Books: (1) Power As of Old (224 Pages)
(2) Power for Youths (142 Pages)
Author: W.F. Kumuyi
Publishers: Zoe Publishing and Printing Co. Ltd, Lagos (now known as Life Press Ltd,Lagos, Nigeria)
Reviewer: Banji Ojewale
These books were written 30 years ago to document an unprecedented rain of the miraculous in the history of the Church in Nigeria during a phased Easter crusade mounted by the Deeper Christian Life Ministry,DCLM.It was matched by a publicity arsenal,which on its own bore an ineffable imprimatur.
The supernatural the Church promised God would perform during the crusade took place,to the surprise of those who also watched with disbelief as Deeper Life members wafted through Lagos in uncharacteristic emotional displays to invite the people to the events.
Now, Pastor W.F.Kumuyi, the General Superintendent of DCLM, has recalled the glory of those days and proclaimed that power as of old we witnessed in 1996 is coming back as he embarks on healing messages over the next few weeks every Thursday evening at the headquarters of DLBC at Gbagada,Lagos, Nigeria, beginning on October 22, 2026.
Reprinted here is the review of the two books Pastor Kumuyi was inspired to write to capture the power as of old the LORD gifted His believing people.
It was something between disbelief and surprise when in the Sundays of March and April 1996, Lagosians woke up to the public spectacle of Deeper Life Bible Church members in a display of dancing and singing to the accompaniment of gangan, trumpets saxophones and drums of brass bands.
The city dwellers were pleasantly stunned at this sight of the normally demure Deeper Life members donning masquerade-like attires in long convoys of cars, buses, motor-cycles and lorries with posters and loud speakers announcing an up-coming residential programme tagged Power as of Old.
There was complete traffic standstill in some areas while elsewhere vehicular movement was slow as many people left their homes and trooped to the streets to witness this new dimension to gospel outreach. In a few remarkable instances there was the dramatization of the gospel message right in the street!
These publicity stunts achieved their objective, according to the leader of the church Pastor William Folorunsho Kumuyi. He says: “The publicity and all the labour therein paid off. The attendance was doubtlessly explosive. Then the organization, the move of the Holy Spirit, the provision, then the power demonstration.
“The most amazing thing was the organization of such a motley crowd with maximum result and profit to all”.
In these two books Power as of Old and Power for Youths, Kumuyi does not only relate the pith of what transpired at the five-stage staggered retreats at the International Bible Training Centre at Ayobo on the outskirts of Lagos, but also he re-states for the umpteenth time the age-old Christian testimonies of salvation, sanctification, Holy Spirit Baptism and receiving the evangelism vision.
There is no doubt about God’s ability to relive His Power all over again as He did in Bible Times. God Himself proves this through the countless cases of the so-called hopeless which He took care of in just a matter of moments at the retreat as Kumuyi prayed.
The emphasis of this great human revelation of our age in the first book is that although the manifestation of God’s healing power is what man hankers after these days, his real and most urgent need is salvation from sin and a re-ordering of his relationship with God through uncompromising faith in the Lord Jesus Christ all his life.
Kumuyi painstakingly takes the reader through what this demand entails. When you have been spiritually regenerated through the Blood of Jesus and repented and forsaken your sins and they are forgiven, a second hurdle of inward corruption must be overcome.
To do this, you need to revisit Calvary , where the second work of God’s Grace bestows on you a life of consecration and sanctification. The power to firm up these experiences and utilize their benefits to the utmost is acquired through being immersed in the Holy Ghost.
Thereafter the way is clear for a full-throttled Christian living.
You start manifesting “love, the greatest gift to mankind,” to others. You must apply the tongue more positively to your fellow man and shun offensive and blasphemous language. Idolatry, occultism and Satanism are evils you stand a thousand kilometers away from as you conform to the pattern of the Bible all your life.
According to Kumuyi, as sure as night follows day, numerous benefits of conquest over life’s battles, deliverance and healing as well as Divine provision will come into the life of the Blood-redeemed believer who takes to this way ordained by God.
If you have known Pastor Kumuyi even for a short time, you could not have missed his matchless passion for evangelism in this age of waning commitment to the Great Commission. He lives up to the reputation in Power as of Old, devoting three solemn chapters to it in concluding the work. Indeed this epilogue could appropriately serve as a “handbook” for church organization and growth. It should be developed into a full orbed book.
The second work, Power for Youths, is an account of the same EASTER GET-TOGETHER dealt with in the preceding book. The difference is that it addresses the students. The same principles and stages of getting saved, sanctified and Holy Ghost-baptized are re-enacted. But something else is at play in the book for the youngsters. It is the style sheet adopted. And what God uses to aid Kumuyi on this score is his background as a teacher who has known the power of illustration to drive home a point or two when your audience is the impressionable youth.
Just one example will suffice. Of the difference between salvation and sanctification he writes: “We usually take our bath in the mornings. And we feel fresh when the body is clean. But though the body may be clean on the outside, we do not feel totally clean on the inside of the mouth. Take the washing of the body as salvation.
Whereas salvation makes the outside of our souls very clean, it is sanctification that clears up the inside of the soul. It is like the tooth paste. Although we may wash our body and look clean on the outside, if the mouth is still dirty, messy and has bad breath, we do not feel totally clean.
But after we have used the toothpaste, and have thoroughly brushed the whole mouth (teeth and tongue together) then we feel totally and truly clean”. This is what I call graphic language. The book is profuse with such palpable presentation.
The two books emanate from the stable of Deeper Life Bible Church but they contain no taint of a denominational bias.
What Kumuyi celebrates is a call for the return to the old time worship of Jehovah through the way laid down by His Son. When man does that God’s power as of old will return in immeasurable folds as the people of the Old Testament and the Early Church saw it.
Viewed from this angle the books deserve a place in every home.
. Ojewale is a writer at Ota,Ogun State, Nigeria.
