Introduction

In the mid-1960s, the Nigerian Pentecostal church movement was still very young compared to the mission-initiated churches. At this time, the south-western part of Nigeria witnessed the emergence of several freelance evangelistic groups mainly of the Pentecostal tradition. These groups began with the work of independent evangelists whose ministries extended throughout the country.  One such group was the Go Ye Evangelistic Association, founded by the evangelist, Timothy Aremu Iyanda. This association was one of the three most prominent evangelistic ministries in western Nigeria at the time. The two others were the Glad Tidings Evangelistic Ministry, founded by Isaac Adeolu Eniola, and the World Soul-Winning Evangelistic Group (WOSEGRO), later renamed World Soul-Winning Evangelistic Ministry (WOSEM) founded by Timothy Oluwole Obadare of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC). The Go Ye Evangelistic Association was founded in 1965 with the name of T. A. Iyanda Evangelistic Association.  Early in 1975 God led Iyanda to change the name of the association to Go Ye Evangelistic Association and later the Go Ye Christ Mission International developed out of the ministy. Through these two organs Timothy Iyanda sounded the trumpet of the Gospel of Christ across the nation, preaching salvation and deliverance to all.

Birth and Early Life

Iyanda was born on June 1, 1935, at Orile-Owu, Nigeria. Before his birth, his mother had given birth to ten children who died at infancy.  In desperation, his father sought help from various mediums. He went from one herbalist (a traditional healer) to another, seeking occult solutions despite the fact that the old Iyanda was one of the founders of the Baptist Church in Isanlu-Isin, in the present Kwara State of Nigeria where he hailed from. The desperation and the intensity of the search notwithstanding, the old man was utterly disappointed as none of the mediums consulted were able to give any solution to his problem. However, this challenge to which the occult could not offer solution, was surmounted through a miracle from God in a revival prayer-meeting conducted by D.O. Babajide at the Apostolic Church, Orile-Owu, and Timothy Aremu Iyanda was born.[1]

Timothy Iyanda was enrolled in school by his father at Orile-Owu shortly after the death of his mother.  At this time, much value was not attached to western education in many communities especially among the peasants as it was a luxury that many could not afford. It was a time when the possession of large farm and the ability to manage it was a mark of prominence and one of the reasons why Africans delighted in polygamy. Having a large family was seen as a blessing by the average African man as this would provide him with the labour force for his farm work. Consequently, many African men opted for polygamy as a means of achieving this. But in the case of Timothy’s father, he was not blessed with a large family and his only wife who could have been his only helper on the farm was dead, he had no option but to withdraw his only son from school in order to help him on the farm. So the old Iyanda interrupted his son’s education while he was in Standard Three because he wanted him to be his full-time helper on the farm.

Iyanda worked with his father for some time on the farm and in his blacksmith’s business, after which the young Iyanda returned to school and completed his Standard Six education, a considerable level of education in those days.  He then went to Lagos, Nigeria, to become an apprentice Motor Mechanic in 1954.  The decision to move to Lagos did not receive the blessing of his father, because the old man was of the opinion that his son would do better on the farm than going to Lagos for his apprentice training. Iyanda, however, refused to give in to his father’s persuasion as he was determined that acquiring a skill is a better way of securing the future than staying on the farm.  In Lagos, Iyanda became the ward of David Odubanjo of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) fame, engaging in series of menial tasks to keep body and soul together and to finance his motor mechanic training.

After his training in Lagos, he travelled to Ghana in 1957. Initially he was engaged by a company as a motor mechanic, but later got involved in the diamond business. Fortune smiled on him and three years later, Iyanda had become a wealthy businessman.  Though he could not be said to have had any experience of salvation at this time while living with Pastor Odubanjo in Lagos-Nigeria, he had encountered the Christian faith and notable ministers such as the Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola also of the CAC and this had developed in him a considerable level of commitment to the Christian faith. Consequently, he built a church at Ghadamu, Ghana, which was later taken over by the Baptist Church.

