BY SOLA OGUNDIPE
…Say parents of 7-day-old quadruplets
WHAT was it about Bishop Abraham Adebola Daniel that made him an eternal pilgrim; ever ready to move away from any sect where he noted that human practices differed from the contents of the Bible? The answer to this question generates the lessons from the life and passing of the servant of God.

A brief life history is in order, for us to understand his precedents. He was born into the United Native African Church where his father had been converted to Christianity and baptised as Daniel Onabanjo. The name Daniel was  thenceforth adopted as the surname of the  man and his offspring. In 1936, his first wife died in labour at childbirth.

This made him embark on fasting and praying that such tragedy would not befall him and his family again. He joined the Cherubim and Seraphim  sect and became one of the leaders of the Reform Movement which emphasised Biblical Teaching over human doctrines and ceremonies.

Samuel and Victoria Olayiwola: It is God’s doing.

In 1945, when disputes arose within the Cherubim and Seraphim sect, he went to Ogere, the headquarters of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) and was immediately ordained a minister by the Founder/Primate Josiah Olunowo Ositelu of blessed memory. In 1948 he became the Principal Tutor of Disciples in the Church’s  Seminary.

In 1955, he again moved from the Church of the Lord because he was unhappy with the unwillingness of the sect to place Biblical Teaching above prophetic visions, man-made doctrines and attendant ceremonies.

He founded the Regeneration Church of Christ in Oke Bola Ibadan. He also had a successful business venture, Irewolede Printing Institute,which gave him an  independent sustenance from the church. However, in 1962 Primate Ositelu requested him to return to the Church of the Lord to carry out the reforms he had always preached about.

He was ordained the Bishop and Administrator of the sect. He also helped to establish branches of the Church in Nigeria and countries of West Africa. He became Archbishop in the 70s and later an Apostle. He rose to the His Grace Most Reverend by the time he retired from active work in the Church.

In all the various sects he served and worshipped, he maintained that the Message of Jesus  as  contained  in the Bible must be the ultimate standard. Therefore, any revelation or teaching by man must be assessed if truly it was of the Holy Spirit and also from Jesus Christ. Based on his experience, he strongly felt that iron rods, candles and holy water had no inherent significant power of their own but could be tolerated as symbols  needed by simple folks.

He had an inner devotion to God. Papa Daniel’s abiding legacy is  the -awakening of this in the minds of all those devoted to the genuine worship of God. Any wonder that the first sect he founded was concerned with Regeneration! This compels us to bring religion “out of the closet” in an endeavour to separate truth from doctrine; and pure worship from religious tradition. The foundation for this is the recognition that the sacred book  contain the truths of existence.

It is our limited human understanding that gave rise to the varied sects even within the same religion purportedly based on the Teaching in a Sacred Book. We may yet come to the hard realisation that faithfulness to a human religion does not suggest that one is doing  the Will of God!

This compels humility; because no sect may claim to be completely free of incorrect interpretations. All must rest their cases on the admission that we do not have all the truths we need to know. If one  recalls to recall the words of Jesus: “I have many things to teach you but you cannot understand them now.

However, when He the Spirit of Truth comes, He will lead you into all Truth….”  A true understanding of these words of Jesus will make everyone adopt the sense in the words which Apostle Paul wrote long after the outpouring of the Power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost: “We know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is complete comes, then that which is in part shall be done away with.” Like Paul and the early followers of the Teachings of Jesus, all believers are to look forward to this and declare unashamedly that our knowledge is limited!

... The quintuplets: Covenant babies.

The preparation for recognising the fulfillment of that Promise by Jesus is an unwavering devotion to God yet with an open heart to review received tenets and religious culture. Until that  time, although a person may not tear down (without cause) what already exists, wherever there is a difference between the contents of a  Sacred Book and the practices instituted by man, a genuine devotee of God must do what Papa Daniel did consistently all through his life on earth.

Papa was following in the footsteps of great reformers  like Martin Luther, John Wesley, and in recent times, Bishop Timothy Sprague of the United Methodist Church in America, who wrote a book “The Affirmations of a Dissenter!”

There is a Biblical quote: “The Lord is in His Holy Temple,” behind the altar of Abraham’s Tabernacle, the inter-denominational Ecumenical Centre built in his honour by his  son, the  former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. There is a great symbolism in the fact that the concluding part of that passage (“and all men shall remain silent”) is missing.

It proclaims the message of Papa Daniel’s abiding legacy. As it is stated explicitly in The Bible that the Lord wishes to be worshipped “in spirit and in truth,” we ought to follow Papa’s example and ask ourselves if our present practices and forms of worship are in conformity with the way God wishes to be worshipped.

As we bid Papa Daniel farewell from this earth, our prayer that he rests eternally in the bosom of the Lord whomhe served all the days he was here on earth.