…tasks church leaders to emulate him
KAYODE FASUA
Convener of the Conference of Nigerian Civil Rights Activists, Comrade Ifeanyi Odili, has tasked Christian leaders and government authorities to plead with the Founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet T.B Joshua, not to fully relocate from Nigeria to the state of Israel, as the country will be the loser for it.
Odili, who is also the General Secretary of the Campaign for Democracy, spoke in Lagos at the weekend, during at a public lecture organised by the South-West Young Christian Activists.
The activist, who is an evangelist in the Christ Apostolic Church, said, “We have heard the news that Prophet T.B Joshua is trying to relocate from the country to the state of Israel.
“I had expected that most Nigerians would march to the Synagogue Church of Nation here in Lagos to plead with him to rescind his action.
But I am shell-shocked that people are complacent; they don’t seem to know the implication.
“Here is a man of God that is being sought after all over the world, and here you are, you don’t know the value of what you have.”
In appealing to the man of God not to fully relocate from Nigeria, Odili said today, Christians all over the country are proud of the contributions of Pastor T.B Joshua to individuals, the communities, and Nigeria as a country.
“The other time I visited the Synagogue Church in Lagos, I was impressed to see many less-privileged people going home with bags of rice, vegetable oil, provisions and even cash.
“Some of them told me that it was a regular practice directed by Pastor Joshua, which is a rare gesture among churches of today.
“Today in Nigeria, how many churches can boast of this? Many of our churches collect offering, tithes and other contributions, but forget those who cannot feed among the congregation. They use the money collected from the congregants to build universities that children of the poor among them cannot attend. They build mansions and gigantic shopping malls forgetting that the day of reckoning is almost around us. Odili urged church leaders to always remember the poor, and not oppressing them by brutal display of their wealth.
“If the poor are attending the church hungry, definitely, they can never hear the sermon, even though they are not deaf,” Odili observed.
He thus urged other churches to emulate the practice in the SCOAN, as laid down by Prophet Joshua.
Besides, Odili advised young Christians in Nigeria to be devout, and shun sinful practices, so as to convert their age mates, “many who are neck-deep in criminal activities.”
He noted, “Look at the age bracket of these kidnappers being apprehended around; they are within the 25-35 age bracket; meaning that they are young boys and men, and these are the people you should reach out to, starting from how you live your lives as Christians.”
Earlier, the leader of the Young Christian Activists had described Odili as a role model not only in the South-West, but Nigeria as a whole.
