OKOH...A Modern Day Timothy

                                                                      

(First published in a Kingdom People magazine Special Section, Vanguards of the Faith in 2010).

The just elected President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Most Reverend Daniel Okoh's antecedents remind one of Timothy, the Bishop of Ephesus, who was Apostle Paul's spiritual son and travelling companion.

Of him the great Apostle wrote: “the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also” (2 Timothy 1:5 KJV). In other words, faith ran in the family three generations deep!

Of the General Superintendent of the Christ Holy Church International, second term vice-president of Christian Association of Nigeria and current President of the continent-wide Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), it can fittingly be written: the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Agnes, and thy father, Marius...”

Indeed, his is an enviable pedigree in the Christian faith in Nigeria, beginning East of the Niger. His grandmother Prophetess Agnes Okoh answered the call of God to be an itinerant evangelist and subsequently founded the church in 1947. No mean feat for a woman who was illiterate in western education and operating in the then fiercely male-dominated ambience of Igboland of Eastern Nigeria.

Born to Onumba Emordi and Ntonefu at Ndoni in today's Rivers State in 1905, she resettled at Asaba, after the death of her parents and married a Ghanaian immigrant sailor, James Okoh, in 1924.
Six years later, she was widowed and left with only two of her several children, survivors of the high child mortality rate in their family.

Her husband's sudden death and the loss of many of her children in rapid succession took their toll upon her. Severe migraine and despondency set in. She sought healing wherever it was said to be available, traditional or western. Nothing worked until she came across a prophetess, who healed her miraculously.
Thereafter, she relocated to Enugu, then capital of Eastern Nigeria, became a textile trader and simply set about being mother and bread winner.

Then, in April 1943 as she returned from the market one day, she heard a voice repeatedly calling out ‘Matthew 10’. She looked around again and again to ‘see' the voice, until she was persuaded there was nobody.

Puzzled, she headed for a partially literate friend's place with the question: what is Matthew 8?

Her friend got a young man to read to the the Gospel According to St Matthew Chapter 10 to her from the Union Igbo translation.

Sensing a call upon her life, but needing clarification, Agnes, accompanied by her friend, went to see the prophetess through whom she had earlier been healed. The prophetess aligned with their thought, but advised her to await another confirmation from God.

 Agnes took the advice and continued her textile business until 1947 when she responded to a strong, irrepressible impulse to preach the Gospel. As a result, she sold everything she had in stock, gave the proceeds to the poor and set out with a Bible and bell in hand, to preach the Gospel.

Someday the full story of this woman of God will be told in full. It suffices to state that what is tiday kniwn as Christ Holy Church International began as a nameless 12-man prayer group led by an illiterate, but spiritually gifted, zealous woman, who sold all she had and took to the street in answer to the call upon her life. It metamorphosed to Odozi Obodo Prayer Ministry and Christ Apostolic Church, Odozi Obodo to what it has become in the hands of her son and grandson. Talk of the unfeigned faith of a twentieth century Lois.
If Grandma Agnes was a latter-day Lois, Marius Anyetei, though male, can be styled as a modern day Eunice, the first-line inheritor of his mother's faith.

He was born April 15, 1927, one of only two children who did not pre-deceased their father, James. He started his Christian walk in the Catholic Church where he was baptised and even served mass at the Catholic Church in Asaba.

Marius, a civil engineer, public works department official was initially a sceptic. Although he was witness to how his mother suffered from depression and migraines for many years and was miraculously healed by a prophetess and how he at 20, his mother began to heal and preach the Word of God from one place to another, he was still unconvinced about God’s call upon her life.

He even tried to entice her back to the textile trade with a substantial seed-capital, which she rejected. This changed his attitude to the mum, but it didn't make a ministry candidate out of him. He continued apace with his plan for further education abroad in spite of his mother's prophecy that he would later be called to do the work of God.

Again, this is not the place to discuss Marius Okoh's many exploits in ministry as administrator, moderniser, teacher and leader.

Of whom it was recorded in one of Dr Thomas Odaro's  works on the Okohs as follows: "God gave him a lot of spiritual gifts which enabled him to distinctively evangelise, counsel, pastor, teach, and perform miracles in the name of our Lord Jesus." By the time he passed on at 53 on March 2, 1980, predeceasing his mother by 15 years, he had been credited with raising the dead, increasing the church's congregation from one to about 300 and his reputation was such that he was described in his epitaph as "a foremost African evangelist."

There can be little doubt that it is the same "unfeigned faith" that is in grandson and son Daniel which led to his ascendancy to the headship of the church, by divine prophesy. As a result of this, the church has grown from 300 congregations at inception when his daddy died in 1980, to over 850 congregations comprising of over two million members at present, including five in Ghana and two in Togo.

