*’God called me from the womb’

BISHOP Simeon Okah, an end-time oracle of the Most High God, is the governing patriarch of the Flock of Christ Mission, Warri in Delta State, founded in 1982.

He attended the Morris Cerullo School of Ministry in Sandiego, USA, where he was grounded in the norms and complexities of the distribution of the gospel, the supreme work on the earth plant. From a congregation of five families at Olodi Primary School, Enerhen, the father of six children, who is married to an affectionate spouse, Rev. (Mrs.) Comfort Okah, now sits atop a flourishing ministry with headquarters in Warri, a total of 42 branches located in different parts of the country with 97 pastors, deacons and deaconesses.

At 62, the messenger of the gospel is not ready to be superannuated; he is still depopulating the kingdom of darkness. He spoke with Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South South about his days in Egypt, his deliverance, challenges in ministry, what he has learned from the school of life and lots more.

My conversion and mentor

Talking about conversion, my conversion was something that really proved that God is God because I was about eight years old when I started seeing heaven open. Before I was born, my father and mother were told that they were going to give birth to a prophet and he would be very powerful. I was born in Ndoni, Rivers State. I will have a dream and just wake up and announce that there would be bad weather or a big tree fell on a chief in the area and he died. I would run to my mother to tell her what I saw. My mother would say, ‘my prophet, my prophet’.

She would not attach any importance to it, but between 5.00 and 6.00 pm, the whole place would be abuzz, you know if a person dies, before the body will come home, people would have heard what happened.

At 62 and a minister of the gospel, what has life taught you?

Bishop Simeon Okah

Life has taught me a lot of things. Number one, I have been made to understand that if you come to this world and you don’t know Jesus Christ, it is not fair. And how did I get to know that, in my teenage years, between 17 and 20 years when I did not know God, I saw hell on earth. I was a mechanic but I could not get job because of powers of darkness. I wanted to join police and after I have been enlisted in “A” Division, the man-in-charge said they should return my paper that I was too handsome to join the Nigeria Police Force. I cried home as a young man.

Then, I worked in J. Allen, when the French man saw me, he said I was a masquerade and ordered the security men to arrest me. These are the things that witches did to me. With that, I got to know clearly that life on its own is not fair if you are not a child of God.

Life has also taught me that if you have Christ, you are greater than the Devil. In the time past, I have seen a lot of forces fight me. They fought me, they thought because I was young, they would kill me, but I am still alive.

Jesus Christ faced a lot of challenges and temptations during his earthly ministry and so do ministers of the gospel today. What have been the challenges and temptat-ions for you, spiritually and physically?

Challenges always come in ministry no matter how edu-cated you are. It is so because God uses these challenges to pass us through school, a school that no man can be able to establish unless God him-self. You know in any organization, the owner of the vision cannot do it alone, so the most important thing to a church leader is the people because your greatest enemy may not even be the devil, but the people that are with you.

There is the area of unfaith-fulness of pastors, some of them come not because they are called by God, some are sent by the devil and some are just there to make money. At the beginning, I had just two shirts, two or three trousers and two ties, they were always clean, but these pastors created a lot of problems because they were not called. That challenge has always been on, both from the powers of darkness and weak-ness of personnel.

Mocked for preaching against corruption…

In the late 70s, 80s and early 90s, I was like the only pastor in this country, who really stood and was telling the country about corruption. At a time, in NTA Benin, they rejected my tape; they felt that the material was too forceful.

Back to corruption. I was almost like the old Elijah. Elijah’s case was even better than mine because there were 7,000 people God prepared, which he was not seeing, but I did not see anyone because even my church members were asking me if I was the only pastor. That I should preach what others preach are preaching and leave this corruption issue alone.

Thieves in the church

Yes, the people in the church are Nigerians, which is why corruption is also in the church. Apart from my own church, Flock of Christ Mission, I remember a church, a very big one today where I used to preach for my friend, particularly when he traveled abroad. And when I saw how they were moving the box, the Holy Ghost made it clear to me that the ushers were thieves. When the pastor came back, I told him and what he should do. Do you know that the head usher seized the pastor’s car, saying you would kill me or I kill you. It was other ushers that rescued the pastor, not knowing that the head usher had bought more than 10 cars he used for transport. After that Sunday when the chang-es were made, the income of the church jumped 400 times.

President Jonathan alone can’t fight corruption

Corruption is everywhere and this is because even in the Church, some do not really have the fear of God. In Pentecostal churches, a good number of them are sons of God, but there are some, who are not called. Some of them may be called but because of the level of poverty they steal when they are under pressure.

