His name rings bell in the Christian ministry. Right from birth, it was like the call was upon him. Though he veered away for a time, but the call upo
His name rings bell in the Christian ministry. Right from birth, it was like the call was upon him. Though he veered away for a time, but the call upon his life was too powerful for the magnetic pull of the devil and his worldly attractions. And when he fell in line with God again, it was straight to duty. Right from his A Levels, the call began to manifest. Some months after confession Christ, he became the president of students’ fellowship at Benue state Polytechnic which housed his School of Basic Studies. At University of Jos, right from his first year at school, he was elected president of the Students Fellowship and in his second year, he became the president of the National Student Fellowship. Few people have achieved such a feat. Today, his itinerant ministry has taken him all over the world as one of the great Nigerian preachers taking souls back to God en-mass. In this interview with BOLA ADEWARA at his home in Mogodo, Lagos, Samuel Tukura of Global Revival Fire Ministries takes a look at his call, the Christian ministry in Nigeria and the Boko Haram issues threatening Christians in the Northern parts of Nigeria.
At what point in your life would you say you were called into the Christian ministry?
My call to the ministry can be traced back to my late father who gave me the name Samuel. The manifestation of the name began to follow me from my early days as a young boy in Oguma in the present Kogi state. In our house then was a pictorial Bible where I saw Samuel being called by God. So every day, I will look up into the skies expecting that God will call me anytime.
Also in my primary school days, some of my classmates with some knowledge of the Bible always tease me with an old song on Samuel being called by God. This was the situation till I got to secondary school when the devil got hold of me. My life changed through the influence of the peer group. I began to attend disco parties, smoke marihuana, left my hair as dreadlock, I became a karate teacher, a DJ, and all sorts.
But because I have read the bible and I knew what the bible says of hell and the last days, every time i sleep and wake up, I will always pray that God, I don’t want to go to hell. The sub-consciousness was always there because of the training from home. My notoriety got to a stage that even the bad people knew I was bad. Through my maternal parents, who were known for rituals and satanic powers, I was again introduced to that world. I began to amass all sorts of charms. This prompted my mother, who had given her life to Christ, to take my name from one pastor to another for prayers. Through her I got saved on the first of May, 1983.
That day, I brought out all my charms which were set on fire publicly in the presence of hundreds of people. My conversion happened when I was at the school of Basic studies (SBS) Makurdi where I was admitted because I could not pass all my papers at the O’level. My lifestyle would not permit me.
There was this crusade that day which I attended. When the preacher made an alter call, I would consider it, asking myself should I give my life to Christ? I will immediately leave the Crusade, go to town and sit at a beer parlour. I remember I would sit there telling my friends that I will soon leave all these things I am doing. It’s like I want to give my life to Christ. They all thought I was joking. We wpould all laugh.
But on the third day of the Crusade which I attended, while the preacher was preaching, I suddenly raised my hand. The preacher thought I wanted to say something like a suggestion but I shouted “I can’t hold it any longer.” The preacher said what is it? I said I want to give my life to Christ. That was how I was called forward and prayed for in the presence of hundreds of people. Right there, under 24hours, I got the gift of the Holy Spirit. Immediately I started preaching, telling people about Christ. I read the bible under 3months. 10 months after my conversion, I was elected the President of the School’s fellowship. It was not joke to be elected President 10months after conversion in the presence of older Christians. I would be praying and fire would be burning all over me. On the streets, while walking, the anointing would fall upon me and before I knew it schools began to invite me to their Crusades as guest speaker. This was my conversion story.
What was Christianity like then? Can you compare it to what it is now?
The difference is too much. The focus then was Christ. If you went to churches those days it was Bible studies, prayer meetings and evangelism. Now you don’t have that. The focus of what we see as Christianity these days is not Christ, its how do we get something from God. Those days, people say ‘Lord what do I do for you’. Now it is ‘Lord what will you do for me.’ So it’s like God is living for us, not we living for God.
How did the limelight in this gospel terrain happened for you?
It was a gradual thing. When I was a student of the School of Basic Studies (SBS) Makurdi, Benue State, right on ground was also the Benue Polytechnic. So it was a large campus and I was made the President of the fellowship. Unbelievably, revival broke out on campus and students began to give their lives even during lectures. When I have no lectures, I would go to the bush to pray and from there straight to the lecture room. When the lecturer was not around, I would take over the class and begin to pray.
From that point, I was admitted to the University of Jos. 10 months after my admission; I was elected the president of the University Student fellowship. Before I was admitted to the university, there were so many students who were praying that I should be admitted to the university to assist in the revival breaking out there.
The way God introduced me to the Campus fellowship was dramatic. There was a crusade and a pastor who was like a mentor to me was invited to preach and i went to the crusade ground to greet him. So during his ministration, a lady was manifesting demonic spirit, so the prayer group took her out to cast out the demon. But they could not succeed. So they waited for the preacher to finish and took the case to him. The man said, why were they waiting for him, they should have taken me there and deal with the case.
