Category: Sunday magazine

Archbishop Peter Okoduwa of the Dispensational Gospel Mission International, Ikota villa, Lekki, Lagos has sent a Save our Souls message to the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, over the deplorable access road to his church.

Speaking with journalists at the church, Archbishop Okoduwa lamented that the state government demolished his church formerly located in Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi in 2008 because the government wanted to work on the canal in the area. ‘After much deliberations and consultation between the two parties, I was advised by the government to give up the place in the interest of development going on in the state because I have all the necessary documents to prove that it was legally acquired. I was later allocated another land in Ikota,’ he pointed out.

The former police officer turned preacher, however, said rather than succour, the new land has been a pian in the neck. ‘We have spent over N 4.7m to make the road to the church passable. Yet we keep spending more. The last year flood affected the church badly to the extent that we had to construct two bridges to enter inside the church,’ he grieved.

He further lamented that his congregation had dwindled because they come from far-flung places to worship. ‘How can someone come from the mainland to worship, and they have to walk through waters to enter the church? If you are the one will you still come, when there are other churches around? he queried. I have been in the ministry since 1976, this is what I have been doing, I also have families.

Okoduwa, however, said he had written to the governor who responded that the contract for the road had been awarded, yet work has not commenced on the road. He therefore appealed to the governor to use his good office to facilitate work on the road.

Less than six months after the shocking death of his wife, Juliet, the General Overseer of Voice of His Word Ministry (Word Bank Church), Apostle Bolaji Akinyemi, has commissioned a foundation in her honour.

Friends and well-wishers last week gathered to witness the inauguration of The Juliet Akinyemi’s Foundation For Cerebral Palsy (JAFCEP).

The foundation will fund the Jehovah-Nathan Home For Cerebral Palsy (aka Mephiboseth Care Centre) in Lagos.

Akinyemi said the centre, which is a ten-unit home, in Abule Egba suburbs of Lagos, was initially designed to be a residential building but was converted when his wife died on June 27.

The first specialised cerebral palsy centre in Africa, the centre will cater for children with the disorder, a passion Mrs. Akinyemi, who died in her sleep, lived for.

“Our last child is affected by cerebral palsy and she was passionate about her welfare. So, when she died, we decided to start the centre in honour of her passion,” Akinyemi stated.

On how he recovered from her demise, he attributed it to the grace of God.

He said: ‘It’s still like a dream. But God helped me to realise no amount of mourning or sorrow will bring her back. The best we can do now is to carry on with her good works.”

He said the centre will be a residential and educational facility that will seek to cater for children with the disorder.

The Spiritual Leader of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church Worldwide, Pastor Samuel Ibidoye, has called church leaders to be wary of collecting ill-gotten wealth from politicians.

Ibidoye made this known at the 72nd edition of the International Conference of the C and S Movement Worldwide held at the Cherubim and Seraphim Eternal Movement, Abule-Egba, Lagos.

The programme brought together thousands of participants drawn from Nigeria, Italy, United States of America, Europe and parts of Africa, and featured Bible teaching, prophetic ministration and ordination of new ministers in the church.

According to him, the need for the church to intensify its effort in preaching the gospel of salvation, truth, righteousness and not dancing to the tune of political moneybags is imperative in the restoration of moral rectitude in our world today.

He lamented the increasing spate of corrupt practices permeating the church which to him will further throw the world into darkness, underdevelopment, war, resentment and degeneration of morals.

“Jesus Christ founded the church and it is never the property of any individual. thus, whatever money or gift that we receive must be such that glorifies God and not politicians who throw around ill-gotten money to score some political point.”

Ibidoye asserted that the Church will be setting itself up for destruction when it meddles with the world with their immoral and ungodly acts that have continued to undermine peace and stability in Nigeria.

He went further to charge the federal and state governments to intensify their efforts in the provision of social safety schemes for the teeming unemployed youths in Nigeria.

Ibidoye attributed the spate of kidnappings and terrorism in parts of the country to the disconnection between the elite and the rural poor.

“It is sad that Nigeria has enough resources to cater for the need of the common man but the resources lie only in the hands of the privileged few which poses a serious threat to the peace and development in our country”

He implored the church to leave sentiment apart but join hands together and lift the nation to God in prayers at this time for the restoration of virtues in private and the public spheres and stopping of Boko Haram menace in part of the north.

