PASTOR STEPHEN ODEDE: GOD'S GENERAL IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND DELIVERANCE MINISTRATION (3)
When you talk or preach about spiritual warfare and deliverance you are misunderstood by Christians who have different perspective. That many abuse and overemphasize spiritual warfare and deliverance ministration does not make it unbiblical. Is it scriptural to confront demons and cast them out of people oppressed by them? Yes! My Christian faith is a product of spiritual warfare and deliverance. Before l gave my life to Jesus Christ, l was in six secret societies. Studied occultism to a professor level. Was involved in several cultic projections, divinations, enchantments, manipulations, astral travel and cosmic operations in the atmospheric heavens. I know what it is to be under demon attack, obsession and oppression.
There is on-going warfare. Victory has been obtained in Jesus Christ but must be activated through correct application of God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ. The truth, knowledge of God’s Word that make free is a process not automatics (Jn. 8:32). For me to be free from those demonic oppression and cultic operations l had encounter with Jesus Christ, received Him into my life by Faith. I got pastors and Christian brethren to burn all my occultic materials and submitted myself for deliverance ministration under Pastor Ayo Oristsejafor in then Church of God Mission, Warri. I went through discipleship training, lived separated life from those things and associations related to my past involvement, were filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to stand against re-entrance of those evil spirits that used me in the past in warfare prayers. I contend for the faith daily( see Acts 18:18-19, Eph. 6:10-18, Col. 4:12, Jude 3). The past is past but you must continue in warfare to sustain your victory that is what spiritual warfare and deliverance ministration is all about that Pastor Stephen Odede practice that l believe in. That is spiritual warfare as the Bible presents it. Abuses by some does not erase this truth.
You guessed it! We are in spiritual warfare. The Bible is clear that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness... let just say our struggle is against various demonic powers that are in the world today! Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." What l have seen and experience in the Miistry of Pastor Stephen is to equip you to do spiritual warfare using the principles laid fourth in the Bible. You can fight and win spiritual warfare and come out completely free, but if you go about it without considering what the Bible has to say, you might as well resign right now! Through waging Biblical spiritual warfare, you can overcome and break free from the strongholds in your life and live in freedom! Believe it or not, many times a person's bondage needs more than just applying the spiritual warfare tactics presented in the Bible, but also the Biblical process of driving out evil spirits. If you are vexed (which means to be harassed, tormented or troubled), oppressed, or controlled by them, then you likely need more than just spiritual warfare to break free... you may need to have the intruders driven out in Jesus' name!
The purpose of spiritual warfare and deliverance is not to fight the devil, but to learn what we have in Christ, and use the weapons Jesus gave us to experience victory in every area of our lives. The purpose of confronting the devil is so we can remove the obstacles in our lives that are hindering us from experiencing the best that God has for us! If you want to live in spiritual freedom, peace, joy and love without constantly facing blockages and walls ahead of you, then you need to learn what the Bible has to say about spiritual warfare, and begin to apply those principles in your life today!
So on Sunday 2nd December 2012 at Liberation Power Ministries a.k.a EndTime Jesus Army (EJAFORCE) Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria was the gathering of Christian believers from all over the globe specifically from towns and villages in Rivers State, Bayelsa, Abia, Enugu, Anambra, Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Delta State in Nigeria. Also from Cameroon, South Africa, UK, USA and other African countries. To celebrate the 16th Anniversary of the Church. Dignitaries that graced the occasions among which were His Excellency, Gov. Rotimi Amaechi represented by the Commissioner for Land and Housing, The Commissioner for Health Dr. Sampson Packer, and others were Pasdtors, bishops, ministers from different denominations such as Pastor George Izunwa, Dr. Lewis Akpogena, etc. A welcome and anniversary message by Pastor Stephen Odede read: “Our highly honoured guests and members of Liberation Power Ministries, Endtime Jesus Army. It is my joy to announce to you that this Ministry has been preserved by the Lord, the head of the Church for 16years now for which we are all gathered to celebrate and to thank the Almighty God. The theme for our celebration this year is entitled: “ENFORCING THE FREEDOM FROM CHRIST”. This theme is in-line with the mandate of the Ministry – Proclaiming Liberty to our generation. When the Lord God called me into Ministry, he made me to understand that the Church needs knowledge and the world needs deliverance. By the special grace of God who gave me this assignment to set the captives free, we have been in the calling for the past 16 years, enforcing the freedom Christ came to give. He came to set the captives free of whom I am chief.”
