THE STORY OF BROTHERHOOD

THE INTERVIEW OF LEADER OLUMBA OLUMBA OBU BY THE REPORTERS FROM NTA ( Nigeria Television Authority)

This story is told in a way it has ever been done before. This is the story of Brotherhood of the Cross and Star (BCS) told by Leader Olumba Olumba Obu, the sole spiritual Head. No man has ever made a blunt and lucid exposition of BCS nor could any one do it better than Leader Obu himself. Answer to such questions as, does the Father eat, travel, and charge for spirituals? Are now made public. Is BCS an accidental phenomenon, a Christian denomination or a novel religion? Why do members put on white, and the Leader red? Why do they not wear shoes? Why are women in BCS during menstruation not supposed to enter? Even more, for the first time ever Leader Obu revealed his identity said he, “I am …”

Leader Olumba Olumba Obu, the only authority on Brotherhood was recently interviewed by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Calabar on various issues concerning the organization. The team was led by Mrs. Mary Koffi Bassey. Below is the Full text of the interview.

NTA: We have heard so much about the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star (BCS) throughout the world. This is why the NTA is prompted to have this interview with you to know more about you, and about the organization.
Having heard so much about you over the years,, one would have expected that the Olumba Olumba Obu talked about so many years ago would have been old man with grey hairs and unable to walk. But it is now surprising that as we look at you, it appears as if you look younger every year. You look younger this year than you were when I saw you last year. Is there any special thing you are doing to yourself spiritually o get younger and younger while the older people are getting older and weaker? We do no understand. It is a marvel to us.

LEADER O. O. O.: I have always said that the work here is done by the Holy Spirit. It is his responsibility that I look the way you perceive.

NTA: You are sure that may be in the next 100 years you might look younger than this?

LEADER O. O. O.: That I do not know.

NTA: How was the BCS conceived? Is it the product of your thought? What is its origin? Did you just wake-up and start hearing about it?

LEADER O. O. O.: BCS has no origin. It has always existed. For me, I KNEW MYSELF RIGHT FROM BIRTH. I have never learned from anybody. Never have I attended any church or prayer house, or institution.

NTA: Ete, when you were younger, we are aware that you had other things you were doing other than church work. But later on in life you started this church work which has now become a bi ministry. How did you suddenly find yourself doing it? How did you know that you ha to do it.

LEADER O. O. O.: I have already told you that I knew myself when I was not up to three years old. What I am now doing is my mission on earth. I did not come to do any other thing than what I am doing. No one teaches me. All my teachings are supernatural. I have not learnt it from the Bible either.

NTA: How many years ago did you start the BCS?

LEADER O. O. O.: Right from the day I was born. If you have read “I AM THAT I AM”, you will learn how the sight of a blind woman was restored on carrying the child Olumba who was just four days old. BCS has neither a beginning nor an end. I am natural. It is spiritual. All things are arranged spiritually. Your coming here today had already been spiritually arranged but you would not know from your physical considerations. All the questions you are putting across are directed by the Spirit.

NTA: Ete, we are aware that BCS was started long ago when you were young. At what time did you forsake all worthy entanglements, and engagements (trading, etc.) to concentrate on full time ministry?

LEADER O. O. O.: That was January 1956. From that time till now, I became fully involved in this ministry.

NTA: Was it as from that time that people started to draw nearer when you preached.

LEADERR O. O. O.: It is not as if I had not been preaching before then. The spread can best be illustrated with the introduction of a new business. The first batch of products will go out for test-marketing; and satisfied patronizers will recommend the product to others. I had not particularly gone out to preach, but the expansion had been tremendous.

NTA: A lot of your members say the Leader is a Spirit. So many others say he is not just a Spirit, e is God. In fact 90 percent of your members say you are the real God. Now that we have different version of your personality, to an unbeliever, who will you say you are?

LEADER O. O. O.: It is only the Holy Spirit that can reveal the Leader’s true identity to you. No human being an. You cannot know me except the Spirit reveals you to me. What I am now doing is my mission on earth. I did not come to do any other thing than what I am now doing. This is the time of the Holy Spirit. When you abide in the flesh, you cannot understand anything, but when you abide in the spirit, the spirit will reveal everything to you.

NTA: That is true but I know the Spirit ha told you who you are from birth, or even before you were born. Being that you know who you are, we want you to tell us. Maybe really knowing who you are helps us acquire the Holy Spirit.

LEADER O. O. O.: You are wrong.

NTA: Supposing one prays?

LEADER O. O. O.: The Father will reveal it to you. I cannot reveal anything to you.

NTA: Ete, supposing you hear your members proclaim, Olumba Olumba Obu is God. Will you stop them or refute their claims?

