Present realities within the pentecostal movement in Nigeria have left people like the Senior Pastor of Gospel Flame Revival Outreach Ministries, Pastor David Ikhielea, worried that many Christians and ministers of the gospel have abandoned the core values which the biblical apostles set in the first century.
Pastor Ikhielea, who hails from Ekpoma in Edo State and schooled at Institute of Management and Technology where he read insurance, asserts that the conduct of some so-called born-again Christians and ministers has become a hindrance and stumbling block to people who are not in Christ, making them treat the salvation message with scorn. More importantly, he says that many ministers are too close and financially intimate with the government that they |
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now find it difficult to criticize political leaders. As a result of such intimacy, government no longer respects them. As a student, Ikhielea was a cultist but God arrested him in a spectacular way. Below, he shares his Damascus road experience and comments on other issues. |
The early days
Before I went to IMT, I was working with Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation. When I came back from the study leave, I resumed my work. And it was then that I received the call to the ministry. I had to go to Foursquare Bible School , and later proceeded to All Nations Bible School , run by Idahosa Ministries International, from where I graduated with a diploma in Theology.
My Damascus road conversion
I was in IMT when I gave my life to Christ. While I was there, I belonged to a secret cult known as Burkina Faso . Membership of the cult was just about physical power to be in control on campus. It was during one of the holidays when I went back home that a lady witnessed to me, saying that God sent her to me. She said that God told her to warn me that I was going too far. I didn't know how she managed to know that I was in a secret cult.
This lady was in Benin while I was in Enugu . I was so shocked because I know that a cult member does not disclose or discuss his identity anywhere. I was so surprised to hear that. This lady said that she came purposely to talk to me and deliver the message that God said I was going too far. I didn't know when I owned up and confessed to her that I actually belonged to a secret cult. Then she started preaching to me. Still I didn't give my life to Christ, I didn't accept Christ because I didn't see it as a possibility because of my social involvement with ladies. I didn't think that it was something that could just happen.
I felt that as a cultist still in school, I just wondered how I could just come out of the secret cult. I was still in school, and wondered how I would stand it. I didn't see how it would be possible. I think that it was after that day I lost my peace and I saw myself singing Christian songs. As at that time she ministered to me, I was not even going to church. I was becoming more deadly in cult activities, and I could not understand why I should be singing Christian songs. This thing happened in 1989.
One day, during that period, I decided to ask somebody for a Bible. I took the Bible and went into my room and locked the door.
Honestly, I didn't know what to do with it because I had never bothered to read the Bible before. Then I said, God if it was you that really sent that lady to come and talk to me; and you want me to give my life to you, you have to assure me of my safety when I go back to school. I mean, how can I be a cult member and then give my life to you? What is my security? I said: let the place I will open to assure me of your safety. When I flipped the Bible, it opened exactly at Psalm 35. When I read the first four verses, I saw the guarantee that God gave to me.
The relevant verses read thus: “Plead my cause oh Lord with them that strive with me; fight against them that fight against me; take hold of the shield and buckler stand up for my head; draw out also the spear and stop the way of them that persecute me; say unto my soul I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put them to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that device my hurt.”
When I read up to the fourth verse, I didn't know when I knelt down and surrendered in the room. He assured me that He would give me a covering when I got back to school. Right in my room, I just said Lord, here I am. I just gave my life to Christ. I never knew that scripture was in the Bible. It became Rhema to me and my personal scripture.
I told my mother I was born-again. She was very happy because I had been a bad child. Although she was not born-again herself, she was happy. Then I sent her to look for the lady that preached to me. When the lady was told to come, her fellowship members were sceptical and tried to dissuade her, saying that I wanted to rubbish her testimony. They just didn't believe that I could be converted. It was like what happened to Paul, the brethren initially didn't believe he met the Lord. But she came. I asked her to pray for me that I had given my life to Christ. She said that I should follow her to where they fellowship. I just humbled myself and followed her to the place – and all the members were younger than me.
Message to cultists
I think is it pure spiritual blindness that is making them remain in these cults. The Bible says: “To who you yield your members are you a servant of”; if you yield yourself to God, you will be a servant of God; if you yield yourself to Satan, of course, you will be a servant of the devil. When I was in the cult, I thought it was just an ordinary thing. The truth is that it is not ordinary. Do you know that after I accepted the Lord as my saviour and went back to school, a group of ladies came to my room and made a revelation that shook me?
They said they couldn't tell me this thing until then because I had become born-again. They revealed that one of them had been a friend to a room-mate. But I didn't know her in person. She told them that one day she visited my room-mate she noticed a symbol that was drawn on the wall in my corner. As cultists, we used symbols to communicate information among ourselves on campus. It could be a circle with 3.30 written in the middle of it, which means meeting at 3.30.
So, this lady said that the moment she saw that symbol, she knew promptly that I was a cultist and told the people in the room that day. I was not there myself. That very night, she had a dream and saw me leading other cultists with swords to kill her. She was terrified and began screaming the name of Jesus and pleading the blood of Jesus. And that name was the only thing that prevented us from killing her.
What made me to believe her was that she gave some names of cult members who I knew belonged to other cult groups on campus. The ladies said that they could tell me because they knew I was a cultist and their brethren were afraid. So, one day, they said they came to the balcony close my room and prayed that God should arrest me. This means it was actually the prayer of those people on campus that prompted God to use the lady in my village to preach Christ to me while I was on holiday. It was only when I repented that they had the boldness to tell this thing because I had become born-again.
Fired-up to expose cults
After I got born-again, God empowered me to expose these things on campus. I started speaking out and preaching about it on campus. On several occasions, they planned to deal with me. But I learnt later that each time the Raj, which was what we called the leader of the cult, would tell them to leave me alone that I was specially defended. I was preaching from one campus of IMT to the other. The Institute operated from three campuses. People were afraid for me and would come to me to ask how I could be taking on the cults without fear. I simply just put my trust in God.
Starting off in ministry
After I resigned from Nigerian Re in 1994, I went into full-time ministry. But before then, when I completed my training at Foursquare Gospel Church Bible School , I served as an assistant pastor in a church in Surulere under Reverend Paul Omoruyi. It was the same Rev. Omoruyi that inaugurated my ministry in January 1993, some months before the June 12 political crisis.
Despite the financial challenges, I have never regretted leaving paid employment. I never woke up any day and wished that I had not left Nigerian Re with all the prospects of promotions, good salary, privileges and what have you. I have never regretted my decision even when there are financial challenges. I have peace in my heart and God has been my stay, my divine provider and my anchor. I am content with what the Lord provides.
My meat is to win souls. I don't preach for my belly. I preach that God may be glorified. In 1998, I had an encounter about dying to self. So, my message is about seeking the glory of God and not self.
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