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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2014
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ANY years after you started this ministry, you still come across as a misunderstood cleric. So, could you clear the air on the misconception about your ministry? God anointed me to be the representative of Jesus Christ unto this generation primarily for the restoration of all the things that have gone awry in the Christendom. Before Christ’s second coming, God has ordained that there must be a restorer who will be instrumental to the fulfillment of most of the prophecies that have hitherto remained unfulfilled. What wrongs are you talking about? Jesus Christ is the son of the living God and Saviour of the world. He was sent to the world to teach clear doctrinal truths and bring back man to his Father in His heavenly kingdom. But unfortunately, what we find in the world today is unbelief in Jesus Christ and all his doctrines. In order words, most of these doctrines have either been falsified or abrogated. Also, some clear ideals of Jesus Christ have been given theological interpretations, thereby getting the whole thing mixed up. More so, with regard to the laws and commandments of God, the generality of believers in Christ have become lawless. Could you expatiate? Today, people don’t talk of faith, but fears. You find people saying things like ‘Believe in Jesus Christ and you are saved.’ But this is contrary to the truth that Jesus Christ came to enunciate. Again, the Bible says that Jesus Christ came to take away the sins of the world by the shedding of his innocent blood. But before then, he had averred that iniquity would abound. And today, iniquity is everywhere. But then, is Jesus Christ coming to die the second time? Certainly, Jesus Christ is not coming to die the second time. But how do we correct the notion concerning what has brought enmity between God and man, which is sin? The Bible says God will send somebody who will show the people how wrong the world is in matters of sins. So, this is why I have been sent to open the understanding of our generation, especially this
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OD could not be everywhere, so he invented mothers”, so goes an old Jewish proverb. The thing that makes mothers such “deputy gods”, is often beyond human comprehension. An old cartoon once showed a young boy talking on the telephone saying, “Mom is in the hospital, the twins and Roxie and Billie and Sally and the dog and me and Dad are all home alone”. Imagine that! Obviously for the kid, when Mom is not home, hardly anyone is. The Spanish are known to say “An ounce of (good) mother is worth more than a pound of clergy”. To millions in the world the name “mother”
‘I don’t own a property or run an account’ The founder of Kingdom of Heaven on Earth Mission (KIHEM-the Holy Throne of the Most High God on Earth), King Olutanmole Agbaye, has been preaching since 1989. In this interview with Babatunde Sulaiman, the anointed restorer, as he prefers to be called, talks about his special assignment on earth and state of the nation, among others. Excerpts:
•Agbaye
gentile community. You see, we have Jewish Christians and gentile Christians who are yet to know the whole truth concerning sins. Could you recall the circumstances surrounding your calling? I had been heading the Church of Christ Jesus for 17 years (1972 to 1989) when I started to receive the new revelation of my ministry. In my night vision, God called me out in the midst of a
mammoth crowd of masters. He said: “Come out, you are the one I am sending to this generation. Go and look for a hilly place.” He said He was prepared to set up His Kingdom on earth, as He had promised. So, I started to look for a hilly place until I found this mountain site. God commanded me to sojourn here for seven days and nights without food and water, praying and asking for new commandments for the
administration of His kingdom, which He was prepared to set up. How did people react when you started the ministry in 1989? When we conducted the first service in this village, a lot of people responded. However, I had a lot of difficulty. Usually, people don’t readily embrace the truth. People are experts in falsehood and they find it difficult to accept, even when the truth
More mothers less murderers By Emmanuel Ade Badejo
means the entire world. The Yoruba idiom: Iya ni wura, baba ni dingi”, mother is gold, father, a mirror, expresses the fact to a great extent. Thomas Edison, great American inventor of many devices, including the motion picture camera and the electric bulb, wrote this tribute to his mother. “I did not have my mother long, but she cast over me a good influence that lasted all my life. The good effect of her early training I can never lose. If it had not been her appreciation and her faith in me
at a critical time in my experience, I would never likely have become an inventor. I was always a careless boy, and with a mother of different mental caliber, I would have turned out badly. But her firmness, her sweetness, her goodness, were potent powers to keep me on the right path. My mother was the making of me. The memory of her will always be a blessing to me”. This complements the thought of Abraham Lincoln, former American president, that no man is poor who has a mother. Enduring image of motherhood
