TheCable

Around Christmas Season, last year, he walked up to me as I was about driving out of the parking lot of the church. He handed me a Christmas greeting card, and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t address it, because I don’t know your name, but take this. Merry Christmas.”

It was a simple Christmas card, but his thoughtfulness and kind gesture touched me deeply, and I made up my mind to ‘retaliate’.

Here was a man, as I learnt, who eked out a living by selling wares in a movable trolley (he possibly couldn’t afford a stall/shop) taking the ‘trouble’ to buy me a card – someone he didn’t even know his name.

I had also been reliably informed that a woman and her daughter, members of the church, were putting some money aside so they could get this man and his family a better accomodation.

My wife and I decided to package a little ‘seed’ for him. I put the envelope in a book, alongside a pack of juice, and brought it to the Thursday, December 31st Crossover Service, hoping to give it to him as his first gift in 2021. Alas, he didn’t come for that Service.

I kept his package on the dining table so I would not forget to bring it along to church on Sunday, 3rd January. Somehow, I forgot!

I cornered him after the Service, and enquired if he would be at the Wednesday midweek service. He assured me that he would be there.

Long story short, I gave him the package and he thanked me.

Few days afterwards, he stopped me as we were exiting the car park, and said, “I didn’t know that you people are so wonderful!”

I have no idea what he did with our little ‘seed’, but it must have meant a lot to him.
The truth is, between the Thursday Crossover Service and the Wednesday I eventually handed him the package, I thought of reducing the money I had put in the envelope, but I am so glad I didn’t, because… yesterday, January 15th, my wife called me to say that the man, that same man, was killed on Thursday 14th January!

I was shocked and saddened by the news. “What happened?!” I asked.

She told me that armed robbers had come to operate in the man’s neighborhood early that Thursday morning. The residents had somehow managed to resist them, and as they fled, one of the thieves was apprehended and beaten to death. I had seen the corpse by the roadside, as I passed through that axis, on the way to Lagos that Thursday.

As the story goes, the newly constituted security outfit, AMOTEKUN, came along to quell the mayhem, and restore peace.

That was ongoing when I passed the area.

Not long after AMOTEKUN departed, the robbers returned to avenge the death of their colleague, and started shooting in all directions. Our Brother was hit by a stray bullet while going about the day’s work.
So, so, so very sad!

I am so glad that I kept his package intact, and helped to widen his smile, perhaps, just a little bit more, before he transited.

Let’s be our BROTHER’S/SISTER’S KEEPERS this year; be KIND, be MINDFUL of others, and be GENEROUS towards the less privileged around you.

Remember the admonitions in Hebrew 13:16, “But do not forget to do GOOD and to share, for with such SACRIFICES GOD is well pleased.”

And, 1 Timothy 6:17-19, “Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in GOD, Who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be RICH in GOOD WORKS and GENEROUS to THOSE in NEED, always being READY to SHARE WITH OTHERS. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.”

May the LORD Comfort, Strengthen and Uphold the Family, Friends and Church he left behind, in JESUS Name.

Adieu Beloved Brother O!

NB: let it be known that I hold our leaders, Federal and State, partly responsible for the death of this dear, kind-hearted Brother.

If the economy was good and thriving, there would be less hoodlums, thugs and robbers.
If we had state and local government police, the events and outcomes of Thursday, 14th January, could have been totally different.

That’s one more axe to grind with our clueless and visionless leader(s).
LORD, HAVE MERCY ON US!

THE GOD OF WONDERS!

Tuesday, 2nd of March, 2021, made it exactly 7 years that GOD prevented a major disaster from befalling the Vine Branch Church, Ibadan.

On that day, Sunday, 2nd March, 2014, the Service was just about to close when pandemonium broke out in the church auditorium.

The Senior Pastor of the Church, Dr. Sola Kolade, revisited the events of that day at a THANKSGIVING recently. His account is riveting and awe inspiring.

Hear him…

“It was about 12.15pm that afternoon, and one of our leaders was welcoming the first timers, when we started hearing the unmistakable noise of commotion coming from the back of the auditorium. Gun shots were being fired right in the Church, and people were scampering for safety, falling over themselves, and the chairs. Thank GOD it was plastic chairs we were using then, otherwise, there could have been many fractured limbs. As I heard the gun shots, I laid flat on the floor, and tried getting the people to do same by shouting to them, “Get on the floor! Stop running! Lie down on the ground!”

In all sincerity, I had concluded that nothing less than 20 members would have been gunned down already, and I was only trying to do damage control.

To the GLORY and PRAISE of the AWESOME GOD we serve, not a soul was shot inside the Church that day. The gun man had been firing into the concrete roof, and into the ground – a silly thing to do actually, because the bullets could have ricochet off the hard surfaces, and killed anyone, including himself. But GOD kept everyone of us safe; He delivered us from death that day.