To achieve this monumental feat, this "Timothy" has zealously and selflessly adhered strictly, by faith, to the principle upon which the church was founded and developed. These include regular open air evangelistic crusades, indoor revivals, where healing, prophetic utterances, emphasis on the Word of God have continually yielded bountiful fruits in testimonies of changed lives.

Other hallmarks of Christ Holy Church under the visionary leadership of Daniel Okoh, include empathetic communal responsibility and great emphasis on unity and stability. As part of Church responsibility to the larger society, apart from meeting the spiritual needs of her members, the church has built schools and skills training centres in many towns and villages.

At Avedo, a village in the Volta region of Ghana, the church has a six-classroom elementary school, where the students enjoy fee-free education. The Church is also involved in HIV & AIDS awareness campaign.

Indeed, Dr Okoh represents the new face of churches founded in Africa for Africans. He is one of the younger generation of leaders who while holding on to the faith of the founding fathers refuse to be held down by tradition. That explains why apart from seeking the spiritual needs he likes to style the Christ Holy Church International as reformed Aladura with a mission to worship to worship the Triune God in holiness and to teach and spread the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ across borders, race and cultures urgently, powerfully, faithfully, wisely and fearfully till Jesus Christ comes again.

KINGDOM MEN'S CALL TO NIGERIAN MEN: ARISE AND SAVE YOUR COUNTRY!

 A Lagos-based ministry to men has called on Nigerian men to not repeat the tragic costly errors of the past which cost Nigeria an estimated one million lives, mostly women and children.


In a statement to coincide with tomorrow's 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Nigerian civil war, the network reminded men that they were either the ones who did everything that caused the war or failed to do something to prevent it.

KMEN then invited all men who are in and around the Lagos area to its Men's Breakfast Roundtable themed, THE MEN NIGERIA NEEDS NOW scheduled for Saturday, July 8, 2017.
According to the statement, the lead speaker is Professor Anya O. Anya, an elder statesman, who was one of the elders who recently came together to caution Nigerian against hate speeches and the descent to anarchy. He will, among other things be sharing with the men, his God-given revelation about the season Nigeria has entered this Jubilee year. CLICK TO READ MORE 

OLUYEDE - THE MONARCH AS CHANGE AGENT

Of great significance to this magazine, KINGDOMPeople, is the fact that Oba Oluyede put spiritual matters on the front burner. He, says High Chief Abitogun, “worked assiduously with both Christians and Muslims to build befitting places of worship. His home church witnessed phenomenal reconstruction that would qualify it to be described as a mini – cathedral.”

Monarchs as preservers of tradition are typically anti- change. It is generally expected that as traditional rulers, whether they be called Oba, Obi or Emir, sustenance of the status quo is a major part of their job description.

Not so for the recently departed Alayede of Ayede-Ogbese, the gateway kingdom to the North-East of Akure, the capital of Ondo State, South-West Nigeria.  His Royal Majesty, Peter Adetunmbi Olasehinde Oluyede IV, Ise Oluwa I, who went to be with the Lord in the early hours of Tuesday July 14, 2015, was cut of a different cloth.

In place of the more of the same or at best cosmetic change that traditional rulers tend to leave behind, his was a transformative, even radical footprint which   historians of the area described as typical of the Oluyede Dynasty in the last 100 years or more.

So, when dignitaries from across the country joined the late Oba’s children and the entire people of the town to give him a befitting burial, the topic of discussion was the changes his five-year reign wrought in the land.

To quote one of the town’s chroniclers, High Chief Oladimeji Abitogun, the Odopetu of Ayede Ogbese, Oba Oluyede “led an onslaught on illicit cultivation and usage of marijuana in his community and restored the joy of arable and cash agriculture. He left the town better organised, disciplined and motivated than he met it.”

Of great significance to this magazine, KINGDOMPeople is the fact that Oba Oluyede put spiritual matters on the front burner. He, says High Chief Abitogun, “worked assiduously with both Christians and Muslims to build befitting places of worship. His home church witnessed phenomenal reconstruction that would qualify it to be described as a mini – cathedral.”

In the five years that Oluyede reigned, continued the high chief, “he was the face of honour, dignity and reckoning that Ayede Ogbese wanted and ultimately got. His time was Ayede Ogbese's finest hour.”

Godly man that he was, he would also be remembered “for reaching out in real diplomatic fashion to promote bond, trust, cooperation and peace amongst traditional rulers in the kingdoms that constitute Akure community and Ondo state in general.”

