By Ebriku John Friday
The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, has extolled the Founder and General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, on his consistent stance for truth over the years.
Adesina stated this at the Special Promotion of the book ‘Kumuyi: Defender of the Faith’, in Abuja.
Speaking on the book, he said the book should be in every hand and distributed in millions across the country and beyond, and promised to be part of it for effective dissemination of the Book.
The book was authored by some leaders in the Deeper Life Bible Church who felt it became imperative for them to document the life and Ministry of Kumuyi in a book for Nigerians and posterity to read and emulate.
He said: “The subject of that book is a voice you can trust. Pastor Kumuyi is a man you can trust and anywhere we can present Pastor Kumuyi.
“He is not a partisan voice, he is a neutral person but respectable. He is apolitical but not indifferent to what is happening. His voice is not political band whatever he says is the truth nothing but the truth.
“He is a voice of moderation. There are some pastors who actually curse from the pulpit. They curse the country, president and everybody.
“We have a voice of hope and will tell you better days will come. That is what Jesus would have said. He is a voice of consistency.”
He also urged Nigerians to patronize the book as it has great contents that would impact lives and generations unborn.
One of the authors of the book, a veteran journalist, Segun Babatope, said the essence of authoring the book is to ensure the entire life of the cleric and his Ministry of almost 50 years are to be documented for posterity and edification of the church universal.
“The perculiar life and Ministry of the General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, and the fact that they have been active for almost 50 years now, and with the entire life of commitment and consecration to God, we felt that this should be documented and not for any promotional strategy but for others, especially Ministers, and other leaders and workers in the kingdom of God to emulate and approximate.
“Like recording the trajectory of his life for posterity and for God’s glory and that is what motivated us.”
Babatope also expressed optimism that the book being written and launched is to be a tool for evangelism, edification and how churches should be run.
He also made it known that the book will be given to Nigerians free of charge, which is the essence of the launch.
“The books that are purchased here are going to be distributed free of charge. Nobody is going to sell them.
“It will be taken to universities, secondary and primary schools as well provide it as online of it, and will be translated to Yoruba, Arabic, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese so that it can spread round the frontiers of Nigeria”, he added.
In an opening remarks, the former Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja and Chairman, Special Promotion of the Book, ‘Kumuyi: Defender of the Faith’, Prof Michael Adikwu, said, “Pastor Kumuyi, the book shows, remains rigidly apolitical, even though he is not
indifferent to the politics around him.
“He is aware of the social dynamics of politics in the affairs of men. And while he is surrounded in the society by the politics of the environment, he remains ever careful to be unspotted by it.
“He believes and teaches that all of man’s exploits, including his immense political forces, are all at the behest of the Almighty God.”
However, pointing at the state of the nation, the university don urged Nigerians ahead of 2023 general elections to imbibe lifestyle of the cleric.
Also, the Coordinator, International Friendship Leagues, IFL, Joshua Alabi, said the League is non-denominational which use its platform to reach highly placed people with the gospel of Christ.
He said: “We have launched the book in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja, and we are going round the whole State and beyond to make sure that this book is put on the table of everyone.”
Earlier, the Chairman, International Friendship League, Abuja, Joseph Attah, in a welcome remark, explained that the presentation of the book is part of fulfilling the mandate Jesus Christ gave to preach the gospel, which is called the Great Commission.
“The book we are presenting today is a biography of the Founder of the service of God.
“His Ministry gave rise to what is popularly known today as Deeper Christian Life Ministry, a man of our time that has given all to the Deeper Life Bible Church.”
The State Overseer, Deeper Life Bible Church, Abuja, Elijah Adebiyi, while speaking on whether the book is a dream come through for the clergyman after over 50 years in Ministry, he (Adebiyi) explained that, “On the context of his (Kumuyi) life and Ministry, the Lord has used him impact multitudes of people.
“He was not the one that wrote the book, some other people felt the story of this Man of God ought to be told for the sake of posterity in influencing and impacting the lives of people. Writing a book is not his goal. His own life is to serve God. I will say is a thing of benefit to the world.”
He also pointed that there are many publications many in the market and many are still rolled out, which many of them have some useful academic purposes.
‘But this one in particular is unique in the sense that even from the title we have the name of a Man of God well known in the country and worldwide, and then the subtitle there, ‘Defender of the Faith’ the faith there talks about the saving Faith, the faith that he is talking about is the sum total of what Christ has brought; the message of salvation and redemption.
“So, ‘a Defender of the Faith’ we are talking about as someone who stands in and stands up and stand out to make the faith that saves, transforms known and imbibed by the people.”
