THE National President of the
Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and his wife,
Pastor (Mrs.) Helen Oritsejafor had just played host to delegates from across
the globe for this year’s Daughters of Sarah International Convention and a
two-week trade fair where business men and women and companies gather to tell
the world about their businesses. The theme of the event was; “The God of my
tomorrow” with Jakie Talena from Abuja, Abiola Omobode from Benin City, Ayuk R.
Ayuk from Cameroon ministering.
We must become creative
Lazy people don’t get tomorrow. We
must come out of the fact of just depending on government alone to do
everything. We must become creative, innovative and must be prepared to take
advantage of the opportunities that tomorrow brings to us by preparing for it.
When is Word of Life Bible Church going to branch out?
The moment God gives an okay, we
will. I’m willing, but I just want to get a clear word from God
But you have teach-ing centers all over the place, why can’t
they be turned to parishes and branch-es?
Because God has not said so. The
moment He says so, we will do it. We pray and talk about it. We want it, but we
must wait and listen. Because if God does not tell you to do something, don’t
do it because when the time comes when you need God, He will not be available.
He only backs what He instructed you to do. If you do what you think is good, a
day will come when what you think is good will need help because we will all
need help at one time or the other, but when you go to Him for help, He may not
respond because the question is did I tell you to do it? If He told you to do
it, when the challenges come, He will back it and find a way out for you. But
if He never told you to do it, you are on your own. And I will hate to be on my
own. Not in this dangerous world we live in now where brothers are betraying
brothers and people are destroying each other. If you are on your own, it’s a
very big problem. So that’s the only thing.
What effect does the just concluded
convention have on the nation Nigeria?
First of all, tomorrow is for everybody.
Tomorrow is made available for every nation, for every people. Like Mama
preached today, among so many things she said, I think the major one is the
issue of preparation. A nation that does not pre-pare itself for tomorrow, when
to-morrow comes, then tomorrow will go. It will come and it will go and you
will look at the nation and you will not be able to see the effect of tomorrow
because the nation was not ready for it when it came. Tomorrow is not
complicated if you prepare today. It only becom-es complicated if you have not
prepared. For me, Nigeria and Nig-erians, must begin to take the time to
prepare. And we must begin to also understand that everything we do is
preparing us either positively or negatively for tomorrow. And I heard her say
something that is a popular saying; if you don’t prepare, you have already
prepared to fail. Whatever attitude we have today, the way we handle what is
going on with us as a people, as a nation, as individuals, will only manifest
itself in a certain way, either positively or negatively when tomorrow comes.
It just depends on what we do today. Preparation itself is a very funny thing.
Sometimes it’s not as if you sit down and say what is my plan, it may just be
attitude, it may just be mentality, it may just be relation-ships. So all these
form part of the preparation which also lead to her third point, who you listen
to; who are your advisers; who are those that speak into your life? Nigeria has
the potentials for a great tomorrow but the point is, what are we doing about
those potentials today, because that is what will determine what to-morrow will
be.
As a nation, are we preparing for
tomorrow?
To be honest with you, if you ask
the average Nigerian, he will say yes we are. But I don’t think we are
preparing. I don’t think we fully comprehend the fact that tomorrow is actually
coming. That’s the way I look at Nigeria right now. It will come whether we
like it or not. When you see our attitude to each other, the way we treat and
relate with each other, a lot of things make everything look so negative. If
everything to the left and right and everywhere is negative, then what do you
expect tomorrow to be? For me, I don’t think we are preparing.
Your knowledge of God
So what do we do?