“The work formally took off on Sunday, the 24th of November, 1996 in a classroom without chairs and tables with broken floor. Our seats were made up of broken planks and blocks. Our poster was the back of an old Calendar written with marker pen by me to direct the people to the newborn church. The Church has been on the move ever since. We moved from the primary school to a piece of land on lease where we constructed a batcher or makeshift structure for worship. We later moved to this place, the Liberation House where freedom is being declared to as many as come into contact with us. For this enforcement agenda, we have spread out to other towns and villages in Rivers State, Bayelsa, Abia, Enugu Anambra, Lagos, Akwa-Ibom and Delta State in Nigeria. We have also chased the devil to Cameroon where this Ministry is now in about 3 Regions with 10 Branches. We have also entered Ghana and by God’s special grace, we are set to move to South Africa, UK, USA and other African Countries. We also chase the enemy, declaring freedom through the airwaves of the Television, Internet, the Radio and the Print Media. We will not rest until every captive in the camp of the enemy is given an opportunity to enjoy the freedom from Christ. Our celebration is a reminder of our mission and a declaration of the freedom Christ came to give. And today, even during this celebration, some will be privileged to encounter their freedom. We do urge you therefore to please feel at home and celebrate with us for the great things the Lord has done with us for the past 16years.”
In a charge entitled: “It’s liberation Time” , God’s Genera l Pastor Stephen Odede declared: “Your to enjoy the freedom package from Christ. “And he (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the LORD.” (Luke 4:16-19) Our LORD and Savior JESUS CHRIST read out his mission statement for mankind at the beginning of his earthly ministry. After he had defeated Satan in the wilderness, he was ready to stamp down his authority and power to destroy the works of the devil in the life of the people. We must understand that Satan-the-devil is an enemy of God and also the enemy of man. JESUS was quick to tell us in John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
“JESUS did not only come to destroy the works of the devil, he also came to restore dominion back to man. As a child of God, “We are now seated in Heavenly places in CHRIST JESUS high above principalities and power” (Eph. 2:6). Jesus gave us power to bind and cast out devil (Mk. 16:17-18). The devil told God: “You have put a hedge around Job. This is true. As a child of God, the angels of God encamp around us (Psalm 34:7). We are covered by the blood of JESUS and no power of Satan can penetrate. Much more, we are privilege to be under HIS WATCH, “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber or sleep” (Psalm 121:4) Why? Because of you and I. Beloved, let the truth of the word of God dwell in you richly, it is the truth that sets free from fear and ignorance which the devil thrives on. In Matt. 28:18 Jesus says, “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.” If that is the case, If JESUS is TRUE, YES HE is the “TRUTH”, that means Satan has no power over a child of God. Col. 3:3b states and your life is hid with CHRIST in God. The power of the devil is SIN. Satan is the man of sin 2Thess. 2:3b; because of this, anyone who commits sin is of the devil (I John 3:8a). This is where the devil derives his false power. Even at that, JESUS came to destroy the works of the devil which include SIN. If sin is the problem hand it back to the devil, confess your sins and invite JESUS into your heart, then your freedom time has come.”
“JESUS earthly ministry was characterized by diverse miracles-healing, casting out demons even raising the dead. He handed down same POWER to all who believe in Him. It was so with the apostles of old and today we experience His mighty presence at the LIBERATION POWER MINISTRIES. There are numerous testimonies showing the mighty wonder working power of JESUS CHRIST.” Here are some of the testimonies among many other outstanding ones:
1. “AFTER MY DELIVERANCE AT EJAFORCE, I WAS HEALED OF 3 DEADLY DISEASES ASHMA, KIDNEY PROBLEM AND HIV. MY DAUGHER ALSO WAS DELIVERED FROM THE EVIL SPIRIT THAT HAD USED HER FOR MANY YEARS TO AFFLICT ME. I want to praise the LORD for what HE has done for me and my family at January 1989. In 1990 I represented my unit at the Nigerian Army Sports at Bauchi. After the Marathon race in which I competed, I fell down and found myself in the Hospital. I was diagnosed of Asthma and was warned by the doctor to stop every sport if I wanted to be alive. Because of my sporting activities, I was privileged to meet Gen. Sanni Abacha who requested that I should be promoted with some others but the promotion did not come. I was moving from one hospital to the other – from the General Hospital Gombe to military hospital Ibadan, to Ikeja military hospital among many others. As a result of this recurrent illness, my name was removed from the list of those to be promoted; they called me “sick man”. Because of the problem, I consulted many diviners and even joined a secret cult that promised that my problem would be solved in two weeks. Unfortunately, none of these could gave me little relief. When I was posted to Kaduna, I discovered that I was passing out blood each time I went to the toilet. I went to the Hospital and the doctor said that my left kidney was not functioning.”
