Continuous-Loop
Filani-testimony-b
We just continue from there. We are going to now you are in college. You are going to continue to what happened in the 1970s. The only time of the 75 reviver that broke up were people separated from this. What can you remember anything? I do remember very vividly because I was in the middle of it. As I said before, we were all members of ECU. There was this highly respected man of God, Papa Elton who lived in Nilesia. He had a prophetic gift. He would call him a Pigeonality to ECU. We all respected him. Some of the brethren went to visit him. This is the story I heard. They found some books that he had. Because of course, these books were found with Papa Elton. It already gave credibility to the book for that reason. This happened to be books written for the ministry of William Brandon. So they brought the books to the campos and these books were been passed around and I read one of them. I read several of them actually. The one that I want to talk about was the one called the Seven Church Ages. I remember reading this book. I remember taking this book with me. It's a big book. It's probably over 200 pages. I remember taking this to a nice little place on the campos where I study. I thought to myself, "I'm going to just spend an hour reading and I'll go to my stories." But I couldn't stop. I kept reading this book all night long. From evening, by the time I changed the time, it was probably about 4 a.m. I was told there, reading the book. Because I saw the truth of the world like I had never really saw it before. And that book made a big impact of being a nice soul. The book basically talked about the history of the Church of Christ from its conception on the day of Pentecost, up until the time that we live in. Right? And that they were different ages. And that the devil walked all the time to bring in false doctrine to the churches. And that somehow during the Reformation that Martin Luther and his friends started in Europe, is when God began to deliver the Church from all these arrows. Justification by faith came there. And then sanctification and then baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that there are still remnants of those arrows that still are called in the churches that we need to deliver ourselves from. That is the summary of what I got from that message. And that made a big impact on me. And then, but it also I walk on a desire in me to be one of those who would just live for the Word of God and for the Word of God in law, as opposed to the traditions of man. So that is, and then there are several of us who got the same, what's it what I would do? Let me use the word revelation, right? The same understanding. Because then we became uncomfortable with the ECU and all these other people. We still saw remnants of this Babylon practice, even in those groups, right? And that was the thing that we thought we would not go be part of this anymore. And so there was a very unfortunate or shall we say a very sad occurrence, which was that we broke away from the ECU, which was uncomfortable for all of us. You know, because these are friends and brethren, we love them and everything. But we think some of their practices, for instance, running a Christian group by president and secretary, like it's a human organization, was something that we didn't think was right. There should be, it should be run like a church and all that. So basic things like that, but significant. So anyway, there was a separation and, you know, which was it sort of, and then we started preaching what we believed to be the truth. So are you dead or in the frontier hall? Yes, so I mentioned one ministry that impacted us, and that is William Branham, but there were two other ministries. One was Franklin Hall, Oligos and Fire. The other was also Neal Frisbee, you know, talking about the entire message. So those are the three ministries that impacted us. Now the Oligos and Fire Ministry of Brother Franklin Hall was greatly accepted and gave us all of it by God. And by people like William, Adam, Adam, Adam, Adam, Adam, Adam, so forth. And some of some people in it, but if they too participated, what it was, and they would go to Tuesday night fellowship and all that. I heard about it and I read the books and, you know, so that was mainly about fasting and praying. You know, and I used to, oh, this is wonderful. I used to fasting, you know, that was when fasting became like a business, really, you know, for us. And I remember fasting a lot in one session. My friends who were classmates and who we went to ECU together, because about the same time we separated, they hadn't seen me. You know, we'll see each other at least once a week and they hadn't seen me for months. Then they saw me want the end, they were surprised because I look physically different. I was so thin now. And I remember what they said to me, what happened to you and all that kind of stuff. So I remember that incident where that was fasting and which is the Oligos and that, you know, that was the impact of that ministry to mean that the potans are fasting and praying. And the Oligos Fire. And then there was no Frisbee where I was preaching, basically the end of the ages here, returned to the world of God and all that. And that also, all those three ministries impacted us at that time. And as I said, we separated from ECU, started our own fellowship on the campus there. And I would say the rest is history, you know. Let me ask about the time in that the data, the forced