An author’s template for beating opposition

FEW books address our contemporary situation with as much clarity as Rev. Dr. Jane Onaolapo’s latest book, Making Progress in Spite of Opposition.

Although this is not about Donald Trump’s stunning victory or the recession ravaging our country at the moment, the book, nevertheless, gives inspiration on how to overcome odds in the face of opposition.

Like in all her books, the author’s current work is based on the Bible. One expects no less, as Rev. Dr. Jane Onaolapo is the General Overseer of the Abundant Gospel Life Church, which is one of the fastest growing congregations in Lagos, Nigeria.

A life-time commitment to the preaching of the gospel gave her a solid background from which she drew the anecdotes and extrapolations that make this mini-book such a treasure to have.

The Bible book of Nehemiah is the main resource for this work and Nehemiah is known to have mainly, a building ministry. He rebuilt the broken walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian invaders had vandalized the city, destroyed the walls and left the Jewish homeland desolate.

Citing various Scriptures, the author shows how Nehemiah overcame severe opposition from the likes of Samballat and his cohorts, to achieve his goal. Opposition comes in different forms, at different times and from diverse sources; sometimes from where we least expect or when we least expect.

However, as Rev. Onaolapo showed from the excerpt below, taken from the first chapter of the book; opposition creates a more negative impact when it comes before the take-off of a vision:

“Before the work to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem started, the Jews experienced a lot of hindrances and opposition. Samballat who was the governor of Samaria at the time Nehemiah was in Judah, was an opposing factor. The Tobiah family that was a very influential one in the

Palestinian area during the time of Nehemiah, and maintained their influence throughout the region until 2nd century, was also an opposing force. The third individual who opposed Nehemiah’s work was Geshem; a prominent Arab leader and a very influential person in the

region.

“They also laughed them (Nehemiah and the Jews/Israelites) to scorn, mocked, despised and ridiculed them. They told them that they were mere silly people trying to undertake what they could never perform. Their enemies sought to embarrass them by mocking them. The whole aim of the opposition at that time was to prevent the work from ever starting. At that time, rebuilding the walls was not going to be an easy task at all, but Nehemiah was determined to go ahead with the building plan.”

Dr. Jane Onaolapo posits: “When God gives you an assignment, the first attempt of the devil will be to do everything possible to hinder you from venturing into it in the first place. But you must make up your mind not to be stopped. It might seem like an impossible project but don’t ever forget that with God all things are possible. He that gave you an assignment is ever present with you. That is why I Corinthians 9:7 says that no man goes to war at his own expense. You need to

resist every opposition that comes your way.”

To fully appreciate the strength of this book, we do the author greater justice by looking beyond the Biblical context in which she deals with the subject of opposition that visionaries experience and view things from a global perspective.

Like the great Florentine philosopher, Nicholo Merchiavelli, wrote in his popular classic The Prince, every new idea or movement has two sets of enemies; the beneficiaries and the victims. In other words, not all opposition comes from mischief. Sometimes, fear or sheer ignorance could provoke opposition to a progressive idea.

Procrastination is the thief of time. Realizing this, the author advised against indecision, excessive preparation or, as she puts it, “over analyzing an idea”, which could actually paralyze a vision. So, she says, “If you hit an idea, just run with it. Naturally, people would flow to it”.

According to Dr. Jane Onaolapo, “The moment you start, the speed will be shocking. Many people are waiting for you to start. Many are ready to give you their time, and some are even ready to commit their own life time into interpreting your vision”.

Sure! The sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, once said, “If you want to start anything, start anyhow”.

The author of this book Making Progress in Spite of Opposition made the point that anyone with a good vision should never wait for a perfect time, or when he is fully equipped before kick-off.  “We should never despise the days of small beginnings”, she says quoting a famous Scripture.

Moreover, she added by saying, “When the devil tells you how small your vision is, tell him, ‘I do not despise the days of small beginning for the biggest dog was once a puppy”.

In chapter 3, the author, who is the widow of late Bishop Kola Onaolapo, the founding overseer of Abundant Life Gospel Churches Worldwide, related some bitter-sweet stories of how she coped with life after her beloved husband passed on. The first thing she did to protect herself was to screen the people who milled around her and those she would relate with because these people could impact on both her vision as well as her decision-making process.

She therefore warned, “When you are working on a project or running a vision, you must be sensitive about the friends you keep. If your vision is massive, most people should cease to be your friend, because majority of men are small-minded and they cannot comprehend big

dreams. Stay away from small people because they cause big problems”.

Dr. Mrs. Jane Onaolapo had to do away with one of such people who tried to discourage her from vigorously pursuing one of the pet projects of her late husband: the speedy completion of their ultra-modern 25,000-seat cathedral at the church’s citadel called “Peace Arena” located at Pen- Cinema in Lagos, Nigeria. The woman of God was shocked to the bones when a visiting minister and a supposed family friend urged her to slow down work on the building lest people

think she was happy that her husband had died!

Painful as it was, she ignored such ridiculous counsel and, instead, increased her pace, inspired by the spirit of Nehemiah. Against discouragement of mockers and contenders, Rev. Dr. Jane Onaolapo said that a visionary should pray very hard, adding, “Our spiritual weapon in the vineyard is prayer, the word of God, holiness, righteousness, the name and blood of Jesus, among others”.

With “Making Progress In spite of Opposition”, Rev. (Dr.) Mrs. Jane Onaolapo is just consolidating her growing reputation as a life coach, apart from being the General Overseer of one of the nation’s fastest growing churches.