Between Babalola and Elton: Origin of Pentecostalism and the distortion of a national histography-A response to Sunday Adelaja (Part 2)

For part 1 of this article kindly follow this link:https://churchtimesnigeria.net/elton-babalola-pentecostalism-nigeria/

By Moses Oludele Idowu

*The Elton rebuked Babalola about his practices 

This was the title of the video broadcast that Adelaja made – WHY ELTON REBUKED BABALOLA.  However, this was utterly grounded in error because Adelaja like most of his Nigerian pastors does not know the History but based on what Elton told some of them and with taking a liberty. The error should have been apparent if they had a personal investigation of History.

Pa Elton

Elton was supposed to have rebuked Babalola on the use of water, rod and bell, according to these later revisionists. However, it was not so because the high point of the rod and water and bell were during the Great Revival between 1930 and 1933 by which time ELTON had not even left England or received his calling and commission. I will speak exhaustively on the rod and water in another response so that this piece does not become unnecessarily tedious and voluminous for the readers.

The rod and water were most prominently used in the peak of the Revival and after the Church had become established its purpose had been served. The notion that Babalola carried water everywhere and the staff is not true. Only when he was going to a new territory in those days especially places where Christ had not been named and still under occult power, the rod was the signet of his apostolic authority and commission and the supremacy of Christ authority over all powers of darkness just as Moses’ rod depicted his commission and power over all the rods of Egypt.

However, once the territory has been broken under the power of God the rod faded. This was the clear and direct commission of God to Babalola and it is scriptural and perfectly consistent with Logic and even with Christian HISTORY. In my second response, I will show this that this was so in every territory that was under terrible occult power and which God had commissioned His servant to take.

Adelaja is unaware of African Christian history and even Indigenous Revival Movements all over Africa and the rich heritage given to them. He is also unaware of African traditional religious cosmologies, Oral traditions, and culture. It is a dimension that is completely beyond our man.

What European CHRISTIANITY, brought to Africa, could not do for hundreds of years were accomplished under these indigenous prophetic figures by listening to directions from God. This is the rich heritage that Adelaja tries to lampoon and ridicule because he neither knew the History of his people nor even their heritage.

Read Professor Bolaji Idowu’s book (TOWARDS AN INDIGENOUS CHURCH, London: Oxford University Press, 1968) to correct that distortion and appreciate what the indigenous figures did for the birth of true Christianity in Africa.

Thus, the impression of rebuke did not happen because the rod and water had been used and served their purpose before even Elton came to the picture. As for the bell even in the Early Church, they had it. Even the Apostolic Church, the mother church of Elton used it and still uses it. Are they also paganistic?  I feel sorry that a son is ridiculing the heritage of his fathers because he does not know his history.

The impression is being created of a Teacher- Pupil relationship between Elton and Babalola to fit into the grand but false narrative of mentorship. This is false – false in history and false in facts.

Also, Babalola’s most memorable work and great revivals occurred between 1930 and 1933 either directly or through his associates: Oke- Ooye, Ilesha (July- August 1930); Oke- Bola, Ibadan ( September1930) Efon – Alaaye (October 1930), Ake, Abeokuta ( Nov.1930) Ikare, Akoko ( 1931).

These periods were some of the greatest and grandest moments in the history of Nigerian CHRISTIANITY based on several eyewitnesses comprising of both foreigners and Africans. And under God Joseph Babalola was instrumental in bringing this about. S.G. Elton the supposed founder of Pentecostalism was nowhere then.

The water was used in all these and the handbell based on clear directions God gave the revivalists and the results and impact show that Heaven was not displeased.

“For that indeed a notable miracle was done is evident to all that dwelt in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it”

Yorubas knew that the Lord is God. They stormed forbidden forests, sacked heathen temples, overthrew heathenist altars which made the ground soft for Elton and his church to want to come to Nigeria for affiliation.

