A MIGHTY MAN OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF APOSTLE GABRIEL ADE AJIJALA

IN THE BEGINNING

This is the story of the divinely ordained journey of Apostle Gabriel Ade Ajilala. According to his mother, Madam Maria Agbetunbi Ajijala, the young Gabriel Ajijala was a very special gift to her from the Supreme Being. God listened to her after many years of waiting, having unsuccessfully tried and consulted many idols and gods to have a child. She and her husband Pa Fadiya Ajijala, who was a Prince from Ibilagbayo ruling house of Ilesha, were worshippers of Osun and Ogun deities, both the gods of water and iron respectively. The Ajilalas were not just worshippers of these powerless gods, but were also priests to them.

One night in her dream, Madam Ajilala was looking steadfastly into the skies crying and weeping when she heard a voice from a man who dressed in immaculate white apparel. The voice said, “Woman, what is your problem and what are you looking up for?” With tears, mama responded, “I am looking for a child because I don’t have one.” The immaculate man then told her to stop crying and weeping, instructing her to be ready to catch the child he would release to her from above.  That same night in her dream, she caught a boy child and woke up happy. Thereafter, the child of promise was conceived to the glory of God.

Apostle Gabriel Ajijala was born in 1902 at Iperindo, now the Atakumosa East Local Government. The child grew up and was used mightily by God to deal death blows to diverse idols and gods. Like Jesus in the book of Colossians 2:15 “And having spoiled principalities and power, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Apostle Ajijala became an extension of Jesus in signs and wonders, hand pulling down demons’ shrines and houses, and throwing idols and gods in to fire, making mess of all of them. Soon, gods were begging him and occult fraternities acknowledged that the power of God is far more powerful than their own power.

THE CALL AND CONVERSION

The call and conversion of Apostle Ajijala did not have human input, as nobody spoke to him concerning salvation. When God was calling him to serve Him, he simply answered: “Can you protect me?” In his pre-salvation thinking, he believed so much in the powers of his father’s powerless gods to protect him. So, he started giving God conditions that he thought would be tough for God to meet. God answered him that He was more than enough for him. The Lord enabled him to trust Him and totally surrendered to Him. Apostle Gabriel Ajijala was then saved and baptized in water and the Holy Ghost. He started preaching the word of God with passion from 1925 at Iperindo. He developed an insatiable hunger for the word of God, and became a common target for all demons, idols and their priests because of God’s great power with which he was terrorizing their territories. He was also setting their captives free with the power of God, which could not be caged or countered by their evil power. He then quickly enrolled in the adult education class to master the Yoruba A-B-D alphabets to be able to read the bible and sing hymns.

In 1943, the Lord instructed him to leave Iperindo and move to his father’s farm at Oloruntedo with a promise, just like God said to Abraham. God said He would bring people of diverse languages to Oloruntedo, which was done. Apostle Gabriel Ajijala thus became the founder of Ebenezer Apostolic Church of Christ which is now called Ebenezer Glorious Church of Christ.

The hands of God were mighty in his life and ministry. Having understood how to write and read, he saw in the scriptures mighty works done by God through the apostles and disciples. He began to test God’s healing power on the sick domestic animals and they were getting healed. He then moved to praying for human beings with incurable sicknesses and diseases. Indeed, barren women became joyful mothers and those with demons of ‘abiku’ were set free. ‘Abiku’ is a traditional reincarnation belief in Africa that means a child could die and be born several times by the same woman. But ‘abiku’ children could not re-enter their mothers’ wombs after the Apostle had prayed for them and their mothers were set free for other children to be born and stayed alive. Such people were very many in those days, but through the power of the Lord in the life of Apostle Gabriel Ajijala’s ministry, they were set free.

Also, mad folks who regained their sanity were many; people with deadly smallpox disease were healed; and pregnancies of many years were delivered safely and lived. Some women delivered animals and terrible objects like tortoise, wooden baths, bunches of palm kernels, snails and snakes without  harm done to the mothers; and sores were healed instantly, to mention a few.

Miraculously, the Apostle could understand the languages of animals and various tongues spoken by Christians who were baptized in the Holy Spirit.

It is quite revealing that Apostle Ajijala miraculous conversion and call happened around 1925, years before the great Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola’s ministry gained fame beyond any curtailment by any evil powers in 1930. The duo met each other and started working together and complementing each other because they understood that they were in the same ministry of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, a far departure from today’s trend where ministers envy and fight dirty because of fame and jealousy.

