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Nigeria’s Men of God

There is something about life many people do not appreciate until they get the material things they want – things like money and power. “Mirage,” many people shout when they finally get those things. Mirage because those things do not give them the happiness, self-satisfaction they desire. It is like the sky we see in the horizon. It seems to taper off the road; looks like you can drive or walk to touch it. Mirage!

Reminds me of what Bishop David Oyedepo said about his childhood perception of Heaven. Let me take it straight from this book. “When I was growing up, I started hearing many wonderful things about Heaven, especially regarding its beauty and glory. One day, I saw a place that looked just like the picture of Heaven we often see in paintings. I told a childhood friend and we decided to go there one evening. Along the bush path, we met a farmer who asked us where we were going. He was surprised when we told him we were headed to Heaven. He laughed!”

I have learnt from my experience and that of others that one key step to happiness is to discover one’s gift – gift from God. It gives meaning to whatever one acquires in life. But it is far more fulfilling if the gift is used to honour God. Sometimes, it requires acting different from the crowd, who probably won’t understand you or support you.

Ken Hemphill defines a spiritual gift as “an individual manifestation of grace from the Father that enables you to serve Him and thus play a vital role in His plan for the redemption of the world.”

Since I discovered that I am at peace with myself when writing, I have come under spiritual pressure to work for God. The first time it came, I had just finished a novel when an inner voice asked, ‘where is my book?’ I had written two already and started work on this one, but I stopped it to write an urgent novel on the sit-tight syndrome in African politics. Soon after that the voice came again. This time, I really felt indebted to God.

Learning about the humble beginnings of our spiritual fathers and how they were called into the service of God is very inspirational. Reading how these great men sustain their faith and handle temptation also provide a guide in staying the course in a relationship with the ONLY LIVING GOD. This collection features most of Nigeria’s big names in the body of Christ.

The book, the first part of a series, was sourced mainly from interviews. It was so difficult to get some of the respondents that we sometimes, we had to resort to the Internet to fill in the gaps.

I cannot thank Dickson Adeyanju, Religious Affairs Correspondent of The Guardian, enough, but I am greatly indebted to him for many of the interviews and the sourcing of relevant materials.

I also used materials from an earlier book I had written on the subject with Ohi Alegbe and Isaac Achor.

For me, it was a great relief working for God. One last bit of the confession though: When I thought I had finished the project, the voice returned in a jocular manner, “you pay to get your novels edited professionally, why not this?” I had to arrange to get it edited in the United Kingdom.