Stories of Faith - Episode 58

As narrated by John Idoko: 

"There was a well-digger, a northern migrant in our neighborhood (in Southern Nigeria). He was not only a drug addict, but also ran a joint where other addicts came to drink and drugged themselves to stupor. There was nothing that was meant to be smoked and drank that he didn’t drink and smoke. He was a known and regular culprit in police stations; he had been to police stations so many times that as soon as police heard his name, they would be at a loss what else to do to him.

We continued preaching to him, and he would make fun of us and the preaching. But in God’s own time and in His way, he willingly accepted Jesus one day. It was on the street in front of my gate that we stood, along with his wife and some of his children, and he invited Jesus into his life. And the transformation in his life has been amazing to all who knew what he was,. He has not only made a complete turn away from smoking, drinking and other things he was involved in, he has also closed down the shop where he and his family used to sell different brands of gins, beers and drugs. I still stand in amazement of the Lord’s work of grace in his life. He has become a witness to all his former colleagues and clients."

Culled from "Reach Your Kind in Diaspora Missions"

Stories of Faith - Episode 57

Corrie ten Boom (April 15, 1892 - April 15, 1983)

The frigid night air wafted into the room as people began to leave. Corrie silently thanked God for another wonderful night of fellowship and started walking towards the coat closet to collect her things. A man approached her, hat in hand, and Corrie smiled at him in greeting. Suddenly, she saw his face clearly and the smile froze on her face. She looked at him and the past flashed by in a matter of seconds - she saw the man holding a baton, the look on his face as he struck a frail woman who had fallen under a heavy load, his many cruel actions in the concentration camp. Unbidden, tears flooded her eyes, and now as she looked at him more closely, compassion flooded her soul, for she saw something in his eyes. Sorrow, shame, repentance. She smiled again, but this time her smile spoke volumes - forgiveness, acceptance, reconciliation. Corrie and the former guard moved at the same time. As they grasped each other's hand, Corrie was flooded with a consuming love - God's love. She knew that in this moment, God was smiling.

The youngest of four children, Corrie ten Boom was born into a devout Christian family and grew up watching her father, a well-liked watchmaker, practice his art. She started training as a watchmaker in 1920 and in 1922, became the first woman to be a licensed watchmaker in the Netherlands.

However, watchmaking was not all her family was involved in - in 1942, two years after the Nazis invaded her country, Corrie's family became very involved in the Dutch underground, helping to hide Jews and protect them from the severe persecution they were facing. In time, the family built a secret compartment in Corrie's room for the refugees, and a large number of Jews received help in this way. Because of this, the ten Boom home came to be known as 'The Hiding Place'.

The entire family risked their lives daily to protect Jews, and one day in 1944, they would be found out. Corrie's family was betrayed by an informer, and they were all arrested. Corrie and her sister, Betsie, ended up at Ravensbruck camp together. There, in spite of their dire consequences and the unbearable prison life, they shared the gospel with their fellow prisoners, many of whom received Jesus as their Savior.

Eventually, four members of Corrie's family would die as a result of imprisonment - her father, Casper, died ten days after his arrest, her nephew was sent to a different camp and was never seen again, her brother contracted spinal tuberculosis and died after the war, and her sister Betsie died in camp.

However, Corrie survived her ordeal - not only physically, but spiritually as well. She always focused on forgiveness and never harbored any bitterness. When she discovered that her release was a clerical error, and that all the women her age were killed the week after she was released, Corrie said "God doesn't have problems, only plans"

At 53, Corrie began a worldwide ministry - she traveled to over 60 countries and had numerous speaking engagements. She passed away on her 91st birthday, but her message of God's love and forgiveness live on in the legacy of her life.

"Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart." Corrie ten Boom.

Source: http://meditationsofthesoul.squarespace.com/men-like-us/2010/10/16/corrie-ten-boom-april-15-1892-april-15-1983.html

Stories of Faith - Episode 56

Tears running down his face, he knocked on the doors of people he knew – looking for help. His feet ached from walking all day, but desperation fueled him. He had to keep going on. Not just for his sake, but for his wife and their unborn child. Their excitement at having their first child had turned to distress when they found out that the baby was too big to be delivered normally. Two weeks after the due date had passed, his wife’s cervix wasn’t dilating and the doctor told them that a C-Section would be needed to deliver the baby. The thought of the doctor’s ‘No service before payment’ policy spurred him on…he knocked and knocked on door after door. He had begged the doctor to deliver the baby and keep them in the hospital until he could find money to pay, but no. The doctor had refused. Tears in his eyes…pride turned to dust, he asked for money to help pay the doctor. Rejected time and again, he finally gave up for the day when nighttime approached. “Tomorrow is another day”, he thought to himself. “I’ll start again tomorrow.”

And he did…and the day after, but all to no avail. After the third day, the doctor decided to deliver the baby, but it was too late. The baby – a little girl – was gone. The doctor performed a D&C to remove the baby, and the baby had to be dismembered to bring her out. His heart broke as he looked at the baby that would have been his first child and he cried out “God, where are you?! I’ve obeyed you, why should it end this way?”

