THE BIBLE GAVE ME ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS IN THE QURAN
By Rev. Goke Onasanya
My father had four wives and he still went out with women. It struck me
even as a child, that he was not living right. I wasn't happy about
it. He was a drunkard, though the son of an alhaji. He
gambled. He wasn't good example to us.
My father drank stout mixed with palm wine or burukutu (millet corn brew). It had a negative impact on me. I started drinking at the age of three. From the age of four I could finish half a jug of a mixture of Guinness stout and burukutu. This earned me the nickname "ogaloparie." Because my father smoked Indian hemp. He sent me to buy if for him. I would pick the stub and smoke. This was between age three and five.
Goke Onasanya was drinking alcohol and smoking hemp by age 3. He read the Quran through as a young adult and became a fighter for the cause of Islam, even ready to kill for it. However, the Qurran had stirred up some questions in him: why is Jesus so exalted in the 3rd Sura (Chapter)? Why is Jesus called the Word of God in the Quran? How can man overcome sin and avoid going to hell? Quran and clerics failed to answer him satisfactorily, but the Bible resolved the riddle. A hater of Christ became lover of Christ. This is his full account.
I am John Goke Onasanya. I was not John s Muslim and my parents named me Abdul Ganiyu. I was born into the Adesoye Onasanya family in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. It was a family of chronic (serious) Muslim; it was the family of the balogun musulumi. (the warlord of muslim). During Ileya (Idel fitri when muslims slaughter ram) the family goes to Ojude Oba (the King's frontage) on horse back. On both side, of my lineage, we were muslims. I started going to Arabic school around five. They taught us the Arabic alphabet Alifu bah tah sah and son on.
Something happened along the line. The alfa (teacher/priest) used to beat us mercilessly. At a point I felt highly discouraged. He beat us so badly that day that I said, I am not going again. I had been going for about a year. My siblings, kept going, but I refused to continue. I dropped out. At seven, I started primary school. But to our house, it was compulsory for us to go to the mosque. You must pray. I discovered that in spite of this religious fervor my parents were not living right. My father had four wives and he still went out with women. It struck me even as a child, that he was not living right. I wasn't happy about it.
My mother sold cooked food. She was a very good cook. My father made use of me to steal my mother's money for his own use. All these vices were in me because of the environment in which I grew up. My parents marriage broke in 1966 and I had to go and live with my maternal grandfather. He was a herbalist. At the same time he was a Muslims, he was baba adinni (Islamic Chieftain). He was very committed to Islam.
I lived with him from 1966 to 1970, I was in the primary school. He insisted that we must go to the mosque: we must pray. His life was not frees from sins also, we were told by the aljas that anybody that sins will go to bia jannamah (Yoruba Muslim term for hell). What I saw in my father's house and what I saw in my grand parents' house I could not reconcile. I kept going on (in islam) since it was the religion of my parents.
Schooling Forbidden by Diviner: After primary school a diviner was consulted to find out my destiny what I would do in life. The verdict was that I must not go to secondary school. A warning was attached to it. I would either go blind or run mad if I did. I was very brilliant, but I could not go to school. I was told to go and get apprenticed to a mechanic or enroll to train as a transistor radio repairer. As God would have it, my cousin disagreed. "This boy must go to school," he promised to share the payment of the school fees with my mother. My mother couldn't take it, because we were five. She couldn't continue, but my cousin insisted and I was trained to complete secondary school.
I attended Holy Trinity Grammar School in Ibadan. After secondary school. I read Political Science and I economics at Ogun State College of Education, now Tai Solarin University of Education. Along the line I did some professional courses and was about to register for a Master's programme through correspondence study when I stopped. I had to stop. The call of God came that I should go into ministry that was in 1994.
Firebrand Muslim: I did my national youth service at Oluyole Estate Grammar School in 1992. I became notorious as a muslim there. While in college I read through the Quran. While reading. I discovered some things that shocked me; with the knowledge of the Quran I felt that I was a more vibrant muslim. One of the things I discovered was that when somebody. Is fighting for God. Trying to spread religion (the religion of islam) if you kill it is okay. I was very happy about it.
