Why I refused to speak out on killings in Nigeria — Pastor Adeboye

Pastor Enoch Adeboye on Friday night led members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) to pray against people shedding blood in Nigeria, their protectors as well as their sponsors at the church’s February Holy Ghost Service held at the Redemption Camp.

Members of the church in 198 countries participated in the programme through viewing centres. They prayed for the killers and their collaborators to be exposed and dealt with.

The pastor will also hold special three-hour prayer session for Nigeria‎ at the Redemption Camp on February 13.

Explaining why he had not personally commented on the widespread killings in the country despite calls by people for him to speak out, he said he belongs to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) ‎both of which have leaders who have spoken on the issues on behalf of their members, including himself.

But last night he decided to talk about the killings to members of the church in his capacity as their General Overseer. He chose to address the issues mathematically by reducing them to simultaneous equations to derive an answer.

Pastor Adeboye, a former university teacher, has a doctorate degree in mathematics. The equations, according to him, are:

· There are certain problems beyond man

· There is no problem beyond God

· Man can hide from his fellow man

· No man can hide from God

· Security agents can be compromised

· God cannot be compromised. His holiness is not negotiable and cannot be compromised.

· Man can sponsor evil

· God cannot sponsor evil

The answer to the equations solved simultaneously, he said, is just one answer; which is that “a prayer warrior is more effective than an activist”.

He described the correlation of answer to the tendency of enemies and some children of God to underrate the power of prayer. He then led the congregation in a series of prayers for the killers, people who connive with them and their sponsors to be exposed by God and dealt with.

Praying in a similar vein earlier, his wife, Folu Adeboye, who led congregational prayers for nations, pleaded for God to grant Nigeria victory over its challenges this month of February.

In his main sermon, which was a continuation of the church’s sermon series, titled “stronger than the enemy,” the General Overseer, likened the problems of individuals and nations to mountains, which can be moved by faith.

Recalling one of his prophecies for the year that “erstwhile stubborn mountains will move,” he called on the congregation to tackle their mountains head on.

He then highlighted the strategies to deal with mountains, leading the congregation in aggressive prayers to activate each of them at the service, which was largely devoted to prayers.

He advised strongly against tolerating one’s mountains because that makes the mountain remain; rather they should be confronted. “Don’t pretend there is no mountain, don’t ignore your problem, confront it,” he stressed.

He also advised against the practice of taking problems to fellow men always, instead of God. He cited the example of a barren woman who a pastor was ‎avoiding, but had 5 children after crying out directly to God.

According to the General Overseer, “A woman who had destroyed her womb during an attempt to abort a pregnancy gave the testimony. She had messed around, become pregnant and, because she tried to hide it from everybody, she tried an abortion which went wrong.

“When she was rushed to hospital, the doctors decided the only way to save her life was to remove her womb, which they did. And of course, she knew the result of that action when she got married – no babies.

Later, she became born-again and heard that God can do anything. So she started going to a man of God (I won’t mention names) to say, “Please, pray for me. I need children.”

“After many prayer sessions, the problem remained the same, even as other barren women were getting pregnant. So the man of God asked her to tell her story, and when she confessed her womb had been removed, the pastor started avoiding her. During one of her visits, she saw the pastor sneaking out to avoid her.

“From then, she decided to cry out to God directly. Then one day God visited her. She had a dream, in which she was stark naked, with a man holding an animal skin walking towards her. She became afraid but she was rooted to the spot, shaking; she couldn’t run. And when the man got close to her, he wrapped the animal skin round her and disappeared. The woman woke up sweating but she knew that she had been given a new womb because her menstruation resumed.”

The second strategy, he advised, is to talk to the mountain with faith as ‎Jesus admonished us to. “Engage your mountain in a conversation – tell it that between the two of you, one has to move, but it can’t be you because according  to the scriptures the Lord is always with you and you will not be moved; and He is your fortress so you cannot be shaken; and because you trust in the Lord you are as secure as Mount Zion.

Thirdly, he said, you need to explain to the mountain that it is blocking your view, making it difficult to have a vision, then command it out of your way or even decree it to move.

However he said one has to live right with God to be able to issue decrees to problems, a reason he said, “I am crazy about the need to stay holy.”

In a testimony, he spoke about a tree in the middle of a major road in Lokoja, Kogi Sate, some years ago, which residents said could not be cut down for spiritual reasons. He said he took note of that and went ahead with the programme of the church. That night, he recalled, there was a rainstorm and by daybreak the tree was on its side, completely uprooted

Pastor Adeboye also advised that specific mountains should be identified in prayers and where they should be moved to be mentioned – cast it into the sea as in the example of Jesus.

He said when it is all done, one shouldn’t boast about it but should as a matter of urgency, return the glory to God.

After the prayers, he asked the pastors of the church to lay hands on everyone in the congregation to confirm the prayers and to ensure the mountains don’t return if people live right with God.‎

While that was going on, he went to a section of the altar to pray for people with special cases, he had asked to be brought during the Holy Ghost Services.

As is usual with the services, there were testimonies galore – of healing and even some members raising people from death with blessed handkerchiefs and anointing oil.