The birthday gift of a private jet presented by a member of Word of Life Bible Church, Warri and chairman of the committee of the procurement of the jet, Kevin Nwachukwu, to Pastor Ayodele Joseph Oritsejafor, the head of the church and the national president of Christian Association of Nigeria, on Saturday, November 10, has generated a lot of controversy. In this interview, Oritsejafor tells the story of how the jet was acquired.
There is a huge gap between spirituality and actual faith in God. There is the belief that the love of money has taken over Christendom, rather than the preaching of undiluted gospel of salvation. Why do you think there is a shift towards prosperity?
First of all, as somebody who has preached the gospel for 40 years, I know that the gospel is a total package–it is for the spirit, mind and body. What has happened through the years is that in every dispensation, there is emphasis that becomes stronger than the others and such emphasis does not reduce the format but add to the format.
For example, Martin Luther was the one who searched the scripture to see how the Word of God could change the human being. But as time went on, we started seeing the Baptists. The reason why we call them Baptists is because the founder laid a lot of emphasis on water baptism; that is why today they are being called Baptists, not because they don’t believe that you need to accept Christ and be saved and go to heaven. What happened was that the founder had a revelation and a very deep understanding and conviction in the area of water baptism and he emphasized that.
Again, today, when you give your life to Christ, there is a big emphasis on salvation; that is accepting Christ and walking in the knowledge of Christ. Now, the revelation is progressing; as that went on, there are people who through inspiration and the study of the Word have more understanding in the area of prosperity and so started emphasizing on prosperity.