Young ministers no longer willing to wait on God - Archbishop Ojo
Joseph Ojo, the founder and General Overseer Calvary Kingdom Church (CKC) International, Lagos, celebrated his 75th birthday last weekend Sunday 21 April 2024. As part of activities to celebrate the day, Ojo spoke on some of his striking moments in minist
What is the secret of your longevity? Only God knows the secrets. I’m just walking under the grace of God. at’s true. I don’t even think 75 is too old. I want to be older and older. I can’t go for 75, actually. I’m trusting God I’ll be strong and healthy enough to still do more for the kingdom. You know when you read the Bible, it says, tell your children and let them tell their children’s children. Any generation that doesn’t have a link will leak.
Only a link can connect past to present and to future. So, I’m praying that God should enable me to be a link between the past, the present, and the future. at’s what longevity does. ere are people who cannot talk about what happened in 1970 because they were not there. If they are going to talk to you about what happened in 1970, it’s a transfer of knowledge.
ey were not there. When they were going to choose somebody to replace Judas Iscariot, it’s from the day that Jesus began to teach. Look for somebody that has been there. Not the one that just came.
So, the problem we are having even in this place that we are in now, some of the people that just came, they don’t know anything about Jesus. Let’s look for those that have been with us from the preaching of John the Baptist. at’s true.
When you le the CGM, did you see the future?
Future; faith sees the future. Unbelief sees the future hopelessness. If you have faith, you have a future. at’s true. Now faith is the evidence of things not seen. at’s true. What you see today is what you have seen in the spirit realm. If you can’t see it, you can’t have it. at’s exactly what’s displayed between Elijah and Elisha. You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you can see it. Before that young man, Elijah took the mantle. He has seen it in the spirit. If not, when the mantle fell, he would have added any importance to it.
He asked for a double portion of his spirit. Nobody would have understood that the double portion was in the mantle. But, because he has seen it in the spirit, he knew when the mantle fell. He didn’t hand over the mantle. I said it before. I’ll say it again. Only foolish people think that mantles of leadership are handed over. No, it falls, and that was the last message I preached at the CGM convention. e last convention Papa had with us, November 1997. At that convention at Faith Arena in Benin, we had guests from America, from di erent places all over the world.
Our guest ministers had spoken; then he said; let the senior ministers begin to bring the word of grief in ve minutes, ten minutes soon. Osani was there. ey called me to bring my word. I said to them, turn with me to 2 Kings 2. I took hold of the mantle that fell from Elijah. I went to the river bank and shouted, where is the Lord God of Elijah? I said to them, mantles are not handed over - mantles fall. I said, let nobody here think that the mantle of leadership will be given to him.
I said, leaders, don’t give up the mantle; mantle falls. Elisha took hold of the mantle that fell, and I said, someday the mantle will fall - if you grab it, it’s not sweet. I said, look at the cherry. If you throw a stone to pluck cherry, it never ripens; it’s not sweet. Five, ten minutes, I was done. ey asked one bishop from America, I forgot his name now, to preach a er. He said, no, no, no, this microphone is too hot.
ey asked Osa-oni, he’s there. I asked him to come and pray. Osa-oni said, the microphone is too hot. e others came and took the microphone. Yes, he said it’s too hot because the atmosphere was charged. I can say I was the last pastor that preached in the convention that was outside. And what I preached was outside the dream. I hope you understand, three months later, three months later - this was in November, and Papa died in March. Like that man was there just talking about stories of people who knew what had happened.
What are your hopes and dreams for the future, and what are the new things you wish to accomplish?
To be able to surpass whatever God has used me to surpass. at’s all. When I’m talking about surpassing, it shouldn’t be measured or equated with material things. You know something? ere are, one of the things God said in that scripture, right? He told Joshua - He didn’t say there are more cathedrals to build. He said there are still lives to cover. I believe there are still countries and places that God is opening doors. is year already, I have an open door for a big crusade in Zambia in October. From there, I’m sure there’s going to be other conventions. Even before then. So, you see, there are many more lines. So, I believe at this age, there will be more lines, more opportunities for me to extend the kingdom of God. at is true.
Lastly, what advice do you have for your pastors and bishops?
My advice to them is, if they can still, at this time, wait on God and hear from God; but most young pastors today don’t have that discipline of waiting for God, and on God. So, like English people say, they jump the gun. ey go ahead of God. If you don’t go ahead of God, then de nitely you’ll be in the way of God. It’s for them to learn to wait on God; it may be rough today - it doesn’t have to be rough forever. Secondly, you must not, for anything, use man as your standard.