APOSTLE JOSEPH AYODELE BABALOLA OF NIGERIA 2

THE DIVINE MINISTRY ENCOUNTER IN CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH

Apostle Babalola said the prayers he had prayed are enough to be raising up men and women to evangelize the nation until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. However, if the kingdom of darkness ever believes they were victorious over the ministry life of Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola of Christ Apostolic Church in Nigeria, then their foolishness and stupidity must have increased.

They were confident that Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola ministry will thwart horribly when the demonic astrologers behold his glorious star in sky radiating mightily even before he was born. This envious act prompted them to reprogram against his glorious ministry life and calling. They intended to frustrate and cause him to work contrary to the perfect will of God for his life.

1 Corinthians 2:8 "Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” The devil saw Jesus Christ preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, teaching the Word of God, healing the sick, casting out demons, and working miracles. Little did the devil know that those Acts of Jesus Christ were peanuts, they were not the main reason why He came.

The Acts of Jesus Christ staggered Satan’s mentality, and he said, “Before this Son of God takes over the world from me, let me kill Him.” And it was not until he killed the Lord Jesus Christ that he realized that He had to die to redeem the world; and this was the main reason why He came – to die for the world and shed His Blood for the salvation of mankind.

The devil thought that by greatly troubling Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola with his wife, then the man would be frustrated and not fulfill his ministry. But we can only be frustrated if we do not put the Word of God first in our lives, keep our focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and follow the Leading and Guidance of the Holy Spirit of the Living God.

And when the devil greatly troubled John Wesley and Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola by their wives, they loved Jesus Christ, trusted in the Almighty God, and put their heart, mind, and energy to the Service of Jehovah our Father. We are going to see many things about the life and ministry of Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola.

THE PRAYER EXPLOIT OF APOSTLE JOSEPH AYODELE BABALOLA

Apostle Babalola said the prayers he had prayed are enough to be raising up men and women to evangelize the nation until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. However, the intent of this post is not to glorify man. God alone deserves all the praise, glory, and honor.

Also, our Ultimate Model is the Lord Jesus Christ; and the Bible is our standard. But, there are many good things that we can learn from the life and ministry of this man of God, who has long gone to glory in Heaven, as we follow God and His Holy Spirit in our individual ministries and areas of call.

Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola prayer ministry exploit was quite remarkable; for example, he could pray for three days nonstop. After tarrying before the Lord in prayers, Apostle Babalola was once commanded by God to cut three leaves from a tree and put them on a rock before him. God asked him to pray until the sweat from his body moved the leaves forward, and he carried out the task.

According to a report, “…that was how he continued praying until he had prayed for seventy-two hours. He started praying around 9:00 p.m. on Sunday and by the time he said a closing “In Jesus’ Name I pray”, it was Wednesday evening. The surprising thing is that, by the time the apostle finished praying, he apologized for prolonging the evening prayer a little longer and then told them to go home and sleep.

They all laughed at him and told him, ‘Sir, you have prayed for three days. We left you most of the time and have been going about our normal duties. Today is not Sunday but Wednesday. You have been standing on your feet praying for three days.’”

He could spend time on the mountain for many days with absolute fasting of neither water nor food (In fact, there was a time when he did 51 days marathon absolute fasting of no food or drink). In effect, it seems that Apostle Joseph Babalola was never hungry while fasting, having been fed supernaturally by the angel who accompanied Jesus Christ to visit him at the start of his ministry, on the seventh day of his initial God-commanded seven days’ fasting of no food no water. He had special grace for long dry fasting.

The man of God could also read and devour the Bible with his time and energy. The Book of Psalm pleased him a lot: he cherished it. But the devil did not know that the apostle’s main call, ministry, authority, and power that he carried was not just to preach, teach, and work healing and miracles; but his greatest call was to pray out the Will, Plan, and Mind of God for the Work of God in Nigeria and the world.

And stupidly, the devil himself helped God and the man of God by driving him away from the comfort zone of a loving, caring, and obedient wife. This started many hidden generators inside the man of God, which made him spend the rest of his life in total consecration, separation, and service to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.

Somebody may say, “But he died at the age of 55 years” And I say, “Our Lord Jesus Christ died at the Age of about 33 years.” So, which of them lived longer? The purpose and fact are that he fulfilled his ministry. And in his own words: “The prayers I have prayed are enough to be raising up men and women to evangelize the nation until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.”

Also, he spoke of his death ahead of time, knew when he was about to die, and asked his ministers (with him) to pray to God to forgive him however he might have sinned/misbehaved in the course of his ministry; and later he gave up the ghost and was ushered in to the Kingdom of Heaven.

