Calvary Kingdom Church (CKC) will be celebrating its 20th anniversary on Thursday, June 2, 2022. The presiding Archbishop of the ministry, Joseph Ojo, spoke with SEYI JOHN SALAU on the journey of the last two decades and God’s faithfulness to the ministry. He equally speaks to the agitation of a president of Nigeria from the South East and the need for Nigerians to allow peace, equity and justice reign in the country. Excerpts:
The ministry will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in June; 20 years is truly a great achievement for a ministry like this; can you share with us the success story of CKC?
Thank you my brother for the opportunity given to me to share the testimony of CKC for the past 20 years. We began this commission by the grace of God on the second say of June in the year of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2002, and ever since it has been a tremendous testimony of God’s grace; God’s mercies; God’s goodness; God’s provision, and God has seen us through: like Jesus Himself had favour with God and with man. One of the things that God has given to me as a servant of God and a minister of the gospel is that God has granted me the grace to have favour with men and with God Himself; and that favour actually helped in the past 20 years. We have seen CKC from nothing and today by God’s grace with all sense of humility God has definitely blessed us and we are grateful to God in what we have seen in terms of infrastructure – the buildings, schools, membership, the branches, and the spiritual solidity of our members – God has been faithful.
At the beginning, God gave me a seven-point cardinal objective, which we have been pursuing and we have done these logically and it is helping us. God gave us a mandate to make people, disciple them and at the end of their walk with Christ on earth they will make heaven. And also to raise a people of integrity that all members of CKC believe that when they are interacting with other people, they stand out; they are respected because they are men and women of proven integrity. We also have the mandate to take Christ to everyone that may not have known Him whenever we meet them in our day-to-day walk with Christ. And to equip the saints for the ministry and to build ideal and Godly families and marriages, and to the glory of God we have marriages being built around these tenets and God has been so wonderful in all these 20 years.
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In the last 20 years of the ministry, you must have seen some prophecy come to pass while others fail. When prophesy fails; what would you say is responsible? Is it that God did not speak clearly to the prophet or what?
I believe that prophesies don’t fail – I believe it. Predictions do fail, but not prophesy. People that are given predictions have no prophecies. God’s word says in Revelations chapter 19:10 “The spirit of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy; the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy – no prophecy is of private interpretation. What people don’t understand is there are genuine prophecies that have their timing. It may not have been fulfilled in your time – there are prophecies that Jesus Himself gave that today they have not come to pass; it doesn’t mean they will not come to pass. Men just want a quick fix – shortcut in everything and it’s not supposed to be. Every godly inspired prophesy has their time and at the time that God wants it to happen, it will come to pass. They are quite different from predictions – many people who claim they are prophesying are only predicting, and unbeliever can predict; native doctors can predict, you don’t need to be filled with the spirit of the Lord to predict, but you need to be filled with the spirit of Christ to prophesy. Now, the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).
Over the years you have been very vocal about this administration and its style of leadership, now that the vice president is contesting, what is your view on his candidacy?
All I can say about the vice president’s candidacy is good luck Sir. Good luck to him; I wasn’t there when the Lord ministered to him or spoke to his heart, so I can’t say anything for or against. So, I wish him all the best.
Many are saying that the two major political parties should zone their presidential ticket to the Southeast; do you support such a call?
You know South East presidency if it be God’s will for a South easterner to be president; so be it. But there is something light that you will get on the platter (Deuteronomy 2:24) God said I will give you the land of these and that – but contend with them for it; nobody will just give you because you come from the Southeast – contend for it. Do all you need to do logically, politically and otherwise, and cross the bridges you need to cross. So, good luck to South easterners – if you want it; contend for it and God definitely will not abandon those who contend for what belongs to them.
Politics is seen vividly in the Church today in many forms; should a pastor play an active role in politics: would that not result in neglecting his primary call and abandoning the flocks of which he/she is the shepherd?
There is nothing wrong in a pastor participating in active politics – the vice president is an example; but that should not make him forget his primary assignment, which is reaching the unreached for Christ. If you use that position to reach the unreached for Christ – the unsaved for Christ, and bring them to the kingdom; the best – God bless you, nothing wrong.
Finally, some pastors are coming out to tell their congregation about their preferred candidate for 2023; who is your preferred candidate?
I have none – I don’t have any preferred candidate. I wish all of them good luck; may God help us to have a Nigeria full of peace, equity and justice, amen. If not, we remove it from our national anthem; peace and justice reign – it’s not reigning, it should reign.