***

Born in Jaki, Benue State (Nigeria) in 1967, he was named ‘Dondo-Shater’ which means ‘Follow the Lord.’ His father was an evangelist and his parents worked together to bring the word of God to their small village. His father was the only Christian in the family and had joined with a few other Christians in the village to form a church. As a young child, Dondo had a mischievous streak and was always getting into one scrape or the other. Fueled by a natural curiosity, he liked taking things apart to see how they worked. He once punctured a clay pot and watched in fascination as his mother tried to cook with it. In spite of his destructive tendencies, Dondo was an honest child and always owned up to his mischief.

The death of Dondo’s father in 1982 threw him into a personal crisis. He had lost his best friend and confidant and a huge vacuum opened up inside him. He spiraled into depression and often heard his father’s voice speaking to him. His pain and distress over his father’s death drove him to prayer. One day while he was praying, God opened his eyes and he saw a revelation of his heart – he saw his heart open and full of darkness and evil. The image was so abhorrent to look at that he screamed “God, save me!” Dondo had always been conscious of his sin-nature, but for the first time he admitted that he was a sinner who needed the saving grace of God. The Holy Spirit came upon him and he started to speak in tongues. Like Dondo, several of his classmates also got saved at the same time and that was the beginning of a revival in the area. Dondo and his classmates preached to other classmates and everyone they met and within three weeks, 400 students were added to the fellowship.

Dondo’s love for missionary work was born when he watched a movie about Don Richardson, a missionary in Papua, New Guinea. The images from the movie followed Dondo as he extended his preaching ministry to the surrounding villages. Finally, his activities caught the attention of the church leadership and he was asked to stop preaching. Several church leaders interviewed Dondo and tried to convince him that he was teaching heresy and should stop. When their attempts failed, they located the man who had baptized Dondo as a child and asked him to speak to Dondo. The elderly clergyman met with Dondo and spoke to him in detail about the doctrines that he was teaching. After a lengthy talk, the old pastor met with the church leadership and gave them his opinion: all the doctrines that Dondo was teaching were Biblical. Unmoved, the church leadership ex-communicated Dondo.

Persecution against the fellowship increased so much that they could only meet in secret. However, this only strengthened Dondo’s resolve and he eventually became the prayer secretary for the FCS (Fellowship of Christian Students) branch in his school. In 1987, Dondo read a missionary magazine about the famine in Mali in 1983-1984. There had been a severe 2-year drought and people were dying of hunger. Missionaries had traveled to Mali to help distribute food and supplies to alleviate the effects of the famine. As he held the magazine in his hands, Dondo heard God say to him “The hunger in Mali is not only physical, but spiritual. I’ll send you to Mali.”

After more than a dozen years, God fulfilled His word and Dondo was sent to Mali as a missionary. He and his wife have faced some huge challenges including the death of their first child. But, they have been unwavering in their commitment to God and devotion to their mission. One year after the heartbreaking loss of their child, God blessed Dondo and his wife with a son and several years later, they were blessed with a second child – a daughter. Dondo and his family live in Mali and have worked to strengthen existing churches, and recruit missionaries for the villages where there are no Christians.

When asked how he would want to be remembered, Dondo said “This man gave himself to God as an article that God can use to purchase others into His Kingdom.”

Source: http://meditationsofthesoul.squarespace.com/men-like-us/

Stories of Faith - Episode 55

"The prayer for a miracle to save our baby son"

Cassie and Rick Littlejohn’s son clung to life in the NICU. Read on to learn how God’s hope arrived for thousands to see. 

On the day of the scheduled C-section, Cassie Littlejohn woke up anxious. 

It was as if she knew a storm was coming. Then God confirmed it in her devotional time. 

“Trust me. I’ve got this,” God spoke to her heart that morning. 

On the way to the hospital, Cassie prayed Jeremiah 29:11 about 30 times: “I have plans to prosper you; to give you a future and a hope.” 

That day, Levi was born limp and blue. He wasn’t breathing. 

Suffering from seizure-like activity, Levi was put on a ventilator and rushed to another hospital, where they put him in a medically induced coma by freezing his brain. 

An overwhelming crisis 

The storm ripped the Littlejohns' ordinary lives from their foundation on that Monday of Thanksgiving week. 

“Being a parent and not being able to fix or help your child, or take that pain from him, is quite overwhelming,” Cassie says. 

Cassie saw Levi for the first time in a transport unit covered with wires. 

Other women could hold their babies and bring them home. Cassie could only sit in a beautifully prepared nursery and stare at an empty crib, not knowing one day to the next whether Levi would make it. 

“It almost feels like your heart is being ripped out of your chest. You feel hopeless. You feel lost ... It can literally break you to your core, and it did,” Cassie says. 

Doctors speculated that Levi had choked on fluid inside the womb. They didn’t know how long he went without oxygen. He may also have suffered strokes in utero. 