separation. Do you remember that? There was forced separation. We were trying to call, because frankly, it was to come to Nigeria. And we came to Nigeria. But the leader, the guy that was leading the ministry in, I think, one Ghanaian product, was being invited by ECUs, by ECU, to come to ECU to come to ECU and present these messages. They were hearing ECUs. And then they have already sent the video to him. They were already in ECU. But not so come to ECU to come to ECU and present this thing to all these oligos, fire. And somehow they got, say, the president, all those executives of the ECU, they were praying that, they were having doubts. So they said, they prayed about this and said, "You really need me, but it is good." The other brethren that were formerly known, mostly the charismatic among us, mostly the minister, always pushing, they were the ones that went and invited us. Let's hear from them. So by the executives, they were, we are not sure. So they decided and said, "Let's pray about this." While they were praying, they said something told them that, "Don't divide this product." So then they came to the village. I was sitting there and now I was like, "We have called, we have sent the message to liquor to tell the brothers to come." So this brother will not come anymore, which is, he wants to come, this next Sunday. So they said, "We have," and then that was when the brother rose up at Marjorie Henry, he was mad. He was from there. I went and said, "We are going to go to, he's going to come." So they just stood up after the leader, President said that we have prayed that we had that someone inside him, they said, "We are going to go and say, "He's coming." We're not going to come away and be able to stay in a separate country, anybody that wants to join us, join us in a room so that somebody knew that something was going on. Me, I was in the congregation, but I didn't know what was going on. I didn't, I didn't, I probably already left at that time. I didn't leave the fellowship already at that time, because once I understood the messages that I took. Yeah, but that was the beginning. That was the day we separated. It's really visible, you know, see. But I mean, I had already me and some of that. I mean, because of people, I'm not in that fellowship now, you see. Yeah, exactly. But what I believe was that we went to that meeting. Many people came to the place, they have the fellowship. It was like a Tuesday and we met and this guy came from Lagos with the white folks at Franklin Hall, Minister. They are just coming ahead of us. So they came and then the challenge goes to fasting and the place was about 30 people among the believers. You see, yeah. Okay, and then from that room, just one night, that's only from that room, and the beginning, I know there are people that call them and say, "We are no more good at this issue. We are good to be meeting at our grief, or the sports center." The sports center, yes. And we actually marched to the sports center and they sing it. Yeah. So that was the beginning, that was the only separation. Okay. So I don't remember that experience. Yes, you were clearly in it. So I don't remember that. But I do remember I was meeting at the sports center. Yeah, that's right. They sing characters and we get them. I mean, these are my lifelong friends. And we get my awkward show, you know, after that came here me and many of us, you know. I mean, many of us, many a handful of us, right? You know, we, and then we had our own fellowship and we started to pursue an understanding of these groups on a deeper level, right? So that was a big thing that happened in Ife, and the world of what happened in Ife, like a very surprising spread outside of the campus to different Christian groups in Ibado and Lagos, you know. And, you know, and occasionally we'll have, call them, you, camp meetings. And people will come from these other fellowships in Lagos and Ibado. And this is how this youth in Expanded, beyond the campus. Yeah. And, you know, and within a year we've had a fellowship in Ibado. Another fellowship in Lagos, at least those two places. And those also became centers where these troops were preached, you know, and so forth. So that was the big thing that happened in Ife. So now, let's fast forward to, you are, for here then, the first meeting, so 75 was when this happened. Yes. Just for here. So how did you, I know that finally you, tell me what happened to the time you moved out of Ife, and. Okay. So this was, I finished my preliminary in '75. And I hope I don't get it, yes, mixed up. I didn't check all this, just from memory. So '75, '76, I was my first year as a health science student. '75, '76 was my second year, right, which, and then... '75, when you started a period of '74. '74, '75 then was my first year. '75, '76 was my second year, which I completed at Ife. That's first year. That's first year. Yeah, first year. Now after, in terms of the financial point that I raised earlier, at the end of my preliminary, I focused and prayed to get this scholarship. Because one way or another, my parents, I don't even remember, it must have been my parents, or perhaps some of the money I saved as a school teacher, combined those things together, allowed me to survive the first year. The preliminary year. The preliminary year. From, in terms of finances. But I prayed, and then, and then the government created a bossery, I think they call it that. Yeah, bossery, yeah. Bossery, which also helped me. And then at the end