Our Lifestyles Would Have Been Worse, If We Didn't Have Many Churches - Rev Olowojoba

Rev (Dr) Charles Olowoja who retired as a medical doctor many years ago is now General Overseer of Dayspring Bible Church Worldwide. At 60, this shepherd of the Lord who many describe as a practical preacher spoke with journalists in Abuja saying come 2015, Nigeria remains unshakable.

Sixty years on earth, how has life been like? But you don't look 60.

(Smiles). A lot of people tell me that and I'm grateful to God. Actually, it's the grace of God. I also believe that we have a responsibility to take care of our bodies because a lot of people don't really know how to take care of the human body--your diet, prayer life, a heart that is free of offences, of anxiety, just learning to hand over things to God and not allowing much to bother you. If something bothers you, you take it back to God so when you sleep, you sleep well, when you eat, you can digest the food.

So do we ascribe the situation where we have a lot of sick people in this country to their failure to do all this you mentioned?

Yes, to a large extent! There's a lot of ignorance as far as taking care of the human body is concerned. I noticed that this ignorance is not only among Christians. It's among human beings generally. People don't understand that we have a responsibility to look after our bodies in terms of what we eat. The body is not meant to handle every sort of food. What you eat contributes a lot.

Sicknesses come as a result of so many things that we allow internally that we shouldn't. We worry about so many things in life. That worry will be cut down if we have a vibrant relationship with God. A lot of people keep malice, they bottle it up, they don't let it out and they don't forgive easily. These are things that can really affect a person's health very deeply.

Again, the level of hygiene of the individual matters a lot. Some people are ignorant about that. You don't just eat anything and expect not to break down. It's not so much about poverty even though poverty contributes to a large extent to the status of health of so many people in terms of nutrition which is not balanced because they can't afford... but I still think that no matter how much you earn, you can eat something that is balanced if you know what it is. Vegetables, fruits are cheap! There is a lot of ignorance as to how to look after our bodies.

But many ascribe their conditions to witchcraft.

Yes, that's a huge part of the problem. But I would say that we give witches too much credit for most of the things that happen to us. I do believe in the existence of witches because the Bible talks about them. I would say I had some experience of some sort of witchcraft attacks and among the people we minister to. Yes, witches are there. But they're not responsible for everything. Intractable problems yes!

Ultimately, we say Satan is responsible for every destruction, every sickness but then you can actually make the devil irrelevant through knowledge, through understanding.

Are you not disturbed that there seems to be many churches yet we don't have response from people in the way they relate to their God. Why do churches increase in Nigeria yet we have much sin?

First, I would like to correct that impression that we have too many churches and they are not affecting the lifestyles of the people. We don't have a way of measuring how much the faith-based organizations are influencing the lifestyles of people to see where we were and where we are now. The question I would like to ask is, could it have been worse if we did not have whatever little influence we have now? I think the answer is yes.

I have personally seen a lot of people whose lives have been completely transformed. The thing about Christianity and any other religion is, it's a voluntary thing. God never forces you to make a choice. He gives you the opportunities and expects you to make a choice. Why is that so? He gave us a will power and the ability to choose. That power of choice is one of the greatest gifts we have as human beings. That is why we can say no, we can say yes. But unfortunately, most people choose the wrong things most of the times.

I believe that churches and other faith-based organizations are having a tremendous influence. Never forget that it's a voluntary thing. Our role is to preach to the people and to teach them the word of God. It's left for them to choose what to do with it. You can't run a church like a decree. Even God does not run it by decree. He leads you to make a choice. But what we must realize is every choice we make has consequences; it will lead to a future whether palatable or unpalatable. In our congregation for example, I will say there are many people whose lives have been transformed.

Well, talking about proliferation of churches, you know we have baals all over the place, I wish we have more churches. One church cannot reach everybody. Granted that there is nothing God has created that people don't abuse--people abuse the church system, abuse political power, people abuse whatever gift God has given onto us. Just as you have genuine men of God who are there in the ministry, called by God and are passionate to serve God and humanity, there are also people who are there for the wrong reason. That is not my place to determine. Those that are called are making that influence.

Again there are so many people that were not given proper upbringing by their parents. The responsibility of raising a child rests first with the people that brought that child into the world--the parents of the child have responsibility to guide that child in a proper way. The Bible says bring up the child in the way he should go. He didn't say the teachers in school should do that. Unfortunately, we are drifting into an era in which parents are preoccupied with their career pursuit--both men and women and therefore don't have quality time to raise their children and they eventually grow up to be deviants in the society.

Many people fear that 2015 is ill-fated. What do you foresee?

The country is not going to break. God told me that a long time ago. We have survived worse things before and we'll survive 2015. You know, 2015 isn't going to be as bloody as many people are expecting. No matter what goes on now, God is in control!

Well, of course, there will be reactions and counter reactions from winners and losers which will always happen but as for the country breaking up, it is not going to happen. Nigerians should not worry. We'll survive 2015 elections. We believe God there will be free and fair elections. We're praying for wisdom for the umpires.

Don't you think God has allowed Boko Haram insurgency for a message to Nigeria?

I wouldn't say exactly why it's happening but I believe if not for the intervention of God, it would have been worse than it is now. I've always maintained that if we really want peace in this country, we have to start re-examining our core values as a people. If we value the dignity of life, if we value the right of every child to proper education, if we promote merit, if meritocracy becomes our core value--no country can actually develop where merit is relegated. We have to adequately reward merit and hard work. If we can find the right people and put them in the right places, we're going to definitely have the right results. If we don't do all these and we don't provide education, we don't provide the basic amenities, people are likely to express their anger in various ways--call it insurgency in the Niger Delta or Book Haram, these things are going to happen.
BY BEN ATONKO