What is your position on the state of the church in Nigeria?
Blessed be the name of God. If study the Bible, you would realise that the purpose for which Jesus laid down his life was to make a way and that is why the definition of Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Light. And if Jesus is described that way, the position of the church is to remain in the way of the Lord.
However, many pastors today are betrayers of the gospel. If you read your Bible very well, you would know that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. We pastors are the betrayers of the gospel. Some focus more on how to make monetary gain.
In what areas of the gospel do you think Nigerian pastors have come short?
The church is supposed to rescue the nation from its dilemma, but they have failed in their responsibilities. The Bible says that we are the salt of the world. With all bitterness in this country and with the present state of the church, it is disheartening, because we are not supposed to be experiencing this. I am not talking about the government. If the government fails the country, we the church of God should rescue the country. The reason is that the government is not the salt of the nation, but we are.
I know youths who have lost their parents at tender ages. Why can’t the church use the money from the congregation to rescue our youths; to give them free education? Why are we saying it is not easy to invest in free education? We must come to the people’s rescue. The nation is at crossroads and we must lead by example. If you don’t lead by example, there would be no change at all. In the Western world, the money collected from the rich people, in terms of taxes etc., is invested in the lives of the youth. Most pastors have turned themselves to photo-shop pastors when our youths are dying. The way youths are crossing the Mediterranean Sea, one would pity the situation. The door of the church is supposed to be open, but we have closed it. We are now commercialising the schools that God committed into our hands. We are the wicked persons on earth.
How do you think the church can play its role effectively when government fails?
I must say this to all our people. The solution to the problem is for us, pastors, to sacrifice ourselves. All those money kept in our custody should be brought out to rescue our people. Why is a pastor keeping money in the bank? Jesus did not keep any money in the bank. The Bible says “give Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give God what belongs to God.” The little people bring to church is even being kept in the bank by some pastors. In those days, there was just one Judas Iscariot. But today, we have 99 per cent of as Judas Iscariot.
Poverty is a serious issue in the land. How can the government turn this situation around?
The government of Nigeria needs deliverance. I am still saying it; who are the people in government? Are we not the same people in government? This is the reason I am cautioning pastors to live by example. If pastors can do that, government would not do otherwise. A lot of people turn Government House to business house. Are you telling me that those in government don’t have mosques and churches they go to? What do they feed them with? They feed them lies.
Are you saying pastors are not speaking the truth?
If you preach the truth, would the country be like this? By their fruits we shall know them. During the days of our fathers, they couldn’t read the Bible because many were not educated, but they feared God. All our parents knew what abomination was. But today, pastors would tell you that there is no abomination anywhere and you should live a free life. What are they trying to tell people? Are they not destroying them? Are they not poisoning their minds? Are they not killing them? During the days of our fathers, go and do your research. We were told that the adherents of egungun festival would be silent when passing in front of the church. Because of that, many of the adherents of the egungun lived 130 years on earth; they don’t have access to the Bible, but they honoured God and God honored them.
Today, nobody honours God, including our youths and you would see different types of Bible on their table. Many of our educationists today read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but cannot understand the Bible, because they were deceived by their leaders. Our fathers were quick at avoiding abomination. Today, they lure people to commit evil. That is why we are facing crises. The fear of God is no more in the land. The fear of God is no more in the bank, hospital, police and others. Everywhere, it is lie. In our judiciary, there is no fear of God. During the days of our fathers, they see lying as abomination.
Are you saying lying is the bedrock of the crises in Nigeria?
If President Muhammadu Buhari wants to fight corruption, he should first lead by example. He should not tell lies. You can’t fight corruption when you are supporting lies. Lying is the mother of insecurity. If Mr. President wants to really fight corruption, he should not judge based on falsehood. Lying is the problem of Nigeria. Whenever you lie, you have already established corruption. If the president wants to do a good work, he should lead by example. The vice president should lead by example. The Senate president should lead by example. We pastors too should lead by example. We are all liars.
Nigerians should see lying as an abomination. Look at the country! No one is safe. There are fake drugs. If you don’t remove lie, there would be insecurity.
But, the main problem is that pastors lie on the pulpit. No one is above the Bible. The Bible is the word of God. When you are trying to dodge the Bible because you get more followers when you talk, is that not lying? Go to any country in the western world, you don’t need any connection before they would give you your rights. Nobody would deny you your rights. But, in Nigeria, if you are not connected to evil people, they would deny you your rights. Is that not lying? Government should put everything in shape so that you don’t have to run to anybody before they would give you your rights.
Look at all our footballers. Super Eagles can bring World Cup to Nigeria, if we refrain from telling lies. But, it is lying that brought us to this stage. There is no one who doesn’t know what is right in Nigeria.
What do you think about prophesies being made by pastors?
I really want to warn against fake prophesies. We should be careful of fabricated prophesies and prophesies from the pit of hell. We should rather tell people to live according to the Bible. We should stop deceiving people. What we don’t hear from God, we should stop telling people.