Bishop Olukayode Ajibade, who serves as the Chairman of the Central Planning Committee of the Omolehin Isaac Lokoja City Crusade, sheds light on the upcoming crusade and the need for people to return to God and have access to excellent life in the face of the current global socioeconomic crisis. Bishop Ajibade spoke to VICTORIA OKPANACHI.
When is the upcoming Evangelist Omolehin global crusade scheduled to hold in Lokoja all about
Evangelist Isaac Omolehin is a stakeholder in nation building. He is a well respected and accepted global Evangelist, who is an indigene of Kogi State. But he sees himself as someone called to reach out to the world at large to win souls for Christ and his impact is highly felt by everyone. Coming to Lokoja is like homecoming because you do not reach out to people outside and neglect your own people. Before the state was created, he was part of those contributing to the spiritual development of the state, and after the creation of the state, his involvement in laying the spiritual topography of the state cannot be overlooked. I remember on a monthly basis, he used to come around to anchor a program he tagged, ‘Begin the month with the Lord.’ The first day of the month, he would travel down to see to that at his own expense and it was quite a formative experience for everyone around him. He has been a part and parcel of the development process of the state from inception and he has paid his dues.
One unique thing about his coming this time around, is that, this year marks 50 years that he has been preaching the gospel as an evangelist on the field, and he started from Lokoja, so, coming home, is like coming to celebrate the faithfulness of God that started with him 50 years ago.
What should the people of Kogi State be expecting from the Crusade?
Evangelist Omolehin does not need much publicity because people know him, especially the older generation. They have all been a part of his ministry and crusades. There are basic characteristics that differentiate the ministry. The ministry is an all encompassing one, where you see salvation, restoration, deliverance and healing. It is a power ministry, so, the expectations should be high. Baba Omolehin has stepped up by consistently upgrading himself, as he is currently on social media as well making a global impact. People of Lokoja should have high expectations to see the move of God like they have never seen before.
Can you briefly tell us the much you know about Evangelist Omolehin?
One of the key things I will say about him is that he is a balanced teacher of the word of God. To an extent, some of our people are lopsided, they only focus on an aspect and what they stand to benefit from God. He is a man that will tell you about the ways of God, His nature, His principles, will and the benefits you can derive from God. People are looking for what they will get from God, in as much as that is not bad, people need to show commitment to God. A lot of people are not responsible believers because, once they get what they want from God, they move on and once they cannot get what they want from God, they feel God has disappointed or failed them. I remember many years ago, he has to tell me, like I wanted God to do somethings in my life, so, he asked me where are you now, and when I explained to him, I just felt somethings are not happening, he said slow down, what you are expecting right now will happen much later, that God is equipping and preparing you. That word never left me, I became relaxed. Another time he told me you are making an impact but your punches are very light, equip those punches to be harder. He said do more work in the closet so that you can have more external output. I realised I need to invest more hardware internally to get the desired external results. Most of the men of God who are probably on the fast lane or front burner of ministries today, at one point or the other, must have encountered Baba Omolehin. The linking point is you can’t go far without learning under a servant of God that has experience and has paid his dues.
What is the target audience of the crusade?
The crusades are not for old people, it is for everybody, irrespective of tribe; it is for both young and old. As long as you are in Lokoja, you can find your way to the crusade ground. This is not all about tribe, but God. It will interest you to know that the Baba Omolehin hosts crusade every year at Ihima, but he is not from there, but they look forward to his coming annually. Aside from the fact that every year, he does a 120-day crusade, attracting people from different places to Ilorin, where he has his headquarters. His crusade often focus on everyone, especially the list sheep.
Speaking on the theme of the crusade, “The kingdom of God is at hand”, what is it all about?
Interestingly, this has always been Baba Omolehin’s theme in everything he does. You will always see him talk about it, because that is the template from Jesus’ ministry. Jesus always says, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. What else do we have to preach from what Jesus has preached? This is to let everybody know that it is all about the kingdom of God. Look at our world today and the crisis being encountered, what other hope do we have if it is not to turn to God. What we do now is to bring the reality of the kingdom of God to bear, to let the world know that in this situation, God has something to say. If you bring the kingdom into everything we do, this is asking God to Intervene in our situation, circumstances, economy and every area of our life and nation. Right now, there is global crisis in every aspect of life and thus, by extension, believers who come to Christ believe in the kingdom and we need to understand that, that kingdom is mobile, that was why Jesus said we should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things shall be added unto us.
Nigeria is a spiritually – inclined country, but with all the spirituality, we still have to contend with different vices. What do you have to say about this sad development?
The bible prophesied way back in Isaiah chapter 60 that darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the people. Alao, right from the very beginning in Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, the bible also recalls that, God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every imagination of his heart was continually evil. The evil we see in our world did not start yesterday, it started a long time ago and a good way to tackle the evil is for good to show up. I mean someone said a good way for darkness to disappear is for you to show light. Part of what this crusade will do is to show the light. We have had testimonies of people who went to crusades and came back as totally changed persons. Even from my experience, and others that are children to Omolehin, we are replicating these testimonies from the crusades we hold. There was a particular year that I organised a crusade as part of my yearly programmes at the state polytechnic and there were testimonies of changed lives. One remarkable example was about a guy, who gave his life to Christ and the following day, his testimony brought a lot of people to the crusades. So, the darkness that we see in our world can be turned around, when the light of the gospel shines. That was why Jesus said we believers are the light of the world, we are a city set on the hill that cannot be hidden. Part of what this crusade stands to do is to dispel darkness, by pulling people from waywardness and wickedness into the light. You won’t blame people who are involved in wickedness and waywardness because that is what they are exposed to, but we are offering something bigger and better because in Christ Jesus, you have a better life. The light will shine here, darkness will be dispelled and our nation will be better. The bible says when the righteous rule, the people rejoice and when the wicked are in power, the people mourn.
At this very difficult time in the life of our country, what is your advice to Nigerians, especially those in the body of Christ
The trying times is actually a prophecy. God said that I will shake everything. What is going on in the world right now is a global shaking. People have left God, they want to do their own thing in their own way. Hinging on science that God created, they are saying there is no God. When you abandon God, where God is not allowed to rule, He will prove to you that he is in charge and the world belongs to him. This is not because God wants to show how tough he is, but if you break His principles, you don’t really break them, they break you. What is happening on the global scale, is more like a wake up call; a call to return to God and seek for His face. As we seek for God, He is seeking for us to worship Him in totality. The beauty of this crusade is to draw people closer to God, Baba Omolehin has never drawn people to himself, he is interested in seeing people get closer to God. We trust God that this crusade, will be an eye opener, where people will see God from a better perspective and live life excellently well. We must go out to mobilise others and be grateful for how far the Lord has taken us through the year 2024.
