Old- time Christian Faith Was Fantastic, Better Than Today’s — Osa- Oni
• The Body Of Christ Owes Current Government Prayers
“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. Paul became a role model; Archbishop Idahosa became a role model in my life too. I cannot find his type in this world. “
Walking with the Lord is the key and not just working for Him, but with Him. In Genesis 17, God told Abraham to walk with Him and not working for Him. When you work for Him, you have a demand. I never asked God for one car or anything, but just walking with Him and He does whatever thatpleases Him with my life.
ARCHBISHOP JOHN OSA- ONI is the Presiding Bishop of Vineyard Christian Ministries, and also the National Vice President, South West Zone of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria ( PFN). He recently shared his experience of walking with the Lord for 52 years with journalists and CHRIS IREKAMBA was there. How has it been walking with the Lord for 52 years?
If the truth must be said, it has been with serious pains, stress and beating. There was a time a certain man and members of his community did give us some strokes of cane for cominginto theircommunity to evangelise Jesus Christ. They didcane us to the point that ourbibles would fall from our hands and we would run for our dear life. They thought we were always coming to their community to chase their daughters. They were really merciless on us. However, the man and his people later realised their mistakes and begged for our forgiveness. The strokes were all part of the experience, especially as they were taken for the Lord.
Walking with the Lord has been a successful one and there is nothing else that I could have chosen to bethan what God has made me to be, not even what I studied in school. Walking with the Lord is the key and not just working for Him, but with Him. In Genesis 17, God told Abraham to walk with Him and not working for Him. When you work for Him, you have a demand. I never asked God for one car or anything, but just walking with Him and He does whatever thatpleases Him with my life. So, it has been an awesome experience walking with Him.
What were the challenges doing this and how did you overcome them?
As I said, when I started walking with the Lord on February 13, 1972. I was mercilessly beaten in Benin City, while with the Church of God Mission ( CGM). I was one of the young men feisty for evangelism. You can verify this from Rev. Joseph Eribo and Evangelist Ojo; they will tell you how fierce I was. I started preaching the gospelthe same day I was saved and I won 12 souls to the Lord and since then, it has been wining of souls. But this became unbearable for my parents, especially my father, who in 1974, sent me out of his home at after12 midnight, as a way of punishing me for evangelising Jesus Christ. My father was one of the assistant chief priests in my community then. However, instead of my father’s action to discourage me, it ratherenhanced me to work with God. I have never taken those things against my father; in fact, I have always loved them.
Some years ago, I went back to Usen in Edo State to renovate the house he built in 1965. I took care of him and my mother. I brought both of them to Lagosto enjoy themselves before my mother passed on.
Going through secondary and tertiary education was tough, but God has always raised helpers at different points in my life. In those days, Deeper Life Bible Church was not a church, when I was there as a member. You can go to a brother’s house and eat and after eating you will return hiskey where he keeps it. Then, members were close, ate together and trusted one another. The Christian faith then was fantastic. I still pray for the old- time faiththan what we are seeing today. Many people are in faith today, apparently for what they want to get and not to serve God. It was because, we were in faith to serve God then that made to voluntarily come to church to clean the floor and do other things without expecting anything. The situation is now different from what we met in 1972 as Christians or SU, as we were called in those days. A lot of things have changed.
What do you think are responsible forthe shift from the old- time disposition to religiosity?
Nothing but worldliness! In those days, we were not thinking about what to eat, but believed when we work with God and what we wouldeat willcome. When I came into ministry, I never bargained I could even have a car as a graduate, or even build a house. I thank God for the person of the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa I related with from 1986 to 1989.
He influenced me so much and still remains my father forever, although, I did not work with him in CGM as a staff.
At what point did you come to Lagos? It was when things were very difficult for me in Benin. How do you balance your ministry and family?
We must carry our children along wherever we go. Many of the pastors’ children are not involved in ministry because they see the work as stressful and their fathers are not always available. I even made them to lead the morning devotion, even family meetings and pray together. I do not boss them as their father. Even when we offend one another I would bring it to the floor and allow my children to decide and we would laugh over it. By God’s grace, I was able to raise eight children. All my five girls are as of today married. I have grandchildren that are now graduates. My sons are married too.
So, what has the ministry taught you these 52 years?
