Everybody knows Celica Church of Christ founder, Reverend Adetunji Adeonigbagbe. He is one of the most private men of God in the country today. He does not like undue publicity. He keeps to himself and focuses solely on the work of God. Reverend Adeonigbagbe detests the social media, largely because of the negative contents it conveys more than the positives. But once in a while, when he finds himself disturbed by some particular situations he cannot ignore, he breaks his silence and registers his displeasure publicly.
This very respected and spiritually gifted man of God is very worried at the moment. He is bothered by the rate at which many pastors in the country are plunging themselves into the murky waters of politics, supporting their preferred political candidates and turning the church into some sort of campaign ground for politics. He believes this is totally wrong and could incur the wrath of God. He spoke exclusively to the Publisher of Prime Citizens.ng.com, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) and bared his mind on the disturbing trend among Nigerian pastors. Enjoy.
In 2023, before the
elections, there were lots of pastors who stood at the altar and influenced their
members to vote for the presidential candidate they, as pastor, endorsed. Many
of them turned their churches into campaign grounds for their chosen political
candidates. And even after the elections, the trend has continued, many of these
pastors cannot tell Mr. President the truth about the suffering in the land
because of what they hope to get from the government, what is your position on
this, sir?
Let me tell you something very clearly, any pastor that brings politics into the church has gone against the will of God. He has totally lost his call. Let me give a lighter example. In my home, I am a Chelsea fan, my son whom I love is a Man United fan. I have an Arsenal fan in my house, I have a Liverpool fan in my house, yet we all accommodate each other whenever the teams are playing against each other. Everybody to his own choice. So, why should I go on the altar and say this is the party you must follow? Is that God’s purpose for the church? In fact, in some churches now, you hear some pastors saying it is Arsenal that will win tomorrow, is that a vision given to you by God? That’s not what God’s vision is about.
What God’s vision primarily does for us is to give a clear picture of how the year will go, the challenges we may meet along the way and how to overcome or avoid these challenges when they come. When a man of God stands before the church and starts saying its APC that will win, it is PDP that will win, that means you are governing your church not by your call because your call will never direct you to do such. That’s why I tell people that Nigerian pastors have really messed up and I am not happy about it at all.
For instance, not so long ago, in his response to banditry and killing of Christians going on in the country, a pastor came out and said, ‘everyone should go and fortify themselves!’ Go and fortify themselves with what? He was advising them to go and equip themselves with charms, can you imagine that? It doesn’t make sense at all and it is so disappointing to hear a so called man of God say that.
For me, personally, if a PDP politician comes to me, I will pray for him. If an APC man comes to me, I will equally pray for him because I have a lot of them in my church who participate actively in politics. But I will never stand before the church and say this is who you must vote for. Even if such a person is my biological son, I will never solicit for votes for him in the church of God because that means I am using my position or office as a prophet of God to to influence my members. And that is very wrong. That is not the reason God called me. That is not God’s purpose for the church.
People must not keep believing the country is finished, that everything has collapsed, we are the ones that will have to rebuild the country ourselves. There’s a place in the US where people go to eat for free. A large multiple of people go there to eat free food. I was shocked. I told my children I want to know the place and see things for myself, even though God has blessed them and they can afford to buy anything they desire. So, you take your vehicles there and packs of food are loaded into your car and you take them home. People go there every Tuesdays and Thursdays. All they will ask you is, how many are you in your house hold? If you tell them you are ten in numbers, they will give you packs of food for ten people that will last for about a week. But those who are financially well off don’t go there. People like me will not go there to pack food because I don’t need it, it is meant only for those who need it. But in Nigeria, you will find a lot of people who really don’t need it going to collect the food packs and just keeping them at home, like many rich people did during the Covid period when they collected palliatives meant for the poor and kept in their homes while people outside were hungry. In my house, I have a sizeable number of people who, by the grace of God, I endeavour to feed daily. Some of them, young people, I give allowances and offer the little support I can to enable them stand on their own in the future because I fear that if they don’t get that support, they could become useless tomorrow.
And I think I must use this medium to appeal to a lot of our pastors, wealthy Nigerians, prominent Nigerians, please, let us begin to raise people up. Let us begin to look at people with potential and help them achieve their dreams in life. And mind you, do not embark on raising people up and expecting they would appreciate you for it, no, they may not appreciate you. But you must not be discouraged. Do your own good deeds and move on without waiting for payback. Only God can truly pay you back for your good deeds.
Take a look at how God works for instance, he lets the rain fall on the roof of the kind hearted, same way he lets it fall on the roof of the wicked. He does not separate them. So, we mut not let that stop us from doing good. If I were to go by the number of good deeds that I have done in life, I should not be grumbling about money ever in my life, but I don’t look at that because God rewards me in other ways. Once you begin to feel unhappy that people don’t repay your kindness with good deeds, if you’re not careful, you will begin to do things only wicked people do. So, please, the rich and elite in Nigeria, do good unto others, do not wait for anybody to repay your good deeds, just do good, that is what God expects of all of us.
I know some hospitals that are really trying. When patients are taken there, they are immediately attended to even before asking for payment. I know of Victory hospital in Iwo, owned by Dr. Idowu. When you take a patient there, they will first and foremost attend to the patient, offer basic treatment without asking for a kobo from you. Their major concern is to ensure that the patient is okay and stable before you even begin to talk about your bill. In fact, there have been cases where the patient’s family could not afford treatment and they were still treated and allowed to go home. That has not stopped him and his hospital from flourishing. We need more wealthy Nigerians to emulate people like that.
Let me tell you, there are thousands of rich people in Nigeria, but the problem is that they don’t help the poor around them. The truth is, we cannot continue to depend on government, the government has failed us. We must all rally round Nigeria and lift it up ourselves.
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