"This is the religion of my father, so I can go ahead and propagate it, o reasoned within me. While I was teaching of Oluyole Estate Grammar School. I had a muslim colleague Mr. Tajudeen Alatishe (I am told he's dead now). There was another,, a woman, the wife of a major general. I won't mention her name.
We insisted that our muslim brethren must not go to the general assembly with Christian students; we didn't want to sing Christian songs. We wanted them to have an Islamic assembly. We divided the school into two. The woman among us had a master's degree, but she insisted that she must be assigned to teach JSS I (the first class in junior secondary). She didn't want to do any serious job. The woman could have been a principal but she did not want it so.
Our major target was the principal, she was an S.U. (for Scripture Union a term used to describe serious Christian). I can't remember her name; but she was an S.U. we termed up with major general's wife torment the principal. I was aggressive at that point. After the yuouth service. I was employed by the Ogun State Teaching Service Commission and posted to Sagamu. I became a really committed muslim. Because I had gone to school and knew the Quran. I was an asset to the muslim there. Most of the people who pracise Islant don't know what is in the Qurarn. In that school. I became the teacher in charge of the Muslim Students' Society. I became the bab adinni of the school. I was always preaching with the Quran at the assembly every Friday.
The people of the Central Mosque in Sagamu were very happy. They made me a patron of Sheriff Guards (a voluntary organization of muslim). It threw me into euphoria. My sister, my immediate elder sister, was very happy, she was an alhaja, a very successful business woman in Lagos - one of the distributors of Pirelli Iyres in those days. Everyone was happy with me in the family.
"This one is going to be the imam (priest) of our house." They said I kept reading through the Ouran. You know when you read something for the first time you level of understanding, when you read again, you know more. So it with my reading of the Quran.
A Revelation in the Quran: one day I was reading the Quran when I got to a particular place. Quran chapter three. That was around 1983.84, it was section 5. I read a place which says, "remember what the angel said to Mary that God giveth thee a gift of a word from him. Ha! How can God, and the name of the word would be Jesus son of Mary and the word is Messiah. Awon anfa yen it tan wa je (those Islamic clerics have deceived us) I thought. "If that is the case, the word of a man is himself. I kept wondering "Haha!" I performed ablution and put up a naflat, that is, I wanted a clear revelation.
What happened to me surprised me. When I was in the secondary school, we learnt a lot of subjects one of it was Bible know ledge. I had a Revised Standard Version (RSV). That thing just told me. I believe now that He was the Holy Ghost "Go to John Chapter one verse one," that thing told me. I opened to John Chapter verse one after performing ablation! This one is a serious matter!
I read…in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and word was God." "Shikena, (that's all)." I said "This one is a serious matter!" The passage continued"…and God giveth that word to Mary." "If I consider this verse, Jesus is not the Son of God as Christian say: He is God," I thought. "Because the word of a man cannot be divorced from the man. If your word will identify you, then Jesus is a manifestation of who God is."
Tolerance for Christians: From that point. I began to get a little bit tolerant with Christians. Prior to that I was a very aggressive Islamic evangelist. I didn't want to hear people speaking that is Jesus the Son of God. In Sagamu Ishany into where I was living, there was a very notorious Alhaji He said nobody should preach Jesus in front of his house. If you preached, he would attack you. He had juju (charms) but if you could not be attacked by charms, he had things. There was a Christian lady around then. I remember her name, she was sister Ranti. She was a nurse, a member of Gospel Faith Mission, Sagamu. She preached to the Alhaji. The man tried charms on her, I think it didn't work.
"I know what I will do," the man said." I have one son a ya, e loo ba mi pe Onasanya wa (Quickly, tell Onasanya to come here). In those days I must not hear anyone say that Jesus is the Son of God, I would slap him. I was as notorious as that. The sister said that Jesus is the son of God. "Would you shut up there saying Jesus is the Son of God!" I warned her. "God has no child. Are so daft as to think that God will have a wife and then have a son? God is not like that! God will have a wife and then have a son? God is not like that! God is far, far, far from us. He can not sleep with a woman, for less have a child!"