And now, we are being told that a man who came long after the groundwork had been done was raising issues and rebuking about what he himself did not know or see. How can you rebuke a man who is not under your tutelage, a man who, to be honest to the facts, was more significant to the very foundation of Apostolic CHRISTIANITY in Nigeria, a man who was described by Andrew Turnbull, Elton’s foremost leader as ” the most remarkable figure in Nigeria evangelism” – long before Elton knew about Nigeria.

The idea of Elton trying to teach Babalola about the rod and water is like a newly employed teacher of Literature trying to teach an acclaimed writer and a Nobelist to boot, how to write. It is impudence. Is it any wonder that within 2 years of Elton’s arrival there was a split in the Original Apostolic Church leading to the separation of the original Revival Movement and the genuine leaders of the Movement from the white administration?

The role of Elton in exacerbating this crisis is a story I will tell in another day. It is sad that people, PhDs would believe whatever is told to them without bothering to cross-check the details and whether they align with Logic. Blackman think! Use your mind.

* YOUR REVELATION CANNOT BE HIGHER THAN THE WORD OF GOD

Adelaja says that the idea of carrying a rod and the use of the bell in prayer and praying on water for the sick are unscriptural and that Babalola’s revelation was contrary to *the Word of God. This is what Elton told them or taught them under the principle of superposition that I earlier mentioned since Elton did not himself see the action and was not part of the high point of the Revival.

Here we are faced with the absence of Logic, a thing I have seen for too long among even educated Nigerians. Adelaja sees praying over water for the sick as unscriptural but he does not see anything wrong with going to doctors and worldly physicians as unscriptural.

Water, a naturally occurring element he sees as unscriptural but the drugs and potions of Egypt and Greece or the product of Western Medicine with its occultic origins he did not see as unscriptural. Evidently, our man does not know he has contradicted himself.

Is Adelaja aware that Apollo, the Greek demon god is the father of medicine? Is he aware that God frowns at going to Egypt for help to seek her physicians?

So, which is more unscriptural. between Babalola who prayed over water created by God and the other group who go to Egypt and Greece to bow to Apollo by using drugs and medicine created by the heathens?

By praying over water and sanctifying the stream and sources of rivers of whole towns he even helped our people at a time when western medicine was scarce and unavailable to the masses and when people, masses of people died due to simple opportunistic diseases as malaria.

This is the history and context that Adelaja is repudiating, insulting, and trying to cast aspersions on. It is sad, that education and civilization have not really helped some people, it has even damaged them beyond repairs. Babalola even made it clear in his recorded writings that the people should renounce all medicine and look to God alone for their cures, he was not turning water to another god. Never. And he said this and made it clear to the people.

It is recorded even in newspapers his disdain and rebuke of entire communities of idol worship and no pastor or Evangelist in living memory in Nigeria destroyed more idols than Babalola. To now accuse such a man of syncretism or of derailing the Nigerian Church or of bringing idols to the Church is not only ignorant, it is illiterate and downright stupid. There is no better way to say it and I do not know how to lie because liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire and I do not want to go there.

* Further from the same perverse logic Adelaja ranted on. Hear him: IT IS BABALAWO WHO USED MEDIUMS

The inference is that since Babalola prayed over water and used a rod at the peak of the Revival he was using the same methods as witchdoctors.

I am really amazed. Is this how much Adelaja knows? I am shocked.

Use of medium is not exclusive to babalawos

Well, it is not true that the use of media belongs to Babalawo (herbalists). All truths are parallel. In secret societies they practice self-denial; Satanists too fast and pray too. Should we, therefore, repudiate these religious acts because followers of satan too do them? Or should we consider them satanic? Logic, Pastor Adelaja, more logic please.

 

Adelaja is afraid of symbols. True in our days’ certain Pentecostal churches have taken this to an abysmal level but the presence of a bastard does not mean that there are no legitimate sons.

Symbols are not wrong. It depends on your attachment to them. God can use them because He is greater than any medium and His Spirit pervades and permeates all medium, essences, objects. God can use means and He has used them several times in History when they are properly subordinated to His Grace.

