Apostle Raphael Olorunmaye is the Chairman of Alimosho Province of the Lagos chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. He shares his 40 years experience of Holy Ghost baptism which took place shortly after his conversion on April 3 1977 in his own words.

“Sunday 3^rd April 1977, was my birthday. To mark the occasion as part of the celebration, I decided to take my childhood friend, Augustine Babatunde Kafiyaro out on a Jamboree. He had just come from Kabba our hometown in Kogi State-Nigeria to live in Kaduna, a bigger city where I was residing. So taking him out on my birthday was supposed to be a great delight I thought.

Augustine was already waiting for me at his Tunduwada home which is about 10 kilometers from my place in Kakuri. When I got to him he was quick to request that we should see an SU (Scripture Union) man in his Neighbourhood who had been preaching to him. I agreed. We went to the ‘SU’ man.

The ‘SU’ man, Bro. Tony Aliu, as we loved to call him, wasted no time in the pursuit of his goal, to get me born again. Shortly after we arrived his place, he began sharing God’s word with me. His word pierced through my heart. The Holy Spirit convicted me greatly like never before with written fears all over my face. I knelt down in his single room apartment while he led me to the feet of Jesus Christ. His prayer was simple and straight to the point. Rivers of joy welled up within me after he prayed. I was filled with the assurance of salvation and the joy of the Lord.

He then exhorted us on the need for fellowship, so as to grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. He arranged for us to meet at his place of fellowship by 6pm that same day, the fellowship center was located at Bayajida Str., Kaduna. As I walked with my friend, a few meters away from Bro. Tony Aliu’s house, it was as if the presence of God which I experienced during prayer had refused to depart.

So, I told Augustine that we should go straight to locate the fellowship center. We did. On getting there we found it open without anyone within the small hall. It was 3pm, and fellowship time was 6pm. We were glued to the benches in the fellowship center; unable to continue with our planned jamboree.

By 6pm, people began to arrive. The fellowship commenced with prayers and worship. A powerful sermon was preached by a Brother whose name I cannot recall. That day’s fellowship being my first was an unforgettable experience.

One thing that kept ringing in my heart, I had come to a place to really worship and serve God. The fellowship was held daily and I never missed any. But one common manifestation in the fellowship was the prayer language that almost everybody spoke. On enquiry I was told that it was the gift of the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues, and that it comes when one receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Without any further guidance I plunged myself into fasting asking God for the gift of the Spirit. On the seventh day of fasting a senior Brother in the fellowship, Bro. Julius Olumodeji called me after the fellowship to know if I had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I told him, I was in my 7th day of fasting to receive the Holy Ghost baptism and I was yet to speak in tongues. He then arranged to meet with me at the fellowship center during lunch break the following day.

At the appointed time this brother showed me some Bible passages on God’s promises to fill me with the Holy Spirit. After that we began to pray. Bro. Olumodeji laid his hands on me; the next thing I noticed was that I was speaking in a different language to my delight. The experience increased my zeal and turned me into a prayer warrior. It became customary for me to pray several hours in the night nonstop.

During or after several hours of praying in tongues, I would fall into a trance and see revelations.

In one of such revelations I saw the entire fellowship members with balls of fire on their heads. I shared this with Pastor Sunday Aina a close friend of mine in the fellowship and he said we should go to Rev. Joe Olaiya to share the revelation with him. That was how I became close to Rev. Joe Olaiya who later incubated me for the ministry.

On many occasions after I had experiences of fire baptism in the lives of those I ministered to. I soon became a terror to agents of the dark kingdom in the compound where I lived. I often prayed aloud during the night. One woman in an attempt to mock God came to me to pray for her early in the morning. As I stood up to pray she fell down and on regaining herself she took to her heels and fled by the reason of the power of the Spirit upon me.

The entire compound was thrown into an uproar not knowing what to do with me. They advised my elder sister Mrs. Funmilayo Adeyemi whom I was living with to take me to a Psychiatric hospital claiming that my strange and sudden experience was abnormal. But my sister and her husband never raised a voice against me. But as a result of this strange anointing nobody could sleep in our apartment.

