President of the Christ Apostolic Church, Pastor Abraham Akinosun, spoke with ADEOLA BALOGUN about his life as a cleric, the crisis in the church and his relationship with late Prophet Timothy Obadare. The interview was conducted shortly before Obadare’s death
How does it feel being the president of the Christ Apostolic Church?
Everything is by the grace of God. If God wants anyone to be in a position, He would have made the provision for him to meet the challenges of such an office. It’s quite challenging but the grace of God has been sufficient.
As an old church, I thought the head of the CAC would be a very much older person.
Well, God would not leave a big church like this in the hand of people who don’t have a focus or the grace. Though I may not be as old as some expected, I have passed through all the necessary stages to attain my present rank. I was a catechist for many years; before you can become a pastor, you must have been a catechist for at least 10 years. And after working for 10 years as a pastor, if you are lucky, you become a district superintendent. And if you are so lucky, five years after being a district superintendent, you become a chairman. I passed through all those stages. I worked as chairman for 10 and a half years before I was promoted to the office of the general superintendent. The constitution says that before you can occupy the post of the general superintendent, you must have been ordained for at least 15 years; but in my own case, I had been ordained for about 32 years in 2011.
Were you a son of a pastor to be able to work in the ministry?
No, after my secondary school education, I went to trade school where I trained in plumbing and fittings. Then I worked with many companies like G Cappa, Julius Berger and many Italian firms like Drake and Skol, Taicom. To be precise, I had the first call in 1956 when I was in the primary school that whether I liked it or not, I was going to be a minister of God. But in 1972, I got the message that I would be the leader of the church but I didn’t tell anybody. Then I went to the Bible College and worked as a catechist for many years before I went abroad for further studies. I studied in Germany, Sweden and Belgium before coming back home to take the ordination as a pastor. Then I had the grace of working with our great fathers like Medayese, senior General Superintendent of the church, Baba Olutimehin. I worked intimately with them. In those days when I was a pastor, people used to call me the reformer of the church because I know the core of the problem of the church. I faced many of them, when I was in various offices through the years.
Was your father a member of CAC?
My father was born an Anglican but his mother was converted to CAC in 1930 and my grandma had influence over all his children and we used to go to church with her. My own father was converted to CAC in 1956.
Were you combining your pastoral work with your jobs at the various companies that you have mentioned?
No, I had not become a minister of God by then. I actually resigned my appointment with G Cappa in 1972 as a technician. At that time, some people were saying whether something was wrong with me mentally to leave a certain job for uncertainty. That was the time the Udoji award was coming and a lot of people were worried that I could take such a step as a young man. They could not understand why a sane young man could give up a lucrative job and opt for a pastoral training in the bible college. They thought I must be crazy, especially when plumbing and fitting work was the biggest job in the construction industry; and at the same time, when the Udoji Awards was about to take off. I refused all entreaties made by people to rescind my decision and I went to bible college in Akure.
Were your parents still around then when you wanted to resign?
I was not living near them; I was in Jos while my father was at Ibadan here. My wife didn’t want to agree with me but the Lord calmed her down through the counselling of many people. She couldn’t see the reason why I should leave a job for the unknown. I remember that the first time I told my father about the prophecy that I would be a minister of God in future, he got furious. He wondered why I should feel happy to be appointed as one of those miserable prophets in those days. Before his death in 2010, he glorified God.
Perhaps those who expressed surprise at your move were not wrong then maybe it was not popular?
It was not a popular idea at all then for someone to leave a lucrative job for pastor training. But you see, if you have a vision and the vision is very sound and authentic, you would want to drop whatever you are doing and pursue it. That is what happened to the disciples when Jesus met them; they left everything and followed him.
When you said you first had a vision as a young man in 1956, did you do anything to run away from it?
Of course yes. At that time, it was not a normal or popular idea for you to proclaim that you are a minister of God. Even the Lord said that I should be praying; that it would not come by force when I was dragging my feet. He warned me that if I didn’t want to succumb easily, I should be careful that any catastrophe did not befall me before I embrace the vision. I was battling with all that even when I was struggling to be a man.
Didn’t you have any responsibility in 1972 when you resigned your appointment to go to bible college?
The responsibility that was on me then was how to take care of my wife and our only child at that time. But I tried all my best and the Lord helped me. I had lost my mother in 1957 and my father could take care of himself, being a big time farmer.
You have mentioned the various stages you passed through before attaining this office; don’t you think that young men nowadays run away from the old churches because of the rigorous training processes?
We wonder when we see church planters in the new generation churches who have not spent 10 years in the ministry suddenly becoming bishops and other appellations they give to themselves. People that have not passed through informal training that we call tutelage, apart from the formal training in college, have suddenly become bishops. I’m sorry to say this, but the truth is it is not sufficient enough for any young man to start planting their churches just because he can speak English fluently. Nowadays, people don’t take bible college seriously. They are expanding quite alright but they are the ones that brought flamboyant evangelism. It was not like that before when we started.
As a trained catechist, what was your pay like then?
As a trained catechist, I think my stipend was about N30 or so.
So when you wanted to get married, didn’t you worry that the salary might not be sufficient for the family?
I got married before going to bible college. I got married in 1971. That is why I said before that the only fear I had when I wanted to resign was how to take care of my wife and child while I went to college.
So, what did your wife do to discourage you from resigning your appointment?
She was talking to people around to help her talk to me. She went to her relatives and mine to persuade me from taking a decision that could backfire. For that reason, I ignored everybody; I did not come close to anyone that could talk me out of what I wanted to do. From Jos, I went straight to Akure but I settled her in business and brought her to my family house in Ibadan.
