A member of Deeper Life Church has written an open letter to the church’s founder, Pastor W.F Kumuyi over introduction of what he called “uncoventional music”.
Admitting that the church belongs to Kumuyi and he has the legal right to change the policies and principles of the church, Prince Dele Banjo however noted that “some of them signed up and agreed to be members of Deeper Life Bible church in the first place because they believe that Deeper Life is against worldly music” and that the church is a modesty and outward holiness church.
Condemning the invitation of gospel singers like Nathaniel Bassey, Don Moen, Collin McDowell and Paul Baloche to the church, Prince Dele Banjo also pointed out that during Nigerian singer, Dunsin Oyekan’s recent performance in the church, he was flanked by two earring wearing females.
Read the lengthy post below….
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.
We strongly believe that you should not invite foreign or local musicians to Deeper Life simply because you cannot determine their true agenda.
THE KATY HUDSON STORY
The American pop singer called Katy Perry used to be a Christian singer called Katy Hudson. Katy Perry formerly called Katy Hudson is a member of the so called LGBT community in America. But prior to coming out as a member of the LGBT community, she used to be a Christian singer and she sang in several churches all over the world. This same Katy Perry who now has a popular song titled “I kissed a girl and I liked it” used to sing hallelujah in her songs, in churches and in Christian concerts all over the world.
Dear Sir, this is exactly why you should not invite these American Christian rock stars or any musician to Deeper Life. For example, what if these musicians that you are inviting to Deeper Life come out as members of the so called LGBT community in the near future? For example, what if Paul Baloche comes out as gay? Where will go sir? Where will you run to sir? Where will you flee to sir? That’s why you should not invite these musicians to your church. That’s why you should stick to the book of hymns and the innocent choir that God has given you.
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).
DO NOT LOWER YOUR HOLINESS STANDARD IN ORDER TO APPEASE THE SO CALLED YOUTHS
In addition, you need not to lower your standards in order to accommodate the so called young and liberal generation. You need not, because there are already a million and one non-holiness churches that can cater for the so called young and liberal generation. These young and liberal generation that claim that Deeper Life is too strict and these youths that call for you to lower your standards know the truth.
They know that a church should practise modesty and holiness, they just don’t want it. This young and liberal generation knows that Christian men and women should dress modestly, they just don’t want it. This young and liberal generation knows that Christian music should be gentle music, they just don’t want it. Instead, they want a little bit of funkiness and hip hop to be integrated with Christianity. Since this young and liberal generation knows the truth but they don’t want it, then you need not to lower your standards in order to appease them.
DO NOT LOWER YOUR HOLINESS STANDARD IN AN ATTEMPT TO ATTRACT AND CONVERT SINNERS
Some proponents have suggested that Deeper Life should lower its holiness standards in order to attract and save the sinners. Such proponents claim that Deeper Life through its strict doctrines is chasing away sinners instead of welcoming them.
Yes, Christ wants us to welcome and convert sinners and even Christ welcomed and saved the sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors. But Christ told theses sinners to “go and sin no more” after which the sinners repented and laid aside their garments of sin. It was only after the sinners had laid aside their garments of sin did Christ forgive them. Had Mary Magdalene and Matthew the tax collector not laid aside their garments of sin then Christ won’t have taken them.
This implies that Deeper Life should embrace, hug, show love and rub shoulders with sinners during the time its street evangelists are preaching to sinners on the streets. What Deeper Life should not do is to bring in sinners that are still clothed in their garments of sin and immodesty into the church premises for this could contaminate the clean that are in the church.
Sinners must be new in Christ and they should have laid down their garments of sin prior to coming into the church premises. They should have imbibed the culture of modesty and holiness which your street evangelists have taught them. If the sinners that have been preached to are not new in Christ but yet you invite them to your church premises, then both the sinners and the clean in the church will be corrupted.
INVITATION OF NON DEEPER LIFE MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKERS
In addition, we have discovered that some of the motivational speakers that you invite to Deeper Life to minister to the youths or to congregation are not from Deeper Life and they do not present themselves according to Deeper Life principles. For example, some of the speakers you have been inviting to minister to the youths do not normally dress according to Deeper Life standards; instead they normally dress immodestly with lipsticks, earrings, make up and the rest. Dear Sir, Deeper Life is supposed to be a holiness church and therefore you cannot invite just anyone to come and lecture the youths at Deeper Life.
If you want to invite motivational speakers to Deeper Life, then such motivational speakers should be either Deeper Lifers or those that practise modesty and outward holiness. Since we are supposed to be a holiness church, you cannot just walk in to any bank, institution or company and invite a motivational speaker to lecture the youths at Deeper life.
Some Deeper Lifers have asked why you invited non Deeper Lifers as guest speakers and you have been questioned in an interview that is available on YouTube.
In the interview, you used the chemistry subject and chemistry teachers as examples to defend the invitation of non Deeper Lifers as guest speakers. You stated that for example, if you want to hire a teacher to teach a child chemistry, you will hire that chemistry teacher based only on the teacher’s ability to teach chemistry. You therefore implied that it is okay to invite any motivational speaker to Deeper Life irrespective of whether or not such motivational speakers practise modesty and holiness as long as they are highly skilled in their professional fields.
Dear Sir, are you now implying that chemistry (entrepreneurial or motivational advice) is superior to holiness? Are you implying that we should prioritize entrepreneurial or motivational advice over holiness?
The message of Christ which is holiness is the one that should be given priority, therefore the next time you want to bring in motivational speakers to Deeper Life; you can first of all enquire if there are any successful motivational speakers or entrepreneurs from within Deeper Life. I am very sure that you will find successful motivational speakers from within Deeper Life that can lecture the youths.
LET US PRAY
We pray that in the mighty name of Christ that you will not shatter deeper life doctrines and we pray that you will have faith in the founding principles of Deeper Life which is rejecting the world, practising modesty and outward holiness.
We pray that in the mighty name of Christ that you will have faith in the book of hymns that God has given us at Deeper Life. We pray that in the mighty name of Christ that you will have faith in those young trumpeters, keyboardists and choir that God has given us at Deeper Life. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.
Dear Sir, we will like to commend you once again for preaching the truth and for creating perhaps the strongest Christian church in the world. You have created the strongest church not just in Lagos or in Nigeria but in the world. Deeper Life Christian Ministry is the strongest church in the world and as such satan may seek ways to quench the fire in the church but God as well as you and I will not allow them.
You can rest assured that we will ensure that Deeper Life will be a strong church. Even after you are no longer with us, you can rest assured that we will ensure that the high standards of holiness and modesty which you have put in place at Deeper Life will not diminish. We will ensure that your wish of creating righteous people is honored. We will never allow Deeper Life to fall. Thank you Sir, our dear grandfather in the Lord. May God bless you Sir.
Sincerely
Prince Dele Banjo