Memories of my growing up days in
then Bendel state, made up of what is now known as Edo and Delta states
flooded my mind as I read an interview of Archbishop Margret Benson Idahosa,
wife of the late Founder of the Church of God Mission Incorporated in Benin
city, which has now got several branches all over the country and I suppose
outside the country as well.
Benin city was like the very hub of
the state then and the only bubbling church where you would find westernised
Pentecostal form of worship was the Church of God Mission with the
late Archbishop Benson Idahosa who made Christianity feel funky and fun.
Every Sunday evening you could not
help but recognise that very husky voice whenever the montage of the
church programme something 'hour' can't vividly remember the exact name of the
programme but it had to do with 'hour' *I stand to be corrected though*.
Nevertheless, I will for a very long time remember his words after the montage
as it echoed from his deep voice "and they that God has given us,
they are for signs and wonders" and IWO (Idahosa World Outreach)
logo would thereafter be flashed around. Hmmm! That man led a lot of people to
Christ and Christianity was well planted in that city by the likes of him.
Sadly in March 1998, news of the
death of the highly loved flambouyant Bishop hit the airwaves and 'ear waves'
leaving a lot of people speechless and despondent to the extent that rumours
that he rose again after a few days showed how much people loved him and wanted
him back.
And so it was with strong nostalgia
that I read this interview below as culled from the Church Times. In the
interview Archbishop Margaret Benson Idahosa disclosed how the late founder of
the Church died, leaving her and their four lovely children behind.
Excerpts:
You once said you thought you were
finished when your husband died. How exactly did you mean?
I knew late Archbishop Benson
Idahosa when I was young and we were friends for eight years before we got
married. He was not only my husband, he was my brother, my friend and a
confidant. In addition to these, he was my Bishop and Archbishop.
When he died I was in a confused
state and honestly I didn't know where to begin and what the future held for
me. I thought to myself after the burial I would just recline to myself.
By then my children were all abroad
and I said I would be staying with them one after the other and then come over
to Benin to see how the ministry was being run. But God who knows the heart of
man directed my path to where I am today.
When my husband was alive I was with
him and the best I could do was to encourage him and pray for him. I was a
great supporter of his vision. So when he died I just wanted to remain in my
cocoon. But God had a different plan for me.
You were 55 years when he died. How
easy was it for church members to accept you then?
As a matter of fact when I was
called the day I was ordained a bishop; I thought they called me just to pray
for me. I came out and the archbishop who ordained me said he did not confer
with flesh and blood but that the Holy Spirit had directed him to ordain me as
a bishop. When he made that declaration there was a thunderous response from
the audience.
Before then I must confess that my
mind was not in ministry. But to my greatest surprise there was a great
acceptance of the ordination. Honestly, I was not looking forward to it and
after a while I had to pray and God spoke to me and said He had called me and
He would give me the enablement and the strength to do the task that has been
set before me. And I said okay; God it is a deal. And I said let us try. If I'm
successful fine and if I do not then God would understand.
Before my husband’s funeral
ceremony, God has spoken with a lot of people about who succeeds him. I recall
that when my husband was alive he used to travel a lot and there were times he
took people out for lunch in some of the countries he went to and those people
were used to asking him questions. One of the questions by one of his friends
was whether he was preparing somebody to take over from him and he said he was
not preparing anybody because the anointing breaks the yoke and that anybody
who had the anointing would definitely be put in place. But he said I think my
wife will fit into my shoes. Somebody brought the video and we watched it.There
was a general acceptance of my person when I was ordained and God has been
helping us in the ministry.
What were the things that you did to
equip yourself with the task ahead?
What I did was to give the ministry’s
constitution to men with experience. I wanted them to help me interpret it
because people were giving different interpretations and when they did it I was
comfortable that I was not usurping anybody's position. And I called all the
pastors of the church and said, Our Daddy has gone, do we want this ministry to
go on or it should die with him and majority of them said they wanted the
ministry to go on. That was how we started working.
What were the initial challenges
concerning the issue of remarriage when your husband died?
There were challenges in this area
and I told God that I wanted him to direct my affairs and my life. And I think
God heard and He gave me the ability to do what I'm doing now. I had a husband
and I enjoyed him and I think there was nobody else that could match up to him.
I told God that I want Him to take the desire for another man from me. I never
wanted to think about remarriage. God gave me so much to do that after a hard
day's work I just go to bed and sleep. I don't have a desire to marry. To be
married to who?
Let us look back to the time you
married your late husband. Was he already in ministry when you met him?
I met him already called into the
ministry. There was a book he wrote called, Fire in his bones. Everything about
his life is in that book. And those are the things I know about him. And he
kept saying to me that I should focus my attention on God. He said when he gave
his life to Christ a lot of things happened and that God showed him some
visions. In one of the visions God showed him a big dry tree with branches that
had no leaves but it had branches and God put him under the tree. When he
lifted up his eyes he saw an old woman carrying a huge load and he got up from
under the tree to help that woman to where she was going and there was a tiny
leaf on the tree after he had rendered the help and he opened his eyes. He saw
another person and he helped the person and there was another leaf on the tree.
The more he helped, the more the tree had leaves. And God told him that the
more he helped people the more he will get protection and shade.
Benin is said to be a peculiar
place. What does it take being in ministry here?
When you are called of God, He gives
you the boldness you need to withstand anything. When God called him, for 14
days he went round Benin City praying and asking God to take the city for the
gospel. Benin was so bad that if a native doctor told you that you would die by
2 o’clock there is nothing you can do about it except you run to Christ because
that thing will surely happen.When my husband finished the 14 days marathon
prayer round the city he started a small fellowship with students all over the
place.
What were his dreams that he could
not accomplish before he died?
I don't think there was anything he
wanted to do that he didn't do. He died in March. In February he called me and
said, ‘Margaret, I think I have done everything God had asked me to do’. And I
said it is because we were still in February and that because he had not
traveled. I said he needed to travel and if he did that he would come back with
a fresh idea. And he said he would travel in March and that he would be by
himself and will not interact with anybody.
I was abroad when he died. I was
planning to travel that night to Nigeria when the report came that he had gone
home. That, to me was a great shock. Before he died, he had preached a message
titled The benefit of death and he preached so hard and made death so useless.
He made it clear to us that he had finished the work God gave him in that
message.
He is referred to as father of
Pentecostalism in Nigeria. What do you make of what is going on in PFN now?
When he came on the scene, ministry
work was not a joke. It was hard. It was difficult. Even the orthodox churches
waged war but he stood his ground. He cleared the land for all of us. Many
years ago it was a taboo for women to hold the microphone not to talk of
preaching in the church but he encouraged us to move in the spirit of God. He
encouraged us to preach and do the work. That was the last message he preached
to the women.
He preached also at the Bible School
before he went to lunch with a team from Oral Roberts University. He gave
instruction to all the members of the team and they were all glued to him!
After a while a gentle breeze was blowing and everybody set their gaze on him.
He was saying thank you Jesus and those on the table thought he was praying and
they all closed their eyes and started saying thank you Jesus along with him
but suddenly they did not hear anything again and one of the team members
opened his eyes and found out that archbishop was gone.
They tried all they could to revive
him but he was gone. He was not sick. He never had high blood pressure. He was
never down. Each time we came back from foreign trips doctors were always there
to take our blood pressure. I was the one that was the sick one. Even the
doctors were surprised that he died because he was not sick at all.
How did the children receive the
news?
All the children were in school when
he died. I was in America and the children were in London. One of our friends
told our eldest child that I was on the way to meet him. We met and we held
hands and cried at the airport in London. We didn't mind who was looking at us.
My first daughter was in law school in Britain then. I called her and said she
should tell her lecturer that her father had just died and that she should
come. My two daughters in America also had to come and they all cried. I
believe everything that God asked him to do he did. He said he had done all
what God wanted him to do.
How do you feel being the first
ordained female archbishop in Africa?
I don't know how it came. For many
years I belong to different Christian bodies but in the last 10 years I have
been functioning in the position of archbishop and the bodies that I belong to
said it was time to recognize me. I don't feel any difference but I feel the
responsibility. And I have asked God to give me the ability to perform and do
what I'm called to do and see and hear the hurt of those around me.
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