“At various times in history, books written about godly characters have inspired many readers and have drawn them to Christ through God’s saving grace,” Joshua Alabi, chairman, International Friendship League (IFL), stated at the special promotion of the book, ‘Kumuyi: Defender of the faith,’ held in Lagos last Sunday.
This statement clearly set the tone for this review. The book being promoted above captures the over 50 years of William Folorunsho Kumuyi, the general superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, as a preacher of many parts; it also presents the man many grew up to know as an ‘Holiness’ preacher and some of his personal views, among which is the apolitical standpoint.
According to Alabi, the book is not a replacement for the Bible, but rather a pointer. According to him, the personality about which the book is written is not the Saviour but rather His messenger and purveyor of His salvation message. “Pastor Kumuyi, a faithful and dedicated servant of God, has patterned his life after our Lord Jesus Christ, and so his life is worth emulating and his message worth paying heed to”.
Alabi states further that the present generation and those coming after would have been denied one of the most valuable benefits of history if the book had not been published. “For those seeking to know God, reading through Pastor Kumuyi’s conversion experience will provide ample guidance. For those who want to succeed in their callings, his experiences in the ministry have a lot of inspiration to offer,” he further said.
According to him, Kumuyi has patterned his life after Jesus Christ; hence his life is worth emulating and his message worth paying heed to. He therefore, urged participants at the special promotion event to obtain and read the life-transforming and enriching biography.
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“For the believers here today, I admonish you to get on board the train of the promoters of this book. Through it, you can reach many of your friends, colleagues, clients, relations and acquaintances and can profoundly influence their lives. I encourage you to get as many copies as possible and ensure that you place them in the hands of many people, encourage them to read and be blessed,” Alabi said.
On his part, Olubusola Olubanwo, chairman IFL special book launch, said that at a time when the country is facing some of the most severe challenges in history, Christians must learn to follow the Kumuyi example. According to him, believers must portray the life of Christ at all times, and must be supportive of the government.
“His life shows that at a time like this, a time of social instability and intense political activities, believers, especially servants of God, must not plunge head-on into partisan politics, become doomsday prophets, nor should they take sides with any political coloration. Instead, they should maintain respectable neutrality and be seen always as dignified messengers of hope and verity,” Olubanwo said.
Olubanwo disclosed that the Deeper Life General Superintendent is rigidly apolitical according to the book, even though he is not indifferent to the politics around him. Kumuyi according to the book is vividly aware of the social dynamics of politics in the affairs of men. However, while he is surrounded in society by the politics of the environment, he remains ever careful to be unspotted by it.
Olubanwo said Kumuyi believes and teaches that all of man’s exploits, including his immense political forces, are all at the behest of the Almighty God. According to him, Kumuyi prefers to focus always on what would profit the whole society, rather taking sides with any political hue or overheating the society unnecessarily.
“His mantra is that: ‘Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.’ He would speak clearly and authoritatively, but dispassionately, to the Nigerian situation, always striking a high moral tone,” Olubanwo said.
Femi Adesina, the special adviser to the president on media and publicity, in extolling the virtues of Kumuyi for his apolitical stand over the years, said Nigeria needs more men of God to follow in his footsteps.
Adesina said that at any given time in church and human history, there is always a remnant that does not follow the crowd and does not follow the fashion of the time. “We are proud that Pastor Kumuyi is in that moment,” he said.
According to him, Kumuyi has been apolitical even when other pastors openly identify with politics and give predictions and prophecies that are politically motivated for publicity and material gains.
“Therefore, when he speaks, we can listen, knowing that it is not tainted by prejudice. It is not tainted by politics. It is not tainted by any other consideration. Whatever he says you can be sure is what the Word of God says. Wherever he stands, is where the word of God stands.”
Segun Babatope, chairman, editorial board, ‘Kumuyi: Defender of the Faith’, thanked members of the IFL for providing a platform for promoting the book, which he said was done in collaboration with the local organising committee members.
According to him, the writers were very ignorant about how to market the book, and it did not occur to them that the availability of the book in the market would cause an impact.
“We had an illusion that whatever numbers of copies that were produced that we have a captive audience in the church; we were completely proved wrong because after we had gotten some copies off the ground it became difficult to get more copies to more people, and what that would mean is that the circulation could have been dead and the great lessons to be learnt from the book, from the life of this unique and peculiar man of God will not be leant,” he said.