The answer to corruption in this country is for the people and their leaders to fear God. It pains my heart when people say President Gooluck Jona-than should fight corruption. Jonathan alone cannot fight corruption. Let Nigerians learn to attach value to nationhood because, if you value something, you will die to protect it. The problem we have today is that we have people in Aso Rock, Govern-ment Houses, local govern-ment, people in charge of our youths, people in Nigeria Labour Congress, etc, who have no love for the nation and all these are strangulating this country.

What is your advice to younger pastors who want to become bishops, general overseers overnight?

The Bible says that he that desires it desires a good thing; the only bad thing about the ambition of the young leaders is the love of money. Let the younger ministers go back to the Bible. Some of them have even gone to witchcraft, occultism. How foolish are they? What has bewitched this generation. If you need power, Jesus is the ultimate power.

Deep in the world

I grew up and went to school and started looking for a job. At this time, I have gone out of God’s way and went into women, and all that. In a short period of time, I was very deep in the world. I got job in Shell, I never stayed and I got job in another oil company and did not stay either. Witches have done all kind of things and finally, I was with J. Allen here in Warri.

Masquerade

When one of the managers here saw me, he shouted, ‘see masquerade, hold him, hold him’. As he was saying masquerade, he was running. So, three security men came and grabbed me and wrestled me down. The man wrote that they should sack me; how do you employ masquerade. I was sacked and the incident really touched me.

Frying pan to fire

I had to ask where God is and if He is anywhere, He should come to my rescue. I was taken to a native doctor, who said I should bring the thigh of a human being for him. I asked him how I could get it and he said that was what he wanted to hear. That if I cannot get it, I should give him money to buy the bone and do medicine for me. I cannot remember the amount I paid now, he made the medicine to put at the entrance of my house; that no witch will ever come to press me again.

When I put it there, the first night, it worked, first week, second week, but the third week, it was triple attack. The war just ended then. Igbudu Market was under construction at that time. One day, I just told myself I wanted to end this whole thing and I took raw acid and as I entered the path road to drink the acid and die; but inside the bush some Igbo people were playing card. I met about eight of them and I said these people have spoiled my plan to kill myself, not knowing that it was God. That was how I went back to my house.

Road to conversion

As I was crying, in the house, a man came and asked me, Simeon, what are you doing? I told him life is hard, I want to die, they did not allow me to die. I met Igbo boys there. I told him that he knew my story, I got jobs but they did not last.

The man (now dead) said that he had just given his life to Jesus. I asked him where the Jesus dey? (laughter). Where is the Jesus? Take me down. He said, dress up, I will take you there. I followed him to Okumagba Avenue, one small Aladura church. The prophet was an Urhobo person involved in magic. I said this one? Na him be the Jesus!

He said he is not Jesus but a prophet of Jesus and I sat down; anything they say I should do, I was doing it. I will smell incense. They lit candle. I asked what do I do with it, I was so anxious, I need God. I was just saying that God that used to talk to me when I was young, I need Him. When the man demonstrated and demonstrated, he shouted, young man, stand up. I said me? He said yes. I said the e don reach my own. By then, he had prophesied to two persons.

He said God touched me before I was born. To me, that is not the story I want to hear. I want something that will free me from the witches and get me a lasting job. He went on and on and said among us all here; this young man is the greatest. He then went on to say that you are going to stay with me, but you will not stay wrong because you will discover something which I will not mention.

My call

He said for your information, you are going to get three jobs and you will make a choice out of the three. And from the job you are going to take, God will call you into the ministry. And exactly, that was what happened. I got a job in Bendel Transport Company as a mechanic. Fortunately, the technical officer and I were products of the same school, but he is a member of Ogboni Confraternity and that created room for pressure and demonic fight.

I worked there for one year and that was from where God called me. In the work place, there was fight. In the Aladura Church, there was always fight because the Holy Ghost was gradually manifesting upon me and when the man saw me, he shouted the thing don come ooo. I did not understand what he was saying but I was getting some signs.

We went to Irri; where I received the Holy Ghost. The richest man in Bendel then, Oghenevo from Oleh, was a member of that church. I branched out later as the man prophesied because it was becoming demonic. I burnt the man’s magic books and he cursed me that I would not have children. But I am glad to announce that I am a father of six children and grandfather of 12 children.

That was how I became a child of God and God freed me from that bondage because of my desire for God.