By Boluwatife Oparinde
Being a provider of theological education and spiritual training of ministers of God to effect apostolic and examplary changes in all spheres of life, Christ Apostolic Church Theological Seminary (CACTS) Main Campus, Opa, Ile-Ife, has held her 10th Convocation Lecture aimed at promoting theological discourses applicable to comtemporary national issues.
In his welcome speech, the Provost, Pastor Prof. C. O. Oshun, who had anticipated the event, expressed his gladness and welcomed his audience to the educative national discourse held on Wednesday, November 24, 2021 at the CACTS Chapel of Peace.
According to Pastor Oshun, "the ultimate reality in this discourse is to help discover the ingredients of, and paths to true national peace, stability, cohesion for progress and development that are real and reassuring all of fairness, social justice and freedom, where no one is oppressed, so that with peace and plenty, Nigeria may be blessed."
This year's convocation lecture, with the topic, "Why sit we here until we die? II Kings 7:3: A Christian Response HERE to the Political and Religious Crisis in Nigeria" had Rev'd. Professor Afolorunso Olalekan Dairo of the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, as it's Guest speaker.
Prof. Dairo, who is also the Dean, Faculty of Humanities, Redeemer’s University, admitted that the topic was prayerfully and painstakingly chosen; acknowledging the state of the nation as, "supposed to be free from all forms of intimidation, terrorization, extortion and threats, but alas, groaning under the yoke of the so called self-determination which has invariably turned into freedom in bondage; not only in the political sphere but also in our self-inflicted religious narrow-mindedness because of our complacency."
While he gave the background biblical hermenuetics of the topic's text (II Kings 7:3), Prof. Dairo, applied the account to the Nigerian context, explaining that, "Nigeria has witnessed varieties of disturbances which were born out of what can be called, socio-political and religious agitations."
According to him, "The position of Nigerians is just like the position of the Samaritans in II Kings 7:1-9. The Syrians had so dominated the Samaritans that things could not possibly be worse. There was famine, futility, and frustration. Women were boiling their children for food. Citizens were eating literally anything they could find. For those travelling, no peace, for those going about their businesses, no peace even those sitting at home knew no peace."
The University Don, however, challenged that, it was high time Christians swung into action and correct the anomalies by rising up to confront the challenges facing the nation and Christendom in Nigeria.
The Prof. stated that, "everyone wants peaceful environment but not all of us is ready to give what it takes to have peace reign the society."
"One major aspect where the Christians are defaulting is in the area of Politics. We all believe it is a dirty game and many of us are not ready to participate in it. In view of this, we left the administration of the nation in the hands of those who believe politics is part and parcel of their religious lives. The resultant effect is what we are experiencing in Nigeria today," he said.
While distinguishing the peace of the world and biblical peace, the cleric stated that biblical peace should spur Christians to take action in order to restore the already broken situation in Nigeria, moreso, "rise to the challenges and move like the lepers at the twilight without any hesitation."
Rev'd Dairo also charged the Graduands to be prepared as the real world "is no longer business as usual in the ministry. You are going into the world of war – war against self, war against sin and war against the world, that is, all the enemies of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
The 10th Convocation Lecture had in attendance Professor Femi Adedeji of the Department of Music, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and the Adjunt Head, Department of Music of the Seminary; the Coordinator of CACTS Ile-Ife Babajide School of Prophets and Evangelists Ilesha, Pastor A. A. Abayomi; Pastor J. A. Obadire and amongst other dignitaries.
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