Exclusive: “I’d more questions than answers”, Ex-pastor who left Dunamis church
- After over a decade with the Dunamis International Gospel Centre led by Pastor Dr Paul Enenche, Abraham Ejeh Daniel resigned from being a pastor and dumped Christianity
- The 44-year-old Benue indigene, who now identifies as a humanist, spoke exclusively with Fox Nigeria about his time as a Dunamis church pastor
- The humanist also opened up about what actually triggered his departure from the Christian religion
Abraham Ejeh Daniel, a former pastor at Dunamis International Gospel Centre who has turned humanist, has opened up about his time as a pastor and his reason for leaving the Christian faith.
Abraham grabbed headlines with his Facebook post about his belief that there is no God and that humans created God to control the poor.
Abraham Ejeh Daniel joined Dunamis International Gospel Centre in 2007.
Photo Credit: Abraham Daniel, Dr Paul EnencheSource: Facebook
Abraham, who was part of the Pastor Dr Paul Enenche led commission for over a decade, spoke exclusively with Fox Nigeria about his departure from the church and faith.
He also shared what he thinks about Christianity in Nigeria.
Abraham Daniel’s time as Dunamis church pastor
Fox Nigeria asked Abraham to elaborate on his time as a Dunamis church pastor. Abraham, who hails from Oju LGA in Benue State, described his time as a pastor as an interesting one.
Abraham, who joined the church in 2007 and resigned in 2018, said he was good at his duties, including taking opening prayers. The church’s management recognised this, as he would be assigned to take opening prayers at the headquarters.
“I was good at my duties.
“I was good at opening prayers.
“As a Dunamis pastor, you will count it a privilege to take an opening prayer at the headquarters.
There are pastors who, throughout their stay in Dunamis, may never climb the headquarters altars for an opening prayer. But I was doing that almost every Sunday. Some Sundays, I would talk about 3 to 4 service opening prayers.
“Another difficult part was coordinating testimony, which I was also good at.”
He dived into his duties for Pastor Dr Paul Enenche, the church’s founder
“While at the headquarters before my posting, I digitalised all the messages of Dr. Paul Enenche. I created software to achieve this for him. I was very glad that he called me his pharmacist.
“I was also good in ICT, so I was in charge of all his phones and laptop pads, both for his wife and children.
“I was more like his confidant. Some of the pastors were never comfortable with my position.
“But because I was good at my job, and I never abused them, they couldn’t do anything.
“At my location, I met a congregation of 950, I took that to almost 3k within 4 years.
“Doing 5 services on Sunday and 2 services mid-week.
“I opened a school that I wanted from but was asked to stop because it wasn’t part of the GO’s vision.
“I opened another branch at Adokasa. I was the first pastor who formerly hosted Dr. Paul Enenche in New Karu. I also hosted his wife. I also got over 8 plots of land.”
Real reason ex-Dunamis pastor left Christianity
When quizzed about why he left the Christian faith to be a humanist, Abraham, who attended Army Children’s School in Otukpo, Benue State, told Fox Nigeria he left because he had more questions than answers.
Elaborating on his statement, the divorcee who remarried, gave a back story, shedding light on all that cumulated in his departure from the Christian faith.
“Quitting Christianity was a cumulative year of deliberate, critical and subjective analysis.
“I was born into a Christian family, but I had to personally know Jesus for myself.
“My family church was an Assemblies of God church then, so I had to do baptism, the so-called speaking in tongues, and later was a children’s Sunday school teacher and a missionary in 1998.
“In this journey, I was still void. I had more questions than answers.
“I was always in the quest to know more about Christ. In 2000, I left the Assemblies of God church. I was not satisfied with their teachings in comparison with Jesus Christ.
“That same year, I met pastor King Chibuzor of the Glorious church assembly. He submitted to Bishop Oyedepo, and I was cool because, at the time, living faith was the trending church…”
The ex-cleric recalled a memorable experience involving his then-general overseer as he continued his story.
“I remembered being invited to WOFBI by Oyedipo himself via mail, but I declined because I was already into my GO and the church. Another memorable experience was when my GO felt sick.
“We prayed and prayed but still nothing happened. As I stated earlier, he submitted to Oyedepo…”
Speaking further, he claimed:
“Oyedepo had publicly said you can’t be sick and that he does take drugs. My GO refused to take drugs or go to the hospital until we met Bishop Olutayo. Then he was still with living faith Durumi Abuja.
“He then opened up to my GO, not to be carried away by the altar charisma. That Oyedepo has a doctor and that he believes in medicine. That was when my GO accepted medication. Later, he recovered.
“That experience never went down with me.
“How can one serve God truthfully, but the same God couldn’t heal his servant? Another was why Oyedepo painted it to the public as if he didn’t believe in medicine.
“Well, I continued as a pastor and was ready to know more. Then my GO met World Breakthrough Network. (Noel Woodroffe). His teachings were sound on church reforms, eschatology and a departure from prosperity preaching.
“As a pastor, I quickly loved it because I was already disappointed with Oyedepo. A bible school was introduced. My GO recommended we all join the school. He was a student like us. Our lecturers come from Lagos every weekend.
“During this study, my GO disagreed with a lecturer who asked us to withdraw from the school. I refused because I loved the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.
“It cost me my accommodation and my sack from the ministry, but I endured until I graduated. After school in 2003, I hated everything about the church because all the churches were teaching prosperity…”
Abraham opened up about what he found out that changed his view about Christianity. In his words:
“Now, in all my transitions, I discovered more questions with no answers.
“A zero use of logic and rational thinking. I saw how members will pray fast, still problems persist.
“How as a pastor. I was living in a big house, driving cars but surrounded by poor members.
“I tried to help, but how many can I help? They called me daddy, but their children are out of school, hungry, etc. How can a loving God suffer his followers like that?
“I will attend the healing service at the end of the service. More frustration on the faces of those who came. Sometimes, we tell them to pray harder, fast more, etc. I couldn’t withstand such frustration from the people.
“If God exists, why must we defend him always before his people? I started investigating the Bible, going back to my teaching on eschatology, etc.
“Then I discovered God was given to man by man to control the poor so that they will not fight or eat up the rich. God was just a fantasy to make the poor happy.”
Abraham Daniel speaks on his humanist identity
Fox Nigeria further quizzed Abraham about his new-found humanist identity, and he replied:
“Yes, I am now a humanist. The meaning is very simple. Humanity is the human being.
“Being a humanist means; Having your conscience active. No one was born religious but human.
“Humanity is older than all religions. For there to be peace and justice, we must place humanity first, not tribe, race, country, or religion but humanity. Humanity is one. A human in Europe, Asia, America or Africa is the same.
“Colour is just uniqueness. Humanity thrives in synergy and complementation rather than competition. Humans are not competitive in nature. If you look at our external organs and external organs.
“They are all synergies for our growth.
“Until humanity begins to synergise and complement, we can’t advance.”
Pastor Enenche shares experience with diabolic man
Meanwhile, Fox Nigeria previously reported that Pastor Dr Paul Enenche had shared his experience with a diabolic man on an aeroplane.
The Dunamis church founder recalled how he noticed the diabolic man beside him making an incantation. He shared how he rebuked the diabolic man. His statement in part read:
“I positioned my mouth in his direction (speaks in tongue); he shifted, he adjusted his seat, it’s me and you. Too bad for you they sat you beside me. Hair does not know forehead? No matter how desperate the hair is, can it grow on the nose?”
Source: Fox Nigeria
