A Nigerian man has released an old video of Pastor William Kumuyi after a ₦1 million challenge was issued to anyone who could prove that the Deeper Christian Life Ministry founder had discouraged his members from watching television.
The video was shared by an X user identified as @jayhemz following a challenge directed at @MathiasIgonor over Kumuyi’s alleged position on television.
The man who issued the challenge offered ₦1 million to anyone who could produce an audio or video recording showing Kumuyi telling members of Deeper Life not to watch television.
“I’ll give you or anyone ₦1m if you/they can provide a video clip or Audio clip where Pastor Kumuyi told his members not to watch TV,” he wrote.
He, however, stated that any video submitted would be subjected to verification.
“Video clip will be authenticated and checked for originality, Date of the Sermon (Preaching) will also be confirmed,” he added.
‘We Discouraged Watching Television’
In the video released by @jayhemz, Kumuyi recalled the position adopted by Deeper Life during the early years of the ministry.
The cleric said the church discouraged television viewing because of concerns over content he believed could negatively affect Christians.
“At the beginning of this ministry, many, many years ago, we emphasised, and we re-emphasised, and we preached it every time, and we made it everybody knew about it.
“We said, there are dirty things, there were dirty things on the television. And that those things pollute the heart. They make the heart impure.
“And because of that, we discouraged watching television. We wanted to prepare people for heaven,” Kumuyi said.
Kumuyi Explains Deeper Life’s Position
Kumuyi said the teaching was not based solely on the identity of Deeper Life as a church, claiming that other Christians also expressed concerns about the effect of television content at the time.
“We emphasised to the people, not just because it’s deeper life, every serious-minded believer at that time, from America to UK, even the whites, not members of deeper life, they knew that the pollutions on the television will pollute the minds of people, make them impure,” he said.
He went on to note that technology has evolved, making it possible for people to access a wider range of content through phones, tablets and other internet-enabled devices.
“But now, the age of television is almost year-rounding up. Because now, everything you can see on television, much, much more, you can see on television, you can have it on your handset, you can have it on your telephone, you can have it on your tablet, you can have it on your iPad,” he stated.
‘The Lord Keep Us Holy’
Kumuyi also warned about inappropriate content available online, particularly pornography and other material he said could affect a person’s thoughts and emotions.
“Once you are connected to the internet, and there are people, they may not be watching television, but they’re looking at pornographic pictures,” he said.
He urged Christians to guard their hearts against content that could lead to what he described as impure thoughts or actions.
“If you are having anything that secretly makes me impure, makes your thoughts impure, even can make your emotion, your feeling impure, and can make you to be committing immorality, even with images and pictures and whatever they call them, I don’t want to mention it in my message, whatever they call them, they are impure,” Kumuyi said.
“The Lord deliver us. The Lord keep us holy. The Lord keep us righteous,” he added.
The resurfaced video has since drawn attention online, particularly because Kumuyi is heard saying that Deeper Life “discouraged watching television” during the early years of the ministry.
See below;
I’ll do a giveaway of ₦500,000 from the money after payment is confirmed.
This is Pastor Kumuyi publicly admitting discouraging his members from watching TV. Direct from the horse’s mouth
Tag him guys, let’s share this money. https://t.co/mMbWMZlOVn pic.twitter.com/rv9etE3Pm2
— Johnmark Obiefuna (@jayhemz) August 30, 2026