During his reign, the town became host community for Federal University of Technology, Akure's School of Health Sciences, among many giant strides he led the town to take in the education sector.

Not surprising: he was a well-educated man, who rose to the peak of his legal teaching career as a professor and dean of law.

Professor P.A.O Oluyede became the Alayede of Ayede-Ogbese on 11th November, 2010. He received the staff of office on the 26th November, 2010 and ruled until July 14th 2015 when he went to be with the Lord at the age of 86. He had six children including Rev Ajibola Oluyede, a courageous international lawyer and businessman and pastor with Christ Chapel International Churches, where he is a Church Council member; and several Grandchildren.

He was laid to rest after a Christian interdenominational funeral service at the palace grounds on Thursday August 6, 2015. This was preceded by a service of songs at St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Ayede Ogbese on Tuesday August 4 at 10:00am; candle light possession round the town at 5pm on Wednesday August 5, Christian Wake Keep at the Palace grounds by 5pm on Thursday August 6, 2015. A lavish reception followed.   His daughter, Princess Kofoworola Olagbaju was installed as regent on Saturday, August 8, 2015, pending the appointment and coronation of a successor.

SINACH'S HOMECOMING!

SINACH performing at CCIC Campmeeting 2015  Gospel Music Jamz...meets with
  the Senior Pastors/Founders of Christ Chapel International Churches, 
Rev Dr Tunde & Rev Mrs Ebun JODA (right) and their daughter, Psalmist Christine Joda 

Everybody knows that Sinach actually derives from Osinachi, her name at birth; that her maiden name which she shed on June 28, 2014 when she got married to Joseph Egbu, was Kalu; that she is the second daughter of seven children of her father.

Many know and have their worship lives positively influenced by many of her over 200 songs, which she has written and ministered in Churches and large praise events and sung at moderate social events across the world.

Also very well known is that Sinach has traversed the continents delivering life- transforming songs across the Americas, United Kingdom, Republic of South Africa, Uganda and elsewhere in the world. It is out there in the public space that her song ‘This is your Season' is the recipient of the Song of the Year award in 2008 and that her other award winning songs include: Awesome God, Simply Devoted, I am ready for Your Spirit, Shout of the King, All things are Possible, Born to win, Fire in me, More of You, No failure with God, etc.

Above all, everyone knows that Sinach is a worship leader at Christ Embassy, the Rev Chris Oyakhilome-founded and led ministry, where she has been nurtured and honed to the status in Christendom today.

A little known fact came into the open recently at the Gospel Jamz Concert of Christ Chapel International Churches (CCIC) Campmeeting 2015. At the event, which climaxed the six-day annual word of faith festival of the church, Sinach was invited to minister alongside such other gospel ministers as UK-based Christine Joda  and TJ Dairo; Tim Godfrey, the CCIC Levites etc. When it was her turn, she told the audience the little known truth that it was home-coming for her! 

She announced that she began her faith walk at the Port Harcourt, Rivers State centre of Christ Chapel. Back in the day, she said, “CCIC used to send buses to the campus of the University of Port Harcourt to carry us to church”. She recalled how she and many other students were taught the engrafted word of truth and exposed to true worship.

Celebrating the Senior Pastors and founders of the ministry, Sinach spoke glowingly about their place in her growth and thanked them profusely. Only God can reward you, she said, for the impact you had and still have on my life and those of many others, she said.

Many Chapelites who spoke to KINGDOMPeople were impressed by her humility and express the hope that she’ll come ‘home’ more often.

FACE TO FACE WITH THE "SEX PASTOR"

AHAMZIE: Beyond Sex…Purity, Power, Purpose

HE is tall, slim, sprightly and good looking. He has the voice and diction of a professional broadcaster and the dress sense of a fashion model. And he likes to talk sex. All of which makes him a complete ladies’ man. And he could very well have been one, had God not arrested him. But God did, and what the women of the world lost, Christian women, young and old, and their men have gained. Yes indeed, Rev Dr John Akachi Ahamzie likes to talk about sex. And he does it with a passion. No, not the animal passion of a playboy; but the purist passion of a man who understands God’s purpose for sex, and how satan has perverted it. He does with the passion of a man totally committed to saving his generation from the dangers of sex sins and the heartaches its poor understanding within marriages causes. So totally committed is he to this specialized ministry that, Ahamzie, who pastors Holy Fire Overflow Ministries with headquarters at Ogba, near Ikeja, capital city of Nigeria, Lagos, runs a weekly radio programme on it. The programme, “What’s All This Noise about Sex,” airs on Star FM 101.5 on Sunday mornings. In this excerpt from an interview with KINGDOMPeople magazine, he talks about how he came about talking sex; and the morality among Christians:

