Celebrating my 21st Century Prince of Preachers(PoP): Shepherd of the Shattered and Bishop of the Battered
I come from a rich spiritual heritage that is compelling and complex in some ways. My spiritual genealogy and autobiography is a tapestry of many folds that could only have been put together by God, given His foreknowledge. If I did not have a mother who was a convert of one faith but never disdained or berated one to elevate the other and who taught me about the " pluralities" of God and his manifestation through various belief and religion systems (no matter their inadequacies) while convincingly holding on to God as expressed and experience through Judeo Christian faith I will have self-harm when my sister-mum who was the only living mirror of God, life, and light passed last year. My spiritual ancestry is a quilt of inestimable value. Drawing its richness from what Apostle Paul calls the unsearchable wealth of God's expression in all the places. Mine takes its roots from the indigenous religion and spreads its branches to Islam, Cherubim, Seraphim, Pentecostal, Jehovah's Witness, and more.
My Prince of Preachers Bishop Thomas Dexter Jakes is one of the beautiful folds in this spiritual tapestry. I started reading my bible very early. I have never seen God in person, but I know there is a person, a force that is greater than all; people call him different names and things. It seems that none of us could be wrong or right. Yet, my experience, socialization, and knowledge root me in Judeo Christianity. I have been in Church all my life and can tell when I knew I found him, I found gold.
As an undergraduate, it was some sort of competition on who had listened to his latest sermon or read his most recent books. PoP introduces me to God's humanity, intellect, articulation, and multifaceted expressions. Because my PoP speaks and his influence reaches beyond the church walls, his views and positionality seem tempered with fact, truth, and reality. He is empathetic towards all demographics of people across all the various identity markers. More than a decade ago, I learned from his book " Naked and not Ashamed" how I can be transparent with God with all my flaws and never feel condemned even when I must work towards becoming the highest, truest and best expression of myself.
I agree with Bishop 85% of the time. The rest, 15%, are the human things that occasionally make their way unconsciously into the Holy things, like when the Bishop wants to sub those of us that think twice if he or any of our pastoral team are not preaching. PoP always leaves good food on the table even when he would not be in Church, but some of us are spoilt. More so, our "demons" sometimes listen to him more than they would readily do to others. When Bishop talks about people who ask, "is Bishop coming?" I know that is the day Bishop wants to give "woto woto" or when Bishop says he is tired of us talking about Church hurts. On days like this, I want to go and look for his daughter Sarah Jakes because we are in the same WhatsApp group on this. Other things are what Pastor Kein Henderson spoke about weeks ago in his sermon at 45 years of Ministry of Bishop Jakes, titled "Ripple effect."
My biblical literacy has been enhanced through him and a few others and complemented with personal study. My hermeneutics and capacity to exegete a text are improving daily. If you listen consistently, you can be uncertified theologians like me. I have read everything Bishop has authored, and I can't wait for the next one. My love for PoP made me sympathetic to people who will "die" for their pastors, Daddy GO's, and religious leaders, even if I don't endorse that. More so, in a country like mine where the government's presence in the life of a citizen is zero to none, and the government sells the masses misery and not hope.
One of my favorite leadership quotes is from Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte defines a leader as a dealer in hope. What people do when leaders sell misery is what we have seen with religious extremism. If you have a headache in the absence of good healthcare and somebody pours groundnut oil into your mouth. You get healed; if tomorrow they ask you to remove your pant in the presence of a multitude to end your village people's problem, you won't have an issue with it. Primary because they have built trust with you with the first "miracle," and now they offer hope. To be sure, I have never fought anyone over PoP and will never do so. I have met people who don't like him, and I don't see an issue with it.
I am writing this long epistle that he will not read for many reasons. One of which is to express gratitude to God for his life. PoP is one of the people that God, the universe, and my ancestors use to alleviate my pain and grief even though he can't ameliorate it. In the hit of my grief last year, my friend who stood with me from her distance when life was difficult texted me this. " Seyi, I am leaving a noisy place now. I will call you as soon as I get home. Please don't harm yourself". I knew she had a little prophetess in her after she might have taken communion from Anglican Church ( inside jokes); I assured her I was not doing anything stupid even when all I thought about was it.
One morning few days after sister-mum passed, I could almost hear PoP saying, " You owe it to yourself to find out what this is all about. Do you ever see the robbers attacking a homeless lady? Suppose there isn't something about you the enemy is afraid of. In that case, he won't come after you so bad.". I knew PoP had said this in a sermon. However, I can't remember which one it was. I still don't understand why it happened. Still, I am thankful that I have a Pastor who tells me that "if God always flaunts himself, we may not need preachers." He says, "Man cannot make a seal that God cannot breakthrough" and "God does more in his silence than in our screaming."
In celebration of a man that a channel opened for me to meet a few years ago, I choose not to walk through it. I hope to make 3 posts of what Bishop says before his birthday on June 9th. I hope I have the discipline to post it before then. If I don't, I will after June 9th.
Today I present to some and introduce to others my Prince of Preachers, the one and only Bishop Thomas Dexter Jakes.
Post 1: Bishop says, "Go to bed with a stranger"( Please don't do this until you read my upcoming post)
Post 2: Bishop says, "Don't try this on your own"
Post 3: Bishop T. D Jakes "Pressure Points" what to do when people you love and served abandon and betray you when it matters most.
Pop's birthday is coming
45 Years of ministry
The Prince of Preachers
Entrepreneur
Bishop of the Battered
Shepherd of the Shattered
BishopTD Jakes
Potter House of Dallas
One and Only Bishop
Sentmanof the House
Happy Birthday Bishop
I am signing this off as usual with Aburo Iya Olamide, which is what I am and will always be. In addition to what my egbon calls me when I enter my Bishop mode(inside jokes)
Always
Omo Bishop Jakes.
Posted on Facebook on June 9, 2022
Image used under @ Creative common. Photo credit: Goo
