The Liberation Mandate is what we refer to as the Commission because that was where everything began. It was delivered on a most dramatic and awesome. The following was how the mandate was delivered.
I was on a trip to Ilesha, now in Osun State of Nigeria on May 1st 1981, on the look-out for the welfare of a Christian friend that I had not heard from, for some time. I was concerned, not knowing if he needed any form of attention. This was how I came into my place of encounter.
I got to this brother’s place, but he wasn’t there. There was a note on his door announcing that he had travelled. Something gracious came out of me – “All things work together to the advantage of them that love the Lord.” It was something I felt no disappointment at all.
Then the Holy Spirit said to me, “Look out for a quiet place. I want to talk to you.” This was a timely instruction, because I had quite a lot of Christian friends in that town and I could have had a lot of fun being with them that day.
However, I obeyed the voice of the Holy Spirit, and asked a passerby if there was any hotel on the outskirts of the town, where I could lodge. And that was how I met with destiny.
The quiet place I found was one International Hotel, Ilesha. It was a ‘great’ hotel, and I disliked the state of both the building and in particular the room. But I knew from my inside that I had to be there. Behold, as I knelt down to give thanks in that wonderful room, the encounter began! The lasted for eighteen hours. In that great vision, I saw a line-up of the afflicted and oppressed, broken, beaten, battered, the blind, the lame and the wretched. I saw all kinds of deformities, that I was greatly bewildered. I heard their wailing as they filed past me. Their groaning was so intense that I could almost feel their pains.
I could not help it, and so I began to cry and sob along with them. “Lord, what is this?” I asked. I heard God say to me, And from the beginning it was not so. I broke down the more in tears. In the midst of all that I kept asking, “but why Lord?” And I heard God say distinctly to me, And from the beginning it was not so and now, the hour has come to liberate the world from all oppression of the devil, through the preaching of the Word of faith and I am sending you to undertake this task.
My sobbing became even more intense, as I asked the Lord, “Lord, why me?” I had always thought I would remain in the helps ministry, where I would be a blessing to the kingdom through my giving and services. However, I rose from the eighteen-hour long vision fully persuaded of God’s call upon my life into the ministry. This was how I received the Liberation Mandate.
I spent the next few days trying to analyse the content of the vision, and to understand its import, so as to know how to carry it out.
I came to discover that the Liberation Mandate defined four vital issues:
The target: The world
The tool: The preaching of the Word of Faith.
The time: Now – And now the hour has come.
Therefore, this church is clearly a Word of Faith ministry.
In the word of Apostle Paul, …..immediately I arose and conferred not with flesh and blood. Gal 1:16
By the 8th of May, 1981, I convened a meeting of some friends to share the heavenly vision with them so as to ask them to join in prayers for the execution of this heavenly mandate.
The meeting held in one of the lecture rooms at United Missionary Theological Chapel in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. We were about eighteen in number.
It was this group that metamorphosed into what came to be known as Power House, made up of about seventy young men and women that formed a prayer and fasting chain. They served as a forum for vision sharing, monitoring and other spiritual engagement geared towards driving the vision.
We have a number of the Power House faithful who are still very much active in this church till date. Prominent among these is Faith Oyedepo, the first one to ever hear the vision shared and who has been standing with me since then (We were in courtship then and preparing to get married).
Another member of the Power House is David Abioye, a most consistent, faithful and profitable son in the gospel for over 30 years. Others who are ministers and leaders in the church today include Olatunji Adeyemi, Nathan and Charity Ichor, Olufemi Modupe, and Isaac Oladapo.
Also, I had the understanding that it was vision for the now and not for the future. So I took immediate steps to see how to establish a weekly faith-based fellowship and by the good Hand of the Lord, we secured the ECWA Youth Center facility in Ilorin for a weekly Friday fellowship.
The inaugural fellowship known as Faith Liberation Hour was held on the 24th of May, 1981. We also held a monthly weekend seminar every Friday and Saturday. Within a year, the Faith Liberation Hour had become a household name particularly among the youths and young adults in Ilorin where we began.
The Power House was in place from May 1981 until September 1983 when the Church was officially commissioned.
Culled from “The Mandate: Operational Manual of the Living Faith Church Worldwide a.k.a Winners Chapel Incorporated.”