Posted by By Femi Babafemi on
One of the most respected ministers in Foursquare Gospel Church, Rev Felix Meduoye, says it's a waste of time to attempt to ban miracles on the nation's airwaves.
One of the most respected ministers in Foursquare Gospel Church, Rev Felix Meduoye, says it's a waste of time to attempt to ban miracles on the nation's airwaves.
Responding to a question on the ban slammed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on the broadcast of miracles on television, Meduoye, a chartered accountant and former industry chieftain, declared: "It is something that any government should be careful about. I think government has got more to do than to get itself involved in matters like that…. The truth remains that Jesus Christ, the one we are following, one of the major things in His ministry was miracle."
Meduoye pastors the Omole branch of Foursquare Church in Lagos, reputed as the fastest growing in the country. Between August 11 and 15, the church will be hosting an annual convocation of the Ikeja District of the organisation.
Below, he speaks on the convocation, his call into ministry and other crucial issues:
Why we organise annual convocation
Convocation is a constitutional requirement for every district in Foursquare Gospel Church. Currently, we have about 24 districts all over the country. Our structure is, we have the national headquarters, we have the 24 districts and then we have zones. As a way of bringing our people together for a wholesome fellowship, the national holds what we call the convention once in a year. At the district, we have convocation which is what we are doing now and at the zonal level, we have zonal rallies. These are for our people to come together at these levels of our organisation to fellowship, interact and get blessed by God.
We have gotten several blessings from God in the past. Like last year, our theme was "Soaring High." This year, the theme is: "It is possible." That already gives out what will happen this year; we are saying to everybody that will come that all things are possible with God, and that is taken from Mark 10:24. That is, we are actually highlighting very prominently the power of God to deliver in terms of salvation, healing, prosperity, and so on. We are saying this time around that there is really no limit to God.
We have been talking about healing all the time but healing means different things to an individual at a point in time. The emphasis this time is that, it doesn't matter what you have ever seen before, it doesn't matter how you have ever felt about it. Whatever is that your need, God will do it. What I am praying now is that as many that will have the faith and will be here will leave this place with a miracle. If they have faith, if they bring lame men, they will walk out of this place on their feet because we are actually saying it is possible.
There is need for more churches
The commission that the Lord gave to every Christian is to go out preach the gospel to every creature. Lagos State today has a population of between 12 and 14 million people. Out of this I don't think the number of those who are Christians is more than half of that. That means proliferation of churches or not, we still need more churches to spring up because everybody is entitled to hearing the gospel, not just hearing but hearing in a manner that he has the opportunity to believe it. As per our own local area, we started this church here in Omole estate about 18 years ago. When we started, we were the only church here. We understand that some of the people who live around already had their churches before they came here, so some residents did not identify with us but many did and up till today they are still with us. Presently, we have some Redeemed Christian Churches, a Catholic Church, a Methodist Church, these are about the churches I see around us. We don't see them as competitors because most of the people attending these churches must have had one contact with them before coming to this locality. They have their own flock and we have ours. This is not to say that we don't take cognisance of that. Their presence here only tells us we have to work more, and work harder.
Between churches and social vices
There is no doubt that while the number of churches is growing, moral decadence is on the increase. I want to say that we ought to also understand like Shakespeare will say, evil news has the tendency of travelling faster than good. If one or two armed robbers will strike in Lagos, almost everybody will hear but if 5,000 churches will have people healed of diseases, we probably will not hear anything about it. In our society, we always want to spread the evil more than the good. But is that saying that decadence is on the increase while churches keep springing up? I will say no. The population is also increasing very fast, the church is increasing, no doubt. We also have to understand that it is not everybody going to church that is immediately converted. There are a lot of people going to church today who are not converted and that is always happening from time to time. One thing in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ in that he is always saying that many are called but few are chosen. Supposing there were no churches, would we have been able to determine what the level of crime would have been? The decadence would have been worse if the church is not there.
What is still minimising the level of decadence and corruption we have in this country today, is the impact of the church.