Somehow, I don't know what happened. I was not able to fight with this sister, I was just… "Don't mind her, she a fanatic, let her go. "I was just persuading the Alhaji! I began to get soft. I began to listen to those who preach about Jesus I started becoming softer, simply because of that revelation. Sometimes they said if you want to give your life to Jesus…sometimes I would do it, but I would still go to the mosque. I still had my tesuba (Yoruba for muslim prayer bead) it was very long it was ninety-nine (99).
Trapped in Sin: a muslim believes that when he asks for forgiveness of sin, he is forgiven, but that does not stop him from going ahead to sin again. Continuing to commit sin is okay. I sat down and began to look at it if Quran says that anyone committing sin will go to hell, and I am the baba adinni of this school these girls, some of them came to me and I slept with them it means I will go to hell. I went to meet the alfas and imams for help. "Please, can't we do something about this religion? Can't we take sin from us so that we won't be committing sins, so we will go to heaven?" I asked them.
"We're all trying, nobody can do away with sin," they told me. "Then we have a serious problem if this Quran says if we sin we'll go to hell and we can not be free from sin, then there is a problem with the Quran! There is a problem we must find out!" But one day it was December 1995. Usually I went to my cousin's in Ibadan in December for Christmas, but this particular time, something told me don't go to Ibadan; there is a place I want to take you; when you get there whatever they as you to do, do it." I was hearing that in my mind.
Invitation to a Crusade: A woman called Mama Sunday lived close to where I lived at Sondo. Shagamu. She attended Deeper Life. She came to me with an invitation to a crusade. "Will you be able to come?" she asked me. "I don't know?" I said. "I am supposed to go to Ibadan, but now I am here. I don't know whether I will be able to go." I took the invitation from her. And something spoke to me" that invitation you must honour it; you will go to that crusade."
"Me - go to a crusade?" I said. "What am I looking for? I have a car. I am a teacher. I am receiving my salary, I am okay. If I need money I can go to my sister in Lagos and she will give me, I don't have any problem." "You should go," I was told again. "You know the place I told you before that I wanted to take you to, whatever they ask you to do, do it? That's the place. "Hmmm, hummm, okey, it's alright," I agreed. "The first day I didn't go. And the woman came to me. "You didn't come," she said. "You know I didn't promise I would come," I answered. "If you can come o, please, come," she said. "Okay" I said. "I will come today." "You will come?" She said to confirm what I said.
Touched by Preaching: I refused to go with her, preferring to go by myself. I went in my car. I was in the congregation, when the man started preaching, it was as if someone had told him story. He is Pastor S. K. Akinsanya; he's now a regional overseen in Deeper Life. He preached, he preached, he preached. At the end, he said. "If you are tired of committing sin and you know you don't want to go to hell, can I see your hand?" I raised my hand. "If you are really serious, can you come out now?" He said. I went out. And then they prayed the same you come out now?" He said. I went out. And then they prayed the sinner's prayer (praying to stop sinning to accept Jesus).
"Do you know what you have just done?" We were asked. "Why did you come out?" I want to give my life to Jesus, I said. "Which church were you going before?" the question continued . "I was a muslim," I answered. He took a special note of me. The following day, I saw the person assigned to follow me up (help me grow in Christ). These people were very serious. They came to follow me up and started taking me through conversion and after. They came everyday for 12 days. After the crusade, they invited me to the church. The pastor also was a converted muslim. He took a very special interest in me. He kept loading me with revelation and information. Excuse me sir, why is this one like this?" I asked questions. I told them that one reason I hadn't want to go to Christ before was that there were so many Christians who were not living right.
He explained to me that Christianity is an individual religion, and I should not be discouraged by the ungodly life of others. I asked him how they managed to get so many people to be at the crusade. He took me to prayer team. Those people can pray! Very well! When entered the place I felt God's power. When you enter into an air conditioned room, you feel it. That's the way I will explain it. The man told me that for anyone to be saved. God's hand is moved to do it.
They did a thorough follow up on me. They taught me a lot of things. That's how I started growing. They told me to read the Bible through and they gave me three months to do that. I read other books also. The pastor gave me a book on martyrs. He told me that I would go through persecution because of my decision to follow Jesus.
