By Gbenga Osinaike
For two days, September 25 and 26; Bearer of Light Int’l ministries held its yearly international ministers conference at the Igando, Lagos centre of the ministry
It was not your regular conference where there is partitioning between the ministers and those that are ministered to. It was a participatory conference that involved both the laity and the clergy.
What is more striking is that there was no monopoly of the microphone by any one speaker. A wide range of ministers had to share a bit of the time to relate what the Holy Spirit had laid in their hearts.
That has been the tradition. Both the speakers and participants were intertwined in one whole experience that led many to repentance and reflections on how not to do church.
The theme for the 2025 edition of the conference was, Jesus Warns and it had an array of tested teachers of the gospel including, Bro Pade Tokun, Bishop Abraham Olaleye, Rev Olu George from South Africa, Pastor David Ikhielea and Dr Kayode Oyedepo. Also in the team were Bro. Dokun Adebayo and Prof Ademola Adedipe.
The convener of the conference and visioneer of Bearer of Light Ministries, Rev Sam Oyemade made it known from day one of the conference that its main goal was to redirect the mind of the church to the undiluted truth of God’s word and make people see the need to stay with the Bible..
He was quick to warn that the conference was not to find fault but to identify arrears that many preachers of the gospel have been carried away into Judaism and syncretism and bring them back to the simple gospel of the Christ’s redemption.
The speakers one after the other did justice to the theme, pointing out with scientific precision where many pastors have allowed the leaven of the Pharisees to corrupt their messages..
They pointed out that the need to fight against heresy is not just a light matter. According to many of the speakers, ‘the most dangerous preachers are those who mix the gospel with the old testament laws.”
They noted that the capacity for deception is the greatest danger that is facing the church. Rev Oli George pointed out clearly that the capacity for deception is the greatest danger of the end time.
Unfortunately, the generality of the church is often only concerned about the warnings of Jesus about wars but forget that the first thing he told his disciples was they should take head not to be deceived.
Ironically, as Bro Pade Tokun pointed out at the conference many church goers love to be deceived. He quoted Jeremiah 5 v 30-31 to buttress his submission. He added, ‘it is not only the deceiver that will go to hell. The deceived too will go to hell”
According to him, church people should be able to say no to their pastors when they are not comfortable with their messages and go on to seek clarification.
He warned pastors to stop intimidating their members with the regular worn out cliche, ‘touch not my anointed” adding. “it is because you don’t have anointing that is why you intimidate your members. There is no assistant Jesus. He will not delegate his role to any man. He won’t have you take up what he has not assigned to you.”
He warned, ‘Don’t take your pastor as assistant Jesus. Don’t think anybody has absolute power over you. Some people have been delivered from demons but they have been possessed by pastors.”
Touch not my anointed
At this point, Bishop Olaleye shed light on the much quoted, “touch not my anointed’ scripture used by pastors to scare their congregation.
Quoting Psalm 105v11 where the scripture was taken from he said, “that scripture is not about individuals..it was about the Jewish race and it was said of them when they left Egypt. Even at that, if we take the scripture on the face value, it is about all believers not a select few. So it is not a scripture to be used by pastors to intimidate the pew.”
Olaleye explained further that the Bible encourages us not to rebuke an elder adding, “a true child of God must be bold to disagree with his pastors respectfully. We pastors should let the congregation know we are equal with them. We share the same brotherhood and priesthood in Christ. The wearing of cassocks is to put some responsibility on us. It should not be a factor of Lordship over the people we are to pastor. We should be amenable.”
Genesis of the trouble.
Dr Kayode.Oyedepo raised a critical issue on what led to the pollution in the church. He observed that many pastors simply want to use Jesus to get what they want. ‘Sometimes the pastors are not to blame. There is a tradition that presupposes that those who do the work of God must suffer.
It is like senior pastors feel that junior pastors must suffer. The junior pastor also has it at the back of his mind he has to go through some pain getting basic needs while pulling through until he then supposedly breaks through. We send people to missions to go and suffer. That is one of the reasons we have people who are compromising the gospel.”
He explained further that no parent will want his children to go through the pain they have gone through in life. They want to make life better for their children. “It should not be a tradition that a pastor doing God ‘s work has to suffer. A church should be able to provide basic needs for a pastor on assignment so the pastor can concentrate on his assignment and not be bugged down by survival issues. If that is the case the pastor will not be tempted to compromise the gospel.
“The truth is that if the gospel is preached the way it should be preached, it does not guarantee financial returns the way some pastors display wealth.
“God does provide for his servants. But some of the wealth displayed by some pastors is gotten through manipulation and deception . The reason the gospel is compromised and the Bible is made to say what it does not say is because of the lust for material things by some preachers.”
He warned the church to stop setting pastors up for failure. “trusting God for material things is an elementary level of faith. What to eat, drink and put on should be the least concern of a servant of God. There are greater things like the souls of people that are perishing to trust God for that they will be saved. That should be the primary concern and perhaps the only concern of the pastors if the parameters are right. “
He suggested that the church must evolve a support system and template for missionaries and people who have God’s call on their lives to do missions. “When there is support and guarantee of survival, the pastors will be able to concentrate on the task of soul winning.’ he said.
Rev George Testimony
Perhaps one of the highpoints of the two-day event was the soul stirring testimony of Rev Olu George.
Sharing his own experience with deception, he stated that lies become dangerous when they are embedded with some truth.
George who lived his formative years in Nigeria and who had followed teachings of some of the early preachers of the gospel in Nigeria said, “You have no idea of how blind you are until God opens your eyes. I started a church in South Africa in the most volatile area you can think of. We had a multiracial church until Nigerian brothers began to come to the church and gradually they overwhelmed people of other races.
