Blessed be the name of the Most High God, the God whose I am and the God
whom I serve. Blessed be His holy name forever.
I thank the presiding Bishop of this great Church for honoring me in
this way and giving me the opportunity to share a few words with this
massive congregation. I thank the Pastors and the Board of Trustees of
the Church for inviting me.
I look at this massive gathering of believers and I am humbled. I am
also a little intimidated. I regard it is an honor and a privilage for
me to be here speaking to you today from this holy pulpit and in this
hallowed hall and chamber.
Unlike most politicians I shall endeavor to be very brief and not to
keep you here any longer than necessary. Permit me to get to the point
without much ado.
We are at war in this nation. That is obvious and self-evident. Yet
despite our circumstances we must harbor no fears because we are winning
that war. I say this because my bible tells me that darkness cannot
overcome light and that even though it may tarry, the vision of total
victory is for an appointed time.
I have been told that some of you that are here today lost their loved
ones who were soldiers that were gallantly fighting at the war front
against the terrorists. I hear that some died in Bama, others in Konduga
and some fell whilst defending Mubi.
I am touched to the marrow and my heart bleeds for the pain that you
must be going through having lost your loved ones in this way. I want to
assure you that the great sacrifice of these noble, courageous and
gallant heroes shall not be in vain.
It is my sincere prayer that their souls rest in peace and that the
cause for which they paid the supreme price is achieved. May God reward
them and their loved ones for their service to our nation. No greater a
gift can a man give than to lay down his life for his people and for his
country. The veracity of this assertion can hardly be disputed.
And neither is there a more honorable or noble death than that of a
soldier who falls at the warfront whilst fighting for his nation. Your
loved ones fought gallantly for Nigeria and gave their lives for the
future and unity of their country. We shall never forget them.
More importantly history and posterity shall be very kind to them and
their names shall be listed amongst the greats who stood to defend our
people and our cause when the days were dark and when the enemy knocked
at our gates.
Again I am told that there are others here today whose family members
were innocent and defenceless civilians but who were murdered in cold
blood in the sanctity of their own homes by the butchers of Boko Haram.
What a terrible tragedy this is. It is a tragedy of monumental
proportions and it has engulfed, not just the north-east, but our whole
nation. It is a tragedy that touches, concerns and affects us all. Your
loss is ours. We share your pain and we mourn with you.
I assure you that those that were killed in this cowardly, brutal and
barbaric way will be avenged and those that killed them will face the
judgement of God and the justice of men both in this world and in the
world to come.
What dark times these are. Yet despite the darkness of the night let us
not forget that joy comes in the morning. As the bible says, let us
count our tribulations and suffering as nothing but joy knowing that our
Lord and master has already paid the price for our salvation and
deliverance by shedding His precious blood on the cross at Calvary.
Let us remember that in the end we shall prevail and we shall overcome
because we serve a mighty God. Let us remember that evil can never
overcome good and that the Church of Christ and our Christian faith
itself was built on the blood of the martyrs and the persecution and
suffering of the saints.
Let us hold on to God’s word. Let us be courageous. Let us exercise our
faith and let us never forget that hope against all odds and strength,
even in the face of the most trying times, are the hallmarks of a true
believer. Let us remember that our God is irresistable and unbeatable
and that in the end He makes all things beautiful.
Let us take heart and let us make no mistake about it: in the end, as
surely as night follows day, we shall overcome. Let us remember that no
matter what the media, the opposition, the Haramites and their secret
friends in high places, the skeptics, the international community or
anyone else tells us our Armed Forces remain the best, the most
fearless, the most courageous, the most disciplined, the most effective
and the most ferocious warriors on the African continent and we have
every reason to be very proud of them.
If I were the President of this country, if I were compelled to do so by
the circumstances, I would go to the four corners of the earth and to
the edges of hell itself in order to procure the very best arms that
money can buy for our soldiers so that they could protect our people and
fight a good fight against the relentless barbarians that torment,
afflict and plague our land.
If I had to I would violate every convention and norm in the land in
order to bring the terrorists to justice and to degrade, kill, maim and
destroy those who slaughter our people at will, who burn our homes,
schools and churches , who violate and defile our women and who abduct
and enslave our children.
