A Seed Well Sown

//Nigeria Crusades

Just about everybody in Nigeria knows the Hagin name—from the president of the country to the everyday person on the street. In fact, when Kenneth and Lynette Hagin arrived in Nigeria August 9, customs agents and airport security personnel asked Rev. Hagin to pray for them before he and Lynette left the airport.

To understand how the Hagins made such an impact in Nigeria, we have to go back 29 years. RHEMA USA held its first national ministers training seminar there in 1982. Two years later, a second ministry team crossed the Atlantic to share the faith message and the authority of the believer with Nigerian ministers. When that team arrived, Nigeria was going through a financial crisis. Even the wealthiest people in the country didn’t have money to put fuel in their cars. In spite of this, approximately 6,000 people attended the seminar daily and around 15,000 spiritually hungry men and women attended the final day.

At that time Kenneth Hagin Ministries shipped 113,000 Faith Library Publications books to Nigeria with the purpose of giving them to ministers and whoever was hungry for the Word. For some of the men and women who received the books, these were the first Christian materials they’d ever got their hands on.

When Kenneth E. Hagin heard the good things God did at the RHEMA seminar, he said, “Praise God for everything that was accomplished and that which will yet be accomplished. The seed is sown. The Holy Ghost, the latter rain, will fall upon the seed, and the harvest will come.”

And when Kenneth and Lynette Hagin went to Nigeria in August, it was evident the rain of the Holy Spirit had watered that seed. Some of the young men who received those books are today pastors of churches of 50,000 to 200,000 people.

First Stop: Abuja, Nigeria

The Hagins kicked off their time in Nigeria with a three-day healing crusade in Abuja. As Kenneth Hagin preached on the woman with the issue of blood and blind Bartimaeus, many were healed. On the second night, 80 percent of the attendees came forward to have hands laid on them for healing.

During the days the Hagins met with RHEMA Bible Training Center alumni and held “Taster Sessions”—meetings for anyone interested in attending RHEMA Nigeria. Prospective students were blessed to hear Kenneth and Lynette tag-team teach on “Balancing Family and Ministry.”

Lagos, Nigeria

After a quick flight to Lagos, and a not-so-quick drive to the Redemption Camp, the Hagins had a few hours to rest before ministering later that evening. Kenneth Hagin was one of several guest speakers at The Redeemed Christian Church of God’s Annual Convention, which is similar to Kenneth Hagin Ministries’ Campmeeting. That evening Rev. Hagin spoke to three million people!

The Redemption Center is an amazing structure—a half mile wide and a mile long, with no walls. It’s simply a tin roof sitting atop very tall poles. The interior is elegantly decorated with crystal chandeliers, nice fabrics, red carpets, and flowers. Huge video screens and speakers situated throughout the building make every seat a good one.

When the minister speaking before Kenneth Hagin gave an altar call, thousands of people responded, many of them running to the front. Some members of the KHM team thought it had started to rain but soon realized they were hearing the sound of the footsteps of people answering the altar call. Some who responded didn’t make it to the altar before the service had to be concluded so the next one could begin. Remember, those sitting in the back of the building had a mile to walk!

When his turn came, Rev. Hagin preached boldly on the Promised Land. He taught the people how to receive from God for themselves, because times may come when their backs are against the wall and no one is nearby to lay hands on them.

The last stop on the whirlwind tour through Nigeria was ministering at Faith Tabernacle in Canaan Land. Faith Tabernacle seats over 50,000 people and holds four services every Sunday morning. Kenneth Hagin ministered during two of their Communion services, teaching on “the table that speaks.” Amazingly, it took only nine minutes to serve Communion to 54,000 people!

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Many years ago God spoke to Kenneth E. Hagin and told him the printed page was the best way for him to spread the message of faith. Today we can see how one container of books transformed a nation. Those printed pages dramatically changed the lives of millions of Nigerians. And now with the opening of RHEMA Nigeria, men and women are being trained to transform a continent.

TESTIMONY: Iyanu: God’s Miracle Baby

When Christy Olutola gave her life to the Lord, all she knew was that she was going to Heaven. Her prayers were little more than begging God. But in the early ’80s two of Brother Hagin’s books made their way to Nigeria and into Christy’s hands. And reading I Believe in Visions and Redeemed From Poverty, Sickness, and Spiritual Death transformed her life. “My eyes were opened,” she shares. “Before, I didn’t know there was power in the Word and that you could use the Scriptures for anything. Now I know that you can have victory over every situation if you apply the Word.”

When Christy read the books, she didn’t realize how vitally important what she read would be. About six years later, Christy gave birth to a baby girl. A month after she was born and five days prior to her naming ceremony (a Nigerian custom), the infant began having difficulty breathing and stopped eating.

Christy took her baby to the hospital, which was really more like a clinic. At the ill-equipped facility, the baby could not receive oxygen or intravenous fluids. Plus, the hospital was filled with children sick with infectious diseases like measles.

Since the hospital staff couldn’t help and Christy didn’t want her baby exposed to the sick children, she took her daughter home. As the week went by, the baby grew steadily worse. She showed signs of severe dehydration—very dry skin and mouth, and sunken eyes. She continued struggling to breathe and eventually her extremities turned blue. Christy remembered reading in I Believe in Visions how Brother Hagin was raised off his death bed, and she began standing on scriptures he had mentioned.

Thoughts that her baby was going to die bombarded her, but Christy kept standing on the Word and quoting scriptures. Day by day the child’s condition deteriorated, but Christy did not give up. She kept quoting the Word, and finally signs of improvement came. The healing wasn’t instantaneous, but hour by hour the infant continued to get better. Two hours before her scheduled naming ceremony, she was completely well! Her breathing became normal and all signs of dehydration disappeared.

“I thank God for Kenneth Hagin’s ministry,” says Christy. “The books taught me about faith and healing. If I had not read them, I would have lost my daughter.” Fittingly, at the naming ceremony, Christy named her daughter Iyanu, which has two meanings: “God is wonderful” and “miracle!”

Today, Christy is a second-year student at RHEMA Bible Training Center USA, and Iyanu has graduated summa cum laude from Oral Roberts University.