Kill me, God, if I continue in sexual sins

While growing up, I had some struggles with masturbation and some sexual sins. Two to three months after I became born again, the struggle still continued. So, I entered into a vow with God that if I fornicate or masturbate again, kill me. Now those days I belonged to a fellowship, a singing group of business men fellowship. In one of our meetings, our leader said he made a vow that he would not masturbate again, and if he did, he should fall sick. After about six months he broke the vow and he was struck with a strange illness. The people around him were trying to give him drugs but he refused. Instead, he went into a private place to pray to God, to forgive him for breaking the vow and promised to henceforth keep the vow. He became well immediately. This was the same day I made my own vow. So, from this man’s testimony I knew that I was in a serious business with God.

Sex on the Radio

Each time I shared this testimony with people the reaction was always the same: it is impossible for a man not to fall from time to time and God will always forgive. In the course of my encounters with different kinds of people, I started to receive revelations from God which I started writing down. That was what gave birth to my first book “Sex and Satanic Agenda”. When I finished the book, there was nobody to sponsor it. So, I hid the manuscripts some where. But there was this lady who travelled to America. While there she attended a programme. When she came back, she said “pastor when I traveled, I had a wonderful experience in a programme I attended. I want you to do something like that I will sponsor it.” Then the Holy Spirit said to me to ask her, “do you mind if I talk about sex on radio”, and she said, “just anything”. So, I went to Raypower but their rate was very high. I did not go back to her. But, she kept calling me back and forth until my wife told her “don’t mind him he is afraid of the cost”. The woman said, “never mind I’ll pay.” But God used that to save us from a situation; In the process I met a man who said I should come and pay N5,000 for fifteen minutes everyday on Star FM. I paid for three weeks and called the woman and told her I want you to listen to Star FM at so and so time and see if you like the programme. The people in the studio were laughing, saying among themselves “this man is crazy; what will he be saying about sex for three weeks?” But, it was a blast and she came and said it was interesting that I should have the money.

Sex is one topic that many people don’t want to talk about, a lot of people sneak in here to seek healing and counsel on masturbation, adultery and other sexual related issues. I have personal programmes for people to clean up and they go back to their churches. Also I discover that the devil was working in two ways. He is working in the life of the youths and singles to go into sex and drink from it freely when they shouldn’t. And in the life of the couples, who are supposed to be drinking from it 365 days a year if they have that kind of Solomon anointing, but the devil is working so hard to ensure they don’t. So even in the church you have a lot of adultery, lots of women come to me and they say “pastor, I know you are going to say the Bible say this or that, but, if my husband continue like this I’m going to get a boy friend”. I’m not talking of young Christians but the very old ones; women that have been married for seven years, ten years or even more. As more of such cases were coming up, I felt the Lord saying to me “balance the message; to the youths: ‘don’t; abstain’; and to the married, you have to find a way to help them get together.

Couple the Couples

The Lord began to give me revelations in that area and that is what gave birth to the book “Sparks of New Romance”. So, what we have done is to have a fellowship we call “Youth Contact.” I want every one to stay young. Once every month, singles and married come together. We have talk shows, we discuss issues about youths. We want them to learn from the married people. We have three objectives. One is ‘couple the couples’, refresh the romantic part of their marriage. Two, help the people who want to get married. It is a challenge in the church; a lot of people want to be married but they cannot, so we are telling them how to marry. Three, people have weaknesses, temperamental weaknesses, sexual weaknesses, financial weaknesses, so we talk about all these weaknesses and pray about them. And it has been awesome; as people come we are all blessed. (CONTINUES BELOW)

Salvation without Spiritual Life

The problem with the church right now is that people are hearing the message, but they are not being impacted with the meaning. They have the message, but it is not being put to practice in their lives. We have salvation, but we don’t have the spiritual life. In the book of Romans, chapter eight, the Bible say’s that; “Now there is no condemnation for those who is in Christ Jesus who work not after the flesh but after the spirit” which means there could be condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who are working in the flesh. So the main problem right now is that there are a lot of messages flying around but the ministers and the people will need to begin to show a spiritual lifestyle with their own lives. I really don’t want to blame them. I have looked at both sides of the controversy and I think people should find out where the have gone wrong and change. The ministers for instance, I am always asking myself who made this monsters we now call pastors, members.

