The Senior Pastor of Sovereign Word Church, Egbeda, Lagos, Pastor Antoni Okoh, is a renowned healing evangelist. He spoke with reporters on how to access healing and sundry issues. Sunday Oguntola was there
How did you come about the vision of Day of Recovery?
The vision has been birthed in my heart right from my childhood, precisely at 13. My encounter at that time could be described as the key catalyst that actually thrust me into the healing ministry and that was how I got to know Jesus.
I fell sick and what they thought was malaria was later discovered to be tuberculosis of the bones and it damaged my cartilage. Within a space of months, I could not walk. That caused me to actually repeat a class. There was something demonic about the sickness because after about one year, the doctors felt I was not improving and had me forcefully discharged. It was then my elder sister invited me to a crusade that was being conducted by the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa at Upper Mission Road, Benin City. That was in 1980.
He played host to Evangelist R. W. Shambach, a minister from America. It was in that crusade I got healed and till date, the testimony of the healing is still standing. I gave my life to Christ also at that crusade. My sister actually was the leader of her fellowship at Lydia College in Benin and all secondary schools in the area were mobilised to attend the crusade. The two people that actually brought me out of the car were Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and Dr. Boyo.
Pastor Chris was actually the President of the Christian Fellowship at Edo College and Pastor Boyo, a medical doctor, has a church now in Mafoluku, Lagos. They were the two people that held me physically while prayers were being offered. I could walk but it was at that crusade that I took my first leap after almost a year of being bedridden.
So, what is the connection between sickness and the healing ministry?
For a child of about 13 years to have been bedridden, seeing your mates go to school and not being able to walk, the emotional torment and torture is intense but eventually, when God gives you a second chance to bounce back to life, the experience just ignites a passion in you naturally to see other people healed. Also, you can identify with the suffering of people that are sick and infirmed. Sometimes you cannot really be compassionate until you have been in places where other people have been. So my case was like, ‘Yes you have tasted sickness, you have known what it means for doctors to say, ‘there is nothing we can do.’” Then, God gives you a miracle. It just makes you passionate to see other people healed and delivered.
Would you recall your first healing experience as a minister?
Just about that same period, I went back to school after receiving the healing. Then I was in Class Four and the Church of God Mission automatically became my church and the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa became my pastor. Every Sunday we watched him on television and saw all his crusades abroad.
After a while, we also put up a crusade right in the dinning hall of our school and asked our fellow students to go and bring all the sick people around. Interestingly, our friends brought a lot of sick people. In fact, it was a frightening experience. Funny enough, there were a couple of deaf and dumb persons there too. But you know what, I just did what I saw Papa Idahosa did. I put my ear near their ears and my finger on their tongue, though I didn’t know what those gestures signified. I just replicated what I saw him do and said, “You deaf and dumb spirit, come out in the name of Jesus.”
Though the first, second and third persons were not healed, I didn’t have a choice but to continue because in the hall, people were laughing and booing me. It was a full hall, so we just kept on trying and it was at the fourth attempt that the miracle happened. The deaf and dumb spoke and the crowd erupted in jubilation.
Which particular healing has remained with you, which you consider outstanding, unforgettable and most thrilling such that anytime you remember your ministry, that incident keeps coming to mind?
There was a particular time I was invited to minister in a church at Iba Estate, Ojo, and an 18- year- old lady was brought to me. Her name is Elizabeth. She had never spoken or heard before. She was born deaf and dumb and there were medical reports to confirm that. She was brought to the meeting by her parents and I was so scared. In fact, that was one of the things that made that miracle very unique.
If I tell you I had faith, I would be lying. I was so scared, I was not comfortable and they just thrust this girl to me. If I had a fore-knowledge of that situation, I would not even allow anybody to step upstage and thrust her at me. I prayed for her, just to fulfill all righteousness, not even expecting anything to happen.
