FATHER, ARE YOU SAVED?

The Billion Dollars Question - A True Story

Moses Oludele Idowu

"Examine yourself whether you be in the Faith..."

This message should have come last week because it was laid on my heart. It is coming in form of a story because it is a story - a true story.
In the course of my research I gathered a lot of stories and factual eyewitness accounts which it is not possible for me to put in a book. So through this format and medium I will unveil some of them to teach this generation.

The last message, THERE IS NO LITTLE SIN (#198) made a lot of impression on people and a sister in US is trying to print the message for the foreign audience. It happened in Ibadan.
Today again we are going to Ibadan for another story.
I love Ibadan people. Some of the best friends and associates I have had are from Ibadan.
This story was given to me by one of those associates and friends. It actually concerns his own father. For that reason I will not use the actual name to protect his identity. It is likely he too would read this story and would recognize I was talking about his father but as a pastor he would understand I am trying to teach important concepts and pass a message across. I do hope he would not take offense.

Warning

This story concerns everyone and please take note of it. Don't say it does not concern you. It does.
Examine yourself.
Pastors, bishops, apostles, evangelists, overseers, elders, General Overseers, think on this story and examine yourself. God is no respecter of persons.
Take a day off and examine your life. Are you a believer? Are you really saved? Are you really born again? Does Heaven know you? Can God attest you as a child or, which is greater, as a son? Or have you backslidden and you do not even know because the modern church is so weak that you don't really know your true state inside her?
They call you a minister but does God know you as His minister?

Be very honest with yourself? Many people today are in the same boat with the father of my friend whose story we shall now see.

There was a man in the village of ..... who was well known in the area for his mighty deeds. This village is one of the farms, village farms of Ibadan and around Ibadan.
Here is a proof of being an authentic Ibadan native or indigene. Every true native of Ibadan must have a farm or village. If a man tells you he is from Ibadan ask him for his village or farm. If he does not know or have he is not a true born of Ibadan. He is a stranger.
This man lived and has his farm on one of these villages which I do not want to mention to protect identity. Or better still, I don't know the name of the village.

He was well-known in the village and even around Ibadan area for praying for the sick with instant recovery. People would come with bottles of water to this man and he would pray for them and they would be healed. Women with diverse issues would come and he would pray over the water and they would be healed.

What was the secret of this man? He does not know the Bible as such. He wasn't even able to read much. But he knew several passages by heart and many Psalms. And he discovered that when he prayed for the sick they recovered.

There is more to the story than that. There is more to the mystery than that.

How? You want to know?

There was a man called Joseph Ayo Babalola - the great Apostle and father figure of Aladura Movement. You must have heard of him. This man's path crossed with the great Apostle.

In one of the Apostle's outings in Ibadan in the days of the Revival, this man saw what happened and he coveted it.
He also saw the mighty convulsive awakening and earth- shaking revivals of Daniel Orekoya at Ibadan. In point of fact he saw and knew when Orekoya brought Alice Abeo back to life from the death after 4 days. He was also at CAC Olugbode, the Missionary's Headquarters of CAC.

Sorry, I said I won't reveal any name. Okay I won't mention names again to protect identity. Forgive me.

This man began to follow the great Apostle Babalola whenever he was in Ibadan area running errands for him. He was among his associates.
He was well- behaved, honest and sincere. Very active and energetic. And the apostle loved him.
He would run errands for the servant of God and do whatever was required of him.

Ibadan people are.good for one thing. In fact if you want an assignment to be thoroughly executed give an Ibadan man. They are effective and achievers, hard- working; they are seeds of warriors, mighty men and war- mongers, so they are active and energetic. You only need to be careful of one or two things which I won't reveal here.
This man worked with Babalola but there was never a time that he personally experienced what was described in John 3:3

"Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God"

And yet the apostle did not discern because he was really good and honest and well- mannered.

He was never saved. He had never at any point seen himself as a sinner and calling Jesus to his life and soul. He had never been to Calvary yet he presumed to go to the Promised Land - Beulah City.
That is one problem many people in the church today have especially in apostolic churches. They feel since my father is pastor, prophet or apostle I am a Christian forgetting that God has no grandchildren.

