David Oyedepo, the presiding bishop of Living Faith Worldwide, says Nigeria is now fighting an anti-church virus, accounting for why churches remain closed while markets are allowed to operate.
The clergyman spoke on Sunday while delivering a sermon on various topics, including the federal government’s restriction on social gatherings which has prompted the continued shutdown of religious buildings, despite the gradual easing of movement and the lockdown order.
Oyedepo, who had previously kicked against the lockdown directive and cursed those he said might be against the church, dismissed claims that places of worship are vulnerable with respect to the spread of COVID-19.
The cleric also said that about 114 members of his church testified to have been healed of coronavirus yet places of worship have remained shut unlike in market places where he said people contract the illness due to “zero handwashing and physical distancing.”
Oyedepo claimed that coronavirus no longer exist in Lagos and Ogun, adding that the states are now infected with anti-churh virus.
“What they want us to believe is that there is the evil of corona in the church. It’s the greatest lie ever told on the earth. The Church is God’s healing clinic, not where you gather sickness,” he said.
“He healed me of Tuberculosis. Too many across the world delivered by the power of God. Is that where to shut down? This is no longer coronavirus, at least in two states, Lagos and Ogun. It’s now the anti-church virus.
“The gods of this world are behind it but there are human instruments that they engage. Can anybody silence the church? No! I’ve never heard of anybody God healed in the market. But we get healing in the church.
“We’ve recorded 114 coronavirus healings. We got 10 this week. But that’s the place being declared vulnerable, not the market. Zero social distancing in the market places. Under the same atmosphere, you can’t go to church.
“It’s a grand desire of the devil globally to silence the church. What they call coronavirus has suddenly become an anti-church virus, clean and clear, the market place is rocking, people are running over themselves.
“Nigeria’s coronavirus never goes to the market, it only goes to the church. Some merchants of evil are behind it. Churches that heal are shutdown. Markets, where you collect diseases, are open. Be waiting for God’s red-eye.”