Apostle Ajijala had a big uncle from his maternal side who was also filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The uncle was called ‘Asaju’ (the leader) but his real name was Simon Ibitayo. He was also called out of idol worship and was deep in satanic practices before he got converted by God Himself.

One day, Apostle Ajijala fell sick and was lying down helplessly hopeless for a period of twenty-one days with little or no breath. All hope of his survival was lost. While his associates were in deep sorrow on earth, praying and fasting, he was acclimatizing with angels in heaven enjoying the celestial bliss. His mother, who was occupying a high office in Ogboni fraternity and other idol societies, was threatening pull down the church and scatter the sheep should her son died.

Of course, mama was an energetic personality who could make good her threats because of links with many demonic organizations. But while the Apostle’s body was on the ground here on earth in Papa Asaju’s house, his spirit and soul were reported to be in heaven being conducted round the twelve foundations of the foursquare city as the home of the redeemed saints where the twenty four elders took position.

The Apostle said while in heaven, he suddenly remembered that there was a church on earth in Iperindo Ijesha and he knew what his mother could do to the church. He then requested to return to earth, a request that was very uncommon and unusual for any person who had that kind of honours to visit heaven. He told the angel that his mother would scatter the church if he did not return to earth. His request was granted but before leaving, he was given a round object like an old 3 pence coin on which was inscribed ‘MOYE’, meaning “I am saved”. He was told he had become a permanent citizen of heaven and could return whenever he liked. Long before his final return, he said he would not need to knock the door of heaven before he entered there. One day, the Apostle said he could go to heaven bodily but he wanted the children to have his grave as a mark of honour to the family. Truly, the day he decided to go back to heaven, he covered himself and slept off on 31th May, 1989.

 THE JOURNEY TO OLORUNTEDO

In 1943, God told Apostle Ajijala to leave Iperindo and settle on his father’s farm land, a distance of about four kilometers. He was to go and begin planting all sorts of food crops such as plantain, banana, coco yam, cassava and all different kinds of trees bearing fruits because people with different languages and tribes were coming. With a promise that the forest called ABE OPE (meaning a village under palm trees) would become a global destination,   the forest is now called Oloruntedo. It is now a town with a crowned Oba (king), as vehicles would be coming to and fro and people there would be traveling to various parts of the world. The latest of the prophecies fulfilled is the establishment of a market in the town, called ‘Apostle Gabriel Ajijala Market’. Apostle was said to be on his knees praying for days, did not rise up and was not pressed naturally. By the time he was done praying, leaves had grown from each side of the knees.

One amazing occurrence was that Apostle walked in nights without the use of artificial light because every step produced the light. As soon as he raised his leg light shone.

SOME MORE MIRACLES GOD DID THROUGH THE APOSTLE

Without doubt, no one single book could contain all the wonders of God done through the man of God. Anybody who was 50 years old in 1989 would have witnessed a fraction of what God used His servant for. Many of Oloruntedo descendants were parts of God’s miracles through His servant.

Bareness of decades ended, tied wombs were loosed to receive children, over aged marriageable singles found suitable partners, issues of blood disappeared, sanity got restored to mentally unstable men and women, invisible crowing cocks on the heads of victims got banished and the victims were set free. Many years of undelivered pregnancies were touched by God as some of the women delivered terribly fearful-looking objects such as brooms, tortoises, snails, snakes, wooden bowls, bunches of palm kennels, native wooden combs, half human-half animal objects. Some women were delivered of children in parts as legs, heads and other parts of the body came separately. Only God could have done all these. As earlier mentioned, many mothers with ‘abiku’ child problem were delivered and their children are having grown children today. Some of them that are females are already having great grand children, to mention a few.

Interestingly, the Apostle was also doing the work of a midwife without any formal training, as all the neighbouring villages were depending on him for their women to deliver. God honoured him so much that there was no loss of a baby delivered. A time came that God told him that he would not need to go and be praying for delivery again; he would just be told the expectant women have put to bed on their own and only the news of safe delivery would be coming to him. Indeed, God kept His word to the end of Apostle’s life and beyond.

The Apostle’s wisdom towered tall amongst peers such that he could be termed “the end of discussion” on issues. This is because where and when he came in to settle issues either in the palace, church, outside his denomination, in towns, in government, communities and families, his words were the final say and people always LOVED his contribution and verdicts.

APOSTLE AYO BABALOLA AT OLORUNTEDO

Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola came to Oloruntedo the day Pastor David Ayodeji Ajijala was born to Apostle Ajijala. Pastor David was named Ayodeji (double joy) because it was a great blessing as the man of God visited the village, and his visit alone was an indication of great things to come.

