It was a Friday in the month of August but my surgery wasn’t until the following Wednesday. The doctor had assured me I would be fine till then. So, why was the pain worsening? The devil is a liar, I said under my breath repeatedly. I would go to Camp no matter what. It was the Holy Ghost Night of the annual convention and the very first time I’d be going to this Camp I’d heard so much about. I was as determined as the pain wracking my body. It was a huge struggle but I made it to the Redemption Camp on Kilometre 46 on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway. I was fighting back tears as I dragged myself into the first auditorium. Yes, the one that was right by the gate. Of course, by the time Baba (Adeboye) mounted the pulpit, I could no longer stand upright or even sit comfortably. I was groaning. I could not drink the water that I bought or eat the free food that was available in the camp kitchen.
And then came the call for all those who were ill to go to the altar. I closed one eye, left the other open to monitor the movement of Baba’s hands. I shuffled towards them….and he laid those hands on my forehead, and then lifted them, moving to the next person. And the pain disappeared, like he pulled them right out of my body. I was shocked, stunned. I held my breath, waiting for the pain to return. I mean, its disappearance was so unbelievably sudden. Is this finally what they call divine healing?
Long story short, I returned to my seat healed, happy, changed forever, my faith in God strengthened. I did not honour the surgery appointment. The pain never returned.
That was in August, 1990.
That was my first contact with Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
There are many like me out there, many who see Pastor Adeboye as light, salt of the earth, a man after God’s heart. Many Christians see the old man not just as father but a true man of God. He has touched the lives of millions. He has made a difference in the lives of so many and their walk with God.
Pastor Adeboye is one of the very few men of God who commands the kind of respect he commands, a rare kind of respect. His words are measured. His steps are measured. He delivers the most difficult prophecies with wisdom. He is soft spoken. He is not given to frivolities. He is rarely seen outside the confines of his calling and mission. He is not a kiss-the-mike pastor like others who have opinions about everything and voice it any time any where.
Adeboye is respected by men and supported by God. The small church handed over to him by the Founder of RCCG, Pa Akindayomi, has grown worldwide, in leaps and bounds. If he decrees a thing, God establishes it. If he binds anything on earth, it is bound in heaven and every time he has decreed a release, there has been a deluge. Even to unbelievers who are not sure if Adeboye loves God, it is obvious God loves him. Or does anybody have other explanations for what the commission called the Redeemed Christian Church of God has become? Is it in doubt how God feels about the leader and leadership of RCCG?
But I sensed a resentment against Adeboye? I heard a rumour that some people, those who should know better, those who taught ‘Digging Deep’ and lectured in Bible College, are conspiring against Adeboye. Worse still, I hear that this conspiracy is between forces within the church and forces outside.
Ah. Dem no dey fear fear? If those on the outside don’t know, what about those inside? If those on the outside haven’t read Isaiah 31:3, shouldn’t those on the inside know better? If the external conspirators haven’t read the story of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, shouldn’t those who have learnt at the feet of Adeboye explain that the ancient of days can still bury people alive along with their dogs and chickens?
But it has to be a rumour, right? That was how I felt two years ago when I first heard this pull-him-down story, and that is how I still feel about it right now. I do not believe that any RCCG member, least of all a pastor will want to be guilty of the sin of rebellion when the Bible says categorically that rebellion and witchcraft are the same and we should not allow witches to live. So where did the conspirators get their courage to do mutiny in the house of God? Dem no dey fear that the ground still fit open and swallow conspirators? Dem no think that if God responded to the challenge thrown by Moses that ‘if these men die a natural death, then the Lord has not sent me….’ (Numbers 16), He can respond to Adeboye too? Or they just prefer to believe that God responds to Adeboye only at Holy Ghost Night and at the December Holy Ghost Congress? I pity those who no dey fear fear.
I was still thinking all these were rumours by those who do not know how God chooses leaders until I went to Camp towards the end of last year and on my way out I stopped to buy some things in one of the shops. The discussion I heard in that shop, the opinion of the person running that shop…. Ah, dem no fear fear at all? I will not repeat all that was said but trust me, they came from a reprobate heart. These are people who never miss any Holy Ghost service, any communion service. They jump higher than others when G.O says ‘somebody shout halleluyah’.
Their wives do not wear earrings or go anywhere without a scarf or beret on their heads. These are people we see as the old classical parishioners. Are they now rebels and guilty of the sin of rebellion?
How can our joy overflow if we are involved in a coup against the shepherd? What will we tell God if we touch his anointed and do his prophet harm? Are we by any chance thinking the Man who commissioned Adeboye will not defend His name and anointing? Maybe he won’t, but what if he does? Isn’t it better to err on the side of caution, like King David? David was anointed to succeed a king that was still alive, Saul, but he never succumbed to the temptation to take matters into his hands. He waited for his appointed time on the throne. And it came. Those think they can play God in Redeem, hmmm, I don’t know which portion of the Bible I should quote for them because they know more than I do.
Because the name of this church is Redeemed Christian Church of God, God will defend it. That much is certain. That is not an opinion. It is a fact. Then, are there those who had rebelled against the RCCG in the past, what became of them? And why won’t those who are so full of anointing they want to be G.O now now take their anointing somewhere and start their own ministries? Or did God say He will not hear them outside RCCG? Did God tell them to help Him remove Adeboye?
Re – Your daughter, Daisy
It’s not the men I blame but the women who take the rubbish. I have three adult daughters and I have taught them that ‘ there is life outside an abusive home.The day your husband beats you tell him your room in your father’s house is still there for you and get out’
No long story.
Your write-ups are great.
-Uche. Owerri
I have a friend and a sister who were victims of domestic violence but today they are on their own and are doing much better. So, my advice to any woman whose husband has turned to a punching bag is to make sure she is independent and should run for her life before it will be too late.
-Imoleayo Nwagwu
Funke, what an emotional one today, my eyes are full of tears. That girl does not deserve that. How I wish she had ‘ planned her escape from that evil husband’ called Mofe. I make it a point of duty to read your column every Sunday, you are a wonderful woman.
-JOHN Aiyemenre IYOHA.
We need more women like you who need to air these views so as to make women in abusive relationships bolder to come out. I just want to add that apart from the risk to a woman’s health and life, such an environment is also improper to raise a child.
Church leaders also should be made to understand that insisting that women in abusive relationships should stay at all cost is wrong. After all, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and not for a sick man to continously use as a punching bag.
-Kim Magaji