Sorry, No Sacrifices for us

A pastor was here the other day, and he was almost crying. He said, “do you know that we are having it rough in the church? I am trying to force God into the people and they are there sitting down cold and unconcerned.” He said he announced in the church that anyone that is willing to make a sacrifice should join him for a special prayer and fasting for some days, to trust God for a change, but to his surprise, nobody stood up, not even any of his pastors. Well, I have a similar experience too. I made a call for people to join me to form an evangelism club. We have evangelists in the church and they are doing their best, but the impact is not been felt. So I said “let’s have some people and do some deep praying and do a kind of out of box evangelism. Let us task ourselves, let us make sacrifices like the early church.” In the whole of the congregation, only five people stood up.

Pastors pressured to give the People what they want

For the pastors, I think when they have got to a point that the people are not responding, they will feel what the people want. The people just want you to bless them; they don’t want you to stress them. They already feel stressed enough with the society troubles. They don’t want you to give them heavy stuff from the Bible that will place a demand on them. You are the man of God, you are the one who hears God, they don’t want to hear God. They want you to hear God for them, see God for them, feel God for them; they just come and go with the blessings. So when you discover that is what they want to do and the bills have to be paid, your life has to be run as a pastor, and they are the ones who bring in the money, you have to play it their own way in order to keep them. That is what has turned pastors into what we are now complaining about.

Filled Churches on Sunday; No Christian in sight on Monday

For the members may be the pastors need to take some raps in the area of not showcasing their spiritual lives. All that some concentrate on is financial prosperity, which is just an aspect of the Bible. What about spiritual prosperity, character prosperity, inner prosperity, the prosperity. If you preach financial prosperity on, they will bring the money, but they will be shallow. And so, we will have our cathedrals filled every Sunday morning, but on Monday morning there are no Christians anywhere. Anyway you want to look at it, maybe; finally, ultimately we need to blame ourselves. I will not say those pastors, I need to blame myself, maybe we are not praying enough, not loving enough, may be we don’t even have enough spiritual life. Most of us talk about impartation; you can only impart what you have. Perhaps we have imbibed too much of the secular styles and practices that we are now teaching people gateway of success, dynamic ways of business increase and we are leaving out foundations.

SOMETIMES GOD WORKS THROUGH MY JOKES… Says Lepacious Bose, the Big, Bold, Busy and Beautiful Comedienne

Lepacious adj. from lepa, noun; Nigerianese for slim, shapely beauty esp. of a female; lepaciously adv.

SHE has “B” written all over her. She’s Bose and she’s big and bold, busy as a bee and beautiful. But you’ve got to agree that she’s got be an “A” to have harnessed all the “Bs” around her to the superlative success that she has become. Everybody who has even just a passing interest in entertainment knows Lepacious Bose. Everybody knows her as the Class A comedienne who has made fame and relative fortune from blithely bantering about her physical bulk on stage, television or wherever else she has the opportunity. Everybody knows the highly creative plus-sized lady who has made it big by being unfazed by body-image, and has successfully, consistently kept her teeming fans across socio-economic classes laughing out loud with amusement and sometimes amazement. Everyone who has eyes can see that Bose is big, some might say, very big, and therefore does not fit into the “dictionary” meaning of the word the adjective, “lepacious” above. But then that’s the stage name she chose and it speaks volumes about her attitude to things physical as distinct from the spiritual. “It’s a blessing being big; I’m blessed with a good figure’”, she once told an interviewer. Everybody agrees that Bose is bold. You’ve got to be to go into a male-dominated field like comedy, although she’s the first to say how very supportive some of her male colleagues have been.

Everyone agrees that she’s got some smarts or she wouldn’t have successfully studied first Theatre Arts and then follow it up with Law at the University of Ibadan as a result of which she was called to the Bar in 2001. It is a well-known fact that she was introduced to comedy at the university. She recalled her first experience in a recent media report this way: “There was this campus show called Laughamania…they needed an anchor, and I was called to do it. Prior to that, my brother was their compere. I told them I couldn't. They said my brother used to do it and since he is of the same blood with me, madness runs in our family! I thought I wouldn't be able to do it because there was no script, they urged me on. Funny enough, I got on stage and it turned out well. I didn't know where all that came from. The audience were wowed and they enjoyed themselves. After the event, I felt high!” Any body who knows anything about anything would doubt that it must be tough combining the practice of law, no matter how basic, with stand-up comedy. And that’s what she does making her, as most people agree, a very, very busy person indeed. Of her experience in this respect, Bose has famously revealed: “I still work with my certificate in a government parastatal because I'm in the legal department. I do get to go to court and when I have to go…even if all I have to do is sit down and say nothing, I'm always miserable in court. But that's part of me…I'm not making any money from the legal profession. I'm just fulfilling all righteousness. I feel like they sent me to school and I shouldn't just waste the money…”

