BusinessDay 08 Apr 2018
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C002D5556<br />
Sunday <strong>08</strong> <strong>Apr</strong>il <strong>2018</strong><br />
30BDSUNDAY<br />
TheWorshippers<br />
‘Many so-called church leaders today are answering<br />
the call of their belly, not the call of God’<br />
Ozioma Onuzulike, a professor in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), was called to service by<br />
God after the death of Ben Unegbu (the servant of God) in May 2017. In this interview with SEYI JOHN SALAU, Onuzulike speaks about<br />
God’s call and the idea of planting religious denominations or ministries in the name of God’s call. Excerpts:<br />
How do you explain the ‘Call<br />
of God’ to mankind?<br />
The call of God to<br />
mankind has been<br />
ongoing. He has always<br />
called everyone<br />
in general, and<br />
some people in particular. God’s<br />
decision to make man in His own<br />
image was an important call. The<br />
fall of mankind was a direct result<br />
of man’s unfortunate decision to<br />
heed the enemy’s call in disobedience<br />
to God’s own wonderful<br />
and sin-free call.<br />
God also called the entire Israelites<br />
for his own divine purpose.<br />
Many of them answered the call<br />
to possess the Promised Land<br />
but only two faithful men (Caleb<br />
and Joshua) eventually made it<br />
to the end of that glorious call.<br />
Others perished in the wilderness<br />
because of hardness of heart. But<br />
you will remember that God’s call<br />
to Moses was special. He called<br />
him to lead the people of God. It<br />
was God’s direct call. No human<br />
being in his or her religious denominational<br />
confusion had any hand in<br />
that call.<br />
When Moses passed away<br />
in a rather unfortunate situation<br />
due to his disobedience to God’s<br />
instruction, God himself called<br />
Joshua to step into his shoes and<br />
do the work. Similarly, God’s call<br />
to Samuel was direct and unmistaken.<br />
It was never any humanly<br />
established organisation that<br />
called him. Samson was also called,<br />
although he ended up in a woman’s<br />
bosom because of his lack of total<br />
surrender to the will of God who<br />
called him. Samson’s experience<br />
reminds one of the messages that<br />
God delivered to us through His<br />
servant of blessed memory (Ben<br />
Unegbu) entitled “A Call is No<br />
Surrender” (Message for Urgent<br />
Action No. 189). Jesus called the<br />
12 apostles, but He continued to<br />
preach repentance to them because<br />
they were merely called to<br />
service and needed to surrender<br />
through genuine repentance so<br />
as to inherit the kingdom of God.<br />
He continued to remind Peter<br />
about that even at the point of<br />
His departure when He told Peter,<br />
“When you repent, feed my flock”.<br />
Saul (who later became Paul) was<br />
also called to serve God on his way<br />
to Damascus. Nobody preached<br />
repentance to him. But he recognised<br />
that he needed to surrender<br />
to God in genuine repentance so as<br />
not to perish after helping others to<br />
turn to the path of righteousness.<br />
In answering the call of God,<br />
some have gone ahead to plant<br />
churches, some ministries.<br />
What is your position on this?<br />
There is actually God’s own<br />
call as I have already noted.<br />
On the other hand, there is, of<br />
course, man’s own carnal call<br />
through religious organisations<br />
or commercial enterprises erroneously<br />
called “churches” or<br />
“ministries” today. What you<br />
call “churches” are simply religious,<br />
political and commercial<br />
empires. Many are merely social<br />
clubs where people entertain<br />
themselves and network for<br />
pecuniary gains. The church, in its<br />
right sense, is the body of Christ,<br />
a collection of saved souls wherever<br />
they meet under the umbrella<br />
of Jesus Christ (indeed, not<br />
merely over-lip or in signposts).<br />
And Jesus Christ is the owner<br />
and head of His church, not any<br />
mortal man, no matter how humanly<br />
charismatic, eloquent or<br />
intelligent. The headquarters is in<br />
Heaven, not in any village, city or<br />
country of this world. If you have<br />
repented of your sins and are<br />
saved, the other fellow has done<br />
so, I have done so; if we meet<br />
together, we have formed the<br />
body of Christ (the Church). It is<br />
not any building made with man’s<br />
hands and wisdom, no matter<br />
how gigantic or magnificent, that<br />
is the “Church”. You and I are the<br />
temple of God.<br />
What would you say is the<br />
key characteristic of the church?<br />
Very importantly, members<br />
of this body of Christ or the<br />
“church” are known by their<br />
fruits or character as they shine<br />
as the light of the world, showing<br />
remarkable examples like the<br />
no-nonsense governor recorded<br />
in Nehemiah chapter 5 verse<br />
15. Such people also meet in<br />
the name of Jesus Christ alone,<br />
as we are instructed by Christ<br />
himself in Matthew 18:20, not<br />
by any name ending in “International”,<br />
“Worldwide”, “Global”,<br />
“Incorporated”, or, maybe, even<br />
