ROUTING DEMON IN MANY WAYS

The spell of adoration melodies which opened the service was followed by the message entitled, ‘A More Convenient Time’ given by Our Mother in the Lord, Evangelist Mrs Evelyn Joshua. In the message, she recognised that there is time for every activity under Heaven (Ecclesiastes). Man may work hard and struggle but only God can determine the moment of harvest. We need to include God in whatever we do for a good harvest. Waiting for a convenient time will cause assignments to pile up. A convenient time may not even come. There is need for us like the lame man at The Beautiful Gate to actively reach out to Jesus to claim His blessings. She went on to cite many excerpts from the Bible to buttress her point.

Mounting the altar in succession to Evangelist Evelyn Joshua, Prophet T. B. Joshua drew his listeners’ attention to the ongoing elections in Nigeria and called for prayers. He added that the sky is still cloudy but that with God on our side peace is achievable. After a moment of comments of assurance by the prophet on the new Anointing Water, some testimonies followed in corroboration.

ANOINTING WATER HEALS SICKNESS-RIDDEN PREMATURE BABY
A couple by name Alli from South Africa mounted the platform to give a testimony on their new born baby. Standing by his wife who was seated with the baby on her lap, Mr Alli, a Nigerian resident in South Africa, unfolded his testimony to the congregation in their rapt attention. According to Mr Alli, an emergency operation on his wife in the seventh month of pregnancy became imperative to save the life of the premature baby. After the operation, a number of complications, including symptoms of pneumonia and meningitis, on the health of the baby were detected. The health of the baby so deteriorated that it became inevitable to fix a respiratory tube to the baby by which it could breathe. The doctor expected the tube to be in place for three weeks at least. Meanwhile, Mr Fabian Alli had instructed his sister in Nigeria to go to The SCOAN, collect the Anointing Water and send it to him by DHL. To the glory of God, this scheme was effected under forty eight hours and Fabian was able to administer the Anointing Water to the baby. The tests conducted on the baby after the administration of the Anointing Water revealed tremendous improvements in its health. Many of the sickness –inducing bacteria earlier discovered in the baby, such as the ones in the upper respiratory tract, vanished along with the infirmities earlier mentioned. Miraculously, the tube for breathing disconnected itself from the baby at midnight without causing any breathing problems to the baby. All these miraculous happenings ushered the baby into good health as confirmed by the doctor. The couple told their testimony to the congregation who visibly rejoiced with them for the showers of miracles which their baby had enjoyed.

ANOINTING WATER DEFEATS COMMUNITY GOD
The next testimony came from Ngozi and her husband, Mr Eku, both from Kano, Nigeria . Ngozi was one of those delivered in the church about a year before by the man of God from the effects of community gods and shrines in their villages the fear of which had caused them not to visit these villages for over ten years. In the case of Ngozi, her village worshipped the python and her father, before he died, infected his compound with the water from the habitat of the python, making him and his family specially close to the python. As a beloved daughter of her father, Ngozi specially attracted the attention of the python to the extent that her marital life came directly under the influence of the python. She was constantly visited in her dreams by the python and the effects of these visits on her marital life were quite telling. Each time she was pregnant, the visit would induce a miscarriage. She lost six pregnancies and her first husband as a consequence of these visits. When she luckily got another husband and got impregnated by him, the visits never stopped. She lost the first pregnancy by the second husband to the python. Faced with the reality of ceased menstruation after a long season of hard luck, Ngozi was in a real dilemma. It was this, in a package of many other reasons, that necessitated her visit to The SCOAN on 28th February 2010 where she received deliverance in the hands of the prophet in the name of Jesus Christ. Among many benefits from the deliverance were the restoration of her menstruation and a pregnancy that was nurtured in peace resulting from the ostracism of the python from her spiritual life. With her baby girl as the only surviving one out of eight pregnancies, Mrs Ngozi Eku, now in a motherhood status, has every reason to thank God after the long journey of many disappointments has given way to joy and celebration.

