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| President, CAC Worldwide, Pastor Samuel O. Oladele |
By 'Gbenga Bankole
The President of Christ Apostolic Church, Worldwide, Pastor Samuel O. Oladele has said that Christianity is centered on the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He stressed that when you take the pillar of resurrection from the gospel that we preach or Christianity, the whole thing would collapse and there is nothing to talk about anymore.
Pastor Oladele stated this while ministering on the topic *"If Christ Had not Risen"* on Easter Sunday at a programme tagged "Easter Special Programme with Pastor S. O. Oladele" held at All Saints' Chapel, CAC General Secretariat, Ibadan.
According to him, Christ's resurrection is pivotal to our confession, baptism and everything we do in the Christendom.
"Christ is different from others. He is quite unique. Everything that has happened before He came has not been able to bring about the change humanity wants. He came to save the world. He didn’t come just for philosophy, or introduce religion or religiosity.
"When he came he made some claims. He introduced Himself as someone who comes to bring the kingdom. He claimed that he was the messiah and the son of God (Luke 9:20). He claimed to be the one with the father (John 10:30). Jesus didn’t claim to be some things, he actually substantiate those claims by miracles He performed, by sins he forgave, by the gospel He proclaimed etc.The evidences were just not enough. The greatest evidence to substantiate His claims is His resurrection," the Cleric said.
Pastor Oladele stated that if Christ had not risen from the dead, history would have judged Him as a good man who once lived on planet earth, but very deluded.
He further said;"history would have judged Him as a man who went around doing good, but had mental problem. Thank God that this is not the case with our Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ didn’t rise from the dead we would have been in pitiable condition. Some people pity us as Christians. They think we are miserable, they look down on us because there are places we would not go, there are some food we would not eat, there are some drinks we would not take, there are wears we would not put on, there are companies we would not keep. If Christ had not risen, our preaching is vain.
"The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation stone of the temple built by Paul in his teaching, not physical temple, but doctrinal temple. If Christ had not risen, our faith is in vain because it is that faith that would take man out of sin."
He noted that Christ's resurrection is not an allegory, but an established fact of competent witnesses, adding that the fact that He resurrected is on the consciousness of every genuine Christian.
He added that genuine Christians have the evidence of Christ's resurrection by the demonstration of His power in their lives. His name heals, saves and delivers. They call on him, pray to him and he answers them. You don't talk with the dead, neither can you receive anything from the dead. He said.