– Handkerchief or aprons were taken from Paul’s body to heal the sick; Peter’s shadows was a medium and God used it to heal. The Lord Jesus even put his saliva in spittle and asked the blind to go and wash in a pool and they were healed.

All these are uses of medium in the New Testament.

Is Adelaja not aware that the best exponents of healings in the last two centuries used medium sometimes to heal?

Alexander Dowie of Zion City often prayed over oil and cloth for the sick; John G. Lake the apostle to South Africa prayed on prayer cloths which he sent to the sick and hurting; Wigglesworth often anointed the sick for prayer. Both A.A. Allen and Oral Roberts prayed over oil to cure the sick. Branham used prayer cards to minister to the sick…

So, are all these too Babalawo because they used mediums? If Babalola is Babalawo what of these whites who also used mediums?

How conversant is Adelaja with the History of the Church, the Early Church? Because they had their symbols and medium yet they did not bow to them.

* THAT ELTON ANOINTED THEM TAUGHT ALL OF THEM INCLUDING BABALOLA

That is false, at least for Babalola. I have already dwelt on this both on time and date. When did he anoint him and where? Anoint him to do what?

It is sad that Adelaja always made his heavy pronouncements without citing any source except what he thinks. ” I think he also taught…” This is a man who is addressing the world based on historical figures and historical facts and yet he was not sure himself: ” I think he …”. Much of what he says is based on what he thought but personal opinion or thought has no weight in History as much as verifiable empirical data and sources.

* THAT ELTON BROUGHT PENTECOSTAL GOSPEL TO NIGERIA

Another falsehood from the mouth of Sunday Adelaja. Although so many have been saying it and many write it as History and our zealous but self-serving ignorant press too parrot this illiterate idea and grievous falsehood.

NIGERIAN Pentecostalism did not begin from Europe or America unlike that of South Africa. The book to read is Professor Ogbu Kalu, AFRICAN PENTECOSTALISM ( Oxford University Press, 2008). It is an excellent piece by a world-renowned scholar.

As far back as 1928 when no white man was in sight within the apostolic context, Pastor Odubanjo had conducted Tarrying services in which brethren received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. You may also read S.G. Adegboyega, A Short History of the Apostolic Church.(Ibadan: Rostprint Press,1978)

These are enough witnesses from participants and Elton was nowhere then. So, the notion that Elton brought the Pentecostal gospel is false to the fact and to the history however much some love to believe it.

All the main features and premises of Pentecostalism were already in place – salvation and new birth, baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues, gifts of the Spirit, belief in Divine Healing, etc were already in place long before Elton came. So it is false to credit the Movement to him. If Elton preached the Pentecostal gospel then those missionaries that preceded him, Perfect, Vaughan, Rosser, etc what were they preaching?

Always, they date the beginning of Pentecostalism to Elton in order to make him the king but though,  a good man the crown did not fit his head because it belongs to another.

* BABALOLA SAID HE NEEDED POWER AND THEREFORE HE CARRIED THE ROD. THE CRAZE FOR POWER DERAILED THE NIGERIAN CHURCH

This is another libel from the mouth of Adelaja. To whom and when did Babalola said he needed power? This is the falsehood. Which comes first, the rod or the power and apostolic authority which it symbolized? Does a rod in itself possess any power? This is the poor logic on display here by someone who should know.

 

He had never really read anything of substance about Babalola, all his knowledge and views are based on what he got through a third party or medium like Elton and they are largely not true. He has misplaced and distorted facts.

 

Three errors are on display here: Where did he say he needed power? To whom Elton or Adelaja? If he needed power why would he wait till 1937 to tell Elton about it? The power that was on display in 1930 that shook the whole of West Africa and even caught the attention of Apostolic Church, the mother church of Elton, where was it? And this is the man who would tell a man in 1937 that he needed power?

Obviously, Adelaja had never read about the calling of Babalola and the apostolic signs that heralded it. He has taken his information wholly through S.G. Elton and what he said who was not an eyewitness of the events and yet claimed to know and speak about what he didn’t see. And our “educated” ministers who passed through him did not see the contradiction. It is sad.

