Encomium
PROPHET Joshua Iginla, who started his church in a one-room apartment seven years ago has taken Abuja (Federal Capital Territory) with the force of a Tsunami with his prophetic utterances. He is the General Overseer of Champions Royal Assembly in Abuja which has become a household name, through his predictions, miracle and healing services, via his Champions Television on satellite. In an exclusive chat with ENCOMIUM Weekly, he opened up on his success story and sundry issues.
I am so excited and happy with what God has done in my life. I am equally happy for the gift of life. My joy is seeing souls being saved as long as I live. Also, I am happy seeing lives being transformed and touching the lives of the less privileged.
How are you celebrating it?
I have started already by touching the lives of the less privileged and going to orphanages. But the greatest gift is saving lives which is part of the great commission given to me. The medium is for salvation not the gift from people. Thus, we have planned a three-day celebration called a spiritual exercise to re-awaken the people. It’s a refreshment exercise to wake the church. It will begin on Friday, May 23 to Sunday, May 25, 2014.
What are the lessons life has taught you?
Life has taught me a lot, especially considering my background, a Muslim-turned preacher, a barrack boy turned a clergy. It was an Islamic background with abject poverty, struggle and lack. God took me from such obscurity to international limelight. That has taught me a lesson that God can use anybody. He uses a foolish thing to confound the wise.
What’s your birthday wish?
My wish is peace to reign in Nigeria. If you look at what is happening in Nigeria, only a fool will close his eyes and turn deaf ears. My wish is for peace to reign in Nigeria. The insurgency of Boko Haram is a serious issue. I have said that capturing the members is not the greatest achievement but exposing and arresting the patrons. In due course, they will be exposed, and will run out of the country. Peace will reign in Nigeria. Catching the hoodlums is not the issue but dealing with the root cause which are the sponsors.
Did you envisage attaining this present height based on your background?
Frankly speaking, I never thought of such. But based on the prophetic grace and Word he gave me, I believed His word will come to pass. I remember the days of trekking from Sango to Ajilete at Owode in Ogun State due to lack of transport fare, or staying in one room apartment for years at Ibadan, Oyo State. After much frustration, God began to speak to me about the next level of my life and how I will be a channel of blessing to people. The situation of my life was not an assurance that things will be okay. My current level is a miracle. I can’t boast or brag about it. That’s why I prefer living simply because I never felt I could get here. That informed why I have a simple approach to life.
We learnt your ministry began in 2006 in a one room apartment and has become an international ministry, arguably the leading ministry in Abuja, what’s the secret?
The ministry started in a room apartment at Millionaire’s quarters at Kubwa, Abuja. We didn’t have any chair. We used my wife’s Bible as offering bag in our first service. It’s a miracle that God has brought us to this area. My neighbor used to mock and gossip about me in those days.
We gathered the miracle that shot you into limelight was raising a dead woman during your service?
Yes, it’s true. I remember the ministry was not growing and our landlord chased us away. We erected a temporary tent on a leased land. Prior to that, I had a ministry which I handled for seven years. It’s called Overcomers Prevailing Evangelical Ministry, it didn’t work. It was a membership of 120 that dropped to 40 and seven pastors left. I was now praying to God for a change. I was on fasting for seven days. On the last day, which was a Sunday, I was preaching on a message entitled, The Power of Resurrection. It was in the process that a member who came with her mother dropped dead. Her name was Mama Twins. It all lasted 35 minutes. The members brought her to the altar. The two nurses in the church checked her pulse and whispered to me that she was dead. They told me we should quietly take her to the hospital. Meanwhile, some members had gone out spreading the tale in Abuja that someone had dropped dead in the church. Before you realized it, the place was jam-packed with people mocking me. That was when I broke into tears. I prayed to God that it’s not my shame but God’s shame. I was led by the Holy Spirit to slap her and cry out ‘receive the breath of life’. I obeyed and she sneezed back to life. There was wild jubilation all around Abuja, and the following Sunday, there were a surge of worshippers and that’s how the breakthrough came. That miracle brought about my turn around.
Was there a time you felt like giving up?
Yes. It was an old woman who preached the gospel to me at Plateau State Cantonment. I was a Muslim. I attended a protestant church. I had a pastor there. When my father got wind of my conversion, he used his army belt to beat me mercilessly and ‘broke’ my head and blood gushed out. It was around 12.15 a.m and he pushed me out. I ran down to my pastor’s house. I knocked and explained my plight to him. He smiled and said I can’t sleep there. He just jammed the door. That was the saddest day of my life. I felt like going back to my religion. I wept that night not because of what my father did but the betrayal from my spiritual leader. But God spoke to me that it was a personal race. That’s why I put my hope in God and not men of God. It was God’s love that kept me.
Why is it that our spiritual leaders are no longer saying the truth about the national issues?
Sometimes what can we say or do when some of us say the truth or predictions they think its charlatans that speak. I don’t celebrate negative predictions coming to pass but they ignore us. 2015 is around the corner and if they are not careful, they will not live to face 2015. And they will face the menace of Boko Haram. It’s high time we spiritual leaders said the truth instead of being their stooges. We should not be following them because we want them to approve our universities, or get oil bloc or nominate our members as political candidates. That’s why our spiritual leaders can’t say the truth. Those are not part of what God called us up for. We should be neutral. We should give good instructions to our politicians. I have seen pastors following political office holders like bags because of money.
A lot of report linked you to Prophet T. B. Joshua because of the similarity in your ministrations, what’s the link?
A lot of media houses have asked me a similar question. If I claim I don’t know him, it’s a lie. I have never seen him face to face or speak to him on phone. It was merely by watching his Emmanuel TV. It will be mad of me to criticize him. I know a lot of pastors sneak to his church but still deny him openly. If I had been a critic then and now that I minister with such grace and my hands are clean, I will not be bold to say this. Personally, I will say this, he is a genuine man of God. I have warned my members never to run down other men of God. Most criticisms against him were done in envy, bitterness and politics in ministry. For instance, when my mentor, Bishop Idahosa died, some of his people I wanted to make members were demanding for money.
What’s your take on Boko Haram and 2015?
I predicted that Shekau will be captured alive. Their leader will be captured and their sponsors will run into hiding outside the country. It’s not due to foreign intervention but God’s intervention. My fear is not Boko Haram but 2015 which might give birth to a more deadlier evil than Boko Haram. If we preachers preach the truth, Nigeria will be sanitized. So many general overseers now turn their programmes to political avenue. They sell the vote of the whole ministry to a politician. A political figure will visit and they will pass a circular to their members to vote for him in exchange for approval of university or oil bloc. That’s what is happening underneath. They send proposals to government underneath demanding jet, approval and oil bloc for sale of members’ votes. That’s’ why I get mad when they criticize T. B. Joshua. It’s because he was not playing ball with them. Where are the true men of God? Those who have money how many less privileged have they touched? How many members have they impacted?
You have a lovely family what has kept the union?
Our relationship is unique. I married her when I was nobody. She stood by me and shared my vision with me. I am a simple person. Till date, I drive myself and live simply.
– FEMI OYEWALE
