthy letter to the revered pastor, Prince Dele Banjo is seeking an explanation from the Founder of Deeper on why he raised them in modesty and with conventional hymns only to invite “unconventional singers” later.
He insists that they are fine with the mode of worship that they grew up and have lived with. This comes after Pastor Kumuyi invited Don Moen, Nathaniel Bassey and few other popular gospel artistes.
The letter by Prince Dele Banjo:
LETTER TO PASTOR W.F. KUMUYI
FROM: A Concerned Deeper Lifer(Prince Dele Banjo)
TO: Pastor W.F. Kumuyi General Superintendent Deeper Christian Life Ministry 2-10 Ayodele Oke-Owo Street Gbagada Lagos
Dear Sir,
INTRODUCTION OF UNCONVENTIONAL MUSIC AT DEEPER LIFE BIBLE CHURCH
Greetings to you Sir, our dear father in the Lord, may God cover you with the wings of His love.
Proverbs 22:6 states “train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.
Since you are our father in the Lord whose role is it to train us, it is only natural for us to kneel at your feet and beg for advice anytime we have a troubling question.
Sir, we humbly come to you at this moment because we have a troubling question. Sir, why are you introducing unconventional music to Deeper Life Bible Church through the invitation of external musicians.
These external musicians that you have invited to Deeper Life include Nathaniel Bassey, Don Moen, Collin McDowell and Paul Baloche.
As our father in the Lord, you ought to defend the introduction of unconventional music to Deeper Life because you did not raise us your Deeper Life children with such music. Instead, you raised us with the hymn book and the choir alone. We request an explanation from you because we strongly believe that the introduction of unconventional music and the invitation of external musicians to Deeper Life could run contrary to the founding principles of Deeper Life Bible Church which implies that we should worship with music in a modest way with our humble choir.
Dear Sir, what happened to our book of hymns and choir? Why do you deem our God given book of hymns and our innocent choir insufficient up to the point where you believe that it is necessary to invite external musicians to come and sing for us at Deeper Life?
Dear Sir, weren’t you the one that raised us with modesty, decent dressing and outward holiness? You were the one that taught us all we know about modesty, decent dressing and outward holiness, so what’s going on sir?Dear Sir, we realize that Deeper Christian Life Ministry is your church. From a legal perspective, Deeper Christian Life Ministry belongs to you and it is your registered N.G.O. Therefore you have the legal right to change the policies and principles of your church. However, you should realize that it is the principle that makes the church and a considerable amount of your congregation may have signed up to Deeper Life in the first place because of the founding principles of Deeper Life. You cannot possibly shatter the principles without shattering the church.
Some of us signed up and agreed to be members of Deeper Life Bible church in the first place because we believe that Deeper Life is against worldly music.
We signed up to Deeper Life Bible church in the first place because we believe that Deeper Life Bible church is a modesty and outward holiness church. We signed up to Deeper Life Bible church in the first place because of the decent and modest choir who sing from the book of hymns. We signed up to Deeper Life Bible church in the first place because Deeper Life Bible church distinguished itself from other churches through the practice of modesty, decent dressing, holiness and through the use of gentle music.
If you now decide to introduce unconventional music and you invite these international gospel rock stars, then we the congregation have the right to request an explanation from our dear father in the Lord.
WHAT EVIDENCE DO WE HAVE AGAINST THESE EXTERNAL MUSICIANS THAT YOU ARE INVITING TO DEEPER LIFE?
We have evidence that proves that the external musicians you invited to Deeper Life have in one way or the other contradicted the modesty and holiness principle of Deeper Christian Life Ministry.
The evidence is simply that the band members and backup singers of musicians like Nathaniel Bassey, Don Moen, Collin McDowell, Paul Baloche and the rest do not dress and present themselves according to Deeper Life principles.
The band members and backup singers of these musicians you have invited to Deeper Life do not dress modestly, instead they are with immodest hair, ear rings, dyed hair, blue hair, green hair, gold hair, pink hair, nose rings, lip rings, ripped jeans, tattoos and the rest.
Dear Sir, may I ask you a question? Have you watched all the music videos and stage performances of these musicians that you are inviting to Deeper Life? Have you watched all their music videos and stage performances to verify that they do not contain immodest or anti-Christian messages? We have watched all their videos and we can testify that immodesty is being displayed in some of their music videos and this is why we are against their invitation to Deeper Life.
WHY IS IT DANGEROUS TO INVITE THESE EXTERNAL MUSICIANS TO DEEPER LIFE?