Salvation Experience and Call to the Ministry

Iyanda was born again in March 1963, when he read an overseas gospel tract.  According to him, “I read the tract and saw the light and became disgusted with my sinful life. I experienced great sorrow for my sin. Then the joy of God filled my heart.”  A great interest for the word of God and evangelism developed in his heart and like the biblical Timothy, he became an ardent evangelist distributing tracts and promoting the gospel message from place to place. He became highly interested in the things of God, especially soul-winning, prayer, and bible-reading.

He received the baptism with the Holy Spirit at a prayer meeting. Thereafter his life was characterized by some supernatural experiences which eventually culminated in his call into the ministry. On a particular night, as he was praying in the church at about 3 a.m. when he heard a voice like a thunder-clap. His whole body trembled and the church building shook, just like the place where the disciples were assembled after they had prayed in Acts 4:24-31 and like the experience of John in Revelation 10:4, the message given to him by the thunderous voice appeared to be more of a sealed message as Iyanda never disclosed this to anyone for certain reasons.

The following night, he had another experience which resembled that of the first. He was expecting to hear another voice when he saw an angel trying to carry him out of the church. Timothy then wondered why an angel of God should want to do this to him. Through divine guidance, however, he noticed that this angel was not an angel of God and a fight ensue between the two of them. He prevailed and found his way back into the church. Thereafter it was explained to him by the Holy Spirit that what he saw was for the future. He was warned to be on his guard because in a time to come, the devil will want to draw him out of the church through many side attractions, but he was to resist the devil so as to prevail over him.  On another night, he was in a revelation where a large number of angels appeared to him and oil was poured on his head, anointing him for the ministry. That night he became conscious of the call of God on his life. This anointing with oil was also backed with an instruction to go and preach and to fulfill literally the command in Matthew 19:21- “…go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor and come and follow me”.  The Lord also drew his attention to Matthew 10:38-39 - “…and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Consequently, Iyanda lost interest in his business and became seized with the desire to go places with the gospel.  He disposed of all his possessions at rock-bottom prices and started giving the money to the poor and beggars.  The Holy Spirit, however, cautioned him that the poor in his context are the ministers of God. These are those who had voluntarily chosen poverty on account of the gospel of Christ. Coming to this understanding, he gave the rest of the money to ministers of God.   His decision was considered by many as sheer madness, considering the level of poverty prevalent within his community at the time. Those were days when traders and business people were the prime movers and the financial backbone of the society and commanded a great deal of respect from all.  To find oneself in the position of a “businessman” was considered a privilege which many would never attempt to “throw away” as Iyanda had done. It was definitely a privilege no one would want to lose for any consideration whatsoever.  His decision was therefore met with stiff resistance by many people around him, including some ministers of God. His half brother William Iyanda, who was living with him at the time, travelled home to inform their father of what he considered the irrational behaviour of his elder brother.  Iyanda, however, could not be deterred. He understood what God expected of him in the circumstances in which he found himself and was prepared to comply.

Conflict with Church Authorities

In a night vision, Iyanda saw himself standing where D. O. Babajide was ministering in Ilesa. Taking the vision literally, he left for Ilesa and was with Babajide’s School of Prophets and Evangelists for three months after which the Holy Spirit ordered him to go out for the work for which he had been appointed. Initially, Iyanda’s ministry was based on two major revelations he claimed to have received from God, which were limited to the correction of ills in his church - the Christ Apostolic Church. Iyanda in his first revelation saw a loaded train with passenger travelling on a rail line. Part of this rail line was damaged and he knew this could spell disaster for the train. Ironically, he saw the rail workers busy working but oblivious of the damaged rail line.

Iyanda realized what needed to be done and was shown all the equipment needed to repair the fault on the rail line. A voice warned him, however, that his effort at this repair would not be appreciated and that he might even be accused of causing the damage in the first place. Specifically, the train he saw in the revelation was interpreted to be the Christ Apostolic Church and the rail line on which it was travelling was the way of the gospel on which the church is expected to travel. That the rail was faulty was an indication that something was wrong with the way of the gospel on which the church was moving. It was probably promoting a damaged (wrong) gospel, one which is not likely to bring about the much expected change in the life of the people. The pathetic part of it was that ministers of the church were not aware of this anomaly. Irrespective of the danger this posed to the life of the church then, Iyanda was warned that no matter how he might try, his effort to correct the anomalies in the church would not be appreciated.