Sentenced to Death: Lo and behold, February 1996, my sister reacted. "What! You gave your life to Jesus? God forbid! You won't live to practice that religion!" She said, summoning me to Lagos. I told my Pastor, "my sister has sent for me and she knows I have given my life to Jesus Christ and she is going to cause trouble." When I got there, she was not happy with me. "E pele baba Jesus (Behold the father of Jesus).
I learnt you have given your life to Jesus. What was your problem? Have you ever come to me to ask for money and I didn't give you? The other time when you needed tyres for your car, didn't I give you tyres free of charge? What's your problem? Did you have any sickness on you?" "No," I said. "Why then did you go to church?" She asked. "I have given my life to Christ," I said. "I give you between now and tomorrow morning to come and tell me 'I have not given my life to Jesus Christ" she told me. It was as if I was carrying the whole city of Lagos on my head. I loved my sister so much. We were so close, she was my immediate elder sister. And I wanted to go to heaven. I was in a fix, so I couldn't sleep.
Around 1.00am, I fell asleep and I had a dream. I was in a storm. I was walking in a sandy place like a desert, I was walking in that desert. The wind was blowing me here and there. I was tired. There was no strength in me. I was just going lonely, tired on that journey. Suddenly, I felt somebody touch me from the back. Immediately that hand touché me, strength came. The storm stopped. When I turned to look, I saw a radiant face - I believe it's the face of Jesus; the body was transparent like glass. "Fear not," He said. "I will protect you to the end." After that statement I woke up. "Lord Jesus; You will uphold me!" I said, "So I should call the bluff of my sister."
I just went to sleep. I had peace throughout the night. "Gani (short for Abdu Ganiyu) bo si bi (come here)," my sister summoned me very early in the morning. "E karo ma (Good morning ma)." I greeted. "Ono taa jo so lana (back to the discussion we had yesterday)," she said. "E je n so nnkankan fun yin; mo iadla! (let me tell you something I dreamt?)," I said, telling her the dream. "Therefore, sister, if you don't want me, keep your money, keep any money you want to give me. I'm going with this Jesus o." "It means I won't have anything to do with you," her husband said. "Don't worry, Jesus will meet my needs," I said." I want to go with Jesus." I left their house. That was February 1986; I thought it was over, my sister hired Islamic clerics that it's either they removed Jesus from me and I'd be alive or…" I knew of all these efforts through my younger brother, he lived with me and traveled to spend holidays with them.
This brother also gave his life to Jesus and I was confronted over it. In my case, he could not stay under my roof and be saying Allahakuhuru (Allahu 'Aqbar the muslim saying for God in great). I was in it before, and I was on my way to hell. I won't allow him to practice it in my house," I told them. It was six months after that he told them that I had become a pastor.
My sister decided to stop wasting her money for clerics to change me through metaphysical means. "Eni taa ni kee yo Jesu Kuro ninu okan e, ko gbagbe Jesu (This person you are supposed to take Jesus out his mind) and now he his become a pastor."
Mad brother Healed, Mother became Christian: Somewhere along the line, one of my younger brothers ran mad. He was brought to my house. My brother was taken to hospital for treatment. But he was too violent and had to be discharged. He was taken to our house in Ijebu Ode. What could I do?
I had two intercessor, who praying with me. They were associate pastors and we were working together on church assignments. I invited them to pray with me, and agreed to pray for three days. My mother was in my house during the period. She clearly heard us. We prayed the first day and when my mother went to check on my brother in the morning, he found him healed, normal. "Jesu yii it e ma n tete dahun bayii? (so Jesus answers as quickly as this!)," she said. Omo to ya were, taa mo pe o ya were! (This child was mad; it was very obvious, we all knew it). I heard what you were saying. I heard all the prayer you said. That was how my mother became a Christ.
My sister was furious. "Gani ti so pe gbogbo won lohun maa ko wa Jesu (Gani has sworn to convert them to Christianity). My sister refused to accept Christ. "Emi ti mo to Meka, iro o o; ki n wa de Mekawia lon sosi ( I who had gone to Mecca - on pilgrimage to step into a church with my Mecca pilgrim head wear); iro o (Impossible!)" She died without accepting Christ and I wept for three days. "How did the Devil short change me?" I lamented, because she had died without Christ.
