One of the reasons people flood the Annual Holy Ghost Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God is for deliverance, particularly encouraging, amazing testimonies of other people God had touched at the Redemption Camp.
It is an increasingly though world for many people. Apart from the persistent attacks of Satan and his legion of agents, it does appear that some people would always run themselves into trouble.
The General Overseer of the church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, once told the story of a man who had serious complication from swallowing a money-making charm but after he was delivered in the church, he went back to swallow another charm. The consequences were dire.
The testimony: “There was a man who desperately wanted to be rich. His friends told him about a particular charm he must swallow to become a wealthy man. The only condition was that he would be wealthy for seven years, after which he would die.
“The man said that was not a problem. Seven years of pleasure; I can do a lot in seven years.
“So they gave him the charm and he swallowed it. But instead of getting wealthy, he got nothing. In the meantime, the charm he swallowed was making him sick in the stomach.
“When it was about three months to the end of the seven years – the appointed time of death – he came running to the church. We prayed for him and he vomited the charm. We all rejoiced and gave glory to God. After that the man kept coming to church regularly.
“But after a while we didn’t see him again, so we decided to do a follow up on him. When we finally found him we asked, “Oga, we have not been seeing you in church.
“Oh, actually I was told that I swallowed the first one wrongly. So I’ve tried it again.”
He had swallowed a second charm because he still wanted to be rich at all cost!
“Well, the second charm made him rich, but the seven years soon ended. Scared towards the end, he decided to relocate to the United Kingdom, believing that the demons could not reach him there. He died on the plane to the United Kingdom.”
Wednesday was Deliverance Night at the Congress and if it were an in-person service, the two auditoriums –the old and the new- with current combined capacity of about a million seats, would perhaps have been packed full to overflow.
But it is said that even with the Coronavirus pandemic threatening, perhaps far more people participate from their locations in the over 198 countries where the church has physical presence and others. These days one can easily participate through the cell phone on Facebook. The Congress is received loud and clear.
“Tonight we are focusing on deliverance,” Pastor Adeboye announced during his sermon, which usually closes the day. Before then, there were various sessions of prayers, presentations and talks in the morning and afternoon.
People had also given testimonies of miracles, which usually fired up expectations of participants.
Pastor Adeboye took his text from Psalms 91:5-10, a Psalm, which he said someone referred to as a “Christian’s Insurance Policy.”
He corrected the erroneous impression that only people who are possessed by the demon need deliverance by explaining that bondage can come in many forms.
“Bondage in simple terms is: Anything that hinders you from achieving your fullest potential; anything that does not allow your joy to be full; anything that does not allow you to live life abundantly; anything that hinders your progress; or anything other than that which God planned for your life.”
He gave examples as bondage of sickness, like the case of Blind Bartimaeus who stays by a poolside for 38 years; bondage of poverty; marital bondage: spiritual bondage; and an indirect bondage because a loved one in bondage must be taken care of by us. Pastor Adeboye said deliverance by God from these afflictions can also be in various forms and he took some time to explain them.
• The Almighty God can deliver you even as you pass through the problems. He may, in His infinite wisdom, allow you to go through the problem – if it is going to give Him Greater Glory. God was on His Throne, able, capable of stopping Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from being thrown into the fire; but He waited till they got into the fire to protect them.
• In some cases of course, He could deliver you out of the bondage; it is just a matter of Him plucking you out of it. For example, there was no way Daniel could come out from that den filled with terrible lions; but God pulled him out.
• There are quite a few People who have been in the den of lions for a long time! Also, there are some people born into families were cultists have been running rampant and almost everybody in the family that you can think of is a failure or a near success; but God is able to pluck His children from there and prosper them.
• And then, of course, there is a category where the Almighty God could cause you to fly over the problems. Fly over in such a manner that those who are troubling you will be below and you would be gone Flying. A Good example you will find in 2 Kings 4:1-7 – It talks about the woman who was so deep in debt the Creditors were coming to sell her children. When the Almighty God sets her free, not only was she able to Pay all her debts; for the rest of her life she never borrowed again.
• It is possible for the Almighty God to deliver you in such a manner that those who were troubling you, can no longer come near to trouble you.
• But there is one interesting kind of deliverance; when God stops the trouble before it even gets to you; and some of which you don’t even see.
• And there is a deliverance even still of a Higher Level; where you would be dealing with trouble from the position of strength.
• And when we talk of the kind of deliverance that you could call flying (in nature), it means it means that you can live the rest of your life free from attack.
• You can live the rest of your life in absolute peace; knowing that nobody is going to bother me – Nobody! It is not that the enemies will not try. Isaiah 54:15 says: “Oh, they will still gather together to plot against you;” But God says don’t worry; those who gather together against you will fall for your sake.
• Of course, remember the Almighty God made a Promise to those who belong to Him, that: He would surround them with a Wall of Fire. If you are surrounded by a Wall of Fire, anybody who tries to come too close to you with evil intentions will be burnt.
• As far as you are concerned, as a true Child of the Living God, Thousands may be falling right and left, but they won’t come near you; and you don’t have to be afraid – whether by the terror by night or the waster that wastes at daytime.
However, deliverance is not by your power; it is by God’s intervention; so if you are not a child of God you have to surrender to Him so He can deliver you from the persistent attacks of Satan and his agents.
