Embassy of God Kiev, Ukraine celebrates 13th Year Anniversary
By Olukayode Olubunmi

Any life, animate or otherwise at thirteen is certainly no longer a baby. As a matter of fact when a child turns thirteen it signals a very unique new beginning, it is the activation of the capricious teenage years.

At thirteen, the signs of puberty or maturity begin to become apparent. It is therefore no surprise at all that The Embassy of God at thirteen exhibited every trait of an organization that has come of age.

The thirteenth anniversary of The Embassy of God, which attracted people from practically every nation of the world including Arabs, held between the 5th and 8th of April 2007, at Kiev's massive sports facility. The event featured music, dance, preaching, teaching and diverse seminars. There were interesting side attractions including trade fairs, investment forum, film production, photography, still life drawing and a whole lot more.

Like the saying goes, 'to fail to plan is to plan to fail'. The success of the event is without a doubt an attestation to a detailed, painstaking and followed through planning. Instructively, the spiritual essence of a new beginning reverberated through the conference! One after the other, as each of the ministers took turn to deliver their messages, the truth echoed again and again. This truth was certainly not lost on the chief host   himself, Pastor Sunday Adelaja who marked his 40th birthday during the anniversary. After all it is said that life begins at 40.

To set as well as affirm the divine tone for the conference, Bishop Abraham Olaleye, like a man with fire in his bones announced an imminent Great Outpouring.

With a thrust from the Book of Isaiah chapter 32, he reiterated that there is a myriad of problems the world is grappling with but that the solution to the problems as well as the answers to all the questions of the world is in the church but the church cannot do anything in its own strength.

Bishop Olaleye made it clear that no man can take on the world politically, financially, intellectually or spiritually in the flesh or with the wisdom of the world. He therefore admonished all to earnestly seek the outpouring of the Holy Sprit. In his word, "if you must choose three things, make this one of them; if you must choose two things, make this one of them and if you must choose only one thing during this few days of celebration, let it be the outpouring of the Holy Spirit".

The author of God Chaser and co-producer of the movie 'One Night with the King' Pastor Tommy Tenney was unequivocal in his affirmation of the requisite attitude for successful new beginnings. His perspective was however unusual. He espoused on 'The Value of an Enemy'.

He started by admitting that everybody goes through struggles and he treats others who are weak. Similarly a nation's greatness is judged by how it treats its weakest citizens. He further opined that sometimes a man's enemy is a person and sometimes a man can be his own worst enemy.

"The underlining lesson for me is the inevitable need to for 'The Great Outpouring' needed for me to appropriately 'Value my Enemy'; be it the enemy within or without. When an enemy arises, it is God's way of saying victory is at hand. It is useful to note that it is impossible to have victory without a battle and it is equally impossible to have a battle without an enemy. Therefore, I thank God for my enemy. As evident in the life of David, the size of my enemy is a clue to the size of my victory. The size of my enemy is directly proportional to the size of my victory (I'm still working on the mathematical equation watch out).

Friend and neighbours, if you have been praying that God should kill your enemy or that your enemy should fall down and die, you are inadvertently on a mission to destroy your own destiny and short change your testimony. Let those who have ears, hear what the Spirit is saying. And if you can't hear, you need the Great Outpouring."

Is published in “The voice of Revival” Vol.2 # 3