Biography of Apostle Timothy Oluwole Obadare
Apostle Timothy Obadare Biography
Apostle Timothy Obadare Biography – On April 11, 1930, Apostle Timothy Oluwole Obadare was born. Pastor David and Mrs. Obadare of the Apostolic Church of Nigeria welcomed him into the world at his birth in Ise-Ilesa, Osun State, Nigeria. Before being called to serve as a minister of God, his father, David, worked as a farmer, while his mother, Felicia, was a small-time dealer. Because his sole sister was married to a pastor and his four brothers were all ministers of God, Apostle Obadare’s family was essentially Levite or ecclesiastical. Later, after moving to Oke-Eso, Ilesa, his father carried on serving God as a pastor within his denomination.
Known as Koseunti (The God who knows no impossibilities), Apostle Obadare is the founder of the Christ Apostolic Church (Aladura), a global soul-winning evangelistic ministry.
It’s oke orun ni go olorun. I will teach you how to play Olorun l’oke orun. E jeki a gbadura (Praise God in the sky). Glory be to God in heaven, I say it again. Should we offer prayers?
For nearly forty years, this catchphrase was broadcast throughout the Nigerian airwaves, particularly in the southwest of the country. The voice of Apostle (Dr.) Timothy Oluwole Obadare, one of the land’s indigenous prophets, was easily recognized by those who were familiar with it. He served as the President of the Interdenominational Ministers’ Association of Nigeria (IMA), the Executive Director of the World Soul-Winning Evangelistic Ministry (WOSEM), and the General Evangelist of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) (Worldwide). Prior to joining Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola’s Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in 1957, he was employed by The Apostolic Church (TAC) for four years, from 1953 to 1957. After becoming a member of the CAC, he spent fifty-six years working for the church until his passing on March 21, 2013.
The earliest form of Christianity to arrive in Nigeria was missionary Christianity. Other manifestations of the faith emerged years later as a result of Nigerians’ response to this kind of Christianity, particularly in the southwest of the nation. The Ethiopian Churches emerged first, spanning from 1888 to 1917; the African Indigenous Churches, also known as Aladura Churches, emerged second; and the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches emerged third. In what is commonly referred to as Yoruba territory, in southwest Nigeria, a few charismatic indigenous individuals or prophets claimed to be inspired by God in response to another reaction. Among the most notable of these was Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola, whose preaching eventually gave rise to the Christ Apostolic Church.
Christianity was brought to Nigeria by Western missionaries, but it is the native churches and their prophets who are credited with bringing the power of God to life in their ministry. One such figure was Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola, whose church, the CAC, is still going strong today and has risen to prominence within Nigerian Christianity. The CAC was led for a while by Babalola and David Odubanjo before their deaths in 1959. But just before he passed away, Babalola welcomed a young evangelist into the church who would go on to help it reach even greater heights. Later on, this youthful missionary gained widespread recognition as Prophet Timothy Oluwole Obadare. His ministry made a huge contribution to the CAC’s growth.
Apostle Timothy Obadare attended the Apostolic Church Primary School in Ise-Ilesa. However, he lost both of his eyes and suffered from an eye condition brought on by a persistent smallpox epidemic that devastated his village. His parents’ attempts to help him regain his sight were unsuccessful. After that, he was brought to a missionary hospital in Lagos, where the doctors confirmed that there was no way to repair the damage to his eyes, but they also remarked that God had given him invisible eyes that were more acute than regular human eyes. This was prophetic since the unsightly episode turned into a problem that drove little Timothy to look to God for help, which led to his encounter with God when he was seven years old. In February 1949, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Obadare had a clear vision of what God intended him to achieve, and he pursued it with all of his might despite his vision problem. He never had the benefit of a Western education in his early years, but he went to be trained after hearing his calling. He pursued his theology education in 1954 at the Apostolic Church Theology Seminary. Later on, he was admitted as a member of numerous international organizations and awarded numerous honorary degrees. These included membership in the International Affairs Leadership Parliament (MIALP) of the Golden State University in Los Angeles, the International Theological Seminary of Desoto, and Honolulu University in Hawaii, in addition to a Doctor of Ministry degree from St. John’s University in Missouri in 1985. He was additionally awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree by the Trinity College of Ministerial Arts, Aba, Nigeria, in 1990.
