The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has recounted the panic he experience while travelling on an aeroplane of the defunct Nigeria Airways.
According to Adeboye, after take-off, the pilot of the aeroplane announced that one of the tires which the plane was going to land with had developed fault.
The clergyman, who narrated the story during a sermon to his congregation on Sunday, said the announcement generated fear among passengers on board the plane.
Adeboye said as quoted by Church Gist, “I was going to London in our beloved Nigeria Airways of blessed memory. We got to Heathrow and the pilot came and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a small problem. The tyres at the belly of the plane refused to come out.” That’s what he called the little problem. The thing we are going to land with refused to come out. On that day by accident, I was travelling First Class because somebody bought the ticket. That day I knew that rich people don’t want to die. Pandemonium broke out. When the news came that we might crash, I saw fear. People were talking all manners of talk. There was one man who throughout the journey had been going to the toilet and coming back. He wasn’t going to ease himself but he had the walking stick. The top of the walking stick was diamond; so he wanted to show us the walking stick. This time, he really wanted to go to the toilet. Church Gist. He got up and the hostess said, “Sit down Sir.” He said, “Who said so?” and I will tell you the truth, I was scared. Anointing doesn’t drive away the fear of death.
“So I said, ‘Daddy, when I was saying goodbye to my son at the Airport yesterday night, you didn’t tell me that’s the last time I will be seeing my son. And then God spoke, “You are not going to die my son. Church Gist. I want to talk to you and I know as soon as you land in London, they won’t let us talk. This one will be talking about, pray for me, do this, do that, so we need to talk urgently.”
“For another 45 minutes, the plane was circling and the crisis was getting bigger and bigger because the pilot came back and said, “Why all the commotion? At least you know that the firefighters in Heathrow are very efficient.’ Firefighters? After 45 minutes when my Daddy and I finished our conversation, the tyre came out. They didn’t send for a mechanic; there’s no mechanic who can. You can have peace in the midst of the storm if you realize that God is with you.
“A second story: this time I was travelling by air also. This time I was in British Airways. And we have settled down, about to eat. And I was travelling economy this time because nobody bought the ticket. And as they served us food, (You know the food they give you in economy is always very small; at least I was a young man – hungry young man), they gave us the little food they were going to give us which we usually shock with as much coke as possible. And the pilot made an announcement, ‘ladies and gentlemen, you are welcome on board. The flight will be pretty smooth until we get to Heathrow because at the time we will be arriving, there’s going to be a big storm over there. But don’t worry, we will manage to land.’
“As soon as he said that, the man who was sitting next to me froze! We are flying to a storm. But I’ve been in a storm before and I knew my Daddy was with me and I landed safely. So I enjoyed my food. When I finished eating, this man wasn’t touching his food at all. I looked at him and said, ‘Sir, you are not eating?’ he was shocked; “You mean you understand English?” I said yes. “You heard what the pilot said?” I said yes. He opened his mouth. I asked him again, “You are not eating?” he said no. “Can I…?” So I took his food, enjoyed it and I slept. When we got to Heathrow the pilot came back and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the weather boys must have deceived us. The storm is going to be in Scotland not in London.” So I looked at my friend and the 2 of us began to laugh. It’s too late for him to take my food; his food is already gone. But he was so relieved that he was going to land without a storm.
“And then my Father spoke to me and said, ‘Son, the storm was coming to London but because of you I diverted it.’ Sooner or later, a storm will come. It is a matter of “when” not “if.” And even if you don’t have physical storm – no financial storm, marital storm, sooner or later, it will be time to face death. That’s the biggest storm of all. But if the Lord is with you, you will have nothing to fear.”