Despite the warning, Iyanda decided to do his best for the Lord. He saw the church as God’s institution which must be rescued from disaster. Consequently, his many sermons contained warnings for church leaders. This never went down well with the leaders and as it happened to John Wesley in his time when many bishops and clergy objected to him and his local preachers, Anglican churches were often closed to them.[2] Iyanda ran into a similar conflict with Church leaders. The doors of most of the churches were locked against him, his ministerial credentials were ordered to be confiscated, and this order was carried out during his visit to Okeigbo in Ondo State by the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC). Without credentials from his church authority, no church was prepared to accept and cooperate with him. It was a Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Okeigbo that came to his rescue. The church allowed him to stay with them in the town throughout the duration of the open-air evangelistic meetings which he held there.

This resulted in great difficulty for the young Iyanda and he cried unto God, “Lord those to whom you sent me have rejected me.” Then the Lord replied, “Go to the streets and call all manner of people to the feast.” Henceforth, he changed his mode of operation and started working independent of the church. He went from one town to another, preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever he got to a town, he would invite people from various churches and religions to his open air revival meetings. His message then became a message of salvation to all, urging them to repent of their sins and come into the “Ark of Salvation,” Jesus Christ.

His Evangelistic Endeavours

God instructed Iyanda to go to Oke-Iho, a town within southwest Nigeria.  He sold some of his remaining personal belongings, a ceremonial robe and a Bible, for which he got two pounds and with an additional gift of one pound from a missionary, Parkyns, whom he referred to as his spiritual father, he proceeded on the journey. At Okeiho, the Lord began to demonstrate God’s mighty miracle-working power in Iyanda’s ministry. His evangelistic and revival meetings became characterized by astounding miracles of healing. The dumb spoke, the deaf heard, and the blind had their sight restored in almost all of his meetings. This gave him confidence and he breathed a sigh of relief assuring himself that God was with him.

From Oke-Iho, he moved to Iseyin, a town in the area, where he was compelled to spend the night in the bush because no one was ready to accommodate him. The church leaders refused to entertain him insisting that they could only do so if they see his credentials from the head of his church. Leaving Iseyin, he went to Shaki and notable conversion and miracles happened there. Prominent among these was the case of a group of *Egungun *(masquerade) adherents who deflected from the masquerade and started following Timothy around until he got to the revival.

Traditional worship in Yorubaland of south-western Nigeria comprises many different cults or guilds, prominent among which is the Egungun *masquerade, considered the cult of the ancestors. It is believed to have emanated from the belief of Africans in resurrection after death. After the death of an aged person, an *Egungun masquerade is made to immortalize him. Consequently, the deceased is worshipped believing that he is alive, though he has joined the ancestors. Egungun worship and its attendant festival is one of the prominent traditional celebration that attract people of different classes for cultural, social, economical, religious, and entertainment purposes.  It has special time of celebration dedicated to it, which is the Egungun *festival. It is believed that during this festival deceased ancestors return to earth to visit and celebrate with their living relations and thereafter bless them before returning to their abode in heaven. Hence the *Egungun *are usually referred to as “Ara Orun-kinkin, Baba mi*,” meaning “my father, the noble relative from heaven.”[3] It was during one of these festivals that Iyanda entered Shaki and people were surprised to witness the scenario discussed above. To many, this scenario is an indication of the presence of the power of God with Iyanda.

