Buhari will be there for as long as God wants him —Adebayo

Pastor Zacheus Adebayo is the founder of Redemption Benefits Church, also known as Jesus Clinic. In this interview with OLAIDE SOKOYA, he sheds light on the activites of the church and other issues.

 

Your ministry has clocked 24 years. How has the journey been for you?

It has been wonderful; God has been so faithful to us. Any battle we enter on behalf of anybody, we also have testimonies and lives are saved. The crippled have walked, the dead have come back to life. Many things people say it are not possible, when they get into this ministry they become possible.

 

Challenges I faced

Let me be very sincere with you: when God called me, he said, ‘whatever that will oppose my ministry in your hand, I will consume it. What I will call a challenge is what I called human problem. When I say human problem, people will leave their churches and come here to negotiate what I will collect for miracles, I say no I don’t negotiate because when God called me, he didn’t ask me to negotiate miracle. So, God has been providing; he protects everyone in my church. I have not buried anybody for 23 good years in my church, not a child not anybody. It means there is power in this ministry. Money is another challenge because God told me in 2009 and 2010 that the church will go all over the world, but where is the money; where are the personnel? But God has been helping us; we are expanding. So, I will say money is a constraint, but God is solving our problems.

 

Concerning 2019 general election, how should the government make sure we have free and fair polls?

I am not into politics but I observe a lot of things and I am praying for Nigeria. One thing is this, if it remains only this church and me, I will pray for Nigeria. God talks to me a lot about Nigeria and if it is an evil, I will implore some people we pray. A lot of evils would have been happening in Nigeria but the Lord is there; nobody can exceed certain things like when they say the super powers have the weapons to destroy the whole world. I will just be looking at them and smiling. Will God be looking at them to destroy what He has made? Nobody can destroy His works. What He has made concerning the 2019 elections, Nigeria would still be; Nigeria will still remain. Look at the Christian population, look at other religions, you will see that we are not few the Christian populations and for the fact that we are not few some are still straight. Some are saying  Nigeria will break I say Nigeria cannot break. In the interview I granted Tribune in 2016, I said it that Nigeria will not break. Buhari will be there for as long as God wants him, God needs him to do certain things; the moment he finishes his attempt somebody else will be there. If you look at the Book of Kings in the Bible ,you will find out that God will appoint remove him, appoint, another one. He removes until it gets to the person that will do His will. That seat can never be vacant. Somebody must be there. So, if God is going to number six, he can start from number one; if number one is not doing His will, number 2,3,4,5, He will keep removing him. So, I feel what we can do as body of Christ is to pray more. One thing is this God is for Nigeria and in 2019, His will, will be done. So, I pray God will surprise us in 2019 and help the masses because they are really suffering. No food to eat, no employment. I am praying today that the government will favour the masses. I wish voters will look at qualities not personalities.

• Vote buying, selling is evil —Kano CAN chairman

 

Concerning your convention I am the Lord, how did you come about the theme?

God gave me the theme of the convention to prove that He is Lord over all situations. The text is Isaiah chapter 43. That language I am the Lord’is a language of war. I am the Lord over situations, I am the Lord over problems. I am the Lord over challenges. You can’t  serve me and I will not help you.

 

Is there anything the church can do to assist this government to build the Nigeria of our dream?

The correction must start from the church. Look at the multiplicity of the church. The church is part of the society and the government is administering the society. If you look at the population of the churches, assuming the churches occupy 50 per cent, all churches abideby the rules and regulations you will see how it would have been easy for government to administer us.

I will say we are trying because we provide employment for the youths. In fact, in the 70s, I know Nigeria was different entirely. If you were a father you trained your first child, the child would sponsor his siblings; everybody was comfortable. Not that everyone was rich but they are comfortable. The church has a role to play like empowerment. Look at schools today, they are employing people even more than government and most of the schools are owned by missions, whether Islamic or Christian bodies. I think we should do more. As I mentioned earlier, our youths need to be taken care of. Boys now wear earrings, plait their hairs, they are wearing rags, which was not so before. I think the greater weapon we should use is prayer. There are some people who have. the fear of God and will not steal even if they will die and some people who are not contented with what they have; some are doingYahoo yahoo. Parents have a role to play as well. Let them  control their children and the government should give all of us hope. Let the government do like Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Parents should not neglect their role.