If God blessed us with Billions, we shall give it to Church with clear heads and hearts -Wale Aribatise

Let me state straight away that I am a Pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. I came to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, like countless millions, through the ministration of Pastor Adejare Adeboye at Oduduwa Hall, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife in September 1991.

Before this day I have never met Pastor Adeboye but I had adopted him as my Church; I buy the Guardian every Sunday and read his Sunday School column and once I read it , my Church service for the day was complete . Even though something was telling me this man knows GOD,  I usually  move on to other things and places like Beer Joints, football field after finishing reading the Guardian On Sunday. This I did for several years and then I got a Naval Scholarship to sturdy Law at Ife in 1989.

I carried on with my life of self righteousness and free thinking and contemplation  whether God exists or  not. I was a seeker for the TRUTH, read everything I could lay my hand on about Rosicrucian, Grail Message, Buddhism, Yoga, Traditional Religion, Philosophies and Philosophers and other mysticism that come my way- I was single and was living alone but not lonely as books and music were my companion.

And the Naval Scholarship came and the usual Aluta at Ife sent us home in September 1991 and after 2 weeks at home I proceeded to Ife to study privately as we were about writing examination before we were sent home indefinitely due to aluta and like I used to joke, “old man must not fail”. I got to Ife that day and the Campus was like a ghost town. The military had a Block allotted to us  in Angola Hall where I was and I was the only soul in the whole of Angola plus the Porter that day. I was relaxing when someone knocked at my door and just thrusted a Pamphlet at me without uttering a word and went away. I read it and discovered that Pastor E.A Adeboye, my Sunday Guardian Pastor and Church would be ministering at Oduduwa Hall.

I went expecting to see a huge man with flowing Agbada. I was struck and smitten by his humility when I entered Oduduwa hall and I saw a man who dressed like me!  He was not in agbada, not in suit but just shirt and trousers, no tie and did not even tuck-in his shirt like me!  And he began to share from the Gospel of  John chapter 4 about the woman by the Well of Samaria and the truth that some of us think we love others when we don’t even love ourselves. I said to myself, those who lived when Jesus Christ was alive could not have heard anything better than what I was hearing.  So, when he made the Altar call, 2 of us, the other man was older, came out and gave our lives to Christ that night. Let me say this,  that I would have surrendered my life that day if all the human beings in the world were at Ife that day. But he came to minister to the saints and till date, I am still of the opinion that an Angel must have thrown that pamphlet at me  and went away  .

I have to give this background information to let all know that God Almighty has one anointed man above others in this generation in Pastor E. A Adeboye, he is one of the leading candle of the Lord in this age. It took the anointing on Pastor Adeboye for me to accept Jesus as the God I was searching for even when Jesus Christ Himself had appeared to me several times. Instead of such divine visitations to humble me, it became a source of pride and damnation to whosoever  will preach to me and could not answer my question positively if Jesus had appeared to them. And because I was not an easy person, I cannot count family members and friends and old school mates and colleagues at the Bar and the military that joined the Redeemed Christian Church of God. We are thinking and discerning human beings to be found in the zenith of all the professions.   We  know Jesus and we know Pastor Adeboye very well, he is holy, humble, disciplined and above all, he  fears God.

He is wise, committed, self sacrificing and does not manipulate anyone or anything. He is a true ambassador of His Master in this world.  He has structured  and continues to, by the help of God, structure the Redeemed Christian Church of God in such a way that the kingdom of God can only expand and expand under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his leadership. Hebrews 1: 9 assured us that if we love righteousness above our fellows and hate iniquity, God will anoint us above our fellows. How many Generals Overseer pray from 12 midnight to 5.00am almost everyday all year round? How many men of God at the highest level subject themselves to the Governing Councils and Board of Trustees before major decisions are taken? How many Generals Overseer will encourage members and ministers to feel free to write to him as touching anything or anybody in the Mission and would reply personally if there is a forwarding address?

What a lot of people don’t know is that the principle of giving transcends Pentecostalism . We have Partners in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the Orthodox Churches do Harvests and send out Envelopes for donations to carry on the work of the Ministry, it is all  Biblical and any man of God with integrity would have financiers for the work of God. As a younger Pastor in Charge of a Parish, where we were using as a place of worship became too small and so, found a place  that was a jungle in FESTAC, we cleared the bush and needed to build. You cannot build without money. I told the congregation to contribute and they did. One of the members that had no money dropped a Gold necklace in the offering basket- that touched me and I prayed specially for the anonymous giver. I gave the necklace to a woman, a new convert whose fingers were full of rings, she sold it and brought back over $100.

My Area Pastor felt I was overdue to become a Full Pastor after 8 years as an Assistant Pastor and insisted I proceed to the Redeemed Bible College, I did and one of the fellow Students was a big man who recruits for organisations. I told him I had many unemployed University graduates and he said they should see him. They went to see him with their CVs.Contemporaneously, my Choir leader was promoted to become the Area Choir Leader and I needed to choose another person and was praying to God for direction. While sleeping, I suddenly heard God clearly: “Dayo, Dipo but Damilola I love” -these three are siblings and my members, Dayo was  a Sunday School teacher while the rest 2 were in the Choir. I woke up and believed God had answered my prayer. After Workers Meeting  the following  Sunday, I called Sister Damilola that she will be the next Choir Leader, she smiled and gave excuse that she was yet to do her NYSC and so cannot assume the position. I told her she knew me so well that there was no way, I, as her Pastor would have picked her as my Choir Leader in the midst of so many worthy brethren if not that I heard God mentioning her name and that He said He loved her!  Was she not the one that wore trouser to  the Choir practice not long before then  and was suspended by me for her infractions? She smiled again and I let her off.

Every first Sunday of the month was set aside for Testimonies and Thanksgiving in those days, nowadays, every Sunday is for Testimonies. Sister Damilola stepped forward on that day of Testimonies and Thanksgiving and told the congregation that she was given work by the CEO I directed them to at Ikeja and that she was being treated like  a queen, that she was the one who sowed the Gold Necklace which she inherited from her late mother! I said “I see” that was why God said He loved her while I was rebuking her for her dressing. To show His love for her, God ensured she was posted to Osun State for her national youth service. From the Orientation Camp, she was posted to the Governor’s Office, at the Governor’s Office, she was attached to the wife of the Governor, there she was and a man came and said God told him to marry her and the day of her wedding in FESTAC was the day of siren and glamour for a lady without mother and an old pensioner father. She is blessed with children and prospering in her business. Do you imagine that she needs any Pastor to cajole her to give to God? There are many of her type in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. If God blessed us with Billions, we shall give it with clear heads and hearts.

God loves those who give cheerfully and sacrificially  towards His work, touch not His anointed. He knows those who are His and  will defend them to the utter most. Pastor Adeboye is an holiness preacher and has never encouraged anyone to engage in graft. Heaven is our number one priority.

Scriptures that are relevant to giving in the times of Moses Exodus 25, 35, 36; David Chronicles 29:1-20; Hezekiah 2 Chronicles 31;  Nehemiah 1 and 2; Jesus Luke 8:1-3 and Paul 2Corinthians 8 and 9.

Wale Aribatise

Pastor- In- Charge of Zone,

Lagos Province X1