Mountain of Fire Church Negates its Pastor’s Claims For Help

“A pastor of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) who claimed that he sought financial assistance for an eye surgery  from the leadership of the church and was instead given anointing oil and water, has been accused of telling lies.

According to The Sun newspapers, MFM church has accused 61-year-old Lawrence Amuruche who pastors Alakija branch, of fabricating his claims adding that the pastor never came to seek for financial help.

Pastor Amuruche who was interviewed last week by the newspaper, called for help after the anointing oil, water and prayer points allegedly given to him by the General Overseer of MFM, Dr Daniel Kolawale Olukoya failed to stop the cataract growing in his eyes.

Here is how the Sun Newspapers reported it:

“Amuruche, who pastors the Alakija, Satellite town branch of the MFM, said the cataract had already grown on one eye and threatening to start growing on the second eye if medical help does not come fast.

He had visited the Sun head office in Lagos with a copy of the letter written to the church for help. He told his story as a way of reaching out the General Overseer and other Nigerians who may want to help and save him from going blind.

Apparently embarrassed by the report, Saturday Sun learnt that the church summoned Amuruche to its headquarters. He was asked to retract his claims in the report to earn forgiveness of the church or risk sanctions.

In the company of Amuruche, his Regional Overseer, Pastor Adelabu, Pastor Martins Ukwu in charge of Special Duties, Festac region, and another member of the church revisited the Sun head office in Lagos to tell their own side of the story.

The church which spoke through Pastor Martins Ukwu alleged that Amuruche lied against the church as he never requested for any financial assistance to undergo an eye surgery, adding that Amuruche’s claim is an embarrassment to his children based abroad, his family and the church

According to him, Amuruche did not tell the church that he needed any assistance to enable him undergo a surgery.

His words: “He lied against the church. His children who are based abroad, called to express their dissatisfaction over the publication. He did not only embarrass himself but his family, the church and some of us who are his friends in the church.

“It is embarrassing because MFM has come to the point that if it comes to the area of assisting or helping people, we are really very good at that and the testimonies are all over the world on the kind of miracles, signs and wonders that happen in MFM.

“We are a church that believes in the power of the Holy Ghost. We are a deliverance ministry and we don’t believe that there is no problem that God cannot solve but we still believe that some illness could be organic. There could still be some illness that could result to somebody still going to the hospital and going through surgical operation.”

While explaining that there are windows of help opened for Pastor Amuruche to explore before going public, the church’s spokesman said “The man in question is under full employment of the church. Common sense will tell you that anyone who is under the full employment of the church, if you want to go to the hospital, can ask for salary advance or loan from the people that you are working for.

“The organization that you are working for has a provision for loan and assisting people who make request for assistance. Amuruche did not make any request from his Regional Overseer neither did he make any request from the General Overseer. It is a very big insult to the church. He did not tell anybody in the church that he needs money to go to hospital. He lied against the church.”

He also insisted that he only knew that Amuruche had an eye problem on the pages of newspapers. “He is an assistant pastor in the church and he earns money form the church. It was from the newspaper publication that I got to know that he has an eye problem. Before the publication, he came for our regional meeting and he never mentioned to me that he has any eye problem. I do not doubt that he has not mentioned to anybody.

“He told you people that he went to our General Overseer for counseling who gave him anointing oil instead of money. He did not in anyway visit him for that purpose. If you want to go to any hospital for operation and the hospital has diagnosed that you need to go for operation, you don’t need to go for counseling or means of getting your healing. You just go straight away and apply to the church that you want to go for operation. He did not follow the normal proceeding of getting medical help from the church. There is one of our members in Festac, a security man, they just discharged him recently. It was the church that paid for his operation. There are several instances that the church has given money even to those that are not our members. He has to tell people his problem before they can find ways to solve it. If he claims that he has written an application, let him quote the date he wrote the application and where it was submitted, we are in a modern society.

“The issue is not whether he is blind or not but the fact that he never asked the church for assistance. We have very good welfare package for people. Daddy Odukoya gives scholarships and honors first class students, this is one out of many things that he has extended to members of the church,” Ukwu added.

All efforts to get Amuruche to respond to some of the allegations raised by the church failed as he was ordered to keep quiet and face the consequence of his action. He insisted that he had been forbidden to speak on the matter again.“