7 Nigerian Pastors Make The List Of 20 World Richest
Seven Nigerian pastors have made it to the list of top 20 richest pastors in the world and their estimated net worth in the latest release by Forbes.
The list, which is a collection of men of God all over the world, sees the founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Brazil, Pastor Edir Macedo as number one.
General Overseer of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo tops the lists of Nigeria pastors in the fifth position in the world ranking, while Pastor Enoch Adeboye occupies the sixth position.
The pastors and their fortunes are as follows:
1. Edir Macedo is a Brazilian pastor and preacher worth $1.1 billion. Macedo is the founder of Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. He is also the founder of Grupo Record and Record News. Macedo is the richest pastor in the world.
2. Kenneth Copeland is the founder and owner of Kenneth Copeland Ministries. His church is located on a 1,500 acre campus and the property has loads of structures. He has a net worth of $760 million.
3. Pat Robertson’s net worth is $500 million. Pat Robertson is an executive chairman, media tycoon, and a Southern Baptist minister. Robertson has amassed this wealth from setting up many corporations and organizations, and a University too.
The International Family Entertainment Inc. (ABC Family Channel), the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ, the Christian Coalition, Regent University, Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, a Boeing 757 Flying Hospital, and CBN Asia were founded by Pat Robertson.
4. George Foreman is a former professional boxer who is worth $250 million. He is a preacher at the The Church of Lord Jesus Christ in Houston. Recently, he released a book entitled God in My Corner: A Spiritual Memoir.
5. Bishop David Oyedepo is a Nigerian preacher. He is the founder of Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota; Living Faith Church Worldwide A.K.A Winners Chapel International World Headquarter. Oyedepo has two universities – Landmark and Convenant University. He is worth $150 million. He is the richest pastor in Nigeria and Africa.
6. Pastor E.A Adeboye is General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God. He is worth $130 million. He has exotic lifestyle like many other rich Nigerian pastors. His net worth is $130 million
7. Bishop Ayodele Oritsejafor is one of the richest pastors in Nigeria. He is also worth $120 million which he has investment in banking, real estate, transportation and also media.
8. Prophet Uebert Angel is the founder of the Spirit Embassy Church. He is very popular and associates with both the less privilege and widows in his country. He is rumored to be worth $60 million.
9. Chris Oyakhilome is the founder of Christ Embassy and his church boast of up to 40,000 membership. He is worth up to $50 million. Many of his church members are politicians and entrepreneurs.
10. Benny Hinn runs a program tiled Miracle Crusade and the programs are usually held in big stadiums. He is worth up to $42 million.
11. Joel Osteen is a pastor, televangelist and has also written a number of Christian books. The name of his church is Lakewood church Houston Texas. His net worth is $40 million.
12. Pastor Tshifinwa Irene is Divine Truth World Restoration Services for World peace by Jesus Christ. She is a televangelist and her church is situated in Venda.
13. Creflo Dollar is a pastor and a teacher of the Word of God. Name of his church is World Changers Church International. He is a popular pastor in the United States and he is worth up to $27 million.
14. Pastor Ray Macaulay is based in South Africa. The name of his church is Rhema Bible Church. He received his training in 1979 and he started his church afterwards with his family.
15. Billy Graham is a very popular televangelist and preaches on many radio and television stations. His net worth is $25 million.
16. Rick Warren is the founder of Saddleback Church Lake Forest California. He is worth $25 million.
17. Bishop T.D. Jakes is worth $18 million. He produces movie and he is a preacher and a writer. His house costs up to $1,700,000.
19. Prophet T.B. Joshua is among the most controversial pastors in Nigeria and he is a philanthropist. The name of his church is Synagogue Church of All Nations. He is worth up to $15 million.
20. Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo is the founder of Kingsway International Christian Center located in the United Kingdom. He is worth over $10 million.
20. Juanita Bynum is an American televangelist, author, singer and actress. She is worth $10 million. [myad]
The Presidency has commended Nigerian Christians, under the canopy of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for what it called ‘touching and thoughtful’ message it sent to recuperating President Muhammadu Buhari in London.
Of Herbal Healing, Spirituality And Public Health, By Reuben Abati
Pax Herbal since then has produced over 32 products, listed and certified by NAFDAC. These include Pax Beauty Cream, Bitter Tea (an antibiotic), Diatea (for the treatment of diabetes, cholesterol, and hypertension), blood tonic, BK caps, cough syrup, herbal soap, potensine capsules, logotine caps, kilodine, pain cream, skin ointment, and Pax herbal colour therapies. Many of these products can be found and purchased at Catholic churches across the country. Fr Anselm has been able to establish that traditional medicine is a viable business and that alternative medicine, properly modernized can indeed be a useful contribution from Africa to the world, and a major source of constructive engagement. In this book: Anselm Adodo, Integral Community Enterprise in Africa: Communitalism as an Alternative to Capitalism (London and New York: Routledge, 2017, 172 pp). the author provides an intellectual justification for his enterprise. I find this, a far more interesting subject at this moment, away from politics and the increasing stupidity of Nigerian professional politicians.
I consider Dr Adodo’s book a work of significant scholarly insight and interest. Much of the global discourse on issues of development, history, economy and culture has been governed by a tendency to inferiorise the poor and the seemingly underdeveloped, “the other” as it were, thus extending a colonial, imperialist rhetoric in new forms. Africa has in particular been a victim of this negative rhetoric, with unanalytical presumptions, which project Africa as the dark, unproductive, continent, without culture, history, civilization, medicine or any indicators of modernity or human advancement.
Whereas this old presumption had been tackled by a generation of African scholars in different fields, the snobbery continues to exist, it is back in fashion as it were, evident in a sense in the notion that Western countries are rich because their culture is superior and Africa and other countries of the world are poor because they are governed by a culture that permits indolence and waste. The effect is the dominance of the Western, neo-liberal, capitalist perspective, a kind of epistemological terror, which makes race, identity or wealth the core of geo-politics, and creates unfair advantages and a regime of inequity. The poor is left unprotected, groups are marginalized, and the bottom billion suffers not only from the imbalances in the world, but also from an identity crisis.
It seems to me that Anselm Adodo’s most compelling argument is that “the world needs a new model of development,” and that new model may not come from the centre, but from the periphery. The problem however with that periphery, is that the leaders and the people themselves seem to have bought into the inferiorisation project, into one way of seeing the world, a kind of slave mentality co-optation which violates the people’s identity and pushes them willy-nilly into an identity and self-authentication crisis. This predominance of an emerging unitarist view of reality robs the world of the advantages of inclusiveness, also of a broad range of useful knowledge. We live then, in a divided world that is in urgent need of transformation, innovation and a new paradigm of thinking. This transformation would require new modes of doing, of action, of being, of
learning and understanding.
Adodo, in seeking this new reality offers a humanistic paradigm that is rooted in his own local context but which nevertheless constructs the world as an integral entity and essence, a new system where the purpose and the overriding objective is the common good. Put differently, he recommends a development model that is cognitive, spiritual, and cultural, based on the integration of four worlds: the North, the West, the South and the East or what he calls the four PAXes – community, the spiritual, science and enterprise, or the 4Cs: call, context, co-creation, contribution or CARE defined as Community Activation, Awakening of Consciousness, Research to innovation and Embodiment via transformative education and transformative enterprise –a movement away as it were from a limited, biased Western-oriented model that ignores and negates other axes of development. Adodo’s paradigm is about balance, and harmony, the unity of man and nature and his environment, a world that is driven by value and higher ideals, rather than the venal pursuit of individual interests and capital for selfish gain.[myad]