He prayed with two of his ministers, said the grace and uttered these words: “I THANK GOD BECAUSE THE WAY IS NOW OPEN.”

Later before he died, the apostle cried in a thunderous voice, “In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” and breathed heavily three times. When his attendant shouted, as people opened the door, a great wind blew violently on them all.

The room and everything in it vibrated visibly but no wall cracked. As men of God prayed for him, God revealed to one of them, in a vision, the state of Apostle Babalola in glory. He saw a welcome service being conducted for Apostle Babalola by the host of Heaven with very wonderful Heavenly choristers.

After his death, Apostle Babalola’s body lied in state for seven days before the final burial. And though the corpse was not embalmed, it remained perfect, without undergoing decay throughout the period of lying in state. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ.

While persecutions and rejection can make some people stronger and more spiritual and effective, comfort and acceptance can make some others less effective, unfruitful, and carnal. There are different kinds and levels of witchcraft operations against the ministers of the Gospel. Speaking of the seed which fell into good ground, the Bible says, “…which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matt. 13:23).

While some ministers receive their own witchcraft attack in the form of persecutions, confrontations, and tribulations, many others receive their own in the form of comfort, goodness, prosperity, and being well-spoken of. The devil would be happy to make you the president of your country if he knows that God ordained you to be an international evangelist because he would have gained thereby.

It is our responsibility to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to know the kind and area of attack that the kingdom of darkness has programmed against us. Know about this kind of subtle attack: If the devil sees that he would not stop you from obeying the Call of God on your life, and also notices that persecution can make you stronger, wiser, and bolder, he can create an atmosphere of comfort zone around you, so that you do not meet up with the full potential of your call.

He will be satisfied to have you produce twenty-fold fruit in comfort if he knows that persecution can make you bear sixty-fold or eighty-fold fruit. And this kind of witchcraft attack can come from wives, husbands, friends, colleagues, and associates. Do you know that a caring, obedient, and loving wife (with or without her own knowledge) can be used by the devil to make you get relaxed and never reach your full potential in God’s Service?

She would not talk back at you; she would obey you always, and she would give you no headache. Also, the friend which the devil uses against you in the area of subtle comfort-attack will follow you to church. He/she may even be your prayer partner. Yes, she will encourage you and pray with you when you have harsh experiences. But she (if she is a conscious agent of darkness) will know where and how to manipulate you in order to keep you at a low-level of bearing good fruit in your area of calling.

And if he/she is not a conscious wizard/witch (because some people are mysteriously manipulated and used as blind witches), the devil knows the area that he/she will be used to weaken, reduce, corrupt, and pollute you.

Furthermore, a colleague or an associate (with or without his/her conscious knowledge) can be programmed against you, to give you prosperity, success, and breakthrough in order to keep your full focus and dedication away from your spiritual duties, commitment, and consecration. And by this, even while serving God, you will never reach your full potential in your area of calling.

Whereas prosperity, success, and breakthrough are good things, some Christians and ministers actually allowed their wellbeing to destroy them. Have you never observed that many Believers were more committed to the Things of God when they were not rich and wealthy? This is one reason why some ‘great’ and advanced nations, like America and Britain, have forgotten and despised God and His Word in their prosperity and advancement.

THE MINISTRY EXPLOIT OF APOSTLE JOSEPH AYODELE BABALOLA

According to Kayode Darda, “Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola’s call to the ministry was miraculous, and his mission was full of the supernatural. He was endued with power from on High in order to manifest the greatness of God’s Power over every contending force he faced in his thirty years of active service. God picked and anointed Joseph Ayo Babalola."

Apostle Babalola said the prayers he had prayed are enough to be raising up men and women to evangelize the nation until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. God selected him as a workman selects his tool, chosen to accomplish a Divine work. He had the Stamp of Deity upon his ministry. Signs and wonders accompanied his ministrations.

The blinds were made to see, the dumb spoke, the cripple walked, the demon-possessed and lunatics were instantaneously delivered, the lepers were made whole, the dead were raised back to life, women who carried four to five years of protracted pregnancies were delivered of their burdens.

He entered forbidden forests, silenced demons that demanded worship, emptied hospitals and healing homes by the Healing Power of the Lord Jesus from sicknesses and diseases such as epilepsy, rheumatism, ulcer, pile, dropsy, impotency, goiter, elephantiasis, hernia, cancer and innumerable ‘incurable’ and ‘terminal’ diseases.

