76 YEARS OF CELESTIAL MANIFESTATION.

Samuel Olamiji Akibu,  (SamAkibu02@oru.edu) is a PhD Student in Contextual Theology at Oral Roberts University, Tulsa,  Oklahoma, USA. He currently teaches English Language  Development at Tulsa Public Schools, Tulsa, Oklahoma.   

ABSTRACT 

In the twentieth century, God raised many faith giants among Africans for Africans and the whole world. These faith heroes contributed immensely to the decolonization, indigenization, and expansion of Christianity in Africa and the Global South. Among these highly spiritually invested Africans was a BenineseNigerian carpenter, Samuel Biléou Joseph Oschoffa (1909–1985). 

He was educated in the Methodist tradition before the Lord called him to lead one of the most significant African prophetic-charismatic indigenous movements, the Celestial Church of Christ. This article explores his life, ministerial legacies, and theology. 

INTRODUCTION 

For many decades, the role and the contributions of African faith heroes in decolonizing, indigenizing, and expanding Christianity in Africa and the Global South have been highly phenomenal. Many of these Christian figures were so incredibly spiritually gifted and endowed that they lived a shared life both within and outside of their African territories. Some of their legacies live on today. In the twentieth century, God raised many spiritual giants among the Africans for Africans and the rest of the world who contributed immensely to the Africanization and indigenization of Christianity in Africa. 

Among these spiritually invested Africans was the BenineseNigerian carpenter, Samuel Biléou Joseph Oschoffa, a prophet and an apostle who founded and led one of the most significant African prophetic-charismatic indigenous movements, the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC),1 for thirty-eight years. Born on October 11, 1909, and died September 10, 1985, he was educated in the Methodist tradition before the Lord called him into the ministry. His ministry’s impact and influence blazed the length and breadth of Africa, and the miracles of his shared life transcended geo-ethnic boundaries and nationalities. Although his ministry receiver.

Heavy criticism, particularly concerning doctrinal principles, his place cannot be contested in the global Spirit-empowered charismatic, academic, and ecclesial community as a highly charismatic and spiritually gifted leader.   

For that reason, this article explores the life, ministry, and the legacies of S. B. J. Oschoffa, who was widely known and respected as a spiritual force due to his spontaneous and iconic miraculous life and ministry.2 In this essay, I critically examine his theological and cosmological views, situating his theology within the synthesis of a biblical belief, Christian liturgical traditions, and elements from the Yoruba cultural milieu and worldview.

Samuel Biléou Joseph Oschoffa was born in Dahomey (now the Republic of Benin) into a polygamous family after the rest of his siblings died either as infants or before their teen years. He was named Samuel Biléou at birth and later adopted his father’s name, Joseph. Christened after the biblical Samuel at birth because like Hannah in the Bible, his father (who had suffered the loss of all his children, but one female) specially requested him of the Lord because according to the African tradition, he needed a son as an heir to propagate the family’s name and lineage. 

His name Biléou (or Bilewu), a derivative of a Yoruba epistemological view and in Yoruba language, Bi ‘le aiye wu ko gbe, sugbon mo mo wipe mo ti toro re lodo Olorun, means: “If the world pleases the child let him stay, but I know I’ve asked God for you.”4 According to Samuel Biléou, his father’s name Oshoffa, which later became a household name, was obtained from a Yoruba aphorism ‘Oju ki ise Ofa ti Ota le ta bani ka subu, or, in short, ‘Oju ko sofa”, which was shortened further to OSOFA’, or Oshoffa in the Yoruba language (Anglicized Oschoffa). It means in English, “The human eye is not a missile that an enemy can fire at one to make one fall.”5 Thus, his full name, Samuel Biléou Joseph Oschoffa. 

In fulfilment of the covenant his father had with God that if God gave him a son, he would make him serve the Lord, and the fact that he had no access to Western education, the young Samuel Oschoffa was enrolled in the Methodist catechetical school. However, after some years, the new bishop, who was posted from London at the time, ordered the students to participate in making bricks for a new and modern school building, but because they all refused, Oschoffa and his co-catechists were expelled. This made him end up as an apprentice in his father’s professional carpentry business. The young Oschoffa soon became proficient and prominent in the business and became a household name due to his dexterity and professionalism in wood planing, house roofing, and working with ebony, which he purchased from his friends.

Shortly after his father’s death on June 15, 1939, Oschoffa found passion for another brand of business, buying and supplying lumber and ebony logs to carpenters and other traders. As this type of business seemed more lucrative than his carpentry job, he pressed deeper into the forest in search of ebony trees. As an avid lover of God’s Word, he usually had his Bible with him and equally loved to pray much. Thus, he continued this lucrative trade until one such trip in May 1947 during the floods.