By ‘Seun SALAMI
Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly was his usual calm, charismatic and energetic self as he delivered a robust message during this morning’s service at COZA in Abuja.
Clearly conscious of the fact that many of the worshippers in the ever colourful church service and the thousands who must have watched online where waiting anxiously for his response to Ese Walter’s allegations, saying “I don’t know why you are here, you might be here for any reason,” he deliberately held on until the end of the message, although he made a few subliminal allusions to the issue during his message which was about holding on in tough times.
A young lady, Ese Walter, who is a writer and an on-air personality, had made strong allegations of adultery against the man of God during the week which has been the topic of discussion on the internet in the last couple of days.
If he knew anything of it, Pastor Biodun, dressed in one of his adorable shining looking suits, showed no signs of this knowledge early on as he started by describing David as a man who saw everything that happened to him as good reminding the worshippers that when God does things, it is never the way human beings would do it.
“When God starts making a move, it doesn’t look like it on the surface, but God knows what He is doing. If God tells you don’t fight for yourself, don’t fight for yourself because you will spoil what God wants to do,” he said.
He also spoke about Joseph who never tried to defend himself despite all he went through. “He just moved on,” he said and then asked, “or how many of you read that Joseph was bitter?”
He encouraged the members to be strong in tough times. “There is a character you must learn from me. Don’t let them call you out. Determine the terrain where you will fight.
“Tell your neighbour don’t fight for yourself! It is not today it started!”
He acknowledged the difficulty of the ministry but credited the grace of God with his sustenance. “People come to me and say Pastor I want to be like you, I ask them can you handle it? There is a grace! You just see things working, you think it’s natural. You can’t deal with issues the way others deal with it.
“Men award but God rewards. If you lean on human beings you are leaning on shadows. God is the person to depend on, not even a man of God. If you look back and you can still see God behind you, move on. One thing you are going to see in this church forever is that we love God.
“There is a God in heaven who will never write you off,” he said.
Pastor Biodun then took some time to make an altar call for salvation to which several people responded, with the front of the altar filled.
After he prayed for them and led them to Christ, he then began to address the issue he was sure everyone wanted to know about.
“I’m sure you read a lot about me on twitter and social networks,” he began. “You can’t imagine how many people have called me. I’ve received calls from some of my mentors. Everybody is telling me don’t talk, that is the painful part. When I switch off my phone, they call my associates and tell them to tell me to ignore it.
“But as your Pastor I owe it to you to speak. We are going to speak but we are consulting to come up with a robust reply. From this pulpit, there are some things you don’t say. My destiny is not in anybody’s hands. One thing you can be assured of is that my wife and I love you.”
Just before dropping the microphone and leaving the altar, he said, “when we asked God, God said be quiet. Thank you!”
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