His demonstrations of the Power of God in power encounters over evil forces were overwhelming. Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola had a series of face to face encounter with the powers of darkness. He was so clothed with the Power of the Holy Ghost that anywhere he found evil powers, agents of darkness, witches and wizards, powerful idols, and terrible demonic charms, he stood up to demonstrate the supremacy of the Power of God over them. In many power encounters with witch doctors and other demonic priests, God always glorified Himself through His Servant, Apostle Babalola.

He led hundreds of thousands of people to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. The Word of God preached by His Servant, Apostle Babalola, was backed up with God’s Authority. The hearers, at the revival meetings, surrendered their charms and idols. Others ransacked their homes and farms and brought to the revival grounds those things the Lord forbids. There were no dubious assets of certain modern evangelists with their charming, trained voices, glamorous clothes, impressive advertising, and entertaining music.

The only resource of Apostle Babalola was the Power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God worked so mightily, that virtually, the entire… became baptized in a holy flame of supernatural influence. His revival grounds were charged with God’s Presence.

A lot of wicked people who went to test the Power of God in Apostle Babalola’s crusades were confounded by the Presence of God; sometimes they fell down as they were arrested by the Spirit of God, confessed their devilish assignments, and surrendered their charms for burning at the crusade grounds.

According to a close associate and some of his disciples: ‘Apostle Babalola used to pray on his knees for a complete day nonstop; prayers for God’s Goodness for all the people around him and for the salvation of the world.’ ‘He could thank God for what some people might see a little and continue in thanksgiving for three hours.’ ‘He used to engage us in three hours of nonstop prayers for particular requests, and such was truly achieved.’

'Papa used to divide us into seven groups to pray at seven intervals to achieve victory against any satanic contention.’ Apostle Babalola said the prayers he had prayed are enough to be raising up men and women to evangelize the nation until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Many Servants of God used to dread his evening family devotion prayer: they knew he could pray for three hours nonstop and thereby tie them down in prayer for many hours.

Oba Akinyele, the Olubadan of Ibadan told the story of how Babalola, as his guest, was given room to pass the night before the outbreak of the 1930 revival. He said he could not sleep that night as it appeared there were voices of thousands of thunders or mighty waves of the ocean in the room where Babalola prayed all night, even though no one outside his house could hear it. He said from that moment he knew that this young man (Babalola) was going to do something which would shake the whole world.

Apostle Babalola narrated his experience while lying down and praying on the mountain at Odo-Owa one fateful night. He noticed an animal crawling over his legs for over two minutes like drawing long rope. He suspected it could be a snake, but the Holy Spirit instructed him not to open his eyes, and he obeyed until the snake completely crawled over his legs. The Lord told Apostle Babalola that the snake was not ordinary; it was an evil spirit trying to tempt him, but God told him that the snake had dried up.

The spot where Apostle Babalola knelt and prayed during his battle with Satan is marked by his shadow till today. When Apostle Babalola was alive, he prayed ceaselessly on the mountains for Nigeria and the entire world. Apostle Babalola travailed for long hours in intercessory supplication with fasting. He habitually poured out his soul to God alone on the prayer mountain.

It is on record that he fasted for forty days and nights without eating food and drinking water…. This fasting, according to him, took place after the Lord appeared to him during his preparation for his public ministry. On many occasions, he embarked on forty days’ fasting, apart from the forty days’ Lenten fasting he almost institutionalized.

He undertook other series of fasting, ranging from seven days, fourteen days, and twenty-one days respectively. Wednesdays and Fridays were his regular fasting days for spiritual renewal. He said he was not hungry or thirsty when he embarked on that forty days’ marathon dry fast, because Jesus stood by him throughout the days and the nights.

Great spiritual power was released upon him during that period, as that function was essential to lay a solid foundation for the Gospel and the work ahead of him. Apostle Babalola said the reservoir of prayer he had prayed was enough to be raising up men and women to evangelize the nation till the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Secrets Of His Power Included:

Divine encounter; prayerfulness.

The Seal of the Holy Ghost.

Obedience and devotion to his call.

The crucified life.

Faith in God.

Perseverance.

Scriptural preacher.

Servanthood.

Sanctified vessel.

The love mark.

Fasted life.

Spirit-endorsed.

He walked with God.

He knew God.

Endowment with God’s Manifold Grace.

Clothed with the garment of praise.

Zealousness.

Meekness and humility; and

The Stamp of Deity

“HE OUTSERVED, OUTLOVED, OUTFASTED, AND OUTPRAYED US ALL. He can be compared to Saint Dominic, for his apostolic zeal. He can be compared to Saint Francis of Assisi, for his Love of Christ and for his detachment from the world.