After four days, Levi emerged from the coma. But over a sequence of weeks, he was hit with complications, one after another. 

They found a blood clot in his brain and a virus that attacked his heart and liver and caused those organs to become enlarged. 

Losing hope 

The doctors struggled to make sense of what was going on. After two weeks, the doctors were pessimistic Levi would make it. 

The only hope for Levi was a miracle. 

Cassie had to speak her faith over her child, even if she wasn’t always feeling it. She had to trust God’s promises. 

Family, friends, their network at NewSpring Spartanburg, and thousands of others on social media joined with them. 

“We prayed for the doctors to have wisdom. We prayed for healing. We prayed for intervention. We prayed for answers. We anointed Levi with oil and prayed Scripture over him.” 

One day, after crying out bitterly to God for answers, Cassie was riding home from the hospital with her husband in their pickup truck when a song came on the radio. The lyrics mentioned “coming home for Christmas.” 

In that moment, she felt God speak a promise to her heart that Levi would be home Christmas Eve. 

A dramatic turn 

That night, one of Cassie’s close friends had planned a special prayer time on Facebook. People in Spartanburg, across South Carolina, and all over the world were going to ask God for healing together at the same time: 8:30pm. 

For the first time, Cassie and Rick and everyone following Levi’s story, in person, online and through prayer chains, saw the true power of believing and praying in agreement with God. 

Overnight, Levi’s health made a dramatic turn. 

Many things changed all at once. He began to feed on a full bottle. He came off oxygen. His blood pressure regulated. 

It was like the difference between daylight and darkness, Cassie says. 

“He miraculously turned around,” she says. “It was all due to the prayer and God healing our Levi. I have no doubt.” 

Within two days, Levi seemed to be a brand new baby. Within a week and a half, he was home — on Christmas Eve night — just like God had promised. 

The doctors thought that wouldn’t happen for months. 

“Every day the doctors would come by and just marvel,” Cassie says about their visits to Levi's NICU quarters. 

The power of prayer 

From then on, prayer came alive for Cassie and Rick. It no longer seemed like a religious routine but a necessity. 

“Prayer is our tool to protect, heal, comfort,” Cassie says. “It’s our gift. It’s our shield. It’s our sword against Satan and the battles we fight.” 

Rick, in particular, saw the blessing of prayer. 

“He prays for everybody now. He stops what he is doing and prays right then. He has taught me to pray immediately,” Cassie says. “He sometimes will even go up to the NICU and pray for the children there.” 

The doctors warned the Littlejohns that Levi may face delays. But the now 3-year-old is healthy and developing normally. In fact, he is slightly ahead of his peers. 

For Cassie, Levi’s story is proof that God is the same today as He was when He parted the Red Sea, healed the lame, and raised Jesus from the dead. 

“When I look at Levi, I see the goodness of God. I see His favor, and I see His mercy and his hope,” Cassie says. 

Source: https://newspring.cc/stories/cassie-littlejohn

Stories of Faith - Episode 54

Despite the African heat, Walter Gowans shivered. He was miserable; malaria had laid him low. Seeing the desperate need of the Sudan for the gospel he had left his home in Canada, but here, barely a year later, in 1894, the mission pioneer was dying, separated from his co-workers.

Two other men had come out with him. The first, Rowland Bingham, had become so ill he had remained on the coast to procure supplies and act as a go-between. Thomas Kent, of Buffalo, New York, had traveled inland with Walter, but gone back to the coast to bring up the needed supplies. Meanwhile, an Emir who was raiding for slaves captured Walter, who was starving. When released, Walter tried to get back to the coast. He died alone in a town called Girku.

Walter was only twenty-six years old. Born on this day, September 17, 1868, he had developed a passion for the peoples of the Sudan. At that time, the name "Sudan" referred to all of Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia.

Rowland and Thomas were in the Sudan because of Walter. Walter's mother was sold on her son's vision to carry the gospel to the sixty million people of north central Africa. She invited preacher Rowland Bingham to her home. In her parlor, she laid Walter's dream before him. He was deeply moved. When Rowland left the Gowan residence that day, he was determined to join Walter. Hearing of their decision, the third man, Thomas Kent of Buffalo, New York, teamed up with them.

Unable to interest established mission agencies in their work, the three set out to tackle the work alone. They landed in Lagos, Nigeria. Their hope was to establish a work 500 miles inland in one of the most treacherous regions of the world. But the three immediately found themselves sick.

Thomas died, having brought the supplies up to where he had left Walter. Rowland was still desperately ill; and returned to Canada, where he took Walter's few belongings to Mrs. Gowan.

As Rowland remembered it, Mrs. Gowan met him with extended hand. "We stood there in silence. Then she said these words: 'Well, Mr. Bingham, I would rather have had Walter go out to the Sudan and die there, all alone, than have him home today, disobeying his Lord.' "

Walter's dream did not die with him. In 1900, Rowland Bingham made a second attempt to establish a mission work in Sudan. Again he failed. But the following year, he managed to send a team into the Sudan, and it established a base 500 miles from Lagos.