My father drank stout mixed with palm wine or burukutu (millet corn brew). It had a negative impact on me. I started drinking at the age of three. From the age of four I could finish half a jug of a mixture of Guinness stout and burukutu. This earned me the nickname "ogaloparie." Because my father smoked Indian hemp. He sent me to buy if for him. I would pick the stub and smoke. This was between age three and five.
Goke Onasanya was drinking alcohol and smoking hemp by age 3. He read the Quran through as a young adult and became a fighter for the cause of Islam, even ready to kill for it. However, the Qurran had stirred up some questions in him: why is Jesus so exalted in the 3rd Sura (Chapter)? Why is Jesus called the Word of God in the Quran? How can man overcome sin and avoid going to hell? Quran and clerics failed to answer him satisfactorily, but the Bible resolved the riddle. A hater of Christ became lover of Christ. This is his full account.
I am John Goke Onasanya. I was not John s Muslim and my parents named me Abdul Ganiyu. I was born into the Adesoye Onasanya family in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. It was a family of chronic (serious) Muslim; it was the family of the balogun musulumi. (the warlord of muslim). During Ileya (Idel fitri when muslims slaughter ram) the family goes to Ojude Oba (the King's frontage) on horse back. On both side, of my lineage, we were muslims. I started going to Arabic school around five. They taught us the Arabic alphabet Alifu bah tah sah and son on.
Something happened along the line. The alfa (teacher/priest) used to beat us mercilessly. At a point I felt highly discouraged. He beat us so badly that day that I said, I am not going again. I had been going for about a year. My siblings, kept going, but I refused to continue. I dropped out. At seven, I started primary school. But to our house, it was compulsory for us to go to the mosque. You must pray. I discovered that in spite of this religious fervor my parents were not living right. My father had four wives and he still went out with women. It struck me even as a child, that he was not living right. I wasn't happy about it.
My mother sold cooked food. She was a very good cook. My father made use of me to steal my mother's money for his own use. All these vices were in me because of the environment in which I grew up. My parents marriage broke in 1966 and I had to go and live with my maternal grandfather. He was a herbalist. At the same time he was a Muslims, he was baba adinni (Islamic Chieftain). He was very committed to Islam.
I lived with him from 1966 to 1970, I was in the primary school. He insisted that we must go to the mosque: we must pray. His life was not frees from sins also, we were told by the aljas that anybody that sins will go to bia jannamah (Yoruba Muslim term for hell). What I saw in my father's house and what I saw in my grand parents' house I could not reconcile. I kept going on (in islam) since it was the religion of my parents.
Schooling Forbidden by Diviner: After primary school a diviner was consulted to find out my destiny what I would do in life. The verdict was that I must not go to secondary school. A warning was attached to it. I would either go blind or run mad if I did. I was very brilliant, but I could not go to school. I was told to go and get apprenticed to a mechanic or enroll to train as a transistor radio repairer. As God would have it, my cousin disagreed. "This boy must go to school," he promised to share the payment of the school fees with my mother. My mother couldn't take it, because we were five. She couldn't continue, but my cousin insisted and I was trained to complete secondary school.
I attended Holy Trinity Grammar School in Ibadan. After secondary school. I read Political Science and I economics at Ogun State College of Education, now Tai Solarin University of Education. Along the line I did some professional courses and was about to register for a Master's programme through correspondence study when I stopped. I had to stop. The call of God came that I should go into ministry that was in 1994.
Firebrand Muslim: I did my national youth service at Oluyole Estate Grammar School in 1992. I became notorious as a muslim there. While in college I read through the Quran. While reading. I discovered some things that shocked me; with the knowledge of the Quran I felt that I was a more vibrant muslim. One of the things I discovered was that when somebody. Is fighting for God. Trying to spread religion (the religion of islam) if you kill it is okay. I was very happy about it.
"This is the religion of my father, so I can go ahead and propagate it, o reasoned within me. While I was teaching of Oluyole Estate Grammar School. I had a muslim colleague Mr. Tajudeen Alatishe (I am told he's dead now). There was another,, a woman, the wife of a major general. I won't mention her name.
