Apostle Babalola was heavenly anointed by God even before his birth. The kingdom of darkness (astrologers]; whom are specialized in detecting glorious and special stars of an unborn human being were able to decipher the greatness of his ministry exploit. However, his whole ministry data and glory was sent to Sister Olufumilayo Adebayo who was a demonic agent during those era and also specialized in satanic exploit in African continent.
She was perturb on how she can inter-change or manipulates the glory and ministry exploit of an unborn child. Nevertheless, she soul-ties Ayo Babalola with a demonic reincarnate woman from the pit of Hell as his future wife.
Apostle Babalola only mistake was his choice of wife. History has it that the woman he truly loved was a single mother, been a respected christian leader, the elders of CAC considered it an embarrassment for their leader to marry a single mother.
Hence, they misled him to marry the spinster who later became the thorn in his flesh. There was a time she poured palm oil on the white garment of the man of God on his way to a crusade ground. Another time after returning from the mountain after long days of prayers and fasting, the wife served him a delicious meal to break his fast.
He had only taken about 2 or 3 morsels when the wife told him" i thought you were a true prophet, because you should have known by revelation that the chicken in the food was stolen" The great man of God gently left the remaining food and returned to the mountain to ask God for forgiveness.
One of the days, he was expected to preach in an open air crusade but suddenly his wife locked him inside the room and ran off. The man just look up and cried "Oh Lord, see what my wife has done" The Lord ask him to lay his hands on the wall and immediately he found himself in the crusade ground. He usually floats on air while preaching, he can also pray for 3 months on knee without standing up.
Pa Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola once told his fellow ministers during prayer meeting to knee down for SHORT prayer. After about 2-3 hours of kneeing down, the minister becomes frustrated and sat down, leaving only Apostle Babalola still on his knee praying for about 5-6 hours. The following day, they asked him "Baba, if you ask us to pray a short prayer with you which took almost 6 hours, How many hours will your LONG prayer last?"
Many of us knew Ori Oke Aanu (Mountain of Mercy) Praying Ground, Erio-Ekiti in Osun State Nigeria. This mountain of prayer was founded by this same Apostle Babalola. There is a spot on top of that mountain rock where he knee to pray and his knee pierced through, leaving a giant hole in the rock due to his long hours in praying. That hole is still over there till-date.
He was the only man that traveled overseas for missionary works without airplane or ship. He usual traveled abroad with his ministers for missionary work neither by air or water, he only gathered his minister for prayer and instantly they disappeared into thin-air. Sometimes, when preaching the angel will left-up his two legs and he will begin to move and float in air without his feet touching the ground.
HIS MINISTRY CALLING:
On 9 October 1928 at about 12 o'clock he was by his steamroller by the river Ariran, it was here he heard a loud voice from above like the roar of thunder which called his name thrice saying "Joseph! Joseph!! Joseph. Leave this job you are doing; if not, this year you are going to be cut off from the earth."
Again On 11 October 1928, while trying to repair his machine, he heard an audible voice from the Lord to abandon the job and start preaching. That is how he received the call and he went into fasting and prayer. The watershed in his early ministry came when when he was commanded by God to go to his hometown to warn his people against Idolatry , fetish practices and evil works.
According to him; The Spirit told me to go to my hometown , where I was born. The Lord said I should rub my face with ashes and to carry palm leaves in my hand and to buy a bell, which I was to be ringing the moment I entered the town and I obeyed. The voice told me to tell my people that unless they repented , evil beasts would enter the town to destroy them.
On that same day I entered the town with a bell in my hand. The entire town was moved and there was great stir and consternation as people fled as they saw me. The moment they set eyes on me they fled. The Voice told me to ring the bell in my hand round the town and I obeyed.
His people however refused to repent or change their ways they instead summarily beat him up and his family was subjected to heavy persecution by the people of the town. In defense against the prophesied invasion of the town by wild beasts the people of the town armed themselves with Guns and Cutlasses. However God told His Servant to tell them he would not bring beasts again but instead would bring epidemics and it would start within forty- five days.
At the expiration of the prophesied forty-five days and epidermic of small pox broke out and within 3 weeks about 300 persons had died. But those who repented and those who came to the man of god after contracting the disease were spared. Ayo Babalola was sent out of the Anglican Church of his village by his Bishop because most members of the Church see visions; speak in tongues and pray vigorously.
While praying on same mountain, a giant python came to swallow him but instantly dried-up. On June 25, 1931 he slew the sinister Abugabu dragon of the jungles of Yogumbo and with a bell and Yoruba Bible in his hand he toured yoruba-Land preaching about repentance and importance of prayer and fasting,
He deduced that this behavior was caused by a swamp witch, and went to her hut where she quickly turned into a terrible Yabagibwe bird beast. Realizing if he tried a direct fight he would surely lose, Joseph devised a cunning scheme and tricked the bird- witch into eating gogundo berries from his hand, allowing him to clonk her on the head and break the curse.
This led to his joining the Faith Tabernacle Church in November 1929 where he was baptized in Lagos lagoon in December 1929. Ministry and healing of the revival of his mission began with the raising of a dead child in September 1930. What followed this in 3 weeks was the healing of about 100 lepers, 60 blind people and 50 lame persons.
This also resulted in the desolation of Churches in Ilesa because their members transferred their allegiance to the revivalist and that all the patients in Wesley Hospital, Ilesa, abandoned their beds to seek healing from Babalola. This divinely kicked off The Great Revival of 1930, which saw people coming from most parts of Africa and Diaspora without posters and TV adverts.
