Finally let me say this. Some people do not like the sort of things that I am saying here today. They have tried to silence me by the use of cheap blackmail, intimidation, lies, insults, threats, disinformation, persecution, misrepresentation, fabrication, the open and free expression of blind rage and hate and other foul and sinister means.
They do not like what I say or the fact that I, perhaps more than anyone else, has exposed their hidden and increasingly obvious agenda. Consequently they have told the most despicable and horrendous lies and stories about me all in a desperate attempt to discredit me, ridicule me, subject me to public opprobium and ensure that my words carry no weight.
They have even threatened my life on several occasions. Yet I still stand strong because the bible says ”He who keepeth Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers”. I shall not be intimidated. I shall stand up and speak my mind and I shall continue the good fight until my work on earth is done and the Lord Himself calls me home. And today, from this pulpit and from this hallowed chamber and sacred temple of the Living God, I am sending a message to such people. That message is as follows.
I make a solemn oath, in the name of the Living God and before the congregation of the saints, that no matter what you do to me I shall not flinch and neither shall I blink. The more you fight me and try to destroy me the stronger I shall get and the more powerful my voice will be. The more that you try to silence me, the more I shall speak. The more you try to hold me down, the more I shall rise up. This is because this battle and the cause that I am fighting is not mine but the Lord’s.
I never chose this path. I never opted to be involved in this struggle or to be part of it. Yet, for reasons best known to Him and by dint of circumstance and chance, the Lord chose me and He prepared me for it over many years.
On that journey of preparation I have seen all sorts of things and I have been subjected to all manner of indignities. I have suffered persecution and betrayal even from those that were the closest to me. I have been through the fire and furnace several times, over and over again, and each time I have come out on top, newly-refined like the finest gold.
The greater the heat and the more the pain I feel, the more refined and pure it makes me. What they meant for evil, the Lord meant for good. This is the doing of the Lord and it is marvellous in my sight. It is for His purpose to be manifested, for His counsel to stand, for His will to be done and for His name to be glorified that He has preserved and protected me and mine all these years and that He has delivered us from the hands of my strong enemies and all manner of evil.
If only my detractors understood me better and knew my testimony. If only they knew the nature, the faithfulness, the diligence and the awesome power of my God. If only they knew about my passion for the Body of Christ, my vision for my country, my love for my God, my determination to make things better for my people and the nature of my calling they would stop trying to silence, kill, cage, destroy and discredit me in the knowledge that they can never succeed.
To silence, kill, cage, destroy and discredit me you would first have to silence, kill, cage, destroy and discredit the one who brought me into this world to fulfill my destiny and who sent me forth.
And He cannot be silenced, killed, caged, destroyed or discredited by any mortal or any created being because He is the father of creation itself. He is far above all principalities and powers and He existed before the beginning of time.
He is the Lord of the Universe, the God of all flesh and He is faithful to His own. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Gideon, Joshua, Jeptha, Samson, Peter and Paul. He is the Lord God of the Armies of Israel. He is the Blood of the Sprinkling. He is the I Am That I Am. He is everything.
His name is Jehova Sharma: the Elohim, the El Shaddai, the Adonai and as long as He lives and rules in the affairs of nations and men I shall continue to do the work that He has sent me to do in this nation and in the nations of the world.
I said something two years ago and I crave the indulgence of this wonderful congregation to say it again today in this most holy and sacred pulpit, in the presence of the saints and in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
I say it for the record and for the benefit of my numerous detractors and adversaries, including the bloodthirsty Haramites and their secret friends, supporters and allies in the political class and media who choose to remain in the darkest shadows.
To them I say this: even on the pain of death I will never stop speaking the truth about any situation touching and concerning my country. I will never stop fighting for what I believe is right. I will never stop opposing evil. I will never stop speaking out against injustice. I will never tremble and bow before any man. I will never lack the courage of my convictions and I will never prostitute my principles.
No matter how hard they try they will never silence or intimidate me because He that is in me, despite all my imperfections, is greater than He that is the world. I will never stop because the angels that are with me are more in number and greater in strength than the demons that are with my enemies.
More than ever before I am persuaded by He that gave me life and that sent me into this world that the battle has been won and the victory is ours. I say this because I see the manifestation of it every day and I know the God that I serve.
His name is faithful and He is awesome. Love, joy, breakthroughs, mercy, power, blessings, preservation, prosperity, long life, good health, grace, favor, light, truth, kindness and all that is good resides in Him and He dispenses it as He deems fit.
He never fails and He never lies. His speaks His word, it goes forth and He honors and perfects it. For this reason alone, and not because of any vain claims to infallibility or perfection, know this day that we, the people of faith and the children of the one true Living God shall prevail in this land despite the giants that we see.
We shall take Nigeria for our Resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We shall take this nation for He that came down as God incarnate in the flesh, that shed His precious blood on the cross, that was crucified, dead and buried, that conquered death, that rose again, that ascended into Heaven and that sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty making intercession for us day and night.
His name shall be glorified in every nook and cranny of this nation because there is no other God but Him. His name shall be exalted in our lives and in our circumstances and He shall wipe away our tears, remove our cloth of mourning and replace them with robes of joy and laughter unspeakable.
This I know because God is good and He will never forsake Him own. Whatever you are going through today just have faith, look up to Him, hang on to Him and trust Him for a better tomorrow.
We serve a God that never fails. Always remember that and let your joy be full. Never forget that He will never leave us or forsake us. Never forget that His holy word asks ”who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?”. It answers the question by saying ”it is God that justifies”.
It asks ”who is he that condemeth?”. It answers by saying ”it is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us”.
It asks ”who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulaton, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
It answers by saying ”as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither earth, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
This is the word of the Lord: hold on to it, shed your fears, fight the good fight, overcome the obstacles, live your dreams, achieve your objectives, live long and prosper and, most important of all, ensure that you prevail. God bless you all, God bless the Church and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
(CHIEF FEMI FANI-KAYODE DELIVERED THIS SPEECH AT THE VALLEY VIEW CHURCH, 21st SEPTEMBER, 2014).