The fire kindled by the Holy Spirit fired me on and I became bold. I went everywhere proclaiming the word of God to whoever I came across. At that time I was ready a part of Rev. Joe Olaiya’s ministry. I travelled far and near with him proclaiming the word of God and ministering the baptism of the Holy Spirit to our converts. It was part of our regular routine to spend the weekend in fasting and prayer. This often lasted for as long as seven days.

God was pouring out the Spirit of Revival to bring the harvest of souls to His Kingdom and to raise to Himself an army for spiritual exploits. As at today 80% of the fellowship members then are gospel ministers doing exploits various places.

We experienced a great out-pouring in a School revival organized by a number of secondary schools at Musawa (now in Kastina state). I was ministering in company of my friend Rev. Samson Mabadeje. In that particular meeting, as I spoke about the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the last day of the meeting, the congregation was engulfed in the fire of God. Majority of the students were slain in the spirit as they received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. After midnight, the school authority closed the meeting but they could not stop the fire of the Holy Spirit as we had to carry many of the students to their dormitories to continue speaking in tongues as efforts to stop them at the worship hall could not yield any result.

In one of such revelations I saw the entire fellowship members with balls of fire on their heads. I shared this with Pastor Sunday Aina a close friend of mine in the fellowship and he said we should go to Rev. Joe Olaiya to share the revelation with him. That was how I became close to Rev. Joe Olaiya who later incubated me for the ministry

As at that time, I was a manager in a printing press. One day, while reading a book titled “Five minutes with God” by Rev. W. V. Grant, the anointing came heavily upon me that I had to enter into a private office for prayer. But by the time I came out to the press hall, all the members of staff of the printing press present at that time ran out for safety as they could not stand the fire. At another time, as I stood to preach at chapel of Revival, a fellowship, I was leading, a brother suddenly ran out crying: he said that he was terrified by two men standing by my sides with a flaming swords, the brother later went through deliverance from the kingdom of darkness as he also confessed the havoc he was mandated to perform against the Church as the intensity of the Holy Spirit fire burned within so also was the passion for souls. This made us to hold crusades across the country with while we experienced diverse healings, miracles, deliverance and salvation of souls.

While I was with Rev. Moses Omodanisi of the Gospel Ministry International (a man highly anointed for deliverance and prophetic ministry) I had the privilege of leading many people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. One Sunday morning, I was counseling with two men to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, two women of God were also around to give a helping hand, but I sensed that he men were frightened by the presence of the two women, so I quickly gave the women a signal to depart. As I laid my hands on the men, they started speaking in tongues and prophesied. It was amazing witnessing the Holy Spirit working wonders in the lives of people.

SOKOTO OUTPOURING OF FIRE

One particular manifestation that I witnessed was in Sokoto, Arikila Chapel of Grace Rev. Joe Olaiya was our Chief Host. As he stood up to minster, he fell under heavy anointing. We helped him up and he stood to speak, God opened my eyes to see the vision of Jesus among the audience. My God! The glory of God filled the entire congregation. The cloud of glory was so palpable you could reach out and touch it.

KABBA CRUSADE

Again in 1989, I went in company of some brethren to Kabba for crusade at The Anglican Church, Kabba. The meeting witnessed the visitation of the Lord so much that an elder in the church who witnessed the volume of the healings and deliverance at the meeting said, “I never knew we have a ‘Reinhard Bonnke’ in Kabba too”. The news of the crusade spread to the Bishop of Anglican Church in Kaduna – Bishop Ogbonyomi, who sent men out to look for me and this led to the beginning of our relationship.

