HOW APOSTLE JOSEPH AYO BABALOLA DIED - # PROPHET I.O. OGEDEGBE

Until his sudden departure to glory on
Sunday, 26th July, 1959, Apostle Joseph
Ayo Babalola showed no sign of illness.
On Friday 24th July, he returned to Ibadan to attend the general
council’s meeting
slated for that day. On Saturday morning,
25th July, Apostle Babalola conducted the
morning prayer for ministers and
members living in the vicarage of C.A.C.
Olugbode, Ibadan and prayed for everybody. The same day, he
sent two of
his followers, Michael and another fellow
to me at Ede that I should prepare a place
for him to sleep. I never knew he was
talking of his final sleep. Apostle Ayo
Babalola arrived Ede around 6:30 in the evening that Saturday and
he was gladly
received. Before his arrival, I had
prepared my bedroom ready for him.
We ensured that nobody was allowed to
rush into the bedroom with him; for it
was Apostle Babalola’s habit that he never turned away anybody
who came to
him for prayer and counselling, no matter
how weary he might be. After prayer, I
informed him that his meal was ready. He
declined to take any meal but requested
to be allowed to have some sleep, because he had been holding
series of
meetings since the past nine days with
little or no rest. He woke up three hours
later and took some tea and slept off
again. At 4a.m. on Sunday 26th, he woke
up, took his bath, took some tea and had his morning meditation
without any
disturbance.
At 6 o’clock, I went to him in the
bedroom and he began to talk about a
great convention which will soon be held
at his hometown, Odo-Owa. He was speaking in parables, so I did
not suspect
that he was talking about his
approaching death. He directed me to call
in Prophet Babajide who was in the
adjacent room. Both of us knelt down
beside his bed and he began to narrate to us how he began his
ministry. It was such
a sublime experience. Both of us just
listened; we did not utter a single word
during the course of his narration.
After this, we knelt down for prayer. The
three of us prayed. I took the lead. Prophet Babajide followed.
When it was
Apostle Babalola’s turn to pray, he prayed
for a very long time, praying for the
church, the leaders and for us too. After
the special service, people came to
Apostle Babalola in my bedroom and bid him farewell before
leaving for their
various destinations with joy and
humour. He bid everyone farewell and
prayed for them. Nobody suspected
through his speech or action that death
was lurking in the corners. We left him alone to attend to those
who were
waiting to see him.
Meanwhile, Michael Osabi and Samuel
Oluwatusin, the two young men who used
to wait on him, remained with him as he
took a nap. When he woke up, he called me and returned my
covering-cloth to me.
His action surprised me and I asked,
“Baba, why are you doing this?” He
replied, “A man should sleep with his
own clothes.” It did not occur to me that
he was speaking of his imminent death. He advised me to go and
have some sleep
myself. By then, everybody else had gone
to church for the evening service. Around
5p.m. as he lay on the bed, Apostle
Joseph Ayo Babalola breathed heavily
three times, saying after, “in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the
Holy Ghost.” His breathing was like the
rumbling of a rain-storm and there was a
great vibration in the bedroom. As this
was happening, his personal attendants
(Michael and Samuel) ran to call me to his bedside before he gave
up the ghost. We
began to pray and quickly sent for the
church leaders who had gone to church
for the evening service.
We all prayed for his restoration. But
while this prayer was on, the Lord opened my spiritual eyes to see
what was
happening in the heavenlies. The
heavenly hosts had come to meet this
great prophet and joyfully admitted him
into the glory above. He had laid down his
sword at Jesus’ feet. So he could not return to earth again.
The church leaders and the elders who
were present arranged for Apostle
Babalola’s corpse to be taken to EFON
ALAAYE that same night.