A stormy meeting of his father and other elders of the family over the choice of a political party to support ended in a deadlock, with his father opting for a different political party.
In a rage, the others swore to deal him a painful blow by going after his only son.
When the meeting was reported at home, the young man felt it wise to leave his dotting parents.
He fled Ifewara, his hometown in Osun State, and for 13 years he lived in self-imposed exile.
During that period, he had even sought help from a spiritualist in Ondo State who scared him the more by admitting that Ifewara was the headquarters of evil forces in the area.
Fast forward to 1975, when a superior force was in control of his life. He had given his life to Jesus Christ, and became a prominent member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
The story continues in his own narration:
“ There was a man in my village called Kaka, who was the leader of the occultists there. He was known to single-handedly protect the town from criminals and all evil forces. Kaka was feared by all!
“When we were to start RCCG in my village (Ifewara), the suitable place we found for a rally was incidentally close to the house of Kaka.
While we were doing praise and worship session, he was listening. He didn’t leave his house so he must have heard the sermon too.
Surprisingly, when the Altar Call was made, Kaka came out of his house to give his life to Jesus Christ.
Later, he came to my Father-in-the-Lord (the founder of the church, the late Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi) and said “the way you spoke about your God, He must be really powerful o.”
Papa said, “very, very!”
Kaka said: “In that case, now that I have given my life to Jesus Christ, I would need help.”
When Papa asked him what it was, he said: “I have an idol in my house, they call it shigidi (in Yoruba). It is an effigy.”
He explained the source: ”I inherited it from my father. My father inherited it from his father. It is the thing we send out at night when we want to kill somebody. And this shigidi (effigy) is so dangerous that when we send it on an errand, we must not sleep until it returns.
”And we must tie down a ram to welcome it when it is returning. As soon as it returns, we slaughter the ram. It drinks the blood, steps on the blood and then it will return to its position and become just like an ’ordinary idol’”.
With fear in his eyes, he said, “I don’t think I can sleep in the same house with that thing anymore. Because if this shigidi returns and it knocks at the door three times and we don’t open the door, it will come in (without opening the door) and deal with us.”
So, he appealed to Papa to do something urgently about it!
And Papa said he would send someone to remove the effigy from the house.
It turned out that I was the person Papa sent. For the assignment, I first went to the parish of the church in Ilesha (Osun State Nigeria) and told the Pastor, “I have been sent on an errand to remove something in the house of Kaka, will you come along with me?”
He said ‘sure!’ He didn’t know what. And there was a worker who was supposed to be a strong prayer warrior. He volunteered to join us. We went to Kaka’s house!
When Kaka saw me, he felt sorry for me, saying, ‘Ahhh, Adeboye’s son; you are the one they sent? Ahhh!”
As Kaka opened the door of his house, we were singing “We are more than conquerors in Jesus’ Name.”
When my colleagues saw what was waiting for us, Oh Lord God! They ran out by the time we got to the last verse of the song, leaving me alone with the effigy, adorned with all manner of charms and smeared with blood.
Anyway, I did my prayers and picked the shigidi out.
At that time, I had a Toyota Crown car with a large booth. Yet I had to break this thing (the effigy) before I could get it into the booth. It was that big! And it had all kinds of charms tied around it (soap and other stuff). While I was picking it up, parts of the soap spilt on me but I got it out.
Outside the house, there was a shrine Kaka said belonged to Satan. I put that one too in the booth; took everything to the river and threw them in for the Blood of the Lamb to deal with them.
About three weeks later, I returned to Ifewara and I visited Kaka at home. When he saw me, he shouted “Hey!!! You are still alive?”
That was 1975. I am still alive today.”
Without being told, the difference between the exiled Adeboye and the effigy-conqueror was a powerful variable-Jesus Christ!
Pastor Adeboye said every demon, including their boss (the devil) is under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when we become part and parcel of His body by being Born Again, we are above principalities and powers
For the last two months, Pastor Adeboye has been preaching about Jesus at the church’s Holy Ghost Services
At the June Service, using passages from the Book of John, he pointed out that Jesus was there during the creation and is therefore All-Knowing.
The Bible said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”
So, Pastor Adeboye said as the Origin himself, Jesus knows the origin of all our challenges, the mountains we encounter in life.
Elaborating, he said, the origin is very important because if anything goes wrong at that level, it affects every other thing; and as the Origin, Jesus is the potter, while we are the clay.
* In a demonstration of His origin, Jesus used mud to create eyes for the man who was born without eyes.
* And, despite His absence from the scene, He knew when Lazarus fell ill and died; and was able to raise him from the dead in His own time.
*Jesus knows the origin of our sorrows and storms; and is able to deal with them.
*He knows the blueprint of your life and destiny so with Him, nothing can go wrong.
* Whatever He says you will become, you will.
*So, when anything goes wrong with your life, check to ensure that, unlike Jonah, it is not because of disobedience.
With the Origin, everything about your life is settled – – a reason we should be His children by surrendering to Him completely.
July Holy Ghost Service
Like in June , the July service was held at the Redemption Camp of the church, off the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and broadcast at viewing centres in about 198 countries.
At the heavily attended service, which featured the regular attractions of praise and worship led by the church’s Mass Choir of over 2,000 members; prayers; and amazing testimonies, the General Overseer led the congregation in search of “the Complete Person.”
He said it is common to identify a complete person as a successful one, even as the attributes of success differ from society to society.
In many societies around the world, a complete person is the wealthy or rich. And they are quick to anchor this view with Biblical quotations like, “money answereth all things,” or “ The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is a slave of the lender.”
But the revered Pastor asked how useful wealth without good health is. Naaman, as wealthy and powerful as he was, wouldn’t have said ‘money answereth all things’ because he suffered from incurable leprosy.
Those who say the Complete Person is the wealthy and healthy are reminded of the Shunammite woman, who had it all but was incomplete until God intervened in her case. “She has no son, and her husband is old.”
He continued: ”Some people will go for wisdom because the Bible says wisdom is the principal thing. But wisdom is not enough to make you complete. Solomon was the wisest man, yet he wasn’t complete. He said before he died that, “in much wisdom is much grief.”
He concluded the search for a Complete Person with Jesus Christ, who provides all the attributes of completeness.
*The complete person is the one who is wealthy, healthy, wise and many more – all in Jesus.
*The complete person is wealthy, healthy, wise, free from sorrow, joyful and victorious.
*He is always completely at peace, despite the circumstances around him and unafraid of anything or anybody.
*Every demon, including the boss, the devil, is under the feet of Jesus, and therefore beneath the Complete Person, who has made Jesus his Lord.
* The moment you become born again by surrendering to Jesus, you become higher than the forces of darkness.
At both services, hundreds of people rushed to the altar during the call for salvation.
