Melvin,

I’ve never met this man personally, but my wife’s mother, who suddenly went to be with the Lord two years ago on Thanksgiving day, was an ardent follower of this guy and The Redeemed Church. She was African-American and was a short-term missionary to several countries in Africa, man, she loved the people there, particularly the children. I remember distinctly when she got hooked up with The Redeemed Church of God. She would go and visit the G.O. and his wife. Wow! They treated her like royalty.

When my wife was very ill and bedritten, the G.O.(as they call him)wife once when they were stateside came and prayed for her. When we were flooded out of our home during Hurricane Allison, several Redeemed churches were very generous to us financially, plus the G.O. and his wife(I can’t remember what they called her now)personally sent money to help us get back on our feet. Very Kind people, however, their theology was very flawed.

My mother-in-law and I had many, many, many gracious and respectful discussions(sometimes heated) on many of the topics discussed and disagreed with on this website. She had a ton of books, tapes and a Tribute to the man of God DVD that we collected when we cleaned up her apartment.

To speed things up, after talking with her mother earlier that day as they generally did, we didn’t find out until later in the evening that her mother had been rushed to the hospital due to a terrible headache(when my wife talked to her earlier she said she was going to take a couple of aspirin and rest, so as my wife called throughout the day and her mother didn’t answer she assumed she was knocked out sleep, so when we recived the call from her brother later that night that her mother had been rushed to the hospital, my wife went ahead of me as I got the kids ready and took them to my mother. When I arrived late that night and stepped off the elevator into the lobby, imagine a lobby full of Pentecostal Africans praying fervently walking the floor, speaking in tongues, etc.

As we sang and prayed collectively, I had been in some Pentecostal prayer meetings, but man, this was on another level. I would periodically read scripture as I reflected upon several comforting verses that would come to mind. Well, long into the next morning the doctors was saying that there was no brain activity and her faint breath and heartbeat was only due to the ventilator machine.

Understandably my wife was terribly upset and due to her brother being a WoF minister, (the Redeemed Pastors & her brother) convinced her to wait for another day in case the Lord wanted to work a miracle.

As word got back out to the lobby where it was overwhelmingly packed, we began taking those that loved her dearly(it was evident) back to speak with Sista Pat as they called her, many called her Mom P or Mom Pat. I watched as they rebuked the death angel. Rebuked Satan. Spoke life back into her body. Prophesied that she shall live and not die, Thus Saith The Lord! All to no avail.

Although the G.O. and his wife never made it, he was sending word to stay faithful and pray and don’t faint, because God wasn’t done with Mom P yet. As the time neared to make the decision to take her off of life support, my wife and I and our current Pastor prayed and counseled and she made the difficult decision.

We stood by her bedside when they unhooked the machine, within 10 seconds there was no longer signs of life. After some time, we went out and told everyone and when the weeping calmed I quickly quoted from the scriptures that she has fought the good fight of faith and she has entered into the joy of her rest, however, my wife’s mother’s pastor stood up and said would you believe, although Sista Pat has gone on to Glory, we can still petition God to send her back, thus they began to bombard the gates of heaven again with their petitions. What does this have to do with Adeboye, this is the results of men who have sat under his teaching and learned from him, thus passing it down to their parishioners.

In the end, although the Redeemed Pastor that her mother served with in Haiti, butchered the scriptures during the sermon at her funeral, I could never have been more proud of my wife than when she spoke about her mother with honor and thankfulness for the example that she left when it comes to serving and sacrifice and finally with clarity and poise she spoke faithfully of Christ and His Faithfulness.

Good man actually. Very unassuming. One of the largest denominations in Nigeria. Yes, the phraseology may be appalling. The testimonies from this Church are amazing.

Just pray for him…