“Along the line, I was posted to Port Harcourt. I was strong as I resumed at Port Harcourt and was among an escort team that escorted some white men to lay pipe at Ahoada. In the Bush, the sickness came again. I was taken to the Hospital at Omoku. I couldn’t stand on my own again. Before this time during a prayer and fasting in my house led by a Pastor when I was at Keffi, my second daughter confessed that she was behind my sickness and that my blood and my wife’s own has been taken to the coven and they have injected our blood with HIV. I was returned to the village for treatment. One day a deacon in my former church told me that what I need was deliverance. She told me to come to Liberation Power Ministries EJAFORCE and that she was delivered too at EJAFORCE. So I came. I met the Admin. Pastor who prayed for me to have strength as I was very weak. I came back the next day for “deliverance”. During the deliverance, I vomited out blood and many other things. From that very day I became well and strong. Also at one of the night vigils tagged – Operation KOBOKO. We were instructed to flog our enemies to surrender. I did and when I got home I went into the toilet to ease myself – a man appeared to me and said – “you flogged me too much, I came to hand over your property to you; he started handling them over to me and I had to call Pst Okoya to come and witness it and pray over it and the man left. After this experience, people that had forgotten me are now calling to assist me. Also during my deliverance, I was asked to bring my daughter and I sent for her to come from the village. The God of EJAFORCE set the wicked powers in her on fire and the three powers she was operating with were sent out of her. She vomited the evil ring out and she was delivered by the power of God. Today, I’m a happy man. God has not only healed me, he has delivered my daughter too. Praise God. (Bro. Odeleye A.).
2. “SALTED TO BE PRESERVED BY THE GOC EJAFORCE, THE WEEK AFTER I WAS TRAPPED IN AN ELEVATOR/ LIFT FOR 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES BUT CAME OUT ALIVE. I was at the salt service on Sunday and the GOC declared over all worshippers that we are preserved and shall not die but live. The week after, on a Friday, I was at the state secretariat and entered the elevator or lift to get to the 7th floor. I was alone inside and suddenly NEPA took light. The elevator stopped and I was hitting at the glass door if someone outside could hear me but none. I was troubled knowing that if I wasn’t rescued on time it could be disastrous. But I kept on hitting at the thick glass hoping someone will hear. I was already gasping for air and almost suffocating and suddenly I remembered that I was salted by the GOC to be preserved from death and faith rose up within me. I resumed hitting at the door and this time the unusual happened – a cleaner passed-by and discovered that I was trapped in the elevator. She raised an alarm and called the operators and the door was opened. I came out alive and I checked my watch, I had spent 1 hour 15minites without any ventilation. God is wonderful. Praise God.” (Sis. Deborah O.).
3. “AFTER ADMINISTERING THE WATER CONSECRATED BY THE GOC, I WAS EMPLOYED WITHOUT APPLICATION OR INTERVIEW. Praise the name of the LORD. I want to thank the GOC and the WBC for their prayers. I went back to Bayelsa State with tears in search of job. Before I moved out, I administered the consecrated water. I drank some and sprinkled some on my body. By the wonder working power of God, I was given a job without application or interview. I also got a good accommodation very easy. My three children also got admission into higher institutions. What a mighty God we serve. Praise God.” (Sis. Izonbodei O.)
4. “ANOTHER MIRCLE FROM THE WATER CONSECRATED BY THE GOC – DELIVERANCE AND HEALING. On the 14th of September 2012 during the war conference I was in a dream and saw myself in the midst of dead people. My late cousin that died last year appeared and suggested that I should sleep with a woman. I rejected it. On the 16th of same month I had similar dream. I woke up and prayed. A while after, I became sick. I went to the hospital and was diagnosed of typhoid. The sickness will relapse and come back. I got the consecrated water by the GOC, I got home and prayed over my compound, sprinkled the water all over the place. I also drank some. Lo and behold without any medication at all, I became healed from the recurrent illness. Praise the LORD.(Bro. Mike .K.).
