•It Was Founded 94 Yrs Ago
The Cherubim and Seraphim movement church, also known as the C&S, is a church denomination in Nigeria that was founded by Prophet Moses Orimolade Tunolase in 1925. Orimolade received considerable media attention when he claimed to have healed a girl, Christina Abiodun Akinsowon, from a long-term trance in which she could neither speak nor hear. After the healing event, Orimolade Tunolase and Abiodun Akinsowon teamed up, as father and adopted daughter, and offered their services to heal and pray for people.
The Cherubim and Seraphim group claims to have dreams and visions that facilitated the connection of God and humanity. In 1925, they said that Jesus Christ had directed them to name their circle of followers seraphim, after an angel they claimed to have seen in their dreams. Two years later, they added “Cherubim” to the name of their church, making their congregation the Cherubim and Seraphim.
Several years after the creation of the Cherubim and Seraphim, different denominations following in its traditions broke off and formed new churches. The Church of Aladura, which began in 1930 under the leadership of Josiah Oshitelu, was one of the churches that began under “similarly spectacular circumstances” as the Cherubim and Seraphim. By the 1940s, the Aladura movement church had begun to spread throughout the world, from places in Africa to other English-speaking countries, such as the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK).
The founder, Moses Orimolade Tunolase, was born in 1879, into the quarters of the royal family of Omoba Ode Sodi of Okorun quarters, in Ikare, Nigeria. Records show that Orimolade’s life began strangely. His mother, Madam Odijoro, said that when she was pregnant, she went to the farm to cut some firewood on a particular day. When she was ready to leave, she realised she could not lift the firewood she had cut. Suddenly, she heard a voice telling her the easiest way to lift the firewood. She looked around, but could not find anyone. Then, the voice said, “Do not be frightened, I am the child in your womb. Follow my advice and be on your way.” She claimed to have been able to lift the firewood with the help of the unknown force.
When he was born, his parents had mixed feelings. They were excited about the new addition to their family, but were also embarrassed because of the strange circumstances that surrounded his birth. According to records, “The new child stood up right after his birth and walked around the delivery room.” The midwife who helped with his delivery held him down forcefully to stop him from walking. Members of the Cherubim and Seraphim believe that the force of the midwife, in addition to some incantations made by his herbalist father to calm him down on the day he was born, led to Orimolade’s “prolonged paralysis”. Because his father could no longer bear the embarrassment surrounding his son’s birth, he asked Orimolade and his mother to leave his house for good, after which he planned to commit suicide, but was discouraged by family members. Family members claimed that it was not hard to tell that he had a little time left to live.
Not long after Orimolade and his mother had left his father’s house, Orimolade sent a message to his father, telling him to go to a nearby hill (now known by the Cherubim and Seraphim in Ikare as calvary) to ask for forgiveness for his sins. People claim that the message threw Orimolade’s father into complete depression, which caused him to become ill. He requested that his wife be close to him on his sickbed, and he blessed her the way an elderly Yoruba man about to die would. Days after his death, he was buried “honorably.”
Books claim that one night, Orimolade was in a church singing some songs of praise. Astonished by the voices, the minister, who thought they were the voices of the choir, went over to the church to ask them why they were using the church without his permission. However, upon his arrival, he found that it was just a boy, about 5 years old, singing as though he was a group of choristers. Amazed by this, the minister decided that the church should employ Orimolade to teach them spiritual songs.
After Orimolade left the church, he continued to spread the word of God around Nigeria, preaching in Benin, Delta, Kwara, Niger and finally Lagos, where he died in 1933. Days before his death, historians mentioned that an “emblem appeared in the sky, so that many stars dropped off the sky.” Before his death, he prophesied that the Cherubim and Seraphim was going to spread worldwide, this prophecy has actually come to pass because the church is now known worldwide and has different branches.
SPREADING THE WORD
Orimolade claimed his calling was to go about preaching the gospel of the Lord and heal the sick. However, he felt overwhelmed by the ridicule he received from the people of Ikare because of his disability. So, he decided to pray, and he asked God to manifest Himself. Records say that in reply to his prayer, an angel appeared to him in his dreams, presenting him with a rod, which they claimed signified a “rod of victory”, an insignia which represented a “power of prayer and power of speaking”, and a crown which stood for “all honour and Multi-respect of every individual to bow before him to receive blessing.” After Orimolade woke up, he knew his prayer had been answered. He ordered his mother to wash him, and from then on the gospel of Jesus Christ was his sole purpose.
-Source Online