The Egungun phenomenon poses serious threat to Christianity in Yorubaland. It is one of the factors responsible for the slow pace of Christianity in some areas and it is the main cause of syncretism in others. A very popular lyric among the adherents of this cult during their festivals goes thus in the Yoruba language:

A wa o s’oro ile wa ooo (2x)

Igbagbo o pe o eee, Igbagbo o pe k’awa ma s’orooo

A wa o soro ile wa ooo

Meaning:

We will celebrate our deity (2x)

Christianity cannot debar us from this,

We will celebrate our deity

Consequently, it is observed that many so called Christians still participate in these festivals.  Though they are baptized and counted as members of the church, they still have one leg in the church and another in traditional worship and this amounts to syncretism.  Syncretism no doubt poses a serious threat to the personal devotional life of the average Christian.  It is in the light of this that such ministries like that of Iyanda, which characterized the Christian (Pentecostal) landscape in Yorubaland from the late 60s into the 70s, were highly appreciated for the noble work God used them for in the conversion of many traditional worshippers to Christianity.

Other miracles in Shaki included the healing of a dumb old man and the restoration of sight to a blind man.  These miracles no doubt endeared Iyanda to the people and a pastor of the Apostolic Church in the town. The pastor consequently reported the development to prominent members of his church, who sent a delegate from Ibadan to Iyanda in Shaki, persuading him to join their church and work with them as a minister. Iyanda however rejected this offer, explaining that getting stuck with a denomination will only restrict his movement and defeat his objective of going into the nooks and crannies of the world with the gospel of Christ. Once he was hooked to a church, he would only be able to go wherever he was sent.

From Shaki, Iyanda conducted open-air revival meetings in other cities of Yorubaland. He was in Oyo and Ogbomoso in 1964, and Lagos in 1965 after which he was at Ilorin, a Muslim dominated city, where Iyanda secured a place in the centre of the city for his meeting. Incidentally, Ilorin was a place where the preaching of the gospel was not allowed in certain areas and the place of his first meeting was situated within one of these “gospel-restricted” areas. Presentation of the gospel at Ilorin must be tactful because of its predominantly Muslim population and Iyanda was quite aware of that. He started his message in a highly persuasive manner, but at the mention of the name of Jesus Christ, pebbles started flying towards him from all directions and the meeting came to an abrupt end.   This did not in any way deter Iyanda so he moved to Sabo to continue his revival meeting. Sabo is another part of the city of Ilorin where there was a large concentration of strangers and a place where one could do what was not permitted in the Muslim dominated areas.  There was a mighty movement of God at Sabo as many crippled walked. Among these was Karimu, a Muslim who had been crippled for thirteen years and another was Muhammad Yaro who began to walk after eleven years.  As a result of the miracle, many of those who had disrupted the previous meeting started trooping to the meetings. The people of Ilorin now became Iyanda’s friends and this gave him the privilege of returning to conduct revival meetings in any part of the city undisturbed.

Iyanda also conducted open-air evangelistic meetings in other notable cities across Nigeria. He was in Ibadan in 1967 and 1970.  Ibadan acclaimed to be the largest city in West Africa is the present capital of Oyo State.   In 1970, he conducted five meetings across the city and these were attended by signs and wonders. At one of these meetings, one Ganiyu Lasisi who had been dumb for thirty-five years spoke precisely on February 20, 1970. He was also at Abeokuta where a woman with an “issue of water”, from whose body urine-like water flowed day and night, was healed. Other places visited by Iyanda were Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu-Igbo, Lalupon Erunmu, and Iwo all in southwest Nigeria; Zaria, Zamaru, Gusau, Kaduna, Kano in northern Nigeria; Port Harcourt and Aba in eastern Nigeria.

Iyanda’s crusades were not confined to Nigeria. He travelled to other parts of the world with the gospel of Christ. He was in Ghana, Cameroon, Republic of Benin, Ivory Coast, Liberia Sierra Leone, Togo, and Kenya. He also visited the United States of America, Amsterdam, England, Scotland, and France. Everywhere he went God was with him and demonstrated His power in enormous proportion.