Unknown to us, 3 people had already been killed before the gun man came into the Church. It was actually a robbery that had gone contrary to plan. The robbers had come for the tithes and offerings collected at the Service, but, luck ran out on them when they saw a bullion van coming for the collection.
As we learnt, one of the robbers was wearing a police (Mopol) vest, and he approached the van, shot, and killed the policeman sitting beside the driver, while the other policeman in the back cabin killed the thief. The second police man was also gunned down before the gun man entered the church.

Actually, some 6 gunmen had gained entrance into the auditorium, and were shooting indiscriminately. Well dressed in black suits and white shirts, the robbers caught the policemen on duty unawares, as they were mistaken for church worshippers.

One of them pointed his gun at a woman backing a baby, and could have gunned her down, but turned away, and moved on.

Knowing that their colleague had been killed by the police outside, the armed robbers could have come into the auditorium vengeful, and killed many of us, but GOD didn’t allow that to happen.

GOD deserves our PRAISE!

Eventually, they left without the money they came for, because of police reinforcement, that was hot on their heels.

But for the MERCIES and AWESOME DELIVERANCE of THE LORD, we could have been doing remembrance for the departed today, if the Church would have survived such murderous onslaught at all.

GOD kept everyone of us in the Church. He delivered us.

Even those who ran out of the auditorium, returned to close the Service properly.

Later that evening, the scheduled Prayer Meeting held, and people turned out quite well for it, especially those who were not at the morning Service, but had heard about the attack. They came to see what the LORD had done.

We visited the mortuary to see the corpses of the slain policemen. The one sitting beside the driver died with his mouth open, likely out of shock, seeing a police-vested man open fire on him.

Unfortunately, the Police Command dismissed the two men, even in death. They said they were not supposed to be on duty on that day.

Well, the leadership of the church, in conjunction with the bank that came for the collection, arranged a befitting burial for the policemen.

Then, we sat down with the Police Command, to ascertain what the entitlements of the men would have been if they had not been dismissed. We paid the entitlements to their families.

We also put the children of the two deceased men on scholarship, which GOD has helped us to sustain over the years. People have been giving towards the education of these children, and they continue to give. GOD bless you all.

Just 6 weeks after the shooting incident, my daughter, who was in Med-school, had a terrible accident that could have killed or crippled her for life, but GOD stepped in again. She is a doctor today, and happily married too.

Imagine what they would have said, “That same Pastor?! That place is a cult!”

GOD preserved us, and kept our testimony intact. All we have to say is THANK YOU LORD JESUS.

THANK YOU FATHER. THANK YOU!

Praise the LORD!”

What a remarkable testimony. Our GOD is truly awesome, doing wonders, Hallelujah!

While nothing was ever heard about the robbers again, it is believed that GOD also ‘took care’ of them.

Howbeit, there’s definitely a lot to be said of our Police system.

Imagine dismissing dead men?!

Such callousness!

Robberies like that would probably never happen in a restructured Nigeria, with a decentralized Police structure.

QUESTIONS:

1. Who were the police officers that should have accompanied the van, and why didn’t they show up for duty that day?

In addition to that, who signed off on the guns and bullets the policemen brought if they were not supposed to be on duty that day? There’s a cover-up somewhere!

2. What would have become of the widows and children of the dead policemen if the Church had not stepped in to settle their entitlements, and fund the education of the children?
This is how the system toughens, and corrupts good people.

3. How come they couldn’t match/trace the blood stains of the dead gunman to anyone or anything?
How come they couldn’t track down the black Toyota corolla the robbers reportedly brought for the operation?

Too many clues that could have been employed to catch these marauders went unutilized, wasted! No forensics, no intelligent CSI, nothing!

And, case closed!

‘Oloun nikan lon sho wa O!’

4. My own pastor was shot within the Church premises, in 2003, in the same city, by armed robbers, who had come for Church money too. Thankfully, he survived it.
Some other Men of GOD had also been robbed, or killed, in similar incidents across the country in the last 30 years.

It is not rocket science to say that armed robbers, and indeed the discerning minds, world over, are convinced, and rightly so, that the Nigerian Church (especially the Pentecostal Order) is very rich.
Shouldn’t we use this money, that GOD brings through our prosperous members, to better lives in our communities, instead of building cathedrals, expensive schools, buying jets and other status-induced acquisitions?

Shouldn’t we be making a difference in the lives of our members with this money instead of living like superstars and mini gods?

The Nigerian Church of today is a far cry from the Apostolic Church described in Acts 4, 5 and 6.

We need to repent, return to GOD, and begin to truly SERVE the People HE has made us shepherds over.

The true shepherd, according to John Chapter 10, lays down his life for the sheep, the hireling does otherwise.

Selah!

May GOD’S Abiding Presence keep you and your household, now and evermore, in JESUS Name.
Amen.

Congratulations to the Leadership, and every member, of the Vine Branch Church, especially the 761 souls, who saw it all, and lived to tell the story. Congratulations!

The LORD shall ever do us GOOD, in JESUS Name.

SHALOM.