The Greatest Blessing a Person Can Have!
By Onaolapo Ajibade
I was born into a Nigerian home where the primary religion was Islam. As I grew up, my father wanted me to become a great Islamic scholar and yet benefit from a western education. Therefore, I attended an Islamic school on the weekends and a Christian primary school during the week. Soon I had memorized enough verses from the Quran to pray five times a day as a Muslim, and I observed these prayer sessions faithfully.
I progressed in my academic career and eventually was admitted into the University of Ghana where I studied agriculture. There I met with a nondenominational group that led me to Christ. One day a fellow agriculture student, a Seventh-day Adventist named Daaku, visited me and shared with me the truth of the seventh-day Sabbath according to Scripture. My initial reaction was to reason that it did not really matter which day a person kept holy. Daaku did not argue the point, but rather he went back to his room and brought me two booklets. One defending Sunday keeping, and the other explaining the biblical reasons for the seventh-day Sabbath. He asked me to read the two objectively. After studying the books, I was convinced that the right day to keep holy was the seventh day.
Without delay, I joined the Adventist Students’ Fellowship that met on campus and I began worshipping on the Sabbath. Daaku shared further Bible studies with me and two other students, and on August 13, 1977, the three of us were baptized. Before my baptism, I had read The Great Controversy and I was deeply convicted that the most important work a person could do was to share the message of that book. But how was I to do this? The answer to this question came in a mysterious way.
At this time, I had to fulfill a requirement for my bachelor’s degree that required me to write a formal dissertation that had to do with how different ratios and combinations of potassium affected the growth of rice. Unfortunately, the rates of potassium recommended by my supervisor were too high and so all the rice seedlings were killed. That meant I had to repeat the entire experiment during the summer holidays, but I had no money to finance the project. A teacher at the faculty of agriculture who saw my plight pitied me and asked me to go to my supervisor to ask him to find me a work-study job I could do to raise the money I needed. I prayed about it and asked God to let the supervisor say “No” if that was not His way of solving my problem. When I got to the supervisor and made my request, he said “No, I can’t help you.” I was at peace even though I did not know how God would solve the problem, I was confident He would solve it. I was full of anticipatory curiosity, to see how God would provide the money.
When I saw my friend Daaku again, he suggested I should become a part-time literature evangelist as he was and that I could earn the money I needed to finance the project. I welcomed the idea and saw it as the perfect answer to my prayer. Daaku trained me and I began work immediately. Literature evangelism proved to be an interesting and effective way for me to share the Adventist message. The mistake my supervisor made in recommending rates of chemicals that killed all the rice seedling was thus turned into a blessing, and God would use that very means to introduce me to my life’s calling. As I drew near to the end of my university program, I reasoned, “I have been trained to produce food as an agriculturist. Anybody of whatever faith can do that, but only a member of God’s remnant church can share the three angels’ messages through the printed page. Since this is done by relatively few people, I should dedicate my life to sharing God’s truth in this way!” So, after completing my university education and fulfilling the one-year compulsory national youth service in both Ghana and Nigeria, I began selling books as a full-time literature evangelist.
My relatives were disturbed. Why should a person with a university degree choose to “hawk” books, as they put it? Unfortunately, the relationship between me and my relatives turned sour, but I stuck to my decision. Through the years, I have served as a literature evangelist, an assistant publishing director, substantive publishing director, director of Literature Ministries Seminary, conference executive secretary, conference president, union ministerial secretary, and executive secretary of the West-Central Africa Division, a position from which I retired in 2015.
Looking back, I can only shout “Hallelujah!” for God leading me to Christianity, making me a member of the remnant church, and calling me into the gospel ministry. It has been a wonderful and blessed journey with the Lord. To know and share the truth in this confused and chaotic world is about the greatest blessing a person can have--and I have it!
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World Church Prayer Requests
July 24 - 30, 2020
- Pray for the USA, Brazil, India, Russia who are amongst the hardest affected countries by Covid-19. Pray for all who are hospitalized and/or dying. Pray that they will reach out to God.
- Amsarika S.: Please pray for my father. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work on his heart to receive Jesus as his Savior.
- Pray for members around the world battling mental health issues, such as depression, bipolar disorder, and other sicknesses.
- Pray for Treasure Hunt, an Adventist-run thrift store annexed to a clinic and lecture space, all alongside the historic Route 66 in Chicago, USA. Please ask God to bring the people who most need hope and healing, and to pour out His Spirit on the workers, empowering them for ministry.