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Rev. Isaac Omolehin, founder of the Word Assembly Ministries, Offa Garage, Ilorin, Kwara State, is a revered Bible teacher, conference speaker, mentor, philanthropist and outspoken minister of God. EJIKEME OMENAZU caught up with him during a recent National Convention of Total Gospel Bible Church, Fola-Agoro, Lagos, during which he spoke on issues concerning the church and ministries. Excerpt:
Are you satisfied with the level of Christianity today?
No, I am not, and I cannot be because I did not only witness what you can call the First House in the 70s. I was part of the building that built the first house in this country. There is no big name in the ministry you call in this country that happened behind me. No, there is no big name you can call in this country that is doing church and Christianity that I know nothing about.Whatever is happening that they are doing now, they call it Christianity, this is not how it was in the 70s, and this was not how it was in the 80s.
What is the missing link?
The missing link is a serious deviation by the fathers from the foundation handed over to them. We were all in scripture union when we started. We all started with discipleship, not with signs and wonders. Christianity cannot be developed and built on signs and wonders. It begins with discipleship, Scripture Union was the baseline in this country when the Christian union was teaching and doing discipleship.
What is missed is discipleship?
When a Christian does not know the difference between sin and righteousness, there is the complete absence of discipleship and playing down on discipleship.
Where will you find discipleship?
Is it where you are having the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth services without Sunday School, and no Bible Study? Christians don’t grow on crusade grounds and Christianity cannot develop on a first come, first serve.
What is your opinion on the trend of false prophets in Nigeria Christianity?
It is a sign of the End-Time and there is nothing much anyone can do about it. The more you try to correct it, the more it blows further. The more you try to repair the damage, the more damage is done. It is a frustrating effort on the side of repairers, trying to repair the damage. Those damages are more than those repaired. The damage keeps amplifying and has now become hard-headed. You don’t know where to stop it.The doctrines are false, the prophets are false, and the teachers are false. From this point of view, if you want to contend with the false teachers, the false prophets are on the prowl, and if you want to go after the false prophets, the false teachers are on the prowl. It has become intractable and many of us have let it be and take it as a sign of the end-time that Jesus spoke about.
Do you support the establishment of a Censors Board for pastors and ministries?
The Censor’s Board is a good idea; they can uphold product quality in different industries. Every industry has a quality control unit that enforces the standards. It is there in all the pharmaceutical products, consumer goods, and other products. If they are not there, then the contents can be contaminated. But, you also know that NAFDAC is contending with all the fake drugs, adulterated medicines, and contaminated products that are all over the place. It is not the same in religious organisations to establish quality control units. Other religions are fairly better because they are more united, there are fewer sects, so they are easier to manage. Christianity has sects and denominations that are beyond numbering. Other religions also have their different doctrines, sects, and brands. But, Christianity is worse. Nigerian Christians refused to grow a quality control unit to define the tenets of practice and to control those who are devious. Even CAN is made up of five blocs that are not the same. Roman Catholicism contrasts the white garments, the Evangelical, and the Pentecostals. They are different from the Orthodox churches, the Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian, all these form a block. Then, you get to the white garments, and find St. Moses Orimolade, St. John the Baptist, St. John the Saint. In the same white garment, there are many sects. CAC has many sects, it has broken into uncountable mountains where everyone is developing their mountains of prayer, yet, they are not the same. The divisions in the body of Christ have made it difficult to develop a policy of control. This is how it will be until Jesus comes. We have had to bear it.
What should be the solution to these disunity activities?
There has to be a father figure. The matters are becoming worse when there are no fathers anymore. The solution is in a father, who has to be the one who gives back to us all. But we don’t have that anymore. The people we look up to, to further Christianity in Nigeria, have themselves become denominational lords, promoting divisions and are only interested in the excellence of their denomination over others. When a father is telling some of the children that they will be slaves to another child, that father will preach equity and will want equilibrium, and unity. Also, a father will want to bring everyone together. So, the absence of a father in Nigerian Christianity gave birth to these divisions. And no matter who you are, everybody cannot be in RCCG, Deeper Life, Mountain of Fire, or any church or denomination. We have to accept that God has produced many children in different denominations. But, we need a father who will be in the centre and cannot be an extremist.Right now in this country, there is no such person. The absence of fathers is what is giving birth to this recklessness. There must be somebody who can call things to order, sanitise, and unify. But we don’t have that now in this country.
What is the place of discipleship and mentorship in Christian ministry?
Discipleship and mentorship are the same. Discipleship tells you, you are a student and you are a student because there is a teacher. But, where there are no teachers and students, there is no school. And whoever you are today, a certain school made you one. If you are a doctor, you went to medical school, if you are a lawyer, you went to law school. Some schooling makes you who you are. But, the church also has its school; we have Sunday School, where you can become a disciple. But, Sunday Schools are abandoned. When they do not do schooling, then you don’t have professionals. The church also has no school, the schools have been wiped out by miracles and anointing services. Our Bible studies are taken over by breakthrough service, and the school is almost not there.When a service is only one hour, and inside that one hour, you do the announcement, choir special number, sing praises, preaching, and of course, the blessing time for tithe and offering, within an hour or so. In the end, you are not going to have strong Christians, but weak and kwashiorkor Christians, who are not well nourished, not well fed, half baked, ill-equipped, and unprepared Christians are what you are going to have. Unfortunately, in the past 40 years of Christianity in Nigeria, those fellows produced under those atmospheres, are now the Jews who are also ordaining pastors under them. It is a very sorry case that Christianity in Nigeria has lost its foundation, and that is why we are where we are today.
What is your advice to Nigerians at this period?
I am sorry, I don’t have one. Let each person manage himself. Behave yourself as if there is no government to give you light, go and find a way to put light in your house, there is solar. Go and find out how you get water into your home, sink a borehole, and don’t expect water, there will be no waterworks. Manage your own life, go and grow your food. Find a space near your house to plant what your family can eat. There will be no government to supply anything. If the government is in charge of the air today, people will suffocate. Because it won’t go around, some people will bottle it somewhere and it will not get to your house because you are not a ruling party member. If the government were in charge of sunlight today, many people would live in perpetual darkness. They would not allow the light to shine in their compound because they are not card-carrying party members. Our politics is cruel, our politicians are wicked. Even though our style of religion is spiteful, they have no human welfare concept. It is selfish and does not carry humanity. During the last Ramadan, some Muslims came to my house and said, sir, we don’t have water to do ablution. And I asked: Why don’t you go and tell your people in the government to provide you with water? They said, we have told them, but they did not answer. And I went there to sink a borehole for them. I did not care whether they were Muslim or not. What concerns me was, they are human beings. Jesus said if people ask you for water, even if they are your enemy, you have to give them. If they ask you for food, you give them. I was in Doha, one of the most important Arab countries, I see how they do Islam there, but our own here, I don’t understand it. You are putting a knife on someone’s neck and saying Allahu-Akbar before you slaughter him.