I then went on to test her and miraculously, she started hearing and talking. It was so dramatic. I called her name and she repeated it. Anything she heard, she spoke it clearly. That day, I drove into the night, just overwhelmed by what had just happened.
You know, the average pastor will tell you, “I fasted, I prayed and so on.” But in this case, I was reminded of that meeting only that afternoon. There was no sign that anything unusual would happen. It was just like any other day. So, I saw the sovereignty of God at work. That was what actually thrilled me about that miracle.
There was nothing about me that had to do with the healing of that girl. So, I saw another side of God that it is His will to see the sick healed. We are only instruments in the hand of God.
With your experience in the ministry, would you say there is healing for everyone?
My answer is yes and no. Do you know that death itself is a form of healing? It is a situation where mortality takes up immortality. We see death as an enemy- fine! But it is also a way for a believer to take up a new body. There are many times and situations where we have prayed for people’s healing passionately but they died. Technically, death is another form of healing.
Has it happened in your ministry?
Several times!
How does that make you feel when you pray and instead of getting healed, the person dies?
It shows that we are only instruments in the hand of God. God chooses the prayer He answers. I have done crusades where I did not see any evidential sign of miracle but I just continued because I knew it would come at another time. I have packed equipment from meetings overnight and went home depressed, never planning to do another one but later inspired to host another crusade.
Would you mention some of the challenges you have faced in this area of calling?
Yes! The expectation put on me is too high, especially from the people that are dying. Most times you are left with guilt after the person you prayed for dies. Sometimes you can’t sleep. It is like you should have an explanation to give to the family of the bereaved.
There are times you have had to tell a wife that her husband would live and you are so sure. At such times you believe you have heard from God, only to be faced with the death of that person. Then the wife begins to query you, “But Pastor, you told me my husband would not die?”
At such times, you are in a tight spot as you have to explain to the wife and children that God is good and sovereign. I believe that what we call death is a healing of a kind.
As a close associate and friend of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, how do you feel when you hear about his association with Pastor TB Joshua to acquire more power?
To the people that grew up with him, that would be like a slap. I remember in 1984 after I left secondary school, I did not do well in my WAEC so I went to repeat it in a village called Obayatan. Then, I put up a crusade in the village and invited Pastor Chris’ team. So, he came from Ekpoma with some other brethren.
The chief of Obayatan had a daughter that was crippled and they put a brace on her legs.
Then, he turned to the girl with the brace and looked at her for a minute. I was watching him. Then he took that brace from the girl, did a song and asked everybody to stretch their hands towards her. You could see the leg of that child that it was different from the other one. She was said to have been injected and this led to the paralysis.
After praying and singing, he told the girl to run and just after taking two steps, she ran so fast. That miracle brought tears to many eyes. I travelled with him to many villages for crusades, so I have a firsthand experience of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s healing ministry. He has the healing anointing. What I believe transpired between him and TB Joshua was like you are into the healing ministry and then you see another dimension of the healing being done through another person.
You see, gifts may differ. There are people in healing ministry who have more successes with people having tumours and cancers. There are those who have great results with the fruit of the womb or bone cure. For Prophet TB Joshua, I think he must have seen something quite unique about Pastor Chris.
Once you are in the miraculous, you are always drawn to someone in that ministry too. So, it is just a case of going to see what God is doing with somebody else.
Could you say it was a meeting of exchange of power?
Exchange? When talking about anointing, the fact is that when I see another level of anointing in you, the Bible allows me to covet what you have. If I come close to you, it will rub off on me.
So, how do you differentiate between healing that is coming from God and the devil?
All I know is that I have never known false healing before. I do not know how it is done. All I know is that I call upon God and he answers. For anybody doing miracles through demonic powers, I salute his courage.
What should we expect ahead of the next edition of Day of Recovery?
It holds next Sunday at the Banquet Hall of Excellence Hotel, Ogba and we are looking at having three thousand people in attendance.
