Enduring Passion
Amidst the hydra-headed vices in Lagos, the General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Mr. William F. Kumuyi penultimate Sunday ended the Lagos City Crusade aimed at restoring lives and reinstating order across the state. Gboyega Akinsanmi
His mission was pure and simple. It simply stemmed from the disturbing depth of rots, which he said, had crept into the fabrics of Lagos State and even Nigeria at large. The statistics of the state police command bore some incredible testimonies of what the cleric described as a fearsome swarm of iniquities that had become rife in the country, hence the need to reverse the dreadful trends.
Annually, official statistics keeps pointing to a surge of crime, ranging from robbery to cultism, drug menace, criminalities, insecurity, kidnapping and chaos on the roads. Already, citizens are fed up citing the adversity of the time. Likewise, the police authorities seem to be honestly overwhelmed by the rising cases of crime, which people said, constitute grave threat to their lives and properties.
At these instances, purely, the General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM), Pastor William Kumuyi said the government “cannot be left alone with the task of restoring order and rebuilding the country’s broken walls.” That was the burning passion behind the just concluded Lagos City Crusade, which he said, was organised “to complement the government’s response to social vices.”
However, prior to the Lagos City Crusade, Kumuyi had also taken the message of Jesus Christ to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria, moving from state to state in all geopolitical zones. Kumuyi’s outreach was out of pure concern to carry out the mandate of his creator and rescue as many as possible from the brink of eternal suffering, which he said, was the sure way of redemption and life eternal.
From the North to the South, Kumuyi had preached in scores of open crusades countrywide. Beyond his creator’s mandate, Kumuyi’s enduring passion was to demonstrate how the tool of Christ Gospel could be leveraged to achieve the goal of positive social change, which he said, could guarantee peaceful co-existence, sustainable development and security of lives and properties nationwide.
But he did not undertake the task of ensuring positive social change alone. Rather, Kumuyi partnered the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to provide an intervention, whose leadership firmly believed, was the most potent instrument of social transformation. Kumuyi thus said quest for enduring transformation “is the rationale behind the 18-day crusade recently held in Lagos.”
From Epe to Surulere, Agege to Badagry, Alimosho to 15 other locations of the crusade, the outcome has been quite exciting. Each moment came with special blessings. And each day, a sizable number of people shared different testimonies of how their lives were touched; their situations turned around and their challenges became histories after varying years of untold agonies and miseries.
Based on the post-crusade report, over 40,000 persons of diverse backgrounds wittingly surrendered their lives of Jesus Christ, which the cleric said, was the only source of true transformation. In Ikorodu, for instance, over 4,682 people surrendered their lives; 5,000 in Badagry; 4,000 in Epe and over 1,500 Agege, which suggested a depletion of criminal camps and gangs by 40,000.
People’s accounts at different locations of Lagos City Crusade raised much hope in some dark corners of the metropolis. At Surulere, a 22-year-old man, Uche Nwaogbola shared a life-touching testimony. Before the crusade, Uche was deaf and dumb, even from birth. But for the first time, he spoke audibly. His teacher in the deaf and dumb class, Ms. Lovett Osondu attested to Uche’s transformation and divine encounter, which he said, had put an end to his 22-year challenge of deafness and dumbness.
Likewise, a 200-level law student of the University of Lagos, Miss. Ayomide Akinbode testified “to the goodness of God.” One year earlier, Ayomide had discovered a lump in her breast, which she confessed, had been a source of concern. As a result, Ayomide had visited hospital several times, but she could not receive any solution to it. But after prayers of faith, she was touched at the crusade.
Even for the Christian leaders, the crusade had brought olive branch, which they said, should be sustained. The Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Isolo-EjigboOshodi Province, Dr. Peter Febusoro provided this perspective while admitting that the body of Christ in the state was divided before the crusade. But according to Febusoro, the crusade has restored unity. We, Christians, were not as united as the other religion. But with this crusade, we have seen unity. It is a thing of joy.
The chairman said he was overwhelmed by the manifestation of God’s power, which he said, was evident under Kumuyi’s ministration. He acknowledged that the sick were healed; those enmeshed in diverse social vices saved and those who suffered affliction delivered. Mainly, he said, the crusade has not only brought unity to the Christendom, but also helped to restore lives and rebuild broken orders.
The chairman said: “It was a well organised crusade. Everything was in order. Everybody that came there saw the presence of the Holy
Beyond his creator’s mandate, Kumuyi’s enduring passion was to demonstrate how the tool of Christ Gospel could be leveraged to achieve the goal of positive social change, which he said, could guarantee peaceful coexistence, sustainable development and security of lives and properties nationwide
Spirit. I just think that such thing could be coming up once in a while so that people can be revived. It will help to reshape the lives of people in the state because a lot of things have been happening in terms of criminal activities, immoral acts and other vices.
