Pastor TONY OKAFOR is the President, Men of Praise
International Fellowship, Lagos. In this interview with SEYE OLUMIDE and
TUNDE AKINOLA, strongly believes that man has deviated from the
original plan of God and until the people as a nation improve on their
value system, fear God and have respect for the rule of law then would
the country move forward.
Increasing number of churches and mosques
THE fact is, religion has not only failed the country, but humanity. Christianity is not actually a religion, but a way of life. Christianity has a kingdom concept and not a religion. Religion is man’s way of trying to reach God and men have devised different ways of achieving this. And with what is happening globally, I stand to say that religion has failed humanity, it has failed Nigeria as a nation. When you talk about Christianity, it is impossible for Christianity to fail, but what we see around us are men practising religion in the name of Christianity.
To save the nation
First, we need to go back to the basics of Christianity. Do you remember what Jesus told Nicodemus in the Bible? Nicodemus had seen different sphere of life, so he acknowledged that no man could ordinarily do what Jesus was doing, except God be with him. The essence of what we do, is follow the old patterns, the old practices our fathers laid down, which we call Christianity. Christianity has life values, which include righteousness; you do not practice it, you do not emulate it, you live it. This is what we call being born again. People have bastardised some of these things, they take being born again to mean going to church or being religious. No! There are values people need to see in you, and when a man lives by these values, it becomes impossible for him to fail because he is carrying a divine nature: a nature that cannot fail.
Values
The values are things that live in you. When God created man, He did not create man, for man to stay, God created an estate called a Garden. But that estate, religion has destroyed it. Secularity has destroyed it, which is why there is no institution standing today from banking to education to what-have-you. They have all collapsed. It is all about self. It is all about what I am going to get. But in Men of Praise we carry the values of God, we go back to the instincts of God. That is why we go into business, not the way the world does their business. We don’t do business based on best practices; we do it based on kingdom practices. God’s own practices. We are trying to restore it because the Bible says that the generations, the nations are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, not the manifestation of ministers or politicians. But of the sons, who will restore them to their liberty, who will restore the damaged bridges, the damaged institutions; bring them back to their original purpose of God. Why did God create the Garden, only for man to wake up and destroy it?
So, what we do at Men of Praise is we go into business; I will call them businesses because it is business. We harness the resources of the country, using what we call core values. These values have to do with integrity, honesty, truth, accountability and so on. Apart from these businesses, we also try to tackle poverty, not from the angle of you give the man today; tomorrow he comes back to you. No, we tackle poverty from its roots by taking men back to the original principles of God, telling man to keep the garden; so, we are going back to entrepreneurship.
Programmes for the youth
We go to schools to talk to the youth about the values of life, because they are the leaders of tomorrow. We need them in all spheres of life, so it is not about money, but the core values of life. With this what would be in their minds would be ‘how can I expand the kingdom of God? How do I replenish? How do I multiply the values I am carrying? How do I touch lives? So, the plan is, as we move along, we carry the children and youths for a better society.
Inspiration
Very soon we will celebrate our fifth anniversary. We started the ministry, as a group of friends coming together to socialise, think about our lives, and how to move forward in life. And in the process, the vision dropped; that there is need for a change and there is need for the kingdom of God. That was how it came to being.
Increasing number of churches and mosques
THE fact is, religion has not only failed the country, but humanity. Christianity is not actually a religion, but a way of life. Christianity has a kingdom concept and not a religion. Religion is man’s way of trying to reach God and men have devised different ways of achieving this. And with what is happening globally, I stand to say that religion has failed humanity, it has failed Nigeria as a nation. When you talk about Christianity, it is impossible for Christianity to fail, but what we see around us are men practising religion in the name of Christianity.
To save the nation
First, we need to go back to the basics of Christianity. Do you remember what Jesus told Nicodemus in the Bible? Nicodemus had seen different sphere of life, so he acknowledged that no man could ordinarily do what Jesus was doing, except God be with him. The essence of what we do, is follow the old patterns, the old practices our fathers laid down, which we call Christianity. Christianity has life values, which include righteousness; you do not practice it, you do not emulate it, you live it. This is what we call being born again. People have bastardised some of these things, they take being born again to mean going to church or being religious. No! There are values people need to see in you, and when a man lives by these values, it becomes impossible for him to fail because he is carrying a divine nature: a nature that cannot fail.
Values
The values are things that live in you. When God created man, He did not create man, for man to stay, God created an estate called a Garden. But that estate, religion has destroyed it. Secularity has destroyed it, which is why there is no institution standing today from banking to education to what-have-you. They have all collapsed. It is all about self. It is all about what I am going to get. But in Men of Praise we carry the values of God, we go back to the instincts of God. That is why we go into business, not the way the world does their business. We don’t do business based on best practices; we do it based on kingdom practices. God’s own practices. We are trying to restore it because the Bible says that the generations, the nations are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, not the manifestation of ministers or politicians. But of the sons, who will restore them to their liberty, who will restore the damaged bridges, the damaged institutions; bring them back to their original purpose of God. Why did God create the Garden, only for man to wake up and destroy it?
So, what we do at Men of Praise is we go into business; I will call them businesses because it is business. We harness the resources of the country, using what we call core values. These values have to do with integrity, honesty, truth, accountability and so on. Apart from these businesses, we also try to tackle poverty, not from the angle of you give the man today; tomorrow he comes back to you. No, we tackle poverty from its roots by taking men back to the original principles of God, telling man to keep the garden; so, we are going back to entrepreneurship.
Programmes for the youth
We go to schools to talk to the youth about the values of life, because they are the leaders of tomorrow. We need them in all spheres of life, so it is not about money, but the core values of life. With this what would be in their minds would be ‘how can I expand the kingdom of God? How do I replenish? How do I multiply the values I am carrying? How do I touch lives? So, the plan is, as we move along, we carry the children and youths for a better society.
Inspiration
Very soon we will celebrate our fifth anniversary. We started the ministry, as a group of friends coming together to socialise, think about our lives, and how to move forward in life. And in the process, the vision dropped; that there is need for a change and there is need for the kingdom of God. That was how it came to being.
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