What we must do is what many people
have said and continue to say. First of all, we must move closer to God because
your knowledge of God affects your mentality; it affects your relationship with
others. Some people may not understand this but there’s a difference between
being religious and being close to God. You can be very religious and yet you
are far away from God. Nigeria is a very religious country but are we really
close to God? So that’s a question on its own. I think it’s a question we need
to answer as individuals, collectively as a people. If we are not, then the
foundation is not very good. We need to be close to God. To me, that’s the
number one thing. If we are close to God, then we have the most important
ingredient that will propel us for tomorrow. If we are close to God then it
sharpens our minds and capacity to handle things that will come up tomorrow. I
was saying in the church, I went to Israel, and I met a Jew. We were in a bus
together. My question to him was; God said I will take you to a land flowing
with milk and honey. So I said I’ve come to Israel several times and I’ve found
out that this land is a desert. So where is the milk and honey? And he said to
me, it is here (pointing to his head). He said the milk and honey that God was
talking about is not necessarily the land, He was saying that is a location
where I will want you to settle down and I will use your mind to change the
location. My point is what will make Nigeria manifest its greatness is in our
minds because wealth is not money but mental capacity. God did not make any
human being without giving him the capacity to think and create. Look at what
they have done with a desert; turned a desert to a blossoming land. Most of the
flowers that are supplied around the world today come from Israel. A lot of agricultural
products today come from Israel. Talk about technology, computer; if all these
can happen from a desert, imagine what will happen from a land that is this
fertile. What we need to do is to cultiva-te what is in the brain in the mind
first and use what is cultiva-ted in the mind to cultivate what is in the land
because if the mind is not activated and brought to a certain level to produce,
it will not be able to handle what is in the ground. That’s why we’ve had oil
all these years and it hasn’t done much for us because it is not the oil, it is
the man that handles the oil. So it’s not about the land, it’s about the
people. God’s greatest investment is always in people and He has already
invested in us. That’s why I said the first thing is God. We must reconnect
properly and from there, we must begin to pray and ask Him to help activate
what is in the mind. In Deuteronomy 8:17, thou shall say it is my strength and
the might of my hand that has gotten me this wealth. But thou shall remember
the Lord thy God for it is He who gaveth this power, the mental capacity, to
produce what you now call wealth—money, influence, success. When we connect
with Him, then He activates the mind. He created every human being and put
things in every human being’s mind that will not only change his/her life but
help change his environment. So that’s why I said I don’t know if I can
confidently say we are preparing or we are prepared. We have a long way to go
as far as the tomorrow of Nigeria is concerned. The funny thing is that it is
coming anyway whether we like it or not. God help us.
In a few months, you will relinquish
your post as President of CAN, what is the preparation?
There’s nothing I have to prepare
than to do my handover notes.
You will agree with me, Sir, that if there’s one institution
in this country that has been so un-united it’s Christendom. What is on ground
to wedge the broken walls?
You are trying to get me to talk but
I will not talk because I decided not to talk. It’s my decision. The only thing
I will say to you is by the grace of God, in a few months time, I will have
finished my mandate from God and from man to lead the Christians in Nigeria. By
the grace of God, I want to also believe that CAN will still be there as an
organization that has five blocks, five groups of Christians and it will
continue from there. I think I have done my best and played my part and I’m
sure others will come and take it from there and I pray for them that they will
do better than I did in Jesus name.
THE National President
of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and
his wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Helen Oritsejafor had just played host to
delegates from across the globe for this year’s Daughters of Sarah
International Convention and a two-week trade fair where business men
and women and companies gather to tell the world about their businesses.
The theme of the event was; “The God of my tomorrow” with Jakie Talena
from Abuja, Abiola Omobode from Benin City, Ayuk R. Ayuk from Cameroon
ministering. To expatiate on the theme, our SAM EYOBOKA managed to get
the CAN president who had just finished a meeting with the General
Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch
Adeboye and his wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye, to speak thus:
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/im-leaving-can-after-my-divine-mandate-oritsejafor/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/im-leaving-can-after-my-divine-mandate-oritsejafor/
THE National President
of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and
his wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Helen Oritsejafor had just played host to
delegates from across the globe for this year’s Daughters of Sarah
International Convention and a two-week trade fair where business men
and women and companies gather to tell the world about their businesses.
The theme of the event was; “The God of my tomorrow” with Jakie Talena
from Abuja, Abiola Omobode from Benin City, Ayuk R. Ayuk from Cameroon
ministering. To expatiate on the theme, our SAM EYOBOKA managed to get
the CAN president who had just finished a meeting with the General
Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch
Adeboye and his wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye, to speak thus:
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/im-leaving-can-after-my-divine-mandate-oritsejafor/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/im-leaving-can-after-my-divine-mandate-oritsejafor/
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