We insisted that our muslim brethren must not go to the general assembly with Christian students; we didn't want to sing Christian songs. We wanted them to have an Islamic assembly. We divided the school into two. The woman among us had a master's degree, but she insisted that she must be assigned to teach JSS I (the first class in junior secondary). She didn't want to do any serious job. The woman could have been a principal but she did not want it so.
Our major target was the principal, she was an S.U. (for Scripture Union a term used to describe serious Christian). I can't remember her name; but she was an S.U. we termed up with major general's wife torment the principal. I was aggressive at that point. After the yuouth service. I was employed by the Ogun State Teaching Service Commission and posted to Sagamu. I became a really committed muslim. Because I had gone to school and knew the Quran. I was an asset to the muslim there. Most of the people who pracise Islant don't know what is in the Qurarn. In that school. I became the teacher in charge of the Muslim Students' Society. I became the bab adinni of the school. I was always preaching with the Quran at the assembly every Friday.
The people of the Central Mosque in Sagamu were very happy. They made me a patron of Sheriff Guards (a voluntary organization of muslim). It threw me into euphoria. My sister, my immediate elder sister, was very happy, she was an alhaja, a very successful business woman in Lagos - one of the distributors of Pirelli Iyres in those days. Everyone was happy with me in the family.
"This one is going to be the imam (priest) of our house." They said I kept reading through the Ouran. You know when you read something for the first time you level of understanding, when you read again, you know more. So it with my reading of the Quran.
A Revelation in the Quran: one day I was reading the Quran when I got to a particular place. Quran chapter three. That was around 1983.84, it was section 5. I read a place which says, "remember what the angel said to Mary that God giveth thee a gift of a word from him. Ha! How can God, and the name of the word would be Jesus son of Mary and the word is Messiah. Awon anfa yen it tan wa je (those Islamic clerics have deceived us) I thought. "If that is the case, the word of a man is himself. I kept wondering "Haha!" I performed ablution and put up a naflat, that is, I wanted a clear revelation.
What happened to me surprised me. When I was in the secondary school, we learnt a lot of subjects one of it was Bible know ledge. I had a Revised Standard Version (RSV). That thing just told me. I believe now that He was the Holy Ghost "Go to John Chapter one verse one," that thing told me. I opened to John Chapter verse one after performing ablation! This one is a serious matter!
I read…in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and word was God." "Shikena, (that's all)." I said "This one is a serious matter!" The passage continued"…and God giveth that word to Mary." "If I consider this verse, Jesus is not the Son of God as Christian say: He is God," I thought. "Because the word of a man cannot be divorced from the man. If your word will identify you, then Jesus is a manifestation of who God is."
Tolerance for Christians: From that point. I began to get a little bit tolerant with Christians. Prior to that I was a very aggressive Islamic evangelist. I didn't want to hear people speaking that is Jesus the Son of God. In Sagamu Ishany into where I was living, there was a very notorious Alhaji He said nobody should preach Jesus in front of his house. If you preached, he would attack you. He had juju (charms) but if you could not be attacked by charms, he had things. There was a Christian lady around then. I remember her name, she was sister Ranti. She was a nurse, a member of Gospel Faith Mission, Sagamu. She preached to the Alhaji. The man tried charms on her, I think it didn't work.
"I know what I will do," the man said." I have one son a ya, e loo ba mi pe Onasanya wa (Quickly, tell Onasanya to come here). In those days I must not hear anyone say that Jesus is the Son of God, I would slap him. I was as notorious as that. The sister said that Jesus is the son of God. "Would you shut up there saying Jesus is the Son of God!" I warned her. "God has no child. Are so daft as to think that God will have a wife and then have a son? God is not like that! God will have a wife and then have a son? God is not like that! God is far, far, far from us. He can not sleep with a woman, for less have a child!"