The same Pastor Ayodeji became the president of the church after Apostle Gabriel Ajijala’s demise. He relinquished the position to Pastor Sunday Oluwatayo in 2014. The latter had been working diligently in the ministry, using the resources available to him for the ministry. However, his efforts in the ministry did not mean his leadership ended in 2019.

Then the leadership of the ministry fell on the shoulders of Rev. Elijah A. Ajijala who was ordained the General Overseer of the church on September 5^th, 2021. The efforts of ‘Kabiyesi’ George Adekami Ajijala, though he refused to be called ‘pastor-king’, in making sure the church stands cannot be overemphasized. He plays a great role that can’t be forgotten as long as the Ebenezer Glorious Church of Christ stands. May God save the king.

HIS HUMILITY AND THE ISSUE OF HIS MORE THAN ONE WIFE

The Apostle was very humble while alive. He never chose the high table on any occasion as people would take him there, even in places where he was supposed to show authority,

By nature, he was a tall man but that did not becloud his reasoning. He never lorded himself over anybody in any case. One day, just to show how humble he was when one of his children in the Lord asked the Apostle why he had more than one wife, he replied without any sign of annoyance or feeling of being slighted or disrespected. He said my son, “I thought it was God who spoke to me, but I later knew it wasn’t God as my knowledge in the scripture increased. But the deed had been done because my last wife was already in my house.” The Apostle further told the young man that if he had half of the knowledge of the bible at the time devil cleverly spoke to him, he would not have gone into the blunder of polygamy. He then called the young man by name, warning him: “Please don’t ever have more than one wife; if it is possible to get half wife, I would advise you go for it because having more than one wife is hell. If I had known that God cannot speak to alter the written word, I would have known it was not his voice. I wouldn’t have had more than one wife with description of their places of birth. I don’t support polygamy in any way and I don’t want any of you to fall into it.”

HIS TRIALS AND TESTS OF FAITH

Naturally, the Apostle had his own share of temptations and trials. For instance, people he had helped and people who envied him took him to court on many occasions, but he came out without blemish. Enemies set his cocoa plantation on fire in the night to block the source of the wealth he used to finance the ministry. It was a sad moment for any farmer to have his farm land engulfed by fire.

Like Joseph the son of Jacob in Gen 50: 20, the enemies thought evil for him but God turned it into miracle. The following year turned out to be a year of bumper harvest because God sent a wind of abundance to the farm and the harvest was doubled to the amazement of everybody. So, the devil encouraged the enemies of the Apostle to burn their own farms, so that they too would have double yield. Alas, it was the mistake of their lives. God turned the fire into consuming fire as his name in Heb. 12:29. In other words, while Ajijala’s was a productive fire, theirs was destructive.

There was also a time when the soles of his two feet were gummed to the ground as part of his trials for three good hours; he was on a spot before God’s angel came for his rescue.

 

IN THE END

The chief trial was the death of his first born who happened to be the pride of the family and the town. Prior to his death, God had told the Apostle to chew wet pepper and sip hot water and if he could do so without shedding tears, the evil would pass. If not, one terrible blow would occur. He carried out the instruction but like any mortal man, he could not hold his eyes from free flow of tears as a result of the consumption of wet peppers and hot water. Then the devil struck, the young promising son died suddenly, but the man of God stood steadfast as he quoted the words of his spiritual senior brother (Job) without foolishly blaming God: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken, blessed be the name of the Lord.”

He also lost some children and wives before his death. Some men were mentored by him in the early days of his call. They were Wellington Adebowale, Daniel Akoda, John Oluwafemi and his own blood brother Moses Ajijala, among others.

Pastor Wellington Adebowale was the first General Superintendent of the church and Pastor of the headquarters till his death. Pastor Moses Ajijala, his blood brother, has ordained pastors under his hand. Pastor Daniel Adoi was the deputy President of the mission till his death, and others were Rev. Elijah Ajijola, Pastor Peter Ola Pastor, Peter Ocheme, Pastor Michael Oguche, and Prophetess Mary Ejaje and so on.

Just like Jesus’ disciples who could not follow him to Calvary, many other   followers of Apostle Ajijala deserted him, but he held firm to the faith till the time of his final bow to death in May 31, 1989.

That is the brief story of a mighty man of the Almighty God, who came to the world, saw many challenges, served God and humanity, conquered many battles by faith and resilience, and joined the Saints Triumphant.