Few would contest that the Obafemi Awolowo University
(OAU), Ile-Ife is a major spiritual hotspot in Nigeria. Over the decades, it
has become a major theatre for strategic battles between the dark occult forces
and the forces of the kingdom of Light contending for the soul of Nigeria.
Little surprise then that the LORD would choose the campus to release in quick
succession, two major salvos against the rampaging false teaching of the
Once-Saved-Always-Saved (OSAS) movement.
First was the incisive and painstaking
teaching by Pastor Ezekiel A. Odeyemi at the annual Dominant Army Conference of
the Redeemed Christian Fellowship (RCF) on December 3rd 2017. Pastor Odeyemi is the Assistant General
Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in charge of Education
and Training; and he directly oversees the Campus ministry of the RCCG, the
RCF, currently established in more than 250 Institutions of higher learning in
Nigeria. Coming almost a decade after
his last visit to the OAU Campus, Pastor Odeyemi seized the opportunity of the
Dominant Army Conference to bring forth a thorough Biblical exposition on the
issue of Grace. Beginning with an extensive clarification of the background and
contexts of the various Pauline epistles, he addressed the theme of the
Conference (Gospel Herald/Change Agents) and concluded that no one can really
be an agent of reconciliation if their life was not changed first. “You cannot make a difference if you are not
different. How you live your life
matters to God, and to the people around you,” he declared.
Then seven
weeks later, came the General Overseer of the RCCG himself on his annual
pastoral visit to the OAU. Quite
unexpectedly, Pastor Enoch Adeboye veered off the advertised theme, and
declared he would be presenting perhaps his most important teaching in all the 30
years he had been visiting the University.
And yes, it was all on the issue of "Hypergrace" and Eternal
Security. It was a hard-hitting bare-knuckles thrashing!
Pastor Adeboye warned that some visible Christian
leaders might indeed be pressured into accommodating the “hypergrace” teaching
simply as an opportunity to cover the many scandals, past and ongoing, they
have been trying to keep away from the public view. With licentious grace
making the waves, rather than become despicable liabilities, such scandals
might as well become epaulettes to be proudly worn and touted as exemplifying
"unimaginable depths of grace" which keep a man approved of God
despite mountains of unconfessed and unrepented sins!
Systematically, (and incredibly in the space
of barely 45 minutes), Pastor Adeboye dealt with all the key points OSAS
teachers use to lure and confuse people into their heresy; and utterly
demolished them in the light of the word of God.
To the glory of God, a great throng of
young people previously swept away or in the process of being so swept by the
false teaching stepped forward to renounce the teachings, repent their sins,
and rededicate their lives to the Lord Jesus.
Listen on our website to
the audios of the messages by Pastor Odeyemi (here), and Pastor Adeboye (here)
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