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Why are you in the C&S movement when your brother, Bishop David Oyedepo is of the Pentecostal colouration?
Well, for me, Christianity is the same though there are diverse ministries to which individuals are called to function. Rather than see our different ministries as contrasting, I consider it a great grace that the Lord has called us both. Bishop Oyedepo and I are children of the same home in Omu Aran, Kwara State.
Right from childhood he was a shinning example to everyone of us. I got born again in his church, Living Faith Ministries in Ungwan Rimi, Kaduna Nigeria in 1988. The Bishop would not force his will on anybody. He would ask you to define your vision according to the will of God and pursue it.
Born again in the C&S Church?
I must say that I used to be very close to Bishop Oyedepo and through that I am so used to the Pentecostal arrangement. However, being born again, a Bible principle and reality of renewal, is available to all cChurches. It is not just a Pentecostal agenda. Whoever will enjoy Christ must be born again.
Commission and vision
God wants us to create a free flow of the Word amongst the people that are spiritually blind, beginning from the C&S Church to people out there. He wants us to put truth into action by pointing at areas of ignorance and darkness; and finally He has given us the grace to understand that people can enjoy their trip to heaven while on earth.
C&S Bible Ministry sounds Pentecostal.
In answering your question, I will go back to the history of C&S to show you that the concept of the church was Bible based hence the name. From the history of Moses Orimolade that was handed over to us, darkness was prevailing in the then Anglican Church, the clergies were getting involved in occultism but God called Orimolade to separate himself and show the undiluted light of Jesus.As he began to perform, he faced so many tribulations and victimisation such that people who fellowshipped with him thought it wise to start their own group and so they began.
Also, the concept of C&S being a white garment church was artificial rather than Holy Ghost inspired. Orimolade’s habit of wearing white garment was carnally linked to his great powers to perform miracles, prophecy, and deflates the enemies. They thought that to have that power you must copy his habits, so they started wearing white garments in 1927.
The church that was Bible based in the beginning also committed ample time to prayer, hence the name Aladura Church. This shows that Orimolade was a man of faith and prayer, love and fellowship. If he controlled the powers he had, it meant that he had the Holy Spirit and all the doctrines of Jesus. If he could resist the masquerades, the evils of his Anglican members, resurrect the dead and do other miracles, he definitely had undiluted dose of blood of Jesus.
Our task now is to understand what has changed: Why has the C&S fallen into all we see today and how can we utilize the bible to |
get the people back to the right track. So many people thought the principles of C&S included lighting candles and burning of incense, among others. These are no doctrines. The church has no other doctrines outside the doctrines of Jesus. If the C&S was called a temple or synagogue, it is a different thing but we call it Church and the Church belongs to Christ. There was no church before the arrival of Christ so Orimolade had the doctrine of Jesus.
But this does not mean evil cannot enter and when evil came in, people began to manipulate things. Spiritual eyes were blinded and so they claim burning of incense, lighting candles, etc as are doctrines. No candle can lead us to heaven. It is foolish to think so. No holy water, no holy anything has such powers or duties. It is an act of gross ignorance, foolishness and deliberate falsehood for people to accept that. So to make the C&S church work again, we have to go back to the basics which is the Bible and that is why we are a Bible ministry.
Is this a revolution in the C&S Church.
It is not a revolution, but a revival. Ours is a clarion call to everyone who has missed the track to retrace their steps to what, Christians are called to do. That is why we can relate to the Pentecostal and any other church that has the spirit of God. That was the goal of Orimolade: Christianity without denomination, Christianity without limits.
When he was alive, I read that he would travel to Kabba and Okenne areas. After winning souls for Christ, he would build cChurches and hand them over to the local cChurches there, most of them Anglican. In Lagos, he built cChurches for the African Church. He was not denomination conscious; all he wanted was saving souls for Christ.
Burning of incense and candles, bathing in rivers and beaches, using fruits and scented water, etc for spiritual purposes.
I must say that these practices in the C&S have confused so many people such that C&S is often seen as fetish and that the kingdom of hell is almost better than C&S. It could be terrifying and disturbing if that is all that is left of C&S Church. However, I will go back to the history of C&S again.
When the first generation were handing over to the next generation, there was this song they sang which translate thus in English:
Ten maiden were called
Only five were successful
Five others had no oil in their lamps
Their spiritual fire was burnt out.
I am most endeared to the chorus, which goes thus
Let the elders in the church come together
Let us entreat the Lord of the universe
To reconstruct our church.
This shows that from the 1930’s, Orimolade himself understood that by the Holy Spirit, dynamism must enter into the Church. Eight years as the head and founder of the church was so short a time for him to perfect the church. He was still struggling to achieve perfection when death came. He wanted the Holy Ghost to make the most of the church but unfortunately, the generation after him had no spiritual backup to understand his desires and because of that, all they were pursuing were not rebirth but religion, position, who gets what, titles |