5. “DOCTORS TOLD MY BROTHER’S WIFE THAT SHE WILL DELIVER THROUGH ‘CS’ BUT THE GOC CANCELLED THE VERDICT. SHE DELIVERED SAFELY. NO MORE ‘CS’ My brother’s wife called and tell me that she was experiencing problems with her pregnancy as she was due to deliver. The doctor told her that she was going to through ”CS' operation to deliver her baby. I told the GOC about the problem and the GOC instructed me to come with her to his office. She came to the GOC and after a short prayer, the man of God announced that she will deliver normally without any complication. He also mentioned a date for her delivery. At the date the GOC declared, my brother’s wife delivered safety without any complication. The doctor that conducted the test on her and booked her for operation was greatly surprised. What a mighty God we serve. Glory be to God.”(Bro. Emmanuel J.).
6. “PROMOTION DURING MASS SACK: 1,000 PEOPLE SACKED NEXT DAY I WAS PROMOTED I want to thank the GOC, Gen. Stephen Odede. In 2011, the organization where I work acquired another organization. There was serious apprehension of who should go and who will remain. I included my demand for promotion in the list of 7 things the GOC instructed us to write at the crossover of 2011 to 2012. On Wednesday, over 1,000 staff got their sack letters. Naturally, the best prayer would be to be retained at work at this time that many are sent away, but I insisted on my demand based on my request to God. So came Thursday, a day after the mass sack, I was promoted to the rank of an Assistant Manager. Praise God.” (SIS. KATE F.P )
7. “OBEDIENCE TO PROPHETIC INSTRUCTION FROM THE G.O.C. RELEASED MY CAR. The GOC EJAFORCE instructed us to write down seven things we want God to do for us at the CROSS-OVER NIGHT VIGIL of 2011. I obeyed this prophetic instruction to the letter. Among the things I wrote down in my list was that God should give me a car. This brother’s name is “REMEMBER” and in his words: I want to thank GOD as GOD has finally remembered me. God gave this brother a car even as he wrote in his list. Praise God.” (Cdr. Remember .I.).
8. “FIBROID MIRACULOUSLY DISSAPPERED AFTER PRAYERS. I got married in the year 2010 and since then I had a problem in my womb,. So I decided with my husband to go for “Operation” to remove the FIBROID in my womb. But before I could go to the hospital for the operation, I was introduced to LIBERATION POWER MINISTRIES, EJAFORCE. I started the deliverance programme at EJAFORCE supported by the NIGHT VIGILS. When the new members or new comers were asked to come out, I did and was given the EJAFORCE calendar. I got home and hanged the calendar close to our bed in the room. I slept that night and was in a dream and I was taken for deliverance. I later went to the hospital and had a scan of my womb, miraculously, there was no more FIBROID in my womb. God of EJAFORCE has removed it. Praise the LORD.” (Sis. Gift Eme.).
9. “THE GOC DECLARED: “LAST MINUTE MIRACLE AND SAFE DELIVERY” DESPITE DOCTOR’S NEGATIVE REPORT, IT CAME TO PASS. On the 28th February 2012, my wife and I went to see the GOC for prayer because the doctor told us that the baby was lying across instead of the normal position. The doctor also gave the date for her delivery to be on the 13th of March, 2012. The GOC prayed for my wife and after the prayer he said categorically to me: “your wife will deliver safely before the week runs out”. We met the GOC on a Wednesday and on Saturday same week “Labour” started. Already, it was a week earlier than the doctor’s timeline but was in line with the GOC’s prophetic declaration. I want to the hospital with my wife and after the doctor has examined her, he said it will the child was not still properly positioned; so he it will be by “operation”. I quickly send text massage to the GOC and he called me back immediately. The GOC declared that it will not be operation, that the doctor’s report was not true and that we should expect – last minute miracle” he then prayed for my wife. After this, the doctor call me to sign a document authorizing them to carry out “operation” on my wife. I Refused and told them that my GOC had declared that it will be safe delivered. i was told by the doctor to remove my wife to a government hospital and so we left for BMH. When it was my wife’s turn to see the doctor, the doctor checked her and there was no complication any longer; she delivered safely.
I called the GOC and told him that it was a last minute miracle indeed. The LORD indeed performed the counsel of his servant. God is good.” (Bro. Goddy.E.). The occasion which was characterized with other miracles and prophetic ministration by other anointed prophets. The Church identified with the needy by providing bags of rice, clothes, and money for sixty three widows. Twenty pastors were ordained into the full time ministry. Fifteen from Nigeria. Five from Cameroon. Apostle George W. Jobe (USA) and Apostle Bill Reeder(USA) joined Pastor Stephen Odede to ordained the pastors. What more to enforce your freedom in Christ, visit Liberation Power Ministries Headquarters, 82 Elioparanwo Road, Mile 4, Port Harcourt (www.ejaforce.org)
Dr. Lewis Akpogena
[email protected]