By Olufemi Adediran
The General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has said he is not proud of his past, describing his life as proof that God can change anyone, regardless of how troubled their history may be.
Adeboye, 83, spoke on Saturday while delivering a message on day five of the Holy Ghost Congress 2025 at the Redemption City along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Ogun State.
The week-long programme is themed, ‘God of all Flesh’.
Reflecting on his early life, the cleric said many people who knew him as a young man never believed he could become a pastor.
Addressing thousands of worshippers, including traditional rulers, Adeboye said doubts about his turning a new leaf persisted even after he claimed to have changed, with some questioning whether God could truly use him for spiritual leadership.
He said, “Do you think there is anybody in your family who is too far gone that God cannot save his soul? Do you think there is anybody that God cannot turn into a great vessel unto honour? I don’t have time to give you several examples, but the man talking to you right now, many people never thought I could be saved. Even if I was saved at all, they never thought I could be a pastor. You don’t know who is in front of you. I’m not proud of my past; if one can be bad, I was bad.”
The cleric recounted an encounter with a former girlfriend who once came in search of a pastor and was stunned when he introduced himself as the pastor.
“I have told you my story before. I told you about a former girlfriend of mine who came to the room and said, ‘I want to see the pastor,’ and I said, ‘I’m the pastor.’ She was shocked.
“She said, ‘You, a pastor? You mean you will pray and God will answer?’
“Not too long ago, I met a former classmate we hadn’t seen since we left the university in 1967. We were together in a room, and she said something like, ‘You, na wa ooo.’ I said, ‘Me too, I’m surprised.’ We didn’t say more than that because her son was in the room with us.”
Adeboye also narrated how, as a child, he once orchestrated the breakup between his uncle and his wife after she maltreated him, noting that they later reconciled.
“On one occasion, my uncle’s wife mistreated me badly. As small as I was then, I told her I would get you out of this house, and I did. Thank God we met again after I became the general overseer; we have reconciled, and all her children are now pastors in the church here,” he said.
Emphasising the message of redemption, the cleric said no one is beyond God’s saving grace and no life is too broken for God to transform.
“There is nobody God cannot save,” Adeboye said, urging believers not to give up on anyone, regardless of their past or present condition.