Walter's vision resulted in the formation of the Sudan Interior Mission. In the 1980s this mission merged with two others to become the Society for International Ministries. Today, thanks to such sacrifice, forty percent of Africans claim to be Christians.

Culled from https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/walter-gowans-life-drained-out-for-sudan-11630546.html

Stories of Faith - Episode 53

America’s first foreign missionary, Judson endured heart-rending suffering during his thirty-seven years in Burma. He left behind friends and family and a promising career in Boston. He had to master the complex Burmese language without the aid of any textbooks. He labored for six years before winning a single convert. While on the mission field he suffered the untimely deaths of two wives (he remarried after the death of his first wife), three children, and a number of coworkers. Judson was incarcerated for nearly two years in a mind-numbingly squalid prison—emaciated, filthy, shackled, and hanging upside-down much of the time. His few Burmese followers faced the constant threat of persecution. Still, Judson persevered in his work of preaching and translation.

When he returned to Boston for his only furlough, Judson was asked by a prominent printer, “Do you think the prospects are bright for the speedy conversion of the heathen?” Judson promptly replied, “As bright as the promises of God.” Today, thanks in large part to Judson’s pioneering work, there are at least four million Christians in Burma.

Culled from https://www.lausanne.org/content/serving-the-purposes-of-god-in-your-generation

Stories of Faith - Episode 52

The true story behind the song “I have decided to follow Jesus” according to Dr. P.P Job in “Why God Why”

‘I Have Decided to Follow Jesus’ is a Christian hymn originating from India. The lyrics are based on the last words of a man in Garo, Assam. 

About 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales. As a result of this, many missionaries came to north-east India to spread the Gospel. The region known as Assam was comprised of hundreds of tribes who were primitive and aggressive head-hunters. Assam and its surrounding provinces was located in one of the most oppressive forms of Hinduism — a place where the caste system was entrenched. These provinces often prided themselves on the hostile reaction they gave foreigners. 

Into these hostile and aggressive communities, came a group of missionaries from the American Baptist Missions spreading the message of love, peace and hope in Jesus Christ. Naturally, they were not welcomed. One missionary, who had endured severe persecution, finally succeeded in converting a man, his wife, and two children. This man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christianity. 

Angry, the village chief summoned all the villagers. He then called the family who had first converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution. Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man said: 

“I have decided to follow Jesus and there is no turning back.” 

Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children. As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife too?” 

But the man said these words in reply: 

“Though no one joins me, still I will follow Jesus”. 

The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed down. In a moment she joined her two children in death. 

Now he asked for the last time, “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.”In the face of death the man uttered the final memorable lines: 

“The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back.” 

He was killed like the rest of his family. But with their deaths, a miracle took place. The chief who had ordered the killings was moved by the faith of the man. He wondered, “Why should this man, his wife and two children die for a Man who lived in a far-away land on another continent some 2,000 years ago? There must be some remarkable power behind the family’s faith, and I too want to taste that faith.” 

In a spontaneous confession of faith, he declared, “I too belong to Jesus Christ!” When the crowd heard this from the mouth of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour. 

The formation of these words into a hymn is attributed to the Indian missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh (picture above). The melody is also Indian, and entitled “Assam” after the region where the text originated. The song is based on the last words of Nokseng, a man from the Garo tribe of Assam (now Meghalaya and some in Assam), India. It is today the song of the Garo people. 

An American hymn editor, William Jensen Reynolds, composed an arrangement which was included in the 1959 Assembly Songbook. His version became a regular feature of Billy Graham’s evangelistic meetings in America and elsewhere, spreading its popularity.

Culled from http://charismatanews.org/2019/02/15/the-true-story-behind-the-song-i-have-decided-to-follow-jesus/ and https://pastorbradabley.wordpress.com/2016/05/15/the-incredible-story-behind-the-hymn-i-have-decided-to-follow-jesus/

Stories of Faith - Episode 51

The Story Behind the Hymn: Must I Go, and Empty-Handed? 

The story behind the hymn: "Must I Go, and Empty-Handed?" is short but remarkable. It was written by Charles Carroll Luther in 1877. Charles Luther (1847-1924) was a journalist and a lay evangelist before being ordained as a Baptist minister in 1886. He wrote about 25 hymn texts. In 1887, he heard Rev. A.G. Upham relate the story of a young man who was about to die. This young man had been a Christian for only one month and sorrowed because he'd had so little time to serve the Lord. He was thankful to the Lord for giving him salvation during his final hour. He, however, was grieved that he would not have an opportunity to serve the Lord nor to share Him with others. He said, “I am not afraid to die; Jesus saves me now. But must I go empty handed?” Upon hearing this account, Charles Luther wrote this hymn. Charles Luther then handed the lyrics to George C. Stebbins who did a wonderful job conveying the heart’s cry of this lovely hymn. The complete hymn was first published in 1878.

