ENSUING TESTIMONIES
When the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Paul, in Acts 26:18, He gave him the following injunction :
𝗧𝗼 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗼𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲.
The gospel is about opening blind eyes. No place is this more exemplified in SOL’S 22 years in missions ministry than in Eriki-nla.
It took us three years of praying for this village, and eventually, we held our first outreach there in 2017. It was very well attended but the Baale refused anyone to give his or her life to Christ. He boasted he didn’t need Jesus, that his gods were enough. He pointed to a house under construction and told me, it was a gift from a grateful politician in Abuja he had made charms for. It was the only block house in the village then (the same house SOL missionaries now reside in today. He never lived to dwell in that house).
Fast forward to 2019, and we were firmly entrenched in Ishoko by this time (the only bright spot in that 2017 outreach). The Lord had us go back to Eriki-nla. We discovered that the Baale had died some months before. We had our outreach there. It was a great power encounter. The Baale’s right-hand man converted. But the battle had continued ever since.
𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗶𝗿
From 2019 till now, we held our services in the open air. God has continually added to the number of converts but the masquerade worshippers were resolute in their resolve not to give us a place of worship. Four times we thought we had a breakthrough but the people who wanted to sell chickened out, obviously from threats. On one of these four occasions, the local Imam had offered us his land, and his sister rose in opposition that over her ‘dead body’ would she allow us possession of the land.
𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘆
Last year we were led to carry out a prayer programme we tagged ‘Prayer Altar’ in our respective mission field. During Eriki-nla’s prayer altar, God gave us a Word from 2 𝘚𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘦𝘭 3:1 𝗡𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗮𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱: 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗮𝘂𝗹 𝘄𝗮𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿.
I told our converts, “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳”. This made them rejoice greatly.
During our January retreat, I called our three SOL missionaries stationed in Eriki-nla; 𝗦𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘄𝗮, 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗳𝗲, 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲, “𝘚𝘦𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘪-𝘯𝘭𝘢. 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝘔𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤. 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘪-𝘯𝘭𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 2023…” It was a matching order.
Days later, Adesewa called to inform me that they had received an instruction from the Lord to go on a 21-day vigil with fasting.
They began the fast and vigil on January 11. All out spiritual war broke out. Time and space will not permit me to write about it. The SOL intercessor was informed about the prayers the next day (January 12th 2023), asking for our partners to join in. The response was great to the Glory of God.
During the 21 days of vigils, besides the demonic disturbances again and again, God gave the Eriki-nla team several encouraging words from scriptures and dreams. The 21 days ended with a note of victory.
𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗬
Two weeks ago, in the night. At the back of our mission house, we paid two elderly men #250,000 for three plots of land, with documents signed. We rejoiced.
The greater testimony happened on Good Friday. We purchased another set of three plots just beside the first three plots. This time, from an elderly woman who had gotten saved in Lagos, two months ago. She told me, “𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗜’𝗺 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 #𝟭𝟱𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀.” Her elder sister, who signed the documents with her, is one of the principal idol worshippers in the village. We sang and prayed together. It was a scene to behold.
𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁?
Waiting on God. But even then, there is already a testimony cooking. But first let me share with you our vision for Eriki-nla, and why we went for an acre of land.
𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗶-𝗻𝗹𝗮 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
A church building as a centre of ‘gathering in the sheaves’ of our evangelism and discipleship efforts. A borehole will serve the several villages here (they trek several kilometres here just to get water). A Medical facility (in the nearest future that will serve over twenty villages), a missionary quarter for missionaries and health personnel to reside.
𝗘𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘆
Even before monies came for the land, a dear brother with whom I shared the vision had already given us #500,000 towards the borehole. We stashed it in the bank.
How much for digging a borehole? We don’t know. But now we have our land, we can find out.
𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁?
We go on with His mandate. I’m heading to Benin Republic on Wednesday. Let him that reads, run with the vision:
And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
Habakkuk 2 v 2
Pray for the vision behind the land purchase: a church building as a centre of our evangelism and discipleship efforts, a missionary quarter for missionaries to reside, a borehole that will serve the several villages here, and a health facility in the nearest future.
