In this interview, the General Overseer of The Beloved Church, a Lagos-based church, Michael Abiodun, speaks about his call to ministry, challenges and why he hesitated at the beginning, just as he shared memorable moments in the ministry and his message for Nigerians. Excerpts by SEYI JOHN SALAU:
How did your call into ministry come?
To the glory of God, I would say it was a divine call. I was born into a Christian family and I have been to different churches. This includes the Cherubim and Seraphim church, Deeper Life, Anglican and to the glory of God, I joined the Celestial church out of curiosity in the year 1975. I wanted to satisfy my curiosity because I do not believe things easily. In the process, I was built with the tenets of discipline, don’t do this and don’t do that. They have so many things that have to do with morals. To the glory of God there was a prophecy that a time was coming when I would leave the white garment church because I had a global call. It came from a woman who was a very strong prophetess, Mama Jeremiah, at the national headquarters of the church at Makoko. She said that someone was here and you can run but not hide. That was on November 28th, 2008 to be precise. My indecision had a devastating effect on my wife; she was faced with a lot of problems and went through a lot of operations. She was flown down from the United States and Germany during this period. The last prophecy that brought me to my knees was the Lord said, “I would take your eyes if you fail to heed the call”. My younger brother with the Redeemed Church and my friend came with this same prophecy in one day. In fact, there were lots of prophecies at that time. Let me call it the time of ignorance because lot of things went wrong. We had a factory known as Funky water, owned by my wife and everything collapsed and we also lost my second son.
What was it like when you started the ministry?
At the beginning, the Ministry started only on Saturday’s and on Sundays we went to our old church. After some months, God said to me, I didn’t call you to do this; this is what I want. So, my younger brother in the Lord, Omololu asked me what I wanted to do. I also have a mentor, Pastor Femi Ibironke, who advised me to stop hanging on the fence. He advised me to go the way the lord had ahead of me to go and so I took the decision to forge ahead. It wasn’t easy but I must say that I am one of the few lucky pastors whose wives have been very supportive. Maybe, it is because of what she has passed through and we are also lucky to be both engineers and complement each another greatly. We started the Ministry every Saturday at the Women Development Centre, Agege and to my amazement the hand of the Lord was in the place. Then one day they told us that they do not want anyone to preach there anymore. We got there one day and we were told that we could not have our programme there, even though we had paid, they said no preaching.
They said it was now strictly for business but the crowd refused to go and that day it rained. It was then that the present site which we had acquired about two years earlier came to mind. My friend, who is the Overseer of Maranata Church and university said let’s go there. God then proved Himself as the God of the impossible; there we met a wooden structure, and a small church had been there once. That is exactly where the church is located now. That day, the Lord spoke to me, He said if you are ready to serve me; I would show myself that I am the one that called you. He added that the call is a call of glory and it was backed with a song signifying that He would take me there: it was not going to be by my power, nor by my might, not by my knowledge, not by my influence or affluence.
Read also: Only National Assembly can restructure Nigeria- Osoba
The second message came after the third service with another song saying, He would tell me He called and that the beloved desire must be met, no matter what the devil says; no matter what the devil plans. Even while we were registering the church name, the voice was also audible and I heard I am the first and that was how we had the First Beloved Church and First Beloved of Christ Ministry. After seven months, I had a dream and I heard a voice saying that I am the First Beloved among 24 elders. Then I was referred to revelations chapter four.
Why did you hesitate about the call?
I am an electrical engineer and I worked with Nigerian Telecommunication Ltd. Those days NITEL was one of the best places to work because we dominated the Telecommunication sector then. Even at that point I didn’t party; it was by the grace of God. My wife is also an Engineer and she worked for about two years and we decided that it was better for her to be on her own and that was how we set up our first company. I never thought of becoming a man of God and I was very busy on the job. In those days, my immediate boss was the senior brother to El-Rufai and once he called that there is work somewhere, you move and call home that you are off. When the call came initially was who would take care of my children. To the glory of God, He did it; none of my children went to public schools. My wife and I cherish education a lot. I am the pioneer chairman of liberation in the celestial church. If God says He needs a pencil and you went to buy an airplane, then you are just wasting your time. Today, I want to tell you that what I run after runs after me today.
What are the memorable moments for you in the ministry?
The case of a man who left for the US and for over seven and half years nobody heard about him. I believe in fasting and prayers and to the glory of God within a month, he called his parents. Today, he is a living soul. We have someone who is epileptic, a young girl from Akwa Ibom and during holy Communion we ministered to her and she stretched on the floor foaming in the mouth and it looked like she was completely dead but went back home healed. There was also another man who had a big sore who was also healed.
Finally, what is your message to Nigerians?
I say it authoritatively that nothing can divide the country. We have to be patient. Also the year of reckoning is here. The Lord says that He would change his ways to surprise the mighty. The Lord says he is going to work in Nigeria. People are really suffering. Last Sunday after church service, a well-dressed man came and told me ‘daddy I am here to beg for money’. The one that restored the lost glory is going to do it in Nigeria. Prophet Micah stood as the last man standing. One with God is in the majority. The Lord has spoken and His word cannot change. What we are passing through would be a thing of the past. I pray that we would all be alive to witness it. When the Lord spoke to the prophet that by this time tomorrow, a bag of rice would be sold for N2000. Can you and I believe this? There is nothing that is impossible for God. What is happening now is stock taking. It has never happened before where the outgoing minister would be queried. The change has come and it would affect all spheres. It is beyond Buhari or anybody.
