Apostle Albert Samson (Arojah) is the presiding priest of St. Peters Cherubim & Seraphim (C&S) Band, headquartered at Eleko, Ajah, Lagos State and Iwopin in Ogun State. In this interview with WorldStage, he reflected on the decadence into which the church has today relapsed and on the prevailing socio-political hardship in the country. He also attempted proffering some solutions to minimizing the already bad situation.
Why do we have different denominations and doctrines yet a single source of authority – the Bible?
God can call you from this side of town. He could call another person from another part of Lagos. And He gives them different patterns to operate with. But we are not all led by the Spirit. Whoever is spirit-led knows himself, and judges himself. You know you don’t stamp truth on your head. And that is why most Christians like falsehood; they love deceit. No matter how honest you live, they won’t believe you as much as they believe lying prophets. When I started my ministry, for 10 years I faced exactly what God asked me to do. At a point my members started wondering, trying to advise me to look at my contemporaries. But I told the members that was what God asked those others to do. Not me. At the end of the day, those who loved the truth stayed with me. And here I am today. Members come all the way from Ketu to Kara here.
How about the controversy on allegation by some people that you exercise spiritual power that is outside the biblical power. How have you been able to prove yourself otherwise?
Some people say I buried this or that in my church. I let them know I am too proud to bury anything in my church. A woman once came to me. I thought her son was sick. But she said he was a Yahoo guy, and she wanted me to give him oil. I told her I don’t have that. She went away with her money. Many more like that. But I have never been hungry. I don’t usually broadcast this. Or use it to criticize other leaders. God uses anybody for His purpose, even if the servant stands condemned before God. Criticizing him could just destroy the only few Christians his bad leadership produces. For that reason, a good Christian leader must be able to control his speech so he doesn’t destroy God’s work. We are all human beings in this world; anybody can fall into the same error we preach against. But we must still tell the truth as led by the Holy Spirit.
Are you saying Christian leaders should now keep quiet, and watch government fail in living up to expectations?
God has perfected everything. We have men of God. We have lawyers, journalists, activists. It’s not the duty of men of God to play the role of journalists or lawyers. God has arranged for those whose job is to criticize the government. The fundamentals of our calling as men of God do not support criticizing people in power. If we do it, we are taking over somebody else’s calling.
Does all this mean Christians cannot essentially be democratic or enjoy democratic freedoms?
The word Christian must be held sacred, and unbiased. We have principles that guide us. That you see or know things doesn’t mean you should dabble in them. You should know who you are. Anything of this world doesn’t concern a Christian. Christians don’t have any belonging here. That is how it ought to be. They are sojourners. God knows how to feed them. God says you must not judge so you should not be judged. Judah at a point had no wife. He was going about sleeping with prostitutes. But God didn’t reject him. Jesus became the Lion that came out of the tribe of Judah.
What can you say about the policies of the current administration?
Anything policy is guesswork. They are just gambling when any government says it makes policies. They may succeed; they may fail. Some well-thought-out policies brought us to where we are now. President Bola Tinubu came and made his own policies, too, and some people already conspiring reacted. It is only the fear of God that can fix Nigeria. I don’t believe democracy can do it. We are not even mature enough for democracy.
Did you really mean it when you said Nigerians had better keep God out of this, like some prosperous Western countries?
I am not suggesting that. It is just the way I feel. We cannot be calling on God the way we do without following His principles for praying effectively. We call Jesus to push Dangote trailers to crush our enemies. We use His name to make money when Jesus himself was never after material things. It’s against the laws of God.
Many believe the 2023 general election divided the body of Christ. How can it be reunited again?
What I see in all this division is envy. Church leaders criticize those with more intelligence than they have. You see a one-man church criticizing a pastor leading millions of people. The solo pastors cannot even manage a single department of these bigger ones. Yet he prophesies against them. Those you criticize don’t work for you. They work for God, and leave Him to deal with them. Why will you be counselling politicians who never even seek your counselling? If you have that type of advice that can fix a nation, why haven’t you used it to fix your personal life?
If democracy can’t fix Nigeria, what can?
The attitude of those practicing democracy is violent. In democracy, pastors and church members can punch one another. If the PDP comes to power today, it abandons all the policies and projects of the APC, good or bad. They all want to criticize. No continuity except stealing and corruption. I don’t believe in democracy. We need some tough guy to take bold, sincere and relevantly sustained decisions for the system to work. That’s the kind of person God will use to purge Nigeria. But for now, nothing much will happen. The current administration will do everything it can; Nigerians won’t feel it until it is almost rounding off.