“The church was prospering financially until my conscience could no longer take what was happening. I discovered that the financial pillars of the church were drug dealers, 419ers. I had to seek counsel on what to do. And I heard all kinds of counsel. It bothered me. But they kept bringing so much money to the church. a preacher came from Porthharcourt in Nigeria to preacher in our church and that was a turning point for me..I discovered that I was a backslidden teacher of God’s word. It became clear I had departed from the Lord without knowing.”
George said he entered into a series of repentance and that he was bold enough to announce to the now massive congregation that he was not doing it right. “it was a big turning point for me..I had to tell my people that I had led them astray by the kind of self centred materialistic feel good gospel I was preaching and that I was no longer ready to continue in that path “
Ironically, rather than repent along Rev George almost three-quarter of the population of the church withdrew. “We almost came to ground zero. We moved from a 400 metre square facility to no venue. Many of them left the church..we could no longer maintain a venue. But I was ready not to do things my way “My message changed from God wants you to be happy to God wants you to be holy. In 10 years God has transformed my spiritual appetite. I have grown and I am still growing. I am being transformed to the fullness of the stature of Christ
Identifying the Pharisees
Do we have preachers who can be likened to the Pharisees of old in today’s Christianity? That is another poser that the conference tackled.
Pastor Dokun Adebayo, Prof Ademola.Adedipe and Pastor David Ikhielea took time to dissect the issue. They all agree that the modern day Pharisees are preachers who say things they don’t do.
Prof Adedipe shared an instance where he caught a pastor feasting after he had ordered his congregation to fast.
They observed that there are other cases of pastors who overstretch the truth. They reasoned that when truth is bloated it often leads to error. “today we have preachers who over-bloat the message of grace. They are known as the hyper grace movement.
“They believe it does not matter what you do, God is not angry with you. They believe you don’t need to repent even if you do wrong. Just confess Jesus and carry on. This is the wrong gospel and preachers who preach such gospel should be cautioned and not be followed.”
When pastors use their professional strength to replace spiritual significance they are like the Pharisees of old. “It is good to be concerned about the welfare of your members and seek to help them with resources that can help emancipate them economically. But we must realise that the gospel is not that.
“We should not now turn our Sunday service to money making lecture time. We would be defeating the purpose of the gospel. Jesus did not die to make us materially wealthy. The sole reason he died was to reconcile man back to God ” Oyedepo noted .
Preachers who fight for place and position are also identified as being Pharisees. The speakers noted also that there are Christocentric Pharisees..”These are preachers who think they are more qualified than others. They believe they are the separated ones. They believe they are the only one who know the truth. We should purge ourselves of such thoughts.” Said Rev George.
The atmosphere of the conference changed as everybody began to realise that one way or the other they needed to repent. It got to a point that the whole conference was led to repentance. Participants bowed and cried to God for mercy and sought enablement to do the right thing.
The speakers noted also that pastors who hold to their position and who are territorial with a penchant to want to intimidate others with their wealth and size fall into the temptation of becoming modern day Pharisee. “These preachers love the praise of men. They attract worship. If their names are not mentioned in the service and they are not paid homage they feel irritated and are uncomfortable.”
The common gospel for common man
Bro Pade Tokun stirred participants when he admonished them not to stop being common people. He cited the example of Jesus who went to John to be Baptised. John did not want to baptise Jesus, but Jesus insisted. It was the common pool where every other person was being baptised that Jesus was baptized.
“So, I want to admonish you,don’t stop being a common man. Jesus does not want you to stop being ordinary. You are threading a dangerous ground when you think people downgrade you by calling you, brother. It is the seed of righteousness to be a common man. The beginning of destruction is not to want to be ordinary men.”
The conference noted that Jesus was a common man and had no appearance to be desired as described by the Bible..
Pastor Oyemade pointed out that contrary to the claims of some pastors that Jesus” garment was so expensive that they had to cast a lot for it, he said, ” the Roman soldiers were struggling for the cloth of Jesus not because it was a very expensive attire but because who ever had the cloth would be credited with the honour of being the person that arrested Jesus and got him killed. It was just like when the cloth of Stephen was placed at the feet of Saul of Tarsus after he was killed by the mob.”
Rev George later warned pastors to be weary of what they called revival that if care is not taken, some revivals would lead to occult and witchcraft practice. “let us be content with the simplicity of the gospel. We should be careful not to complicate things.
“Pride is the sin of the spiritual. It is the sin of the revived, the reformed and the renewed. We should be careful not to look down on other brethren. We are susceptible to the lustful spirit of the anti Christ without realising it when we look down on others.”
The summary
The speakers at various points highlighted the need to keep the message of the cross simple and relatable. It should not be complicated and the appeal to realms and portals must be discouraged
They agree that the purity and the simple gospel once delivered to the saints is worth fighting for. We should contend for the simplicity of our love when we first believed in Christ.
According to them, there is no gospel that is about making people materially wealthy.
Oyedepo talks about the Adamic grace and the saving grace. The Adamic grace is for the whole human race. Everybody can prosper and be healthy under this grace. But then, there is the saving grace. It is for those who accept the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and those who allow Christ to be the Lord of their lives.”
The speakers posit that once the cross is not at the centre of a preachers message, self will be there. “the goal of the cross is to kill self. We die daily. We are crucified with Christ. Dead men don’t live for themselves in self exaltation, self righteousness, self preparation. Our message has to change. Our messages must be about Christ. When pastors teach Christ the time they spend for counselling will be reduced.”
The conference speakers took time to entertain questions and also clarified crucial issues to participants. It was one conference that left many crying to God for renewal and restoration. Nobody was left out. Both conference speakers and participants sought the face of God for a new beginning.