Olorunmaye: Passage of a Jesus Soldier

By Gbenga Osinaike
At the end of year meeting of the Lagos Chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria which held in November 2017, Apostle Ralph Olurunmaye got the attention of everybody while sharing the testimony of God’s intervention in his life. He was full of praise and appreciation to God who spared his life and who prevented him from going through surgery.
At the meeting which was hosted by the women wing of the fellowship, Olorunmaye narrated how God healed him of Prostate enlargement at the point of being operated upon at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital. He shared how he went through pain for close to two months when the ailment manifested in his body disclosing that an unseen hand of God operated on him in a vision.
“I just noticed that I could not urinate and I thought it was a joke until the situation persisted for days. I travelled on missions to nearby Cotonou but could not preach at the station when the problem persisted. I was hospitalized and treated in their hospital nothing happened. This went on for days until I had to come back to Nigeria visited the hospital and I was told I had prostate enlargement.
“The doctors tried all they could to no avail. I was referred to the teaching hospital where I was booked for operation. I was already on admission and they had trapped catheter on me to aid urination pending the time the operation would be carried out”
While waiting for the operation a brother gave him a natural medicine. “The brother brought the drug and I started using it while waiting for the operation. Just as I began using the drug, I saw myself in a revelation where I was miraculously being operated upon by divine hand. I saw that I was healed in that revelation. When I came out of the revelation I pleaded with the hospital to remove the catheter attached to my body to aid urination in preparation for the operation telling them I had been healed.
“They refused saying I would be risking my life by removing the catheter. I discharged myself when they were adamant and went to a private clinic where the catheter was removed after they had given me stern conditions. By the time it was removed it was clear that I had been miraculously healed. I have not had cause to do the operation and God has perfected my urinary tract. I can now urinate very well.”
That was November 2017. God intervened in a way he did not expect. Shortly after that experience, Apostle Olorunmaye who was the Chairman of Alimosho chapter of the Lagos Chapter of the PFN became so active serving God and honoring invitations from across the country. His missions outside the country did not abate. A few months ago his ministry, Apostle Raphael Olorunmaye Heartbeat Miracle Ministries in conjunction with the US based Kingdom Redemption Outreach held a joint programme that saw him travel through some places in Lagos and Oshogbo holding seminars for pastors and crusades. The US ministry was led by Apostle Faith Osakwe.
Olorunmaye had also celebrated his 59th birthday during which he seized the opportunity to express great thanks to God for sparing his life and giving him the opportunity to labour in His vineyard. He had held the audience spell bound by his enthralling encounter with God on April 3, 1977 which incidentally was his birthday; having been born on April 3 1959. Talking at the birthday celebration, he told the gathering how the Lord arrested him giving graphic details of how he was led to Christ by one Brother Aliu in 1977.
He said, “Sunday 3rd 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 like never before with fears written 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.”
Olorunmaye told the gathering how God saved him from many near-death experiences. Indeed, nobody had the inkling that God was preparing him for his eternal home. The celebration wounded off. The memory of an Apostle who encountered God on the anniversary of his birth and who was baptized with the Holy Spirit that same day and who God used across the length and breadth of Nigeria would have stuck to the psyche of those who came to celebrate with him.
Perhaps they were still relishing in that celebration mood when news came that the charismatic Apostle had gone to be with the Lord. His transition which took place on August 31 came to many as a rude shock. “It was a sad day for me when I heard about his transition to glory. It seems to me that he knew he would die the way he talked on his birthday and given the fact that he had written about his challenges and experiences in ministry in a book. It was an indication that he was done with his work here on earth. He was a man of exceptional passion for soul winning, a man of great humility and a holiness practitioner.” Said Pastor Joshua Olaoye, Convener of Pastors Be Encouraged Conference (PBEC) and Chairman of Kosofe Province of the Lagos PFN.
Secretary of the Lagos PFN, Rev Toyin Kehinde described Olorunmaye as a man focused on the things of the Kingdom. He said, “He was passionate about souls, building the body of Christ and ever looking forward for a revival of purity and power in the church.”
Rev. Kehinde who had worked closely with the late Apostle noted further that he was a great soldier of the cross. “He was simple, easy going. There was no air around him. He was a man on fire for the soon coming king. A faithful servant has entered his rest. He will be greatly be missed by us all.”