God mandated me to preach about dangers of going to hell-fire — Rev. Agbedeme

Rev. Geoffrey Agbedeme is a renowned preacher of the word of God who preaches about salvation and spontaneously performed miracles, raising the dead back to life and other numerous miracles God has used him to do.

Rev. Agbedeme, currently, is a Priest at St. Paul Anglican Church, Ozoro, Anglican communion, Oleh Diocese, hails from Lagos-Iyede-Ame and maternally from Oyede, both in Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State.

In this encounter with Isoko Mirror, he narrated how God called him at the age of 20, stressing that,at the time, he could be on his knees for about 8hours praying and occasionally locked up himself for days without eating or drinking water.

According to him, God inspired him to preach salvation and end-time messages, but, at first, he ran away, yet, wherever he goes, people call him Pastor.
He concluded by saying that, he was forced into the ministry just as his Father, late Evangelist S.B.A Agbedeme was forced, though his father also performed miracles during his days.
He raised other salient issues while advising other men of God.

Excerpt

Sir, kindly tell us who you are?

I am Rev. Geoffrey Agbedeme, a Priest at St. Paul Anglican Church Ozoro, hails from Lagos-Iyede-Ame, but, maternally from Oyede, both from Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State.

Sir, for how long have you been a minister of God?

Well, let me say that, put together, part time and full time, it is about 26 years now and I am currently under the Anglican communion, Oleh Diocese.

A lot of people call you prophet while others refer to you as Pastor.
What is your take on this?

Well, to be specific, let me say that I operate on all the spiritual gifts, but majorly on healing and deliverance.
You know, at a time in my life and ministry, the lord mandated me to use the prophetic gift, so, am using it wisely. Though, when I started in 1996, I told God my maker that, if he will not accmpany my ministry with” signs and wonders” I will adhere, and let me say that, using the the prophetic power is spontaneous, mechanical.
In view of that, I prayed the prayer of MOSES that God should make the Moses of my time. At this point, I now key into the Grace of Joshua who commanded nations to obey him without much impediment.
Meanwhile, I want to say that, I give glory to God Almighty for everything because am an ordinary”sand who has no power of his own” but, like any other person in the world.
I am just a tool in the hands of God, am saying this because of name calling, not for self aggrandizement, but, for the sake of this publication.

Why do you say, you don’t want people to call you names?

Well, I said it because, God inspired me to major on preaching salvation and end-time messages, his second coming, holiness and righteousness for souls not to go to hell. I know that our lord Jesus Christ joy is for people to escape hell-fire and one of my mandate is to preach about the dangers of going to hell-fire.
In doing that, he will accompany my prayers with signs and wonders, because he was created to reduce the numbers of going to hell-fire and you must not forget that, Jesus, the son of God was sent to the world to die for us and take away our sins, yet we are not doing his “WILL”
It will interest you to know that, I ran away in 1997 at the beginning, but, wherever I go, people keep on calling me pastor and I got provoked and in most cases, I frowned at them, even at school
And you know, within the same period, there was a lot of pressure on me when I joined the Revival ministry of the then, Ozoro archdeaconry to assist one Evangelist S.U.E Itokwe now Apostle S.U.E Itokwe.
Then, God Almighty was calling me into full time ministry because of what will happen to me in the future. Honestly I must say
that I was forced into it just like my father.

Sir, from your explanation, how did you cope, and what informed your decision?

It is very crystal clear that my decision at the time is to seek the Grace of God to sail through any storm of life that want to divert God’s grace from my life.
There is need to say that, occasionally, if, one is at the extreme where one can not cope anymore, one need to ask God on what to do and if, it continues, One should not quit until God Almighty give directives on what to do.
I know and believe that once you are right with God, you will always”Triumph”.

God gave you an assignment, did you allow the Devil to distract you?

Well, let me begin by saying that, God has it all. He knows it all.
Therefore, my concern is to look into him my maker. Sometimes something must have been done in error that I may not be able to comprehend at the time, but, I know with prayers and commitment to the work of God, God himself will reveal the offence to you.

Since the Anglican Church does not believe in prophecies. How are they coping with your prophecies and healings?

Well, let me say that, this is an overstatement in the highest order. Yes, there are some exceptional cases. I think you may be right, but there is an exception, because everyone has his followers and one personal effort really matters a lot in some situations. As a matter of fact, I was a member of the Anglican youth fellowship, member of the scripture union and foremost member of believers youth movement, Ashaka. These organizations were not non-denominational Christian organizations. When we started, people were not in agreement with us, but, at the time I told that, it solely depends on who you are following while the “BIBLE”, remained stardard.
Note that the gift of prophecy is subject to the prophet. However,as you said, sometimes when problem arises, God gives us the Grace to manauover.

Sir, you said something about your father relating to what you are doing now?

