Euangelion

His last sermon was titled “Benefit of Death”.
…he kept on shouting that day
“For me to live is Christ, for me to die is gain”
and he asked…. Are you afraid of gain?
Why are you afraid of death???
“I will go when my work is finished;
therefore when I am gone nobody
should be double-minded concerning
the will of God for my death.
I am going to go by the will of God, not the
will of witches or wizards.
No man can kill me.
Many have tried to hurt me spiritually
and physically to no avail.
God has not given the key of the vault
in which he has hidden me to any man
or devil.
He did not invest so much in me only
to hand me over to the devil to fulfill
his dark and unholy idiosyncrasies.
I am indestructible by the grace of God,
so are you if you know my Jesus.
You know, here in Edo land, I do not know
about you and where you come from,
but here in Edo land, where I am from,
when a man dies, the wife is
always accused of having killed him.
I share a beautiful life with my wife
Margaret, at least as beautiful as my
human nature and God’s grace in my
life can make it.
She is not dreaming of killing me-
is the flesh of my flesh and bone of
my bones, the wife of my youth and
the mother of my lovely four children.
No, when I go it will be by
the will and call of God.
You may ask if I am preparing to die.
Not at all. I hope to live for at least
one hundred and twenty years.
I look forward to when I will hobble
into the church with my walking stick
and sit back on my big chair to listen
and watch my children in the ministry
show forth the stuff which God has
invested in them through the ministry
of God committed to me, but, and
this is the big But… if the Lord calls
me before then, if He calls me NOW,
I am ready to answer ‘’Here I am O Lord’’
with joy and expectation because
death is gain.
Yes, yes! Ha, I see heaven open and
the voice that I hear says
“Come up hither!’’
My going will be a Glorious one,
I will NOT be sick and be taken from
one hospital to the other.
Like Elijah, phew! I will be gone before
you can say Jack Robinson…
No. Nobody will mourn me with regret
because of a prolonged illness.
Nobody will have the pleasure of
sympathising with me because of
long suffering; that is one of the gifts which I
do not have: the gift of Lo-o-ong suffering!
When my day comes, I may be sitting
with people in the Church and will go
when I hear the call like Rev. Gordon
Lindsay did.
It is a glorious way to depart.
I MAY BE WITH PEOPLE AT HOME
AND WHILE WE ARE TALKING, I WILL
BE GONE JUST LIKE THAT.
On Thursday, the 12th March, 1998,
Idahosa started the day as busy as
always.
In his office he asked for a cup of tea
which he did not drink up.
He told one of his staff members;
‘’I am going home’’. This was not strange.
But when he repeated it unnecessarily,
there was a reason to suspect the
unusual but no notice was taken of it.
Later that afternoon, at lunch with
his guests, he spoke about heaven.
He asked them whether they believed
it was possible for one to walk to
heaven like Elijah did?
He said he would prefer to be translated
like Enoch and Elijah.
He told them he had a heavenly drink
in his cup.
He took the “pure heaven” juice on the
table and drank from it, making a
humorous statement about going to heaven.
The drink tasted like heaven’s drink he
told his guests. His high sense of
humour was on parade.
On that day he had received “members of
an educational foundation team from
the U.S.-based Oral Roberts University”
at the Christian Faith University after
ministering in church.
He excused himself to go to Miracle Centre,
his Church office and prayed with
different segments of people at the
Church Office and including the Bible
School students before he went
back to meet his guests at home.
It was a busy period
The Archbishop had just returned from
one of his many tours, this time from
the United Kingdom
Members of the Oral Robert University
Educational Fellowship (OREF) were
at the headquarters of Word of Faith
Group of Schools for the yearly OREF
program.
They were led by Professor Don Petri,
a friend of the Benson Idahosa University
and a Professor of Christian Education
at the Oral Robert University.
Both he and all the American
participants at the conference were
guests at the Archbishop’s home.
It was an early afternoon and Idahosa
and his guests were at the table.
A characteristic humour of the Archbishop
eliciting laughter and chatter punched
with the lunch.
It was a sumptuous meal and both
local and international guests were
satisfied.
Pure heaven was the name of the
drink they all were drinking as he came…
The caption started another round of
conversation.
It was about heaven.
Then suddenly, there was a hush as the
Archbishop broke into the good natured
conversation and asked. “how many of
you are ready to go to heaven right
now?
You see he continued; “all Christians talk
about heaven and its beauty and
desirability but not one is prepared to
go there straight away”.
I have news for you.
I am prepared to go to heaven right now,
anyone going with me?
Everyone was silent.
The mood of the diners changed and
they went to their rooms.
The Archbishop called for Professor
Don Petri to join him in one of the
sitting rooms in the new Benson
Idahosa University.
He indicated those aspects of the master
plan he had implemented and requested
that the professor should continue from
where he had stopped, yet Professor
Don Petri did not understand the meaning
of the Archbishop’s words.
The Archbishop was the symbol of the
university.
It could not have entered the mind of
anybody that he would be translated a
few minutes after.
Shortly after he had spoken instructing
a deaconess on what the guests should
eat for dinner, he began to repeat the
words ‘Thank you Jesus’ then suddenly
threw his head back on the easy chair
and gave up the ghost!!!
Professor Don Petri did not immediately
understand until he saw the body slumping
off the chair then Don Petri rushed at him
calling for help and laying him on the rug.
He tried all the resuscitation techniques
that he knew but to no avail, they called
for help from the Faith MediPlex but the
doctors testified that from the moment
he hissed that sigh of relief, he had
clearly departed.
He was not sick.
He never had high blood pressure.
He was never down.
Even the doctors were surprised that
he died because he was not sick
at all”.
“I MAY BE WITH PEOPLE AT HOME AND
WHILE WE ARE TALKING, I WILL BE
GONE JUST LIKE THAT. That will be a
precious death”. He once said days before!
Archbishop Benson Idahosa, the
undisputed Prophet and Apostle of
Christendom in the twentieth century
went to be with the Lord in gloriously!
He went home riding the eagle of life
to its fullness
That is the end that is befitting of the
righteous
Not clinging on to this world because
he wasn’t sure where he was going or
what awaits him at the other side of
time
Believers ought not to be scared of
sleeping in the Lord or acting all gooey
because someone went home to be
with the Lord
I do not
I celebrate eternal translations
and await with joy, the return of the
Lord in His glory

PS: I write this because of all the
emotional stuff i see flying here and
there
People acting like such a disaster had
happened and talking faithless talks
The church should teach more about
the reality believers walk in
Those who are crying are crying for
themselves
Death was defeated by Jesus Himself
I live the life of Christ Himself
No power of hell, no scheme of man
can ever pluck me from his hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand