| People want to go to
heaven, but they don’t want to die
By NJOKU ONYEKACHI JET
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
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•Ogbuitepu
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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Chief (Barrister) Edward Ogbuitepu says that happiness comes
naturally when one is at peace with God. When he celebrated
his 70th birthday recently, he spoke on his relationship with
God as well as other religious issues.
Being born again
My being born again was by accident. It was on a day I was
on lunch break at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), I stumbled
on Pastor Adeboye preaching. At the end, there was an altar
call to which I responded. I almost fell when he touched me.
Through the feeling I got, I believed that there was power
in the Holy Spirit. It was from that day I decided to serve
God.
Belief in God
I believe in the existence of the Almighty God. Several circumstances
I have passed through in life gave me the conviction. When
I reflect on them and how I managed to come out unscathed,
I believe that someone else is responsible for my life and
not by my power. For instance, I was the only one who came
out in my school days with a Grade 1 and with this, after
passing the federal civil service test, I was employed by
the Nigerian Ports Authority. In a Nigeria where tribalism
and who do you know is the order of the day, God used a foreigner
to lift me. In spite of suppressions and oppositions, no one
could believe I could retire as a director.
Relationship with God
I can describe it as cordial. God has been my father and my
deliverer. He has saved my life on several occasions. One
of such instances was in 1979 when I flew from Calabar to
Lagos and our plane hovered in the sky for about 10 minutes.
Eventually, we were called back to Port Hartcourt where we
had a safe landing. I recall that at that moment, everybody
in that plane was praying, shouting and calling on God.
Secondly, sometime ago, I was ill and almost gave up. At a
point, I discovered some men and women came and prayed for
me. At night that same day, a voice said to me, ‘get
up!’ When I looked to see those who had prayed for me,
I realized it had been a dream. It was a friend who explained
that those who prayed for me were angels who ensured I did
not die from the illness. All these helped me strive to maintain
a cordial relationship with my maker.
Why celebrate?
Sometimes when you look around and see what people go through,
you, who are healthy and alive, will have every cause to be
grateful to God. For example, my father lived up to this age
but hadn’t the opportunity to rejoice and celebrate
it. This was as a result of the news he got from the battlefield
during the Nigerian civil war. The news had it that all non-Yoruba
in Lagos had been killed. Immediately he heard this, he collapsed
from that period, he was bedridden and died in agony. This
is why I called out my family members and friends to thank
God for granting me the privilege to go through life on this
earth this long, 70 years.
Life after death
Of course, with these experiences, I come to believe that
there is life beyond this physical realm. I also believe that
there certainly, will be a final judgment for all men. The
scriptures talked about this.
Miracles
God is always working miracles everyday of our lives. But
unfortunately, a lot of people fail to realize this fact.
For instance, our sleeping and waking up each day is a great
miracle because we cannot account for such trip. Let me take
us to when government banned miracle show on television. I
was strongly in support of that action because then and even
till date, these churches are commercializing miracle. Imagine
when a pastor would be on the telly and tell viewer at home
to stretch out your arm and claim you are healed of your sicknesses.
This is without knowing or seeing you or whether you did or
didn’t stretch the arm.
Secondly, there is what I call church prostitution in these
churches. Again, most of these churches, I’m sorry to
say, are not going by God’s dictates. Like in praying,
God commanded that you go to your closet and call on Him and
He will answer. So it is not only when you go to the fields
or public places and shout that God will hear. Today, churches
operate what I call monetization of service to God. The talk
in most churches now is all about money. It is somehow becoming
nonsense. Every Tom, Dick and Harry even the jobless people
will just rise and claim to have been called by God.
I believe God works miracle everyday. Miracle is not manifested
by dancing around and shouting at the top of ones voice. In
fact, most of this men shouting miracles are not performing
anything. They are just deceiving people. Personally, they
should focus more on visiting and praying for the sick and
providing for the less privileged.
The desire for heaven and fear of death
I have also asked one or two people why we all seek to go
to heaven but fear to die. Nobody has yet given me an answer.
From the scriptures, we were told that Jesus came to save
us and have prepared many mansions for us in Heaven to be
inherited by us. The story of Lazarus and the rich man also
tells us there is heaven. Everybody I believe loves to go
there, but the Bible says it is only those who did good will
inherit it. People would want to enjoy as much as possible
here on earth and get prepared for the enjoyment in heaven.
However, this can only be by the grace of Christ.
Churches and indecent dresses
This menace stems from the fact that Africa and indeed, most
third world countries want to imitate the developed world.
But we fail to realize that they are years ahead of us. I
don’t believe the church contributed to this. For instance,
the orthodox churches have never told you to come naked to
church. Like Saint Paul said, they believe you should be well
covered.
Probably the Pentecostal or the 21st century churches as they
are called are guilty of this because they scramble for members.
It could also be that they were misinterpreted.
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