My books help heal a troubled generation, says Suleiman

APOSTLE Johnson Suleiman has written over 60 motivational books, but his truelife story is the actual motivation that would inspire anyone willing to shake off a bad past to step into a bright future. The General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries, with headquarters in Auchi, Edo State, has branches in 42 countries.

Before he received salvation and began his apostolic mission and writing, Suleiman once found himself in the world of cultism as a youngster.
 
Books of divine messages so far written by Suleman include Operation Fabez, Created For The Palace, Secrets of Good Success, Covenant Steps To Greatness, The Home; God’s Interest, Fall In Love, Enemies of The Throne, Blood Is Bitter, The Word Was Made Flesh and many more. These are motivational and prayer books; they speak about poverty, starvation, spiritual barrenness and abuse of power. The issues they deal with cut across, and they proffer divine solutions to man’s many problems.
 
Suleman’s books also deal with singles, relationships and marriage issues. For instance, in one of his books, Suleiman invites men who abuse their wives to look at animals and learn useful lessons. As he put it in Errors Pastors Make, “If you watch animals, they don’t beat their females. So, anyone who beats his wife is less than an animal”. The book was unveiled recently during the church’s yearly Holy Ghost Convention held from June 3 – 7, 2015. His other programmes that spanned the month of June included crusades at Uromi on June 8th; Napoli, Italy, on June 16th and 17th; Father’s Day, June21st; Teaching Dimension, June 23rd, 2015 and Fire & Miracle Night.

While narrating his journey into God’s vineyard, Suleman said, “I was a dignified cultist. I am from a home of separated parents. My parents had some issues. Any child from a home like that is bound to fall into the streets. So, I got into school and I wanted acceptance somewhere. Someone told me that there is something called brotherhood and that I would be accepted as a family member and I liked it. I didn’t know there would be a beating part and being taken to the bush. I didn’t like that. But you have to go along with it. What I always avoided then was the assignments. I was just like a floor member. I was not really happy but I remained there”.
 
At 16, he was already fending for himself. His father was a Muslim while his mother was a Christian. His mother, a police, had very rigid rules set for general conduct in the home.
 
“My mother laid down the rule that you must be home by 6pm. If you come home at 7pm, she would open the door for you and spray teargas into the room. That’s where you’d be locked up till morning and be battling to breathe. She was very tough. It was a horrible experience. But now, I am happy that I went through that training. She had instilled discipline in us but then I didn’t like my mother. When I went to my father’s house, we were free to do all sorts of corrupt things. As a young Muslim, I finished my Quran.’’
 
His experiences a youth made him dislike Christianity. He thought many Christians were not sincere. Seeing the pastors collect donations from church members without accounting for it turned him off. But that was to change in 1989.
 
As he stated, “I went to bed on December 24 and woke up on December 26. I didn’t see Christmas day. I slept through it. In that sleep I saw hell and heaven and a voice told me that I was going to be a preacher. I woke up and went to meet a Mallam and he said I should go and do some recitations.’’
 
As a Youth Corps member, he was in Lagos for his primary assignment where he had a scary experience that was to change the course of his life. While driving through Ogba, around Excellence Hotel, an angry mob stopped him. They forced him out of the car and started beating him.
 
According to him, “They said I had knocked down a child. I would have gone to jail but while at the dock in court one day, a voice asked if I wanted to go to bible school or jail. I chose to go to bible school; I said so silently. While awaiting the ruling of the court, a witness came and said the child had already died by the side of the car before I got to my car. It was the dead child’s mother.  She told the court that the child had collapsed along the road before I arrived at the scene. That was how I was exonerated’’.
 
In 2013, Suleiman told President Goodluck Jonathan not to contest for the 2015 Presidential elections, and asked him to return to his village instead. He was not prepared for what followed.
 
He said, “On January first of 2013, my church was brought down. It was reported in the papers that I was a victim of prophecy. I was threatened; I was actually hit. I stood my ground. You can’t judge prophecies unless you have the spirit of prophecies. I don’t blame them. Certain prophecies can be reversed through prayers. I have made prophecies about very stubborn leaders and they have contacted me. And we prayed about it”.
 
Suleiman’s famous thesis is, “Until a man is equipped he cannot function well in ministry”. According to him, Jesus spent quality time training the disciples before sending them out to minister to the people, adding, “So, we cannot overemphasize the need for equipped soldiers in the kingdom of Christ here on earth, especially in these last days.

The eyes of the world are on the church. We cannot afford to fail God or misdirect His people”.
 
He said his books have made impact on the lives of his readers. He had a stint in journalism and effectively deploys this skill in propagating his faith through his many books.