of this, so this scholarship I was looking to get was something called the Fredra scholarship. Yeah. Which pays for all your tuition, then it gives you money to feed yourself, it was a wonderful thing. So at the end of the plan, they will give you only to the top ten students in the preliminary year. Oh, the actual analysis in the outset that anybody that makes this. Oh, something like that. Yeah. It was something that was based on performance and merit. Yeah. And I remember, I checked my resource, I got in. Biology. Yeah. Well, as you can say, the only one, which was biology, which was my best subject. And then the professor said they would put the result on his door at that night. And so all of our students marched there, we were waiting for the result to be presented. But around 9 p.m., or something like that, I posted the pictures, and I saw my name right on top of the list. So at that time, I knew I got the scholarship, because I have qualified in the other places. So, and then it praised a lot for that. So, I got the scholarship, which allowed me to remain in the university, until. So, that's how my financing was taken care of by the law. And this was in 1975, '74, '75, or '75, '76. And all of the events of the separation and all the things that we were talking about, it was happened sometimes in 1975, '76 there. '75? Okay, '75, okay. So at this time, I was already at 9.1, which is first year, part one, which is my second year living in the university, but it's part one. Because my first year was really good. And I was now in Health Sciences department, and I, and I, but my mind was focused so much on the world and on the message that I was constantly just meditating on the world and praying on the world. And in 1977, the law gave me, it just so spoke to me in a dream, which told me in effect that your time in the university is over. And, and I, I decided to obey, to follow that injunction. And so, in 1977, that would be the first, the second year, that would be my part two. Yeah, so when did you live? 1977. But what month you, you were already at this school? It was around March, yeah, so yeah, I was in school, I was in the campus. It was around March, if I recall, it was towards, it was getting to the, towards the end of the year, the school year. Yes, exactly. So I said, I decided to leave the campus, and this, of course, was a big issue and a big decision for my family, right? You know, and, and when my family heard about this, and my father passed away around the same time. I believe it was 1975 or so, that my father passed away, so the family was already in a state of, sort of destabilizes because the patriot passed away out of sickness. And, and then he just, he had this guy come, there comes this guy who is also one of the children who's going to become a doctor, he says he's no longer going to the university. So I remember, so I, I, I left the campus, walk, you know, look for a job, an affair, move, look for, move to a bad on to get a job, why seeking the loss, you know, and then became, you know, I decided to pastor the church, anybody. And I remember one day, without announcement, my whole family showed up in my house. Anybody? Anybody? How they knew where I lived? I don't really, of course, you know, these, your family, they can find you anymore. Anyway, I saw my, my mom, my aunt, who is now the leader of the family. That's my father's senior sister. And all the big, I mean, these are people you normally don't see, I mean, they're not going to leave. Your brother is sure, your big brother was now, he could have finished. No, no, he's too young to, this is, these are the elders of the family now. These are the, these are the, the uncle's, you know, he's already graduated. He's already graduated. He walked in, he walks in Lagos now, he's in the bank or somewhere in Lagos. But the elders of the family, essentially representing my father and my mother came and said you have to go with those back home, to equally. And I looked at them, I realized this is, this is big, serious business. So they, I enter the car, and we drove all the way to a kitty, and they decided to stop over 90. Yeah, the teacher in this time. I'm a secondary school teacher now. So they're just about a weekend or where you are still? I don't know if it's a weekend or if it's during the week, it might have been a weekend. Let's say it's a Friday, for instance. They, because they, they planned, this was a big plan, and they, I just saw them in my house, that I lived in. And so they compelled me to go with them to back to our home, and we stopped in the carrogative, which is where my mom was working, as in us. And I thought to myself, I was just thinking, what are these people going to do to me when we get to equality? What are they, they want to persuade me I should not live school, right? Oh, oh, and they might be, they may be, they believe that there was a witch doctor that was having me messing up my brain. And so we're going to send him to another witch doctor who's going to help him, you know. That may be what they were thinking. It's all I'm convincing. So I decided that I'm not going to go with them. And I remember at night I woke up where we were sleeping to continue the journey the next morning. And I just opened the window and escaped, really, at night. And it was, he carried, this is where I started with that, he's coming to Evangelico group. I started it mainly as a minister, so I knew the house of one of the brethren in the church. Good. Even at night