Somehow, I don't know what happened. I was not able to fight with this sister, I was just… "Don't mind her, she a fanatic, let her go. "I was just persuading the Alhaji! I began to get soft. I began to listen to those who preach about Jesus I started becoming softer, simply because of that revelation. Sometimes they said if you want to give your life to Jesus…sometimes I would do it, but I would still go to the mosque. I still had my tesuba (Yoruba for muslim prayer bead) it was very long it was ninety-nine (99).
Trapped in Sin: a muslim believes that when he asks for forgiveness of sin, he is forgiven, but that does not stop him from going ahead to sin again. Continuing to commit sin is okay. I sat down and began to look at it if Quran says that anyone committing sin will go to hell, and I am the baba adinni of this school these girls, some of them came to me and I slept with them it means I will go to hell. I went to meet the alfas and imams for help. "Please, can't we do something about this religion? Can't we take sin from us so that we won't be committing sins, so we will go to heaven?" I asked them.
"We're all trying, nobody can do away with sin," they told me. "Then we have a serious problem if this Quran says if we sin we'll go to hell and we can not be free from sin, then there is a problem with the Quran! There is a problem we must find out!" But one day it was December 1995. Usually I went to my cousin's in Ibadan in December for Christmas, but this particular time, something told me don't go to Ibadan; there is a place I want to take you; when you get there whatever they as you to do, do it." I was hearing that in my mind.
Invitation to a Crusade: A woman called Mama Sunday lived close to where I lived at Sondo. Shagamu. She attended Deeper Life. She came to me with an invitation to a crusade. "Will you be able to come?" she asked me. "I don't know?" I said. "I am supposed to go to Ibadan, but now I am here. I don't know whether I will be able to go." I took the invitation from her. And something spoke to me" that invitation you must honour it; you will go to that crusade."
"Me - go to a crusade?" I said. "What am I looking for? I have a car. I am a teacher. I am receiving my salary, I am okay. If I need money I can go to my sister in Lagos and she will give me, I don't have any problem." "You should go," I was told again. "You know the place I told you before that I wanted to take you to, whatever they ask you to do, do it? That's the place. "Hmmm, hummm, okey, it's alright," I agreed. "The first day I didn't go. And the woman came to me. "You didn't come," she said. "You know I didn't promise I would come," I answered. "If you can come o, please, come," she said. "Okay" I said. "I will come today." "You will come?" She said to confirm what I said.
Touched by Preaching: I refused to go with her, preferring to go by myself. I went in my car. I was in the congregation, when the man started preaching, it was as if someone had told him story. He is Pastor S. K. Akinsanya; he's now a regional overseen in Deeper Life. He preached, he preached, he preached. At the end, he said. "If you are tired of committing sin and you know you don't want to go to hell, can I see your hand?" I raised my hand. "If you are really serious, can you come out now?" He said. I went out. And then they prayed the same you come out now?" He said. I went out. And then they prayed the sinner's prayer (praying to stop sinning to accept Jesus).
"Do you know what you have just done?" We were asked. "Why did you come out?" I want to give my life to Jesus, I said. "Which church were you going before?" the question continued . "I was a muslim," I answered. He took a special note of me. The following day, I saw the person assigned to follow me up (help me grow in Christ). These people were very serious. They came to follow me up and started taking me through conversion and after. They came everyday for 12 days. After the crusade, they invited me to the church. The pastor also was a converted muslim. He took a very special interest in me. He kept loading me with revelation and information. Excuse me sir, why is this one like this?" I asked questions. I told them that one reason I hadn't want to go to Christ before was that there were so many Christians who were not living right.
He explained to me that Christianity is an individual religion, and I should not be discouraged by the ungodly life of others. I asked him how they managed to get so many people to be at the crusade. He took me to prayer team. Those people can pray! Very well! When entered the place I felt God's power. When you enter into an air conditioned room, you feel it. That's the way I will explain it. The man told me that for anyone to be saved. God's hand is moved to do it.
They did a thorough follow up on me. They taught me a lot of things. That's how I started growing. They told me to read the Bible through and they gave me three months to do that. I read other books also. The pastor gave me a book on martyrs. He told me that I would go through persecution because of my decision to follow Jesus.