He can be compared to Martin Luther, for standing out for God in his generation. Apostle Ayo can be compared to John Wesley, whose stated desire was “to be on full stretch for God.” He can be compared to Iranaeus for upholding the canon of Truth.

He can be compared to Smith Wigglesworth for his boldness and faith in the Living God. He was God’s Servant, who was raised to mightily declare the Greatness of God in this dispensation of grace.

The 1930 revival was not confined by region lines, economic class systems, educational distinctions, social status, denominational preferences, or national boundaries.

The Revival attracted peoples and nations. …it was God at work in the greatest revival waves in the history of Christianity in the world, that touched and transformed millions of lives, peoples, and communities.”

THE DIVINE MINISTRY REVIVAL OF APOSTLE JOSEPH AYODELE BABALOLA

According to a paper presented to an international religious conference on the origins of Christ Apostolic Church, the first Pentecostal churches in Nigeria and Ghana jointly organized by The Centre for World Christianity (CWC) of The New York Theological Seminary (NYTS), Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji Arakeji, Osun State, Nigeria, and The Institute for Diasporan and African Culture (TIDAC), held at Joseph Ayo Babalola University, 6th-8th August, 2012.

The legacies of Apostle Ayodele Babalola include:

(1) Firstly, by accepting the call and offering himself as a vessel in God’s Hands, he released vital spiritual forces into the church and society of his days. The Great Revival of which he was the principal instrument leaped denominational boundaries and frontiers and gave new impetus to the Christian religion.

Several mission records in the archives affirm that Babalola was a benefactor of even the Mission churches and by his style of prophetic revivalism impacted the churches and brought a new spirit in the Church. Both the Anglican, Methodist and even Baptist churches awakened anew to evangelism as a challenge in the wake of Babalola’s revival.

This singular action of arousing the church from the stupor of dead formalism to practical evangelism of the heathen is one of his greatest legacies and shows the Aladura as following in the footsteps of Early Methodism.

(2) By rejecting the Western interpretation of Christianity, he, in alliance with others, gave birth to a more practical, more result-oriented Christianity that is more culture-friendly and satisfying; yet without compromising any of the ethical bearings or spiritual principles of historic Christianity.

By his prescription of Divine healing and reliance on God alone for problems without any human means, he drew on the finest sources of apostolic Christianity, sources as old as Christianity itself, thereby ensuring the enthronement of true Christianity.

(3) By his consecration and total submission to God, he released spiritual power to the church and the world thereby inaugurating a new era in the realm of evangelism. In effect, Christian witness moves from the traditional literary-catechumen activities to power-evangelism, power-healing, and spiritual warfare.

(4) By instituting sanitary laws and hygiene standards for masses of people, by consecrating and sanctifying the sources and springs of water for whole towns and poor African communities against pollutions and other health hazards, by establishing many schools for the education of poor children.

By personally taking up the responsibilities of widows, poor, fatherless and setting up training institution for many, by teaching farmers to give to God their first fruits in order to ensure regular rainfall and bountiful harvests in accordance with Mosaic Covenant, by teaching villagers to build goodly and durable houses with molded blocks and burnt bricks instead of mud.

By encouraging villagers to pay their taxes regularly and promptly thereby inducing better social relations between the government and the governed, Babalola established himself, both then and for all time, as not only a revivalist but also a social reformer and crusader, public benefactor, and intellectual, patriotic, and Christian revolutionary.

(5) By introducing the use of indigenous language, idioms and songs, by employing other harmless African styles such as drumming, clapping, singing and dancing, by using native dress in his ministration as against costly vestments and robes, he took Christianity from the realm of the classical Western-trained professionals to the realm of the generality and the layman.

The Christianity introduced by the western missionaries and practiced in Nigeria before the Revival was incomplete religion. It failed to emphasize enough spirituality in a spiritually-alive culture. It seems to be something which begins and ends in church buildings, made up of hymns, read or recited prayers, lessons…. It does not seem to be something that is efficacious for them in every area of their lives and under all circumstances.

There were certain emotional depths in Nigerians which the prefabricated, imported liturgies did not reach; there were spiritual undernourishment and spiritual hunger, because the hungry sheep of God looked up to the Church for food, and were being fed, to a great extent, on kinds of stuff which were alien to their constitution.

But the Great Revival of Babalola and other prophet movements before it freed Nigerians from this aberration. For once it occurred to many Nigerians that Christianity was not really a white man’s religion and that you can be Africans and Christians at the same time; to call the Name of God in an atmosphere of spontaneous joy and cheerfulness, and to pray as Africans naturally would pray.

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