Iyanda was one of the first Christian ministers to appropriate the power of the media in the propagation of the gospel.  He made use of the radio, film and the television. He was on the network of many radio and television stations. Prominent among these were Radio Nigeria Lagos, Radio Enugu, Radio Lagos, Radio O-Y-O Ibadan, Ogun Radio Abeokuta, Radio Imo, Owerri, Western Nigeria Television Service (WNTV) Ibadan, and the Nigerian Television Authority, Lagos and Benin. Just as God performed miracles in his revival meetings, so also He did through his Media Ministry. People were healed of various forms of sicknesses through his ministrations over the airwaves. Whenever Timothy Iyanda was preaching or praying on the Radio and TV, sick people would be encouraged to have faith in God and lay their hands on their radio and TV sets and would be healed of various diseases. Many testified to the series of miracles of healings from sicknesses some of which had defied medical solutions.  One Thomas from Ibadan listened to Iyanda’s message on the radio and was saved. Later, he laid his hand on the radio when Iyanda was praying and God healed him of eyes trouble. The son of one Falade in Agege –Lagos, was unconscious. Iyanda came on the air and began to preach. The troubled man placed one hand on his radio-set and the other on the dying boy and God healed the child instantly. A woman Betty Olaniyan living in France listened to a tape of Iyanda’s message and got a miracle through it. God touched her barren womb as she was listening to the tape message and she became pregnant.

Iyanda was described as a tireless minister of the gospel and an ardent teacher of the word of God. His eagerness to spread the Word of God was great. By the end of the seventies, he had gone with the gospel and power of Jesus Christ to all parts of Nigeria and to many African countries, such as, Cameroon, Republic of Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo and Kenya. Wherever he went to hold evangelical/revival meetings, crowds gathered, multitude of people were saved and healed of various sickness; many of which had defied the power of medical science. He was a faithful and godly man, a good preacher and teacher of God’s word, and one who loved the Lord.[4]

Iyanda was married to Sarah Adunni Iyanda in 1964 and the marriage was blessed with children.  On how they met, Sarah said, "I was introduced to him by my uncle who recommended me to him. I remember that my late husband came to Ile Ife for a revival and after the revival he told my uncle who was also a reverend, that he needed a responsible wife. My late uncle Afolabi told him that he had five girls with his own daughter but could recommend me and could vouch for my character. I went to pray over it and we eventually got married in 1964.”

Sarah Iyanda was a friend and a supporter of her husband in the work of the minstry. She was always with him in all their evangelistic trips and recounted some of her experiences during this period.  She recalled a particular incident in 1967 when her husband was arrested for spreading the gospel by throwing religious leaflets from a helicopter in Lagos and Ibadan. Evangelist Iyanda in Lagos had hired a helicopter for the distribution of flyers designed to invite people to one of his crusades. The helicopter was throwing these flyers from the air and some of it incidentally fell into Dodan barracks which was the then Nigeria’s seat of power and residence of the then head of state General Yakubu Gowon. This was on a day when the General was celebrating his birthday and members of his Supreme Military Council and other state dignitaries were present.  Initially some thought it was money, but they later discovered it was ordinary leaflets. However, such an incidence at the seat of power at such a time was considered an embarrassment because it disrupted the birthday ceremony.  At that time some soldiers came to arrest the evangelist saying he had caused confusion and commotion in the barracks. The incident was, however, investigated by the police and they discovered that the evangelist meant no harm and the case was dispelled.  Though a big blow to the government, it made Iyanda popular.

The leaflets were picked up in certain quarter and led to the salvation of some. A palm-wine tapper saw one of the leaflets on top of the palm tree as he went up to tap palm wine. He brought it home and told everybody that it was God that sent it to him. He could not imagine how he could find a paper on top of the palm wine tree in a thick forest. He gave the papers to people to read out for him and that was how he was converted to Christianity.[5]

Sarah also recounted how God used her husband to rescue a man who vomited stones in Cotonou in the Republic of Benin. According to her, when they got to Cotonou the people were happy and they all trooped out to see more miracles. The government seeing the multitude supported the team, drafted some policemen to guard them, and even constructed a stage for use in the revival service.  But it got to a point when a man vomited stones and shouted thank you Jesus, a man dashed into the crowd and shouted thank you Mary. This is because as Catholics, they believed more in Mary the mother of Jesus than they did of Jesus. Iyanda ordered the man to shut up and said he was shouting to Jesus and not to Mary. This mere mention of Jesus’s name angered the crowd, the state police was invited, and the Iyanda’s team was given 24 hours to leave their country. Thus, the crusade in Cotonou ended abruptly and the team returned to Nigeria, but was never disheartened as they felt the presence of God around them.

