ORIMOLADE Moses Okejubu

The Man, the Myth, the Mission by(Ben Tomoloju). Mose Orimolade Okejubu, the son of Tunolase, was born in Ikare, now the Akoko Division of Ondo State. The story ofhis life sounds like a myth. Oral and written accounts have it that while his mother, Odijoroto, was pregnant with him, she experienced strange manifestations ofthe supernatural. The child spoke in her womb many times, sometimes greeting his mother as she engaged in domestic chores. It was reported that once, as an invisible spirit, he helped her lift a heavy load of firewood onto her head while she was faggot-gathering. When his father, the mighty warrior Tunolase, heard ofthese phantom stories about the expected child from his youngest wife, he was embarrassed. He consulted theIfaoracle. The priest warned him not to terminate the pregnancy because 'the child is a powerful messenger of God in whose way nobody should stand'. Reluctantly, Tunolase allowed the preg nancy to come to term and the prodigious baby was born in 1879. Alarmingly,the day Mose Orimolade was born, he reportedly walked dragging his placenta along. His father was disturbed. He reported the matter to the king. When the king, Ohikere, came to seethis super natural sight, the baby greeted him, "Welcome fa ther", Tunolase was shocked and enraged. The old man's jealousy was ignited. He was a valiant dispenser of charms, feared the length and breadth of Ikare and deep into the heart of Nupeland. The father wanted the child to be killed, otherwise he threatened to com mit suicide because, as the saying goes, 'two masters cannot live in the same hut'. Old Tunolase was per suaded by relations and neighbours not to take such a drastic action. Nevertheless, he managed to cripple the young Orimolade. Tunolase remained bitter to ward his son, even unto death. In his childhood days, Orimolade was exposed to the church and was baptised and christened Mose. In the new light of Christianity, he was a marvel to clerics and a living miracle of God. He started to read the Holy Bible by divine will - not having been taught by anyone to read or write. At the age of eight, it was recorded that the cripple, Mose Orimolade materialised in an Anglican church in the dead of night when everyone, including the minister of the church, was asleep. The minister, as if dreaming, heard a beautiful heavenly chorale coming from the church. He woke up to more wonders. The church was brightly illuminated and powerful beams of dazzling liJit shone out through the little spaces in the window-shutters and the doors. The clergyman asked who the singers were. A lone voice answered: we are. To his amazement it was the voice of the crippled child, Mose. How, the child walked the long distance from his parents' house to the church, and how the church filled with dazzling light ata time when Ikare had no electricity, and the angelic singing in the dead ofnight were miracles enough for the priest. The climax occurred when the door opened, and the priest saw the back of Mose briefly before he disappeared on spiritual wings. As he grew, he was regarded as an angelic be ing. His performance in music was superlative. The songs he sang were original and divinely inspired. He had dada(dreadlocks), which his parents hadtried to cut. They gave up in frustration when the twelfth razor broke. Later in life, these Samson-like locks usually spread out like an umbrella over the great prophet's head whenever he ministered in revivals. At a point, he fell seriously ill. Everyone thought he would die, but in the seventh year of the illness, God apparently spoke to Mose, saying it was time for him to begin his mission on earth. Mose Orimolade had, therefore, the tripartite endowments of victory embodied in a Mosaic Rod, the authority of prayer and the crown of God's glory. Thereafter, he began his apostolic missionary work, spreading the Word, healing and delivering people from the forces of darkness. His personal life was also full of wonders. He was reputed to hunt animals in the bush by sheer will without leaving the four walls of his home. He owned a farm where each harvested yam could only be carried by at least eight people. Once a huge rock fell on him. It took seven able-bodied men to roll the boulder off his prostrate body, yet he rose without suffering as much as a simple scratch. To crown everything, Mose Orimolade Tunolase was enthroned king by a heavenly host. Eye witness accounts stated that the participants were not people from this world. They swarmed around him placing a crown of most precious stone on his head and robing him in a dazzling white, ornamented robe. As 'king' on earth, he faced idol worshippers and pagans in Ikare and environs in spiritual battle, counting on God to deliver him like He delivered Daniel from the lion's den and Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego from the conflagration. Indeed, during one of these battles,the pagan aggressors ended up fighting each other. In another episode, he made the earth open up, almost swallowing his heathen detractors. There is also an account of how he stayed indoors for ten years without a meal. During this spiritual retreat, he received many visitations from mysterious guests who were eventually understood to be heavenly beings. After this retreat, he went on a trip with his mother to her home town in Edo where they sojourned for three months.Unknown tothemother, Orimolade materialised in other towns preaching the gospel with out anyone in Edo being awareofhis absence. In 1916, Orimolade left Ikare, crossing the River Ojawiri by spiritual powers,to the landof the Tapa further north. Later he visited Owo, Ifon, Benin, Lokoja, Onitsha, Sapele, Kabba, and Ogidi, where he subdued the terrifying water spirit that manifested it selfinmonstrous fishes of a nearby river. Orimolade's evangelistic mission also took him to northern cities like Bida,Jos,Zaria- where he put up with one Marcus Thomas, and Kano - where he met one Madam Pearse. On the whole, Moses Orimolade spent about two years in the north. Thereafter, he moved to Ilorin, and lateron,to Offa, Ikirun, Osogbo, Ede, Ogbomoso, Ibadan and Abeokuta. Everywhere he went, he left a trail of miraculous happenings - some good, some terrifying. A remarkable example took place in Ogbomoso, where a female sorcerer challenged his mission despite the people's eagerness