To accuse Babalola of craze for power is impudent and even libelous. Adelaja is ignorant of the matter he has taken to speak about. Babalola even tried not to answer the call, he was a reluctant preacher. As a steam roller driver, he earned from Colonial Government what no preacher earned either in CMS or Catholic Church in 1928. So, he was not even willing to leave.

Read about his own account of how the call came and his several directions to embark on fasts without food and water for his empowerment all of which he never wanted because it was painful and as an Anglican he was inexperienced about long fasts.

 

The step- by- step direction of how he was directed and empowered by God to the ministry of Divine Healing to pray for the sick for their recovery are given in his own account which Adelaja refused to read. You may also read Professor Bolaji Idowu’s book Towards an Indigenous Church (Oxford University Press, 1965)

Instead, he took his knowledge wholly from another white missionary who never even had the whole facts. Elton said it, it must be so. Elton is the alpha and omega…

These are the people who are accusing a section of the church of idolatry. Plato the great philosopher has said that rarely does a man rebuke pride except with greater pride. Adelaja is proof.

Somehow it does not occur to these eminent people and followers of S.G. Elton that it is unscholarly and incongruous to the academic tradition to judge a man solely on the authority of another man without consulting his own records. It is this delusion that Sunday Adelaja has fallen on his wholly distorted views on the ministry of Joseph Babalola.

In a life of almost 60 years about 40 of which I have lived as a Christian I have not known or read of a minister as humble as Joseph Babalola. And I have read books. Someone as shy of publicity as Babalola I do not yet know. He would sometimes even refuse to affirm miracles performed through his hands. He once ran away from a town when on seeing a miracle the people wanted to worship him. How about that?

All the people who knew him and worked with him both white and black including Vaughan, Perfect, etc affirmed his humility. To accuse such a one of “craze for power” makes me weep for Sunday Adelaja. You are treading on a dangerous ground, a very dangerous ground. To judge or make a pronouncement on what you yourself didn’t know is folly according to the Book of Proverbs.

As to the charge of carrying the rod, this is even simplistic. If the carrying of the rod is all that is required for power then every Nigerian should be powerful, every Nigerian should be zones of power if it is that simple. Where is Logic in Adelaja’s Thought?

If water alone could heal why should anyone in Nigeria be sick or even in Adelaja’s Europe with its “pure gospel”?  It is not also true that Babalola carried the rod throughout his ministry. What is the evidence or attestation to that statement? None, except one book and plenty of taking a liberty. Sorry, that is not the way of scholarship.

I will answer this in full in the second response so that this paper does not become too bulky for my readers.

* BABALOLA HAD TO DIE YOUNG BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM HE WOULD HAVE DERAILED THE NIGERIAN CHURCH

The most egregious, insidious, and objectionable statement in the whole video broadcast – actually the most impudent – was the charge that God took Babalola early and he had to die early so as not to derail the Nigerian Church. I am quoting Adelaja in his own words. I didn’t believe it when I read it in Church Times publication until I listened to the broadcast myself.

So Adelaja is telling us that he not only knows what goes on earth but also in the Court of Heaven. Thus, he displayed his ignorance of historical facts and even of CHRISTIANITY.

How “young” was Babalola when he died? He was 55 and had been in ministry for 31 years (1928-59), this is what Adelaja called young.

How old was John Fletcher, the greatest saint of Methodism and the one Wesley wanted to hand over to when he died? He was 55.

How old was George Whitefield, the preaching force of Methodism when he died? He was 56. Were these saints, among the greatest in the annals of church history, also called home for judgment?

If Adelaja had read much and taken to heart what he read he should have known that the greatest saints that ever lived did not even cross the age of 55.

Consider the following saints and when they died::

Julian of Norwich (16), David Brainerd (29), Fletcher (55) Whitefield (56), John Hyde…

The list goes on. Dying young is not a mark of judgment, it may in fact be a point of mercy to prevent a soul beloved by God from seeing corruption. Living long in the world, a sinful and increasingly corrupt world is not an honour God reserves for His best. How long did Jesus live? It is serious that Adelaja did not know this.