People need to understand one thing: when fighting a war against an
inhuman, barbaric and beastly enemy like Boko Haram in Nigeria or ISIS
in Iraq, or Hamas in Gaza, or Al Shabab in Somalia, or Al Qaeda in Libya
and Mali, or FIS in Algeria, or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, or
Daesh in Lebanon, or the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, or Al
Nusra in Syria, or the Janjaweed in the Sudan or the Chechnyan
separatists in Russia the gloves must come off.
History tells us that the policy of appeasement and the willful and
naive display of weakness and procrastination before wicked and
heartless men with reprobate minds can only lead to a further display of
violence and aggression against the innocent. There must be no display
of restraint or weakness exhibited to the enemy in this war and no
quarter must be given to him. This is because we are fighting against an
adversary that is beastly in all his ways and that does not consider
himself as being bound by the laws of war or any known and
internationally-accepted rules of engagement.
In such a war all is fair and all is permissable no matter how extreme
and no matter how frightful and ruthless. No mercy must be exhibited.
Absolutely anything goes and anything is allowed.
We must wipe them and all that is theirs out completely because they are
the ultimate expression of evil. We must wipe them off the face of the
earth. We must crush and eliminate them totally and wipe out all trace
and memory of them. This is our God-given duty. It is our divine
obligation and we must not fail or shirk it.
We must win this war and thereby stop the beasts from taking our land,
enslaving our loved ones, beheading our children, raping our women,
burying alive our men, burning down our churches and wiping out our
beautiful Christian faith.
As long as Jesus sits on the throne and as long as some of us remain
alive they shall not pass and neither will they succeed in their cruel
venture because ultimately we shall prevail. We will not, we must not,
we shall not and we cannot lose this war.
It is rather these shameless and conscienceless cowards, huns, biblical
Egyptians, Philistines and Amalekites: these enemies of God and those
who secretly support and encourage them, that shall fail. This I know
because the bible says ”the gates of hell shall not prevail against the
Church” and neither shall they prevail against the Lord’s counsel.
I say this with absolute and supreme confidence because our God never
fails. I say it because He is the Alpha and the Omega: the Man of War,
the Ancient of Days, the Holy One of Israel, the Lion of the Tribe of
Judah and the Lord God of Hosts whom none can resist in battle.
I say it because He knows the end even before the beginning. I say it
because He is high and lifted up and the earth is His footstool. I say
it because our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above, with
wisdom, power and love: our God is an awesome God.
Finally let me say this. Some people do not like the sort of things that
I am saying here today. They have tried to silence me by the use of
cheap blackmail, intimidation, lies, insults, threats, disinformation,
persecution, misrepresentation, fabrication, the open and free
expression of blind rage and hate and other foul and sinister means.
They do not like what I say or the fact that I, perhaps more than anyone
else, has exposed their hidden and increasingly obvious agenda.
Consequently they have told the most despicable and horrendous lies and
stories about me all in a desperate attempt to discredit me, ridicule
me, subject me to public opprobium and ensure that my words carry no
weight.
They have even threatened my life on several occasions. Yet I still
stand strong because the bible says ”He who keepeth Israel neither
sleeps nor slumbers”. I shall not be intimidated. I shall stand up and
speak my mind and I shall continue the good fight until my work on earth
is done and the Lord Himself calls me home. And today, from this pulpit
and from this hallowed chamber and sacred temple of the Living God, I am
sending a message to such people. That message is as follows.
I make a solemn oath, in the name of the Living God and before the
congregation of the saints, that no matter what you do to me I shall not
flinch and neither shall I blink. The more you fight me and try to
destroy me the stronger I shall get and the more powerful my voice will
be. The more that you try to silence me, the more I shall speak. The
more you try to hold me down, the more I shall rise up. This is because
this battle and the cause that I am fighting is not mine but the Lord’s.
I never chose this path. I never opted to be involved in this struggle
or to be part of it. Yet, for reasons best known to Him and by dint of
circumstance and chance, the Lord chose me and He prepared me for it
over many years.
On that journey of preparation I have seen all sorts of things and I
have been subjected to all manner of indignities. I have suffered
persecution and betrayal even from those that were the closest to me. I
have been through the fire and furnace several times, over and over
again, and each time I have come out on top, newly-refined like the
finest gold.
The greater the heat and the more the pain I feel, the more refined and
pure it makes me. What they meant for evil, the Lord meant for good.
This is the doing of the Lord and it is marvellous in my sight. It is
for His purpose to be manifested, for His counsel to stand, for His will
to be done and for His name to be glorified that He has preserved and
protected me and mine all these years and that He has delivered us from
the hands of my strong enemies and all manner of evil.