God used Iyanda for many other miracles of healing.  According to his wife, a man with a protruding stomach was brought to the crusade held in Ilesha. There was another man with a mysterious illness which made him to drink twenty litres of water three times a day. He was brought to the crusade ground from Ilesha by six hefty men for prayers and he was cured of his mysterious illness.

Recalling the apostle’s last days as emotional, the wife said, "He prayed for sometime and started praying in tongues at 3:00AM. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was praying for himself. He blessed and served round a cup of water and then gave up the ghost. He was really a man of God.”[6]

There is need to give honour to whom it is due, however. It is impossible for a tree to make a forest. In other words, Iyanda was not alone in the ministry, there were others who were instrumental to the success story of GO YE Evangelistic Ministry. Money or financial support occupies a pivotal position in the promotion of the gospel. It is the reason why many ministries were not able to make headway.  With reference to Iyanda, he found a very diligent and committed financial supporter in Folorunso Husswin, who was at the time one of the financial mainstays of the ministry.  Husswin is an enterprising Nigerian Church leader and businessman. He is the General Overseer of the Voice of Redemption Gospel Church and the Proprietor of Gideon Children and Secondary Schools, Isolo, Lagos, Nigeria. Husswin used his resources in the promotion of the gospel and was a chief financier of many of the itinerant evangelists and pastors in the country around the 60s through the 90s and into the year 2000. Specifically with the GO YE Ministry, he was a very strong financial supporter who stood by Iyanda during the period of his ministry. He supported him financially and this made the ministry able to achieve tremendous success in many of its endeavours. Husswin described Iyanda as a soldier of Christ who answered the call of God and sincerely worked in God’s vineyard unless he left the world.

Another person worthy of note here is Aderinokun of Ibadan who assisted the evangelist financially at a crucial time. According to Taiwo, in May 1974, Iyanda was to conduct an open-air evangelistic meeting at Kaduna-Nigeria, but fell short of funds in the middle of the arrangement. He was then led to Aderinokun in Ibadan, who willingly gave all the money she had in her handbag. With this money Iyanda was able to stage the Kaduna meeting, which was a huge success resulting in the salvation, healing, and deliverance of many.[8]

Among other supporters of Iyanda was Moses Olanrewaju, an itinerant evangelist and President of the Jesus Witness Ministry in Lagos, Nigeria. He was with Iyanda for many years assisting him in various aspects of the ministry. In Nigeria, not all preachers preach in the English language, some do in their indigenous tongue and consequently would need competent persons to translate their messages into the English language. Olanrewaju is one of such competent hands in the country, who assisted Iyanda in the translation of his messages into the English language, at the open air evangelistic meetings, in the radio and the television.  He performed this task and other ministerial duties honestly and selflessly for many years.

The next on the list of Iyanda’s supporter is Zaccheus O. Agbenike, known as Brother Zaccheus and who is presently the General Overseer of Christ Beloved Gospel Church, Lagos. He was one of Iyanda’s earliest converts and co-workers. He and Samson were the principal staff of the ministry and he served faithufully within the minstry for a very long time.

The last but not least coworker and supporter of Iyanda was Samson who worked in the office helping to dispatch letters to partners and also accompanied Iyanda on some of his evangelistic tours across the nation. His contribution occurred at a time when it was difficult to find a trusted and committed young man in Nigeria for such a job was quite tremendous.

