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| Evang. Emmanuel Toluwase Akeredolu |
The DCC Superintendent of Ilorin Districts Coordinating Council (DCC), Evangelist Emmanuel Toluwase Akeredolu in this interview with CAC NEWS Editor, 'Gbenga Bankole, speaks on Ilorin Fire Crusade which starts today and other interesting issues. EXCERPT !
What inspired the City Fire Crusade you hold on annual basis?
The programme is an instruction given to me from the Lord and I have been holding it since I was the DCC Superintendent of Ayetoro DCC in Osogbo. God ordered me that I should hold a programme for Him tagged “Osogbo City Fire Crusade” and I started by the grace of God and I spent my account to red for God to make the crusade a reality and God really moved mightily. Since then I have been holding it from one state to another. It has been held in Auchi in Edo State, Ikoko in Ondo State and in Lagos at Baptist Academy, Obanikoro which was also tagged Lagos City Fire Crusade. It was held in Lagos up till last year when I was the DCC Superintendent of Somolu DCC. After being transferred to Ilorin DCC by the Authority of CAC Worldwide, God also asked me to stage the same crusade in Ilorin tagged “Ilorin City Fire Crusade.” I told the Board of Elders and they told me that since it is an instruction from the Lord they have nothing to do against it. It would hold from Monday 16th to Friday 20th, December, 2019 by 5pm daily at Ilorin City Stadium.
What has been the feedbacks from the previous editions?
The first testimony from the previous edition is soul winning. People gave their lives to Christ and there are many testimonies on healing, but my main target is to add more people to God’s kingdom through the help of the Holy Spirit. The Angel appeared in the year 2015 live at the roof of Freedom Park in Osogbo and if you Google it you will see it online. God had been using the programme to draw people to Himself. I could remember when we held Lagos City Fire Crusade, one of the well known “Area Boys” in the area was on the pedestrian bridge of Obanikoro Bus-Stop when he started running and he ran to the crusade ground shouting “I want to give my life to Jesus Christ.” He said something pushed him that he can’t control himself. He said he had been smoking and drinking alcohol for many years, but he couldn’t do without it a day before the crusade.
Also at Ido-Ani in Ondo State I baptised 105 converts who gave their lives to Christ. It was really amazing when one of my old childhood friends came out to give his life to Christ during the crusade. He was the first person to come out when I made altar call. People were smiling and thought he didn’t hear what I said because he was a well known drunkard in the environment. To the glory of God, he is now an Evangelist. He preaches the gospel from one street to the other. His mother said she never knew he could stop drinking, but he is now an Evangelist. Anytime I travel home I always make sure I see him and encourage him.
What is the theme of this year’s crusade?
The theme of this year’s edition is “Power Over Storm.”
Tell us what God told you about the theme
There are ways Satan is using storms to destroy the lives of many people these days. When you see somebody drinking alcohol, it is a sign of storm. When you see a very small child that refuses to listen to his or her parents, it is a storm. Childlessness in the life of a married couple is a storm. There is storm in Nigeria presently and if we can come together and pray against it there would be calmness. Jesus was sleeping right there inside the boat and there was wild storm and Peter tried everything possible he could do as an experienced fisherman but it was in vain. It was when they called on Jesus Christ that the storm stopped. God said that I should minister to people and if they accept Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour, every storm in their life would disappear and they would have peace.
There are always programmes everywhere particularly towards the end of the year. What should be the main propose of organising these kind of programmes?
Any programme organised that is not based on soul winning is useless. Anybody who organises programmes to gather money is deceiving himself or herself. The main purpose we need to organise programme is to bring people to Jesus Christ. The crusade that is starting today at the stadium is an avenue for people who may not even want to worship with us in CAC to come fellowship with God. Nobody will know whether they are from Muslim background or another denomination when they come. We will have enough time to reach them, to pray for them and preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Are other denominations or CAC in Ilorin involved in the programme?
By God’s grace, CAC Ilorin DCC is involved and the remaining DCCs and Zones in Ilorin are supporting the programme, not financially, but they promise to be present. Most of the Superintendents have been calling me declaring their intention to be part of it. They have our banner at the front of their churches. They are joining us to do everything together, but it is Ilorin DCC that is sponsoring the programme.
Towards the end of the year people are always afraid that there could be evil occurrences. What do you think could be responsible for this?
It is the ignorance of the word of God because there is evil every second of the day and every month of the year. There is nothing special in ‘ember’ months. The only thing that used to happen is that people are always in haste or rushing. For example, a commercial bus driver who takes people to Ibadan once in a day would want to go thrice in a day at this time of the year just to make more money because there is going to be more movement of people from one place to the other and by rushing and over speeding, accidents would happen. We must also note that towards the end of the year, evil doers will want to perpetrate many evils. This is because they need blood and they want to see people crying or in agony, but as a child of God there is nothing special in the ‘ember’ months.
What is God telling you about year 2020?
God told me I should tell my people that any Prophet can bring prophecies, but year 2020 is going to a year of bountiful harvest without hard labour. God said he is going to bless His people without hard labour.
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