After realizing that God was calling him to live, Timothy bowed down and prepared to serve as God’s vessel. This resulted in numerous experiences with the Lord. One of these interactions, which happened in 1952, pointed him in the direction of his calling to the ministry. God gave all of the members of the Apostolic Church a mandate to fast and pray for ten days during that particular year. During the regular Sunday morning ceremony on the tenth day of the program, Obadare was bestowed with a divine ordination that may be considered spiritual. He described what happened as follows:
I beheld an amazing hand that surpassed all hands on Earth in size. The hand came down on top of my head like a cap, pouring oil all over it and running down my feet. Then, between 9.15 a.m. and 1 p.m., the spirit of God gave me the ability to predict great things. Throughout that time, nothing else was done throughout the service, and the prophecies were written down.
In 1953, Obadare began serving as an evangelist for the Apostolic Church of Nigeria. His father, a preacher in the church, influenced the denominational decision. The church’s ministers, Brother Paul and Dr. Thomas Whayad, had called for a revival that lasted until the middle of April 1953. Obadare was troubled by the revival’s conclusion because he believed that God needed additional vehicles to spread his word. Despite his physical limitations, he therefore challenged God to use him and made himself open to God. He decided to pray for God’s presence because he knew that the Holy Spirit was necessary for spiritual accomplishments.
He made his mother lock him in a room, where he began an extended period of fasting and prayer in an attempt to tap into the supernatural power that the church’s two evangelists had attested to. On the sixth day of this prayer session, he saw the Lord. He claimed that he was unable to hear any sounds from this planet ever again. He no longer felt alone in that place, and it appeared as though he was there with more than thirty others. He was given twenty-one keys in this room. He had private revelations from God regarding his life, mission, country, and future. Additionally, a copy of the Holy Bible was placed in the opening on the left side of his head. After that, it was sealed.
On the seventh day, he left the hotel and went straight to the church, where he gave a four-hour sermon (10 am to 2 pm). This led to the first of Obadare’s ministry’s miraculous events, wherein God miraculously healed roughly 350 individuals who were afflicted with a cough epidemic that had erupted in Ilesa at the time through his ministry.
Obadare dedicated his life to serving the Apostolic Church for four years, from 1953 to 1957, until Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola brought him into the CAC by divine providence. He worked in several towns and cities in southwest Nigeria after joining the CAC, before permanently relocating to Akure in 1965. He effectively preached the gospel as a traveling prophet and evangelist, reaching out to remote regions of Nigeria in particular and West Africa in general. God utilized him to plant numerous parishes for the CAC in Nigeria. Additionally, his ministry was active in many other nations, most notably the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Because of this, the CAC is now well-established in several of these nations.
During a final fasting and prayer session planned to end the year, on December 30, 1969, God spoke to Obadare and gave him a mission to spread the gospel of healing throughout the world. God showed him that there is no treatment for the various illnesses that plague humanity as a whole other than the might of God. This is because illnesses brought on by demonic forces would never respond well to conventional or Western medicine. Therefore, to be set free from the forces of evil that imprison them, the masses require supernatural intervention. He was also informed that a great number of thriving churches that had previously advocated and relied on God’s power for miraculous healing had lost trust in it for various reasons. As a result, everyone in the community—including Christians—was afflicted with unexplained illnesses. When Obadare committed himself fully to this task, he experienced great success: signs, wonders, and miracles accompanied his ministry.
Obadare is an indigenous prophet whose ministry flourished because of the rich ground afforded by the African environment, particularly in southwest Nigeria. Many elements came together to cause this. The first perspective on the spirit world is African. There is a widespread belief in the existence of enigmatic, invisible forces throughout Africa. These powers are believed to work through witches and evil spirits. His ministry gained a lot of popularity because of this strong belief, which is prevalent in Yorubaland, a significant hub for Nigeria’s indigenous churches. Eyewitness accounts state that Obadare held a demonstration in the early 1980s. A free-form evangelistic gathering took place at Iroko Village, a quaint community situated by the former Ibadan-Oyo Road.
The gathering took place on the playground of a village elementary school. The preacher stood in the middle, commanding the attention of the large crowd that had flocked to the crusade site with his words that brimmed with power. It was time to fight witches and wizards after vigorously preaching against injustices and man’s evil against his fellow humans. Obadare began a unique prayer session that was nearly audible. Strange, irregular screams came from various corners of the field during this process. A number of the individuals causing the disturbances, primarily females, passed out, and a few of them rolled around on the ground as if possessed by strong spirits.