What people don’t seem to agree about is her beauty! Big – yes. Bold – certainly. Busy – no arguments. But, beautiful? Many disagree. But what they miss is the beauty that flows from knowing the Lord Jesus and having a relationship with Him. And this is perhaps one of Bose’s least guarded, yet not widely known secrets. She told KINGDOMPeople about this little known but very important part of her life; that part from which her beauty flows: “I am born again and spirit filled. I gave my life to Christ on June 14 1988 in front of my TV set at home as I listened to Jimmy Swaggert choir sing "there is room at the cross for you”. Like anyone my Christian life has not always been perfect, I have fallen a couple times but to God’s glory I’m still standing and still in faith. God has been faithful even in MY faithfulness. All through my life as a Christian I had taken active roles in church. I was drama director in my campus fellowship and then became the choir director of CLASFON, which was the largest fellowship at the Nigerian Law School Abuja when I was there. “After my call to bar, I arrived in Lagos at a loss as to where and how to worship and serve God because spiritually Lagos and Ibadan where two different places. Ibadan environment had a deep spirituality to it and it was so easy to grow, but Lagos was just so.....everyone wanted to show off, preach and become a pastor; and worship was relegated to the background. Eventually I saw CCIC (Christ Chapel International Churches) and the depth of the worship gave the flavour I needed and I joined the church and choir (the Levites). “I do not sing at CCIC anymore as I now attend KICC (Kingsway International Christian Centre). I felt it was time to move on in my spiritual walk and to know new things and KICC offered that and I bless God for the life of the Pastor Femi Faseru because the depth of the word is amazing. I however do not sing in the choir because of my erratic schedule. However singing and worship is my passion and it finds expression at Covenant Singles and Married Ministry, a marriage ministry pastored by Pastor Chris Ojigbani. It’s an interdenominational ministry and it’s such a wonderful experience when people from different churches, backgrounds etc come together to worship God and no holds barred! So every second Saturday I am at the Muson Centre (in the Onikan area of Lagos Island) leading worship; and I love it. I have been privileged to travel with the ministry as a worship leader to Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Abuja, and even to Ghana.

“My spiritual status has been like a two-edged sword. I perform in some places and I literally get people walk up to me with testimonies of what God did while they were laughing. At times like that I feel blessed and fulfilled. Then again I come up with some very funny jokes but I can't do them because of my status and even when I DARE it someone somewhere walks up to me and say but you are a Christian ke? And I realize that is God’s way of chastising me. And gradually I realise I am God’s ambassador and the things I do are a reflection of the kingdom. So, I learn daily. “I believe that we are the Bible the world reads, people are not ready to receive salvation message, but the way we lead our lives will determine if people come to Christ or not.” Bosede Olufunke Oseyemi Ogunkoye has been in professional comedy since December 2006. She recalls that following one very inconsequential church event she performed in, “something just led on to something” and she found herself on “Night of a Thousand Laughs 2006”. Basket Mouth's Laff & Jamz followed quickly and by 2007, she was already popular. Get the gist? In the beginning was church – and therefore Christ, the source and secret of her beauty.

WHERE WAS GOD WHEN THIS MAN…? (2)

"Three issues obviously agitated their minds as they began what turned out to be a 12-week stay in the hospital. Would she survive? If she did, would she be able to walk again? And was she going to be well early enough not to miss her examinations and if she did take them would she be able to do well? But by the grace God, she not only survived, her legs were fully restored and has been able to walk normally again. The recovery of her ability to walk was however gradual. When she left the hospital, she did in a wheel chair for some months, graduated to crutches, and then started to manage on her own until she became fully restored. On the academic front, she eventually took her papers and graduated with an excellent result and at the time of this interview was studying for her master’s degree in a South African university."