Recalling his experience with Iyanda, Raphael Oye Taiwo decribed him as:

"…a man who did what the early Christians did, in obedience to the Lord’s order, ‘go ye therefore’. He was a man who, when the Lord called, ignored his worldly wealth, took up his cross and followed his master without looking back in doubt. A man who walked on a path of faith many with similar calling would have quaked to walk on. A man who, in spite of the scoffs of the ungodly, the jeering of the despisers of good people and the sting of hardship, fought bravely on the battlefield of faith, refusing to give up."[9]

"Listening to him in the evening of May 29, 2008 in his house, I understood that this man was not through yet with the Lord’s battle… that the devil had no cause to laugh as far as this man was concerned …. that his heart was still set on the task nearest to the heart of the Lord, soul-winning … that his heart was still burning with love for God like the heart was in the sixties … that retirement from God’s work wasn’t on his priority list. He kept fighting the Lord’s battle until his last days upon the earth. He would have loved to keep fighting his Lord’s battle for another ten years. But his master had another plan for him: to bring His faithful servant home to begin to enjoy the joy of the Lord he loved and served so well."[10]

"He died on the battlefield of faith with his boots on his feet and his sword in his hands. I could imagine him saying, when he was about to leave the world, ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.’ (2nd Timothy 4:7-8) I could almost hear the Lord saying to his servant, ‘Well-done, thou faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!’ May God bless our land with many more tough, brave, and dedicated soldiers of God like this man, Timothy Aremu Iyanda, Founder and General Overseer, Go Ye Pentecostal Mission International."[11]

Iyanda was a man loved and respected by his people. His divine ability was appreciated by his followers and his life is an inspiration to members of his ministry, GO YE Pentecostal Mission International.  In August of 2009, Timothy Aremu Iyanda went home to be with the Lord at the age of 74.

Michael Adeleke Ogunewu

Notes

1. Babajide’s revival was an extension of the Aladura Revival which started through Joseph Ayodele Babalola at Oke-Oye, Ilesha in 1930 and spread across Yoruba land.

2. Geoffrey Hanks, 70 Great Christians: The Story of the Christian Church, Kaduna: Evangel Publications (1998), 174.

3. Adebusi Aromolaran, Oyebamiji and Mustapha, Akomolede Ijinle Yoruba (Ibadan:  Macmillan Nigeria Publisher Ltd., 1980), 59.

4. Raphael Oye Taiwo, Go Ye Therefore: The Story of the Early Revival Ministry of Apostle Timothy Iyanda (OkeIgbo: Unity Christ Evangelical Ministry, 2008), 75-76.

5. For details of Sarah Iyanda’s comment see Taiwo Abiodun, “How my husband’s tracts caused commotion in Dodan Barracks,” The Nation Newspaper, November 1, 2009.

6. Ibid.

7. Folorunso Husswin, Clergy, Voice of Redemption Gospel Church, Lagos, Interview Respondent, interviewed at Isolo-Lagos of unday, January 26, 2014.

8. R. Oye Taiwo, Go Ye Therefore, 63-64.

9. Ibid., 11.

10. Raphael Oye Taiwo, “A God’s General Went Home to Be with the Lord” PR Log - Global Press Release Distribution, Oct 22, 2009, http://www.prlog.org/10385110-gods-general-went-home-to-be-with-the-lord.html, accessed on August 30, 2010.

11. Raphael Oye Taiwo, Go Ye Therefore, 89.

Bibliography

Abiodun, T. “How my Husband’s Tracts Caused Commotion in Dodan Barracks” The Nation Newspaper, November 1, 2009.

Aromolaran, A., Oyebamiji, and Mustapha. Akomolede Ijinle Yoruba. Ibadan: Macmillan Nigeria Publisher Ltd., 1980.

Folorunso Husswin, Inteview Respondent, General Overseer, Voice of Redemption Gospel Church, Isolo-Lagos, interviewed on Sunday, January 26, 2014.

Hanks, G. *70 Great Christians: The Story of the Christian Church. * Kaduna: Evangel Publications, 1998.

Taiwo, R. O., “A God’s General Went Home to be with the Lord” PR Log - Global Press Release Distribution, Oct 22, 2009.

——–. *Go Ye Therefore: The Story of the Early Revival Ministry of Apostle Timothy Iyanda. *OkeIgbo: Unity Christ Evangelical Ministry, 2008.

This article, received in 2014, was researched and written by Dr. Michael Ogunewu, a visiting lecturer in Church History at Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary in Ogbomoso, Nigeria.