COMMENTARY ON NEWS ITEM THAT CHURCH FOUNDER BENSON IDAHOSA'S WIDOW BECOMES ARCHBISHOP AT THE CHURCH OF GOD MISSION
toyin adepoju
Idahosa’s Widow Becomes Arch-Bishop
THIS DAY
11.09.2009
Widow of the late Founder and General Overseer of the Church of God Mission (CGM), Arch-bishop Benson Idahosa, Margaret, was last weekend consecrated as the first female archbishop and leader of the church.
The new CGM leader was consecrated at the church’s headquarters in Benin, Edo State capital by a team of renowned archbishops led by the President of the International Communion of Charismatic Churches (ICCC), Arch Bishop David Huskins and ArchBishop Silas Owiti, from Kenya before a capacity crowd of over 20,000.
In their goodwill messages, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state and his Delta state counterpart, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan praised the unity and oneness existing in the Church of God Mission since the demise of Arch-bishop Idahosa, noting that the emergence of his widow as the new leader of the church was a clear indication that women can do exploits in the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Other speakers at the occasion, including traditional rulers from Ebonyi, Imo, Rivers, Enugu, Bayelsa, Anambra pledged their unalloyed support to the new church leader as well as the newly consecrated bishops who preside over the church in Abuja, Rivers, Plateau, among others.
COMMENTARY
As we read about the pomp and pageantry and the salutations from secular powers attendant on the crowning of the archbishop of a Pentecostal church,I wonder to what degree the Church of God Mission and many other Pentecostal churches are truly Christian churches.I ask the question on account of the following considerations:
Is Arch-Bishop (Mrs) Margaret Idahosa's ascension to the post of archbishop more a reflection of her personal abilities than of her husband making her the head of the church after his death,according to his will?With such a privileged,non-elected positioning,was she not poised to become archbishop eventually?
The concept of an archbishop in a Pentecostal,Protestant church as I understand the Church of God Mission to be,is something I find bothersome.Pentecostal churches and the Pentecostal movement,in general,represent an effort to return to the roots of the Christan church in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost,an inspirational experience which is described as superseding the institutional structures that are described by the Pentecostals as making the more orthodox Catholic and Protestant churches moribund.This focus on the Holy Spirit is reflected in central tenets of the Pentecostal movement,such as the emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit,on being Born Again through this spiritual indwelling,speaking in tongues made possible by this indwelling,exorcism or deliverance from evil spirits through the authority given to the believer by God through Jesus,the Son of God and the final authority of the Bible as the verbal expression of the Word of God through which the cosmos was created.
In the light of the focus on the priesthood of the individual believer,as made possible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as expressed in the experience of being Born Again,I wonder why titles and posts like that of archbishop are relevant.Does the title imply increased responsibility,what justifies it?
I suspect,and would like to be better informed if I am wrong,that the title of archbishop in a Pentecostal church,and in the Church of God Mission,in particular,suggests that such a church has succumbed to the elevation of shadow over spiritual substance,that they have adapted to themselves the focus on the letter rather than the spirit,an emphasis on name rather than substance,which Jesus Christ preached so strenuously against.
My conviction about the fundamental self serving character of many Pentecostal churches emerges from experiences like the one I had with Benson Idahosa when he was still alive when I attended his church at his headquarters in Benin-City on one occasion.It was offering time and he took up a position by the offering box.He announced that nobody who was making an offering should make an offering below a particular amount.
I looked at the church members he was demanding this money from.I saw that many of them looked like people who were managing to make ends meet.I remembered that Jesus insisted on freedom of contribution not compulsion of contribution to church.I have had cause to reflect on the characteristically rich wardrobe of Idahosa himself,on his rich lifestyle and that of other rich pastors like Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy Church.How do they make their money?A member of Oyakhilome's church stated that Oyakhilome has a number of investments such as a microfinance bank, among others.I asked how he got the capital to set up those businesses?She claimed that he must have done some work to do that. I responded,that as far as I know,Oyakhilome has done no work except pastoring.