After the prayer, when things had returned to normal, one by one, people ascended the stage where the pastor and his interpreter stood and confessed to a variety of bizarre and destructive deeds, which they said they had committed with the force of their evil powers. Many of the Iroko Community Grammar School students present in the audience would never quickly forget one confession. The woman who sold them snacks produced this. She acknowledged that she was a witch, but she was prepared to give up her old habits forever.
And the tale did not end there. Obadare declared that some of the trees that were strewn all over the town, even by the sides of the roads, were the hosts of evil spirits that gathered there at night. He commanded that these trees be chopped down, and the people, desperate to be free of demonic influence, dutifully obeyed.
Sensing this, Apostle Obadare gave the elderly woman the order to rise from the mortar. The baby was born by her daughter as soon as the woman got out of the mortar, but it required some spiritual reprimand in the name of Jesus Christ. The mother claimed that her daughter had refused to give her the fresh heart of a goat that had just been slain when she was later questioned to determine why she had done what she had done. Even though it turned out that the daughter had prepared this meat for her, it was still wrong for her to not serve it to her blood-fresh. Thus, the mother chose to cause her such immense suffering, and if it weren’t for Timothy Obadare’s demonstration of Christ’s rescuing power, the mother may have lost her life.
Obadare frequently mentioned miraculous occurrences that accompanied his administration in his sermons. He claimed that there was a woman in Chicago, USA, in 1998 who had lost every child. Her fallopian tube had to be removed since she experienced pregnancy problems the second time she became pregnant. She accepted an invitation later on to go to one of Obadare’s crusades, which are open-air evangelistic gatherings. Obadare made it abundantly evident to his listeners throughout his sermon that God, as the creator, possesses the ability to create or recreate any broken human bodily component. The mother became deeply religious after hearing this proclamation, and she conceived and gave birth to a boy in a remarkable way. The rational mind found this miracle astounding since it defied biological or scientific explanations. This miracle led to the ministry’s television program being aired in Chicago. In a similar spirit, Obadare shared the story of another woman who passed away in the hospital during surgery but came back to life when he prayed for her.
The early 20th century saw the emergence of indigenous prophets in southwest Nigeria, who were known for doing such acts. This capacity for miraculous deeds was demonstrated by prophets such as Samuel Bilewu Joseph Oschoffa of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), Joseph Ayodele Babalola of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Moses Orimolade Tunolase of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement (C&S), and Josiah Olunlowo Ositelu of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) Worldwide (CLAW). Elders stated that they freed people from the evil powers and the grip of witchcraft that ruled Yoruba society at the time. As a result, the people saw the native prophets as a type of “Messiah” sent by God to save them from wickedness. The 1930 revival that Joseph Ayodele Babalola’s preaching sparked was so full of miracles and signs that 1930 and the years before it were subsequently called the “Odun Aladura,” or “the years of the Praying Churches.”
The manifestation of spiritual (charismatic) powers, or charismata, is another element that endears indigenous movements to their people and contributes to their phenomenon-wide growth. Scholars from all across the world are interested in the topic of charismata, or the gifts of the Spirit. “Spiritual enablement to build up the church of God through the instruction of believers and the training of converts” is how Pearlman describes it. “They are measurements of divine grace, by which the Holy Spirit empowers believers to carry out special ministries, which today are involved in the construction of the church,” according to Barrackman. Gafin emphasized that these are specific activities related to different church ministries.
Because of this, the Pentecostal churches and their indigenous equivalents stress how important the topic is to all Christians who believe in the Bible. The reason for this is that in order for a believer to be able to recognize and awaken any gifts that God may have bestowed upon them, he or she must be fully informed about these gifts. Proper understanding of spiritual gifts will protect the believer from the dangers of false teaching and unscriptural experiences, while scriptural teaching on the subject will encourage the believer to jump directly into the Spirit’s gifts and receive them.
They listed the nine gifts of the Spirit, which are further divided into three groups of three gifts each, following the teachings of the apostle Paul found in 1 Corinthians 12:4–11. The first group includes the Gifts of Revelation, which include the ability to detect spirits, speak wisdom, and know knowledge. The appointment of Stephen and the other deacons is supposed to prove their usefulness in the church’s governance. The second group is called Gifts of Power, and it includes the ability to heal, believe, and perform miracles. They’re connected to dynamism. Inspirational gifts are the final group. These are tongues of various kinds, tongue interpretation, and prophecy; they are all related to inspired speech. The Indigenous churches place a strong emphasis on the necessity of these talents to initiate a believer into the supernatural. When used properly, they validate the gospel’s proclamation and show the strength of God among people. As such, all believers ought to seek these gifts.