If only my detractors understood me better and knew my testimony. If
only they knew the nature, the faithfulness, the diligence and the
awesome power of my God. If only they knew about my passion for the Body
of Christ, my vision for my country, my love for my God, my
determination to make things better for my people and the nature of my
calling they would stop trying to silence, kill, cage, destroy and
discredit me in the knowledge that they can never succeed.
To silence, kill, cage, destroy and discredit me you would first have to
silence, kill, cage, destroy and discredit the one who brought me into
this world to fulfill my destiny and who sent me forth.
And He cannot be silenced, killed, caged, destroyed or discredited by
any mortal or any created being because He is the father of creation
itself. He is far above all principalities and powers and He existed
before the beginning of time.
He is the Lord of the Universe, the God of all flesh and He is faithful
to His own. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Gideon,
Joshua, Jeptha, Samson, Peter and Paul. He is the Lord God of the Armies
of Israel. He is the Blood of the Sprinkling. He is the I Am That I Am.
He is everything.
His name is Jehova Sharma: the Elohim, the El Shaddai, the Adonai and as
long as He lives and rules in the affairs of nations and men I shall
continue to do the work that He has sent me to do in this nation and in
the nations of the world.
I said something two years ago and I crave the indulgence of this
wonderful congregation to say it again today in this most holy and
sacred pulpit, in the presence of the saints and in the presence of the
Holy Spirit.
I say it for the record and for the benefit of my numerous detractors
and adversaries, including the bloodthirsty Haramites and their secret
friends, supporters and allies in the political class and media who
choose to remain in the darkest shadows.
To them I say this: even on the pain of death I will never stop speaking
the truth about any situation touching and concerning my country. I will
never stop fighting for what I believe is right. I will never stop
opposing evil. I will never stop speaking out against injustice. I will
never tremble and bow before any man. I will never lack the courage of
my convictions and I will never prostitute my principles.
No matter how hard they try they will never silence or intimidate me
because He that is in me, despite all my imperfections, is greater than
He that is the world. I will never stop because the angels that are with
me are more in number and greater in strength than the demons that are
with my enemies.
More than ever before I am persuaded by He that gave me life and that
sent me into this world that the battle has been won and the victory is
ours. I say this because I see the manifestation of it every day and I
know the God that I serve.
His name is faithful and He is awesome. Love, joy, breakthroughs, mercy,
power, blessings, preservation, prosperity, long life, good health,
grace, favor, light, truth, kindness and all that is good resides in Him
and He dispenses it as He deems fit.
He never fails and He never lies. His speaks His word, it goes forth and
He honors and perfects it. For this reason alone, and not because of any
vain claims to infallibility or perfection, know this day that we, the
people of faith and the children of the one true Living God shall
prevail in this land despite the giants that we see.
We shall take Nigeria for our Resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. We shall take this nation for He that came down as God
incarnate in the flesh, that shed His precious blood on the cross, that
was crucified, dead and buried, that conquered death, that rose again,
that ascended into Heaven and that sits on the right hand of God the
Father Almighty making intercession for us day and night.
His name shall be glorified in every nook and cranny of this nation
because there is no other God but Him. His name shall be exalted in our
lives and in our circumstances and He shall wipe away our tears, remove
our cloth of mourning and replace them with robes of joy and laughter
unspeakable.
This I know because God is good and He will never forsake Him own.
Whatever you are going through today just have faith, look up to Him,
hang on to Him and trust Him for a better tomorrow.
We serve a God that never fails. Always remember that and let your joy
be full. Never forget that He will never leave us or forsake us. Never
forget that His holy word asks ”who shall lay anything to the charge of
God’s elect?”. It answers the question by saying ”it is God that
justifies”.
It asks ”who is he that condemeth?”. It answers by saying ”it is
Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us”.
It asks ”who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulaton,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword?”
It answers by saying ”as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all
the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay in all
these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For
I am persuaded that neither earth, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
This is the word of the Lord: hold on to it, shed your fears, fight the
good fight, overcome the obstacles, live your dreams, achieve your
objectives, live long and prosper and, most important of all, ensure
that you prevail. God bless you all, God bless the Church and God bless
the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
(CHIEF FEMI FANI-KAYODE DELIVERED THIS SPEECH AT THE VALLEY VIEW CHURCH
ON 21st SEPTEMBER, 2014).
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