Benson Idahosa set up a majestic spiritual centre in Benin.He started a hospital and a university.All those accomplishments are admirable.My problem with him and with most of the Pentecostal pastors, particularly in Nigeria, is that their lifestyles are not those of people who are living on other people's freely given donations.They also do not provide charity.An example of charity is the experience I had at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge,England,where I got excellent treatment from doctors and nurses and was given medication to take home.All free.In contrast,the activities of many of the Pentestocal churches in Nigeria,from Church of God Mission,toChrist Embassy,to Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries,are more of businesses.Businesses set up with donations by church members who are not shareholders in those businesses.
My perspectives on what I see as the pseudo-Christian character of many Pentecostal churches is shaped by an effort to relate their activities to the propfile of Jesus Christ, the founder of what eventually became the Christan church.One does not have to be like Jesus in all particulars,but one needs to be be Christ like.There is no escaping the fact that Jesus was poor.Voluntarily so.He owned nothing.No personal property.His followers at his death also operated in a communal system where goods were shared.Compare this with the opulence of the current pastors.The concept of voluntary poverty as freedom from the burden of ownership of material goods and attendant attachments is lost in these contexts.The pastor and his circle become no better than upper middle class consumers.In fact,pastoring becomes a quick road to the upper economic class in otherwise economically difficult countries.
It is also very good to create institutions like Idahosa,Oyakhilome,MFM and others have done but the methods by which they have created these institutions are far from transparent,as far as I can see.These institutions are also businesses not charitable organisations.
John Milton,in Paradise Regained and Fyodor Dostoyevsky in the story "The Grand Inquisitor" in his novel The Brothers Karamazov,depict the symbolic significance of the temptations Jesus is described as going through in the wilderness at the hands of the Devil before beginning his ministry:to worship the Devil in exchange for control of the world,to turn stone into bread to satisfy hunger and to test the power of God by demanding a miracle.
Dostoyevsky indicates that some churches have accepted the temptations that Christ rejected and that if Christ were to return,he would be unwelcome among the leaders of such churches. I would hold that many Nigerian Pentecostal churches are in that position.They may be Christian churches,but to a significantly limited degree.Perhaps Jesus's imaginative pronouncement may be applied to them:On the last day many will come and declare-I raised the dead in your name! Let me enter the Kingdom of Heaven! I will respond: begone from me! When I was hungry you did not give me food to eat,when I was thirsty you did not give me water to drink! and they will ask:when were you hungry or thirsty and we did not give you to eat or drink?I will reply-whatever you do to the least of my brethren ,that you do unto me.
I
toyin adepoju
People should be able to make their points without slurring or making death threats or threats of other violence against others.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: toyin adepoju <toyin....@googlemail.com>Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:37:36 +0000To: eRG<edorege...@yahoo.co.uk>Cc: <NaijaP...@yahoogroups.com>; <edo-n...@yahoogroups.com>; Edo Global<Edo_G...@yahoogroups.com>; nai<naijain...@googlegroups.com>; nigerianworldforum<NIgerianW...@yahoogroups.com>; Nidoa<ni...@yahoogroups.com>; <edo-...@yahoogroups.com>; <krazi...@yahoogroups.com>; WoleSoyinkaSociety<WoleSoyin...@yahoogroups.com>; usaafricadialogue<USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: To Toyin - COMMENTARY ON NEWS ITEM THAT CHURCH FOUNDER BENSON IDAHOSA'S WIDOW
Mr.Degenerate,I did not mention the names of other Pentecostal church founders because I do not remember them.The same point holds anyway for all of them who are guilty of the description I have mentioned.I remember Oyakihilome and Idahosa beceause I watched them often on TV while living in Benin.I am from Edo state.I am not Yoruba.The insults you direct at me indicate the quality of your person.I am happy that many Nigerians from any state are not like people like yourself.If you try to kill me,I will kill you first.Be warned.