“God, through several prophecies, revealed to me that I will not die yet until I intervened in the crisis which is threatening the existence of the Christ Apostolic Church worldwide, but really I am looking forward to death desperately, firstly because of my advanced age and secondly because of the determination of some certain elements in the church who are desperate to prevent the unification as a result of their inordinate compunction to hold on to power.”

This was the submission of Pastor Obafemi, a former President of the Christ Apostolic Church and current member of the Church’s Board of Trustee (BOT). He disclosed this at the prayer meeting of the Divine Restoration Group of the Christ Apostolic Church, a group which has consistently prayed for peace to reign in the church fold and also totally committed to the total unification of all factions existing in the church hierarchy.

At the gathering, held at the General Headquarters of the church in Ebute Elefun, Lagos, where Hundreds of peace-seeking faithful members including youths, women and pastors from all factions in Osun, Oyo, Ondo and Lagos gathered, Pastor Obafemi urged the group to pray fervently for the unification of the Church.

He said the group should not be discouraged and must do whatever it takes to achieve total unification of the church; he disclosed that both Christopher Columbus and Mungo Park who discovered America and the Niger River were able to achieve their aim despite all odds because both were determined.

The former President of the Church added that most CAC pastors actually know the truth but that they have refused to let it set them free because of lack of courage and their patronising attitudes. He said God has heard the prayers of the faithful and very soon His mighty hands will separate the seeds from the chaff.

The Coordinator of the movement, Pastor Moses Adedoyin, said the sole objective of the movement is to entrench peace in the Church. He said fractionalisation of the Church would hinder both the spiritual and physical growth of the Church, “God does not dwell in confusion; we all know the Church is in a state of confusion at the present moment. Propaganda, denials and half-truth have become pervasive, we have pledged our total commitment to ensuring total peace and unification of CAC in our lifetime, the crisis in the Church can be curtailed by prayer and continuous dissemination of undiluted truth, hence our resolve to come together and pray.”

The general consensus at the end of the prayer meeting, according to the leadership of the Divine Restoration Group, is that many members of the various factions have seen the truth and are desperate for unification. “The gospel of unification is spreading across all churches at various levels; eventually the leaders will have no choice but to listen to the voice of the people and the will of God and join the effort of total unification of the church worldwide.”

The season of advent, four Sundays to Christmas is the window and prophecy to the church future. The window runs through the biblical ancient roots (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost). Advent which indicates a coming, arrival and a presence, comes from the Latin word adventus, which in turn is a translation of the Greek word, parousia (Jn.1:14). Advent is a time of reawakening and preparation for the coming of Christ. The vision received by prophet Isaiah concerning Israel in relation to the coming of Jesus is appropriate to the present state of the church in Nigeria (Is.40:1-8). The vision in Isaiah exposed the failure of the spiritual, political, and civil leaders in Israel, those responsible for Israel’s sinful lifestyle, hence the need for a deliverer. (Is.10).

Nigeria has been described as a ‘republic of churches,’ but without common understanding of ethical and public morality in relation to Advent. A good observer of church history, mission, and authentic discipleship will understand that the Nigerian church is like the seven churches in Asia (Rev. 1-3), in danger. The danger goes beyond that of Boko Haram, but the danger of ‘idols’ which held sway over human lives remains. The Nigerian church is now living in the world in which the seven churches of Asia lived (Rev.2-3). The letter to the seven churches in Asia reflects a picture of an individualistic church in Nigeria, isolated from the real living standard of ordinary vulnerable people and hence, ‘a particular danger which may have befallen one church is a potential danger for any church.’ The church to which John writes could be likened to the Nigerian Church ‘set in this huge and prosperous city… very proud of its history.’ The humble evolution of modern Christianity in Nigeria 170 years ago continues to receive commendations for the untiring and sacrificial labour of the early missionaries and other indigenous native pioneers. In the face of suffering and opposition, they outshine the present generation of corporatist ‘pastorprenure-ship’ who have hijacked the church leadership in Nigeria, creating a designer religion that suits consumers, a generation of ‘Christianese.’