And apostle Babalola did not suspect. God's servant himself didn't know this because this man was well-behaved and honest.

Thus when Apostle Babalola passed suddenly in 1959, the whole Church was thrown into mourning. The entire Aladura/ Apostolic Movement shook as in convulsive tremor. It is like when a big tree whose root reaches to the west, east, south and north falls, many other smaller trees too fall with it.

Thus many of the young trainees under the apostle went back to their homes. Some went back to their business. And some went and not seen again...

The reason for this cannot be said here for now.

This man, the father of my friend returned to his village and farm.
But he continues to pray. The thought of Babalola cannot leave him. Babalola was a phenomenon and you can wish him away having followed him.

Then he found something has passed on to him. He knew how Baba used to pray for the sick, he knew how they sanctified water with prayers and Psalms and thereafter it becomes a healing instrument and therapy. He had learnt so much from close association and by personal contact.

Then something nudged him to begin to put what he learned to practice.
After mourning the passage of his leader
he too began to pray for the sick and the sick began to recover.

You don't advertise a miracle. It is a miracle that will advertise itself.

It is occult pastors and preachers who advertise miracles - miracle money, miracle alerts, miracle handkerchiefs etc.

My friend's father didn't call anyone. But those he prayed for and were healed told others. Before long his farm on the outskirts of Ibadan became known and people began to come.

How can this be? Up till now this man himself had not known nor experienced personally the genuine conversion experience. He himself has not been born again.

How can this be? That is why theologians and Bible scholars are sometimes, many times not always right. In fact they are sometimes wrong. God is beyond formulary, accurate interpretation, homiletics and hermeneutics...and those human reasonings handed down from seminaries and universities. He is beyond that. As St. Augustine says, the God Who can be explained by human understanding is no more God and has lost His Mystery.

The Law of Association

There is something called the "Law of Association." It is a spiritual law and it is a powerful law. That is why you must be careful who you follow, whose books you read after, whom you associate with or allow to pray for you, and which church you enter.
Anointing is governed by three things: Association, Influence and Environment.
If you associate with a man who carries a Heavenly Commission and glory and faithfully serve him and his soul is pleased with you, then something from that man and from his glory and anointing passes to you. Something of the gift of that man follows you. Something of his essence draws around you.
Be careful who you associate with because this law also works in reverse.

Elisha associated with Elijah and he got a dimensions of his power. If you have a right attitude and closely and in the spirit of deep loyalty and true affection associates with a true man of God then something of that man is coming upon you.

Each of Christ's Twelve Apostles died a violent death just like Christ. And even other apostles of those days who followed too closely in the spirit of Christ suffered the same fate. That is how serious it is.

With that the mystery is understood.

The son, my friend also watched this phenomenon with amazement. Then he was born again. Soon he received a call to ministry and became a minister. The father was now old but still lived in the village and his farm.

" Your Father is not Saved"

One day the Holy Spirit spoke to my friend: "Your father is close to the grave but he is not yet saved."
He was shocked. It was from the father he heard directly about the great Apostle Babalola and he knew how his father prayed for the sick and was in the church for years.
He was shaken. But he quickly got himself ready and left for Ibadan. Straight to the village to meet the father.

Pleasantries.

Greetings.
.
Then straight to business.

" Father, I have come to see you urgently for a very important matter...", my friend began.

" Okay, I hope there is no problem"
" None, father. Just that this issue must be settled so there won't be a real problem."
" I am listening.."

" Baami, Emi Mimo so fun mi pe eo ti di atunbi [ Father, the Holy Spirit told me that you are not yet saved]

But he was wise to keep the aspect of him being close to the grave. He didn't tell him that.

" Not saved? How?..."

"If you have never been saved then you are not saved" retorted the son.

" Father, you are not ready to meet God. If you die now you won't see Him..."

" Shut up. That is nonsense. What do you know about God. I saw His Mighty works with two of His great prophets. I saw dead being raised...

" Father but...

" Hold your peace and listen to me... I follow the great Apostle Babalola and served him. And I am one of his pupils..."