LEADER O. O. O.: I am not interested. Whether you say I am God or the devil does not interest me. My interest is to preach “LOVE ONE ANOTHER.” I want everybody to know his duty to each other.

NTA: I notice that your converts use different uniforms. Basically they all use white. Some use black belt (turban), some blue, some red. I also notice that in most cases you are always with the red attire. Can you tell us the significance of these attires; the white, the different colours of the belts (turbans) and specifications your own red garment.

LEADER O. O. O.: Read Genesis 4:8-11:
“ Judah, your brothers will praise you. You hold your enemies by the neck. Your brother will bow down before you. Judah is like a lion, killing his victim and returning to his den, stretching out and lying down, no one dares disturb him. Judah will hold the royal scepter and his descendants will always rule. Nations will bring him tribute and bow in obedience before him. He ties his young donkey to a grapevine, to the very best of the vines. He washes his clothes in blood red wine.”

LEADER O. O. O.: Read Isaiah 63:1-6:
“Who is this coming from the city of Bozrah in Edom? Who is this so splendidly dressed in red, marching along the power and strength?” It is the LORD powerful to save, coming to announce his victory. “Why is his clothing so red, like that of a man who tramples grapes to make wine?”
The LORD answers, “I have trampled the nations like grapes and no one can help me. I trampled them in my anger, and the blood has stained all my clothing. I decided that was the time to punish their enemies. I was amazed when I looked and saw that there was no one to help me. But my anger made me strong, and I won the victory myself. In my anger I trampled upon nations and shattered them poured out their life-blood on the round.”

LEADER O. O. O.: Read Revelation 19:11-end:
“Then I saw heaven open, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and true; t is with justice that he judges and fights his battles. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and he wore many crowns on his head. He had a name written on Him, but no one except himself knows what it is. The robe he wore was covered with blood. His name is: “The Word of God.”
The armies of Heaven followed him. Riding on white horses and dressed in clean whit linen.Out of his mouth came a sharp with which he will defeat the nations. He will rule over them with the rod of iron. And the will trample out the wine in the winepress of the furious anger of the Almighty God. On his robe and on his thigh was written the name: “”King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” Then I saw an angel standing on the sun. He shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying in mid air: “come and gather together for God’s great feast!

“Come and eat the flesh of Kings, generals, and soldiers, the flesh of horses and their riders, the flesh of all people, slave and free, great and small!” Then I saw the beast and the Kings of the earth and their armies gathered to fight against the one who was riding the horse and against his army.

The beast was taken prisoner, together with the false prophet who had performed miracles in his presence, (It was by those miracles that he had deceived those whop ha worshipped the image of the beast). The beast and the false prophet were both thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. Their armies were killed by the sword that comes out of the mouth of the one who was riding the horse; and all the birds ate all they could of their flesh.”

LEADER O. O. O.: Read Revelation 7:9-end:
“After this I looked, and there was an enormous crowd- no one could count all the people! They were from every tribe, nations and languages, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.

They called out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the La!” And the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures. Then they threw themselves face downwards in front of the throne, and worshipped God. Saying,

“Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honour, power and might belong to our God forever and ever! Amen!”

One of the elders asked me, “who are these people dressed in white robes, and where do they come from?”

“I don’t know, sir. You do,” I answered.” He said to me, “these are the people who have come safely through the terrible persecution. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they stand before God’s throne and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will protect them with his presence.

Never again will they hunger or thirst; neither sun nor any scorching heat will burn them. Because the Lamb, who is in the centre of the throne, will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

LEADER O. O. O.: Read Revelation 3:4-5
“But a few of you there in Sardis have kept your clothes clean. You will walk with me, clothes in white, because you are worthy to do so.
These who win the victory will be clothed like this in white, and I will not remove their names from the book of the living. In the presence of my Father and of his angels I will declare openly that they belong to me.” We are not concerned about churchism. His is God’s Kingdom. White is a royal garment to be worn by the children of God all over the world. You have o be reborn. Get baptized and be born again and put on the white as an identity of the children of God.

NTA: Which means all those who are not in white (like me)?

LEADER O. O. O.: They are rebels.

NTA: They have no right to be in the kingdom of God?

LEADER O. O. O.: you have not entered. White is a prerequisite for God’s Kingdom. We are not concerned with churchism. We are concerned about the Kingdom of God. You will recall that the disciples of John the Baptist went to him that the should teach them how to pray. The disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ also went to Christ, and asked that they be taught how to pray. That request resulted in our Lord’s Prayer. Read Matthew 6:9-11:

“This, then, is how you should pray: our Father in Heaven: may your holy name be honoured; May your kingdom come; May your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven . Give us today the food we need.”