The ministry taught me not to trust anybody, especially the senior ministers, even co- ministers. Just serve God with your life and do not trust anybody. The people you are looking up to are trying to destroy you. You need to focus on Jesus. Hebrew 12: 2, says: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. Paul became a role model; Archbishop Idahosa became a role model in my life too. I cannot find his type in this world. I also pray to meet up with his standards because he never beat or slapped me. I was not working even when Vineyard Christian Ministries ( VCM) started. There was a day Archbishop went to preach in Bethel in Ajah, and he asked me to follow him. By then, God had helped me, and I was living in a seven- bedroom apartment in Ilasa, Lagos. Archbishop got to the house at about 9: 30p. m to 10: 00p. m and he said: Is this your house? And I told him I leased it for 15 years. He then said: “You leased a house for 15 years! You can’t do this, you are not a bastard; you can’t do it.” He said that I should come close, he then hit me and asked how much I leased the house and I told him and he said the money could buy me a house.
He refused to enter the house, and the next day, he told me to come and see him and he said that there was a plot behind him and he would give me the house. I told him that I was a Lagos boy. I could not build on one plot. He, thereafter, called an elder to take me to a landowner ( Omo- onile) where I was given two plots of land that is very close to his house.
Surprisingly, the two plots of land were fake; I gave the money to the contact person who was an elder in another church and the rest are history.
Later, I was taken to the family of Bashiru, who later became the king of Oworosonki, where I was given the plot where I built my house in 1994.
I invited the Archbishop Idahosa to dedicate our former headquarters in Mushin, which was about the most beautiful building in the area. When he came, as he was about to cut the tape, he told me that God said it was not the place. That God told him there was a bigger place.
Do you have a succession plan?
I have been praying. In 2020, I almost handed over to one of my Bishops who had been faithful to me since he joined the ministry in 1991. After his youth service, I posted him to Rivers State, but he came back to me to say God told him to leave the church. I had told his colleagues then that by January 2021, I wouldstep aside so that he could move the ministry to the next level.
My children can work in the ministry if they are interested, but if God says otherwise, there’s no problem. We have a constitution; the next person to me in the Vineyard is Bishop Batrice Rapu from Asaba, Delta State. The next person to him is a Bishop and there are other senior pastors within the system. For me, it is about capacity and I am trusting God to hand over to someone below 50 years, who will have the grace of longevity and can push the work to the next level. For me, if I find the right person today, I will step aside.
How did you get your new headquarters church?
This place has a lot of stories. The war I went through with civil servants was unbearable. Sometimes, I received a letter to move my structure from here within the next 48 hours. It was an uphill task. When President Bola Tinubu was governor of Lagos State, Senator Jide Omoworare and Architect Bayo Anibaba, a commissioner, took my problems to him. Governor Tinubu, now president, then in a live broadcast on thelagos State Television, and the state radio station pronounced that the land by Aswani Market belong to Archbishop Osa- Oni and Vineyard Christian Ministries ( VCM). This stopped civil servants from harassing. In two months, he gave me my Certificate of Occupancy ( C of O) and the approvals for the building and I paid all the necessary charges. The pressure President Tinubu took off my life will make me to stand for him at any day, no matter what people say about him.
Can you still stand for him today even with the challenges that Nigerians are going through?
Yes! He is not the cause of the current situation. The truth must be told. Southerners need to respect the presidency when a Southerner becomes president. What is happening to President Bola Tinubu did not start with him, it started with President Obasanjo. When Yar’adua became the President, the tempo ceased. When Jonathan became President, the war began. It is like the Southerners do not want a Southerner to be the President of this country. They made Jonathan to go through hell. They should give Tinubu a chance; he is just about nine months old on the seat. I believe God will use Tinubuto restore Nigeria. He said he came to repair Nigeria, because he saw that things had gone bad. After the Supreme Court judgment, I had expected all Nigerians towork together to rebuild the country. They should not make the nation ungovernable for him. This is our country; so, let us work together to make it a better place for all.
What is the role of the church at this critical time?
The church did not stand 100 per cent for President Tinubu. The church must come to a point where we shall all stand with him. The church played a game, but President Tinubu was magnanimous enough to put Christians in good positions. The Bible says we should pray for those in authority. I cannot speak ill of those in authority.
Sanwo- Olu is our governor, I cannot speak ill of him, but will always pray for him. The body of Christ owes the current government prayers.