In South Korea once lived a Reverend Sun Myung Moon who not only made it big preaching the gospel but made millionaires out of thousands of South Koreans through business products his ministry developed, perfected and maintained. His ministry enjoyed and still to a large extent today, a near monopoly of false hair attachment and other hair care products. Yes, Reverend Moon's ministry controlled artificial hair and weave on industry, as well as many haircare and beauty care industry. With money collected in donations and tithes, he ventured into hair products manufacturing, creating several thousands of middle men and women, distributors and wholesalers, as well as retailers and exporters of his product out of members of his church. His reach was so extensive that by the time he eventually died in September 3, 2012, he was nearly a Demi god in Seoul, having created lots of jobs for South Koreans and turned so many lives around as well as made millionaires and rich people out of ordinary South Koreans.
He was not selfish and he did not make purchasing a private jet his number one priority and many of his early travels were funded by people needing him to visit and preach to them. The wealth he created transcended and trickled down the and he made a lot of rich people out of his church members and the general South Korean people. There were other things, including schools and hospitals which his ministry established and ran, most of them free to his church members; and which to a great extent helped transform South Korea into the world class nation it is today, alongside other nationalist companies such as Samsung, Daewoo, Kia etc. This is exemplary Christianity and if there is heaven, Reverend Moon is already there as he practiced what he preached and he gave impetus to giving the poor, clothing the clothe-less, sheltering the homeless and in short, gave his all to everyone. His is an example worth emulating.
Had General Overseer Enoch Adeboye been this as focused in improving the lot of Nigerians particularly those millions of his followers, many of who cannot afford to send their children to his schools or afford their hospital bills, by catering to their needs, nobody, including ICHEOKU will be raising eyebrow because he collects tithes or spent a "paltry" $65 million on a top of the range Gulfstream S650 private jet, afterall he would have rightly earned it. But, when millions of his followers are wallowing in abject poverty, including those who could not afford their daily meals nor have the capacity to pay their children's school fees and hospital bills, and he is spending such a fortune just to make himself comfortable while jetting around the globe, people pause to wonder what actually moves this guy. What manner of Christian is he indeed? Does he follow the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ? Certainly, unlike the other gay-looking fella Rotimi Amaechi, who does not love money, Enoch Adeboye appears to love the billfolds, admitted he worked tirelessly so hard to get to where he is presently. But should that excuse his exhibitionist high dollar purchase?
ICHEOKU says where is the Christianity in Enoch Adeboye if his priority is getting himself the finest private jet ever manufactured just to pleasurably get around. Where is his obedience to the Lord to sell everything he has and follow him? Where is his obedience to the Lord that such earthly distractions will deny him entry into heaven or is he content with already enjoying his own heave here on earth while millions of his congregants can go on waiting and longing for their own heaven hereafter. Where is his obedience to the Lord's admonition that on the last day he will ask when I was hungry you did not give me food to eat, when millions of the Lord's brethren members of his church are starving and going to bed hungry at night? When and if Enoch Adeboye finally meets Jesus how does he plan to explain the overt extravagance he displayed when he doled out $65 million to purchase a private jet when he could have been flying first class or even renting jets as his travels demands and at worse, purchased a much cheaper and equally efficient jet and given the rest to helping the poor and needy, especially those among his church members.
ICHEOKU says except Enoch Adeboye repents, he is definitely not going to make heaven and is bound for hell if our Lord's words are firm and unchangeable. This is a guy who once asked for ten people in his church to cough up one billion Naira each to raise ten billion Naira which will go towards building a church auditorium when God does not dwell in houses made of brick and mortar. This is a guy who once received a two hundred million Naira tithe from a woman who works with Nigerian Prisons authority in Abuja and on none of the occasions did he care to ask these "generous" givers how they came about such hefty sums which they so easily doled out. A country bedeviled with corruption where nearly half of the population have nothing to eat, but this supposed man of God has no qualms accepting these monies from these people and applying same to his church purposes including possibly towards purchasing his private jet and other sundry things which does not edify or glorify God.