" Father, I know what you are saying but there has never been a time when you personally met God to reconcile with him for your own sins."

" I pray for.the sick and they recovered, if I am not saved would God answer my prayers?" snapped the father.

" Did God really answer your prayers?" asked my friend.

" Yes of course. You know it yourself, you are a witness. Testimonies abound..."

"Father, it is not your prayers that God answered, it is Babalola's prayers for you that He answered.

" When you pray for the sick God doesn't see you because He does not know you, He sees Babalola. It is Babalola's prayers that God is honouring not your own because you served him loyally in a spirit of honesty and he blessed you from his heart. It is that prayer God is honouring for the sick when you pray not you or your prayers."

Silence

Deep silence.

" It is Babalola's prayers God was answering not mine..."

The father was troubled with these words. He was also convicted by the Holy Spirit. You know the Spirit works based on our words.

"So how can one be saved?"

With that my friend led his father in a sinner's prayer and he was soundly converted.
My friend returned to Lagos to the church where he was pastoring.

Few months later a message came from the village. There was no handset then. The message was brief: Your father is dead.

My friend was consoled in the fact that at least he knew where his father has gone - to meet his God, his Saviour Jesus Christ and also his mentor and leader Joseph Ayo Babalola. Because he was saved before he died.

A Message to the Modern Church

Many people would remember the story of Charles Price. He was a well- known minister of a large denomination in United States. Yet he wasn't saved. Until he went to the meetings of Aimee Semple.- MacPherson with an intention to expose her "fraud" about healing.
But it was there he was saved.

Many people are like Charles Price. Many of you reading this are like my friend's father. You have a reputation that you are alive but you are dead. You have a reputation of being a minister but you are not really born again or saved.
Because sin is still in your life. Even heinous sins and wickedness. Lying is still with you as a habit. Greed is tabernacled in your bosom. Fornication and adultery even among church members and pastors. Many who call themselves Christians today would steal if they have the chance or knew how to get away with it.

There is a so - called deliverance church now where fornication is running rampant among youths, ministers and pastors. The pastors even sleep with fellow pastors' wives, it is said. I mean a church! There is another big denomination where my friend, a professor who taught several of their priests told me of a bishop who is smoking hemp.
The kinds of atrocities coming out of our high places called churches these days ought to bring a backlash from society except that the society itself has fallen and is sick and nigh to death.

Are you saved?
I didn't ask whether you are a bishop or general overseer or pastor or reverend professor. I ask like Jesus asked Nicodemus, "Have you been born again and saved?"

Sure you might have had this experience before as a youth. But are you still in the Faith?

This is the most important thing. Once you miss it here, you miss it everywhere.

Are.you saved?

Let me help you a bit with some quick questions to do a proper self- evaluation and examinations. I like to help people to think and take control of their lives.

Are you ready?

Go to a quiet place with a Bible and ponder these questions:

* Examine your whole life do you see any trace of sin as habit? Mark them. Romans 1: 29-32; 1 Corinthians 6: l9-10; Galatians 5: 19-21 listed several sins, are there any of these in your life? Has any of these established strongholds in your life? That is a clue.

* Is your conscience still working when accidentally you fall into sin? Or it permits you to do anything? Check your heart and consider when last your heart reprimanded you for doing wrong!

* Is there love in your heart for God, Jesus and the brethren regardless of denominations?

* If you are a minister when was the last time people receive life from your ministry or work?

* Are you stuck in old ways and lifestyles? Then you are not yet saved. "If any man is in Christ he is a new creature..."

* What is your attitude to the Bible? Is the Bible a book on shelf or a guide for your life? Is the Bible newsprint or the Living Bread? Is this wonderful book only in your mouth and not in your heart and hand?

* Do you see any hostility from the world? This is the best test. If you are a true Christian expect hostility from the occult, demonic world.

* Is Satan and his demons pursuing you and fighting you? Then it shows you are not his child and you have escaped his grip. You are probably saved because he does not fight his own children.

.* Do you have peace with God? Then you have been justified by Heaven. That is the proof.
" Therefore being justfied by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)

The wise will find the rest.

Have a wonderful Sunday.