Joe Tarkon said: “There are people who are lawful captives. They are bound by the powers of darkness and taken over by the powers of hell not because of them but because of what has happened to them before they were born…”
By Ishaya Ibrahim
Pastor Joe Tarkon flew into Nigeria last week from his base in Atlanta to preach the Christian gospel to students of the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife, Osun State.
Preparation for the crusade had been in the works for months with the university’s amphitheater as venue, only for a whirlwind to remove part of the inside covering. Another venue was quickly arranged and the event proceeded as though there were no initial hitch.
Drug donations and leadership training
Pastor Tarkon left OAU four decades earlier, but heart is still there, the reason he didn’t visit the place with only the Bible.
He arrived with an ace leadership coach from the U.S., Abiodun Fijabi to jolt the students with some leadership skills.
He also came with drugs for the university’s health facility and gave N1 million to restock the facility whenever those drugs ran out. It was a gesture that warmed the heart of the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire.
The vice chancellor said: “When I heard of those things, I said this is somebody that has the interest, the passion, and dedication of saving the lives of a lot of our students.
“What you have done is not for a single person. The over 35,000 students that we have on campus, about 4,000 staff and so many others within the university community are going to benefit from this. We thank you for this. We want to wish you all the best. We want to pray for God’s mercy.”
Honours
Pastor Joe Tarkon received three honours during the visit to OAU.
The first was from the management of OAU in recognition of his humanitarian services. Prof Bamire, the vice-chancellor, presented him with a souvenir.
The second award was from the Livingspring Christian Music Festival. It was presented to Joe Tarkon by Professor Osasona in recognition of his Christian service.
The crusade
The third honour was given to Pastor Joe Tarkon by a student fellowship in OAU, the Evangelical Christian Union (ECU). Pastor Tarkon was a one-time president of the organisation. The current president, Leke Akingboye Faith presented him with a plaque.
The crusade, which was held between May 17 and 18, had the OAU Campus Christian Mobilization Committee (CCMC) providing support.
Gospel artists, Paul Tomisin and Peterson Okopi provided the music during the event.
Joe Tarkon, the senior pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (City of David) in Atlanta Georgia, delivered the sermons which has the theme, Jesus Heals.
The sermon
Here’s an excerpts (1saiah 49 vs 24, 25, and 26.)
The world is governed by forces. On one side is God on the other side is the devil.
The world is not governed by superlative forces but by comparative forces.
On one side is light, and on the other side is darkness. On one side is God, and on the other side is the devil. On one side is goodness, and on the other side is darkness. These events governed the world.
While God is governing the world, the devil is superimposing his will and agenda in different places and at different times and trying to ensure that he inserts his three-fold agenda to steal, kill, and destroy.
People are controlled by forces beyond them. People are born and sometimes their actions, activities, expressions and attitudes in life are governed and controlled by a force that they are not aware of.
Many times things happen to you that you have no control over. And because you are dragged by these two forces, your behavior ranges between these two forces. It either one day you see yourself up, or another day you are down, one moment you are nice, another moment you are mean. Sometimes you are good, another moment you are bad. Why? because you are assigned to powers that control your attitude, your expressions, and your behavior.
For some people, it’s not about them. It is because that is what they are assigned to. And because you live with a stranger that governs and influences your life and your attitude, there are some people who live and die and they never accomplish their purpose in life. Why? because all they did was to accomplish the purpose of the stranger that teleguides all their behavior.
In this passage (Isaiah 49 vs 24,25 and 26) we see it. The Bible “says shall the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captive delivered.”
There are people who are lawful captives. They are bound by the power of darkness and taken over by the powers of hell not because of them but because of what has happened to them before they were born or because of what happened to them by a power that has legitimate control over their life.
I will tell you two stories to illustrate this point.
When I was a student, I was president of ECU fellowship and there was a day when I said to my brethren that we should pray for all the students who have problems. It was in November and we met around the sports centre.
The moment we started praying for a particular lady, the heavens opened and it began o rain cats and dogs. And the lady was slithering on the grass like a snake.
After a while, I called off the prayer and said we should fast for three days because some demons don’t go out except by prayer and fasting.
After the three days prayer and fasting, I went to see the lady. The first thing she told me is “Bro Joe please don’t touch me.’”
She told me the story that when she was born, she was specifically dedicated to a snake in the river of their village. Essentially, she has, not just a human spirit, but also a snake spirit.
Story number two. I travelled to Calabar in Cross River many years ago before I travelled abroad. I was trying to start my own practice, then so I went there to look for money so that I can start my practice.
I went to the medical school to teach some of the final year students whose exams was approaching. I would go there in the evening to teach them and talk clinical stuff and all that.
On the day of the first written exams, I went later in the night to ask how did the exam go. I asked of a particular student who was a Christian. They said to me you would not believe it. He died the day the exam started.
What happened? They didn’t see him at the exam venue. So, after the examination they went to his room to look for him. The door was locked. They were able to break through the door, and found him on the floor with his hand behind his back.
The story that later emerged is that his father who was a native doctor had said his son would never become a doctor. So, he died on the first day of their exams.
So, you see that his life was not controlled by himself. His life was overpowered by a stranger who was living in him.
Look at this man that Jesus encountered, Mark chapter 5. The bible says he was possessed by an unclean spirit, a wicked stranger in his life. And not just living with him, the stranger overpowered him.
He could not make decisions for himself. So, even though he did things, it was easy to look at it and think it was him doing it. But when you understand with the spirit of revelation, you know that this man was overpowered by a wicked stranger.
The Bible gives us nine characteristics of him because he was living with a stranger.
For the full sermon visit Dr Joe Tarkon’s Youtube channel
