The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, has warned pastors of his church against growing beards.

According to him, an elderly person who cannot be a model to the youths in terms of dressing is not worthy to be described as an elder.

“I don’t want to see any of my pastors looking like fellows from the training camps of Al-Qaeda,” he said during a recent programme in his church.

“They often look up to their fathers for direction but if a father himself does not know what he is doing then there something wrong.

“The youths don’t respect an elder that looks like them. You are supposed to be their guiding light after they have fooled around,” Adeboye stated.

He also warned that anybody who brings tribalism into the church should either leave the church immediately or will soon die like Annanais and Sapphira.

The soft-spoken preacher said no pastor had the church’s blessing to impose Yoruba songs as part of the church service in other parts of the country, emphasising the need for pastors in other parts of the country to encourage the locals to sing and rejoice in their local dialects.

Worried about various reports of arranged marriages among brethren some of which had been linked to various disruptions in several relationships, Pastor Adeboye also decreed that no RCCG pastor should be seen to be involved in arranging marriages among brethren in the church.

“Don’t marry a girl who is lazy! Don’t marry a girl who cannot cook, she needs to know how to do chores and cook because you cannot afford to be eating out all the time.

“Don’t marry a girl who is worldly! If you do, you have carried what you’ll worship for the rest of your life”, he advised.