Stephen Travis, a leading world theologian called these modern designers ‘not simply charlatans aiming to deceive the church, but people who at some time had received authority to teach and had now become unbalanced in their message.’ Travis explained that, these modern designers through distorting the gospel have succumbed to the spirit of the age ‘in an attempt to come to terms with the society in which they lived.’ Nigeria is going through spiritual and political tyranny. Where are the likes of Archbishop Janani Luwum who stood against Idi Amin’s tyranny in Uganda? The Archbishop who later became one of Idi Amin’s tyranny victims did not deny his calling and faith in the face of Idi Amin’s luxurious gestures, perhaps, for the promise of aeroplane, as a potential international preacher. Archbishop Luwum did not compromised by accepting without question the values, which dominated Uganda including an elitist ever-increasing standard of living. A leadership lifestyle (religious or politicals) that is removed from those of its members/the electorate is dangerous and points to mediocrity, and a loss of public morality in ‘a paradise of maggots.’ Leadership becomes dealership when it focuses more on personal gain and comfort at the expense of the people, the church/nation, and the kingdom of God. The Nigerian church is in danger because we have more dealership – ‘handmaidens of political powers’ rather than model of Jesus’ leadership as exemplified by Archbishop Luwum.

The church in Nigeria is in danger just like the church at Pergamum which tolerated compromise with its surrounding society. Does the church refuse to accept any donations and gifts without questioning the luxurious and corruptive values dominating the society today, including the yoke of doing something simply because ‘everybody does it’? Pastor Ayodele Joseph Oritsejafor, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, while describing the state of the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria recently, reflectively summarised the dangerous and painful state of the church in Nigeria. According to him, ‘We are almost an uncontrollable group of people and the way it is, is because we have had an experience which is called the Holy Spirit experience; which is good. The problem that has come out of that is that when people cough, they say it is the Holy Spirit. They talk nonsense; they say it’s the Holy Spirit.’ The danger from this challenge is that our Christianity is becoming a global password for spiritual, discipleship, and leadership mediocrity.

The greatest and unpardonable sin is the sin against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:22-30) hence, the Church in Nigeria needs serious repentance, especially in this advent season. We need to remove the dirt in our eyes. The healing of our land will not come with a richer economy, bigger cathedrals, and larger camps, but only with a repentant church. There is a war going on in Nigeria. The ‘war mongers’ are members of the theocratic class using the Holy Spirit and in close personal contact with the political class against the 99% of the vulnerable masses of Nigeria who have been condemned to a life of undeserved abjection, disillusionment, homelessness, youth unemployment, and hunger. According to the Nigerian Medical Association, about 5000 Nigerians leave the country annually for medical care in other countries due to the callousness and indifference of the ruling class. Like the church at Sardis, the church in Nigeria is becoming harmless and ineffective because, we are becoming ‘outstandingly successful at the art of camouflage.’ An example of such camouflage was described recently in one of the Guardian newspaper editorials as ‘the preponderance of private aircraft in the Nigerian flying space … a manifestation of the endemic ostentation in the land, coupled with the flourishing of easy money, which unfortunately has defied the taxman … an advertisement of the preferred travelling habits of the Nigeria’s elite.’

The Nigerian church is in danger from many directions (within and without), but the picture of Advent, expresses the awesome majesty of Jesus Christ which fits the present situation. Advent suggests a possibility of repentance and revival. Remembering what Advent is about is a powerful aid for a fresh start. One of the problems of the Nigeria church like that of Laodicea is about ‘taking on the character of the city in which it was placed.’ Jesus never did this. The theocratic and political ruling class of Jesus’ days had no comfortable or luxurious place for his birth. Jesus first came as a humble babe, hidden in a manger, surrounded by family and the shepherds who responded to the glorious news given by angels. Advent calls us to repent from ‘a comfortable acceptance of mediocrity.’ Advent is a call to Jesus’ simplicity of ministry and lifestyle, a picture of self-giving against feelings of comfort and extravagant emotion. In the spirit of Advent, Nigerian Christians/leaders find it increasingly necessary to be counter-cultural if we are to live faithfully to the Gospel. The preparation for the second coming of Jesus is an assurance that Jesus has not finished with the Nigerian church. He is with us in good as well as bad times, always with the expectation of our becoming a true Church ready for his second coming (1Jn.1: 8-9). Happy mission-shaped discipleship Advent.

Very Rev Okegbile,

lectures at Methodist Theological Institute, Sagamu, Ogun State.