I could get there. So I figured out a way to get to this guy's house, not on his window. As soon as he had my voice, he opened, he recognized me. I brought David. Well, I feel I knew whatever he called me. So I said that this is what's happening. I need money for transportation to go back to wherever I was going. And he, he got enough money to give me so I can go with publicisation to go back. That's how I escaped that idea. The date for you, I leave the money to see what I got in the motorbike. And this time I don't know what they did, because I already left, you know. Years later they heard that they were, of course, everybody, everybody was, they were convinced that there was something wrong with me spiritually or mentally that there was something happening. That was what they did. Because of what you were, you call it, and now you have a scholarship. Exactly. And that's going to be very good. That's not what I was. But I was convinced in my heart that this is what the Lord wants me to do. And I was only going to do what I believed the Lord wants me to do. I was in, and, and then, you know, continue with the Lord that way. Basically, I started, basically, I became, you know, I lived in Ibadon. And as I said, you know, many study as it passed on. They didn't come back to it. They tried to do it again. No, no, not to do it again, because they realise now that I remember my oldest brother, which is from another mother, my oldest brother, who was the oldest son of the family. Yeah. Two called my books and Bible. He was the key power of it. You know, because they thought these were the things that I'm missing him on, right? How did he get away in the Bible? When they came to it, they were not to pick me up. One of the things they picked up was my books and everything. So I said, I want my books and my Bible back. So one day, why he was, this my brother is Dr. Phil, and he was a researcher for a cool research institute in the Bible. Okay. So I went to the place and said, look, I want my book back. And, you know, he, they were convinced at this time that this boy is determined to do what he wants to do. So they didn't try that again, because the new, normally or the narrowly, I wouldn't behave that way. Into obedience to my mother and to my aunt and all that. So they were convinced, let's just leave him alone and pray for him. It's probably what they decided to do. So they didn't try that again, you know. So now let's fast forward to, I know that, but at that time you have not married. When they did it, is that right? Yes, around that time, just after that, around that is when I got married. Okay. Right. So you're already planning to get married when the women try to get to the Bible. Yes. So now tell me about how you choose your wife and how you... Well, I was praying, you know, at this time about, you know, how to get a wife. Yeah. I was just asking the Lord and everything. What do you need, what do you think you need, why for that speech? I taught that as a minister. Okay. It's good to have a wife because you are going to be dealing with male and female. And I'll show you one. You're going to be an example to the congregation. Yeah. So I taught to myself, and I read these scriptures and I saw that, it's a good model for a minister to be an example to his congregation and so forth. So I thought that, so I started to pray for a Lord. And I was very young still. I was at this time, probably like 21, maybe 22 years old, right? So 22, 23. So I started to pray about it. So I, you know, and... Did you see a vision? Did you just make the sister in charge or...? We had, so at that time we had a... We had a crusade, a camp meeting, I think we call it. And people came from different places. At this time we have people who came from Lagos y Badon and in any area, you know. And the woman by wife now was one of those who came. And I just finished praying about it and I saw her and there was a witness in my spirit. That is the woman for you. And within that same period, and she had the same experience when I talked to her, I think she even did have a dream that the Lord took her. So then I kept praying about it and the Lord spoke to me... Okay, so I mixed the sequence up, right? The first experience was I saw her, there was a witness in my spirit. Then I went to pray about it and then I got a dream at night. Where I saw her that she was my life partner, was a word that was used in that prayer partner, life partner. But the word partner was there. So I knew this was the woman and then... So now I was thinking, "How should I talk to how should I pray?" Because I was in my head considering several sisters, right? Just I said... No more. No more reason, right? You know, but when I got this word, I knew, tried, discarded the other sisters and I focused my attention on it. I talked to two or three of the brothers about it. And one of them told me, "Hey, this seems to tell me that the Lord showed her that you are the holder." So that was the confirmation I needed. And I went to talk to her and that's how eventually we got married. But it was, I would say, by revelation, it's the word that I will use. You know, in terms of choosing why. So by that period, by 1977, because now you're talking about, you know, in battle, walking in battle... Walking in battle? Walking in battle, yes. When did you get married? We got married in 1977. Walking in? On my birthday, which is March 20, 1977. Yeah, because I'm trying to remember, I remember when we traveled to a month. Me and I