Before I understood about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, my life was full of confusion. I was born into a polygamous home in Nigeria. My father was from a royal family, so he was a ruler by birth. As such, he was expected to accommodate all religious traditions. Also, his social and cultural obligations caused him to marry many wives, and so he had many children. He loved me, and I trusted and relied on him, but he died when I was fifteen years old.

There was quarreling and envy among our family members, and some of them told me that I would never do well. The implication was that I would never obtain an education. I felt that the words said to me were powerful and put something of a curse on me, and this brought me fear. Now that my father was dead, who would pay for my education?

While in secondary school, I began to be conscious of my serious need of God. I wanted to serve Him but did not know how to do it. Thinking I could overcome sin in my own power, I struggled to live without sinning, but found that I could not. I attended many different churches, and in some even joined the choir because I loved singing. However, when I looked at the lives of the people in those churches, my heart was discouraged because they seemed no different than me. For a while I did not support any particular church. Other times I thought it was not worth going to church at all. Occasionally I went about preaching to people. But if anyone was bold enough to ask me if I was saved, I would say, “Well, I think I am saved.” Confusion abounded inside me.

I noticed something different

After completing secondary school, I went on for higher education. There I met five people who called themselves Christians and whose lives were different from mine. I tried to associate with them and become friends because I thought that would make me a true Christian.

They invited me to a four-day retreat at the Apostolic Faith Church in Lagos, Nigeria. What I heard the first two days had a big impact on me. I came to understand that those people had genuine salvation, and I did not. They did their best to answer all my questions. That Saturday there were no services and they encouraged me to spend time in prayer, so I did.

Although I did not know what to say, I asked God to forgive my sins and promised not to go back to those sins again. As I knelt there, my sins came flashing before me like a panorama, and as each one came, I said, “Oh Lord, I am sorry. I will never do that again.” 

After about ten minutes of praying, God’s Spirit witnessed to my heart that the work was done. It was so real, there was no more guessing about it. Joy like I had never experienced before flooded my soul. Everything seemed new! When I went outside, the moonlight caused me to say, “God, You created this moon that has been there all the while!” Flowers looked new to me, though I had passed by them several times previously. Before that retreat ended, I prayed more and God sanctified me. That was in March of 1975, when I was twenty-one years old.

A turnaround in my life

When I went back to school, life was totally different. Before I was saved, everything that I did tended towards failure, which seemed to be a fulfillment of the curses from my childhood. After salvation, what I thought were curses were removed and failures became successes. The next exam that I took was a national one, and one of my results was among the best in the center where I attended. There was such a difference in my life that I wondered if I needed to change my birthday. The day God saved me was the day life came to me, and I actually knew I was alive!

My heart continued to yearn for more of God. At night, kneeling by my bedside or a chair and tarrying for a long while, God was so real that it seemed at times as if I was even touching His hand. He let me know that restitutions were necessary for some of my past actions, and I began making those things right. When I made restitution to my mother, she thought maybe I had some condition and was going to die. Weeping, she asked, “What has happened to you?” I told her that God had saved my soul. When the restitutions were made, God filled me with the Holy Ghost and power. Thank God for that experience!

Meanwhile, God continued to help with my education. He took me through university, and another student and I were told that our results broke an eighty-year-old record. Then I went on and received a master’s degree. That is what God can do for one who is saved. 

The Lord led me to marry a young lady from the church. However, just over a year later, she passed away. This caused suspicion within my unbelieving family, who said my God had failed me. I told them, “My God never fails, but that was His will.” Upon my arrival home from her burial, they told me that I should choose between God and family. It was a serious decision because my family still tried to have a great deal of influence on me. It felt as if I was on a tightrope. Sitting on my bed and holding my Bible, I said, “This is the way I want to follow. I will follow the Bible way. I will choose Christ.” Some of my family made comments that were not edifying, but I thank God that I chose the Bible and God’s way. He has never disappointed me.

In time I married again, to a woman named Janet. At the time, I was teaching at the university, and we were both involved in church work in Zaria, Nigeria, where I had been asked to begin preaching. After some years, I was asked to fill the role of pastor there. 

A new chapter in a new country

Then in a miraculous way, God changed the direction of our lives. He made it possible for me to receive a scholarship to go to Australia and study for a doctorate in linguistics. I had been praying for God’s direction, and when the opportunity came, I prayed again, “God, I don’t have to go abroad. I don’t have to be anywhere else than here. If You know that I am not going to be useful to You there, then I don’t want to go.” Also, I had heard of people who lost their salvation when they went abroad. So I prayed, “God, if You know I am going to lose my salvation there and am not going to serve You, please, I would rather remain at home.”

When it appeared that God wanted us to go, I went home and told Janet, “We are going to Australia.” She said, “What? Where is Australia?” We looked at a world map, and she said, “You mean we are going like from one end of the world to the other?” I said, “Yes.” Her next question was if there was one of our churches there. When I told her there was not, she asked, “What are we going to do? How can we leave this place where there is a church and go to a place where there is not one? How are we going to survive?” I suggested that we might start a church.

We had three children by that time, and we packed our bags and went to Australia. Before we left Nigeria, the church leaders told us the names of some people in the area who had connections to our church. After we were in Australia we began meeting for fellowship, and our group grew. The enemy resisted, as he does, but God took us through.

When I was asked to be the church leader, I did not want to. Then God reminded me of Sister Ruth Ashwell’s testimony. She said the Lord showed her two roads and both of them led to Heaven. One was difficult, and one was easy. She understood that God wanted her to take the difficult way, and she did. She said that God had never disappointed her. 

God used that to speak to my heart. So I prayed, “God, I don’t know anything and can’t do anything by myself. But if this is what You want me to do and You will lead me, I will just follow what You ask me to do.” Thank God, He has helped. There have been difficulties, but each time we took the matter to God, and He resolved the problem for us. Now, besides the church in Sydney, there are groups in Melbourne and Perth, and recently one in Queensland as well.

Throughout our stay in Australia, God has sustained us. When we lived in Nigeria, I taught for thirteen years at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, which is one of the largest universities in Nigeria. Since we moved to Australia, I have been teaching at Macquarie University, but this position is not on a permanent basis. Yet God continues to provide employment. 

At one point I did not have work for a couple of semesters. Janet was attending the university at that time, and we were paying international student fees for her. We had three children in school and were paying international fees for them as well. It was really tough, but God was always faithful to provide. 

One time, one of Janet’s colleagues complained about having to pay overseas student fees for her son. This woman was working fulltime and so was her husband, and they had only one child. Janet told her, “We are paying overseas student fees for our children and also my own fees.” The coworker said, “No. You don’t look like somebody who is in distress paying for this. You must have someone very rich sending you money to pay!” Janet said, “Yes, I have Someone—that is Jesus,” and gave the lady her testimony. Miraculously, God helped us through that time.

In His own way, God made it possible for us to obtain permanent residency in Australia, and now we are citizens. He has helped us purchase a home when that seemed impossible. All along, God has been more than faithful. My life is a testimony of what God can do for a person who gives his life to Christ.