Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo is the founder of the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), London with branches in Europe, America and Africa, including Nigeria.
The cleric, who hails from Ode-Omu in Osun State, is one person who has wealth of knowledge in different strata of life.
In this interview, he talked about his life, what makes him tick and his lifestyle at 70.
Excerpts
You clocked 70 on St Patricks’ Day, March 17, how do you feel?
I feel well, I feel good, I’m enjoying my life, I feel alive, I have no regrets rather too much to thank God for. He took me, he blessed me and he make my life a testimony.
What lessons have you learnt about life?
One, you need to have a relationship with God. I’m so glad that when I clocked 20, it’s like milestones. That was when I received Christ into my life. Some people will think like it became restrictive for me, I say NO. I didn’t stop drinking, it’s the fountain that changed, I didn’t stop dancing, it’s the music that changed, I didn’t lose happiness, rather I found joy. I didn’t lose anything rather I found purpose.
At 70, God has made something beautiful out of my life. I came out of a family of extended challenges, battle, poverty but God blessed my life. Not because I’m smarter than the people who came out of that house but because his mercy found me, build me, bless me.
Your preachings are loaded, sometimes one wonder how you are this vast in different spheres of life, could you share this secret with us?
Passion and hunger. There’s nothing you cannot attain in life once you are hungry. The challenge with a lot of generation is lack of hunger. I have made it a passion to be hungry for knowledge in particular. What I even do now, is too crazy. I read four books a week. It’s very stretchy, it’s very tiring and then I have just started something since January last year which is even the most difficult. I go through the whole bible in one month. Before you came, I have walked this estate this morning and I was listening to the bible. By the end of the month, I would have finished it or before the end of the month. Anything is possible; you just set your mind to it. It doesn’t matter how many hours we waste and spent on things that have lesser value.
You have very good dress sense, what influenced that?
I think number one, you are addressed the way you dress. A lot of things we buy, all human are visual, we see it first before we buy. So, the things we see influenced how we buy. If a beautiful thing is badly packaged, we treat it that way. Secondly, I was raised in poverty and lack. I didn’t have clothes, I cannot forget. I was the most brilliant in my school and we went to act in television and I didn’t have the clothes. I can never, never, forget. And there was a boy who was my age, he had beautiful clothes. I spent three hours begging him ‘Seye’, to loan me clothes to wear to act in this play, that was to be shown in Western Nigeria Television also known as WNTV in Ibadan, called the Sleeping Beauty. I begged him for three hours and he refused. I could never, never forget.
That was how poor I was because we lived with people who took advantage of us. They used us and abused us. They made us wear rags and shorts that were torn on the back. So, I will be leading the whole school but my own clothes were torn. Even when I was born again, I was still struggling with that kind of mind set. I was in Bible college, Foursquare Bible School and I had come to Ikorodu town on a Sunday. It was mandatory for us to go to church service every weekend. So, I went to town (church) it was a long walk, like seven kilometres. As we left church, my shoe was opened like that of a crocodile and I dragged my legs on seven kilometres, from that point to Agbowa Road, to Foursquare Bible School. People don’t see that. They don’t know that you had gone through the valleys. We knew lack. So, if God blesses you, why don’t you take care of yourself?
You have travelled far and wide, where would you say is your best destination?
I was thinking its Dubai but now it’s South Africa. I don’t know if you have heard about the table mountain, it is a mountain that actually looks like a table. It’s huge. And the window in my hotel room was looking at the table mountain. Then, beside Cape Town, not far is where two oceans meet. Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and they don’t mix. It’s amazing. Then, there’s a city where you find valley, mountains and some houses are up there. The beauty, the elegance is breathtaking. I love Dubai, but I guess Dubai was built for show. It was a desert that was converted but Cape Town was a city that was made by God. Amazing. So, Cape Town really, really, won my heart. I have been in all kinds of places. In Sau Paulo in Brazil. I have never seen a building that has many high rises, I think it’s because the city is so populated. They have several 20, 20, 20, 20, storey buildings where people lived.
What’s your favourite food?
I just lost 26 kilograms. It’s better to be light. I don’t eat rice, I don’t eat yam, and I don’t eat eba. I eat before six, I ate a small portion; I do three to four hours exercise. The problem with some of us is that the food we know was designed by farmers. Pounded yam as designed by farmers who have to work heavily but you and I don’t work as farmers do. The smartest thing to, therefore, do is to eat less because anything you eat stay in your body. I’m very sure you have never seen a fat old man. Any man beyond 84 who is fat, you have never seen one because weight just reduces your chance of living long. That is the truth. It’s a very hard truth to tell people. I eat well. I eat a lot of fruits, a lot of vegetables. I eat beans. I can use beans to do a thousand things. I can eat just Akara but Yoruba would say akara and what? That means you need to come out of the box. I eat moi moi but Yoruba would say moi moi and what? Whereas moi moi is a full protein. You can put egg in it. You can never over eat protein but you can over eat carbohydrates. Once you see a man that is excessively big if it reaches 85, it is a miracle. Go and check it. Because you are giving your heart too much work, your blood too much work, your leg too much work. Your body has the limit of what it could carry.