At death’s advent, may we be spared from sharing his lament. Sadly, because of the anxieties of this age and the deceitfulness of riches (Matt. 13:22), many Christians are stupefied by the lure of the world and consequently languish in their personal walk with Christ. This explains the prevailing state of spiritual barrenness among many of today’s Christians. Let us heed this hymn’s counsel to stop wasting our years in vanity and instead to give them to our Savior, to strive for the salvation of souls while we still have breath. May we pray to be spiritually energized to take up the burden of sharing the gospel, so that rather than living a life of vanity to later be regretted, we may redeem our time (Eph. 5:16) and bear fruit unto eternal life (John 4:36). 

“Must I go, and empty handed,” 

Thus my dear Redeemer meet?

Not one day of service give Him,

Lay no trophy at His feet? 

Chorus:

“Must I go, and empty handed?”

Must I meet my Savior so?

Not one soul with which to greet Him,

Must I empty handed go? 

Not at death I shrink or falter,

For my Savior saves me now;

But to meet Him empty handed,

Thought of that now clouds my brow. 

O the years in sinning wasted,

Could I but recall them now,

I would give them to my Savior,

To His will I’d gladly bow. 

O ye saints, arouse, be earnest,

Up and work while yet ’tis day;

Ere the night of death o’er take thee,

Strived for souls while still you may.

Culled from https://austinbhebe.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/must-i-go-an-empty-handed/

Stories of Faith - Episode 50

Pastor Emeka Egwuchukwu narrated: 

“There is a woman I know, she is a believer and then there was this other woman, a neighbor, who for no reason disliked her (the believer). You know sometimes Satan can just move people. You’ve not done them any wrong but they just don’t like you. 'Why must you be smiling?' 'Why must you be the way you are?' And Satan can just move them. Every morning when the woman (believer) dresses to go to church. She (believer) was living downstairs, the other woman was living upstairs. She will just wash cloth and be on one side and be waiting for the christian woman on the balcony. Immediately she’s coming, she’ll pour the dirty water on her. The christian woman will go back inside and change her cloth. The other woman will stay outside and laugh and laugh and laugh. You know that kind of situation. I don’t know whether you’ve been driven to the wall like that. 

She kept on doing it and doing it and doing it, but this christian woman never for one day reacted. She will go in and change and go to church and she kept on being a good neighbor. Then it got to the day the woman got a better accommodation and needed to pack out. The woman who had been doing this was weeping, she kept on crying when she heard that this woman was leaving. She was crying. The woman never convicted her, as in talking to her. She never said anything like: 'you’ve been dealing with me, God will deal with you too'. The woman never did that. She started weeping. She wept and wept and was telling this christian woman please I am sorry. I am sorry for all that I have done to you. I am sorry, please which church do you attend. I want to start attending that your church. And that was how the other woman got converted, without her opening her mouth any day to preach to her. But she just walked in love and walked in love, refusing to react and eventually this became the fruit of it. Halleluyah! Love Never Fails” (1 Cor. 13:8)

Stories of Faith - Episode 49

Professor Zacharias Tanee Fomum was born in the flesh on 20th June 1945 and born of the Holy Spirit on 13th June 1956. He made an absolute surrender of himself to the Lord Jesus and to His service on 1st October 1966, and was fi lled with the Holy Spirit on 24th October 1970.

He was admitted to a fi rst class in the Bachelor of Science degree and graduated as a prize-winning student from Fourah Bay College in the University of Sierra Leone in October 1969. His research in Organic Chemistry led to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) awarded by the University of Makerere, Kampala, in Uganda in October 1973. His published scientific works were recently evaluated by the University of Durham in Great Britain and found to be research of high distinction, for which he was awarded the Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in October 2005. As a Professor of Organic Chemistry in the University of Yaounde I in Cameroon, Professor Zacharias Tanee Fomum supervised and co-supervised more than a 100 Master’s and Doctoral Degree theses and co-authored over 160 scientific articles in leading international journals. He considered scientific research as an act of obedience to God’s command to “subdue the earth” (Genesis 1:28). He also knew that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of Science. “For by Him all things were created…” (Colossians 1:16). He made the Lord Jesus the Director of his research laboratory and he, Professor Fomum, took the place of deputy director. He attributed his scientific success to the revelational leadership of the Lord Jesus.

In his passion to know Jesus and to make Him known, he read over 1350 books on the Christian faith and authored over 150 to advance the Gospel of Christ. Four million of his books are in circulation in 11 languages. Sixteen million Gospel tracts authored by him are in circulation in 17 languages.

Professor Fomum considered prayer to be the most important work that can be done on earth for God and for man. He was a man of faith who believed that God answers prayers. He had over 50 000 recorded answers to written Prayer Topics. He strove more and more to know God and to move Him to answer prayer. With his team, they carried out over 57 Prayer Crusades (periods of 40 days and nights during which at least 8 hours are invested into prayer each day). Th ey also carried out over 80 Prayer Sieges (times of near non-stop praying that range from 24 to 120 hours). He carried out over 100 Prayer Walks of between 5 and 47 kilometres in towns and cities around the world. He taught on prayer over and over, even though he was in many ways just a beginner in the profound science of prayer. 