REVIVAL FIRE TRAIL AKWA IBOM

On arriving Akwa Ibom State in 1992, the first Programme we held at the independence hall, Abak witnessed a unique visitation of the Lord. Many of the people in attendance fell under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and were delivered. News began to spread that a powerful man of God was in town. I became the consultant for those in need of deliverance and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

THE OPPOSITION

As the fire spread, we began to notice opposition. I was in my house one morning when three pastors from a particular denomination came. Their mission was to challenge my right to lay hands on people since I was not one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ. To them only the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ were qualified to lay hands and since the last apostle died, no one is called into that office. I simply opened my Bible to Acts 9, where Ananias laid his hand on Paul to receive his sight and he was filled with the Holy Spirit (Accts 9:17), Having read that portion aloud; I turned to them to know what qualified him for that assignment? I suppose that their theology teacher had not read that Bible passage before he formed a doctrine that was against the Holy Spirit.

One particular manifestation that I witnessed was in Sokoto, Arikila Chapel of Grace Rev. Joe Olaiya was our Chief Host. As he stood up to minster, he fell under heavy anointing. We helped him up and he stood to speak, God opened my eyes to see the vision of Jesus among the audience. My God! The glory of God filled the entire congregation. The cloud of glory was so palpable you could reach out and touch it.

REVIVAL FIRE BY REVELATION

In a night vision, I saw myself opening a tap of water and the members of the church I pastored were coming to drink from it, quickly organized a programme on “The Holy Spirit and the Church”. The church members were gloriously transformed by the baptism of fire. One of the Brothers in the Church, Bro. Okorie having come in contact with the Holy Ghost fire, during the programme began to go round the hospital to pray for the sick with tremendous result.

MAIDUGURI FIRE TRAIL

I was on a ministerial visit to the Word of Life Full Gospel Church Maiduguri, Pastored by Rev. David Isenere. The visitation of the Holy Spirit on the congregation was distinct and pronounced. The Holy Ghost set many people on fire as majority of those in attendance fell under anointing of the Spirit. A year after that visitation a brother came to testify that after the Holy Spirit came upon him; his long standing bondage to alcohol was broken and was able to save a lot of money having experienced the fire of the Holy Spirit.

LAGOS FIRE

One of my neighbours walked into my office in Lagos one day. She narrated how she was being tormented by wicked spirits and her blood was drained. She was actually looking skeletal. She said she used to be very fat before the witches started a wicked operation on her. After listening to her story, I demanded to know if she had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit? She said no. I made her to know that if the fire of the Holy Spirit was burning in her, it would be impossible for blood suckers to feast on her. As I made her to stand up and laid my hands on her, she fell down and spoke in spoke in tongues for about 30 minutes. She stood up radiating the joy of the Lord. A few weeks after the encounter, she became twice her former size and her beauty returned. She is still on fire for the Lord.

In one of our prayer vigils in Lagos, one young couple came in I had previously spoken to them about the baptism of the Holy Spirit in one of their visitations to my office. In that particular tarry night, a fellow pastor called Endurance assisted me. He coordinated those who shared testimonies of encounters with the Holy Spirit and invited people who needed the baptism of the Holy Spirit to come forward.

The man stayed in the congregation while his wife joined the seekers. To the amazement of us all, before hands were laid on anybody, his wife fell down and began to speak in tongues, for some hours before she could stop, all in presence of her unbelieving husband. Without anybody laying hands on her, God gave her an overflow anointing.

HEALING FIRE FALLS

The venue Uyo Interceding Christian Fellowship, Pastored by Rev. Moffa Nasson. The programme was arranged purposely for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was heavy. The entire auditorium was shaking for the lord. A lady, who was carried to the meeting, testified that she had not been able to walk for two weeks. She said she received her healing as my gown. “Agbada” touched her where she was seated. She started jumping and testified to the touch of the Holy Spirit in her life. Another testimony from the meeting was a brother who said he had been born again for 22 years and was unable to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He was wonderfully filled and spoke in tongues ceaselessly. The Church became alive and aflame for God.

There are several other examples of people’s encounter with the Holy Spirit that space will not permit me to write. However, one thing is certain, ALL TRUTHS ARE PARALLEL God’s plan and purpose for the Church is that the individual members of the Church be empowered by the Holy Spirit so that the gates of hell will not be able to prevail.

Jesus is still on duty baptizing people with the Holy Spirit and Fire. Mt. 3:11.