People who work with these abilities are connected to some of the customs of their ancient religion, particularly when it comes to prophetic utterances. Divination is one of the traditional religious rituals of the Yoruba people. In this practice, individuals seek the advice of a diviner who, using the oracular divinity’s power, helps them solve puzzles. When seeking advice from the oracle, the diviner frequently determines the root of an issue as well as its resolution. This is how a typical Yoruba person might approach handling a challenging circumstance. Consequently, it is not unexpected that the churches were welcomed into this community, given that their prophetic pronouncements also satisfied people’s needs. Being an indigenous prophet, Obadare used and demonstrated in a dramatic way certain spiritual gifts, including the ability to foretell, heal, and perform miracles.
Another important element in the expansion of African indigenous churches is evangelism. It is seen as the primary means of procreation for the church and is a fundamental component of Christianity. The claim is that, in the same way that reproduction increases the number of people on Earth, well-executed evangelism fosters the general expansion of the church.[28] Two types of evangelism have been recognized by scholars: pastoral evangelism and apostolic or outreach evangelism. While pastoral evangelism focuses on disciplining people to become productive members of the church, apostolic evangelism seeks to increase the number of people in the church. Because of the actions of its numerous evangelists and pastoral teams, the CAC is seen to be extremely commendable in these two evangelistic areas.
Obadare was well regarded for his achievements in outreach evangelism, which significantly contributed to his enormous success in winning souls. His astute use of the mass media, particularly radio and television, to spread his message was largely responsible for his success. Obadare’s voice ruled the airwaves for a long time before radio and TV evangelism became popular in Nigeria, and it will likely continue to resonate with many people for years to come. His listeners could not resist his inspirational radio broadcasts and early-morning lectures. In addition, he coupled his media endeavors with dramatic outdoor crusades, where those who were suffering, demon-possessed, or in need of salvation, healing, or deliverance flocked. According to eyewitness accounts, his crusades were marked by amazing acts of deliverance, healing, and conversion.
The country as a whole reeled in the pleasantly sweeping wind of revivals in the 1980s and 1990s, headed by this unique man of God. His well-known catchphrase, “Ogo ni fun Olorun loke orun,” made witches, wizards, principalities, and African fetish priests/gods tremble and blanch horribly. Many people who were physically oppressed, emotionally tortured, and spiritually afflicted were saved from the fangs of demonic forces by the explosive movements of divine energies. By means of his copious anointing, Obadare freed thousands, if not millions, of people from their bonds and flipped the world of the evil forces in Nigeria upside down.
Among the world’s most well-known evangelists at the time, Apostle Obadare was considered highly esteemed, alongside Dag Heward Mills, Billy Graham, T. L. Osborn, and Reinhard Bonnke. Obadare and Bonnke fought fiercely in Nigerian evangelism history. It may be said, therefore, that Obadare appeared to be the only CAC prophet to be as highly anointed and spiritually endowed as Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola, whose ministry resulted in the resuscitation of the dead and the healing of numerous physically injured Nigerians.
It is the claim made in some places that “Pastor D. O. Odubanjo and Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola’s deaths in 1959 marked the end of the CAC’s golden era.” But as time went on and more evangelists emerged from the church, the ministry of the church was resurrected following the passing of these two outstanding apostles. The most important of these was T. O. Obadare. Olusegun claims that although Obadare was unquestionably trained by Apostle Babalola, it was Obadare’s distinctive evangelism and extraordinary healing abilities that established him as the new face of the CAC in Nigeria following Babalola’s death in 1959, especially in the 1970s. Babalola had prayed for God to raise up new evangelists, prophets, and prophetesses for the ministry, and Apostle Obadare was God’s response to his petition; therefore, this was in line with his will. This was in line with Babalola’s wishes, since he had prayed before for God to send more prophets, evangelists, and prophetesses into the ministry, and Apostle Obadare was a response to his prayers.
Obadare was blind, and his schooling was minimal, yet his command of the Bible was exceptional, even for those who were sighted. It is difficult to find fault with his assertion that God opened a portion of his head and placed the entire Bible there because God appeared to grant him spiritual sight and grace to read the Bible. Despite being blind, Apostle Obadare’s supporters remember that he knew every chapter and verse of the Bible by heart, to the amazement of the audience, and would correct the reader if they misread. Along with his extraordinary knowledge and wisdom, he was able to effectively convey his messages to his audience, many of whom compared him to the “Balm of Gilead” for those who were troubled, pained, and spiritually disturbed. He was a fervent and highly proficient preacher of the Scripture, advocating for the gospels of conversion, liberty, reformation, and restoration. He never subscribed to the new gospel that is prevalent in modern-day Nigerian Christianity.
