Badagry, the Nigerian coastal town situated between
Lagos and the border with Benin Republic, at Seme, is
reputed as the land of many firsts. It was from
there, from its lagoon leading to the Atlantic Ocean,
that the first slaves were exported to the Americas in
the 18th century. Even till today monuments of that
unedifying historical episode, such as the popular
“point of no return,” and the big, heavy chains used
to shackle the slaves still remain at Badagry.
It was at Badagry that the first major Christian
missionary work began in 1842, by Rev. Bernard
Freeman. So also the first storey building in Nigeria
and the first primary school, St Thomas Anglican
Primary School, in 1845.
You would think that dark forces would have nothing
to do with such a place that became the first to experi
ence the Whiteman’s civilization before other places
in Nigeria did. But Pastor Matthew Oluwadare Adu,
found something to the contrary when he was posted
there as a Regional Overseer, some years ago, to
oversee the mission work going on under the auspices
of Deeper Christian Life Ministry.
In a chat with Saturday Sun, Pastor Adu, who is
today the founder and General Overseer of Full
Redemption Christian Ministry International, Igando,
Lagos, but with branches in Kenya, Uganda, Cote
d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin Republic and Togo, shares with
readers the scary experiences of how he was attacked
by demonic forces while ministering in the place and
how he survived. Excerpts:
Life as an Overseer
I started my church ministry career as a full-time
pastor in Akure. I was posted to Akure in 1990.
Before that time, God had showed me a revelation,
the meaning of which I did not know very well. I only
knew the beginning. I didn’t share it with anyone
while praying about it. At that time, I was
coordinating Badagry from Agege. One Sunday,
Pastor Kumuyi sent his driver to bring me. He left a
message for me. I went to see him at Gbagada. But by
the time I arrived there, it was 11pm. They said I
should come back by 10a.m the following day. By this
time I had left Royal Exchange Assurance Company
and was working at Ark Insurance in Victoria Island,
Lagos. I was in charge of finance. When I saw the
pastor the next day in Gbagada, he told me that for
the December retreat, he wanted us (ministers) to
record our messages and send them to all the retreat
locations so that there can be variety of preachers.
He gave me a message and said I should find time to
come to the studio to record it, and then I was free to
leave.
Then he asked me what I’ve been thinking about full-
time ministry. I shared a bit with him. He told me he
had been following my ministry in Agege, and
Badagry, unknown to me. He asked me to resign my
job so that I’ll move to Akure. He told me to be swift
about it, promising that the church would offset my
outstanding loans. So, I sent in my resignation. The
members of the staff were inconsolable.
The chairman received the information all the way
from the U.K. He was devastated. Very early
December 1990, I was driven with my luggage to Akure
and introduced as the new state overseer. I was
there by the grace of God and within the first five
months, we added about 1,000 new members in Akure
alone. There was a general problem in Deeper Life in
1991 when all the state overseers wanted to leave.
That led to a re-organisation: the former state
overseers were posted back to their former stations. I
had to wait for my children to conclude the academic
year in Akure before I came back to Lagos. The
pastor, (Kumuyi) sent me to Badagry. I was there for
10 years and three months.
Ministering at Badagry
Whenever I go to a place, I like to study that place.
So, when I got there, I met a brother working in the
library. From him, I got a book about Badagry. He
took me around some landmark locations – where
Bishop Ajayi Crowder translated the English Bible to
Yoruba, the first place where the gospel was preached
in 1842. I observed that the first year I got there,
there was no addition of members to the church.
People were coming and leaving. I reported back to
the GS (General Superintendent) at IBTC (Inter
national Bible Training Centre, Ayobo, Ipaja, Lagos),
that after two years we only added 15 people and
with my record in Agege and Akure, something was
not right.
He made several promises to attend our crusades
there, but he never came. Also, I experienced serious
poverty. Not to talk of spiritual attacks. At a point,
from Wednesday through Friday, I couldn’t eat or
drink water. I felt as if a razor blade was being used
to cut away a part of my body. I was seriously
dehydrated. On Friday, I went all out to prepare and
deliver a strong message. Later while praying in the
library as the pain started again, I fell into a trance.
There was a workers’ meeting going in the French vil
lage and in the trance Pastor Kumuyi was presiding. I
was watching from outside. Somebody then asked
about the exact attacks I was facing then. God then
revealed to me through Nehemiah 13 that the attacks
were coming from within the church.
Eventually I got assorted fruits miraculously, ate
them and defeated that episode. Our prayers also
paid off. Once, while we were in the middle of a
seven-day fasting and praying in the church,
silhouette of a naked man was seen behind the fence
crying out loudly in the night that we should stop.
That was a messenger of darkness. At another time in
Ijanikin, during a church service, somebody was
flung from his seat hard across the wall and when we
interrogated him, we discovered he ‘flew in’
diabolically from Taraba State to carry out the
devil’s assignment. So, these things taught me
deliverance was real and so was the devil. Also, the
poverty in the Badagry church was deep. We held a
breakthrough crusade in 1997 to destroy yokes, break
strongholds and release destinies. Within a short pe
riod, the prayers started yielding results. When I got
there, no member had a bicycle. After the crusade,
people started testifying about land acquisition,
house completion and vehicle acquisition. Till today,
people still talk about that crusade. Meanwhile, it was
not until year 2000 at Reinhard Bonke’s crusade that
I saw and bought a book for the first time about
deliverance. But before then God had wrought mighty
works of deliverance through my ministry.
His ministry and ministration
I’m not a prophet. I’m an evangelist/pastor. But
there are occasions when the Holy Spirit will minister
specific things. For instance, there was one Christian
sister whose family was so poor that the church used
to pay her transport from Festac. I saw what was
coming for her and told her, that God was going to
change her situation, according to revelation shown to
me. Today, she’s a pathologist with the Lagos State
government and she is doing very well financially and
helping others. Her husband is overseas as I talk to
you. Whereas the prophets get discernment regularly,
we the evangelists/pastors don’t. That’s the
difference.
Spiritual challenges of a typical Yoruba Christian
There are many and it’s the same problem all over Af
rica. In Yorubaland for instance, we have a lot of
deities, powerful ones with which, directly or
indirectly, most Yorubas are involved – Ogun, Obatala,
Sango! So, how can you be a Yoruba person without
getting your roots entangled with these gods? So, you
need deliverance from these. http://sunnewsonline.com/new/yoruba-christians-have-peculiar-spiritual-challenges-pastor-adu/ |
