By Samuel Oyejola
The success of the Holy Ghost congress today is a product of obedience to God’s directive. The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, had in 1998 through divine inspiration organized the first annual Holy Ghost Congress in Lekki area of Lagos State. The maiden edition of what is today a global gathering of children of God in the fall of each year was themed “Divine Visitation” and it had over 2 million people in attendance. The Lekki ’98 as it was called, was an all-night programme that featured powerful sermon delivery, miracles and testimonies. Today, the Holy Ghost Congress has become a six-day event with morning, afternoon and evening sessions for teaching, prayers and healing.
The 2022 edition of the Congress has been scheduled for 5th to 10th December 2022 with the theme, DOUBLE PORTION. The previous editions are filled with testimonies as attendees experienced the awesomeness of God in their lives.
An ordained minister of the RCCG, Dcn. Nduka Peters, from Rivers Province 7, while sharing his testimony at the 2020 edition of the programme, said on Sunday, 6th December of that year, he was involved in an auto-accident while returning home from the church service.
“On our way back home, we discovered that diesel had earlier been spilled on some parts of the road we were plying, hence the road was slippery. As a result of this, the car ahead of us suddenly began to somersault.
“At this moment, I tried to dodge the car that was somersaulting, but my car’s brake failed because there was no friction due to the slippery state of the road. It was during this process that my car swerved and hit a 33kv high tension pole which also dragged two other poles beside a transformer, and the two poles eventually fell on my car,” Nduka narrated.
He stated further that light began to spark, and resulted in the roof of the car catching fire. He said the fire all of a sudden was quenched and the current went off while his children eventually opened the door and stepped out of the car alive without any injury.
Just as millions attend physically at the venue, more people follow the programme on all media platforms. A young man who could not physically attend the 2018 Holy Ghost Congress encountered God’s hand through the TV.
“Pastor Adeboye was ministering on TV on December 21, 2018, when he told us to ask God for anything, which I did. Prior to that time, I was looking for an appointment with the Bayelsa State Government. To the glory of God, my appointment came through on December 24, 2018,” he testified.
Another gave testimony of fruitfulness. “We got married seven years ago. Not long after, my wife got pregnant and towards delivery she had complications and had to be scheduled for emergency caesarean section (C-Section). Before the C-Section, she was asked to run a test (prothrombin time (PT) also known as factor II) to measure the amount of time it would take for her blood to clot. This was to rule out risk of excessive bleeding and even death during or after operation.
“Multiple test results at the hospital and a laboratory came back with an abnormally high clotting time. We were referred to a teaching hospital as the hospital could no longer handle the situation. By the time we got to another hospital, the Lord had turned around the situation. The clotting time had normalized. To the Glory of God, the operation was done successfully same day. We welcomed a baby boy who is 6 this year,” he said.
He further testified that the family had two still-births that almost claimed the life of his wife due to similar complications. At both times, the complications occurred very close to the due dates. Due to fear of loss of life, he said they were ready to give up but God blessed them with a baby girl during the covid-19 pandemic.
For another family with three daughters, miraculously, God turned what was diagnosed to be fibroids to be a baby boy. “I was nicknamed ‘Baba Abigail’. After three girls, I told my wife we should stop child-bearing because making it in life is not about gender.
“One day, my wife had stomach upset so we went to the hospital. The doctor said three fibroids were growing inside her womb. I tore the result and headed for the Redemption Camp and prayed to God to speak joy to my life because I went in sorrow. The Lord spoke through Pastor Enoch Adeboye and he said, ‘God said there is somebody in the congregation, before you leave, the Lord will turn your sorrow to joy’ and I claimed it.
“I went back home and laid my hands on my wife’s stomach and said ‘you fibroid, I turn you into a fine boy.’ To the glory of God, the Lord turned the fibroid into a baby boy and we now have three girls and a boy,” he said.
For Fidelis Obenede, it was a multiple blessing in 2018. After three days fasting and prayers, he was contacted from his office regarding a training course he had looked forward to. That same week, the MSc. course he was previously advised would not be funded was changed for his sake; when the Lord changed the rule that courses would be funded again, he was advised to apply.
During the Holy Ghost Congress in 2017, Pastor Adeboye directed the congregation to bring three handkerchiefs each for blessings. He reminded them of various instances when God had ordered him to do things that appear absurd to people, which turns out to evoke miracles. He urged the congregation to wave their handkerchiefs as he waved his, one after another, and prayed.
After the prophetic directive, testimonies tripped in. A pregnant lady from Lagos who had tested HIV positive had one of the handkerchiefs placed on her. She delivered safely, and later tested HIV negative to the amazement of the doctors.
A couple in Lagos waited endlessly for their son to return from school. When by 2am the boy had not returned, they started waving the wife’s set of handkerchiefs blessed by Pastor Adeboye until the boy called and informed his parents that he had boarded a wrong bus but his abductors had released him at Obalande, Lagos.
They continued to pray and wave the handkerchiefs until the owner of an SUV brought him home. As they made to thank the man, he zoomed off.
A lady received a call from her younger sister that her immediate elder sister had been taken to the hospital because she was in labour. “She had been in labour for some time. My Pastor’s wife called me to ask if I was not going to attend the Holy Ghost Service so I told her that my mind was not settled because of my sister’s condition. She said if that was the case, I should go to the altar at the Redemption Camp and talk to God. I did so, asking God to help her deliver safely.
As I was saying that, I quickly remembered the anointed handkerchiefs and called my sister to ask if she had any of them with her but she didn’t. Suddenly, I remembered she sent a picture of her pregnancy to me on phone. I rubbed the handkerchief on her picture and prayed that she would not deliver though operation. I went to bed after the prayer. Not long after that, her husband called me that she had safely delivered a baby boy,” she said.
There are other testimonies where the handkerchiefs had been used to restore the sight of a lady who had suddenly gone blind, cure severe chest pains and reduced swellings.
A pastor was called by one of the members of her church from Delta State to pray for her sick baby. The church member called moments after to say the baby had given up. The pastor then urged her to wait and not to do anything to the corpse. She then rushed to her room, got her three handkerchiefs and told the lady that although she was not in Delta State and could not see her, prayers had commenced. The pastor said on waving the first handkerchief, the woman responded, “Amen.” Encouraged, she waved the second handkerchief and heard the child’s voice – he had come back to life.
A woman who had used a handkerchief blessed by the General Overseer to revive her dead mother also testified.
A young man who was supposed to have heart transplant in London decided to go straight to camp from airport. He wrote Pastor Adeboye and he replied, ‘God will intervene’. When he went back again to London, the Doctor could not find any cancerous growth in his heart again.
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