The usual image of motherhood from nature, nurture, culture and Scripture all over the world is that of selfless love, sacrifice, devotion and affection. In an illustration about mothers, Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer once said: “When Eve was brought to Adam, he became filled with the Holy Spirit, and gave her the most sanctified, the most glorious of appellations. He called her Eve, that is to say, the mother of all. He did not style her wife, but simply mother, mother of all living creatures. In this consists the glory and the most precious
is revealed. Which of these laws or commandments have you started implementing now? I received seven primordial laws of creation, different from the conventional 10 commandments revealed unto Moses, which were moral laws. But in this new Kingdom, we need spiritual laws: righteousness, faithfulness, obedience unto the Father, unto the son, unto the Holy Ghost and unto the holy comforter. People are used to moral laws, which include that you should not steal and so on. You see, God Himself guides His throne by laws, which keep the heaven in perfect peace. By all standards, God is a lawmaker. Therefore, if those laws are now brought down for the benefit of man, all things will be transformed. They are for the administration of the established Kingdom of God on earth. Are the different structures in your church symbolic of some things you saw in your vision? It was a virgin land when we came. So, it was after God had directed me in my night vision that we began to put up all these structures. I was given the keys, power and authority to set up the Kingdom on earth. This is the real physical structure of the invisible throne of God in heaven. He revealed the pattern to my prophets and prophetesses. Why is emphasis so much on miracles in most churches nowadays? The truth is there is secularisation of Christianity. There is also the pursuit ornament of woman” Well, that is probably why mothers would do anything for the good of their children, at least that is the way it used to be. Such are the mothers in the Bible who wanted the best for their children even at great pains to themselves. The mother of the seven brothers in the second book of Maccabees wanted the best for her children with God and she did not want them to be compromised by the fear of death. Her speech to her last son to face death courageously deserves attention as the Bible said. “More than all of them, their mother ought to be admired and remem-
of mundane things, a deviation from what Jesus Christ stood and died for. So, this is what I have been sent to restore the whole Christian community to. People now bring their ideas into Christianity. I can’t preach miracles in my church. Miracles, prosperity and all that made the practitioners to be under the condemnation of Jesus. He says: “Many will say unto me that we perform great works of wonder, but I will say unto them that I know you not…” So, I can’t preach miracles be it contradicts the clear teachings of Jesus Christ. How have you been able to grow the church? At the moment, we have 40 branches in all. We also have in Cameroun, Ghana, Zimbabwe, United States, United Kingdom etc. Recently, I have sent my delegates to Ibadan and very shortly, I am going there. I have been going to all these places by the express direction of God. I will soon be attending an international conference of community churches in the U.S. What have the host communities benefitted from the church? This is a non-profit-making organisation. We don’t have such money to provide social amenities for the communities, so we always pray for the nation and the communities. But once in a while, the youths for Olutanmole go to the villages and rural areas to give out food, clothes etc; we also organise screening for the members of the communities. I don’t have money and I don’t have a personal bank account either. For the past 48 years, I don’t have any property of my own. Is it against your belief? That is what God says; I am representing Christ. I have learnt to make my personal wish to be in tune with that of God. Jesus Christ says: “Don’t lay your treasure on earth.” The disciples didn’t build their treasures on earth. The early believers sold their property just to inherit eternal life. This is what I preach and this is what I exemplify as the representative of Christ. God forbids that religious leaders should own all these things.
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bered…” a woman “full of a noble sense of honour” (2Macc.7: 20-29). Mary the mother of Jesus demonstrated this best. She went through thick and thin with her dear son, Jesus. She stood at the foot of the cross as her son was killed but it was all for a higher cause. Moments of Change We witness today the tragic transformation of motherhood. Many mothers kill their own children with impunity, many participate in public mob killings and others expressly promote anti-life policies and activities. This demeaning of motherhood has •Continued on page 70