I am sure many of us have seen his image many times associated with the Christ Apostolic Church(CAC) however most of us know little about him.
Apostle Ayo Babalola is one of the Greatest Men of God that ever tread the face of this Earth . I will give you a story of his life and some mysterious things he did.

Babalola was born of on the 25th of April 1904 at Odo-Owa,Ilofa, in present day Ekiti Local Government Areas of Kwara State in Nigeria to a God fearing couple named Pa David Lawani Rotimi and Madam Martha Talabi Rotimi. His father was a devout Christian according to those who knew and lived with him as he founded the CMS church at Ilofa/Odo-Owa and sixteen other towns. He was brought up as an Anglican. He was registered at an elementary school at Oto-Awori near Badagry in present day Lagos State where he moved to with his uncle Oshobo in present day Osun State where he was educated to standard four, before he became Blacksmith apprentice for two years,proceeding to became a Steamroller Operator under P W D (Public Works Department), then under the control of the whites, learning to become a Steamroller Driver. After 15 days of learning how to drive the caterpillar, he was able to drive it without any assistance. After nine months; he became a master in his class. A Steamroller was first given to him on 1st April 1928 to work on the Osogbo – Ilesha road.On June 14th 1928 he was transferred to Akure – Ilesha road .According to him, On the 9th of October 1928 about 12.00 noon he was by his Steamrollerby the river Ariran, it was here he heard a loud voice from above like the roar of thunder which called him from above saying "Joseph Babalola" , leave this job you are doing, if you do not leave this year you shall be cut off from the Earth.He asked the workers under him whether they heard a voice but they said no. According to him again exactly the same time the next day , the voice called to him likewise. The voice shouted on him to leave that place but he ignored it . He ordered one of his assistants to start the Steamroller , then the roller caught fire. He immediately put in his resignation and went home.According to him on entering his house the voice called to him again telling him to fast for six days and pray 120 times which he faithfully did As he slept that night , an angel entered into his room like lightning and began to talk to him. Then the angel told him to put off the light inside the room which he immediately did. Thereafter a brighter light completely different from any other lighted the whole room. The angel told him not to taste any manner of food for six days that the Lord Jesus Christ wants to send him with some important works to various towns. The angel told him that he was the one who had been talking to him on the road when he was driving and that he would have died if he had refused to hearken to his instructions. That is how he received the call and he went into series of fasting and prayer , all the while he was in Ipetu-Ijesha a town in present day Oriade local government area of Osun State .During this period of fasting and prayers , he received lots of revelations which formed the basis of the way he operated in his ministry. During this period he also visited many towns and villages based on the Lords guidance where he preached the message of healing and deliverance to the people. He was specifically instructed by God to heal the sick through water which he prayed into.However for a period of six months he still maintained a strict regime of prayer and fasting.

The watershed in his early ministry came when when he was commanded by God to go to his hometown to warn his people against Idolatry , fetish practices and evil works. According to him :

The Spirit told me to go to my hometown , where I was born. The Lord said I should rub my face with ashes and to carry palm leaves in my
hand and to buy a bell, which I was to be ringing the moment I entered the town and I obeyed. The voice told me to tell my people that
unless they repented , evil beasts would enter the town to destroy them. On that same day I entered the town with a bell in my hand. The
entire town was moved and there was great stir and consternation as people fled as they saw me. The moment they set eyes on me they fled.
The Voice told me to ring the bell in my hand round the town and I obeyed.

His people however refused to repent or change their ways they instead summarily beat him up and his family was subjected to heavy persecution by the people of the town. In defense against the prophesied invasion of the town by wild beasts the people of the town armed themselves with Guns and Cutlasses. However God told His Servant to tell them he would not bring beasts again but instead would bring epidemics and it would start within forty- five days.

At the expiration of the prophesied forty-five days and epidermic of small pox broke out and within 3 weeks about 300 persons had died. But those who repented and those who came to the man of god after contracting the disease were spared.

Ministry & Healing

The revival of his mission began with the raising of a dead child in September 1930. What followed this in 3 weeks was the healing of about 100 lepers,60 blind people and 50 lame persons. This also resulted in the desolation of Churches in Ilesa because their members transferred their allegiance to the revivalist and that all the patients in Wesley Hospital, Ilesa, abandoned their beds to seek healing from Babalola.This divinely kicked off The Great Revival of 1930, which saw people coming from most parts of Africa and diaspora without posters and TV adverts. From then on, with bell and Yoruba Bible in hand, he toured Yorubaland and eastern Nigeria, preaching about repentance, and renunciation of idolatry, the importance of prayer and fasting, and the power of God to heal sickness.

