Bakare opens up on number 16 prophecy, Bishop Oyedepo… praises Osibajo, Kumuyi @ Pastors confab

By Gbenga Osinaike

In a rare down to earth interaction with church leaders, founder of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare laid bare his ministry and political life at a pastors conference on Thursday April 24

The conference was organised by New Wine Church, Lagos . It began on Wednesday April 23 with Bro Pade Tokun ministering.

Ironically Pastor Bakare on Thursday was preaching at the same venue where he started the first model parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God 36 years ago.

This time, the property which was then on lease has been purchased the New Wine Church

While recalling how the RCCG model parish was established and the great evangelical work carried out by Pastor Tony Rapu after he left the RCCG, he lamented the decadence in the Body of Christ and lack of discipline among church leaders.

He noted that the first time Jesus mentioned the word church was in Caesarea Philippi when he asked his disciples, “Who do men say I am’

The starting point according to him is for church leaders to have a clear understanding of what the church is and what Jesus came to do by His death and resurrection.
He said Jesus did not die to build us mansions in heaven but rather to make us relevant on earth.

According to him Jesus was referring to the many dimensions of God when he said ‘in my father’s house there are many mansions’

“He was talking about the many dimensions of God and not that he was going to build stuctures for us in heaven .
‘Mansions of God are on earth not in heaven. He came so we can bring heaven down on earth. That is why as his disciples we must live a life of discipline . Any disciple without discipline is a fraud,’ Bakare said.

He explained further, ‘When the Lord said he would build his church he is not talking about building cathedral. The problem with the church is that we have confused the crowd with the church. Our evangelism is crowd driven. The mixture in the church today is because we don’t know what the church is. We take pride in crowd.’

He also lamented the hypocrisy among church leaders recalling how a brother in his former church was sentenced to two months of grass cutting for attempting to sleep with a sister.

But when another person impregnated a sister in the same church, nothing was done because the person was infleutial .
Bakare said that is the kind of hypocrisy that defines the way some leaders run their assemblies.

Prof Osibajo

A participant asked why Christians mess up in public office giving the example of Professor Yemi Osibajo;Nigeria’s former Vice President.

Responding, Bakare said, ‘Osibajo did his best as VP. It’s so quick to judge people when you are not in their shoes. Politics will remain dirty because clean people are not there.

Those of us who know what went behind the scene know that Prof Osibajo did is best. You don’t know what he went through. He did so much that we had to encourage him. He is my aburo (younger brother). I won’t allow him to be rubbished. If you don’t know, don’t judge. Don’t judge people who have gone to withstand the heat in government.’

The CGCC pastor said many people can’t withstand temptation because Christ has not been formed in them. ‘The big challenge of the church is that we are not raising disciples we are raising members.’

Kumuyi’s impact

Responding to another question, he noted that no matter what people say about Pastor Williams Kumuyi no one can take the credit from him that he ‘laid the foundation of holiness and purity in us.

I spent five years in Deeper Life and another five years in RCCG. I can tell you that Pastor Kumuyi did a lot. ‘Bro Kumuyi sold his car to print tracts for Ghana. He was coming to church on motorbike. Unfortunately this generation of greedy men are our problem, the people who preach health and wealth gospel.’

He expressed assurance that one day, ‘ the wind will blow and they will be no more.’

He said the challenge of many fathers of faith is that they think their role is to raise sons. That is why they feel threatened by the progress of those under them.’

He said the way sons are accountable to fathers is the same way fathers should be accountable to sons. ‘

He recalled that when he ran in the race for the presidency and it did not work out, he had to gather all his sons in the faith and told them what happened. ‘If you expect people to be accountable to you, then, you should be accountable to them.’

Number 16

Still on the failed attempt to clinch the number 16 position as he had predicted, he said, ‘Go and listen to the broadcast again, I said Buhari is number 15 I am number 16. There was no where I said thus saith the Lord. Even at that you look at the fruit of prophecy not the accuracy of prophecy.’

He cited several examples of prophecies in the Bible that did not happen at the expected time but still came to pass.
Bakare took his listeners back to his 1993 prophecy when he said SDP and NRC will Fizzle and that the election result would be cancelled.He noted that his number 16 postulation may not be wrong after all going by the fact that former President Mohammad Buhari and President Olusegun Obasanjo ruled twice.

He said, ‘We are beyond 16. I am not interested in power. When the time comes Nigeria will flourish again.’

Bakare said as far back as I973 when his classmates said they wanted to be doctor, lawyer he had always maintained he would be president of Nigeria ‘I know what God has told me. Even if it does not come to pass it won’t shake my faith in him.’

Relationship with Oyedepo

When asked to talk about his relationship with Bishop Oyedepo and why he tore his book some years back, he said, ‘Do you know how close Bishop Oyedepo and I are ? We were so close that we were wearing the same type of cloths. The first time he got to Ota, I was the one who invited him there for a crusade. We preached for each other.’

He explained that they parted ways on the basis of his doctrine on oil and the anointing.

Despite the disagreement they had several years ago which made him preach a series on TV titled, ‘the synagogue of satan’, Bakare said he has since reconciled with Bishop Oyedepo wondering why people chose to take panadol for other people’s headache.

He expressed joy that many people were delivered from the erroneous doctrine of saying holy ghost is in the bottle of oil called anointing.

Bakare said he wished there is a peer relationship in the church where everybody can relate beyond the borders of wealth. “I got a Boeing 707 before them. But I don’t believe in owning a private jet. Mine is used for commercial purpose. Oyedepo is not my enemy.

We were together in the same plane when we made up. We are together that day. But somebody must rise in the defence of gospel. That does not mean I am always right. If I am wrong I will be the first person to repent.’

He said his faith in Nigeria”s future has made him turn down pecuniary gifts; first the Royce roll gift from former President Good luck Jonathan and then a oil well from President Buhari.

On debt

On whether a church leader can take loan to do God’s work, he cited his own example saying Jesus would not have reprimanded the unprofitable servant if he profited with the talent God gave him. He said the problem is not with taking loan but ability to pay back.

On the Citadel Global Community Church, he said, by the time the construction work began on the property the church had N500 million but by the end of the construction it cost about N12 billion.

He said the church secured loan from five banks and the three of the banks have been paid while the remaining two will be paid as soon as possible.