President, CAC Nigeria and Overseas, Pastor Samuel Olusegun Oladele
The President of Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria and
Overseas, Pastor Samuel Olusegun Oladele in an interview with CAC News and
other media houses at CAC Pastors’ Conference 2024 speaks on correcting the
perception that CAC is for the aged, reconciliation with CAC Supreme Council after
about 34 years of crisis, proliferation of CAC and why religiosity is not the
way forward for Nigeria.
Statistics show that those under 40 years make up 60 per cent of
CAC’s population, which is contrary to the popular belief that it is an old
people’s church…
Where you find the youths there is vitality that tells it all. We thank God for
the old ones, the Psalmist says I was young and now I am old. There are two
stages in life- young and old. We are not disparaging any age group but we
thank God that we have this report that CAC is full of the young ones. It has
rubbished the general belief in some quarters that our youths are running away.
We cannot keep everybody in the same church but it gives us hope. There is hope
for the church’s future by the grace of God.
The Church Pastors’ Conference this year is on the Gift of the Holy Spirit to
the body of Christ, can you explain?
When our Lord
Jesus Christ was here physically, about 2,000 years ago, before he left, he
told his disciples to tarry in Jerusalem, and that they should never endeavour
to embark on any evangelistic mission until they have been endowed with power
from on high. For ten consecutive days, they gathered themselves in the upper
room in the city of Jerusalem, and suddenly, as they were praying, the Holy
Spirit descended very heavily upon them, and they were all baptized in the Holy
Ghost. Of the 120 that were there in the upper room, only 12 of them were
apostles. The rest of them, 108 were simple church members, so to speak. But
when the Holy Spirit came on that day, they all got baptized in the Spirit.
That is to
tell you something about the true democracy of the church, the Holy Spirit is
not a denomination. He is not a church. The Holy Spirit is the very power
behind the church. The reason for choosing this type of theme for this year’s
Pastors’ Conference, and for all our conferences in CAC this year, is to remind
us of this rich heritage of ours and to also make us go back to the basic
because it will be a kind of self-delusion for anyone to believe that he can
carry on working for the Lord without the power of the Holy Spirit.
Even if you
have to sweep the floor of the church, you have to sing or preach or teach or
be an usher, whatever sphere of the ministry to which you have been called, you
need the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, when we go back to the Holy
Spirit, sin will be detected. Deceit, hypocrisy, things like that. Nobody dared
to join the church then because they feared the consequence of being
hypocritical. So the church cannot function effectively without the power and
gifts of the Holy Spirit.
What is CAC doing to address its
franchise programme?
What franchise
programme?
The identity of the church that has been misused…
Yeah. I do not
doubt that. You know what? The Christ Apostolic Church is such a liberal,
magnanimous church. When this church came into being, our fathers were very
spiritual. They would not want to take anybody to court. They did not want to
discourage you from whatever you want.
If you say
that it is the Lord that has laid it upon your heart, there are things people
do for or against the Christ Apostolic Church that they dare not do with any
other church. But we leave them to their conscience. If you make use of our
name, our logo is on your billboard or signboard. You go to Prayer Mountain in
the name of CAC, and you do your own thing.
Well, I do not know, but maybe in the future, that kind of thing will happen.
But we just leave you to God’s judgment. We will not take you to court. But
maybe tomorrow, when some other people come into the Christian leadership, they
may decide to do that. You cannot do that to the Apostolic Church, Baptist,
Anglican, Deeper Life and so on. But because of our liberality, because of our
large-heartedness, people tend to abuse and take advantage of our liberal and
generous disposition. We leave them to God’s judgment.
What is Christ Apostolic Church doing
to unite with Supreme Council & WOSEM? Any update on the reconciliation
moves?
Yeah, that is
all right. Well, it is a question that keeps occurring every year. I hope that
one day these questions will no longer be asked. This is because the Lord
Himself will unite the church. We are doing all that is humanly possible and we
need the power of the Holy Spirit to bring everything to fruition. I can assure
you that we are not relenting in our efforts to make sure that the church
becomes one indivisible entity. Penultimate Wednesday we were together.
That is
leadership, the leaders on both sides of the divide. We met to pray and I think
that is good news. That both leaders on both sides are praying together. This
is because everybody is tired of this crisis, which has lasted for 34 years. It
was at a conference like this, way back in 1990, August 26 or so. No, the month
of September 1990. At CAC Ilesha the crisis broke and so we are saying enough
is enough.
We just want
to plead with everyone to please keep on praying for us all. So that in our
lifetime, possibly during our tenure, the crisis will become a thing of the
past. Hope is not lost. And that’s why we pray together. We are holding a
meeting and that is why if you listen to my address I said nobody should make
any inflammatory comment either here or there and that is our agreement. We are
praying that soon, very soon, the good news will spread all over the world that
CAC will become one like it was in the days of our fathers.
There are so many ups and downs in the
nation. What is the position of the church in this aspect?
We cannot operate talk or preach outside the Bible. The number one mission of
the church is to pray. Pray for those who are in a position of authority. When
Paul was writing that epistle, it was in a dark, cold dungeon in Rome, yet he
said we should pray for those in authority/government. It was Nero Caesar who
imprisoned him. Nero was not a good ruler, and yet Paul said we should pray for
the leaders, not only the good ones.
That we would
have peace, tranquility, worship the Lord, and so forth. Then we need to preach
righteousness, and holiness, even as our church members are in government. The
senators go to church. Members of the House of Representatives go to church.
Lawyers, judges, professionals, doctors, captains of industry, and so forth, go
to church. If they can just bring their Christian virtue, if they have one, to
bear upon society, the society will not be what it is today. So, it is not just
about religiosity, let us spread the word of righteousness, peace, and joy in
the Holy Ghost. The number one message is repentance/righteousness.
Jesus, when he was here physically, said, ‘repent’ and John preached it. Let us
preach righteousness. Then, people will go from the church. They will go to
society and be the salt and the light, which Christ said we should be.
We must pray and prepare the saints,
not just religious people, for the saints to occupy the position of authority
and power. In the history of this church, there was a time not very long ago,
there were about 17 or so governors who were church-going people. They were
going to church, but with what result?
It means we
still have a lot to do to make sure that there is righteousness, we have to
preach in the church. If we preach righteousness, and people are righteous, it
will affect society positively.
Still on the nation, on Tuesday,
October 1 Nigeria will be marking its 64th independence. What suggestions do
you have for the government at both the federal and state levels, to bring
succour to Nigerians?
Did we get it
right when we became independent 64 years ago? Yes. Regarding our political
differences, we had leaders like Chief Awolowo, Baba Azikiwe and Tafawa Balewa,
visionaries; some other things came up, along the line, and have brought us to
where we are today. Yes, people are not smiling. We have to remind those people
and the government that their number one responsibility is to put smiles on the
faces of the people.
We pray so much in this country, in saner climes people do not
pray as much as we do here, but they take good care of their citizens. Even if
you curse, if you spew curses, God will in turn, turn it into a blessing in
those countries because what would be your complaint? King Charles today lives
in Buckingham Palace. If it is just a small room you have to yourself,
comfortably. If I have something like this and I am comfortable, I mean, I enjoy
the comfort of my flat, why should I be cursing the king? Even if I curse the
king, the Lord will turn it into a blessing for the king.
Let all our leaders be reminded of the very reason they are in a
position of power. It is a kind of trust and they must not fail. Let them think
above their own selfish and mundane interests. Let them think of the interests
of the people. That is our message to them. We just pray that the Lord will
open their minds and hearts to do the right thing.