COVID-19: Shutting Church Buildings Does Not Affect True Faith —Oyemade

The Senior Pastor of the Covenant Nation, Lagos, Pastor Poju Oyemade, the Senior Pastor of the Covenant Nation, Lagos, has said shutting church buildings does not affect the true worship of God.

Oyemade said Christians did not need to gather in a physical building before there is divine healing, adding that those healed in Biblical days received their miracles on the streets.

The host of popular programme, The Platform, stated this on his Instagram page.

The decision of government not to open religious places of worship had been criticized by some prominent pastors, including Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and Bishop David Oyedepo.

Oyakhilome had criticized church leaders who agreed to shut churches without consulting with fellow pastors and their congregation, while Oyedepo said opening markets and shutting churches was wrong and people were prevented from accessing their healings.

But Oyemade did not share these views.

He said, “Closing the doors of a physical building does not in anyway mean the closure of the anointing of the Spirit from working. The sick we see healed in the book of Acts were healed on the streets, in people’s homes, in public places and not within the four walls of a church.

“Church buildings may be shut down but true faith and the anointing of the Spirit has not stopped working. There is a difference between expression of emotions and the manifestation of the anointing to heal the sick. There is nowhere in Jesus’ ministry where the healing of the sick was preceded by a congregational service.

“In the Book of Acts, the sick were healed predominantly on the streets with no fanciful service going on. Closure of a church building does not stop the rivers of living water from flowing out of your belly. It resides in our inner man.

“There was collective prayer to receive a supply of the Spirit which led to outdoor manifestations.

“To this Paul himself attested to the fact that we don’t have to be together in a physical space to receive that supply. Did he not say to the church at Phillipi, I know this shall turn to my salvation through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus. The church was miles away from where Paul was.

“Charles Finney began a massive revival by people praying in their homes all keeping watches at the same time. They all chose the exact time to pray and they did in their homes until the Spirit broke out on the streets.

“They did not criticise any other church or ministry of weakness. Criticising others doesn’t attest to the fact that you have strength. They only stayed with God until something broke out on the streets.”

FROM  punchng.com/covid-19-shutting-church-buildings-does-not-affect-true-faith-oyemade