“The crusade could tackle these acts. Like Isolo, most people attended the crusade and I am sure that some people would have changed from their wayward ways of doing things and come to God. Pastor Kumuyi talked about so many on things that would touch lives. Even in that area where the crusade was organised in Isolo, they were many area boys there, whom the gospel would have changed their lives.
“In my own perception, the crusade was very good and everybody, who was present there, was touched. The crusade was organised by Deeper Christian Life Ministry in conjunction with CAN and PFN. I think other churches will capitalise on it to achieve what the crusade was envisioned. That is why I said I hope the crusade would come once in a while because it will bring unity into the Christendom.”
But this kind of life-transforming change is not guaranteed excerpt through a true change of heart, according to the Coordinator of Lagos City Crusade, Pastor Joseph Fasanmi. The coordinator acknowledged that all these happenings “cannot be achieved through man’s efforts. Rather, he said it was a product of divine intervention, which he described as the only tested source of social transformation.
So, the coordinator said unless the heart of man “is changed and turned around by God to begin to undertake positive designs, measures by government will be ultimately feeble and less impactful.” Since 1999 when the country transited to democratic dispensation, Fasanmi explained how respective governments “have striven to improve the country’s socio-political and economic space.”
However, Fasanmi acknowledged the positive actions, which according to him, the past governments had taken “to bring about order in the society. Their actions have not served to sufficiently lift the state because moral and spiritual make up of the citizens are far from what they should be.” He said none of the actions “has successfully brought desired transformation into the country.”
In spite of what they might have done to ensure order, Fasanmi pointed out that the leaders themselves “are out-crops of a depressed environment, who cannot be expected to provide enduring solutions to the multifaceted challenges facing mankind. Unless the required spiritual renaissance and moral re-armament are put in place, enduring change in Lagos or in any other place for that matter, will remain a pipe dream.
This was the albatross of Lagos metropolis and indeed Nigeria, which Fasanmi said, the crusade had largely addressed. He was confident of the crusade’s impact. But Fasanmi’s confidence was hinged the number of converts, who gave up their perverse ways. Of course, such the decision of these converts was sufficient. Rather, Fasanmi said God had promised before time “to rescue His people if they let their way.”
He thus said it was only a completely changed heart of man by God through the gospel that could bring about “fundamental and unadulterable transformation in Nigeria’s socio-political and economic landscape. All those nations that have conquered development challenges have done so because at one time or the other in their histories, they had embraced the imperatives of the gospel,” Fasanmi said.
So, only truly transformed hearts can change lives and societies, Kumuyi told journalists at the end of the 18-day crusade in Surulere penultimate Sunday. He related this to the ongoing anti-graft war of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. He endorsed Buhari’s anti-graft war, which he said, was legitimate and right if corruption should be brought down to all-time low in the country.
He thus spelt out two ways to get rid of the menace, which he said, was to the detriment of the ordinary people and the whole country. First, Kumuyi cited cooperation with the governments in the anti-graft war. He said such cooperation also “entails vigilance on the part of all citizens. We should watch the outcome of the process of organising things and stamping out corrupt practices in the country.
“This is not the time for criticism of any nature. Rather, it is a time to patiently see what is being done and to cooperate and go along with the government,” the cleric said. Second, Kumuyi said the menace should be fought without witch-hunting and without being after anybody. He said those who “are fighting corruption should lay the example and ensure that they are free from corruption as well.”
Kumuyi referred to one of the messages in which he spoke about having goal and purpose in life. He said the goals and purpose should be defined “to be our best that God can make us to be for the country, not just being selfish for ourselves. If we have that goal, we have the drive for within and the decision to be whom we can be as a country. So, with the grace of God, the Lord will see us through.”
He acknowledged diverse challenges, which he said, would always be on the way forward. But Kumuyi charged the people and the governments “not to look away from these challenges. We should not have the grasshoppers’ minds. We can be whoever we want to become by the strength of the Lord. He will make us nation builders by the strength of the Lord and stamp out corruption.”
He therefore attributed the success of the crusade “to the grace of God. This is the first time we will go through this kind of crusade for 18 days, traveling from place to place in the state. We give the glory to God and the cooperation of the people. We have worked together with unity. There is unity in strength. I felt the unity of the people, not only from Deeper Life, but also from the CAN and PFN.”
It was a well organised crusade. Everything was in order. Everybody that came there saw the presence of the Holy Spirit. I just think that such thing could be coming up once in a while so that people can be revived. It will help to reshape the lives of people in the state because a lot of things have been happening in terms of criminal activities, immoral acts and other vices