2009/11/10 eRG <edorege...@yahoo.co.uk>
Toyin Adepoju the Anti-Edo man:May devil solder your yansh with all your anti-edo rhetorics in these fora. How come you chosed the ordination of Mrs Idahosa to vent your perceived lopsidedness in our worship between God and mammon. You were able to mention names like Idahosa and Oyakhilomen in your diatribe but the name of the leader of MFM escaped your perforated skull, a bigot like you masquerading as intellectual. Is CGM the most thriving pentecostal church in Nigeria? What happens to all the others in your neck of the wood? They don't tickle your fancy, abi? Yeyeman! You claim to love Benin, but all you've been doing since the Uniben VCship saga is look for ways to disparage anything Benin city, sabotuers like you that have lived in Benin city should be hunted down and killed like dogs. Listen Idiot, you have been put on notice.eRG
Nigeria
From: toyin adepoju <toyin....@googlemail.com>
To: edo-n...@yahoogroups.com; Edo Global <Edo_G...@yahoogroups.com>; nai <naijain...@googlegroups.com>; naijap...@yahoogroups.com; nigerianworldforum <NIgerianW...@yahoogroups.com>; Nidoa <ni...@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: krazi...@yahoogroups.com; WoleSoyinkaSociety <WoleSoyin...@yahoogroups.com>; usaafricadialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tue, 10 November, 2009 11:25:08
Subject: [NaijaPolitics] COMMENTARY ON NEWS ITEM THAT CHURCH FOUNDER BENSON IDAHOSA'S WIDOW BECOMES ARCHBISHOP AT THE CHURCH OF GOD MISSION
NEWS REPORT
Idahosa’s Widow Becomes Arch-Bishop
THIS DAY
11.09.2009
Widow of the late Founder and General Overseer of the Church of God Mission (CGM), Arch-bishop Benson Idahosa, Margaret, was last weekend consecrated as the first female archbishop and leader of the church.
The new CGM leader was consecrated at the church’s headquarters in Benin, Edo State capital by a team of renowned archbishops led by the President of the International Communion of Charismatic Churches (ICCC), Arch Bishop David Huskins and ArchBishop Silas Owiti, from Kenya before a capacity crowd of over 20,000.
In their goodwill messages, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state and his Delta state counterpart, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan praised the unity and oneness existing in the Church of God Mission since the demise of Arch-bishop Idahosa, noting that the emergence of his widow as the new leader of the church was a clear indication that women can do exploits in the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Other speakers at the occasion, including traditional rulers from Ebonyi, Imo, Rivers, Enugu, Bayelsa, Anambra pledged their unalloyed support to the new church leader as well as the newly consecrated bishops who preside over the church in Abuja, Rivers, Plateau, among others.
COMMENTARY
As we read about the pomp and pageantry and the salutations from secular powers attendant on the crowning of the archbishop of a Pentecostal church,I wonder to what degree the Church of God Mission and many other Pentecostal churches are truly Christian churches.I ask the question on account of the following considerations:
Is Arch-Bishop (Mrs) Margaret Idahosa's ascension to the post of archbishop more a reflection of her personal abilities than of her husband making her the head of the church after his death,according to his will?With such a privileged,non- elected positioning, was she not poised to become archbishop eventually?
The concept of an archbishop in a Pentecostal, Protestant church as I understand the Church of God Mission to be,is something I find bothersome.Pentecos tal churches and the Pentecostal movement,in general,represent an effort to return to the roots of the Christan church in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost,an inspirational experience which is described as superseding the institutional structures that are described by the Pentecostals as making the more orthodox Catholic and Protestant churches moribund.This focus on the Holy Spirit is reflected in central tenets of the Pentecostal movement,such as the emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit,on being Born Again through this spiritual indwelling,speaking in tongues made possible by this indwelling,exorcism or deliverance from evil spirits through the authority given to the believer by God through Jesus,the Son of God and the final authority of the Bible as the verbal expression of the Word of God through which the cosmos was created.