On June 25, 1931 he slew the sinister Abugabu dragon of the jungles of Yogumbo, wielding a holy sword imbued with the fire of the Lord. From then on, with bell and Yoruba Bible in hand, he toured Yoruba land and eastern Nigeria, preaching about repentance, and renunciation of idolatry, the importance of prayer and fasting, and the power of God to heal sickness.
In 1930 Faith Tabernacle affiliated with the British Apostolic Church. Then following a schism in the Apostolic Church about 1940, Bablola went with a new independent church, Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), where he continued his healing and revivalistic activities until his death. The C.A.C regards Babalola as an apostle and his revival ministry as the beginning of the church. A CAC retreat center was built at Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State where Babalola was first called in 1928.
THE MYSTERIES ENCOUNTER OF BABALOLA.
1. The Mysterious Tree of Usi Ekiti: This was a tree in a Forest believed to be inhabited by evil spirits and it was in this forest a land was given to him for his revival campaign. This tree had been cut many times but it stood again as if nothing hd been done to it,however the Apostke went to the tree rand his bell and prayed on the tree and it was cut down forever.
2. The terrible gods of Ifira: There was a god called " egule" worshipped in the Isowo Quarters of the town . This god was so ruthless that no man dares point a finger at it to call attention to it as such acts led to forfeiture of fingers or death. It is said that a big python coiled around the pot on which the god was placed. This god was situate on a bushy hill and no one dares goes there for fear of being harmed by the god or the python guarding it.
When the Apostle got to this town he requested to visit the hill of this god. People were concerned for his safety but he insisted , then people from neighboring towns and villages came to see what was going to happen. All he took was his bell and his staff and he went to the hill with people watching him.
Immediately he sited this god and its python he started ringing his bell as he moved towards it. and immediately the pot on which the god stood broke into pieces and the snake fled , when people saw this they started singing and rejoicing and the people beheld the Python and trampled it till it died and the people abandoned the Idols for God.
Other instances encounter include : The Forbidden forest of EFON ALAAYE , Deliverance of Oke Luse (Ondo State) from Elephants, The case of Isua , Idols jumping out of fire while they are being burnt etc. A lot has to be done to document the many great works of this man of God.
The Christ Apostolic Church has not died along with Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola in 1959. In fact it has grown rapidly over the years, with many churches under the Christ Apostolic Church name but each church with a specific branch name.
HOW APOSTLE AYO BABALOLA DIED. (ACCORDING TO A WITNESS)
Until his sudden departure to glory on Sunday, July, 1959, Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola showed no sign of illness. On Friday 24 July, he returned to Ibadan to attend the general council’s meeting slated for that day. On Saturday morning, July, Apostle Babalola conducted the Morning Prayer for ministers and members living in the residence of Christ Apostolic Church; Olugbode, Ibadan and prayed for everybody.
The same day, he sent two of his followers, Michael and another fellow to me at Ede that I should prepare a place for him to sleep. I never knew he was talking of his final sleep. Apostle Ayo Babalola arrived Ede around 6:30 pm in the evening that Saturday and he was gladly received. Before his arrival, I had prepared my bedroom ready for him.
We ensured that nobody was allowed to rush into the bedroom with him; for it was Apostle Babalola’s habit that he never turned away anybody who came to him for prayer and counseling, no matter how weary he might be. After prayer, I informed him that his meal was ready. He declined to take any meal but requested to be allowed to have some sleep, because he had been holding series of meetings since the past nine days with little or no rest.
He woke up three hours later and took some tea and slept off again. At 4 a.m. on Sunday, he woke up, took his bath, took some tea and had his morning meditation without any disturbance. At 6 o’clock, I went to him in the bedroom and he began to talk about a great convention which will soon be held at his hometown, Odo-Owa.
He was speaking in parables, so I did not suspect that he was talking about his approaching death. He directed me to call in Prophet Babajide who was in the adjacent room. Both of us knelt down beside his bed and he began to narrate to us how he began his ministry. It was such a sublime experience. Both of us just listened; we did not utter a single word during the course of his narration. After this, we knelt down for prayer. The three of us prayed. I took the lead. Prophet Babajide followed.
When it was Apostle Babalola’s turn to pray, he prayed for a very long time, praying for the church, the leaders and for us too. After the special service, people came to Apostle Babalola in my bedroom and bid him farewell before leaving for their various destinations with joy and humor.
He bid everyone farewell and prayed for them. Nobody suspected through his speech or action that death was lurking in the corners. We left him alone to attend to those who were waiting to see him.
Meanwhile, Michael Osabi and Samuel Oluwatusin, the two young men who used to wait on him, remained with him as he took a nap. When he woke up, he called me and returned my covering-cloth to me. His action surprised me and I asked, “Baba, why are you doing this?”
He replied, “A man should sleep with his own clothes.” It did not occur to me that he was speaking of his imminent death. He advised me to go and have some sleep myself. By then, everybody else had gone to church for the evening service.
Around 5 p.m. as he lay on the bed, Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola breathed heavily three times, saying after, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” His breathing was like the rumbling of a rain-storm and there was a great vibration in the bedroom. As this was happening, his personal attendants (Michael and Samuel) ran to call me to his bedside before he gave up the ghost. We began to pray and quickly sent for the church leaders who had gone to church for the evening service.
The father of penticostalism in Nigeria.
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