Without a shred of doubt, the Nigerian land scape is awash with thousands of pastors and men of God of different shades and colour. They are everywhere. Everywhere you turn to, you will find churches and fire branding, eloquent men of God running those churches. Many of them stand out for various reasons, each with his own uniqueness. But one of the men of God whose incredible exploits stood him out from the very start of his ministerial career is the irrepressible and charismatic man of God, Bishop (Dr.) Tom Samson. He is the presiding Bishop and General Overseer of CHRIST ROYAL FAMILY INTERNATIONAL Church. Many will remember him as that spirit filled and energetic man of God that shook Lagos and its environs with his annual explosive pragramme, “IT IS WAR!”
For about twenty years running, the hugely respected and popular man of God has been declaring war against all manner of satanic assaults, foundation problems, captivity, poverty, oppression, etc. with “IT IS WAR!” And he has recorded outstanding testimonies, for himself, the church and participants of the programme. The success of “IT IS WAR!” has been phenomenal. It shot not just the name of Bishop (Dr) Tom Samson into the consciousness of Nigerians, it also projected his church, CHRIST ROYAL FAMILY INTERNATIONAL CHURCH, to Nigerians, Africans and the world at large. Few days ago, City People Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) visited him at his Egbeda branch of the church last week. He was in the middle of a ministration. The church was filled to capacity and the congregation was clearly enthralled in the Bishop’s sermon. Dressed in a simple dotted shirt on a black pair of trousers, and looking as handsome as he’s always been all these years, Bishop Tom Samson’s commanding presence on the pulpit is, without a shred of doubt, incontestable. Even if you were seeing him for the first time, you will definitely want to listen to him. And to put the icing on the cake, he’s an extremely good preacher. He knows how to get the attention of his congregation and hold them spellbound. His honesty, truthfulness and openness to his church are perhaps some of his greatest strengths. He is always truthful with them. He tells them everything about his past without holding anything back. They enjoyed every minute of his preaching.
This year’s edition of IT IS WAR kicks of on the 4th of August at the Lagos Airport Hotel on Obafemi Awolowo way, Ikeja, by 3pm prompt. And from Monday, 5th of August to 9th of August at Royal Tower, no 2 Adegbola Tom Samson street, off Obafemi Awolowo way, Ikeja, the programme holds from 6pm daily. The grand finale takes place on Saturday the 10th of August by 9am at the Royal Tower. It promises to be power packed. The man of God, Bishop Tom Samson, is forever charged to transform lives spiritually and break the shackles of bondage and poverty placed upon the lives of many people.
Every year for about two decades running, you have been consistently holding the “It Is War’, programme. Tell us, what will be different about It Is War this year?
Thank you very much. This time around, with the current hardship globally, It Is War will focus on how God will see people through the economic crisis. Like I said, this situation is global. I know because I am a widely traveled man and I can see whats going on around the world. The situation is so bad here that men can no longer feed themselves and their family with the work of their hands. You can see the global warming situation, the climate change, flood every where, so it is War. Somebody said, what are you fighting against, the government? And I told him, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. There are forces that can wreck a nation. Let me give you scriptural example. David as a king, he made a foolish mistake, he was against God’s principle. God said they should not number people in Israel but David decided to do that. Bible says Satan manipulated him to do it. Do you know somebody can come up with a policy that can ruin a nation? An individual can come up with a policy that can turn an entire country upside down. Remember the former administration, when they changed the naira, you see what all of us went through. So, when devil wants to operate, he goes through leadership. In David’s case, even when those around him counseled him to change his decision, he refused to and thousands of people died.
Let me tell you another. During King Saul’s time, there was an agreement that Joshua made with a nation called Gibeonites, that He will not touch them. Just like nations have agreements and pacts between them these days. But when it was time of Saul, he broke that agreement. And when he did that, things became so bad in the country there was famine for three and half years. So many people died. After his regime, David came in. You see, sometimes, people might be suffering the sins of the former regime. When the suffering refused to stop, David cried to God, why are we still suffering, what have done? And God said, its not you, its the former government. Now, you can see decisions that individuals took that put an entire nation in to trouble. A father could go and get himself involved with a side chick outside or take a second wife and that singular decision could scatter the unity and happiness of his family. There will be conflict between him and his wife. The children may not be well taken care of. The happiness that once existed within the home will disappear. Same way, a government official will cart away billions of naira meant for an entire ministry and leave the ministry, the staff and the operations of the ministry to suffer. A lot of times, these things are not ordinary. They are demonic. For instance, how can one man wake up one morning and say he wants to change the naira? Do you know how many people died during that madness? What people don’t know is that there are forces that control the individual. And this is why we say it is war against these demonic forces whether at the family level, individual level or national level!
Do you know the cultism that was in the university during our own time when we used to fight cultism on campus has now come to the streets? You see cultists engaging each other openly in Oshodi, in Ikorodu, in many places and killing each other or sometimes innocent victims. These people, the cultists, they use charms, they use spiritual things to operate and fight, Look at even musicians all over the world, claiming they belong to Illuminati and the rest. Even here in Nigeria, some of them are confessing that they are now compelling them to join certain powers before they can become stars. So, nobody will deny again that there are no spiritual forces. I was born in Yoruba land, in those days, it was elderly men that we heard were doing money ritual, but these days you will see small boys doing Yahooplus, money ritual. In those days, it was old women that were said to have witchcraft powers, but these days, even young sweet sixteen girls are witches. But you see, it is the same cultists during our time in the university who still carried that evil into adulthood and they are now political office holders, powerful people in government, in business, and they are encouraging young cultists to come up so they can use them to do criminal things.
So, the global impact is terrible, now what can we do? It is war first on a spiritual level. Secondly, we will begin to correct certain individuals in their actions and characters. This is the era of the social media and we believe it will travel far globally because it will be online. What will make this year’ programme unique? It’s the word. The bible says He sent forth His word and His word healed them and delivered them. So, that’s the key word. The word that will be preached will come with such a force that it sweeps away all evil conspiracies. We cannot leave our nation for the devil to destroy. We have realised that you don’t just condemn people, there are forces that make people to do things. Whatever we’re suffering, there is somebody that took a policy that is now affecting us. So, it is war will address national problems to global challenges and then to individuals, families, businesses. When we say it is war, we believe the message will open up many eyes. Individuals that have taken wrong decisions affecting the family, let the power of God open the eyes of such a man. We also need to pray about the flooding and other natural disasters caused by global warming and climate change. Do you know the number of people flood swept away in different parts of the country? And it is happening all over the world. So, if there are forces behind this, there is a God that will rise against it. Evil cannot overcome God. If it’s as a result of our sins, God we plead for mercy. Many times when God wants to judge a nation he allows evil to overrun them. And when we plead for mercy, He stops the evil.
We are talking spiritual stronghold. When you see an individual take a terrible decision, there could be spiritual forces behind it. A family man can be held by charms and begin to act against his family and its until spiritual force consumes him that he will come back to his senses again and he is set free. Many proud men are under demonic manipulations. It is war is part of our lives. There are evil things happening before our very eyes and it is time to cry to God. You see young men believing they can shed blood to get rich fast. It is war is a fight against these evils affecting the fabric of our society. It is war is a call to fight againt the evil that is pulling down every important area of our individual lives.