From the beginning, God told Babalola that he would work for 30 years and he told his disciples in a parable that he would do 30 works. It was when he died in 1959, just 30 years after commencement of ministry that his associates remembered the meaning that he told them at the beginning he would work for only 30 years.

It was in fact prayers and much prayers that kept him for that long in the world. Has Adelaja not heard the Yoruba proverb that a straight tree does not last in the forest? Living long in the world is not a sign of Heavenly favour and dying early is not a sign of judgment.

Most of the greatest saints in Christian history did not even live beyond 55. Should we now take it to mean that God judged them? We have to question the justice of a God who would punish His finest souls and leave mediocre and the wicked to roam. Is living long in the world, this animal world a sign of Heavenly favour? Has Adelaja never seen this scripture: “… the righteous is taken away before the day of evil.” (Isaiah 57: 1)

* WHEN YOU USE SYMBOL THEN YOU ARE SUBMITTING YOURSELF TO SYMBOLS

Another statement from our Ukraine- based oracle of modern Pentecostalism. But it is not so. The use of symbols does not mean submitting yourself to it.

When a man takes a wife in marriage, they are both given a ring to symbolize the union and the love for each other as Christ to the church. But that does not mean they are worshipping the ring and the ring is not the marriage. Within two weeks of my own wedding, I could not even place or remember where I dropped the ring, yet I am still married. But my wife continues to wear her own till today. Now does that mean I am submitting to a ring?

Logic, pastor, logic.

I will answer this charge fully in another detailed response.

* THAT DALLIMORE WORKED WITH ELTON AND BOTH OF THEM WERE LIKE MENTORS TO BABALOLA

Another falsehood from Adelaja because he would not do his research well. It is utterly false. Dallimore was an Anglican archdeacon, a venerable of the church in Ado- Ekiti who founded the famous Christ School. He was a contemporary of Babalola and had a high regard of Babalola as I quoted here above and in my book. [ See The Great Revival of 1930, Artillery Publications, Lagos, 2007 ]

Adelaja has taken too much liberty to make statements that he has no source or authority to make. And what was his source? It was Elton and a book of biography. That is even more revealing of gross unwisdom than he is accusing the Nigerian Church of. Who needs the greater correction?

• THE CHURCH IS NOW PAGANISTIC, BABALOLA WAS MAKING PEOPLE TO BELIEVE IN WATER MORE THAN GOD

  

  Joseph Ayo Babalola

This is another libel from Adelaja. Is the church now paganistic? How? Because of symbols? But the hood does not make the monk.

The church is bigger than Oyedepo, Adeboye, CAC or whatever that you have generously accused.

The charge of Babalola making people believe in water than God is libelous and frivolous. It is malicious and false. I can show you several newspaper clips from the 1930 revivals in my archive quoting Babalola as he repeatedly told the people to look up to God and not any man. The water was just a medium, a point of contact which is even scriptural as I have shown. There is no confusion in those who heard him except in the imagination of Sunday Adelaja.

Babalola would tell those who came to him that he has nothing to give them but Jesus is the healer. The newspapers even reported it when S. G. Elton had not yet surfaced. And this is the man accusing him of making people believe in water rather than God and an uncritical segment of followership also believe this.

The charge of using unsterilized water is the same dumb argument of trying to discredit Babalola which is not new anyway. It was first made by European critics. How do you call water from a flowing river unsterilized? What were the people drinking even before the Revival and the advent of civilization?

It is funny. Sometimes people reveal their ignorance in a bid to prove they know

The charge that Babalola made the church paganistic is unsound. When S.G. Elton came to Ilesha in 1937 he met hundreds of churches well established, sound, and going. Was it paganism that brought them from Yoruba paganism?