He also considered fasting as one of the major weapons for Christian Spiritual Warfare. He carried out over 250 fasts ranging from 3 to 40 days, drinking water only. During some of his long fasts he also took water-soluble vitamins. Recently, the Lord called the Professor to battle with the hosts of wickedness in heavenly places through supra-long fasts (between 52 and 80 days). In obedience to this call, he accomplished 3 of such supra-long fasts.

Professor Fomum saw the importance of redeeming money and investing it into reaching those without Christ with the glorious Gospel. He therefore chose a life-style of simplicity and “self-imposed poverty” in order that their income should be invested into the critical work of evangelism, soul-winning, church-planting and the perfecting of the saints. His wife and him grew to investing 92.5% of their earned income from all sources (salaries, allowances, royalties and cash gifts) into the Gospel. Th is was with the hope that, as they grew in the knowledge and the love of the Lord and the perishing souls of men, they would one day invest 99% of their income into the Gospel.

In the last 40 years, 99% of the time, this Spiritual Leader spent between 15 minutes and 6 hours daily with God alone in what he called Daily Dynamic Encounters with God (DDEWG). During these times, he read God’s Word, meditated on It, listened to God’s voice, heard God speak to him, recorded what God was saying to him and prayed it through. He thus had over 18 000 recorded Daily Dynamic Encounters with God. He considered these daily meetings with God around His Word, the determinant strength of his life. These Daily Dynamic Encounters with God were coupled with over 60 periods of withdrawing to seek God alone for periods that ranged from 3 to 21 days (which he termed Retreats for Spiritual Progress). These slowly transformed Professor Z. T. Fomum into a man who fi rst hungered for God; and then hungered and thirsted for God; while hoping to become a man who hungered, thirsted and gasped after God. “Oh, that I would have more of God!” was his unceasing inner cry.

As a passionate Evangelist and Preacher of the Gospel, he travelled extensively. He went out of his base in Yaounde on over 700 missionary journeys in Cameroon that ranged from 1 day to 3 weeks. He also embarked on over 500 missionary journeys that ranged from 2 days to 6 weeks, to over 70 nations on all the six continents.

Professor Fomum was the Founding Team-Leader of Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMFI) – an evangelism, soul-winning, church-planting and disciple-making movement with missionaries and Churches in over 50 nations on all the 6 continents.

Along with his team, they saw over 10,000 recorded healing miracles performed by the Lord in answer to prayer in Jesus’ Name. Th ese included headaches disappearing, cancers disappearing, HIV positive people becoming HIV negative, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the dumb speaking, the lame walking, demoniacs being set free, and new teeth and new organs received. 

This family man was married to Prisca Zei Fomum and their 7 children are involved with them in the work of the Gospel. His wife, Prisca, is a national and international Minister to Children and specializes in winning children to the Lord Jesus and making them into His disciples. She is also involved in imparting the vision of the Ministry to Children, and in raising and building up Ministers to Children.

Professor Zacharias Tanee Fomum said he owed all that he was, and all that the Lord had done in him and through him, to the unmerited favours and blessings of the Lord God Almighty. He also owed it to his worldwide army of friends and co-workers who have generously and sacrificially invested their love, encouragement, fasts, prayers, gifts and co-operation into him and their joint ministry. Without these unmerited favours and blessings of the Lord God Almighty and the investments of his friends and co-workers, he would have amounted to nothing.

May the Lord receive all the glory!

Source: http://zacharias-tanee-fomum.e-monsite.com/en/pages/the-ministry/biography.html

Stories of Faith - Episode 48

Pastor Kayode MOMOLOSHO (1960-2009)

IN MEMORY OF A GREAT MAN THAT LIVED FOR JUST 49 YEARS, BUT DID WONDERS FOR THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE BY THE GOVERNMENT IN HILLS OF KOMA IN ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

"No Epitaph is Golden and Remembered by Men like the One written in the heart of Men."- Pastor Kayode MOMOLOSHO

Proverbs 10:7 - The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

Odds Against Pastor Kayode MOMOLOSHO

He was a Missionary Extraordinaire in Koma Hills of Jada Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria. He was the Pioneer Chief Project Coordinator of The King's Call @ Koma Hills. He faced many challenges in carrying out the divine assignments given to him. Some of the challenges included the following;-