In the midst of all of that, a transformation was going on in the heart of this young man. In penitence, he began to ask God the way forward for him. And the Lord spoke. As he remembers it, the Lord told him: “now are you done with running away from me; see what running away has gotten you into”. This got him thinking and questions began to pop up in his mind. Questions that he would have loved God to answer. But one day as he rode in the same car with his brother-in-law, God answered all the nagging questions through this man. He gave him scriptural and satisfying answers to all that was in his mind. Right there in the car he made up his mind to go back to God. The following Sunday he went to church and gave his life to God afresh. He became really born again. That was in 1985 and it marked new beginning in his life. After about two years without a job, respite came. He was employed as a trainee engineer in an engineering firm. He was promoted twice during his second year. All this while, the fire of God was burning in him. He virtually turned his home to a Bible school and after one year of intensive personal studies, he then decided to start a fellowship in his company and within a limited time the fellowship grew so big, with other people outside the company were coming to join. People suggested that the fellowship be turn to a church, but pastor Oshokoya said the Lord did not ask him to do that. The fellowship was to later produce members who are all over the world today, including the US, Europe, Canada etc; some of them running their own churches. Oshokoya’s life was now on a roll. He got jobs at will, with stints in a number of organisation, the last of which was founded by an expatriate. About one and a half years on the job, the so-called “June 12 crises” (occasioned by civil uprising against the annulment of the election of Chief MKO Abiola as President on that date in 1993) started, and people were forced to stay at home. When work resumed generally, Oshokoya and his colleagues were asked to remain at home without loss of income. After three months of getting paid without work, he had had enough. He decided to move on. In the process of trying to get something else to do, he met Mr (now Oba) Oladele Olashore, a former Managing Director of First Bank Nigeria PLC. Their path had crossed while with one the firms he had earlier worked. Then he would lead the company’s team to Olashore’s house to carry out some electrical repairs. This was a big house with a lot of valuables, sometimes with money lying around. He would ensure that nothing was missing. Olashore noticed and thus developed trust and likeness for him. It was such that he would specifically request of his boss that he be the team leader whenever there was any work to be done in his house. This earned him the nickname, Olashore’s son.

Upon telling Olashore that he had just quit his latest job with the white man, the man snap at him: “you this young man, can’t you start something on your own?” He then challenged him that if could muster the courage to start something of his own, he would give him business and contacts. He took Olashore up on his offer and Oshea Projects Ltd was born in 1993. True to his word, for the first 10 years, all the major accounts of the new company came from Olashore and Lead Bank of which he was Chairman. There was now no stopping this enterprising engineer, company chief executive and child of God, or so it seemed. Business was good and he was diligently serving the Lord, as best as he could. In this latter connection, he went on a missionary journey to Gambia, a nation 97% Muslim in 1999. By all accounts, it was a successful mission. There were deliverances, he gave out many Bibles and ministration tapes and compact discs, as well as, and helped other Christians financially. The journey opened his eyes to ministry opportunities in that nation and he couldn’t wait to return there. But, it was as if all the demons in Gambia got on the aircraft with him to Lagos. His business began to crumble almost immediately on arrival. One after the other, contracts were cancelled for diverse reasons. A Christian programme he had started on television became an excuse for some of the cancellations. His teachings were so radical that it made many uncomfortable. Among other things, he taught on the second coming of Christ and some controversial doctrinal issues. His teaching from the Book of Revelation and his understanding of the biblical position on the Catholic Church cost him friendship and business from among Catholics. He recalled the particular case of one of his big business associates, who called him to ask if he was the one he had seen on television. When he confirmed it, the man retorted: “I didn’t know you are such a fanatic; how come I have been doing business with you.” He promptly cut off all business links.

From that moment in 1999, right up to 2002, he went through hell. His business collapsed totally. It was a throw back to the dark gloomy days he experienced just after he got married. Things were so terribly bad that he had to let some staffs go, and hunger set in his family. His children where withdrawn from the relatively expensive although fees were far lower, he still could not pay. In the midst of all of that, however, the TV programme still managed to remain on air, and through it, he was getting invitation to minister at some church programmes. At a point beyond this, all he did was go to the office and sit down. With no clients, no phone calls and no money to move around for contacts, there was little else he could do. As it turned out, it was all he needed to connect to his restoration. Sometimes in 2002, he accepted an invitation from a church in Benin, Edo state of Nigeria to minister to their youths for three days. It took the help of his Senior Pastor who bought his ticket and a brother who gave him some money, to make the trip possible, as he had no money. On the day he was to travel, he arrived at the airport at 1pm for a 2pm flight, only to be told that he was late that the flight had left. He protested vehemently because the time stated on his ticket was 2pm. The Managing Director of the airline intervened and he was subsequently checked into the plane as the sole passenger that the plane flew to Benin. On the flight, the airline boss came out from the cockpit, formally apologised to him and gave him his card. On alighting from the aircraft in Benin, the man shook hands with him and apologised again. Pastor Oshokoya said, by this time, he knew in his spirit that something was in the offing. Three days of ministration over, he headed for the airport as scheduled, on Sunday. But, in what he later found out to be in answer to the prayer of his hosts, who wanted him to stay one more day, he missed his flight. So, he couldn’t return to Lagos until Monday morning. He headed straight for his office, only to find a letter lying on his table. It was an invitation to come and defend a tender he submitted for a job more than a year earlier. As it was scheduled for that same day, he hurried to the venue and met a crowd of other contractors. Some had been interviewed while others were awaiting their turn. He surveyed the room and with the calibre of people there, he felt he had no chance. But as he sat there, he heard himself telling God: “I have done your job for the past three days; it is now time for you to do my own”. He felt a supernatural surge of confidence. And with that confidence, he found himself clearing his throat and spoke loudly to everybody else in the room: “gentlemen you all better not bother yourselves; the contract is mine.” Of course, everybody laughed wondering what kind of joke that was. When he was finally invited in to defend his tender, he told the panel the same thing in words to this effect. “I have only come to collect the letter of award for the contract, not to defend anything as there was nobody else who can do the job but me.” The company chairman, an Indian looked at him, laughed and said “what kind of joker are you.” But, when eventually they invited the project’s main contractor to make his choice for the job, he chose him. That was how his company its first contract in three years, a very profitable contract that set his company on the road to recovery. God never calls upon his children to serve him in vain.

