Without doubt, churches have denominations and patterns of worship differ, but when you stumble on one, where weird activities are the order of the day and alcohol, animal sacrifices and biblical villains like Nebuchadnezzar, Ahab and even Satan are deified, then you’ve just encountered worship redefined. Tabitha Pearl writes.
A Christian worship centre or church is a place where you expect everything but the absurd and the weird. But this was precisely what this reporter beheld few weeks back when she went snooping at “As God said, It Must Be Done, The temple of the Most High God,’ located in Oke-Aro in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State.
A mere N100 bus ride from the popular Agege/Pen Cinema Bus-Stop, took this reporter to As God Said Street – the street is named after the church. A short commercial motorcycle ride took this reporter to the church’s doorstep.
The temple is flanked on one side by what used to be a mosque and the other by a Celestial Church of Christ, which, strangely, wasn’t holding any service this Sunday. This reporter was however to soon discover during the nearly 10-hour-long service, that the mosque and the Celestial church had to evacuate their locations because of the new “Sheriff” in town.
The first thing that catches your attention as you walk into the church premises, depending on your keenness of sight, would either be the rather heavy use of the colours red and white; or the slaughter slab on the far right corner, though carefully concealed by the gigantic red gate. Beside the slab this fateful Sunday was a black goat waiting to be slaughtered and served to worshippers. Makes some sense though. If worshippers have to stay in church up to 10 hours or more, it just might be normal to consider feeding them.
Inside the temple, the love for red is even more pronounced. The floor has a fading red colour, which tells you it had originally been painted with glossy red paint; even the choir and a few members bear a touches of red on their dresses. No usher is seen ushering people in; there actually is no need for one, as the sitting arrangement is glaring enough, even to a first timer. Male worshippers sit to the right while female worshippers sit to the left.
END TIMES 