A Tribute To Rev Gomba Oyor by Dr Nathaniel Omilani

A Tribute To Rev Gomba Oyor (16th of July,1959-7th of August, 2020) was the author’s facebook post on the 11th of August 2020. The version on the blog is a revision.

I Thess 4:13
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.

As a preacher’s kid, I spent most of my early days around the move of God in the city of Ibadan. Apart from this, no single tape of King Sunny Ade or Ebenezer Obey can be found in my father’s house but Christian music (Niyi Adedokun and Co), Christian messages of bro Kumuyi’s (That was how my father referred to him then, and I think the evangelical movement practice the same in the 70s. They refer to everyone including their leaders as brothers and sisters) and Pastor Adeboye and some tapes of American missionary.

 

One thing I recall is that my father made me taste almost everything in the move of God in my immediate environment. For example, the Christ Apostolic Church Mountains (Ori-Oke Ikoyi, Ori-Oke Akikemi, and Ori-Oke Baba Abiye at Ede) are regular monthly routines in the late 80s and early 90s. In the same way, the word of faith from the likes of Pastor Olubi Johnson and Rev Sunday Popoola (Now Apostle) was a must for everyone to watch every Sunday on NTA and BCOS (Ibadan), respectively. Fitala Oluwa by Baba S.K Abiara and Baba Obadare’s sermon on Sunday were also compulsory. So, on Sunday, we watch more than six sermons before we watch the news line by Frank Oliseh on NTA at night. My father would also ask questions about the sermons. I must state that I had a balance of all (word of faith and prophetic prayer move).

 

Deliverance ministry gained popularity in Ibadan by the hand of Dr. Ibeneme, if my Pentecostal history is accurate. My mother usually attends the annual come ye apart organized by this great Apostle before he went to be with the Lord. Come Ye Apart is three days total fast, and the venue was the redemption camp in those days.

 

Later on, we met another man of God in the deliverance ministry called John Akinyemi in Ibadan. His ministry was a blessing to us for a long time. People are slain at home under the anointing watching his weekly telecast at home. Rev John Akinyemi’s ministration was on BCOS television, and I recall that his ministry base was somewhere at Ajibode. The theme song for his TV telecast then was all over the world, and your spirit is moving. Sometimes in the early 90s, Rev John Akinyemi was out of the country.

As soon as Rev John Akinyemi was out of town, I knew no other popular deliverance minister in the city of Ibadan until I saw my father with a book titled Covenant and Curses by Rev G.F Oyor, and he equally recommended the same book for the people that he counsels in his ministry. My father tells people that he is not a deliverance minister. However, when they need deliverance, he refers them to God Will Do It Ministry of Rev G.F Oyor. Anyone whom my father notices that their case is a deliverance case during his pastoral counseling ends up at Rev G.F Oyor’s Church at Bodija in the 1990s.

I also attended many powerful programs in God Will Do It  Ministry in the early and mid-1990s with great speakers. I came in contact with the ministry of Dr. Daniel Olukoya, Rev Dr Francis Wale Oke (Now Bishop), Rev Umah Ukpai, and many more for the first time at God Will Do It Ministry. He was a blessing to the body of Christ in Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole. This does not take away its global impact too. No single scandal is linked to Rev. G.F. Oyor in his lifetime. I may wish to attribute this to his strong evangelical root, and the grace of God prevented

Rev. G.F. Oyor melted my heart in 1992 or 1993, if I may recall very well. A friend of mine in a church I attended then (Christ Apostolic Church, Ile-Ogo) fell from the first floor of a building and smashed his head on the concrete floor, but God saved him by his mercies from death. He was at the University College Hospital Ibadan in Coma for days, if not weeks. So we started a prayer chain and hope he returns to life.

After this, he was slated for a delicate surgery, and the brethren reached out to Rev Oyor for prayers. He came personally to the Hospital and prayed for my friend. He prophesied about the intention of God for my friend. Dele’s surgery was a success, and he is still alive today.

The last time I saw Rev G.F. Oyor was at Orita-Mefa, Baptist Church, during the Papa Mike Oye 80^th birthday celebration in 2019. He attended to questions and answers after a teaching session. He shared how he was invited to a church and saw a man smoking at the door. Only for the service to start, the same man was the Sunday school teacher. Although he said he mentioned nothing about smoking in his sermon, neither did he condemn him. On the contrary, he only shared the love of Jesus, and almost everyone made a decision for the Lord, including the pastor and the cigarette-smoking Sunday school teacher.

We shall forever remember and miss Rev G.F Oyor, who gave his all to the service of God and the body of Christ. His acceptance among the Yoruba speaks volumes about the image of Jesus Christ in him. We bless God for what the Lord is doing through his wife and children. Notably among them are evangelist Lawrence Oyor and his twin brother. I am beginning to conclude that the future of most Pentecostal ministries may lie on the direct children of the set men than any other associate.

Unfortunately, when the hand of God is upon the children of ministers and they express the same on the platform of their parents, some people consider it as turning the church into a family business. But when the hand of the devil is upon the children of ministers, it is normal for people to see them express it. While others will pity and mock, and very few will intercede genuinely.

I will strongly encourage set men of ministry to ensure that their labor of love is seen first in the life of their children. The church’s growth and finances worry many more than how their children’s lives conform to the image of Jesus Christ.

 

Action Point    

Say a prayer for the family and ministry of any man of God you know who has gone to their reward. Tell God to empower men in charge to fulfill his eternal purpose for the initial call.

Take time to visit those in the category described in the first action point. Give gifts and words of encouragement