Nigeria's Pentecostal Preachers Justify Expanding Ministries By Owning Private Jets
Nigerian Pentecostal preachers have long been accused of living extravagantly but purchasing private jets has come to be the next target of the controversial topic.
The president of the Christian Association of Nigeria is being scrutinized for receiving an extravagant private jet to justify his need to preach across the globe.
The Christian Today reported:
The multi-million dollar jet—a 10-seater with a range of 3,900 nautical miles—was presented to Ayo Oritsejafor by members of his congregation, Word of Life Bible Church in the oil-rich Delta state city of Warri. The gift celebrated the pastor's birthday and his 40th anniversary in ministry. The Bombardier Challenger jet is worth nearly US $5 million.
Oritsejafor serves as president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and he joins a growing list of preachers with private jets in the West African nation, which is Africa's largest oil producer.
We can list a few below:
- David Oyedepo, the founder of Living Faith Ministries owns three Gulfstreams (plus a Learjet) worth almost US$100 million.
- Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, also owns a private jet.
- The flamboyant founder of Christ Embassy Church, Chris Oyakhilome owns a jet as well.
News statistics say:
Nigeria's wealthy have spent US$6.5 billion on private jets in the last five years, making it Africa's biggest market for private planes. The number of privately-owned aircraft rose by 650 percent between 2007 and 2012, up from 20 to 150 planes at an average cost of US$50 million.While these Nigerian preachers live fat off the land, many of their members and Christians alone in Africa remain poor. This has raised concerns amongst the Christian community.
Gideon Para-Mallam, regional secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, said such preachers are setting bad examples.
"This represents another minus to Christianity in a country riddled with much corruption," he said. "We are simply displaying the rottenness of what has become of Nigeria. It is so sad."
Even Jeremiah Gado, president of the 3 million-strong Evangelical Church Winning All, agrees. "Having a private jet is a distraction and an indication of the lack of unity in the body," he said.
But Oritsejafor defends the gift, maintaining that his private jet is a necessity and not a luxury. "Sometimes, my schedule is so complicated," he said at a press conference.
"Now, I can move. I can even go and come back home. It is a bit more convenient for me, and I suspect that this is one of the reasons a lot of these other preachers have planes."Arrogantly, he adds that we have more to witness in the area of preachers with jets.
"They ain't seen anything yet! More of us will yet buy and maintain our jets because, by the mercy of God, we have been given the wisdom to do so."Church Scandal Report's Take: They are doing business/church as usual and it's not much different than what they do here in the states. If a megachurch pastor can get a private jet to do his traveling in and the church pays for it, there's not much that can be done. But when will the church realize that sometimes their pastor is living too well and they continue to suffer although they constantly give to the church? We have to start having an open eye to this scenario and stop funding the pastor's extravagant lifestyle when they can barely eat every week.
Watch this video and see how one preacher was seen in hell begging to get out because he had defrauded the church out of money. This is someone's out of body experience that taught them a lesson as well.
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