Euangelion

His last sermon was titled “Benefit of Death”.
...he kept on shouting that day 
"For me to live is Christ, for me to die is gain" 
and he asked.... Are you afraid of gain? 
Why are you afraid of death???
“I will go when my work is finished; 
therefore when I am gone nobody 
should be double-minded concerning 
the will of God for my death. 
I am going to go by the will of God, not the
will of witches or wizards. 
No man can kill me.
Many have tried to hurt me spiritually 
and physically to no avail.
God has not given the key of the vault 
in which he has hidden me to any man 
or devil.
He did not invest so much in me only 
to hand me over to the devil to fulfill 
his dark and unholy idiosyncrasies.
 I am indestructible by the grace of God,
so are you if you know my Jesus.
You know, here in Edo land, I do not know 
about you and where you come from, 
but here in Edo land, where I am from, 
when a man dies, the wife is
always accused of having killed him.
I share a beautiful life with my wife
 Margaret, at least as beautiful as my 
human nature and God’s grace in my
 life can make it. 
She is not dreaming of killing me-
 is the flesh of my flesh and bone of 
my bones, the wife of my youth and 
the mother of my lovely four children. 
No, when I go it will be by
the will and call of God.
You may ask if I am preparing to die. 
Not at all. I hope to live for at least 
one hundred and twenty years. 
I look forward to when I will hobble 
into the church with my walking stick 
and sit back on my big chair to listen 
and watch my children in the ministry
 show forth the stuff which God has 
invested in them through the ministry 
of God committed to me, but, and 
this is the big But… if the Lord calls 
me before then, if He calls me NOW, 
I am ready to answer ‘’Here I am O Lord’’ 
with joy and expectation because 
death is gain. 
Yes, yes! Ha, I see heaven open and 
the voice that I hear says 
"Come up hither!’’
My going will be a Glorious one, 
I will NOT be sick and be taken from 
one hospital to the other.
 Like Elijah, phew! I will be gone before 
you can say Jack Robinson…
No. Nobody will mourn me with regret 
because of a prolonged illness. 
Nobody will have the pleasure of 
sympathising with me because of 
long suffering; that is one of the gifts which I
do not have: the gift of Lo-o-ong suffering!
When my day comes, I may be sitting 
with people in the Church and will go 
when I hear the call like Rev. Gordon
Lindsay did. 
It is a glorious way to depart. 
I MAY BE WITH PEOPLE AT HOME 
AND WHILE WE ARE TALKING, I WILL 
BE GONE JUST LIKE THAT.
On Thursday, the 12th March, 1998, 
Idahosa started the day as busy as 
always. 
In his office he asked for a cup of tea 
which he did not drink up. 
He told one of his staff members;
‘’I am going home’’. This was not strange.
But when he repeated it unnecessarily, 
there was a reason to suspect the
unusual but no notice was taken of it.
Later that afternoon, at lunch with 
his guests, he spoke about heaven. 
He asked them whether they believed 
it was possible for one to walk to
heaven like Elijah did? 
He said he would prefer to be translated 
like Enoch and Elijah.
He told them he had a heavenly drink
 in his cup. 
He took the “pure heaven” juice on the 
table and drank from it, making a 
humorous statement about going to heaven.
The drink tasted like heaven’s drink he 
told his guests. His high sense of
humour was on parade.
On that day he had received "members of 
an educational foundation team from 
the U.S.-based Oral Roberts University"
at the Christian Faith University after 
ministering in church.
He excused himself to go to Miracle Centre, 
his Church office and prayed with 
different segments of people at the 
Church Office and including the Bible 
School students before he went
back to meet his guests at home.
It was a busy period 
The Archbishop had just returned from 
one of his many tours, this time from 
the United Kingdom
Members of the Oral Robert University 
Educational Fellowship (OREF) were 
at the headquarters of Word of Faith 
Group of Schools for the yearly OREF 
program.
They were led by Professor Don Petri, 
a friend of the Benson Idahosa University 
and a Professor of Christian Education 
at the Oral Robert University. 
Both he and all the American
participants at the conference were 
guests at the Archbishop’s home.
It was an early afternoon and Idahosa
and his guests were at the table. 
A characteristic humour of the Archbishop 
eliciting laughter and chatter punched 
with the lunch.
 It was a sumptuous meal and both
local and international guests were 
satisfied.
Pure heaven was the name of the 
drink they all were drinking as he came... 
The caption started another round of 
conversation.
It was about heaven. 
Then suddenly, there was a hush as the 
Archbishop broke into the good natured 
conversation and asked. “how many of 
you are ready to go to heaven right
now?
You see he continued; “all Christians talk 
about heaven and its beauty and 
desirability but not one is prepared to 
go there straight away”. 
I have news for you. 
I am prepared to go to heaven right now, 
anyone going with me?
Everyone was silent. 
The mood of the diners changed and 
they went to their rooms.
The Archbishop called for Professor 
Don Petri to join him in one of the 
sitting rooms in the new Benson
Idahosa University.
He indicated those aspects of the master 
plan he had implemented and requested 
that the professor should continue from 
where he had stopped, yet Professor 
Don Petri did not understand the meaning 
of the Archbishop’s words.
The Archbishop was the symbol of the 
university. 
It could not have entered the mind of 
anybody that he would be translated a 
few minutes after.
Shortly after he had spoken instructing 
a deaconess on what the guests should 
eat for dinner, he began to repeat the
words ‘Thank you Jesus’ then suddenly 
threw his head back on the easy chair 
and gave up the ghost!!!
Professor Don Petri did not immediately 
understand until he saw the body slumping 
off the chair then Don Petri rushed at him 
calling for help and laying him on the rug.
He tried all the resuscitation techniques 
that he knew but to no avail, they called 
for help from the Faith MediPlex but the 
doctors testified that from the moment 
he hissed that sigh of relief, he had 
clearly departed.
He was not sick. 
He never had high blood pressure.
 He was never down. 
Even the doctors were surprised that 
he died because he was not sick
at all”.
“I MAY BE WITH PEOPLE AT HOME AND 
WHILE WE ARE TALKING, I WILL BE 
GONE JUST LIKE THAT. That will be a
precious death”. He once said days before!
Archbishop Benson Idahosa, the 
undisputed Prophet and Apostle of 
Christendom in the twentieth century 
went to be with the Lord in gloriously!
He went home riding the eagle of life
to its fullness
That is the end that is befitting of the
righteous
Not clinging on to this world because
he wasn't sure where he was going or
what awaits him at the other side of
time
Believers ought not to be scared of 
sleeping in the Lord or acting all gooey
because someone went home to be
with the Lord
I do not
I celebrate eternal translations
and await with joy, the return of the
Lord in His glory

PS: I write this because of all the
emotional stuff i see flying here and
there
People acting like such a disaster had
happened and talking faithless talks
The church should teach more about
the reality believers walk in
Those who are crying are crying for
themselves
Death was defeated by Jesus Himself
I live the life of Christ Himself
No power of hell, no scheme of man
can ever pluck me from his hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand