Most pastors can’t differentiate between prediction and prophecy —Olopade

Pastor Ayodele Emmanuel  Olopade, is the founder of New Wine Apostolic Church, Oluyole, Ibadan, Oyo State. In this interview with OLAIDE SOKOYA, he speaks on why most Christian leaders give false prophecies. 

Before the recent presidential election in the country, some ministers of God made some prophetic pronouncement and declaration purported to be divine…

Some pastors, without minding the parties their congregation belong, openly took positions by their outright alignments to political parties and their candidates. Pronouncement like, “one thief is better than another thief” became a slogan in Christian parlance! Abomination! Some ministers even went to the extent of invoking curses on their followers who failed to heed to their directives. Marathon prayers, vigil and campaign were rigorously pursued in several churches for their candidates to win the election.

Nothing is wrong in all these if properly channelled and divinely directed. Unfortunately, their prophecies contradicted one another thereby making one wonder whether the God they claimed to serve is not one.  When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord.

All these while, men of old were weeping aloud. The above passage in the scriptures aptly describes our situation. While few respected elders keep quiet and probably weep within their hearts, many who are noise makers continue to boast in their wrong, evil and false predictions. I wonder what was going on in the mind of Almighty! Finally, God spoke.

Is there any difference between prediction and prophecy and how?

Many of us think that prediction and prophecy are the same but they’re mistaken. It’s true that they both forecast the future but there’s a difference. A prediction is a forecast made by those who calculate the parameters of the subject involved. After evaluating all the odds, they can predict the future. Prophecy is divinely written. Several pronouncements of some men of God, if they come to pass, would have  allowed the nation to fall into the hands of scavengers and vultures who would devour the flesh of the masses and leave the bones to dry in the sun.

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We have some clergies, who profess to speak in the name of the Lord but who in actual fact, speak out of their greedy minds and prodigal hearts. How can we know them? 

They stand at the Altar to swerve the hearts of their congregants in the way of their covetous and spiritual blinded hearts.” The self-concocted prophesies and self-centered pronouncements of some ministers would have handed over the country into the hands of scavengers and vultures. Guess what would have happened. Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She once said: “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” “We are blinded by our religious leaders, who profess to speak in the name of the Lord but who only speak out of their greedy minds and prodigal hearts. They stand at the altar to swerve the hearts of their congregates in the way of their covetous and spiritual blinded hearts”. When the Church is in darkness, how shall the land be lit? Are we not supposed to carry the light for the world to see? In Mathew 5:13-14, the Bible calls us, the church as salt of the earth and the light of the world. By implication, we the Church, is the only light. No other light. We are the salt, no other salt. Light is the solution to darkness, while salt is the sweetness the society needs to make it sweet. If the Church doesn’t give light and salt, then there is no other source to which the world can turn or look for light or salt. The Church has refused to fulfill its Biblical role.

What does the bible say about covetousness and greedy leaders, especially politicians?

What does the Bible say about righteousness that exalts a nation and sins that make a reproach of any people, who abide in it? They seem to have forgotten that one too. What does the bible teach us about thieves and robbers? Their political sentiments have eroded their years of spiritual knowledge of the word of God. They live by rumours and declare this to thousands of followers who are looking up to them to hear the Way. The followers drink their tinted and poisoned wine without optional thoughts, because they are fathers. The Prophets of the nation are supposed to understand the signs of the time and see through the heart of God. Most of them are guided by unfounded rumor, instead of the Spirit of Christ. They give us prayer points on the lies the enemies of the nation had manufactured and we take points up in prayers and fasting. We pray prayer that the Lord would never listen to. We take up battles against the Lord and His anointed. They made us refuse to see the move of God in the affairs of the nation. They made us lose hope and faith in the plans and purpose of God for the land. They hate righteousness they are professing. They detest the national revival they are praying about. They confuse us on the exalted altars. And we are no longer better than the unbelievers in our daily thinking and living. What shall they do now in the coming dispensation when all lies are beginning to crumble and veils of deceit tearing away? Some ministers now will bury their heads in shame as their voices are no longer sweet to hearing. Prophesies have collapsed and their prophetic permutations nothing before the whole world. What a tragedy!

What is your advice to all Nigerians as we start a new regime?

One thing I know for sure is God’s hand is upon this country. Nigeria will recover and be restored. It is a process. We will get there. Stop playing God. Stop acting as God.   A new Nigeria is emerging in the mighty name of Jesus. God has an agenda for this country, whether the devil likes it or not, Nigeria will fulfill its destiny. We will get there.