• He had to live in an unfamiliar land and among strange people far away from home.
• There was no road into Koma Hills and he trekked 16 hours from Yola to Koma Hills and back to Yola many times.
• He suffered from river blindness because there was no good drinking water. This made him blind in one eye.
• He walked hundreds of kilometers in between the 39 communities in Koma Hills preaching the gospel of God to the Koma people.
• Some of the communities are located on hills and he once fell from a hill on one of his trip. He was seriously injured and had to be taken to the theater for surgery.
• He had numerous accidents​ on motorcycles. At death, he had gone through 7 surgeries and was fitted with plastic knee caps and plastic ribs. He once said jokingly​ that when he gets to heaven, he will tell Paul the Apostle about the many motorcycle wrecks he suffered.
• He had to engage an interpreter to communicate with the Koma people.
• As at 1996 when he arrived Koma Hills, the Koma people were not wearing clothes but using leaves and animal skin to cover their nakedness.
• He was accused of trafficking children by the Government and he was arrested.
• The Koma people had the culture of burying a baby whose mother dies.
• Having twin children was a taboo and such children were killed.
• Females had their two frontal teeth removed before getting married between 12-14 years.
• Koma people were predominantly idol worshippers.
• A pregnant woman must not be assisted in the delivery process. After delivery, she must clean herself and prepare her first meal successfully​, if not, she will be regarded as a witch.
• Boys are circumcised in the early teenage years using local methods which sometimes resulted in deaths and many more challenges.

Life Application

Despite of the numerous challenges he encountered, he overcame them. He overcame the challenges in the following ways:

✓ The King's Call @ Koma Hills clothed over 90% of the Koma People with 5 trailer loads of clothing donated by the members of Living Faith Church (aka Winners' Chapel International) under the Leadership of Bishop David Oyedepo.

✓ The King's Call @ Koma Hills dug 10 motorized boreholes, 10 wells and constructed an infiltration gallery thus supplying portable water to many Communities in Koma Hills. This has made river blindness, which use to be prevalent in Koma Hills, a thing of the past.

✓ Rapha Mercy Centre provides free Medical care to the Koma People free of charge till date. This had reduced drastically the high mortality rate in Koma land.

✓ A free Boarding House School and 3 other Day Schools are currently running in Koma Hills for the education of the Koma Children. The day Schools serve the children a meal in school daily.

✓ Pastor Kayode Momolosho led the indigenes in constructing the first road which connected the community to other places. The road was constructed with hoes and cutlasses.

✓ Many of the Pioneer pupils of Dominion Academy, Mani were taken outside the state for further studies. Today, many of them are graduates including a First Class Graduate of Landmark University (LMU).

✓ Dominion International Junior Academy, Mani (DIJA) has also graduated many students from its Junior Secondary Arm of the school.

✓ Koma Children are not only receiving formal education but they are also been taught the word of God.

✓ The allegation of Child trafficking was dropped when he brought back home successfully all the children who were schooling in different parts of the country.

Conclusion

Pastor Kayode MOMOLOSHO didn't just survive in the midst of challenges but he succeeded against all odds. God's Grace and help was available for him.

Source: https://thiscrossroad.com.ng/rising-above-challenges-pastor-kayode-momolosho-1960-2009/

Stories of Faith - Episode 47

Chris Delvan narrates:

Pa Joshua Ekpikhe, a great evangelist in Northern Nigeria died recently. He was from Akwa Ibom. He built Baraka Press, the only press that publishes the gospel in Hausa. He told me the story, he said the Lord told him to leave Minneapolis and go and preach in the West Coast. And he said to God, but you know I don’t have money and you know that my host, his father died and he inherited everything. And the Lord said, “don’t ask him”. So, he told his host, I’m going to California, and the host said “for real… let me take you to the airport”. And he drove him to the airport. And the host said, “are you ok” and he said, “I’m ok, everything is perfect”. And the host dropped him at the airport and left him. And Pa Ekpikhe entered the airport and joined the line to buy ticket without a dime in his pocket. And there were two people before him and the lady at the ticket counter. And there was a man behind him reading a newspaper. As he was going forward, the second to the last person was just attended to and the last person was there at the counter and he started to sweat, a cold sweat. And then he said, somebody puts his hand in my back pocket and placed an envelope in it. Meanwhile, the man behind him was still reading his newspaper. He looked and pulled out the envelope carefully and there was enough money to pay for his flight to and fro.

Stories of Faith - Episode 46

Chris Delvan narrates:

I met an Ibo boy, who came to Mauritania. He had been to Mauritania four times in two years. To preach in Mauritania is punishable by death, by beheading. I said “what job were you doing to survive?”

He said he bought a taxi – a horse. He was using it to raise money to support himself to preach.

When I met him, he was living in an uncompleted house in Kaduna. They had arrested him four times and he was to be killed but this time he was released. The last time he was in an underground cell, open cell with bamboo and palm fronds and everything stacked on top and guards were watching him from above. So he decided to come and learn shoe-making, he wanted to be a cobbler, so he can add to his trade. So, I said, “what will happen, do you want to start making shoes?”

He said, “No”. He’s going back.

I said, “You are going back?”

I’m a Northerner. There’s no relish in going to Mauritania. They still have slaves there. And the guy went back.

If the fire of the spirit of evangelism is not burning in you, you have not seen the end of everything – the lake of Fire.

Stories of Faith - Episode 45

Bill and Elaine Cook shared the following testimony:

Several high-ranking church leaders from Europe, visited a pastor in Hong Kong who took them to visit some churches. 

They found them inspiring, and uniquely Chinese, but they wondered aloud if they were seeing the real church. At their last stop, the pastor discovered that two young women had just returned from their mission station for a short visit, so he asked them to come to the hotel late, to meet the visiting leaders. 

