THE Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, yesterday concluded activities marking the 74th birthday anniversary of the church’s General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye and the 30th anniversary of the Special Holy Ghost Service—a divine vision given to the former Mathematics lecturer at the University of Lagos to mark his 44th birthday-30 years ago.
The event began with a unique Marathon Messiah’s Praise, a 74-hour non-stop programme aimed at expressing gratitude to God for His mercies upon the life of Pastor E.A. Adeboye, and to create a new pattern of praise in this dispensation. The vision was planted in 2012 to allow God’s children engage in a long lasting spiritual worship experience, and it has grown bigger and blossomed to become the longest gospel musical event globally. The marathon praise session dovetailed into the Special Holy Ghost service on Thursday which featured Holy Communion service, special intercessory prayers for nation of the world especially the violent crimes against children.
Leading thousands of worshippers to cry against the inhuman act which has become an order of the day in various cities and towns, wife of the General Overseer, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye urged the worshippers to pray for the quick release of all kidnapped children in various parts of the country, adding that those involved in the act will not have peace until they release their captives and repent from their wicked activities. Adeboye said: “There is another scourge against the children now, and that is kidnapping the little children. We will pray that wherever these kidnappers are, the fire of the Almighty God will fall on them and they will not have peace until they release the children in their custody and repent from their evil activities. ” Admonishing the congregation on the theme of the programme tagged :
“The Winning Side”, Daddy G.O. explained that every living being has one battle or challenge to confront in life and that winning means to be victorious and triumphant over such life’s challenges. Pointing out characteristics of a winner, Pastor Adeboye described winners as people who sing and dance to appreciate God’s awesomeness in their lives, those who always shout and clap to overcome their enemies. According to him, winners are bold, they persist till the end, submisive and obedient to God’s injunction and faithful in all their dealings.
He explained that winners don’t stop at almost successful but rather hold tenaciously to their faith until they are victorious over every life’s battle: “Winners are always persistent to the end. They never stop at almost successful, noting that David had already killed Goliath with a stone but he was not satisfied and he went ahead to cut off his head. “Winners do not just want to be fruitful but very fruitful.
They are tenacious, not satisfied with half victory but total victory, they keep on pressing forward until they win,” he said. Adeboye also prayed that God will finish the good work He has started in Nigeria. Wife of the General Overseer, Pastor Folu Adeboye urged the people to appreciate God for not allowing the country to disintegrate and bringing to nought all evil prophecies concerning Nigeria. She further prayed for God’s fear to reign in the hearts of Nigerians and the Buhari led administration for divine wisdom and God’s fear in the hearts of the leaders for them to lead and lead the masses aright. She said: “Let’s pray for our leaders, from highest to lowest hierarchy that God should help them to walk on the path of righteousness, lead in God’s fear, wisdom, knowledge and understanding.” Earlier, charging the congregation on the theme of the programme, the founder of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo, in his message, urged the participants to know who they are in Christ, explaining that the work of redemption has positioned born again Christians as winners and not loosers.
He added that Satan and his principalities do not have the capacity to prevail over them. Oyedepo further revealed that children of God were not redeemed to struggle with Satan but subdue him, empower their environment and show forth as light and salt of the world. He explained that Christians carry greater potentials than that of biblical Abraham, David, Daniel and that such potentials can only be awaken through dedication to the works of the kingdom, reading the scripture. The Bishop who revealed that God has been sustaining him for over 40 years in ministry, urged the people to walk in the covenant of Christ, faith and word of God, adding that they should ensure they are always on the winning side. Congratulating Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo said:
“God is not yet through with RCCG, the 30th anniversary of Special Holy Ghost service has taken the ministry to another level. I am amazed at the ever increasing grace on RCCG.” Ministering in some are the Church mass Choir, local instrumental display by Akwa-Ibom children’s department who mesmerised the audience with various choruses alongside their local instruments.
Some of the delegates at the event included Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and his wife, Ondo State governor, Dr. Segun Mimiko and his wife, Benue State governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom, and The Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabriel Olorunsakin and his wife. Earlier, during the ministers’ conference that preceded the HGS, Pastor Adeboye who celebrated a quiet 74th birthday, may have shocked some ambitious pastors in the church when he made a surprise declaration to ministers of the church that though he is advancing in age, he was not in a hurry to depart yet.
To the very ambitious members of the church who had been positioning themselves to either take over from him or position their candidates for the coveted post, some of whom had vowed to leave if his successor was not their choice, the General Overseer had an unpleasant birthday present, advising such persons to leave now to avoid future truncation of their destinies. According to him, “there is no death in my eyes at all,” revealing that on two previous occasions in 2006 and last year the devil had an opportunity to terminate his life, adding that the evil one failed on both occasions. He didn’t give details of the two attempts at his life though there have been loud suggestions by some church elders for him to retire when he turned 70 few years back just as there had been unconfirmed reports of how he had survived food poisoning.
There was even a report that one of his provincial pastors once tried to harm him through juju. The man merely emphasized that God had assured him that there is yet a lot to be done and will therefore preserve him for the greater challenge ahead, saying that he was yet to know who would succeed him.
“Anybody who wants to go in anger in future, is hereby advised to leave now because you may not like the one who would succeed me and if you wait till then to leave, it may adversely affect your destiny then,” he added, arguing that God had assured.
As if giving a statement of his stewardship on his 74th birthday which coincided with the 30th anniversary of the ongoing special Holy Ghost service, Pastor Adeboye announced that the church now has 16 parishes in Libya, stressing that RCCG has become the first church organisation to benefit from the new development in that country, that apart from the capital, Tripoli, you can now rent a land to establish a church.
He then proceeded to inform the church leaders, that God had assured that the church growth has just begun, noting that a new agreement is underway whereby any parish pastor who wants to leave the church would not be allowed to take any church property when he is leaving. Pastor Adeboye was born on March 2, 1942 at Ifewara in the present day Osun State to Pa Moses and Esther Adeboye.
He obtained a BSc. in Mathematics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and subsequently bagged his Ph.D in Applied Mathematics from the University of Lagos and worked as a lecturer in mathematics at the universities of Lagos and Ilorin. After joining the RCCG in 1973, he began working to translate the sermons of its then pastor/founder, Rev. Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi, from Yoruba into English. In 1981 Adeboye was appointed General Overseer of the church, taking over from Papa Akindayomi, who had died the previous year. For three years he filled the role part-time, still lecturing at Ilorin, until he gave up the university job to preach full time.
Some young pastors in the church have been putting pressure on Pastor Adeboye to vacate the post as it is the custom of the church for any serving official to retire when he clocks 70 years of age. But Special Assistant to the General Overseer on Administration and Personnel, Pastor Johnson Odesola debunked that claim, saying that those calling for the retirement of the General Overseer were ignorant of the church’s constitution, arguing that there was no where in the legal document that says he should resign or retire. “Whereas the constitution provided that the deputy and assistant general overseers are appointed to retire at 70 and enjoy their retirement benefits for life, there is no such provision for the general overseer,” he stated, adding that on account of such ignorance even among the pastorate, the governing council had agreed that the constitution should be printed into a book and made available to all workers in the church.
“People have papers but they don’t read them. We have a compendium about the day to day running of the church but people just don’t read. The people who are agitating for the G.O.’s retirement because he is over 70 years are ignorant and the Bible says you don’t become foolish,” Pastor Adesola explained to the journalists.
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