came up at the end of the NYC, we should have to be June, in July. After '77. So you're just three, two months married then? Yes. So that was to leave your family. Yes, yes, yes. Absolutely. So it was 1977. We got married with, you know, and we started our life together as very young people. I always describe it this way, I always describe it like I grew up with my wife. It's my best description of it, because we grew up together. We were, I was 22, she was almost 20, she was 20, really. So we grew up together in the way of the law, serving the law, such everything together, which was a major reason why we are so united. Because we didn't really have separate lives for a long time. You know, we figured our life together, you know. And I think, I find that to be a wonderful experience. This is an amazing thing. I discover later on, that God was, I mean, it's foolish to say it this way, but I would say that way anyway. That God was right in telling me who with my wife is, because this woman loves the law just like myself, which is a very unusual thing. Because in reality, if you describe me, I would describe myself as what they call a fanatic. That is almost extreme. And I believe the word of God without any hesitation, without any human reason. I believe if God said it, it must be true. And I don't, and I see many people who, one day, worry, worry, worry, worry about it. And I don't know if everybody is like that. And she believes the law just like I do, which I find amazing, you know, and everything. So it's a wonderful thing. So the law, when the law chooses and guides is always right. See, that's a point. So in this situation, if I will get to that, because that's a good point, to that way, we come to now that you are in your senior year. But now we've come too fast. You are now married. What was your ministry in Bado, Glusam, and what were you doing? Okay, soon. I left the year. All right, so in Bado, I was primarily the leader of a fellowship, which was a pastoral ministry. I was functioned as a pastor of the fellowship Church in Bado. We had a church in Bado. And I did that for several years. And what the Lord was leading me to do was to establish the truth in the heart of the people. We wanted to establish the church that is born of the truth, based on the truth, rooted and grounded in the truth. The truth that I'm referring to is the New Testament truth. The church as it was born in the Book of Acts. It's what I came to see as the idea. What got in mind was for the church to remain just like. As I mentioned before in a previous session, what happened was during the seven churches was the devil attacked those truths and introduced false beliefs into the churches. Which made the church almost become a human institution. The church is meant to be directed by the Holy Spirit, where the power of God is manifesting and the people of God are filled with the Spirit. And it's the Spirit that directs the church, as we see in the Book of Acts. This is what I and my fellow ministers were establishing in Bado. And it took us years to do that, and the Lord blessed the fellowship. And it was based in Bado, but in truth. All of our other brethren who were in Lagos, in Benin, who every once in a while, that as many chances as it can come, they will come and fellowship with us, because they also want to partake of that truth. And I remember when I used to travel, you know, to where all the fellowships were in Benin, in particular. And sometimes in Lagos, too many sad it seemed too. They just to encourage the brethren and so forth. But in the Bado, the fellowship grew. The church was established. And we had some of the things that happened. We have other fellowships or churches in the Bado. They heard about us. There were people among them who wanted to participate in this new thing the Lord was doing. They left their churches and joined us. You know, I want to mention some names, but maybe I shouldn't do that. So they all joined us and they were all learning this truth. And it was wonderful. We saw mighty things that the Lord did miracles and all that. You know, and we also saw some bad things. But were you guys doing any Evangelism in the Bado? No, no, no, no, no. We only did personal Evangelism. So now that you brought that word up. After this, what I'm describing to you now was from about 1978 to about 1981-82. So this is several years, right? That this ministry continued. So after around 1981-82, I started to pray as a Lord. What else should we do? You know, we have stayed on this mountain long enough. Now we've established the Church. The people know the truth and they are walking in it. What should we do now? And I was became convinced that we should go full out on Evangelism. We were doing personal Evangelism. That is individual to individual. But we never focused on where I started from that I used to do in his coming to Evangelical group. Where we would go to neighborhoods and places because we never did that. So I started to think that this is probably the time to take this word out beyond our little fellowship. Go out to. And I remember, you know, using the Church forms to buy equipment. You know, microphone and all this type of things. But at the same time, I started to sense that the Lord was telling me it's time for you to leave this place. Your work is done. I'm going to stop there and go to the next part of you. How you get that decision to come out of the place and move to America. Let me just stop post now and continue in the next section.