In 1930 Faith Tabernacle affiliated with the British Apostolic Church. Then following a schism in the Apostolic Church about 1940, Bablola went with a new independent church, Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), where he continued his healing and revivalistic activities until his death. The CAC regards Babalola as an apostle and his revival ministry as the beginning of the church. A CAC retreat center was built at Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State where Babalola was first called in 1928.

The Christ Apostolic Church has not died along with Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola in 1959. As a matter of fact it has grown rapidly over the years, with many churches under the Christ Apostolic Church name but each church with a specific branch name.The Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU) a private Ikeji-Arakeji in Osun State, established by the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Worldwide is named after him, located at the place where he says he was called by God in 1928.

Mysteries and Mysteries

1 The Mysterious Tree of Usi Ekiti: This was a tree in a Forest believed to be inhabited by evil spirits and it was in this forest a land was given to him for his revival campaign. This tree had been cut many times but it stood again as if nothing hd been done to it,however the Apostke went to the tree rand his bell and prayed on the tree and it was cut down forever.

2 The terrible gods of Ifira :There was a god called " egule" worshipped in the Isowo Quarters of the town . THis god was soo ruthless that no man dares point a finger at it to call attention to it as such acts led to forfeiture offingers or death. It is said that a big python coiled around the pot on which the god was placed. This god was situate on a bushy hill and no one dares goes there for fear of being harmed by the god or the python guarding it.
When the Apostle got to this town he requested to visit the hill of this god. People were concerned for his safety but he insisted , then people from neighboring towns and villages came to see what was going to happen. All he took was his bell and his staff and he went to the hill with people watching him. Immediately he sited this god and its python he started ringing his bell as he moved towards it. and immediately the pot on which the god stood broke into pieces and the god hen the snake fled , when people saw this they statred singing and rejoicing and the people beheld the Python and trampled it till it died and the people abandoned the Idols for God.

other istances of include : The Forbidden forest of EFON ALAAYE , Deliverance of Oke Luse(Ondo State) from Elephants, The case of Isua , Idols jumping out of fire while they are being burnt etc

A lot has to be done to document the many great works of this man of God. There are many DIVINE INSIGHTS of his that are too deep to fathom and I will release these at a latter time. These include:

-WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT CREATION?
- THE PECULIAR GIFT OF THE BLACK RACE
- THE MYSTERY OF KOLA NUTS AND TOBACCO?
- THE PROPHETIC HISTORY OF ILESHA AND EFON - ALAYE EYC

PROPHET JOSEPH AYO BABALOLA(25 APRIL 1904 - 26 JULY 1959)

MAY GOD RAISE MORE MEN LIKE HIM. AMEN.

SOURCES:[www.memikoroduroad.org ][/url]
*Abi Olowe; [http://www.greatrevivals.com][/url] Great Revivals, Great Revivalist - Joseph Ayo Babalola], Omega Publishers, 2007
*Moses Oludele Idowu; Joseph Ayo Babalola:The Mantle of an Apostle, Divine Artillery Publications,©2008
Moses Oludele Idowu; Joseph Ayo Babalola:Collected Works of an APOSTLE, Divine Artillery Publications,©2010
Moses Oludele Idowu; Acts of power Divine Artillery Publications,©2011
*Toyin Falola; The History of Nigeria, Greenwood Press, 1999
*Victoria Taiwo


CC : OAM4J

K

Kwara State : Home of Clergy.
RIP baba CAC

A real man of God. From his stories so far I am convinced that truly God call Baba CAC. Reverse is the case in our present life where both dog and cat claimed God call dem...lol...Stomach calling everywhere.

You expect me to read all those things when I have 8am mass to attend? I will comment when am back

I too will die one day......all I can say is Babalola is one of the prophets of God and not one of the greatest...no prophet can be greater than those God used for Israel....He is a prophet nothing near one of the greatest.

The Man of revival and Prayer

his legacy lives on

Jesus is alive. prophet tb joshua is another prophet I love

Nigerians don't like reading long epistle... u would have just summarized it....

starlingslimnet:
I too will die one day......all I can say is Babalola is one of the prophets of God and not one of the greatest...no prophet can be greater than those God used for Israel....He is a prophet nothing near one of the greatest.

you just seem to hate and despise the truth.
Anyone IN CHRIST has much more privileges and is better than one one in the Old covenant.
The Old testament folks had the revelation of the Christ in BITS and PIECES,TYPES and SHADOWS,but here in the New covenant,
we have a complete revelation of the Person of Christ Jesus

Read Hebrews 1,8 and 11.