THE ARGUMENT OF THE LACUNA INTERPRETATION OF SUBSECTION (i) PART TWO

THE ARGUMENT OF THE LACUNA INTERPRETATION OF SUBSECTION (i)

By WISDOM O. OKOTIE

PART TWO
The lacuna perspective is strictly based on the interpretation the court gave to Section 111 Subsection (i). They seem to believe that Papa SBJ Oshoffa did not ordain or announce a successor before he transitioned. According to Barrister Dacosta, “the Holy Spirit would tell the incumbent Pastor, no other person, who the next Pastor would be.”

MY COMMENT:
[The constitution never said the Holy Spirit would tell the erstwhile incumbent. Rather it said, “at a time chosen by God to REVEAL this unto the Erstwhile Incumbent”. The agent or agency through which God would reveal was not explicitly stated. Is it through an Angel, the Holy Spirit, or the Successor? The constitution was silent on that.
Moreover, the Pastor Founder never explicitly said he would appoint or announce anybody as a successor. In his public proclamation, he said it is the Holy Spirit that will choose his successor. Lacuna interpretation and our leaders misrepresented what Section 111 Subsection (i) meant to the courts because they did not use the spiritual understanding. That was the genesis of the whole problem. And that was why the court said there was a Lacuna).

Let us examine what the constitution stated:

“at a time chosen by God to REVEAL this unto the ERSTWHILE INCUMBENT of the post of Pastor, be named and proclaimed the successor.”

Again, this statement did not say precisely how God would reveal the successor to the Founder or give details of how to name and proclaim the successor. BUT ONE THING THAT IS VERY CLEAR AND INDISPUTABLE IS THE PHRASE “ERSTWHILE INCUMBENT.” We must examine this word erstwhile. It is a written fact that can solve the puzzle.

Erstwhile means former. Why would the Pastor Founder allow this word to be used in the constitution while he was the sitting Pastor? Some may suggest it was an error, but I beg to differ based on what Baba Owodunni disclosed when I visited him on Friday, January 31, 2020.
Baba Owodunni:
“The process of writing the CCC Constitution began on February 29, 1976, and ended precisely four years later on February 29, 1980. The drafting committee would meet on Tuesdays and Saturdays weekly. Still, the writing process was not easy as Papa Oshoffa wouldn’t move on to another section until he was fully satisfied with the current. Even though Papa Oshoffa wasn’t English literate, he nevertheless would drive the members of the committee to carefully find the right English translations for each section of the Constitution. This was the reason it took over four years to write the 54-page document. When the committee finally finished drafting the Constitution and produced a typed copy, Baba Owodunni suggested to Papa Oshoffa that it would be good to have a diligent lawyer review the draft to ensure that there were no amendments required from a legal perspective. Papa Oshoffa responded that ‘If it were of the flesh, we could provide it to a lawyer for review. But this document (the Constitution) that has been composed by the Holy Spirit, we cannot give it to the flesh for review. What the Spirit has done, the flesh must not review’.
On 29 March 1980, the Constitution was formally promulgated with all signatories having signed the document. Papa Oshoffa then took all of the copies, raised them above his head before God, and said, ‘O Lord, I thank you for granting me the grace to complete the work you commanded me to do as I have established the Celestial Church of Christ forever and ever’.”

From the above statement, it will be fair to say that Papa Oshoffa approved the phrase, ERSTWHILE INCUMBENT because he knew that he would not be around to announce anybody as a successor publicly. If that was the case, then the foundation upon which the LACUNA interpretation was built has crumbled and there is no authentic proof that the lacuna interpretation was correct.

Also, while it is proper to have a legal department in the Church, it will be careless to expect the legal department to solve all problems. In a normal church environment, interpretation of divinely inspired utterances and doctrines should be handled by Spirit-empowered theologians and elders not secularly trained lawyers.

Section 91 of the 1980 CCC Constitution says the Celestial Church of Christ is under the absolute dictate of the Holy Spirit. If that is the case, why are we ignoring the wisdom of the Holy Spirit by not paying attention to the public proclamation made by the Pastor Founder? Instead, we are asking lawyers to help us interpret the only divinely inspired part of the constitution and see how they can change it. That is not their job.

I am not against lawyers, I have the greatest respect for them. They do a lot of good in society and they can benefit us in many ways. However, we must still be discreet when it comes to running to lawyers with every problem. In one instance Christ reacted thus in the book of Luke:
“One of the lawyers answered him, ‘Teacher, in saying these things, you insult us also.’ And he said, ‘Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”
Luke 11:45-46 ESV

Just sit back and imagine the sheer amount of money that has gone into lawsuits in the past 36 years. You will begin to see why lawyers love Celestial church cases. However, I am not ruling out the role of the courts in certain matters. (To be continued…The downfall of the lacuna interpretation next).

[Wisdom O. Okotie graduated with high honors from Oral Roberts University, Tulsa Oklahoma, USA. He was a nominee of Who is Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges and was nominated as the Outstanding Theological student of his graduating class. He is happily married to one wife, children, and grandchildren).

*Superior Senior Leader, 1985. Wisdom O. Okotie, Ph.D. writes from Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.