Oyedepo places curse on fraudsters and 419ers using his name to fleece church members

LIVING Faith Church founder Bishop David Oyedepo has placed a curse on fraudsters who have been ripping church members and its followers off using a series of scams to get them to donate money to private accounts.

 

With the explosion of evangelical churches across Nigeria, paying tithes or a tenth of one's wages are a common practise and most Christian gatherings insist their members pay up. Realising the potential riches that can be earned from this, fraudsters have begun impersonating clergymen and sending church members emails, providing them with account details into which to pay money.

 

Speaking to church members yesterday, Bishop Oyedepo, whose church is also known as Winners Chapel, told his followers that some fraudsters opened a website where they urged them and other contributors to donate to his Shiloh project. Although the bishop did not disclose the address of the website, he warned members of the church to beware of such fraudsters.

 

Shiloh is a popular annual programme of the church held at its headquarters in Ota, Ogun State and to accommodate more members, the church has commenced the construction of a facility known as Shiloh City across 1,000 acres of land. An ultra-modern complex to be called Faith Theatre, it will have a 100,000 seat capacity and a section to accommodate 10,000 children.

 

Bishop Oyedepo said: “They opened a website from where they collect Shiloh sacrifices. It was tried and it went through.

 

“Anyone involved in it comes under judgement and anyone involved in it will not be released from the curse. The judgement of God is released on the health of anyone involved."

 

He also asked the members to circulate the information to those who had not heard, adding that, only messages announced in the church should be taken by members. Apart from this, the Shiloh City complex will accommodate offices, a shopping mall and a rotating alter as well as outlets for various other services.

 

According to Bishop Oyedepo, all Shiloh sacrifices from church members would be channelled to the project. He thanked God for the 2015 edition of Shiloh, disclosed that the church witnessed the largest instant healing during the programme.

 

On September 13 this year, it was reported that fraudsters had cloned Bishop Oyedepo on social media especially Facebook with different photographs portraying him as the owner of the accounts. Some of the accounts also carried photographs of him and his wife as well as some prayers and messages.