On these churches and movement, we have the original comments of the first Apostolic delegation from Bradford and their positive comments which is quoted in my book Acts of Power: the Spread of the Great Revival (Artillery Publications, 2011)

* NOBODY PREACHES RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AGAIN AND CHURCHES ARE BUSINESS CENTRES

This is another statement from Pastor Adelaja from the video which is largely true today. Although he has done too much of generalizing I won’t disagree with this statement. There is plenty of substance in this his allegations today about the condition of much of the Pentecostal Church.

The only error was that he could not fathom the reason and blaming Babalola is flogging the wrong horse. The cause of the rot in NIGERIAN Church is much deeper than what he is trying to highlight in his broadcast. He missed it from the very beginning because of a distortion of historiography. In my upcoming book I will highlight why the Nigerian Church is currently in a mess.

* THE CLAIM THAT “S.G. ELTON TAUGHT THE NIGERIAN CHURCH AND A STUDENT CANNOT KNOW MORE THAN HIS TEACHER” – 

This also falls within the category of deification which I speak about earlier. There was already an established Apostolic Church on the ground before Elton. We do not minimize his place but he did not father the Nigerian Church, either the Apostolic or even the Pentecostal. He is a father, to be honest, but a father among other fathers and a leader to those who care to follow him.

I have taken this long to do a point-by-point rebuttal of Adelaja’s pernicious video broadcast. In the true spirit of scholarship and academic tradition and even consistent with the tradition of Protestantism I welcome Pastor Sunday Adelaja to refute my points or impeach any of the facts I have stated here and to contradict me with sources and data. In the main, I welcome him to engage me on these issues in a debate in the true Christian tradition. and scholarship. Or anyone who can confound or impeach what I have stated here or contradict my facts and sources is also welcome.

Let the debate begin.

3. ON SYMBOLS: WHERE ADELAJA IS MISSING IT

Because this Discourse is already too long I will respond separately to this. Symbols are not necessarily wrong, it depends on the attachment to it. Life cannot run without those symbols and models. I will answer this fully in my next response.

4. BETWEEN FACTS AND FICTION: THE ORIGIN OF NIGERIAN PENTECOSTALISM

The view has long been held and expressed that S. G. Elton made, built, founded and authored ( ?) Pentecostalism in Nigeria. I must say with all the fiber and energy in me that is not true.

   Three questions we should ask:

What is Pentecostalism? Please read the best-known authorities on the subject: W.J Hollenweger ( The Pentecostals, London, 1972) and Ogbu Kalu ( African Pentecostalism). You may also read several papers by noted experts on the subject like Sepulveda, H.V. Synaan. (The Pentecostal Movement in the United States, Ph.D., Georgia)

A perusal of the above-named works would destroy the parochialism in the soul.

The second question to ask what are the characteristic features of Pentecostalism? The defining doctrines of Pentecostalism from the beginning. Consult the works named above and ask yourself were these in place in Nigeria before S.G. Elton came or not?

You know the answer.

Thus, Elton could not have been the father of Nigerian Pentecostalism. To be sure he played his own role and laid his own blocks in the building and formation of the Movement but he is not the founder nor the father.

Let the debate begin.

4. WHY ADELAJA ERRED ON HISTORY

The error of Pastor Sunday Adelaja on this video is due to the fact that he was basing all his broadcast on one book only and on what Elton said. He was even judging Babalola based on wholly what Elton said without allowing the man to speak for himself. He condemned him as illiterate and thus consigned him to the judgment and opinion of another man. Even the wicked judges of the world would not do that.

Do you see why Europeans revolted against theocracy and the Church since the Enlightenment period; pastors could be more cruel in judgment than even unbelievers. He presumed Babalola guilty without even for once hearing the man or allowing him to say anything in his own defense and thus consigned him to the sidelines of history. It is a sacrilege.

His second error arose from basing all his opinion on the biography of one man. I think it was Luther or Augustine or one of the fathers who warned us: ” Beware of a one- book man”. A man who has read only one book is a dangerous man.

Even Archdeacon H. Dallimore who he quoted out of context to insult Babalola he did not even know him or his origin. That is how bad it was because he never did any research. He was not even sure whether Elton was fully naturalized or not; nor his daughter. He wasn’t sure about even his facts yet he spoke with the temerity of a self-assured soul.

