BY BRIGHT JACOB
Crammed together and living in squalor inside a church in Ondo state, 77 rescued members of a church, made up of 26 children, eight teenagers and 43 adults, wanted nothing else in the world but to be “raptured” and meet with Jesus, who, they were told by their pastor, would set them free from all pains in the world.
That was the news that came out a penultimate week from The Whole Bible Believers Church, aka Ondo church, Valentino area, Ondo town, a would-be church many Nigerians say subverted the will of its members and kept them locked-up and incommunicado, thereby denied them access to family, friends and freedom.
Indeed, Ondo State is in the eye of the storm, as a litany of shock, confusion and disbelief has hit the people, especially the Christian community there, these past few weeks.
First, it was the cold-blooded manner some worshippers at St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, were massacred, and then the fiasco that was the “Ondo church”.
As if that was not enough, the poor state of the Nigerian economy dishing out untold hardship would have made the people of the state view churches as places of succour, relief and hope. That belief may have been dented because of this “man’s injustice to man” episode that transpired in the church in the Valentino area.
So, adding the state of the economy to the list of sombre events in the already charged atmosphere in the state where people are experiencing uncertainty brought about by the skyrocketing costs of living, a cost a vast majority of them have found so hard to maintain its standard, will surely be too much a burden the people can bear.
Notwithstanding, as the traumatised state continues to recover from that brutal murder of defenseless and hapless worshippers in Owo, perpetuated by cowards the government at the centre called suspected members of ISWAP, it, no doubt, would want justice to be served in this case involving Josiah Peter Asumosa, the pastor alleged to be at the centre of the distressing incident at The Whole Bible Believers Church.
In true hostage style, Asumosa, an assistant pastor, with his accomplices, had indoctrinated members of the church with his ominous teaching of Christ rapturing his followers before the world came to an end.
Interestingly, he also gave them (members) the date this would happen. According to the pastor, the coming was originally slated for April.
That date, however, went by without any incident, and September was eventually announced by Asumosa to the members to be the new date for the rapture.
Likely excited about the prospect of rapture, the members abandoned family and friends and even left jobs, careers and education, and for six odd months, they cohabited in the “gulag” of what was described as “not-a-church” but a “gathering,” and thus brought to the fore, the discussion about the gullibility of ignorant worshippers being exploited by insincere pastors.
The Ondo State Police Command in a report chronicling the events that led up to its raid on the church premises submitted it was a case of members getting indoctrinated with the teachings about the rapture and end of the world.
The command said, “Following Intelligence Report gathered by the Police at Fagun Division, Ondo Town, that some children are being harboured at The Whole Bible Believers Church AKA ONDO CHURCH, Valentino area, Ondo Town, policemen were sent to the Church to invite the Pastor.
“The members of the church, on sighting the police, became violent and attacked them.
“The policemen called for reinforcement and this led to the arrest of the pastors and other members that assaulted the police.
Preliminary investigation revealed that one Pastor Josiah Peter Asumosa, the Assistant Pastor of the Church, told members that Rapture will take place in April.
“But [he] later said it has been changed to September and told young members to obey only their parents in the Lord.
“And also discouraged the young ones from going to school as rapture was near.
“A father, whose child was among the rescued, said he was denied access to his child and anyone who tried gaining entrance into the church was always attacked by the members.
“In all, 77members, 26 children, eight teenagers and 43 adults, were rescued from the Church.
“The two pastors are currently in Police custody,” the report ended.
The Police came in for praise after its timely intervention may have averted a siege that would have been as serious and deadly as the one in Waco, Texas, USA, where the compound of the Branch Davidian group headed by David Koresh was besieged for 51 days by federal agents, in 1993.
Like those at the Ondo church, members of the Branch Davidian group were also said to be waiting for the imminent return of Christ.
Along the line, Koresh was slammed with allegations of child abuse (he married young girls as little as 11 years old), and for launching a retail gun business, and federal agents got on his trail who would later try to effect his arrest in his sprawling compound.
Nearly 80 people lost their lives in the gun battle that ensued and the fire that broke out in the compound.
The Nigerian incident was thought to be a child trafficking and kidnapping syndicate smashed by the police, who said it was not, but restated that members got brainwashed by their pastor, and promised that investigation had commenced and the outcome would be made known to the public.
Some Nigerians also faulted the report released by the Ondo state police command. They insist it was not just indoctrination, but “black magic” at its best, and covertly deployed, too, to hold victims against their will. According to them, it was a classic case of hypnosis gone wrong.
Puzzling, too, was the behavior of those rescued. They refused to go home or to be reunited with their families. Some of them chose not to eat, either. They stuck to their guns about choosing to remain in police custody with their incarcerated pastor.
The onus is now on the Ondo State Ministry of Women’s Affair or any other Government agency in the state, to rehabilitate some of those children who allegedly disowned their parents, for their “pastors” who they want to be raptured together with.
A clergyman, Emeka Onwuha, who spoke to The Point, said, “The rapture is an eschatological plan of God to temporarily remove the saints from the earth because of the evil that would befall the earth through the Antichrist.”
“I want to submit that there was black magic involved because many ‘ministers’ today use black magic. Only very few are not using black magic. I want to say that the one that happened in Ondo State…black magic is involved”
Onwuha said that what the arrested pastor did was wrong as no one had any right to “keep people in one spot.”
He also added that no one really knew when Christ was coming.
Asked whether the members of the church were hypnotized and under the influence of black magic, or simply indoctrinated with the teaching about the end of the world, Onwuha, who is a pastor at Church of Faith Bible Ministry, Lagos, said black magic was involved.
“I want to submit that there was black magic involved because many ‘ministers’ today use black magic. Only very few are not using black magic. I want to say that the one that happened in Ondo State…black magic is involved,” he stated.
On how family members can be of assistance when they notice any loved one in a similar situation, Onwuha said using any ‘carnal’ means would not address the situation because the problem was spiritual in nature.
In his opinion, prayer was needed. He said, “When it comes to the issue of spiritual powers, one cannot use carnal means to undo anything, whether it is negative or positive.”
Stressing further, he said, “If I have a family member that is involved with that place, I cannot talk that person out of it as doing so would be aggravating the matter because evil spirits are involved who would make them see something different.
“So, the first thing and the best thing I am going to say to anyone that has a family member in such a situation is to go and pray,” he said.
Asked whether poverty had a role to play since a related story went viral in May had detailed another pastor, Ade Abraham, in Araromi-Ugbeshi, in Omuo-Ekiti region, Ekiti State, who asked his members to pay N310,000 ($746) as “entry fee” into heaven, and after his arrest by the police, had declared that his members were facing hardship on earth, hence the need to take them away to heaven, Onwuha said poverty had a role to play.
In his assessment, poverty was not just the absence of physical money or cash, but could be psychological or mental in nature.
He submitted that a combination of physical, mental and psychological poverty was responsible for the situation in Ondo church.
“When it comes to the African context, indeed the mental and psychological poverty, as well as the physical aspect of it, contributes to it.
“Because when somebody is mentally, psychologically and physically impoverished, the next thing is to start thinking of how to ‘leave’ this earth.
“That’s why some pastors would use ‘rapture’ on some gullible people, telling them they would leave behind all the sufferings in this life, and who would not be happy hearing such?”, he said.
On the role of government in addressing the situation, Onwuha said it was high time they (government) took the citizenry at heart and “made the environment to be conducive for people.”
According to him, anything short of that would spell doom as the government does not have any power over hypnotism.