Following a vision he had during a prayer and fasting session held to close out 1969, Obadare founded the Koseunti in 1970. Obadare claims that on December 30, 1969, God appeared to him in a vision, bemoaning the multitude of problems that beset people worldwide and underscoring that many of these problems are the result of Satan’s design. Consequently, these issues frequently resist human resolution. God said that the thing that hurts him the most is that Christian churches have stopped depending on God for help and healing, choosing instead to use conventional and Western medicine as substitutes. The most pitiful part of this was that a lot of congregations that had previously relied only on faith healing had lost faith in it since the Holy Spirit, who gives the church its strength, was not present in them.
As a result, God promised via Obadare to create a house of prayer where people might congregate and convey their issues to God. This would be known as Koseunti, and it would be a location where they might obtain answers to those issues. The Yoruba term Koseunti means “God never fails.” This alludes to God as the Almighty, a God who can accomplish anything and who is willing to save everyone who asks for help. To enable the performance of miracles, God pledged to give the Koseunti assembly strength and authority. God gave Obadare precise instructions to dig a well, the water from which was to be utilized to cure all manner of diseases, including those that defied scientific understanding. The Koseunti was established by Obadare on February 1st, 1970. He founded the CAC Oke-Itura (Mount of Comfort) in September 1968 in Akure, the Nigerian state capital of Ondo State. This later evolved into the international headquarters of WOSEM, the parent organization of Koseunti, and the location of Koseunti prayer gatherings.
The first Koseunti monthly meetings were conducted in a hut made out of discarded corrugated iron sheets, but this was later abandoned because it was too small to accommodate the progressively larger number of participants. Originally held on the first day of each month, it was a one-day prayer meeting that eventually expanded to seven days a month. Later on, it developed into a pilgrimage site. It was frequently overflowing with individuals from various walks of life confiding in God about their numerous problems. Numerous accounts of miraculous interventions that occurred during the prayer gatherings can be found in the documents that are currently in existence. The prayer meeting gained so much popularity that it even won over many Yorubaland traditional rulers and chieftaincy title holders who had previously not been big fans of going to church. Numerous of them rose to prominence within the gathering and significantly aided in its growth. It is noteworthy that numerous individuals received blessings from the gathering. For instance, farmers in the neighborhood who had previously lived in extreme poverty rose to great prosperity and were able to own homes of their own.
When talking about the Koseunti prayer meeting, it is important to recognize some individuals who partnered with Obadare and whose support made the gathering possible today. Evangelists Gideon Adeyele, Michael Oluwasola, Samuel Sunday, Moses Iyiola Abiola, R. A. Olukayode (an assistant general evangelist of the CAC), Pastors Oloruntoba, Samuel Adeniran, Matthew Awe, David Sunday Oluyi, Matthew Folorunso, Samuel Alonge, and Pastor and Prophet E. A. Oke are prominent among them. The others are the Prophet’s wife, Mrs. E. O. Obadare, Lady Evangelist (Mrs.) Makanjuola, Mrs. Esther Akinwumi, and Evangelist (Mrs.) Bankole, whom God employed to translate the Prophet’s message from the Yoruba language of the native people into English.
The brainchild of Koseunti, and the grandson of the CAC, Oke-Itura, is WOSEM, which was founded in August 1974. Apostle Obadare was given instructions by the Lord in 1974 to form a group that would support his global evangelistic tours and campaigns. In 1975, this organization changed its name from World Soul-Winning Evangelistic Group (WOSEGRO) to World Soul-Winning Evangelistic Ministry (WOSEM). Beginning in 1979, it developed into a sophisticated structural evangelism organ for the Christ Apostolic Church. “Eagerness of God” is the ministry’s motto. Obadare played a key role in the creation of revival centers in nearly all 36 states of Nigeria through WOSEM. Additionally, WOSEM Revival Centers can be found in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Ghana, Liberia, the Republic of Benin, Lome, Togo, and Cote D’Ivoire, among other places on earth.