So I was taken there and in few minutes, the demon was out. That was how the news spread that there was a preacher on campus. Five months later I was elected the president of the campus fellowship. I was elected again for second term and during the second term I was elected the National president of campus fellowship. I began to travel round all campuses in the federation. So it became obvious that the call of God was obvious in my life.
By the time I came out of school, I worked for a few years and I went full time into the ministry. The first name of the ministry was Heart Aflame Ministry before it became Global Revival Fire ministry.
How can we explain the fact that in spite of the Christian might of Nigeria, churches all over the place, we have a very little influence on the francophone countries surrounding us? We have not been able to evangelise these Francophone countries.
The issue is that we are dealing with spirits. We are dealing with acultured people. The Francophone countries have some deposits from their colonial masters of spirit and lifestyle. This influenced the formation of their culture and tradition. The French man is a man of leisure and enjoyment of life. Drinking, womanizing, smoking, fashion, etc. Today, Paris is noted for wine, fashion, etc. they are never a spiritual people. They left that spirit on their colonies. Much revival has not happened in the French world. Mention one French preacher who is well known all over the world? The move of God is much noted in the English world. The colonization of these colonies is not only political but also mental and spiritual.
We have not seen a desperate move on the part of Nigerian preachers to evangelise in Islamic areas like Sokoto, Kano, Zamfara, etc. Nigerian preachers will rather go to the US, UK, Germany, etc.
In spite of all, we still have preachers in those areas. Joe Olaiya was in Sokoto before he moved to Kaduna. Bishop Ransom Bello is still in Kano. I have also preached in those areas, Sokoto, Funtau, etc. But of a truth, preaching in Islamic environment s requires an unusual grace, unusual visitation of the Lord. In the first place, to break the spirit of Islam requires unusual visitation of the Lord to a man’s life.
On the other hand, their religion does not tolerate conversion in the sense that if any one of them gets converted, they are ready to kill the convert. So it makes them afraid. Even those who want to give their lives, they are afraid because they could be killed. So we need an unusual visitation both on the ministers and the converts to say we are ready to die for our new faith.
You have lived in the North for a very long time. How do you react to this violence against Christians in the North?
When you look at the north, the Hausa man was not primarily a Muslim. It was through the jihad that they became Muslims. If not, they were animists and they served all kinds of things. Islam itself came about 700 years after Jesus Christ. So all the lands of Islam, Arabia, Egypt, Syria, etc. were all Christian environments before Islam came. All the seven churches John wrote letters to are all within Turkey today. So Turkey was a Christian region but today, it is a deep Islamic area. Syria, with capital in Damascus was a Christian center. Don’t forget the Paul was going to Damascus to deal with the Christians there when Jesus met him on the way to convert him. But today, Damascus or Syria is 99 per cent Muslim.
The killing of Christians in the Core North and Middle Belt region of Nigeria is a corollary of what happened in the Middle East.
The spread of Islam through jihad from the North to the South was checked by the Middle Belt people. That was why the influence of Islam in the South was not much. They were Islamizing not through peaceful means but through force. The desire to Islamize the Middle Belt is still on and that is accountable for these killings we still see till today.
What I will advise a normal Muslim cleric is don’t kill anybody for God. Preach your message. Sell the truth you have. If your message can convert people, let it convert peaceful. Don’t kill people for God. Let people have freedom of choice. Christians don’t kill people. We preach and people see the light. I accept that not all Muslims are that rabid in killing people but there are some radicals amongst them who believe that anybody who is not a Muslim is Kafiri and should be killed.
Suddenly Nigeria has become a bomb throwing nation through the Boko Haram. There are feelings that this is another strategy to force the Christians to become Muslims. How do you address this Boko Haram issue? Is the Fed Government able to curb this menace?
No, it is not easy for the government to tackle the issue because the matter is first spiritual before it becomes natural. Satan is interested in this nation because he knows that it is the church that has a true message, not the materialistic church but the church that has Christ at its centre.
The plan is Satan will use any means to stop the work of God. He knows that Nigeria is in the plan of God to take the whole world back to Him, to send the gospel to different parts of the world. We have seen this time and time again as some of us travel to different parts of the world. At different parts of the world, the pastors making impacts for God are Nigerians, so it is not surprising that the devil is using Islam to attack the nation.
So the Boko Haram thing cannot be addressed by the government alone. It takes the church to take responsibility in prayer. The church is the final place to bind the devil. We need to deal with the spirit.
The Boko Haram killings is affecting the Church in such a way that attendance has dropped drastically. Do you tell Christians to stay at home for now?
That tells us the state of the church now. Christ is no more the reality; church is becoming a place for social gathering, traditional stuff, etc. How did the church in the early days survive the onslaught and persecution? How did Peter and the Apostles survive the killings? James was beheaded by Herod. We have a lot to learn. The church can and should survive in the midst of all these. In fact, the church of Christ thrives better in the midst of persecution. That is where the true church comes out. The church we are building in Nigeria is not the church that is ready to die. It’s a church looking for handout from God. So many people can’t stand the persecution.