On the road to recovery, God revealed a potent truth to him: he was a spiritual orphan, with no father figure, no mentor, no guide. Every man needs a spiritual cover. That was what Apostle Paul emphasised when he said, “For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers” (1Corinthians 4:15). This, unknown to many Christians, is an important part of life. Not that the Holy Spirit was inadequate to guide us, but because we have blindsides, areas in our lives where we are so set in our positions that we find it hard to hear the voice of God. It was worse for Pastor Oshokoya because, he had lost his biological father in 1994. But God didn’t stop at revealing this state of affairs to him; He brought the men he required into his life. Among them was the Senior Pastor of Christian Brethren Church, Dr Oladimeji Oladele, an erstwhile top official of Nigeria’s national oil firm. He has not only been receiving his regular spiritual nurturing from this wonderful man of God, he it was who subsequently led him to the ministry of Dr Christopher Kolade, a top public and private sector player who, at that time was teaching seminars on biblical principles of wealth creation. That seminar series, which has transformed into an international ministry, Managing Business For Christ (MBFC), brought him under the wings of this mentor of mentors, it also brought him in contact with other brethren who have helped in shaping his business practices as a Christian. Through that ministry, he not only became acquainted with, he got under his wings. They include Dr David Abraham (popularly called father Abraham), Peter Abba and Biodun Akanbi-Oluwa. He had also become a Dominion partner with Later Rain Assembly, founded and run by Tunde Bakare in 1998. This gave him the opportunity of being close to the pastor, whom he cherishes as a father figure and has added a lot of value to his life and those of his children. Pastor Tokunbo Oshokoya’s family life and business has since moved out of the roller coaster of his early days. But that has not stopped the enemy from aiming shots at him. For instance, as recently as September 2007, his eldest daughter was run over by a car and her two legs completely broken two weeks before her final exams in University of Lagos. The daughter and her friend were walking in the median on one of the campus roads, when a car driven by cult member from one of the polytechnics in Ogun state lost control because he was using a mobile phone and driving recklessly. He ran over the girl, the car somersaulted and rested on her, the guy came out of the car and ran away. The girl was taken to the National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi on Lagos mainland, beginning another traumatic experience for the Oshokoya family. Three issues obviously agitated their minds as they began what turned out to be a 12-week stay in the hospital. Would she survive? If she did, would she be able to walk again? And was she going to be well early enough not to miss her examinations and if she did take them would she be able to do well? But by the grace God, she not only survived, her legs were fully restored and has been able to walk normally again. The recovery of her ability to walk was however gradual. When she left the hospital, she did in a wheel chair for some months, graduated to crutches, and then started to manage on her own until she became fully restored. On the academic front, she eventually took her papers and graduated with an excellent result and at the time of this interview was studying for her master’s degree in a South African university. Pastor Tokunbo Oshokoya’s experiences over time have elicited a variety of reactions from acquaintances, friends and associates. He suffered massive desertion. Those who stood by them had many kinds of counsel. Some said God, probably wanted him to go into full time ministry; some said his predicament was as a result of a particular sin in his life; while some concluded that it was satanic attack. This man of God, however was not distracted and still is not distracted by all that. His belief is that challenges are a part of life and that during crises, the glory and power of God manifest for those who trust in the Lord. He emphasised that he had continuously come out of his storms triumphantly and so, sees his life as a wonderful and glorious testimony from which lessons can be learnt and faith strengthened. For this reason, he said he and his household will continue to be committed to the service of God and mankind. Wondering how his family had coped in all of these? This man of God told KINGDOMPeople: I am blessed with a very good and strong wife. In the midst of the different challenges, she never lost her composure. She remained loving, not just to me and our children, but also to others. People would confidently come to the family for one need or the other, and she always found a way out.