A guest at my birthday party offered me juju to help me succeed as a pastor –Rev. Gabriel Adebayo

By ’Nonye Iwuagwu


Rev. Gabriel Adebayo would not forget the day a guest at his birthday party offered him charms to help him succeed as a pastor.




Rev. Gabriel Adebayo


Adebayo, who is currently the presiding pastor of Yaba Baptist Church and the moderator of Gideon II Baptist Association, shared his experience with Saturday Punch shortly after presenting his address at the second quarter meeting of his Association in Lagos.

He said, “There was a year I was celebrating my birthday as a pastor in Ogbomosho. I was not married then. One of the guests, who obviously was excited, walked up to me showering blessings on me. Surpringly, he called me aside and told me that as a young pastor, he wanted to introduce me to the ways of some elderly pastors whom he said depended on some powers. He said he would give me some charms to protect me and help me succeed.”

Adebayo said he was shocked by the strange gesture, which he quickly turned down and told the man that he would rather depend on the powers of Jesus Christ. But the guest insisted.

“He said he wanted to compensate me for feeding him; that he wanted to give me some juju that I could use for protection and to draw people to my church. He said as a very young man, I had not known the world.”

Of course, the guest left in disappointment. But the story raises a question: could it be that some pastors use juju? To that, Adebayo said, “Let me tell you something; some pastors do it because they want to call attention to themselves. Some of the pastors you see these days, instead of ascribing power to God, they ascribe it to themselves. And they can do just anything to become popular. That is why some of them fall into temptations. Promotion doesn’t come from west or east but from God. That is my personal belief.”

Told that he could have been able to resist temptation because he belonged to an organised church with a good welfare package, he retorted, “I’ve gone through thick and thin. I’ve lived in poverty, not because I’m not well read but because I wanted to serve God in the North.”

According to him, he had his most trying moment in the North but that never made him succumb to temptations.

“The most difficult time I faced was when I was in the North, in Potiskum, Yobe State between 1994 and 1997. In 1994, I moved all my property together with my wife to Potiskum just because I wanted to serve God. The same year I got there, on September 4, 1994, Muslim rioters came to our church and destroyed everything that we had. They burnt it down, and I was left with only one garment.

“While some pastors in my category there were earning N2,600, I was earning N200 per month. And in the night, because I did not want church members to know what I was going through, I was doing Okada business. They call it achaba in the North. That way, I was making ends meet instead of begging.And my wife, also a graduate, was also packaging water, they called it kankara in the north, and selling to pupils.”

Little wonder Pastor Adebayo decried with pain the situation today where, according to him, the church was conforming to worldly practices.

“The issue of christians conforming to the world is taking a frightening dimension, ranging from indecent dressing to membership of secret cults.

“Now, coming to the issue of mode dressing, what we are doing right now is to teach our children and parents that charity begins at home. Do not just expect a pastor or lecturers to train your children; begin from home.”

The war against vices, especially Christians belonging to cults, he said, was being fought with all vigour and had led impenitent cultists to leave the church.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/aug/23/418.html

I wonder how many of our "Pentecostal Business Men" Pastors would have gone through what this baptist pastor did and still be able to resist temptation.

he wanted to introduce me to the ways of some elderly pastors whom he said depended on some powers. He said he would give me some charms to protect me and help me succeed.”

very shocking.

Of course this doesnt mean the guy himself isnt suspect, but the main thing here is people should try to test every spirit, unless they also support combining Christianity with juju.


I think people who were raised to believe in juju, or who participated in it while growing up, find it hard to let go as adults. For them, its a way of life.