Benson Andrew Idahosa, a charismatic Pentecostal preacher who founded the Church of God Mission International, which has its headquarters in Benin City, Nigeria, was born on September 11, 1938, and passed away on March 12, 1998. Many Christians knew him by his nicknames, PAPA or BA. Being the initial Pentecostal Archbishop in Nigeria, he was well-known for his strong religious beliefs. According to T. L. Osborn, he is the world’s finest African representative of the apostolic Christian faith. Born within a mostly non-Christian community to non-Christian parents, his father, John, rejected him because he was weak and fragile. When he was younger, he experienced frequent fainting spells.
During one of these spells, his father gave his mother Sarah instructions to leave him at a trash pile, assuming he was dead.
After several hours, he woke up, started to cry, and needed his mother’s help to be saved. He was raised in a low-income family. His family’s home was made of mud, just like the majority of the homes in the area. Until he was fourteen years old, when he was able to enroll in a local government school, this reality denied him access to an education. He became a Christian as a young man after being converted by a specific Pastor Okpo, and he was among the first people to join his newly formed congregation. He actively preached and won many people over to Christianity. He started doing outreach work from village to village after receiving a revelation from God directing him toward the ministry. Later, he built his church in a Benin City store.
In the church was Archbishop Benson Idahosa, a twenty-four-year-old. He was a director of Christ Ambassadors and an evangelist. Jesus said,
“Cast out demons, cleanse the lepers, heal the sick, and raise the dead,” according to his pastor one day. Who claimed, Archbishop Benson Idahosa questioned the pastor? Pastor, Jesus uttered these words. Did you hear, Archbishop Benson Idahosa, that Jesus claimed he could drive out devils, purify lepers, heal the ill, and revive the dead? Pastor: Certainly! Archbishop Benson Idahosa, are you familiar with this? Pastor: Not at all! Can I do it, Archbishop Benson Idahosa? What, pastor?
Taking his Bible and bicycle—which he refers to as his Rolls Royce—Archbishop Benson Idahosa searched the streets for the deceased. Someone asked him, “Why are you looking for the dead?” as he was searching for the deceased. Idahosa answered, “My pastor told me to raise them up.” Not in Rome or Jerusalem, but in his city of Benin City in the state of Edo, he eventually located a residence where someone had passed away. Approaching the house, he said, “Has anyone passed away here?” And they said, “Yes,” to which Archbishop Benson Idahosa exclaimed, “Hallelujah!” What makes you happy, they asked? He claimed that after searching for the dead for the previous five hours, he had discovered the body of a three-year-old child.
What does he want to do, they asked? The response from Archbishop Benson Idahosa was, “I have come to raise the dead.” Thus, Archbishop Benson idahosa was escorted to the child’s burial place by the deceased child’s parents. Taking the kid in his arms, Archbishop Benson Idahosa gazed at him, not sure which way was left as he had never done it before. He then started to pray while crying, but he got no response. It seemed that the youngster passed away even more. He became angry about the entire circumstance and realized there was only one door out—there was no turning back for him. OH GOD!!! He stated…
Taking his Bible, he looked to the verse that his pastor had read, which said, “You shall cast out demons, cleanse the lepers, heal the sick, and raise the dead.” Setting the infant down, he looked up the scripture in which Jesus rises from the grave and read, “He drove them out.” Archbishop Benson Idahosa followed suit and drove everyone out, although he was also mentally looking for a way out of the room. To observe him, they all went to stand in the hallway. As Archbishop Benson Idahosa read the verse from the Bible, Jesus commanded her to rise. After closing the Bible, Archbishop Benson Idahosa asked the parents what their child’s name was. They replied, “Inuaghata.” In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Inuaghata, I command you to rise up right now in Jesus Name, Archbishop Benson Idahosa prayed again, this time with a holy rage and all of the remaining Samson might within me. In five seconds, the youngster sneezed and stood up.
Neither did Archbishop Benson Idahosa hold a doctorate in divinity, nor did he hold any credentials from Bible college, nor was he a professor there. It worked for him as a novice who wanted to give it a shot! In an interview eight years before he died in 1998, he described an encounter that left him feeling holy. He thought about the great people in Benin’s past and related stories of his interactions with leaders like Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Pastor Oyedepo, the founder of Winners Church, whom he considered his students.
“My God is not a poor God,” “Your attitude determines your altitude,” “I am a possibilitarian,” “A big head without a big brain is a big load to the neck,” and “If your faith says yes, God cannot say no” are just a few of the famous quotes attributed to him. Among Pentecostals, many of his teachings on faith, miracles, and prosperity are still considered classics. Benin City, on March 12, 1998, saw the death of Archbishop Benson Idahosa. His four children and his wife, Margaret Idahosa, survived him.