Sentenced to Death: Lo and behold, February 1996, my sister reacted. "What! You gave your life to Jesus? God forbid! You won't live to practice that religion!" She said, summoning me to Lagos. I told my Pastor, "my sister has sent for me and she knows I have given my life to Jesus Christ and she is going to cause trouble." When I got there, she was not happy with me. "E pele baba Jesus (Behold the father of Jesus).
I learnt you have given your life to Jesus. What was your problem? Have you ever come to me to ask for money and I didn't give you? The other time when you needed tyres for your car, didn't I give you tyres free of charge? What's your problem? Did you have any sickness on you?" "No," I said. "Why then did you go to church?" She asked. "I have given my life to Christ," I said. "I give you between now and tomorrow morning to come and tell me 'I have not given my life to Jesus Christ" she told me. It was as if I was carrying the whole city of Lagos on my head. I loved my sister so much. We were so close, she was my immediate elder sister. And I wanted to go to heaven. I was in a fix, so I couldn't sleep.
Around 1.00am, I fell asleep and I had a dream. I was in a storm. I was walking in a sandy place like a desert, I was walking in that desert. The wind was blowing me here and there. I was tired. There was no strength in me. I was just going lonely, tired on that journey. Suddenly, I felt somebody touch me from the back. Immediately that hand touché me, strength came. The storm stopped. When I turned to look, I saw a radiant face - I believe it's the face of Jesus; the body was transparent like glass. "Fear not," He said. "I will protect you to the end." After that statement I woke up. "Lord Jesus; You will uphold me!" I said, "So I should call the bluff of my sister."
I just went to sleep. I had peace throughout the night. "Gani (short for Abdu Ganiyu) bo si bi (come here)," my sister summoned me very early in the morning. "E karo ma (Good morning ma)." I greeted. "Ono taa jo so lana (back to the discussion we had yesterday)," she said. "E je n so nnkankan fun yin; mo iadla! (let me tell you something I dreamt?)," I said, telling her the dream. "Therefore, sister, if you don't want me, keep your money, keep any money you want to give me. I'm going with this Jesus o." "It means I won't have anything to do with you," her husband said. "Don't worry, Jesus will meet my needs," I said." I want to go with Jesus." I left their house. That was February 1986; I thought it was over, my sister hired Islamic clerics that it's either they removed Jesus from me and I'd be alive or…" I knew of all these efforts through my younger brother, he lived with me and traveled to spend holidays with them.
This brother also gave his life to Jesus and I was confronted over it. In my case, he could not stay under my roof and be saying Allahakuhuru (Allahu 'Aqbar the muslim saying for God in great). I was in it before, and I was on my way to hell. I won't allow him to practice it in my house," I told them. It was six months after that he told them that I had become a pastor.
My sister decided to stop wasting her money for clerics to change me through metaphysical means. "Eni taa ni kee yo Jesu Kuro ninu okan e, ko gbagbe Jesu (This person you are supposed to take Jesus out his mind) and now he his become a pastor."
Mad brother Healed, Mother became Christian: Somewhere along the line, one of my younger brothers ran mad. He was brought to my house. My brother was taken to hospital for treatment. But he was too violent and had to be discharged. He was taken to our house in Ijebu Ode. What could I do?
I had two intercessor, who praying with me. They were associate pastors and we were working together on church assignments. I invited them to pray with me, and agreed to pray for three days. My mother was in my house during the period. She clearly heard us. We prayed the first day and when my mother went to check on my brother in the morning, he found him healed, normal. "Jesu yii it e ma n tete dahun bayii? (so Jesus answers as quickly as this!)," she said. Omo to ya were, taa mo pe o ya were! (This child was mad; it was very obvious, we all knew it). I heard what you were saying. I heard all the prayer you said. That was how my mother became a Christ.
My sister was furious. "Gani ti so pe gbogbo won lohun maa ko wa Jesu (Gani has sworn to convert them to Christianity). My sister refused to accept Christ. "Emi ti mo to Meka, iro o o; ki n wa de Mekawia lon sosi ( I who had gone to Mecca - on pilgrimage to step into a church with my Mecca pilgrim head wear); iro o (Impossible!)" She died without accepting Christ and I wept for three days. "How did the Devil short change me?" I lamented, because she had died without Christ.