Distinction between Foursquare and other churches
Well, Foursquare is a Pentecostal church, a bible believing church. The things that are cardinal to us that make us distinct are our belief that Jesus is the saviour, Jesus is the baptizer with the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the great physician and Jesus is the coming king. If you look at these four cardinal doctrines which is peculiar to Foursquare, other people have theirs but we emphasize these cardinal doctrines.
If you look at this, it is a doctrine that takes care of the spiritual life of a man in terms of salvation, baptism in the Holy Spirit, it is a doctrine that takes care of the physical aspect of a man in terms of divine healing and it is a doctrine that takes care of the eternity of man. You can see that they span through the life of a man. This is part of why the church is called Foursquare. But aside this, Foursquare came out of a vision that was given to the founder, as in Ezekiel chapter one. That is the vision of four creatures; one with the head or outlook of a man, one with the outlook of an eagle, one with the outlook of a horse and the fourth with the outlook of an ox. These outlooks typify some things in the kingdom.
Apart from this, we are a middle way kind of church, we don't believe in excesses, we don't go to the excesses of prayer and prayer and falling. We don't also go to the other side of coldness. We are the middle of the road kind of church.
What we are saying is that we don't believe in fanaticism, when you visit most of the Foursquare churches, you will not see any undue display, so, this is where we talk of our own middle way.
Calling into the ministry
I became a Christian in 1972 when I gave my life to Christ. From then I began to serve the Lord. I used to assist one of our pastors in Ikeja church then. We had to build our church in Ikeja then and so we vacated the place to come to Omole pending the completion of our building in Ikeja so, we moved our members here and after completion we decided to move back. While we were moving back, there were a few people here and the pastor decided to choose a leader for them. That was how I started this church in 1987. But then the Lord had spoken to me before then. I didn't leave my secular job immediately until 1991 when it became clear to me that I could no longer cope with both the church and the secular work. Before this, God had spoken to me on what I should do for Him. He spoke to me on two specific occasions. One, I was in the car, I was on my way to Lagos and the Lord just spoke to me very clearly that I needed to move out and leave the secular job. I didn't yield immediately. On the second time, I was in my room, as I was opening the wardrobe, the voice just came. He told me that unless I decide to make a choice, I will never be happy in life. So I had to make a choice.
I was actually called to the teaching ministry, I am a teacher of the word.
On the 5th convocation
The number of people we are expecting in this year's convocation will depend on which day. The programme is starting on Wednesday August 11 and it will end on Sunday the 15th. With this, we expect about three to four thousand people during the week, and maybe about five to seven thousand on Sunday.
God is saying this time and He is re-echoing it to us that "It is possible." They should come this time and we are saying it expressly that God is going to show forth, there is going to be heavy move of anointing for deliverance.
Ban on TV miracles
Government can't really ban miracles. I think they are just wasting their time. That is just wasting time because such ban is despising Christianity. It is something that any government should be careful about. I think the government has got more to do than to get itself involved in matters like that. This is an issue that transcends laboratory test. It is the recipient that knows what he has gotten. I am particularly very wary about criticising anything that has to do with miracles because miracles are very difficult to fully define. The truth is that we have God who is the judge of all mankind. Anyone that is doing a counterfeit thing, it is all over there, but the truth remains that Jesus Christ, the one we are following, one of the major things in His ministry was miracle. Anybody following Jesus Christ who does not really believe in miracle, who will not like to hear miracle, may find it difficult to really see himself as truly following the master. This is because Jesus said greater works than this you will do. If I have a way of determining which miracle is false, I will criticise it but it is very difficult to actually determine.
My vision for the church
I still have a lot to do, but I want to say that I am grateful to God for what He has done in my life, He has done a lot in my life. My coming into this ministry by leaving my secular job has not been in vain. Today, this church is a district, we have so many churches under this place. That God has brought us to this level, we are very appreciative but that is not saying that we are anywhere we should be yet. So, we are praying that God should expand our coast, we want God to expand our coast, it is still too narrow, we want it expanded.