In the light of the focus on the priesthood of the individual believer,as made possible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as expressed in the experience of being Born Again,I wonder why titles and posts like that of archbishop are relevant.Does the title imply increased responsibility, what justifies it?
I suspect,and would like to be better informed if I am wrong,that the title of archbishop in a Pentecostal church,and in the Church of God Mission,in particular,suggests that such a church has succumbed to the elevation of shadow over spiritual substance,that they have adapted to themselves the focus on the letter rather than the spirit,an emphasis on name rather than substance,which Jesus Christ preached so strenuously against.
My conviction about the fundamental self serving character of many Pentecostal churches emerges from experiences like the one I had with Benson Idahosa when he was still alive when I attended his church at his headquarters in Benin-City on one occasion.It was offering time and he took up a position by the offering box.He announced that nobody who was making an offering should make an offering below a particular amount.
I looked at the church members he was demanding this money from.I saw that many of them looked like people who were managing to make ends meet.I remembered that Jesus insisted on freedom of contribution not compulsion of contribution to church.I have had cause to reflect on the characteristically rich wardrobe of Idahosa himself,on his rich lifestyle and that of other rich pastors like Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy Church.How do they make their money?A member of Oyakhilome's church stated that Oyakhilome has a number of investments such as a microfinance bank, among others.I asked how he got the capital to set up those businesses?She claimed that he must have done some work to do that. I responded,that as far as I know,Oyakhilome has done no work except pastoring.
Benson Idahosa set up a majestic spiritual centre in Benin.He started a hospital and a university.All those accomplishments are admirable.My problem with him and with most of the Pentecostal pastors, particularly in Nigeria, is that their lifestyles are not those of people who are living on other people's freely given donations.They also do not provide charity.An example of charity is the experience I had at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge,England, where I got excellent treatment from doctors and nurses and was given medication to take home.All free.In contrast,the activities of many of the Pentestocal churches in Nigeria,from Church of God Mission,toChrist Embassy,to Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries,are more of businesses.Business es set up with donations by church members who are not shareholders in those businesses.
My perspectives on what I see as the pseudo-Christian character of many Pentecostal churches is shaped by an effort to relate their activities to the propfile of Jesus Christ, the founder of what eventually became the Christan church.One does not have to be like Jesus in all particulars, but one needs to be be Christ like.There is no escaping the fact that Jesus was poor.Voluntarily so.He owned nothing.No personal property.His followers at his death also operated in a communal system where goods were shared.Compare this with the opulence of the current pastors.The concept of voluntary poverty as freedom from the burden of ownership of material goods and attendant attachments is lost in these contexts.The pastor and his circle become no better than upper middle class consumers.In fact,pastoring becomes a quick road to the upper economic class in otherwise economically difficult countries.
It is also very good to create institutions like Idahosa,Oyakhilome,MFM and others have done but the methods by which they have created these institutions are far from transparent, as far as I can see.These institutions are also businesses not charitable organisations.
John Milton,in Paradise Regained and Fyodor Dostoyevsky in the story "The Grand Inquisitor" in his novel The Brothers Karamazov,depict the symbolic significance of the temptations Jesus is described as going through in the wilderness at the hands of the Devil before beginning his ministry:to worship the Devil in exchange for control of the world,to turn stone into bread to satisfy hunger and to test the power of God by demanding a miracle.
Dostoyevsky indicates that some churches have accepted the temptations that Christ rejected and that if Christ were to return,he would be unwelcome among the leaders of such churches. I would hold that many Nigerian Pentecostal churches are in that position.They may be Christian churches,but to a significantly limited degree.Perhaps Jesus's imaginative pronouncement may be applied to them:On the last day many will come and declare-I raised the dead in your name! Let me enter the Kingdom of Heaven! I will respond: begone from me! When I was hungry you did not give me food to eat,when I was thirsty you did not give me water to drink! and they will ask:when were you hungry or thirsty and we did not give you to eat or drink?I will reply-whatever you do to the least of my brethren ,that you do unto me.
I