The General Overseer of El-Shaddai Covenant Church, Dr. Temitayo James, has challenged Christians in Nigeria and across the globe to get a full understanding of priesthood and go back to it if they want to access the finished works of Christ.
The cleric gave the charge, today, while flagging off the 2025 edition of the Pastors and Leaders retreat which always precedes the church’s annual Easter Leadership Conference, ELC, at the headquarters of the church located in the Abule-Egba area of Lagos.
Speaking on the topic, “Manifesting as Sons of God through Priesthood”, which topic was drawn from the overall theme of the conference for this year, “Divine Manifestation”, Dr. James emphasized that the original intent of God was to build His people into a “Kingdom of Priests”; adding that the idea of priesthood did not originate from man but from God Himself Who, right from the Garden of Eden, exercised His Priesthood at the Fall of Man.
The woman of God alluded to numerous passages in the Bible to establish the fact that believers are meant to combine kingship and priesthood to be able to reign on the earth.
She emphasized that the dichotomy between the Clergy and the Laity arose when God’s people, in their wilderness wanderings, opted to stay afar off while leaving only Moses to go close to God.
According to her, “most of us, today, were raised to be Christians and not priests; and instead of having a kingdom of Priests, we now only have Priests in the kingdom”.
While underscoring the very dire need for priesthood, the General Overseer submitted that the Church, today, is fighting the battle for evidence because most people in the world, including even children, are asking questions and demanding for proofs.
This, she stressed, has led some so-called ministers of God into faking miracles; whereas in the Early Church, even non-titled members of the church were performing miracles.
In her words, “The Early Church did not struggle with evangelism because the least of them was raising the dead; and, like Bishop Oyedepo would say, ‘you don’t argue with results’”. She added, “It is priesthood that would get us back there”.
The clergy woman listed numerous examples of people, both in the Bible and in contemporary Nigeria, who combine kingship (symbolizing authority, royalty, wealth, dominion, etc) and priesthood to impact their nations, generations and humanity for God.
She listed the duties of a priest to include: to carry the presence of God; to stand before the Lord or be with Him in fellowship, communion, etc; to minister to Him in worship, praise, prayer, etc; and to bless the people in the name of the Lord, among others.
The opening ceremony of the Easter Leadership Conference holds tomorrow all through to Sunday when its grand finale would hold.
