D.K. Olukoya: Garlands For An Apostle Of ‘Heaven On Earth’ At 65
By Wole Oyebade
Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya
…MFM is an unusual contemporary church setting modeled after the firebrand Christianity, aggressive evangelism of Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola
On this special day, one cannot but celebrate a modern Apostle of faith, Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, who turns 65 today. The General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) is a man of many parts, yet his radical role in societal and youth development is worthy of mention.
As a student of philosophy of religion in the fall of 2012, I learnt the ABC of religion in an attempt to define the subject satisfactorily. The ABC acronym stands for: Assurance of salvation; Believe in a God-figure and Conversion of non-believers. They are the three main ingredients shared by all religions without which none is complete.
For one, the assurance of salvation is central because it guarantees life in the hereafter. And it is for that reason that one of the main purposes of religion is to take believers to heaven or have them rapture-ready. That notion, ab initio, aims to make the most of the now in preparation for eternity. However, the danger of the heaven-bound objective of religion is that some hardliners and religious zealots, not peculiar to the Christian faith, completely turn eschatological, negating life and living itself.
L-R: Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya and his Wife, Pastor Folashade Olukoya
But religion can be more symbolic by teaching how to live life to the utmost without being paralyzed by fears of the unknown, and that is the category where Olukoya belongs. A religion with a more positive outlook to life will realise that the society itself is the bedrock of all our becoming and perhaps a mirror-image of that to come. In societies that are most kind to life and less hellish for living, it is less difficult to imagine a vision of heaven and to live accordingly with less promptings.
That view readily nullifies the position that social well-being is inversely proportional to religious patronage. On the flip side, the fact that there are too many social ills to deal with is an indictment of religion and its roles in society. The point is that religious practitioners need to find the right balance between the objective of the afterlife and having life here in its abundance. Only in the latter would religion be most positive and sociologically relevant to draw more people to faith.
One of those religious leaders leading that charge is the celebrant of today. Love or hate him, his ministry has one the biggest philanthropic commitments to social development. His critics will find his swelling congregation, cluster of churches, routine services and human foibles of some lieutenants rather strange for a Pentecostal church of the 21st Century.
I also strongly doubt that their next-door neighbours will warm-up to their unorthodox mode of worship and the die-by-fire mantra. Truly, MFM is an unusual contemporary church setting. It was modeled after the firebrand Christianity and aggressive evangelism of Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola, to reignite the revival of apostolic signs and wonders, shame satanic agents and set today’s captives free. But radically different from the Apostolic of old is the modernity that Olukoya has infused into evangelism, manifesting as social impartation that the church is making in education, corporate social responsibility and sports development.
Source: The Guardian