Yes, despite my father was not known, God Almighty used my father to raise some dead persons back to life and prayed for people with different illness and those with faith were made whole. Infact I was astonished by my father’s faith with the way God used him to heal people that were psychologically alright. I remembered that, a couple of years ago, the Catechist at the Christ Church in Oteri-Iyede invited me to minister in their Church because those who have seen me, keep mentioning the great works God Almighty had used me to perform in the Church.
It was a surprise to him. Though, I had left the place for very long time, those things still remained fresh.
Do you know that on my arrival, I found a man who has been insane for about 8 years and I decreed in the name of Jesus for the insane be made whole and prayed on pure water for him and you won’t believe that, after two weeks, it happened and the man was set free. The man in question confirmed the miracle.
I equally told them how God has used me to heal HIV patient, who thereafter brought money for the development of the Church building, precisely in 2002.
My brother, God is wonderful, because after sharing this testimony above with them, in less than 20 minutes prayer, we witnessed so many miracles. Those suffering from Arthritis, Rheumatism and so many different kinds of illness were made whole.

Sir, kindly tell us about some of the miracles you have performed?

Let me begin by saying that, inspite of some hiccups, God has used me mightily to heal people, like I said earlier, I have narrated how I had moved from house to house in 1996 doing evangelism and after that I will go for morning cry, one of the reason I said, I spent less time with people and since that time till now, God has marvelously done everything I said while perfecting his word with”signs and wonders. So you can imagine why people are tracing me up and down is all because of what God Almighty has used me to perform.
Let me also say that, in this period under review, I had healed a lot of people of various ailments and at the same time evangelizing and visiting people as a pastor. I also want to say that, as a pastor, God has used me to convert a lot of Idol worshippers, including Igbe priests.
Some of them are still alive. They can attest to it and during this time I found out that miracles upon miracles were flowing around through prayers and I decided to major on it. I also discovered that those having HIV, Epilepsy, poisoning and other related sicknesses were healed.
The first one that happened, took place at Christ Church Oteri-Iyede.
I was told that a girl has HIV and husband to be was aware, yet he promised to go on with the marriage or else he will die. So, after praying for them, I asked the lady to go for test and when she came back, her report was negative. I believe she received the healing through prayer because thereafter they brought money as appreciation to build the Church of God. At that time, the Church was still at Imo Primary school, Oteri-Iyede. God also used me to heal those with Kidney and Liver problems. These people in question were asked initially to go and raise money for their treatment, but they were all healed through power of prayers as they could not raised the said amount for treatment.
Let me tell you cathegorically that during this period under review, about 9 persons were confirmed dead and 3 that were half dead were all brought back to life through prayers. I do not think any of them died, except one who died at the age of 100 years.
There was one that happened at Iyowo in Isoko River-rine area of Delta State, while the other two persons are still alive. You won’t believe that when I was praying for these people, some people around were mocking me, saying” see an Anglican Church pastor praying for dead persons” but I ignored them and went ahead with my prayer, the women came back to life. Infact Barren women and those with strokes illness who received healings were numerous. I must say that, in the last 26 years now, God Almighty has used me to perform many miracles and people in these areas I had mentioned can attest to it.

You said, there was no light, how do you read, I mean how do study?

Well, I can not really say, maybe, that’s was why one of my mentor, Ven. A.O. Nedozi, said to me one day that”when you are jumping from place to place, remember to study your books to be academically sound”. I must confess that, that singular statement spur me to read my books and all my pastoral papers.
Do you know that, I got (A)s except for few that I got (B)s because as a prayer warrior, they thought I would not have time to study to measure up academically. It was a surprise to many of them. I was completely an introvert because I don’t really spend time with people, the reason then, was that, the principal of the school, now Bishop C.E. Ideh, nickname me ” Geoffrey talk”.
I actually spent most of my time in praying, reading and writing. Let me also informed you that I have books which am trying to put finishing touches on. They’ll soon be ready for publication.

How really old were you when you started?

I think, I started at about the age 20. I remembered that, at the time I normally embarked on fasting and praying programmes that last for 3 or 4days because I had already knew what I will become. But the only problem I had then, was that, I don’t want to be a full time pastor. At a stage, I sleep less because of rampant fasting and prayers, until now I still use wisdom to balance the day. I can remember that when I was at Emevor, I often go to the Bush for prayers, currently, that’s where the Church building is located. I had told you earlier that my father is late Evangelist S.B.A. Agbedeme. At the early age of my life, I could be on my knees from morning till noon, praying, sometimes, I will lock up myself for a week without eating or drinking water.

Finally, sir, what is your advice to other men of God?

I think, my advice is very clear because there is no way one will not face a challenge in life, especially those doing the work of God. But, if, there are challenges, one way or the other, my candid advice is that, they should forge ahead and if, you are gifted, continue because you will grow, so long you are with God in truth and spirit.