I am sure the two of you would still laugh over the matter today?
When she wants to talk now, she would say when the Lord called us, we accepted it with joy and enthusiasm and I would laugh. But we thank God for everything.
Though you had your own vision, what did you do on your own to realise the revelations against the politics of leadership in CAC?
I didn’t tell anyone about the visions I had; even some other people came to tell me their own visions about me. One prophet told me that nothing would change it that I would become the next president after Pastor Oluseye but I didn’t tell anyone. But a church led by the Holy Spirit, no matter what, the Holy Spirit would work it out. Pastor Oluseye said God told him that I was the one appointed to be the general superintendent. I never went to him to ask for anything personal despite my closeness to him. The constitution of the church says you cannot be president without being the general superintendent first. When I then became the general superintendent, it was clear to people that I would be the next president after Oluseye.
CAC used to be one church before; what happened?
It’s a long story. To be precise, in 1985, the Lord started warning that if we were not very careful, the church was going to break by 1990. We were warned that there would be a crisis if we didn’t take care to administer discipline. But the church leaders then had a soft spot for the director of WOSEM, Pastor (Timothy) Obadare, who was busy planting his ministry everywhere he went. By then, God was using him to make exploits but those he was planting then were not working for CAC but for him. They paid their dues to WOSEM instead of the CAC. Even when he went for revivals, he would launch WOSEM there and all those converted would become loyal to WOSEM instead of CAC. Our elders started complaining about the activities of the WOSEM leader to the president of the church, Baba J.B Orangun, who in turn gave Obadare many warnings to desist but he ignored them. When he ignored the last warning, he was suspended and some people who had sympathy with him were suspended along with him. The general secretary of the church, Pastor Udofia, had become a WOSEM member despite his very important position and he went with him (Obadare). So, that was how the problem started. Then they went to the court to challenge the suspension order and the court said Orangun had power to suspend them. The judgment also said that the church should do everything to recover from the suspended officials all the church property in their possessions such as vehicles, buildings, documents. But the leaders then didn’t want bloodshed or any trouble; they did not carry out that aspect of the judgment thinking that they would come back. After sometime, those people went back to court. You know, the certificate of the church incorporation was taken away by the secretary and when our people wanted to arrest him, some of our fathers said he should be left alone because that might lead to his being jailed. The thinking then was that as a church, nothing like that should happen in order not to send bad signals out about the house of God. The leaders even counselled that he might have a rethink and return the certificate later. That is how the problem persisted for so long.
So that was what led to the accusation of certificate forgery levelled against Oluseye and others?
Oluseye was not in office by then. One court had decided that if anyone was to be charged, it should be Orangun, Makinde, Olutimehin and Babajide but all those people were no longer around. They were all dead, including Udofia who took the certificate. Now, they were challenging Oluseye who had nothing to do with it.
Since you came in as president, what have you done to reconcile both parties?
We have tried all our best possible. I have visited all their leaders. The problem they have is that their leaders who have attained the age of 75 don’t want to go, which is against our constitution. All their leaders are far above the age limit; their president, Ogunlade, is about 84, the secretary is about 82, Obadare was above 80.
Maybe WOSEM was popular because of the miracles of Prophet Obadare, or are you saying the miracles were not real?
They were real. Obadare’s miracles were real, no doubt about that. All the miracles performed by Prophet Obadare were authentic; it was God that elevated him as the evangelist of the church but I think he shouldn’t have used such for his personal ministry instead for the growth and development of the CAC.
But then, WOSEM at a time was no longer popular, why?
Of course, God wants to show that he was raised up for this church, not for his personal interest.
Did you make any effort to reach out to him?
I made many efforts. His first born who is also a minister of God has been here many times. He was here some weeks ago when I invited him. We have been making efforts to bring them back into the fold and we have not stopped.
What are you doing to check the exodus of youth from the old generation churches such as yours?
The youth wing of the church is intact; we have a very dynamic youth leader. Maybe it may even be a misconception that there is exodus of youths from CAC. You need to attend some of their events to see that this church has a very bright future in our youths.
Do you still have all those training regimes?
Of course, we have them; we have seminaries scattered over the place. We have a college for women at Ede. We have colleges with various campuses around us where we train men to be ministers of God.
What is the vision of the university owned by CAC, Joseph Ayo Babalola University?
The vision is to create and train people that will be useful to God and humanity. One of the commendable programmes in JABU is entrepreneurship training for its products. It was from JABU that all other universities copied the programme. You don’t leave JABU and start looking for a job because before you leave, you would have become a potential employer of labour.
What is the role of women in CAC?
This is a church that believes in the Bible and we don’t go beyond biblical tenets. We have been instructed by God through Apostle Paul that if women have something that is confusing them, they should go back home and ask their husbands. So, we believe in that and we practise it. That is why there is no ordination of women pastors in CAC. It is not that we relegate women to the background, there are women planters but they subject themselves to the leadership of the pastor. All our women understand this but we have a very vibrant Good Women Association under which all women congregate. They are very active in their various districts and meetings. Apart from that, there is Ministers Wives Fellowship, which is strictly for the spouses of the ministers. This is an avenue for them to also have a say in the administration of the church. They are usually the ones behind the scene in assisting the ministers.
Are all your children still in CAC?
All of them are in CAC except one of my daughters who got married to a Deeper Life pastor. They met at the university. I did not force anyone but one thing is that if you as a parent don’t care for your children, they take care of themselves. Our fathers have shown us the wisdom of taking care of the church and our individual families too. If you don’t care for your family, they will not regard what you are doing as something from God.