I have not come into the world to joke. My prayer, gesture, etc. are all the words of God. This is that long-expected Kingdom.

NTA: We have also discovered that all your adherents, here and abroad, even during winter walk barefoot, especially when they are coming to church and whenever they are in this heavenly attire. Why do they go barefoot? Is there any special significance in going barefoot? Why do they not wear shoes?

LEADER O. O. O.: Read Acts 7:47-50.
“But it was Solomon who built him a house. But the Most High God does not live in houses built by men; as they prophet says: Heaven is my throne, says the lord, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house would you build for me? Where is the place for me to live in? Did not i make all these things?”

Listen because you can learn, I am going to teach you. I have to teach the whole world. My duty is to teach. I am Supernatural Teacher. I have to teach the whole world to know God. All along, people have only made claims with their lips but do not know Him. Neither the blacks nor the white know Him. If you were to know God, you would not question his work. My work is to teach, I give NTA 100 percent as an outstanding medium of propagating the news of God’s Kingdom. You are doing the work of God. You have also entered the Kingdom of God.

NTA: Without the white?

LEADER O. O. O.: With the white in Spirit. The above Bible portion subsumes that as you walk on the ground, you are walking on God, while sitting, you are sitting on God. It is for this reasons that e do not wear shoes.

NTA: Which means in any part of the world God is there and as such it is not right to wear shoes?

LEADER O. O. O.: Anywhere you are, God is there. The practice of going barefoot is an honour and respect to Him. Since you have realized that heaven is His throne and earth His footstool, you don’t need to be told before you show this reverence to Him.

NTA: Somehow, those of us are outside, (who have not entered the kingdom yet), when we watch you, it seems that your private life is surrounded with mystery. Some of your members say you do not eat; some say you could stay for months without eating anything at all. We really do not understand. Can you tell us a little bit about your private life? I know we are prying, leaving the scripture to go into the private, but the world would want to know. We are even made to know that from the time you started the spiritual wok, you have not left the four corners of the Brotherhood buildings.

LEADER O. O. O.: What do you want to know now?

NTA: I want you to tell a bit about your private life.

LEADER O. O. O.: I have no private life.

NTA: Do you go out?

LEADER O. O. O.: Yes.

NTA: In spirit, physically?

LEADER O. O. O.: I do go out. The scripture says there is time for everything. There was a time when I used to go from house to house. There was a time when I used to walk from here ( 34 Ambo Street, Calabar) to 26 Mbukpa Road, Calabar. It is only within short time (after 1989 August Pentecostal Assembly) that I have stopped to receive visitors in the vestry. Hitherto, I had been attending to people. There was a time that I used to wash people’s feet (during Ordination). But now I have stopped doing so. The scripture has apportioned time for everything, when they should stop. Indeed I have no private life! I eat anything.

NTA: Do you eat meat?

LEADER O. O. O.: God says we should not. Refer to Genesis 1:26-30: If you still do, put yourself into prayer.

“Then God said,” let us make man in our own image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fishes of the sea and the birds of the air, over livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

“So God created in his own image, in the image of God, he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and he birds of the air and over every creature that moves on the ground.

And God said, Behold, I have given you herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit if a tree yielding seed: to you I shall be for meat
And to every beast of the earth, and t every fowl of the earth and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.”

NTA: You mean it is not good for me to eat meat?

LEADER O. O. O.: (With exclamation) I say, read Genesis 1:29! It is abominable. Animals are your brothers. If you had the opportunity to read through one of our documents here (Brotherhood) you will shed tears on realizing that you are kicking against God. You will realize that you are not worshipping God. I HAVE COME TO TEACH THE WHOLE WORLD TO KNOW THE FATHER; MY FATHER, YOUR FATHER, OUR FATHER. You are within the Father. God is nearer to you than the tongue to the teeth. Or do you think that God is in the outer space or at Jerusalem. GOD IS WITHIN YOU.

In BCS you cannot teach somebody to follow you to the mountain, or to Jerusalem. Why should you? Kneel down and talk to your Father and He will answer you .Do you know that? All the time you are talking about church, church and church. What do you mean by church? God is Omnipresent. He is in your room, inside your car and every where. This is the basis of the pride of members of Brotherhood. In ignorance a lot of you refer to God as Beelzebub, or “that thing!” God is every where. If you are sick, as a child of God, kneel down and pray and you will get well. Anything you say will happen. It does not require candle or any kind of concoction.

I will conduct you round all my rooms, like I have always done to visitors so that you can see for yourselves that we do not hide anything. In some places, when a woman is under menstruation she is forbidden from entering certain places. Why? Who caused the menstruation? There is no law in BCS there is only one injunction: “love ye one another.” You can eat anything or choose to do without anything. Nothing poses a problem.