TheCable

Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has warned that as people desire to shine and prosper in the light of God, they should not forget that darkness will fight them. But he assured that with God, victory is certain.

Preaching a sermon with the theme ‘Swimming in Glory’ at the January Holy Ghost Service of the church at the Redemption Camp on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, he noted that from the beginning of time light and darkness have been engaged in battle.

He recalled that in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form and void; etcetera, etcetera. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. Then the spirit of God moved. And God said: “Let there be Light!”.

Likening glory to light, he explained that Glory is the opposite of shame; and it is intrinsically associated with light, bright light, shining light.

“In Luke 2:9, the Bible says the day Jesus Christ was born, the Angels of God came upon them and the Glory of God shone round them,” he said, adding that the Almighty God is called the king of glory.

But he insisted that shinning automatically means confrontation with darkness; so get ready to shine means; ‘get ready to fight darkness’.

Many hands shot up when he asked people who are still in the light of the world to raise their hands. Almost everybody in the congregation did. “Get ready to fight darkness,” he said again.

He challenged the congregation: “The battle line is drawn; Light and darkness are going to collide.”

THE DAVID EXAMPLE

He cited the David example: Light has no use unless it shines! “Consider David in 1 Samuel 16:11-13; that young boy was brought from the field and they poured oil on his head and said: eeh! You are now King. And he was rejoicing. But it wasn’t long after, in 1 Samuel 17:34-37, when lions began to come; and bears began to come. And Goliath began to appear. And then when you read 1 Samuel 22:1-2; then they saw the Light of David shinning when he was in the Cave of Adullam; everybody who needed help came to him.”

Again, Adeboye challenged the congregation not to run from the devil. “You are going to fight and you are going to win,” he assured, warning, however, that the only one condition of winning is not turning our backs to the enemy.

“In Luke 9:62; Jesus made it clear that anyone who lays his hands on the plough and looks back is not fit for the kingdom,” he said.

He proceeded to give examples of people in the light of glory who fought darkness successfully. “One of my friends, who is now an elder is somewhere here on the altar. When he was younger in Ilorin, he would wake up in the morning and pray thus: ‘God, all those sick people that the doctors say cannot be healed, send them to me; that I can pray for them. Because these need signs and wonders.”

PLANNED ARSON AT UNILAG

Another testimony happened at the University of Lagos when he was a lecturer there. He recalled: “When I was still teaching, I had a small group of students who were very close to me. We used to study the word of God together. And one of the things I told them was this: there is no barrier that prayer cannot break down.

“One day they heard that a secret cult in the university was planning for rioting – their plan was to burn down the bookshop and everything they could lay their hands on. They had already bought petrol and other destructive tools needed for the attack.

“A member of my group then said, “Daddy has gone home now, what are we going to do?”

“Another answered, “But he taught us that whenever there is trouble, we should pray. He is not God, God is here.”

“So, they locked themselves in a room and started praying.

“Meanwhile the cult members had also gathered themselves together waiting for midnight to strike. While they were drinking ogogoro (local gin) to get themselves charged, the children of God were praying.

“Then the cult members fell asleep. By the time they woke up, it was day-break. With their plans foiled, they started querying their leader. They asked what kind of leader he was to be sleeping on duty.

“The leader spat back, “What kind of assistants are you? You were supposed to help me.”

“This resulted in a fight. They threw away the petrol in the process. That was the end of the riot.”

In a third testimony, he said a young pastor in a village rented a one-room apartment near where a jujuman lived. Feeling that his business was being threatened, the jujuman decided to deal with the young pastor.

The pastor returned from church one day to find a hen sitting over eggs in the room he had locked before going to church.

“Where has the hen come from; where are the eggs coming from?” he wondered.

“But he had another look at the hen and thanked God for providing him food.

“Lord, you know I don’t have money to buy hen, I don’t have money to buy eggs,” and turned to the hen, “Hen, welcome to my cooking pot”.

“He killed the hen, boiled the eggs. And the Babalawo (herbalist) was expecting a cry of pain. He was expecting that by the following morning they would be carrying a dead pastor out.

“But to his surprise, he saw the pastor sprinting to church the following morning.”

POWER PASS POWER

He greeted the herbalist: “Papa, good morning ooh!

“The Babalawo (herbalist) surrendered his life to Jesus.”

“Power passes power!” Pastor Adeboye said happily.

But he did warn with many biblical examples of how darkness can only be fought successfully with God; and how one must be on his side and keep away from sin to tap into His power.

In the night of singing, dancing and praying, many amazing testimonies of the use of mantles blessed by Adeboye were shared. Folu Adeboye led prayers for Nigeria and other nations.

Being the first Sunday of the year, attendance was high.