Our Lord lived with man for a little time of over 33 years and during that time, he preached and lived example of how to enter heavily paradise. He did not own nor coveted any earthly possessions because he explicitly said that people should aspire for the rewards in heaven and not be bogged down with things of the earth which has no heavily value. Even the donkey with which he rode into Jerusalem, he borrowed; and could have purchased hundreds of them if he wanted or had demanded of his followers. But no, he lived and showed example of how to make his Heavenly Father happy in order to enter paradise. A rich man even came to him in Matthew 19:16-21, seeking to know how he can make heaven and again, Jesus told him to divest himself of all his earthly possessions and come and follow him. This is imperative because no one individual will ever enjoy two heavens, it is either they enjoy the one here on earth or they wait to enjoy the promised paradisaical heaven.
It is obvious that Enoch Adeboye is surely enjoying his earthly heaven, being able, according to his own words, to eat one cow if and whenever he so desires and also jetting around in an ultra expensive private modern jet. That he worked tirelessly so hard to get to where he is no is not an excuse because the race for heaven is a marathon which never finishes until death. Our Lord will not ask anyone how long ago they started their heavenly race; he is only interested in whether they finished it and remained in grace until the end. Why is he not practicing what he is preaching or does he not want to also enjoy the heavenly bliss promised to all faithfuls? Even John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ did not own any worldly possessions but ran around foretelling the coming of Jesus Christ, subsisting on only locusts and honey.
So, why the monetization of the church going on in Enoch Adeboye's Redeemed Christian Church of God, which hardly justifies the Christian and God in its name; and neither are his redeemers, redeemed. Where is the sacrifice or has he not heard about no pain no gain and that nobody ever gets into heaven on a fat stomach. In Matthew 14:16-20, our Lord Jesus fed the multitude with two fishes and five loaves of bread and would have kept the provision to himself or even turned them away as prompted by his disciples, but he said, feed them. Our Lord Jesus washed the feet of his apostles but did not erect a wall of superiority around himself by buying a private jet or an expensive chariot of that era. He mixed and mingled among the crowd, did not have bodyguards either; and had aversion for the high and mighty of that era.
But as for Enoch Adeboye, he goes around with body guards, mixes with politicians, thieves and corrupt individuals and stays barricaded from the masses and has now acquired a Gulfstream which no poor member of his church will ever dream of getting on. Our Lord even once went hungry in Matthew 11:12-14 and cursed the fig tree which could not yield him fruit to eat. But never a time throughout his ministration did he ever force anyone or make demand of anyone to give or provide him with food to eat or something to drink. He always foraged for his own food and drink, just like any other person; setting example of what secures eternal paradise. But Enoch Adeboye is their daddy and General Overseer who must not go hungry, but must be attended to round the clock, pampered and provided for multiple choice foods and drinks when millions others are hungry and unattended to.
Unfortunately, Nigerians in their ever savvy way of copying and imitating and sometimes surpassing the originators, the Enoch Adeboyes of Nigeria, have taken the art of monetized religious business, copied from the Americans, to a completely new stratospheric heights. To even think that amidst the dire need in the country that a supposed man of God would spend such staggering sum of money just on a private jet is not only unfathomably disheartening but irreconcilable to scriptural dictates. Imagine how may people such amount of money would have empowered. Imagine how many cottage industries it would have established. Imagine how many doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, teachers it would have trained. Imagine how many hospital bills it would have paid too. But no, not for the man of God who would rather have his reward here on earth than to wait for the Kingdom to come and contrary to what he preaches. People are hungry; people are homeless and people cannot afford to pay their children's school fees, but buying a $65 million private jet is his priority and you wonder why peoples incredulity is raised about this new religions.
ICHEOKU says Enoch Adeboye's action further explains what George Orwell tried to communicate to the world in 'Animal Farm', using Snowball antics of a fantastic Sugar Candy mountain with which he held Boxer hostage to a life of bonded servitude, in expectation of some future reward. ICHEOKU says regardless of how the current debate on the merits of paying tithes is eventually resolves, General Overseer Enoch Adeboye has irredeemably damaged himself and the image he fakes as a man of God, who is destined to heaven. With the lifestyle of the rich and famous, a rockstar, which he has transitioned into, topped off with the acquisition of a $65 million Gulfstream private jet, it is hard if not impossible to believe that he is still in sync with real and true Christianity. Definite not when millions of his followers are left hungry, homeless and jobless and he is spending millions on a private jet. There is no justification for it and no explanation is acceptable. He would have plowed the money into other more Godly projects, which will edify God and improve his branch of Christianity. RCCG is earthly and even occult like and it cannot secure him or any other member a place in heaven. In short, Enoch Adeboye is headed to hell, except he repents and sheds himself off his earthly possessions.