to benefit from his work. Orimolade left Ogbomoso placing a curse on the town. Rain did not fall; pregnant women could not give birth; things stood still after he left.The ruler of Ogbomoso had to send a special delegation to meet and plead with Orimolade in Ifako before the curse could be lifted. From Ifako, the man of God's fame spread far and wide,even to the city of Lagos. Mose Orimolade Tunolase stepped in to Lagos on 12 July 1924, at a time when a pestilence had seized the city and a healer was desperately needed. As he entered the city, his followers sang; Raise the alarm with seriousness. Alarm of the Good News. Letitring far and wide. For all creatures to hear. The foundation year is here. Step back, ye sinner,step back. The foundation year is here. Step back, ye sinner,step back, [translation mine] Orimolade made a triumphant entry into Lagos. He prayed in the name of Jesus and the pestilence ceased. He departed and returned in December that same year to the displeasure of some priests of the Western orthodox churches.They regarded the African apostle of Christ with disdain and contempt, the same way the churches of the West- and even the pentecostal churches of today - relate to their culturally liberated, non-imperialistindigenous counterparts, such as, the latter-day Celestial Church of Christ, founded in 1947bySamuel Oschoffa . A certain orthodox clergy man connived with a church-warden to plant a charm on the doorpost of the church in which Orimolade was to preach in order to harm him. He entered the church, preached and left without any problem. His detractors marvelled, giving in helplessly as the man of God carried his evangelism to the heart of Lagos Island, and devastated the idol worshippers in Obun Eko.He later settled in Agosofin from where he took of fto other parts of Lagos for further missionary work. Some time in March 1924,he met the distinguished mother of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, the then Miss Abiodun Akinsowon, whom he salvaged from a near-terminal trance, which had lasted seven days. This miracle brought about a glorious association and Abiodun became a disciple of Orimolade and this earned her the title 'Captain' from her master because, according to the man of God, 'You are the first seed of my work in Lagos.1 Through Abiodun,many souls, including eminent, prosperous and erudite personalities,were won for Christ in the Cherubim and Seraphim Church. Her direct collaboration with the founding father lasted until 1928. The movement grew,and in order to accommodate it steeming followers, it moved from Agosofin to the Hollowaysparcel of land along Martins Street. At this point,the name Serafu emerged invisions by various interdenominational seers. Later,another visionary divined the inclusion of Kerubuon26 March 1926 to complete the nomenclature of the church as the Cherubim and Seraphim Church(C& S)- allto the fore knowledge of the objective consciousness of the founder. The fervour with which the church was received in Lagos was monumental. So also was its growth. The fame of the church also spread because of the signs andwondersassociatedwithit,whichincluded the healing of the legendary Lagos millionaire business man,Da Rocha. During Orimolade's sojournin Lagos,he also laid down the administrative structures and the tenets and ordinances of the church. All this happened in the midst of rising treachery by existing churches.The chosen man of God, however, marched on and his fame extended even to the palace of the British Crown when he prayed, prophesied and received God's sanction for the healing of the reigning king of Britain. Between 1925 and 1928, the evangelic wave of the C & S spread to the whole of the old Western Region. Through the efforts of Captain Abiodunand others, the church's activities spread to Ebute-Meta on 5 November 1925; Agege on 7 February 1926; and Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode, Ile-Ife, Ilesa and Ondo, among others. In 1928,towns like Igbo mina and Ijabewere also won for Christ. These and many others demonstrated the successful outreach of Captain Abiodun and her lieutenants, under the sacred guardianship of the divinely anointed founder,the first Alagbaand Baba Aladura, Mose Orimolade Tunolase. Soon afterwards, how ever, disagreements began to occur between the spiritual father and daughter. On grounds of insubordination and rabble-rousing by the latter, the founder advised her, in a letter dated 8 March 1929, to dissociate from The Sacred Orders of Cherubim and Seraphim and, if she wished, to establish her own movement in the interest of peace. Thus began the fragmentation of the order. More splinter groups broke off, and the elders of good will are still trying to bring them back into fold. Before the completion of his life's mission, Mose Orimolade had been exposed to the realities of modern life. The dissonance of some of his followers served as an eye-opener, therefore, he firmed up the legality of the Order as an African ecclesiastical legacy that would be untarnishable over time. He took constitutional precautions for the Order and had it registered according to the law. This helped to protect it against litigious mischief-making. His departure from this mortal world was pres aged by visible activities of the celestial realm especially in October 1933. A meteor shot across the sky on 13October. Five days later, in Ohohoro,a suburb of Agege, where he drew his last breath, the same heavenly chorus which was heard when he was a youngster enveloped his abode and was heard by his disciples. Then he began to bless and pray for them, and for the church. The portents were apt. Just one day later, at exactly 3 a.m. on 19 October 1933, a powerful flash of lightning cut through the evangelist's house and felled his disciples who had surrounded him. Before they could rise, he had shut his eyes and passed into the great beyond, leaving behind a legacy for Africa The Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim, with a flock that now flourishes even in foreign lands. Branches were established in Britain in 1969 and in America in 1975. The biographical source for this write-up is the book Mose OrimoladeTunolase:AsikoIloyun Titi De IkuRe (Mose Orimolade Tunolase: From Conception to Transition) authored byGeneral Evangelist (Dr.)E.OluFamodimu, Abibcom Press, Kaduna, 1990.