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Let the truth be told: The Lagos Miracle Healing Crusade with Dr. Benny Hinn opened a can of worms which must serve a note of lesson to all of us, pastors and church members alike. To so many of us, the crusade was a failure.

With all the brouhaha that attended it, I doubt if the angels record it in heaven. That perhaps must have accounted for the low-keyed miracles recorded at the crusade, the very hostile behaviour of Dr. Benny Hinn and the ominous cloud and shower hat dispersed all of us on the final day.

Let us ask ourselves,and perhaps the organisers these questions:
* Has the land been healed?
* Could the movement of the Holy Spirit at venue be compared to other Benny Hinn's crusade in other parts of the world?
* Has Benny been seen to be so angry to such an extent that he could shun organisers of crusade and never called them to officiate the way he treated Bishop Lanre Obembe and our most revered humble GO, Adeboye?
* Why would Benny depend on Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor who was an outsider in the organisation of the crusade? Simply put, Ayo Oritsejafor stole the show for those three days.

Though a lot have been written on the matter, but we at elifeonlife found it a most relevant subject because having an anointed man like Rev. Benny Hinn on our shores, a man who shifts the focus of the pentecostal world to wherever he goes, this would have done us a world of good. But bungling it in such a way that even a blind man would see that Benny was angry would not let us allow the sleeping dog to lie in peace.

How did the bungling occur? What were the mistakes done by the organisers which culminated into the unmitigated failure that we all saw?

Personalisation of the crusade.
When the story of the crusade hit homes across in Lagos, the story was that President Olusegun Obasanjo has invited Rev (Dr.) Benny Hinn to conduct a prayer session for the country during which curses, etc would be broken.

But when the flyer of the crusade hit the streets, and the picture of Bishop Lanre Obembe of El-shaddai Cathedral, Ikoyi, Lagos was conspicuously displayed on it, the question arose: Is this crusade organised by Obembe (or his church) or PFN or President Obasanjo?

Don't forget that in Nigeria, factions exist even amongst the men of God. General Overseers, pastors, etc grade themselves and they have their own ways of determining the level of individual anointing and pedigree. This informs who they associate with.

Bringing Benny Hinn to Nigeria, a 'feat' that has been performed by very few, indeed as few as two or three Nigerian pastors stunned some people. Unfortunately, the Bishop too did not carry other men of God along. Those who were left out should not be expected to participate or encourage their church members to attend. Hence the poor turn-out.

Non transparency
It was known to a few Nigerians prior to the crusade that Dr. Benny Hinn finances all of his crusade all over the world.

At some of the press conferences organised by the Central Working Committee, questions were raised by journalists on how the crusade would be financed.

Going by the hype on facilities promised by Bishop Obembe and co, one could determine how much would be sunk in. At the last press meeting held on Redemption camp, Bishop Obembe declined to answer the questions raised by one of the 20 journalists around.

At a stage, Bishop Obembe threatened a journalist from a radio station with a court case if he dares publish a story over his question on a presidential committee. Later, the Bishop said the finance was raised by some cChurches involved in the organisation of the crusade.

 

 
Personalised fliers of the crusade.

Nobody, perhaps outside the close group of organisers, knew anything about the huge cash. Not until the second day of the crusade when Benny Hinn, showed his displeasure at the scandalous turn out on the first day, and announced how much he committed into the crusade in Nigeria and India, that we all knew what happened.

The impression created in the minds of the journalists at all the press conferences was that the crusade was sponsored by Obembe, his church, his close lieutenants and even some of us journalists who were asked to contribute. Imagine!

It was more stultifying to some of us to know that Bishop Obembe even patronised some banks and other organisations for fund. Many of these organisation would also be stunned to know that Benny Hinn funds all his crusades. It is perhaps right to mention that if this katakata did not happen, nobody would have heard that Dollars changed hands.

Poor Publicity
The crusade also suffered from poor publicity. Yes, there were posters, billboards and flyers, but too few for a city like Lagos. The publicity was so poor that so many people did not even know that the organisers had prepared vehicles to convey people from some certain parts of Lagos to the camp.

At the toll gate end, long queue of buses waited endlessly for pilgrims, whereas so many people were at home smarting from the then prevailing fuel scarcity which contributed to the lull in traffic in Lagos.

On jingles on electronic media, the organisers were told by journalists at the various media chats that the electronic media selected for publicity and some of the preparations were so elitist. With his church based in Ikoyi, an elitist area of Lagos, Bishop Obembe (and Pastor Ahove of Conquerors Chapel, Alagomeji, Yaba Lagos) looked at crusades from an elitist perspective. The masses who throng Redemption camp could be reached from radio and television stations that broadcasts in Yoruba, not in plastic American slang.

The organisers, through Jackson Ekwugum (publisher of Lifeway Magazine) at the press conference intimated journalists that the organisers would circulate flyers with helicopter. If this was done, it would have created a mammoth publicity for the crusade. This kind of publicity has not been seen in Nigeria since the AG-Awolowo era in Western region. Alas, this never happened.

No Interpretation
When the crusade began on Friday, countless number of people were disappointed and returned home in anger because there was no interpretation. The organisers should have known that in Lagos and at Redemption camp where majority of worshippers are of Yoruba stock, nothing short of interpretation would have bridged the language barrier.

At the other end of the stage, majority of old women who came to see the healing man from America slept off or were busy chatting. The organisers should have learned from their host how they get the camp ground packed full at every Holy Ghost Service.

Politics
Bishop Obembe allowed the political intrigues in the PFN to submerge his goals for the healing of the land. At the last meeting at Redemption camp, the invitation of the founding father of PFN and the eulogies passed on him by Bishop Obembe, the statements made by some pastors, etc clearly suggested to so many journalists that all was not well with the organisation of the crusade.

In fact, the way Bishop Obembe, Oyitso, and the rest carried on suggested that the crusade was more of an ego thing than spiritual cleansing of the land. In such an environment, do you expect the Holy Spirit to move?