Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has said he was the one who asked Bishop Wale Oke to start a church.
He made this known in one of his old messages monitored online by Church Times. The venue was Christ Life Church, Ibadan founded by Bishop Oke who also is the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria.
Adeboye said he literally commanded Bishop Oke to start a church. There have been stories that the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa also asked Bishop Oke to start a church.
Many in the church are divided on the propriety of Bishop Oke’s decision to start a church. Some believe he was not called to the pastoral office but to the evangelistic ministry, which endeared him to the Body of Christ.
But Pastor Adeboye thinks otherwise.
During the message, which had Bishop Oke in attendance, Adeboye said, “Before he could start a church, I had to practically say, I am your father in the Lord, I command you…”
He said Bishop Oke initially refused to obey him, insisting that he was called to be an evangelist and not a pastor or church founder.
Recalling his conversation with him, Adeboye said, “He said no, no o daddy, I am called to be an itinerant evangelist.”
Adeboye, who inferred that he sneered at Bishop Oke’s posturing about being an evangelist, said, “talking about evangelists, how many of us can beat Billy Graham? I had to practically say sir, unless you want us to quarrel. And I happened to be one of those people he did not want to quarrel with”
While commending Bishop Oke for the impact he has made by starting the church, he said, “Look at the church God started. Look at what God is doing. We are talking of the university and many other things. Thank God for obedient children.”
