Founder of Peace House, ‘Gboko, Benue State Bro Gbile Akanni has revealed how the sordid past of the pastor who led him to Christ came to the open at the pastor’s burial service several years ago.
Akanni made the disclosure while speaking at the recent international conference for ministers and leaders at the Foursquare convention ground in Ajebo, Ogun State.
The Bible teacher who spoke on the topic, Morality, and integrity in ministry, said he had so much respect and regard for the pastor and saw him as an angel.
Pastor died, bubble burst
But he said he was taken aback one day long before the pastor died how some members of the church were making jest of him at the back of the church while he was preaching.
When he tried to reprimand them, they shut him down and said the pastor should just finish his message and go and sit down. Apparently, the pastors meant nothing to those who were making jest of him. They knew some things Akanni did not know.
But the bubble burst when the man died and there was a burial service in his honour.
Akanni said he was part of the choir and they had rehearsed and prepared how to sing in the service.
The congregation was however taken by surprise when the unexpected happened. Another woman who had children for the late pastor walked into the church with her children. There was a commotion. The church leaders were confused. They had to hurriedly bring the service to an end. “The children looked so much like Baba pastor,” Akanni remarked.
He wondered how the pastor was able to keep a concubine for years and nobody knew about it. “Where were those children growing and we don’t know about it?” he asked
Sister without womb
Akanni also told the story of a couple waiting for the fruit of the womb and how he laboured in prayers for them. Unknown to the husband, his wife had no womb even after they had been married for 12 years.
“We were praying and praying. We asked the sister to go and check at the hospital she would say what can the hospital do. I went to preach in a place outside the country on a particular day and her husband ran to meet me. He came to tell me he was finished. He said they went to the hospital and the white man (medical doctor) checked and discovered the sister (his wife) had no uterus; that her womb had been cleanly removed. She had an operation where the thing was cut. There is nothing inside.”
“Apparently the sister was doing abortion sometimes and they removed the womb. She never told her husband. But she was the leader of our choir. She concealed it for 12 years. When I came in to ask why she hid the information from her husband, she said she did not want him to be discouraged.”
Truth has no hiding place
Akanni explained that anything that has to be done under the cover of darkness lacks integrity. “It has an appearance that it is nice but the reality is shrouded in darkness. Where there is anything to hide, where there is a story that has not been told the way it should be told there is an integrity problem.”
He wondered how an activity has gone on for years and “the person you sleep and eat with does not know about it. It might be a mistake for you years ago, but integrity demands that you say the truth about it. You are the light. Whatever is light is not meant for under the bushel. If we have to keep light under the bushel, it means there is something wrong with it. If ministry is weak in your hands, you have not told us the truth. You have not told us where the matter is coming from. Anything that has to be compromised, has no integrity about it.
“That you fell into sin is bad enough. But the Bible says whosoever covers his sin shall not prosper, shall not progress. No matter what he does, it will never fit. Whatever he is doing will scatter, not just because he sinned but because he covered it and do as if there is no problem.”
Akanni said there is going to be a great revival when we choose to pursue integrity.
While noting that God wants to do a new thing in Nigeria, he said, “Where we now stand, we require power to withstand what is coming against the church.”
Christians the hope of the world
Earlier in his message, Akanni pointed out that Jesus was addressing the disciples when he said to them that they are the salt of the world.
While explaining the importance of salt, he said, “If your life fails to stop decay in people’s life, you have failed in your ministry. It looks as if as far as Jesus is concerned the people that can stop decay, that can bring savour and taste and sweetness to the world that will continue to be corrupt are these men and women he was talking to.
“He did not say we are the salt of heaven. We will not need salt in heaven. We will not need your ministry in heaven. When we get to heaven nobody will tell us to know the Lord because we shall see Him as he is. Our ministry is right here on earth.
“You are the only hope for this world not to get rotten. You are the only agent that can bring savour and taste to people’s lives on earth. You are the one that has been positioned to stop the activities of corruption, decay, and disruption that go on in the lives of men.
“Salt does not shout. If you have a pit latrine that is full and you see maggots playing in it, you don’t need to talk, just carry salt and put it inside the whole thing will go down. If you add salt to a meat that is about to rot the meat will be preserved. If our lives don’t stop decay in people’s lives then we have not fulfilled our ministry.”
He explained further that “if the salt lost its savour, it is of no use. It is neither good for the ground nor good for the dunghill”
Many pastors according to him are on the pulpit but are of no use.“They only occupy space but as far as heaven is concerned they are good for nothing. As far as what God wanted them to do on earth, they are good for nothing. Something has happened to their lives.
“Salt don’t make noise. But now you are making noise there is no revival, no change. While there is no change, your costume has improved. Your appearance has become more costly. You have become more sophisticated.
“Any man of God standing on the pulpit whose integrity of life has dissipated has lost savour, he has lost the authority to confront sin, authority to confront a family problem, that man of God is good for nothing.”