First of all, it is important to note that once you invite these external musicians to Deeper Life, you are putting the Deeper Life seal of approval on the musicians.
By inviting them, you are telling the Deeper Life congregation that these musicians have been screened, verified and approved.It is dangerous to invite these musicians because innocent Deeper Life members may believe that the immodesty being displayed by the backup singers of these musicians is perfectly okay since after all, pastor Kumuyi who is our father in the Lord has invited them to sing at Deeper Life.
Dear Sir, despite our protest we will like to commend you for your day in, day out preaching of modesty, righteousness and judgment. Despite your elderly age, you still find the strength to go the podium and preach for hours. We thank you for that and we adore you for that. The only issue is these musicians that you are inviting.
By preaching the true gospel on one hand and inviting these Christian rock stars on the other hand, the congregation may not know what is right from what is wrong. And the congregation may go on to copy the immodest acts that are being displayed by the band members of the musicians you have invited.
WHY YOU SHOULD NOT INVITE FOREIGN OR LOCAL MUSICIANS TO DEEPER LIFE AND WHY YOU SHOULD STICK TO THE BOOK OF HYMNS AND YOUR CHOIR.
By inviting them, you are telling the Deeper Life congregation that these musicians have been screened, verified and approved.
It is dangerous to invite these musicians because innocent Deeper Life members may believe that the immodesty being displayed by the backup singers of these musicians is perfectly okay since after all, pastor Kumuyi who is our father in the Lord has invited them to sing at Deeper Life.
Dear Sir, despite our protest we will like to commend you for your day in, day out preaching of modesty, righteousness and judgment. Despite your elderly age, you still find the strength to go the podium and preach for hours. We thank you for that and we adore you for that. The only issue is these musicians that you are inviting.
By preaching the true gospel on one hand and inviting these Christian rock stars on the other hand, the congregation may not know what is right from what is wrong. And the congregation may go on to copy the immodest acts that are being displayed by the band members of the musicians you have invited.
WHY YOU SHOULD NOT INVITE FOREIGN OR LOCAL MUSICIANS TO DEEPER LIFE AND WHY YOU SHOULD STICK TO THE BOOK OF HYMNS AND YOUR CHOIR.
God gave Adam and Eve fruits to eat from the tree of life and therefore Adam and Eve did not need to eat from the forbidden tree. Similarly, God has given Deeper Life the book of hymns and therefore we don’t need anyone to come and sing for us at Deeper Life.
THE MUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF DUNSIN OYEKAN AT IMPACT
Dear Sir, we were surprised at the nature of the musical performance of Dunsin Oyekan at Impact. Our main concern was the manner in which Dunsin Oyekan was flanked by two earring wearing females whilst he was on stage.
Our humble Deeper Life choir that is made up of those lovely teenagers transmit signals of holiness to the congregation whilst they are performing, don’t they? Yes they do. And that is exactly how a holiness church like Deeper Life should be. The choir should be transmitting signals of holiness to the congregation and we don’t want a situation where it will appear as if the women that are doing the flanking are transmitting signals of lust. Holiness is the only thing we want to transmit in Deeper Life Bible Church.
DID THE CONGREGATION REQUEST FOR THESE MUSICIANS?
If we may ask you some rhetorical questions sir, did the congregation request that you invite these musicians to Deeper Life? They did not, so why are you inviting them Sir?
Did the districts request that you invite these musicians to Deeper Life? They did not, so why are you inviting them Sir?
Did the groups request that you invite these musicians to Deeper Life? They did not, so why are you inviting them Sir?
Everyone in Deeper Life was happy without these musicians, so why are you inviting them Sir? Throughout the decades of not inviting these musicians to the church, Deeper Life camps, events and retreats have been jam-packed, so what’s the point in inviting these musicians.
For years, tens of Ashok Leyland buses bearing the name of Deeper Christian Life Ministry transported Deeper Lifers from several parts of the country to Gbagada and to the Deeper Life camp. And during this time, Deeper Lifers were loyal to you Sir and never did they request that you invite any foreign or local musician to come and sing for them.
Sir, do you know what it means for thousands of people to jump on your bus like sheep and be transported to your church? It means they love you Sir. The law of Christ demands that you should reward this love that the sheep has shown you with righteousness and not with worldly gold. Sir, reward the love that Deeper Lifers have shown you with the book of hymns and choir alone (righteousness) and not with international Christian rock stars (gold).
…to be continued
Read also:
Deeper Life Pastor Attacks Kumuyi for Inviting Strange Spirits to Church