Nigerian Evangelist praises attack on conference about children accused of witchcraft
The ranting video above shows Bishop N. E. Moses of Overcomers Church World Outreach praising members of Liberty Gospel Church for physically attacking a conference on the subject of children who have been accused of witchcraft by evangelists:
…entering into Calabar I was told how some people had organised themselves to come and blackmail – as a matter of fact I have the document – to come and blackmail the Liberty Church. But you know what the people of Liberty did? They did not fold their hands. They did not fold their hands. One telephone call overnight, men and women of Liberty Foundation jumped on [?] the hall and took over. Took over. Guess what? Took over! Took over! Come on, took over! You did the right thing. Listen, you did the right thing. We shall not run and get into our bedrooms. We shall not allow the enemy to take over. Do you understand what I’m saying?
Moses is refering to the event I blogged about here, at which the Nigerian humanist Leo Igwe was assaulted. As was reported at the time:
As the anti-witchcraft conference began at around 10.30am…religious protestors dressed in orange raided the venue and began protesting loudly. The exremists were carrying a number of banners with slogans such as, “This protest is organised by The Akwa Ibim Government”, “We give freedom to the witches” and “Stepping Stone is not a registered organisation”.
Liberty Gospel Church is headed by Helen Ukpabio, who can be seen in the video above, standing smugly behind Moses and bobbing up and down with excitement. Ukpabio – as has been widely reported – is just one evangelist who teaches that children can become witches, and will be dangerous to their families unless they are “delivered” through a form of exorcism, but she has been particularly influential due to her horror films and books on the subject. This belief in “child witches” has led to a major hysteria, with children being abandoned by their families and subjected to abuse; there have also been deaths. Channel 4 in the UK has run two documentaries on the subject (see here and here).
Ukpabio claims that these outcomes are not her fault – but as well as sending her followers to attack Leo’s conference, she has also tried to shut down a hostel for children who have been accused of witchcraft, again by force (the man who runs it is “a wizard”, she insists), and she has fired off lawsuits in all directions – although one against Leo was dismissed just recently. She has also threatened the life of state governor Godswill Akpabio, who has passed legislation against accusing children of witchcraft, by warning him to “remember what happened to Saddam Hussein”.
Moses goes on to rail against government support for “atheists” who intend to “cripple the work of God”, reaching a crescendo:
The enemy is attacking! Witches attacking! Wizards attacking! Atheists attacking!
A second video shows more of the same.
Bishop Moses consecrated Ukpabio as an “apostle” in August. Newswatch reported at the time that
The consecration service led by Bishop Nnadi E Moses, president of Apostolic Impact Global Outreach, Nigeria and bishop of Overcomers Faith Mission, Lagos, [was] held at the Palace Temple headquarters, Calabar.
A second report adds:
The two-day event, which held elaborately at the Palace Temple headquarters of the Liberty Gospel Church, was well attended by top government officials, royal fathers, Nollywood stars, celebrities, diplomats, Nigerians in the Diaspora, family members and well-wishers… In their thought-provoking good will/congratulatory message, the Cross River State chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), where Ukpabio holds sway as its Treasurer, congratulated the celebrant, saying that her consecration as a lady apostle of the most High, was an honour well-deserved.
Moses also publicly gave his backing to Ukpabio a few days ago; This Day reported:
A Lagos-based clergy, Nnadi E. Moses, has described film producer and General Overseer of Liberty Gospel Church, Calabar, Apostle Helen Ukpabio, as an exceedingly gifted woman whose ministry has brought a lot of hope to families around the country.
Moses, bishop of Overcomers Faith Mission, Lagos, who was a guest speaker at the recently concluded convention of Liberty Gospel Church, held in the premises of Government Secondary School, Ikot Ansa, Calabar, said over the years, Ukpabio had battled spiritual forces that held men and women bondage. She has helped to deliver many from demonic powers, hardship, poverty and death occasioned by the demons, witches and wizards, Moses said…The Overcomers leader called on the nation to celebrate Ukpabio’s rare apostolic gifts.
…Among ministers of God who officiated at the event were pastors Eyo Nkute, Louis Oku, Excellence Sambo, and Alobi Ofuka – superintendents of the church in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja, and Enugu, respectively.
Moses has a website here. It tells us that
Bishop Moses, Being a man called of God and under assignment has for several years played a host to the overcomers’ power encounter network (Open), a weekly programme on the Nigerian most popular television (NTA 10). This Programme has massively blessed millions of viewers across the nation.
His burden for souls has resulted in planting several satellite parishes of the overcomers church world outreach in several states of Nigeria, London and South Africa respectively.
He is the president of “Apostolic Impact Global Outreach” (AIG), a network of over one thousand pastors from diverse denominations in Nigeria.
His wife, meanwhile, has her own ministry, “Deliverance by Fire“:
In 1993, Virgy Moses was ordained a pastor at the Reach Out for Christ International Ministries in the U.S.A. It was in 2003, however, that this woman of God answered the call of God to serve as a full time minister at the Overcomer Church World Outreach… Rev. Mrs. Virgy Moses is happily married to Bishop N.E Moses, a thought provoking preacher of the word who ministers with deep biblical insight and revelation. He is the founder of Overcomers Church World Outreach and also the facilitator of Apostolic Impact Global Outreach where God is mightily using him to encourage pastors.
Bishop Moses also enjoys the support of the Faith World Outreach Church, based in Bartlett, Illinois. According to this church’s website:
We have been supporting churches in Nigeria for over 15 years! Bishop Moses is diligently working to share the gospel with everyone who will listen. They have began many churches in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, and continue to pave the way for more.
FWO is run by Pastor Ed Weiss; this site mentions that he was with Bishop Moses and a team in Warri in 2004.
As well as encouraging Christians attack conferences, Bishop Moses’ “gospel” includes a particular revelation about the spiritual causes behind air accidents. The Daily Sun reported on this in 2006:
“I used to believe before now that most air tragedies are as a result of either pilot error, aircraft technical faults, bad weather and lack of maintenance especially in Africa. However, when God spoke to me late last year (December 2005) to take a prayer conference round the nation to saturate the air space of Nigeria with ‘His Arm of Grace’, I got to know then that there is more to air and road accidents than humanly thought of,” says Bishop Nnadi Egochukwu Moses, the presiding bishop of Overcomers Church and president, Grace and Truth Ministries Aguda, Surulere, Lagos…. Satan operates in the air too!
…When God therefore spoke to me to take up the challenge to stand in the gap for Nigeria air travellers and safeguard the aviation industry, it dawned on me that this bastard called Satan is at war with Nigeria. He is not only ready to totally corrupt our political system, destroy our economy by the use of militants groups everywhere but also out to reduce the elite population to nothing. He knows that it is the elite and those in power that fly. You can see how dangerous his plans are.
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