Bishop Kola Onaolapo (1957- 2012)
Bishop Onolapo is the Founder and General Overseer of the Abundant Life Gospel Churches with Headquarters in Agege area of Lagos.
He was born on July 27, 1957 to Pa. and Mrs. Onaolapo in Erin-Ile, Kwara
State. Pa Onaolapo was a business merchant when he lived until his
death in 1984.
Kola Onaolapo started his primary school education in African Church
Primary School, Erin-Ile. He completed his primary school education in
Zaria, Kaduna State in 1968. He later went to Government Secondary
School, Patigi in Kwara State.
In 1975 he got admission into Ahmadu Bello University’s School of Basic
Studies and later was admitted into the University’s Faculty of Science
where he studied Chemistry.
He received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1976 and since then has
been preaching as a student in the university where he was involved with
the Evangelistic outreaches in Samaru, Zaria. As a student pastor he
preached in many crusades in Zaria. Many people were not sure if he was a
student or a pastor.
After graduating from Ahmadu Bello University in 1980, he was employed
by the Plateau State Government to work as a teacher in Jos. It was
while he was teaching he had an encounter with God.
Bishop Onaolapo would usually wake up at 3 a.m. to pray. On this
particular day when he woke up to pray, he heard a voice saying to him,
“I will be calling you to preach the gospel”. Two weeks later, the same
voice came asking him to fast and pray in preparation for a visit from
God.
He started the prayer and fasting and on the following day by 4 am while he was trying to rest after a session of prayer, he was visited by Jesus in his room.
Bishop Onaolapo describes the visit:
“I lay down to rest after a session of prayer. My eyes were opened but I
was suspended. My door was open and I saw Jesus walk in. How did I know
him? I just knew. I could not talk. Every movement was suspended. He
walked as far as my bed and took my hand. I believe he was trying to
pass the anointing into my life. I can’t remember how long. I could not
scream. Then he left my hands and vanished. As he vanished, an audible
voice came speaking, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel’”
That was how Bishop Onaolapo started his full time ministry work. He
later moved to Ilorin where he started Abundant Life Gospel Church at
Bishop Smith's Memorial Primary School.
Bishop Kola later moved to Lagos in October 1991 where he planted
another Abundant Life Gospel Church, which eventually became the Head
Quarters. The church as at today has 13 branches.
He was the bridge that linked together believers and ministers all over
Nigeria and around the world as joint heirs and stakeholders in the
Kingdom of God through annual program called SUPERFEST.
Kola Onaolapo conducted evangelistic crusades around the world through his Kola Onaolapo World Outreach (KOWOM).
He was ordained Bishop by Late Bishop Benson Idahosa,Founder and President of the Church of God Mission International Inc Nigeria as the first Abundant Life Gospel Church bishop. Abundant Life Gospel Church is a fast growing Pentecostal Church located at 69 Iju Road, Agege, Lagos.
He was a member of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), United
International Association of Pentecostal Bishops and Kingdomway College
of Bishops, Maryland, United States.
Bishop Onaolapo died on October 14, 2012 after a brief illness in the United States.
He was married to Reverend Mrs. Janet Onaolapo, a Senior Pastor and Host
of a Christian TV Program broadcast on Lagos TV. His children are:
Patience Onaolapo (Female), David Onalapo (Male) and Peace Onaolapo
(Female)
Bishop Onaolapo’s Opinion about some Life Issues
Death
“Death does not write application. The best is for people to surrender
their lives to Jesus”. He said this in an interview after the Dana plane crash that killed over a hundred people in Agege area of Lagos where his church has one of the largest congregations.
Optimism for Nigeria
I have serious optimism about what God can do in this country. The
greatest problem we have is corruption. As it is in the high, it is in
the low. Many of our leaders travel out and see democracy and way of
life. They come back and the best thing they can do is to steal money
and still take them out. They are educated but education has not helped
them. The average Nigerian does not fear God and so is not bothered
about the destiny of the nation.
Let there be free and fair election and as much as possible the
government at every level should be strictly constitutional in their
approach to this. I encourage Christians to vote, if we have God-fearing
people at the helm of affairs, we will be close to a nation that has a
future.
Holiness and Prosperity
Well, revelation is progressive. Life itself, ministry and revelation
are in stages. Nothing is happening now that does not have prophecy from
the scriptures. The book of Joel in the Bible talks of former rain and
latter rain. The truth of life is that there must be combination of the
two, if it is holiness in the olden days, it must be combined with
prosperity today. Without money, the gospel cannot be effectively
preached and those who will prosper must be holy or else the prosperity
will not last, therefore it has to be a combined thing.
Pastors and Men of God
According to Onaolapo, any pastor who faces challenges and as a result doubts if God really called him is not sure of the call.
“Every venture has its challenges and everybody should understand that.
Challenges have never made me doubt my call once, I am too sure of it
and that's why I cannot be frustrated,” he said.
Church proliferation
Obviously there are wrong Churches being planted, Churches that are not
planted under God's instruction but at the same time, God has not
stopped calling those He has commissioned, He has not stopped to
commission those He has ordained from the foundation of the world.
You can always know the difference between God-sent Church and self-made
Church. While the God-sent talks more about salvation, the self-made is
all about gratification of the flesh; let the flesh acquire what it can
get. Self-made Church would not motivate membership unto salvation of
their soul and salvation of others.
There is freedom of religion. When somebody rises and says God sent him,
I don't know why anyone would come up to disprove it when there is
freedom of religion in our country. The Christian organizations existing
can only reject anyone from the organization but cannot stop anybody
who claims to have a call to start a Church.
The only thing that can be done is to call anyone who is out of the
track one to one and talk to him, we have that obligation for the sake
of the gospel but unfortunately, most ministers are independent and
since you don't need to belong to any organization to start a Church, it
becomes difficult to correct people.
Christians in politics
There are some Christians who are contesting, and it will be difficult
to ask any of them to step down for the other. Each has his vision and
one cannot discourage any. Politics is one area of our concerns, in
which we always pray for God's intervention. We only pray God-fearing
man will be elected, God has a great plan but it will manifest at His
set time.
Posted in Pastors & Men of God
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