5. SOURCES FOR FURTHER READING

For anyone who is interested on knowing more on these issues and to cross check the facts I have stated here you may consult the following works:

ON BABALOLA

* Moses Oludele Idowu, The Great Revival of 1930: The Origin of Modern Pentecostalism in Nigeria (2007)

* ________. Joseph Ayo Babalola: The Mantle of an Apostle: A Study of Spiritual Power (2007)

* ————–. An Instrument of Revival : The Challenge of Joseph Babalola (2012)

To show that he was not illiterate and fully understood what he was shown by God see

* Moses Oludele Idowu, Joseph Ayo Babalola: Collected Works Works of an Apostle (2010)

2. ON EARLY APOSTOLIC/ ALADURA MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA

See the following works:

• J, D, Y. Peel, ALADURA: A Religious Movement Among the Yoruba (1970)
• James Worsfold, The Origin of the Apostolic Church in Great Britain, (1990)
• Gordon Weeks, Chapter Thirty Two- A Part of: A History of the Apostolic Church 1900-2000
• O. Oshun, Christ Apostolic Church of Nigeria: A Suggested Pentecostal Consideration of its Historical, Organisational and Theological Developments, 1918 – 1975” PhD thesis, University of Exeter (1981)
• O. Olayiwola, The Aladura Movement in Ijeshaland (PhD, OAU, Ife,1980)
• Adebola Ademowo, Conflict and Co-operation Among Selected Churches in Ijeshaland, 1927-1990, (PhD Thesis OAU, Ife,2001)
• Vaughan, Nigeria: The Origin of Apostolic Church Pentecostalism in Nigeria (1990)

And references to several works you will find at the back of my book on GREAT REVIVAL.

6. CONCLUDING REMARKS

I have gone to this length and at great personal cost to refute certain unfounded lies about our collective heritage.

I suspect that Pastor Sunday Adelaja has a motive for all these broadcasts about the Nigerian Church and ridiculing the leaders of the church. What he said about Babalola are so uncouth, untrue and so caustic that I wonder whether he ever read anything independently about him.

I have a feeling that this man is trying to destroy every foundation and every man of reputation so that he can supplant them. I am not surprised when after his broadcast he asked youths to join his mentorship program. So, our man wanted to destroy the heroes that the children know so that he could become the new hero.

Maybe I am harsh. But whatever is the motive he has misrepresented facts especially about Babalola which is why I had to answer him. Babalola is a father of the Nigerian Church and the injunction to honour your fathers and mothers in the Lord in order to live long is also true today although it appears many Pentecostal preachers do not know this.

The notion that a black man cannot do or create anything of value without a white man teaching him or remote-controlling him fits comfortably with the Hegemonic Theory of White Supremacism which still rules even our universities and scholarship. The Great Revival of 1930 disproved that and many African revivals of that era. It is sad and unbelievable that a generation of supposedly educated sons and daughters are still trapped by this Theory and would even pervert their own history and their collective heritage to accommodate it.

I welcome rebuttal from anyone who can controvert the points I have raised here. At the end of my book THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1930 I threw a challenge that I welcome anyone to meet me in a debate on these issues or to dispute them from either the university or seminary or anywhere. That challenge has not been taken 13 years after.

Facts are sacred.

 

For more on the works of Moses Oludele Idowu you can see:

www.africangenerals.com

www.apostolicchristianity.ng

www.academia.edu/Moses Idowu

WARNING:  It has come to my notice that people especially on Social media often mutilate, edit, alter and even remove my name as the author of my works before posting thus substituting or smuggling their own thoughts into my work. In some cases, they completely remove my name as the author.

Here is a final warning: Do not alter, edit or change anything I have written here. Post as it is or leave it alone.

© Moses Oludele Idowu

November 3, 2020

All Rights Reserved

Moses Idowu

idowumoses937@gmail.com

+234 803 469 7670

Kindly find the link to the contentious video here