While I wouldn’t want to berate any Pastor or anybody for exercising his or her authority within his jurisdiction, I would still love to chime in my humble opinion about this particular viral incident that happened at the DUNAMIS international.
Amongst the popular men of God based in Abuja, Pastor Eneneche has always come across to me as a cool, calm and collected one. Even when he preaches, he delivers with utmost composure and comportment that even if an uneducated person listens to the sermon they would grasp the message without asking anyone for interpretations.
However, the viral video of the lady who was practically shouted down and embarrassed before the millions of people by him yesterday simply because he felt her testimony never happened, really presented another side of him to the outside world, particularly to those who are non-dunamis members.
Don’t get me wrong, it is never wrong for him to correct her as ‘spiritual father does to his daughter’ – like they call it. But never in such a manner. Even if it was obvious that she was lying, he shouldn’t have used such a harsh approach and tone to address her before the church. Why do I say this?
Firstly, that lady was saying the truth but was absolutely nervous and it was glaring. As a Christian myself, there is a level of excitement that comes with some special testimonies that you wouldn’t want to bottle them up. And the moment you step on the church podium with the microphone to share them, everything you had planned to say just vanishes. At that point, you would just have to say a few key words and leave the stage.
In her case, being a committed member, she really wanted to appreciate God against all odds of ‘stage fright’ to seal the life changing deliverance and testimony, but instead all she got from her spiritual father was an open international embarrassment! That was tantamount to bullying!
Secondly, one would have expected Pastor Eneneche to understand her plight at that point in time, having watched and listened to tons of DUNAMIS members climb same podium to testify over the years! But alas! He couldn’t see through her nervousness but would rather snap at her, judge her spoken English and condemn her degree.
Speaking of her English blunders, everyone is guilty of that in English language. Even some of us can’t speak our indigenous languages without committing some blunders. So why all the fuss?
I can bet with anything that, that lady left the church with a broken heart yesterday. I can also tell you for a fact that, that incident would mark the beginning of another PTSD in her life, particularly as regards public speaking.
Everything she said on that altar was nothing but true however, her nerve took better part of everything hence all the blunder of referring to LLB as BSc. And even if the pastor would correct her blunders at all, he should have ordered the ushers to take her in for proper documentation of her testimony instead of instantaneous condemnation.
It is important, as a leader of any organization, to understand the role of emotional intelligence in relating with people. It helps us to manage how we react to situations that warrant our immediate reactions – Reflex. And I also believe most men of God ought to have what is called discerning spirit to discern who is in the church to fabricate lies against the holy Spirit. But in this case, all of these were missing.
It is also important to note that this viral incident could make the members begin to think twice before coming out to share testimony before the church, if nothing is done to right the wrong by apologizing to this lady.
As written by ©Dotun Roy