These young ladies had become believers as teenagers while listening to the radio, and they each had felt the call to be a missionary. The pastor had tried to convince them to witness right where they were but they said, “No. The Bible says Jesus said to go into all the world. We will go.”

The pastor protested, “You have only been Christians for six months, and you are so young.” They replied, “Pastor, we have read everything Jesus said and nowhere does He ask people how old they are. We want to go.” The pastor replied, “Very well. We need some workers on Hainan Island. But it is very rough. The people there are fishermen. There are no Christians there. For young ladies it might be dangerous.” Excitedly they responded, “How soon can we go? We will go to this place.” 

They had been there for two years and were now back for a short period of time to try to get Bibles for their new churches. The pastor had not seen them since they insisted that they “go now!”

The pastor went to the lobby that night at the appointed time and waited for the ladies to arrive so he could escort them to meet the visitors. While he waited, he watched the bellboys in their crisp, tailored uniforms, and the tourists who attempted to be casual in their designer clothes. “Oh, no!” he thought, as the girls walked in. Their black pajamas and broad-brimmed fishermen hats stood in stark contrast to the appearance of the sophisticated hotel. 

Tourists ogled them with that “how quaint” look so often directed to nationals. Several people stood staring as he greeted them as politely as possible without drawing too much attention. “Come, we will go to my room to meet some people from Europe.” The women looked at each other, then apprehensively followed behind, looking down at their bare feet sinking into the carpet. They attempted to step more lightly, as though they were afraid they would sink into this beautifully colored “mud.” 

The pastor pushed the elevator button, keeping his head down and afraid to watch any of the many eyes staring in his direction. The elevator arrived and the door slid open, and the women greeted it with a look of astonishment.

Several tourists smiled at them as they stepped on. There were more “how quaint” looks. The elevator operator pretended not to notice his passengers as he asked for the floor number. The women’s wonder changed to fear as the doors closed and their first elevator ride began to ascend! Once in the room, the two European church officials graciously greeted them and motioned for them to sit down. The pastor pulled chairs toward them, so they would not sit on the floor.

The European brethren began, “Pastor, ask them how many churches they have established on Hainan.” They put their heads down and answered, “Oh, Pastor, we have only been there two years. Not many. Not very many.” Their voices were apologetic. “How many?” “Oh, not many, not very many. We have only been there a short time. The people were not very friendly. Sometimes they became very vicious. Yes, sometimes they told us they were going to drown us in the ocean. Several men threatened us. Oh, my, and because we were so young, even some of the ladies did not like us. Yes, some even called us terrible names…so, not many churches…no, not many.” The pastor interrupted and slowly repeated the words, “H-o-w m-a-n-y?” 

There was a moment of silence, then one of the women looked up with embarrassment and anguish, as though confessing to a crime, “Only thirteen.”

The pastor looked astonished and interpreted for the guests. “Thirteen.” One of them repeated the number, “Only thirteen! Oh, my, goodness, I haven’t planted that many churches in my lifetime!” One of the pastor’s assistants interrupted, *“No, Pastor, she did not say thirteen, she said thirty!”* The pastor looked at them and asked, “Thirty?” “Yes, yes, not many. We have done very poorly. Only thirty.” “How many people are in the churches?” Again both heads went down, apologizing for their failure. “Not many.” Finally, the pastor looked like he was ready to shake them and practically yelled, “How many?” “Only two hundred and twenty people. Not many, no…not many.” 

Quickly multiplying in his head, the pastor said, “Two hundred and twenty in thirty churches?” “Oh, no, in only one, but that one is a very small church, very small. There are bigger ones…” The guests repeated the numbers, “Two hundred and twenty is small? Dear Lord, I wish I had some that large. Ask them how many are in the big churches.” With a more reverent manner the pastor inquired, “And how many in the big churches? I mean, the biggest one?” They began again, “Oh, not many…” when he asked them, “Please, ladies, how many?” “Oh, less than 5000. Only 4,900. Yes, less than 5000. We have just started.” From behind the pastor came the sound of weeping. “Dear Lord, forgive us! What did they do? How did they do it? Ask them what they did!” 

When asked, they looked astonished. “What did we do? Why, nothing. Yes, we did nothing, nothing.” “You did nothing? You have thirty churches; the smallest with two hundred and twenty people, the largest with almost five thousand new believers! And you did nothing?”

“No, nothing. We just prayed.”

“I know you prayed, but what else did you do?”

“After we prayed, the Holy Spirit would tell us exactly what to do. We would keep praying and He would tell us what to do, and we would do it. Then we prayed and then He would tell us what to do. We would do it and keep praying…”

“Dear Lord, they just prayed and the Holy Spirit told them exactly what to do and they prayed…”

The pastor laid his hands on the shoulders of the two sisters. Behind him his two guests, on their knees, weeping, joined as they just prayed. 

This year and going forward...if Jesus is Lord in your life... just pray and obey the Holy Spirit