Why some pastors go about with heavy security —Foursquare General Overseer, Meduoye

The General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Reverend Felix Meduoye, speaks with ABIODUN AWOLAJA on this week’s National Convention of the church, the role of Christians in politics, pastors’ security apparatus and sundry issues. 

For this convention you are expecting people from all over the world, possibly from Sierra Leone and other places where there is an Ebola crisis. What medical precautions are you taking to ensure that everyone is safe?

Well, we are expecting people from all over the world. That is true. And of course, maybe our brethren will be coming from Sierra Leone and the other Ebola-ravaged countries. One thing we know for sure is that the Federal Government has taken adequate measures to ensure that those coming  into the country are thoroughly checked. Nevertheless we have our own medical team on ground and now that you have mentioned it, we will heighten awareness on the issue. We will tell people to ensure regular handwashing and take other necessary measures.

What about security, especially given the insurgency in the country?

We thank God for His faithfulness. One thing we believe is that God is our security.  Apart from that, we have taken adequate security measures; we have quite a number of policemen on the ground for patrol. Some of them are in mufti and some in the regular uniforms and we will ensure that everything runs smoothly.

So many Christian camps are on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, and some people are wondering what the attraction is in this place (Ajebo, Ogun State), for the Foursquare Gospel Church.

I think we are one of the very first people to be here. This is one of the oldest camps on this road. This place used to be called the Youth Camp many years ago. We used to come here to have our Youth Camp also, like many other organisations. I think it was built by an American woman. Of course, the expressway wasn’t here then way back in the 70s. Initially,  you would find that our camp was facing the other road (Ibadan road). We have been using this place for quite some time and when the woman was to vacate this place, she went to somewhere in Ilorin, Kwara State, to set up another camp. That was how we came and acquired the place.

People will be coming in from all over the country. How are you going to manage the traffic?

Well, for now, we don’t have too much of traffic problem. For people coming from Lagos, we have directed that they should take the overhead at Ogunmakin and come in through the old Ibadan road, because of the ongoing construction work on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. We will still throw open our gates for people coming from Ibadan, who will enter here from old  Ibadan road by the junction of Ogunmakin. So, to a large extent, I don’t see too much of traffic problem, except maybe at the closing time on Sunday when we are going to have the Service of Grace. But what I do expect this time around is that people will have opportunity to go out freely because we would have opened the gates.

One key issue is that of Christians in politics. What is your own view on this?

Well, different people have different opinions on many things. I don’t  think this is on politics alone; it is about everything in life. Some people feel that Christians should not  go into politics because they see it as a dirty game; they feel that when Christians go into politics, there is a very huge temptation to be involved in things that are unChristianly. But I think the other side also should be looked into. For me, I always like to take my bearing from the question: what is actually politics? I always think that politics is public spirit, aimed at helping the people. Now if that would be a right definition of politics, then I think that Christians are actually the most ideal set of people for that kind  of vocation in life. Politics is taking care of the  people. But why people are concerned most of the time is that when people get there, the allurement of maybe fraud, siphoning of funds and so on beclouds their sense of reasoning and makes them deviate from what politics is supposed to be.

Aside from that, just like you also mentioned, I think we need these good people there; people who can take their stand, people who can say that they are for uprightness. God wants that. God always loves people who can stand for uprightness. If they are there (in power), they will help the country to develop.That is why I think that Chrstians could be interested if they feel that they have the calling of God on their life to help the poor people.

There’s another issue that bothers Nigerians: pastors moving about with heavy security, mobile police, like the governors. Nigerians ask: “Is it that they are not putting their security in the hands of God?”

Well, to start with, security, I believe we all know, is in the hands of God. The Bible says it very clearly that “except” The Lord himself keeps the city, the watchmen labour  in vain.” Now, we also know that experience has a way of teaching people some things in life. Pastors are  human beings; they have blood running in their veins. And when they hear the things that happen and they also see the things that happen, especially in some parts of the country (not all), they may take precautions. I travel to some parts of the country and I see that on getting there, they have prepared policemen to take us round, because of what they know about the place. This is not my making; I don’t have them here. I’m not saying I can’t have them, alright? That should be very clear.

Even in the days when the Bible was written, there were walled cities and cities without walls. Why did the people make the wall? They made the wall to at least ward off intruders. So, I think that the reason some people feel there is a need to have security is that perhaps in their own locality, the level of kidnappng and all of that is high. Well, God will protect; but supposing you have means to also protect yourself, what is wrong with that? It is like when we talk of people taking drugs for healing. God heals, alright, but we know that we still go to hospitals, we still ask doctors to treat us. But as we are getting the treatment, I think what a Christian will do is to first of all ask for healing from God. And the doctors who are Christians or godly enough know that they care but it is God who heals. So also, I would say on this issue of security that, yes, we do make sure that we lock the door of our cars when we are moving around.

Then there is the issue of pastors making the list of the richest  men in the world…

I don’t know whether there are pastors who fall into that category of the richest men on earth. But I would also think that there are many rich pastors. Am I saying that is a good thing? Not necessarily.  I’m not also saying that it is the wrong thing. But I want to put it this way: God does bless people. Abraham was a man who was highly blessed. God gave Abraham gold and silver. Abraham had herdsmen  and, as a matter of fact, over 300 servants in his house. And there are other people like that: Solomon was very wealthy. Well, we believe it that God does bless people. Now if somebody is a pastor and God blesses his members, I would imagine that he would also be blessed. That is what I think is happening.

But then we can query a situation where everybody in the church is a poor person and the man is  building skyscrappers and buying aeroplanes. One would begin to ask why. Why is everybody around you poor and you are rich? But where you have people who are well to do and the pastor is just riding the same car like his people, I see nothing bad in that because it is the people giving to him.