“I was moved to straighten my crooked past. Consequently I wrote a letter to my daddy and my wife, asking each of them for pardon for my past carelessness and maltreatment, though I did not understand the doctrine of restitution. God made changes in my life which were apparent. That experience put so much thirst in me that prompted me to begin to read all sorts of Gospel publications that came my way.”
Restitution is a doctrine of the Apostolic Faith as Brother T later came to know and teach. It means appeasing somebody who has been wronged or defrauded and restoring what has been stolen as contained in Ezekiel 33: 14-16: “Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he had committed shall be mentioned unto him: he had done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.”
Making restitution is a very delicate issue but with prayer and good counselling, God has always undertaken for His children in very difficult situations. After a meeting later in the Apostolic Faith Church where Brother T testified on how God took him out of counterfeiting, he was asked by the Reverend Peter van der Puije from Accra, Ghana, whether he had made restitution to the Government of Nigeria. Brother T then wrote a letter which he sent, after the letter was prayed over, to the then Secretary to the colonial Governor-General of the country. After waiting for a long time, filled with the fear of arrest each day, the answer came that he was completely forgiven. It is good to have a conscience void of offence toward God and man.
Thus from a life deep in sin, the conviction of sin which seized him in his single cell created in him a hunger for more of God and prayer. He became closer to God as he gave himself to praying more and more.
The custom shed where he worked was full of evil—stealing, fraud and other vices. One day God warned him that if he should join the sinful practices that were rampant in the custom shed he would go back to the jail whence he was delivered. He resolved to resign and stop working with them. He said: “I had more time to spend praying and reading my Bible.” Along the way God led him, he walked with God step-by-step.
As Timothy was always in the church premises, he got more involved in church activities. But he wanted a permanent job. He got an appointment at Apapa across the Lagos lagoon. One day he had to take a canoe to cross the water to Apapa. As he was crossing, one boat passed by and the waves caused by the boat tossed the canoe up and down, pouring water into the canoe. The canoe got out of control and was driven far out into the sea. Before its passengers could come back to shore, they were thoroughly drenched. Timothy prayed and consecrated, and the Lord delivered him.
He continued to write applications to several Government departments but none was successful. It was hard to understand what all this was leading up to. God was dealing with this young man but he was not willing to yield fully yet. He told the reason later. He said: “I detested the transitional training young men who were to become evangelists were given. They were made to live on charity and I hated the idea of living on charity. I have raised insurrections against erring evangelists who embezzled church funds and I had made up my mind I was going to work to earn my daily bread and then give the rest of my time to the Lord.”
Suddenly he took ill. Alittle swelling on his neck developed into a big goiter in only three days. Since he had already tasted the power of God through prayer, he resorted to prayer for healing. Timothy said of this: “One afternoon I fell into a trance and saw a white man dressed like a Levitical Priest before me. He told me to stand up, dress up in my shirt and tie as usual and go in search of a job. How is it possible—with the painful goiter? I perfectly understood the message. Immediately, I asked for mercy, promising not to insist on having my own way any longer. He touched my neck and declared, 'This is removed'! He turned and went out through the door. I became conscious. The third day the swelling had disappeared completely.”
All these experiences were pointers, step-by-step, to the plan God had for him and which his father had previously intended for him. Would Timothy yield? His zeal, his prayer life and his church activities did not go unnoticed by the church leaders.
He was completely changed from his past life as he was very rascally before his conversion. The remarkable changes which were apparent in his life after conversion gave Hector Elebute (who later became a minister) much inspiration and challenge to seek God until he too had the Christian experience of God's saving grace in the year 1939.
In February 1940, the General Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church at that time, the Rev. D. O. Odubanjo called Timothy and sent him to join Evangelist Babalola on an evangelistic tour of parts of Ile-Ife, Ilesa and Efon Alaaye. He was not expecting this because he knew it was a call into the ministry. What he had been trying to avoid! He was in a fix. He could not disobey the General Superintendent as he did not want to lose the joy he recently had. Because of the promise he made to God during the goitre episode, he had to go.
Through one Evangelist Odutola, he had received some Apostolic Faith tracts which he read. Now he came across more of Apostolic Faith publications in the hand of Evangelist Babalola. This was another way of God leading him a step further in His divine plan for his life. In 1940, he was posted to Ibadan. His wife, Hannah, and newborn daughter, Matilda, joined him there. In March 1941, he was transferred as an evangelist and minister to Christ Apostolic Church, Gbogunleri, Agege. Of this posting, Brother T had this to say: “The leadership of the church was a big challenge to me for some reasons. I was relatively new in the CAC organization, how much more in the ministry. There were people older in age and in church membership, and who had been workers long before me. So, the situation called for much earnest prayers. One key blessing I had in Agege was time for deeper consecrations and intensive prayers.”
As soon as he settled down at Agege, he wrote The Apostolic Faith Mission, many of whose publications he had read. In 1942 the first parcel of tracts was received by Brother T. He diligently studied the teaching as outlined on holiness. The doctrines of The Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland, Oregon so affected his life that from that point, his whole life and purpose were equally affected. His ministry under the Christ Apostolic Church and his theology were greatly affected too. From the teachings in that tracts he realized that the blessing he had received was a genuine experience of salvation or being born again. It was now very clear to him beyond any doubt. He believed in the efficacy of the Blood of Jesus Christ to forgive one's sins by faith. He also believed in the power of the same Blood for the healing of the sick.
In his dealings with an elderly woman called the 'Church Mother' of the congregation at Agege, he started to have some opposition. People who came for healing were given 'sanctified' or 'holy water' to take away in containers to be used for their healing. But Brother T laid emphasis on the efficacy of the Blood of Jesus to heal by faith. Some members of the congregation believed and the power in the Blood availed for them. Some of the pregnant women witnessed the effect of prayer and trust in the Blood of Jesus and therefore stopped going to the 'Church Mother' for 'holy water'. It made the woman to oppose the 'new doctrine' and she did not hide her feelings. The situation seemed to disturb Brother T's peace of mind. This led him to know he needed a deeper experience in his heart. As he read about sanctification in the tract from The Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland, he felt he needed exactly this experience. In his own words: “I prayed for the grace of sanctification according to Saint John 17: 17, 'Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth' and God sanctified me through the Blood of Jesus Christ. I prayed for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as in the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 2 and received the gift of the mighty Holy Spirit and Fire. These were wonderful Christian experiences.”
Having received these definite Christian experiences, he boldly taught them to his congregation. He preached more often on repentance. The result was the change evident in people's lives as they sought God. People made restitution one to another. Signs and wonders were wrought by power divine. People started to be brought from outside to try the Blood of Jesus. People testified openly in the church about the changes they observed in their lives. Brother T's wife who was pregnant was delivered safely without the use of 'holy water'. Thus his faith was strengthened and was surer of definite biblical doctrines and teachings as outlined in the tracts of The Apostolic Faith Mission. Materially, the church, though small, was blessed. Even in 1943, during the hard economic recession because of World War II, when the mother church had no land of its own, Agege branch bought 5 acres of land and in 1944 completed a new church building 63' x 33'. All these were God's own way of leading him further in building his faith for the task ahead.