ANOINTING WATER STANDS ASTRIDE THE WORLD
In confirmation of the eclipsing powers of the Anointing Water, video clips revealing the works of miracle associated with the Anointing Water in other countries were activated for the benefit and consumption of viewers. The clips revealed works of miracle of the Anointing Water in Greece, Ghana and the United Kingdom. In each of these countries, the Anointing Water generated a spiritual aura where contrary spirits were rendered homeless and helpless leading to the deliverance of many of those hitherto held bound by such spirits. In Greece, for example, a woman with migraine and a spiritual husband was delivered by God using the medium of the Anointing Water. In the same country, a man with an injury in the knee cap and who consequently depended on crutches for movement also received his healing through the agency of the Anointing Water. Similar feats were recorded in both Ghana and the United Kingdom. In the UK, a woman who was demon-possessed was delivered by our Lord using the Anointing Water as a medium. In Ghana, the evangelist sent there by the prophet delivered a woman who was demon-afflicted. In the same way, a man who had been disabled for six years and relied on crutches for walking was also delivered and restored to full health and independence of the walking aids. There were many cases of people falling and being delivered from contrary spirits in all the countries mentioned.

PASTOR’S WIFE DELIVERED FROM THE SPIRIT OF STEALING
A video clip also revealed the case of a pastor’s wife who received a prophecy from the prophet during the Monday noon service that she had run from her husband’s house to The SCOAN because of her life of breakage and stealing. Appearing on the platform with her husband, the woman, Ruth by name, confirmed the prophecy and admitted that she had been stealing right from infancy. She had had the spirit of stealing which made her break into people’s houses for their personal effects. In one of the cases, she stole a cloth in the market but a man promptly paid for it for her and cautioned that she should not be taunted and disgraced by the on-lookers. Her regular victim was a woman in their neighbourhood who dealt in provisions. About noon when the woman was away, Mrs Ruth Ajumo would jump the fence and break the woman’s door to pack her provisions. Unfortunately, the husband was not aware of this nefarious practice of hers. Delivering her from the spirit of theft, the prophet remarked that that trait in her was over.

DELIVERANCE RESTORES MARITAL ONENESS
The next case was that of a young man who decided to jilt his wife because of the unpleasant sexual experiences he used to have with her. According to Mr Toyin Taiwo, the man in question, each time he wanted to enjoy sexual intimacy with his wife, he would observe that his penis would shrink and look like that of a day –old baby but when he went to women outside to ascertain his situation, he would have a very surprising difference seeing his male organ ‘like an elephant’ in full erection. Assuming his wife to be responsible for this abnormality, he decided to end the marriage. Confirming this prophecy for the second time in the April 10th service, Mr Toyin however admitted that the situation changed since the Sunday before, following the deliverance by the prophet. Confirming the view, his wife informed the congregation that she had gone back to her marriage following the normalization, at work, of her husband’s private parts. The man of God exonerated the wife from all insinuations, maintaining that Mr Toyin, at the very time, had a mistress whom he nursed plans to have as a second wife.

MISUNDERSTANDING WORDS OF PROPHECY
The next video clip was among other reasons activated to correct the culpable presumptions among the congregants regarding the import of the prophecies issued to them. In the said repartee between Wise Man Christopher and Mrs Ezekweolome, the latter corrected the wise man erroneously about her own marital status. When Wise Man Christopher cautioned her to be careful about disappointments, the lady misinterpreted the expression and promptly told the wise man that she was already married. Making himself clearer, the wise man told her that he knew that. He was, on the contrary, simply warning her about the possible collapse of the marriage if care was not taken. Luckily for the wise man, her husband was around to add that he had sent her home the previous week because of her perceived misdemeanour. Defending herself on the last score, Mrs Ezekwelolome, a non working housewife, deprecated the repression she suffered in the hands of her husband who additionally habitually made her account for every kobo she received from him. She strongly felt that her views and wishes to engage in some private business deserved consideration by her husband. In his defence, the husband stated that apart from taking full charge of her education, he had sponsored her trips to France and the United States of America. Her recent wish to go to Dubai for business in gold would put the entire family at risk apart from rendering him the sole caretaker of the children. Speaking on behalf of the womenfolk, about four women in the congregation expressed support for the husband and praised him for his consideration for the welfare of the entire family while advising the wife to be contented with the contributions of the husband to her well-being. The prophet, while inviting them to a reconciliation meeting, expressed the view that a marriage where both participants saw themselves as equally gifted in sophistication and intelligence and neither was ready to bow to the other was indeed a difficult one to manage but with God all things are possible.

The assurance by the prophet that the Monday noon service was in place by way of continuation made the congregation concede to call it a day.