Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has described Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele of Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church as a fake prophet who sees nothing.
Adesina made this known on Friday in his weekly column titled ‘Some Prophets See Nothing’.
The presidential aide said he had visited Ayodele’s church in the past.
While acknowledging some of the good deeds of the cleric, Adesina doubted his gift of prophecy.
“The Good Book tells us about the five-fold ministries. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Prophets rank high in the hierarchy. They hear from God, and tell the people. And when it is from God, He watches over His own word to perform it. Only He can change it, no man,” he wrote.
“Also last Sunday, a newspaper published on the front page a so-called prophecy that Nigeria would disintegrate, and there’s nothing anybody could do about it. The foretelling was credited to Primate Elijah Ayodele of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, in Lagos.
“The Prophet gave the date and time of Nigeria’s unravelling as between 2035 and 2040. A person who wants to give you a fib would say his witness is in Heaven. How many people living now would still be alive in 2035 or 2040? Are we even sure of tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year, except by the mercies of God?
“And then, why is it always negative, negative, negative prophecies all the time? We are admonished not to despise prophesying (1 Thessalonians 5:20) but then, ‘by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved’. (Hosea 12:13). Prophecies are for our comfort, edification, preservation, not something to frighten the living daylights out of us, and have us on tenterhooks all the days of our life. When you see someone indulging in negatives, run far. To thy tents oh Israel!
“I know Primate Ayodele. I have been a special guest in his church when I was Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Newspapers. He does great things in terms of welfare for his flock. He empowers them wish cash and materials they can use to set up themselves gainfully. I was impressed with that. But the prophetic aspect?
“Let’s look at all these facts: in the build up to 2015 presidential elections, Primate Ayodele said Goodluck Jonathan would win. The man lost. He said the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would take Kaduna by a narrow margin. Nasir el-Rufai of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won. Again, he said Yobe, Gombe, Benue, Delta, and Akwa Ibom States would be won by PDP. The APC won three of those States. Who hit the crossbar? You know the answer.
“PDP will shock APC in Lagos. It didn’t happen. Boko Haram would bomb South West. Mercifully, it didn’t happen. APC would break, Buhari won’t do second term. You know the truth. And in 2017, when the President was on medical vacation abroad for many months, he said the seat was vacant, and the man would never return. You now know who didn’t speak the truth, who didn’t hear from God.
“The Book, that Good Book, tells us how we know a false prophet from a genuine one. The false says something, and it does not come to pass. And he continues to strut and fret his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. His tales are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
Adesina, however, urged Primate Ayodele to focus on touching lives through preaching the gospel, and empowering of many people. It has great gains now and in eternity.