“Limited”. Many are answering<br />
the call of their belly, not the call<br />
of God, really. They are those<br />
about whom Paul wrote in Philippians<br />
chapter 3 verse 19, “Whose<br />
end is destruction, whose God is<br />
Onuzulike<br />
their belly, and whose glory is in<br />
their shame, who mind earthly<br />
things”. And that is why there is<br />
confusion everywhere because<br />
they are subservient to human<br />
and carnal authorities, not the<br />
authority of God in Christ Jesus.<br />
They are teaching what they<br />
want to hear (as warned in 2<br />
Timothy 4:3), not the undiluted<br />
word of truth.<br />
Your organisation holds a<br />
“monthly free freedom lectures<br />
with positive action for<br />
all”. How do you ensure this<br />
outcome?<br />
I or we have no organisation<br />
in the sense that people think<br />
of “organisation” with carnallyplanned<br />
hierarchies, their own<br />
The church, in its right sense, is<br />
the body of Christ, a collection of<br />
saved souls wherever they meet<br />
under the umbrella of Jesus Christ<br />
(indeed, not merely over-lip or in<br />
signposts)<br />
constitutions outside the Bible<br />
or articles of faith selected from<br />
portions of the Bible that suit<br />
their own carnal agenda. Which<br />
is why many of such so-called organisations<br />
are currently fighting<br />
in secret and in the public, taking<br />
themselves to the law courts of<br />
this world. Just as Jesus Christ<br />
instructed in Matthew chapter<br />
28 verse 18, we simply gather<br />
in the name of that glorious and<br />
wonder-working name (Jesus<br />
Christ) at the “Compound for<br />
God’s Urgent Message” in Masterpiece<br />
Village (also called<br />
Galaxy Quarters) located in<br />
Oji River town of Enugu State<br />
from the 1st Friday to Sunday<br />
of every month (except in December<br />
and January because<br />
of the annual camping for the<br />
word of God which also holds<br />
in the same venue from 23rd to<br />
27th December). The outcome<br />
you ask about is achieved by<br />
allowing God through Christ in<br />
the company of the Holy Spirit<br />
to lead the way. Jesus promised<br />
that when He is gone the father<br />
He will send us the Holy Spirit<br />
who will guide us into all truth<br />
(John 16:13). We focus attention<br />
on the real mission of Christ<br />
on earth which is the salvation<br />
of mankind from sins and other<br />
satanic bondages. A look at Luke<br />
chapter 4 verse 18 elaborates on<br />
Christ’s real mission on earth.<br />
When people are sincerely led<br />
to seek first the kingdom of<br />
God and His righteousness, God<br />
faithfully, as usual, adds other<br />
things unto them, including deliverance<br />
from demons, healing<br />
from diverse diseases and other<br />
blessings. And all without charge,<br />
in compliance with God’s direct<br />
instruction through Christ in<br />
Matthew chapter 10 verses 7-8,<br />
where He says that we received<br />
freely and freely we must give.<br />
Like Elisha, the mantle of<br />
leadership has fallen on you after<br />
the passing on of the servant<br />
of God, Ben Unegbu. What is<br />
your vision for God’s Urgent<br />
Message?<br />
I will say, first, that I count it a<br />
very special grace and privilege<br />
to be asked by God to step into<br />
the very big shoes of His selfless<br />
and faithful servant Ben<br />
Unegbu whom it pleased Him to<br />
take home for eternal rest last<br />
year. The departure of that nononsense<br />
servant of God actually<br />
did not come to us as a huge<br />
surprise. That was because he<br />
had announced repeatedly, well<br />
before it actually came to pass,<br />
that God had signalled him that it<br />
was time to return but that he did<br />
not know the date. He declared,<br />
as he was moved by God, that<br />
when he would have departed,<br />
God would do more wonders in<br />
pushing the gospel forward, even<br />
more efficiently, for the salvation<br />
of humanity. My duty, I am<br />
convinced, is to humbly listen to<br />
God and steadfastly follow Him<br />
as He moves through Christ in<br />
the company of the Holy Spirit.<br />
There are numerous messages<br />
God gave His servant Ben<br />
Unegbu which are in print, numbering<br />
over 300 titles. They need<br />
to be digitized and circulated<br />
freely to as many people as possible<br />
for their own interest and the<br />
interest of humanity in general.<br />
Similarly, the messages that had<br />
gone on air through the Soul X-<br />
Ray radio programme (which he<br />
ran, through the power of God,<br />
on the Radio Nigeria Enugu for<br />
more than 15 years) would need<br />
to be digitized too and also made<br />
freely available to a wider reach<br />
of people, including sharing them<br />
on all possible on-line platforms,<br />
all to the glory of God only. Ben<br />
Unegbu, before God called him<br />
home to rest, had warned not<br />
only verbally but also by practical<br />
example, that the word of God<br />
must never be commercialised<br />
for any reason whatsoever, always<br />
citing Christ’s clear instruction<br />
in Matthew 10:7-8 that we<br />
have received freely and must<br />
freely give.