Despite the aforementioned claim, there has been much debate about how WOSEM operates within the CAC. Some church officials have accused Obadare of funding a rival ministry within the CAC. Through its exploits, WOSEM made a significant contribution to the CAC’s expansion and popularity, but Obadare’s management of the organization is said to have caused significant disarray at the same time. WOSEM’s operations caused conflict since, at one point, they were perceived as a rival to the church, according to Pastor Abraham Akinosun, the current CAC President. He stated the following about the circumstances:
By that time, God was using Obadare to accomplish great things, but the churches he was founding were serving him rather than the CAC. Rather than paying the CAC, they paid their dues to WOSEM. Even when he conducted revivals, he would introduce WOSEM and win over all the converts to WOSEM rather than the CAC. Our leaders began to complain to Baba J. B. Orangun, the church president, about the WOSEM leader Obadare’s actions. Baba J. B. Orangun then issued numerous warnings to Obadare to stop, but Obadare disregarded them. He was suspended, along with a few others who shared his sympathies, for disobeying the previous warning.
Speaking through Dr. Paul Obadare, the Apostle’s eldest son, Obadare’s side stated that Obadare was not the source of the CAC crisis nor the reason why efforts to settle it were unsuccessful. Paul asserted that during his father’s lifetime, he attempted to bring the factions together. He emphasized:
It is untrue to say that my father started the conflict inside the CAC group. It was his accusers who should have been held accountable, I tried several things, but some of the leaders hindered me. For many years, my father headed his WOSEM as the evangelical branch of the CAC, and he acknowledged the authority of the church, which he continued to do until his call to glory. Many individuals were content with WOSEM’s operations and asked for branches, which my late father granted. It wasn’t the establishment of a separate church, as some leaders believed. It is untrue to say that my father started the situation. During Baba Olusheye’s presidency, I too visited the leaders on multiple occasions. Additionally, I have made multiple trips to speak with the newly appointed president about unity and beseech them to put the past behind them and let the CAC continue as a single, cohesive church.
The popularity of WOSEM, which tended to overwhelm the name of the church (CAC), was the point of conflict, according to independent researcher and critic Solomon Adewoye, who wrote for the Yoruba (indigenous) newspaper Alaroye. He claims that during Prophet Medayese’s tenure as church president, Obadare founded the WOSEM with the blessing of the CAC leadership. But in the years following Medayese’s death, the WOSEM—which was the CAC’s evangelical voice in Nigeria and other areas of the world—became more well-known than the church that gave birth to it. Subsequent generations of the church leadership naturally reacted to this, and it snowballed into bad deeds and retaliatory actions from the many church stakeholders. This ultimately played a significant role in exacerbating the situation within the CAC.
Given the nature of the issues in the CAC, it would be incorrect to blame Obadare and the WOSEM incident for their beginnings and persistence there. While it may be challenging to fully absolve the apostle from some of the disputes that have arisen within the church, other individuals in the hierarchy may also be held accountable. Over the years, the CAC has been destroyed, and almost every major participant in the church has been vulnerable due to the split caused by different debates, actions, and counteractions from each other. We pray that God will give the church’s leadership the strength to confront the matter head-on and the discernment to work out the differences between the groups so that enmity and bitterness will never again exist.
One of the forerunners of television evangelism in Nigeria, Apostle Obadare, made every effort to spread the gospel and reached out to a large audience through the media. He was a magnificent man of God, and genuine miracles from God accompanied his ministry. On March 21, 2013, Apostle Timothy Oluwole Obadare, who was 83 years old, departed to be with the Lord. He had reportedly been restricted indoors for many years, however, it was reported that he had difficulty attending the Koseunti Prayer meeting on March 1, 2013. After being taken to the church, he was unable to exit the vehicle. The members realized that their leader might have wished to attend the meeting one last time after learning of his passing. The surviving family members of Apostle Timothy Obadare include his spouse Elizabeth E. A. Obadare, six children, numerous grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Timothy Oluwole Obadare was the General Evangelist of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) and a Nigerian televangelist. In 1949, he experienced a Holy Spirit baptism. From 1953 to 1957, he served as an evangelist for The Apostolic Church (TAC). At Joseph Ayo Babalola’s request, he then joined the Christ Apostolic Church. He attended the Apostolic Church Theological Seminary in 1954.
The World Soul Winning Evangelistic Ministry was started by Obadare. Additionally, he served as the Interdenominational Ministers’ Association of Nigeria’s (IMA) president in the past.
The Trinity College of Ministerial Arts awarded Apostle T.O. Obadare an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree, and St. John’s University in Missouri awarded him an honorary Doctor of Ministry degree.
