by ‘Jola Sotubo

A cleric in Lagos has chosen a strange way to deliver his religious messages as he preaches from inside a coffin.

Samuel Olawale a.k.a Kogberegbe, a preacher at the ‘The Holy Michael Church of The Lord (Aladura) Cherubim and Seraphim along the Ikotun/Ejigbo area of the state, is said to have made a habit of sleeping in a coffin and even in a grave.

The preacher has said that he follows this weird practice to show people that everything gathered on earth ends in vanity as a corpse goes to his grave with nothing after death.

The Nation reports:

Speaking to The Nation on why he keeps both strange and curious objects, the spiritual leader and founder, Pa Samuel Olawale, who is in his 80s, declared :

“Yes, it is true that I have a coffin covered with a black cloth in the church, it is in a big van. Not only this, I have a big hole dug by the altar. You can go and see it, take the picture. But for the grave or the hole, it is by the altar. And next time, I will open it for you while I am there. The two strange objects are pregnant with meanings. I have reasons why I am keeping them there.”

While preachers, evangelists and men of God go out preaching with the Holy Bible, asking sinners to repent , Pa Samuel Olawale (a.k.a Kogberegbe) goes out not only with the Holy Bible but always ‘armed’ with an empty coffin , a bell in his hand, preaching to sinners to repent and come to God.

He said: “Yes it is true that I am carrying the coffin about while preaching and what I am trying to point out is that no matter how wealthy you are you will not leave this world with these money, it all ends here. You will not go into the grave with your wealth or with money, be you a civil servant who stole money, be you an armed robber, be you a landlord or a caretaker, your money and wealth ends here the moment you are dead.”

He continued: “Any time I go out, I would at times sleep in the coffin, telling everybody that that is how we will end. Yes, we should remember this. If you are buried with expensive coffin, clothes and jewelleries, all will be stolen from you in the night and your carcass will be left. To me, life has no meaning until we come to God. Things are going wrong in this world and we should mend our ways.”

Kogberegbe added: “Yes, I even sleep there (in the coffin and the grave) at times too, to let us know that we will all end up in the grave!”

Asked whether people read different meanings to it, he replied: “Oh no, no, they all know that we are preaching the word of God. It is just to let us all know that there is nothing in this life. This is an ephemeral world, the grave is for prayer and we open it every year while praying on the mountain.”